500
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
warriors, their women and children, and their supplies for an inclement season. I will read his own account: "But, before reaching it, the lodges were struck, and their occupants commenced a rapid retreat up the valley of the Blue Water, precisely in the direction from whence I expected the mounted troops. They halted short of these, however, and a parley ensued between their chief and myself, in which I stated the causes of the dissatisfaction which the Government felt towards the Brules, and closed the interview by telling him that his people had depredated upon and insulted our citizens whilst moving quietly through our country; that they had massacred our troops under most aggravated circumstances, and that now the day of retribution had come; that I did not.wish to harm him personally, as he professed to be a friend to the whites; but that he must either deliver up the young men, whom he acknowledged he could not control, or they must suffer the consequences of their past misconduct, or take the chances of a battle. Not being able, of course, however willing he might have been to deliver up all the butchers of our people, Little Thunder returned to his band to warn them of my decision, and to prepare them for the contest that must follow. "Immediately after his disappearance from my view, I ordered the infantry to advance." Little Thunder had gone to confer with his people; before he returned, the massacre commenced. Was this the way to maintain peace? If the troops killed the Indians on that occasion, how many defenseless human beings must become sufferers to that retaliation which is the nature of their savage state? But this new addition to the Army must accomplish something, the four regiments had done nothing up to that time, and they must achieve something, to justify the raising of them. Let me read further: "The results of this affair were, eighty-six killed, five wounded, about seventy women and children captured, fifty mules and ponies taken, besides an indefinite number killed and disabled. The amount of provisions and camp equipage must have com- prised nearly all the enemy possessed." They were sent to starve or depredate on the frontier. In that inclement region, where game was wanting, what were they to do? Deprived of all their means of subsistence, how were they to live? They were to steal, to murder, or to rob, for they must live or famish. He says further: "Teams have been constantly engaged in bringing into camp everything of any value to the troops, and much has been de- stroyed on the ground."
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