In addition to the statement showing that all the Cheyennes were in the alliance, I desire to add the following frank admission from the Indians in the council:
"Governor Evans explained that smoking the war-pipe was a figurative term, but their conduct had been such as to show that they had an understanding with other tribes.
"Several Indians: We acknowledge that our actions have given you reason to believe this."
In addition to all this, I refer to the statement of Mrs. Ewbanks. She is one of the prisoners that Black Kettle, in the council, said they had. Instead of purchasing her, they first captured her on the Little Blue, and then sold her to the Sioux.
Mrs. Martin, another rescued prisoner, was captured by the Cheyennes on Plum Creek, west of Kearney, with a boy nine years old. These were the prisoners of which White Antelope said, in the council, "We took two prisoners west of Kearney, and destroyed the trains." In her published statement she says the party who captured her and the boy killed eleven men and destroyed the trains and were mostly Cheyennes.
Thus I have proved by the Indian chiefs named in the report, by Agent Colley and Major Wynkoop, to whom they refer to sustain their assertion to the contrary, that these Indians had "been at war, and had committed acts of hostility and depredations."
In regard to their status prior to their council at Denver, the foregoing public documents which I have cited show how utterly devoid of truth or foundation is the assertion that these Indians "had been friendly to the whites, and had not been guilty of any acts of hostility or depredations."
The next paragraph of the report is as follows:
"A northern band of Cheyennes, known as the 'Dog Soldiers,' had been guilty of acts of hostility; but all the testimony goes to prove that they had no connection with Black Kettle's band, and acted in spite of his authority and influence. Black Kettle and his band denied all connection with, or responsibility for, the Dog Soldiers, and Left Hand and his band were equally friendly."
The committee and the public will be surprised to learn the fact that these Dog Soldiers, on which the committee throws the slight blame for acts of hostility, were really among Black Kettle's and White Antelope's own warriors, in the "friendly" camp to which Major Wynkoop made his expedition, and their head man, Bull Bear, was one of the prominent men of the deputation brought in to see me at Denver. By reference to the report of the council with the chiefs, to which I referred the committee, it will be observed that Black Kettle and all present based their propositions to make peace upon the assent of their bands, and that these Dog Soldiers were especially referred to.