I am quite convinced that any Indian appreciates justice and a square deal as much as we do, and recognizes force and submits to it quickly enough, if tempered with justice, but he does not understand moral suasion as we understand it. I think that his conception of it is cowardice. He cannot comprehend why one should return good for evil but believes in an eye for an eye and he faithfully carries it out in practice. He believes in all kinds of ghosts and spirits, good and bad, and his life is largely shaped by this belief.
A story Mr. Jones told me one day will illustrate their practical view of things: Mr. Jones had married a squaw and some of the chiefs were at his house for dinner that day. He tried to explain to them our Bible history of how sin came into the world, and they listened intently, and without interruption, until he had finished. Then one old chief spoke up and said, "That is just like a white woman. Now if that had been a squaw, she would have taken a stick and killed that snake, and saved all the trouble." And while it may sound funny it was not intended as levity or anything like a joke, but was said in all seriousness. He evidently did not grasp our interpretation of it in any way, but on the contrary he looked on the woman's actions as cowardly and inexcusable.
CHAPTER VI.
During General Grant's first term as President, the Indian agencies were put in the hands of the representatives of the following churches, namely: Congregational, Presbyterian, Catholic, Dutch Reform, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Unitarian, and the two branches of Friends. This was brought about by a resolution on January 13th, 1871 at a conference of the President, the board of Indian commissioners and the official representatives of the religious bodies above mentioned. This was considered at the time as the President's policy and was something of a surprise to many army officers. But there was no marked criticism, most of them believing that if the management of Indian affairs could not be in the hands of the war department, it would have as good a chance of being honestly managed by representatives of the churches as in any other way.
The Kiowa and Commanche agency was put in the hands of a Mr. Tatum, a Quaker and most estimable gentleman, but I afterwards thought he as illy understood the Indian character as the Indians did the peace loving creed of the Quaker persuasion. He was unfortunate in being found in his shirt sleeves and at work, when the first delegation of the Indian chiefs went to the agency to see him, and from that time was spoken of by the Indians as the squaw agent. They could see nothing elevating or even respectable in a man working, that being the squaw's duties, and had little respect for the agent afterwards, although he did the best he could for them.
Mr. Tatum thought it would be better for the Indians to live in houses like white people, instead of in tents, and proposed building them houses, and some of the chiefs agreed to occupy them. He at once got busy and built six or seven neat log houses in the timber a few miles north of the camp. The Indians moved in as they had agreed and it was reported that some of them put their tepees up inside the houses. Of course they did not stay long in such an unnatural place, and when I saw the houses some time afterwards, there was no evidence of recent occupation.
He also established a school for Indian children at the agency, and I think it was patronized by some of the Indians sending their children, but up until the time we left the post, the attendance was small. We cannot tell what the eventual results of these honest efforts to do good may be.
One of the most interesting places about the camp to me was Mr. Orleman's office. He was a West Point graduate, a lieutenant in one of the companies at the camp, and was the engineer under Major Rockwell, who had charge of the construction of the new post. Maybe my everlasting desire to know things interested him, for he was very kind in showing me his instruments and explaining their uses. I was a frequent caller at his office and he always seemed glad to see me. I mention this more particularly from the fact that in the spring of 1871 there was a part of the garrison, I think two troops of cavalry sent to establish a camp on or near the junction of Cache creek and Red river, and I was ordered to make a survey of the route and distance. I had never done such a thing and was more than doubtful of my ability to do it properly, so I went to see Mr. Orleman about it. He said, "Oh, you can do it as well as anybody. I have explained these instruments, and how to use them; of course you can do it." And that settled it. It was simple enough after all. A meter is fastened to the hub and spoke of one of the rear wheels of the ambulance, the hand pointing down and with a weight on the end of it to hold it steady over rough ground. A clockwork inside records the revolutions of the wheel. In other words, the clock goes around instead of the hand, and by knowing the circumference of the wheel it is easy then to calculate the distance traveled. The compass and tripods were not so easy, but a little practice before starting gave me some confidence. The zig-zag course we had to take to get around the head of the canons and to avoid rough ground where the ambulance could not go, were the principal difficulties, but by recording the degrees of each change of direction one gets fairly good results. Mr. Orleman came down some time after we had established that camp, and corrected the survey by triangulation, and complimented me on missing the location less than one-fourth of a mile in a distance of more than forty-five miles traveled.