“It is but due to the memory of our deceased friend and fellow officer that we should hold him in fond remembrance.
“He was a man of high social qualities, great urbanity, a high order of intellect, a brave soldier, a true gentleman and an honor to his territory and government.”
The year 1867 Fort Shaw was established by the Thirteenth Infantry, with Colonel Andrews in command. This checked the Indians for a while; but it was only for a short time before they were back to their old tricks, murdering people and stealing their stock. In 1869 the following indictment which was drawn by W. F. Wheeler, then the United States Marshal of the Territory of Montana, will show to what desperate resorts the people were driven to. As this instrument of writing was drawn by an officer of the government and signed by twelve citizens under oath we must accept it as a truthful statement of the conditions existing then:
“The Grand Jury of the United States for the Third Judicial District of Montana, have examined a number of witnesses, and from the evidence presented to them find that the people of this district have suffered within the last few months great loss of life and property from predatory bands of Indians. We have been furnished the names of nine or ten citizens who have been murdered in cold blood by them. Over three hundred head of stock have been stolen within two months past, and we believe that within six months fully one thousand horses have been stolen, and a number of valuable citizens sacrificed, whose names we could not learn. The Piegans, Bloods and Blackfeet, who all talk in the same language and constitute the Blackfeet nation, have moved their women and children north of Montana, and in that country have procured ammunition and improved arms. This is a declaration of war on the whites of Montana, and some measure should be taken to meet the emergency. The civil authorities have not the means, and the people are not able to bear the expense of pursuing and punishing these robbers and murderers, who destroy our property and lives, and come and go like the wind. Ours is a contest between civilization and barbarism, and we must risk our lives and sacrifice our hard-earned property to defend them, unless the general government gives us the means of defense. To this we are entitled, as we have left homes of comfort in the East to plant civilization in the wilderness. It is in evidence that the ‘Pend d’Oreilles,’ who make periodical journeys from their homes to the valleys of the Judith and Yellowstone on hunting expeditions, and through some of the settled portions of our territory, are guilty of horse-stealing if not of murder. Their passage through our settled valleys should be prohibited by the authorities. The River Crows murdered two white men near Fort Benton about the 20th of July last and took their horses to their camp.
“In none of these cases of murder and theft have the Indians been pursued and punished. Our population is necessarily scattered along the valleys, or isolated in mining camps and gulches, and hence is exposed to sudden attacks from the Indians. We make this statement, which is substantiated by truthful evidence, and respectfully request that it may be sent to such officers of the general government as are entrusted with the care of the Indians, and our protection by military force, trusting that they take the necessary steps to give us full protection, or, if the means in their hands are not adequate, that they will represent our exposed and dangerous position to the heads of the government at Washington, who have authority to punish or prevent Indian outrages.
“Grand Jury Rooms, Helena, M. T., Oct. 9, 1869.
“Signed: G. W. Tubbs, foreman; D. W. Buck, A. A. Green, James P. Mabbett, John H. Curtis, Moses Morris, Benjamin Stickney, Jr., E. S. Mansfield, William Simms, D. M. Gillette, E. L. Baker, Felix Poznainsky, L. Behm, W. F. Richardson, Hugh Glenn.”
It was the winter following that Colonel Baker destroyed the Piegan camp on the Marias river, an account of which I have already given. To the different tribes, peace commissioners were sent by the government to have council with the Indians. They were wise men from the East. They meant well, but they did not know their business. The first thing they did was to listen to the Indians telling their cunning stories, and the conclusion they came to was that the poor red man had been imposed upon and a kind of treaty was made by giving the Indians nearly everything they asked for. From this time on the Indians were getting “heap rich.” As General Sheridan once said: “If a white man steals we put him in prison; if an Indian steals we give him a blanket; if a white man kills we hang him; if an Indian kills we give him a horse to put the blanket on.” And what he said was true. For between the Indian commissioners and the traders it was not very long before nearly every Indian had a gun, plenty of ammunition and new blankets. Again, in 1876, the Indians became so arrogant that they defied the United States government, and the great Sioux war commenced. And a year later Chief Joseph, with his desperate band of Nez Perces, passed through the country terrorizing the small settlements and causing death and destruction as he went.
Robert Vaughn.
Nov. 9, 1898.