OCR Text |
Show of tbeannuitygonds to tbepiegans, Bloods, andBlackfeet, abont ten daysprevione to that date, to the general satisfaction of the Indians. The Piegans number two thousand eight hundred, and are quite friendly and peaceable. The Bloods, numbering some one thousand nine hundred, and ranging over a district north of tho British line down to the Missouri river, are. also reasonably quiet. But the agent represents the Blackfeet proper, whose number is estimated at two thousand one hundred and fifty, as extremely insolent and exacting. Itappears tbat this tribe, so far as it has an abiding place at all, lives north of the boundary line, and is properly subject to Great Britain, only appearing about Fort Benton to receive annuities. Your attention is invited to Agent Upson's remarks upon this subject. SOUTHERN SUPERINTENDENCY. At th? date of my last annual report strong'bopcs were entertained tbat very soon the condition of tlie loyal and long-suffering Indians of this superinten-dency would he materially improved; that those who had maintained a preca-rious existence in their own country would be enabled to return to the peaceful pursuits in wl~ich they were engaged prior to the commeucement of the war, and tbat those who had been driven forth as exiles and dependents upon the government for the necessities of life would be returned to tbeir country in time to enable them to raise crops during the summer following. Unfortunately these hopes have not been realized, and the condition of the loyal Indims of the superintendency is such as to appeal very strongly to our sympatliy, and demand at our hands the most determined efforts for their relief. Their welfare, however, is so entirely dependent upon the military operations of the govern-ment that no hopes of any material improvement can kc reasonably entertained until such time as their country shall be so completely garrisoned as to afford a reasonable degree of security against the depredations of rebel raiders and the bushwhackers and thieves by whom it is now infested. The country is aware that during the winter of 1861-62, and following spring and ~nmmer, many thousands of these Indians were driven from tbeir homes because of tbeir determined loyalty to the government, and the stubborn, though ineffectual, resistance they made to thcir disloyal bretbren, who, with the assistance of white troops from Texae and elsewhere, sought to hold thcir country in t l ~ ein terest of the rebellion. These refugees were collected in Kansas, where they were mainly subsisted from the funds of the various tribes of the southern superintendency, which in whole or in part have joined with the rebellion, which funds were, by an act of Congress, set apart for that purpose. They consistedmainly of women, children, and old men-their warriors and able-bodied men having, with a degree of una-nimity which is probably unparalleled by any other loyal community within our entire limits, taken arms in the service of the United States. The claims of these people upon ua for support ; the intense and longing de-sire they manifested to be returned and protected in tbeir homes; the continually increasing and very considerable expense by which they were being subsisted while in exile ; the demoralizing effect which thcir anomalous condition could not fail to produce; and their well known ability, to maintain themselves, if in the undisturbed possession of their own country, all combined to render it ex-ceedingly desirable that they should be returned to them homes at the earliest practicable moment, and upon all proper occasions its importance was urged by this office, and your attention, and, through you, tlmt of Congress and the War Department, invited to the subject. It was, however, realized that, upon the score of economy and the facility of affording them protection, it was better that they should remain in the condition of refugees rather than he returned prior to such time as our military successes would render it practicable to afford |