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Show 21 4 UTAH SUPERINTENDENCY. over them, and advises them to have their guns with them at all times in the sons and in their fields. JAMES DUANE DOTY, Supertintendent. . . ~ No. 43. SALT LAKB, Avgwt 26, i862. SIR : A general war with nearly all the tribes of Indians east of the Missonril river is close at hand. I am. expecting daily an interrnption on my line, and nothing but prompt and decisive action on the part of government will prevent it. The lines should be protected by soldiers at intervals of one hundred miles. ' General Paige's force is too small. I think it my duty to give government this information through you. Colonel Conner's forces are four hundred miles west, travelling slowly. I leave for home in the morning: Hope to sed you by September 10. BEN. HALLADAY. Hon. M. P. BLAIR. (Rec'd August 27, 1862.) No. 44. WA~HINQCTITOYN, S eptenaher 5, 1862. Sm : In compliance with your request, I give you in writing the following staterncnt : Whilst in the upper plains of the Missouri river last June and July, at Fort Berthold, among the Gros Vontres, the Ariccarees, and hlandans, at Fort Union, among the Assinaboines, and Fort Benton, among the Blackfeet Indians, I heard it frequently stated by American traders that the Indians of the plains had been greatly tampered with by the English traders along the boundary line, and incited to assist them in the then expected war between Great Britain and the United States. This excitement took place when the news reached the upper country of the difficulties created between the two countries by the arrest of Slidell and Mason. Ag ~ e a tn nmber of Indiana of the various tribes had , been induced to come and trade their furs on the British side of the line, and were promised that they nrould be provided fndue time with all that was neces-sary to expel the Americans from their Indian coantry. I give the above statement on mere hearsay, without proof to substantiate the assertion. I had an intention of spending three months in visiting the Sioux hands at my return from Fort Benton, towards the middle of July. On my arrival at Fort Pierre I learned that the Bear's-rib, the great chief appointed by General Harney over a11 the Sionx bands, had been murdered by his orvn people, because he had accepted the annual presents sent by government. (I understood that many 'Indians labor under tbe impression that by accepting these presents they tacitly renounce their lands.) From what I heard, the murder of the chief had created .great excitement against the whites among several Sioux bands. It ' was also rumored that the tribe or band punished by Ge n e~dH arney in 1855 on the Platte river, for the killing of a lieutenant and twenty men, were ready to revenge their dead, ahont eighty in number, against the whites. With sentiments of the highest consideration of respect and esteem, I remain; honorable sir, your obedient servant, P. J. DE SMET, S.J. Hon. Mr. MIX, Acting Superintadat of Indian Affairs, Washington City, D. C. |