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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 19 GENERAL SMITH. My friend, the earth does not go : i\ vay, but the suu conies and goes, the seasons pass away, and nothing is done. Mr. BUUXOT. Last'f'all some of the Ogallalla chiefs wanted to go. Red Cloud said wait, and he still says the same. RED CLOUD. It is a fact- Mr. BRUXOT. They are all waiting for him; the Great Father is waiting for him ; the summer is going away ; winter will come, and there will be no house in which to put the food. RED CLOUD. It is a fact, it takes time to build houses. Mr. BKUXOT. If we begin soon all will be comfortable before winter. Run CLOUD. If you build a house back of the river, how long will it be before the Great Father sends soldiers? I want to tell the Black Twin. Mr. BRUXOT. We want to built it back where the white man cannot come ; not just over the river. RED CLOUD. ( To Major Wham.) You mentioned the bend of the river. MAJOU WHAM. I told him, before Mr. Brunotcaine, that I would ask the Great Father to build it iu a bend of the river, and mark off a reservation, and after a while we could move it back into the country. Mr. BUUXOT. Such a proposition ought not to have been made to them. MA. JOU WHAM. I have the authority now at my office to so locate it. RKD CLOUD. How long before there will be soldiers ? Mr. BKUXOT. 1 do not think there will be any as long as the Indians do well. RED CLOUD. There are fools on both sides ; after I came back from the East, white men whipped my people seven times, I want my people to understand, this before I name the place. Mr. BRUXOT. We want them to go where white people cannot go to do so. RED CLOUD. It was not long before till soldiers came to places we had selected, and it will be so again. Mr. BRUXOT. The Great Father wants you to go where soldiers will not come. When there was war, the soldiers went into all parts of your country. Here, Indians get drunk and fight, and soldiers have to be sent after them. We do not want it to be so, and if you locate your agency in your own country, Avhere white men dare not go, the soldiers will be kept out much longer. RED CLOUD. Every place a white man goes whisky goes. You can see them here drinking night and day. Mr. BRUXOT. Will you return the middle or the last of next moon ? RED CLOUD. I do not want to tell a lie, and will not name the day, but messengers will come in every few days. Mr. BRUXOT. What do you think of White River ? RED CLOUD. Of course it is good, but I do not know what to do. Mr. BKUXOT. Will you go to W T hite River and plant corn? RED CLOUD. I do riot know anything about farming I never came here. Mi % . BRUXOT. After you go away, we will hold a council with the other chiefs, and see what they say. RED CLOUD. There are four other head chiefs back of me. When you were here be-fore you gave me cloth and calico, but there were no guns nor ammunition. I told my people to take it. I told you to go back to the Great Father and tell him we must have guns and ammunition. Mr. BRUXOT. I told you I would tell the Great Father; but that you had not been at peace long enough ; and that as soon as the agency was fixed the guns would be sent. RED CLOUD. They promised guns and powder and lead to Spotted Tail, on the Ar-kansas, and he has not got them. I do not know it but some one told me. Mr. BRUXOT. Some guns were sent to Spotted Tail, and as soon as your agency is fixed they will be sent to your people. We want you to come back soon, before the rations are stopped. Some of your people want to talk and name a place over the river. You want all to talk one way, but we will wait till you consult your people. RED CLOUD. Wait on me. Mr. BRUXOT. General Smith and Major Wham will wait fifteen days, unless you can get back sooner, and if you are not back at the end of fifteen days, there will be a coun-cil for them. Does that suit you ' I RED CLOUD. It does not make much difference ; call them up at any time. They will talk, their hearts are not all the same. MAJOR WHAM. We want Red Cloud to say where the agency shall be, and be the big chief after it is fixed. Remember it is fifteen days. Here the. eonyerast ion ended. The chief, after a friendly greeting with those present, set out immediately upon his mission to the rest of the tribe, saying that he would send word every few days, and would come and inform General Smith and Major Wham ad soon as his people could arrive at a decision. THOS. K. CREE, Secretary. FORT LARAMIE, June 13, 1871. |
