OCR Text |
Show I COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 15 vision. The impressions derived by that officer, from a visit made to several of the reservations the past year, justify the conclusion that the system adopted by the government, tending to the civilization of the Indians, continues to operate successfully. Material improvement in their general condition is manifest, and many of them, particularly those who have for several years been living upon reserves, already appreciating the meliorating effects which the pursuits of civilized life produce, are reported as having expressed a desire to be afforded the onnortunitv of realizine: the advantages of education and instruction , -L-l~ - - in the mechanic arts. The extreme sever it,^ of the drought in Kansas is referred to by the :superintendent as having been most disastrous to the tribes in that Territory and those in South Nebraska, while the Indians located on ~eservationsin Northern Nebraska are reported as having made abun-dant crops, which, with the annnit,ies they receive under treaty atipu-lations, are deemed sufficient to meet all their wants through the I winter. Disaffection towards the government and its agents exists among the Sioux of the Upper Missouri agency, arising from the impression among them tbat the lands they claimed to own have been ceded and disposed of by other tribes, having no right or interest in the country; and which tribes, they allege, are receiving the benefits which they should enjoy. The consequence is, frequent violations by the Sioux of their treaty stipulations, which they justify on the ground that they have been wrongfully divested of their lands. It is recommended that new treaties he negotiated with these bands of Sioux of the Upper Missouri; otherwise it is believed that their ob-servance of the stipulations of their present treaty can only be enforced by resort to military influence. J. L. Gillis, United States agent for the Pawnees, in his annual report, dated October, 1860, bears testimony to the general good con-duct of those Indians towards the whites bordering their reservation. With the advice and consent of the Indians under his charge, he has organized and uniformed a police force of six from each of the four bands. The police take great pride in keeping order in their camp, and haverendered goodservice in surrenderingtothe agentstolen horses,&c. The agent states that the country from the Missouri river to Pike's Peak is infested with organized bauds of desperate horse thieves, from whose depredations the Pawnees have not been exempt. No mar party of the Pawnees has gone into tbe Sionx country, though such parties from the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arrapahoes have, by their presence on their reservation, kept the Pawnees as well as the white empIoy6s constantly on the alert. In the attacks of these war parties they have killed thirteen Indians, wounded many others, and carried off more than thirty horses, and burned, on the reserva-tion, more thnn sixty loclges. Two attacks have been made ~inc eth e arrival of the United States troops. The Pawnees, in a council with the agent and Captain Sully, United States Army, expressed a wish to make peace with the Indians named, and, at their request, Captain Sully ordered an officer from Fort Kearney, to proceed to these bands and make a proposition to them to meet the Pawnees in council. |