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Show ' THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. b several prominent chiefs were endeavoring to effect a general rising of the tribes in that region, to exterminate the white settlers. On the 26th of August the agent of the overland mail company telegraphed the Postmaster Generill that "general war with nearly all the tribes of Indians east of the Missouri river is close at h d ! ' The evidence of a general hostile disposition on the part of the Indians was so strong that this department considered it proper to instruct the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to publish an advertise-ment, warning the public of the dangers likely to be encountered on the overland route to the Pacific. Rev. P. J. De Smet, an intelligent Catholic priest, in a letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, dated 'September 5th, stated: " Whilst in the upper plains of the Missouri river last June and July, at Fort Barthold, among the Gros Ventres, the Ricarees and Ma& dans, at Fort Union, among the Assinaboines, and at Fort Benton; among the Blackfeet Indiaus, I heard it frequently stated by Ameri-. can traders that the Indians of the plains had been greatly tampered. with by the English tri~ders along the boundary line, and expected to assist them in the then expected war between Great Britain and the United States. This cxcitement-took place when the news reached the upper country of the difficulties created between the two countries by the arrest of -Slidell and Mason. A great number of Indians of tbe various tribes had been induced to come and trade their furs on the British side of the line, and were promised that they would be provided, in due time, with a11 that was necessary to expel the Americans from their Indian country." It is alleged by persons who were present at the attack upon Fort Ridgely by the Sioux that orders were heard distinctly given in English, and repeated in the Sioux language. The movements ana attacks oFtthe Indians, it is said, indicated the presence and guidance of persons familiar with the mode of civilized warfare. I @or some time previous to the commencement of hostilities emis-' I saries were sent through the several tribes, with the wampum, to incite them to a general attack upon t,he white settlements. It is a significant fact that United States soldiers, who were made prisoners by the confederate forces, were compelled to sign a parole, con-tain, ing a stipulation that they should not engage in service against Indians. Many of the Indians were dissatisfied with the treaties by which they had agreed to part with their lands. They complained that they had been deprived of their hunting gronnds and of the means of subsistence. They also complained of alleged frauds on the part of Indian agents and traders, some of which may have been well founded, but many were doubtless groundless. These complaints were aggravated and increased by insidious and false representations - made by traders whose licensea had been revoked, and who were smarting under the deprivation of the profics they had been accus-tomed to make from their traffic with the Indians. These causes combined had for some time tended to produce a spirit of discontent and insubordination in the Indians. |