Page:A Century of Dishonor.pdf/254

236 must have horses to hunt them: horses they have not. The Winnebagoes had some when they first arrived, but they were soon stolen by the hostile Sioux.”

Agent Balcombe must have led a hard life on this reservation. Exposed to all the inconveniences of a remote frontier, three hundred miles from any food-raising country; receiving letters from the Interior Department expressing itself “astounded” that he does not, “induce the Indians in his charge to remain on their reservation;” and letters from citizens, and petitions from towns in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska, imploring him to “gather up” all the wandering Winnebagoes who have been left behind; unprovided with any proper military protection, and surrounded by hostile Indians—no wonder that he recommends to the Government “to remove and consolidate” the different tribes of Indians into “one territory” as soon as possible.

The effects of this sojourn in the wilderness upon the Winnebagoes were terrible. Not only were they rendered spiritless and desperate by sufferings, they were demoralized by being brought again into conflict with the wild Sioux. They had more than one skirmish with them, and, it is said, relapsed so far into the old methods of their barbaric life that at one of their dances they actually roasted and ate the heart of a Sioux prisoner! Yet in less than a year after they were gathered together once more on the Omaha Reservation, and began again to have hopes of a “permanent home,” we find their chiefs and headmen sending the following petition to Washington:

“,—From the chiefs, braves, and headmen of your dutiful children the Winnebagoes.

“Father, we cannot see you. You are far away from us. We cannot speak to you. We will write to you; and, Father, we hope you will read our letter and answer us.