Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/219

203 among the Indians, that a party, an army, as they called it, of soldiers were coming up the Missouri. After dispatching messengers to all the Indians near, they hastened to the river, leaving all their women and children with a few men in the encampment. They did not permit me to go with them. On the 25th of September, a council was held on the River Sasqui, to deliberate on the object this army should have in view, and to determine what should be done. Lengthy debates took place, and being much divided in sentiment whether they should attack them, or not, they disolved [sic] the council on the 29th, without deciding what should be done. Another council was held on the 5th of November, consisting of a much larger number, when they came to a determination to invite the Rus to join them, and to attack the soldiers early in the spring. They also agreed to declare war against the Mandans and the Gross-Ventres. During the winter, large bodies of Indians assembled on the Sioux river and the River Sasqui, near to the Missouri.

In the mean time, war was declared against the soldiers and against the Mandans and Gross-Ventres. Early in the spring the spies they had