Page:The Indian Dispossessed.pdf/134

The Indian Dispossessed simple Indian mind cried out, "Why has the white man crossed the line?"

The sad story of the American Indian is told in these, "the law of nations"—which does not recognize him, and that other law not made by men or nations, the "Survival of the Fittest"—which dooms him.

United States troops all along the line of flight were called out to intercept the Indians. General Gibbon, making a hasty march from Helena with about two hundred men, came upon Joseph before he had reached the Yellowstone Park, drove him out of his camp with considerable loss, and captured his herd of ponies. Without ponies the Indians' flight would have been of short duration; no one knew that better than Joseph. So, gathering his scattered forces, he turned upon Gibbon, routed him out of the same camp, recaptured his ponies and escaped, leaving eighty-nine Indians dead on the field. Gibbon himself was wounded in the assault.

But fighting with women and children on the field of battle was not to the liking of General Gibbon. "He pointed to where women, during the battle, with their little ones in their arms, had waded into the deep water to avoid the firing; and told me how it touched his heart when two or three extended their babies toward him, and looked as pleasant and wistful as they could for his protection; this was while the balls were whistling 118