Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1878.djvu/11

Rh the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs it appears that they received the same rations which were furnished to the Southern Cheyennes and Arapahoes on the same reservation; that they received those rations with the same regularity; and that their supplies were not only fully up to but rather in excess of the quantity provided by treaty, such quantity being amply sufficient to satisfy their actual wants, and that the only articles withheld from them at any time were flour at two issues only, in consequence of late appropriations, which deficiency was made good by extra beef; and coffee, sugar, and tobacco withheld, according to law, from those who refused to do any work, which law the agent in charge of those Indians properly considered himself bound as much as possible to execute.

It may be added that while a little less than 300 Northern Cheyennes broke out, 4,700 Northern and Southern Cheyennes and Arapahoes remained on the reservation perfectly quiet, having received the same treatment.

The report of the Commissioner also states, as the true cause of the outbreak, that the Northern Cheyennes had, very soon after their arrival on that reservation, shown a spirit of discontent, saying that they came to stay only as long as they liked it; that they insisted upon having their rations issued, not to heads of families, according to law, but to the chiefs of bands in bulk, which the agent very properly refused to do; that differences arose between the discontented element and the rest of the Indians on the reservation, which resulted in bad feeling; and that in consequence of these things finally the outbreak took place.

It has also been said these Indians were furnished with arms by the agent himself, or through his connivance with other evil-disposed persons. The report of the Commissioner states that the arms in the possession of these Indians consisted of about one hundred Springfield carbines taken from General Custer's command, and that with those arms they had a large quantity of ammunition; from which it would appear that the disarming of these Indians before they were located on the reservation near Fort Reno had been very incomplete. While in many other instances Indian outbreaks are traceable to the treatment they receive at the hands of the whites, it appears from the information quoted that in this case the outbreak was owing to the mischievous spirit of bad men among the Indians themselves, and their determination to return northward to their old hunting-grounds.

Nearly all of these runaway Cheyennes have been captured, or have surrendered, and are now held as prisoners by the military authorities. In the interest of general discipline, and in order to show the Indians that nothing can be gained by such disorderly conduct, it is thought best to return them to their reservation in the Indian Territory, after having given the civil authorities of the State of Kansas an opportunity to identify those who committed murders and other crimes while passing through that State, so that they may be dealt with according to law.