Hostile Chief's Message After the Battle
THREE men spoke, but they all said the same thing. They began by saying: "We are representatives of many bands, and what we have to say is for all these bands. We have heard of your difficulty with the Indians at Standing Rock, that is you have turned white man. For that reason we should detain you one year; but as we have something to say to the whites we will use you as a courier to them. This land belongs to us. It is a gift to us from the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit gave us the game in this country. It is our privilege to hunt the game in our country. The white man came here to take the country from us by force. He has brought misery and wretchedness into our country. We were here killing game and eating, and all of a sudden we were attacked by white men. You will now depart and return to Standing Rock. Tell the Commanding Officer that we are tired of fighting and that we want the soldiers to stop fighting us. Tell him to repeat these words to the Great Father: The Great Spirit above us gave us this country. It is ours and he is looking down on us today. He sees the bloody deeds going on in this country. Though he gave us the country, he did not give us the right to dispose of it. It is our duty to defend our country. We did not say to the white man "come out and fight us." We did not ask them to come out at all. We did not want to fight them; but now if they wish to withdraw they may. We do not wish to fight them. What we have said is the sentiment of Sitting Bull; he is not here, but if he were he would say the same words to you. "Sitting Bull says he was out there because there was game, but that he did not want to fight. He had to fight because he was attacked. Perhaps the whites think they can exterminate us, but God, the Great Spirit, will not permit it." The above is the message. The messenger states that Sitting Bull has all his followers and many Indians from this Agency with him. His camp on the 30th of August was on Tongue River, nearly in sight of the post now being built at the mouth of that river. He is so near that he can see the soldiers any day by riding a sh. distance. He is on or near the road made by the troops in going out. He was expected however to join the other bands on the head of Powder River, soon, as he had been sent for. A small body of troops had marched near their camp and they could have massacred them all, but they preferred to let them leave the country as they seemed to be doing. The Indians had any quantity of ammunition and more guns than they needed, most of them "needle guns." They had many mules with galled necks and shoulders, and many of them had died since the Indians got them. They had many American horses, but they had nearly all broken down. The Indians said that if the whites persisted in keeping up the war, they could stand it for three years. They had plenty of game and everything else. Message sent by Amputated Finger of the Ogalalla Sioux, and other hostile chiefs. Sgd. by W. P. CARLIN, The Custer Myth: A Source Book of Custerania, written and compiled by Colonel W.A. Graham, The Stackpole Co., Harrisburg, PA 1953, p 99 |
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