CHAPTEE IV.
Sitting BuWs frst visit to a white man } s city – Bismarck. – On
the steamer " General Sherman"
Sitting Bull's visit to Bismarck was anything but satisfactory to him, more particularly on account of being deprived of visiting the residence of Captain William Harmon. It will be remembered that this was the first white man's town or city that Sitting Bull was ever in, and he certainly was entitled to respectful treatment. It appears that Mrs. Harmon's mother, Mrs. Galpin, was an old acquaintance of his, many years ago, and he has known for years that her daughter married Captain Harmon.
As soon as the steamer landed, Captain Harmon started in his carriage, taking Mrs. H. along as far as the church, and then proceeded, with one of his little sons, to the boat. The chief was more than glad to see him, and after the usual " hearty shake, and how," the captain then said, " This is my second son;" to which the chief replied, " I am poor, and have nothing to give you, only my name," taking the hat from the boy's head and writing his name quite plainly on the inside, and said, " if I had anything more to give, I would give it to you ;" and then said to the captain, " you ought to bring your wife down to the boat," saying he had known her mother for many years. The captain said he had left her at church, but as he was going straightway home, he would take her along; and when he, the chief, came up into the city, he wanted him to come to his residence ; to which the chief replied, that he would be glad to come, and would do so, if they would let him. But it appears his wish was not granted, for reasons known only to those who had him in charge, and prevented him from going there.
Captain Harmon, upon arriving at his house-a richly furnished mansion in the suburbs of the city-together with his accomplished and queenly wife, set themselves about preparing a lunch, such as sandwiches, lemonade, etc., etc., and thereupon waited the arrival of the " chief." The parties in charge of the reception, however, thought best not to allow him to go there, for reasons not by them explained, and at the same time not showing even a faint disposition to care anything about the personal wishes of " Sitting Bull"
The chief felt very much disappointed, as well as deeply mortified at this chagrin, and Mrs. Harmon was at once sent for. Upon her arrival on board the steamer " General Sherman," the usual " shake and how," as a matter of course, came first, and the chief was indeed glad to see Mrs. H. The chief had known her mother since his bovhood, and he seemed to act and talk very free-inquiring about many things that had transpired within the past few years in that section of the country, and expressed himself as perfectly satisfied with her answers and explanations.
The good lady said to him, " Don't you think it would have been better for you and your people if you had come in and surrendered in 1867, as you were told to do ?" To which he answered, " Yes, I think it might have been better, but as me and my people was born in this country, I always considered it belonged to me, and do yet; and I never would have come in, only for the sake of my women and children, and did not come in because I wanted to."
Mrs. Harmon speaks the Sioux language fluently, and the chief knew that she was one among only a very few white ladies in the world that can speak and understand his language in all its phases. In the early days of the chief he learned the French language to quite an extent from " French traders " that visited his section of the country for the purpose of trading, and who generally came from the British possessions.
Now the writer does not in the least manner feel disposed to question the conduct of any particular parties, but will merely suggest, now that Sitting Bull is in the hands of the proper officials, fully and properly surrendered in accordance with all demands made upon him by the proper authorities, he be treated with, to say the least, common decency, all of which he is certainly entitled to, for we must admit that the war was forced upon him and his people for no other reason only for the advancement of our noble Saxon race.
The idea of forcing him into a common puppet show in different places, much to his displeasure, was, to say the least, very disgusting to him and wholly uncalled for. No wonder he said he thought the white folks were making fools of themselves in forcing him into a position to be sneered and laughed at.
It must be borne in mind that Sitting Bull has not lesa than twenty-five hundred braves, all of whom are able-bodied warriors, and are now within his call, and all the while he is submitting so quietly to the powers that be, it is well enough to consider that it is not impossible thai plans will be laid and carried into effect within his apparent deaf ear, which may be the means of calling out the entire force under command of General Sheridan; and we again, suggest that the artful old chief be dealt with in a fair and respectable manner, and be allowed to receive such treatment as he is entitled to.
In the way of a gentle hint as to what might happen, the writer respectfully refers to the first section of this volume, " General Van Couvnor," where the leading war-chiefs were in council at a " peace commission,'' and at the same time the young warriors were raiding in Texas, capturing women, children, horses and mules, and it is fair to presume that similar scenes may be enacted on the frontier plains of Dakota and among the ranchmen in the hills of Montana, as it was on the borders of Kansas and Texas.
The writer does not propose to dictate nor even suggest a policy to be pursued by our authorities, but modestly claims-the right to state what possibly might occur, judging from facts and precedents already established on .our frontier; and in the meantime we have no reason to apprehend that there will be any napping or negligence while Sitting Bull and his warriors are being herded and cared for.
CHAPTER V.
A Careful Review of the Present Situation.
A careful view of the situation, and a glance over the list of field officers that have been on duty in the Northwest for the purpose of subjugating the Sioux nation and cutting the way through the bad lands and over the plains, in order to cross the continent on this line-running nearly mid-way between the 46th and 47th parallel of north latitude-it will at once be seen that no insignificant amount of military genius and executive ability has been arrayed in the new Northwest to accomplish this final and most satisfactory result, that the country may justly feel so proud of.
Any one of the above-mentioned officers; if called upon to take command of an army corps of twenty thousand men, would not shrink from the responsibility, but would, judging from their past career and from laurels already won in many a hard-fought battle-some in civil war and others in Indian wars on the frontier-would discharge the various and onerous duties devolved upon them in a manner becoming an officer in the American army.
We have had on duty in the Northwest a greater portion of the time since 1873, between thirty and forty field officers and over two hundred officers of the line, with about three thousand men in the ranks, to confront the hostiles of the Sioux nation. In addition to the above, we must add the list of army surgeons, artificers, mechanics, teamsters and laborers at the various military posts; also Indian scouts and interpreters; all of which will number not less than three hundred, and at times would swell the number to over seven hundred.
We will now call the attention of our readers to the fact that the officers of the line in all of the regiments above mentioned, and others that have been on duty in the Northwest during our Indian troubles, have shared no less of the hardships and dangers than their superiors mentioned in this volume. En regie ; selon les regies, de jure. In speaking generally, we must say that their heroic conduct on the field and their industry and faithful services entitles them to volumes of credit and a general vote of thanks from their countrymen, many of whom are sure to follow in the west-ern path that is now in a great measure paved for civilization.