take God's vengeance in their own hands; the memory of the old and new
wrongs inflicted upon them by the whites; the infuriating insult just
offered to their favorite chief--all conspired with the orator's cunning
to give edge to his eloquence and obedience to his commands.

Governor Ramsey has a good deal to thank God for, that, stimulated by
Lean Bear's rhetoric, the Sioux did not that night attack the whites,
and make an indiscriminate slaughter of the population, as they would
have done, if it had not been for the friendly Indians and half breeds.
Perhaps he thought he was strong enough, for the hour, to defeat them in
any attempt at an outbreak. But it is not strength so much as strategy
which is needed in Indian warfare. To whip the Indians, we must become
Indians in our plan and conduct of battle. The civilization and
mathematics of war, as practised by cultivated people, are useless in
the wilderness, and all our proud and boasted tactics are mere foolish
toying and trifling--a waste of time, strength, and opportunity. No one
doubts that if our troops could meet the Indians in open field, they
would slaughter them like rats; but they know better than to be caught
on the open field, except they are pretty sure of an advantage. They
steal upon you like thieves, shod with moccasons which have no sound;
they think it equally brave to shoot a man from behind a tree as to
sabre him in a hand-to-hand encounter.

It is dreadful to contemplate what an incarnate fiend we have roused in
this cheated, wronged, and despised Indian. I tremble to think of it. I
tremble when I remember also what Bishop Whipple says in the 'Plea,'
from which I have already quoted; they are words which ought to be
thundered continually into the ears of the 'Great Father,' until he
compels a total revolution in our Indian affairs--words which all
settlers in those regions should keep forever present in their minds;
and, with the Minnesota massacres still fresh in their memory, they
should be taught by them never for a moment to trust an Indian, and
never knowingly to give him just cause for complaint; to go always
armed; to organize, in towns, districts, and counties, the yeomen of the
soil, who must be ready at any moment, by night or day, to meet the
treacherous, ubiquitous enemy. These last will be found of more value
than the 'thundering' suggestion contained in the first of these
precautionary propositions. For it is upon themselves that th