January next, offers such inducements to
settlers that sales for cash can not be expected to an extent sufficient
to meet the expenses of the General Land Office and the cost of
surveying and bringing the land into market.
The discrepancy between the sum here stated as arising from the sales of
the public lands and the sum derived from the same source as reported
from the Treasury Department arises, as I understand, from the fact that
the periods of time, though apparently, were not really coincident at
the beginning point, the Treasury report including a considerable sum
now which had previously been reported from the Interior, sufficiently
large to greatly overreach the sum derived from the three months now
reported upon by the Interior and not by the Treasury.
The Indian tribes upon our frontiers have during the past year
manifested a spirit of insubordination, and at several points have
engaged in open hostilities against the white settlements in their
vicinity. The tribes occupying the Indian country south of Kansas
renounced their allegiance to the United States and entered into
treaties with the insurgents. Those who remained loyal to the United
States were driven from the country. The chief of the Cherokees has
visited this city for the purpose of restoring the former relations of
the tribe with the United States. He alleges that they were constrained
by superior force to enter into treaties with the insurgents, and that
the United States neglected to furnish the protection which their treaty
stipulations required.
In the month of August last the Sioux Indians in Minnesota attacked the
settlements in their vicinity with extreme ferocity, killing
indiscriminately men, women, and children. This attack was wholly
unexpected, and therefore no means of defense had been provided. It is
estimated that not less than 800 persons were killed by the Indians, and
a large amount of property was destroyed. How this outbreak was induced
is not definitely known, and suspicions, which may be unjust, need not
to be stated. Information was received by the Indian Bureau from
different sources about the time hostilities were commenced that a
simultaneous attack was to be made upon the white settlements by all the
tribes between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The State
of Minnesota has suffered great injury from this Indian war. A large
portion of her territory has been depopulated, and a severe loss has
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