uently the case, they suffered great inconvenience, and
were forced to incur debt with the white traders for their subsistence,
all of which tended to create bad feelings between them and the whites.
The Indian saw that he had yielded a splendid domain to the whites, and
that they were rapidly occupying it. They could not help seeing that the
whites were pushing them gradually--I may say rapidly--out of their
ancestral possessions and towards the West, which knowledge naturally
created a hostile feeling towards them. The Sioux were a brave people,
and the young fighting men were always making comparisons between
themselves and the whites, and bantering each other as to whether they
were or were not afraid of them. I made a study of these people for
several years, having had them in charge as their agent, and I think
understood their feelings and standing towards the whites as well as any
one. Much has been said and written about the immediate cause of the
outbreak of 1862, but I do not believe that anything can be assigned out
of the general course of events that will account for the trouble.
Delay, as usual, had occurred in the arrival of the money for the
payment, which was due in July, 1862. The war was in full force with the
South, and the Indians saw that Minnesota was sending thousands of men
out of the state to fight the battles of the Union. Major Thomas
Galbraith was their agent in the summer of 1862, and being desirous of
contributing to the volunteer forces of the government, he raised a
company of half-breeds on the reservation and started with them for Fort
Snelling, the general rendezvous, to have them mustered into service. It
was very natural that the Indians who were seeking for trouble should
look upon this movement as a sign of weakness on the part of the
government, and reason that, if the United States could not conquer its
enemy without their assistance, it must be in serious difficulties.
Various things of similar character contributed to create a feeling
among the Indians that it was a good time to recover their country,
redress all their grievances, and reestablish themselves as lords of the
land. They had ambitious leaders. Little Crow was the principal
instigator of war on the whites. He was a man of greater parts than any
Indian in the tribe. I had used him on many trying occasions, as the
captain of my bodyguard, and my ambassador to negotiate with other
tribes, and always found him equal to a