Three Years on the Plains

Three Years on the Plains, by Edmund B. Tuttle

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Title: Three Years on the Plains Observations of Indians, 1867-1870
Author: Edmund B. Tuttle
Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20463]
Language: English
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THREE YEARS ON THE PLAINS
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF JOHNSON IN COLORADO.
Frontispiece.]
THREE YEARS ON THE PLAINS
OBSERVATIONS OF INDIANS, 1867-1870

EDMUND B. TUTTLE

"Like an old pine-tree, I am dead at the top."
--Speech of an old chief

Dedication
TO GEN. W. T. SHERMAN, WHOSE SPLENDID TRIUMPHS IN TIMES OF WAR SHED LUSTRE UPON THE NATION'S HISTORY, AND WHOSE WISE COUNSELS IN TIMES OF PEACE WILL INCREASE THE NATION'S STRENGTH AND PRESERVE ITS HONOR, THIS LITTLE BOOK IS, BY PERMISSION,
Respectfully Dedicated.

LETTER FROM GENERAL SHERMAN
HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
June 13th, 1870.
REV. E. B. TUTTLE, FORT D. A. RUSSELL, W. T.
DEAR SIR,--I have your letter of June 8th, and do not, of course, object to your dedicating your volume on Indians to me. But please don't take your facts from the newspapers, that make me out as favoring extermination.
I go as far as the farthest in favor of lavishing the kindness of our people and the bounty of the general government on those Indians who settle down to reservations and make the least effort to acquire new habits; but to those who will not settle down, who cling to their traditions and habits of hunting, of prowling along our long, thinly-settled frontiers, killing, scalping, mutilating, robbing, etc., the sooner they are made to feel the inevitable result the better for them and for us.
To those I would give what they ask, war, till they are satisfied.
* * * * *
Yours truly,
W. T. SHERMAN, General.

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations xi
Introduction 11
Where did the Indians come from? 13
Despoiling the Grave of an old Onondaga Chief 16
The Fidelity of an Indian Chief 22
Big Thunder--a Winnebago Chief 26
Indian Tradition--the Deluge 27
Tribes on the Plains 32
The Author a "Medicine-man" 47
The Sioux Sun Dance--Scene on the Plains of Young Warriors exhibiting Fortitude and Bravery in Torturing Pains--a Horrible Scene 48
Julesburg 52
A Brave Boy and some Indians 55
An Indian Meal 56
Shall the Indians be exterminated? 59
Indians don't believe half they hear 65
Army Officers 66
What shall be done? 68
A Good Joke by Little Raven 71
How the Indian is cheated 72
Burial of a Chief's Daughter 72
An Indian Raid on Sidney Station, Union Pacific Railroad 75
Why do Indians scalp their Enemies? 77
Indian Boy's Education 79
Making Presents 81
Indians making Signals 81
Merciful Indians 82
A Scene at North Platte 82
Across the Plains 87
Why does not the Indian meddle with the Telegraph? 89
Plum Creek Massacre 90
Pawnee Indians--Yellow Sun and Blue Hawk 91
A Trip to Fort Laramie 92
Moss Agates 95
A Young Brave 97
The Head Chief--Red Cloud 100
Red Cloud's Journey 106
Phil. Kearney Massacre 107
Perilous Adventure--Pursuit of a Horse-Thief 121
Hanging Horse-Thieves 128
An Indian Fight at Sweetwater Mines 131
Indian Attack on the Stage-Coach going to Denver--Rev. Mr. Fuller's Account of Two Attempts upon his Life 135
Chaplain White says there's a time to Pray and a time to Fight 143
Legend of "Crazy Woman's Fork" 145
Phil. Kearney Massacre 149
Mauvaises Terres, or Bad Lands, Dakota 150
Natural History--Animals on the Plains 153
A Night Scene 158
The Mission-House 160
Indian Language, Counting, etc. 160
Indians attack Lieutenant W. Dougherty--Fight between Forts Fetterman and Reno 161
Speech of "White Shield," Head Chief of the Arickarees 162
Indian Trading 164
Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, and their Friends in Washington 167
Conclusion 201
Lord's Prayer in Sioux Language 205
Apostles' Creed 206
Distances 206

ILLUSTRATIONS
The Death of Johnson in Colorado frontispiece
FOLLOWING PAGE 102
Issac H. Tuttle Indian Boys Indian Burial Bishop Clarkson Group of Converted Indians Spotted Tail and his Son
MAP
Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska xii-xiii
[Illustration: Detail from an 1877 map showing principal areas of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska mentioned by Tuttle. Ft. D. A. Russell was located near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Original by S. Augustus Mitchell (1792-1868), 1" = 55 mi.
Courtesy Jerome A. Greene.]

INTRODUCTION
The interest which boys are taking in all that relates to our Indian tribes, and the greediness they manifest in devouring the sensational stories published so cheaply, filling their imaginations with stories of wild Indian life on the plains and borders, without regard to their truthfulness, cannot but be harmful; and therefore the writer, after three years' experience on the plains, feels desirous of giving youthful minds a right direction, in a true history of the red men of our forests. Thus can they teach their children, in time to come, what kind of races have peopled this continent; especially before civilization had