Meeting of the United States Indian Commission--Report of Col. Wynkoop.
Meeting of the
United States Indian Commission--
Report of Col. Wynkoop.

INDIAN AFFAIRS.
______________

Meeting of the United States Indian Commission--Report of Col. Wynkoop.

    A special meeting of the United States Indian Commission for the purpose of hearing Col. Wynkoop's report on the cause of his resignation as Government Indian Agent, and on the condition of the Indian tribes at the seat of war, was held last evening in the rooms of the American Geographical and Statistical Society, Cooper Institute. The Chair was taken by Mr. Benjamin Tatham.
    The Secretary, having submitted the minutes of the previous meeting, which were approved, read the following letter which he had received from Rev. H. B. Whipple, Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota:

Farrebault, Minn., Dec. 8, 1868.
    My Dear Friend: I did not think it would be necessary for me to write you so soon again on behalf of the poor Indians. I beg you, as you pity God's poor killed creatures, to ask the Executive Committee of your Indian Commission, to employ some competent, fearless person to investigate the recent events connected with our Indian war. I have not the proof, or I would appeal over my own signature, to the people of America, to stop this system of iniquity. You cannot cure by wrong. You cannot atone for robbery by murder. It is my firm belief that every provision of the treaty made with the Indians by the Peace Commission was violated and they left to destitution last Spring, and that by failure of Congress to make early appropriations, were compelled to leave their reservation and go to the Buffalo ranges to escape death.
    2. That our refusal to give them either food, or the means (arms, &c.,) to kill game was regarded as a violation of the treaty.
    3. That as early as August or September, officers of the United States so far forgot every principle of humanity and fear of God as to issue an order that no mercy should be shown to women and children, and that expeditions were fitted out to strike a blow on the families of Indians.
    4. That it will be found that at least a portion of the Indians killed recently, Black Kettle and his party, were friendly Indians.
    5. That, even if there had been several acts of hostility committed by individual Indians of peaceable bands, and by hostile bands, this shameless disregard of justice has been the most foolhardy course we could have pursued.
    I need not go on. You know, and the whole world knows, the sin of the original cause of strife is at our door. We are wrong; we are guilty before God of winking at robbery; we know it; Congress knows it; the people know it. Will we escape the sure retribution of God's eternal justice by seeking to murder every Indian?
    I said you must have a fearless man to examine and plead for the Indian. You will come in contact and conflict with men who are honored by the whole people. Congress will whitewash it all over; the press and people and army will act on the principle "dead men tell no tales." Human kind like to throw mud on people they have wronged.
    Nothing could show as plainly as recent events that the reform of the Indian Bureau will not come through the army.
    When distributing goods recently at Fort Wadsworth, the Chiefs asked me to take the names of certain squaws from their lists, because wives of officers and soldiers justify their shame by example. Dear brother: Time is short: Eternity is long: God is just. We must be up and doing, and God will help us.
Your friend and brother,
H. B. WHIPPLE.
COL. WYNKOOP'S REPORT.

    The Chairman having formally introduced Col. Wynkoop, to the auditory, that gentleman read his report. After sketching the history of the Indian difficulty at length, and commenting on the several investigations, he concludes as follows:
    In answer to your question of how the late troubles might have been avoided, I would state that, notwithstanding the wrongs the Indians had suffered at the hands of Col. Chivington, in the massacre of their women and children, and also in the destruction of their village by Gen. Hancock, had Congress made the appropriation that was asked by the Department of the Interior, to be used in subsisting these Indians, the war that is now existing would have been prevented. The withholding of arms and ammunition disabling them from procuring game for subsisting their families, which game was becoming more scarce every day, and the neglect to supply them with the absolute necessaries of life, drove some to desperation.
    In reply to your questions as to my views of the remedy, to me it is a very simple one. Let us, when we make pledges to these untaught savages who, like children, judge of good faith by performance, redeem those pledges, never fail to fulfill our contracts, and the cure will be complete. It matters but little in which Department the Indian Bureau may be, as it exists at present I do not know how it can be bettered. I have failed to see, so far, how the Department of the Interior or the office of the Indian Bureau has been to blame for any of our Indian troubles; let the sympathies of the people of this great country be aroused for the Indian as they have been for the African, and, irrespective of Indian Bureaus or Congress, there will be such a radical change in the condition of the Indian as will be of incredible benefit to him in the future, and consequently to our whole country. Your noble Commission is taking the proper steps to secure this, and, if you continue, success is certain. In connection I would call the attention of your honorable body to the fact that there has never been among the Indians with whom I have been connected, viz., the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches, any missionary or instructor whatever.
    To conclude by answering your question in regard to my knowledge of Black Kettle, who has recently been killed in the attack upon his village on the Washita River, I would state that Black Kettle was 56 years of age at the time of his death. He was the son of High Back Wolf, once a powerful chief of the Cheyenne nation, and the particular friend of Gen. Harney, who many years ago took considerable interest in the boy Black Kettle. Upon the death of High Back Wolf, his son Black Kettle succeeded him, and soon, by means of his administrative ability and wisdom rather than by deeds of prowess in the field, became a great chieftain. He was not only regarded as the ruling spirit of his tribe, but was also looked upon by all the nomadic tribes of the plains as a superior, one whose word was law, whose advice was to be heeded. His irrate [sic] dignity and lofty bearing, combined with his sagacity and intelligence, had that moral effect which placed him in the position of a potentate. The whole force of his nature was concentrated in the one idea of how best to act for the good of his race; he knew the power of the white man, and was aware thence might spring most of the evils that could befall his people, and consequently the whole of his powers were directed towards conciliating the whites, and his utmost endeavors used to preserve peace and friendship between his race and their oppressors. After the Indian war commenced in the Spring of 1864, which war had been inaugurated by the infamous Chivington, Black Kettle endeavored to restrain the just resentment of his young warriors, and finally succeeded in gathering all of his people together upon the headwaters of Smoky Hill River, far removed from the settlements and highways, and from that locality endeavored to communicate with some commanding officer, for the purpose of sueing for peace, and letting the whites know that his people had never desired to be at war. After many failures, his messengers invariably being fired upon when approaching a United States post, he at last succeeded in communicating with myself, then commanding Fort Lyon, in Colorado; immediately after, he delivered up to me four white captives that he had purchased from other Indians for that purpose, and offered himself and his brother, White Antelope, as hostages for the good faith of his people should we give them peace. An armistice was declared for the time-being, and Black Kettle, by my instructions, brought in his lodges, his women, and his children, and located them near Fort Lyon, with the understanding that he was under the protection of the United States flag; then occurred the Chivington massacre; at that time White Antelope, the brother of Black Kettle, was murdered, and nearly all his relatives killed, his wife receiving ten wounds; with folded arms, exposed to the fire of the troops, he stood until carried by main force off of the field by his young men; from confiding too much in the faith of white men, he was blamed by his people; who came near putting him to death as being too good a friend to the whites; from that time he lost caste, and fell from the position of a Sovereign to that of a subject, but he still continued to strive for peace, and gradually regained his former influence, until he succeeded in bringing his young men off of the war-path, where they had been terribly avenging the murder of their women and children; and finally brought them into the treaty made in October, 1865, at the mouth of the Little Arkansas. After hostilities were again created by the action of Gen. Hancock, Black Kettle was once more the bearer of the olive branch, and brought his people to meet the Commissioners at Medicine Lodge Creek in October, 1867. After the war that is now existing had broken out, and the country was filled with troops, Black Kettle sought a refuge for his family and a few of his individual band where he had been led to believe was the point of safety for those Indians who desired to remain at peace, only to meet his death at the hands of white men, in whom he had too often fatally trusted, and who triumphantly report the fact of having his scalp in their possession.

    Gen. Cullen was requested by the Chairman to state his opinion of the Indians. He said he was not prepared to give such a history as he would like, but he would try to recollect some facts which occurred during a twelve years residence among the Sioux, Winnebago and Chippewas. He was four years Superintendent of Indian Affairs and had traveled from 12,000 to 15,000 miles a year on professional duties. The Indians are a simple-minded people and child-like. Lewis Clarke traveled thousands of miles through 250 bands of Indians unmolested in 1859, but now a regiment of soldiers cannot pass without being fired into. The General described the heartrending scenes attending the dislodgment of a tribe after their Chiefs had signed a treaty to deliver over the land. The tribe had left their farms, the graves of their friends, and their known haunts to procure food, for regions unknown, to eke out a miserable subsistence. He thought if the people of New-York were driven from their homes to seek refuge in the back woods, they would soon be in a more pitiable condition than lowest Indian tribe.
    Mr. Cooper then spoke on the atrocities perpetrated by Hudson and his subordinates when they landed on the island. He was followed by the Chairman, who spoke in similar terms of the settlement of Colorado, Wisconsin, &c. Subsequently Gen. Cullen and Col. Wynkoop remarked, in reply to a question put by the Chair, that the best means of effecting an amicable adjustment of our Indian difficulties would be to extend American citizenship to the Indians, and allow their Representatives seats in Congress. The proceedings then terminated with a vote of thanks to Col. Wynkoop.


Source:

Unknown, "Indian Affairs," New York Times, Thursday, 24 December 1868, Page 1, Cols. 6-7.


Notes and Acknowledgement.

    During this time period rumors filled the newspapers from Kansas to New York that the Bureau of Indian Affairs would be relocated and put under the jurisdiction of the Army or some other force and that this would put a stop to the Indian wars. However, after much fuss and bother, nothing came of it and the Bureau remained where it was. The Indian wars continued in the West for almost another 20 years.

    I would like to thank Susan Woodworth, [email protected], of Summit, New Jersey, for copying this article from the New York Times for me. I've been after it for some time now and Sue made it all possible. Thank you so much Sue for all of your help. I'm deeply grateful.

    All my best,

    Chris

Created April 9, 2003; Revised May 28, 2003
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