that it was “dangerous to get too near.” They were obliged therefore to settle half a mile away from the river. No wonder that on July 1st the Winnebagoes are reported as “not pleased with their location, and anxious to return to Minnesota, or to some other place among the whites.” They gathered together in council, and requested Superintendent Thompson to write to their Great Father for permission “to move among the whites again. * * * They have lived so long among the whites that they are more afraid of wild Indians than the whites are.” The superintendent hopes, however, they will be more contented as soon as he can get them comfortable buildings. But on July 16th we find Brigadier-general Sulley, commander of the North-western expedition against Indians, writing to the Department in behalf of these unfortunate creatures. General Sulley having been detained in camp near Crow Creek on account of the low water, the chiefs had gone to him with their tale of misery. “They stated that nothing would grow here. They dare not go out to hunt for fear of other tribes, and they would all starve to death. This I believe to be true, without the Government intends to ration them all the time. The land is sandy, dry, and parched up. * * * The land is poor; a low, sandy soil. I don’t think you can depend on a crop of corn even once in five years, as it seldom rains here in the summer. * * * I find them hard at work making canoes, with the intention of quitting the agency and going to join the Omahas or some other tribe down the river. They said they had been promised to be settled on the Big Sioux River. * * * I told them they must stay here till they get permission from Washington to move; that, if they attempted it, they would be fired on by my troops stationed down the river.”
This is a graphic picture of the condition of a band of two thousand human beings, for whose “benefit” $82,537 62 had just been realized from sale of their lands by the Government, to say nothing of the property they owned in lands yet
