Part 1

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THREE YEARS ON THE PLAINS

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