leaders of whom Mr. Creswell writes. Some of
them were often in my home, and I, in turn, have visited them. I am
familiar with many of the scenes described in this book. I have heard
from the missionaries' own lips the stories of their hardships, trials
and successes. I have listened to their account of the great massacre,
while with the tears flowing down their cheeks they told of the
desperate cruelty of the savages, their defeat, their conversion, and
their subsequent fidelity to the men and the cause they once opposed. I
am grateful to Mr. Creswell for putting these facts into permanent
shape and bespeak for his volume a cordial reception, a wide
circulation, and above all, the abundant blessing of God.

DAVID R. BREED.

Allegheny, Pa., January, 1906.

_PREFACE_.

This volume is not sent forth as a full history of the Sioux Missions.
That volume has not yet been written, and probably never will be.

The pioneer missionaries were too busily engaged in the formation of
the Dakota Dictionary and Grammar, in the translation of the Bible
into that wild, barbaric tongue; in the preparation of hymn books and
text books:--in the creation of a literature for the Sioux Nation, to
spend time in ordinary literary work. The present missionaries are
overwhelmed with the great work of ingathering and upbuilding that
has come to them so rapidly all over the widely extended Dakota
plains. These Sioux missionaries were and are men of deeds rather
than of words,--more intent on the _making_ of history than the
_recording_ of it. They are the noblest body of men and women that
ever yet went forth to do service, for our Great King, on American
soil.

For twenty years it has been the writer's privilege to mingle
intimately with these missionaries and with the Christian Sioux; to sit
with them at their great council fires; to talk with them in their
teepees; to visit them in their homes; to meet with them in their
Church Courts; to inspect their schools; to worship with them in their
churches; and to gather with them on the greensward under the matchless
Dakota sky and celebrate together with them the sweet, sacramental
service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

He was so filled and impressed by what he there saw and heard, that he
felt impelled to impart to others somewhat of the knowledge thus
gained; in order that they may be stimulated to a deeper interest in,
and devotion to the cause of missions on American