idth and one hundred and fifty in length. To this reservation these
four bands removed their people, numbering some seven thousand souls, of
whom, perhaps, twelve hundred were warriors. During the eleven years
which have elapsed since this treaty was made, they have lived there,
the State of Minnesota being meanwhile peopled by the whites with
unparalleled rapidity, and the Indians seeing flourishing and populous
settlements springing up all about them. With but a single interruption,
peace and amity has existed between the two races; missions, schools,
and to some extent, agriculture, have been established among them; and a
large number of halfbreeds, springing from marriages between white
traders and Sioux women, have formed, apparently, a link of
consanguinity and interest, which, aided by the influence and laws of
civilization, would hereafter prevent any trouble or bloodshed on the
part of the savages.

One single and very grave interruption to these peaceful relations has,
however, occurred. In March, 1857, Inkpadutah, a Wahpekuta Dacotah, with
a small band of followers, committed a terrible massacre near Spirit
Lake, in the northwestern corner of Iowa, slaying fifty persons, and
carrying away four women into captivity, two of whom were, after some
months, ransomed and restored to their friends, the other two having
been previously murdered by their captors. But Inkpadutah and his band
were outlaws, driven away by their own people for creating internal
dissensions; and although the perpetrators were never properly pursued
and punished, it was not thought that the outrage had been countenanced
by the rest of the nation, or that any danger existed of similar acts on
their part.

The cause of the recent outbreak cannot, perhaps, be absolutely
determined; the manner of its beginning is more easily traced. It must
be understood that, for the purpose of receiving their annuities, the
Indians, at a certain period every summer, come down from their hunting
grounds to the two Agencies, one at Redwood, near Fort Ridgely, and the
other at Yellow Medicine. It is the custom to keep a certain quantity of
provisions at these Agencies to feed them during these visits, and also
to sometimes send them supplies during times of great want and scarcity
of game in winter. Unfortunately, they came last year much earlier than
common, and before they had received their usual notification from the
Agent, that the annuities were awaiting t