Summary of Sitting Bull's interview, July 1879
Dec 11, 2018 8:27:22 GMT -5
grahamew, Historian, and 1 more like this
Post by carlo on Dec 11, 2018 8:27:22 GMT -5
Many of you might be familiar with the fact that Sitting Bull was interviewed in June 1879, while he was exiled in Canada. The interviewer was Stanley Huntley, a reporter for the Chicago Daily Tribune at the time. The lengthy interview was published in the Chicago Daily Tribune of July 5, 1879, and has been used as source material for most if not all of the works on the Hunkpapa chief in recent times.
When I was researching the time when Sitting Bull was in Canada, I came across the Daily Free Press (Eau Claire, WI) of July 7, 1879, which summarized the Huntley interview. I though it would be worthwhile to share the transcript with you here. Some sections can be a bit difficult to follow, but what we see is an interesting insight into the view of Sitting Bull and his headmen on topics like the origin of the Great Sioux War, the fighting ability of the U.S. Army, Custer, reservation life, farming, who is behind Crow agression, and so forth. All spelling mistakes are original.
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SITTING BULL.
INTERVIEW IN HIS TENT.
Chicago, July 5.
Stanley Huntley, one of the Tribune staff, has succeeded in interviewing Sitting Bull, and this morning the Tribune publishes an eight-column account of the interview, dated Sitting Bull's Camp, June 16, via Wood Mountain June 18. via Fort Buford July 3. The following is the substance of the interview: I found Sitting Bull in the Milk river country, twelve miles south of Wood Mountain, forty-five miles south of the line, 125 miles cast of Fort Assinniboine, and about eighty miles northwest of Wolf Point agency. This would bring it about sixty miles north of the Missouri river. He was in the heart of the buffalo country as lies north of the Missouri, and hunting with indifferent success. He knows he is ON DANGEROUS SOIL.
After weeks of toil and travel I found him where he is liable to an attack at any time, and he is naturally suspicious of all white men who enter his camp. He faces me; is at the head of his army here. Stretching away to the west a procession of splendor, for his camp is moving, and for three miles stretches in a line a mile wide, and made up all the paraphernalia that delights the savage. There is something remarkable in his face. It is rather broad and fleshy, but a determined line around the mouth destroys the impression of flabbiness. His eyes are wide, black, and piercing. The upper lids are heavy and the outer corners hang over the eyes as if his brain had escaped into them. His shoulders and chest are broad and strong, his arms muscular, and his hands awfully dirty. He is dressed in blue leggins, beaded moccasins, a shirt made of the same material, figured like patterns of Broche shawls, and his blanket bound lightly around his Waist, for the afternoon is intolerably hot and clear. The crowd fall back a little.
"How Colonel,” and as he speaks extends his hand; "Took ta nea can pa took ta nea wa ga tich ar an torgua an?" Well, comrade, where are you from? Where are you going? What do you want? From Wood Mountain, and I am going over to the half-breed camp on Milk river. I am glad I have met you, and if you arc encamped here to-morrow, as I go back I will stay and talk with you. Next day Mr. Huntly succeeded in interviewing Sitting Bull, who said in reply to many questions put to him, substantially as follows: ''I hate the Americans because I and my people have always been deceived by them. They asked us to go to the Gift House reservation and said they would care for us. Many of my people went there. Then their rations were short. It is not many years. Your people said they would give us the country of the Black Hills. They said our children should have it and own it for them; that it should be our hunting ground. As soon as they found there was shining dust there they drove us from it and told us that the country did not belong to us. Such actions make me so that I cannot believe them; we went away from there peacefully though we knew it was rich with gold, for sake of peace, and took our wives and children. The American people SENT LONG HAIR
(Custer) to follow us. Do you know of anything we did to bring Long Hair upon us at Little Big Horn river? No, you don't. Do your people know of anything we did? No, they don't. We were a peaceable camp, hunting for meat to feed our families. What stories did your people hear that they sent Long Hair upon us? If you were ever told that we were hostile, it is a lie. We have attacked nothing but buffalo. It is for that I dislike the Americans.
Do you want war with the Americans? No, I do not want war with them. I am tired of war. I am tired of blood. I went with my people into the white mother's country so as to get away from war. If I had wanted to fight I would have stayed in my own country.
You have come back to your own country and you have come for war? Your warriors cover the prairies? We have come to hunt buffalo. The buffaloes have come down here and we followed them. We want meat. Our women and children are hungry. There is nothing for us but wild game. We have not come to injure the while man or his property. We were forced to come.
Have you been told that if you crossed the line, the long knives would attack you? We have been told so; but we have come. If the long knives will let us hunt in peace we will go back as soon as we have got meat. We don't want the white man's blood. We don't want his horses. We want something to eat, and we must go where it is.
What, then, if the long knives come? We will avoid them if we can. If we cannot we will fight.
So you think you can defeat the long knives? There was a general laugh at the absurdity of the question, but the chief did not change countenance. He answered quietly, but with an air of firm conviction, “In those teepes there, we have old women whom we have thrown aside; I will place them on horses and they can whip all the long knives your people can send, if they are like those Long Hair had. His people could neither ride a horse nor shoot a gun. (There was a fierce grunt of assent all around the ring.)
Then why did you flee from them? Why did you not remain and hold your country?
We are tired of war. The Crows are fighting. I tried to make peace with them, for the red men should be as one; but while I was trying to make peace with them their young men stole my horses. Your people sent them to do it. Your people are persecuting me.”
“You are mistaken. My people are willing to have you come back to your country. They will set apart a portion of it for you and protect you. They will feed you and your families. They will be your friends.”
“I will not go to the gift-house. I am a hunter and will hunt as long as there is wild game on the prairie. I do not want to live in a house.”
“Stories have come from your camp that you wanted to go to the gift house. You say you will not and never wanted to?”
“There were rascals in my camp. They went to the gift house, and there they used my name. They said I sent them to find out on what condition I would go to the gift house. I never sent them. I never wanted to go to the gift house, and I never will. They want my people to farm. I will never farm. Then they would want me to wear pantaloons and cut my hair short.”
“The buffalo are getting scarce; they are traveling south beyond the Missouri. When they are gone, what will your people do for food?” I asked him. “You must not think the Great Spirit doesn't watch over us as closely as he watches over you. If he put me on these prairies, and permitted me to thrive with them, I know he is watching me, and he will never leave me to starve. When the buffalo are gone he will give us something else.” This virtually ENDED THE INTERVIEW,
and Sitting Bull took out his pipe and the enterprising Mr. Huntly handed him a match. Then all the other chiefs delivered short addresses and made a full statement of the situation as looked upon from their standpoint, which is they have never desired war with the whites and have only acted on the defensive. The latter assertion however, usually being qualified by the significant admission that some of their young men were wild and bad and could not be restrained but it is evident what the Indian question is as far as these 4,000 hostile Sioux are concerned; they will not tolerate the idea of going on a reservation and supporting themselves by tilling the soil. They despise the lifts of a farmer, involving as it does the cutting of their hair and wearing of pantaloons, and are in no humor to come to any terms which shall restrict their privilege to carry guns, and hunt, and to make war whenever they feel inclined. They hate the Americans and are attached to their white mother, the queen of England, and the best aspect of the case is their apparent inclination to return and live on British soil.
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When I was researching the time when Sitting Bull was in Canada, I came across the Daily Free Press (Eau Claire, WI) of July 7, 1879, which summarized the Huntley interview. I though it would be worthwhile to share the transcript with you here. Some sections can be a bit difficult to follow, but what we see is an interesting insight into the view of Sitting Bull and his headmen on topics like the origin of the Great Sioux War, the fighting ability of the U.S. Army, Custer, reservation life, farming, who is behind Crow agression, and so forth. All spelling mistakes are original.
--------------
SITTING BULL.
INTERVIEW IN HIS TENT.
Chicago, July 5.
Stanley Huntley, one of the Tribune staff, has succeeded in interviewing Sitting Bull, and this morning the Tribune publishes an eight-column account of the interview, dated Sitting Bull's Camp, June 16, via Wood Mountain June 18. via Fort Buford July 3. The following is the substance of the interview: I found Sitting Bull in the Milk river country, twelve miles south of Wood Mountain, forty-five miles south of the line, 125 miles cast of Fort Assinniboine, and about eighty miles northwest of Wolf Point agency. This would bring it about sixty miles north of the Missouri river. He was in the heart of the buffalo country as lies north of the Missouri, and hunting with indifferent success. He knows he is ON DANGEROUS SOIL.
After weeks of toil and travel I found him where he is liable to an attack at any time, and he is naturally suspicious of all white men who enter his camp. He faces me; is at the head of his army here. Stretching away to the west a procession of splendor, for his camp is moving, and for three miles stretches in a line a mile wide, and made up all the paraphernalia that delights the savage. There is something remarkable in his face. It is rather broad and fleshy, but a determined line around the mouth destroys the impression of flabbiness. His eyes are wide, black, and piercing. The upper lids are heavy and the outer corners hang over the eyes as if his brain had escaped into them. His shoulders and chest are broad and strong, his arms muscular, and his hands awfully dirty. He is dressed in blue leggins, beaded moccasins, a shirt made of the same material, figured like patterns of Broche shawls, and his blanket bound lightly around his Waist, for the afternoon is intolerably hot and clear. The crowd fall back a little.
"How Colonel,” and as he speaks extends his hand; "Took ta nea can pa took ta nea wa ga tich ar an torgua an?" Well, comrade, where are you from? Where are you going? What do you want? From Wood Mountain, and I am going over to the half-breed camp on Milk river. I am glad I have met you, and if you arc encamped here to-morrow, as I go back I will stay and talk with you. Next day Mr. Huntly succeeded in interviewing Sitting Bull, who said in reply to many questions put to him, substantially as follows: ''I hate the Americans because I and my people have always been deceived by them. They asked us to go to the Gift House reservation and said they would care for us. Many of my people went there. Then their rations were short. It is not many years. Your people said they would give us the country of the Black Hills. They said our children should have it and own it for them; that it should be our hunting ground. As soon as they found there was shining dust there they drove us from it and told us that the country did not belong to us. Such actions make me so that I cannot believe them; we went away from there peacefully though we knew it was rich with gold, for sake of peace, and took our wives and children. The American people SENT LONG HAIR
(Custer) to follow us. Do you know of anything we did to bring Long Hair upon us at Little Big Horn river? No, you don't. Do your people know of anything we did? No, they don't. We were a peaceable camp, hunting for meat to feed our families. What stories did your people hear that they sent Long Hair upon us? If you were ever told that we were hostile, it is a lie. We have attacked nothing but buffalo. It is for that I dislike the Americans.
Do you want war with the Americans? No, I do not want war with them. I am tired of war. I am tired of blood. I went with my people into the white mother's country so as to get away from war. If I had wanted to fight I would have stayed in my own country.
You have come back to your own country and you have come for war? Your warriors cover the prairies? We have come to hunt buffalo. The buffaloes have come down here and we followed them. We want meat. Our women and children are hungry. There is nothing for us but wild game. We have not come to injure the while man or his property. We were forced to come.
Have you been told that if you crossed the line, the long knives would attack you? We have been told so; but we have come. If the long knives will let us hunt in peace we will go back as soon as we have got meat. We don't want the white man's blood. We don't want his horses. We want something to eat, and we must go where it is.
What, then, if the long knives come? We will avoid them if we can. If we cannot we will fight.
So you think you can defeat the long knives? There was a general laugh at the absurdity of the question, but the chief did not change countenance. He answered quietly, but with an air of firm conviction, “In those teepes there, we have old women whom we have thrown aside; I will place them on horses and they can whip all the long knives your people can send, if they are like those Long Hair had. His people could neither ride a horse nor shoot a gun. (There was a fierce grunt of assent all around the ring.)
Then why did you flee from them? Why did you not remain and hold your country?
We are tired of war. The Crows are fighting. I tried to make peace with them, for the red men should be as one; but while I was trying to make peace with them their young men stole my horses. Your people sent them to do it. Your people are persecuting me.”
“You are mistaken. My people are willing to have you come back to your country. They will set apart a portion of it for you and protect you. They will feed you and your families. They will be your friends.”
“I will not go to the gift-house. I am a hunter and will hunt as long as there is wild game on the prairie. I do not want to live in a house.”
“Stories have come from your camp that you wanted to go to the gift house. You say you will not and never wanted to?”
“There were rascals in my camp. They went to the gift house, and there they used my name. They said I sent them to find out on what condition I would go to the gift house. I never sent them. I never wanted to go to the gift house, and I never will. They want my people to farm. I will never farm. Then they would want me to wear pantaloons and cut my hair short.”
“The buffalo are getting scarce; they are traveling south beyond the Missouri. When they are gone, what will your people do for food?” I asked him. “You must not think the Great Spirit doesn't watch over us as closely as he watches over you. If he put me on these prairies, and permitted me to thrive with them, I know he is watching me, and he will never leave me to starve. When the buffalo are gone he will give us something else.” This virtually ENDED THE INTERVIEW,
and Sitting Bull took out his pipe and the enterprising Mr. Huntly handed him a match. Then all the other chiefs delivered short addresses and made a full statement of the situation as looked upon from their standpoint, which is they have never desired war with the whites and have only acted on the defensive. The latter assertion however, usually being qualified by the significant admission that some of their young men were wild and bad and could not be restrained but it is evident what the Indian question is as far as these 4,000 hostile Sioux are concerned; they will not tolerate the idea of going on a reservation and supporting themselves by tilling the soil. They despise the lifts of a farmer, involving as it does the cutting of their hair and wearing of pantaloons, and are in no humor to come to any terms which shall restrict their privilege to carry guns, and hunt, and to make war whenever they feel inclined. They hate the Americans and are attached to their white mother, the queen of England, and the best aspect of the case is their apparent inclination to return and live on British soil.
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