life, and times of Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley1889

life, and times of Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley1889 Apr 23, 2011 20:11:13 GMT -5

Post by mdenney on Apr 23, 2011 20:11:13 GMT -5

With his eyes full on the facts, he could
say that the Indian policy of the United States Government
toward the red man was " one of the foulest blots on our na-
tional escutcheon." He had lived among the Indians, almost
as one of their number, for fifteen years. He knew them well.

294 AKCESTBY, LIFE, AKD TIMES OF

He repudiated the sentiment which credits to the white man's
nature an excess of virtue over that in the red man's blood.
And he knew, too well, that even in his most barbarous mood,
when exasperated to revenge, and maddened in despair, the
red man had committed no deed so foul but that the white
man could match it, and even surpass it. Therefore, even in
the hour of execution, he felt that the Indian, though guilty,
and righteously punished, yet died the victim of the white
man's avarice, injustice, and wrong, ^

It is time the white man ceased to plume himself upon his
superior virtue, culture, humanity, and civilization! The
dark eclipse of depravity^ common to the nature of all men,

1 The following letter of Bishop Whipple shows how intense the rage for " extermina-
tion" was, and how even the best of men were maligned and misrepresented if not chiming
in with the insane demand for a massacre of all the Indians :

Faribault, December 8, 1862,
To General Sibley:

Deab Sib : Your private and official letters are here by to-day's mail. I fully approve
of your reasons for jour decision, and agree with you in other matters. My views have
always been very sharp and well defined as to the necessity of prompt punishment for crime,
and although a clergyman, I have always refused to sue for pardon even where my sympa-
thies were deeply enlisted. I feel that the wretched Indians have sinned against the Ught of
nature, and by the laws of God and man have forfeited their lives. * * * It is due to the
cause of truth that false calumnies should be exposed. The way is by no means clear for the
future, but I do hope and pray that Grod, in his infinite mercy, will lead us where we are blind,
and, out of all this trouble, bring us to a place of safety. Should any be so blind as to sup-
pose I sympathize with the guilty you unll do me a favor hy denying it, and giving my real views
ichich aim at the reform of our corrupt system. I am with high respect,

Yours Faithfully,

W. B. Whipple,
Bishop of Minnesota.

And what a treatment the Indians have received at the hands of the government, under
its " corrupt sysi&nn" the following words of Gleneral Sibley sadly and painfully show :

The history of the treatment of the various tribes of Indians by the United States
Government constitutes one of the foulest blots on our national escutcheon. The volume
containing the long list of treaties negotiated within the last century affords conclusive
evidence of the violation of public faith, I will venture to assert that not one of the numer-
ous treaties on the statute books has ever been scrupulously fulfilled by the United States
Government. The poor savages have been beguiled, time after time, by promises, made only
to be disregarded, to relinquish their possessory rights to the lands of their fathers. The
senate has often assumed to make radical changes in these so-called treaties, without obtain-
ing the previous assent of the other parties to the contract, and Congress has almost uni-
formly failed to make the stipulated appropriations within the appointed time, ^ents,
incompetent or dishonest, have, as a general rule, been charged with the disbursement of
the funds, and with the distribution of goods and provisions, and what was not appropriated
to private use has oftentimes been doled out to the recipients unequally, and gross favoritism
generally practiced. The government has been guilty of utter indi£ference to the fate of
these so-called wards of the nation, has pursued no settled policy looking to civilizing and
preserving them from the numerous baleful influences which were sure to work their
destruction within a brief period, and made no effort to fit them to become members of the
body politic. Unfortunately for the poor creatures, they had tw votes to dispose of and,
consequently, high and low government oflScials, and members of Congress, as a general rule,
cared little for appeals made in their behalf by their few philanthropic friends. — Private
Notes by General Sibley, pp. 3, 4.

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life, and times of Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley1889

Post by mdenney on Apr 23, 2011 19:35:24 GMT -5

Post by mdenney on Apr 23, 2011 20:11:13 GMT -5