ndian, traditionally laconic and stoical, is without family affection and without that noblest of human sentiments, love of country. The United States government has, indeed, procee

is a wonder he has taken root anywhere and yet he has. Attachment to the places where the bones of his people lie is with him the most constant of ex

neration, but Indian Territory was none the less home. If the refugees could only get there again, they were confident all

usements. Their days of exile were not filled altoget

minately across two hundred miles of bleak and lonely prairie, and no amount of philanthropic effort on the part of the government agents could mitigate the misery arising therefrom or bring the groups together. The task had been early abandoned as, under the circumstances, next

Territory would be made possible. Lane, likewise interviewed,195 was similarly encouraging and had every reason to be; for was not his Indian brigade in process of formation? Much cheered and even exhilarated

April 16, 1862, gives, besides a rather gruesome account of

ents, see Kile to Dole, April 10, 1862 [Indian Office Genera

were awaiting the arrival of Dole. Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la (Crazy Dog) and a Seminole chief, Aluk

COLONEL W.

home, were unknown to them and, if known, would have been uncomprehended. Then, too, the vacillation of the government puzzled them. They became suspicious; for they had become acquainted, through the experience of long years, with the white man's bad faith and th

The desire to recover lost ground in Indian Territory, under the pretext of restoring the fugitives, aroused the fighting instinct of many young men in southern Kansas and several irregular expeditions were projected.196 Needless to say they came to nothing. In point of fact, they never

ady cited, the one, projected by Coffin's son and a Captain Brooks, is no

sippi under Halleck. The consolidation of Hunter's Department of Kansas with Halleck's Department of Missouri was thus provided for and had long been a consummation devoutly to be wished.197 Both were naturally parts of the same organic whole when regarded from a military point of view. Neither could be operated upon independently of the other. Moreover, both were infested by political vultures. In both, the army discipline was, in consequence, bad; that is, if it could be said to be in existence at all. If anything, Kan

sion of Kansas in the contemplated new department because he thoug

n) Official Records,

ayer, Life and Letters of

u, Military History of U.S.

that would threaten her, provided her own jay-hawking hordes could be suppressed. Her problems were chiefly administrative.201 For the work to be done, Denver seemed the fittest man available and, on the nineteenth, he, having previously been ordered to report to Halleck for duty,202 was assigned203 to the command of a newly-constituted District of Kansas, from which the troops,204 who were guarding the only real danger zone, the southeas

o Stanton, March 28, 1862, Offic

2: (return)

3: (return)

re the war in connection with the Sharpe's rifles episode (Spring, Kansas, 60) and whose appointment as an Indian agent, early in 1861, had been successfully opposed by Lane (Robinson, K

alleck, March 26, 1862 [Official Re

a temporary209 appointment of him, resorted210 to by Halleck because of the urgent need of some sort of a commander in Kansas, was deplored by the president.211 Denver was then sent to the place where his abilities and his experience would be better appreciated, to the southernmost part of the state, the hinterland of the whole Indi

Halleck, March 21, 1862, Official

) Halleck to Stanton,

hat Stanton threatened "to leave the office" should the "enforcement" of any such order, meaning the non-assignment of Denver and the appointment of a man named Davis [D

rn) -Ibid., vol. li

eturn) -Ibid., v

rn) -Ibid., vol. li

er, see Halleck to Sturgis, April 6, 1862 [Official Records, vo

14, 1862 [ibid., vol. iii

rn) -Ibid., vol. li

ed April 10 and that of Gen. Denver Aug. 14 and consequently Gen. Sturgis is th

st them.217 Congress had provided that certain Indian annuity money might be diverted to their maintenance,218 but that fund was practically exhausted before the middle of March.219 As already observed, the refugees very much wished to assist in the recovery of Indian Territor

the Indians to their homes and to remain there for their protection as long (as) may be necessary, al

. Within less than a week there had been promis

the First Cavalry to repair to Humboldt at the time the Indian Expedition was under consideration the

n) Daily Conservativ

sional Globe, 37th congress, s

mith, March 13, 1862 [Indian Off

62 [ibid., Consolidated Files, Southern Superinten

rn) Daily Conservat

ommissioner of Indian Af

Indian Office, was sent west with despatches224 to Halleck and with an order225 from the Ordnance Department for the delivery, at Fort Leavenworth, of the requisite arms. The messenger was Judge James Steele, who, upon reaching St. Louis, had alr

EPART

ITY, D. C, M

N.H.W.

e Department

regiments to act in the Indian country, with a view to open the way for the friendly Indians who are now refugees in Southern Kansas to return to their homes and t

the premises to this Departme

the Secret