Details
[SIOUX WARS]. [SITTING BULL]. Autograph letter signed ("Fred Courtney") to Sandford, Yellowstone Expedition, Cedar Creek, 23 July 1877. 2 pages, 4to, in pencil, with original envelope.
A SOLDIER IN THE 1876-77 SIOUX WAR RECOUNTS THE FLIGHT OF SITTING BULL TO CANADA. "We have had hard marching and a great scarcity of water," writes U.S. Army trooper Fred Courtney, "and even what we did find was for the most part Alkali. We were out for 40 days with the 22nd along the little Missouri when we found a new camp of 60 lodges of Indians. We followed them up through the Bad lands but had to give up the chase as we could not bring the train along. They were on their way to join Sitting Bull who has crossed over to Canada and is going to remain their [sic]. The British told him he had to decide whether he would remain there or the United States so he concluded to remain in Canada and promises not to return to the United States Territories. This we believe puts an end to the expedition and we are here now awaiting Orders. We expect to get to Sully before 3 weeks. The 22nd parted with us on the little Missouri on their way to the States. They went away joyfully although pretty well played out. There is not the Stuff in them there is in the 1st, which they admitted." The discovery of gold in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory--and the influx of thousands of white prospectors on Indian hunting grounds--triggered a pivotal clash between the U.S. government and the Sioux Tribes in the spring of 1876. Sitting Bull and the Ogala Chief, Crazy Horse seemed to gain the upper hand with their destruction of 5 companies of General Custer's regiment at Little Big Horn on 25 June. But outrage over the defeat brought on a flood of reinforcements that forced Sitting Bull to retreat across the Canadian border, where he remained until surrendering to the U.S. Army in 1881. He was eventually killed at the outset of the famous "Ghost Dance" uprising in 1890.
A SOLDIER IN THE 1876-77 SIOUX WAR RECOUNTS THE FLIGHT OF SITTING BULL TO CANADA. "We have had hard marching and a great scarcity of water," writes U.S. Army trooper Fred Courtney, "and even what we did find was for the most part Alkali. We were out for 40 days with the 22nd along the little Missouri when we found a new camp of 60 lodges of Indians. We followed them up through the Bad lands but had to give up the chase as we could not bring the train along. They were on their way to join Sitting Bull who has crossed over to Canada and is going to remain their [sic]. The British told him he had to decide whether he would remain there or the United States so he concluded to remain in Canada and promises not to return to the United States Territories. This we believe puts an end to the expedition and we are here now awaiting Orders. We expect to get to Sully before 3 weeks. The 22nd parted with us on the little Missouri on their way to the States. They went away joyfully although pretty well played out. There is not the Stuff in them there is in the 1st, which they admitted." The discovery of gold in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory--and the influx of thousands of white prospectors on Indian hunting grounds--triggered a pivotal clash between the U.S. government and the Sioux Tribes in the spring of 1876. Sitting Bull and the Ogala Chief, Crazy Horse seemed to gain the upper hand with their destruction of 5 companies of General Custer's regiment at Little Big Horn on 25 June. But outrage over the defeat brought on a flood of reinforcements that forced Sitting Bull to retreat across the Canadian border, where he remained until surrendering to the U.S. Army in 1881. He was eventually killed at the outset of the famous "Ghost Dance" uprising in 1890.