Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux IndiansKelly, Fanny
History
Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians
Kelly, Fanny
Dakota Indians -- History; Dakota Indians -- Wars -- 1862-1865; Indian captivities -- West (U.S.); Kelly, Fanny, 1845-1904
The above letter was sent back by the Indian messenger, and we awaited
the result. In the afternoon we received the following reply:
“I am truly a white woman, and now in sight of your camp, but they
will not let me go. They say they will not fight, but don’t trust
them. They say, ‘How d’ye do.’ They say they want you to give them
sugar, coffee, flour, gunpowder, but give them nothing till you can
see me for yourself, but induce them, taking me first. They want
four wagons, and they will stop fighting. They want forty cattle
to eat; I have to write what they tell me. They want you to come
here—you know better than that. His name Chatvaneo and the other’s
name Porcupine. Read to yourself, some of them can talk English.
They say this is their ground. They say, ‘Go home and come back
no more.’ The Fort Laramie soldiers have been after me, but they
(the Indians) run so; and they say they want knives and axes and
arrow-iron to shoot buffalo. Tell them to wait and go to town, and
they can get them. I would give them any thing for liberty. Induce
them to show me before you give any thing. They are very anxious
for you to move now. Do not, I implore you, for your life’s sake.
“FANNY KELLY.
“My residence formerly Geneva, Allen County, Kansas.”
I returned by the Indian the following reply:
“DEAR MADAM:
“Your second communication convinces me that you are what you
profess to be, a captive white woman, and you may be assured that
myself and my party are eager for release, but for the present
I can not accede to the demands, or gratify the wants of your
captors. We are sent on an important trust and mission, by order of
the great War Chief at Washington, westward to the mountain region,
with a small party of well-armed and determined men, feeling
entirely capable of defending ourselves; but we are not a war
party, and our train is not intended for war purposes. Powder and
shot we have, but no presents for the hostile Indians.
“I am an officer of the Government, but am not authorized, by my
instructions to give any thing but destruction to Indians who try
to stop me on my march. However, I will, for your release, give
three of my own horses, some flour, sugar, and coffee, or a load of
supplies. Tell the Indians to go back for the night, and to-morrow
at noon, if they will send you with five men to deliver you to my
soldiers on the mound we occupied to-day, their main body not to
advance beyond their present position, I will hand over to them the
horses and provisions, which they will be permitted to take away to
their headquarters.
“Should there be occasion, the same opportunity for communicating
will be granted to-morrow.
“The Great Spirit tells me that you will yet be safely returned to
your friends, and that all wrongs that have been committed on the
defenseless and innocent shall be avenged.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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