Mr. Wright calls attention to the fact that the army officer was a better judge of human nature than the civilian and he further had the advantage of discipline. Surrounded as he was by numerous associates aspiring to promotion, he dared not steal Government supplies lest he be found out, and drummed out of the army. With a civilian it was very different. “History gives no more striking example in proof of feeble Governmental policy with the Plains Indians in combination with the pitiful incapacity of some of the civilian Agents, than the story of the last Indian raid through western Kansas and Nebraska in 1878. It seems that for no better reason than that they wished to have all the Cheyenne Indians in one band, the Indian officials of the Government gave orders for the removal of the Northern Cheyennes from their agency in Dakota, to that of the Southern Cheyennes at Fort Reno, in what is now Oklahoma. The Northern Cheyennes did not wish to move and protested vigorously, but in vain. Being unused to the southern climate, it was not long after their arrival at Fort Reno, before malaria appeared among them, numbers became sick and many died. Terror-stricken at this almost unknown experience, they became possessed with the idea that the water they had to drink in the new country was poisoned, and that all would die if they remained. Going to the Agent, they begged to be allowed to return to their northern home, but were refused. Then provisions began to grow scarce. The Cheyennes applied to the Agent for permission to go on a buffalo hunt to gain food. Permission was granted, but the buffalo had been practically exterminated in that locality, and, though they hunted for days, not a buffalo could be found, and the poor savages were in worse condition than before. They were forced to kill their few scrawny ponies for meat to sustain life until they could return to the agency, and there they killed their dogs and lived upon them for a while. Again they begged to be permitted to return to the North, and again they were refused. In pity for their distress, however, the Commander of the fort gave orders that a small ration should be distributed among them, but it is almost certain that a large portion of this was confiscated by unscrupulous assistants, and that very little of it ever reached the needy Indians. Their condition rendered them fairly desperate. They resolved to return to Dakota at any cost. ‘We may as well die fighting,’ said Dull Knife, the Cheyenne chief and leader, ‘as to stay here and die of starvation.’ They began stealing and concealing guns, ammunition, and what provisions they could spare from their scanty stock. When ready to start, they stole horses, and, with a few mounted warriors, their foraging operations were rapidly extended until an abundance of mounts, arms, and provisions were obtained. Women and children took part in the exodus, and the march was very leisurely, but notwithstanding this fact,