“JOURNAL OF A COUNCIL HELD WITH THE CHIEFS AND WARRIORS OF THE SAC AND FOX INDIANS AT FORT ARMSTRONG ON THE FIFTH SEPTEMBER, 1831, BY MAJOR BLISS, FIRST INFANTRY, COMMANDING, AND FELIX ST. VRAIN, THE U.S. AGENT. “At about 12 o’clock the council was opened by the commanding officer, as follows: “‘Chiefs and Warriors of the Sacs and Foxes: By the treaty of Prairie du Chien, made at the request of the President of the United States with the Sioux, Menominees and other Indian tribes, you solemnly promised and agreed that there should be peace between you and those tribes. You also agreed that if either tribe should attack either of the other tribes, that the persons of those who should be concerned in the outrage should be delivered up to the officers of the United States. About four or five nights since a war party of Foxes and some Sacs, led on by Pash-qua-mee, attacked a peaceable party of Menominees near Fort Crawford and killed 26 men, women and children. Wrong has been done and the treaty of Prairie du Chien has been violated. “‘It becomes our duty, therefore, as officers of the United States, to demand that you, the chiefs and warriors of the Sac and Fox Indians, deliver and surrender to us Pash-qua-mee and all the principal Indians of the Sacs and Foxes who were engaged in this late massacre of the Menominees near Fort Crawford, and we do demand them. We wait for your answer. We hope it may be such as to convince the President, the Great Council and the citizens of the United States that the Sacs and Foxes are not liars; that they always speak truth and perform as they promise.’ “After a short delay, Tiornay (the Strawberry), a Fox chief, replied: ‘My Father: I have heard you and the commanding officer. We were all at the treaty at Prairie du Chien. We have the talk in our minds. All the chiefs you see here have told the young men left behind all that was said at that time. It is because you do not know our manners that you think ill of this. When we hear of a war party going out, we do all in our power to stop it. You have heard what I say. We did not tell them to go to war. “‘My Father and Commanding Officer: How can we stop our men, when your white men cannot stop the whites from committing crimes? Both of our cases are hard; our young men will not do what we wish, and yours act in the same way. This is all I have to say.’ “Kottekennekak, the Bald Eagle, a Fox brave, then said: ‘My Father: Though we were all at Prairie du Chien, how can we stop our young men? They go off while we are asleep and we know nothing of it. It was not by our consent that the young men struck the Menominees at Prairie du Chien. We have done all we could; but the young men will not listen to us.’