The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 29, July 1925 - April, 1926 Page: 185
330 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Jacksboro Indian Affair of 1871
when he said: "In fact, General, the whole Indian management
is a notorious fraud."'6
Major Douglas, commanding at Fort Dodge, Kansas, on Jan-
uary 13, 1867, in making a report on the hostility of the Indians
of his country, called attention to the alarming state of affairs
in connection with questionable practices of Indian agents. He
stated that the issue and sale of arms and ammunition, such as
breech-loading carbines and revolvers, powder and lead (loose and
in cartridges), percussion caps, etc., continued without interrup-
tion. The Indian agents and traders, who acted under the au-
thority of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, were especially
careless in issuing excessive supplies of revolvers and ammunition.
He stated that Butterfield, a trader, had sold several cases of arms
to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe, and that Charles Rath, another
trader, who lived at Zarah, armed several bands of Kiowas with
revolvers and completely overstocked them in powder. In voicing
his fears of this situation he said that between the authorized
issue by agents and the sale by traders, the Indians were never
better armed than at that time. He stated that several hundred
of them had revolvers in their possession, and that some had as
many as three, and that they boasted that if trouble came in the
spring, they would be ready for it.17
When these distressful conditions were brought to the attention
of General Sherman,'8 he immediately gave orders to circumscribe
the activities of the traders as outlined in their trade permits in
such a way as to forbid them to sell arms and ammunition to the
savages, explaining that the former right granted to the Indian
agents to sell enough arms and ammunition to the Indians re-
stricted their sale only to the amount necessary in killing their
food supply, the buffalo. In criticizing this practice a Texan
said that it was a well-known fact that the Indians always used
the bow and arrow for such purposes.'9
As a consequence of this state of affairs it was but natural that
the conditions on the frontier were almost unbearable. The In-
1"Letter, Sheridan to Nicholas, 1565-M-1868, Adjutant General's Office,
Washington, D. C.
17Letter, Douglass to Assistant Adjt. Gen., Div. of Mo., 58-M-1867, Ad-
jutant General's Office, Washington, D. C.
s"General Sherman was at the time Commander of the Division of the
Missouri.
19Austin Daily Republican, December 5, 1868.185
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 29, July 1925 - April, 1926, periodical, 1926; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117141/m1/205/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.