Then cities arose and always the White Man's lands were extended
and the Indians pushed farther and farther away from the country that
the Great Father had given them and that had always been theirs.
"When treaties were broken and the Indians trespassed on the rights of
the White Man, my chiefs and I were always here to adjust the White
Man's wrongs.
"When treaties were broken and the Indians' rights were infringed, no
one could find the white chiefs. They were somewhere back toward the
rising sun. There was no one to give us justice. New chiefs of the
White Men came to supplant the old chiefs. They knew nothing of our
wrongs and laughed at us.
"When the Sioux left Minnesota and went beyond the Big Muddy the white
chiefs promised them they would never again be disturbed. Then they
followed us across the river, and when we asked for lands they gave us
each a prairie chicken's flight four ways (a hundred and sixty acres);
this they gave us, who once had all the land there was, and whose habit
is to roam as far as a horse can carry us and then continue our journey
till we have had our fill of wandering.
"We are not as many as the White Man. But we know that this land is our
land. And while we live and can fight, we will fight for it. If the
White Man does not want us to fight, why does he take our land? If we
come and build our lodges on the White Man's land, the White Man drives
us away or kills us.
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