The Removal of the Poncas
"For this removal, conditioned on the consent of the Poncas, Congress at its last session appropriated $25,000. If the efforts now being made to gain such consent are successful, the move will be commenced in early spring."
This provision for the consent of the Poncas proved to have been a most indiscreet concession on the part of Congress. The efforts to gain the Indian consent were continued well into the winter, and in January an inspector took ten of the chiefs to the Indian Territory to show them the country.
There are two entirely different tales of this trip to the South. Here is the story as discreetly told by the Honorable Commissioner of Indian Affairs:
"Unfortunately, the delegation of ten chiefs, on account of the failure of the Osages to show hospitality, inclement weather, and other causes, became disheartened at the outset, declined the friendly advances of the Kaws, refused to look farther, scarcely noticed the rich lands along the Arkansas River, and on reaching Arkansas City, eight left in the night on foot for the Ponca agency, which they reached in forty days."
The Indians relate a dark tale of attempted coercion, with the alternative of being cast adrift, without money, interpreter, or guide, in a strange land four hundred and fifty miles from home, if they refused to select a location for their tribe and agree to removal. According to the story of one of the
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