The Indian Dispossessed
The question of the Poncas' fundamental right to their old homes is buried under a mass of argument against their restoration on the ground of inexpediency, none of which is convincing. The terrible Sioux bogey appears again; but Spotted Tail dwelt as unwillingly in the homes of the Poncas as the Poncas remained in the South. He remained there a few months; then, long before the Poncas had ceased to beg for their return, Spotted Tail peremptorily ordered his Great Father to take his people back to their old home, on pain of another Sioux war. Within ten days the wily old chief's camp was on wheels, merrily rolling toward the Rosebud country. Spotted Tail, gentle reader, was a Big Chief in the Sioux nation.
Here is a miserable excuse of the Secretary for a great nation to lean upon:
"But another difficulty arose of a grave nature: the invasion of the Indian Territory by white intruders striving to obtain possession of certain lands in the Indian Territory held for Indian settlement in that region, of which the present Ponca reservation forms a part. . . . The lands coveted by the invaders are held against the intrusion on the ground that they are reserved for Indian settlement. It is important, therefore, that the Indian settlements actually on such lands should remain there at least while the Indian Territory is in danger. To take away the existing Indian settlements from those lands under such circumstances would very much weaken
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