After a sojourn of
hardly more than a decade in the Iowa country, these luckless
folk were now persuaded to yield all their lands to the United
States and retire to a reservation in Kansas. The negotiations
were carried out with all due regard for Indian susceptibilities.
Governor Chambers, resplendent in the uniform of a
brigadier-general of the United States army, repaired with his
aides to the appointed rendezvous, and there the chiefs presented
themselves, arrayed in new blankets and white deerskin leggings,
with full paraphernalia of paint, feathers, beads, and
elaborately decorated war clubs. Oratory ran freely, although
through the enforced medium of an interpreter. The chiefs
harangued for hours not only upon the beautiful meadows, the
running streams, the stately trees, and the other beloved objects
which they were called upon to surrender to the white man, but
upon the moon and stars and rain and hail and wind, all of which
were alleged to be more attractive and beneficent in Iowa than
anywhere else. The Governor, in turn, gave the Indians some good
advice, urging them to live peaceably in their new homes, to be
industrious and self-supporting, to leave liquor alone, and, in
general, to "be a credit to the country.
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