Nov 18, 2008 - Sale 2163

Sale 2163 - Lot 5

Price Realized: $ 4,320
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
"IS THERE ANY DANGER OF TROUBLE WITH YOUR INDIANS?" (AMERICAN INDIANS.) Barstow, Charles H. Archive relating to a thwarted revolt on the Crow reservation in Montana. More than 70 leaves of correspondence, contemporary copies and memoranda; a few items faint and worn or with some slight separation at folds, but condition and legibility are generally strong. Crow Agency, MT, 1883-85
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Charles H. Barstow (1850-1908) was a clerk with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, stationed at the Crow Agency in Montana circa 1878 to 1897. This collection relates mainly to an 1885 scandal. The Blake Wilson Cattle Company wanted to lease three million acres of the Crow reservation. To gain compliance, Barstow and his colleagues at the Indian Agency allegedly threatened that the government beef rations would be cut off if the Crow did not sign the document. When the Crow came to understand the nature of the lease they had signed, they vowed to kill any cattle or ranchers that came onto the reservation. In a 7 February letter to his sister, Barstow described a tense meeting with the Crows: "The council was stormy enough but our little force held the Indians level while it lasted . . . The troops called for several days since have not yet arrived." He explained to his sister on 12 February that the Crow had signed voluntarily: "With their hatred for the agent it is absurd to talk or write of his compelling them to act in any way against their inclinations." On 24 February he described the resolution of the crisis: "The trouble is I trust ended. Spotted Horse and Bear Wolf were arrested by two troops of the 1st Cav . . . They (the Indians) were called into the office and thus arrested, they had no opportunity to make trouble." a rich source on the crows' struggle to maintain control over their land.