Friday, December 28, 2012 “It is hard to overestimate the
magnitude of the calamity which happened to the Sioux people by
the sudden disappearance of the buffalo. The boundless range was
to be abandoned for the circumscribed reservation, and abundance
of plenty to be supplanted by limited and decreasing government
subsistence and supplies. Under these circumstances it is not in
human nature not to be discontented and restless, even turbulent
and violent.”Commissioner Morgan was not empathetic about the
plight of the indigenous people. He was just stating facts. One
year prior to the massacre, in Oct 1889, he issued a policy
paper stating his convictions regarding the native population.
“The Indians must conform to "the white man’s ways," peaceably
if they will, forcibly if they must. They must adjust themselves
to their environment, and conform their mode of living
substantially to our civilization. This civilization may not be
the best possible, but it is the best the Indians can get. They
cannot escape it,