The following year, McGillyCuddy, appalled by the treatment of the Indians, went to Washington and talked his way into the job of agent at Pine Ridge Reservation in the Dakota Territory. Under McGillyCuddy, an able, honest administrator, the Sioux and Cheyenne at Pine Ridge were so prosperous that other Indians asked to come and join them. McGillyCuddy organized an Indian police force that enforced the law impartially, arresting Indians as well as white men breaking the law.
The whites, of course, complained loudly at the indignity of being taken into custody by Indians. Workers and freighters objected when McGillyCuddy insisted that Indians build their own houses and haul their own supplies from the railroad.
McGillyCuddy also outraged corrupt Indian Bureau officials who seemed to feel they had a license to steal from the Indians. He became the most investigated man in the country as the Indian Bureau tried to get rid of him. Finally in 1886, he was removed for refusing to dismiss a valued assistant.
The one reformer who really did reform the life of the Indian, didn't do it the way the white man wanted. That's the real shame of it all...
Next time...The Tiger in the Southwest
_______________________________________
Today in Pioneer History: "On February 26, In a controversial move that inspires charges of eastern domination of the West, President Coolidge asked the Congress to establishes Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
Thank you Julie!
ReplyDelete