I am not surprised that General Harney obtained the name "squaw killer," at the battle of Blue Water, for at that time it seemed that the extermination of the Indian race was the best solution of a bad problem. And it is no wonder that Qister said, when they accused him of throwing papooses into the South Platte river. after he had destroyed an Indian village, "if you kill the nits there will be no lice."

CHAPTER Nil THE GRATTAN MASSACRE-- SPOTTED TAIL'S DRAMATIC DEED

In 1851 there was a grand council of the Ogallalas and Brules on Horse Creek in the west part of Scotts Bluff county and across the state line. Here all the tribes agreed to a division of the land, and all the hunting grounds between the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains were divided among them. In the treaty the United States confirmed to each tribe the land it was to occupy.

Surveying parties, which always were viewed with suspicion by Indians, were taken off for the time.

All the Indians agreed that "the great Road" along the Platte, and across the mountains should be free and open for white people, and the United States agreed to pay the Indians fifty thousand dollars a year in goods, for the use of the road through their country. The Indians agreed not to rob or attack the white people on this road, and the United States agreed to keep the white people from going elsewhere into the Indian country.