Ware says that he attended two of the councils at Camp Cottonwood in 1865, or the year following the date of Spotted Tail's leading in the Massacre of Cottonwood Canyon.

After these councils, he moved with his band to the head of Spotted Tail creek, and rambled the country over for miles thereabout. He wanted peace, but he could not hold the young men, and when a peaceful man goes to war he is about the worst (or best) warrior of them all. His activities covered a wide range as will be seen later.

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

BUTLER'S STORY OF THE COW WAR -- HARNEY THE SQUAW KIELER-- AN- OTHER ASH HOLLOW BATTLE

A letter from D. W. Butler, of Washington, gives a version of the Grattan Massacre, or the beginning of the "Cow War" different from most of the stories of history.

"The Grattan affair" was an unfortunate one. A small matter at the beginning, it was treated seriously by the officer in command at Fort Laramie, who was without experience. The attempt at arrest was made by a man who had contempt for Indians as fighters, and knew nothing of the characteristics of the race. Every effort seemed to have been made by the chief of the Brules to effect a peaceful settlement of the affair. He offered a mule to Grattan, as a recompense for the loss of the cow, but Grattan effected to think that it was offered to him personally as a bribe.

Man-afraid-of-his-horse, the chief of the Ogallala band, was earnest in his efforts to settle the matter peacefully.