While these episodes of adventure, and the causes of war were accumulating, there were, during the winter of 1864-1865, in the neighborhood of Fort Laramie about two thousand Indians who professed to be friendly. They said that the war tribes had made it dangerous for them to pursue their usual vocation of hunting, and under orders from Washington, they were fed and sustained through the cold weather. The officials at the fort had good reason to believe that a number of them at least were carrying word, and perhaps provisions, to the war braves. Every movement of the soldiers seemed almost instantly known by the enemy Indians.

It was deemed advisable to remove the friendlies from the central scene of hostilities, and consequently, on June eleventh, a company of one hundred and thirty-five soldiers, under Captain Fouts, were directed to act as an escort for about fifteen hundred Indians, including squaws and papooses, who agreed to be removed to Fort Kearney. Charles Elston had charge of a number of professed friendly Indians, which he was trying to make useful to the government as scouts. While they appeared to be doing his bidding, he was confident that some of them were better scouts for their native tribes. The element of integrity did not seem at first to be requisite, according to Indian standards. One time, a chief of some

note among the Sioux had offered his son as a candidate for position in a place requiring integrity, and one of the recommendations given was that the son had single-handed stolen twenty ponies from the Pawnees.