Philip F. WellsInterpreter for General Forsyth
"I was interpreting for General Forsyth… The captured Indians had been ordered to give up their arms, but Big Foot replied that his people had no arms. Forsyth said to me, ' Tell Big Foot he says the Indians have no arms, yet yesterday they were well armed when they surrendered. He is deceiving me. Tell him he need have no fear in giving up his arms, as I wish to treat him kindly…' Big Foot replied, 'They have no guns, except such as you have found. I collected all my guns at the Cheyenne River Agency and turned them in. They were all burned.' They had about a dozen old-fashioned guns, tied together with strings – not a decent one in the lot…."
Joseph Horn Cloud
Lakota
"While this was going on, the same officers said to the Indians, 'I want you all to stand in a rank before the officers… I want the same number of soldiers to stand in front of the Indians and take the cartridges out of the guns and cock them and aim at their foreheads and pull the triggers. After this you will be free.' Some of the Indians were getting wild at such talk and some said, 'Now he sees that we have nothing in our hands, so he talks this way.' Others said, 'We are not children to be talked to like this.' A man cried out:'Take courage! Take courage!' Big Foot spoke up, 'Yes, take courage. There are too many children and old people.'"
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