No. 332.
Mr. Evarts to Sir Edward
Thornton.
Washington, February 19, 1880.
Sir: Referring to previous correspondence with, regard to the incursions of the Sioux Indians from Canada into the territory of the United States, and particularly to my note of the 14th of November last, on the subject, I now have the honor to state that information has reached this Department to the effect that Sitting Bull and all the hostile Sioux Indians, with the exception of 30 lodges, were, in December last, on this side of the Canadian line, well armed, and provided with an abundance of ammunition.
Although no intelligence has been received, as yet, of any actual hostilities committed by the Indians in question, and although no immediate occasion may arise for the use of military force to restrain them, yet the circumstances require me to give you a timely intimation of the condition of affairs, so that due attention may be paid by Her Majesty’s Government to the movements of these Indians, who have now entered the United States from British territory, fully armed and prepared for the commission of warlike acts.
It may occur at any time that if the military forces of the United States should be obliged to meet these movements of the Sioux Indians under Sitting Bull as hostile incursions, Her Majesty’s Government would need to determine whether it would bar by force the escape of these Indians to asylum across the line, or disarm them and confine them to the interior.
I have, &c.,