There was no possibility of mistake, however, intentional or otherwise, about the destitution of the refugees.  It was inconceivably horrible.  The winter weather of late December and early January had been most inclement and the Indians had trudged through it, over snow-covered, rocky, trailless places and desolate prairie, nigh three hundred miles.  When they started out, they were not any too well provided with clothing; for they had departed in a hurry, and, before they got to Fall River, not a few of them were absolutely naked.  They had practically no tents, no bed-coverings, and no provisions.  Dr. A.B.  Campbell, a surgeon sent out by General Hunter,[168] had reached them

[Footnote 167:  Compare the statistics given in the following:  Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report, 1861, p. 151; 1862, pp. 137, 157; Indian Office Special Files, no. 201, Southern Superintendency, C 1525 of 1862; General Files, Southern Superintendency, C 1602 of 1862.]

[Footnote 168:  The army furnished the first relief that reached them.  In its issue (cont.)]

towards the end of January and their condition was then so bad, so wretched that it was impossible for him to depict it.  Prairie grasses were “their only protection from the snow” upon which they were lying “and from the wind and weather scraps and rags stretched upon switches.”  Ho-go-bo-foh-yah, the second Creek chief, was ill with a fever and “his tent (to give it that name) was no larger than a small blanket stretched over a switch ridge pole, two feet from the ground, and did not reach it by a foot from the ground on either side of him.”  Campbell further said that the refugees were greatly in need of medical assistance.  They were suffering “with inflammatory diseases of the chest, throat, and eyes.”  Many had “their toes frozen off,” others, “their feet wounded.”  But few had “either shoes or moccasins.”  Dead horses were lying around in every direction and the sanitary conditions were so bad that the food was contaminated and the newly-arriving refugees became sick as soon as they ate.[169]

Other details of their destitution were furnished by Coffin’s son who was acting as his clerk and who was among the first to attempt alleviation of their misery.[170] As far as relief went, however, the supply was so out of proportion to the demand that there was never any time that spring when it could be said that they were fairly comfortable and their ordinary wants satisfied.  Campbell frankly admitted that he “selected the nakedest of the naked” and doled out to them the few articles he

[Footnote 168:  (cont.) of January 18, 1862, the Daily Conservative has this to say:  “The Kansas Seventh has been ordered to move to Humboldt, Allen Co. to give relief to Refugees encamped on Fall River.  Lt.  Col.  Chas. T. Clark, 1st Battalion, Kansas Tenth, is now at Humboldt and well acquainted with the conditions.”]

[Footnote 169:  Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report, 1862, pp. 151-152.]