[Footnote 193:  (cont.) Daily Conservative, published April 16, 1862, gives, besides a rather gruesome account of their diseases, some interesting details of their camp life.]

[Footnote 194:  On their division into tribal encampments, see Kile to Dole, April 10, 1862 [Indian Office General Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862, K 119 of 1862].]

[Footnote 195:  They had their interview with Lane at the Planters’ House while they were awaiting the arrival of Dole.  Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la (Crazy Dog) and a Seminole chief, Aluktustenuke (Major Potatoes) were among them [Daily Conservative, January 28, February 8, 1862].]

[Illustration:  PORTRAIT OF COLONEL W.A.  PHILLIPS]

seemed so hopeless to them miserable, so endlessly long.  Primitive as they were, they simply could not understand why the agents of a great government could not move more expeditiously.  The political and military aspects of the undertaking, involved in their return home, were unknown to them and, if known, would have been uncomprehended.  Then, too, the vacillation of the government puzzled them.  They became suspicious; for they had become acquainted, through the experience of long years, with the white man’s bad faith and they had nothing to go upon that would counteract the influence of earlier distrust.  And so it happened, that, as the weary days passed and Lane’s brigade did not materialize, every grievance that loomed up before them took the shape of a disappointed longing for home.

So poignant was their grief at the continued delay that they despaired of ever getting the help promised and began to consider how they could contrive a return for themselves.  And yet, quite independent of Lane’s brigade, there had been more than one movement initiated in their behalf.  The desire to recover lost ground in Indian Territory, under the pretext of restoring the fugitives, aroused the fighting instinct of many young men in southern Kansas and several irregular expeditions were projected.[196] Needless to say they came to nothing.  In point of fact, they never really developed, but died almost with the thought.  There was no adequate equipment for them and the longer the delay, the more necessary became equipment; because after the Battle of Pea Ridge, Pike’s brigade had been set free to operate, if it so willed, on the Indian Territory border.

[Footnote 196:  In addition to those referred to in documents already cited, the one, projected by Coffin’s son and a Captain Brooks, is noteworthy.  It is described in a letter from Coffin to Dole, March 24, 1862.]