favorable ear to the Secessionists. This all but casus belli made the Superintendent smile and pleased him greatly, and he promised to do his utmost to satisfy our good savages."
In another letter he writes: "In Washington I had the honor of being presented to our President, Lincoln, and I talked with him for over an hour. Mr. Blondeel, the Belgian Ambassador, showed me a great deal of attention; he is very well disposed toward us. He obliged me to dine with him, together with the ambassadors of France, Russia and Spain. They all had their grands cordons, and I had a frock-coat well worn and with two buttons gone. However, it all went off very agreeably. I did the best I could among these great personages; but I remain of the opinion that I shall always be more at my ease sitting on the grass and surrounded with savages, each one making his jokes and at the same time eating with good appetite a bear rib, or roasting a piece of buffalo or fat dog."
In the summer of 1862 Father De Smet made the long journey to Fort Benton and back. He traveled on the American Fur Company steamer Spread Eagle. His purpose was to revisit the tribes, baptize their children, study the prospects of new missions and carry supplies of various kinds to the mountain missions. While at Fort Benton lie made one of a party to visit the Great Falls of the Missouri. On his way back to St. Louis he left the boat at Fort Leavenworth and made a side trip to St. Mary's Mission, Kansas.
Father De Smet was deeply grieved and alarmed at the state of things as he found it among the tribes of the Missouri, particularly the Sioux nations. He had never before seen them so hostile and it was evident that they were on the eve of an outbreak against the whites. In fact he had scarcely returned to his home in St. Louis when the storm burst. The historic Minnesota Massacre took place August 18-21, 1862, and a brief sketch of its rise and progress for two or three years is necessary to a full understanding of the subsequent course of events.