Indian Inspector E. C. Watkins issued a report to the Secretary of the Interior which would end up helping to bring about Gen. Terry's campaign of 1876. Indeed, on the same day, Gen. Sheridan issued a confidential letter to Terry informing him that he had met with President Grant, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of War, and that the Grant had decided that the military should no longer try to keep miners from occupying the Black Hills: "it being his belief that such resistance only increased their desire and complicated the troubles."
Watkins was a lawyer and businessman by profession who has served in the Civil War, where he obtained the rank of Major. He'd been appointed Inspector of Indian Affairs in in 1875 and occupied that position for four years before returning to private life
Philip Sheridan was in command of the Military District of Missouri at the time. Interestingly, he had only been married, at age 44, for a few months, to Irene Rucker, who was 22.
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