Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers Part 68

Seventeen years have pa.s.sed since I first began them--not that anything like this time, or the half of it, has been devoted to it. It was one of my amus.e.m.e.nts in the long winter evenings--the only time of the year when Indians will tell stories and legends. They required pruning and dressing, like wild vines in a garden. But they are, exclusively (with the exception of the allegory of the vine and oak), wild vines, and not pumpings up of my own fancy. The attempts to lop off excrescences are not, perhaps, always happy. There might, perhaps, have been a fuller adherence to the original language and expressions; but if so, what a world of verbiage must have been retained. The Indians are prolix, and attach value to many minutiae in the relation which not only does not help forward the denouement, but is tedious and witless to the last degree. The gems of the legends--the essential points--the invention and thought-work are all preserved.

Their chief value I have ever thought to consist in the insight they give into the dark cave of the Indian mind--its beliefs, dogmas, and opinions--its secret modes of turning over thought--its real philosophy; and it is for this trait that I believe posterity will sustain the book.

A literary friend, of good judgment, of Detroit, writes (19th): "Your tales have reached me, and I have read them over with a deep interest, arising from a double source--the intrinsic value of such stories and the insight they give of Indian intellect and modes of thought. They form a truly important acquisition to our literary treasures, as they throw a light oft the Indian character which has been imparted from no other quarter. They form a standard by which to determine what is true and what is false in the representations made heretofore of the aboriginal nations on most prominent subjects. No one will doubt that you render the genuine Indian mind and heart. Those who conform to these renderings will pa.s.s muster; the rest will be rejected. Let Mr.

Cooper and others be thus measured."

_24th_. Muk-kud-da Ka-niew (or the Black War Eagle), chief of the coasts of Arenac, brought me an antique pipe of peculiar construction, disinterred at Thunder Bay. It was found about six feet underground; and was disclosed by the blowing down of a large pine, which tore up a quant.i.ty of earth by its roots. The tree was two fathoms round, and would make a large canoe. With the pipe were found two earthen vases, which broke on taking them up. In these vases were some small bones of the pickerel's spine. He saw also the leg bones of an Indian, but the upper part of the skeleton appeared to be decomposed, and was not visible. He thinks the tree must have grown up on an old grave. The pipe consisted of a squared and ornamented bowl, with a curved and tapering handle, all made solid from a sort of coa.r.s.e _terra cotta_. He says it was used by taking the small end in the mouth, and thinks such was the practice of the ancient Indians, although the mode is now so different by their descendants. The chief ornament consists of eight dots on each face, separated by longitudinal strokes, leaving four in a compartment.

If the tree was four feet diameter, as he states, it denotes an ancient occupation of the sh.o.r.es of Lake Huron, which was probably of the old era of the mining for copper in Lake Superior.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

American antiquities--Michilimackinack a summer resort--Death of Ogimau Keegido--Brothertons--An Indian election--Cherokee murders--Board of Regents of the Michigan University--Archaeological facts and rumors--Woman of the Green Valley--A new variety of fish--Visits of the Austrian and Sardinian Ministers to the U.S.--Mr. Gallup--Sioux murders--A remarkable display of aurora borealis--Ottawas of Maumee--Extent of auroral phenomena--Potawattomie cruelty--Mineralogy--Death of Ondiaka--Chippewa tradition--Fruit trees--Stone's preparation of the Life and Times of Sir William Johnson--Dialectic difference between the language of the Ottawas and the Chippewas--Philological remarks on the Indian languages--Mr.

T. Hulbert.

1839. _June 25th_. ALEX V.V. BRADFORD, Esq., of New York, being about to publish a work on American antiquities,[93] solicits permission to use some of my engravings. I am glad to see an increasing interest in our archaeology, and hope to live to see the day when the popular tastes will permit books to be published on the subject.

[Footnote 93: This work was published, I think, in 1841.]

_26th_. Mrs. Morris brings a letter from Hon. A.E. Wing, of Monroe. She contemplates spending the summer on the island on account of impaired health. The pure air and fine summer climate of Mackinack begin to be appreciated within a year or two by valetudinarians. It is a perfect Montpelier to them. The inhaling of its pure and dry atmosphere in midsummer is found to act very favorably on the digestive organs. No process of _health-making gymnastics_ is prescribed by physicians. They merely direct persons to walk about and enjoy the sights and scenes about them, to saunter along its winding paths, or go fishing or gunning. Its woods are delightful, and its cliffs command the sublimest views. One would think that if the muses are ever routed from the bare hills of Olympus and the springs of Helicon, they would take shelter in the glens of Michilimackinack, where the Indian _pukwees_, or _fairies_, danced of old. I received intelligence of the death of Ogimau Keegido (Speaker Chief), the head sachem of the Saginaws. He had indulged some time in drinking, and, after getting out of this debauch, was confined by sickness three days. Death came to his relief. Some years ago this man met with an accident by the discharge of a gun, by which his liver protruded; he took his knife and cut off a small piece, which he ate as a panacea. He was a man of strong pa.s.sions and ungoverned will. He visited Washington in 1836, and, with other chiefs, sold the Saginaw reservations.

The party of Saginaws who brought me the above information had among them twenty-two orphan children, whose parents had died of small-pox.

They were on their way to the Manitoulines.

_28th_. Mud-je-ke-wis, a minor chief of Grand Traverse Bay, surrenders a belt of blue and white wampum, and a gilt gorget, which he had received from some officer of the British Indian Department in Canada, saying he renounces allegiance to that government, and reports himself, from this day, as an American.

_29th_. Chingossamo (Big Sail), of Cheboigan, having migrated to the Manitouline Islands with thirteen families, about seventy-nine souls, an election was this day held, at this office, by the Indians, to supply the place of ruling chief. Sticks, of two colors, were prepared as ballots for the two candidates. Of these, Keeshowa received two-thirds, and was declared duly elected. I granted a certificate of this election.

The present population is reduced to forty-four souls, who live in thirteen families. This band are Chippewas.

Gen. Scott arrives at this post, on a general tour of inspection of the northern posts, and proceeds the same day to Sault St. Marie, accompanied by Maj. Whiting.

_July 2d_. The _Wisconsin Democrat_, of this date, contains an interesting sketch of the history of the Brotherton Indians, which is represented to be "composed of the descendants of the six following named tribes of Indians, viz., the Naragansetts, of Rhode Island; the Stoningtons, or Pequoits, of Groton, Connecticut; the Montauks, of Long Island; the Mohegans, Nianticks, and Farmington Indians, also of Connecticut. Several years before the American Revolution, a single Indian of the Montauk tribe left his nation and traveled into the State of New York. He had no fixed purpose in view more than (as he expressed it) to see the world. During his absence, however, he fortunately paid a visit to the Oneidas, then a very large and powerful tribe of Indians residing in the State of New York. With them he concluded to rest a short time. They, discovering that he possessed 'some of the white man's learning,' employed him to teach a common reading and writing school among them. He remained with them longer than he at first intended.

During this time the Oneida chief made many inquiries respecting his (the Montauk) tribe, and the other tribes before mentioned, and received, for answer, 'that they had almost become extinct--that their game was fast disappearing--that their landed possessions were very small--that the pure blood of their ancestors had become mixed with both the blood of the white man and the African---that new and fatal diseases had appeared among them--that the curse of all curses, the white man's stream of liquid fire, was inundating their very existence, and the gloomy prospect of inevitable annihilation seemed to stare them in the face--that no 'hope with a goodly prospect fed the eye.' The Oneida chief, actuated partly with a desire to extend the hand of brotherly affection to rescue the above tribes from the melancholy fate that seemed to await them, and partly with a desire to manifest his deep sense of the valuable services rendered to him and his nation in his having taught among them a school, gave to the schoolteacher a tract of land twelve miles square for the use and benefit of his tribe, and the other tribes mentioned."

The treaty of the 14th of January, 1837, with the Saginaws, is confirmed by the Senate.

_3d_. The _Arkansas Little Rock Gazette_, of this date, states that the long existing feud in the Cherokee nation, which has divided its old and new settlers, has terminated in a series of frightful murders. Its language is this:--

"We briefly alluded in our last to a report from the west that John Ridge, one of the princ.i.p.al chiefs of the Cherokee nation, had been a.s.sa.s.sinated. More recent accounts confirm the fact, and bring news of the murder of Ridge's father, together with Elias Boudinot and some ten or twelve men of less distinction (some accounts say thirty or forty), all belonging to Ridge's party.

"These murders are acknowledged to have been committed by the partisans of John Boss, between whom and Ridge a difference has for a long time subsisted, growing out of the removal of the Cherokees from the old nation to the west, Ridge having uniformly been favorable to that course and Ross opposing it."

A council was recently held to consult in relation to the laws to be adopted by the united nation in their present country, there being some essential differences between the code by which that portion of the nation recently emigrated from the east had been governed, and the laws adopted by the old settlers in the west. Each party contended for the adoption of its own code, and neither would concede to the other, and the council finally broke up without being able to come to any understanding on the subject. On his way from this council, Ridge was murdered. Ridge, although a recent emigrant, we understand agreed with the old settlers in regard to the adoption of their laws, while Ross contended for those of the old nation east.

After the murder of Ridge, General Arbuckle, the commander of the United States forces on this frontier, sent a detachment of dragoons to Ross, with a request that he would come to the garrison, who declined unless he could be allowed to bring with him some six or seven hundred of his armed partisans, and take them into the garrison with him. This, of course, could not be allowed, and so the detachment returned to the garrison, and after that the murders subsequent to that of Ridge were committed. One of them was perpetrated within the bounds of Washington County, in this State, and we hope the necessary steps will be taken by our authorities to secure and bring to trial the murderer, and thus preserve inviolate the jurisdiction of our State over her own soil. "We learn that a council was called of the whole nation, to be held yesterday, with a view of settling the existing difficulties, and we hope it may result in establishing peace among them."

_3d_. I received a letter introducing Mr. and Mrs. Kane, of Albany. We love an agreeable surprise. I recognized in Mrs. K. the daughter of an old friend--a most lady-like, agreeable, and talented woman; and deemed my time agreeably devoted in showing my visitors the curiosities of the island.

_6th_. The business of my superintendency calls me to Detroit. Fiscal questions, the employment of special agents, the collection of treasury drafts, the payment of annuities; these are some of the constant cares, full of responsibilities, which call for incessant vigilance. I reached the city in the steamer "Gen. Wayne," at 8 o'clock, in the morning.

_8th_. John A. Bell, and Sand Watie, Cherokee chiefs, publish in the _Arkansas Gazette_, an appeal to public justice, on the murder of the Ridges and Boudinot, which took place on the 22d of June previous.

_13th_. Rev. Mr. Duffield informs me of some geological antiquities, reported to have been recently discovered in Ohio, made in the course of the excavations on the line of the ca.n.a.l, between Cleaveland and Beaver.

_15th_. The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan inform me, by their secretary, of my having been placed on a committee, as chairman, to report "such amendments to the organic law of the University, as they shall deem essential, with a view to their presentation to the next legislature."

_25th_. Being on my pa.s.sage from Detroit to Mackinack, on Lake Huron, a Mr. Wetzler, of Rock River, Wisconsin, stated to me that a Mr. Davy, an English emigrant, found, in making an excavation in his land near "Oregon," some antiquities, consisting of silver coins, for which Mr.

Wetzler offered him, unsuccessfully, $50. The story looks very much like a humbug, but it was told with all seriousness by a respectable looking man.

A Mr. Ruggles, of Huron, Ohio, who was aboard of the same vessel, said, that hacks of an axe were found in buried cedars, some years ago, at a depth of about 40 feet below the surface, near the east edge of Huron County, Ohio. There are no cedars, he adds, now growing in that section of Ohio.

The _Burlington Gazette_ (Iowa) says, "that a Sac and Fox war party recently returned from the Missouri, bringing eight scalps, and a number of female prisoners, and horses. The Indians murdered were of the Omaha tribe. The party consisted of ten men, with their squaws; and, although only eight scalps were brought in, it is supposed that not a single man escaped. We are not aware that feelings of hostility have heretofore existed between these nations. The ostensible object of the Sac and Fox party was to chastise the Sioux. The expedition was headed by Pa-ma-sa, the bold and daring brave who recently inflicted a dangerous wound upon the person of Ke-o-kuk."

_26th_. Arrived at Mackinack, in the steamer "United States," at 4 o'clock in the morning, after an absence of about twenty days.

_27th_. Mr. John R. Kellogg says, that during the early settlement of Onondaga, N.Y., say about 1800, in cutting into a tree, in the vicinity of Skaneateles, _iron_ was struck. On searching, they cut out a rude chain, which was wound about in the wood, and appeared to have been fastened above. Query, had this been a pot trammel of some ancient explorer? Onondaga is known to have been early visited.

He also stated that three distinct hacks of an axe, of the ordinary size, were found, in cutting down an oak, at the same period, in Ontario County. Six hundred cortical layers were found _outside_ of these antique hacks, indicating that they were made in the 12th century. I record these archaeological memoranda merely for inquiry.

_29th_. Osha-wus-coda-waqua, a daughter of Wabojeeg, a celebrated war chief of the close of last century, of Lake Superior, visited the office. She states that her name is the result of a dream, by some ancient crone, who officiated at her nativity, and that it means _the Woman of the Green Valley_. She is now about 60 years of age. When about 15 or 16, she is said to have been a slender, comely la.s.s, with large bright hazel eyes, and a graceful figure. At this age, she married a young gentleman from the north of Ireland, of good family and standing, and high connections, who made a wild adventure into this region. This is the origin of the Johnston family, in the basin of Lake Superior, and the Straits of St. Mary's. She has had eight children, four sons and four daughters, all of whom grew up to maturity, and all but the eldest are now living. Her husband, who became a noted merchant or outfitter, a man of great influence with the Indians, and high intelligence and social virtues, died in 1828, at the age of about 66 years. She is now subject to some infirmities; fleshy and heavy, and strongly inclined, I should judge, to apoplexy. Her father, Wabojeeg, died of consumption, not very old. She told me that the hieroglyphics and pictures which the Indians cut on trees, or draw on barks, or rocks, which are designed to convey _instruction_, are called KE-KeE-WIN--a word which has its plural in _un_. It is a noun inanimate. She laughs at the attempts of the American and foreign traders to speak the Indian, the rules of which they perpetually, she says, violate.

_31st_. A new species of white fish appears in the St. Mary's this spring. It is characterized by a very small mouth, and pointed head, and a crowning back, and is a remarkably _fat_ fish. The Odjibwas call it _o-don-i-bee,_ or water-mouth. Hence the Canadian word _Tulibee_.

Wakazo, an Ottawa chief of Waganukizzie, and his band visit the office, to confer on their affairs. He persists in his former determination to form an agricultural settlement with his people, on the North Black River, Michigan sh.o.r.e, and says that they will go down, to open their farms, soon after the payment of the annuities.

_Aug. 1st_. Visited by the Baron Mareschal, Austrian Minister at Washington, and Count de Colobiano, Minister of the kingdom of Sardinia.

These gentlemen both impressed me with their quiet, easy manner, and perfect freedom from all pretence. I went out with them, to show them the Arched Rock, the Sugar-loaf Rock, and other natural curiosities. At the Sugar-loaf Rock they got out of the carriage and strolled about. The baron and count at last seated themselves on the gra.s.s. The former was a tall, rather grave man, with blue eyes, well advanced in years, and a German air; the latter, three or four inches shorter of stature, with black eyes, an animated look, and many years the junior.

_4th_. My children arrived at Mackinack this evening, from their respective schools at Brooklyn and Philadelphia, on their summer vacation, and have, on examination, made good progress.

_7th_. Albert Gallup, Esq., of Albany, lands on his way to Green Bay as a U.S. commissioner to treat with the Stockbridges. This gentleman brought me official dispatches relative to his mission and the expenditures of it, and, by his ready and prompt mode of acting and speaking, led me to call to mind another cla.s.s of visitors, who seem to aim by extreme formality and circ.u.mlocution to strive to hide want of capacity and narrow-mindedness. Mr. Gallup mentioned a pa.s.sage of Scripture, which is generally quoted wrong--"he who reads may run"--which set me to hunting for it. The pa.s.sage is "that he may run that readeth it."--HABAKKUK ii. 2.

_10th_. Mr. Stringham, of Green Bay, reports that he had recently visited the scene of a battle or affray between the Sioux and Chippewas, on Lake St. Croix, near the mouth of the St. Croix River, Upper Mississippi. One or two Sioux, it seems, had been killed by some thoughtless young men of a party of Chippewas, about three hundred strong. This party encamped on the south sh.o.r.es of Lake St. Croix. They were secretly followed by the Sioux, who, watching their opportunity, fell on the camp while they were asleep, near daylight. One hundred and twenty were killed in the onset. As soon as the Chippewas discovered their position, and recovered their self-possession, they rallied, and, attacking the a.s.sailants, drove them from the field, killed twenty, and chased them to near their village. Hearing of this, the captain of the steamer, on board of which Mr. S. was, went into the lake, and they viewed the dead bodies.

_24th_. Returned to Mackinack, after a trip of eight days to Detroit.

The Iowa papers give accounts of the recent shocking murders committed by the Sioux. "We learn," says the _Burlington Patriot_, "from Governor Lucas and another gentleman, who came pa.s.sengers on the 'Ione,' last evening, that two hundred and twenty Indians were killed in the upper country about the 1st inst. The facts, as they were related by a young gentleman who was at the treaty, are as follows: The Sioux had invited the Chippewas to meet them at St. Peter's, for the purpose of making a treaty of everlasting friendship. The Chippewas a.s.sembled accordingly--the pipe of peace was smoked--and they parted apparently good friends. A large party of the Chippewas was encamped at the Falls of St. Anthony, and a smaller party encamped on the St. Croix, on their way home, without the least suspicion of treachery on the part of the Sioux. While they were thus peaceably encamped, they were surprised by the Sioux, who commenced their butchery. They immediately rallied, but before the battle terminated the Chippewas lost one hundred and fifty at the Falls and twenty on the St. Croix. The number of Sioux killed on the occasion amounted to about fifty. We do not much wonder at the hostility that has been exhibited by the Sauks and Foxes against the Sioux, if this latter tribe has always been as treacherous as they were on the above occasion."

_Sept. 3d_. A remarkable and most magnificent display of the Aurora Borealis occurred in the evening. It began a quarter before eight, as I was sitting on the piazza in front of my house, which commands a view of the lake in front, and the whole southern hemisphere. From the zenith points of light flared down the southern hemisphere. The north had none.

For five minutes the appearance, was most magnificent. Streaks of blue and crimson red light appeared in several parts. At ten minutes to eight, long lines began to form on the east, then west, and varying to north-west, very bright, silvery and phosph.o.r.escent. Before nine, the rays shot up from the horizon north-east, and finally north--the southern hemisphere, at the same time, losing its brilliance. This light continued in full activity of effulgence to ten, and, after my retiring from the piazza, its gleams were visible through the windows the greater part of the night, till two o'clock or later.

_11th_. A chief from St. Mary's, called Iawba Waddik (Male Reindeer), visited the office. This man's name affords an evidence of the manner in which a noun or adjective prefix is joined to a noun proper, namely, by the interposition of a consonant before the noun, whenever the latter _begins_, and the former _ends_, with a vowel. We cannot say, iawba-_addik_--male deer; but euphony requires that, in these cases, the letter _w_ should precede, and soften the sound of the initial _a_.

This chief was first introduced to me in 1822. His tall and lithe form, his ease of manners, and a certain mild and civilized air, made me notice him. He turned out to be the youngest son of a noted war chief, called the White Fisher--Wa-bo-jeeg. He had, however, never been on the war path, but addressed himself early to the art of hunting, in which he excelled, and furnished his family with a plentiful supply of food and clothing. He had had twelve children by one wife, giving an impressive lesson, that peaceful habits and a plentiful supply of the means of subsistence, are conducive to their usual results.

He is now about 45 years of age. The seventeen years during which I have known him, have not detracted from his erect figure, his mild and easy manners, or his docile and decidedly domestic disposition.

_12th_. The payment of the Indian annuities, which commenced on the 3d instant, was continued till the 10th, and, skipping the 11th (Sunday), finished this day. These payments were made as usual, in specie, and _per capita_--man, woman, and child faring alike. The annuities in provisions, tobacco, salt, &c., were, in conformity with custom, turned over to the chiefs of bands in bulk; and by them divided, with scrupulous care, among their people. The payments and deliveries have engaged the whole force of the department for seven or eight days, and have ended satisfactory to the Indians, who have been subsisted, meantime, on the public provisions, without trenching on their own stock.