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\
WE
HISTORY OF THE OJIBWAY NATION.
I'jiLLiftni w. wftf^fjEr!.
COLLECTIONS
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
SAINT PAUL r MINS.
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1885.
hecked
;;.~x
philadmlphia: COLLINS, PRINTER, 706 JAYNE FJTREET.
PREFATORY NOTE.
The presentation, in a permanent form, of the history of the eg ib way 8 is appropriate for the Minnesota Historical Society. Two hundred years ago the warriors of this people, by way of the river, in the State of Wisconsin, which still bears their name, sought their foes in the valley of the Mississippi. A century later, they had pushed out the Dakotas or Sioux from their old hunting-grounds in the Mille Lacs region of Minnesota, and at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States of Ame- rica were trapping, fishing, and making maple sugar on the shores of Red, Leech, and Sandy Lakes. Wliile the Sioux and Winnebago Tribes have been removed to the Valley of the Missouri River, the Ojibways I'cmain on or near cer- tain reservations in Xorthem Minnesota.
The Society has been fortunate in receiving as a gift, from a former United States Senator, Henry M. Rice, the manuscript history of the Ojibways, based upon traditional and oral statements written by the late William W. War- ren, some of whose ancestors had been distinguished chief- tains of the tribe, and by its publication hopes to give some aid to the increasing number of students of the aboriginal races of America. Traditions gathered in the wigwams
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4 PREFATORY NOTE.
of those who, until recently, had no mode of preserving knowledge, for coming generations, necessarily lack preci- sion of statement ; and the old story-tellers of a tribe un- consciously repeat as ideas of their race, those which have been obtained by intercourse with white men. Sir William Johnson, Bt, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, more than a hundred years ago, in a letter to the distin- guished Virginian, Arthur Lee, M.D., F.R.S., wrote: " Relying solely on oral traditions for the support of their ancient usages they have blended some, with customs amongst ourselves, so as to render it exceedingly difficult, if not almost impossible, to trace their customs to their origin."
Prefixed to Mr. Warren's work has been placed a sketch of his life, and as a supplement has been added another article on the Ojibways, based upon official and other records. The intelligent reader will not be surprised by the discrepancies which he will notice between the tradi- tional and documentary history.
Hoping that the Society, at no distant day, may issue a similar history of the Dakota people, this volume is sub- mitted by the
Committee op Publication.
CONTENTS.
TAQU
Memoir of William W. Warrek, bt J. Fletcher Williams 7
History of the Ojibways, based upon Traditions and
Oral Statements, by William W. Warren ... 21
History of the Ojibways, and their Connection with Fur Traders, based upon Official and other Records,
BY Edward D. Nkill 395
Officers of the Society 611
Members of the Society 513
Index 519
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MEMOIR
or
WILLIAM W. WARREN
BT
c'^
J. FLETCHER WILLIAMS,
PKCRETART MINNESOTA UIl*TORICAI^ «KK-|ETY.
(7)
MEMOIR OF WILLIAM W. WARRKX.
William Whipplb Wabrex, whoee work follows^ was a descendant of Richard Warren, one of the ^Mayflower" pilgrims, who landed at Plvmonth in 1620. From this ancestor a large proportion of the persons bearing the name of Warren, in the United States, have descended. General Joseph Warren, who fell at Banker Hill, was the descendant of a collateral line of the &milv. Abraham Warren, a descendant of Richard, bom September 23, 1747, foaght in the Revolotionanr War, as did also his son, Stephen. Lvman Warren, son of Abraham, was bom in Hartford, Connecticut, Mav 25, 1771, and was married in Berkshire, Massachusetts, to Mercy Whipple.
Their son, Lyman Marquis Warren, father of the subject of this memoir, was bom at the latter place, Aug. 9, 179i. He came to the Lake Superior region in 1818, with his brother Truman A., younger than himself, to engage in the fur trade. The U. S. government having some time before enacted that no one, not a citizen of the United States, should engage in the fur trade, the British sub- jects, who were engaged in that trade, employed American clerks to take charge of their posts. The Warren brothers entered the service of Michel Cadotte, an old trader among the Ojibways at La Pointe, and soon became great fiivor- ites with the Ojibways. In 1821, each of the brothers married a daughter of Cadotte, and in 1823, the latter sold out all his trading outfit to them, and retired from
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10 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLBCTIONS.
the basiness. Truman Warren did not live long afUr this. He died on board a vessel on Lake Superior in 1825, from pneumonia, resulting from the hardship and exposure incident to a trader's life. Rev. Alfred Brunson, in his autobiographical reminiscences, entitled "A Western Pioneer," states that " Lyman M. Warren traded lor several years in the Lac du Flambeau, Lac Coutereille and Saint Croix Departments, in opposition to the American Fur Company. He then entered into an arrangement with them and took charge of those three departments as partner and chief factor under a salary, making his depot at La Pointe. This arrangement continued until 1834." La Pointe appears to have been his permanent residence until his death.
The Cadottes, into which family the Warren brothers married, were descendants of a Mons. Cadeau, who, it is stated, came to the Ojibway country in 1671, in the train of the French envoy, Sieur de St. Lusson.* His son, John Baptiste Cadotte (as the name was then and subsequently spelled) became a trader among the Ojibways, and was en- gaged for a time with Alexander Henry, who in his work mentions him very frequently. He was married by a Catholic priest to an Ojibway woman of the A-waus-e clan, and made his residence at Sault Ste Marie. Mrs. Cadotte is described by Henry as being a woman of great energy and tact, and force of character. She aided her husband in his trading operations, sometimes undertaking long expeditions with coureurs du bois for him. She bore him two sons, John Baptiste Cadotte, Jr., and Michel Cadotte, who also became traders among the Ojibways, and were men of energy and ability in their calling. Both of them were well educated and had great influence in the Lake Superior region, and northwest, where they were well
1 The fdll name and title of this officer, as given in a document in The Ifargry Papers, toI. i. p. 96, is Simon-Francis Daumont, Sicur de 6t^ Lusson.
: : • ' '
▲KCS3TBT OF lOL Va&££S. 11
known. Both J. B. and Micbel CadoUe married Ojibvmr women, the latter the daughter of White Ciaae, bef^edi- tary chief of La Pointe Tillage. Tbeir deFoendaxits are quite nnmerona, and are scattered throogboct the Dortb- west. Michel Cadotte died at La Pointe in ISS^X si. 72 jears. Thoagh he had once made large prr>fite in the Axr trade and was wealthv, he died [oor. a result of the nsoal improvidence which that kind of life engesidei^, and of his generosity to hid Indian relativea.
In 1821, as before remarked, Ljman M. Warren married Mary, daoghter of Michel Cadotte. The ceremooy waa performed by one of the missionaries at ^faekinaw. Rev. A. Branson, in his work before qnoted, says of Mrs. War- ren : ^ She was three-fourths Indian. She was an excellent oook, and a neat housekeeper, though she coald not speak a word of English." Mrs. Elizabeth T. Ayer, of Belle Prairie, Minn., widow of Rev. Frederic Ayer. the mission- ary, states that " she was a woman of fine natural abilities, a good mother, though without the advantages of any education. They raised a large family. The children had, added to more than con^mon intellieence, a larsre amount of go^ftcad-ativenessJ*^ Mrs. Warren was a believer in the Catholic faith. Mr. Warren, however, was an adherent of the common evangelical belief, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. Rev. Wra. T. Boutwell, the first missionary at Leech Lake, still living in Washington County, Minnesota, near Stillwater, says : '' I knew him as a good Christian man, and as one desirous of giving his children the benefits of a Christian education/' Mrs. Ayer says : " He was among the first to invite American mission- aries into the region of Lake Superior, and he assisted them as he had opportunity, not only by his influence, but some- times by his purse. He united with the mission church at Mackinaw, where he was married." Rev. Mr. Brunson, who visited him in 1843, says : '* Mr. Warren had a large
12 HINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
and select library, an unexpected sight in an Indian country, containing some books that I had never before seen."
After dissolving his connection with the American Fur Company, probably about the year 1838, he removed to the Chippewa River, Wisconsin, where he had been ap- pointed as farmer, blacksmith, and sub-agent to the Ojib- ways, in that reservation. He located his post at a point a few miles above Chippewa Falls, at a place now known as Chippewa City. Here, in connection with Jean Brunett, he built a saw-mill and opened a farm, which was soon fur- nished with commodious buildings. His wife died there July 21, 1843, and the following winter he took her remains to La Pointe for interment. Mr. Warren died at La Pointe, Oct. 10, 1847, 8et. 53. Of the eight children born to them, two died in infancy. Truman A. is now interpreter at White Earth Agency, Minn., and Mary, now Mrs. English, is a teacher at the Red Lake Mission School. Charlotte, Julia, and Sophia are married, and live on White Earth Reservation. Of William, their oldest son, we now propose to give a brief memoir.
William Whipple Warren was bom at La Pointe, May 27, 1825. In his very earliest childhood, he learned to talk the Ojibway language, from playing with the Indian children. His father took every means to give him a good English education. Rev. Mr. Boutwell says : " In the winter of 1832, he was a pupil at my Indian School at La Pointe." He subsequently attended, for awhile, the mission school at Mackinaw, when he was only eight years old. In the summer of 1836, his grandfather, Lyman Warren, of New York, visited La Pointe, and on his return home took William with him to Clarkson, New York, where he at- tended school for two years, and afterwards, from 1838 to 1841, attended the Oneida Institute at Whitesborough, near TJtica, a school then in charge of Rev. Beriah Green, a man noted for his anti-slavery views. William remained
INCIDENTS OF WARBEN'S EARLY LIFE. 13
there until 1841, when he was sixteen years of age, and acquired a good scholastic training. He was then, and always subsequently, greatly devoted to reading, and read everything which he could get, with avidity. " While at school" (says one who knew him well) " he was greatly beloved for his amiable disposition, and genial, happy manners. He was always full of life, cheerfulness, and sociability, and insensibly attracted all who associated with him."
During his absence from home, he had, by disuse, for- gotten some of the Ojibway tongue, but soon became again familiar with it, and acquired a remarkable command of it Speaking it fluently, and being connected with influ- ential families of the tribe, he was always a welcome and petted guest at their lodge-fire circles, and it was here that his taste and fondness for the legends and traditions of the Ojibways were fostered. He speaks in his work of his love for the " lodge stories and legends of my Indian grand- fathers, around whose lodge-fires I have passed many a winter evening, listening with parted lips and open ears to their interesting and most forcibly told tales." He was fond, too, of telling to the Indians stories which he had learned in his reading, and would for hours translate to them narratives from the Bible, and Arabian Nights, fairy stories, and other tales calculated to interest them. In return for this, they would narrate the legends of their race, and thus he obtained those traditions which he has, with such skill, woven into his book. He was always a great favorite with the Indians, not only on account of his relationship to them, but from his amiable and obliging disposition to them, and his interest in their welfare, being always anxious to help them in any way that he could.
His familiarity with the Ojibway tongue, and his popu- larity with that people, probably led him to adopt the pro-
14 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
fession of interpreter. When Rev. Alfred Brunson visited the Indians at La Pointe in the winter of 1842-3, on an embassy from the government, he selected young Warren, then seventeen years of age, as interpreter, and found him very ready and skillful. Hon. Henry M. Rice writes : " In the treaty of Fond du Lac, made by Gen. Isaac Verplank and myself in 1847, William was our interpreter. (See Statutes at Large.) He was one of the most eloquent and fluent speakers I ever heard. The Indians said he under- stood their language better than themselves. His com- mand of the English language, also, was remarkable— in fact, miLsical"
In the summer of 1842, in his eighteenth year, Mr. Warren was married to Miss Matilda Aitkin, daughter of Wm. A. Aitkin, the well-known Indian trader, who had been educated at the Mackinaw Mission School. It was during his interpretership under I. P. Hays in 1844-45, his relatives say, that his health began to fail. Frequent exposures, long and severe winter expeditions, connected with the Indian service at that time, brought on those lung troubles, which subsequently ended his life so prematurely, after several years of suflEaiing.
Warren came to what is now Minnesota, with his family, in the fall of 1845, first living at Crow Wing and Gull Lake, where he was employed as farmer and inter- preter, by Major J. E. Fletcher, Winnebago agent, then also in charge of the Mississippi Ojibways. He was also employed as interpreter in the attempted removal of the Lake Superior Indians under J. S. Watrous — an act which he did not, however, approve of. After a year or two he established a home at Two Rivers, now in Morrison Co. In the fall of 1850, he was nominated and elected as a member of the Legislature from the district in which he lived— a district embracing more than one-half the present area of the State. In January following (1851), he ap-
ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE. 15
peared at St. Paul, and took his seat as a member of the House of Representatives. Up to this time he had been quite unknown to the public men and pioneers of the Territory, but by his engaging manners, and frank, candid disposition, soon won a large circle of friends.
Col. D. A. Robertson, of St. Paul, contributes the follow- ing reminiscence of Mr. Warren at this period : " I became acquainted with young Warren in the fall of 1850. I had shortly before established in St. Paul * The Minnesota Democrat' newspaper. At the date mentioned, some one introduced Mr. Warren to me, and wishing to learn what I could regarding the customs, belief, and history of the Ojibways, I questioned him on these points, and he very lucidly and eloquently gave me the desired information. I was much pleased with him, and talked with him a great deal, at that and other times, on the subject. I was amazed at his information in regard to the Ojibway myths, as well as pleased with his style of narrative, so clear and graphic, which, with his musical voice, made his recitals really engrossing. I asked him, ' how did you get these myths?' lie replied, from the old men of the tribe, and that he would go considerable distances sometimes to see them — that they always liked to talk with him about those matters, and that he would make notes of the prin- cipal points. He said this was a favorite pastime and pur- suit of his. He had not at this time, it seems, attempted to write out anything connected, and the matter which he had written down was not much more than notes, or memoranda.
" In January, 1851, Mr. Warren took his seat as a member of the Legislature, and I renewed my talks with him about the Ojibway legends. I then said to him, write me out some articles on this subject, to which he consented, and began to do so during his leisure moments, when not engaged in the Legislature. He had up to that
16 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
time, probably had little or no practice in writing such things, but soon acquired a good style. The first of his papers, or articles, was printed in the Democrat, Feb. 25, 1851, an article of several columns, entitled, ^a brief his- tory of the Ojibways in Minnesota, as obtained from their old men.' This was followed by other chapters during the same year. These sketches took well, and seemed to please all who read them. I finally suggested to him that if he would gather them up, and with the other material which he had, work them into a book, it would sell read- ily, and possibly secure him some profits. The idea seemed to please him, and I am certain it never occurred to him before. He at once set about it, and from time to time when I saw him during the next two years, he assured me he was making good progress. At this i>eriod he was in poor health and much discouraged at times, suffering from occasional hemorrhages, as well as from financial straitness.
"During all my intercourse with Mr. Warren, for two or three years, I never saw the least blemish in his character. His habits were scrupulously correct, and his morals seemed unsullied. He appeared candid and truthful in everything, and of a most amiable disposition. Though about that time he was bitterly assailed by some whose schemes regarding the Indians he had opposed, he never spoke of them with any bitterness, but kindly, gently, and forgivingly. In fact, I never heard him speak ill of any one."
Mr. Warren's widow, now Mrs. Fontaine, of White Earth, states that when he had once set about writing his projected book, he pursued his work with an ardor that rapidly undermined his already feeble health. He read, studied, and wrote early and late, whenever his ofiicial duties or absence from home did not prevent, and even when suffer- ing from pain and debility. During this period, a corres-
warren's home at "two rivers." 17
pondent of " The Minnesota Democrat," who visited Mr. Warren, writes thus under date March 17, 1852 : —
" I write you from a most lovely spot, the residence of my friend, Hon. W. W, Warren. Mr. Warren's house stands directly opposite the mouths of the two small rivers which empty into the Mississippi on the western side, a short distance apart, and hence the name, * Two Rivers.' Opposite this point, in the river, is an island of great beauty of appearance. Near by are countless sugar trees fjx)m which, last spring, Mr. Warren manufactured up- wards of one thousand pounds of fine sugar. During my short sojourn here, I have been the attentive listener to many legendary traditions connected with the Chippewas, which Mr. Warren has, at my request, been kind enough to relate. They have been to me intensely interesting. He appears to be perfectly familiar with the history of
these noted Indians from time immemorial
Their language is his own, and I am informed that he speaks it with even more correctness and precision than they do themselves. This is doubtless true. ... As I write, he is conversing with Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, or Flat Mouth, the far-famed old chief of the Pillagers. This old chief and warrior, now 78 years of age, has performed his long journey from Leech Lake, to visit ' his grandson,' as he calls Mr. Warren."
Much interest was felt at this period among Mr. War- ren's personal friends, especially among such as had devoted any attention to the study of the Lidian races, regarding his proposed publication, and he had the good wishes of all who knew him for its success, as well as their sym- pathies on account of his health and his pecuniary straits. In the preparation of his book, also (and he mentions this fact in his preface), he was much embarrassed for want of the works of other authors to refer to, for there were no
public libraries in Minnesota at that time, while his lack 2
18 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
of means prevented him from purchasing the desired books himself. It is gratifying to be able to state however, that some of his friends who felt an interest in him and his pro- posed work, generously aided him at this juncture. Among these should be prominently mentioned Hon. Henry M. Rice, to whose liberal help is probably owing the comple- tion of the work, and into whose hands it subsequently passed, to be by him ultimately donated to this Society.
In the winter of 1852-63, Mr. Warren completed his manuscript, and in the latter part of the winter, proceeded to New York, in hopes of getting the work published there. He had also another object, to secure medical treat- ment for his rapidly failing health. In both objects he was doomed to disappointment. The physicians whom he consulted, failed to give him any relief, or but little encourageAient, while the publishers to whom he applied would only agree to issue his work on the payment by him of a considerable sum. Believing that some of his friends in Minnesota, who had always expressed an interest in the work, might advance such aid, Mr. Warren resolved to return home and lay the case before them. There is little doubt that had he lived to do so, he would have promptly secured the means required. He reached St. Paul on his way home, in the latter part of May, 1853, very much ex- hausted. He went to the residence of his sister Charlotte, (Mrs. E. B. Price) and was intending to start for Two Rivers on the morning of. June 1. Early on the morning of that day, however, he was attacked with a violent hemorrhage, and in a short time expired. His funeral took place the following day. Rev. E. D. Neill officiating, and the remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at St. Paul.
Thus was untimely cut off, at the early age of 28 years, one who, had his life and health been spared, would have made important contributions to the knowledge which we
NOTICES OF WARBKN'S DEATH. 19
possess regarding the history, customs, and religion of the aboriginal inhabitants of Minnesota. He had projected at least two other works, as noted in his preface, and it U believed that he had the material, and the familiarity with the subject, to have completed them in a thorough man- ner.
The news of Mr. Warren's death was received with much sorrow by a large circle of friends, and especially by the Ojibways, to whom he was much endeared, and whom he had always so unselfishly befriended. They had always placed the most implicit confidence in him, and knew that he could be relied on. His generosity in sharing with them anything that he had, was one cause of his straitened circumstances.
His death was noticed by the press with just and appro- priate eulogies. A memoir in the Democrat, July 6, 1853, written by the late Wm. EL Wood, Esq., of Sauk Rapids, says : —
" From his kindly and generous nature, he has ever been a favorite, especially with chiefs and old men. lie spoke their language with a facility unknown even to themselves, and permitted no opportunity to pass, of learning from tlie old men of the nation, its history, customs and beliefs, lie delighted to listen to their words. Often has the writer of this tribute found him seated at the foot of an old oak, with Flat Mouth, the Pillager chief, noting down upon paper the incidents of the old man's eventful life, as he related them. Having, by his steadfast friendship to the Indians, won their confidence, they fully communicated to him, not only the true history of their wars, as seen by themselves, and as learned from tradition, but also that of their peculiar religious beliefs, rites and ceremonies. Perhaps no man in the United States was so well ac- quainted with the interior life of the Indian, as was Mr. Warren, He studied it long and thoroughly. Investing
20 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Indian life with a romance perhaps too little appreciated by less imaginative minds, he devoted himself to the work of preparing and unfolding it, with a poet's enthusiasm.
" Thus animated, he could not be otherwise than enthu- siastically attached to tbe Indians and their interests, and so he was. He was their true friend. While from the treachery of some and the cupidity of others, the Indians were often left with apparently no prospect but sudden destruction, in Mr. Warren they never failed of finding a brother, by whose kinds words of encouragement and sympathy, their hearts were ever gladdened. In his en- deavors to contribute to their happiness, he sacrificed all personal interests and convenience, he, with his wife and children, often dividing with them their last morsel of subsistence. With a true philanthropist's heart, he literally went about among them doing good."
Of the four children bom to Mr. Warren and his wife, two survive, a son, William Tyler Warren, and a daughter, Mrs. Madeline Uran, both residing on White Earth Reser- vation, Minn.
He was a firm believer in the truths of the Christian faith, and was a regular and interested student of the sacred Scriptures. He was accustomeil, in his intercourse with the Indians, to enjoin upon them the duty and advan- tage of accepting the religion taught them by the mission- aries, and it is believed that his advice had good eftect upon them.
I must not close this imperfectly performed task, with- out acknowledging my obligations to Hon. H. M. Rice, Col. D. A. Robertson, Mrs. Elizabeth Ayer, Rev. W. T. Boutwell, and especially to Truman A. Warren, of White Earth, and Mrs. Mary C. [Warren] English, of Red Lake, for material and aid kindly furnished me in its preparation.
fflSTORY OF THE OJIBWAYS,
BASKD UPON
TEADinONS AND ORAL STATEMENTS.
BY .^
.-a
WILLIAM wr WABKEX,
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preface;
The red race of North America is faat disappearing before the onward resistless tread of the AnglohSaxon. Once the vast tract of country lying between the Atlantic sea-board and the broad Mississippi, where a century since roamed numerous tribes of the wild sons of Nature, but a few — a very few, remnants now exist Their former do- mains are now covered with the teeming towns and villages of the " pale face" and millions of happy free-men now enjoy the former home of these unhappy and fkted people.
The few tribes and remnants of tribes who still exist on our western frontiers, truly deserve the sympathy and at- tention of the American people. We owe it to them as a duty, for are we not now the possessors of their former in- heritance ? Are not the bones of their ancestors sprinkled through the soil on which are now erected our happy homesteiids ? The red man has no powerful friends (such as the enslaved negro can boast), to rightly represent his miserable, sorrowing condition, his many wrongs, his wants and wishes. In fact, so feebly is the voice of philan- thropy raised in his favor, that his existence appears to be hardly known to a large portion of the American people, or his condition and character has been so misrepresented
^ Written In 1852, before the emancipation of negroes in the Southern Sutes of the RepubUc.— E. D. N.
(23)
24 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
that it has &iled to secure the sympathy and help which he really deserves. We do not fully understand the nature and character of the Red Race. The Anglo-Amer- icans have pressed on them so unmercifully — their inter- course with them has been of such a nature, that they have failed to secure their love and confidence.
The heart of the red man haa been shut against his white brother. We know him only by his exterior. We have judged of his manners and customs, and of his relig- ious rights and beliefs, only from what we have seen. It remains yet for us to leani how these peculiar rites and beliefs originated, and to fathom the motives and true character of these anomalous people.
Much has been written concerning the red race by mis- sionaries, travellers and some eminent authors ; but the information respecting them which has thus far been col- lected, is mainly superficial. It has been obtained mostly by transient sojourners among the various tribes, who not having a full knowledge of their character and language, have obtained information through mere temporary obser- vation— through the medium of careless and imperfect interpreters, or have taken the accounts of unreliable persons.
Notwithstanding all that has been written respecting these people since their discovery, yet the field for research, to a person who understands the subject, is still vast and almost limitless. And under the present condition of the red race, there is no time to lose. Whole tribes are daily disappearing, or are being so changed in character through a close contact with an evil white population, that their history will forever be a blank. There are but a few tribes residing west of the Mississippi and over its head- waters, who are comparatively still living in their primi- tive state — cherishing the beliefs, rites, customs, and tradi- tions of their forefathers.
WABRKN^S PRSFACS. 25
Among these may be mentioned the Ojibway, who are at the present day, the most numerous and important tribe of the formerly wide extended Algic family of tribes. They occupy the area of Lake Superior and the sources of the Mississippi, and as a general fact, they still live in the ways of their ancestors. Even among these, a change is so rapidly taking place, caused by a do:$e contact with the white race, that ten years hence it will be too late to save the traditions of their forefathers from total oblivion. And even now, it is with great difficulty that genuine in- fonpation can be obtained of them. Their aged men are fast falling into their graves, and they carry with them the records of the past history of their people ; they are the initiators of the grand rite of religious belief which they believe the Great Spirit has granted to his red children to secure them long life on earth, and life hereafter ; and in the bosoms of these old men are locked up the original causes and secrets of this, their most ancient belief.
The writer of the following pages was born, and has passed his lifetime, among the Ojibways of Lake Suj>erior and the Upper Mississippi. Ilis ancestors on the maternal side, have been in close connection with this tribe for the past one hundred and fifty years. Speaking their lan- guage perfectly, and connected with them through the strong ties of blood, he has ever felt a deep interest in their welfare and fate, and has deemed it a duty to save their traditions from oblivion, and to collect every fact concerning them, which the advantages he possesses have enabled hira to procure.
The following pages are the result of a portion of his researches ; the information and facts contained therein have been obtained during the course of several years of inquiry, and great care has been taken that nothing but the truth and actual fact should be presented to the reader.
26 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
In this volume, the writer has confined himself al- together to history ; giving an account of the principal events which have occurred to the Ojibways within the past five centuries, as obtained from the lips of their old men and chiefs who are the repositories of the traditions of the tribe.
Through the somewhat uncertain manner in which the Indians count time, the dates of events which have oc- curred to them since their discovery, may differ slightly from those which have been given us by the early Jesuits and travellers, and endorsed by present standard historians as authentic.
Through the difliculty of obtaining the writings of the early travellers, in the wild country where the writer com- piled this work, he has not had the advantage of rectifying any discrepancies in time or date which may occur in the oral information of the Indians, and the more authentic records of the whites.
The following work may not claim to be well and elaborately written, as it cannot be expected that a person who has passed most of his life among the wild Indians, even beyond what may be termed the frontiers of civil- ization, can wield the pen of an Irving or a Schoolcratl. But the work does claim to be one of truth, and the first work written from purely Indian sources, which has prob- ably ever been presented to the public. Should the notice taken of it, by such as feel an interest in the welfare of the red race, warrant a continuation of his labors in this broad field of inquiry, the writer presents this volume as the first of a series.
He proposes in another work to present the customs, beliefs, and rites of the Ojibways as they are, and to give the secret motives and causes thereof, also giving a com- plete exposition of their grand religious rite, accompanied with the ancient and sacred hieroglyphics pertaining
WABREX'S PREFACE. 27
thereto, with their interpretation, specimens of their relig- ions idiom, their common language, their song& Also their creed of spiritualism or communion with spirits, and jugglery which they have practised for ages, and which resembles in many respects the creed and doctrines of the clairvoyants and spiritualists who are making such a stir in the midst of our most enlightened and civilized communities. Those who take an interest in the Indian, and are trying to study out his origin, will find much in these expositions which may tend to elucidate the grand mystery of their past.
Succeeding this, the writer proposes, if his precarious health holds out, and life is spared to him, to present a collection of their mythological traditions, on many of which their peculiar beliefs are founded. This may be termed the "Indian Bible." The history of their eccentric grand incarnation — ^the great uncle of the red man — whom they term Man-abo-sho, would fill a volume of it^^elf, which would give a more complete insight into their real cLar- acter, tbeir mode of thought and expression, than any book which can be written concernincr them.
A biography of their principal chiefs, and most noted warriors, would also form an interesting work.
Xhe writer possesses not only the will, but every advan- tage requisite to procure information for the completion of this series of works. But whether he can devote his time and attention to the subject fully, depends on the help and encouragement he may receive from the public, and from those who may feel an anxiety to snatch from oblivion what may be yet learned of the fast disappearing red race.
HISTORY OP THE 0JIBWAY8.
CHAPTER L
GENERAL ACCOUNT OP THE PRESENT LOCAL POSITION AND NUMBERS OF THE OJIBWAYS, AND THEIR CONNECTION WITH OTHER TRIBES.
DiTteioDS among tbe aboriginal Inhabitants of North America— -The Algic family of tribes — Their geographical position at the time of the discovery— Their gradual disappearance, and remarks on their present fate— OJib ways form the most numerous tribe of the Algics— The names, with their signifi- cations, of the principal tribes of this family — Causes of the difference in their sereral idioms — ^Thc importance of the Totemic division among the Algics — Origin of the name Ojibway— Present geographical position of the Ojibways — ^Thcir numbers and principal villages — Subdivitiions of the tribe— Nature and products of their country — Present mode of livelihood.
Before entering into the details of their past history, it is tieceseary that the writer should give a brief account of the present position and numbers of the Ojibways, and the connection existing between them and other tribes of the American Indians residing in their vicinity, within the limits of the United States, Canada, and the British posses- eions.
Reliable and learned authors who have made the aboriginal race of America an object of deep study and research, have arrived at the conclusion, that the numerous tribes into which they are divided, belong not to the same primitive family or generic stock, but are to be mnged under several well-defined heads or types. The well- marked and total diiFerence found existing between their several languages, has been the principal and guiding rule
(29)
so MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
under which they have been ethnologieally divided, one type or family from another.
The principal and most numerous of these several primi- tive stocks, comprising a large group of still existing tribes, have been euphoniously named by Henry R. School- craft, with the generic term of Algic, derived from the word Algonquin, a name given by the early French discoverers to a tribe of this family living on the St. Law- rence River, near Quebec, whose descendants are now residing, partially civilized, at the Lake of the Two Moun- tains, in Canada.
Judging from their oral traditions, and the specimens of their difterent languages which have been made public by various writers, travellers, and missionaries, nearly every tribe originally first discovered by the Europeans residing on the shores of the Atlantic, from the Gulf of St Law- rence, south to the mouth of the James River in Virginia, and the diflferent tribes occupying the vast area lying west and northwest of this eastern boundary to the banks of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Ohio to Iludson Bay, belong to the Algic family. In this general area the Six Nations of New York, the Wyandots, and formerly the Winnebagocs, who, however, now reside west of the Mississippi, arc the principal exceptions.
The red men who first greeted our Pilgrim Fathers on the rock-bound coast of Plymouth, and who are so vitally connected with their early history, were Algics. The people who treated with the good William Penn for the site of the present great city of Philadelphia, and who named him " me guon," meaning in the Ojibway language " a pen" or feather, were of the Algic stock.
The tribes over whom Pow-hat-tan (signifying "a dream") ruled as chief, and who are honored in the name of Po-oxi-hon-tas (names so closely connected with that of Capt. John Smith, and the early Virginia colonists), belonged to this wide-spread family, whose former posses-
EXTENT OF THE ALGIC FAMILY. 81
sions are now covered with the towns and teeming cities of millions of happy freemen. But they — where are they ? Almost forgotten even in name : whole tribes have become extinct, and passed away forever — none are left but a few remnants who are lingering out a miserable existence on our far western frontiers, pressed back — moved by the so- called humane policy of our great and enlightened govern- ment— where, far away from a Christian and conscientious community, they can be made the easier victims of the unprincipled money-getter, the whiskey dealer, and the licentious dregs of civilized white men who have ever been first on our frontiers, and who are ever busy demoralizing the simple Indian, hovering around them like buzzards and crows around the remains of a deer's carcass, whom the wolves have chased, killed, gorged upon, and left.
This is a strong picture, but it is nevertheless a true one. A vast responsibility rests on the American people, for if their attention is not soon turned forcibly toward the fate of his fast disappearing red brother, and the American statesmen do not soon make a vast change for the better in their present Indian policy, our nation will make itself liable, at some future day, to hear the voice of the Great Creator demanding "Cain, where is Abel, thy brother? What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." . . .
The Ojibways form one of the principal branches of the Algic stock, and they are a well-marked type, and at present the most numerous section or tribe of this grand division of the aboriginal inhabitants of North America. Next to them in numbers and importance, rank the tribes of the 0-dah-waug^ (which name means trading people), best *
* The Outouacs originally lived in the valley of Ottawa River, Canada, and the furs at first received by the French at Quebec and Montreal, came through them.
Ducbeeneaa, Intendant of Canada, in one of his dispatches to France wroti* : " The Outawas Indians who are divided into several tribes, and are nearest to
82 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
known as (Ottaways), Po-da-waud-um-eeg* (Pottawatomies) (those who keep the fire), Waub-un-uk-eeg (Delawares) (Eastern earth dwellers), Shaw-un-oag* (Shawnees) (South- erners), 0-saug-eeg (Saukies*) (those who live at the entry),
us, are those of the greatest use, because through them wc obtain beaver ; and although they do not hunt generally, and have but a small portion of peltry in this country, they go in search of it to the most distant places, and exchange it for our merchandise. ''—N. Y. Col. Docs. ix. 160.— E. D. N.
1 The Pouteouatami, contracted by the French traders Poux, fled fh>m the Iroquois, and the trader Nicolct, in the fall of 1634 or winter of 1635, found them in the vicinity of Green Bay, Wisconsin. After the French settled al Detroit, a portion of the tribe followed, while another band settled at St. Joseph, Michigan, and some stragglers near the present city of Milwaukee, Wis. In 1701, 0unanguiss6, the Chief of the tribe, visited Montreal. In 1804, Thomas 6. Anderson traded with the Pottawatomies of Milwaukee. The tribe was represented when the treaty was made in 1787, at Fort Harmer on the Muekingum, Ohio, by Governor Arthur St. Clair. By a treaty with them in October, 1832, the land around Chicago was ceded to the United States. In 1846 the different bands agreed to remove to a reservation in Kansas. In 1883 a remnant of 100 were living in Calhoun County, Michigan, but the tribe to the number of 410 persons were in the reservation in Jackson County, Kan- sas, while 280 wanderers were reported in Wiscoubin, and 500 citizen Pottawat- omies iu the Indian Territory. — E, D. N.
2 The Shawnees, or Chaouanou of the French. Father Qravier in 1700 descended the Mississippi, and in the account of this voyage writes of the Chaouanoua living on a tributary of the Ohio which comes fVom the south- southwest, now known as the Tennessee. They now live on a reservation west of the Missouri and south of the Kansas Rivers. In 1883 they were esti- mated at 720 persons. — E. D. N.
' The Sakis or Ousakis were found by the French near Green Bay, and spoke a difficult Algonquin dialect. The Jesuit Relation of 1666-7 speaks of them in these words : ** As for the Ousaki, they may be called savage above all others ; there arc great numbers of them, but wandering in the forests without any permanent dwelling places.''
The Outagomies, Renards or Foxes, driven by the Iroquois westward, and settled southwest of Green Bay, and were the allies of the Sakls. They gave the name to Fox River in Wisconsin, and for years were hostile to the French. By a treaty in 1804, the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States lands on l)oth sides of the Mississippi. During the war of 1813, the Chief of th(> Sacs and Foxes. Black Hawk, assisted the British. In 1882 this Chief re- fused to comply with treaty stipulations and leave his village near Rock Island, Illinois, and after some hostilities delivered himself to the Winnebagoes at La Crosse, and they brought him to the United States authorities. After this in Sept. 21, 1832, the confederate tribes of Sacs and Foxes ceded all the eastern part of the State of Iowa. By a treaty of 1842, they agreed to remove to
MINOR TRIBES OP THE ALGIC GROUP. 33
O-difih-qoag-um-eeg (Algonquins proper), (Last water people), 0-mun-o-min-eeg* (Minominies) (Wild rice people), 0-dug-am-eeg* (Foxes), (those who live on the opposite side), O-maum-eeg* (Miamies or Maumies), (People who live on the peninsula).
Ke-nis-te-noag (Crees).
Omush-ke-goag (Musk-e-goes), (Swamp people).
These names are given in plural as pronounced by the Ojibways; annexed are their difterent significations.
The names of many lesser tribes, but who are now almost extinct, could be added to the aitalogue. It has been assumed, however, that enough have been named to show the importance of the Algic family or group of tribes. It is supposed, through a similarity of language with the Ojibways, lately discovered, that the numerous and powerful tribe of the Blackfeet, occupying the north- western prairies at the eastern base of the Rocky Moun-
reseiratioDs on the Osage and Great Nemaha Rivera. For thirty yeare nearly all the Fox tribe have lived in Tama County, Iowa, and in 1883, 368 was the estimated population. In the Indian Territory a census of mixed Sues and Foxes was made in 1883, and 437 was the number. — E. D. N.
* The Menominies called by the French Maloumiucs, Maroumines, and FoUes Avoines were found by the first explorers near Green Bay. In 1831 they ceded to the United States the lands between Green Bay, Lake Winnebago, and Milwaukee River. In 1848 they ceded their remalninc: lands In Wiscon.'^in, wd accepted a reservation above Crow Wing River In Minnesota. Upon ex- amination they were not pleased, and gave it back, the United States glvln/? them, from their old lands in Wisconsin, in 1854, a reservation of 433 square miles. Their number in 1883 was 1392.— E. D. N.
* Sec not-e 3 on preceding page.
' The Miamis, called by the French Oumamls, Oumamik, Miamioueck and Oumiamis, the prefix Ou being equivalent to the definite article in English, were compoeed of several bands. D'Iberville in 1701 mentions that they were 5()0 ftmlllea in number. They belonged to the Illinois confederacy. In 1705 •ome of them were dwelling at St. Joseph and Detroit, Michigan. In 1751 they were on the Wabash. Selling their lands to the United States, with the exception of a few on Eel River, Indiana, the Miamis went to a reservation on the Osage River. They have dwindled down to 61 persons who live in the Indian Territory.— E. D. N. 3
34 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
tains, above the head of the Missouri, also form a branch of this family.
The Ojibways term them Pe-gan-o, and know the Mis- souri River by the same name.
The difference between all these kindred tribes consists mostly in their speaking different dialects or idioms of the same generic language ; between some of the tribes the difference lies mostly in the pronunciation, and between none of them is the difference of speech so wide, but a direct and certain analogy and affinity can be readily traced to connect them.
These variances occurring in the grammatical principles and pronunciation of their cognate dialects, has doubtless been caused by the different tribes occupying positions isolated from one another throughout the vast area of country over which they have been spread, in many in- stances separated by long distances, and communication being cut off by intervening hostile tribes.
The writer asserts positively, and it is believed the fact will surprise many who have made these Indians an object of inquiry and research, that the separation of the Algics into all these different and distinct tribes, is but a second- ary division, which can be reached and accounted for, in their oral traditions: a division which has been caused by domestic quari-els, wide separations, and non-intercourse for generations together, brought about through various causes.
The first and principal division, and certainly the most ancient, is that of blood and kindred, embodied and rigidly enforced in the system which we shall denominate Totemic. The Algics as a body are divided into several grand fami- lies or clans, each of which is known and perpetuated by a symbol of some bird, animal, fish, or reptile which they denominate the Totem or Do-daim (as the Ojibways pro- nounce it) and which is equivalent, in some respects, to
ORIGIN OF THK WOBD "OJIBWAT." 85
the ooat of arms of the European nobility. The Totem descends invariably in the male line, and inter-marriages never take place between persons of the same symbol or family, even, should they belong to different and distinct tribes, as they consider one another related by the closest ties of blood and call one another by the nearest terms of consanguinity.
Under the head of "The Totemic System" this peculiar and important division of the Algics will be more fully explained and illustrated. It is mentioned here only to show the close ties which exist between the Ojibway and the other tribes, who belong with them to the same generic stock.
We have in the preceding remarks briefly explained the general connection which the Ojibways bear with other tribes, and indicated the grand section of which they form a principal part or branch. We will now more par- ticularly treat of them, as a separate tribe, and state their present geographical position, numerical force, and inter- tribal divisions.
A few remarks will not be inappropriate respecting the definition of their tribal name.
Mr. Henry R. Schoolcraft, the learned author on Indians, who has written much concerning this tribe, says in one of his works : " They call themselves Od-jib-wag, which is the plural of Od-jib-wa — ^a term which appears to denote a peculiarity in their voice or manner of utterance." In another place he intimates that the word is derived from ** bwa" denoting voice. From this, the writer, through his knowledge of the language, is constrained to differ, though acknowledging that so far as the mere word may be re- garded, Mr. Schoolcraft has given what, in a measure, may be considered a natural definition ; it is, however, im- probable, for the reason that there is not the slightest per- ceivable pucker or " drawing up," in their manner of utter-
86 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
ance, as the word 0-jib would indicate. The word ojib or Ojibwa, means literally " puckered, or drawn up." The answer of their old men when questioned respecting the derivation of their tribal name, is generally evasive ; when hard pressed, and surmises given them to go by, they as- sent in the conclusion that the name is derived from a peculiarity in the make or fashion of their moccasin, which has a puckered seam lengthways over the foot, and which is termed amongst themselves, and in other tribes, the 0-jib-wa moccasin.
There is, however, another definition which the writer is disposed to consider the true one, and which has been corroborated to him by several of their most reliable old men. ^
The word is composed of 0-jib, " pucker up," and ub-way, ^' to roast," and it means, " To roast till puckered up."
It is well authenticated by their traditions, and by the writings of .their early white discoverers, that before they became acquainted with, and made use of the fire arm and other European deadly weapons of war, instead of their primitive bow and arrow and war-club, their wars with other tribes were less deadly, and they were more accus- tomed to secure captives, whom under the uncontrolled feeling incited by aggravated wrong, and revenge for simi- lar injuries, they tortured by fire in various ways.
The name of Ab-boin-ug (roasters), which the Ojib ways have given to the Dahcotas or Sioux, originate in their roasting their captives, and it is as likely that the word Ojibwa (to roast till puckered up), originated in the same manner. They have a tradition which will be given under tlie head of their wars with the Foxes, which is told by their old men as giving the origin of the practice of torturing by fire, and which will fully illustrate the meaning of their tribal name. The writer is even of the
SPELUNG or THE WORD " OJIBWA." 37
opinion that the name is derived from a circumstance which forms part of the tradition.*
The name does not date far back. As a race or distinct people they denominate themselves A-wish-in-aub-ay.
The name of the tribe has been most commonly spelt, Chippeway, and is thus laid down in our different treaties with them, and officially used by our Government
Mr. Schoolcraft presents it as Od-jib-wa, which is nearer the name as pronounced by themselves. The writer, how- ever, makes use of 0-jib-way as being simpler spelled, and embodying the truest pronunciation; where it is ende<l with vxi^ as in Schoolcraft's spelling, the reader would nat- urally mispronounce it in the plural, which by adding the «, would spell was^ whereas by ending the word with y preserves its true pronunciation both in singular and plu- ral. These are slight reasons for the slight variance, but as the writer has made it a rigid rule to present all his hidian words and names as they themselves pronounce them, he will be obliged often to differ from many long received 0-jib-way terms, which have, from time to time, been presented by standard writers and travellers.
The 0-jib-ways are scattered over, and occupy a large extent of country comprising all that portion of the State of Michigan lying north of Green Bay and wc^t of the Straits of Michiliroackinac, bordering on Lake Superior, the northern half of Wisconsin and the northeastern half of Minnesota Territory. Besides this they occupy the country lying from the Lake of the Woods, over the entire north coast of Lake Superior, to the falls of St. Mary's and extending even east of this point into Upper Canada. They literally girdle the great " Father of Lakes," and the larg- est body of fresh water in the world may emphatically be called their own, Ke-che-gum-me, or '^ Great Water."
^ For other ylews as to the meaDing of OJibway, see another article in this Tolnme.
88 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
They occupy, through conquest in war against the Dah- cotas, all those numerous lakes from which the Missis- sippi and the Red River of the North derive their sources.
They number, scattered in different bands and villages over this wide domain, about fifteen thousand souls ; in- cluding many of their people interspersed amongst other tribes, and being isolated from the main body, on the Mis- souri, in Canada and northward amongst the Crees and Assineboins, the tribe would probably number full twenty thousand souls.
Of this number, about nine thousand live within the limits of the United States, locally divided as follows : —
In Michigan, at their village of Bow-e-ting (Sault Ste Marie), We-qua-dong (Ance-ke-we-naw), and Ga-ta-ge-te- gaun-ing (Vieux Desert), they number about one thous- and.
In the State of "Wisconsin, residing at La Pointe, and on the Wisconsin, Chippeway, and St. Croix Rivers, and their tributary streams and lakes, they number three thousand.
In the territory of Minnesota, residing at Fond du Lac, at Mille Lac, Gull Lake, Sandy Lake, Rabbit Lake, Leech, Ottertail, R^d, Cass, Winnepeg, and Rainy Lake and Por- tage, they count full five thousand souls.
The tribe is subdivided into several sections, each of which b known by a name derived from some particular vocation, or peculiar mode of procuring food, or other characteristic.
Thus, those of the tribe who live on the immediate shores of Lake Superior are known by the name of Ke- che-gum-me-win-in-e-wug (Men of the Great Water). Those residing in the midland country, between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, are named Be-ton-uk-eeng- ain-ub-e-jig (Those who sit on the borders).
With these, are incorporated the Mun-o-min-ik-a-sheenh- ug (Rice makers), who live on the Rice lakes of the St
MINOB DIYISIONB OF THE OJIBWAYS. 89
Croix River; also the WahHroah-gun-e-wiD-in-e-wug (Men of the torches), who live on the Head lakes of the Wiscoii- sin, and the Ottawa lake men, who occupy the headwaters of Chippeway River.
The bands residing immediately on the banks of the Mississippi are named Ke-che-se-be-win-in-e-wug (Great river men) ; those residing in Leech and Ottertail lakes, are known as Muk-me-dua-win-in-e-wug (Pillagers). A large body living on the north coast of Lake Superior, are named Sag-waun-dug-ah-win-in-e-wug (Men of the thick fir woods). The French have denominated them " Bois forts" (hardwoods).
These are the principal divisions of the Ojibway tribe, and there are some marked and peculiar differences exist- ing between them, which enable one who is well ac- quainted with them, to tell readily to which division each man in the tribe belongs. The language is the same with all of them.
These several general divisions are again subdivided into smaller bands, having their villages on the bank of pome beautiful lake or river, from which, again, as bands, they derive names.*
It is unnecessary, however, to enter into minute details, as the only object of this chapter is to give the reader a general knowledge of the people whose history we propose to present in the following chapters.
The 0-jib-ways reside almost exclusively in a wooded country ; their lands are covered with deep and intermin- able forests, abounding in beautiful lakes and murmuring streams, whose banks are edged with trees of the sweet maple, the useful birch, the tall pine, fir balsam, cedar, spruce, tamarac, poplar, oak, ash, elm, basswood, and
* For a late ccnsuB of the Ojlbways, see the article in this volume, " His- tory of the Ojibways based upon ofiScial and other records.
40 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
all the plants indigenous to the climate in which they reside.
Their country is so interspersed with watercourses, that they travel about, up and down streams, from lake to lake, and along the shores of Lake Superior, in their light and ingeniously made birch-bark canoes. From the bark of this useful tree, and rushes, are made the light covering of their simple wigwams.
The bands who live on the extreme western borders of their country, reside on the borders of the vast western prairies, into which they have gradually driven the fierce Dahcotas. The Red Lake and Pembina bands, and also the Pillagers, hunt buffalo and other game on the prairies west of the Red River: thus, as it were, standing one foot on the deep eastern forests, and the other on the broad western prairies.
The 0-jib-ways, with the exception of a few Lake Supe- rior and Canada bands, live still in their primitive hunter state.
They have ceded to the United States and Great Britain large and valuable portions of their country, comprising most of the copper regions on Lake Superior and the vast Pineries in Wisconsin. From the scanty proceeds of these sales, with the fur of the marten, bear, otter, mink, lynx, coon, fisher, and muskrat, which are yet to be found in their forests, they manage to continue to live in the ways of their forefathers, though but poorly and scantily.
They procure food principally by fishing, also by gath- ering wild rice, hunting deer, and, in some bands, partially by agriculture.
TOTEIUC llinSlOX OF THS OJIBVaTS. 41
CHAPTER IL
TOTEiaC DinSIOS OF THE <KJIB-WaT1.
A dejalytton of tbe Totcsiic SjtU-m — Tr^Sisitcm c4 iu ce\tim—lJHC <€ ^Bt O- itnaX TotOBie hwA^t* — T^ A-tau^ cr ~Grui FVkAi"ciui — I'^ nti^irt- ikMtt — Phjrical ctiar»rtenfitjcc — TnMl2Xxe< c^ t^ AirAii»*< — Prvheaii ^Dtatica •ad numbers of Uus clan aiiMQ^ the 0-jib-iraj>-'BiM-^2>-*i-^, lo'^l ru*t TlCcsb cUd — Tiieir porition ia tbe tribe — Pfarncal charaevniOci— Xaim» c^ Uior BOft BoCcd c^iefi— 'Ak-«« b-TAok cr Locid T<Ae^ cIasi — P<:»di>cs »2>A claim* — Tbeir priocipal chn-f* — ^XotLa, cr Scar T^nnxi — 71»esr i«c3L':f(7» azid podtioti in the tiibe^-PbTMcal charaneriFtict — ^TVar «xj rl>li — Tiff W:uf Toiem — ^It* poiitioB and origin— Cb>eff—Moaac«>g* g. r*r ICciqm- jii*i Itanm Totem — ^Their orifta, a»d name* of mcwt &o(«ni mfs^TraditkiB a'.'.cs*^xitiz^ for their eoalitioo— Addik, or Bcandecx Toiem— Tc4caic ijsiea of
There is nothing so worthy of ob?ervati<-*n and snadr, in
the ftcculiar customs and usages of tL»r Algic tvjie oi The American aborigines, as their well-definc^l f«rt3ti«>ij iiito §everal grand clans or families.
This stock cc»m|»rises a large grc»uf» «»f trilx^, di^ir.crt from each other, not onlv in name and kx^aiitv. but iAt** in the manner of uttering their common tr^neric laniruatre- Yet this division, though an imf^^rtaut one and ?tr ♦n^rly defined, is but a sub-division, which hxi< Ix-en cau-<J by domestic quarrels, necessity, or caprioe, and fxrpetuaTe»l by long and wide separations and non-interL'<»urse. These causes are related in their traditions, even where the trre^t- est variance is found to exist between trilxrs. The sefiara- tion does not date many centuries l«ack. Thje first grand division is that of blood and kindred, which has been p»er- petuated amongst the diflTerent tribes by what they call the Totemic System, and dates back to the time *' when the Earth was new."
42 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Each grand family is known by a badge or symbol, taken from nature ; being generally a quadruped, bird, fish, or reptile. The badge or Dodaimr (Totem, as it has been most commonly written), descends invariably in the male line ; marriage is strictly forbidden between individuals of the same symbol. This is one of the greatest sins that can be committed in the Ojibway code of moral laws, and tradition says that in former times it was punishable with death.^
In the present somewhat degenerated times, when per- sons of the same Totem intermarry (which even now very seldom occurs), they become objects of reproach. It is an offence equivalent among the whites to the sin of a man marrying his own sister.
In this manner is the blood relationship strictly preserved among the several clans in each tribe, and is made to ex- tend amongst the different tribes who claim to derive their origin from the same general root or stock, still per- petuating this ancient custom.
An individual of any one of the several Totems belong- ing to a distinct tribe, as for instance, the Ojibway, is a close blood relation to all other Indians of the same Totem, both in his own and all other tribes, though he may be
> In the Iroquait Book of Hit $9 y edited by Horatio Hale, Namber 2 of Brin- toD^B Library of AborigiTial American Literature j there is the foUowing atate- mentf pp. 51, 52, as to the clan system.
'* There are many indications which seem to show that the system Is merely ' an artificial arrangement instituted for social convenience. It is natural, in the sense, that the desire for association is natural to man. The sentiment is one which manifests itaelf alike in all stages of society. The guilds of the Middle Ages, the Masonic and other secret brotherhoods, religious organixa- tions, trade unions, clubs, and even political parties, are all manifestations of this associative instinct. The Indian clan was simply a brotherhood or aggre- gate of persons, united by a common tie. What the founders of the Iroquois league did, was to extend this system of social alliances through the entire confederacy. The Wolf clans-man of the Caniengas is deemed a brother of the Wolf clans-man of the Senecas, though originally there may have been no special connection between them.''— >£• D. N.
NUMBER OF ORIGINAL TOTEMS. 48
divided from them by a long vista of years, interminable miles, and knows not even of their existence.
I am not possessed of sufficient general information re- specting all the diflferent groups of tribes in America, to enable me to state positively that the Algics are the only stock who have perpetuated and still recognize this divi- sion into families, nor have I even data sufficient to state that the Totemic System b as rigidly kept up among other tribes of the Algonquins, as it is among the Ojibways, Ottaways, and Potta-wat-omies,
From personal knowledge and inquiry, I can confidently assert that among the Dakotas the system is not known. There are a few who claim the Water Spirit or Merman as a symbol, but they are the descendants of Ojibways who have in former times of peace intermarried with them. The system among the Winnebagoes, which somewhat re- sembles this, they have borrowed or derived from the Ojibways during their long intercourse with them while residing about Green Bay and other portions of the present State of Wisconsin.
From these and many other facts which shall be enu- merated, the writer is disposed to consider, and therefore presents, the Totemic division as more important and worthy of more consideration tlian has generally been ac- corded to it by standard authors who have studied and written respecting the Indians.
The Ojibways acknowledge in their secret beliefs, and teachings to each successive generation, five original To- tems. The tradition in which this belief is embodied, is known only to their chief Medas, or priests. It is like all their ancient traditions, vague and unsatisfactory, but such as it is, I will here present it — verbatim — as I received it.
" When the Earth was new, the An-ish-in-aub-ag lived, congregated on the shores of a great salt water. From the
44 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
bosom of the great deep there suddenly appeared six beings in human form, who entered their wigwams.
One of these six strangers kept a covering over his eyes, and he dared not look on the An-ish-in-aub-ag, though he showed the greatest anxiety to do so. At last he could no longer restrain his curiosity, and on one occasion he par- tially lifted his veil, and his eye fell on the form of a human being, who instantly fell dead as if struck by one of the thunderers. Though the intentions of this dread being were friendly to the An-ish-in-aub-ag, yet the glance of his eye was too strong, and inflicted certain death. His fellows, therefore, caused him to return into the bosom of the great water from which they had apparently emerged.
The others, who now numbered five, remained with the An-ish-in-aub-ag, and became a blessing to them; from them originate the five great clans or Totems, which are known among the Ojibways by the general terms of A-waus-e, Bus-in-aus-e, Ah-ah-wauk, Noka, and Monsone, or Waub-ish-ash-e. These are cognomens which are used only in connection with the Totemic sj^st^m.
Though, according to this tradition, there were but five totems originally, yet, at the present day, the Ojibway tribe consists of no less than fifteen or twenty fisimilies, each claiming a different badge, as follows : —
|
1. Uj-e-jauk, |
Crane. |
|
2. Man-um-aig, |
Catfish. |
|
3. Mong, |
Loon. |
|
4. Muk-wah, |
Bear. |
|
6. Waub-ish-ash-e, |
Marten. |
|
6. Addick, |
Rein Deer. |
|
7. Mah-een-gun, |
Wolf. |
|
8. Ne-baun-aub-ay, |
Merman. |
|
9. Ke-noushay, |
Pike. |
|
10. Be-sheu, |
Lynx. |
|
11. Me-gizzee, |
Eagle. |
OJIBWAT BADGES. 45
12. Che^he-gwa, Rattlesnake.
13. MooB, Moose.
14. Muk-ad-a-shib, Black Duck or Cormorant
15. Ne-kah, Gooee.
16. Numa-bin, Sucker.
17. Numa, Sturgeon.
18. Ude-kumaig, White Fish.
19. Amik, Beaver.
20. Gy-aushk, Gull.
21. Ka-kaik, Hawk.
I have here given a list of every badge that is known as a &mily totem among the Ojibways throughout their wide- spread villages and bands.
The crane, catfish, bear, marten, wolf, and loon, are the principal families, not only in a civil point of view, but in numbers, as they comprise eight-tenths of the whole tribe. Many of these Totems are not known to the tribe in gene- ral, and the writer has learned them only through close inquiry. Among these may be named the goose, beaver, sucker, sturgeon, gull, hawk, cormorant, and white-lish totems. They are only known on the remotest northern boundaries of the Ojibway country, among the Musk-keeg- oes and " Bois Forts."
The old men of the Ojibways whom I have particularly questioned on this subject, affirm that all these difl'erent badges are only subdivisions of the five great original totems of the An-ish-in-aub-ag, who have assumed separate minor badges, without losing sight or remembrance of the main stock or family to which they belong. These divi- sions have been gradually taking place, caused in the same manner as the division into distinct tribes. They are easily classed under the five great heads, the names of which we have given.
Aish-ke-bug-e-coshe, the old and reliable head chief of the Pillager and Northern Ojibways, has rendered me
46 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
much information on this subject He is the present liv- ing recognized head of the great A-waus-e family. He says that this clan claim the Me-she-num-aig-way (immense fish) which, according to their description, is equivalent or analogical, to the Leviathan mentioned in the Bible, This being is also one of the Spirits recognized in their grand Me-da-we rite. This clan comprises the several branches who claim the Catfish, Merman, Sturgeon, Pike, Whitefish, and Sucker Totems, and in fact, all the totems of the fish species may be classed under this gene- ral head. This family are physically noted for being long lived, and for the scantiness and fineness of their hair, espe- cially in old age ; if you see an old Indian of this tribe with a bald head, you may be certain that he is an A-waus-e.
Tradition says that many generations ago, all the dif- ferent clans of the tribe, with the exception of the Ah-ah- wank, formed a league and made war on the Aw-aus^ with the intent to exterminate them. But the Aw-aus-e family proved too strong for their united brethren and pre- vailed against their efforts, and ever since this event, they have claimed a certain pre-eminence over them in the councils of the tribe. They also claim, that of the six beiugs who emerged from the great water, and originated the Totems, their progenitor was the first who appeared, and was leader of the others.
Of nine thousand of the Ojibways who reside within the limits of the United States, about the shores of Lake Superior and the headwaters of the Mississippi, full one thousand belong to the Aw-aus-e family.
The Bus-in-as-see, or Crane family, are also nuraeroup, and form an important element of the Ojibway tribe. They reside mostly on the south shores of Lake Superior and toward the east in the Canadas, though they have representatives scattered in every spot where the Ojibways
THE CRANE CLAN. 47
have set foot and lighted their fires. The literal meaning of their totemic narae is, " Echo-maker," derived from the word Bus-warwag, "Echo," and pertaining to the loud, clear, and far reaching cry of the Crane. This clan are noted as possessing naturally a loud, ringing voice, and are the acknowledged orators of the tribe ; in former times, when different tribes met in councils, they acted as inter- preters of the wishes of their tribe. They claim, with some apparent justice, the chieftainship over the other clans of the Ojibways. The late lamented chief Shin-ga- ba-wos-sin, who resided at Sault Ste. Marie, belonged to this family. In Gov. Lewis Cass's treaty at Prairie du Chien in 1825, he was the acknowledged head chief of his tribe, and signed his name to that treaty as such. Ah- mous (the Little Bee), the son of the late worthy chief of Lac du Flambeau, Waub-ish-gaug-aug-e (or White Crow), may now be considered as head or principal chief of this fiunily.
The old war chief Ba-be-sig-aun-dilvay (Curly Head), whose name is linked with the history of his tribe, and who died on his way returning home from the Treaty of Prairie du Chien above mentioned, was also a Bus-in-aus-e, and the only representative of his elan amongst that sec- tion of his tribe, who so long bravely struggled with the fierce Dakotas for the mastery of the western banks of the Mississippi, which now form the home of the AVinne- bagoes. He was the civil and war chief of the Missis- sippi Ojibways. Hole-in-the-day 1st, of later notoriety, and his brother Song-uk-um-ig (Strong ground), inherited Lis chieftainship by his dying request, as he died childless. Weesh-e-da-mo, son of Aissanee (Little Clam), late British Ojibway chief of Red River, is also a member of this family. He is a young man, but has already received two American medals, one from the hands of a colonel of our army, and the other from the hands of the Governor of Minnesota
48 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Territory. He is recognized by oiir government as chief of the Pembina section of the Ojibway tribe.
These facts are stated to show the importance of this family, and its wide extended influence over the tribe. It can be said of them that wherever they have planted their wigwam on the widespread territory of their people, they have been recognized as chieftains.
They also boast the names of Keesh-ke-mun, chief of the Lac du Flambeau section; Che-suh-yauh and "Waub-ij-e- jauk (White Crane), of La Pointe, Shaug-a-waum-ik-ong, all noted chiefs during their first intercourse with the white race.
The small clans who use the eagle as their Totem or badge, are a branch of the Bus-in-aus-e.
The Ah-ah-wauk, or loon totem, also form an important body in the Ojibway tribe ; in fact, they also claim to be the chief or royal family, and one of their arguments to prove this position is that nature has placed a color [collar?] around the neck of the loon, which resembles the royal megis, or wampum, about the neck of a chief, which forms the badge of his honor. This dignity, however, is denied by the Cranes and other totems, who aver that the principal chiefs of the Ah-ah-wauk are descended from in- dividuals who were on a certain occasion made chiefs by the French at Quebec, as will be related in the course of the following history. This family do not lack in chiefs who have acted a prominent part in the afiairs of the tribe, and whose names are linked with its history.
Ke-che-waish-keenh (Great Buftalo), the respected and venerable chief of the La Pointe band, and principal chief of all the Lake Superior and Wisconsin bands, is the ac- knowledged head of this clan, and his importance as an in- dividual in the tribe, strengthens the position of the Ah- ah-wauk. The chief of Sandy Lake on the upper Missis- sippi is also of this family. The Gk)ose and Cormorant
TH£ B£AB CLA>'. 49
Totems are its subdivisions. The Xo-ka or Ikar family are more nomerous than any of the other clans of tiie Ojibways, forming fally one-eixth of the entire tribe.
In former times this nameroua body was sulHliviJeil into many lesser clans, making only portions of the bear s body their Totems, as the head, the foot, the ribs, etc- Thev have all since united under one head, and the onlv shade of difference still recognized by them is the common and grizzly bear. They are the acknowledged war chiefs and warriors of the tribe, and are keepers of the war-pipe and war-club, and are often denominated the bulwarks of the tribe against its enemies.
It is a general saying, and an observable fact, amongst their fellows, that the Bear clan resemble the animal that forms their Totem in disposition. They are ill-tempered and fond of fighting, and consequently they are noteil as ever having kept the tribe in difficulty and war with other tribes, in which, however, they have generally been the princi|»al and foremost actors. Tlicy are physically notc*l, and the writer has observed the fact, that they art- f»o*- sessed of a long, thick, coarse head of the blackcs^t hair, which seldom becomes thin or white in old age. Young Hole-in-the-day (son of the great war-chief of that name), the recognized chief of the Ojibways of the Mississippi, numbering about twelve hundred, is now [A. D. 1852] the most noted man of the Xo-ka familv. Ka-kaik (the Hawk), of Chippeway River, and Be-she-ke (Buffalo), of Leech Lake, have extolled influence as war chiefs.
The Mah-een-£cun, or Wolf totem familv, are few in number, and reside mostly on the St. Croix River and at Mille Lac, They are lookerl upon by the tribe in general with much respect. The Ojibways of this totem derive their origin on the paternal side from the Dakotas. Xa- guon-abe. the civil chief of Mille Lac, may be considered the principal man of this family. Mun-o-min-ik-a-she
4
50 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
(Rice-maker), who has lately removed from the St. Croix to Mille Lac with his band, is a man of considerable im- portance amongst his fellows.
The Waub-ish-a-she, or Marten family, form a numerous body in the tribe, and is one of the leading clans. Tradi- tion says that they are sprung from the remnant captives of a fierce and warlike tribe whom the coalesced Algic tribes have exterminated, and whom they denominate the Mun-dua. The chiefs Waub-ish-ash (the Marten), of Chip- peway River, Shin-goob (Balsam), and Nug-aun-ub (Sit- ting-ahead), of Fond du Lac, are now the principal men of the clan. The celebrated Ke-che- waub-ish-ash, of Sandy Lake, Sha-wa-ke-shig, of Leech Lake, and Muk-ud-a-shib (or Black Duck), of Red River, were members of this family. Li their days they conduced greatly towards wresting country from the Dakotas, and driving them westward. All three died on battle-fields — the first at Elk River fight, the second at Rum River massacre, and the third fell fighting on the western prairies against im- mense odds ; but one out of forty, who fought with him, escaped a warrior's death.
Under the generic term of Mous-o-neeg, the families of the Marten, Moose, and Reindeer totems are include<l. Aish-ke-bug-e-coshe, the old Pillager chief, related to me the following tradition, accounting for the coalition or close affinity between the Moose and Marten totems : —
" The family of the Moose totem, denominated Mous-o- neeg, many centuries ago, when the Ojibways lived towards the rising sun, were numerous and powerful. They lived congregated by themselves in one great village, and were noted for their warlike and quarrelsome disposition. They were ill-tempered and proud of their strength and bravery. For some slight cause they commenced to make war on their brethren of the Marten totem. Severely suflering from the incursions, and unable to cope singly with the
WOLF, MARTEN, AND MOOSE CLANS. 61
Mous-o-neeg, the Martens called together the different clans of the tribe to council, and called on them for help and protection. A general league was made between the different totems, and it was determined that the men of the obnoxious and quarrelsome family of the Moose badge should be exterminated.
"The plan for their sudden and total destruction was agreed upon, and a council lodge was ordered to be built, which was made narrow and just long enough to admit all the warriors of the Mous-o-neeg. The poles of this lodge were planted firmly and deep in the ground, and close together, and lapping over the top they were strongly twisted and fastened together. Over this frame were tied lengthways, and worked in like wicker-work, other green poles, and so close together that a man's hand could scarcely pass through any part of the frame, so close and strong was it constructed. Over this frame, and from the inside, leaving but a long narrow aperture in the top, was festened a thick covering and lining of dried giTiss.
"When this lodge had been completed, runners were sent to the village of the Moose Totem family, and all their chiefs and warriors solemnly invited to a national council and feast. This summons was made in such a manner that they could not refuse, even if they so felt disposed ; and on the day fixed, the chiefs and all the men of war of the refractory clan arrived in a body at the village of their mortal foes (the Martens), where the council-lodge had been built and made ready.
" They were led into the lodge, where the old men and chiefs of the tribe had collected to receive them. The Mous-o-neeg entered unarmed, and as their great numbers gradually filled the lodge, the former inmates, as if tlirough courtesy, arose and went out to give them room. Kettles full of cooked meat were brought in and placed before them, and they were requested to eat, after the fatigues of
52 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
their journey. They entirely filled the long lodge ; and when every one had left it but themselves, and while they were busy feasting on the good things that had been placed before them, the doora at each end were suddenly closed and fastened on them. A chief of the Marten Totem then addressed them in a loud voice, repeating over all the acts of blood and wickedness which they had enacted, and informing them that for these things the national council had decreed to sweep them from the face of the earth which they polluted. The lodge was surrounded by the warriors of the Marten, who acted as executioners; torches were applied to the thick and dry covering of grass, and, struggling in the flames unable to escape, the men of the Moose Totem were dispatched with barbed arrows shot through the narrow openings between the lodge-poles that confined them. In this fearful manner were the men of this wicked clan destroyed. Their women and children were captured by the Marten family, and adopted into their clan. In this manner the close consanguinity of these two Totems commenced, and at this day they are considered as one familv."
The Reindeer family, which is a branch of the Mous-o- neeg, are few in number, and they reside mostly on the north coast of Lake Superior. The celebrated Ojibway war-leader Waub-o-jeeg (White Fisher), whom Mr. School- craft has noticed in his writings at some length, was a member of this family, descended from a branch who emi- grated from the Grand Portage near the mouth of Pigeon River to La Pointe, Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, where he and his father, Ma-moug-e-se-do (Big-foot), flourished nearly a cen- tury ago as war-leaders and chiefs of their people.
The other badges or totemic sj^mbols which I have enu- merated, form inconsiderable families, and are but branches of the principal clans whom I have noticed in the fore- going pages.
TOXEMIC mSTOKT IMPERFECT. 53
It will be difficult, till a minute insight is obtained into the totcmic history and orc^anization of all the Alijic trilx?s, to decide fully the number of g-^neric or grand Totems which are recognized among them, and the numeric strength of each.
This subject is deserving of close research and stud3\ I consider it a most important link in solving the deep mystery which covers their origin. Even with the im- perfect insight which has been given on this subject by different writers, an analogy cannot but be noticed exist- ing in many respects between the totemic division of the Algics, and the division of the Hebrews into tribes. An<l the remarkable purity with which the system has been kept up for ages, finds no other parallel in the history of mankind.
54 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS,
CHAPTER in.
ORIGIN OF THE OJIBWAYS.
Prelimtnary rcmarkB— Belief of the OJibways respecting their origin—Belief in, and caufies of a deluge — A code of religion given to them by the Great Spirit — Analysis of their name as a people — Their original beliefs have be- come mixed with the teaching of the old Jesuit missionaries — DiflSculty of obtaining their pure beliefs — Tales which they relate to the whites, not genuine — Non-unity of the human race — Effects of disbelieving the Bible- Differences between the American aborigines — Between the Ojibways and Dakotas — Surmise of their different origin— Belief of the Ojibways in a Great Spirit— Their extreme veneration — Sacrifice — ^Visions of the Great Spirit — Mode of obtaining guardian or dream Spirits — Fasts and dreams- Sacrificial feasts — Grand rite of the Me-da-we-win — It is not yet nnderstood by the whites — Misrepresented by missionaries and writers — It contains their most ancient hieroglyphics, and the most ancient idiom of their language — Rules of the Me^a-we-win — Tradition of the snake-root — OJibway medicine sack — Custom among the Black feet bearing a resemblance to the ark and the High Priesthood of the Hebrews— Totemic division into families — ^Their traditions bear a similitude to Bible history — Antagonistical position between the Ojibways and Dakotas — Belief of the Ojibways in a future state — Im- portant facts deduced therefrom.
I AM fully aware that many learned and able writers have given to the world their opinions respecting the ori- gin of the aboriginal inhabitants of the American Conti- nent, and the manner in which they first obtained a foot- ing and populated this important section of the earth, which, for so many thousand years, remained unknown to the major portion of mankind inhabiting the Old World.
It is, however, still a matter of doubt and perplexity ; it is a book sealed to the eyes of man, for the time has not yet come when the Great Ruler of all things, in His wis- dom, shall make answer through his inscrutable w^ays to the question which has puzzled, and still puzzles the minds of the learned civilized world. How came America to be
YAOUE TBADinOKS OF ORIGIN. OO
first inhabited bv man? What branch of tlie groat human &m]Iy are its aboriginal people descentleil from ?
Ever having lived in the wilderness, even beyond what is known as the western frontiers of white immigration, where books are scarce and difficult to be procured, I have never had the coveted opportunity and advantage of reading the opinions of the various eminent authors who have written on this subject, to compare with them the crude impressions which have gradually, and I may say naturally, obtained possession in my own mind, during my whole life, which I have passed in a close connection of residence and blood with different sections of the Ojibway tribe.
The impressions and the principal causes which have led to their formation, I now give to the public to be taken for what they are considered worth. Clashing with the received opinions of more learned writers, whose words are taken as standard authority, they may be totally rtyected, in which case the satisfaction will still be left nie, that before the great problem had been fully solved, I, a per- son in language, thoughts, beliefs, and blood, partly an Indian, had made known my crude and humble opinion.
Respecting their own origin the Ojibwaysare even more totally ignorant tlian their white brethren, for they have no Bible to tell them that God originally made Adam, from whom the whole human race is sprung. They have their beliefs and oral traditions, but so obscure and un- natural, that nothing approximating to certainty can be drawn from them. They fully believe, and it forms part of their religion, that the world has once been covered by a deluge, and that we are now living on what they term the " new earth." This idea is fully accounted for by their vague traditions; and in their Me-da-we-w4n or Religion, hieroglyphics are used to denote this second earth.
66 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
They fully believe that the Red man mortally angered the Great Spirit which caused the deluge, and at the com- mencement of the new earth it was only through the medium and intercession of a powerful being, whom they denomi- nate Man-ab-o-sho, that they were allowed to exist, and means were given them whereby to subsist and support life ; and a code of religion was more lately bestowed on them, whereby they could commune with the offended Great Spirit, and ward off" the approach and ravages of death. This thej' term Me-darwe-win.
Respecting their belief of their own first existence, I can give nothing more appropriate than a minute analysis of the name which they have given to their race — An-ish-in- aub-ag. This expressive word is derived from An-ish-aw, meaning without cause, or " spontaneous," and in-aub-a- wc-se, meaning the " human body." The word An-ish-in- aub-ag, therefore, literally translated, signifies ^'spontaneous man."
Henry R. Schoolcraft (who has apparently studied this language, and has written respecting this people more than any other writer, and whose works as a whole, deserve the standard authority which is given to them by the literary world), has made the unaccountable mistake of giving as the meaning of this important name, " Common people." We can account for this only in his having studied the language through the medium of imperfect interpreters. In no respect can An-ish-in-aub-ag be twisted so as to include any portion of a word meaning "common."
Had he given the meaning of " original people," which he says is the interpretation of " Lenni Lenape," the name which the ancient Dclawares and eastern sections of the Algic tribes call themselves, he would have hit nearer the mark. " Spontaneous man" is, however, the true lite- ral translation, and I am of the impression that were the
IDEA OF CREATIOX. 57
two apparently different names of Lenni Lenape and An- ish-in-aub-ag fully analyzed, and correctly pronounced by a person understanding fully the language of both sections of the same family, who call themselves respectively by these names, not only the meaning would be found exactly to coincide, but also the words, differing only slightly in pro- nunciation.
The belief of the Algics is, as their name denotes, that they are a spontaneous people. They do not pretend, as a people, to give any reliable account of their first creation. It is a subject which to them is buried in dark- ness and mystery, and of which they entertain but vague and uncertain notions ; notions which are fully embodied in the word An-ish-in-aub-ag.
Since the white race have appeared amongst them, and since the persevering and hard-working Jesuit mission- aries during the era of the French domination, carried the cross and their teachings into the heart of the remotest wilderness, and breathed a new belief and new tales into the ears of the wild sons of the forest, their ideas on this subject have become confused, and in many instances they have pretended to imbibe the beliefs thus early i»romul- gated amongst them, connecting them with their own more crude and mythological ideas. It is diffi^jult on this account, to procure from them what may have been their pure and original belief, apart from what is perpetuated by the name which we have analyzed. It requires a most intimate acquaintance with them as a people, and indi- vidually with their old story tellers, also with their lan- guage, beliefs, and customs, to procure their real beliefs and to analyze the tales they seldom refuse to tell, and separate the Indian or original from those portions which thev have borrowed or imbibed from the whites. Their innate courtesy and politeness often carry them so far
68 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
that they seldom, if ever, refuse to tell a story when asked by a white man, respecting their ideas of the creation and the origin of mankind.
These tales, though made up for the occasion by the Indian sage, are taken by his white hearers as their bona fide belief, and, as such, many have been made public, and accepted by the civilized world. Some of their sages have been heard to say, that the " Great Spirit" from the earth originally made three different races of men — the white, the black, and red race. To the first he gave a book, de- noting wisdom ; to the second a hoe, denoting servitude and labor ; to the third, or red race, he gave the bow and arrow, denoting the hunter state. To his red children the " Great Spirit" gave the great island on which the whites have found them ; but because of having committed some great wickedness and angered their Maker, they are doomed to disappear before the rapid tread and advance of the wiser and more favored pale face. This, abbrevi- ated and condensed into a few words, is the story, with variations, with which, as a general thing, the Indian has amused the curiosity of his inquisitive white brother.
It is, however, plainly to be seen that these are not their original ideas, for they knew not, till they came amongst them, of the existence of a white and black race, nor of their characteristic symbols of the book and the hoe.
Were we to entertain the new belief which is being ad- vocated by able and learned men, who have closely studied the Biblical with the physical history of man, that the theory taught us in the Sacred Book, making mankind the descendants of one man — Adam — is false, and that the human family are derived originally from a multi- plicity of progenitors, definitely marked by physical dif- ferences, it would be no difficult matter to arrive at once to certain conclusions respecting the manner in which America became populated. But a believing mind is loth
SPONTANEOUS MAN. 59
to accept the assertions, arguments, and opinions of a set of men who would cast down at one fell swoop the widely- received beliefs inculcated in the minds of enlightened mankind by the sacred book of God. Men will not fall blindly into such a belief, not even with the most con- vincing arguments.
Throw down the testimony of the Bible, annul in your mind its sacred truths, and we are at once thrown into a perfect chaos of confusion and ignorance. Destroy the belief which has been enteilained for ages by the enlight- ened portion of mankind, and we arc thrown at once on a level with the ignorant son of the forest respecting our own origin. In his natural state he would even have the advantage of his more enlightened brother, for he deduces his beliefs from what he sees of nature and nature's work, and possessing no certain proof or knowledge of the manner of his creation, he simply but forcibly styles himself "spontaneous man." On the other hand, the white man, divested of Bible truths and history, j'et possessing wisdom and learning, and a knowledge of the conflicting testimony of ages past, descended to him in manuscript and ancient monuments, possessing also a knowledge of the physical formation of all races of men and the geological formation of the earth, would still be at a loss to arrive at certain conclusions; and the deeper he bit into the apple of know- ledge, the more confused would be his mind in atterai)ting without the aid of God's word to solve the deep mysteries of Nature — to solve the mystery of the creation of a uni- verse in which our earth is apparently but as a grain of sand, and to solve the problem of his own mysterious ex- istence.
"We pause, therefore, before we take advantage of any apparent discrepancy or contradiction in the Bible which may be artfully shown to us by unbelieving writers, and to make use of it to more easily prove any favorite theory
60 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
which we may imbibe respecting the maimer in which America first became peopled.
Assume the ground that the human species does not come of one common head, and the existence of the red race is a problem no longer ; but believe the word of the Holy Bible, and it will remain a mystery till God wills otherwise. In the mean time, we can but conjecture and surmise; each person has a right to form his own opinion. Some deduce from the writings of others, and others from personal observation, and by making known the causes which have led to the formation of his opinion, he will add to the general mass of information which has been and is gradually collecting, from which eventually more certain deductions will be arrived at.
Taking the ground that the theory respecting the origin of the human race taught us in the Holy Scriptures is true, I will proceed to express my humble opinion respect- ing the branch of the human race from which originates that particular type of the aboriginal race of America comprised by the term Algic or Algonquin, of which grand family the Ojibway tribe, of whom I shall more particu- larly treat, forms a numerous and important section.
During my long residence among the Ojibways, after numberless inquiries of their old men, I have never been able to leani, by tradition or otherwise, that they entertain the belief that all the tribes of the red race inhabiting America have ever been, at any time since the occupancy of this continent, one and the same people, speaking the same language, and practising the same beliefs and cus- toms. The traditions of this tribe extend no further into the past than the once concentration or coalition under one head, of the different and now scattered tribes belong- ing to the Algic stock.
We have every reason to believe that America has not been peopled from one nation or tribe of the human femily,
DISSIMILAR AMERICAN TRIBES. 61
for there are differences amongst its inhabitants and con- trarieties as marked and fully developed as are to be found between European and Asiatic nations — wide differences in language, beliefs, and customs.
A close study of the dissimilarities existing between the Ojibways and Dakotas, who have more immediately come under my observation, has led me fully to believe that they are not descended from the same people of the Old World, nor have they ever in America formed one and the same nation or tribe. It is true that they assimi- late in color and in their physical formation, which can l>e accounted for by their residence in the same climate, and sustaining life through the same means. Many of their customs are also alike, but these have been naturally similarized and entailed on them by living in the same wild hunter state, and many they have derived from one another during their short fitful terms of peace and inter- course. Here all similitude between the two tribes cikIr. They cannot differ more widely than they do in language ; and the totemic system, which is an important an<l leading characteristic among the Ojibways, is not known to the Dakotas. They differ also widely in their religious beliefs, and as far back as their oral traditions descend with any certainty, they tell of even having been mortal enemies, waging against each other a bloody and externiinating warfare.
Assuming the ground which has been proved both probable and practicable by different eminent authors, that the American continent has been j^opulate<l from the eastern and northeastern shores of Asia, it is easv to lielieve that not only one, but portions of diilerent Asiatic tribes found their way thither, wliich will account for tlie radical differences to be found in the languages of the several stocks of the American aborigines.
Taking these grounds, the writer is disi)0sed to enter-
62 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
tain the belief that, while the original ancestors of the Dakota race might have formed a tribe or portion of a tribe of the roving sons of Tartary, whom they resemble in many essential respects, the Algics, on the other hand, may be descended from a portion of the ten lost tribes of Israel, whom they also resemble in many important par- ticulars.
Of this latter stock only can I speak with any certainty. I am fully aware that the surmise which is here advanced is not new, but is one which has already elicited much dis- cussion ; and although later writers have presented it as an exploded idea, yd I cannot refrain from presenting the ideas on this subject which have gradually inducted them- selves into my mind.
Boudinot and other learned writers, having at their com- mand the books and observations on the Indian tribes which have been published from time to time since their first discovery, and possessing an intimate knowledge of Biblical history, have fallen into the same belief, and from a mass of book information they have been enabled to offer many able arguments to prove the Red Race of America descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. I have never had the advantage of seeing or reading these bookp, and only know of their existence from hearsay, and the casual remarks or references of the few authors I have been enabled to consult. The belief which I have now ex- pressed has grown on me imperceptibly from my youth, ever since I could first read the Bible, and compare with it the lodge stories and legends of my Indian grandfathers, around whose lodge fires I have passed many a winter evening, listening with parted lips and open ears to their interesting and most forcibly told tales.
After reaching the age of maturity, I pursued my in- quiries with more sj^stem, and the more information I have obtained from them — the more I have become ac-
RESEMBLANCE TO HEBREWS. 63
qaainted with their anomalous and difficult to be under- stood characters — the more insight I have gaCined into their religious and secret rites and faith, the more strongly has it been impressed on my mind that tbey bear a close affinity or analogy to the chosen people of God, and they are either descendants of the lost tribes of larael, or they have had, in some former era, a close contact and inter- course with the Hebrews, imbibing from them their beliefs and customs and the traditions of their patriarchs.
To enter into a detailed account of all the numerous and trivial causes which have induced me to entertain this idea, would take up much space, and as the subject has been so much dwelt upon, by those who, from having made the subject the study of their lives, and who by their researches have gathered much of the re<^iui.'site in- formation to arrive at more just conclusions than the humble writer, I will confine mj'self to stating a few gen- eral facts, some of which may have missed the attention of my predecessors on this road of inquiry, and which none but those intimately acquainted with the Indians, and possessing their fullest confidence, are able to obtain.
It is a general fact that most people who have been dis- covered living in a savage and unenlicrhtcned state, and even whole nations living in partial civilization, have been found to be idolaters — having no just conception of a great first Cause or Creator, invisible to human eyes, and pervading all space. With the Ojibways it is not so ; the fact of their firm belief and great veneration, in an over- ruling Creator and Master of Life, has been noticed by all who have had close intercourse with tlieni since their earliest discovery. It is true that they believe in a multi- plicity of spirits which pervade all nature, j^et all these are subordinate to the one Great Spirit of good.
This belief is as natural (if not more so), as the belief of the Catholics in their interceding saints, which in some
64 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
respects it resembles, for in the same light as intercessors between him and the Great Spirit, does the more simple Red Man regard the spirits which in his imagination per- vade all creation. The never-failing rigid fasts of first manhood, when they seek in dreams for a guardian spirit, illustrates this belief most forcibly.
Ke-che-mun-e-do (Great Spirit) is the name used by the Ojibways for the being equivalent to our God. They have another term which can hardly be surpassed by any one word in the English language, for force, condensity, and expression, namely: Ke-zharinune-do, which means pity- ing, charitable, overruling, guardian and merciful Spirit ; in fact, it expresses all the great attributes of the Qod of Israel. It is derived from Ke-zha-wand-e-se-roin, meaning charity, kindness— Ke-zha-wus-so expressing the guardian feeling, and solicitude of a parent toward its oftspring, watching it with jealous vigilance from harm ; and Shah- wau-je-gay, to take pity, merciful, with Mun-e-do (spirit). There is nothing to equal the veneration with which the Indian regards this unseen being. They seldom even ever mention his name unless in their Me-da-we and other re- ligious rites, and in their sacrificial feasts ; and then an address to him, however trivial, is always accompanied with a sacrifice of tobacco or some other article deemed pre- cious by the Indian. They never use his name in vain, and there is no word in their language expressive of a pro- fane oath, or equivalent to the many words used in pro- fane swearing by their more enlightened white brethren.
Instances are told of persons while enduring almost superhuman fasts, obtaining a vision of him in their dreams ; in such instances t^ie Great Spirit invariably ap- pears to the dreamer in the shape of a beautifully and strongly -formed man. And it is a confirmed belief amongst them, that he or she who has once been blessed
MIXOB SPIBITS. 65
with this vision, is fated to live to a good old age and in enjovment of ease and plenty.
All other minor or guardian spirits whom thev coort in dieir first dream of fiistiog appear to them in the shape of quadrupeds, birds, or some inanimate object in nature, as the moon, the stars, or the imaginary thanderers ; and even this dream-spirit is never mentioned without sacri- fice. The dream itself which has appeared to the taster, guides in a great 'measure his future course in life, and he never relates it without oflering a sacrificial feast to the spirit of the dream. The bones of the animal which he offers are carefully gathered, unbroken, tied together, and either hung on a tree, thrown into deep water, or carefully burnt. Their beliefs and rites, connected with their f^gts and dreams, are of great im^iortance to them:«elves, more so than has been generally understood by writers who have treated of the Algics.
These facts are mentioned here to show an analoev with the ancient and primitive customs of the Hebrew.-? — their faith in dreams, their knowledge and veneration of the unseen God, and the customs of ikstingr and rjacritii-e. Minor customs, equally similar with the ur-ages of the Hebrews as we read in the Bible, rnicrht be enumerate^l ; for instance, the never-failing rfcjiaration of tlie female daring the first period of menstruation, their war cu?-- toms, etc. But it is not the intention of the writer to enter with prolixity on this field of inquiry which has been so often trod by able writers.
The grand rite of Me-da-we-win (or, as we have leame<l to term it, " Grand Medicine) and the beliefs incorporate^! therein, are not yet fully understood by the whites. This important custom is still shrouded in mystery, even to my own eyes, though I have taken much pains to inquire, and made use of every advantage, possessed by speaking their language perfectly, being related to them, posses-^ing their
5
66 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
friendship and intimate confidence, has given me, and yet I frankly acknowledge that I stand as yet, as it were, on the threshold of the Me-da-we lodge. I believe, how- ever, that J have obtained full as much and more general and true information on this matter than any other per- son who has written on the subject, not excepting a great and standard author, who, to the surprise of many who know the Ojibways well, has boldly asserted in one of his works that he has been regularly initiated into the myste- ries of this rite, and is a member of the Me-da-we Society. This is certainly an assertion hard to believe in the Indian country; and when the old initiators or Indian priests are told of it, they shake their heads in incredulity that a white man should ever have been allowed in truth to be- come a member of their Me-da-we lodge.
An entrance into the lodge itself, while the ceremonies are being enacted, has sometimes been granted through courtesy ; but this does not initiate a person into the mys- teries of the creed, nor does it make him a member of the society.
Amongst the Ojibways, the secrets of this grand rite are as sacredly kept as the secrets of the Masonic Lodge among the whites. Fear of threatened and certain death, either by poison or violence, seals the lips of the Me-da-we initiate, and this is the potent reason why it is still a secret to the white man, and why it is not more generally understood.
Missionaries, travellers, and transient sojourners amongst the Ojibways, who have witnessed the performance of the grand Me-da-we ceremonies, have represented and published that it is composed of foolish and unmeaning ceremonies. The writer begs leave to say that these superficial obser- vers labor under a great mistake. The Indian has equal right, and may with equal truth (but in his utter ignorance is more excusable), to say, on viewing the rites of the
THE MB-DA-WK RITE. 67
Catholic and other churches, that they consist of unmean- ing and nonsensical ceremonies. There is nmeh yet to l)e learned from the wild and apparently simple son of the forest, and the most which remains to be learned is to be derived from their religious beliefs.
In the Me-da-we rite is incorporated most that is ancient amongst them — songs and traditions that have descended, not orally, but in hieroglyphics, for at least a long line of generations. In this rite is also perpetuated the purest and most ancient idioms of their language, which difters some- what from that of the common every-day use. And if comparisons are to be made between the language of the Ojibways and the other languages, it must be with their religious idiom.
The winter has learned enough of the religion of the Ojibways to strengthen his belief of the analogy with tlic Hebrews. They assert that the Me-da-we rite was granted them by the Great Spirit in a time of trouble and death, through the intercession of Man-ab-osho, the universal uncle of the An-ish-in-aub-ag. Certain rules to guide their course in life were given them at the same time, and are represented in hieroglyphics. These great rules of life, which the writer has often heard inculcated by the Me- da-we initiators in their secret teachings to their novices, bear a strong likeness to the ten commandments revealed by the Almighty to the children of Israel, amidst the awful lightning and thunder of Mount Sinai.
They have a tradition telling of a great pestilence, which suddenly cut olf many while encamped in one great village. They were saved by one of their number, to whom a spirit in the shape of a serpent discovered a certain root, which to this day they name the Ke-na-big-wushk or 8Qakeroot. The songs and rites of this medicine are in- corporated in the Me-da-we. The above circumstance is told to have happened when the " earth was new,''
68 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS,
and taking into consideration the lapse of ages, and their being greatly addicted to figurative modes of expression, this tradition bears some resemblance to the plague of the children of Israel in the wilderness, which was stopped by means of the brazen serpent of Moses.
The Ojibway pin-jig-o-saun, or as we term it, " medicine bag," contains all which he holds most sacred ; it is pre- served with great care, and seldom ever allowed a place in the common wigwam, but is generally left hanging in the open air on a tree, where even an ignorant child dare not touch it. The contents are never displayed without much ceremony. This too, however distant, still bears some analogy to the receptacle of the Holy of Holies of the Hebrews.
I have leanied from people who have been resident amongst them, that the tribe known as the Blackfeet, living above the sources of the Missouri, practise a custom which bears a still stronger likeness to the sacred ark and priest- hood, as used of old in Israel. The Blackfeet, by com- paring portions of their language which has been pub- lished by the persevering Father do Smet, and portions that I have learned verbally from others, with the language of the Ojibways, has convinced me that they belong to the same family of tribes, and may be denominated Algics. Any portion, therefore, of their customs which may have fallen under our observation, may be appropriately men- tioned here, to strengthen the grounds we have taken respecting their common origin.
A man is appointed by the elders and chiefs of the Blackfeet every four years to take charge of the sacred pipe, pipestem, mat, and other emblems of their religious beliefs. A lodge is allotted for his especial use, to contain these emblems and articles pertaining to his ofiSee. Four horses are given him to pack these things from place to place, following the erratic movements of the camp. This
CUSTOM OF THE BLACKFEET INDIANS. 69
functionary is obliged to practise seven fasts, and to live during the term of his priesthood in entire celibacy. Even if he possesses a family, on his appointment as "Great Medicine" he must separate from them during his term, and the public supports them. All religious councils are held in his lodge, and disputes are generally adjusted by him as judjge. His presence and voice are sufficient to quell all domestic disturbance, and altogether he holds more a<'tual power and influence than even the civil and war chiefs. His face is always painted black, and he wears his hair tied in a large knot over his forehead, and through this knot is passed a sharp stick with which he scratches his body, should he have occasion, for he is not to use his finger nails for this purpose. None but he can or dare handle the sacred pipe and emblems. At the end of his term the tribe presents him with a new lodge, horses, and so forth, wherewith to commence life anew.
It cannot but strike the attention of an observer, that this custom, this peculiar personage with his lodge and sacred emblems, among the roving sons of the prairies, resembles forcibly the ark and high priesthood of the wandering Israelites of old. I wish again to remark that the fact of this custom being in use among the Blackfeet, has not been obtained under my own personal observation, and therefore I cannot vouch fully for its truth. Having learned it, however, of persons of undoubted veracity, I have deemed it worthy of insertion here. It was corrobo- rated to me during the summer of 1849, by Paul Kane, Esq., a Canadian gentleman,* while stopping at my house at Crow Wing on the Mississippi, with Sir Edward Poor and
1 Paal Kane was an artist of Toronto. In the Parliament Library of the Dominion of Canada, at Ottawa, are twelve of his oil paintings representing Indian life toward the Rocky Mountains. In 1859 a book from his pen was pablibhed in London, with the title Wanderinffs of an Artiit among thf Tndimt ofSorth Ameneajfrom Canada to Van Converts Island and Oreyon — E. D. N.
70 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
others, en route for Selkirk's Settlement, Oregon and Cali- fornia. He appeared a learned and much travelled man, and having been during the course of former travels, and during a long connection with the Hudson Bay Company, a sojourner more or less among the Blackfeet, he had learned of the existence of the above peculiar custom.
Another peculiar trait among the Algics is that which has already been fully dwelt upon under the head of their Totemic division. There is nothing to which I can com- pare the purity and rigid conformity with which this division into families has been kept for centuries and pro- bably ages, amongst the Ojibways, as the division of the Hebrews into tribes, originating from the twelve sons of Jacob. Another peculiarity which has most forcibly struck my mind as one worthy of notice, and which in Ikct first drew my attention to this subject, is the similitude which exists between the oral traditions and lodge stories of the Ojibways with the tales of the Hebrew patriarchs in the Old Testament.
They tell one set of traditions which treat of the adven- tures of eight, ten, and sometimes twelve brothers. The youngest of these brothers is represented in the many tra- ditions which mention them, as the wisest and most be- loved of their father, and lying under the special guardian- ship of the Great Spirit. In one tradition under the name of Wa-jeeg-e-wa-kon-ay (Fisher skin coat) he delivers his brethren from divers diflSeulties entailed on them from their own folly and disobedience. In another tradition he is made to supply his brethren with corn. The name of the father is sometimes given as Ge-tub-e. The similarity between these and other traditions, wnth the Bible stories of Jacob and his twelve sons, cannot fail to attract the at- tention of any person who is acquainted with both ver- sions.
The tradition of the delus^e, and traditions of wars
OJIBWAY TRADITIONS OP THE BIBLE. 71
between the different Totemic clans, all bear an analogy with tales of the Bible.
To satisfy my own curiosity I have sometimes inter- preted to their old men, portions of Bible history, and their expression is invariably : " The book must be true, for our ancestors have told us similar stories, generation after generation, since the earth was new." It is a bold assertion, but it is nevertheless a true one, that were the traditions of the Ojibways written in order, and published in a book, it would as a whole bear a striking resemblance to the Old Testament, and would contain no greater im- probabilities than may be accounted for by the loose man- ner in which these traditions have been peq^etuated ; naturally losing force and truth in descending orally through each succeeding generation. Discard, then, al- together the idea of any connection existing or having existed between the Ojibways and the Hebrews, and it will be ibund difficult to account for all the similarities • existing between many of their rites, customs, and beliefs. Notwithstanding all that has been and may be advanced to prove the Ojibways descended from the lost tribes of Israel, or at least, their once having had close communion with them, yet I am aware that there are many stubborn facts and arguments against it, the principal of which is probably their total variance in language. Never having studied the Hebrew language, I have not had the advan- tage of comparing with it the Ojibway, and on this point I cannot express any opinion.
It is not supposable, however, that the ten lost tribes of Israel emigrated from the land of their captivity in one body, and proceeding direct to the eastern shores of Asia, crossed over to America (by some means which, through changes and convulsions in nature, have become extinct and unknown to the present age) there to resume the rites of their religion, practise the Mosaic laws, and isolated
72 MIIWESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
from the rest of mankind, perpetuated in their primitive purity their language and beliefs.
On the contrary, if the Algics are really descendants of these tribes, it must be only from a portion of them, as rem- nants of the lost tribes have been discovered in the Kesto- rians of Asia. To arrive in America, these portions must have passed through strange and hostile tribes of people, and in the course of their long wanderings and sojourns amongst them, they might have adopted portions of their languages and usages, losing thereby the purity of their own. It is natural to surmise that they were driven and followed in- to America by hostile tribes of Asia, and that they have been thus driven and followed till checked by the waves of the broad Atlantic. This would account for the antag- onistical position in which they and the Dakotas were first discovered, and which, as the Algics are now being pressed back by the white race, on the track of their old emigra- tion, has again been renewed more deadly than ever. Truly are they a wandering and accursed race ! They now occupy a position wedged in as it were, between the on- ward resistless tide of European emigration, and the still powerful tribes of the Naud-o-wa-se-wug (" Like unto the Adders"), their inveterate and hereditary enemies. As a distinct people their final extinction appears inevitable, though their blood may still course on as long as mankind exists.
I cannot close these remarks on this subject (though they have already been lengthened further than was at first in- tended), without offering a few words respecting the belief of the Ojibways in a future state. Something can be de- ducted from this respecting their condition in former ages, and the direction from which they originally emigrated.
When an Ojibway dies, his body is placed in a grave, generally in a sitting posture, facing the west. With the body are buried all the articles needed in life for a journey.
THE BOAD OF SOULS. 7$
If a man, his gun, blanket, kettle, fire :?teel. flint and moc- casins; if a woman, her moccasiu.s axe, {lortage collar, blanket and kettle. The soul is supposed to 9tand im- mediately after the death of the body, on a deef> beaten path, which leads westward ; the first object he come» to m following this path, is the great Oda-<ymiu (Heart berry), or strawberry, which stands on the road^^ide like a huge rock, and from which he takes a handl'ul and eats on his way. He travels on till he reaches a deej*, rapid stream of water, over which lies the much dreadetl Ko-go-gaup-o- gun or rolling and sinking bridge ; once safely over thi:* as the traveller looks back it assumes the sha{ie of a huge serpent swimming, twisting and untwisting its folds across the stream. After camping out four nights, and travelling each day through a prairie country, the soul arrives in the land of spirits, where he finds his relatives accumulated since mankind was first created ; all is rejoicing, singing and dancing ; they live in a beautiful country intersfiersed with clear lakes and streams, forests and prairies, and abounding in fruit and game to repletion— in a won!, abounding in all that the red man most covets in this life, and which conduces most to his happiness. It is that kind of a paradise which he only by his manner of life on this earth, is fitted to enjoy. Without dwelling further on this belief, which if carried out in all its details would occupy under the head of this chapter much unnecessary s[»ace, I will now state the conclusions which may possibly be educed from it.
The Ojibway believes his home after death to lie west- ward. In their religious phraseology, the road of souls is sometimes called Ke-wa-kun-ah, '' Homeward road." It is, however, oftener named Che-ba-kun-ah (road of souls). In the ceremony of addressing their dead before depositing • them in the grave, I have often heard the old men use the word Ke-go-way-se-kah {you are going homeward). This
74 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
road is represented as passing mostly through a prairie country.
Is it not probable from these beliefs that ages ago the Qjibways resided westward, and occupied a country " flow- ing in milk and honey" — a country abounding in all that tends to their enjoyment and happiness, and to which they look back as the tired traveller on a burning desert looks back to a beautiful oasis which he has once passed, or as the lonely wanderer looks back to the once happy home of his childhood? May they not forcibly have been driven from this former country by more powerful nations — have been pressed east and still further eastward from Asia in to America, and over its whole extent, arrested by the waves of the Atlant ic Ocean ? And, like a receding wave, they have turned their faces westward towards their former country, within the past four centuries forced back by European discovery and immigration.
With their mode of transmitting traditions from father to son orally, it is natural to suppose that their present belief in the westward destination of the soul has origi- nated from the above-surmised era in their ancient history. And the tradition of a once happy home and country, being imperfectly transmitted to our times through long lines of generations, has at last merged into the simple and natural belief of a future state, which thoroughly pervades the Indian mind, and guides, in a measure, his actions in life, and enables him to emile at the approach of death.
They have traditions connected with this belief which forcibly illustrate the surmises we have advanced.
In conclusion, I will again remark that though I am fully aware that the subject, and much-^lisputed point, of the origin of the American Indian is far beyond my depth of understanding and limited knowledge, yet I have deemetl it a duty to thus make known the facts embodied in this chapter, and ideas, however crude and conflicting with the
ALGIC AND HEBREW ANALOGIES. 75
received opinions of more learned authors. I oftor them for what they may be worth, and if they be ever used towards elucidating this mystery by wise men who may make it an object of study and research, the end of making them public will be satisfactorily fulfilled.
The analogies which have been noticed as existing between the Hebrew and Algic tribes have not struck my attention individually; others whom I have consulted, living as isolated among the Ojibways as I have been, holding daily communion with them, speaking their lan- guage, hearing their legends and lodge stories, and, withal, readers of the Bible, have fallen into the same belief, and this simple &ct is Itself full worthy of notice.
76 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER IV.
EMIGRATION OP THE OJIBWAYS FROM THE SHORES OP THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, TO THEIR OCCUPATION OF THE AREA OP LAKE SUPERIOR.
Tradition of the sea-ahell— Tradition of the otter— Separation of the OJIbwayt, Potta-wat-umees and Ottaways at the straitfl of Michilimacinac — Origin of their tribal names — Causes of their emigration from the Atlantic seaboard — Ojibways settle at Sault Ste. Marie — They separate into two divisions — Movements of the northern division — Traditional anecdote of the war between the Marten and the Omush-kas families — Movements of the southern division — Allegory of the cranes — Copper-plate reg^ter of the Crane family — Era of their first occupation of Point 8haug-a-waum-ik-ong — ^Tradition of the extermination of the Mundua tribe.
The history of the Ojibway tribe, till within the past five centuries, lies buried in darkness and almost utter oblivion. In the preceding chapter we have feebly at- tempted to lift the veil which covers their past, by oftering well-founded facts which can be excusably used in the formation of conjectures and probabilities. All is, however, still nothing but surmise and uncertainty, and what of this nature has been presented, has not been given, nor can it be considered as authentic history. We will now descend to times and events which are reached by their oral historic traditions, and which may be offered as certain, though not minute history. Through close inquiry and study of their vague figurative traditions, we have dis- covered that the Ojibways have attained to their present geographical position, nearly in the centre of the North American continent, from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, about the Gulf of the St. Lawrence River. The manner in which I first received a certain intimation of this fact, may
THE ME- DA- WE DflTlATORY BITES. ti
illustrate it more forcibly to the reader, and u i»resented as follows : —
I was once standing near the entrance of an Ojibway
Me-da-we-gaun, more commonly known as the " Grand
Medicine Lodge/' while the inmates were busy in the i>er-
formance of the varied ceremonies of this, their chief
medical and religious rite. The lodge measured in length
about one hundred feet, and fifteen in width, was but
partially covered along the sides with green b<»ughs of the
balsam tree, and the outside Ri>ectator could view without
hindrance the different ceremonies enacting within. On a
pole raised horizontally above its whole length were hung
pieces of cloth, calico, handkerchiefs, blankets, etc. — the
offerings or sacrifice of the novice who was about to be
initiate into the mvsteries of the Me-<la-we societv. The
lodge was full of men and women who sat in a row along
both of its sides. Xone but those who were members of
the society and who had regularly bec*n initiate*!, were
allowed to enter. They were dressed and paiiite<l in their
best and most fancy clothing and colors, and each held
in his hand the Me-da-wi-aun or medicine r^ack, which
consisted of bird skins, stutFed otter, beaver and snake
skins.
The novice in the process of initiation, sat in the centre on a clean mat facing the Me-da-wautijr, a cellar j»ost planted in the centre of the lodge, daulted with vermilion and ornamented with tufts of birds' down. The ftmr old and grave-looking We-kauns, or initiating priests, Htocnl around him with their medicine sacks, drum-, and rattles. As I partially understood, and could therefore npj»reciate, the meaning and objects of their strange ceroniOnies, and could partially understand their peculiar religious idiom, I stood, watched, and listened with a far deoj>er interest than couhl be felt in the mind of a mere casual observer, who is both unacquainted with the objects of the rites or
78 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
language of these simple children of nature, and who, in his greater wisdom, deems it but the unmeaning mum- mery and superstitious rites of an ignorant race, buried in heathenish darkness.
One of the four We-kauns, after addressing a few re- marks to the novice in a low voice, took from his medicine sack, the Me-da-me-gis, a small white sea-shell, which is the chief emblem of the Me-da-we rite. Holding this on the palm of his hand, he ran slowly around the inside of the lodge, displaying it to the inmates, and followed by his fellow We-kauns swinging their rattles, and exclaiming in a deep guttural tone, "whe, whe, whe." Circling the lodge in this impressive manner, on coming again to the novice, they stopped running, uttering a deep, sonorous, " Whay-ho-ho-ho." They then quietly walked oif, and taking their stand at the western end of tne lodge, the leader still displaying the shell on the palm of his hand, delivered a loud and spirited harangue.
The language and phrases used were so obscure to a common listener, that it would be impossible to give a literal translation of the whole speech. The following passage, however, forcibly struck my attention :
" While our forefathers were living on the great salt water toward the rising sun, the great Megis (sea-shell) showed itself above the surface of the great water, and the rays of the sun for a long period were reflected from its glossy back. It gave warmth and light to the An-ish- in-aub-ag (red race). All at once it sank into the deep, and for a time our ancestors were not blessed with its lierht. It rose to the surface and appeared again on the great river which drains the waters of the Great Lakes, and again for a long time it gave life to our forefathers, and reflected back the rays of the sun. Again it disappeared from sight and it rose not, till it appeared to the eyes of the An-ish- in-aub-ag on the shores of the first great lake. Again it
THE LEQBND OF THE MEGIS. 79
sank finom sight, and death daily visited the wigwams of our forefathers, till it showed its back, and reflected the rays of the sun once more at Bow-e-ting (Sault Ste. Marie). Here it remained for a long time, but once more, and for the last time, it disappeared, and the An-ish-in-aub-ag was left in darkness and misery, till it floated and once more showed its bright back at Mo-ning-wun-a-kaun-ing (La Pointe Island), where it has ever since reflected back the rays of the sun, and blessed our ancestors with life, light, and wisdom. Its rays reach the remotest village of the wide spread Ojibways." As the old man delivered this talk, he continued to display the shell, which he represented as the emblem of the great megis of which he was speak- ing.
A few days after, anxious to learn the true meaning of this allegory, I proceeded one evening to the lodge of the old priest, and presenting him with some tobacco and cloth for a pair of leggings (which is an invariable custom when any genuine information is wanted of them, connected with their religious beliefs), I requested him to explain to me the meaning of his Me-da-we harangue.
After filling his pipe and smoking of the tobacco I had presented, he proceeded to give me the desired information as follows : —
" My grandson," said he, " the megis I spoke of, means the Me-da-we religion. Our forefathers, many string of lives ago, lived on the shores of the Great Salt Water in the east. Here it was, that while congregated in a great Wn, and while they were suftering the ravages of siek- iiess and death, the Great Spirit, at the intercession of Man- ab-o-sho, the great common uncle of the An-ish-in-aub-ag, grauted them this rite wherewith life is restored and pro- longed. Our forefathers moved from the shores of the great water, and proceeded westward. The Me-fla-we lodge was pulled down and it was not again erected, till
80 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
our forefathers again took a stand on the shores of the great river near where Mo-ne-aung (Montreal) now stands.
" In the course of time this town was again deserted, and our forefathers still proceeding westward, lit not their fires till they reached the shores of Lake Huron, where again the rites of the Me-da-we were practised.
"Again these rites were forgotten, and the Me-da-we lodge was not built till the Ojibways found themselves congregated at Bow-e-tiug (outlet of Lake Superior), where it remained for many winters. Still the Ojibways moved westward, and for the last time the Me-da-we lodge was erected on the Island of La Pointe, and here, long before the pale face appeared among them, it was practised in its purest and most original form. Many of our &thers lived the full term of life granted to mankind by the Great Spirit, and the forms of many old people were mingled with each rising generation. This, my grandson, is the meanmg of the words you did not understand ; they have been repeated to us by our fathers for many generations.'*
Thus was it that I first received particular corroborating testimony to the somewhat mooted point of the direction from which the Ojibways have reached their present geo- graphical position. It is only from such religious and genuine traditions that the fact is to be ascertained. The common class of the tribe who are spread in numerous villages north and west of Lake Superior, when asked where they originally came from, make answer that they originated" from Mo-ning-wuna-kaun-ing (La Pointe), and the phrase is often used in their speeches to the whites, that " Mo-ning-wuna-kaun-ing" is the spot on which the Ojibway tribe first grew, and like a tree it has spread its branches in every direction, in the bands that now occupy the vast extent of the Ojibway earth ; and also that " it is the root from which all the far scattered villages of the tribe have sprung."
THE SEPARATION OP THE 0JIBWAY8. 81
A superficial inquirer would be easily misled by these assertions, and it is only through such vague and figura- tive traditions as the one we have related, that any degree of certainty can be arrived at, respecting their position and movements prior to the time when the tribe first lit their central fire, and built their Me-da-we lodge on the Island of La Pointe.
There is another tradition told by the old, men of the Ojibway village of Fond du Lac — Lake Superior, which tells of their former residence on the shores of the great salt water. It is, however, so similar in character to the one I have related, that its introduction here would oc- cupy unnecessary space. The only difference between the two traditions, is that the otter, which is emblematical of one of the four Medicine spirits, who are believed to pre- side over the Medawe rites, is used in one, in the same figurative manner as the sea-shell is used in the other ; first appearing to the ancient An-ish-in-aub-ag from the depths of the great salt water, again on the river St. Lawrence, then on Lake Huron at Sault Ste. Marie, again at La Pointe, but lastly at Fond du Lac, or end of Lake Superior, where it b Raid to have forced the sand bank at the mouth of the St Louis River. The place is still pointed out by the Indians where they believe the great otter broke through. It is comparatively but a few generations back, that this tribe have been known by their present distinctive name of Ojibway. It is certainly not more than three centuries, and in all probability much less. It is only within this term of time, that they have been disconnected 88 a distinct or separate tribe from the Ottaways and Potta-wat-um-ies. The name by which they were known when incorporated in one body, is at the present day un- certain.
The final separation of these three tribes took place at the Straits of Michilimacinac from natural causes, and the 6
82 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
partition has been more and more distinctly defined, and perpetuated through locality, and by each of the three divided sections assuming or receiving distinctive appella- tions : —
The Ottaways remaining about the spot of their final separation, and being thereby the most easterly section, were first discovered by the white race, who bartered with them their merchandise for furs. They for many years acted as a medium between the white traders and their more remote western brethren, providing them in turn at advanced prices, with their much desired commodities. They thus obtained the name of Ot-tah-way, "trader," which they have retained as their tribal name to the present day. The Potta-wat-um-ees moved up Lake Michigan, and by taking with them, or for a time per- petuating the national fire, which according to tradition was sacredly kept alive in their more primitive days, they have obtained the name of ** those who make or keep the fire,'* which is the literal meaning of their tribal cognomen.
The Ojibways, pressing northward and westward, were soon known as an important and distinctive body or tribe, and meeting with fierce and inveterate enemies, the name of Ojibway, " to roast till puckered up," they soon obtained through practising the old custom of torturing prisoners of war by fire, as has already been mentioned more fully in a previous chapter. The original cause of their emigra- tion from the shores of the Atlantic westward to the area of Lake Superior, is buried in uncertainty. K pressed or driven back by more powerful tribes, which is a most probable conjecture, they are not willing to acknowledge it.»
From the earliest period that their historical traditions treat of, they tell of having carried on an exterminating
1 See Hietory of Ojibways based upon docnmeDts, in this Tolume.
FURTHER EMIGRATION OF THE OJIBWAYS. 83
war with the Iroquois, or Six Nations of New York, whom th^y term Naud-o-waig, or Adders. The name indicates the deadly nature of these, their old and power- ful antagonists, whose concentrated strength and numbers, and first acquaintance with the use of the white man's murderous fire arms, caused them to leave their ancient village sites and seek westward for new homes.
Sufficient has been seen and written since their discovery by the white race, of the antagonistical position of these two diflTerent &milies, or group of tribes, to prove the certainty of the above surmise. The name of Naud-o-wa- se-wug, which is sometimes appKed to the Dakotas by the Ojibways, is derived from the name by which they have ever known the Iroquois. — Naud-o-waig ; it implies "our enemies," but literally, means " like unto the adders." Various definitions have been given to this name by different writers 4 the above is now presented as the only trae one.
It is a well-authenticated fact traditionally, that at the Falls of Sault Ste. Marie, the outlet of I^ke Superior, the Ojibways, after separating from the Ottaways and Pottawatumees, made a long and protracted stay. Their village occupied a large extent of ground, and their war- parties numbered many warriors who marched eastward against the Naudoways, and westward against the Dakota^, with whom at this point they first came into collision.
At this point the Ojibway tribe again separated into two divisions, w^hich we will designate as the Xortliem and Southern. The Northern division formed the least numerous body, and consisted chiefly of the families claiming as Totems the reindeer, lynx, and pike. They proceeded gradually to occupy the north coast of Lake Superior, till they arrived at the mouth of Pigeon River (Kah-mau-a-tig-wa-aug). From this point they have spread over the country they occupy at the present day
84 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
along the British and United States line, and north, for into the British possessions. A large band early occupied and formed a village at Rainy Lake. Here they first came in contact with the Assineboins (a tribe of seceding Dakotas), and from this point, after entering into a firm and lasting peace with the Assineboins and Knis-te-noe, they first joined their brethren of the Southern division in their wars against the fierce Dakotas. This band have to this day retained the cognomen of Ko-je-je-win-in-e-wug, from the numerous straits, bends, and turnings of the lakes and rivers which they occupy.
A large body of this Northern division residing imme- diately on the north shores of the Great Lake, at Grand Portage and Thunder Bay, and claiming the Totem of the Ke-nouzhay or Pike, were formerly denominated 0-mush- kas-ug. Tradition says that at one time their fellow- Ojibways made war on them. This war was brought about by persons belonging to the Pike family murdering some members of the Marten Totem family. It was but the carrying out of their custom of " blood for blood." It was neither very deadly nor of long duration, and to illustrate its character more fully, I will introduce the fol- lowing traditional anecdote : —
A party consisting of warriors belonging to the Martin family was at one time collected at Fond du Lac. Tliey proceeded on the war-path against the family of the Omush-kas, living on the north shore of the Great Lake, for this family had lately spilled their blood. They dis- covered a single wigwam standing on the sandy shores of the lake, and the Martens, having stealthily approached, raised the war-whoop, and as was the custom in battle (to show their greater manhood), they threw off every article of clothing, and thus, perfectly naked, rushed furiously to the attack. The Omush-kas, head of the family occu- pying the threatened lodge, was busy arranging his fish-
THE NORTHERN 0JIBWAY8. 85
net, and not aware that war had been declared, he paid no attention to his jelling visitors, but calmly continued his peaceful occupation.
One of the Martens, rushing into the lodge, and, throw- ing his arms about him, exclaimed, " Ene-ne-nin-duk-o-nah" (a man I hold), meaning that he took him captive.
The simple Omushkas, looking up, merely remarked, "Let me go ; you are tangling my net." Still the Marten, keeping his hold, more loudly exclaimed, "Ene-ne-nin- duk-o-nah.** The Omushkas, now perceiving his naked- ness, grasped a sensitive part of his person, in turn jok- ingly exclaimed, " Nin-sah-eta-in-ne-ne-nin-duk-o-nah " (" 'tis only I who truly hold a man"), and the simple man continued to consider the attack as a mere farce. The war-club, however, of the enraged Marten now descended with fearful force on his head, and he died exclaiming, *' Verily they are killing me."
A considerable body of the Northern Ojibways are de- nominated by their fellow-tribesmen Sug-wau-dug-ah-win- in-e-wug (men of the thick firwoods), derived from the interminable forests of balsam, spruce, pine, and tamarac trees which cover their hunting-grounds. Their early French discoverera named them "Bois Forts," or Hard- woods.
Another section forming the most northern branch of this tribe are denominated Omushke-goes (Swamp-people), derived also from the nature of the country they occupy.
The Xorthem division, which comprises these different sections, having been separated from the main body of the tribe forming the Southern division, now upwards of eight generations, a difference (though not a radical one), has become perceptible in their common language. This con- sists mostly in the pronunciation, and so slight is the difference in idiom that one good interpreter, speaking the language of each division, may suffice for both.
86 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
The characteristics, also of the northern section of the tribe, differ materially in some important respects from those of their southern and western- brethren. Not having been opposed by enemies in the course of their northern emigration, they are consequently not warlike, and the name of Waub-ose (Rabbit), is often applied to them by their more warlike fellows, on account of their mild and harmless disposition.
At the partition of the Ojibway tribe into two divisions, at Sault Ste. Marie, the main body pressed their way gradually up along the southern shores of Lake Superior. They made a temporary stand at Grand Island, near the Pictured Rocks, again at L'Anse Bay, or as they more euphoniously name it, We-qua-dong. This grand division consisted principally of the Crane Totem family, the Bear, the Catfish, the Loon, and the allied Marten and Moose clans.. These great families with their several branches, form at least eight- tenths of the whole Ojibway tribe.
The Cranes claim the honor of first having pitched their wigwams, and lighted the fire of the Ojibways, at Shaug- ah-waum-ik-ong, a sand point or peninsula lying two miles immediately opposite the Island of La Pointe. This fact is illustrated by the following highly allegorical and charac- teristic tradition : —
As a preliminary remark, it is necessary to state that there exists quite a variance between three or four of the principal Totems, as to which is hereditarily entitled to the chief place in the tribe.
At a council (in which the writer acted as interpreter), held some years ago at La Pointe, between the principal chiefs of the Ojibways and the United States Government Agent, the following allegory was delivered by an old chief named Tug-waug-aun-ay, in answer to the mooted question of " who was the hereditary chief of La Pointe?"
Ke-che-wash-keenh (Great Buffalo), the grandson of the
THE LEGEND OF THE CRANE. 87
celebrated chief Au-daig-we-oe (mentioned in Schoolcraft's works), head of the Loon Totem clan, was at this time, thongh stricken with years, still in the prime of hb great oratorical powers.
On this occasion he opened the council by delivering a most eloquent harangue in praise of his own immediate ancestors, and claiming for the Loon family the first place and chieftainship among the Ojibways. After he had finished and again resumed his seat, Tug-waug-aun-ay, the head chief of the Crane family, a very modest and retirincc man, seldom induced to speak in council, calmly arose, and gracefully wrapping his blanket about his body, leaving but the right arm free, he pointed toward the eastern skies, and exclaimed : " The Great Spirit once made a bird, and he sent it from the skies to make its abode on earth. The bird came, and when it reached half way down, among the clouds, it sent forth a loud and far sounding cry, w^hieh was heard by all who resideil on the earth, and even by the spirits who make their abode within iU bosom. When the bird reached within sight of the earth, it circled slowly above the Great Fresh Water Lakes, and again it uttered its echoing cry. Nearer and nearer it circled, looking for a resting place, till it lit on a hill overlooking Boweting (Sault Ste. Marie); here it chose its first resting place, pleased with the numerous white fish that glanced and swam in the clear waters and sparkling foam of the rapids. Satisfied with its chosen seat, again the bird sent forth its loud but solitary cry; and the No-kaig (Bear clan), A- waus-e-wug (Catfish), Ah-auh-wauh-ug (Loon), and Mous-o- neeg (Moose and Marten clan), gathered at his call. A large town was soon congregated, and the bird whom the Great Spirit sent presided over all.
"Once again it took its flight, and the bird flew slowly over the waters of Lake Superior. Pleased with the sand point of Shaug-ah-waum-ik-ong, it circled over it, and
88 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
viewed the numerous fish as they swam about in the clear depths of the Great Lake. It lit on Shaugnah-waum-ik-ong, and from thence again it uttered its solitary cry. A voice came from the calm bosom of the lake, in answer ; the bird pleased with the musical sound of the voice, again sent forth its cry, and the answering bird made its appearance in the wampum-breasted Ah-auh-wauh (Loon). The bird spoke to it in a gentle tone, * Is it thou that gives answer to my cry?* The Loon answered, 'It is L* The bird then said to him, ' Thy voice is music — it is melody — it sounds sweet in my ear, from henceforth I appoint thee to answer my voice in Council.'
" Thus," continued the chief, " the Loon became the first in council, but he who made him chief was the Bus-in- aus-e (Echo Maker), or Crane. These are the words of my an- cestors, who, from generation to generation, have repeated them into the ears of their children. I have done."
The old man took his seat in silence, and not a chief in that stricken and listening crowd arose to gainsay his words. All understood the allegory perfectly well, and as the curling smoke of their pipes sCrose from the lips and nostrils of the quiet listeners, there ascended with it the universal whisper, " It is true ; it is true."
As an explanation of the figures used in the above tra- ditional allegory, we will add, that the crane, commonly named in the Ojibway language Uj-e-jauk,is the symbol or totem of a large section of the tribe. This bird loves to soar among the clouds, and its cry can be heard when flying above, beyond the orbit of human vision. From this " far- sounding cry" the family who claim it as their totem de- rive their generic name of Bus-in-aus-e-wug (Echo Makers). This family claim, by this allegory, to have been the first discoverers and pioneer settlers at Sault Ste. Marie, and again at Pt. Shaug-ah-waum-ik-ong.
The Loon is the Totem also of a large clan. This bird
A CURIOUS FAMILY REOISTSB. 89
is denominated by the Ojibways, Mong, but the family who claim it as their badge, are known by the generic name of Ah-auh-wauh, which is derived by imitating its peculiar ciy. This family claim the hereditary first chieftainship in the tribe, but they cannot substantiate their pretensions farther back than their first intercourse with the old French discoverers and traders, who, on a certain occasion, appointed some of their principal men as chiefs, and en- dowed them with flags and medals. Strictly confined to their own primitive tribal polity, the allegory of the Cranes cannot be controverted, nor has it ever been gain- said.
To support their pretensions, this family hold in their possession a circular plate of virgin copper, on which is rudely marked indentations and hieroglyjducs denoting the number of generations of the family who have passed away since they first pitched their lodges at Shaug-a- waum-ik-ong and took possession of the adjacent country, including the Island of La Pointe or Mo-ning-wun-a- kaun-ing.
When I witnessed this curious family register in 1842, it was exhibited by Tug-waug-aun-ay to my father. The old chief kept it carefully buried in the ground, and sel- dom displayed it. On this occasion he only brought it to view at the entreaty of my mother, whose maternal uncle he was. Father, mother, and the old chief, have all since gone to the land of spirits, and I am the only one still liv- ing who witnessed, on that occasion, this sacred relic of former days.
On this plate of copper was marked eight deep indenta- tions, denoting the number of his ancestors who had passed away since they first lighted their fire at Shaug-a-waum- ik-ong. They had all lived to a good old age.
By the rude figure of a man with a hat on its head, placed opposite one of these indentations, was denoted the
90 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
period when the white race first made his appearance among them. This mark occurred in the third generation, leaving five generations which had passed away since that important era in their history.
Tug-waug-aun-ay was about sixty years of age at the time he showed this plate of copper, which he said had descended to him direct through a long line of ancestors. He died two years since, and his death has added the ninth indentation thereon; making, at this period, nine generations since the Ojibways first resided at La Pointe, and six generations since their first intercourse with the whites.
From the manner in which they estimate their genera- tions, they may be counted as comprising a little over half the full term of years allotted to mankind, which will ma- terially exceed the white man's generation. The Ojib- ways never count a generation as passed away till the old- est man in the family has died, and the writer assumes from these, and other facts obtained through observation and inquiry, forty years as the term of an Indian genera- tion. It is necessary to state, however, for the benefit of those who may consider this as an over-estimate, that, since the introduction of intoxicating drinks and diseases of the whites, the former well-authenticated longevity of the In- dians has been materially lessened.
According to this estimate, it is now three hundred and sixty years since the Ojibways first collected in one grand central town on the Island of La Pointe, and two hundroil and forty years since they were first discovered by the white race.
Seventy-seven years after, Jacques Cartier, representing the French nation, obtained his " first formal meeting with the Indians of the interior of Canada," and fifty-six years before Father Claude Allouez (as mentioned in Bancroft's History of America), first discovered the Ojibways congre-
OJIBWATS ATTACK THE XTX-DUA TOWS. 91
gated in the Bay of Shang-a-waom-ik-ong, preparing to go on a war excursion against their enemies the Dakotas.
From this period the Ojibwavs are traditionally well possessed of the most important events which have hap- pened to them as a tribe, and from nine generations back, I am prepared to give, as obtained from their most vera- cious, reliable, and oldest men, their history, which may be considered as authentic
In this chapter we have noted the course of their migra- tions, which, in all likelihood, occupied nearly two c-enturies prior to their final occujiation of the shores of Lake Supe- rior.
These movements were made while they were living in their primitive state, when they possessed nothing but the bow and arrow, sharpened stones, and bones of animaU wherewith to kill game and fight their enemies. During this period they were surrounded by inveterate foes, and war was their chief pastime ; but so dreamy and ifinfuised are their accounts of the battles which their ancestors fought, and the exploits they enacted, that the writer has refrained from dwelling on them with any particularity. One tradition, however, is deemed full worthy of notice, and while offering it as an historical fact, it will at the same time answer as a specimen of the mythological char- acter of their tales which reach as far back as this jierioil.
During their residence in the East, the Ojibwavs have a distinct tradition of having annihilatcHl a tribe whom they denominate Mun-dua. Their old men, whom I have ques- tioned on this subject, do not all agree in the location nor de- tails. Their disagreements, however, arc not very material, and I will proceed to give, verbatim, the version of Kah- nin-dum-a-win-so, the old chief of Sandy Lake:
" There was at one time living on the shores of a great lake, a numerous and powerful tril>e of jxK)ple ; they lived congregated in one single town, which was so large that a
92 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
person standing on a hill which stood in its pentre, could not see the limits of it.
" This tribe, whose nanie was Mun-dua, were fierce and warlike ; their hand was against every other tribe, and the captives whom they took in war were burned with fire as offerings to their spirits.
'*A11 the surrounding tribes lived in great fear of them, till their Ojibway brothers called them to council, and sent the wampum and warclub, to collect the warriors of all the tribes with whom they were related. A war party was thus raised, whose line of warriors reached, as they marched in single file, as far as the eye could see. They proceeded against the great town of their common enemy, to put out their fire forever. They surrounded and attacked them from all quarters where their town was not bounded by the lake shore, and though overwhelming in their numbers, yet the Mun-dua had such confidence in their own force and pmwess, that on the first day, they sent only their boys to repel the attack. The boys being defeated and driven back, on the second day the young men turned out to beat back their assailants. Still the Ojibways and their allies stood their ground and gradually drove them in, till on the eve of the second day, they found themselves in pos- session of half the great town. The Mun-duas now became awake to their danger, and on the third day, beginning to consider it a serious business, their old and tried warriors, * mighty men of valor,' sang their war songs, and putting on their paints and ornaments of battle, they turned out to repel their invaders.
" The fight this day was hand to hand. There is nothing in their traditionary accounts, to equal the fierceness of the struggle described in this battle. The bravest men, prob- ably, in America, had met — one party fighting for ven- geance, glory, and renown ; and the other for everything dear to man, home, fiimily, for vary existence itself!
EXTERMINATIOK OF THE IIUNDUAS. 93
" The Mun-dua were obliged at last to give way, and hotly pressed by tlieir foes, women and children threw them- selves into, and perished in the lake. At this juncture their aged chief, who had witnessed the unavailing defence of his people, and who saw the ground covered with the bodies of his greatest warriors, called with a loud voice on the * Great Spirit* for help (for besides being chief of the Miln-duas, he was also a great medicine man and jug- gler).
" Being a wicked people, the Great Spirit did not listen to the prayer of their chief for deliverance. The aged medicine man then called upon the spirits of the water and of the earth, who are the under spirits of the * Great Spirit of Evil,' and immediately a dark and heavy fog arose from the bosom of the lake, and covered in folds of darkness the site of the vanquished town, and the scene of the bloody battle. The old chieftain by his voice gathered together the remnants of his slaughtered tribe, and under cover of the Evil Spirit's fog, they left their homes forever. The whole day and ensuing night they travelled to escape from their enemies, until a gale of wind, which the medi- cine men of the Ojibways had asked the Great Spirit to raise, drove away the fog; the surprise of the fleeing Mun- duas was extreme when they found themselves standing on a hill back of their deserted town, and in plain view of tteir enemies.
"*It is the will of the Great Spirit that we should perish,' exclaimed their old chief; but once more they ^fagged their wearied limbs in hopeless flight. They ran i^to an adjacent forest where they buried the women and children in the ground, leaving but a small aperture to enable them to breathe. The men then turned back, and once more they met their pursuing foes in a last mortal ^nibat. They fought stoutly for a while, when again overpowered by numbers, they turned and fled, but in a
94 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
different direction from the spot where they had secreted their families : but a few men escaped, who afterward re- turned, and disinterred the women and children. This small remnant of a once powerful tribe were the next year attacked by an Ojibway war-party, taken captive, and in- corporated in this tribe. Individuals are pointed out to this day who are of Mun-dua descent, and who are mem- bers of the respected family whose totem is the Marten."
96 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
south and west, and of which, the migrating Ojibways now took possession as intruders. The opposition to their further advance westward commenced when the Ojibways first lighted their fires at Sault Ste. Marie, and it is from their first acquaintance with them, while located at this spot, that the Dakotas have given them the appellation of Ra-ra-to-oans (People of the Falls).
At every step of their westward advance along the southern shores of the Great Lake, the Ojibways battled with the Foxes and Dakotas; but they pressed onward, gaining foot by foot, till they finally lit their fires on the sand point of Sha-ga-waum-ik-ong. On this spot they re- mained not long, for they were harassed daily by their warlike foes, and for greater security they were obliged to move their camp to the adjacent island of Mon-ing-wun-a- kaun-ing (place of the golden-breasted woodpecker, but known as La Pointe). Here, they chose the site of their ancient town, and it covered a space about three miles long and two broad, comprising the western end of the island.
The vestiges or signs to prove this assertiori are still visible, and are especially observable in the young growth of trees now covering the spot, compared to trees standing on other portions of the island where oaks and pines appa- rently centuries old, rear their branches aloft, or lie pros- trate on the ground.
In the younger days of old traders and half breeds still living, they tell of deep beaten paths being plainly visible in different parts of the island and even the forms of their ancient gardens, now overgrown with trees, could still be traced out. When my maternal grandfather, Michel Cadotte, first located a trading post on this island, now upwards of sixty years ago, these different signs and ves- tiges were still discernible, and I have myself noticed the difference in the growth of trees and other marks, as I
DOMSSTIC IKPLEMKNTS OF THE OJIBWAYS. 97
have a thousand times wandered through this, the island of my nativity.
While hemmed in on this island by their enemies, the Ojibways lived mainly by fishing. They also practised the arts of agriculture to an extent not since known amongst them. Their gardens are said to have been extensive, and they raised large quantities of Mun-dam-in (Indian comX and pumpkins.
The more hardy and adventurous hunted on the lake
shore opposite their village, which was overrun with moose,
bear, elk, and deer. The buffalo, also, are said in those days
to have ranged within half a day's march from the lake
shore, on the barrens stretching towards the headwaters of
the St. Croix River. Every stream which emptied into
the lake, abounded in beaver, otter, and muskrat, and the
fish which swam in its clear water could not be surpassed
in quality or quantity in any other spot on earth. They
manufactured their nets of the inner bark of the bass and
cedar trees, and from the fibres of the nettle. They made
thin knives from the rib bones of the moose and buffalo.
And a stone tied to the end of a stick, with which they
broke branches and sticks, answered them the purpose of
an axe. From the thigh-bone of a muskrat they ground
their awls, and fire was obtained by the friction of two dry
sticks. Bows of hard wood, or bone, sharp stone-headed
arrows, and spear points made also of bone, formed their
implements of war and hunting. With ingeniously made
traps and dead-falls, they caught the wily beaver, whose
flesh was their most dainty food, and whose skins made
them warm blankets. To catch the moose and larger
animals, they built long and gradually narrowing inclosures
of branches, wherein they would first drive and then kill
them, one after another, with their barbed arrows. They
also caught them in nooses made of tough hide and hung
from a strong bent tree, over the road that these animals 7
98 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
commonly travelled to feed, or find water. Bear they caught in dead-falls, which were so unfailing that they have retained their use to this day, in preference to the steel traps of the pale faces.
Their old men tell of using a kind of arrow in hunting for the larger animals in those primitive days, which I have never seen described in books. The arrow is made with a circular hole bored or burnt in the end, in which was loosely inserted a finely barbed bone. Being shot into an animal, the arrow would fall off leaving the barb in the body, and as the animal moved this would gradually work into its vitals and soon deprive it of life.
In those days their shirts and leggins were made of finely dressed deer and elk skins sewed together with the sinews of these animals. They made their wigwam cover- ing of birch bark and rushes ; their canoes of birch bark and thin strips of cedar wood, sewed together with the small roots of the pine tree, and gummed with the pitch of the pine, balsam, or tamarac. They made kettles from clay and pulverized stone, and judging from specimens found occasionally throughout the country, they give evi- dence of much proficiency and ingenuity in this line of manufacture. Copper, though abounding on the lake shore, they never used for common purposes ;* considering
* The tribes of the lakes were workers in copper at an early period. Cham- plain in an account published in 1613, at Paris, writes : '* Shortly after confer- ring with them about many matters concemini;: their wars, the Algonquin Savage, one of their chiefs, drew from a sack a piece of copper a foot long, which he gave me. This was very handsome and quite pure. He gave me to understand that there were large quantities where he had taken this, which was on the bank of a river, now a great lake. He said they gathered it in lumps, and having melted it, spread it in sheets, smoothing it with stones.''
Pierre Boucher, the grandfather of Sieur Vcrcndrye, the explorer of the Lake Winnipeg region, in a book published in 1064, at Paris, writes that ** in Lake Superior there is a great island fifty leagues in circumference, in which there is a very beautiful mine of copper. There are other places in those quarters where there are similar mines ; so I learned from four or five Frenchmen, who lately returned. They were gone tbree years, without finding an opportunity
THE OJIBWAYS NOT COPPER WORKERS. 99
it sacred, they used it only for medicinal rites, and for or- nament on the occasion of a grand Me-da-we.
They are not therefore, the people whose ancient tools and marks are now being discovered daily by the miners on Lake Superior ; or, if they are those people, it must have been during a farmer period of their ancient history; but their preserving no traditional account of their ances- tors ever having worked these copper mines, would most conclusively prove that they are not the race whose signs of a former partial civilized state, are being daily dug up about the shores of the Great Lake.
During this era in their history, some of their old men affirm that there was maintained in their central town, on the Island of La Pointe, a continual fire as a symbol of their nationality. They maintained also, a regular system of civil polity, which, however, was much mixed with their religious and medicinal practices. The Crane and Aw-ause Totem families were first in council, and the brave and unflinching warriors of the Bear family, defended them from the inroads of their numerous and powerful enemies.
to'retam ; they told me they had seen an iug^t of copper, all refined, which ▼as on the coast, and weighed more than eight hundred pounds, according to their estimate. They said that the savages, In passing It made a fire on It, ifler which they cut off pieces with their axes.''
Isle Royale abounds in pits containing ashes, coals, stone hammers, and chips of copper, and in some places the scales of the fishes, which had been eaten by the ancient miners. The vein rook appears to have been heated by fire, and the water dashed thereon, by which the rock was fractured, and the exposed copper softened.
T&loD, Intendant of Justice in Canada, visited France, taking a voyageur with bio, and while In Paris on the 26th of February, 1669, wrote to Colbert, Minis- ter of the Colonial Department, "that this voyageur had penetrated among the Western natives farther than any other man, and had seen the copper mine on Lake Huron," and on the 2d of November, 1671, Talon writes from Quebec : "The copper which I sent from Lake Superior and the river Nantaouagan [Ontonagon], proves that there is a mine on the border of some stream. More than twenty Frenchmen have seen one lump at the lake which they estimate Weighs more than eight hundred pounds." Alexander Henry also alludes to ^per working on Lake Superior.— £. D. N.
100 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLEC?nONS.
The rites of the Me-da-we-win (their mode of worship- ping the Great Spirit, and securing life in this and a future world, and of conciliating the lesser spirits, who in their belief, peopb earth, sky, and waters) was practised in those days in its purest and most original form. Every person who had been initiated into the secrets of this mysterious society from the first to the eighth degree, were impera- tively obliged to be present on every occasion when its grand ceremonies were solemnized. This created yearly a national gathering, and the bonds which united one mem- ber to another were stronger than exist at the present day, when each village has assumed, at unstated periods, to per- form the ceremonies of initiation. Tradition says that a large wigwam was permanently erected in the midst of their great town, which they designated as the Me-da-we- gun, wherein the rites of their religion were performed. Though probably rude in its structure, and not lasting in its materials, yet was it the temple of a numerous tribe, and so sacredly was it considered, that even to this day, in their religious phraseology, the island on which it stood is known by the name of Me-da-we-gaun.
In those days their native and primitive manners and usages were rigidly conformed with. Man nor woman never passed the age of puberty without severe and pro- tracted fasts, in which they sought communion with some particular guardian spirit whom they considered in the light of a medium spirit between them and the " One Great Master of Life," toward whom they felt too deep a veneration, than to dare to commune with directly. Sacri- ficial feasts were made with the first fruit of the field and the chase. When a person fell sick, a small lodge was made, apart from the village, purposely for his sole use, and a medicine man summoned to attend and cure, and only he, held intercourse with the sick. If a person died of some virulent disease, his clothing, the barks that
CHANGES IN THE OJIBWAY CUSTOMS. 101
covered his lodge, and even the poles that framed it, were destroyed by fire. Thus of old did they guard against pes- tilence ; and disease of all kinds appears to have been less common among them than at the present day ; and it is further stated that many more persons than now, lived out the full term of life allotted to mankind by the " Great Spirit." Many even lived with the " weight of over a hundred winters on their backs."
The council of the Me-da-we initiators, partook of the spirit of the ten commandments which were given to the children of Israel, amidst the thunders of Mount SinaL There was consequently less theft and lying, more devotion to the Great Spirit, more obedience to their parents, and more chastity in man and women, than exist at the pre- sent day, since their baneful intercourse with the white race. Even in the twenty years' experience of the writer, he has vividly noticed these changes, spoken of by the old men, as rapidly taking place. In former times there was certainly more good-will, charity, and hospitality practised toward one another; and the widow and oi'j)han never were allowed to live in want and poverty. The old tra- ditionists of the Ojibways, tell of many customs which Lave become nearly or altogether extinct. They dwell with pleasure on this era of their past history, and con- sider it as the happy days of "Auld lang syne."
I have already stated that they located their town on the island of La Pointe, for greater security against the harassing inroads of their enemies, but though the island is located at its nighest point, about two miles from the main shore of the Great Lake, yet were the Ojibways not entirely secure from the attacks of their inveterate and indefatigable foes, who found means, not only of waylay- ing their stray hunters oh the main shore, but even to secure scalps on the island of their refuge itself. On one occasion a war party of Dakotas found their way to a point
102 MINNESOTA HISTOBIOAL COLLECTIONS.
of the main shore directly opposite the western end of the island, and during the night, two of their number crossed over, a distance of two miles and a half, each swimming by the side of a log, and attacked a family who were fish- ing by torchlight along the eastern shore of the island.
With four scalps, and the canoe of those they had killed, they returned to their friends, who immediately retreated, satisfied with their success. Early in the morning, the mangled bodies of the slain were discovered, and the Qjib- ways, collecting their warriors, made a long but unavailing pursuit.
Shortly after this occurrence, a party of one hundred and fifty Dakota warriors again found their way to the lake shore, and taking a position on the extreme point of Shag- a-waum-ik-ong, immediately opposite the Ojibway village, they laid in ambush for some stray enemy to come within their reach. Shag-a-waum-ik-ong is a narrow neck or point of land about four miles long, and lying nearly parallel to the island of La Pointe, toward the western end of which it converges, till the distance from point to point is not more than two miles. In former times the distance is said to have been much less, the action of the waves having since gradually washed away the sand of which it is com- posed.
It lays across the entry to a deep bay, and it has derived its name from the tradition that Man-ab-osho created it to bar the egress of a great beaver which he once hunted on the Great Lake, and which had taken refuge in this deep bay. The name signifies " The soft beaver dam," as the great beaver had easily broken through it, making the deep gap which now forms the entry of the bay. This point or peninsula does not average in width more than twenty rods, and in many places it is not piore than six rods across. It is covered with a growth of scrubby oak and pine, and the extreme end where the Dakotas lay in
THE DAKOTAS ATTACK LA POINTK. 103
ambush, is said in those days to have been covered with numerous sand hillocks, which the winds and waves have since nearly blown and washed away.
Early one morning, two Ojibway lads crossed over to the point to hunt ducks : on landing they were attacked by the ambushed war-party of the Dakotas with loud yells. For some time the two youths, protected by the numerous sand-hills, defended themselves, and evaded the attempts of their enemies, who wished to take them captives. In the mean time, the Ojibway town being aroused by the distant yelling, and seeing the point covered with the forms of numerous men, the startling cry of Aboin-ug ! Aboin-ug! was shouted from wigwam to wigwam, and the men of war, grasping their bows and arrows, spears and war-clubs, jumped into their canoes and paddled with great speed to the scene of action. They crossed over in two divisions, one party proceeding straight to the point where the Dakotas were still to be seen hunting the two lads, while the other party living at the lower end of the great village, crossed over to that portion of the peninsula lying nearest to their wigwams. These landed about two miles below the extreme point, and taking their position where Shag-a-waum-ik-ong is but a few rods wide, and covered with scrubby oaks, they entirely cut off the retreat or egress of the Dakotas. Meanwhile the two unfortunate boys had been dispatched and scalped ; but their friends who had crossed straight over from the village, landed on the point and proceeded to revenge their death, by bravely attacking the now retreating Dakotas. These being pressed by an enemy increasing in numbers every moment, turned their backs and fled down the point, merely keeping up a running fight, till they were met by the main body of the Qjibways who had collected in their rear, and cut them off effectually from escape. Discovering, too late, the fearful position which their rashness and want of foresight had
104 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
brought them to, the Dakota warriors took shelter in a thick grove of scrubby oak, and fought to the last gasp. Overwhelmed by numbers, all were killed but two, who were seen to throw themselves into the lake and swim off towards the opposite shore of the deep bay. They were never heard of afterwards, but the probability is that by swimming two miles to the nearest point of the main shore, they saved their lives, and returned to their people with the sad tale of the almost total destruction of their war- party. Over the whole point of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, are still strewn small particles of bones, which are said to be the remains of the warriors who fell in this bloody fight.
An anecdote is told of an old man, who was the father of one of the lads waylaid by the ambushed party on the point. He was not at home when the alarm was first sounded, and when he arrived, the warriors had all gone, and taken all the canoes belonging to the village. Burn- ing to know the fate of his beloved child, he lashed his weapons of war to his back, amd notwithstanding the en- treaties of the women, he threw himself into the lake, and swam over to the scene of action. He arrived too late to join in the fight, but he was ever afterward noted for this almost superhuman feat, and his name is preserved amongst his people even to this day.
On another occasion a party of four hundred Fox war- riors floated down the Ontonagun River in their small inland bark canoes, and coasting along the lake shore, they landed in the night time on the island of La Pointe, and at early dawn in the moniing, they succeeded in waylaying and capturing four young women who had gone from the village to cut wood. The spot is pointed out to this day, where they were taken. The Foxes satisfied with their success, hastily retreated to their canoes, and under cover of a dense fog, they silently paddled homeward. Confi- dent, however, in their numbers, and full of exultation at
LA POINTE INVADED BY THE FOXES. 105
having bearded their enemies even on the island of their refage^ feeling also secure of escape in the fog, when still within hearing distance of the Ojibway village, they yelled back the whoop of derision and defiance, and commenced singingA stirring scalp song.
The town of the Ojibways became instantly a scene of commotion, and the eager warriors quickly arming them- selves, hastily embarked in their large lake canoes, and silently but swiftly pursued their enemies under cover of the dense fog.
The lake was perfectly calm, and they could hear the loud talking and laughter of the Foxes from a long dis- tance. Guided by the noise thus kept up by their careless and confident enemies, the Ojibways silently straining on their paddles, gradually neared them. By the wise advice of their leaders, they deferred the attack, till the Foxes had arrived opposite the rock-bound coast one mile below Montreal River, and twenty-two miles from La Pointe, where the steep and slippery banks would prevent them from making their escape by land. Here the Ojibways fell on them with great fury, and easily upsetting their small canoes, they dispatched the surprised and now fear stricken Poxes as they struggled in the water. They killed and drowned this large war-party, nearly to a man.
This is the only naval engagement in which the Ojibways tell of ever having been engaged ; and their great success on this occasion, they attribute not only to superior numbers, but to the great advantage which they possessed in the size of their canoes, compared with those of the Foxes. Theirs were made large and strong, sitting firmly on the water, made to withstand the storms of Lake Superior, and capable of holding from five to twenty men each, while on the other hand, the canoes of their enemies, though made of the same material (birch bark), were constructed frail and crank, made to be taken across long portages on a
106 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
man's head, and capable of containing but two or three persons. These, therefore, were easily upset, and their owners struggling in the deep water, were easily knocked on the head with war-clubs.
These two successful battles materially strengthened the foothold which the Ojibways had obtained in this portion of the Lake Superior country. The Dakotas and Foxes received thereby a check on their war propensities, and they learned to respect the prowess and bravery of the Ojibways. Their war-parties to the lake shore became less frequent than formerly, and they were more cautious in their attacks. On the island of La Pointe, they never again secured scalp nor prisoner, for never again did they dare to land on it.
The war carried on at this period between the Ojibways and Foxes, was fierce and bloody in the extreme, and it was marked with every cruelty attendant on savage war- fare. The Foxes tortured their captives in various ways, but principally by burning them by fire. Of old, the Ojib- ways did not practise these cruelties, and they only leanied them at this period from the Foxes. The hellish custom of torturing prisoners with fire, originated amongst them as follows : —
" A noted warrior of the Ojibways was once taken pri- soner by his own nephew, who was a young warrior of the Foxes, son of his own sister, who had been captured when young, adopted and married in this tribe. This young man, to show to the Foxes his utter contempt of any ties of blood existing between him and his Ojibway uncle, planted two stakes strongly in the ground, and taking his uncle by the arm, he remarked to him that he * wished to warm him before a good fire.' He then deliberately tied his arms and legs to the two stakes, as wide apart as they could be stretched, and the unnatural nephew built a huge fire in front of his uncle. When he had burnt his naked
TORTURE DTFUCTED OX CAPTITES. 107
body to a blifiter on this side, he tamed him with his back toward the fire, and when this had also been craell j barned, he untied him, and turning him loose, he bade him to ^ return home and tell the Ojibways how the Foxes treated their uncles/ "
The uncle recovered from his fire wounds, and in a sub- sequent war excursion, he succeeded in capturing his cruel nephew. He took him to the village of the Ojibwajs, where he tied him to a stake, and taking a fresh elk skin, on which a layer of &t had purposely been left, he placed it over a fire till it became ablaze; then throwing it over the naked shoulders of his nephew, he remarked. " Xephew, when you took me to visit the village of your people, you warmed me before a good fire. I now in return give you a warm mantle for your back."
The elk skin, covered with thick fat, burned furiously, and " puckering," it tightened around the naked body of his nephew — a dreadful " mantle" which soon contnumed him.* This act was again retaliated by the Foxes, and death by fire applied in various ways, soon became the fate of all unfortunate captives.
* It \b DOt unnatural to suppose that the tale of this occurrence being spread tmongftt the surrounding tribes, gave the name of OJibway — ** to roast till puck- ered ap/' to this tribe. Tribes have derived their names from circumstances of lesser note than this. — Author.
108 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER VI.
DISPBESION OF THK OJIBWAYS FROM THE ISLAND OF LA POINTE.
Canses of the sadden eyacnation of their aDcicDt town, as given by old traditionistfl — Different account obtained fh>m old half-breeds and traders — Evil practices become in vogue— Poisoning— Feasts of human flesh — Ojib- ways fall under the power of their Satanic priesthood — Anecdote of the old man watching by the grave of his victimized child — The OJibways become panic-stricken, and suddenly desert the island.
For the space of three generations, or one hundred and twenty years, the Ojibways remained congregated on the island of La Pointe, in one extensive town.
At the end of this period, we come to a dark chapter of their history, on which the old men dislike to linger. They are loth to tell the causes which led to the complete and sudden evacuation of their great village, and scattered them in bands and smaller villages on the adjacent shores of the Great Lake, and sent many families back on the track of their former migration to resettle the almost deserted villages of We-qua-dong and Bo-we-ting (Ance- ke-we-naw and Sault Ste. Marie).
The old men from whom I have collected the annals of this tribe, the better to get over this fearful portion of their history, assert that the dispersion from the island, was the immediate consequence to their first knowledge of the white race. Through the medium of their more eas- tern co-tribes, who first obtained the commodities of the " white spirits," they obtained a few guns and with this fearful weapon they all at once became formidable to their old enemies, the Dakotas and Poxes, whom they gradually drove from the vicinity of the lake shore, and caused to retreat inland toward the Mississippi. As the war parties
CANNIBALISH ONCE PBACTISED BT THE OJIBWATS. 109
of these tribes came less frequently to attack them, the Ojibwajs gained courage, and leaving La Pointe, they pitched their lodges in the adjacent Bay of Shaga-waum- ik-ong, and hunted, with comparative impunity, the larger animals which abounded in the vicinity.
According to other accounts, the dispersion of the Ojib- ways from the island of their refuge, was sudden and entire. The Evil Spirit had found a strong foothold amongst them, during the latter years of their residence oo this island. Evil practices became in vogue. — Horrid feasts on human flesh became a custom. It is said by my uiformants, that the medicine men of this period had come to a knowledge of the most subtle poisons, and they revenged the least affront with certain death. When the dead body of a victim had been interred, the murderer proceeded at night to the grave, disinterred it, and taking it to his lodge he iDade a feast of it, to the relatives, which was eaten during the darkness of midnight, and if any of the invited guests became aware of the nature of the feast, and refused to eat, he was sure to fall under the ill-will of the feaster, and become the next victim. It is said that if a young woman refused the addresses of one of these medicine men, she fell a victim to his poison, and her body being disinterred, her relatives were feasted on it by the horrid murderer.
Such a taste did they at last acquire for human flesh, that parents dared not refuse their children if demanded by the fearful medicine man foi^ sacrifice. And numerous anecdotes are related of circumstances happening during this horrid period, which all tend to illustrate the above assertions, but which the writer has not deemed proper to introduce, on account of the bloody and unnatural scenes which they depict. The Ojibways, at this period, fell entirely under the power of their Satanic medicine men, and priesthood, who even for some time caused themselves to be believed invulnerable to death. This, however, was
110 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
finally tested one night, by a parent whose beloved and only child had just fallen a victim to the insatiable longing for human flesh, of one of these poisoners. After interring his child, he returned at night with his bow and arrow and watched near the grave. At midnight he saw what appeared to be the form of a black bear, approach and commence digging into the grave. It was also believed that these medicine men possessed the power of transform- ing themselves into the shapes of animals.
But the determined fether, overcoming his fear, launched his barbed arrow into the body of the bear, and without waiting to see the consequence of his shot, he fled to his wigwam. The next morning, the body of one of the most malignant and fearful poisoners was found clothed in a bearskin, weltering in his blood, on the grave of the old man's child, whom he had made a victim.
Whether or not these evil practices were at this par- ticular period caused by dire necessity, either through a failure of their crops, or by being entirely hemmed in by their enemies, as to be prevented from hunting on the main shore, the writer is not enabled to state, though he should be but too happy to give this as a palliating excuse for the horrid custom he is obliged to relate, as once having been in such vogue in the tribe of whom he is writing.
It is further stated that these evil practices were carried on to such an extent, that the Che-bi-ug, or " souls of the victims," were at last heard nightly traversing the village, weeping and wailing. On this the inhabitants became panic stricken, and the consequence was that a general and complete desertion of the island of their refuge took place, which left their town and fields entirely desolate, and from that time, they have become overgrown with trees and bushes, till scarcely a vestige of their former site is to be seen.
TBDB ISLAND BELIETED TO BE HAUNTED. Ill
How far the nightly weeping of the dead, which caused this sudden fear and panic, was drawn from the imagina- tion of the wicked inhabitants, or originateii in the nightly secret waitings of fond parents for victimized children, we are not able to affirm, certain it is however, that from that time, the Ojibways considered the island as haunted, and never resided on it till after the first old French traders had located and built their trading establishment thereon. When my maternal grandfather, Michel Cadotte, first built his trading post and resided on the ii^land of La Pointe, seventy years ago, not an Indian dare stop over night on it alone, for fear of the Che-bi-ug, which were even then supposed to haunt it. At that time, however, it is necessary to state that this fear had been lately increased by a bloody tragedy which had occurred among the first French traders who located on the island, as will be here- after narrated. Mons. Cadotte located on the site of the ancient Ojibway town, and at this time the ground on which had stood their numerous wigwams, and waved their fields of com, was covered with a comparatively young growth of trees, and the stumps of the ancient pines ^h\c\i they had cut down, were in one spot still plainly diBcemible.
I have already stated that the old men of the tribe are not over communicative respecting the bad practices of their ancestors, which we have noted in this chapter, yet though backward to mention them, they do not altogether ^^ny the truth of these tales, which I have learned from the lipa of old half-breeds and traders, who received the information many years ago, from old men and women ^hose parents had been actors in the bloody scenes and feasts of this period. I vividly recollect in my childhood while residing on the very spot where these scenes had burred, that my mother often stilled my importunities
112 MDJKESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
for a story, with tales of this period which would feirly make my hair stand on end, and which she had learned from an old woman who was then still living, and who was considered to be at least one hundred and twenty years of age, from the fact of her relating events which had occurred a century past, when she was a young woman.
DISCOVERY OF THE 0JIBWAT8. 113
CHAPTER Vn.
EBA OF THE DISCOVERY.
Prdimiiiary remarkis— Visit of Claude Alloues to the Bty of 8hag-»-waam.fk- ong, as knowD to the Ojibways— Dcflnition of " Wa-me-Ug-oehe," the Ojlh- way name for Frenchman — Antique silver crucifix found near La Pointe — Ancient prophecy foretelling the coming of the white race— -The singular dream of Ma-se-wa-pe-ga— He goes in search of the white spirit*— Finds them and returns to his people with presents— He makes a second journey and returns with the firearms and fire-water— Anecdote of the first trial and effect of fire-water- Anecdote of the effect of the fire-arm among the Dakota*— Two white traders found starring on the island of La Fointe— Pint white yisitors to the Ojibways in the Bay of 8hag-a-waum-ik-ong— Two hundred years ago— Establishment of traders and priests at the Ojibway vll- Uge~Remarks, etc.
The era of their first knowledge of, and intercourse with the white race, is one of most vital importance in the his- tory of the aborigines of this continent.
So far as their own tribe is concerned, the Ojibways have preserved accurate and detailed accounts of this event ; and the information which their old men orally give on this subject, is worthy of much consideration, although they may slightly difler from the accounts which standard Wstorians and writers have presented to the world, and ^vhicli they have gleaned from the writings of the enter- prising and fearless old Jesuit missionaries, and from the published narratives of the first adventurers who pierced jnto the heart of the American wilderness. This source of ^formation may be considered as more reliable and au- • thentic than the oral traditions of the Indians, but as we ^^6 undertaken to write their history as they themselves ^^" it, we will do so without respect to what has already ^n \^ritten by eminent and standard authors. The
8
114 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
writer is disposed to consider as true and perfectly re- liable, the information which he has obtained and thor- oughly investigated, on this subject, and which he will proceed in this chapter to relate in the words of hb old Indian informants.
A few preliminary remarks are deemed necessary, before fully entering into the narrative of the Ojibway's first knowledge and intercourse with his white brother.
Those who have carefully examined the writings of the old Jesuit missionaries and early adventurers, who claim to have been the first discoverers of new regions, and new people, in the then dark wilderness of the west, or central America, have found many gross mistakes and exaggera- tions, and their works as a whole, are only tolerated and their accounts made matters of history, because no other source of information has ever been opened to the public •
It is a fact found generally true, that the first adventurer who is able to give a flaming account of his travels, is handed down to posterity as the first discoverer of the country and people which he describes as having visited, when mayhap, that same region, and those same people had been, long previous, discovered by some obscure and more modest man, who, because he could not blazon forth his achievements in a book of travels, forever loses the credit of what he really has performed.
Many instances of this nature are being daily brought to light, and might be enumerated. Among others, Mr. Catlin claims in his book (and is believed by all who do not know to the contrary), to have been the first white man who visited the Dakota pipestone quarry, when in fact, that same quarry had been known to, and visited by white traders for nearly a century before Catlin saw it and wrote his book.
In the same manner also, Charles Lanman, of later noto- riety, claims to have been the first white man who visited
ALLOUEZ VISITS THE OJIBWAY8. 115
the Falls of the St. Louis River, when in fact Aitkin, Morrison, Sayer, and a host of others as white as he, had visited, and resided for fifty years within sound of those same falls.^ It is thus that a man who travels for the pur- pose of writing a book to sell, and who, being a man of letters, is able to trumpet forth his own fame, often plucks the laurels due to more modest and unlettered adventurers. Mr. Bancroft in his standard " History of the United States," mentions that in the year 1665, the enterprising and persevering Jesuit missionary, Claude Allouez, with one companion, pushed his way into Lake Superior and discovered the Ojibways congregated in a large village in the Bay of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, and preparing to go on a war party against the Dakotas ; that he resided two years among them, and taught a choir of their youths to chant the PcUer and Ave.
This is the first visit made by white men to this point on Lake Superior, of which we have any reliable xcritten testimony. The account as given in Bancroft's " History" is not altogether corroborated by the Ojibways. It is only through minute and repeated inquiry, that I have learned the fact from their own lips, of this early visit of a " black gowned priest," but not of his having resided with them for any length of time. And they assert positively that it was many years after the first visit of the white men to their village in the Bay of 8hag-a-waum-ik-ong, that the " priest" made his appearance among them. And I am disposed to doubt that as long a stay as two years was made by Father Allouez among their people, or that any of them learned to chant canticles, for the reason that the Ojib- ways, who are so minute in the relation of the particulars of any important event in their history, comprised within the past eight generations, do not make any mention of
^ The allosloii Ib to Lanman's Summer in the WUderneM^ published in New ToA, 1847.— E. D. N.
116 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
these facts. It is probable that the two years stay of this Jesuit in the Bay of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, amounted to an occasional visit from Sault Ste. Marie, or Quebec, which place had already at this period, become the starting and rallying point of Western French adventurers.*
In those days there appears to have been a spirit of com- petition and rivalry among the different sects of the Cath- olic priesthood, as to who would pierce farthest into the western wilderness of America to plant the cross.
Imagination in some instances, outstripped their actual progress, and missionary stations are located on Hennepin's old map, in spots where a white man had never set foot. That the Catholic priests appeared amongst their earliest white visitors, the Ojibways readily acknowledge. And the name by which they have ever known the French people is a sufficient testimony to this fact, Wa-me-tig- oshe. For many years this name could not be translated by the imperfect interpreters employed by the agents of the French and English, and its literal definition was not given till during the last war, at a council of different tribes, convened by the British at Drummond's Isle. The several Ojibway interpreters present were asked to give its definition. All failed, till John Baptiste Cadotte, ac- knowledged to be the most perfect interpreter of the Algics
^ Mr. Bancroft erroneously wrote in the 14th edition of the History of the United States, that Allouez ** on the first day of October arrived at the grreat vil- lage of the Chippewas In the Bay of Chagouamigon/' but Mr. Warren is also wrong In his supposition.
Allouez upon invitation of traders, came with them to Chagouamlgon Bay in October, 1065. At that time there was no permanent Ojibway village beyond Sault Ste. Marie. lie built a bark chapel on the shores of the Bay between a village of Pctun Huronp, and a village comprised of three bands of Ottawas. On the 30th of August, 1667, he returned to Montreal, and in two days departed again for Lake Superior, where he remained until 1669, when a mission was established among the Ojibways at Sault Ste. Marie. In 1660 Marquette suc- ceeded Allouez, in the words of the Relation of 1660-70, " at Chagouamigong where the Outaouacsand Hurons dwell.'' He remained with them until they were driven out of Lake Superior in 1671 by the Sioux. — £. D. N.
THE EARLY FRENCH MISSIONARIES. 117
m his time, arose and gave it as follows : " Wa-mit-ig-oshe is derived from wa-wa, to wave, and metig, wood or stick, and means literally, people or ' men of the waving stick,' derived from the fact that when the French first appeared among the Algonquins who have given them this name, they came accompanied with priests who waved the Cross over their heads whenever they landed at an Indian vil- lage."
The circumstance also is worthy of mention, that a few yeara ago, an old Indian woman dug up an antique silver crucifix on her garden at Bad River near La Pointe, after it had been deeply ploughed. This discovery was made under my own observation, and I recollect at the time it created quite a little excitement amongst the good Cathol- ics of La Pointe, who insisted that the Qreat Spirit had given this as a token for the old woman to join the church. The crucifix ivas found about two feet from the surface of the ground, composed of pure silver, about three inches long and size in proportion. It has since been buried at Gull Lake, in the grave of a favorite grandchild of the old Indian woman, to whom she had given it as a play- thing.^
The Ojibways afilrm that long before they became aware of the white man's presence on this continent, their coming was prophesied by one of their old men, whose great sanctity and oft-repeated fasts, enabled him to commune with spirits and see far into the future. lie prophesied tbat the white spirits would come in numbers like sand on the lake shore, and would sweep the red race from the hunting grounds which the Great Spirit had given them as an inheritance. It was prophesied that the consequence of ^*^ewhite man's appearance would be, to the An-ish-in-aub- ^j an " ending of the world." They acknowledge that at
' Another article in this Tolame showB that silver crosses were sold by ^nuu^h uid Engliah traders.— £. D. N.
118 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
first their ancestors believed not the words of the old prophet foretelling these events ; but now as the present generation daily see the foretold events coming to pass in all their details, the more reflective class firmly believe that they are truly a " doomed race." It was through harping on this prophecy, by which Te-cum-seh and his brother, the celebrated Show-a-no prophet, succeeded so well in forming a coalition among the Algic and other tribes, the main and secret object of which, was the final extermination of the white race from America.
The account which the Ojibways give of their first knowledge of the whites, is as follows : —
While still living in their large and central town on the Island of La Pointe, a principal and leading Me-da-we priest, whose name was Ma-se-wa-pe-ga (whole ribs), dreamed a dream wherein he beheld spirits in the form of men, but possessing white skins and having their heads covered. They approached him with hands extended and with smiles on their faces. This singular dream he related to the principal men of the Ojibways on the occasion of a grand sacrificial feast to his guardian dream-spirit He informed them that the white spirits who had thus ap- peared to him, resided toward the rising sun, and that he would go and search for them. His people tried to dissuade him from undertaking what they termed a foolish journey, but firm in his belief, and strong in his determination, he was occupied a whole year in making preparations for his in- tended journey. He built a strong canoe of birch bark and cedar wood ; he hunted and cured plenty of meat for his provisions ; and early in the spring when the ice had left the Great Lakes, and he had completed his preparations, Ma-se-wa-pe-ga, with only his wife for a companion, started on his travels in quest of the white spirits whom he had seen in his dream.
He paddled eastward down the Great Lakes in the route
THS OJIBWATS FIBST SEE THE WHITES. 119
of the former migration of his tribe, till he entered into a lai^ river which flowed in the direction of the rising sun. Undiscovered he passed through the hostile tribes of the Nand-o-wajs. At last when the river on which he floated, had become wide and like a lake, he discovered on the banks, a hut, made of logs, and he noticed the stamps of large trees which had beeu cut by sharper instruments than the rude stone axes used by the Indians.
The signs were apparently two winters old, but satisfied that it was the work of the spirits, for whom he was in search, Ma-se-wa-pe-ga proceeded on his journey, and he soon came to another hut and clearing, which though de- serted, had been built and occupied during the previous winter. Much encouraged, he paddled on down stream till he discovered another hut from the top of which arose a smoke. It was occupied by the "white spirits," who, on his landing, cordially welcomed him with a shake of the hand.
When about to depart to return home, presents of a steel axe, knife, beads, and a small strij) of scarlet cloth were given him, which, carefully depositing in his medicine bag, as sacred articles, he brought safely home to his peoi)le at La Pointe. Ma-se-wa-pe-ga again collected the prin- cipal men of his tribe in council, and displaying his curious presents, he gave a full narrative of his successful journey and the fulfilment of his dream. The following spring a large number of his people followed him on his second visit to the supposed " white spirits." They carried with them many skins of the beaver, and they returned home late in the fell with the dread fire-arm, which was to give them power over their much feared enemies. It is on this occasion also, that they first procured the fire-water which was to prove the most dreadful scourge and curse of their race. It is related that on the arrival of this party at La Pointe,
120 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
with the fire-water, none dare drink it, thinking it a poison which would immediately cause death. They, however, to test its virtues, made an experimental trial on a very aged woman who — as they reasoned — had but a short time to live at all events, and whose death would be a matter of no account. The old woman drank it, appeared perfectly happy and in ecstasies, got over the effects of it, and begged for more. On which the men took courage, and drank up the remainder themselves. From that time, fire-water became the mammon of the Ojibways, and a journey of hundreds of miles to procure a taste of it, was considered but as boy's play.
They tell, also, the effect of the first gun, which they pro- cured from the whites and introduced among the more remote and ignorant Dakotas, with whom at this time they happened to be on terms of peace. A peace party of the Ojibways visited a village of these people on the St. Croix river, and took with them as a curiosity, the dreadful weapon they had procured. While enjoying their peace- ful games, the young men of the Ojibways informed the Dakotas of the fearful and deadly effects of the gun ; but they, thinking that the Ojibways wished to intimidate them with an imaginary fear, reviled and laughed at the instru- ment, and in their disbelief they even offered to bet against its deadly effects. The dispute becoming high, the bet was taken, and a Dakota brave in utter derision, insisted on offering the back part of his body as a prominent mark. He was shot dead on the spot. With difficulty the peace- party succeeded in returning safely home, for the wrath of the Dakotas was aroused at the death of their warrior, and the old feud was again renewed, though from this time they evinced a mortal fear of the gun, which their remote- ness from the white strangers precluded them from obtain- ing, till many years after the Ojibways had been fully sup- plied.
FIBST VISIT OF TRADEBS TO LA POIXTK. 121
Aboat this time, the old men of the tribe date the sud- den evaenatioQ oi their town on the island of La Poiute, and the planting of their lodges in the adjoining Bay of Shag.a.waum.ikK>ng, which occurrence I have fully men- tioned in the preceding chapter. The first white men whom they tell of having visited them, came after this dispersion, and while they wore congregated on the chores of the Bay.
One clear morning in the early part of winter, soon
after the islands which are clustered in this portion of
Lake Superior and known as the A]^*ostles, had been locked
in ice, a party of young men of the Ojibways started out
from their village in the Bay of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, to
go, as was customary, and spear fish through holes in the
ice, between the island of La Pointe and the main ^hore,
this being considered as the best ground for this mrxle of
fiiihing. While engaged in their sport, they discovered a
smoke arising from a point of the adjacent island, toward
its eastern extremity.
The island of La Pointe was then totally unfrequente^l, from superstitious fears which had but a short time i»re- vious led to its total evacuation bv the tribe, and it was considered an act of the greatest hardihoo<^l for any one to set foot on its shores. The young men returned home at evening and reported the smoke wljieli they had peen aruiog from the island, and various were the conjectures of the old people respecting the persons who would dare to build a fire on the spirit-haunteil isle. They must be strangers, and the young men were directed, shouM they ^•iia see the smoke, to go and find out who made it.
Early the next morning, again proceeding to their fish- ^ ground, the young men once more noticed the smoke ^sing from the eastern end of the unfrequented island, ^d led on by cnriosity, they ran thither and found a small 'og cabin in which they discovered two white men in the
122 MIl^NESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
last stages of starvation. The young Ojibways filled with compassion, carefully conveyed them to their village, where, being nourished with great kindness, their lives were preserved.
These two white men had started from Quebec during the summer with a supply of goods, to go and find the Ojibways who every year had brought rich packs of beaver to the searcoast, notwithstanding that their road was barred by numerous parties of the watchful and jeal- ous Iroquois. Coasting slowly up the southern shores of the Great Lake late in the fall, they had been driven by the ice on to the unfrequented island, and not discovering the vicinity of the Indian village, they had been for some time enduring the pangs of hunger. At the time they were found by the young Indians, they had been reduced to the extremity of roasting and eating their woollen cloth and blankets as the last means of sustaining life.
Having come provided with goods they remained in the village during the winter, exchanging their commodities for beaver skins. The ensuing spring a large number of the Ojibways accompanied them on their return home.
From close inquiry, and judging from events which are said to have occurred about this period of time, I am dis- posed to believe that this first visit by the whites took place about two hundred years ago. It is, at any rate, certain that it happened a few years prior to the visit of the " Black gowns" mentioned in Bancroft's History, and it is one hundred and eighty-four years since this well- authenticated occurrence.
If thorough inquiry were to be made, it would be found that the idea which is now generally believed, that the pious missionaries of those olden times, were the first pio- neers into the Indian country about the great chain of Lakes, and Upper Mississippi, and were only followed closely by the traders, is a mistaken one. The adventur-
WEBE TRADERS, OR PRIESTS, THE DISCOVERERS? 123
COS, but obscure and unlettered trader, was the first pio- Doer. Ue cared only for beaver skins, and hb ambition not leading him to secure the name of a first discoverer by publishing his travels, this honor naturally fell to those who were as much actuated by a thirst for fame, as by re- ligious zeal.
The glowing accounts given by these traders on their return with their peltries to Quebec, their tales of large villages of peaceable and docile tribes, caused the eager Jesuit and Franciscan to accompany him back to the scene of his glowing accounts, and to plant the cross amongst the ignorant and simple children of the forest.
In making these remarks, we do not wish to deteriorate from the great praise which is nevertheless due to these pious and persevering fathers, who so early attempted to save the souls of the benighted Indians.
In the separation of the Ojibway tribe into two divisions, upwards of three centuries ago at the outlet of Lake Superior, which has been fully treated of in a previous chapter, a considerable band remained on their ancient village site at Bow-e-ting or Falls of St. Marie ; and here, 8ome years prior to the first visit of the white men and ** Black Gowns" to the greater village in the Bay of 8hag-a-waum-ik-ong, traders and priests had establialieil themselves, and this circumstance naturall}' conduced to draw thither from their more western and dangerously sit- uated villages, many families of this tribe, till they again numbered many wigwams, on this, the site of their ancient town. It was the first discovery of tliLs tribe, at this point, which has given them the name, by the French, of Saulteaux, from the circumstance of their residing at the "Falls."
This band have ever since this period, remained detached by the intervening southern shores of Lake Sujxjrior, from the main body of the tribe who have radiate<l northward.
124 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
westward and southward, from their central town of La Pointe.
Aided by the French, Ottawas, Potawatumies, and Wy- andots, they succeeded in checking the harassing incur- sions of the war-like Iroquois, and as they became equally possessed of the fire-arm, instead of being pressed west- ward, as they had been for centuries before, they retraced the eastern track of their ancestors' former emigration, and rejoined the remnants of their race who had been for many years cut off from them by the intervening Iroquois, and who had first greeted the French strangers who landed in the river St. Lawrence, and who termed them Algonquins.
From this period, the communication between the eastern section or rear of the Algic tribes, occupying the lower waters of the River St. Lawrence, and the great western van who occupied the area of Lake Superior, became comparatively free and open, for villages of the Algic tribes lined the shores of the great chain of Lakes and also the banks of the great river which forms the out- let into the " salt water."
In one of their traditions it is stated that " when the white man first came in sight of the 'Great Turtle' island of Mackinaw, they beheld walking on the pebbly shores, a crane and a bear who received them kindly, invited them to their wigwams, and placed food before them." This allegory denotes that Ojibways of the Crane and Bear Totem families first received the white strangers, and extended to them the hand of friendship and rites of hos- pitality, and in remembrance of this occurrence they are said to have been the favorite clans with the old French discoverers.
FIBST INTEBCOUBSB WITH THE WHITE RACE. 125
CHAPTER Vm.
THE DIMEDIATB C0N8|:QUEyCE OF THEIR FIRST INTERCOURSE
WITH THE WHITE RACE.
The OJlbways discard their primitlTe utenBils and weapoDS — They learn the value of the furred animalB — Yearly Tisita to Qoebec for purposes of trade — They radiate in bands from the bay of Shag>a-waum-ik-ong — The fur tride the main cause of their future movements and conquests — Mode of carrying on their wars — Tradition of Bi-acs-wah— He dies for his son — A war party raised to revenge his death — Six Fox villages destroyed — Foxes retire to Wisconsin— Wa-we-gis-ug.o locates a tillage at Fond du Lac— Nature of their intercourse with the whites at this period — Great convocation of tribes at SanltSte. Marie 1671— Object of the French in this movement— Words addressed to the Ojibway chief by the French envoy — OJibways learn to love the French — Causes thereof— Reraarlcs on the nature of their treatment and fotercourse, as compared with that of the British and United States Grovem- ments.
We have now come to that period in their history, when the important consequences of their discovery and inter- course with the white race began to work their effects upon the former even, monotonous, and simple course of life, which the Ojibways had pursued for so many genera- tions. Their clay kettles, pots, and dishes were exchanged for copper and brass utensils; their comparatively harmless Iww and arrow, knives and spears of bones, were thrown av^ide, and in their place they procured the fire-arm, steel knife, and tomahawk of the whites. They early became aware of the value of furs to the white strangers, and that the skins of animals, which they before used only for gar- '^ents, now procured them the coveted commodities of the pale-faced traders, and the consequence was, that an indis- criminate slaughter, from this period commenced, of the beaver and other fur animals, which had grown numerous because molested only on occasions when their warm fur
126 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
had been needed to cover the nakedness of the wild Indian, or their meat required to satisfy his hunger.
In the early part of the seventeenth centuiy the Ojibways had already commenced the custom of yearly visiting Quebec, and afterwards Montreal, taking with them packs of beaver skins, and returning with the fire-arms, blankets, trinkets, and firewater of the whites. This custom they kept up for many years, gradually curtailing the length of their journeys as the whites advanced toward them step by step, locating their trading posts, first at Detroit, then at Mackinaw, then at Sault Ste. Marie, till at last the smoke of their cabins arose from the island of La Points itself, when these periodical journeys came comparatively to an end.
It was many years before the first French traders located a permanent trading post among the Ojibways of 8hag-a- waum-ik-ong, and in the mean time, as this tribe became supplied with fire-arms, and killed off the beaver in the vicinity of their ancient seat, they radiated in bands inland, westward and southward towards the beautiful lakes and streams which form the tributaries of the Wisconsin, Chip- peway, and St. Croix rivers, and along the south coast of the Great Lake to its utmost extremity, and from thence even inland unto the headwaters of the Mississippi. All this was the country of the Dakotas and Foxes, and brave- ly did they battle to beat back the encroaching Ojibways from their best hunting grounds, but in vain ; for the in- vaders, besides havhig increased in numbers, had become possessed of fearful weapons, against which they feared to battle with their primitive bow and arrow.
For a number of years the Ojibways continued to con- sider the bay of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong as their common home, and their hunting parties retunied thither at different sea- sons of the year. Here also, and only here, were their grand medicine rites performed, and their war-parties col-
PROGRESS OP THB TRIBK WESTWARD. 127
lected to march against, and drive further back, their nume- rous foes. The fur trade has been the mainspring and cause which has led the Ojibways westward and more west- ward, till they have become possessed through conquest, and a persevering, never-relaxing pressure on their enemies, of the vast tracts of country over which they are scattered at the present day. Their present proud position in this respect they have not gained without an equivalent price in blood and life, and the Ojibway exclaims with truth when asked by the grasping " Long Knife'* to sell his coun- try, that " it is strewed with the bones of his fathers, and enriched with their blood."
Their wars at this period were generally carried on by small and desultory parties, and it was only on occasions when smarting under some severe blow or loss, inflicted by their enemies, that the warriors of the tribe would collect under some noted leader, and marching into the Dakota or Fox country, make a bold and eflfective strike, which would long be remembered, and keep their enemies in fear and check.
A circumstance happened, about this time, which, in the regular course of our narrative, we will here relate. A few lodges of Ojibway hunters under the guidance of Bi-aus- wah, a leading man of the tribe, claiming the Loon Totem, was one spring encamped at Kah-puk-wi-e-kah, a bay on the lake shore situated forty miles west of La Pointe.
Early one morning the camp was attacked by a large war-party of Foxes, and the men, women and children all murdered, with the exception of a lad and an old man, who, running into a swamp, and becoming fastened in the bog and mire, were captured and taken in triumph by the Foxes to their village, there to suffer death with all the barbarous tortures which a savage could invent.
Bi-aiis-wah, at the time of the attack, was away on a hunt, and he did not return till towards evening, llis
128 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
feelings on finding his wigwams in ashes, and the lifeless, scalpless remains of his beloved family and relatives strewed about on the blood-stained ground, can only be imagined. He had lost all that bound him to life, and per- fectly reckless he followed the return trail of the Foxes determined to die, if necessary, in revenging the grievous wrong which they had inflicted on him. He arrived at the village of his enemies, a day after their successful war-party had returned, and he heard men, women, and children screaming and yelling with delight, as they danced around the scalps which their warriors had taken.
Secreting himself on the outskirts of the village, the Qjib- way chieftain waited for an opportunity to imbrue his hands in the blood of an enemy who might come within reach of his tomahawk. He had not remained long in his ambush, when the Foxes collected a short distance from the village, for the purpose of torturing and burning their two captives. The old man was first produced, and his body being wrapped in folds of the combustible birch bark, the Foxes set fire to it and caused him to run the gaunt- let amid their hellish whoops and screams; covered with a perfect blaze of fire, and receiving withal a shower of blows, the old man soon expired.
The young and tender lad was then brought forward, and his doom was to run backwards and forwards on a long pile of burning fagots, till consumed to death. None but a parent can fully imagine the feelings which w^rung the heart of the ambushed Ojibway chieftain, as he now recog- nized his only surviving child in the young captive who was about to undergo these torments. His single arm could not rescue him, but the brave father determined to die for or with his only son, and as the cruel Foxes were on the point of setting fire to the heap of dry fiigots on which the lad had been placed, they were surprised to see the
IKCIDEXT IX THE FOX AND O JIB WAY WAR. 129
Ojibwaj chief step proudly and boldly into their midst and address them as follows : —
" My little son, whom you are about to bum with fire, has seen but a few winters; his tender feet have never trodden the war path— he has never injured you ! But the hairs of my head are white with many winters, and over the graves of ray relatives I have hung many scalps which I have taken from the heads of the Foxes; my death is worth something to you, let me therefore take the place of my child that he may return to his people."
Taken totally by surprise, the Foxes silently listened to
the chiefs proposal, and ever having coveted his death, and
now fearing the consequence of his despairing eiforts, they
accepted his oflfer, and releasing the feon, they bade him to
depart, and burnt the brave father in his stead. The
young man returned safely to his people at La Pointe, and
the tale of his murdered kindred, and father's death, spread
like wild fire among the wide scattered bands of the Ojib-
ways.
A war party was gathered and warriors came, even from distant Ste. Marie and Grand Portage, to join in revenging the death of their chief.
Tliey marched toward the headwaters of the St. Croix *iid Chippeway rivers, and returned not home till they liad attacked and destroyed six villages of the Foxes, some of which were composed of earthen wigwams, which now fonn the mounds which are spread so profusely over this section of country. They reaped a rich harvest of scalps, ^^i made such an efiective strike, that from this time the ^0X88 evacuated the rice lakes and midland country about the St Croix and Chippeway rivers, and retired south to the Wisconsin.
Soon after the above occurrence, the Ojibways pressed ^P the lake shore, and Wa-me-gis-ug-o, a daring and fear- 9
130 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
less hunter, obtained a firm footing and pitched his wigwam permanently at Fond da Lac, or Wi-a-quah-ko-che-gume- eng. He belonged to the Marten Totem family, and the present respected chiefs of that now important village, Shin-goob and Nug-aun-ub, are his direct descendants. Many families of his people followed the example of this pioneer, and erecting their wigwams on the islands of the St Louis River, near its outlet into the lake, for greater security, they manfully held out against the numerous at- tacks of the fierce Dakotas, whose villages were but two days' march toward the south on the St Croix River, and the west, at Sandy Lake. During this time, comprised between the years 1612 (at which I date their first knowl- edge of tlie white race), and 1671, when the French made their first national treaty or convocation at Sault Stc. Marie with the northwestern tribes, no permanent trading post had as yet been erected on the shores of Lake Superior; the nearest post was the one located at Sault Ste. Marie, which as early as the middle of the seventeenth century, had already become an important depot and outlet to the . Lake Superior fur trade. Their intercourse with the whites consisted in yearly visits to their nearest western posts. The trade was partially also carried on through the medium of the intervening kindred tribe of Ottaways, or by adventurous traders who came amongst them with canoes loaded with goods, made a transient stay, sometimes even passing a winter amongst them, followmg their hunting camps, but returning in the spring of the year to Quebec with the proceeds of their traffic. No incident which the old men related as connected with the whites, is worthy of mention, till a messenger of the " Great French King" visited their village at Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, and invited them to a grand council of different tribes to be held at Sault Ste. Marie. Some of the words of this messenger are still recollected and minutely related by the Ojibwavs.
THE FRENCH KNTEB THE OJIBWAY COUNTRY. 131
Early the following spring, a large delegation proceeded to 8te. Marie to attend the council, and hear the words of the "Great King of the French." Ke^ihe-ne-zuh-yauh, head chief of the great Crane family, headed this party, and represented the nation of the OjiWays. It is his de- scendants in the fourth generation, from whom I have ob- tained the few detached items which are here given respecting this important event
Michel Cadotte (son of the Mons. M. Cadotte whom we have already had occasion to mention), who is now the oldest man of mixed Ojibway and French blood in the northwest, states that his great-grandfather, a Mone. Cadean, on this occasion first came into the Ojibway country in the train of the French envoy Sieur du Lusson. The name has since been spelled Cadotte, and the wide spread family of this name claims their connection with the Qibway tribe from this period. From this old halt- breed, still living at La Pointe, I have obtained much reliable information, corroborating with that obtained from the Indians themselves.
The envoy of the French king asked, in the name of his nation, for permission to trade in the country, and for free passage to and from their villages all times thereafter. He asked that the fires of the French and Ojibway nations might be made one, and everlasting.'
He promised the protection of the great French nation against all their enemies, and addrassing himself to the Chippeway chieftain from La Pointe, he said : —
" Every morning you will look towards the rising of the sun and you shall see the fire of your French father reflect- ing towards you, to warm you and your people. If you are in trouble, you, the Crane, must arise in the skies an<i cry with your ' far sounding' voice, and I will hear you.
* For a notice of Jean Baptiste Cadotte, married in 1766, see an article in this ^Inme.
132 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS,
The fire of your French father shall last forever, and warm his children." At the end of this address a gold medal shaped like a heart was placed on the breast of Ke-che-ne- zuh-yauh, and by this mark of honor he was recognized as the chief of the Lake Superior Ojibways.* These words have been handed down from generation to generation, to his present descendants, and it will be readily seen by them that the French had already learned to use the figurative and forcible style of expression of the Ojibways, and under- stood their division into Totemic clans, with the peculiari- ties on which each clan prided themselves.
The Ojibways received the " heart" of their French breth- ren, and accepted their proposals of peace, amity, and mu- tual support and protection. From this period their coun- try became more free and open to French enterprise, and they learned to term the French king " father."
The Ojibways learned to love the French people, for the Frenchmen, passessing a character of great plasticity, easily assimilated themselves to the customs and mode of life of their red brethren. They respected their religious rites and ceremonies, and they " never laughed" at their super- stitious beliefs and ignorance. They fully appreciated, and honored accordingly, the many noble traits and qualities possessed by these bold and wild hunters of the forest. It is an acknowledged fact, that no nation of whites have ever succeeded so well in gaining the love and confidence of the red men, as the Franks. It is probable that their character in many respects was more similar, and adapted to the cha- racter of the Indian, than any other European nation. The " voyageur du Nord," as were then termed the common class
1 Note by Mr. Warren. — On the death of this chieftain, this gold medal wa9 buried with him, through a superstitious notion that he should appear in the land of spirits with the same honors which had attended him on earth. His grave was located on the shores of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong Bay. In 1850 it was carefully searched for by some of bis descendants to recorer the medal, but the grave was found to have been swept away by high water.
THE PREXCH COALITION' WITH TUE OJIBWAYS. 133
of the French who visited tfaera for the purposes of trade, were nearly as illiterate, ignorant, and superstitious as them- selves, and manj of them were far beneath the red man in strength of character and morality.
Their aim was not so mnch that of gain as of |ilear>ure. and the enjoyment of present life, and mainly in thii< respect will be found the difference between the nature of their intercourse with the natives of America, and that which has since been carried on by the English and Ameri- <3]i9, who, as a general truth, have made Mammon theit God, and have looked on the Indian but.as a tool or meann of obtaining riches, and other equally mercenary emU.
In their lack of care for the morrow, which in a m(.<fl.&- Ore characterized the French " voyageur," anil in their con- HEual efl'erveacence of animal spirits, open-heartedn<w.s and joviality, they agreed fully with the like characteristic?! possessed by the Ojihways. Some of my readers may be *wprised at my thus placing the Indian on a jiar with the 'fighter-loving Frenchman, for the rea.-wn that he has ever ''**n represented aa a morose, nilent, and uncommunit-ative "^iig. It is only neceseary to state that this is a grosn ""stake, and but a character (far different from his real ""e), assumed by the Indian in the prc&ence of strangers, ^i"] especially white strangers in whom he has no confi- dence. Another bond which soon more firmly attached 'hem one to another with strong ties of friendshiii, was •^rsated by the Frenchmen taking the women nf the Ojib- *aya as wives, and rearing large families who reinaineil in the country, and to this day, the mixture and bonds nf Wood between these two people has been perpetuated, and 'etna ins unbroken.
The days of the French domination was the Augustan era of the fur trade, and heavers were so plenty and the profits arising from the trade were so large, that the French traders readily afforded to give large presents of their cov-
ISi MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
eted commodities, their beloved tobacco and fire-water to the Indians who visited them at their posts, or on occasions when they visited them at their own villages. In those days along the lake shore villages of the Ojibways, from Mackinaw to Fond du Lac of Lake Superior, there was no music 80* sweet to the ears of the inhabitants, as the enliven- ing boat song of the merry French " voyageurs," as they came from the direction of Quebec and Montreal each spring of the year — rapidly looming up from the bosom of the calm lake, laden with the articles so dearly valued among the wild hunters. They recognized in these yearly visits the " rays of the fire of their great French father," which he bade them to " look for each morning (spring) towards the rising of the sun."
No strangers were more welcome to the Ojibways, and warm were the shaking of hands and embraces on these occasions between the dusky son of the forest, and the po- lite and warm-hearted Frank. The dark-eyed damsels, though they stood bashfully in the rear of those who thronged the beach to welcome the new-comers, yet with their faces partly hidden they darted glances of welcome, and waited in the wigwams impatiently for their white sweethearts to come in the darkness and silence of night, to present the trinkets which they had biT)ught all the way from Quebec, to adorn their persons and please their fancy.
After the Ojibways became possessed with fire-arms and ammunition, the arrival of a French " Bourgeois" with the flag of France flying at the stern of his canoe, was saluted with a volley of musketry, and in turn, when any chief approached the " posts" or " forts" accompanied with the same ensign, discharges of cannons were fired in his honor by the French. Thus, interchanges of good-will and polite attention were continually kept up between them.
The French early gained the utmost confidence of the Ojibways, and thereby they became more thoroughly ac-
JUDICIOUS KANAOEMENT BY THE FRENCH. 135
quainted with their true and real character, even during the comparative short season in which they mingled with them as a nation, than the British and Americans arc at this present day, after over a century of intercourse. The French understood their division into clans, and treated each clan according to the order of its ascendency in the tribe. They conformed also to their system of govern- mental polity, of which the totemic division formed the principal ingredient. They were circumspect and careful in bestowing medals, iiags, and other marks of honor, and appointing chiefs, and these acts were never done unless being fiAt certain of the approbation of the tribe, and It being in accordance with their civil polity. In this im- portant respect the British, and American government especially, have lacked most wofully. The agents and com- missioners, and even traders of these two nations, have appointed chiefs indiscriminately or only in conformity with selfish motives and ends, and there is nothing which has conduced so much to disorganize, confuse, and breakup the former simple but well-defined civil polity of these people ; and were the matter to be fully investigated, it would be found that this almost utter disorganization has been o;ie of the chief stumbling-blocks which has ever been in the way of doing good to the Indian race. This short- sighted system has created nothing but jealousies and heart>burnings among the Ojibways. It has broken the former commanding influence of their hereditary chiefs, and the consequence is, that the tribe is without a head or government, and it has become infinitely difficult to treat with them as a people. No good has resulted from this bad and thoughtless policy even to the governments who have allowed it to be pursued by its agents. On the con- trary, they are punished daily by the evil consequences aris- ing from it, for in this is to be found the true and first cause of the complaints which are continually at this day
136 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
being poured into the ears of the " Great Father" at Wash- ington, and it is through this that misunderstandings and non-conformity have arisen to treaties which have been made by the United States, not only with the Ojibways, but other tribes, and which are of the same nature that event- ually led to the Creek, Seminole and Black Hawk wars.
HBST FBENCH TRADING POSTS ON LAKE SUPERIOR. 137
CHAPTER JX.
ACCOUNT OP THE FIRST FRENCH TRADING t>0ST8 BUILT
ON LAKE SUPERIOR.
A pott l8 built at Grand Portage by a com^tiy of French traders — Tbeir in- dacementa for its location — ^The French first open a comm-anication with the tribes of the K&>nis-te-no and Assine-boins — First communication of Ihe northern division of the Ojibways with these allied tribes — They Join the Alliance— Tradition of the "manner in which the Assine-boins became detached from their kindred Dakotas — They become close allies or the Ke- DiB-te-noand Ojibways — A trading post is located at La Pointe — French work the copper mines on Lake Superior— Bloody tragedy enacted at this post in 172^Which results in its evacuation.
A FEW years after the great convocation of northwestern Wbes, and treaty with the French nation at Sault Ste. Marie, a company of French traders proceeded up the west <^oaatof Lake Superior, and built a trading post or " fort" (as these establishments were termed in those days), on a beautiful bay situated on the lake shore a few miles above ^h-man-a-tig-wa-yah (or Pigeon River), and known as the "Grand Portage" or Ke-che-o-ne-gum-eng, from the fact that a portage of ten miles is here made to Pigeon River, to avoid the rapids which preclude navigation even for canoes, for many miles above the entry of this " bad wind- ing stream."
This is probably the first permanent post erected by the ^hte man in the region of country comprised within the present limits of Minnesota Territory. It was built, as near as I can judge from the information of the Indians and old traders, upwards of one hundred and fifty years ago.
The great quantity of beaver, existing at this period on ^Hthe streams emptying into Lake Superior, and especially ^roughout the country watered by Kah-man-a-tig-wa-yah
138 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
and its tributaries, together with the great docility, harm- less character and friendly disposition of the section of the Ojibways occupying this district, who comprise the north- ern division of the tribe, were without doubt, the leading causes which induced the French here to build their first " fort" in preference to any other spot on Lake Superior.
From this point, also, a vast region of unexplored coun- try became open to their indefatigable enterprise, in a northern direction. It is by this route that they first be- came acquainted with the remote northern tribes, of the Ke-nis-te-no and Assineboins, with whom they soon opened a communication.
Long before this, the Ojibways of the northern division had already reached in their northward progress, the coun- try of the Ke-nis-te-no and Assineboins, the former of whom belonged to the same stock as themselves, and though the latter were of Dakota extraction, yet finding the two tribes in close alliance and carrying on a war against the Dakotas, they entered their wigwams in peace, and joined in alliance wdth them.
I recollect of having read in some book that the Assine- boins had been forced into an alliance by the Ke-nis-te-no who fii'st received fire-arms from the British by the route of Hudson's Bay. This led me to make close inquiries on this subject, and I find that Indian tradition says difler- ently. Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, the present aged and respecte<l chief of the Pillager Ojibways, lived many years in his youth among these tribes ; and he gives the following ac- count of the manner in whicih this singular alliance be- tween an Algic with a Dakota tribe, first happened.
" Many winters before they became aware of the presence of the white man on this great island, the Yankton divi- sion of the great Dakota tribe, resided on the borders of the great western prairies near the Red River of the North. They numbered many hundred lodges, and their warriors
FEUD IN A YANKTON CAMP. 189
prevailed against the Ke-nis-te-no toward the north and west, and caused them to keep under the shade of the for- ests and swamps which covered their hunting grounds. At one time it happened, as it often does, that two young men quarrelled about a woman, and one in the heat of passion and jealousy, took the life of the other. Both be- longed to numerous and important families, and in accord- ance with the law of ' blood for blood,' notwithstanding his relatives wished to buy him off", the murderer was killed.
" Generally a case of this kind ends after the death of the
first murderer, but in this instance, the drawer of his fellow's
blood was a great warrior, and his loss being severely felt
by his relatives, the person who had taken his life was in
turn murdered. The matter had gone beyond the usual
length, and notwithstanding the interference of the old
men and chiefs, the person who drew the last blood suiFered
death for his act, at the hands of a relative to the person
whom he had killed. The great Yankton camp became a
scene of excitement, and murders occurred daily, till the
weaker party consisting of a thousand lodges, left the main
canip and retired by themselves, to pursue their hunt for
meat to feed their women and children.
"The feud did not end here, but continued with greater fury; the larger camp even sending war parties to attack the straggling hunters of their former brethren. Scalps ^erealso taken, and this is equal in Indian custom to a declaration of open and exterminating war. The smaller ^ttip, therefore, to prevent their total eventual destruction ^t the hands of the more numerous Yanktons, moved to- wards the country of Ke-nis-te-no, with whom they had ^l^ajs waged a never-ending warfare ; and preferring to ^^ust themselves to their generosity rather than to the vin- dictive hatred of their own kindred, they collected the ^onien and children whom in former years they had cap-
140 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
tured from them, and adopted in their families. These they placed on horses, and loaded with presents, they were sent to the great Ke-uis-te-no town on Dead River (Ne-bo- se-be), with the peace pipe of the seceding Dakotas, request- ing to be received 'in their lodges' and protected from the ' fire that raged in their rear, on the western prairies.'
" The manly and compassionate Ke-nis-te-no sent forty of their warriors to receive them into their country, and es- cort them into their village. A grand council was held, where the Assineboins told their grievances, asked for protection, and promised to fight by the side of the Ke-nis- te-no against the Yanktons forever.
" Their words were listened to with deep attention and pity, and they were accepted as allies and brothers. The peace pipe was smoked, ' their council fire was made one,' and they ' ate out of the same dish' and reposed thereafter under the ' shade of the same forests and swamps' till their united prowess eventually drove the Dakotas from the northern plains, and the Ke-nis-te-no and Assineboins could then go out occasionally to ' bask in the sun on the prairies, and taste the meat of the buffalo.' Shortly after this first alliance, the Ojibway made his appearance among them, and he too became a party to the mutual compact which has been kept unbroken to this day."
We will now return to the regular course of our narra- tive, from which we have digressed in relating the above tradition.
Soon after the location of the trading post at Grand Portage, the same company of traders built a *' fort" on the island of La Pointe, at the mouth of a small creek or pond midway between the present location of the '* Amer- ican Fur Company 's" establishment, and the mission house of the " American Board of Foreign Missions." Strong palisades of cedar are said to have been planted around this post, and a cannon mounted for its defence. Tlie
A FRENCH FORT BUILT OX LA POIXTE. 141
Ojibwajs who had resided on this island, and who occu- pied the surrounding shores of the lake, now traded at this establishment, and they learned to pitch their lodges once more on the spot which they had on a previous occasion so suddenly evacuated.
Many, it is true, had been drawn back to Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw, and even further east, to visit the spots which the feet of their ancestors had once trodden, and on which they had left their "bones to moulder and decay. Yet those that remained still formed a formidable body numbering many hundreds of warriors and hunters, and their trade for many years made the post located on the island of their ancient town, a most important and lucra- tive one.
At this time it is said that the French worked the cop- per mines on Lake Superior extensively, and doubtless many, if not all of the signs which are at the present day Wng discovered by the American miners, are the remains of the former works of these old French pioneers. AVhen the British subsequently conquered this section of country in 1763, the Indians state that the French miners carefully covered the mines which they had been working, so that their conquerors might not have the advantage of their discoveries.
The first old French "Fort" at La Pointe was not ^intained many years before a bloody murder was en- acted within its walls, which resulted in its final disman- tling and evacuation. The clerk or trader in charge was rained Joseph. He passed his last winter there with his ^'ife, two children, and with but one Canadian " Courcur <JuBoi8." This man, it appears from his after confession, ^^ conceived an unlawful passion for his master's wife, and he took occasion one morning when the unsuspecting Joseph had gone to shoot ducks in an adjacent pond, to presa his suit to the wife, who, however, threatened to in-
142 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
form her husband of his treachery. On this the wretch attempted to force her to his wishes, but she, seizing an Indian spear which happened to stand in a corner of the room where this scene was being enacted, defended herself in such a manner and jeoparded his life to such a degree, that he was forced in self-defence to take her life.
Having performed this bloody deed, he loaded a gtin, and placing himself behind the gate of the " Fort," he awaited anxiously the return of his unsuspecting master, whom, as he entered the gateway, he shot in the back, causing his immediate death. He next murdered the eld- est child, a girl about six years of age, and was proceeding to finish his bloody work by taking the life of the young- est, when his black heart misgave him. The child had been his pet, and was just beginning to run about and lisp its childish prattle, and at first he could not find it within him to take its innocent life. His qualms of conscience, however, did not last long, for becoming tired of its cease- less cries for its i)arents, after he had preserved its life three days, he murdered the little one in cold blood, and made its grave with his other victims in a heap of shav- ings and other rubbish, which had accumulated in a comer of the Fort.
This bloody tragedy was perpetrated in the spring of the year, when the Indians were all away at their sugar camps on the main shore, and at a time when the ice oi^ the lake had become so weak and rotten as to make it un- safe to cross or travel on it. Xotwithstanding the state of the ice, the guilty man, who could not bear to remain in solitude surrounded with the evidences of his bloody deed, attempted to make his escape, but having twice broken through the ice, and with difliculty saved his life, and (as he confessed) being drawn back by an invisible power, lie returned to the scene of his crime, to patiently await \u consequence.
XUSDER OF A TRADER AXB HIS FAMILY. 143
When the ice bad disappeared and melted, awajr under the rays of the spring son, (he Indians once more fre^ qoented. the Fort, and on their inqoinng for the trailer, the marderer told them the plausible story, that his master had started with his family on a dog train, while the ioe was still on the lake, to pay them a visit at their sagar c^unpt«. And as he had never arrived amongst them, all natural ly supposed that he had broken through the bad ice« an«l drowned with his family. The Ojibways faithfully hunted the shores of the island and adjacent main land, for the re- mains of their lost trader, but as may be supposed, they searched in vain.
In the course of the spring a light canoe arrived from Montreal by way of Grand Portage, containing one of the fiMstors of the fur company, to whom belonge«l the po^t.
At first the plausible tale of the munlererwas cre<Iited, bat marks of blood having been discovered on the walk of the room where the trader's wife ha/I been murdered, and his evident confusion on being a^sked the caui?e of thern, led immediately to suspicion, and he wai» from that time arrested and confined.
Shortly after this, the factor, while walking around the precincts of the fort, endeavoring to discover further trac-es of the murder, hapfiened to push his ?worrl cane into the pile of rubbish where the murderer had bnric^l the IxkHo?* of his unfortunate victims, and the stench on the end of his cane led to a complete discovery. The hnxlies were inimediately disinterrefl in presence of the guilty wretch, ^ho now confessed his crime.
The fort was evacuate^!, and the cannon and iron works ^ere thrown into the adjacent jiond, which havini; a dc*ep and miry bottom, they have never been discovere^l by the hdians, who often afterwards searched for them. The site of this old post is still plainly discernible from small mounds of stone and rubbish which once formed the chimneys of the
J
144 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
dwellings, which are still to be found on the spot where it once stood. The murderer was taken to Montreal, and the Indians at this day say that he was torn to pieces by horses being attached to each of his arms and legs, and caused to pull in diflFerent directions.
Another account has it, and coming from the lips of old traders and half-breeds, I am disposed to believe it as the truth, that the guilty wretch managed to escape from his keepers on the route to Montreal, and seeking refuge among the Hurons, he adopted their dress and customs, and learned to speak their language. On one occasion being present at a war-dance, when the Indian warriors were striking the " red stake" and telling their different exploits performed in war against their enemies, the mur- derer stepped into their midst, and likewise striking the stake, he related his deed of treachery and blood, expect- ing to be honored by the red men as a brave man, for the exploit. He was however mistaken, for before he had finished his tale of the bloody deed, an Indian warrior arose, and stepping up to him with the single exclamation of " Dog," he buried a tomahawk deep into his brain. The narrative of this event has been carefully preserved and handed down by the old traders, and it is presented here as I have learned it from them.
The tale as the Indians tell it, is somewhat mixed with the superstitious and unnatural, though in the main inci- dents they fully agree with the trader's account. They give as a cause for the murder, that the "Coureur du Bois" had pilfered goods during the winter to such an amount that his master threatened to report his conduct to the Factors on their first visit, and have him taken to Quebec as a culprit. To prevent this disgrace and punishment, the man first killed his master, as has been related, and then attempted rape on his wife, who forced him to kill her by her active self-defence with the Indian spear. Only in
FUKISHM£NT OVERTAKES THE MUBDEBEB. 145
this respect do the Indians differ in the account from that which I have given, and which is said to have been the confession of the murderer himself.^
I learn from Michel Cadotte, and the venerable John Baptist Gorbin, who came into the Ojibway country when he was twenty years of age and has remained fifty-six years, that this event occurred just one hundred and thirty years ago, in the year 1722.
* Tliiiitory as told by the trmder, William MorrlBon, in Angiut, 1822, appeared iitiie Detroit Gazette, and is reprinted in Vol. VUI. of Witeimtin HUtoricol OB/tdOum, The pnbliahed account says the tragedy ol killing the trader, his vifeand child, occurred daring the winter of 1700-^, and that on his way to l(<ntieal for trial he was released on the St. Lawrence RiTcr, and fought with ^ IxxUans against the British. His boasting of his murders took place at a dance near Sanlt Ste. Marie. The Indians, disgusted with his tale of cruelty, invited him to a feast, and as soon as he commenced to eat, he was informed ^ the chief that as soon as he stopped, he would be killed. He ate for a long ^^>hat at last had to stop, when he was soon lifeless. His body was boiled, Int the young men would not eat, for they said " he was worse than a bad *«."-K. D. N.
10
146 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER X.
WARS OF THE OJIBWAYS WITH THE IROQUOIS AND 0-DUG-AM-BES, OB FOXES.
Warfare between the OJfbways and IroqaolB — Ojibways, PottawatomteB, Ottaways, and Wyandots Join in alliance against the Iroquois, to open the route to Quebeo— Iroquois driven from Canada— Tradition of the last battle fought between the Ojibways and Iroquois— The French faTor the Algic tribes against their enemies — War between the Ojibways and O-dug^m-ees or Foxes— Tradition of the old hunter— He with his family are attacked by the Foxes— Indian fight— Revenge of the old hunter— Foxes are driven fh)m the Wisconsin- They retire to the Mississippi and ask to be Incor- porated with the 0-sau-kies.
Besides carrying on an inveterate and exterminating warfare with tlie powerful Dakotas and cruel Foxes, the Ojibways were obliged to keep up their ancient feud with the Naudoways, or Iroquois, towards the east. For a time the powerful confederation of Six Nations prevailed against the Algic tribes who had taken possession of the great northern chain of lakes, mostly through their having been first supplied with fire-arms by the Dutch ana British of New York.
They became possessed of the country bordering the Ottaway River, and eftectually barred their enemies from communication with the French who resided on the St. Lawrence. Their anxiety to open the road to the white traders, in order to procure fire-arms and their much cov- eted commodities, induced the Ojibways, Ottaways, Potta- watumies, Osaukies, and Wyandots to enter into a firm alliance. They sent their united forces against the Iro- quois, and fighting severe and bloody battles, they event- ually forced them to retire from Canada.
WABS WITH THE IROQUOIS AND OTHER TRIBES. 147
From this time, now apwards of five generations ago, the route from Lake Superior to the French settlement on the St Lawrence became comparatively free and open, though the trading parties were often waylaid by the am- bushed warriors of the Lxxjuois on the Ottaway River.
The warlike, confederated tribes whom the French early designated with the name of Iroquois, gave not up their long contest with the allied Algics, without a severe and protracted struggle. They often collected their forces, and inarching westward, their hardy warriors became familiar with the shores of Lake Huron, the banks of the Ste. Marie, and often even procured scalps on the shores of Lake Superior. At one time the Ottaways were forced to i«tire from the Straits of Mackinaw, and the islands of I^ke Huron, through fear of these redoubtable eastern warriors. The last important battle between the Ojibways *Dd the Iroquois, took place about one hundred years ago *t a point on Lake Superior, a short distance above its outlet, which has to this day retained the name of Point Ifoquois. The Sault Ste. Marie Ojibways are probably ^tter acquainted with the details of this occurrence than those from whom I have obtained the account which is here given, as they are locally interested in the tradition.
Ke-che-wash-keenh or Great Buffalo, chief of La Pointe, briefly gives the following version of the affair : —
" The Ojibways, one time collected a war party on the shores of the Great Lake, which proceeded eastward against their old enemies the Naud-o-ways. On their road to the country of these people, they one evening encamped on a point of the lake shore a short distance above Bow-e- ting (Ste. Marie). They had lighted their fires for the night and commenced cooking their suppers, when the sounds of distant yelling and laughter came indistinctly to their ever-listening ears. The noise appeared to come from the other side of the point, immediately opposite the
148 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
spot where they had encamped. Scouts were sent to re- connoitre the noisy party, whom they supposed to be trad- ers proceeding up the lake to trade with their people.
" These scouts soon returned on a run, and informed their party that thoy had seen a large war party of Naud-o-ways, who were encamped, drinking firewater, and carousing with perfect carelessness, and apparently with every sense of security. The Ojibways quickly extinguished their blazing fires, and making their usual preparations for a desperate fight, they noiselessly approached and surrounded the encampment of their boisterous and drunken enemies. They silently awaited the moment when nearly all had drunk themselves insensible, and the remainder had fallen asleep, for the war whistle to sound the onset. They at- tacked them with great fury, and it is said that but few of the Naud-o-ways escaped the Ojibways' tomahawk and scalping knife on this bloody occasion."
The " Six Nations" never after this made incursions into the country of the Lake Superior Ojibways, and from this occurrence may be dated the ending of the long and fierce warfare which these two people had been waging against one another.'
The French always favored the Ojibway and other Algic tribes in their war with the New York tribes, and for this, they often suflfered at the hands of the Iroquois, who waylaid their canoes laden with merchandise on the route up the Great Chain of Lakes.
For providing the Ojibways also with fire-arms, and through this causing them to become too powerful for their western enemies, the French uicurred the dislike and hatred of the Dakota and 0-dug-am-ee tribes, who on one occasion made their deep enmity evident, by making war
1 Pcrrot glyee a history of this conflict. See Msmoin edited by Tdlban, pp. 97, 98.— E. D. N.
BLOODY TIGHT WITH THE ODCG-AM-EES. 149
on them and attacking their fort at Wow-e-yat-ton-ong or Detroit, which was only saved by the combined efforts of the O-dah-wahs and Ojibways ander the leadership of the renowned Pontiae, who had already at this period, 1740, commenced to carve out the renown which he eventually attjuned.
It is shortly after this period that the O-dug-am-ees again incurred the vengeance of the Ojibways, who a second time attacked and swept away their villages. It has been stated that on their being driven from the head- waters of the St. Croix and Chippeway rivers, they had wtired to the Wisconsin and into the country bordering on Lake Michigan. The tradition of their second invasion by the Ojibways, is given as follows by the old Indian story tellers:—
An old Ojibway hunter with his wife, two sons, and Aeir families, were one winter hunting about the head lakes of the Wisconsin River. As they searchecl for game they moved from camp to camp "by slow and easy stages, ^d being of a fearless disposition, they formed the south- ern vanguard of numerous other families similarly em- ployed and following slowly in their wake.
They had arrived in the vicinity of the usual hunting P^nnds of the O-dug-am-ees, and now at everj' camp they formed a barrier of logs and bushes to shield them from a ^Wen attack of their enemies. One morning early, one ^f the sons of the old hunter, as usual, put on his moccasins, ^led his blanket around his body, and, shouldering his gun, ^rted on his day's hunt. It was snowing heavily, and the ^ of the family remained at home. The hunter had been gone but a short time when he returned, and, without ^ying a word, sat down in his usual place, and commenced whittling his bullets so that they could be easily and quickly thrown into his gun. When he had finished this ^ork, he took his gun, drew out the load, and carefully
150 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
cleansed it. He then sharpened his knife, and placed his war-club and spear ready at hand for immediate use.
The old hunter watched the singular preparations of his silent son, and suspecting that he had discovered signs of an enemy, arose, and saying that he would go and cut a few sticks of the red willow to smoke, he left the lodge to go and see with his own and more experienced eyes, what were the signs of danger. He had proceeded but a few steps in the adjacent forest, when he discovered a strange track in which there were but a few flakes of the fast falling snow. His Indian sagacity told him that it was the foot-print of an 0-dug-am-ee, and returning to the wigwam, he proposed to his family an immediate flight to some neighboring camp of their friends. The silent son now spoke, and told his father that flight had become imprac. ticable, for they were entirely surrounded by a very large war-party of their enemies. '^All we can do," said he, " is to prepare for death ; for I have seen the trail of the 0-dug- am-ee warriors, and it is deep-beaten and wide ; many feet have trodden it."
Determined to defend their women and children to the last gasp, the Ojibway hunters cut down a few more trees and strengthened the barrier around their wigwam. Night gradually came and covered everything in deep darkness and gloom, yet still was the expected attack deferred. The imitated hootings of the owl, and howling of wolves which resounded from different parts of the forest, but too plainly told the hunters that the 0-dug-am-ee wolves had surrounded their camp, and only waited the first dawn of day (the Indian's favorite hour), to make the attack.
The old hunter being anxious to save a portion of his kindred, took two girls — his grandchildren — each by the hand and silently led them some distance into the surround- ing woods, amid the darkness, and informing them the direction they were to go— to be judged by the wind, and
THE O-DUG-AM-EES KILL AN OJIBWAY FAMILY. 151
fast &lling flakes of snow, he bade them save their lives by flight and inform their people of his fate.
The old man then turned to his lodge, and he listened anxiouslj for the yell that would denote the discovery and death of '^ the little birds which he had let out to fly away." That expected yell came not, and the old man became satisfied that his two grandchildren were safe.
At the first dawn of morning, the 0-dug-am-ees com- menced the attack with loud and thrilling war whoops. The Ojibways defended themselves bravely, and as long as their ammunition lasted, they kept their numerous assail- ants at bay, and sent many of their more hardy warriors to the land of Spirits ; but as soon as their powder gave out they ceased firing, the 0-dug-am-ees rushed into their camp, and leaping over their barrier of logs and brush, the work of death and scalping commenced. The Ojib- ways died not without a desperate struggle, for even the grandmother of the family cut down an enemy with her axe before she received the death stroke. All perished but the old hunter, who, during the last brave struggle of his two sons, miraculously escaped through the dense ranks of his eager foes, entirely naked and covered with blood from numerous wounds.
He had not proceeded far before he met a small party of his friends, who had been informed of the desperate situ- ation of his camp, by the two girls whom he had caused to escape during the previous night. At the head of this party, though almost dead with fatigue and loss of blood, the old man returned, and found his wigwam in ashes. The 0-dug-am-ee wolves had already done their work and departed, and the bodies of his murdered kindred scalped, dismembered, cut and hashed into a hundred pieces, lay strewn about on the blood-stained snow.
At this horrid spectacle the Ojibway party, though feeble in numbers, recklessly followed the return trail of the per-
152 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
petrators, depending for help, should they enter into a pre- mature engagement with them, upon the different camps of their tribe, to whom runners had been sent during the night. They had not proceeded far on the deep-beaten trail of their enemies, when they beheld one of their num- ber who had been left in the rear, walking leisurely along; perfectly deaf and unconscious to the approach of the aven- ging Ojibways, he fell an easy victim under their toma. hawks.
They still ran on, till hearing a distant halloo, which was repeated nearer and nearer, they hid themselves in the deep snow near the trail.
The 0-dug-am-ees having stopped to smoke, and missing one of their number, first hallooed to him, and on his not answering, they sent two of their young men to go back and bring him up. These two men were dispatched by the ambushed Ojibways, and as they too, did not retuni, the impatient 0-dug-am-ees sent three more of their party to go and see what kept them, and they likewise met the same fate as their fellows. Becoming yet more impatient for the return of their companions, a large number of the 0-dug-am-ees arose and ran back in search of them. On these, the ambushed Ojibways were obliged to fire, and immediately retreating, a ruiming fight commenced. The whole force of their enemies now hearing the firing of guns, joined their fellows, and the Ojibways would soon have been annihilated, had not a large party of their friends, guided by the noise of the fight, arrived to their rescue. This timely reinforcement wisely ambushed themselves behind the trees near the trail, and as the O-dug-am-ees were eagerly following the retreating party, the hidden Ojib- ways fell on them with great fury, and in the first surprise succeeded in killing a large number, and they eventually forced the remainder to retreat and fly back to their vil- lages with the black paint of mourning on their faces.
REVENGE or AN OJIBWAY FATHER. 153
Though having partially revenged the death of his kin- dred in this fight, yet the old Ojibway hunter was not sat- isfied. For two years he secludeil himself from his people, and accompanied only by his two grandchildren, he made his hunts where beaver was to be found in the greatest plenty. During this time he laid by the fruits of his soli- tary hunts, and having collected sufficient for his pur- poses, he loaded a large canoe with large packs of beaver skins, and made a journey to Detroit, which was then a grand depot for the fur trade, and contained a garrison of French soldiers.
Blacking his face with coal, placing ashes on his head, and gashing his body with his knife, causing himself to ^ covered with blood as a sign of deep mourning and affliction, he presented himself before his " French father," told him the tale of his wrongs, and presenting his packs of rich beaver, he asked for help to revenge himself against his foes.
The 0-dug-am-ees had always evinced a bad feeling to- ward the French, and on several occasions they had plun- dered and murdered their traders. They were a restless *nd troublesome tribe, continually embroiled in mischief, *^d a short time previous they had attempted with the distance of the Dakotas and O-saug-ees to take the French fort at Detroit. The appeal of the old Ojibway hunter, therefore, was listened to by willing cars. Ammu- lution and guns were freely given him, and a number of frenchmen were promised to aid him in his intended in- vasion of the 0-dug-am-ee country. The old hunter, being supplied with the necessary means, easily raised a large War party of his people, and being joined by his French ^Hesjhe proceeded to the hunting grounds of his enemies, and after severe fighting destroyed two of the principal Wng-am-ee villages, and drove the remnants of this obnox-
154 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
ious tribe from the shores of Lake Michigan, and the Wisconsin River.
Enfeebled in numbers, the 0-dug-am-ees retired westward to the Mississippi River, and fearing a total extinguish- ment of their national fire, it is at this time that they first joined the lodges of the Osaugees, and requested to be in- corporated into that tribe. Their petition was denied, though the Osaugees allowed them to remain in their vil- lages till they had in some degree regained, by a long term of quiet and peace, their former strength and numbers.
TAKING OF MILLS LACS BY THE OJIBWAYS. 155
CHAPTER XI.
TAKING OF MILLE LACS BY THE OJIBWAYS.
A description of liille Lacs, and its advantages as a home for the Indian — It is occupied by the Dakotas in 1680— Traditions of the Qjlbways detailing the manner in which they, in torn, finally obtained possession.
MiLLE Lacs^ the M' de Wakan, or Spirit Lake of the Dakotas,* and the Missinaag-i-egan or "the lake that spreads all over" of the Ojibways, is one of the largest and niost beautiful sheets of water in Minnesota Territory.* h lies imbedded in deep forests, midway between the Mis- sissippi and the head of Lake Superior. Its picturesque shores are skirted with immense groves of valuable sugar inaple, and the soil on which they grow is not to be sul*- passed in richness by any section of country in the north- >vest
The lake is nearly circular in form, though indented ^vith deep bays, and the view over its waters broken here ^nd there by bold points or promontories. It is about twenty miles across from shore to shore, and a person standing on its pebbly beach on a clear, calm day, can but Just discern the blue outlines of the opposite side, espeeiallj'' 5i8 the country surrounding it is comparatively low and level. Its waters are clear and pure as the waters of Lake Superior, and fish of the finest species are found to abound
' Mille Lacs so called because it is the largest of the numerous lakes, Mille Lacs (Thousand Lakes) of this rcsffon. Upon Franquelln's Map of 1688, it is called Buade, the iaraily name of Count Frontcnac then governor of Canada, Md Ram River its outlet is called Riviftre des Fran9ois (French River) or Sioux River. Upon Hennepin's Map Rividre des Frangols is R. de St. Francis. --E. D. N.
' Written in A. D. 1852. Minnesota in 1858 was admitted as one of the United SUtca of America.— E. D. N.
156 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
«
thereih. Connected with it is a string of marshy, or mud- bottomed, lakes in which the water is but a few feet deep, and wherein the wild rice of the north grows luxuriantly, and in the greatest abundance.
Possessing these and other advantages, there is not a spot in the northwest which an Indian would sooner choose as a home and dwelling place, than Mille Lacs. It is not then to be wondered at, that for nearly two centuries, it has formed a bone of strife and contention between the Ojibways and Dakotas.
The name of the still large and important band of Da- kotas known as the Md6 wakantons, has been derived from this lake ; they now dwell on the Mississippi and the lower portions of the Minnesota River.* Their ancestors were dwellers on Spirit Lake, and their bones have enriched the soil about its shores. •
I gather from " A sketch of the early trade and traders of Minnesota," by the Rev. Edward D. Neill, of St. Paul, published in the Annals of the Minnesota Historical So- ciety for 1852, that in the year 1680, the Franciscan priest Hennepin, with two companions named Michael Ako* and Picard du Gay, were taken captive by the Dakotas of Mille
* The M'd^wakantons (Spirit Lake People), In 1852 were divided into scren bands, who dwelt on the western banks of the Mississippi and in the lower Minnesota valley. The Ki-yuk-sa band lived below Lake Pepin. Another band dwelt at Re-mni-ca (Hill, water and wood) now Red Wing^, a few miles above Lake Pepin. Kapobia band, four miles below St. Paul, Grey Iron*s band at Black Dog's village on the south bank of the Minnesota, above Men- dota. Oak Grove band and Good Road's band on the upper bank of the Minnesota, eight miles above Fort Snclling. Shokpedan, or Little Six, band near the present town of Shakopce.
In 1854 they were living on a reser>'ation in the valley of the upper Minne- sota River. The Kaposia band was four miles below the mouth of the Red Wood River, Shokpedan's band at the mouth of that stream, while those of Wapatha and Waukouta were nearer the white settlements, and remained here until after the massacre of 1862, when they were removed to the valley of the Missouri River.— E. D. N.
* Also spelled Accault. La Salle writes that Ako was the leader of the party.— E. D. N.
WHY THE DAEOTAS LEFT MILLE LACS. 157
Lac3. This fkct is mentioned here to show that at this date, this tribe still held possession, and resided on or near this lake. It is farther stated that through the influence of the early French traders who first built posts in their couDtry, among whom may be mentioned as most conspic- uous the names of Nicholas Perrot and Le Sueur, " the Da- kotas began to be led away from the rice grounds of the Mille Lacs region."
Tradition among the Ojibways says otherwise. They deny that the influence of the traders could induce the Mde- wakantons to evacuate such a desirable point in their coun- try as Mille Lacs, a spot covered with their permanent earthen* wigwams, and the resting place of their forefathers.
Our own experience of the great love and attachment which the red race has ever shown to their ancient village sites, would cause us to doubt this assertion on the part of the Dakotas. It is sooner to be believed that the same force which has caused them to relinquish, step by step, all tbeir former country east of the Mississippi during the ^urse of the past two or three centuries, oi>erated to drive them from this, their strongest hold of olden times.
The manner in which the Ojibways first came into pos- s^ion of Mille Lacs, is vividly related by their old men, ^^d this event forms a prominent item in the course of • their past history. The tradition of this occurrence is hriefly as follows, taken by the writer from the lips of one ^f their most truth-telling sages, who is now a resident of Mille Lacs, and who is the descendant of a long line of ^oted chiefs.
^^ITION OF THE TAKING OF MILLE LACS BY THE OJIBWAYS.
Five generations ago, shortly after the Ojibways resid- ^^g on the shores of Lake Superior had commenced to
l^e early French explorers only mention wigwams of bark or skins.
158 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
obtain fire-arms and ammunition of the old French traders, a firm peace existed between them and the Dakotas, wlio then resided on the head waters of the Mississippi and the midland country which lay between this river and the Great Lake.
Good-will^existed between the two tribes, and the roads to their villages were clear and unobstructed. Peace-pai^ ties of the Dakotas visited the wigwams of the Ogibways, and the Ojibways, in like manner, visits the Tepees and earthen lodges of the Dakotas. The good feeling existing between them was such, that intermarriages even took place between them.
It appears, however, impossible, that these two power- ful tribes should ever remain long in peace with each other. On this occasion the war-club had lain buried but a few winters, when it was again violently dug up, and the ancient feud raged more fiercely than ever.
Ill-will was first created in the breasts of the two tribes against one another, through a quarrel which happened between an Ojibway and a Dakota gallant, respecting a woman whom they both courted. The woman was a Dakota, and the affair took place at a village of her i)eople. Of her two suitors she preferred the Ojibway, and the re- jected gallant, in revenge, took the life of his successful rival. This act, however, did not result in immediate hostilities; it only reminded the warriors of the two tribes that they had once becii enemies ; it required a more aggravating cause than this to break the ties which several years of gotxl understanding and social intercourse had created between them, and this cause was not long in forthcoming.
There was an old man residing at Fond du Lac of Lake Superior, which place had at this time, already become an important village of the Ojibways. This old man was looked upon by his people with much respect and con- sideration : though not a chief, he was a great hunter, and
MURDER OP FOUR PEACEABLE OJIBWAYS. 159
bis lodge ever abounded in plenty. He belonged to the Marten Totem family. He was blessed with four sons, all of whom were full grown and likely men, " fair to look upon." They were accustomed to make frequent visits to the villages of the Dakotas, and they generally returned laden with presents, for the young women of their tribe looked on them with wishful and longing eyes.
Shortly after the quarrel about the woman had taken place, which resulted in the death of an Ojibway, the four brothers paid the Dakotas one of their usual peaceful visits; they proceeded to their great town at Mille Lac, which was but two days from their own villages. During this visit, one of the brothers was treacherously murdered, and but three returned with safety to their father's wigwam.
The old man did not even complain when he heard that their former enemies had sent his son to travel on the Spirit road ; and shortly after, when his three surviving sons asked his permission to go again to enter the lodges of the Dakotas, he told them to go, " for probably," said he, " they have taken the life of my son through mistake." The brothers proceeded as before to Mille Ijac, and on this occasion, two of them were again treacherously killed, and but one returned to the wigwam of his bereaved father. The fount of the old man's tears still did not open, though he blacked his face in mourning, and his head hung down in sorrow.
Once more his sole surviving son requested to pay the Dakotas a peace visit, that he might look on the graves of his deceased brethren. His sorrow stricken parent said to him, "go, my son, for probably they have struck your brothers through mistake." Day after day rolled over, till the time came when he had promised to return. The days, however, kept rolling on, and the young man re- turned not to cheer the lonely lodge of his father. A full moon passed over, and still he made not his appearance^
160 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
and the old man became convinced that the Dakotas had sent him to join his murdered brethren in the land of Spirits. Now, for the first time, the bereaved fi^ther began to weep, the fount of his tears welled forth bitter drops, and he mourned bitterly for his lost children.
"An Ojibwaj warrior never throws away his tears," and the old man determined to have revenge. For two years he busied himself in making preparations. With the fruits of his hunts he procured ammunition and bther materials for a war party. He sent his tobacco and war- club to the remotest villages of his people, detailing his wrong and inviting them to collect by a certain day at Fond du Lac, to go with him in " search for his lost child- ren." His summons was promptly and numerously obeyed, and nearly all the men of his tribe residing on the shores of the Great Lake, collected by the appointed time at Fond du Lac. Their scalping knives had long rusted in disuse, and the warriors were eager once more to stain them with the blood of their old enemy.
Having made the customary preparations, and invoked the Great Spirit to their aid, this large war party which the old man had collected, left Fond du Lac, and followed the trail towartls Mille Lac, which was then considered the strongest hold of their enemies, and where the blood which they went to revenge had been spilt The Dakotas occupied the lake in two large villages, one being located on Cormorant point, and the other at the outlet of the lake. A few miles below this last village, they possessed another considerable village on a smaller lake, connected with Mille Lac by a portion of Rum River which run through it These villages consisted mostly of earthen wigwams such as are found still to be in use among the Arickarees and other tribes residing on the Upper Missouri.
The vanguard of the Ojibways fell on the Dakotas at Cormorant point early in the morning, and such was the
THE OJIBWAYS ATTACK THB MILLE LACS DAKOTAS. 161
extent of the war party, that before the rear had arrived, the battle at this point had ab-eady ended by the almost total extermination of its inhabitants ; a small remnant only, retired in their canoes to the greater village located at the entry. This, the Ojibways attacked with all their forces ; after a brave defence with their bows and barbed arrows, the Dakotas took refuge in their earthen lodges fix)in the more deadly weapons of their enemy.
The only manner by which the Ojibways conld harass and dislodge them from these otherwise secure retreats, was to throw small bundles or bags of powder into the aperture made in the top of each, both for the purpose of giving light within, and emitting the smoke of the wigwam fire. The bundles ignited by the fire, spread death and dismay amongst the miserable beings who crowded within. Not having as yet, like the more fortunate Ojibways, been blessed with the presence of white traders, the Dakotas ^ere still ignorant of the nature of gunpowder, and the idea possessing their minds that their enemies were aided h^ spirits, they gave up the fight in despair and were ^ily dispatched. But a remnant retired during the darkness of night to their last remaining village on the enialler lake. Here they made their last stand, and the Ojibways following them up, the havoc among their ranks ^as continued during the whole course of another day.
The next morning the Ojibways wishing to renew the ^nflict^ found the village evacuated by the few who had survived their victorious arms. They had fled during the ^^ght down the river in their canoes, and it became a com- ^^^ saying that the former dwellers of Mille Lacs became, "J this three days' struggle, swept away for ever from their ^vorite village sites. The remains of their earthen wig- wams are still plainly visible in great numbers on the spots ^here these events are said to have occurred ; they are
^ow mostly covered by forests of maple trees. The Ojil> 11
162 MINNESOTA HISTOKICAL COLLECTIONS.
ways assert as a proof of this tradition, that whenever they have dug into these mounds, which they occasionally do, they have discovered human bones in great abundance and lying scattered promiscuously in the soil, showing that they had not been regularly buried, but were cut in pieces and scattered about, as Indians always treat those they slay in battle.
It is as well to state here, that some of the old men who relate this tradition, give the name of 0-maum-ee to the former dwellers of Mille Lacs, and they further assert that these people were totally exterminated on this occasion. The more intelligent affirm that they were the Ab-oin or Dakotas, who having their principal village on a peninsula, or Min-a-waum, were known in those days by the name of 0-maura-ee. This, connected with the fact afforded us by the early French explorers, Ilennepin, Du Luth and Le Sueur, that the Md6 wakantons were former dwellers of Mille Lacs, is sufficient to prove the identity of the people whom the Ojibways drove from its possession.
Ojibway tradition further states that the Dakotas who had been driven from Mille Lacs, made another village on Rum River, and that they did not fiimlly leave this region of country* till about the year 1770, after their great expedition or war party to the head-waters of the Mississippi, which resulted in the battle of Crow Wing, as will be related in a future chapter.
1 Tlie Md< wakaDtoD Sioux used to assert that about the year 1780, they lived in one village, oq the banks of the Minnesota, a short distance above Men- doU.— E. D. N.
THE ST. CROIX RSQION TAKEN BY THB OJIBWAYS. 163
CHAPTER Xn.
OCCUPATION OF THB ST. CROIX RIVER COUNTRY BY THE
OJIBWAYS.
A petce to effected between the OJibways and Dakotas by the French traders about the year 1605 — The French locate a poet among the Dakotas — OJib- ways locate a permanent village at Rice Lake — Intermarriages between them and the Dakotas — Origin of the Wolf Totem among the OJibways and of the Herman Totem among the Dakotas — The feud between them to again re- newed—Causes thereof— Battle of Point Prescott — The Dakota captive- Consequences of the new rapture — Peace to renewed between the Rice Lake Ojibways and the St Croix Lake Dakotas — OJibways form a village at Yellow Lake— Tale of O-mig-aun-dib— The war becomes generaL
After the sanguinary battle which resulted in the total evacuation of Mille Lacs by the Dakotas, the ancient feud between them and the Ojibways raged with great fury, and it is at this period that the latter tribe first began to l^eat the Dakotas from the Rice Lakes of the St. Croix River region which they had long occupied in conjunction ^ith the Odug-am-ees. The pipe of peace was not again ^oked between the two belligerent tribes, till the old French traders had obtained a firm foothold among the Dakotas, and commenced an active trade.
According to the Indian mode of counting time, this ^vent occurred four generations ago, or about the year 1695. ^^ Was brought about only through the most strenuous efforts of the French traders who resided among the Ojib- ways on Lake Superior, and those who had at this time ^'iilt a post among the Dakotas near the mouth of the St Croix River.*
Bernard de la Harpe writes that In 1695 '* Mr. Le Suenr by order of the ^^i de Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, built a fort on an island *° the Mississippi more than 200 leagues above the Hlinois, in order to effect a ^^^^ between the Sautears natives who dweU on the shores of a lake of five
164 MINXJJSOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
The ill-will between the two tribes had risen to such a pitch that it required every persuasion, and the gift of large presents, to eflfect a reconciliation. The French, during the course of the bloody warfare between these two powerful tribes, while travelling through their country on their trading and exploring expeditions, had often suf- fered death indiscriminately with Dakota or Ojibway, at the hands of their blood-seeking war parties.
The interests of the fur trade had also severely suffered, for the warriors of either tribe, neglected their hunts to join in the more favorite pastime of war and bloodshed, and their continually prowling war parties prevented the more peaceful-minded and sedate hunters from seeking the beaver in the regions where they abounded in the greatest plenty.
Peace being once effected, this deplorable state of affairs ceased to exist, and once more these two people hunted on their richest hunting grounds without fear and trembling, and plenty reigned in their lodges. On the St Croix the two tribes intermingled freely, being more immediately under the supervision of their traders. They encamped together, and intermarriages took place between them. It is at this time that a few lodges of Ojibways first located themselves in a permanent village on the waters of the St. Croix River. They chose Rice Lake, the head of Shell River, which empties into the St. Croix, for their first permanent residence and it remains an important village of their tribe to this day.*
The principal chief of this band, belonging to the Awause or Catfish Totem family, is said to have died with-
hundred leagues cIrcamfereDce, oDe hiuidrcd leag:aes esst of the liTer, aod the Scioax on the Upper Mississippi.''
Bellin, the Geographer, raentions that this trading post was upon the1argc»t of the islands between Lake Pepin and the month of the St. Croix River. — E. D. N.
1 A. P. 1852.
INTERTRIBAL ADOPTION OF TOTEMS. 165
ont male issue, and his only daughter married a Dakota chief who belonged to the Wolf Clan of his tribe. He resided among the Ojibways at Rice Lake during the whole course of the peace, and begat by his Ojibway wife, two sons who afterward became chiefs, and who of course inherited their father's totem of the wolf. In this manner this badge became grafted among the Ojibway list of clans.
At this day, Ogibways of the Wolf Totem are numerous on the St. Croix and at Mille Lac, and they are all de- scended from this intermarriage, and are therefore tinged with Dakota blood. I-aub-aus, present chief of Rice Lake, Shon-e-yah (Silver), chief of Po-ka-guma on Snake River, and Na-guon-abe (Feathers end), chief of Mille Lacs, are direct descendants from the two sons of the Dakota chief and the Ojibway chieftainess.
In like manner Ojibways of the Merman, or Water-spirit Totem, which is a branch of the Awause, married Dakota women, and begat by them sons, who, residing among the Dakotas, introduced in this tribe the badge of their father's totem, and all of this totem among the Dakotas are of Ojibway extraction, and ever since the period of these intermarriages, at every peace meeting of the two tribes, all persons of the Wolf and Merman Totem, in each tribe, recognize one another as blood relations.
The peace on this occasion lasted for several years, and to some extent they learned to speak each other's language. The intermarriages which had taken place between them, proved the strongest link of good-will between them, but the love of war and bloodshed was so inherent in their nature, and the sense of injuries inflicted on one another for centuries past rankled so deep in the breasts of many in each tribe, that even these ties could not secure a long continuance of this happy state of peace and quiet. From a comparative slight cause, the flames of their old hatred again broke forth with great violence. It originated at a
166 MINNESOTA fflSTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
war dance which was heing performed hy the Dakotas on Lake St. Croix, preparatory to marching against some tribe of their numerous enemies toward the south.
On occasions of this nature, the warriors work them- selves by hard dancing, yelling, and various contortions of the body, into a state of mad excitement ; every wrong which they have suffered at the hands of their enemies, is brought fresh to their remembrance for the purpose of " making the heart strong."
Under a state of excitement, such as is here described, a distinguished Dakota warrior shot a barbed arrow into the body of an Ojibway who was dancing with the Dako- tas, intending to join them on the war trail against their enemies. Some of the old men who relate thb tradition, assert that the Ojibway was part of Dakota extraction, and the fierce warrior who shot him, exclaimed as he did so, that " he wished to let out the hated Ojibway blood which flowed in his veins." Others state that he was a full-blood Ojibway who had married a Dakota woman, by whom he had a large family of children ; that he resided with her people, and had become incorporated amongst them, joining their war parties against the different tribes with whom they were at enmity.
The ruthless shot did not terminate his life, and after a most painful sickness, the wounded man recovered. He silently brooded over the wrong so wantonly inflicted on him, for the warrior who had injured him was of such high standing in his tribe, that he could not revenge him- self on him with impunity. After a time he left the Dakotas and paid a visit to his Ojibway relatives on Lake Superior, who received him into their wigwams with every mark of kindness and regard. He poured into their willing ears the tale of his wrong, and he succeeded in inducing them to raise a war party to march against the Dakota encampment on Lake St Croix.
GREAT WAR EXPEDITION OF OJIBWAYS. 167
While this party was collecting at the Bay of Shaug-Or "wauwrik-ong^ the avenger returned to his home and family amongst the Dakotas, and amused their ears with accounts of his visit to his people's villages. He told them that a large party would soon arrive to smoke the pipe of peace with them. Fully believing these tales, the Dakotas col- lected their scattered hunters, and sent runners to their different villages to invite their people to come and camp with them, in order to receive the expected peace party of the Ojibways, and join in the amusements which generally ensued whenever they thus met in considerable numbers. The tribe (being the season of the year which they geno- i^llj passed in leisure and recreation), gathered in large numbers, and pitched their camp on the south shore of Lake St. Croix, near ita outlet into the Mississippi.
The centre or main portion of their camp (which stretched for a long distance along the shore of the lake), was located *tPobt Presoott. A few lodges also stood on the opposite shore of the lake, and at Point Douglas.
The Dakotas, believing the reported peaceable disposition of their former enemies, became careless, and hunted in apparent security ; they did not (as is usual when appre- hensive of a sudden attack), send scouts to watch on the surrounding hills for the approach of an enemy, and the Ojibways arrived within a close vicinity of their camp without the least discovery. During the night, the leaders of the war party sent five young men who could speak the Dakota language most fluently, to go and spy the lodges of the enemy, note their situation, and find out their num- ber. The five scouts entered the encampment at different points, and drawing their robes closely over their heads they walked about unsuspected by the young Dakota gallants or night walkers^ who were out watching the lodge fires to flicker away in embers, in order to enter and in the darkness court their sweet hearts.
168 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
After having made the rounds of the abnost endless rows of lodges, the scouts returned to their party, and informed their leaders that they had counted three hundred lodges, when they became confused and could count no more. Also, that from the difterent idioms of their language which they had heard spoken in difterent sections of the camp, they judged that the distant bands of the Sisseton and Yankton Dakotas were represented therein in considerable numbers; they also told of the general carelessness, and feeling of security which prevailed throughout the camp.
Having obtained this information, the Qjibways being strong in the number of their warriors, prepared them- selves for battle, and at the earliest dawn of morning, they marched on the sleeping encampment of the Dakotas. They made their approach by a deep ravine which led through the high bluflfe (which here bound the shores of the lake) on to the narrow prairie which skirts the water side, and on which was pitched the leathern lodges of the enemy. It is said that through the dim twilight, the advancing warriors saw a woman step out of the nearest lodge to adjust the door covering which a sudden gust of the rising east wind had thrown up ; she stood as if a sound had caught her ear, and she listened anxiously, looking up the dark ravine, when she again entered her lodge. She must have heard the measured tread of the advancing warriors, but mistook it for the moaning of the rising wind, and the dashing of the waves on the sandy beach.
Once fairly debouched on the narrow prairie, the Qjib- ways lost no time in extending their wings and enveloping the encampment on the land side. When this movement had been completed in perfect silence, they gradually neared the lodges of their sleeping enemies, and as they arrived within the proper distance, and the dogs of the encampment began to snuft* the air and utter their sharp quick yelp, the shrill war whistle was sounded by the
BLOODY MASSACBB OF THB DAKOTAS. 169
leaders, and suddenly the dread and fear-striking war- whoop issued from the lips of hundreds of blood-thirsty warriors. Volley after volley of bullets and arrows were fired, and discharged into the frail and defenceless tepees, and the shrieking and yelling of the inmates as they became thus suddenly startled from their sleep, made the uproar of the attack truly deafening.
Completely taken by surprise, the warriors of the Da- kotas fought at a disadvantage ; their women and children ran shrieking to the water's side, and hastily jumping into fteir narrow wooden canoes, they attempted to cross to the opposite shores of the lake. The wind, however, had in- creased in force, and sweeping down the lake in a fearful gale, it caused the waves to run high, and in many instances ^e crowded and crank canoes filled with water or upset, iMnchmg the fleeing women and children into a watery grave.
After a long and unavailing defence, fiuch of the Dakota Warriors as had 8to<5d their ground, were obliged to retreat. Thirty of their number are said to have fled under a ledge of rock, where, being entirely surrounded, they were shot ^own one after another.
This is one of the most successful war parties whic^h the Qjibways tell of. It is said that at each encampment on their return homeward, the scalps which they had taken, being each tied to the end of a stick three or four feet long, were planted close together in a single row, and an arrow shot by a strong arm, from one end of this row of human scalps, fell short of reaching the other extremity. One of their story tellers, who in his youth had long remained a captive among the Dakotas, states explicitly, that on this occasion, the Ojibways secured three hundred and thirty-five scalps, and many more than this are thought to have perished in the water. But one captive is men- tioned as having been taken, and the circumstances of his
170 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
capture are such that the fact is always mentioned, in con- nection with the tale relating the above important event in their history.
It appears that during the heat of the battle, two young Ojibway lads who had accompanied their fathers on the war trail, entered a Dakota lodge which they supposed had been deserted by the fleeing enemy. They, however, found it to be occupied by a stout and full-grown Dakota warrior; he sat in the lodge in an attitude of sorrow, holding his head between his hands, and his elbows resting on his raised knees, his unstrung bow and full quiver of arrows lay at his feet, and his war spear stood planted beforehim. He did not even lift his head as the two lads entered, the youngest of whom immediately rushed on him, and being unarmed, he attempted to secure him as a captive. The Dakota took him by the arm and gently pushed him aside. The brave little lad, however, persisted, and calling on his older comrade to help him, they both fell on the Dakota and attempted to secure his arms. He pushed them easily away, and quietly resumed his former j>osition, and re- mained thus till a number of Ojibway warriors attracted by the calls of the young lad, entered the Icnlge and secured him captive. He was given to the boy who first assaulted him as hia prisoner.
When asked by an Ojibway who could speak his language, the reason why he had acted so strangely, he replied that the evening before, his father had scolded him without cause, and had heaped shameful epithets on him, under which he felt that he could not survive, and be a tenant of his lodge. During the night he had dreamed of living amongst tjie Ojibways, and early that morning he was preparing to leave his people forever and seek for a new home among their villages, when the attack commenced and he deter- mined to risk the chances of neutrality. lie became a great favorite with the family into whose hands he fell.
RKNEWAL OF THE FKUD BETWEEN THE TWO TRIBES. 171
and who adopted him as a relative, and when some time afterwards, when he was ruthlessly killed by a cowardly Qjibway, blood was nearly shed on his account, and with great difficulty a fierce family feud prevented from ensuing in consequence.
After the battle of Point Prescott (by which name we may designate the event related in this chapter), it may well be imagined that the war was renewed with great fury by tbeae two powerful tribes, and fights of various magnitude and importance took place along the whole country which lay between them.
Ojibways who had intermarried among the Dakotas, were obliged to make a sudden and secret flight to their former homes, leaving their wives and children. Dakotas ^ere obliged to do likewise, and instances are told where the parting between husband and wife was most grieving to behold.
After the first fury of the renewed feud had somewhat spent itself, it is related that the ties of consanguinity ^'bich had existed between the Rice Lake or St. Croix Qibwajs,and the Dakotas were such, that peace again was ^de between them, and though the war raged between their tribes in other parts of their extensive country, they harmed not one another.
When the two sons of the Dakota chief, by the chief-
tainess of Rice Lake, had grown up to be men, the eldest,
named 0-mig-aun-dib (or Sore Head), became chief of the
^ice Lake band of Ojibways, and he afterwards appointed
his younger brother to be chief of a branch of his village,
Hich had at this time located themselves at Yellow Lake.
These are the first two permanent villages which the Ojib-
i^ays made in the St. Croix country. Rice Lake was first
settled about a century and a half ago, during the peace
brought about by the French traders. Yellow Lake was
settled about forty years after. Po-ka-gum-a on Snake
172 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
River, and Knife Lake have been the sites of Ojibwaj villages only within a few years past — within the recol lection of Indians still living.^
Omig-aun-dib, the chief of Rice Lake, had half brothen among the Dakotas, who after the death of their comraor father became chiefs over their people; through th< influence of these closely related chieftains, peace was lonf kept up between their respective villages. Ill-will, how ever, gradually crept in between them, as either party con tinually lost relatives, in the implacable warfare which ww now most continually carried on between other portion! of their two tribes. At last they dared no longer to make peace visits to one another's villages, though they still did not join the war parties which marched into the region ol country which they respectively occupied.
As a proof of the tenacity with which they held on to one another even amidst the bloodshed wliich their respec- tive tribes contmued to inflict on them, the following tale is related by the descendants of Omig-aun-dib.
After the war between them had again fairly opened, a Dakota war party proceeded to Rice Lake and killed three children who were playing on the sandy shores of the lake, a short distance from the Ojibway village. One of these murdered children belonged to Omig-aun-dib, who was away on his day's hunt at the time they were fallen upon and dispatched.
When, on his return, he had viewed the mangled remains of his child, he did not weep and ask his fellows to aid him in revenging the blow, but he silently buried his child, and embarking the next morning alone in his birch canoe, he proceeded down the river toward the Dakota country.
1 The Snake Rirer Ojibways in 1S36 were divided into two bands, and num- bered about forty men. One band spent the summer at Lake Po-ka^gnim-a ; the other, on a small lake twenty miles hif^her on the river. About this time some of the Ojibways of Yellow Lake, Wisconsin, Joined them. — E. D. N.
OMIG-AUN-DIB VISITS THE DAKOTA CAMP. 173
At Point Douglas he discovered the Dakotas collected together in a large camp; their war party had just arrived with the three children's scalps, and he heard as he neared their village, the drums heating, accompanied with the scalp songs of rejoicing, while young and old in the whole encampment were dancing and yelling in celebration of the exploit, and the discomfiture of their enemies.
Omig-aun-dib paddled his light canoe straight towards the centre of the long rows of lodges which lined the water- aide: he had covered his face and body with the black paint of mourning. The prow of his canoe lightly struck the beach, and the eyes of the rejoicing Dakotas became all bent on the stranger who so suddenly made his appear- ance at their water-side : some ran to see who it could be, and as he became recognized, his name passed like wildfire from lip to lip — the music and dancing suddenly ceased, and the former noisy and happy Dakotas spoke to one an- other in whispers.
Omig-aun-dib sat quietly in the stem of his canoe smok- ing his pipe. Soon a long line of elderly men, the chiefs of the village, approached him; he knew his half brothers, and as they recognized him and guessed the cause of the black paint on his body, they raised their voices and wept aloud. No sooner was the example set, than the whole encampment was 'in tears, and loud was the lamentation which for a few moments issued from lips which, but a DQoment before, had been rejoicing in the deed of blood.
They took the canoe wherein the bereaved father was still sitting, and lifting it oft* the ground, they carried it on to the bank where stood their lodges. Buftalo robes, l>eautifully worked with quills and colored with bright paints, were then brought and spread on the ground from the canoe reaching even to the door of the council lodge, and the Ojibway chieftain was asked to walk thereon and enter the lodge.
174 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
During the performance of these different acts he had kept his seat in the canoe calmly smoking his pipe ; he now arose, and stepped forth, but as he approached the council lodge, he kicked the robes to one side, saying, " I have not come amongst you, my relatives, to be treated with so much honor and deference. I have come that you may treat me as you have treated my child, that I may follow him to the land of spirits."
These words only made the sorrow of the Dakotas still more poignant ; to think that they had killed the child of one who was their relative by blood, and who had never raised his arm against their tribe.
Omig-aun-dib repeated his offer of self-sacrifice in public council, but it was of course refused, and with great difli- culty he was at last induced to accept presents as a cover- ing for his child's grave, and a child was given to him to adopt instead of the one which had been killed. With, this reparation he returned to his village
The breach between the two tribes became widened bjr almost daily bloody encounters, and the relationship exist- ing between them became at last to be almost forgotten, though to the present day the occasional short terms of peace which have occurred between the two tribes, have generally been first brought about by the mixed bloods of either tribe who could approach one another with greater confidence than those entirely unconnected by blood.
8TBUGGLE FOR THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 175
CHAPTER Xm.
THE COUNTRY ABOUT THE SOURCE OP THE MISSISSIPPI.
Tbt idapUtioD of thlB region of country as a home for the Indian — The Ojibways first find H in possession of the Dakotas — Bi-aos-wah, an Ojibway war chief, lesda a large war party and dispossesses the Dakotas of Sandy Lake — 8sody Lake becomes the first Ojibway village on the Upper Mississippi— Re- iQvlu on the earthen mounds which are scattered throughout this region of coaQtry>-Gi^ucth-in-ne-wug, ** men of the olden time," occupy the Upper MissiMippi country prior to the Dakotas— Origin of the earthen mounds, as given by the Ojibways.
The region of country from which the Mississippi derives its source, is covered with innumerable fresh and clear water lakes, connected with one another, and flowing into the ** Father of Rivers" through rapid and meandering streams. All these lakes and streams abound with fish of toe finest species and flavor. In Leech, Winnepeg, Cass, s-od other of the larger lakes, the whitefish are found ^^al in size to the celebrated whitefish in Lake Superior. -^nd 80 are also the salmon trout which (curious enough) ^^ to be found only in Puk-a-gum-ah and trout lakes. MuHal-longe have been found to grow to the great size of ^ni four to six feet in length. Brook trout, sturgeon and ^tfish are not found in the waters of the Mississippi above fte Palls of St. Anthony.
The shores of these beautiful lakes arc lined with groves ^^ the tall pine, and the useful maple from which the Indian manufactures sugar. The birch tree also abounds, irom which the Ojibway has long been accustomed to procure the covering to his wigwam, and material for the ^onnation of his ingeniously wrought canoe. In many of ^^^ lakes which lie clustered together within an area of ^veral hundred miles, the wild rice grows in large quan-
176 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
titles and most luxariantlj, affording the Indian an impor- tant staple of subsistence.
In former times this region of country abounded in buf- falo, moose, deer, and bear, and till within thirty years past, in every one of its many water courses, the lodges of the valuable and industrious beaver were to be found.
Possessing these manifold advantages, this country has always been a favorite home and resort for the wild Indian, and over its whole extent, battle fields are pointed out where different tribes have battled for its possession.
The attention of the Ojibways was early directed to it They found it in possession of the powerful and wide-spread Dakotas, whom after many years of severe fighting, they eventually forced to seek for new homes farther westward, and they in turn, took possession and have kept to this day the large and beautiful lakes which form the sources of the " Great River."
It is related by their old traditionists, that the boy whose father had died in his stead on the burning fagots of the cruel 0-dug-am-ees (as has been related in a former chapter), grew up to be a man. The remembrance of his deep wrong made him a warrior. lie never let pass an opportunity of taking revenge and letting his prowess be known among the enemies of his tribe. To him, war not only became a chief business in life, but a jtastime, and having adopted the name of his murdered father, Bi-aus- wah, eventually became a noted war-leader and chief, and the first Ojibway pioneer to the country of the Upper Mississippi.
After the death of his father, he proceeded with his relatives to Fond du Lac, where he remained till middle age, and from which place he joined the war parties which marched against the Dakotas at Sandy Lake, on the St. Croix River and in the vicinity of Mille Lac When he had earned in many a hard-fought battle, the admiration
BI-AUS-WAH, THE OJIBWAY WAR LEADEB. 177
and confidence of his people, he sent his war-club, tobacco, and wampum belt of war, to the far-scattered bands of his tribe, inviting the warriors to collect at Fond du Lac by a certain day, and march with him, to put out the fire of the Dakotas at Sandy Lake.
Men from all the villages of the Ojibway responded to his call, and canoes laden with warriors arrived on the appointed day from Sault Ste. Marie, Grand Portage, La Pointe,and all the camps of the tribe within the area of the Great Lake. It is said that the train of warriors which followed Bi-aus-wah on this occasion, was so long, as they ^iiarched in their usual single file, that a person standing on a hill could not see from one extremity to the other. They marched against the Dakotas of Sandy Lake. They found the enemy collected in force, notwithstanding which, they made the attack, and after a severe fight, they (being anned with the murderous weapons of the pale face), ulti* Diately forced them to retreat and evacuate their village.
Some years after, having struck repeated blows on this Wd of the Dakota tribe, Bi-aus-wah with many wigwams of his people, lit their fires and permanently located their village, first on the islands of the lake, but afterwards at the point which lies nearly opposite the mouth of East Savannah River.
From this central location, they gradually increased their conquests in western, northern, and southern directions, and drawn by the richness of the hunting grounds in this '^gion of country, many families from Lake Superior, of hoth the northern and southern divisions of the tribe, who ^ separated two centuries before at Sault St-e. Marie, nioved over, and joined this band of hardy pioneers, increas- ing their strength and causing them to be better able to withstand the powerful Dakotas, and gradually to increase their new possessions. Sandy Lake or Kali-me-tali-wung- ^ma, signifying " lake of the sandy waters," is the site 12
178 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
of the first Ojibway village about the head-waters of the Mississippi.
It is from this point that the war parties proceeded, whc eventually caused the Dakotas to evacuate their fsivoritc seats at Leech, Winnepeg, Cass, and Red Lakes, and alsc from Gull Lake, Crow Wing, and the vicinity of Millc Lacs, as will be hereafter related in the regular course o1 our narrative.
It will not be amiss in this chapter to say a few words respecting the mounds which are everywhere to be met with throughout the entire region of country covered by sources of the Mississippi.
Having read the conflicting opinions of men who have casually passed through the country, and seen these apparent remains of the works of a former race, my attention was early drawn to this subject, and my inquiries among the more aged and intelligent men of the Ojibways have been most minute, and to my mind, satisfactorily answered.
Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, whom I have already mentioned as the truth-telling and respected chief of the Pillagers, still living, and now in his seventy-eighth year, informs me that in the course of his lifetime he has made numerous war parties and peace visits to different tribes who live on the banks of the Upper Missouri River. He states, that a tribe who are known to the Ojibways by the name of Gi-aucth-iu-in-e-wug, signify " men of the olden time," and named by the French, Gros Ventres, claim to have been formerly possessors of the country from which the Mississippi takes its rise. Their old men relate they were forced or driven from this country by the powerful Dakotas, who have in turn given way to the Ojibways, now its pre- sent possessors.
The Gros Ventres further stated to the Pillager chief, that their fathers lived in earthen wigwams, and the small remnant who have escaped the scourge of the scalping
GBOS TEXTRES POSSIBLY ONCE IN MIXXESOTA. 179
knife and smallpox, still live on the banks of the MiaBOori in these primitively constructed dwellings. This is an im- portant fact in the earl v Indian history of ^linnesota, and the writer has taken every piains to procure every account and circumstance which might conduce to prove its truth.
It will account at once for the numerous earthen mounds which are to be found at diflerent points on the Upper Misissippi, as they may then be safely considered as the remains of the earthen lodges of these former occupants of tWs &ir region.
Till of late years the Kniste-no and As^ineboins were ^^Qstomed to send their war parties against the Gros Ventres and Arickarees, and the Ojibways were often induced to join them. They forced them to evacuate their cuthen villages which were located on the east banks ^ the Missouri, and to select new homes further west, placing thereby this great river between them and their ^W)re powerful enemies.
But since the smallpox has swept them nearly all away, these allied tribes have taken pity on them, and they <^c<^ionally pay them peace visits, and even fight in their defence. In this manner a direct communication has arisen Ijetween the Ojibways and these remnants of far western tribes, which has been the means of saving from total ob- livion many of their ancient traditions, and amongst the Dumber, the fact of their fonner occupation of the great l*sin from which the Mississippi derives its sources.
Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, who has often visited them in his younger days, terms them " relatives ;" he describes their earthen wigwams, and says that they are more neat and cleanly than other Indians, from the fact of daily washing their bodies and using a certain kind of clay to whiten their skins. He says also, that forrrierly they used to raise Pnaall quantities of tobacco, the leaf of which, as obtained from them, was considered of great value, and for which
180 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
their fellow Indians paid large prices. Peace parties of the Knistenos and Ojibways often proceeded- hundreds of miles to visit their villages, chiefly for the purpose of pro- curing their much coveted tobacco leaf.
Wa-won-je-quon, the chief of the Red Lake Ojibways, relates that several years since, while on a visit to the earthen wigwams of the Gi-aucth-in-in-e-wug or Qros Ventres, he was informed by their old men, that the smoke of their village once arose in the vicinity of Sandy Lake. They showed him a piece of bark on which was very correctly marked the principal streams and lakes on the Upper Mississippi, and pointed him out, as the site of their former village, the entry of East Savannah River into the St. Louis, where the remains of their earthen lodges, now covered by a forest of trees, are still discernible.
Groups of these mounds are to be seen on all the principal lakes in the Upper Mississippi country. At Pukwah Rice Lake, near Sandy Lake, is a group numbering seventy of these mounds, now covered by a thick grove of maple trees. At the mouth of Pine River, which empties into the Mississippi above Crow Wing, there is a group of nineteen, in which bones have been discovered by the Ojibways.
At Gull Lake many of these mounds have also been seen by the writer. At one place there are two standing side by side, each over one hundred feet long and four feet high, and o!i the top of one stands a high pine tree which looks to be centuries old.
The numerous mounds on the shore of Mille Lacs are accounted for in Ojibway tradition, as the remains of the former earthen lodges of the Dakotas, whom their ances- tors drove from this lake.
The mounds which are thickly scattered throughout the St Croix and Chippeway River region, are said by the Ojibways to be the remains of the former wigwams of their old enemies, the Odugamees.
TRADITIONS REGARDING THE EARTH MOUNDS. ISl
In the vicinity of some of these mounds on Cliippeway Biver, the writer has distinguished gardens and fields regularly laid out, in which even the rows of com hills were still plainly discernible, clearly proving that the mounds scattered over this portion of country are not of such ancient origin as some speculative writers would have ns believe.
The old men of the Ojibways affirm that nearly all the tribes of the red man who lived in an open prairie country, before the introduction of fire-arms among them, were accustomed to live in earthen wigwams as a protection and defence against the attacks of their enemies.'
Truly may it be said of all these Indians tribes, that their hand has been against every one, and every one's hand against them. They have lived in " fear and trembling" of one another, and oft has the sudden midnight attack extinguished for ever the fires of their wign-ams. And for greater security against these sudden attacks, and continual 8tate of warfare, first originated the earthen remains, over which now the white man's plow peacefully furrows.
jrom human bones being occasionally discovered in these mounds, most writers have been led to suppose them as the graves or burial places of distinguished chiefs.
The Indians account for them by saying that these former
Alexander Henry, a partner of the Northwest Company of Montreal, in 1806, Tislted the Groa Ventrea at the junction of the Knife and MiMouri Rivers. From a copy ^f hjg >J3. Journal, owned by the writer of this note, the fol- ^owlog la extracted. "These people, like their neighbors [Mandane], have wecQitom of washing morning and evening, and wallowing in the mud and cluy
^i^h here answers the purpose of soap The huts are con-
'^'^^'^ as tho«e of their neighbors, with this difference, the ground is dug out *°^four feet below the surface of the earth, which is much deeper than the
^"^' The inside of the hut^ are commoLly kept clean, and
% and night the young men are watching and sleeping upon the roofs. The ^ of their hut« are particularly level, large, and spacious, about fifty feet in ^fCQiQference, and so supported by firm, stout, and principal posts which sufv P^ the square pieces of timber, as to sustain the weight of fifty men.'' —
182 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
earthen wigwams were seldom evacuated without a strug- gle, which generally ended in the massacre of the inmates, and the bones now discovered buried within them are the remains of tiiese former occupants.
The few mounds in which have been discovered human bones regularly deposited, in a position facing the west, may probably be considered as burial mounds ; though this, too, may be accounted for, frona the fact that of later years the Indians have occasionally buried their dead within these mounds, though this may not be considered as a prevalent custom, as they treat all remains of this nature with great respect, as objects consecrated to the memory of by-gone people and by-gone times.
The Ojibways assert in behalf of their tribe, that they have never been forced to live in earthen wigwams as a defence against their enemies, and none of the mounds which are thickly scattered over the country which they at present occupy west of Lake Superior, originate from or are the work of their ancestors. The country in which they have lived for the past five centuries is covered with dense forests, and plentifully supplied with large lakes, on the bosom of which lay islands, where in times of danger they could always pitch their light wigwams in compara- tive safety.
FURTHER CONQUESTS BY THE 0JIBWAY8. 188
CHAPTER XIV.
PROGRESS OF THE OJIBWATS ON THE UPPER MI8SISSIPPL
Tbe OjibwajB force the Dakotas fh)m Cass and Wiooepeg lakes— Dakotaa con- eentre tbeir forces at Leech Lake — They make a last effort to beat back the Ojibwajs— Their great war party is divided Into three divisions^-One division proceeds against Rainy Lake— One against Sandy Lake— And one against Pembinft— They are beaten back — Dakotas retire from Leech Lake — Ojib- ways take possession — Sixe and natural advantages of Leech Lake — Dangers of tbe first Ojibway pioneers on the Upper Mississippi— They hnnt in a body under the guidance of their chief Bi-aus-wah— Fitful terms of peace with the Dakotas— Bi-aufl^wah puts an end by treaty to the practice of torturing captives — ^The Ojibway hunters pay yearly visits to the French trading posts on Lake Superior — ^The more northern bands join the Kenistenos on their trading visits to the British towards Hudson Bay.
The band or village of the Qibways, who had dispos- sessed the Dakotas of Sandy Lake, under the guidance of their chief Bi-aus-wah, continued to receive accessions to their ranks from the shores of Lake Superior, and continued to gain ground on the Dakotas, till they forced them to evacuate their hunting grounds and village sites on Cass and Winnepeg lakes, and to concentre their forces on the islands of Leech Lake, of which, for a few years, they man- aged to keep possession.
Being, however, severely harassed by the persevering encroachments of the Ojibways, and daily losing the lives of their hunters from their oft-repeated incursions, and war parties, the Dakotas at last came to the determination of making one concentrated tribal effort to check the farther advance of their invaders, and, if possible, put out forever the fires which the Ojibways had lit on the waters of the Upper Mississippi. They called on the different bands of their common tribe living toward the south and west, to aid them in their enterprise, and a numerous war party is
184 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
said to have been collected at Leech Lake by the Dakotas to carry out the resolution which they had formed.
Instead, however, of concentrating their forces and sweepv- ing the Ojibway villages in detail, they separated into three divisions, with the intention of striking three dif- ferent sections of the enemy on the same day. One party marched against the village at Sandy Lake, one against the Ojibways at Rainy Lake, and one proceeded northward against a small band of Ojibways who had already reached as far west as Pembina, and who, in connection with the Kenistenos and Assineboins, severely harassed the north- ern flank of the Leech Lake Dakotas.
The party proceeding against Rainy Lake, met a large war party of Ojibways from that already important and numerous section of the tribe, and a severe battle was fought between them. The Dakotas returned to Leech Lake disheartened from the effects of a severe check, and the loss of many of their bravest warriors.*
The second division, proceeding in their war canoes against the Sandy Lake village, met with precisely the same fate. They were paddling down the smooth current of the Mississippi, when one morning they met a canoe containing the advance scouts of a large Ojibway war party, who were on their route to attack their village at Leech Lake; these scouts were immediately attacked, and pur- sued by the Dakotas into a small lake, where the main body of the Ojibways coming up, both parties landed an<l fought for half a day on the shores of the lake. This battle is noted from the fact that a Dakota was killed here whose feet were both previously cut half off* either by frost or some accident, and the lake where the fight took place is known to this day as " Keesh-ke-sid-a-boin Sah-ga-e-gun" " Lake of the cut-foot Dakota." The belligerent parties both retreated to their respective villages from this point,
DAKOTA WAR RAIDS OX THE OJIBWAYS. 185
their bloody propensities being for the time fully cooled down.
The third divisioa of the Dakotas went northward in the direction of Red River, but not finding any traces of the Ojibways about Pembina, all returned home but ten, who resolutely proceeded into the Kenisteno country, till discovering two isolated wigwams of Ojibway hunters, they attacked and destroyed their inmates with the loss of two of their number. This attack is noted from the cir- cumstance that one of the Dakota warriors who was killed, had been a captive among the Ojibways, and adopted as a son by the famous chief, Bi-aus-wah of Sandy X»ake. He was recognized by having in his possession a certain relic of this chieftain, which he had promised to wet with the blood of an enemy, to appease the manes of a departed child in whose stead he had been adopted.
During the same summer in which happened these memorable events in Ojibway history, the Dakotas having been thus severely checked and driven back by their invaders, became hopeless of future success and suddenly evacuated their important position at Leech Lake, and moved westward to the edge of the great western prairies, about the headw«(5»r8 of the Minnesota and Red Rivers.
A few hardy hunters, mostly of the Bear and Catfish clans, gradually took possession of their rich hunting grounds, and planting their lodges on the islands of Cass, ^innepeg, and Leech Lakes, they first formed a focus around which gathered families from Rainy Lake, Sandy Lake, and Lake Superior, which now form the important Ullages or bands of the Ojibway tribe, who occupy these important lakes at the present day.
According to Nicollet, " The circuit of Leech Lake, including its indentations, is not less than 160 miles. It is next in size to Red Lake, which is said to be two bun-
186 MINl^ESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
dred miles in circumference. The former has twenty-seven tributaries of various sizes. A solitary river issues from it, known by the name of Leech Lake River, forming an important outlet, from one hundred to one hundred and twenty feet wide, with a depth of from six to ten feet It has a moderate current and flows into the Mississippi, after a course of from forty-five to fifty miles."
This quotation from a most reliable source, will give to the reader an idea of the size of Leech Lake, and its great importance to the Indian can be judged by its numerous natural resources. It abounds in wild rice in large quan- tities, of which the Indian women gather sufficient for the winter consumption of their families. The shores of the lake are covered with maple which yields to the industry of the hunter's women, each spring, quantities of sap which they manufacture into sugar. The waters of the lake abound in fish of the finest quality, its whitefish equalling in size and flavor those of Lake Superior, and are easily caught at all seasons of the year when the lake is free of ice, in gill-nets made and managed also by the -women.
At the time when the Ojibways first took possession of Leech Lake and the surrounding country, which is covered with innumerable lakes and water courses, beaver, and the most valuable species of fur animals abounded in great plenty, which procured them the much coveted merchan- dise of the white traders. The lake itself is said in those early days to have been, at certain seasons of the year, literally covered with wild fowl and swan; pelican and geese raised yearly their brood of young on its numerous islands. From this circumstance Goose and Pelican Islands have derived their names. The incentives, there- fore, which actuated the first Ojibway pioneers to fight so strenuously for its possession, were many and great, and soon caused the band who so fearlessly occupied it to be-
THE DAK0TA8 RESIST THE INVADERS. 187
come a Dumerons body, and to be the most noted western vanguard of the Ojibway tribe.
At first, while they were yet feeble in numbers, they planted their lodges on the islands of the lake for greater security against the Dakotas, who for many years after their evacuation often sent their war parties to its shores to view the sites of their former villages, and the graves of their fathers, and, if possible, to shed the blood of those who had forced them from their once loved hunting grounds.
Almost daily, the hardy bands of Ojibways who had now taken possession of the head lakes of the Mississippi, lost the lives of their hunters by the bands of the Dakotas, and they would soon have been annihilated, had not accessions from the eastern sections of their tribe continually added to their strength and numbers. In those days, the hunter moved through the dense forests in fear and trembling. He paddled his light canoe over the calm bosom of a lake or down the rapid current of a river, in search of game to clothe and feed his children, expecting each moment that from behind a tree, an embankment of sand along the lake shore, or a clump of bushes on the river bank, would speed the bullet or arrow which would lay him low in death. Often as the tired hunter has been calmly slumbering by the dying embers of his lodge fire, surrounded by the sleep- ing forms of his wife and helpless babes, has he been aroused by the sharp yell of his enemies as they rushed on hb camp to extinguish his fire forever. On such occasions the morning sun has shone on the mangled and scalped remains of the hunter and his family.
These scenes, which my pen so poorly delineates, have been of almost daily occurrence till within a few years past, along the whole border which has been the arena of the bloody feud between the Dakotas and Ojibway s.
188 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
For greater security against the sudden attacks of their enemies, the Ojibways on the Upper Mississippi, under the guidance of their wise chieftain Bi-aus-wah, would collect each fall into one common encampment, and thus in a body they would proceed by slow stages where game was most plenty, to make their fall and winter hunts. While collected in force in this manner, the Dakotas seldom dared to attack them, and it often happened that when the great winter camps of either tribe came in contact, fearing the result of a general battle, they would listen to the advice of their wiser chiefs who deprecated the con- sequences of their cruel warfare, and enter into a short term of peace and good fellowship. On such happy occasions the singular spectacle could be seen, of mortal foes feasting, caressing one another, exchanging presents, and ransoming captives of war.
The calms, however, of a feud of such intensity and long duration as existed between these two combative tribes, were of short and fitful duration, and generally lasted only as long as the two camps remained in one another's vicinity. The peace was considered holding only by such of either tribe as happened to be present at the first meeting, and smoked from the stem of the peace pipe.
It is said, however, that the Ojibway chieftain Bi-aus-wah tried hard to bring about a lasting peace with the Dakotas after he had secured a firm footing for his people on the rich hunting grounds of the Upper Mississippi. And it is a noted fact that his humane eftbrts were so far successful as to put an end by distinct treaty, to the custom of tortur- ing captives, which was still practised by the Dakotas. From the time that he eflfected this mutual understanding with his enemies, this bad practice ceased altogether, and the taking of captives became less frequent.
For many years after Bi-aus-wah first took possession of Sandy Lake, which event may be dated as taking place
THE FUR TRADE. 189
about the year 1730, his village remained without a trader, and it was a practice with his bands, as had been before with the tribe when congregated at Shaug-a-waum-ik-ong, to make visits each spring to the nearest French posts on Lake Superior, Grand Portage, and Sault Ste. Marie, to procure in return for their rich packs of fur, clothing, trinkets, fire-arms, and ammunition, and above all, the baneful fire-water which they had already learned to love dearly.
The band who lived at Rainy Lake, and those who had already pierced as far north as Pembina and Red Lake, often joined the Kenisteno and Assineboins on their yearly journeys towards Hudson's Bay for the same purpose ; the English in this direction having early opened the trade, and actively opposed the French who came by the routes of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.
190 MINNESOTA HISTOMCAL COIiLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XV.
OCCUPATION OF THE WISCONSIN AND CHIPPEWA RIVER VALLEYS BY THE OJIBWAYS,
The Ojlbways of La Polnte send hunting parties into the midland country lying between the Mississippi and Lake Superior — First permanent residents at Lac Couterellle — Cause of the " three brothers'' braving the attacks of their enemies — Lac Couterellle becomes an important OJlbway village — Families branch off who take possession of Lac Shatac, Red Cedar, and Long Lakes, and Puk-wa-wanuh on Chippeway River — The Ojibway pioneers to the head- waters of the Wisconsin — They form their village at Lac du Flambeau — Branches of this band occupy the Wisconsin River *and Pelican Lakes — Present descendants of the Lac Couterellle pioneers — Origin of the name Lac Couterellle.
That portion ot the present State of Wisconsin, com- prising the valleys of the Chippeway and Wisconsin rivers, and the country watered by their numerous tributaries, have been occupied by a large section of the Ojibway tribe, for the past century. The beautiful inland lakes from which they head, have been for this length of time the sites of their villages.
After the Ojibways had driven the Odugamees from this section of country, also from the St. Croix rice lakes and the headwaters of the On-ton-a-gun, incited by the fur trade which had actively commenced at this period, large camps of Ojibway hunters began to explore and take possession of the rich hunting grounds which were com- prised in the midland country lying between Lake Suj>erior and the Mississippi. For a number of years, however, these hunters made no permanent stay on any spot through- out this country, because danger lurked behind every bush and every tree from the prowling w^ar parties of the Dakotas and Odugamees. Having made their winter hunts, in the course of which they even reached as far as Lac du
THE OJIBWAYS INVADE THE WISCONSDT REGION. 191
Flambeau and Lac Coutereille, the hunting camps would invariably return each spring to La Pointe (Shaug-a-waum- ik-ong), to join their people in the periodical performance of the sacred rites of the Grand Medawe, and to make their Bummer visits to the nearest French trading posts to barter away their peltries.
Three generations ago, or about the year 1745,' the first Qjibway pioneer hunters, braving the attacks of their eno- niies, first permanently planted their wigwams on the shores of Lake Coutereille, and formed a focus around which families of their tribe have gathered and generated till, at this day, those who claim this as their central vil- ^^e, number full one thousand souls.
The founders of this village consisted of three brothers l^longing to the daring and fearless Bear Clan. On the shores of Lac Coutereille (Ottaway Lake), during the course of a winter hunt, they lost one of their children, and as ftey returned dust to dust, in the silent grave, they buried fte seed which caused them, as it were, to grow emplanted on the soil, like a tree, to shade it from the rude gaze of strangers, and watch it agamst the ravenous visits of wild beasts.
There was a charm about that silent little grave, which caused the mourning parents to brave all dangers, and isolated from their fellows, they passed the spring and summer in its vicinity, and eventually made the spot where it stood the site of a permanent village. Their numbers increased every year, till at last, being followed by their traders, who made Lac Coutereille their inland depot, parties of hunters branched oft*, and pressing back the Dakotas, they took possession and finally formed new villages at Lac Shatac, Red Cedar and Long Lakes, and at Puk-wa-wanuh on the Chippeway River.
About the time the Odugamees were eventually driven from the Wisconsin River and forced westward to the Mis-
192 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
sissippi, the Ojibways took possession of the head-waters of this river. The pioneer chieftain of this extensive dis- trict of country, was named Sha-da-wish, a son of the great chief of the Crane family, who received a gold medal dur- ing the French convocation at Sault Ste. Marie in 1671. From this scion of the family, have directly descended the noted Keesh-ke-mun, Waub-ish-gaug-aug-e (White Crow), and the present ruling chief of this section of the tribe, Ah-mous (Little Bee). From a second son of the same ancient chieftain, named A-ke-gui-ow, are descended the branch of the Crane family residing at La Pointe, of whom the late deceased Tug-waug-aun-e was head and chief dur- ing his lifetime.
The French early designated that portion of the tribe who occupied the head-waters of the Wisconsin, as the Lac du Flambeau band, from the circumstance of their locating their central village or summer residence, at the lake known by this name. The Ojibways term it Waus- wag-im-ing (Lake of Torches), from the custom of spearing fish by torch-light, early practised by the hunters of their tribe who first took possession of it.
Before eventually permanently locating their village at this lake, the Ojibways, under their leader, Sha-<la-wish, made protracted stands at Trout Lake and Turtle Portage, and it was not till the times of his successor and son, Keesh-ke-mun, that this band proceeded as far west as Lac du Flambeau, for a permanent residence. From this im- portant point there has branched off families who now occupy the country on the Wisconsin River as far down as the Yellow banks, near the mouth of Fox River, and fami- lies who occupy the Pelican Lakes in the direction of Lake Michigan.
Within the past century there has spread over this region of country, including the Chippeway River and St Croix district, from natural increase and accessions
INCREASE OF THE OJIBWAYS IN WISCONSIN. 193
from Lake Superior, bands who now number about three thousand souls.
They have encountered inveterate enemies at every step of their advance, and the spots arc countless, where they liave battled in mortal strife with Dakotas, Odugamees, and ^Vinnebago8• The dangers and vicissitudes of the first pioneers into this section of country were equal to, and of the same character, as beset the onward course of the hardy hunters of the Upper Mississippi.
Prom the time that the Lac Coutereille and Lac du- Plarabeau villages became of suflScient importance, as to assume the privilege of performing the rites of the Me- da-we-win within their own precincts, they were considered actually separated from the common central body and Me- ^we lodge, which had for so many years flourished and concentrated at La Pointe, of Lake Superior, and they l^ecame from that time distinct " branches of the same parent tree.'*
Ka-ka-ke (Hawk), the present war-chief of the Chippe- ^ay River district, is the direct descendant in the third generation of the hunter who lost his child on Lac Cou- ^reille, and became the founder of the Ojibway village located on this lake.
Lac CJoutereille is named by the Ojibways " Odah-wah- sah-ga-e-gun (Ottaway Lake), from the circumstance that ^nie time over four generations ago, a party of Ojibway liunters discovered on its shores the frozen body of an Ottah-wah, which tribe at this time extended their hunt- ^^ parties even to this remote point.
13
194 MINNESOTA UISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XVL
ENDING OF THE FRENCH SUPREMACY.
The OJibways aid the French in the war against the British — Mamong-e-Md* leads a party of their warriors from La Pointe, who fight under Montcalm at the taking of Quebec — Origin of the Ojibway name for the English — Thej view with regret the evacuation of their country by the French — Those who remain amongst them through the ties of marriage, wield an important in- fluence over their conduct — They stand neutral daring the strenuous efforts made by the Algic tribes in opposition to the £n«rlish— Nature of the hos- tility evinced by the Ojibways against the British — Speech of Meh-neh-weh- na to Alexander Henry — Eastern section of the tribe join " Pontiac's war" — Capture of the fort at Michilimaokinac intrusted into their hands — Shrewd- ness and foresight of the Ojibway chieftain — British commandant refuses to listen to hints of danger — Game of Baa^udoway — Manner in which the fort was taken — Testimony of Alexander Henry — His capture and ransom- Troops massacred.
We have now brought forward the history of the different sections of the Ojibway tribe, to the time when the French nation were forced to strike tlieir colors and cede their possessions in America (comprisins: the great chain of lakes), into the hands of the British Empire.
Ttie time during which these two powerful nations bat- tled for the supremacy on the American continent, is an important era in the history of the Algic tribes who occu- pied a great portion of Canada, and the areas of the great western lakes.
Induced by their predilection to the French people, the causes of which we have given in a previous chapter, the eastern section of the Ojibway tribe residing at Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw, and the shores of Lake Huron, joined their warriors with the army of the French, and fret»ly rallied to their support at Detroit, Fort Du Quesne, Kiagara, Montreal, and Quebec, The Ojibways figured in
ENDING OF THE FRENCH SUPREMACY. 195
almost every battle which was fought during these bloody
ware, on the side of the French, against the English. A
party of the tribe from their central village of La Pointe
on Lake Superior, even proceeded nigh two thousand miles
to Quebec, under their celebrated war chief Ma-mong-e-
8e<la, and fought in the ranks of Montcalm on the plains
of Abraham, when this ill-fated general and the heroic
Wolfe received their death wounds, Acconling to the late
noted British interpreter John Baptiste Cadotte, the name
ty which the Ojibways now know the British, Shaug-un-
auah, was derived from the circumstance of their sudden
and almost unaccountable appearance, on that memorable
morning on the heights of Abraham. It is a little changed
from the original word Saug-aush-e which signifies "to
appear from the clouds."
With the deepest regret and sorrow, the Ojibways in <^niraon with other Algic tribes, at last viewe<l the final delivery of the Northwestern French forts into the hands of the conquering British. With aching hearts they bade a last farewell to the kind hearted French local com- nianders, whom they had learned to term " Father," and ^l^e jovial hearted "Coureur du Bois" and open-handed "Marchand voyageur," many of whom took their final de- parture from the Indian country on its cession to Great Britain. The bonds, however, which had been so long riveting between the French and Ojibways w^ere not so ^ily to be broken.
The main body of the French traders and common ^oyageurs who had so long remained amongst them, had ^ny of them become unitM to the Indian race by the ties of marriage ; they possessed large families of half-blood children whom the Indians cherished as their own, and in niany instances actually opposed their being taken from their midst. These Frenchmen, as a body, possessed an nnbounded influence over the tribes amongst w^hom they
196 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
resided, and though they did not openly kid and advise them in the strenuous eftbrts which they continued to make even after the French as a nation had retired from the field, to prevent the occupation of their country by the British, yet their silence and apparent acquiescence con- duced greatly to their noble and protracted efforts headed by the great Algic leader Pontiac.
The fact of their love and adherence to the French people cannot be gainsaid, and to more fully illustrate this feeling, as it actuated their conduct even after the great French nation had delivered them over to the dominion of the British, I will refer to the respected authority of Alexander Henry, the first British trader whom the Ojib- ways tell of having resided with them after the termination of the disastrous war which we are about to notice.
In 1760, the French forts on the northern lakes were given up to the British, and for the time being the northern tribes of Indians apparently acquiesc^ed in the peace which, their Great Father, the French King, had made with Great Britain. In the spring of the following year, Mr. Henry, the well-known author of " Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories, between the years 1760 and 1766," tells of making a trading voyage from Montreal to Michilinmckinac. He came across a large village of Ojibway Indians on the small island of La Cloche in Lake Huron who treated him in the kindest and most friendly manner, till, " discovering that he was an Eng- lishynan^^^ they told his men that the Miehilimackinac Indians would certainly kill him, and that they might as well anticipate their share of the pillage. They accordingly demanded a part, of his goods, whicjh he prudently gave them. He observed afterw'ards that from the repeated warnings which he daily received, his mind became "o|>- pressed and much troubled," and learning that the
LOVE OP THE OJIBWAYS FOR THE FRENCH. 197
* hostility of the Indians was exclusively against the English," this circumstance suggested to him a prospect of aecurity in securing a Canadian disguise, which eventually enabled him to complete his journey.
He arrived at Michilimackinac, where he found his diffi- culties to increase, and where he fully learned the nature of the feelings which actuated the minds of the Ojibways against the occupation of their country by the English, W)r were his apprehensions allayed, till he received a formal visit from the war chief of the eastern section of the tribe, who resided at Michilimackinac. Mr. Uenry describes this man as a person of remarkable appearance, of commanding stature, and with a singularly fine counte- nance.
He entered the room where the traveller was anxiously awaiting the result of his visit, followed by sixty warriors dressed and decorated in the most formal and imposing fishion of war. Not a word was spoken as they came in one by one, seated themselves on the floor at a signal from the chief, and began composedly to fill and smoke their pipes. The Ojibway chieftain meanwhile looking steadfastly at the trader, made various inquiries of his head boatman, a Canadian. He then coolly observed that "the English were brave men and not afraid of death, since ttey dared to come thus fearlessly among their enemies,^^
When the Indians had finished smoking their pipes, the chief took a few wampum strings in his hand and com- iDenced the following harangue : —
" Englishman ! It is to you that I speak, and I demand yonr attention !
"Englishman! You know that the French king is our
fether. He promised to be such ; and we, in return,
promised to be his children. This promise we have kept.
" Englishman ! It is you that have made war with this
198 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
our father. You are his enemy ; and how then could yoo have the boldness to venture among us, his children ?. You know that his enemies are ours.
" Englishman ! We are informed that our father, the king of France, is old and infirm ; and that being fatigued with making war upon your nation, he is fallen asleep.
" During his sleep, you have taken advantage of him and possessed yourselves of Canada. But his nap is almost at an end. I think I hear him already stirring and inquiring for his children, the Indians:— and when he does awake, what must become of you ? He will destroy you utterly.
" Englishman I Although you have conquered the French you have not yet conquered us ! We are not your slaves. These lakes and these woods and mountains were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live without bread and pork and beef. But you ought to know that he — the Great Spirit and master of life — has provided food for us in these broad lakes and upon these mountains.
" Englishman ! Our father, the king of France, employed our young men to make war on your nation.
" In this warfare, many of them have been killed, and it is our custom to retaliate, until such time as the spirits of the slain are satisfied. Now the spirits of the slain are to be satisfied in either of two ways. The first is by spilling the blood of the nation by whom they fell ; the other, by covering the bodies of the dead^ and thus allaying the resent- ment of their relatives. This is done by making presents.
" Englishman ! Your king has never sent us any presents, nor entered into any treaty with us, wherefore he and we are still at war ; and until he does these things, we must consider that we have no other father or friend among the white men than the king of France. But for you, we have taken into consideration that you have ventured your life
SPEECH OF THE OJIBWAY CHIEF TO HEXBY. 199
among us, in expectation that we should not molest you ; you do not come armed with an intention to make war. You come in peace, to trade with us and supply us with necessaries of which we are much in want. We shall regard you therefore as a brother, and you may sleep tranquilly without fear of the Chippeways. Asa token of onr friendship, we present you with this pipe to smoke."
Mih-neh-weh-na, the name of the chieftain who delivered this noble speech, now gave his hand to the Englishman. His sixty warriors followed his example. The pipe, emblem of peace, went round in due order, and after being politely entertained by the anxious trader, from whose heart they had taken a heavy load, they all quietly took their leave.
So many more able writers than myself have given accu- rate accounts of the memorable events which occurred dur- ing this imporant era in American history, that I desist from entering into details of any occurrence, except in which the Ojibways were actually concerned.
For upwards of four years after the French had ceded the country to the British, the allied Algic tribes, after a short lull of quiet and comparative peace, under the mas- terly guidance of Pontiac, maintained the war against what they considered as the usurpation, by the British, of tJie hunting grounds which the Great Spirit had given t^eir ancestors.
Such was the force and accuracy of the organization which this celebrated leader had eftected among the nortli- ^^ tribes of his fellow red men, that, on the same da}', which was the 4th of June, 1763, and the anniversary of ^he king's birth (which the Indians knew was a day set *part by the English as one of amusement nnd celebration), ^hey attacked and besieged twelve of the wide-spread Western stockaded forts, and succeeded in taking possession offline. In this alliance, the Ojibways of Lake Huron and Michigan were most active parties, and into their
200 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
hands was entrusted by their common leader, the capture of the British fort at Mackinaw. " That fort," according to the description of an eminent writer, " standing on the south side of the strait between lakes Huron and Michigan, was one of the most important positions on the frontiers. It was the place of deposit, and point of departure between the upper and lower countries ; the traders always assem- bled there, on their voyages to and from Montreal. Con- nected with it, was an area of two acres, inclosed with cedar wood pickets, and extending on one side so near to the water's edge, that a western wind always drew the waves against the foot of the stockade. There were about thirty houses within the limits, inhabited by about the same number of families. The only ordinance on the bas- tions were two small brass pieces. The garrison numbered between ninety and one hundred."
The important enterprise of the capture of this impor- tant and indispensable post, was entrusted into the hands of Mih-neh-weh-na, the great war chieftain of the Ojibways of Mackinaw, whom we have already mentioned, and by the manner in which he superintended and managed the affair, to a complete and successful issue, he approved him- self a worthy lieutenant of the great head and leader of the war, the Ottawa chieftain Pontiac
The Ottawas of Lake Michigan being more friendly disposed to the British, were not called on by the politic Ojibway chieftain for help in this enterprise, and a know- ledge of the secret plan of attack was carefully kept from them, for fear that they would inform their English friends, and place them on their guard. In fact, every pennon of his own tribe whom he suspected of secret good-will to- wards any of the new British traders, Min-neh-weh-na sent away from the scene of the intended attack, with the admonition that death would be their sure fate, should the
THE CAPTUBB OF FORT MACKINAW. 201
Saugnnash be informed of the plan which had been formed to take possession of the fort. *
In this manner did he guard with equal foresight and greater success than Pontine himself, against a premature development of their plans. Had not the loving Indian girl informed the young officer at Fort Detroit of Pontiac's secret plan, that important post, and its inmates, would have shared the same fate as befell the fort at Mackinaw.
Of all the northern tribes who occupied the great lakes, the Ojibways allowed only the Osaugees to particijiate with them in their secret councils, in which was developed the plan of taking the fort, and these two tribes only were actively engaged in this enterprise.
The fighting men of the Ojibways and Osaugees gradu- ally collected in the vicinity of the fort as the day appointed for the attack approached. They numbered between four and six hundred. An active trade was in the mean time carried on with the British traders, and every means re- sorted to for the purpose of totally blinding the buspicions which the more humane class of the French jjopulation found means to impart to the officers of the fort, resfK^cting the secret animosity of the Indians. These hints were en- tirely disregarded by Major Etherington, the commandant of the fort, and he even threatened to confine any jjcrson who would have the future audacity to whisi)er these tales of danger into his ears. Everything, therefore, favored the scheme which the Ojibway chieftain had laid to ensnare his confident enemies. On the eve of the great English king's birthday, he informed the British commandant that as the morrow was to be a day of rejoicing, his young men would play the game of ball, or Baug-ali-ud-o-way, for the amusement of the whites, in front of the gate of the fort. In this game the young men of the Osaugee tribe would play against the Ojibways for a large stake. The com-
202 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
mandant expressed his pleasure and willingDess to the crafty chieftain's proposal, little dreaming that this was to lead to a game of blood, in which those under his charge were to be the victims.
During the whole night the Ojibways were silently busy in making preparations for the morrow's work. They sharpened their knives and tomahawks, and filed short off their guns. In the morning these weapons were entrusted to the care of their women, who, hiding them under the folds of their blankets, were ordered to stand as near as possible to the gate of the fort, as if to witness the game which the men were about to play. Over a hundred on each side of the Ojibways and Osaugees, all chosen men, now sallied forth from their wigwams, painted and orna- mented for the occasion, and proceeding to the open green which lay in front of the fort, they made up the stakes for which they were apparently about to play, and planted the posts towards which each party was to strive to take the ball.
This game of Baug-ah-ud-o-way is played with a bat and wooden ball. The bat is about four feet long, ter- minating at one end into a circular curve, which is nettetl with leather strings, and forms a cavity where the ball is caught, carried, and if necessary thrown with great for^e, to treble the distance that it can be throwTi bv hand. Two posts are planted at the distance of about half a mile. Eiich party has its particular post, and the game consists m carrying or throwing the ball in the bat to the po4»t of the adversary. At the commencement of the game, the two parties collect midway between the two posts ; the ball is thrown up into the air, and the competition for its posses- sion commences in earnest It is the wildest crame extant among the Indians, and is generally played in full feathers and ornaments, and with the greatest excitement and vehemence. The great object is to obtain possession of the
PREPARATIONS TO SURPRISE THE FORT. 208
hall ; and, during the heat of the excitement, no obstacle is allowed to stand in the way of getting at it. Let it fall far out into the deep water, numbers rush madly in and swim for it, each party impeding the efforts of the other in every manner possible. Let it fall into a high inclosure, it is surmounted, or torn down in a moment, and the ball recovered ; and were it to fall into the chimney of a house, a jump through the window, or a smash of the door, would be considered of no moment ; and the most violent hurts and bruises are incident to the headlong, mad manner in which it is played. It will be seen by this hurried descrip- tion, that the game was very well adapted to carry out the scheme of the Indians.
On the morning of the 4th of June, after the cannon of the fort had been discharged in commemoration of the ting's natal day, the ominous ball was thrown up a short distance in front of the gate of Fort Mackinaw, and the exciting game commenced. The two hundred players, their painted persons streaming with feathers, ribbons, fox and wolf tails, swayed to and fro as the ball was carried hackwards and forwards by either party, who for the foment had possession of it. Occasionally a swift and agile runner would catch it in his bat, and making tremen- dous leaps hither and thither to avoid the attempts of his opponents to knock it out of his bat, or force him to throw It, he would make a sudden dodge past them, and choos- ing a clear track, run swiftly, urged on by the deafening shoots of his party and the by-standers, towards the stake of his adversaries, till his onward course was stopped by a swifter runner, or an advanced guard of the opposite party. The game, played as it was, by the young' men of two different tribes, became exciting, and the commandant of the fort even took his stand outside of his open gates, to ^lew its progress. His soldiers stood carelessly unarmed, here and there, intermingling with the Indian women, who
204 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
gradually huddled near the gateway, carrying under their blankets the weapons which were to be used in the approach- ing work of death.
In the struggle for its possession, the ball at last was gradually carried towards the open gates, and all at once, after having reached a proper distance, an athletic arm caught it up in his bat, and as if by accident threw it within the precincts of the fort. With one deafening yell and impulse, the players rushed forward in a body, as if to regain it, but as they reached their women and entered the gateway, they threw down their wooden bats and grasping the shortened guns, tomahawks, and knives, the massacre commenced, and the bodies of the unsuspecting British soldiers soon lay strewn about, lifeless, horribly mangled, and scalpless. The careless commander was taken captive without a struggle, as he stood outside the fort, viewing the game, which the Ojibway chieftain had got up for his amusement.
The above is the account, much briefened, which I have learned verbally from the old French traders and half-breeds, who leanied it from the lips of those who were present and witnessed the bloody transaction. Not a hair on the head of the many Frenchmen who witnessed this scene was hurt by the infuriated savages, and there stands not on record a stronger proof of the love borne them by the tnhe engaged in this business than this verj' fact, for the I)assions of an Indian warrior, once aroused by a scene of this nature, are not easily appeased, and generally every- thing kindred in any manner to his foe, falls a victim to satiate his blood-thirsty propensities.
Alexander Henry, one of the few British traders who survived this massacre, gives the most authentic reconl of this event that has been published, and to his truthful narrative I am indebted for much corroborating testimony, to the more disconnected accounts of the Indians and old
THE MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH. 205
traders. A few quotations from his journal will illustrate the affair more fully, and I have no doubt will be accept- able to the reader, as being better told than I can tell it.
After disregarding the friendly "cautionary hints of Wa-wat-am, an Ojibway Indian who had adopted him as a brother, but who dared not altogether disclose the plan of attack formed by his people, Mr. Henry resumes his nar- rative as follows: —
" The morning was sultry. A Chippeway came to tell me that his nation was going to play at Baggatiway with the Sacs or Saukies, another Indian nation, for a high wager. He invited me to witness the sport, adding that the commandant was to be there, and would bet on the side of the Chippcways. In consequence of this infor- mation, I went to the commandant and expostulated with him a little, representing that the Indians might possibly have some sinister end in view, but the commandant only smiled at my suspicions. . . .
"I did not go myself to see the match, which was now to be played without the fort, because, there being a canoe prepared to depart on the following day to Montreal, I employed myself in writing letters to my friends ; and even when a fellow trader, Mr. Tracy, happened to call on me, saying that another canoe had just arrived from Detroit, and proposing that I should go with him to the beach to inquire the news, it so happened that I still remained to finish my letters, promising to follow Mr. Tracy in the course of a few minutes. Mr. Tracy had not gone more than twenty paces from the door, when I heard an Indian war-cry and a noise of general confusion. Going instantly to my window, I saw a crowd of Indians within the fort, furiously cutting down and scalping every Englishman they found. In particular, I witnessed the fate of Lieut. Jenette. I had, in the room in which I was, a fowling piece, loaded with swan shot. This I immediately seized, and
206 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
held it for a few minutes, waiting to hear the drum beat to arms. In this dreadful interval, I saw several of my countrymen fall, and more than one struggling between the knees of an Indian, who, holding him in this manner, scalped him while yet living ! At length, disappointed in the hope of seeing resistance made to the enemy, and sensible of course that no eftbrt of my own unassisted arm could avail against four hundred Indians, I thought only of seeking shelter. Amid the slaughter which was raging, r observed many of the Canadian inhabitants of the fort calmly looking on, neither opposing the Indians nor suffer- ing injury. From this circumstance I conceived a hope of finding security in their houses."
After describing the many hair-breadth escapes which befell him at the hands of the savages, Mr. Henry was eventually saved by Wa-wat-am, or Wow-yat-ton (Whirl- ing Eddy), his adopted Ojibway brother, in the following characteristic manner, which we will introduce in his own words, as an apt illustration of Indian custom : —
" Toward noon (7th June), when the great war chief, in company with Wen-ni-way, was seated at the opposite end of the lodge, my friend and brother Wa-wa-tam, suddenly came in. During the four days preceding, I had often wondered what hud become of him. In passing by, he gave me his hand, but went immediately toward the great chief, by the side of whom, and Wen-ni-way, he sat himself down. The most uninterrupted silence prevailed. Each smoked his pipe, and this done, Wa-wa-tam arose and left the lodge, saying to me, as he passed, ' Take coumge.'
" An hour elapsed, during which several chiefs entcre<l, and preparations appeared to be making for a council. At length Wa-wa-tam re-entered the lo<lge, followed by his wife, and both loaded with merchandise, which they carried up to the chiefs, and laid in a heap before them. Some moments of silence followed, at the end of
SPEECH OF WA-WA-TAM. 207
which, Wa-wa-tam pronounced a gpeech, every word of which, to me, was of extraordinary interest : —
^^ ^ Friends and relations,' he began, ^ what is it that I shall say ? You know what I feel. You all have friends and brothers and children, whom as yourselves you love, and you, what would you experience, did you, like me, behold your dearest friend, your brother, in the condition of a slave — ^a slave exposed every moment to insult, and to the menaces of death ! This case, as you all know, is mine. See there,' pointing to myself, 'my friend and brother among slaves, himself a slave I
"* You all well know, long before the war began, I adopted him as my brother. From this moment he became one of my fomily, so that no change of circumstances could break the cord which listened us together. He is my brother — and because I am your relation, he is therefore your relation too; and how, being your relation, can he be your slave?
" ' On the day on which the war began, you were fearful, lest, on this very account, I should reveal your secret. You requested, therefore, that I should leave the fort, and even cross the lake. I did so, but did it with reluctance. I did it with reluctance, notwithstanding that you, Mih-neli-wch- i^who had the command in this enterprise, gave me your promise that you would protect my friend, delivering him from all danger, and giving him safely to me.
" * The performance of this promise I now clai m. I come liotwith empty hands to ask. You, Mih-neh-weh-na, best know whether or not, as it respects yourself, you have kept your word. But I bring these goods, to buy oil' every claim, which any man among you all may have on my brother, as his prisoner.'
"Wa-wa-tam having ceased, the pipes were again filled, *od after they were finished, a further period of silence followed. At the end of this, Mih-neh-weh-na arose and gave his reply : —
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" ' My relation and brother/ said he, * what you have spoken is the truth. We were acquainted with the friend- ship which subsisted between yourself and the Englishman, in whose behalf you have now addressed us. We knew the danger of having our secret discovered, and the con- sequences which must follow. You say truly that we re- quested you to leave the fort This we did in regard for you and your family ; for if a discovery of our design had been made, you would have been blamed, whether guilty or not, and you would thus have been involved in difficul- ties, from which you could not have extricated yourself. It is also true that I promised you to take care of your friend ; and this promise I performed by desiring my son, at the moment of assault, to seek him out, and bring him to my lodge. He went accordingly, but could not find him. The day after I sent him to Langlade's (a French trader), when he was informed that your friend was safe ; and had it not been that the Indians were then drinking the rum which had been found in the fort, he woul<l have brought hiin home with him, according to my orders. I am very glad to find that your friend has escaiKHl. We accept your present : and you may take him home with you.'
" Wa-wa-tam thanked the assembled chiefs, and taking me by the hand, led me to his lodge, which was at the dis- tance of a few yards only from the prison lodge. My en- tmnce appeared to give joy to the whole family. Food was immediately prepared for me, and I now ate the first hearty meal which I had made since my capture. I found myself one of the family, and but that I had still my fciin* as to the other Indians, I felt as happy as the situation could allow."
Mr. Henry says further: "Of the English traders that fell into the hands of the Indians at the capture of the fort, Mr. Tracy was the only one who lost his life. Mr. Ezekiel
CAPnVBS RANSOMED AT THE CLOSE OF WAR. 209
Solomons, and Mr. Henry Bostwick, were taken by the Ottawas, and, after the peace, carried down to Montreal, and there ransomed. Of ninety troops, about seventy were killed ; the rest, together with those of the posts in the Bay des Puauts (Green Ba}') and at the river St. Joseph, were also kept in safety by the Ottawas till the peace, and then either freely restored, or ransomed at Montreal. The Ottawas never overcame their disgust at the neglect with which they had been treated in the beginning of the war, by those who afterwards desired their assistance as allies." That portion of the Ojibways, forming by far the main body of the tribe who occupied the area of Lake Superior, and those bands who had already formed villages on the Upper Mississippi, and on the sources of its principal northeastern tributaries, were not engaged in the bloody transactions which we have described or at most, but a very few of their old warriors, who have now all paid the last debt of nature, were noted as having been present on the occasion of this most important event in Ojibway his- tory.
14
210 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XVn.
COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH SUJPREMACT.
The OJibways of Lake Superior do not Join the alliance of Pontiac against the British — They are kept in the paths of peace through the influence of a French trader at Sault Ste. Marie — John Baptiste Cadotte — His first introduction into the OJibway country — He marries a woman of the tribe, and settles at Sault Ste. Marie— His influence — Character of his Indian wife — Testimony of Alex. Henry — Henry proceeds to the Sault in Madame Cadotte's canoe — Kind reception by Mons. Cadotte — A party of Indians seek his life — He is preserved through Cadotte's influence — Sir Wm. Johnson sends a message to the Ste. Marie's Ojibways — They send twenty deputies to the Grand Council at Niagara — Return of peace— Ma-mong-e-se-da is sent from Shaug^a-wanm- ik-ong to Sir William Johnson to demand a trader — Brief sketch of this chief- tain's life — Henry and Cadotte enter into the fur trade — They work the copper mines — Grant of land at Sault Ste. Marie to Mons. Cadotte.
That portion of the Ojibways, forming by far the main body of the tribe, who occupied the area of Lake Superior, and those bands who had already formed distinct villages on the headwaters of the Mississippi and its principal north- eastern tributaries, were not engaged in the bloody trans- action of the taking of Fort Michilimackinac, or at most, but a few of their old warriors who have all now fallen in- to their graves, were noted as having been accidentally I)re8ent on the occasion of this most important event in the history of their tribe.
It is true that the war-club, tobacco, and wampum belt of war had been carried by the messengers of Pontiac and his lieutenant, the Mackinaw chieftain, to La Pointe, and the principal villages of the tribe on Lake Superior, but the Ojibways listened only to the advice and the words of peace of a French trader who resided at Sault Ste. Marie, and from this poijit (with an influence not even surpassed by that which his contemporary. Sir Wm. Johnson, wielded
cadotte's influence over the ojibways. 211
over the more eastern tribes), he held sway, and guided the councils of the Lake Superior Ojibways, even to their remotest village.
This man did not stand tamely by, as many of his fellow French traders did, to witness the butchery of British soldiers and subjects, and see the blood of his fellow whites ruthlessly and freely flowmg at the hands of the misguided savages. On the contrary, he feared not to take a firm stand against the war, and made noble and eftective efforts to prevent the deplorable consequences which their opposition to the British arms, would be sure to entail on the Ojib- ways. He knew full well that the French natioft had withdrawn forever from their possessions in this country, and that their national fire, which was promised would blaze forever with the fire of the Ojibways, was now to- tally extinguished, and knowing this, he did not foolishly stimulate, as others did, the sanguinary opposition which the Indians continued to make against the predominant Saxon race, by telling them that *' the great king of the French had only fallen into a drowse, but would soon awaken, and drive the English back into the great salt water."
On the contrary, he i)ointed out to the Ojibways, the utter uselessness and impotence of their efforts ; and he told them that the war would only tend to thin the ranks of their warriors, causing their women to cover their faces with the black paint of mourning, and keep them misera- bly poor, for the want of traders to supply their wants.
It is through the humane advice of this French trader, and the unbounded influence which he held over the Lake Superior Ojibways, which prevented them from joining the alliance of Pontiac, in his war against the English, and which has thereby saved them from the almost utter anni- hilation which has befallen every other tribe who have been induced to fight for one type of the white race against
212 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
another, and which enables them at this day to assume the position of the most numerous and important branch of the Algic race, and the largest tribe residing east of the Mississippi.
The name of this man was John Baptiste Cadotte, and he was a son of the Mons. Cadeau who first appeared in the Ojibway country, as early as in 1671, in the train of the French envoy, Sieur du Lusson, when he treated with the delegates of the northwestern Indian tribes at Sault Ste. Marie.
John Baptist Cadotte* (as his name was spelt by the British, and has been retained to this day) had, early in life, followed the example of the hardy western adventurers who had already found their way to the sources of the Great Lakes and the Great River, Mississippi. He went as a " Marchand voyageur," and visited the remotest vil- lages of the Ojibways on Lake Superior, to supply their wants in exchange for their valuable beaver skins. He became attached to one of their women, beloDging to the great clan of A-waus-e, and married her according to the forms of the Catholic religion, of which he was a firm be- liever.
At the breaking out of the war between France and Great Britain, which resulted in the ending of the French domination in America, Mons. Cadotte made it his perma- nent residence at Sault Ste. Marie, from which point he eventually wielded the salutary influence which we have mentioned. He is the only French trader of any import- ance whom the Ojibways tell of having remained with them, when the French people were forced to leave the Lake Superior country. And it is said that though he made several attempts to leave the Ojibway people in com- pany with his departing countrymen, such was the affection
1 For a notice of Cadot or Cadotte gleaned from parbh and other rcconU, •ec auothcr article in thi^ volumc.'^E. D. N.
ALEX, henry's tribute TO CADOTTE. 213
which they bore to himself and his half-breed children, that thoir chiefs threatened to use force to prevent his de- parture.
His Ojibway wife appears to have been a woman of great energy and force of character, as she is noted to this day for the influence she held over her relations — the principal chiefs of the tribe; and the hardy, fearless manner, in which, accompanied only by Canadian "Coureurs du hois" to propel her canoes, she made long journeys to distant vil- lages of her people to further the interests of her husband.
She bore him two sons, John Baptiste, and Michel, who afterwards succeeded their father in the trade, and became, with their succeeding children of the same name, so linked with the Ojibways, that I shall be forced often to mention their names in the future course of my narrative, although at the evident risk of laying myself open to the charge of egotism, or making them prominent because they happen to be my direct progenitors.
Alex. Henry, in his straight-forward and truthful nar- rative, gives full testimony to all which I have said respect- ing the position and influence of Mons. Cadotte among the Ojibways during the middle of the past century, and not only for the purpose of making known the noble and phil- anthropic conduct of this man during this trying season in Ojibway history, but also to more fully illustrate to the leader the position and afliiirs of the tribe during this era, I will take the liberty to introduce a few more paragraphs from hi3 pen. In the spring of the following year after his capture, having passed the winter as an Indian in the hunting camp of his adoi)ted brother Wa-wa-tam, in whose family he was ever kindly treated, he returned to the fort at Michilimackinac, which now contained but two French traders. He says : —
"Eight days had passed in tranquillity, when there arrived a band of Indians from the bay of Sag-u-en-auw (Sag-
214 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
inaw.) They had assisted at the siege of Detroit, and came to muster as many recruits for that serviee as they could. For my own part, I was soon informed that, as I was the only Englishman in the place, they proposed to kill me, in order to give their friends a mess of English broth to raise their courage. This intelligence was not of the most agreeable kind, and in consequence of receiving it, I re- quested my friend to carry me to the Sault de Saint Marie, at which place I knew the Indians to be peaceably inclined, and that M. Cadotte enjoyed a powerful influence over their conduct. They considered M. Cadotte as their chief, and he was not only my friend, but a friend to the English. It was by him that the Chippeways of Lake Superior were prevented from joining Pontiac."
His friend and brother Wa-wa-tam was not slow in exert- ing himself for his preservation, and leaving Mackinaw during the night, he proceeded with him to Isle aux Outardcs, on the route to Sault Sainte Marie. Here Nonen, the wife of Wa-wa-tam, falling sick, the}' wore obliged to remain for some days, in the greatest fear of hostile Indians, who were now daily expected to pass on the route to Missisaukie, or Straits of Niagara, for the purpose of carrying on the war against the British. A return to Mackinaw was to incur certain destruction, and it was with the greatest pleasure that the distressetl traveller at last saw a canoe approaching the island, which he knew must be manned by Canadians, by the manner in which the paddles were managed, and the whiteness of the sail. On entering the lodge of his adopted brother, elated with the news of the approach of white men, he says : —
" The family congratulated me on the approach of so fair an opportunity of escape, and my father and brother (for he was alternately each of these) lit his pipe, and pre- sented it to me, saj'ing, ' my son, this may be the last time that ever you and I shall smoke out of the same pipe. I
MRS. CADOTTE SAVES HENRY'S LIFE. 215
am sorry to part with jou. You know the affection which I have always borne you, and the dangers to which I have exposed myself and family, to pre8er\'e you from your ene- mies ; and I am happy to find that my efforts promise not to have been in vain.' At this time a boy came into the lodge, informing us that the canoe had come from Michili- maekinac, and was bound to the Sault de Sainte Marie. It was manned by three Canadians, and was carrying home Madame Cadotte, the wife of M. Cadotte, already mentioned. My hopes of going to Montreal being now dissipated, I resolved on accompanying Madame Cadotte, with her permission, to the Sault. On communicating my wishes to Madame Cadotte, she cheerfully acceded to them. Madame Cadotte, as I have already mentioned, was an Indian woman of the Chippeway nation, and she was very generally respected. . . . Being now no longer in the so- ciety of Indians, I put aside their dress, putting on that of a Canadian: a moleton or blanket coat over my shirt, and a handkerchief about my head, hats being very little worn in this country. At daylight on the second morning of our voyage, we embarked, and presently perceived sev- eral canoes behind us. As they approached, we ascertained them to be the fleet bound for the Missisaki, of which I had been so long in dread. It amounted to twenty sail.
" On coming up with us, and surrounding our canoe, and amid general inquiries concerning the news, an Indian challenged me for an Englishman, and his companions sup- ported him, saying that I looked very like one, but I afiected not to understand any of the questions which they asked me; and Madame Cadotte assured them that I was a Canadian, whom she had brought on his first voyage from Montreal. The following day saw us safely landed at the Sault, where I experienced a generous welcome from M. Cadotte. There were thirty warriors at this place, re- strained from joining the war only by M. Cadotte's in flu-
216 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
ence. Here, for five days, I was once more in possession of tranquillity ; but on the sixth, a young Indian came into M. Cadotte's, saying that a canoe full of warriors had just arrived from Michilimackinac ; that they had inquired for me; and that he believed their intentions to be bad. ^STearly at the same time, a message came from the good chief of the village, desiring me to conceal myself, until he should discpver the views and temper of the strangers. A garret was the second time my place of refuge ; and it was not long before the Indians came to M. Cadotte's. My friend immediately informed Match-i-ki-wish, their chief, who was related to his wife, of the design imputed to them, of mischief against myself. Match-i-ki-wish frankly acknow- ledged that they had had such a design ; but added, that if displeasing to M. Cadotte, it should be abandoned. He then further stated, that their errand was to raise a party of warriors to return with them to Detroit ; and that it had been their intention to take me with them.
" In regard to the principal of the two objects thus dii»- closed, M. Cadotte proceeded to assemble all the cliiefs and warriors of the village, and then, after deliberating for some time among themselves, sent for the strangers, to whom both M. Cadotte and the chief of the village addressed a speech. In these spceehe?, after recurring to the designs confessed to have been entertained against myself, who was now declared to be under the protection of all the chiefs, by whom any insult I might sustain would be avenged, the embassadors were peremptorily told that they might go back as they came, none of the young men of this village being foolish enough to join them.
" A moment after, a report was brought that a canoe had just arrived from Niagara. As this was a place from which every one was anxious to hear news, a message was sent to these fresh strangers, requesting them to come to the council. The strangers came accordingly, and being
THE EMBASSY FROM SIR WM. JOHNSON. 217
seated, a long silence ensued. At length, one of them, taking up a belt of wampum, addressed himself thus to the assembly : —
* " My friends and brothers, I am come with this belt from our great father, Sir William Johnson. He desired me to come to you as his embassador, and tell you that he is making a great feast at Fort Niagara : that his kettles are all ready and his fires lit. He invites you to partake of thisicast, in common with your friends, the Six Nations, who have all made peace with the English. He advises you to seize this opportunity of doing the same, as you cannot otherwise fail of being destroyed ; for the English are on their march with a great army, which will be joined by different nations of Indians. In a word, before the fall of the leaf, they will be at Michilimackinac, and the Six Nations with them.' "
The tenor of this speech greatly alarmed the Indians throughout the Northwest, and those who fortunately had not embrued their hands too deeply in British blood, were glad to send delegates to the Great Council at Niagara. Among the rest, the Sault Ste. Marie Ojibways sent twenty deputies, with whom Mr. Henry, after one year of captivity and trouble, returned once more to his friends. These deputies, though they went in fear and trembling, were well received at the hands of Sir William Johnson, and they now experienced the good consequences of having listened to the advice of their trader.
During the summer of the same year, 1764, in which the council was held at Niagara, where it is said that twenty-two diflferent tribes were represented, a British force of three thousand men under Gen. Bradstreet pro- ceeded up the lakes as far as Detroit. Under the command of this officer, Alexander Henry had a battalion of Indian allies, among whom were " ninety-six Ojibways of Sault
218 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Ste. Mary/' who, however, nearly all deserted before the army reached Fort Erie.
On arrival of this large body of troops at Detroit, a permanent peace was effected with all the northern tribes, including the Ojibways. Pontiac, the head and heart of the bloody Indian war which had now come to an end, was not present at this treaty. His best allies, the tribes of the northern lakes, had deserted him, and he thereafter confined his exertions to the tribes of the Miamis,Shawa- noes, and Illinois, towards the south and west. He never overcame his animosity to the Saxon race, and had he not suffered a premature death at the hands of an Indian of the Kaskaskia tribe, he would again have fanned the flames of another sanguinary war. His name and influence ex- tended over all the Algic tribes, and their regret for his loss is fully proved by the manner in which the Ojibways, Pottawaudumies, Ottawas, and Osaugees revenged his death by total extermination of the tribe to which belonged his assassin, and of the Illinois, Cahokias, and Peorias, who rallied to their defence, but a few families were saved from total annihilation.
For two years after the ending of Pontiac's war, the fear of Indian hostility was still so great that the British traders dared not extend their operations to the more remote villages of the Ojibways, and La Pointe, during this time, was destitute of a resident trader. To rome<ly this great evil, which the Indians, having become ac- customed to the commodities of the whites, felt acutely, Ma-mong-e-se-da, the war chief of this village, with a party of his fellows, was deputed to go to Sir Wm. Johnson, to ask that a trader might be sent to reside among them. He is said to have been well received by their British father, who presented him with a broad wampum belt of peace, and gorget. The belt was composed of white and blue beads, denoting purity and the clear blue sky, and
ANECDOTE OF XA-UONO-E-SE-DA.. 21*'
this act settled the foandation of a lasting good-will, am) wasthecommeQcementofan active communicatioD between the Britbh and Ojibwaya of Lake Superior.
A brief notice may not bo considered amiss in this place, of the chief Ma-mong-e-se-da, who acted in this important a&ir as the representative of his tribe. Hia father was a member of the Reindeer Clan, and belonged to the northern diviaion of the tribe. He moved from Qrand Portage on tbe north ehore of Lake Superior when a young man, to the main village of liis tribe at Shaugha-waum-ik-ong. Becomiag noted as an active and BUceessfuI hunter, and laving distinguished himself at the buttle of Point Pre«- "rtt, where the Ojibways destroyed so many of their ^mies, he married a woman of the La Poiiite village, V'ho had been the wife of a Dakota chief of distinction during the late term of peace which the French traders ^ brought about. The renewal of the war had obtigal tier to separate from her Dakota husband, and two soriH ffliom she had borne him, one of whom afterwards becanii^ s celebrated chief, whose name, Wabasha, has descendel do«Ti in Dakota and Ojibway traditions to the preseut times.
lla-mong-e-se-da (Big Feet), was the offspring of hia inotlier'a second marriage with the young hunter of the Reindeer Clan. He became noted as he grew up to be a man, for the fearless manner in which he hunted on the l«st hunting grounds of the Dakotas, on the lower waters (iftheChippeway Kiver,and an incident worthy of note is ft'lated as having happened to him during the course of wie of hia usual fall hunts. Ilia camp on this occasion consiated of several lodges of his own immediate relativcK. They had approached near the borders of the Dakota coun- *0'i in the midland district lying between the Mississippi Bnd Lake Superior, when, one morning, hia camp was fired on by a party of Dakota warriors. At the second volley,
rN
220 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
one of his men being wounded, Ma-mong-e-se-da grasping his gun sallied out, and pronouncing his name loudly in the Dakota tongue, he asked if Wabasha, his brother, was among the assailants. The firing ceased immediately, and after a short pause of silence, a tall figure ornamented with a war dress, his head covered with eagle plumes, stepped forward from the ranks of the Dakotas and presented his hand. It proved to be his half brother Wabasha, and inviting him and his warriors into his lodge, Ma^mong-e- so-da entertained them in the style of a chief.
This chieftain was noted also for the frequency of hie visits to Montreal and Quebec, and the great love he bore to the French people, whose cause he warmly espoused against the British. He was at last recognized as a chief, and received a medal and flag at the hands of the French. He actively aided them in their wars with Great Britain, and on one occasion he took a message from Gen. Mont- calm to the Lake Superior Ojibways, asking them to come to his aid in Canada. But a small party followed the chieftain on his return to join the French general, in whose ranks he fought at the taking of Quebec in 1759.
After the failure of the Indian opposition to the British arms in 1764, Ma-mong-e-se-da, through the attentions he received at the hands of Sir William Johnson, became a fast friend to the English. After his death he was succeeded by his son Waub-o-jeeg, in his war chieftain- ship, who became much more noted in Ojibway history than even his father.
The British trader Alexander Ilenry, notwithstanding the losses and misfortunes which had befallen him at the hands of the Ojibways, again returned into their country immediately after the peace, and joining his more ample means with the greater influence of Mons. Cadotte in partnership, they carried on the fur trade with the Ojib- ways of Lake Sui»erior, which had for a time been discon-
HENRT RETURNS TO THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 221
tinned. They made it their depot at Sault Ste. Marie and from this point they sent outfits to Shaug-a-waura-ik-ong and other points of the great lake. It is even said that Mons. Cadotte, through his influence with the Indians, and knowledge of the former mining localities of the French, being acquainted with rich deposits of copi>er ore and masses of the virgin metal, he in conjunction with Mr. Henry, carried on mining operations in connection with their trade on the Ontonagon River.
I have learned from some of the old chiefs of the tribe, among whom I may mention Ke-che-wash-keenh, or Great Bufialo, of La Pointe, that soon after the first arrival of the British into their country, the chiefs of the Ojibways at Saolt Ste. Marie made a formal grant of a large tract of land, comprising the present site of the town of Ste. Marie, to Mons. Cadotte and his half-breed children. The written grant it appears, through some means fell into the hands of Alexander Henry, after whose death some person brought it back into the Ojibway country, and made inquiries of some of the principal chiefs as to its authenticity. It was shown to Great Buffalo at Sault Ste. Marie, and he described it as being a very old-looking paper, being much torn and patched up, and the writing upon it hardly discernible. Many questions were asked him by the gentleman who had it in possession, respecting the number and where- abouts of Cadotte's descendants. The paper was taken back to Montreal, and has never been heard of since.
222 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XVin.
GRAND EXPEDITION OF THE DAKOTAS TO THE SOURCES OP THE
MISSISSIPPI, AGAINST THE OJIBWAYS.
The Dakotas make a grand tribal effoH; to drive back the OJibways— Their warriors collect at St. Anthony Falls — ^They ascend the Mississippi in canoes — They make the circuit of the Upper Mississippi country — Death of the OJibway hunter, Waub-u-dow — Death of Minaigwatig with his family at Gauss Lake — Death of three boys at Little Boy Lake — Death of an OJibway hunter near the Falls of Pokcguma — The Dakotas are discovered by two Ojibway hunters — Chase down the Mississippi— Arrival at Sandy Lake- Drunken carouse of the Ojibways — Death of the OJibway scout — Dakota* capture thirty women while picking berries — They attack the village of Sandy Lake — They are repulsed and proceed down the river — An OJibway war party discover their marks, and lie in ambuscade at Crow Wing — Preparations for battle — Three days' fight — Dakotaa finally retreat and evac- uate Rum River County— Dakota legend.
After having given, in the two preceding chapters, a summary account respecting the affairs of the Ojibways, attendant on the change from the French to the British supremacy, we will once more return to the northwestern vanguard of the tribe, under the chief Bi-aus-wah, whom we left battling with the fierce Dakotas for the possession of the Upper Mississippi country.
As near as can be judged from their mode of computing time, by events, and generations, it is now* about eighty five years [1768] since the following events occurred, to that portion of the tribe wlio had located their village at Sandy Lake, and hunted about the sources of the Grt^at River, The incidents to be related, resulted in a fierce battle between the warriors of the two contending tril>oi», at the confluence of the Crow Wing River with the Mis- sissippi.
» A. D. 1853.
THE DAKOTAS INVADE THE OJIBWAT COUNTRY. 223
The most reliable account of this occurrence which the writer has been enabled to obtain, is that given by Esh-ke- bug-e-coshe, the venerable and respected chief of the north- ern Ojibways. He is one whose veracity cannot be im- peached. He is between seventy and eighty years of age, and the tale having been transmitted to him by his grand- father Waus-e-ko-gub-ig (Bright Forehead), who acted as leader of the Ojibway warriors who fought in this action, his account can be implicitly relied on.
"The M'de-wak-anton Dakotas, being at last obliged,
from the repeated incursions of the Ojibways, to evacuate
their grand villages at Mille Lacs and Knife Lake, now
located themselves on Rum River. Smarting under the
loss of their ancient village sites, and their best hunting
grounds and rice lakes, they determined to make one more
united and national effort to stem the advance of their
troublesome and persevering enemies, and drive them back
to the shores of Lake Superior.
Having for some years past been enjoying an active com- munion with the French traders, they had become supplied with fire-arms, and in this respect they now stood on the same footing with the Ojibways, who had long had the advantage over them, of having been first reached by the whites.
War parties formed at the different villages of the Dakotas, and met by appointment at the Falls of St. An- thony, where the ceremonies preceding the march of In- dian warriors into an enemy's country being performed, the party, consisting of from four to five hundred men, embarked in their canoes, and proceeding up the Mississippi, reached, without meeting an enemy, the confluence of the Crow Wing River with the " Father of Rivers."
It was but a short time previous that they had possessed and occupied the country lying on and about the head- waters of the Mississippi, and being thus perfectly familiar
224 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
with the route and portages from lake to lake, and the usual summer haunts of the Indian hunter, they determined to make the grand circuit hy Gull, Leech, Cass, and Win- nepegosish Lakes, and descending the Mississippi from its head, pick up the stray hunters and rice-gatherers of their enemy, and attack the village of the western Ojibways at Sandy Lake. Carrying this plan of their campaign into execution, the Dakotas ascended the Crow Wing and Gull Rivers into Gull Lake, from the northern extremity of which they made their first portage. Carrying their ca- noes about two miles, they again embarked on Lake Sib- ley ; making another portage, they passed into White Fish, or Ud-e-kum-ag Lake, and through a series of lakes into Wab-ud-ow Lake, where they spilt the first Ojibway blood, killing a hunter named Wab-ud-ow (White Gore), from which circumstance the lake is named to this day by the Ojibways. From this place they passed into Gauss Lake, where again they massacred an unfortunate hunter with his wife and children. The tale of this transaction is briefly as follows : —
An Ojibway named Min-ah-ig-want-ig (Drinking Wood), was travelling about in his birch bark canoe, with his family, making his summer hunt. One evening, after dark, he arrived at Gauss Lake, where seeing a long line of tires lighting the shore, and supposing it to be the encampnient of a war party of Rainy Lake Ojibways on their way to the Dakota country, he silently but confidently approached the shore to camp with them. On hearing, however, the language of their enemies spoken, he discovered his mis- take, and quickly backing out, he entered the mouth of a little creek, and pushing his canoe into a clump of tall grass, or rushes, he and his family passed the night in the canoe, within plain hearing of the loud talking and singing of their enemies.
Towards morning the foolish hunter, placing his paddle
THE DAKOTAS SECURE OJIBWAY SCALPS. 225
upright behind his back to rest upon, fell asleep. On the
first appearance of day, the Dakotas embarked, and one of
their canoes passing close to the shore, noticed with an
Indian's wariness and sagacity, the mark of a canoe through
the grass and weeds at the entry of the little creek. One
of the Dakotas arose in his canoe, and seeing the end of
the upright paddle sticking up above the tall grass in the
creek, he quietly informed his fellows, and the Ojibway,
being surrounded, was surprised in his sleep — he and his
femily killed and scalped, with the exception of one child
taken captive.
Much elated, the Dakota war party proceeded on their way, and at Little Boy, or Que-wis-aus Lake, they again attacked and killed three little boys, while engaged in gathering wild rice. Their parents, hearing the noise of the firing incident to the attack, made their escape. From this circumstance, this large and beautiful sheet of water has derived its Ojibway name of Que-wis-aus (Little Boy). The Dakotas passed into Leech Lake, and crossing over by a short portage into Cass Lake, they commenced their descent of the Mississippi. A short distance above the Falls of Puk-a-gum-ah, they again destroyed an Ojibway hunter and his family. On the banks of the river where this occurrence took place, the Dakotas made marks on the pine trees, which are still discernible to the eye of the traveller. The Ojibways call it Mun-zin-auk-wi-e-gun (tree picture marks).
Some distance below the Falls of Puk-a-gum-ah, they were met and discovered by two Ojibway hunters, in a birch canoe, who turned and fled down the river, warning their fellows as they went. The Dakotas made a warm pursuit, as they wished to attack the village of their ene- mies at Sandy Lake by surprise. The fleeing hunters, by making short portages across long bends of the river, left
their pursuers some distance, and arrived at the Sandy 15
226 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Lake village during the night, but found a number of the bravest warriors gone on a war party down the Mississippi, and the remainder of the men of their village drinking " fire-water," which had been brought by a number of their fellows, who had just returned from their periodical sum- mer visit to Sault Ste. Marie and Mackinaw. The alarm was given, and the drinking stopped, though many of the older men were already hors du combat through the eftects of the liquor. Such as were able, prepared for defence.
One of the young hunters who had arrived to warn the village, having dropped a small looking glass, while cross- ing a short portage, which is sometimes made from the Mississippi into Sandy Lake, and it being in those days an article rare and much valued among them, he returned early in the morning to look for it. He went alone in his light birch canoe, but found the portage covered with the Dakotas who had been pursuing thenL Some, were crossing in their canoes, while the main body were making their way on foot to attack the Ojibway village by land. On being discovered, a hot pursuit in canoes was made after the young hunter by the Dakotas, and being single in his canoe, they fast gained on him. Making straight for an island which lies directly in front of the village, the young man landed, pulled his canoe across the island, and again embarking, paddled away for life. By this man- ceuvre he gained a little on his pursuers, who were obliged to round the point of an island in their heavier canoes. The Dakotas, however, being full manned, caught up with and dispatched the fleeing hunter before he reached the main shore, and in full sight of the Ojibway village.
In the mean time, the party who were approaching to attack the village by land, discovered a party of Ojibway women, who were picking huckleberries, whom they sur- rounded and easily captured. These female captives, most of whom were young and unmarried, numbered thirty.
SANDY LAKE VILLAGE ATTACKED. 227
•
The Dakotas then attacked the village, but such of the Ojibwajs as were sober, and had got over their drunken frolic, having made their preparations, manfully resisted the attack, till the drunken warriors, being brought to their sober senses by being frequently immersed in cold water by the women, increased the ranks of the defenders, and after a desperate struggle finally succeeded in causing the Dakotas to retreat, who returning to their canoes, em- barked with their prisoners, and continued their course down the Mississippi, triumphing in the repeated blows they had inflicted on their enemies.
They were doomed, however, to run a severe gauntlet before reaching their villages, and to pay dearly for the temerity which had led them to proceed so far into the country which the Ojibways claimed as their own. A party of sixty Ojibway warriors had, a short time previous, left their village at Sandy Lake (as has been mentioned), and under the leadership of Waus-uk-o-gub-ig, a distin- guished war-chief, they proceeded down the Mississippi in their birchen canoes, to the haunts of their enemies. Meet^ ing with no success in their foray after scalps, they left their canoes in the enemy's country, and were returning home on foot, when, arriving at Crow Wing, they dis- covered the late encampment of the Dakotas, who were making the grand circuit of the northern country.
From the marks thus discovered, the Ojibways became satisfied that the enemy, who had gone up the Crow Wing River, would either soon return the same way, or come down the Mississippi, after having perhaps massacred their wives and children at Sandy Lake. They determined, therefore, to await their coming at the confluence of these rivers, and notwithstanding the apparent strength of their enemies, to give them battle.
About half a mile below the main mouth of the Crow
228 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLIiECTIONS.
Wing, and a few rods above Allan Morrison's present* establishment, or trading post, on the east side of the Mis- sissippi, the river makes a curve, and the whole force of the current is thrown against the banks in the bend, which rise almost perpendicular from the water's edge, fifty feet high, and on the brow of which stands a few pine trees. Boats or canoes passing down the river are naturally drawn by the current immediately under this bank ; and, with an eye to these advantages, the Ojibway warriors determined to post themselves here in ambuscade. They dug several holes along this bank, for two or three hundred feet, capa- ble of holding eight or ten men each, in rows, from which, perfectly invisible to their passing enemy, and sheltered from their missiles,^ they intended to commence the attack.
Satisfied at the immense odds they would have to con- tend with, they made every preparation. Hunters were sent out to kill and dry meat suflicient to sustain the whole party for several days, and scouts were sent some distance above the river, to watch the first coming of their enemies.
One morning after their preparations had all been com- pleted, one of their scouts, who had been sent about a mile up the Mississippi, and who was watching on the bank for the first appearance of the Dakotas, descended carelessly to the water's edge to drink. While lapping the water with his hand to his lips, looking up the river, he perceived a canoe suddenly turn a point of land above him. Instinc- tively he threw himself flat on the ground, and gradually crawled unperceived up the bank. When out of sight, on looking back, he saw the whole bosom of the river covereil with the war canoes of those for whose coming he had been sent to watch. Seeing that he had not been noticed, he flew back to his comrades, who now prepared fully for the ai>proaching conflict, by putting on their war paints and ornaments of battle.
1 A. D. 1852.
THE EXULTANT DAKOTAS AMBUSHED. 229
t
Directly opposite the main mouth of the Crow Wing, on
the spot where the American Fur Company's post is now*
located, and in plain view of their ambuscade, the Qjib-
vaj6 saw their enemies disembark, and proceed to cook
their morning meal. They saw the large group of female
prisoners, as they were roughly pushed ashore, and made
to build the fires and hang the kettles. Amongst them,
doubtless, were their wives, daughters, or sisters. They
flaw the younger warriors of the enemy form in a ring, and
dance, yelling and rejoicing, over the scalps they had taken.
They saw all this, and burning with rage, they impatiently
awaited the moment when their foes would come within
range of their bullets and arrows. With difficulty the
leader restrained his younger and more fool-hardy warriors
from rushing forth to attack their enemies while engaged
in their orgies.
Amongst the captives was an old woman, who at every encampment, had exhorted her fellows not to be cast down in their spirits, for their men who had gone on a war party would certainly, at some place, attack their captors, and in this case they must upset the canoes they were in, and swim for life to the shore from which their friends would make the attack. In this manner did she teach " her grand- children," as she called them, to be prepared for a sudden onslaught.
The Dakotas, having finished their morning meal, and scalp-dancing, once more poured into their canoes. They floated down with the current in a compact mass, holding on to each other's canoes, while filling and lighting their pipes, and passing them from one to another, to be alter- nately smoked. Above them, dangling from the ends of poles, were the bloody scalps they had taken. In the fore- most canoes were the war leaders, and planted before them were the war ensigns of feathers. After smoking out their
» A. D. 1852.
230 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
pipes, the Jeen-go-dum* was uttered by the whole party, with a tremendous noise. The drums commenced beat- ing, accompanied with yells and songs of triumph. Still moving in a compact flotilla, in full rejoicing, the force of the current at length brought them immediately under the deadly ambuscade of their enemies.
The moment had now come which the Ojibways had so long been aching for, and at the sound of their leader's war-whistle, they suddenly let fly a flight of bullets and barbed arrows into the serried ranks of the enemies, pick- ing out for death the most prominent and full plumed figures amongst them. Yelling their fear-striking sas-sak- way, or war-whoop, they sent their deadly missiles like hail amongst their enemies, sending many of their bravest warriors to the land of spirits. The confusion amongst the Dakotas at this sudden and unexpected attack was immense. The captives overturned the canoes they were in, and the rest running against one another, and those in the water struggling to re-embark, and the sudden jumps of those that were wounded, caused many of them to over- turn, leaving their owners struggling in the deep current. Many were thus drowned, and as long as they remained within range of their enemies' weapons, the Dakotas suf- fered severely.
Some dove and swam ashore on the opposite side — then running down the bank of the river, they joined those of their fellows w^ho still floated, about a mile below the place of the attack, where they all lande<l and collected their up- turned canoes, and such of their articles as floated past. Many of their captives made their escape by swimming to their friends. Some were dispatched at the first onset, and the few that still remained in their hands, the Dako- tas took and tied to trees, to await the consequences of the
1 The JecD-go-dum is a peculiar cry, uttered by warriors after kiUin^ an ODemy.
DAKOTAS DEFEATED AT THE CROW WING BATTLE. 231
coming struggle, for, smarting under the loss of their bravest men, and having noticed the comparatively small numbers of the Ojibways, they determined to go back and fight the battle anew, and revenge the death of their rela- tives.
They bravely made the attack, but the Ojibways were so strongly and securely posted, that they sustained the fight till dark without losing any of their men, while the Dako- tas Buffered severely, being obliged to fight from open ground, without shelter. The fight lasted till night, when the Dakotas retreated. They encamped where they had landed, and in plain view and hearing of their enemies, who, during the night distinctly heard their lamentations, as they wept for their relatives who had been slain during the day's fight.
In the morning, the Dakotas, burning for vengeance, returned to the attack. Acting with greater caution and wariness, they approached the Ojibway defences by dig- ing counter holes, or making embankments of earth or logs before them, to shield them from their missiles. The am- munition of the contending warriors failing them, the Da- kotas dug their hiding holes so close to those of their foes, that large stones were easily thrown from hole to hole. In this manner, a late noted Ojibway chief named We-esh- coob (Sweet), who was then a young man, received a stun- ning blow on his face, which broke his jawbone. Some of the bravest warriors fought hand to hand with clubs and knives, and the Ojibways lost one of their number, who, fighting rather rashly, was dispatched by a Dakota brave, and scalped.
The Ojibways, however, defended themselves so obsti- nately, that they eventually forced their enemies to retreat. Having suffered a severe loss, the Dakota warriors returned to their villages, and for fear that the Ojibways would re- taliate, by making a similar incursion into their country.
232 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
the M'de-wak-an-ton section of the tribe evacuated the Rum River couutry, and moved to the Minnesota River.
DAKOTA LEGEND.
The following Dakota legend connected with the inva- sion of their tribe to the heads of the Mississippi, of which we have given the preceding account, was related to the writer by Waub-o-jeeg (White Fisher), a chief of the Mis- sissippi Ojibways, who being of part Dakota origin, in his younger days lived more or less with them, and learned to speak their language. In this manner he picked up many of their traditions and beliefs, and among the number, the following simple, but affecting story : —
A young Dakota warrior, eager to gain renown, deter- mined to join the war party which ^*as gathering at his village at St. Anthony's Falls, and destined to sweep the Ojibway country, and put out the fires which this tribe had lighted on the Upper Mississippi. He had just taken to wife a beautiful girl of his tribe, whom he loved, and who dearly loved him. Slie endeavored to dissuade him from going to war on this occasion. lie would not listen to the soft persuasions, nor allow her loving caresses to affect his determination, for all the young men of his vil- lage were going, and they would laugh at him were he to remain alone with the women, when there were ea^\e plumes and renown to be gained. With tears the young WMfe importuned her husband to remain. She told him that a presentiment weighed on her heart, that he would never return from this war path.
The young warrior, though he dearly loved his bride, was resolute in withstanding her persuasions, but to appease her anxious mind, and her dreams of ill-boding, he solemnly promised and called on the spirits to hear him, that he would return to her. Their last parting was sad
FFECnON OF A YOUNG DAKOTA WIFE. 233
and tearful, and she could not even bear to witness the ceremonies attendant on the departure of the warriors from their village. She counted every day of his alwence, and as the days increased in number, she daily eagerly looked for his return. The warriors had overstayed the appointed number of days, in which thej" had promised to return, and they were now hourly expected back to their homes. Their wives and sweethearts decked themselves out in their finery, in anticipation of their coming.
The anxious young wife retired to the water's side early one morning, and sat down on the grassy banks of the flow- ing Mississippi, to comb and braid her long and beautiful hair. The glassy surface of the bright waters at her feet 8er\'e<l her for a mirror. Notwithstanding her former pre- sentiments, she expected the return of her young husband that day, for he had solemnly'' promised it by the name of the spirits. She prepared, therefore, to appear to him to the best advantage. As she cast her eyes at the current which sluggishly swept past her feet, she noticed a dark object floating beneath the surface of the waters. The circling eddies brought it to her feet, and with a slight scream of surprise, and a cold thrill at her heart, she recognized a human figure. Instinctively she sprang forward, and catch- ing the body by the arm, pulled it partly on shore. As if an ice bolt had been applied to her heart, she knew the features of her young husband. Tlie feathered end of a barbed arrow which had pierced his heart, still stuck from his breast He had kept his promise — he had returned, indeed, but in death. The young, heart-broken wife, utter- ing a piercing shriek, fell senseless on the inanimate body. The villagers hearing that despairing crj^ ran to the water's side, and at sight of the dead warrior, they received the first intimation of the loss which their warriors had suf- fered at Crow Wing fight. The young husband had prob- ably been killed while floating down the river in his canoe,
234 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
at the first fire of the ambushed Ojibways, and the cur- rent might naturally have taken his body to the spot where his wife was awaiting his arrival, while his fellows were fighting at Crow Wing, and during their return homeward. The shattered remains' of this grand war party returned the same day. The young wife whose presentiment had thus been most awfully fulfilled, pined away, and wept herself to death. She died happy in the hope and belief of rejoining her young warrior husband, in the happy land of spirits.
FIRST VISIT OF THE 0JIBWAY3 TO JONNfiSOTA BIYKB. 236
CHAPTER XTX.
PROGRESS OP THE OJIBWAYS ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI.
Ojibways of Sandy Lake send a war party into the Dakota country— They attack a village on the banks of the Minnesota River — Origin of the OJibway name of this river— Ke-che-waub-ish-ash leads a party of 120 warriors against the Dakotas — Accidental meeting with a party of the enemy of equal strength at Elk River- Indian fightr— The retreating Dakotas are reinforced —Retreat of the Ojibways — They make a firm stand — ^The Dakotas set the prairie on fire — Final flight of the Ojibways, who take refuge on an island — A second fight on Elk River, '* Battle Ground"— Death of the war chief Ke-che-waub-ish ash — Brief sketch of his life.
In order to retaliate on the Dakotas the invasion which they had made on the Upper Mississippi, which resulted in the battle of Crow Wing, and the capturing of their women at Sandy Lake, the Ojibways, early the following ppring, collected a war party nearly two hundred strong, who, embarking in their birch canoes, paddled down the current of the Mississippi into the country of their enemies. They discovered no signs of the Dakotas in the course of their journey as far down as the mouth of Crow River, within thirty miles of St. Anthony Falls. Here they left their c-anoes, and proceeding across the country to the Minnesota River, they discovered a village of their enemies situated a short distance from its confluence with the Mississippi. The attack on this village, though severely contested by the Dakotas, was perfectly successful, and the war party returned home with a large number of scalps. The inci- dents of this fight were told to me by Waub-o-jeeg (White Fisher), a present living sub-chief of the Mississippi Ojib- ways, whose grandfather No-ka acted as one of the leaders of this party ; but as his accounts are somewhat obscure,
t
236 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
and much mixed with the UDnatural, I refrain from giving the details.
This incursion to the Dakota country is, however, notable from the fact, that it is the first visit of the kind which the Ojibways'of this section tell of their ancestors having made to the Minnesota River. When the warriors left their homes in the north, it was early spring, and the leaves had not yet budded. On arriving at the Minnesota River, however, they were surprised to find spring fai advanced, and the leaves on the trees which shaded ite waters, in full bloom. From this circumstance they gave it the name of Osh-ke-bug-e-sebe, denoting " New Leal River," which name it has retained among the Ojibways to the present day.
A few years after the incursion of No-ka to the Minne- sota River, the Ojibways again collected a war party oi one hundred and twenty men, and under the leadership oi Ke-che-waub-ish-ashe (Great Marten) a noted warrior, whc acted as the war chief of Bi-aus-wah, they embarke<l ir their canoes, and floated down the Mississippi, which the} had now learned to make their chief and favorite wjii coui'se. On their way down the river, the leader every morning deputed a canoe of scouts to proceed some distant^ in advance of the main body, to search for signs of the enemy, and runners were sent ahead by land, to follow down each bank of the river, to prevent a surprise of the party from an ambuscade of the enemy. Guarded in this manner from any sudden surprise, the Ojibway warriors quietly floated down with the current of the great river. On this occasion they had reached a point a short distance above the mouth of Elk. River, when the scouts in the foremost canoe, as they were silently paddling down, hug- ging the eastern bank of the Mississippi, immediatelv below an extensive bottom of forest trees, heard loud talking and laughing in the Dakota language, on the bank
HARI>-FOUOHT BATTLE ON ELK RIVER. 237
just above them. Instantly they turned the bow of their canoe up stream, and swiftly stealing along close to the bank they escaped undiscovered, behind the point of the heavy wooded bottom, we have mentioned. Here they met the main party of their fellows, whose canoes nearly covered the broad bosom of the river for half a mile. The scouts threw up the water with their paddles as a signal for them to make for the eastern bank, and this signal being made from canoe to canoe, the warriors soon leaped ashore and pulling their canoes upon the grassy bank, they waited but to rub on their faces and bodies the war paints, ornament their heads with eagle plumes, and secure on their bodies the pe-na-se-wi-ame, or war medicine sack, they rashed on without order through the wooded bottom, and as they emerged one after another on the open prairie, they saw a long line of Dakota warriors, about equal in numbers to themselves, walking leisurely along, following the war path against their villages.
They were out of bullet range from the edge of the ^ood, but the Ojibway warriors rushed out on the open prairie towards them, as if to a feast, and " first come was to be best served." Their war whoop was bravely answered back by the Dakotas who now, for the first time, perceived *hem, and bullet was returned for bullet. The warriors of both parties leaped continually from side to side, to prevent ^heir enemies from taking a sure aim ; and as they stood ^nfronting one another for a few moments on the open Prairie, exchanging quick successive volleys, their bodies in ^ntinual motion, the plumes on their heads waving to and Hand uttering their fierce, quick, sharp battle cry, they ^ost have presented a singular and wild appearance. For a short time only, the Dakotas stood the eager onset of . the Ojibways. For, seeing warrior after warrior emerging in quick succession from the wood, in a line of half a mile, they began to think that the enemy many times out-
238 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
numbered them, and under this impression, dropping their blankets and other incumbrances, they turned and fled down the prairie towards the mouth of Elk River. As they ran, they would occasionally turn and fire back at their pursuers. And in this manner, a running fight was kept up for about three miles, when the Dakotas met a large party of their fellows who had come across from the Minnesota River to join them in their excursion against the Ojibways. With this addition, they outnumbered the Ojibways more than double, and the chase was now turned the other way.
The Ojibways, hard pressed by the fresh reinforcements of their enemy, ran up and along the banks of Elk River, till, becoming wearied by their long run, they made a firm stand in a grove of oak trees, which skirt, a small prairie near the banks of Elk River. Here the fight was sustained for a long time, the Ojibways firing from the shelter of the oak trees, and the Dakotas digging holes in the ground on the open prairie, and thus gradually approaching the covert of their enemies. The Ojibway.s, however, manfully stood their ground, and the Dakotas after losing many lives in the attempt to dislodge them, resorted to a new and singular expedient A strong south wind was blowing, and being the spring of the year, before the green grass had grown to any length, the prairie was still covered with a thick coating of the last year's dry grass. To this the Dakotas set fire, and it blowing immediately against the Ojibways, the raging flames very soon caused them to leave their covert, and seek for safety in flight. It required the utmost endeavors of their best runners to keep ahead of the flames, and those who had been wounded during the course of the previous conflict, were soon caught and devoured by the raging element.
SECOND BATTLE OF ELK RIVER. 239
The Ojibways fled panting for breath, in the dense smoke of the burning prairie, towards the Mississippi, and jumping into its waters, they eventually took refuge on an island. It is said that the froth hung in wide flakes from the lips of the tired warriors as they reached this, their last covert The Dakotas followed them closely in the wake of the murderous flre which they had lit, but they dare not attack them on the island, where they had fiongbt refuge, and from this point, after one of the most terrible combats which is told of them in their traditions, both parties returned to their respective villages.
The Ojibways acknowledge to have lost eight of their warriors at the hands of the Dakotas, and three caught and consumed by the flames. They claim having made a much greater havoc in the ranks of their enemies, especially during the time they fought from the secure shelter of the oak grove. And as the Dakotas have always acknowledged them as being the better shots during battle, it is not at all unlikely that they suffered a severe loss in killed and wounded on this occasion.
On the following year it happened that the Ojibways, to the number of sixty, again proceeded down the Mississippi on a war party, and on the very spot where the preceding year they had accidentally met the Dakotas, they again met them in greater force than ever. From all accounts which I have gathered, the enemy, on this occasion, numbered full four hundred warriors, but the hardy Ojibways, again under the guidance of their brave war-chief, Big Marten, altliough they first discovered the enemy, refused to retreat, and the camps remained in sight of each other's fires dur- ing the first night of their meeting. The Ojibways, how- ever, prepared for the coming battle. They dug holes two or three feet deep in the ground, large enough to hold one and two men, from which they intended to withstand
240 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
the attack which the Dakotas, through their great supe- riority of numbers, were expected to make on the follow- ing day.
Early the ensuing morning the enemy possessed them- selves of a wood which lay within bullet range of the Ojib- way defences, and the fight actively commenced. Each party fighting from behind secure shelters, the battle was kept up the whole day without much loss to either side. It was only on occasions when an enemy was seen to fell, that the bravest warriors would rush from their coverts, to secure the scalp, and the opposite party as eager to prevent their man from being thus mutilated, would rally about his body, and the conflict between the bravest warriors would be, for a few moments, hand to hand, and deadly.
On an occasion of this nature, the Ojibways, towards evening, lost their brave leader, the " Big Marten," who was foremost in every charge, and fighting but little from behind a covert, he had been, during the day, the most prominent mark of the Dakota bullets. At night the enemy retreated, but camped again within sight of the Ojib- ways, who, discouraged at the loss of their brave war-chief, made a silent retreat during the darkness of the night, and returned to their village at Sandy Lake.
From the circumstance of two battles having been fought in such quick succession on the point of land be- tween the Elk and Mississippi Rivers, this spot has been named by the Ojibways, Me-gaud-e-win-ing, or ''Battle Ground."
Ke-che-waub-ish-ash, who fell lamented bv his tribe at the last of these two fights, belonged, as his name denotO'j, to the Clan of the Marten. lie was a contemporary of Bi- aus-wah, and the right-hand man of this noteil chief, lie was the war-chief of the Upper Mississippi, and tradition says, that his arm, above all others, conduced to drive the Dakotas from the country covered by the sources of the
I
I
SKETCH OF '^BIG MARTEN." 241
great river. While Bi-aus-wah acted as the civil and peace chief, Ke-che-waub-ish-ash influenced the warriors, and when the war was raging between his people and the Dakotas, into his hands its direct management was en- trusted. He figured in every important engagement which we have mentioned as taking place between the Sandy Lake Ojibways and their enemies. He was noted for great hardihood and bravery, and he fell at the last, deeply lamented by his people, at Elk River fight, covered with wounds received in a hundred fights. He is one of the few whose name will long be remembered in Ojibway tradition.
16
242 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XX.
CLOSING OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE OJIBWATS AND ODUGAMIES.
The Odu^mies, after partially regaining their former namben, make their last tribal effort against the OJibways— Battle of St. Croix Falls— Traditioo of this event| as told by the Ojibways — Waab-o-Jeeg collects a war party at La Folnte — He proceeds at the head of 800 men into the Dakota coantry^ Failure of the Sandy Lake warriors to keep their appointment — Landing of the OJfbways at the head of the St. Croix Falls— They discover the allied Odugamics and Dakdtos landing at the foot of the Falls — Preparationa for battle — Ojibways and Odugamies engage — Odogamies are beaten, and Dakotas rally to their rescue — Ojibways are forced to retreat, but are rein- forced by 60 warriors iVom Sandy Lake— Disastrous flight and loss of tbdr enemies — Waub-o-Jeeg loses his brother, and is himself wounded — Rem- nants of the Odugamies ask to be incorporated with the Oaaugeea — ^Their prayer is granted — ^Waub^eeg— A sketch of his life.
The Odugamies (Foxes), who had been forced by the Ojibways during the French domination to retire from tlie Wisconsin and Fox Rivers to the Mississippi, had, under the guardianship of the Osaugees, partiallj' regained their former strength and numbers ; and, still smarting from tlie repeated and powerful blows which their fathers liad received at the hands of the Ojibways about eighty years ago, they made their last grand tribal effort to revenge their wrongs and regain a portion of their former country.
They ascended in war canoes the current of the broad Mississippi, and prevailing on their former allies, the Dakotas, to join them, together they proceeded up the St. Croix. While crossing their canoes over the portage at the Falls of this river, they encountered a war party of Ojibways, and here, among the rocks and boulders of the St. Croix, the Odugamies fought their last tribal battle.
The account which the old men of the Ojibways give of this important event is briefly as follows: Waub-o-jeeg
THK OJIBWAT AND ODUGAXIE WAB. 24S
(White Fisher), the eon of Ma-moDg-e-«e-da, had succeeded on his father's death, to the war chieftainship of the Lake Superior G^ibways. He was a brave and a wise man, who had already become famous for the success of every party which he joined, or led, against the hereditary enemies of his tribe. On this occasion, he sent his club of war, tobacco, and wampum, to all the scattered bands of the Ojibways, to collect a war party to proceed against the Dakota vil- lages on the St. Croix and Mississippi, who had lately very much annoyed their hunting camps in this district War- riors from the Falls of St Xlarie, Grand Island, Euk-ke- waron-au-ing (L'Ance), the Wisconsin and Grand Portage, obeyed his call, and at the head of three hundred men Waub-o-jeeg started from La Pointe, Shaug-arwaum-ik-ong. In their light birch-bark canoes, they ascended the left branch of the Mush-kee-se-be or " Bad River," to its head, and made a portage of ten miles in length to Long Lake, a beautiful sheet of clear water which lies on the dividing summit between the Mississippi and Lake Superior. ]VIaking three more short portages from lake to lake, they at last embarked on the Xum-a-kaug-un branch of the St. Croix, and having now entered the dangerous country of their enemies, the wise leader proceeded slowly, keeping scouts continually ahead, to prevent surprise from an ambus- cade. It took him six days to descend to the mouth of Snake Biver, where he expected to meet a party of war- riors from the Sandy Lake and Mille Lac villages. He had sent them his war club and tobacco, with word that ** at a given time he would be on the waters of the St. Croix searching for their enemies," and they had sent tobacco and word in return, that " sixty of their warriors would join him on a certain day at the meeting of the waters of the Snake and St Croix Rivers." On arriving at the spot designated, Waub-o-jeeg discovered no signs of
244 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
the promised party, bat still confident in his numbers, he continued on his course down stream.
The Ojibways arrived at the head of the St. Croix Falls (a distance of two hundred and fifty miles from their start- ing point), early in the morning, and while preparing to take their bark canoes over the rugged portage, or carry- ing place, the scouts who had been sent in advance, re- turned with the information that a very large war party of Odugamies and Dakotas were landing at the foot of the falls, apparently with the intention of crossing over their wooden canoes. Now, commenced the hurry and excite- ment of approaching battle. The " novices," or those of the party who were on their first war path, were forcibly driven back into the water by the elder warriors, there to wash off the black paint which denoted their condition of initiates into the mysteries of war. This customary pro- cedure on the eve of an attack or battle, being performed, the warriors grasped their medicine bags, and hurriedly adorned their faces and naked bodies with warpaint, those that earned them planted the eagle plumes on their head- dress, which denoted enemies they had slain or scalps taken, and the pc-ua-se-wi-am, holding the charms of supposed in- vulnerability, were attached to different portions of their head-dress, armlets, or belts.
During this bupy scene of preparation for the coming contest, the war leader called on the Great Spirit with a loud voice for protection to his followers and success against their enemies. Then addressing his fellows, his clear voice rang among the rocks and mingled with the noise *of the waterfall, as he urged them to fight like men, be strong of heart, at the same time advising them to be careful of their lives, that their relatives might not weep in mourning for their loss. Having finished these customary prepara- tions, the Ojibways, grasping their arms, proceeded to find their enemies. The scouts of their opponents had already
THE BATTLE OF ST. CROIX FALLS. 245
discovered them, and the two parties, as if by mutual agreement, met in the middle of the portage. The battle which ensued was the most chivalric which is told of in their traditions. The Od ugamies, after seeing the comparatively wnall number of the Ojibways, and over confident in the prowess of their own more numerous warriors, are said to have requested their allies, the Dakotas, to stand quietly by, to witness how quickly they would gather the scalps of the Ojibways.
This request was granted, and the Dakotas retired to an adjacent eminence, and calmly filling their pipes, they viewed the conflict as though perfectly unconcerned. The fight between the warriors of the two contending tribes, is said to have been fiercely contested, and embellished with many daring acts of personal valor. The voices of the war chieis resounded above the rattle of musketry and yells of their warriors, as they urged them to stand their ground, and not turn their backs in flight In fact the nature of the ground on which they fought was such, that retreat was almost impracticable for either party. It was a mere rugged neck of rock, cut up into deep ravines, through which the deep and rapid current of the river forces a narrow passage, and at either end of the portage a sudden embarkation into their frail canoes could not safely be eflfected in face of an enemy. There is a wood around the portage on the land side, inclosing the neck of rock over which it leads, and only through this could the beaten party safely retreat. Waub-o-jeeg, early in the fight secured this important point, by sending thither a number of his warriors.
About midday, after fighting with great desperation, the Odugamies began to give ground, and they were at last forced to turn and flee in confusion. They would probably have been killed and driven into the river to a man, had not their allies, the Dakotas, arose from their seats at this
246 MINNESOTA mSTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
juncture, and yelling their war-whoop, rushed to the rescue of their discomfited allies. The Ojibways resisted their new enemies manfully, and it was not till their ammuni- tion had entirely failed, that they in turn showed their backs in flight. But few would tell the sad tale of defeat and the death of brave men, had not the party of sixty warriors from Sandy Lake, who were to have joined them at the mouth of Snake River, arrived at this opportune moment, and lauded at the head of the portage. Eager for the fight, and fresh on the field, the band rushed forward and withstood the onset of the Odugamies and Dakotas, till their friends could rally again to the battle.
After a short but severe contest, the warriors of the two allied tribes were forced to flee, and the slaughter in their ranks is said to have been great. Many were driven over the rocks into the boiling floods below, there to find a watery grave. Others, in attempting to jump into their narrow wooden canoes, were capsized into the rapids. Every crevice in the cliffs where the battle had been fought, con- tained a dead or wounded enemy. The Ojibways suffered a severe loss in the death of a large number of their bravest warriors. The brother of Waub-o-jeeg was numbered among the dead, and the war-chief himself carried on his person the marks of the sanguinary fight, in a wound on his breast. But a few of the Odugamies escaped, and from this time they forever gave up the contest with the vic- torious Ojibways. They retired to the south, far away from the reach of the war-club, which had so often made them to weep, and now so nearly exterminated their war- riors.
The old Ojibway chief, " Great Buffalo," of La Pointe, says that the fire of the Odugamies was, by this last stroke, nearly extinguished, and they were reduced to fifteen lodges. A second time they went weeping to the village of the Osaugees, who had intermarried with them to a con-
HEATY SLAUGHTER OF THE ODUGAMIES. 247
fiiderable extent, and begged to be incorporated in tbeir tribe, and to live under their powerful protection. They offered to be their cutters of wood and carriers of water, and filled with compassion at their broken numbers and tears of sorrow, the Osaugees, who are a family of the Algic stock, at last, for the first time, formally received them into their tribe, and it is only from this period that the fire of these two tribes (whose names are so linked together in modem history), can be truly said as having become one and midivided.
The old men of the Ojibways assert that the Odugamies speak a distant language,^ and do not really belong to the Algonquin council fires, and it is only since their close intercourse with the Osaugees that the Algonquin language has become in use among them. I am aware that this assertion is directly contrary to the results of Mr. School- craft's researches, who places the Odugamies as one of the most prominent tribes of the Algics. Never having had the advantage of comparing the peculiar dialect of this tribe with the Ojibway, I am consequently not prepared to deliver a direct opinion. Their warfare with the Oduga- mies has been of such long standing and so sanguinary, that the Ojibways may naturally consider them as much a dis- tinct race from themselves, as the Dakotas or Winncbagoes, the last of whom, in time of peace, they are accustomed to denominate as "younger brothers," which circumstance, however, should not mislead us into the belief that they consider them as being really a kindred tribe in any closer degree than their being respective families of the red race in general.
^ A French memoir on the Indians between Lake Erie and the Mississippi River, prepared In 1718, and which appears as Paris, Doc. vii. in N. Y. Col. Doc. Tol. ix., contains this statement : ** The Foxes are eighteen leagues from the Sacs, the}* number Ave hundred men, abound in women and children, are as indus- trious as they can be, and have a different language from the Outaouaes. An Outaouae interpreter would be of no use with the Foxes."— £. D. N.
248 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
As I shall not probably again have occasion to mention, in the further course of my narrative, the name of the dis- tinguished war-chief who led the Ojibways in the battle of St. Croix Falls, which so effectually put a final stop to their old war with the Odugamies, I will here present to the reader a brief account of his short but brilliant career.
Mr. Schoolcraft, in one of his valuable works on the red race, has given an elaborate notice of the life of this noted chieftain, and as he doubtless obtained his information from his direct descendants, nearly thirty years since, when he acted in the official capacity of United States agent among the Ojibways, and when the acts of Waub-o-jeeg were still comparatively new in the traditions of his tribe, the account which he has given can be implicitly relied on, and very little, if anything, can be added to it.
We glean from this, that Waub-o-jeeg was bom about the year 1747. He early gave indications of courage, and, Mr. Schoolcraft relates this anecdote, that on the occasion which we have mentioned in a previous chapter, when his father, Ma-mong-e-se-da, turned a sudden attack of the Da- kotas on his camp into a< peace visit, by calling out for his half-brother, the Dakota chief, Wabasha — Waub-o-jeeg, then a mere boy, posted himself with a war-club close to the door of his father's lodge, and as his tall Dakota uncle entered, he gave him a blow. Wabasha, pleased with the little brave, took him in his arms, caressed him, and pre- dicted that he would become a brave man, and prove an inveterate enemy of the Dakotas. Mr. Schoolcraft con- tinues his biographical notice of Waub-o-jeeg as follows: —
" The border warfare in which the father of the infant warrior was constantly engaged, early initiated him in the arts and ceremonies pertaining to war. With the eager interest and love of novelty of the young, he listened to their war songs and war stories, and longed for the time when he would be old enough to join these parties, and
SKETCH OF THE CHIEF WAUB-0-JEEG. 249
make himself a uame among warriors. While
quite a youth, he volunteered to go out with a party, and
Boon gave convincing proof of his courage. He also early
learned the arts of hunting the deer, the bear, the moose,
and all the smaller animals common to the country ; and
in these pursuits he took the ordinary lessons of Indian
young men in abstinence, suffering, danger, and endurance
of fatigue. In this manner his nerves were knit and
formed for activity, and his mind stored with those lessons
of caution which are the result of local exi^rience in the
forest. He possessed a tall and commanding person, with
a full, black, piercing eye, and the usual features of his
countrymen. He had a clear and full-toned voice, and
spoke his native language with grace and fluency. To
these attractions he united an early reputation for bravery
and skill in the chase, and at the age of twenty-two, he was
already a war leader."
Expeditions of one Indian tribe against another require the utmost caution, skill, and secrecy. There are a hun- dred things to give information to such a party, or influence its action, which are unknown to civilized nations. The breaking of a twig, the slightest impression of a foot-print, and other like circumstances, determine a halt, a retreat, or an advance. The most scrupulous attention is also paid to the signs of the heavens, the flight of birds, and above all to the dreams and predictions of the jos-so-keed, priest or prophet, who accompanies them, and who is intrusted with the sacred sack. The theory upon which all these parties are conducted, is secrecy and stratagem ; to steal upon the enemy unawares ; to lay in ambush, or decoy ; to kill, and to avoid as much as possible the hazard of being killed. An intimate geographical knowledge of the country is also required by a successful war leader, and such a man piques himself not only upon knowing every prominent stream, hill, valley, wood, or rock, but the
250 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
particular productions, mineral and vegetable, of the scene of operations. - When it is considered that this species of knowledge, shrewdness, and sagacity is possessed on both sides, and that the nations at war watch each other as a lynx for its prey, it may be conceived that many of these border war parties are either light skirmishes, sudden on-rushes, or utter feilures. It is seldom that a close, well- contested, long-continued hand battle is fought To kill a few men, tear off their scalps in haste, and retreat with these trophies, is a brave and honorable trait with them, and may be boasted of in their triumphal dances and war- like festivities.
" To glean the details of these movements would be to acquire the modem history of the tribe, which induced me to direct my inquiries to the subject ; but the lapse of even forty or fifty years, had shorn traditions of most of these details, and often left the memory of results only. The Chippeways told me that this chief had led them seven times to successful battle against the Sioux and Outagamies, and that he had been wounded thrice — once in the thigh, once in the right shoulder, and a third time in the side and breast, being a glancing shot. His war party consisted either of volunteei's, who had joined his standanl at the war dance, or of auxiliaries, who had accepted his messages of wampum and tobacco, and came forward in a body to the appointed place of rendezvous. These parties varied greatly in number. His first party consisted of but forty men ; his greatest and most renowned of three hundred, who were mustered from the villages on the shores of the lake, as far east as St. Mary's Falls."
This last party is the one which "Waub-o-jeeg led in the battle of the St. Croix, an account of which Mr. Schoolcraft proceeded to give. Respecting the details of this important occurrence, however, it appears that he has received but meagre information, as he finishes it in a single paragraph.
MODE OF INDIAN WARFARE. 251
He does not mention the sixty warriors from Sandy Lake, who decided the fate of the battle, and which swelled the ranks of Waub-o-jeeg to three hundred and sixty warriors. The tradition of this event is still clearly related by the Ojibways of the Mississippi, they having learned it from the lips of their fathers who were present at the battle.
After giving in verse the plaintive lament of "Waub-o- J€^ for the warriors who fell at St. Croix Falls, Mr. Schoolcraft, who, through his long official connection with the Ojibways, obtained an accurate knowledge of their general customs and mode of passing the different seasons of the year, continues in his forcible and lucid style to give a faithful picture of Indian life :
" It is the custom of these tribes to go to war in the spring and summer, which are not only comparatively seasons of leisure with them, but it is at these seasons that they are concealed and protected by the foliage of the forest, and can approach the enemy unseen. At these annual returns of warmth and vegetation, they also engage in festivities and dances, during which the events and exploits of past years are sung and recited : and while they derive fresh courage and stimulus to renewed exertion, the young, who are listeners, learn to emulate their fathers, and take their earliest lessons in the art of war.
" Nothing is done in the summer months in the way of hunting. The small furred animals are changing their pelt, which is out of season. The doe retires with her fawns from the plains and open grounds, into thick woods. It is the general season of reproduction, and the red man, for a time, intermits his war on the animal creation, to resume it against man. As the autumn approaches, he prepares for his fell hunts, by retiring from the outskirts of the settlements and from the open lakes, shores, and streams, which have been the scenes of his summer festivities, and proceeds, after a short preparatory hunt, to his wintering
252 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
grounds. This round of hunting, festivity, and war, fills up the year ; all the tribes conform in these general cus- toms. There are no war parties raised in the winter. This season is exclusively devoted to procuring the means of their subsistence and clothing, by seeking the valuable skins which are to purchase their clothing and their ammunition, traps, and arms.
" The hunting grounds of the chief, whose life we are considering, extended along the southern shores of Lake Superior, from the Montreal River, to the inlet of the Wis- a-co-da, or Burnt Wood River of Fond du Lac. If he ascended the one, he usually made the wide circuit indi- cated, and came out at the other. He often penetrated by a central route up the Mas-ki-go, or Bad River. This is a region still abounding, but less so than formerly, in the bear, moose, beaver, otter, marten, and muskrat. Among the smaller animals are also to be noticed the mink, lynx, hare, porcupine, and partridge, and towards its southern and western limit, the Virginia deer.
" In this ample area, the La Pointe, or Chagoimegon, Indians hunted. It is a rule of the chase, that each hunter has a portion of the country assigned to him, on which he alone may hunt ; and there are conventional laws which decide all questions of right and priority in start- ing and killing game. In these questions, the chief exer- cises a proper authority, and it is thus in the power of one of these forest governors and magistrates, when they happen to be men of sound sense, judgment, and manly independence, to make themselves felt and known, and to become true benefactors to their tribes. And such chiefs create an impression upon their followers, and leave a reputation behind them, which is of more value than their achievements in war.
" Waub-o-jeeg excelled in both characters; he was equally popular as a civil ruler and war-chief; and while he admin-
DESPERATE FIGHT WITH A MOOSE. 253
istered jastice to his people, he was an expert hunter, and made due and ample provision for his family. He usually gleaned, in a season, by his traps and carbine, four packs of mixed furs, the avails of which were ample to provide clothing for all the members of his lodge circle, as well as to renew his supply of ammunition and other essential articles.
''On one occasion he had a singular contest with a moose. He had gone out one morning early, to set his traps. He had set about forty, and was returning to his lodge, when he unexpectedly encountered a large moose in his path, which manifested a disposition to attack him. Being unarmed, and having nothing but a knife and small hatchet which he carried to make his traps, he tried to avoid it, but the animal came towards him in a furious manner. He took shelter behind a tree, shifting . his position from tree to tree retreating. At length, as he fled, he picked up a pole, and quickly untying his moccasin strings,, he bound his knife to the end of the pole. He then placed himself in a favorable position behind a tree, and when the moose came up, stabbed him several times in the throat and breast. At last the animal, exhausted with the loss of blood, fell. He then dispatched him, and cut out his tongue to carry home to his lodge, as a trophy of victory. When they went back to the spot for the car- case, they found the snow trampled down in a wide circle, and copiously sprinkled with blood, which gave it the appearance of a battle-field. It proved to be a male of un- common size.
" The domestic history of a native chief can seldom be obtained. In the present instance, the facts that follow may be regarded with interest, as having been obtained from residents of Chagoi-me-gon, or from his descendants. He did not take a wife until about the age of thirty, and he then married a widow, by whom he had one son. He
254 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
had obtained early notoriety as a warrior, which perhaps absorbed his attention. What causes there were to render this union unsatisfactory, or whether there were any, is not known ; but after the lapse of two years, he married a girl of fourteen, of the Totem of the Bear, by whom he had a family of six children. He is represented as of a temper and manners affectionate and forbearing. He evinced thoughtfulness and diligence in the management of his affairs, and the order and disposition of his lodge. When the hunting season was over, he employed his leisure moments in adding to the comforts of his lodge. His lodge was of an oblong shape, ten fathoms long, and made by setting two rows of posts firmly in the ground, and sheathing the sides and roof with the smooth bark of the birch. From the centre rose a post crowned with the carved figure of an owl, which he had probably selected as a bird of good omen, for it was neither his own nor his wife's totem. The figure was so placed that it turned with the wind, and answered the purpose of a weather-cock,
"In person, Waub-o-jeeg was tall, being six feet six inches, erect in carriage, and of slender make. He possessed a commanding countenance, united to ease and dignity of manners. He was a ready and fluent speaker, and con- ducted personally the negotiations with the Fox and Sioux nations. It was perhaps twenty years after the battle on the St. Croix, which established the "Chippeway boundary in that quarter, and while his children were still young, that there came to his village in the capacity of a trader, a young gentleman of a respectable family in the north of Ireland, who formed an exalted notion of his character, bearing, and war-like exploits. This visit, and his con- sequent residence on the lake during the winter, became an important era to the chief, and has linked his name and memory with numerous persons in civilized life. Mr. John- ston asked the northern chief for his youngest daughter.
DOMESTIC UFE OF WAUB-0-JEEG. 255
^Englishman,' he replied, *mj daughter is yet young, and
you cannot take her, as white men have too otYen taken our
daughters. It will be time enough to think of complying
with your request when you return again to this lake in
the summer. My daughter is my favorite child, and I
cannot part with her, unless you will promise to acknowledge
her by such ceremonies as white men use. You must ever
keep her, and never forsake her.' On this basis a union
was formed, it may be said, between the Erse and Algon-
(laiQ racQs, and it was faithfully adhered to till his death,
a period of thirty-seven years.
" Waub-o-jeeg had impaired his health in the numerous war parties which he conducted across the wide summit which separated his hunting grounds from the Mississippi Valley. A slender ^me under a life of incessant exertion, brought on a premature decay. Consumption revealed itself at a comparatively early age, and he fell before this insidious disease in a few years, at the early age of about forty-five. He died in 1793, at his native village of Cha- goimegon."
Waub-o-jeeg will long live in the traditions of the annals
of his tribe. His descendants of mixed blood, by his
youngest daughter, who married Mr. Johnston, are now
livimerous and widespread, being connected with some of
tte first families in the northwest. Mr. Schoolcraft him-
^If, who is so well known by his numerous valuable works
on the red race, married a daughter of this union, who was
Vacated in Ireland. She proved, during the comparatively
short period that her life was spared to him, an amiable
aud loving wife.
I
256 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XXL
ORIGIN OF THE DISTINCTIVB NAME OF PILLAGERS APPLIED TO THE LEECH LAKE BAND OF OJIBWAYS ; AMD BRA OF THE SMALLPOX.
General remarlu oo the character of the Leech Lake OJibwaya— Their gradual increase — Origin of their present distinctive name — ^Their camp is yialted bf a trader from the Lower MlsslBsippi, in the summer of 1781 — His inahilitj, through sickness, to trade — Indians commence to take his goods on credit- A pillage ensues— Whisky found—The trader Is forced to leave, and dies at Sauk Rapids—The Pillagers send a delegation to Mackinaw to mUme for their conduct— They receive presents fh>m the British— On dlstributloD of the presents at Fond du Lac they fall sick of the smallpox— Common saying against the British — ^Account of the real manner in which the smallpox came to be introduced among them^ War party of Assineboines, Kenistenos, and Ojibways to the Missouri— Attack on a village of dead enemies — ^Tbej catch the infection — The Kenisteno village is depopulated — Course of the contagion— Loss of lives among the allied tribes.
In the year 1781, the large band of the Ojibways^ who had taken possession of Leech Lake (one of the principal sources of the Mississippi), became for the first time known by the distinctive appellation of " Pillagers," Muk-im-dua- win-in-e-wug (men who take by force).* They had become noted at this time (and it is a character which they have retained ever since), as being the bravest band of the tribe. Being obliged, continually, to fight with the Dakotas for the country over which they hunted, every man capable or bearing arms became a warrior and had seen actual service. They were consequently filled with a daring and indepen- dent spirit, and no act was so wild, but that they werc^ ready and disposed to achieve it.
This band was formed mostly of the noted clans of th^ Bear, and A-waus-e or Catfish, and at the time which w^ are now considering, they probably numbered about on^
1 Henry found <' PUlagcrs'' in 1775 at Lake of the Woods.— E. D. N.
THE PILLAGER BAND. 257
hundred warriors. In 1882, Mr. Schoolcraft estimates
tlieir total number of souls at eight hundred. In 1836
Mr. Nicollet estimates them as numbering one thousand,
and in 1861, according to their payment census list, they
number twelve hundred and flfty souls, and their chief
estimates the men who are capable of bearing arms at
about three hundred. These, it will be rememberetl,
include only the band who make Leech Lake their home,
or summer residence ; and it is only these that are known
by the distinctive name of Pillagers. The large bands
residing at the present day at Red, Cass, and Winncpeg
lakes, and on Pembina River, are known by the general
term of Northern Ojibways.
Notwithstanding the never failing yearly drain which
tteir warfare with the Dakotas have made in their ranks,
y^t still, from a natural increase, the healthfulness of the
^Untry they occupy, and gradual accessions from other
tillages, this band have increased in numbers and strength,
^'11 they now form a most respectable section of the Ojib-
^^y tribe. The manner in which they obtained the
^grificant name by which they are now generally known,
^ trold by their old men as follows : —
During the summer of the year which we have desig-
'^^ted, the Leech Lake band had moved down towards the
^^11 stocked hunting grounds of the Dakotas, and en-
^^ftped at the entry of a small creek which empties into
^lie Crow Wing River, about ten miles above its confluence
^ ith the Mississippi. While making the usual prepara-
^^^m for the performance of their grand medawe rite, a
lurge canoe arrived from the Lower Mississippi, manned
^y white men, and laden with merchandise. The trader
^hohad, for the first time, come to this far off point of the
g^eat river, had started from a great distance below on its
latere, for the purpose of trading with the Ojibways. He
^rtved at their camp very sick, and was not able to enter
17
258 MINNESOTA mSTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
immediately into the barter for which the Indians were eager. Some of his goods having got wet by rain, were untied by his men, and exposed to the sun to dry. The temptation to the almost naked Indians, who had not seen a trader for a long time, was too great to be easily over- come, and being on the eve of their grand festival rite, when they are accustomed to display all the finery of which they are possessed, caused them doubly to covet the merchandise of the sick trader. They possessed plenty of furs, which they oflFered repeatedly to exchange, but the trader's men refused to enter into a trade till their master was sufficiently recovered to oversee it. Thei'e was no preconcerted plan, or even intention of pillage, when the rifling of the trader's effects actually commenced.
A number of young men, women, and children, were standing around, admiring the goods which had been ex- posed to dry, and longing for possession, as much as an avaricious white man for a pile of yellow gold, when a forward young warrior approached a roll of cloth, and after feeling, and remarking on its texture, his itching fingers at last tore off a piece sufficient to make him a breech clout, at the same time he remarked, that he had beaver skins in his lodge, and when the trader got well, he would pay his demands. The trader's men stood dumb, and making no efi()rt to prevent the young pillager from carrying oft' the cloth, others becoming bold followe<l his example, and tearing off pieces of calico for shirts, cloth for blankets, the goods spread out to dry soon disap{>eared at a very uncertain credit.
The young pillagers taking their trophies to the lodges, the excitement in the village became general, as each |>er- son became determined to possess a share of the trader's remaining bales. Th e cred iting of the goods was now changed to an actual pillage, and the only anxiety evinced by the Indians, men, women, and children, was, who would secure
A SICK TRADER ROBBED OF HIS GOODS. 259
the greatest quantity. A keg of fire water being discovered in the course of the ransacking the sick trader's outfit, added greatly to the excitement and lawlessness of the scene, and the men soon becoming unmanageable and dangerous, the rifled trader was obliged quickly to embark in his empty canoe, and leave the inhospitable camp of the Qjibways to save his life. It is said that he died of the sickness from which he was suffering, at Sauk Rapids, on his way down the Mississippi.
From this circumstance, this band of the Ojibways became known amongst their fellows (who generally very much deprecated this foolish act), by the name of Pillagers, and the creek on which the scene we have described was enacted, is known to this day as Pillage Creek.
At this time the Upper Mississippi bands had no regular tiader to winter among them, and they were obliged to make visits each summer to La Pointe, Sault Ste. Marie, and Mackinaw, • to procure the necessaries which their intercourse with the whites had learned them to stand in abeolute need, such as clothing, arms, and ammunition, and to vxint^ such as fire water. The few traders who had ^occasionally paid them visits, during this period in their history, had come from the direction of Lake Superior, and the trader who was pillaged, is the first they tell of having come from the Lower Mississippi.
The conduct of the Pillagers in this aftair, was generally f^sured by their more peaceful fellows as foolish and ^nipolitic, as it would tend to prevent traders from coming ^niongst them for fear of meeting with the same treat- ^«nt. To make up, therefore, for their misconduct, as y^ll as to avert the evil consequences that might arise from % the Pillagers on the ensuing spring, gathered a nunjber ^f packs of beaver skins and sent a delegation headed by ^ne of their principal men to the British fort at Mackinaw, ^^ appease the ill-will of the whites, by returning an ample
260 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLSCTIONS.
consideration for the goods which they had pillaged The British commandant of the fort received the packs oi beaver, and in return he assured the Pillagers of his gooi] will and friendship towards them, and strengthened hi£ words by giving their leader a medal, flag, coat, and bale of goods, at the same time requesting that he would not unfurl his flag, nor distribute his goods, until he arrived into his own country.
With this injunction, the Pillager chief complied, till he landed at Fond du Lac, where, anxious to display the great consequence to which the medal and presents of the British had raised him in his own estimation, he formally called his followers to a council, and putting on his chief's coat, and unfurling his flag, he untied his bale of goods, and freely distributed to his fellows. Shortly after, he waa taken suddenly sick, and retiring to the woods, he expired by himself, as the discovery of his remains afterwards indicated. All of those who had received a portion of the goods also fell sick, one after another, and died. The sickness became general, and spreading to diflbrent vil lages, its fearful ravages took off a large number of th tribe. It proved to be the smallpox, and many of tl Ojibways believed, and it is a common saying to this da that the white men purposely inflicted it on them secreting bad medicine in the bale of gocxls, in punishm« for the pillage which the Leech Lake band had commit on one of their traders.
This was a serious cTiarge, and in order to ascertain was really entertained by the more enlightened and tl ing portions of the tribe, I have made i)articular inqu and flatter myself that T have obtained from the intell old chief of the Pillagers, a truthful account of the m in which the smallpox was, on this occasion, actually duced among the Ojibways.
HOW THE OJIBWAYS CAUGHT THE SMALLPOX. 261
A war party of Kenistenos, Assineboines, and Ojibways,
Was once formed at the great Kenistcno ' village, which
was at this time located on Dead River, near ita outlet into
the Red River of the North. They proceeded westward
to the waters of the Ke-che-pe-gan-o, or Missouri River,
till they camo to a large village of the Gi-aucth-in-ne-wug
(Gros Ventres), which they surrounded and attacked.
Through some cause which they could not at first account
f% the resistance made to their attack was feeble. This
tiiey aoon overcame, and the warriors rushing forward to
^ure their scalps, discovered the lodges filled with dead
^^ies, and they could not withstand the stench arising
herefrom. The party retreated, after securing the scalps
^f those whom they had killed, among which was the
^Jp of an old man who must have been a giant in size,
^ hie scalp is said to have been as large as a beaver skin.
^ their return home, for five successive nights, this scalp,
^*^ich had been attached to a short stick being planted
^^^Qt in the ground, was found in the morning to lean
^^ards the west This simple occurrence aroused the
^^perstitious fears of the party, and when, on the fourth
^^y> one of their number died, they threw away the fearful
^^Ip, and proceeded homeward with quickened speed.
^very day, however, their numbers decreased, as they fell
^^ck and died. Out of the party, which must have
^^tnhered a considerable body of warriors, but four survived
^ i^tum home to their village at Dead River. They
brought with them the fatal disease that soon depopulated
tniQ great village, which is said to have covered a large ex-
^nt of ground, and the circumstance of the great mortality
^nich ensued on this occasion at this spot, in the ranks of
^"6 Kenisteno and Assineboine,ha8 given the river the name
^hich it now bears Ne-bo, or Death River. In trying to
^^n away from the fatal epidemic, the Ojibways of this
L
2G2 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
village spread the contagion to Rainy Lake, which village also it almost depopulated. From thence by the route of Pigeon River it reached Lake Superior at Grand Portage, and proceeded up the lake to Fond du Lac, where its ravages were also severely felt, and where the Pillager party on their return from Mackinaw caught the infection, and taking it to Sandy Lake, but a few of their number lived to reach their homes at Leech Lake, where it is said to have stopped, after having somewhat lessened the number of the Pillagers. The large village of Sandy Lake suliered severely, and it is said that its inhabitants became reduced to but seven wigwams.
The loss of lives occasioned by this disease in the tribes of the allied Kenistenos and Assineboines, amounted to several thousands. And the loss among the Ojibways, as near as can be computed from their accounts at the present day, amounted to not less than fifteen hundred, or two thousand. It did not, luckily, spread generally, over the country occupied by the tribe, and its ravages were felt almost exclusively in the section and villages which have been designated.
WAB AND HUKTINO CUSTOMS. 263
CHAPTER XXn.
C0HTI5URD PROORESS OF THE 0JIBWAY8 ON THE UPPER MISSIS- | BIPPI DURING THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
^ Pfllagen and Sandy Lake tiands concentre their forces, and make their
^ «&d winter hunto in the vicinity of Crow Wing and Long Prairie—The
Bttnner in which they employ themselves during different seasons of the
7**i^--0ame abounds op the Dakota hunting grounds about Crow Wing —
f^ts of one day's chase of the OJibway hunter No-ka — Noka River is
'^^ed after him — Pillagers and Sandy Lake bands rendezvous at OuU
^e— They proceed by slow marches towards Long Prairie— Meetings with
^ Dakotas — A temporary peace is affected, that either party may hunt in
'^Qrity— lUnner of affecting a peace— Interchanges of good feeling and
^^Pt«d relationship— The peace is often treacherously broken — Wa-son-
^^-e-qua, or a tale of Indian revenge.
-^8 beaver, and the larger animals, such as buffalo, elk,
^^5 and bear, decreased in the immediate vicinity of Leech
^^ Sandy Lakes, the hanly bands of Ojibways who had
^^^ possession of these beautiful sheets of water, were
^Sed to search further into the surrounding country for
^ game which formed the staple of life. It became
^^omary for these two pioneer bands to meet by appoint-
^^^t, every fall of the year, at Gull Lake, or at the con-
, ^Hce of the Crow Wing with the Mississippi ; and from
- ^^ce to move in one collected camp into the more plenti-
*y supplied hunting grounds of the Dakotas.
P ^he camp, consisting of between fifty and a hundred
^*^t birch bark wigwams, moved by short stages from
^^t to spot, according to the pleasure of the chiefs, or as
5^^e was found to abound in the greatest plenty. This
^^e of hunting was kept up from the first fall of snow
^lie commencement of winter, to the month of February,
*^en the bands again separated, and moved back slowly
their respective village sites, to busy themselves with
B
26i MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
the manufacture of sugar, amidst the thick groves of the valuable maple which was to be found skirting the lakes of which they had taken possession. As a general fact the women only occupied themselves in the sugar bushes, while the men scattered about in small bands, to hunt the furred animals whose pelts at this season of the year were considered to be most valuable. When sugar-making was over and the ice and snow had once more disappeared before the warmth of a spring sun, the scattered wigwams of the difterent bands would once more collect at their village sites, and the time for recreation, ball-playing, racing, courtship, and war, had once more arrived. If no trader had passed the winter amongst them, many of the hunters would start oft' in their birch canoes to visit the trading posts on the Great Lakes, to barter their pelts for new supplies of clothing, ammunition, tobacco, and fire- water.
If any one had lately lost relatives, naturally, or at the hands of the Dakotas, now was the proper time to think of revenge ; and it is generally at this season of the year that war parties of the red men prowled all over the north- western country, searching to shed each other's blood.
According to invariable custom, the Ojibway mourns for a lost relative of near kin, for the space of one year ; but there are two modes by which he can, at any time, wipe the paint of mourning from his face. The first is through the medium of the Meda, or grand medicine, which, to an Indian, is a costly ordeal. The next is to go to war, and either to kill or scalp an enemy, or besmear a relic of the deceased in an enemy's blood. This custom is one of their grand stimulants to war, and the writer con- siders it as more fruitful of war parties, than the more commonly believed motive of satiating revenge, or the love of renown.
THE HE-DA.-WI SITES. 266
The spring of the year ia also the &vorite time for the performaace of the sacred graod Medur-we rites. The per- Bon wishing to become an initiate into the secrets of this religion, which the old men aAirm the Great Spirit gave to the red race, prepares himself during the whole winter for the approaching ccreraoiiy. lie collects and dries choic'O meats ; with the choicest pelts he procures of the traders, articles for sacrifice, and when spring arrives, )ia\'ing chosen his four initiators from the wise old men of hid Tillage, he places these articles, with tobacco, at their dis- posal, and the ceremonies commence. For four nights, the medicine drums of the initiators resound throughout the village, and their songs and prayers are addressed to the master of life. The day that the ceremony is performed, is one of jubilee to the inhabitants of the village. Each one dons the best clothing he or she possesses, and they vie with one another in the paints and ornaments with which they adorn their persons, to appear to the best advantage vithin the sacred lodge.
It is at this season of the year also, in which, while the old men are attending to their religious rites, and the lovers of glory and renown are silently treading the war path, the young men amuse themselves in playing their favorite and beautiful game of ba»g-ah-iul-o-wayy which has been described in a former chapter, as the game with which the Ojibwaya and Sauks captured Fort Michili- macinac in the year 1763.
The women also, at this season of the year, have their amusements. The summer is the season of rest for these usual drudges of the wild and lordly red hunters. Their time, during this season, is generally spent in making their lodge coverings and mats for use during the coming winter, and in picking and drying berries. Their hard work, however, again commences in the autumn, when the wild
266 KINNBSOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
rice which abounds in many of the northern inland lakes, becomes ripe and fit to gather. Then, for a month or more, they are busied in laying in their winter's supply.
When the rice-gathering is over, the autumn* is far ad- vanced, and by the time each family has secreted their rice and other property with which they do not wish to be encumbered during the coming winter's march, they move once more in a body to the usual rendezvous at Gull Lake, or Crow Wing, to search for meat on the dangerous hunting grounds of their enemies. In those days which we now speak of, game of the larger species was very plentiful in this region of country, where now the poor Ojibway, depending on his hunt for a living, would liter- ally starve to death.
As an illustration of the kind and abundance of animals which then covered the country, it is stated that an Ojib- way hunter named No-ka, the grandfather of the Cliief White Fisher, killed in one day's hunt, starting from the mouth of Crow Wing River, sixteen elk, four buffalo, five deer, three bear, one lynx, and one porcupine. There was a trader wintering at the time at Crow Wing, and for his winter's supply of meat, No-ka presented him with the fruits of this day's hunt. This occurred about sixty-five years ago, when traders had become more common to the Ojibways of the Upper Mississippi. It is from this old warrior and stalwart hunter, who fearlessly passed his summers on the string of lakes which form the head of the No-ka River, which empties into the Mississippi nearly opposite the present site of Fort Ripley, that the name of this stream is derived.
Long Prairie, the present site of the Winnebago agency, was at this time the favorite winter resort of those bands of the Dakota tribe now known as the Warpeton and Sisseton. It was in the forests surrounding this isolateil prairie, that herds of the buffalo and elk took shelter
TEMPORARY TRUCES ARRANGED. 267
from the bleak cold winds which at this season of the year hlew over the vast western prairies where they were accustomed to feed in summer; and hera, the Dakota^, in concentrated camps of over a hundred lodges, followed them to their haunts, and while they preyed on them towards the west, the guns of the Ojibways were often heard doing likewise towards the east The hunters of the two hostile camps prowled after their game in " fear and trembling," and it often happened that a scalp lock adorned the belt of the hunter, on his return at evening from his day's chase.
The chiefs of the two camps, and the older warriors deeply deprecated this state of affairs, as it resulted only in the perpetual *' fear and trembling" of their wives and children, and caused hunger and want oflen to prevail in camp, even when living in the midst of plenty. Efforts Were made to bring about a peaceable meeting between the two camps, which were at least crowned with success, and it soon became customary, let the war rage ever so furiously during all other seasons. The pipe of peace was smoked each winter at the meeting of the two grand hostile hunt- ing camps, and for weeks they would interchange friendly visits, and pursue the chase in one another's vicinity, with- out fear of harm or molestation.
The Ojibways assert, that when the two camps first
neared each other in the fore part of winter, and the
g^QB of the enemy whom they had fought all summer, and
^^iose scalps probably still graced their lodge poles, were
"^rd booming in the distance, towards Long Prairie, they
'^ere generally the first to make advances for a temporary
I^^^^Je, or as they term it in their euphonious language, to
^'""^^te pin-dig-(Hlaud'€-win (signifying, " to enter one an-
^^n^r's lodges"). Their grudge against the Dakotas was
. ^v^er so deep seated and strong as that which this tribe
'^^ulged against them, probably from the fact that their
268 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
losses in their implacable warfare, included not their ancient village sites, and the resting places of their ancestors.
No sooner, therefore, than the guns of the Dakotas announced their vicinity, than the war chiefs of the Ojib- way camp would collect their warriors, and well armed, and prepared for battle if necessary, but taking with them the sacred peace pipe, they would proceed at once to find the enemies' camp. Arrived in sight, they would place the bearer of the peace pipe, and the banner carriers in front, and march fearlessly into the camp of the Dakotas, pre- pared to act according to the manner of their reception. The Dakotas, surrounded by their women and children, whose safety was dear to them, though probably their hearts were filled with gall and thoughts of vengeance, never refused on these occasions to run out of their lodges and salute the Ojibways with the firing of guns, and in great ceremony to smoke from the stem of their proflfered peace pipe. During these first and sudden salutations, it is told that bullets often whizzed close by the ears of the Ojibways, as if their new friends were shooting to try how near they could come to the mark without actually hitting. When the peace party has been few in numbers, and the camp of the enemy large, it has been only through the most strenuous efforts of the wiser warriors, that blood has not been shed. The first excitement once over, and the peace pipe smoked, the Dakotas, smoothing down theii angry looks, would invite the Ojibways into their lodges, and feast them with the best they possessed.
In this manner were the returns of temporary peace effected between these two warlike people. And when once the " good road" had been broken in this manner, interchanges of friendly visits would become common, and it often happened that during the winter's intercourse of the two camps, a Dakota chief or warrior taking a fancy to an Ojibway, would exchange presents with him, and
THE CUSTOM OF ADOPTING BROTnERS. 269
adopt him as a brother. This the Ojibways would also do. These adopted ties of relationship were most generally contracted by such as had lost relations in the couree of their feud, and who, in this manner, sought to fill the void which death had made in the ranks of his dearest friends.
These ties, temporary and slight as they may seem, were much regarded by these |)eople, and it has often happened in the course of their ever renewed warfare, that Ojibway and Dakota has saved the life of an adopt<Kl brother in times of trouble, of massacre, and battle ; and whenever these ties have been disregarded or grossly violated, the occur- rence is told in their lodge tales, in terms to teach the rising generation never to do likewise.
In the course of their history, there are many instances m which these temporary lulls of peace have been suddenly broken by some one or more foolish young men of cither tribe, taking advantage of the security in which their former enemy temporarily reposed, and taking the life of some stray hunter. The most important of these instances and those to which the direct consequences have accrued, "will be related in the future course of our narrative.
Illustrative of the manner in which these peace lulls were generally broken, and of the strong propensity exist- ing in the Indian character for revenge, I will here intro- duce a tale which I obtained from the lips of Esh-ke-bug- ©KJoshe, the chief of the Pillagers :
INDIAN REVENGE.
Ush-ke-bug-e-coshe, the present living chief of the Pil- '^^ers,* relates of his deceased father, whose name was Wa- ^^B-aun-e-qua (signifying, ''Yellow Hair"), that he was not ^ chief by hereditary descent, but that he gained a gradual ^^cendency over the minds of the fearless Pillagers, through
1 A. D. 1852.
270 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
his supreme knowledge of medicine, especially such as destroyed life. He possessed a most vindictive and revenge- ful temper. Injury was never inflicted on him, but he retaliated twofold ; and it is said that persons who fell beneath his displeasure, lost their lives in a sudden and unaccountable manner. His people feared him ; and he came to be treated with the greatest respect and first con- sideration. It happened one winter, that the allied camps of the Pillagers and Sandy Lake band met the camp of the Dakotas at Long Prairie, and as it had become usual, a temporary peace was effected. During the friendly inter- course which ensued between the two tribes, a Dakota warrior of some note, belonging to the War-pe-ton band, gave presents to Yellow Hairy and requested to be termed his brother. The presents were accepted, and these two warriors of hostile tribes treated one another as brethren, during the course of the whole wintcR Yellow Hair had partly learned to speak the language of his adopted brother, having formerly taken to wife, a Dakota captive woman, and he now leanied to speak it with greater ease and fluency. A lasting peace was discussed between the elders of the two camps, and a mutual understanding was made between them to meet in peace during the sum- mer, at certain points on the Mississippi River.
As the time for making sugar approached, the camps of the two tribes separated, in peace and good-will, and they moved slowly back, each to their village. It happeneil that Yellow Hair remained behind the main camp of his people, for the purpose of hunting a few days longer in the vicinity of Long Prairie. Ilis camp, consisting of four lodges, was located on the woody shores of a little lake, which lay partly embosomed in a deep forest, while one end barely peeped out on the smooth and open prairie.
On the ice of this lake, the boys of the four lodges were accustomed to go out and play, throwing before them their
MASSACRB OF O JIB WAY CHILDREN. 271
shosh-e-manSy or little snow slides, and as no fear of an enemy prevailed in the breasts of their parents, they were allowed to go thither, whenever they listed. One morning, after Yellow Hair had started on his usual day's hunt, and the mother of his children was attending to her within- door duties, a plaintive moaning was heard at the dck)r of the lodge, and the mother, rushing forth, beheld the out- stretched form of her oldest boy, painfully crawling home- wards through the snow, bleeding and scalpless! The Dakotas had done it ! The anguish cry of the mother soon gathered the inmates of the surrounding lodges to her side, and with streaming eyes the women lifted the wounded and mutilated boy into the parents' wigwam — then rush- ing to the lake on the bloody track which marked his course homewards, they beheld their children, three in number, lying dead and mangled, where the tomahawks of the Dakotas had struck them down.
The Ojibway hunter returned at evening from his day's chase, in time to witness the last death struggle of his murdered boy, his eldest son. He listened to the bloody tale in silence — no tear dimmed his eye, for the feelings which harrowed his heart could not be satisfied with such a vent. The stem of his pipe seldom left his strongly compressed lips the whole of that night, and the vehe- mence with which he smoked was the only outward sign he gave of his emotions.
Early in the morning, the camp was raised, and they moved in the direction of Leech Lake, taking with them the corpses of the murdered children. When he had reached the village site of his people, and placed the body of his boy in its last resting place, Yellow Hair, with five comrades, returned on his trail to seek the murderers of his child. At Crow Wing they found the Sandy Lake Ojibways still collected, moving but slowly towards their village. It was not difficult for their fellows to divine
272 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
their errand, for the treacherous massacre of their children was the common topic on every one's lips. It was, how- ever, supposed that the bloody deed had been perpetrated by the prairie Dakotas, who had not been present at the peace meetings which had taken place during the winter between the hunting camps of the Ojibways and Warpeton, or lower Dakotas.
Under this impression, the chiefs of the Sandy Lake camp, invited Yellow Hair and his five followers to council, and endeavored by every argument, to dissuade them from following the war-path, as they felt anxious to keep up the peace with the Dakotas. Arguments and speeches, how- ever, appeared to produce no eftect, and as a last resort, presents were given them sufiicient, in Indian custom and parlance, to " cover the graves of their dead children." The determination of Yellow Hair, was, however, inflexible, but as he perceived that his movements would be watched, he at last silently accepted the presents, and left the camp on his homeward track, pretending to have given up his bloody designs. When arrived at a sufficient distance from the camp to prevent an early discovery of the new trail he was about to make, he left the beaten road, and turning back, he avoided the camp, and proceeded towanls Long Prairie. From this place he followed up the return trail of the Dakota hunting camp, hoping to catch up with, and wreak his vengeance on them, before they reached their villages. Arrived at Sauk Lake, he discov- ered a small trail to branch off from the main and deeply beaten path which he had been following. This he followed, and he soon discovered that those who moved on it consisted of l)ut two lodges, and every one of their old encampments, which the eager warriors passed, proved to them that they were fast nearing their prey.
On the head waters of Crow River, nearly two hundred miles from the point of his departure, Yellow Ilair at last
BKVENGE OF THE OJIBWAY FATHER. 273
caught up with the two lodges of his enemies. At the first peep of dawn in the morning, the Dakotas were startled from their quiet slumbers by the fear-striking Ojibway war-whoop, and as the men arose to grasp their arms, and the women and children jumped up in affright, the bullets of the enemy fell amongst them, causing wounds and death. After the first moments of surprise, the men of the Dakotas returned the fire of the enemy, and for many minutes the fight raged hotly. An interval in the incessant firing at last took place, and the voice of a Dakota, apparently wounded, called out to the Ojibways, "Alas! why is it that I die? I thought my road was clear before and behind me, and that the skies were cloudless above me. My mind dwelt only on good, and blood was not in my thoughts."
Yellow Hair recognized the voice of the warrior who
had agreed to be his adopted brother during the late peace
between their respective tribes. He understood his words,
but his wrong was great, and his heart had become as hard
as flint. He answered : " My brother, I too thought that the
skies were cloudless above me, and I lived without fear ;
but a wolf came and destroyed my young; he tracked
from the country of the Dakotas. My brother, for this
you die !"
" My brother, I knew it not," answered the Dakota —
it was none of my people, but the wolves of the prairies."
The Ojibway warrior now quietly filled and lit his pipe,
^^ while he smoked, the silence was only broken by the
P^ans of the wounded, and the suppressed wail of bereaved
^others. Having finished his smoke, he laid aside his
P^pe, and once more he called out to the Dakotas :
*' My brother, have you still in your lodge a child who ^ill take the place of my lost one, whom your wolves have ^^voured ? I have come a great distance to behold once 18
nii
274 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
more my young as I once beheld himy and I retam not on my tracks till I am satisfied !"
The Dakotas, thinking that he wished for a captive to adopt instead of his deceased child, and happy to escape certain destruction at such a cheap sacrifice, took one of the surviving children, a little girl, and decking it with such finery and ornaments as they possessed, they sent her out to the covert of the Ojibway warrior. The innocent little girl came forward, but no sooner was she within reach of the avenger, than he grasped her by the hair of the head and loudly exclaiming — ^*' I sent for thee that I might do with you as your people did to my child. I wish to behold thee as I once beheld him," he deliberately scalped her alive, and sent her shrieking back to her agonized parents.
After this cold-blooded act, the fight was renewed witfu great fury. Yellow Hair rushed desperately forward, by main force he pulled down one of the Dakota lodges. A he did so, the wounded warrior, his former adopted brothei discharged his gun at his breast, which the active wary Ojibway adroitly dodging, the contents killed one his comrades who had followed him close at his back. Nc
a being in that Dakota lodge survived ; the other, beia bravely defended, was left standing; and Yellow Hai with his four surviving companions, returned homewa] their vengeance fully glutted, and having committed a d( which ever after became the topic of the lodge circles — of their people.
ATTACK ON A TRADING HOUSE. 275
CHAPTER XXm.
ATTACK OF A WAR PARTT OF DAKOTAS ON A FRENCH TRADING HOUSE, ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI, IN THE TEAR 1783.
A Frencb trader whom the OJibwayB name ** the Blaclumith" builda a cabin, and winters at the mouth of Pcna River, which empties into the Crow Wing ^He is attacked by two hundred Dakotas — The Dakotas, being armed mostly with bows and arrows, are finally repulsed with loss — Two French- men are wounded.
EsH-KB-BUO-E-cosHB, the old chieftain of the Pillagers, "W^ho is now* beyond his seventieth year, relates that when i^e was a small boy, not yet able to handle a gun, he was I^resent at a trading house located at the confluence of Pat- ^dge, or Pe-na River, with the Crow Wing, when it was attacked by a large war party of Dakotas. The difterent •^ircuinstances of this transaction appear still fresh and ^ear in the old man's memory, and as he is one of the few Indian story tellers who is not accustomed to exaggerate, ^nd in whose accounts perfect reliance can be placed, I ^ave thought the tale worthy of insertion here, from notes ^5arefully taken at the time I first heard the old chief relate it, as an important incident in the course of his adven- turous and checkered life.
The trading house had been built late in the fall by a "French trader whom the Indians designated with the name of Ah-wish-to-yah, meaning, a Blacksmith. He had ven- turously pitched his winter's quarters in the heart of the best hunting grounds on lands at that time still claimed by the Dakotas, but on which the Pillagers were now accustomed to make their fall and winter hunts, undeterred by the fear of their enemies, with whom they continually
» A. D. 1862.
276 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
came m deadly contact, while engaged in the pursuit of the game whose fur procured them the merchandise of the whites.
Being located in a dangerous neighborhood, the trader had erected a rude fence, or barrier of logs, around his dwelling, and the cluster of Indian wigwams containing the women and children of his hunters, which stood a few rods from his door,'were also surrounded with foiled trees and brush, as a defence against the sudden midnight attack which at any moment they might expect from the Dakotas. Ten hunters had left their families at the camp some days previous, to go and trap beaver which abounded in the vicinity. One night, long before they were ex- pected back, they startled the inmates of the wigwams and trading house from their quiet slumbers, by their sudden arrival. They reported the approach of two hundred Dakotas, who would doubtless attack the party, as they had ever proved enemies to the whites who traded with the Ojibways, and supplied them with the guns and ammu- nition which made them such able opponents, and who thus gave them the means and power of possessing their best hunting grounds.
The ten hunters had, the day previous to their sudden arrival at the camp, discovered the trail of the enemy, over which the peculiar odor of their tobacco smoke still lingered, discernible to the keen sense of the hunter's nos- trils, denoting that the party had but just passed on the trail. The course of the Dakotas led directly towards a small hunting camp which was perfectly defenceless, and which contained the relatives of the ten hunters, who determined, if possible, to save them from certain destruc- tion. In order to effect their purpose, they conclude<l to turn the course of the war party towards the trading house, where from behind the defences, they hoped to beat them off, while at the same time the report of their guns would
DAKOTAS ATTACK AN OJIBWAY TRADING HOUSE. 277
warn the scattered hunters in the vicinity, of danger, and collect them to their succor. In order to effect this plan, the ten hunters made a circuit and heading the Dakotas daring the night, while encamped, they crossed their course at right angles, and proceeded straight towards the trading house, judging that in the morning, when the war party fell across their tracks (as they would certainly do), they would eagerly follow them up. The hunters had marched all night, and were consequently several hours in advance of the enemy. These hours were employed by the trader and his people in strengthening the barriers around the house. The trees and logs were hauled by main force from around the wigwams, and piled on the defences, and the women, with the children (among whom was the narrator), were invited to take shelter within the house.
The Indian hunters, together with the trader and several " coureurs du bois," numbered nearly twenty men, capable of bearing arms in defence of the post, against a party judged, by the depth and size of their trail, to num- ber two hundred warriors.
The preparations of the Ojibways and their white allies had hardly been completed, when the enemy made their £ippearance, on the opposite banks of the river. They leisurely made their usual preparations for battle by adorn- ing their persons with paints, feathers, and ornaments ; ^nd relying on their numbers, they bravely crossed the stream on the ice, and commenced the attack on the trad- ing house by discharging clouds of barbed arrows, accom- l>anied with a terrific yelling of the war-whoop. Their <»mparatively harmless missiles were promptly answered ^th death-winged bullets, by the trader and his hunters, and such of the Dakotas as approached too near the wooden wall, suffered for their temerity.
The western, or prairie, Dakotas had not as yet generally
278 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
become possessed of the fatal fire-arm, and on this occasion, in the whole party of two hundred warriors, they hardly numbered half a dozen guns. They fought with the bow and arrow, and in this consisted the safety and salvation of the twenty Ojibway hunters and Frenchmen who fought against such immense odds, and who, being all supplied with fire-arms, easily kept off their numerous assailants.
The only manner in which they were annoyed was by the enemy's shooting their arrows into the air in such a manner as to fall directly into the inclosure, on the heads of its defenders. The more timid were thus forced to re- treat into the house for shelter, as for many minutes, the barbed arrows fell as thick as snowflakes, and two of the hunters being severely wounded, were disabled from fur- ther fighting.
Having exhausted their arrows without materially les- sening the destructive fire of the Ojibways and Frenchmen, the Dakotas having lost a number of their men, finally re- treated, first dragging away their dead, whom they threw into holes made in the ice, to prevent their being scalJK^d.
Shortly after their departure, the hunters in the vicinity of the trading house, who had hoard the firing attendant on the late fight, arrived one after another to the scene of action, till, at sunset, forty men had collected, all eager for pursuing the retreating enemy. The trader, however, humanely dissuaded them from the enterprise, and as they had lost no lives in the late attack, they were the more easily persuaded to forego their intent.
J. B. cadotte's trading expedition. 279
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI BECOME OPEN TO THE ENTERPRISE OF THE FUR TRADE, 1792.
John Baptiate Cadotte — Hia early career as an iDdlan trader— He organises a large trading expedition to explore the sources of the Mississippi — He win- ten on Leaf River and is attacked by the Dakotas— Peace effected and he yisits the camp of his enemies to trade — Treachery of the Dakotas — A division of Cadotte's party winter at Prairie Portage, on Red River, and another at Pem- bina—Troable with the Dakotas at Prairie Portage — Return of the Expe- dition by way of Rainy Lake and Pigeon River— Arrival at Orand Portage —Northwest For Company proceed to occupy the Upper Mississippi coun- try—They locate a depot at Fond du Lac — They build stockaded posts at Sandy Lake and at Leech Lake— Occupation of Red Lake by the OJibwaya dated from thia Expedition— Death of Negro Tom.
The great Basin covered with innumerable lakes and streams, from which the Mississippi, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, and Red River, flowing into Hudson's Bay, take their rise, was first fully opened to the enterprise of the old northwestern fur traders, by John Baptiste Cadotte, a son of the Mons. Cadotte, who is so often mentioned in the earliest era of the white man's intercourse with the Qjibways, and who figures so prominently in the simple but truthful narrative of Alexander Henry.
John Baptiste Cadotte* received a college education at
-^^ontreal. He was among the first individuals whose
"*^^rx>pean, or white blood, became intermixed with the
t>loo^ of the Qjibways. On leaving college, he became
^^^^^^^ssed of forty thousand francs which had been be-
^'^e^thed to him by his father, and with this sum as a
^pit;al, he immediately launched into the northwestern
***- record of the Cadotte family from parish and other records is given in ^^^er article in thia volumc—E. D. N.
280 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
fur trade. He wintered on the Bay of Shag-a-waum-ik- ong, and made large returns of beaver skins to the mar- ket at Montreal. His careless and spendthrift habits, however, and open-handedness and generosity to his Indian relatives, soon caused him to run through with his capital and profits of his trade. Unable to raise an equipment on his own account, he applied for help to Alexander Henry, who had traded in partnership with his deceased father, and who still, from his establishment at Montreal, con- tinued in the fur trade. Henry provided him with a large equipment for an expedition, which Cadotte proposed to make to the headwaters of the Mississippi, where beaver were reported to abound in great plenty.
The ferocity of the Naud-o-wanse, or Dakotas, who still kept possession of this region of country, battling stoutly for it against the persevering pressure of the Ojibway hun- ters, was the theme of every lip at Montreal, Mackinaw, and Sault Ste. Marie, and deterred many an enterprising trader from proceeding to winter on these dangen)U8 grounds. The few enterprising men who had risked these dangers from time to time, had been attacked by the Da- kotas, and the pillage of the sick trader by the Ojibways, which has given the distinctive name of Pillagers to an important division of this tribe, also contributed greatly to shut up this, then almost unknown, region of country to the enterprise of the fur trader.
Cadotte, noted for courage and fearlessness, easily formed a large party, consisting of traders, "coureurs du bois,** trappers, and a few Iroquois Indians, who had assumed the habits and learned to perform the labor, of Canadian "voy- ageurs," to accompany him on an expedition to these dangerous regions. Besides his own immediate engagees and servitors, the party consisted of the trader Reyaulm and his men; Pickette, Roberts, and Bell, with their men fully equipped for trading and trapping. Altogether they
cadottb's expedition to leaf river. 281
numbered sixty men, among whom was also a younger brother of Cadotte, named Michel, who managed an outfit on his own account.
This large party started from Sault Ste. Marie late in the summer, in large birch bark canoes, of over a ton bur- then each, which were then denominated "Canoe du mai- tre," and made expressly for the fur trade, they being com- paratively light and easily carried across portages on the shoulders of the "coureurs du bois." Cadotte coasted along the southern shores of Lake Superior, and proceeded to Fond du Lac, its extreme head. He entered the St Louis River, and packing their canoes and equipments over the nine-mile, or "grand portage," which leads around the tremendous rapids and falls on this river, they poled up its rapid current, and proceeded by the old or prairie portage route, into Sandy Lake. From this point, my in- formants differ as to which route the party took. Some state, that they ascended the Mississippi to Leech Lake, crossed over to Cass Lake by a short portage, proceeded to Red Lake, thence into Red River, up which stream they proceeded a short distance and finally located their 'Vvinter quarters at " Prairie portage," where they were met l>3' two traders who had come by the Grand Portage, or tlainy Lake route, one of whom was Cameron,^ noted as l^eing among the earliest pioneers into these then remote Northwestern regions. This is the account as given by ^Ir. Bruce, a half-breed Ojibway who was bom at Grand Mortage on Lake Superior, and is now seventy-eight years of age, still possessing a perfect and surprising memory. Be was a young man at the time of this celebrated expe- dition, and wintered the same year of its occurrence, as an «ngagee,at a small trading post on Great Lake, Winnipeg,
* For a notice of Cameron see " History of Ojlbways based upon official and other records" which follows Warren's History in this volume.— E. D. N.
282 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
and made, on a small outfit, the enormous returns of forty- eight packs of beaver skins, showing the great abundance of this valuable animal in those times, in these northern regions.
Madame Cadotte, relict of Michel Cadotte, who is men- tioned as having joined this party, and who is now nearly ninety years of age, relates that she, with many other women of the party, were left to winter at Fond du Lac, as their husbands were going into a dangerous region, and did not wish to be encumbered with women. Her son, Michel Cadotte, Jr., now living at La Pointe, and aged sixty-one years, was then in his cradle. This old woman's memory is still good, and she gives the following account of the progress and adventures of the party after they reached Sandy Lake : —
They proceeded down the Mississippi to the forks or entry of Crow Wing River, which they ascended, and cold weather overtaking them at the mouth of Leaf River, which empties into the Crow Wing, and discovering here numerous signs of beaver, and it, also, being as far as they dare proceed into the country of the fierce and warlike Dakotas, Mons. Cadotte located his winter quarters, and set his men immediately to work in erecting log huts suf- ficient to hold his whole party and his winter supplies. The country was then covered with game, such as buffalo, elk, bear, and deer, and the hunters soon collect^ a sufli- cient quantity of meat for their winter's consumption. Signs of the vicinity of the much dreaded Dakotas being discovered, Cadotte ordered a log fence or wall to be thrown up around his cabins for a defence against any attack which these people, on whose hunting grounds he was encroaching, might think proper to make on him.
In those days. Leech Lake was considered as the extreme nortliwestcm frontier of the Ojibway country, and but a few hardy and fearless hunters, who had already
DAKOTAS ATTACK CADOTTE'S POST. 283
earned the name of Pillagers, remained permanently located on the islands of the lake, for greater security against the ofb-repeated attacks and incursions of their enemies. Happy to hunt on the rich hunting grounds of the Dakotas, under the protection of such a large party of white traders, the Pillager and Sandy Lake hunters moved in their wake, and lay scattered about ip different winter camps, in the vicinity of their winter quarters, carrying on, with the different traders, an active barter of furs for their merchan- dise.
When all the preparations for passing the winter com- fortably and safely had been completed, the trappers were sent out in small parties, to pursue their winter's avocation, wherever they discovered the wigwams of the industrious but &ted beaver to abound in the greatest plenty. Cadotte, was left with but few men at the winter quarters, when early one morning a large party of Dakota warriors made their appearance, arrayed and painted for battle. They approached the wall which surrounded the log cabins, leaping from side to side and yelling their war-whoop, and when arrived within bullet range they discharged a cloud of arrows, and such few as were armed with guns fired upon the white man's defences. Two of Cadotte's men were slightly wounded from tlie repeated discharges and volleys of the enemy, yet he desisted from returning their fire, and commanded his exasperated men not to fight. His numbers being feeble, he could not be certain as to the result of a battle,'and at the same time being anxious to conciliate aud be at peace with the Dakotas, for the sake of their trade, he determined to make a trial to disarm their enmity. lie ordered the British flag to be planted on his defences, ^nd hoping that his assailants might understand its import, Ixe hung out a white flag on a pole. His hopes were not disappointed, for as soon as the flags were fully displayed, t.lie enemy ceased firing, and after a short consultation
284 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
among themselves, a number of their warriors cautiously ap- proached the defences which surrounded the traders' cabins.
Mons. Cadotte, standing in his gateway, informed them, through a " coureur du bois" named Rasle, who could speak the Dakota tongue, that " he had not come into their country to make war on them, but to supply them with necessaries in exchange for their furB." The Dakotas re- plied to the effect, that, considering them to be a party of Ojibways interloping on their best hunting grounds, they had collected their warriors to destroy them ; but as they had now discovered them to be white men, with whom they wished to be friends, they would shake hands with them, and smoke with them from the same pipe, intimat- ing that they wished to enter within his dwelling.
Cadotte, who possessed a perfect knowledge of Indian character, perceived at once the necessity of complying with their request, for the purpose of proving to them that he confided in their words, and to show to them that he feared them not. He therefore opened his gate, and allowed the chiefs and principal men to fill his cabin, where he held a short council with them, while his men vigilantly guarded the defences, and keenly watched the movements of the numerous Dakota warriors, who stood outside. He gave the Dakotas presents of tobacco and ammunition, and he distributed amongst them meat sufficient for a meal. In return, they welcomed him with apparent cordiality to their country, and invited him to go back with them to their winter camp, where they told of possessing many beaver skins.
Cadotte, placing confidence in their expressions of good- will, determined to accept their invitation. Most of his men, who were hunting in the vicinity of his trading house, had now arrived, having heard the report of the Dakota guns, as thej" made their attack in the morning. The Indians, only, kept aloof for fear of the enemy.
CADOTTE VISITS THE DAKOTA CAKP. 285
He selected thirty of his best men, well-armed, and givi- ing them packs of goods to carry, at their head, he accom- panied the Dakotas back to their camp, which they reached at the distance of one day's march. They found the camp to number over one hundred lodges, formed of leather. They were well received, and entertained with the choicest portions of the buffalo, elk, and bear meat, which abounded in every lodge. Cadotte was himself installed in the chiefs more extensive lodge, where the whole night long he car- ried on an active trade, as one after the other, warriors, hunters, and women, entered to exchange their furs for Buch articles as they needed, or such trinkets as struck their fancy. He soon collected as many packs of beaver and other fur as his men could well carry away. Not- withstanding his brisk trade, many of the goods still re- mained on his hands, and Cadotte could not help but notice the covetous looks which the chief and his warriors cast on these as he ordered his men to bale them into packs in order to carry away.
In the morning, after the Dakotas had again feasted and smoked with them, the trader prepared to depart. The Dakota chief insisted on accompanying him a part of the way with a guard of his warriors, as a mark of honor and respect, and Cadotte, unable to resist his importunities, at last accepted the offer of his company, and together they left the camp. The Dakotas, nearly equal in number to themselves, led the van, and in this order they travelled, occasionally making short halts to smoke and rest, till they reached about half the distance to their trading house, when, just as they were about to enter a heavy clump ot trees and thickets, through which winded their path, the Dakota chief and his men suddenly stopped, sat down on the roadside, and prepared to fill their pipes, requesting their white brothers to take their turn and go ahead, while
286 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
they, being light, would take a smoke, and soon catch up with them.
Mons. Cadotte, perfectly unsuspicious, followed the wishes of the chief, and at the head of his men, he was leading oif, when his interpreter, Basle, approached and remarked to him, that he suspected treachery. He had noticed in the morning when they started to leave the camp, that all the men but those who accompanied them, had disap- peared, and also that they had been holding secret councils in difterent lodges during the whole night. Rasle further intimated that the heavy clump of trees through which they were about to pass, being the only spot on the route adapted to an ambuscade, he suspected that men, who had so early made their disappearance from the camp, had been sent ahead to here lay in wait and surprise them, while the chief, with his pretended guard, would attack in the rear, as his present movement and request for them to go ahead plainly indicated. The truth of these suspicions flashed through Cadotte's mind, and being of an impulsive nature, he instantly ordered his men to throw down their packs, and prepare for instant action. Then suddenly ap- proaching the chief, who was now quietly smoking his pipe, he cocked his gun, and presented it to his breast, tell- ing Rasle to say to him, that " he saw through his treach- ery, and that he would be the first to sufler death, unless he ordered his warriors to give up their arms, and also cleared the path he was travelling, of the men whom he had sent ahead to waylay him."
The chief at first stoutly denied the charge, but when he saw Cadotte's men forcibly take the arms out of the hands of his chosen warriors, whom they outnumbered, he burst into tears, and begged for his life, and the lives of his men. Tliis being assured in ease the ambuscade amongst the trees ahead would disperse, the chief sent one of his disarmed warriors thither, and a few moments after,
TREACHERY OF THE DAKOTA CHIEF. 287
a lai^ body of painted warriors emerged from the wood, and qaietly marched off Id single file across the wide prairie towards their camp. The treacherous chief, with his guard, were taken by Cadotte to his post, and kept as hostages, till he could collect and warn his scattered trap- pers and Pillager hunters, against feeling too secure, in the idea that a firm peace had been effected with the Dakotas. When this had been effected, the post more fully manned, and every man been put on his guard, the chieftain with his men were allowed to go home, once more loaded with tobacco and presents, in hopes that his people would appre- ciate the kindness and forbearance of their white neighbors.
Mons. Cadotte's party remained at this post all winter, and they received no more molestation from the Dakotas, ^ho did not thereafter even make their appearance in the vicinity of their hunting range. In the spring, after the snow had disappeared, and the ice melted on the lakes and rivers, these adventurers evacuated their winter quarters, and proceeding up Leaf River in their canoes, they made a portage into Otter Tail Lake, and descended from thence down the Red River.
The variance in the different accounts which have been given to me of this expedition, lies mostly in different spots being mentioned where the party are said to have wintered, and difterent routes having been taken to reach these spots. lam disposed to account for these diaagree- inents, in the accounts of persons whose memory and ve- racity cannot well be questioned, by assuming the ground that the party, consisting of several different traders, each with his own equipment of supplies and men, must have separated at Sandy Lake, and while one party proceeded (as has been mentioned) up the Mississippi to Red Lake, and wintering at Prairie Portage, and at Pembina, the other party under Cadotte in person, took their course
288 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
down the Mississippi, and underwent the adventures which we have related.
It 18 stated, that at Prairie Portage, after the traders had all again collected in the spring, tiie Dakotas in large numbers made demonstrations to fall upon and pillage them, and the only manner in which the whites succeeded in intimidating them to forego their designs, was to heap their remaining powder kegs into a pile in the centre of their camp, and threatening to set fire to them the moment the Dakotas attempted to pillage. At Pembina the party were obliged to make new canoes of elk and buffalo hides, the seams of which, thickly covered with tallow, made them nearly as water-tight as birch canoes. In these they descended the current of the Red River, and returned to Lake Superior by the Great Lake Winnipeg, a northern route. At Rainy Lake they made birch-bark canoes, in which, late in the summer, they reached Grand Portage, the principal northwestern depot of the Northwest Company. The accounts which they gave of the country which they had explored, induced this rich company immediately to extend their operations throughout its whole extent, and this portion of their trade became known as the Fond du Lac department. The depot, or collecting point, was built at Fond du Lac, near the entry of the St. Louis River, and this post, or "Fort," was surrounded with strong cedar pickets. The remains of this old establishment are still plainly visible. In 1796, the Northwest Comjiany built a stockaded post at Sandy Lake, and soon after, they located another at Leech Lake. These were the immediate results of Cadotte's expedition, and from that period, now sixty years ago, the Ojibways of the Upper Mississippi River have been constantly supplied with resident traders, and their former perio<lical visits to Sault Ste. Marie and Mackinaw ceased almost entirely.
DEATH OF TOM, A NEGRO EMPLOYS. 289
Wa-won-je-gnon, the aged and intelligent chief of the Red Lake band of the Ojibways, states, that from this ex- pedition can be dated the settlement of Red Lake by the Ojibways. He also states that the traders on this occasion, made a minute exploration of the lake and sounded the depth of its waters. In the deepest portions they discov- ered it to be but eight fathoms.
There is living at Red Lake an aged Indian, whose name is Bow-it-ig-o-win-in, signifying " Sault Ste. Marie man," who first came into the country as an engag6 to Mens. Cadott^ during this voyage, and has remained in it ever since, having married and raised a family of children. So &r as I can learn, this old Indian is now the only sur- vivor of the sixty men who are said to have formed the party. An incident is currently related among the north- ern Ojibways, which is said to have happened while Ca- dotte's party were wintering on Leaf River. Mr. Bell, <^neof the traders *or clerks associated with him, kept in his employ a gigantic negro, whose name was " Tom." Mr. -^«I1 himself was a small and feebly constituted man, but pf Very irritable dispositipn, especially when under the ^^fluence of liquor. One evening he quarrelled with his '*^gro Tom, and both being somewhat intoxicated, they S'^ppled in mortal strife. The huge negro easily threw ^^^ master on the floor, and pressing him forcibly down, he. ^nrtiercifuUy and dreadfully beat him with his fists. Mr. "^^^H's Indian wife was sitting by a table making moccasins, ^^^d. held in her hand a penknife which she was occasionally ^Biug^ Seeing the hopeless situation of her husband, she ^^ to his rescue, and stabbed the negro with her penknife ^^U she killed him.
19
290 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XXV.
JOHN BAPTISTB OADOTTB.
He becomes connected with the Northwest For Company— He take* ehmfne of the Fond du Lac Department on aharee— -An incident at Grand Portage— A "coureur da bois" is killed by an Indian at Lake Shatac— Cadotte Ukea the matter in hand— The murderer ia delivered into hia handa— He la tried by a Juiy of clerks and sentenced to death— Manner of hia execatkm— His punishment has a salutaiy effect on the OJibways.
John Baptiste Cadottb returned to Montreal from hie northwestern ex{>edition, and soon expended in dissipation the profits on the large return of furs he had made. He became, moreover, so deeply indebted to Alexander Henry, who continued to suppl}^ his wants, that at last his credit with this gentleman became impaired, and he was obliged once more to exert himself towards gaining a livelihood. His expedition to the sources of the Mississippi had ren- dered him known as a man ot great fearlessness and hardi- hood, and his abilities as a clerk and Indian trader were such that it was no difficult matter for him, when so dis- posed, to find employment. The Northwest Fur Company secured his services at once, and he applied himself with so much vigor and energy towards advancing their inte- rests, that he soon obtained the esteem and fullest confi- dence of all the principal partners of this rich and prosper- ous firm.
At a dinner given by Mr. Alex. Henry, at Montreal, to the several partners of the Northwest Company, among whom was Sir Alexander McKenzie, Cadotte's name be- ing mentioned in the course of conversation, this gentleman, who was then the principal northern agent of the firm, took occiision to speak of him in the highest terms, prais- ing the courage and fearlessness with which he had pienH>d
HENRY SELLS A CLAIM AGAINST CADOTTE. 291
amongst the more wild and unruly tribes of the north- western Indians, and the great tact which he used in obtaining the love and confidence of the Ojibways.
Mr, Henry, perceiving that Cadotte possesped the confi- dence of his employers, and that his services were held by them in great value, took occasion to make the proposition to Sir Alex. McKenzie, of selling, hira Mons. Cadotte's indebtedness at a liberal discount. McKenzie informed him that he had discovered Cadotte to be a man extremely careless in his expenditures, and who made it a point to live up fully to his means, whatever amount those means might be, and that it would be extremely difficult to collect from him such an amount of debt as Mr. Henry proposed to transfer against him, and also that he could not assume or buy it, without a consultation with the other partners of the company. Further urging on the part of Mr. Henry at last induced Mr. McKenzie to buy up Mons. Cadotte's debt on his own private account. He paid but three hun- dred pounds, being less than half of its actual amount. This arrangement was kept secret from Mons. Cadotte, as the partner concerned knew him to be a man of impulsive feelings, and it was uncertain in what light he would con- sider such a discount being made on his credit, which reflected so strongly on his honor, on which he was known to pride himself. In order to give him an opportunity of retrieving his fortunes, and paying his debts, the North- west Fur Company proposed to give him the entire Fond du Lac department on shares. They agreed to give him such an equipment as he wanted, and this important division of their trade was to be entirely under his management and control.
Mons. Cadotte accepted this fair offer, as it gave him a broad field for the full development of his capacities, and an excellent opportunity to replenish his empty purse. The Fond du Lac department comprised all the country
292 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
about the sources of the Mississippi, the St Croix, and Chippeway rivers. The depot was located at Fond du Lac, about two miles within the entry of the St. Louis River, in what is now the State of Wisconsin. A stock- aded post had been built the previous year at Sandy Lake, and smaller posts were located at Leech Lake, on the St Croix and at Lac Coutereille.
Mons. Cadotte procured his outfit of goods for all these posts, at the grand northern depot of the Northwest Com- pany located at Grand Portage, near the mouth of Pigeon River, and within the limits of what is now known as Minnesota Territory. He had busily employed himself all one morning, in loading his canoes, with his outfit of goods, and starting them on ahead towards Fond du Lac, intending to catch up with them in his lighter canoe at the evening encampment, when the following incident occurred, which, to the day of his death the old trader ever spoke of with the deepest emotion.
His canoes had all been sent ahead, and now appeared like mere specks on the bosom of the calm lake towards their destination, and he was preparing to embark himself, ill his canoe a liege fully manned, when the book-keeper of the post, coming down to his canoe for a parting shake of the hand, informed him that while he had been enffaoreil in sending off his men and outfit, Sir Alexander McKenzie and other gentlemen of the company had been holding a council with the Indians, and attempting to explain to them the reasons and necessity for. evacuating their dep>ot at Grand Portage, which was locate within the Unite^i States lines, and building a new establishment within the British boundaries, at a spot now known as Fort William.*
1 Alexander Henry, a nephew of the Henry, who traded In 1775 on the shorn of Lake Superior, on the 3d of July, 1802, found brick kilns burning: at Kama- nistiquia. In charg^e of R. McKenzie, for the erection of the now post Fort William, in compliment to William McGUlivary.— Neiirs Hiiiory of Jfinneso^i, flah edition, 1883, p. 882.
cadotte's value as an interpreter. 293
The Indians could not, or would not, understand the neces- sity of this movement, as they claimed the country as their own, and felt as though they had a right to locate their traders wherever they pleased. They could not be made to understand or acknowledge the right which Great Britain and the United States assumed, in dividing between them the lands which had been left to them by their ances- tors, and of which they held actual possession. The book- keeper further informed Mons. Cadotte that the gentlemen of the company were in considerable trouble for want of an efficient interpreter, to explain these matters to the satisfaction of the Indians, and they would have called on him for his services, but were fearful of retarding his move- ments, and as he was his own master, they could not com- mand him. On hearing this, Mons. Cadotte (who already bore the name of being the best Ojibway interpreter in the northwest), immediately stepped out of his canoe, and walking up to the council room, he offered to act as inter- preter between McKenzie and the Indians. His timely and voluntary ofter was gladly accepted, and he soon ex- plained the difficult and intricate question of right, which so troubled the minds of the Ojibways, to the entire satis- ffiction of all parties ; and as he once more proceeded to embark in his canoe, which lay at the water-side, waiting for him, the gentlemen of the fur company escorted him to the beach, and as Sir Alex. McKenzie shook his hand at parting, he presented him with a sealed paper, with the remark that it was in payment of the service which he had just now voluntarily rendered them.
When arrived at some distance out on the lake, Mons. Cadotte opened the paper, and was surprised to discover it to be a clear quittance of all his indebtedness to Alexander Henry, which had always been a trouble on his mind, and which he had not been made aware had been bought up by his employers. On the impulse of the moment he ordered his canoe turned about, in order that he might
294: MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
go and express his gratitude to the generous McKeiizie, but on second thought he proceeded on his journey, im- bued with a firm determination to repay this mark: of kindness by attending closely to his business, and endea- voring to make such returns of furs in the spring, as would cause the company not to regret the generosity with which they had treated him. He succeeded to his fullest satisfaction, and the Northwest Company, togetU^' with himself, reaped this year immense profits from ti^^ Fond du Lac department.
It was while Mons. Cadotte had charge of this depa^^' ment, that an occurrence happened, which may be sidered as an item in the history of the Ojibways, ar which fully demonstrates the strong influence which tl traders of the northwest had already obtained over the minds and conduct, and also the fearlessness with whi< the pioneer, whom we have made the subject of this cha^ ^ ter, executed justice in the very midst of thousands of wild and warlike Ojibway hunters.
A Canadian " coureur du bois," employed at the Coutereille post, which was under the immediate charge a clerk named Mons. Coutouse, was munlered by an Indii on Lac Shatac during the winter. This was a crime whi< the Ojibways had seldom committe(i, and Mons. Cadott knowing fully the character of tlie Indians with whom 1 was dealing, at once became satisfied that a prompt anr:- severe example was necessary, in order that such a d< might not again be committed, and that the Ojibway might learn to have a proper respect for the lives of whi men. He took the matter especially in hand, and imi diately sent a messenger to Lac Coutereille to inform t- Indians that the murderer must be brought to Fond Lac and delivered into his hands, and should they ref^J to comply with his demand, he notified them that no mo^^ traders should go amongst them, and their supplies ^>^^*
J
AN INDIAN MURDERER DELIVERED UP. 295
icco, guns, ammunition, and clothing should be entirely )ped.
"he war-chief of Lac Coutereille, named Ke-dug-a-be- «r, or "Speckled Lynx," a man of great influence )ng8t his people, and a firm friend to the white man, ed the offender, and in the spring of the year, when inland traders returned to the depot at Fond du Lac, h their collection of furs, he went with them, and de- red the murderer into the hands of Mons. Cadotte. J rumor of this event had spread to the different villages he Ojibways, and an unusual large number of the tribe ected with the return of their different traders, around post at Fond du Lac, induced mostly from curiosity to ness the punishment which the whites would inflict on who had spilt their blood.
Vhen all his clerks and men had arrived from their dif- nt wintering posts, Mons. Cadotte formed his principal ks into a council, or jury, to try the Indian murderer.
guilt was fully proved, and the sentence which was 3ed on him was, that he should suffer death in the same mer as he had inflicted death on his victim — ^with the ) of a knife. Mons. Coutouse, whose " coureur du hois"
been killed, requested to be the executioner of this :ence.
'he relatives of the Indian assembled in council, after ing been informed of the fate which their brother was demned to suffer. They sent for Mons. Cadotte and principal clerks, and solemnly offered, according to ir custom, to buy the life of the culprit with packs of ^rer skins. Cadotte himself, who is said to have natu- y possessed a kind and charitable heart, became ened by their touching appeals, and expressed a dispo- :)n to accept their proposition, but the clerks and espe- ly the " coureur du bois," whose comrade had been cd, were so excited and determined on vengeance, that offer of the Indians was rejected.
296 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
On the morrow after the trial, the execution took place. Mons. Cadotte led the condemned man from the room where he had been confined, and leading him out into the open air, he pointed to the sun, and gave him the first intimation of his approaching death, by bidding him to look well at that bright luminary, for it was the last time he should behold it, for the man whom he had murdered was calling him to the land of spirits. He then delivered him into the hands of his clerks; the gate was thrown open, and the prisoner was led outside of the post, into the presence of a vast concourse of his people who had assem- bled to witness his punishment. The fetters were knocked from his wrists, and at a given signal, Coutouse, the executioner, who stood bj^ with his right arm bared to the elbow, and holding an Indian scalping knife, suddenly stabbed him in the back. As he quickly withdrew the knife, a stream of blood spirted up and bespattered the gateway, and the Indian, yelling a last war-whoop, leaped forward, but as he started to run, a clerk named Landr^ again buried a dirk in his side. The Indian, though fearfully and mortally wounded, van with surprising swift- ness to the water-side, and for a few rods he continued his course along the sandy beach, when he suddenly leaped up, staggered and fell. Two women, holding each a child in her arms — the Indian wives of John Baptiste and Michel Cadotte, who had often plead in vain to their husbands for his life, were the first who approached the body of the dying Indian, and amidst the deep silence of the stricken spectators, these compassionate women bent over him, and with weeping eyes, watched his last feeble death struggle. The wife of Michel, who is still living* at an advanced age, often speaks of this occurrence in her early life, and never without a voice trembling with the deepest emotion.
» A. D. 1852.
THE CULPRIT STABBED TO DEATH. 297
The traders, being uncertain how the Indians would regard this summary mode of punishment, and possessing at the time the double advantage of concentrated numbers and security within the walls of the stockaded post, deter- mined to try their temper to the utmost, before they again scattered throughout their country in small parties, where, if disposed to retaliate, the Indians could easily cut them off in detail.
Mons. Cadotte was himself so closely related to the tribe, and knew the strength of his influence so well, that he felt no apprehension of these general consequences; but, to satisfy his men, as well as to discover if the near relatives of the executed Indian indulged revengeful feelings, he presented a quantity of " eau de vie" to the Indians, know- ing that in their intoxication they would reveal any hard feelings or vengeful purposes for the late act, should they actually indulge them.
The Indian camp was that night drowned in a drunken revel, but not a word of displeasure or hatred did they utter against the traders, and their future conduct proved that it was a salutary and good example, for it caused the life of a white man to be ever after held sacred.
298 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XXVL
PROGRESS OF THE OJIBWATS ON THE WISCONSIN AND
CHIPPBWAY RIVERS.
Remarks — Numbers of the Lac Coutereille and Lac da Flambean band*— Their mode of gaining subsistance — They attribute their gradual westward advance to the example of their pioneer traders — Michel Cadotte — In I7S4 he winters on the Num-a-ka-gun — He winters on the Chippeway within range of the Dakotos — He again winters on the Chippeway, and experiences trouble from the Indians — He winters on the Chippeway below Vermilion Falls — Two Canadians are drowned in the Rapids — Danger from the Dakotas — Peace is happily effected — Credit due to Cadotte and La Rocque— War- fare between OJibways and Dakotas — War party and death of " Big OJib- way'^— Prairie Rice Lake— The Indian fight on its shores— A family of Ojlb- ways are massacred by the Dakotas — Bravery and revenge of the father- Exploit of Le-bud-ee — New villages are formed at Lac Shatac, Pak-wa-1- wah, Pelican Lakes and Wisconsin — OJibways come in contact with the Winnebagoes.
We have now arrived at a period in the history of the Ojibways, which is within the rememhrance of aged chiefs, half-breeds, and traders still living amongst them ; and we can promise our readers that but few occurrences will hereafter be related, but the accounts of which have been obtained by the writer from the lips of eye-witnesses, and actual actors therein.
From this period, his labors in procuring reliable infer— mation have been light, in comparison to the trouble olT sifting and procuring corroborative testimony from variout* sources, the traditions which have been orally transmitttHi from father to son, for generations past. The greiitest trouble will now consist in choosing from the mass of information which the writer has been collecting durinir several years past, such portions as may truly be considertil OS historical and worthy of presenting to the world. The
LACS COUTEREILLE AND FLAMBSAU BANDS. 299
important tribe of whom we treat in these pages, is divided into several distinctly marked divisions, occupying differ- ent sections of their extensive country, and we have been obliged to skip from one section to another, that we might relate events which have happened to each, in the order of time.
In this chapter we will again return to the Lac Coute- reille and Lac du Flambeau divisions, whom we left, in a previous chapter, in possession of the sources of the Wis- consin and Chippeway rivers — two large tributaries of the Mississippi.
Li the latter part of the eighteenth century these two bands already numbered one thousand souls. They had located their villages on the beautiful lakes which form the head waters of these rivers, and to some extent they prac- tised the arts of agriculture, raising large quantities of com und potatoes, the seed for which had been introduced amongst them by their traders on Lake Superior. They silso collected each autumn large quantities of wild rice, '^hich abounded in many of their lakes and streams. As ^me became scarce in the vicinity of their villages, they xnoved in large hunting camps towards the Mississippi, »nd on the richer hunting grounds of the Dakotas they leaped rich harvests of meat and furs.
The older and more intelligent men of these bands attri- bute to this day their steady westward advance, and final possession of the country nearly to the Mississippi, through following the example and footsteps of their first and old pioneer trader, Michel Cadotte, a younger brother of J. B. Cadotte, mentioned in previous chapters.
The memory of this man, the marks of whose wintering
posts are pointed out to this day throughout every portion
af the Ojibway country, is still dear to the hearts of the
ew old chiefs and hunters who lived cotemporary with
im, and received the benefits of his unbounded charitable
800 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
disposition. Full of courage and untiring enterprise, he is mentioned to this day as having not only placed the weapons into the hands of the Ojib^ays which enabled them to conquer their enemies, but led them each winter westward and further westward into the rich hunting grounds of the Dakotas, until they learned to consider the country as their own, and caused their enemies to fall back after many a bloody fight west of the " Great River."
He is mentioned as the first trader who wintered amongst the bands who had taken possession of the sources of the Chippeway River. As early as the year 1784, he wintered on the Num-a-ka-gun River, a branch of the St. Croix. The remains of his old post are pointed out a short distance below the portage, which leads towards Lac Coutereille. From this fiosition he secured the trade of both the St. Croix and Chippeway River divisions. From a small outfit of goods which he had procured from the British traders at Michilimackinac, he collected forty packs of beaver skins, with which he returned in the spring by way of La Pointe. A few years after, he wintered on Chippeway River, at a spot known to the Ojibways as Puk-a-wali-on-aun, a short distance above the mouth of Man-e-to-wish River. This region of country was then claimed by the Dakotas, and the enterprise of locating thereon was attended with great danger. Beaver, elk, deer, and bear, were, however, so plenty, that the Indians were induced, though in " fear and trembling," to follow their fearless trader. The Lac Coutereille band in a body floated down the Chippeway River, and pitched their camp by the side of his trading house, and word having been sent to the Lac du Flambeau band, they also, in a body, floated down the Alan-e-to-wish, and the two camps joining together, rendered them too strong to fear an attack from their enemies.
MICHEL CADOTTE, A PIONEEB TRADEB. 301
Having been very successful in his winter's trade, Ca- dotte again returned the following autumn, intending to pass another winter at his former post. He sent word as before to the Lac du Flambeau band of his purpose and as he passed Lac Coutereille the hunters of this village followed him down the Chippeway River. It was the custom of the traders in those days to take with them to different wintering posts small quantities of " eau de vie," which, when their hunters had all assembled around them, they made a present of to the principal chiefs, for their people to have a grand frolic.
To the inland bands, this great indulgence came around but once a year, and they looked forward to it with the greatest longing. On receiving their liquor, the chief would generally appoint several of his warriors as masters of the approaching debauch. They would first go aroimd, and collecting the guns, axes, knives and other weapons which a drunken man might be apt to use, if at hand, they would hide them away, and act during the frolic as guar- dians and mediators between such as possessed bad tempers and quarrelled with one another over their cups. When the camp had once more returned to their sober senses, these several warriors would, in their turn, have their frolic. On this occasion, when Michel Cadotte had arrived and ^mped at his old post, the chief of the Lac Coutereille Village called on him, and formally demanded the usual t^resent of fire-water given at the opening of the fall hunts, t'he trader refused to comply with his request, on the ground that the Lac du Flambeau band had not yet Arrived, but being daily expected, he would wait till they liad camped together, before he gave them their usual present of liquor. The chief went off apparently satisfied, but having waited two whole days in vain for the expected band, his longings for a dram were such that he again
802 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
paid Mons. Cadotte a visit, and this time he peremptorily demanded the fire-water, using the most threatening lan- guage in hopes of intimidating him to do as he wished. The trader, however, firmly refused, and the Indian finally left the lodge in a great rage. His camp lay on the oppo- site side of the river, about two hundred yards across. He embarked in his canoe, and paddled over, all the time uttering the most abusive and threatening language. Arriv- ing at his water's side, he leaped ashore, and running to his lodge for his gun, he again ran out, and commenced firing at Mons. Cadotte's lodge. He had discharged his gun three times (nearly killing the wife of the trader), when the war-chief of his band ran to him, and wresting the gun out of his hands, he was on the point of breaking the stock over his head, when other Indians interfered. Many of his own people were so enraged at this foolish act of their civil chief, that his life would have been taken, had not Cadotte himself interfered to save him.
When the Lac du Flambeau band (whose chief was a man of decided chamcter, and an uncle of the trader's wife), arrived on the Chippeway River, a few miles below the scene of this occurrence, they were so exasperated that they refused to come up and camp with the Lac Coute- reille band, but sent messengers to invite Mons. Cadotte to come and locate himself for the winter in their midst. The trader, to punish the chief who had treated hira po badly, though he now showed the deepest contrition, accepted the invitation of his Lac du Flambeau relative8, and proceeding some distance down the river, he wintered with them at the mouth of Jump River.
The following autumn, Michel Cadotte again returned to the Chippeway River, and this time he proceeded with his Indian hunters to the outskirts of the prairies which stretch up this river for about eighty miles above its con- fluence with the Mississippi. In descending the upper
MICHEL CADOTTE AS A PEACEMAKER. 803
taXlB on this river in their canoes, he lost two of his " cou- reurs du hois," who were upset in the rapids and drawn into a whirlpool. His post, during this winter, was located in such a dangerous neighborhood to the Dakotas, that he built a wall of logs around his shanty, while his hunters did the same around their camp.
During the winter the Dakotas gradually approached them in a large camp, and Cadotte, to prevent his hunters from leaving him, determined to try if a temporary peace could not be effected between them. He collected about one hundred men, and, supplying them with plenty of am- munition, he proceeded at their head to the Dakota camp, which lay about half a day's march down the river. The Dakotas materially outnumbered them, and they showed every disposition for a fight, as the Ojibways made their appearance with a white flag and pipe of peace. It hap- pened that they, too, had their trader with them, an old pioneer, named La Roque, the father of the respected old gentleman of this name who stilP resides at the foot of Lake Pepin, and who is well known to all the old settlers on the Upper Mississippi.
The efforts of this man, in conjunction with Mons. Ca- dotte, effected on this occasion a temporary peace between the two hostile parties, and they passed the remainder of the winter in feasting and hunting with one another. From this time may be dated the terras of temporary peace, which almost each winter these two camps, being nearly equal in numbers, made with one another, in order that they might pursue their hunts in security. Like other bands of their tribes, however, notwithstanding the winter's peace, they appeared to consider it an unavoidable duty to pass the summer in destroying one another.
The warfare which this division of the Ojibways waged with the Dakotas of the Wabasha and Red Wing villages,
» A. D. 1852.
304 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
was as bloody and unremitting as the feud which was being carried on by the St. Croix and Upper Mississippi divisions of their tribe with the Kaposia, Warpeton, and Sisseton Dakotas. The country of their present occupation is covered with spots where the warriors of either tribe have met in mortal strife. Almost every bend on Chippe- way and Menominee rivers has been the scene of a fight, surprise, or bloody massacre, and one of their chiefs re- marked with truth when asked to sell his lands, that " the country was strewn with the bones of their fathers, and enriched with their blood."
From the time we have mentioned, when Cadotte win- tered on the outskirts of the western prairies, the Ojibways may be considered as having taken actual possession of the valuable hunting region stretching from Lake Superior nearly three hundred miles to the lower Falls of the Chip- peway River, within two days' march of the Mississippi.
Through the efforts and influence of their early traders^ peace was occasionally effected. John Baptiste and Michel Cadotte on the part of the Ojibways, and Mons. La Roque on the part of the Dakotas, are mentioned, and deserve mncli credit, as often having arrested the blow of the war-club, and changing what would have been scenes of bloodshed and death to those of peace and rejoicing. These terms of peace were generally short and transient, and seldom lasted the full length of a year. For no sooner than spring and summer again came around, the time of pastime and recreation for the red hunters, than a longing desire seized the warriors for blood and renown, or revenge for old injuries, or to wipe away the paint of mourning for the death of some near relative. The villagers of either tribe never considered the pleasures of the general summer season as complete, without the enjoyment of dancing and singing merrily around the scalp lock of an enemy.
"BIG OJIBWAY" raises A WAR PARTY. 805
Were accounts of all the acts of treachery after a formal peace, the fights, maseacres, and surprises which have occurred during the past century between these two war- like divisions of the Ojibway and Dakotas to be collected and written, they would fill a large volume. In our present work we have space only to give a few characteristic instances, illustrating the nature of the warfare they have waged with one another. Scenes or events, where acts of unusual courage and bravery have been performed by any of their warriors, are long remembered in the tribe, and are related with great minuteness in their winter evening lodge gatherings, for the amusement and benefit of the rising generation.
The following circumstance is one of this nature, which deserves record in the annals of these warlike people : —
One summer about the year 1795, a noted war-chief of l4u; Coutcreille named "The Big Ojibway," having recently lost some near relatives at the hands of the Dakotas, raised a small war party consisting of twenty-three men, and pro- ceeded at their head towards the West, to revenge the blow On their enemies. They reached the mouth of the Chippe- "Way River without meeting with any fresh signs of the X)akotas. Arriving on the banks of the Mississippi, how- ever, they beheld long rows of lodges on the opposite shore, ^nd from the beating of drums and dancing, which they oould hear and perceive was being performed by their Enemies, they judged that they were preparing to go to Vrar.
Under this impression, the Ojibway war party laid an
ambush at a spot peculiarly adapted for the purpose, by
a thick forest of trees which grew to the very banks of the
Chippeway River. Scouts were placed at the entry of
this stream, directly opposite the Dakota encampment, to
watch the departure of the expected war party. Early the 20
806 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
«
next morning the Dakotas were seen to embark in their wooden canoes, to the number of about two hundred men, and proceed up the current of the Chippeway. The watch- ful scouts, after being fully satisfied of the course the enemy was about to take, ran to their leader, and informed him of all that which they had observed.
The numbers of the Dakotas made it an act of almost certain self-destruction for the small Ojibway party to attack them, and the more prudent and fearful advised their chief to make a quiet retreat His determination, however, was fixed, and bidding such as feared death to depart and leave him, he prepared himself for the coming conflict. Not one of his little party left his side, and they awaited in silence the moment that the enemy would pass by their place of ambush. Soon the Dakotas made their appearance, singing their war-songs, and paddling their canoes slowly up the rapid current of the river.
Arriving opposite the unsuspected ambuscade of the Ojibways, a volley was suddenly fired amongst them, kill- ing three of their most prominent warriors, and wounding many others. The Ojibways waited not to reload their guns, but springing up, they ran for their lives, in ho{x» that in the first confusion of their sudden attack, the Da- kotas would not immediately pursue, and thus give them a chance for escape. They were, however, disappointeil, for their enemy lost no time in leaping ashore and follow- ing their footsteps. The Ojibway leader was a large, portly man, and unable to run for any distance. lie soon fell in the rear, and though the yells of the Dakotas were plainly heard apparently fast gaining on them, his little party refused his entreaties to leave him to his fate. At last he stopped altogether, and addressing his warriors, he bade them to leave him, and save their lives, for he had not brought them there to leave their bones to whiten the prairie. For his part, he knew that he must die. Ilis
STOICISM OF AN OJIBWAY WAKRIOR. 807
guardian spirit had foretold it to him in a dream, but in the mean time he would stand between them and their pursuers, that they might return in safety to their people. His comrades reluctantly left him, and to a man they arrived at their homes in safety. The Dakotas, at a peace party, afterwards told of the last brave struggle of the " Big Qjibway." They found him seated in a clump of tall grass, on a small prairie, calmly smoking his pipe. The van of the Dakotas stopped suddenly at seeing him, and com- menced leaping from side to side to distract his aim, as they expected him to fire in their midst : but the Ojibway warrior appearing to take no notice of them, they ceased their dodging, and awaited the arrival of the whole party, l)eing uncertain in what light to consider the conduct of their fearless and stoical enemy, and fearful that it was some ruse to decoy them into an ambush of a larger party ^f the enemy, than had yet appeared.
When the Dakotas had all assembled, they gradually
ftnd cautiously surrounded the warrior, and when they had
discovered the fact of his being entirely alone, they com-
'^enced firing at him. At the first volley the brave man
*^*1 forward as if dead, and the Dakotas in a body ran for-
^^iti to secure his scalp. As they reached him, he
^^dcJenly sprang up, and shooting down the foremost war-
^^1*, he rushed among the thickest ranks, and dispatched
Mother with the stock of his gun; then drawing his knife,
^^ Continued to fight till pierced by many spear points and
T^^bed arrows, he fell on his knees. Still, his blood well-
^^g from many a gaping wound, he yelled his war-whoop,
^d fairly kept his numerous enemies at bay, till, weakened
^y loss of blood and continued wounds, the bravest of the
^kotas grappled with him, and seizing his scalp lock,
^vered with his knife the head from his body. It is said
that during the whole fight, the Ojibway warrior had
I&Ughed at his enemies, and his face, after the head had
808 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIOKS.
been separated from his body, was still wreathed in * smile.
Such a high notion did the Dakotas entertain of h^^^ bravery, that they cut out his heart, which, being cut in" — ^^o small pieces, was swallowed by their warriors raw, in ti^CIhe belief that it would make them equally " strong hea The length of time which the " Big Ojibway" had retard*^ the pursuit of the Dakotas, enabled his little war party make their escape, and they always attributed their sal tion on this trying occasion to the manly courage and sacrifice of their chief, whose name will long be rem bered in the traditions of his people.
In the year 1798, a handful of Ojibway warriors foniErA/ a severe battle with a large party of Dakotas, at Prai./?© Rice Lake. As this lake has been the scene of seveTs/ engagements between these two tribes, a brief description of its position, size, and advantages will not be considered amiss. On Mons. Nicollet's map, it is named Mille Lacs, and empties its waters into Red Cedar, a tributary of Chip- peway River. Mr. Nicollet, who has given us a map which may be considered as generally correct, must, how ever, have been misinformed in the name, and somewhat in the position of this lake. It has always been known to the Ojibways by the name of Mush-ko-da-mun-o-min-e-kan, meaning Prairie Rice Lake, and to the French as Lac la Folic. During a two j'^ears' residence (in 1840-41) in the vicinity of this lake, and especially during a tour which the writer made through this district of country, in the summer of 1850, circumstances happened which made him fully acquainted with this lake, and the country surround- ing it.
It is situated about forty miles directly north of tlio lower rapids on Chippeway River, where the extensive establishment known as Chippeway Mills is now* located.
■ A. D. 1852.
PRAIRIE RICE LAKE, WISCONSIN. 309
Its entire length is about eight miles, but averages less than a quarter of a mile in width. A clear, rapid stream connects it with another lake of nearly equal size, known to the Indians as Sha-da-sag-i-c-gan, or Pelican Lake, and from thence discharges their superfluous waters into the Eed Cedar, or Me-nom-in-ee River. A portage of only two miles in length connects Prairie Rice Lake with this river, and the foot of the portage, or the spot where it strikes the river, is twenty miles above its outlet into it. The lake being miry-bottomed, and shallow, is almost entirely covered with wild rice, and so thick and luxuriant does it grow, that the Indians are often obliged to cut passage ways through it for their bark canoes. From the manner in which they gather the rice, and the quantity which a family generally collects during the harvesting season, this lake alone would supply a body of two thous- and Indians.
In the fall of 1850, when the writer passed through it, he found it occupied by fifty wigwams of the Ojibways, numbering over five hundred souls. They were busily employed in gathering the rice, camping separately in spots where it grew in the greatest thickness and abundance. The country surrounding the lake is sparsely covered with pine trees, through which fires appear to have occasionally run, burning the smaller trees and thickets, and giving the country a prairie-like appearance, which has given it the Indian name which it at present bears. One single island about four acres in size, and covered with a grove of beau- tiful elm trees, lies on the bosom of this picturesque lake. In times of danger, the Ojibway " rice makers" have often pitched their wigwams on it for greater security.
From the earliest period of their occupation of the Chip- peway River country, the most fearless of the Ojibways came thither each fall of the year, to collect a portion of the abundant rice crop, notwithstanding its close vicinity
310 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
to the Dakota villages, and notwithstanding they lost liv< from their sudden attacks almost yearly.
In the year which has been mentioned, several wigwai* ^ of the Lac Coutereille band, under the guidance of th war-chief, " Yellow Head," collected at Prairie Rice Lak^^ to gather wild rice, and as usual in those days of danger^ they located themselves on the island. Early one morning the chief called the men of the camp into his lodge, to take a social smoke, when he informed them that he had been visited during the night by his guardian spirit in a dream, and he knew that the Dakotas must be lurking near. He bade them not to go on their usual day's hunt, and sent two young men to go and scout the shores of the lake, to discover some fresh signs of the enemy. The scouts, em- barking in a canoe, immediately starts on their errand. They had not arrived more than half a mile from the camp, when, approaching the shore, they were fired at by an am- budcade of the enemy. One was killed, and the other, though severely wounded, succeeded, amid volleys of bullets, in pushing his canoe out of their reach.
The men of the Ojibways, hearing the firing, all that were able to bear arms grasped their weapons, and to the number of twenty-five, many of whom were old men and mere boys, embarked in their canoes, and paddled towards the scene of action, to join the fight. The Dakotas, per- ceiving this movement, sent a body of their warriors to lie in ambush at the spot where they supposed the Ojibways would attempt a landing. The women of the camp, how- ever, seeing the enemy collecting in large numbers to intercept their men, halloed to them, and informing them of the ambuscade, the Ojibways tunied about, and landed on the main shore, immediately opposite) the island. In- tending to attack the Dakotas by land, they sent the canoes back by some women who had come with them for the purpose. Yellow Head, then heading the party, led them
DESPERATE FIGHT BETWEEN 0JIBWAY8 AND DAKOTAS. 311
throngh a thicket of underbrush towards the point where the enemy were still firing at the scouts.
In passing through these thickets, Yellow Head discov- ered a Dakota women, holding in her arms a young boy, aboat two years old, covered with a profuse quantity of wampum and silver ornaments. She was the wife, and the child a son, of a noted Dakota war-chief who had been lately killed by the Ojibways, and she had followed the war party of her people, raised to revenge his death, in order to initiate her little son, and wipe the paint of mourning from her face. In expectation of a fight, the Dakotas had bade her to hide in these thickets, little thinking that they would be the first victims whose scalps would grace the belts of the Ojibways. Yellow Head, on perceiving the woman and child, yelled his fierce war- whoop, and rushing up to her he snatched the boy from her arms, and throwing him with all his force behind him, he bade hb aged father (who was following his footsteps) to despatch it He then pursued the woman, who had arisen, and now fled with great swiftness towards her friends, uttering piercing shrieks for help. The Dakotas, having heard the Ojibway war-yell, and now hearing the cries of their woman, ran, to the number of near one hun- dred men, to her rescue. A younger warrior of the Ojib- ways had passed his war-chief, and though seeing the advance of the enemy, he followed up the chase, till, catch- ing up with her, he stabbed her in the back, and was stooping over her body to cut oft' her head, when his chief called on him to fly, for the Dakotas were on him. Not a moment too soon did the young warrior obey this call, for the spears of the enemy almost reached his back as he turned to fly, and being laden with the bloody head, which he would not drop, the foremost of the Dakotas fast gained on him ; but not till he felt the end of a spear point enter- ing his back did he call on his chief to turn and help him.
312 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Yellow Head, who was noted for his great courag^.^^ instantly obeyed the call, and throwing himself behind pine tree, he shot down the Dakota who had caught ui with him, and was almost despatching his comrade. Tlk. fallen warrior was dressed in a white shirt, wore a silvi medal on his breast, and silver ornaments on his am^ He carried nothing but a spear in his hand, denoting hi to be a chief, and the leader of the Dakota war party, was the uncle of the boy who had just been dispatche^cl which accounts for the eagerness with which he pursu^^ the Ojibway warrior, keeping so close to his back that hi-^ warriors dared not discharge their fire-arms, for fear a hitting him.
The moment the Dakota leader fell, his fellows took cover behind the trees, and Yellow Head, having saved his comrade, who now stood panting by his side, called ou his people, " if they were men, to turn and follow his ex- ample." But ten out of the twenty -five were brave enough to obey his call, and these, taking cover behind trees and bushes, fought by his side all day. Though the Dakotas ten times outnumbered them, the Ojibway s caused them to retreat at nightfall, leaving seven of their warriors dead on the field. The Ojibways lost but three men, besides the scout who had been killed by the ambuscade. Some days after the fight, the Ojibways discovered a number of Ixxlies which the enemy, to conceal their loss, had hid in a swamp adjacent to the battle-field.
The Dakotas, in their occasional " peace makings'' with the Ojibways, have generally accorded to them the art of being the best fighters in a thicket or forest, while they claim an equal superiority on the open prairie, being swifter of foot, and better dodgers. The Ojibways claim, also, that they fight with cooler courage than the Daki>- tas, and that they never throw away their ammunition : and from the general results of their numerous rencontres.
INSTANCES OF INDIVIDUAL DARING. 813
itmu8t be conceded that thev are far the best shots. These things are mentioned to account for the numerous instances ^here a determined few have committed such havoc in the ^^ka of the enemy, as almost to surpass belief.
On another occasion, a single lodge of Ojibways located ^0 the shores of Prairie Rice Lake, was attacked by a party of two hundred Dakotas, and all its inmates mas- tered. The head of the family, a man noted in the wars ^f those times for great courage, happened to be away, ^P^aring fish, when his family were murdered. Hearing the firing, he ran to their rescue, but arrived only to wit- ^^sa the ashes of his lodge, and the mangled remains of his '^^fe and children. Determined on revenge or death, ^^^gly he pursued the enemy, and having caught up with ttietji, he sustained the unequal fight till his ammunition gave out, when, having seen several of the enemy fall ^li^er his aim, he turned, and though nearly surrounded, "^ made his escape. Shortly after, he returned to the field ^f the fight, and discovered five Dakotas whom he had l^illed, left by their friends in a sitting posture, facing the ^'est. Having scalped them, he returned, without kin, but loaded with honor, to the village of his people.
About the same time (between fifty and sixty years ago), another family were massacred by the Dakotas at this lake. Le-bud-ee, a son of the old man who was killed on this occasion, raised a small war party during the ensuing winter, and attacked a large lodge of the enemy on Hay River. There were eight men of the Dakotas in the lodge, who returned the fire of the Ojibways very briskly. Bo- coming desperate at their obstinate defence, Le-bud-ee, fol- lowed by one of his bravest comrades, rushed madly for- ward, and cutting open the leathern covering of the lodge, they entered into a hand to hand conflict with such of the Dakotas as still remained alive. Le-bud-ee's comrade was killed in the act of entering the lodge, while he himself
814 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
jamped in, despatched a warrior with his knife, and had taken two women captive, before the remainder of his party had fairly arrived to his help. This action is related by the Ojibways as one of great courage, as they seldom, in their warfare, come to a hand to hand conflict
At a peace-making, following soon after this last event, the two captives of Le-bud-ee were returned to the Dakotas.
Many more instances similar in nature to these which have been related in this chapter, might be given to swell the annual record of bloodshed in which the division of the Ojibway tribe under our present consideration were engaged in, during this period of their history, but it is deemed that enough have been presented to illustrate their mode of living, and warfare, and the dangers which daily assailed them in becoming possessed of the country over which their children now claim unquestioned right, over any other tribe of their fellow red men.
In this chapter we have brought down the annals, or history of this section of the Ojibways, to within a half century of the present time.
The grand or principal villages at Lac Coutereille and Lac du Flambeau, had commenced to shoot forth now branches or communities, who located their wigwams on some of the many beautiful lakes and streams which swell the waters of the Chijipeway and Wisconsin. Lac Shatac early became a separate village. So also,Ke-che-i»uk-wa-i- wah, a reservoir or lake through which the Chippeway River passes.
From Lac du Flambeau, a large community braiuhod off down the Wisconsin, who sometimes came in deadly contact with the Winnebagoes, who occupied the country about the Fox River, and who sometimes joined the war parties of their relatives, the Dakotas, against the Ojibways. This custom they followed but seldom, and never opi^nly, as being literally surrounded by tribes of the Algic stcK-k,
THE PELICAN LAKE BAND. 315*
they always feared to enter into an open war with any of their branches or relatives.
Another considerable band located themselves at Suk-a- aug-un-ing towards Green Bay. They are now known as the Pelican Lake band. In 1848 this band numbered over twa hundred souls. They have since been nearly cut off by the smallpox, and other diseases introduced among them by the white population, which has spread over this portion of their former country.
816 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XXVn.
OJIBWAYS OF THE WISCONSIN AND CHIPPEWAY RIVEB8.
System of governmeDtal polity among the Chippeway and WiscoDBin RiFer villages — DescendaDts of KeH:he-ne-zy-auh — The ascendancy of the CraDC Totem family — Keesh-ke-mun chief of the Lac du Flambeau — Sub-chie&, and war-chiefs — Death of the war-chiefs Yellow Head, and Wolfs Father in battle with the Dakotas — Shawano prophet, brother of Tecumseh — He raises an excitement among the Ojibways— His creed — One hundred and fifty canoes of Ojibways start from Shaug-a-waum*ik-ong to visit him at Detroit — They are turned back at the Pictured Rocks by Michel Cadotte — Anecdote respecting the deceptions of the prophet — Ojibways pillage Michel Cadotte'a trading post at Lac Coutereille — Causes and consequence of this act — Ca- dotte curtails his trade — In 1823 he sells out his trading interest, and retires to private life — Brief review of his pioneer life.
Among the different bands of the Ojibways, occupying the country drained by the currents ot the Wisconsin and Chippeway Eivers, something like a regular system ot governmental polity existed at this time. The dangers of their position (being continually subject to the attacks of the powerful Dakotas) linked them together, in a bond of brotherhood, which remained unbroken in its natural sim- plicity, till the fur traders entered their country in oi>p(v sition to one another, and to forward their own views and interests, sowed dissensions among them, and eventually almost broke the beautitul system which had held them bound to one another like brothel's. This remark is appli- cable to the whole tribe, but at this stage of our history, we refniin from entering into a discussion of this important question.
At the great convocation ot tribes, held by the French nation at Sault Ste. Marie, in 1671, the traditions of the Crane family assert that Ke-che-ne-zuh-yauh, the head of their family, was recognized as principal chief over the
PRINCIPAL CHIEFS OF THE TRIBE. 317
Ojibwaj tribe ; and a golden' medal was placed on his breast, as a badge of bis rank. He resided at La Pointe, and at his death left two sons, A-ke-gui-ow (Neck of Earth), and She-da-wish (Bad Pelican), the eldest of whom suc- ceeded him in his rank, and continued to reside at La Pointe, while the youngest became the first pioneer towards the headwaters of the Wisconsin River.
A-ke-gui-ow, after his death, was succeeded by his son, Waub-uj-e-jauk (White Crane), who could rightfully claim the first chieftainship in his tribe ; but who, being of an unambitious and retiring disposition, neglecting his civil duties, and attending only to those of the chase, he became at last superseded by a noted character of his time, named Au-daig-we-os (Crow's Flesh), the head or chief of the Loon family, who is justly celebrated in the traditions of his people, for wisdom, honesty, and an unvarying friend- ship to the whites. During his lifetime, his influence ex- tended over the whole tribe, and his descendants to this day have upheld in some respects the position which their illustrious ancestor attained. The Cranes did not fully regain their former rank in the tribe, till the convocation of the northwestern tribes, held at Prairie du Chien by the United States government in 1825, at which Hon. Lewis Cass acted as commissioner. This treaty was held for the purpose of promoting peace between the difterent bellige- rent tribes, and that a just partition might be made between them, of the country which they occupied. The Ojibway tribe was fully represented ; chiefs and warriors being present from the Upper Mississippi, Lake Superior, St Croix, Chippeway and Wisconsin Rivers. Shin-ga-ba-ossin (Spirit Stone), was acknowledged to be the representative of the Crane family, and his name was signed to the treaty,
1 There Is do oflkial record of a golden medal haviDg becB glTen at that time.— E. D. N.
318 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
as head chief of the tribe. He came from Sault Ste. Marie, over which band, or village, he was resident chief.
Prior to this event, the dignity and influence of the Cranes had been upheld by Keesh-ke-mun (Sharpened Stone), the son of Sha-da-nish, the first Ojibway pioneer towards the Wisconsin. He is first mentioned by the old men and traders of the tribe, as having attained a promi- nent position as chief, between forty and fifty years ago. He made it his home, or permanent village, at Lac du Flambeau, and from this point he ruled over that division of his triba, who occupied the midland country, between Lake Superior, southwest to the Mississippi. Under him was a chief of the warriors, whose business it was to cany out, by force, if necessary, the wishes of his chief. Next in rank to the war-chief was the pipe bearer, or Osh-ka- ba-wis, who officiated in all public councils, making known the wishes of his chief, and distributing amongst his fellows, the presents which the traders occasionally gave to the chief to propitiate his good-will.
Keesh-ke-mun was not only chief by hereditary descent, but he made himself truly such, through the wisdom and firmness of his conduct, both to his people and the whites. During his lifetime, he possessed an unbounded influence over the division of his tribe with whom he resided^ and generally over the Lake Superior bands and villages.
On the Chippeway River, the traders had recognized as a chief Mis-ko-mun-e-dous (Little Red Spirit), a man noted for courage in war, and especially for great success in the chase. He belonged to the Marten family. At Lac Cou- tereille, Mon-so-ne (Moose Tail), of the Catfish family, pre- sided as resident chief; and in fact over each separate community, one, either noted for courage in war, success in hunting, wisdom, or age, was recognized, as head man, or chief All these acted under and listened to the wishes of Keesh-ke-mun. And to this day (even after their former
HOW CHIEFTAINSHIP IS ATTAINED. 819
simple and natural civil polity had been so entirely broken up, that it is a doubt in the minds of many whether the Indians ever possessed any form of government), the de- scendants of this chief still retain the shadow of their for- mer ascendancy and real chieftainship.
Waub-ish-gang-aug-e (White Crow), the son and successor of Keesh-ke-mun, fully sustained the influence of his de- ceased father over the inland bands, till his death in 1847. His son Ah-mous (the Little Bee), though lacking the firmness, energy, and noble appearance of his fathers, and though their formerly large concentred bands are now split up by the policy of traders and United States agents into numerous small factions headed by new-made upstart chiefs, yet virtually, in the estimation of his tribe, he holds the first rank over the Lac du Flambeau and Chippeway River division, and his right to a first rank in the councils of his people is unquestioned.
The war-chiefs, though second in rank to the civil chiefs, have often attained a paramount influence over the villages or sections of the tribe with whom they resided ; but this influence (before they learned to follow some of the evil ways of the whites) they always used towards sustaining and strengthening the hereditary civil chiefs. The war chief- tainship was usually obtained by courage and exploits in War, and success in leading a war party, through spirituiil vision, against the enemy. It sometimes descended from &ther to son, in fact always, where the son approved him- self in a manner to secure the confidence of the warriors.
Half a century ago, in the Chippeway River district, Yellow Head, of Lac Coutereille, was a noted war-chief, and so also, Ke-dug-e-be-shew (Speckled Lynx), who first founded the village on Lac Shatac. The father of Mah- oen-gun (Wolf), at present a chief of Chippeway River, was ^so a noted chief. These men guided the war and peace Movements of their respective villages, and they were
320 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
prominent actors in all the most important rencontiw which occurred between their sectictn of the Ojibways, and the Dakotas.
It was a day of deep mourning amongst their people, when the brave war-chiefs, Yellow Head and Wolf s Father, fell fighting side by side, against immense odds of Dakota*. With a small party of their fellows they had been hunting deer by torchlight, during the hot nights of summer, on the Red Cedar River. During the course of their hunt, being both men " not knowing fear," they had approached too near the haunts of the Dakotas, and being discovereAi one morning, while engaged in curing meat at the iiioutS^ of Ilay River, a large party of the enemy stealthily bu^ rounded and suddenly attacked them. The two war-chie-^ escaped the first volley of bullets ; and bade the your^- men, who were with them, to save themselves by fligl*- while they withstood the attack. Fighting against ii^ mense odds, they were at last forced into the river, wher^ in crossing to an island which lay close to the scone C action. Wolfs Father received a bullet through his brains while Yellow Head, having reached the shelter of th^ island, sustained the unequal fight till his anmiunitio failed him, and the Dakotas, after a severe struggle, glories in the possession of his long much-coveted scalp. The sa\ ing of the people, is, that "'on their journey to the land f* spirits, these two warriors went well attended by Dakota^ whom they slew at the time of their departure (or death).
After this occurrence, and the usual levying of war |tai ties, and consequent bloody revenge which followe<l it, n event of any immediate importance occurred on the Chi| peway and Wisconsin Rivers till the year 1808, whei under the influence of the excitement which the Shaw-nf^ prophet, brother of Tecumseh, succeeded in raising, even t^ the remotest village of the Ojibways, the men of the I/jk' Coutereille village, pillaged the trading house of Micliel
THE SHAWANO PROPHET AXD HIS RELIQIOX. 321
Cadotte at Lac Coutereille, while under charge of a clerk named John Baptiste Corbin. From the lips of Mons, Corbin, who is still living* at Lac Coutereille, at the ad- vanced age of seventy-six years, and who has now been fifty-six years in the Ojibway country, I have obtained a reliable account of this transaction: —
Michel Cadotte, after having fairly opened the resources of the fur trade of the Chippeway River district, and hav- ing approved himself as a careful and successful trader, enter^ into an arrangement with the Northwest Fur Com- pany, who at this time nearly monopolized the fur trade >f the Ojibways. Mons. Cadotte located a permanent post ^^ depot on the island of La Pointe,' on the spot known at ^^e present time as the " Old Fort." He also built a trad- ^g house at Lac Coutereille, which in the year 1800, was ■^t placed in charge of J. B. Corbin. To supply these ^^ts, he procured his outfit from the Northwest Company
Orand Portage. It is said that his outfit of goods each ^^r amounted to the sum of forty thousand dollars, which ^ distributed in different posts on the south shores of Lake j*J>erior, Wisconsin, Chippeway, and St. Croix Rivers. ^ resided himself at La Pointe, having taken to wife the ^lighter of White Crane, the hereditary chief of this vil- Se. Cadotte, though he continued to winter in different ^^8 of the Ojibway country from this time, always con- ^cred La Pointe Island as his home, and here he died in ^^6, at the advanced age of seventy-two years.
In the year 1808, during the summer while John B. '^Tbin had charge of the Lac Coutereille post, messengers, '^ Hose faces were painted black, and whose actions appeared ^^Dge, arrived at the different principal villages of the
* A. D. 1852.
' I»le De Tour or St. Michel is the name given to La Pointe Island by Fran- l^elin in 1688, which it retained until after the year 1800. Madeline Island ^ ^ comparatively modem designation.— £. D. N. 21
822 Mll^'ESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Ojibways. In solemn councils they performed certain ceremonies, and told that the Great Spirit had at last con- descended to hold communion with the red race, through the medium of a Shawano prophet, and that they had been sent to impart the glad tidings. The Shawano sent them word that the Great Spirit was about to take pity on hia red children, whom he had long forsaken for their wicked- ness. He bade them to return to the primitive usages and customs of their ancestors, to leave off the use of everything which the evil white race had introduced among them. Even the fire-steel must be discarded, and fire made as in ages past, by the faction of two sticks. . And this fire, once lighted in their principal villages, must always be kept sacred and burning. lie bade them to discard the use of fire-water — to give up lying and stealing and war- ring with one another. He even struck at some of the roots of the Me-da-wo religion, which he asserted had be- come permeated with many evil medicines, and had lost almost altogether its original uses and purity. He bade ? the medicine men to throw away their evil and poisonous* medicines, and to forget the songs and ceremonies attached* thereto, and he introduced new medicines and sono^ iii^j their place. He prophesied that the day was nigh, when m if the red race listened to and obeyed his words, the Grea — Spirit would deliver them from their de{)endence on th«^ whites, and prevent their being finally down-trodden an^i exterminated by them. The i)rophet invited the Ojibwa>- s to come and meet him at Detroit, where in person, be would ex{)lain to them the revelations of the "Great Mai»- ter of Life." He even claimed the power of causing the dead to arise, and come again to life.
It is astonishing how quickly this new belief obtaiiicti possession in the minds of the Ojibways. It spread like wild-fire throughout their entire country, and even reached the remotest northern hunters who had allied themselves
THE NEW FAITH EMBRACED BY THE OJIBWAYS. 328
with the Crees and Assiniboince. The strongest possible proof which can be adduced of their entire belief, is in their obeying the mandate to throw away their medicine bags, which the Indian holds most sacred and inviolate. It \A said that the shores of Sha-ga-waum-ik-ong were strewed with the remains of medicine bags, which had been com- mitted to the deep. At this place, the Ojibways collected in great numbers. Night and day, the ceremonies of the new religion were performed, till it was at last determined to go in a body to Detroit, to visit the prophet. One hun- dred and fifty canoes are said to have actually started from Pt Shag-a-waum-ik-ong for this purpose, and so strong was their belief, that a dead child was brought from Lac Coutereille to be taken to the prophet for resuscitation. This large party arrived on their foolish journey, as far as the Pictured Rocks, on Lake Superior, when, meeting with Michel Cadotte, who had been to Sault Ste. Marie for his annual outfit of goods, his influence, together with infor- mation of the real motives of the prophet in sending for them, succeeded in turning them back. The few Ojibways who had gone to visit the prophet from the more eastern villages of the tribe, had returned home disappointed, and brought back exaggerated accounts of the suffering through hunger, which the proselytes of the prophet who had gath- ered at his call, were enduring, and also giving the lie to inany of the attributes which he had assumed. It is said that at Detroit he would sometimes leave the camp of the Indians, and be gone, no one knew whither, for three and four days at a time. On his return he would assert that he had been to the spirit land and communed with the master of life. It was, however, soon discovered that he only went and hid himself in a hollow oak which stood behind the hill on which the most beautiful portion of Detroit City is now built. These stories became current among the Ojibways, and each succeeding year developing
324 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
more fully the fraud and warlike purpose of the Bhawano, the excitement gradually died away among the Ojibways, and the medicine men and chiefs who had become such ardent believers, hung their heads in shame whenever the Shawano was mentioned. At this day it is almost impos- sible to procure any information on this subject from the old men who are still living, who were once believers and preached their religion, so anxious are they to conceal the fact of their once having been so egregiously duped. The venerable chiefs Buffalo, of La Pointe, and Esh-ke-bug-e- coshe, of Leech Lake, who have been men of strong minds and unusual intelligence, were not only firm believers of the prophet, but undertook to preach his doctrines.
One essential good resulted to the Ojibways through the Shawano excitement — they threw away their poisonous roots and medicines ; and poisoning, which was formerly practised by their worst class of medicine men, has since become almost entirely unknown. So much has been written respecting the prophet and the new beliefs which he endeavored to inculcate amongst his red brethren, that we will no longer dwell on the merits or demerits of his pretended mission. It is now evident that he and his brother Tecumseh had in view, and worked to effect, a general alliance of the red race, against the whites, and their final extermination from the "Great Island which the great spirit had given as an inheritance to his red chil- dren."
In giving an account of the Shawano excitement among the Ojibways, we have digressed somewhat from the course of our narrative. The messengers of the prophet reached the Ojibway village at Lac Coutereille, early in the sum- mer of 1808, and the excitement which they succeeded in raising, tended greatly to embitter the Indians' mind against the white race. There was a considerable quantity of goods stored in Michel Cadotte's storehouse, which was
PILLAGE OF MICHEL CADOTTE'S TRADING HOUSE. 325
located on the shores of the lake, and some of the most foolish of the Indians, headed by Nig-gig (The Otter) — who is still* living — proposed to destroy the trader's goods, in accordance with the prophet's teachings to discard the use of everything which the white man had learned them to want. The influence of the chief Mons-o-ne at first checked the young men, but the least additional spark to their excitement caused his voice to be unheard, and his influence to be without eftect John Baptiste Corbin, a young Canadian of good education, was in charge of the post, and through his indiscretion the flame was lighted which led to the pillage of the post, and caused him to flee for his life, one hundred miles through a pathless wilderness, to the shores of Lake Superior. As was the general custom of the early French traders, he had taken to wife a young woman of the Lac Coutereille village, related to an influen- tial family. During the Shawano excitement, he found occa- sion to give his wife a severe beating, and to send her away almost naked, from under his roof, to her parents' wigwam. This act exasperated the Indians ; and as the tale spread from lodge to lodge, the young men leaped into their canoes and paddling over to the trading house, which stood about one inile opposite their village, they broke open the doors and helped themselves to all which the storehouses contained. jVlons. Corbin, during the excitement of the pillage, fled in affright. An Ojibway whom he had befriended, followed his tracks, and catching up with him, gave him his blanket, liioccasins, and fire-works, with directions to enable him to t^each La Pointe, Shag-a waum-ik-ong, on Lake Superior, 'Which he did, after several days of hardship and solitary "Wandering.
This act, on the part of the Lac Coutereille band, was Very much regretted by the rest of the tribe. Keesh-ke-
^ A. D. 1853.
i
326 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
mun, the chief at Lac du Flambeau, was highly enraged against this village, and in open council, he addressed the ringleaders with the most bitter and cutting epithets. It came near being the cause of a bloody family feud, and good-will became eventually restored only through the exertions of the kind-hearted Michel Cadotte, who, by this stroke, became crippled in his means as an Indian trader, and who from this time gradually curtailed his business, till in the year 1823 he sold out all his interests in the Ojib- way trad^ to his two sons-in-law, Lyman M. and Truman A. Warren, and retired to a quiet retreat at La Pointe, after having passed forty years in the arduous, active and dangerous career of a pioneer fur trader. In 1784 we find him wintering with a small outfit of goods on the Num-a- ka-gun River, and year after year moving his post further westward, leading the Ojibways into richer, but more dangerous hunting grounds. In 1792 we find him winter- ing on Leaf River of the Upper Mississippi, and in com- pany with his elder brother, opening a vast area of Indian country, to the enterprise of fur traders.
The marks of his wintering posts are pointed out at Thief River, emptying into Crow AVing, at Leech, Winni- peg, and Cass Lakes, at Pokagunia Falls, and at Oak Point, on the Upper Mississippi, where he is said again to have narrowly escaped the bullets of the wild Indians. Yellow Lake, Snake River, Po-ka-guma (in the St, CroiiP^ region) and at difterent points on the Chi{)peway and Wi.*?^ consin Rivers, the marks of this old pioneer are still visiblo^ . Like all other traders who have passed their lifetime i the Indian country, possessing a charitable heart and f: open hand, ever ready to relieve the poor and suflTeri Indian, he died poor, but not unlamented. He was kno among the Ojibways by the name of Ke-che-me-sbi-^ (Great Michel).
WARFARE ON THE ST. CROIX. 827
CHAPTER XXVin.
AFFAIRS OF THE OJIBWAYS ON THE ST. CROIX.
State of aflaire between the Ojibways and Dakotas on the St. Croix River— Two Ojibways, carrying a peace message, are killed by the Dakotas — Re- venge of the Ojibways — Battle ou ** Sunrise Prairie'^ — Dakotas attack a camp of Ojibway hunters during a term of peace — Ojibways raise a war party — They make a midnight attack on a Dakota village at the mouth of Willow River~A slight sketch of Waub-ash-aw, a noted Ojibway warrior — Bi-aj-ig, '* the lone warrior*' — Anecdote of his hardihood and bravery — Slight sketch of Shosh-e-man— Be-she-ke — Names of living chiefs of heredi- tary descent.
During the middle and latter part of the eighteenth cen- tury, the hunting camps of the Dakotas and Ojibways often met on either banks of the St Croix River, as far down as the Falls. Spots are pointed out, on Sunrise, Rush, and Snake Rivers, where bloody fights, massacres, and surprises have taken place, and where lives of helpless women and children, as well as stalwart warriore, have been sacrificed to their implacable warfare. It happened, sometimes, that the camps of either tribe would meet in peace, in order that the hunters might pursue the chase during the winter in security. But no sooner did spring again make its appearance, than the peace was treacher- ously broken, by either party, and war raged again during the summer, full as deadly as ever.
They did not always succeed in their attempts, each fall, to smoke the pipe of peace together. On one occasion the Ojibway chief, Mons-o-man-ay, sent two of his young men with a peace pipe to a large camp of Dakotas who were, as usual in the fall, approaching to make their winter hunts on the St. Croix River. These young men were received in the enemies' lodges and treacherously killed. They were relatives of the Ojibway chieftain, and he made prepara-
328 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
tions during the winter to revenge their death. He col- lected a large party of warriors, and when the snow melted from the ground, he followed the trail of the Dakotas as they returned towards their villages on the Mississippi He caught up with their camp, at a prairie on Sunrise River. They numbered many lodges, and around their camp they had thrown up an embankment of earth about four feet high. In order to more readily accomplish his vengeance, the chief approached the encampment in open day, after the Dakota hunters had dispersed for the day's chase. He approached with the semblance of a peace party, carrying the white man's flag at the head of his long line of warriors. The enemy for a time appeared uncertain how to receive him, but as they saw the Ojibways continue slowly to advance to the very foot of their defences, two warriors, unarmed, rushed forth to meet them, thinking that they came in peace. Without waiting for the orders of their chief, some of the young Ojibway warriors imme> diately fired on them. One succeeded in making his escape, while the bleeding scalp of the other dangled on the belt of a warrior.
The Ojibways ran up to the Dakota defences, from be- hind which they fired repeated volleys into the defenceless lodges within, thus turning to their own advantage the embankment of earth which the enemy had formed with such great labor. The Dakota hunters, hearing the noise of the battle, flew back to their camp, and the fight every moment, as their ranks increased, became more hotiv contested. Towards evening the Ojibways were dislofln^ed from their position, and forced to retreat, with the loss of several killed and many wounded. The loss to the Dakotas which was much greater, judging from long rows of grave? they left on the spot, and which my informants assert, ar still plainly discernible within the inclosure of the earthe embankment.
BATTLE ON WILLOW BIVER. 829
Several years after this occurrence, the Dakotas, after having made a formal peace with the Ojibways, and agi'eed to hunt in peace and friendship, suddenly attacked a small camp of hunters and killed several women and children. During the summer following, the Ojibways collected to the number of sixty warriors, and proceeded down the St. Croix River, to revenge this act of perfidy. They discov- ej-ed their enemies encamped in a large village near the mouth of Willow River. They approached the camp dur- ing the middle of a pitchy dark night, and the chiefs placed two or three men to stand by each lodge, into which, at a given signal, they were to fire a volley, aiming at the spots where they supposed the enemy were lying asleep. Immediately loading their guns, when the inmates of the lodges would jump up in affright, they were to fire another volley and immediately retreat, as even the lodges of the Dakotas many times outnumbered the warriors of the Ojibways, and the enemy were too strong to risk with them a protracted fight. They judged also that the Da- kotiis were preparing to go on a war party, from the war- songs, drumming, and dancing which they had kept up throughout the village during the evening.
The orders of the Ojibway leader were strictly adhered to, and but two volleys were poured into the enemies' lodges, when the party suddenly retreated. The Dakotas, how- ever, recovering from the first surprise of the sudden and unexpected attack, grasped their arms and rushing forth, a hundred warriors were soon on the rear of the midnight invaders. The Ojibways, anxious for a fight, made a stand, and a fierce fight ensued in the darkness, the combatants aiming at the flashes of their enemies' musketry. The bravest warriors gradually approached to within a few feet of one another, in the midst of the darkness, when a Dakota chief was heard to give orders to his people in a loud voice, to divide into two parties, and making circuits
) MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
> the right and left, surround the enemy and cut off their
atreat An Ojibway warrior, who had been a captive
tmong the Dakotas, understanding these orders, quietly
informed his fellows, and when the enemy's fire slackened
in front, they made a silent but quick retreat.
They had arrived but a short distance from the scene of action, when they suddenly heard the firing and yelling of a fierce fight, at the spot which they had just left. The noise lasted for some minutes, and the OJibways learnt afterwards, that their enemy, dividing into two parties, with intent to surround them, had met in the darkness and mistaking one another for Ojibways, they had fired several volleys into each other's ranks, and continued to fight till, by their manner of yelling the war-whoop, they had dis- covered their mistake. The Dakotas, on this occasion, suffered a severe loss, infinitely aggravated froni the fiict of their having inflicted a portion of it on themselves. They consequently abandoned the war party, for which they had been making preparation. The slightest rebuff of this nature, always leads to the disorganization of a war party when on the point of starting. The slightest accident^s, or evil omens, will send them back even when once fairly started on their expedition.
Several warriors have arisen from the ranks of the St. Croix Ojibways who have distinguished themselves by deeds of great bravery, and whose names consequently live in the traditions and lodge stories of their people. Waub- ash-aw was the name of one, of part Dakota extraction, who flourished as a brave and successful war-leader, duriny the middle of the pjust century. He fought in many ei gagements, and was eventually killed at the battle of S Croix Falls. He was one of the spiritual, or clairvoyaj leaders of the war party who fought on this occasion, s is said to have predicted his own death.
BI-A-JIG, THE INYULNEBABLE WABRIOB. 331
BI-A-JIG, THE LONE WAREIOR.
When the Ojibways first took possession of the St. Croix River region, four generations ago, while still carrying on an active war with the Odugamies (Foxes), a warrior named Bi-a-jig became noted for the bravery and success with which he repelled the oft-repeated attacks of the Foxes and Dakotas.
He was accustomed to leave his family at Sha-ga-waum- ik-ong, or some other place of safety, and, entirely alone, he would proceed to the hunting grounds of his enemies, and in their very midst pursue his hunts. Numberless were the attacks made on his isolated little lodge by the Foxes, but he as often miraculously escaped their bullets and arrows, and generally caused many of their warriors to " bite the dust." Each spring he would return to his people's villages with nearly as many human scalps dan- gling to his belt as there were beaver skins in his pack.
So often did the Foxes attack him without success, by night and day, that they at last considered him in the light of a spirit, invulnerable to arrows and bullets, and they allowed him to pursue the chase wherever he listed, unmo- lested. Such a fear did they have of his prowess, that whenever they attacked a camp of Ojibways, if the defence appeared unusually desperate, they would call out to in- quire if Bi-a-jig was present, and on that warrior showing himself, the assailants would immediately desist from the attack and retreat.
The following characteristic anecdote is related, illus- trating the hardihood and bravery of Bi-a-jig: After the Foxes had been driven by the Ojibways from the midland country between the Mississippi and Lake Superior, they retired towards Lake Michigan, and on Green Bay they located themselves in a large village. They sued for peace with the Ojibways, which, being granted, it became cua-
832 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
ternary for parties from either tribe, to pay one another visits of peace. On one occasion, Bi-a-jig joined a small party of his people, who proceeded to pay a visit to the village of the Foxes on Green Bay. They were well re- ceived, and entertained with divers feastiugs and amuse- ments.
One day the Foxes proposed a grand war-dance, where the warriors of each tribe should have license to relate their exploits in war. The dance was held in a long lodge erected purposely for the occasion. The men of the Qib- ways were seated on one side of this lodge, while the more numerous Foxes occupied the other. A red stake was planted in the centre, near which was also planted a wa^ club, with which each warrior, wishing to relate his exploits, was to strike the red stake, as a signal for the music and dancing to cease. The dancing commenced, and as the warriors circled the stake, occasionally yelling their fierce w^ar-whoop, they soon became excited, and warrior after warrior plucked the club and told of bloody deeds.
Among the Ojibwajs was an old man, bent w^ith age and sorrow. In the course of the late war with the Foxes he had lost ten sons, one after another, till not a child was left to cheer his fireside in his old age. Often had he gone on the war trail to revenge his losses, but he always re- turned without having seen the enemy. On the occasion of this dance, he sat and listened to the vaunts of his chil- dren's murderers, and he could not ease the pain at his heart, by being able to jump up and tell of having in turn killed or scalped a single Fox.
Among the Foxes was a warrior noted far and wide for his braver}^ and numberless deeds of blood. He was the first war-chief of his tribe, and his head was covered with eagle plumes, each denoting an enemy he had slain, a scalp he had taken, or a captive whom he had tortured to death. This man again and again plucked the war-club to relate
"STRIKING THE RED STAKE." 833
his exploits. He related, in the most aggravating manner, of having captured an Ojibway youth and burnt him at the stake, vividly describing his torments. From the time and place where this capture was made, the old Ojibway knew that it was one of his sons, and under a feeling of deep aggravation, he jumped up, and grasping the war- club, he struck the red stake, but all he could say, was : "I once packed my little mat (war-sack), and proceeded towards the country of my enemies," then take his seat in silence.
The Fox warrior judged from this that he was the father of the youth whom he had tortured ; and again grasping the club, he told of another whom he had captured and burnt with fire ; then dancing in front of the old man, he yelled his war-whoop in aggravation. In quick succession he told of another and another he had taken, and treated in like manner, addressing himself to the bereaved father, of whose children he knew he was telling, vividly describing their tortures, and enjoying the deep anguish w^liich his words caused in the breast of the poor old man, whose sor- rowing and aged head hung lower and lower between his knees. Aggravated beyond measure, once more he jumped up, but all he could say was as before : " I once packed my little mat, and proceeded to the country of my enemies," and as he took his seat, he was jeered with laughter by the Foxes, who revelled in his distress. Once more, amidst the encouraging yells of his fellows, the Fox war-chief grasped the war-club, and dancing before the old man, he told of another of his sons whom he had treated with aggravated tortures.
Bi-a-jig had sat calmly by, smoking his pipe. Not join- * ing in the dance, he had taken silent notice of the whole scene. His heart yearned for his old comrade, whose sor- rows were being so wantonly opened afresh, by the cruel and ungenerous Foxes. His party was but a handful in
834 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS,
the midst of their numerous enemies, but this did not deter him from following the impulse of his good nature. He had borne the aggravating yells of the Foxes as long as his patience could last, and the moment the Fox war-chief re- turtied the club to its place, amidst the cheers of his fellows, Bi-a-jig sprang up, and grasping the club, he struck the vaunting warrior in the mouth, and brought him to the ground, exclaiming, " My name is Bi-a-jig ; I too am a man !" As the Fox warrior arose to his feet, Bi-a-jig again struck him on the mouth, and exclaimed. " You call yourself a man. I too am a man ! we will fight, to see who will live to tell of killing a warrior !"
During this scene the Foxes had grasped their arms, and the Ojibways, though far outnumbered even within the lodge, jumped up and yelled their war whoop, all of course supposing that the Fox war-chief, who had made himself so conspicuous, would resent the blow of Bi-a-jig, which act would have led to a general battle. The disgraced warrior, however, disappointed their expectation. lie quietly arose and left the lodge, with the blood gushinc^ from his battered mouth. The old man, whose feelinirs he bad been so unwarrantably harrowing, pointed at him with his fore-finger, and yelled a jeering whoop. His re- veiio-e was sweet.
The name of Bi-a-jig had become a common household word with the Foxes, with which mothers quieted their children into silence, and scared them into obedienoo. Their knowledge of his prowess, and belief in his being in- vulnerable, saved his Ojibway peace party from total de- struction on this occasion.
Shosh-e-man (Snow Glider) became noted as a war^hief during the latter part of the eighteenth century. lie l)e- longed to the Awause Totem Clan. He was much lovetl by the traders, for his unvarying friendship to the white**. In company with John Baptiste Cadotte, he often encount-
SOME ACCOUNT OF MINOR CHIEFS. 335
ered great dauger in attempts to make peace with the Da- kotas. He was also noted for great oratorical powers, and he is mentioned by some of the old traders who knew him as being the most eloquent man the Ojibways have ever product. Xo-diu, his son, succeeded him in his rank as chief of a portion of the St. Croix district. He is also dead, and none are now living to perpetuate the chieftainship of this family.
Buiialo, of the Bear Clan, also became noted as a chief of the St. Croix Ojibways, in fact superseding in import- ance and influence the hereditary chiefs of this division. Having committed a murder, he originally fled from the Sault Ste. Marie and took refuge on the St. Croix. The traders, for his success in hunting, soon made him a chief of some importance. His son, Ka-gua-dash, has succeeded him as chief of a small band.
The descendants of the hereditary chief of the Wolf To- tem, are, Na-guon-abe (Feather End), and Mun-o-min-ik-a- sheen (Rice Maker), chiefs of Mille Lac ; I-aub-aus (Little Buck), chief of Rice Lake, and Shon-e-yah, (Money), chief of Pokaguma.
As has been remarked in a former chapter, the 0 jib way pioneers on the St. Croix first located their village at Rice Lake, and next at Yellow Lake. The villages at Pokaguma and at Knife Lake are of comparative recent origin, within the memory of present living Indians.
About thirty years ago [1820] the Ojibways were, many of them, destroyed by the measles, or the " great red skin," as they term it, on the St Croix ; whole communities and families were entirely cut off^, and the old traders affirm that at least one-third of the " Rice Makers," or St. Croix Indians, disappeared under the virulence of this pestilence. Other portions of the tribe did not suffer so much, though some villager, especially that of Sandy Lake, became nearly depopulated.
836 KINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE PILLAGERS.
Present Dumber of the Pillager warrion — Their repatation for brayery— ScTcre fight with the Dakotas at Battle Lake, and great sacrifice of their warrion — Exploit of We-noD-ga— Night attack on a camp of Dakotas at Cbiefi Mountain.
Notwithstanding the continual drain made in their ranks by their inveterate and exterminating war with the Dakotas, the large band of the Ojibways who lived on Leech Lake, and had become known by the name of Pilla- gers, continued gradually to increase in numbers, through accessions from the more eastern villages of their tribe. Their men capable of bearing arms (most of whom have actually seen service) number, at the present time,* about three hundred. They have ever borne the reputation of being the bravest and most w^arlike division of the Ojib- ways, from the fact of their ever having formed the van- guard of the tribe, and occupied the most dangerous ground in their westward advance and conquests. As a sample of their bravery and hardihood, we shall devote this chapter in giving an account of one of their numerous and bloody rencontres with the Dakotas, wherein they lost many of their bravest warriors.
About fifty-seven ^ears ago, John Baptiste Cadotte (who has already been mentioned in previous chapters) arrivcnl at Red Cedar, or Cass Lake, late in the fall, with a supply of goods, ammunition, and other necessaries, intending to pass the winter in trading with the Pillagers and northern Ojibways. The Pillagers, at their village on Leech Lake, w^ere preparing to go on a grand war party against the Da-
1 A. D. 1S32.
UK-KE-WAUS RAISES A WAR PARTY. 337
kotas, but being destitute of ammunition, the men repaired in a body to Cass Lake, to procure a supply from the trader who had so opportunely arrived. It being contrary to his interests as a trader, that the Indians should go to war at this season of the year, Mons. Cadotte endeavored to dis- suade them from their purpose. He mvited them to coun- cil, and after stating to them his wishes, he presented some tobacco, and a small keg of liquor to each head, or repre- sentative chief, of the several grand clans, or totems, and promised them, that if they would give up their present warlike intentions, and hunt well during the winter, in the spring he would give them all the ammunition he might have on hand, to use against their enemies.
These rare presents, and promise, in connection with Ca- dotte'a great influence among them as their relative, in- duced the Pillagers to promise to give up their general war party. With their present of fire-water, they returned to their village at Leech Lake, to hold a grand frolic, which, in those early days, were seldom and far between. When, their revel had been ended, and all had once more become sober, one morning at sunrise Utke-waus, an elderly man who had that fall returned to his people after a long resi- dence among the Crees of Red River, walked slowly through the village from lodge to lodge, proclaiming in a loud voice that he was determined on going to war, and calling on all those who considered themselves men to join him, and pay no attention to the words of the trader.
The next day this obstinate old warrior, with his four sons, left the village, and proceeded on the war-path against the Dakotas. He was followed by forty-five war- riors, many of whom, it is said, went with great reluctance. To sustain this assertion, an anecdote is told of one, who, that morning, had determined to raise camp, to proceed on his fall hunt for beaver. He requested his wife to pull
down their lodge, and gum the canoe, preparatory to leav- 22
338 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
ing, but the wife appeared not to notice his words. He spoke to her a second time, and she still remaining un- mindful, the husband got up, and taking down his gun he left the lodge, remarking, " Well, then, if you refuse to do as I wish you, I will join the warriors." He never returned to his disobedient wife, and his bones are bleaching on the sandy shores of Battle Lake.
After four days' travel to the westward, the war party arrived in the vicinity of Leaf Lake, within the country of their enemy, and discovered fresh signs of their hunters. In the evening they heard the report of Dakota guns booming in the distance. Early in the morning of the fifth day, they came across a beaten path, following which led them towards a large lake, which, from the ensuing fight, has borne the name of Lac du Battaile, or Battle Lake. As they neared this lake, they again heard the report of the enemy's guns, gradually receding in the dis- tance, as if they were moving away from them. Uk-ke- waus, the leader of the party, insisted that the Dakotas must have discovered them, and were running away, and he importuned the party to quicken their steps in pursuit. The leading, and more experienced warriors, however, halted, and filling their pipes, gnively eon8ulte<l amongst themselves the best course to be pursued. From the re- peated firing of guns, in almost every directioUv it was argued that the enemy must be occupying the country in great force, and probably some of their hunters, having discovered their trail, were preparing to cut off their retreat. A return home was seriously talked of under these circum- stances, but Uk-ke-waus, being a passionate and withal a determined man, violently opposed this measure, and up- braided his fellows for their faint-heartedness in unmeas- ured terms. On this, the determination of their warriors was instantly formed, for none could brook the reproval of cowardice.
HOT CHASE AFTEB THE ENEMY. 339
The party continued their onward course, and followed up the enemy's trail with quickened steps. Arriving on the lake shore, they beheld the late deserted encampment of their enemies, who had just moved oft*, and whose lodge fires were still brightly burning. As the Pillagers made their appearance on a rise of ground overlooking the deserted camp, three young men of the Dakotas suddenly jumped up from around a fire, where they had been sitting, and casting their eyes on the group of warriors who were fast approaching, and recognizing them for Ojibways, they fled towards the lake shore. Urged on by the old warrior, the Pillagers increased their speed to a full run. On arriving at the lake shore, they perceived in the distance the mov- ing camp of their enemies, winding along the sandy beach, which stretched for two miles to their right Some were on horseback, others on foot, and all packing along their leathern lodges, traps, and various camping equipage. It was not long before the moving Dakotas perceiving war- rior after warrior collecting in their rear, apparently in full pursuit of them, and seeing the three young men who had been left as a rear guard, running and occasionally throw- ing up their blankets in warning, became panic-stricken, and dropping their loads, a general flight commenced.
Urged on by the apparent confusion and fear caused by their presence, amongst the ranks of their enemies, the Pillagers rushed on as if to a feast, and " first come was to be best served." About half their number, thinking to head the fleeing enemy, left the sandy beach of the lake, and ran around a swamp which lay between the narrow beach and the main land. This intended short cut, how- ever, only led them astray, as they could not get around the swamp without going a great distance out of the way which the enemy were pursuing. In the mean time the Dakotas disappeared one after another in a deep wood which stood at the extreme end of the sand beach. Three
840 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Pillager braves, who, being excellent runners, kept some distance ahead of their fellows, fearlessly followed after them. They ran through the woods and emerged upon an open prairie, where they were struck with surprise, at sud- denly perceiving long rows of Dakota lodges. The fleeing camp had joined another, and together they numbered three hundred lodges. Guns were firing to call in the straggling hunters, drums were beating to collect the warriors, many of whom, already prepared for battle, their heads decked with plumes and their bodies painted in red and black, made a terrific appearance as they ran to and fro, marshalling the younger warriors and hurrying their preparations.
One look was sufiicient for the three panting Pillagers, and amid a shower of bullets which laid one of them in death, the survivors turned and ran back, and as they met their fellows, they urged on them the necessity of imme- diate flight, for it was impossible to resist the numbers which their enemies were about to turn against them. Heated, tired, and panting for breath, the Pillagers could not think of flight. Their utmost exertions had been spent in a foolish and fruitless chase, and they could now do no more than die like men. Deliberately they chose their ground, at a place where a small rivulet connected the lake, through the narrow neck of sand beach, with a wide swamp. Here they could not be surrounded, and when half of their number had collected, they hid in the tall grass which grew on cither side of the little creek, and here, entirely commanding the narrow pass, they awaited in ambush the coming of the Dakota warriors, who soon appeared from the woods, and marshalled in long lines on the lake shore, dressed and j)ainted for battle. Their ad- vance was imposing. They were led on by a prominent figure who wore a blue military coat, and who carried con- spicuous on his breast a large silver medal, denoting hi? rank as chief. In one hand he brandished only a long s{»ear,
THE OJIBWAYS IN A TIGHT PLACE. 841
while in the other he carried aloft the war ensign of plumes, and as he came on, running from side to side, in fipont of his warriors, to keep them in line and check, he exhorted them to act like men with a loud voice.
Breathlessly the tired Pillagers crouched in the grass, awaiting the onset. The imposing array of their enemies had already reached within range of their bullets, but still they kept quiet, unseen in their ambush. The remainder of their fellows wlio had attempted to run around the swamp, finding out their mistake, had returned, and were now run- ning up the sandy beach to the support of their fellows. On these the Dakotas turned their attention, and, unsus- pecting, they marched right on their hidden enemies. The first gun fired by the Pillagers brought down the noble form of their leader. A yell of rage issued from the ranks of the Dakotas, and instead of dodging here and there, hiding behind trees, or throwing themselves in the tall grass, as they generally do in battle, they rushed forward in a body, determined to annihilate at one blow their fee- ble and tired enemy. Their front ranks, however, fell be- fore the united volleys of the Pillagers, and the battle now commenced in earnest
Retiring behind the shelter of trees, the Pillagers for a time kept up the hopeless contest, being every moment joined by their fellows who had been left behind. Last of the stragglers, when over one half of his comrades had been shot down, came Uk-ke-waus, the old warrior who had urged them on to the foolish chase. He had four sons engaged in the fight, the youngest of whom had been killed before the Dakota lodges. As he came up and took his stand beside his surviving warriors, the death of his favorite son was proclaimed to him, and bitter reproaches were addressed to him, for causing the untimely death of 80 many brave men. Determined to save some of his fel- lows, if possible, the old warrior called out in a voice di*
842 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
tinctly heard above the din of battle, " Let those who wish to live, escape by retreating, while singly I shall stand in the path of our enemies !" The surviving Pillagers, all but his three brave sons, took him at his word, and leav- ing them to withstand the pursuit of the Dakotas, they turned and fled. For a long time the yells of those devoted warriors could be heard, as, at each crack of their guns, an enemy bit the dust. Volley after volley were fired on them in vain. They appeared to have a charmed life, but their strength and ammunition tailing, the few remaining friends to whom by their self-sacrifice they had given life, heard from a great distance the exultant yells of the Dakotas as they silenced them forever, and tore the reeking scalps from their heads.
Not one-third of that Pillager war party ever returned to their people. Their bones are bleaching, and returning to dust, on the spot where they so bravely fought and fell. We-non-ga (the Vulture), one of the leaders of this ill-fated war party, though sorely wounded, returned home in safety. He was still living a few years since, honored and respected by all his people. It was his boast as he struck the war-pole, to relate his exploits, that on this bloody occasion, he shot down, one aft<jr another, seven Dakotas. The slaughter in their ranks must have been very consid- erable.
The beautiful sheet of water where the above related event took place, has since then been named by the Ojib- ways, Ish-quon-e-de-win-ing (where but few survived). The French, from the same circumstance, named it Lac du Battaile, interpreted in " Nicollet's map of the Mississippi Valley," into Battle Lake.
Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, the venerable chief* of the Pillagers, from whose lips I have obtained the above account, was a young man when the fight at Battle Lake took place. He
1 ▲. D. 1852.
UK-KE-WAUS' DEATH AVENGED. 343
was returning to Leech Lake, after a long residence among his Cree relations in the north, and was stopping to hunt with some friends at Red Lake, when, about midwinter, the news of the above battle reached them. There being many relatives of the old man Uk-ke-waus and his sons residing at Red Lake, at the news of their death, a war party was immediately raised, consisting of one hundred and thirty warriors, who marched on snow shoes towards the hunting grounds of the Dakotas. The young Pillager chief joined this party, and proceeded with them to the southern base of 0-ge-mah-mi-jew, or Chiefs Mountain, where they made a night attack on a large camp of the enemy, consisting of over fifty lodges. Several volleys were fired into the defenceless lodges, and many of the in- mates killed and wounded, when, the warriors of the Dar kotas briskly firing back, the Ojibways retreated.
The young chief, with two others, remained for some hours in the vicinity of the camp, after their fellows had gone, and he vividly describes the plaintive wailing of those who had lost relatives in the late attack. There was deep mourning in the camp of the Dakotas that bloody night! Stealthily approaching the lodges in the darkness, the young chief, with his two companions, once more dis- charged their guns at their weeping enemies, then turning homewards, they ran all night to rejoin their fellows.
Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe relates as a curious fact, that this war party left Red Lake on snow shoes, the ground being cov- ered with deep snow. They marched directly westward, and having reached the great western plains, they found bare ground, left their snow shoes, and walked whole days through immense herds of bufialo.
844 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XXX.
OJIBWAYS OP THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI.
The Sandy Lake band are nearly destroyed by the Dakotaa — Battle of Crots Lake, and destruction of an OJibway camp — Captives taken — Escape of a young woman by climbing into a pine tree — The Mississippi OJibways are reinforced through accessions from Lake Superior — Account of the chieftain " Curly Head'' — He takes possession of the Crow Wing hunting gronnds— Vain efforts of the Dakotas to destroy his camp— Chiefs of the Mississippi— Lieut. Pike's journey to the sources of the Missipsippi — He visita Leech Lake, and takes possession of the country for the United States.
Wb will once more return to the division of the Q^^- ways, who had made their homes on the waters forming the sources of the Mississippi River. It has already been related how, in the year 1782, the village of Sandy Lake became nearly depopulated by the dreadful ravages of the smallpox. This band, however, gradually recovered their former strength and numbers, through accessions from the villages of their people located on Lake Superior, who were drawn to the Mississippi country by the richness of the hunting grounds, and facilities of obtaining a plentiful and ea«y livelihood.
In the year 1800 (as near as can be judged from the In- dian mode of counting time), the ill-fated village of Sandy Lake again received a severe blow, which cut oft' its inhabi- tants nearly to a man. On this occasion, however, thej suffered from the implacable hatred of the Dakotas. As it had become customary, in the fall of the year, the hun- ters with their families, had gone down the Mississippi, and joining with the Pillager camp at Crow Wing, they had proceeded to the rich hunting grounds in the vicinity of Long Prairie, to pursue the chase during the winter. This year the Dakotas did not approach them for the pur-
DAKOTAS AGAIN ON THE WAR-PATH. 345
pose of making a temporary peace, as they had been accus- tomed to do for some years previous. On the contrary, they kept a wary watch over the movements of the Qjib- way camp, for the purpose of obtaining an opportunity of inflicting on them a sudden blow, which might have the eiFect of deterring them from again encroaching on their favorite hunting grounds.
As spring approached, the Ojibways again turned their faces homewards, and made slow marches towards their villages. The Dakotas collected their warriors, and to the number of four hundred men, they stealthily followed the return trail of their enemies. At Crow Wing the Pillager and Sandy Lake camps, as usual, parted company, and moved in different directions. The Dakotas followed the amaller camp, which led towards Millo Lac and Sandy Lake, and at Cross Lake, thirty miles northeast of Crow Wing, they fell on the Ojibways, and destroyed nearly the whole camp. The Ojibways, perfectly unaware that the enemy was on their tracks in such force, as it was not the season of the year when they usually carried on their war- fare, had leisurely moved their camp from place to place, without taking any precautions to guard against sudden attack or surprise. In camping about in a dangerous neighborhood, they were accustomed to cut down trees and pile logs about their wigwams for defence against mid- night attacks; but on this occasion, the fated Ojibways failed to follow the usual precautions which might have saved them from almost total destruction.
They encamped one evening at Sa-sub-a-gum-aw, or Cross Lake, on a long narrow point covered with pine trees, which ran across the lake nearly dividing it in two. They numbered eight long, or double wigwams, besides several smaller ones, altogether containing over two hundred men, women, and children. Luckily, several families residing at Mille Lac, had that day parted from the main camp.
346 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
and had gone in the direction of their village, consequently escaping the fate which awaited their fellows. Early the next morning, also, a number of women left the camp, to carry heavy loads of meat some distance ahead towards their next camping ground, intending to return after other loads. On their return, hearing the noise of the battle, which commenced soon after their departure, they suc- ceeded in making their escape.
Soon after the sun had arisen on this fated morning, several of the Ojibway hunters sallied out of their wig- wams for the usual day's hunt, intending to rejoin their families at the next encampment. On reaching the ice on the lake, they perceived several wolves sitting a short dis- tance off, apparently watching the encampment. The hunters ran towards them, but as they did so, the seeming wolves got up and retreated into the woods which skirted the lake. The hunters instantly recognized them for hu- man beings, who, covered with wolf skins, had quietly been reconnoitring their camp, and counting their lodges. They ran back and gave the alarm, but the Ojibway warriors were given but a few moments to make preparations for the coming onslaught.
On being discovered, the Dakotas immediately marshalknl their forces on the ice, and in long lines, dressed and painted for battle, they slowly approached the Ojibway encampment. So unusual was this mode of attack, that for a moment the Ojibways were deceived into the belief that they came for the purpose of making peace, and under this impression two of their bravest warriors, Be-dud and She-shebe, ran out upon the ice to meet them. They were welcomed with a shower of bulleta and arrows. Thev, however, bravely stood their ground, and returned the fire of the enemy, and their fellow warriors joining them, a fierce fight ensued on the ice, which soon became crimsoned with blood.
DESTRUCTION OP AN OJIBWAY CAMP. 847
Many times outnumbered by their enemies, the few sur- viving warriors of the Ojibways were finally forced to take shelter near their wigwams, but the Dakotas entirely sur- rounded them. After a brave, but hopeless, defence, their guns were silenced forever, and their scalps graced the belts of their victorious enemies. After annihilating the men, the Dakotas rushed into the perforated wigwams, and massacred the women and children who had escaped their bullets. Some few children were spared, who were after- wards adopted into the families of their captors. Some have since returned to their people and are still living,* who speak the Dakota tongue with great fluency. A grandson of the chief Bi-aus-wah was captured on this occa- sion, and he is said to be still living' amongst his captors, at an advanced age, and much respected by them.
The narrative of this bloody event was related to the writer by an aged woman, who is now' the mother and grandmother of a large and respectable family of half-breed children. She was a young maiden at the time of the massacre, and being present, she witnessed all its terrible incidents. She escaped the fate of her fellows by climbing into a pine tree, the thick foliage of which eftectually screened her from the eyes of the bloody Dakotas. After they had finished the work of scalping and mutilating the dead, and setting the wigwams on fire, they left their bloody work, and returned homeward, singing songs of triumph. The young woman descended from her perch in the pine tree, and vividly she describes the scene which presented itself to her eyes as she walked about the encamp- ment, weeping bitter tears for her murdered relatives. The defence had been so long and desperate, that not a lodge pole, or shrub about the late encampment, but what had the marks of bullets or arrows.
1 A. D. 1852.
848 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
This was a terrible blow on the Ojibways who had taken possession of the Upper Mississippi country, and they felt it severely. But it did not have the effect of causing them to evacuate the hunting grounds, which cost them so much blood. On the contrary, they held their vantage ground against the Dakotas with greater determination and tenacity, and their warriors who had been slain at CrosB Lake being soon replaced by others from Lake Superior, they were enabled, in a few years, to inflict a terrible retri- bution on the Dakotas.
It is at this time that the celebrated chief, Ba-be-sig-aon- dib-ay, or " Curly Head," first made his appearance on the Ujiper Mississippi. He belonged to the Crane family, and removed to this region with a small camp of his relative from the shores of the Great Lake. He did not stop at Sandy Lake, but proceeded down the Mississippi, and located his camp in the vicinity of Crow Wing, on a plenti- ful hunting ground, but in dangerous proximity to the Dakotas. The bmvest warriors and hunters of the Missis- sippi Ojibways joined his camp and they soon formed a formidable body of hardy and fearless pioneers, who, ever Avary against the advances of their enemies, were never attacked by them with impunity. Twice the Dakotas en- deavored to destroy this daring band by sudden nigbt at- tacks, but each time they were repulsed with severe loss.
Curly Head was much respected and loved by his people. Tn the words of one of their principal warriors, '" lie was a father to his j)eople ; they looked on him as children do t*> a parent ; and his lightest wish was immediately performed. His lodge was ever full of meat, to which the hungry and destitute were ever welcome. The tradei'S vied with oim' another who should treat him best, and the presents which he received at their hands, he always distributed to hiJ* people without reserv^e. When he had plenty, his i>eople wantcKl not"
CHIEFS OF THE MISSISSIPPI OJIBWAYS. 349
His band increased in numbers, and they eventually beld the Crow Wing country without incurring the yearly ind continued attacks of the Dakotas, who were thus Snally forced to give up this portion of their hunting ^rounds and retire further down the Mississippi. The )resent Mississippi and Gull T^ake band proper, now* num- )ering about six hundred souls, are the descendants of this lardy band of pioneers.
Curly Head became the third principal chief on the Upper Vlississippi. He ruled the " men of the great river," while B[ardow-aub-e-da (Broken Tooth), son of Bi-aus-wah, ruled he Sandy Lake village, and Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, bette*' cnown as Flat Mouth, presided over the Pillagers.
These three noted chiefs are mentioned by Lieut. Zebu- Ion M. Pike, in his narrative of a journey to the sources of the Mississippi in 1805. The visit of this officer is an event of considerable importance to the Ojibways of the [Jpper Mississippi, as they date from it their first inter- [jourse with the " Long Knives," or citizens of the United States. Previous to this time, they had been altogether inder British influences, and all their chiefs wore the >adges and medals of Great Britain, and her flag. They leld intercourse onlj' with British traders of the Northwest nd Hudson's Bay companies, as the Americans had not as et commenced to compete with these powerful companies n the fur trade. Tlie object of the United States govem- nent in sending this expedition to the sources of the Mis- issippi, was to explore the country and take formal pos- ession.
Lieut. Pike proceeded up the Mississippi with a party )f soldiers in batteaux. Cold weather and ice prevented lis further progress at the foot of Pike's Rapids, about Jiirty miles below the confluence of the Crow Wing with
1 A. D. 1S52.
350 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
•
the Mississippi, and here he was obliged to pass the win- ter, erecting comfortable quarters for his people, and col- lecting an ample supply of provisions from the abundance of game, buflalo and elk, which at that time covered this portion of the Upper Mississippi country. During the winter he proceeded with a party of his people to Leech Lake, where the Northwest Fur Company held a stock- aded trading post, and here he formally proclaimed our right to the country, by planting a flag staflT on which waved, for the first time, the stars and stripes. On this occasion, the young Pillager chief and warrior, £sh-k< bug-e-coshe, who already held unbounded influence ovej his fellows, exchanged his British flag and medal for th— q flag and medal of the United States ; and as the now age — ^ chief expresses himself, ^^ he ceased to be an Englishma^^} and became a Long Knife."
During this journey, Lieut. Pike had intercourse a^^ with the chiefs. Curly Head and Broken Tooth, and reco^. nized their rank and authority by bestowing on eacb a medal and flag.
THE STBUGGLE ALONG THE FKONTIER. 851
CHAPTER XXXI.
OJIBWATS OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI.
ITaab-o-Jeeg, 2d, killed by the Dakotas at Mille Lac— Curly Head and Flat Mouth collect a war party to avenge his death— Attack on a Dakota camp at Long Prairie—*' Strong Ground'' first distinguii>he8 himself for bravery — Dakotas evacuate the Long Prairie River country — Battle at Pembina b^ tween Ojibways and Dakotas— Son of the chief ** Little Clam'' killed— Re- venge of the father — Death of Ta^bush-aw — OJibway hunters congregate on the Red River — Extent of the border on which the warfare of the Ojibways and Dakotas is carried on — Origin of the name for Thief River.
Half a century since, there flourished as one of the prin- ipal leaders of the Ojibway warriors on the Upper Mis- issippi, a man whose name was Waub-o-jeeg, or White ^isher (namesake to the celebrated chief who, eighty years go,^ led his people against the allied Foxes and Dakotas at he battle of St Croix Falls). Waub-o-jeeg was a warrior of ome distinction. He possessed much influence with, and ras loved and respected by his people. His lodge was ver filled with the fruits of the successful chase, to which ae hungry were always welcome. His social pipe was ver full, and the stem often passed around among his fel- )W8. He was always foremost in defence of his people, hen, as it too often happened, the startling war-whoop of leir enemies fearfully broke on the morning stillness of leir sleeping encampment ! A successful and adventurous unter, a brave and daring warrior, Waub-o-jeeg, who was ver foremost on the dangerous hunting grounds of the >akotas, at last, in the prime of life, fell a victim to his ourage.
A few years after the battle and massacre at Cross Lake, •He summer, while encamped near Mille Lac, in company
1 A. D. 1852.
S52 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
with another warrior named She-shebe (who had distin- guished himself on this bloody occasion), a Dakota war party suddenly fell on them early one morning, and being unprepared to resist the attack, they, with their wives and children, were killed and scalped. Waub-o-jeeg suffered death at the first fire ; but She-shebe had time to grasp hia gun, and as his foes were eagerly rushing forward to finbh their work and secure his scalp, he fired in their midst, killing one Dakota and wounding another, according to their after acknowledgment. The death of these two noted warriors, with their families, created a general excitement throughout the villages of the whole tribe, and the relatives of Waub-o-jeeg lost no time in making preparations to re- venge the blow on their enemies. Ba-he-sig-au-dib-ay, or Curly Head, chief of the Lower Mississippi, or Gull Lake Ojibways, took the matter especially in hand, and late in the fall he collected the Sandy Lake warriors at Gull Lake. During the summer, Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, or Flat Mouth, the Pillager chief, had lost a nephew at the hands of the Dakotas, and to revenge his death, he also collected his warriors, and these two noted chiefs met by appointment, and joined their respective forces at Crow Wing, from whicli place they jointly led one hundred and sixty war- riors into the Dakota country.
In those days, the lands which the .Ojibways lately soM to the United States government, lying between Long Prairie and Watab Rivers, on the west side of the Missis- sippi, and now* forming the home of the Winnebagoes, were favorite hunting grounds of the Sisseton and Warpo- ton Dakotas. They were accustomed to rove through it each autumn, congregated in large camps, for greater se- curity against the Ojibways. On this occasion, the war party of Curly Head and Flat Mouth first discovered the Dakota trail, at the western extremity of Long Prairits
1 A. D. 1852.
BRAVERY OF "STRONG GROUND." 353
near the present site of the Winnebago agency. Following the trail, they discovered a Dakota encampment consisting of about forty lodges, located on the banks of Long Prairie River, which they determined to attack.
The encampment was surrounded during the night, and at a given signal, early in the morning, the Ojibways fell on the sleeping Dakotas. They fired volley after volley into the defenceless lodges, before a single warrior appeared to resist the attack. The sharp yell of defiance was at last heard issuing from the lips of a Dakota warrior, as he rushed bleeding fi^om his lodge, and took a stand to return the fire of the assailants. Yell after yell succeeded his, and following his brave example, form after form were seen issuing from the perforated lodges, till nearly sixty Dakotas stood forth to confront their foes, and defend their families. The fight is said to have been close and most fiercely contested. It lasted till nightfall, when all the Dakota warriors but seven had been shot down, and silenced forever. Of these seven men, the most daring acts of valor are related. Retreating into the lodges, they actually kept off the united force of the Ojibways, and finally compelled them to retreat, leaving behind the rich harvest of scalps which they had hoped to reap.
On this bloody occasion the Dakotas sustained a heavy' loss of life — fully as great as their enemies had suffered at Cross Lake. Song-uk-um-ig, or Strong Ground, the elder brother of the late celebrated war-ohief Hole-in-the-dav, finjt distinguished himself for bravery in this fight. Though but a mere lad, he was one of the few who daringly ran into the very ranks of the Dakotas to secure the sc^alp of a fallen warrior. This brave man, who died a few years since, could boast in his time, thirty-six eagle plumes on his head-dress, each denoting an enemy whom he had slain, or a scalp which he had secured in battle, the first of which he earned at Long Prairie fight.
23
354 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
As it afterward appeared by following the movements of the remnants of the Dakota camp, their forty lodges hui been reduced, by the attack of the Ojibways, to but five. The loss of the Ojibways was seven killed, besides many severely wounded. Fighting from behind the shelter of trees and embankments of earth hastily thrown up, they liad suffered a small loss, considering the length and san- guinary nature of the fight. They captured thirty-six horses, which, however, not being used to manage, ihey^ eventually destroyed. The bleaching bones of horse a man arc still' to be seen on the spot where this blood occurrence took place. From this event may be date**- ([ the final evacuation of the Long Prairie River country b^^y the Dakotas. Enticed by the richness of the huntii — -_j<r grounds, they would sometimes return, in force, but aftrrrrer
suifering repeated blows at the hands of the Mississif )|,i
war-chiefs. Strong Ground and Hole-in-the-day, they eve=r- ^Jt. ually gave up possession and all claim on the couu — try which now' forms the home of the Winnebagoes.
It happened that on the same day in which the ba^ ^tk at Long Prairie took [)lace, a large Dakota war j>srm.rty levied from another camp, and attacked a party of dyjib- way hunters near Pembina, on the Rod River of the norfij. The Ojibways, under the guidance of their chief Ais-sarjee, or Little Clam, made a fierce resistance, and succeedoil in beating them away from their encampment. The favorife son of the Ojibway chieftain was, however, killed, and he was rifled of a large British medal which he wore conspic- uous on his breast. Ais-sance, in the excitement of battle, had not noticed the fall of his beloved son, and he became so exasperated when the Dakotas displayed in the midst of battle the scalp and medal of his son, that he rushed furi- ously in the midst of their ranks, shot do\\Ti the boasting Dakota, and cutting off his head, retreated holding it up
1 A. D. 1852.
TH£ BATTLE NEAR PEMBINA. 355
in triumph, and yelling his war-whoop till he reached a secure shelter behind a tree. So struck were the enemy by this sudden and daring act of valor, that they fired not a shot at the brave warrior till he had reached a place of safety.
The Ojibways were so exasperated at the loss of their young chief, that they fought with unusual fierceness and hardihood, and pursued the Dakotas some distance as they retreated, notwithstanding they were many times outnum- bered by them. An Ojibway hunter named Ta-bush-aw, whose wigwam stood some distance from the main camp of Ais-sance, arrived too late on the field to join the fight, but determined to have his share of the sport, and withal a scolding wife causing life to be a burden to him, he fol- lowed up the retreating war party on horseback, at night, accompanied by another hunter, named Be-na. They headed the Dakotas, and lying in ambush on their route, they fired into their ranks. Be-na, pursuant to the request of his fellow hunter, immediately retreated, while Ta-bush- aw kept up the fight with the whole Dakota war party, till he fell a victim to his bravery.
Instances are not rare, where warriors have sacrificed their lives in this manner, either for the sake of being mentioned in the lodge tales of their people as brave men, to wipe off the slur of cowardice, which for some cause, some one of their fellow warriors might have cast on them, or more often, through being tired of the incessant scold- ings of a virago wife, and other burdens of life equally unendurable, as was the case with Ta-bush-aw.
At this time, the Ojibways occupying the sources of the Mississippi and Red River, had forced the Dakotas to re- treat west of these two streams. Hunters from Lake Su- perior, and even from the Ottoways of Mackinaw, had found their way to the Red River of the North, to trap beaver, and chase the buffalo, which abounded in these
I
356 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
regions in great abundance. Thus, a formidable body of the tribe had gradually congregated on this remote north- west frontier, who flourished under the alliance of the £e- nisteno and Assineboin tribes, to whom, properly, the coun- try belonged. They joined their wars against the Yano- ton Dakotas; and thus, on an uninterrupted line from Selkirk's settlement to the mouth of the Wisconsin River, over a thousand miles in length, the Ojibways and Dakota^^^ carried on against one another their implacable warfare, ancEL_^ whitened this vast frontier with each other's bones.
For a number of years, on the headwaters of Thief Riv^^^^ (which empties into Red River below Otter Tail Lake), camp of ten Dakota lodges, succeeded in holding the coi try by evading or escaping the search of the Ojibway
parties. Here, loth to leave their rich hunting groun-.^ j^
they lived from year to year in continual dread of an atte^=3eJc from their conquering foes. They built a high emba. — nj^. ment of earth, for defence, around their lodges, and t^^^ook every means in their power to escape the notice of the Ojibways — even discarding the use of the gun on acccz^ynf of its loud report, and .using the primitive bow and arronv;, in killing such game as they needed. They were, Yiow. ever, at last discovered by their enemies. The CrecB and Assineboincs, during a short peace which they made with the Dakotas, learned of their existence and locality, and informing the Ojibways, a war party was raised, who wont in search of them. They were discovered encamped within their earthen inclosure, and. after a brave but unavailing defence with their bows and arrows, the ten lodges, with their inmates, were entirely destroyed. The embankment of earth is said, by Wa-won-je-quon, the chief of Red Lake (who is my informant on this subject), to be stilP plainly visible. From this circumstance, the Ojibways named the stream (the headwaters of which the Dakotas had so long
» A. D. 1S52.
OBIGIN OF THE NAME "THIEF BIVER." 857
secretly occnpied), Ke-moj-ake-se-be, literally meaning, " Secret Earth River," which the French, pronouncing Ke- mod-ake, meaning Stealing Earth, has been interpreted into Thief River, by which name it is laid down on Nicol- let's Map.
868 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XXXIL
OJIBWAYS OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI.
The Dakotas make unuBxial advances to effect a peace with the Qjfbwayf— Shappa, the Yankton Dakota chief— He effects a peace with the Red Rirar Ojibways— Dakotas and Ojibways meet on Platte River— Disturbance of the peace— Bloodshed is prevented by Wa-nah-ta, son of Shappa— Flat Mouth, the Pillager chief, refuses to accept the peace — He mistrusts the intentioni of the Dakotas— His narrow escape, and discovery of a war trail on Otter Tail Lake — Murder of his two cousins — Their brave defence against the Dakotas — Flat Mouth prepares for war — Shappa sends him his peace pipe, and appoints when and where to meet him — Flat Mouth keeps the appoioW ment — Ho refuses to shed blood on a white man's door-step — Death of Shappa, with two of his warriors — He is succeeded by his son, Wa-nah-ti, who becomes a noted warrior — ^Threats of Col. Dickson against Pillagers- Fierce battle between Dakotas and Ojibways at Goose River — Black Duck distinguishes himself for bravery— Characteristic manner of a peace effected between an Ojibway camp, and Dakota war party on Platte River— The chief of Sandy Lake makes a peace visit to the Dakotas — Hip party narrowly cecapeB dcetruction — They are saved by the trader Renville — Dakotas kill an Ojibway on Gull Lake, and leave the war-club on his body — Quick reveugt of Curly Head — Five women killed — War-club returned.
The year after tlie battle at Long Prairie, tlie Dakotas, along the whole line of their eastern frontiers, made an unusual attempt to enter into a general ]»eaee with the Ojibways. Shappa (the Beaver), head-chief of the Yank- ton Dakotas, the most numerous section of this extensive tribe, and occupying the most northern position, first made advances of peace to the Ojibways on Red River. Some years previous he had taken captive a young Ojibway woman, who soon became his favorite wife. Tliis woman he now placed on a fleet horse, and giving her his peace pipe, he bade her to go to her people at Pembina, and tell them that in so many days, Shappa would come ami smoke with them in peace and good-will.
THE DAKOTA CHIEFS^ SHAPPA AKD WA-NAH-TA. 359
On the day appointed, the Dakota chief, with a large number of his people, made his appearance, and the Red River Ojibways accepted his otters of peace. At the same time the Sisseton, Warpeton, and M'dewakanton Dakotae, in a large camp, approached the Ojibways of the Missis- sippi and Sandy Lake, and Mille Lac. The two parties met on the banks of Platte River, near its junction with the Mississippi, and the peace pipe was formally smoked between them, and games of various kinds was played be- tween the young men of the two camps. The feeling of hatred, however, which rankled in the breasts of the Da- kotaa against the Ojibways, could not altogether be re- strained. At a grand game of ball, or Baug-ah-ud-o-way, played between the young men of either tribe for a large stake, a disturbance nearly leading to a scene of bloodshed occurred.
One of the seven Dakota warriors who had survived the battle at Long Prairie, picked a quarrel with an Ojibway, by striking him for some trivial cause, with his ball-stick The blow was returned, and the fight would soon have become general, had not the young Wa-nah-ta, son of Shappa, rushed in, and forcibly separated the combatants, inflicting a summary punishment and scolding on his fellow Dakota who had commenced the fight. This is the first occasion in which Wa-nah-ta is mentioned by the Ojibways. lie afterwards became celebrated as a warrior, and a chief of vast influence over the wild Yankton Dako- tas.
While peace parties thus met above and below him. Flat Mouth, the Pillager chief, quietly hunted beaver on Long Prairie River. The peace pipe had been sent to him, but he had not as yet determined to accept it, for he mis- trusted the intentions of the Dakotas in thus unusually making the first advance to bury the war-club. The wary chieftain could not think them sincere in their proflfers of
360 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
good-will and fellowship, so soon after suffering such a severe blow as the Ojibways had inflicted on them at Long Prairie. He suspected from his knowledge of their char- acter, that some deep design of treachery was concealed beneath this guise of peace, and he hesitated to place the stem of the sacred peace pipe to his lips.
Flat Mouth, pursuing his hunts, proceeded to Otter Tail Lake, and was one evening encamped at the outlet of Otter Tail Creek, dressing a bear skin, when a feeling of fear suddenly came on him, and in the darkness of night he ordered his family to raise camp, for he " felt that the Dakotas were in the vicinity." They embarked in their canoe, and passing the night on the lake, the next morning he landed to reconnoitre. On the prairie which skirted the lake shore, he discovered a wide, fresh, Dakota war trail! Having left some hunters in his rear towards Leaf Lake, and fearing that they might be attacked (as from the late reports of peace they hunted in apparent security), he followed the trail to satisfy himself as to the direction the war party would take. They had passed close to his last evening's encampment, where, had he remained, they would doubtless have discovered and attacked him. He saw their encampment of the past night, and from the marks left, he judged the party to be fully four hundred strong, marching under the direction of four different leaders, who left their respective marks on the trees. One of these was a beaver, which satisfied Flat Mouth that the false Yank- ton chief, Shappa, was now working out his treachery, after having lulled the habitual caution of the Ojibways by his false songs of peace.
When satisfied that the enemy had gone in the direction of Battle Lake, where he knew there were no Ojibways, he returned to his family, and again embarking, he pro- ceeded down towards Leaf Lake, to warn his j>eople of the threatened danger. He was, however, wind-bound one day
FLAT mouth's TWO COUSINS MURDERED. 861
on Otter Tail Lake, and the next morning as he entered the creek, he perceived a huge smoke arising in a direc- tion where he supposed his two cousins, Nug-an-ash, and Blue Eagle, were hunting beaver in an isolated little lake. A smoke in a dangerous vicinity is never without mean- ing, and satisfied that something serious had befallen his cousins, Flat Mouth returned to a party of his people who were gathering wild rice in an adjacent lake, and imme- diately sent out a party to go and view the spot from whence the ominous smoke had arisen. They soon re- turned and reported that they had discovered the muti- lated remains of his two cousins; with them had been left three Dakotas in a sitting position, facing the west, whom they had killed.
The Dakotas afterwards related to Flat Mouth that while their war party was stealthily approaching to attack the lodge of his two cousins, which stood on the borders of a little lake, the two hunters first perceived them, from a high wooded promontory of the lake where they happened to be busy in cutting poles for stretching beaver skins. They first fired on the Dakotas, killing one of their number, on which they were furiously attacked, but they defended themselves^ on the narrow point, and kept off their assailants, till one became wounded, when they quickly embarked in their canoe, and paddled to a small rock islet, standing in the lake, but which could be reached by bullets, or even arrows, from the point which they had just left. They, however, made partial defences by piling stones around them, from which they kept up the fight. The Dakotas surrounded them on all sides, and approached their defences by rolling large logs into the water, and swimming behind them, gradually pushed them towards the island. The two hunters kept them off till their ammunition failed, when they fell an easy prey to their numerous enemies. Three Dakotas were left on the
S62 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
ground whom they killed, and many more were woanded, some of whom afterwards died.
The Pillager chief was very much exasperated at the death of his two cousins, and he lost no time in collecting a war party to avenge them. His war-pipe and war-club were carried by fleet messengers from village to village of his people, to inform them of his intention, and inviting the warriors to join him. In the meati time a messenger came to him from a trading post on Red River, belonging to Col. Dickson, with a message from the Yankton chief Shappa, denying all participation in the late war party of his people, and appointing a day when he should meet him at the trading post for the purpose of smoking the peace pipe and strengthening good-will between their respective people. Flat Mouth chose thirty of his best warriors, and on the appointed day he arrived at the trad- ing post on Red River, where he found four Frenchmen who had charge of the establishment. On the next day, the Yankton chief arrived, accompanied by only two men.
The warriors of Flat Mouth made demonstrations to kill them at once, but Flat Mouth ordered them to desist, as lie did not wish " to sully the door-steps of a white man with blood." He refused to smoke from the proftennl pipe-stem of the Dakota chief, and Shappa knew from this that his treachery was fully known, and his enemies had met to punish him. All night it rained and thundered heavily, and mingled with the roaring of the storm with- out, there arose the voice of the doomed chieftain, as he prayed and sang to the si)irits of his belief for protection {igainst the threatened danger. Early in the morning, Sha-wa-ke-shig, the principal warrior of Flat Mouth, asked his chief for permission to kill the three Dakotas. The Pillager chief answered : " You know that since the death of my cousins, my heart has been sore ; the road which I have followed in coming here, is red with blood. The
VENGEANCE OVERTAKES SHAPPA. 363
Great Spirit has placed these men in our hands that we might do with them as we please. Do, therefore, as you wish, only do not shed blood on the steps of these white men, nor in their presence. Though it is my doing, yet I shall not be with you."
The Ojibways waited till the Dakotas left the shelter of the trading post, and escorting them out on the prairie, towards their country, they shot them down, and cutting off their heads, they caught up with their chief, who had gone on his road homewards, unwilling to witness the scene which he knew his warriors were determined to per- petrate. Sha-wa-ke-shig is noted as having killed the chief Shappa, and secured his scalp. The chiefs medal which he wore on his breast, was secured by Wash-kin-e- ka (Crooked Arm), a warrior of Red Lake.
Col. Dickson, who had married a sister of the Yankton chief, was very much exasperated at his death, and he sent a message to Flat Mouth, that henceforth the smoke of a trading house would never more arise from among the Pil- lagers ; and within four years the village would be swept away.'* The Pillager chieftain laughed at his threats, and he now* remarks, that " the traders came to him as usual, and his village continued to grow larger, notwithstanding the big words of the red-headed Englishman." It is cloubtless a fact, that Col. Dickson's future treatment of tihis powerful northern chieftain conduced greatly to alien- ate him from the British interest, and to strengthen his I^redilections to the American government. He percmp- "torily refused to join the British in the late war against the people of the United States.
Shappa, the Yankton chief, was succeeded by his son ^Wa-nah-ta, who became one of the most influential and celebrated warriors that the Dakotas can boast of. Dur- ing his lifetime he amply revenged the death of his father,
1 A. D. 1852.
861 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
by inflicting repeated blows on the Ojibways of Red River. On the death of Shappa, the war again raged on the whole frontier between the two belligerent tribes. Wa-nah-ta led a large party of his warriors into the Ojibway country, towards Red Lake. He was accidentally met by a war party of his enemies, headed by the chief, Wash-ta-do-ga* wub, and at the entry of Goose River into the Red River, a severe fight ensued, which lasted nearly a whole day, and which resulted in the retreat of both parties with severe loss. Two scouts of the Ojibways, who always kept ahead of the main body while on the march, were suddenly fired on by the Dakotas, and one killed. In the sangui- nary battle which ensued, the Ojibways were so hard pressed by the superior numbers of their enemies, that they were forced to dig holes in the ground for shelter and defence against their missiles. An Ojibway warrior named " Black Duck" distinguished himself for bravery in this fight. He fought in the foremost ranks, recklessly exposing his per- son, and with his own hand killed and scalped seven Da- kotas.
The summer following this eventful year in the annals of the Ojibways, the farce of a temporary peace was agaiu enacted on Platte River, a short distance below Crow- Wing. The scouts of a large camp of Ojibways discovered a Dakota war party approaching their encampment, evi- dently for the purpose of attack. On account of their women and children, who would be the main sufferers in case of a battle, the Ojibways determined on a bold man- oeuvre, which, if it failed, they were determined to figbt to the last. A piece of white cloth was attached to a pole, and a brave warrior, who offered himself for the pur- pose, sallied out singly to meet the enemy. He saw them stealthily approaching the encampment, and when j>er- ceived by them, he dropped his gun, and with nothing but his flag he fearlessly rushed into their ranks, lie was
STRATEGY OF AN OJIBWAT WARRIOR. 365
caught in the arms of the foremost warriors, many blows of war-clubs were aimed at him, and he expected every moment to suffer death ; but a tall Dakota defended him, warding off the blows of his angry comrades. After the excitement had somewhat cooled down, and the tall war- rior had addressed a few words to his fellows, a Dakota whose face was painted black, denoting mourning, for whose benefit, probably, the war party were now bent on their errand of blood, stepped forth and throwing down his arms, he took hold of the Ojibway and offered to wrestle with him. The Dakota was thrown to the ground, on which he got up, and laughing, he tried his more power- ful adv^'sary another hold. He was again thrown, on which he shook the Ojibway by the hand and exchanged with him his pipe, gun, and clothing. The brave man who had thus conquered a peace, led the party to the wig- wams of his people, where they saluted one another with the firing of guns. The peace pipe was smoked, and for several days they literally " eat out of the same dish," and " slept under the same lodge covering."
Shortly after this Dakota war party had returned to their homes, emboldened by the cordial and unexpected manner in which they had met their advances for peace, a small war party of Ojibways, under Broken Tooth, the chief of Sandy Lake, proceeded in their birch canoes down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Minnesota, to pay the Dakotas a visit of peace at their own villages. On the low point over which now towers the American fortress known as Fort Snelling, the Ojibways first discovered their old enemies congregated in a large camp. Broken Tooth, to denote his rank, approached with the American flag hang- ing over the stern of his canoe. On their being perceived, the wildest excitement ensued in the camp. The men ran out of their lodges with guns in their hands. The Dakotas were preparing to go on a war party against the very people
866 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
who now made their appearance, and the warriors made demonstrations to fire on them. Their chiefs interfered, but with little eftect, and bullets were already flying about the ears of the Ojibways, when Renville, an influential Da- kota trader and half-breed, made his timely appearance, and with a loud voice quelled the disturbance, and took the peace party under his protection. The excited war- riors, however, insisted on firing a salute, and their bullets, for some minutes, spattered the water in every direction around the canoes of the Ojibways, and even perforated the flag which hung over the head of their chief. The old men, still living,^ who were present on this occasion, de- scribe it as the most dangerous scene in their lives. They would much rather have met their enemies in ^en fight than bear the long suspense between life and death which they perceived hanging over them, the wild excitement among the Dakotas, and the bullets whizzing past their heads. They all acknowledge that they owed their deliv- erance to the timely interference of the trader Renville.
Broken Tooth and his party made but a short stay in the midrtt of a people who were so anxious to spill their blood, and handle their scalps. Under an escort provideil by the kind trader, who guarded them some distance to- wards their country, they succeeded in reaching their homes in safety, and felt thankful for escaping from such a fearful predicament. Thej^ had been at home but a few days, when a Dakota war party who had followed on their tracks, waylaid an Ojibway hunter on the shores of Gull Lake. They left a war-club, with a sharp iror\ spearhead, sticking in the mutilated body of their victim. Curly Head, the Mississippi chief, immediately collected such warriors as were camping with him on^Gull Lake, and in their canoes, they floated down the swift current of "the great river." They crossed the portage around the Falls of St. Anthony during the night, and arrived at the mouth —
» A. D. 1852.
OJIBWAY RAID INTO DAKOTA LAND. 367
of the Minnesota River, the morning after the return of the Dakota war party. On the point just below Fort Snelling, which was then covered with trees and brush, they pulled up, and hiding their canoes, they laid in am- bush, commanding the confluence of the Minnesota with the Mississippi.
They could distinctly hear the drums beating in an ad- jacent village of their enemies, as they held rejoicings over the scalp which their warriors had brought home. Towards evening a canoe load of young women came floating .lei- surely down the sluggish current of the Minnesota, chat- ting and laughing, in anticipation of the magnificent scalp dance which they were going to join, after having adorned their' persons with profuse ornaments, and painted their cheeks with vermilion. Little did they dream of the fate that awaited them — that their own long scalp-locks would 80 soon dangle in the belt of the fierce Ojibway warriors, and that the women of their foe would so soon be rejoicing over them.
When the canoe had reached opposite the Ojibway am- buscade, at a whistle from the leader, a volley of bullets was fired into it, and the men, rushing into the water, a struggle ensued, who should secure the scalps. Five Da- kota women suffered on this occasion, and their bodies being dragged on shore, the war-club which their people had left sticking in the body of their victim at Gull Lake, was left, with peculiar marks, on the body of one, to warn the Dakotas that the revenge of the Ojibway was quick and sure.
The party returned in safety to their village, and their exploit, though comparatively of trivial importance, is mentioned by their people to this day with great satisfac- tion. The quick revenge was sweet, and withal it acted as a check in some measure to the continually repeated forays and war parties of the bloodthirsty Dakotas.
S68 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XXXm,
ENDEAVORS OP THE BRITISH TO ENTICE THE OJIBWATS OP LAKE SUPERIOR AND MISSISSIPPI TO JOIN THEIR ARMS IN THE WAR OP 1812.
Mistaken impression respecting the position of the Ojibways daring the list war — Efforts of British agents to induce them to break their neutrality- Col. Dickson sends a messenger to the Pillagers to induce theno to join the British— Laconic reply of Flat Mouth — Great Cloud, an OJibway warrior, helps the arms of Great Britain — Anecdote of his first acquaintance with Col. Dickson, who makes him a chief— Michel and John Baptiste Cadotte, Jr., act as British interpreters — Ojibways collect in large numbers at Mackioav —British attempts to induce them to fight the Americans — Opposition of the chieftain Kcesh-ke-mun — He is called to council, and reprimanded bj tlie British commandant— The chieftain's aUswer — We-esh-coob, the Pillager war-chief— He refuses to Join the British — His bitter reply to their taunt of cowardice.
It has been a general impression throughout the TJnited States, that the Ojibways, as a tribe, fought under the flag of Great Britain, during the war of 1812. It is not so; and it can be stated as a fact, that of the nine tliousand which this tribe number on Lake Superior, and the Mis- sissippi, not more than one or two warriors are mentionwl as having joined the British. There are several villages of Indians in Upper Canada, who are sometimes denominated as Ojibways, but who are more properly the remnants of the original Algonquins who have always been in the in- terest of the British, and aided them in their wars. The connection existing between these and the Lake Superior and Mississipi)i Ojibways, is not very close, though they speak the same language, and call one another relatives.
If any of the Ojibways living within the boundaries of the United States fought for the British during the last war, it was more through coercion than otherwise, and
COL. DICKSON'S OVERTURES. 869
they belonged to small bauds who lived among the Otta- ways at Mackinaw, and who were scattered in Michigan among the Pottawatumies and other tribes. The main body of the tribe occupying Lake Superior, and the waters of the Mississippi firmly withstood every effort made by the British to induce them to enter into the war, and it is thus they have succeeded in holding their own in numbers, and in fact, gradually increasing, while other tribes, who have foolishly mingled in the wars of the whites, have be- come nearly extinct.
Agents were sent by the British government to the principal villages of the Ojibways, to invite them to join their arms against the Americans. Col. Dickson,^ who had long been a trader amongst the Dakotas, and northern Ojibways, is mentioned as one of the most prominent and active of the British agents in levying the savage tribes, in an exterminating warfare against the men, women, and children of the United States.
He sent the British interpreter, St. Germain, in a light canoe, fully manned with Canadian voyageurs, from Fort William to Leech Lake, to obtain the co-operation of the Pillagers. He gave presents to Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe (Flat Mouth), the chief of the warlike band, and in public coun- cil he presented the wampum belts of the British agent, and delivered his message. The Pillager chieftain sent baek the belts with the laconic answer : " When I go war against my enemies, I do not call on the whites to join my Warriors. The white people have quarrelled among them- selves, and I do not wish to meddle in their quarrels, nor lio I intend ever, even to be guilty of breaking the window- glass of a white man's dwelling."
St. Germain next urged him to visit Col. Dickson at Ft. William, but the chief refused to go, and of all his war-
i For notices of Dickson, see Nam's History of Minnuota, 5th edition, 18S3. ^nnesota Historical Collections, Vol. I. p. 890. 24
870 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
riors, but one obeyed the summons of the British agent This one was a noted warrior named Ke-che-aun-o-guet, or Great Cloud, whose attachment had been secured by CoL Dickson, in the following characteristic manner : —
Great Cloud was one time, early in the spring, hunting in company with a Frenchman near Leaf Lake, while the Dakotas still claimed the country about it as their own. Early one morning, hearing the report of a gun towards Leaf Lake, Great Cloud told his comrade that he knew it must be the Dakotas, and he must go and see what they were about. Bidding the Frenchman good-bye, saying that he would try and return during the night, but not to wait for him longer than noon the next day, the Lidian started on his dangerous expedition. Arriving at the out- let of Leaf River from the lake, he noticed some maple trees freshly tapped, and he soon fell on a beaten path, fol- lowing which he soon discovered a log house, surrounded by a fence of felled trees. He hid by the roadside between the forks of a fallen tree, and there patiently awaited the appearance of some Dakota, whose scalp would add another eagle plume to his head-dress.
A woman came from the house to examine the maple trees, and gather the sap. She was dressed like a white man's squaw, and not wishing to kill a woman, Great Cloud did not molest her, but still continued in his am- bush. Soon after, two other women, apparently mother and daughter, issued from the hut, came close to his hiding place, to gather sap. They were both apparently the women of some white man, as they were much cleaner and dressed far better than squaws usually are, and again the warrior refrained from attacking them. Towards evening he saw a man going towards the house, carrying BOine swans and ducks on his back, and Great Cloud prepared for an onset, but the hunter passed close to the lake shore, and out of bullet range. Tired of waiting, he at h^
GBEAT CLOUD AXD COL. DICKSOK. 871
crawled up to the house and posted himself directly in front of the gateway, amongst a clump of stumps. He saw a lodge standing within the inelosure on the other side of the house, and thb he determined to watch till a Dakota should issue from it. It was now dusk, and he had re- mained in his new position but a moment, in fact had but just lighted his pipe, when the two women he had seen in the afternoon again came out of the house, and were exam- ining a canoe which lay close to him, when they discovered the ambushed warrior. They immediately ran screaming into the house, from whence a white man with a large head of red hair soon issued, carrying a tremendous sword under his arm, and a gun in his hand. This was Col. Dickson. He walked up to Great Cloud, who was quietly smoking his pipe, and presenting his gun to his breast, demanded in broken Ojibway, " who he was, and what he wanted ?"
The Indian answered, that " he was Great Cloud, an Ojib- way warrior, and he had come to look for Dakota scalps." The trader then told him that the Dakotas were all gone, and that there was no one with him but a Menominee In- dian. He inquired if there were any more of his people with him, and on answering in the negative, Dickson laughed, took Great Cloud by the hand, called him a brave man, and invited him into his house, where he was well treated. The Menominee Indian soon came in, and to- gether they took a social smoke: Great Cloud related his adventures, and so pleased was his host at his having spared his women, that he gave him a flag and placed a medal on his breast, besides loading him with a present of goods.
On his return. Great Cloud found his French comrade lad fled to Leech Lake, where he himself soon arrived, dressed as a chief, and instead of fur, loaded with merchan- dise, to the great surprise and wonder of his people. From this time he always showed a deep attachment to Col. Dick-
872 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
son, and though his people refiised to recognize him as a chief, yet he always assumed the dignity and was treated as such by the British. Great Cloud proceeded to Fort William with St. Germain, and he was in nearly all the principal battles which took place between the British and Americans, during the last war, in Canada. He remained in the east some time after the closing of the war, and we find his name attached to most of the treaties which from this time the United States government made with the allied Ottaways, Pottawatumies, and eastern Ojibways, at Detroit, Vincennes, and Sault Ste. Marie.
Of the Ojibway half-breeds, John Baptiste and Michel, sons of Michel Cadotte, Sr., of La Points, were captured or enticed by the British of Isle Drummond, and there given the option, either to go into confinement during the war, or act as interpreters, and use their influence to collect the Ojibways. They accepted the latter alternative, and were actors in all the principal Canadian battles, and were present on the occasion of Tecumseh's death. John Baj*- tistc was severely wounded, and is now* a pensioner on the British government. Michel is also living,^ minus one arm, at La Pointe, on Lake Superior.
After the taking of Fort Howard, on the island of Mack- inaw, the Ojibways of Lake Suj^erior and the inland coun- try towards the Mississippi, being deprived of their usual resident traders and supplies, congregated in unusual num- bers on the island. The British took this occasion asrain to renew their attempts to induce them to join their arms. They, however, signally failed to make an impression on their minds, as the Ojibways were influenced by one of their principal chiefs, who was noted both for wisdom and great firmness of character. His name was Keesh-ke-niun, already mentioned in a previous chapter. On discovery that the councils of this chief was the cause of the failure
1 A. D. 1863.
THB OJIBWAYS LOYAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 878
of their attempts to induce the Ojibways to war against the Americans, the British officers sent for him to come to their council room. The chief obeyed the summons, ac- companied by a numerous guard of his warriors. Michel Cadotte, Jr., acted as interpreter, and from his lips have these items and speeches been obtained by the writer.
The British officers, in full uniform, were all collected in the council room, when the Ojibway chieftain and his train entered and silently took the seats allotted to them. Mr. Askin, a British agent, opened the council by stating to the chief that his British father had sent for him, un- derstanding that his councils with his red brethren had shut their ears against his words, and cooled their hearts towards him. " Your British father wishes to know who you are, that you should do these things — that you should dare to measure yourself against him." After an interval of silence, during which the chieftain quietly smoked his pipe, he at last arose, and shaking hands with the British commandant, he answered as follows : —
" Englishman ! you ask me who I am. If you wish to know, you must seek me in the clouds. I am a bird who rises from the earth, and flies far up, into the skies, out of human sight ; but though not visible to the eye, my voice is heard from afar, and resounds over the earth!
" Englishman ! you wish to know who I am. You have never sought me, or you should have found and known me. Others have sought and found me. The old French sought and found me. He placed his heart within my breast. He told me that every morning I should look to the east and I would behold his fire, like the sun reflecting its rays towards me, to warm me and my children. He told me that if troubles assailed me, to arise in the skies and cry to him, and he would hear my voice. He told me that his fire would last forever, to warm me and my children.
^^ Englishman I you, Englishman, you have put out the
874 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
fire of mj French father. I became cold and needy, and you sought me not. Others have sought me. Yes, the Long Knife has found me. He has placed his heart on mj breast. It has entered there, and there it will remain!"
The chieftain here pulled out from his decorated tobacco pouch, an American George Washington medal, which had been given him by a former commandant of Fort Howard, and placing it around his neck, it lay on his breast, as he quietly returned to his seat.
Somewhat excited at the vehement address of the chief, and at the act of seeming bravado which closed his ha- rangue, the British officer replied to him : —
" You say true. I have put out the fire of the French, men ; and in like manner am I now putting out the fire of the Long Knife. With that medal on your breast, you are my enemy. You must give it up to me, that I may throw it away, and in its stead I shall give you the heart of your great British father, and you must stand and fight by his side."
Keesh-ke-mun, without arising from his seat, answered:
"Englishman ! the heart of the Long Knife, which he placed on my breast, has entered my bosom. You cannot take it from me without taking my life."
The officer, exasperated at the unflinching firmness of the chieftain, now exclaimed, in anger, addressing the inter- preter: "Tell him, sir, that he must give up his medaK or I shall detain him a prisoner within the walls of this fort." This threat, being duly interpreted to him, the chief grasped his medal in his hand, and once more arising from his seat, he addressed the excited officer, himself not showing the least marks of emotion : —
" Englishman ! I shall not give up this medal of my own will. If you wish to take it from me, you are stronger than I am. But I tell you, it is but a mere bauble. It is only an emblem of the heart which beats in my bosom ;
KSESH-KE-MUK REFUSES TO JOIN THE BRITISH. 875
to cutout which you must first kill me! Englishman! you say, that you will keep me a prisoner in this your strong house. You are stronger than I am. You can do as you say. But remember that the voice of the Crane echoes afar off, and when he summons his children together, they number like the pebbles on the Great Lake shore !"
After a short consultation between the officers and Mr. Askin, the commandant again addressed the chief: —
" Your words are big, but I fear them not. If you re- fuse to give up the medal of the Long Knives, you are my enemy, and you know I do not allow my enemies to live."
The chief answered : " Englishman ! you are stronger than I am. If you consider me an enemy because I cherish the heart which has been placed on my bosom, you may do so. If you wish to take my life, you can take it. I came into your strong house because you sent for me. You sent . for me wishing to set me on to my father the Long Knife, as a hunter sets his dogs on a deer. I cannot do as you wish. I cannot strike my own father. He, the Long Knife, has not yet told us to fight for him. Had ho done so, you Englishmen would not now bo in this strong house. The Long Knifo counsels us to remain quiet. In this do we know that he is our own father, and that he has confidence in the strength of his single arm."
After some further consultation among the officers, who could not help admiring his great firmness, the chief was dismissed. The next morning, Michel Cadotte (his grand- son), was again sent to him to call him to council. Keesh- ke-mun, with a score of his warriors again presented them- selves. A large pile of goods and tobacco was placed before him. Mr. Askin addressed him as follows : —
" Your English father has not sent for you to take your life. You have refused to accept the badge of his heart. You have refused to join him in putting out the fire of the Long Knives who are stealing away your country.
876 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLSOTTONS.
Yet he will not detain you. He will not hart a hair of your head. He tells you to return to your village in peace. He gives you wherewith to warm your children for the coming winter. But he says to you, remain quiet— re- member if you join the Long Knives, we shall sweep your villages from the earth, as fire eats up the dty grass on the prairie."
Keesh-ke-mun, without answering a word, accepted the presents and returned to his village. To his influence may be chiefly attributed the fact that the Ojibways of Lake Superior and Mississippi remained neutral during the pro- gress of the last war.
Another anecdote is told by my informant, who acted as the British interpreter for the Cjibways during the last war ; which further illustrates the attachment which this tribe had conceived for the American people.
About the same time that Keesh-ke-mun so firmly with- stood the inducements and threats of the British ofllcers at Fort Howard, We-esh-coob, the war-chief of the Pillagers, with a party of his people from Leech Lake, happened to be present at the island of Michilimacinac. He was vainly urged by the British agents to join their arms with his band of warriors, who were noted as being the bravest of the Ojibway tribe. At a council held within the fort, this chief was asked, for the last time, by the British com- mandant, to array himself under their flag. We-esh-coob, in more decided terms than ever, refused, and his words so exasperated the commandant, that he rose from his seat, and forgot himself so far as to say to the Pillagers :—
" I thought you were men, but I see that j'ou are but women, not fit even to wear the breech-cloth. Go back to your homes. I do not wish the assistance of women. Go, put on the clothing which more befits you, and remain quiet in your villages."
WE-ESH-OOOB ALSO LOYAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 377
Afl he delivered this violent speech, he was proceeding to leave the council room, when We-esh-coob, having quietly listened to the interpretation thereof, rose to his feet, and approaching the angry Englishman, he put his hand on his epaulette and gently held him back. " Wait," said he, " you have spoken ; now let me speak. You say that we should not wear the breech-cloth, but the dress of women." Then pointing to the opposite shore of the lake, towards the site of the old English fort which the Ojib- ways had taken in 1763, We-esh-coob exclaimed : —
" Englishman ! have you already forgotten that we once made you cry like children ? yonder ! who was the woman then?
" Englishman ! you have said that we are women. If you doubt our manhood, you have young men here in your strong house. I have also young men. You must come out on some open place, and we will fight. You will better know, whether we are fit, or not, to wear the breech-cloth.
" Englishman ! you have said words which the ears of We-esh-coob have never before heard," and throwing down his blanket in great excitement, he pointed to difl:erent scars on his naked body, and exclaimed : " I thought I carried about me the marks which proved my manhood."
The English officer whose irritation had somewhat abated during the delivery of this answer, grasped the un- usually excited Indian by the hand, and requested the in- terpreter to beg him to forget his hasty words. Peace and good-will were thus restored, but this bitter taunt tended greatly to strengthen the minds of the Ojibwaj's against the agents who were continually engaged amongst them, to draw them into the war.
S78 MINNESOTA mSTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER XXXIV,
A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE FUR TRADE AND FUR TRADERS AMONO THE OJIBWAYS FROM THE FORMATION OF THE NORTHWEST COMPANY IN 1787 TO 1834.
Origin of the Northwest Far Company— Depftrtments of their timde in the Ojibway country— Depot at Grand Portage— Yearly meetings of the partners —Names of the original partners— Sir Alex. McKenzie— He forms the X. Y. Company, and opposes the Northwest— The two companies Join issae»— Opposition of the Hudson's Bay Co.— Bloody struggle between the two rlial companies— Northwest becomes merged in the Hudson's Bay Co. — Names of their Ojibway traders— Astor's American Fur Co.— Amount of their outfits hi 1818— Policy of their trade— Names of their principal traders— W. A. Aitkin — Lyman W. Warren — Names, motives, and conduct of the Amoican tndert.
Among the first traders who pushed their enterprise to the villages of the Ojibways on Lake Superior, after France had ceded the Canadas to Great Britain, the names of Alexander Henry and the Cadottes appear most conspic- uous. The Northwest Fur Company was not formed till the year 1787. It originated in the following manner: —
Three or four rival traders, or small companies, had pro- ceeded from Montreal and Quebec, and located trading posts on the north cojist of Lake Superior, about the mouth of Pigeon River, up which stream they sent outfits to the " Bois Fort" and Muskego Ojibways, and then to the Ke- nisteno and Assineboines of Red River. The rivalry be- tween these different traders became extremely bitter, and at last resulted in the murder of Waddon, who was shot in cold blood, within his trading house, at Grand Portage. This outrage brought the most sensible portion of the traders to their senses, and they immediately made eftbrts to compromise their difficulties, and to join their interests into one. These efforts resulted in the formation of the
THE NORTHWEST TUB COMPANY. 879
Northwest CJompany, which soon became so rich and pow- erful that for a long time they were enabled to monopolize the northern fur trade, and cope with the most powerful and favored combinations which the capitalists of Great Britain could bring against them.
In the year 1792, immediately after the noted expedition of John Biiptiste Cadotte to the Upper Mississippi, the Northwest Company extended their operations over the whole Ojibway country within the limits of the United States, on Lake Superior and the Mississippi. Their trade in these regions was divided into four departments: —
The Fond du Lac department consisted of the country at the head of Lake Superior, and the sources of the St. Louis and Mississippi Rivers. The FoUe Avoine depart- ment consisted of the country drained by the waters of the St. Croix. The Lac Coutereille department covered the waters of the Chippeway ; and the Lac du Flambeau de- partment, the waters of the Wisconsin.
The depot for this portion of their trade was located at J'ond du Lac, but their great depot was at Grand Portage on the north coast of Lake Superior and within the limits of what is now known as Minnesota Territory. From this point they sent their outfits up Pigeon River, towards the northwest, and occupied the country of the Kenisteno and Assineboines. Here, each summer, the partners and clerks of the company, who had passed the winter amongst the inland posts, collected their returns of fur, and were met by the partners from Montreal with new supplies of merchandise. These yearly meetings were enlivened with feastings, dancing, and revelry, held in the great hall of the company. In the style of the feudal barons of old, did these prosperous traders each year hold their grand festival surrounded by their faithful and happy " coureurs du hois" and servitors. The eyes of an " old northwester," while relating these happy scenes of by-gone times, will sparkle
380 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
with excitement — ^his form will beoome momentarily erect as he imagines himself moving ofi* in the merry dance, and his lips will water, as he enumerates the varied' loxuries under which groaned long tables in the days of these periodic feastings.
Amongst the different partners of this company on its first formation, the names x)f Frobisher, McTavish, Pond, Gregory, and Pangman are mentioned as most conspicuous. In their future operations, the names of Sir Alex. McKenzie and McGilvray soon became prominent as the most active partners. They were early opposed at some of their northern posts by the Forsyths and Ogilvys, but were not much trou- bled by the rivalry of these men till, through some mifor- tunate misunderstanding with members of the company, Sir Alex. McKenzie was forced to draw out his means and leave the firm. He thereupon joined with the Forsyths, and under the denomination of the X. Y. Company, through his great tact and experience in the trade, he caused the Northwest for several years to suffer severe losses. After his death, the two rival companies came to an amicable understanding, and joined as partners.
It is about this time that the Northwest first began to be materially harassed by the Hudson's Bay Company, who not only met them in their most lucrative northern posts, from the direction of Hudson's Bay, but followed them up, through their usual route from Canada. This company, formed principally of influential lords and gentlemen in England, supported by the favor of government and pos- sessing a charter, eventually proved too powerful for the old Northwest. They, however, did not crush this old firm till after a protracted and severe struggle. The Northwest Company, by the honorable and humane course which they are noted as having pursued towards the In- dians, and also towards their numerous Canadian and half- breed servitors and dependants, were, in return, loved by
THE STRUGMJLE BETWEEN BIVAL COMPANIES. 881
them, and in the efforts of these people to retain them in their country, Wood was unfortunately made to flow.
On the 17th of June, 1816, Governor Semple, of the Hudson's Bay Company, with some British troops, in try- ing to prevent the march of a body of mounted half-breeds, was suddenly cut down, and his troops killed, by a sweep- ing charge of these hardy buffalo hunters. A bloody par- tisan warfare was only prevented by the strong interference of the British government. In 1819 the Northwest became merged into the Hudson's Bay Company, and ceased to exist. With it may be said to have ended the Augustan age of the fur trade. With deep regret do the old voya- geurs and Indians speak of the dissolution of this once powerful company, for they always received honorable and charitable treatment at their hands. The principal traders who operated among the Ojibways during the era of the Northwest Company, and who may be mentioned as con- temporary with John Baptiste and Michel Cadotte, are Nolin, Gaulthier, McGillis, St. Germain, Bazille Beauleau, Chabolier, Wm. Morrison, Cotte, Roussain, Bonga, J. B. Corbin, and others. These early pioneer traders all inter- married in the tribe, and have left sons and daughters to perf)etuate their names. Wm. Morrison of Montreal, and J. B. Corbin, of Lac Coutereille, are now^ the only survivors of all these old traders.
For the above brief account of the early fur trade, I am indebted to Hon. Allan Morrison of Crow Wing, who has been for upwards of thirty years a trader among the Ojib- ways, and who is a grandson of Waddon, whose murder led to the formation of the Northwest Company.
To Mr. Bruce, of St. Croix Lake, now in his seventy- ninth year, mostly passed in the northwest, I am also in- debted for information. At the dissolution of the North- west Company, citizens of the United States began seriously
1 A. D. 1S52.
382 KINKESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
to turn their attention to the Ojibway fur trade, and from this time a new class of individuals, as traders, began to penetrate to the remotest villages of this tribe. In the year 1818, the Astor Fur Company first commenced their operations on Lake Superior. They confined themselves, however, during the years 1816 and 1817, to trading posts at Sault Ste. Marie, Grand Island, and Ance-ke-we-naw. John Johnston, with a capital each year, of $40,000, man- aged this portion of their trade.
In 1818, the company sent outfits to cover the whole Ojibway country, within the limits of the United States.. William Morrison, Roussain, Cotte, and others, as traders on salary, with an outfit amounting to $23,606, were sent to the Fond du Lac department, which included the Upper Mississippi country. These traders continued during the years 1819-20-21-22, with small increase of capital. The department of Lac du Flambeau was placed in charge of Bazil Beauleau and Charatte as traders, on salary, in 1818, with a capital of $5100 ; Ilawley and Durant, with a capi- tal of $5299.
For the Lac Coutereille department, the company ont^ fitted John Baptiste Corbin, as a trader on salary, with goods to the amount of $5328. For the St. Croix district, Duchene acted as trader, on salary, for the company in 1818. Capital $3876.
In 1822, the capital of the Lac Coutereille and St. Croix departments amounted to $19,353, in charge of Duchene as trader. In 1818, the Ance department was placed in charge of John HoUiday as trader on salary ; his capital, or amount of outfit, averaged till 1822, $6000 per annum.
In 1822, the Astor Fur Company made a slight chansre in the system of their trade in the Ojibway country. The Fond du Lac department was given to Wm. Morrison on halves, and this arrangement continued to 1826, when Messrs William A. Aitkin and Roussain took charge
EABLT TRADERS AMONG THE OJIBWATS. 883
with a share of one-eixth each. In 1820, Mr. Aitkin bought out Boussain, and for one year he had charge, with a share of one-third. In 1831, Mr. Aitkin took charge of this important department on halves with the Astor Company, and continued thus till 1834.
In 1824, Lyman M. Warren, after having traded in op- position to the American Fur Company for six years, in the Lac du Flambeau, Lac Coutereille and St. Croix de- partments, entered into an arrangement with them, and took charge as a partner, and under a salary of these three departments, making his depot at La Pointe. He contin- ued with the same arrangement till the year 1834.
These items respecting the fur trade are here introduced to give the reader an idea of the importance of the trade amongst the Ojibways, and to introduce the names of the principal traders who, at this time, were remaining in the country. The Astor Fur Company followed the example of the Northwest Company in hiring as traders, men whom they found already in the country, holding influential po- sitions among the Ojibways, and in some cases connected with them by marriage. Some of these men had traded in connection with the old Northwest Company, as William Morrison, Cotte, Roussain, Corbin, and others,while others of more recent date had traded as opposition traders, and distinguished themselves by their success. Among these may be mentioned Wm. A. Aitkin, Esq., who first came into the Chippeway country about 1815, a mere boy, and as a servant for a trader named John Drew. Intermarry- ing into an influential Indian family, he was soon enabled to trade on his own account, and he gradually increased his business till, in 1831, he takes charge of the important department of Fond du Lac, on halves, with John Jacob Astor. Mr. Aitkin's name is linked with the history of the Upper Mississippi Ojibways for the last half century. He was one of the old pioneers of the northwest. He died
384 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
in the fall of the year 1851, and lies huried at Aitkinsville (Swan River), on the hanks of the Upper Mississippi.
Among others may he mentioned the names of Lyman M. and his brother Truman A. Warren. They first came into the Ojibway country from Vermont, in 1818. They hired the first year in charge of small outfits, to Charles Ermitinger, at the rate of $500 per annum. They soon took outfits on their own account, and traded with great success in the Lac Coutereille and Lac du Flambeau de- partments. In 1821, they married each a daughter of the old trader Michel Cadotte, and their trade increased to such a degree that in 1824, Lyman Warren made an ap- parently advantageous arrangement with the Astor Fur Company, becoming a partner thereof, besides receiving a handsome salary. Truman died in 1825, on board a vessel bound from Mackinaw to Detroit, from a severe cold caused by the extreme exposure incident to an Lidian trader's life. He died much lamented by the Oj ibways, who had already learned to love him for his many gentle and good traits of character.
Lyman M. Warren, the elder brother, located his per- manent residence on La Pointe Island, and continued with slight interruptions and varied success, to trade with the Ojibways till his death in 1847. He lies buried at La Pointe, and his name may now well be mentioned among the early American pioneers of the northwest Half a century hence, when the scenes of their wild adventures and hardships shall be covered with teeming towns and villages, these slight records of individuals who still live in the memory of the present generation, wull be read with far greater interest than at the present day.
Samuel Ashmun, Daniel Dingley, Charles H. Oakes, and Patrick Conner, may be mentioned as prominent traders among the Ojibways during the early j)art of the nineteenth century. Some of these gentlemen commenced their career
THE YANKEES ENTEB THE FUR TRADE. 385
in opposition to the Astor Fur Company, but in accord- ance to the policy of this rich firm, they were soon bought out and engaged in its service.
When John Jacob Astor entered into arrangements with the British Fur Companies for the monopoly of the Ojibway trade within the United States territory, a new era may be said to have occurred in the fur trade. The old French Canadian traders so congenial to the Indians, who had remained in the country after the closing of the French supremacy, had all nearly died awaj^ and disap- peared from the stage of active life, and a new class of men, of far different temperaments, whose chief object was to amass fortunes, now made their appearance among the Ojibways. They were of the Anglo-Saxon race, and hailed from the land of the progressive and money-making " Yankee." To some degree the Indian ceased to find that true kindness, sympathy, charity, and respect for his sacred beliefs and rites, which he had always experienced from his French traders.
The Ojibways were more deserving of respect in those days, while living in their natural state, and under the full force of their primitive moral beliefs, than they are at the present day, after being degenerated by a close contact with an unprincipled frontier white population. The American fur traders, many of whom were descended from respect- a.ble New England families, did not consider their dignity lessened by forming marital alliances with the tribe, and the Ojibway women were of so much service to their hus- V)ands, they so easily assimilated themselves to their modes of life, and their affections were so strong, and their con- duet so beyond reproach, that these alliances, generally first formed by the traders for present convenience, became cemented by the strongest ties of mutual affection. They Ivindly cherished their Indian wives, and for their sakes, as well as for the sake of children whom they begat, these
25
386 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
traders were eventually induced to pass their lifetime in the Ojibway country. They soon forgot the money-mak- ing mania which first brought them into the country, and gradually imbibing the generous and hospitable qualities of the Indians, lived only to enjoy the present. They laid up no treasure for the future, and as a general fact, which redounds to the honor of this class of fur traders, they died poor. The monej'^ which has been made by the fur trade has been made with the sweat of their brows, but it has flowed into the coffers of such men as John Jacob Aster.
It is a fact worthy of notice, that the Anglo-Saxon race have mingled their blood with the Ojibways to a much greater extent than with any other tribe of the red race.
It reflects honor on this tribe, as it tends greatly to prove the common saying, that they are far ahead of other tribes in their social qualities, and general intelligence and morality. Of French and American extraction, the Ojib- ways number about five thousand persons of mixed blood, who are scattered throughout Canada, Michigan, Wiscon- sin, Minnesota, and the British possessions. Many of the Ojibway mixed bloods are men of good education and high standing within their respective communities.
The American Board of Foreign Missions early estab- lished a n)ission school on the island of Mackinaw, t^ which most of the Ojibway traders sent their half-i)^^ children. The school was sustained on the manual laI»or system, and great good was disseminated from it, which spread over the whole northwest country. Many of our most prominent half-breeds, now engaged as missionaries, or in mercantile pursuits, and women who figure in the best of civilized society, received their education at the Mackinaw mission. After its dissolution, such of the tradera as were pecuniarily able, usually sent their children to receive an education in some of the Eastern States.
AN OJIBWAY WAB PARTI' CUT OFF. 887
CHAPTER XXXV.
EVENTS FROM 1818 TO 1826.
In 1818, Black Dog, a Pillager war-leader, marches into the Dakota country, with a party of sixteen warriors — Desperate fight, from which but one Pil- lager escapes death — In 1824, four white men arc murdered on the shores of Lake Pepin by an OJibway war party— Unsuccessful pursuit of the mur- derers— The traders demand them at the hands of their chiefs — Chief of Lac du Flambeau delivers three of the ring-leaders into the hands of Tru- man A. Warren— The principal murderer is secured by Wra. Holliday — They are taken to Mackinaw and confined in Jail, from which they make their escape — Convention at Fond du Lac in 1826, between commissioners on the part of the United States, and the Ojibways— Objects thereof.
Fob several years after the closing of the last war be- tween Great Britain and the United States, no event of sufficient importance to deserve reconl, occurred to the Ojibways. Their warfare continued with the Dakotas, but no important battle was fought, nor striking acts of valor and manhood performed, such as find a durable place in the lodge tales and traditions of the tribe, till the year 1818, when the hardy Pillagers again lost a select band of their bravest warriors.
A noted war-leader, Black Dog, having lately lost some i^elatives, at the hands of the Dakotas, raised a small but select band of warriors to go with him in pursuit of ven- geance. They numbered but sixteen men, but being all of determined character, they marched westward, and pro- ceeded further into the country of their enemies, than any Ojibway war party had ever done before them. After having travelled all one night in crossing a wide prairie, early in the morning they discovered a large encampment of Dakotas, whose lodges were located on a prairie, close
888 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
by the banks of a small river. The Ojibways were unfor- tunately discovered by a party of buffalo hunters who were scouring the prairie on horseback, and their presence was immediately reported to the grand encampment, whose warriors prepared to turn out in irresistible numbere against them. It was useless for them to think of flight, for their enemy, being on horseback, would soon overtake and surround them. They could but sell their lives as dearly as possible.
The leader lost not his presence of mind, though perfectlj satisfied that the fate of his party was fully sealed. Ad- dressing a few words of encouragement to his warriors, lie led them to a small clump of poplar trees which grew on a knoll on the prairie, in plain view of the Dakota encamp- ment. Here, they each dug a hole in the ground, from which they determined to keep up the fight with their numerous enemies, as long as their ammunition might last They had hardly finished their preparations, when the Da- kota warriora made their appearance in a formidable array on the open prairie. They were fully painted and dressed for battle, and a large number were on horseback, who quickly rode forward and completely surroimded the knoll of trees in which the Ojibways had taken shelter. The battle commenced, and lasted without intermission till midday, the Dakotas suftering a severe loss from the un- erring aim of their desperate enemies, who threw not a single shot away. So well were they posted, that it was impossible to approach or dislodge them. At last their scanty supply of ammunition gave out, and the Dakotas discovering it by the slackening of their fire, and by one of their number being wounded with a stone which an Ojibway had substituted in his gun for a bullet, a simul- taneous rush was made on them, and after a short hand to hand struggle, the sixteen Pillager warriors, with but one exception, were killed. This one, named Bug-aun-auk, re-
THE OJIBWAYS SELL THEIR LIVES DEARLY. 889
turned safely to his people, but he never would give but the most supernatural account of his manner of escape — tales that were not believed by his own people. It was at first the general impression that he had deserted his party before the fight came on, but the Dakotas, at a future peace- meeting with the Ojibways, stated that there were sixteen warriors who went into the poplar grove, as counted by their scouts, and there were found sixteen holes from which the warriors fought, in one of which remained only the bundle of the man who had so miraculously escaped. The Dakotas acknowledged that they lost thirty-three of their warriors in this desperate engagement, besides many maimed for life.
Since the execution of the Indian at Fond du Lac in 1797, by the northwestern traders for killing a Canadian " coureur du bois," the life of a white man had been held sacred by the Ojibways, and one could traverse any portion of their country, in perfect safety, and without the least molestation. In the year 1824, however, four white men were killed by the Ojibways, under circumstances so pecu- liar, as to deserve a brief account in this chapter.
An Ojibway named Nub-o-beence, or Little Broth, resid- ing on the shores of Lake Superior near the mouth of On- tonagun River, lost a favorite child through sickness. Ho was deeply stricken with grief, and nothing would satisfy him but to go and shed the blood of the hereditary ene- mies of his tribes, the Dakotas. He raised a small war party, mostly from the Lac du Flambeau district, and they floated down the Chippeway River to its entry, where, for several days they watched without success on the banks of the Mississippi, for the appearance of an enemy. The leader had endured hardships, and came the great distance of five hundred miles to shed blood to the manes of his dead child, and long after his fellows had become weary of Waiting and watching, and anxious to return home, did he
390 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
urge them still to continue in their search. He had deter- mined not to return without shedding human blood.
Early one morning, as the warriors lay watching on the shores of Lake Pepin, they saw a boat manned by four white men land near them, and proceed to cook their morn- ing meal. Several of the party approached the strangers, and were well received. The white men consisted of a Mr. Finley, with three Canadian boat men, who were under the employ of Mons. Jean Brunet, of Prairie du Chien,an Indian trader. They were proceeding up the Missiseippi to Ft. Snelling on some urgent business of their emplojer, and Mr. Finley had with him a number of account books and valuable papers.
The assault and massacre of these men was entirely un- premeditated by the Ojibway war party, and contrary to the wishes of the majority. They had paid them their visit and begged some provisions, receiving which, they retired and sat down in a group on a bank immediately above them. The loader here commenced to harangue his fellows, expressing a desire to shed the blood of the white man. lie was immediately opposed, on whicli he com- menced to talk of the hardships he had endured, the los^ of his child, till, becoming excited, he wept with a loud voice, and suddenly, taking aim at the group of white men, who were eating their breakfast, he fired and killed one. Eight of his fellows immediately followed his example, and rushing down to the water-side, they quickly disjwitched the whole party, and tore off their scalps. Taking the effects of their victims, they returned towards tlieir homes. At Lac Coutereille they attempted to dance the scalp dance before the door of J. B. Corbin, the trader, who iiuraedi- ately ran out of his house, and forcibly deprived them oi the white men's scalps which thoy were displaying, order- ing them at the same time to depart from his door. The trader was supported by the Indians of his village, and the
MURDER OF FOUR WniTE MEN. 391
murderers now for the first time beginning to see the conse- quences of their foolish act, skulked silently away, very much crestfallen.
The remains of the murdered white men were soon dis- covered, and the news going both up and down the river, a boat load of fifty soldiers was sent from Prairie du Chien to pursue the murderers. At Lake Pepin they were met by three boats laden with troops from Ft Snelling, and the party, including volunteers, numbered nearly two hundred men. Mons. Jean Brunet was along, and had been most active in raising this force. They followed the Ojibway war-trail for some distance, till, coming to a place where the warriors had hung up their usual thanksgiving sacri- fices for a safe return to their homes, a retreat was deter- mined on, as the party had not come prepared to make a long journey, and it was folly to think of catching the murderers, scattered throughout the vast wilderness which lay between Lake Superior and the Mississippi.
The matter was subsequently left in the hands of the traders among the Ojibwaj's. Truman A. Warren, the principal trader of the Lac du Flambeau department, de- manded the murderers, at the hands of the chiefs of this section of the tribe. The celebrated Keesh-ke-mun had died a short time previous, and had left his eldest son Mons-o-bo-douh to succeed. This man was not a whit be- hind his deceased father in intelligence and firmness of character. He called a council of his band, and insisted on the chief murderers being given up by their friends. He was opposed in council by a man noted for his ill-tempered and savage disposition, who even threatened to take his life if he attempted to carry his wishes into effect. A brother of this man had been one of the ring-leaders in the murder, and now stood by his side as he delivered his threats against the young chief. As they again resumed their seats, Mons-o-bo-douh arose, and drawing his knife, he
392 - MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
went and laid hold of the murderer by the arm and inti- mated to him that he was his prisoner. He then ordered his young men to tie his arms. The order was immedi- ately obeyed, and accomplished without the least resistance from the prisoner or his brother, who was thunderstruck at the cool and determined manner of the chief.
Shortly after, two more of the murderers were taken, and Mons-o-bo-douh delivered them into the liands of the trader. The leader of the party, who lived on the shores of Lake Superior, was secured by Mr. William Holliday, trader at Ance Bay. The four captives were sent to Mack- inac, and confined in jail. While orders were pending from Washington respecting the manner of their trial, they succeeded in making their escape by cutting an aper- ture through the logs which formed their place of confine- ment.
The ensuing year (1826), the Hon. Lewis Cass was com- missioned by the United States, to proceed to Lake Sui>e- rior, and convene the Ojibways in council, to treat with them for the copper and other mineral, which was now found to abound in their country. This important con- vention was held at Fond du Lac, which was then consid- ered as about the centre of the Ojibway country. Boat loads of provisions were taken from Mackinaw and col- lected at this point, to feed the assembly of Indians, who were notified through messengers to collect. The Ojib- ways had not collected in such large numbers for a lon^r time. Delegations arrived from their most remote villages towanls the north. Shin-ga-ba-ossin, chief of the Crane family, from Sault Ste. Marie, was also present, and took a most prominent part in the proceedings, in behalf of his tribe. He is said to have made a speech to his fellows, wherein he urged them to discover to the whites their knowledge of the minerals which abounded in their country. This, however, was meant more to tickle the ears of the
TREATY OF FOND DU LAC. 893
commissioners and to obtain their favor, than as an earnest appeal to his people, for the old chieftain was too much imbued with the superstition prevalent amongst the In- dians, which prevents them from discovering their know- ledge of mineral and copper boulders to the whites. The objects of the commissioners were easily attained, but the Ojibways, who felt a deep love for the offspring of their women who had intermarried with the whites, and cher- ished them as their own children, insisted on giving them grants of land on the Sault Ste. Marie River, which they wished our government to recognize and make good. These stipulations were annexed by the commissioners to the treaty, but were never ratified by the Senate of the United States. It is merely mentioned here to show the great affection with which the Ojibways regarded their half-breeds, and which they have evinced on every occasion when they have had an opportunity of bettering their con- dition.
A stipulation was also annexed to the treaty, wherein some of the relatives of the murderers of Finley and his party, agreed to deliver them within a given time. This, however, was never carried into effect, and as the traders took no further interest in the matter, the murderers were allowed to run at large. The leader is still ^ living at Ou- tonagun, and another named " the Little Eddy," is living^ at La Pointe. Both are noted for their quiet and peaceable disposition.
At the treaty of Fond du Lac, the United States com- missioners recognized the chiefs of the Ojibways, by dis- tributing medals amongst them, the size of which were in accordance with their degree of rank. Suflicient care was not taken in this rather delicate operation, to carry out the pure civil polity of the tribe. Too much attention was paid to the recommendation of interested traders who
1 A. D. 1852.
S94 MINNiilSOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
wished their hest hunters to be rewarded by being made chiefs. One young man named White Fisher, was endowed with a medal, solely for the strikingly mild and pleasant ex- pression of his fa<;e. He is now a petty sub-chief on the Upper Mississippi.
Prom this time may be dated the commencement of in- novations which have entirely broken up the civil polity of the Ojibways.
HISTORY OF THE OJIBWAYS,
AXD
THEIR CONNECTION WITH FUR TRADERS,
BASED UPON OFFICIAL AND OTHER RECORDS.
Rev. EDWARD D^NEILL, A.B.,
C0RBBSP0NDI90 MEMBEB OP THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, BOH. VICB-PRESIDENT NEW BNOLAKD BIST. OEN. SOCIETY.
(895)
fflSTORY OP THE OJIBWAYS,
AVO
THEIR CONNECTION WITH FUR TRADERS,
BASED UPON OFFICIAL AND OTHER RECORDS.
The entrance to Lake Superior is obstructed by a suc- cession of rapids, first called by traders Sault, or in modern French, Saut du Gaston, in compliment to Jean Baptiste Gaston,* the younger brother of Louis the Thirteenth, but in 1669, named by Jesuit missionaries, Sault de Sainte Marie. Here, the French traders arrived in the days of Champlain, and found a band of Lidians, who largely sub- sisted upon the white fish of the region, and were known among the Iroquois, as Estiaghicks or Ostiagahoroones. By the Ilurons they were called Pauotigoueieuhak, dwellers at the falls, or Pahouitingouachirini, men of the shallow cata- ract.' In the Jesuit relations of 1647-8 mention is made of
1 Gaston the younger son of Henry the Fourth, and his wife, Marie de Medicis.
' J. Hammond Trumbull in January number of IHittorieal Magazine, Morrl- sania, 1870, writes : ** The Powhatans and their ^rreat Emperor derived their name, Smith informs us, from a place near the falls in James River, where is now the city of Richmond.
** * Powhat-hanne' or * pau't-hann^' denotes * falls in a stream/ The first part of the name is found in the Massachusetts and Narragansett * Pawtuck' (pau't- tuck) * falls in a tidal river,' whence the name of Pawtucket, *at the falls,' and Its derivative Pawtuxet *at the little falls:' again in the Chippeway
(397)
898 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
the Paouitagoung, in these words : " These last, are thoee whom we call the nation of the Sault, distant from us a little more than a hundred leagues, whose consent to a route, it would be necessary to have, if one wished to go beyond, to communicate with numerous other more distant Algonquin nations, who dwell upon the shores of another lake [Supe- rior] still larger than the Mer Douce [Huron], into which it discharges itself, by a very large, and very rapid river, which before mingling its waters with our fresh- water sea [Lake Huron], makes a fall or leap that gives a name to those people, who come to live there during the fishbg season."*
MEANING OF THE WORD OJIBWAY.
This tribe, however, called themselves Achipou^ or Ojibway.* The origin of the name has not been satisfac- torily determined. Schoolcraft writes : " They call them- selves Ojibwas. Bwa in this language denotes voice. Ojibwamong signifies Chippewa language or voice. It is not manifest what the prefixed syllable denotes."
Belcourt, for many years a Roman Catholic missionan' among tlie Indians of the Red River of the North, writing of the word Odjibwek, uses this language : "This word ha.^
name of the Saut Ste. Marie ' pawateeg,' and with the place termination * pav- atin;2^/ * at the falls.* Tlie Algonkln name for Indians who lived near the Saut, amonp whom were reckoned the Chlppewaye, waa Pawitagou-ek or Pawichtiffou-ek, ' Sauteun*,' or People of the Fallt*."
1 Schoolcraft writes : *' The French word Sault (pnmounced So) accuraUly expresses this kind of pitchinc: ropide or falls. The Indians caU it Bawateeg or Pawateeg when hiH»akini: of the phenomenon ; and Bawatlng or Pawating when referring to the place. Pangwa is an exprcwlon denotinj^ tballow water on rocks. The Inflection eep Is an animate plural. Ing is the local ter- minal form of nouns. In the south or American channel there ie no poeiti\<* leap of the water, but an intensely swift current,'*
2 Sir William Johnson. British Superintendant of Indian Aflkirs, calls thcin Chlppeweighs, also ChlpiKjwa*. In the treaty of 1807, at Detroit, this tribe arc called Chippeways ; and in that of 1820 at Sault Ste. Marie they ar« " the Chip- pcway tribe of ludiun*,."
brul£, early votageur to lake superior. 399
been the object of a great many suppositions. Some say it was given on account of the form of their plaited shoes, teibwa^ plaited, but this interpretation is not admissible, for the word does not contain the least allusion to shoes. Others say that it comes from the form the mouth as- sumes in pronouncing certain words, wishing always to hold on to the adjective, tdbwa ; this is not more satisfac- tory. I would venture, then, to say that the word Odjib wek comes from shibwe in order to make a proper name. Oshibwek, in the plural, the pronouncing slowly of shib (root), to draw out ; that is to say, to lengthen out a word by the slow pronunciation of its syllables ; the particle we signifying articulate, pronounce; the k is an animated plural, which here can only be applied to men. In truth the pronunciation of the Saulteuse characterizes them in an eminent manner."^
The "Men of the Shallow Cataract" lived where the "noise of many waters" sounded like a voice or hoarse murmur, and as the discharge from Lake Superior was contracted, into the narrow shallow channel, the waters became ruffled or puckered. Gov. Ramsey, of Minnesota, in 1850, in a report to the United States Conmiissioner of Indian Affairs writes as to the word Ojibway : " As there is no discernible pucker in their voice, or mode of speaking, a more natural genesis of the word could probably be de- rived from a circumstance in their past history. Upwards of two centuries ago they were driven by the Iroquois, or Six Nations of New York, into the strait of Mackinaw, where Lake Huron, Michigan, and Superior, are " puck- ered" into a small channel or narrow compass."
brul£, early voyaoeur to lake superior.
Stephen Brule, one of the reckless and enterprising voy- ageurs under Champlain, in A. D. 1618, appears to have
1 Rev. G. A. Belcourt. AnnaU of MinnefioU Hibtorical Society, 1853, pp. 25-26.
400 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
been the first man who brought to Quebec a description of Lake Superior, as well as a specimen of its copper. On Champlain's Map of 1632, appears Lake Superior, and in the accompanying description Sault du Gaston is described as neariy two leagues broad, and discharging into Mer Douce (Lake Huron).
NICOLET, FIRST EXPLORER WEST OF GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN.
On the 4th of July, 1634, another person,* Jean Nicolet, in the service of the fur company known as the "Hundred Associates," of whom Champlain was the agent, left Three Rivers, on his way to the upper lakes, and during the next autumn and winter became acquainted with the Ojibways at Sault du Gaston, and the Ochunkgraw or Winnebagoes of Green Bay.
In 1641, the Hurons, then living on the east side of the lake which bears their name, gave a great feast, at which several tribes were present, and there the Jesuit mission- aries saw for the first time the Ojibways.
Year after year, the adventurous fur traders became better acquainted with the tribes of the Uj>per Lakes. Father Le Mercier,' in a letter dated at Quebec, the 21st day of September, 1654, alludes to a flotilla of canoes guided by traders, loaded with furs belonging to friendly Indians, who came from the west, a distance of four hun- dred leagues. In the same relation, it is mentioned, that if a person could be found, who would send thirty French- men into that country, not only would they gain many souls to God, but they would recerve a profit that would surpass the ex[)enses they would incur for the support of the Frenchmen that might be sent, because the finest peltries came, in the greatest abundance, from those quar- ters.
> Suite in vol. vlii. Wis. Hist. Soc. Col. s Relation 1653-54.
EARLIEST EXFLOBEBS OF MINNESOTA. 401
In August, 1654, while those Indians were trading at Quebec, thirty young Frenchmen equipped themselves to return with them, and engage in the fur trade, but after they commenced their journey were driven back by the Iroquois.
GROSEILLIERS AND RADISSON THE EARLIEST EXPLORERS OF
MINNESOTA.
The great impulse to trade with the natives of Lake Superior was given by the explorations of two natives of Prance, Medard Chouart, afterwards called Sieur des Gro- seilliers, and his brother-in-law, Pierre d'Esprit, the Sieur Radisson.^
They were the first to push to the head of Lake Supe- rior, and after visiting the Tionnontantes Hurons, who had fled from their enemies to the vicinity of the headwaters of the Black and Chippeway Rivers in Wisconsin, they wintered with the Dahkotahs or Sioux, west of Lake Supe- rior, in the Mille Lacs region of Minnesota.
During the spring and early summer they became fami- liar with the shores of Lake Superior, and upon Franque- lin's Map of 1688, what is now Pigeon River, and a portion of the boundary between the United States and Dominion of Canada, is called Groseilliers.* On the 19th of August, 1660, Qroseilliers, by way of the Ottawa River, reached
1 Medard Chouart was bom near Ferte Sous Jouarre, eleven mfles east of Meanx in France, and in 1641, when only sixteen years old, came to Canada. In 1647 he married Helen, widow of Claude Etienne, the daughter of a pilot, Abraham Martin, whose baptismal name is still attached to the "Plains of Abraham" in the suburbs of Quebec. His first wife in 1651 died, and in 1653 he married another widow, whose maiden name was Margaret Hayet Radisson, and a sister of his fellow explorer.
Pierre d'Esprit, the Sieur Radisson, was bom at St. Malo, and in 1656 at Three Rivers, Canada, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Madeleine Hain- aalt, and after her death, the daughter of Sir John Kirk or Kertk, a realous Huguenot, became his wife.
s See Neill's HUtory o/Minnetotaj 5th edition. 1888. 26
402 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Montreal, with three hundred of the Upper Algonqnins. He had left Lake Superior with one hundred canoes, but forty turned back, and the value of the peltries was 200,000 livree. From that time traders gathered at Sault Ste. Marie, Keweenaw, and Chagouamigon Bay. In a few days the furs were sold, and on the 28th Groseilliers left " Three Rivers," and again turned his face westward, accompanied by six traders, and the first missionary for that region, the aged Menard, and his servant Jean Guerin. The party passed Sault Ste. Marie, and on the 15th of October, 1660, were at Keweenaw Bay,* and here Menard spent the win- ter. Several Frenchmen engaged in fishing and trading, also, were at this point.
FIRST TRADERS AT CHAGOUAMiaOK BAT.
Groseilliers returned to Canada in 1662, and on the second of May, with ten men, left Quebec, to extend his explorations toward Hudson's Bay.* The presence of traders attracted the the Ojibways to Keweenaw, and the refugee Ilurons and Ottawas were drawn from the Ottawa Lakes, in the interior of Wisconsin, to Chagouamigon Bay? where a trading post had also been established.
Ilere the latter fished, hunted, and cultivated Indian corn and pumpkins. Upon one occasion, about the year 1660, while on a hunting excursion, they met a party ^^ Ojibways with some Frenchmen on their way to Chag<^ uamigon, to trade. A war party of one hundred Iroquoi? came not long after to Sault Ste. Marie, and encamp^^
> In the 5th vol. of Schoolcraft's Statistical InformatUmy p. 646, there f« «° article with the name of Rev. Edw. D. Neill attached, which erroncoiwlj m^o- tionB that Menard went to Chagouamigon Bay.
Mr. Neill never saw, nor corresponded, with Mr. Schoolcraft, and it If •" enigma how an article which Mr. Neill never wrote, could appear, with l^ name attached, as the author.
' Journal det Jetttitet^ par MM. les Abb^ Laverdicre et Cosgraln, Qocbcc, 1871.
THE VOYAOEUBS OF OROSEILLIEBS DISCOVER COPPER. 408
about five leagues above the rapide. Some Ojibways, Ottawas, Nepissings, and Amikouets were in the vicinity engaged in catching white fish and hunting in the forests. Two of their number discovered the smoke of the Iroquois encampment, and informed the Ojibway chief, who sent a canoe of warriors to reconnoitre.
CONFLICT AT IROQUOIS POINT, LAKE SUPERIOR.
Under the cover of a dense forest, they advanced and discovered the number of Iroquois, and came back and re- ported. The Ojibways and allies then marched by night and arrived near the Iroquois, and hid behind a ridge of earth. The dogs of the enemy were kept from barking, by throwing food at them,* and as soon as it was sufficiently light they gave the war-whoop. The Iroquois roused from sleep, wished to seize their arms, but could not face the discharge of arrows. The Ojibways then, tomahawk in hand, entered the tents of their ancient foes, slaughtered many, and were elated with their complete victory. After this, the Ojibways and their allies visited Keweenaw, and Chagouamigon.'
THE VOTAOEURS OF GROSEILLIERS DISCOVER COPPER.
Some of the voyageurs who left Montreal, in 1660, with Groseilliers, did not return until the summer of 1663, and ^ere the first to give an extended account of Lake Supe- rior. Pierre Boucher, an honored citizen of Canada, in a little book publish^ in Paris, in 1664, mentions that a
1 Perrot'B Memairy edited by Taliban. Leipzig and Paris, 1864.
* Schoolcraft defines Shaugwamegin as low lands. A writer in tbe Cana- dian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal^ vol. ii., aUudes to a tavern of tbe last century in Montreal, known as tbe " Cbagouaroigon," and thinks it is tbe Algonquin word Cbaboumikon, eye of a needle. Baraga in bis Otcbipw< Dic- tionary defines Jabonigon as needle. Tbe low sandy point projected like a long needle.
404 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
large island full of copper, had been discovered in the western extremity of Lake Superior. He also wrote: " There are other places, in that neighborhood, where there are similar mines, as I have learned from four or five Frenchmen, lately returned from there, who went with a Jesuit Father [Menard, who died in the summer of 1661, toward the sources of the Black River of Wisconsin]. They were gone three years, before they could find an op- portunity to return. They told me they had seen a nug- get of copper, at the end of a hill, which weighed more than eight hundred pounds. They said that the Indians, as they pass it, make fires on top of it, and then hew pieces out of it with their axes."
FATHER ALLOnSZ ACCOlfPANIBS TRADEBS.
In 1665, some of the French traders, with Indians of the Upper Lakes, came to Quebec, to trade, and Father AUouez was invited to return with them. In his joumaP he writes: "The eighth day of August of the year 1665, 1 embarked at * Three Rivers,' with six Frenchmen, in company with more than four hundred savages of divers nations, who were returning to their homes, after having finished their traffic." The month of September was passed in coasting along the southern shore of Lake Superior, or Tracy, as it was then called. On the Ist day of October, the party reached Chagouaraigon. Allouez describes it, as "a beau- tiful Bay, at the bottom of which is situated the great vil- lage of the savages, who, there, plant their fields of Indian corn, and lead a stationary life. They are there, to the number of eight hundred men bearing arms, but collected from seven dift'erent nations, who dwell in peace with each other." In another place, Allouez writes: "This quarter of the lake where we have stopped, is between two large
1 Relation of 1666-07.
BARK CHAPEL AT CHAQOUAMIGON BAY 405
villages, and as it was the centre of all the nations of these countries, because fish are abundant there, which forms the principal subsistance of this people. We have erected there a small chapel of bark." Franquelin's Map of 1688 places a settlement near the southwestern extremity of the bay. There was no village on the island near the entrance.*
BANDS IN A. D. 1665, AT CHAGOUAMIGON BAT.
Among the refugees from the Iroquois at this time at Cbagouamigon Point were the Tionnontateheronnons, for- merly called Ilurons of the Tobacco Nation, the three bands of Ottawas, Ottawa Sinagos, and Kis-karkons.* There also came to trade the Ousakis* (Sauks)' and Outagamis (Foxes), an allied people who spoke a diflicult Algonquin
1 The Map of Lake Superior, which Is attached to the Jetuit JUlatiam of 1070-71, marks the projection into Lake Superior, forming the west shore of Chagouamigon Bay as La PoinU du St. Esprit, By the yoyageurs it was called La Pointe. It is not until the 19th century we find La Pointe, or Mada- line, applied to the island, about three miles from Bayfield, Wisconsin.
This island on Franquelln's Map of 1688 is called Isle Detour ou St. Michel. Bellin's complete French map of Lake Superior, which is in Charlevoix's BUtoire €t de$eriptUm gSniraU de Nouvelle France^ Paris, A. D. 1744, shows Ance [Bay] de Chagouamigon, and marks a little bay, within this, near the modem ham- let of Washburn, Baye St. Charles, in compliment to Charles Beauhamois, then governor of Canada ; the then long sandy peninsula, the eastern arm of Chagouamigon Bay, now become an island, is called Pointe de Chagouamigon. The group of islands is called the Apostles, and the two, in front, of the town of Bajrfleld, are named St. Michel and La Ronde, the latter after a French oflScer. At the bottom of Chagouamigon Bay, is the mark O, the sign of a trading post or Indian village with the remark that there was once there an important village "Ici <toit une Bourgade considerable." In the map of Canada, in De L'Isle's Atlas, corrected by his son-in-law Philip Buache, in A. D. 1745, a '' Maison FranQoise," French trading house, is indicated at Pt. Chagouamigon.
* La Mothe Cadillac in 1005, commander at Mackinaw, wrote, that the Ot- tawas were divided into four bands, the Klskakons or Queues Coup^ ; the Sable so called because their old residence was on a sandy point ; the Sinago'; and the Nassauaketon, or People of the Fork, because they had resided on a river which had three forks or branches, perhaps the Chlppeway River of Wis- consin. Nassauaketon was the Algonquin word for a river which forked.
' Lake Osakis or Onsaokee in Minnesota has Its name fh>m this tribe.
406 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
dialect The Illinois came, moreover, to this place from sixty leagues southward; and, wrote a missionary, far ^^ be- yond a great river that discharges itself as near as I can conjecture, into the sea towards Virginia," Here too was occasionally encamped the Ojibways. As the fear of the Iroquois subsided, some Hurons returned to the Bay of the Puants (Green Bay), and others went back to Sault Ste- Marie, and there, in 1669, the missionaries resolved to make their principal residence at the foot of the rapids.
FIRST MISSION HOUSE AT SAULT STE. MARIE, A. D. 1669.
The voyageurs, at this early period, congregated here, amounted to twenty or twenty-five, and the Jesuits con- structed a square of pine and cedar pickets, twelve feet high, with a small log chapel and house within the in- closure.
6alline6, a Sulpitian priest, who had been with La Salle on Lake Erie in May, 1670, visited the post,* and thus de- scribed the Ojibways : "The Saulteux, or in the Algonquin, Paouitikoungraentaouak, or the Outchipou6, where the Fathers are established, from the melting of the snow until the commencement of winter, dwell on the banks of a river about a half league in breadth, and three leagues in length, where the Lake Superior empties into Lake Huron. Here the river is abundant in fish, called white, in the Al- gonquin, Attikamegue."
In 1671, the frail bark chapel at Chagouamigon Bay was abandoned, and missionaries did not again reside in that vicinity, until after one hundred and fifty years.*
* Marpy, vol. !. p. 161.
* At the request of the principal trader Lyman M. Warren, In the anmmer of 1830, Frederick Ayer, who had been one of the teachers under the Rev. William Ferry, Presbyterian missionary at Mackinaw, came to the Island St. Michel, which was now called La Pointe, and established a school for Indian children, and aft«r a short period returned to Mackinaw. The next year, 1831, Mr. Warren, brought up as a missionary, the Rer. Sherman Hall, a graduate of Dart-
CONVOCATION OF A. D. 1671, AT SAUI/T STE. MABI£. 407 CHAGOUAMIOOK BAT BUSSIOK ABANDONED.
The " Eelation of 1670-71," alluding to the mission at the extreniity of Lake Superior, describes a difficulty with the Dakotahs or Sioux: "Our Outaonacs and Hurons of the Point of the Holj Ghost have to the present time kept up a kind of peace with them, but affairs having become em- broiled during last winter, and some murders even having been committed on both sides, our savages had reason to apprehend that the storm would soon burst upon them, and judged that it was safer for them to leave the place, which in fact they did in the spring, when they retired to the Lake of the Hurons."*
CONVOCATION OP A. D. 1671, AT 8AULT STE. MARIE.
To prevent Qroseilliers, now in the employ of the Eng- lish at Hudson's Bay, from drawing the Indians of Lake Superior thither for trade, Talon, the Intendant of Canada,
mouth College, with his wife, and Frederick Ayer and wife as catechists and teachers. In June, 1832, Mr. Hall was joined by his classmate, the Rev. W. T. Boutwell, and the latter In October, 1S33, established a mission at Leech Lake, the first attempted west of Lake Superior among the OJibways of Minnesota. After this mission was established, Father Baraga, an estimable Roman Catholic missionary, built a chapel on the island.
A guide book published in 1884, with the title " Summer Tours via the Oreat Lakes,*' promulgates the following fiction : '' The Church still stands, a por* tion of it being the identical log structure built by Fere Marquette. The visitor is shown an old picture which it is said the Fope of that time gave Mar-
quette for his mission church in the wilderness The half-breed
Indian who acts as guide will open a closet and show the visitor an ancient vestment which it is said Fere Marquette wore on great occasions.''
Myths, like the above, silently creep into history, as moths into cloth, and are difficult to expel.
1 Cadillac corroborates this statement, in a letter, written in 1703, from Detroit. His words are : " It is proper that you should be informed that more than fifty years since [about 1645] the Iroquois by force of arms drove away nearly all of the other Indian nations from this region [Lake Huron] to the ex- tremity of Lake Superior, a country north of this post, and frightfully barren and inhospitable. About thirty-two years ago [1671] these excited tribes col- lected themAelves together at Michillimakinak." Margry, vol. v. p. 317.
408 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
in September, 1670, invited Nicholas PeiTOt,well acquainted with tbe Upper Algonquin tribes, to act as guide and in- terpreter to bis deputy Simon Francois Daumont, known in history as tbe Sieur Saint Lusson. In the spring of 1671, in accordance with a notification from Perrot, the tribes of tbe Upper Lakes began to move toward Sault Ste. Marie, and there on the 14tb of June, Saint Lusson formed a treaty of friendship with the "Achipofe" or Ojibways and many other tribes.*
When the Hurons fled to Lake Huron, from Lake Supe- rior, the Ojibways occupied their hunting grounds, and pressed west of Lake Superior, and descended to the Miss- issippi, by way of the river in Wisconsin which still bears their name,* but it was not till the French, in 1692, re- established a trading post at Chagouamigon that it became an important Ojibway village.
TRAOEDT AT SAULT STE. MARIE, A. D. 1674.
In 1674, some Sioux warriors arrived at the Sault to make peace with the adjacent tribes. While there an In- dian assassinated one of the Sioux, and a fight ensued. Nine of the Sioux were killed, and the two survivors fled to tbe Jesuits' house for safety, where they found arms, and opened fire upon their foes. The Indians of the Sault wished to burn them, with the house, which the Jesuits would not allow, as many peltries were stored there. Louis Le Bohesme, or Boeme, the armorer and blacksmith of the
1 Tbe treaty was signed in the presence of D'Ablon, Superior of the mission, and his colleagues Dreuilletes, Allouez, and Andr< of the Society of Jesus; Nicholas Perrot, Interpreter ; Sieur Joliet ; Jacques Mogras of Three Rivers ; Pierre Moreau, the Sieur de la Taupine ; Denis Masse ; Francois de Chavigny, Sieur de la Cbevrottierc ; Jacques Lagillier ; Jean Mayscre ; Nicholas Dupuifi; Francois Bibaud ; Jacques Joviel ; Pierre Porteret ; Robert Duprat ; Vlul Driol ; Guillaume Bonhorame. In the Process Verbal the Jesuit Fathers are described as then making their mission — Margryy vol. L p. 97.
* The Chippeway River, upon Franquelin's Map of 1688, is marked R. des Sauteurs.
DU LUTH VISITS OJIBWAYS OF LAKE SUPERIOR.. 409
mission, at length allowed a cannon to be fired at the house, by which the Sioux were killed.
Governor Frontenac was indignant at Le Boeme's course, and reported the case to Colbert, the Colonial Minister of Louis the Fourteenth.
HENRY TONTT AND LA SALLE AT SAULT STE. MARIE.
Henry Tonty was sent in September, 1679, by La Salle to arrest some deserters who were trading at Sault Ste. Marie, and had induced Louis Le Bohesme, the lay brother of the Jesuits, to conceal their peltries in the mission house. Two years afterwards La Salle visited the place, to obtain his peltries. Father Balloquet told him that there was a large number of similar skins in the loft, above the chapel, and if he could prove which were his, he could remove them. La Salle with some sharpness replied, ^^ That he feared he might be excommunicated if by mistake be took peltries which he could not distinguish from his own,"* and returned to Mackinaw.
DU LUTH VISITS OJIBWAYS OP LAKE SUPERIOR.
After the great council at Sault Ste. Marie, the number of traders increased around Lake Superior. Frontenac, Governor of Canada, sent his engineer Raudin to the ex- tremity of the lake with presents, to conciliate the Sioux and Ojibways, and on the Ist of September, 1678, Du Luth who had been a gendarme in his French majesty's guard, at the battle of Seneffe in 1674, left Montreal for Lake Su- perior, with three Indians and three Frenchmen. He win- tered in the woods about nine miles from Sault Ste. Marie, and after the ice disappeared in the spring of 1679, he pro- ceeded to the head of the lake, and was the first person to erect a trading post at Kaministigoya, not far from the Fort William, which at the beginning of the present century,
1 liargry, toI. li. 110, 22d.
410 KINKSSOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
was built by the Northwest Ck)mpany. During the year 1679 the Sioux and Ojibways were on friendly terms, and Du Luth* with some Ojibways visited the former. La Salle mentions that " the Sauteurs [Qibways] who are the savages who carry peltries to Montreal, and who dwell on Lake Superior, wishing to obey the repeated words of the Count [Governor Frontenae] made a peace to unite the Sauteurs and French, and to trade with the ilfadouesioux situated about sixty leagues west from Lake Superior."
In June, 1680, Du Luth not satisfied with his visit to the Sioux country by land left his stopping place eight leagues above the Nemitsakouat, now Bois Brul6 River, with two canoes, and an Ojibway guide, a Sioux, and four French- men. Ascending the Bois Brul6, by breaking down many beaver dams, he reached its sources; and then, by a short portage, reached the lake from which the River Saint Croix flows, and descended this stream to its junction with the Mississippi, and by way of the Wisconsin, in the spring of 1681 reached Quebec, after an absence of two and a half years. In the fall of 1682, he went to France, and wrote there a memoir, early in 1683, which Ilarrisse was the first to print, and which Shea has translated and appended to his edition of Hennepin's Louisiana, both of whom, in giving 1685 as the date of its composition, have fallen into error.
As soon as Du Luth returned from France, in 1683, he hastened to Mackinaw with a number of canoes, and on the 8th of August left that post with thirty men, with goods for trading with the Sioux, and proceeded towards the Mississippi by the Green Bay route. Father Engelran, in a letter from Mackinaw on the 26th of August, to Gov- ernor De la Barre, writes :* " The result from such an expe-
1 The (spelltng of La SaUe, and HennepiD, is followed, while da L'Hut it more correct. ' Margry, vol. v. p. 6.
ERECTION OF FOBT ST. CROIX. 411
dition will be of no little importance, if we can only pre- vent a rupture between the Outagamis [Foxes] and Sau- teurs [Ojibways]." Du Luth is sftpposed to have erected the post upon the borders of the Sioux and Ojibway coun- try at the portage at the head of the Saint Croix River, which on Franquelin's Map of 1688 is called Fort Saint Croix.
In a few months Du Luth had returned to Mackinaw, and soon was called upon to make an impressive exhibi- tion of the majesty of the French law among the Ojibways.^
EXECUTION OP OJIBWATS BY DU LUTH.
During the summer of 1688, Jacques Le Maire and Colin Berthot were surprised by three Ojibways, while on their way to trade at Keweenaw, and murdered. Their bodies were thrown into a marsh, and covered with pine boughs to keep them from floating, and the merchandise in their canoes was hidden at different points in the woods. On the 24th of October, Du Luth was informed that Folle Avoine, one of the murderers, had arrived at Sault Ste. Marie with fifteen families of Ojibways, who had fled from Chagouamigon from fear of the Sioux. The French at Sault Ste. Marie, twelve in number, had not arrested him, because the Ojibways had declared that they would not allow the French to redden the land of their fathers with the blood of their brothers. Immediately Du Luth resolved to go to the Sault and seize the assassin. At dawn of the next day he embarked with two canoes. In one was the Jesuit missionary Enjalran, Chevalier Four- celle, Cardonniere, and Du Luth ; in the other, Baribaud,'
«
1 Tlie letter of Du Luth copied fW>m the original containlDg the accoant which follows, maybe found in 2d series, vol. iv., Paris Documents in Pariia- ment Library, Ottawa, Canada. It has been translated in Sheldon's Michigan from a copy of the original among Cass MSS.
' Baraboo, in Wisconsin, is a corruption it is said of Baribaud.
412 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Le Mere, La Fortune, and Ma^ns. A leagae from tbe Sault, Du Luth and party left the canoe, and through the woods walked to the mission house to prevent the guilty one from escaping, and soon arrested him, and placed him under a guard of six Frenchmen.
Per6,* the expert voyageur, who is supposed to have heesn the same person who discovered that the river Perray, a tributary of Lake Nepigon, was a good route to Hudson's Bay, was sent to Keweenaw to capture the other murderers. During his absence Du Luth held councils with the Ojib- ways and told them that they must separate the guihy from the innocent or the whole nation would suffer. They accused Achiganaga and his sons, but believed that Peri would never be able to take them.
At ten o'clock of the night of the 24th of November Per6 came through the forest, and said that he had arrested Achiganaga and four of his sons, all of whom were not guilty, and that FoUe Avoine already at the Sault was the most guilty. Per6 found at Keweenaw eighteen French- men who had passed the winter of 1682 at that points.
Pere had left his prisoners in charge of twelve French- men, at a place four leagues from the post, and at dawn of the 25th, with four more men he went back, and by two o'clock in the afternoon returned with the captives, who were placed under guard in a room in Du Luth's house.
On the 26th a council was held, and each prisoner was allowed two of his relatives to defend his interests. Each of the accused was questioned, and his answers written, and afterwards read to him, and inquiry made whether they were correct.
1 Per^and Nicholas Perrot have sometimes been eonRidcred as the same person. In 1677, the Sieur Pei^ was with La Salle, at Fort Frontenac. In 1679, Ver6 was alienated from La Salle, and employed by Governor Andros of New York. After this he appears to have been ** a close prisoner at London for eighteen months/' Governor Dongan of New York, on Sept. 8, 1687, sends La Pcrre (Per6) to Canada '* with an answer to tbe French Governor's angry letter."
EXECUTION OF OJIBWAYS BY DU LUTH. 413
As FoUe Avoine had insinuated that his father Achi- ganaga was an accessory to the murder, the latter was brought into the presence of his four sons, and when the latter were asked if he had advised them to kill the French- men they answered, "No."
"This confrontation," writes Du Luth, " which the sav- ages did not expect, surprised them, and seeing the pris- oners had convicted themselves, the chiefs in council said, 'It is enough; you accuse yourselves; the French are masters of your bodies.'"
On the 28th another council was held in the lodge of the chief Brochet, where it was hoped that the Indians would say what ought to be done, but it only ended "in reducing tobacco to ashes."
On the 29th all the French at the Sault were called to- gether, and the questions to, and answers of the prisoners read, after which it was the unanimous opinion that three of the sons were guilty. As only two Frenchmen had been killed Du Luth and De la Tour, the Superior of the Jesuit mission, decided that only Folle Avoine, and the brother next in age to him, should suffer the penalty of the law.
Du Luth then returned to the lodge of Brochet, accom- panied by Boisguillot,* Per6, De Repentigny, De Manthet, De la Ferte, and Ma9on8. Here were gathered all the chiefs of the Outawas du Sable, Outawas Sinagos, Kiska- kons, Sauteurs, D'Achiliny, some Hurons and Oumamens, the chief of the Amikoues, and Du Luth announced that the Frenchmen had been killed, and it had been de- cided that two of those engaged in the murder should be put to death, and left the council. The Jesuit missionaries now baptized the culprits, and Du Luth writes: "An hour after I put myself at the head of forty-two Frenchmen, and in sight of more than four hundred savages, and
^ BoisguiUot was afterwards a trader near the mouth of the WiecoDsiD.
414 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
within two hundred paces of their fort, I caused the two murderers to be shot."*
^ While Du Loth was thna occupied GroBelUiere and RadiMon, who bid left the English, were in Paria, as will be seen from the following dispatcbei of Lord Preston, the English Ambassador, which have never been publiahed in this country.
Preston, in 168S, informs the English government that the French CanidiiDi had burned the Hudson Bay Company's house, taken prisoners John Brlfg^ and servants, planted the French standard, and changed the names of two branches of the river, calling one Port Bourbon, and that in August tbey btd seized an English ship called the '' Bachelors' Delight," and requested tbe French authorities to arrest Radisson the leader of the assault on Port NelaoD. Under the date of 19th of January, 16S8-84, he writes to England : " Sent my Secretary, to know if the King had ordered any answer concerning the attack upon Nelson's Port. I find the great support of Mons. de la Barre, the present Grovemor of Canada, is ih>m the Jesuits of this Court, which order always hath a great number of missionaries in that region, who besides the conversion of infidels, have had the address to engross the whole castor trade, from which they draw considerable advantage. The late Governor, the Marquis de Froo- tenac, did ever oppose himself to their designs, and executed the King hto Master's right to that trafiSque, but they found the means by the interests of Father de la Chaise, to have him recalled and the present Governor sent, who complyeth wholly with them, and giveth them no kind of trouble in their commerce RaditoD [Radisson] arrived about the time you men- tioned, at Rochelle, and hath been in Paris these five days. There came on shore, at the same time, from a merchant vessel, Des Groselieres, a person whose story is well known, in those countries, and who accompanied the others in his action. I am told that they both took possession for the English, this very Nelson's River and Port, by a commission which they had from England. A friend of mine who hath seen the former since his arrival tells me that be finds him much alarmed with the charge against him."
After asking that charts, and the voyages of BaflSn, Nelson, Fox, and others may be sent to him, Lord Preston continues : ** I rather desire this, because I hear Radisson is come charged with a great number of them which are doubt- less drawn for his purpose. I am told privately, that a relation of the taking possession of Port Nelson in the name of the English, by these very men Des Groselieres and Radisson may be found .mong the papers of Prince Robert [Rupert]."
On the 26th of January he writes again : '* I am informed that Radisson and Des Groselieres have seen Mons. de Seignelay since their arrival, who informed him, that they had lived in that country for many years, in very good intelli- gence with the English, having furnished them with provender, but that they having a design once to insult them, and to take fVom them three or four hun- dred pounds of powder, they defended themselves, and that the English com- menced hostilities." — Setfenth Report of the Royal Jlistoiical CommUiion.
DU LUTH IN CONFLICT WITH SKNECAS. 415
In 1684, by order of Gov. De la Barre, he went to Niag- ra with Indian allies, bat returned to the Lake Superior region the same autumn. In the fall of 1686 he withdrew from the Upper Lakes, and conBtructed a fort, near the entrance of Lake Huron, about thirty miles ahove the site of the city of Detroit, to intercept the English traders who were beginning to carry goods to the Upper Lakes, and undersell the French.^
During the summer of 1687, he proceeded with the In- dians of the Upper Lakes to aid the French against the Seneca Iroquois. The Governor of Canada in his report to the French government mentions the good service rendered by Du Luth, and wrote, that on the 13th of July "M. de Callieres, who was at the head of three companies com- manded by Tonty, De la Durantaye, and Du Lhu, and of all our Indians, fell about three o'clock in the afternoon into an ambuscade of Senecas, posted in the vicinity of that defile." After a short conflict, the French, at night, maintained a bivouac, and the next day pursued the flying Senecas.
The Governor writes: "We witnessed the painful sight of the usual cruelties of the savages, who cut the dead in
1 The following table in N. Y. Col. Does. iz. 406, shows the cheapness of English goods in 1689 :~
The IndiftD pftjn for At Orange (Albanj). Montreal.
8 pounds of powder ..... One l)eaver. Four.
A gun Two " Five.
40 lbs. of lead One " Three.
Red blanket One '' Two.
White " One " Two.
6 pr' stockings One '' Two.
4 shirts One " Two.
The English give 6 q'ts of eau de vie West India rum for one beaver. The French have no fixed rate in trading brandy, but never give a quart for one beaver.
The English do not discriminate in the quality of beaver but take all, at the tame rate, 60 per cent, higher than the French.
416 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
quarters, as is done in slaughter-houses, in order to put them into the kettle; the greater number was opened while still warm that their blood might be drank. Our rascally Otaoas distinguished themselves particularly by these barbaf ities, and by their poltroonery ; the Hurons of Michilimaquina did very well."*
CHECK TO FUR TRADE OF UPPBR LAKES.
After this battle, fear of the Iroquois stopped the fur* trade beyond Lake Erie, and the merchants of Montrea/ and Quebec were impoverished.
Du Luth, in the summer of 1687, came back for a short time to Fort St. Joseph, and one of his escorts was La- hontan.
LAHONTAN AT SAULT STE. MARIE.
Early in June, 1688, Lahontan visited the Falls of Saint Mary, where he found a village of Outchipoufe, or Saul- teurs, not far from the Jesuit's house. On the 13th, he left with forty Saulteurs, in five canoes, and at Mackinaw was joined by a party of Ottawas. On the first of July he reached Fort St. Joseph. Two days later, he and the Indians embarked for Lake Erie, and on the 28th the Saulteurs had a fight with the Iroquois, in which they lost four of their number, but killed three, wounded five, and took prisoners the remainder of the Iroquois party. On the 24th of August, Lahontan returned to Fort St. Joseph, which had been built in 1686-87 by Du Luth. A Miami Indian having brought the intelligence that the fort at Niagara had been demolished by order of the Governor of Canada, on the 27th of August, he burned Fort St. Joseph, and retired to Mackinaw.
Lahontan mentions that when he was at Sault Ste. Marie there was no permanent Indian village on the banks
» Denonvine, N. Y. Col. Doce. Ix. 388, 3«5.
KAULY POSTS ON LAKE SUPERIOR. 417
of Lake Superior. The first trading post of Da Luth at Saministigoya was given np, while a post existed at Chagouamigon, Lemipiseki (Nepigon), and at the River Sagouache, on the north shore, a short distance cast of the outlet of Lake Nepigon.
. SAULT STE. MARIE ABANDONED.
After 1689, the trading post and mission house was abandoned at Sault Ste. Marie, and Mackinaw became the central point for traders and missionaries.
In May, 1690, Governor Frontenac sent M. de Lou- vigny, a half-pay captain, to relieve Sieur du la Durantaye, at Mackinaw, and Nicholas Perrot accompanied him, with presents and messages for the upper nations. As a result of this visit, in August, five hundred of the upper Indians arrived at Montreal to trade, and the merchants rejoiced, as so large a number had not appeared for a long time.
On the 25th, Count Frontenac, the Governor, gave them a grand feast of two oxen, six large dogs, two barrels of wine, some prunes, and plenty of tobacco to smoke.*
MACKINAW A. D. 1700.
Sieur de Lamothe Cadillac, commandant at Mackinaw for several years, has left an accurate description of the place. After describing the island of Missilimackinak he writes:* "Opposite this island is a large sandy cove on the border of the lake, and in the middle of this is the French fort, where the garrison and commandant reside. The post is called the Fort de Buade. The monastery of the Jesuits, the village of the French, and that of the Hurons and Ottawas adjoin one another and fill up the border at the bottom of the anse or cove."
The Hurons and Ottawas were the same which had once
> Oeeurreneet 0/ 1689-90, N. Y. Col. Docs. Ix. 478, 479. ' Margrj, yol. v. p. 80. 27
418 MINNESOTA HISTOBIGAL COLLECTIONS.
lived on the shores of Chagouamigon Bay, and had been driven away by the Sioux.* While they lived in perfect harmony, they did not speak the same language. The Hurons were separated by a palisade. The settlement of Mackinaw on the mainland was at that time well fortified. The pickets of the outside circle were of pine and about thirty feet high. The second circle was a foot from the former, the third, four feet from the second, three feet and a half in diameter, and fifteen or sixteen feet high. The pickets were closely planted, with loop holes at certain distances. The Indian cabins were arched, miide by plant- ing poles, bending them at the top, and fastening with the roots of the birch. They were covered with the bark of fir or cedar trees. They were one hundred or one hundred and thirty feet long, twenty-four wide, and twenty m height. At each end was an opening.
TRADE WITH UPPER INDIANS RESUBiED.
In May, 1692, Frontenac determined to obtain the furs which had accumulated at Mackinaw, and Lt' d Argen- teuil with eighteen Canadians, who undertook the voyage in the hope of a handsome reward, bore dispatches to Lou- vigny, the officer at the post, ordering him to send down not only the peltries, but the two hundred Frenchmen who were dispersed among the upper tribes. On the 17th of August, more than two hundred canoes arrived at Mon- treal with furs, Indians, and Frenchmen. In the language of a "Narrative" of that period,* "It is impossible to con- ceive the joy of the public in beholding such a vast quan- tity of riches. For several years Canada had been impa- tiently waiting for this prodigious heap of beaver, which was reported to be at Missilimakinac. The merchant, the
' Margry, vol. v. p. 80. For description of Hurons at Chagouamigon, sec pagr 405. « Oeairrenees 0/ 1692-93, N. T. Col. Docs. Ix. 569.
CHIEFS ENTERTAINED AT MONTREAL. 419
farmer, and other individuals who might have some pel- tries there, were dying of hunger, with property they did not enjoy. Credit was exhausted, and the apprehension universal, that the enemy would become masters, on the way, of the last resource of the country."
Frontenac came down from Quebec, and on the sixth of September, which was Sunday, he entertained the princi- pal chiefs, and the next day distributed presents, and made arrangements for the reoccupation of the Northwest.
TRADING POST ESTABLISHED AT CHAGOUAHIOON BT LE SUEUR.
Pierre Le Sueur was sent to remain at Chagouamigon, and the Narrative of Occurrences of 1692-93 writes that he was "to endeavor to maintain the peace lately concluded between the Sauteurs and the Sioux. This is of the greatest consequence, as it is now the sole pass by which access can be had to the latter nation, whose trade is very profitable, the country to the south being occupied by the Foxes and the Mascontins, who have already several times plundered the French, under pretence that they were carry- ing ammunition to the Sioux their ancient enemies. These frequent interruptions would have been punished ere this, had we not been occupied elsewhere. Le Sueur it is to be hoped will facilitate the northern route for us, by means of the great influence he possesses among the Sioux."*
1 Pierre Le Sueur was the son of a Frenchman from Artois, and in 1657 was bom. In company with Nicholas Perrot, by way of the Wisconsin , he visited the Upper Mississippi, and in 1689 was at Fort St. Antoine on the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin, when Perrot took formal possession of the countr}'. In the Proees Verbal the Minnesota River is for the first time called St. Pierre. As the post at the mouth of the Wisconsin in a map of 1688 is called Fort St. Nicolas in compliment to Perrot, and as the Assinebolne River was once called St. Charles, in compliment to Charles Beauhamois, Governor of Canada, and the St. Croix after a voyageur of that name, it has been supposed that the St. Pierre River was called after the baptismal name of Pierre Le Sueur. In 1690, be married Marguerite Messier, the first cousin of Pierre Lemoyne, the Sieor D'Iberville, who was the first Governor of Louisiana.
420 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
OJIBWATS SETTLE AT OHAGOUAMIGON.
It is supposed, that at this time, the Ojibways began to concentrate in a village, upon the shores of Chagouamigon Bay. It was the interest of the French to draw them as far away as possible from the influence of English traders, who had appeared in the vicinity of Mackinaw.
A deputation of the Indians, around Mackinaw, arrived at Montreal, in the summer of 1694, and went back with a number of traders, about the end of September. The convoy was commanded by Sieur Delamothe Cadillac, cap- tain of marines, on his way to relieve Sieur de Louvigny.
Sieur Le Sueur arrived at Montreal, on the 16th of July, 1695, with five Frenchmen, and a party of Lake Superior Indians, as well as a Sioux Indian and squaw, the first who ever visited Montreal.*
CHINGOUABB, OJIBWAY CHIEF IN MONTREAL.
The Indians were much impressed, by witnessing the army, under Chevalier Cresafi, distinguished by ancestry and bravery, march through the streets on their way to Lake Ontario. On the 18th of July tl^ey were formally received by Governor Frontenac, in presence of the princi- pal persons of the town. Chingouabe, chief of the Sauteurs (Ojibways) said: "That he was come to pay his respects to Onontio, in the name of the young warriors of Point Chago- uamigon, and to thank him for having given them some Frenchmen to dwell with them ; and to testify their sor- row for one Jobin, a Frenchman who was killed at a feast It occurred accidentally not maliciously. We came to ask a favor of you. We are allies of the Sciou. Some Outa- gamis or Mascoutens have been killed. The Sciou came to mourn with us. Let us act, father, and take revenge. Le Sueur alone, who is acquainted with the language of the one and the other, can serve us. We ask that he return with us."
^ Narrative of Occurrences 1694-96, N. T. Col. Doc«. Ix, yoI.
IXDIAX COrXCIL AT MOXTBSAL. 421
Q0VER50B FR05TESAC'8 BEPLT TO CHI^^OOUABi.
After the council was over, the Indians passed several days in trading their furs, and wondering at the ways of the white man, but on the 29th, they were called together again, and Frontenac replied to the Cjibway chief: *^Chin- gouab6, my son, I am very glad to have learned, by the thanks you present me, for having giving you some French- men to reside with your nation, that you are sensible of the advantages you derive from the articles they convey you; and to behold your family now clothed like my other chil- dren, instead of wearing bear skins as you formerly were in the habit of doing. If you wish me to continue send- ing you the same aid, and to increase it more hereafter, you must also resolve to listen attentively to my voice; to obey the orders that will be given to you in my name, by Le Sueur, whom I again send to command at Chagouami- gon, and to think only of making war on the Iroquois tribe, your mortal enemy, as well as the deadly foe of all the upper nations, and who has become mine, because I have taken your part, and prevented him oppressing you.
" Embarrass not yourself then with new quarrels, nor meddle with those the Sioux have with the Foxes and Mascoutens, and others, except for the purpose of allaying their resentments. I reply not to the regret you have ex- pressed to me, for the misfortune that overtook the French- man named Jobin, because I am informed that it was an accident, and that you are not to blame therefore."
REPLY OF CHINQOUABE.
After the distribution of presents, Chingouab6 said: "Father! it is not the same with us, as with you. When you command, all the French obey you and go to war. But I shall not be heeded, and obeyed by my nation in like manner. Therefore I cannot answer, except for my-
422 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
self, and those immediately allied or related to me. Never- theless I shall communicate your pleasure to all the Sau- teurs, and in order that you may be satisfied of what I say, I will invite the French who are in my village to be wit- nesses of what I shall t^ll my people in your behalf."
Two days after this the Ojibways left for Lake Supe- rior.^
FRENCH TRADERS PUSH WESTWARD.
•
Owing to the hostility of the Sacs and Foxes, for some time after the year 1700, the French had little intercourse with the Ojibways. By the Treaty of Utrecht, concluded in 1713, the French relinquished all posts on Hudson's Bay to the English, and it was necessary to check Indians disposed to go there to trade. In 1716, therefore, the Canadian authorities decided to open the Lake Superior trade, and seek for a sea toward the west. A dispatch of the 7th of December to the French governor uses thb language : —
" MM. de Vaudreuil and Begon having written last year that the discovery of the Sea of the West would be advan- tageous to the colony, it was agreed that to reach it M. de Vaudreuil should establish three posts which he had pro- posed, and he was notified at the same time to have them established without any cost to the king, seeing that the commerce would indemnify those who founded them; and to send a detailed estimate of the cost of continuing the discovery. They stated in reply that M. Vaudreuil in the month of July last [1717] had caused Sieur de la Xoiie, lieutenant, with eight canoes to carry out this project of discovery. He was ordered to establish the first post at the river of Kamanistiquoya, and the north part of Lake Superior, after which he was to go to Takamunigen, to- ^vard the lake of the Christineaux to build the second, and
» N. Y. Col. Doce. Ix. 612.
POSTS WEST OF LAKE SUPEBIOB. 428
to acquire the necessary information from the Indians to find the third, at the Lake of the Assinipoelles [Winnepeg].
"This journey costs the king nothing because those en- gaged in it will be remunerated for their outlay by the trade which they will engage in; but to follow up the discovery it is absolutely necessary that his Majesty should bear the expenses because the persons employed in it will have to give up all idea of trade. They estimated that fifty good canoes will be required ; of these, twenty-four will be engaged in making the discovery from the Lake of the Assinipoelles to the Sea of the West. They calculated the wages of these men at 800 francs a year each, and esti- mated that the expenditure as well for provisions and canoes, and for goods for presents will amount
to f. 29,023.10
There will have to be added for supplementary
outfit, 600 francs for each of the six oflBcers
employed in the discovery 8,600.10
Total, 82,623.20 As it will take about two years to make this jouniey, they estimate the expenditure may amount to fifty thous- and francs."*
ST. PIERRE AT CHAGOUAMIGON BAY.
Lt. Robertel le la Noiie late in the fall of 1717 was at Kaministiquoya and found few Indians. He wrote by a French trader, who was at Point Chagouamigon, to the chief of the Sioux, in the hope of effecting a peace with the Christineaux.
Captain St. Pierre* and Ensign Linctot in September,
^ French MSSL 3d series, vol. vl., Parliament Library, Ottawa. Lindsey's BoundarUt of Ontario, pp. 206, 207 ; Mills' Boundaries of Ontario, pp. 231, 232.
' Captain Paul Legardeur Saint Pierre was the son of J. Baptiste I/egardeur, who on the 11th of July, 1656, had married Margruerite, the daughter of the braye explorer Jean Nicolet, the first white man who in 1634-35 visited Green Bay and vicinity in Wisconsin.
424 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
1718, were ordered to Chagouamigon, because the Ojibway chief there, and also at Keweenaw, were threatening war against the Foxes. Upon De I'lsle's Map, revised by Buache in 1745, a French establishment (Maison Fran^aise) appears at Chagouamigon Bay.
The authorities of Canada* on the 14th of Ifovember,
1719, wrote: "The Sieur Vandreuil has not received any letter from Sieur de la Noiie: he has only learnt by way of Chagouamigon, which is in the south extremity of Lake Superior, where Sieur St. Pierre has been in com- mand since last year, that Sieur Pachot had passed there, on his way to the Sioux, where he was sent by the Sieur de la Noiie, on the subject of the peace he was trj'ing to bring about between this nation and that of the Christe- naux, but that Pachot had not returned to Chagouamigon when the canoes left."
OJIBWAYS VISIT GOVERNOR LONGEUIL.
Linctot, who had succeeded Saint Pierre in the command at Cliagouamigon, made peace between the Sioux aiul Ojibways, and when the latter visited Montreal, they were thus addressed by Longeuil, then Govenior of Canada: *'I am rejoiced, my children of the Sauteurs, at the peace which Monsieur De Linctot has procured for you, with the Sioux your neighbors, also, on account of the prisoners you have restored to them. I desire him, in the letter, which I now give you, my son Cabina, for him, that he maintain this peace, and support the happy reunion which now ap- pears to exist between the Sioux and you. I hope he will succeed in it, if you are attentive to his words, and if you follow the lights he will show you.
" My heart is sad on account of the blows which the Foxes of Green Bay have given you, of which you have
1 Ottawa MSS.y 3d series, vol. vil.
FIKST SAILING-VESSEL ON LAKE SUPERIOR. 425
just spoken, and of which the commandant has written in his letter. It appears to me that Heaven has revenged you for your losses, since it has given you the flesh of a young Fox to eat.
" You have done well to listen to the words of your com- mandant to keep quiet and respect the words of your
Father There is coming from France a new
Father, who will not fail to inform you, as soon as he shall be able to take measures and stop the bad affair which the Foxes wish to cause in future."
ALLEGED COPPER MINE AT CHAOOUAMIGON.
In the year 1730, an Indian brought to the French post, at Chagouamigon Bay, a nugget of copper, which led to the supposition that there was a mine of this metal in the vicinity. On the 18th of October, 1731, the Canadian au- thorities wrote to the French government that they had received no satisfactory report of the situation or quality of the mine alleged to be in the neighborhood of the " Bay of Chagouamigon," and that the Indians were very supersti- tious about such discoveries, and were unwilling to reveal.
PIRST SAILINO-VESSEL ON LAKE SUPERIOR
The officer in command at Chagouamigon at this time was Sieur La Ronde Denis, who had received a concession to work copper mines. He and his son Ensign Denis de la. Ronde were zealous in this business, and the latter ex- plored one of the islands. A dispatch of the day men- tions that La Ronde "had been ordered with his son to build at the river St. Anne a house of logs two hundred feet long, with a fort and curtain, which he assures us he has executed. He has had other expenses on account of the mines, such as voyages and presents for the Indians. He has constructed at his own expense a bark of forty tons on Lake Superior, and was obliged to transport in canoes.
426 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
as far as Sault Ste. Marie, the rigging and materials for the vessel. The post Chagouamigon was given him as a gratuity to defray expenses.''
In 1736, the Governor of Canada wrote to France that there was increased hope of obtaining copper from Lake Superior, and that the Indians had reported that a certain isle, which appears on the new map, abounded in copper. " If this were true they will pass by the Rivifere au Fer,' from which had been taken the lumps of copper which were sent this year. The son of De la Ronde will visit this isle and make a report." Allusion is made in the same communication, that the Renards and their allies hunted in the vicinity of the River Tounagaune [Ontana- gon], and it was recommended that the region should be explored by an experienced miner.
During the winter of 1740, La Ronde was in Canada and ordered to return to Chagouamigon. On his arrival at Mackinaw, in the spring, he was so sick that he re- turned to Montreal.'
On Bellin's Map of 1744, the island opposite Bayfield, now called Madaline, is named La Ronde.*
VERANDERIE EXPLORES WEST OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
The Sieur Verandcrie, who had been stationed in 1727 at Lake NGpif]^on, was the first to perfect an expeilition for the exploration of the chain of lakes which form the northern boundary of Minnesota. Three of his sons, and
^ On modern maps still called Iron River. N. Bellln, in a map of Lake Su- perior, In Charlevoix's Nouvelle France^ Paris, A. D. 1744, calls the stream Piouabic or R. au Cuivre. Baraga gives Miskwahlk, as the Ojibway word for copper. Lahontan gives Piouabic for iron, which Carver writes Pewawblck. Iron River is east of Bois BruK River.
2 Letter of Beauhamois among Martin MSS. in Ottawa Library.
' The first Sieur de La Ronde was Pierre Dents or Denys, bom A. D. VC^. married in 1655 to Catharine Le Neuf, of Quebec. It was bis grandson wlio received the monopoly of the fur trade at Chagouamigon.
THE YERAKDERIES DISCOVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 427
a nephew, in the autumn of 1731, succeeded in reaching Rainy Lake; and the next year, the Lake of the Woods, and year after year they pushed westward, until two of his sons in January, 1743, were the first Frenchmen to reach the Rocky Mountains.*
OJIBWATS FOLLOW THE FEEXCH.
Until after 173G, the Ojibways did not have any foothold west of Lake Superior.
There is extant a statement of the position of the tribes of Lake Superior and vicinity in 1736, which that year was prepared at Mackinaw.'
LAKE SUPERIOR OJIBWATS, 1736.
At the Savt St. Marie were the Sauteurs (Ojibways) to the number of thirty men, they were in two divisions, and had for a device the Crane and the Catfish.
At Kiouanau (Keweenaw) were forty Sauteurs, with the device of the Crane and the Stag.
At Point Chagouamigon there were one hundred and fifty Sauteurs.
1 Suite, Id an article In NouvelUt Soireet Can4idUnne» for January, 18S4, pa1>. lished at Montreal, mentions that thia name ia spelled in documents in four- teen different ways, among others Veranderie, Verandrie, Verendrie, Veren- derie, and Verendrye. He also giyes the extract from the parish register of Three Rivers as to the baptism of this explorer. Freely translated it reads '* The 18th day of November, 1684, by me F. G. de Brullon, cure of the parish church Notre Dame of Three Rivers has been baptised in said church, Pierre Gualtier, son of Ren< Gualtier Esquire, the Sieur de' Varenne and Governor of Three Rivers, and Marie Boucher, his wife. The infant was t>om on the 17th of November. His godfather was Pierre Boucher his grandfather, in the place of his son Lambert, and the godmother was Magdeleine Gualtier his sister.
V^randerie's brother Louis was In 1689 an ensign In Canada. In the register of Varennea in 1702, 17(H, 17U7, the name of the explorer appears as Pierre Gauthier de Varennes, Sieur de *' Boumois." In a document of 1707 he is called Sieur de Boumois de la Veranderie. After this ho went to Europe, and was on Sept. 11, 1700, at the battle of Malplaquet. Retumins: to Canada be was married at Quebec, October 29, 1712, to Anne Dandonneau.
» N. Y. Col. Doc. vol. ix.
428 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
TECAMIOUEN, BAIKY LAKE.
Here there were one hundred Indians, not Ojibways, of the same tribe as those at Lake Kepigon.
LAKE OF THE WOODS.
The Christenaux to the number of two hundred were in this vicinity. Their device was the Wild Goose.
LAKE OUNEPIGON (WINNIPEG).
In this region were Christenaux to the number of sixty, and south of the lake one hundred and fifty Assinipoels or Assineboines.
While twenty-one of V6randerie's party, in June, 1736, were camped upon an isle in Lake of the Woods, they were surprised by a band of the Sioux, and among the killed were five voyageurs, a priest, and a son of V^ran- derie.* Four years after this attack, Joseph Le France, a half-breed born at Saut St. Marie, whose mother was an Ojibway, in 1740, by the north shore of Lake Superior and the chain of lakes to Winnipeg, reached the Hudson Bay Company posts, and in his narrative he mentions the tribes he found.
After the discovery of the Rocky Mountains, Veranderie prepared to send his sons toward the Saskatchewan River. They were succeeded by Jacques Legardeur Saint Pierre,*
1 After this It was French policy to encooracre the Ojibways to expel thf Sioux between Lake Superior and Missiselppi River.
On the map prepared in 1737, to 8how V^randerie's route, the Red River of the North, and the point of the Big Woods thereon, and Red LAke are marked, and the Christineaux are represented around Lake Winnipeg, and the Aasine- boines in the valley of the Red River.
* Saint Pierre, bom in 1701, was the son of Paul Legrardeur, the Sleur St. Pierre, born in 1661. His grandfather married Marguerite the daughter of Jean Nlcolet, the bravft explorer, who as early as 16.34 reached Green Bay, Wis- consin. See Nelirs Nixtory of Minnetota, 5th edition, 1883, p. 803. His inter- view with Washington is well known. He was killed in battle in September, 1755f near Lake George. His widow married the noted La Corne.
SAINT PIERRE AND LA CORNE. 429
whose party went along that river, and built in 1752 Fort Jonquiere, toward the Rocky Mountains. The Christenaux burned down Fort La Reine on the Assineboine River, and attempted to kill Saint Pierre.
Marquis Du Quesne, Governor of Canada, recalled Saint Pierre, and sent him to the forests of Pennsylvania. St. Luc de la Come then took charge of the posts beyond Lake Superior.^
FRENCH POSTS WEST OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
Bougainville, an Aide de Camp of General Montcalm, in a memoir on the state of Canada, published in 1757, gives a good account of the posts west of Lake Superior. He writes: "La Mer d'Ouest is a post that includes the Forts St. Pierre, St. Charles, Bourbon, de la Reine, and Dauphin, Poskoyac, and des Prairies, all of which are built with palis- ades that can give protection only against Indians." Fort St Pierre is described as on Rainy Lake ; Fort St. Charles as on a peninsula that goes far into the Lake of the Woods ; Fort Bourbon, 150 leagues from Fort St. Charles, at the entrance of the Poskoyac or Saskatchewan into Lake Win- nipeg. Fort La Reine was on the right bank of the As- sineboine River, 60 leagues from Fort Bourbon; Fort Dauphin 80 leagues from La Reine. Fort Poskoyac was
^ La Corne was at TicoDderoga, and at Quebec in the battles with the Brit- ish. During the American war for independence he was with the Indian allies of the British , at the battle of Saratoga. In a letter of Thomas Jefferson 's dated Oct. 11, 1775, published for the first time, in Nov. 1868, in Dawson's BU- tcrieal Magazine y he alludes to La Corne in these words : ** This St. Luc is a great Seigneur amongst the Canadians, and almost absolute with the Indians, he has been our most bitter enemy, and is acknowledged to be the greatest of all scoundrels : to be assured of this I need only mention to you that he is the mflaan, who, when during the late war Fort William Henry was surrendered to the French and Indians, on condition of saving the lives of the garrison, had every soul murdered in cold blood."
St. Luc on Sept. 3, 1757, married Marie Joseph GualUer, the widow of L&- gard3ur de St. Pierre.
480 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
built on the river of that name 180 leagues from Dauphin. The Fort des Prairies is eighty leagues from Poekoyac on the banks of the same river.
This post, writes Bougainville, ** called *The Sea of the West/ embracing as it did the whole country from Eainy Lake to the Rocky Mountains, and from North Saskat- chewan to the Missouri, was in the gift of the Governor General of Canada, and was bestowed by him upon his fevorites. It produced yearly from 800 to 400 bundles of furs, and the commanding officer leased the post for the annual sum of 8000 francs."
OJIBWAY HOSTILITY TO THB FRENCH.
During the year 1746, under English influence, the Ojib- ways of Lake Superior became unfriendly to the French. Two canoes from Montreal, on their way to Lake Superior, were attacked at La Cloche, an isle in Lake Huron, by Ojib ways. Members of the same tribe at Grosse Isle, near Mackinaw, stabbed a Frenchman, and the horses and cattle at Mackinaw were killed, and to prevent surprise, the officer of the fort was obliged to beat the " tap-too."* Governor Galissoniere of Canada, in a dispatch of October 1748, to Count Maurepas in charge of the colonies of France' wrote: "Voyageurs robbed and nialtreate<l at Sault Stc. Marie, and elsewhere on Lake Superior ; in fine there appears to be no security anywhere."
LAST FRENCH OFFICER AT CHAGOUAMIGOX.
The last French officer at Chagouamigon Point was Hertel de Beaubassin. When an ensign of infantry, in 1748, with some Indian allies he made an incursion towanl Albany, and thirty houses of unsuspecting settlers were burned. In August, 1749, he came to Albany* by direc-
1 N. y N. Docs. Tol. X. p. 119. « N. T. Col. Doc«. x. 182.
« N. 1. Co!. Docs. vi. 52«.
I
HERTEL BEAUBASSIN'S CAREER. 431
tion of the Governor of Canada, relative to the exchange of prisoners. After this he was the commandant at La Pointe,* and left in 1756, with Ojibways, as allies for the French, in the war against the English of New York and New England.*
TRAGIC OCCURRENCE AT LA POINTE ISLAND.
The editor of the Detroit Gazette, on the 80th of Au- gust, 1822, published* an account of a tragedy which is said to have occurred on Cadotte's, Middle, or Montreal Island of the old voyageurs, now called La Pointe or Madaline Island. The trader William Morrison had re- lated the following story to a friend.
In the autumn of 1760, there was only one trader on the Island, with his wife from Montreal, a young son, and a servant. During the next winter the servant killed the trader and his wife and son. When traders, in the spring, returned to the post they inquired for the missing trader and family. The servant said that in March they went to a sugar camp, and had never come back. After the anow melted they found the bodies buried near the post The servant was then seized, and in a canoe sent to Mon- treal for trial. When the Indians, in charge of the canoe, reached the Longe Saut, of the St. Lawrence River, they learned of the advance of the English forces in Canada, and with the prisoner became a war party against the English and allied Indians. Not being successful, they commenced the return voyage, bringing the murderer with them. When they approached the Sault Ste. Marie,
» N. T. Col. Doct. X. 424.
* De Ramella was in 1744 commaDd&nt at NepigOD. Id 1747, Du Plessis de MorampoDt was In commaDd at Kamanetigrula, afterwarda Fort William. In 1752 Beai^eu de Ville Monde was thero. The next year he was sent to Mack, inaw. He did not die until June 5, 1802, In Canada.
* The entire article has been reprinted in the 8th Tolame of the Wlteontin Butorieal Society CoUeetUnu,
432 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
they stopped, and held a dance. Each one strnck the post, and told the story of his exploits. The murderer, when he came up, boastfully narrated that he had killed the trader and his family. The next day the chief called his men aside, and said that the white man should never have boasted of murdering his employer and family: and added, "We boast of having killed our enemies, never our frienda. Now he is going back to the place where we live, and pe^ haps he will again murder. He is a bad man; neither we nor our friends are safe. If you are of my mind, we will strike this man on the head."
They then invited him to a feast, and urged him to eat all he could, and as soon as he ceased to eat he was killed* The chief cut up the body and boiled it for another feast, but the Indians refused to partake of it, and said: *'He was not worthy to be eaten ; he was worse than a bad dog. We will not taste him, for if we do, we shall be worse than dogs."
OJIBWAYS AT TICONDEROGA A. D. 1757.
As the French began to attack the settlements of New England and Kew York, the upper Indians ottered their services. Governor Beauhamois, under date of the 28th of October, 1745, wrote to the French government: "Sicur de la Come, the elder, whom I have sent to command at Mi:^ silimakinak, wrote to me on the 29th of August last that at that post sixty Outaouacs and Saulteaux applied to him, for M. ifoyelle, Jr., who is deputy there, to conduct them to Montreal, in order to attack the English; I have reason to expect them from day to day."
Among the Indians at Ticonderpga with the French army in 1757, with La Plante, De Lorimer and Chesne as interpreter, were thirtj^-threeOjibways from Chagouaraigon, twenty-three of Beaver, fourteen of Coasekimagen, thirty- seven of the Carp, and fifty of Cabibonk6.
GOVERNOR LA JOXQUIERE'S LETTER. 433
LAST FRENCH OFFICER AT SAULT STB. MARIE.
Louis Legardeur, Chevalier de Repentigny, belonged to one of the most distinguished families of Canada. As early as 1632 his great-grandfather came to Canada. His grandfather was the eldest of twenty-three brothers. His father, Paul Legardeur Sieur St. Pierre, after the treaty of Utrecht, in 1718, re-established the post at Chagouamigon, and in 1733 died. Louis was bom in 1727, and at the age of fourteen entered the service. In 1746 he was in an ex- pedition toward Albany, and then went to Mackinaw, and in 1748 returned with eighteen canoes of Indians. With these and other Indians he made an attack near Schenec- tady, and eleven prisoners and twenty-five scalps were taken.
In 1749 he was again at Mackinaw, the second in com- mand. His brother, Jacques Legardeur St. Pierre, was in command, the same who was once in charge at Lake Pepin, and afterwards, in 1753, at a post near Erie, Pa., where Washington visited him, bearing a dispatch from the Governor of Virginia.
The grasping and miserly Governor Jonquiere in 1750 gave to his nephew, Captain De Bonne, and Chevalier de Repentigny, a grant at Sault Ste. Marie of six leagues front upon the portage by six leagues in depth, bordering on the river below the rapids.
Repentigny, brought J. B. Cadot* and other hired per- sons there, to revive a post, which since 1689 had been abandoned.
GOVERNOR LA JONQUIERE's LETTER.
The letter of Governor La Jonquiere, to the French Colonial Minister, dated at Quebec, October 5, 1751, ex- plains the object of the grant, and is given in full : —
1 See page 448. 28
434 MIKNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
"My Lord: By my letter of the 24th of August last year, I had the honor to let you know, that in order to thwart the movements, that the English do not cease to make, in order to seduce the Indian natives of the north, I had sent the Sieur Chevalier de Repentigny to the Sault Ste. Marie, in order to make there an establishment, at his own expense; to build there a palisade fort, to stop the English; to interrupt the commerce they carry on; stop and prevent the continuation of the *talk,' and of the pre- sents which the English send to those natives to corrupt them, to put them entirely in their interests, and inspire them with feelings of hate and aversion for the French.
"Moreover, I had in view in that establishment to se- cure a retreat to the French travellers, especially to those who trade in the northern post^ and for that purpose, to clear the lands which are proper for the production of In- dian corn there, and to subserve thereby the victualling necessary to the people of said post and even to the needs of the voyageurs.
''The said Sieur de Repentigny has fulfilled in all points the first objects of my orders. As soon as he arrived at Missilimakiniic, the chief of the Indians of the Sault Sto. Marie gave to him four strings of wampum, and begge<l of him to send them to me, to express how sensible they were for the attention I had for them, by sending the Sieur de Repentigny, whom they had already adopted as their nephew, which is a mark of distinction for an ofticer amongst the Indians, to pijrnify to them my will in all cases to direct their steps and their actions.
"I have given orders to said Sieur de Repentigny to answer at the 'talk' of that chief, by the same number of strings of wampum, and to assure him and his natives of the satisfaction I have at their good dispositions.
kepentigny's fort. 435
REPENTIGNY's reception at SAULT STB. MARIE.
"The Indians received him at the Sault Ste. Marie with much joy. He kindled my fire in that village, by a neck- lace, which these Indians received with feelings of thank- fulness. He labored first to assure himself of the most suspected of the Indians. The Indian named Cacosagane told hira in confidence, that there was a necklace in the village from the English: the said Sieur de Repentigny succeeded in withdrawing that necklace which had been in the village for five years, and which had been asked for in vain until now. This necklace was carried into all the Sault^ur villages, and others at the south and the north of Lake Superior, to make all these nations enter into the conspiracy concerted between the English and the Five Nations, after which it was brought and remains at Sault Ste. Marie. Fortunately for us this conspiracy was re- vealed and had not any consequence
REPENTIGNY's FORT.
"He arrived too late last year at the Sault Ste. Marie to fortify himself well ; however he secured himself in a sort of fort large enough to receive the traders of Missilimak- inac. The weather was dreadful in September, October, and November. The snow fell one foot deep on the 10th of October, which caused him a great delay. He employed his hired men during the whole winter in cutting 1100 pickets of 15 feet for his fort, with the doublings, and the timber necessary for the construction of three houses, one of them 30 feet long by 20 wide, and two others 25 feet long and the same width as the first. His fort is entirely finished with the exception of a redoubt of oak, which he is to have made 12 feet square, and which shall reach the same distance above the gate of the fort. His fort is 110 feet square.
436 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
FARMING AT SAULT STE. MARIE.
"As for the cultivation of the lands: the Sieur de Re- pentigny had a bull, two bullocks, three cows, two heifere, one horse and a mare from Missilimakinac. He could not on his arrival make clearing of lands, for the work of his fort had entirely occupied his hired men. I^»ast spring he cleared off the small trees and bushes within the ransce of the fort. He has engaged a Frenchman, who married at the Sault Ste. Marie an Indian woman, to take a farm ; tbej have cleared it up and sowed it, and without a frost, they will gather 30 to 35 sacks of com. The said Sieur de Re- pentigny so much feels it his duty to devote himself to the cultivation of these lands, that he has already entered into a bargain for two slaves,* whom he will employ to take care of the corn that he will gather upon these lands."
APPROVAL OP COLONIAL MINISTER AT PARIS.
In a letter to Governor. Duquesne, the successor of Jon- quierc, the French minister for the colonies, wrote from Versailles on June 16, 1752: "By one of my dcspatclie?, written last year to M. de la Jonquiere, I intimated to him that I had approved of the construction of a fort at Sault Ste. Marie, and the project of cultivating the laiul, and raising cattle there. We cannot but approve the dis- positions which have been made, but it must be con.^ideml that the cultivation of the lands, and the multiplication of cattle must be the principal object of it, and that trado must be only accessory to it. As it can hardly be expected that any other grain than corn will grow there^ it is necessnrn.
' The slaves were Indians. In the Mackinaw parish rcjEister it is recordi^ that Louis Herbert, a child slave of Chevalier de Repenti^y, was baptlziJ- On July 13, 1758, at Mackinaw he stood as godfather for Mariame, a slave ^ii Langlade.
repentigny's later services. 437
at least for awhile^ to stick to itj and not to persevere stubbornly in trying to raise wheat "^
Governor Duquesne, in a despatch to France, dated October 13, 1754, writes: " Chevalier de Repentigny, who commands at Sault Ste. Marie, is busily engaged with the settlement of his post, which is essential to stop the In- dians who come down from Lake Superior to go to Chego- neu [Oswego, N. Y.]." In the campaign of 1755, he served under Captain St. Pierre, in command of 600 Canadians, and was in the battle at the head of Lake George. In 1756, he formed a partnership with De Langy [Langlade], and another to continue the fur trade at Sault Ste. Marie, he to furnish the goods and receive a third of the profits. He brought from Mackinaw this year 700 Indians to aid the French. In 1758 he appears to have been again at Mack- inaw.* The next year he was with Montcalm at Quebec.
He was assigned to guarding the pass at the Falls of Montmorency. One night four Ojibways sought the Eng- lish camp at Ange Gardienr and killed two men. On the 26th of July, 1759, at dawn, Wolfe sent troops to dislodge him, and he retreated with the loss of twelve killed and wounded. In the spring of 1760, he was in the battle at Sillery three miles above Quebec and distinguished him- self. The Governor of Canada wrote: " Repentigny was at the head of the centre, and with his brigade resisted the enemy's centre." "The only brigade before whom the enemy did not gain an inch of ground." In 1762 he was with troops in New Foundland, and taken prisoner. In 1764 he visited France, and from 1769 to 1778 was commandant at Isle of Rh6. From 1778 to 1782 was with the " Regiment d'Am6rique" at Guadeloupe. In 1783
1 MiUioDS of bushels of wheat from the region west and north of Lake Su- perior pass eyery year in steamers and other vessels through the ship canal at Sault ste. Marie.
* On July 13th he was present at the baptism of a child.
438 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
was appointed Governor of Senegal, Africa. In October, 1785, he visited Paris, on furlough, and there on the 9th of October, 1786, died.
n.
OJIBWAYS UNDER BRITISH RULE.
The French garrison at Niagara, under Chevalier Pou- chot, on July 25th, 1759, at seven in the morning, sur- rendered to the English, under Sir William Johnson. The latter in his journal, under date of the 30th of July, writes: "A Chippeway chief came to me with Mr. Francis in order to speak to me." On the 23d of August, he again spoke to a Chippeway chief, Tequakareigh, and witli a string and two belts of wampum welcomed him, and shook him by the hand. He then gave him a black belt and n?- commended hunting and trading as far more prolitable than quarrelling with the English, and invited him and all of the tribes in his vicinity to visit Niagara and Oswe- go, where they would find a large assortment of goods for their use. The chief assured him he would never acrain strike the English, and took from his neck a large Frenoh medal, and received an English one, and a gorget of silver.
In September, 1761, Sir William Johnson was at r)etroit, and on the 11th he writes, that he was visited by "about forty of the Chippawas who had Just arrived, came to see me, and made a friendly speech, with a string of wampnni, assuring me of their firm resolution of abiding with us,
' AVaub-o-jecg, or White Fisher, the pjandfather of Henry R. Schoolcraft's first wife, who died at Chafi^ouaraigou (La Pointe), in 1793, ia said to have re- ceived at Niagara a silver gorget from Sir WiUiam Johnson.
TRADERS SELL SILVER CROSSES. 489
and complying with everything proposed hy me, and agreed to, by the rest. Gave them pipes, tobacco, and rum ; then they departed."
SILVER CROSSES DISTRIBUTED.
On the 17th of the same month he made the following entry in his journal: "I counted out, and delivered to Mr. Croghan some silver works, viz., one hundred and fifty ear- bobs, two hundred brooches or breast-buckles, and ninety large crosses, all of silver, to send to Ensign Gorrel of the Royal Americans, posted at La Bay [Green Bay] on Lake Michigan, in order to purchase therewith some curious skins and furs for General Amherst and myself."*
MACKINAW CAPTURED BY OJIBWAYS.
The occupation of Mackinaw in 1761, by English soldiers, was neither agreeable to the French Canadian traders, nor to the Indians. The conspiracy of Pontiac extended from Lake Erie to Lake Superior, and on the 4th of June, the Ojibways under the leadership of Match-e-ke-wis, a bold young warrior, surprised the fort.* Etherington, the officer in command, on the 11th of June wrote to Lt. Gorrel of Royal Americans at Green Bay : "This place was taken by
1 Silver ear-bob6 and silyer crosses were articles of trade, and as common at a frontier post as similar articles In gold, in the modem jewelry store. The wearing of the cross by a savage had as much significance, as when worn by a child of fashion. In the museum of the Minnesota Historical Society is a silver cross presented by W. J. Abemethy of Minneapolis, taken from a mound in Wisconsin.
In the diary of Matthew Clarkson, published in 4th vol. of Schoolcraft's Hitt. and Stat. CotidUion of Indian Tribeiy p. 297, is the following entry: " Account of silver truck Capt. Long lea with me on the 28th of February, 1767, the day when he went from the Kaskasklas : 174 small crosses, 84 nose crosses, 38 long drop-nose and ear-bobs, 126 small brooches, 38 large brooches, 40 rings, 2 wide wrist-bands, 6 narrow, scalloped wrist-bands, 3 narrow plain, 4 half- moon gorgets, 3 largfe, 6 full moon, 9 halr^plates, 17 hair-bobs."
» For a notice of Match-e-ke-wis by Dr. L. C. Draper, see WU. HU. 8oc. Col.f vol. vii. p. 188.
440 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
surprise on the fourth instant by the Chippewas at which time Lieut. Jamett, and twenty more were killed, and the rest taken prisoners, but our good friends, the Ottowas, have taken Lieut. Lesley, me, and eleven men off their hands, and have promised to reinstate us again. You will, therefore, on the receipt of this, which I send by a canoe of Ottawas, set out with all your garrison and what Eng- lish traders you have with you, and come, with the In- dians who give you this, who will conduct you safe to me. . . . . Tell the savages that you are obliged to come here, to open the road which the Chippewas have shut up," etc.
At the time Mackinaw was surprised, the siege of De- troit by Pontiac was taking place. Among his men was a band of Saginaw Ojibways. On the 18th of June, eight Ojibways came from Mackinaw, one of whom was Non- chanek or Kinonchanek, the son of the head chief, bring- ing news of the capture at Mackinaw; he remained but a few days, and after his departure it was rumored that he would soon return with eight hundred warriors. Kinon- chanek, however, did not approve of the course of Pontiac, in slaughtering so many.
OJIBWAYS CONFER WITH SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON.
It was now necessary for the English to assert their power in the northwest, and conciliate the tribes. During the spring of 1764, .Match-e-ke-wis, the leader of the as- sault on Mackinaw, came to the house of J. B. Cadot,^ the Canadian trader at Sault Ste. Marie, in a canoe full of war- riors, with evil intent towards Alexander Henry, an Eng- lish trader, who was at the house on a visit, but while there a messenger, and some other Indians, arrived with a request that the}" should meet Sir William Johnson, Super- intendent of Indian Affairs, in council at Niagara. A coun-
* Stonc*8 Life oj Johnson^ voL 11. p. 218.
OJIBWAYS CONFER WITH SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. 441
cil was called, and the head messenger with a belt of wam- pum said: "My friends and brothers! I am come with this belt, from our great Father, Sir William Johnson. He desired me to come to you, as his ambassador, and tell you that he is making a great feast, in common with your friends, the Six Nations, who have all made peace with the English. He advises you to seize this opportunity of doing the same, as you cannot otherwise fail of being de- stroyed ; for the English are on their march, with a great army, which will be joined by different nations of Indians. In a word, before the fall of the leaf, they will be at Michillimackinac, and the Six Nations with them."
After a great medicine dance, the sacred men had, as they alleged, a communication from the Great Turtle, one of their mightiest spirits, who said that, " Sir William Johnson would fill their canoes with presents ; with blankets, kettles, guns, gunpowder, and shot, and large barrels of rum, such as the stoutest of the Indians would not be able to lift; and that every man would return in safety to his family."
On the 10th of June, 1764, a deputation left Sault Ste. Marie, accompanied by the trader Alexander Henry, and by way of Lake Simcoe and Toronto, reached Niagara and attended the grand council. On the 6th of August, Henry and his Ojibway companions, accompanied General Brad- street's army on the way to Detroit. At this point Brad- street, on the 7th of September, made a treaty with the Ojibways and some other tribes. The principal speaker of the Indians was Wasson, an Ojibway chief, who said to Bradstreet, " My brother, last year God forsook us. God has now opened our eyes, and we desire to be heard. It is God's will, our hearts are altered. It was God's will you had such fine weather to come to us. It is God's will also there should be peace, and tranquillity, over the face of the earth, and the waters."
442 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
MACKINAW REOCCUPIED BY THE ENGLISH.
After this, Captain Howard with a strong detachment was sent to reoccupy Mackinaw,* and English soldiers were once more seen at Green Bay and Sault Ste. Marie.
ROGERS, IN 1766, COMMANDANT AT MACKINAW.
Major Robert Rogers was appointed commandant at Mackinaw, not long after the suppression of the Pontiac conspiracy. The son of an Irishman who had settled iu New Hamphshire, bold, cunning, unscrupulous, and unedu- cated, yet bright and quick, he had entered the provincial service, in 1755, and as captain of a company of scouts, or rangers, had rendered efficient service, in the war against the French, in Canada. In 1760, he left Montreal with troops to take possession of Detroit and other posts, in the name of the King of Great Britain. After the defeat of Pontiac, he applied for the command, at Mackinaw, which was reluctantly granted in 1766, and General Gage wrote to Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Aflairs, to be careful not to place large sums of money in his hands.
Soon after his arrival, he began to hold secret meetings wdth the Indians, to obtain therefrom grants of land. He also sent agents to trade with distant tribes, one of whom w^as Jonathan Carver, who visited the Sioux. In the spring of 1767, Nathaniel Potter, who had been two years at Mackinaw, was sent to trade, and confer with the Ojib- ways of Lake Superior. Upon his return therefrom, Rogers disclosed to him a plan he had devised to make the region around the lakes a separate province, with him- self the Governor, and wished Potter to go to England in
1 The poet was on the mainland, and it was not until the sprinpr of 1780, that General Italdimand, in command at Quebec, issued an order for the remov&I of the post to the Island.
ROGERS, IN 1766, COMMANDANT AT MACKINAW. 443
the interest of the project. He also said if he could not carry out his plan, he would retire among the French and Spanish on the Mississippi. The scheme was something like that of Aaron Burr at a later period, and Potter con- sidering it treasonable, declined to have any connection with it, and reported the matter to the authorities at Mon- treal.
On the 11th of September, 1767, Sir William Johnson wrote to General Gage as follows : " Though I wrote to you, a few days ago, by Mr. Croghan, I could not avoid saying something again on the score of the vast expenses incurred, and still incurring at Michillimackinac, chiefly on pretence of making a peace between the Sioux and Cbip- peweighs." On August 17th, 1768, he writes to the Earl of Hillsborough: "Major Rogers brings a considerable charge against the Crown for mediating a peace between some tribes of Sioux and some Chippeweighs, which, had it been attended with success, would have been only inte- resting to a very few French, and others that had goods in that part of the Indian country."
During this year, Rogers was placed under arrest, sent to Montreal, and tried by court martial, on charges of treason, for having proposed to deliver the post of Mack- inaw to the Spaniards of Louisiana.*
1 In 1769, Rogers went to England and was imprisoned for debt. Afterwards he entered the service of the Dey of Algiers. In 1775, he was again In Eng- land, and in June, left Gravesend in a ship for Baltimore. In September, be was in Philadelphia, where he was arrested by the Committee of Safety, but was released on the 23d of the month, by giving his parol that he would not bear arms against the " American United Colonies." He then went to New York City, and from thence visited his brother near Albany, Col. James Rogers. President Wheelock, of Dartmouth College, received a visit from him on the 13th of November. He told him that he had fought two battles in Algiers ; and that he had come back to America to look after some large land grant made to him ; that be was now on his way to visit his sister at Moorestown, and his wife at Merrimack River, whom he had not seen since he returned. He left the tavern where he stayed, the next day, without paying his bill of three shillings. On the 14th of December he was at Porter's tavern In Medford,
444 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
OJIBWAY CHIEF AT JOHNSON HALL.
In the year 1768, Waub-o-jeeg visited Sir William Johnson at Johnson Hall, near Johnstown, New York, who alludes to it in a letter in these words: "Since I wrote the chief of the Chippewaes, one of the most powerful nations, to the westward, arrived. As he is a man of much influ- ence, and can bring some thousands into the field, I took
Mass., and wrote a letter to General Washington asking for a pass to go anino> Icsted, and in it used this language : *' I love North America, it is my natiTc country, and that of my family, and I intend to spend the evening of my days in it/' At this time he was in secret correspondence with Howe, the British General. By order of Washington, General Sullivan called upon him. He told Sullivan that he went from New York City to Stone Arabia, N. T., where he tarried ten days, that then he went to Kent to visit a brother. After call- ing upon the President of Dartmouth College, he alleged that he visited his father at Pennicook, and from thence to Newburgh and Portsmouth. General Sullivan reported after examination : ** I would advise, lest some blame might be laid upon your Excellency, in future, not to give him any other permit, but let him avail himself of those he has ; and should he prove a traitor, let the blame rest upon those who enlarged him." After this, he retumeil to Philadelphia, and was there at the time of the Declaration of Independence, but his ac'lions were eo suspicious that he was ordered to be arrested. He managed to cf^capc, and in a letter from General IIowc on StAten Island to Lord George Germaine, dated August G, 1776, are these words : *' Major Roffcre having escaped to us from Philadelphia, is empowered to raise a battalion o( rangers, which I hope may be U5eful in the course of the campaign." With the Queen's American Rangers, of which corps he was Lt. Colonel, he destroyed much property in West Chester Co., N. Y., and annoyed the inhabitants.
In his journal under date of October CI, 1770, writes : ** Lord Stirling, who was before in this vicinity with his brigade, had formed an enterprise afirttinet Major Robert Rogers' corps. The old Indian hunter, in the last French war, who had now engaged in the British service with his corps, lay on the outpost of the British army, near Marroneck. The enterprise was conducted with good address, and if the Americans had known exactly how Rogers' corps lay they would probabl}^ have killed, or taken the whole. As it was, thirty-six prisoners, sixty muskets, and some other articles were taken. The Major con- formably to his former general conduct, escaped with the rest of the corps." The American troops were under the command of Colonel Haslet of Delaware and chiefly from Maryland and Virginia. Haslet wrote : ** The party we fell in with was Colonel Rogers', the late worthless Major. On the first fire, he skulked oflFin the dark."
The next year Rogers returned to England, and soon died.
ENGLISH TRADE AT CHAGOUAMIGON BAY. 445
particular notice of him, formerly at Niagara ; since which he has behaved well, and now came to be informed of my sentiments on the uneasy state of the Indians to the west- ward. He told me his people would quietly wait his re- turn, before they took any resolutions ; confirming all the accounts I have received of the practices of the Spaniards and French."
ALEXANDER HENRY AT CHAGOUAMIGON BAY, A. D. 1765.
Aft^r the English reoccupation, Henry formed a part- nership for trade and furs with his friend Cadot, and he determined in 1765 to establish a post at Chagouamigon Bay. He found the Ojibways there dressed in deer skins, because in consequence of the French and English war they had not received goods of European manufacture. He built his house within the bay, which by the loth of December was frozen. On the 20th of April, 1766, the ice broke up, and several canoes arrived with the news that the Ojibways had gone to war. On the 15th of May, a part of the warriors had arrived in forty canoes, who said that four days' travel from that point, four hundred strong, they had met six hundred Sioux, and battled all day, when the latter fell back across the river, and camped for the night, and the next day retreated. At this time Waubojeeg was the chief at Chagouamigon, and the battle may have been that which tradition asserts took place in the valley of the Saint Croix River. Henry writes that the Ojibways lost thirty-five men. Some one told the United States Commissioner McKenney that Shingaba Wossin, of Sault Ste. Marie, was in the great St. Croix fight. At the time McKenney visited the country in 1826, this chief was supposed to be sixty-three years old. If the battle of the spring of 1766, alluded to by Henry, was the great St. Croix conflict, the chief would have been at the time but three years of age.
446 MINNESOTA HISTOHICAL COLLECTIONS.
In June, 1775, Henry left Sault Ste. Marie for the chain of lakes west of Lake Superior, and on the first of August reached the Lake of the Woods, and on the west side found an old French post around which the Ojibwajs had lived until they were driven off by the Sioux.
PILLAGER BAND OF 0JIBWAY8 A. D. 1775.
On the 5th of August, 1775, at Rat Portage, some of the Ojibways asked for rum, but Henry refused, because they were of the band of Pilleurs. This is the first mention of the now called Pillagers.
Count Andreani, of Milan, was at Chagouamigon in 1791, and made some scientific observations.
COUNT ANDREANI OP MILAN.
He came with the approbation of the British govern- ment, and continued his journey to the Grand Portage, then the depot of the Northwest Company. In his journal, a portion of which is in the Travels of La Rochefoucauld Liancourt, is the following table of the amount of furs at that time annually collected at different points on the shores of Lake Superior: —
Bay of Guivinau [Keweenaw] Bundles 15
La Pointe " 20
Fond du Lac ** 20
Kear the Grand Portage " 1400
Alampicon [Xepigon] " 24
Pic " 30
Michipiooton " 40 Each bundle was valued at forty pounds sterling.
JOHN Johnston's first visit to la pointe.
When John Johnston, an educated young man from the north of Ireland, visited the western extremity of T>alce Superior, about the year 1791, he found a Chipi^jway vil-
JOHNSTON AND CADOTTE AT LA POINTE. 447
lage on the main land near the site of Bayfield, and for se- curity, as the old French traders had done, pitched his tent upon the island now called La Pointe and Madeline, and opened trade with the Ojibways. Michael Cadotte came in the country about the same time, if not as one of his voyageurs, and settled on the island.
THE CHIEF WAUB-O-JEEG.
In 1793, Waub-o-jeeg (White Fisher), the great Ojibway chief, died at an advanced age. McKenney writes con- cerning him :* " We made our voyage of Lake Superior in 1826. So late as that, the name of Waub-o-jeeg was never spoken but in connection with some tradition ex- emplifying his great powers as chief and warrior. He was, like Pontiac and Tecumthe, exceedingly jealous of the white man. This jealousy was manifested when the hand of his daughter, O-shaw-ous-go-day-way-gua, was solicited by Mr. Johnston, the accomplished Irish gentleman who resided so many years at the Sault de St. Marie, and who was not better known for his intelligence and polished man- ners than for his hospitality. He lived long enough to merit and receive the appellation of Patriarch of the Sault. In the course of his travels he arrived at Montreal, when he determined to ascend the great chain of lakes to the headwaters of Lake Superior. On arriving at Michael's Island,* he heard of Waub-o-jeeg, whose village lay across the strait which divides the island from the main land. He made him a visit. Being well received, he remained some time, formed an attachment to his daughter, and solicited permission to marry her. Waub-o-jeeg replied: 'White Man, I have noticed your behavior ; it has been correct ;
» Hittory of Indian Tribe9, Philadelphia, 1854, vol. i. pp. 15*, 155.
' On Franquelin'A Map, 1688, the island commonly called La Pointe, and on 8ome modem mape Madeline, was marked as St. Michael, and this name was retained until the present century.
448 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
but, White Man, your color is deceitful. Of you, majr I ex- pect better things ? You say you are going to Montreal; go, and if you return I shall be satisfied of your sineeritj, and will give you my daughter.' Mr. Johnston returned, when the chief fulfilled his promise.* The amiable, excel- lent, and accomplished wife of Mr. Schoolcraft, so favorably known as a tourist and mineralogist, and a family of inter- esting children, are the fruits of this marriage,"
J. B. CADOT, henry's PARTNER.
J. B. Cadot (Cado), now written Cadotte, was a plain Canadian voyageur, who had been employed by Repen- tigny, and in accordance with custom lived with an Ojib- way woman. In 1756, he brought her to Mackinaw, and was legally married by the Jesuit Le Franc. The following is a translation from the parish register still preserved at Mackinaw: "I, the undersigned, missionary priest of the Society of Jesus, acting as rector, have received the mutual assent of Jean Eaptiste Cadot, and of Anastasia, a neophyte, daughter of Xipissing, according to the rites of the Holy Roman Church, by which marriage has been legitimatized, Marie Renee, their daughter, about two and a half montlis old, in the presence of the undersigned witnesses and others, on the 28th of October, 1756, at Miehilliniakinak.''
Beside the signature of the priest, are the names Lang- lade, Bourassa, R. de Couange fils, Rene Lacombe. A daughter, Charlotte, on May 22, 1760, was baptized. Jona- than Carver in his " Travels" writes: ''The beginning of October [1767], after having coasted around the north and
» Mr. John Johnston died SopU 22, 1828, aged 66, at Sault Sto. Marie, much respocted. Soon after, his widow became a communicant in the Presbyterian Church, and in the fall of ISoJ completed at her expenw? a house of worship fur this branch of the church, at Sault Ste. Marie.
J. B. CADOT, HENRY'S PARTNER. 449
east borders of Lake Superior, I arrived at Cadot's Fort which adjoins to the Falls of St Marie, and is situated near the southwest comer of it." In another place : " At the upper end of these straits stands a fort that receives its name from them, commanded by Mons. Cadot, a French Canadian, who being proprietor of the soil, is still permitted to keep possession of it" In the year 1767, Cadot was again married to Marie Mouet, supposed by Tasse to have been the mother of Charles Langlade.
During the absence of Cadot, in 1768, Abb^ Guilbault, Vicar General of Louisiana, visited Mackinaw, and on the 28th of July baptized his son Joseph Marie, bom in Octo- ber, 1767, J. Baptists Chaboillez acting as godfather, and Marie Anne Antoine Viger, wife of Sieur Antoine Beau- vais, acting as godmother. He had two other sons, J. Baptiste and Michel. Among his fellow traders at Sault Ste. Marie, in 1796, were George Kittson and John Reid. In May, 1796, owing to the infirmities of age, he gave his property to his two sons, Jean Baptiste and Michel, on con- dition that they would provide for his wants. He lived seven years after this assignment. In the treaty of 1826, at Fond du Lac, Superior, mention is made of Michael Cadotte, Senior, son of Equawaice and his wife Equaysay- way ; also, of Michael Cadotte, Junior, and his wife Oss- inahjeeunoqua.
J. B., the son, had a trading post in 1797 at Fond, du Lac, on the St Louis River, and the next year a post in the Red River Valley, near the 48th parallel of north lati- tude, and traded in this region for several years. His widow Saugemauqua was living in 1826, and four children, Louison, Sophia, Archangel, Edward, and Polly.
His brother Michel, bom A. D. 1765, had an Indian
wife Equaysayway, and lived until the 8th of July, 1837.
He was buried on Madeline Island (La Pointe), Lake Supe- 29
450 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
rior. Truman A. Warren married his daughter Charlotte, and his brother Lyman M. Warren married another daughter, Mary.^
OJIBWAYS IN BilNNESOTA.
At the time that the French retired, the Chippewa River was the road of war between the Sioux and Ojibways. Toward the sources of this river, at the lakes, once occupied by the refugee Hurons and Ottawas, the Ojibways had ad- vanced from Lake Superior and established villages.
Before the close of the " War of the Revolution," in 1783, the Ojibways were occupying Sandy, Leech, and Red Lake, and Eay, Harris, Default, Perrault, and others had trading posts in northern Minnesota; and there was not left a Sioux village above the Falls of St Anthony, and east of the Mississippi River.
DAVID THOMPSON, ASTRONOMER AND GEOGRAPHER.
Until the close of the last century the source of the Mississippi was supposed to be farther north than the Lake of the Woods. The Northwest Company of Montreal, desiring a knowledge of the region west of Lake Superior, employed David Thompson, who had been educated in the Blue Coat School, London,' as geograj)her and astronomer. He was instructed to go as far as the Missouri River, and search for anything that would throw light upon the former and present condition of the country. In company with Hugh McGillis he left Grand Portage of Lake Supe- rior on the 9th of August, 1796, equipped with an excel- lent achromatic telescope, a sextant of ten inches radius
* For the facts relative to Cadot, American State Papere^ Land Claim*, ^oi. T., Kolton^s Annals of Mackinaw ^ and Taese's CanacUant of the We*t have bet* coneultcd.
» A notice of Thorn peon may be found in XeilVt BUtory of Mintttiete, ^ ediUon, 1883, p. 8G6.
THOMPSON, ASTRONOMER OF N. W. COMPANY. 451
and Other instruments made by the accurate Dolland. After visiting the various trading posts of the Northwest CJompany, north of the 49th degree of latitude, he proceeded to the Mandan villages on the Missouri,and returned byway of the Assineboine to the Red River of the North which on the 7th of March, 1798, he reached. On the 14th he ascended the stream to the trading post in charge of Charles Chabouillier, and found it to be one minute and thirty seconds south of the 49th parallel of north latitude, and consequently within the territory of the United States.
The number of Ojibways who traded at this post was ninety-five, and on the basis of one man to a family of seven souls the whole population of the upper Red River Valley was 665, and at the Rainy River post 60 traded, representing a population of 420. On the 27th of March, he arrived at the Northwestern Company's post on the Red River in latitude 47° 54' 21" in charge of J. Baptiste Cadotte. From thence by way of Clear Water River he reached a portage to Red Lake River.
THOMPSON AT RED LAKE, MINNESOTA.
Ascending this stream for thirty-two miles, about the 15th of April he reached Red Lake, where he found only the old Ojibway chief She-she-she-pus-kut, and six lodges of Indians. On the 28d, he was at Turtle Lake, and on the 27th, found the most northern sources of the Mississippi River. From Turtle Lake he went to Red Cedar Lake, where there was a post of the Northwest Company, under one of its partners, John Sayer. Here 60 heads of families traded, and 420 was the estimated population of the vicinity. On the 6th of May he arrived at Sandy Lake, where the post was in charge of Mr. Brusk^. Twenty heads of families brought their furs here, and about 294 was the whole population. From this point he proceeded to Lake Superior, and near the mouth of the St. Louis
452 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
River stopped at the trading post iu charge of M. Lemoine, and here about 225 was the number of the Ojibway popo. lation. While at Sandy Lake, he was informed that on the 19th of February, at a point a half day's journey dis- tant, the Ojibways had lost forty persons in a fight with a party of Sioux, Sauks, and Menomonees.
TRADE IN RED RIVER VALLEY.
After the " Northwest Company" of traders was organ- ized, the Ojibways hunted for beaver west of Lake Supe- rior with a firmer foot. Under the auspices of this com- pany, Peter Grant established the first post on the east side of the Red River of the North, opposite the mouth of the Pembina River, and in 1797-98 another post was estab- lished on Pembina River near its mouth, by Charles Cha- bouillier. Until this period, the horse had never been used, and the voyageurs after this invented the peculiar Red River cart.
Alexander Henry, a nephew of the trader, who had a post in Chagouamigon Bay of Lake Superior, who was a partner of the Xorthwest Company, on the 18th of August, 1800, arrived at the junction of the Red Riv^er of the Xortli and Assineboine rivers, and writes in his journal: "I found about forty Saulteurs [Ojibways] waiting my arrival.'*
In September, Henry built a trading post in the Rod River Valley, within a short distance of Little Park River.
A STRANGE FREAK.
On the 2d of January, 1801, Beardash the son of Sucre, the Ojibway chief, visited him, and he is thus described in his journal : " This person is a curious compound. lie is a man in every respect, both as to carriage, dress, and manners. ITis walk and mode of sitting down ; his man- ners and occupations, and language are those of a woman. All the persuasiveness of his father, who is a great chief
SIOUX AND OJIBWAYS FIGHT. 453
among the Saulteaux [Ojibways], cannot induce him to be- have likfe a man. About a month ago, in a drinking match, he got into a quarrel, and had one of his eyes knocked out with a club. He is very fleet, and a few years ago was reckoned the best runner among the Saulteaux. Both his fleetness and courage were fully put to the test on the banks of the Chain [Cheyenne], when Monsieur Heaume attempted to make peace. He accompanied a party of Saulteaux to the Scieux camp. They at first ap- peared reconciled to each other through the intercession of the white people, but on the return of the Saulteaux, the Scieux pursued them. Both parties were on foot, and the Scieux had the name of being very swift. The Saulteaux very imprudently dispersed themselves in the open plains, and several of them were killed, but the party in which Beardash was, all escaped in the following manner.
AN EXCITING CONFLICT.
"One of them had a bow which he got from the Scieux, but only a few arrows. On their first starting, and finding they were pursued, they ran a considerable distance, until they perceived the Scieux were gaining fast, when Bear- dash took the bow and arrows from his comrades, and told them to run as fast as possible, and not to mind him, as he apprehended no danger. He then stopped, and turned about, and faced the enemy, and began to let fly his arrows. This checked their course, and they returned the compliment, with interest, but he says it was nothing but long shot, and only a chance arrow could have hurt him. They had nearly lost their strength when they drew near him. His own stock was soon expended, but he lost no time in gathering up those of the enemy, which fell near him. Seeing his friends at some distance ahead, and the Scieux moving to surround him, he turned about, and ran away to join his comrades, the Scieux running after him.
454 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Beardash again stopped, faced them, and with his bow and arrows kept them at bay, until his friends got away a considerable distance, when he again ran off to join them. Thus he did continue to manoeuvre, until a spot of strong woods was reached, and the Scieux did no longer follow." On the 15th of September, 1801, Henry arrived at his post on Pembina River near its junction with the Eed River, from his annual trip to the Grand Portage of Lake Superior, and here he found sixty Saulteaux camped, anxiously waiting to taste some new milk, as rum was called, and the next month the chief Le Sucre, and ten other Ojibways from Leech Lake arrived. In January, 1804, Cameron, Cotton, Hesse, and Stitt were trading with the Red Lake Ojibways.
CONFLICT OF SIOUX AND OJIBWAYS A. D. 1805.
On the 3d of July, 1805, the Sioux attacked a band of Ojibways at Tongue River, a few miles from the Pembina trading post Henry writes in his journal : '' Fourteen persons, men, women, and children, were killed or taken prisoners. My beau-pfere was the first man that fell. He had climbed up a tree to look out if the buffalo were near, about 8 o'clock in the morning. He had no sot^ner reached the top of the tree when the two Sioux who lay near, discharged their guns, and the balls passed through his body. lie had only time to call out to his family, who were in the tent about one hundred paces from him, 'Save yourselves, the Sioux are killinc^ us,' and fell dead.
" The noise brought the Indians out of their tents, and perceiving their danger, ran through the open plains, to- ward an open island or wood, in Tongue River, about a mile distant. They had not gone more than a fourth of a mile when they saw the main party on horseback, crospm? the Tongue River, and in a few moments they began ♦^ fire. The four men, by their expert manoeuvres and in*
CONFLICT OF SIOUX AND OJIBWAYS, A. D. 1805. 465
cessant fire kept them in awe, until they were two hun- dred paces from the woods, when the enemy perceiving their prey ready to escape, surrounded and rushed upon them. Three of the Saulteaux [Ojibways] fled in a differ- ent direction, and one escaped, but the other two were killed.
" He that remained to protect the women and children was a brave fellow, Anguemanee, or Little Chief. When the enemy was rushing upon them, he waited very delib- erately, when he aimed at one coming full speed and knocked him from his horse. Three young girls and one boy were taken prisoners, and the rest were all murdered and cut up in the most horrible manner. Several women and children had made their escape to the woods. The enemy chased them, but the willows were so thick, they were saved. A boy of about twelve years of age, says, that a Scieux being in pursuit of him, he crossed into a low hidden place, and the horseman leaped over, without per- ceiving him. One of the little girls tells a pitiful story. She says that her mother having two children who could not walk fast enough, had taken one upon her back, and prevailed upon her sister to carry the other, but when they got near the woods, the enemy rushing upon them and yelling, the young woman wa3 so frightened that she threw down the child and soon overtook the mother, who, observing that the child was missing, and hearing it screaming, kissed the little daughter who tells the story, and said: * As for me, I will return for your youngest sis- ter, and rescue her or die in the attempt; take courage, and run fast, my daughter !'
"Poor woman! she rescued the child, and was running off, when she was arrested by a blow from a war-club. She fell to the ground, but drew her knife and plunged it into the neck of her murderer ; others coming up, she was soon despatched. Thus my belle-mfere ended her days. The
456 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
survivors having reached the fort, my people went out the next day to the field. A horrid spectacle ! My beau-p^re had his head severed from his body even with the shoulders, his right arm cut off, his left foot, also his right leg from the knee stripped of the skin. The bodies of the women and children all lay within a few yards of each other. An- guemance lay near his wife. The enemy had raised his scalp, cut the flesh from the bone, and broke away the skull to make a water dish. Only the trunk remained, with the belly and breast ripped up and thrown over the face. His wife was also cut up and butchered in a shock- ing manner, and her young children cut up and thrown about in different directions. All the bodies were covered with arrows sticking in them, many old knives, two or three broken guns, and some war-clubs."*
TRADER KILLED AT RED LAKE.
In the spring of 1805, a trader named Hughes was killed at Red Lake by an Ojibway. Henry, under date of 28th of May, writes in his journal : " Le Grande Noir arrived from Red Lake, and his son-in-law, who last sfjriiig, at Red Lake, killed an American, by the name of Hughes. The deceased standing by the door, and obsen'ing the Indian with a gun, caught a tent-pin, and gave him a blow on the head. The Indian only staggered a few paces, and recov- ering himself fired his gun and killed Hughes."
* other extracts from MS. Journals of Henry, may be found in SeilVi Hit- lory ofMinnesotay 5th ediUou, 1883, pp. 87(Mi90.
LT. Z. H. PIKE AT LEECH LAKE. 457
m.
OJIBWAYS UNDER UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
Lt Z. M. Pike of the United States Army landed on the island, at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, on the 21st of September, 1805, and found that all the young warriors of the two Sioux villages in the vicinity had marched against the Ojibways to take revenge for an attack that had been made upon them in that vicinity, by. which ten of their tribe had been killed. On Monday the 23d, he held a council with the Sioux, who agreed to make peace with their old foes.
LT. Z. M. PIKE AT LEECH LAKE.
On the 16th of February, 1806, as the first representa- tive of the United States who had visited them, he held a council with the Ojibways at Leech Lake, and in his opening speech said : " I was chosen to ascend the Missis- sippi to bear to his red children the words of their father, and the Great Spirit has opened the e^es and ears of all the nations to listen to my words. The Sauks and Rey- nards are planting com and raising cattle. The Winneba^ goes continue peaceable as usual, and even the Sioux have laid by the hatchet at my request. Yes, my brothers, the Sioux who have so long and obstinately warred against the Chippeways, have agreed to lay by the hatchet, smoke the calumet, and again become your brothers. Brothers ! you behold the pipe of Wabasha as a proof of what I say. The Little Corbeau, Fils de Pinchon, and L'Aile Rouge, had marched two hundred and fifty warriors to revenge the blood of their women and children, slain last year at the St. Peters. I sent a runner after them, stopped their inarch, and met them in council at the mouth of the St.
458 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Peters, where they promised to remain peaceable until my return ; and if the Ouchipawah chiefs accompanied me, to receive them as brothers, and accompany us to St. Louis, there to bury the hatchet, and smoke the pipe in the pre- sence of our great war-chief; and to request him to punish
those who first broke the peace Brothers ! I
understand that one of your young men killed an American at Red Lake last year, but that the murderer is far off; let him keep so ; send him where we may never hear of him more, for were he here I would be obliged to demand him of you, and make my young men shoot him," etc. etc
Wiscoup, Le Sucre, or Old Sweet of Red Lake, who told Lieutenant Pike that he was a young man when the Sioux were driven from Leech Lake, was the first to reply. He spoke as follows : " My father ! I have heard and under- stood the words of our great father. It overjoj's me to see you make peace among us. I should have accompanied you had my family been present, and would have gone to see their father, the great war-chief.
"The medal I hold in my hand I received from the Eng- lish chiefs. I willingly deliver it up to you. Wabasha's calumet with which I am presented, I receive with all my heart. Be assured that I will use my best endeavors to keep my young men quiet. There is my calumet, I send it to my father the great war-chief. What does it signify that I should go to see him ?
" My father ! you will meet the Sioux on your return. You may make them smoke in my pipe, and tell them that I have let fall my hatchet.
" My father ! tell the Sioux on the upper part of the St. Peters River, that they mark trees with the figure of a calumet, that we of Red Lake who go that way, should we see them, may make peace with them, being assured of their pacific disposition, when we shall see the calumet marked on the trees."
O JIB WAYS AT THE CAPTURE OF MACKINAW ISLAND. 469
Obigouitte and Aish-ke-bug-e-koshe,' Quelle Plat (as called by the French), Flat Mouth (by the English), spoke to the same effect, and it was arranged that Beau, a brother of Flat Mouth, and a chief called the Buck, should go with Lieutenant Pike as deputies to Saint Louis.
In 1806, the country east of the Mississippi between Red River and the Crow Wing was in dispute between the Sioux and Ojibways, and the Ojibways claimed west of the Mississippi, north of the Crow Wing River.
Pike, in his published work,' in an appendix, gives the following census of the Ojibways of the Saint Croix and Mississippi.
OJIBWAY POPULATION A. D. 1806. Place. Men. Women. Children. Total.
Sandy Lake 45 79 224 348
Chief, Catawabata (De Breche or Broken Tooth).
Leech Lake 150 280 690 1120
Chiefs, Eskibugekoge (Quelle Plat or Flat Mouth), Obigouitte (Ch de la Terre, or of the Land), Cole (La Brul6 or the Burnt).
Red Lake 150 260 610 1020
Chief, Wiscoup (Le Sucre or the Sweet).
St Croix and Miss. 104 165 420 689
OJIBWAYS AT THB CAPTURB OP MACKINAW ISLAND A. D. 1812.
The President of the United States by the order of Con- gress on June 19, 1812, declared war against Great Britain. The United States military post on Mackinaw Island was then in command of Porter Hanks, a lieutenant of artillery.
1 In this article the spelling of the treaty of 1855 is used. * ExpedUUm to the Soureei of the MiasiMippi^ by Major Z. M. Pike, Philadel- phia, 1810.
460 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
About dawn of the morning of the 17th of July, a flotilla from St. Joseph's Island at the mouth of the Ste. Marie River, consisting of a brig of the Northwest Company, ten batteau, and seventy canoes, arrived at Mackinaw Island with British forces. At ten in the morning, a piece of artillery was in a position on a height commanding the American gari'ison.^ Lieutenant Hanks was greatly sur- prised, as he had not received official notice of the declara- tion of war. His entire force was only 61 persons, and he was obliged to surrender.* The British troops were com- posed of 40 regulars, 260 Canadians, and 482 Indians. Capt. Charles Roberts was in command of the whole, and Robert Dickson was at the head of the Sioux, Folle Avoine, and Winnebago Indians, and John Askin was the leader of the Ojibways and Ottawas. Askin, in his report,' ex- pressed his indebtedness to his subordinates, Michel Ca- dotte, Jr., Charles Longlade, and Augustin Nolin. He wrote to his superior officer: "I firmly believe not a soul of them would have been saved," if the Americans had fired a gun, and also, "I never saw so determined a set of people as the Chippeways and Attawas." Among the British traders, in this expedition, were Crawford, John Johnson, Pothicr, Armatinger, La Croix, Franks, and Ro- lette.
AMERICAN TROOPS BURN HOUSES AT SAULT STE. MARIE.
The Scorpion, under command of Lieut. D. Turner of the United States Navy, during the last week of July, 1814, landed at Sault Ste. Marie a detachment of infantry under
^ Report of Hanks, NUen^s Register ^ vol. li.
« Report of Captain Roberts in the appendix to James's Kaval Occurreneetof the Late War mentions that the Mackinaw garrison consisted of 2 first lioa- tenants, 1 sur^reon's mate, 3 sergcante, 4 corporals, 5 musicians, 6 artificers, 39 privates, total 61.
» Report of Askin In Xilea*8 Register^ vol. li.
KAJOB HOLMES KILLED AT MACKINAW. 461
the command of M^or Holmes of the army. The agent of the Northwest Company who had borne arms against the United States escaped, and the troops burned the trading post of the company, and the huts of those traders who were disloyal. An attempt was also made to bring out of Lake Superior a schooner, called the Perseverance, of one hundred tons, and used to carry goods to Fort William, but in dragging it through the rapids it bilged, and Lieut. Turner ordered it to be burned. On the 4th of August, Holmes was killed while leading an attack upon the British troops at Mackinaw. The Tigress, an American gunboat, in command of sailing-master Champlin,* near the mouth of St. Mary's River, was soon after captured by some British sailors under Lieut. Bulger, boarding in the night, assisted by Indians under DicksoiL
FIGHT IN A. D. 1818 BETWEEN SIOUX AND OJIBWAYS.
Toward the close of the year 1818, a fight took place between the Sioux and Ojibways in the country between the headwaters of the Minnesota and. Mississippi rivers. A Yankton chief, called by the French Le Grand, held a council with some Ojibways and smoked the pipe of peace. When the latter were returning home, some- of the Sioux sneaked after them, scalped a few, and took a woman prisoner. When the intelligence reached Leech Lake, thirteen young warriors started for the Sioux country to avenge the insult. For four weeks they travelled with- out meeting any of their enemies, but at length on the Pomme de Terre River, on a very foggy morning they thought a buffalo herd was in sight, but on nearer approach it proved to be a Sioux camp, and some of the latter on horseback gave the alarm. The Ojibways finding that they were discovered, and that their foes were numerous,
^ His BOD was the late Raymond ChampliO) of St. Paul.
462 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
sent one of their number to their home east of the Missis- sippi to announce their probable death.^ The twelve who remained now began to dig holes in the ground, and pre> pare for the conflict from which they could not hope to escape. Soon they were surrounded by the Sioux, and their leader, exasperated by their continued loss, gave orders for a general onset, when all the Ojibways were toma- hawked. The thirteenth returned home, and related the circumstances, and while friends mourned, they delighted in the story of their bravery.
GOVERNOR LEWIS CASS IN 1820 VISITS OJIBWAYS.
In June, 1820, Governor Lewis Cass, of Michigan, visited the Lake Superior region. At Sault Ste. Marie he found forty or fifty lodges of Ojibways, and Shaugabawossin was the head chief. There was another chief Shingwauk,or Little Pine, who had been with the British in 1814,* and also Sassaba, a chief of the Crane Totem, whose brother had been killed at the battle of the Thames. He wore a scar- let uniform with epaulets, and was hostile to the United States. After some sharp words with the latter, on the 16th of June a treaty was concluded, by which the "Chip-
* The story as given In the text waw narrated by Aitkin, trader of Sandy Lake, and appears In Minnesota Year Book for 1851. James D. Doty, secre- tary of Gov. Cass in 1820, gives a different version in his journal.
The Fond du Lac Ojibways, he wrote, having been reprimanded by the more distant Ojibways for their unwarlike spirit, thirteen went on a war partj to the Sioux country. At night they came upon a party of Sioux and begin to dig holes to which they might retreat, and fight to the last extremity. Tbfj appointed the youngest of their number to stand at a distance and watch tbc struggle and told him when they were all killed to go back, and tell their friends. Early in the morning they attacked the Sioux, who numbered nctriy one hundred. They were forced back to their holes after four had been kllW on the field, and here the other eight died. This story Doty received from the survivor. See letter of Gov. Lewis Cass to Secretary of War. Schoolcnft mentions that he saw the survivor at Grand Island In Lake Superior in 1890, and describes him as a young and graceful warrior.
< Auua Jameson mentions him in her Winter Studies and Summer RanMu.
LA POINTE ISLAND. 463
pewaj tribe of Indians ceded sixteen square miles of land,' Sassaba' refused to sign,' and Little Pine signed under another name, Lavoine Bart.
Governor Cass learned that Leech Lake, Sandy Lake, and Fond du Lac were the chief places of residence of the Ojibways. At Leech Lake, Flat Mouth was chief, and it was estimated there were two hundred men, three hundred and fifty women, and about eleven hundred children ; at Sandy Lake, the chief was Bookoosaingegum, by the French called Bras Casse, by the English, Broken Arm. At this point were eighty-five men, two hundred and forty-three women and children, and thirty-five half-breeds; at Fond du Lac, Ghingwauby, the Deaf Man, was chief, and the band numbered about forty-five men, sixty women, and two hundred and forty children.*
LA POINTE ISLAND.
La Pointe Island, called by the voyageurs Middle Island, because half way between Sault Ste. Marie and Fort Wil- liam, and also Montreal Island, was only a transient trading post until after the United States military post was established at Sault Ste. Marie, and the American Fur Company organized. John Johnston, in 1791, stopped on the island with some goods, and traded with the Indian village, then about four miles westerly on the mainland.
Governor Cass visited it in 1820, and Schoolcraft, who was his companion, in the Narrative of the Expedition^ wrote: "Passing this [Bad] river, we continued along the sandy formation to its extreme termination, which separates the
1 See Indian Treaties of United Statei.
* Saseaba used to walk about Sault Ste. Marie naked, except a lar^ gray woirs skin with the tall dandling on the ground. On Sept. 16, 1822, he was drowned in the rapids while under the influence of liquor.
* Schoolcraft's Narrative.
« Doty's Report, Sept. 1S20, to Governor Cass. Vol. Tii. Wis. Hist. Soc. Collections.
464 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Bay of St Charles [Chagouamigon] by a strait from that remarkable group of islands called the Twelve Apostles by Carver. It is this sandy point which is called La Pointe, Chagoimegon by the old French authors, a term
now shortened to La Pointe Touching at the
inner, or largest of the group, we found it occupied by a Chippeway village, under a chief called Bezhike.* There was a tenement, occupied by a Mr. M. Cadotte* who has allied himself to the Chippewas."
SCHOOLCRAFT CALLS THE ISLAND, MICHAEL's.
In 1822, when John C. Calhoun was Secretary of War, the first military post and Indian agency of the United States was established at Sault Ste. Marie.
In 1824, George Johnston, an Indian sub-agent, went to the island, and the Warrens, two young men from Ver- mont, who had married daughters of Cadotte, represented the interests of the American Fur Company. McKenney, in 1826, visited what he calls Michael's Island, and alludes to two comfortable log houses lathed and plastered, and twenty acres under cultivation, and mentions that the trader Cadotte had lived there for twenty-five years. Under Cadotte and his son-in-law Lyman Warren, JjSk Pointe Island grew in importance as a trading post. Through Warren's influence, as has been mentioned,' the first missionaries, since the days when Allouez and Marquette dwelt on the shores of Chagouamigon Bar, entered the country and settled at La Pointe Island.*
* A marble tombstone on the island, records that he died Sept. 7, 1855, aped 9(J years. If this is correct, he was 17 years old when the Eogli^h colo- nics declared their independence of Great Britain.
* Upon Michael Cadotte's tombstone it is mentioned that he died July 8, 1837, aged 72 years, which would make his birth A. D. 1765.
' Sec pag:c 406.
* The child of the wife of Rev. Sherman Hall, was the first of pure white parentage bora on the shores of Lake Superior, and west of Sault Ste. M*rie.
OJIBWAYS AT FORT ST. ANTHONY. 465
OJIBWATS IN 1820 AT FORT ST. ANTHONT, NOW SNELLING.
Major Taliaferro, who had been appointed in 1819, the first Indian agent above Prairie du Chien, in his journal under date of July 10, 1820, mentions one of the first visits of Ojibways to the agency at the mouth of the Minnesota River. He writes: "The Chippeways have visited me, twenty-eight in number, under Abesheke their chief. They smoke the pipe of peace with the three bands of Sioux near
this place Col. Dickson* informs me that if I
succeed in completing the peace between the Siouxand Chip- peways, that the latter to the number of two hundred and fifty to three hundred will visit my agency."
In 1823, a large party of Ojibways visited the agency and held a council with the Sioux in the presence of the Indian agent Taliaferro.
After criminations and recriminations, the Sioux pre- sented the calumet, as they had been the first to violate the agreement which had been made three years before. Wamenitonka (Black Dog), presented it to.Pasheskonoopc, the oldest OQibway chief, who after handing it to the In- dian agent, smoked it, and passed it to the rest. The cere- mony concluded with a little whiskey presented by the agent, but in two days they were again about to fight each other.
The council was held on the 4th of June, but it was not until the next day that Flat Mouth (Aish-ke-bug-e-koshe),
1 Robert Dfckson, known to Indians as " Red Head/' with Archibald Camp- beU, Duncan Graham, and F. M. Dease, were traders on the Minnesota and the Upper Misslafiippi before the year 1802. Dickson daring the war of 1812 was British Superintendent of Indians. Capt. Anderson in a speech to the Indians at Prairie du Chien in 1814 said, ** My brethren ! you must not call me father. Tou haTe only one father in this country, that is the Red Head, Robert Dickson, the others are all your brethren.'' In 1815, Dickson was for a period at Prairie du Chien. Wiseontin HUt, Soc. Coll., vol. ix. p. 236.
A notice of Dickson may be found in NeUV» JIUtory of Mnnesota, pp. 27^ 283, 28&-291. 30
466 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLBCTIONS.
the head chief of the Ojibways arrived, and the Sioux chief of the old village, Panisciowa, was the first person he sent, who held out his hand, but the Ojibway would not take it. The Sioux chief, indignant, raised a war party, and the next day surrounded the Ojibways, who had placed their women and children behind the log huts of the old cantonments, and were ready to fight. Before any blood was shed, the agent, and colonel of the fort, efiected a recon- ciliation.
THE CHIEF AISn-KE-BnO-E-KOSHE.
Beltrami, the Italian traveller, was on the 9th of Sep- tember, of this year, at Leech Lake, and found the Ojib- ways there in two factions, one under Cloudy Weather, and the other under Aish-ke-bug-e-koshe or Flat Mouth. Cloudy Weather's son-in-law had been killed by the Sioux, a few days before, and they were meditating a war party, but at length agreed to go and consult with agent Talia- ferro. Soon after,* Flat Mouth was in his tent, at full length, " like old Silenus in a state of intoxication."
long's VISIT TO THE OJIBWAY COUNTRY A. D. 1823.
Keating, the historigrapher of Major Long's exi)edition, in 1823, to the sources of the Minnesota, and from tliem-e to Lake Winnilicg, and the north shore of Lake Superior to Sault Ste. Marie, doubted whether the population of the Ojibway tribe had ever been large, and after mention- ing that they were divided into many local bands, uses this language : "We can form no idea of the population of each of these bands or of the whole nation, but althoueh we travelled over about fourteen hundred miles of country claimed by the Chippeways from the main fork of Red River to the Sault de Ste. Marie, the whole amount of Indians we fell in with did not exceed one hundred. AVe hoanl of no traditions respecting their origin uj)on which any confidence might be placed. The tales we heard were
> Beltrami, vol. il. p. 441.
OJIBWAYS SIGN TREATY AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 467
80 much intermixed with childish details, and contained so many coincidences with the Mosaic doctrines, evidently derived from white men, that they do not deserve to be noted."^
OJIBWAYS KILL A TRADER IN 1824, AT LAKE PEPIN.
During the month of July, 1824, a Mr. Findlay with a Canadian named Barrette, and two others, were met at Lake Pepin by an Ojibway war party and killed.
In the spring, Kewaynokwut, a chief of Lac Vieux Desert, while very sick, made a vow, that if he recovered, he would lead a war party against the Sioux. After he gained strength, early in July with twenty-nine warriors he descended the Chippeway River to its mouth, where he arrived, early on a foggy morning, and found Findlay and his party still asleep. When it was discovered they were not Sioux, the Ojibways began to pillage, and first killed all but Findlay, who was near his canoe. He was at length pursued by an Indian named Little Thunder who shot him, and then waded in the water, cut off his head, and took the scalp.
The affair created great excitement, and on the 81st of August, John Holiday,* a trader, came to Sault Ste. Marie bearing a small coffin painted black containing the scalp of the American killed at Lake Pepin, which had been sent down by the Ojibway chief at Keweenaw. Schoolcraft, then Indian agent, forwarded it to the Governor of Michi- gan, who was Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Northwest, and on the 22d of June, 1825, the murderers were delivered up.
OJIBWAYS IN 1825 SIGN TREATY AT PRAIRIE DU CHIBN.
In view of the dissensions among the Indians of the Northwest, the United States government authorized Gov-
1 Expedition to Sources of St. Peter* $ River ^ etc., toI. iJ. pp. 148, 150. • Lod- don, 1825. * Holiday had been a trader Bince 1802.
468
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
ernor Clark of Missouri, and Governor Cass of Michigan, to make an eflbrt to settle the boundaries of the tribes, and establish peaceful relations.
At Prairie du Chien, on the 19th of August, 1825, a grand conference was held with the Sioux, Ojibways, Sauks, and Foxes, Menomonees, loways, Pottawattomies, Ottawas and Winnebagoes. After some discussion,^ the
1 The Ojibways who signed this treaty were Shingauba WOssin, first chief, Gitspee Jiauba, second chief, Gitspee Waiskee, or Le Boeuf, Nain-a-boozho, MoDgazid, Loon's Foot, Wesconp, or Sucre, Mush-koas, or The Elk, Naubun Aqueezhiok, Kautawaubeta, Broken Tooth, Puglsaingegen, Broken Arm, Kweeweezaishish or Grosseguelle, Babaseekeendase, Curling Hair, Paaehineep,
Peechanapim, Striped Feather, Puinanegi, IIole-In-the-Day, Pugaagik, Little Beef, Sbaata, The Pelican, Cheonoquet, Great Cloud, Kiawatas, The Tarrier, Maugegabo, The Leader, Nanp:otuck, The Flame, White Devil, Neesopena, Two Birds, laubensee, Little Buck, Neesidayshlsh, The Sky, Nauquanabce, Piagick, Single Man, Peesecker, Buffalo, Naudin, or The Wind, Cabamabee,
Tukaubishoo, Crouching Ljmz, Red Devil, The Track,
Nebonabee, The Mermaid, Kahaka, White Sparrow, Nauquanosh,
Sanlt Ste. Marie.
LaPolDte. Fond do Lac.
<C (C
c<
cc
Sandy Lake.
cc cc
u u tl cc
<c
M
tl It
tt tt
Leech Lake.
cc n cc
C( Ci
cc
ct cc tl cc .( cc
Upper Red Cedar. Red Lake.
cc
tt
MllIeLac. St. Croix Band.
It
cc
tl It
cc tt
Lac Courte Oreille.
cc cc
cc 4C
CC Ct
cc
C(
Lac du Flambeao.
OJIBWATS SIGN TREATY AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 469
followiug article was adopted by the Sioux and Ojibways : ^•■It is agreed that the line dividing their respective coun- tries, shall commence at the Chippewa River, a half day's march below the falls; and from thence it shall run to Red Cedar River immediately below the falls; from thence to the St Croix River which it strikes at a place called the Standing Cedar, about a day's paddle in a canoe, above the lake at the mouth of that river ; thence passing be- tween two lakes called by the Chippewas ' Green Lakes,' and by the Sioux the ' Lakes they bury the eagles in,' and from thence to the Standing Cedar the Sioux split, thence to Rum River crossing it at the mouth of a small creek called Choking Creek, a long day's march from the Mississippi ; thence to a point of woods that projects into the prairie half a day's march from the Mississippi ; thence in a straight line to the mouth of the first river which enters the Mississippi on its west side, above the mouth of Sac River; thence ascending the said river above the mouth of Sac River to a small lake at its source ; thence in a direct line to a lake at the head of Prairie River, which is supposed to enter the Crow Wing River on its south side ; thence to Otter Tail Lake Portage ; thence to said Otter Tail Lake, and down through the middle thereof to its outlet ; thence in a direct line so as to strike Buffalo River, half way from its source to its mouth, and down the said river to Red River; thence descending Red River to the mouth of Outard or Goose Creek.
" The eastern boundary of the Sioux commences opposite loway River on the Mississippi, runs back two or three miles to the bluffs, follows the bluffs crossing Bad Axe River, to the mouth of Black River, and from Black River to a half day's march below the falls of the Chippeway River."
A noted Sandy Lake chief. Curly Head or Ba-ba-see- keen-dase as his Lidian name appears in the treaty, on his
470 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
way home from Prairie du Chien was taken sick and died ; the wife of the old Hole-in-the-Day also died at Sauk River. During Curly Head's sickness he called two brothers who as young men^ had been his pipe bearers, and committed to them the care of the Mississippi Ojib- ways. One of these was Song-uk-um-eg, Strong Ground ; the other Pug-on-a-ke-shig,* Hole-in-the-Day.
TREATY IN 1826 AT FOND DU LAC OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
As full deputations of the Qibways were not at Prairie du Chien, it was agreed that the tribe should assem- ble again at the Fond du Lac of Lake Superior. The commissioners on the part of the United States were Gov. Lewis Cass and T. L. McKenney. On the second of August, 1826, the council met, and after the usual feast, speeches, and exhausting of patience, on the fifth, a treaty was concluded, which was ratified on the second of Feb- ruary of the next year by the United States Senate. By the third article, the United States was given ^'the right to search for and carry away any metals or minerals from any part of their country."
CHIEF SniNGABA WOSSIN.
Shingaba Wossin, of Sault Ste. Marie, then the head chief, was the principal speaker. In council he said : " My relatives! our fathers have spoken to us about the line made at the Prairie [du Chien]. With this I and my band are satisfied. You who live on the line are most interested. . . . . My friends! our fathers have come here to embrace their children. Listen to what they say. It will be good for you. . If you have any copper on your lands, I advise you to sell it. It is of no use to us. They can
* The name attached to the treaty of 1826, is speUed Pa-in-a-ne-gi.
A DESPOyDE>'T OJIBWAT. 471
make articles out of it for oar use. If any one has any knowledge on this sabject, I ask him to bring it to light." The father of this chief was Maid-o-Saligee, who had four wives, three of whom were sisters, and by them he had twenty children. Shingaba Wossiu, during the war with Great Britain, in 1813, went to Canada, and one of his brothers was killed at the battle of the Thames.
A DESPONDENT OJIBWAT.
While the commissioners were at Fond du Lac an In- dian entered Col. McKenney's room the embodiment of despair. Feeble in step, haggard in countenance, emaci- ated in body, he was a man without a friend. In 1820 he had been employed by Gov. Cass and H. R. Schoolcraft to act as a guide through the copper region for some who were making explorations. Wabishkeepenas, or White Pigeon, was his name, and it was with the disapproval of many of his tribe that he started on a journey for the great copper rock, which they looked upon as sacred. For some reason he lost his way, and the party was forced to return. From this time he was looked upon by his band, as one who had ofiended the Manitou, and he was shunned. He felt like Cain, and became a "fugitive and vagabond." He wandered alone in the woods, but lost the cunning of his hands, so that he was not success- ful in the hunt, and lived upon the roots of the earth.* The commissioners upon hearing the story took pity upon the poor fellow, " and determined to restore him to the standing from which he had fallen, and having loaded him with presents, convinced him and his band that his offence was forgiven and luck changed."*
> Id 1857, he carried letters from La Pointe, to Sault Ste. Marie, and still was unpopular with his tribe.
' The snperptition of the Indians relative to copper was noticed by early traTellers. Allouez, the Jesnit missionary, writes of the Lake Superior In- dians : " They often find at the bottom of the water pieces of pure copper
472 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
A PARTIALLY SCALPED OJIBWAY WOMAN.
Commissioner McKenney, on the 31st of July, went to an island in the St. Louis River opposite the American Fur Company's post, to visit an old woman named Oshe- gwun, whose career had been quite remarkable. When about fourteen years of age she went with a band of sixty men, women, and children, to the vicinity of the Falls of Chippewa River, which were surprised by the Sioux who rushed down the hillsides and lired into their lodges. Oshegwun ran toward the woods, and was pursued by a Sioux who caught and bound her. Another Sioux then approached and struck her with a war-club, partially scalped her and was about to cut her throat when he was shot. In the contest for the girl each warrior had taken a portion of her scalp, and, while they were disputing, her father came up and killed both. When night came the parent went to the spot where he had seen his daughter, found the pieces of scalp, and by the blood on the snow reached the place to which she had crawled. The daugh- ter survived and lived to have three husbands, all of whom were unkind, and to be the mother of ten children. Iler son Okeenakeequid appeared at the council in a Sioux dress, which he obtained at the treaty of Prairie du Chien
weighing from ten to twenty pounds. I have often seen them In the hands of the savuges, and as they are superstitious they look upon them as so many divinities, or as presents made to them by the gods who are at the bottom of the lake, to be the cause of their good fortune."
Governor Denonville, of Canada, in 1687 wrote : " I have seen one of our voyageurs, who assures mc that some fifteen months ago he saw a lump of two hundred weie:ht as yellow as gold, in a river which falls Into I^ake Superior. When heated it could be cut with an axe, but the superstitious Indians, regard- ing this boulder as a good spirit, would not permit him to take any of It away.'
La Ronde, the officer in charge at Chagouamigon Bay in 1730, reported that he had received " a fragment of copper weighing eighteen pounds, which in smell, color, and weight resembled the ordinary red copper. This inerot hud been brought in by an Indian, but the savages were superstitious as to tht>&o discoveries, and would not reveal the locality."
CONSTRUCTION OF A BIRCH BARK CANOE. 473
in 1825, where the Sioux and Ojibways smoked together. At that* time a Sioux warrior proposed to exchange cloth- ing with him, and after they had made the change the Sioux looking him in the face, and pointing to the head- dress, archly said: "Brother, when you put that dress on, feel up there, there are five feathers, I have put one in for each scalp I took from your people, remember thai.''
CONSTRUCTION OF A BIRCH BARK CANOE.
Okeenakeequid was employed to make a birch canoe, and McKenney graphically describes the process of con- struction. "The ground being laid off in length and breadth answering to the size of the canoe (thirty-six feet long and five wide), stakes are driven at the two ex- tremes, and thence, on either side, answering in their posi- tion, to the form of a canoe. Pieces of bark are then sown together with wattap (the root of the red cedar or fir), and placed between those stakes, from one end to the other, and made fast to them. The bark thus arranged hangs loose, and in folds, resembling in general appearance, though without their regularity, the covers of a book, with its back downwards, the edges being up, and the leaves out. Cross pieces are then put in. These press out the rim, and give the upper edges the form of the canoe. Upon these ribs, and along their whole extent, large stones are placed. The ribs having been previously well soaked, they bear the pressure of these stones, till they became dry. Passing around the bottom, and up the sides of the canoe to the rim, they resemble hoops cut in two, or half circles. The upper parts furnish mortising places for the rim ; around and over which, and through the bark, the wattap is wrapped. The stakes are then removed, the seams gummed, and the fabric is lifted into the water, where it floats like a feather/'
474 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
0JIBWAY8 IN 1826 VISIT FORT 8NELLINQ.
During the summer of 1826, the Ojibways came to visit the Indian agent at Fort Snelling, and encamped on the eastern shore of the Mississippi nearly opposite to the fort. Soon they were attacked by the Sioux. Henry EL Snelling, in a letter published in April, 1856, in the Saint Paul Pioneer and Democrat^ wrote: "From the tower of the fort I witnessed the battle that ensued, and it is need- less to say that the Chippewas though favored by numbers, were entirely routed, and men, women, and children indis- criminately butchered. The Sioux returned triumphantly. A large portion landed under the walls of the fort, and proceeded to the prairie, about a quarter mile northwest of it, where they performed the war^lance around the scalps of their victims.
On the 28th of May, 1827, the Ojibways again visited the fort, and as a precautionary measure encamped near its walls. Flat Mouth, with seven warriors and about sixteen women and children, composed the party.
OJIBWAYS IN 1827 ATTACKED AT FORT SNELLING.
They were told by Colonel Snelling and agent Taliaferro that as long as they encamped under the flag, and near the walls of the fort, they would be secure. During the afternoon some Sioux visited the camp, and were feasted and smoked the pipe of peace.
That night, as some oflicers were on the porch of Capt. Nathan Clark's quarters, which was one of the stone houses that used to stand outside of the gates, a bullet whizzed by, and rapid firing began. The Sioux, after their profes- sion of friendship, had returned and attacked the unsus- pecting Ojibways, killing two and wounding six. A little daughter of Flat Mouth was pierced through both thighs
OJIBWAYS IN 1827 ATTACKED AT FORT SPELLING. 475
by a bullet, and though she received attention from Sur- geon McMahon, soon died.
Captain Clark the next morning went in pursuit of the assassins, and thirty-two prisoners were soon brought back from Land's End. Colonel Snelling ordered them to be brought into the presence of the Ojibways who were on the parade ground, and two being recognized as participants in the attack were delivered to the aggrieved party, who led them out to the plain in front of the fort gate, and when placed at a certain distance, were told to run for their lives. With the rapidity of frightened deer they bounded over the ground, but the Ojibway bullets flew faster, and they soon fell lifeless to the ground.* After the execution, the Ojibways entered the fort, and the same day a deputation of Sioux warriors arrived to express sorrow for the act of their young men, and to deliver two more of the assassins.
The Ojibways under a son of Flat Mouth met the Sioux on the prairie, near where the Indian agent resided, and with much solemnity two more of the guilty were deliv- ered. One was fearless, and with firmness stripped him- self of his clothing and ornaments, and distributed them. The other could not face death with composure.' He was disfigured by a hare-lip and begged for life. H, H Snell- ing mentions that "their inanimate bodies no sooner touched the ground than both Sioux and Chippewas rushed to the spot, and thrusting their knives into the still warm flesh of the brave men, drew them reeking with blood, through their lips, saying, that the blood of so brave men would inspire courage in the weakest heart. The
1 Accounta vary. H. H. Snelling writes that they reftised to run, and, facing their foes, told them to fire.
* Major Garland told Schoolcraft that the two walked to execution hand in hand, when one perceiving that his comrade trembled, drew away his hand, and said be would be ashamed to die by the side, of a coward. Sehodcrqft** BeminUceneetj p. 618.
476 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
body of the coward, however, was trampled on indiserimi- natelj by Sioux and Chippewas, and subjected to every species of indignity."
The dead bodies were then dragged to the high bluff above the fort, and thrown into the Mississippi.
W. Joseph Snelling in one of his stories writes: "The Flat Mouth's band lingered in the fort till their wounded comrade died. He was sensible of his condition, and bore his pains with great fortitude. When he felt his end ap- proach, he desired that his horse might be caparisoned and brought to the hospital window, so that he might touch the animal. He then took from his medicine bag a large cake of maple sugar, and held it forth. It may seem strange, but it is true, that the beast ate it from his hand. His features were radiant with delight, as he fell back on the pillow exhausted. His horse had eaten the sugar he said, and he was sure of a favorable reception and comfort- able quarters in the other world. We tried to discover the details of this superstition, but could not succeed."
PEACE DANCE IN 1829 AT FORT SNELLING.
On the 20th of May, 1829, there was a peace dance at Fort Snelling, by about one hundred relatives of the four Sioux who had been delivered in 1827 to be executed by the Ojibways. An uncooked dog was hung upon a stake, and each dancer came up and took a bite. Seven days afterwards twenty-two bark canoes filled with Ojibways from Sandy Lake, Gull Lake, and Rum River arrived, ami on Sunday, the last day of May, the Sioux and Ojibways danced together before Agent Taliaferro's house. Then the Sioux crossed the river and danced before the Ojibway lodges, and to return the compliment, the next day the Ojibways went to Black Dog's, a Sioux village four miles above the fort, on the Minnesota River, and danced. An
EARLY LIFE OF FLAT MOUTH. 477
agreement was then made that they would hunt in peace on the prairies above the Sauk Hiver.
FLAT mouth's VISIT TO SAULT STE. BIARIB A. D. 1828
The civil chief of Leech Lake, Aish-ke-bug-e-koshe, or Flat Mouth, in July, 1828, made his first visit to Sault Ste. Marie. His youth had been passed as a hunter, in the British possessions, west of the Red River of the North, and his first medal was received from William Mc- Gillivray of the Northwest Company, after whom Fort William^ at the mouth of the Kamanistiguia was named. This medal in 1806, he delivered up at Leech Lake, to Lt Z. M. Pike.
CATAWATABETA.
The same month, arrived the Sandy Lake chief, Catawat- abeta, by the French, known as the Breche, and by the English, Broken Tooth. He was the oldest of the Ojib- way chiefs on the Upper Mississippi, and had in 1822 visited Sault Ste. Marie. He was a small boy, when the Ojibways in 1768 captured Fort Mackinaw. He mentioned to Agent Schoolcraft, that he had until lately in his pos- sessibn a French flag which had been presented to his an- cestors, but he had given it to a British trader, Ermatinger, whose wife was his daughter, and that he had taken it to Montreal.'
CHIANOKWUT.
Among others from Leech Lake was the principal war- chief Chianokwut, called by the French, Convert du Temps (Cloudy Weather).
1 Neill's BUtary of Ninneiota, 5th edition, 1883, p. 886. > Schoolcraft's Personal Memoirs, pp. 293, 295, 305.
478 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
OJIBWAY AND SIOUX SKIRMISHES IN 1832.
Flat Mouth in the spring of 1832 led a war party beyond Crow Wing River, and met a band of Sioux, killed three and wounded about the same number, and lost one of their own men, who belonged to Cass Lake.
In 1832, Henry R. Schoolcraft, the Indian agent, visited the Upper Mississippi with an escort of soldiers under Lt James Allen, U. S. A. The Rev. W. T. Boutwell, one of the associates of the Rev. Mr. Ferry, the Presbyterian mis- sionary at Mackinaw, was invited to accompany the expe- dition.
On the night of the 7th of July a man came from Leech Lake and informed Schoolcraft of the recent skirmish of the Pillagers with the Sioux. The Ojibways lost one man and took three scalps. He also mentioned that a party of Sioux had been to Pembina, scalped a child, and fled. The Ojibways pursued and killed four Sioux, in revenge. Leech Lake was reached at 10 P. M. of the 16th of July. Mr. Boutwell in his Narrative* writes that early on the next morning "the principal chief [Flat Mouth] sent his jnis- hinne^ waitincr-man, requesting Mr. Schoolcraft to come and breakfast with him.
FLAT MOUTH IN 1832.
"Decorum required him to comply with the request, though he was at liberty to furnish the table mostly him- self. A mat spread in the middle of the floor served a.s a table, upon which the dishes were placed. Around this were spread others upon which the guests sat while the wife of the chief waited upon the table, and poured the tea. She afterw^ard took breakfast by herself." After break- fast they proceeded to the chiefs headquarters which is thus described: "It is a building perhaps twenty feet by
* Missionary Herald y Boston, 1834.
FLAT MOUTH IN 1832. 479
»
twenty-five, made of logs, which I am informed was pre- sented to him by one of the traders. As we entered, the old chief, bare-legged and bare-foot, sat with much dignity upon a cassette. A blanket, and cloth about the loins, covered his otherwise naked body, which was painted black. His chief men occupied a bench by his side, while forty or more of his warriors sat on the floor around the walls of his room smoking. The old man arose and gave us his hand as we were introduced, bidding us to take a seat at his right, on his bed. As I cast my eye around upon this savage group, for once, I wished I possessed the painter's skill. The old chief had again returned to his seat upon the large wooden trunk, and as if to sit a little more like a white man than an Indian, had thrown one leg across the other knee. His warriors were all feathered, painted, and equipped for service. Many of them wore the insignia of courage, a strip of polecat' skin around the head or heels, the bushy tail of the latter so attached as to drag on the ground; the crown of the head was ornamented with feathers, indicating the number of enemies the indi- vidual had killed, on one of which I counted no less than twelve.
" One side of his room was hung with an English and American flag, medals, war-clubs, lances, tomahawks, arrows, and other implements of death. The subject of vaccination was now presented to the chief, with which he was pleased, and ordered his people to assemble for that purpose. I stood by the doctor, and kept the minutes while he performed the business.
"Preparations were now making for talking our leave when the chief arose, and, giving his hand to each, spoke as follows, in reply to Mr. Schoolcraft, who had addressed them as * My children.'
480 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
FLAT mouth's SPEECH.
" ' You call us children. We are not children, but men. When I think of the condition of my people I can hardly refrain from tears. It is so melancholy that even the trees weep over it When I heard that you were coming to visit us, I felt inclined to go and meet you. I hoped that you would bring us relief. But if you did not furnish some relief, I thought I should go farther, to the people who wear big hats, in hopes of obtaining that relief from them, which the Long Knives [Americans] have so often promised.
" * Our great father promised us, when we smoked the pipe with the Sioux at Prairie du Chien in 1825, and at Fond du Lac in 1826, that the first party who crossed the line, and broke the treaty, should be pmiished. This promise has not been fulfilled. JS'ot a year has passed but some of our young men, our wives, and our children have fallen, and the blood that has begun to flow will not soon stop. I do not expect this year will close before more of ray young men will fall. Wlien my son was killed, about a year since, I determined not to lay down any arms as long as I can see the light of the sun. I do not think the Great Spirit ever made us to sit still and see our young men, our wives, and our children murdered.
" 'Since we have listened to the Long Knives, we have not prospered. They are not willing we should go our- selves, and flog our enemies, nor do they fulfil their promise and do it for us.*
"The medals of each chief and a string of wampum were now brought forth stained with vermilion.
"'See our medals,' and holding them up by the strings, he continued: 'These and all your letters are stained with blood. I return them all to you to make them bright.
FLAT mouth's SPEECH. 481
None of us wish to receive them back/ laying them at Mr. Schoolcraft's feet, ' until you have wiped off the blood.'
"Here a shout of approbation was raised by all his war- riors present, and the old man, growing more eloquent, forgot that he was holding his blanket around his naked body with one hand, and it dropped from about him, and he proceeded: —
"'The words of the Long Knives have passed through our forests as a rushing wind, but they have been words merely. They have only shaken the trees, but have not stopped to break them down, nor even to make the rough places smooth.
" ' It is not that we wish to be at war with the Sioux, but when they enter our country and kill our people, we are obliged to revenge their death. Nor will I conceal from you the fiict that I have already sent tobacco and pipe- stems to different bands to invite them to come to our re- lief. We have been successful in the late war, but we do not feel that we have taken sufficient revenge.'
"Here a bundle of sticks two inches long was presented, indicating the number of Ojibways killed by the Sioux since the treaty of 1825, amounting to forty-three. Just as we were ready to embark, the old man came out in his regimentals, a military coat faced with red, ruffled shirt, hat, pantaloons, gloves, and shoes. So entirely changed was his appearance that I did not recognize him until he spoke.
"This band is the largest and perhaps the most warlike in the whole Ojibway nation. It numbers 706, exclusive of a small band, probably 100 on Bear Island, one of the numerous islands in the lake."
Schoolcraft in his Narrative mentions that Ma-je-ga-bo- wi, who tomahawked Governor Semple, of Selkirk settle- ment, after he fell from his horse, was present at the coun- cil with Flat Mouth. 31
482 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
CONFLICTS OF SIOUX AND 0JIBWAY8 A. D. 1838.
The Sandy Lake band of Ojibways in February, 1833, sent out sixty warriors, under Songegomik, a young chief, who found nineteen teepees of the Sioux, and in the night surrounded them. Before sunrise the next day, the Ojib- ways opened fire, and without any hijury to themselves, killed nineteen, and woimded forty of the Sioux. In re* taliation a war party of about one hundred Sioux was formed, which attacked a fortified camp of Mille Lacs and Snake River Ojibways, and killed nine men and one woman.
THE ASTRONOMER NICOLLET IN 1836 VISITS THE LEECH LAKE
OJIBWAYS.
On the 2d of July, 1836, a distinguished French astrono- mer, J. N. Nicoley or Nicollet (Nicolay), arrived in the steamboat Saint Peter at Fort Snelling, to explore the Upper Mississippi under the direction of the United States government, and left the fort on the 27th, for the sources of the Mississippi. He reached Leech Lake in August, and when the Pillager Ojibways found that he was only a poor scholar, with neither flour, nor beef, nor tobacco to give away, and constantly peeping through the tube of a telescope, they became very rude. The Rev. W, T. Bout- well, whose mission house was on the opposite side of the lake, hearing the shouts and drumming of the Indians, came over to the relief of Nicollet, who writ<5s: "On the fourth day he arrived, and although totally unknown to each other previously, a sympathy of feeling arose grow- ing out of the precarious circumstances under which we were both placed, and to which he had been much longer exposed than myself. This feeling from the kind atten- tions he paid me, soon ripened into afl:ection and grati- tude."» <
» NIcoUet's Report. Senate Document No. 237, 26th U. S. ConjfpeM, 2d Session.
LETTER OF J. N. NICOLLET. 483
He reached the Falls of Saint Anthony on the 27th of September, 1886, upon his return from Lake Itasca, and wrote the following letter to Idiyor Taliaferro at Fort Snelling, which showed he had not mastered the English language, " Dear friend ; I arrived last evening about dark ; all well, nothing lost, nothing broken, happy, and a very successful journey. But I done exhausted, and nothing can relieve me, but the pleasure of meeting you again under your hospitable roof, and to see all the friends of the garrison who have been so kind to me.
"This letter is more particularly to give you a very extrar ordinary tide. Flat Mouth, the chief of Leech Lake, and suite, ten in number, are with me. The day before yes- terday, I met them again at Swan River, where they de- tained me one day. I had to bear a new harangue and gave answer. All terminated, by their own resolution, that they ought to give you the hand, as well as to the Guinas of the fort (Cqlonel Davenport). I thought it my duty to acquaint you with it beforehand. Peace or war are at stake of the visit they pay you. Please give them a good welcome until I have reported to you and Colonel Daven- port all that has taken place during my stay among the Pillagers. But be assured I have not trespassed, and that I have behaved as a good citizen of the United States. As to Schoolcraft's statement alluding to you, you will have full and complete satisfaction from Flat Mouth himself. In haste, your friend, J. N. Nicoley."*
ALFRED AITKIN KILLED BY AN OJIBWAY.
Not many weeks after the visit of Nicollet to Leech Lake, on the sixth of December, Alfred, a mixed blood, the eldest soi^ of William Aitkin' of Sandy Lake, who, for
1 NteoUet appears to have written his name in English at times Nlcoley or Nicolay. * He camo to the Indian country about A. D. 1802.
484 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
years, had been in charge of the posts of the American Fur Company west of Lake Superior, and east of the Mis- sissippi, in what is now Minnesota, was killed at Red Cedar, now Cass Lake. He was twenty-two years of age, and had come down the night before from Red Lake. One of his voyageurs who had gone to draw some water, came back and said that an Ojibway had broken open and entered the store. Aitkin went and pushed him out, and took from him an axe, but while he was locking the store- door, the Indian fired his gun and killed him. The father, as soon as he received the intelligence, went to Leech Lake for assistance, and in a little time twenty half-breeds, with Francis Brunette, at the head, oftered their assistance. With the father they went to the camp where the nmr- derer was, beyond Cass Lake, determined to cut oS the whole band, should they attempt to rescue him.
William Aitkin, in a letter to H. R. Schoolcraft, Indian agent at Sault Ste. Marie, wrote : " Our friend Mr. Bout- well joined the party with his musket on his shoulders, as a man and a Christian, for he knew it was a righteous cause."
Upon reaching the band, the murderer was seized and the excited parent would have killed the assiissin on the spot, but the missionary Boutwell advised to take liirn where he could be tried under the laws of the land. Two days after his arrest, he managed to escape, but after a six days' pursuit by the half-breeds he was recaptured.
On the 20th of February, 1837, he was brought down to Fort Snelling by the trader Morrison, and on the 11th of May, the accused, and the father of the murdered, left Fort Snelling, to attend the court to be held at Prairie du Chien.
The trial of the Ojibway is said to have been the first murder case under the territorial code of Wisconsin. One of the jurors in the trial of the case writes: " The
TRBAIT WITH OJIBWATS AT FORT SXELUXG. 165
case was conducted with very few formalities : and whon- erer the court took a recess, the jury were locked up in a grocery, where, for the sum of seventy-five cents each, we could have all the liquor we wanted, provided we did not waste or cany any away. Imbibing was quite prevalent among all classes in that day, and if each of the jurymen drank his seventy-five cents worth, the judge and counsel could not have been fiir behind, and some individual was heard to say that the prisoner was the only sober man in the court-room." After the jury was charged, we were locked up two or three nights, and on the third moniing we brought in a verdict of not guilty and he was dis- charged."
TREATY WITH 0JIBWAT8 AT FORT SNELLIXG.
During the summer of 1837, Charles Vineyard, a sulv agent, was sent to invite the Ojibways to a council at Fort Bnelling, with the United States commissioner Gov. Henry Dodfice. Twelve hundred assembled in Julv, and a treaty was concluded on the 29th of the month, under some ex- citement, caused by the custom which had grown up within a few years, of holding a whole tribe responsible to the traders for the bad debts of individuals.'
The treaty was approved on the loth of June, 1838, by the President and Senate of the United States. Under it the Ojibways ceded all the country within the following limits : " Beginning at the junction of the Crow AVing and Mississippi Rivers, between twenty and thirty miles above where the Mississippi is crossed by the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude, and running thence to the north point of Lake St. Croix, one of the sources of the St. Croix River ; thence to and along the dividing ridge between the waters
1 It wae aHeged at the trial that young Aitkin had persuaded the squaw of the Indian to desert her husband. Wit. BUt. Soc. CoR.y vol. v. p. 271. > See NeUl's mttary qf Minnesota, 5th ediUon, 1883, pp. 922, 923.
4:86 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
of Lake Superior and those of the Mississippi to the sources of the Ocha-sauHsepe, a tributary of the Chippewa River ; thence to a point on the Chippewa River twenty miles below the outlet of Lake de Flambeau ; thence to the junction of the Wisconsin and Pelican Rivers ; thence on an east course twenty-five miles; thence southerly on a course parallel with that of the Wisconsin River, to the line dividing the territories of the Chippewas and Meno- monies ; thence to Plover Portage ; thence along the north- ern boundary of the Chippewa country to the commence- ment of the boundary line dividing it from that of the Sioux, half a day's march below the Falls, on the Chippe- wa River ; thence with said boundary line to the north of Wattap River, at its junction with the Mississippi ; and thence up the Mississippi to the place of beginning."
HOLE-IN-THB-DAY ATTACKS SIOUX.
In the spring of 1838 a party of Sioux, with their fami- lies, accompanied by Rev. G. IL Pond, one of the Presby- terian missionaries, left Lac-qui-Parle, to hunt in the upper part of the valley of Chippewa River, near the site of the town of Benton, in Swift County, Minnesota. The num- ber of lodges was six, but on one Thursday in April, Mr. Pond and three lodges of Sioux were separated from the others. That evening there arrived at the other lodges Hole-in-the-Day, with his young son and nine Ojibways. The Sioux in these lodges were three men, and ten or eleven women or children. Hole-in-the-Day said he had come to smoke the pipe of peace, and was cordially re- ceived. Two dogs were killed, and he was treated to the luxury of dog-meat.
At length all lay down, but all did not sleep. At mid- night Hole-in-the-Day and party arose, and massacred the sleeping Sioux, with the exception of a woman, and a wounded boy, who escaped, and a girl whom they took
HOLE-IN-THB-DAY IN 1838 AT FOBT SNELUNO. 487
prisoner. The woman found the lodges, where the Rev. Mr. Pond was, and he accompanied by one Sioux went and buried the mutilated and scalped bodies.
CONFERKNCE WITH HOLE-IN-THE-DAY.
The sub-agent Vineyard was sent fix)m Fort Snelling the next June to visit Hole-in-the-Day, and with Peter Quinn as interpreter held a council on an island in the Mississippi Biver a short distance above Little Falls. After some discussion the Sioux woman who was captured in April was given up.
HOLB-IN-THE-DAY IN 1838 AT FORT SNELLING.
On the 2d of August, to the regret of Major Plympton, the officer in command, Hole-in-the-Day and other Ojib- ways visited Fort Snelling. The next evening a Presby- terian missionary, the Rev. Samuel W. Pond, met Talia- ferro, the Indian agent at Lake Harriet, and told him that a number of armed Sioux from Mud Lake had gone to B. F. Baker's stone trading house* between the fort and Minne Haha Falls, for the purpose of attacking the Qjib- ways. The agent hastened to the spot and reached the point just as the first gun was fired. An Ottawa half-breed of Hole-in-the-Day's party was killed, and another was wounded. Of the Sioux, Tokali's son was shot by Obe- quette of Red Lake, just as he was scalping the dead man.
Major Plympton had Hole-in-the-Day and comrades placed under the protection of the fort, and at nine o'clock at night a Sioux was confined in the guj^rd house as a hostage. The next day the major and Indian agent held a council with the Sioux, and Plympton said : " It is un- necessary to talk much. I have demanded the guilty ; they must be brought."
> Afterwards lued aa a hotel, and then destroyed by fire.
488 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
The Sioux assented, and at half past five in the afternoon, two sons of Tokali were delivered with much ceremony. Their old mother said: "Of seven sons, only three are left; one of them was wounded and soon would die, and if the two now given up were shot, her all was gone. I called on the head men to follow me to the fort. I started with the prisoners, singing their death song, and have delivered them at the gates of the fort. Have mercy upon them, for their folly and for their youth."
But this night, notwithstanding the murdered man of Hole-in-the-Day's party had heen buried in the military graveyard for safety, an attempt was made by the Sioux, to dig up his remains. On the evening of the sixth of August, Major Plympton sent Hole-in-the-Day and party home, giving them provisions, and sending them across the Mississippi.
HOLE-IN-THE-DAY IN 1839 AT FORT SNELLINO.
In June, 1839, Hole-in-the-Day again determined to come down to Fort Snelling, and on the 18th the Indian agent sent a letter to him by Stephen Bonga* or Bnngo, but on the 20th, Hole-in-the-Day arrived with five hundred Ojibways and asked permission to remain three days. The next day, under a canopy near the walls of the fort, the Ojibways held a council with the Sioux, Bonga actinj; as their interpreter. On Sunday the 23d, the whole number of Ojibways at the fort was eight hundred and forty-six, and twelve hundred Sioux. The day was passed in dane-
' His grandparents were ne^rro bIbtcs of Capt. Daniel Robertson, British commandant at Mackinaw from 1782 to 1787. After his death they remained, and Kelton gives the following marriage from the Parish Register :** 17W, June 2oth, Jean Bonga and Jeanne." The married couple, Kelton mentionp, kept the first inn on the island. In 1800 a negro named Pierre Bonga wa« with Alexander Henry of the Northwest Company in the valley of the Red River of the North. George Bonera, supposed to be the father of Stephen, was «D interpreter of Gov. Cass in 1820 at Fond du Lac. Stephen died In 1884.
BATTLES OF SIOUX AND OJIBWAYS. 489
ing together, and in foot races. The next day a man by the name of Libbey came up in the steamboat Ariel, and sold thirty-six gallons of whisky to Scott Campbell the Sioux interpreter, and the next nigh^ the Sioux and Ojib- ways presented the scene of a pandemonium.*
Upon Sunday the 30th of June Hole-in- the-Day announced his intention to return to his own country, and on the 1st day of July the Sioux and Ojibways even smoked the pipe of peace, and Hole-in-the-Day began his ascent of the Mis- sissippi. Two Pillager Ojibways* however remained near the fort, and passing over to Lake Harriet, about sunrise on the morning of the 2d, killed Badger, a Sioux, on his way to hunt
BATTLES OF SIOUX AND OJIBWAYS JULY 4, 1839.
The excitement now became great among the Sioux, and in a little while war parties were in pursuit of their old foes. The Lake Calhoun Sioux with those from the vil- lages on the Minnesota River assembled at the Falls of St. Anthony, and started in pursuit of the Mille Lacs band of Ojibways, and on the morning of the 4th of July before sunrise, found them in the valley of Rum River, and at- tacking them killed and wounded about ninety. The Ka- posia band of Sioux pursued the Saint Croix Ojibways, and on the third of July found them encamped with their trader Aitkin, in the ravine at Stillwater, where the Min- nesota Penitentiary is now situated, quite intoxicated. The sight of the Sioux tended to make them sober, but in the fight twenty-one of their number were killed, and twenty-nine were wounded.
1 Taliaferro's MS. Journal.
* RelatioDB of the man shot the summer beforei^
490 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
OJIBWATS RECEIVED BT QUEEN VICTORIA.
The United States government has always frowned upon the attempts of speculators to exhibit Indians for the pur- pose of gain. Joel R. Poinsett, Secretary of War under President Van Buren, in a letter to George Catlin, the painter of Indian portraits, expressed the sentiments of every high-minded citizen when he wrote: "I consider such proceedings as calculated to degrade the red man, and certainly not to exalt the whites engaged with them."
An adventurer under the name of Rankin succeeded, in 1839, in taking some Ojibways to England, and arrange- ments were made to exhibit them in connection with Cat- lin's portraits. The principal Indian was Ah-quee-we- zanits, about seventy-five years of age. The half-breed interpreter was Louis Cadott^. It had been arranged as &. precautionary measure that the Ojibways should abstaii from intoxicating liquors. In an interview with the Hoi Charles Augustus Murray, Master of the Household t: ^ Queen Victoria, they were offered champagne, which thcsi^j at first, remembering their agreement, refused, but, he ^:;^^ suring them that the drink would not intoxicate, tl^ ^y drank, and from that hour they talked about the Che€>^i^ Pop-po* by day, and dreamed of it by night. After t\j;> they were formally presented to the Queen, who present^ them with several hundred doUare. The interpreter, Louig Cadotte, was of fine appearance, and a pretty and respect- able English girl fell in love with him, and with the con- sent of her parents they were married in St. Martin's Church, London. She came with him to Sault Ste. Marie, and after her death he was said to have been much depressed.
1 Catlin mentions they ^vc champa^e the name chick -a-bob-boo, became when the corkscrew was introduced there was a fizz, which sounded like cbee- ee, and then the popping out of the cork. See Catlin 's Offibbewity Indiam.
BATTLE OF POEEOUMA. 491
CONFLICTS OF SIOUX AND OJIBWAYS CONTINUED.
During the summer of 1840, a Sioux and his wife were killed by Ojibways on the right bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the brook between Meudota and Saint Paul.
On the eighth of April, 1841, three Ojibways came down the Mississippi in a canoe, which they left between St. An- thony and Minnehaha Falls, and hid themselves during the night near a footpath on the bank of the Mississippi about a mile above Fort Snelling. As a Sioux chief was passing in the morning with his son, they fired, killing the boy and mortally wounding the father.
BATTLE OF POKEGUMA.
Pokeguma^ is a beautiful lake four or five miles long, and about a mile wide, connected with Snake River, about twenty miles above its junction with the river St Croix. In the year 1836, missionaries supported by the Presby- terian and Congregational churches established a mission here, and built a residence on the east side of the lake, while the Ojibway village was on an island.
The mission was for a time prosperous, and in a letter written in 1837, one of the missionaries writes: "The young women and girls now make, mend, wash, and iron after our manner. The men have learned to build log houses, drive team, plough, hoe, and handle an American axe."
In May 1841, Jeremiah Russel now living at Sauk Rapids, then Indian farmer at this point, sent two Ojib- ways accompanied by Elara Greeley of Stillwater to the Falls of St. Croix for supplies. They arrived there on Saturday the fifteenth of the month, and the next day a
1 In the treaty of 1842 spelled Po-ke-gom-maw.
492 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
steamboat arrived with goods. The captain said that a war party of Sioux headed by Big Thunder, called Little Crow by the whites, was advancing, and the C^ibways pre- pared to go back and warn their friends. They had not proceeded far when they discovered the foe, and quickly discharged their guns and killed two of Big Thunder's sons. The Sioux returned the fire, and mortally wounded one of the Ojibways. According to custom, the bodies of the chiefs sons were ornamented, and set up with their faces towards the enemy's country, and the Ojibway was horribly mangled by the Sioux, and his scalped head placed in a kettle was suspended in front of their dead companions.
Big Thunder, disheartened by the loss of his sons, re- turned with his party to Kaposia, a village a few miles below Saint Paul, and on the opposite side of the Missis- sippi, but there were other parties on the war-path.
It was not until Friday, the 21st of May, that the death of the Ojibway was known at Lake Pokegum^ Mr. Rus- sell, on the next Sunday, accompanied by a half-breed, and Capt. William llolcomb, subsequently the first Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, went to the mission house to attend a religious service, and in returning the half-breed said there was a rumor that Sioux were approaching. On Monday, three young men left in a canoe, to go to the west shore of the lake, and from thence to Mille Lacs, to give intelligence to the Ojibways there resident They took, in the canoe two girls about twelve years of age, pupils of the mission school, for the purpose of bringing the canoe back to the island. Just as the three were land- ing, twenty or thirty Sioux with a war-whoop emerged from their hiding place and fired into the canoe. The young men instantly jumped into the water, which was shallow, returned the fire, and ran into the woods. The little girls waded into the lake and were pursued. Their
OJIBWAYS IN 1842 ATTACK KAPOSIA SIOUX. 493
parents upon the island heard the death cries of their children. Their tathers, buniing for revenge, left the island in a canoe, and drawing it upon the shore of the lake, hid behind it, opened fire upon and killed one of the Sioux. The Sioux approaching, they again launched the canoe, one lay on his back at the bottom, the other plunged into the water, and holding the canoe with one hand, and swim- ming with the other, he pushed the canoe beyond the reach of the foe. As the Sioux would aim at him he dodged their shot, by putting his head under water, and waiting until he heard the discharge of their guns. Alter a skirmish of two hours, the Sioux, numbering over one hundred retreated, having lost two men.
At the request of the parent Mr. E. F. Ely, the catechist of the mission, went across the lake with two of his friends to collect the mutilated remains of his pupils. He found their heads cut off and scalped, with a tomahawk buried in the brains of each. Their bodies were pierced in the breast, and the right arm of one was broken away. Re- moving the tomahawks, he brought the bodies to the island, and in the afternoon they were buried with the simple and solemn rites of Christianity.
OJIBWAYS IN 1842 ATTACK KAPOSIA SIOUX.
In June, 1842, an Ojibway war party of about forty was formed at Fond du Lac in the valley of the St. Louis River, and appeared at the marsh below what is now the city of Saint Paul, and opposite to the Kaposia village of Sioux, of which Big Thunder was chief, and killed a Sioux, the wife of Gamelle a Canadian, and another woman and child. The Sioux warriors came over from the other side, and they lost ten men, and one known as the Dancer was horribly mutilated, while the Ojibway s had only four killed.
494 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIOKS.
TREATY OP 1842 AT LA POINTE ISLAND.
On the 4th of October, 1842, a treaty was concluded at La Pointe between Robert Stuart, U. S. commissioner, and the Ojibways of Lake Superior and the Mississippi by which they ceded to the United States the country " begin- ning at the mouth of Chocolate River of Lake Superior, thence northwardly across the lake to intersect the bound- ary line between the United States and the Province of Canada; thence up said Lake Superior to the mouth of the St. Louis or Fond du Lac River (including all the islands in said lake); thence up said river to the American Fur Company's post, at the southwardly bend thereof, about twenty-two miles from its mouth ; thence south to intersect the line of the treaty of July 29, 1837, with the Chippewas of the Mississippi; thence along said line to its southeast wardly extremity near the Plover Portage on the Wisconsin River; thence northeastwardly along the boundary.line between the Chippewas and Menonomees, to its eastern termination on the Skonawby River of Green Bay; thence northwardly to the source of Chocolate River; thence down said river to its mouth, the place of beginning/'
DEATH OF THE ELDER HOLE-IN-THE-DAY.
In the spring of 1847, the distinguished chief Ilole-in- thc-Day, while intoxicate<l, fell from a Red River cart near Platte River, Benton County, Minnesota, and soon died. He was buried upon a high bluif not far distant. For a quarter of a century he had exerted a great influence among his tribe.
In 1820, the principal chiefs of the Sandy Lake Ojib- ways were Kadewabedas, an old man called by the French, Breehe or Brechedent; by the English, Broken Tooth; and Babikesundeba or Curly Head.
Broken Tooth in 1785 is mentioned in connection with traders at Sandy Lake, and Lieutenant Pike met him in
bruxson's description of hole-in-thb-day. 495
1806, and in 1828 he died at a great age. Curly Head, mentioned by Pike in 1806, and visited by Cass in 1820, after attending the treaty at Prairie du Cbien in 1825, became sick while returning to his village, and died. Hole-in-the-Day was with him at this time, and soon after became a prominent chief. Two prominent traders, Ash- mun and Ermatinger, lived with sisters of his wife, who was a daughter of Biaswah. Already in this article allu- sions have been made to his bold career. In the fifth volume of the Wisconsin Historical Collections^ the Rev. Alfred Brunson, who had been the superintendent of a Methodist mission among the Sioux below Saint Paul, and afterwards U. S. agent for the Ojibways, gives the follow- ing reminiscences of this chief: —
brunson's description of hole-in-the-day.
"Some time in June of this year [1838], Miles Vineyard, sub-agent to the Chippewas on the Upper Mississippi, as- cended the river to a point a short distance above Little Falls and summoned Hole-in-the-Day and his band to a council, and demanded the prisoner.
"In July, 1838, not knowing of this movement, I ascended the river, to the same point, with a view to establish a mission and school among those Indians. I found them in council, on an island. As is their custom, when a stranger arrives, all business was suspended till the new- comers were introduced I had heard so much
of Hole-in-the-Day that I was anxious to see him. The council was in a thicket on an island. The underbrush had been cut out and piled in the centre, and perhaps fifty braves seated on the ground in the circle. The agent and his attaches were seated in like manner under a tree on one side of the circle, by the side of whom I and my atten- dants were assigned the place of honor, and looking in vain for one of distinguished appearance, I inquired of my
496 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
interpreter which was the great chief, and he pointed to the dirtiest, most scowling, and savage-looking man in the crowd, who was lying on a pile of brush in the centre, as if, as I found to be the fact, he was alone on his side of the question to be settled. All others had agreed, before my arrival, to release the prisoner. As they resumed busi- ness, a dead silence occurred of some minutes, all waiting for his final answer. At length he rose up with impetu- osity, as if shot with a gun. His blanket, innocent of water since he owned it, was drawn over his left shoulder and around his body, his right arm swinging in the ah*, his eyes flashing like lightning, his brow scowled as if a thuudergust had settled on it, and his long hair literally snapping in the air, from the quick motion of his head. I thought of Hercules with every hair a serpent, and every serpent hissing. "
"He came forward, as is their custom, and shook hands with the agent, and all the whites present, and then step- ping back a short distance, orator-like, to give himself room for motion, and swinging his right arm, said, address- ing the agent : —
"'My father! I don't keep this prisoner out of any ill- will to you, nor out of any ill-will to my Great Father at Washington ; nor out of ill-will to these men [gracefully waving his hand back and around the circle], but I hate the Sioux. They have killed my relatives, and I'll have revenge. You call me chief, and so I am, by nature, as well as by office, and I challenge any of these men to dis- pute my title to it. If I am chief, then my word is law, otherwise you might as well put this medal [showing the one received from Governor Cass] upon an old woman.' He then threw himself upon a pile of brush. Finally, he arose again, but a little milder in manner, said: —
"'My father! for your sake, and for the sake of those men [waving his hand around the circle], 111 give up the
SPEECH OF CHIEF HOLE-IN-THE-DAY THE YOUNGEB. 497
prisoner, and go myself and deliver her at the fort' As this would have been injudicious, he at length consented to deliver the prisoner to the agent In a little while, however, he determined to go uninvited to the fort, and the result has already been narrated."* Schoolcraft* de- scribed Hole-in-the-Day as "one of the most hardened and bloodthirsty wretches," and mentions that Mr. Aitkin, the elder, told him "that having once surprised and killed a Sioux family, the fellow picked up a little girl, who had fled from the lodge, and pitched her into the Mississippi. The current bore her against a point of land, and seeing it, the hardened wretch ran down and again pushed her in."
TREATY OF FOND DU LAC, MINNESOTA, A. D. 1847.
In 1847, Hon. Henry M. Rice, now of St Paul, late U. S. Senator from Minnesota, and Isaac A. Verplanck, of Buffalo, New York, were appointed commissioners to treat with the Ojibways for the country between the Wattap and Crow Wing Rivers. Hole-in-the-Day, the son of the recently deceased chief of that name, made his appearance in council for the first time as chief and addressed the commissioners as follows: —
SPEECH OF CHIEF HOLE-IN-THE-DAY, THE YOUNGER.
"Our Great Father instructed you to come here, for the purpose of asking us to sell a large piece of land, lying on and west of the Mississippi River. To accomplish this you have called together all the chiefs and head men of the nation who to the number of many hundreds are within the hearing of my voice: that was useless, for they do not own the land ; it belongs to me. My father, by his bravery, took it from the Sioux. He died a few moons ago, and what belonged to him became mine. He, by his courage
1 See page 488. * Fenandl Memoirs, p. 611.
32
498 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
and perseverance, became head chief of all the Chippewas, and when he died I took his place, and am conseqaentlj chief over all the nation. To this position I am doubly entitled, for I am as brave as my father was, and through my mother I am by descent the legal heir to the position.
"•Now, if I say sell, our Great Father will obtain the land ; if I say no, you will tell him he cannot have it. The Indians assembled here have nothing to saj, they can but do my bidding."
After this speech, the commissioners negotiated with him, and when he was satisfied with the propositions made, he was told that they must be explained to all the Indians, and their consent obtained. He did not like this, but the commissioners had the treaty explained by the in- terpreters, and they agreed to it without a dissenting voice. They were then called to sign the treaty, and waited for Hole-in-the-Day first to attach his mark. This he refused to do, but told them to walk up in order of rank, and sign the paper, which they did.
After this, he said to commissioner Rice, that on the next day he would sign, but did not wish his name to ap- pear with the common Indians. After some conversation, it was arranged that below, after the sentence '' I approve of this treaty and consent to the same," he should sign his name, and so it appears in the printed treaty.
OJIBWAYS AFTER THE ORGANIZATION, IN 1849, OF MINNESOTA
TERRITORY.
After the treaty of 1837, the Mississippi Ojibways re- ceived their first annuities at Lake St. Croix, but owint' to their conflict with the Sioux, in 1839, La Pointe became the place w^here they received their payments. By the treaty of 1847 at Fond du Lac of St. Louis River, it was stipulated that they should receive their payments on the Mississippi. In 1849, a farm for their benefit was made
OJIBWAYS KILLED AT APPLE RIVER. 499
at Gull Lake, and some of the Ojibways moved there with five chiefs.
Alexander Ramsey, as Governor of Minnesota Territory, was ex-officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs. In June, 1850, he visited the Ojibway country of the Upper Missis- sippi, with William Warren as interpreter, to select a suit- able place for an agency, and the sub-agent at La Pointe removed to Sandy Lake.
OJIBWAYS KILLED AT APPLE RIVER.
During the month of April, 1850, there was a renewal of hostilities between the Sioux and Ojibways on lands that had been ceded to the United States. A Sioux war- prophet at Red Wing village dreamed that he ought to raise a war party. Announcing the fact, a number volun- teered to go, and several from the Kaposia village joined them. The leader of the party was a worthless fellow who the year before had been confined in the guard-house at Fort Snelling for scalping his wife.
Passing up the valley of the Saint Croix, a few miles above Stillwater, they discovered on the snow the marks of a keg and foot-prints. From these, they knew that Ojibways were returning from a whiskey shop. Following their trail, they found on the Apple River, a tributarj' of the Saint Croix, a party of Ojibways in one large wigwam. Waiting till daybreak, on the 2d of April the Sioux fired on the unsuspecting inmates, fifteen in all, and none were left alive, except a boy, who was taken prisoner. The next day the Sioux came to Stillwater, and danced the scalp-dance around the captive, striking him in the face at times with the scarcely cold scalps of his relatives. The child was then taken to Kaposia, the Sioux village below Saint Paul, and adopted by the chief.
Governor Ramsey immediately took measures to send the boy to his friends. At a conference held at the Gov-
500 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
ernor's house, the boy was delivered up, and on being taken to the kitchen by a little son of the Governor, since deceased, he cried, seeming more afraid of his white friends than his dusky captors.
HOLE-IN-THE-DAY AT SAINT PAUL.
On the afternoon of the 15th of May, naked and painted Sioux warriors were seen in Saint Paul much excited. A few hours before the Ojibway chief, young Hole-in-the-Day, had secreted his canoe in a gorge near the western suburbs, and with two or three associates crossed the river, attacked a small party of Sioux, and killed one man. To adjust the difficulties Gov. Ramsey held a council on the 12tb of June, and the contending parties, as they had often done before, promised to live in peace.
FAMINE AND CANNIBALISM.
During the winter of 1850-51, the Ojibways of Red,
Cass, Leech, and Sandy Lakes, suffered much from want of food. About the first of October, 1850, the Lidiaus col- lected at the new agency at Sandy Lake to receive their annuities, and here, to their disappointment, the}'^ were kept seven or eight weeks awaiting the arrival of provi- sions. During this period the measles and dj'sentery pre- vailed, and many died. With only a partial payment, they began to go to their homes. A family consisting of a man, wife, and two children, and wife's brother, left Sandy Lake in health, but when about half way to Leech Lake, the wife's brother was taken sick and died. They buried him and continued their journey. Then the two children became sick. The father carried his son, and the mother the daughter. The night before they reached Leech Lake the boy died and the father continued to carry him. The next day the daughter died, and the parents appeared at Leech Lake with their dead children on their backs.
OJIBWAYS, IN 1853, ATTACK SIOUX IN ST. PAUL. 501
Missionary J. P. Bardwell, of Cass Lake, in his report to the U. S. Commissioner of Indian Aftairs, refers to the most shocking case of cannibalism that he ever heard of.
An Indian west of Cass Lake, with his wife, and two daughters, and son-in-law, had killed and eaten fifteen per- sons, most of whom were their own children and grandchil- dren. A writer in the Minnesota Democrat, under date of July 29, 1851, gives a more particular account. He writes: "They were reduced to a starving condition, and the mothers commenced killing and eating their children. They fed voraciously upon the flesh, and became passion- ately fond of it." After all of the children had been des- patched but a boy of eighteen years, "in the latter part of winter, his mother called him to her, and requested him to put his head in her lap, under pretence of desiring to look for vermin. The boy complied. The mother had some molten lead which she poured into his ear, and killed him. His cries of agony alarmed the old people. The old man told his wife to go and see what was the matter. She went and looked into the door of the lodge, and there saw^ the woman with the body of the boy on the fire, singeing his hair oft". She said to her 'come in and get some; it is good.'
>»
OJIBWAYS, IN 1853, ATTACK SIOUX IN ST. PAUL.
On the 9th of April, 1853, a party of Ojibways killed a Sioux, at Shakopee, and then Sioux from Kaposia killed an Ojibway in the valley of the Saint Croix River.
On the morning of the 27th, some Ojibways could have been seen lurking on the elevation, behind the marsh in Saint Paul, now filled with railways and warehouses. Per- ceiving a canoe of Sioux coming up the river from Kapo- sia, they hurried to the neighborhood of Third and Jack- son Streets, and saw the Sioux land from their canoe, walk up Jackson Street, and go into a trading house, which
502 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
stood at the southeast corner of those streets. As they entered, the Ojibways fired and mortally wounded a Sioux woman. A Sioux, who had lost a leg in a fight several years before, seizing a gun in the store, pursued the foe a short distance.
Messengers were despatched to Fort Snelling, and a party of dragoons under Lt. W. B. Magruder were soon in pureuit of the Ojibways, who were overtaken the next day at the Falls of Saint Croix. The dragoons fired upon them, and an Ojibway was killed. His scalp was brought to Saint Paul and photographed. An engraving from the photograph soon after appeared in Graham's Magazine, published in Philadelphia.
TREATY OF 1854, WITH OJIBWAYS.
A treaty was made in 1854, by which th^ Ojibways of Lake Superior ceded the region "beginning at a point where the east branch of Snake River crosses the southern boundary line of the Chippewa country, running thence up the said branch to its source; thence nearly north, in a straight line, to the mouth of the East Savannah River; thence up the Saint Lonis River to the mouth of East Swan River; thence up the East Swan River to its source; thence in a straight line to the most westerly bend ol* Ver- milion River; and thence down the Vermilion River to its mouth."
TREATY OF 1855.
In 1855, an important treaty was made at Washington between the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish Ojibways. By one of its provisions a patent for a section of land was to be given to Pug-o-na-ke-shick or IIole-in-the-Day.
LAST CONFLICT OF OJIBWAYS WITH THE SIOUX.
Early on Thursday morning, May 27, 1858, a party of Mille Lacs Ojibways, numbering about one hundred and
HOLE-IN-THE-DAY, THE YOUNGER, UNRULY. 503
fifty, appeared opposite the Sioux village, not far from the town of Shakopee, on the Minnesota River. A Sioux, who was fishing on the banks of the stream, was shot and scalped, and then the infuriated Sioux began to cross the river at Major Murphy's ferry, and in the open meadows came in contact with their old foes. Three Ojibways were killed in the fight and one died, near Lake Minnetonka. About ten o'clock in the morning the rest withdrew. Seven of the wounded arrived at the Falls of Saint An- thony that night. Doctore Murphy and Rankin visited them. One had been shot by an ounce ball, in the lower jaw, which also carried away a portion of the tongue. A chief of Mille Lacs, known as Wah-de-nah, was shot above the knee and the bone splintered. The others had wounds that were not serious. On Friday afternoon, they were placed on board the steamboat Enterprise, which ran above the Falls toward their homes.
HOLE-IN-THE-DAY, THE YOUNGER, UNRULY.
On the eighteenth of August, 1862, the uprising of the Sioux against the whites began at Red Wood agency, on the Minnesota River, and led to the massacre of more than five hundred of the defenceless men, women, and children of the frontier. It is worthy of note, that on that very day, the Ojibways at Gull Lake arrested several white persons, and talked about attacking the agency, then in charge of Major L. C. Walker. The next monnng, agent Walker left for Crow Wing, and met troops coming from Fort Ripley. Returning with them, the Gull Lake chief was arrested. Walker again left for Saint Cloud, to con- sult with the U. S. Commissioner of Indian Aftairs, on his way to Grand Forks, on the Red River of the North, to make a treaty with the Ojibways of that region. Mean- while, the Ojibways of Leech Lake had risen, held all the whites but two, seven in number, prisoners, and brought
504 MINNESOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECTIONS.
them down to Gull Lake, where they were released. Agent Walker, on his way to Saint Cloud, under excite- ment, committed suicide. U. S. Commissioner Dole aban- doning his journey to Grand Forks, came to Fort Ripley, with a military escort. lie proposed to Hole-in-the-Day that there should be a council at Fort Ripley, but the chief declined to come. It was then arranged that there should be a conference at Crow Wing. On the 12th of September, the house of Hole-in-the-Day was burned by two white men, who were indignant at his «)urse. The same night, about ten o'clock, three Ojibway chiefs, and three warriors, from Leech Lake, left the hostile camp, crossed the river, and conferred with the acting Indian agent. The night of the 18th, they went back to Ilole- in-the-Day's camp, and the morning of the 14th returned with their families.
In council with the authorities of the United States, Wasec, a Pillager brave, said : " My father, I am not afraid to tell you the name of the one who led us to do wrong to the whites. It was Hole-in-the-Day who caused us to go astray by his bad advice. He sent messengers through to the lake, saying that our Great Father intended to send men, and take all Indians and dress them like soldiers, and send them away to fight in the south ; and if we wish to save ourselves we must rise and fight the whites, and take them and their goods from the lake. The next day, after we had robbed our traders, another messenger arrived from IIole-in-the-Day, saying the white soldiers had shot at him, and in revenge wished us to kill all the whites at the lake, but our chiefs said, K^o; if Hole-in-the-Day wishes to kill the whites, let him commence first."
After this defection, upon the part of the Pillagers, Hole-in-the-Day became quiet and reasonable.*
» Report of U. S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1862.
TREATT OF OCTOBER, 1863. 505
TREATT OF MARCH, 1863.
On the 11th of March, 1863, a treaty was concluded by which the Mississippi, and the Pillager, and Lake Winni- bigoshish bands of Ojibways relinquished Gull Lake and other reservations, and accepted the region, "beginning at a point, one mile south of the most southerly point of Leech Lake ; thence easterly to a point, one mile south of the most southerly point of Goose Lake ; thence due east to a point due south from the intersection of the Poka- gomin reservation and the Mississippi River; thence on the dividing line between Deer River Lakes and Mash- kordens River and Lakes, until a point is reached north of Deer River Lakes; thence in a direct line northwesterly to the outlet of the Two Routes Lake ; thence in a south- westerly direction to Karbekaun River; thence down said river to the lake of the same name; thence due south to a point due west from the beginning ; thence to the place of beginning."
TREATY OF OCTOBER, 1863.
The Red Lake and Pembina Ojibways on the 2d of Oc- tober, 1863, by treaty, ceded the lands, ''l>egiuning at the point where the international boundary between the United States and the British Possessions intersects the shores of the Lake of the Woods ; thence in a direct line southwestwardly to the head of Thief River ; thence down the main channel of said Thief River to its mouth on the Red Lake River; thence in a southeasterly direction, in a direct line towards the head of Wild Rice River, to the point where such line would intersect the northwestern boundary of the tract ceded by the treaty of February, 1855 ; thence along the boundary line of said cession to the mouth of Wild Rice River ; thence up the main channel of the Red River to the mouth of the Shayenne River ;
606 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
thence up its main channel to Poplar Grove; thence in a direct line to the "Place of Stumps," otherwise called Lake Chicot ; thence in a direct line to the head of the main branch of Salt River ; thence in a direct line due north to the point where such line would intersect the in- ternational boundary ; thence eastwardly to the place of beginning."
TREATY OP 1864.
A treaty was made with the Ojibways of the Mississippi on May 7, 1864, by which reservations were to be selected for the different bands, on the Upper Mississippi, and therein ; $5000 was allowed Hole-in-the-Day for the burning of his house during the troubles of 1862.
TREATY OF 1866.
The Bois Forte Ojibways on April 7, 1866, concluded a treaty by which they ceded all their lands around Lake Vermilion.
DEATU OF THE YOUNGER HOLE-IN-TUE-DAY.
In 1864 the younger Ilole-in-t he-Day succeeded in cap- tivating a young white woman employed at the Xatioiial Hotel, Washington, and she accompanied him to his loe house, near Crow Wing, and became the companion of bis Indian wives. During the morning of the 27th of Juno, 18G8, he went in a buggy to the Indian agency two raile:^ distant, and from thence to Crow Wing. While rotiirninfi:, and passing a thicket near the agency, some of his tribe who disliked him, appeared, and one shot him. Tbe wound was fatal, and he fell from the buggy and died. After taking his blanket and the valuables on his pennon, they rofle in the buggy to his house, and announced to bis wives that the chief had been killed. One or two went
WHITE EARTH AGEXCY. 507
up stairs to the loft where the babe of the white wife was sleeping, but the child was not molested. They ransacked the house and took what they wanted, and left with a horse for Leech Lake.
The chief was buried in the Roman Catholic churchyard at Crow Wing. His son by his white wife was adopted by a family in Minneapolis, and educated in the public schools, and is now an intelligent youth. His mother afterwards married a white man by the name of Sullivan who was not as kind to her as Hole-in-the-Day.
OJIBWAYS OP MINNESOTA IN 1883.
The Ojibways of Minnesota are on three reservations at Red Lake, Leech Lake, and White Earth. The Pembina band live eighteen miles north of the White Earth agency, and the Otter Tail Pillagers dwell about eight miles east of the agency. There are also some Ojibways in the north- eastern portion of the State. According to the report of U. S. Commissioner of Indian AflFaire for 1883, their num- bers were as follows : —
WHITE EARTH AGENCY.
Mississippi Ojibways 896
Otter Tail Pillagers 570
Pembina band 235 Pillagers of Lakes Cass and Winnebagoshish 351
Leech Lake 1137
Mississippi 95
Mille Lacs 894
LA POINTE AGENCY.
Red Cliff 188
Bois Forte 700
Grand Portage, Lake Superior 236
Fond du Lac 431
508 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
0JIBWAY8 OF WISCONSIN.
Soon after, the refugee Hurons and Ottawas retired from Northern Wisconsin, the Ojibways by way of Montreal and Bois Brule Rivers, entered the country about the sources of the Black, Chippewa, and Saint Croix Rivers, and occupied the old plantations (vieux deserts) of the Ot- tawa Lakes, Lac Court Oreilles, and Lac du Flambeau. Court Oreilles band number 841
Lac du Flambeau " 480
Bad River " 460
OJIBWAYS OF MICHIGAN.
The establishment of a central trading post in 1701, at Detroit, led some of the Ojibways to hunt and fish on the shores of Lake Huron, especially about Saginaw Bay. Jonathan Carver who visited the country in 1766, men- tions* that the promontory between Lakes Huron and Michigan was divided "between the Ottowaw and Cbipe- way Indians," and on another page writes: "A great num- ber of the Chipeway Indians live scattered around this lake [Huron], particularly near Saginaw Bay."
The Indian agency at Mackinaw in 1883 reported : — Ojibways of Saginaw and vicinity 2')00
Lake Superior bands 1000
Mixed with Ottawas 6000
OJIBWAYS OF CANADA.
By the treaty of Utrecht, concluded in 1713, it was agreed that England should retain possession of all the posts of Hudson's Bay, and to keep the Indians of Lake Superior from trading with the English, at the north, it became necessary for the French to revive their posts at
' Carver's Travels, London, 1778, page 147.
OJIBWAYS IN CANADA. 509
Nepigon, and Michipicoton. As traders appeared along the north shore, some of the Ojibways who had lived at Sault Ste. Marie settled near them, and gradually spread over what is now the Dominion of Canada.
The Canadian Superintendent of Indian Aftairs for the year ending June 80, 1883, estimates the Ojibway popula- tion as follows: —
PROVINCE OP ONTARIO.
|
Ojibways and Ottawas of Manitoulin and Cockbum |
|
|
Islands |
1678 |
|
Ojibways of Lake Huron |
2934 |
|
" " Georgian Bay |
685 |
|
" " Lake Superior |
1883 |
|
** " Garden River near Sault Ste. Marie and |
|
|
Batchewana Bay |
725 |
|
" " Beau Soleil |
813 |
|
** " Nawash |
897 |
|
" " Saugeen, County Bruce |
868 |
|
" " Rama, County Ontario |
247 |
|
" " Snake Island, Lake Simcoe |
135 |
|
" " Sarnia, etc. |
485 |
|
" with Ottawas and Pottawattamies of Wal- |
|
|
pole Island, River St. Clair |
789 |
|
" with Munsees of the Thames |
582 |
PROVINCE OP MANITOBA.
The Ojibways did not dare to hunt in the valley of the Rerl River of the K'orth, until the Northwest Company es- tablished posts at Pembina, Park River, and Red Lake River. They were then introduced as hunters, but the Crees and Assineboines, to whom the country belonged, looked upon them as intruders. In what is now Minne- sota, at the junction of the Red Lake River, and the Red River of the North known as the Grand Fork, Thomas,
510 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Earl Selkirk on July 8, 1817, made a treaty with tha Crees or Kiiistineaux, and the " Chippewa or Saulteaux,"
The Ojibways being a party in this treaty, Ross* writes, "gave great umbrage to the Crees, who in consequence have repeatedly threatened to drive them back to their old haunts about Lake Superior."
In the census of 1883, they are computed with the Crees, and enumeration is therefore omitted.
1 The Red Siver Settlement, by Alexander Ross. London, 1BS6, p. 12.
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.
Gbn. H. H. SIBLEY.
VICS-PBESIDEKT8. 18T. Hon. ALEX. RAMSEY. 2d. Capt. R. BLAKELEY.
8ECRETABY AND LIBRAKIAK. J. FLETCHER WILLIAMS.
TREASURER, HENRY P. UPHAM.
MEMBERS OF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.
EX OFFICIO.
His Excellency, L. F. Hubbakd, Oovemor.
The Hon. Cuakles A. Gilman, LieftUnant- Oovemor.
The Hon. F. Von Baumbach, Secretary of State.
The Hon. W. W. Braden, Auditor of State.
The Hon. Chakles Kittelson, Treaaurer of State.
The Hon. W. J. Haun, Attorney^ General.
ELKCTIYR.
Hon. Samuel E. Adams, Minneapolis. Hon. W. G. Le Due, Hastings.
Hon. John M. Bekky, Minneapolis. Hon. John D. Ludden, St. Paul.
Capt. Russell Blakelet, St. Paul. Hon. Wm. R. Marshall, St. Paul.
A. H. Cathcart, Esq., St. Paul. Charles E. Mato, Esq., St. Paul.
J. B. Chanet, Esq., St. Paul. W. W. McNair, Esq., Minneapolis.
W. P. Clough, Esq., St. Paul. Rev. E. D. Neill, St. Paul.
Hon. Gordon E. Cole, Faribault. MiO- J- P- Pond, St. Paul.
Hon. F,. F. Drake, St. Paul. Hon. Alex. Ramsey, St. Paul.
Hon. C. E. Flandrau, St. Paul. Dan. Rohrer, Esq., Worthin^ton.
Hon. Lewis H. Garrard, Lake City. Gen. John B. Sanborn, St. Paul.
Col. Earle S. Goodrich, St. Paul. Gen. H. H. Siblet, St. Paul.
George A. Hamilton, Esq., St. Paul. R. O. Sweeney, Epq., St. Paul.
James J. Hill, Esq., St. Paul. Henry P. Upham, Esq., St. Paul.
Rt. Rev. John Ireland, D.D.,St. Paul. J. Fletcher Williams, St. Paul.
Gen. R. W. Johnson, St. Paul. Hon. H. B. Wilson, Red Wing
(511)
MEMBERS OP THE SOCIETY.
HONORABT.
George Bancroft,
Charles I. Bushneli,
Gen. J. Watts DePeyster,
Dean Dudley,
Gen. John Gibbon,
Rt. Rev. Thos. L. Grace, D.D.,
Gen. W. S. Hancock,
Dr. Franklin B. Hough,
Joseph Jackson Howard, LL.D.y
Prof. H. L. Kendrick,
Benson J. Lossing, LL.D.,
Sig. Gabriele Rosa,
Gen. H. S. Sanford,
John Langdon Sibley,
Gen. A. H. Terry,
Rt. Rev. Henry B. Whipple, D.D.,
Newport, R. 1. New York, N. Y. Tivoli, N. Y. Boston, Mass. U. S. Army. Saint Paul, Minn* U. S. Army. Lowville, N. Y. London, £ng. West Point, N. Y. Poughkcepsie, N. Y, Brescia, Italy. Jacksonville, Fla. Cambridge, Mass. U. S. Army. Faribault, Minn.
CORRESPONDING.
Lt. Gov. A. G. Archibald,
Rev. W. S. Alexander,
C. H. Baker,
Charles C. Baldwin,
Lt. Edgar W. Bass,
Dr. Fred. Theo. Berg,
Rev. Caleb D. Bradlee,
R. A. Brock,
H. Rivett Carnac,
Robert Clarke,
Lyman C. Draper, LL.D.,
(512)
Halifax, N. S. Racine, Wis. Philadelphia, Pa. Cleveland, O. U. S. Army. Stockholm, Sweden. Boston, Mass. Richmond, Va. Ghazipur, India. Cincinnati, O. Madison, Wis.
UEMBEBS OF THE SOCIETT.
513
|
Benjamin Drew, |
Washington, D. C. |
|
Daniel S. Durrie, |
Madison, Wis. |
|
Hon. T. G. Fansliuwe, |
London, Eng. |
|
H. Buxton Formun, |
44 k4 |
|
Dr. Samuel A. Green, |
Boston, Mass. |
|
J. J. Ilargraves, |
. Winnipeg, Manitoba. |
|
Capt. W. McK. Heath, |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
|
Frederic A. Holden, |
Washington, D. C. |
|
Hon. Thomas Howard, |
Winnipeg, Man. |
|
Dr. Otia Hoyt, |
Hudson, Wis. |
|
Caleb W. Iddings, |
Montana. |
|
Dr. Edward Janris, |
Boston, Mass. |
|
Lt. Alfred B. Johnson, |
U. S. Army. |
|
Horatio Gates Jones, |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
|
Hon. John Jay Knox, |
New York, N. Y. |
|
Lt. John A. Lundeen, |
U. S. Army. |
|
John A. McAllister, |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
|
Edward G. Mason, |
Chicago, 111. |
|
Col. John P. Nicholson, |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
|
Rev. Russell A. Olin, |
Watertown, N. Y. |
|
Prof. Theo. S. Par^'in, |
Iowa Citv, Iowa. |
|
Henry Phillips, Jr., |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
|
Rev. Charles Rogers, LL.D., |
London, Eng. |
|
Isaac Smucker, |
Newark, 0. |
|
Henry Stevens, |
London, Eng. |
|
Hon. James W. Taylor, |
Winnipeg, Man. |
|
Elwood E. Thome, |
New York. |
|
Rev. J. F. Tuttle, |
Crawfordsville, Ind. |
|
Col. Charles Whittlesey, |
Cleveland, 0. |
|
"NVinslow C. Watson, |
Port Kent, N. Y. |
|
LIFE MEMBERS. |
• |
|
Hon. Samuel E Adams, |
Minneapolis, Minn. |
|
Hon. C. C. Andrews, |
Saint Paul, Minn. |
|
Everett H. Bailey, |
44 44 |
|
D. A. J. Baker, |
44 44 |
|
Gen. J^es H. Baker, |
44 44 |
|
Hon. William L. Banning, |
44 44 CC 4C |
33
514
MINKESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
Hon. George L. Becker, Hon. Peter Berkey, Hon. John M. Berry, Gen. Judson W. Bishop, Capt. Russell Blakeley, Dr. Charles H. Boardman, Rev. David R. Breed, D.D., Hon. John B. Brisbin, Hon. II. W. Cannon, Henry L. Carver, Alex. H. Cathcart, Josiah B. Chaney, Frank B. Clarke, Wm. P. Clough, Thomas Cochran, Jr., Hon. Gordon E. Cole, Wm. Constans, Hon. William Crooks, Judge C. P. Daly, Gen. N. J. T. Dana, Hon. William Dawson, Lyman C. Dayton, Hon. F. R. Delano, Hon. ICIias F. Drake, Dr. James II. Dunn, D. W. C. Diinwell, Hon. E. F. Dunint, Erastus S. Edfrerton, Samuel S. Eaton, Abram S. Elfelt, Charles D. Elfelt, Henry S. Fairchild, John Farrington, " George R. Finch, Hon. Charles E. Flan<lrau, Alpheus G. Fuller, William C. Gannett, Hon. Lewis H. (iarrard, Hon. Aaron Goodrich, Col. Earle S. Goodrich, Hon. Henry Hale,
Saint Paul, Minn.
(t
t(
Minneapolis, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
i( it ii
(t ti
Stillwater, Minn. Saint Paul, Mina
it
i(
tc
44
it ti (i ti ti
Faribault, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
ft
* 4
New York, N. Y. Rock Island, 111. Saint Paul, Minn.
t 4
(4
44
Shakopce, Minn.
. Montana. Stillwater, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
44 44 4( 44 44 44
44 44 44 44 44 44 44
Yankton, I). T. Saint Paul, Minn. Lake City. Minn. Saint Paul. Minn.
44 44
4(
44
MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.
515
Georgo A. Hamilton,
Dr. D. W. Hand,
P. R. L. Hardenbcrgh,
R. F. Herscy,
James J. Hillt
Lyman D. Hodge,
A. F. Howes,
Rt Rev. John Ireland, D.D.,
Harwood Iglehart,
Gen. R. W. Johnson.
Hon. John R. Jones,
P. H. Kelly,
Hon. Norman W. Kittson,
George W. Larapson,
Hon. R. B. Langdon,
A. L. Larpenteur,
Gen. William G. LeDue,
CM. Loring,
Hon. A. R. McGill,
Hon. S. J. R. McMillan,
W. AV. McNair,
Capt. Edward Maguirc,
Hon. William R. Marshall,
J. Cole Martin,
Hon. John L. Merriam,
William R. Merriam,
Hon. Dorilus Morrison,
Hon. Henry L. Moss,
Rev. Edward D. Neill,
Capt. A. D. Nelson,
Charles N. Nelson,
Hon. R. R. Nelson,
Stanford Newel,
Daniel R. Noyes, Jr.,
James P. Pond,
Hon. John S. Prince^
Pennock Pusey,
Hon. Alex. Ramsey,
L. E. Reed,
Hon. Edmund Rice,
Hon. Henry M. Rice,
Saint Paul, Minn.
»t
4*
it ((
Stillwater, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
t(
44
Fort CoUins, Colo. Saint Paul, Minn.
4i
44
44
44
Chatfield, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
44
44
4»
44
Minneapolis, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn. Hastings, Minn. Minneapolis, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn,
(4
it
Minneapolis, Minn. U. S. Army. Saint Paul, Minn. Washington, D. C. Saint Paul, Minn.
(I
44
Minneapolis, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
44
44
Washington, D. C. Stillwater, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
i4 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44
616
IdKNXSOTA HISTOBICAL COLLECnOlVa.
Ber. J. G. Biheldaffer, D.D.,
CoL D. A. BobertBon,
Hon. L. Z. Bogen,
Hod. Dwigbt M. Sabin,
Gen. John B. 8anboni|
Edward Sawjrer,
Hon. D. B. Searl^
J. 8. Bewail,
Albert Scheffer,
D. C. Shepard,
Gen. fleniy H. Sibley,
Bobert A. Smith,
Traman M. Smith,
Hon. Heniy M. Sm^e,
John B. Spencer,
A. B. Stickney,
Greoi^ C. Stone,
Charles D. Strong,
John Summers,
Bobert O. Sweeny,
Hon. Greo. W. Sweet,
M. C. Tuttle,
Henry P. Upbam,
Capt. D. H. Valentine,
Hon. C. E. Vanderburgh,
John Esaias Warren,
Hon. Wm. D. Washburne,
Joseph A. Wheelock,
Hon. Milo White,
Joel E. Whitney,
A. H. Wilder,
Hon. Weatcott Wilkin,
Hon. Morton S. Wilkinson,
J. Fletcher Williams,
Charles L. Willis,
Hon. Harvey B. Wilson,
Prof. N. H.'winchell,
James M. Winslow,
Hon. George B. Young,
Saint Paid, MiiiiL «i it
WaterviDe, Ifinn. SftiUwmter, Mim. Saint Panl, Mimi.
Saint Cloud, IGim. Saint Panl, Minn.
i« ««
u ««
u « «i ««
«4
((
i« i< «« «« <i 11 M «« 41 <i «4 41
Sank Bapids, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
C(
C(
<t
((
Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago, 111. Minneapolis, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn. Chatfield, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
(t
it
Wells, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
<(
it
Bed Wing, Minn. Minneapolis, Minn. San Francisco, CaL Saint Paul, Minn.
KEKBER8 OF THE SOCIETY.
517
ANNUAL.
Thomas 6. Cofier^ Prof. J. J. Dow, LotuB £. Fisher, Emil Geist, M. O. Hall, George Reis, G. O. Robertson,
8aint Peter, Minn. Faribault, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
Granite Falls, Minn. Saint Paul, Minn.
t(
it
.1
I
>*^* •.
INDEX.
Aboinng (Roasters), Ojibway uame
for Dakotas, 3G, 95, 103 Achipoue (Ojibway), 398, 408 Adam, progenitor of the race, 55, 58 Adders, Ojibway name for Dakotas
and Six Nations, 72, 83 Adoption, as brothers, 269 Agriculture attempted by Indians,
40, 97
Ah-ah-wauk, clan or Totem. See
Loon. Ah-mous (Little Bee), Ojibway chief,
47, 192, 319 Aish-ke-bug-e-koshe. See Flat Mouth. Ais-sauce (Little Clam), Ojibway
chief, 47, 354 Aitkin, Alfred, killed, 484 Aitkin, Miss Matilda (Mrs. W. W.
Warren), 14, 16 Aitkin, William A.. 14, 115, 382,
383, 483, 489, 497 Aitkinsville, Minn., 384 Askiu, Mr., British agent, 373, 375 A-ke-guiow, Ojibway chief, 192, 317 Ako (or Acoault), Michael, 156 Algic race, or family, 25, 30, 31, 34,
41, 43, 60, 62, 138, 146, 147 Algonquin tribe, 30, 117, 118, 124 Allouez, Claude, 115, 116, 404, 408,
464. 471 America, how peopled originally, 60 American Board of Foreign Missions,
386 American Fur Company, 12, 140, 229 American government, mismanage- ment of Indians, 135 American people, responsibility on
them, 23, 31 Amherst, Gen., 439 AmikoueU, 403, 413 Andrd, Jesuit missionary, 408 Analogies between Hebrews and Algica, 53, 65, 67, 75 j
Ance-ke-we-naw, 38, 382, 392 Ancient mines. See ** Copper.'* Anderson, Thomas G., Pottawatomie
trader, 32 Audreani, Count, 446 Anglo-Saxons, sweeping away red
race, 23 Anguemance, Ojibway chief, 455 Animals, totems taken from, 42 An-ish-in-aub-ag, tradition about,
43 An-ish-in-aub-ag, other references,
37, 56, 57, 67, 68, 81 Apostle's Islands, 4(^5 Apple River, Wis., Indian fight at,
499 Arickarees, 160, 179 Armatinger [or Ermitinger], Eng- lish trader, 384, 460 Arrows, 277, 278 Arms and weapons, 98, 126. 8«e,
also, F\re Arms. Ashmun, Samuel, fur trader, 384 Asiatic origin of American Indians,
61, 62, 71, 72, 74 Askin, John, report of, 460 Assenipoels Lake, 423 Assineboines, 84, 138, 140, 179, 184,
189, 261, 262. 323, 356, 378, 379 Astor Fur Company, 382, 383, 384,
385 Astor, John Jacob, 383, 385, 386 Atlantic Ocean, Ojibway emigration
from, 76, 79 An-daig-we (Crow's Flesh), Ojibway
chief, 317 A-waus-e Clan, or Totem, 10, 44, 46,
99, 164, 165, 212, 256, 334 A-wish-toy-ah (Blacksmith), French
trader, 275 Ayer, Rev. Frederic, missionary, 11,
406 Ayer, Mrs. Elizabeth T., 11, 20, 407
(519)
520
INDEX.
Ba-be-Big-aun-dib-ay (or Ba-ba-see- keen-da-se). See Curly Head.
Bad River, 117, 243, 262
Badge, or Sjrmbol, 42, 45
Bagouache trading post, 41.7
Baker, B. F., post of, 487
Baldness among Ojibways, 46
Ball game (Baug-ah-ud-o-way), 201, 202, 265, 359
Balloqnet, Jesuit missionarj, 409
Bancroft, Geo., quoted, 90, 115, 116, 122
Baraga, Bishop, Ojibwaj missionary, 407
Bardwell, J. P., Ojibwaj missionary, 501.
Bariband, early trader, 411
Barrett, trader, killed, 467
Battle customs, naked, etc., 84, 244
Battle Lake, 338, 342, 360
Battles with Foxes, on Lake Supe- rior, 105 ; with Munduas, 91 ; with Iroquois, 147 ; with Odugamies, 152 ; of St. Croix Falls, 242, 245, 250, 254, 330, 351 ; of Elk River, 50, 238, 240 ; of Rum River, 50, 489 ; on Point Shagawaumikong, 103 ; at Mille Lacs, 161 ; at Point Prescott, 169, 219 ; do. at Sandy Lake, 227, 235 ; do. at Crow Wing, 230, 233, 235 ; do. at Prairie Rice Lake, 312 ; do. on Sunrise River, 328 ; do. at Willow River, 329 ; do. at Battle Lake, 338 ; do. at Pembina, 354 ; do. at Cross Lake, 351, 353 ; do. at Long Prairie, 353, 358, 359, 3()0 ; do. at Goose River, 364 ; do. on W^est- ern Prairie, 388 ; do. at Stillwater, 489 ; do. at Pokeguma, 491 ; do. at Kaposia, 493 ; do. at Shakopee, 502.
Baug-ah-ud-o-way, or ball, 201, 202, 205, 359
Bear Totem, 45, 49, 86, 87, 99, 124, 176, 185, 191, 254, 256, 206, 335
Beardaah, eccentric Ojibway, 452 453
BeaubaBsin, Hertel de, 430, 431
Beauharnois, Governor of Canada, 432
Beauleau, Bazille, 381, 382
Beaver trade, 176, 415, 418
Be-dud, Ojibway warrior, 346
Beloourt on the word Ojibway, 399
Bell, trader, 280, 289
Bell, Mrs., kills the negro '*Tom,*'
289 Belle Prairie, Minn., 11 Bellin, the geographer, quoted, 164 Be-na, Ojibway warrior, 355 Berkshire, Mass., 9 Berthot, Colin, killed by Ojibways,
411 Be-she-ke (Buffalo), 49 Beujeu de Ville^onde, 431 Bi-a-jig (Ojibway warrior), 331, 332,
334 Bi-aus-wah (Ojibway warrior), 127,
222, 236, 240, 241, 347, 349 Bi.aus-wah (No. 2), 176, 183, 185 Bible, Holy, quoted, 46, 55, 58, 59,
60, 62, 65 Bible stories, similarity to Ojibway
traditions, 70 Big Foot. See Ma-mong-e-se-do. Big Marten (Ke-che-waub-ish-ashe),
Ojibway warrior, 50, 236, 239, 240 Big Ojibway (chieO, 305 Birch bark canoes, how made, etc,
40, 473 Birch trees, 175 Bison, hunting the, 40, 97, 175, 266,
355 Black Dog (Ojibway warrior), 387 Black Dog village, 156 Black Duck (Ojibway warrior), 364 Black Feet, the, 33, 34, 68, 70 Black Hawk, 32 Black Hawk war, 136 Blood for blood, Ojibway custom,
139, 307 Blue Eagle (Ojibway warrior), 361 Bois Forts Band, 39, 45, 85, 378 Boisquillot, early trader, 413 Bonga, fur trader, 381 Bonga, (reorge, 488 Bonga, Jean, a negro slave, 488 Bonga, Pierre, 488 Bonga, Stephen, 488 Bostwick, Henry, British trader, Boucher, Marie, 427 Boucher, Pierre, 98, 403, 427 Bougainville, describe west-^^/a
posts, 429 Bourbon River, 414 Boudinot, Klias, quoted, 62 Boutwell, Rev. W. T., Ojibway tb/V
Bionary, 11, 12, 20, 62, 406, 47S,
482, 484
INDEX.
521
Boweting, Mioh. See Samii Ste.
Bbw-it-ig-o-win-in (Ojibway war- rior), 289
Bradfltreet, General, 217, 441
Brech^-dent. See Broken Tooth.
Bridger, John, at HudBon's Bay, 414
Brinton, D. G., qaoted, 42
British far traders, hire American clerks, 9
British, The, 32, 146 ; receive Ca- nada, 195 ; their influence ended by Pike, 349
Broken Tooth (Ojibway chieOi 349, 350, 365, 366, 459, 477, 494
Brother, adoption as, 269
Bruce, Ojibway half-breed, 281
Bruce, Mr., fur trader, 381
Brule, Stephen, early voyageui^, 399
Brunette, Francis, 484
Bmnett, Jean, 12, 390, 391
Brunson, Rev. Alfred, quoted, 10, 11, 14, 495
Bruske, trader, 451
Buade, Lake. See Mille Lacs,
Buffaloes. See Bison.
Buffalo (an Ojibway chieO» 464
Bug-aun-auk (Ojibway warrior), 388
Bulger, Capt., 461
Bunker Hill, Gen. Warren*s death, 9
Burial customs of Ojibway s, 72
Burning captives, 36, 82, 95, 107
Burning grass, at Elk River fight, 238
Burnt Wood River, 252
Burr, Aaron, 442
Bus-in-au-see. See Crane Totem,
Cadeau (Cadotte), Mons., 10, 212,
279 Cadillac, La Mothe, on "Hurons and
Ottawas, 405, 407 Cadillac, describes Mackinaw, 417 ;
succeeds Louvigny, 420 Cadottes, their ancestry, 10, 378 Cadotte, J. B., Sr., 10, 116, 131, 195,
210, 212, 215, 220, 279, 290, 299,
304, 334, 336, 337, 378, 381, 433,
440,448 Cadotte, Mrs. J. B., Sr., 10, 296 Cadotte, J. B., Jr., 10, 11, 213, 372,
449, 451 Cadotte, Joseph, 450 Cadotte, Louis, 490
Cadotte, Michel, Sr., 9, 10, 11, 96,
111, 131, 145, 213, 282, 299, 320,
321, 323, 324, 326, 372, 381, 384,
449 Cadotte, Mrs. Michel, Sr., 282, 296,
321 Cadotte, Michel, Jr., 372, 373, 376,
460 Cahokias, 218
Calhoun, Hon. John C, 464 Cameron, trader, 281 Canada, 31, 37, 155, 195, 368, 372,
386 Caniengas, 42 Cannibalism, among OJibways, 109,
308 Canoes, how made, etc., 40, 98, 105,
473, 288 Captives, roasting to death, 36, 82,
95, 106, 107 Cardonniere, French trader, 411 Carter, Jacques, 90
Carver, Jonathan, 442, 508
Cass, Gov. Lewis, 47, 317, 392, 462, 463, 468, 470, 471
Cass Lake, 38, 175, 178. 183, 185, 224, 225, 281, 326, 336
Catawbeta. See Broken Tooth.
Catfish Totem, 45, 86, 87, 185, 318
Catlin, George, Indian portrait pain- ter, 114, 490
Census, of Ojibwa tribe, 39
Ceremonies, Medawe, foolish, 67, 77
Cession of Canada, 378
Chabouillez, Charles, trader, 381, 451, 452
Chagouamigon, 8hagawaumikong,or La Pointe, 48, 86, 88, 91, 95,
96, 102, 103, 104, 109, 115, 116, 123, 126, 130, 132, 167, 189, 219, 221, 243, 253, 254, 280, 323, 325, 331 ; first traders at, 402, 403 ; described by Allonez, 404 ; bark chapel at, 404, 406 ; Indians at, 405 ; early notice of, 405 ; aban- doned by missionaries, 407 ; Le Sueur at, 419 ; St. Pierre at, 423 ; Luictot at, 423 ; La Ronde at, 426
Champlain, quoted, 98; his map,
400 Champlin, sailing master, 460 Chaouanou. See Shawnees. Charatte, fur trader, 382 . Chesu'e, Indian leader, 432 Che-suh-yauh, Ojibway chief, 48
522
INDEX.
Chevrottiere, Sieur de la, 408 Cheyeune River, Indian fight at, 453 Chlanokwut, Ojibway cliief, 477 Chicago, 111., 32
Chingouabe, Ojibway chief, 420, 421 Chippeway, incorrect spelling of
** Ojibway,*' which see. Chippeway (Saulteurs) River, on
Franquelin'8 map of 1688, 408 Chippeway River, Wis., 12, 38, 39,
49, 50, 129, 149, 181, 190, 192,
219, 292, 299, 319, 300, 301, 302,
304, 305, 308, 317, 320, 321, 326,
389 Chippeway City, Wis., 12 Chippeway Falls, Wis., 12 Chippeway Mills, Wis., 308 Chouart. See Groseilliers. Christineaux, 422, 424, 428 Chronology, of the Ojibways, 26 Clairvoyance among Indians, 27 C^ark, Gov., 468 Clark, Capt. Nathan, 474 Clarkson, N. Y., 12 Coats of arms (Totems), 35 Colbert, 99 Conner, Patrick, 384 Convocation of tribes at Sault Ste
Marie, 316 Conspiracy of Pontiac. See Pontiac. Copper, 40, 98, 141. 221, 392; found
by voyagers of Groseilliers, 404 ;
worked hy Indians, 404; mine near
Chagoiiaraigon, 424; superstitions
about, 472 ; early notices of, 400,
404, 471 Corbin, John Bte, trader, 145, 321,
325, 381, 382, 383. 390 Cormorant Point (Mille Lacs), 160 Cotte, trader, 381, 382, 383 Coureurs du bois, 10 Coutouse, Mons, clerk, 294, 295,
296 Crane Totem, 44, 45, 46, 47, 86, ^^,
Crow Wing River, 33, 222, 224, 229,
257, 263, 266, 275, 282, 326, 349 Crucifix, ancient, found at Bad
River, 117 Curly Head (Ba-be-sig-aun-dib-ay),
Ojibway chief, 47, 348, 349, 350,
352, 366, 469, 470, 495 Customs, analogy between Jews aqd
Ojibways, 63, 65, 67, 68, 65
D'Ablon, Jesuit missionary, 408 Dakotas, or Sioux, called '^Roasters" by the Ojibways, 36 ; their lands conquered by the Ojibways, 38; the totemic system not known among them, 43, 61 ; called "Nau- dowasewig" by Ojibways, 72 ; also as **Aboinug" (Roasters), 95 ; ig- norant of firearms, 120, 126 ; Da- kota legend of warrior slain at Crow Wing, 232 ; they attack a French trader's house, 277; attack J. B. Cadotte*s post, 283; claim to be better fighters on tlie prairin than Ojibways, 312 : various re- ferences to, 3, 43, 47, 49, 50, 61, 62, 72. 83, 84, 91, 96, 101, 102, 106, 108, 115, 120, 126, 127, i:^, 138, 140, 146, 148, 15.3, l.'iS, 156, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 176, ls% 187, 188, 193, 219, 223, 235, 242, 244, 250, 254, 267, 268, 271, 275, 280, 282, 303, 305. 308, 310, 320, 327, 331, 338, 344, 351, 354, 356, 358, 360, 364. 370, 387, 410, 42S, 476, 482, 486, 489, 491. 4!JI) Danniont, Sieur du Lusson. 10 Davenport, Col. U. S. A., 4>*3 Dead Kiver (Ne-l>c>-s«^^be), 140, 261 Dease, F. AI., trader, 465 De Bonne, Capt., 433 De Chairgny, Francois. 408 l)'p]sprit Pierre. See Radisson, De Callieres, 415
99, 124, 131, 192, 316, 317, 318, ■ Default, a trader, 450
348, 375, 392
Crawford, English trader, 460
Crees, The. See Kenistenoag.
Cresafi, chevalier, 420
Cross Lake (Sa-sub-a-gum-aw), 348
Crow Kiver, 235, 272
Crow Wing, battle of, 162
Crow Wing, mentioned, 14, 69, 178, I De Lorimer, 432
180, 217, 266, 271, 344, 345, 348, Deluge, Noaclnc, 55, 56 352, 364, 381 i De Mantlet, 413
Deity, the Ojibway idea of, 55, 59,
63, 64 De la Chaise, French priest, 414 De la Durantave, 415, 418 De la Ferte, 413
De la tour, .Jesuit missionary, 413 Delawares, 32, 56
INDEX.
52S
DenoDTille, on copper, 472
De Moramport Du Pltfssitf, 431
De Ramelia at Nepigon, 431
De Repentigny, 413
De Smet, missionary^ 68
Detroit, Mich., 32, 33, 126, 140, 153,
194, 205, 214, 216, 217, 218, 322,
32:^, 372, 384 Detroit Gazette, qnoted, 145 De Vandreuil, dispatch of, 422 D'lberville quoted, 33 Dickson, Col. Robert, 362, 363, 369,
370, 371, 460, 461, 465 Dingley, Daniel, trader, 384 Dbiease, how cured and prevented,
1(»0 Divisions and subdivisions among
Ojibways, 41 Do-daim. See Totem. Dodge, Henry, Indian Commissioner,
485 Dole, Maj., Indian commissioner,
504 Domestic and chase implements of
Ojibways, 97 Doty, James D., 462 Draper, Dr. Lyman C, quoted, 439 Dress of Ojibways, 98 Dreuilletfts, Jesuit, 408 Drew, John, fur trader, 383 Drummoud's Isle, 116 Drunkenness among Ojibways, 31,
120, 301 Duchene, trader, 382 Duchesneau, intendant of Canada,
31 Dagay, a Picard, 156 Dn Lusson, Sieur, 131, 212 Duluth, Daniel, quoted, 162; near
fc?ault Sto. Marie, 409 ; erects trad- ing post at Kamanistigua, 409 ;
descends St. Croix River, 410 ;
visits France, 410 ; memoir by,
410 ; prepares to visit Sioux, 410 ;
executes two Ojibways, 413, 414 ;
at Niagara, 415 ; erects Fort St.
Joseph, 415 ; fights the Senecas,
415 Du Qnesne, Gov. of Canada, 429,
486 Duvant, trader, 382 Dutch, in New York, 146
East Savannah River, 177, 180 Eel River, lud., 33
Elk River, 236, 238, 240 Elk River, battles at, 50, 238, 240 Ely, E. F., mission teacher, 493 Emigration of Ojibways from Asia,
74 Emigration of Ojibways from Atlantic
Ocean, 76, 79 Engelran, Jesuit missionary, 410,
411 English, Mrs. Mary (Warren), 12,
20 Esch-ke-bng-e-coshe. See Flat Mouth, Etheriiigton, Maj., 201 Etienne, Claude, 401 Execution of Indian murderer, 389
Families or clans, totemic, 34 Family register, Ojibway, 89 Family, known by badge, 42 Fasts, 64, 65, ^^>, 100 Feasts, sacrificial, 100 Ferry. Rev. William, 406, 478 Findley, trader, killed by Ojibways,
390, 393, 467 Firearms introduced among Ojil>-
ways, 36, 108, 119, 120, 138, 161,
223, 277, 278 Fire, torture by, 36, 82, 95, 106, 107 Fire, continual, kept up on La Pointe
Island, 99 Fire water, first given to Indians,
119 First post erected by whites, 137 Fishing, Ojibways lived by, at La
Pointe. 97 Flat Mouth (Esch-ke-bug-e-coshe),
Ojibway chief, 17, 19, 45, 50, 138,
178, 179, 223, 269, 275, 324, 342,
343, 349, 350, 352, 359, 360, 362,
363, 369, 459, 463, 465, 466, 475,
476, 478, 479, 480 Fletcher, Gen. J. E., Indian agent,
14 FoUes Avoines. See Menominee^, Fond du Lac, 14, 50, 81, 84, 130,
134, 158, 160, 176, 177, 252, 260,
262, 281, 282, 288, 292, 294, 295,
382, 383, 389, 392, 393 Food, how got by Ojibways, 40 Forsyths, fur traders, 380 Fort Bourbon, 429 Fort Dauphin, 429 Fort Des Prairies, 430 Fort Detroit, 201 Fort Da Quesne, 194
524
IKDSX.
Fort Erie, 218
Fort Howard, m% 874; 876
Fort Jonqniere, 429
Fort La Reine, 429
Fort Maokinaw (or MJohilhnakinac),
oaptare ot, 200, 204, 210, 218, 217,
378 Fort Niagara, 217, 416 Fort Poakoyao, 429 Fort Repentigny, 43S Fort Ripley,' 266 Fort SnelUng, 166, 865, 867, 890,
391, 474, 476, 486 Fort St. Antoine, 419 Fort St. Charlee, 429 Fort St. Croix, 411 Fort St. Joseph, 416 F6rt St. Pierre, 429 Fonroelle, Chevalier, 411 Fozee. See 0thffamu9, Vox RiTor, Wis., 82, 192, 242 France, 99, 878 Franks, a trader, 460 Franqnelin's map (1688), quoted,
155, 821, 401, 404 French (Canadian), IJbK 117, 180, . 131, 137, 141, 14i<^, 168, 164,
220, 316, 373 Prench,the name the Ojibwajrg called
them, 116 French cession of North America,
194, 195 French intermarried largely with
Ojibways, 132, 133, 195, 198 Probisher, far trader, 380 Frontenao, Coant, Gov. of Canada,
155, 163; feasts Indians, 417 ; in
oonncil with Ojibways, 421 ; cen- sures Le Boesme, 409 Fur trade, the, 9, 125, 130, 134 Fur trade, the, its palmy days, 380,
381 Fur traders on Lake Superior, 378,
44tf Fur traders, change in personnel,
385 Future life, Ojibway ideas of, 73
Gage, General, his estimate of
Rogers, 442, 443 Gallinee, a Sulpitian at Sault Ste.
Marie, 406 Game, abundance of, once, 97, 266 Game, how hunted by the Ojibways,
263
Oaliielle's wife kiUad hj OJiVwigri,
498 GarUma, Mi^r U. 8. A., 475 Gaston, Jean Baptlate, 897 Ga-ta-ge-te-gaim-iiig(VI«iix Deiert),
88 Ganltliier, trader, 881 Ganltier, Magdalene, 43fi Gaultier, Marie, 427 Ganltier, Rene, 427 Ganltier, Pierre, 427 Ganss Lake, 224 Generations, hoic ooimled hj 0]{b>
ways, 89 Gladwyn, Major, 201 God, Cqibway ideas fji, 56, 59, 6S, 64 Good Road band, JAakotaa, 156 Gorrel, Lt., 439 Graham, Ihrnoan, 465 Grand Island, 243 Grand Portage, 52, 84, 86, 129, IST*
140, 143, 177, 189, 219, 243, 962;
281, 288, 292, 821, 878, 882 Gravier, Father, 82 Great Britain, 378, 879 Great Bnifklo, OJibwaj ohief; 48, 86,
147, 221, 246 Great Clond (Keche-ann-ogaet),
Ojibway Chief, 370 Great Lake. See Winnipeg, Great Spirit, ideas of, 58, 59, 63, 64,
87, 93, 99, 117, 198, 244 Greeley, Elam, 471 Green, Rev. Beriah, 12 Green Bay, Wis., 32, 33. 37, 43, 209,
315, 331, 332 Gregory, fur trader, 380 Gray Iron's Band, Dakotas, 156 Groseilliers, early explorer, 401, 402,
403, 407, 414 Gros Ventres, the, 178, 179, 181.
261 Gulf of Mexico, 279 Gull Lake, 14, 38, 117, 178. 180, 224,
263, 266, 349, 352, 366, 367 Gull River, 224
Hainanlt, Elixabeth, 401
HainauU, Madeleine, 401
Hale, Horatio, quoted, 42
Hall, Rev. Sherman, missicnarj,
406, 464 Hanks, Lt. Porter, 460 Harmer, Fort, 32 Harris, early trader, 450
INDEX.
525
Harrisse, editor of Da Lath's letter,
410 Hartford, Conn., 9 Haslet, Colonel, 444 Hawlej, far trader, 382 Hay River, Wis., 313, 320 Hays, I. P., Indian agent, 14 Healing sick, Ojibway plan, 100 Heaven, Ojibway idea of, 73 Hebrews, the, 53, 65, 67, 75 Hennepin, Father, 116, 155, 156,
162 Henry, Alex., trader, 99, 181, 196,
204, 213, 215, 217, 221, 378, 441,
444 Henry, his work qaoted, 10, 256,
279, 280, 290, 293 Henry (of Northwest Company),
292, 450, 454 Heraldry, European, totemio in cha- racter, 35 History of Ojibways known only five
centuries, 76 Holcomb, Wm., 492 Hole-in-day, elder, 47, 353, 354 Hole-in-day, younger, 49 Hbliday, John, trader, 382, 467 Holliday, Wm., trader, 392 Holmes, Major, 461 . Howard, Captain^ 442 Howe, General, 444 Hudson Bay Company, 70, 138, 189,
279, 349, 380, 381 Hughes, killed at Red Lake, 456,
458 Haron, Lake, 80, 99, 147, 194, 196,
199 Hurons, tribe of, 116, 144, 400, 405,
407
I-anb-aus, Ojibway chief, 165, 335 Illinois tribe, 33, 116, 218, 406 Improvidence of fur traders, 11 Indian race of U. S. disappearing,
23 Indian Territory, 32 Indians, their summer customs, 251 Indians misrepresented as morose,
133 Initiation into the Medawe rites.
See Aferiawe. Intermarriage between whites and
Ojibways, 195, 255, 325, 385 Intermarriage between Dakotas and
Ojibways, 158, 164, 171, 219, 270
Interpreter, J. B. Cadotte's valae, 116, 293
Iowa, Sacs and Foxes cede lands, 32
Iron River, 426
Iroqaois, the, 42, 146, 147, 148, 280
Iroqaois Point, battle of, 403
Irving, Washington, 26
Islands, Ojibways occupy for safety, 187
Isle aux Outards, 214
Isle de Tour, or St. Michel, 321
Isle Drummond, 372
Isle la Pointe. See Chagouamigon,
Isle la Ronde, 405
Isle St. Michel, 405, 406
Isle Royale, 99
Israel, ten lost tribes of, 62, 67, 71, 72
Israelitish customs similar to Ojib- way, 63, 65, 67, 68, 75
Jefferson, Thomas, censure of La
Come, 429 Jenette [or Jamett], Lieut., killed
at Mackinaw, 205, 440 Jesuit Relations quoted, 32 Jesuit missions, 26, 57, 113, 114,
123 Jesuits and beaver trade, 414 Jews. See Hebrews. Jobin, trader, killed, 420 Johnson, Sir Wm., 4, 210, 217, 218,
220, 398, 438 Johnson, John, 254, 382, 446, 447,
448, 460, 493 Joliet, Sieur, 408 Joseph, a French trader, 141 Jump River, 301
Ka-dow-aul>e-da. See Broken Tooth,
Ka-gua-dash, Ojibway chief, 335
Ka-nim-dum-a-win-so, Ojibwa chief, 91
BCa-ka-ke (Hawk), Ojibway chief, 49, 193
Kaministigoya, or Kaminlstiquia, 292, 422, 423
Kane, Paul, an artist, 69
Kansas, 32
Kaposia, 156 : battle of, 492 ; band, Dakotas, 156
Kaskaskias, the, 218
Kay, early trader, 450
Keating, historian of Long's Expe- dition, 406
526 - INI
Ke-che-aiiii-o-g:aat (Oreat Cloud),
Ojibwaj- ohief, 370 Ka-Dhe-man-e^o (Oreal Spirit), C4 So-che-ne-inli-jaiiili, Ojibway chief,
131. 132, 316 Ke-ohe-pnk-wai-wih Lake, Wia., 314 Ea-cha-waali-keeuh. See Grtal
Buffalo. Ke-clie-vsub-iah-Mh. See BigMar-
Kewajnokwot, 467 Kuweenaw, 412, 424, 427 Ke-dag-a-be-aliBW (Speckled Ljni),
Ojibway chief, 2a5, 319 Keeab -Ice-man (Slmrpened Stone),
Ojibway chief, 48, 192, 318, 319,
325, 372, 375, 391 Ke-niB-teD-o-ag. nr Eeniatnno, the
CrBes, 33, B4, 13G, 138, 139, 140,
17S, 180, 1S4, 185, 189, 261, 262, " 323, 337, 35i!, 378, 379 Kitk, Sir JohD, 401 Ki-yuk-Ba Band, Dakotai, 1S6 Eoifu Lake, 172, 223, 33S Knits Kiver, 181 Kuk-ko-wa-on-aQ-ing (L'Anoe), 243
LaoCoutereill''Cl.akeOttaway),Wi 10, 39, 191, 193, 2i'3, ^94, 299. 300, 301, 305, 310, 314, 318, 319, 320, 321. 323, 324, 32j, 381, 3(>2, 3S3, 384. 390
La Cloch,- Inland, 19G, 430
Lac (lu Klanibeaii, Wis.. 10. 47, 191. 192, 193, 299, 300, 301, 314, 317, 318. 319, 326, 382, 3B3, 384, 389, 391
Lac du Fl.imbcan Rand, 43, 192
Lao la I'ollc. 6uu I'rairie Rice lAike.
La Come, <le !^t. Lqc. notics of, 429
La Coriie, th
Lake ot the Woods, 37, 256 ; trading
post on, 428; masBacre at, 428 Uke Pepin. 156, 164, 303, 390, 391 Lake Superior, 4, 9, 10, 11. 25. 37, 38. 40, 4G, 52, 81, m. 56. fi5. 9S, 99. 115, 116, 123, 124, 130, 137, 138, 141, 147, 155, 157 163, 16G, 183, 185, 189, 190, 133, ]9S. 209. 210, 219, 25i 262, 2S1 ■1^\ 292, 304, 317, 318, 321, 325. 331, 344, 348. 368, 369, 372, 3Tti, 37b, 379, 381, 389, 392
460 Langnages. hov differing, 34 Lanmaii, Charles, quoted, 114 La NdDh, St. Kobertel, 423, 424 L'Auae Bay, 86 U Plant!-, 432
La Fointe, or Chagonamigoo, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 38, 48, 52, 79, 81, 8«, 90, 127, 131. 191, 192, 193, 195, 210, 218, 219, 221, 243, 252, 259, 282, 3<K), 317, 321, 324, 325, 326, 372, 383. 384, 393
«Cn
r, 460
La Crosse, 32
Lac Shalao. 191, 294, 314, 319
La Portiin«, 412
l.a llarpH, Bernard de, quoted. 163
Lahontan, vtsits Saiilt Sti>. Mnrie,
416; bums Fort St. Joseph, 417 I,a Jonqniere. Got. of Canada, 433 Lake Krte, 247 Lake Michif-an. 82, 149, 192, 199,
33! Lake of Tvo Mounlatiis, Cannda,
LaPoi
e hai
La I'oiiite Island. 96, ^^, 101. 10C>_
104, lOfi, Hi8, loft, 110. 111. 11!S—
121.126,140, 141. 405,406,4* —
431, 447. 463, 4M, 4!14 La Hoinie town, 117, 119, 124, l-^:^-
177 LaPointeilii Si. Esprit, 405 La Itondu faihily. 420 La Ronde IbIaliJ. 405 La RoiiiJit, Sii'ur, at Chftgoiiami »:^n.
426 ; seeks for copper. 426, -.^7;>,
builds sniliiig-vi-Ksel on Lakt^ ^g.
pi'rinr. 42<< : aiekn^ss of. 42& La Ronde, h^sif^n. 426 La Roque, trader. 303, 304 La Salle, quol.-d. 156 ; at Panlt .«(,
Mirie, 409; uienttoDi Ojibwin'
410 b'af Lnke. 338, 360. 370 L.'nf River. 282, 287. 326, 370 Lc IkMriie (Bohesnie), a lay Jnnil. pd by Got. Fronteiilr, ^W Le ](ud-ee. Ojibway warrior. 313,
314
!Li'e, .Arthur. ufVa., 4
INDEX.
527
Leech Lake, 3, 11, 17, 3«, 39, 49, 50,
175, 178, 183, 184, 185, 224, 225,
25tJ, 257, 2G2, 2G3, 271, 281, 282,
288, 292, 324, 320, 336, 343, 350,
3U9, 371, 37ti; Pike visits, 458;
Boutwtai, do., 478, 482; Nicollet,
do., 482 Le France,. Joseph, visits Winnipeg,
428 Legardeur, Jacques, Siear St. Pierre,
428 Legardenr, Loais. See Repentigntf, Legardear, Paul, Sieur St. Pierre,
428 Legend of slain warrior at Crow
Wing, 232 Legend of Yellow Hair, 269 Legend. See also Tradition, Legislature, Minna., Warren elected
to, 14 Le Maire, murdered by Ojibways,
411 Lenni Lenape, the, 56, 57 Lesley, Lt., 440 Le Sueur, the explorer, 157, 162,
163, 419, 420 Libby, a whiskey seller, 489 Libraries, public, want of, in Minna.,
17, 26 Little Crow, or "Big Thunder," a
Dakota chief, 492, 493 Little Eddy, Ojibway warrior, 393 Liquor drinking among Indians,
301 Lodge, council, how built, 51 Lodge, medicine, 66, 77 Longeuil, Gov., addresses Ojibways,
424 Longevity, more common formerly
than now, 101, 102 Long Knife, Indian name for Yan- kees, 127 Lon glade. See Tjanqlade, Ix)ng Lake, Wis., 191, 243 Long Prairie, Minn., 266, 267, 270,
272. 344, 352, 359 I.oon Totem. 45, 46, 48, 86, 87, 88,
89, 127, 317 Louvigny at Mackinaw, 417
McGillis, Hugh, of N. W. Co., 381,
450 McGillivary, Wm.. 292, 380. 477 McKenzie, Sir Alex., 290, 292, 293,
294, 380
McKenzie, R., 292
McKenney, T. L., 445, 447
McMahon, surgeon, U. S. A., 475
McTavish, trader, 3S0
Mackinaw (orMicliilimackinac), 11, 12, 14, 124, 126, 134, 141, 147, 194, 200, 214, 215, 216, 226, 259, 262, 280, 288, 355, 369, 372, 384, 386, 392; on mainland, described by Catlillac, 417 ; captured by Ojib- ways, 205, 439 ; occupied by En- glish, 442
Mackiuaw Island, captured by the English, A.D. 1812,459
Ma<;on8, a trader, 412
Madeline Island, 321
Magruder, Lt. W. B., 502
Maheengun, Wolf Totem. 45, 49, 319
Ma-mong-e-se-do (Big Foot), Ojib- way chief, 52, 195, 218, 219, 220, 243, 248
Manabosho, Ojibway deity, 27, 56, 57, 79, 102
Mandans, the, 181
Manitowish, 300
Map, of Lake Superior (1670-71), 405 ; of N. Bellin (1744), 405, 426 ; of DeL'Isle, 405,424; of Veran- derie, 428
Maple Sugar, 186, 263
Margry papers, quoted, 10
Marquette, 116, 407
Marriage, forbidden between same totems, 35, 42
Marten Totem, 45, 50, 51, 86, 87, 94, 130, 159, 318
Martin, Abraham, pilot, 401
Masonic order, 42, 66
Massacre at Fort Mackinaw, 204
Matchikiwish, Ojibway chief, 216, 439, 440
Maumies. See Miands,
Mayflower, the, 9, 30
Mde wakantons, the, 156, 162, 223, 232, 359
Measles, the, 335
Medal, golden, given to Ke>che-ne- zuh-yauh, 317
Medawe rite, 46. 55, 56, 64, 66, 67, 77, 99, 100, 191, 193, 265, 322
Medawegis,sacred emblem of Medawe rite, 78
Medicine Bag, Ojibway, 68, 77, 323
Medicine, grand (Medawewin), 66
Medicine lodge, described, 77
528
INDEX.
Medicine men, healing sick, 100;
poisoners, 109, 270, 324 Memoir of W. W. Warren, 9 Menard, Jesait missionary, 404 Mendota, Minn., 156, 162 Menominees, 33, 371 Menominee River, 304, 309 Merman, a Dakota symbol, 43, 165 Miamis (Omaumees), 33, 162, 218 Michigan, 32, 37, 369, 386 Michilimackinao. See Mackinaw, Migrations of the Ojibways, 91 Mille Laos (Lake Buade), 49, 50, 155,
157, 159, 160, 163, 165, 176, 178,
180, 223, 243, 335, 345, 351, 359 Milwankee, Wis., 32 Milwaukee River, 33 Min-ah-ig- wan-tig (Drinking Wood),
Ojibwajr warrior, 224 Mines, ancient. See Copper, MinnesoU, 14, 17, 26, 37, 38, 137,
155, 292, 379, 386 Minnesota Historical Society, 18 ;
officers and members of, 513 Minnesota Historical Collections,
qnoted, 369 Minnesota River, 156, 185, 232, 236,
.365, 367 Min-ne-weh-na, Ojibway chief, 199,
200, 206, 207, 210 Mis - ko - miin - e - dou3 (Little Red
Spirit), Ojibway chief, 318 Missions, A. B. C. F. M., 140 Mission school at Mackinaw, 386 ;
at Pokeguma, 491 Missisaukie, Straits of Niagara, 214 Mississippi River, 108, 153, 155, 156,
157, 163, 175, 185, 189, 191, 210,
212, 219, 222, 225, 226, 227, 228,
235, 242, 247, 263, 270, 279, 280,
292, 299, 305, 317, 328, 331, 344,
355, 379 Mississippi River band, 39 Missouri River, 3, 32. 68, 160, 178,
179, 181, 261 Mixed bloods, 279, 386, 393 Moccasin, peculiarity of the Ojibway,
36 Mogras, Jacques, 408 Mon-ing-wun-a-kaun-ing. See La
Point e Island. Moningwunakauning, meaning of
the name, 9 (J Mon-so-ne (Moose Tail), Ojibway
chief, 318, 327
Mon-fio-bou-dah, Ojibway chief, 391, 392
Montcalm, Gen., 195, 220
Montreal, 31, 80, 105, 116, 126, 134, 143, 144, 145, 181, 194, 195, 205, 209, 215, 220, 221, 252, 279, 280, 290, 378, 381
Morals of the Ojibways, deteriorat- ing, 101
Moreau, Pierre, 408
Morrison, Allan, 228, 381
Morrison, Wm., 115, 145, 381, 382, 383,431
Moose, how caught, 97, 176, 253
Moose totem, 50, 51, 86, 87
Mounds, supposed, only earth wig- wams, 162, 179, 180, 182
Mourning among Ojibways, 264
Mousoneeg, family of Totems, 50
Mud Lake, near Ft. Snelling, 487
Muk-ud-a-shib (Black Duck), Ojib- way chief, 50
Mundamin, Indian com, 97
Munduas, the, 50, 91
Mun-o-min-i-ka-she (Rice Maker), 49, 335
Murder, among Indians, 139
Murder of a French trader and family, 141
Murder of four, white men, 390
Murderer, how treated by the Hu- rons, 144
Murderer, Indian, punished
Muscalonge, 175
Musk-keeg-oes, or Swamp People, 33, 45, 85, 378
Na-gu-on-a-be (Feathers end), Ojib- way chief, 49, 165, 335
Naudoways, or Naudowaig (Iro- quois), 83, 119, 146, 147, 148
Kaudowasewug, or Adders (Dako- tas), 72, 83
Negro, slaves, emancipation of, 23
Neill, Rev. E. D., officiates at Mr. Warren's funeral, 18; foot-notes by, 23, 31, 32, 33, 42, 69, 95, 98, 99, 115, 116, 117, 131, 145, 148, 156, 157, 162, 164, 172, 181, 247, 256, 279, 281, 317, 321, 369 ; his history quoted, 156, 292. 369 ; chapter on Ojibways and the fur- trade, 395 to 509
Nelson's River, 414
Nemaha River, 33
INDEX.
529
Nemitsakouat, or Bois Brule River, 410
Nepigon, 412, 417, 426, 431
Nepis^siugs, 41)3
New York City, 18
New York oolonial docamenta quoted, 32,247
Niagara, 194
Niagara surrendered by French, 438
Niagara, straits of, 214, 21()
Nicollet, J^an, early explorer, 400, 423, 42«
Nic*»llet, Jean N., U. S. Geologist, quoted, 32, 185, 257, 308, 342, 357, 482, 483
Nicollet, Margaret, 428
Nig-gig (the Otter), Ojibway war- rior, 325
No-din (Ojibway chieQ, 335
No-ka (or Bear Totem), 49
No-ka, Ojibway chief, 235, 236, 266
Nolin, Aagustin, 381, 460
Nonen, wife of Wa-wa-tam, 214
Northern Ojibways, language of, 85 ; less warlike than others, SH
Northwest County of Montreal, 181, 288, 290, 291, 294, 321, 349, 350, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 450, 452, 461
Novelle, deputy at Mackinaw, 432
Nnb-o-beence (Little Broth), 389
Nug-an-ash, Ojibway warrior, 3G1
Nug-aun-ub (Sitting-ahead), Ojib- way chief, 50, 130
Numakagun River, 243, 300, 326
Oakes, Charles H., trader, 384
Oak Grove band, Dakotas, 156
Oak Point, 326
Ochunkraw. See itlnnebagoes,
O-dah-waug. See Oltaways,
Odish-quag-um-eog, 33
Odjibwa, how pronounced, 35
Odugameeg. See Odugamies.
Odugamies (Foxes), 32, 33, 95, 148, 152, 154, 162, 176, 180, 190, 191, 193, 242, 244, 245, 246, 247, 250, 331, 405
Oge-mah-mi-jew (Chiefs Mountain), 343
Ogilvys, fur traders, 380
Ohio River, 32
Ojibway, supposed meaning, 36, 398; how correctly spelled, 37 ; etymo- logy of the name, 82 ; how derived,
34
107 ; name usually spelled ''Chip- pewa,»» 37 Ojibways, the : the principal branch of the Algic race, 31 ; the origin of, 54, 55, 61 ; their chronology, 90 ; cause of emigration from the Atlantic, 82 ; where located, 37 ; minor divisions into bands, 38, 39, 83 ; their p<mition, numbers, etc. (1851), 35 ; the northern division, language, etc., 85 ; general ac- count of (in 1^51), 29 ; total popu- lation 20,000, 38 ; their domestic implements, 97 ; did not work cop- per mines, 99 ; found a town on La Pointe Inland, 96 ; perpetual fire kept up there, 99 ; lived there by fishing, 97 ; their dispersion from La Pointe, 108, 110, 121; prevented from joining Pontiao, 211 ; loyal to the U. S. in 1812, 368 ; had firearms prior to the Dakotas, 120 ; make peace truces with the Dakotas, 2<)7 ; are better fighters in the forest than on prairie, 312 ; theirchauginghabitH, 25 ; did they practise cannibalism, 109 ; partial to the French pe*^ple, 133, 134; learn<Hi custom of tor- ture from the Foxes, 106 ; inhabit a country of lakes, rivers, and forests, 39 ; their totemic system, 34; burial ritt^ of, 72; customs of mourning, 264 ; have clear idea of creator, 63 ; their religious cus- toms, 100 ; belief in future state, 72 ; their morals once purer than now, 101 ; their final extinction inevitable, 72 ; early mention of, 398 ; at Chagouamigon Bay, 403 ; defeat Iroquois at Lake Superior, 404; in 1670 at Sault Ste. Marie, 406 ; in council with St. Lusson, 408 ; settle at Chagouamigon, 408, 420 ; at peace in 1679 with Sioux, 410 ; executwi for killing French- men, 411 ; confer with Frontenac, 420 ; addressed bv Gov, Longeuil, 427 ; census of, A. D. 1736, 427 ; at Ticonderoga, 432 ; at Niagara, 438 ; capture Mackinaw, 439 ; confer with Sir W. Johnson, 440 ; with Gen. Bradstreet, 441 ; visit to Johnson Hall, 444 ; attack Sioux A. D. 1766, 445 ; pillagers, 446 ;
530
INDEX.
fight Sioux A. D. 1798, 452 ; en- gagement at Cheyenne River, 453; at Tongae River, 454 ; ceusas in 1806, 459; fight in 1818 with Sioux, 461 ; visit Agent Taliaferro in A. D. 1820, 465 ; council of 1823 with Sioux, 465 ; make a treaty at Prairie du Chien, 467 ; at Fond du Lac, 470 ; visit Fort Snelling, 474 ; attacked in 1827 by Sioux, 475 ; kill captured Sioux, 475 ; dance the peace dance, 476 ; skir- mish in 1832 with Sioux, 478 ; of 1833 with Sioux, 482 ; attacked at Pokeguma, 491 ; in 1883 in Min- nesota, 507 ; in Wisconsin, 508 ; in Michigan, 508 ; in Canada, 509
Okeenakeequid, 472
Omaumee, name given Mille Laos Indians, 162
0-maum-eeg. See Maimis,
0-mig-aun-dib (Sore Head), Ojibway chief, 171, 172
Omunomineeg. See Menominees,
0-mush-kas-ug, war on the, 84
0-mush-ke-goag, or Swampies. See Muek'keeg-oes,
Ontonagon River, 99, 104, 190, 221, 389, 393
Origin of red race, 54
Origin of red race possibly from Asia, 61
Origin of theOjibways, 54, 55, 61
Osage River, 33
0-sau«,'-ees (Saiikies, or Sacs), 32, 33, 14G, 153, 154, 201, 202, 218, 242, 247. 2<j5, 405
Osh-ka-ba-wis, pipe bearer, 318
Otter, sacred, said to have built sand bar at mouth of St. Louis River, 81
Otter Tail Creek, 360
Otter Tail Lake, 38, 39, 287, 356, 300, 301
Ottaway, origin of name, 82
Ottawa Lake. See Lac Coutereille.
Ottawa River, 146, 147
Ottawas (Outawas), the, 31, 43, 69, 81, 82. 83, 116, 124, 130, 146,149, 200, 200, 218, 247, 355, 369, 372, 405, 407, 413, 416, 417 ; leave Chagouamigon, 407 ; the band Du Sable, 413 ; the band Nassaona- kiton, 405 ; the Sinagos baud, 405, 413
Ounangisse, Chief of Pottawatoinies,
32 Ousakis. See Osaugies. Outagamis. See Odugamies. Outuacs. See Ottawas.
Pachot, Sieur, visits the Sioux, 424
Pangman, 380
Paris, 98, 99
Pauotigoueieuhak, or Ojibways, 397
Patridge or Pen a River, 275
Peace truces between Dakotas and
Ojibways, 188, 267, 304, 366, 476 Pegauo. See Black/eet, Pelican Lake, Wis., 192, 309 Pelican Lake band, 315 Pembina, 184, 185, 189, 287, 288,
354, 358 Pembina River, early posts at, 452,
454 Pembina band, 40, 48 Pena or Patridge River, 275 Penalty, death, for marrying same
totem, etc., 42 Penn, Wm., 30 Peorias, the, 218 Pere or Perray River, 411 Per6, the voyagenr, 411, 413 Perrault, old trader, 450 Perrot, Nicholas, quoted, 148, 155,
157, 408, 411, 418 Philadelphia, 30 Pickette, trader, 280 Pictured Rocks, 86, 323 Pigeon River, 52, 83, 137, 262, 292,
378, 370 Pike, Lieut. Z. M., 349, 457 Pike's Rapids, 349 Pilgrim fathers, 30 Pillagers, band of, 17, 39, 40, 45,
138, 178, 256, 259, 260, 270, 27.1,
283, 336, 344, 349, 369, 376, 3bl,
446 Pillage Creek, 259 Pine River, 180 Pineries, Wisconsin, 40 Piouabic, meaning of, 426 Piouabic River, 420 Pipe bearer, Blackfeet, dS ; Ojibway,
318 i Pipestone quarry, 111 ! Platte River, 359, 364 Plymouth, Mass., 30 Plympton, Major, U. S. A., 487, 488 Pocahontas, 30
INDEX.
531
Po-da-waud-um-eeg. See Pottawa-
toinies. Poinsett, U. S. Sec. of War, 490 Point Douglas, 1G7, 173 Point Iroquois, how named, 147 Point Prescott, 1G7 Poisoning for revenge by medicine
men, 270, 324 Pokeguma, 105, 171, 172, 175, 320,
335 ; mission at, 491 ; battle of,
491 Pokaguma Falls, 225, 320 Pomme de Terre River fight, 401 Pond, fur trader, 380 Pond, Rev. Gideon II., 486 Pond, Rev. S. W., 487 Pontiac, 149, 199, 200, 210, 214, 218,
439, 440 Poor, Sir IMward, 69 Portage, 38 Pothier, a trader, 460 Pottawatomiea, 32, 43, 81, 82, 83,
124, 140, 218, 309, 372 Potter, Nathaniel, visits Ojibwavs,
442 Poux, contraction for Ponteaoutin,
32 Pow hat-tan, 30 Prairie du Ghien, 317, 390, 391 Prairie portage, 281, 287, 288 Preston, English ambassador at
Paris, notici^ Groseilliera and Ra-
disson, 414 Prairie Rice Lake, 308, 310, 313 Price, Mrs. E. B., 18 Prices paid for beaver, 415 Priesthood among Ojibwajs. See
MecUrine Men. Prophet, the Shawano, 118, 320, 321,
323 Prophet, Ojibwa, prediction bj,
117 Puk-wah, Rice Lake, 180 Puk-wah-wan-uh, 119
Quebec, 30, 31, 99, 116, 122, 123, 126, 130, 134, 144, 194, 195, 220, 378
Que-wis-aus (Little Boy) Lake, 225
Rabbit Lake, Minn., 38 Race, human, origin of, 60 Radi^son, Sieur, notice of, 401 ; visit to France, 414
Radisson, Margaret, 401
Rainy Lake, 38, 84, 184, 185, 189, 202, 281, 288, 427
Ramsey, Gov. Alex., gives medal, 67 ; on word Ojibway, 399 ; visits the Ojibway country, 499 ; holds council at Fort Snelling, 500
Randin, Frontenac's engineer, visits extremity of Lake Superior, 409
Raratoans (People of the Falls), 90
Rasle, a voyagcur, 281, 284
Red Cedar Lake, 191
Red Cedar River, Wis. (or Meno- minee), 309, 320
Red Lake, Minn., 38, 178, 185, 189, 281, 287, 289, 343, 350, 363, 364; first marked on a map, 428 ; trader killed at, 456
Red Lake band, 40, 180
Red race disappearing, 23, 31
Red race, their character not under- stood, 24
Red race to be ranged under several types, 29
Red race, origin of, 54
Red race, tradition regarding crea- tion of, 58
Red race, did they descend from the Hebrews ? 62
Red River, 38, 40, 47, 50, 138, 185, 261, 279, 281, 287, 288, 337, 355, 350, 358, 362, 364, 378, 428
Red post, or stake, striking the, 77, 144 332
Red Wing, Minn., 156, 303
Red Wood River, 150
Reindeer Tcdem, 50, 52, 219
Relationship^, in totemio system, 42
Religion. See Jdedawt.
Religion, 63, 72, 322
Religion, Christian, brought to Ojib- way s, 57
Renards, or Foxes. See Odugamies.
Renville, trader, 366
Repontigny, Chevalier de, at Macki- naw, 430 ; notice of, 433 ; at Sault Ste. Marie, 433 ; his fort, 4:34, 435; service in French and English war, 437; subsequent life, 437, 438
Revenge, blood for blood, 84
Revolutionary war, 9
Reyanlm, trader, 280
Bice, Hon. Uenrj M., gives mana- soript, 3; conducts treaty at Food do L»o,- 14, 497 ; «ids Mr. Warren Id bis work, IS ; furnislieB mala- rial for Warren'B memoir, 20
Bice Lakes, 162, 164, 1(>5, 171, 172, 335
Rice makers, band, 38
Rice, wild, people. See Menomtneet,
Rice, wild, gathering, 40, 175, ISS, 266, 309
Rites, of Medawe. See Medawt.
Roasting captives, 36, 82, 9S, 106, 107
Roberta, trader, 280
Roberts, Capt. Charles, 460
Robertson, Col. D. A., 15, 20
Rock Island, 32
Rooky Mountains, 33
Rogera. MaJ. Robert, early lite, 442 ; at Mackinaw, 442 ; bis intrigne, 443,444
Roletu, trader, 460
Rousaaiit, trader, 381, 382, 383
Bum River, 155, 160, 162, 223, 230, 327
Russell, Jeremiah, 491
Sacs. See Osaagea. Sacs and Foxes, 32, 33 Sacrifices, human, 109 Siginaw Bay, 213 Saint Anthony's Falls,
, 232,
Saint Clair, Gov. Arthur, 32
Saint Croix, department, 10
Saint Croix Falls, 244
Saint Croix Falls, liattle at, 242
Saint Croix Lake, 381
Saint Cruix River, 36, 39, 49, 50, 97,
126, 129, 130, 149, IGO, 163, IM,
lUO ie7, 17S, 242, 243, 292, 300,
317, 321, 326, 327, 321), 331, 335;
explored, 410 ; why named, 419 ;
fort, 411 Sainl Germain, British interpreter,
369, 372, 381 Saint Joseph, Mich., 32, 33 Saint Joseph's River, 209 Saint Lawrence River, 76, 81, 119,
124, 145, 146. 147 Saint lyiuis River, 81, 115, 130, IBO,
2S1, 2rt8, 292 Saint LuBson, Sionr, 408
Saint Pierre, Jacqaea Legardenr,
428, 433, 437 Saint Pierre, Marie, 429 Saint Pierre River, sappoeed origin
of n.
>, 419
Sandy Lake, 3, 38, GO, 91, 130, 176, 177, 160, 183, 185, 222, 224, 225, 227, 240, 243, 248, 261, 262, 263, 270, 272. 281, 283, 287, 288, 292, 344 345, 348, 352, 358, 365
Band; Lake band, 48
Saasaba, OJibway chief, 462
Saukiea. See Otaugtt*.
Sauks. See Otaagtat.
Sauk Lake, 272
Sauk Rapids, 19, 259
Saulteaui, "FallKpr>ople," 123,163
Sault Ste. Marie, 10, 37, 38, 47, 79, BO, SI, 83, 86, 87, 68, 96, 106, IlC, 123, 126, 129, 130, 131, 137, 141. 145, 147, 177, 189. 192, 194, SIO, 212, 214, 215, 317, 221, 226, 243, 250, 259, 280, 261, 2S8, 318, 323, 335, 372, 362, 392, 393; when named, 397; miasion at, 1669, deflcribud in 1670, 406; cooncil al, in 1671, 408 ; Sioux killed at, 408 ; visilL-d by Tonty, 409 ; visited by La Sallo, 409; Ojibnavs at, executed, 414; visited by Lahon- lan, 416; abandoned, 417; Ojib. ways in 1736 there, 427; alteni)>t lo raise whc.it at. 436, 437 ; Ke- peini-ny at, 4:15 ; Lt. Turner, U.
Saul du
t, 4U0
nhen named, ;
Sayer, John, trader N. W. Co., 115,
451 Schoolcraft. H. R., 26, 30, 35, 52,
56, 87, 246, 251, 257, 448, 467,
471,475,478,484 Schoolcraft, Mrs., 255 Scolding wives (Ojibway), 336, SSS Sea of the West, trading distrii;.
422,429 Secret societies, tolemlt', 42 Selkirk's selllt-mi-nt, 70, :156 Seminoln war. 136 Sample, (ioveruor of Selkirk's wl-
■my, 381, 4H1 Scnet'oa, the, 42
INDEX.
533
ShadawiBh (Bad Pelican), Ojibwaj
chief, 192, 317, 318 Shakopee, Minn., 156 Shakopee, battle of, 502 Shagawaumikong. See Chagouami-
gon. Shappa (Beaver), Yancton chief,
358, 359, 362, 363, 364 Shawakeshig, Ojibway warrior, 50,
362, 363 Shawanos. See Shawnecs. Shawano prophet. See Prophet. Shawnees, the, 32, 218 Shawnnoag. See Shawanaa, Shaug*un-ush, or British, 195 Shell River, 164
She-se-be, Ojibway warrior, 346, 352 Shin-ga-ba-wos-sin, Ojibway chief,
47, 319, 392, 445, 462, 470 Shin-goob, or »* Balsam," 50, 130 Shing-wauk, or Little Pine, 462 Shoneyah, or "Silver," Ojibwav
chief, 165, 335 Shokpedan, or Shakopee, Dakota
chief, 156 Shosh-e-man, or "Snow Glider,"
Ojibway chief, 334 Sibley Lake, 224
Silver crosses sold by traders, 439 Sioux. See Dakofas, Sisaetons, the, 168, 266, 352, 304,
359 Six Nations of New York, 30, 83,
146, 148, 217 Smallpox, how introduced among
Ojibways, 260, 261, 344 Smith, Capt. John, 30 Snake River, 243, 246 Snelling, Col., U. S. A., 474 Snelling, H. H., 475 Snelling, W. J., 476 Snelling, Fort, 474, 476, 485 Solomons, Ezekiel, British trader,
209 Song-uk-um-ig, or "Strong Ground,"
Ojibway chief. 47, 353, 354, 470 Spiritualism among Ojibways, 27 Spontaneous Man, Ojibway name for
themselves, 56 Strong Ground. See Song-ttk-ttm-ig. Stillwater, Minn., 11 ; Indian fight
at, 4S9 ; scalp dance at, 499 Stirling, General. 444 Stuart, Robert, 494 Sturgeon, 175
Sucre, le (Sweet), Ojibway chief,
231, 376, 452, 454, 458, 459 Sugar trees, 175, 263 Suk-a-aug-un-ing, 315 Summer life among red race, 251,
264 Sunrise River, 327, 328 Sunrise River, battle on, 328 Swamp People, or "Swampies."
See Musk-keeg-oes, Sweet. See Sucre , le. Swan River, 384 Swearing unknown in Ojibway
tongue, 64 Symbol, family, 42
Tabushaw, Ojibway warrior, 355
Taliaferro, Major, agent for Sioux, 465, 474, 476, 483
Talon, intendant, 99
Tartaric origin of Dakotas, 62
Taupine, Sieur de la, 408
TecumHeh, 118, 324, 372
Tennessee River, 32
Tepees, or wigwams, 158
Ticonderoga, Ojibways at, 432
Theology of the Ojibways, 27. See also Medawe.
Thief River, 326, 356
Thompson, D., astronomer and geo- grapher of Northwest Company, explores the Red River of the north, 151 ; visits Red Lake, 451
Thunder Bay, 84
Tobacco raised by Gros Ventres, 179
Tom, a negro engayi, 289
Tongue River, fight at, 454
Tonty, Henry, 409, 415
Torture of prisoners, 82, 106, 107, 128, 188
Totemio system, 34; analogous to Hebrew customs, 70
Totemic division of Ojibways, 41
Totems. See Crane, Bear, etc.
Totems, members cannot intermarry, 42; the five original, 43, 44; sys- tem not known among Dakotas, 43, 61 ; list of the present, 44 ; the fish species, 46 ; intermingling of, 165
Tracy, Mr., British trader, 205, 208
Trader, a, robbed by pillagers, 258
Trading post, first, on La Pointe Island, 96
534
INDEX.
Tradition of the Totems, 43 ; how the Mooses were exterminated, 50 ; of deluge, 55, 56 ; of how Great Spirit created man, 58 ; of a great pestilence, 67 ; of events similar to Joseph and his brethren, 70 ; of the Megis (sacred sea shell), 78 ; of the sand bank at the mouth of St. Louis River, 81 ; of the mur- der of an Omushkas, 84 ; of the Munduas, 91 ; of Man abosho creat- ing a bar on the lake, 102 ; about the coming of the whites, 118 ; of the Odugamee invasion, 149 ; of the taking of Mille Lacs, 157
Treaty (1787), Fort Harmar, 32; with Ojibways, 1820, at Sault Ste. Marie, 462 ; in 1825, at Prairie du Chien, 47, 317, 468; in 1826, at Fond du Lac, 392, 470 ; in 1837, at Fort Snelling, 485 ; in 1842, at La Pointe, 494 ; in 1847, at Fond du Lac, 14, 497; in 1854, 602; in 1855, at Washington, 602; in March, 1863, 504; in Oct. 1863, 506 ; in May, 1864, 506 ; in April, 1866, 506
Trial of Alfred Aitkin*s murderer, 485
Trout Lake, 192
Trumbull, J. Hammond, on Indian names, 397
Tiij^-waug-aun - ay, Ojibway chief, 87, 89, 90, 192
Turner, Lt., U. S. N., at Sault Saint Marie, 4G0
Turtle Porta^re, 192
Two Rivers, Minn., 14, 17, 18
Uk-ke-waus, Ojibwav warrior, 337,
343 Urau, Mrs. Madeline, 20 Utica, N. Y., 12 Utrecht, treaty of, 422
Varennes, Pierre Gualtier de, 427
Verendryo (or Veranderie) Sieur, 98, 42(J, 427 ; son killed by Sioux, 428 ; sons reach Tiocky Mountains, 427 ; map of, 428
Verplank, Hon. I., 14, 497
Vermont, 384
Vieux Desert, 38
Vincennes, 372
Virginia, early colonists of, 30
Wabash River, 33
Wabasha, DakoU chief, 156, 219,
220, 248 Wabasha village, 303 Wabishkeepeenas, or White Pigeon,
471 Wab-ud-ow, or ** White Gore" Lake,
224 Wadden, trader, murdered, 378,
381 Walker, Ojibway agent, 503, 504 Wa-me-gis-u-go, Ojibway hunter,
129 Wampum, 48 Wa-na-ta, a DakoU chief, 359, 363,
364 Wa-path-a, or "Wabasha,** which
see War, revolutionary, 9 War of 1812, 368, 372, 387, 459 War dance, 166 Warfare, Indian, how conducted,
249 War pipe, keepers of, 49, 68 War, much stimulated by mourning
customs, 264 War parties, how raised, 338 Warp^tons, the, 266, 270, 272, 304,
352, 359 Warren, Abraham, ancestor of W.
W. Warren, 9 Warren, Charlotte, 12, 18 Warren, Gen. Joseph, 9 Warren, .Julia, 12 Warren, Lvman (grandfather of W,
W.), 9, 12 Warren, Lyman M. (father of W.
W.), birth, 9 ; becomes trader, 10 ;
marries, 11 ; fanner at Chippewa
River, 12; his library, 12; other
references, 326, 383, 3*84, 4r>0,4tM ;
death, 12 Warren, Mrs. Lyman M., 11, 12 Warren, Miss Mary, 12, 20 Warren, Richard (ancestor of W.
W.), 9 Warren, Sophia, 12 Warren, Stephen (ancestor of W.
W.), 9 Warren, Truman A. (uncle of W.
W.), 9, 10, 326, 384, 391, 450,
4(>4 Warren, Truman A., Jr., 12, 20 Warren, William W., memoir of, 9 ;
birth, 12 ; education, 26 ; learns
INDEX.
535
Ojibway, 12, 25 ; becomes inter- preter, 13, 14; comes to Minne- sota, 14 ; marries, 14 ; his famili- arity with Ojibwa legends, 15, 17; collects historical facts from tlie Indians, 15, 17, 19, 25 ; begins to write book, 10 ; his moral quali- ties, 16 ; elected to legislature, 15; death of, 18 ; eulogies on, ID ; his children, 20 ; other works pro- jected by him, 26, 27 Warren, Wm. Tyler, 20 Washington, D. C, 392 Washington, George, 433, 444 Wash-kin-e-ka, or *' Crooked Arm,"
363 Wa-son-ou-e-qua, or ** Yellow Hair,"
Ojibway chief, 269 Wash-ta-do-ga-waub, Ojibway chief,
364 WaUb River, 352 Watrous, Hon. John S., 14 Waub-ash-aw, Ojibway warrior, 330 Waub-o-jeeg, or ** White Fisher,** Ojibway chief, 52, 2:^2, 235, 242, 246, 248, 253, 266, 351, 352, 394, 438, 447 Waub-ish-aahe, Marten totem, 50 Waub-ij-e-jauk, or ** White Crane,"
11, 48, 317. 321 Waub-ish-gang-aug-e, or "White
Crow,'* 47, 192, 319 Waul)-un-uk-eeg, or Delawares, 32 Waukouta, 156
Wausekogubig, or ** Bright Fore- head," 223, 227 Wa-wa-tam, saves Henry's life, 204,
206, 213, 214 Wa-won-ge-quon, Ojibway chief,l 80,
289, 356 We-esli-coob, or Sweet. See Sucra, le. We-esli-dam-o, Ojibway chief, 47 We-kauns, or initiating priests, 77 Wen-ni-way, Ojibway chief, 206 We-non-ga, or ** The Vulture," 342 We-qua-<lang (Ance-ke-we-naw), 38 Wlieelock, President of Dartmouth
College, 443 Whipple, Mercy (grandmother of W. W. Warren), 9
Whiskey, among Indians, 31, 120,
301 W^hite Crane. See Waub-iJ-e-jauk. White Earth Reservation, 12, 16, 20 White fish, 175, 186 White Fish I^ke, 224 White Fisher. See Waubojeeg, Whites, intercourse with, 101, 108,
113, 125 Whites, Ojibways first discovered
by, 117, 118 Whites, first visit to La Pointe, 121 Whitesborough, New York, 12 Wigwams, how built, 40, 98, 100,
157, 160, 254 Williams, J. Fletcher, Memoir of W.
W. Warren, 7 Willow River, 329 Winnebago Lake, 33 Winnebago agency at Long Prairie,
266, 353 Winnebagoes, 3, 14, 30, 32, 43, 47,
193, 247. 314, 352, 354 Winnebagoes, borrow totemic system
from Ojibways, 43 Winnepegosish Lakes, 224 Winnepeg Lake, 38, 98, 175, 178,
183, 1«5, 281, 288, 326 Wisconsin, 32, 37, 190, 292, 386 Wisconsin Historical Collections,
quoted, 145 Wisconsin River, 3, 38, 39, 126, 149,
190, 191, 192, 242, 243, 299, 317,
320, 356 Wiscoup, Weeshcoob. See Sucre, le. Wolf's Father, Ojibway chief, 319,
320 Wolf totem, or clan, 45, 49, 165, 335 Wolfe, General, 195, 437 Women, Ojibway, their labors, 265 Wood, Wm. H., 19 Wyandots, the, 30, 124, 146
Yankton Dakotas, 138, 139, 168, 356 Yellow Hair, legend of, 269, 274 Yellow Hair, Ojibway Chief, 310,
311, 312, 319, 320 Yellow Lake, 171, 172, 326, 335
X. Y. Far Company, 380