VARIOUS TRIBES OF NORTHERN AND WESTERN INDIANS.
The vast territory, which lies outspread north of the great chain of lakes which separate the British provinces from the United States, and far in the west beyond the sources of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, is inhabited by numerous tribes of Indians. Among these, in the British provinces, are the Chippewas, the Assinniboins, the Snake, Stone, Beaver, Copper, and Hare Indians. These are wandering tribes, who have no history deserving the name; though they are more or less involved, from time to time, in wars with each other. The regions in which many of them dwell are cold and barren, and they subsist almost entirely by hunting and fishing, furnishing the traders with furs, and receiving in exchange such articles as they need. Some of them are pensioners on British bounty, on account of services rendered in former wars.
Still further to the north, on the coasts of Labrador, we meet with the Esquimaux, a singular race, who live, during the long winter which reigns around them, shut up in their huts, and, at the opening of their brief summer, go forth to provide the means of subsistence by fishing and hunting. They seem to be a different race from the red Indian, as they are generally low in stature, and of a complexion approaching to white. In the interior, however, they are said to be taller. They possess great skill in the management of their canoes or boats, and the training of their dogs in sledges, which serve them as the reindeer does its Lapland master. Their history is principally comprised in the benevolent and successful efforts of the Moravians to extend to them the blessings of the Christian religion. Some of them, especially those in Labrador, have thus been civilized and Christianized. The progress of missionary exertion among them has been most interesting, and is fully recorded in the history of Moravian missions. For a long period, these self-denying men toiled amid hardships which might have discouraged others actuated by less exalted motives. Year after year rolled by, and still the frigid hearts, like the icy rocks of their native land, responded not to the warm appeals of the Christian missionary; but at last the heart was melted, and they were found anxious to learn yet more of the spiritual tidings which had been brought to their frozen zone.
The adventurous explorer of the far northern regions, by land or by sea, occasionally meets the Esquimaux roaming over the ice-clad plains; but there has been little, in that land of wintry barrenness, to tempt the invasions of cupidity; and thus they have remained comparatively at peace, except that some prowling bands of the northern tribes of Indians have, now and then, assaulted them while on their hunting expeditions.
In the travels of Mackenzie, Hearne, Franklin, Back, and the voyages of Ross and Parry, we find occasional notices of the different tribes which roam over the extended territory towards the north pole. But as they are mostly descriptions of individuals or families, they scarcely claim a place in these pages.
The Chippewas, who were formerly called Algonquins, are an extensive though scattered band, and have heretofore been engaged in bloody wars with other tribes, particularly the Otagamies and Saukies. These were once much inferior to their adversaries both in numbers and strength; but on a particular occasion, as related by Carver, they gained a great advantage in war, which resulted, at last, in an enduring friendship between the rival nations.
Bordering on the Esquimaux on the west, and also near the Chippewas, are the Knistenaux, or Cree Indians, who inhabit a wide space of country. They are a well formed race, and their women are the handsomest of the Indian females. They are said to be hospitable, generous, and mild; not very careful of speaking the truth, but otherwise honest, so that they are permitted to go about the trading posts without restraint. They have carried on long and bloody wars with the Blackfeet. These are more powerful in frame, as well as more numerous; and though the Knistenaux warriors have been much reduced, they have often proved themselves, by their superior agility, a full match for their warlike foes. They are probably a portion of the Chippewas, whom they are said much to resemble both in appearance and language.
The Assinniboins, or Stone Indians, though their appearance is prepossessing, are represented as great thieves, stealing whatever they can lay their hands on, especially horses. They are at perpetual war with the Slave Indians, who live further west, and whom they resemble. They are desperate and daring. The Assinniboins are supposed to have belonged originally to the Sioux, as they are very much like them both in their features and manners.
The Chippewayans, being the same as the Chippewas in the United States, are divided into many tribes. They differ from the Crees as to hospitality, for they never give or receive with a good grace. Their disputes are generally settled by wrestling, and the victor of the match may carry off the wife of the vanquished as his prize.
The powerful nation of the Sioux, or Dahcotahs, occupy in part the region west of the Mississippi, near the Falls of St. Anthony, though the main body of them are found on the Upper Missouri. These are the same Indians whom Carver calls the Naudowessies, and have always been great warriors. They are divided into numerous bands, each called after the name of its chief, as the Black Dog’s band, the Red Wing’s band, &c. They have ever been at war with the Chippewas, and are the mortal foes of the Osages, whom they have greatly reduced, and who hold them in great dread. They occupy a wide extent of country, and the main object of their contention with the Chippewas, for two hundred years, is stated to have been the territory from Rum River to the Rivière de Corbeau, both parties claiming it as their own. They have conquered and destroyed vast numbers of their red brethren, and have swept the whole region extending from the banks of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Great Platte, together with the plains that lie to the north, between the Mississippi and the Black Hills. They form six distinct tribes, comprising about 28,000 souls, subsisting chiefly on buffalo’s meat and the wild fruits of the forest. They also use the native rice, of which they gather many thousand bushels. A revolted band of this nation, called the Osinpoilles, said to consist of 8,000 persons, live near the Rocky Mountains.
Catlin divides the Sioux nation into the Mississippi Sioux and the Missouri Sioux. He says that they are separated into forty-two bands, or families, each having a chief; these acknowledge a head chief, to whom they are subordinate.
The Mississippi branch, being near to the white settlements, are somewhat advanced in civilization, yet form but an imperfect sample of the nobler warriors who live on the banks of the Missouri, and roam over the plains between that river and the Rocky Mountains. At the time Catlin visited them, the head chief of the Sioux was Hawanjetah, greatly renowned for his prowess in war and the chase. Of him we are furnished with the following story.
Hawanjetah had, in some way, been the accidental cause of the death of his only son, a very fine youth; and so great was the anguish of his mind, at times, that he became frantic and insane. In one of these moods he mounted his favorite war-horse, with his bow and arrows in his hand, and dashed off at full speed upon the prairies, repeating the most solemn oath, “that he would slay the first living thing that fell in his way, be it man or beast, friend or foe.” No one dared to follow him, and after he had been absent an hour or two, his horse came back to the village with two arrows in his body, and covered with blood! Fears of the most serious kind were now entertained for the fate of the chief, and a party of warriors immediately mounted their horses, and retraced the animal’s tracks to the scene of the tragedy, where they found the body of their chief horribly mangled and gored by a buffalo bull, whose carcase was stretched by his side.
A close examination of the ground was then made by the Indians, who ascertained by the tracks, that their unfortunate chief, under his unlucky resolve, had met a buffalo bull, in the season when the animal is stubborn, and unwilling to run from any one, and had incensed the creature by shooting a number of arrows into him, which thus brought him into furious combat. The chief had then dismounted, and, turning his horse loose, shot a couple of arrows into his body, which sent him home at full speed. He had then thrown away his bow and quiver, encountering the infuriated buffalo with his knife alone,—the desperate battle resulting in the death of both. Many of the bones of the chief were broken, as he was gored and stamped to death; and his huge antagonist had laid his body by the side of him, weltering in blood from a hundred wounds, made by the chief’s long and two-edged knife.
The Sacs, or Sauks, and Foxes, called Renards by the French, are said to be among the most warlike of these northern savages. “No Indian tribe, except the Sioux, has shown such daring intrepidity and such implacable hatred towards other tribes. Their enmity, when once excited, was never known to be appeased till the arrow or tomahawk had for ever prostrated their foes. For centuries, the prairies of Illinois and Iowa were the theatre of their exterminating prowess; and to them is to be attributed the almost entire destruction of the Missouris, the Illinois, Cahokias, Kaskaskias, and Peorias. They were, however, steady and sincere in their friendship to the whites, and many is the honest settler on the borders of their old dominion, who mentions, with the warmest feelings, the respectful treatment he has received from them, while he cut the logs for his cabin, and ploughed his potato-patch on that lonely and unprotected frontier.”
This tribe formerly owned a great part of the northern portion of Illinois and much of the State of Missouri. Their friendly relations to the United States were first broken in the year 1832. A treaty had been formed between their chiefs and the commissioners of the United States, by which they sold their lands north of the Rock River in the State of Illinois. This portion of the country contained the old villages and burial-places of the nation. Though their chiefs had seen fit to dispose of this tract, yet the tribe could not, without a struggle, yield up the loved and sacred places where every thing was associated with their former history. Some of the chiefs, and among them Black Hawk, declared that they had been deceived by the whites, and that they had not consented to such a sale as was attempted to be enforced upon them. They therefore took up the hatchet for redress; but the contest terminated, as we have related, in their being driven across the Mississippi, and the capture of that noted chief.
Among them are still found some able chiefs, of whom Catlin has given portraits and sketches. Keokuck, the head of the tribe, who is now dead, was said to possess superior abilities, and will be recollected by many persons who saw him on his visit to Washington and some of the Atlantic cities in 1837.
The Sacs and Foxes were formerly two distinct tribes, but have become incorporated, in the course of years, into one nation. The following account is given of them, by the commanding officer of Fort Armstrong, in 1820. “Question to Masco, a Sauk chief. ‘What is the name of your nation?’ Answer. ‘Since we can remember, we have never had any other name than Saukie or Saukie-uck’ (Saukie is singular, Saukie-uck, plural). Question. ‘What is its original name?’ Answer. ‘Since the Great Spirit made us, we have had that name and no other.’ Question. ‘What is the name by which it has been known among Europeans?’ Answer. ‘The French called us by that name; but since then, the white people have called us Sauks.’
“Question to Wahballo, principal chief of the Fox nation. ‘What is the name of your nation?’ Answer. ‘Musquak-kie, or Musquak-kie-kuck.’ Question. ‘What is its original name?’ Answer. ‘Since the Great Spirit made us, we have had that name and no other.’ Question. ‘What are the names by which it has been known among Europeans?’ Answer. ‘The French called us Renards, and since, the white people have called us Foxes.’ Question. ‘Are any portion of your tribes scattered in other parts?’ Answer. ‘Yes.’ Question. ‘Where?’ Answer. ‘There are some of our people on the Missouri, some near Fort Edwards, and some among the Potawatomies.’ Question. ‘To what nations are you related by language?’ Answer. ‘The Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo are related by language.’ Question. ‘By manners and customs?’ Answer. ‘The Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo’s manners and customs are alike, except those who have intercourse with the whites.’ One of the chiefs added, that the Shawanese descended from the Sauk nation. Question. ‘What tribes do you call grandfather?’ Answer. ‘The Delawares call us and all other Indians grandchildren, and we, in return, call them grandfather; but we know of no relationship between them and us.’ Question. ‘What tribes are grandchildren?’ Answer. ‘There are no tribes or nations we call grandchildren.’ Question. ‘Where is the great council-fire for all the tribes connected with your own tribes?’ Answer. ‘We have no particular place; when we have any business to transact, it is done at some one of our villages.’”
The Otoe Indians consist in part of Missouri’s, to whom they became united after the Sacs and Foxes had succeeded in dispersing that tribe. When the French first came into the country, the Missouris were the most numerous tribe in the vicinity of St. Louis. They are said to have been an energetic race, till they were nearly all cut off by their Indian foes and the small-pox. This disease has reduced and destroyed many an Indian nation, and is still, from time to time, performing its part in wasting them away. The site of the ancient village of the Missouris is yet to be seen on the north bank of the river which bears their name, just below the point at which the Grand River enters it. Their territory is said to have embraced the fertile country lying a considerable distance along the Missouri above their village, and down to the mouth of the Osage, and thence to the Mississippi.
One of the most celebrated chiefs of this tribe was Shongmunecuthe,[15] or the Ietan. The following particulars relate to scenes which occurred during a tour of the United States commissioner, in the year 1833. The party were approaching the Otoe village. “The old warrior,” says the narrator, “welcomed us cordially; then, turning round, he rode with us in the direction of the village. While he was speaking with the commissioner, several dusky forms clambered the high bluff before us, and stood upon its dizzy verge, watching our movements. Suddenly the Ietan galloped a few yards in front, and waved his arm, uttering a long, shrill yell. It was answered by a whoop from those on the hill, who instantly commenced whirling their blankets around their heads. Then all was silent.
“For a few moments, we were in doubt as to the meaning of the manœuvre; but suddenly a loud roar rose from behind the bluff, and a dark troop of wild horsemen burst round its base, and came pouring down upon us. There must have been several hundred of them. Every man was naked, but glaring with paint. They dashed onward, pealing out scream upon scream, brandishing their spears, and whirling their tomahawks around their heads. The old chief was unmoved, and sat like a statue upon his horse. The soldiers who accompanied us, unaccustomed to such an Indian welcome, began to prepare for action. The band had now approached within a hundred yards. We could perceive the flashing eyes of the straining horses, with the bare teeth, scowling brows, and starting muscles of the riders. Bow clattered against bow, tomahawk clashed against tomahawk, and voice was blended with voice, until the whole din rose in the air, like the wild, tumultuous roar of a raging sea. They were close upon us,—another moment, and it might seem that we were lost; yet at that moment, at a signal from Ietan, the wild horde separated, and, whirling round, were enveloped in a cloud of dust.
“The old chief smiled, with an air of grim satisfaction, as he observed the effect produced upon us by his warriors; then, raising his voice, he joined in the wild mêlée around us. Horse dashed against horse, as the band swept onward in a large circle. Some were hurled from their seats; others clung to the manes of the maddened horses. The strong poured down upon the weak, and brushed them from their paths. Ever and anon, some little pepper-spirited horse, vexed with the hustling, would pause to discharge his heels into the ribs of his next neighbour; but before it could be done, the crowd would pass on, and he would be borne forward, in the rushing course of the whirlpool. No one regarded his neighbour; each was under the influence of a mad excitement. A giant Indian was dashing around, upon a horse as powerful as himself, at the inner verge of the ring. In front of him was another, on a little nag, who kept near the border for safety. Suddenly they came in contact. The powerful steed swept onward as if he had met with no obstacle. The little horse spun out of his path, and his rider threw a somerset in the air, landing in the very midst of the throng. Fifty hoofs clattered over his head; but he scrambled out, caught his horse, bounded on his back with a whoop and a flourish of his tomahawk, and pursued his course as if nothing had happened.
“After this scene of hubbub and confusion had continued for about fifteen minutes, the crowd gradually ceased its clamor, and formed in a large circle round us, with their horses’ heads towards the party. Presently the ring broke, and was extended in two lines, through which a band of about thirty warriors slowly advanced, to a long, solemn chant, sung by the whole troop, and accompanied by a kind of drum. This band was formed of the flower of the Indian village. None were admitted except those who could boast of having taken a certain number of scalps, or of having performed an equally honorable service in stealing a large number of horses.” In this manner was the commissioner welcomed to the Indian village.
A singular story is related by the writer of the above extract, respecting one of the braves of the Otoes. “One squaw attracted our attention, from her gigantic height. As we approached her, there was a masculine coarseness in the features of her face, which rendered her hideously ugly, and formed a contrast highly in favor of the group around her. We afterwards learned that this strange being, though now clad in the garb of a female, and performing the most menial of their offices, was in reality a man, and had once ranked among the proudest braves of the Otoe nation. His name had once stood foremost in war and in council. He had led on many an expedition against their noble, but bitter foes, the Osages. In the midst of his bright career, a change came over him. The cause was this. He had been for several weeks absent upon a war expedition against the enemies of his tribe. At a little before sunset, on a fine afternoon, this band of Indians were seen coming over the hills, returning towards their village. The troop of way-worn warriors counted less than when they started; but their bundle of scalps, and their fierce brows, declared that their lost comrades had been avenged. In front of them strode the form of the giant brave. He was wearied with toil and fasting, and, without staying to receive the greetings of his fellow-townsmen, he hastened to his lodge and threw himself upon one of the bear-skins which form an Indian bed.
“He remained for the night. In the morning he arose from his couch; but he was an altered man. A change, fearful and thrilling, had come over him. His eye was quenched; his proud step wavered; and his haughty frame seemed almost sinking beneath the pressure of some heavy calamity. He collected his family around him. He told them that the Great Spirit had visited him in a dream, and had said to him that he had now reached the height of his fame; that no voice had more weight at the council-fire than his; that no arm was heavier in battle; and concluded by commanding him henceforth to relinquish all claim to the rank of a warrior, and assume the dress and duties of a female. The communication was listened to with deep sorrow, but with implicit confidence. He then made known his determination to the nation. They, too, listened gravely and sadly, but admitted the justness of his views. He next returned to his lodge, took down his bow, broke it into atoms, and threw them in the fire. He buried his tomahawk and rifle, washed the war-paint from his face, and took out the eagle-plume from his scalp-lock. After this, he was seen no more among the warriors, and took no part in the councils; but, attired as a female, occupied himself in the most servile and degrading employments, and lived abject, neglected, and scorned by those who once gloried in being his followers!”
The Osages are said to have been formerly a brave and warlike people, and in good circumstances. But disease, and the attacks of the Sioux, of whom they were once the hardiest and fiercest enemies, have reduced their tribe so that not more than 5,500 now remain. Treaties have been made with them, and various efforts have been used, but with small success, to civilize and teach them. They have secured to them, for the education of their tribe, by an arrangement for the sale of their lands to the United States, about seventy thousand dollars. Stipulations have also been entered into to teach them agricultural pursuits.
This tribe are still distinguished for their tall, fine forms, though they have lost their fame as warriors. They have repeatedly moved and jostled along from the head-waters of the White River, and even from the banks of the Mississippi, to the Indian territory bordering on the Creeks, where they now are. The Kansas, formerly a portion of this nation, have seceded from them, and thus impaired their strength. They have been, till recently, engaged in war with the Pawnees and Camanches, and, though thereby reduced, they have a number of able men as chiefs and warriors.
