P.S. Capt. Jouett, commanding at this post, has recently seized sixteen kegs of high-wines. His prompt, decisive, and correct conduct in this, and other transactions relating to Indian affairs, merits the approbation of government.
The Petite Corbeau has requested that no trader may be located at the mouth of the St. Croix.
The following picture of the present condition of the Winnebagoes, given in the St. Louis Bulletin, shows the deplorable results of the intercourse of the whites with the Indians—the baneful effects of spirituous liquors upon their morals and habits. The Winnebagoes were neighbors of the Sacs and Foxes, and long intimately associated with them. Twenty years ago, all of these tribes, raised annually more corn, beans and other vegetables, than were needed for their own consumption. Now they are miserable, squalid beggars, without the means of subsistence. The faithlessness of the Government, the perfidy and avarice of its agents and citizens, have brought this race of people to the horrible condition, in which they are represented in the statement that follows.
An agent of the Temperance Society, in a journal of a late tour to the region of the Upper Mississippi, presents a picture, melancholy indeed, of the present condition of the Indian tribes in that quarter, which must deeply rouse the commiseration of every benevolent man. From our own personal observation one year since, we would corroborate the assertion, that were the world ransacked for a subject in which should be concentrated and personified injustice, oppression, drunkenness, squalid filth, and degradation, one would point to the straggling Indian on the banks of the Upper Mississippi for the aptest exemplification.
There were some two or three hundred of these stragglers—Winnebagoes, chiefly, about Prairie du Chien—men, women, and children, many of whom had scarcely the fragments of a filthy blanket to hide their nakedness or screen them from the cold—strolling and straggling about in squads of from two to a half dozen each, begging for whiskey, or cold potatoes, or crusts of bread. One old female, doubtless turned of threescore and ten, half naked, was gathering up from the dirt and ashes about the boiler of the steam boat, a few pieces of dried apples that had been dropped and trodden under foot, which, with her toothless gums, she attempted to masticate with all the eagerness of a starving swine. Little children, from one to four years old, were crawling about in a state of nudity, and almost of starvation, while their own mothers and fathers, were staggering, and fighting, and swearing. It is a fact, that while these poor creatures cannot articulate a word of any thing else in English, the most awfully profane expressions will drop from their lips in English, as fluently as if it had been their vernacular tongue. When the whites first settled in that neighborhood, the Indians raised corn and other provisions enough, not only for their own use, but also for the fur-traders and settlers.
Now they are altogether dependent for even the scanty subsistence by which they are dragging out the remnant of a miserable life, upon the whites. And what has been the cause of so great a change in a few years in the circumstances and habits of a whole people! The answer is plain to every one at all acquainted with Indian history. It is the perfidy and avarice of the whites, and whiskey, whiskey has been the all potent agent by which it has been effected. By selling and giving them whiskey till they become drunk, they are soon filched of the little annuities received from government; and then treated the rest of the year like so many dogs.—As an illustration of the feeling towards them, a merchant at Prairie du Chien expressed the very humane wish, that there might soon be another Indian war to kill them all off.
INDEX.
A
Armstrong fort built, [96].
Atkinson, General, ordered to Rock Island, [140]
directs Black Hawk to return to the west side of the Mississippi, [140]
takes command of the Illinois militia, [141]
proceeds to Dixon's Ferry, [141]
attack on Black Hawk at Bad-axe, [156]
official account, [158]
his letter of approval from War Department, [179].
B
Black Hawk's account of the treaty of 1804, [58].
Black Hawk Purchase, in 1832, [70].
Black Hawk, birth and early adventures, [74]
his battle with the Osages in 1786, [75]
with Cherokees, [75]
with Chippeways, Kaskaskias and Osages, [76]
his account of Pike's visit, [77]
his attack on Fort Madison, [78]
joins the British army, [80]
his return, [80]
murder of his adopted son, [81]
battle of the sink-hole near Cap au Gris, [83]
his attack upon boats going to Prairie des Chiens, [86]
makes peace with the United States, [86]
death of his eldest son, [90]
visit to the Ioway village, [89]
visit to Malden, [90]
whipped by some Americans, [91]
refuses to remove to the west side of the Mississippi, [92]
whites encroach upon his village, [93]
burning of his lodges, [96]
interview with Governor Coles and Judge Hall, [96]
agrees to remove for six thousand dollars, [100]
interview with Gaines, [103]
removes to west side Mississippi, [104]
treats with Gaines and Reynolds, [104]
causes which led to the war, [108]
his attempted alliance with other tribes, [111]
discontented on west side of the Mississippi, [138]
sends messenger to Keokuk, [138]
collects his band at Fort Madison and crosses to east side of the Mississippi, [139]
proceeds to the prophet's village up Rock river, [140]
ordered back by General Atkinson, [141]
makes his camp at Kisk-wa-cokee, is attacked in his camp by Maj. Stillman, [145]
his flag of truce fired upon, [145]
defeats Stillman, [146]
attack upon Buffalo Grove, [149]
his battle on the Wisconsin, [151]
flies to the Mississippi, [152]
attacked by the steam boat Warrior, [153]
his white flag fired upon, [153]
his defeat at the Bad-axe, [156]
escape, [161]
capture, [162]
causes leading to this war, [171]
at Jefferson Barracks, [189]
sent to Washington city, [192]
confined at Fortress Monroe, [193]
interview with the President, [192]
speech to Col. Eustis, [193]
released, [195]
visit to Norfolk, [196]
to Baltimore, [196]
interview with President, [197]
visit to Philadelphia, [199]
to New York, [200]
to Albany, [202]
to Buffalo, [202]
interview with Senecas, [203]
visit to Detroit, [203]
reaches fort Armstrong, [206]
refuses to submit to Keokuk, [209]
his final speech in the council, [215]
visit in 1837 to Washington, [216]
visit to Boston, [217]
to Cincinnati, [217]
his character and personal appearance, [218]
number of his warriors in campaign of 1832, [220].
C
Cahokias conquered, [16].
Clark, George Rogers, relieves St. Louis, [24]
sends troops into the Indian country, [25].
Cole, Governor, meets Black Hawk, [96].
Clark, General, letter to War Department, [107].
Cap au Gris, battle of, [83].
Cholera among Scott's troops, [166].
Cass, Lewis, report to the President, [178].
Cass' letter to Gen. Atkinson, [179].
Cass' account of Sacs and Foxes, [181].
Colonization of the Indians, [228].
D
Drakeford's battle near Cap au Gris, [84].
Dodge, General, kills [29] Indians, [149]
his battle of the Wisconsin, [151].
Davenport, Col. Wm., speech to Black Hawk, [210].
E
Everett, Governor, speech to Keokuk in Boston, [131]
makes them presents, [135].
F
Fort Armstrong built, [87].
Foxes, party of, murder [28] Menominies, [137]
G
Good spirit of Rock Island, [87].
Galland's description of Sac village, [94].
Gaines, General, letter to Reynolds, [102]
orders troops to Rock Island, [102]
interview with Black Hawk, [103]
takes possession of Sac village, [103]
treats with the British Band, [104]
his letter to War Department, [106].
Garland, Maj., takes charge of prisoners, [197]
his release of Black Hawk, [211].
H
Harrison, General, account of the conquest of the Illinois tribes, [26]
his treaty with the Sacs and Foxes in 1804, [50].
Hall, Judge, account of Sac village, [28]
his interview with Black Hawk, [96]
his account of the Sacs and Foxes at Washington, [127].
I
Illinois tribes conquered, [15].
Indians, power to sell lands, [59].
Johnson, John, letter to Secretary at War, [63].
Illinois militia, flight at Sycamore creek, [146].
Irving, Washington, account of Black Hawk, [191].
Indian dancing ceremonies, [237].
K
Kaskaskias conquered, [16].
Keokuk removes west of Mississippi, [92]
his birth, [114]
age, [115]
admitted to the council-lodge, [116]
bold adventure with the Sioux, [117]
his interview with the Menominies, [119]
in peril with his tribe, [122]
removed from his post of head chief, [123]
re-instated, [124]
delivers up his nephew to be tried for murder, [125]
his letter to Governor of Illinois, [125]
visit to Washington city in 1827 and council with Secretary at War, [127]
visit to Philadelphia, New York and Boston, [132]
speech in reply to Gov. Everett, [133]
return to the west, [135]
character, [135]
his visit to Jefferson barracks, [190]
his speech on the liberation of Black Hawk, [208]
final speech in the council, [213]
his visit to Washington in 1837, [216]
conduct to Black Hawk, [217].
L
Lewis and Clark's account of Sacs and Foxes, [45].
M
Minneway tribes, [15].
Mascontins, battle with Sacs and Foxes, [17].
Memorial to Gov. Reynolds, [102].
Menominies, murdered by the Foxes, [138].
Macomb, Gen., report to Secretary at War, [178].
N
Naopoke's visit to Malden, [138]
captured, [165]
his testimony before Scott, [166]
at Jefferson barracks, [189].
O
Osages, battle with Sacs and Foxes, [75].
P
Peorias conquered, [16].
Primm's account of the attack on St. Louis in 1779, [18].
Pike's account of Sacs and Foxes, [44].
Posey, Col., at Buffalo grove, [150].
Prophet, Wabokieshiek, [168].
Pashepahow's speech, [212].
Q
Quashquame, account of treaty of 1804, [58].
R
Reynolds, Governor, letter to Clark, [101]
to Gaines, [102]
declares the state to be invaded, [101]
letter to War Department, [106]
orders out the militia and joins Atkinson, [141]
makes a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, [170].
S
Sac and Fox Indians, origin of, [13]
Identity of the tribes, [14]
residence, [14]
removal to the west, [14]
conquest of the Illini tribes, [15]
their attack on St. Louis in 1779, [18]
their village, [28]
their war and peace chiefs, [30]
division into families, [31]
mode of burial, [35]
idea of a future state, [36]
in regard to the creation of the world, [37]
social relations, [41]
musical instruments, [41]
Pike's account of them, [45]
their character for courage, [48]
treaty with the United States in 1789, [49]
ditto at St. Louis in 1804, [50]
they are excited to hostilities by British agents, [62]
offer to fight against England, [63]
part of them join the British standard, [64]
treaty with them 13th Sep. 1815, [64]
ditto 14th Sep. 1815, [64]
ditto with British Band, [64]
relinquish lands in Missouri, [66]
treaty of Prairie des Chiens in 1825, [65]
treaty for mineral region in 1828, [68]
Black Hawk purchase in 1832, [70]
their present residence, [71]
sale of their lands on Rock river, [99]
treaty with Scott and Reynolds, [170]
described by Gov. Cass, [181].
Stillman, Maj., proceeds to Sycamore creek, [141]
attacks Black Hawk and is defeated, [142]
fires upon Black Hawk's flag of truce, [145].
Stephenson, J.W., kills some Indians, [149].
Scott, General, arrival at Rock Island, [165]
treaty with Sacs and Foxes, [170].
Senecas, their speech to Black Hawk, [203].
Sioux Indians, sketches of, [222].
Sale of whiskey to the Indians, [245].
W
Wabokieshiek, advice to British Band, [93].
Warrior's attack on Black Hawk, [153].
Wapellar's speech, [211].