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LETTER—No. 51.
FORT SNELLING, FALL OF ST. ANTHONY.
The fourth of July was hailed and celebrated by us at this place, in an unusual, and not uninteresting manner. With the presence of several hundreds of the wildest of the Chippeways, and as many hundreds of the Sioux; we were prepared with material in abundance for the novel—for the wild and grotesque,—as well as for the grave and ludicrous. Major Talliafferro, the Indian agent, to aid my views in procuring sketches of manners and customs, represented to them that I was a great medicine-man, who had visited, and witnessed the sports of, a vast many Indians of different tribes, and had come to see whether the Sioux and Chippeways were equal in a ball-play, &c. to their neighbours; and that if they would come in on the next day (fourth of July), and give us a ball-play, and some of their dances, in their best style, he would have the big gun fired twenty-one times (the customary salute for that day), which they easily construed into a high compliment to themselves. This, with still stronger inducements, a barrel of flour—a quantity of pork and tobacco, which I gave them, brought the scene about on the day of independence, as follows:—About eleven o’clock (the usual time for Indians to make their appearance on any great occasion), the young men, who were enlisted for ball-play, made their appearance on the ground with ball-sticks in hand—with no other dress on than the flap, and attached to a girdle or ornamental sash, a tail, extending nearly to the ground, made of the choicest arrangement of quills and feathers, or of the hair of white horses’ tails. After an excited and warmly contested play of two hours, they adjourned to a place in front of the agent’s office, where they entertained us for two or three hours longer, with a continued variety of their most fanciful and picturesque dances. They gave us the beggar’s dance—the buffalo-dance—the bear-dance—the eagle-dance—and dance of the braves. This last is peculiarly beautiful, and exciting to the feelings in the highest degree.