I found at Rice Lake a band of Chippewas, most of them young men, having a prompt and martial air, encamped in a very compact form, and prepared at a moment's notice, for action. They saluted our advance with a smartness and precision of firing that would have done honor to drilled troops. Neenaba was absent on a hunting-party; but one of the elder men pointed out a suitable place for my encampment, as I intended here to put new bottoms to my bark canoes. He arrived in the evening, and visited my camp with forty-two men. This visit was one of ceremony merely; as it was late, I deferred anything further until the following day. I remained at this place part of the 7th, the 8th, and until 3 o'clock on the 9th of August. And the following facts present the result of several conferences with this distinguished young man, whose influence is entirely of his own creation, and whose endowments, personal and mental, had not been misrepresented by the Indians on my route, who uniformly spoke of him in favorable terms. He is located at the most advanced point towards the Sioux borders, and, although not in the line of ancient chiefs, upon him rests essentially the conduct of affairs in this quarter. I therefore deemed it important to acquire his confidence and secure his influence, and held frequent conversations with him. His manner was frank and bold, equally free from servility and repulsiveness. I drew his attention to several subjects. I asked him whether the saw-mill on the lower part of the Red Cedar, was located on Chippewa lands? He said, Yes. Whether it was built with the consent of the Chippewas? He said, No; it had been built, as it were, by stealth. I asked him if anything had been subsequently given them in acknowledgment of their right to the soil? He said, No; that the only acknowledgment was their getting tobacco to smoke when they visited the mill; that the Sioux claimed it to be on their side of the line, but the Chippewas contended that their line ran to a certain bluff and brook below the mill. I asked him to draw a map of the lower part of Chippewa River, with all its branches, showing the exact lines as fixed by the treaty at Prairie du Chien, and as understood by them. I requested him to state the facts respecting the murder of the Menomonie, and the causes that led to it; and whether he, or any of his band, received any message from the agent or commanding officer at Prairie du Chien, demanding the surrender of the murderer? To the latter inquiry he answered promptly, No. He gave in his actual population at 142; but it is evident that a very considerable additional population, particularly men, resort there for the purpose of hunting a part of the year.
The day after my arrival, I prepared for and summoned the Indians to a council, with the usual formalities. I opened it by announcing the objects of my visit. Neenaba and his followers listened to the terms of the message, the means I had adopted to enforce it, and, finally, to the request of co-operation on the part of himself and band, with strict attention. He confined his reply to an expression of thanks, allusions to the peculiarity of his situation on an exposed frontier, and general, sentiments of friendship. He appeared to be mentally embarrassed by my request to drop the war-club, on the successful use of which he had relied for his popularity, and whatever of real power he possessed. He often referred to his young men, over whom he claimed no superiority, and who appeared to be ardently attached to him. I urged the principal topic upon his attention, presenting it in several lights. I finally conferred on him, personally, a medal and flag, and directed the presents intended for his band to be laid, in gross, before him.
After a pause, Neenaba got up, and spoke to the question, connecting it with obvious considerations, of which mutual rights, personal safety, and the obligation to protect the women and children, formed the basis. The latter duty was not a slight one. Last year, the Sioux had killed a chief on the opposite shore of the lake, and, at the same time, decoyed two children, who were in a canoe, among the rice, and killed and beheaded them. He said, in allusion to the medal and flag, that these marks of honor were not necessary to secure his attention to any requests made by the American government. And after resuming his seat awhile (during which he overheard some remarks not pleasing to him, from an Indian on the opposite side of the ring), he finally got up and declined receiving them until they were eventually pressed upon him by the young warriors. Everything appeared to proceed with great harmony, and the presents were quickly distributed by one of his men. It was not, however, until the next day, when my canoes were already put in the water, that he came with his entire party, to make his final reply, and to present the peace-pipe. He had thrown the flag over one arm, and held the war-club perpendicularly in the other hand. He said that, although he accepted the one, he did not drop the other; he held fast to both. When he looked at the one, he should revert to the counsels with which it had been given, and he should aim to act upon those counsels; but he also deemed it necessary to hold fast the war-club; it was, however, with a determination to use it in defence, and not in attack. He had reflected upon the advice sent to the Chippewas by the President, and particularly that part of it which counselled them to sit still upon their lands; but while they sat still, they also wished to be certain that their enemies would sit still. And the pipe he was now about to offer, he offered with a request that it might be sent to the President, asking him to use his power to prevent the Sioux from crossing the lines. The pipe was then lit, handed round, the ashes knocked out, and a formal presentation of it made. This ceremony being ended, I shook hands with them, and immediately embarked.
On the second day afterward, I reached the saw-mill, the subject of such frequent allusion, and landed there at 7 o'clock in the morning. I found a Mr. Wallace in charge, who was employed, with ten men, in building a new dam on a brook of the Red Cedar, the freshet of last spring having carried away the former one. I inquired of him where the line between the Sioux and Chippewas crossed. He replied that the line crossed above the mill, he did not precisely know the place; adding, however, in the course of conversation, that he believed the land in this vicinity originally belonged to the Chippewas. He said it was seven years since any Sioux had visited the mill; and that the latter was owned by persons at Prairie du Chien.
The rapids of the Red Cedar River extend (according to the estimates contained in my notes) about twenty-four miles. They commence a few miles below the junction of Meadow River, and terminate about two miles below the mills. This extension of falling water, referred to in the treaty as a fixed point, has led to the existing uncertainty. The country itself is of a highly valuable character for its soil, its game, its wild rice, and its wood. We found the butternut among those species which are locally included under the name of Bois franc, by the traders. The land can, hereafter, be easily brought into cultivation, as it is interspersed with prairie; and its fine mill privileges will add to its value. Indeed, one mile square is intrinsically worth one hundred miles square of Chippewa country, in some other places.
The present saw-mills (there are two), are situated 65 miles from the banks of the Mississippi. They are owned exclusively by private citizens, and employed for their sole benefit. The boards are formed into rafts; and these rafts are afterward attached together, and floated down the Mississippi to St. Louis, where they command a good price. The business is understood to be a profitable one. For the privilege, no equivalent has been paid either to the Indians or to the United States. The first mill was built several years ago, and before the conclusion of the treaty of Prairie du Chien, fixing boundaries to the lands. A permit was given for building, either verbal or written, as I have been informed, by a former commanding officer at Prairie du Chien. I make these statements in reference to a letter I have received from the Department since my return, but which is dated June 27th, containing a complaint of one of the owners of the mill, that the Chippewas had threatened to burn it, and requesting me to take the necessary precautionary measures. I heard nothing of such a threat, but believe that the respect which the Chippewas have professed, through me, for the American government, and the influence of my visit among them, will prevent a resort to any measures of violence; and that they will wait the peaceable adjustment of the line on the rapids. I will add that, wherever that line may be determined, in a reasonable probability, to fall, the mill itself cannot be supplied with logs for any length of time, if it is now so supplied, without cutting them on Chippewa lands, and rafting them down the Red Cedar. Many of the logs heretofore sawed at this mill, have been rafted up stream, to the mill. And I understood from the person in charge of it, that he was now anxious to ascertain new sites for chopping; that his expectations were directed up the stream, but that his actual knowledge of the country, in that direction, did not embrace a circumference of more than five miles.
The line between the Chippewa and Sioux, as drawn on the MS. map of Neenaba, strikes the rapids on Red Cedar River at a brook and bluff a short distance below the mill. It proceeds thence, across the point of land between that branch of the main Chippewa, to an island in the latter; and thence, up stream, to the mouth of Clearwater River, as called for by the treaty, and from this point to the bluffs of the Mississippi Valley (where it corners on Winnebago land), on Black River, and not to the "mouth" of Black River, as erroneously inserted in the 5th article of the treaty; the Chippewas never having advanced any claims to the lands at the mouth of Black River. This map, being drawn by a Chippewa of sense, influence, and respectability, an exact copy of it is herewith forwarded for the use of the Department, as embracing the opinions of the Chippewas on this point. The lines and geographical marks were drawn on paper by Neenaba himself, and the names translated and written down by Mr. Johnston.
It is obvious that the adjustment of this line must precede a permanent peace on this part of the frontiers. The number of Chippewas particularly interested in it is, from my notes, 2,102; to which, 911 may be added for certain bands on Lake Superior. It embraces 27 villages, and the most influential civil and war chiefs of the region. The population is enterprising and warlike. They have the means of subsistence in comparative abundance. They are increasing in numbers. They command a ready access to the Mississippi by water, and a ready return from it by land. Habits of association have taught them to look upon this stream as the theatre of war. Their young men are carried into it as the natural and almost only means of distinction. And it is in coincidence with all observation to say that they are now, as they were in the days of Captain Carver, the terror of the east bank of this river, between the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers. No other tribe has now, or has had, within the memory of man, a village or permanent possession on this part of the shore. It is landed on in fear. It is often passed by other nations by stealth, and at night. Such is not an exaggerated picture. And with a knowledge of their geographical advantages, and numbers, and distribution, on the tributary streams, slight causes, it may be imagined, will often excite the young and thoughtless portion of them to raise the war-club, to chant the war-song, and follow the war-path.
To remove these causes, to teach them the folly of such a contest, to remind them of the treaty stipulations and promises solemnly made to the Government, and to the Sioux, and to induce them to renew those promises, and to act on fixed principles of political faith, were the primary objects committed to me; and they were certainly objects of exalted attainment, according as well with the character of the Government as with the spirit and moral and intellectual tone of the age. To these objects I have faithfully, as I believe, devoted the means at my command. And the Chippewas cannot, hereafter, err on the subject of their hostilities with the Sioux, without knowing that the error is disapproved by the American government, and that a continuance in it will be visited upon them in measures of severity.
Without indulging the expectation that my influence on the tour will have the effect to put an end to the spirit of predatory warfare, it may be asserted that this spirit has been checked and allayed; and that a state of feeling and reflection has been produced by it, which cannot fail to be beneficial to our relations with them, and to their relations with each other. The messages sent to the Sioux chiefs, may be anticipated to have resulted in restoring a perfect peace during the present fall and ensuing winter, and will thus leave to each party the undisturbed chase of their lands. The meditated blow of Steenaba was turned aside, and his war-party arrested and dispersed at the moment it was ready to proceed. Every argument was used to show them the folly and the insecurity of a continuance of the war. And the whole tenor and effect of my visit has been to inform and reform these remote bands. It has destroyed the charm of their seclusion. It has taught them that their conduct is under the super-vision of the American government; that they depend on its care and protection; that no other government has power to regulate trade and send traders among them; finally, that an adherence to foreign counsels, and to anti-pacific maxims, can be visited upon them in measures of coercion. That their country, hitherto deemed nearly inaccessible, can be penetrated and traversed by men and troops, with baggage and provisions, even in midsummer, when the waters are lowest; and that, in proportion as they comply with political maxims, as benevolent as they are just, will they live at peace with their enemies, and have the means of subsistence for an increased population among themselves. The conduct of the traders in this quarter, and the influence they have exerted, both moral and political, cannot here be entered upon, and must be left to some other occasion, together with statistical details and other branches of information not arising from particular instructions.