"On the point of needing pardon, from being wicked, he said the Indians were good till the white man corrupted them. But did not the Indians have some wickedness before that? 'Not so much.' And how was that regarded by the Great Spirit?—Would he forgive it? He hoped so, 'did not know.' Jesus, I rejoined, came to tell us He would, and to get that pardon for us.
"As to suffering and death among the Indians, did not they prove that the Great Spirit was angry with them, as well as with white men? Would he thus treat men that were good? He said they were not wicked before white men came to their country, and taught them to be so. But they died before that? And why did they die, if the Great Spirit was not angry, and they wicked? He could not say, and in reply to my explanation of the gospel doctrine of the entrance of death by sin, he again turned the subject by saying he was a 'great doctor,' and could cure any thing but death.
"The interpreter had incidentally mentioned that the reason the chiefs had to go home so soon, was that they always sacrificed a white dog on the death of a great man. I turned this fact to the account of the argument, and endeavored to connect it with, and explain by it the doctrine of atonement, by the blood of Christ, and also pressed him on the questions, how can this please the Great Spirit on your plan? Why do you offer such a sacrifice, for so it is considered? And where they got such a rite from? He attempted no definite reply. Many other topics were talked over. But these specimens suffice to illustrate his views, and mode of thinking.
"At the close of the conversation he proposed giving me a name, that henceforth I might be numbered among his friends, and admitted to the intercourse and regards of the nation. Supposing this not amiss, I consented. But before he proceeded he called for some whiskey. He was at this time an intemperate man, and though perfectly sober on that occasion, evidently displayed toward the close of the interview, the need of stimulus, which it is hardly necessary to say, we carefully kept from him. But he insisted now, and after some time a small portion was sent to him in the bottom of a decanter. He looked at it, shook it, and with a sneer said, 'why here is not whiskey enough for a name to float in.' But no movement being made to get more, he drank it off, and proceeded with a sort of pagan orgies, to give me a name. It seemed a semi-civil, semi- religious ceremony. He walked around me again and again, muttering sounds which the interpreter did not venture to explain; and laying his hand on me pronounced me 'Con-go-gu-wah,' and instantly, with great apparent delight, took me by the hand as a brother. I felt badly during the scene, but it was beyond recall, and supposing it might be useful in a future day, submitted to the initiation.
"Red Jacket was in appearance nearly sixty years old at this time. He had a weather-beaten look; age had done something to produce this, probably intemperance more. But still his general appearance was striking, and his face noble. His lofty and capacious forehead, his piercing black eye, his gently curved lips, and slightly aquiline nose, all marked a great man, and as sustained and expressed by his dignified air, made a deep impression on every one that saw him. All these features became doubly expressive when his mind and body were set in motion by the effort of speaking, if effort that may be called which flowed like a free, full stream from his lips. I saw him in the wane of life, and I heard him only in private, and through a stupid, careless interpreter. Yet notwithstanding these disadvantages, he was one of the greatest men and most eloquent orators I ever knew. His cadence was measured and yet very musical. In ordinary utterance it amounted to a sort of musical monotony. But when excited he would spring to his feet, elevate his head, expand his arms and utter with indescribable effect of manner and tone, some of his noblest thoughts.
"After this interesting conference had closed, the old chief with his interpreter, bade us a very civil and kind farewell, and set forth on foot for his own wigwam.
"It was four years after this before I had the pleasure of again seeing my old friend. I was then on a flying visit to Black Rock. At an early day I repaired to his village, but he was not at home. Ten days after, as we were just leaving the shore in the steamboat to go up the lake, he suddenly presented himself. It was unhappily too late to return. He hailed me by name, and pointed with much animation to such parts of his person as were decorated with some red cloth which I at parting had presented to him, and which, though not worn as a jacket, was with much taste distributed over his person. These he exhibited as proofs of his friendly recollection.
"The last time I ever saw him was at the close of Mr. Adams' administration. He, with a new interpreter (Major Berry having been removed by death), had been on a visit to his old friend, Co-na-shus-tah, then Secretary of War. After spending some time at the capital, where I often met him, and had the horror to see his dignity often laid in the dust, by excessive drunkenness, he paid me by invitation a final visit at Baltimore, on his way home. He took only time enough to dine. He looked dejected and forlorn. He and his interpreter had each a suit of common infantry uniform, and a sword as common, which he said had been presented to him at the war department. He was evidently ashamed of them. I confess I was too. But I forbear. He was then sober and serious. He drank hard cider, which was the strongest drink I could conscientiously offer him, so I told him. He said it was enough. I said but little to him of religion, urged him to prepare to meet the Great Spirit, and recommended him to go to Jesus for all he needed. He took it kindly, said he should see me no more, and was going to his people to die. So it was, not long after this, he was called to his last account."
Col. Stone represents the testimony of Dr. Breckenridge as corresponding with hundreds of others, who confess their inability to do the orator justice. He laments "his inability to make even an approach to justice, as to the language, and figures in which Red Jacket clothed his thoughts, and by which he illustrated and enforced them."
At another time the benefits of Christianity and the advantages of civilization, being urged by a benevolent gentleman on Red Jacket's attention, he made use of the following language: "As to civilization among the white people, I believe it is a good thing, and that it was so ordered they should get their living in that manner. I believe in a God, and that it was ordered by Him that we, the red people, should get our living in a different way, namely: from the wild game of the woods, and the fishes of the waters. I believe in the Great Spirit who created the heavens and the earth. He peopled the forests, and the air and the waters. He then created man and placed him as the superior animal of this creation, and designed him as governor over all other created beings on earth. He created man differing from all other animals. He created the red man, the white, the black and the yellow. All these he created for wise but inscrutable purposes."