Mr. Kipp, a Canadian of German descent, now clerk of the American Fur Company, and director of Fort Clarke, came here in 1822, as agent of the Columbia Fur Company.[174] At that time there was no fort here. Major Pilcher, the same gentleman who came with us up the {319} Lower Missouri, in order to take the management of the trading post of Mr. Cabanné, among the Omahas, was, at that time, a proprietor of the Missouri Fur Company, and directed a trading post a little above the Manitari villages, on the southern coast. In the spring of 1822,[175] this fort was abandoned, the above-mentioned Fur Company having been dissolved. In May, the same year, Mr. Kipp commenced building a fort in the prairie, which lay between the present Fort Clarke, and the forest, in which the inhabitants of Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush live in the winter. This fort was completed in the month of November. In the same summer, Colonel Leavenworth,[176] with a considerable body of troops, artillery, and an auxiliary corps of the Dacota Indians, came up the river to the Arikkara villages, to chastise those people, who, not long before, had attacked the keel-boats of General Ashley, killed eighteen of the crew, and wounded many others. The inhabitants of the banks of the Missouri affirm that this enterprise was conducted with very little energy; they retired from the enemy's villages without destroying them, or doing much injury to the inhabitants, at which the allied Indians, especially, were much dissatisfied.[177] The Arikkaras, on the other hand, became excessively arrogant, and henceforth attacked and murdered all the white men who were so unfortunate as to fall in their way. When Lewis and Clarke were here, these people were friendly, but now they are violently inimical to the Whites, and have killed many more than any other nation on the Missouri.[178] After Colonel Leavenworth's retreat, the Arikkaras removed to a station higher up the river, and settled in the forest which the Mandans have now selected for their winter quarters.[179] The garrison of the fort, built by Mr. Kipp, consisted of only five men, besides Mr. Tilton, the director. It was, therefore, in constant danger, because of the near vicinity of the Arikkaras. Those savages remained constantly close to the fort: one of their chiefs, Stanapat (the little hawk with the bloody hand) killed one of Mr. Tilton's people at the very door of the fort. Three white men, coming from the Rocky Mountains, were obliged by the Arikkaras, who lay in wait, to abandon their boat, and to escape, at imminent risk of their lives, to the opposite shore. In the same autumn these Indians murdered five persons belonging to the French Company on Cannon-ball River. Neither Messrs. Tilton and Kipp, nor any of their people, durst venture out of the fort, where they were obliged to remain in durance the whole of the autumn. Subsequently, the latter resided in a Mandan village till the fort was completed, though those people were on a friendly footing with the Arikkaras. When the man above-named was shot at the door of the fort, the Mandans were very anxious to declare war against the Arikkaras; but this was overruled, because the people belonging to the Columbia Fur Company, who had to come hither by land from Lake Travers and St. Peter's River, would inevitably have suffered by it.[180]
At the beginning of December, Mr. Laidlow, now on the Little Missouri, came from Lake Travers with six wagons laden with goods, on which a sort of peace was concluded with the Arikkaras.[181] They came first to the fort, because they could nowhere else obtain goods from the Whites, and the {320} precaution was always taken of admitting only a few of them at a time. The peace with these Indians was not, as might have been expected, of any long duration. They always behaved extremely treacherously, and it was at length dangerous even to go out for water, wood, or other necessaries, and the people were frequently threatened and intimidated; for which reason, Mr. Tilton left the fort, and went to the next Mandan village, where he resided in the hut of the distinguished chief, Tohp-Ka-Singka (the four men), who protected him against every attack. He afterwards went down to St. Louis.
In the spring of that year the Arikkaras returned to their former villages, declaring that they would, in future, live in peace with the white men. Mr. Kipp alone remained behind, and, throughout the summer, did not see a white man; the skins and goods of the Company were in his keeping in the hut of the chief, but he afterwards built a house near the village, where he dwelt, till 1824, with one Jeffers, who, with seven men, and wagons laden with goods, had come from Lake Travers. The Mandans had hitherto protected the abandoned fort, and kept it in order, that the Arikkaras might not burn it. During the summer Mr. Kipp caused the palisades of the fort to be cut down close to the ground, and the Mandans conveyed the wood to their village, carrying some of the beams on their shoulders, and floated the remainder down the river. The buildings were likewise destroyed. Several apartments were added to Mr. Kipp's house, and the palisades were placed round it. As he had not a sufficient quantity of goods, Mr. Kipp sent Charbonneau (who was likewise in the service of the Columbia Fur Company), in company with another man, to fetch a wagon-load from Lake Travers; but, on their return, encountering a party of Assiniboins, they were compelled to abandon their wagon, horses, and goods, and all was lost. About this time the Crows arrived with a good supply of furs, but as Mr. Kipp had not a sufficient number of articles to barter, he himself undertook, with two Half-breeds, the journey to Lake Travers, and succeeded in bringing a wagon-load in safety.
On his way he perceived a camp of the Dacota, and avoided it; and, during the night, lost his horses, but was fortunate enough to recover them. When he returned, General Atkinson, with 500 or 600 troops, had been at the Mandan villages, whence he proceeded upwards to Milk River. These troops returned during the summer, and hostilities had nearly ensued between them and the Crows, who were with the Mandans.[182] The French Fur Company had sent some of their servants with the General to trade in the Mandan villages. Bissonette was the chief trader. In the autumn Mr. Tilton came up from St. Louis, in a keel-boat laden with goods. Mr. Kipp had, meantime, sent some people to the Assiniboins, Crees, and Ojibuas, to invite their chiefs to come hither and open a trade with them. The troops had brought a person named Wilson, as agent of the United States for the Indians;[183] and all these people lived together in the Mandan fort. Peace was therefore concluded between those three Indian tribes, as well with the Whites as with the Mandans and their allies. The object was to break off their connexion {321} in the north with the English, and to draw them to the Missouri. In April, 1825, Messrs. Wilson and Tilton returned to St. Louis, and Kipp alone remained in the fort, with five men.[184] In November, Mr. Tilton returned with a supply of goods, and Mr. Kipp went to White Earth River, carrying with him a fine selection. Here he built a fort, a little on this side of the mouth of the river, and remained there during the winter, trading with the Assiniboins. In the autumn of 1826 the Sioux made an attack on the Mandans and Manitaries, killed above fifty of the latter, a couple of the Mandans, and likewise a Crow Indian, who happened to be on the spot. This year, the Columbia Fur Company united with the American Fur Company, and commenced its operations here on the Missouri.[185] In the winter of 1830 Mr. Kipp caused the wood to be prepared for the present Fort Clarke, and the palisades were erected in the spring of 1831. Mr. Mitchell now undertook the direction of this new fort, which he completed to a certain extent, and called Fort Clarke. In July, with forty-five men, Mr. Kipp was sent to Maria River, where he built the fort, the ruins of which I have mentioned above. He remained there till the spring of 1832, when he was succeeded by Mr. Mitchell, who then built the present Fort Piekann, or Mc Kenzie.[186] Mr. Kipp has since had the direction of Fort Clarke, except in the winter of 1832-33, when Mr. Lamont had it,[187] and Kipp was under him as clerk. Skirmishes with the Sioux took place in the neighbourhood; and, on one occasion, when Lamont and Kipp were conversing by the fireside, they were startled by a shot fired through the window, while the ball passed between them, and lodged in the wall. The Mandans, who were brought hither by Mr. Kipp, have remained here for eleven years, in the same position as then, and their number has neither increased nor diminished. The trade with the Indians is, on the whole, unchanged, and the goods remain nearly at the same prices, except when their value is raised by foreign merchants. This year (1833), on account of the competition with Messrs. Soublette and Campbell, twelve dollars were paid for a large beaver-skin, though it was, in reality, worth no more than four dollars in the United States. But it was of great moment to the Company not to suffer any other party to compete with them. The Indians now generally require horses in exchange for their beavers; and as there are but few at Fort Clarke, messengers were despatched to Fort Pièrre to fetch some. Messrs. Soublette and Campbell had, at present, one of their people in each of the neighbouring Indian villages. I have already mentioned their clerk, Mr. Dougherty, who lived among the Manitaries, and stated that they had taken Charbonneau into their pay. Mr. Kipp had likewise stationed a trader among the Manitaries, who, in the winter, visited the villages in a sledge. The circumstances which took place during the thirty-seven years of Charbonneau's residence in the Manitari and Mandan villages, were nearly as follows:—
At his first arrival, the three Manitari villages stood precisely as they do now, and Charbonneau immediately took up his residence in the central one. No commercial intercourse had then been opened with St. Louis; and he, as the only white man on the spot, procured what he wanted {322} from the north, of the English. In the year of his arrival, 1300 or 1400 Sioux, united with 700 Arikkaras, attacked the foremost Mandan village, and about 1000 Manitaries hastened to assist the latter. They repulsed the enemy, killing more than 100 of them, among whom was the son of Tanahah-Tahka (the white cow), an Arikkara chief. These people had before lived in the nearest forest, below that which the Mandans of Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush now inhabit during the winter; but, after this battle, they removed further down the Missouri, and built their villages at the spot where we saw them.[188] After the war, they left all their effects behind them in their huts. Subsequently they often returned in a hostile manner, but never in such numbers as at that time. Five or six years before Charbonneau arrived, the Sioux, with 1500 tents, came on a visit to the vicinity of the Manitari villages. Two of the latter, a man and woman, who were returning from the Crows, were murdered by some of the Sioux; on which the Manitaries recklessly killed five Sioux, who happened to be with them. This was the signal for war. The Sioux surrounded the village; the inhabitants were unable to procure either wood or water, as the river was at some distance. There they remained closely blockaded for nine days, drinking only the dirty stagnant water which was in the village. The horses collected in the huts suffered hunger and thirst, and gnawed off the bark of the wood of the posts. A chief, who had erected a kind of bulwark on the top of his hut, shot eleven Sioux, but was, in the sequel, killed by a successful fire from the enemy.
On the ninth day the old men gave orders that the young warriors should mount their horses and go out to meet the enemy, while all the inhabitants should issue forth and fetch water from the river. This was done, but, when the Sioux observed the intended attack, they struck their tents and retired, conducting their women and children along the chain of hills. Eighty of the horses which were led to the river perished, because it was not possible to prevent them from drinking too eagerly. The Sioux were pursued, and many of them killed. During Charbonneau's time, another war party of the same nation appeared on the other bank of the Missouri; in the large Manitari village there were only eighteen men, the rest being out on a hunting expedition, but the other village collected all its warriors. The Mandans joined them, they forded the river on horseback to make an attack, and reached a ravine, where they faced the foe. The Sioux called to the Manitaries, that they would first smoke together, on which all sat down, showed each other their pipes, and began to smoke. This done, the chief of the Sioux advanced and called to his adversaries that they were come here to fight; both sides knew that they had brave men opposed to them, and he, therefore, considered it would be more honourable to leave the wood, and combat in the open plain, which was agreed to by both parties. They proceeded into the plain and commenced the attack. Two Mandans, the Coal, and the Black Cat,[189] had previously had a dispute with each other, and were now resolved to see which of them would fight the best. The Sioux soon gained considerable advantages, and the Mandans and Manitaries {323} were already beginning to retreat towards the forest, when the Black Cat called to the Coal, his adversary, who was among the retreating party, whether this retreat was a proof of his vaunted courage? On which the Coal recovered himself, took his adversary by the arm, and said, "Well then, we will die together!" They both turned back and rode into the thickest of the enemy. Their example was instantly followed by all the other warriors; they recommenced the attack with renewed vigour; the enemy was totally worsted, and many of their people killed.
At another time a war party of the Sioux appeared opposite the village Les Souliers,[190] in the large prairie. The Manitaries crossed the river, defeated the enemy, and pursued them for twenty miles. The Sioux constantly remained near the river to keep their opponents from their camp in hills, where their women and children were placed. A Sioux, wearing a handsome feather cap and tufts of hair, proceeded along the hills, and a Manitari chief pursued this enemy on a fleeter horse, and overtook him. Both dismounted and fought with their knives till the Sioux was killed. Forty-eight of the enemy were slain, while the Manitaries lost only three men. The Mandans had supported their allies and neighbours in this battle. Charbonneau was witness of this action, and said that in the following night the scalp dance was performed. Ten or twelve years ago the Manitaries were preparing an antelope park, and one of their people, who was occupied in a ravine, collecting the wood necessary for the purpose, was shot by some Assiniboins, who were lying in ambush. The relations were in the act of placing the deceased on the stage for the dead, when about thirty Assiniboins, with two calumets, came to the village to conclude a peace, not knowing that another band of their people had just committed the above-named murder. All the inhabitants hastened together, attacked and killed about twenty Assiniboins, took three of the women prisoners, while the few remaining of the party escaped by flight. Individuals are even now often murdered on both sides; and only three weeks before my arrival at Fort Clarke, three of the enemy had come to the bank opposite the fort, and made signals that they wished to be conveyed across. A man and two women accordingly went over in a leather boat, on which the strangers immediately shot the man, and the women with difficulty escaped.
Fort Clarke is about three quarters of a mile below the site of the old fort of Lewis and Clarke, 300 paces from the Mandan village, Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, and between eighty and ninety paces from the southern side of the river, in a level prairie, above the rather steep bank of the Missouri. This bank, immediately below the Indian village, is much higher and quite perpendicular. About 200 paces below the fort is a streamlet which has steep clay banks, and at the distance of 200 paces from the Missouri divides into two arms, one of which comes down further south, and the other about 700 paces behind the fort, after issuing from the hills into the level prairie. This chain of hills limits the background of the prairie, and closes on that side the view from the fort.[191] The ground near the stream {324} is overgrown with grass, and, in its many windings, bushes and tall plants adorn the banks, especially of the class syngenesia, such as solidago, &c., the seeds of which are sought after in winter by the Fringilla linaria, and the Emberiza nivalis. In the spring and autumn wild ducks frequent this stream, which is inhabited by river tortoises; the unio, too, is found in it. As soon as it freezes, which, in 1833, it did in November, the ducks migrate to the ponds and lakes a few miles distant, where they remain with pelicans, swans, wild geese, divers, cranes, and other water fowl, till these lakes are likewise frozen. About a league below Fort Clarke the Missouri makes a bend to the east or north-east, and on this part of the bank is a rather extensive forest, in which the inhabitants of Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush have built their winter village of sixty or seventy huts. From the above village there is easy access across the prairie, which is, in general, level, to Ruhptare, the second Mandan village, there being only a couple of small ravines filled with brushwood, the resort of prairie hens, to break the level. Opposite the fort, on the left shore of the Missouri, a fine forest of poplars, elms, maples, ash, &c., with a thick undergrowth of every variety of shrub, extends to the prairie hills. In this forest the inhabitants of Ruhptare live in the winter time, directly opposite their summer village.[192]
Fort Clarke itself is built on the same plan as the other trading posts of the Company. The front and back of the square are forty-four paces in length, the sides, forty-nine paces. The northern and southern corners have block-houses; the buildings are of one story, and they were just erecting a new one, with a couple of rooms, having good glass windows, which, however, was not yet completed. In front of the postern gate was the machine in which the skins are made up into bundles, each bundle consisting of ten buffalo hides, and weighing 100 pounds. A small piece of garden-ground is laid out behind the fort, and not far off, on the banks of the stream, the Indians had planted some small fields of maize and gourds. There were only three dogs in the fort, which were always shut out in the evening. At this time we had little opportunity of following the chase; the herds of buffaloes had gone to a distance, and the hunters were obliged to make long excursions before they could meet with them. There was, however, a sufficient stock of food for the horses in the fort, and sometimes a good many horses were kept there; but, at this season, most of them had been sold, in consequence of the competition in trade. These animals are very badly treated; they are scarcely housed in a stable during the whole winter, and in the coldest nights they were in the court-yard, while the congealed snow lay on their backs and shoulders, some inches thick. They had no food in the winter, except the bark of the poplar trees in the forest; and, when the weather was not too rigorous, and the snow too deep, they were driven thither daily. The dogs have also to pass the night in ice and snow. Fort Clarke possessed no oxen, nor any domestic animals, except some cocks and hens, which latter begin to lay in March. Oxen would be in danger from the numerous Indians, who consider them as a medicine {325} of the white men, which may be prejudicial to them in hunting the buffaloes. There were a few tame cats in the fort, but not sufficient to reduce the great numbers of rats. These animals (the Norway rats) were so numerous and troublesome, that no kind of provision was safe from their voracity; their favourite food was the maize, among which they committed sad havoc; and it was calculated that they daily devoured five bushels, or 250 pounds. There were often from 500 to 800 bushels of this corn in the loft at a time. The rats were brought hither by the American ships; but, as yet, they have not reached the Manitari villages. The Indians killed seven of these creatures in the prairie, which were on their route from Fort Clarke to those villages. No rats have since attempted to visit them, but it is more than probable that they will, ere long, find their way thither.