History of the Indians, of North and South America

by Samuel G. Goodrich

“On the 6th, I rode out with Captain Hunter to the Kickapoo village, which is about five miles from the fort. The Kickapoos are a branch of the great northern nation of Indians, which includes the Potawatomies, the Chippewas, and other numerous tribes. Their former territory has been bought by the United States, and this tract of country, along the southern bank of the Missouri, allotted in its stead; beside which, the United States engaged to supply them, for a certain time, with a stipulated quantity of provisions, clothes, &c. Living so near the settlements, they have lost most of the traits of their original character, and are a reduced, debased race; nevertheless, they are now interesting in a religious point of view. A miniature Mahomet has arisen among them, and the tribe is divided into two sects, the religious and irreligious; these are pretty equal in number, and the former acknowledge and obey, as secular chief, the prophet who teaches the new creed. This man preaches very good and enlightened morality. He pretends to have seen the Great Spirit in a vision, and to have received his command to proclaim his truths and precepts to the Indians. I should have been astonished at the excellence of his doctrine, and the soundness of his religious views, if I had not learned from a gentleman, long resident among them, the fountain from which he drew his knowledge. It appears, that, when very young, he learned the English language thoroughly, and, in remote parts of the State of Illinois, attended many Christian meetings. He thus became acquainted with the outlines of the Christian scheme, and with the morality which the Bible inculcates; and afterward grafting the knowledge thus acquired upon his Indian prejudices and superstitions, he has used it as an engine of personal aggrandizement, and become priest, prophet, and chief of half his nation.

“I attended a preaching, which was held under a large, open, reed-thatched shed. The meeting was conducted with the greatest decorum; all the men under or near the shed stood uncovered; but in this, as in all the Christian churches that I have seen in any country, the greater part of the assembly were females. Each was supplied with a flat board, on which were carved symbols, which answered the purpose of letters, and enabled them to chime in with the prayer or hymn of the preacher.

“I regretted to find that the officiating preacher was not the ‘great prophet himself,’ but one of his favorite disciples. He was a man of middle age, with a quiet and earnest expression of countenance, and a voice capable of much modulation and variety of tone; he spoke without the slightest hesitation. I placed myself within hearing, and, keeping at my elbow the half-breed French interpreter, took down in pencil the following scraps from his lecture:—‘Look up at the heavens! look around you at the earth fertile with fruit, and the animals given for our use. All these show the goodness of the Great Spirit. If he were not good, much better than any of us, he would be angry with us, for we are all bad, and disobey him; he would punish, and not forgive us. But if we are good and obey him, we are happier and more flourishing here; all goes well with us. We are but half-taught children; we are poor Indians. It is only a few years since we learned his will and commands, through his prophet; but if we ask him, and obey him, we shall daily grow wiser and happier’;—and so on in a similar strain. After this sermon, a hymn was sung. It was a low, melancholy, and not unmusical air, and was rendered wild and peculiar by the closing of each verse in the minor key. I left the scene with strong emotions of interest and compassion, and must own that I entertain hopes, though but faint ones, that this twilight may be the forerunner of the sunrise of the gospel among them.”

There is another tribe of Indians, called Pawnee Picts, who live on the banks of the Red River, in alliance with the Camanches, and are sometimes reckoned as belonging to the Pawnees, though a thousand miles from them. Catlin asserts that “there is no family resemblance, nor any similarity in their language and customs.” Their village is described as being a large one, containing some five or six hundred wigwams. The nation consists of from eight to ten thousand persons. At a council held while Catlin was present, Colonel Dodge restored to them two Pawnee girls, who had been purchased from their captors, the Osages, and received in return a little boy, the son of Judge Martin, whose family had been murdered on the False Washita. On this occasion, “the heart of the venerable old chief seemed to melt at the evidence of the white man’s friendship; he rose on his feet, and, taking Colonel Dodge in his arms, and placing his left cheek against the left cheek of the Colonel, held him for some minutes without saying a word, whilst tears were flowing from his eyes. He then embraced each officer in turn, in the same silent and affectionate manner.” The chief, with two others, accompanied Colonel Dodge to Fort Gibson, and formed a treaty with the United States. Their residence is among the Rocky Mountains.

Close by the Pawnee Picts are the Kioways, who are described as being a fine looking race of men, very tall, some of them being seven feet high, and having a Roman outline of head. They are decidedly distinct from the Pawnee Picts and the Camanches, and also differ from them in language and customs.

The Camanches are supposed to be at least twenty thousand strong. Catlin even estimates them as high as thirty or forty thousand, and says they are able to show some six or seven thousand warriors, well mounted and well armed. They are a very warlike tribe, traversing the immense space of country extending far north and south, and east and west, from the Red River to the Pacific Ocean. They were long the dreaded enemy of the Spaniards, as they now are of the Mexicans, on whom they make frequent incursions, and bear off prisoners, especially female children, whom they adopt and marry. About sixty years ago, the daughter of the governor-general of Chihuahua was stolen by them. The father, by an agent, some weeks after, was allowed to ransom her. But she refused to return to her parents, and sent them word that the Indians had tattooed her face, and given her to be the wife of a young man of their tribe; that her husband treated her well, and had reconciled her to his mode of life. In her present circumstances, therefore, she preferred remaining where she was. She continued in the nation, and raised a family of children.

The Camanches have fought many a bloody battle with their enemies, and have always succeeded in preserving their independence. They particularly excel in catching and taming for use the wild horses of the plains, and form a terrible cavalry in war, particularly as they are able, in a moment, to throw themselves over to the opposite side of the horse, so as to be screened from their enemy, while they can shoot their arrows, either over or under the horse’s neck, with such force as to pierce through a buffalo. They also carry, in war, a shield, and a lance of fourteen feet in length, which they use with great effect. Numerous instances of their intrepidity are on record. The following incident is related by Farnham in his travels. About the middle of June, 1839, a band of fifty or sixty crossed the river in the night, and concealed themselves near where the animals of the establishment were feeding during the day. As they concealed themselves in the bushes, they were not perceived by the Mexican horse-guard, who, after having driven out his charge within reach of the guns of the fort, took his station, as usual, beyond them, holding his horse by a long rope, and suffering him to graze around him. While here on duty, the Indians suddenly rose, and ran towards the animals with horrible yells, seeking to drive them across the river. “The guard, however, nothing daunted, mounted quickly, and drove his horse at full speed among them. The mules and horses, hearing his voice amidst the frightening yells of the savages, immediately started at a lively pace for the fort; but the Indians were on all sides, and bewildered them. The guard still pressed them onward and called for help, and on they rushed, despite of the Indians to the contrary. The battlements were covered with men. They shouted encouragement to the brave guard, ‘Onward, onward!’ and the injunction was obeyed. He spurred his horse to his greatest speed from side to side, and whipped the hindermost of the band with his leading rope. He had saved every animal; he was within twenty yards of the open gate, when he fell; three arrows from the bows of the Camanches had cloven his heart. And, relieved of him, the lords of the quiver gathered their prey, and drove them to the borders of Texas, without injury to life or limb. Thus forty or fifty mules, and their best servant’s life, were lost to the Messieurs Bents in a single day.”

The Appachees are a numerous tribe of Indians, estimated at 20,000, who inhabit the country lower down than the Camanches. But little is known of them. The Eutaws, estimated at 19,200, dwell in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, occupying alternately both sides of the Eutaw or Anahuac range. They are continually migrating from one side to the other, still holding the superstitions of their fathers, though a few of them, principally half-breeds, have embraced the Catholic faith.