Some Additional Facts about Nicollet, not given on my foregoing pages, may be found in Horace V. Winchell's article, Amer. Geologist, Vol. XIII, pp. 126-128, Feb., 1894. The date of birth is there given as July 24th, 1786 (not 1790); the name, as Joseph (not Jean) Nicolas Nicollet; and the place of death, as Washington, D. C. (not Baltimore, Md.); the date is the same—Sept. 11th, 1843.
[VIII-1] As explained in [note1], p. 287, this chapter is that part of Doc. No. 18 which relates to the Indians, running pp. 56-66 and folder, without break in the text of p. 56 from the geographical matter. But its separation seems desirable, and I accordingly make a chapter for its accommodation. There is no change in the sequence of the matter.
[VIII-2] The Sacs and Foxes have a curious history, perhaps not exactly paralleled by that of any other tribes whatever. The names are linked inseparably from the earliest times to the present day. Each has always been to the other what neither of them has ever been to any other Indians or to any whites—friend. The entire composure with which we have been able to speak of Sacs and Foxes in our day and generation is the reverse of the frame of mind which many persons now living can recall as having been once theirs, before the final subjugation of these capricious, turbulent, and enterprising tribes in trans-Mississippian territory. They are Algonquian Indians who can be traced in blood from Lake Ontario westward, along the gauntlet they ran from Ontarian Canada to the final burying-grounds of their hatchets in Iowa, Kansas, and the Indian Territory. They fought everybody in their way—French, English, and American in turn, as well as perhaps every Indian tribe they encountered. They were alternately friends and foes of each of the two principal nations whose lands they overran—their Algonquian relations the Chippewas, and their natural enemies the Sioux, thus at times turning the balance of power between these two hereditary foes. They inhabited at times many places along the Great Lakes and westward, and the present names of not a few are directly traceable to such occupancy. They were specially identified with the histories of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois for more than a hundred years. Carver speaks of their villages on the Wisconsin r. in 1766, after they had been expelled from the Green Bay and Fox River region. They appear to have been driven from the St. Croix by the decisive battle at the Falls, in which they were defeated by the Chippewas under Waboji (d. 1793). Writing of 1832, Schoolcraft speaks of their recent residences on Rock r., and their confinement west of the Mississippi by the then latest tragic act in their history. This was the decisive battle of the Bad Axe in 1832: see [note51], p. 45. The Foxes are located on the old maps under some form of their Chippewan name Otagami; they were also called Miskwakis or Red Earths; their F. name Reynard, which we translate Fox, and sometimes Dog or Wolf, was an opprobrious nickname or nom de guerre. The Indian name Osagi, Osawki, Osaukee, Sauk, Sac, Sacque, etc., is by some said to signify the erratic propensities of the tribe which bears it, meaning migrants, or those who went out of the land: for a probably better definition, see [note16], p. 101. The survivors of both tribes scarcely number 1,000.
Le Bras Cassé, or Broken Arm, was a Sac chief whom Pike names Pockquinike in his folding [Table] of the Foxes and other Indians. He was a noted character, whose name turns up in various published accounts. He figures, for example, in the Relation, etc., of Perreault, on the scene of the assassination of Mr. Kay at Sandy Lake, May 2d, 1785, by Le Cousin and his mother, both of whom knifed their victim. Le Cousin was promptly stabbed by Feebyain or Le Petit Mort, a friend of Kay's, and Brasse Casse (as Mr. Schoolcraft spells his name) took Kay in hand to cure him; but the wound proved fatal Aug. 26th, 1785.
[VIII-3] Folding Table F of the orig. ed., facing p. 66 of the App. to Pt. 1, with a part of it, which the printer could not get on the sheet, overrun as p. 66 of the main text, headed "Recapitulation." In the present ed. this overrun piece is drawn into the table, which, as now printed, can be set unbroken on two pages facing each other.
For the modern scientific classification of the Siouan linguistic family in general, and of the Dakotas or Sioux in particular, see my ed. of Lewis and Clark, 1893, pp. 94-101, and pp. 128-130. As that work is or should be in the hands of all good Americans, the subject need not be traversed here. Taking that article as a modern norm or standard of comparison, it may be useful to give here the classification and nomenclature of the Sioux which was adopted by Major Long, who was next in the field after Pike with an account of these Indians, Keating, I. 1824, chap. viii., p. 376 seq. The Dacota, he says, means the allied, who in their external relations style themselves Ochente Shakoan, which signifies the nation of seven (council-) fires, represented by the following septenary division which once prevailed: 1. Mende Wahkantoan, or People of the Spirit lake. 2. Wahkpatoan, or People of the Leaves. 3. Sisitoan, or Mia Kechakesa. 4. Yanktoanan, or People of the Ferns. 5. Yanktoan, or People descended from Ferns. 6. Titoan , or Braggers. 7. Wahkpakotoan, or People that shoot at Leaves. Of these Long has it that No. 1 was the Gens du Lac of the French, and Nos. 2-6 were all included in the Gens du Large of the F. traders, i. e., People "at large," roving bands of prairie Sioux. But the French had other terms, especially Gens des Feuilles for No. 2, and Gens des Feuilles Tirées for No. 7. Comparing Long with Pike, we find: Long's No. 1=Pike's No. 1. Long's No. 2=Pike's No. 2. Long's No. 3=Pike's No. 3. Long's Nos. 4 and 5=Pike's No. 4, with his two divisions. Long's No. 6=Pike's No. 5. Long's No. 7=Pike's No. 6. Such a concordance as this deserves a red-letter mark, considering how seldom authors have agreed upon Sioux; and Pike is entitled to the credit of establishing the seven main tribes. In his census, to be compared with Pike's, Long gives total lodges, 2,330; warriors, 7,055; souls, 28,100: see [Pike's Abstract], on pp. 346, 347. These are distributed by Long as follows: No. 1, 160—305—1,500. No. 2, 120—240—900. No. 3, 130—260—1,000; to which add for the Kahra (Pike's Cawree) band of Sissetons, 160—450—1,500. No. 4, 460—1,300—5,200. No. 5, 200—500—2,000. No. 6, 900—3,600—14,440. No. 7, 100—200—800. To which add for various stragglers 100—200—800, making total of lodges, warriors, and souls, as above. Long estimated the revolted Stone Sioux, Haha, or Assiniboines at 3,000—7,000—28,100, or almost precisely the same as all the other Sioux together. Long's interesting particulars of the 14 bands which he recognizes, by dividing his No. 1 into seven and separating the Kahras from the other Sissetons, may be thus summarized: No. 1. Mende-Wahkantoan: (1) Keoxa; pop. 40—70—400; chief Wapasha, Wabasha, La Feuille or Leaf; two villages, one on Iowa r., other near Lake Pepin; hunt both sides of the Miss. r. near the Chippewa r. and its tributaries. Keoxa means "relationship overlooked"; i. e., they inbreed closer than other Sioux. (2) Eanbosandata, so called from the vertical rock on Cannon r.; pop. 10—25—100; chief Shakea; two small villages, one on the Miss. r., other on Cannon r.; hunt on the headwaters of the latter. (3) Kapoja, signifying light or active; one village (at the Grand Marais or Pig's Eye marsh near St. Paul); pop. 30—70—300; chief, the celebrated Chetanwakoamene, Petit Corbeau, or little Raven, who visited Washington in July, 1824; hunt on St. Croix r. (4) Oanoska, meaning great avenue; chief Wamendetanka or War Eagle, formerly dependent on Petit Corbeau; one village (Black Dog's) on the St. Peter, S. side, near the mouth; pop. 30—40—200; hunt on the Miss. r. above Falls of St. Anthony. (5) Tetankatane, meaning Old Village; the oldest one among the Dakotas; 400 lodges there when Wapasha's father ruled the nation; Wapasha formerly lived there, but moved away with most of his warriors; those that stayed chose a new leader from amongst themselves, whose son Takopepeshene, the Dauntless, now rules; pop. 10—30—150; village on the St. Peter, 3 m. above its mouth; hunt on this and Miss. r. (6) Taoapa; one village on the St. Peter; pop. 30—60—300; chief Shakpa, whose name means Six, is third in the nation, ranking next after La Feuille and Petit Corbeau; hunt between the Miss. and St. Peter. (7) Weakaote, a small band dependent on (6); pop. 10—10—50. No. 2. Wahkpatoan, or Gens des Feuilles; name said to mean "people that live beyond those that shoot at leaves," i. e., higher up the river than the Wahkpakatoan; hunt near Otter Tail Lake; chief Nunpakea, meaning "twice flying." No. 3. Miakechesa or Sisitoan: (a) Sissetons proper; no fixed abode; chief rendezvous, Blue Earth r.; hunt buffalo over to the Missouri; live in skin tepees; their chief Wahkanto, or Blue Spirit, by hereditary right. (b) Kahra or Wild Rice Sissetons; no fixed abode; Lake Traverse and Red r.; skin lodges; follow chief Tantankanaje, Standing Buffalo, hereditary, but also a warrior. No. 4. Yanktoanan, the Fern Leaves, an important tribe, pop. one-fifth of the whole nation; no fixed residence; skin lodges; hunt from Red r. to the Missouri; trade at Lake Travers, Big Stone l., and the Shienne r.; principal chief, Wanotan, the Charger. No. 5. Yanktoan, descended from the Fern Leaves; live and trade on the Missouri; hunt on E. side of that river; chief Tatanka Yuteshane, meaning one who eats no buffalo. No. 6. Tetoans, Braggers; by far the most numerous tribe of the Sioux, by some said to compose one-half of the nation; rove between St. Peters and the Missouri; trade on both rivers; live in skin lodges; hostile, great boasters; their chief Chantapeta, or Heart of Fire, a powerful warrior. No. 7. Wahkpakotoan, a name rendered by Long "'Shooters at Leaves,' which they mistake for deer." No fixed abode; rove near head of the Cannon and Blue Earth rivers; skin lodges; their last leader Shakeska, White Nails, who died in 1822; he rose to his station by his military ability. They have a regular hereditary chief Wiahuga, the Raven, acknowledged as such by the Indian Agent; but he became disgusted with the behavior of his tribe, and withdrew to Wapasha's. Long agrees with Pike in giving this band a bad name as a lawless set. Pike says they were mere vagabonds, and refugees from other tribes on account of misdeeds. These Sioux were also called Gens des Feuilles Tirées and Leaf Shooters. In the Lewis and Clark schedule they formed the Ninth tribe of Sioux, named Wahpatoota, or Leaf Beds. A queer form of the name is 8apik8ti=Ouapikouti, on one of Joliet's maps.
The earliest form of the word Sioux is believed to be Naduesiu, derived from Jean Nicolet's journey of 1634-35, as written about five years later in the Jesuit Relations, by Father Le Jeune. The form Nadouessis, pl., is used by Raymbault and Jogues, who were at the Sault Ste. Marie in 1641 (Jes. Rel. of 1642). Nadouesiouek is given in a Relation of 1656, Nadouechiouec, 1660; and soon also Nadouesseronons, Nadouesserons, etc.
An excellent article on the Sioux, entitled Dakota Land and Dakota Life, by Rev. E. D. Neill, occupies pp. 254-294 of the 2d ed. 1872, of Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., originally published in 1853.
[VIII-4] The punctuation of the last two sentences in the original left Pike's meaning obscure. It was by no means evident whether the language which he had used to the Indians held up to their minds a happy coincidence of circumstances which the traders helped to bring about before the Almighty interfered at all, or whether the happy coincidence of circumstances consisted in the endorsement of his language both by the traders and the Almighty. On the whole, I am inclined to think he meant that the speeches he made to the Indians whom he addressed directly were repeated and backed up by the traders among those Indians to whom he had no access; and that this was the happy coincidence of circumstances which enabled the Almighty to finish the business. But after all I am not quite confident that I catch his meaning. If I do, I must say that he is not very complimentary to the Deity, whose assistance he suspects may have been necessary to effect that which the traders and himself jointly attempted. For it seems from his further reflections on the subject that he thought God possibly equal to burying the hatchet between the Sioux and Chippewas, but hardly able to keep the peace without the assistance of the military and of a special agent. However, Pike was nothing if not a good soldier, and he had Napoleonic authority for supposing that God would always be found on the side of the heaviest artillery.
[IX-1] This article formed Doc. No. 2, pp. 52, 53 of the App. to Part III. of the orig. ed., entitled "Explanatory Table of Names of Places, Persons, and Things, made use of in this Volume." But there is not a name of any person in it, and not a name of anything in it that does not belong to Part I., i. e., to the Mississippi voyage alone. Having thus been obviously out of place in Part III., it is now brought where it belongs, and a new chapter made for it, with a new head, which more accurately indicates what it is. But even as a vocabulary of Mississippian place-names, it is a mere fragment, neither the plan nor scope of which is evident, as the names occur neither in alphabetical nor any other recognizable order, and include only a very small fraction of those which Pike uses in Part I. of his book. He may have intended to make something of it which should justify the title he gave it, and left it out of Part I. for that reason; but nothing more came of it, and it was finally bundled into Part III. The lists include a few terms which do not occur elsewhere in the work, as for example, "River of Means"; but are chiefly curious as an evidence of the difficulty our author found in spelling proper names twice alike.