>' .M. % :*.«/ •-^ .•{^^ . -^ ^? '1^/. V^^ N -^rl t^ ^ ,^"' A^^ ^ .0 o ^^ AN^^ \ r- ^A v^ ■^w^- V^ .A>' -^ A> ;is o ; ^ ''t.. x# ''^^ ,,0 \ ■, » « J '-'- '■ ■■■■ " -V- ^ •^. ^ o ■ */v. vO( ^0 O. ^- ,0- .^^' A>' -^V .--b^ .^'^ ^s-'"-^. ^A >^ OO .A^' -^ ■^f, .-^^ APR 8 1899 Oi\ illl. KAMIARl . Hurrah ! hurrah ! it is our home where'er thy colors fly, We win with thee the victory, or in thy shadow die ! " THE APR 8 1899 AMERICAN SOLDIER BEING THE STORY OF THE FIGHTING-MAN OF AMERICA, FROM CONQUISTADOR TO ROUGH RIDER ; FROM 1492 TO 1900 * * ♦ ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS AUTHOR OF "THE AMERICAN SAILOR," "THE AMERICAN INDIAN," "THE TRUE STORY OF THE UNITED STATES," "THE CENTURY BOOK FOR YOUNG AMERICANS," ETC., ETC. NEW AND REVISED EDITION BOSTON LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY 295fi7 Copyright, 1889, BY D. LOTHROP COMPANY. Copyright, 1899, BY LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY. PREFACE. The simple story of the American soldier has never yet been told. Whoever wishes to know him as a man must study numerous confusing episodes, search through voluminous histories or sift out the man from the material in the crowding records of innumerable battles. This is more labor than the busy American cares to undertake, much as he may delight in the records of American valor and American endeavor. It is to attempt this for him, to draw from the mass of material already in print the character and achievements of the fighting man of America even from the earliest times and to present them in consecutive and connected narrative that this book has been undertaken. The description of battles- and the causes of wars have not been entered into. These may be found and studied in detail in any one of the many excellent histories of the United States with which the libraries and homes of America abound. In this book the American soldier as an individual is depicted for the enlightenment and inspiration of Americans — young and old. War is a terrible necessity. Looked at from the standpoint of humanity there is about it neither picturesqueness, nobility, romance nor delight; it is but the emphasis of man's inhumanity to man. And yet there is another point of view. War has been in the history of the world alike civilizer, peace- maker and uplifter. There could have been no progress for the race had the element of strife been lacking. The efforts of those heroic souls " Who have dared for a high cause to suffer, resist, fight — if need be to die," have rung the death-knell of tyranny and moved the world forward toward a broader freedom. And so, through all the 5'ears that have witnessed the evolution of the American Republic, the American soldier has been a prime factor, in this development. His valor has illumined history, his steadfastness has redeemed failure, his loyalty has glorified success. It is for us as Americans to remem- ber our debt to the heroes of Louisburg and Quebec, of Lexington and Saratoga and Yorktown, of Lundy's Lane and New Orleans, of Shiloh and Gettysburg and Appomattox, of El Caney and San Juan and Manila. Without their efforts there would have been no nation of freemen with sons ready to defend its honor and its hfe, no America to stand well at the fore to make its name the symbol of progress, protection, and glory. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE ••• II CHAPTER II. THE CONQUISTADORES , , 32 CHAPTER III. COLONIAL FIGHTING-MEN 56 CHAPTER IV. MINUTE-MEN AND CONTINENTALS ••• 78 CHAPTER V. SOLDIERS OF LIBERTY , . 98 CHAPTER VI. THE TROOPS OF DISCONTENT ,, 121 CHAPTER VII. A LEADERLESS WAR I43 CHAPTER VIII. WARS AND RUMORS OF WAR I66 CHAPTER IX. OVER THE MEXICAN BORDER I9O vii viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. HORSE, FOOT AND DRAGOON 214 CHAPTER XI. BOYS OF 'sixty-one 232 CHAPTER Xn. FROM SHILOH TO APPOMATTOX 255 CHAPTER Xni. BOOTS and saddle 2/5 CHAPTER XIV. the boys of '98 289 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. On the ramparts L. J. Bridgman. Frontis. Initial — A war chief of the Mound-Builders ii Indians attacking the mounds ........... 14 " He halted and turned toward the enemy " . . . L. J. Bridgman . . 21 . " Death to the Mun-dua ! " 27 Initial — A Conquistador 32 De Soto 34 " For Santiago and Spain ! " ........... 37. Coronado's march . . . . . . . £. /. Bridginan . . 43 -- The first white man ............. 53 The revolt of the train-bands ..... /F. T. Sitiedley . . 60 Franklin as a private . . . . . . . L. /. Brtdgnian . . 65=^ A muster of Colonial militia on Boston Common . . F. T. Merrill . . 73 " They hung on the skirts of the retreat " . . . Hy. Sa-ndha7n . . 82 Green Mountain Boys on the march . . . . L. J. Bridgmajt . . 85 The minute-men ........ //y. Sand/iam . . 87^ " The British are coming ! " . . . . . . L. J. Briagman . . 93 The Cambridge elm ............. 96 The battle of Oriskany ............ 103 Marion and his men . . . . , . . L.J. Bridgnum . . 105-^ Washington reviewing the Continental Army 112 {Frotn a painting by J. S. Thompson.') A garrison of two . . . . . . . L. /. Bridgman . . 117. " Peace by no means brought satisfaction " ......... 123 " No fees, no executious, no sheriff ! " .......... 129 Sentinel and ploughman ............ 133 The battle of Tippecanoe . . . . . . L. J. Bridgman . . 135 Anthony Wayne .............. 139 Initial — James Wilkeson ............ 143 At work on the fortifications in 1812 .......... 147 Captain Hindman at P'ort George .... L. J. Bridgman . . 153'' Packenham's charge ............. 158 X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Andrew Jackson ....*. 163 The backwoods soldiers . 169 In the " anti-rent war " 182 Caricaturing the militia L. J. Bridgman . . 185^^ The battle of Buena Vista L. /. Bridg7nan . . 201- Marcy's perilous march . . . . . . L. /. Bridgtmm . . 223— Good-by 2:5 Our brother the enemy L. /. Bridgman . . 241 In the recruiting office 246 Working for the soldiers 251 Initial — The heat of battle Kemble .... 255 Stannard's charge at Gettysburg ........... 258 " Do you want to live forever ? " ........... 263^.-- Morgan's raiders 267 After the battle Kemble . . . . 271 " The home-coming of the Southern soldiers " . . Kemble .... 278 Custer's last stand . . . . . . . L. J. Bridgman . . 283„, At Guasimas 299 THE AMERICAN SOLDIER. THE AMERICAN SOLDIER. CHAPTER L AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE. AW:^CK,eP of the \ ITHIN that section of South- ern Ohio where now stretches the pleasant County of Ross, there was enacted, a thousand years ago, a strange and stir- ring scene. Against the almost inky blackness of an autumn nio;ht blazed up suddenly, with flash and flare, the climbing flame of a beacon fire. Its fitful glare, swayed, now this way and now that, by the keen November blasts, threw into sudden relief a looming watch- tower and a long line of frowning battlements that, topped with a ragged palisade, crested a sharply rising hill and stretched far away into the encircling gloom. Another and yet another flaming beacon answer the summons of fire. One to the right and one to the left, and each a mile or more away from the central beacon, they light up the inky 12 AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE. nieht. There comes a stir behind those walls of stone. The sharp, quick rallying cry sounds out. A long line of hurry- ing forms spring to the solid ramparts, which, rising to the height of ten feet, and with a width of more than thirty feet, afford standing place and fighting room for an army of defenders. Behind the palisades they gather, wary and watchful, with bows drawn and spears poised for the fling. Schooled to the ways of savage warfare the night surprise has found them ready and alert. They live upon their arms. From the watchers on the outer towers comes now the shrill cry of warning. They see the foe. Beyond the flickering rim of lisht a mass of crowdino: forms has been descried — a host of naked, be-feathered warriors, dodging here and there behind the giant tree-trunks, or drawing stealthily nearer to the rising wall of that towering hill-fort. And now with a long, rising whoop of defiance that grows to a terrible and blood-curdling yell as, one after another, the myriad throats of that beleaguering host take up the cry, the mass of naked warriors rush madly within the glare of the beacon fire and discharge a storm of arrows against the palisades. From the watchful defenders comes an answer- ing shower of arrows and of spears, while through the central entrance swarm out in sudden sortie an attacking force of stalwart fiQ-htino^ men. These defenders of the beleaguered fort are dressed, each, in a belted blouse of woven cloth that falls nearly to the knee. The left arm of each long-haired soldier upholds a matted shield ; his right hand firmly grasps a long and deadly spear. Their bravest war-chief leads the sortie out. A leathern buckler, edged with silver and gleaming with its copper boss, protects AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE. 13 his breast ; an iron sword, broad and sharply-pointed, waves above his head in encouragement and command, and at his side dangles its copper scabbard. In close array and with something of martial order the sol- diers of the fort dash on to the charge, following the feathered plume and brandished sword of their gallant chief. Straight into that host of beleaguering savages they dash, regardless of the flying arrow and the whirling hatchet. Then, with yell and whoop, true to the tactics of savage strife, the horde of naked assailants disappears in the gloom only to swarm again before some less defended point — there to let fly their cloud of arrows at the defenders behind the palisades. Through the long night again and again are the assault and the defense, the sortie, flight and fresh attack renewed. Then, with the dawn, the beleaguering host fades away into the forest fastnesses. And, as the morning sun rises above that Ohio hill, the wearied warriors within the fortified town prostrate them- selves toward the east and offer their thanks and sacrifices to the great sun-god who has given them the victory. Thus, then, as the curtain of the centuries is rolled aside for us, do we obtain a glimpse of the earliest American soldier — the earliest, at least, worthy the name of soldier, who with some- thing of order and the show and circumstance of war could do such desperate battle in defense of fortress and of home. It is, for us, an insight into the ways and manners of that long- vanished and mysterious people known now but vaguely under the uncertain name of the Mound Builders — a name eiven only because of the fast disappearing ruins of the marvelous works of engineering skill that they so long and valiantly defended against the ceaseless assaults of a relentless savagery. The fighting-man is as old as the human race. The com- 14 AN OVERTURE OE STRIEE. bative quality in men and nations has never lacked a represen- tative. Wherever rivalry has been engendered or ambition has had birth the man of war has ever and always resulted. " All antiquity," says Renan, " was cruel." No nation exists that does not rest on the foundation stones of strife and blood. The American people form no exception to the rule. Their INDIANS ATTACKING THE MOUNDS. prehistoric story is written in strife and told in eras of conflict. Evolved from savagery through long centuries of struggle and of warfare the early Americans were ever at strife and grew, apparently, only through the law of the survival of the fittest. AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE. 15 The strons: man and the war chief were leaders and rulers in our prehistoric days. Invaded mound and rifled tumulus yield, always, among their meager spoil the inevitable arrow-head of flint or chalced- ony or hard obsidian. The shell-heaps and " kitchen-middens," that speak of a stage of human existence yet nearer to the brute, disclose, amid their crumbling dust, hatchet and arrow- head, dagger and knife of rough-hewed stone, while, alongside the half-fossilized human remains that speak of an almost fab- ulous antiquity for the American race, have been found the stone war-club and the beveled lance-head that tell, ever, the self-same story of conflict and of blood. Dating thus backward to the very beginning of things the American fighting-man has always been a product of American soil. There can, however, but little real identity attach to his story, until, from the uncertain testimony of the Western mounds and from the more credible legends of the red Indian who was the heir of all the ages that here preceded him we obtain our first tangible impression of the early American "soldier." And a soldier this same red barbarian was, despite his forest tactics and his ignorance of the real " art " of war. War was the Indian's second nature ; it was his business, his pastime and his life. To attain the eagle's feather was his highest aim ; to achieve the seat of the war chief by the suf- frages of his comrades was the end of all ambition. The brave at home was but a lazy fellow, scorning manual labor and deem- ing toil as unsuited to one whose duty it was to become a hero. But on the war-path and in the forest foray he was a far dif- ferent creature. Then, no toil was too severe, no exertion was too harsh. Intent on the surprise and capture of his hereditary i6 AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE. foeman he brought into play all his knowledge of woodcraft, all his varied schooling in skill and cunning. With untiring patience and with an ability that was almost genius he read the language of broken twig and trodden grass, of disturbed stream and of uncertain trail. The story of the intertribal wars of the American Indian, could this but be fitly told, would possess as much of courage, of endurance and of artifice as is to be found in any mythical tradition of Troy's ensanguined plains or in the stirring legends of the Golden Fleece. The Roman Horatius, swimming the turbid Tiber, is fully paralleled by that brave Ojibway father who, burning to revenge the death of his warrior son, fiuno: himself — " with his harness on his back " — into the vaster waters of the " Great Lake " (Supe- rior) and swam a distance of over two miles, from the island of La Pointe to the mainland, to join in the deadly battle that his tribe was waging against the hostile Dakotas. Ga-geh-djo-wa the Seneca — the warrior with the heron's plume in his crest — is the fiery Henry of Navarre of the American forests. The braves of the warlike Iroquois outshone in valor and endurance the legionaries of a triumphant Caesar, the spearmen of an Attila or an Alexander. " When you go to war," runs the old Ute proverb, " every one you meet is an enemy; kill all ! " Was not this, too, the policy of a Hannibal, a Pompey and an Alaric } Among the Indians in the old days there were no impress- ments, there were no conscripts. All were volunteers. The American warrior was a free man. But the enlistment was unique. The plan of operations was according to a set form, as binding as were ever those of any marshal of France or any paladin of Spain. Let this glimpse at the military life of the Omahas show us the aboriginal AiV OVERTURE OF STRIFE. 17 American soldier as he existed among the pre-Columbian tribes of the higher order of intelligence. Wa-ba-ska-ha the Ponka had suffered a o-reat wrono- at the hands of the Pawnees. His honor and the honor of his tribe demanded swiftest vengeance. But the initial move could only come from Wa-ba-ska-ha himself. He and none other must organize a war party. With his face bedaubed with clay, to indicate his grief, Wa- ba-ska-ha wandered among the lodges of his people. And as he wandered he cried, thus and often, to Wa-kan-da, the protect- ing spirit of the Omahas : " O, Wa-kan-da! though others have injured me, do thou help me ! " And the people, hearing his appeal, said: "What! would you lead out a war-party, Wa-> ba-ska-ha.'* W'ho has wronged you ? Let us hear your story.'' And then he would recite his wronos until all his tribe was ac- Cjuainted with his story. Thereupon four messengers, friends of W^a-ba-ska-ha, ran as criers throug'h the village, calling out the name of each warrior and bidding him come to an assembly. And when all the chiefs and warriors were gathered together, the war-pipe was filled and Wa-ba-ska-ha, stretching out his hands in appeal to his people, said, " Pity me, my brothers ; do for me as you think best." Then said the chief who filled the sacred pipe : " If you are willing, O warriors, for us to take vengeance on the Pawnees, put this pipe to your lips. If you are not willing, put it not to your lips." And exery man placed the sacred pipe to his lips and smoked it. Thus thev volunteered for the foravi and Wa-ba-ska-ha was glad. Then said the chief, " Now, make a final decision. Say you, O warriors, when shall we take this venoreance ? " And one of the warriors made answer: "O i8 ^iV OVERTURE OE STRIFE. chief, the summer conies ; let us eat our food. When the leaves fall we will take vengeance on the Pawnees." This was the voice of the whole assembly. But Wa-ba-ska-ha would not let the matter rest. Through the whole summer, by day and bv night, and even while they accompanied the people on the summer hunt, his four messengers, or captains, were continually crying out : " O Wa-kan-da ! pity me ! Help me in that which keeps me angry." And they would fast through all the day ; only in tlie night would they eat and drink. Then, when the hunt was over, Wa-ba-ska-ha gave the war- party a feast at his lodge; and tlie four captains sat before the entrance while two messengers sat on either side the door. And as they ate and drank and sang the sacred war-songs they determined upon what day the war-path should be taken. And the five sacred bags, filled with red, blue and yellow feathers, and consecrated to the war-god, were distributed among the chiefs or leaders of the clans of the tribe. The day having been set the leaders of the war-party selected their lieutenants and assigned to each of tlie chiefs of the tribe a company of twenty warriors. Secretly and at night all the warriors who had volunteered for the fight slipped out of their lodges and each company met its chief at a rendez\-ous agreed upon. Here they blackened their faces with charcoal or mud and fasted for four days. And when the four days were past they washed their faces, put plumes in their hair and gathering around the principal captains watched the opening of the sacred bags. Twenty policemen were appointed to keep the stragglers to their duty and four scouts were sent ahead, keep- ing from two to four miles in advance of the party. Directly after breakfast the war-party commenced its march. First came two of the minor captains, bearing the sacred bags. AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE. 19 A hundred yards behind marched the chiefs of the tribe, and following them came the warriors. Frequent halts for rest were made but, when resting, the party must always keep close together to avoid surprise. When the scouts had met the captains at a point agreed upon and made their report as to traces of the enemy or of game other scouts were appointed in their place and the march went on. So, under bright skies or beneath cloudy ones, the Ponkas advanced toward their vengeance. Along the forest trails and across the grassy meadows, ablaze with the nodding flowers of the early fall, they pressed straight on. But neither sky nor flower won any thought from them. And as they neared their foe those who were hot for revenge grew still more fierce and counseled their comrades to valorous deeds. Chief among these was Wa-ba-ska-ha ; for as the warriors marched he sprang in a furious dance before and around them, singing thus: " O make us quicken our steps ! make us quicken our steps ! Ho, O war-chief ! When I see him 1 shall have my heart's desire ! * O war-chief, make us quicken our steps ! " And after he had thus suno- he shouted to the listeninsf warriors : " Ho, brothers, I have said truly that I shall have my heart's desire ! Truly, brothers, they shall not detect me at all. I am rushing on without any desire to spare a life. If I meet one of the foe I will not spare him." Each night when they camped for rest and sleep the four scouts would go out about a mile from the camping ground — one toward the enemy's country, one to the rear, and one to either side of the camp. And,^ before the warriors lay down to 2 AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE. sleep, the ''mikasi'^ or coyote dance, to keep up the spirits of all, would be engaged in by all except the captains. Before sunrise, each morning, the camp was awake ;• break- fast was hastily eaten and the day's march resumed. At last the wary scouts far in advance sighted the village of the enemy and hastening back made their report. The sacred bags were opened, the scalp yell was raised and each warrior boasted anew of how he should conduct himself when he met the foe. And here, as the height of courage, Na-jin-ti-ce, the chief, the friend of Wa-ba-ska-ha, changed his name before the battle and bade the crier so proclaim it. And the crier, lifting his hands first toward the skies and then dropping them toward the. earth, thus proclaimed it : " Thou deity on either side, hear it ; hear ye that he has taken another name. He will take the name Nu-da-nax-a (Cries-for-the-war-path), halloo ! Ye big head-lands, I tell you and send my voice that ye may hear it, halloo ! Ye clumps of buffalo grass, I tell you and send it to you that ye may hear it, halloo ! Ye big trees, I tell 3^ou and send it to you that ye may hear it, halloo ! Ye birds of all kinds that walk and move on the ground, I tell you and send it to you that ye may hear it, halloo ! Ye small animals of different sizes, that walk and move on the ground, I tell you and send it to you that ye may hear it, halloo! Thus have I sent to you to tell you, O ye animals ! Right in the ranks of the foe will he kill a very swift man and come back after holding him, halloo ! He has thrown away the name Na-jin-ti-ce and will take the name Nu-da-nax-a, halloo ! " Now that the enemy had been discovered all was interest and action. The scouts were sent forward to count the lodges and discover whether the foemen were asleep or awake — for it was nightfall. Then one of the chi(^s went himself to make a final • V 111. HALTED AND TURNED TOWARD THE ENEMY. I AN OVERTURE OE STRIFE. 23 examination. And at midnight, when all were ready, they moved stealthily forward ; going by twenties, each warrior hold- ing the hand of the man next him, they crawled toward the Pawnee village. Within arrow-shot of the village they halted, talking in whispers and exhorting each other to deeds of bravery. Just at daybreak, the leading war-chief drew his bow and sent an arrow toward the sleeping foe. Its flight could be distinctly seen by all the watching warriors. The time for the attack had arrived. The war-chief waved the sacred bae four times toward the enemy, he shouted his war-cry and at once the warriors, raising the scalp-yell, let fly their arrows. That terrible yell, familiar to Indian ears, roused the sleepers. Snatching at their ever-ready weapons they rushed out into the chill morning air. Too late ! The surprise was complete. Every surrounding tree-trunk sheltered a Ponka brave. Now from this quarter, now from that dashed out a hostile foeman to strike down or capture an unwary Pawnee, First to strike down and first to drag away his fallen foeman was Wa-ba-ska-ha. His vens^eance had bes^un. For an instant the Pawnees gained the advantage. Mass- ing themselves for a rush they dashed against their enemy discharging their arrows as they ran. The Indian could seldom stand before a combined assault. His tactics were those of ambuscade and covert. The Ponkas fled before the Pawnee onset. But even as they ran Wa-ba- ska-ha heard the cry": " Nu-da-nax-a is killed ! " The bond of kinship was stronger than the fear of capture. He halted and turned toward the enemy. " Ho ! I will stop running," he said. He dashed headlong into the very thick of the foe and, across the dead body of his friend and kinsman, Wa-ba-ska-ha fell fighting. His vengeance was completed. 24 AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE. But one such brave turn as his stayed the tide of retreat. The Pawnees fled at his approach and the Ponkas, following after, scattered or captured their routed foemen. The death of the two friends ended the conflict. The Omahas, to which race the Ponkas belonged, never continued a fight after a chief had been killed. Gathering up their spoil and their captives the Ponka warriors turned homeward and the foray was over. Within the shadow of their own lodges the victory was celebrated with song and dance, the rewards for bravery were distributed among the warriors who had most highly distinguished themselves and the deeds and deaths of Nu-da-nax-a and Wa-ba-ska-ha were loudly sung. They had gone in glory to the rewards of Wa-kan-da. Such heroic deaths as were those of these two friends were not uncommon among the barbaric warriors of the American forests. The story of Damon and Pythias could find frequent parallels in Indian tradition. The " companion warriors " of the prairie tribes, the " fellowhood " of the Wyandots, the curious rites of the Zuni " Priesthood of the Bow " — these and similar phases of Indian military life, of which the study lof American ethnology affords us frequent glimpses, are proof of a methodical system of war training and a standard of martial heroism among the naked warriors of the Western world that not even the days of Roman prowess or the later era of a brutal knight-errantry could surpass. The cultured Natchez of the Mississippi Delta had regularly established schools for the military training of their youth ; Toltec and Aztec, alike, laid especial stress upon the w^ar-training of their boys ; and in the farther north Omaha and Iroquois, bravest of the forest races, gave the military education of their youth into the charge of eflicient and established teachers. ajv overture of strife. 25 Schooled thus to war and warhke ways the American Indian was a born soldier. A barbarian rather than a savao-e there was a method in his every move on war-path and in ambuscade and battle. And this was based on a peculiar school of tactics that was by no means the brutal hack and hew of the savage fighter. His art of war was built upon cunning and hedged about with strategy. It called for a course of fast and vigil that suggests the preliminaries of battle undertaken by the barbarian fighters of the so-called days of chivalry. The " knight of Arthur's court " and the brave of the Mohawk Valley differed but little in their ways of war. True, the Indian warrior did not ride out to the slaughter of undefended inferiors sheathed in steel and guarded at every point by the ingenuity of the blacksmith and the work of the ironmonger. His was the more heroic equality of man to man, unhelmeted, naked and free. His regimentals were his hideous daubs of mud or clay, his weapons the stone hatchet, the knotty war-club and the sharpened arrow, his oriflamme the heron's crest or the eagle's feather, his torture-chamber the forest clearino- and the sacrifi- cial fire. At once the exigencies and the rivalries of his life made war an ever-present necessity ; but it was also an ever-pres- ent opportunity. His heroism was lofty, but it implied craft and cunnino-. The warrior who could circumvent was a greater brave than he who simplv shot to kill. Glooskap the Algon- quin divinity was at once fighter and conjurer. Atotarho the Iroquois war-god was wizard and warrior as well ; while even the mythical Hiawatha was quite as much the wonderful magician as he was champit)n and diplomat. Centuries ago there lived on the rocky shores of Lake Superior a numerous and warlike people known as the Mun- 26 ^iV OVERTURE OF STRIFE. dua. Presumably of Dakota stock this Indian tribe was fierce and cunning, relentless and strong. Into their homeland, forced westward by the all-conquering Iroquois, came the Ojibways, a people of Algonquin blood. For years the new- comers lived in continual terror of their ferocious neighbors. To hunt in the shadows of the' Northern forests, to fish on the waters of the Great Fresh Sea meant for the Ojibways constant anxiety, and the risk of capture and the stake. To a people who had faced the Iroquois in fight such a state of vassalage was not to be endured. In union there is strength, reasoned the badgered Ojibways. Other tribes, their neighbors as well, lived like them in terror of the Mun-dua. To these the Ojibways suggested a confederacy of annihilation. The chiefs in council pledged their warriors to the attempt, and the wampum and the war-club were sent in summons among the lodees of the confederated tribes. Volunteers responded from every village. The preliminary rites of fast and vigil, of mystic medicine and sacred dance were all performed, and on the appointed day there streamed from out the rendezvous the long and wavering line of a great war-party. Preceded by their watchful scouts and led on by their tribal chiefs, the confederated warriors stealthily threaded the narrow trails of the mighty forest, drawing nearer and yet nearer to the town of their common enemy, determined, so the record tells us, " to put out their fire forever.'' The " great town " of the Mun-dua, protected by palisades, topped a sightly hill that overlooked the mighty lake. From their outlooks the Mun-dua spied out the advance of the besiegers ; but confident of their own prowess they laughed the laugh of scorn and made no movement to check their rebellious vassals. AN OVERTURE OF STRIFE. 27 The encircling forest poured out its host of besiegers. On every side of the Mun-dua town, save vvliere the waters of the Great Fresh Sea broke on the rocky beach, the Ojibways and their allies swarmed before tlic palisades. With every mark and gesture of Indian de- fiance thev shouted their challenge to the foe. They danced and sang, they raised the scalp- halloo and shot their flights of arrows at the unyielding wall. And yet the Mun- dua gave no reply ; thev sent out no force of warriors to answer the defiance of their vassals. At last, after the first fury of the be- siegers had expended itself in war-whoop and harmless arrow- flight, the gates of the village opened and forth came, to scatter the presump- tuous rebels, not the warriors of the tribe, but the boys of the Mun-dua. The Indian contempt for an inferior foeman could no farther go. But the indignant allies, turning their 'DEADl T