EI flqg FAMOUS INDIANS A Collection · qf Short Biographies POWHATAN AND POCAHONTAS MASSASOIT AND KING PHILLIP POPE JosEPH BRANT PONTIAC SACAGAWEA TECUMSEH SEQUOYA JoHN Ross BLACK HAWK OscEOLA COCHISE SEATTLE RED CLOUD CRAZY HORSE SITTING .. BULL Wovoxx JosEPH QUAN AH p~~KER GERONIMO Su~ested Reading List FAMOUS INDIANS A Collection of Short Biographies Warriors, statesmen, prophets, and scholars; the firmest of friends and most formidable of foes: .there are heroes (and heroines)· of many kinds in the often tragic, yet inspiring· saga of North American Indians. Most-but not all-of the Indian personalities whose .lives are briefly described here were Chiefs; some of them have become famous around the world. All were leaders in a great struggle to preserve treasured lands and lifeways. With their tribesmen, ·they are inseparably linked to our· country's history from its earliest beginnings through generations of growth. Pocahontas, as visualized by an unknown artist of the 19th. century, who portrayed the Powhatan "child of nature" m the romantic style of his own period. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. POWHATAN AND POCAHONTAS (Powhatan) WHEN ENGLISH SETTLERS founded Jamestown Colony in 1607, all of what is now Tidewater Virginia was occupied by a confederacy of Algonquin Indian tribes headed by a powerful chief known as Powhatan (his proper name was Wahunsonacock). Although Chief Powhatan could easily have destroyed the entire young colony, he . and his people were generally friendly. during the pioneers' first difficult years. Capt. John Smith, the English colony's leader, described.Powhatan as a tall, dignified man in his 60' s, with a grim · suspicious face and ·.a· reputation for cruelty to anyone who got in his way. But Powhatan had a very soft heart for his "dear- est daughter," Pocahontas, a girl of about 13 at the time of the English arrival. Many legends have grown up around Pocahontas. One of the most famous of these tells that when John Smith, having intruded too far on Indian territory, was captured and about to be beheaded at. Powhatan's order, Pocahontas saved his life by throwing herself over his body. Then, the story continues, Powhatan, . yielding to Pocahontas' pleas, pardoned the English leader and sent him back to Jamestown in peace. In 1609, making a diplomatic effort to maintain the Indians' good will, the English settlers crowned Chief Powhatan king of the territory. Much Wahunsonacock, chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, is being crowned "King Powhatan" by Captain John Smith in this pencil sketch by an anonymous 20th century artist. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. pomp and ceremony went ~IOit'g~with the crowning, but, according to Captain .Smith, it was not a complete success. Powhatan was . more interested in the gifts which went along with the eventthan in the crown itself, and was reluctant to bow his head even long enough for the crown to be placed upon it. Indian-white relations became less friendly after John Smith's return to England, and promises were broken on both sides. The English intruded upon Indian lands, and the resentful Powhatans captured settlers and made off with colonists' belongings. There were several years of minor warfare. In 1613, taking advantage of Powhatan's great love for his daughter, the English decoyed Pocahontas onto a British ship which .lay at anchor in the .Potomac, and carried her off to Jamestown. With so valuable a hostage, the settlers were able to arrange ransom terms: English prisoners and goods were returned, and Pocahontas was restored to her father. But while she was living among the Englishat Jamestown, Pocahontas had met John Rolfe, "an honestgentleman and of good behaviour," as records of the time describe him. . The two £ell in love. After Pocahontas had been converted to Christianity and. baptized under the name of "the Lady Rebecca," she and Rolfe were married. The. match was much to the benefit of English colonists, for Powhatan kept · peace with· . them until his death in 1618. In 1616, Mr. and Mrs. Rolfe and several other Indians accompanied Jamestown Governor Thomas Dale .to England, where Pocahontas was received as a princess. She lived happily there until, at about 22, she .died of smallpox.' Her only son, Thomas Rolfe, returned ••as a• young man •to the home of his mother, and later founded one· of America's most distinguished families-the· Randolphs of Virginia. Several remnant groups, representative of the historic Powhatan Confederacy, are found · .. today in Virginia. Of these, the Pamunkey and Mattaponi are best .known. 2 MASSASOIT AND KING PHILIP (Wampanoag) DURING THEIR FIRST hard years in the New England wilderness, the Pilgrims might not have survived without the help of Massasoit, Chief of the Wampanoags, whose territory included parts of what are now Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In March.1621, a few months after the Mayflower landing, the· powerful Massasoit, accompanied · by several other chiefs, visited Plymouth colony and in a treaty of peace which followed, gave generous amounts of land to the white men. As long as he lived Massasoit remained a friend and loyal ally of .English colonists. One Pilgrim wrote: "There. is now. great peace among the Indians themselves, and we, for our part, walk as peaceably in the woods as in the highways of England. We entertain them familiarly inour houses, and they, as friendly, bestowtheir venison on us." The Indians ·shared not only their deer, .but their planting and cooking. secrets · .. as well. The colonists learned to · cultivate corn and to make such delicacies as corn pone, planked shad, baked beans, and roasted. clams. · .In the. winter of .1623, when : Chief Massasoit was dangerously ill, the grateful Pilgrims helped nurse him back to health. The story goes that Gov. Edward Winslow, the colony's leader, personally carried a nourishing broth through several snowy miles ·to Massasoit's home nearwhat is now Bristol, R.I. First clashes . between .. Indians and· settlers came from quarrels, and misunderstandings over land. In most cases, the New England colonists had honorably paid Indians for land, which they then considered their own. The Indians, however, did not understand such European ideas as exclusive land ownership, .and continued to hunt and fish where their ancestors always had. To theEnglish this was trespassing, and trespassing meant arrest, trial, and conviction. Tensions increased between Indians and settlers. When Massasoit died in 1661, the English, uneasy over the ·· loss of their most powerful Indian friend, hastened to cultivate the good will of the great chief's two sons. As a mark of esteem, they bestowed English names upon thetwo young chieftainsr Wamsutta, Massasoit's elder son and successor, became "Alexander;" .the younger, born. Metacomet, was renamed "Philip." When Alexander. died suddenly. a few months after taking office, . young Philip was made Chief of the Wampanoags. Philip. reaffirmed his father's peace treaty, and the colonists, in turn, agreed to stop buying land for 4 years. But within 1 year, . white settlers were again moving in on Indian territory, andscattered Indian hostilities grew into rumors of war. In 1671 .white authorities summoned Philip to Taunton and demanded . new pea~e . measures that in ... eluded surrender of Indian guns. Philip, although bitterly resentful, agreed tothese conditions. But. most of the 'Indians refused· to part with their guns. Philip himself, although publicly acknowledging himself a subject of· the 'English king, had privately spenthis first 9 years as Wampanoag chief in .preparation for a war to avenge his people's humiliations. By 1674, having recognized· that ·his tribe could not defeat the colonists alone, Philip secretly sent messengers to other tribes: war between the· Indians and the white men .was inevitable, he told them, if the great Algonquian Nation was to survive. In January of 1675, the war since known as "King Philip's War" began, when · an · Indian named John· Sassamon was found · dead under . the ice of a pond near Plymouth. Sassamon, who had been converted to Christianity, spoke English well, and for a time had forsaken his white friends to. return. to the wilderness as Philip's. secretary. His real loyalty, though, remained with the colo- 3 ·---=- ____ ~----~ I --- . ------ ... -- ... ~ -·- Metacomet (King Philip). From a 17th century engraving. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. 4 nists, to whom he betrayed Philip's conspiracy. Three Wampanoags, caught by .the English, were convicted as Sassamon's killers and executed. The move infuriated the Wampanoags, who wished to administer their own justice in their own way. To a messenger .sent by Governor Winslow .to ask Philip why he planned a war against England, the· Indian chief haughtily replied: "Your governor is but. a subject of King Charles of ·England. I shall nottreat with a subject. L'shall treat of peace only with the King, my .brother.: When he comes, I am ready." The. following June the war began in earnest. At first Philip and his allies were triumphant: Of 90 colonial towns, · 52 were attacked and 12 . were completely destroyed. Bands of .Nipmucks attacked settlers in western· Massachusetts, .while Philip's own warriors, allied with Sakonnets, Pocassets, and others, struck villages in the Connecticut River Valley. Historians generally agree that if the Indian tribes had steadfastly maintained their alliance, they might have wiped out the colonists. In any event, the tide began· to turn against Philip, and on August 12, 1676, in a savage battle at Kingston, R.I., his Narragansett warriors were overwhelmed by colonists allied with a group of Mohegans. Some time later, King Philip himself was captured and beheaded. Today, very small groups of Warnpanoags still survive in Massachusetts, notably on Cape Cod and on Martha's Vineyard. 5 POPE (Pueblo) FOR HUNDREDS OF years before the Spanish colo- nized the Southwest, Indians had lived along the Rio Grande in what is now New Mexico. They were successful farmers, made handsome pottery; and wove fine cotton cloth. Above all, they 'were extremely religious. The supernatural influenced everything they did. In 1598, colonists and priests from Mexico under Don · Juan de Onate established among these Indians the first Spanish community in the Southwest. The new settlers called the Indians "Pueblos" ( the name by . which they have since been known), because of the Indians' remark~ble villages of large timber and adobe houses. Onate, the new settlement's governor, had Catholic missions and churches built, and in 1610 established a territorial capital at Santa Fe. The Pueblos' ancient way of life was soon threatened. Considered subjects of the Spanish crown, Indians were required to pay taxes in the form of doth, corn, or labor. Their villages were renamed after Catholic saints, and their own ceremonies and religious practices were forbidden. But although they gave lip service to Christianity, and pretended to submit to Spanish rule, the resentful Indians continued to follow their own sacred practices in the secrecy of their kioas (underground ceremonial rooms). In 1675 a leader arose among the Pueblo Indians in the person of Pope, a medicine man from a Tewa Pueblo renamed by the Spanish "San Juan." Pope had been one of several Indians imprisoned by the Spanish under suspicion of witchcraft and the killing of several missionaries, and. he bitterly hatedthe white occupiers. Released from prison, he went into hiding in ·Taos Pueblo, and there planned and organized an all-Pueblo rebellion. The spirits, he said, had ordered him to bring back the Indians' traditional beliefs and customs. Runners secretly carried this message to all the Pueblos, and one by one, native towns enthusiastically joined the plot. Every precaution was taken to keep the Spanish from · learning of the conspiracy: Pope, suspecting even his own brotherin-law of treachery, had him put to death. August 13, 1680, was the date set for the attack. Somehow, however, the news leaked . out, and Pope's only hope was to strike at once. On August 10, with the force of a long-suppressed hatred, the Indians attacked. Nearly 500 of the 2,500 Spanish population were killed. About 30 priests were murdered in their missions, their bodies stacked upon the altars. Santa Fe; the Spanish capital, was beseiged, and its 1,000 inhabitants took refuge in official buildings for about 10 days. Then, after forcing the Indians to a temporary retreat, they abandoned Santa Fe, and, with the remaining Spanish population of the area, fled to El Paso del Norte (now El Paso, Tex.). Having driven out the occupiers, the triumphant Pope then set out to erase all traces of • them. Everything brought .by the "Metal People" was ordered destroyed. Indians who had been baptized as Christians were washed with yucca suds, and use of the Spanish language and all baptismal names was prohibited. In Santa Fe, cattle were herded· into churches that had escaped burning. Pope did all he could. to restore the old Pueblo way of life. For a time, Pope was received with great honor as he traveled from Pueblo to Pueblo in ceremonial dress. But his success made him a despot. Hostilities broke out between pro- and anti-Pope Pueblos, and he was. deposed. In 1688 he was reelected Pueblo leader, but shortly thereafter, he died. 6 The Pueblos were masters of their own country for 12 years. In.1692, after brief but brutal fighting, Spanish rule was reinstated under Vargas. There was peace in .the-Pueblos thereafter. The Spanish remained as occupiers for 150 years longer, but their domination was never again as strong as before. View of San Juan Pueblo, from a photograph made in 1879. Home of Pope, leader of the all-Pueblo rebellion, the New Mexico pueblo had changed little in the nearly 200 years following Indian insurrection. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. 218-724 0-66--2 7 Joseph. Brant (Thayendanegea). The original of this 'painting of the famed Mohawk chief hangs in the State House at Philadelphia. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. 8 JOSEPH BRANT (Mohawk) DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION and the years just preceding it, the most powerful Indian friend British settlers hadwas Joseph Brant (born "Thayendanegea"), a warrior chiefof the Mohawk tribe. His lifetime devotion to the English cause started in 1755 when, only 13 years old, he fought under Sir William •Johnson in the Battle of· Lake George. Johnson, who became British superintendent of Iroquoistribes in what is now upstate New York, was to play a most significant part· in· the young Indian's . life. He had made · friends with the Mohawks, learned their language, and married Molly Brant, young. Joseph's sister. Sir. William took Brant under his wing, had him educated at a mission school (which later. became famous as Dartmouth College), and made him his assistant. In addition to these duties, Brant, who had joined the Anglican Church, worked at revising the Mohawk prayer book and translated parts of the Bible into the Mohawk language. By 1775 Brant had become. a prominent leader, not only of his own tribe, but of the five· others which made up the powerful Iroquois League of Indian .Nations. As the. Revolution began, .he accompanied Guy Johnson, Sir William's nephew, on a trip to England, acting as Johnson's secretary. TheMohawk .. chief was presented at court, had tea .with Boswell, i and. sat · to . have his· . portrait painted by the celebrated and fashionable English artist, Romney. Brant returned to America completely dedicated to the British side in the Revolution. Although the Iroquois League had declared itself . neutral, Brant determined .. to · bring it over to· the· Eng- lish. British success in driving Washington out of New York in 1776, and the influence of his sister Molly (now widow of Sir William), helped him persuade the Senecas, Cayugas, and Onondagas to join his Mohawks. Members of the two other League tribes, Oneidas and Tuscaroras, chose the American side or were neutral. Commissioned· as a British officer, Brant led strong bands of combined Tories and Iroquois warriors inborder raids and battles up and down the Mohawk Valley, acquiring a reputation for both savage ferocity and fighting skill. He surrendered only in the fall of 1781, when Washington sent . General Sullivan and his men into the field, overwhelming English and Indian forces at the Battle of Johnstown, and ending war along the Mohawk. In 1783, the Revolution at an end, Brant, still commissioned by the British and retained on half pay,. was rewarded with a· grant of English land along . the Grand River in Ontario, where he settled with his ·Mohawk followers. Other Indians from the Six Nations joined them, ·and the area became known as the Six Nations Reserve. Brant ruled it in peace until his death in 1807, when hisyoungest son, John, became chief of the Mohawk tribe. He is buried. near a small church which he had built on the Grand River near Brantford, Ontario. A marker reads: "This tomb is erected to the memory of Thayendanegea, or Captain ·.Joseph Brant, principal chief and warrior of the Six Nations Indians, by his fell ow subjects, admirers of his fidelity and. attachment to the British Crown." 9 PONTIAC (Ottawa) poNTIAc, THE oTIA w A Indian chief who orga- . • nized one of the greatest alliances of Indians in American history, was born .in Ohio around l 720. His domain was the · Great Lakes country, occupied by the French until their · defeat by the English in Canada in 1760. Ottawas and other Algonquian tribes of the area had lived peacefully among the French, and intermarried with them. Pontiac was at first inclined to be friendly to the new English occupiers, agreeing to acknowledge King George as an "uncle," if not as a superior. But the Indians soondiscovered that the British were quite unlike the generous and easy-going French, regarding them as unwelcome squatters on lands rightfully English. With a decree forbidding them to buy rum, the Indians' grievances intensified until by 1763 the entire district was in turmoil. Pontiac, who had been impressed by an Indian mystic known as the "Delaware Prophet," determined to lead· an all-out campaign to right Indian wrongs. Having sent the war belt of red wampum to Indian tribes from . Lake Ontario to . the Mississippi River, the Ottawa chief, a powerful and persuasive speaker whose · air of command marked him as· a leader, called upon the Indians to throw the British out. The French were sure to help the Indian ·cause, he said, and they could stay. He persuaded· the Indians· to join a daring conspiracy: all British-held posts were to be attacked simultaneously. Detroit, key post of the Great Lakes forts, was to be the prime target. The plot was launched on May 7, 1763, when a group of Pontiac's warriors, sawed-off muskets hidden under their blankets, entered Fort Detroit on a pretext. The fort was not captured, for its commander had been warned. Elsewhere, however, the conspiracy was successful. Within a few months, 9 British forts had ·been captured, and a 10th abandoned by its occupants . Only Detroit, and Fort Pitt in Pennsylvania, still held. With great difficulty, British forces •·. managed to hold off a combined Indian force of· about 900 atDetroit, receiving occasional reinforcements through the water route to the Niagara. The Fort was almost exhausted when help came in October. In a bloody battle, .Capt, James Dalyell and 220 men clashed with Pontiac at the head of 400 Ottawas and Chippewas. The Indians were victorious, and Dalyell, captured, was killed. But Detroit was reinforced. Pontiac, too, strengthened his forces, and the siege resumed. At Fort Pitt, two Scottish regiments relieved the post, which had been under heavy attack by allied Delawares, Mingoes, Shawnees, and Hurons. After heavy losses on both sides, whites forced the Indians to retreat, and Fort Pitt was safe. All this time, Pontiac, confident thatFrench help would come, had· 'not known that Great Britain and France had signed a peace treaty in London the February before. When he received aletter from the French commander at Fort de .Chartres in Louisiana Territory, Pontiac knew there was no longer any real hope of .Indian success. Written in fatherly terms, the letter urged "my French children'tto bury the hatchet. The French would not abandon their children, but would supplythem from across theMississippi, .Now, theletter concluded, the Indians must . live in peace. Pontiac had no choice but to end the siege of Detroit. . Although he continued to oppose the British through the fall and winter of 1764-65, his Indian allies rapidly lost the will to fight. One by one, Hurons, Senecas, Ottawas, and other tribes gave up. In April 1765, Pontiac admitted defeat, and helped British forces to subdue scattered Indian bands. Winning the admiration and respect of the British, he lost much Indian support. By 1768, 10 the man who had inspired the alliance and· revolt of the great Algonquian tribes had become the target of their jealousy and hostility. In 1769, a Peoria Indian named Black Dogwas assigned by a council of his tribe to murder Pontiac, and on April 20 of that year, in Cahokia, Ill., a stab in the back ended the life of the great Ottawa chief. This portrait, believed to be of Pontiac, is attributed to John Mix Stanley, one-time resident of Detroit famed for his paintingsof Indians. If .genuine, it is the only likeness known of the great Ottawa chief, and is published here for the first time. Photo: Detroit Historical Museum. 11 A Mandan village, as portrayed by artist Carl Bodmer in 1833. It was in such a Mandan settlement that Lewis and Clark met Sacagawea and her husband in the winter of 1804. Photo.· Smithsonian Institution. 12 SACAGAWEA (Shoshone) So MANY_ ROMANTIC legends have been inspired by Sacagawea, the Shoshone Indian woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark on much of their epoch-making expedition of 1804-06, that even today her biographers differ in many details. However, the historic Journals of the two explorers, and their later letters, tell us much about the famous "Bird Woman," as her Mandan Indian name may be translated. One of President Jefferson's major purposes in commissioning Lewis and Clark to · explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory had been the establishing of friendly relations with Indian tribes between St .. Louis and the Pacific Ocean. Indian chiefs were to be given Jefferson "peace medals" at these historic first contacts with white men. In the. winter of 1804, some 1,600 miles from their St. Louis starting. point; Lewis and Clark· arrived in the North Dakota country .of the Mandan Indians, where they were befriended by the tribe and 'spent apeaceful winter, Living among the Mandans were a French Canadian fur trader, Toussaint Charbonneau, and his young Indian wife, Sacagawea. When the expedition left Mandan country, the couple went with it: Charbonneau, hired as an interpreter for $25 a month; and Sacagawea, her .· newborn baby on her back. It seems likely that Sacagawea's main reason for accompanying the explorers was a longing to· see her own Shoshone people again. Five years · earlier, at about 12, she had been stolen by Crow Indians, taken far from her Rocky Mountain home, and sold .as a slave to the Missouri River Mandans. In time she had again . been sold, this time 'to Charbonneau. If less than the· heroine she has sometimes been pictured to be, Sacagawea was unquestionably of great. value to the expedition in her role as peace envoy and intermediary with Indian tribes. Clark said of her-"Sacagawea reconciles all the Indians as to our friendly intentions. A woman with a· party of men is a token of peace.'' Across the Missouri River, Lewis and Clark were faced with the snow-capped Rocky Mountains. Crossing them would be impossible without horses. Going on ahead, Lewis met a band of Shoshone Indians, and persuaded them to return with him to the expedition. When she saw the Indian band, say the Journals, Sacagawea "danced with extravagant joy." She began sucking her fingers to show that these were her people, among whom she had grown up. A particularly moving episode was the Indian girl's reunion with her. brother, who had become chief of ·· the tribe. With · the tremendous ad vantage· of Sacagawea's relationship, the explorers were able to barter for 29 fine Shoshone. horses, and· the 'journey ·continued. Across the Rockies, the party built canoes and followed the Columbia River to the Pacific. The two explorers .frequently praised Sacagawea's enduranceand fortitude in their Journals. She must have been undemanding as well. Lewis wrote of her: "If she has enough to eat and a few trinkets to wear, I believe she would be perfectly content anywhere." Sacagawea was among those Indians honored with the prized ·Jefferson.peace medal, evidence of the genuine fondness Lewis and Clark felt for her. After the journey, Clark wrote to Charbonneau: "Your woman who accompanied you that long, dangerous, and fatiguing route to the Pacific Ocean and back deserved a greater 'reward for her attention and services on that route than we had in our power to give her." Most historians now believe that Sacagawea died around 1812, at the age of about 24. Several monuments honor her memory. One of the best known is that erected by.the Wyoming Historical Landmark Commission on U.S. Highway 287, 2 miles east of what is thought to be her burial place in a· Shoshonegraveyard, · 13 TECUMSEH (Shawnee) TECUMSEH, THE SHAWNEE warrior-statesman •• · widely considered the greatest American Indian leader of all time, was a famed fighter against white settlers while still a young man in the Ohio Rivercountry, Warfare with whites was a family tradition: Tecumseh's father, also a chief, had died fighting frontiersmen in 1774 when Tecumseh was a boy of .six. Two older brothers later fell in battles with colonial soldiers. Daring and courageous warrior that he was (his name may be translated as "Shooting Star"), Tecumseh was noted for his humanity. He would not torture prisoners, nor allow his people to follow this widespread practice. By the 1780's, Tecumseh was acknowledged as the. leading Indian statesman of the ····ohio area. Profoundly disturbed by the growing menace to Indianlands and life represented bywhite expansion, he worked out a great plan for his people's future. The only Indian hope, he believed, lay in uniting. He dreamed of a powerful confederation of tribes· which would create a· great Indian state centered around the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes. Tecumseh's surviving brother was a visionary who. called himself Tenskwatawa the Prophet. In 1805, Tenskwatawa, who claimed to have had revelations from the spirit world, announced a new dogma to Shawnees and their allies. There must be; he proclaimed, ·no more intermarriage with whites, and Indians. were to abandon all the white man's ways. Only when they· returned to the ... old way of life would Indians find the . peace and happiness their ancestors had enjoyed. . Indian witchcraft and the white man's firewater were denounced alike. Tenskwatawa's prophecy named his brother, Tecumseh, as the leader who would unite the Indians and guide their return totraditional ways. 14 The two brothers established an Indian settlement on the Wabash River, near the mouth of the Tippecanoe. There Tecumseh settled more than 1,000 Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Kickapoos as the beginning of his great alliance. Liquor was forbidden in the Indian villages, and tribesmen lived according to ancient patterns. Tecumseh then traveled across the country, urging Indians from Florida to St Louis to unite. The Shawnee chief was a magnificent figure whose impact was felt by Indians and non-Indians alike. A white observer of the period who heard. him speak reported that .Tecumseh's voice "resounded over the multitude . ·. . hurling out his words like a succession of thunderbolts." To every American and British leader who would listen Tecumseh argued tirelessly· that· the U.S. Government had no right to buyland from a single tribe, since the entire Ohio Valley country had belonged to all. the tribes in 'common ..• His repeated position was that the Treaty of. Greenville, made in 1795, had· guaranteed· the tribes; as one people, all Ohio land· which had not. specifically been ceded to the whites. The Northwest .Territory's new Governor, William Henry Harrison, was all too .conscious of these provisions protecting Indian . interests in the Greenville Treaty, and was equally determined to undo them. fie and Tecumseh, the area's .two outstanding figures, .. met frequently .. Harrison refused to recognize the Shawnee chief's arguments; Tecumseh refused. to .give up his plan· for Indian unity. "It is my determination," he told Governor . Harrison, ''nor .. will I give rest . to my feet until I have united all the red .men." Hoping . to obtain: British .help, Tecumseh traveled frequently to Canada. ·• He returned with gifts of ammunition, arms, and clothing from his friends, but could not yet be sure enough of English support, nor of complete Indian cooperation, to risk an open attack. Meanwhile, Governor Harrison was steadily undermining the Greenville Treaty by making separate agreements with some 11 tribes. He dismissed Tecumseh's protests withthe dubious logic that the Shawnees, Tecumseh's own people, had not been involved in these deals. Harrison recognized a formidable adversary in Tecumseh, whom he described in a letter to the Secretary of War as "one of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occasionally to produce revolutions." If the whites were any weaker, Harrison went on to say, Tecumseh might succeed, in setting up a great empire within the United States. In the spring of 1811, while Tecumseh was in the south attempting to persuade Creeks, Choctaws, and .Chickasaws to join his alliance, Indians at Tippecanoe launched a series of thefts and other harassments of colonists. Harrison, taking advantage of Tecumseh's absence, sent some 900 soldiers to Tippecanoe. In ·disobedience of Tecumseh's explicit instructions, Tenskwatawa ordered the Indians to attack, touching off the Battle of Tippecanoe. At its end, the Indians were defeated, scattered, and disillusioned as well, for they had believed the Prophet's claim that white men's bullets would be made harmless. Tecumseh returned to find his alliance shattered, his hopes all but · destroyed. He went to Canada as the War of 1812 wasbeginning, and the British, who greatly respected him, made the Shawnee chief a brigadier general. Resplendent in uniform, Tecumseh led white and ·Indian troops in four major battles against the Americans. In October, 1814, the British made their last stand in. the Battle of. the Thames in Ontario. Tecumseh in the unifor~ of a British officer., Uniform, cap, and medal were added to this 1808 pencil sketch after the Shawnee chief was commissioned 'during the War of 1812. The red cap was ornamented with colored porcupine quills and a single, black eagle feather. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. Allied English and Indian forces were completely defeated by Harrison (by .. then also a brigadier general) and his men. Tecumseh himself fell in the battle, at 45 finally defeated by his old adversary. Perhaps he had felt the approach of· death, for the great leader had changed from army uniform to Indian buckskins before the battle. His .body was never found. 218-724 0-66-' 3 15 Sequoya. The inventor of the Cherokee alphabet wears the silver medal presented to him by the Cherokee legislature in 1824 to honor his achievement. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. 16 SEQUOYA (Cherokee) BY .THE EARLY 1820's, Cherokee Indians of the southeastern United States had reached a remarkable level ·of civilization. .They were good farmers; owned plows, wagons, . and thousands of livestock; they wove their own clothfor clothing; operated .. sawmills and grist · mills, blacksmith shops and ferries; and had built roads, schools, and churches. They governed themselves, with a constitutional system they had patterned after that of the United States. The tribe's outstanding achievement, in 1821, was the .development of a system of. writing the Cherokee language. It was the invention of · Sequoya, a tribal member sometimes called George Gist. Sequoya, who had grown up among the Cherokees, had been a hunter and fur trader until permanently crippled in a hunting accident. He had .nevergone to school, and could neither speak nor understand English. But he was . by. nature a thoughtful and talented man. · Having observed the importance of reading, · writing, and printing amongwhites, he pored over English. letters in mission-school primers, and set out to develop a Cherokee alphabet, Some of his tribesmen, frightened at the strangelooking. symbols on which Sequoya was .constantly at work, suspected him of witchcraft. His cabin and all his working papers were burned, and Sequoya left Cherokee country. for the sake of his great project, settling for a time in Arkansas -amongthose Cherokees who had emigrated west. Twelve years after he had first dreamed •Of a Cherokee· writing system, Sequoya returned to his people, . bringing a written greeting from Cherokees in the west. He had succeeded in inventing an alphabet, made up partly of English characters (but with sounds differing from English) and partly of new ones of his own. The first Indian writingsystem north of Mexicoever devised without white help, it was a brilliant achievement that revolutionized Cherokee education. Within a year, thousands of Cherokee Indians of all ages had learned to · read and write their own language. Parts of the Bible were printed in Cherokee in 1824, and in 1828, having acquired a a press of their own, the tribe began publicationin Cherokee and English-of a weekly newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix. Sequoya was honored by .the Cherokee Legislature. with a silver medal and a · lifetime pension, the first ever given by an Indian tribe. Sequoya lived among the Arkansas Cherokees as a leader and teacher until 1842~ when his thirst for knowledge led him on anothersearch, This time he hoped to find a "lost" band of ·Cherokees supposed to have crossed the Mississippi many. years before, and to look for similarities of speech and grammar among various tribes. He disappeared into the southwest, and was not heard from again. Three years later, a Cherokee named Oo-no-leh, sent to look for Sequoya, wrote fromMexico City (in the Cherokee language) -to the tribe that their most honored leader had died there in 1843. 17 JOHN ROSS (Cherokee) IN OCTOBER of 1828, a blue-eyed, fair-skinned . man stood. before. the General Council of the Cherokee Indian tribe, raised his right hand, and pledged: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office o{ Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, and will, .to the best of my ability, preserve, 'protect and. defend the Constitution of the Cherokee Nation." John Ross, the man who took the oath of office so much like that of incoming. Presidents of the United States, had much white ancestry. But his Scottish immigrant father, while having the boy educated by white teachers, had brought up "TsanUsdi,,(Little John) as an Indian among Indians. John Ross considered himself a Cherokee, grew up to marry a Cherokee girl, and was to devote his life to leadership of the people he loved. By the time Ross took his oath as Principal Chief of the new Cherokee Government, the· tribe had gone far toward civilization. They were accomplished farmers, cattlemen, and weavers; had built roads, schools, and churches, and, through the invention by their · great tribesman Sequoya of a Cherokee alphabet, werelargely literate. In 1826 the Cherokee Nation .formed a government patterned after that of the United· States, its capital at New Echota, Ga. John Ross . was the logical choice as Principal Chief, for he had been a tribal leader since 1813, when he had fought under General Jackson and his men against . the Creeks. As president of the Cherokee National Committee from 1819 to 1826 he had promoted the education and mechanical training of the Indians, and worked in development of the new government. But the Cherokees' "golden age" was to be a brief one, for as early as 1802 the Federal Government · had promised the State of Georgia that Indians would, -in time, be removed from their 18 lands. In 1822 the House of Representatives voted to take away Cherokee land titles. To this move the Cherokee Council responded by voting to make · no more treaties with the United States. Neither persuasion, threats, nor the bribery attempts of two commissioners, sent to the tribe from Washington, could change Cherokee resistance. But Georgia continued to maintain that the Indians were only .tenants on their lands, · and between 1828 and 1831 the Georgia legislature ruthlessly stripped the Cherokees· of all their civil rights. When gold was discovered on tribal lands, Cherokee fate was sealed: answering demands .of the Georgia legislature, the U.S. Congress appropriated $50,000 for removal of the tribe. John Ross worked tirelessly in defending the right of Cherokees to their ancestral lands, and headed several delegations to Washington, but without success. His own home was confiscated, and .for a· time he, ... was imprisoned. The tribal newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was suppressed. In 1835, under the Treaty of New Echota, all Cherokee. lands east of the Mississippi were ceded and the tribe was given ~. years to move to Indian Territory· (Oklahoma). No official of the Cherokee Nation had been a party to the removal agreement, and some 16,000 Cherokees signed a petition to Washington .declaring that their tribesmen had been tricked by white negotiators at New Echota. The petition and all Ross's pleas were ignored by President Jackson. Although about 2,000 Cherokees had gone west after 1836, .the remaining 15,000 stayed on, hopeful. that Rosswould succeed in his fight. In May, 1838, Gen. Winfield Scott and 7,000 men arrived in Cherokee country and herded the Indians into stockades in preparationfor forced removal. The John Ross. This 1858 photo was made while the Cherokee leader was in Washington, D.C., on tribal business as principal chief of the United Cherokee Nation. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. following October theywere released, and to Ross fell the sad task of leading his people from their homes. More than 4,000 Cherokees died of exposure, hunger, andsickness during the terrible 6-monthlong.trip west. Ross's wife was among them, and the Cherokee leader buried her in Little Rock, Ark. The journey to the West became known among the Cherokees as Nuna-da-ut-sun'y-"The Trail .Where They Cried." History records it as ''The· Trail of Tears." In ·Indian .Territory the new migrants, joining Cherokee "old settlers," eventually marshaled their forces, formed a new constitution, and at a national. Cherokee convention elected John Ross, Principal Chief of the United Cherokee Nation in its new capital at Tahlequah, Okla. Although dissensions caused by the Civil War led the Federal Government to depose him for a time, he was returned .to office. The Cherokee chiefstatesman to the end-continued to lead his people until he died in · 1866, while in Washington working on a treaty to continue the Cherokee Government. 19 BLACK HAWK (Sauk) IN 1804, MEMBERS of the closely related Sauk and Fox Indian tribes were persuaded to surrender to the U.S. Government all their homelands east of the Mississippi River. A provision of the treaty specified that the two tribes would remain undisturbed until white settlement extended to their lands. For centuries, Sauks and Foxes had hunted and fished in the rich prairie valleys of what are now Illinois and .Wiscorisin. Most .tribesmen .knew nothing about the 1804 treaty until, in the 1820's, streams of white settlers pushed into their ·territory. The immigrants appropriated .the Indians' cornfields, plowed amongtheir graves, ·and began to press . for their complete removal. Indian ranks split .into two factions. Onewas headed by the Sauks' head man, Keokuk, who had bowed to ··the inevitable,. cultivated American friendship, and led his followers to new lands in Iowa. His rival, Black Hawk, a Sauk of the Thunder clan, bitterly opposed the Americans. From .boyhood, when his hero had been the legendary Pon• tiac, BlackHawkhad hated white men .. His fame as a warrior began at 15, when he killed and scalped his . first · man. Black Hawk went on to fight, first, enemy Indian tribes, then· Americans, throughout the War of 1812. Above all else, Black Hawk furiously resented the .1804. treaty which. had taken away .Sauk and Fox lands. He repeatedly. denounced .it, maintaining that it was invalid since Indian signers had been. made drunk and were deceived into agreeing to its· terms. "My reason ·teaches me that land cannot be sold," Black Hawk was to write in his autobiography many years later. ''The Great Spirit gave it to his children ·to.·live ·upon. So long as ... they occupy and cultivate it they have a right . to the soil. Nothing· can be sold but such things as can be carried away." Despite Keokuk's efforts to persuade them, Black Hawk and his followers refused· to leave their Illinois villages. By · 1831, as the Indians found themselves unable to farm their own lands, Black Hawk ordered whites to get out or be killed. Soldiers . and Illinois militia moved in and evicted the Indians. As Pontiac and Tecumseh had done before him, Black Hawk visualized an Indian confederacy strong enough to withstand the whites. He set out to enlist the supportof .the Winnebagos, Potawatomies, Foxes and other tribes, while, at the same time, seeking to· ·undermine Keokuk, his rival. In April 1832, Black Hawk with several hundred warriors returned to Illinois prepared to drive out the whites and retake tribal lands, and the fighting known as "Black Hawk's War" began. Only the Foxes had joined Sauks in Black Hawk's confederacy, but it was a dangerous enoughthreat to force· the American Government to put troops into the field. For 3 months the Indians managed to elude the Army, winning several skirmishes and terrorizing the Illinois, . frontier. The tide turned as moresoldiers poured in, pursuing the. Indians across Illinois to the Mississippi. There, trapped be~~een the steamship "Warrior" on one side and/ .. the Army on the other, Black Hawk's band was nearly destroyed. The Sauk leader himself escaped ~o a Winnebago village, surrendered, and was taken in chains to a prison camp. Several months later he was .released and sent on a trip to the East which included a visit to President ·Jackson. "We did not expect to conquer the whites," the Sauk warrior told ·the President. "I •. took up the 20 Black Hawk. From a painting by George Catlin, made in 1832 at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, Mo., where the Sauk chief was imprisoned at the close ·of the Black Hawk War. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. hatchet to revenge injuries whichmy people could no longer · endure. Had I borne them without striking, my people would have said-'Black Hawk is a woman; he is too old to be a chief; he is no Sauk.' " Black Hawk was received. as a hero in several eastern cities, and returned with gifts from Ameri. can officials. Again in 1837 he traveled to the East, this time .with Keokuk. But, soon thereafter, the old warrior was crushed when President Jackson ordered that Keokuk be made principal chief of the Sauk Nation, which would from then on have only one band 'instead of two. In 1838, at the age of 71, Black Hawkdied in his lodge on the Des Moines River, on the reservation .ruled by Keokuk. In accordance with his. request, Black Hawk's body was seated ·on the ground under a wooden shelter, in old Sauk tradition. He was dressed in the military uniform given him by Jackson and decorated with medals from John Quincy Adams, the President, and the city of Boston. Between his knees was a cane, the gift of statesman Henry Clay. 21 OSCEOLA (Creek) IN 1s32 A FEW• members of the Seminole tribe of Florida signed an agreement with U.S. Government officials which was to become hated among the Seminoles as the Treaty of. Payne's Landing. Under it, within 3 years the entire tribe would surrender all its Florida · lands, move to Indian territory. (Oklahoma), and there join members of the Creek tribe. These harsh terms became even more hateful with . a later declaration that no Negro .. would be allowed· to accompany the tribe west. For more than 20· years the Seminoles had given • refuge to the escaped slaves of both Indian and white owners, had in turn. enslaved them and intermarried with them. · The no-Negro decree would mean the breaking up of many Seminole .families. Most members of the tribe indignantly repudiated the treaty. As time for removal neared-their resistance to it intensified •under the· leadership -of Osceola, a handsome young Indian of Creek and possibly some European ancestry. Osceola was less than 30 at the · time, and not a chief either by election or .inheritance, but was acknowledged as the Seminoles' strong man. He had fully demonstrated his courage and intelligence as a warrior during fights against General Jackson and his men in the First Seminole War (1819). Osceola expressed open contempt for the 1832 treaty and repeatedly refused to sign it, despite pressure from Gen.. Wiley Thompson, its chief sponsor. Continuing his effort. to get . unanimous Seminole approval, General Thompson called together a .group of tribal leaders in 1835. Most of the chiefs .who opposed the treaty stood by silently, refusing to take the pen offered them, but Osceola furiously plunged his hunting knife into the paper, declaring that he would never. agree to the treaty's 22 terms, and would ·do allIie could .to encourage Seminole resistance. Thompson had Osceola arrested, put into irons, and imprisoned. The wily Osceola quickly got himself released by pretending that he had changed his mind about the treaty and would sign it. As soon as he was free, he beganto organize his resistance campaign. Osceola was too experienced . to · attempt open battle against the whites' superior military power. Instead, he formed small .parties of Indian warriors, instructed them to cause Government forces as much irritation as they could, kill when possible, and then vanish into the .wilderness, Women, children, and the old and sick of the tribe were hidden in the depths of the Florida swamps. The leading Seminole signer of the treaty, Charlie Amathla, • was killed. So successful was Osceola's guerrilla warfare that U.S. troops· were sent into the .field. .On Christmas Eve, 1835, more than 100 soldiers under Major Dadeset out from the military post at Fort King, confident of capturing the Seminoles' leader. Three days later all but three were dead, having been ambushed and cut down by Osceola and his men. The Indianleader went on to avenge the despised Payne's Landing Treaty by killing General Thompson and four other officers. ·The Second .Seminole War had .begun. For the .next 7 years a deadly game of cat and mouse was played. in the Florida swamps .and Everglades, as the U.S. Army tried to catch Osceola and his people. Immediately after the December massacres, .700 men, sent to. bring in· the mostwanted Indian, faced Osceola and his warriors · in the battle of the Ouithlacoochee River. After heavy losses on both sides, the Indians were forced to retreat, but Osceola, although wounded, escaped. Officer after officer, and more· and · more troops, went to Florida to bring in the elusive Osceola, Osceola. This portrait by George Catlin was made in 1838, just before the handsome young leader of Seminole resistance died while a prisoner at Fort Moultrie, S.C. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. who remained ·· .. invisible. In May of .. 1837, Gen. T. S. ·Jesup, latest in. a long line of commanders sent to bring the. Seminole .War to an end, called a peace councilattended by Osceola and some 3,000 Indians. [esupwas so sure. of success that he had 24.transports standingby, ready totake the Seminoles west. But. Osceola got wind of the plot. The next morning, every Indian had vanished. "No Seminole . prnves false to his . country, nor has a •. single instance ever occurred of a first-rate warrior having surrendered," wrote the frustrated Jesup. Failing to capture Osceola· in battle ... or through "peacemaking" tactics, Jesup finally succeeding .. in 'seizing Osceola only by violating a flag of •. truce under which the. Indian · leader ·· was awaiting Jesup for a conference requested by the General. · ·• Osceola and a·· group of his followers were imprisoned in Fort Moultrie, Fla. The Swamp Fox could not endure captivity, and rapidly wasted away in prison. Within 3 months, in January of 1838, Osceola di~d. The Second Seminole War was to go on for 4 more years, as a succession • of military leaders declared thatthe Seminoles could never be defeated. The Indians came out of the swamp only in the fallof 1841, ratherthan forfeit thelives of a group of their tribesmen, who had been captured and held as hostages .. After a peacetreaty.in 1842,.most of the Seminoles moved toIndian territory. Several bands refused to move. Their descendants ( some of whom, although unrelated to the great resistance leader, bear the name "Osceola") are still there, making up today's Seminoles of Florida. 23 COCHISE (Apache) THE WILD CHIRICAHUA Apaches of Arizona · ·. • territory, although almost constantly battling their traditional enemies, the Mexicans, were not unfriendly to American settlers of the 18S0's, and some· members of the band even worked for them as woodcutters at the stagecoach station inApache Pass. But in 1861, when the child of a settler's family was abducted, Chiricahuas were assumed to . be guilty. Six of their chiefs, among them the youthful leader Cochise, were called in · for questioning by troops from the 7th Cavalry. A white flag of truce flew over the commander's tentin which they met. As the Apaches steadfastly denied their guilt and refused to confess to the crime, the commander ordered them seized · and arrested. One Chiricahua was killed, and four others were held, but Cochise, cutting • through the side of the ... tent, escaped, three bullets in his body. Cochise at once began a campaign to avenge his tribesmen, who, following his escape, had been hanged by Federal .troops. He directed Apache bands in attacks up and down the territory which were so ferocious that the troops were forced to retreat. For a time Arizona was at the mercy of the triumphant Indians. A territorial newspaper, the Arizonian, reported in August 1861: ''We are hemmed in on all sides by the unrelenting Apache. Within but 6 months, nine-tenths · of the whole male population have· been .killed off, and every ranch, farm, and mine in the country. has been abandoned in consequence." With the recall of troops from Arizona forts for Civil War duty in the East, the Apaches were convinced that •. they would succeed in preventing Americans from settlingin Apacheland. By the end of 1862, Gen. James Carleton and an army of 3,000 California volunteers marched into south- 24 eastern Arizona to put down the Apaches and re-establish communications . between the Pacific Coast and the East. Cochise, Mangas Coloradas (a leading Apache chief of the Mimbrefio band), and their warriors defended Apache Pass · against the Californians until forced to .give way before the howitzers of white volunteers. With the death .in prison· of 'Mangas Coloradas "while attempting to escape" the red-hot bayonet of a white soldier, Cochise became principal chief of the Apaches. As .troops rctumedtoArizona territory following· the Civil War, an all-out drive to exterminate the Apaches got underway. Driven into the mountains, Cochise, with not more than 200 warriors, was to hold the U.S. Army at bay for over 10 years. The Apache chief and his .men were tough, skillful warriors, constantly alert, and able to vanish as if by magic. Although they were · forced deeper and deeper \into their mountain· hideaways, they .. continued to carry on guerilla · warfare. White settlements, ranches, and mines were reestablished, but no Apache band was ever captured, and the Chiricahuas' raids continued. Iri June of 1871, the famed Indian fighter, Gen. George Crook, took command of the Department of Arizona, under orders to restore peace and law to the territory and subdue the Apaches. Despite his military skill, Crook was a fair· and just man who did not believe in exterminating the Indians. He recognized the Apaches' just claims, respected their.ability as warriors, and dealt honorably with them. He won their respect in return, Crook determined to fight fire with fire. Since alliances among Apaches as ·a whole. had never been strong, he was able to win over a good many warriors, whom he .then used to fight those who remained hostile .. Crook's Apache scouts became famous, and within a few months, · most of the Cochise's stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains of Arizona. Such forbidding territory as this helped the Apache leader and his followers to attack and elude the U.S. Army successfully for manyyears. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. Indians had been brought onto reservations. Cochise himself surrendered in September, 1871. The following. spring, resisting transfer to the newly established Tularosa Reservation in. New Mexico, Cochise and some 200 followers escaped. But when the Chiricahua Reservation (later discontinued) was established in Arizona in the sum- mer of 1872, he again gave himself up. There the great Apache leader lived peacefully until his death in the summer of 1874. A few hundred Apache "renegades" were still at large. War against them went on until the end ·Of that year, when Crook could· claim-for a time-that peace had been restored to Arizona territory. 25 SEATTLE (Suquamish) T:. · HE NAME OF. SEAITLE, Suquamish Indian chief, · · lives on not only in Washington's largest city, but in its State history, which gratefully records him as "the greatest Indian friend white settlers ever had." Seattle, son •of Chief Schweabe, witnessed as a boy the 1792 ·arrival in Puget. Sound of British explorer Vancouver and his men; in their . "immense whitewinged bird ship,'' the · Discovery. The wonderful new riches.. and •the· friendliness of the first white men he had ever seen, profoundly impressed Seattle, who became convinced as .he grew up that peace, not war, was the right path for all men to follow. It was a revolutionary. belief. Battle and pillaging were a long-established way of • life among Pacific Coast Indians, and as a young man, Seattle planned and led an alliance of · six tribes against "horse tribes'' to. the northeast. Although his success in the undertaking won the young chief the high position of "Chief of the Allied Tribes" . ( the Duwamish Conf ederacy), it was his last feat as a warrior. Seattle devoted the .rest of .his life· to promoting peace. When Catholic· missionaries entered the Northwest in the 1830's, Seattle became a convert to Christianity and took the baptismal name "Noah," after his favorite Biblical character. He inaugurated regular morning and evening prayers among his people, a practice they continued after .. .his death. Seattle had ample opportunity to demonstrate his belief in brotherhood. White settlers who founded .a. small community on •Puget .Sound in 1851 receivedunlimited friendship and help from him, and shared his people's fish, seafood, and venison, In 1852, the Iirrlesettlement which had first been hopefully called "New· York," and later "Alki Point," was renamed, for all time, "Seattle." 26 But as more white immigrants . came to the Northwest, relations with the Indians became strained and stormy. During the winter of 1854- 55, several northwest tribes organized in. the hope of driving whites out of .the country. •In January 1855, Washington Territory's first Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Isaac ·1. Stevens, called Seattle's bands together, and told them of plans for a treaty which Wouldplace them on reservations. Seattle; over 6 feet tall, broad-shouldered, deepchested, an impressive and powerful orator, replied to· the Governor in a resounding voice which all his people assembled along the · beach could hear. According to a white .spectator's translation; the dignified old leader's words, although marked by sadness and resignation, were poetic. • They are said to 'have gone, in part: "Whatever l say, the Great Chief at Washington can rely on," Seattle said. "His people are .many, like grass that covers vast prairies. Our people once covered· the land as waves of ·a· wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but now my people are few. "Our great and· good Father sends us word that if we do as he desires he will· buy .. our lands ... allow us· to live comfortably . . . protect us · with his brave warriors; his wonderful ships of war will fill our harbors. Then our ancient northern enemies will cease to frighten our women, children and .· old men. "But day and night can not dwell together. The red man has ever fled the approach of the white man .• as morning mist. flees· the .rising sun. It matters little where we pass the remnant of our days. They will not be l!lany. The Indian's night promises to be dark . . . a few more moons . . . a few more winters." Seattle. The original painting by Eleanor Peardis of Seattle, Washington, was made from a recently-discovered photograph on a very old post card. The Duwamish Chiefholds a hat of fine basketry, beautifully decorated in design typical of the area. Photo: Bureau of Indian Affairs. Seattle was .the first signer of the Port Elliott Treaty of 1855 which placed Washington tribes on reservations. But in the wake of. the new . treaties, several Indian groups, placed on reservation lands which did not include hunting or fishing areas, opened attack on white settlers. "Horse" tribes of eastern Washington combined to lead a war in which they tried to enlist "canoe" Indians. Some coastal tribes did join the alliance, but Seattle's followers remained generally loyal to whites and were evacuated in sloops and canoes to Port Madison Reservation. Throughout this and other Indian wars of the period, Seattle faithfully supported the white cause, at the same time continuing to be a true and powerful leader of his own people. In line with the tribal belief that mention of a dead man's name disturbs his spirit, Seattle levied a small tribute in advance upon the citizens of the new town named after him. At about 86, he died on Port Madison Reservation. An Indian burial ground at Suquamish, Wash., 14 miles from Seattle, contains the grave of .the great· chief. A. granite shaft erected there by the people of Seattle is inscribed: "Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish and Allied tribes, died June 7 . . ' 1866, the firm friend of the Whites, and for him the City of Seattle was named by its founders." Each year the grave is the scene of a memorial ceremony conducted by local Boy Scouts on Scout Anniversary Day. In Seattle itself, a bronze statute represents the Indian leader in a typical ·pose, .his hand outstretched in· a gesture of perpetual peace and friendship. 27 RED CLOUD (Oglala Sioux) A' . • MAGNIFICENT• SPECIMEN of physical· manhood, as full of. action as a tiger." So Mahpiua Lura ("Red Cloud," from a meteor which turned the sky scarlet at the time of his birth); was described by famed Indian • fighter Gen .. George Crook, as the Oglala Sioux chief, then 44, ledIndian opposition to Government proposals to construct forts along the Bozeman Trail in 1865. No white encroachment· was more bitterly resented by the Teton, or Western Sioux, and the Cheyennes than this attempt to· fortify the . wild road across. the . western part of ·• the continent through Wyoming. to the. newly discovered gold fields· of Montana, for · the . Bozeman Trail cut across the best remaining buffalo grounds. The Indians had a powerful voice of opposition in Red Cloud. One of the .principal chiefs of the Oglala Teton Sioux, . he . was· a foremost • warrior who had counted a large· number of coups ( separate deeds of bravery in· battle), a natural leader who had become spokesman for his people through his own force. of character. He was in 'his own right chief of the powerful Bad Face band of Oglalas, and .influenced most of the other Oglala Sioux bands. Red Cloud was grimly determined • to keep the Army. out •·of • Indian ·· hunting grounds. • With a party of Sioux and Cheyennes, he intercepted the first small detachment of troops sent out .to. begin constructions along the Bozeman Trail in the summer of 1865, and kept them prisoner for more than 2 weeks. Whencommissioners were sent to treat with the Sioux that fall; Red Cloud refused. to allow transactions to start, and himself boycotted the council. The. following June, white . negotiators· again attempted to get Sioux and Cheyenne· permission 28 for passage of emigrants and construction of forts along the trail. • This time, Red Cloud was present as a leading representative for the Indians. ••· With great force and dignity, ·he .repeated his refusal to endanger the hunting grounds of his people: the· Great .Spirit had told .him.vhe said, what would happen to the Indians if the Bozeman Trail became a major route. Buteven while discussions were .. taking place, a strong force of troops had arrived andbegun occupation of Wyoming's Powder River country. Upon· learning this the furious Red Cloud. seized his rifle, shouted a defiant .. message, and stalked out of the meeting tent with his followers. The Army proceeded. to carry out orders to fortify.the trail. When Red Cloud's protests were ignored, he organized his forces, threatened death to any whites .who ventured onto the trail, and began a constant harrassment which was to go on for 2 years and become known .as "Red •. Cloud's War." The largest post on the trail, Fort .Phil Kearny, was kept under relentless seige, and· not even a load of hay could · be brought in from· the prairies except under strongly . armed guard. When Capt. William J. Fetterman, with 80. men, attempted to .rescue a woodcutting · party under attack nearthe fort in December 1866, Red Cloud's warriors lured them into ambush and killed every one. Although· there were some white· victories, Red Cloud and hisfollowers resisted so•effectively•that again the Government 'attempted to negotiate. The new meeting· was called for .November 1868. Red Cloud's ultimatum was complete abandonment of all posts and of all further attempt to open the Montana road. He refused to sign-or even be present-until the garrisonshad actually been withdrawn· and he had seen the hated · forts • burn to the ground. Red Cloud. Although dressed in full regalia, the Oglala Sioux warrior, aged and almost blind, had made his home on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota for many years at the time this picture was made. Photo: Smithsonian Institution. Red Cloud's victory was complete. The Oglala chief .stands alone •in .the history of the American Westas the chief who won a war withthe United States. Having signed the Fort Laramie Treaty, which created the vast area known as the Great Sioux Reservation, he agreed to lay down his arms and settle at ·Red··Cloud Agency in Nebraska. He kept his promise to live peacefully, butnot without cost: his acceptance of reservation life brought him the scorn of Crazy Horse and other Oglala leaders, who continued to fight the whites .. ·Red· Cloud took no active part 'in .. · the Sioux· hostilities of the 1870's, although many of his .followers, and his own· son, left the agency to join Sitting Bull and other Sioux warriors. In 1878, Red Cloud moved his .people to Pine Ridge ·.Agency,. along with almost all other Ogla- las. There, his running feud with Agent McGillicuddy became legendary, primarily because of the agent's persistent efforts to rob him of his prestige and authority as chief of his people. While he advocated peace, Red Cloud was. opposed to efforts torush Indian acceptance of white men's ways, and was a persistent critic of the Federal Government. He left the house built for him by the Government on Pine Ridge to travelto Washington on several occasions, and his views became known· to newspaper readers throughout the country. A few years before his death, Red Cloud and his wife were formally baptized as Roman Catholics; he took the baptismal name "John," and she became "Mary." In 1909, having become feeble and totally blind, the old warrior died in his Pine Ridge home. A marker locates his grave at · the Holy Rosary Mission near Pine ·Ridge Agency, .s. Dak, 29 CUSTER'S LAST STAND Indian Day of Glory This remarkable pictograph, the original painted on muslin, illustrates in true Indian fashion the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Mont., on June 25, 1876, in which Gen. George A. Custer was killed and his command annihilated by combined forces of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. The Sioux artist was Kicking Bear, a survivor, who painted his recollection of the battle at Pine Ridge, S. Dak. in 1898, 22 years after the Sioux' greatest victory. The four standing figures in the central group are, left to right: Sitting Bull, Rain-in-the-Face, Crazy Horse, and Kicking Bear himself. The space next to Kicking Bear shows that Chief Gall was deliberately omitted, since he later joined the reconciled Sioux, whereas Sitting Bull and Kicking Bear remained forever hostile to the whites. The slain Custer (whom the Indians called "Long Hair"), is shown, left, wearing his favorite buck- skin costume. Outlined figures at top left represent spirits escaping from the bodies of dead and dying soldiers, while, at the extreme left margin, bursts of gunfire are still coming from Indian guns. At lower right, women in Indian village are beginning Victory Chant; even the dogs join in celebrating. One Indian woman displays a captured American flag. Photo: Southwest Museum. CRAZY HORSE (Oglala Sioux) CRAZY HORSE (TASHUNKE WITKO) a military figure of the Oglala Sioux tribe, came to p