THRILLING SCENES 
 
 AMONG THE INDIANS. 
 
 WITH A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF 
 
 CUSTER S LAST FIGHT WITH SITTING BULL. 
 
 T. M. NEWSOE". 
 
 Jt 
 
 Author of u LIFE IN THE BLACK HILLS," " INDIAN LEGENDS," Etc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 DONOHUE, HENNEBERRY& CO, 
 
 407-425 DEARBORN STREET 
 1890 
 
COPYRIGHT, 
 
 BY T. M. NBWSON,; 
 
 1884. " - 
 
 DONOHUK & HENNEBBRRY, 
 
 ?RINTERS AND BINDERS, 
 CHICAGO. 
 
 / 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Mis-se-jar-ga; or, the Angel Guide 7 
 
 Indian Treachery; or a Run for Life 14 
 
 Marriage and Death of Minnehaha 24 
 
 Birth Place of Minnehaha 28 
 
 Indian Diplomacy 30 
 
 Minnetooka; an Indian Legend 33 
 
 Thrilling Scenes Among the Indians 45 
 
 Wenona; Maiden Rock 55 
 
 Lake Pepin and Scenery 59 
 
 Kis-se-me-pa and Kar-go-ga 62 
 
 The Skulking Dog 65 
 
 Pick-a-wa-ka and El-mo-na 71 
 
 Memory of a Noted Chippewa Chief 75 
 
 He-le-o-pa and Nim-pe-wa-pa 78 
 
 The Mississippi River; its Scenery 83 
 
 The Battle for the Apron 87 
 
 A White Indian Queen 92 
 
 An Indian s Theory of the Celestial Bodies 93 
 
 The Inner Life of the Indian 98 
 
 An-pe-tu-sa-pa; Legend of St. Anthony Falls 106 
 
 My Last Night in a Sioux Indian Camp in 
 
 Peculiar Indian Traditions .- 1 18 
 
 The Game of Ball a Thrilling Scene 128 
 
 Pa-ha Wa-kan; or, the Sacred Descent 135 
 
 Old Bets; Romance of Early Life 141 
 
 Wa-zi-ya, and the Enchanted Knife 145 
 
 Opinions, Beliefs and Customs of the Indians 149 
 
 938496 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Last Man Strange Beliefs 153 
 
 General George A. Custer -. 172 
 
 Sitting Bull, or Ta-tou-ka-i-y-a-tou-ka. . ^ . 178 
 
 The Last Great Indian Battle 184 
 
 Sitting Bull s First Visit to Civilization 192 
 
 An Interesting Trip 201 
 
 A Genuine Scare 208 
 
 Fort Snelling , 213 
 
 Indian Speeches and Indian Council , . . 215 
 
 Early Missionary Efforts 221 
 
 Indian Poetry. 
 
 He Will Come 236 
 
 Come Again 236 
 
 The Giant s Dance 237 
 
 Never, Never - .... 237 
 
 Grandfather , - .... 238 
 
 To the Spirit-land - .... 238 
 
 Statistics < > . . . 239 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait of Sitting Bull Frontispiece. 
 
 The Race for Life. .... 23 
 
 Little Crow i . . . 31 
 
 Hole-in-the-Day 77 
 
 Old Bets . < . . . 143 
 
 The Indians First Sight of a Railroad Train 161 
 
 General George A. Custer - . . 173 
 
 Custer s Last Rally - v. 189 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 MOST of the scenes described, and nearly all the 
 incidents narrated, in the pages of this book, 
 were a part of my own personal experience of a resi 
 dence of some thirty years on the frontier, and for 
 which I can vouch as true, except, perhaps, the incidents 
 of the last great battle of the lamented Custer with Sit 
 ting Bull, and for these I am indebted to one who was 
 early on the ground after the conflict, and who has ob 
 tained from the Indians themselves what I deem to be 
 a very accurate picture of the terrible struggle between 
 the contending forces. 
 
 Of the various traditions which are woven in among 
 the other articles, I can only say, in the language of 
 Longfellow: 
 
 " Should you ask where Na-wa-da-ha 
 Found these songs, so wild and wayward, 
 Found these legends and traditions, 
 I should answer, I should tell tell you, 
 In the bird s nests of the forest, 
 In the lodges of the beaver, 
 In the hoof-prints of the bison, 
 In the eyrie of the eagle, 
 
 Here Na-wa-da-ha found these legends." 
 
 The object of this work is to group together some of 
 the traditions of the past and many of the character 
 istics of the Indians of the Northwest, and to so weave 
 in romance and history as to form interesting reading 
 matter for the general public. Several of the legends 
 
 5 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 and articles now published have already appeared in 
 print, and as they were then received with much cor 
 diality, exhausting the various editions rapidly, the 
 author feels warranted in the belief that the present 
 volume will be favorably received by a discriminating 
 public. All the habits, customs, beliefs, and puculiar- 
 ities of the Indians can be relied upon as correct. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 SAINT PAUL, Minn., 1884. 
 
MIS-SE-JAR-GA; 
 
 OR, THE ANGEL GUIDE. 
 
 \ ^7 ELL," I asked of an old Indian of nearly 
 V V one hundred winters, who sat over a camp 
 fire, smoking his well-worn pipe, " What legend do you 
 know of a body of water recognized by the white man 
 as Lake of the Loons?" He gave a grunt, emptied 
 the ashes from his pipe, refilled it with kinnikinick, 
 puffed away for a few moments, and then said : 
 
 11 Many moons long since gone, when my hair was 
 black and my face was smooth, away off to the east, 
 where the bright spirit the sun rises and washes its 
 face in the morning dews, dwelt my forefathers, and 
 the friends of my youth. Just on the border of our 
 reservation settled a paleface and his family, which at 
 first made our hearts bad, but they were so good and so 
 kind that we came to esteem them, and they lived 
 among us respected. His family consisted of three 
 boys, and a golden-haired girl of five summers. This 
 child was as fair as Minnehaha, beautiful as sunset, 
 happy as a bird, gentle as a lamb, sweet as the Great 
 Spirit. Her winning ways, her golden, curly hair, her 
 great blue eyes, her innocent prattle, her confidence in 
 the red man, as she climbed on his knee and toyed with 
 his long black hair the contrast between the sweet lily 
 face and the tawny complexion of our tribe, won for her 
 the name of Mis-se-jar-ga, or the angel guide." 
 
 The old Indian paused, dropped his head upon his 
 
 7 
 
3 , , . MIS-SE-JAR-GA; 
 
 breast ; was silent for a moment, when, with another 
 puff from his pipe, he proceeded with his story. 
 
 "White mother loved child; white man loved child. 
 One Indian loved child better than white man. Child 
 good. Child angel. Heap big heart for Mis-se-jar-ga." 
 
 A deep, guttural sound escaped from the old Indian, 
 as he paused again and gazed intently into the fire, and 
 he was only aroused from his reverie by my asking 
 him : " Lelia cooler, good friend, what then?" 
 
 " Indian steals up close to white man s wigwam. 
 Night has covered the beautiful face with darkness ; 
 Mis-se-jar-ga sleeps, but Indian loved Mis-se-jar-ga. He 
 takes her up like a pure snow-flake, wraps her in his 
 blanket, and before she is conscious, glides out into the 
 forest, and ere the morning dawns, is a day s travel 
 towards the west. Moons come and go, but no Mis-se- 
 jar-ga. Family mourn, but no Mis-se-jar-ga. Mother 
 dies from grief, but no Mis-se-jar-ga. Brothers hunt 
 the woods for the bones of their beautiful sister, but 
 no Mis-se-jar-ga. No angel guide comes to comfort 
 the weary heart of the white father. Mis-se-jar-ga is 
 gone forever toward the setting sun. 
 
 " Harry was the youngest brother of Mis-se-jar-ga. 
 Many, many, more moons had passed, since the boy 
 had grown to manhood. The memory of his golden- 
 haired sister still dwelt in his heart. He had suspicions 
 that she still lived. The father had crossed the river 
 of death and had joined the mother in the spirit land, 
 and the brothers, disposing of their farm, had gone 
 back to their friends in the east. Harry lived only for 
 one end one aim one purpose the restoration of his 
 sister." 
 
 Again the Indian dropped his head on his breast and 
 
OR, THE ANGEL GUIDE. 9 
 
 was silent. I let him remain so, when rousing up, he 
 continued : 
 
 " Harry had come to know the Indian language, the 
 Indian costumes, the Indian mode of living, and bid 
 ding good-bye to the old homestead, equipped as a 
 trapper, he set out for the Mississippi river, where he 
 had good reason to believe his sister had been carried." 
 
 I here interrupt the story of the Indian to explain to 
 the reader, that the place where Harry s father had 
 opened his farm, was in the extreme eastern portion of 
 Wisconsin, where, at that time, no white man but he 
 had ever dared to venture. The country was wholly 
 inhabited by the children of the forest, who since then 
 have been moving rapidly westward, and for hundreds 
 of miles where they used to roam, are now cities and 
 cultivated farms. One can form a vivid conception of 
 how difficult it must have been for Harry to traverse 
 this wide extent of country, looking for his long-lost 
 sister. 
 
 The Indian resumed his narrative. 
 
 " Trapping along the streams, hunting game in the 
 woods, sleeping upon the ground, or occasionally enjoy 
 ing the hospitality of an Indian tepee. Harry traveled 
 continually, buoyed up with the hope of meeting the 
 blue-eyed Mis-se-jar-ga, whose dear little features haunt 
 ed him night and day. He had forgotten that ten years 
 had elapsed since her abduction he had forgotten 
 that the child had bloomed into the young girl had 
 forgotten that her mode of life had changed her had 
 forgotten that the clear complexion had merged into 
 the copper-colored tint of the Indian maiden. All he 
 saw, all he dreamed of, all he thought of, was the 
 golden-haired child of his boyhood. 
 
IO MIS-SE-JAR-GA; 
 
 " When within about two days travel of the Missis 
 sippi river, Harry drew his rifle and fired at a deer as 
 it bounded past him. Instantly he heard wild war- 
 whoops, and saw thirteen Indians bearing down upon 
 him, with uplifted knives and tomahawks. In vain he 
 assured them he was their friend in vain he talked to 
 them in their native tongue ; but a white man had 
 never been seen in their country before ; to them he 
 must be a spy, an enemy, so finding it useless to make 
 a fight, he threw down his gun and surrendered. The 
 Indians drew near, seized his weapon, his knife, his 
 hunter s dress, and binding his hands behind him, or 
 dered him to follow them. They crossed the Missis 
 sippi and continued on, until they came to a lake, about 
 whose shores were heavy trees, and here they were met 
 by other Indians who came to see the prisoner. This 
 was their camping ground, their home. Harry was 
 conducted to a small birch-bark tepee, somewhat sepa 
 rated from the rest, and after his arms were more se 
 curely bound, and his feet firmly fastened, he was left 
 alone with only one Indian to guard the door." 
 
 The old Indian turned his head quickly, seized his 
 rifle as it were by intuition, crouched down upon the 
 ground, and after a moment or two relaxed into his 
 usual composure, and continued his story. 
 
 "That night the Indians gathered in a council of 
 death, near where lay the white man, listening and 
 understanding all they said. The old braves advocated 
 burning at the stake, with a war-dance. The paleface 
 had invaded their country ; he came to do them harm ; 
 he had a bad spirit, so sentence of death was passed 
 upon him, to be executed in two days. The council 
 
OR, THE ANGEL GUIDE. II 
 
 broke up with a wild, weird, thrilling death song, which 
 fell upon the ears of Harry like leaden bullets. 
 
 " Morning dawned, and with it no hope for the con 
 demned man ! Harry knew enough of Indian charac 
 ter to realize that his doom was sealed, so he begged as 
 a last boon that he might be permitted to stroll along 
 the shores of the lake and commune with nature before 
 death ended his career. Oh, if he could see that sister 
 once more before he died ; if he could but know that 
 she still lived, it would enable him to endure the terri 
 ble end which he knew must come. Some distance be 
 low the lodge where he had been imprisoned, and upon 
 the borders of the lake, partially hidden by beautiful 
 trees and creeping vines, was another tepee ; and as the 
 prisoner walked along the shore natural curiosity in 
 duced the Indian women to gaze upon him. Harry 
 looked up, caught the glance of a girl of fifteen years, 
 with Indian complexion, Indian dress, Indian timidity, 
 but with golden, curly hair and blue eyes ! Could it be 
 possible ! Was that his sister? His head grew dizzy; 
 he tottered, fainted and fell. When he came to him 
 self, two Indians and several squaws were bending over 
 him, and among them the young maiden whose image 
 had frozen his heart. He spoke to her in English, she 
 heeded him not ; he spoke to her in Indian, telling her 
 she must be his sister, he alluded to her hair, her eyes, 
 so different from the Indian, but her memory was 
 blank ; he could make no impression. He asked per 
 mission to lift the scarf that encircled her neck ; be 
 neath it was pure white. He knew it was his sister, but 
 how could he make her realize it ? During this inter 
 view the Indians gazed with astonishment and awe 
 upon the scene ! They began to get uneasy. The In- 
 
12 MIS-SE-JAR-GA ; 
 
 dian maiden herself was withdrawing to her tepee, 
 when Harry, desperate with his desire to have her recog 
 nize him, once more began talking with her in Indian. 
 He spoke of her childhood ; her brothers, her parents, 
 her abduction ; but it brought no light to the memory 
 of the poor girl. Finally he alluded to the name of 
 Harry, to her early play ground, her baking cakes in 
 the sand, her romping with her little brother ; and then, 
 in an instant, came back the light of other days. She 
 approached him; asked him to repeat the name of 
 Harry ; asked him to tell her more about the sand 
 cakes, and then, all of a sudden, uttered a piercing 
 scream, fell to the earth, and was carried to her tepee, 
 while Harry was conducted back to his prison house, 
 amid great confusion in the camp. 
 
 " That night there was another council, and in the 
 midst of it stood the Indian girl, her blue eyes flashing 
 and her golden curls floating down her back. It was 
 Mis-se-jar-ga, the angel guide, whose influence with the 
 tribe was unbounded. She plead for the life of the 
 paleface. It might be her brother, it might not be ; 
 but why take the life of the white man, who had done 
 them no harm ? why incur the ill will of the Great Spir 
 it, in doing a great wrong? Her efforts were endorsed 
 by a young and handsome brave, in an eloquent plea, 
 not so much for the white man, as for the wishes of 
 the Indian maiden, and before the council adjourned, 
 the savages had relented, the death sentence had been 
 changed to liberty, and that night Harry walked among 
 the red men, a happy man, for he had gained his life 
 and found his long-lost sister. 
 
 " That memorable spot/ said the old Indian, point 
 ing across the lake, " where Mis-se-jar-ga spent her early 
 
OR, THE ANGEL GUIDE. 13 
 
 childhood where she was recognized by her brother, 
 and where she left the Indian camp forever to dwell 
 among her own people, is over there, yonder, in that 
 quiet little dell, where the tall trees sing of her beauty 
 and of her innocence, and the waves of the lake bewail 
 the absence of the ANGEL GUIDE. 
 
INDIAN TREACHERY. 
 
 A RUN FOR LIFE. 
 
 "XT INETEEN years ago, while on my way from Ver- 
 1 \l milion lake, near the British line, I found that 
 the spring floods had carried away all the Bridges, had 
 stopped the stages, indeed, had interrupted ill travel to 
 such an extent that pedestrians were obliged to either 
 walk through water and mud some thirty or forty miles 
 per day as the stage stations were then about this dis 
 tance apart on the traveled road or lay up at one of 
 the " inns " along the line. I, with my companion, a 
 short, duck-legged chap, by the name of Camp, who 
 had come with me from Vermilion, decided, per force 
 of necessity, to stop at a place called " Deer Creek;" so 
 * housing in," we adapted ourselves to circumstances, 
 and becoming more fully acquainted with the landlord 
 and his wife, soon whiled away the time in real primi 
 tive, frontier style. The rain out doors beat against the 
 window panes, it leaked through the roof, it whipped 
 in under the door; the swollen stream, after which 
 the place took its name, roared and foamed, and tossed 
 close by the little house in which we were huddled; the 
 good dame had fried her salt pork and slap-jacks, and 
 was just on the point of calling us to dinner, when two 
 weary travelers sprung in the door and dripping with 
 water, tired with walking, exhausted with hunger, 
 stood before us, objects of our deepest commiseration. 
 Of course they were soon made comfortable, supplied 
 with food, and in a short time we found ourselves quite 
 
 14 
 
A RUN FOR LIFE. 1$ 
 
 good friends, for nothing binds men together more 
 closely or cements stronger friendships, than adversity 
 itself, and as we were all at the mercy of the good peo 
 ple of " Deer Creek " and the raging storm without, we 
 became particularly interested in each other and phil 
 osophers at large. 
 
 One of these men was small and wiry, the other had 
 a large, heavy frame, and a swarthy complexion. About 
 an hour after dinner the small man drew me aside, and 
 said confidentially " You see my companion ?" I 
 answered, " I did." " Well," he remarked, " he is an 
 Indian, possessed of a great secret, and as I know you 
 are interested in what I am about to say, I will com 
 municate something to you of great importance, but I 
 want it understood as strictly confidential," to which 
 of course I assented. "Well, then," said my compan 
 ion, " that Indian, disguised in a white man s dress, 
 under which is his own garb, knows where there is a 
 large and rich deposit of metal. You see those ear 
 rings, those finger rings and that pipe, all of solid sil 
 ver? Well, he cut that metal right out of the rock, 
 and he knows just where it is!" "Is that so?" I 
 asked. " Yes," said the small, wiry man, " and what is 
 more, I will get him to go with you and show you 
 where it is." I said to Camp, "I m off in the morning 
 up country, on an important errand; will you go?" 
 To which he replied, " Yes." So, soon after this, mat 
 ters were arranged with the Indian, whereby I was to 
 pay him $50 when he had shown me the place from 
 whence the silver in his possession had been obtained, 
 and we concluded to commence our journey the next 
 day. Camp, the Indian and myself started out on foot, 
 and after traveling for nearly three days, came to the 
 
1 6 INDIAN TREACHERY. 
 
 spot where the vein was said to be located, but here the 
 Indian halted, under a superstition, no doubt, of his 
 race, that if he told a white man where the " shoon-e-ar," 
 or money was, that a spirit would kill him, so he pre 
 varicated, stumbled, paused, and finally claimed that 
 the water was too high ; he could not find the place, 
 etc., etc. Disgusted, Camp, myself and my " cowin 
 nisisshin," not good guide, set out to the nearest house, 
 knowing full well that we must either make it, or re 
 main all night in the woods. Camp s little duck legs 
 were put to their utmost capacity, but he kept close on 
 to my heels in a state of perspiration, as we tripped 
 through a dense woods, and after a walk of fifteen 
 miles, emerged into an opening, on the stage-traveled 
 road, where was an old claim shanty, occupied by one 
 O Rally, a clever Irishman, who, seeing our chilled and 
 tired condition, set before us a hot whisky punch, and 
 in a short time we were in a placid and pleasant state 
 of mind. During our trip through the woods, I had 
 observed that my Indian guide evidently intended to 
 detain us in the forest until after dark, and this, with 
 some other peculiar actions upon his part, especially 
 after O Rally had given him some " Scoot-ta-wa-boo," 
 or whisky, to drink, led me to suspect that the fellow 
 was contemplating mischief, but I said nothing to 
 Camp. While in this state of mind, and undecided 
 whether I would go on ten miles further that evening 
 to catch the stage in the morning, or remain over where 
 we were, I observed peeping into the window, a strange, 
 hideous Indian face, black, with angry- eyes, high cheek 
 bones, a large, firmly set mouth, and huge jaws. He 
 gazed at me so ferociously that I actually cowered un 
 der his penetrating glare. And then I observed that 
 
A RUN FOR LIFE. I/ 
 
 the other Indian who had been with us was talking 
 with him, and both were armed with knives, tomahawks, 
 etc., my guide having doffed his white man s dress for 
 that of his own and what made matters still more se 
 rious, was the fact that they were both under the influ 
 ence of whisky. I had seen a great deal of Indian 
 character under various phases, but I had never before 
 seen a savage that I positively feared so much as that 
 black, devilish face and those glaring eyes, that ever 
 and anon peered in through the window upon me. 
 
 Fifteen minutes had passed and I had seen no In 
 dians. Well, I thought to myself, they have gone 
 home. I went out of the house and looked round 
 nobody to be seen. It was getting towards sun-down. 
 Could we make the next station before dark? It was a 
 very desolate and dangerous road, but as my especial 
 fear was removed in the non-appearance of the Indians, 
 I decided to go on; so I said to Camp, " We will make 
 for the next station. As those devilish Indians have 
 gone, I have no fear, and we can foot it lively." It had 
 never entered Camp s head that the Indians might 
 attack and kill us on the road, for if he had had the least 
 suspicion in this direction, he would not have budged 
 an inch. Something in my look, however, must have 
 aroused his suspicion, for he came close to me, and look 
 ing piteously into my face, asked " Do you think there 
 is any danger on the road?" " Oh, no," I replied. I 
 didn t like that Indian with a dark face, but I guess we 
 are now clear of them, and we better go on." " You 
 know we are not armed," said Camp. " Yes, I know, 
 but you have that old ax ; better take it along with 
 you." 
 
 Bidding good-bye to our friend, we started out on a 
 2 
 
1 8 INDIAN TREACHERY. 
 
 brisk walk just as the sun was climbing down the 
 mountains, and winding around a curve, struck into a 
 narrow road that lay at the foot of high hills on the 
 right, and gorges eight hundred feet deep on the left. 
 The rocky cliffs frowned down upon us while the dark 
 chasms below sent back dull, heavy thug sounds, as we 
 rolled stones over the precipice and heard them gurgle 
 in the bottom below. Just ahead of us was a descent 
 in the road, and we could see a little brook bubbling 
 over the rocks and making its way down, down, down, 
 amid a dark sea of foliage, one thousand feet below, 
 and as we drew nearer we observed that the ravine 
 through which this stream ran, was spanned by a crude, 
 narrow bridge, and to my utmost horror, on this bridge, 
 in a partial state of intoxication, sat the two identical 
 Indians I so much feared. They were talking humor 
 ously with themselves ; swaying to and fro, and did not 
 notice us until we were close upon them, when they 
 broke out in their Indian dialect : " Booshu, neches ! 
 Kersmokerman ogamar, scoot-ta-wa-boo, nisisshin," 
 which means in English " How do you do, friends ! 
 White man chief, whisky is good." 
 
 At the same time, the ugly, dark-faced Indian got up, 
 and approaching me, sought by force to place me on 
 the bridge between the two. I took in the whole sit 
 uation at a glance, for once in their clutches, I knew a 
 knife would soon penetrate my heart, and my body 
 would go rolling down the deep abyss, while poor Camp 
 would soon after suffer the same fate ; so, straighten 
 ing myself up and assuming an air of defiance, I pushed 
 back the advancing Indian, and uttered in a loud voice, 
 " Cowin nisisshin," not good. " Cowin ! " I won t 
 drink. Their hilarity deepened into an ugly scowl. 
 
A RUN FOR LIFE. 19 
 
 They had been foiled. They were armed with knives 
 and tomahawks; I had nothing but a pen-knife, and 
 Camp had an old ax, but we conveyed the impression 
 that I had a revolver, which no doubt had much to do 
 in keeping them at bay. Finding that I would not 
 drink, that I was sullen and still, they passed the bottle 
 to each other, and then muttering to themselves,marched 
 on ahead of us. 
 
 " Camp," I said, as he crept close to my side, " I am 
 afraid we are going to have trouble with those Indians." 
 " Oh ! my God ! " said Camp, " do you think they will 
 kill us ? Oh, my God, my God ! " " Well, Camp, their 
 motives are bad, and the only way we can save our lives 
 is by boldness and strategy. If they knew I was un 
 armed, they would kill us in a minute. Now do just as 
 I tell you, oryour life won t be worth ten cents." " Oh, 
 don t talk so ; for God s sake don t talk so ; I m tremb 
 ling all over ! What a terrible place to be in on this 
 road ! Look into that dark valley below ! If my body 
 should go down there, my family would never find the 
 remains of poor Camp. What a fool to come out here 
 to this horrible place. But do you really think they 
 will attack us ?" " Listen. A certain distance ahead, 
 they will sit down and await our coming, and then they 
 will try to induce me to drink again. One of the In 
 dians, under a pretext of lightening your burden, will 
 seek to get your ax, but don t you let it go out of your 
 hand at the peril of your life. If it become necessary, 
 swing it and strike that dark visaged Indian dead ; we 
 can manage the other. They are getting drunker and 
 drunker, and of course more ferocious. It is darkening 
 into twilight, and I must confess the outlook is very 
 serious." Camp s little duck-legs made several circles 
 
2O INDIAN TREACHERY. 
 
 for a few minutes, while he ejaculated " oh ! oh ! oh !" 
 and then looking more like a dead man than a live one, 
 promised faithfully to do as I bid him, and we jogged 
 on. 
 
 True enough, a little way ahead of us, there sat the 
 Indians awaiting our coming, and as we approached 
 them, one offered me the bottle of whisky, and the other 
 sought to take from Camp his ax. He had nearly suc 
 ceeded, when Camp, turning upon his heel, swung the 
 ax high in the air, and it came within an inch of the 
 head of the ugly savage, which movement I immedi 
 ately seconded by stepping up to Mr. Indian, and- put 
 ting my fist into his face, ordered him to let that man 
 alone. Our actions had the desired effect, but we could 
 plainly see that the infuriated beasts, urged on by 
 whisky, were getting madder and madder, and that it 
 needed strategy as well as bravery to carry our point. 
 We had now made at least about eight miles, and had 
 two more to make before we reached Damphier s, the 
 station from which the stage left in the morning. This 
 the Indians were aware of as well as ourselves, and if 
 they intended to bag their game, they knew and we 
 knew, they had got to do it soon. If treachery was 
 their point, I intended to meet them on that ground, 
 so softening my ways, I took the bottle from my dusky 
 friends and with a loud " Ho ! " drank, that is, I let 
 most of the fluid slip down under my coat, instead of 
 into my throat, but it appeased their increasing hatred 
 and I had gained the point I desired to utilize in our 
 next heat, which I knew would be the most exciting, if 
 not the fatal one in our career. The Indians, appar 
 ently, overjoyed at my friendship which I knew was 
 only a feint brandished their knives high in the air, 
 
A RUN FOR LIFE. * 21 
 
 glared out into the increasing darkness, and hardly able 
 to stand up, commenced their terrible war-dance, yell 
 ing, as only Indians can yell, when on the scent of blood. 
 Poor Camp stood by trembling like an aspen leaf, when 
 we both started to move along, but the Indians glided 
 in ahead of us, and in an excited manner, soon gained 
 an advance. 
 
 "Camp, you see that hill ahead of us?" "Yes." 
 " Well, just over it is Damphier s. We have got to 
 make that point on the virtue of our limbs, or we shall 
 never reach civilization ! " " Oh, my God ! my God," 
 exclaimed Camp. " You know I can t run ; I am a dead 
 man ; those devils will get me sure." " Well, it is our 
 only course. It is a run for life, so make up your mind 
 to get over that ground just as fast as the Lord will let 
 you." Camp gave a low groan. " When we come up 
 to the Indians again, I will affect to drink with them 
 and get them thoroughly engaged in narrating some of 
 their great deeds of valor, and on a given signal you 
 walk ahead unobserved, and on another signal, throw 
 aside your ax, take your boots in your hands, or throw 
 them away, and make for the station house with all the 
 power you possess. I will catch up with you, and we 
 may yet be saved." We soon came up to where the 
 Indians were sitting, and I went in strong with them on 
 drinking, being careful to let the fiery stuff eat the 
 lining of my coat rather than the lining of my throat. 
 They were infuriated drunk, ready for any dark deed, 
 with courage strong enough to kill a dozen white men, 
 but I adroitly drew them into a discussion as to the 
 relative merits of their own deeds ; gave the signals to 
 Camp ; moved away from them quietly, and in the next 
 five minutes Camp s short, banty legs were cutting 
 
22 INDIAN TREACHERY. 
 
 amusing figures on the brow of the hill, while my own 
 limbs were making music close behind him. " Go it, 
 Camp ! " I cried, and Camp was going it no hat no 
 boots no coat. Just before I reached the top of the 
 hill, I looked back, and found that the Indians had dis 
 covered our flight, and were coming for us in the most 
 horrible manner, wild with whisky, reeking with re 
 venge for their disappointment, cutting the air with 
 their knives and tomahawks, screaming, running, howl 
 ing presenting one of the most revolting scenes I had 
 ever witnessed. I had caught up with Camp, and we 
 were neck and neck. " There s the house," I exclaimed, 
 " hold out a little longer," and away we ran, the Indians 
 gaining upon us every minute. We could almost feel 
 their hot breath, and in imagination see the descending 
 tomahawk entering our skulls, when Camp went head 
 foremost into Damphier s door, and in an instant it was 
 fastened by a heavy wooden bar, and the next moment 
 our frantic foes gave a bang they were just behind us, 
 but too late ! Camp went turning over and over on the 
 floor, trying to gain his breath, claiming he was dying, 
 while Damphier sent his family into the log part of the 
 building, and with his double-barreled gun made his 
 appearance for the fight. Again came bang against the 
 door ! again I saw those glittering eyes again another 
 bang, bang, when Damphier told them, through the 
 window, that just one more bang would cost them their 
 lives, and after skulking about for several hours, trying 
 the windows and the doors, all was still. Camp got up 
 and became composed. The family gathered together, 
 but there was no sleep that night we were all on watch 
 until the gray of the morning, and I was heartily glad 
 
A RUN FOR LIFE. 23 
 
 when the stage took us whirling away from this dread 
 ful spot. 
 
 A few weeks later I learned that it was the intention 
 of these Indians to have killed us on the road, to have 
 robbed me, as it was supposed by them I had money 
 on my person, and from all I could gather, the small 
 wiry man who gave me the first information of the big 
 Indian at " Deer Creek," was the original instigator in 
 the whole plot. 
 
 I have a vivid recollection of two things, viz : the 
 glaring eyes of that horrible Indian, and the little duck 
 legs of Camp as he peeled it over the hill, in A RUN FOR 
 DEAR LIFE. 
 
MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF MINNE- 
 HAHA. 
 
 MINNE (WATER) HA! HA! (LAUGHING) LAUGHING 
 WATER. 
 
 THE poet Longfellow has made memorable in song, 
 Minne-ha-ha, or Laughing Water, a beautiful 
 little cascade that goes dancing over a precipice, and 
 then the joyous brook from whence it comes, gurgles 
 its way onward to the Mississippi river. Previous to 
 forming the cascade, Minnehaha creek receives its life 
 from, and is connected with, a lake, and thus meander 
 ing through forest and glen, and over pebbly shores 
 and through cultivated farms, it at last, like a young 
 girl, with wild, flowing locks and sparkling eyes, leaps 
 over the broken rocks and scatters pearls in the dark 
 chasm below. 
 
 The poet has pictured Hiawatha as great in his own 
 estimation, and who, after having achieved greatness in 
 the eyes of others, conceived the idea of uniting the 
 antagonistic Indian elements of two ferocious tribes, 
 by he, a Chippewa, marrying Minnehaha, a Dacotah 
 maiden, with whom he is really in love. His soliloquy 
 on marriage is beautiful. He says : 
 
 " As unto the bow the cord is, 
 So unto man is woman ; 
 Though she bends him, she obeys him, 
 Though she draws him, yet she follows 
 Useless each without the other." 
 
 Having settled this point in his own mind, he per- 
 
 24 
 
MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF MINNEHAHA. 25 
 
 in his determination to unite himself to a woman 
 of a different tribe, and in response to old No-ko-mis, 
 who objects to his union, he replies : 
 
 " In the land of the Dacotahs 
 Lives the arrow-maker s daughter, 
 Minnehaha, Laughing Water, 
 Handsomest of all the women. 
 I will bring her to your wigwam, 
 She shall run upon your errands, 
 Be your starlight, moonlight, firelight, 
 Be the sunshine of your people." 
 
 No-ko-mis rejoins : 
 
 " Very fierce are the Dacotahs; 
 There are feuds yet unforgotten, 
 Wounds that ache and still may open." 
 
 To which Hiawatha answers: 
 
 " For that reason, if no other, 
 Would I wed the fair Dacotah, 
 That our tribes might be united, 
 That old feuds might be forgotten, 
 And old wounds be healed forever." 
 
 With this determination he sets off to the land of 
 his lady-love, who years ago he met and admired, and 
 after various feats of valor, among which was the kill 
 ing of a deer, and " at each stride a mile he measured," 
 he arrives at the coveted spot. I leave Longfellow to 
 tell the balance of the story in his own inimitable style : 
 
 " At the door-way of his wigwam 
 Sat the ancient arrow-maker, 
 In the land of the Dacotahs, 
 Making arrow-heads of jasper, 
 Arrow-heads of chalcedony. 
 At his side, in all her beauty, 
 Sits his daughter, Laughing Water, 
 Plaiting mats of flags and rushes; 
 Of the past the old man s thoughts were, 
 And the maiden s of the future. 
 
26 MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF MINNEHAHA. 
 
 She was thinking of a hunter, 
 From another tribe and country, 
 Young and tall and very handsome. 
 Who, one morning, in the spring-time, 
 Came to buy her father s arrows, 
 Sat and rested in the wigwam, 
 Lingered long about the doorway, 
 Looking back as he departed. 
 She had heard her father praise him, 
 
 Praise his courage and his wisdom; 
 Would he come again for arrows 
 To the Falls of Minnehaha ? 
 On the mat her hands lay idle, 
 And her eyes were very dreamy. 
 
 Through their thoughts they heard a footstep, 
 Heard a rustling in the branches, 
 And with glowing cheeks and forehead, 
 With the deer upon his shoulders, 
 Suddenly from out the woodlands 
 Hiawatha stood before them. 
 
 Straight the ancient arrow-maker 
 Looked up gravely from his labor, 
 Laid aside the unfinished arrow, 
 Bade him enter at the doorway, 
 Saying, as he rose to meet him, 
 " Hiawatha, you are welcome! " 
 
 At the feet of Laughing Water 
 Hiawatha laid his burden, 
 Threw the red deer from his shoulders: 
 And the maiden looked up at him, 
 Looked up from her mat of rushes, 
 Said with gentle look and accent, 
 " You are welcome, Hiawatha! " 
 ***** 
 Listened while the guest was speaking, 
 Listened while her father answered, 
 But not once her lips she opened, 
 Not a single word she uttered. 
 
MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF MINNEHAHA. 2? 
 
 Yet, as in a dream, she listened 
 
 To the words of Hiawatha, 
 
 As he talked of old No-ko-mis, 
 
 Who had nursed him in his childhood. 
 
 And of happiness and plenty 
 
 In the land of the Ojibways, 
 
 In the pleasant land and peaceful. 
 
 "After many years of warfare, 
 
 Many years of strife and bloodshed, 
 
 There is peace among the Ojibways, 
 
 And the tribe of the Dacotahs." 
 
 Thus continued Hiawatha, 
 
 And then added, speaking slowly: 
 " That this peace may last forever, 
 
 And our hands be clasped more closely, 
 
 And our hearts be more united, 
 
 Give me as my wife this maiden, 
 
 MINNEHAHA, Laughing Water, 
 
 Loveliest of Dacotah women! " 
 
 And the ancient arrow-maker 
 Paused a moment ere he answered, 
 Looked at Hiawatha proudly, 
 Finally looked at Laughing Water, 
 And made answer very gravely: 
 "Yes, if Minnehaha wishes; 
 Let your heart speak, Minnehaha! " 
 
 And the lovely Laughing Water 
 Seemed more lovely as she stood there, 
 Neither willing nor reluctant, 
 As she went to Hiawatha, 
 Softly took a seat beside him, 
 While she said, and blushed to say It, 
 " I will follow you, my husband! " 
 
 This was Hiawatha s wooing! 
 Thus it was he won the daughter 
 Of the ancient arrow-maker, 
 In the land of the Dacotahs. 
 
 From the wigwam he departed, 
 Leading with him Laughing Water; 
 
28 MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF MINNEHAHA. 
 
 Hand in hand they went together, 
 Through the woodland and the meadow; 
 Left the old man standing lonely 
 At the doorway of his wigwam, 
 Heard the Falls of Minnehaha 
 Calling to them from the distance, 
 Crying to them from afar off, 
 " Fare thee well, O Minnehaha! " 
 
 Time wanes and the famine appears. Hiawatha goes 
 into the forest to hunt for food for his starving wife, 
 but the deep snows prevent him from obtaining game. 
 While in the woods, in imagination, he hears Minne 
 haha crying, "Hiawatha! Hiawatha!" and hastening 
 home he enters his wigwam, to find his beautiful Laugh 
 ing Water dead. And this legend, so finely told by 
 Longfellow, has made immortal Minnehaha! 
 
 BIRTH-PLACE OF MINNEHAHA. 
 
 The Falls of Minnehaha are in Hennepin county, 
 Minnesota. On the ground ig a good hotel and places 
 for rustic picnics. The cataract is about thirty feet 
 wide in an ordinary stage of water, and leaps down 
 into the ravine sixty feet. The water has a light, 
 sparkling, foamy appearance, and after reaching the 
 bottom, ripples along to the Mississippi river. 
 
 After entering the ground and reaching the ravine, 
 just opposite, on the other side, can be seen the spot, 
 dotted with trees, where once existed the wigwam of 
 the old arrow-maker, and where was born and dwelt in 
 peaceful loveliness, Minnehaha, or Laughing Water. 
 The place then was more studded with nature s handi 
 work than now, and the quiet little home of the fair 
 maiden nestled close to the merry rivulet that kept har 
 mony with her own sweet voice in her songs of the 
 forest. But what changes have taken place since then. 
 
MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF MINNEHAHA. 29 
 
 Gone are the Indians ! gone is the beautiful maiden ! 
 gone is Hiawatha! gone are many of the trees! gone 
 the deer ! and in their places have come culture and 
 civilization ; and yet Minnehaha lives on, commemorat 
 ing the memory of one made immortal by the magic 
 pen of the poet, and the echoes from the past come 
 back, ever singing, MINNEHAHA! MINNEHAHA! 
 
INDIAN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 ADROITNESS OF AN INDIAN CHIEF. 
 
 THIRTY-TWO years ago, Govenor Ramsey, of 
 Minnesota, was called upon to adjust serious 
 difficulties which existed between the two powerful 
 tribes of Indians existing in the then Territory of Min 
 nesota, and to this end he called a council of the Sioux 
 and Chippewa nations to meet at Fort Snelling, where 
 troops and cannon could be made available in case of 
 an outbreak. The council was to be held just outside 
 of the walls of the fort, in the open space where the 
 old Government stables used to stand, and on the open 
 prairie between the garrison and the stable buildings. 
 The tribes were on very good terms with the whites, 
 but at deadly enmity with each other, to such an extent 
 that almost daily murders occurred among them, and it 
 needed the interposition of the strong arm of the Gov 
 ernment to stay the treacherous knife and the fatal 
 tomahawk; so in June, 1850, the council met at the 
 place designated. Early in the day the Chippewas 
 made their appearance, and took up their position, out 
 side of the walls of the fort, rather enjoying the occasion 
 as one of fun and frolic. At length the Sioux made 
 their appearance on the brow of a hill across the St. 
 Peter, now better known as the Minnesota river, and 
 on they came, pell-mell, as though they intended to 
 gobble up Indian style fort, troops, cannon, guns 
 and their inveterate savage foe, the Chippewas. Rev. 
 E. D. Neill, who was an eye witness to the scene, says : 
 
 80 
 
ADROITNESS OF AN INDIAN CHIEF. 31 
 
 "The few infantry present, on the approach of the 
 Sioux, were extended in an open line, nearly from the 
 fort to the stables, so as to form a separation between 
 the Chippewas in their rear and the advancing band of 
 the Sioux, numbering, perhaps, three hundred, a large 
 portion on horseback, armed and painted, who by this 
 time were rushing up on to the plateau, screaming and 
 whooping horribly, themselves loaded with jingling 
 arms and ornaments, and their horses with bells on, the 
 whole of them galloping at full speed and making a 
 feint as if they would pass around the stable, turn the 
 right flank of the infantry and attack the Chippewas ; 
 but they were only showing off ; they stood in fear of 
 those ugly cannon that frowned down from the walls of 
 the fort. The Sioux soon fell back and formed a line, 
 discharging their pieces in a scattering fire as they did 
 so. The Chippewas returned the salute ; the guns from 
 the fort responded, when a white flag appeared between 
 the two opposite lines, and the two tribes stacked their 
 arms. Then returning, the two lines advanced until they 
 reached the file of infantry which separated them, when 
 the chiefs and braves met at the centre between the lines, 
 and, advancing, went through the ceremony of shaking 
 hands. At a certain point in the council meeting it 
 was observed that the Sioux had left en masse, and 
 upon inquiry, it seems that their highnesses had taken 
 offense at the presence of the ladies in council, and 
 word came in that they thought they were to meet 
 Chippewas in council, not women. HOLE-IN-THE-DAY, 
 the noted chief, turned the matter to his own advan 
 tage, saying very politely, that he was happy to see so 
 many sweet women there, and that they were all wel 
 come with their angelic smiles to a seat on his side of 
 
32 INDIAN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 the council. The ladies, however, when they heard 
 what had occurred, chose to withdraw, the young 
 Chippewa chief shaking each one cordially by the hand 
 as they retired. The Sioux having returned, the Gov 
 ernor rebuked them sharply for their act of disrespect 
 to the council, saying, that if they withdrew again in 
 that manner, he would enforce the treaty of 1843. The 
 two tribes finally agreed to be friendly, and the council 
 adjourned, but the act of HOLE-IN-THE-DAY was the 
 talk of the whites for years afterward, and is remem 
 bered very kindly even by the ladies of to-day, one of 
 whom is the wife of ex-secretary of war t Ramsey, of 
 Minnesota. 
 
MIN-NE-TOO-KA. 
 
 A LEGEND OF M-DE-A-TON-KA. 
 
 WA-KAN WAR-KA-NON MAN-I-TOU MIN-NE-TOO-KA. 
 
 IT was a beautiful day in June, 1854, when I arrived 
 at Lake M-de-a-ton-ka, and taking a small and 
 rudely constructed boat, was soon to a point midway of 
 the lake, well known to the old settlers as the dividing 
 line between the Sioux and Chippewa nations, where 
 many a bloody battle had been fought, and where 
 many a warrior had gone down to the sleep of death. 
 I ascended gradually from the lake to a height of some 
 thirty feet, winding over an Indian trail, through a 
 mass of rich foliage, blooming flowers, creeping vines, 
 singing birds, chirping squirrels, massive trees, cooling 
 shades, changing scenery, until I reached the top, and 
 there a grand sight met my view. Stretching off in the 
 distance was the sparkling water, and from various 
 knolls ascended the smoke of the wigwam, where the 
 women were engaged in the sugar bush, while the men 
 dotted the lake in their light canoes, in quest of game 
 for their evening meal. " The sun shone brightly, and a 
 thousand diamonds seemed to glitter on the bosom of 
 the fair lake, as the silvery waves rippled against the 
 pebbly shore, and darted back again, like a beautiful 
 maiden toying with her jewels. Here and there were 
 bays and inlets and promontories ; nooks and quiet, 
 secluded points; yonder was a dark, forbidding spot, 
 thickly studded with trees, and as I gazed upon it, I 
 could see that it was the resting place of the dead, or 
 3 33 
 
34 MIN-NE-TOO-KA. 
 
 the land of the supernatural, where the Man-i-tou and 
 War-ka-non (Indian spirits) reveled in their nightly 
 visits to their earthly friends. Just at the right of me, 
 and near where I stood, ran a bubbling brook, now 
 quietly nestling under the cover of brush and trees ; 
 now dashing and laughing over the impediments in its 
 way ; now romping gaily onward to the lake. At my 
 back was a charming spot, overlooking the whole scene 
 I have described, and in it, shut out from vulgar gaze 
 by the thick foliage of the under brush, was an Indian 
 tepee, with little, timid heads peeping out from under 
 it, and a stalwart chief smoking his pipe near its 
 entrance. As I approached, the chief arose, took his 
 pipe from his mouth, greeted me cordially by a shake 
 of the hand, and with a " How, cooler?" how to do? 
 pointed to a log near him, where I soon was seated. 
 
 "Beautiful, lovely, charming spot," I exclaimed 
 somewhat enthusiastically, to which the chief re 
 sponded "ho !" " Heap big amount of fish heap big 
 game," again I ventured to remark, to which came back 
 again the inevitable " ho ! " All was silent. 
 
 The reader must remember that the Indian can never 
 be hurried, except in case of war or dinner. He has no 
 particular pressing business no notes to pay no land 
 lord to demand his rent no butcher to poke a bill 
 under his nose no groceryman to stop his flour if pay 
 don t come no big parties to give in order to keep up 
 appearances no hired help to dog him about and bore 
 him for services rendered no fashionable society to 
 cringe to indeed, no particular labor, for the squaws 
 perform the menial duties of the household, so he is 
 really independent. If he is hungry, he knows where 
 the game is, and a few hours hunt will suffice to 
 
A LEGEND OF M-DE-A-TON-KA. 35 
 
 replenish the larder, at least until the next day. 
 Beside, he takes no thought for the morrow, as he 
 knows that if in want the tribe must share with him. 
 Hence he is lymphatic, not nervous ; stoical, not gush 
 ing; cool, not ardent; taking his own time moving 
 in his own way. 
 
 I sat at least ten minutes in silence, smoking the pipe 
 which the old chief alternately passed to me, when I 
 broke the stillness by requesting him to tell me some 
 thing of the early history of the lake, what legend, if 
 any, pertained to it, what battles had been fought, what 
 superstitions existed, etc., etc., to which he gave only a 
 guttural response of " ho," coolly refilled his pipe, 
 peered out into the sunlight, gave several rapid puffs, 
 to be sure that the kinnikinick was well lighted, and 
 then said : 
 
 INDIAN LEGEND. 
 
 Many springs, and many moons, and many leaves 
 of the forest, and many kinsmen of Ink-pa-go-da have 
 come and gone, since the Chippewas stealthily crept 
 down upon a band of Sioux, numbering thirty, near 
 where we now sit, and in a moment, all unconscious to 
 our brave warriors, desolated our hunting ground with 
 the blood of the slain. The slaughter was indiscrimin 
 ate, men, women and children ; but one beautiful 
 maiden was left, and she, it seems, was hidden by a 
 Chippewa lover, who, when the fatal tomahawk was 
 about to descend, arrested the blow, seized her around 
 the waist, and with the agility of a panther, placed her 
 safely in a secluded spot, where, when the battle was 
 over, he intended to return and claim her as his own. 
 Days passed, but no Indian was visible. Hunger drove 
 the maiden from her seclusion, to pick berries to sus- 
 
36 MIN-NE-TOO-KA. 
 
 tain life, but while in the act, she was met by a Sioux 
 Indian chief and the Chippewa warrior who had saved 
 her from death. Terribly frightened, she fled back to 
 her place of safety, but to her great astonishment the 
 Indians glided along with her, so that when she had 
 reached the spot from whence she came, they were 
 there also. The heart-rending memory of the death 
 of her whole band ; the fear of the Chippewa, which 
 she did not at first recognize, caused her to crouch 
 down in one corner of her hiding place and call upon 
 Man-i-tou, the great spirit of scalps, to protect her in 
 this, her hour of dreadful distress. To her astonish 
 ment, when she looked up, she beheld a kindly smile 
 upon the chief s face, but a spirit of sadness brooded 
 over the young Chippewa brave. 
 
 " Min-ne-too-ka," said the chief, " fear not. I am 
 sent by Man-i-tou to aid you. You see me ; you hear 
 me speak, and yet you cannot touch me. I have come 
 from the happy hunting ground, and with me is War- 
 ka-non, who loves you. He loved you when he saved 
 your life. He loved you when in crossing the lake he 
 lost his own ; he loves you as a spirit yet, and comes 
 back to minister to your comfort." 
 
 Min-ne-too-ka did not dare to stir. She crept still 
 closer to her hiding place. Her heart beat violently 
 and she trembled. 
 
 "Fear not, Min-ne-too-ka," said War-ka-non, in a 
 gentle and sweet voice. My people panted for the 
 blood of the Sioux, and oh, the horrors of that night. 
 I could not see you stricken down with the rest, and so 
 I saved your life in hopes of a union on earth, but I am 
 now beyond the mere materiality of the world. I walk 
 
A LEGEND OF M-DE-A-TON-KA. 37 
 
 iv- the happy hunting ground, but I am not happy 
 because you are not there." 
 
 "Can it be possible," asked Min-ne-too-ka, "that 
 these forms that I see before me are mere shadows of 
 what they once were?" 
 
 " No," said War-ka-non, " we are the living realities 
 of material men the real men themselves." 
 
 "Tell me," said the maiden, as she gained confidence 
 and drew near the two Indians, " if you be what you 
 purport to be spirits if you come from that unseen 
 land, tell me, where are my father, my mother, my 
 sisters and my brothers?" 
 
 "They are all there, Min-ne-too-ka," replied War- 
 ka-non. With the red wand they passed the bad spir 
 its, with the blue wand they passed the tempting spir 
 its, with the white wand they passed into the beginning 
 of a higher life." 
 
 " Strange," said Min-ne-too-ka, " let me touch you ! " 
 
 " No," said the chief and his companion, " that would 
 not do, because you would dissolve our materiality, 
 without which you could not see us. We put on this 
 material dress in order to make ourselves known. 
 When we pass from you, we become invisible to earthly 
 eyes, but visible to spiritual eyes." 
 
 " Strange ! Very strange ! " said Min-ne-too-ka. 
 
 "Follow me," said the chief. 
 
 " No, I can t," said the maiden ; " I am too weak, and 
 must have food." 
 
 " Very true," replied the chief, " then remain here 
 until we return." 
 
 In a moment they were gone. Min-ne-too-ka could 
 not believe her senses ; she must have been dreaming. 
 Had she been talking with veritable men, or was her 
 
38 MIN-NE-TOO-KA. 
 
 brain on fire ? She emerged from her seclusion, looked 
 out on nature all was beautiful. Why this affliction ? 
 Just then the chief and War-ka-non made their appear 
 ance, and in their hands were fresh fish, duck, and a 
 piece of deer. " Take, cook and eat," they exclaimed, 
 and Min-ne-too-ka built a fire, dressed the game, 
 cooked it, and in company with her companions, eat 
 heartily of the food so providentially placed before her. 
 
 " Come," said the chief, " now follow us," and they 
 wound down that path, said my informant, crossed that 
 brook, passed over that trail, all in sight of where you 
 sit, to the edge of the lake, where they found a canoe, 
 into which they embarked, and then, without noise or 
 paddles, the boat skimmed the water and touched the 
 opposite shore. Entering the woods, they were in the 
 city of the dead Wa-kan. They traveled a short dis 
 tance, when they came to an open space and then 
 halted. Here lay the bones of their ancestors and their 
 relatives, especially those who fell by the hands of the 
 Chippewas. The tall and thick trees shut out the sun 
 light all was calm, and silent and grand. The chief 
 and his companions moved toward the open space and 
 selecting a somewhat secluded spot, paused. 
 
 " Look, Min-ne-too-ka," he said, " but utter no word. 
 Be not afraid." The coy maiden trembled with fear. 
 She was in the hands of an invisible power ; she tried 
 to break away and run, but could not. She tried to 
 scream, but could not, so, standing between the chief 
 and War-ka-non, she patiently awaited what might fol 
 low. Presently a phosphorescent light gleamed among 
 the trees ; she saw her own people quietly reposing in 
 and about their tepees ; she saw her own self, when all 
 of a sudden a wild war-whoop burst upon the air ; she 
 
A LEGEND OF M-DE-A-TON-KA. 39 
 
 grasped at her companions, but they melted away un 
 der her hands. She could not endure the revolting 
 sight ! She tried to speak, but her lips were glued. 
 Then came the infuriated savages ; then followed the 
 massacre ; then she saw War-ka-non seize her around 
 the waist, and then all was dark. She turned and 
 looked ; her companions were gone and the scene faded 
 from her view. 
 
 Min-ne-too-ka was almost wild with excitement. 
 What did all this mean ? Was it a reality or a dream ? 
 How should she get out of this dreadful entanglement? 
 Turning, she moved a few steps to the right, when her 
 mother stood before her, so real, so calm, so gentle, so 
 loving, that she involuntarily stretched out her arms to 
 greet her, but the voice came back : " Touch me not ; I 
 am your mother. I come to comfort you ; I come to 
 assure you that you are in the hands and under the con 
 trol of Indian spirits. They will protect you. The 
 scene you have just witnessed will be followed by an 
 other scene, and in it you can draw a moral lesson of 
 the results of crime. Be not afraid, your father, 
 mother, sisters and brothers are about you, and the 
 chief and War-ka-non will protect you from all harm." 
 With a smile of sweetness the figure gradually faded 
 away, and Min-ne-too-ka looked out again on the cold, 
 black trees, the little mounds that covered the bones of 
 the dead, and the dismal, brooding darkness, that, like 
 a black pall encircled her light and beautiful form. 
 
 " Min-ne-too-ka is afraid," said the chief, as he and 
 War-ka-non appeared on either side of her. " No harm 
 come to Min-ne-too-ka. Min-ne-too-ka is governed, 
 guided, protected by spirit band. Min-ne-too-ka good. 
 Look!" 
 
4O MIN-NE-TOO-KA. 
 
 The darkness was dissipated by another flash of phos 
 phorescent light, when off in the distance could be seen 
 a beautiful country, with trees, brooks, lakes, deer, birds, 
 flowers, sunlight, and reposing in peaceful plenty, Min- 
 ne-too-ka saw the twenty-nine victims of Chippewa 
 brutality, and standing out in bold relief from all the 
 rest, was one odd one, which she recognized as War-ka- 
 non, the Chippewa brave, who had saved her from a 
 cruel death. The scene was so peaceful, the faces so 
 happy, as they gazed affectionately upon her, the 
 country so lovely, that she lost all fear, and looking up 
 into War-ka-non s face, beseeched him to let her go. 
 Oh, how she longed to be at rest in that beautiful land. 
 
 " No, Min-ne-too-ka," said War-ka-non, smiling se 
 renely down upon her, " not yet. Your mission is not 
 yet filled. War-ka-non go with Min-ne-too-ka to the 
 happy hunting ground when destiny ends her career 
 here." 
 
 " See ! Min-ne-too-ka," said the chief, pointing to the 
 left " see ! " And off in the darkness Min-ne-too-ka 
 observed a black, rolling river, and across it lay the 
 trunk of a tree, and on this tree were several dark- 
 visaged Indians, some trying to walk over to the other 
 side, others were in the act of falling ; several floun 
 dered in the water, which was full of toads, lizards and 
 snakes ; some driven back by the good spirits from the 
 other shore, but all in turmoil, distress, darkness and 
 woe ! What a scene ! It chilled the blood of the fair 
 maiden, and she crept up closer to the side of War-ka- 
 non and shuddered at the sight before her. 
 
 " That rolling water," said the chief, " is the river of 
 death. In its turbulent waves can be found everything 
 horrible to the feelings of the Indian. That tree is the 
 
A LEGEND OF M-DE-A-TON-KA. 4! 
 
 bridge. When the good Indian dies, he passes over the 
 bridge in safety into the happy hunting ground, but 
 when the bad Indian dies, the spirits grease the tree, 
 and he falls into the stream below. These Indians did 
 a wanton, cruel wrong, and are reaping their reward." 
 
 Min-ne-too-ka s eyes sparkled with excitement ; the 
 warm blood gushed through the tawny skin of her 
 cheek, and her little frame quivered, as she exclaimed : 
 " I see clearly ; I see it all ; I will obey your bidding; 
 I will consecrate myself to the wishes of my spirit 
 friends, but oh, remove that horrible scene." The chief 
 gave a wave of his hand and the picture disappeared, 
 and all was again damp, and dark, and clammy, and 
 desolate. 
 
 " Come," said the chief. " Come," said War-ka-non, 
 looking down into the face of his now more than ever 
 lovely Indian expectant bride, " come, go with us ; " 
 and they struck into a small trail that led out from the 
 city of the dead to the banks of the lake and into the 
 pure sunshine, where the birds were singing, the ducks 
 were flying, the deer were bounding, the flowers were 
 blooming, the trees nodding, and the gentle breeze, as 
 it came from off the lake, cooled the feverish brow of 
 the Indian girl as she followed her spirit guides. They 
 passed westward to the extreme chain of lakes, ascended 
 gradually a hill covered with tall, noble trees, wound 
 down around the brow of a mound, at the base of 
 which, nestling in a bower of beauty, and close to a 
 rippling stream, were several Indian tepees. 
 
 "Go in among your Sioux friends and seek rest," 
 said her companions, pointing to the scene below, and 
 then they instantly disappeared. 
 
 Min-ne-too-ka approached the Indian settlement with 
 
42 MIN-NE-TOO-KA. 
 
 great timidity, was met cautiously, told her story, was 
 cordially greeted and hospitably entertained ; and here, 
 amid all this regal beauty of nature s grandest handi 
 work, with the charm of a quiet retreat, with conscious 
 ness that she was beyond the reach of harm, the poor, 
 weary, hungry, desolate orphan Indian girl found many 
 hours of unalloyed pleasure, and peace, and happiness. 
 
 The old chief, who thus graphically gave me this 
 narrative, stopped several times in the course of his 
 story, poked the embers of the smoldering fire, refilled 
 his pipe, gave several " ughs," and seemed deeply inter 
 ested in the fate of the unfortunate Min-ne-too-ka. 
 
 "Over there," said the chief, pointing to the east 
 side of the lake, "was the home of the Chippewas. 
 Early in the day of one beautiful May morning, a 
 Sioux maiden made her way toward their camp, well 
 knowing that if once discovered her temerity would 
 cost her her life. As she approached a tepee, inhabited 
 only by three of her own sex, her courage failed ; she 
 paused, and turned to retrace her steps, when a Chip- 
 pewa brave stood before her. It was the spirit form 
 of War-ka-non. 
 
 " Why falters Min-ne-too-ka ? " he asked. " No harm 
 comes to Min-ne-too-ka. Her duty performed, she will 
 join War-ka-non in the happy-hunting ground." 
 
 Min-ne-too-ka was surprised, awed into silence, and, 
 feeling that she had not shown the faith she ought to 
 have done in her noble and devoted lover for she 
 had now become dearly attached to him exclaimed : 
 " I will never falter again ; thy will shall be done," and 
 pressed forward to the camp of her inveterate enemy. 
 Strange as it may appear, the Chippewa women re 
 ceived her, not, however, without great caution, and on 
 
A LEGEND OF M-DE-A-TON-KA. 43 
 
 the return of the warriors a council was held as to her 
 fate. Why let a single member of their hated tribe 
 live? The council decided she should die. Min-ne- 
 too-ka begged one request that she might appear 
 among the Chippewa braves and demonstrate that she 
 was innocent of all harm. The request was granted, 
 and the next morning the young girl stood in the pres 
 ence of her savage foes, and told them how she had 
 been saved by War-ka-non how she loved War-ka- 
 non how the great spirit had come to her had shown 
 her the happy hunting-ground how the fate of the 
 murderers had been pictured, and in most eloquent 
 tones, begged of the warriors to drop the war-club, the 
 scalping-knife, and the tomahawk, and deal justly and 
 fairly with their enemy. She impressed upon them the 
 sure fate of their bad acts the reward of their good 
 deeds, and so wrought upon their savage hearts that 
 they began to relent, when, in a moment, War-ka-non 
 stood by her side. When the Indians saw him they 
 all fell to the ground, for they knew it was his spirit. 
 
 He said: "My people, you know War-ka-non! I 
 come from the spirit land. I saw Min-ne-too-ka. I 
 loved Min-ne-too-ka. She comes to you to impress 
 you with the necessity of good deeds. The great 
 Man-i-tou and War-ka-non are the friends of the lone 
 Indian girl. Would you take her innocent life? 
 Would you still make more crimson the river of blood 
 that flows at your feet ? My people, be good. My 
 people, be just. My people, be kind. My people, 
 hearken unto the voice of Min-ne-too-ka ?" 
 
 In an instant he was gone, and left the Indian 
 maiden standing alone in the council of her enemy, 
 
44 MIN-NE-TOO-KA. 
 
 with their heads bowed to the earth and tremblkig 
 with fear. 
 
 The morning dawned, and in the midst of the whole 
 band of Chippewas men, women, and children, who 
 then occupied the eastern portion of the lake stood 
 Min-ne-too-ka. Hatred had turned to love to adora 
 tion to worship and there, in the presence of that 
 timid girl, and in the presence of the great spirit, the 
 Indians resolved on a new and a better life; and from 
 that day to this, said the old chief, the Chippewa 
 nation have been firm friends of the whites, and brave, 
 humane enemies of the Sioux. 
 
 "You see that tall, high knoll over there?" said the 
 chief. 
 
 "What, the highest point on the lake?" I asked . 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Well, tradition has it that the next day after the 
 marvelous meeting I have described, War-ka-non and 
 Min-ne-too-ka were seen on the top of that knoll, and 
 then, clasped together, they rose high in the air and 
 floated over the lake in the plain view of hundreds of 
 spectators, and finally entered the happy hunting- 
 ground ; and from that day to this it has been called 
 Point Wa-kan, or the Supernatural, and is held in 
 sacred memory by the Indians of both tribes." 
 
 It is thought, by many, that the lake derived its 
 name from this beautiful Indian girl, who, though left 
 an orphan and sorely tried by a series of misfortunes, 
 was finally united to her devoted lover, and together 
 they joined their many friends in that peaceful land 
 beyond the river of death. And thus Min-ne-too-ka 
 became Min-ne>ton-ka, or Beautiful Water. 
 
THRILLING SCENES AND ADVENT 
 URES AMONG THE INDIANS. 
 
 IT was a beautiful morning in June, 1863, when I 
 asked the commander at our post for a detail of a 
 company of men, with a captain, to acccompany me 
 across the river to a place called Beaver Creek, where 
 a whole white settlement had been cruelly massacred 
 by the Indians the year before. This camp had been 
 established for the collection of troops to compose an 
 expedition against the Indians and drive them across 
 the Missouri river. My object in making the trip was 
 to gather information as to the amount of hay, corn 
 and oats available for camp purposes, as I knew the 
 Government would pay the heirs of the dead parties 
 for losses incurred in the Indian raid, and that it was 
 quite proper it should have the effects left behind by 
 the unfortunate victims, to use for the troops then in 
 the field. The morning was bright and glorious, and 
 the company I had asked for was early on hand, the 
 men happy in the thought of getting out of the dull 
 routine of camp life, and eager to encounter any danger 
 which might present itself. With an admonition from 
 the commander of the garrison to keep together and 
 watch every sign of danger (for the hostile Sioux were 
 constantly hovering about us), the boys were ferried 
 across the river to the east side, and wound up the hill 
 to the plateau, which on the right stretched off into an 
 unlimited prairie, and on the left was belted by woods, 
 in which had been a settlement of some thirteen white 
 
 45 
 
46 THRILLING SCENES AND ADVENTURES 
 
 families, now all dead! the victims of savage bru 
 tality! It was my original purpose to go direct to 
 Beaver Creek with the men, but learning that one of 
 the soldiers had been in the campaign against the Indi 
 ans the year previously, and that he knew the ground 
 covered by the timber, I concluded to send Captain T. 
 and his company across the prairie to the creek, and 
 retain two men and reconnoitre for a short distance 
 in the woods, promising that in an hour or so I would 
 join the command where another settlement had existed, 
 but which was now silent under the murderous attack 
 of the savage foe. The soldiers were soon on their 
 tramp across the plain, and with the two I had chosen 
 to accompany me, we turned and entered the point of 
 woods that skirted the river, and wound our way up t<? 
 a small log house, dimly seen among the trees. Just 
 before reaching it was a clearing, made by the former 
 industrious, hardy pioneer, whose plow stood in the fur 
 row, just where it was left when he was struck down 
 by the infuriated Indians. Here was his broad- 
 brimmed hat, cleft in two by the tomahawk ; here was 
 the whip where it fell; here was the poor, tattered 
 coat, riddled with bullet holes. We approached th(? 
 house. The doors were shattered ; the windows were, 
 broken. We entered; what a scene! Here the pooi 
 victims had fought desperately for their lives. Broken 
 chairs, broken tables, fragments of dresses, and blood 
 stained floors, clearly indicated how dreadful had been 
 the fight of the pioneer to save his wife and little ones 
 from the clutches of the savage demons who panted 
 for their blood. Here, too, we found feathers from 
 the beds that had been ripped open in search of treas 
 ure. The hay and oats stood in the stacks unmo- 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 47 
 
 Jested ; the houses were grim and silent ! All was still, 
 except the moaning of the wind as it swept through 
 the tree-tops, and sung a mournful dirge over the 
 lamented dead. 
 
 Interested in these horrible scenes, we pushed on to 
 the next house, where we found a similar state of 
 affairs, only with this exception that, in lifting up a 
 scuttle-door leading into the cellar, we beheld a ghastly 
 skeleton of a little child, the living body of which had 
 no doubt been put there by its fond parent for safe 
 keeping, but whose little form had wasted away by 
 starvation. Its mother never returned. Again, we 
 pushed on to the third house, forgetting the promise 
 to Captain T. to be with him in an hour or so, but 
 deeply interested in all we saw, when, recalling the fact 
 that we must join our main body of men before dark, 
 we retraced our steps and struck out on to the prairie 
 in a direction, we thought, which led to Beaver Creek. 
 On we traveled, with nothing to guide us, not even a 
 twig as big as the ringer of a man s hand, until we had 
 made some three miles, when, conscious that we were 
 lost, that it was useless to proceed any further, we came 
 back into the woods, mortified at the blunder we had 
 made. It was now about two o clock in the afternoon, 
 and it would be impossible to reach the creek in time 
 to intercept Captain T., so I decided, as we did not 
 know where we were, to make the most of it, go back 
 to our original starting point, and proceed with my 
 investigations in the belt of woods that skirted the 
 river. House after house was passed and inspected, 
 when we came to a ravine leading down to the rivers 
 edge. Here was pointed out to me, by one of the 
 men, the spot where thirteen inhabitants had been 
 
48 THRILLING SCENES AND ADVENTURES 
 
 overtaken in their flight the year before, murdered, and 
 piled in one heap. A little distance from this point we 
 came across the remains of a woman whose body had 
 no doubt been overlooked by the expedition the pre 
 vious year, and, after viewing it, we passed on and 
 came to the last house in the belt. In this house were 
 wooden shoes, crude wooden chairs, wooden cradles, 
 clearly showing that the inmates were foreigners; but 
 all was still all had gone! the savage had done his 
 work most completely no sound broke the stillness of 
 that twilight evening! 
 
 " Well, boys," I said, as we emerged from the woods 
 and gazed out on to the wide prairie, broken only by a 
 little rise of hills in the distance, " we are lost ! We 
 are in the neighborhood of where the Indians have 
 been seen by our scouts very recently, and we have 
 got to play our parts pretty nicely to get out of this 
 bad scrape. How are your guns? All right? I have 
 no weapon with me, not even a pistol!" "Never 
 mind, Captain," said one of the boys, "you shall die 
 behind our bodies." Of course I had to appear bold, 
 although I trembled for my scalp, for I was conscious 
 that we were in imminent danger, and how to get out 
 of it was my great study. Beside, I had no business 
 to leave the main command. If these two brave fel 
 lows, who were so willing to die for me, should fall by 
 the Indians, I alone would be responsible for their 
 deaths; and then I began to realize how foolish I 
 would be considered at camp, and so, wrought up to a 
 very high pitch of excitement, I was determined to 
 baffle the Indians and save the lives of my men as well 
 as my own. 
 
 The sun was just sinking behind the hills, and threw 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 49 
 
 a glinter across the prairie, when I said to John, "Go 
 out carefully on to the plain ; look in every direction 
 and mark what you see, for we must make our way 
 out from here immediately, and creep along to where 
 we first entered the timber. Say nothing, but report 
 privately to me/ While he was gone, I ascended a 
 gradual rise of ground, and with my eye swept the 
 horizon. Just off to the right I thought I saw an 
 Indian head bob up and down, but dismissed the 
 matter from my mind as a part of a distorted imagina 
 tion. John soon returned, and, in a cool, yet decided 
 tone, informed me that he saw a human being s head 
 peep up just over the little rise at the left. "All right, 
 my boy," I remarked; "take up a position over there 
 and listen ; tell me if you hear anything." Calling 
 Bill, who was as true and trusty as steel, I said : " Go 
 out cautiously about a quarter of a mile ; watch every 
 point of the compass, return, and tell me what you 
 see." In the meantime I chose what I considered the 
 best place to get out on the prairie, for if we were 
 watched we would be obliged to leave the timber at 
 once. Returning, Bill gave the same information as 
 John; so, cautioning the boys to keep quiet, mark 
 every noise, and let nothing escape their attention, I 
 ventured out myself, and true enough, just over the 
 brow of a little hill, an Indian could be plainly seen to 
 rise, then dodge, then run and dodge again. We were 
 watched by the enemy. 
 
 "Boys, examine your guns! See if they are all 
 right. Look to your ammunition. Keep cool. Dark 
 ness is coming, and with it the red devils. We must 
 crawl out from here under the cover of night, and then 
 make our way, as best we can, toward the river, for I 
 4 
 
5O THRILLING SCENES AND ADVENTURES 
 
 am satisfied the Indians are on our track." Each one 
 separated from the other, and worked his way on to 
 .the prairie, fortunately to a ravine, made by the water 
 in the spring. In this ravine and under its banks 
 several places had been worn out by the rain, and into 
 these places, separately, we all crept, pulling the tall, 
 dead grass over us, thus -shielding ourselves from obser 
 vation. Soon we could hear the dull, heavy tread of 
 the Indians some ten in number and then the sound 
 came nearer and nearer; then it echoed in the woods; 
 then it came again out on to the prairie ; then it drew 
 still nearer; then we could hear the enemy talking; 
 and I overheard, in Indian, the remark, " they must be 
 here." Then the heavy tread of a warrior came within 
 two feet of where I lay. He stopped ; he listened. I 
 did not breathe. Cold perspiration came out all over 
 me. He poked his gun within a foot of my body. 
 He peeked into the hiding places of my comrades, and 
 then, as if satisfied, gave a grunt and sullenly joined 
 his companions, who were only ten feet off, in consulta 
 tion as to what they should do. We had foiled the 
 Indians, inasmuch as we had crawled upon our stom 
 achs and left no footprints behind, and yet any minute 
 might reveal our hiding places. Such agony of sus 
 pense ! Such a moment of life ! We heard the well- 
 known savage word, "marshon," and then one after 
 another they fell into line, and their steady tread grew 
 fainter and fainter, until entirely lost to the ear. Not 
 a word had been spokon ; not a quiver made ; still as 
 death we lay in our places, as if on the verge of the 
 grave. We did not dare to move or speak, for we 
 knew Indian character well enough to be assured that 
 one of their number might be just over us, and instant 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 51 
 
 death follow. Thirty minutes had elapsed, but not a 
 word had been uttered, when I essayed, in a faint 
 voice, to call, " Bill ? " " All right," said Bill. John ? " 
 " Steady," was the reply. We crept out slyly ; gazed 
 into the darkness ; put our ears to the ground ; moved 
 cautiously forward, paused, listened, and then satisfied 
 that our path was clear, made -our way back to the old 
 house in the woods, secreted ourselves until morning, 
 and then a new surprise met us in the neigh of Indian 
 ponies. Bill discovered, however, that these ponies 
 were neither saddled nor bridled, and all at once it 
 dawned upon our brains that we must be in the vicin 
 ity of our friendly Indian scouting camp. Leaving our 
 hiding-places, we ascended a small mound about half a 
 mile in the distance, and there just beyond we saw 
 the stockade of our scouts, and in a blessed few min 
 utes after we were inside the inclosure, the guests of 
 our trusty dusky friends, who laughed heartily over the 
 story we told of our hair-breadth escape from the sav 
 age foe. Night passed, and at early morning, knowing 
 full well that the camp would be in great commotion if 
 we did not make our appearance, we mounted Indian 
 ponies, and accompanied by two friendly Indian guides, 
 started off in a brisk gallop for the river, hailed the 
 ferryman, was conveyed across, and entered the camp 
 just as the troops were leaving in every direction to 
 search for our dead bodies. Mounted men were imme 
 diately sent out to recall the soldiers, hundreds of 
 "boys in blue" gathered about us to hear our story, 
 and to all appearances there was great rejoicing over 
 the fact that the Commissary and Quartermaster of the 
 post and his two faithful men had returned to the camp 
 safe and sound, 
 
52 THRILLING SCENES AND ADVENTURES 
 
 The next day Bill came to me and asked for a piece 
 of planed board, about four feet high by one and a half 
 wide. " No," I said, " Bill, I can t let you have it. 
 There are nearly four thousand soldiers in camp, and as 
 every man wants a piece of board, by granting their 
 requests I won t have lumber enough to build with." 
 As he turned to go away, I noticed a peculiar sadness 
 on his countenance, and I called him back. tl What do 
 you want this board for?" He replied, "You remem 
 ber the dead body of that woman we saw yesterday? " 
 " Yes." " You remember I examined the ring on her 
 finger, her teeth, her dress?" "Yes." "Well, that 
 was my mother!" "Your mother! how in heaven is 
 that ? " " Well, my parents lived here before I entered 
 the army. Last year we found all my family dead but 
 my mother. She must have made an effort to fly, was 
 shot where she fell, and her body has remained until 
 yesterday undiscovered. I want the board to place at 
 the head of her grave when I bury her ! " The appeal 
 was so touching, that I ordered my carpenter to make 
 the board ; Bill lettered it, and the next day, in com 
 pany with ten well-armed men, he repaired to the spot 
 where his mother met her death, buried the body, and 
 returned to his duty with a solemn resolution to avenge 
 the murder of his whole family, even if it should take 
 a lifetime. He faithfully kept his resolution, for, years 
 afterward, when I met him, just returned from the 
 frontier, he assured me he had killed twenty Indians 
 and was good for twenty more. Who could blame 
 him? 
 
 A recent writer, speaking of this same man, says : 
 " Commanche Bill, or William Porter, is forty-seven 
 years of age, but looks much younger. He wears the 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 53 
 
 proverbial long hair, cropped closer behind than many 
 who affect this style. He is not over five feet ten 
 inches in height, with a broad chest and brawny arms, 
 and an iron frame, which fatigue cannot overcome nor 
 exertion subdue. He is taciturn almost to a fault, and 
 loth to speak of himself. In the far West his reputa 
 tion as a guide, scout and interpreter, is great, and he 
 looks with scorn on lesser luminaries and other would- 
 be heroes." 
 
 William Porter was born of Scotch parents, in Iowa, 
 removed to Minnesota, above New Ulm, and lived 
 there until the troublesome times of 1862, when his 
 whole family was massacred. 
 
 " Haven t you a sister yet living in Minnesota?" 
 
 " Thar ain t a drop of my blood flowin* in the veins 
 of any living human bein , was the sad response. He 
 then told the story of the massacre of his mother and 
 sister, and the eyes of the sturdy plainsman were suf 
 fused with something which looked like tears. 
 
 " I tell you it s enough to make a man a demon," he 
 said ; " father, mother, sister, two cousins, an uncle, 
 aunt and wife killed at one blow. I remember that 
 little mother ; she wan t bigger n your fist, and she 
 loved me as a Scotch mother can love. She used to 
 say to father : William s getting too big for you to 
 handle, but she could do anything with me. I remem 
 ber she came to me and said : Well, there s a kiss 
 from your mither, lad, and when I came back she lay 
 killed by them red devils. I tell you, boys, it made a 
 demon out of me," and the strong man pressed his 
 hands to his head, and threw back his long hair with a 
 wild gesture in the agony of the awful revelation. 
 
 " Who killed your mother, Bill ? " 
 
54 THRILLING SCENES AND ADVENTURES. 
 
 "It was one of Cut Nose s band." 
 
 "Is he alive yet?" 
 
 " Well, I guess he will never scalp any more women." 
 
 " Did they kill your wife, too?" 
 
 " Yes ; they tortured her to death ! Oh ! I ve had a 
 scalp for every drop of blood they spilled that day. I 
 took an oath that as long as I could look through the 
 hind sight of a rifle, I d kill every Sioux I got a chance 
 to shoot at, and you bet I have kept my oath." 
 
 And this was Bill, one of the men who was with the 
 writer and crawled out on to the prairie, and saw that 
 Indian head bobbing up and down, and who subse 
 quently arrived, with the author, safe in camp. He 
 has kept his oath, for he has killed not less than twenty- 
 five Indians, and, under all the circumstances, who can 
 blame him? 
 
MAIDEN ROCK; 
 
 OR, " THE LOVER S LEAP." 
 
 my remembrance," said an old Chief to 
 Major Long, in the year 1860, a large part of the 
 Sioux Indians of La Feuelle s band, had been in the 
 habit of making annual visits from the river St. Peter 
 to Prairie du Chien. When the party in question ar 
 rived at the hill, now called the Lover s Leap, or, 
 more properly, Maiden Rock, they stopped to gather 
 blue clay, which is found near the foot of the hill, for 
 the purpose of painting themselves. Of this party was 
 the young Indian maiden who is the subject of this 
 legend. 
 
 She had for a long time received the addressed of a 
 young hunter, who had formed an unconquerable at 
 tachment for her, and for whom she entertained the 
 strongest affection. Her parents and brothers were 
 strenuously opposed to her choice and warmly seconded 
 the solicitations of a young warrior, who was very much 
 beloved by the Indian nation, for his bravery and other 
 good qualities. To obviate her objection to the war 
 rior as being destitute of the means of clothing and 
 feeding her in consequence of the life he must lead in 
 order to perform the duties of his profession, her broth 
 ers agreed to be at the expense of providing everything 
 that was necessary for the ease and comfort of a fam 
 ily, and presented them to the young warrior. This 
 they did on the day of their arrival at the fatal spot, 
 with the hope that their sister would readily be pre- 
 55 
 
56 MAIDEN^ ROCK ; 
 
 vailed upon to marry the young man whom all her ob 
 jections to were thus obviated. She still persisted, 
 however, in the determination never to marry any but 
 the object of her sincere affection, while her parents 
 and brothers finding they could not accomplish their 
 purpose by gentle means, began to treat her with sever 
 ity. They insisted upon her compliance with their 
 wishes, still summoning the argument of filial duty and 
 affection in aid of their cause. She replied : " I do not 
 love the soldier and would live single forever rather 
 than marry him. You call me daughter and sister, as 
 if this should induce me to marry the man of your 
 choice and not my own. You say you love me, yet you 
 have driven the only man that can make me happy, far 
 from me. He loved me, but you would not let us be 
 happy together. He has therefore left me ; he has left 
 his parents and all his friends and gone to bewail in the 
 woods. He cannot partake of the pleasure of this party. 
 He can do nothing but mourn. You are not satisfied 
 with all this. You have not made me miserable enough. 
 You would now compel me to marry a man I do not 
 love. Since this is your purpose, let it be so. You 
 will soon have no daughter or sister to torment or 
 beguile with your false professions of love." 
 
 The same day was fixed upon as the day of her mar 
 riage with the warrior, and the Indians were busily oc 
 cupied in getting clay and painting themselves prepar 
 atory for the nuptial ceremony. She, in the meantime, 
 walked aside from the rest of the party, ascended to the 
 top of the hill known as Maiden Rock, located on the 
 Upper Mississippi, called aloud to her parents and 
 brothers, upbraiding them for their unkind treatment : 
 " You refused to let me marry agreeably to my own 
 
OR, THE LOVER S LEAP. 57 
 
 choice. You then endeavored by artifice to unite me 
 to a man I cannot love, and now you will force me to 
 marry him whether I will or not. You thought to allure 
 and make me wretched, but you shall be disappointed." 
 Her parents, aware of her design to throw herself over 
 the precipice, ran to the foot of the hill and entreated 
 her to desist, with all the tenderness and concern that 
 parental fondness could suggest, tearing their hair and 
 bewailing in the bitterest manner, while her brothers 
 attempted to gain the summit before she should exe 
 cute her fatal purpose. But all in vain. She was de 
 termined and resolute. She commenced singing her 
 death song, and immediately threw herself headlong 
 down the precipice, preferring certain and instantan 
 eous death to a lingering state of unhappy wedlock. 
 And thus comes the tradition of " Maiden Rock, or 
 Lover s Leap." 
 
 I learn from other sources, outside of the Chief s nar 
 rative, as given by Major Long, that when the hunter- 
 lover, Kacl-da-lus-ka, heard of the tragic death of We- 
 no-na, he reciprocated her devotion by jumping into the 
 river, and according to Indian belief, passed safely over 
 the barrier of death, and the two lovers were seen after 
 ward by their friends, traveling hand in hand in the 
 happy hunting ground. 
 
 It is alleged by parties who have remained at the 
 foot of Maiden Rock all night, that about twelve o clock 
 a low, plaintive wail is heard, at first almost inaudible, 
 but soon after gathering in volume, the sound breaks 
 out into a wild, unearthly song, which floats out on to 
 the water and reverberates among the hills, and then a 
 slight, beautiful female figure appears on the top of the 
 rock, and swaying to and fro, for a few moments, keep- 
 
58 MAIDEN ROCK. 
 
 ing time with her voice, it plunges suddenly headfore 
 most, and then a sickening thug sound is heard, and all 
 is still ! One of the earliest and perhaps one of the 
 best authenticated Indian legends, is that of MAIDEN 
 ROCK. 
 
LAKE PEPIN AND ITS SCENERY. 
 
 T AKE PEPIN is a body of water in the Missis- 
 I v sippi river in fact the lake is merely a distension 
 of the river some five miles wide and some twenty- 
 five miles long. Wabashaw is at the lower end of the 
 lake, and is noted in Indian history as a favorite place 
 of the Sioux, where, under the leadership of their 
 chief after whom the city is named, they held their 
 councils, delared their wars, smoked their pipes, uttered 
 their outbursts of eloquence, danced their dances, and 
 otherwise made it the elegant capital of their people. 
 Frontenac is at the head of the lake, and looking out 
 from this charming spot, the eye of the traveler rests 
 upon some of the grandest scenery in the world. We 
 not only find many traces of the existence of Indians 
 above Lake Pepin, but we find many relics of a people 
 far older than even the red men themselves the 
 mound builders of a pre-historic age. Indeed, I am 
 told, that in a mound I visited some three hundred feet 
 above the Mississippi river, below Winona, the bones 
 of a gigantic warrior were found, reaching eight feet in 
 height, and in his skull was a copper tomahawk with a 
 tempered edge, showing that the people of that day 
 possessed an art now lost to the present age, viz : that 
 of hardening copper, so as to make it available for cut 
 ting purposes, the same as steel. Evidences of these 
 mounds, especially near Wabashaw and even below it, 
 are abundant. So, too, there are evidences of a people 
 who at one time were engaged in smelting lead ore, 
 traces of which are quite apparent. 
 
60 LAKE PEPIN AND ITS SCENERY. 
 
 The high uplifts of rocks, their grotesque character, 
 the dark ravines, the diversified scenery, which marks 
 the borders of the river, with the grand river itself, 
 make a ride on the broad bosom of the Father of 
 Waters not only delightful, but deeply interesting to 
 the lover of romance as well as to the lover of research. 
 The bluffs on the West side of the river rise to a height 
 of from 475 to 500 feet. About midway of Lake Pe- 
 pin (which, as I have already said, is a part of the 
 Mississippi river itself), can be seen a prominent peak, 
 well known to tourists as MAIDEN ROCK, and here is 
 the point from whence an Indian maiden precipitated 
 herself 400 feet to the base below, rather than marry a 
 man she did not love. Most Indian legends partake of 
 the fabulous, with only a little tincture of truth to 
 make them palatable, but it is a fact that an Indian girl 
 DID throw herself from this rock, and for the reason 
 already given, but it is NOT a fact that it was an Indian 
 she loved, but a Frenchman. John Bush, eighty-three 
 years of age, writes as follows : 
 
 " Now, as for Maiden Rock being a legend, it is a 
 mistake. It was a real thing and no legend. The man 
 who wanted to marry the girl was a young Frenchman. 
 He was killed by lightning. I saw him ten minutes 
 after he was killed. He was a young man then. The 
 men who knew about it are all dead but myself." 
 
 So this legend, or romance passes out of fiction into 
 reality, and of course becomes more interesting as it 
 becomes known to be a fact, supported by the evidence 
 of a living witness. 
 
 Maiden Rock itself is a peculiar freak of nature. It 
 appears to have been shot up from below and then 
 squared by the compass. The surroundings are wild 
 
LAKE PEPIN AND ITS SCENERY. 6l 
 
 and weird, with a few straggling, stunted trees, and it 
 seems to be a fitting place for the spirit of the Indian 
 girl to roam with her lover as it is alleged she does 
 outside and beyond the tantalizing influences of her 
 relatives, who, in their day sought to do what the whites 
 now seek to do, to make proper matches for the young 
 people, in order to increase the standing, the influence, 
 and in many cases the wealth of their children. 
 
 The tourist, as he ascends the river on the deck of 
 the steamer, can see Maiden Rock looming up into the 
 clouds. He catches the rugged scenery, the peerless 
 buttes, the smooth, grand expanse of the lake; then 
 the flowing river, the numerous boats and rafts that dot 
 its bosom, and if he is a lover of nature in her grandest 
 type, he will become etherealized, as it were, and elec 
 trified by the surpassing beauty of the American 
 scenery, as seen in a trip up the Mississippi river to the 
 capital city of a great empire which lies beyond. 
 
KIS-SE-ME-PA AND KAR-GO-KA. 
 
 EVERY spring, for perhaps a century, or as long 
 as there has been a nation of red men, an island 
 in the middle of White Bear lake had been visited by 
 a band of Indians for the purpose of making maple 
 sugar. 
 
 Tradition says that many years ago, while the Indians 
 were upon this island, a young warrior loved and wooed 
 the daughter of his chief, and it is said, also, the maiden 
 loved the warrior. He had again and again been re 
 fused her hand by her parents, the old chief alleging 
 that he was no brave, and his old consort calling him a 
 woman ! 
 
 The sun had again set upon the " sugar bush," and 
 the bright moon rode high in the blue heavens, when 
 the young warrior took down his flute and went out 
 alone, once more to sing the story of his love. The 
 mild breeze gently moved the two gay feathers in his 
 head dress, and as he mounted upon the trunk of a 
 leaning tree, the damp snow fell from his feet heavily. 
 As he raised his flute to his lips his blanket slipped 
 from his well-formed shoulders, and lay partly on the 
 snow beneath. He began his wild, weird love song^ 
 but soon felt that he w,as cold, and as he reached back 
 for his blanket some unseen hand laid it gently on his 
 shoulders. It was the hand of his love his guardian 
 angel. She took her place beside him, and for the 
 present they were happy ; for the Indian has a heart 
 to love, and in this respect he is as noble as in his own 
 
 63 
 
KIS-SE-ME-FA AND KAR-GO-KA. 63 
 
 freedom, which makes him the child of the forest. As 
 the legend runs, a large white bear, thinking, perhaps, 
 that polar snows and dismal winter extended every 
 where, took up his journey southward. He at length 
 reached the northern shore of the lake which now bears 
 his name, walked down the bank, and made his way 
 noiselessly through the deep, heavy snow toward the 
 island. The lovers had left their first retreat, and were 
 seated among the branches of a large elm which hung 
 far out over the lake. For fear of being detected they 
 had talked almost in a whisper, and now, that they 
 might get back to camp in good time and thereby avoid 
 suspicion, they were just rising to return, when the 
 maiden uttered a shriek which was heard at the camp, 
 and bounding toward the young brave, she caught his 
 blanket, but missed the direction of her foot and fell, 
 bearing the blanket with her into the great arms of the 
 ferocious monster, which had crawled stealthily under 
 the tree. Instantly every man, woman and child of the 
 band were upon the island, but all unarmed. Cries and 
 wailings went up from every mouth. What was to be 
 done? In the meantime this white and savage beast 
 held the breathless maiden in his huge grasp, and fon 
 dled with his precious prey as if he were used to scenes 
 like this. One deafening yell from the lover warrior is 
 heard above the cry of hundreds of his tribe, and dash 
 ing away to his wigwam, only a few steps distant, he 
 grasps his faithful knife, returns almost at a single 
 bound to the scene of fear and fright, rushes out along 
 the leaning tree to the spot where his treasure fell, and 
 springing with the fury of a mad panther, pounced upon 
 his prey. The animal turned, and with one stroke of 
 his huge paw brought the lovers heart to heart, but the 
 
64 KIS-SE-ME-PA AND KAR-GO-KA. 
 
 next moment the warrior, with one plunge of the blade 
 of his knife, opened the crimson sluices of death, and 
 the dying bear relaxed his hold. 
 
 That night there was no more sleep for the band or 
 the lovers, and as the young and the old danced about 
 the carcass of the dead monster and feasted upon his 
 flesh, the gallant warrior was presented with another 
 plume, and ere another moon had set he had a living 
 treasure added to his heart. Their children for many 
 years played upon the tanned skin of the WHITE BEAR 
 from which the lake derives its name and the 
 maiden and the brave remembered long the fearful 
 scene and the rescue that made them one, for Kis-se- 
 me-pa and Kar-go-ka could never forget their fearful 
 encounter with the huge monster that came so near 
 sending them to the happy hunting ground. 
 
NARROW ESCAPE FROM A HORRIBLE 
 INDIAN MASSACRE. 
 
 THE SKULKING DOG. 
 
 IN the spring of 1863 I was stationed at Camp Pope, 
 above Fort Ridgely, on the Minnesota river, State 
 of Minnesota, in the double capacity of United States 
 Commissary and Quartermaster. This was after the 
 terrible Indian massacre, whereby nearly one thousand 
 innocent settlers lost their lives by the savages, and 
 after the Government had organized a command of sol 
 diers, under a competent leader, to pursue the hostile 
 Sioux, reclaim the white prisoners, but at any rate 
 drive the enemy into or across the Missouri river, where 
 arrangements had been made to intercept, and if possi 
 ble, annihilate them. 
 
 Camp Pope was situated above Little Crow s village, 
 where the chief of that name had resided, and was in 
 the neighborhood of where the Indian war had been 
 inaugurated, for it was Little Crow himself who mar 
 shaled his young warriors to battle, and who was 
 responsible for the horrid butcheries of the whites the 
 previous year. The camp was located some distance 
 from the Minnesota river, overlooked by a ridge of 
 bluffs, with drift granite boulders on the right, and a 
 very pretty valley stretching off up toward Yellow 
 Medicine, the former Indian agency. The place was 
 devoid of trees and seemed admirably adapted to the 
 purpose for which it was chosen, with one exception. 
 5 65 
 
66 NARROW ESCAPE FROM A 
 
 On the right of the camp, looking down toward the 
 Minnesota river, was a thick clump of bushes, and I 
 remember expressing fears when the camp was selected, 
 that the Indians might, under cover of these bushes, 
 especially after the leaves came out, make an attack 
 upon it, but men of greater Indian experience than 
 myself, thought, that by throwing out a guard in that 
 direction, that all surprise could be anticipated, so the 
 camp soon became a young city of bustling life and 
 activity. At last, in June, 1863, the entire command, 
 comprising 4,000 soldiers, with all the necessary essen 
 tials for a successful campaign against the hostile sav 
 ages, set out on its journey, and winding up in the 
 valley already indicated, and passing over the bluff, 
 made an imposing and stirring scene. 
 
 Never did I experience a more lonely or a more 
 homesick feeling, as when, towards sundown of that 
 memorable day, I looked out upon that deserted camp, 
 where, only ten hours before, four thousand soldiers, 
 with eighteen hundred horses and mules; with the 
 tread of men, with martial music, with familiar faces, 
 with burning camp fires, with white tents, and stream 
 ing flags, were wont to greet my eye all now gone ! 
 desolate, dark, lonely, dreary! How still! How I 
 longed for wings to fly to get away from myself ! 
 what a terrible depression came upon me! and with a 
 shudder I turned and sought my office, where consola 
 tion was to come only in sleep. 
 
 Camp Pope was the rendezvous for supplies which 
 might be needed for the expedition after it had left, 
 and for the sick which might be sent back from it. Also 
 for disabled horses and other property belonging to the 
 Government. A small stockade of logs had been 
 
HORRIBLE INDIAN MASSACRE. 6/ 
 
 thrown up in case of an attack from the Indians, and 
 inside of this defense was Company I, of the Ninth 
 Regiment, a class of boys who had never smelt Indian 
 gun-powder, and from what I could learn, who really 
 never wanted to, and yet they were all brave men. In 
 the Quartermaster s building was a small squad of sol 
 diers, called the convalescent corps, unfit for duty, but 
 who, in case of an emergency, might be made availa 
 ble. Of eleven horses, not more than two could be put 
 to any use, whatever, and these were kept in readiness 
 in case of an attack. An occasional Indian (no doubt 
 a spy) would peer in upon the camp, but notwithstand 
 ing the vigilance of the soldiers, he would contrive to 
 escape. 
 
 About ten- days after the expedition had left rumors 
 came from the Indian scout-camp, some miles above 
 our own, that tracks of Indian ponies had been seen 
 on the west side of the Minnesota river, and fears were 
 entertained that an attack might be made upon us at 
 any moment. These rumors gained credence, because 
 we all thought it would be a very Indian-like trick to 
 slip round behind the expedition, and pounce in upon 
 our small party; and if any considerable number of 
 Indians had done so, the writer, and many others, 
 would have been non est, while the savages would have 
 gained one scalp minus the hair; and therein I always 
 considered I should get the better of our wily enemy, 
 who, I imagined, would grit his teeth as he held up 
 his trophy of a bald and shining pate, out of which he 
 could get no further satisfaction than a grunt. (In 
 dians don t like bald-headed men.) 
 
 The constant fear of an attack had induced the 
 commander of the post to take every precautionary 
 
68 NARROW ESCAPE FROM A 
 
 measure for defense he could. I had brought the 
 horses inside the guard-lines; trenches had been dug 
 about the Commissary and Quartermaster s buildings, 
 while a camp-fire was kept constantly burning inside of 
 the stockade, where our most available men were quar 
 tered. The command was so small that only four 
 guards and reliefs could be employed to protect the 
 camp, and, as every day brought confirmatory news of 
 Indians hovering about us, these guards were instructed 
 to watch carefully, and, on the first appearance of any 
 object, halt it three times, and, on the last time, if it 
 did not halt, fire. All parties, being satisfied that an 
 unexpected attack could not be made upon the camp, 
 settled down to quietness and to rest. 
 
 It was evening. The sky was overcast with black 
 clouds, and the darkness was almost impenetrable. 
 The wind soughed around the camp, and moaned like 
 some lost spirit, anxious to gain admittance into my 
 little office, where I sat revelling upon the past. Ever 
 and anon, amid the death-like stillness of the night, 
 only the click of a musket could be heard to break the 
 eternal monotony of the blast, as it came in fitful gusts 
 and painted, in imagination, the unrelenting, wander 
 ing, dancing skeletons of the red men, who had arisen 
 from their graves to take part in the coming conflict ! 
 To me they seemed dodging around the corners, and 
 peeping into the windows, and gathering at the camp- 
 fire, and yet, calm and serene, amid all this outside 
 clamor, I dreamed of home, and friends and loved 
 ones. In an instant my reveries were disturbed by the 
 report of a gun, and seizing my pistol, I emerged into 
 the darkness. In a minute more the camp was all 
 astir, for all realized the impending and probable dan- 
 
HORRIBLE INDIAN MASSACRE. 69 
 
 ger, and pushing my way rapidly to the camp-fire in 
 the stockade, I met the officer in command, with his 
 hair in many kinks, shirt bosom open, coat off, with no 
 shoes or stockings (it was a warm night in June), and 
 who hurriedly exclaimed : 
 
 " Captain, where do you think that report came 
 from?" 
 
 I replied, " Guard No. 4. Think they are after our 
 horses." 
 
 " No ; I think it came from No. 3," he answered, and 
 off he darted into the darkness, leaving me making my 
 way, as fast as possible, to the stockade. In the mean 
 time the soldiers gathered around the camp-fire, and as 
 the light shone upon their pale and frightened faces, 
 the scene was one of a most impressive character. 
 Here I halted, but no news coming from the commander 
 of the post, and fearing that not only he but all the 
 guards had been shot down by arrows, and that any 
 minute we might see the infuriated redskins rushing in 
 upon us, with their war-whoops, tomahawks and knives, 
 I ordered two soldiers to accompany me, and crawling 
 upon our hands and knees, some distance from each 
 other (so that we might not be shot at once), we felt 
 our way in the darkness, to guard No. 4, where we heard 
 subdued voices, and on drawing nearer, found them to 
 be that of the guard and the faithful commander, wo 
 had periled his own life to save that of his command. 
 An explanation followed, to the effect that the guard, 
 who was a half-breed Indian, had discovered a large 
 dog crawling up from the bushes previously alluded to, 
 and that, after halting him three times, he fired, and 
 the animal ran back to the spot from whence he came. 
 We all returnee! to camp, or rather the stockade, but 
 
70 A NARROW ESCAPE. 
 
 there was no sleep that night. Every man was on the 
 alert for the enemy. 
 
 A few days after this event news came that Little 
 Crow, who had instigated the war, had been shot near 
 Glencoe, and that his son, who, in the meantime had 
 been captured, stated that his father and seventeen 
 other Indians had decided to take our camp at the 
 time the animal was seen to ascend the hill, and for 
 that purpose had sent forward an Indian in a dog s skin, 
 who was to crawl up to and shoot down the guard with 
 arrows, and then the other Indians were to surprise the 
 command and murder every soul ! Had it not been for 
 the sagacity and faithfulness of this half-breed guard, 
 the devilish purpose of Little Crow might have been 
 accomplished, but, finding the camp alarmed through 
 the report of the gun, he and his men made their way 
 toward the settlements near Glencoe to steal horses, 
 where he finally met his death. And thus we escaped 
 a horrible butchery from the same savages, who, but a 
 short time before, had murdered one thousand inoffens- 
 ive white citizens, escaped simply through the sagacity 
 of a half-breed guard, who, knowing Indian character 
 better than the whites, fired at the dodging animal, 
 which, in the skin of a dog, proved to be a tried war 
 rior of the great Sioux chieftain, who was only waiting 
 with his men to hear that our sentinels had been killed 
 by the silent arrows from his disguised savage soldier, 
 to complete the slaughter of the whole camp ! But, in 
 the language of Webster" We still live." 
 
PICK-A-WA-KA AND EL-MO-NA. 
 
 MANY moons ago large tribes of Indians used to 
 roam over the ground now known as Elmo Park. 
 The tribes were hostile to each other, and never let an 
 opportunity pass to visit vengeance upon their enemy. 
 Both were wily and warlike, the Sioux noted for their 
 cunning and bravery, the Chippewas for their superior 
 manly qualities, but both were ever on the alert to visit 
 death upon their deadly foe. Near where a hotel now 
 stands, and amid a bower of trees and brush, was located 
 a modest, silent tepee, and in it on a bright moonlight 
 night, singing a low, plaintive love song, was a beauti 
 ful Sioux maiden. Her subdued, sweet, wild tones 
 floated over the water, and ever and anon she peered 
 out into space as though expecting some visitor, and 
 yet, as she thought of his comiug her frame quivered 
 and she shrank back into her quiet home as though 
 some dreadful danger was impending. Again she sang. 
 Again her eye brightened. She placed her ear to the 
 pebbly shore and listened, and then like a beautiful 
 fawn she seemed transfixed to the spot. Hark! How 
 still ! Listen ! She hears again ! How her heart 
 beats ! Away off on the other side of the lake can be 
 heard the light dipping of paddles! How faint and 
 yet how clear to her, his signal ! 
 
 A mile back of her tepee is her band. The warriors 
 are dancing over the scalps of the Chippewas. They 
 are drunk with excitement. They hear nothing, know 
 
 71 
 
72 PICK-A-WA-KA AND EL-MO-NA. 
 
 nothing, but blood ; and so, seeking her opportunity 
 she has gained her silent retreat ; she has made her 
 presence known to her lover, and he is coming not 
 one of her own band not one of her own tribe, but a 
 gallant hero of her deadly enemies no less than a 
 young warrior of the Chippewa nation ; for love laughs 
 at all restraints, even among the rude children of the 
 forests. Nearer and nearer the light canoe glides 
 silently to the shore. It stops, and with a bound a 
 noble youth springs to the side of the maiden. He 
 clasps her in his arms. Looking down into her dark 
 eyes, he says : 
 
 " El-mo-na ! we have met again, and ere another 
 moon passes we shall be one. Oh ! my necarnis (best 
 friend) how beautiful to know that amid all the strife 
 of our tribes, two hearts know naught but love ! " 
 
 " Pick-a-wa-ka, be brave !" said El-mo-na. " He comes 
 among danger! Hear my people? Pick-a-wa-ka s 
 heart, be big ! See the moonlight kissing the ripples ? 
 El-mo-na s heart kisses Pick-a-wa-ka ! " And there, 
 standing upon the shore of this lake, in a spot so quiet, 
 so beautiful, so secluded, yet so dangerous, with the 
 waves singing a gentle lullaby, the moonbeams playing 
 with the foliage of the trees, the Indian lovers pledged 
 their hearts, and calling upon the Great Spirit to wit 
 ness their fidelity, clasped each other in an embrace of 
 eternal love. 
 
 List ! a sound is heard in the distance ! El-mo-na 
 trembles ! She beseeches Pick-a-wa-ka to fly for his 
 life ! They are discovered ! The young Chippewa 
 brave draws his left arm about his love, shielding her 
 with his person, and with his right hand grasps his 
 knife. With a wild war-whoop the Sioux are upon 
 
PICK-A-WA-KA AND EL-MO-NA. 73 
 
 him ! Their tomahawks gleam in the moonbeams ! 
 They draw nearer and nearer! The fatal stroke de 
 scends, when, with the agility of a tigress, El-mo-na 
 glides in front of him and the knife enters her body, 
 and she falls to the ground. Relieved of his burden, 
 Pick-a-wa-ka is soon conscious of his power. Desperate 
 with the belief that his love is mortally wounded, he 
 dashes at his enemies, and almost instantly the two 
 assailants lie dead upon the beach. But more of the 
 band is coming ! He has no time to lose. Picking up 
 the lifeless body of El-mo-na, he placed it tenderly in 
 the canoe, and in a moment more was paddling over 
 the lake, and when his enemies had reached the shore, 
 his boat was some distance from land. He rowed with 
 superhuman power; reached the landing on the oppo 
 site side of the lake, near where a little stream ripples 
 in laughter down the bank, bore his sacred trust to the 
 camp of his tribe, and exhausted, fell senseless by its 
 side. On recovering, a medicine man was bending over 
 him, and near him sat El-mo-na, her dark, brilliant eyes 
 fixed upon his face. Her wound did not prove fatal. 
 With gentle nursing she fully recovered, married Pick- 
 a-wa-ka, and years afterwards, when both her own tribe 
 and the Chippewas were removed far away, and when 
 eighty moons had silvered their hair with gray, they 
 visited the haunts of their early love, secured permission 
 to dwell in peace in a quiet, lovely spot not far from 
 the present hotel, where they died, greatly esteemed by 
 what few whites roamed through the country at that 
 time in quest of game and fur. 
 
 It is said that on still moonlight nights a wild, sweet 
 Indian song can be heard floating over the waters of 
 the lake, supposed to be the spirit of El-mo-na, while a 
 
74 PICK-A-WA-KA AND EL-MO-NA. 
 
 light canoe can be seen gliding noiselessly upon the 
 waves as they gently dash against the shore. In honor 
 of this beautiful Indian legend, no wonder the place is 
 called ELMO LODGE ! 
 
MEMORY OF A NOTED CHIPPEWA 
 CHIEF HOLE-IN-THE-DAY. 
 
 WHILE sitting in a small office of a hotel in the 
 West, in the year 1853, or thirty-one years ago, 
 my attention was attracted by the imposing presence 
 of a large Indian chief, who, with his blanket about 
 him, strode into the room with the dignity of a Roman 
 Senator. He was a large man, with high cheek bones, 
 a well-poised head, dark, brilliant black eyes and hair. 
 With a pleasant smile, he exclaimed, as he passed 
 " Booshu, neches," or in Indian dialect "how to do, 
 friend ?" and took a seat near me. There was a mass 
 ive characteristic about the man which did not belong 
 to the ordinary Indian, and yet he had all the Indian 
 peculiarities. Dinner was soon announced and he took 
 a seat near me at the table. He ate with ordinary de 
 liberation, and an ordinary amount of food, but while 
 thus engaged, one of the windows was suddenly dark 
 ened, and on looking up I beheld many grimmy faces 
 and burning eyes, with war-paint and feathers, the 
 possessors of which belonged to the Sioux nation the 
 deadly enemies of the noted chief. Gleaming knives 
 and partially concealed tomahawks, made my position 
 by the side of the warrior rather uncomfortable, so I 
 moved away, but he continued to eat on, and then the 
 door opened and thirty Sioux Indians filed along in 
 front of the foe of their nation, with clinched rifles and 
 hearts glowing with revenge. Still, calm, with not a 
 muscle of his mobile face denoting fear, the chief fin- 
 
 75 
 
76 MEMORY OF A NOTED CHIPPEWA CHIEF, 
 
 ished his dinner, cooly arose, drew his blanket about 
 him and with a lordly tread and a compressed lip, and 
 flashing eyes, walked down in front of these hostile 
 Sioux, and lighting his pipe, deliberately puffed the 
 smoke into the very faces of his inveterate foe ! 
 
 That man was Hole-in-the-Day, the great and noted 
 chief of the Chippewa Nation, and the thirty Sioux 
 warriors were on his war-path, but they well knew, and 
 so did Hole-in-the-Day, that the moment a blow had 
 been struck, that the white man s troops would dash 
 down upon them and terminate their career ; so the 
 chief passed along in safety, and the sullen Sioux soon 
 after withdrew to their own possessions, which, at that 
 time, was on the west side of the Mississippi river. 
 The wily chief well knew that his safety lay in the fact 
 that he was on land belonging to the whites, while had 
 he been on the other side of the river, on ground owned 
 by the Sioux, he would have met a terrible death, as it 
 was only a short time before he crossed the river, took 
 two Sioux scalps, right in the face of the enemy and 
 civilization, and returned glorying over his achievement. 
 He was a brave, intelligent Indian chief, and his mem 
 ory is kindly cherished by the whites. 
 
 GRAVE OF HOLE-IN-THE-DAY. 
 
 About two miles northwest of Little Falls, a town 
 located on the Upper Mississippi river, in Minnesota, 
 and on a high hill, known as Hole-in-the-Day s bluff, 
 lies the body of the great Chippewa chief, and that of 
 his father, a noted chief before him, both facing south 
 east, so they can watch the movements of their enemies 
 the Sioux. There is a gap between the depression 
 of the two hills upon which the bodies lie, and in the 
 
HOLE-IN-THE-DAY. 77 
 
 middle of this depression stands a lone tree, conveying 
 the idea from the road-side, that a sentinel was guard 
 ing the graves. The view from the top of this bluff is 
 grand, presenting a scene unrivaled in beauty and 
 charming naturalness. No other Indians are permitted 
 to be buried near the remains of these two great Chip- 
 pewa chieftains. 
 
HE-LE-O-PA AND NIM-PE-WA-PA. 
 
 INHERE is something peculiarly fascinating about 
 an Indian tradition, handed down, as it it, not in 
 books, but from father to son, while smoking their 
 pipes around the wigwam fire ; and there is something 
 additionally charming in the story as told by the In 
 dian himself. Some fifteen years ago, while on my 
 way to the Canadian shore with a company of ex 
 plorers, we camped on the banks of a beautiful sheet 
 of water known as Me-de-wa-ka, when our "Ne-car- 
 nis," or, in the Chippewa language, " our best friend "- 
 that is, an Indian in the party who had attached him 
 self to our person entertained us, through my inter 
 preter, with the following interesting legend : 
 
 " Many moons ago," said the Indian, with a whiff of 
 his pipe, " a party of Sioux crept down silently to the 
 shores of Me-de-wa-ka, and, gazing a moment, disap 
 peared in the thick underbrush that encircled the lake." 
 
 And right here the reader should bear in mind that 
 the Sioux and Chippewas have been> at war for a cent 
 ury past, and that all the country on the east side of 
 the Mississippi belonged to the Chippewas, while all 
 the country on the west side belonged to the Sioux. 
 
 "A young Chippewa girl," continued the Indian, 
 " beautiful as the fawn, with features radiant with per 
 fection, was sitting upon the bank of the lake, toying 
 with the gentle waves, as they came and kissed her 
 tawny feet, but when she saw these enemies of her 
 race, she screamed and ran to the tepee, which was 
 located a little back from the shore, in a clump of trees. 
 
 78 
 
HE-LE-O-PA AND NIM-PE-WA-PA. 79 
 
 Nim-pe-wa-pa, her lover, brave, gallant, affectionate, 
 like a deer dashed from the wigwam, and, catching the 
 maiden in his arms, asked, What fear? He-le-o-pa 
 pointed to the brush and tremblingly replied, Sioux. 
 
 The old Indian who narrated this story, was silent. 
 He gazed upon the blazing fire ; gave out a guttural 
 sound, and then whiffing his pipe several times, con 
 tinued : 
 
 "Nim-pe-wa-pa brave! Nim-pe-wa-pa no fear Sioux! 
 Nim-pe-wa-pa s heart be big! Rousing the band, the 
 Chippewas were soon in pursuit of the fleeing enemy, 
 led by Nim-pe-wa-pa ; but the wily savages had crossed 
 the river, passed the boundary line, and could only be 
 reached by confronting the whole Sioux nation ; so, 
 chafing for revenge the Chippewas returned to their 
 camp on the silent shores of Me-de-wa-ka. 
 
 " It was night ! The full-orbed moon sent a ray of 
 mellow light down upon the beautiful lake, while on the 
 shores of the sparkling water, numerous bands of 
 Indians regaled themselves, either reclining upon the 
 mossy banks or sailing in their light canoes over the 
 limpid waves. The prattle and laughter of childhood ; 
 the ringing, gleeful notes of maidens ; the plaintive 
 songs of mothers, as they lulled their loved ones to 
 sleep, gave a charm to the scene and presented a 
 picture unrivaled in beauty and in innocence. 
 
 "The stars stooped down and kissed the fair maiden, 
 He-le-o-pa, as with a soft tread and a light bound, she 
 skipped among her companions the fairest of them all. 
 With a perfect figure ; beautiful, soft, black eyes ; jet 
 black hair, and clear complexion ; with a merry laugh 
 and a heart warm and generous in its impulses, no 
 wonder she was the queen of her sex and the loved of 
 
8O HE-LE-O-PA AND NIM-PE-WA-PA. 
 
 her tribe. Just eighteen moons had passed over her 
 fair head, and still so innocent, still so lovely, still so 
 charming!" 
 
 The old Indian paused again, dropped his head 
 upon his hands, uttered a moan, and then, as if recall 
 ing something in the long past, became as calm and as 
 cold as marble, and continued his story: 
 
 " Up a short distance from the lake, embosomed in 
 the arms of nature, nestling with the flowers, and 
 listening to the whip-poor-will, wandered He-le-o-pa, all 
 unmindful of the fright she had received but a short 
 time before. The noise of the children had ceased; 
 the moon was high in the blue sky; the quietness 
 brooded over and about the lake; the Indians puffed 
 their pipes, and recalled the stirring scenes of many a 
 fight, when, all of a sudden, there was a piercing 
 scream. It broke out again on the evening air, and 
 the echo came back to remind the peaceful Indian 
 village that an enemy was in their midst. The women 
 and children entered their tepees, the men clutched 
 their guns, and, hastening in the direction of the noise, 
 halted. What means it? Who is missing? 
 
 " It seemed that while He-le-o-pa wandered in the 
 moonlight, talking, as it were, with invisible beings, a 
 company of thirty Sioux Indians stole in upon her, 
 seized her, bound her to a pony, and were flying with 
 her to the camp of the enemy. Before any concert of 
 action could be devised by those who had congregated 
 where the noise was heard, Nim-pe-wa-pa had mounted 
 his steed, and, giving a most mournful wail, bounded 
 in among them, and, screaming, * He-le-o-pa, revenge 
 and death! dashed into the thicket, followed by his 
 friends. 
 
HE-LE-0-PA AND NIM-PE-WA-PA. 8 1 
 
 The old Indian paused again, when my interpreter 
 asked " Kan-e-de-ka, what then?" He refilled his 
 pipe, then drawing himself up to his full height, ex 
 claimed " Nisisshin," which means good, and closed 
 his story in the following graphic manner : 
 
 " Nim-pe-wa-pa s pony sped like an arrow! Through 
 the bushes, over logs, jumping ravines, he seemed to 
 possess the power of the incarnate. He, Nim-pe-wa-pa, 
 rode the air and his men fled like birds at his com 
 mand. The retreating Sioux are now in the distance, 
 dimly seen in the moonlight. Ten of Nim-pe-wa-pa s 
 men have left the main party to intercept them. On 
 they rush, pell-mell ! The Chippewas are gaining ; the 
 Sioux are scattering! With the impetuosity of a hur 
 ricane, Nim-pe-wa-pa darts down upon them ! He 
 approaches them, and in the full moonlight, fires! Mad 
 with revenge, he continues the onslaught ! He draws 
 nearer ; again he fires ; a Sioux falls ! How he gloats 
 as he tears the scalp from his head, and then again con 
 tinues the pursuit. In the meantime his friends have 
 come up to the rescue, and soon begin one of the 
 fiercest Indian battles on record. Hand to hand they 
 meet ; hand to hand they fall ; hand to hand they die ! 
 Where is He-le-o-pa? Death! death! death! 
 
 "The party of ten Chippewas have intercepted the 
 flying Sioux! They close in upon them! Red, gory 
 blood curdles in the moonlight ! Nim-pe-wa-pa rides 
 like a demon ! Five of the enemy have fallen from his 
 unerring aim, and still, with loss of vital force from a 
 dangerous wound, he continues the conflict ! Dashing 
 into the thickest of the fight, he makes one desperate 
 effort, and in that effort he confronts the Indian who 
 has He-le-o-pa bound to his horse, and with an impetu- 
 
82 HE-LE-O-PA AND NIM-PE-WA-PA. 
 
 ous plunge, dismounts him, but in the act, the animal 
 upon which He-le-o-pa is secured, falls dead ! Nim-pe- 
 wa-pa reels, staggers, drops to the earth ! The conflict 
 is over ! Several Chippewas and eight Sioux lie dead 
 upon the field ! Twenty-two of the enemy have es 
 caped ; three Chippewas are lifeless ! The bodies of 
 He-le-o-pa and Nim-pe-wa-pa are brought tenderly back 
 to the lodge, and there, amid great lamentation, they 
 repose side by side. All of a sudden there is great 
 consternation in the camp ! He-le-o-pa breathes ! opens 
 her eyes! moves! lives! IS NOT DEAD!" 
 
 The old Indian arose from the camp-fire, strode back 
 and forward for a few moments, and then mournfully 
 added : 
 
 "They buried Nim-pe-wa-pa on a little knoll, over 
 looking Me-de-wa-ka, near the Ki-e-le-pa (or old tepee 
 ground), and for fifty moons the faithful He-le-o-pa 
 visited and planted flowers upon the grave of her 
 noble, brave, and devoted lover." 
 
 Parties who visit the lake can see the spot where 
 Nim-pe-wa-pa was buried, which is marked by a body 
 of stones, placed there by the hands of the whole 
 tribe, who revered the memory of the great and good 
 Nim-pe-wa-pa, I should also add, that a part of the 
 old Indian village, where Nim pe-wa-pa and He-le-o-pa 
 lived, and where the former was killed, is now embraced 
 in what is known as Central Park, where the shores 
 slope down gradually to the lake, and where the land 
 is thickly studded with trees. It is a quiet and seques-, 
 tered spot, and, as one wanders over the knolls and in 
 the valleys, shadowed by thick foliage, in imagination 
 he can hear the sweet spirit voice of He-le-o-pa mouiru 
 fully wailing for the loss of her lamented lover. 
 
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS 
 SCENERY. 
 
 THE INFANT RIVER ONLY SEVEN INCHES ACROSS IT. 
 
 THIS great river, upon whose broad and capacious 
 bosom millions of bushels of wheat will yet float 
 to the Gulf and from thence to Europe, and whose al 
 most entire surface in a few succeeding years, will be 
 dotted with steamboats unsurpassed for beauty and 
 excellence, as many of the boats now are, is, in a 
 straight line, measuring from its source, Lake Itasca 
 to its mouth, the Gulf of Mexico eleven hundred and 
 sixty-four miles. By the channel of the river it is two 
 thousand, eight hundred miles in length. The popula 
 tion contiguous to the Mississippi river, will exceed 
 24,000,000, or nearly half of the population of the 
 United States, and in ten years, with the present in 
 crease of emigration, the population in the valley and 
 beyond, will reach 30,000,000, or a preponderance of 
 power in the American nation. There are about one 
 hundred cities and towns on the river from St. Paul to 
 St. Louis ; about eight above St. Paul, and about one 
 hundred and fifty below St. Louis to the Gulf, making 
 in all, two hundred and fifty-eight cities and towns on 
 the river from its source to its mouth. This great val 
 ley of the Mississippi contains 768,000,000 acres of the 
 finest lands in the world, sufficient to make more than 
 one hundred and fifty states as large as Massachusetts. 
 It embraces more territory than Great Britain, France, 
 
84 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
 
 Spain, Austria, European Turkey and Italy combined. 
 If peopled as thickly as Massachusetts, it would con 
 tain four times the present population of the United 
 States ; if as populous as France, it would hold as many 
 as now inhabit the whole of Europe. 
 
 H L. Gordon, in his Legends of the Northwest, 
 sweetly sings : 
 
 " Onward rolls the Royal River, proudly sweeping to the sea, 
 Dark and deep and grand, forever wrapt in myth and mystery. 
 Lo, he laughs along the highlands, leaping o er the granite walls ; 
 Lo, he sleeps among the islands, where the loon her lover calls. 
 Still, like some huge monster winding downward through the prairied 
 
 plains, 
 
 Seeking rest but never finding, till the tropic gulf he gains. 
 In his mighty arms he claspeth now an empire broad and grand; 
 In his left hand lo he graspeth leagues of fern and forest land; 
 In his right the mighty mountains, hoary with eternal snow, 
 Where a thousand foaming fountains singing seek the plains below. 
 Fields of corn and feet of cities, lo the mighty river laves, 
 Where the Saxon sings his ditties o er the swarthy warriors graves." 
 
 The first boat to ascend the Mississippi river, was the 
 Virginia, in May, 1823, or sixty-one years ago. She 
 was a stern-wheeler length 118x24. Now the fleet of 
 boats from St. Louis, owned by two companies, num 
 ber twenty daily, and among them are several which 
 will easily accommodate five hundred passengers. The 
 Virginia might have cost $15,000; one of the present 
 boats alone cost $40,000, and the whole amount invested 
 in the Mississippi steamboat trade, will reach $2,000,- 
 ooo, and everything indicates a vast increase of trade 
 upon this immense river, which, sooner or later, must 
 become the thoroughfare for western grain to the sea- 
 coast and to Europe. 
 
 Contemplating the past and realizing the present, I 
 
AND ITS SCENERY. -*5 
 
 can appreciate Mr. Gordon s further allusion to the 
 Mississippi, when he says : 
 
 "On thy bosom, Royal River, silent sped the birch canoe, 
 Bearing brave with bow and quiver^ on his way to war or woo; 
 NOW with flaunting flags and streamers mighty monsters of the 
 
 deep, 
 
 Lo the puffing, panting steamers, through the foaming waters sweep; 
 And behold the grain-fields golden, where the bison grazed of eld, 
 See the fanes of forests olden by the ruthless Saxon felled, 
 Plumed pines that spread their shadows ere Columbus spread his sails, 
 Firs that fringed the mossy meadows ere the Mayflower braved tht> 
 
 gales; 
 
 Iron oaks that nourished bruin, while the Vikings roamed the main, 
 Crashing fall in broken ruin for the greedy marts of gain." 
 
 Recent information would indicate that the Missis 
 sippi river has its source from another lake than that 
 of Itasca, and which is alleged to be much larger and 
 handsomer than the historical sheet of water which, for 
 so many years has been claimed to be the source of the 
 great Father of Waters. 
 
 The first white man who ever saw Lake Itasca, wa 
 Schoolcraft, in the year 1832. Some twenty years 
 later a party of explorers visited the lake, who describe 
 it as a three-pointed star, and out of some eight thou 
 sand lakes in Minnesota, in shape, there is not another 
 one like it. Within about two and a half miles of the 
 lake can be seen a little rill of water meandering 
 through the marsh, and this little rivulet, measuring 
 only 
 
 SEVEN INCHES ACROSS IT, 
 
 is the infant Mississippi, and the little lake, only a mile 
 long and not so wide, is where the first drop of water 
 in the river comes from. It is now claimed that two 
 other lakes exist above Itasca, and that the furthermost 
 one is the real source of the Mississippi, but time and 
 
86 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
 
 research will be necessary to establish this assertion 
 beyond a doubt. 
 
 The scenery on the Mississippi river equals anything 
 the traveler finds in Europe. The many points, bays, 
 promontories, bluffs, canyons, prairies and beautiful 
 landscapes which meet the eye, afford a never-ceasing 
 source of pleasure, and the tourist on the boat, being 
 free from dust and the jostle of the cars, enjoys 
 serenely the bracing air, as it invigorates his lungs, or 
 plays with his hair, or cools his fevered brow, while the 
 palace steamer plows her way northward, or descends 
 southward, riding the water like a thing of life. Mill 
 ions of dollars will yet be expended in improving this 
 great thoroughfare, which will drain a vast empire 
 beyond of its wealth, bring into existence thousands of 
 miles of railroads, and build up a city at the head of 
 navigation, unequaled in population and in wealth by 
 any metropolis in the West. And then, for ages and 
 ages, as in the past so in the future, the Mississippi will 
 continue its ceaseless flow, murmuring its lullaby dirge 
 over thousands of those who, to-day, mingle in the great 
 throng of our busy life, but whose memories will be 
 washed away by the waves of the great river as they 
 dash against the shores and obliterate the land marks 
 of time. 
 
 " Faintly flow, thou falling river, 
 
 Like a dream that dies away, 
 Down to ocean gliding ever, 
 
 Keep thy calm, unruffled way. 
 Time, with such a silent motion, 
 
 Floats along on wings of air, 
 To eternity s dark ocean, 
 
 Burying all its treasures there." 
 
THE BATTLE FOR THE APRON. 
 
 VARIOUS tribes of Indians have various modes of 
 punishments for the various violations of their 
 laws; but it is only among the Indians of the far West 
 where it is left for the women of the tribe to punish 
 the males for certain injuries received. Perhaps it 
 would be a good idea to introduce-this custom among 
 the whites, in which case unprincipled men would be 
 brought to feel the full force of injured innocence, and 
 society would be greatly benefited even by the intro 
 duction of new ideas more radical than our own, re 
 specting the punishment of men for a crime, which 
 needs only the Indian mode of treatment to effect a 
 positive cure. Let us admit that we can learn some 
 thing even from the savages. A writer for the New 
 York Sun, pens the following as occuring at Poplar 
 river, Montana, among a tribe of Indians known as 
 the Yanktonais : 
 
 " Recently there was witnessed here one of the most 
 singular scenes of Indian life the punishment by four 
 Indian girls, the daughters of Polecat, of a young Indian 
 hunter who had assaulted one of their number." The 
 following description is that of an eye witness: 
 
 " The tribe forms a huge ring in which the savage 
 who provoked the animosity of the Polecat family, is 
 summarily thrust. He looks sullen and dogged. He 
 has a hard fight before him, and he knows it ; but he is 
 a man of his hands, and he means to wear those girls 
 out if it lies in his muscle and prompt and effectual 
 work. He may strike them anywhere above the breast, 
 
 87 
 
88 THE BATTLE FOR THE APRON. 
 
 and kill them, if a blow in the neck will do it, but bul 
 lets and arrows are ready for him if he strikes foul. 
 The girls, on the other hand, must take off his apron. 
 If they accomplish that, he is disgraced to the utter 
 most moment of his life, driven from his tribe, left to 
 starve on the prairie, and all Indians cautioned against 
 harboring, feeding or associating with him. The in 
 jured woman is allowed to have such squaws as she 
 may select to assist her. But, if she chooses too many 
 to effect her purpose, it is a disgrace to her; and so 
 she is careful to select only enough to make the battle 
 nearly equal. 
 
 " The Polecat girls are the belles of the Yanktonais 
 tribe. If a squaw can be pretty, these girls are beauti 
 ful ; and, by virtue of their attractions and their fathers 
 possessions in horses and other satisfactory property, 
 they are the aristocrats of the camp. Perhaps for that 
 reason they ask no help in their present undertak 
 ing ; and for that reason also, perhaps, their savage sis 
 ters giggle and exchange whispers as the four girls step 
 into the ring and approach the waiting buck. All five 
 are in full war-paint. Down the hunter s cheeks and 
 along his neck are alternate sepia and green and yellow 
 stripes on a background of brilliant red, while his chest, 
 sides and back are tricked out with rude pictures of 
 guns, bows and horses. The girls have smeared their 
 faces with a coating of red, over which lies another of 
 green, striped with yellow. Their hair is unfastened at 
 the back, and the front locks are braided with otter 
 fur. Each wears a skirt and leggings ; but their blank 
 ets are laid aside, and their muscular brown arms are 
 displayed. 
 
 " There are no preliminaries. The girls dash at their 
 
THE BATTLE FOR THE APRON. 89 
 
 enemy and attempt to grasp him. If all hands manage 
 to get hold of him, half the battle is accomplished. 
 But he meets them squarely and fairly, planting a cruel 
 blow between the eyes of the girl he had injured, know 
 ing tliat if she is finished he can compel her to call off 
 the rest. She is the general of the attacking forces 
 and the prime object of attack. Over she goes like a 
 pin-wheel ; but she is up again, her face streaming with 
 blood and her eyes swelling. The elder girl has con 
 trived to secure a waisthold, and locked her hands behind 
 his back. His fists fall upon her upturned face with 
 frightful force ; but she keeps her hold. The two other 
 girls are pressing him hard from behind, but his elbows 
 work like battering-rams, and one steps back with her 
 hands pressed tightly to her breast and a look of agony 
 in her eyes. Now he whirls suddenly, planting ponder 
 ous blows upon the face and head of the girl who on 
 her knees still clings to his waist with a death-grip. 
 He fairly raises her from the ground as he spins, but 
 her hold never relaxes. 
 
 " His earlier victim again dashed at him, and is re 
 warded by a crashing stroke on the mouth. She reels, 
 but recovers and darts again to receive his fist on her 
 neck with a force that whirls her half a dozen paces off 
 and drops her like a log. Not a word is spoken. The 
 thud of his fists, and the heavy breathing of the strug 
 gling contestants, are the only sounds. The last rally 
 of the prostrate girl has enabled the rear party to catch 
 the buck, and one has twined her arms around his neck, 
 while the other hangs to his wrist. His left hand is 
 still free, and it fairly twinkles in the air as he batters 
 the maiden at his waist. Her grasp is like iron, but 
 her head reels and sways as his heavy hand falls on it 
 
90 THE BATTLE FOR THE APRON. 
 
 with a noise that reaches the farthest side of the irreg 
 ular ring. Her eyes are closed and her breath comes 
 convulsively. Were the fourth girl there to grasp that 
 arm, the fight would soon end. 
 
 " The girl behind is choking him, and he employs new 
 tactics. Grasping the kneeling girl by the throat, he 
 pounds the face of the one behind him with the back 
 of his head. No vanity prompts her to let him go. 
 She tightens her grip and buries her face in the back 
 of his neck. The fourth girl is up, staggering and 
 dazed. Brushing the blood from her eyes with an 
 angry motion she approaches him, crouching as she 
 moves. If the blow he has in store for her reaches the 
 mark he will have another chance for the girl at his 
 waist is growing faint, and he can easily dispose of the 
 other two. She comes at him like a cougar. The 
 blow is delivered full upon her breast ; but she grasps 
 his wrist and writhes up his arm. 
 
 " Now he is beset with danger. The two at his arms 
 and the one at his waist pull him forward; the girl 
 behind, still strangling him, throws her weight on his 
 back. In vain he attempts to straighten. The kneel 
 ing girl bends in her despairing struggle until her hair 
 hangs on the ground. The other three show the mus 
 cles rigid in their arms as they press him down upon 
 their kneeling sister. Suddenly he springs backward 
 with a marvelous effort of strength. The fainting girl 
 at his waist finds her hands torn apart. But that tri 
 umph was his defeat. With a crash he comes to the 
 ground, three girls upon him. One plants herself on 
 his face, and the other two kneel on his arms. There 
 is a struggle, and then the youngest rises with a wild 
 yell, waving the apron in her hand. Her yell is echoed 
 
THE BATTLE FOR THE APRON. 9! 
 
 by a low moan, as the mother of the prostrate hunter 
 staggers out of the circle, and by a grunt of satisfac 
 tion, as Polecat recognizes the victory of his girls. 
 
 "To-morrow, somewhere up the river, that disgraced 
 buck will be found with a bullet in his brain. Down 
 in Chief Polecat s lodge four bruised and weary girls 
 are mending each other s wounds with sisterly solici 
 tude, and at the outer edge of the camp a bent old 
 woman looks wistfully away to the North, where the 
 shadows have swallowed up the form of the disgraced 
 warrior." 
 
A WHITE QUEEN. 
 
 HOLE-IN-THE-DAY, a noted Chippewa chief, al 
 ready alluded to in these pages, when on a visit 
 to Washington, fell in love with one of the servant 
 girls at a hotel I think the National and on pro 
 posing, in regular white man s style, he was accepted 
 and the two lovers were married. The white wife re 
 turned West with the chief and was duly installed 
 queen of the tepee at his home, which act aroused the 
 ill-will of his several squaws, and soon after, as Hole-in- 
 the-Day was riding along the road leading to his dwell 
 ing, he was assassinated and killed ; and thus ended 
 the career of one of the most celebrated Chippewa 
 warriors who ever held power over an Indian tribe. 
 Soon after the death of her husband, the white queen 
 abandoned the Indian mode of living, and for aught 
 we know, may have married again, and probably has, 
 but history will give her the credit of being the only 
 white Indian queen who was ever elevated to an In 
 dian throne such as it was and that is fame enough 
 for any ambitious girl, either American or Irish. 
 
 92 
 
AN INDIAN S THEORY OF THE CELES 
 TIAL BODIES. 
 
 HAN-YE-TU-WE (NIGHT SUN), AN-PE-TU-WE (DAY 
 SUN), AND THE STARS, WHO ARE THEIR CHIL 
 DREN. 
 
 THE Indians have a very peculiar idea of the heav 
 enly bodies, and the theory they advance has in 
 it, to the unsophisticated mind, a good deal of common 
 sense and some reason. Of course a person of intelli 
 gence rejects their ideas, knowing them to be erroneous, 
 and yet, the untutored savage, drawing his notions 
 from nature, reasons out a very plausible and a very 
 satisfactory solution to them of the heavenly visi 
 tants as they come and go in their seasons and startle 
 them with their changes. Every tribe has its great 
 man who gives these subjects his especial study, and 
 the common Indian receives them as emanations from 
 the Great Spirit. 
 
 H. L. Gordon, in his interesting work, says: 
 " Wa-zi-ya, pronounced Wah-zee-yah, is the god of 
 the North or winter ; a fabled spirit who dwells in the 
 frozen North in a great tepee of ice and snow. From 
 his mouth and nostrils he blows the cold blasts of win 
 ter. He and I-to-ka-go Wi-cas-ta the spirit or god of 
 the South, literally the south man are inveterate ene 
 mies and always on the war-path against each other. 
 In winter Wa-zi-ya advances southward and drives I-to- 
 ka-go before him to the summer island ; but in spring 
 
 93 
 
94 AN INDIAN S THEORY OF THE 
 
 the god of the South, having renewed his youth and 
 strength in the happy hunting grounds, is able to 
 drive Wa-zi-ya back again to his icy wigwam in the 
 North. Some Dakotas say that the numerous granite 
 boulders scattered over the prairies of the West, were 
 hurled in battle by Wi-zi-ya from his home in the 
 North, at I-to-ka-go Wi-cas-ta. 
 
 " He-o-ka is one of the principal Dakota deities. He 
 is a giant, but can change himself into a buffalo, a 
 bear, a fish, or a bird. He is called the anti-national 
 god or spirit. In summer he shivers with cold; in 
 winter he suffers from heat ; he cries when he laughs 
 and he laughs when he cries. He is the reverse of 
 Mature in all things. He-o-ka is universally feared and 
 fevered by the Dakotas. 
 
 "All Northern Indians consider the East a myster 
 ious and sacred land whence comes the sun. Their 
 name for the East, is Wee-yo-hee-yan-pa, the sunrise. 
 The Chippewas call it Waub-o-nong the white land, 
 or land of light, and they have many myths, legends 
 and traditions relating thereto. 
 
 " The Dakotas believe that the Aurora Borealis is an 
 evil omen and the threatening of an evil spirit perhaps 
 Wi-zi-ya, the winter god some say a witch, or a very ugly 
 old woman ! When the lights appear, danger threatens 
 and the warriors shoots at and often slay the evil spirit, 
 but it rises from the dead again." 
 
 Most Indians believe that the stars are the spirits of 
 their departed friends; that thunder is produced by the 
 flapping of the wings of an immense bird ; that the 
 milky way is the bridge of stars that spans the vast sea 
 of the sky, and the sun and moon walk over on it. 
 
 Mr. Riggs, in his "Tah-hoo Wa-kan," says, "that the 
 
CELESTIAL BODIES. 95 
 
 Indians believe that the sun and moon are twin broth 
 ers, but that An-pe-tu-wee the sun is the more pow 
 erful. The moon receives its power from his brother 
 and obeys him. He watches over the earth when the 
 sun sleeps. The Dakotas believe that the sun is the 
 father of life. Unlike the most of their gocls, he is 
 beneficent and kind ; yet they worship him in the most 
 dreadful manner." 
 
 Other tribes of Indians have similar beliefs, among 
 which are the Piutes, and this brings us to the legend 
 of the celestial bodies, as narrated by an old Piute med 
 icine man, who, being called upon to express his opin 
 ion of a moving comet, filled his pipe, stirred up the 
 embers of a smoldering fire, and in broken English, 
 said: 
 
 "The sun rules the heaven. He is the big chief; 
 the moon is his wife and the stars are his children. 
 The sun he eat him children whenever he can them 
 catch. They are all the time afraid when he is passing 
 through the above. When he, their father, the sun, 
 gets up early in the morning, you see all the stars his 
 children fly out of sight, go away into the blue, and 
 they do not make to be seen again till he, their father, 
 is about for going to bed down deep under the 
 ground deep, deep, in a great hole. Here he go into 
 this hole, and he crawl and he creep till he come to his 
 bed ; so then sleep there all the night. This hole is so 
 little and he, the sun, is so big, that he cannot turn 
 round in it, so he must, when he has had all his sleep, 
 pass on then through, and we see him next morning 
 come out in the East. When he so comes out, he begins 
 to hunt up through the sky to catch and eat any that 
 he can eat of the stars, his children. He, the sun, is 
 
96 AN INDIAN S THEORY OF THE 
 
 * ^ 
 
 not all seen ; the shape of him is like a snake or a liz 
 ard. It is not his head that we can see, but his stom 
 ach stuffed with stars he has times and times devoured. 
 His wife, the moon, she goes into the same hole as her 
 husband, to sleep her naps. She has always great fear 
 of him, the sun, that have her for his wife, and when 
 he come into the hole to sleep, she long not stay there 
 if he be cross. 
 
 " She, the moon, have great always fear of him, the 
 sun, that have her for his wife, and when he come into 
 the hole to sleeep, she long not stay there if he be cross. 
 She, the moon, have great love for her children, the 
 stars, and is happy to be traveling up where they are. 
 And they, her children, feel safe, and smile as she passes 
 along. But she, the mother, cannot help but that one 
 must go every month. It is so ordered by Pah-ah, the 
 Great Spirit, that lives above the place of all. Every 
 month he do swallow one of his children. Then the 
 mother moon feel sorrow. She must to mourn. Her 
 face she do paint it black, for child is gone. But the 
 dark you will see wear away from her face little, little, 
 little every day ; after a time we see all the face bright 
 of the mother moon. But soon he, the sun, her hus 
 band, swallow another child, and she put on again her 
 face the pitch and the black." 
 
 " But how about the comet ? " we inquired, to which 
 he replied : 
 
 " Well, sometimes you see the sun snap at one of the 
 stars, his children, and not get good, fast hold only 
 tear one hole and hurt it. It get wild of pain and go 
 fly away across the sky with great spout of blood from 
 it. It then very fraid, and as it fly, keep always its 
 head turned to watch the sun, its father, and never 
 
CELESTIAL BODIES. 97 
 
 turn away from him his face till he is far out of his 
 reach." 
 
 The old Indian picked up his stick, wrapped his 
 blanket about him, and was soon out of sight, leaving 
 queer impressions of his peculiar theory. 
 7 
 
THE INNER LIFE; OR, THE BEST 
 PART OF THE INDIAN. 
 
 WHILE I have hitherto given, in my articles, one 
 side of the Indian character, which is the brutal 
 part of his nature, it would be wrong in me not to give 
 the other side in as glowing colors as the facts will 
 admit. The reader should remember that the Indian 
 male child is taught in early life, to hunt, fish, kill, 
 travel, roam from place to place, and to exist free from 
 labor, as we view it, while the female child is drilled in 
 the arduous duties of camp life ; dressing and cooking 
 the food, taking care of children, gathering and chop 
 ping wood, and performing all the menial duties 
 incident to savage existence. The Indian who travels 
 day after day in search of game, considers that labor, 
 and this is so deemed by the squaws themselves, so 
 that when the .game comes into camp the women 
 receive it, dress it, cook it, and thus the labor is equally 
 divided between the males and females, who are called 
 upon to provide for the necessities of growing families. 
 What is particularly impressive to a white man, is the 
 heavy burdens which are borne on the backs of the 
 women, while the men carry nothing but their guns. 
 And yet the men are kind to their wives and consider 
 ate to their children. Of course woman occupies an 
 inferior position among the savages, and she gracefully 
 submits to it as a law of their race. As one tribe of 
 Indians is constantly preying upon and fighting another 
 tribe, so, in self-defense, all the males are educated for 
 
THE INNER LIFE ; OR, THE 99 
 
 war, in order that they may be able to protect their 
 defenseless women and children from their enemy ; 
 and hence a warrior must spend his time in perfecting 
 himself for battle, instead of demeaning himself by 
 work. 
 
 Nothing presents a more pleasing or a more affec 
 tionate picture, than an Indian village on the banks of 
 some loved lake, where all the social qualities of the 
 savage are brought out in bold light. The men usually 
 indulge in smoking and talking of their exploits in the 
 field, while the old women sit about the smoldering 
 embers of the tepee, and dwell in recounting exciting 
 tales of the past, and the children gambol on the 
 grassy slopes, or amuse themselves in their light canoes. 
 There is a degree of tenderness shown in these scenes 
 which is not visible generally to the casual observer, 
 and hence, the inner life of the Indian is the best part 
 of him. 
 
 It was a dark, stormy night in June, 1863, when I 
 heard a most unearthly sound, resembling, somewhat 
 the howlings of a dog, though more shrill and more 
 doleful ; and leaving my office, then located on the 
 frontier, I strolled out over the deserted camp of our 
 troops just left for a campaign against the savages 
 and proceeding along in the darkness, followed the 
 sound toward a friendly Indian lodge near by, where were 
 the women and children of the scouts of the little army 
 which was then on its way to chastise the Indians for 
 their murderous deeds, committed the year before. 
 Again came that horrible, thrilling sound, electrifying 
 my system and raising my hair on my head, but I kept 
 on in the direction from whence it emanated, until I 
 
IOO BEST PART OF THE INDIAN. 
 
 ran against the bayonet of one of our guards and heard 
 the sudden challenge " Who goes there?" 
 
 In the excitement of the moment, I forgot where I 
 was, but soon regaining consciousness, made myself 
 known to the faithful soldier, passed the lines, pene 
 trated the almost impenetrable darkness, entered a 
 dingy tepee, and there confronted two squaws, one of 
 whom held in her arms a bundle and was swaying to 
 and fro over the slowly burning embers of a few sticks 
 of half-consumed wood, and ever and anon sending up 
 one of the most mournful sounds ever heard from a 
 human throat. It swept out into the beating storm 
 like the incoming of a great wave from the ocean, 
 which, when it has reached a given point, breaks, and 
 then subsides again into the element from whence it 
 came. Starting in a low, gurgling sound, this " death 
 wail " ascended gradually higher and higher, until at 
 last it culminated in a shrill break of a female voice, 
 and then, before the sound had entirely ceased, it was 
 taken up again by the other squaw ; and so, during 
 that long and stormy night, came, and broke, and went, 
 and came, and broke, and went again, above the raging, 
 tossing, soughing winds, the moanings of that Indian 
 mother, and her friend, over the little bones of the lit 
 tle child, encased in its little blanket that lay in its 
 parent s arms. Above the raging elements I could hear 
 the following sorrowful wail : (Translated from the 
 Indian.) 
 
 " Swing, swing, little one, lullaby; 
 
 Thou rt not left alone to weep; 
 Mother s cares for you she is nigh; 
 
 Sleep, my little one, sweetly sleep; 
 Swing, swing, little one, lullaby; 
 Mother watches you she is nigh; 
 
THE INNER LIFE; OR, YllE - [ l&l 
 
 Gently, gently, wee one, swing; 
 Gently, gently, while I sing, 
 
 E-we-wa-wa-lullaby. 
 
 E- we- wa -wa-lullaby . " 
 
 To-morrow would see it pass away from her sight 
 forever! Her grief was simple, pure, deep, unaffected. 
 Neither of these mourners noticed my intrusion, and so 
 knowing that I could do them no good, I went out 
 again into the darkness, threaded my way to, and passed 
 the guard, sought my office and my couch, and dreamed 
 all night of a golden-haired little girl whom I had left 
 with her mother inside of the limits of civilization, and 
 whose imaginative little prattle made me smile in my 
 sleep as I dreamed of home, of loved ones, and of 
 friends. 
 
 The Indians have a peculiar and very interesting 
 custom of burying with their children, all their little 
 trinkets and play-things, believing that they will want 
 them in the happy hunting ground beyond the river of 
 death. They also have a custom of so preserving the 
 bodies of their children after death, that they will ap 
 pear natural for some time, and when this naturalness 
 has disappeared, and the skin becomes drawn down 
 tighly over the features, then a night is set apart for 
 the " death wail," and the next day the little one passes 
 out of their sight, and with it, all its tiny, earthly pos 
 sessions, wrapped up together, sometimes the body to 
 be elevated in the air on poles, as protection against 
 wild beasts, and sometimes to be buried in the earth 
 beyond human vision forever ! 
 
 The morning after the occurrence to which I have 
 alluded, two lone Indian women moved out from their 
 humble wigwam, carrying the bones of the dead child, 
 
102 BEST PART OF THE INDIAN. 
 
 and chanting a low, mournful sound, slowly wound up 
 the hill on to the plateau, and in plain sight of the 
 whole camp, deposited in the ground the body of their 
 little darling, and then affectionately bending over the 
 wee mound, and leaving food for the nourishment of 
 the child on its journey, they kissed the soil, and 
 wended their way back again to their lonely lodge, to 
 no longer hear the patter of the little feet, or the music 
 of the little voice, or the clasp of the little hand, or the 
 touch of the little lip, but to feel an unutterable, incom 
 prehensible void in the aching heart, as much so to the 
 Indian mother as to that of the white. 
 
 A Mr. Farney, who has but recently returned from a 
 visit among the Sioux, says that he never saw a jollier 
 camp in his life than a Sioux village. The men sit in 
 their tepees and smoke, and talk over their battles, and 
 relate jokes that are received with unrestrained grunts 
 and gurgles of laughter. The squaws are soft-voiced 
 and graceful, and show a genuine mother love for their 
 children. He met a squaw when out on a sketching 
 tour with his Indian guide, who was running to fetch a 
 medicine man, thirty miles away, to cure her sick baby. 
 He told her to get into the wagon, and he would take 
 her as far on her way as he was going, and .he says the 
 woman s grief was the most pathetic thing he ever saw. 
 Her face was covered close with her blanket, and she 
 sobbed and wept every moment of the way, nearly an 
 hour s ride. The Indian Rachel refusing to be com 
 forted, and the dusky girls singing softly in the moon 
 light, are what strike the artist s vision. 
 
 The Sioux pluck out every vestige of eyebrows and 
 paint their faces a bright vermilion red and a ghastly 
 yellow ; they move without a sound of their moccasin- 
 
THE INNER LIFE; OR, THE IO3 
 
 clad feet, and wrap their blankets about them so as to 
 conceal their face, all but the brow and nose and a pair 
 of luminous black eyes, rendered the more horrible by 
 lack of eyebrows. Many of the beardless and full- 
 featured braves have a certain serenity of manner that 
 reminded the artist of nice old ladies. The old squaws, 
 who bear the burdens of life, are horribly wrinkled and 
 worn. A little girl, six years old, was arrayed for com 
 pany in the following manner : She was painted a fine 
 vermilion, daubed with yellow, and wore a cape studded 
 with elk teeth, worth some hundreds of dollars. 
 
 He assisted at a Sioux musicale that would have 
 delighted the society for the prevention of music. A 
 young Indian of some quality sat in the center of the 
 tepee with a big drum before him, on which he beat 
 occasional discords. His young friends dropped in by 
 twos and threes, and each hammered out his discord, 
 smoked a pipe, took a cup of hot dog soup, and went 
 his way. This thing was continued all the afternoon, 
 and was a swell event in the village. 
 
 The outward, or exterior life of the Indian, is war, 
 revenge, death, brutality, conquest ! He is so educated 
 from childhood. Traditionary history teaches him to 
 never forget a wrong, especially on the part of another 
 tribe, and these ideas are inculcated in the young, and 
 so one generation after another possesses this blood 
 thirsty element. His inner, or domestic life, is different. 
 It is seldom or ever we hear of wife-murder among the 
 Indians, or of divorces, or wrangling in his family, al 
 though this sometimes does occur. To a great degree 
 he lives and shares in common with his fellow Indians, 
 is dependent one upon the other, and hence it is for his 
 interest to be kind to his family and to his neighbors 
 
IO4 BEST PART OF THE INDIAN. 
 
 Prior to the introduction of the customs of the whites 
 among them, no nation was more victorious, and no peo 
 pie have a stronger or a more settled belief in the ex 
 istence of a Great Spirit, and in the hereafter, than the 
 Indians. Aside from his war-like proclivities, which, as 
 I have already said, come from his education, he is 
 kind, generous, faithful to his word, brave, affectionate, 
 truthful, and yet, lurking beneath all these, is a spirit 
 of treachery, which seems to be a part of his existence. 
 He draws his inspiration from nature and is therefore a 
 child of nature ; and if the whites had never wronged 
 him, he would have been their best friend, as this is 
 abundantly proven by the early history of these In 
 dians when in a primitive state. His attachments are 
 strong and his friendships lasting. Of course when war 
 has been declared by the chiefs, all have to come under 
 the rules of their mode of fighting, just as the people 
 of the South sided with the Southern Confederacy; 
 and while, therefore, some may be opposed to the in 
 discriminate slaughter and torture of the enemy, yet 
 all must conform to the general rule ; and yet, in the 
 great massacre, in Minnesota, in 1862, Other-Day and 
 Old Bets, and their companions, defied this rule at the 
 risk of being killed, and very materially aided in saving 
 the lives of a great many whites. 
 
 It is pleasant to contemplate, that for several years 
 past, the Indians have been making rapid progress 
 toward civilization, and in the next ten years it is fair 
 to presume that they will become an agricultural and 
 herding people with many of the accessories and some 
 of the accomplishments of the whites, capable of self- 
 government as a state by themselves. They are rap- 
 
THE INNER LIFE OF THE INDIAN. 1 05 
 
 idly drifting toward that way. Apropos to this, I find 
 the following paragraph in a late Western paper: 
 
 "Who will doubt that our Indians may be civilized? 
 Young Hole-in-the-Day, son of the old Chippewa chief 
 of that name, has, with a number of Indians from the 
 White Earth reservation, been industriously working 
 among the farmers in this vicinity during harvest. 
 They bear the reputation of being good, steady labor 
 ers at binding, shocking, etc. And now, as we write, 
 Hole-in-the-Day is doing the band-cutting for a thresh 
 ing outfit, while the rest of the Indians are teaming 
 and pitching equally well with the white men on the 
 same job. Hole-in-the-Day has ten acres of wheat of 
 his own at White Earth, and the others there have as 
 high as twenty or twenty-five acres each, and their 
 crops will, from all accounts, compare favorably with 
 any in this section." 
 
 Hole-in-the-Day, the Chippewa chief, to whom fre 
 quent mention is made in these pages, was the father 
 of the present young man to whom the above reference 
 applies. A quarter of a century, even in the experience 
 of the author, has made great and material changes in 
 the character of the Indians of the Northwest, and 
 everything indicates a more rapid advance to civiliza 
 tion in the future than in the past. 
 
 When the exterior life of the Indian has been out 
 grown, the interior man will develop, and this develop 
 ment will bring to the surface, a bright diamond, now 
 hid amid the vast rubbish, of decaying barbarism and 
 unparalleled wickedness on the part of the whites. 
 
AN-PE-TU-SA-PA.* 
 
 A LEGEND OF ST. ANTHONY FALLS. 
 
 VARIOUS writers on Indian history concede the 
 fact that away back in the past, an Indian wom 
 an committed suicide with her children, by floating her 
 canoe over the Falls of St. Anthony, and the legends 
 seem to be well authenticated. Among the many ac 
 counts given of this tragical event, we find the state 
 ment of Shoot-from-the-Pine-Tree, an old Indian whose 
 mother witnessed the scene, as the most truthful. It 
 is told by Major Stephen H. Long, of the United 
 States army, and is no doubt a true history of a painful 
 event. The narrator says : 
 
 " A young Indian, of the Sioux nation, had espoused 
 a wife, with whom he had lived happily for a few years, 
 enjoying every comfort of which a savage life is sus 
 ceptible. To crown the felicity of the happy couple, 
 they had been blessed with two lovely children, on 
 whom they doted with the utmost affection. During 
 this time the young man, by dint of activity and per 
 severance, signalized himself in an eminent degree, as a 
 hunter, having met with universal success in the chase. 
 This circumstance contributed to raise him high in the 
 estimation of his fellow savages and to draw a crowd 
 of admirers about him, which operated as a spur to his 
 ambition. At length some of his newly acquired 
 friends, desirous of forming a connection which must 
 
 * Clouded Day. Ha ! Ha ! or Roaring, or Loud Laughing Water, is the In 
 dian name for the Falls of St. Anthony. 
 
 106 
 
AN-PE-TU-SA-PA. IO/ 
 
 operate greatly to their advantage, suggested the pro 
 priety of his taking another wife, as it would be impos 
 sible for one woman to manage his household affairs 
 and wait upon all the guests his rising importance 
 would call to visit him ; that his importance to the na 
 tion was everywhere known and acknowledged, and 
 that in all probability he would soon be called upon to 
 preside as their chief. His vanity was fired at the 
 thought ; he yielded an easy compliance with their 
 wishes, and accepted a wife they had already selected 
 for him. 
 
 " After his second marriage, it became an object with 
 him to take his new wife home and reconcile his first 
 wife to the match, which he was desirous of accom 
 plishing in the most delicate manner that circumstances 
 would admit. For this purpose he returned to his first 
 wife, who was yet ignorant of what had taken place, 
 and by dissimulation attempted to beguile her into an 
 approbation of the step he had taken. You know, 
 said he, I can love no one so much as I love you ; yet 
 I see that our connection subjects you to hardships and 
 fatigue too great for you to endure. This grieves me 
 much, but I know of only one remedy by which you 
 can be relieved, and which, with your concurrence, shall 
 be adopted. My friends, from all parts of the nation, 
 come to visit me, and my house is constantly thronged 
 by those who come to pay their respects, while you 
 alone are under the necessity of laboring hard in order 
 to cook their food and wait upon them. They are 
 daily becoming more numerous, and your duties are 
 becoming more arduous every day. You must be sen 
 sible that I am rising high in the esteem of the nation, 
 and I have sufficient grounds to expect that I shall, be- 
 
108 AN-PE-TU-SA-PA. 
 
 fore long, be a chief. These considerations have in 
 duced me to take another wife, but my affection for 
 you has so far prevailed over my inclination in this 
 respect, as to lead me to solicit your approbation before 
 I adopt the measure. The wife I take shall be subject 
 to your control in every respect, and will be always 
 second to you in my affections. 
 
 "She listened to his narrative with the utmost anxiety 
 and concern, and endeavored to reclaim him from his. 
 purpose, refuting all the reasons and pretences his du 
 plicity had urged in favor of it, by unanswerable argu 
 ments, the suggestions of unaffected love and conjugal 
 affection. He left her, however, to meditate upon the 
 subject, in hopes that she would at length give over 
 her objections and consent to his wishes. She, in the 
 meantime, redoubled her industry, and treated him in 
 variably with more marked tenderness than she had 
 done before ; resolved to try every means in her power 
 to dissuade him from the execution of his purpose. She 
 still, however, found him bent upon it. She pleaded 
 all the endearments of their former life, the regard had 
 for the happiness of herself and the offspring of their 
 mutual love, to prevail on him to relinguish the idea of 
 taking another wife. She warned him of the fatal con 
 sequences that would result to their family upon his 
 taking such a step. At length he was induced to com 
 municate the event of his marriage. He then told her 
 that a compliance on her part would be absolutely 
 necessary ; that if she could not receive his new wife as 
 a friend and companion, she must admit her as a neces 
 sary incumbrance ; at all events, they must live to 
 gether. She was determined, however, not to remain 
 the passive dupe of his hypocrisy. She took her two 
 
AN-PE-TU-SA-PA. 109 
 
 children, left his house and went to reside with her 
 parents. Soon after she returned to her father s family, 
 she joined them and others of her friends in an expedL 
 tion up the Mississippi to spend the winter in hunting. 
 " In the spring, as they were returning laden with 
 peltries, she and her children occupied a canoe by them 
 selves. On arriving near the Falls of St. Anthony, she 
 lingered by the way till the rest had all landed, a little 
 above the chute. She then painted herself and her 
 children, paddled her canoe immediately into the whirl 
 ing eddy of the rapids, and commenced singing her 
 death song, in which she recounted the happy scenes 
 she had passed through, when she enjoyed the undi 
 vided affection of her husband, and the wretchedness 
 in which she was involved by his inconstancy. In his 
 interesting legends of the Northwest, the author gives 
 this death song in the following lines: 
 
 1 Mi-hi-hn-a ! * Mihihna ! my heart is stone; 
 The light has gone from my longing eyes; 
 The wounded loon in the lake alone 
 Her death-song sings to the moon and dies. 
 
 Mihihna ! Mihihna ! the path is long, 
 The burden is heavy and hard to bear; 
 I sink I die ! and my dying song 
 Is a song of joy to the false one s ear ! 
 
 1 Mihihna ! Mihihna ! my young heart flew 
 Far away with my brave to the bison chase; 
 To the battle it went with my warrior true, 
 And never returned till I saw his face. 
 
 1 Mihihna ! Mihihna ! the boy I bore 
 When the robin sang and my brave was true, 
 I can bear to look on his face no more, 
 For he looks, Mihihna, so much like you. 
 
 * Mee-heen-yah My husband. 
 
I IO AN-PE-TU-SA-PA. 
 
 * Mihihna ! Mihihna ! the Scarlet Leaf 
 Has robbed my boy of his father s love; 
 He sleeps in my arms he will find no grief 
 In the star-lit lodge in the land above. 
 
 * Mihihna ! Mihihna ! my heart is stone; 
 The light is gone from my longing eyes; 
 The wounded loon in the lake alone 
 
 Her death-song sings to the moon and dies." 
 
 " Her friends, alarmed at her situation, ran to the 
 shore and begged her to paddle out of the current, 
 while her parents, in the agonies of despair, rending 
 their clothes and tearing out their hair, besought her to 
 come to their arms. But all to no purpose ; her wretch 
 edness was complete, and must terminate only with 
 her existence. She continued her course till she was 
 borne headlong down the roaring cataract, and instant 
 ly dashed to pieces on the rocks below. No traces of 
 either herself and her children, or the boat were ever 
 found afterward. Her brothers, to be avenged of the 
 the untimely fate of their sister, embraced the first 
 opportunity and killed her husband, whom they con 
 sidered the cause of her death, a custom sanctioned by 
 the usage of the Indians, from time immemorial." 
 
 It is alleged that the spirit of An-pe-tu-sa-pa sits upon 
 the island below the Falls, at night, and pours forth 
 her sorrow in song; and it is also stated, with a consid 
 erable degree of certainty, that there are parties who, 
 on moonlight evenings, can see the fated canoe, with 
 the unfortunate mother and her innocent children, 
 rushing swiftly along into the jaws of death. 
 
MY LAST NIGHT IN A SIOUX INDIAN 
 CAMP. 
 
 THE year following the great Indian massacre, 
 wherein nearly one thousand innocent settlers 
 lost their lives, Gen. Sibley was authorized to fit out an 
 army of troops then ready for the South, and pursue 
 the guilty savages and annihilate them, if possible, but 
 at any rate, drive them into and across the Missouri 
 river. The latter point he accomplished, and he was 
 sagacious enough to see, that previous to starting out, 
 it was essentially necessary to have Indian scouts to 
 pilot his army over the trackless plains and detect the 
 movements of the enemy ; so he chose from those sav 
 ages then at his command, such a number as he could 
 trust, and in order to secure good faith on their part, 
 they agreed to leave their women and children in his 
 possession as hostages, during their absence. The 
 camp of these friendly Indians was located several 
 miles from our own, for various reasons, among which 
 were, that they would be removed from the viciousness 
 of the soldiers, and would act as an outlying or alarming 
 post to the main camp. The only man among these 
 friendly Indians, was a fat, pussy half-breed, by the 
 name of Le Rock, who had general charge of their 
 waats, and as none of the soldiers had permission to 
 enter the Indian line, of course they were as secluded 
 as though a thousand miles away. My duties as Com 
 missary and Quartermaster, brought me in daily con 
 tact with these Indians, and I had, therefore, more 
 
 111 
 
112 MY LAST NIGHT IN A 
 
 favorable opportunities for observation than others; 
 and to their credit, let me say, I never had occasion to 
 find fault with any of their acts. The women used to 
 come into my office, and by way of banter, call me 
 " squaw foot," a name they gave me in consequence of 
 the smallness of my feet ; but they were never trouble 
 some, never meddlesome, never impudent. 
 
 An Indian girl is the very essence of timidity, and 
 this is especially so, if she is beautiful, and when con 
 fronting a white man, she will cringe and dodge and 
 peep from behind her mother, and even blush as the 
 eye of the spectator is fixed upon her. The older 
 women were modest and retiring, and I never knew one 
 to enter my office unless invited, which, I must confess, 
 was an exception to a general rule in Indian character, 
 for they usually bob in and out, when and where they 
 please. Perhaps the fact that I fed these Indians, and 
 that they received full and good rations, led them to 
 suppose I was " Wa-kon," or sacred, for they well knew, 
 from actual experience, that the general run of Govern 
 ment officers was to steal from them all they could. 
 Be this as it may, they entertained the highest regard 
 for me, and I can only account for it on the ground 
 that I dealt fairly and justly by them. 
 
 The rush, the bustle, and the excitement of the 
 camp, had come and gone! Three thousand soldiers 
 were trudging over the plains in search of the savages, 
 while only a few men were left to guard the fort ; and 
 then, after several weeks, came the order to "vacate," 
 and myself and brother officers began picking up the 
 odds and ends of the camp, preparatory to a stampede 
 toward civilization. While in the midst of this duty, 
 appeared Le Rock, who, having heard of our contenu 
 
SIOUX INDIAN CAMP. 113 
 
 
 
 plated moving, came to invite me to spend the last 
 night of my frontier duty in his tepee. Indeed, he 
 conveyed the gratifying intelligence that the whole 
 Indian outfit had extended the invitation ; and so, 
 reasoning that probably this would be my last oppor 
 tunity to mingle with the uncouth, yet kindly-hearted 
 red people and time has demonstrated the correctness 
 of my conclusions I consented to go. 
 
 The afternoon of the evening before we broke camp 
 was beautiful. I buckled on two loaded pistols, slipped 
 a large knife into my belt, and, calling for my favorite 
 horse, mounted and turned his head in the direction 
 of the Indian camp. Nothing was more lovely than 
 the scene that met my view. Stretching off for five or 
 six miles was the Yellow Medicine valley, and from the 
 top of the hills that lined it on either side the land 
 scape was of a most charming character. I now was 
 on ground but lately traversed by Indian war-parties ; 
 on ground where sickening scenes had transpired ; on 
 ground owned by the Indians; and on ground but 
 recently the home of Little Crow, the great Sioux 
 chief, who had^ instigated the war. On the brow of a 
 hill to the left, in imagination, I could see the family 
 of Joe Reynolds fleeing from the infuriated savages; 
 could hear the screams of the females, as the red devils 
 made hot pursuit; could hear the crushing of the 
 tomahawks into the skulls of two of the women ; could 
 see the. struggling Miss Williams, trying to get free 
 from a fate worse than death ; could almost feel the 
 presence of the enemy at my side. My courage failed 
 me, and I turned back; and yet, how beautiful! how 
 still ! how grand ! Nature never looked more charm 
 ing, more inviting, more lovely. " No," I soliloquized, 
 8 
 
114 MY LAST NIGHT IN A 
 
 " I will go ahead ; it is my last chance, and if I fall 
 by the bullets of some Indian spy, who may be lurking 
 in the neighborhood, my wish is to die at once ; not by 
 a lingering death of torture; and then, plucking up 
 courage, I turned my horse s head, and was soon on a 
 brisk canter up the valley. 
 
 Arriving at the camp, the first to greet me were 
 about fifty dogs, whose furious barking was echoed 
 back from the hills ; then followed the imposing figure 
 of Le Rock ; then fifty newly-painted female faces, 
 with large, luminous black eyes, peeping out from 
 under shawls and blankets, and tepees ; and the low 
 giggle and soft voice announced my coming. Le Rock 
 treated me with great cordiality, and the women would 
 look down on the ground and laugh at my feet. There 
 might have been some twenty-five tepees in all, located 
 near the edge of a forest and contiguous to water, but 
 with no rule as to regularity. I was conducted to each 
 one of these tepees and formally introduced, and then, 
 later in the evening, was invited to a singing-school, at 
 which all the women were present, except those either 
 unwell, or detained at home by sickness in the family. 
 This singing-school was an imposing scene in Indian 
 life, and was intended to show me how the Indians 
 were progressing in civilization, for during the evening 
 " Mary, to the Savior s Tomb," " Old Hundred," and 
 other familiar religious hymns, translated into the In 
 dian language, were sung by the girls, and apparently 
 greatly enjoyed by them. Then followed an address 
 by myself, in which I recapitulated the pleasures I expe 
 rienced in attending singing-school in New England, 
 and going home with the girls, coupled by compliment 
 ary allusions to their excellent behavior and the rapid 
 
SIOUX INDIAN CAMP. 115 
 
 progress they had made. A good many eyes sparkled, 
 a good many lips smiled, a good many ears tingled, 
 and a good many cheeks blushed when the interpreter 
 conveyed to my hearers what I had been saying ; and 
 altogether it was an enjoyable evening, for I had for 
 gotten that the husbands and fathers of these very 
 people had been engaged in the massacre of the whites 
 the year before ; had forgotten the peculiar feelings in 
 the afternoon as I rode to their camp ; had forgotten 
 the dangerous position I was then in, when only a few 
 savages could have killed us all; forgotten that I had 
 yet a night to pass through before morning would put 
 me inside of the circle of safety. I consoled myself, 
 however, with the thought that whatever might hap 
 pen it was of my own choosing, and what was to be 
 would be. 
 
 At about eleven o clock Le Rock escorted me to his 
 " grand " lodge which differed from the others only in 
 size, and pointing to the post of " honor" opposite to 
 the entrance directed my eye to a feather bed, with 
 pillow-cases, sheets, etc. In the center of the tepee 
 was a poor apology for a fire, while on the right was 
 the bed of an old woman a widow and her child and 
 on the left was the inviting couch of my entertainer, 
 which consisted of an old Buffalo robe, a soiled pair of 
 blankets, and a greasy pillow. My bed had belonged 
 to one of the unfortunate white settlers who had fallen 
 a victim to savage revenge, and had been carefully 
 manipulated for my use. As it was a very warm even 
 ing in June, and as I had a strap buckled about my 
 body, in which were two heavy pistols, and there was 
 a fire in the tepee, the outlook for a cool and refreshing 
 sleep, was anything but pleasant ; in addition to which, 
 
Il6 MY LAST NIGHT IN A 
 
 I was determined that my pistols should never leave 
 my side, and consequently could not disrobe, so that, 
 after I had thrown myself upon the feather bed and 
 swallowed a half-dozen whiffs of smoke, which was 
 driven down into the lodge, I began to sweat and to 
 mentally swear over the awful plight I was in, and yet 
 I could not abuse the hospitality of one who had been 
 so kind. Le Rock bundled in with his squaw a poor, 
 half-frightened-to-death, over-worked creature and in 
 one minute was in a sound sleep, his heavy breathings 
 being like the swells of the ocean ; and when he got 
 fully under way, his snoring absolutely shook the lodge 
 pole and dispelled all sleep from my thoughts. 
 
 And there I lay, sweating, and thinking and listening, 
 the smoke making the water run from my eyes, and the 
 noise outside forcing me to imagine that the hostile 
 Indians were about to make an attack upon the camp, 
 until, all of a sudden, about twelve o clock, the woman 
 on my left shot up as straight as though pulled by a 
 string, crossed her limbs, took her pipe, gave several 
 puffs, uttered a grunt, and instantly the son followed 
 the example of his mother. Passing the pipe to the 
 lad, the old squaw arose, stirred up the dying embers, 
 filled the tepee full of smoke, put on a huge iron pot, 
 and gathering up a double-handful of the entrails of an 
 ox, given to them the day before, placed them in the 
 pot, rilled it with water and began stirring for the even 
 ing meal. " Good Heavens," I said to myself mentally, 
 " can this be for me ? How shall I elude this terrible 
 catastrophe?" And while thus devising some means 
 to escape the ordeal, up came Le Rock like an arrow, 
 who seized the pipe, gave a puff and immediately after 
 followed his wife, going through with the same antics. 
 
SIOUX INDIAN CAMP. II 7 
 
 And then the water in the pot bubbled and boiled and the 
 old woman stirred in the dirt and more smoke swept 
 down upon my unfortunate head and the sweat poured 
 off me in great drops, but I had made up my mind 
 what to do / would never touch that dish and if 
 invited to do so, I would be sound asleep, " just as sure 
 as shooting! " 
 
 True enough, Le Rock approached my bed, shook 
 me I was lost in the arms of Morpheus but, finally 
 came to consciousness, plead sickness, was very sorry, 
 etc., and at last was permitted to go on with my 
 pleasurable sweating, while my companions "waded 
 in," and disposed of the contents of that six quart pot, 
 inside of thirty minutes; and then, tumbling over like 
 logs into their beds, snored until morning. I can truth 
 fully say, I never passed a more terrible night in my 
 life than on this occasion, not that the Indians were to 
 blame for it was their modes, their habits, their cus 
 toms but I could not conform to them. Had I divested 
 myself of all fear in the first place, settled my mind that 
 all was right in the second place, partook of their food 
 in the third place, smoked their pipe in the fourth 
 place as most men would have done it is quite likely 
 I should have passed a pleasant time, but memory now 
 only recalls one of the most horrible nights and I am 
 glad it was the last that I ever spent in a Sioux 
 Indian camp. 
 
PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. 
 
 THEIR BELIEF IN THE SUPERNATURAL ALL SORTS 
 OF SPIRITS THAT ROAM EVERYWHERE- 
 SPIRITUAL MEDIUMS. 
 
 ONE who is familiar with Indian history cannot 
 but be impressed with the universal belief that 
 prevails among all the savage tribes of the existence 
 of spirits that dwell everywhere, and roam throughout 
 the domain of this material world ; nor can he forget 
 that they have an abiding faith in a future, which they 
 term the " happy hunting ground." They say that the 
 " bridge of souls " leads from the earth, over dark and 
 stormy waters, to the spirit land. The Indian deity is 
 supposed to be invisible, yet everywhere present ; he is 
 an avenger and searcher of hearts. They also aver 
 that the Indian has three souls, and that after death 
 that which has done well goes to the warm country, 
 that which has done evil goes to the cold region, and 
 that the other guards the body. When a Dakota is 
 sick he thinks the spirit of an enemy or some animal 
 has entered into his body, and the principal business of 
 the " medicine man " is to cast out the unclean spirit 
 with incantations and charms. Nearly all the Dakotas 
 believe in witches and witchcraft ; and they hold that 
 the "milky way" in the heavens is the pathway of the 
 spirits; and also believe that over this pathway the 
 spirits of the dead pass to the spirit land. 
 
 Unk-te-hee is the Great Spirit of all, who created the 
 earth and man, and who formerly dwelt in a vast cav- 
 
 118 
 
PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. 1 19 
 
 ern under the Falls of St. Anthony, which, they be 
 lieved, were in the center of the earth, and from which 
 a path led to the great beyond. This Deity sometimes 
 reveals himself in the form of a huge buffalo bull. From 
 him proceed invisible influences. Previous to forming 
 the earth, he assembled in grand conclave, all the 
 aquatic tribes, and ordered them to bring up dirt from 
 beneath the waters, proclaiming death to the disobe 
 dient. The beaver and otter forfeited their lives. At 
 last the muskrat went beneath the water, and, after a 
 long time, appeared at the surface, nearly exhausted, 
 with some dirt. From this Unk-te-hee fashioned the 
 earth into a large circular plane. The earth being fin 
 ished, he took a deity, one of his own offspring, and 
 grinding him to powder, sprinkled it upon the earth, 
 and this produced many worms. The worms were then 
 collected and scattered again. They matured into in 
 fants, and these were then collected and scattered and 
 became full-grown Dakotas. 
 
 Some hold to the theory that the evil or bad spirit is 
 what is called a Thunder Bird, while others, that it is a 
 great black spider, which inhabits fens and marshes, and 
 lies in wait for his prey. At night he often lights a torch 
 evidently the jack-o-lantern and swings it on the 
 marshes to decoy the unwary into his toils. The Great 
 Unk-te-hee and the Great Thunder Bird, or Great Spider, 
 had a terrible battle to determine which should be the 
 ruler of the world, but Unk-te-hee conquered. 
 
 Carver s cave was called by the Dakotas, " Wa-kan- 
 Tepee" sacred lodge. In his book of travels, Carver 
 says : " It is a remarkable cave, of an amazing depth. 
 The Indians term it Wakan tepee/ that is, the dwell- 
 
I2O PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. 
 
 ing of the Great Spirit. It is now the receptacle for 
 lager beer." 
 
 A beautiful belief is, that the stars are the spirits of 
 their departed friends, and that meteors are messengers 
 from the land of spirits, warning off impending danger; 
 that the evening star is the Virgin Star, and is the spirit 
 of the Virgin wrongfully accused at the feast. 
 
 The sun they consider the Father ; so they believe 
 the earth to be the mother of all life. The Indian 
 swears by the Father as " An-pe-tu-wee hear me ; 
 this is true." They also pray thus : " Wa-kan ! Ate, 
 on-she-ma-da ! Sacred Spirit Father ! have mercy upon 
 me!" 
 
 Toon-Kan, or Inyan, is the stone idol or god of 
 the Dakotas. This god dwells in stone and in rock, 
 and is, they say, the oldest god of all grandfather of 
 all living things. Some writers think, and with consid 
 erable reason, that the stone is merely the symbol of 
 the everlasting, all pervading, invisible Ta-koo-wa-kan 
 the essence of all life pervading all nature, animate 
 and inanimate. Rev. Mr. Riggs, says: 
 
 " The religious faith of the Dakotas is not in his god 
 as such. It is an intangible, mysterious something of 
 which they are only the embodiment, and that in such 
 measure and degree as may accord with the individual 
 fancy of the worshiper. Each one will worship some 
 of these divinities, or neglect, or despise others, but the 
 great object of all their worship, whatever its chosen 
 medium, is the Ta-koo Wa-kan, which is the super 
 natural and mysterious. It comprehends all mystery, 
 secret power and divinity. Awe and reverence are its 
 due, and it is as unlimited in manifestation as it is in 
 ideas. All life is Wa-kan ; so, also, is everything which 
 
PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. 121 
 
 exhibits power, whether in action as the winds and 
 drifting clouds, or in passive endurance, as the boulder 
 by the wayside. For even the commonest stick and 
 stones have a spiritual essence, which must be rever 
 enced as a manifestation of the all-pervading, mysterious 
 power that fills the universe." 
 
 God, in the Dakota tongue is Wa-kan Tan-ka, which 
 means, Big Spirit, or the Big Mysterious. The medi 
 cine men claim to be aided by unseen spirits, and hence 
 are called "men supernatural." They assert they are 
 the sons or disciples of Unk-te-hee. The sacred O-zu- 
 ha, or medicine sack, must be made of the skin of the 
 otter, the coon, the weasel, the squirrel, a certain kind 
 of fish, or the skin^of serpents. It must contain four 
 kinds of medicine (or magic), representing birds, beasts, 
 herbs and trees, viz : The down of the female swan, 
 colored red, the roots of certain grasses, bark from the 
 roots of cedar trees, and hair of the Buffalo. From 
 this combination proceeds a Wa-kan influence, so pow 
 erful that no human being, unassisted, can resist it. 
 Mr. Riggs says : " By great shrewdness, untiring in 
 dustry, and more or less of actual demonical possession, 
 they convince great numbers of their fellows, and, in 
 the process are convinced themselves, of their sacred 
 character and office." 
 
 The Good or Great Spirit is called " Mi-cha-bo." " In 
 autumn, in the moon of the falling leaf, ere he com 
 poses himself for his winter s sleep, he fills his great 
 pipe and takes a god-like smoke. The balmy clouds 
 from his pipe float over the hills and woodlands, filling 
 the air with the haze of Indian summer." The Jossa- 
 keeds are soothsayers, who are able, by the aid of 
 spirits, to read the past as well as the future. 
 
122 PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. 
 
 " Ka-be-bon-ik-ka " is the god of storms, thunder, 
 lightning, etc. By his magic, the giant that lies on the 
 mountain was turned to stone. He always gives war 
 nings before he finally sends the severe cold of winter, 
 in order that all creatures may have time to prepare 
 for it. There are also water spirits, that dwell in cav 
 erns in the depths of the lake, and in some respects re 
 semble the Unk-te-hee of the Dakota. This is a Chip- 
 pewa spirit. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable, that nearly every spirit 
 ual medium in this country and in Europe, claims that 
 he or she is guided by an invisible Indian chief, and 
 that the so-called human forms that are materialized in 
 spiritual circles, are produced by Indian spirits. The 
 reasons assigned for this are, that the Indian, being 
 more closely allied to nature than to any other race, and 
 believing in the spiritual theory, having never been 
 hampered with religious bigotry, as are the whites, have 
 less to overcome when they pass away, and have greater 
 power to return at the option of their will. This idea 
 I have woven into my Indian legend called " Min-ne- 
 too-ka," and by perusing it the reader will get a very 
 correct idea of the spiritual belief that pertains to all 
 Indian tribes, no matter how savage their natures, or 
 how domesticated their tastes. 
 
 Major James W. Lynd, in his MS. history of the Da- 
 kotas, in the Minnesota Historical Society, says: 
 
 " The belief in the powers of some of the Dakotas to 
 call up and converse with the spirits of the dead, is 
 strong, though not general. They frequently make 
 feasts to their spirits and elicit information from them, 
 of distant relatives or friends. Assembling at night in 
 a lodge, they smoke, put out the fire, and then draw- 
 
PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. 123 
 
 ing their blankets over their heads, remain singing in 
 unison, in a low key, until the spirit gives them a pict 
 ure. This they pretend the spirit does, and many a 
 hair-erecting tale is told of spirits power to reveal hid 
 den things and to communicate unknown facts. 
 
 " In 1830 a war-party of Sioux went in search of the 
 Chippewas, and those left at home became anxious for 
 their return, when an old woman, ninety years of age, 
 said she would consult the spirits; so a lodge was 
 cleared, a small fire kindled, and the old woman en- 
 .tered, closing the door after her tightly. Seating her 
 self she lighted the black pipe, and after smoking for a 
 time, laid it aside, beat out the fire, and then drawing 
 her blanket over her head, she commenced to sing in a 
 low key, in anticipation of revelations from the spirits. 
 Crowds of women and children, with a few old men, 
 surrounded the lodge, awaiting anxiously for what 
 should happen. Suddenly the old woman was heard 
 to cry out as if in extreme terror, and hastily throwing 
 open the door they found her lying upon the ground 
 in a swoon. On coming to, she related that she had a 
 terrible picture. Fourteen men rose up from the west, 
 bloody and without their scalps, and thirteen rose up 
 up from the east with blood upon their forms, and were 
 in the act of falling. This referred to the advanced 
 body of the Sioux that had gone ahead. Four days 
 after this revelation the Sioux came home with four 
 teen scalps, but with thirteen of their own party on 
 biers, which confirmed the old woman s statement in 
 every respect. Certain men also profess to have an 
 unusual amount of the Wa-kan, or divine principle in 
 them. By it they assume to work miracles, laying on 
 of hands, curing the sick, etc., and many more wonder- 
 
124 PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. 
 
 ful operations. Some of them pretend to recollect a 
 former state of existence, even naming the particular 
 body they formerly lived in. Others again, assert a 
 power over nature, and their faculty of seeing into 
 futurity and of conversing with the deities. 
 
 The Arabs believe that when a man rises up from 
 sleep in the morning, the spirit of God sits upon his 
 right shoulder, and the Devil on his left. A Turi-Arab, 
 therefore, on awaking, invariably repeats the exercising 
 formula: "I seek refuge in God from Satan accursed 
 with stones," sprinkling himself, when possible, with 
 water, as he utters the words. Without this precaution 
 they believe the good spirit would take flight and the 
 evil one would remain with them throughout the day. 
 At sunset the same ceremony is repeated. 
 
 For some information contained in this article, out 
 side of my own knowledge, I am indebted to H. L. 
 Gordon, Revs. Riggs, Neil and Pond, all of whom are 
 excellently well posted on Indian history, and are the 
 very best authorities from whom I could quote as 
 to the beliefs and peculiar traditions of the Indians of 
 the Northwest. 
 
 An old soldier, whose name I cannot obtain, gives to 
 the press some interesting information that was con 
 veyed to him by the celebrated Indian Missionary, 
 Father De Smet, who for years mingled with the 
 Indians on the Missouri river, and who was among the 
 very first in the country to discover gold in the Black 
 Hills after whom the celebrated Father De Smet 
 mine was named but who studiously kept his dis 
 covery a secret, fearing that, if known, it would demor 
 alize the Indians. The old officer and the good father 
 sat down together on the banks of the muddy Missouri, 
 
PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. 125 
 
 on a moonlight night, in 1870, and from some of the 
 experiences of his thirty-five years of missionary life, 
 he gave the following: 
 
 "I have heard a great many traditions among the 
 Indians from their own mouths, speaking and under 
 standing, as I do, many of their languages. Some of 
 these traditions are very poetical, and suggestive of 
 chapters in the Scriptures. The Indians all believe in 
 spirits, good and evil, who again are subordinate to the 
 one Great Spirit. When the young man becomes about 
 sixteen years of age, he is placed under penance. That 
 is, he is put by himself, generally in the woods, and is 
 obliged to fast as long as his constitution can stand it. 
 Some of these aspirants for future fame go without 
 eating for seven or eight days. They do nothing 
 during this time but sleep and dream. Toward the 
 end, when they become feverish, they speak aloud in 
 their dreams. The aged parents then listen, and if the 
 young man, among his wandering words, mentions any 
 particular plant, tree, bird, or animal, the name of such 
 plant, tree, bird, or animal will be that of his particular 
 spirit all through life. This name will be given to him 
 after some appropriate adjectives have been added 
 thereto. He will wear something suggestive of it 
 about his person, and it is firmly believed by him that 
 this special spirit will assist him in battle, and in hunt 
 ing excursions, and that he will stand between him and 
 danger. 
 
 " All the Indians believe, in their own crude way, of 
 a future. Their idea of the hereafter is that when one 
 of them dies he is piloted by his own individual spirit, 
 toward an immense island, which, far off to the west, 
 rises into a high mountain, reaching into the clouds, 
 
126 PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. 
 
 and upon the summit of which sits the Supreme Spirit. 
 From this point of observation the Great Spirit over 
 looks the universe. Here He puts the sun to bed every 
 night and sends out his moon and his stars, and hence 
 he launches forth when angry his thunder and his 
 lightning. On the island are the most beautiful rivers 
 rilled with fish, and the woods are alive with buffalo, 
 and other desirable game. But it is not every departed 
 brave who is permitted to enter this Garden of Eden. 
 To reach the same the Indian has to cross a /ery wide 
 and rapid stream by means of a dead tree lying across 
 the same. In the middle of the stream and a few feet 
 from the natural bridge, just beyond the reach of the 
 wanderer, hangs a grape-vine, with clusters of ripe 
 grapes. A good and brave Indian will cross the log 
 without reaching for the grapes, for he is strong-hearted 
 and needs no refreshments to help him along in his 
 journey, but the faint-hearted, cowardly, lazy and bad 
 Indian will go upon the log frightened and tired out ; 
 he will grasp for the grapes, fall into the torrent and be 
 carried to a marshy place, where there are neither fish 
 nor game, save a few coyotes and frogs. 
 
 " The origin of the human race some of them explain 
 as follows : The Great Spirit first created a little boy 
 who was upon the earth all alone for many years, but 
 the boy felt lonesome, became melancholy and began 
 crying until he fell asleep. The spirit then sent to him 
 a little girl and she was called his sister and they lived 
 as such together for many years. After the little girl 
 grew up to be a woman she fell asleep one day and had 
 a dream that five men came to her hut and knocked 
 for admittance, but that she took no notice of them, or 
 opened the door to any of them except the last caller. 
 
PECULIAR INDIAN TRADITIONS. I2/ 
 
 After awakening, the girl thought constantly of this 
 dream, and, strange enough, in the course of time five 
 men came to her cabin and asked her to go with them, 
 but she refused all but the fifth and last one, who 
 became her husband. They had at first but three chil 
 dren, one was called the Good Spirit and intercessor 
 with the Great Spirit and the special friend of the Indian 
 race ; the second was called the Spirit of Fire and de_ 
 struction and the great enemy of the white race ; the 
 third was called the White Rabbit, and ran away as soon 
 as it was born. Upon the ascendancy of the white 
 race, the first one fled, the second is now with them in 
 their wars, and renders them brave ; and the third occa 
 sionally appears and makes them fleet in their hunts. 
 They are now awaiting the return of the first spirit. 
 When he comes he will right the wrongs of his people 
 and they will conquer all their enemies." 
 
THE GAME OF BALL. 
 
 A THRILLING SCENE TREACHERY OF THE INDIANS 
 
 OUTWITTED. 
 
 NOTHING conduces so much to the pleasures of 
 the Indians as an exciting game of ball, or a 
 downright good dance. In these games their peculiar, 
 excitable characteristics are fully developed, and both 
 sexes indglge in the athletic sports. A game of ball is 
 played in this way: A small place is prepared, and 
 stakes are set for bounds, radiating from the center, 
 when two parties are chosen, with leaders, who appear 
 upon the field with bats or sticks about thirty-two 
 inches long, to catch and throw the ball as the game 
 progresses. "When one succeeds in getting the ball 
 fairly in the pocket of his bat, he swings it aloft and 
 throws it as far as he can toward the goal to which his 
 party is working, taking care to send it, if possible, 
 where some of his own side will take it up. Thus the 
 ball is thrown and contended for till one party succeeds 
 in casting it beyond the bounds of the opposite party. 
 A hundred players on a side are sometimes engaged in 
 this exciting game. Betting on the result often runs 
 high. Moccasins, pipes, knives, hatchets, blankets, 
 robes and guns are hung on the prize-pole. Not 
 infrequently horses are staked on the issue, and some 
 times even women. Old men and mothers are among 
 the spectators, praising their swift-footed sons, and 
 young wives and maidens are there to stimulate their 
 
 128 
 
THE GAME OF BALL. 129 
 
 husbands and lovers. This game is not confined to the 
 warriors, but is also a favorite amusement of the Dakota 
 maidens, who generally play for prizes offered by the 
 chief, or warriors." 
 
 This reminds me of a most thrilling scene which 
 occurred at a game of ball at Fort Mackenzie during 
 the time when the French and English were contending 
 for territory now belonging to the United States, and 
 had it not been for the keen sagacity of the commander 
 of the post, a most horrible massacre would have fol 
 lowed. It seems that the early French traders were 
 favorites with the Indians, while the English were 
 looked upon as interlopers, so that when war was 
 declared between the two nations, the Indians sided 
 with the French, and thus combining, made sad havoc 
 with their enemy. Three forts had been established in 
 the Indian country by the English, and two of these 
 forts had been burned by the treacherous savages, and 
 every soul killed. Flushed with the recent victory, the 
 blood-thirsty Indians, with a large number of men, 
 women and children, appeared in front of the third 
 fort, and asked for an audience, as they desired peace. 
 The commander, anxious to hear what the chiefs had 
 to say, made his appearance on the ramparts and 
 learned from the wily foe that they were tired of blood 
 shed ; that they desired to bury the tomahawk and the 
 scalping-knife, and to ever after live in harmony with 
 the whites ; so an arrangement was made to the effect, 
 that on the morning of a beautiful day, stipulated by 
 both parties, all the tribe should appear on the plateau 
 below the fort, men, women and children, unarmed, 
 and while the chiefs were" negotiating a peace inside of 
 the fort, the warriors outside were to engage in a game 
 9 
 
130 THE GAME OF BALL. 
 
 of ball. The conditions were explicit, that neither the 
 soldiers, nor the Indians were to be armed, and this 
 agreement was made as an earnest of good faith. The 
 fort was located on a high rise of land, with a deep 
 ditch encircling its base and a draw-bridge leading to it 
 at a given point, over which parties must pass to get 
 inside of the inclosure. 
 
 The plain below was level and beautiful, and the can 
 non of the fort frowned down upon it. The day for 
 negotiations arrived, and with it came a large number 
 of Indians with their squaws, headed by their chiefs ; 
 the bridge was swung ; the soldiers appeared unarmed 
 and listless, lying upon their guns ; the Indians laughed 
 and joked ; the chiefs passed over the bridge, which 
 was to be kept down as a passage-way to and from the 
 fort, during the council meeting; the glittering eyes of 
 the warriors glanced at the situation, as they entered 
 the fortification, and then passed to the room of the 
 commander, where they were met with the dignity 
 which became their station. The room was a long one, 
 on either side of which were blue curtains, and at the 
 end of which, on an elevated seat, sat the commander. 
 As is customary with the savages, they squat upon the 
 floor, and after several had smoked the pipe of peace, 
 commenced to discuss the terms upon which they had 
 decided to agree. In the meantime the game of ball 
 had been started. Hundreds of Indians were whoop 
 ing and yelling and running now toward the fort, now 
 from it ; now clustering closer and closer to the draw 
 bridge, always preceded by the squaws, who drew their 
 blankets closely about them ; now receding, now coming 
 back again, like a great wave of the ocean ; while the sol 
 diers gazed upon the scene and laughed at the grotesque 
 
THE GAME OF BALL. 131 
 
 figures moving about dotting the plain below. All the 
 chiefs had smoked the pipe of peace in the council 
 chamber but one. He halted ; seemed anxious to gain 
 a little more time and better terms, when the game of 
 ball on the outside became more exciting ; the Indians 
 rushed toward the inclosure, when, with a terrible yell, 
 which came from the tallest of the warriors in the 
 crowd, and with terrific power, the ball was sent into 
 the fort, and then, with another yell on the part of the 
 rushing Indians, the squaws threw off their blankets, 
 displaying weapons of war, which the Indians seized, 
 and were soon clamoring over the draw-bridge, wild 
 with a taste for blood. 
 
 In the meantime, when the last yell was given, the 
 old chief in the council chamber, who had not yet 
 smoked the pipe of peace, jumped to his feet and an 
 swered it ; then the commander of the fort instantly 
 gave a shrill whistle, and every gunner had his torch 
 ready to discharge the cannon that pointed down upon 
 the crowd below ; every soldier was armed ; every man 
 was at his post ; the blue curtains parted instantly, and 
 two rows of guns confronted the treacherous chiefs ! 
 The old Indian, seeing that he was baffled, sent out an 
 other whoop, when the infuriated devils who were now 
 crowding upon the bridge, suddenly fell back, and when 
 still another yell came from the lips of the old chief, it 
 was evident to the Indians on the outside, that their plan 
 of massacre had been discovered! Not a muscle 
 twitched in the face of the commandant ; not a soldier 
 stirred in his position ; not a gunner moved who was 
 commanded to dispute the passage of the bridge ; when 
 another whistle from the commander brought the men 
 to a rest, and with it the bridge was drawn, the fort 
 
132 THE GAME OF BALL. 
 
 was saved, and the chiefs were prisoners, at the mercy 
 of the whites! The commander paused for a moment, 
 and then addressing his mortified foe, said: "You 
 came to me with a lie upon your lips ! You came to 
 me with the belief that I would trust your lying 
 tongues, so that, in a moment of confusion, you could 
 dash upon my defenseless men and massacre them all 
 in cold blood ! But, thank God, your plans have failed, 
 and I have only to give the word, and both you and 
 your warriors and your women and your children, will 
 be blotted from the face of the earth forever! See my 
 big guns pointing down upon them? See twenty bul 
 lets aimed at your hearts ! Mark my power ! Treach 
 erous, lying, deceitful dogs! the paleface has met you 
 with your own weapons ; shall he deal out to you that 
 which you intended to deal out to him? No; if the 
 paleface is brave, he is also magnanimous! If the pale 
 face has beaten you by precautionary measures, he is 
 also generous ! If the paleface has you and your people 
 in his power, he can afford to be great, grand and mer 
 ciful ! " 
 
 Then rising and waving his hand, he said to his 
 astonished enemies: "Go!" A universal "ho! ho!" 
 (yes, yes; bravo!) followed the remark of the officer, 
 when the Indians arose and, marching boldly to the 
 commander, the head chief said : 
 
 " You have saved the lives of our people ! You have 
 saved our own lives ! You have taught us how to 
 live ! You have shown us that the heart of the pale 
 face is good that the heart of the Indian is bad. We 
 come no longer to you with two tongues. We come 
 to you in the presence of the Great Spirit, whom we 
 wish to bear testimony to the fact, that from this day, 
 
THE GAME OF BALL. 133 
 
 and forever after, we shall always be the friends of the 
 whites, who have not only convinced us that they are 
 brave and merciful, but that they are wise and mag 
 nanimous. We lay our lives at your feet. Nis-is- 
 shin ne-car-nis i-to (Good best friends forever) ! " 
 
 " Go ! " again uttered the commander. " Tell your 
 people the paleface desires only peace, truth, man 
 hood, justice, right, and if they will come to him with 
 one tongue, and be governed by the principles here 
 enunciated, that then we can bury the tomahawk and 
 the scalping-knife, and live kindly together as one 
 people. Go!" 
 
 The chiefs moved out into the open space of the 
 fort with a bold step, and passed down on to the draw 
 bridge, and across it to the plateau below, where they 
 were received with great joy by the baffled warriors, 
 who supposed that their head men had been put to 
 death ; and when it became known how magnanimously 
 they had been treated by the commandant, they burst 
 into a wild, weird shriek, that went booming through 
 the fort and died in echoes among the hills. 
 
 The sun went down that night on many happy 
 hearts within the fortification and on a happy tribe of 
 Indians who had resolved to lead a different and a bet 
 ter life, which resolution was faithfully kept for many 
 years afterward. 
 
 Then there was another game of ball on the same 
 plateau below the fort ; another scene of mirth ; an 
 other contest for victory ; and among the participants 
 were the soldiers and the warriors, the commander and 
 the chiefs ; and then hands of friendship were grasped ; 
 and words of kindness were spoken and farewells were 
 uttered, and the fort was vacated and the soldiers de- 
 
134 THE GAME OF BALL. 
 
 parted, and the red men of the forest gathered in sad 
 ness about their tepee fires and recounted over again 
 the memorable scenes of a most remarkable event 
 THAT GAME OF BALL. 
 
PA-HA-WA-KAN. 
 
 THE SACRED DESCENT, OR ONK-TO-MEE BAD SPIRIT 
 
 NE-BE-NAU-BAIG WATER SPIRIT, OR 
 
 DEVIL S LAKE. 
 
 THIS is not a Sioux legend, but was told to Tac- 
 angi by a Blackfoot woman, who had been long a 
 prisoner among the Sioux. Formerly all that country 
 lying between the Missouri river on the east, and the 
 Rocky mountains on the west, is said to have been a 
 garden of paradise overflowing with game, etc., but as 
 this legend runs, was changed in three days to what it 
 now is. The point designated is no doubt what is at 
 present known as the Bad Lands, including the buttes 
 which appear in that country, and the legend has more 
 in it than the casual observer would at first suspect. 
 The Blackfoot squaw says : 
 
 "An Indian band, camped upon the banks of the 
 Missouri, had sent to a few of their brethren who were 
 located at the foot of a very large mound, some dis 
 tance from them, to say that for three days the Proph 
 et, or Medicine Man of their band had been in a swoon, 
 and that they had watched him during that time and 
 his lips had never ceased to move as in prayer, and 
 begged them to join them in offerings to the Great 
 Spirit, as they feared some calamity was about to befall 
 them. The mound Indians were a desperate class a 
 band mostly murderers, and knowing their own wick 
 edness, this information made them feel sad. Calling 
 all his braves together, the chief told them the news 
 
 135 
 
136 PA-HA-WA-KAN. 
 
 what he had heard from the other Indians and be 
 sought them to go each one at once and make offer 
 ings. All did so, and donning gay garments, went into 
 mourning. That same night, at 12 o clock, the few 
 who slept were awakened by terrific peals of thunder, 
 the rain falling like knives upon their tepees, the light 
 ning darting apparently into their very lodges, and a 
 wind blew that threatened every moment to tear their 
 homes to pieces. 
 
 " All at once there was a great noise as of crying in the 
 camp. Amid confusion and bustle, all ran out to see 
 what it was, when, suddenly, as it were, the whole 
 heavens gave way, and fell upon the top of the mound, 
 while the Indians threw themselves upon the ground, 
 not daring to look up. Again the heavens seemed to 
 fall and close upon the mound, and this time accom 
 panied with great darkness. Then a sudden panic 
 seized upon them all, and w;th one accord, they rushed 
 into their wigwam. What happened furthermore no 
 one knew, as they recollect, until morning, when awak 
 ened as it were from sleep, although they had not 
 slept, that a strange sight met their view ! The mount 
 ains were black as if scorched by lightning; whole 
 country deadened, and smoke issuing from the top of 
 some of the mounds. One night had rendered the 
 county a desert. They looked for their horses all 
 were dead ! Then in camp loud mourning sounds came 
 from the women ; their meats and provisions were all 
 full of worms! They knew then they must now starve 
 unless they moved on, and amid universal lamentations, 
 they took up their trail and marched south. Every 
 where the country was the same. At night some of 
 their mounds spit out fire, and will-o -the-wisps floated 
 
PA-HA-WA-KAN. 137 
 
 around everywhere, trying to lure them to destruction. 
 The earth rumbled and the air was thick with sulphur. 
 " For three days they traveled thus, when all of a 
 sudden they came to a large body of water, where 
 formerly they had roamed amid a luxuriant sea of 
 tropical plants, and where birds of gay plumage sang 
 their morning songs. All was now dark, gloomy, and 
 dead. Gone were the forest songsters and the young 
 gazelle with its dove eyes ; gone the flowers ; gone the 
 game; gone the grand trees, and the gentle summer 
 breeze; and in their places were a vast sheet of water, 
 with upheavals of rock, and black, smoldering ruins, 
 and dark clouds, and curling smoke, and gloomy fig 
 ures, dancing in the distance. They changed their 
 course, and, winding around the lake, came to a mound 
 which hid the water from their view, and here they 
 heard what appeared to them to be human voices. 
 They listened, and the song was so wild and so weird 
 that they could not stir they were spell-bound. 
 
 1 Changing, swinging, singing, ringing, 
 
 Dancing Devils all are we; 
 Piping, peeping, peering, creeping, 
 How we mingle in our glee. 
 Ho! ho! shovel them in! 
 
 Shovel them in! 
 Tis the reward of early sin! 
 
 Now we laugh and now we grin, 
 
 He! he! and ho! ho! 
 Pitch them up and pitch them in, 
 
 He! he! and ho! ho! 
 Along the slimy banks we go, 
 
 With our he! he! and ho! ho! 
 
 " Several of the Indians stealthily crept to the top of 
 the mound and peering over beheld a scene of the most 
 startling character. On the shore but a short distance 
 
1 38 PA-HA-WA-KAN. 
 
 from them was a very large animal, apparently resemb 
 ling the human race with enormous, protruding ears, 
 peculiar hoofs, a dark swarthy face, horribly distorted ; a 
 gay fiery sash about his loins, a long caudal extremity 
 resting upon the ground, and in his hands a wooden 
 pitchfork, which he used with great dexterity. Gath 
 ered about him were no less than a thousand young 
 figures resembling the older one, and when they sang 
 they all swayed to and fro, pitching into the lake what 
 appeared to be human bodies. At the end of each 
 verse of the song the earth rumbled with a loud noise, 
 fire belched out from the many small mounds surround 
 ing the lake ; dark, pitchy smoke filled the atmosphere 
 and all the region round about was dense with the 
 smell of sulphur; and at this point the song became 
 demoniacal, and the dancing figures opened up to the 
 imagination a vivid picture of hell itself, especially as 
 they swayed back and forth and sang He ! he ! and 
 ho! ho! Confused, frightened, horrified at what they 
 had seen, the Indians ran down the mound, over the 
 blackened earth, screaming as they ran ( Oonk-to-mee, 
 Ne-be-nau-baig ! Devil s lake! Devil s lake, and from 
 that day to this the lake has ever borne this peculiar 
 name. They continued rapidly on their march south 
 for three days, when the country appeared to grow bet 
 ter ; and, finally, when they approached a game section, 
 they all stopped, offered sacrifices, and then only did 
 the earth cease to rumble and the air begin to be pure. 
 But the Indians never after could remain in that 
 country. 
 
 " Thus, for the sins of a small portion of a nation, was 
 a whole people made to suffer, and a country, which 
 before was a paradise, became a desert." 
 
PE-HA-WA-KAN. 139 
 
 This legend contains more truth than fiction, for I 
 have traveled all over this land and have marked its 
 peculiar characteristics. After leaving Bismarck, on the 
 one side, and Cheyenne and Sidney on the other, great 
 plains stretch out before the eye, broken only by 
 immense masses of rock, which are lifted high up in 
 the air, and then the vision is again uninterrupted for 
 miles and miles. How these huge piles of stones came 
 upon these vast plains, isolated, as it were, without a 
 cause, is accounted for only on the ground, that at 
 some period in the past, a great volcanic eruption took 
 place in the northeast, and passing along southwest, 
 broke through the thinnest crust of the earth, and left 
 these heavy deposits of rock. In corroboration of this 
 theory, I note the fact that all these buttes come along 
 in a straight line from the northeast to the southwest ; 
 that is, here would be a large uplift, some three or 
 four hundred feet high, while several miles southwest, 
 would be another, and so on, for miles and miles, across 
 these great plains. These uplifts, at a distance, present 
 the appearance of houses and barns, but as you approach 
 them, the illusion disappears. 
 
 Then, again, we find mounds, beneath which is rock, 
 the volcanic force not having been strong enough to 
 throw the stone to the surface. Following these buttes 
 to the Missouri river on the east side, we discover where 
 the volcanic fires have spent their fury on the edge of 
 the river, great peaks or mountains appearing, upon the 
 tops of which I found black, scarified rocks, mixed with 
 sulphur, mica and iron slag, very clearly indicating that 
 the volcanic wave from the northeast was arrested in 
 its progress by the river, and hence left its mark. No 
 d^tibt, at the time this eruption took place, the sun 
 
140 PA-HA-WA-KAN. 
 
 was darkened, the earth shook and rumbled, and the 
 air was full of sulphur and falling stones, and it was 
 probably at or about this period that this legend orig 
 inated, based upon a fact instead of fiction. So, too, I 
 may say of the previous beauty of the country and its 
 surroundings; its animals, its foliage, its game. The 
 remains of some of the largest turtles ever known have 
 been found in this region ; also of defunct wild beasts, 
 of gigantic size ; trunks of great trees have been dis 
 covered in the bowels of the earth. Petrified wood is 
 obtained here in great abundance ; the soil is very rich 
 a vegetable mold all going to show, that at one 
 period in the history of this country it was a paradise 
 the loved home of the Indian, or the mound-builders 
 but that suddenly its beauty was destroyed ; its ani 
 mals killed ; its contour changed ; its pure water turned 
 to alkali; its flowers and shrubbery obliterated; not 
 by an act of the Great Spirit, as is believed by the In 
 dians, but by a law of nature, producing just exactly 
 what the exterior surface of the earth demonstrates, 
 has been produced by NATURAL CAUSES. No one who 
 has traveled that country and knows anything of its 
 history, can arrive at any other conclusion ; so that this 
 legend is especially interesting as opening up a new 
 train of thought of vast importance for further re 
 searches in the Great Northwest. 
 
OLD BETS. 
 
 AZA-YA-MAN-KA-WAN ; OR BERRY PICKER. 
 
 THE familiar face of Old Bets, an Indian squaw, 
 peered in upon my vision for about twenty years, 
 when, all of a sudden, it disappeared, and the news came 
 that she was dead ! Very few who met her wrinkled 
 face, her laughing eyes, her grotesque figure, or heard 
 her whining voice asking for " kosh-poppy," or money, 
 knew of the romantic history attached to that old 
 squaw, as she almost daily paraded the streets of a 
 frontier city and sold her moccasins or begged for aid. 
 The weight of years, the burden of trouble, silent grief, 
 patient forebearance, all leave their impress behind, and 
 the Indian is not exempt from the general law. Who 
 knows, or can divine the history of that old man, 
 tottering under the load of a life of suffering? Who 
 could realize that in his early days he stole the hearts 
 of women, electrified men, and moved the masses with 
 his eloquence ? Now, how useless ! Who could imagine 
 even, the early triumphs, the bewitching beauty, the 
 imcomparable charms of that young girl, who, thread 
 ing life s thoroughfare, drew after her hundreds of ad 
 mirers ? Now, that bent-over, gray-haired, bowed-down 
 form ! how changed ! So each and every one has a his 
 tory and must, in turn, pass out of youth and vigor, 
 and beauty, and manhood, and womanhood, into the 
 silent, stealthy tread of old age, groping down the val 
 ley of death, hoping to catch a glimpse on the other 
 shore of that light which burns forever ! 
 
 141 
 
142 OLD BETS. 
 
 Old Bets was once young and handsome, and she 
 drew after her many lovers. Born at the confluence of 
 two rivers the Mississippi and the Minnesota her 
 childhood was passed among the scenes of her final 
 death ; but her early girlhood was out among the wild 
 scenery of her tribe, where danger confronted the red 
 men of the plains, and acts of valor crowned the warrior 
 with undying fame! Young Bets was greatly loved, 
 not only for her beauty, but for her kind disposition, as 
 well as for her bravery; so it came to pass that a young 
 man who had won great renown in the tribe, sought 
 the hand of the young girl in marriage, and in turn she 
 looked upon his attention, with favor. Her brother, 
 however, being himself a warrior and a medicine man, 
 objected to the match upon the ground that his 
 sister s suitor had, in the past, wronged him, and he 
 should never darken the door of his tepee, even if he 
 did as he was willing to make amends for the injury 
 given. 
 
 The merry laugh of the maiden gradually died away. 
 Her joyous nature turned to soberness, as she thought 
 of the young heart which beat only for her, and, in 
 turn, before she was aware of it, her tenderest feelings 
 were wrapped up in the welfare of the young and 
 ardent lover, whose image had become a part of her 
 own existence. She besought her brother to forgive 
 the young warrior. She assured him her happiness 
 depended upon her union with him, but the stoical 
 face and the hardened heart would not relax, and 
 she turned away with great sorrow and entered the 
 forest near by, where, unexpectedly she met Chig-go-nia, 
 her best and dearest friend. 
 
 Here the interview terminated with a solemn resolve 
 
OLD BETS. 143 
 
 to die for each other, and on the morrow the two were 
 to quietly meet, bid good-bye to the old associations, 
 and mounted on ponies, pass away west as man and 
 wife. 
 
 With the rising of the sun the young and lovely 
 Berry Picker had fled, and with her Chig-go-nia. Her 
 brother whose name was He-in-da-koo, was soon aware 
 of what had occurred, and mounted on one of his fleet 
 est ponies, and well armed, he started in pursuit. 
 About noon he overtook the flying couple, who, con 
 scious of his desperate hatred and unrelenting ferocity, 
 redoubled their speed; the warrior., however, gained upon 
 them until their horses were all soon neck and neck, 
 and speeding rapidly over the plain together. Young 
 Bets brother then rode in front, and drawing his 
 horses head across the path of the lover, sought to cut 
 him down with his tomahawk. His sister pleaded for 
 his life, but seeing that her pleadings were all in vain, 
 she reigned in her pony, brought him close to the side 
 of her lover, and with one spring from her animal 
 landed in his lap. With one arm about the waist of 
 his love, the young man fought bravely for his life, 
 but encumbered with the maiden, he fought to great 
 disadvantage; when, all of a sudden, his antagonist 
 struck him with his tomahawk on the head from be 
 hind, and the young man sank to the earth, and in 
 the arms of his sweetheart breathed out his last fare 
 well. The maiden was carried back into camp, and 
 though she subsequently married a man of note in her 
 tribe, yet the great sorrow of her early love never left 
 her, and traces of -that sorrow could be seen upon her 
 face, even in her old age. 
 
 Old Bets was born at a place called Mendota, and 
 
144 OLD BETS. 
 
 died a few years ago at the age of seventy-five years, 
 although, from her weather-beaten and care-worn appear 
 ance, many supposed her to be over one hundred years. 
 She married Iron Sword, and had several children, one 
 of whom, Ta-opi, became converted to Christianity 
 and aided very considerably toward elevating and civ 
 ilizing his tribe. 
 
 For many years this inoffensive old woman traveled 
 the streets of the white man s city, and became a 
 a marked character both to the citizens and to stran 
 gers. I remember her as the possessor of a wrinkled 
 face, peculiar eyes, disheveled hair, large mouth, un 
 covered neck, uncouth form, but always with her cheer 
 ful " ho-hos," as she plodded along under the weight of 
 years, and of her great, unknown sorrow. She was a 
 kind and devoted friend of the whites ; was the means 
 of saving several lives during the massacre in Minne 
 sota, in 1 86 1, and before her death became quite poor, 
 but it is a credit to humanity to be able to state, that 
 she was aided by pecuniary help during her sickness, 
 and finally died in the Christian belief, and was accord 
 ed a Christian burial. The portrait of her, which we 
 present, is an excellent one, and was taken only a short 
 time before her death. Good-bye, OLD BETS. 
 
WA-ZI-YA* AND THE ENCHANTED 
 KNIFE. 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was an old woman, who 
 had an only son, and what is remarkable, he was 
 born with a handkerchief about his neck, and was 
 considered by the Indians, a great prodigy. The child 
 grew to be a general favorite with everybody, and at three 
 years of age, could hunt and fish as well as any Indian. 
 When about thirteen years of age, the camp broke up 
 and moved down the river to trade with an old medi 
 cine man who kept roots, etc., for sale, and also to lay 
 in their medicines for the hunting season. The old 
 woman was sick at the time, and consequently she and 
 her little boy were the only ones left on the old camp 
 ground. It was during this solitude and time for 
 thought, which sickness offers, that the tales of the 
 wild and rapacious Wa-zi-ya floated across her memory ; 
 and there was scarcely an evening that she did not take 
 occasion to warn her boy about going in a northerly 
 direction in his rambles. " My son," she would say, 
 "thou art the only prop of my old age. If I lose thee 
 I may well mourn. Whilst rearing thee I have always 
 endeavored to instruct thee, and now, as thou art big 
 enough, warn thee against those cruel demons who 
 inhabit the North. The Wa-zi-ya is ever a foe to the 
 homes of our people, and should one suddenly meet 
 thee, death would be your reward." 
 
 * The god of the North, or Winter, a fabled spirit who dwells in the frozen 
 North in a great tepee of ice and snow. From his mouth and nostrils he blows the 
 cold blast of winter. 
 
 10 145 
 
146 WA-ZI-YA AND THE 
 
 The youth hung his head in silence; he could not 
 realize the existence of such cruel monsters as his 
 mother had depicted, and it awakened in him a curiosity 
 to know more of them. "Well," thought he, "if Wa- 
 zi-ya be such a foe to mankind, why don t they kill 
 him? Is he too big for them to kill?" .And he half 
 wished that he could see one, just to know what kind 
 of beings they were. It is thus that curiosity draws us 
 on to our own destruction. The more he thought of 
 it, the more intense, became his desire to see one, and 
 by degrees this thoughtless curiosity grew so upon him 
 that he would wander for miles toward the north, then 
 suddenly become alarmed and return. The subject so 
 preyed upon his mind that he made a resolution to go 
 and see for himself. Accordingly, one evening, after 
 his mother had recovered from her sickness, he took 
 his bows and arrows and started out, determined not 
 to come back until he had seen and learned more of 
 the dreadful Wa-zi-ya. Thoughtfulness never fails of 
 its punishment. Throughout the whole day he trav 
 eled, never dreaming of eating in fact forgetting that 
 he had no food whatever with him, until night fell 
 upon him, and he lay down with his blanket around 
 him and was soon fast asleep. In the morning early 
 he awakened, and, as usual, his first thought was of 
 Wa-zi-ya ; but it was only for a few moments that his 
 mind ran in that direction, for hunger soon made him 
 conscious of its terrible pang. It was only then that 
 he began to realize his situation. A long day s travel 
 from home, with no food in his bundle, and to all 
 appearances, no game of any kind around him in a 
 moment these thoughts impressed themselves uoon 
 him, and then, throwing himself upon the ground, he 
 
ENCHANTED KNIFE. 147 
 
 burst into tears. Unbinding the handkerchief from his 
 neck the same he was born with he attempted to 
 put it to his eyes, but a blast of wind carried it out of 
 his hand, and it alighted some distance from him. He 
 runs to get it ! Great Spirit ! it lies spread out, and 
 upon it food of all kinds. Drying his eyes he eats, 
 then rises and pursues his journey. 
 
 Toward noon he sees what appears to be a fort and 
 he approaches it, finding it to be an immense building, 
 and to his wondering eyes the home of Wa-zi-ya. Look 
 ing in at the open door he sees no one ; he enters and 
 a horrible sight meets his view ! Around the room 
 were the heads of those slain ; skulls nailed to the wall 
 and under each head was fastened a hand severed at 
 the wrist. His blood ran cold, and while meditating 
 what he should do, he heard a noise like thunder, and 
 in comes Wa-zi-ya. " I smell something," said the 
 great monster ! The boy hides behind a post, but Wa- 
 zi-ya smells him out and takes him in his hand. " Naw- 
 a-pesk-ta, se-ce-ca ! " "I will eat you up ! " Boy re 
 gains courage ; begs him not to eat him. " Hungry ! 
 must," said the monster. Boy says : " I will give you 
 plenty to eat." The great giant laughs and says "Wi- 
 ca-ka-wo ! " You can t do it. But the boy spreads his 
 handkerchief upon the ground and immediately it is 
 covered with food. Wa-zi-ya fills himself, and then 
 turning to the little stranger, says : " Ha ! my boy, this 
 will do ; now you may go home unharmed." Boy starts 
 to go, but is called back. Wa-zi-ya wants the handker 
 chief, but the boy is unwilling to part with it. The 
 giant says he must have it ; he will give him a flute 
 for it. 
 
 " What can I do with the flute?" asked the boy. 
 
148 WA-ZI-YA AND THE ENCHANTED KNIFE. 
 
 Call an army of genii when in need. The boy will not 
 consent ; goes home ; does not tell his mother, but at 
 the first favorable opportunity, goes again. Wa-zi-ya 
 asks him for more food, for he has come to like the 
 boy, but the boy pretends not to hear him. The giant 
 asks again, and says: " If you will produce a supper as 
 good as the last, I will give you this," showing him a 
 knife. "And what good will this do me ? " asks the 
 boy. " Oh, it does whatever its possessor tells it to." 
 Boy consents and receives the knife. Wa-zi-ya imme 
 diately falls to eating the provisions, and while thus 
 engaged the boy walks off a short distance, takes out 
 knife, tells it to cut Wa-zi-ya s head off, and off it 
 comes ! Boy runs home, tells his mother, and then 
 there is great rejoicing, and amid it all orange trees 
 spring up and bear oranges ; figs grow in great abund 
 ance ; flowers bloom ; birds sing ; all sorts of game 
 cluster in the bushes ; fishes sport in the rivers and in 
 the lakes; buffalo surround the camp; the air is mild 
 and balmy; the Indians gather in immense numbers, 
 and there is a great feast, for the boy, born with a 
 handkerchief about his neck, has killed the god of the 
 North, or Winter ; has broken down his great temple 
 of ice and snow; has turned his cold and cheerless 
 blasts into perennial summer; has brought joy and 
 happiness and plenty to the Dakota nation. 
 
OPINIONS, BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS 
 OF THE INDIANS. 
 
 WE all have supposed that the Indians draw direct 
 ly from nature their beliefs, their opinions^ and 
 their customs, as we have no knowledge that a people 
 existed on the American Continent, anterior to them, 
 except the vague conception of a pre-historic race, 
 about which we know but very little ; hence, whatever 
 their customs and beliefs may be, they are original with 
 themselves. And yet we can trace their peculiar char 
 acteristics to the Arabs, and many of their religious 
 ceremonies to the Jews, leaving one to infer that at a 
 remote period in the past, the so-called American 
 Indian, or rather his descendants, were inhabitants of 
 the Old World, and transplanted to the new, many 
 customs and beliefs supposed to belong solely to them 
 selves, but which have a greater antiquity than the 
 American continent itself. Donnelly in his "Atlantis," 
 recently published, advances some cogent reasons and 
 authorities, to prove, that at one time the two oceans 
 were connected by land, and that on an island called 
 "Atlantis," then existing in the ocean, there lived%a 
 race of people much more intelligent than the American 
 Indian, and from whom the Indians sprung; or, if he 
 did not originate there, he came into the western hemi 
 sphere over this land, and brought with him some of 
 the beliefs and traditions of the Old World. Donnelly 
 claims that Atlantis was sunk in the ocean, and totally 
 destroyed. 
 
 149 
 
150 OPINIONS, BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 When among the Bois Fortes Indians years ago, my 
 camp was visited by two sons of the chiefs, accom 
 panied by their squaws or wives, and after the usual 
 salutation " Booshu Nechee," how to do, friend (the 
 Indian never says good-morning or good-evening, but 
 it is either friend or foe), we set before them a good, 
 solid dinner of bread, coffee, pork and beans, and of 
 which they partook plentifully. One of the women 
 had in her arms a bundle, and I observed that every 
 time she eat, she passed a piece of bread or a few beans 
 to the mysterious something she cuddled to her bosom 
 so affectionately. After she had left, I said to my in 
 terpreter "What did that squaw have in her arms?" 
 to which he quickly replied " Why the bones or skele 
 ton of a baby ! " " Is that their habit ? " I inquired. 
 " Oh, yes," he replied. "When a child dies, through a 
 process known to these Indians, the body is preserved 
 until the flesh is all gone, and the skin is drawn tightly 
 over the bones ; then the remains are decorated in its 
 little garments, embroidered with beads, its wee play 
 things are sewed up among the clothing and the mother 
 is obliged to carry the child wherever she goes or 
 rather the skeleton until another baby is born or the 
 father dies, when it is put away. At every meal the 
 mother feeds the inanimate remains, believing that this 
 is necessary to sustain its existence on its way to the 
 spirit world, and hence what you have seen, is only a 
 religious duty of a parent to its offspring." 
 
 Indian adults are buried with their wands of red, 
 white and blue, to be used soon after death to keep 
 off the bad and tempting spirits, when they reach 
 the shores of the happy hunting ground (see legend of 
 Min-ne-too-ka) ; so also are they buried with their guns. 
 
OF THE INDIANS. I$I 
 
 their blankets, etc.; and if a warrior of note dies, his 
 ponies are killed at his grave, so that he may have 
 horses to ride in the other world. Food is also left at 
 their tombs for their sustenance. Their belief in the 
 future is very strong, as these incidents would indicate. 
 
 A feeling exists between a mother and her children, 
 by which, no matter how far apart they may be, she 
 can tell when they are suffering or in danger. There 
 are not a few Sioux women who do not in some measure 
 believe in this, and many are the tales that are told of 
 the exercise of this strange power. There are also 
 many white women who believe in this influence, for 
 they have had considerable experience in this direction. 
 The Indians formerly elevated their dead upon poles or 
 scaffolds, where they remained for one year ; now they 
 bury them in the ground, and they are always disposed 
 of with their heads to one of the four cardinal points of 
 the compass. Many inter them with their heads to the 
 north and feet to the south, since they believe that the 
 spirit of the Indians will travel south to the land of 
 ease and comfort ; yet, many imagine that their spirits 
 will go west ; others think that the east is the final 
 abode of mortality, made immortal by some invisible 
 power. The idea that everything on the earth is acted 
 upon by spirits pervades all the action of the Dakotas. 
 They believe that the " wangi s " spirit though the 
 same word means skeleton inhabits the ravines and 
 hollows, and for that season they bury their dead 
 usually upon the edge of some coolie or ravine, that 
 the spirit may return to the body at pleasure. They 
 also believe that good and evil spirits walk the earth 
 and influence their actions. 
 
 The divinities of the Sioux are legion. The air, the 
 
I$2 OPINIONS AND CUSTOMS OF THE INDIAN S. 
 
 earth, the water, the heavens, and even fire itself, all 
 have their separate divinities and spirits of evil. Ev 
 erything is linked with darkness and terror, except the 
 one great, the incomprehensible, the silent God. Dei 
 ties whose sole object is evil, are ever around them, 
 and a sudden death calls them up in all their terror, 
 working upon the minds of a few, and bringing fear to 
 children and to old women. The Wa-kan-tan-ka, or 
 Great Spirit of the Sioux, is the same being as the god 
 of the Saxon, the Goda of the Persian, the Khoda of 
 the Sanscrit, and the Koda of the Sioux. Did these 
 deities originate among themselves? They agree in 
 attributes with the divinities of foreign mythologies, 
 but how did the Indians know of these mythologies 
 if they were the first and only original inhabitants on 
 the American continent ? Whence came their idea of 
 deities and mythology, except that they originated in 
 the long past, and have been handed down from a re 
 mote age to the present ? I am forced to believe that 
 such is the fact, and that the Indian is the descendant 
 of a race of people who formerly lived in Europe, but 
 which is now extinct. 
 
THE LAST MAN ! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 THE Mandan Indians, many years ago, had a very 
 clear conception of the flood, and celebrated the 
 event in quite an interesting manner. Many of these 
 Indians were really white it seems a paradoxium to 
 call them Indians with hazel, gray and blue eyes, for, 
 no doubt, they were the descendants of a white race. 
 
 Catlin, in a recent work, says : " On the day set apart 
 for the commencement of the ceremonies in commem 
 oration of the flood, a solitary figure is seen approach 
 ing the village. During the deafening din and confusion 
 within the pickets of the village, the figure discovered 
 on the prairie, continued to approach with a dignified 
 step, and in a right line toward the village ; all eyes 
 were upon him, and he at length made his appearance 
 within the pickets and proceeded toward the center of 
 the village where all the chiefs and braves stood ready 
 to receive him, which they did in a cordial manner, by 
 shaking hands, recognizing him as an old acquaintance 
 and pronouncing his name, Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah, the 
 first, or only man. The body of this strange personage, 
 which was chiefly naked, was painted with white clay, 
 so as to resemble, at a distance, a white man. He 
 enters the medicine lodge and goes through certain 
 mysterious ceremonies. During the whole of this day, 
 Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah, traveled through the village, 
 stopping in front of each man s tepee, and crying until 
 the owner of the lodge came out and asked who he was 
 and what was the matter? To which he replied by 
 
 153 
 
154 THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 narrating the sad catastrophe which had happened on 
 the earth s surface by the overflowing of the waters, 
 saying that he was the only person saved from the 
 universal calamity ; that he landed his big canoe on a 
 high mountain in the west, where he now resides; that 
 he has come to open the medicine lodge, which must 
 needs receive a present of an edged tool from the owner 
 of every wigwam, that it may be sacrificed to the 
 water; for, he says, if this is not done there will be 
 another flood and no one will be saved, as it was with 
 such tools that the big canoe was made. 
 
 " Having visited every lodge in the village during 
 the day, and having received such a present from each 
 as a hatchet, a knife, etc., he places them in the medi 
 cine lodge ; and on the last day of the ceremony they 
 are thrown into a deep place in the river sacrificed to 
 the spirit of the waters." 
 
 The Dakotas have a similar belief, clearly showing 
 that the aborigines or this country must have had, at 
 least, traditionary information of the Old World. 
 
 The Dakotas believe that the earth is an extended 
 plain. This belief, alone, is evidence of nothing, for all 
 rude nations have formed exactly such an idea of it, 
 but when the Dakota adds to this his belief that the 
 further north you go, the higher the ground becomes, 
 until it terminates in lofty mountains, behind which 
 the sun is hid in the night as he travels east to resume 
 his diurnal course to the west again, it is easy enough 
 to recognize in this the general belief of ancient India, 
 that " the sun revolves around a lofty northern mount 
 ain, producing day when on one side and night when 
 on the other." 
 
 To have the hair cut short, is esteemed by all Indians 
 
THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. 155 
 
 a great disgrace. The Dakotas especially deem it so, 
 since it was a part of the punishment of a murderer, 
 and was also the reward of treachery. A Dakota 
 woman, however, and sometimes a young brave, will 
 vow to cut off her or his hair in case an earnestly 
 wished-for event transpires happily ; but even under 
 such circumstances they do not cut it off short, but 
 merely clip a few hairs. An Indian s face painted 
 black, indicates his desire to kill somebody. (See ar 
 ticle, "A Run for Life.") 
 
 Praying or invoking and vowing are quite common 
 among the Sioux. A brave starts upon a war-party and 
 is suddenly surrounded by the enemy with but little 
 hope of escape. Making a vow to Ta-kux-kanx-kan, or 
 some other divinity that he will make a certain number 
 of beasts in his honor, or that he will go upon so many 
 war-parties during the ensuing year, if the God will 
 only assist him, or some other vow, he plunges into the 
 fight. If he escapes he is sure to keep his vow, for it is 
 a thing sacred, in his mind, and not to be trifled with. 
 An Indian hunting in the woods loses his way, becomes 
 frightened and thinks he is in great danger. He im 
 mediately makes a vow, that if he is saved, he will as 
 sume this or that character for such a length of time ; 
 and on reaching home in safety he at once does so. In 
 fact the Mohammedan pilgrims or the Hindoo faquirs 
 are not more earnest in their vows nor more scrupulous 
 in performing them than are the Dakotas. They are 
 superstitious in the extreme, and look upon a broken 
 vow as irreparable and certain to call down the anger of 
 the spirits upon them. It was this superstitious feeling 
 which found vent when they heard for the first time, 
 the report of a rifle, upon which they cried out : " Wa- 
 
156 THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 kan-c," this is supernatural ; and the same spirit was 
 evinced when they first saw the manner s compass. 
 The chief would frequently call for a sight of it, and 
 tell his braves that the white men were spirits, capaH: 
 of doing everything. They believe in the existence of 
 numbers of Wan-a-gi-dan, or spirits, whose sole business 
 is to plague and torment poor humanity. They do not 
 h .lieve thdt these spirits are able to cause death, but 
 give to them nearly the same attributes that we do to 
 our elf-sprites or fairies. 
 
 Previous to the time when they obtained horses 
 scarcely a century ago the lot of the Dakota woman 
 was hard indeed. Upon a journey they were forced to 
 pack all the household stuff, including their tents, upon 
 their backs ; and though they used the large wolf-dog 
 for packing, by placing transverse poles across his back, 
 fastened together over the shoulders the other ends 
 trailing upon the ground yet the main packing had to 
 be done upon their own shoulders. Before starting in 
 the morning, the men usually point out the place at 
 which they are to camp for the night ; and for that 
 point the squaws and children, each with their packs 
 upon their backs, start at once, while the men make a 
 detour over the prairie through the woods, in search of 
 game. My own horse was the first animal of the kind 
 the Indians on Vermilion lake, in the northern portion 
 of Minnesota and near the Canadian line, had ever 
 seen and when he appeared in full view, they became 
 greatly excited and frightened ; ran, screamed and hid, 
 as they thought it was a Great Spirit. This was in the 
 year 1865. 
 
 Among the Yankton Indians, the first who obtained 
 a gun, endeavored to make it go off, as he supposed 
 
THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 the white man of whom he bought it made it go without 
 loading and after repeated failures, he became enraged, 
 and broke it over the head of his wife. Another In 
 dian, having been taught how to load it, put in too 
 much powder, with a foot of wadding, and he was very 
 much surprised to find himself upon his back, after the 
 discharge, and thinking one near him had struck him, 
 he pitched into the crowd promiscuously and got beau 
 tifully thrashed ! 
 
 The young Indian women have a peculiar kind of 
 broth which they give the men to make them fall des 
 perately in love with them. Various tricks are devised 
 to conceal the nature of this medicine, and to induce 
 the warrior to drink it. When mixed with " Scoot-a- 
 wa-boo," or fire-water, it is irresistible, as all whisky 
 toddies are. 
 
 An Indian who had been wounded and was about to 
 die, requested that his horse might be gaily capari 
 soned and brought to his hospital window, so that he 
 might touch the animal. He then took from his med 
 icine bag a large cake of maple sugar, and held it forth. 
 It may seem strange, but it is true, that the beast ate 
 it from his hand. The invalid s features were radiant 
 with delight as he fell back upon the pillow exhausted. 
 His horse had eaten of the sugar, he said, and he was 
 now sure of a favorable reception and comfortable 
 quarters in the other world. Half an hour later he 
 breathed his last. 
 
 Jonathan Carver, one of the early explorers, says: 
 
 " One formality among the Nan-dow-essies in mourn 
 ing for the dead, is very different from any mode I ob 
 served in the other nations through which I passed. 
 The men, to show how great their sorrow is, pierce the 
 
158 THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 flesh of their arms above the elbows with arrows, and 
 the women cut and gash their legs with broken flints 
 until the blood flows plentifully. 
 
 " After the breath is departed, the body is dressed in 
 the same a,ttire it usually wore ; the face of the de 
 ceased is painted, and he is seated in an erect posture 
 on a mat or skin, placed in the middle of the hut, with 
 his weapons by his side. His relatives seated around 
 him, each in turn harangue the deceased ; and, if he 
 has been a great warrior, recount his heroic actions 
 nearly to the following purport, which, in the Indian 
 language, is extremely poetical and pleasing: 
 
 " * You still sit among us, brother ; your person retains 
 its usual resemblance and continues similar to ours, 
 without any visible deficiency, except it has lost the 
 power of action. But, whither is that breath flown, 
 which, a few hours ago sent up smoke to the Great 
 Spirit ? Why are those lips silent, that lately delivered 
 to us expressions and pleasing language? Why are 
 those feet motionless that a few hours ago were fleeter 
 than the deer on yonder mountains ? Why useless 
 hang those arms that could climb the tallest tree or 
 draw the toughest bow? Alas, every part of that 
 frame, which we beheld with admiration and wonder, 
 has now become as inanimate as it was three hundred 
 years ago ! We will not, hower, bemoan thee as if 
 thou wast forever lost to us, or that thy name would 
 be buried in oblivion ; thy soul yet lives in the great 
 country of spirits, with those of thy nation that have 
 gone before thee ; and though we are left behind to 
 perpetuate thy fame, we will one day join thee. 
 
 " Actuated by the respect we bore thee whilst living, 
 we now come to tender thee the last act of kindness in 
 
THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. 159 
 
 our power ; that thy body might not be neglected on 
 the plains and become a prey to the beasts of the fields 
 or fowls of the air, we will take care to lay it with those 
 of thy predecessors that have gone before thee, hoping 
 at the same time that thy spirit will feed their spirits, 
 and be ready to receive ours when we shall also arrive 
 at the great country of souls/ >J Toon-hay-hay means 
 " woe is me," a lament for the dead. 
 
 In the " Desert of the Exodus," by Palmer, I find 
 a similar ceremony over the death of a member of one 
 of the Arab tribes, which leads me to conclude that the 
 Indians obtained this ceremony from the Arabs, or it 
 originally came from the Old World. The writer says : 
 
 " When a Bedouin dies the corpse is at once taken 
 out of the tent to a convenient place, washed with soap 
 and water and shrouded. A bag containing a little 
 corn is placed beside it, and it is immediately buried. 
 As soon as it is placed in the grave the friends of the 
 deceased beat upon the ground with a stick, recite the 
 Fatihah and cry out : Oh, thou most compassionate ! 
 have mercy upon us, gracious God ! Then they tap 
 with a small pick-ax at the head of the grave and ad 
 dress the deceased in these words : When the twain 
 Green Angels shall question and examine thee, say : 
 The feaster makes merry, the wolf prowls, and man s 
 lot is still the same, but I have done with all these 
 things. The side tree is thy aunt and the palm tree 
 thy mother. Each one then throws a little dirt into 
 the grave, exclaiming as he does so : God have mercy 
 upon thee/ and the party adjourns to a feast in the 
 tent of the deceased. Another entertainment is given 
 in honor of his memory after the lapse of four months. 
 When a death occurs in an encampment the women of 
 
160 THE LAST MAN ! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 the family at once go outside of the tent, and taking 
 off their head dresses, commence a loud and impas 
 sioned wailing, which they continue throughout the 
 day." 
 
 The Indians call a steamboat " the house that walks 
 on the waters," and a humming bird they declare comes 
 from the land of the rainbow. 
 
 Each feather worn by a warrior represents an enemy 
 slain or captured man, woman or child. Feathers 
 among the Dakotas have very different significations 
 according to the way in which they are painted or 
 notched. The only feathers that have any meaning 
 attached to them, are those of the eagle. Each 
 feather stands for an enemy killed, but very frequently 
 one feather only is used to designate the number slain. 
 Then an eagle feather with a round dot of red paint 
 upon it, the size of a bullet, denotes that the wearer 
 has slain an enemy by shooting with a bullet, and as 
 many dots of this kind as there are upon the feather, so 
 many enemies have been slain. 
 
 The Chippewas tell this story : The various birds met 
 together one day to try which could fly the highest. 
 Some flew up very swift, but soon got tired and were 
 passed by others of stronger wing. But the eagle went 
 up beyond them all, and was ready to claim the victory, 
 when, the gray linnet, a very small bird, flew from the 
 eagle s back, where it had perched unperceived, and, 
 being fresh and unexhausted, succeeded in going the 
 highest. When the birds came down and met in coun 
 cil to award the prize, it was given to the eagle, because 
 that bird had not only gone up nearer to the sun than 
 any of the larger birds, but it had carried the linnet on 
 its back. For this reason the eagle s feathers became 
 
THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. l6l 
 
 the most honorable marks of distinction a warrior could 
 wear. 
 
 Indians not only pick out all the hair from their 
 faces, but from their bodies. I have seen Indians, how 
 ever, with good beards, but they are rare. It is a pecul 
 iar feature in the history of the race, that they totally 
 abhor hair, except upon the head, and this custom of 
 pulling it out, has a deeper significance than appears 
 upon the surface. Did the savages originate from a 
 people who once wore beards, and did some great 
 event prejudice them against hair, or, are they a distinct 
 race, descendants only from themselves? 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that a chief, in speech, always 
 calls the country owned by his nation " Ma-ko-ee 
 Mi-ta-wa " my country; while the braves usually say, 
 " Ma-ko-ee un-kit-a-wa-pi," our country, a distinction 
 which some have imagined is a relic of the old regal 
 claim to all the national domain, as it was among the 
 ancient Hindoo and other eastern nations. 
 
 The Indians have many feasts. Indeed, fighting, 
 feasting and dancing are the prominent elements of 
 their nature. The Virgin feast, however, is a sacred 
 right and has much to commend it. None but Virgins 
 are permitted to engage in the ceremony, and it is in 
 tended to compliment, retain and perpetuate the chas 
 tity of Indian maidens. Only unpolluted girls are 
 permitted to touch the sacred armor of the Dakota 
 warriors, and during the ceremony, they use white 
 cedar, which is considered wa-kan, or sacred. Mrs. 
 Eastman says that the " Sacred Ring " around the feast 
 of the Virgins, is formed by armed warriors sitting, and 
 none but a Virgin must enter this ring. The warrior 
 who knows, is bound on honor and by old sacred 
 11 
 
1 62 THE LAST MAN ! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 custom, to expose and publicly denounce any tarn 
 ished maiden who dares to enter this ring, and his word 
 cannot b questioned even by the chiefs. 
 
 The mode of courtship among the sexes differs some 
 what with the various tribes of Indians of the North 
 west, but the ultimate end of obtaining a wife by 
 purchase is almost universal. Among some of the 
 tribes of the Chippewas, the courtship is usually in this 
 way : The loving girl, if she favors a young man, re 
 moves from the side of her mother in the tepee, where 
 she usually sleeps, and cuddles up in her blanket on the 
 left of the entrance to the wigwam. The young man 
 goes round the tepee three times, and if she does not 
 move during these trips, he is assured that his overtures 
 are acceptable. He goes home, and at the expiration 
 of three nights comes again, and finding his girl still in 
 the place where he left her, he slips in under the 
 blanket, where the courtship is carried on during the 
 greater portion of the night. Then, if everything is 
 agreeable, he formally asks the father for the hand of 
 his daughter, and proffers certain articles of value, a 
 horse, or canoe, or blanket, and when the trade is com 
 pleted, the two are married. 
 
 Some tribes on the Missouri river insist that the man 
 who wants his girl, must catch her while on horseback, 
 and for this purpose a very fleet pony is obtained, the 
 girl placed upon it, and the contending lovers are 
 obliged to follow, and the one who catches the flying 
 maiden first, can claim her as his wife, whether she 
 loves him or not. Of course woman s wits usually win, 
 for, knowing who they want, they guide their horses 
 so as to fall into the hands of their lovers, irrespective 
 of the speed of the various animals. 
 
THE LAST MAN ! STRANGE BELIEFS. 163 
 
 There is a striking resemblance between the mode of 
 courtship and marriage of a tribe of Arabs, called the 
 Bedouin, and the North American Indians. Palmer, 
 in his work, says : 
 
 " The intending bridegroom, with five or six friends, 
 call upon the father of the girl, who prepares and sets 
 before them a bowl of food and some coffee, and when 
 they have partaken of the refreshments, the bridegroom 
 opens the conversation by expressing a desire for a 
 more intimate relationship with the family. * Wel 
 come, replies the father ; and I, in turn, require a thou 
 sand piastres of you as a dowry. After a great deal of 
 noisy discussion, he consents to an abatement of 500 
 or 600 piastres of the sum, and the bargain is con 
 cluded. This is the signal for great rejoicings and the 
 young men of the party amuse themselves with various 
 games and trials of skill, shooting at an ibex head set 
 over the tent door as a mark, being one of the most 
 favorite pastimes. The public notary of the tribe is 
 then called in ; he takes a piece of herb and wraps it 
 up in the turban of the intending bridegroom. Tak 
 ing both of their hands in his own, he places the folded 
 turban between them, and, pressing them closely to 
 gether, addresses the father of the bride : Are you 
 willing to give your daughter in marriage to such an 
 one, to which he replies : I am. The bridegroom is 
 asked : Do you take the girl to wife for better or 
 worse ? On his replying, * I do take her, the notary 
 says : * If you ill-treat her or stint her in food or rai 
 ment, the sin be on your own neck. The questions 
 and answers are repeated three times, and the betrothal 
 is then considered complete. The girl herself is kept 
 until this time, in ignorance of the transaction, and, 
 
164 THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 should she get an inkling of it, it is considered etiquette 
 for her to make a show of escaping to the mountains. 
 "When she returns in the evening from tending the 
 flocks, and sits down in her father s tent, they place 
 incense on some lighted embers behind her, and fumi 
 gate her surreptitiously as a protection against the evil 
 eye. At this moment the notary comes stealthily be 
 hind her with the bridegroom s mantle in his hand, 
 which he suddenly throws over her, exclaiming : * The 
 name of God be with thee ! None shall take thee but 
 such an one, naming her intended husband. There 
 upon the girl starts up and tries to escape, calling upon 
 her father and mother for help, with loud cries and 
 shrieks ; but she is seized by the women who have col 
 lected round her, while they repeat the notary s words 
 in noisy chorus, and utter the shrill cries, called Zogha- 
 rit ! A tent is next erected for her in front of her 
 father s habitation, to which she is conducted, and 
 then sprinkled with the blood of sheep, sacrificed for 
 the occasion. Here she remains for three days, at the 
 end of which time she is conducted by a procession of 
 women to a spring of living water/ and after per 
 forming her ablutions, is led home to the house of her 
 husband, who makes a great feast in her honor. The 
 neighbors also sacrifice a sheep as a contribution to the 
 entertainment, and receive, as well as the women who 
 have assisted in the ceremony, a trifling present in 
 money from the father of the bride. When a girl who 
 has bestowed her affection on the man of her choice, is 
 compelled by her friends to espouse another, she takes 
 advantage of the three days grace allowed her, to 
 escape to the tents of some of the neighbors, and 
 throwing herself upon their protection, refuses to leave 
 
THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. 165 
 
 until the unwelcome suitor relinquishes his claim, and 
 an arrangement entered into between the lover and 
 her relatives. Two girls who were to be married to 
 men they did not like, escaped to the mountains and 
 perished of hunger, rather than prove faithless to their 
 lovers." 
 
 The usual mode, however, among the Indians, of ob 
 taining a wife, is by purchase. It is alleged, by those 
 who know, that when an Indian maiden falls in love 
 with a white man, which is sometimes the case, her love 
 is more ardent and more lasting than when she gives her 
 heart to one of her own tribe. It is a historical fact, 
 that several Indian women have committed suicide be 
 cause they were not permitted to marry white men, 
 whom they devotedly loved. 
 
 The Indians have very few gambling games. One, 
 however, resembles our game of dice, and is largely in 
 dulged in. It consists of plum stones, painted black 
 on one side and red on the other. They are placed in 
 a dish and are thrown up like our dice. Hennepin 
 says : " There are some so given to this game that 
 they will gamble away their coats. Those who conduct 
 the game, cry at the top of their voices when they rat 
 tle the plates, and they strike their shoulders so hard 
 as to leave them all black with the blows." The game 
 is something like " keno." 
 
 All Indians are susceptible to kindness as well as re 
 venge. Charka, who attached himself to George H. 
 Spencer, a trader on the frontier, saved his life at the 
 beginning of a Sioux outbreak, at the risk of his own. 
 Amid the bullets of his red brothers and the burning 
 timbers of the building which the savages had fired, he 
 boldly confronted the infuriated demons and his white 
 
1 66 THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 friend was saved from death, after having been shot 
 through the lungs. So, too, of Other-Day, a good In 
 dian, who interfered in behalf of the whites during the 
 massacre and saved nearly a hundred lives. But, at the 
 same time they remember a wrong. 
 
 An Indian was in the habit of coming to a trapper s 
 camp and begging for food. One day he made his 
 appearance as usual, when the trapper, out of all 
 patience with him, took from his pot over a gallon of 
 hot bean soup, which he had just made, and pouring 
 the whole of it into a tin pan, told the Indian to eat, at 
 the same time he brought his gun to bear upon his 
 head and assured him that if he didn t eat all he would 
 blow his brains out ! The Indian tugged, and sweated, 
 and munched, and gulped, and moaned, and stretched, 
 until the whole gallon was gone, when he took his 
 departure and was never known to come to that camp 
 again. Some time after this, the trapper became lost 
 in a terrible snow storm, and tired and weary, and 
 hungry, he wandered around until he struck an Indian 
 tepee, and on entering, he found he was in the presence 
 of his lately insulted guest; but hunger was superior 
 to good manners, or even ordinary discretion, so he 
 asked for something to eat, when the Indian brought 
 him a large dish of maple sugar, and seizing his gun, 
 told him if he did not eat every bit of it he would kill 
 him. Fortunately the trapper s appetite was ravenously 
 good, and he got away with most of it, but found it 
 extremely hard to get to the end. He pleaded with 
 the Indian to let him off, but it was no use. "Paleface 
 make Indian eat hot soup; Indian make paleface eat 
 sugar, or paleface dies ! " So the poor trapper struggled 
 through his bountiful repast, and more dead than alive, 
 
THE LAST MAN ! STRANGE BELIEFS. l6/ 
 
 left the tepee impressed with the conviction that it 
 was "more blessed to give than receive," especially 
 when a bushel of sugar was crowded down his throat at 
 the end of a loaded gun, held firmly in the hands of a 
 defiant, revengeful Indian! 
 
 The real, genuine amusement of the Indian, is his 
 various dances. He has the Sun Dance, the Dog 
 Dance, the Beggar Dance, the Bear Dance, the Sacred 
 Dance, the Medicine Dance, the War Dance, and many 
 other dances too numerous to recapitulate. 
 
 Long, describing his expedition in 1817, writes; 
 
 " When we hove in sight, the Indians were engaged 
 in a ceremony called the Bear Dance, a ceremony which 
 they are in the habit of performing when any young 
 man is desirous of bring himself into particular notice, 
 and is considered a kind of initiation into the state of 
 manhood. There was a kind of flag made of fawn skin 
 dressed with the hair on, suspended on a pole. Upon 
 the flesh side of it were drawn certain figures, indica 
 tive of the dream which it is necessary the young 
 man should have dreamed before he can be considered 
 a proper canditate for this kind of initiation ; with this 
 a pipe was suspended by way of sacrifice. Two arrows 
 were stuck up at the foot of the pole, and fragments of 
 painted feathers, etc., were strewn about the ground 
 near it. These pertained to the religious rites attend 
 ing the ceremony, which consists in bewailing and self- 
 mortification, that the Good Spirit may be induced to 
 pity them and succor their undertaking. Of course, all 
 this time the dance is going on. 
 
 "At the distance of two or three hundred yards from 
 the flag, is an excavation, which they call the Bear s 
 hole, prepared for the occasion. It is about two feet 
 
1 68 THE LAST MAN ! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 deep, leading across it at right angles. The young 
 hero of the farce, places himself in this hole, to be 
 hunted by the rest of the young men, all of whom, on 
 this occasion, are dressed in their best attire and painted 
 in their neatest style. The hunters approach the hole 
 in the direction of one of the ditches, and discharge 
 their guns, which were previously loaded for the pur 
 pose with blank cartridges, at the one who acts the part 
 of the bear ; whereupon he leaps from his den, having 
 a hoop in each hand and a wooden lance, the hoop 
 serving as fore feet to aid him in characterizing his part, 
 and his lance to defend himself from his assailants. 
 Thus accoutred, he dances round the place, exhibiting 
 various feats of activity, while the other Indians pursue 
 him and endeavor to trap him, as he attempts to return 
 to his den, to effect which, he is privileged to use any 
 violence he pleases with impunity against his assailants, 
 and even to taking the life of any of them. 
 
 " This part of the ceremony is performed three times, 
 that the bear may escape from his den and return to it 
 again through three of the avenues communicating 
 with it. On being hunted from the fourth or last ave 
 nue, the bear must make his escape through all his 
 pursuers, if possible, and flee to the woods, where he is 
 to remain through the day. This, however, is seldom 
 or never accomplished, as all the young men exert 
 themselves to the utmost in order to trap him. When 
 caught, he must retire to a lodge erected for his recep 
 tion in the field, from all society through the day, ex 
 cept one of his particular friends whom he is allowed 
 to take with him as an attendant. Here he smokes 
 and performs various other rites which superstition has 
 led the Indian to believe are sacred. After this cere- 
 
THE LAST MAN ! STRANGE BELIEFS. 169 
 
 mony is ended, the young Indian is considered qualified 
 to act any part as an efficient member of their commu 
 nity. The Indian who catches the bear is promoted on 
 the first suitable occasion." 
 
 The Dog Dance is only a solid feast, being a " flow of 
 soul" with very little reason. Dog meat is held in 
 great esteem, and hence a dog feast brings out the finest 
 qualities of the Indian s appetite. It is really a time 
 of gayety, and the dance indicates a good time gener 
 ally. 
 
 The War Dance is, perhaps, in one sense, the most 
 horrible of all the dances. A pole is erected, on which 
 are hung the scalps of the enemy, and around which the 
 warriors, profusely painted, dance more energetically 
 than on any other occasion. They form a ring, and in 
 the midst of this ring are the musicians with their 
 drums, who commence beating them slowly, and the 
 Indians then inaugurate their peculiar hops, ever and 
 anon uttering their "hos" and "hi-yis," increasing 
 their motions constantly as they pass round in a circle. 
 Then the drums beat faster, and the warriors dance 
 faster, and their yells become louder, until, when, in a 
 state of terrible frenzy, their eyes glitter, their faces 
 become hideous, and they brandish their kniyes and 
 tomahawks in close proximity to the brains of their 
 companions, seemingly to almost strike them in their 
 wild and determined actions. Their war-whoops now 
 become simply terrific ! They increase the rapidity of 
 their movements ! They yell, they wiggle, they throw 
 their arms in the air, and on a moonlight night present 
 all the features of Pandemonium broke loose. This is 
 kept up until nature is completely exhausted, when 
 some one of the warriors steps into the ring and tells what 
 
1 70 THE LAST MAN ! STRANGE BELIEFS. 
 
 he has done, and what he intends to do, climbing up 
 into the grandiloquent style, being loudly cheered by 
 his companions ; and then the dance is over. 
 
 The Beggar Dance is peculiar to itself and has con 
 siderable significance. The Indians gather about in a 
 dejected manner, and the drum begins its slow, monot 
 onous tones, at the same time the Indians begin to 
 bob up and down, as though one leg was shorter than 
 the other ; then the dance increases in earnestness, and 
 the Indians divest themselves of their clothing, first 
 throwing off blankets, then other garments ; finally 
 they are almost in a state of nudity. Some Indian* 
 who visited my camp and performed this dance, wert 
 only prevented from divesting themselves of all then 
 garments, or such as they had on, by my timely inter 
 ruption in arresting their intentions by having placed 
 in their midst two sacks of flour and an abundance of 
 tobacco. When once supplied they slowly dance until 
 their clothing is replaced, and then gently move away, 
 being always sure of taking their presents with them. 
 
 The most sickening of all is the Sun Dance. An 
 unknown writer, who is well posted, has described it so 
 well and so accurately that I append his account : 
 
 " The ceremony begins at sunrise and lasts till sun 
 down. During all this time the candidate for honors 
 has to look straight at the sun and dance without any 
 interruption, except to take an occasional puff at the 
 pipe, handed him by the Medicine man. The relatives 
 of the victim sit around the circle, beat the drum a 
 tin kettle covered with buckskin and sing of the deeds 
 of great warriors, in order to stimulate to great exer 
 tion and pluck, for such is indeed needed by the poor 
 devil during this trying ordeal. Many of the young 
 
THE LAST MAN! STRANGE BELIEFS. I/I 
 
 men faint away during the dance and fail to graduate. 
 The ceremony is as follows : 
 
 " There are long strings of rawhide or rope tied to a 
 high, upright pole or tree, upon which the scalps of 
 slaughtered enemies, buffalo skulls, skunk s tails and 
 medicine bags are fastened. The victim takes his posi 
 tion within convenient proximity to the pole, when the 
 Medicine man, with a large double-edged knife or 
 arrowhead, makes two parallel slits in the skin, then 
 runs the sharp point of a stick of wood about four 
 inches long, into one of the slits or cuts, underneath 
 the sinews and out of the other slit or cut. The ends 
 of this stick of wood are then fastened to the strings. 
 This process is inflicted in four places upon the breast 
 and shoulders of the aspirant, who then commences 
 dancing and turning himself around and about, occa 
 sionally throwing the whole weight of his body upon 
 the stirrup by which he hangs suspended, dangling and 
 swinging in the air, with the sole object of succeeding, 
 at the earliest possible moment, of tearing out the 
 stitches, sinews and all. As soon as this is accom 
 plished usually before sundown the successful grad 
 uate is declared a great warrior, and he is given many 
 presents, consisting of guns, pistols, horses, buffalo 
 robes, calico and rings." It is a sickening sight, and 
 partakes of the quintessence of barbarism. 
 
GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER. 
 
 KILLED IN THE INDIAN FIGHT WITH SITTING BULL. 
 
 AS this gallant soldier was engaged for some years 
 in successfully fighting the Indians on our frontier 
 and finally lost his life in the last great Indian battle 
 on the American continent, it seems proper that I 
 should briefly inform the reader who this hero was, and 
 how he became the terror of the red men of the plains. 
 He was the son of a hard-working Ohio farmer, active, 
 bright, amiable, with a fair English education, and who 
 at the age of sixteen years, taught school in his native 
 town. Once determined to go, to West Point, he ap 
 plied to the member of Congress from his own district, 
 and although unsupported by outside influences, he suc 
 ceeded in gaining the position. His record at the 
 Academy was not a brilliant one, nor was his behavior 
 of the " goody-goody " style, for he was full of mis 
 chief and hated restraint. He graduated at the foot of 
 a class of thirty-four. At the breaking out of the re 
 bellion, Custer was ordered to report to General Scott, 
 and when active military events followed he was put on 
 duty with the army which was ingloriously defeated at 
 Bull Run. He was on the staff of several Generals, 
 but finally took his position at the head of a cavalry 
 regiment, and here is where he exhibited those grand 
 traits of character which made him the Marshall Ney 
 of the American army. Nothing seemed to daunt or 
 check him. He swept down upon the foe with the im 
 petuosity of a whirlwind, and the southern soldiers 
 
 172 
 
GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER. 173 
 
 cowered before his victorious troops. With his long, 
 flowing hair hanging down his shoulders, his slouch 
 hat, his embroidered pants, set off with gold ; his 
 bright-colored shirt and necktie, he rode at the head of 
 his column and inspired the greatest confidence in his 
 men, so that they, partaking of the leader s spirit, never 
 faltered in the discharge of their duty and never lost 
 a battle. 
 
 For one of his heroic and daring achievements, 
 wherein the confederated forces were driven back in 
 confusion, he was promoted from a first lieutenant to 
 a brigadier-general, and, from that time onward, he 
 rapidly ascended the military ladder, until he reached 
 the topmost round a major-general and this at the 
 early age of twenty-six years ! What is remarkable is 
 the fact, that, amid all the dangers of war wild, hor 
 rible, and terrific he was only wounded once. One 
 of the last actions in which General Custer was en 
 gaged, while fighting for the Union, was his attack 
 upon General Lee s army, and this, with the solid 
 gleaming bayonets of our infantry under the leader 
 ship of Sheridan, brought out the white flag, the enemy 
 surrendered, and the war was brought to a close. 
 
 In 1867 Custer was ordered to enter the field in pur 
 suit of the Indians, or, rather, at this period, he became 
 identified with the military movements which were 
 then projected for the defense of the frontier. Strong, 
 self-reliant, self-willed, disgusted with restraint, he left 
 Fort Wallace without orders, and, it is alleged, made a 
 journey on private business, for which he was court- 
 marshaled, with suspension of pay and rank for one 
 year, at the end of which time he was recalled into 
 active service, and from thence onward to the period 
 
174 GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER. 
 
 of his death, he became a marked character among the 
 many eminent generals who have conducted our Indian 
 campaigns. 
 
 In his onslaughts, in the far West, Custer never 
 stopped to think. His idea was "Go in and clean 
 them out; they are only Indians!" This is illustrated 
 in his stealthily attack upon an Indian village, where 
 Black Kettle, the chief, was killed, whom General 
 Harney and Colonel Boon declared was as good a 
 friend of the United States as they were. Had Custer 
 paused a moment, this noble old Indian s life might 
 have been saved. But the peculiarities of the boy 
 were well demonstrated in the growth of the man, and 
 this element of character finally cost him his life. In 
 1873, General Custer came to the new Northwest and 
 with troops escorted the engineers and surveyors of the 
 Northern Pacific railroad into the Yellowstone valley. 
 Here he became acquainted with the fact, that an 
 Indian had killed two elderly men of the expedition, 
 and he had him arrested, and he was imprisoned in Fort 
 Lincoln, where he confessed the deed. His name was 
 Rain-in-the-Face, and he subsequently escaped from 
 the fort, joined the forces of Sitting Bull, and what is 
 singular, on the hotly-contested battle-field, avenged 
 himself by killing the great white chief! And such is 
 fate ! After his expedition to the Yellowstone valley, 
 Custer was ordered to proceed to the Black Hills, 
 where he located his troops in a place that now bears 
 his name; and then, following this, he was delegated, 
 by General Terry, to take his seventh cavalry regiment 
 and follow the trail of Sitting Bull, so that three bodies 
 of troops, moving from different directions, might 
 encompass the savages and destroy them, but how he 
 
GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER. 175 
 
 performed this part of his last march I shall reserve for 
 my article on the final great Indian battle on the 
 western plains. 
 
 The following from the pen of a gentleman who ac 
 companied General Custer on his Yellowstone expedi 
 tion, gives a more excellent insight into the man s char 
 acter, than anything I have seen, and with it I conclude 
 my notice of this remarkable military hero, only regret 
 ting that he could not have lived to a hale and hearty 
 old age. 
 
 " General Custer was a born cavalry man. He was 
 never more in his element than when mounted on 
 Danby, his favorite horse, and riding at the head of his 
 regiment. He was the personification of bravery and 
 dash. If he had only added discretion to his valor, he 
 would have been a perfect soldier. His impetuosity 
 often ran away with his judgment. He was impatient 
 of control. He liked to act independently of others, 
 and take all the risk and all the glory to himself. He 
 frequently got himself into trouble by assuming more 
 authority than really belonged to his rank. From the 
 time when he entered West Point, to the day when he 
 fell on the Big Horn, he was accustomed to take just 
 as much liberty as he was entitled to. For this reason, 
 Custer worked most easily and effectively when under 
 general orders, when not hampered by special instruc 
 tions, or his success made dependent on anybody else. 
 General Terry understood his man, when, in the order di 
 recting him to march up the Rosebud, he very liberally 
 said : * The Department Commander places too much 
 confidence in your zeal, energy and ability to wish to 
 impose upon you precise orders which might hamper 
 your actions when nearly in contact with the enemy. 
 
GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER. 
 
 But General Terry did not understand Custer if he 
 thought he would wait for Gibbon s support before 
 attacking an Indian village. Undoubtedly he ought to 
 have done this ; but with his native impetuosity, his 
 reckless daring, his confidence in his own regiment, 
 which had never failed him, and his love of public ap 
 proval, Custer could no more help charging this Indian 
 camp, than he could help charging just so many buf 
 faloes. He had never learned to spell the word 
 * defeat ; he knew nothing but success, and if he had 
 met the Indians on the open prairie, success would un 
 doubtedly have been his; for no body of Indians could 
 stand the charge of the seventh cavalry, when it swept 
 over the plains like a whirlwind. 
 
 " With all his bravery and self-reliance, his love of 
 indepedent action, Custer was more dependent than 
 most men, on the kind approval of his fellows. He 
 was even vain ; he loved display in dress and in action. 
 He would pay forty dollars for a pair of trooper boots 
 to wear on parade and have everything else in keeping. 
 On the Yellowstone expedition he wore a bright red 
 shirt which made him the best mark for a rifle of any 
 man in the regiment. On the next campaign he ap 
 peared in a buckskin suit. He formerly wore his hair 
 very long, letting it fall in a heavy mass upon his 
 shoulders, but cut it off before going out to the Black 
 Hills, producing quite a change in his appearance. But 
 if vain and ambitious, Custer had none of those great 
 vices which are common and so distressing in the army. 
 He never touched liquor in any form ; he did not 
 smoke, or chew, or gamble. He was a man of great 
 energy and remarkable endurance. When he set out 
 to reach a certain point at a certain time, you could 
 
GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER. ,77 
 
 be sure that he would be there if he killed every horse 
 in the command. He was sometimes too severe in 
 enforcing marches, but he never seemed to get tired 
 himself and he never expected his men to get so. 
 Whatever he did, he did thoroughly. He would over 
 shoot the mark, but never fall short of it. He fretted 
 in garrison sometimes, because it was too inactive ; but 
 he found an outlet here for his energies in writing 
 articles for the press. 
 
 " He had a remarkable memory. He would recall, in 
 its proper order, every detail of any action, no matter 
 how remote, of which he was a participant. As he was 
 apt to overdo in action, so he was apt to exaggerate in 
 statement, not from any willful disregard of the truth, 
 but because he saw things bigger than they really were. 
 He did not distort the truth ; he magnified it. He 
 took rose-colored views of everything. He had a his 
 torical memory, but not a historical mind. He was no 
 philospher; could read off from his mind better than 
 he could analyze or mass them. He was not a student, 
 or a deep thinker. He loved to take part in events 
 rather than to brood over them. He was fond of fun ; 
 genial and pleasant in his manners; a loving and de 
 voted husband. He had many most excellent traits of 
 character which will live long after the memories of 
 other men are forgotten." 
 13 
 
MAJOR GENERAL TA-TON-KA-I-G-O. 
 TON-KA; OR, SITTING BULL. 
 
 THIS Indian deserves the rank of Major General 
 in the army of the savages, for, of all the chiefs, 
 he was the most implacable, the most unrelenting, the 
 most hostile, the most sagacious, and the most desper 
 ate foe of the whites of any chief of modern times. 
 He never assented to the control of the United States 
 Government over the people, but persistently fought 
 our troops whenever they came in his way. He did, 
 however, agree to make a treaty with the good Father 
 De Smet, but the treaty was violated. He claimed 
 that the country belonged to the Indians; that they 
 had a right to hunt and fish wherever they pleased ; 
 that the white man had wronged them; and thus 
 appealing to the feelings of the younger portion of his 
 race, induced a large number to follow him, and for 
 twenty years carried on his war, until he finally surren 
 dered to the United States forces, on the iQth of July, 
 188 1. 
 
 From the earliest history of the man, down to the 
 time he yielded his power, he had been a vindictive and 
 determined enemy of the whites. His successful raids 
 and savage victories ; his unfaltering purposes to harrass, 
 rob and kill the settlers; his undaunted courage and 
 wily reasoning; his successful battles and wise coun 
 sels, soon elevated him to the highest pitch of a leading 
 and powerful chief, and he gathered about him men of 
 the same peculiar cast of mind, and continued to march 
 
 178 
 
TA-TON-KA-I-G-OTON-KA, OR SITTING BULL. 179 
 
 forth to success and to victory, until his name became 
 well known in every part of this country and in Europe. 
 These successes, on the part of Sitting Bull, inspired 
 the Indian heart, so that many who were living on the 
 bounty of the Government at the various agencies, left 
 and joined his forces, and hence he was a constant 
 source of disturbance, even outside of his own imme 
 diate command. Indians who were peacefully inclined, 
 flocked to his ranks, and for a time he put at defiance 
 that portion of the army of the United States then 
 operating on our frontier. 
 
 His influence had become so great and was working 
 such deleterious effect among the agency Indians, that 
 finally the Department at Washington was obliged to 
 take prompt measures to prevent a general outbreak 
 among the friendly Indian tribes, and to this end Sit 
 ting Bull and his followers were ordered to come in on 
 to the Reservation, or they would fall under the con 
 trol of the military power. Sitting Bull laughed at 
 these commands of the Indian Department, and still 
 continued his raids ; and then followed the campaign 
 of 1876, inaugurated by General Sheridan, wherein three 
 powerful columns of troops were to move simultan 
 eously upon the enemy and force them either into civil 
 ization or extermination. In the attempt to carry out 
 this movement, which was a wise one, it will be remem 
 bered General Crooks was repulsed, and General Custer, 
 in his eagerness to make an attack without proper sup 
 port, which could have been obtained, brought on a 
 fight in which he and his men were all killed, leaving 
 Sitting Bull and his warriors complete masters of the 
 field. No such Indian battle was ever ^ known before 
 in this country; and such a complete Indian victory has 
 
180 TA-TON-KA-I-G-O-TON-KA, OR SITTING BULL. 
 
 no parallel in history, and we are forced to the conclu 
 sion that it could have been avoided had General Custer 
 not been misled as to the number of Indians in the vil 
 lage, or had he refrained from an attack, or had he 
 promptly informed General Terry when he first discov 
 ered the Indian camp, and waited for his support. 
 
 After this battle the savages crossed into Canada, 
 and, notwithstanding there were several Indian fights 
 on this side of the boundary line subsequently, yet 
 Sitting Bull took no part in them for a year. Then 
 the old chieftain began again to commit depredations 
 among the Americans, and, finally a commissioner was 
 appointed by the United States Government to cross 
 the line and try to effect, by diplomacy, what had 
 failed by force of arms. In the meantime Sitting 
 Bull s forces had greatly decreased by the return of the 
 outlaws back into the agencies whence they originally 
 had come ; and here they were fed and petted again 
 by a great Government, which had failed to subdue 
 them, and which, when these renegades were in its 
 power, had failed to punish them. Through the inter 
 cession of British officers, the Peace Commissioners 
 were ushered into the presence of the august chieftain, 
 who disdainfully refused to shake hands with them, 
 and arrogantly demanded that they should come out 
 from behind the table they were sitting around, and 
 speak the truth to his chiefs. No such audacity was 
 ever shown before in the history of the Indian race ; 
 and then, after all the humiliating promises made by 
 the Government, Major-general Sitting Bull sneeringly 
 rejected every overture for peace, and the Commission, 
 having marched up the hill, marched down again, and 
 
TA-TON-KA-I G-O-TON-KA, OR SITTING BULL. l8l 
 
 the grim old soldier quietly smoked his pipe inside of 
 the walls of his greasy tepee. 
 
 Matters now continued quiet with Sitting Bull for 
 nearly one year and a half, when, in 1879, ne broke out 
 again and commenced his depredations upon the set 
 tlers. He was met by General Miles and a battle ensued, 
 Sitting Bull being in command in person, but fearing 
 that the whites would be reinforced, he wisely with 
 drew his warriors and retreated to the British posses 
 sions, where he remained peacefully until he gave up 
 his arms to the American forces. Then followed the 
 surrender of Rain-in-the-Face, Crow Wing, Chief Gaul, 
 and many thousand Indians, leaving Sitting Bull with 
 only a few disheartened warriors, and finally, sullenly 
 and in a defiant manner, he succumbed to the inevit 
 able march of the white race, came within our lines and 
 everybody felt better and breathed freer when he sur 
 rendered. 
 
 J. E. Walker, Esq., who witnessed the capitulation of 
 Sitting Bull, says : 
 
 "With the last remnant of his people, some two hun 
 dred souls, old men, women and children, the old war- 
 chief arrived at Fort Buford, Dakota, at noon on July 
 19, 1 88 1. At the head of the mournful cortege rode 
 Sitting Bull, Four Horns, Red Thunder, and other sub- 
 chiefs on their ponies, and following came six army 
 wagons loaded with the squaws and children, and be 
 hind them came some twenty-five Red river carts con 
 taining their baggage. They presented a forlorn and 
 pitiful appearance, the great Sitting Bull himself being 
 very dirty and very hungry ; his face wearing a sullen, 
 bull-dog expression ; his dress and appearance bearing 
 marks of the hardships and destitution he had recently 
 
1 82 TA-TON-KA-I-G-O-TON-KA OR SITTING BULL. 
 
 experienced. Yet, until called upon to surrender his 
 arms, he preserved under this the most trying ordeal to 
 a savage, a dignified and unbroken silence. Thus 
 ended the Indian war in the Northwest the closing of 
 the five years campaign against the most remarkable 
 Indian leader of modern times. 
 
 " While the last act of the drama, the final scene in 
 Sitting Bull s career as a warrior, was enacted at noon, 
 July 20, 1 88 1, and when, by the hand of his little son, 
 he delivered up the rifle he had carried throughout so 
 many bloody fields, the great chieftan spoke as follows : 
 I surrender this rifle to you through my young son, 
 whom I now desire to teach in this manner, that he has 
 become a friend of the American people. I wish him 
 to learn the habits of the whites and to be educated as 
 their sons are educated. I wish it to be remembered 
 that I was the last; man of my tribe to surrender my 
 rifle. This boy has given it to you, and he now wants 
 to know how he is going to make a living. Whatever 
 you have to give and whatever you have to say, I would 
 like to receive or hear now, for I don t wish to be kept 
 in- darkness longer. I have sent several messengers in 
 here from time to time, but none of them have returned 
 with news. The other chiefs, Crow Wing and Gaul, 
 have not wanted me to come, and I have never received 
 good news from. here. I wish now to be allowed to 
 live this side of the line, or the other, as I see fit. I 
 wish to continue my old life of hunting, but would like 
 to be allowed to trade on both sides of the line. This 
 is my country, and I don t want to be compelled to 
 give it up. My heart was very sad at having to leave 
 the mother s -country. She has been a friend to me, 
 but I want my children to grow up in my native 
 
TA-TON-KA-I-G-0*TON-KA, OR SITTING BULL. 183 
 
 country, and I wish also to feel that I can visit two of 
 my friends on the other side of the line whenever I 
 wish, and would like to trade with Legare, as he has 
 always been a friend to me. I wish to have all my 
 people live together upon one reservation of our own 
 on the Little Missouri. I left several families at Wood 
 Mountain and between there and Qu Appelle. I have 
 many people among the Yanktonaise at Poplar Creek, 
 and I wish all of them and those who have gone to 
 Standing Rock, to be collected together upon one res 
 ervation. My people have, many of them, been bad. 
 All are good now, that their arms and ponies have been 
 taken from them. (Speaking to the officer:) You own 
 this ground with me, and we must try and help each 
 other. I do not wish to leave here until I get all the 
 people I left behind. I would like to have my daugh 
 ter, who is now at Fort Yates, sent up here to visit me, 
 as also eight men, and I would like to know that Legare 
 is to be rewarded for his services in bringing me and 
 my people here. " 
 
 Sitting Bull, Rain-in-the-Face, Gaul, Long Dog, 
 Spotted Horn Bull, Eagle, Grey Eagle, Flying By, 
 Crow Eagle and other chiefs of his tribe, with some 
 three thousand of his people, are now at Standing Rock 
 agency, Dakota, on the Missouri river, and thus ends 
 the unparalleled career of this greatest of modern 
 Indian chiefs. 
 
THE LAST GREAT INDIAN BATTLE 
 ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 IN WHICH GENERAL CUSTER LOST HIS LIFE AND 
 SITTING BULL BECAME THE VICTORIOUS CON 
 QUEROR. 
 
 " Ye ve trailed me through the forests, 
 
 Ye ve tracked me o er the plain, 
 But with your bristling bayonets, 
 Ye ne er shall track again." 
 
 THE reader who has perused the pages of this 
 book, treating of the lives of General Custer and 
 Sitting Bull, must now be pretty well prepared to learn 
 of the final conflict between two of the most noted 
 warriors of modern times the one the representative 
 of civilization, the other the representative of bar 
 barism. 
 
 As has already been narrated, General Terry sought to 
 mass three columns of troops upon the savages, from 
 three different points, for two reasons : First, to pre 
 vent the Indians from escaping; ancf second to force 
 them to surrender or annihilate them. To this end 
 2,700 men, divided into three columns of 1,300, 400 
 and 1,000 each, started out in the year 1876, in pursuit 
 of the savages under Sitting Bull, then supposed to be 
 somewhere in the Yellowstone valley, and numbering 
 about 3,000 warriors. These columns of troops were 
 to gradually encircle the Indians, and to pounce down 
 upon them with such irresistible force as to completely 
 overpower them, General Gibbons coming in from one 
 
 184 
 
THE LAST GREAT INDIAN BATTLE. 185 
 
 direction, General Terry from another, and Custer from 
 another. The latter officer was to be at the head of his 
 favorite regiment, the seventh cavalry, consisting of 
 28 officers and 747 men, then pronounced in splendid 
 condition ; and when, therefore, Major Reno came in 
 from his scouting expedition, reporting a heavy Indian 
 trail, ten days old, General Terry decided upon his mode 
 of attack and the disposition of his forces. Custer was 
 to ascend the valley of the Rosebud, turn toward the 
 Little Big Horn river, keeping well to the south, while 
 Gibbons^ was to cross the Yellowstone at the mouth of 
 Big Horn river, and march up the Big Horn to its junc 
 tion with the Little Big Horn, to co-operate with Custer. 
 The general s Indian fighting qualities were so well 
 known to Terry, that in giving his orders to him, he 
 distinctly stated " that he would not impose upon 
 him precise orders which might hamper his actions 
 when nearly in contact with the enemy ; " and hence I 
 think herein was the great mistake of the expedition, 
 for, had Terry given positive instructions to Custer, 
 first to hunt out the Indians, then to inform him where 
 they were, then to come to a halt and await support, 
 there is no doubt but Custer would be alive to-day, and 
 Sitting Bull would be dwelling in his happy hunting 
 ground, beyond the reach of the white man s bullets. 
 But these orders were not given, for reasons best 
 known to General Terry, and Custer, acting out the im 
 petuous impulsiveness of his nature, after discovering 
 the Indians, ordered Major Reno, with three companies, 
 to cross the Rosebud river on the left, attack the enemy 
 in the rear, while he, with five companies, numbering 
 upwards of three hundred men, would move forward on 
 the right and make an attack in front. Two other 
 
1 86 THE LAST GREAT INDIAN BATTLE; 
 
 companies were ordered to make a detour south of 
 Reno. In the meantime General Terry, with his cavalry 
 and the battery, had pushed on with the hope of opening 
 up communication with Custer, as Terry no doubt fully 
 believed that Custer would refrain from making an at 
 tack on the Indians village until he (Terry) was within 
 supporting distance, and he was hurrying forward to 
 effect this result, when three Crow Indians, who started 
 out with Custer s regiment, came into camp and re 
 ported that a battle had been fought and the Indians 
 were killing white men in great numbers. 
 
 It seems that Major Reno entered the woods on the 
 left of the Rosebud and made the attack as ordered, 
 but he was overpowered by great numbers of Indians, 
 and finally retreated across the river under a galling 
 fire, and gained a rise of ground, where he rapidly 
 threw up retrenchments and put himself on the defens 
 ive. The other two companies from the south soon 
 joined him, and here a desperate effort was made by 
 the enemy to dislodge him, but without success. 
 While this was going on, General Custer had passed 
 down the north banks of the river, and had made two 
 unsuccessful attempts to cross it, but was repulsed by 
 the Indians, who outnumbered him some fifteen to one, 
 and after stubbornly contesting this point, he fell back 
 to a small eminence, and there the battle raged most 
 terrifically. Soldiers and horses fell from the unerring 
 bullets of the Indians like wheat under the stroke of 
 the scythe. The brave men, led by their brave but 
 deceived leader, continued to close up the gaps made 
 by the enemy, until not a living soul was left upon the 
 field ! All was still ! All was gone ! Three hundred 
 men! hundreds of horses! the most gallant cavalry 
 
ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. l8/ 
 
 officer America ever produced, had passed out of life, 
 out of activity, out of reality, down into the shadow of 
 death! 
 
 Sitting Bull and his chiefs, satiated with the copious 
 blood of the pale faces, and fearful of the advancing 
 troops, called off their men from any further attack on 
 Reno ; gathered up their scattered village and moved 
 outside of the limits of harm, while Terry, coming up 
 with his reserved forces, found only a beseiged camp 
 (Reno s), a silent battle field, mutiliated bodies, an 
 Indian victory, a triumphant chief moving securely out 
 side of the range of civilized guns, and gloating over 
 the ruin he had made ! 
 
 Curley, a Crow Indian, who was with Custer, two 
 other scouts, and " Comanche," one of the officers 
 horses, were the only living beings and creatures that 
 escaped from that doomed battle field. Curley gives 
 his story as follows : 
 
 "Custer kept down the river on the north bank four 
 miles, after Reno had crossed to the south side above. 
 Thought Reno would drive down the valley to attack 
 the village at the upper end, while he (Custer), would 
 go in at the lower end. Custer had to advance further 
 down the river and further away from Reno than he 
 wished, on account of the steep bank along the north 
 side ; but at last he found a ford and dashed for it. The 
 Indians met him and poured in a heavy fire from across 
 the narrow river. Custer dismounted to fight on foot, 
 but could not get his skirmishers over the stream. 
 Meantime hundreds of Indians on foot and on ponies, 
 rushed over the river, which was only about three feet 
 deep, and filled the ravine on each side of Custer smen. 
 Custer then fell back to some high ground behind him 
 
1 88 THE LAST GREAT INDIAN BATTLE 
 
 and seized the ravines in his immediate vicinity. The 
 Indians completely surrounded Custer, and poured in a 
 terrible fire on all sides. They charged Custer on foot 
 in vast numbers, but were again and again driven back. 
 
 " The fight began about two o clock and lasted almost 
 until the sun went down over the hills. The men fought 
 desperately, and after the ammunition in their belts 
 was exhausted, went to their saddle-bags, got more, 
 and continued the fight. Custer lived until nearly all 
 his men had been killed or wounded, and went about 
 encouraging his soldiers to fight on. He got a shot in 
 the left side and sat down with his pistol in his hand. 
 Another shot struck Custer in the breast, and he fell 
 over. The last officer killed was a man who rode a 
 white horse. 
 
 " When he saw Custer hopelessly surrounded, he 
 watched his opportunity, got a Sioux blanket, put it on 
 and worked up a ravine, and when the Sioux charged, 
 he got among them and they did not know him from 
 one of their own men. There were some mounted 
 Sioux, and seeing one fall, he ran to him, mounted his 
 pony and galloped down as if going toward the white 
 men, but went up a ravine and got away. As he rode 
 off he saw when nearly a mile from the battle field, a 
 dozen or more soldiers in a ravine fighting with Sioux 
 all around them. He thinks all were killed, as they 
 were outnumbered five to one and apparently dis 
 mounted. The battle was desperate in the extreme, 
 and more Indians than white men must have been 
 killed." 
 
 Kill Eagle, who was in Sitting Bull s camp at the 
 time of the battle, describes the village as six miles 
 long and one wide. He then speaks of Custer s ap- 
 
ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 189 
 
 proach and fight, with its tragic details as an anwilling 
 spectator rather than as a participant, who, during its 
 progress, remained quietly in his lodge in the center of 
 the Indian village. The fight with Reno commenced 
 about noon, the Indians all rushing to oppose his ad 
 vance until the approach of Custer toward the end of 
 the village was announced, when the wildest confusion 
 prevailed throughout the camp. Lodges were struck 
 and preparation made for instant fight. Vast numbers 
 of Indians left Reno s front and hastened to the assist 
 ance of their red brethren engaged with Custer, who 
 was steadily forced back and surrounded until all were 
 swept from the field by the repeated charges of the 
 Indians. 
 
 He describes the firing at this point as simply ter 
 rific, and illustrated its force by clapping his hands 
 together with great rapidity and regularity. Then 
 came a lull in the fearful storm of iron and hail, and 
 his hands were still again. The storm beat fast and 
 furious, as the thought of some loved one nerved the 
 arm of each contending trooper. Then the movement 
 of his hands slackened and gradually grew more feeble. 
 A few scattering shakes, like the rain upon a window- 
 pane, and then the movement ceased, as the last of 
 Custer s band of heroes went down with the setting 
 sun. 
 
 It was dark when the successful Indians returned 
 to camp, littered with their dead and wounded. " We 
 have killed them all," they said; "put up your lodges 
 where they are." They had just begun to fix their 
 lodges that evening, when a report came that troops 
 were coming from toward the mouth of the creek. 
 When this report came, after dark, the lodges were all 
 
IQO THE LAST GREAT INDIAN BATTLE. 
 
 taken down, and the Indians started up the creek. It 
 was not to the Indians a bloodless victory. Fourteen 
 had fallen in front of Reno, thirty-nine went down 
 with Custer, and fourteen were dead in camp. Over 
 one hundred were wounded. There were no white 
 men among the Indian forces, in the fight, or on the 
 field. The bugle calls were sounded by an Indian. No 
 prisoners were taken. The troops were all killed on 
 the east side ; none crossed the river. 
 
 Little Buck Elk was present at the fight and said : 
 " The Indians were as thick as bees and there were so 
 many of them that they could not all take part. The 
 soldiers were all brave men and fought well ; some of 
 them, when they found themselves surrounded and 
 overpowered, broke through the lines and tried to make 
 their escape, but were pursued and killed miles from 
 the battle-field. The Indians captured six battle flags. 
 No soldiers were taken alive, but after the fight the 
 women went among the dead bodies and robbed and 
 multilated them." 
 
 It is a mistaken idea that Indians do not understand 
 the paraphernalia of war. They have out their spies, 
 their scouts and their skirmishers, and are generally 
 well posted on the movements of their enemy. For 
 instance, a spy overlooking the rendezvous of soldiers, 
 conveys the information by running to another Indian 
 stationed a certain distance from him, of how many 
 troops there are, etc., and he, in turn, runs to another, 
 and so on, until the news reaches the camp of the chief, 
 though it may be many miles away. Then they form 
 coalition with the other bands, as in the case of the 
 Custer fight, and on the battle field they have signs by 
 which they move their men, one of which is the " Hi- 
 
ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. , IQI 
 
 yi-yis " of their chiefs which means " follow us." Again 
 they convey significant signs great distances, both by 
 smoke and by the reflection of the looking glass, or by 
 some bright metal. 
 
 The great major-general of the Sioux army, Sitting 
 Bull, was well informed as to the action of Terry s sol 
 diers, long before they left for an attack, and as he had 
 been drawing from the agency Indians, not only men 
 but means to prosecute the war, and had made alliances 
 with other bands, he was well prepared to meet the 
 issue ; and Custer, instead of confronting 2,000 warriors, 
 as he expected to, fell into the hands of 5,000 ! If Gen 
 eral Terry had not come up just as he did, Reno and 
 his men would have shared the same fate as Custer, be 
 cause the Indians would have pitched their tepees near 
 the battle-field and in the morning would have renewed 
 the attack and with entire success. Hearing that rein 
 forcements were coming to the whites, they moved 
 away and finally crossed into the British possessions. 
 
 Taken all together history will point to this as the 
 greatest Indian battle on American soil, and especially 
 so, as involving the gallant fighting characteristics of 
 two of the greatest warriors of the nineteenth century, 
 the one nobly and heroically meeting his death upon 
 the battle-field, against superior numbers, the other 
 now a captive in the hands of the whites, against whom 
 he had so long and so successfully fought. 
 
 Now, after all this, if Major-General Sitting Bull de 
 sires civilization for his people desires education for his 
 children desires sincerely to adopt the habits of the 
 whites, let us give him the helping hand. He was great 
 in his last battle, and he may yet prove greater still in 
 elevating his own race. 
 
SITTING BULL S FIRST VISIT TO 
 CIVILIZATION. 
 
 STRANGE events transpire in all phases of lift 
 In the eternal revolution of the wheel of time v 
 even the lion and the lamb will lie down together, and 
 the day is rapidly approaching when Barbarism and 
 Civilization will shake hands over a common cause, a 
 common destiny, a common country. A few years ago, 
 and the great Indian war chief, Sitting Bull, was the 
 unrelenting, implacable enemy of the whites. He 
 turned his back upon civilization ; scorned all overtures 
 for peace, except in one instance, and feeling that he 
 had been wronged, he marshaled his forces and corn- 
 batted every opposing power. He was an untutored 
 child of nature ; honestly believed that the whites had 
 wronged him, and in some respects they had, and thus 
 feeling, he expected to live and to die, as it were, an 
 outlaw. He was moving with his warriors toward the 
 Canadian line, where he intended to live the remainder 
 of his days, when, of a sudden, he was attacked by 
 Custer, and in the engagement that followed, not a 
 white soldier of over three hundred was left to tell the 
 story of that dreadful battle. He crossed the line. Ne 
 gotiations followed. Efforts were made to bring Sit 
 ting Bull within the power of the United States. He re 
 fused to come, and remained on Canadian soil until his 
 leading chiefs consented to surrender, and after many 
 of them had done so, he finally yielded and came within 
 the American lines. Only on one occasion besides this 
 
 192 
 
SITTING BULL S VISIT TO CIVILIZATION. 193 
 
 did Sitting Bull assent to be a representative to a treaty 
 with the whites, and that was about the country includ 
 ing the Black Hills, and as this treaty was not respected, 
 of course he felt indignant, and continued to feel in 
 dignant until his surrender to the United States forces, 
 as narrated in these pages. At the council held by the 
 good Father De Smet, Sitting Bull came forward and 
 said : 
 
 SPEECH OF SITTING BULL. 
 
 " Father, you pray to the Great Spirit for us, and I 
 thank you. I will and I have often besought the kind 
 ness of the Great Spirit, but never have I done so more 
 earnestly than to-day, that our words may be heard 
 above and to all quarters of the earth. When I first 
 saw you coming, I had evil thoughts and my heart 
 beat, caused by the remembrance of the past. But I 
 bade it be still, and it was so ; when I shook hands 
 with you, my comrade, and my sister, in the prairie, I 
 felt a change and hardly knew what to say, but my 
 heart was glad and quickly formed a decision. I am 
 and I have always been a fool and a warrior. My peo 
 ple caused me to be so. They have been confused and 
 troubled for several years past, and they look upon 
 their troubles as coming from the whites, and became 
 crazy as it were and pushed me forward. I have led 
 them for the past four years in bad deeds. The fault 
 is their s as much as mine. I will now say in their 
 hearing, welcome, father, messenger of peace, and I 
 hope quiet and more to our country, As I am not full 
 of words, I will now thank you in the presence of our 
 chiefs and braves for your kindness, and I accept the 
 tobacco as a token of peace, trusting that you will 
 always continue to wish us well. I have now told you 
 
194 SITTING BULL S FIRST VISIT 
 
 all, and all is said that can be said. Some of my peo 
 ple will return with you to meet the chiefs of our great 
 father, who are sent to make peace. I hope it will be 
 all accomplished and whatever is done by them I will 
 accept and remain ever a friend to the whites." 
 
 After shaking hands with us all he turned to the 
 crowd and asked them if they had heard his words. 
 "How! how!" ran through the crowd. A moment 
 after he returned and said he had forgotten three 
 things. He wished all to know that he did not pro 
 pose to sell any part of his country, nor did he wish 
 the whites to cut his timber along the Missouri, and 
 especially the oaks. He was particularly fond of look 
 ing at the little groves of oaks and had a reverence for 
 them. They had withstood the wintry storms and 
 summer blasts and, not unlike themselves, seemed to 
 flourish by them. His last request was that the forts, 
 peopled with soldiers, should be abandoned, as there 
 was no greater source of grievance to his people. With 
 applause from young and old he took his seat. 
 
 SITTING BULL IN SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA. 
 
 The person who conceived the excellent idea of 
 introducing Sitting Bull for the first time to civiliza 
 tion, was Major James McLaughiin, Indian agent at 
 Standing Rock, and in this conception he carried out a 
 bold idea, the results of which will prove greatly bene 
 ficial to the Indian tribes over which Sitting Bull has 
 an influence. Like the old Roman soldier, Bull could 
 say "veni, vidi, vici" "I came, I saw, I conquered 
 not armies of men ; not a chieftain of the Great Father, 
 or a foe of my own race; but I conquered my own 
 prejudices and the prejudices of the white people, and 
 
TO CIVILIZATION. 195 
 
 saw not emblems of war, or revenge, or blood, or car 
 nage, but evidences of peace, of harmony, of industry, 
 commerce, schools, churches, kindness, friends, civiliza 
 tion. I came among a people who had been taught to 
 believe that I was the most brutal savage on the face 
 of the earth, and I must confess I felt for a moment 
 uneasy as to my personal safety, but the great heart of 
 the paleface made my own heart quiet and grateful for 
 its generosity and magnanimity, and I went back to my 
 people deeply impressed with the vastness of the white 
 race and the power of civilization." Such was the 
 feeling of this great uncivilized warrior after he had 
 seen civilization for the first time in his life, and on 
 returning to Standing Rock, where his people are 
 gathered, he gave them such a glow r ing account of what 
 he had seen, that a number of the chiefs would not 
 believe him, and others have become so deeply inter 
 ested in the elevation of their race that they have sig 
 nified their desires to abandon barbarism and adopt 
 the modes and the habits of the whites. So much for 
 Sitting Bull s visit. 
 
 WHEN AND WHERE BORN ORIGIN OF NAME. 
 
 Ta-ton-ka-i-g-o-ton-ka, or Sitting Bull, was born in 
 1834, on the banks of the Grand river, within the 
 boundaries of the present Great Sioux Reservation, 
 near the mouth of Stonewall creek, and about forty-five 
 miles southwest from Standing Rock Agency in Dakota 
 Territory. He states that he was born in the spring 
 and is now in his fiftieth year, but he looks much older. 
 His sister, however, who is six years his senior corrob 
 orates his statement, and says that he was born fifty 
 winters ago, or in the spring of 1834. He was first 
 
196 SITTING BULL S FIRST VISIT 
 
 named " Wakan-you-najin,"-- Standing Holy, which 
 name he retained until he was fourteen years old, when 
 his father, whose name was Sitting Bull, took him 
 along with him on the war-path into the Crow country 
 (the inveterate enemies of the Sioux), and he, the 
 fourteen year old boy, counted his first coup or victory, 
 by killing a Crow Indian. After returning to their 
 home, his father threw away three ponies in honor of 
 his brave son s achievement, at the same time announc 
 ing that he had changed the name of his son from 
 Standing Holy to that of Sitting Bull, bestowing his 
 own name upon him. His father was subsequently 
 killed by the Crows near the forks of Grand river. 
 
 In person Sitting Bull is a solidly-built Indian, not 
 quite so tall as an ordinary savage, yet heavier in many 
 respects.. His features are strong, and, when he walks, 
 he turns his toes inward, strikes the ground with a 
 heavy, jarring tread, and moves along rapidly, like a 
 man of business. His general look is heavy, while 
 that of Little Crow, the leader of the great Indian 
 outbreak, and Hole-in-the-Day, the great Chippewa 
 chief, were more refined, but, none the less, true In 
 dians. The Dakotas believe that they must imitate 
 their Hay-o-kah, or undemonstrative god, who incul 
 cates the idea that it is not dignified, nor manly, nor 
 great to evince lively emotions of grief or joy, but, 
 under all circumstances, even of torture and death 
 itself, the Indian must show a stoical, impassive face, 
 and, hence, the immovable features of sitting Bull, or 
 any other Indian who lays claim to power among his 
 tribe. It is alleged that Bull is not so able a man in 
 intellect as Gaul, Antelope, and others, but he is very 
 self-willed, one might say obstinate, and here is where 
 
TO CIVILIZATION. 1 97 
 
 he gets his strength and his fame. And yet this very 
 stubbornness of character has made him a name second 
 to no other chief in Indian history, as the same element 
 of character made Grant the greatest warrior of mod 
 ern times. 
 
 Major McLaughlin and his two little sons (one acting 
 as interpreter), with Sitting Bull, One Bull and others 
 arrived at St. Paul, Minnesota, on March 14, 1884, and 
 in consequence of the great crowd at the depot, gath 
 ered to see the famous Unkapapa, he took a hack to 
 one of our principal hotels. That evening was spent 
 by the chief in examining type setting, newspaper 
 making, telegraphing, telephoning, steam-heating, etc., 
 in which he took great interest. The next day he inves 
 tigated several grocery and commission houses, saw the 
 process of coffee roasting and grinding, and for the first 
 time rode in an elevator. The next day he called on 
 Bishop Grace, and talked for some time in his own 
 tongue, with Father Ravoux ; passed through the cathe 
 dral, and the Assumption Catholic churches ; visited the 
 State capitol ; examined the portraits of the governors ; 
 said of General Sibley, " Had hoped to meet him, and 
 was sorry that he must return without seeing him, as 
 he was the true friend of the Indian race, and trusted 
 that the trip South would bring him back strong and 
 healthy again." 
 
 He then rode through the city and saw its fine resi 
 dences and business blocks ; returned to the hotel, and 
 on Sunday morning attended mass at the Assumption 
 church ; later, saw the action of the fire department, 
 and was so pleased with its workings that the perform 
 ance was repeated for his benefit, he touching the elec 
 tric signal for the call. He then, on invitation, visited 
 
198 SITTING BULL S FIRST VISIT 
 
 one of the largest cigar factories in the city, and after 
 witnessing the process of manufacturing the article, 
 was presented with two twelve-inch cigars, made in his 
 presence ; went through the public schools ; saw 1,000 
 pupils issue from one building in two minutes after the 
 fire alarm had been given ; strolled through a large 
 millinery establishment ; opened his eyes very wide 
 when inside of a wholesale boot and shoe manufactur 
 ing establishment, especially when his measure was 
 taken and he had a complete pair of shoes made and 
 handed to him, in twenty minutes after the leather had 
 passed into the hands of the first workman. He fol 
 lowed the process all through, and was more astonished 
 at this, than at anything that he had seen that day. 
 He has not worn the shoes yet, but keeps them to show 
 and explain to his visitors how they are made. 
 
 He became an Irishman on St. Patrick s day, and 
 attended an entertainment in the evening and made a 
 speech ; spent several hours in a wholesale dry goods 
 house; saw a pair of pants made in two minutes; ex 
 tended his visit to Fort Snelling; dined with his old 
 antagonist, General Terry; graced the Grand Opera 
 house with his presence ; was delighted with the play, 
 and especially when the actors took off their wigs; 
 "went through" one of the principal banks; took in 
 his hands a parcel containing $400,000 in United States 
 bonds, and, being uncivilized, he carefully handed it 
 back ; shuffled through the post-office ; saw the mails, 
 and some of the females ; made for the railway offices ; 
 attended another theater in the evening; sat for his 
 picture ; called on friends of his benefactor, Major Mc- 
 Laughlin; made a tour of the mills at Minneapolis; 
 saw the city, and took the train for home that evening, 
 
TO CIVILIZATION. 199 
 
 having been fourteen days from the agency, which was 
 acknowledged by Sitting Bull to be the most pleasant 
 and beneficially spent of any days of his life. 
 
 THE MOTIVE FOR VISITING CIVILIZATION. 
 
 We learn from Indian Agent McLaughlin, that the 
 object in inducing Sitting Bull and his nephew to visit 
 St. Paul, was to show them the greatness and the 
 power of the whites ; to see how they live ; the many 
 comforts they enjoy, and to impress upon them the im 
 portance of the introduction of industrious habits 
 among the Indians and the education of their children, 
 and great pains were taken to explain to them that all 
 the comforts the whites enjoyed, and every convenience 
 they had, cost labor and thought, and thus seeing all 
 this, it w r as suggested, would be more convincing than 
 years of theoretical education, and this was deemed es 
 pecially important in the case of Sitting Bull. It has 
 turned out as was expected. His eyes have been 
 opened by his recent visit to civilization, and it is ex 
 hibiting itself in many ways since his return. He is 
 now more ready to believe what he is told him about 
 the whites than formerly. As a great leader his influ 
 ence is now somewhat limited, and his followers are of 
 the most unenlightened class. Whatever power he has, 
 however, is being turned in the right direction, and his 
 recent trip to the marts of civilization has been largely 
 instrumental in bringing this about. He never tires of 
 talking of what he saw and the kind treatment he re 
 ceived from all whom he met, and no fears need now 
 be entertained of any further trouble from him, or 
 through him among the Sioux. And thus we close an 
 interesting chapter of an interesting chief of an inter- 
 
200 SITTING BULL S VISIT TO CIVILIZATION. 
 
 esting people who are gradually emerging out of bar 
 barism into the full glare of civilization, and we trust, 
 and we have reason to hope, that this little volume has 
 had something to do toward the consummation of so 
 desirable an end. 
 
AN INTERESTING TRIP. 
 
 WHERE NO WHITE MAN HAD EVER BEEN BEFORE. 
 
 IN the year 1865, when on the north boundary line 
 of the United States, I met an Indian who at 
 tached himself to me as my necarnis, or best friend, and 
 who desired that I should go with him some forty miles 
 from that point, to examine what he claimed was a bed 
 of coal ; so, asking him how much, and receiving the 
 reply, "$50," I consented to give it, and began prepa 
 rations for the journey. It was winter, and Vermilion 
 lake was frozen over, so that my " shebang," as I called 
 it, consisting of a horse and covered sled, could easily 
 make the trip. The Indian was to meet me some dis 
 tance from the camp, so as not to excite the suspicion 
 of our exploring party, and in the morning, bright and 
 early, myself and Porter, the interpreter, started out, 
 and soon Nar-go-ba-da was seen in the distance, await 
 ing our coming. Indian-like, he wanted a gallon of 
 " scoot-a-wa-boo," or whisky, before he would budge 
 an inch. I positively declined to give him this, but I 
 told him that I would give him a drink then, and as 
 the fatigue of the journey increased, he should have 
 more ; so, satisfied, he gave the lead, and we followed. 
 It was a crisp, bright, sharp winter morning, and the 
 wide expanse of the frozen lake stretched out before 
 us. Nar-go-ba-da loomed up ahead ; I followed ; Porter 
 was behind. When about eight miles from our point 
 of departure, I was startled with the vision behind me 
 of a large body of men and horses following our trail, 
 and the more I looked the more distinct they became. 
 
 201 
 
202 AN INTERESTING TRIP. 
 
 " Porter! for heaven s sake, I asked, "what is the 
 meaning of that body of men and horses behind us? I 
 thought we were alone on the lake. Look ! " Porter 
 looked ; the Indian looked ; I looked ; there the men 
 and horses were, just as I had described them, but I 
 could see a smile play over the features of the Indian 
 and Porter, while on my own were evidences of sur 
 prise. 
 
 " Who are you! where are they going?" I asked eagerly. 
 By this time Porter had come up, and Nar-go-ba-da had 
 returned from the advance, and as we were then all 
 looking at them I observed that the immense regiment 
 as it were, halted, and when Porter, with his lame leg, 
 moved, I saw one of their men with a lame leg move 
 also, and then I began, as the boy did " to smell a 
 mice," but what this strange vision was I could not yet 
 comprehend. " Well," said Porter, " Maria." " What 
 do you mean by that? " I asked. " A grand display of 
 our own persons and horse multiplied into hundreds ; a 
 reflection of ourselves, produced by the peculiar con 
 dition of the atmosphere." Can it be possible that I 
 had been thus deceived? Yes, when we moved, they 
 moved, and what was more convincing to me, was the 
 fact of Porter s game leg, for one of the other party 
 was in the same fix. 
 
 These delusions occur quite frequently on this lake, 
 especially on a frosty morning. Some parties have been 
 absolutely frightened by seeing others following them, 
 and have started out on a run of course the others 
 after them and have not stopped until they have 
 reached their camp, and then they have turned to find 
 nothing but their own shadows. 
 
 Quiet and order being somewhat restored in our ranks 
 
AN INTERESTING TRIP. 2O3 
 
 Nar-go-ba-da took the lead, and on we sped over the 
 slight snow which covered the lake. Suddenly our In 
 dian came to a halt, and I with him, and here we found 
 a circle made in the snow, and at a given point in that 
 circle was a mark, indicating at what time and which 
 way a party of trappers had passed that morning, 
 clearly showing the sagacity of the Indian in not only 
 telling time, but also in indicating the points of the 
 compass. Our line of march was as follows : the Indian 
 first, myself and horse next, Porter last. The snow 
 was deep, so we had to keep in the beaten track of the 
 trappers, and thus, in the order named, we pushed 
 on. Presently we heard a loud yell from Nar-go-ba-da. 
 I thought a thousand Indians were on my path, and 
 requested Porter to hurry up, and we together ap 
 proached the Indian, who, we found, had discovered the 
 hunting ground of his friends, and there lay before us 
 a huge lynx, with a rope around his neck and the other 
 end attached to a long limb of a tree. 
 
 The Indian s primitive mode of trapping is interest 
 ing, especially when the snow is deep. He first passes 
 over the track of the animal on snow shoes. That 
 night this track freezes. He then gathers small sticks, 
 as an Irish woman would make a hen yard; these sticks 
 he places across the track a foot or two out from it on 
 either side, leaving in the middle and directly where 
 the snow is hard a small aperture, and in this aperture 
 is hung a slipping-noose of fine but very strong twine, 
 the other end tied to a limb of a tree. Now, in the 
 morning the lynx comes out for his breakfast ; he trots 
 along down the hardened track; he snuffs the hunter s 
 evening meal ; when, all of a sudden, he comes to the 
 little sticks in his path ; they look natural enough ; he 
 
204 AN INTERESTING TRIP. 
 
 puts his paw to one side ; it sinks in the snow ; he tries 
 the other side, that sinks ; he hesitates ; when he sees a 
 small opening and a fine string hanging therein, he tries 
 the snow on either side of the path again ; it is too deep ; 
 he makes a plunge into the opening, is caught by the slip, 
 ping-noose around his neck ; he pulls, he struggles, he 
 growls, he bites, and the harder he pulls the tighter 
 grows the string around his neck until the fellow is 
 dead. The animal before us was a large, splendid 
 creature, with huge limbs of immense power, a small, 
 round head, and covered with a beautiful garment of 
 winter. This mode of trapping keeps the fur in a fine 
 condition ; unpolluted by poison and uninjured by 
 bullets. My necarnis was delighted with the " find," 
 and so on again we pushed in our journey. 
 
 We had been traveling about an hour, when again I 
 heard the Indian scream more terribly than ever before, 
 and this time I drew my revolver and called to him to 
 halt, as at the time he was approaching me, and he 
 halted, and I halted, and there we stood looking at 
 each other until Porter came up, when the Indian 
 broke out in the most excited gibberish, the tenor of 
 which was, that he had suddenly approached Spirit 
 Island, where he saw a large ox and a horse appear, 
 and he was greatly alarmed. He had heard of this 
 place but he had never before seen it, and even while 
 he spoke, he pointed to the island, and insisted that 
 the animals were there, he could see them, but we 
 could discover none. The fevered condition of his 
 mind, or of his imagination, had much to do in making 
 it appear to him real, when to us, it was only a myth. 
 And yet, Porter says it is the universal belief of the 
 Indians, especially the Brules in this section, that spir- 
 
AN INTERESTING TRIP. 20$ 
 
 its of Indians, horses, ponies, oxen, etc., inhabit this 
 island. 
 
 This second scare over, we again took up our line 
 of march, and, just at sundown, struck the borders of 
 an island, some thirty-five miles from whence we had 
 come. Here a small camp-fire was made on the island, 
 our supper cooked, and early I turned into my covered 
 sled, some three hundred feet from where the Indian 
 and Porter lay. In my sled I had a Henry rifle and 
 two revolvers, and felt pretty safe ; and yet I did not 
 like to be so far from my friends. I looked out into 
 the night ; the moon was shining brightly ; and then, 
 fastening down the covers of my " shebang," I gath 
 ered the clothes about me, and was soon in a sweet 
 sleep. About midnight I was awakened by a noise 
 near the sled. To me it seemed like the tread of 
 Indians, and I knew, that if this was the case, there was 
 no hope for me, for they were there for a bad purpose ; 
 *so I lay with my finger upon the trigger of my Henry 
 rifle, when presently something poked its nose under 
 the cover, and I saw at once I was surrounded by four 
 or five lynxes, which had been attracted to my sled by 
 the smell of provisions. Should I fire? No! That 
 would infuriate the pack, and they would pounce upon 
 me in a minute; so I carefully guarded every loose 
 place, determined that, if they should commence to 
 tear the covering, I would then do my best ; and thus 
 I lay, until the wee hours of morning, listening to 
 their walking about my bed, and growling at each 
 other. It certainly was not a very pleasant place to be 
 in, and I have faint recollections of being just a little 
 frightened. 
 
 In the morning I discovered the tracks of six animals, 
 
2O6 AN INTERESTING TRIP. 
 
 and my necarnis, or best Indian friend, was consider 
 ably exercised over the danger I had been in. After a 
 frugal breakfast, as the thermometer was thirty degrees 
 below zero, we moved out to the place where no white 
 man had ever trod before, but the Indian had been de 
 ceived; there was no coal there, so rather sedately we 
 trudged along home. About noon we saw in the dis 
 tance a group of Indians hurriedly making towards us, 
 and as we were then on Indian ground we apprehended 
 a small bit of danger, but in what shape it would come 
 we did not know. " Hoist the American flag," I said to 
 Porter, and he threw its waving folds over the sled, and 
 we moved slowly along. Up came the Indians as though 
 they would eat us all up, but we didn t scare worth a 
 cent, as they soon saw. After rudely pushing things 
 about, they concluded to divest us of our provisions, 
 but Nor-go-ba-da, my best friend, simply put his finger 
 on the trigger of his gun and told them that the Ameri 
 can flag shielded us from all harm, besides which I was* 
 his friend, and nobody must injure a hair of my head. 
 The Indians swung their guns from their backs, and in 
 a moment more I expected death, but Nor-go-ba-da 
 cooly remarked, " I have a spirit gun here which shoots 
 eighteen times in a minute ; let any man molest my 
 schersmokerman (white man chief) and he dies." The 
 Indians grunted, looked sullen, and went on their way. 
 Just as the sun was sinking to rest, we wound into a 
 little bay or inlet, and in a few moments more were in 
 the home of our Indian friend. The post of honor was 
 given me, opposite the opening of the tepee the best 
 robe had been spread for my comfort ; the women were 
 gaudily painted, and the pot was on the fire boiling. 
 My friend was on the right ; my interpreter just back 
 
AN INTERESTING TRIP. 20/ 
 
 of me, two quite comely women with their children, on 
 the left, and an old woman, the grandmother, and a 
 young girl of a^out eighteen years of age, in front 
 of us. 
 
 Soon after our entrance one of the women got up, 
 left the tepee, returned with a big fish, unsealed and 
 undressed, put it into the pot, stirred it up ; no salt, 
 no seasoning, except the dirt on it, to make it palata 
 ble. 
 
 " Good heavens ! Porter," I said, " do they intend me 
 to eat this dish ? " 
 
 "Of course they do," he remarked. 
 
 " What, with the scales on and undressed?" 
 
 -Yes." 
 
 I simply ejaculated " Lord," and awaited events. 
 True enough, the head of the fish was presented to 
 me as a mark of honor; and forgetting all my friends 
 and all the past, and everything good, I had ever 
 tasted in life, I gave one gulp and down went the 
 fish s head to my great satisfaction. I felt like an 
 immense chief, having accomplished so great a deed. 
 But other pieces of the fish came along, and having 
 bravely done the honor of my station and won the 
 kind regard of my Indian friend, we exchanged bushu- 
 nechees, or good-byes, and Porter and myself went out 
 on to the broad lake, and into the pure night, and in 
 the shimmering rays of the full moon wended our way 
 to our camp on Vermilion lake, where the boys were 
 rejoiced to see us, and where we were glad to clasp 
 many friendly hands, having had a somewhat tedious 
 but an exceedingly interesting trip. 
 
A GENUINE INDIAN SCARE. 
 
 IT WAS a bright morning in June, 1863, warm, 
 sultry, with nature dressed in her loveliest attire, 
 when the commander of Camp Pope now a member 
 of congress and all his subordinate officers retired to 
 the river near by to bathe their limbs in the limpid 
 water, and to fulfill the injunction of the scriptures 
 "wash and be cleaned." Coney Island, N. Y., could 
 not have presented a more animated scene than this, 
 with officers and men disporting in the stream, all alive 
 with animation and fun. The quartermaster of the 
 post with some six of his clerks were there, while a 
 small guard was left at the stockade to give warning in 
 case of danger. One can realize the supreme happiness 
 of the moment when he comes to consider that these 
 men had been cooped up in their temporary barracks 
 for a long time, and were tired, and weary, and dirty, 
 and now the " sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 
 to the anthems of the free," as they laughed and 
 sported in the warm water that enveloped their nude 
 forms. Across the river was a dense forest of trees, and 
 up the river on this side where the camp was located 
 was a rise of ground gradually ascending until it 
 reached the buildings of the soldiers rendezvous. On 
 went the sport ; some had completed washing thor 
 oughly, while others had half of their bodies cleaned, 
 and resembled tattooed men in dime museums, when, all 
 of a sudden, Le Rock, the fat half-breed, who had in 
 charge the families of our friendly scouting Indians, 
 
A GENUINE INDIAN SCARE. 2OQ 
 
 located a mile or two out, was seen on a pony, dashing 
 furiously toward us, and a3 he approached we observed 
 his hat and shoes were gone, his shirt bosom was open, 
 and his hair was flying in the wind. Down the hill he came 
 like a whirlwind, and addressing the commander (then 
 in the water) in a loud voice and in an excited manner 
 exclaimed, " Indians coming ! Indians coming ! " As 
 Le Rock was himself half Indian of course we had every 
 reason to believe that his statement was true, and as 
 the Indians were about to make their attack in the 
 broad glare of day, we could arrive at no other con 
 clusion than that they were in large force, and hence 
 the stampede of our water nymphs was of the most amus 
 ing character. One of the writer s clerks seized his 
 clothing, and only partially washed and entirely naked 
 tripped it up the hill at the rate of 2:40, while others, 
 fearing a fire from the woods opposite, crept behind 
 some bushes or a few old logs and dressed themselves 
 as well as they could. Major S. and myself hurried to 
 the camp as fast as possible, and while he put the men 
 in fighting order I mounted the best horse I had and, 
 in company with one of my clerks, galloped up the hill 
 to reconnoitre. Another messenger was sent out on a 
 fleet horse to inform a party who had gone to Red 
 Wood falls to fish to return with all possible speed, as 
 there was danger ahead. Another soldier was mounted 
 ready to go to Fort Ridgely for aid if it were deemed 
 necessary. Presently the fishing party came in, their 
 animals on a full gallop .; the men had made all the de 
 fense they could for the attack, and we calmly awaited 
 the approaching Indians. Major S. was everywhere 
 animating the men, while I, with my companion, was 
 inspecting the surrounding country with a field-glass to 
 
2IO . A GENUINE INDIAN SCARE. 
 
 see if we could discover the enemy. Riding back into 
 camp I said to Major S.: 
 
 " We have scanned the country in every direction, 
 but we see no Indians." 
 
 " Did you look up the valley? " inquired the major. 
 
 -Yes." 
 
 "See anything?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Go out again ; gain the highest point you can, 
 look carefully, and return the instant you make any dis 
 covery." 
 
 Again we were off, and soon gained a high hill and 
 looking up the valley, we saw two men on ponies. 
 Could they be Indians? Let us watch and see. The 
 glass showed that one was Le Rock, and the other was 
 one of our own men whom Major S. had sent out to meet 
 Le Rock, and learn the worst. They were talking 
 deliberately together, and then they turned their horses 
 heads toward us and jogged leisurely down the valley. 
 As they approached we saw plainly enough that Le 
 Rock was all broken up. He looked like a man who 
 had passed through a terrible battle. His dejected and 
 forlorn expression would have made an excellent pict 
 ure for an artist. 
 
 "Well, Le Rock," I inquired, "where are those 
 horrible Indians?" 
 
 " Oh, Major," he replied, " me so sorry. We terribly 
 scared in our camp; women hide ; we see Indians com 
 ing ; heap big lot ; see Indian on the hill ; on ponies 
 sure. But but great big heap Indians, only hungry 
 dogs of dead white people, chasing the game over the 
 hills. Look just like Indians on ponies. Me much de 
 ceived. Me sorry." 
 
A GENUINE INDIAN SCARE. 211 
 
 And we four rode into camp, gave the major the 
 news and all laughed heartily over this, our first Indian 
 scare. 
 
 In the night we were somewhat alarmed by the yell 
 ing and firing of guns by the guard around our lodge, 
 but on inquiring we found it was only caused by a mule 
 trying to kill a young colt, and could not be driven off 
 with clubs, and the guards had to try powder and lead 
 before it would let loose its hold. At the same moment 
 a woman, the owner of the mule, reached the spot and, 
 finding they had killed the mule, commenced a mourn 
 ful cry, which still more alarmed the camp ; and this 
 being near our lodges, everybody at once rushed to the 
 spot ; but, on finding out the truth, they commenced 
 laughing and singing, and kept up their mirth till day 
 light. 
 
 Everything was ready at 4:30 a.m. for leaving, and 
 on telling our landlord that we were ready to start, he 
 at once ordered several of his young men to accompany 
 us as far as Powder river, and he promised he would 
 come up himself to bid us farewell, which he did ; and 
 we halted and he made a short speech to us and to his 
 people, reminding them only of what he had said he 
 would do the day previous. Then he shook hands 
 with us all and cried with a loud voice, " Now all is 
 said," and he left with the escort for his camp. 
 
 We continued our route until 12 o clock; weather 
 very hot, but everyone rejoicing to be once more on 
 our homeward way. 
 
 The distance we traveled to reach the camp was 
 about three hundred and twenty-six miles. We found 
 the road pleasant [it was in a direct western course] 
 over rolling prairies till we reached the dividing ridge 
 
212 A GENUINE INDIAN SCARE. 
 
 of the Yellowstone and Missouri waters. The re 
 mainder of the road was filled with artemisia, or worm 
 wood, which made our course unpleasant and difficult. 
 In twenty-seven days we traveled six hundred and 
 seventy-two miles and reached the fort safe and sound. 
 Most respectfully, 
 
 P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
 
FORT SNELLING. 
 
 THIS is one of the oldest fortifications in the 
 Northwest, having been established in the year 
 1819, and built in 1822, or sixty-two years ago. It is 
 located on a high plateau at the junction of the Missis 
 sippi and Minnesota rivers, and overlooks one of the 
 finest landscapes in the West. 
 
 The first white child born in what is now known as 
 Minnesota, was at Fort Snelling. The first white child 
 that died in Minnesota, was at Fort Snelling. The 
 first early settlers in what is now known as Minnesota, 
 were here. The first three white women in this section 
 of country, were at Fort Snelling. The first boat, the 
 Virginia, that ascended the Mississippi river, in the year 
 1823, stopped at Fort Snelling. Here General Grant, 
 after the surrender of Lee, and Mrs. Grant, were received 
 by the officers and ladies of the fort and partook of a 
 collation in what was known as the bastion, near head 
 quarters building, which has since been torn down. 
 Here the late Charles Sumner, General W. T. Sher 
 man and the writer received an entertainment at the 
 commanding officer s quarters, in 1854. Here have 
 been exciting Indian treaties made. Here was desig 
 nated the rendezvous of the troops for the war, and 
 here is, even now, being expended by the government, 
 not less than $250,000 in laying out streets, erecting 
 excellent buildings, beautifying the land and making 
 the old fort grounds one of the most attractive and most 
 beautiful of any military reservation in the West. A 
 huge bridge, costing about $125,000, now spans the 
 
 213 
 
214 FORT SNELLING. 
 
 Mississippi at the fort, and the tourist who fails to 
 visit this renowned spot and catch a view from its com 
 manding position, or witness the troops there stationed, 
 or learn something of its early history, loses that which 
 he can never replace after he has returned to his East 
 ern home. 
 
 While stationed at the fort in the year 1863, I fre 
 quently met and conversed with two Indian prisoners 
 Shak-pe-dean and Medicine Bottle, two noted Sioux 
 chiefs who were awaiting the sentence of death for 
 their crimes committed during the terrible Indian mas 
 sacre in 1862. Among the other atrocities which it is 
 alleged they did, was that of holding a mother, while 
 they baked her babe in the oven of the kitchen stove. 
 But I will not stain these pages with their deeds ; suf 
 fice it to say that they were captured, tried, and con 
 demned to be executed. The good heart of Abe Lin 
 coln, however, shrank from signing the death warrant, 
 but when Andrew Johnson came into power, he ordered 
 their execution, and they were hung just outside of the 
 walls of the fort. They belonged to the lower band 
 of Sioux, and not to the Unka-papas tribe, headed by 
 Sitting Bull. 
 
INDIAN SPEECHES AND AN INDIAN 
 COUNCIL. 
 
 T)ERHAPS we could not find better specimens of 
 JL Indian oratory than those which follow. These 
 speeches were delivered at a council with the good 
 Father De Smet and the chiefs, at Powder river, in 
 
 1868: 
 
 SPEECH OF BLACK MOON. 
 
 " Listen well to what I am going to say." Address 
 ing his people, he raised the pipe to the heavens, and 
 pointed it to earth. Then addressing the Black Gown, 
 he begged him to touch it with his lips, and let his 
 hand rest on the stem. While doing so he said, " let 
 us smoke," which was done, and passed round from us 
 to others. Then in a loud voice he exclaimed : " The 
 Black Gown came far to meet with us. He looks fa 
 tigued and careworn. I am glad to see him, I welcome 
 him here with all my heart. His words are good and 
 full of meaning and truth. He speaks well. Every 
 thing he says is the desire of my heart. But there are 
 many sores in our bosoms to heal. Our country is des 
 olated and impoverished by cruel war, of which begin 
 ning I claim no part. The Eastern Sioux and Chey- 
 ennes commenced it. It has been forced on us, and now 
 when we travel over our country we frequently behold 
 red spots, and they are not the red spots of the slaugh 
 tered buffalo, but of our fellow-comrades, or the white 
 men. Our country was once full of game, but since the 
 war the animals seem to detest their native homes, and 
 
 215 
 
2l6 INDIAN SPEECHES. 
 
 I believe it is in consequence of the human blood that 
 they have been driven far away. Again, the whites 
 have been cutting our country up with roads, building 
 forts at different points and frequently and unkindly 
 put our people in prison, and that for little or no cause. 
 They ruin our country and cut our timber with impun 
 ity. I have always told them that I did not want 
 remuneration for roads, nor would I sell my country, 
 as some of my people have done. My father lived and 
 died here and so would I. And if my white brothers 
 did right, I don t think we should have, or ever have 
 had, troubles. I have always liked to have goods to 
 trade, but I cannot bear the idea to have the country 
 filled with white men. Some are good ; a great many 
 are bad ; they frequently treat us badly, and frequently 
 have our people been shot by the travelers over the 
 plains, while they were seeking food for their children, 
 which the Great Father gave them and has taught it 
 was their own. We have been cruelly treated and 
 many times treacherously deceived, and this while under 
 the protection of the white chief. But these things are 
 past, and I now hope will be forgotten from this day. 
 I will say no more, but will conclude my speaking by 
 thanking you, the Black Gown, in the hearing of all my 
 people for the truly welcome news that you have so 
 kindly brought us. We will accept of your tobacco 
 and the kind advice of our Great Father, and extend 
 our hand in the presence of all, and the Great Spirit, 
 as the hand of peace." And then turning to the as 
 sembly, he said, " Let the past be forgotten. Some of 
 my young men will accompany you to the fort to ac 
 complish this most of all others desired event." He 
 then resumed his seat. 
 
INDIAN SPEECHES. 2 1/ 
 
 SPEECH OF TWO BEARS. 
 
 Friends : I heard of the coming of this good Black 
 Gown months ago, and on arriving welcomed him to 
 our country, east side of the Missouri, where I was born 
 and raised. And as our country is common to all, I 
 have come along with him, not alone to see some of 
 my comrades with whom I once trailed the war path, 
 but to hear you talk, to witness how you treat this, of 
 all others, in my opinion, our truest and best friend. 
 The whites love and respect him, and so do I and my 
 people the Yanktonais, and I pray to the Great Spirit 
 that I may always continue in the same sentiments. I 
 wish you to understand fully what I say, for I mean it 
 all. I do not come here to beg of you any favors on 
 the strength of our relationship, but I have come here 
 with a few of our chieftains and braves of the eastern 
 Sioux, who represent some seven hundred lodges, to 
 tell you that our minds are made up and we will be 
 guided by his advice and the great men (the commis 
 sioners), sent by the President to accomplish something 
 definite for our future welfare. I have listened with 
 care and attention to all you have said in this, the most 
 important council ever held in our country. I say the 
 most important because it is foreboding of future weal 
 or woe, and headed by the best of men, and seven of 
 the greatest chiefs of the whites. It cannot be other 
 wise than tend to our future good and prosperity. 1 
 tell you on this occasion, one and all, that my mind is 
 made up, and it shall be guided in the future by the 
 advice of these men. I have been weary, fatigued and 
 confused, troubled and perplexed with the various re 
 ports that I have heard from this source for the last two 
 
218 INDIAN SPEECHES. 
 
 years. But seeing you all here, and having heard you 
 all talk, and treat this party so kindly, I must thank one 
 and all for your wise and brave conclusion. I shall 
 leave you with a heart full of joy, and with hopes that 
 you shall ever continue as friends to the whites, and 
 that the dark cloud of war that has been hanging over 
 us may be dispelled. I thank this good man, and raise 
 my hand to the Great Spirit, that he may pity us and 
 carefully guide our steps through all coming time. 
 
 RUNNING ANTELOPE S SPEECH UNKAPAPA. 
 Friends and Relations: I have heard this day with 
 pleasure your welcome words to our true friend, who 
 has been traveling for three months for no other pur 
 pose than to bring blessings upon our people and peace 
 to our country, for which you all seem to feel inclined, 
 for my part I have been listening to the words of the 
 whites for these many years past, and particularly so 
 since our. late troubles caused more by our neighbor 
 ing bands (the Santes) than by ourselves. But now is 
 not the time to talk about the past ; it is high time to speak 
 and act for the future. I have seen you and have been 
 with you several times since our troubles, and have 
 always talked as you now hear me. I had, on leaving 
 the post, made up my mind to ask you once more to be 
 at peace with the whites and that is why you see me 
 here to-day but, as the request is not necessary you 
 having with your own good will seen the propriety of so 
 doing, all that now remains for me to say is, I thank you 
 in the name of the Great Spirit for your kind treat 
 ment and attention to the Black Gown and his party. 
 For myself, I am one of you [he was an Unkapapa], 
 and can candidly declare that this day s council has 
 
INDIAN SPEECHES. 2 19 
 
 given me more satisfaction than I have experienced for 
 many years. I return to our camp at the fort with a 
 glad heart, and when I shall be with the great men our 
 great father has sent, I shall talk as you have talked to-day; 
 and when all our troubles are settled, which I hope 
 soon to be, then shall I turn my eyes upon the Unka- 
 papa camp and watch with eyes and ears that you are 
 faithful to your promises made to-day before the Great 
 Spirit and the flag of peace, which is now with you 
 and will be left here to remind you of what you have said 
 to the best friends of our race. Four Horns, Black 
 Moon, Sitting Bull, Jane, White Gut, Bull Owl, No 
 Neck, and all others you this day by your good words 
 and promises have set an example to follow for all 
 other bands. Now look well to your young men, and 
 often remind them of the advice and course pointed 
 out to you by the Black Gown. With this truthful and 
 only safe assurance to our future happiness, the men 
 whom you will send to hear what the great men of the 
 great father will say and do for our future good will 
 be pleased, and for my part they shall not return dis 
 pleased. I shall make peace and I trust shall never 
 break it." 
 
 Here the council ended, and we returned to our 
 lodge amidst shouts of songs and joy. The very earth 
 seemed to shake with their dancing. 
 
 Father De Smet continues his narrative of this in 
 teresting council as follows: Sitting Bull then said 
 when he first saw us with the flag his heart fluttered, 
 but he bid it to be quiet ; and now that he heard that it 
 was the flag of peace, he felt easy and undisturbed. 
 He then told the braves to take charge of us and to 
 see that we had water and food, and requested them 
 
22O INDIAN SPEECHES. 
 
 not on any circumstance to allow us to go far from the 
 lodge, and to attend to the safety of our animals. They 
 shook us heartily by the hand. Mr. Jalpin was called 
 to almost every lodge in the village and was treated 
 with great respect and kindness. [Sitting Bull s speech 
 on this occasion is given elsewhere in the pages of this 
 book.] 
 
 At 5:30 p.m. we commenced putting our effects in 
 order to make an early start on the next day. The 
 same caution and the same attention were given to all 
 as before. After supper all the chiefs came to the 
 lodge and passed the night with us, and all seemed 
 pleased at the day s council. 
 
EARLY MISSIONARY EFFORTS AMONG 
 THE INDIANS. 
 
 THE REV. JOHN ELIOT was styled by his con- 
 temporaries, and he is known to posterity, as 
 "the Apostle to the Indians." A truer philanthropist 
 than he did not exist among the early New Englanders. 
 In his day the feeling toward the Indians was not 
 kindly. It seems as if the opinion prevailed then, 
 which has since been embodied in the discreditable 
 phrase, that " the only good Indian is a dead one." 
 The Puritans pronounced the Indians children of the 
 devil, and thought they did a service in ridding the 
 world of as many of them as possible. Yet the con 
 version and civilization of the natives of America were 
 among the professed objects for which the Puritans left 
 England. The charter of Massachusetts granted by 
 Charles I. contains an expression of the hope that the 
 settlers to whom it is granted " may win and incite the 
 natives of the country to the knowledge and obedience 
 of the only true God and Savior of mankind and the 
 Christian faith, which is our royal intention, and the 
 adventurers free profession is the principal end of this 
 plantation." The first seal of Massachusetts repre 
 sented an Indian giving utterance to the words, " Come 
 over and help us." 
 
 John Eliot was a native of Nasing, in Essex, where 
 he was born in 1604. Little is known about his family 
 and his early years. It is unquestionable that he 
 received a good education, but where or by whom is 
 
 221 
 
222 EARLY MISSIONARY EFFORTS 
 
 uncertain. His own words imply that his family were 
 God-fearing persons who trained him with care. About 
 the year 1630 he became usher in a school kept by the 
 Rev. Thomas Hooker at Little Baddow, near Chelms- 
 ford. Hooker was one of the most popular Puritan 
 clergymen of his time. His preaching at Chelmsford 
 had been very effective ; but his eloquent tongue was 
 silenced by Laud, because he would not conform on 
 certain points of ritual upon which Laud set great 
 store. At the request of several influential members 
 of his congregation, he took pupils, and engaged John 
 Eliot as usher. The result was that Eliot became 
 imbued with Hooker s opinions, and inspired with a 
 desire to become a preacher of the gospel. Referring 
 to his sojourn in Hooker s house, he wrote that " to 
 this place I was called through the infinite riches of 
 God s mercy in Christ Jesus to my poor soul; for here 
 the Lord said unto my dead soul, Live ; and through 
 the grace of Christ I do live, and I shall live forever. 
 When I came to this blessed family, I then saw, and 
 never before, the power of godliness in its lively vigor 
 and efficacy." 
 
 Eliot, having apparently incurred the suspicion of 
 the ecclesiastical authorities, and finding insurmounta 
 ble obstacles interposed to his following the profession 
 of teacher, resolved to cross the Atlantic. He was one 
 of sixty passengers in the ship " Lyon," which arrived 
 at Boston on the 3d of November, 1631. Among the 
 passengers were the wife, the eldest son, and other chil 
 dren of Governor Wintrop. The congregation of the 
 first church of Boston earnestly desired that Eliot 
 should become their pastor. Before leaving England 
 he had promised to be the pastor in America of several 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 223 
 
 families of Puritans, who contemplated emigrating 
 thither, and, as they fulfilled their intention and set 
 tled at Roxbury, he kept his promise by settling there 
 also. A year after landing at Boston he was married, 
 his wife being a lady whose acquaintance he had made 
 in England, and who followed him to America. 
 
 In a work published in 1654, entitled the "Wonder 
 working Providence of Sion s Saviour in New England," 
 the following account is given of the founding of the 
 church at Roxbury, of Roxbury itself, and of Eliot : 
 
 " The fifth church of Christ was gathered at Roxbury, 
 situated between Boston and Dorchester, being well 
 watered with cool and pleasant springs issuing forth 
 from the rocky hills, and with small freshets watering 
 the valleys of this fertile town, whose form is somewhat 
 like a wedge, double-pointed, entering between the two 
 fore-named towns, filled with a very laborious people, 
 whose labors the Lord hath so blessed that in the 
 room of dismal swamps and tearing bushes they have 
 very goodly fruit trees, fruitful fields and gardens, their 
 herd of cows, oxen, and other young cattle of that 
 kind about three hundred and fifty, and dwelling- 
 houses near upon one hundred and twenty. Their 
 streets are large, and some fair houses, yet have they 
 built their house for church assembly destitute and 
 unbeautified with other buildings. The church of 
 Christ here is increased to about one hundred and 
 twenty persons. Their first teaching elder called to 
 office is Mr. Eliot, a young man at his coming hither 
 of a cheerful spirit, walking unblamable, of a godly 
 conversation, apt- to teach, as by his indefatigable pains, 
 both with his own flock and the poor Indians, doth 
 appear, whose language he learned purposely to help 
 
224 EARLY MISSIONARY EFFORTS 
 
 them to the knowledge of God in Christ, frequently 
 preaching in their wigwams and catechising their chil 
 dren." 
 
 Few incidents of importance are preserved as to 
 Eliot s life as pastor at Roxbury. The most note 
 worthy relates to an early stage in his career there, 
 when he was taken to task by the rulers of Massachu 
 setts for having improperly reflected upon their con 
 duct. His offense consisted in censuring them in a 
 sermon for having made peace with the Pequot Indians 
 without consulting those among the people who were 
 entitled to vote. Three clergymen who were appointed 
 to "deal with him," brought him to acknowledge that 
 he had erred in holding that the magistrates could not 
 conclude a peace on their own authority, and he made 
 public acknowledgment of his mistake. He was one of 
 the clergymen who actively took part against Mrs. 
 Anne Hutchinson. He was as uncharitable as any of 
 his colleagues in treating that unfortunate woman, who 
 was punished for her independence of spirit with excom 
 munication and banishment. 
 
 In the year 1646, fifteen years after he had settled in 
 New England, Eliot began to preach to the Indians in 
 their own tongue. Before so doing he had spent some 
 time in mastering their language. He learned it from 
 a young native employed in his house, whom he de 
 scribes as " a pregnant-witted young man who had been 
 a servant in an English house, pretty well understood 
 his own language, and had a clear pronunciation." 
 
 Irrespective of the philanthropy which prompted 
 Eliot to render service to the Indians, there was an 
 influence which specially moved him. While others 
 held these Indians to be children of the devil, he firmly 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 225 
 
 believed them to be descendants of the lost tribes of the 
 house of Israel. To raise these people from their fallen 
 and degraded state was, in his opinion, a sacred duty. He 
 was not singular in thinking that the Indians were of 
 Jewish descent ; the same theory still finds adherents. 
 The origin of the North American Indians is involved 
 in as great mystery in our day as it was when Eliot 
 lived. Anything may be conjectured about them with 
 plausibility, because so very little is known with cer 
 tainty. Yet it is no longer doubtful that these Indians 
 were not the first or only inhabitants of the country 
 before the advent of white men. Another race, called 
 Mound Builders, which has long been extinct, possessed 
 the land before the Indians, and they were either driven 
 from it southward or exterminated. The lot of the 
 Indians, owing to the conduct of the white men who 
 have mastered and supplanted them, cannot, at the 
 worst, be more deplorable than that of the Mound 
 Builders whom these Indians subdued and succeeded. 
 After laboring for two years to obtain a colloquial 
 command over the tongue spoken by the Indians of 
 Massachusetts, Eliot considered himself qualified for 
 preaching to them. The first Christian sermon in the 
 Indian tongue delivered on the North American con 
 tinent was delivered by Eliot at Nonantum on the 
 28th of October, 1646. His text was the pth and loth 
 verses of the 37th chapter of Ezekiel " Then said 
 he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, phrophesy, son 
 of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God : 
 Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon 
 these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as He 
 commanded me, and the breath came into them, and 
 they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding 
 
226 EARLY MISSIONARY EFFORTS 
 
 great army." In his sermon he explained the character 
 of Christ, the purpose and manner of His appearance 
 upon earth. He told them of the judgment day, when 
 the wicked are to suffer and the good are to be 
 rewarded. He urged them to repent of their sins as 
 fallen children of Adam, and to pray to God and accept 
 Christ as their Savior. He invited questions after his 
 sermon, and he found it as difficult to return satis 
 factory replies as in our day Bishop Colenso did in the 
 case of the inquiring Zulu. 
 
 After satisfying their curiosity, Eliot received their 
 thanks. He neither spared himself nor them. His 
 sermon lasted an hour and a quarter, and the confer 
 ence three hours. As a reward for their patient atten 
 tion, he distributed tobacco among the men and apples 
 among the children. This was the beginning of a course 
 of teaching which Eliot kept up during forty years, in 
 addition to discharging his duties as pastor of Roxbury. 
 He underwent many dangers as well as severe toil. 
 What he sometimes endured, and the spirit which 
 always animated him, can be gathered from his own 
 words to Mr. Winslow : " I have not been dry, night 
 or day, from the third day of the week until the sixth, 
 but so traveled, and at night pull off my boots, wring 
 my stockings, and on with them, and so continue. But 
 God steps in and helps. I have considered the Word 
 of God, II. Timothy, ii. 3, Endure hardship, as a good 
 soldier of Jesus Christ. " 
 
 One of the first fruits of his teaching was to excite a 
 desire on the part of the Indians to have their children 
 educated in the English fashion. A convert named 
 Wampas brought his- own son to Eliot, and three other 
 children, of whom the youngest was four and the eldest 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 
 
 was nine, with the request that they might be brought 
 up by him in the fear and knowledge of God. The 
 same Indian and two others sought and found situa 
 tions in English families, with a view of being better 
 instructed in religion. Difficulties of various kinds had 
 v to be overcome. In addition to accepting the religious 
 faith offered to them by the English missionary, the 
 Indians copied the English fashion of cropping their 
 hair. This exposed them to the derision of their uncon 
 verted brethren. But they had a still harder trial to 
 undergo. Speaking for his fellow converts, Wampas 
 told Eliot that "on the one hand, the other Indians 
 hate and oppose us because we pray to God ; on the 
 other, the English will not put confidence in us, and 
 suspect that we do not really pray." Eliot admitted 
 that such a suspicion was entertained by some of the 
 English, adding that, for his part, he considered it 
 groundless. 
 
 It was natural that the Powaws, or priests, should 
 have objected to Eliot s work and have placed obstacles 
 in his path. He had the triumph of converting one 
 Powaw, but he found it hard to satisfy another who 
 asked him how it happened that the English were 
 twenty-seven . years in the country before attempting 
 to teach their religion to the Indians. The Powaw 
 urged that if this had been done sooner much sin might 
 have been prevented ; " but now some of us are grown 
 old in sin." All that could be said by way of defense 
 and explanation was that the English had repented 
 them of their neglect, as was evinced by the efforts 
 which Eliot and others were then making. As a con 
 sequence of the adoption of Christianity, the Indians 
 had to change many old habits and customs, and in 
 
228 EARLY MISSIONARY EFFORTS 
 
 doing so they were often perplexed. They were en 
 joined to renounce polygamy; but they asked which of 
 their wives should they put away? They were told 
 that gaming was sinful ; but they asked was it permis 
 sible to repudiate debts contracted before their conver 
 sion through gaming with non-praying Indians? This 
 last question gave Eliot great concern. He could not 
 reply that gaming was lawful, nor would he counte 
 nance the breach of a promise. He found a way out 
 of the dilemma by urging on the creditor that gaming 
 was sinful, and persuading him to reduce his claim by 
 one half ; by informing the debtor that, though he had 
 sinned by gaming, yet that he must fulfill his prom 
 ise, and by inducing him to pay one half of what he 
 owed. This compromise was adopted in all cases of 
 the kind, but it led to the result of a winner at play 
 counting upon receiving and the loser of paying half 
 the amount in each case, so that the change was no 
 real improvement. 
 
 The conversion of Cutshamakin, an Indian Sachem, 
 was one of Eliot s triumphs. He did not find this 
 Sachem a very meek or tractable Christian. On the 
 contrary, the Sachem was not gratified to see the mem 
 bers of his tribe walking in new paths. He complained 
 bitterly that the converts ceased to pay tribute to him 
 as in the old time, and feared that he might eventually 
 be left without any revenue. His complaint was dili 
 gently investigated. The Indians alleged that they had 
 paid the accustomed tribute to their chief; that at one 
 time he had received from them six bushels of maize, 
 and twenty at another; that he had obtained their ser 
 vices in hunting for several days ; that fifteen deer had 
 been killed for him ; that two acres of land had been 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 22Q 
 
 broken and a large wigwam built for him. Eliot held 
 that this was an ample payment for one year. He 
 eventually learned that the Sachem s real grievance was, 
 that the converted Indians were not so ready as the 
 others to comply with all his orders and submit to his 
 despotic rule. 
 
 Eliot s labors to benefit the Indians were so much ap 
 preciated in Massachusetts that, on the 26th of May, 
 1647, the General Court passed the following resolu 
 tion : " It is ordered that 10 be given to Mr. Eliot as 
 a gratuity from this Court in respect of his pains in in 
 structing the Indians in the knowledge of God, and that 
 order be taken that the 20 per annum given by the 
 Lady Armine for that purpose may be called for and 
 employed accordingly." The tidings of his work crossed 
 the sea and became the subject of deliberation in Par 
 liament. It was held to be the duty of u the godly and 
 well-affected " to aid the enterprise, and a resolution 
 was passed on the 1 7th of March, 1647, desiring the 
 committee on plantations to prepare an ordinance 
 " for the encouragement and advancement of learning 
 and piety in New England." No result followed till 
 the 27th of July, 1649, when an ordinance to the same 
 effect being passed, a corporation was founded for the 
 propagation of the gospel in New England : a general 
 collection was ordered to be made in the churches of 
 England and Wales, and the clergymen were required 
 to read the ordinance from their pulpits. The univer 
 sities of Oxford and Cambridge issued an appeal in sup 
 port of the undertaking. Though the sum placed at 
 the disposal of the corporation was not large, yet it suf 
 ficed to establish schools for the Indians, to supply them 
 with implements of husbandry, and to defray the cost 
 
r,Q EARLY MISSIONARY EFFORTS 
 
 of printing Eliot s translation of the Bible and other 
 books into the Indian tongue. 
 
 When Charles II. became king it was feared that the 
 corporation for propagating Christianity among the In 
 dians would share the fate of other institutions estab 
 lished during the commonwealth. Happily, the corpo 
 ration for the propagation of the gospel found a warm 
 supporter in Robert Boyle, through whose representa 
 tions Lord Chancellor Clarendon advised the king to 
 grant a new charter to it. Under this charter, Boyle 
 was appointed governor, and he directed the affairs of 
 the corporation with great zeal, earning Eliot s heartfelt 
 gratitude. 
 
 It was Eliot s conviction that, unless the praying In 
 dians, as the converts were always styled, lived in the 
 European fashion there was a fear lest they should 
 lapse from the right path. Accordingly, he planned a 
 town where they might live together. It was called 
 Natick, being situated on the banks of the Charles 
 River, eighteen miles to the southeast of Boston. 
 Natick is described as a town covering six thousand 
 acres, wherein one hundred and forty Indians dwelt. 
 It had three long streets, two on the north side and 
 one on the south. A bridge, built by the Indians, 
 spanned the river. There was a fort for their protec 
 tion. Some families dwelt in wigwams; others in houses 
 on the English model. A large building served as a 
 place of meeting on Sundays and a school-house on 
 week-days. It had an upper floor, in one corner of 
 which a room was partitioned off to serve as a bed 
 chamber for Eliot. 
 
 . After the praying Indians had taken up their abode 
 at Natick they applied to Eliot to devise a plan of mu- 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 23! 
 
 nicipal government for them. He had previously in 
 duced the converts to agree to the following, among 
 other conditions: "Powawing" and drunkenness were 
 to be punished with a fine of 2os. for each offense ; the 
 person convicted of stealing was to restore fourfold the 
 amount taken; the profaner of the Sabbath was to be 
 fined 2Os. ; a wife-beater was to pay the same fine ; 
 while murder and monstrous crimes were to be punished 
 with death. The converts likewise agreed to pray in 
 their wigwams, to say grace before and after meat, to 
 cease howling, greasing their bodies, and adorning their 
 hair, and to follow the English fashions. 
 
 Eliot held that all governments should be founded 
 on the pattern given in the Old Testament ; he was 
 anxious that England should set an example in this 
 respect, holding that " it would be a blessed day in 
 England when the word of God shall be their Magna 
 Charta and chief law book, and when all lawyers shall 
 be divines and study the Scriptures." It was natural, 
 then, that he should give effect to his views at Natick, 
 and should persuade the Indians there to divide the 
 community into hundreds and tithings, and should ap 
 point rulers over hundreds, rulers over fifties, and rulers 
 over tens, or tithing men. He enjoined the payment of 
 tithes on strictly scriptural grounds, and the Indians 
 consented to do as he desired. Having settled the 
 manner in which, subject to the General Court of Mas 
 sachusetts, these Indians should govern themselves, 
 Eliot induced them to enter into a solemn covenant. 
 On the 6th of August, 1651, they assembled together, 
 and, after divine service, the following declaration re 
 ceived their assent : 
 
 "We are the sons of Adam. We and our forefathers 
 
232 EARLY MISSIONARY EFFORTS 
 
 have a long time been lost in our sins ; but now the 
 mercy of the Lord beginneth to find us out again. 
 Therefore, the grace of Christ helping us, we do give 
 ourselves and our children to God, to be His people. 
 He shall rule us in all our affairs, not only in our relig 
 ion and affairs of the church, but also in all our works 
 and affairs in this world. God shall rule over us. The 
 Lord is our Judge; the Lord is our law-giver; the Lord 
 is our King, He will save us. The wisdom which God 
 hath taught us in His book, that shall guide us and 
 direct us in the way. O Jehovah ! teach us wisdom to 
 find out thy wisdom in thy Scriptures. Let the grace 
 of Christ help us, because Christ is the wisdom of God. 
 Send thy Spirit into our hearts, and let it teach us. 
 Lord, take us to be thy people, and let us take thee to 
 be our God." 
 
 Nine years after these proceedings a further step was 
 taken in the direction of puttirg the praying Indians 
 on a footing of equality with their white brethren. A 
 church on the congregational model was founded there, 
 so that the Indians of Natick enjoyed the same civil 
 and religious privileges as the Puritans of Boston. In 
 the strict observance of their religious duties the In 
 dians were patterns to many of their white brethren. 
 They even complained, not without reason, that white 
 men did not seem to be sufficiently scrupulous in their 
 religious observances. On the other hand, the white 
 men expected the Indians to be faultless, and regarded 
 any error on their parts as the evidence of an ineradi- 
 cably perverse nature. 
 
 The most grievous trial which the praying Indians 
 had to endure, and the most desponding period in 
 Eliot s dealings with them, was during the year of the 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 233 
 
 war, commonly called King Philip s war, which began 
 in 1675. This was the most vigorous effort as well as 
 the last combined attempt of the Indians to exter 
 minate the white men in New England. The loss of 
 life was great on both sides ; as many as six hundred of 
 the settlers were slain. Much property was destroyed. 
 Thirteen towns were laid in ruins; hundreds of dwell 
 ings were burned to the ground. Whilst the hostili 
 ties between the Indians and white men were in pro 
 gress, the position of the praying Indians was very 
 trying. Their brethren in race regarded them as en 
 emies; the white men did not count them as friends. 
 Indeed, all Indians were not only regarded as foes at 
 heart, but every Indian s life was in danger at the hands 
 of the exasperated and panic-stricken whites. The 
 General Court, unable to withstand the pressure of public 
 opinion, ordered that the Indians at Natick should be 
 transported for safe custody to Deer Island. They 
 quietly submitted to their fate. After the death of 
 Philip the Indians were permitted to return, at their 
 own expense, to their old homes. Such as did return 
 keenly felt that the love and charity, which they had 
 been enjoined to practice, were not displayed towards 
 them. King Philip s war proved the hopelessness of 
 any struggle in the field between Indians and white 
 men, while it gave a blow to the spread of Christianity 
 among the Indians. The latter were indisposed to 
 listen to teachers whose brethren flagrantly violated the 
 precepts which they inculcated. 
 
 In 1797, one hundred and twenty-one years after the 
 war which ended with Philip s death, the Rev. Stephen 
 Badger, minister at Natick, was asked to give an ac 
 count of the Indians there. He was then in his seven- 
 
234 EARLY MISSIONARY EFFORTS 
 
 ty-second year, and had beheld many changes. The 
 white men had ousted the Indians from their property 
 and offices at Natick before the time that Mr. Badger 
 wrote ; the church members had been reduced to two 
 or three ; one of them was an aged Indian woman, who 
 could still understand the tongue of her people, but 
 could not speak it. At the present day not an Indian 
 in existence can speak the language which Eliot learned 
 in order to preach the gospel, and into which he trans 
 lated the Bible. His translation of the Bible is a monu 
 ment of vast labor. The only practical value of that 
 translation now consists in the service it renders to the 
 philological students who investigate the dead tongue of 
 an extinct race. Besides the Bible, Eliot translated the 
 catechism and Baxter s " Call to the Unconverted" and 
 the " Practice of Piety." He labored zealously and 
 without ceasing during a long life. In 1688 he wrote 
 to Boyle, saying, " I am drawing home," and on 2Oth 
 May, 1690, he passed away, in his eighty-sixth year, 
 uttering the words, " Welcome, joy." 
 
 Eliot s wife, whom he married the year after he set 
 tled in New England, died three years before him. He 
 had six children, of whom a son and a daughter alone 
 survived him. He owed much to his wife, who managed 
 his household admirably. He was not exacting in 
 domestic affairs, and his tastes were so simple that he 
 was very easily pleased ; he liked the plainest food, and 
 he drank water from choice. He had two great aver 
 sions wigs and tobacco. Wearing wigs he regarded 
 as a lust of the flesh, and tobacco he considered a weed 
 produced by satan for man s injury. 
 
 The blunders with which Eliot is chargeable are few 
 and trivial, while his good deeds are innumerable. His 
 
AMONG THE INDIANS. 235 
 
 character is without reproach; he was one of the small 
 band of Puritans in whom there was no guile. Unhap 
 pily, he could not leave behind him a body of men im 
 bued with his spirit and fitted to continue his work 
 from generation to generation. Had the Indians on 
 the North American Continent been constantly treated 
 in the spirit which animated Eliot, the history of the 
 United States would be free from many grievous stains. 
 It was not Eliot s fault that the Indians of New Eng 
 land faded away till the land wherein they were once 
 supreme did not contain a single survivor. His memory 
 is still held in honor as that of one who loved his fellow- 
 men, and who devoted a long and laborious life to their 
 service. 
 
INDIAN POETRY. 
 
 HE WILL COME. 
 
 E-ye-he-kta ! E-ye-he-kta ! 
 He-kta-ce ; e-ye-ce-quon. 
 Mi-Wamdee-ska, he-he-kta ; 
 He-kta-ce ; e-ye-ce-quon, 
 M i- Warn d ee-ska. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 He will come ! he will come i 
 He will come, for he promised, 
 My White Eagle, he will come ; 
 He will come, for he promised, 
 My White Eagle. 
 
 COME AGAIN. 
 
 Ak u, ake u, ake u ; 
 Ma cante mase"ca. 
 Ake" u, ake u, ake" u ; 
 Ma cante" mase"ca. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Come again, come again, come again ; 
 
 For my heart is sad. 
 Come again, come again, come again, 
 
 For my heart is sad. 
 236 
 
INDIAN POETRY. 237 
 
 THE GIANTS DANCE. 
 
 They dance to the tune of their wild "ha-ha!" 
 
 A warrior s shout and a raven s caw 
 
 Circling the pot and the blazing fire 
 
 To the tom-tom s bray and the rude bassoon ; 
 
 Round and round to their hearts desire, 
 And ever the same wild chant and tune 
 
 A warrior s shout and a raven s caw 
 
 Ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha-ha!" 
 
 They crouch, they leap, and their burning eyes 
 Flash fierce in the light of the flaming fire, 
 As fiercer and fiercer, and higher and higher 
 
 The rude, wild notes of their chant arise. 
 
 They cease, they sit, and the curling smoke 
 Ascends again from their polished pipes, 
 And upward curls from their swarthy lips 
 
 To the god whose favor their hearts invoke. 
 
 NEVER! NEVER! 
 
 My father ! my father ! her words were true ; 
 
 And the death of Wiwaste will rest on you. 
 
 You have pledged me as wife to the tall Red Cloud; 
 
 You will take the gift of the warrior proud ; 
 
 But I, Wakawa, I answer never! 
 
 I will stain your knife in my heart s red blood, 
 I will plunge and sink in the sullen river, 
 
 Ere I will be wife to the fierce Red Cloud. 
 
238 INDIAN POETRY. 
 
 GRANDFATHER. 
 
 Tunkansidan pejihuta wakan 
 Micage he wicage 
 
 Mimyata it wakande maku 
 Tankansidan ite, nape du-win-ta-woo, 
 Wahutopa wan yuha, nape du-win-ta-too. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Grandfather made me magical medicine ; 
 That is true ! 
 
 . 
 
 Being of mystery grown in the water 
 
 He gave it me ! 
 
 To the face of our Grandfather stretch out your hand ; 
 Holding a quadruped, stretch out your hand ! 
 
 TO THE SPIRIT LAND. 
 
 At last, when their locks were as white as snow, 
 Beloved and honored by all the band, 
 
 They silently slipped from their lodge below, 
 And walked together, and, hand-in-hand, 
 O er the shining path to the spirit land. 
 
NUMBER OF INDIANS IN THE UNITED 
 
 STATES IN 1880. 
 
 THE aggregate Indian population in the United 
 States in the year 1880, exclusive of Alaska, was 
 255,938, as follows: 
 
 Arizona .................. 18,700 
 
 California ................. 4,100 
 
 Colorado .................. 2,530 
 
 Dakota ................... 27,168 
 
 Idaho .................... 3,420 
 
 Indian Territory .......... 17,398 
 
 Indian Territory, (civilized 
 tribes) ................. 59,!87 
 
 Iowa ....................... 355 
 
 Kansas .................... 684 
 
 Michigan ................ 10, 141 
 
 Minnesota ................ 6,198 
 
 Montana ................. 21,650 
 
 Nebraska .................. 43o6 
 
 Nevada ................... 6,800 
 
 New Mexico ............. 23,452 
 
 New York ................. 5,139 
 
 Oregon ................... 4,555 
 
 Utah ....................... 45<> 
 
 Washington Territory ..... 14,189 
 
 Wisconsin ................ 7,637 
 
 Wyoming ................. 2,063 
 
 240,139 
 
 There are sixty agencies in the United States, and 
 not under government control, 15,802 Indians. Total, 
 255.938. 
 CIVILIZED INDIANS IN THE UNITED STATES IN l88o. 
 
 There were 66,407 civilized Indians in the United 
 States in 1880 males, 33,985 ; females, 32,422, as fol 
 lows : 
 
 Alabama ................... 213 
 
 Arizona .................. 3,493 
 
 Arkansas ................... 195 
 
 California ............... 16,277 
 
 Colorado ............. ..... 154 
 
 Connecticut ..... . ....... ... 255 
 
 Dakota ................... i>39i 
 
 Missouri .................... 113 
 
 Montana .................. 1,663 
 
 Nebraska .................. 235 
 
 Nevada ................... 2,803 
 
 New Hampshire .............. 63 
 
 New Jersey .................. 74 
 
 New Mexico .............. 9,77 2 
 
 239 
 
240 
 
 NUMBER OF INDIANS IN THE 
 
 Delaware 5 
 
 District of Columbia 5 
 
 Florida 180 
 
 Georgia 124 
 
 Idaho .... 163 
 
 Illinois 140 
 
 Indiana , 246 
 
 Iowa. 466 
 
 Kansas 815 
 
 Kentucky 50 
 
 Louisiana 848 
 
 Maine 625 
 
 Maryland 15 
 
 Massachusetts 369 
 
 Michigan 7,249 
 
 Minnesota 2,300 
 
 Mississippi 1,850 
 
 Five civilized tribes of Indians cultivated the follow 
 ing number of acres and raised the following crop in 
 1880. 
 
 Number of acres 314,398 
 
 Number bushels of wheat. 336,424 
 Number bushels of corn . 2,346,042 
 Number bushels oats and 
 barley 124,568 
 
 New York 819 
 
 North Carolina 1,230 
 
 Ohio 130 
 
 Oregon 1,694 
 
 Pennsylvania 184 
 
 Rhode Island 77 
 
 South Carolina 131 
 
 Tennessee 352 
 
 Texas 992 
 
 Utah 807 
 
 Vermont i r 
 
 Virginia 85 
 
 Washington Territory 4,405 
 
 West Virginia 29 
 
 Wisconsin 3,i6i 
 
 Wyoming 140 
 
 Tons of hay cut 125,500 
 
 Number horses owned. . . .61,453 
 
 Number mules owned 5,138 
 
 Number cattle owned. . . .297,040 
 
 Number of swine 400,282 
 
 Number of sheep 34,032 
 
 Number bales of cotton. . .16^800 
 Number buls. vegetables. 595,000 
 
 Some of the uncivilized Indians broke 27,105 acres of 
 ground; raised 604,103 bushels of corn; 408,812 bushels 
 wheat, besides many bushels of vegetables. 
 
 It will be observed that the wild or uncivilized 
 Indians owned 211,981 horses, while the civilized 
 Indians owned only 61,453. 
 
 The number of houses occupied by the Indians in 
 
 1880, was 12,507. 
 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 Sixty boarding and one hundred and ten day schools 
 
UNITED STATES IN l88<X 2 
 
 were in operation in 1880, for the use of the tribes, 
 exclusive of the five civilized tribes in the Indian terri 
 tory. Seven thousand children attended these schools, 
 and they were taught by 338 teachers. 
 
 Indians should have land in severalty like the whites 
 and be held subject to the laws of the whites, and pro 
 tected by the same laws. A great demand for land in 
 severalty, is now being made by the Indians, and their 
 demand should be complied with. 
 
 NUMBER OF SIOUX. 
 
 There are about 32,282 Sioux in the country. The 
 report of the Indian commissioner says: "They are 
 located in severalty, live in houses, wear citizen s dress, 
 send their children to school, own farming implements 
 and stock, and their crops during the year 1880 will 
 average ten bushels of wheat, five of corn, and sixteen 
 bushels of vegetables to each member of tribe. They 
 also act as freighters and have public regulations like 
 the whites. The progress of the Indians in civilization, 
 during the past five years, is highly gratifying and satis 
 factory. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
 Return to desk from which borrowed. 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY