QKS University of California Berkeley . -___-, . CORTEZ AND MONTEZUMA." THE INDIAN RACES OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA: COMPRI8IN3 AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRINCIPAL ABORIGINAL RACES; A DESCRIPTION OF THEIR NATIONAL CUSTOMS, MYTHOLOGY, AND RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES; THE HISTORY OF THEIR MOST POWER FUL TRIBES, AND OF THEIR MOST CELEBRATED CHIEFS AND WARRIORS', THEIR INTERCOURSE AND WARS WITH THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS; AND A GREAT VARIETY OF ANECDOTE AND DESCRIPTION, ILLUS TRATIVE OF PERSONAL AND NATIONAL CHARACTER. BY CHARLES DE WOLF BROWNELL. WITH NUMEROUS AND DIVERSIFIED COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS, ENTIRELY NEW, MANY OF WHICH ARE FROM ORIGINAL DK3IQNS, EXECUTED IN THE BEST STYLE OF THE ART, BY THE FIRST ARTIST3 IN AMERICA i BOSTON: DAYTON AND W E N T W O R T H 86 WASHINGTON STREET. 1853. ENTERED, ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1852. BY LUCIUS STEBBINS, IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF CONNECTICUT. FOUNDRY OF S. ANDRUS AND SON, UA.RTFORD. \V C. Armstrong, Typographer. HARTFORD: W. S. WILLIAM PRESS. PREFACE. FROM the size of this volume, as compared with the variety and extent of the subjects under examination, it will be readily perceived that minuteness of detail has been impossible. In describing the adventures and proceedings of the pioneers in the settlement and civilization of the Western Continent, the interest ing nature of the narrative may have led the author, in some instances, away from the immediate object of his attention, viz: the manners, peculiarities, and history of the aboriginal inhabitants. He trusts, how ever, that where this may appear to be the case, it will generally be found to have resulted from the inseparable manner in which the his tory of the natives and those who have supplanted them is interwoven. So far as has proved convenient or practicable, localities will be found to be in such a manner pointed out or referred to, that the reader who is ordinarily well acquainted with the geography of the country will seldom be at fault. Upon this point, the opening of the fifth book of "The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Cap- taine lohn Smith," is worthy the attention of all historical writers. It runs thus: "Before we present you the matters of fact, it is fit to offer to your view the Stage whereon they were acted; for, as Geography with out History seemeth a carkasse without motion, so, History without Geography wandereth as a Vagrant, without a certaine habitation." The works which have been carefully examined by the author in the prosecution of his design, and from which most of the facts em. bodied in this outline of history and description have been obtained, are the following: The Natural History of Man; by Jame American Antiquities and Researches into the Origin and History of the Red Race ; by Alexander W. Bradford ; The Biography and History of the Indians of North America ; by Samuel G. Drake ; Cowles Prichard ; Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American In dians ; by George Catlin ; PREFACE. The History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States ; by Henry R. Schoolcraft, LL. D ; The United States' Exploring Expedition; by Commander Charles Wilkes ; Indian Biography ; by B. B. Thacher ; Me Intosh's Book of the Indians ; Travels of Capt. Jonathan Carver through the Interior of North America, in 1776-7-8 ; Indian Wars of the United States; by Wil liam V.Moore; The History of the Conquest of Mexico; from the Spanish of Don Antonio De Sol is ; The Conquest of Mexico ; by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Regidor of the city of Guate mala, written in 1568 ; Prescott's Conquest of Mexico ; Conquest of Mexico and Peru ; Harper's series of Tales from American History ; Robertson's History of America ; The Invasion and Conquest of Florida, un der Hernando de Soto, written by a gen tleman of the town of Elvas ; Irving's Conquest of Florida ; The Territory of Florida ; by John Lee Wil liams ; The True Travels, Adventures, and Observa tions of Captaine lohn Smith ; from the London edition of 1629 ; The Life of Captain John Smith ; by W. G. Simms ; The History of the Indians of Connecticut; " by John W. De Forrest; Baylie's Memoirs of Plymouth Colony ; Barber's Historical Collections, in Massa- chussetts and Connecticut ; The Rev. William Hubbard's Narrative of the Indian Wars in New England ; writ ten in 1775; The History of Philip's War ; by Thomas Church, a son of Capt. Benjamin Church ; New England's Memorial; by Nathaniel Morton, published in 1669 ; The Publications of the Massachussetts His torical Society, especially those relating to the Early Settlements in New England ; including, among other documents, the Relations of G. Mourt and E. Winslow concerning the Pilgrims at Plymouth ; Letters and Writings of Roger Williams ; Gookin's Historical Collections, &c., Ate. Schoolcrai t's Notes on the Iroquois ; Stone's Life of Jos. Brant ThayenJanegea ; Memoirs of William Penn; by Thomas Clarkson ; Heckewelder's Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians ; The Life of William Henry Harrison, with a History of the Wars with the British and Indiana on our North-western Frontiers ; The Adventures of Daniel Boone ; by the author of Uncle Philip's Conversations ; The History of the American Indians ; by James Adair, for forty years a resident and trader among them ; Cobbett's Bife of Andrew Jackson ; The History of Georgia; by Capt. Hugh Me Call ; The Adventures of Capt. Bonneville in the Far West, and among the Rocky Moun tains ; by Washington Irving ; Cox's Adventures on the Columbia River ; Barrow's Voyages of Discovery and Research within the Arctic Regions; Back's Narrative of the Arctic Land Expe dition ; Greenland, the Adjacent Seas, and the North west Passage ; by Bernard O'Reilly ; Parry's Journal of a second voyage for the Discovery of a North-west Passage ; Mackenzie's Inland Expedition to the Arctic Ocean ; Purchas, his Pilgrimage; The Modern Traveller; by Josiah Conder, Articles on South America ; Spanish America ; by R. H. Bonnycastle ; Irving's Life of Columbus; Indian Tribes of Guiana; by Rev. W. H. Brett ; Alexander de Humboldt's Travels in South America ; Prescott's Conquest of Peru ; Travels in Peru ; by Dr. J. J. Von Tschudi, translated from the German by Thomasina Ross; The Geographical, Natural, and Civil His tory of Chili; by Abbe don J. Ignatius Molina ; translated from the original Ital ian by an American Gentleman ; John Mawe's Travels in the Interior of Brazil ; | Head's Journey to the Pampas and the Andes. CONTENTS. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. ' PAGB CHAPTER I. Origin of the North American Indians Some of their General Customs and Peculiarities,. "... . , V"' ; . .' ; - . . . - . . .13 CHAPTER II. Religion of the Indians Their Weapons and System of Warfare Their Lodgings, Dress, Ornaments, &c 25 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. CHAPTER I. United States' Territory, &c ? . .36 CHAPTER II. Antiquities of Mexico, &c 44 CHAPTER III. Antiquities of South America, . . . * .... . .49 THE ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. CHAPTER I. General Remarks Expedition of Grijalva Hernando Cortez, . . 54 CHAPTER II. Battles with the Natives Conciliatory Intercourse Donna Marina, . 6 CHAPTER III. Communications with the Mexican Emperor The Zempoallans and Quiavistlans, . . . . . ,..,-,. 68 CHAPTER IV. The March to Tlascala Occupation of the City Great Massacre at Cholula Entrance into the City of Mexico, and Interview with Montezuma Description of the Temple, &c. . . .-.>.; 77 CHAPTER V. Seizure and Imprisonment of Montezuma Execution of Qualpopoca and his Companions Ominous Prospects Expedition of Pamphilo de Narvaez Success of Cortez against him Return to Mexico Outrage by Alvarado, and Consequent Troubles Death of Montezuma The "JVbcAc Triste" Battle of Obtumba, and Arrival at Tlascala, . 4 -.t .-<'->' ' 87 CHAPTER VI. Preparations for the Attack on the City of Mexico Building and Trans portation of Brigantines Siege laid to the City Assault by the Spaniards, and their Repulse Sacrifice of Prisoners Capture of Gautimozin Conquest of the Capital, 96 CHAPTER VII. Rebuilding of the City Extension of Spanish Powers The March to Honduras Execution of Gautimozin Donna Marina Modern Mexico, . . 106 THE FLORIDA INDIANS. CHAPTER I. Early Expeditions of Spanish Adventurers Ponce de Leon L. Velas quez de Ayllon Pamphilo de Narvaez Fernando de Soto : his Landing and Estab lishment at Tampa Story of John Ortiz, a Spanish Captive among the Indians, 110 CHAPTER II. Progress Northward Contests with the Natives Vitachuco Expedi tion to Cutifachiqui Departure for the West, H6 CHAPTER III. From the Conquest by De Soto to the Year 1818 Missionary Opera tions by the Spaniards Moore's Invasion of Florida Bowles Wars of 1812 Defeat of the Sem moles by General Jackson, 122 CHAPTER IV. Commencement of the late Florida War Treaty of Moultrie Creek Treaty of Payne's Landing Osceola Destruction of Dade's Command Battle of the Ouithlacoochie Conference with Indian Ch efs by General Gaines, . . . 126 CHAPTER V. Condition of East Florida Gen. Scott's Campaign Garrison besieged on the Ouithlauooohie Occurrences during the Summer of 1836 Arrival of Creek Allies Colonel Lane's Expedition from Tampa Battle of the Wahoo Swamp General Jessup appointed to the command in Florida, 134 ,* CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER VI. Pursuit of the Seminoles Southward Encounter on the Hatchee Lus- tee Conference and Truce with the Indians Renewal of the Treaty of Payne's Landing Neglect on the part of the Indians to comply with its Provisions Cap ture, Surrender, and Treacherous Seizure of various Chiefs Death of Osceola Colonel Taylor's Campaign, ; 140 CHAPTER VII. Various Minor Engagements Surrender of Large Numbers of In diansContinuance of Depredations Blood-hounds from Cuba Attack upon a Company of Actors Seminole Chiefs brought back from the West to report their Condition to their Countrymen Colonel Harney's Expedition to the Everglades End of the War Indians shipped West Numbers still remaining in Florida, . 145 THE INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. CHAPTER I. Expedition of Amidas and Barlow Of Sir Richard Grenville Of Bartholomew Gosnoll, with Captain Smith Settlement at Jamestown Visit to Powhatan Improvidence and Difficulties of the Colonists Exploration of the Chickahominy Smith taken Prisoner His Treatment by the Indians, . . . 151 CHAPTER II. Court of Powhatan Smith's Preservation by Pocahontas Supplies by the Indians Newport's Arrival Smith's Expeditions up the Chesapeake, . 160 CHAPTER III. CoroAation of Powhatan Smith's Visit to Werowocomoco for Sup pliesTreachery of Powhatan Smith a second time Preserved by Pocahontus Visit to Pamunky Fight with the King of Paspahegh Ascendancy of the English, 171 CHAPTER IV. Distress of the Colonies Martin and West's Settlements Arrival of Lord De la Warre Retaliations upon the Natives Seizure of Pocahontas : Her Marriage Peace with the Indians Pocahontas visits England : Her Death Death of Powhatan Pory's Settlement, 181 CHAPTER V. The Virginia Massacre of 1622 and of 1641 '(or 1644) Death of Ope- chancanough, 191 CHAPTER VI. Smith's Account of the Numbers, Appearance and Habits of the Indians, 194 NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. " CHAPTER I. Conduct of the Early Voyagers Arrival of the May-Flower Samoaet Tisquantum Massasoit Weston'sColony Caunbitant'sConspiracy Trade in Fire Arms Thos. Morton Death of Massasoit and Alexander, and Accession of Philip, 199 CHAPTER II. The Narragansetts The Pequots Murder" of Stone and Oldham Endicott's Expedition The Pequot War Destruction of the Pequot Fort The Tribe Dispersed and Subdued, 209 CHAPTER III. Quarrel between the Narragansetts and Mohegans Uncas and Mian- tonimo The Mohegan Land Controversy Subsequent Condition of the Pequots and Mohegans, 219 CHAPTER IV. The Indians furnished with Fire-ArmsSituation of the Colonists- Philip's Accession His Treaties with the Whites His True Plans Emissaries sent to Sogkonate Captain Benjamin Church His Interview with Awoshonks Murder of John Sassamon, 228 CHAPTER V. Attack on Swansey Collection of Troops Fight at Miles' Bridge- Philip driven from the Neck Church at Punkatese Destruction of Brookfleld, . 237 CHAPTER VI. Philip moves Westward Attacks on Hadley and Deerfield Gofle the Regicide Destruction of Lathrop's Command Assaults on Springfield and H;ilfield Expedition against the Narragansetts: Outrageous Cruelties in their Reduction Philip on the Hudson Destruct'n of Lancaster, Medfleld, Seekonk,Groton, Warwick, Marlborough, &c. Canonchet taken, and put to Death Further Indian Ravages, 246 CHAPTER VII. Philip's Return to Pokanoket Major Talcott's Successes Church Commissioned by the Court at Plymouth His Interview with Awoshonks: with the Sogkonates at Sandwich His Campaign against the Indians Philip seen : his Wife and Son taken Death of Weetamore, Queen of Pocasset Death of Philip, . 256 CONTENTS. 7 PA.GS CHAPTER VIII. Pursuit of Annawon and His Purty Daring Procedure of Captain Church End of the War, and Final Disposal of Prisoners Summary of the Colonial Losses, 267 CHAPTER IX. The Eastern Indians Their Friendly Disposition Seizure of those implicated in Philip's Conspiracy French and Indian War in 1689 Attack on Co- checo Murder of Major Waldron War of 1702 Church's Last Campaign War of 1722 Captain John Lovewell, 272 THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. CHAPTER I. General Outlines of Character, &c. Impressions of the Inhabitants of New England respecting the Iroquois Garangula: His Speech to M. de la Barre, 280 CHAPTER II. Iroquois Tradition relative to their Former History A Brief Ac count of the. different tribes belonging to the Confederacy, and the manner of their Union Incidents of Early Warfare, 286 CHAPTER III. Important Characters and Events of the Eighteenth Century Brant Cresap's War, and History of Logan, . . 295 CHAPTER IV. History of Brant continued: Connexion of the Six Nations with the War of the American Revolution, . . . . t . ;^ ; 302 CHAPTER V. Continuation of Revolutionary Incidents, 313 CHAPTER VI. General Sullivan's Campaign against the Iroquois Subsequent War like Operations of the Nations, 321 CHAPTER VII. Condition of the Six Nations subsequent to the Revolution Conclu sion of Brant's History Red-Jacket and Corn-Planter, 327 CHAPTER VIII. Present Condition of the Six Nations, 336 PONTIAC'S WAR. CHAPTER I. French influence over the Indians British Occupation of the Western Posts Pontiac, and his Plans for exterminating the English, 340 CHAPTER II. Siege of Detroit Battle of Bloody Bridge, 344 THE DELAWARES, SHAWANEES, AND OTHER TRIBES OF THE MIDDLE AND WESTERN STATES. CHAPTER I. The Delawares William Penn St. Tammany The Moravians The Shawanees French and Indian War Braddock's Defeat Massacre of the Canes- toga Indians Daniel Boone, 348 CHAPTER II. Division of the Del awarea White-Eyes, and Pipe Indian Confederacy of 1781 Attack on Bryant's Station, and Battle near the Blue Licks General Clarke's Expedition Disastrous Campaign of Harmar and St. Clair Military Opera tions of General Wayne Decisive Battle near the Maumee Rapids, and subsequent Treaty of Peace, 361 CHAPTER III. Condition of the Indians subsequent to the Peace The Prophet Elsk- watawa Tecumseh: His Plans and Intrigues General Harrison's Expedition against the Prophet's town Defeat of the Indians at Tippecanoe War of 1812 Harrison's Invasion of Canada Battle of the Thames, and Death of Tecumseh, . 368 CHAPTER IV. Acquisition and Sale, by the United States, of Indian Land in Illinois Black-Hawk The Sacs removed west of the Mississippi Return of Black-Hawk and his Followers Defeat of Major Stillman The Hostile Indians pursued by At kinson and Dodge Their Defeat on the bank of the Mississippi Black-Hawk's Surrender He is taken to Washington His Subsequent Career, .... 376 INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. CHAPTER I. Early Location, Numbers, Character, &c., of the Catawbns ; of the Upper and Lower Cherokees; of the Muscogees or Creeks; of the Chocfaws; of the Chickusaws French War with the Natchez and Chickasaws, . * . . . . 383 CONTEXTS. PAGB CHAPTER II. Colonization of Georgia Early Intercourse with the Natives Tomo- chichi Intrigues of the Reverend Thomas Bosom worth Cherokee War of 1759 Attakullakulla and Occonostota Murder of Indian Hostages Colonel Montgom ery's Expedition Destruction of the Eastern Cherokee Towns Battle near Etchoe Capitulation at Fort Loudon Indian Treachery Campaign of Colonel Grant, and Complete Reduction of the Cherokecs, 390 CHAPTER III. Captain Steuart's Agency Disturbance in 1767 Visit of Tecumseh to the Southern Tribes Weatherford Sack of Fort Mimms War of 1813 General Jackson's Campaign Battles on the Tallusahatchee ; at Talladega, Autossee, &.c. The Hall ibees Defeat of the Indians at Horse-Shoe BendEnd of the War, . . 402 CHAPTER IV. The Removal of the Cherokees west of the Mississippi Present Loca tion and Condition of the other Tribes of the Southern States, .... 411 NORTHERN RACE*. CHAPTER I. The Esquimaux: their Manners and Personal Appearance Accounts of Early Voyagers Esquimaux Habitations, Food, &c. The Kaiak or Canoe- Sealing The Rein-deer Uses of the Dog Patriarchal Government Effects of Foreign Intercourse, . . . .-" 416 CHAPTER II. The Esquimaux of Melville Peninsula Their Stature and Costume- Snow Huts and their Furniture Implements for Hunting and Sealing Mental Traits, 426 CHAPTER III. The Knisteneaux, Chippewas, &c 431 VARIOUS NATIONS AND TRIBES BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC OCEAN. CHAPTER I. The Sioux or Dahcotas, and other Tribes of the same Race : Classifica tionThe Mandans : Their Number, Situation, Villages, &c. Their Cemeteries Affectioniite Remembrance of the Dead, . 407 CHAPTER II. Personal Appearance and Peculiarities of the Mandans Their Hospi- " tality and Urbanity Their Cleanliness of Person Their Dress Portraits of Man- dan Chiefs Contrast between the Wild Tribes and those of the Frontier Mandan Domestic Usages Games and Dances Training of the Youth The Great Annual Religious Ceremony The Mandans supposed to be of Welsh Descent Annihila tion of the Tribe by the Small-pox, 44fi CHAPTER III. The Sioux, continued Their Mode of Life Maternal Affection Ex posure of the Aged The famous Quarry of Red Pipe-stone Nature of this Material Indian Superstitions respecting it The Bison or Buffalo Horses of the Indians Various Modes of Hunting the Buffalo Wasteful Destruction of the Herds, . 455 CHAPTER IV. Indians of the Great Western Prairies Their Summer and Winter Lodges The Medicine-Bag The Crows and Blackfeet Races Hostile to the latter Tribe Fortitude of a Blackfoot Warrior The Crow Chief Arapooish and his Guest Indian Conceptions of a Perfect Country Story of Loretto and his Indian Wife Adventures of Kosato, a Blackfoot Warrior, 463 CHAPTER V. Tribes on the Columbia and its Tributaries The Nez-Perces Their Religious Character The Walla-wallas The Chinooks Mode of Flattening the Head The Botoque Canoee of the Tribes on the Lower Waters of the Columbia Fishing Houses of the Flat-beads, 473 CHAPTER VI. The Shoshonees, or Snake Indians The Shoshokoes, or Root-diggers Extent of Country occupied by the Snakes The Camanches : Their Horsemanship, Mode of Life, Dwellings, &c. The Pawnee Picts The Nabajoa aud Moques, . 477 CONTENTS. SOUTH AMERICA, TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, AND THE NORTHERN PROVINCES OF SOUTH AMERICA. CHAPTER I. Indians first seen by Columbus Landing at Guanahani Natives of Cuba Embassy to the Grand Kahn ! Discovery of Hayti, and Intercourse with the Natives Guacanagari Wreck of the Admiral's Vessel Honesty and Hospi tality of the Native Inhabitants Trade for Gold Building of the Fortress of La Navidad Departure of the Nina The Ciguayans Disorders and Destruction of the Garrison at La Navidad Fort of St. Thomas, . . . . . . .487 CHAPTER II. Indians of Jamaica Cruise along the Southern Coast of Cuba Speech of an Indian Counsellor Difficulties at the Fortress of St. Thomas Its Siege by Caonabo Efforts of Columbus to restore Order Great Rising of the Indians of Hispaniola Their Defeat Tribute Imposed Visit of Bartholomew to Xaraguay Further Insurrection in the Vega Bobadilla as Viceroy Cruelties practised on the Indians Las Casas Incidents related by Purchas Administration of Ovando Expedition against Xaraguay Reduction of Higuey, 495 CHAPTER III. The Caribs Their Islands First Visited by Columbus Origin and Location of the Race Tokens of Cannibalism seen by the Spaniards Cruise among the Islands Demeanor of Prisoners taken Return to Hispaniola Destruction of the Fortress at that Island Capture of Caonabo : His Death Expulsion of the Na tives from the Caribbee Islands, . . s .\: 506 CHAPTER IV. Indians of Guiana and Venezuela Classification The Arawaks First seen by Columbus Entry into the Gulf of Paria Hospitality of the Natives Raleigh's Visit to the Orinoco Early Wars of the Arawaks Victory over the Caribs Maroon Negroes Present Condition of the Arawaks Other Tribes of the Interior General Description, . V " ''': "'."'',' . . . . . . . 512 THE ABORIGINES OF PERU. CHAPTER I. Physical Peculiarities of the Quichuas, Aymaras, Atacamas, and Chan- gos Nature of the Country Peruvian Works of Art, &c. First Rumors of the Wealth of the Country Expedition of Pascual de Andagoya Francisco Pizarro : His First Voyage of Discovery Almagro's Voyage Contract of Pizarro, Almagro, and Luque The Second Expedition Pizarro and his Companions upon the Isle of Gorgona Continuation of the Voyage Return to Panama, 520 CHAPTER II. Mythological Traditions Topa Inca Yupanchi, and his Son Huayna Capac The Peruvian Capital Religious System Government Agrarian Law Llamas Public Records : The " Qutpit" Agriculture Marriages Warlike Policy of the Incas The Great Roads Contentment of the Natives Division of the Em pire: Huascar and Atahuallpa Contest for Supremacy, 531 CHAPTER III. Pizarro's Visit to Spain, and Application to the Emperor His Four Brothers Funds procured for a New Expedition to Peru Vessels again fitted out at Panama Landing of the Spaniards upon the Peruvian Coast Plunder at Coaque Thf) March towards Tumbez Battles on the Isle of Puna Tumbez Deserted Settlement of San Miguel March into the Interior Passage of the Andes Mes sages from Atahuallpa Entry into Caxamalca, 543 CHAPTER IV. First Interview with the Inca Plans for his Capture Entry of Ata huallpa into Caxamalca Address of the Chaplain Attack by the Spaniards: Fearful Massacre of the Natives, and Seizure of the Inca Prisoners and Plunder obtained The Promised Ransom Heruando Pizarro's Visit to Pachacamaca 10 CONTENTS. PAOB Challcuchima Messengers sent to Cuzco Immense Treasure collected at Caxa- malca Trial and Murder of Atahuallpa, 551 CHAPTER V. March towards Cuzco Opposition of the Natives Death of Toparca, and Murder of Challcuchima Manco Capac Entry into the Capital Booty ob tained Escape of Manco, and General Insurrection Siege \>f Cuzco Reverses of the Spaniards Civil Wars Further Hostilities of Manco Capac Cruel Treatment of the Natives Death of Manco Capac Reforms under Pedro de la Gasca Tupac Amaru Insurrection of 1781 Present Condition of the Peruvian Indians, . . 563 THE ARAUCANIAN RACE CHAPTER I. Their Location, Appearance, &c. Purchas' Description of Chili Divi sion of the Tribes Peruvian Conquests Agriculture, Arts, &c., among the Natives Almagro's Invasion Expedition of Pedro de Valdivia Founding of St. Jago Battles with the Mapochinians Destruction of 8pamsh Miners Peace with the Promaucians, 574 CHAPTER II. The Araucanians Proper Character and Habits of the Tribe Houses and Dress Sectional Divisions and Government System of Warfare Courage and Military Skill Religious Belief and Superstitions Patriotism and Public Spirit of the Natives Molina's Eulogium, . 579 CHAPTER III. Army sent to Oppose the Progress of the Spaniards Battle on the Adalien Lincoyan's Campaign Valdivia's March Southward Foundation of Val divia, and Establishment of Forts in the Araucanian Territory The Natives roused by Colocolo Caupolican made Toqui His Successes Great Victory over the Spaniards Death of Valdivia Invasion of Arauco by Villagran His Defeat- Destruction of Conception Lautaro's Fatal Expedition Against Santiago, . . 585 CHAPTER IV. Don Garcia de Mendoza ; His Establishment at Quinquina Fort of Mount Pinto attacked by Caupolican Don Garcia's Invasion of Arauco; His Cruelties Expedition to Chiloe Artful Management of the Cunches Seizure and Cruel death of Caupolican Subsequent Successes of the Spaniards Retreat of the . Natives to the Marshes of Lumaco Indian Victory at Mount Mariguenu General Summary of Succeeding Hostilities, 594 CHAPTER V. Viceroyalty of Martin Loyola Paillamachu Renewal of the War Loyola Slain General Insurrection of the Natives The Spaniards Driven from the Country South of the Bio-Bio Bloody Campaigns under several successive Toquis Peace of 1640 Ten Years' War Subsequent Treaties and Hostilities Present Position of the Araucaniaus, 602 INDIAN TRIBES OF BRAZIL. CHAPTER I. Physical Characteristics Pi nzon's Discoveries Landing of Pedro Al varez Cabral upon the Brazilian Coast Expedition under Vespucius Cannibalism Colonization of the Country, and Wars with the Natives Fate of Juan de Solis, at the Estuary of La Plata Settlement of Bahia de Todos Santos by Diogo Alvarez The Jesuits Particulars of the Cannibal Propensities of the Natives The Boto- cudos, . 609 CHAPTER II. Success of the Portuguese Against the Natives Their Contests with Settlers from other Countries of Europe English Colony at Paraiba Expulsion of Guarani Tribes from their Country on La Plata Division of Brazilian Nations Daily Routine of Indian Life in the Forests Reflections, 619 THE PAMPAS INDIANS Their Horsemanship Their Mode of Life Sir FranciS Head's Description of the Race Female Captives among the Indians Trading Visits to European Settle- CONTENTS. 11 PAG a ments Classification of Tribes Change in their Condition by the Introduction of European Domestic Animals, . . . . . . . . . 624 THE PATAGONIANS. Early Exaggerated Reports concerning them Race to which they belong Nature of the Country Terra del Fuego General Description and Classification of the Inhabitants Captain Fitzroy's Narrative Physical Conformation of the Natives- Scantiness of their Clothing Their Huts, Resources for Food, etc. Fuegians car ried to England by Fitzroy Attempt at the Introduction of Agriculture on the Island Pecherais described in Wilkes' Narrative of the United States' Exploring Expedition, ..... 629 INDIAN POPULATION Of the United States and Territories, . ' . . .485 IMPORTANT ERAS AND DATES Of Interesting Events in Indian History, , 637 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FRONTISPIECK Interview between Cortez and Montezuma, 1 Indian Bow and Arrows, Harpoon, Basket, Pot, Bowl, &.C., 24 Indian Tomahawk, Kettle, Spoon, Pipes, &c., _ ^ 25 Portrait of Montezuma, in his Magnificent Regal Dress, 54 Hernundo Cortez, from an Original Portrait by Titian, 56 Execution of an Indian Captive, l'~l Portrait of Osceola, the Celebrated Florida Chief, 129 Portrait of Captain John Smith, the Pioneer of Virginia, 152 Pocahontas Interposing for the Life of Captain John Smith, H>1 Interview of Samoset with the Pilgrims, 200 Tisquantum, or Squanto, the Guide and Interpreter of the Colonists, 204 The Colonists going to Church armed, during the Early Indian Wars, 29 King Philip, the Aboriginal Hero of Mount Hope, 233 Portrait of Captain Benjamin Church, 273 Seneca Lake, '~'P8 Joseph Brant, (THAYENDANKGKA,) of Wyoming Notoriety, 297 Red Jacket, the Masterly Orator and Chief of the Senecas, 333 Ball-Playing, as practiced by the Western Tribes 343 Portrait of William Penn, the Founder of Pennsylvania, 349 Colonel George Washington, as Aid-de-Camp to General Braddock, 3.">2 Border Encounter, a Scene from Early Western Life, 360 Trapping the Bear,. 301 General Harrison, surrounded with appropriate National Emblems, 368 Tecutnseh, the renowned Chief of the Western Tribes, 3(>9 The Eagle, a Type of Swiftness, Strength, and Superiority, 392 Indian Settlement, representing their Costumes, Tents, &c., 393 General Jackson on his favorite White Charger, 409 Indiana Watching for Salmon, 433 Indians making their Offerings to the Dead, 441 Indian W r ar-Dance, as practised among the Mandans, 448 Indian Encampment West of the Mississippi, 465 The Bison, generally called the Buffalo, 472 The Grizzly Bear, abounding in the North-west Territory, 480 Buffalo Chase, peculiar to the Western Indians, 480 Portrait of Christopher Columbus, 489 Maquarri Dance, in the Lower District of Pomeroon, 512 An Indian Sorcerer performing his Ceremonies over the Sick, 513 Portrait of Francisco Pizarro, 520 The Inca Atahualpa before Pizarro, 561 The Passage of the Cordilleras, 577 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS - SOME OF THEIR GENERAL CUSTOMS AND PECULIARITIES. Oli] rtsp ipuXXwv ysvsv), roirjSs xat av<5po3v. "Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now green in youth, now withering on the ground; Another race the following spring supplies." Iliad. IT were far easier to foretell the period when the extinc tion of the Indian races must be consummated, and to explain the causes that must sooner or later terminate their national existence, than to trace back their early history. Even a succinct account of the various theories, with the arguments upon which they are based, as to the prob able sources whence the early inhabitants of the Western hemisphere derived their origin, would furnish matter for a volume : we shall therefore do little more than allude to the different hypotheses upon the subject, leaving the reader to follow up the inquiry, if his inclination so move him, by the examination of works especially devoted to the discussion of this vexed question. The want of a written language among the aborigines of America; the blindness of the system of hieroglyphics used by the more advanced nations of the continent; and the wild discrepancies in their fanciful oral traditions leave us little hope of satisfactorily elucidating the mystery by 14 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. any direct information obtained from the people them selves. Analogies in physical conformation, customs, archi tecture, language, and religion, must form our principal clue in deciding the question of their origin. That America was first peopled by wanderers from the Old World seems to be a conclusion to which most of those who have treated on the subject have arrived. Exclusive of the supposed necessity for maintaining the truth of Scrip tural history by deducing all the races of the globe from a common ancestry, abundant facilities for an intentional or casual migration have been pointed out by geographers. The numberless isles of the Pacific offer ready resting- places for adventurous or bewildered navigators, and might have been peopled successively by wanderers from South eastern Asia. Some of the natives of that portion of the Eastern continent possess a skill in nautical affairs which would abundantly qualify them for voyages as hazardous as any to which they would be exposed in crossing the Pacific from island to island in their swift proas. The near approach of the two grand divisions of the globe at Behring's Straits presents still greater facilities for a pass age from one to the other, when the waters are closed by ice, during the severe Northern winter, or when they lie open, affording a free passage for canoes. That the North-eastern portions of America were visited and probably peopled, at a very early date, by adventurers frdm the North of Europe seems to be fully established. Many wild and improbable legends indeed exist, touching these early voyages, and we can sympathise with the man ner in which the old historian of Virginian colonization dismisses the subject: "For the stories of Arthur, Malgo, and Brandon, that say a thousand yeares agoe they were in the North of America, or the Fryer of Linn, that by his black Art went to the North Pole in the yeare 1360. In that I know them not. Let this suffice." GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 15 Modern investigation has brought to light abundant evidence of visits by the Northmen to Greenland and the neighboring American coast, at the close of the tenth and in the beginning of the eleventh centuries, and it is not improbable that intercourse had subsisted between the two countries at a much earlier period. The marked dif ference between the Esquimaux Indians and all other tribes of the Western continent points plainly to a separate ancestry. . We shall speak more at large upon this subject when we come to treat of the natives of that vast and desolate region lying between the Canadas and the frozen seas of the North. Vague accounts of islands or continents at the West are found in the works of many early writers. The Atlantis of Plato, the Hesperides, and a host of other uncertain fables have been tortured by ingenious antiquaries into proof of more extensive geographical knowledge than is generally attributed to the ancients. Some theorists have indefatigably followed up the idea that we are to search for the lost tribes of Israel among the red men of America, and have found or fancied resem blances, otherwise unaccountable, between Indian and He brew words, ceremonies, and superstitions. Others have exhibited equal ingenuity in carrying out a comparison between the Moors of Africa and the Amer icans, claiming to establish a near affinity in character and complexion between the two races. They ^suppose the Moorish immigrants to have arrived at the West India Islands, or the Eastern coast of South America, and thence to have spread over the whole continent. However variant, in some particulars, the different nations of America may appear, there are peculiarities of language which are noticeable throughout the continent, and which would seem to prove that neither of these nations has subsisted in an entirely isolated condition. 16 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. According to Humboldt; "In America, from the coun try of the Esquimaux to the banks of the Orinoko, and again, from these torrid banks to the frozen climate of the Straits of Magellan, mother tongues, entirely different with regard to their roots, have, if we may use the expression, the same physiognomy. Striking analogies of grammat ical construction have been recognised, not only in the more perfect languages as that of the Incas, the Aymara, the Guarani, the Mexican, and the Cora, but also in lan guages extremely rude. Idioms, 'the roots of which do not resemble each other more than the roots of the Scla- vonian and Biscayan, have resemblances of internal me chanism similar to those which are found in the Sanscrit, the Persian, the Greek, and the German languages." Of the primary roots of the different Indian dialects, it is said that there are four more prominent than the rest, and which can be traced over nearly the whole continent. These are the Karalit or Esquimaux, the Iroquois, the j Lenni Lenape, and that of the Cherokees, Choctaws, and other tribes of the South. The great body of the American aborigines, notwith standing the country over which they are distributed, have many features of physical conformation in common. The exceptions to this general truth, exhibited principally in the persons of the Esquimaux, and in certain white tribes at the West, deserve a separate consideration : at present, our remarks will be confined to the red men, and particu larly to those of the present United States and territories. The appellation universally bestowed upon this people is in itself a strange misnomer, and would hardly have obtain ed so generally, had not the error in which it originated been one which early voyagers were slow to acknowledge. The Americans have, indeed, usurped the name of those for whom they were so long mistaken, and whom we are now reduced to distinguish by the title of East Indians. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 17 The general appearance of a North American Indian can be given in few words ; the resemblance between those of different tribes with the exceptions to which we have referred being full as close as between different nations of either of the great families into which the human race has been arbitrarily divided. They are about of the aver age height which man attains when his form is not cramped by premature or excessive labor, but their erect posture and slender figure give them the appearance of a tall race. Their limbs are well formed, but calculated rather for agility than strength, in which they rarely equal the more vigorous of European nations. They generally have small feet. The most distinguishing peculiarities of the race are, the reddish or copper colour of the skin ; the prominence of the cheek-bone ; and the color and quality of the hair. This is not absolutely straight, but somewhat wavy, and has not inaptly been compared to the mane of the horse less from its coarseness than from its glossy hue and the manner in which it hangs. Their eyes are universally dark. The women are rather short, with broader faces, and a greater tendency to obesity than the men, but many of them possess a symmetrical figure, with an agreeable and attractive countenance. It was formerly quite a general impression that the Indians were destitute of beards. This error resulted from the almost universal custom prevalent among them of eradicating what they esteemed a deformity. Tweezers, made of wood or muscle-shells, served to pluck out the hairs as soon as they appeared; and, after intercourse with the whites commenced, a coil of spiral wire was applied to the same use. It was esteemed greatly becoming among the men, to carry this operation still farther, and to lay bare the whole head, with the exception of a top-knot, or ridge like the comb of a cock, in which feathers or por cupine quills were fantastically interwoven. 2 18 'INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. Of the hideous custom of flattening the head, and the means by which it was accomplished, we shall speak when describing the tribes among wham it was practised. No nations on the Eastern continent approach so nearly to the American Indians, in bodily conformation, as do certain tribes of Tartars. A similarity in habits of life, in dress, festivals, and games, is also observable between the two nations. This, combined with the proximity of their coun tries, and the ease with which a passage could be effected, would seem to afford a rational presumption as to the direct origin of no small portion of the red tribes of North Amer ica. Who can undertake to decide, however, as to what admixture of races has here taken place, or how often fresh arrivals, from different portions of Eastern Asia, have given rise to new colonies, or destroyed by amal gamation, the distinctive characteristics of the earlier peo ple ? Above all, can we account for the wonderful remains of antiquity described in another chapter, by referring them to the same races as were found inhabiting these wilds when the white man first ventured to explore them? ' The difficulty of the subject is sufficiently manifest from the contradictory conclusions drawn by laborious but dog matic antiquaries ; and still more by the doubt and uncer tainty in which more candid but equally diligent laborers in the same field have confessed their researches to have resulted. There have not been wanting those who have main tained the theory that the Indians were indigenous to America. Some who have adopted this idea consider that it involves the doctrine of a separate creation, while others/ that they might not discard the ordinarily received opin ion that all mankind have sprung from a single pair, place the seat of paradise somewhere upon the Western Con tinent, and consider the Eastern nations as descendants of emigrants from America. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 19 However interesting these speculations may prove to the antiquary, they must appear simply wearisome to the reader who is not willing to give the subject a full inves tigation. The two hemispheres remained sundered for so long a period, that the history of their former connection by intercourse of their respective inhabitants is now reduced to little more than speculation; and we will pass to mat ters of which we can speak with certainty, and which appeal more closely to our sympathies, and attract our attention with more lively interest than such groping amid the dim relics of antiquity. A knowledge of the habits and peculiarities of the Indians can be acquired in the most pleasing manner by the perusal of their history, interspersed as it is with the quaint descriptions of old chroniclers, who wrote when the events and scenes were vividly impressed upon their minds, and before modern refinements had done away with that directness of expression which marks their narratives. Such details make, moreover, a far stronger impression upon the memory than can be effected by a series of dry generalities. We shall therefore refer the reader to the historical portion of this work for most of the information which we shall attempt to convey. In this, and in the ensuing chapter, we may frequently speak of usages and characteristics, as belonging to a past age, which are still to be observed among the more remote Western tribes. The difficulty of always drawing the distinction in a series of such general remarks as are here submitted, must form our excuse for such seeming ana chronisms. We notice in the Indian a remarkable gravity and innate dignity which leads him to avoid, with the most 20 , INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. scrupulous care, all involuntary or impulsive expression of his feelings. This is not confined to the occasions upon which he calls forth his powers pf endurance in suf fering the most cruel torments with apparent insensibility or even with exultation, but enters into all the acts of his daily life. He betrays no unseemly curiosity or impa tience under circumstances that would naturally excite both in the highest degree. Has he been long absent from home on a war-path, or on ,a visit to cities of the whites; has he learned some great and threatening dan ger, or has the intelligence reached him of the death of those whom he most values; his conduct and method of communicating his adventures or his information, are governed by the same deliberation and immobility. Eeturning half famished from an unsuccessful hunt, he enters his wigwam, and sits down unquestioned, showing no symptom of impatience for food. His wife prepares his refreshment, and after smoking his pipe, and satisfying his hunger, he volunteers an account of his experience. Catlin gives a striking description of the meeting between a chief named Wi-jun-jon, who had just returned from an embassy to Washington, and his family. He landed from the steamer at his home in the far West, "with a com plete suit en militaire, a colonel's uniform of blue, pre sented to him by the president of the United States, with a beaver hat and feather, with epaulettes of gold with sash and belt, and broadsword ; with high-heeled boots with a keg of whiskey under his arm, and a blue umbrella in his hand. In this plight and metamorphose, he took his position on the bank amongst his friends his wife and other relations; not one of whom exhibited, for an half hour or more, the least symptoms of recognition, although they knew well who was before them." The conduct of the chief was of the same character, but, half an hour afterwards, "a gradual, but cold and exceedingly GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 21 formal recognition began to take place," after which, all went on as if he had never been absent. This strange demeanor does not, bj any means, result from real indif ference, but from the supposed propriety of suppressing any outbreak" of emotion. No doubt all the parties to the scene above described, were in a state of the greatest curiosity and excitement, and the family doubtless felt the most exuberant joy at the reunion; but custom, or their ideas of good taste, prohibited the exhibition of a "scene." Those who are best acquainted with the char acter of the Indians agree that with them the ties of fam ily affection are exceedingly strong and enduring. The most touching descriptions are given of the manner in which they mourn for the dead, and of the tender and faithful remembrance of lost relatives that no length of time seems to obliterate. Carver says, "I can assert that, notwithstanding the apparent indifference with which an Indian meets his wife and children after a long absence, an indifference proceeding rather from custom than insen sibility, he is not unmindful of the claims either of con nubial or parental tenderness." The same author who had witnessed the most bloody 1 and savage scenes of Indian warfare, and who was familiar with the cruelties and unrelenting spirit of revenge peculiar to the race, candidly bears witness to their good qualities : "No people," he says, "can be more hospitable, kind, and free. The honor of their tribe and the welfare of their nation is the first and most predominant emotion of their hearts ; and from hence proceed in a great measure all their virtues and their vices. No selfish views ever influence their advice or obstruct their consultations. They are at once guided by passions and appetites, which they hold in common with the fiercest beasts that inhabit their woods, and are possessed of virtues which do honor to human nature." 22 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. The Indians are naturally taciturn, but fond of set speeches. Their oratory is of no mean order, and is dis tinguished for a pithiness, a quaintness, and occasionally a vein of dry sarcasm, which have never been surpassed. We have specimens of some of their orations, upon great occasions, which are models of stirring eloquence, adorned with metaphors and similes which breathe the true spirit of poetry. The most pleasing traits in the character of these strange people are their reverence for age, their affection for their children, their high notions of honor, and their keen sense of justice. The great stigma upon the whole race is their deliberate and systematic cruelty in the treatment of cap tives. It is hard to account for this, but it really appears, upon investigation, to be rather a national custom, gradu ally reaching a climax, than to have arisen from any innate love of inflicting pain. It is perfectly certain that, if the children of the most enlightened nation on earth should be brought up in occasional familiarity with scenes like those witnessed at the execution of a prisoner by the American savages, they would experience no horror at the sight. "We need not seek farther than the history of religious and political persecutions in Europe, or the cruelties practised on reputed witches in our own country, to satisfy us that the character of the Indians will suffer little by compari son with that of their contemporaries of our own race. Among some of those nations which included an ex tensive confederacy, where a system of government had become settled by usage, and the authority of the chief had been strengthened by long submission to him and his predecessors, an arbitrary monarchy seems to have pre vailed; but among the smaller tribes, the authority of tht chief was rather advisory than absolute. There was gen erally a king who held hereditary office, and exercised the powers of a civil governor by virtue of his descent^ GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 23 while to lead the warriors in battle, the bravest, most redoubted, and sagacious of the tribe was elected. These two chief offices were not unfrequently united in the same person, when the lawful sachem, from a spirit of emulation or from natural advantages, showed himself worthy of the position. All matters of national interest were discussed at a sol emn council, consisting of the principal men of the tribe, and at which great decorum and formality were observed. As the debate proceeded, the whole conclave, whenever a remark from the orator speaking excited their appro bation, would give expression to their approval by a gut tural ejaculation. A natural instinct of retributive justice ordained that the crime of murder should be punished by the hand of the deceased person's nearest relative. . An interesting incident, connected with this custom, is told in a notice of the public life of the Hon. Pierre A Host, of Louisiana, given in the United States Law Magazine, for March, 1852. He is here said to have been the first to suggest the pro priety of interference in these matters on the part of the State Courts. In a drunken fray, an Indian had been accidentally killed. "The relatives of the deceased were absent at the time; but they soon heard of his death, and came from the Indian territory to exact blood for blood from the homicide. He was advised to flee, but would not, and, in blind submission to the law of the red man, agreed to deliver himself on a certain day to be shot. The Court was then sitting, and Mr. Rost proposed to the presiding judge to prevent the horrid sacrifice, by giving the victim a fair trial by jury, many members of which were known and respected by the relatives of the deceased, and impressing upon the latter the necessity of abiding by the verdict, whatever it might be." This was done, and every thing was conducted with due form and solemn- n 24 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. ity. The Indian witnesses gave the most satisfactory answers when questioned as to their ideas of the obliga tion of an oath, and, after a full hearing, the defendant was acquitted. The decision was translated to the com plainants, and they were told that to kill the prisoner would now be murder, and would subject them to the penalties of that crime. "Mr. Eost then rose, and stated to the Court that the prosecutors had left their hunting-ground to come and avenge the death of their relative, as it was their duty to do; that justice had been done to the accused, but that was not sufficient. Justice must also be done to the other side ; they must be indemnified for the inconvenience they had been put to, and the loss they had sustained ; and, as the coffers of the treasury would not unlock at the bidding of his honor, he moved that the bar, jury, and by-stand- ers, contribute a sufficient amount to satisfy them. This was done as soon as proposed, and the prosecutors declared themselves satisfied." The institution of marriage among the American Indians is by no means so restrictive a system as that adopted by enlightened nations. It is for the most part dissoluble at the pleasure of the parties, and polygamy is extensively practised. As with other barbarous nations, the woman is compelled to undergo the drudgery of daily labor, while her lord and master lounges indolently about the village, except at times when his energies are called forth for hunting or war. When once engaged in these pur suits, his fixedness of purpose, and the readiness with which he will undergo the extremes of toil, exposure, hunger, and privation, is marvellous. BOW AMD ARROWS^ //^K/'OOJV, POT, i-c IJfDIAJf TOMAHAWK, KETTLE, SPOOJV, PIPES, frc, GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 25 CHAPTER II. RELIGION OF THE INDIANS THEIR WEAPONS, AND SYSTEM OF WARFARE THEIR LODGINGS, DRESS, ORNAMENTS, ETC. "Yet simple nature to his hope has given, Behind the cloud-topp'd hill an humbler heaven; Some safer world, in depths of woods embraced, Some happier island in the watery waste." POPE. THE Indians, before receiving instruction from Euro peans, generally believed in the existence of a Supreme Deity, embodying a principle of universal benevolence, and that to him their gratitude was due for all natural benefits. On the other hand, they stood in fear of a spirit of evil, whose influence upon human affairs they considered as being more direct and familiar. To this being, known among many tribes as Hobamocko, much more assiduous devotion was paid than to the Great Spirit, it being far more essential in their view to deprecate the wrath of a terrible enemy, than to seek the favor of one already perfectly well disposed towards his creatures. Besides these two superior deities, a sort of fanciful mythology, not unlike that of many ancient Eastern nations, invested every notable object with its tutelary divinity, and bestowed on each individual his guardian spirit. A general idea that the good would be rewarded, and the bad punished, was entertained. Far away to the warm South-west, a pleasant land was fabled, in which the hunter, after death, should pursue his favorite employment, in the midst of abundance, and! a stranger for ever to want or fear; "Where everlasting Autumn lies On yellow woods and sunny skies." 26 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Their heaven was as far removed from the sensual para dise of the Mahometans, as from the pure abstractions of an enlightened religion. Ease, comfort, and a sufficiency for the natural wants, seemed all-sufficient to these simple children of nature, to render an eternity delightful. The description handed down to us of the Indian pow wows or conjurers, and their medicine-men, derive an additional piquancy and interest from the fact, that those who detail them were generally, as superstitious as the poor natives themselves. "We might cite pages in which the necromantic performances of the red men are spoken of with all the pious horror that would naturally be excited by what were considered the direct operations of the devil, as displayed in the works of his children. Winslow, taking occasion to explain the meaning of the word "Pan- iese," often applied to notable warriors in New England, says, "The Panieses are men of great courage and wis- dome, and to these also the deuill appeareth more famili arly than to others, and, as we conceiue, maketh couenant with them to preserue them from death by wounds with arrowes, knives, hatchets, &c." The works of the learned divine, Cotton Mather, are filled with similar extravagancies. These powwows, says Gookin, "are partly wizards and witches, holding familiarity with Satan, that evil one ; and partly are physicians, and make use, at least in show, of herbs and roots for curing the sick and diseased. These are sent for by the sick and wounded ; and by their dia bolical spells, mutterings, exorcisms, they seem to do won ders. They use extraordinary strange motions of their, bodies, insomuch that they sweat until they foam; and thus they continue for some hours together, stroking and hovering over the sick.' These powwows are reputed, and I conceive justly, to hold familiarity with the devil." Wherever the Indians ,have enjoyed free intercourse GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 27 with the whites, they have been no less eager to adopt than apt to acquire the use of their more efficacious weapons. It is of the primitive instruments for offence or defence that we shall now speak. Scattered over the whole country, even at the present day, small triangular bits of wrought flint, quartz, or other stone are turned up by the plough, or seen lying on the surface of the ground. These arrow-heads, with occasionally one of a larger size, which might have served for a lance, a stone tomahawk, 1 a rude pestle, or the fragment of a bowl of the same mate rial, constitute almost the only marks now visible, in the thickly settled Eastern states, of the race that formerly inhabited them. The opening of a tomb sometimes brings to light other relics, and various specimens of native art have been preserved among us from generation to gen eration, as curious relics of antiquity ; but until we arrive at the Western tumuli, (commencing at the state of New York) we find but slight impressions upon soil at the hands of the red men, and the few and simple articles to which we have alluded, constitute the most important pro ductions of their skill, except those formed from a perish able material. How the arrow and lance heads could have been attached with any degree of firmness to the wood, seems almost incomprehensible. Captain Smith describes a species of glue which assisted in accomplishing this object, but the shank or portion of the stone that entered the wood is in some of the specimens so short and ill defined, that it seems impossible that it should have been held firm in its place by such means. The arrow-heads were chipped into shape, presenting something the same surface as a gun-flint, while the tomahawks and pestles, being of a less intractable material, were ground smooth, and some of them were highly polished. A handle was commonly affixed to the "torn-hog" or tomahawk by inserting it in a split sapling, 28 v INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. and waiting for the wood to grow firmly around it ; after which, it was cut off at the requisite length. The Indian bow was shorter than that formerly used in England, and was so stiff as to require great strength or skill to bend it. It became a much more effective weapon after the introduction of steel or iron arrow-heads, which quickly superseded those of stone. Clubs, sometimes armed with flints, with the bow and tomahawk, constitute the principal weapon of the race,. Daggers of flint or bone, and shields of buffalo-hide, were in use among some of the Western tribes. Divided into innumerable petty nations, nearly the whole Indian population lived in a state of insecurity, from the constant hostility which prevailed between different tribes. So strong a clannish spirit as they all exhibited has seldom been noticed in any country, and the bitterest hatred was inherited by every individual towards the members of an unfriendly tribe. War, as in most nations, whether bar barous or enlightened, was ever esteemed the most honor able employment. The manner in which hostilities were conducted will appear by a detail of some of the more noted Indian wars, as given in the ensuing chapters of this work. The whole was a system of stratagem and surprise ; a pitched battle in an open field was almost unknown, and greater honor was ascribed to the chief who, by a night attack, destroyed his enemies at a disadvantage, and brought away their scalps in triumph, without loss to his own people, than to deeds involving the greatest personal exposure. The remorseless cruelty with which women and children were destroyed in the heat of conflict, has furnished a theme for many a tale of horror. Previous to a declaration of war against another tribe, the chief men and councillors of the nation were in the habit of holding solemn consultations, accompanied by numerous fantastic ceremonies. When fully resolved upon GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 29 hostilities, the first step was to secure the assistance of as many of the neighboring tribes as possible, for which purpose ambassadors were sent, to set forth the advantages of the union, and to cement a treaty by exchange of wam pum. When all was ready, a hatchet or other weapon, painted red, was sent as an intimation to the enemy of what was in store. We are told that the reception of this ominous token, frequently excited jsuch rage in the minds of those to whom it was sent ; "that in the first transports of their fury, a small party of them would issue forth, with out waiting for permission from the elder chiefs, and, slay ing the first of the offending nation they met, cut open the body, and stick a hatchet, of the same kind as that they had just received, into the heart of their slaughtered foe." When, weary with the war, either party desired to ter minate hostilities, the message was sent under the protect ive influence of the calumet, or pipe of peace, which, like a flag of truce among other nations, every where secured the person of those who bore it. This pipe, so widely celebrated, and of such universal use, was most elaborately carved and bedecked. Each nation had its own peculiar style of ornament for this all-important symbol, which was known to all the neighboring tribes. A solemn and ceremonious smoking of the calumet, formed the token of ratification to every treaty. When used at the conclusion of a peace, the painted hatchet was buried in the ground, and belts of wampum, so figured and arranged as to com memorate the essential articles of the pacific agreement, Were presented, to be kept as a perpetual memorial. The treatment of captives exhibited the opposite ex tremes of cruelty and kindness. Greatly to the credit of the race, it was observed that, in most instances, white women who fell into their hands met with no outrage or indignity. They were generally kindly treated, and every respect was paid to their feelings. The men taken prison- 30 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. ers of war, were either adopted to supply the place of those wlio had fallen in battle, in which case they were to undertake all the responsibilities, and were entitled to all the privileges cf the one in whose ' place they stood, or they were solemnly devoted to death, by the most refined and cruel torments that diabolical ingenuity could devise. On such occasions, all his native powers of stoical endu rance were called forth on the part of the doomed warrior. When told what was the fate before him, he would briefly express his satisfaction ; and when led to the stake, and sub jected to every torture, by fire and mutilation, he would maintain a proud composure, recounting his exploits, and the injuries which he had inflicted upon his tormentors in former battles, taunting them with their unskilfulness in the art, and describing the superior manner in which he and his friends had tortured their relatives. Not unfre- quently the rage of the surrounding company would be so excited by these expressions of contempt, and by their inability to break the warrior's spirit, that some of them would rush upon him, and dispatch him at once by a blow of the tomahawk. The habitations and clothing of the Indians varied greatly with the temperature of the climate. In the warm regions of the South, a slight covering proved sufficient, while to resist the severity of a New England winter very efficient precautions were taken. The usual manner of building their wigwams, was by fixing a row of poles firmly in the ground, in the form of a circle, and then bending and confining the tops together in the center. A hole was left for the smoke of the fire to escape, at the top of the cabin; every other part being warmly and closely covered with matting. A tight screen hung over GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 31 the doorway, which, was raised when any one entered, and then allowed to fall into its place. A species of matting was prepared by peeling the bark from trees, and subjecting it, packed in layers, to a heavy pressure. With this material, or with mats woven from rushes, &c., the walls of the huts were so closely thatched, as to effectually resist wind and weather. Some of these wigwams were of ^great size, being from fifty to a hundred feet in length, but the generality were of dimensions suitable to a single family. Their bedding consisted of mattresses disposed in bunks attached to the walls, or upon low movable couches. Bear and deer skins furnished additional covering. Their other furniture and household utensils were simple in the extreme. Clay or earthern pots, wooden platters, bowls and spoons, and pails ingeniously fashioned of birch bark, served their purpose for cookery and the table. They were skilled in basket- making. In many of their towns and villages, the wigwams were set in orderly rows, with an open space or court near the centre ; while the whole was surrounded by a strong pali sade, having but one or two narrow entrances. For spir ited descriptions and sketches of the modern Indian towns of the extreme West, the reader is referred to the valuable works of Mr. George Catlin. In many respects it will be perceived that old customs are still observed. The clothing of the Indians consisted mostly of skins, dressed with no little skill. Leggins of deer skins, with a hand's breadth of the m.aterial hanging loose at the side seam, and often highly ornamented . with fringe and embroidery ; moccasins of buck, elk, or buffalo skin ; and a garment of various fashion, from a simple cincture about the loins, to a warm and ornamental mantle or coat, com pleted the equipment of the men. Very rarely, even in our own times, do we find Indians 32 ,* INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. who are willing to submit to the restraining and incon venient dress of the whites. They have always been accustomed to leave the thigh bare, .and about the neck they can endure none of the clumsy and disagreeable bandages in such universal use among civilized nations. "Those who wear shirts," says Carver, "never make them fast, either at the wrist or collar; this would be a most insufferable confinement to them." The women wore a short frocl^, reaching to the knees; their covering for the legs and feet were similar to that worn by the men. In some portions of 'the country, very beautiful specimens of ornamental mantles, covered with neatly-arranged feathers, were seen and described by early writers. Colored porcupine quills were in general use, both for stitching and ornamenting the clothing and other equipments of the Indian. A fondness for gay colors and gaudy ornaments has ever been conspicuous in the whole race. From pocone and other roots, a brilliant red paint or dye was prepared, with which and with other pigments as charcoal, earths, and extracts from the barks of certain trees they painted their bodies, in different styles, either to make a terrible impression on their enemies, or simply to bedeck themselves in a becoming manner in the eyes of their friends. The usual savage custom of wearing pendants at the ears was common. The cartilage was frequently stretched and enlarged by weights, and by winding it with brass wire, until it nearly reached the shoulder. Tattooing was* prac tised by some nations, but not so systematically, or to so great an extent as has been observed among the savages of warmer climates, where little clothing is worn. One of the most noted species of ornament, which answered all the purpose of a circulating medium among the Eastern Indians, was wampum. This consisted of small circular bits of sea-shell, smoothly ground and pol- GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 33 ished, with a hole drilled thrcmgli the centre of each, by which it might be strung, or attached ornamentally to the belt or other parts of the dress. The "qua-hog" or round clam furnished the principal material for this coin, the variegated purple portions of the shell being much the most valuable. The great labor in preparing it, was the boring, which was effected by a sharp flint. When we consider the slow nature of such a process, we can scarce credit the accounts given of the immense quantities of wampum that were procured by the white colonists, while it retained its value, in exchange for European commodities, or which were exacted as tribute, in atonement for national offences. " The wompompeague," says Gookin, "is made princi pally by the BJock Islanders and Long Island Indians. Upon the sandy flats and shores of those coasts the wilk shells are found. With this wompompeague they pay tribute, redeem captives, satisfy for murders and other wrongs, purchase peace with their potent neighbors, as occasion requires ; in a word, it answers all occasions with them, as gold and silver doth with us. They delight much in having and using knives, combs, scissors, hatchets, hoes, guns, needles, awls, looking-glasses and such like necessa ries which they purchase of the English and Dutch with their peague, and then sell them their peltry for their wompeague." The principal articles of food used by the aborigines of the present United States, were the products of the chase, fish, beans, some species of squashes and pumpkins, and maize or Indian Corn. Wild rice, growing in rich wet land in the interior of the country, furnished a wholesome and easily gathered supply of farinaceous food to the tribes of the temperate portion of the United States. Shell fish were a very important addition to the resources of those who dwelt near the sea-coast, and in the interior, various 3 34 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. species of wild roots, and certain nutritious bark supplied the failure of the cultivated crop, and furnished the means to eke out a subsistence when the hunt was unsuccessful or the last year's stores had been consumed before the sea son of harvest. To effect a clearing, and to secure a crop with such rude implements of stone as they possessed, appears to us almost an impracticable undertaking; but we are assured, by early writers, that they obtained as large a yield from a given spot of ground as can be produced by the assistance of all modern conveniences and contrivances. Two dishes, greatly in vogue among the Indians, have maintained their popularity among their European successors. Green corn, the ripening of which was celebrated by a national dance, is sought as eagerly as when it supplied a grateful refresh ment to the red men, emaciated, as Smith describes them, by the Spring diet of fish and roots. A preparation, denominated "Succotash," consisting of maize, boiled with beans, and flavored with fat bear's meat, or fish, still remains (with the substitution of pork for wild meats) a favorite dish in New England. Carver says that, as pre pared by the natives, it was "beyond comparison delicious." It is singular that the use of milk should have been entirely unknown before the advent of the whites, although there were various animals in the country from which it might have been procured. This fact has been adduced as a strong argument against the hypothesis, that immi grants from the nomadic tribes of Tartary have mingled with the red race in comparatively modern times. If the ferocity or wildness of the buffalo, deer, or elk, had at first seemed to render their domestication impracticable, yet it is not probable that so important an article of sub sistence would have been not only disused, but entirely forgotten, until many generations had passed away. With the foregoing brief sketch of some of the more GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 35 marked Indian traits and peculiarities, we will dismiss this portion of our subject; and, dealing no more in generalities, proceed to take up the history of various tribes and nations, somewhat in the order of the dates of their first intercourse with Europeans. "We need make no apology for the omission of many minor clans, or for avoiding that par ticularity, in the delineation of private character, which belongs rather to biography than to -general history. AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES CHAPTER I. UNITED STATES TERRITORY, ETC. "But what are These, still standing 'in the midst? The Earth has rocked beneath ; the Thunder-stone Passed through and through, and left its traces there, Yet still they stand as by some Unknown Charter! Oh, they are Nature's own! and, as allied To the vast Mountains and the eternal Sea, They want no written history; theirs a voice For ever speaking to the heart of Man !" ROGERS. IN the absence of any written record of those numerous races which formerly peopled this hemisphere, information must be sought in their monuments, and in the disinterred relics of their ancient manner of life. These, considering the almost unbroken wilderness which presented itself to the first white adventurers, are surprisingly numerous. They indicate the former existence of populous nations, excelling in many of the arts of civilization, and capable, by their numbers and combination, of executing the most gigantic works for religion, public defence, and commem oration of the dead. Such relics, though, for the most part, not immediately pertaining to the history of the Indian tribes, have supported the conjectures advanced by Hum- boldt and other eminent cosmographers, that these races are but the dwindled and degraded remains of once flourishing and populous nations. The retrograde process to which certain forms of incomplete civilization appear doomed, has AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 87 perhaps been most strikingly exemplified in the difference to be discovered between the feeble and scattered tribes of the red race, and those powerful and populous com munities who occupied the soil before them. The relics of the former people, usually discovered on or slightly beneath the surface of the ground, are of a rude and simple character, differing little from the specimens common among their descendants of the present day. The flint arrow-head, chipped painfully into shape the stone tomahawk, knife, and chisel the pipe, the rude pot tery and savage ornaments, are their only relics ; and these differ but little from the same articles still fabricated by their successors. Except among the Esquimaux, who occasionally use stone, and who avail themselves of the arch and dome in the construction of their snow huts, nothing like regular architecture can be assigned to the late or modern tribes occupying this continent northward of Mexico. The Indian tumuli, or mounds of burial, are generally small and of simple construction. It has, however, been ration ally supposed that the force of religious custom, surviving art and civilization, has preserved to the red tribes this characteristic method of their forefathers; and that the rude barrows, which they still erect, are but the puny and dwindled descendants of those mighty mounds and ter raced pyramids which still rear their heads from the isth mus to the lakes, and from the shores of Florida to the Mexican Cordilleras. The origin of these and of other unquestionably ancient remains, is to the antiquarian a question of the most lively and perplexing interest. Here, in unknown ages and for unknown periods, have existed wealth, power, and civil ization ; yet the remains by which these are indicated seem to furnish but a slight clue to the epoch and history of their long-vanished constructors. Within the mounds and 38 , INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. mural embankments scattered through a large portion of this country, are found the remains of high mechanical and scientific art. Pottery, the most fragile of man's works, yet almost indestructible by time, still remains in large quantities and in good preservation. In the com position and coloring of these articles, much chemical skill is evinced; while in many cases, their grace of form and perfection of finish rival the remains of Grecian or Etrus can art. Some of these ancient vessels are of immense size ; one, disinterred from a Western mound, being eight een feet in length by six in breadth. Glass beads of rare and elaborate construction have been found; stone orna ments, skilfully wrought, and brick, much resembling that in modern use, have been often discovered. Metallic remains are frequent. Copper, used both for weapons and for ornament, has often been found, and occa sionally specimens, plated with silver, have been disinter red. At an ancient mound in Marietta, a silver cup finely gilt on the inside, was. exposed to view by the wash ing of a stream. It has been often questioned whether the use of iron was known to these aboriginal races; but except the occasional presence of rust in the excavations, little has been ascertained with certainty the perishable nature of that metal peculiarly exposing it to the destroy ing influence of time and dampness. Inscriptions upon rocks, mostly of a hieroglyphic char acter, are numerous ; and on the walls of several caverns in the west, some extraordinary specimens may be seen. In the same gloomy receptacles have been found numbers of a species of mummy, most carefully prepared, and beautifully covered with colored feathers, symmetrically arranged. Stone coffins and burial urns of great beauty have also been disinhumed from the Western mounds. AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 39 MOUNDS AJVD FORTIFICATIONS, "* * * * Are they here The dead of other days? And did the dust Of these fair solitudes once stir with life, And burn with passion I Let the mighty mounds That overlook the rivers, or that rise In the dim forest, crowded with old oaks, Answer. A race that long has passed away Built them ; a disciplined and populous race Heaped, with long toil, the earth, while yet the Greek Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock The glittering Parthenon. These ample fields Nourished their harvests; here their herds were fed, When haply by their stalls the bison lowed, And bowed his maried shoulder to the yoke." BRYANT. THE mural remains, in the United States alone, are of almost incredible number, and of most imposing magnitude. It has been asserted by an accurate western antiquarian "I should not exaggerate if I were to say that more than five thousand might be found, some of them enclosing more than a hundred acres." The mounds and tumuli, he remarks, are far more numerous. Professor Kafinesque ascertained the existence of more than five hundred ancient monuments in Kentucky alone, and fourteen hundred in other states, most of which he had personally examined. These remains appear most numerous in the vicinity of the Mississippi and its tributaries, and near the great lakes and the rivers which flow into them. A striking proof of their immense antiquity is to be found in the fact that the latter stand upon the ancient margin of the lakes, from which, in some immemorial age, their waters are known to have receded. It is remarkable that these peculiar works of antiquity touch the ocean only in Florida at the southern extremity 40 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. of the Atlantic coast ; and their greater number and mag- nitude in the south and west seems to fortify the supposi tion that their founders came originally from Mexico, and were, perhaps, a people identical With the builders of Cho- lula and Teotihuacan. The extent of some of these works is extraordinary. In New York, (where at least a hundred of them have been surveyed) in the county of Onondaga, formerly existed the remains of a fortification enclosing more than five hundred acres. Three circular "forts, disposed as a trian gle, and situated about eight miles distant from each other, served as its outworks. In many of these fortified places, considerable military skill is evinced; angles, bastions, and curtains, being frequently traceable. " Though much defaced by time," says a traveller, of the entrenchments near lake Pepin, "every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular, and fashioned with as much military skill, as if planned by Vauban himself." Some of the most remarkable of these works have been discovered in Georgia. On the banks of the Little River, near Wrightsborough, are found the remnants of "a stu pendous conical pyramid, vast tetragon terraces, and a large sunken or excavated area of a cubical form, encom passed with banks of earth, and also the remains of an extensive town." Other and similar structures occur in the same region. On the Savannah, among other extensive remains, is a conical mound, truncated, fifty feet in height, and eight hundred in circumference at its base. In other portions of the same region are found excavations, and vast quadrangular terraces. Florida abounds in vestiges of a similar nature. At the west, these remains assume a much more perma nent and imposing character. On a branch of the Musk- ingum river, in Ohio, a series of entrenchments and mounds, two miles in length, and of great solidity of structure, is AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 41 found to 65,1st. In Licking county, a most extensive range of fortifications, embracing or protecting an extent of sev eral miles, has been traced. At Circleville, in the same state, were found two exten sive earthen enclosures, one an exact circle, and the other a correct square, corresponding precisely to the cardinal points of the compass ; and a mound ninety feet in height. In most of these and other similar ruins, stone was used, though to a limited extent. Parallel walls, communicating with the water, sometimes at a distance of several miles, are features common to many of these structures. Farther west, the extensive use of brick in constructing similar edifices has been ascertained; and an arched sewer, con structed of stone, indicates a knowledge of architecture far superior to that possessed by most semi-civilized nations. In Missouri, and other regions of the west, the remains of stone buildings have been frequently discovered in one instance, those of a town, regularly laid out in streets and squares. Upon the Missouri and Arkansas rivers, some of the most extensive fortified works are found. In one of these, on the latter river, are two immense mounds, truncated, each eighty feet high, and one thousand in cir cumference at the base. These gigantic mounds are among the most interesting and thickly scattered relics of the vanished races. Many of them are tumuli, or sepulchres of the dead, others were connected with the defensive fortifications, and others, of the grandest and most imposing aspect, were probably huge altars of idolatrous worship.* In general, these ancient mounds may be distinguished from those of the Indians by their greater size, and still more certainly by the nature of their contents. Some of these latter have already been described. Besides utensils of lead, silver, and copper, the * The usual material employed in their construction is earth, though occasionally they have been built of stone. 42 % * INDIAN EACES OF AMEKICA. oxydized remains of iron have been found. Mica mirrors of various sizes, with a variety of marine shells, are among the deposits. The practice of burning the dead appears to have been common. Masses of ashes and charcoal are often found mixed with incinerated bones. In Fairfield county, Ohio, a huge earthern-ware caldron, placed upon a furnace, was disinterred. It was eighteen feet long by six broad ; and contained the skeletons of twelve persons, besides various articles, which had been buried with them. They were in a large mound, fifteen feet below the surface of the earth. In the great mound at Circleville, an immense number of skeletons were found, all laid with their heads toward the centre. In Illinois, nearly opposite St. Louis, within the circuit of a few miles, are more than an hundred and fifty mounds, some of extraordinary size. One of them, formerly occu pied by monks of the Order of La Trappe, is ninety feet in height and nearly half a mile in circumference. It is a remarkable circumstance that the soil of which these huge cones are constructed, must occasionally have been brought from a great distance.* The occasional exist ence of terraces or stages of ascent would seem to indi cate a similarity of origin with the pyramidal structures of Mexico. Indeed, it is difficult to suppose that the authors of these extensive remains could have had other than a south-west ern origin. All are ancient in the extreme ; yet probably they were erected by successive races, and the most ven erable antiquity seems attached to the forest-covered mounds of the West. Mr. Bradford, in his interesting Researches into the Ori gin of the Red Race, (from which many of the foregoing * Many others of great size, varying somewhat in form, yet all evincing a striking similarity in construction, might be described. AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 43 facts have been drawn,) adopts with safety the following conclusions in regard to the ancient occupants of our soil. 1. "That they were all of the same origin, branches of the same race, and possessed of similar customs and insti tutions. 2. "That they were populous, and occupied a great extent of territory. 3. "That they had arrived at a considerable degree of civilization, were associated in large communities, and lived in extensive cities. 4. "That they possessed the use of many of the metals, such as lead, copper, gold, and silver, and probably the art of working in them. 5. "That they sculptured, in stone, and sometimes used that material in the construction of their edifices. 6. That they had the knowledge of the arch of receding steps ; of the art of pottery, producing urns and utensils formed with taste, and constructed upon the principles of chemical composition ; and of the art of brick-making. 7. " That they worked the salt springs, and manufactured that substance. 8. " That they were an agricultural people, living under the influence and protection of regular forms of government. 9. " That they possessed a decided system of religion, and a mythology connected with astronomy, which, with its sister science, geometry, was in the hands of the priesthood. 10. "That they were skilled in the art of fortification. 11. "That the epoch of their original settlement, in the United States, is of great antiquity; and, Lastly, "That the only indications of their origin, to be gathered from the locality of their ruined monuments, point toward Mexico." INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. CHAPTER II. ANTIQUITIES OF MEXICO, ETC. "They stand between the mountains and the sea; Awful memorials, but of whom we know not ! Time was they stood along the crowded street, Temples of Gods !" ROGERS. THE South-western regions of North America present a most extensive and interesting field for antiquarian research. The long-continued existence of powerful, civilized, and populous races is fully proved by the occurrence of almost innumerable ruins and national relics. Even in the six teenth century, the Spanish invaders found these regions in the possession of a highly-prosperous and partially- civilized people. Government and social institutions were upon that firm and well-defined basis which betokened long continuance and strong national sentiment. In many of the arts and sciences, the subjugated races were equal, and in others superior, to their Christian conquerors. Their public edifices and internal improvements were on as high a scale, and of as scientific a character, as those of mqst European nations of the day. The fanatical zeal of Cortez and his successors destroyed invaluable records of their history and nationality ; and many of their most splendid edifices fell before the ravages of war and bigotry ; yet numerous structures still exist, though in ruins, attesting the art and industry of their founders. Pyramids, in great numbers, still rear their terraced and truncated surfaces through the land. In the first fury of the conquest, the great Teocalli, or Temple of the city of Mexico, was levelled to the ground, and we can only learn by the description of its destroyers, with what pomp and ceremony the Mexicans celebrated on its AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 45 summit the rites of their sanguinary worship. The colos sal figures of the sun and moon, covered with plates of gold, the hideous stone of sacrifice, and the terrible sound of the great war-drum, are mingled with strange fascina tion of description in the pages of the early chroniclers. In the city of Tezcuco, which is said to have contained an hundred and forty thousand houses, are the remains of a great pyramid, built of large masses of basalt, finely polished and curiously sculptured in hieroglyphics. Other similar edifices in the neighborhood are composed of brick. The enormous structure of Cholula, covering a surface twice larger than the great Egyptian pyramid, but truncated at half its altitude, still, in its ruins, excites the admiration of travellers. A still more extraordinary effort of semi-civilized indus try is to be found in the celebrated Xochicalco, or "House of Flowers," situated on the plain of Cuernavaca, more than a mile above the level of the sea. It appears to be a natural hill, shaped in a pyramidal form by human labor, and divided into four terraces. It is between three and four hundred feet in height, and nearly three miles in cir cumference. Eight leagues from the city of Mexico are the two cele brated pyramids of Teotihuacan, sacred, according to tra dition, to the deified sun and moon. The larger has a base nearly seven hundred feet in length, and is an hun dred and eighty feet in height. They are faced with stone, and covered with a durable cement These pyramidal - structures may be estimated by thousands in the South western provinces of this continent. The ruins of ancient cities, in the same region, are extremely numerous, and every thing evinces the former existence of a swarming and industrious population. In Tezcuco and its vicinity are the remains of very magnifi cent buildings and aqueducts. At Mitlan, in the district 46 > INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. of Zapoteca, occur specimens of architecture of the most imposing character. Six porphyry columns, each nine teen feet in height, and of a single i stone, decorated the interior of the principal building. Elaborate Mosaic work and illustrative paintings abound, strongly resembling some of the classical antiquities. The ruins of Palenque, in Chiapa, are among the most extensive and remarkable. Here formerly stood a great city, the remains of which can be traced, it is said, over a space six or seven leagues in circumference. Much elab orate sculpture, exhibiting curious historical reliefs, is dis covered in the forsaken apartments of the ancient palaces and temples. These represent human sacrifices, dances, devotion, and other national customs. The richly-carved figure of a cross excites surprise and speculation the same emblem having been discovered elsewhere, as well as in Northern America. Many surprising remains, both of erection and excava tion, are to be found near Villa Nueva, in the province of Zacatecas. A rocky mountain has been cut into terraces, and extensive ruins of pyramids, causeways, quadrangu lar enclosures, and massive walls are still standing. At Copan, in Honduras, among many other remarkable works, are found numerous stone obelisks, of little height, covered with hieroglyphical representations. The relics of a fantastic idolatry are frequent. "Monstrous figures are found amongst the ruins ; one represents the colossal head of an alligator, having in its jaws a figure with a human face, but the paws of an animal ; another monster has the appearance of a gigantic toad in an erect pos ture, with human arms and tiger's claws." At the time of the Spanish conquest, Copan was still a large and popu lous city. It is now utterly deserted. The extensive ruins of Uxmal or Itzlan, in Yucatan, iiave been, ever since the memory of man, overgrown with AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 47 an ancient forest. At tliis place is a large court, paved entirely with the figures of tortoises, beautifully carved in relief. This curious pavement consists of more than forty-three thousand of these reptiles, much worn, though cut upon very hard stone. A large pyramid and temple are still standing, containing some elegant statues, and, it is supposed, the representation of the elephant. Great mathematical accuracy and adhesion to the cardinal points distinguish the relics of this city. . Many other extraordinary remains might be cited. The works of the Mexican nation, such as it was found by the Spaniards, were of a massive and enduring character. Extensive walls, designed for a defence against foreign enemies; large public granaries and baths, with admir able roads and aqueducts, evinced a degree of power and enlightenment to which the colored races have seldom attained. Sculpture and elaborate carving were favorite occupa tions of the Mexicans, as well as of their forefathers, or the races which preceded them. The famous Stone of Sacrifice, the Calendar of Montezuma, and the hideous idol Teoyamique, all still preserved, attest the grotesque- ness and elaborate fancy of their designs. The latter image, as described by a traveller, "is hewn out of one solid block of basalt, nine feet high. Its outlines give an idea of a deformed human figure, uniting all that is ter rible in the tiger and rattle-snake. Instead of arms, it is supplied with two large serpents, and its drapery is com posed of wreathed snakes, interwoven in the most disgust ing manner, and the sides terminating in the wings of a vulture. Its feet are those of a tiger, and between them lies the head of another rattle-snake, which seems descend ing from the body of the idol. For decorations, it has a large necklace composed of human hearts, hands and skulls, and it has evidently been painted originally in 48 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. natural colors." Other figures of the deified rattle-snake have been discovered. Great skill existed in the art of pottery, and many ves sels of exquisite design and finish have been disinterred. The hieroglyphical paintings and manuscripts of the Mexicans were, with few exceptions, destroyed by their fanatical conquerors. Some choice specimens, however, still exist; principally exhibiting the migrations of the Aztecs, their wars, their religious ceremonies, and the genealogy of their sovereigns. "Almanacs and other cal endars of an astronomical nature have been preserved. The material of the manuscript consists of the skins of animals, or of a kind of vegetable paper, formed in a man ner similar to the Egyptian papyrus. Of the numerous cities and temples, whose remains are so abundant, many were, doubtless, erected by the Aztec people, whom Cortez found so numerous and flourishing, or by their immediate ancestors. Others were, probably, constructed at a remote age, and by a people who had at an early period migrated to these regions. A certain resem blance, however, appears to pervade them all. The pre sence of enormous pyramids and quadrangles, the peculiar construction of causeways and aqueducts, and the great similarity in mythological representation, appear to indi cate that their founders were originally of a common stock, and all of certain national prepossessions. AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 49 CHAPTER III. ANTIQUITIES OF SOUTH AMERICA. * * * \V e are b u t where we were, Still wandering in a City of the Dead!" ROGERS. AT tlie Spanish, discovery, South. America, like the Northern continent, was, in a great portion, peopled by half-savage tribes, resembling the Indians of our own country. Some powerful and partially-civilized kingdoms, however, yet survived, and of these, the empire of the Peruvian Incas was the first. Under the sway of these powerful sovereigns was comprehended an extensive dis trict, lying along the Pacific coast for many hundreds of miles. Other nations, in their vicinity, of whose history we are ignorant, also possessed a considerable share of power and independent government. The antiquities of these regions, so similar to those of the Northern continent, appear to prove a similarity of origin in their founders. Very numerous mounds occur, some of them two hundred feet in height, and containing relics of the dead. Urns of fine construction, and human bodies interred in a sitting posture have been excavated. Embalming has evidently been extensively practised, and in many instances the arid nature of the soil, without this precaution, has preserved the bodies of its ancient inhabi tants. Caverns appear to have been frequently adopted as cemeteries. In one of these, six hundred skeletons were found, bent double, and regularly arranged in bask ets. Stone tombs, of a very massive construction, have also been disinhumed. In these mounds and graves are found a great variety of ancient implements, of gold, copper, and stone. Exqui site carvings in stone, and jewels evincing great skill in 4 50 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. the lapidary, have been discovered. The idols of gold and copper are often of singular construction, being formed of thin plates of metal hammered into their respective shapes, without a single seam. Stone mirrors and vases of marble, weapons, domestic utensils, cotton cloth of fine texture, and the implements of ancient mining, have also been frequently brought to light. The system of ancient agriculture and of artificial irri gation appears to have been extremely ingenious, and well adapted to the nature of the Soil and climate, reminding us strongly of the Chinese industry, in effecting similar objects. The steepest mountains were laid out in terraces, and aqueducts of the most solid and durable construction conveyed water for domestic uses and the fertilization of land. In some instances, the pipes of these aqueducts were of gold a circumstance which excited the cupidity of the Spaniards, and contributed to their destruction. The public roads and causeways laid out by this ancient people, may justly compete with the most celebrated works of the same kind in the old world. Their Cyclopean archi tecture, and the ingenuity with which the greatest natural difficulties have been overcome, excite the admiration of travellers and inquirers. " We were surprised," says Hum- boldt, "to find at this place (Assuay), and at heights which greatly surpass the top of the Peak of Teneriffe, the mag nificent remains of a road constructed by the Incas of Peru. This causeway, lined with freestone, may be com pared to the finest Eoman roads I have seen, in Italy, France or Spain. It is perfectly straight, and keeps the same direction for six or eight thousand metres. We observed the continuation of this road near Caxamarca, one hundred and twenty leagues to the south of Assuay, and it is believed, in the country, that it led as far as the city of Cuzco." When complete, it extended from Cuzco to Quito, a distance of five hundred leagues. AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 51 "One of these great roads passed through the plains near the sea, and the other over the mountains in the inte rior. Augustin de Carate says that for the construction of the road over the mountains, they were compelled to cut away rocks, and to fill up chasms, often from ninety to one hundred and twenty feet deep, and that when it was first made, it was so plain and level, that a carriage might easily pass over it; and of the other, which pursued a less difficult route, that it was forty feet wide, and as it was carried through valleys, in order to avoid the trouble of rising and descending, it was constructed upon a high embankment of earth."* The ruins of many edifices, all of massive construction, and all bearing the marks of similarity of origin, are scat tered throughout a great expanse of country. In the ancient city of Tiahuanaco, built before the days of the Incas, the architecture appears to have been of the most massive character, reminding us of the Cyclopean struc tures at Baalbec and Mycenae. Immense porches and doorways, each formed of a single stone, and supported on masses of similar magnitude, struck the early travel lers with astonishment. In Cuzco, the city of the Incas, are many remains of a singular character. The walls are built of stones of great dimensions, and, though of many angles, fitted so accurately that the interstices can scarcely be seen. On a round mountain near Caxamarca, are the extensive ruins of a city, built in terraces, and constructed of such enormous stones, that a single slab often forms the entire side of an apartment. Above these circular terraces, seven in number, appear the remains of a great fortress or palace. Many cities of a similar construction have been discovered. In some instances, pointed or bell-shaped roofs, composed of stones laid in cement, have been remarked. * Bradford's Origin and History of the Red Race. 62 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Some of tlie ruins are constructed of unburnt brick, exceed ingly hardened by the sun. Many sculptures, evincing great skill and delicacy, still exist. These are the more remarkable when it is consid ered that the chief instruments of the ancient inhabitants were, probably, for the most part, composed only of hard ened copper. Of this material, their weapons, often of exquisite manufacture, were composed. Far to the north ward, beyond the dominion of the Incas, inscriptions and figures may be found sculptured on the rocks. "On the banks of the Orinoco and in various parts of Guiana, there are rude figures traced upon granite and other hard stones, some of them, like those in the United States, cut at an immense height upon the face of perpendicular rocks. They represent the sun and moon, tigers, crocodiles and snakes, and occasionally they appear to be hieroglyphical figures and regular characters." The surprising number of these ruins and relics, and the great space over which they extend, indicate the exist ence, for many ages, of a people possessing all the power which regular government, settled institutions, and national character can give. "In examining," says Mr. Bradford, "the line of civilization, as indicated at present by these ancient remains, which is found to commence on the plains of Varinas, and to extend thence to the ruins of the stone edifices, which were observed about the middle of the last century, on the road over the Andes, in the province of Cujo, in Chili, or to the road described by the Jesuit ImonsfF, or to the ancient aqueducts upon the banks of the river Maypocho, in south latitude thirty-three degrees, sixteen minutes ; we are surprised to discover a continuous, unbroken chain of these relics of aboriginal civilization. Reverting to the epoch of their construction, we are pre sented with the astonishing spectacle of a great race cul tivating the earth, and possessing many of the arts diffused AMEKICAN ANTIQUITIES. 53 at an early period through an immense territory, three thousand miles in extent. Even up to the time of the discovery, most of this vast region was occupied by pop ulous tribes, who were dependent upon agriculture for subsistence, were clothed, and in the enjoyment of regular systems of religion, and their own peculiar forms of gov ernment. From conquest, and various causes, some sov ereignties had increased more rapidly than others; but still, whether we are guided by the testimony of the Span ish invaders, or by the internal evidence yet existent in the ancient ruins, it is impossible not to trace, alike in their manners, customs, and physical appearance, and in the general similitude observable in the character of their monuments, that they were all members of the same fam ily of the human race, and probably of identical origin." THE ABORIGINES JOF MEXICO. CHAPTER I. GENERAL REMARKS EXPEDITION OF GRIJALVA HERNANDO "cORTEZ. "* * * The Race of Yore; How are they blotted from the things that be!" SCOTT. THE kingdoms of New Spain, as Central America and the adjoining country were first called, presented a far dif ferent aspect, when first discovered by Europeans, from that of the vast and inhospitable wilderness at the North and East. Instead of an unbroken forest, thinly inhabited by ro ring savages, here were seen large and well-built cities, a people of gentler mood and more refined manners, and an advancement in the useful arts which removed the inhabitants as far from their rude neighbors, in the scale of civilization, as they themselves were excelled by the nations of Europe. When first discovered and explored by Europeans, Mex ico was a kingdom of great extent and power. Monte- zuma, chronicled as the eleventh, in regular succession, of the Aztec monarchs, held supreme authority. His domin ions extended from near the isthmus of Darien, to the undefined country of the Ottomies and Chichimecas, rude nations living in a barbarous state among the mountains of the North. His name signified "the surly (or grave) Prince," a title justified by the solemn and ceremonious homage which he constantly exacted. Mit *V T !: '/. L'JUA. ; ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 55 When tlie Spaniards first appeared on the coast, the natural terror excited by such unheard-of conquerors was infinitely heightened by divers portents and omens, which the magicians and necromancers of the king construed as warnings of great and disastrous revolutions. This occa sioned that strange, weak, and vacillating policy, which, as we shall hereafter see, he adopted towards Cortez. Comets, conflagrations, overflows, monsters, dreams, and visions, were constantly brought to the notice of the royal council, and inferences were drawn therefrom as to the wisest course to be pursued. The national character, religion and customs of the Mex icans presented stranger anomalies than have ever been witnessed in any nation on the earth. They entertained abstract ideas of right and wrong, with systems of ethics and social proprieties, which, for truth and purity, com pare favorably with the most enlightened doctrines of civ ilized nations, while, at the same time, the custom of human sacrifice was carried to a scarcely credible extent, and accompanied by circumstances of cruelty, filthiness and cannibalism, more loathsome than ever elsewhere disgraced the most barbarous of nations. A vast amount of labor and research has been expended in efforts to arrive at some satisfactory conclusion as to the causes which led to the Mexican superiority in the arts of civilization over the other inhabitants of the New World. Analogies, so strong as to leave little doubt upon the mind that they must be more than coincidences, were found, on the first discovery of the country, between the traditions, religious exercises, sculpture, and language of the inhab itants of Central America, and those of various nations in the Old World. Notwithstanding this, the great distinct ive difference in the bodily conformation of all natives of the Western Continent, from the people of the East, proves sufficiently that, previous to the Spanish discoveries, the 66 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. time elapsed since any direct communication could have existed between the two, must have been very great. The obvious antiquity of the architectural remains carries us back to a most remote era: some maintain that portions of these must have been standing for as many centuries as the great pyramids of Egypt, while others- refer them to a much later origin. The pernicious habit of first adopting a theory, and then searching for such facts only as tend to support it, was never more forcibly exemplified than in the variant hypotheses as to the origin of Mexican civilization. The valley and country of Anahuac, or Mexico, was successively peopled, according to tradition and the evi dence of ancient hieroglyphics, by the Toltecs, the Chi- chimecas, and the Nahuatlacas, of which last-mentioned people, the Aztecs, who finally obtained the ascendancy, formed the principal tribe. These immigrations were from some indeterminate region at the north, and appear to have been the result of a gradual progression southward, as traces of the peculiar architectural structures of the Mexican nations- -are to be found stretching throughout the country between the Rocky Mountains and the sea, as far north as the Gila and Colorado. The periods of these several arrivals in Anahuac are set down as follows. That of the Toltecs. about the mid dle of the seventh century, and of the rude Chichimecas. the year 1070. The Nahuatlacas commenced their migra tions about 1170, and the Aztecs, separating themselves from the rest of the nation, founded the ancient city of Mexico in the year 1325. The tale of cruelties, oppressions, and wholesale destruc tion attendant upon the Spanish invasion and conquest, is a long one, and can be here but briefly epitomized ; but, enough will be given to leave, as far as practicable, a just impression of the real condition. of these primitive nations, and the more marked outlines of their history. ill // E K JV .-I -V D U CO It T K Z , FROM AN ORIGINAL PORTRAIT BY TITIAN. ABOKIGINES OF MEXICO. 57 In the early part of the sixteenth century, the eastern shore of Mexico and Central America had been explored by Spanish navigators ; and Vasco Nugnez de Balboa, led by the ordinary attraction tales of a country rich in gold and silver had, in September, 1513, crossed the isthmus to the great and unknown ocean of the West. The con dition and character of the natives was but little noticed by these early explorers, and no motives of policy or human ity restrained them from treating those they met as caprice or fanaticism might dictate. Balboa is indeed spoken of as inclined to more humane courses in his intercourse with the natives than many of his contemporaries, but even he showed himself by no means scrupulous in the means by which he forced his way through the country, and levied contributions upon the native chiefs. The mind of the Spanish nation was at last aroused and inflamed by accounts of the wealth and power of the great country open to adventure in New Spain, and plans were laid to undertake some more notable possession in those regions than had yet resulted from the unsuccessful and petty attempts at colonization upon the coast. Diego Yalasquez, governor of Cuba, as lieutenant to Diego Colon, son and successor of the great admiral, sent an expedition, under command of Juan de Grijalva, to Yucatan and the adjoining coast, in April of the year 1518. After revenging former injuries received from the natives of Yucatan, the party sailed westward, and entered the river of Tobasco, where some intercourse and petty traffic was carried on with the Indians. The natives were filled with wonder at the "Make of the Ships, and difference of the Men and Habits," on their first appearance, and "stood without Motion, as deprived of the use of their Hands by the Astonishment under which their Eyes had brought them." The usual propositions were made by the Spanish com- 58 >* INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. mander, of submission to the great and mighty Prince of the East, whose subject he professed to be ; but " they heara his proposition with the marks of a .disagreeable attention," and, not unnaturally, made answer that the proposal to form a peace which should entail servitude upon them was strange indeed, adding that it would be well to inquire whether their present king was a ruler whom they loved before proposing a new one. Still pursuing a westerly course along the coast, Gri- jalva gained the first intelligence received by the Span iards of the Emperor Montezuma. At a small island were found the first bloody tokens of the barbarous reli gious rites of the natives. In a "House of Lime and Stone" were "several Idols of a horrible Figure, and a more horrible worship paid to them; for, near the Steps where they were placed, were the carkasses of six or seven men, newly sacrificed, cut to pieces, and their Entrails laid open." Reaching a low sandy isle, still farther to the westward, on the day of St. John the Baptist, the Spaniards named the place San Juan, and from their coupling with this title a word caught 'from an Indian seen there, resulted the name of San Juan de Ulloa, bestowed upon the site of the present great fortress. No settlement was attempted, and Grijalva returned to Cuba, carrying with him many samples of native ingenuity, and of the wealth of the country, in the shape of rude figures of lizards, birds, and other trifles, wrought in gold imperfectly refined. The Cuban governor, Velasquez, determined to pursue discoveries and conquest at the west, and appointed Her- nando Cortez, a Spanish cavalier, resident upon the island, to command the new expedition. That the reader may judge what strange contradictions may exist in the char acter of the same individual ; how generosity and cupid ity ; mildness and ferocity ; cruelty and kindness, may be ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 59 combined, let him compare the after conduct of this cele brated hero with his character as sketched by the historian. "Cortez was well made, and of an agreeable counte nance; and, besides those common natural Endowments, he was of a temper which rendered him very amiable; for he always spoke well of the absent, and was pleasant and discreet in his Conversation. His Generosity was such that his Friends partook of all he had, without being suffer'd by him to publish their Obligations." In the words of the poet, he "* * * Was one in whom Adventure, and endurance, and emprise Exalted the mind's faculties, and strung The body's sinews. Brave he was in fight, Courteous in banquet, scornful of repose, And bountiful, and cruel, and devout." Hidalgos of family and wealth crowded eagerly to join the fortunes of the bold and popular leader. "Nothing was to be seen or spoken of," says Bernal Diaz, "but sell ing lands to purchase arms and horses, quilting coats of mail, making bread, and salting pork for sea store," . From St. Jago the fleet sailed to Trinidad on the south ern coast, where the force was increased by a considerable number of men, and thence round Cape Antonio to Havana. From the latter port the flotilla got under weigh on the 10th of February, 1519. It consisted of a brigantine and ten other small vessels, whose motley crews are thus enumerated: "five hundred and eight Soldiers, sixteen Horse; and of Mechanics, Pilots, and Marriners, an hundred and nine more, besides two Chaplains, the Licentiate Juan Diaz, and Father Bartholomew De Olmedo, a Kegular of the Order of our Lady de la Merced." The missile weapons of the party were muskets, cross-bows, falconets, and ten small field pieces of brass. The color, 60 A INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. quality, and condition of each of the horses is described with great particularity. The first land made was the islai>d of Cozumel, off the coast of Yucatan. One of the vessels reached the island two days before the rest ; and finding the habitations of the natives abandoned, the Spaniards ranged the country, and plundered their huts and temple, carrying off divers small gold images, together with clothes and provisions. Cortez, on his arrival, strongly reprehended these pro ceedings, and, liberating three Indians who had been taken prisoners, sent them to seek out their friends, and explain to them his friendly intentions. Their confidence was perfectly restored by this act, and by the restoration of the stolen property; so that the next day, the chief came with his people to the camp, and mingled with the Spaniards on the most friendly terms. No farther violence was offered to them or their prop erty during the stay of the Spaniards, except that these zealous reformers seized the' idols in the temple, and roll ing them down the steps, built an altar, and placed an image of the Virgin upon it, erecting a wooden crucifix hard by. The holy father, Juan Diaz, then said Mass, to the great edification of the wondering natives. This temple was a well-built edifice of stone, and con tained a hideous idol in somewhat of the human form. "Air the Idols," says de Solis, "worshipped by these mis erable People, were formed in the same Manner; for tho' they differed in the Make and Eepresentation, they were all alike most abominably ugly ; whether it was that these Barbarians had no Notion of any other Model, or that .the Devil really appeared to them in some such Shape; so that he who struck out the most hideous figure, was accounted the best work man." Seeing that no prodigy succeeded the destruction of their gods, the savages were the more ready to pay atter tiou ABOKIGINES OF MEXICO. 61 to the teachings which were so earnestly impressed upon them by the strangers, and appeared to hold the symbols of their worship in some veneration, offering incense before them, as erstwhile to the idols. Cortez heard one of the Indians make many attempts to pronounce the word Castilla, and, his attention being attracted by the circumstance, he pursued his inquiries until he ascertained that two Spaniards were living among the Indians on the main. He immediately used great diligence to ransom and restore them to liberty, and succeeded in the case of one of them, named Jeronimo de Aguilar, who occupies an import ant place in the subsequent details of adventure. The other, one Alonzo Guerrero, having married a wife among the Indians, preferred to remain in his present condition. He said to his companion: "Brother Aguilar, I am mar ried, and have three sons, and am a Cacique and captain in the wars ; go you in God's name ; my face is marked, and my ears bored; what would those Spaniards think of me if I went among them?" De Solis says of this man that his natural affection was but a pretence "why he would not abandon those deplor able Conveniences, which, with him weighed more than Honour or Eeligion. We do not find that any other Spaniard, in the whole Course of these Conquests, com mitted the like Crime; nor was the name of this Wretch worthy to be remembered in this History: But, being found in the writings of others, it could not be concealed; and his Example serves to show us the Weakness of Nature, and into what an Abyss of Misery a man may fall, when God has abandon'd him." Poor Aguilar had been eight years a captive : tatooed, nearly naked, and browned by sun, he was scarce distin guishable from his Indian companions, and the only Cas- tilian words which he was at first able to recall were " Dios, 62 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. Santa Maria," and "Sevilla." Still mindful of his old associations and religion, lie bore at his shoulder the tat tered fragments of a prayer-book.. He belonged to a ship's crew who had been wrecked on the coast, and was the only survivor of the number, except Guerrero. The rest had died from" disease and overwork, or had been sacrificed to the idols of the coun try. Aguilar had been "reserved for a future occasion by reason of his Leanness," and succeeded in escaping to another tribe and another master. Cortez sailed with his fleet, from Cozumel, for the river Tabasco, which was reached on the 13th of March, 1519. Urging their way against the current, in the boats and smaller craft for the principal vessels were left at anchor near the mouth the whole armament entered the stream. As they advanced, the Spaniards perceived great bodies of Indians, in canoes, and on both banks, whose outcries were interpreted by Aguilar to be expressions of hostility and defiance. Night came on before any attack was made on either side. Next morning, the armament recom menced its progress, in the form of a crescent: the men, protected as well as possible by their shields and quilted mail, were ordered to keep silence, and offer no violence until ordered. Aguilar, who understood the language of these Indians, was commissioned to explain the friendly purposes of his companions, and to warn the natives of the consequences that would result from their opposition. The Indians, with signs of great fury and violence, refused to listen to him, or to grant permission to the Spaniards to supply themselves with wood and water. The engagement commenced by a shower of arrows from the canoes on the river, and an immense multitude opposed the landing of the troops. Numbers and bravery could not, however, avail against the European skill and implements of warfare. Those in the canoes were easily 1 ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 63 1 driven off, and, notwithstanding the difficulties of a wet and marshy shore, where thousands of the enemy lay con cealed to spring upon them unawares, the Spanish forces made their way to. the town of Tabasco, driving the In dians into the fortress, or dispersing them in the forest. Tabasco was protected in the ordinary Indian style, by strong palisades of trees, a narrow and crooked entrance being left. Cortez immediately attacked the town, and, by firing through the palisades, his troops soon drove in the bow men who were defending them, and after a time, got com plete possession. The town was obstinately defended, even after the Span iards had effected an entrance. The enemy retreated be hind a second barricade, "fronting" the troops, "valiantly whistling and shouting ( al calachioni,' or 'kill the cap tain.' " They were finally overpowered, and fled to the woods. CHAPTER II. GREAT BATTLES WITH THE NATIVES CONCILIATORY INTERCOURSE DONNA MARINA. HITHERTO a blind superstition, by which supernatural powers were ascribed to the whites, had quelled the vigoi and spirit of the Indians, but an interpreter named Mel- chorejo, whom Cortez had brought over from Cuba, de serted from the Spaniards during the first night spent in Tabasco, and urged the natives to another engagement. He explained the real nature of the mysterious weapons whose flash and thunder had created such terror, and dis abused the simple savages of the ideas entertained by them of the invulnerable nature of their foes. They proved in 64 INDIAN EACE9 OF AMERICA. the subsequent battles much, more Dangerous opponents than before. The narrator mentions, with no little satis faction, the fate of this deserter. His new allies, it seems, "being vanquished a second time, revenged themselves on the adviser of the war, by making him a miserable sacri fice to their idols." All was as still, upon the succesding day, as if the coun try was abandoned by its inhabitants, but a party of one hundred men, on a scout, was suddenly surrounded and attacked by such hordes of the enemy, that they might have been cut off from sheer fatigue, but for another com pany which came to their assistance. As the Spaniards I endeavored to retreat to the camp, the Indians would rush j upon them in full force, "who, immediately upon their facing about, got out of their reach, retiring with the same swiftness that they were attacked; the motions of this great multitude of barbarians from one side to another, resembling the rolling of the sea, whose waves are driven back by the wind." Two of the Spaniards were killed and eleven wounded in the fray : of the Indians, eighteen were seen lying dead on the field, and several prisoners were taken. From these Cortez learned that tribes from all sides were gathered to assist those of Tabasco in a general engagement planned for the next day, and he accordingly made the most dili gent preparation to receive them. The horses were brought on shore, and care was taken to restore their animation, subdued by confinement on board ship. As soon as day broke, Mass was said, and the little army was put in motion to advance upon the enenry. They were discovered marshalled on the vast plain of Cintia, in such numbers that it was impossible to compute them. They extended so far, says Solis, "that the sight could not reach to see the end of them." The Indian warriors were painted and plumed, their arms were bows and arrows, ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 65 slings, darts, clubs armed with sharp flints, and heavy wooden swords. The bodies of the leaders were protected by quilted coats of cotton, and they bore shields of tor toise-shell or wood, mounted, in some instances, with gold. To the sound of rude drums, and the blast of sea-shells and large flutes, the vast crowd fell furiously upon the Spaniards, and although checked by their more efficient weapons, only retired to a convenient distance for hurling stones and discharging arrows. The field-pieces mowed them down by hundreds, but concealing the havoc by rais ing clouds of dust, and closing up their ranks with shouts of "ala lala" (the precise sound of the Turkish war-cry, viz: a constant repetition of the word AUali), they held their ground with the most determined courage. The little handful of cavalry, which, led by Cortez in person, had made a detour to avoid a marsh, now fell upon the Indians from a new quarter, and, riding through and through the crowded mass of savages, so bewildered and amazed them, that they fled in dismay. No such animal as the horse had ever before been seen by them: they took the monsters, says Diaz, for centaurs, supposing the horse and his rider to be one. On the field of battle, as the conquerors passed over it, lay more than eight hundred dead or desperately wounded. But two of the Spaniards were killed, although seventy of their number were wounded at the first rush of the barbarians. The victors having rendered thanks "to God and to our Lady, his blessed Mother," for their success, dressed their wounds, and those of the invaluable horses, with the fat of dead Indians, and retired to refresh themselves by food and sleep. Lopez de Gomara affirms that one of the holy apostles, under the form of Francisco de Morla, appeared upon the field during this bloody engagement, and turned the scalo 5 66 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. of victory. Diaz says: "It might.be the case, and I, sin ner as I am, was not permitted to see it. What I did see was Francisco de Morla, in company with Cortez and the rest, upon a chesnut horse But although I, unworthy sin - ner that I am, was unfit to behold either of those holy apostles, upwards of four hundred of us were present ; let their testimony be taken." He -adds, that he never heard of the incident until he read of it in Gpmara's history. Several prisoners were taken in this battle, among them two who appeared to be of superior rank. These were dismissed with presents and favors, to carry proposals of peace to their friends. The result was highly satisfactory : fifteen slaves, with blackened faces and ragged attire "in token of contrition," came bringing offerings. Permission was given to bury and burn the bodies of those who fell in the terrible slaughter, that they might not be devoured by wild beasts ("Lyons and Tygers" according to Diaz). This duty accomplished, ten of the caciques and principal men made their appearance, clad in robes of state , and expressed desire for peace, excusing their hostility, as the result of bad advice from their neighbors and the persua sion of the renegade whom they had sacrificed. Cortez took pains to impress them with ideas of his power and the greatness of the monarch he served ; he ordered the artillery to be discharged, and one of the most spirited of the horses to be brought into the reception-room : " it being so contrived that he should show himself to the greatest advantage, his apparent fierceness, and his action, struck the natives with awe." Many more chiefs came in on the following day, bring ing the usual presents of little gold figures, the material of which came, they said, from "Culchua," and from "Mex ico," words not yet familiar to the ears of the Spaniards. Twenty women were, moreover, offered as presents, and gladly received by Cortez, who bestowed one upon each ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 67 of Ms officers. They were all duly baptized, and had the pleasure of listening to a discourse upon the mysteries of his faith, delivered for their especial benefit by Father Bartholomew, the spiritual guide of the invaders. Know ing nothing of the language, and having no competent interpreter, it probably made no very vivid impression, but these captives were set down as the first Christian women of the country. Among them was one young woman of remarkable beauty and intelligence, whom the Spaniards christened Marina. She was said to be of royal parentage, but, from parental cruelty, or the fortunes of war, had been held in slavery at a settlement on the borders of Yucatan, where a Mexican fort was established, and afterwards fell into the hands of the Tabascan cacique. She spoke both the Mexican language, and that common to Yucatan and Tabasco, so that Cortez was able, by means of her and Aguilar, to communicate with the inhabitants of the interior, through a double interpretation, until Marina had mastered the Spanish tongue. She accompanied Cortez throughout his eventful career in Mexico, and had a son by him, who was made, says Solis, "a Knight of St. Jago, in consideration of the Nobility of his Mother's birth." Before this connection she had been bestowed by the com mander upon one Alonzo Puerto Carrero, until his depart ure for Castile. 68 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. CHAPTER III. COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEXICAN EMPEROR THE ZEMPOALLANS AND QUIAVISTLANS. "Thou too dost purge from earth its horrible And old idolatries; from their proud fanes Each to his grave their priests go out, till none Is left to teach their worship!'' BRYANT'S Hymn to Death. BEFORE his departure from Tabasco, Cortez and his priest made strenuous efforts to explain the principles of his religion to the chiefs and their people. This, indeed, seems really to have been a purpose uppermost in his heart throughout the whole of his bloody campaign ; but, as may well be supposed, the subject was too abstract, too novel, and too little capable of proofs which appeal to the senses and inclinations, to meet with much favor. "They only complied," says Solis, " as men that were subdued, being more inclined to receive another God than to part with any of their own. They hearkened with pleasure, and seemed desirous to comprehend what they heard : but reason was no sooner admitted by the will than it was rejected by the understanding." They acknowledged that "this must, indeed, be a great God, to whom such valiant men show so much respect." From the river Tabasco the fleet sailed direct for San Juan de Ulua, where they were no sooner moored than two large piraguas with a number of Indians on board, came boldly alongside. By the interpretation of Marina, Cortez learned that these came in behalf of Pitalpitoque and Tendile, Governor and Captain of the district, under Montezuma, to inquire as to his purposes, and to make offers of friendship and assistance. The messengers were ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 69 handsomely entertained, and dismissed with a few pres ents, trifling in themselves, but of inestimable value in their unskilful eyes. As the troops landed, Tendile sent great numbers of his men to assist in erecting huts for their accommodation ; a service which was rendered with remarkable dexterity and rapidity. On the morning of Easter-day, the two great officers came to the camp with a lordly company of attendants. Not to be outdone in parade, Cortez marshalled his sol diers, and having conducted the chiefs to the rude chapel, Mass was said with due ceremony. He then feasted them, and opened negotiations by telling of his great sovereign, Don Carlos, of Austria, (Charles the Fifth,) and express ing a desire to hold communion in his behalf with the mighty Emperor Montezuma. This proposition met with little favor. Tendile urged him to accept the presents of plumed cotton mantles, gold, &c., which they had brought to offer him, and depart in peace. Diaz says that the Indian commander expressed haughty astonishment at the Spaniard's presumption. Cortez told them that he was fully resolved not to leave the country without obtaining an audience from the em peror; but, to quiet the apprehension and disturbance of the Indians, he agreed to wait until a message could be sent, to the court and an answer returned, before com mencing further operations. Painters, whose skill Diaz enlarges upon, now set to work to depict upon rolls of cloth, the portraits of Cortez and his officers, the aspect of the army, the arms, and other furniture, the smoke poured forth from the cannon, and, above all, the horses, whose "obedient fierceness" struck them with astonishment. These representations were for the benefit of Montezuma, that he might learn more clearly than he could by verbal report, the nature 70 INDIAN EACES OF AMEEICA. of his novel visitants. By the messengers, Cortez sent, as a royal present, a crimson velvet cap, with a gold medal upon it, some ornaments of cut glass, and a chair of. tapestry. Pitalpitoque now settled himself, with a great company of his people, in a temporary collection of huts, built in the immediate vicinity of the Spanish camp, while Ten- dile attended to the delivery of the message to his mon arch. Diaz says that he went to the royal court, at the city of Mexico, in person, being renowned for his swift ness of foot; but the more probable account is that he availed himself of a regular system of couriers, established over the more important routes throughout the empire. However this may be, an answer was returned in seven days' time, the distance between Mexico and San Juan being sixty leagues, by the shortest road. With the messenger returned a great officer of the court, named Quintalbor, who bore a most striking resem blance to Cortez, and one hundred other Indians, loaded with gifts for the Spaniards. Escorted by Tendile, the embassy arrived at the camp, and, after performing the usual ceremony of solemn salutations, by burning incense, &c., the Mexican lords caused mats to be spread, and dis played the gorgeous presents they had brought. These consisted of beautifully woven cotton cloths; ornamental work in feathers, so skilfully executed that the figures represented had all the effect of a painting; a quantity of gold in its rough state ; images wrought or cast in gold of various animals; and, above all, two huge plates, one of gold, the other of silver, fancifully chased and embossed to represent the sun and moon. Diaz says that the golden sun was of the size of a carriage wheel, and that the silver plate was still larger. Proffering these rich tokens of good will, together with numerous minor articles, the chiefs delivered their mon ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 71 arch's mission. Accompanied by every expression of good will, his refusal was declared to allow the strangers to visit his court. Bad roads and hostile tribes were alleged to constitute insuperable difficulties, but it was hinted that more important, though unexplainable reasons existed why the interview could not take place. Cortez, courteously, but firmly, persisted in his deter mination, and dismissed the ambassadors with renewed gifts; expressing himself content to await yet another message from Montezuma. He said that he could not, without dishonoring the king his master, return before having personal communication with the emperor. He, meantime, sent a detachment further up the coast, with two vessels, to seek for a more convenient and healthy place of encampment than the burning plain of sand where the army was now quartered. Montezuma persisted in objections to the advance of the Spaniards, and Cortez being equally immovable in his determination to proceed, the friendly intercourse hith erto maintained between the natives and their guests now ceased. Tendile took his leave with some ominous threats, and Pitalpitoque with his people departed from their tem porary domiciles. The soldiers, cut off from their former supplies of pro vision, and seeing nothing but danger and privation in store for them, began to rebel, and to talk of returning home. Cortez checked this movement by precisely the same policy that was resorted to by Agamemnon and Ulys ses, under somewhat similar circumstances, as will be found at large in the second book of the Iliad, line 110 et seq. He seemed to assent to the arguments of the spokesman of the malcontents, and proceeded to proclaim Ms purpose of making sail for Cuba, but, in the meantime, engaged the most trusty of his friends to excite a contrary feeling among the troops. The effort was signally successful : the 72 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. commander graciously consented to. remain, and lead them to further conquests, expressing his great satisfaction in finding them of such bold and determined spirit. About this time, Bernal Diaz and another sentinel being stationed on the beach, at some distance from the camp, perceived five Indians of. a different appearance from any hitherto seen, approaching them, upon the level sands. Diaz conducted them to the general, , who learned, by Marina's interpretation, that they came in behalf of the cacique of Zempoala, or Cempoal, to proffer the services of their king and his people. This tribe held the Mexi cans in great fear and detestation, and rejoiced in the opportunity now presented for attempting some retaliation for former oppressions and injuries. The exploring expedition had discovered a desirable location, at the town of Quiavistlan, a few leagues north of the encampment, and Cortez concluded to move thither immediately. Before taking further steps, he established himself more firmly in command by resigning his commis sion under Yalasquez, and taking the vote of his followers as to whether he should be their captain. This being settled to his satisfaction, he marched for Quiavistlan, passing the river at the spot where Yera Cruz was afterwards built. Zempoalla lay in his route, and there the army was met by a deputation from the cacique, he being too cor pulent to come in person. Sweet-smelling flowers were offered as tokens of friendship to the Spanish officers. The town was well built, and ornamented with shade- trees. The inhabitants collected in innumerable but or derly crowds to witness the entrance of the cavalcade. The "fat cacique" entertained his guests handsomely, making grievous complaints of the oppressions and exac tions suffered by him and his tribes at the hands of Mon- tezuma's officers. He had been subdued by the great emperor, and was now his unwilling tributary. ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 73 Quiavistlan was situated upon a rocky eminence, up which the army advanced, prepared to crush any opposi tion on the part of the inhabitants. These, however, had mostly fled from their homes on the approach of the Span iards. In the principal square, Cortez was met, and saluted with the usual fumigations of incense, by fifteen of the chief men of the town. They excused the timidity of their people, and promised that they should immediately return, as no injuries were intended by the strangers. They came accordingly; the chiefs, together with the corpulent cacique of Zempoalla, being borne upon litters. All united in lamentations over the cruel state of degra dation and servitude to which they were subjected by the tyrant Montezuma. He plundered them of their treasures, seized and carried away their wives and daughters, and sacrificed no small number of them to his gods. While they were yet consulting and beseeching assist ance from the Spaniards, the whole conclave was stricken with terror by the intelligence of the arrival of five royal emissaries or tax-gatherers. These stately personages, to whom the Quiavistlans hastened to minister with cringing servility, did not even condescend to bestow a look upon the Spanish officers. "They were dressed," says Diaz, "in mantles elegantly wrought, and drawers of the same, their hair shining, and, as it were, tied at the top of the head, and each of them had in his hand a bunch of roses, which he occasionally smelt to. They were attended by servants, who fanned them, and each of whom carried a cord and a hooked stick." Calling the caciques before them, these dignitaries re buked them for entertaining foreigners, who disregarded the expressed will of the emperor, and, as a punishment for the contempt, demanded twenty victims for sacrifice. Cortez, being informed of this, advised the seizure and imprisonment of these emissaries until report of their era- 74 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. cities and insolence could be made .to their master. The caciques, accustomed to submission, were at first horror- stricken at the proposal, but Cortez persisting boldly and confidently in his opinion, they went to the other extreme. The five magnates were placed, says Soils, "in a kind of Pillories, used in their Prisons, and very incommodious; for they held the delinquents bythe neck, obliging them continually to do the utmost with their, shoulders to ease the weight, for the freedom of breathing." " One of them, also, being refractory, was beaten soundly." The exultant Quiavistlans would have gone still farther, and made a speedy end of their prisoners, had not Cortez interfered. Not willing to give immediate offence to Mon- tezuma, but desirous of being in condition at any moment j to pick a quarrel, or to claim the rewards and considera tion due to meritorious services, he contrived to effect the escape of two of these lords, 'charging them to give him all credit for the act at their master's court. To preserve the other three from destruction, he took them on board one of his vessels, (the fleet having come round by sea) under pretence of safe keeping. He, none the less, proclaimed to the , caciques, his allies, that they should thereafter be free from all oppressions and exactions on the part of the Mexican authorities. The army was now set to work at the foundation of a permanent fortification and town. By the willing assist ance of the natives, the walls of Yera Cruz rose rapidly. To excite a spirit of industry and emulation, Cortez com menced the work of digging and carrying materials with his own hands. Thirty caciques, from the mountainous districts of the Totonaques, led by reports of Spanish valor and virtues, came in to offer their services and alliance. Their followers are numbered by Herrera (an author who speaks too confidently of particulars) at one hundred thou sand men ; wild mountaineers, but bold and efficient. ABOEIGINES OF MEXICO. 75 While all hands were at work upon the new town, mes sengers once again appeared from Montezuma. His anger, greatly excited by the first reports of the seizure of his officers, had "been mitigated by the favorable report of those who had been allowed to escape ; and he now sent two of his own nephews, accompanied by four old lords, and a splendid retinue. Acknowledgments were made by the embassy for the service rendered by Cortez in setting the two tax-gatherers at liberty ; but he was, at the same time, vehemently requested to leave the country, and not hin der, by the respect due to his presence, the just punish ment of the rebels with whom he was cohabiting. He was adjured not to dream of making further progress towards the royal court, "for that the impediments and dangers of that journey were very great. On which point they enlarged with a mysterious tediousness; this being the principal point of their instructions." Cortez replied that danger and difficulties would but give zest to the adventure, for that Spaniards knew no fear, and only sought for glory and renown. He enter tained .the ministers handsomely, and dismissed them with presents. The Zempoalans thought that the friendship cemented between them and the foreigners could not be taken ad vantage of better than by engaging them to subdue a neighboring tribe, whose chief town was called Cingapa- cinga. They therefore induced Cortez, by pretending that a troublesome Mexican garrison was quartered there, to assist them in conquering the country. With four hun dred Spaniards, and a great company of Zempoalans, the Spanish leader entered the mountain district where the enemy was to be sought. As the army approached the town, eight old priests, in black and hooded robes, like friars, came out to deprecate his anger. These function aries presented, as usual, the most disgusting and horrible 76 INDIAN -RACES OF AMERICA. appearance. Their long hair was tangled and clotted with human blood, which it was a part of their rules should never be washed off, and their persons were filthy, loath some, and offensive beyond conception. Cortez discovered that he had been deceived, as no Mexicans were in the vicinity, but he put a good face on the matter, and succeeded in making a peaceable arrange ment between the rival tribes. Eeturning to Zempoala, renewed evidence waa brought before the eyes of this zealous Catholic, of the extent to which the custom of human sacrifice was carried; and especially of the sale and consumption of the bodies of the victims as a " sacred food." He therefore concluded to prostrate the idols, and set up the insignia of the true religion. Long and earnest harangues failed to induce the natives to perform this service themselves : they would be cut to pieces, they said, ere they would be guilty of such sacrilege. The soldiers then broke up and destroyed the images, purged the temples, and, covering the bloody marks of pagan worship with lime and plaster, erected an altar, and celebrated the rites of Catholicism. As no pro digy or signal vengeance from Heaven followed the auda cious act, the pliable natives seemed readily to fall in with the proposed change, and, burning the fragments of their idols, they aped the posture and formula of the devout Spaniards. An old and partially disabled soldier, named Torres, agreed to remain as keeper of the newly-conse crated temple, on the departure of the troops. ABOKIGINES OF MEXICO. CHAPTER IV. THE 1IARCH TO TLASCALA OCCUPATION OF THE CITY GREAT MASSACRE AT CHOLULA ENTRANCE INTO THE CITY OF MEXICO, AND INTERVIEW WITH MONTEZUMA DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE, ETC. "What divine monsters, Oh ye gods, are these, That float in air, and fly upon the seas! Came they alive or dead upon the shore?" DRYDEN. THE bold and adventurous leader of the Spaniards now began to set in earnest about his work of conquest. He dispatched one ship direct for Spain, to obtain a confirma tion from the sovereign of his authority in New Spain; and, with the consent of most of his companions, dis mantled and sunk the rest of the fleet, that all might be nerved to the most desperate efforts by the alternative presented them of death or complete success. Leaving a garrison at the coast settlement, he com menced his march into the interior, accompanied by a body of Zempoalans. The Indians of Jalapa, Socochima, and Texucla, offered them no molestation, and, after en during great hardships in the passage of the rugged mountains, the army reached Zocothlan. Near the religious temples of this town, Diaz affirms, with repeated asseverations, that he saw human skeletons, so orderly arranged, that their numbers could be com puted with certainty, and that they could not have amounted to less than one hundred thousand. Beside these were huge piles of skulls and bones : other remnants of mortality were hung from beams. Three priests had charge of these relics. Cortrary to the advice of the cacique of this province, 78 INDIAN RACES OF AMEEICA. Cortez determined to pass through.' the country of Tlas- cala, whose inhabitants were inimical to Montezuma. Four Zempoalan Indians, decked out in the style deemed suitable for ambassadors, and bearing arrows, feathered with white, and carried point downwards, in token of a peaceful mission, were sent to wait on the Tlascalan authorities. They were received with respect by the sen ate or chief council, whose members were ranged in order, in a great hall, seated upon low chairs, each made from a single block of some remarkable wood. Great debate ensued as to whether the strangers should be permitted to pass through the country. On the one hand, ancient prophecies were cited of an invincible race that should come from the East. The remarkable fulfil ment in the landing of these white men, of many attend ant circumstances foretold, touching the ships, arms, and valor of the invaders, was enlarged upon, and it was pro nounced madness to cope with them. On the other hand, it was suggested that the Spaniards might be nothing bet ter than "monsters flung up by the sea upon the coasts," and, if not, that their sacrilege and cruelties forbade the idea that they could be other than evil and avaricious barbarians, who should be crushed as noxious reptiles. It was concluded to try the strength of the whites, and, if they could not be resisted, the assault should be attri buted to the intractibility of the Ottomies, a nation of rude and warlike mountaineers. The result might readily be foreseen : no force, how ever overwhelming in numbers, could resist the fire-arms, the discipline, and more especially the horses of the Span iards. These animals "(supernatural or monstrous in their imagination) " so terrified the Indians, that they trod one another under foot in efforts to escape from the rush of the little corps of cavalry. In several engagements, although under advantageous circumstances, as in ambus- ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 79 cades and night attacks, the Tlascalans were routed, and vast numbers of their warriors were slaughtered. Cortez, to strike further terror, cut off the hands or thumbs of fourteen or fifteen captives, and sent them to their own people to report what manner of men he and his followers were. Montezuma, hearing of these successes, sent more mes sengers to endeavor to persuade Cortez not to make fur ther advance, and at the same time to obstruct the con clusion of a peace between him and the Tlascalans. These efforts failed signally: Xicotencal, the general of the opposing forces, in behalf of the town and nation, made an amicable settlement of difficulties with the Spaniards. With great pomp and ceremony, Cortez marched his army into the town of Tlascala, on the 23d of September, (1519). The situation of the place was rugged and moun tainous, giving the streets great irregularity ; but the build ings were substantial, and the fortifications massive. Here the army tarried twenty days, and then marched for Cho- lula, a great city, entirely subject to the emperor. Before they set out, Montezuma had again sent heralds to an nounce his final consent to a meeting, and that quarters for the Spanish troops should be made ready at Cholula. Several thousand Tlascalans, armed and equipped, volun tarily offered their services, and the whole army reached Cholula without molestation. Here the magnates of the town met them, objecting to the entrance of the Indian allies, as they had been enemies of the nation ; and it was agreed that the Spaniards and Zempoalans alone should be quartered in the city, while the rest should encamp in the suburbs. Here were seen evidences of greater wealth, and higher attainments in architectural skill, than at any place before visited. The caciques appeared friendly, and furnished provisions for the troops for several days; but finally discontinued both their visits and supplies. This 80 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. aroused the suspicions of .Cortez, .and he determined to maintain the utmost vigilance. At this juncture an old woman of rank came to Marina, for whom she had contracted great friendship," and begged her to forsake the Spaniards, and come to live with her and her friends. Marina, ever on the watch. to serve her lord and master, pretended compliance, and, by judicious questions, elicited from the old woman all the particulars of a formidable plot for the destruction of the Spaniards. Montezuma had sent twenty thousand men into the vicin ity, part of whom were already secretly brought within the walls; pit-falls with sharp stakes at the bottom had been prepared in the principal highways for the destruction of the horses ; and stones were piled on the roofs of the houses to hurl down upon the devoted army. Diaz says: "The recompense which they intended for our holy and friendly services was to kill us and eat us, for which purpose the pots were already boiling, and prepared with salt, pepper and tomatas." Seven human victims had been sacrificed to propitiate the favor of the gods, and it was purposed to devote twenty of the Spaniards to the same fate, as soon as they could be secured. All these things were confirmed by a searching examin ation of some of the caciques, who, surprised at the super natural penetration of the Spaniards, confessed the whole, but attributed it entirely to Montezuma. With his usual duplicity, Cortez spoke of this conspiracy in confidence to the ambassadors from the court, pretending that he had no suspicion of the part Montezuma had taken. He then gave public orders for marching on the ensuing day, in order to precipitate the hostile movement, but, at the same time, had all his plans arranged for battle, and intelligence conveyed to his Tlascalan troops to be ready to assist him at the dawning of day. With the first light all was in motion; the Cholulans i ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 81 appointed to carry the baggage, and those who came armed on pretence of acting as a guard, but, in reality, to fall upon the rear of the army, poured into the great square. At a given signal from Cortez, a horrible massacre was commenced, which continued for two days. The Tlasca- lans of the party, reinforced by multitudes from their own town, who came at the first news of the attack, ravaged and plundered the city with unrestrained barbarity. Cor tez at last checked these outrages, and compelling such of the plunder and prisoners as he could discover to be deliv ered up, proclaimed peace and general amnesty. He set free the unfortunate prisoners, who were confined in cages to be fattened for sacrifice, and vainly endeavored to con vince the priests and people of the enormity of their reli gious rites and the truth of his own doctrines. Cholula was one of the most noted cities of Mexico, both for its beauty of situation and structure, and its posi tion as the head-quarters of the religion of the country. The immense hill or temple of sacrifice has ever been the subject of admiration and astonishment to all beholders. Montezuma dared no longer openly oppose the advance of the Spaniards. The terror of their arms and the gloomy prognostications of the priests cowed and subdued his spirit, and he sent messengers with gifts and invitations to Cortez to visit his court. The general impression con stantly gained ground among the Mexicans that these white men must be "Teules," or supernatural beings, against whom it were hopeless openly to contend. Fourteen days after the arrival at Cholula, the army was again put in motion. The Zempoalans were dis missed at their own request, and their places were supplied by Tlascalans, who were ready by thousands to share the danger and profit of the expedition. On the march over the rough mountainous district through which lay their path, strong bodies of Mexicans had been placed in am- 6 82 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. bush by the order of the king, but t],ieir hearts failed them on the approach of the invaders. Cortez reached Chalco, near the imperial city, not only without serious opposition, but with his forces increased by as many natives of the provinces through which he passed, as he chose to enlist under his banners. Enchantments and conjurations, to which Montezuma applied himself, with his whole corps of magicians, proved as ineffectual as his armies to arrest the enemy. It was still his purpose and hope, as the in vaders well knew, to overwhelm and destroy them at a disadvantage, when they should enter his city. The Spaniards reached Iztapalapa, on the great lake in which the city of Mexico was built, without further blood shed, except the destruction of a few poor Indians who approached "too near " the encampment at Amemeca, prob ably from motives of curiosity. The lord of Tezcuco, upon the north-eastern border of the lake, a nephew of the em peror, visited them otf their route with solemn ceremony. Iztapalapa was built partly in the lake, although the receding waters have left the site mostly dry. The appear ance of the place was truly Yenetian. Over the broad expanse of water were seen the towers and buildings of numerous towns, at beholding which, together with the great causey which led to the island city, the Europeans, in the words of Diaz, "could compare it to nothing but the enchanted scenes read of in Amadis of Gaul, from the great towers and temples and other edifices of lime and stone which seemed to rise out of the water." "Never yet," he adds, "did man see, hear, or dream of anything equal to the spectacle which appeared to our eyes on this day." The lords of the city assigned splendid buildings of stone for the troops to quarter in; and such was theii astonishment at the perfection of the architectural skill dis played in the palaces ; the beauty of the gardens ; the alleys ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 83 of fruit and aromatic trees; the fountains, aqueducts, and artificial pools ; and the vast concourse of curious natives, crowding the street and causey to gaze on the novel sight, or skimming the water in their light canoes, that 1 'to many it appeared doubtful whether they were asleep or awake." On the morning of the 8th of November, 1519, Cor- tez led his followers over the main causey into the impe rial city. A great deputation of nobles and officers came out to meet him, and escorted the army into the city. The streets were empty, that the ceremony of the royal audience might not be impeded; but windows and balconies were thronged with eager spectators. Montezuma now appeared, borne in a glittering palan quin, and accompanied by his chief officers, magnificently adorned, and displaying in their downcast looks and silent obsequiousness the reverence in which they held their monarch. As he dismounted and walked to meet Cortez, leaning on his relatives, the lords of Tezcuco and Iztapa- lapa, attendants spread carpets before him. With unheard-of condescension and expression of respect, the king saluted the Spanish commander in Mexican style, stooping and touching the ground with his hand, and then raising it to his lips. He wore a robe of fine cotton, adorned with gems, golden sandals, and a light crown of gold supporting the ornamental circle of plumes, esteemed the most graceful head-dress. He was about forty years of age, of light complexion, and of majestic aspect and demeanor. Cortez advanced, and placing a showy necklace round the monarch's neck, would have embraced him, but was gently restrained by the attendant lords such familiarity being deemed unsuitable to their sovereign's greatness. After mutual friendly speeches, the whole throng pro ceeded to the palaces set apart for the Spaniards' use, and 84 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Montezuma, leading Cortez by the" hand, conducted him to his apartment, and placed about his neck a golden collar. During the week succeeding the entry into Mexico, cere monious visits were interchanged by Cortez and the em peror. The Mexican prince conducted his guests through the royal palaces and gardens,, and, in their company, visited the great temple of sacrifice. The historians of that day can find no language strong -enough to express the wonder and admiration which the magnificent spec tacle excited in the minds of the Spanish beholders. The pomp and state of the monarch; his crowd of obsequious attendants; his pleasure houses, aqueducts, fountains, and gardens of odoriferous shrubs; the extent of his wealth in jewels and the precious metals; his store of arms, and the number of his skilful artisans, are described and en larged upon at great length. It remains to this day a matter of astonishment that such huge buildings of hewn stone, as every where met the eye in the ancient city, could have been erected with out the use of iron. Copper, hardened by an alloy of tin, was the only metal of which the tools were made by which the hard rock was laboriously shaped. The indignation and horror excited by the bloody religious rites of the country, led Cortez to strive contin ually to impress upon the mind of his host the folly and absurdity of his religion. The only good effect that is said to have resulted from these arguments was the aban donment, on the part of the king, of the custom of hav ing human flesh set upon his own table. The principal temple is minutely described, and must, indeed, have presented a singular scene of horror ard magnificence. It was surrounded by a wall, faced with wreathed serpents, carved in stone, the gateways \o which were surmounted with statues. The roof of the main building was flat, and paved with beautifully polished ABOHIG1NES OF MEXICO. 85 stones; and thereon appeared two hideous idols, seated upon thrones of state in all the splendor of barbaric orna ment; while before them stood the terrible stone of sacri fice. This was a green mass of rock, five spans high, presenting a sharp angle at the top, over which the miser able victims were stretched, while the priest gashed open the living body with a rude knife of flint, and tore out the palpitating heart. "I devoted them and all their wickedness," says Diaz, "to God's vengeance, and thought that the time would never arrive that I should escape from this scene of human butchery, horrible smells, and more detestable sights." He tells of an apartment filled with wild animals and venomous reptiles, who were fed with the sacrificial flesh. Of these, the most dangerous ser pents had "in their tails somewhat that sounds like casti- nets." "These beasts and horrid reptiles were retained to keep company with their infernal Gods, and when these animals yelled and hissed, the palace seemed like hell itself." From this elevation, a beautiful view was ob tained of the whole of the great salt lake in which the city stood, the towns of the vicinity, the long and well- built causeys connecting them, and the magnificent moun tains beyond. It would be tedious to relate the ceremonies of the royal court, although many of them are singular, and well worth the examination of those who would obtain a com plete knowledge of a time and people varying so widely from any thing now known on earth. Among Monte- i zuma's means of luxury or relaxation were the habits of smoking tobacco, drinking a fermented liquor of no little potency, and listening to the remarks of a set (\f buffoons whom he kept about him, in the same capacity as that of the court-fools of a past age in Europe. An analogy to rites and customs of the Old World, no less striking, was noticed in many of the popular 86 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. religious observances. "It should seem that the Devil," as De Solis has it, "the Inventor of these Bites, was ambitious to imitate Baptism and Circumcision, with the same pride with which he endeavored to counterfeit the other Ceremonies, and even the Sacraments of the Catholic Church ; since he introduced among these Barbar ians the Confession of Sins, giving them to understand that thereby they obtained the Favor of their Gods. He instituted likewise a ridiculous sort of Communion, which the Priests administered upon certain Days in the Year, dividing into small Bits an Idol made of Flower, mix'd up into a Past with honey, which they called the God of Penitence.' 1 ' 1 "Nay, they even gave their chief Priests the title of Papas in their Language; by which we find that this Imitation cost Satan a very particular study and application." Marriages were performed by the priest's tying the veil of the woman to a portion of the man's dress, after certain prescribed preliminaries. In this guise the pair walked home together, and concluded the ceremony by pacing seven times round the domestic hearth. Divorces were at the discretion of the parties, and when they took place, the sons belonged to the man, the daughters to the woman. Hasty separations were guarded against by a provision that, should they again cohabit after having once broken the bond of union, both should be put to death. In some instances, on the death of the husband, his wife would immolate herself, according to the custom, until recently, so prevalent in India. ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 87 CHAPTER V. SEIZURE AND IMPRISONMENT OF MONTEZUMA EXECUTION OF QUALPOPOCA AND HIS COMPANIONS OMINOUS PROSPECTS EXPEDITION OF PAMPHILO DE NARVAEZ SUCCESS OF CORTEZ AGAINST HIM RETURN TO MEXICO OUTRAGE BY ALVARADO, AND CONSEQUENT TROUBLES DEATH OF MONTEZUMA THE "NOCHE TRISTE " BATTLE OF OBTUMBA, AND ARRIVAL AT TLASCALA. "And sounds that mingled laugh and shout and scream To freeze the blood in one discordant jar, Rung to the pealing thunderbolts of war." CAMPBELL. CORTEZ was not jet satisfied ; he felt his situation to be precarious, and that his object would not be fully accom plished until he had acquired complete mastery over the inhabitants of the imperial city. While he was on his march to Mexico, Juan de Escalente, commander of the garrison left at Yera Cruz, had, with six other Spaniards, perished in a broil with the natives. One soldier was taken prisoner, but dying of his wounds, his captors car ried his head to Montezuma. The trophy proved an ob ject of terror to the king, who trembled as he looked on the marks of manly strength which its contour and thick curled beard betokened, and ordered it from his presence. Cortez knew of these events when at Cholula, but had kept them concealed from most of his people. He now adduced them, in select council of his officers, as reason with other matters for the bold step he purposed. This was to seize the person of Montezuma. On the eighth day after the arrival at the city, Cortez took with him Alvarado, Velasquez de Leon, Avila, San- doval, and Francisco de Lujo, and, ordering a number of his soldiers to keep in his vicinity, proceeded to the royal 88 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. palace. He conversed with Montezuma concerning the attack on the garrison at the coast, and professed belief in the Mexican prince's asseverations that he had no part in it; but added that, to quiet all suspicion" on the part of the great emperor of the East, it would be best for him to remove to the Spanish quarters ! Montezuma saw at once the degradation to which he was called upon to submit, but looking on the fierce Spaniards around him, and hearing an interpretation of their threats to dispatch him immediately if he did not comply, he suffered himself to be conducted to the palace occupied by his false friends. To hide his disgrace from his subjects, the unhappy monarch assured the astonished concourse in the streets that he went of his own free will. Cortez, while he kept his prisoner secure by a constant and vigilant guard, allowed him to preserve all the outward tokens of royalty. Meanwhile, Qualpopoca, the governor of the district where Juan de Escalente lost his life, was sent for, to gether with his associate officers. When they arrived, Cortez was allowed by Montezuma to punish them at his own discretion, and the inhuman monster caused them to be burned alive in the sight of the populace. The fuel used for this purpose consisted of the royal stores of arrows, darts, and other warlike implements. Still further to quell the spirit of the king, fetters were placed upon his ankles during the execution of this cruel sentence. The people of Mexico could not be blinded to the true position of their sovereign, and it was not long before ominous signs appeared of a general determination to avenge his wrongs, and vindicate the insulted honor of the nation. The young lord of the ancient and powerful city of Tezcuco was foremost in arousing this spirit of resist ance, but by artifice and treachery he fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and his brother was proclaimed gov ernor in his stead. ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 89 The king was brought so low as to consent to acknowledge himself a subject of the Spanish emperor; and he deliv- - ered up to Cortez treasures of gold and silver to the amount, according to computation, of more than six millions of dollars, as a present to his new sovereign. But a small portion of this wealth was reserved to be sent to Spain; the rest was divided among the conquerors, the chiefs and officers appropriating the lion's share. The next movement was to establish the Christian cere monies of worship upon the very site so long venerated as the palace of the great god of war. After strong oppo sition, a portion of the area on the summit of the chief temple was set apart for the Spaniards' use in the solem nities of their religion, while the blood-stained idol and the stone of sacrifice maintained their old position. At these sacrilegious innovations the whole populace became more and more exasperated. Montezuma warned his oppressors of the storm that would break upon them, declaring that if he should but give the sign, his whole people would rise as one man to release him and destroy the hated whites. The unfortunate monarch seems to have been distracted and overcome by emotions of the most conflicting nature. For some of the Spanish officers he had contracted no small degree of personal attachment, while he must have felt continually galled by the restraint placed upon his person, and by the consciousness that he was now but a tool in the hands of the proud invaders of his dominions. The mildness and dignity of his demeanor excited sympathy and respect from his jailors, and Cortez exacted the utmost deference and respect towards his cap tive from all around him. The prudent general saw the necessity for every precau tion against an attack from, the natives, and, to guard against his retreat being cut off, on such a contingency, had two vessels built and furnished from the stores saved 90 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. from the dismantled fleet. Living 'upon an island, it was in the power of the natives at any time to destroy the bridges and causeys, by which alone there was communi cation with the main. At this crisis, when all his energies were required to resist the fury of an outraged multitude of barbarians around him, Cortez heard of danger from another source, which moved him more deeply than any hostilities on the part of the Mexicans. The jealous Cuban governor, Velasquez, enraged at his presumption in throwing off the authority under which he had sailed, fitted out a formidable armament to overthrow the newly-acquired power of Cortez. The fleet under the command of Pamphilo de Narvaez reached the Mexican coast, and news of its arrival were conveyed to Cortez in the month of May, 1520. With his usual decision and promptness, the general divided his forces, and leaving the larger portion under Alvarado to maintain possession of the capital, he marched to check the advance of Narvaez. By the boldness of a night attack, followed up by the most consummate policy in winning over the good wishes, and exciting the cupidity of the newly-arrived army, he converted his enemies to friends, and, placing the leader in confinement, hastened back to the city with his powerful auxiliaries. His return was timely indeed. Alvarado had been guilty of an act of barbarity, (whether caused by avarice, by a supposed necessity, or by a desire to ape the valiant achievements of his master, cannot now be ascertained,) which had brought down upon him and his garrison the- fury and indignation of the whole Aztec nation. Upon an occasion of great public ceremonials at the Teocalli, or temple, at which were gathered a great con course of the nobility and chiefs, the Spaniards, placing a guard at the gates of the outer wall, mingled with the ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 91 unarmed company, and, at an appointed sign, fell upon and murdered every Mexican present. A general rush upon the Spanish quarters, which fol lowed this event, was only checked by the appearance of Montezuma himself upon one of the towers of the build ing, who, knowing doubtless that his own life could scarcely be preserved in such a melee, requested his subjects to for bear. They therefore contented themselves with besieging the garrison, and cutting off supplies of food and whole some water. It was on St. John's day in the month of June, that Cortez reentered the city. The streets were silent and deserted, and with doubt and apprehension he proceeded to the Spanish palace. The soldiers of the garrison were overjoyed at the sight of the recruits, and received their brethren with open arms. Cortez saw the folly of Alva- rado's conduct, and in his first mood of indignation and petulance, at the probable frustration of his plans, he indulged in contemptuous treatment of his royal captive. The state of ominous silence observed in the city did not continue long. News came in that the Indians were destroying the bridges ; and a body of four hundred men, under De Ordas, who were sent out to reconnoitre, were driven back, with a loss of twenty-three of their number. Such crowds of natives poured forth from their places of concealment, that the streets were choked with the living mass, while from balcony and roof-tops, a storm of weap ons and missiles of every description rained upon the heads of the Spanish troops. Surrounding the quarters of the Spaniards, and using every endeavor to burn the wooden portion of the build ings, the wild horde of enraged Mexicans continued the assault, with desperate fury, till nightfall. Cortez attempted a sally with the first dawn of the fol lowing day, but he soon found that he had an enemy to 92 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. encounter of far different spirit from those who had here tofore opposed him. Diaz says, "If we had been ten thousand Hectors of Troy, and as many Roldans, we could not have beaten them off.- Some of our soldiers who had been in Italy, swore that neither among Chris tians nor Turks had they ever seen such desperation as was manifested in the attacks 1 of those Indians." The artillery in vain swept them down, for thousands were ready to rush over the fallen bodies of their comrades, and continue the battle with augmented fierceness. The Spaniards were finally forced to retreat. Various expe dients were tried by the indefatigable Spanish general to quell the insurrection, and to dislodge the assailants, who shot their weapons from every high building in the vicin ity of the garrison. Moving towers of wood were con structed, to be drawn through the street by companies of Tlascalans, while Spanish warriors from the interior dis charged volleys of musquetry upon the Indians. Many, hundred houses were destroyed by fire, but, being princi pally of stone, no general conflagration ensued. As a last resort, the great king himself, decked in his robes of state, was taken to the tower from which he had before succeeded in quieting the angry populace. The multitude listened with deferential awe, but when they heard again the palpable falsehood that he staid among the Spaniards by his own free will, reverence gave way to contempt and indignation. Eevilings and reproaches were followed by a shower of stones and arrows. The attendant soldiers in vain interposed their shields to pro tect the emperor : he fell, severely wounded upon the head by a stone. The crowd now retired, appalled at the sacri lege that they had committed. But the work was done : the miserable Montezuma, overcome with rage, mortifica tion, and despair, would accept of no assistance, either surgical or spiritual from the Spaniards. In three days, ABORIGINES OF MEXICO* 93 says de Soils, "lie surrendered up to the Devil the eter nal Possession of his Soul, employing the latest moments of his Breath in impious Thoughts of sacrificing his Ene mies to his Fury and Revenge." For the particulars of the various sorties; the ceaseless fighting ; and, above all, the terrible scene at the storming of the holy temple, the reader must refer to more exten sive treatises than this; suffice it that, weakened by con tinual fatigue, and day by day less able to resist the as saults of the enemy, the Spaniards finally concluded to evacuate the city. One Botello, a soldier who was reputed a necromancer, as he "spoke Latin, and had been at Rome," announced a certain night as the only time when the army could escape utter destruction. Cortez, whether moved by superstition or aware of its influence with the army, and hopeless of longer maintain ing a hold on the capital under existing circumstances, made preparations to march. He attempted to blind his proceedings by pretended treaties with the Mexicans, pro posing to evacuate the city peaceably within eight days, while, at the same time, he was ordering every thing for an instantaneous departure. A portable bridge was pre pared to afford the means for crossing the gaps in the causey made by the enemy. On the night of the first of July, (1520), the general brought out the immense treasures of gold stored in his chamber, and, having separated the portion allotted to the crown, told the soldiery to take what they would, but cautioned them against encumbering themselves. It was near midnight, and dark and rainy, when the troops were put in motion. They were in the act of pass ing the first breach, over the portable bridge, when the alarm was given that the "Teules were going," and the cry of "Taltelulco, Taltelulco, (out with your canoes)" resounded over the water. The Spaniards were doomed 94 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. to greater disaster and misery on this night, known as the "noche triste," or night of sorrow, than they had ever yet experienced. An innumerable horde of dusky figures beset the causey, and attacked the fugitives in front, flank, and rear. By a complication of misfortune, the bridge broke, and from the struggling mass of men and horses, the few who could obtain footing on the causey were mostly killed, or their cries for help were heard by their companions as they were borne off in the canoes of the enemy, doomed victims for sacrifice. The cavalry, who were in advance, hastened forward, hopeless of relieving those whose re treat had been cut off, and who were blindly contending in the darkness with the fierce and enraged Aztecs. Alvarado, dismounted and wounded, came up with the advance, on foot, accompanied by three soldiers and eight Tlascalans. He reported the' destruction of the rear-guard, together with their leader, Velasquez de Leon. According to some accounts, Alvarado had made his escape by an extraordinary leap over the gap, but Diaz denies the pos sibility of the act. The wearied and disabled remnant of the proud army of Cortez pursued their route towards the friendly district of Tlascala, followed by detached companies of Mexicans, who attacked the fugitives in the rear, and, with insulting shouts, bade them hasten to the doom that awaited them. Near a place called Obtumba, the Indians were found arrayed upon a plain in countless hosts, to obstruct the march, and finish the work so successfully commenced on the night of the retreat. There was no way to avoid a general engagement, and every Spaniard nerved himself for the desperate struggle. We quote from Bernal Diaz " Oh what it was to see this tremendous battle ! how we closed foot to foot, and with what fury the dogs fought us! such wounding as there was amongst us with their ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 95 lances and clubs, and two-handed swords, while our cav alry, favoured by the plain ground, rode through them at will. Then, to hear the valiant Sandoval how he encour aged us, crying out, 'Now, gentlemen, is the day of vic tory; put your trust in God, we shall survive, for he preserves us for some good purpose.' " The royal standard was taken, its bearer being slain, and the whole multitude were put to flight, and hewn down by hundreds in their retreat. The Spaniards pushed on to Tlascala, not without misgivings as to the reception they should meet with in their present crippled and suf fering condition. These fears proved groundless: the friendly Tlascalans embraced them affectionately; wept over their loss ; and gently rebuked them for trusting the treacherous Mexicans. During the "noche triste," and upon the march to Tlas cala, eight hundred and seventy Spaniards are recorded to have perished in battle, or to have been doomed, as pris oners, to a far more terrible fate. Of their Tlascalan allies more than a thousand were slain. Only four hundred and forty of the Spanish troops reached Tlascala, and these were many of them wounded and disabled, and were ill supplied with arms. Some accounts state that the Mexi can army, at Obtumba, numbered two hundred thousand men, and that twenty thousand of these fell in the engage ment or were slaughtered in their tumultuous retreat. INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. CHAPTER VI. PREPARATIONS FOR THE ATTACK ON THE CITY OF MEXICO BUILDING AND TRANSPORTATION OF BRIGANTINES SIEGE LAID TO THE CITY ASSAULT BY THE SPANIARDS, AND THEIR REPULSE SACRIFICE OF PRISON ERSCAPTURE OF GUATIMOZIN, AND CONQUEST OF THE CAPITAL. And Aztec priests, upon their teocallis, Beat the wild war-drum, made of serpents' skin." LONGFELLOW. ON the death, of Montezuma, his brother Cuitlahua, governor of Iztapalapa, had taken the supreme command over the Aztecs. He had been prime mover in the revolt which resulted in the expulsion of the Spaniards from the city, and it was by his orders that their flight had been so fiercely followed up. At the present juncture, he sent heralds to propose a treaty of peace with the friendly tribe by whose hospitality the Spanish army was now supported, proposing the destruction of the whites, who had brought sucH woes upon the whole country. A portion of the Tlascalan assembly looked approvingly upon the sugges tion, but the older and wiser members, reflecting upon the known treachery of the Mexicans, and their former acts of oppression, refused to listen to it. Cortez, perceiving discontent to be rife among his men, determined not to remain idle, but to keep their attention constantly employed. Some, who were pining for ease and quiet, he allowed to take ship for Cuba, while by every argument he appealed to the honor and valor of his veter ans, urging them not to desist at the first failure, but to stand by their general and reinstate their fallen fortunes. He engaged in bloody conflicts with Mexican tribes on ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 97 either side of Tlascala, with the most distinguished suc- sess ; and taking possession of the town of Tepeaca, a few leagues distant, established his head-quarters there. By singular good fortune, several ships, bringing fresh troops to support Narvaez, arrived from Cuba, and the adventurers, learning the true position of affairs, readily joined the popular leader. Another expedition, sent by the governor of Jamaica to form a settlement farther up the coast, only contributed to swell the resources of Cor- tez; those engaged in the undertaking deeming it more profitable to unite with the followers of so renowned a general, than to undergo the dangers and hardship of estab lishing themselves unassisted among hostile savages. Cortez determined to make every preparation for a renewed attack upon the city of Mexico. Eeturning to Tlascala, he set himself to equip and furnish his troops, and to train the Indian allies in the art of war. Gunpow der was manufactured; the sulphur being procured from the neighboring volcano of Popocatapetl. The most im portant part of his schemes, however, was the building a number of small vessels, or brigantines, by means of which his troops could be made independent of the narrow and dangerous causeys. These vessels he ordered to be made in separate pieces, of such a size that they could be trans ported over the mountains by the Indian carriers: the stores and rigging were brought from the coast by the same means of conveyance. On the 28th of December Cortez led his army forth from Tlascala. The Spanish force was less than that with which the first invasion was undertaken, but was superior in martial equipments. The whole ' army consisted of about six hundred whites, and ten thousand, or upwards, of Tlascalans. They marched direct for Tezcuco, on the great lake of Mexico. No opposition was made during the march, and the city was yielded to them without a 7 98 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. struggle, nearly all the inhabitants deserting it in their boats. Here it was determined to await the completion and arrival of the brigantines. While all these formidable preparations were going on, important changes had taken place in the Aztec monarchy. Cuitlahua, or Quetlavaca, had perished by that terrible scourge the small-pox, which was introduced from the old country by one of Narvaez's ships, and which spread over all Mexico, carrying off thousands of the natives. The new emperor Guatimozin, a brave and noble youth, was nephew and successor to Montezuma. The beauty and gallant bearing of this prince excited the admiration of all beholders ; while his intelligence and valor, combined with the hatred which he bore towards the whites, made him an enemy to be dreaded. He had devoted his whole attention, since his accession, to fortifying and defending his capital. The unserviceable inhabitants were sent into the country, while warriors from all sides were called to rally round the Aztec banner within the city. The remainder of the winter and the early months of spring were occupied by the Spaniards in sallies against neighboring towns and districts ; the reduction of the dis affected; the conciliation of those inclined to cooperate with the besiegers ; and, above all, the completion and trans portation of the vessels. We must pass over the skir mishes and battles which occurred during this period. It would be little more than a repetition of scenes of cruelty, horror, and bloodshed. The spirit of the Aztecs was unsubdued, and their new emperor haughtily refused to listen to any terms of treaty, although Cortez commissioned sundry prisoners of rank to endeavor to move him. Suc cess in occupying many strong and populous towns, together witn the arrival of fresh recruits, served to encourage the Spaniards in the hopes of final triumph. Thousands of natives were employed in digging a canal by which the ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 99 little fleet should be launched. The beams and planks of the vessels ready to be joined, with all the paraphernalia of nautical outfit, were carried in state by an immense con course of Tlascalans, charged with the burthen, or acting as a guard of protection. Diaz says that no less than eight thousand men served in each of these capacities, while two thousand more followed with provisions. About the last of April (1521) the thirteen brigantines, fitted for service, were launched into the canal. The addition of an armed flotilla, which, urged by wind and oars, could bear down upon and scatter the frail canoes of the natives, proved of incalculable advantage. The size of the vessels, the thunder of their cannons, their speed, and the skill with which they were managed and controlled, must have filled the Mexicans with amazement. Near the end of May a regular system of siege was en tered upon, by the occupation of the three great approaches to the city. The inhabitants were unwearied in their attacks, and a degree of vigilance and courage on the part of the Spaniards, scarce equalled in any age or country, only preserved them from utter destruction. " For ninety- three days together," says Diaz, "we were employed in the siege of this great and strong city, and every day and every night we were engaged with the enemy. Were I to extend my narrative to every action which took place, it would be almost endless, and my history would resem ble that of Amadis and the other books of chivalry." Every expedient, of driving sunken palisades to entan gle the vessels ; of pit-falls for the cavalry ; and of cutting gaps in the causeys, was resorted to by the besieged, and persevered in with a determination and obstinacy only rivalled by the stern temper of the obdurate invaders. .There was necessarily great suffering on both sides, exclusive of the horrors of actual warfare, from the scar city of provision. Maize was the principal resort; but 100 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. the hordes of Indian allies sustained existence by a more foul repast, feeding upon the bodies that were every where scattered over the causeys, or floating in the lake ghastly memorials of each day's slaughter. Knowing the insuffi ciency of their own supplies, the Spaniards dared not for bid this practice. Cortez at last determined upon an assault from three different quarters, with his whole force. Fierce battles had already been fought within the city walls ; the great Teocalli had been a second time carried by storm, and its officiating priests thrown from its summit; the royal palace, with its adjoining buildings, and the old fortress where the Spaniards had formerly quartered, had been destroyed; but no general assault had been made. After some discussion, in which the hazard of risking so much upon a single onslaught was fully discussed, the general determined to undertake it, and issued his orders for a simultaneous advance the march over the causeys to be protected by the cooperation of the brigantines. The three divisions under Cortez, Alvarado, and San- doval, were put in motion on the ensuing morning. Or ders were given that each party should secure a safe retreat by thoroughly filling up all gaps in the causeys as they made their way towards the heart of the city. Neglect of this prudent arrangement proved most disastrous. An advanced force, under Alderete, encouraged by the little show of resistance, pressed on nearly to the great square, leaving behind them a breach in the causey, (through which the water from the canal on either side was flowing to a depth of two fathoms) with very slight and inefficient means for recrossing. As Cortez came up to this spot, he began to suspect that his men were entrapped; he saw that the causey had been narrowed, and at once perceived the terrible confusion that must ensue, in case of precipi tate retreat. While endeavoring to atone for this careless- ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 101 ness by filling the dike, Cortez and his followers heard the blast of the horn of the Aztec emperor, Guatimozin, followed by a deafening yell from his enraged warriors, and shortly after, Alderete's party were seen crowding the causey in their flight from an overwhelming mass of the natives. At the gap a scene of terrible slaughter ensued. Men and horses, floundering in the deep mud to which the way was reduced; thrust into the water by the pres sure of their own numbers, and seized by the enemy, whose canoes filled the canals, presented a miserable scene of hopeless disorder. Cortez himself was nearly borne away captive, in his endeavors to rescue the drowning sufferers from the dike. Six stout warriors laid hold of him, and would have secured him as a notable offering to their idols, but for the self-sacrificing devotion of his officers and men. His whole surviving party were obliged to retreat, making their way back to the camp under the protecting fire of the brigantines. The division under Alvarado was also driven from the city, after having made some hopeful advance, driving in their first opponents. The second body of natives who stopped their progress, threw down five Spanish heads, saying that they were those of Cortez and his officers. In the retreat the great drum was heard sounding from the summit of the principal teocalli: "Its mournful noise was such as may be imagined the music of the infernal gods, and it might be heard at the distance of almost three leagues." Diaz, who gives this description, says that the enemy were then sacrificing ten of the Spaniards' hearts to their gods. This was just before the blast of the royal horn a signal .which roused the Aztecs to an indescriba ble pitch of fury and courage. Sandoval fared little better than the rest, and the Span ish army, completely foiled, returned to the several en campments, frightfully reduced in numbers, deprived of 102 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. many of their invaluable horses, and, above all, dispirited by the thought that sixty or more of their brethren were alive in the hands of the enemy, destined victims at their infernal orgies. As night approached, the booming of the great drum on the temple aroused the attention of the Spaniards, and, looking towards the city, they could distinctly perceive several of their unfortunate companions led up for sacri fice, decked out in gaudy plumes and coronals. A strong light thrown by the fires on the platform upon their white and naked bodies made the sickening sight too palpably distinct, while the shrieks of the victims rose above even the rude din of barbarous music and exultant shouts. The ceremony was followed by a furious attack upon the Spanish camps. Not even scenes like this could shake the indomitable resolution of these men of iron. They continued to occupy the three causeys by which alone the city could l)e approached, except in boats, and using every endeavor to cut off supplies of provisions, made a steady and en trenched advance upon the capital. For ten successive nights they witnessed the butchery of the Spanish prison ers upon the green stone of sacrifice, without the power to render them the least assistance. As their hearts were torn out and burned before the idol, the priests drew the mangled remains down the stone steps. Some of the In dians, mid their taunts and revilings, averred that the Spanish flesh was "too bitter to be eaten; and truly, it seems that such a miracle was wrought." "Let the reader think," says the old chronicler, Diaz, "what were our sensations on this occasion. Oh heavenly God ! said we to ourselves, do not suffer us to be sacrificed by these wretches." To add to the Spaniards' distress, the great body of their Indian allies deserted them at this crisis. They had be- ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 103 gun to lose their confidence in the invincibility of the whites; and the prediction of the Mexican priests, that within eight days the besiegers should be destroyed, had its effect upon their superstitious minds. Ixtilxochitl, the Tezcucan chief, who had been raised by Cortez to the government of the city on its abdication by his enemies, remained faithful. "When the eight days were passed, these fickle allies beg?tn to return, with fresh confidence, to the assistance of the besiegers. With determined energy the Spaniards forced their passage, foot by foot, towards the centre of the cap ital. Securing their way behind them, and demolishing the buildings as they proceeded, they more than recovered from their grand reverse. The miserable inhabitants were reduced to the utmost extremity by famine. Crowded together in the quarter of the city to which they were driven, they perished by thousands, but nothing seemed to tame their fierce and unyielding spirit. Guatimozin refused to listen to terms, although Cortez repeatedly sent embassies of prisoners, proposing a peaceable cession of the place. Stores and men were added to the Spanish resources, by the arrival at Villa Eica of a vessel belong ing to a fleet fitted out by De Aillon, which was mostly destroyed on the reefs of Florida. After the three divisions of the army had worked their way completely through the city, and Ghiatimozin and his people were confined in a limited district on the lake, the fury of their sallies seemed undiminished. When they were finally unable longer to keep their monarch in safety, a last attempt was made to effect an escape in the pira guas or large canoes. The brigantines were immediately dispatched to inter cept and destroy the flotilla which now spotted the lake The natives fought desperately, as usual, attacking the armed vessels of the Spaniards, regardless of the destruc- 104 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. tion occasioned by the artillery. . Sandoval, who com manded in this service, despatched Garcia liolguin, with the swiftest of the brigantines, to the spot where the em peror would probably steer, with orders to take him pris oner alive, if possible. The attempt was successful, and the royal barge was taken, containing Guatimozin, his beautiful wife, (a daugh ter or niece of Montezuma) and his chief followers. Being brought before Cortez, the king addressed his conqueror in terms of proud but despairing -submission, bidding him draw his poinard, and put an end to the life of a mon arch who had striven to the last for his people, but in vain. Cortez endeavored to reassure him by caresses and kind words, ordering the queen and attendants to be treated with courtesy and respect. While this scene was enacting, and during the previous day, a work of such fearful carnage had been going on in the Mexican quarters as no pen can describe. No one can presume to enumerate those who fell. Diaz reports as follows: " What I am going to mention is truth, and I swear and say amen to it. I have read of the de struction of Jerusalem, but I cannot conceive that the mortality there exceeded this of Mexico; for all the peo ple from the distant provinces which belonged to this empire, had concentrated themselves here, where they mostly -died. The streets, the squares, the houses, and the courts of the Taltelulco, (where the Mexicans were last entrenched) were covered with dead bodies ; we could not step without treading on them ; the lake and canals were filled with them, and the stench was intolerable." It is due to the Spanish general to say that he endeav ored repeatedly to stay this butchery, but his Indian allies could not be restrained, now that an opportunity was pre sented for safely wreaking their vengeance on their her editary foes. ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 105 Tlie capture of Guatimozin, which consummated the conquest of the city, took place on the thirteenth of Au gust, 1521. All contention immediately ceased when this was accomplished. Diaz says: "We felt like so many men just escaped from a steeple where all the bells were ringing about our ears. This was owing to the continual noise of the enemy for ninety-three days Shouting, call ing, whistling, as signals to attack us, &c. Then, from the temples and adoratories of their accursed idols, the timbals and horns, and the mournful sound of their great drum, and other dismal noises were incessantly assailing our ears, so that day or night we could hardly hear each other speak." By Guatimozin's request, the city was cleared of its inhabitants, that it might be effectually purified. The causeys were crowded for three successive days and nights with a horde of such miserable, diseased, and helpless wretches, creeping slowly away from their former proud capital, "that it was misery to behold them." The booty discovered by the conquerors in no degree equalled their anticipations. It. was supposed that great quantities of gold had been thrown into the lake, and divers were employed in the search for it, but with little effect. The unfortunate Guatimozin, and the lord of the city of Tacuba were put to the torture, with the assent of Cortez, to extort from them information as to the places where they had concealed their treasures. Cortez objected to this piece of barbarity, but permitted it that the suspi cion might not rest upon him of having, by connivance, appropriated the plunder to his own use. The young monarch, in this extremity, preserved his dignity and composure, enduring the cruelties of his tor mentors with Indian fortitude. When the barbarous in flictions of the Spaniards drew forth groans or complaints from his companion in suffering, Guatimozin silenced him 106 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. with, the calm interrogative, "Thkfk'st thou, then, that I am taking my pleasure in my bath?" Nothing was gained by the inhuman transaction, although the emperor told of a place in the lake where gold had been thrown, and the lord of Tacuba confessed that he had stores at a house in the country. These .declarations were probably made merely for the purpose of escaping present anguish. CHAPTER VII. REBUILDING OF THE CITY EXTENSION OF SPANISH POWER THE MARCH TO HONDURAS EXECUTION OF GUATIMOZIN DONNA MARINA MODERN MEXICO. "Now they are gone gone as thy setting blaze Goes down the west, while night is pressing on, And with them the old tale of better days, And trophies of remembered power are gone." BRYANT. WITHIN a few years after the scenes we have just de scribed, the royal city of the Aztec monarchs rose from its ruins with renewed splendor ; but under what different circumstances from those which attended its first establish ment! The proud-spirited nation, reduced to degrading servitude, was compelled to build and plant for the bene fit of the victorious Spaniards, whose power daily in creased with the multitudes flocking from the Old World to seek wealth or novelty in the sunny climes of New Spain. The modern city of Mexico presents a very different aspect from that of the ancient capital. By the drainage of the lake, it no longer stands upon an island; and the causeys, which led to it, still used as public roads, are said to be scarcely distinguishable from the other highways. ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 107 All the surrounding tribes who did not yield implicitly to the dictates of the general, when the great city was de stroyed, were promptly quelled and humbled. Confirmed in his authority by royal commission for the efforts of his enemies could avail little against the universal accla mation which followed the news of his successes Cortez continued to increase the extent of Spanish dominion, and still more effectually to crush all spirit of opposition among the miserable Mexicans. We cannot detail the terrible examples of vengeance which followed any attempt to throw off the galling yoke. With such coadjutors as Alvarado, Sandoval, and other of his veteran officers, resistance to his supremacy proved worse than vain. The stake or the halter was the ready instrument by which the crime of rebellion was punished. In October of 1524, Cortez, with a small force of Span iards, and a large body of natives, undertook a long and difficult march to Honduras. His purpose was to chastise the rebellious de Olid, who had thrown off his general's authority. Although the details of the dangers, hard ships, and adventures in this expedition are minute and interesting, we only refer to it as giving occasion for the destruction of the last Aztec monarch. Continually ap prehensive of a new revolt, Cortez had, ever since the conquest, kept his royal prisoner a close attendant on his person. Together with his faithful vassal, the lord of Tacuba, Guatimozin was taken to accompany the party to Honduras. At Gueyacala, or Aculan, a conspiracy of the Mexicans in the train to fall upon and massacre the Spaniards, was reported to the general, and attributed to the influence of these two nobles. All participation in this plot was denied by the captives, but slight suspicion was sufficient to furnish an excuse to the unscrupulous Spaniard for ridding himself of a constant source of anxiety. Guatimozin and the Tacuban governor were both handed 108 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. by his orders. Diaz affirms that there was but one opin ion among the company, that this was "a most unjust and cruel sentence." He proceeds to say that Cortez suffered much in his conscience for this act "He was so distracted by these thoughts that he could not rest in his bed at night, and, getting up in .the dark to walk about, as a re lief from his anxieties, he went into a large apartment where some of the idols were worshipped. Here he missed his way, and fell from the height of twelve feet, to the ground, receiving a desperate wound and contusions in his head. This circumstance he tried to conceal, keeping his sufferings to himself, and getting his hurts cured as well as he could." An interesting incident occurred on this march relative to the history of the faithful interpreter Donna Marina. The course taken led the army through her native prov ince, and it so chanced that, at a great conclave of chiefs and principal inhabitants to hold conference with the Span iards, her mother and brother were present. . The unna tural parent, who had so long before sold her daughter as a slave, thought the hour of retribution was a,t hand, but Marina encouraged and caressed her, making her offerings of jewels and other attractive trifles. She avowed her attachment to the Spaniards and their religion, expressing great pride and satisfaction in the son and the husband, for both of whom she stood indebted to her noble master and friend. We must now take leave of the historical detail of Mex ican chronicles, with a few remarks upon the condition of the Indians subsequent to the conquest, the changes since wrought by lapse of time, the introduction of a foreign population, and the mixture of races. For a long period the mass of the natives were compel led to waste their lives in hopeless toil on the plantations, in the mines, or at the rising cities of their oppressors. ABORIGINES OF MEXICO. 109 Cortez felt and expressed some compunctious visitings of conscience at the adoption of this general system of slavery, but fell in with it as being essential to the maintainance of Spanish power and the speedy growth of the colonies. He saw that the mental capacity of the people was far superior to that of the other North American aborigines, and felt some natural regret that their national pride should be entirely humbled, and their opportunities for civilization and improvement be so entirely cut off. A better state of things was gradually brought about, and the inhabit ants of pure native descent are now spoken of as a cheer ful, courteous race, busying themselves in the simpler arts of manufacture, cultivating their fields, and enjoying the equable freedom from anxiety, so congenial to the mild and delicious climate of their country. Pulque, the intoxicating drink of the Mexicans, is pro ductive of the evil effects that such beverages always pro duce among the Indians of America; and, in the large cities, a disgusting horde of lazaroni disfigures the public squares. In the city of Mexico, these beggars are espe cially numerous. The half-breeds, who form at the present day so exten sive a portion of the population, present every variety of social position. Some of Montezuma's descendants mar ried into noble families of Spain, and their posterity ar rived at great wealth and dignity. The wife of Guatimozin,. after his execution, married successively no less than three Castilians of honorable family. She is every where spoken of as a woman of charming appearance and attractive manners. A descendant of the former emperor of the Aztecs held the office of Spanish viceroy in Mexico as late as the close of the seventeenth century. THE FLORIDA INDIANS. CHAPTER I. EARLY EXPEDITIONS OF SPANISH ADVENTURERS PONCE DE LEON L. VALASQUEZ DE AYLLON PAMPHILO DE NARVAEZ PER- NANDO DE SOTO HIS LANDING AND ESTABLISHMENT AT TAMPA STORY OF JOHN ORTIZ, A SPANISH CAPTIVE AMONG THE INDIANS. FEW portions of the Western Continent have witnessed such scenes of barbarous warfare between the natives and European adventurers, or between subjects of contending nations at the East, as the long low peninsula which lies at the southern extremity of the Atlantic sea-coast of the United States. Its whole history is strangely romantic, and might well tempt us away from our subject, were there room to chronicle all the interesting details of its discov ery, conquest and settlement. The first picture presented to our minds, when we turn back to these early times, is of Juan Ponce de Leon, gov ernor of Porto Rico, led by Indian fables in 1512 to search amid the low islands of the coast for a fountain that should bestow perpetual youth; landing upon the green and flow ery shores, and bestowing upon the country its pleasing and musical appellation. All of North America, to the northward and eastward of Mexico, went by the name of Florida, before English settlements were made upon the coast. Failing in his first search, Leon undertook a second expedition into the unknown world, in hopes of finding mines of the precious metals, but was killed in a fight with the natives. FLORIDA INDIANS. Ill Tlie perfidious Luke Valasquez de Ayllon, in 1518, vis ited the coast to the northward of Florida, to procure gold and slaves. The kindly natives, whom he tempted on board, were shut under hatches, and conveyed to Cuba. Eeturning again to the country, he and his party were justly punished for their treachery, nearly all of them being slain by the inhabitants, who, mindful of former injuries, rose upon them unawares, after putting them off their guard by demonstrations of friendship. Those who had been carried into servitude mostly perished, some by voluntary starvation, and others from grief and despair. The Indians of Florida are represented by all early his torians as a high-spirited and courageous race, showing considerable skill in agriculture, and exhibiting marks of far greater civilization than those of the North. It seems not improbable, judging from their traditions, appearance and customs, that they, as well as the Natchez, had emi grated from Mexico, perhaps at no very remote period. They resided in towns and villages of considerable extent, and showed a degree of resolution and desperate . valor, in defending their homes against the murderous Spaniards, which has seldom been equalled. Unappalled by the ter rible execution of the unknown weapons of their enemies, who, mounted upon horses (hitherto unknown in the coun try) and clad in defensive armor, presented a novel and unaccountable spectacle to their wondering eyes, they dis puted the invaded territory inch by inch. Like most of their red brethren, they could not long brook the indignity of slavery; the proud spirit of the Indian can never, like that of the African, be so humbled that his race can continue and multiply in servitude. The old Portuguese narrator of De Soto's conquest, speaking of the Indian slaves of Cuba, says that their custom was to hang themselves, to escape the toil and degradation of working the mines He tells of an over- 112 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. seer in the service of Vasco Porcalho, (afterwards De Solo's lieutenant-general,) who, "knowing the Indians under his charge had resolved to hang themselves, went and staid for them at the place where they intended to put this dis mal resolution into execution, with a rope in his hand : he told them they must not imagine that any of their designs were hid from him, and that he was come to hang himself with them, that he might torment them in the other world an hundred times more than he had done in this." His expedient had the desired effect upon their superstitious and credulous minds, and, giving up their purpose, they returned submissively to their tasks. Pamphilo de Narvaez, in April, 1528, with a commission from Charles the Fifth to conquer and take possession, landed four hundred men and forty or fifty horses at East Florida. Penetrating the wilderness, they crossed the country to Appalache, sometimes experiencing kind treat ment from the Indians, at other times in danger from their attacks. Finding no gold, and but little provision at this town, from which they drove out the inhabitants on their first arrival, the Spaniards shaped their course to the south towards Aute. Tormented by hunger; beset by hidden foes ; disheartened by the terrible difficulties which beset their path, from the almost impassable natural conforma tion of the country ; and worn out by incessant exertion, Narvaez and his men reached Aute only to find it burned and deserted by its inhabitants. Many of the party having already perished, the rest, hopeless of making further progress by land, set to work to construct boats in which they might reach a port of safety. With singular ingenuity they prepared tools from the iron of their accoutrements ; and, with no further mate rials than were furnished by the productions of the forest, and the manes, tails, and skins of their horses, five small boats were built. They embarked and set sail, but nearly FLORIDA INDIANS. 113 all perished, either by famine or by the dangers of the se% Only a handful of the number were ever heard from, among whom was Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Yaca. With only four companions he kept on his course to the West, and, after years of peril, hardship, and servitude, reached the Spanish settlements of Mexico. The next Spanish expedition tp Florida was of far more importance and interest than either that had preceded it. The celebrated Fernando de Soto, after acquiring an immense fortune as a companion of Pizarro, at Peru, was moved by the restless spirit of adventure to undertake a more complete examination of the New World opened to Spanish cupidity and curiosity. With seven ships of his own providing, and accompa nied by from six hundred to one thousand warlike and energetic adventurers, many of whom were of noble rank, De Soto set sail, in the month of April, 1538. Upwards of a year was spent, mostly upon the island of Cuba, before the fleet set sail for the Florida coast. In the latter part of May, 1539, the vessels came to anchor off the bay of Espiritu Santo, now Tampa Bay, on the western sea-board, and a large division of soldiers, both horse and foot, were landed. The Indians had taken the alarm, and, although the smoke of their fires had been seen from ship-board in various directions, all had fled from the district, or lay con cealed in the thickets. De Soto appears to have been desirous to proceed upon peaceable terms with the natives, but hostilities soon followed. Some skirmishes took place near, the point of landing, and the Spaniards speedily pos sessed themselves of the nearest village, where were the head-quarters of the cacique Ucita or Hiriga. Here De Soto established himself in "the lord's house," wjiich was built upon a mound by the sea-shore; while the soldiers used the materials of the other buildings in constructing barracks. 8 114 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. At the inland extremity of ths town stood the temple devoted by the Indians to religious observances. Over the entrance of this building was the wooden figure of a fowl, having the eyes gilded placed there for the purpose of ornament, or as symbolic of the tutelary deity of the place. Clearings were now. made around the village, to give free scope to the operations of the cavalry, and parties were sent out to explore the country, and to make prisoners who should serve as guides or hostages. The remembrance of horrible outrages committed upon himself and his people by Narvaez, had so embittered the old chief Hiriga against the whites, that no professions of friendship and good will could appease his hatred. De Soto released prisoners who were taken by his scouting parties, charging them with presents and conciliatory mes sages for their chief, but all in vain. In the tangled forests ' and marshes the Indians were found to be no contemptible opponents. They were de scribed as being "so dexterous fierce and nimble that foot can gain no advantage upon them." Their bows and arrows were so effective that coats of mail did not prove a suffi cient protection against their force. The arrows were headed, as usual, with stone, or with fish-bones; those which were made of canes or reeds produced the dead liest effect. A party, under Gallegos, scouring the country a few miles from the camp attacked a small body of Indians, and put them to flight ; but, as a horseman was charging with his lance at one of the number, he was amazed to hear him cry out: "Sirs, I am a Christian; do not kill me, nor these poor men, who have given me my life." Nakqd, sun-burned, and painted, this man was scarce distinguishable from his wild associates. His name was John Ortiz, and he had lived with the Indians twelve years, being one of the few followers of Narvaez who FLOKIDA INDIANS. 115 escaped destruction. Since the disastrous failure of that expedition he had made his way to Cuba in a small boat, and had returned again to Florida in a small vessel sent in quest of the lost party. The Indians enticed a few of the crew on shore, and made them prisoners. Ortiz was among the number, and was the only one who escaped immediate death. After amusing themselves by various expedients to terrify and torment their captive, the sav ages, by the command of their chief, Hiriga, bound him to four stakes, and kindled a fire beneath him. He was pre served, even in this extremity, by the compassionate entrea ties and persuasions of a daughter of the cacique. His burns having been healed, he was deputed to keep watch over the temple where the bodies of the dead were depos ited, to defend them from attacks of wolves. His vigilance and resolution, in dispatching a wolf, panther, or "Lyon," (according to one account) which had seized the body of a child of one of the principal chiefs, aroused a kindly feel ing towards him, and he was well used for three years. At the end of that time Hiriga, having been worsted in fight with Moscoso, a hostile chief whose dwelling was at a distance of two days' journey, thought it necessary or expedient to make a sacrifice of his Christian subject to the devil. "Seeing," says our Portuguese historian, "the Devil holds these people in deplorable bondage, they are accustomed to offer to him the life and bloud even of their subjects, or of any body else that falls into their hands." Forewarned of this danger by his former benefactress, Ortiz fled in the night towards the country of Moscoso. Upon first meeting with the subjects of this chief, he was in great danger from the want of an interpreter to explain whence he came, and what was his errand; but, at last, finding an Indian who understood the language of the people with whom he had lived, he quieted the suspicions of his hosts, and remained with them in friendship no less 116 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. than nine years. Moscoso, heariag of the arrival of De Soto, generously furnished his captive with an escort, and gave him free permission to return to his countrymen, in accordance with a promise made when Ortiz first came to his territory. The long-lost Spaniard was joyfully received, with his companions, at De Soto's camp.; his services as guide being considered invaluable. In answer to the first inquiry, however, where gold was to be sought, he could give no satisfactory information. The cacique Moscoso being sent for, soon presented him self at the Spanish encampment, and after spending some days in familiar intercourse with the wonderful strangers, departed, exulting in the possession of a shirt and other tokens of royal munificence. CHAPTER II. PROGRESS NORTHWARD CONTESTS WITH THE NATIVES VITACHUCO EXPEDITION TO CUTIFACHIQUI DEPARTURE FOR THE WEST. * * * * The long bare arms Are heaved aloft, bows twang and arrows stream; Each makes a tree his shield, and every tree Sends forth its arrow. Fierce the fight and short As is the whirlwind." BRYANT. DE Soto now concluded to send his vessels back to Cuba, and leaving a strong guard in Hiriga's country, to proceed northward. Favorable accounts were brought by his emis saries from the adjoining district of Paracoxi, and delud ing hopes of procuring gold invited to still more distant exploration in Gale. Vasco Porcalho, wearied and dis gusted with hopeless and desultory skirmishing among the FLORIDA INDIANS. 117 swamps and morasses, resigned his commission, and left with the squadron. The Spanish force, proceeding up the country, passed with great difficulty the extensive morass now known as the Wahoo Swamp, and came to Gale in the southern portion of Alachua. The inhabitants of the town, which was large, and gave tokens of thrift and abundance, had fled into the woods, except a few stragglers who were taken prisoners. The troops fell upon the stored provisions, and ravaged the fields of maize with the eagerness of fam ished men. Leaving Gale on the llth of August, De Soto pressed forward to the populous town of Ochile. Here, without pretence of coming as friends, the soldiers fell upon the inhabitants, and overpowered them by the suddenness of their attack. The country was under the rule of three brothers, one of whom was taken prisoner in the town. The second brother came in afterwards upon the receipt of friendly messages from the Spanish general, but the elder, Vitachuco, gave the sternest and most haughty responses to all embassies proposing conciliatory measures. Appearing, at last, to be convinced by the persuasion of his two brothers, who were sent to him, he consented to a meeting. With a large company of chosen warriors, he proceeded to De Soto's encampment, and, with due formal ity, entered into a league of friendship. Both armies betook themselves to the principal village of Vitachuco, and royal entertainment was prepared. The treacherous cacique, notwithstanding these demon strations, gathered an immense force of his subjects around the town, with a view of surprising and annihilating the Spaniards; but the vigilance of John Ortiz averted the catastrophe. Preparations were at once made to anticipate the attack ; and so successful were they carried out, that the principal 118 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. cacique was secured, and his army routed. Many of the fugitives were driven into a lake, where they concealed themselves by covering their heads with the leaves of water-lilies. The lake was surrounded by the Spanish troops, but such was the resolution of the Indians, that they remained the whole night immersed in water, and, on the following day, when the rest had delivered them selves up, "being constrained by the sharpness of the cold that they endured in the water," twelve still held out, resolving to die rather than surrender. Chilled and stu pefied by the exposure, these were dragged ashore by some Indians of Paracoxi, belonging to De Soto's party, who swam after them, and seized them by the hair. Although a prisoner, with his chief warriors reduced to the condition of servants, Yitachuco did not lay aside his daring purposes of revenge. He managed to circulate the order among his men, that, on a day appointed, while the Spaniards were at dinner, every Indian should attack the one nearest him with whatever weapon came to hand. When the time arrived, Vitachuco, who was seated at the general's table, rallying himself for a desperate effort, sprang upon his host, and endeavored to strangle him. "This blade," says the Portuguese narrator, "fell upon the general ; but before he could get his two hands to his throat, he gave him such a furious blow with his fist upon the face that he put him all in a gore of blood." De Soto had doubtless perished by the unarmed hands of the mus cular and determined chief, had not his attendants rushed to his rescue, and dispatched the assailant. All the other prisoners followed their cacique's example. Catching at the Spaniards' arms, or the "pounder where with they pounded the maes," each "set upon his master therewith, or on the first that fell into his hands. They made use of the lances or swords they met with, as skil fully as if they had been bred to it from their childhood; so FLOEIDA INDIANS. 119 that one of them, with, sword in hand, made head against fifteen or twenty men in the open place, until he was killed by the governor's halbardiers." Another desperate war rior, with only a lance, kept possession of the room where the Indian corn was stored, and could not be dislodged. He was shot through an aperture in the roof. The Indians were at last overpowered, and all who had not perished in the struggle, were bound to stakes and put to death. Their executioners were the Indians of Paracoxi, who shot them with arrows. Napetaca, the scene of this event, was left by the Span iards in the latter part of September. Forcing their way through the vast swamps and over the deep and miry streams that intercepted their path, and exposed to the attacks of the revengeful proprietors of the soil, they came to the town of Uzachil, somewhere near the present Oscilla river, midway between the Suwanne and Appalachicola. Encumbered with horses, baggage, and armor as they were, their progress is surprising. Uzachil was deserted by the Indians, and the troops revelled in store of provision left by the unfortunate inhabitants. Marauding parties of the Spaniards succeeded in seizing many prisoners, both men and women, who were chained by the neck, and loaded with baggage, when the army recommenced their march. The poor creatures resorted to every method to effect their escape; some filing their chains in two with flints, and others running away, when an opportunity offered, with the badge of slavery still attached to their necks. Those who failed in the attempt were cruelly punished. The natives of this north-western portion of Florida evinced no little skill and good management in the con struction of their dwellings and in their method of agricul ture. The houses were pronounced " almost like the farm houses of Spain," and some of the towns were quite populous. 120 IXDIAX RACES OF AMERICA. \ Making a halt at Anhayca, the Capital town of the dis trict of Palache, De Soto sent a party to view the sea-coast. The men commisioned for this service discovered tokens of the ill-fated expedition of Narvaez at Ante, where the five boats were built. These were a manger hewn from the trunk of a tree, and the bones of the horses who had been killed to supply the means of outfit. De Soto, about the last of November, sent a detach ment back to the bay of Espiritu Sa'nto, with directions for two caravels to repair to Cuba, and the other vessels, which had not already been ordered home, to come round by sea and join him at Palache. Twenty Indian women were sent as a present to the general's wife, Donna Isabella. In one of the scouting expeditions, during the stay at Palache, a remarkable instance of self-devotion was seen in two Indians, whom the troops came upon as they were gathering beans, with a woman, the wife of one of them, in their company. "Though they might have saved themselves, yet they chose rather to die than to abandon the woman." " They wounded three horses ; whereof one died," before the Spaniards succeeded in destroying them. Early in March, 1540, the Spanish forces were put in motion for an expedition to Yupaha, far to the north-east. Gold was still the object of search. A young Indian, who was made prisoner at Napetaca, alleged that he had come from that country, and that it was of great extent and richness. He said that it was subject to a female cacique, and that the neighboring tribes paid her tribute in gold, "whereupon he described the manner how that gold was dug, how it was melted and refined, as if he had seen it done a hundred times, or as if the Devil had taught him; inasmuch that all who understood the manner of working in the mines, averred that it was impossible for him to speak so exactly of it, without having seen the same." It would be foreign to our present subject to follow De FLORIDA INDIANS. 121 Soto in this tour; and, indeed, the position of many of the localities which are described by his historians, and the distances and directions of his wearisome and perilous journey ings, must, at the present day, be matters of con jecture. It may not, however, be amiss to mention briefly the accounts preserved of the appearance of some of the tribes through whose dominions he passed before his return to the north-western districts of modern Florida. As he moved northward, a marked change was per ceived in the buildings. Instead of the grass-covered huts which served well enough in the genial climate of the peninsula, the people of Toalli had "for their roof little canes placed together like Tile; they were very neat. Some had the walls made of poles, so artificially inter woven, that they seemed to be built of Stone and lime." They could be thoroughly warmed in the winter, which was there pretty severe. The dwellings of the caciques were roomy and commodious, and were rendered conspi cuous by a balcony over the entrance. Great skill was shown by these people in the manufacture of cloth from grass or fibrous bark, and the deer skins, of which they made leggins and other articles, were admirably well dressed and dyed. The most remarkable of the countries visited, on this Northern exploration, was Cutifachiqui, supposed to have been situated far up the Chatahoochee, which was gov erned by a female. The Spaniards were astonished at the dignity and refinement of the queen. Her reception of De Soto reminds one of Cleopatra's first meeting with Anthony, as described by the great dramatist. She was brought down to the water in a palanquin, and there seated in the stern of a canoe, upon cushions and carpets, with-" 3 a pavilion overhead. She brought presents of mantles and skins to the general, and hung a neck-lace of large pearls about his neck. __ 122 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. The Indians of the country were represented as "tawny, well-shaped, and more polite than any before seen in Flor ida." Their numbers had been greatly reduced, two years previous, by a pestilence, and many deserted dwellings were to be seen around the town. The accounts given of the quantity of pearls obtained here, by searching the places of sepulture, are incredible. Departing from "Cutifachiqui, De Spto had the ingrati tude to carry the queen along with him, compelling her even to go on foot. "In the mean time, that she might deserve a little consideration to be had for her still," she induced the Indians by whose houses the cavalcade passed, to join the party, and lend their aid in carrying the baggage. She succeeded, finally, in making her escape. We must now dismiss De Soto and his band upon their long journey through the western wilderness. He died upon the Ked River, and' those of his companions who escaped death from exposure, disease, or savage weapons, years after the events above described, made their way down the Mississippi to the gulf, and thence reached the Spanish provinces of Mexico. CHAPTER III. FROM THE CONQUEST BY DE SOTO TO THE YEAR 1818 MISSIONARY OPERATIONS BY THE SPANIARDS MOORE'S INVASION OF FLORIDA BOWLES WARS OF 1812 DEFEAT OF THE SEMINOLES BY GENERAL JACKSON. WE can but briefly touch upon the incidents of Flor ida history for nearly two centuries after De Soto's inva sion. The. French Huguenot refugees, who settled upon St. John's river in 1562, found the natives placable and FLORIDA INDIANS. 123 generous. Although, their kindness was but ill recipro cated by the colony, no very serious difficulties occurred between the two races. The power and self-confidence of the Indians had been broken, and their numbers greatly reduced by the desolating ravages committed by the Spaniards. In the brutal and murderous wars between the French and Spanish colonies, which succeeded the new attempts at settlement; the Indians, although they took no conspi cuous part, were occasionally involved in hostilities. The most important era in the native history of this period, is that of the establishment of a regular missionary system of instruction. The central point of these operations was the convent of St. Helena, situated at St. Augustine. Don Pedro Men- endez de A villa, the Spanish governor who founded this town, and who had been commissioned by the king of Spain to spread the Catholic religion among the Indians, was indefatigable in carrying out his sovereign's inten tions. The success met with by the ecclesiastics sent forth among the various tribes, is astonishing. In the wilder ness of central Florida may still be seen the ruins of buildings erected by their means for religious exercises. Their efforts were not confined to the vicinity of the col onies: emissaries penetrated the western forests, even to the Mississippi ; and amid the rough mountain districts of the north, they were to be found living with the In dians, and assiduously instructing them, not only in their religious creed, but in language and useful arts. The Spanish influence might perhaps have been main tained over the Indians during the existence of the colony, but for the jealous suspicions of Cabrana, who was made governor in 1680. . He put to death the principal chief of the Yemasees, or innabitants of East Florida, upon an accusation of having given aid and comfort to the English 124 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. settlers on the St. John's, then called May river. The con sequence of this act was a long and troublesome war. The unfortunate Indians were for many years after this event made the tools of the hostile European colonies: first in the French and Spanish wars, and afterwards, in 1702 and 1704, when governor Moore, of South Carolina, invaded Florida. In the north-western districts of the peninsula dwelt the Appalachees; the rest of the country was inhabited by the Yemasees. These two nations had formerly been upon terms of the bitterest enmity, but had been reconciled by the mediation of the Spaniards. Moore, followed by a con siderable body of English, and a large force of Creek Indians, ravaged nearly the whole country, beginning at Appalachee, and proceeding south-easterly to the Atlantic sea-board. lie carried away many Indians of the con quered tribes to the English plantations as slaves. After a long period of hopeless and profitless warfare, in which they had nothing to gain by success, and by means of which they were disabled from agriculture and deprived of a settled abode, the scattered remnants of the Indian tribes gradually took up their quarters in the heart of the country, and further towards the South. In the latter part of the eighteenth century they acquired the name of Seminoles, said to signify "wanderers." In the year 1792, an unprincipled adventurer from Eng land, named Bowles, made strenuous attempts to excite the hostility of the Indians against the Spanish settlers. Failing in a direct attempt to plunder an Indian trading- house on the St. John's, and finding himself abandoned by his associates, he betook himself to the Creeks, married a woman of that tribe, and persuaded the Indians that the store of goods which he had attacked belonged rightfully to them. He met with considerable success in deceiving the simple-minded natives, and, assisted by several chiefs FLORIDA INDIANS. 125 of the Creek nation, he got possession of the fortress of St. Marks. Delivering himself up to riot and drunken ness, with his followers, it proved no difficult task for the Spanish troops to retake the fort. Bowles was allowed to escape, but was afterwards delivered up by his Indian allies, and taken to Cuba a prisoner. The Seminoles were partially involved in the wars of 1812 and the two succeed ing years, when the Americans invaded Florida. Their chief leaders were King Payne and his brother, the noted Boleck or Bow-legs. Having done no little damage by burning buildings and plundering the plantations in their vicinity, they purposed to march northward, but were en gaged and routed nearer home, by General Newman, with a body of troops from Georgia. This force having crossed the St. John's, marched into Alachua, and encountered Payne within a few miles of his head-quarters. The Indians fought bravely, but could not resist the superior skill- of the whites. Payne was killed, and his men were driven off in the first engagement, but they rallied, and returned to the attack with redoubled energy. They possessed them selves of the body of their chief; and afterwards surround ing the American forces, kept them in a state of siege for a number of days, imperfectly protected by a structure of logs. After this period, and previous to the cession of the Flor- idas to the United States, the affairs of the Seminoles and their American neighbors were unsettled, and some bloody scenes were enacted. Fugitive slaves from the adjoining states found a secure asylum among the immense wilds of the marshy and uninhabited territory of the Floridas, and conflicting claims of Indians and whites respecting negroes long after formed a fertile source of quarrel and complaint. Some of the Seminoles became possessed of large numbers of slaves, holding them by undisputed title. In the month of March, 1818, General Jackson, with more than three thousand men, over one half of whom were r 126 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Creek warriors, marched into West Florida to punish, and check the ravages of the Seminoles. With little opposition from the inhabitants, the towns surrounding the lake of Miccosukie were destroyed, and much booty, in corn and cattle, was secured. The Indian villages upon the Oscilla and St. Mark's rivers, known as the Fowel towns, met with a similar fate. St. Marks was^oon after occupied by the invaders, and, in the ensuing month, the great body of the Seminoles, aided by large numbers of negroes, was defeated on the borders of the Suwanee, and several hundred were taken prisoners. The rest fled into East Florida. CHAPTER IV. COMMENCEMENT OF THE LATE- FLORIDA WAR TREATY OF MOUL- TRIE CREEK TREATY OF PAINED LANDING- OSCEOLA DE STRUCTION OF DADE'S COMMAND BATTLE OF THE OUITHLACOOCHIE CONFERENCE WITH INDIAN CHIEFS, BY GENERAL GAINES. " * * * Hark, that quick, fierce cry, That rends the utter silence; 'tis the whoop Of battle, and a throng of savage men, With naked arms, and faces stained like blood, Fill the green wilderness. * * * * * * * Soon the conquerors And conquered vanish, and the dead remain, Gashed horribly with tomahawks." BRYANT. AFTER the whole country had passed into the hands of the American government, it was thought necessary to take steps to secure the frontiers of the white settlements from the incursions of the Indians, and to confine the lat ter to certain specified districts. In the year 1823, there fore, on the 18th of September, a treaty was concluded FLORIDA INDIANS. 127 at the camp on Moultrie Creek, between commissioners from the United States and a number of Seminole chiefs, whereby it was stipulated : that all territory not reserved by the articles should pass to- the American government ; that the Indians should confine themselves to a large dis trict described by courses and bounds in the heart of the peninsula; that fugitive slaves should be delivered up, the reasonable expenses of securing them being provided for; and that certain sums should be paid by the gov ernment to compensate for the expenses and losses of re moval, and to establish the Indians comfortably in their new quarters. Various minor particulars were embodied in the treaty, which was signed with mark and seal, on the part of the Seminoles, by the principal chief Micanopy; by Tuske Hajo, Emathlochee, Econchatimico, Tokose- mathla (known as Hicks), Charley Amathla, Tustenugge, John Blunt, Mulatto King, Philip, Nea Mathla, and twenty- one others, possessed of or claiming the authority of chiefs. An exception was made, by an additional article, in favor of six of the signers ; who were allowed, in consid eration of former services, to remain upon the lands then occupied by them. Micanopy is described by Williams as a "large fat man, rather obtuse in intellect, but kind to his people and slaves." The Indians were removed in accordance with the provisions of the agreement, and, until 1835, no serious hostilities took place between them and the whites. Com plaints were, indeed, made on both sides of unredressed wrongs and outrages. The Alachuan settlers lost their cattle, and attributed the thefts to the Indians: on the other hand, the Indians complained, with justice, of num berless impositions and deceptions to which they were exposed in their intercourse with unprincipled traders and speculators. To quiet all disturbance it was at last deemed expedient L 128 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. by the American government, to Affect an entire removal of the Seminoles to the west of the Mississippi. Accord ingly, a meeting was appointed by Micanopy and the gov ernment emissaries, to be held at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha river, on the eighth of May, 1832. Fifteen chiefs were present, and, after much argument, signed an agreement, in behalf of themselves and their people, to accede to the proposals of government; provided the new lands assigned them should prove acceptable to a deputa tion from their number who should first go to make exam ination. The United States were to pay the tribe fifteen thousand four hundred dollars, and the removal was to take place within three years. The authority of the sign ers of this treaty to bind the whole of the Seminole tribes has been frequently, and with no little reason, called in question. Certain it is, that to a majority of the nation the proposition was highly -distasteful. Several chiefs, with Micanopy's prime counsellor Abra ham, an astute negro, undertook the survey of the west ern reserve, and signed a writing expressive of their satis faction with its appearance. It was claimed by the In dians, and their partisans, that some deception was used both in the wording of this certificate, and generally as to the collusiveness of the arrangements entered into at Payne's Landing. As the end of the term prescribed, within which they must leave their homes, drew near, opposition to removal, and determination to resist it, continued to gain force among the Indians. They complained of the accounts brought them of the belligerent character of the savages who would be their near neighbors, and strenuously ob jected to a plan, set on foot at Washington, for uniting their tribe with that of their old enemies the Creeks* Serious disturbances commenced in 1835. Some months previously, whites had been, upon one or two occasions, V S C F. L , FLORIDA INDIANS. 129 fired upon by the Indians, and mutual wrongs, insults, and injuries, had excited general ill-feeling between the two nations. In the month of October, of this year, sev eral Indians were detected in killing a cow near Kenapaha pond, not far from Miccosukie. They were set upon by seven whites, who seized their arms, and commenced beating them with whips. An affray succeeded, in which several were wounded on both sides, and two of the In dians were killed outright. This may be considered to be the commencement of the war : it was the first blood shed, but was soon followed by other outrages. The mail rider, upon his route from Fort Brooke, on Tampa Bay, to Fort King, fell a victim to Indian revenge ; his body was found hacked and mutilated. It now appeared that the Seminoles, determined to main tain their ground, had been, for some time, purchasing and hoarding great stores of arms and ammunition. Their numbers were considerable; they had among them lead ers known to be bold, determined, and sagacious; they considered themselves wronged and oppressed; and all these circumstances, combined with their intimate knowl edge of the impassable wilderness to which they could at any moment retire, convinced the discerning that a war with them must be fraught with danger and difficulty, and might be indefinitely protracted. The young chief, Osceola, whose name is more inti mately associated than any other with the bloody events that succeeded, now began to attract attention for his acuteness, energy, and determined hostility to the whites. He was a quadroon of the Red Stick (anglicized from the French "Baton Rouge") tribe, of Miccosukie; his mother being a half-breed, and his father supposed to be an Eng lishman named Powel a name ordinarily borne by the chief. Osceola had'^ppposed the plan of removal at pre vious councils, with great vigor, and on one occasion 9 130 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. demeaned himself with such violence that he was seized by General Thompson, the government agent, and kept for a day or two confined in fetters. Dissembling his rage, he, for a time, managed to disarm suspicion; bringing in a great number of his followers, and solemnly ratifying the treaty. His true purposes and feelings were first known by the part he took in the murder of John Hicks ' and Charley Amathla, two chiefs who had been prominent in forward ing the treaty of removal. He obtained great ascendancy for himself and followers among the whole nation of the Seminoles; and mainly through his influence, instead of collecting their cattle and stock for appraisal, at the time when they were notified that they must leave the country, the warriors of the tribe secreted their women and chil dren in swamps remote from white settlements, and scoured the* country in hostile attitude. Troops were ordered to Florida from various quar ters. Major Dade, arriving at Tampa Bay, with a com pany of United States' infantry, being reinforced, with two other companies, started, on the 24th of December, to the relief of General Clinch, at Fort King. His force consisted of over one hundred regular troops, supplied with ten days' provision: they took with them a small field-piece. Some delay occurred upon the march, owing to the difficulty of transporting the cannon, and on the 28th they had advanced no farther than a few miles to the northward of the forks of the Ouithlacoochee. Here they were attacked by an unknown multitude of Indians, under the command of Micanopy, and his brother-in-law, the celebrated Jumper, who had avoided signing the treaty of Moultrie Creek. The savages were crouching among the long wire-grass, and protected by the trunks of the pine-trees, when they commenced their fire. The effect was deadly; Major Dade and a great number of FLORIDA INDIANS. 131 his men were killed at the first discharge. The soldiers continued to fight bravely, sheltering themselves as well as possible behind trees; and, as the Indians rose up, poured in their fire so briskly as to drive the enemy from the field. Every instant was now occupied in forming a slight protection by cutting and piling up the trunks of pines. The Indians, however, soon returned in great force, and, surrounding the little entrenchment, destroyed nearly every man of the company. After they had taken possession of the arms which lay scattered around, the Indians retired, but a body of mounted negroes are said to have come up, and finished the murderous work by knocking out the brains of the wounded. Only four men escaped, being passed over by the negroes and Indians, as they lay wounded and motionless among the dead bodies. One of these was killed on the following day, while en deavoring to make his way back to the fort: the other three, cautiously threading their path through the wilder ness, arrived safe at Tampa Bay. On the same day with the destruction of Dade's com mand, Osceola revenged himself upon his hated foe, Gen eral Wiley Thompson, by whom he had been imprisoned, as before mentioned. A company of nine, among them General Thompson, were dining at the house of a Mr. Kogers, within fifty rods of Fort King, when the house was beset by Indians, and a volley poured in upon the company. Thompson and four others were killed; the rest escaped to the fort. In the course of the month, various plantations were destroyed in different parts of the country bordering on the Indian reserve, and some skirmishing took place. On the last day of December, General Clinch, who had been stationed at Fort Grane, thirty miles north-west of Fort King, being on his march towards Osceola's head quarters with a considerable force of Florida volunteers 132 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. and about two hundred regular "troops, encountered the enemy upon the left bank of the Ouithlacoochee. The Indians, numbering, as was supposed, about six hundred, headed by Osceola, fell upon the first division of the American army that had effected the passage of the river. The stream, contrary to expectation, was in no place fordable, and the only means of crossing was by a single canoe ; the horses passed the - river by swimming. The Indian commander evinced great bravery and con summate marksmanship, and his men, firing from the cover of a thick growth of underwood, and from behind trees, proved difficult opponents to dislodge. The troops, with one or two slight exceptions, stood firm, and after repeated charges, drove the Indians from the field. In this engage ment more than fifty Americans were wounded, and sev eral killed; the loss of the enemy was reported to have been over one hundred. Additional troops from Louisiana, and forces connected with the marine service, were collected at Tampa Bay ; and a large detachment, under General Gaines, marched to Fort King, where they arrived on the 22d of February. Pro visions being scarce, and the state of the roads being such that supplies could not be easily procured, Gaines and his force commenced their return to Tampa, by the route for merly taken by Clinch, across the Ouithlacoochee. On the bank of the river, no great distance from the scene of the last battle, the army was, in a manner, surrounded and besieged, for more than a week, by Indians, apparently to the number of from one to two thousand. A galling fire was kept up at every exposed point. Word was sent to Fort Drane, where General Clinch was stationed, for relief as the provisions of the army were nearly expended. On the 6th of March, a conference was held between the American officers and three of the principal Indian chiefs Osceola, Jumper, and Alligator. The camp had FLORIDA INDIANS. 133 been hailed during the previous night, and a wish for a parley expressed on the part of the savages. The chiefs professed a desire for peace ; said they were weary of war, and that, if they could be allowed to retire quietly beyond the Ouithlacoochee, and could remain there unmolested, they would create no further disturbance. They were informed that the general had no authority to conclude any agreement with them, and that their only course was to comply with the requisitions of the government, as forces, which it would be impossible for them to resist, were on their way to enforce submission. The Indian chiefs wished for an opportunity to take counsel with their great King Micanopy, before returning an answer; but General Clinch appearing, with the desired relief, and engaging with a detachment of the Indians, the meeting was broken up. They agreed, however, before retiring, to draw off their warriors to the south bank of the river, and to hold themselves ready to attend further council when notified. Nothing further was effected, and the combined Amer ican forces returned to Fort Drane. 134 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. CHAPTER' Y. CONDITION OF EAST FLORIDA GENERAL SCOTTS CAMPAIGN GAR RISON BESIEGED ON THE OUITHLACOOCHEE OCCURRENCES DUR ING THE SUMMER OF 1836 ARRIVAL OF CREEK ALLIES COLONEL LANES' EXPEDITION FROM TAMPA BATTLES OF THE WAHOO SWAMP ^GENERAL JESSUP AP POINTED TO THE COMMAND IN FLORIDA. "* * And there are tales of sad reality In the dark legends of thy border war." HALLECK. BY this time grievous injury had been done by the Indians to the settlements in East Florida. Philip was the principal leader in the devastations that took place in that region. New Smyrna, at Mosquito Inlet, was destroyed, and the plantations upon Halifax river, to the northward of the town, were ravaged and the settlers driven off. The white inhabitants of the interior were every where obliged either to abandon their homes, or to erect defences and to establish a regular watch. General Scott having been appointed to the command of the army in Florida during the spring of this year (1836), formed a plan to penetrate the heart of the country, with a large force, from three different quarters simulta neously, and thus surround the Indians, and cut off their retreat. Generals Clinch and Eustice, and Colonel Lindsey were appointed to lead the three divisions. General Clinch's party was attended by General Scott in person. The army was put in motion in the latter part of the month of March. The service was accomplished, but with little good effect. The Indians, possessing perfect knowledge of the country, instead of opposing the advancing columns in force, hung about the flanks and rear of the army, and kept FLORIDA INDIANS. 135 up a vexatious skirmishing. No important engagement took place, and the three divisions, after lying for a few days at Tampa, were again put in motion. Separate detach ments were ordered to proceed, one to Fort Drane, one to attack the enemy at Pease Creek, to the southward, one to ravage the country in the vicinity of the Ouithlacoochee, and another to march to Yolusia. Little benefit appears to have resulted from the cam paign : a careful attention to the plans of Indian warfare laid down, at an earlier age, by Captain Benjamin Church, of New England, or by the redoubtable pioneer of Vir ginia, Captain John Smith, might have produced effects far more decided. A small detachment of troops had been left, about the middle of March, to guard a quantity of provision, stored in a rude building fifteen miles up the Ouithlacoochee. Not having been heard from for many weeks after, they were supposed to have been cut off by the Indians, and no attempt was made to relieve them until towards the latter part of May, when three of the garrison managed to escape the vigilance of their besiegers, and to convey intelligence of their condition to Tallahassee. The small party had been defending their post gallantly for more than two months against hosts of the enemy; their block house had been partially destroyed over their heads, so that they were exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, and their provision consisted entirely of corn. A steamer was sent to the river's mouth, and the company was brought down to it in a barge. As the season advanced, the enervating influence of the climate produced its natural effect upon the troops. The fevers of the country attacked those who were not accli mated, and the rest were but poorly conditioned for an arduous campaign. Active operations for the most part ceased ; the volunteers were discharged, and the regular 136 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. soldiers distributed among the different forts extending from St. Augustine across the country to the Suwanne. The Indians were free to roam where they listed through the immense wilderness to the southward, and to lay plans of secret attack upon every exposed settlement or plantation. About the end of April, a terrible massacre took place at Charlotte Harbor; and in May and June, the country between the St. Johns and the Atlantic, nearly as far north as St. Augustine, was generally ravaged by the Indians. Their attacks extended to the vicinity of Mandarin, only sixteen or eighteen miles south of Jacksonville. A Mr. Motte, residing at that place, was murdered, and his estab lishment was destroyed. Early in June, the Indians, emboldened by success in the destruction of plantations, and the expulsion of the whites from such extensive districts, beset the fort at Micanopy, which was garrisoned by a company under the command of Major Heillman, then at the head of the army west of St. John's river. They were driven off, but not without some loss on the part of the whites. In July, Fort Drane had become so unhealthy that it was thought necessary to abandon it. As the troops were on their march upon the evacuation of the place, they had a sharp brush with some hundreds of Indians who lay in wait for them near Welika Pond, in the vicinity of Micanopy. Towards the close of the ; month the light house at Cape Florida was destroyed. The keeper, named Thompson, was singularly preserved by clinging to the top of the stone wall of the building, while the wood-work was burned out from within. After the Indians had, by their own act, cut off the means of access to the summit, they descried the unfortunate man, half dead with the heat and smoke, and shot at him a long time without effect. He was able to crouch in such a manner upon the top of the wall as to elude their aim, until they took their departure. FLORIDA INDIANS. 187 It would be impracticable, in a sketch of this kind, to give full particulars of the skirmishing, plundering, and murders which were to be heard of on every side during the summer of 1836. About the middle of August, it was ascertained that Osceola and a large company of his fol lowers were staying in the vicinity of the abandoned Fort Drane, for the sake of securing the corn growing upon the neighboring plantations. They were attacked and defeated by Major Pierce. In September a marauding party of Indians made their way to within seven miles of Jacksonville, where they attacked the house of Mr. Higginbotham. There were only two men in the house, but, having a number of guns, and receiving resolute assistance from the women of the family, they successfully resisted the assault. After the Indians had retired, Higginbotham hastened with all speed to Jacksonville, and procured a party of twelve men, under Major Hart, to pursue them. Taking the Indian trail, the company followed it to the house of Mr. Johns, ten miles distant from the scene of the attack. The build ing had been reduced to ashes, and the half-burned body of its proprietor lay among the ruins. Mrs. Johns had been scalped, and left to perish. Before their departure, one of the savages set fire to her clothes, but she managed to extinguish the flame, and to creep away from the burning building. In this miserable condition she was discovered, lying by the border of the swamp, and kindly cared for. The perpetrators of this outrage, having secured good horses, effected their escape. Before the end of this month, additional forces from Tennessee were brought into Florida, and a body of nearly a thousand Creeks, led by the Chiefs Paddy Carr and Jim Boy, came to lend their aid against the Indians of the penin sula. An army of from one to two thousand men, includ ing the Tennessee brigade, under Governor Call, marched, 138 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. in the beginning of October, to the deserted Fort Drane. but found that the Indians had recently left their quarters in that neighborhood. The trail of the fugitives was fol lowed towards the Ouithlacoochee, but the pursuit of sav ages, in their own country, especially in such a country as Florida, by regular troops, encumbered with baggage, and ignorant of the fastnesses of the enemy, proved as futile in that instance as upon former and subsequent occasions. Little was accomplished against the enemy, who were ena bled, at any time, to retreat beyond the reach of their pursuers, and only showed themselves where they could attack the whites at a disadvantage. Under existing cir cumstances, the main force was obliged to return to Fort Drane, not without the loss of a great number of their horses from hard service upon indifferent food. Colonel Lane, with a strong force of Creek Indians and regular troops, made an excursion into the enemy's country from Tampa Bay, during the early part of this month. Near the Ocklikany Lake, called the Spotted Lake, from the great number of small wooded islands which cover its surface, about sixty miles from Tampa, an Indian trail was struck. The party followed this track to the south ward, and came successively upon several considerable Indian villages deserted by the inhabitants. Large corn fields were seen in the vicinity of these settlements, and some hundreds of cattle were secured by the Creek Indians of the company. At one advantageous post, where the thick underwood on the borders of a small lake offered protection to an ambush, the Seminoles attempted, unsuc cessfully, to resist the invaders. They were driven out into the open country and dispersed. Lane and his detach ment joined General Call at Fort Drane on the 19th. He survived this service but a few days, being found in his tent, nearly dead, with the point of his sword thrust into the brain over his eye : there was little doubt among those FLORIDA INDIANS. 139 conversant with the circumstances of his death, but that it occurred accidentally. The combined army, of more than two thousand men, marched to the Ouithlacoochee in November. This region, which had been a favorite resort of the Seminoles through out the war, was now found entirely abandoned, and trails were discovered trending towards the great Wahoo Swamp. That the main body of the enemy had moved in that direction, was also affirmed by an old negro, found at an abandoned village on the river. Taking up the pursuit, a portion of the American forces followed the trail, and had a sharp engagement with the Indians on the border of the swamp. There was, however, abundant space for the fugitives to retreat into, where the whites were unable to follow them, and no heavy loss occurred on either side. Another battle took place on the 21st, in which the Seminoles displayed more resolution, and stood the charge of the regular troops with greater firmness, than had ever before been observed in them. The dangers of the exten sive morass to which they retreated proved more insur mountable than those attendant upon the contest with the savages themselves. Provisions being nearly exhausted, and it being impos sible to procure supplies in such a wilderness, the army proceeded to Volusia, between Lake George and Dexter's Lake. There it was joined by General Jessup, who had been appointed to the chief command in Florida, with four hundred mounted volunteers from Alabama. 140 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. CHAPTER VI. PURSUIT OF THE SEMINOLES SOUTHWARD ENCOUNTER ON THE HATCHEE LUSTEE CONFERENCE AND TRUCE WITH THE INDIANS RENEWAL OF THE TREATY OF PAYNE'S LANDING NEGLECT ON THE PART OF,THE INDIANS TO COMPLY WITH ITS PROVISIONS CAPTURE, SURRENDER, AND TREACHEROUS SEIZURE 'OF VARIOUS CHIEFS DEATH OF OSCEOLA COLO NEL TAYLOR'S CAMPAIGN. WE have already given more space to the details of the Florida campaign, than such ill-advised, ill-conducted, and trivial operations deserve. We would be the last to en deavor to detract from the deserved laurels of many of the brave men who were, engaged in them, while we can but lament that their lives should have been sacrificed; less by the weapons of the savages than by the diseases of the country; that the public money should have been squandered; and the whole peninsula so long kept in a state of agitation and suspense, when pacific measures might have kept matters comparatively at rest. Before the first of January, General Jessup, marching with his troops from Yolusia, with the cooperation of Colonel Foster, dispatched from Tampa, ranged the whole country on the Ouithlacoochee and other haunts of the Seminoles, and examined the deep recesses of the Wahoo morass, without finding an enemy. The Indian trails which were observed, all led to the unexplored wilderness of the south. Thither he started in pursuit of the fugitive Seminoles, on the 22d of January (1837). On the succeeding day, a detachment, under Colonel Cawfield, surprised Osuchee or Cooper, a Seminole chief, then encamped at Ahapopka Lake, from which flows the Ocklawaha. The chief and FLORIDA INDIANS. 141 several of his warriors were killed, and a number of pris oners were taken. The main army, still following the course of the Indian track, now came to the high ridge of sandy hills lying directly south of Lake Ahapopka. The second day after passing these hills, cattle of the Indians were seen, and shortly after a scouting party, under Colonel Henderson, discovered the enemy upon the borders of the stream of Hatchee Lustee. The troops instantly charged, and drove them into the swamp, taking twenty or thirty prisoners, mostly women and children. On the same day another large body of Indians was discovered a little farther to the westward, who fled pre cipitately upon the approach of troops. One of the Semi- noles was found watching by his sick wife, who had been left as unable to travel. This Indian was sent the next morning (January 28th) to invite the Seminole chiefs to a conference. The army was marched to the border of Tohopekaliga Lake, (into which empties the Hatchee Lus tee Creek,) and encamped between its waters and the Big Cypress swamp, to await the return of the messenger. He made his appearance on the following day, bringing intel ligence from the hostile chiefs, who agreed to have a par ley. The first who presented himself, on the part of the Seminoles, was Abraham, Micanopy's negro counsellor. Having held a consultation with General Jessup, he re turned to his people; but three days after, February 3d, escorted Jumper, Alligator, and two other chiefs to the camp. It was concluded that a grand talk should be held, and a new treaty entered into on the 18th of the month, at Fort Bade, on the Big Ouithlacoochee. To that estab lishment the army immediately repaired, as it was agreed that hostilities should be suspended until after the council. On the 8th of the month, several hundred Indians, led by Philip, the chief who had long been the terror of the 142 IXDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. eastern portion of the peninsula, attacked Colonel Fanning, then in the occupation of a station on Lake Monroe, with a mixed garrison of regulars, volunteers and Creeks. The Creek chief Paddy Carr was of the company. The assail ants were driven off with loss, and, in their retreat, met a messenger sent by Micanopy to convey intelligence of the truce. Some delays occurred in bringing about the conference assigned for the 18th, but at last most of the principal Seminole chiefs signed a treaty similar to that of Payne's Landing, whereby they agreed to remove west of the Mississippi. The United States' government was to make remuneration for the stock which must necessarily be left behind, and to pay stipulated annuities as before agreed. There can be but little doubt that, even on this occasion, the Indians had no real intention of complying with the requisitions of government. Few came in on the days appointed, and rumors were circulated among them whether actually believed, or only used as an excuse for absenting themselves, does not appear that the whites intended to destroy the whole tribe as soon as they should be secured on board the government vessels. Osceola and Coe Hajo, still pretending that their endeavor was to collect their people for transportation, held a great festival or game at ball near Fort Mellon, upon Lake Mon roe, at the eastern part of the peninsula. They doubtless chose this place for gathering their followers, as being at a safe distance from the point of embarkation on Tampa Bay. On the 2d of June, Osceola took two hundred of his warriors to Tampa Bay, and, either by force or persua sion, induced the old king Micanopy, and all the other Indians who had rendezvoused there in pursuance of the treaty, to move off again to the wilderness. Hearing of this, the commandant at Fort Mellon, Colonel Harney, made up his mind to entrap such of FLORIDA INDIANS. 143 the chiefs as were in his vicinity, under pretence of a conference; and retaliate upon the Seminoles for their breach of faith at Tampa, by seizing those who should appear. Osceola got wind of the design, and it conse quently proved futile. Fort Mellon and Yolusia were abandoned during this month; the sickness attendant upon the season having commenced its ravages among the troops ; and the Indians were left free to roam over that whole portion of the coun try, while the settlers whose dwellings were exposed to their assaults, were forced to fly to places of protection. The last of the month, Captain Walton, keeper of the floating light on Carysford reef, was killed, together with one of his assistants, at Key Largos, the most consider able of the Florida Keys. He had a garden at this island, and had just landed, coming from the light, when he and his party were fired upon. The whole south eastern sea-coast was then in undisturbed possession of the hostile Indians. In September, General Hernandez, stationed at Fort Pey ton, a few miles from St. Augustine, made an expedition to the southward, and captured the dreaded -Philip, Uchee Billy, -and nearly one hundred other Indians and negroes. Philip's son coming with a flag of truce to St. Augustine, was taken prisoner, and retained in captivity. Other chiefs and warriors among them Tustenugge delivered themselves up at Black Creek, and several cap tures were made at other points; but the most important transaction of this autumn whether justifiable or not was the seizure of Osceola, Alligator, and six other of the leading Seminoles. They had come into the neighbor hood of Fort Peyton, and sent word to General Jessup that they desired a parley. General Hernandez was deputed to hold the conference, but the talk of the Indians being pronounced "evasive 144 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. and unsatisfactory," the commander-in-chief dispatched a force to capture the whole body ; these chiefs accordingly, with over sixty followers, fell into the hands of their ene mies. The excuse given for this act was that the treachery of the Indians upon former occasions had deprived them of all claims to good faith on the part of the whites. Osceola was removed to Charleston, and died in confine ment on the 30th of January, 1838. If he had survived, he was to have been taken, with other Seminoles, to the west of the Mississippi. In the same month various other captures were made, until the Indians in bondage at St. Augustine numbered nearly one hundred and fifty. The United States forces, consisting of regulars, volunteers, seamen, and Indian allies, distributed among the various posts in Florida at this time, are set down at little short of nine thousand men ! Sam Jones, or Abiaca, was, after the capture of Osceola, one of the most forward of the Seminole chiefs. He ap pears to have been spokesman at a conference held, not far from this time, between his tribe and deputies from the Creek nation, bearing proposals and advice from their celebrated chief John Ross. "We must next proceed to the campaign of Colonel Zach- ary Taylor, the hero of many battles, and afterwards the distinguished President of the United States. He left Fort Gardner, a station sixty miles due east from Fort Brooke, on Tampa Bay, with some six hundred troops, to follow the enemy into their hidden retreats at the south. Pursuing the course of the Kissimee, the army had ad vanced within fifteen miles of the great lake Okeechobee, on the northern borders of the unexplored everglades, when intelligence was obtained from a prisoner, that the Seminoles were encamped in force on the eastern shore of the Kissimee lake. With a portion of his army, Colonel Taylor crossed the river, and hastened to attack the In- FLORIDA INDIANS. 145 dians in the hammock where they were posted. Never before had the Indian rifles done more deadly execution, and never had their warriors evinced more determined courage. They were, with great difficulty, dislodged and dispersed : the number of killed and wounded on the part of the whites considerably exceeded that of the Indians, no less than one hundred and eleven of Col. Taylor's men being wounded, and twenty-eight killed. CHAPTER VII. VARIOUS MINOR ENGAGEMENTS SURRENDER OF LARGE NUMBERS OF INDIANS CONTINUANCE OF DEPREDATIONS BLOOD-HOUNDS FROM CUBA ATTACK UPON A COMPANY OF ACTORS SEMINOLE CHIEFS BROUGHT BACK FROM THE WEST TO REPORT THEIR CONDITION TO THEIR COUNTRYMEN COL. HARNEY's EXPEDITION TO THE EVERGLADES END OF THE WAR INDIANS SHIPPED WEST NUMBERS STILL REMAINING IN FLORIDA. DURING December (1837), several encounters of minor importance took place in different parts of the country. Many prisoners were taken in the district between Fort Mellon and Lake Poinsett, near the head waters of the St. John's, and a small skirmish occurred as far north as the Suwanne. There was a more severely-contested action near Fort Fanning, on this river, early in January (1838), in which the whites met with some loss, but succeeded in taking a number of prisoners. On the eastern sea-coast, not far from Jupiter Inlet, a company under Lieutenant Powell was worsted in an en gagement, and retreated with loss. The Indians had been driven into a swamp on Lochahatchee Creek, where they 10 146 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. made a spirited resistance until, their pursuers found it necessary to retreat. General Jessup attacked and broke up this encampment of the Indians, towards the end of January.- He was him self wounded in the action. Toskegee was the chief who commanded the Seminoles in both these battles. The General was now anxiojis to conclude a treaty with the Indians, by which they should be allowed to remain in their own country, confining themselves to specified districts, but the government refused assent to any such proposition. He nevertheless proceeded to bring about parleys with his savage opponents, as it was evident that desultory hostilities might be indefinitely protracted. The Seminoles, miserably reduced by the troubled life they had led so long, and weary of profitless warfare, hard ship and exposure, were induced to surrender in large numbers. They apparently expected to be allowed to remain in the country, as they were assured by the officers with whom they treated, that every endeavor would be made to procure that permission from the government. When General Jessup left Florida, in April, 1838, leav ing General Taylor in command, more than two thousand of the dangerous tribe were in the power of the whites. Part of these had been captured, but the larger portion had delivered themselves up upon fair promises. Philip and Jumper both died on their route to the west, the former on board the vessel in which he was embarked, and the latter at New Orleans. The hopes entertained, after these events, that the war was substantially at an end, proved fallacious. Murders were committed during the summer and fall, by prowling parties of Indians in widely- distant parts of the country. On the Ocklikoni and Oscilla rivers in West Florida, small establishments suffered from the depredations of the savages; and their hostile feeling was manifest whenever FLORIDA INDIANS. 147 a vessel was in distress upon the dangerous eastern and southern coast. This desultory warfare, marked by many painful and horrible details of private suffering and disaster, continued until the spring of 1839. ISTo conference could be obtained with the leading chiefs, and Indians were every where lurking in small bands ready to fire upon the solitary trav eller, or to rush at an unguarded hour upon an isolated plantation. General Macomb, who had command of the army during April and May, succeeded in bringing about a parley with some of the Seminoles, in which it was agreed that the tribe should stay peaceably in Florida until intelligence could be brought of the safe arrival and prosperous con dition of the captives already shipped westward. The Tallahassee chief Tigertail, and Abiaca, having had no concern with this treaty, refused to abide by it, and bloody skirmishes and assassinations continued to be heard from on every side. The government of Florida now offered a bounty of two hundred dollars for each Indian secured or killed. We cannot even enumerate one half the petty engage ments and sanguinary transactions of the ensuing winter and spring. In March, 1840, bloodhounds were brought into Florida from Cuba, to aid in tracking and ferreting out the savages from their lurking places. General Tay lor had been authorized, during the preceding autumn, to procure this novel addition to the efficient force of the army, and natives of the island were also secured to train and manage the dogs. There was a great outcry raised, and perhaps justly, at this barbarous plan of warfare, but little seems to have resulted from the operation except the furnishing a valuable breed of the animal for future do mestic use, and the supplying of excellent subject matter for the caricaturists, who made the war a theme for ridicule. 148 INDIAN BACES OF AMERICA, Before the 1st of June, many -more families were mas sacred, and several bloody engagements occurred between comparatively small companies of whites and Indians. Near the close of May, a ludicrous though tragical inci dent took place on the road between Picolata and St. Augustine. A company of play-actors,'en route for the latter town, were set upon by the noted chief Wild Cat, with a large body of Indians. Four were killed, and the "property" of the establishment fell into the hands of the savages. Nothing could have delighted them more than an acquisi tion so congenial to their tastes. The tawdry red velvet, spangles, and sashes, which every where obtain as the ap propriate costume of the stage, were now put to a new use, and served as royal appendages to the dusky forms of the Seminole warriors. Decked in this finery, they made their exultant appearance before Fort Searle, challengiDg the little garrison to an engagement. The month of August was marked by scenes of terrible interest. On the Suwanne, eleven families were driven from their homes, and many of their members murdered : the settlement on Indian Key was almost totally destroyed, six persons being massacred. Nothing was accomplished in any way tending to bring the war to an end, or to miti gate its horrors, until autumn. It was resolved, at last, to try fair measures, since foul proved of so little avail, and a number of the principal Seminoles who had experienced the realities of a western life, among whom were old Micanopy and Alligator, were brought back to Florida, for the purpose of pointing out to their brethren the advantages of their new homes, and inducing peaceable compliance with the intended removal. A meeting was obtained at Fort King, early in November, with Tigertail and other Seminole chiefs, bat after a few days of profitless parley, the whole of the hostile party FLORIDA INDIANS. 149 disappeared, and with, them all prospect of an amicable settlement of difficulties. The Indians continued their depredations, murdering and plundering with greater boldness than ever. In De cember, Colonel Harney attacked the enemy in quarters, which they had till then occupied in undisturbed security, viz: the islands and dry spots of that waste of "grass- water," as the natives term it, the Everglades. He had obtained a negro guide, who knew of the haunts of the chief Chaikika and his people, and, taking a considerable company in boats, he proceeded to beat up his quarters. The party came upon the Indians most unexpectedly: Chaikika was shot by a private after he had thrown down his arms, and his men, with their families, were surrounded and taken before they had time to escape. Nine of the men were hanged ! on the ground that they were concerned in the Indian Key massacre; some of the property plun dered on that occasion being found in the camp. The only other important event of the month was the surrender of a son and a brother of the old and implaca ble chieftain Tigertail. They delivered themselves up at Fort King. In Middle Florida, travelling continued as unsafe as ever, unless in well-armed companies, of force sufficient to keep the lurking savages in awe. We have now chronicled the principal events *of this tedious, harassing, and most expensive war. Hostilities did not, indeed, cease at the period under our present consideration, but a knowledge of the true policy to be pursued towards these ignorant and truly unfortunate savages began to be generally diffused, and more concili atory measures were adopted. John C. Spencer, Secretary of War, in November, 1842, reported that, during the current year, four hundred and fifty Indians had been sent west of the Mississippi from Florida, r,nd that two hundred more were supposed to have 150 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. surrendered. This report proceeds: "The number of troops has been gradually diminished, leaving an adequate number to protect the inhabitants from the miserable remnants of tribes, still remaining. We have advices that arrangements have been made with all but a very few of those Indians for their removal west of the Mississippi, or to the district in the southern part of the peninsula assigned | them for their habitation ; and it is believed that, by this time, all the bands north of that district, have agreed to cease hostilities and remove there. Two or three instan ces of outrages have occurred since the orders were issued j for the termination of hostilities, but they are ascertained to have been committed by bands who were ignorant of the measures adopted, or of the terms offered." Some difficulty arose from the extreme dislike which the Seminoles who were moved westward entertained of being located upon the same district with the Creeks, and a deputation from their body of a number of warriors, including Alligator and Wild Cat, repaired to the seat of government for redress. Measures were taken to satisfy them. The Indians who still keep possession of a district in Southern Florida, consisting of Seminoles, Micasaukies, Creeks, lichees and Choctaws, are variously estimated as numbering from three hundred and fifty to five hundred, including women and children. Seventy -six were shipped to the west in 1850. As a tribe, they have long been at peace with their white neighbors, although some individuals of these people have, and at no distant date, given proof that the spirit of the savage is not yet totally extinct. THE INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. CHAPTER I. EXPEDITION OF AMIDAS AND BARLOW OF SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE OF BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLL, WITH CAPTAIN SMITH SETTLE MENT AT JAMESTOWN VISIT TO POWHATAN IMPROVIDENCE AND DIFFICULTIES OF THE COLONISTS EXPLORATION OF THE CHICKAHOMINY SMITH TAKEN PRISONER HIS TREATMENT BY THE INDIANS. " He lived, the impersonation of an age That never shall return. His soul of fire Was kindled by the breath of the rude times He lived in." BRYANT. THE most complete and veracious account of the man ners, appearance, and history of the aboriginal inhabitants of Virginia, particularly those who dwelt in the eastern portion of that district, upon the rivers and the shores of Chesapeake Bay, is contained in the narrative of the re doubted Captain John Smith. This bold and energetic pioneer, after many "strange ventures, happ'd by land or sea;" still a young man, though a veteran in military ser vice; and inured to danger and hardship, in battle and captivity among the Turks, joined his fortunes to those of Bartholomew Gosnoll and his party, who sailed from Eng land on the 19th of December, 1606, (0. S.) to form a settlement on the Western Continent. Former attempts to establish colonies in Virginia had terminated disastrously, from the gross incompetence, ex- 152 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. travagant expectations, improvidence, and villanous con duct of those engaged in them. In 1584, Sir Walter Ealeigh and his associates, under a patent from Queen Elizabeth, had sent -out two small vessels, commanded by Amidas and Barlow. By the cir cuitous route then usually adopted, the exploring party passed the West Indies, coasted along the fragrant shores of Florida, and entered Ocrakoke Inlet in the month of July, enraptured with the rich and fruitful appearance of the country. Grapes grew to the very borders of the sea, overspreading the bushes and climbing to the tops of trees in luxurious abundance. Their intercourse with the natives was friendly and peaceful; as they reported, "a more kind, loving people could not be." They carried on trade and barter with Granganimeo, brother to Winginia, king of the country, and were royally entertained by his wife at the island of Eoanoke. Wingandacoa was the Indian name of the country, and, on the return of the expedition, in the ensuing September, it was called Virginia, in honor of the queen. Sir Kichard Grenville, an associate of Ealeigh, visited Virginia the next year (1585), and left over one hundred men to form a settlement at Eoanoke. Being disappointed in their anticipations of profit, or unwilling to endure the privations attendant upon the settlement of a habitation in the wilderness, all returned within a year. A most unjustifiable outrage was committed by the English of this party, on one of their exploring expeditions. In the words of the old narrative, "At Aquascogoc the Indians stole a silver cup, w r herefore we burnt the Towne and spoyled their eorne; so returned to our fleete at Tocokon." This act is but a fair specimen of the manner in which redress haa been sought for injuries sustained at the hands of the natives, not only in early times, but too often at the present day. C si P T Jl I -V J O ft JV 5 M I T //. INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 153 It is not surprising that thereafter the Indians should have assumed a hostile attitude. Granganimeo was dead, and Winginia, who had now taken the name of Pemissa- pan, formed a plan to cut off these disorderly invaders of his dominions. This resulted only in some desultory skir mishing ; and, a few days afterwards, the fleet of Sir Fran cis Drake appearing in the offing, the whole colony con cluded to return to England. Mr. Thomas Heriot, whose journal of this voyage and, settlement is preserved, gives a brief account of the super stitions, customs, and manner of living which he observed among the savages. In enumerating the animals which were used for food by the Indians, he mentions that "the salvages sometimes killed a Lyon and eat him " He con cludes his narrative by very justly remarking, that some of the company "shewed themselves too furious in slaying some of the people in some Townes vpon causes that on our part might have bin borne with more mildnesse." Grenville, in the following year, knowing nothing of the desertion of the settlement, took three ships over to America, well furnished for the support and relief of those whom he had left on the preceding voyage. Finding the place abandoned, he left fifty settlers to reoccupy it, and returned home. On the next arrival from England the village was again found deserted, the fort dismantled, and the plantations overgrown with weeds. The bones of one man were seen, but no other trace appeared to tell the fate of the colony. It afterwards appeared, from the narra tions of the savages, that three hundred men from Aquas- cogoc and other Indian towns had made a descent upon the whites, and massacred the whole number. The experiment of colonization was again tried, and again failed : of over one hundred persons, including some females, who landed, none were to be found by those who went in search of them in 1589, nor was their fate ever 154: INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. ascertained. It is recorded that, before the departure of the ships that brought over this colony, on the 18th of August (0. S.), the governor's, daughter, Ellinor Dare, gave birth to an infant, which was named Virginia, and was the first white child born in the country. "We now return to Gosnoll and his companions, num bering a little over one hundred, who, as we before men tioned, visited the country in 1606. They sailed from England with sealed orders, which were not to be opened until their arrival in America., Landing on Cape Henry, at the entrance of the Chesapeake, the hostile feelings of the Indians were soon made manifest; "thirtie of the company recreating themselves on shore were assaulted by Hue Salvages, who hurt two of the English very dan gerously." The box containing the orders from the author ities in England being opened, Smith was found to be one of the number appointed as a council to govern the colony; but he was, at that time, in close custody, in consequence of sundry absurd and jealous suspicions which had been excited against him on the voyage, and he was therefore refused all share in the direction of the public affairs. Before the return of the ships, however, which took place in June, the weak and ill-assorted colony were glad to avail themselves of the services and counsel of the bold and persevering captain. His enemies were disgraced, and his authority was formally acknowledged. Meantime, the settlement was commenced at Jamestown, forty miles up the Powhatan, now James' river. The Indians appeared friendly, and all hands fell to work at the innumerable occupations which their situation required. A few ruins, and the picturesque remains of the old brick church-tower still standing, utterly deserted amid the growth of shrubs and willows, are all that remains of the intended city. Newport and Smith, with a company of twenty men, were sent to explore the upper portion of the river, and INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 155 made their way to the town of Powhatan, situated upon a bluff just below the falls, and at the head of navigation^ the same spot afterwards chosen for the site of the capitol of the state. The natives were peaceable and kind to the adventurers, receiving them with every demonstration of interest and pleasure, and rejoiced at the opportunity for traffic in beads and ornaments. As they approached Jamestown, on their return, they perceived some hostile demonstrations ; and arriving there, found that seventeen . men had been wounded, and that one boy had been killed by the Indians during their absence. Wiugfield, the president of the colony, had injudiciously neglected to make any secure fortifications, and the people, leaving their arms stored apart, set to work without a guard; thus giving to the lurking foe convenient oppor tunity for an assault. After Captain Newport had sailed for England, the colonists, left to their own resources, were reduced to great straits and privation. Most of them were men utterly unfitted for the situation they had chosen, and unable to endure labor and hardship. Feeding upon damaged wheat, with such fish and crabs as they could catch ; worn out by unaccustomed toil ; unused to the climate, and ignorant of its diseases; it is matter of little wonder that fifty of the company died before the month of October. Smith, to whom all now looked for advice, and who was virtually at the head of affairs, undertook an expedi tion down the river for purposes of trade. Finding that the natives "scorned him as a famished man," deri sively offering a morsel of food as the price of his arms, he adopted a very common expedient of the time, using force where courtesy availed not. After a harmless dis charge of muskets, he landed and marched up to a village where much corn was stored. He would not allow his men to plunder, but awaited the expected attack of the 156 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. natives. A party of sixty or seventy presently appeared, "with a most hideous noise some black, some red, some white, some parti-colored, they came in a square order, singing and dauncing out of the woods, with their Okee (which was an Idoll made of skinnes stuffed with mosse, all painted and hung with chaines and copper,) borne before them." A discharge of pistol-shot from the guns scattered them, and they fled, leaving their Okee. Being now ready to treat, their image was 'restored, and beads, copper and hatchets were given by Smith to their full satisfaction, in return for provisions. The improvident colonists, by waste and inactivity, counteracted the efforts of Smith: and Wingfield, the former president, with a number of others, formed a plan to seize the pinnace and return to England. This con spiracy was not checked without some violence and blood shed. As the weather grew colder with the change of season, game became fat and plenty, and the Indians on Chickahamania river were found eager to trade their corn for English articles of use or ornament; so that affairs began to look more prosperous. During the ensuing winter, Smith, with a barge and boat's crew, undertook an exploration of the sources of 'the Chickahamania, (Chickahominy,) which empties into James' river, a few miles above Jamestown. After making his way for about fifty miles up the stream, his progress was so impeded by fallen trees and the narrowness of the channel, that he left the boat and crew in a sort of bay, and proceeded in a canoe, accompanied only by two Eng lishmen, and two Indian guides. The men left in charge of the boat, disregarding his orders to stay on board till his return, were set upon by a great body of the natives, and one of their number, George Cassen, was taken pris oner. Having compelled their captive to disclose the intentions and position of the captain, these savages pro- INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 157 ceeded to put him to death in a most barbarous manner, severing his limbs at the joints with shells, and burning them before his face. As they dared not attack the armed company in the boat, all hands then set out in hot pursuit of Smith, led by Opechancanough, king of Pamaunkee. Coming upon the little party among the marshes, far up the river, they shot the two Englishmen as they were sleeping by the canoe; and, to the number of over two hundred, surrounded the gallant captain, who, accompa nied by one of his guides, was out with his gun in search of game. Binding the Indian fast to his arm, with a gar ter, as a protection from the shafts of the enemy, Smith made such good use of his gun that he killed three of his assailants and wounded several others. The whole body stood at some distance, stricken with terror at the unwonted execution of his weapon, while he slowly retired towards the canoe. Unfortunately, attempting to cross a creek with a miry bottom, he stuck fast, together with his guide, and, becoming benumbed with cold, for the season was unusually severe, he threw away his arms, and surren dered himself prisoner. Delighted with their acquisition, the savages took him to the fire, and restored animation to his limbs by warmth and friction. He immediately set himself to conciliate the king, and presenting him with an ivory pocket compass, proceeded to explain its use, together with many other scientific matters, greatly beyond the comprehension of the wild creatures who gathered around him in eager and astonished admiration. Perhaps with a view of trying his courage, they presently bound him to a tree, and all made ready to let fly their arrows at him, but were stayed by a sign from the chief. They then carried him to Orapaks, where he was well fed, and treated with kindness. When they reached the town, a strange savage dance was performed around Opechancanough and his captive, r~ 158 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. by the whole body of warriors, armed and painted ; while the women and children looked on with wonder and curi osity. The gaudy color of the oil and pocones with which their bodies were covered, "made an exceeding handsome show," and each had "his bow in his hand, and the skinne of a bird with her wings abroad, dryed, tyed on his head, a peece of copper, a white shell, a long feather, with a small rattle growing at the tayles of their snakes tyed to it, or some such like toy." Although the Indians would not, as yet, eat with their prisoner, he was so feasted that a suspicion arose in his mind that they "would fat him to eat him. Yet, in this desperate estate, to defend him from the cold, one Mocas- sater, brought him his gowne, in requitall of some beades and toyes Smith had given him at his first arrival in Vir ginia," One of the old warriors, whose son had been wounded at the time of the capture, was with difficulty restrained from killing him. The young Indian was at his last gasp, but Smith, wishing to send information to Jamestown, said that he had there a medicine of potent effect. The messengers sent on this errand made their way to Jamestown, "in as bitter weather as could be of frost and snow," carrying a note from Smith, written upon "part of a Table booke." They returned, bringing with them the articles requested in the letter, "to the wonder of all that heard it, that he could either divine, or the paper could speake." A plan was at that time on foot to make an attack upon the colony, and such rewards as were in their power to be stow "life, liberty, land and women" were proffered to Smith by the Indians, if he would lend his assistance. They now made a triumphal progress with their illus trious captive, among the tribes on the Bappahanock and Potomac rivers, and elsewhere; exhibiting him to the Youthtanunds, the Mattapamients, the Payankatanks, the INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 159 JSTantaughtacunds, and Onawmaiiients. Eeturning to Pa- maunkee, a SDlemn incantation was performed, with a view to ascertain his real feelings towards them. Having seated him upon a mat before a fire, in one of the larger cabins, all retired, "and presently came skip ping in a great grim fellow, all painted over with coal mingled with dyle; and many Snakes and Wesels skins stuffed with' mosse, and all their tayles tied together, so as they met on the crowne of his head in a tassell ; and round about the tassell was a coronet of feathers, the skins hang ing round about his head, backe and shoulders, and in a manner covered his face ; with a hellish voyce and a rattle in his hand." He sprinkled a circle of meal about the fire, and commenced his conjuration. Six more "such like devils," then entered, fantastically bedaubed with red "Mutchatos" (Mustaches) marked upon their, faces, and having danced about him for a time, sat down and sang a wild song to the accompaniment of their rattles. The chief conjuror next laid down five kernels of corn, and proceeded to make an extravagant oration with such violence of gesture that his veins swelled and the perspi ration started from his body. "At the conclusion they all gave a short groane, and then laid down three grains more." The operation was continued "till they had twice incirculed the fire," and was then varied by using sticks instead of .corn. All these performances had some mystic signification, which was in part explained to the captain. Three days were spent in these wearisome barbarities, each day being passed in fasting, and the nights being as regularly ushered in with feasts. Smith was, after this, entertained with the best of cheer at the house of Opitcha- pam, brother to the king. He still observed that not one of the men would eat with him, but the remains of the feast were given him to be distributed among the women and children. 160 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. He was here shown a bag of gunpowder, carefully preserved as seed against the next planting season. CHAPTER II. COURT OF POWHATAN SMITH'S PRESERVATION BY POCAHONTAS SUPPLIES FURNISHED BY THE INDIANS NEWPORT'S ARRIVAL SMITH'S EXPEDITIONS UP THE CHESAPEAKE. THE great monarch of the country, Powhatan, at this period, was holding his court at Werowocomoco, on the left bank of York river, and thither Smith was conveyed to await the royal pleasure. The reception of so import ant a captive was conducted with suitable solemnity and parade. Powhatan sat upon a raised seat before a fire, in a large house, clothed with a robe of racoon skins, the tails hanging in ornamental array. He was an old man, about sixty years of age, of noble figure, and that com manding presence natural in one born to rule with undis puted authority over all around him. A young girl sat on each side of the king, and marshalled around the room were rows of warriors and women, bedecked with beads, feathers and paint. Smith's entrance was hailed by a shout; the queen of Appamatuck brought him water to wash, and he was magnificently entertained, as a distinguished guest of the king. The strange scene which ensued, so replete with pathos and poetic interest, must be given in the simple language of the old historian. Having ended his repast, "a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan : then as many as could, layd hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and o ( ./ // u A' 7V/ -s /jvv A; /< /' o -v /.VG i-'iiR c.-y /' 7'^ /.v INDIANS OF YIKGINIA. 161 being ready with their clubs to beate out his braines, Po- cahontas, the king's dearest daughter, when no intreaty could prevaile, got his head in her armes, and laid her owne vpon his to saue him from death: whereat the Em- perour was contented he should liue to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads and copper; for they thought him as well of all occupations as themselues." The worthy captain's own rhymes describe his appear ance and state of mind at this crisis: "They say he bore a pleasant show, but sure his heart was sad; For who can pleasant be and rest, that Hues in fear and dread?" Entertaining his captive as a privileged guest, Powhatan now held Jong consultations with him, giving wonderful accounts of the vast western country and its inhabitants. Smith responded with details, equally amazing to the sav age monarch, of the power and magnificence of the East. After two days of friendly intercourse, Smith was informed that he should return in safety to Jamestown; but as a prelude to the conveyance of this satisfactory intelligence, Powhatan was at much pains to get up a theatrical scene that should impress or terrify his prisoner. Left alone in a large cabin, Smith's ears were, saluted by strange and frightful noises from behind a mat partition, and, inconti nently, Powhatan, with some hundreds of attendants, all like himself, in hideous disguises, made his appearance. He appointed twelve Indians to guide him to the settle ment, requesting that a grindstone and two great guns should be sent back, by them, in return for liberty and favours received at his hands. Captain Smith, well knowing the capricious disposition of his captors, felt little security or ease, until he was safely restored to his companions at Jamestown. His absence had been severely felt: confusion and dis sension were rife among the inhabitants of the colony, and 11 162 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. the strong arm and determined will of the bold captain were required to. keep order, and restrain those who were again inclined to effect an escape in the pinnace. The two guns (demi-culverins), together with a mill stone, were brought out, and proffered to the guides ; but, seeing the terrible effect of a discharge of stones among the branches of an ice-covered tree, the poor savages were greatly terrified, and thankfully accepted divers toys in place of so weighty and dangerous 'a present. So reduced were the settlers at this time, that all must have perished with starvation but for the intercourse established by Smith between them and the people of Powhatan. Every four or five days, his noble and gener ous little protectress, Pocahontas she was then only about ten years of age would make her appearance, accompa nied by attendants laden with provisions. Part of these supplies came as presents from the king or his daughter; for the rest, the price paid in toys and articles of use was left entirely at Smith's discretion, "so had he inchanted these poore soules, being their prisoner." Captains Newport and Nelson now arrived from Eng land, with two ships, laden with necessaries and articles of traffic. Eejoiced at the arrival of friends and provi sions, the colonists allowed the sailors to hold what inter course they pleased with the natives, and the consequence was that the market was soon spoiled by the irregularity of prices offered by the English for the Indian commodi ties. Smith had possessed Powhatan and his people with extravagant ideas of the power and majesty of Newport, whose speedy arrival he predicted, and preparations were now made to give a still more forcible impression. Mes sengers were sent to inform the Indian monarch that the great captain of the seas had reached Jamestown, and would make a visit of state to his royal friend and ally. The pinnace was made ready for this purpose, and "a great INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 163 cojle there was to set him forward." When they had arrived at Werowocoinoco, Newport was wary and cau tious, fearing treachery on the part of the savages, and Smith therefore volunteered to go forward, with a small company, and see that the coast was clear. Over the creeks which meandered through the marshy country, bridges were found, but of so frail a structure, being com posed of poles bound with bark, that some suspicions were entertained that they might be intended as traps. Smith therefore kept some of the chief Indians, who acted as guides, in the midst of his company, for security against attack. All their suspicion proved groundless: Powhatan re ceived the officers with the greatest distinction, entertained them hospitably, and celebrated their coming with feasts and dances. The great king " carried himself so proudly yet discreetly (in his salvage manner) as made all admire his naturall gifts." He declined any petty traffic, but requested Newport to bring forward at once all the goods that he had brought for trade, expressing his willingness to give full return. His desire was complied with, New port wishing to outdo the king in generosity and show of munificence ; but the result hardly equalled his expecta tion, for the cunning savage, says the narrator, "valued his corne at such a rate that I think it better cheape in Spain." A few blue beads in the possession of Smith now caught the eye of Powhatan, and aroused his curiosity and avarice. The wary captain pretended to be loth to part with them, as being of a "most rare substance of the colour of the skyes, and not to be worn but by the greatest kings in the world. This made him half madde to be the owner of such strange Jewels," and, to obtain them, he readily paid an immense quantity of corn, esteeming himself still the gainer. The trade in blue beads, after this, became a royal monopoly. 164 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. The party returned to Jamestown; but only to experi ence greater privation and hardship than ever. The town took fire, and much of their provisions, cloth ing, and other means of comfort was -destroyed. The winter was bitterly cold, and nearly the whole colony, together with the crews of the ships, were possessed with an insane desire to search Jor gold, to the neglect of the labors necessary to secure health and prosperity. From these causes more, than half their number perished. The Indians, seeing their weakness, became insolent and exacting, and, but for Smith r whose prompt and energetic action, without actual bloodshed, subdued and brought them to terms, they might have completely overawed, and perhaps have extirpated the colony. Those whom the English took prisoners insisted that the hostilities were in accordance with the orders of Powhatan: but he, on the other hand, averred that it was the work of some of his unruly subordinates. The conciliatory mes sage was brought by "his dearest daughter Pocahontas," whose appearance ever had the most potent influence with the brave man for whom she felt such filial attachment, and who was bound to her by every tie of gratitude and affection. Upon the 2d of June, 1608, Captain Smith, with four teen companions one half "gentlemen," the rest "sol diers" undertook his celebrated exploration of Chesa peake Bay. Their conveyance was a large open barge. They first shaped their course for the isles lying off Cape Charles, still known as Smith's Isles, and thence reentered the bay. Passing Cape Charles, they saw "two grim and stout salvages," armed with bone-headed lances, who fearlessly questioned them as to whence they came and whither they were bound. They were subjects of the Werowance of Accomack, on the eastern shore of the bay; and, being kindly entreated, responded with INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 165 equal civility, and directed the English Jo their king's head-quarters. They found the chief to be the "comliest, proper, civill savage" that they had ever held communion with. He gave a most singular account of a pestilence which had not long before carried off the greater portion of his people, Two children had died, probably of some infectious dis ease, and "some extreame passions, or dreaming visions, phantasies, or affection moued their parents againe to revisit their dead carkases, whose benummed bodies reflected to the eyes of the beholders such delightfull countenances as though they had regained their vitall spirits."" Great crowds gathered to see this spectacle, nearly all of whom, shortly after, died of some unknown disease. These Indians spoke the Powhatan dialect, and enter tained Smith with glowing descriptions of the beauties and advantages of the bay, to the northward. Proceed ing on their voyage, the navigators entered the river of Wighcocomoco, on the eastern shore, where the inhabit ants exhibited great rage and hostility, but perceiving that no harm was intended them, with true savage caprice, fell to dancing and singing, in wonder and merriment at the novel spectacle. No good water was to be obtained here, and Smith with his crew made short tarrying. Still coast ing along the eastern portion of the bay, they reached the Cuskarawaok, where great troops of savages followed them along the bank, climbing into the trees, and discharging their arrows with "the greatest passion they could ex- presse of their anger." As the party could not by signs give them to understand that they came peacefully, a dis charge of pistol-shot was directed, which produced the usual effect, scattering the Indians in every direction. On landing, not a native could be found: the English there fore left a few beads, bells, looking-glasses, and bits of copper in the huts and returned on board their barge. 166 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. Next morning the poor simple savages, dismissing all fear, gathered round them to the number, as appeared, of two or three thousand, eager to offer whatever was in their power to bestow for "a little bead" or other trivial toy. These people were the Sarapinagh, Nause, Arseek, and Mantaquak, and they showed such readiness to trade, that Smith pronounced them the "best marchants of all other salvages." They gave wonderful accounts of the power ful and warlike Massawomekes, who lived to the north ward, and were identical with the Iroquois or Six Nations. Some of the crew falling sick, and the rest becoming weary and discontented with their unaccustomed fatigue and exposure, Smith, much against his inclination, turned towards home, "leaving the bay some nine miles broad, at nine and ten fadom water." Entering the Potomac, on the 16th of June, it was determined to explore it, as the sick men had recovered. No Indians were seen until the company had passed thirty miles up the river; but, ar riving at a creek in the neighborhood of Onawmanient, "the woods were layd with ambuscade's, to the number of three or foure thousand salvages, so strangely paynted, grimed and disguised, shouting, yelling and crying as so many spirits from hell could not have shewed more terri ble. Many brauado's they made," but a discharge of bul lets, over the surface of the water, quickly changed their mood. Arms were flung down, hostages given, and court esy and kindness succeeded the truculent demeanor which was first exhibited. By the account of the Indians, Pow- hatan had directed this intended attack ; and, if their re presentation was true, he was stimulated to such a course by sundry of Smith's enemies at Jamestown. The boat's crew made their way as far up as the river was navigable, encountering various other tribes, some of whom were friendly, and others hostile. The thunder of the English weapons never failed to awe and subdue them. INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 167 Ever hankering after the precious metals, the adventurers were attracted by glittering particles in the bed of various streams; and, making it a constant object of inquiry, they were led by some Indians, subject to the king of Pataw- omeke, to a noted mine, on the little stream of Quiough. It was on a rocky mount, and the material sought, when dug out with shells and hatchets, sparkled like antimony. The Indians were accustomed to wash and cleanse it, and then, putting it in small bags, "sell it all ouer the country, to paint their bodyes, faces or idolls; which made them looke like Blackamoores dusted over with siluer." New port asserted that the contents of some of those bags, when assayed in England, proved to be exceedingly rich in silver ; but all that Smith and his men collected was worthless. On the way towards Jamestown, as the barge lay in shoal water, the crew amused themselves by spearing fish, which were exceedingly plenty. Captain Smith, using his sword for this purpose, drew up a fish, ("not knowing her condition,) being much of the fashion of a Thornback, but a long tayle like a riding rodde, whereon the middest is a most poysoned sting, of two or three inches long, bearded like a saw on each side, which she struck into the wrist of his arme neare an inch and a halfe." The swelling and pain consequent upon this, were so great that the brave captain, despairing of recovery, ordered his own grave to be dug ; which was accordingly done on a neigh boring island. His time, however, had not yet come : the physician of the party succeeded in relieving him, inso much that, that very night "hee ate of the fish to his supper." As they returned to their old quarters, the Indians judged from their appearance that they had been engaged in notable wars; an idea which they failed not to encour age, averring that all the spoil brought home was taken from the redoubtable Massawomekes. 168 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. At Jamestown all was found in disorder and misery, a^ was generally the case when the master-spirit was absent. Thus ended the first exploration of the unknown waters of the Chesapeake, leaving the English still in doubt as to its extent, and still hopeful of eventually finding a pass age thereby to the South Seas ! On the 24th of July, a second expedition was undertaken up the bay, by Smith, with a boat's crew of twelve men. The Indians of Kecoughtan, with whom they spent several days, exulted greatly in the supposition that the English were out on a war expedition against their dreaded ene mies, the Massawomekes. Proceeding up the bay, more than half the party were prostrated by the diseases of the climate, and in this crip pled condition they came upon seven or eight canoes, filled with Indians of the warlike tribe they were supposed to be in search of. Seeing that the English showed no fear, but prepared briskly for an engagement, these Mas sawomekes concluded that discretion was the better part of valor, and fled to the shore. Being tempted by the offer of some trifling toys, they at last came out to the barge unarmed, bringing presents of provisions, targets, skins, and rude implements of warfare. They had been engaged in war with the Indians of the Tockwogh or Sassafras river, as their fresh wounds bore witness. They disappeared during the following night, and the explorers made their way into the river of Tockwogh. Seeing the Massawomeke weapons, the Tockwoghs were in ecstasy, supposing that their enemies had been defeated ; and led Smith up to their fortified town: "Men, women, and children, with daunces, songs, fruit, furres, and what they had, stretching their best abilities to expresse their loues." Here Smith made some stay, sending messengers to invite a deputation from the renowned Sasquesahanocks INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 169 to visit him. Sixty of "those grant-like people," accord ingly came down from their country, bringing presents, and holding bold and familiar intercourse with the stran gers. The daily devotional exercises of prayers and psalms, which our pious Captain regularly observed, were re sponded to, on the part of the wondering savages, by strange ceremonies of their own. "They began in a most passionate manner, to hold vp their hands to the Sunne, with a most feareful song, then imbracing our captaine, they began to adore him in like manner : though he rebuked them, yet they proceeded till their song was finished : which done, with a most strange furious action, and a hellish voyce, began an oration of their loues." They then clothed him with rich skins and mantles, and proffering beads and toys, declared that they, and all they had, were at his service, if he would but lend his assistance against the terrible Massawomekes. Eeturning to examine the river Kapahanock, Smith fell in with a former acquaintance, one Mosco, of Wighcoco- moco. He was doubtless a half-breed, and was supposed to be some Frenchman's son, as he rejoiced in the distin guishing mark of a "thicke, black, bush beard, and the Salvages seldome haue any at all." The English fortified their boat by making a breast work around the gun- wale, of the Massawomeke shields, which were so thickly plated as to resist the arrows of the savages. This stood them in good stead in divers skir mishes with the Kapahanocks. On one occasion, thirty or forty of that tribe so disguised themselves with bushes and branches, that, as they stood discharging their arrows upon the edge of the river, the English supposed their array to be a natural growth of shrubs. Mosco accompanied Smith in his visits to many nations on the Chesapeake, and proved of no little service, whether 170 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. the reception at their hands was friendly or hostile. The good will of a party of Manahocks was gained by means of favor shown to a wounded prisoner, whom Mosco would fain have dispatched "never was dog more furious against a beare, than Mosco was to have beat out his braines." They questioned this captive, who was called Amorolock, about his own &nd the adjoining tribes, and demanded of him why his people had attacked peaceful strangers. "The poore salvage mildly answered," that they had heard that the English were "a people come from under the world to take their world from them." He described the Monacans as friendly to his tribe, and said that they lived in the mountainous country to the west, "by small rivers, lining upon rootes and fruits, but chiefly by hunting. The Massawomeks did dwell vpon a great water, and had many boats, and so many men that they made warre with all the world." In this, and the preceding voyage, the whole of the extensive bay of Chesapeake, was explored, together witli the lower portions of the principal rivers emptying into it; and an accurate chart of the whole country still bears witness to the skill and perseverance of the brave com mander. Curious sketches of native chiefs, and of en counters between them and the English, accompany the maps which illustrate the quaint and interesting narrative from which this portion of our history is drawn. Before returning to Jamestown, the party sailed for the southern shores, and passed up the Elizabeth river into the "Chisapeack" country. They saw but few dwellings, surrounded by garden plots, but were struck with the magnificent growth of pines which lined the banks. Thence coasting along the shore, they came to the mouth of the Nandsamund, where a few Indians were engaged in fish ing. These fled in affright, but the English landing, and leaving some attractive trifles where they would find them, INDIANS OF VIKGINIA. 171 their demeanor was soon changed. Singing and dancing, they invited the party to enter the river, and one of them came on board the barge. Complying with the request, Smith went up the stream seven or eight miles, when exten sive corn fields were seen. Perceiving some signs of treach ery, he would not proceed farther, but endeavored to regain the open water with all possible expedition. His fears proved to be well grounded ; for on the way down, arrows were poured into the boat from either side of the river by hundreds of Indians, while seven or eight canoes filled with armed men followed "to see the conclusion." Turn ing upon these, the English, by a volley from their mus kets, soon drove the savages on shore and seized the canoes. The Indians, seeing their invaluable canoes in the ene mies' power, to save them from destruction readily laid down their arms ; and, upon further communication, agreed to deliver up their king's bow and arrows, and to furnish four hundred baskets of corn to avert the threatened vengeance of the terrible strangers. CHAPTER III. CORONATION OF POWHATAN SMITH'S VISIT TO WEROWOCOMOCO FOR SUPPLIES TREACHERY OF POWHATAN SMITH A SECOND TIME PRESERVED BY POCAHONTAS VISIT TO PAMUNKY FIGHT WITH THE KING OF PASPAHEGH ASCENDANCY OF THE ENGLISH. IN the ensuing September, Smith was formally made president of the colony at Jamestown, and set himself promptly to correct abuses and perfect the company in the military exercises so suited to his own inclinations, and so essential in their isolated and dangerous position. 172 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. The wandering savagbs would (jollect in astonishment to see these performances, standing "in amazement to behold how a fyle would batter a tree, where he would make them a marke to shoot at." Newport, soon after, made his appearance, bringing out from England many adventurers ill-suited to the life before them in the new country :," thirty carpenters, husband men, gardiners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and dig gers vp of trees' roots," says Smith, would have been worth a thousand of them. By the same arrival, came a large boat, brought out in five pieces, to be used in further explorations in search of the South Sea, and a crown, with brilliant trappings and regalia for the solemn coronation of Powhatan. Smith speaks with great contempt of this transaction: the "costly novelties had beene much better well spared than so ill-spent," for they had the king's "fa vour much better only for a playne peece of Copper, till this stately kind of soliciting made him so much overvalue himself that he respected vs as much as nothing at all." The captain, with four companions, volunteered to go to Werowocomoco, and invite Powhatan to come to James town and receive his presents. Arriving at the village, they found that the chief was thirty miles away from home; but a messenger was dispatched for him, and, meanwhile, his daughter Pocahontas exerted herself, to the best of her ability, to divert and entertain her guests. This was done after a strange fashion. A masquerade dance of some thirty young women, nearly naked, was ushered in by such a "hydeous noise and shrieking," that the Eng lish seized on some old men who stood by, as hostages, thinking that treachery was intended. They were relieved from apprehension by the assurances of Pocahontas, and the pageant proceeded. The leader of the dance was decked with a "fayre paire of buck's homes on her head, and an Otter's skinne at her girdle." The others were also horned, INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 173 and painted and equipped, " every one with their severall devises. These fiends with most hellish shouts and cryes, rushing from among the trees, east themselues in a ring about the fire, singing and dauncing with most excellent ill- variety." Afterwards, when Smith had entered one of their wigwams, "all these Nymphs more tormented him than ever with crowding, pressing and hanging about him, most tediously crying, Love you not me? love you not me?" Upon Powhatan's return, he proudly refused to go to Jamestown for his presents, standing upon his dignity as a king ; and the robes and trinkets were accordingly sent round to Werowocomoco by water. The coronation scene must have been ludicrous in the extreme: "the presents were brought him, his Bason and Ewer, Bed and furni ture set vp, his scarlet cloke and apparell with much adoe put on him, being persuaded by Namontack, they would not hurt him : but a foule trouble there was to make him kneele to receiue his Crowne, he neither knowing the maiesty nor meaning of a crown, nor bending of the knee, endured so many perswasions, examples and instructions I as tyred them all ; at last, by leaning hard on his should- ' ers, he a little stooped, and three having the crowne in their hands, put it on his head, when, by the warning of a pistoll the Boats were prepared with such a volley of shot, that the King start vp with a horrible feare till he saw all was well." After this, Newport, with one hundred and twenty men, made some unimportant explorations, above the falls, ' among the Monacans. Their continual greedy search for mines of the precious metals interfered with useful opera tions and discoveries. The Indians now became unwilling to trade, and Pow- hatan seemed to have adopted the policy of starving out the colony. We can hardly justify the course of Smith in enforcing supplies, on any other plea than that of ne- 174 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. cessity ; but certain it is, that he, alone seemed to have that power and influence over the simple savages which could secure at once their love and fear. Powhatan having at last agreed to furnish a ship-load of corn, if the English would build him a house, and fur nish him with a grindstone, a cock and hen, some arms, copper and beads, five men, were sent to Werowocomoco to commence operations. Three of these were Dutchmen. To carry out this contract, and procure the promised corn, Smith started for the camp of Powhatan towards the last of December, (1608,) accompanied by twenty-seven men in the barge and pinnace, while a number of others crossed the country to build the proposed house. At War- raskoyack, the friendly king cautioned him against being deceived by Powhatan's expressions of kindness, insisting that treachery was intended. Christmas was spent by the party at Kecoughtan, on the left bank of James' river, near its mouth ; and merry cheer was made upon game and oysters. They reached Wero wocomoco on the 12th of January, and landed with much difficulty, as the river was bordered with ice, to break through which they were obliged to wade waist-deep, "a flight-shot through this muddy frozen oase." Powhatan gave them venison and turkies for their immediate use, but when the subject of the corn was broached, he protested that he and his people had little or none, and demanded forty swords in case he should pro cure forty baskets. Smith replied sternly, upbraiding him for duplicity and faithlessness, and cautioning him not to provoke hostilities where friendship only was intended. The wily chief, on the other hand, made many deprecatory speeches, continually urging Smith to direct his men to lay down their arms, that the conference should appear to be peaceful, and the Indians feel at ease and in safety, while bringing in their corn. INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 175 After much bargaining and haggling, a small quantity of corn was procured, and Powhatan made a most plausi ble and characteristic speech to persuade Smith that noth ing could be farther from his intention than hostility. Can you suppose, said he, that I, a man of age and experience, having outlived three generations of my people, should be "so simple as not to know it is better to eate good meate, lye well and sleepe quietly witn my women and children, laugh and be merry with you, haue copper, hatchets, or what I want being your friend : than be forced to flie from all, to lie cold in the woods, feede vpon acornes, rootes, and such trash, and be so hunted by you that I can neither rest, eate nor sleepe; but my tyred men must watch, and if a twig but breake, every one cryeth, there commeth Captaine Smith." Thus the time was spent in useless discourse, and Smith, perceiving that the Indians were only watching for an opportunity to attack him unawares, ordered the barge to be brought to shore, and the pittance of corn to be stowed on board. Powhatan then disappeared, but immediately sent his warriors to surround the house and cut off Smith while the body of the English were engaged with the barge. Aided only by one companion, the valiant captain rushed forth, "with his pistoll, sword and target," and "made such a passage among these naked Diuels, that, at his first shoot, they next him tumbled one ouer another." Seeing that Smith had rejoined his company, Powhatan pretended that he had sent his people to guard the corn from being stolen, and renewed his protestations of friendship. The boats being left ashore by the tide, the captain was obliged to spend the night on shore. Powhatan now con ceived himself sure of his victims, and gathered all his people, with the intention of surprising Smith under cover of the night. "Notwithstanding the eternal all-seeing God did preuent him, and by a strange meanes. For Poca- 176 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. hontas, his dearest iewell and daughter, in that darke night came through the irksome woods, and told our Captaine greate cheare should be sent vs by and by ; but Powhatan and all the power he could make, would after come and kill vs all, if they that brought it could not kill vs with oure owne weapons when we were at supper. Therefore if we would liue, she wished vs presently to be gone. Such things as she delighted in he would have giuen her; but with the teares running dowtte her cheekes, she said she durst not be seen to haue any ; for if Powhatan should know it she were but dead, and so she ranne away by her- selfe as she came." One can readily imagine the distress of the poor child at feeling thus compelled, by her affection for her English friend, to become unfaithful to her father and her own people. The feast was sent in shortly after, by a number of strong warriors, who were very earnest in their invitation to the party to lay down their arms and fall to. The matches which the English kept burning met with their decided disapproval, the smoke, as they averred, making them sick. Smith, being forewarned, did not fail to spend the night in vigilance, and sent word to Powhatan that he felt well convinced of his villanous intentions, and should be prepared for him. The Dutchmen, who were with the king, were all along supposed to be implicated in his treach ery, being inimical to Smith, and glad of an opportunity to destroy him. After his departure from Werowoeomoco, two of them hastened to Jamestown, and, by various pre tences, obtained a quantity of arms, which, with the assist ance of some Indian companions, they carried off to Pow hatan. In return for this assistance, he promised them immunity from the havoc that should overtake the colony, and high office and power in his own service. Continuing his search for provision, Smith arrived at L_ ._-- L INDIANS OF VIKGINIA, 177 Pamunky, where Opechancanough received him with ap parent kindness, but showed no readiness to trade. Smith reminded him of former promises and injuries, and ex pressed a determination to obtain supplies; proffering just payment. The chief managed to decoy the captain and his "old fifteene" into his house, .exhibiting some baskets of corn, which he alleged were procured with great diffi culty, but in the meantime some seven hundred armed warriors, by his orders, surrounded the building. Our brave captain, first exhorting his men to show no signs of fear, now sternly addressed the king, challenging him to single combat, with equal arms, upon an island in the river. Opechancanough still pretended good will and friendship, and attempted to entice Smith out at the door, by promises of munificent presents: "the bait was guarded with at least two hundred men, and thirty lying vnder a great tree (that lay thwart, as a barricado) each his arrow nocked ready to shoot." Smith, perceiving that prompt action was now necessary, sprang upon the king, and, holding him by the fore-lock with one hand, while, with the other, he held a cocked pistol to his breast, he led him forth among his people. Opechancanough, completely cowed, delivered up his arms, and all his warriors, amazed at the Englishman's audacity, laid theirs upon the ground. Still keeping hold of the chiefs hair, Smith made a brief oration, threatening terrible vengeance if a drop of Eng lish blood should be spilt, and declaring that if they would not sell him corn he would freight his ship with their car casses. He promised, moreover, continued friendship if no further cause for complaint were given. All now made friendly protestations, and brought in abundance of pro vision ; but, as Smith lay down to recruit himself with a little sleep, a great number of the savages rushed in to overpower him. This attack was repelled as successfully 12 178 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. and promptly as the first. The king in a lengthy speech excused and explained the movement, and the day ended in peaceful trade and barter. At this time arrived one Kichard Wyffin, who had ven turously made his way alone through the wilderness to announce to Smith a great loss which the colony had met with in the death of GrosnoM and eight companions. They had started in a skiff for the Isle of Hogs, and were upset by a gale "(that extreame frozen time)" and drowned. Wyffin had stopped at Powhatan's head-quarters, and only escaped destruction by the kindness of the Englishman's fast friend Pocahontas. She " hid him for a time, and sent them who pursued him the cleane contrary way to seeke him." Concealing this disastrous intelligence from his follow ers, Captain Smith set Opechancanough at liberty, and again embarked, intending, ere his return to Jamestown, to secure the person of Powhatan. That chief had issued general orders for the destruction of Smith, and every where, as the boat passed along the river bank, crowds of Indians would appear, bringing corn in baskets, and offer ing it to the company if they would come for it unarmed. Their intention was evidently to draw the English into an ambuscade. The captain succeeded in surprising one of these parties, and obtaining their provision. Some of them, who consented to. trade, supplied the English with poisoned food, which was eaten by Smith and others, but the poison did not prove sufficiently potent to destroy their lives. Suspicion fell upon a vigorous young warrior named Wecuttanow, as the author of this treachery; but he, having forty or fifty companions with him, "so proudly braued it as though he expected to in- counter a revenge. Which the President (Smith) perceiv-. ing in the midst of his company, did not onely beate, but spurned him like a dogge, as scorning to doe him any- worse mischiefe." INDIANS -OF VIRGINIA. 179 At other places where provision was sought, it was plain that the Indians were themselves in want, and "imparted that little they had with siich complaints and tears from the eyes of women and children as he had beene too cruell to haue beene a Christian that would not haue beene satis fied and moued with compassion." Powhatan, cautioned by "those damned Dutchmen," had left Werowocomoco, with all his effects, before Smith arrived there, and the plan of making him prisoner was therefore abandoned. Here Smith breaks out into a spirited justification of his conduct and purposes, complaining that fault had been found with him, by some, for cruelty and harshness, and by others for want of energy and determin ation. He draws a strong contrast between the proceed ings of the English colony and the manner in which the Spaniards usually followed up their discoveries. It was not pleasing, he says, to some, that he had temporized with such a treacherous people, and "that he washed not the ground with their blouds, nor showed such strange inven- "tions in mangling, murdering, ransacking, and destroying, (as did the Spanyards,) the simple bodies of such ignorant soules." The renegade Dutchmen had a place of rendezvous near Jamestown, known as the "glasse house," whither they resorted, with their Indian associates, to carry on their sys tem of pilfering arms and other articles from the colony. Captain Smith making a visit to this spot, with the inten tion of arresting one of them, named Francis, whom he had heard to be there, was set upon, as he returned alone, by the king of Paspahegh, "a most strong stout salvage," and a terrible personal encounter ensued. The Indian closed upon him, so that he could make no use of his fal chion, and, by sheer strength, dragged him into the river. After a desperate struggle, Smith succeeded in grasping the Bavage by the throat, and in drawing his weapon. " Seeing 180 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. how pitifully lie begged for h.is life, lie led him prisoner to James Towne, and put him in chaynes." His women and children came every day to visit him, bringing pres ents to propitiate the English. Being carelessly guarded, the king finally made his escape. In attempts to recover him, some fighting. and bloodshed ensued, and two In dians, named Kemp and Tussore, "the two most exact vil- laines in all the Countrey," were taken prisoners. Smith, with a corps of soldiery, proceeding to punish the Indians on the Chickahominy, passed by Paspahegh, and there con cluded a peace with the natives. They at first ventured to attack him, but unable to resist the English weapons, they threw down their arms, and sent forward a young warrior, called Okaning, to make an oration. He represented that his chief, in effecting an escape, had but followed the instincts of nature; that fowls, beasts, and fishes strove to avoid captivity and snares, and why should not man be allowed so universal a privilege? He added that, if the English would not live at peace with them, the tribe must abandon the country, and the sup plies which the colony had heretofore obtained from them be thereby cut off. The power and influence of Smith among* the savages was infinitely increased by a circumstance which occurred immediately after his return to Jamestown. A pistol had been stolen by a Chickahominy Indian, and his two broth ers, supposed to be privy to the theft, had been seized, to secure its return. One of them was sent in search" of the missing article, assured that his brother should be hanged if it was not forthcoming within twelve hours. Smith, "pitying the poore naked Salvage in the dungeon, sent him victuall and some Char-coale for a fire : ere midnight, his brother returned with the Pistoll, but the poore Salvage in the dungeon was so smoothered with the smoake he had made, and so pittiously burnt," that he appeared to be INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 181 dead. His brother, overwhelmed with grief, uttered such touching lamentations over the body, that Captain Smith, although feeling little hope of success, assured him that he would bring the dead Indian to life, provided he and his fellows would give over their thieving. Energetic treatment restored the poor fellow to consciousness, and, his burns being dressed, the simple pair were sent on their way, each with a small present, to spread the report, far and near, that Captain Smith had power to restore the dead to life. Not long after, several Indians were killed by the explosion of a quantity of powder, which they were attempting to dry upon a plate of armor, as they had seen the English do. " These and many other such pretty Accidents, so amazed and frighted both Powhatan and all his people," that they came in from all quarters, returning stolen property, and begging for favour and peace: "and all the country," says the narrator, "became absolutely as free for vs, as for themselues." CHAPTER IY. DISTRESS OF THE COLONIES MARTIN AND WEST'S SETTLEMENTS ARRIVAL OF LORD DE LA WARRE RETALIATIONS UPON THE NATIVES SEIZURE OF POCAHONTAS : HER MARRIAGE PEACE WITH THE INDIANS POCAHONTAS VISITS ENGLAND: HER DEATH DEATH OF POW HATAN PORY'S SETTLEMENT. WHILE Captain Smith remained in America, and con tinued in power, he maintained his authority over the natives In a grievous famine that succeeded the events we have just detailed, they proved of infinite service in providing the wild products of the forest for the starving 182 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. colonists. Many of the English were sent out to live with the savages, and learn their arts of gathering and prepar ing the roots and other edibles that must take the place of corn. These were treated with every -kindness by the Indians, "of whom," says Smith, "there was more hope to make better Christians and good subjects than the one- halfe of those that counterfeited themselues both." Kemp and Tussore, who had been set at liberty, remained there after staunch adherents to the English interests. Sundry malcontents belonging to the colony had fled into the woods, thinking to live in ease among the natives, whom they promised revenge upon their old conqueror, the president. Kemp, however, instead of giving ear to these persuasions, fed them "with this law, who would not work, must not eate, till they were neere starued indeede, con tinually threatening to beat them to death;" and finally carried them forcibly back to Captain Smith. In the early part of the summer of 1609, large supplies came over from England, and a great number of factious and disorderly adventurers were brought into the new settlement. Unwilling to submit to the authority of the president, insatiate after mines of gold and silver, cow ardly in battle, and cruel and treacherous in peace; their distress proved commensurate with their unthrift. At Nansemund, a company, under one Captain Martin, after wantonly provoking the ill-will of the natives, was unable to resist their attacks; and another division, under West, which attempted a settlement at the falls of James' river, proved equally inefficient and impolitic. " The poore sal vages that daily brought in their contributions to the President, that disorderly company so tormented those poore soules, by stealing their corne, robbing their gar dens, beating them, breaking their houses and keeping some prisoners, that they daily complained to Captaine Smith, he had brought them for protectors worse enemies INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 183 than the Monacans themselues: they desired pardon if hereafter they defended themselues." Carrying out this intention, the Indians fell upon the fort immediately after Smith's departure, he having set sail for Jamestown. His vessel taking ground before he had proceeded far, he was called upon to interfere, and brought matters to an amicable conclusion, removing the English from the inconvenient spot they had selected for their habitation into the pleasant country of Powhatan. Before reaching Jamestown, Captain Smith met with so severe an accident by the firing of a bag of gun-powder, that he was thereafter incapacitated from further service in the colony. So terribly was his flesh torn and burned, that, to relieve the pain, he instantly threw himself into the river, from which he was with difficulty rescued. It being impossible to procure the necessary medical assist ance for the cure of so extensive an injury, he took pas sage for England by the first opportunity, and never again revisited the colony he had planted and supported with such singular devotion, energy, and courage. The fate of the two principal of the Dutch conspirators against his life, is thus chronicled: "But to see the justice of God vpon these Dutchmen: Adam and Francis were fled againe to Powhatan, to whom they promised, at the arri- vall of my Lord (La Warre), what wonders they would doe, would he suffer them but to goe to him. But the king seeing they would be gone, reply ed ; you that would haue betrayed Captaine Smith to me, will certainely be tray me to this great Lord for your peace ; so caused his men to beat out their braines." Smith's departure was the signal for general defection among the Indians. They seized the boats of the settlers under Martin and West ; who, unable to keep their ground, returned to Jamestown, with the loss of nearly half their men. A party of thirty or forty, bound upon a trading 184 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. expedition, was set upon by Ppwhatan and his warriors, and all except two were slain. One of these, a boy, named Henry Spilman, was preserved by the intervention of Pocahontas, and sent to live among the Patawomekes. Reduced to the greatest extremity, the English were obliged to barter their very arms for provisions, thus add ing to the power of the enemy in the same ratio that they weakened their own resources. Famine, pestilence, and savage invasion reduced the colony, which before had numbered five hundred inhabitants, to about sixty miser able and helpless wretches, within the short space of six months from the time that Smith set sail. The crude pro ducts of the forest formed their principal food; "nay, so great was our famine," proceeds the narrative, "that a Sal- uage we slew and buried, the poorer sort took him vp againe and eat him, and so did diuers one another, boyled and stewed with roots and herbs : And one amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered her and had eaten part of her before it was knowne, for which he was executed as he well deserued." Upon the arrival of a ship, with Sir Thomas Gates and company, all the unfortunate settlers, abandoning their town, took passage with him for England. At the com mencement of the voyage, they fell in with Lord La Warre, who was on his way to Jamestown, bringing with him large supplies of men and necessaries ; and all returned together to Jamestown, Fortunately the Indians had not, as yet, destroyed the fort, and the numbers and efficiency of the whites were so Jar increased, that they were, "able to tame the furie and trecherie of the Saluages." On the loth of June (1610) Captain Argall, being en gaged in a trading expedition among the Patawomekes, found there the young prisoner, Henry Spilman, who had met with kind treatment, and by whose intervention INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 185 abundance of corn was procured. Frequent mention is made of Spilman in subsequent portions of Virginian history. He was killed by the Potomac Indians, in 1623, while on a trading expedition up the river. Having gone on shore with some of his company, some difficulty arose, and, after a short skirmish, those on board the boat, "heard a great brute among the Salvages a shore, and saw a mans head throwne downe the banke, whereupon they weighed anchor and returned home, but how he was surprised or slaine is uncertaine." That the colonists were not slow in making use of their newly-acquired power over the natives in their vicinity, sufficiently appears from the manner in which they re venged some injuries received from those of Paspahegh. Not satisfied with burning their town, they deliberately put to death the queen and her children, who had fallen into their hands. In the following year the Appomatuck Indians, for some offences, were driven from their homes, and their corn was seized, " without the loss of any except some few Saluages." The manner in which peaceful intercourse was at last established with Powhatan, however it may be justified upon the plea of necessity, reflects but little credit upon the English. Argall, in the year 1613, (according to some chroniclers,) while up the Potomac in search of corn, heard from the sachem Japazaws that Pocahontas, who had not been seen at Jamestown since Smith's depart ure, was residing among his people. The captain deter mined not to lose the opportunity to secure so valuable a hostage, and having, by the assistance of Japazaws, de coyed her on board his ship, he made her prisoner. The treacherous Potomac sachem pretended great distress; "the old lew and his wife began- to howle and crie as fast as Pocahontas," but appeared pacified when Argall told them that the princess should be well treated, and restored 186 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. as soon as Powhatan would majie restitution of the goods he had purloined and plundered from the colony. When the emperor learned of this transaction, the " vn welcome newes much troubled him, because he loued both his daughter and the English commodities well;" and he left Pocahontas in the enemies' hands for several months before he deigned ,to pay the least attention to their demands. It has been supposed, and with great show of reason, that the kind-hearted girl had lost favor with her father by her sympathy with the English, and by endeavoring to save them at the time of the massacres which preceded the last arrival; and that this was the cause of her retirement to Potomac. When Powhatan at last consented to treat, his offers were entirely unsatisfactory to the English, and another long interval elapsed without any communication from him. Meantime, an ardent attachment had sprung up between Pocahontas and a young Englishman of the col ony named John Rolfe, "an honest gentleman and of good behaviour." When it was at last concluded to use open force to reduce Powhatan to compliance with the English requisitions, a large force proceeded to the chief's head quarters, by water, taking the princess with them. The In dians exhibited an insolent and warlike demeanor, but were easily put to flight, and their town was burned. Pursuing their advantage, the invading party proceeded up the river to Matchot, where, a truce being agreed upon, two of Pow- hatan's sons came to visit their sister, and, overjoyed at finding her well and kindly cared for, promised their best endeavors to bring matters to a peaceful issue. Eolfe, with one companion, had an interview with Opechancanough, who also declared that he would strive to persuade the king to compliance with the English proposals. When Powhatan heard of the proposed marriage of his daughter, his anger and resentment towards the whites INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 187 seemed to be appeased. He sent his brother Opitchapan, and others of his family, to witness the ceremony, and readily permitted the old terms of trade and intimacy to be renewed. Pocahontas and John Eolfe were married about the first of April, 1613. The Chickahominies, hearing that Powhatan was in league with the colony, felt little inclined to be upon ill- terms with so powerful a confederacy ; and, having made advances, a treaty of friendship was entered into with all due forms and ceremonies. Not contented with the security against Powhatan's hostility which the possession of his beloved daughter af forded, the colonial governor, Sir Thomas Dale, sought yet another hostage from the king; and in 1614 sent John Eolfe and Ealph Hamor to his court for this purpose. The aged chief received them with courtesy and kind ness, and appeared pleased and gratified at the accounts which they gave him of Pocahontas' satisfaction with her new alliance, and the religion and customs of the English. When the purpose of the mission was made known to him, which was no other than the obtaining possession of his youngest daughter, upon pretext of marrying her nobly, Powhatan gravely refused compliance. He would never trust himself, he said, in the power of the English ; and therefore, if he should send away his child, whom he now loved as his life, and beyond all his other numerous offspring, it would be never again to behold her. "My brother," he added, "hath a pledge, one of my daughters, which so long as she lives shall be sufficient, when she dies he shall have another: I hold it not a brotherly part to desire to bereave me of my two children at once." Pocahontas was carefully educated in the Christian religion, which she appeared sincerely to embrace. She nourished the warmest affection for her husband, upon his part faithfully returned ; and what with these new ties, 188 INDIAN KACES OF AMEKICA. and the enlarged ideas attendant upon education and inter course with intelligent Europeans, she seemed entirely to lose all desire of associating with her own people. Eolfe and his wife sailed for England in .1616, and reached Plymouth on the 12th of June. Great interest was excited by their arrival, both at court and among many people, of distinction.. Captain Smith prepared an address to the queen upon this occasion, setting forth in quaint, but touching language, the continued kindness and valuable services received by himself and the colony at large from Pocahontas. He commended her to his royal mistress, as "the first Christian euer of that Nation, the first Virginian euer spake English, or had a childe in marriage by an Englishman, a matter surely worthy a Princes vnderstanding." When Smith met with his preserver at Branford, where she was staying with her- husband after her arrival in Eng land, his demeanor did not at first satisfy her. Etiquette, and the restraints of English customs, prevented him per haps from making such demonstration of affection as she had expected from her adopted father. "After a modest salutation," he says, "without any word, she turned her self about, obscured her face as not seeming well contented ; and in that humour, her husband, with diuers others, we all left her two or three houres, repenting myself to haue writ shee could speake English." This pique, or whatever emotion it may have been, soon passed off, and she began to converse freely upon old times and scenes. She said she % would always call Smith her father, that he should call her child, and ever consider her as his " Countrieman." It seems that she had been told that he was dead, and only learned the truth on reaching England. Powhatan had been anxious to get intelligence of his old rival, and specially commissioned an Indian of bis council, named Uttomatomakkin, whom he sent over INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 189 to England, to find out Captain Smith; to see the Eng lishmen's God, their queen, and their prince; and to ascertain the number of the country's inhabitants. This last direction he endeavored to perform by carrying a stick with him, and making a notch for every man he saw, "but he was quickly wearie of that task." Captain Argall, Eolfe, and others, having been furnished with an outfit for Virginia, in 1617, Pocahontas (known as Rebecca, since her baptism and conversion,) was about to revisit her native country, but was taken suddenly ill, and died at Gravesend. "Shee made not more sorrow for her vnexpected death, than ioy to the beholders to heare and see her make so religious and godly an end." She left one child, Thomas Rolfe, who afterwards resided in Virginia, and from whom many families in that state still trace their origin. The celebrated John Randolph, of | Roanoke, was one of his descendants. At Jamestown, Argall found matters in a bad state. Little was attended to but the raising of tobacco, which was seen growing in the streets and market place. The savages had become bold and familiar, "as frequent in the colonists' houses as themselues, whereby they were become expert in the English arms." They broke out, in some instances, into open murder and robbery, but the old chief Opechancanough, when redress was demanded, disclaimed all knowledge of or participation in the outrages. The venerable Powhatan died in April, of the year 1618, and was succeeded by his second brother Itopatin. The new king, as well as the formidable Opechancanough, seemed desirous of continuing at peace with the whites. Despite his protestations of friendship, and renewal of solemn leagues and covenants, the old king of Pamaunky was still held in sore suspicion, and it is plain that Indian power, if roused against the colony, was growing formida ble. The historian expresses his amazement "to understand 190 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. how strangely the Saluages had beene taught the use of arms, and imploied in hunting and fowling with our fowl ing pieces, and our men rooting in the ground about Tobacco like Swine." John Pory, secretary of the colony, undertook a settle ment on the eastern shore in 1621. Namenacus, king of Pawtuxent, visited him, and expressed his good-will in style characteristic of Indian metaphor. Baring his breast, says Pory, he asked "if we saw any deformity vpon it, we told him, No; No more, said he, is the inside, but as sincere and pure; therefore come freely to my Countrie and welcome." The English were accompanied by Thomas Salvage as interpreter; a youth who, sixteen years before, had been left with Powhatan for the purpose of acquiring the Indian language, and who afterwards proved of great service to the colony. When the party reached the dwelling of Namenacus and his brother Wamanato, they were most hospitably received and entertained. Boiled oysters were set before them in a "brasse Kettle as bright without as within," and the alliance was cemented by exchange of presents. Wamanato promised to keep what he had received "whilst he lived, and burie them with him being dead. Hee much wondered at our Bible," proceeds Pory, "but much more to heare it was the law of our God, and the first Chapter of Genesis expounded of Adam and Eve, and simple marriage; to which he replied he was like Adam in one thing, for he neuer had but one wife at once ; but he, as all the rest, seemed more willing of other discourses they better vnderstood." INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 191 CHAPTER V. THE VIRGINIA MASSACRES OF 1622, AND OF 1641 (OR 1644) DEATH OF OPECHANCANOUGH. THE spring of 1622 was memorable for a deep-laid and partially -successful plot, attributed in no small measure to the contrivance of Opechancanough, for the extermina tion of the English colony. The settlers had come to look upon the Indians with a mixture of condescension and contempt; they admitted them freely into their houses; suffered them to acquire the use of English weapons ; and took little or no precautions against an outbreak. The plantations and villages of the whites were widely sepa rated and ill-protected, offering an easy opportunity for a sudden and concerted attack. No suspicions whatever were entertained of any hostile intent upon the part of the savages until just before the massacre commenced, and then there was neither time nor opportunity to convey the intelligence to the distant, set tlements. The plot was so arranged that upon a day appointed, the 22d of March, the Indians spread them selves throughout the settlements, and, going into the houses, or joining the laborers in the field, on pretence of trade, took the first opportunity to kill those with whom they were communicating, by a blow from behind. No less than three hundred and forty-seven of the Eng lish perished, the most extensive massacre at any one spot being that in Martin's Hundred, only seven miles from Jamestown. The savages spared not their best friends, with whom they had held amicable intercourse for years, but availed themselves of that very intimacy to carry -out their bloody design with the greater secrecy and impu nity. One only showed signs of relenting. " The slaugh ter had been universall if God had not put it into the 192 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. heart of an Indian, who lying jn the house of one Pace, was urged by another Indian, his brother, that lay with him the night before, to kill Pace as he should do Perry, which was his friend, being so commanded -from their king." Instead of complying, he rose, and made known to his host the plan of the next day's attack. Pace carried the intelligence to Jamestown , with the utmost expedition, and the caution was spread as far as possible. Wherever the Indians saw the English upon their guard, no attempt was made upon them, even where there was a gross dis parity in numbers. One of Smith's old guard, Nathaniel Causie, after receiving a severe wound, seized an axe, and put those to flight who had set upon him. In another instance, two men repelled the attack of sixty savages, and a Mr. Baldwin, at Warraskoyack, defended his house and its inmates single handed, the Indians being unwilling to stand his fire. Women, children, and unarmed men ; all who could be taken unawares, were murdered, and their bodies hacked and mutilated. No tie of friendship or former favor proved strong enough to stay the hand of the remorseless foe. A Mr. Thorp, who had shown every kind ness to the Indians, and especially to the king, was one of the victims, his "dead corps being abused with such spight and scorne as is unfit to be heard with ciuill eares." He had formerly built a convenient house for the sachem, "after the English fashion, in which he took such pleasure, especially in the locke and key, which he soe admired as locking and vnlocking his doore a hundred times a day, he thought no device in the world comparable to it." It was supposed that the motive which operated most forcibly upon Opechancanough, in urging him to these enormities, was the death of Nemattanow, one of his favor- I ites, styled "Jack of the Feather, because hee commonly was most strangely adorned with them." This Indian was shot, about a fortnight before the massacre, for the mur- L INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 193 der of a man named Morgan, whom he enticed from home on pretence of trade. Little active efforts were made to revenge the uprising of the Indians. After the bloody day in March, no gen eral engagement took place between the English and the savages until the ensuing autumn, when an army of three hundred colonists marched to Nandsamund, and laid waste the country. The bitterest animosity prevailed for many years be tween the rival claimants to the country the Indians and the pale faces, who were supplanting them, insidiously, or by open warfare. The old chief Opechancanough remained long a thorn in the sides of the colonists ; and, as late as 1641, nine years after the conclusion of a settled peace, he organized a conspiracy, which resulted in the destruction of even a larger number of the whites than fell in the mas sacre of 1622. The time of the second uprising is fixed, by some, three years later than the date above mentioned. After that event, the war was pursued with the energy that the dangerous circumstances of the colony required; and the aged chief, falling into the hands of the English, was carried captive to Jamestown. Eegard to his infirmi ties and age restrained the authorities from showing him indignity or unkindness, but he was shot by a private sol dier, in revenge, as is supposed, for some former injury. Although so enfeebled by the weight of years as to be utterly helpless, and unable even to raise his eyelids with out assistance, the venerable chief still maintained his dig nity and firmness; and, just before his death, rebuked Berkley, the governor, for suffering his people to crowd around and gaze upon him. It is said, by some historians, that he was not a native of Virginia, but that he was reputed among his subjects and the neighboring tribes, to have been formerly a king over a nation far to the south-west. 13 194: INDIAN KACES OF MERICA. CHAPTER VI. i i SMITH'S ACCOUNT OF THE NUMBERS. APPEARANCE, AND HABITS of THE INDIANS. ***** To the door The red man slowly drags the enormous bear, Slain in the chestnut thicket, or flings down The deer from his strong shoulders." BRYANT. VIRGINIA, like every other division of the eastern coast of North America, was but thinly inhabited when the white settlements first commenced. As hunting formed the chief means of subsistence to the natives during a considerable portion of the year, it was impracticable for them to live closely congregated. There were computed to be, within sixty miles of the settlement of Jamestown, some five thousand Indians, of whom not quite one-third were men serviceable in war. The lower portion of the Pow- hatan or James' river, below the falls, passed through the country of the great king and tribe who bore the same name : among the mountains at its source dwelt the Monacans. The great nations were sub-divided into a number of small er tribes, each subject to its own Werowance, or king. '..- The stature and general appearance of different races among them presented considerable discrepancy. Of the Sasquesahanocks, Smith says: "Such great and well-pro portioned men are seldome seene, for they seemed like giants to the English. For their language, it may well beseeme their proportions, sounding from them as a voyce in a vault." One of their chief Werowances measured three-quarters of a yard about the calf of his leg, "and all the rest of his limbs so answerable to that proportion, that he seemed the goodliest man we ever beheld. His hayre, the one side, was long, the other shore close, with a ridge like a cock's combe." INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 195 These people were dressed in bear and wolf-skins : " some have Cassacks made of Beare's heads and skinnes, that a man's head goes through the skinnes neck, and the eares of the Beare fastened to his shoulders, the nose and teeth hanging downe his breast, another Beare's face split be hind him, and at the end of the nose hung a paw. One had the head of a Wolfe hanging in a chaine for a iewell; his tobacco pipe three quarters of a yard long, prettily carued with a Bird, a Deere, or some such devise at the great end, sufficient to beat out ones braines." Further to the South, upon the Eappahanock, and other adjacent rivers, dwelt an inferior people, of small stature. The Monacans, Mannahocks, Sasquesahanocks, and other tribes, which environed the Powhatan country, were so dissimilar in their language, that they could only commu nicate by interpretation. The clothing of all these Indians consisted principally of skins, dressed with or without the hair, according to the season. Occasionally would be seen a mantle neatly and thickly covered with feathers, so fastened as to appear like a natural growth; but many of the savages contented themselves with very simple and primitive habiliments, woven from grass and leaves. Tattooing was common, espe cially among the women, and the red powdered root of the pocone, mixed with oil to the consistency of paint, served to satisfy their barbaric taste for fancifully coloring the body. He was "the most gallant who was the most mon strous to behold." Their ears were generally bored, and pendants of copper and other ornaments were attached. " Some of their men weare in those holes a small green and yellow coloured snake, near half a yarde in length, which, crawling and lapping herself about his necke, oftentimes would familiarly kisse his lips." Their wigwams were much after the usual fashion, warm, but smoky, and stood in the midst of the planting grounds 196 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA, where they- raised their beans, corn, and pompions. About the dwellings of some, mulberry-trees were planted, and fine groves of the same grew naturally in various parts of the country. The English made an attempt to raise silk here, "and surely the wormes prospered excellent well till the master-workman fell sicke. During which time they were eaten with rats." To -effect a clearing, the custom of the natives was to girdle the trees by bruising and burn ing the bark near the root; and, in the ensuing year, the soil was rudely loosened for the reception of the seed. During a great part of the year they were obliged to resort to the natural productions of the forest, sea, and rivers for their support ; and, as their diet varied with the season, "even as the deere and wild beasts, they seemed fat and leane, strong and weake." In the spring they re lied chiefly upon fish and small game; in summer, before the green corn was ready for use, they were obliged to eke out a subsistence with roots, acorns, and shell-fish. Some species of acorns, besides being useful as food, furnished an oil with which the natives anointed their heads and joints. Smith enumerates many of the wild fruits and game which were sought by the Indians, describing them in quaint and forcible language. It is singular to observe how the original Indian names of plants and animals have been altered and corrupted on their adoption by the Eng lish. All will recognize the "putchamin," whose "fruit is like a medlar; it is first greene, then yellow, then red, when it is ripe; if it be not ripe, it will draw a mans mouth awry, with much torment." Broth or bread made from the "Chechinquamin," (Chincopin), was considered a great dainty. With a slight change of orthography, the " Aroughcun, a beast much like a badger, but which useth to live on trees as squirrels doe," becomes familiar, as do also the 'Opassum" and "Mussascus." INDIANS OF VIRGINIA. 197 Among the fish, a kind of ray attracted the worthy cap tain's special admiration, being "so like the picture of St. George his dragon as possible can be, except his legs and wings." The Indians fished with nets, woven with no little skill ; with hooks of bone; with the spear; and with arrows attached to lines. For other game, the principal weapon was the bow and arrow. The arrows were generally headed with bone or flint, but sometimes with the spur of a turkey or a bird's bill. It is astonishing how the stone arrow-heads, which are, to this day, found scattered over our whole country, could have been shaped, or attached to the reed with any degree of firmness. Smith says that a small bone was worn constantly at the "bracert" for the purpose of manufacturing them probably to hold the flint while it was chipped into shape by another stone and that a strong glue, obtained by boiling deer's horns and sinews, served to fasten them securely. Yery soon after intercourse with Europeans commenced, these rude implements were superseded by those of iron. Deer were hunted with most effect, by driving in large companies, dispersed through the woods. When a single hunter undertook the pursuit, it was usual for him to dis guise himself in the skin of a deer, thrusting his arm through the neck into the head, which was so stuffed as to resemble that of the living animal. Thus accoutred he would gradually approach his prey, imitating the motions of a deer as nearly as possible, stopping occasionally, and appearing to be occupied in licking his body, until near enough for a shot. In war these Indians pursued much the same course as the other eastern nations. On one occasion, at Mattapa- nient, they entertained Smith and his companions with a sham fight, one division taking the part of Monacans, and the other of Powhatans. After the first discharge of 198 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. arrows, lie says, "they gave. such horrible shouts and screeches as so many infernall hell-hounds could not haue made them more terrible." During the whole perform ance, " their actions, voyces, and gestures, were so strained to the height of their quality and nature, that the strange- nesse thereof made, it seemo very delightful." Their martial music consisted of the discordant sounds produced by rude drums and rattles. NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. CHAPTER L CONDUCT OF EARLY VOYAGERS ARRIVAL OF THE MAY-FLOWER SAMOSET TISQJJANTUM MASSASOIT WESTON's COLONY CAUNBITANT'S CONSPIRACY TRADE IN FIRE-ARMS THOMAS MORTON DEATH OF MASSASOIT AND ALEXANDER, AND ACCESSION OF PHILIP. "Erewhile, where yon gav spires their brightness rear, Trees waved, and the brown hunter's shouts were loud Amid the forest ; and the bounding deer Fled at the glancing plume, and the gaunt wolf yelled near." BRYANT. IT is lamentable to reflect that in the primitive dealings between the venturous Europeans and aborigines of Amer ica, the kindly welcome and the hospitable reception were the part of the savage, and treachery, kidnapping and murder too frequently that of the civilized and nominally Christian visitor. It appears to have been matter of common custom among these unscrupulous adventurers to seize by force or fraud on the persons of their simple entertainers, and to carry them off as curiosities to the distant shores of Europe. Columbus, with kindly motives, brought several of the West Indian natives to the Spanish court ; others, whom his follower Pinzon had kidnapped, he restored to their friends. Cabot, in his memorable expedition, followed the same example, and the early French discov 200 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. erers were peculiarly culpable in this respect. Most atro cious of all was tlie conduct' of Thomas Hunt, who, in 1614, at Monhigon, enticed twenty-four of these unfortu nate people on board his vessel, and. carried them to Malaga, as slaves an inhuman piece of treachery, to which the English were probably indebted for much of the subsequent hostilities evinced by the Indians of ]STew England. On the 6th of September, 1620, the May-Flower, freighted with forty-one adventurous enthusiasts, the germ of a western empire, sailed from Plymouth in England; and on the 9th of the following November arrived on the barren and inclement shores of Cape Cod. A few days afterwards a reconnoitering party caught sight of a small number of the natives, who, however, fled at their ap proach. On the 8th of December, a slight and desultory action occurred, the Indians attempting to surprise the Pilgrims by night. They were, however, discomfited and compelled to retreat, leaving, among other trophies, eight een arrows, "headed with brass, some with harts-horns, and others with eagles' claws." On the llth of December (0. S.), memorable in the annals of America, the little band of pilgrims landed, and fixed their first settlement at Plymouth. The Indians, it would appear, looked with evil eyes upon the pious colo nists; for, says an old narrator, "they got all the powaws in the country, who, for three days together, in a horid and devilish manner, did curse and execrate them with their conjurations, which assembly and service they held in a dark and dismal swamp. Behold how Satan labored to hinder the gospel from coming into New England." The appearance of the friendly chief Samoset, at the settlement; his welcome in broken English; his mariners, and discourse; are quaintly detailed by the historians of the colony. He had acquired some knowledge of the / ,V T K K V 1 /: W OF S.I M O .V K T fV ITH T H P. ]> I I. (J It I .,/ . NEW ENGLAND JNDIANS. 201 English language by intercourse with the crews and mas ters of vessels employed in fishing upon the coast, and readily communicated such information as the settlers required concerning the nature of the country and its inhabitants. He informed them of the manner in which the district where they were located had been depopulated only four years previous, by some incurable disease; a circumstance to which the feeble colony not improbably owed its preservation. Before the bold and friendly advances made by Samoset, the only communication between the colonists and the original inhabitants had been of a hostile character. The natural fears and jealousy of the savages, and the supersti tious horror of the English at the heathenish powwaws and incantations which they witnessed, together with the want of a common language, had kept the little company of adventurers in a state of complete isolation during the whole of the cold and dreary winter that succeeded their arrival. It was in the month of March that a peaceful communi cation was established with the natives, through the inter vention of Samoset. He introduced, among other of his companions, the noted Tisquantum, or Squanto, who was one of the twenty-four kidnapped by Hunt, at a former period. By his knowledge of the country and coast, and his acquaintance with their language, Squanto became of great service to the colonists, and continued their friend until his death, which took place in 1622, while he was on his passage down the coast, in the capacity of pilot to an expedition fitted out for the purpose of purchasing supplies of corn and other necessaries. Much of romantic interest attaches to the history and adventures of this ser viceable Indian, both during his captivity and after hia restoration to his own country. Escaping by the as sistance of certain kindly-disposed monks, from Spain, where he, with his companions, had been sold in slavery, 202 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. he reached England, and was taken into the employment of a London merchant, named Slaney, by whom he was sent as pilot, or in some other capacity, to various places on the eastern coast. He was brought back to Patuxet, the Indian name of the country in which the pilgrims first landed, by Captain Thomas Dermer, who sailed in the employ of Sir Fercli- nando Gorges, during the summer preceding the arrival of the May-Flower. After his introduction by Samoset, he remained with his new allies, instructing them in the mode of raising corn, to which they were strangers ; in the best methods of fishing ; and making himself of inestima ble service. By the friendly influence of Squanto and Samoset, who acted as interpreters, a league of amity and mutual pro tection was effected between the colony and the powerful sachem Massasoit, father of the still more celebrated Philip. Massasoit's head-quarters were at Mount Hope, on Narra- gansett bay, overlooking the present town of Bristol; a striking feature in a landscape of remarkable beauty, and commanding from its summit a magnificent prospect of island, bay and ocean. His authority extended over all the Indian tribes living in the vicinity of the Plymouth colony, and he held an uncertain but influential sway over portions of other nations far into the interior. In the month of July, 1621, some of the principal inhabitants of the settlement, among others, Edward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins, went on an embassy to the court of this chief, as well to observe his power and resources as to renew the amicable treaties before entered into. They carried such attractive ornaments and apparel as would please the eye of a savage. They were accompanied by Squanto ; and although their entertainment, both as respects food and lodgings, was but sorry, yet they were received in a spirit of friendliness. 't NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 203 Tliey obtained much useful information concerning the surrounding tribes, and also learned the power and num bers of the Narragansetts. The ship Fortune arrived at Plymouth, in the month of November, bringing out thirty-five emigrants ; but no provisions for their support ; in consequence of which, the colony was not long after greatly distressed by want. To add to their troubles and fears, the Narragansetts sent them a hostile message, expressed by a bundle of arrows tied with a snake skin. The skin was returned filled with bullets, and the governor made the spirited reply "that, if they loved war rather than peace, they might begin when they would." The houses were thenceforth inclosed in palings, and every precaution was taken, by watch and ward, to guard against a sudden attack. During the ensuing year, 1622, two ships were sent over from England by a Mr. Thomas "Weston, with a consider able number of colonists; in one of them came "sixty lusty men." A new settlement was formed by them at Wesagus- quaset, on Massachusetts Bay, known as Weston's colony. The dishonesty and wastefulness of these new comers produced very injurious effects upon the welfare of the colony at large. The hostility of the Indians was excited by their depredations, and, if we may believe the old nar rations, they were even base enough to circulate among the natives false reports of an intention on the part of the Plymouth authorities to attack them, and forcibly seize their I corn and provisions, the time being one of great scarcity. Weston's men were in possession of a small vessel, in which they proposed to their Plymouth neighbors to un dertake an expedition round Cape Cod, for the purpose of trading for supplies from the natives. After two unsuccess ful attempts, having been delayed by rough weather, they succeeded in reaching Nauset and Mattachiest, where they 204 IXDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. obtained a quantity of corn and beans. It was on this voyage that they lost their guide and interpreter Squanto. He had been a highly useful and faithful coadjutor to the colonists; his only faults being a natural inclination to presume upon his importance in his intercourse with his countrymen. This led him to exalt himself in their eyes by tales of his great influence over the English, and ex aggerated reports of their powers and skill. He affirmed that they had the plague buried in the ground, which they could, at pleasure, let loose for the destruction of the In dians. On one occasion he was believed, for some purpose of his own, to have raised a false alarm of an attack by the Narragansetts, accompanied by Massasoit. This sachem became at last so exasperated against Squanto, that, on di vers occasions, he sought to put him to death, and the colo nists had no small difficulty in preserving their interpreter. Great rivalry and jealousy existed between Squanto and Hobamak, another friendly Indian, who served the settlers in a similar capacity. In the year 1623, the people at "Western's plantation, principally, as appears, from their own folly and improvi dence, were reduced to a state of extreme misery and des titution. They became scattered in small parties, obtaining a precarious subsistence by gathering shell-fish, and by working for or pilfering from the natives. On one occa sion they actually hanged a man for stealing, in order to pacify the Indians ; and although it appears probable that he whom they executed was, in reality, guilty, yet they have been accused of sparing the principal offender, as an able-bodied and serviceable member of the community, and hanging, in his stead, an old and decrepid weaver. See "Hudibras" upon this point. An extensive conspiracy was formed among various tribes of the Massachusetts Indians, and others, extending, as some supposed, even to the inhabitants of the island THE GUIDE AND [NTERPRKTER OF THE COLONISTS. NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 205 of Capewack, or Martha's Vineyard, for the purpose of destroying Weston's colony, and perhaps that at Plymouth also. Caunbitant, or Corbitant, one of Massasoit's most distinguished subordinate chiefs, was a prime mover in this plot. He had always entertained hostile feelings towards the English, and regarded their increase and prosperity as of fatal tendency to the welfare of his own people. The design was made known to some of the chief men of Ply mouth, by Massasoit, (whom the leaders of the conspiracy had endeavored to draw into their plans,) in gratitude for their having restored him from a dangerous fit of sickness. Having been, as he supposed, at the point of death, he sent for assistance to the colony, and Mr. Edward Wins- low and John Hamden, (supposed by some writers to have been the same afterwards so celebrated in English history for his resistance to royal encroachments) with Hobamak as interpreter, were dispatched to his assistance. In order to check the purposed uprising, Captain Miles Standish, with only eight men, proceeded to Wesagusqua- set, and attacking the Indians, in conjunction with Wes ton's men, overpowered them, killing six of their number ; among the rest, the noted and dangerous Wittuwamat. This chief had displayed great boldness and spirit. On the arrival of Standish, he, with others of his company, declared that he was in no wise ignorant of the English man's intentions. "'Tell Standish,' said he, 'we know he is come to kill us, but let him begin when he dare.' Not long after, many would come to the fort, and whet their knives before him, with many braving speeches. One amongst the rest was by Wittuwamat's bragging he had a knife that on the handle had a woman's face, but at home I have one that hath killed both French and English, and that hath a man's face upon it, and by and by these two must marry; but this here by and by shall see, and by and by eat but not speake." Of the manner of this In- 206 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. dian's death, and that of Peksuot, one of his principal companions, killed by Standlsh himself in a desperate hand to hand struggle, Winslow says: "But it is incredi ble how many wounds these two panieses received before they died, not making any fearful noise, but catching at their weapons and striving to the last." Wittuwamat had often expressed great contempt of the English for their want of fortitude, declaring that "they died crying, making sour faces,- more like children than men." A brother of this chief, only eighteen years of age, they hanged. The Weston plantation was, however, broken up, the survivors, much reduced in numbers by sickness and want, setting sail in their vessel for the eastward, to join the fishing squadron on the coast: as the old historian has it, "here see the effects of pride and vain-glory." Thomas Weston himself, after a singular series of misfortunes, only arrived at Plymouth to learn the disastrous fate of his colony. The system of working the land in common was this year abandoned by the Plymouth colonists, and a portion of land set apart to each man ; a change which produced the most favorable results. , In the course of a few years from the formation of the Plymouth colony, the Indians, in spite of a royal procla mation forbidding the traffic, began to supply themselves with fire-arms and ammunition, the use of which they ac quired with singular facility. The trade for these danger ous articles first commenced upon the eastern coast, .where they were brought by English, French and Dutch fishing vessels, and was further extended into the interior in -1628, by one Thomas Morton, a notable contemner of godliness, and long a thorn in the side of the sober colonists. Besides his capital offence of teaching the Indians the use of fire arms, and driving a profitable trade with them in these deadly weapons, he became, as Morton has it, "a lord of NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 207 misrule," with, a set of disorderly companions who had been brought out in the same ship with him. They spent what they gained by unlawful trade in " vainly quaffing and drinking both wine and strong liquors to great excess setting up a May-pole, drinking and dancing about it, and frisking about it like so many fairies, or furies rather." This May-pole was cut down by Endicott, and Morton was seized and sent to England, where he wrote an "infa mous and scurrilous book '(The New Canaan),' against many godly and chiefmen of the country." In 1633, a year memorable for the first English settlement on the Connecticut, by William Holmes, in spite of the opposi tion of the Dutch, a "pestilent fever" carried off many, both of the colonists and Indians thereabout. Morton, in his "New England's Memorial," says that "It is to be observed that, the spring before this sickness, there was a numerous company of flies, which were like, for bigness, unto wasps or bumble-bees ; they came out of little holes in the ground, and did eat up the green things, and made such a constant yelling noise as made the woods ring of them, and ready to deafen the hearers." The In dians prophesied sickness from this sign. No very serious hostilities occurred between the Ply mouth colonists and the natives, from the period of which we have been speaking, until the year 1637, memorable for the extirpation of the Pequots. The causes and con duct of this campaign, marked as it was by the most sav age ferocity on the part of both Indians and English, will be detailed in a succeeding chapter. In the year 1639, Massasoit, or, as he is generally styled at this period, Woosamequen, brought his eldest son Mooa- nam, otherwise called Wamsutta, to the court at Plymouth, and solemnly renewed the former league of peace and amity with the colony. 208 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. After the death of the friendly and powerful sachem, his sons Wamsutta and Metacomet continued their profes sion of good- will towards the English. About 1656, they presented themselves to the court at Plymouth, and, by their own request, received English names. Wamsutta was denominated Alexander, and Metacomet, Philip, long after a name of terror to the colonies. In 1662, Alexander, having been suspected of being engaged with the Narragansetts in plans hostile to the English settlers, was taken by surprise, and forcibly car ried to Plymouth. This indignity is said so to have chafed his proud spirit, that it threw him into a fever, of which he died shortly after. Contradictory reports have been handed down to us concerning the manner of his treat ment during this brief captivity, and the circumstances attending his death. Shortly after this event, Philip, now sachem of Pocanoket, came to the court at Plymouth, with renewed acknowledg ments of subjection to the king of England, and promises to fulfil all engagements theretofore entered into by him self, his father and brother. He covenanted, moreover, not to sell any of his lands to strangers without the knowledge and consent of the authorities at Plymouth. DURING THE PKK.on OF THE EARC.Y IWMASI NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 209 CHAPTER II. THE NARRAGANSETTS THE PEQUOTS MURDER OF STONE AND OLDHAM ENDICOTT'S EXPEDITION THE PEQUOT WAR DESTRUCTION OF THE PEQUOT FORT THE TRIBE DISPERSED AND SUBDUED. "Dark as the frost-nipped leaves that strew the ground, The Indian hunter here his shelter found; Here cut his bow, and shaped his arrows true, Here built his wigwam and his bark canoe, Speared the quick salmon leaping up the fall, And slew the deer without the rifle ball ; Here his young squaw her cradl'ing-tree would choose, Singing her chant to hush her swart papoose; Here st;iin her quills, and string her trinkets rude, And weave her warrior's wampum in the wood." BRAINARD. THE islands and western shores of the beautiful bay which still bears their name were, at the time of the first European settlement, in the possession of the great and powerful tribe of the Narragansetts. Their, dominions extended thirty or forty miles to the westward, as far as the country of the Pequots, from whom they were sepa rated by the Pawcatuck river. Their chief sachem was the venerable Canonicus, who governed the tribe, with the assistance and support of his nephew Miantonimo. The celebrated Koger Williams, the founder of the Rhode Island and Providence plantations; always noted for his kindness, justice and impartiality towards the natives, was high in favor with the old chief, and exercised an influence over him, without which his power might have been fatally turned against the English. Canonicus, he informs us, loved him as a son to the day of his death. Mr. Williams had been obliged to leave the colony at 14 210 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. the eastward, in consequence of his religious opinions, which did not coincide with "those so strictly interwoven with the government and policy of the puritans. He Was a man of whose enterprise and wisdom the state which he first settled is justly proud, and whose liberal and magnani mous disposition stands out in striking relief when com pared with the intolerant and narrow-minded prejudices of his contemporaries. Miantonimo is described as a warrior of a tall and commanding appearance ; proud and magnanimous ; "sub til and cunning in his contrivements;" and of undaunted courage. The Pequots and Mohegans, who formed but one tribe, and were governed during the early period of English colonization by one sachem, appear to have emigrated from the west not very long before the first landing of Europeans on these shores. They were entirely discon nected with the surrounding tribes, with whom they were engaged in continual hostilities, and were said to have reached the country they then inhabited from the north. They probably formed a po'rtion of the Mohican or Mohe- gan nation on the Hudson, and arrived at the sea-coast by a circuitous route, moving onward in search of better hunt ing grounds, or desirous of the facilities for procuring support offered by the productions of the sea. In various warlike incursions they had gained a partial possession of extensive districts upon the Connecticut river, and from them the early Dutch settlers purchased the title to the lands they occupied in that region. In the year 1634, one Captain Stone, a trader from Vir ginia, of whom the early narrators give rather an evil report, having put into the Connecticut river in a small vessel, was killed, together with his whole crew, by a party of In dians whom he had suffered to remain on board his vessel. Two years later, a Mr. John Oldhain was murdered at NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 211 Block Island, (called Manisses in the Indian tongue,) by a body of natives. They were discovered in possession of the vessel, and, endeavoring to make their escape, were most of them drowned. The Narragansetts and Pequots both denied having participated in this last outrage, and, as respects Stone and his companions, although the Pequots afterwards acknowl edged that some of their people were the guilty parties, yet they averred that it was done in retaliation for the murder of one of their own sachems by the Dutch, deny ing that they knew any distinction between the Dutch and English. To revenge the death of Oldham, an expedition was fitted out from Massachusetts, with the avowed determina tion of destroying all the male inhabitants of Block Island, and of enforcing heavy tribute from the Pequots. Those engaged in the undertaking, under the command of Endi- cott, landed on the island, ravaged the corn-fields, and burned the wigwams of the inhabitants ; but the islanders succeeded in concealing themselves in the thickets, so that few were killed. Endicott thence proceeded to the Pequot country, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Gardiner, commander of the garrison at Saybrook, who told him that the consequence would only be to "raise a hornet's nest about their ears." Disembarking near the mouth of the Thames, the adventurers were surrounded by a large body of savages, mostly unarmed, who questioned them of their purposes with much surprise and curiosity. The English demanded the murderers, whom they alledged to be harbored there, or their heads. The Indians replied that their chief sa chem, Sassacus, was absent, and sent or pretended to send parties in search of the persons demanded. Endicott, impatient of delay, and suspecting deceit, drove them off, after a slight skirmish, and proceeded to lay waste theii 212 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. corn-fields and wigwams, destroying their canoes and doing them incalculable mischief. " The same operations were carried on the next day, upon the opposite bank of the river, after which the party set sail for home. The effect of procedures like these, was such as might have been expected. The hostility of the Pequots towards the whites was from this period implacable. For several years the tribe had -been engaged in a desul tory war with the Narragansetts, arising from a quarrel, in 1632, respecting the boundary of their respective do mains. Sassacus at once perceived the necessity or policy of healing this breach, and procuring the assistance of his powerful neighbors in the anticipated struggle. He there fore sent ambassadors to Canonicus, charged with propo sals of treaty, and of union against the usurping English. A grand council of the Narragansett sachems was called, and the messengers, according to Morton, "used many pernicious arguments to move them thereunto, as that the English were strangers, and began to overspread their country, and would deprive them thereof in time, if they were suffered to grow and increase;" that they need not "come to open battle with them, but fire their houses, kill their cattle, and lie in ambush for them," all with little danger to themselves. The Narragansetts hesitated, and would not improbably have acceded to the proposals but for the intervention and persuasion of their friend Roger Williams. His influence, combined with the hope, so dear to an Indian heart, of being revenged upon their old adversaries, finally pre vailed. Miantonimo, with a number of other chiefs and warriors, proceeded to Boston ; was received with much parade; and concluded a treaty of firm alliance with the English, stipulating not to make peace with the Pequots, without their assent. NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 213 Meantime, during this same year (1637), the Pequots had commenced hostilities by attacking the settlers on the Connecticut. They lay concealed about the fort at Say- brook, ready to seize any of the little garrison who should be found without the walls. In several instances they succeeded in making captives, whom they tortured to death with their usual savage cru elty. Among the rest, .a " godly young man of the name of Butterfield," was taken, and roasted alive. The boldness, and even temerity of the few occupants of the fort, with these horrors staring them in the face, is surprising. Gardiner, their governor, on one occasion, exasperated a body of Indians who had come forward for a species of parley, by mocking, daring, and taunting them in their own style of irony and vituperation. The colonists appear to have been even more horror- stricken and enraged at the blasphemous language of their wild opponents, than at their implacable cruelty. When they tortured a prisoner, they would bid him call upon his God, and mock and deride him if he did so, in a manner not unlike that recorded in the case of a more illustrious sufferer. They told Gardiner that they had ".killed Englishmen, and could kill them like musquitoes;" and that there was one among them who, "if he could kill one more Eng lishman, would be equal with God." Joseph Tilly, commander of a trading vessel, a man described as "brave and hardy, but passionate and wilful," going on shore, incautiously, and against the advice of Gardiner, was taken by the savages, and tortured to death in the most lingering and cruel manner, being partially dismembered, and slowly burned to death by lighted splinters thrust into his flesh. His conduct in this ex tremity excited the lasting admiration of his tormentors ; for, like one of their own braves, he endured all with silent fortitude. 214 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. The Indians were accustomed to imitate and deride the cries and tokens of pain whi-c"h they usually elicited from the whites, as being unworthy of men, and tolerable only in women or children. In April of this year (1637), an attack was made upon the village of Wethersfield, by a body of Pequots, assisted or led by other Indians of the vicinity, whose enmity had been excited by some unjust treatment on the part of the white inhabitants. Three women and six men of the colonists, were killed, and cattle and other property de stroyed or carried off to a considerable extent. Two young girls, daughters of one Abraham Swain, were taken and carried into captivity. Their release was afterwards ob tained by some Dutch traders, who inveigled a number of Pequots on board their vessel, and threatened to throw them into the sea if the girls were not delivered up. Dur ing the time that these prisoners were in the power of the Indians, they received no injury, but were treated with uniform kindness, a circumstance which, with many others of the same nature, marks the character of the barbarians as being by no means destitute of the finer feelings of humanity. The settlers on the Connecticut now resolved upon active operations against the Pequot tribe. Although the whole number of whites upon the river, capable of doing military service, did not exceed three hundred, a force of ninety men was raised and equipped. Captain John Ma son, a soldier by profession, and a bold, energetic man, was appointed to the command of the expedition, and the Reverend Mr. Stone, one of the first preachers at Hartford, who had accompanied his people across the wilderness, at the time of the first settlement of tha,t town, undertook the office of chaplain a position of far greater importance and responsibility, in the eyes of our forefathers, than is accorded to it at the present day. NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 215 Letters were written to the authorities of Massachusetts, requesting assistance, inasmuch as the war was owing, in no small measure, to the ill-advised and worse-conducted expedition sent forth, as we have before described, by that colony. The required aid was readily furnished, and a considerable body of men, under the command of Daniel Patrick, was sent to the Narragansett sachem, to procure his cooperation, and afterwards to join the forces of Mason. The little army was further increased by the addition of a party of Indians, led by a chief afterwards so cele brated in the annals of the colony, as to deserve more than a casual mention upon the occasion of this, his first introduction to the reader. Uncas, a sachem of the Mohegans, whom we have be fore mentioned as forming a portion of the Pequot tribe, had, some time previous to the events which we are now recording, rebelled against the authority of Sassacus, his superior sachem, to whom he was connected by ties of affinity and relationship. He is described as having been a man of great strength and courage, but grasping, cunning, and treacherous, and possessed of little of that magnanimity which, though counterbalanced by faults peculiar to his race, distinguished his implacable foe, Miantonimo the Narragansett. With his followers, a portion of whom were Mohegans, and the rest, as is supposed, Indians from the districts on the Connecticut, who had joined themselves to his fortunes, Uncas now made common cause with the whites against his own nation. Gardiner, the commandant at Saybrook, to test his fidelity, dispatched him in pursuit of a small party of hostile Indians, whose position he had ascertained. Uncas accomplished his mission, killing a portion of them, and returning with one prisoner. This captive the In dians were allowed by the English to torture to death, and they proceeded to pull him asunder, fastening one leg to 216 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. a post, and tying a rope to the other, of which they laid hold. Underbill, elsewhere characterized as a "bold, bad, man," had, on this occasion, the humanity to shorten the torment of the victim by a pistol-shot. > The plan of campaign adopted by Mason, after much debate, was to sail for the country of the Narragansetts, and there disembarking, to 'come upon the enemy by land from an unexpected direction. Canonicus and Miantonimo received the party in a friendly manner, approving the design, but proffering no assistance. Intelligence was here received of the approach of Cap tain Patrick and his men from Massachusetts, but Mason determined to lose no time by waiting for their arrival, lest information of the movement should in the meantime, reach the camp of the Pequots. The next day, therefore, which was the 4th of June, the vessels, in which the com- I pany had arrived from Saybrook, set sail for Pequot river, manned by a few whites and Indians, while the main body proceeded on their march across the country. About sixty Indians, led by Uncas, were of the party. A large body of Narragansetts and Nehantics attended them on their march, at one time to the number, as was supposed, of nearly five hundred. In Indian style, they made great demonstration of valor and determination ; but as they approached the head-quarters of the terrible tribe that had held them so long in awe, their hearts began to fail. Many slunk away, and of those who still hung in the rear, none but Uncas and Wequash, a Nehantic sachem, were ready to share in the danger of the first attack. The Pequot camp was upon the summit of a high rounded hill, still known as Pequot hill, in the present town of Groton, and was considered by the Indians as impregnable. The people of Sassacus had seen the Eng- NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 217 lish vessels pass by, and supposed that danger was for the present averted. After a great feast and dance of exulta tion at their safety and success, the camp was sunk in sleep and silence. Mason and his men, who had encamped among some rocks near the head of Mystic river, ap proached the Pequot fortification a little before day, on the 5th of June. . The alarm was first, given by the barking of a dog, followed by a cry from some one within, of "Owanux, Owanux" the Indian term for Englishmen -upon which the besiegers rushed forward to the attack. The fort was, as usual, inclosed with thick palisades, a narrow entrance being left, which was barred by a pile of brushwood. Breaking through this, Mason and his com panions fell upon the startled Pequots, and maintained for some time an uncertain hand to hand conflict, until, all order being lost, he came to the savage determination to fire the wigwams. This was done, and the dry materials of which these rude dwellings were composed blazed with fearful rapidity. The warriors fought desperately, but their bow-strings snapped from the heat, and the JSTarragansetts, now coming up, killed all who attempted to escape. The scene within was horrible beyond description. The whole number destroyed (mostly by the flames) was supposed to be over four hundred, no small portion of which consisted of women and children. The spirit of the times cannot be better portrayed than by citing the description of this tragedy given by Morton : "At this time it was a fearful sight to see them thus fry ing in the fire, and the streams of blood quenching the same; and horrible was the stink and scent thereof; but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the praise thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to enclose their enemies in their hands, and 218 INDIAN KACES OF AMEEICA. give them so speedy a victory over so proud, insulting and blasphemous an enemy." Dr. 1 Increase Mather, in much the same vein, says: "This day we brought six hundred Indian souls to hell." In looking back upon this massacre, although much allowance must be made for the rudeness of the age, and the circumstances of terror and anxiety which surrounded the early settlers, yet we "must confess that here, as on other occasions, they exhibited the utmost unscrupulous- ness as to the means by which a desired end should be accomplished. The loss of the attacking party in this engagement was trifling in the extreme, only two of their number being killed, and about twenty wounded. Captain Patrick with his soldiers from Massachusetts, did not reach the scene of action in time to take part in it Underhill, however, with twenty men, was of the party. The result of this conflict was fatal to the Pequots as a nation. After a few unavailing attempts to revenge their wrongs, they burned their remaining camp, and com menced their flight to the haunts of their forefathers at the westward. They were closely pursued by the whites and their Indian allies, and hunted and destroyed like wild beasts. The last important engagement was in a swamp at Fairfield, where they were completely overcome. Most of the war riors were slain, fighting bravely to the last, and the women and children were distributed as servants among the colonists or shipped as slaves to the West Indies ; "We send the male children," says Winthrop, "to Burmuda, by Mr. William Pierce, and the women and maid children are dispersed about in the towns." It is satisfactory to reflect that these wild domestics proved rather a source of annoyance than service to their enslavers. Sassacus, Mononotto, and a few other Pequot warriors, NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 219 succeeded in effecting their escape to the Mohawks, who, however, put the sachem and most of his companions to death, either to oblige the English or the Narragansetts. The members of the tribe who still remained in Con necticut, were finally brought into complete subjection. Many of them joined the forces of the now powerful Uncas; others were distributed between the Narragansetts and Mohegans; and no small number were taken and deliberately massacred. The colonial authorities demanded that all Pequots who had been in any way concerned in shedding English blood should be slain, and Uncas had no small difficulty in retaining his useful allies, and at the same time satisfy ing the powerful strangers whose patronage and protection he so assiduously courted. CHAPTER III. QUARRELS BETWEEN THE NARRAGANSETTS AND MOHEGANS UNCAS AND MIANTONIMO THE MOHEGAN LAND CON TROVERSY SUBSEQUENT CONDITION OF THE PEQUOTS AND MOHEGANS. A SMALL body of the Pequots made one more futile attempt to settle in their old country ; but a company was sent against them, and they were driven off; their provi sions were plundered, and their wigwams destroyed. The destruction of this powerful tribe left a large extent of country unoccupied; to no small portion of which Uncas laid claim by virtue of his relationship to Sassacus. The power and influence of this subtle and warlike chief had become, by this time, vastly extended, not only by treaty and alliance with the Europeans, but by continual addition to the number of his warriors; as many strag- 220 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. gling Pequots, and wanderers from other tribes, were eager to join his rising fortunes'. Between him and Miantonimo, old feelings of jealousy, rivalry, and national antipathy were now aroused anew by various acts of petty hostility and mutual treachery. Uncas and his followers succeeded in exciting in the minds of the English a deep and abiding mistrust of the Narra- gansetts, which Miantonimo' upon repeated citations before the Court at Plymouth, was unable wholly to remove. His wisdom, cautiousness, and sagacity, excited the ad miration of all who heard him, but, with all his tact, he failed to convince the authorities of his good faith and innocent intentions. The animosity of the two chiefs at last broke out into open hostilities. Miantonimo, accompanied, as was com puted, by over nine hundred warriors, came suddenly upon Uncas, who was supported by only about half that number of effective followers. Before joining battle, the Mohegan sachem challenged his opponent to single combat, proposing that the vanquished party should, with his men, submit to the victor. Miantonimo refusing to accede to this proposal, Uncas, according to a preconcerted gignal, prostrated himself; and his warriors, discharging a flight of arrows, rushed forward with such impetuosity that, despite the disparity of num bers, they completely routed the Narragansetts, and drove them from the field. The chief of the invaders was taken prisoner in his flight by Uncas himself, assisted by two other warriors. He had been impeded in his motions by an old corslet, a piece of defensive armor which had been presented to him by an English friend, but which proved fatal to him. Seeing that resistance was hopeless, he seated himself upon the ground, with true Indian stoicism and silence. Uncas took his prisoner to Hartford, and requested the NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 221 advice of the authorities as to what course he should pur sue respecting him. They referred the question to the general court of commissioners for New England, which sat at Boston, in September (1643). The court, unwilling to undertake the responsibility of ordering the death of the illustrious captive, submitted the matter to the decision of the clergy, then in high council at the same city. These worthies, less scrupulous than the laity, came to the con clusion that his life must pay the forfeit of his attacks upon Uncas, and his general turbulence, not to mention the fact that he had, in one instance, beaten a follower of a sachem who was allied to the English ! The unfortunate sachem was therefere redelivered into the hands of the Mohegans for execution, and two of the English were appointed to attend the proceeding, and see that he was put to death without torture. There is some discrepancy in the accounts as to the place where Mianto- nimo met his fate, but it appears to have been in the township of Norwich, where a pile of stones was long after pointed out as marking his grave. The manner of his death was this : Uncas, with his brother, Wawequa, and a party of other Indians, accompanied by the two whites, was leading his prisoner along a path, when, at a silent signal from the chief, Wawequa buried his tomahawk in the skull of the captive from behind. It is said that Uncas cut a portion of flesh from the shoulder of his fallen en emy, and eat it, declaring that it was the "sweetest meat he ever eat ; it made his heart strong." The Narragansetts lamented bitterly over the untimely end of their famous and beloved sachem, and complained of the treachery of Uncas, averring that large quantities of wampum had been sent as ransom to the Mohegans, and appropriated by them, regardless of the conditions attend ing its mission. Pessacus, a brother of Miantonimo, continued to make L, 222 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. troublesome inroads upon the Mohegan domains, but the English still held Uncas in favor, and warned the Narra- gansetts that they would support him should he require their aid. In 1644, the complaints and mutual recriminations of the rival tribes were heard and examined by the commissioners of the colonies, who decided that Pessacus had not proved his charges, and enforced a temporary treaty. This was soon violated by the Narragansetts, who continued their depre dations as heretofore ; and in the ensuing spring, Pessacus, having done great damage to his opponent by predatory excursions, finally besieged him in a fort on the Thames, where he would probably have reduced him by famine, had not supplies been secretly furnished by certain of the English. The tyranny and exactions of Uncas over the Pequots who had become subject to him, aroused their indignation; while his treachery towards his own people, and alliance with the whites, secured him the hostility of every neigh boring tribe. He was engaged in perpetual quarrels with ISTinigret, a celebrated Nehantic sachem; with Sequassen, whose authority at an earlier date extended over the Tunxis tribe, at the westward of the Connecticut; and with the grieved and revengeful Narragansetts. Whenever these interminable disputes were brought before the court of the New England commissioners, the decisions of that body appear to have favored the Mo hegan. Assisted by the counsel of a crafty and subtle Indian, named Foxun or Poxen, who served him in the capacity of chief advocate and adviser, and whose wisdom and sagacity were widely noted, he generally managed to explain away his iniquities; at least so far as to satisfy an audience already prejudiced in his favor. When his crimes were not to be concealed, a reprimand and caution were generally the extent of his punishment. On the other hand, when suspicions arose againsfcthe Nar- INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. 223 ragansetts, the most prompt and violent proceedings were resorted to : the payment of an immense amount of wampum was exacted; the delivery of hostages from among the principal people of the tribe was demanded; and threats of war and extermination were used to humble and humil iate them. In September, 1655, a few of the scattered Pequots who had not joined the forces of Uncas, were allowed a resting- place by the commissioners, upon a portion of the south eastern sea-coast of Connecticut, and their existence as a separate tribe was formally acknowledged. This little remnant of the crushed and overthrown na tion, had been, for some time, under the guidance of two self-constituted sachems, one commonly called Eobin Cas- sinament. a Pequot, and the other Cushawashet, a nephew of Ninigret, known among the English as Hermon Garret. They had formed small settlements upon the tract now allotted to them, which they were allowed to retain upon j payment of tribute, in wampum, to the colonies, and the adoption of a prescribed code of laws. Their governors were to be chosen by the English ; and Cushawashet and inament received the first appointment. It will readily be perceived to what an extent the power and control of the colonists over the affairs of the Indians in their vicinity, had increased, even at this early period. The natives were now glad to settle down under the protec tion of their masters ; to pay yearly tribute as amends for former hostilities ; and to hire the lands of which they had been so short a time previous the undisturbed possessors. It is pitiful to read of the coarse coats, the shovels, the hoes, the knives, and jews-harps, in exchange for which they had parted with their broad lands. Utterly improvi dent, and incapable of foreseeing, or hopeless of averting the ascendancy of the whites, they yielded to their exac tions, and submitted to their dictation. 224 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. Sauntering indolently about the settlements, and wasting their energies by excess in the use of the novel means of excitement offered by "strong waters," they lost much of that native pride, dignity, and self-respect which distin guished them when intercourse with foreigners first com menced. Their numbers, which appear to have been grossly exaggerated, even, in their most flourishing days, were rapidly diminishing; their game was becoming scarce; and the refinements and comforts of civilization, rude in deed as compared to what now exists, presented to their eyes at the white settlements, only aggravated the con sciousness of their own poverty and distress. The Tunxis and Podunk Indians, who inhabited either side of the Connecticut, in the vicinity of the English set tlements ; the Quinnipiacs on the sound, where New Haven now stands ; the Nehantics, to the eastward of the river ; and the feeble Pequot settlement, were subject to, or in effect, under the control of the colonists : Uncas was their " friend and fast ally;" and the Narragansetts, though under suspi cion of various treacherous plans, were nominally at peace with the whites, and quelled by the terror of their arms. This condition of affairs continued, with the exception of the great and final struggle between the colonists and the natives, known as Philip's war to be detailed in a suc ceeding article until the death of Uncas, about the year 1682. He left the title to his extensive domains involved in inextricable confusion. In consequence of deeds and grants from himself and his sons Owenoco and Attawan- hood, to various individuals among the white settlers, and for various purposes, the effect of which conveyances were probably unknown to the grantors, numerous contradictory claims arose. The same tracts were made over to different persons ; one grant would extend over a large portion of another; and, to crown all, Uncas, in the year 1659, had aliened his whole possessions by deed, regularly witnessed, NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 225 to John Mason, of Norwich. This conveyance was evi dently intended by the sachem, merely to confer a general power as overseer or trustee upon a man whom he con sidered as friendly to his interests, and whose knowledge would prove a protection against the overreaching of pro posed purchasers. According to the Indian understand ing of the transaction was the claim of Mason and his heirs, who arrogated to. themselves no further interest or authority than that above specified. The Connecticut colony, by virtue of a general deed of "surrender of juris diction," obtained from Mason, insisted on an unqualified property in the whole dornain. Owenoco succeeded his father as sachem of the Mohe- gans, and pursued a similar course to secure his lands, conveying them to the sons of Mason as trustees. His Indian improvidence and intemperance led him to disre gard this arrangement, and to give deeds of various tracts included in the trust conveyance, without the knowledge or assent of the overseer. In July, of the year 1704, in order to settle the conflicting claims of the whites and In dians, and to restore to the tribe the portions illegally obtained from them, a royal commission was obtained from England, by some friends of the Mohegans, to examine and settle the disputed questions. The colony protested against the proceeding, denying the authority of the crown to determine upon the matter, and refused to appear before the commissioners. The conduct of the case being ex parte, a decision was given in favor of the Mohegans, restoring them to a vast extent of territory alledged to have been obtained from their sachems when intoxicated, or by other under-hand and illegal courses. From this decree the Connecticut colony ap pealed, and a new commission was granted, but with no decisive result, and the case remained unsettled for more than half a century from the time of its commencement. 15 226 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Owenoco lived to an advanced age, becoming, before his death, a helpless mendicant,' and subsisting, in company with his squaw, upon the hospitality of the neighboring settlers. His son Cassar was his successor as sachem. Ben, the youngest son of Uncas, of illegitimate birth, succeeded Caesar, to the exclusion of the rightful heir, young Mamohet, a grandson of Owenoco. Mason now renewed his claims, and, accompanied by his two sons, carried Mamohet to England, that he might present a new petition to the reigning monarch. A new commission was awarded, but both the applicants died before it was made out. When the trial finally came on in 1738, distinguished counsel were employed on both sides, in anticipation of an arduous and protracted contest; but by a singular course of collusion and artifice, which it were too tedious to detail, the decision of 1705, on the first commission, was repealed, and the Connecticut claims supported. This was appealed from by the Masons, and good cause appearing, a new trial was decreed. Five commissioners, men of note from New York and New Jersey, met at Norwich in the summer of 1743, and the great case brought in auditors and parties in interest from far and near. The claims, and the facts offered in support of them, were strangely intricate and complex: counsel appeared in behalf of four sets of parties, viz: the Connecticut colony ; the two claimants of the title of Sachem of the Mohegans, Ben and John, a descendant of the elder branch; and those in possession of the lands in question. The decree was in favor of the colony, which was sus tained on the concluding examination of the case in England. Two of the commissioners dissented. The Mohegans still retained a reservation of about four thou sand acres. Their number reduced to a few hundred; distracted by NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 227 the uncertain tenure of their property, and the claims of the rival sachems ; mingled with the whites in contentions, the merits of which they were little capable of compre hending; with drunkenness and vice prevalent among them; the tribe was fast dwindling into insignificance. Eestrictive laws, forbidding the sale of ardent spirits to the Indians, were then, as now, but of little effect. Of the celebrated and warlike tribes of the Mohegans and Pequots, only a few miserable families now remain upon their ancient territory. These are mostly of mixed blood, and little of the former character of their race is to be seen in them except its peculiar vices. They are scantily supported by the rents of the lands still reserved and appropriated to their use. A number of the Mohe gans removed to the Oneida district, in New York, some years since, but a few still remain near the former head quarters of their tribe, and individuals among them retain, the names of sachems and warriors noted in the early ages of the colonies. Much interest attaches to the efforts which have been made for the instruction and improvement of this remnant of the Mohegan nation; especially as connected with the biography of Samuel Occum, their native preacher; one of the few Indians who have been brought under the influence of civilization, and have acquired a liberal education. In reviewing the character and history of these, as of most of the native tribes, and reflecting upon their steady and hopeless decline before the European immigrants, we cannot but feel influenced by contradictory sympathies. Their cruelties strike us with horror; their treachery and vices disgust us ; but, with all this, we still may trace the tokens of a great and noble spirit. It is painful to reflect that this has more and more declined as their communion with the whites has become the more intimate. They 228 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. have lost their nationality, and with it their pride and self-respect ; the squalid and poverty -stricken figures hang ing about the miserable huts they inhabit, convey but a faint idea of the picture that the nation presented when in a purely savage state ; when the vices of foreigners had not, as yet, contaminated them, nor their superior power and knowledge disheartened them by the contrast. CHAPTER IV. KING PHILIP'S WAR, THE INDIANS FURNISHED WITH FIRE-ARMS SITUATION OF THE COLONISTS PHILIP'S ACCESSION HIS TREATIES WITH THE WHITES HIS TRUE PLANS EMMISSARIES SENT TO SOGKONATE CAPTAIN BENJAMIN CHURCH HIS INTERVIEW WITH AWOSHONKS MUR DER OF JOHN SASSAMON. THE events of which we shall now proceed to give a brief synopsis, were of more momentous interest, and fraught with more deadly peril to the New England colo nies, than aught that had preceded them. The wild inhabitants of the forest had now become far more danger ous opponents than when they relied upon their rude flint- headed arrows, or heavy stone tomahawks, as the only efficient weapons of offence. Governor Bradford, many years before the breaking out of the hostilities which we are about to detail, had given a graphic description of the effect produced upon their deportment and self-confidence by the introduction of European weapons. We quote from Brad ford's verse, as rendered in prose in the appendix to Davis' edition of the New England Memorial. "These fierce natives," says he, "are now so furnished NEW ENGLAND INBIANS. 229 with guns and musquets, and are so skilled in them, that they keep the English in awe, and give the law to them v^hen they please ; and of powder and shot they have such abundance that sometimes they refuse to buy more. Flints, screw-plates, and moulds for all sorts of shot they have, and skill how to use them. They can mend and new stock their pieces as well, almost, as an Englishman." He describes the advantages which they thus obtained over the whites in the pursuit of game; their own con sciousness of power, and boasts that they could, when they pleased, "drive away the English, or kill them;" and finally breaks out into bitter upbraidings against the folly and covetousness of the traders who had supplied them with arms. His forebodings were truly prophetic: "Many," says he, "abhor this practice," (the trade in arms and ammunition,) "whose innocence will not save them if, which God forbid, they should come to see, by this means, some sad tragedy, when these heathen, in their fury, shall cruelly shed our innocent blood." The English settlements were small, ill defended, and widely scattered. Whoever is acquainted with the rough nature of the New England soil, must at once perceive how necessary it became for the first settlers to select the spots most favorable for cultivation, and what an inhos pitable wilderness must have separated their small and ill-protected villages. The whole number of the European inhabitants of New England, in 1675, when the memorable Indian war broke out, has been computed at about fifty thousand, which would give an effective force of not far from eight thousand men. It were but wild conjecture to attempt a computation of the number and force of the native tribes who took part in the war. Old historians frequently speak positively, and in round numbers, when enumerating the aborigines ; 230 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. but, in many instances, we can perceive, with tolerable certainty, that they have been guilty of gross exaggeration, such as the whole circumstances of their intercourse with the savages would naturally lead to. An enemy whose appearance was sudden and unex pected; who, in secret ambuscade or midnight assault, used every device to increase the terror and bewilderment of their victims, might well be over estimated by those whose all was at stake, and who were waiting in fearful uncertainty as to where the danger lay, or when they should next be called to resist it. In 1662, Philip, Metacomet or Pometacom, as we have already seen, succeeded hi brother Alexander, within a few months of the death of their father, Massasoit. Upon the occasion of his assuming the dignity of sachem over the Wampanoags, there was a great collection of sachems and warriors from all parts of the country, to unite in a feast of rejoicing at Mount Hope, where he held his court. Although the new chief renewed his treaty with the English, and for nine years after his accession made no open demonstrations of hostility, yet his mind appears from the first to have been aliened from the intruders. Whether from anger at the proceedings attendant on the death of his brother, or from sympathy with his injured allies, the Narragansetts, or that his natural sagacity sug gested to him the ruin which must fall upon his people by the spread of the whites; certain it is that his feelings of enmity were nourished and brooded over, long before their final exhibition. Like his father before him, he never inclined an ear to the teachings of the Christian religion. Mather mentions a signal instance of his contempt for this species of in struction. The celebrated preacher, Eliot, had expounded the doctrines of Christianity, and urged their acceptance upon Philip, with his usual zeal and sincerity; but the NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 231 sacliem, approaching him, and laying hold of a button on his coat, told him that he cared no more for his Gospel than for that button. In the year 1671, Philip made grievous complaints of trespasses upon the planting-lands of his people : according to Hubbard, "the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning, had so. filled the heart of this savage miscreant with envy and malice, against the English, that he was ready to break out into open war against the inhabitants of Plymouth, pretending some trifling injuries done him in his planting-land." This matter was for the time settled, the complaints not appearing to the colonial authorities to be satisfac torily substantiated. A meeting was brought about, in April, 1671, at Taunton, between Philip, accompanied by a party of his warriors, in war paint and hostile trappings, and commissioners from Massachusetts. The Indian chief, unable to account for the hostile preparations in which he was proved to have been engaged, became confused, and perhaps intimidated. He not only acknowledged himself in the wrong, and that the rebellion originated in the "naughtiness of his own heart," but renewed his submis sion to the king of England, and agreed to surrender all his English arms to the government of New Plymouth, "to be kept as long as they should see reason." In pursu ance of this clause, the guns brought by himself and the party who were with him were delivered up. The colonists, now thoroughly alarmed, made efforts during the succeeding summer to deprive the neighboring tribes of arms and ammunition, making further prohibitory enactments as to the trade in these articles. Philip having failed to carry out his agreement to surrender his weapons, the Plymouth government referred the matter to the authorities of Massachusetts ; but Philip, repairing himself to Boston, excited some feeling in his favor, and the 232 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. claims of Plymouth were not fully assented to. Another treaty was concluded in the Ensuing September, whereby Philip agreed to pay certain stipulated costs; to consider himself subject to the king of England ; to consult the governor of Plymouth in the disposal of his lands, as also in the making of war ; to render, if practicable, five wolves' heads yearly ; and to refer all differences and causes of quarrel to the decision of the governor. The arms put in possession of the English at the time of the meeting in j April, were declared forfeit, and confiscated by the Ply- ' mouth government. There can be but little doubt as to Philip's motive for signing these articles. Feelings of enmity and revenge towards the whites had obtained complete possession of him, and he evidently wished merely to quiet suspicion and avert inquiry. It is almost universally allowed that he had long formed a deep and settled plan to exterminate the white settlers, and, in pursuance of it, had made use of all his powers of artful persuasion in his intercourse with the surrounding tribes. The time for a general up rising was said to have been fixed a year later than the | period when hostilities actually commenced, and the pre- | mature development of the conspiracy, brought about in ! a manner to which we shall presently advert, has been .! considered the salvation of the colonies. Hubbard, indeed, who is ever unwilling to allow that | the Indians were possessed of any good or desirable quali ties, and who can see no wrong in any of the outrages of the whites, suggests that Philip's heart would have failed him, had he not been pressed on to the undertaking by force of circumstances. He tells us that, when the great sachem succumbed to the English demands, in the spring previous, "one of his captains, of far better courage and resolution than himself, when he saw his cowardly temper and disposition, flung down his arms, calling him a white- i KING PHILIP. NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 233 livered cur or to that purpose, and saying that he would never own him again or fight under him; and, from that time, hath turned to the English, and hath continued, to this day, a faithful and resolute soldier in their quarrel." Philip had mingled much with the whites, and was well acquainted with their habits, dispositions, and force. For fifty years there had been comparative peace between the colonists and their savage neighbors, who, although slow to adopt the customs and refinements now brought to their notice, were apt enough, as we have seen, in availing themselves of the weapons which put the contending na tions so nearly upon terms of equality. To rouse a widely-scattered people to such a desperate struggle; to reconcile clannish animosities, and to point out the danger of allowing the colonies to continue their spread, required a master-spirit. The Wampanoag sachem proved himself qualified for the undertaking: he gained the concurrence and cooperation of the Narragansetts, a nation always more favorably disposed towards the English than most others of the Indian tribes ; he extended his league far to the westward, among the tribes on the Con necticut and elsewhere; and sent diplomatic embassies in every direction. Six of his warriors, in the spring of 1675, were dis patched to Sogkonate, now Little Compton, upon the eastern shores of Narragansett bay, and extending along the sea coast, to treat with Awoshonks, squaw sachem of the tribe, concerning the proposed uprising. The queen appointed a great dance, calling together all her people, but, at the same time, took the precaution to send intelli gence *of the proceeding, by two Indians, named Sassamon and George, who understood English, to her friend, Cap tain Benjamin Church, the only white settler then residing in that part of the country. This remarkable man, whose name occupies so prominent 234 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. a place in the list of our early military heroes, had moved from Duxbury into the unsettled country of the Sogkonates only the year before, and was busily and laboriously en gaged, at this time, in building, and in the numerous cares attendant upon a new settlement. -He was a man of courage and fortitude unsurpassed: bold and energetic; but with all the rough qualities of a soldier, possessing a heart so open to kindly emotions and the gentler feelings of humanity as to excite our surprise, when we consider the stern age in which he lived, 'and the scenes of savage conflict in which he bore so conspicuous a part. True courage is generally combined with generosity and magnanimity. The brave man seldom oppresses a fallen foe ; a fact strikingly exemplified in Church's treatment of his prisoners. He seems to have harbored none of those feelings of bitterness and revenge which led the colonists to acts of perfidy and cruelty hardly surpassed by the savages themselves. The manner in which he was able to conciliate the good-will of the Indians, known as he was among them for their most dangerous foe, is truly aston ishing. It was his custom to select from his captives such ' as took his fancy, and attach them to himself, and never was officer attended by a more enthusiastic and faithful guard than they proved. His son tells us that "if he perceived they looked surly, and his Indian soldiers called them treacherous dogs, as some of them would sometimes do, all the notice he would take of it would only be to clap them on the back, and tell them, ' Come, come, you look wild and surly, and mutter, but that signifies nothing; these, my best soldiers, were, a little while ago, as wild and surly as you are now; by the time you have been but one day with me, you will love me too, and be as brisk as any of them.' And it proved so, for there was none of them but, after they had been a little while with him, and seen his behavior and how cheerful and successful his men NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 235 were, would be as ready to pilot him to any place where the Indians dwelt or haunted, though their own fathers or nearest relations should be among them, or to fight for him, as any of his own men." Captain Church was in high favor and confidence with Awoshonks and her tribe ; he therefore accepted her invi tation to attend at the dance, and started for the camp, accompanied by a son of his tenant, who spoke the In dian language. He found the queen leading the dance, "in a muck of sweat," surrounded by a great body of her subjects. She received her visitor hospitably, told him of Philip's threats, and inquired concerning the purposes of the English. Church told her that no injuries had been meditated by the whites, as Philip averred, but that the sachem was the aggressor. He advised her to keep upon good terms with the English, asking her whether it was a probable thing that he should have co'me down into the wilderness to set tle if there were warlike preparations in progress among his people ; and silenced the six Mount Hope ambassadors by recommending that they should be knocked on the head. A stormy discussion ensued among the Indians, and one Little Eyes, a man of importance, endeavored to draw Church aside to dispatch him quietly ; but the captain was unmoved, and upbraided the Mount Hopes for their bloody intention, assuring them that, if they would have war, he would prove a thorn in their sides. Awoshonks inclined to his advice, and, having appointed two men to guard his house during his absence, desired him to go to Plymouth, and make known her good faith to the colonies. Church started on his mission, and, on the way, gained further information concerning Philip's movements from Peter Nunnuit, the husband of Weetamore, queen of Po- casset, now Tiverton. Philip, it seems, had been holding a protracted dance for a number of weeks, routing a mar- 236 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. tial spirit in the minds of the young warriors who were gathered about him from far and near. He had finally promised them that, on the succeeding Sabbath, they might plunder the English settlements, while the people j were engaged in religious services. We may here mention a circumstance which was con- | sidered, by Hubbard and others, as having an important j bearing upon the premature commencement of hostilities ! on the part of Philip: this was the murder of John Sas- samon, and the subsequent execution of the guilty parties. Sassamon was one of the few Indians who, at that time, had received the rudiments of an English education. He , was a professor of Christianity, and had been employed i among his people in the capacities of schoolmaster, preacher, and royal secretary. In 1662, he occupied this latter post under Philip, to whom he was subject, although born a j Massachusett and specimens of his imperfect communi cations with the colonies, in behalf of his sachem, are still preserved. Becoming aware of the dangerous conspiracy fomented by Philip, he disclosed the whole plot to the officers of the | colony; and, not long after, his body was found in Assa- womsett pond, with the neck broken, and presenting other marks of violence. His gun and hat were so disposed as to give the impression that he had accidentally fallen I through the ice, and been drowned. The matter was | strictly inquired into, and three Indians, of Philip's party r falling under suspicion, were regularly tried before a jury, in part at least of their peers, as it was composed of whites and Indians. The culprits were convicted and executed, two of them upon what would appear to us as very insuf ficient evidence. Mather speaks of the blood oozing from j the murdered body on the approach of the accused ; but | whether this circumstance made a part of the evidence before the court does not appear. NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 237 Philip himself did not come forward to attempt to clear himself of the charge of being concerned in this murder, but kept his warriors in preparation for battle, receiving and entertaining all the roving and unsettled Indians who would resort to him, and "marching up and down" con tinually during the pendancy of the trial. CHAPTER V. ATTACK ON SWANSEY COLLECTION OF TROOPS FIGHT AT MILES* BRIDGE PHILIP DRIVEN FROM THE NECK CHURCH AT PUNKATESE DESTRUCTION OF BROOKFIELD. IT was on the 24th of June, 1675, that the first open attack was made upon the colonies. The small village of Swansey lay within a few miles of Mount Hope, and here the first blood was shed. Some days previous, a party of the natives had committed a few slight depredations at this place, and conducted themselves with insolence, evidently desirous of provoking a quarrel. The squaws and children of Philip's active force were sent, for safety, to the country of the Narragansetts, before any open demonstration of hostilities. Some little discrepancy occurs in the early accounts of the first fatal attack, but it is certain that, on the day above mentioned, eight or nine' men were killed in different parts of Swansey. A company returning from religious exer cises, "in a way of humiliation," were fired upon with fatal effect, one being killed and several wounded. Two more, who had started in quest of a surgeon, were slain, scalped and mangled; and six men were killed at a dwelling-house situated in another part of the settlement. From this period all was terror and confusion. Swan- 238 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. sej was deserted by its inhabitants, and mostly reduced to ashes by the Indians. Deputations were sent to Boston, to lay the case before the Massachusetts authorities, and to solicit some prompt and efficient protection in this ter rible emergency. A party of horse and foot were at once dispatched in the direction of Mount Hope, under the command of Cap tains Henchman and Prentice. Samuel Mosely, a bold and martial character, who had pursued the calling of a priva teer, raised a volunteer company of one hundred and ten soldiers, and joined the expedition. He was, it is said, ac companied by several bucaneers of his own class, with a number of dogs ; and the feats performed by them, upon divers occasions, savor rather of the marvellous. The head-quarters of the united forces were at the house of a minister of Swansey, named Miles, and hard by was a bridge, affording convenient access to the domains of Philip. Captain Church, with the Plymouth troops under Major Cutworth, were now acting in concert with the men from Massachusetts. The Indians lay concealed or skulking about the garrison, and succeeded in killing a number by shots from covert, but showed themselves wary of coming to open combat. A detachment of Prentice's men, led by a Mr. Gill and one Belcher, made ( an attempt upon the enemy in their own quarters, but, upon crossing Miles' bridge, were fired upon by some of the Indians lying in ambush, and one of their number was killed. Gill was struck by. a ball, which would have proved mortal but for a singular spe cies of defensive armor, viz: a quantity of thick brown paper which he had inserted under his clothes. The troops retreated, leaving Church, Gill, and another to bring off the dead man; which, being accomplished, Church pur sued and regained his horse, under the full fire of the enemy. The next day the bridge was crossed by a larger force, NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 239 and, after some skirmishing, in which "Ensign Savage, that young martial spark, scarce twenty years of age," was shot through the thigh as Church says, by an accidental ball from his own party the neck of Mount Hope was cleared of Indians. The English there found Philip's de serted wigwam, and the mutilated remains of a number of the murdered whites. It was now proposed to secure the ground already gained by the erection of a fort. Church ridiculed the plan, and urgently advocated a brisk pursuit of the enemy in the Pocasset country, whither they had doubtless fled. From disregard to this advice, Philip had free scope to extend his devastations unchecked toward the east, and terrible destruction ensued, as we shall see hereafter. Early in July, Captains Church and Fuller, with six files of soldiers, were sent across to Ehode Island, thence to cross Sogkonate river, and endeavor to communicate with the Pocasset and Sogkonate Indians. About the same time, Captain Hutchinson, from Boston, arrived at the English encampment, having been commissioned to treat with and. gain over the Narragansetts. In pursuance of this pur pose, Hutchinson, with Mosely and the Massachusetts troops, proceeded in arms to the Narragansett country, where, in concert with commissioners from Connecticut, they concluded a futile and inoperative treaty of amity ith certain Indians claiming to be chief counsellors of prominent sachems. The Narragansetts were bound, the stipulations of this alliance, to render up all of Philip's subjects who should be found in their country receiving two coats for every prisoner, and one coat for every head and to carry on active war against the enemies of the whites. Hostages were given to ensure the per formance of the engagement. While this child's play was enacting, Fuller and Church, with their little band of thirty -six men, had penetrated 240 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. into the country of the Pocassets. After some unsuccessful attempts to entrap the enemy Joy means of ambuscade, (the concealed company being betrayed by incautiously grati fying their "epidemical plague, lust after tobacco,") Church and fifteen or twenty companions, with the consent of Captain Fuller, left the rest at Pocasset, and marched southward. They struck an Indian trail leading towards an extensive pine swamp, but the company becoming -alarmed by the numbers of rattlesnakes which abounded there, left the track, and went down into Punkatese neck. At this place, which is situated on the south-western part of the modern town of Tiverton, they encountered a large body of the natives in and around a pease-field of Captain Almy. They numbered, as Church was afterwards told by some of their own party, about three hundred ; but, as they pursued the usual course of savage warfare, firing from behind trees and thickets, the English could form no estimate of the force with which they were to contend. In this extremity the courage, coolness, and self-posses sion of the gallant captain were eminently conspicuous. As forcibly expressed in Church's narrative, "the hill seemed to move, being covered over with Indians, with their bright guns glittering in the sun." A detachment had been sent down the river in boats to support the troops on land, and could be plainly seen, landed upon the Khode Island shore, across the river. Church bade his men strip to their shirt-sleeves, and fire signal guns to attract attention, and show their allies that the party engaged was English. This course succeeded, and a boat put out, and approached the combatants ; but, on approaching the shore, the crew received such a volley from the guns of the Indians, that they pulled off again. Church, enraged at their pusillanimity, finally ordered the boat off, and threatened to fire into her himself. These NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 241 few men, thus left to shift for themselves, now seemed to be in a desperate condition. They were faint for want of food, as they had neglected to bring any provisions, other than a few cakes of rusk, and had been driven from the pease-field while endeavoring to allay their hunger with the crude nourishment within their reach. The Indians beset them on all sides, and, gaining possession of the ruins of an old stone-house, poured their bullets upon the English from its shelter. The ammunition of Church's party was nearly expended, arid their powder was poor and inefficient. In the midst of these difficulties, the captain '. succeeded in preserving the courage and spirit of his men, pointing out to them how providentially the balls seemed to be directed. They were finally relieved from their perilous situation by the arrival of a sloop of Captain Golding, an acquaint- ; ance of Church. Mooring the vessel at a short distance, he cast off a canoe, and suffered it to drive ashore. In this slight vehicle, which would carry but two at a time, the whole of the party got off to the sloop, by a repetition of the same operation. Church, who had left his hat at a spring, declared that the enemy should not have it as. a trophy; and, loading his gun with his last charge of pow- | der, he went up alone, in the face of the Indians, and recovered it. When going on board in the canoe, a ball | struck a small stake just before his breast, and another passed through his hair. Joining company next day with Fuller's party, who had also been engaged with the Indians at Pocasset, they all returned to the encampment at Mount Hope, where the army, as Church averred, "lay still to cover the people from nobody, while they were building a fort for nothing." Shortly after this, being upon Rhode Island, in pursuit of supplies for. the garrison, Church fell in with Alderman, a deserter from the forces of Weetamore, queen of Pocas- 16 242 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. set. By conversation with this Indian, he learned the precise spot at which the scpaw sachem was encamped, and, in pursuance of his suggestion, an expedition was immediately set on foot against her. The attempt termin ated in an unimportant skirmish ; the chief officer of the Plymouth men being timid, and the Indians retiring to a swamp of difficult access. On the 18th of July, the united forces of the colonists drove Philip, with a large body of his warriors, into an j extensive swamp in Pocasset. After an imperfect exam ination of the Indians' place of retreat, the forces were i drawn off, having sustained considerable loss by the fire j of the lurking enemy. It was averred, indeed, by some, that half an hour more of energetic pursuit would have i secured Philip, and perhaps have ended the war. One i hundred newly-erected wigwams were found deserted in ; the vicinity of the swamp ; and an old man, who had been | left behind in the precipitate retreat, confirmed the suppo- | sition that Philip had but lately fled from the camp. Not far from this time, the town of Dartmouth having been, in great measure, destroyed by the enemy, a large j number of Indians, no less than one hundred and sixty, who had dwelt in the country thereabout, and were not active partakers in the destruction of the town, delivered themselves up to one Captain Eels, upon promises of good treatment. They were, nevertheless, taken to Plymouth; sold by the colonial authorities as slaves ; and transported to foreign parts. Captains Church and Eels made, upon this occasion, the most vehement remonstrances, expressed by Church with his characteristic energy and spirit; but all to no purpose, as it only secured him the ill-will of the government. The act was grossly impolitic, as well as perfidious and cruel. The English entertained hopes of being able to confine Philip within the limits of the swamp to which he had NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 243 retired, and proceeded to erect another fort at Pocasset; an expedient which seems to have been as ill-advise^, and futile as the garrisoning of Mount Hope. The sachem had abundant leisure to prepare canoes, an opportunity of which he diligently availed himself, and secretly passed the river with all his warriors. They were seen by the people of Kehoboth, crossing the open country, which ex tended for some distance, and offered no means of protec tion or concealment to the fugitives. A party was speedily sent in pursuit, under Captain Henchman, accompanied by Owenoco, the son of Uncas the Mohegan, and a considerable band of warriors. Un cas had sent this detachment to Boston, upon the summons of the Massachusetts authorities, to renew his assurances of good faith, and proffer assistance in the campaign against Philip. Henchman's company proceeded up the river to Provi dence, and being there somewhat reinforced, hastened at once on the trail of the Wampanoag. Coming up with a portion of the enemy, a sharp engagement ensued, and about thirty of Philip's warriors were killed, but the Mb- hegans stopping for plunder, the principal force escaped, and from that time were no more seen by the pursuers. Henchman returned with his men to the eastern colonies, while the Mohegans took their way southward to their own country, leaving Philip to pursue his course towards the Hudson, and to rouse up the war among the western settlements of Massachusetts. The Nipmucks, a large tribe inhabiting the north-east ern portion of the present state of Connecticut, and the adjoining Massachusetts districts, appear, ere this period, to have become involved in Philip's undertaking. Men- don, a small town, twenty- four miles westward from Provi dence, and standing at some distance from any other settlement, had been attacked on the 14th of July, and a 244 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. aumber of men killed by shots from an unseen enemy. The whole of the inhabitants deserted the place in terror, and it was reduced to ashes by the assailants. The colonies attempted, after this, to treat with the Nipmuck sachems, but found them reserved and "surly." A meeting was, however, appointed between them and an embassy from the Massachusetts government. Captains Wheeler and Hutchinson^ with a considerable body of mounted men, repaired to the place of meeting at the time designated, viz: the 2d of August; but, instead of coming forward in friendly conference, the Indians, to the number of two or three hundred, formed an ambuscade, and, firing sud denly from their cover, killed eight of the whites at the first discharge. Hutchinson was killed and Wheeler wounded. The company, avoiding the other spots where they sus pected the enemy to be lying in ambush, made the best of their way to Brookfield, a solitary village near the principal head-quarters' of the Mpmucks. The Indians, in great numbers, pursued them into the town. They found the terrified inhabitants collected in a single house, which stood on a rising ground, where they had fortified themselves as well as possible, upon such an emer gency, by piling logs a*nd hanging feather beds against the walls. Wheeler and his companions also entered the house, and the savages, after burning all the buildings in the town, with the exception of a few immediately adjoin ing that where the whites had retreated, laid close siege to the frail fortification. Seventy people, including women and children, were here crowded together, with such slight defences as we have mentioned ; while an enraged and re morseless enemy was pouring showers of bullets through the walls, and using every endeavor to fire the house. The Indians shot burning arrows upon the roof, and, attaching rags dipped in brimstone to long poles, they set fire to them, and thrust them against the walls. From the NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 245 afternoon of Monday the 2d of August, till Wednesday evening, these assaults continued; and, as a last attempt, the besiegers loaded a cart with hemp and other inflam mable materials, and binding together a number of poles, so attached to the vehicle that it could be moved from a safe distance, wheeled it blazing against the building. This was in the evening, and, according to Wheeler's account, noth ing could have preserved the unfortunate inmates, had not a heavy shower of rain suddenly extinguished the burning mass. In the words of Hubbard, by "this develish strata gem," but for the rain, u all the poor people would either have been consumed by merciless flames, or else have fall en into the hands of their cruel enemies, like wolves con tinually yelling and gaping for their prey." To exclude all assistance from without, the Indians had placed watchers and ambuscades upon all sides of the town ; but Major Willard, who had been dispatched against the Indians west of Groton, hearing of the probable condi tion of Brookfield, marched to its relief, and succeeded in effecting an entrance to the fortified house on this same night. He had with him forty-six men, but it is said that, as they passed through the ruins of the town, a large num ber of terrified cattle, who had not been destroyed in the conflagration, followed them for protection; and that, in the darkness, the Indians were deceived by this circum stance, as to the number of the party, and accordingly drew off their forces early the next morning. They re tired to a swamp, twelve miles distant, where they met Philip with a band of his warriors. Only one of the whites was killed on this occasion, while the Indians lost, it is said, nearly eighty. A garrison was maintained at the only remaining house for some months, but was finally drawn off, the building was burned by the savages, and the town left entirely desolate. 246 N INDIAN EACE8 OF AMEKICA. CHAPTER VI. P HILIP MOVES WESTWARD ATTACKS ON HADLEY AND DEERFIELD- GOFFE THE REGICIDE DESTRUCTION OF LATHROP's COMMAND ASSAULTS ON SPRINGFIELD AND HATFIELD EXPEDITION AGAINST THE NARRAGANSETTS : OUTRAGEOUS CRUEL- TIES IN THEIR REDUCTION PHILIP ON THE HUDSON DESTRUCTION OF LANCASTER, MEDFIELD, SEE- KONK, GROTON, WARWICK, MARLBOROUGH, ETC. CANONCHET TAKEN- AND PUT TO DEATH FURTHER INDIAN RAVAGES. "All died the wailing babe the shrieking maid And in the flood of fire that scathed the glade, The roofs went down." BRYANT. WE can do little more, in continuing this account of Indian ravages, than enumerate the towns and settlements destroyed, and the little, communities massacred or driven from their homes in utter destitution. The terrible uncertainty which attended these calamities rendered them the more distressing. No one could tell, for many months from this time, where Philip was to be found, or at what point he meditated the next attack. He continued his westward progress, as is supposed, nearly to the Hudson, through the Mohegan country. He was thought to be present at many of the successful and mur derous assaults that were made upon the white settlements ; but, if so, he was enabled so to disguise himself as not to be distinctly recognized. Mosely and others in vain scoured the country in pur suit of the Indians. The enemy, neglecting agriculture, and deserting their usual haunts, concealed themselves in swamps and thickets, retiring unperceived at the approach of regular troops, and ever ready to take advantage of any weak and unprotected quarter. NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 247 The Indians in the vicinity of Hadley and Springfield, on the Connecticut, were relied upon by the whites as friendly and well-disposed ; but ere long it was sufficiently plain that they had made common cause with Philip. On the 1st of September, Hadley and Deerfield were both fiercely assaulted, and the latter town in great meas ure destroyed. At Hadley the Indians were driven off after much hard fighting. The inhabitants were engaged in religious exercises at the meeting-house, with arms, as usual, by their sides, when the Indians came upon, them. So sudden and desperate was the attack, that they became confused, and might have been totally discomfited, but for a strange and unlooked-for champion. This was an old man, with white and flowing locks, and unusual costume, who appeared from some unknown quarter, and at once assumed the command of the panic-stricken congregation. With military skill and coolness he directed every ma noeuvre, and so reestablished their confidence and spirit, that the enemy was speedily put to flight. He disappeared immediately after the engagement, and many of the aston ished inhabitants were persuaded that an angel from heaven had been miraculously sent for their deliverance. The old warrior was no other than Major-general Goffe, who, with his companion, Whalley, lay for a long time con cealed at the house of Mr. Kussell, the minister of Hadley. Ten men were killed at JSTorthfield about this time, and a party of thirty-six, under a Captain Beers, who had been sent to relieve the town, were nearly all cut off by an ambush. The bodies were mutilated, and the heads set on poles. " One, (if not more,") says Hubbard, " was found with a chain hooked into his* under jaw, and so hung up on the bough of a tree, (it is feared he was hung up alive.") Several thousand bushels of corn had been stored at Deerfield, and a company of nearly one hundred young men, "the flower of the country," under the command of 248 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. a youthful and gallant officer, Captain Lathrop, marched to secure it. On their way, a/i imme*nse body of Indians fell upon them, and slew nearly the whole party; among the rest, the brave commander ; only seven or eight sur vived. This defeat is attributed to the- circumstance that Lathrop, aware of the disadvantages which a compact 'body of troops must labor under, when contending with an enemy who always fire^L from cover, ordered his men to separate, and take to the trees, like their opponents. This being done, the disproportion of numbers proved so great, that the Indians were enabled to surround the English, and cut them off separately. The Springfield Indians had pretended unbroken friend ship for the whites, and had given hostages as pledges of good faith; but the hostages succeeded in escaping, and the whole body joined the hostile confederacy, with those of Hadley, " hanging together like serpent's eggs." The town of Spring-field received great injury from their attack, more than thirty houses being burned ; among the rest, one containing a "brave library," the finest in that part of the country, which belonged to the Eev. Pelatiah Glover. Hubbard considers that this act "did, more than any other, discover the said actors to be the children of the devil, full of all subtilty and malice," as they had been upon friendly terms with the whites for more than forty years. On the 19th of October, seven or eight hundred of Philip's coadjutors made an attempt upon Hatfield; but, the place being well defended, by Mosely and others, the enemy "were so well entertained on all hands, that they found it too hot for them." This was the last important engagement at the westward I part of the colony. Most of Philip's men are supposed to have betaken themselves, before winter, to the Narra- gansett country; and whether the great sachem himself remained concealed among them during that season, 01 NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 249 wandered to the west, hatching new plots in the vicinity of the Hudson, is not certainly known. The condition of the hostile Indians, notwithstanding their signal successes, must by this time have become sufficiently miserable. Living almost exclusively upon animal food; ill protected from the inclemencies of the weather; and continually shifting their quarters, it is surprising 'that they should so long have retained their energy and fixedness of purpose. In September of this year, 1675, the commissioners of the united colonies of Plymouth, Connecticut, and Massa chusetts, being in session at Boston, concluded arrangements by which the war should be jointly and systematically prosecuted. One thousand men were to be levied and equipped ; the proportion which each colony should furnish being settled according to their comparative population and resources. On the 2d of November it was agreed, by the same body, that an additional force should be raised, and active measures be taken against the Narragansetts. The reasons alledged for attacking this tribe were, that the stipulation made by those sachems, who had treated with the colonies to deliver up all of Philip's party who should take refuge at Narragansett, had not been fulfilled ; but that women, children, and wounded men had been succored and received by them ! In addition to this, some of the tribe had ex pressed satisfaction upon hearing of the Indian successes at Hadley, and it was "credibly reported'' that they had killed and taken away many cattle from the neighboring English. These, with a detention of a Mr. Smith and his family, for a short time, no other harm being done them, were all the ostensible grounds upon which a formidable army was sent to exterminate the Narragan- setts with fire and sword! No doubt their sympathies were with those of their own 250 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. race, and, had they fully joined the conspiracy, the addition of so numerous a tribe to the enemy might have turned the scale, and resulted in the' annihilation of the whites. Josias Winslow, governor of Plymouth colony, was chosen commander-in-chief of the English force. Church, at the request of "Winslow, joined the expedition, although he would not accept of a commission. A considerable body of Mohegans, subjects of Uncas, accompanied the detachment from Connecticut. After destroying many deserted wigwams, and taking a considerable number of prisoners in desultory warfare, a guide was obtained to pilot the invaders to the chief fort of the Narragansetts. The encampment covered five or six acres of elevated ground, forming an island in the midst of an extensive swamp. In addition to the natural defences of the place, the whole village was surrounded by a strong palisade, and the only means of approach was by crossing the marsh upon a huge fallen tree. The wigwams within, to the number of five or six hundred, were rendered, to a great extent, bullet-proof by piling up tubs of grain and other stores about the sides. It was upon the 19th of December, early in the after noon, that the English forces reached this place of retreat. With determined and desperate courage they rushed to the attack. File after file of soldiers, with their officers at their head, was swept from the narrow bridge by the fire of a party within, posted in a log hut, from which the approach was commanded. They continued to press on, and succeeded in driving the Indians from this covert into the main inclosure. A scene of terrible carnage ensued for several hours ; but the assailants steadily gained ground, driving many of the enemy into the swamp, and covering ^ the area within with dead bodies. Church, who had made an excursion, with a small party, into the swamp, to attack the Indians in the rear, and who. NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 251 after doing good service, was severely wounded in the * thigh, seeing some setting fire to the wigwams, made strenuous efforts to prevent their destruction. The weather was intensely cold; night was coming on; many of the troops were destitute of provisions; a heavy snow storm was brooding; and sixteen miles must be traversed by the army, encumbered by their wounded, before they could reach shelter. He represented all these circum stances to the general, pointing out the advantages of obtaining plentiful supplies of food, and a warm cover where the wounded could receive requisite attention. We will hope that some feelings of humanity towards the unfortunate women and children, with which the huts were crowded, formed a part of his motives for this advice. The general inclined to Church's counsel, but other officers, fearing that the Indians would rally and attack them in force, should the army take up their quarters for the night, vehemently opposed him, and the work of de struction proceeded. Now was reenacted the terrible scene at the fort of the Pequots. Great numbers of old men, women and children were burned alive in the blazing wig wams, or mercilessly slain in their attempts to escape. Hubbard, the reverend historian of the Indian wars, speaks of this "firing of at least five or six hundred of their smoaky cells," as follows: The Indians were about pre paring their dinner when "our sudden and unexpected assault put them beside that work, making their cook- room too hot for them at that time, when they and their mitchin fried together; and probably some of them eat their suppers in a colder place that night : Most of their , provisions, as well as huts, being then consumed with fire, and those that were left alive forced to hide themselves in a cedar swamp, not far off, where they had nothing to de fend them from the cold but boughs of spruce and pine trees." The whole town was reduced to ashes ; and, leav- 252 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. ing the inclosure a smoking ruin, eveiy where strewn with burned and mangled corpses, the army commenced a re treat, worn out by cold, fatigue and hunger. Many per ished by the way, and many more must have died from starvation, but for the fortunate arrival -at their rendezvous of a vessel from Boston with provisions. Eighty of their number were killed, and one hundred and fifty wounded 'in the .engagement. Besides an untold number of the helpless occupants of the wigwams who perished in the flames, it was supposed that not far from three hundred Indian warriors were slain outright, and seven hundred wounded, of whom many died from expo sure during the storm and cold of that terrible night. Most of the survivors of the tribe fled to the Nipmucks, after some inconclusive negotiation for peace with the Eng lish. The old sachem Ninigret seems to have been inclined to make terms, but Canonicus, or Canonchet, a son of Mian- tonimo, and a brave and energetic chief, nourished the most unyielding hostility towards the destroyer of his people. On the 10th of January, an Indian was found concealed in a barn, "but after he was brought to the head-quarters" (in the words of Hubbard) "he would own nothing but what was forced out of his mouth by the woolding of his head with a cord, wherefore he was presently judged to die, as a Wampanoag." One Tift, an English renegade, who had joined the In dians, married one of their women, and assisted them in their battles with the whites, was taken and put to death. Winslow, in the latter part of January, pursued the Narragansetts into the Nipmuck country, whither they had fled, committing divers depredations on the route, and killed about seventy of those whom he could come up with. The larger portion, however, succeeded in joining the forces of the Nipmucks, while the English were com pelled to return to the settlement for want of provisions. NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 253 Philip is supposed to have fled about this time as far west as the Hudson river, where, it is said, "the Mohags (Mohawks) made a descent upon him, and killed many of his men, which moved him from thence." Some au thors, notwithstanding, speak of him as having been pres ent at various places in Massachusetts, attacked by Indians during the latter part of the winter. About the 10th of February, (old style,) Lancaster was destroyed by a large force of the enemy, consisting of Nip- mucks, Nashawas, and Narragansetts, under the noted Sagamore Sam. The house of Mr. Eowlandson, the minis ter, which was garrisoned, and contained fifty-five persons, was set on fire, and the inmates were killed or made cap tives. More than twenty women and children fell into the hands of the assailants. They were most of them well treated during their captivity, the Indians "offering no wrong to any of their persons save what they could not help, being in many wants themselves." Mrs. Kow landson, wife of the minister, was among the prisoners, and her account of Indian manners and peculiarities, wit nessed during the three months of her captivity, are ex ceedingly interesting. Church says that Philip's next " kennelling-place " was at the falls on the Connecticut, and he probaldy gave di rections concerning many of the devastations committed in February and March, if not personally present at them. On the 21st of February, the town of Medfield, only about twenty miles from Boston, was mostly destroyed. The Indians had concealed themselves, during the previ ous night, in every quarter of the place, and, at early dawn, fired about fifty buildings simultaneously. One hun dred and sixty soldiers were quartered in the town, but so sudden and well concerted was the attack, that it was impossible to save the buildings which had been set on fire. Nearly forty of the inhabitants were killed or iL f v * _____ 25 i INDIAN RACES OF AMEEICA. wounded. Being compelled, at last, to retreat across Charles river, the Indians burned the bridge behind them, and left a paper, written by some of their number who had received education from the English, to the following effect: "Know, bj this paper, that the Indians whom thou hast provoked to wrath and anger, will war this 21 years if you will. There are many Indians yet. "We come 300 at this time. You must consider the Indians lose nothing but their life : You must lose your fair houses and cattle." One account states that Philip himself was seen at this action, "riding upon a black horse, leaping over fences, and exulting in the havoc he was making." Through the months of February and March, the sav ages met with signal success. Seekonk, Groton and War wick were destroyed; Northampton was assaulted; one house was burned in the very town of Plymouth, and a number of buildings at Weymouth, only eleven miles from Boston, shared a similar fate. Thirty houses were burned at Providence. Captain Pierce, of Scituate, who had been sent with a party of fifty whites and a number of friendly Indians on an excursion against the enemy, was slain, with the entire company of English. Only a few of the Indian allies escaped. On the same day, Marlborough was destroyed, with the exception of the houses which had been garrisoned. This attack was probably made by Philip himself, with the Nipmuck and Narragansett Indians. Continuing their march, they did much damage at Sudbury, and "met and swallowed up valiant Captain Wadsworth and his com pany," consisting of fifty men, with whom he was hastening to the relief of the town. One of the first severe reverses experienced by Philip, was the capture and execution of the younger Canonicus or Canonchet, the noblest and most influential of the Nar- ragansett sachems. This was accomplished by a party NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 255 led by Captain Dennison, from Connecticut, consisting of English, Nehantic Indians, subject to Ninigret, and Mohe- gans, under the command of Owenoco, son of Uncas. Canonchet, with a small band of warriors, came to Narra- gansett early in April, for the purpose of procuring seed- corn for his people in the western settlements. Dennison, having heard, from a captive squaw, of the sachem's proximity, pursued and took him. The proud chief, upon his capture, being addressed by a young man of the party, according to Hubbard, "look ing, with a little neglect upon his youthful face, replied iu broken English : ' you much child : no understand matters of war ; let your brother or your chief come :' acting herein as if, by a Pythagorean metempsychosis, some old Eoman ghost had possessed the body of this western Pagan." He was carried to Stonington, and there shot: his head was sent to Hartford as a trophy. He approved his sentence, saying that "he should die before his heart was soft, and before he had spoken any thing unworthy of himself." He had been Philip's faithful ally to the last, and ever refused to "deliver up a Wampanoag, or the paring of a Wampanoag's nail," to the English. Dennison and his men afterwards made further spoil of the enemy, killing and capturing a large number of the Narragansetts. During the months of April and May, twenty or thirty buildings were burned in Plymouth ; Taunton and Scituate were attacked, and Bridge water sustained no small injury from an assault by three hundred Indians, under the sachem Tisguogen. Great numbers of hostile Indians having congregated at the falls of the Connecticut, during the month of May, for the purpose of fishing, a strong force of soldiers and inhab itants of the towns on the river, under the command of Captains Holyoke and Turner, made a descent upon them. The Indians were encamped in careless security, and, the 256 INDIAN RACES OF AMEKICA. attack being made in the night, some two hundred were killed, or drowned in attempting to escape across the river. In the midst of this success it was reported to the English, by an Indian, that Philip in person, with an immense force, was coming upon them. Commencing a retreat, upon this news, the Indians recovered from their panic, and pursuing the party from which they had so recently fled in confusion, killed from thirty to forty of their number. On the 30th of May, six hundred Indians attacked Hatfield, and burned many buildings, but the place was bravely defended, and the enemy was driven off. A still larger number, about a fortnight later, assaulted Hadley, but, by the assistance of troops from Connecticut, the in habitants successfully repelled them. CHAPTER VII. PHILIP'S RETURN TO POKANOKET MAJOR TALCOTT's SUCCESSES CHURCH COMMISSIONED BY THE COURT AT PLYMOUTH HIS IN TERVIEW WITH AWOSHONKS : WITH THE SOGKONATES AT SANDWICH HIS CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE INDIANS PHILIP SEEN: HIS WIFE AND SON TAKEN DEATH OF WEETAMORE, QUEEN OF POCAS- SET DEATH OF PHILIP. PHILIP'S power was now upon the decline : his forces were discontented, and in separate bodies wandered about the country, undergoing much hardship and privation. Losing influence with the river Indians, and unable to concentrate the various tribes, with effect, he returned to his old quarters in the vicinity of Narragansett bay, ac companied by the trusty warriors who still adhered to him. Major Talcott, from Connecticut, with a body of mounted men, accompanied by many Mohegans and Pequots, sig- NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 257 nalized himself durjpig the month of June, by several incursions into Narragansett. On a single occasion, he killed a great number of the enemy, and took from one to two hundred prisoners. To the everlasting disgrace of the whites of this company, they allowed their Mohegan allies, upon one occasion, to torture to death a young warrior who was made prisoner. "The English," says Hubbard, "at this time were not unwilling to gratify their, humor, lest, by a denial, they might disoblige their Indian friends partly, also, that they might have an ocular demonstration of the savage, barbarous cruelty of the heathen." This young warrior had killed, as he averred, many Englishmen, and now, the narrative proceeds, "this monster is fallen into the hands of those that will repay him seven-fold." The Mohegans cut round the joints of his fingers and toes successively, and then "brock them off, as was for merly the custom to do with a slaughtered beast." The victim bore all unflinchingly; replying to their taunts, with asseverations that he "liked the war well, and found it as sweet as the Englishmen do their sugar." They compelled him to dance and sing in this condition, till he had "wearied himself and them," and then broke his legs. Sinking, in silence, on the ground, he sat till they finished his miseries by a blow. Meanwhile, the English stood by, and, although the sight brought tears into the eyes of some of them, none offered to interfere. Famine, disease, and exposure had, by this time, begun to do their work upon the miserable outcasts who had so long kept New England in terror. A large body fled westward, pursued by troops from Connecticut, and, after sustaining considerable loss, sue ceeded in joining the Mohicans of the Hudson, with whom they united, and formed thereafter a portion of that tribe The colonial authorities now offered terms of peace to 17 258 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. the enemy, promising good treatment to all who should surrender and deliver up their arms, with the exception of notorious offenders. Within a few weeks from this proclamation, five or six hundred of the Indians came in and submitted to the English. Some of their chiefs, and noted warriors, and those who had been chiefly concerned in the outrages upon the settlements, were put to death ; the others had lands assigned them; were disarmed, and kept under the surveillance of overseers. As Church took so prominent a part in the final reduc tion of Philip and his chief sachems, we will now briefly review his proceedings during this summer until the death of Philip and the close of the war. He had been sum moned to Plymouth in the spring, to assist at the council of war, and, at that time, proffered advice, which, if ap proved by his associates, might have saved much havoc and bloodshed. His plan was to "make a business of the war, as the enemy did ;" to employ large forces ; to enlist all the friendly Indians who were available, and to pursue their opponents into their own country, and fight them in their own manner. Not being able to persuade the au thorities to his views, he remained inactive, with his family, at Duxbury and on Khode Island, until early in June, when he again betook himself to Plymouth, where he was gladly welcomed by the general court, then in session. The members "told him they were glad to see him alive. He replied, he was as glad to see them alive, for he had seen so many fires and smokes towards their side of the country, since he left them, that he could scarce eat or sleep with any comfort, for fear they had all been destroyed. For all traveling was stopped, and no news had passed for a long time together." The court had now concluded, according to Church's plan, to raise a large force of English and Indians, and eagerly accepted the captain's offer of cooperation. lie ENGLAND INDIANS. 259 was to return to Rhode Island, and there enlist a company for the campaign. Eeaching Elizabeth's Island, he could find no conveyance homeward other than a canoe, manned by two Indians. Their course took them near Sogkonate (commonly called Seaconnet) point, the wild mass of rocks which juts into the ocean, at the southern extremity of Awoshonk's domains. Church saw some of the Indians fishing upon the rocks, and bethought him that here might be further opportunity of communicating with his old friend, the squaw sachem. Notwithstanding her early counsel with Church, she, or her people, against her incli nations, had been drawn into Philip's plans, and the Sogkonates had taken active part in the hostilities. The canoe was soon hailed from shore, but the surf beat so heavily against the rocks that the reply could not be heard. Two Indians, one of whom was George, the inter preter, therefore came out upon a long point of sand, where Church could land without danger of being surprised, and, on his approach, they informed him that Awoshonks had left Philip, and would be glad to have a conference with him. An appointment was therefore made for a meeting, on the next day that the weather would permit, at a well-known rock, upon the Richmond farm. None were to be present except the queen, her son Peter, and Nompash, an Indian known to Church. Arriving at Newport, and detailing his plans to the authorities, they pronounced him demented to think of risking himself unprotected among such a body of the enemy. He replied that he had always wished for an opportunity to confer with the Sogkonates, not doubting but that he could secure their friendship, and that he was determined to prosecute the adventure. He accordingly crossed over the next day, to the place appointed, accompanied only by "his own man," and the Indian who had paddled him from Elizabeth's. He was 260 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. by the queen and the other two, who had been desig nated ; but, upon retiring a short distance, to a convenient spot for discussion, a crowd of armed and painted war riors sprang up from amid the long grass around them. Church betrayed no signs of surprise or fear, but, having first obtained directions from Awoshonks that the Indians should lay down their guns, he pulled out a bottle of rum, and opened the conference by proffering her a dram, ask ing, "if she had been so long at Weetuset as to forget to drink Occapeches." Having first swallowed some him self, from the hollow of his hand, to quiet any suspicions of treachery that she might entertain, he distributed the rest, together with some tobacco that he had brought, among those standing by. He then answered her inquir ies as to the reasons why he had absented himself so long, us'ing all his powers of persuasion to revive her old friend ship for the English ; promising favor and protection from the government, if she would enlist her forces against Philip ; and by his bold and frank demeanor, disarming the suspicions and softening the surliness of the warriors. At one time, as related by Church, "there arose a mighty murmur, confused noise and talk among the fierce-looking creatures; and, all rising up in a hubbub, a great surly- looking fellow took up his tomhog, or wooden cutlass, to kill Mr. Church, but some others prevented him." This man had lost a brother in the fight at Punkatese, bfrt Church explained how, with only a handful of men, he had been suddenly set upon, and how his intentions were, even then, friendly to the Sogkonates. His counsels finally prevailed, and it was agreed that an offer of services should be made at Plymouth, in be half of the tribe; five men being chosen to accompany Church on the embassy. Having returned to Khode Island, and, with much dif ficulty, procured a vessel, Captain Church set sail for Sog- NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 261 konate, whence the Indians espied him, and stood waiting upon the rocks with an old canoe, ready to come on board. The sea ran so high that no one but Peter Awoshonks was able to reach the vessel ; and when, after much danger and trouble, he was taken in, a strong head wind prevented the prosecution of the voyage, and all returned to New port, making the circuit of Rhode Island. Church, after this delay the arrival of the army at Pocasset being shortly expected was unwilling to leave the Island, and accordingly sent Peter back to Sogkonate, with directions to take the selected number of his com panions, and proceed across the country to Plymouth, with letters for the governor. The Plymouth forces reached Pocasset, under command of Major Bradford, and, having been joined by Church, marched to Punkatese. Awoshonks and most of her war riors, having been notified to attend, came to this place, and proffered their services ; but, to their great grief and disappointment, were ordered to repair to Sandwich, on the coast to the eastward, and await further directions from the government at Plymouth. Church advised them to comply quietly, and promised to join them, himself within a week, with a commission to employ them, if he could obtain it. During the ensuing week, according to the opinion of some, an opportunity was lost of surprising and destroy ing nearly the whole of Philip's remaining force, who had gone to Wepoiset, in search of clams; provisions being very scarce with them. Captain Church, with only one companion, rode from Rehoboth to Plymouth, starting at sunset, and reaching the town early in the morning. He there saw the gov ernor, who had received the messengers from Sogkonate with favor, and who readily promised him the desired commission, and ratified his agreement with Awoshonks. 262^ INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. Not finding the Indians at Sandwich, Captain Church, with a few companions, proceeded along the coast, and finally came upon the whole- tribe, scattered over the level sand-beach, engaged in various occupations and diver sions "A vast company of Indians, of all ages and sexes, some on horse-back running races, some at foot-ball, some catching eels and flat-fish, some clamming, &c." He was received by Awoshonks and her chiefs, and royally entertained. When night came on, an immense heap of dry pine branches and other fuel was set on fire, and all the Indians, gathering round it, commenced those dances and ceremonies deemed by them so essential in cementing a league, or in entering upon any important adventure. A stout chief would step within the circle, armed with spear and hatchet, and appear to fight the fire, with every gesture and expression of energy and fury, naming suc cessively the several hostile tribes ; " and, at the naming of every particular tribe of Indians, he would draw out and fight a new fire-brand, and at finishing his fight with each particular fire-brand, would bow to him and thank him." He would then retire, and another would repeat the same operation, "with more fury, if possible, than the first." , Awoshonks and the chiefs told Church that hereby they were his sworn soldiers, and, one and all, at his service. He therefore selected a number of them, and took them to Plymouth the next day, where he was regularly commis sioned, by Governor Winslow, to raise volunteers, both English and Indian ; to fight the enemy at his discretion ; and to make treaty and composition with any, as he should see reason, "provided they be not murderous rogues, or such as have been principal actors in those villanies." The commission was given, under the public seal, the 24th day of July, 1676. Being now furnished with a sufficient force, and being NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 263 at liberty to carry out his own plans, Church commenced a vigorous and effective campaign. Spreading through the forest with his men, keeping himself continually in formed by scouts of the position and number of the ene my, and following up his advantages with unwearied energy, he reduced his opponents to the greatest straits. The army, under Bradford, remained at Taunton and vi cinity, cutting off Philip's return from the eastward, while Church and his corps scoured the woods, surprising and killing, or taking captive large numbers of hostile Indians. On one occasion, he fell in with Little Eyes, the Sog- konate who attempted to make way with him at the first interview with Awoshonks, and who had separated from the rest of the tribe with a few companions. His Indian allies urged Church to take this opportunity for revenging himself, but he refused, and showed the unfriendly chief quarter and protection. Philip and his party, chiefly ISTarragansetts, anxious to effect a retreat to the Narragansett country, came to the banks of Taunton river, and felled a large tree over the stream for the purpose of crossing. At this spot, Church with his company and a detachment from Bridgewater, attacked him, on the 1st of August. As the English secretly approached the fallen tree, a single warrior was seen seated upon the stump across the river, and as Church was taking aim at him, one of his Indian followers called to him not to fire, thinking that it was a man of their own party. At this moment the Indian sprang from the stump, and effected his escape down the river-bank, but as he turned his face, he was distinctly recognized to be Philip himself. The whole body of the enemy then scattered and fled through the woods, but succeeded in effecting a passage of the river at a ford, some distance beyond; hotly pur sued by the English. Many women and children were 264 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. captured ; among the rest, Philip's wife, Wootonekanuske, and his son, a lad only nine years of age. The Sogkon- ates, following closely upon the fugitives, killed several, and made thirteen prisoners. As the flight was continued, the women and children became wearied, and, being unable to keep pace with the company, fell into the hands of th pursuers. They were ordered to follow the trail, and were assured that, if submissive and obedient, they should be the more favor ably treated. Philip, and his band, being suddenly surprised, while they were busily engaged in preparing breakfast, fled into a swamp, leaving " their kettles boiling, and meat roasting upon their wooden spits." Here they were hemmed in, and, after some hard fighting, no less than one hundred and seventy -three, including those who had followed the party, as directed, were taken prisoners or killed. A large division of these were so surprised and panic-struck by the number and determination of the pursuers, that they " stood still and let the English come and take the guns out of their hands, when they were both charged and cocked." Philip, and some of his principal chiefs, escaped. The prisoners, having been well supplied with food, were confined in the pound, at Bridgewater, and passed the night in merriment, expressing little despondency or apprehension. They reported Philip's condition and frame of mind as being miserable in the extreme. His wife and son made prisoners; his allies overpowered, or treacher ous; reverses coming thick upon him; and his force dwindling to a handful of warriors, nothing but destruction seemed to await him. On the 6th of August, Weetamore, queen of Pocasset, and widow of Alexander, Philip's eldest brother, who throughout the war had been a most valuable and faithful coadjutor to her brother-in-law, perished in attempting to NEW ENGLAND INDIANS. 265 escape over the Tehticut river, into her own country, upon a raft. She had been surprised, with twenty -six of her subjects, who were all taken prisoners. The dead body of the poor queen was found stark naked, near the river bank, where she had probably crouched half drowned, and died from exposure and famine. Her head was cut off by those who discovered her, and fixed upon a pole at Taun- ton, where it was recognized by some of her loving subjects kept there in captivity. Their burst of unre- strainable grief at the sight, is characterized by Mather, as "a most horrid and diabolical lamentation." CHurch returned to Plymouth, where he received the thanks and gratulations of the authorities, but was allowed little rest, as some of the enemy, under the great sachem Totoson, were lurking around Dartmouth, and his aid was required to dislodge them. * The expedition was successful, but Totoson, with an old squaw and his little son, escaped. The squaw afterwards came to Sandwich, and reported the chief's death, saying that, "reflecting upon the miserable condition he had brought himself into, his heart became a stone within him, and he died." She said that she had covered his body with a few leaves and brush. Worn out by hard service, hard fare, and exposure, Captain Church now sought to recruit his strength by rest ; , J.I C.KF.T THE IROQUOIS, OK SIX NATIONS. 329 In the United States, Indian affairs continued unsettled, and ominous prospects of future disturbance on the western frontier called for wise and cautious action. A great council was held in December, 1786, by many tribes of Indians, among whom the Six Nations were the most prominent, at Huron Village, not far from the mouth of Detroit river. The object was to concert some general plan of resistance to encroachments upon their lands by the inhabitants of the United States. It is said that an unfriendly feeling towards the new government was pro moted by English officials in their communications with the Indians, in reference to the retention, by the crown, of Oswego, Detroit, Niagara, and other posts. For many years, subsequent to the peace with England, bloody skirmishes, and scenes of plunder and rapine, kept the western border in continual distress; and when the United States undertook the reduction of the hostile tribes in 1790 and 91, it was found that the feeling of disaffec tion on the part of the red men was indeed extensive. Upon the occasion of St. Glair's disastrous defeat by the Miamis and their associates, under the renowned chief, Little Turtle, it is asserted by the biograpner of Brant that the old Mohawk warrior and the warlike trrbe to which he belonged bore a conspicuous part. No man, born of a savage stock, has ever associated with the enlightened and intelligent upon terms of greater equality than did Thayendanegea. While he retained all his partiality for his own people, and never lost sight of their interests, he fully appreciated the advantages of edu cation and civilization. A long life, spent for the most part amid scenes of strife and danger, in which the whole powers of his active mind and body seemed called forth by the stirring scenes in which he mingled, did not unfit him for the pursuits of literature and the arts of peace. He was indefatigable in his endeavors to elevate the social 330 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. position of his tribe, and devoted no little time and atten tion to the translation of scriptural and other works into the Mohawk tongue, for their benefit. His earlier speci mens of composition, which have been preserved, are, as might be expected, rudely and imperfectly expressed, but they evince great shrewdness and intelligence. The pro ductions of his latter years are strikingly forcible and elegant. : >fw We cannot go into a detail of the , tedious and some what obscure negotiations with the American government in which the chief of the Six Nations took part in behalf of his people, nor chronicle the events of private interest and domestic troubles which disturbed his declining years. The old warrior died in November, 1807, at the age of sixty-four. In the war of 1812, the Mohawks, under John Brant, son and successor of Thayendanegea, took the part of their old friends and allies, the English, and did good service in various engagements upon the northern frontier. In the early part of the nineteenth century, few names stand more prominent in Indian annals than that of the Seneca chief and orator, Saguoaha, or Eed- Jacket. We hear of him, indeed, in much earlier times, as opposed to Brant, at the time of Sullivan's campaign. The Mohawk chief always regarded him with contempt and dislike, speaking of him as an arrant coward, and a man of words merely. Saguoaha held the whites generally in suspicion, and his great effort appears ever to have been for the pre servation of his nation's independence and individuality. We have already mentioned the part which he took at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, and his opposition to the cession by his nation of their eastern lands. Corn -Planter, or O'Bail, who favored the proposal, was high in authority at that time among the Senecas ; but Eed- Jacket, more by his eloquence and sagacity in council than by any warlike THE IKOQUOIS, OK SIX NATIONS. 331 achievement, was gradually supplanting him. Corn- Planter was a veteran warrior, and had fought in former times against the English, in behalf of the French. He is said to have been attached to the French and Indian army, upon the occasion of Brad dock's defeat, in 1755. He could ill brook the rivalry of a young man, noted for no warlike achievements, and only prominent among his people by virtue . of his natural gift of eloquence. To check, therefore, this advance of the young orator, O'Bail endeavored to work upon the credulity of his people by announcing his brother as a prophet, and, for a time, suc ceeded in exciting their reverence and superstitious fears. Bed-Jacket, however, in open council, eloquently pro claimed him an impostor, and harangued the tribe with such power and effect as to create a complete diversion in his own favor. He was chosen chief of his tribe, and ex ercised, from that time forth, a control over his numerous followers seldom surpassed by any Indian ruler. He was a steady opposer of Christianity, holding the missionaries who endeavored to effect the conversion of the Six Nations, in great suspicion. As a specimen of his style of oratory, w.e will give some extracts of Saguoaha's speeches upon these religious questions, as they are to be found in Thatcher's Indian Biography. It must be observed that, with characteristic obstinacy, the speaker would never use the English language, but communicated his remarks by means of an interpreter, so that due allowance must be made for the change in style and loss of force almost always attendant upon a translation. At a Seneca council in May, 1811, held at Buffalo Creek, he answered a missionary from New York, sub stantially as follows: "Brother! we listened to the talk you delivered us from the Council of Black- Coats in New York. We have fully considered your talk, and the offers you have made us. We now return our answer, which 332 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. we wish, you also to understand. In making up our minds, we have looked back to remember what has been done in our days, and what our fathers have told us was done in old times. "Brother! Great numbers of Black-Coats have been among the Indians. With sweet voices and smiling faces, they offered to teach them the religion of the white people. Our brethren in the East listened to them. They turned from the religion of their fathers, and took up the religion of the white people. What good has it done? Are they more friendly one to another than we are? No, brother! They are a divided people ; we are united. They quarrel about religion ; we live in love and friendship. Besides, they drink strong waters. And they have learned how to cheat, and how to practice all the other vices of the white people, without imitating their virtues. Brother ! If you wish us well, keep away ; do not disturb us. "Brother! We do not worship the Great Spirit as the white people do, but we believe that the forms of worship are indifferent to the Great Spirit. It is the homage of sincere hearts that pleases him, and we worship him in that manner." After arguing the matter a little more at length, and expressing a decided preference for the "talk" of Mr. Granger, an Indian agent, and for that of the emissaries of the Society of Friends, the orator concluded : "Brother! For these reasons we cannot receive your offers. We have other things to do, and beg you to make your mind easy, without troubling us, lest our heads should be too muck loaded, and by and by burst." Eed- Jacket remained, through life, consistent with the ground first taken by him upon religious and political questions. To the clergy he was ever courteous and civil, and appears to have been ready to hold argument with them upon their creed. In conversation with one of the cloth, he is THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 333 said to have strenuously denied any responsibility on the part of the red men for the death of Christ. "Brother," said he, "if you white people murdered 'the Saviour,' make it up yourselves. We had nothing to do with it. If he had come among us, we should have treated him better." In the war of 1812, the Senecas espoused the American interests, and, Brant's assertions to the contrary notwith standing, their chief, with his subordinates Farmer's Brother, Little Billy, Pollard, Black Snake, Young O'Bail, (a son of Corn-Planter,) and others gained honorable notice for courage and activity from the commanding officers of the army to which they were attached. It is still more pleasing to reflect that these Indians readily con formed to the more humane usages of modern warfare. General Boyd reported that, "the bravery and humanity of the Indians were equally conspicuous." In his old age, Eed-Jacket became very intemperate, and in so many instances conducted himself in a manner unbecoming the dignity of a chief, that his opponents, the Christian portion of the tribe, succeeded in passing a reso lution, in council, for his deposition. This was effected in September, of the year 1827, and a formal written procla mation of the charges said to be substantiated against him, was promulgated. The old chief immediately bestirred himself to obtain a revocation of this decree. He caused a grand council of the Six Nations to be held, and, with all his former fire and energy, made answer to his accusers. After enumerating and ridiculing the charges against him, (many of them really trifling,) he proceeded to speak of his long- continued services and care for his people : "I feel sorry for my nation," said he; "when I am gone to the other worlds, when the Great Spirit calls me away, who among my people can take my place? Many years have I guided the nation." 334 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. The eloquence of the speaker, and a remembrance of his faithful zeal for the welfare of h'is tribe, produced their due effect : he was fully restored to his former position and authority. During the latter years of his life, Eed : Jacket resided at the Seneca settlement, in the vicinity of Buffalo. He made several visits to the Eastern cities, where his ap pearance always attracted much interest and attention. A traveller who visited the Seneca country a few years before the death of the old chief (which took place in January, 1830,) speaks of his residence and appearance in the following terms: "My path grew more and more in distinct, until its windings were only intimated by the smoothness of the turf, which often left me in perplexity, till it at last brought me to the view of the abode of the chief. He had penetrated, like a wild beast, into the deepest recesses of the forest, almost beyond the power of a white man to trace him. A wild beast! but I found him in a calm, contemplative mood, and surrounded by a cheer ful family. Old and young, collected about the door of the log hut where he was seated, seemed to regard him with affection; and an infant, which one of the females held in her arms, received his caresses with smiles. It was a striking scene a^ chief ! Yet some of his inferiors, who cultivate the soil in other parts of the Seneca lands, had abundant fields and well-filled store-houses, while he was poor, but bore his privations with apparent equanim ity. If he had power, he did not exert it ; if he had passions, they were quiescent; if he had suffered injuries, they were buried in his breast. His looks, his motions, his attitudes, had that cast of superiority which convinced me that, whether justly or not, he considered no man his superior in understanding. He appeared to regard himself as the only one of his nation who retained the feelings and opin ions of his ancestors, and to pride himself in preserving them." Halleck's address to "Bed- Jacket, on looking at THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 335 his portrait, by Wier," although, not in all respects strictly accordant with facts, contains a. beautiful summary of In dian characteristics. The poem concludes as follows : " The monarch mind, the mystery of commanding, The birth-hour gift, the art Napoleon, Of winning, fettering, moulding, wielding, banding The hearts of millions, till they move as one; Thou hast it. At thy bidding men have crowded The road to death as to a festival ; And minstrels, at their sepulchres, have shrouded With banner-folds of glory the dark pall. Who will believe? Not I for in deceiving Lies the dear charm of life's delightful dream; I cannot spare the luxury of believing That all things beautiful are what they seem. Who will believe that, with a smile whose blessing Would, like the patriarch's, sooth a dying hour, With voice as low, as gentle and caressing, As e'er won maiden's lip in moonlit bower; i. With look like patient Job's, eschewing evil; With motions graceful as a bird's in air; Thou art, in sober truth, the Veriest devil That e'er clenched fingers in a captive's hair! That in thy breast there springs a poison fountain, Deadlier than that where bathes the Upas-tree; And in thy wrath, a nursing cat-o'-mountain Is calm as a babe's sleep, compared with thee! And underneath that face, like Summer Ocean's, Its lip as moveless, and its cheek as clear, Slumbers a whirlwind of the heart's emotions Love, hatred, pride, hope, sorrow, all save fear. Love for thy land, as if she were thy daughter, Her pipe in peace, her tomahawk in wars; Hatred of missionaries and cold water: Pride in thy rifle-trophies, and thy scars; 336 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Hope that thy wrongs may be by the Great Spirit Remembered and revenged whan thou art gone; Sorrow that none are left thee to inherit Thy name, thy fame, thy passions, and thy throne!" CHAPTE1LVIII. PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SIX 'NATIONS. THE information contained in this chapter is drawn from Mr. Schoolcraft's abstracts and statistics, presented in his "Notes on the Iroquois." In taking the census, ordered by the New York legis lature in 1845, and procuring statistics of the agricultural operations of the Iroquois, the author informs us that great objection was made by the Indians to what they considered an officious intermeddling in their affairs. Their suspicions were excited by the novelty of the requisition, and the matter was discussed at great length in their councils. They could not persuade themselves that the government should take such a step from any of the motives urged by those to whom the business was intrusted. It appeared to them most probable that the measure was but a prelim inary step to the laying a tax upon their property, and they consequently opposed continual obstacles to a satisfac tory completion of the duty assigned. The entire popula tion of the Six Nations, about the middle of the eighteenth' century, was computed at six or eight thousand. By other calculations, made a few years later, at the period of the American revolution, it was supposed to exceed nine thousand. Conscious as we are of the many causes constantly ope rating to reduce the numbers of the Indian population, it is a matter of no less surprise than satisfaction to learn THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 337 that there has been no very material decrease in the Iro- quois nation since the extension of civilization over their ancient country. It is pleasing to reflect that some por tion of the strange race that formerly held undisturbed possession of the wilds of America, should be preserved to show what advance they are, as a people, capable of making, when aided by the light of civilization. The tribes of the ancient confederacy are widely scat tered. The larger portion of the Oneidas are settled upon a reservation in the vicinity of Green Bay, Wisconsin: smaller villages of the tribe are situated further southward, near Winnebago Lake. The number of these emigrants was stated in 1844 to be seven hundred and twenty-two. The Senecas who have moved westward, were put down at about two hundred and thirty. Fifty -one of the last- mentioned tribe, were resident at Corn-Planter's settle ment in Pennsylvania. 'Jhe Mohawks, Cayugas, and others on Grand river, in Canada, probably number over two thousand. We now come to the more certain statistics of the New York cen sus, given as follows, by Mr. Schoolcraft: "Senecas, . . /',;'. V 2,441 Onondagas, ...... 398 Tuscaroras, ...... 281 Oneidas, 210 Cayugas, . 123 Mohawks, . V 20 St. Regis Canton, 260." He estimates the whole nation, in Canada and the United States at nearly seven thousand. He supposes, and it would seem very justly, that there has been a period, within the last century, at which their numbers were reduced much below those presented by recent returns; "and that, for some years past, and since they have been well lodged and clothed, and subsisted by their own labour, and been ex- 22 338 INDIAN RAGES OF AMERICA. empted from the diseases and casualties incident to savage life, and the empire of the forest, their population has recovered, and is now on the increase" Many satisfactory evidences of thrift and good manage ment, in the shape of saw-mills, school-houses, public buildings, and well-kept farms, appear in the Indian set tlements of New York. Nothing seems so conducive to the welfare of this species of our population as a depend ence upon their own resources, where the means of advan tageous labor are supplied them. The evils of the annuity system, and of the custom of farming out their lands to the whites by the Indians, have been fully and eloquently set forth. The first of these practices has the effect to bring a horde of unprincipled sharpers about the place where the yearly payment is made, who, by the tempta tions of useless finery, and, far worse, by the offer of the red-man's greatest bane, intoxicating liquors, render the assistance of the government oft-times rather a curse than a blessing. The latter usage is productive of evil by its encouragement of idleness, and by strengthening that sense of pride and self-importance which distinguishes the race. Where the change in the face of the country, and the in troduction of domestic animals have rendered the chase no longer necessary or profitable, the Indian still prefers ranging the woods with his dog and gun, to the endurance of what he esteems servile labor. Striking exceptions to the above remarks are to be seen in the conduct and employments of many inhabitants of Indian villages in New York. Good husbandry is evi dent in the management of their farms, and artisans of no mean skill are frequently met with. Some of these Indians, who have turned their attention to the art of work ing in silver, are said to produce very beautiful specimens of ornamental work, especially in the in-laying of gun- stocks, handles to tomahawks, &c. - THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 339 A portion of the Senecas, settled upon the Alleghany, oc cupy themselves in rafting and boating upon the river, and others are engaged in the lake navigation. There seems, indeed, to be no want of bodily or mental capacity in the North American Indian, for the successful pursuit of nearly every trade, profession, and occupation, followed by the whites. One most beneficial reformation has taken place among some of the Iroquois, in a movement which, if universally encouraged, would do more to regenerate the red-men, than all other influences combined. We allude to the introduction and formation of temperance societies. The returns of agricultural products given, at the time of taking the census before-mentioned, in 1845, are ex tremely gratifying, and may well convince us of the steady and hopeful advance made by the New York Indians in self-reliance and honest industry. Communications from the missionaries, engaged in the instruction and religious guidance of the Indians dwelling on the different reservations, bear witness to the docility and aptness of their pupils. The Eev. Asher Bliss, in a letter, published in the appendix to Mr. Schoolcraft's notes, observes: "As to the capacity of Indian children for im provement, my own impression is, that there is no essen tial difference between them and white children." Of the influence of the Christian religion upon the worldly pros perity of the people among whom he was stationed, (the Senecas of the Cataraugus reservation,) Mr. Bliss speaks enthusiastically. He contrasts "the framed houses and barns, the horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, the acres of im proved land ; the wagons, buggies and sleighs ; the clocks, watches, and various productions of agriculture," with the destitution and poverty of former times, and exclaims, naturally enough, "What an astonishing change I" PONTIAC'S WAR, CHAPTER I. ,, : FRENCH INFLUENCE OVER THE INDIANS BRITISH OCCUPATION OF THE WESTERN POSTS PONTIAC AND HIS PLANS FOE EXTERMINATING THE ENGLISH. EARLY in the eighteenth century the French had com menced extending their influence among the tribes who inhabited the country bordering on the great western lakes. Always more successful than the other European settlers in conciliating the affections of the savages among whom they lived, they had obtained the hearty good -will of na tions little known to the English. The cordial familiarity of the race, and the terms of easy equality upon which they were content to share the rude huts of the Indians, in gratiated them more readily with their hosts, than a course of English reserve and formality could have done. The most marked instances of the contrast between the two great parties of colonists may be seen in the different measure of success met with in their respective religious operations. While the stern doctrines of New England divines, as a general rule, were neglected or contemned by their rude hearers, the Jesuits met with signal success in acquiring a spiritual influence over the aborigines. Whether it was owing to the more attractive form in which they promulgated their creed and worship, or whether it was due to their personal readiness to adapt themselves to the habits, and to sympathize with the feelings 341 of their proselytes, certain it is that they maintained a strong hold upon the affections, and a powerful influence over the conduct of their adopted brethren, Adair, writing with natural prejudice, says that, "instead of reforming the Indians, the monks and friars corrupted their morals: for in the place of inculcating love, peace, and good- will to their red pupils, as became messengers of the divine author of peace, they only impressed their flexi ble minds with an implacable hatred against every British subject, without any distinction. Our people will soon discover the bad policy of the late Quebec act, and it is to be hoped that Great-Britain will, in due time, send those black croaking clerical frogs of Canada home to their infallible Mufti of Kome." The Ottawas, Chippewas, and Potta- watomies, who dwelt on the Great Lakes, proved as staunch adherents to the French interests as were the Six Nations to those of the English, and the bitterest hostility prevailed between these two great divisions of the abo riginal population. When English troops, in accordance with the treaty of 1760, were put in possession of the French stations on the lakes, they found the Indians little disposed to assent to the change. The great sachem who stood at the head of the confederate western tribes was the celebrated Ottowa chief Pontiac. The first detachment, under Major Eogers, which entered the western country on the way to Detroit, the most im portant post on the lakes, was favorably received by the Indian chief, but not without a proud assertion of his own rights and authority. He sent a formal embassy to meet the English, and to announce his intention of giving an audience to their commander. Kogers describes him as a chief of noble appearance and dignified address. At the conference he inquired by what right the English entered his country; and upon the Major's disavowing all hostile 342 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. . intent towards the Indians, . seemed more placable, but checked any further advance, until his pleasure should be made known, with the pithy observation: "I stand in the path you travel until to-morrow morning." He finally allowed the forces to proceed, and even furnished men to protect them and their stores. Pontiac assisted and protected this garrison for a period, but probably even then was pondering in his mind the great scheme of restoring -his French - allies and extermi nating the intruders. He has been frequently compared to Philip, the great Wampanoag sachem, both for his kingly spirit and for the similarity of their plans to crush the encroachments of the English. Pontiac had an im mense force under his control, and could well afford to distribute it in as many different detachments as there were strongholds of the enemy to be overthrown. It was in the year 1763 that his arrangements were completed, and the month of June was fixed upon for a simultane ous onslaught upon every British post. The eloquent and sagacious Ottowa chief had drawn into his conspiracy, not only the people of his own nation, with the Chippewas and Pottawatomies, but large numbers from other western tribes, as the Miamies, the Sacs and Foxes, the Hurons and the Shawanees. He even secured the alliance of a portion of the Delawares and of the Six Nations. In vain were the officers of the garrisons at Michili- mackinac and other distant forts warned by traders, who had ventured among the Indians, that a general disaffec tion was observable. They felt secure, and no special means were taken to avert the coming storm. So well concerted were the arrangements for attack, and such consummate duplicity and deception were used in carrying them out, that nearly all the English forts at the west were, within a few days from the first demon stration, in the hands of the savages, the garrisons having PONTIAO S WAR. 343 been massacred or enslaved. No less than nine trading and military posts were destroyed. Of the seizure of Mich- ilimackinac, next to Detroit the most important station on the lakes, we have the most particular account. Hundreds of Indians, mostly Chippewas and Sacs, had been loitering about the place for some days previous, and on the 4th of June they proceeded to celebrate the king's birthday by a great game at ball. This sport, carried on, as usual, with noise and tumult, threw the garrison off their guard, at the same time that it afforded a pretext for clam bering into the fort. The ball was several times, as if by accident, knocked within the pickets, the whole gang rush ing in pursuit of it with shouts. At a favorable moment they fell upon the English, dispersed and unsuspicious of intended harm, and before any effectual resistance could be made, murdered and scalped seventy of the number. The remainder, being twenty men, were taken captive. A Mr. Henry, who, by the good offices of a Pawnee woman, was concealed in the house of a Frenchman, gives a minute detail of the terrible scene. From his account, all the fury of the savage seems to have been aroused in the bosoms of the assailants. .He avers that he saw them drinking the blood of their mangled victims in a transport of exulting rage. Over an immense district of country, from the Ohio to the lakes, the outbreak of the combined nations spread desolation and dismay. S4A INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. CHAPTER. II. SIEGE OF DETROIT BATTLE OF BLOODY BRIDGE. PONTIAC himself turned his attention to the reduction of Detroit. He well knew that a rich booty awaited him if he could possess himself of this important place, and laid his plans with caution and care suitable to the magni tude of the enterprise. The town was fortified by pickets and block-houses, and contained a garrison of one hun dred and thirty men. The other inhabitants consisted of only a few traders. Pontiac's intention was to demand a conference with Major Gladwyn, the commandant, taking with him as many of his warriors as could obtain admittance ; and at a given signal to fall upon and kill the officers of the garrison. The work of destruction was to be completed by the aid of his followers from without the fort. Those whom he had cho sen to share with him the danger of the first onslaught, were each furnished with a rifle, having the barrel so shortened that it could be concealed under the blanket usually worn by an Indian as his outer garment. The account generally received of the manner in which Major Gladwyn became acquainted with the plot, and of the means resorted to by him to ward off the danger, is as follows: Pontiac, with several hundred warriors, pre sented himself without the camp, and requested an audi ence. On the evening of the same day, a squaw came to deliver to the Major a pair of moccasins which he had engaged her to make from an elk-skin. After he had praised her work, paid her handsomely, and dismissed her, with directions to convert the rest of the skin into similar articles, she continued to linger about the premises, appa rently in an unsatisfied frame of mind. Her answers to those who questioned her were so singular, particularly a PONTIAC'S WAR. 345 hint that she dropped respecting the difficulty she should have in "bringing the skin back," that the Major exam ined her closely, and succeeded in obtaining full particu lars of the impending danger. The poor woman, affected by his kindness, had been unwilling to see her patron mur dered, but fear of the vengeance of her own people, or a natural feeling of interest in their success, had restrained her from sooner betraying their deadly purpose. Through the night, and previous to the morning's con ference, the Indians were distinctly heard performing their war-songs and dances ; but no intimation was given them of any suspicion, and the party deputed for the grand talk was admitted within the pickets. Pontiac saw that the garrison was under arms, and he at once asked the reason for such precautions. The major represented that it was merely to discipline his soldiers. The Ottowa chief opened the council with a haughty and threatening speech, and was about to give the signal for attack by some peculiar mode of delivering a wam pum belt to the commandant when a sudden change in the demeanor of the English quelled and discomposed him. He heard the drums beat, and saw every soldier's musket levelled, and the swords of the officers drawn and ready for use. Major Gladwyn, stepping to the warrior nearest him, lifted his blanket, and disclosed the shortened rifle. He then upbraided the sachem for his intended villany, and, taking no advantage of the opportunity for securing him, gave proof of his own high-minded sense of honor by dismissing the whole party unharmed. The premeditated treachery of Pontiac would have fully justified the com mandant in taking his life, had he deemed it necessary for the protection of himself and people. Immediately subsequent to the failure of this undertak ing, the Indians began openly to attack the town. They baibarously murdered a Mrs. Turnbell and her two sons, 346 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. who lived a short distance from the fort; and killed or took prisoners the occupants of an eslablishment belonging to a Mr. James Fisher, still further up the river. From five hundred to a thousand Indians were now seen collected to lay siege to the town. The condition of the garrison appeared perilous in the extreme, not only from the insufficient supply of provisions, but from the necessity for keeping constant watch throughout the whole extent of the stockade. The soldiers -were wearied by being continually on duty, by the loss of their natural rest ; but their courage and spirit appeared to be unsub dued, and the commandant abandoned his first intention of evacuating the place. The French who were residing in Detroit brought about a negotiation, but Pontiac insisted upon the surrender of the town, and of all the valuable goods stored there, as the only condition upon which he would discontinue hostilities. The major was equally determined in his intention of maintaining his position. The siege commenced early in May, and no succor or supplies reached the garrison for more than a month. About the end of May an attempt had been made to land forces and provisions by boats sent from Niagara, but the vigilance of the Indians rendered it abortive. Many of the English were slain, and many more were reserved to glut the vengeance of the savages, at the stake. In the month of June, a vessel, also from Niagara, made her way up the river, in spite of the attacks of the Indians, who exposed their lives with the utmost temerity in at tempts to board her. Fifty soldiers were landed at the fort, and a timely supply of provision gave new courage to the weary garrison. Mr. Thatcher, in his "Indian Biography," gives extracts from various letters, written from the fort during the siege, which quaintly enough portray the condition of its inmates. We quote the follow ing from a letter of July 9th (1763): PONTIAC'S WAR. 347 "You have long ago heard of our pleasant Situation, but the storm is blown over. Was it not very agreeable to hear every Day of their cutting, carving, boiling and eat ing our companions? To see every Day dead Bodies floating down the Eiver, mangled and disfigured? But Britons, you know, never shrink; we always appeared gay to spite the Eascals. They boiled and eat Sir Robert Devers; and we are informed, by Mr. Pauly, who escaped, the other Day, from one of the Stations surprised at the breaking out of the War, and commanded by himself, that he had seen an Indian have the Skin of Captain Robert son's arm for a Tobacco-Pouch!" A reinforcement of some three hundred men, under Captain Dalyell, reached Detroit the last of July. Thus strengthened, the commander deemed it advisable to make an immediate sally, and, if possible, break up the Indian encampment. Pontiac heard of the intended movement, and was well prepared for the English when they made their sortie in the evening. So deadly and unexpected was the fire of the Indians, who lay concealed on either side of the path, near the bridge over Bloody Run, that more than one hundred of the troops were said to have been killed or wounded. Subsequent to this period we have no reliable history of the acts of the great sachem of the Ottawas. His people hung round Detroit until the ensuing spring, keeping the inhabitants in continual alarm. The strong force which was led into the western country by General Brad street in the early part of the summer of 1764, effectually overawed and quieted the hostile Indians. Pontiac is said to have been assassinated by a Peoria Indian, in the English interest, while attending a council in 1767. Considerable uncertainty, however, attends the recital of the latter events of his life, and of the causes which led to his death. THE DELAWARES, SHAWANEES, AND OTHER TRIBES OF THE MIDDLE AND WESTERN STATES. CHAPTER I. THE DELAWARES WILLIAM PENN ST. TAMMANY THE MORAVIANS THE SHAWNEES FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT MASSACRE OF THE CANESTOGA INDIANS DANIEL BOONE. "A noble race! but they are gone With their old forests wide and deep, And we have built our homes upon Fields where their generations sleep." BRYANT. ASSOCIATED with the early history of the Delawares are thoughts of William Penn, and of his peaceful intercourse with, and powerful influence over, the wild natives with whom he treated. At the first settlement of the country by Europeans, the tribes of this nation occupied no small portion of the present state of Pennsylvania, but their principal settlements lay between the Potomac and the Hudson. Situated between the great northern and south ern confederacies, they were in turn at enmity and engaged in wars with either party ; but, at an early day, they were in a measure subdued and reduced to a state of inferiority by the Six Nations. The conduct of Penn towards the Indians has ever been spoken of with high admiration; and we are assured that his care for their interests, and anxiety to secure their WILLIAM PKJVJV. 349 rights, and to protect them from wrongs and aggression, caused his name to be idolized among the Delawares. Upon obtaining the immense grant from the crown, named Pennsylvania at the time of its "bestowment, his first thought was to draw up a table of " conditions and con cessions," for the government of these who should adven ture with him in the settlement of the wilderness. He expressly stipulated, in behalf of the Indians, that their persons and property should be protected by the same laws and penalties as those of the whites; that overreaching in trade should be avoided by the conduct of all sales in market overt; that a jury of six whites and six Indians should pass upon matters in dispute between individuals of the different races ; and that the interest of the Indian should be made the special care of every magistrate. In the autumn of 1682, Penn came over from England to regulate his new colony, and especially to confirm the friendly relations existing with the Indians inhabiting his territory. In Clarkson's Memoirs of Penn, the following mention is made of his grand treaty with these native pro prietors. From religious scruples, he did not consider his claim, by virtue of the king's grant, to be valid without the assent of the occupants, and he determined to make honorable purchases of all that he should require. Ar rangements had been made, by commissioners, previous to Penn's arrival, for a great meeting, for the purpose of ratifying the proposed sale. "He proceeded, therefore, (at the appointed time,) accompanied by his friends, con sisting of men, women, and young persons of both sexes, to Coaquannoc, the Indian name for the place where Philadelphia now stands. On his arrival there, he found the sachems and their tribes assembling. They were seen in the woods, as far as the eye could carry, and looked frightful, both on account of their number and their arms. The Quakers are reported to have been but a handful in 350 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. comparison, and these without any weapon so that dis may and terror had come upon tKem, had they not con fided in the righteousness of their cause." The conference took place upon the site afterwards occupied by the town of Kensington, a few miles above Philadelphia, and called, by the Indians, Shackermaxon. "There was, at Shackermaxon, an elm-tree of prodigious size. To this the leaders, on both' sides, repaired, approach ing each other under its widely-spreading branches." Penn wore no ornament, or symbol of authority, except a blue sash. Standing up before the assembly, he directed the articles of merchandize brought for the purchase, to be spread before him, and, displaying the engrossed copy of the treaty, awaited the movements of the Indian chiefs. "One of the sachems, who was Chief among them, put upon his own head a kind of chaplet, in which there ap peared a small horn. This, as among the primitive Eastern nations, and, according to scripture language, was an em blem of kingly power. * * Upon putting on this horn, the Indians threw down their bows and arrows, and seated themselves round their chiefs, in the form of a half- moon upon the ground." The , interpreter now announced the readiness of the chiefs to listen, and Penn proceeded to read and explain the provisions of the treaty. He premised that he and his people used no warlike implements, but that all their desire was for peace and concord. By the articles of agreement, the Indians were to be allowed to retain pos session, for all needful purposes, even of the land sold, and particular specifications were inserted, touching the manner in which their rights should be enforced. He then made the stipulated payments; distributed ad ditional presents ; and, laying the parchment on the ground, proceeded to say that "he would not do as the Maryland- ers did, that is, call them Children or Brothers only ; foi THE DELAWAEES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 351 often Parents were apt to whip their children too severely, and Brothers sometimes would differ: neither would he compare the Friendship between him and them to a Chain, for the rain might sometimes rust it, or a tree might fall and break it; but he should consider them as the same flesh and blood with the Christians, and the same as if one man's body were to be divided into two parts." Handing the parchment to the chief sachem, Penn then desired him and his associates "to preserve it carefully for three gen erations, that their children might know what had passed between them, just as if he had remained himself with them to repeat it. * * 'This,' says Voltaire, 'was the only treaty between those people and the Christians that was not ratified by an oath, and that never was broken.' " After-accounts of the Indians, as given by Penn and his associates, in which the estimable points of native charac ter are pleasingly portrayed, contrast strangely with the maledictions and bitter expressions of hatred which too many of the early chroniclers heap upon their Indian ene mies. Never was a truer saying than the Spanish proverb, "he who has injured you will never forgive you." The riame by which these Indians have ever been desig nated, was bestowed upon them by the English, from Lord De la War : in their own tongue they were called the Lenni Lenape, (Original People,) as the chief and principal stock from which mankind in general had sprung. Conspicuous among the traditions of the Delawares appears the name of their old chief Tarn an end, or Tam many. We have no very specific accounts of the history of this renowned sachem, but the veneration with which the Indians recounted his wisdom and virtues served to raise his character so high with the colonists that he was, in a manner, canonized. The "Home Journal," of June 12th, 1852, makes the following mention of the singular respect paid to his memory: 352 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. " St. Tammany is, we believe, our only American Saint. He was the chief of an Indian tribe "which inhabited Penn sylvania, while that state was still a colony, and excited so much respect by his virtues and exploits, both among the white and red men, that, after his death, he was can onized, and the day of his birth, the first of May, regarded as a holiday. " ' All Christian countries,' saysthe Savannah Eepublicari, 'have their tutelar saint. England has her St. George; Scotland her St. Andrew ; Ireland her St. Patrick ; France her St. Crispan ; and Spain her St. Jago. In this country we have St. Tammany. Throughout the Revolutionary War, the natal-day of this saint was observed with great respect, by the army as well as by the people. It was not till Mr. Jefferson's administration, when General Dearborn was Secretary of War, that the observance of it by the army was dispensed with, and the change was made then only with the view of carrying out the system of retrench ment which the president sought to introduce in the administration of the government. The first fort built at St. Mary's, Camden county, and perhaps the first fort in the state, was called Fort St. Tammany. A gentleman now residing in this city was present, while a boy, at a celebration, by the officers and soldiers stationed at the fort, of St. Tammany's-day. The May-pole used on this occa sion was a tree, with its branches and bark removed ; and around that the soldiers danced and celebrated the day.' " It was among the Delawares that one of the most inter esting communities of Christian Indians ever 'existing in America, was established by the efforts of the Moravian mission. The venerable Count Zinzendorf, David Zeis- berger, and John Heckewelder, were zealous and promi nent partakers in the work of converting and instructing the Indians. From Heckewelder we have received much minute and interesting detail of the habits of the people THE DKLAWARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 353 among whom lie labored, and the humanizing and endur ing influence of Christian doctrine, enforced by good example on the part of its preachers. The circumstances under which the missionary work was carried on, were extremely adverse. During the long and bloody French and Indian wars, every tale of border cruelties and massacre, committed by the savages, would instantly arouse a spirit of retaliation against the whole race, which frequently resulted in the most brutal outrages against the peaceful Moravian Indians. A population of lawless whites inhabited the border country, whom Hecke- welder mildly rebukes in the following terms : "I have ye,t to notice a class of people generally known to us by the name of 'backwoods-men,' many of whom, acting up to a pretended belief, that 'an Indian has no, more soul than a buffalo;' and that to kill either is the same thing; have, from time to time, by their conduct, brought great trouble and bloodshed on the country. Such then I wish to caution, not to sport in that manner with the lives of God's creatures. * * * * Believe that a time will come when you must account for such vile deeds! When those who have fallen a sacrifice to your wickedness, will be called forth in judgment against you! nay, when your own descendants will testify against you.' 1 ' 1 The Shawanees were a very extensive and warlike tribe. They were, according to Indian tradition, originally from the south, having inhabited the country in the vicinity of Savannah, in Georgia, and a portion of West Florida. Being engaged in continual war with the Creeks and other southern nations, and being of an adventurous and roving disposition, they finally emigrated northward, and were received upon terms of friendship by the Delawares. They settled in Western Pennsylvania, extending, 23 354 INDIAN RACES OF AMEKICA. selves gradually farther west, and mingling with othei neighboring nations. Their head-quarters were, in early times, not far from Pittsburgh. In their new homes they prospered and increased, and long remained one of the most formidable nations of the west. They united with the Dela wares in hostilities against the southern tribes. In after-times, thrilling legends of war and massacre in "the dark and bloody ground," and throughout the west ern border, attest the active and dangerous spirit of this war like and implacable tribe. In the French and Indian wars, and in the long struggle which resulted in our national independence, they were so mingled with other western tribes that we shall not attempt to distinguish them, nor shall we devote that space to the biography of many of their chiefs and warriors which their prowess might de mand in a more extended work. We shall give, in their order, some of the more celebrated Indian campaigns at the west, with various incidents connected with the first settlement of the western states. About the middle of the eighteenth century, the French, as already mentioned, had, in strengthening their cordon of posts between their settlements in Canada and Louis iana, formed alliance with many Indian tribes to whom they were brought in proximity. Their nearest and most dangerous approach to the English establishments, was in the erection of the military stronghold called Fort Du- quesne at the confluence of the Alleghany and Mononga- hela. In the attempt to dislodge them from this post the military talents of George Washington were first exhibited. After distinguishing himself by his bravery and prudence in contests with the Indians and French, which, owing to an insufficiency of force, resulted in nothing decisive or materially advantageous, he was attached to the powerful army under General Braddock, in the capacity of aid-de camp to the commanding officer. THE DELA WARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 355 With, a force of more than two thousand men, besides some Indian allies, the British general set systematically about the reduction of the French fort. Leaving a large body of troops under Colonel Dunbar, at Great Meadows, he marched in compact military array to the attack. No one doubts the courage of General Braddock, or his capa city to have conducted a campaign in an open and inhabited country, but his dogmatic obstinacy and adherence to es tablished tactics proved, upon this occasion, the destruction of himself and his army. When Washington, then only twenty-two years of age, respectfully represented to his superior the danger of an exposed march through a country like that they were trav ersing, and suggested the necessity for providing a sufficient party of scouts acquainted with the locality, to guard against surprise, he was insultingly checked by the ejacu lation: "High times! high times! when a young Buck skin teaches a British general how to fight." It was on the 9th of July, 1755, that the engagement took place. Captain Contracoeur, who had command of the fort, had obtained information of the advance upon the previous day, and dispatched M. de Beaujeu, with all the troops he could muster, to meet the enemy. His whole available force consisted of from five hundred to one thou sand men, of whom the majority were Indians, but a knowledge of the ground, and the gross error of the Eng lish commander, more than compensated for the disparity in numbers and discipline. An ambush was formed where a ravine led from a plain into a high wooded piece of ground. The advancing column had no sooner penetrated into this defile than the attack commenced. A most appalling carnage ensued: the Indians, firing from covert upon the closely marshalled ranks of the regulars, soon threw them into utter confusion. M. Beau jeu, was, indeed, killed at the first onset, but his lieuten- 356 INDIAN KACES OF AMEKICA. ant, Dumas, continued to inspire his troops, and cheer them on to their now easy victory. A complete rout ensued, and the Indians, rushing from their places of concealment, fell upon the panic-stricken fugitives with their deadly tomahawks. The Yirginians alone proved in any degree effective in resisting the enemy and covering the disor derly retreat. The loss, on the j>art of the British, in killed, wounded and prisoners, was not far from eight hundred. All the artillery and baggage fell into the hands of the French, who, with their Indian allies, remained in undisputed possession of the field. Falling back upon Colonel Dunbar's reserve, instead of making a renewed stand, the whole army continued a precipitate retreat into Virginia. In this action most of the Virginia troops, who, adopting the Indian manner of warfare, betook themselves to sheltered positions when the fight commenced, fell victims to their constancy and brave ry. Colonel Washington had not fully recovered from a severe attack of illness at the time and was with great difficulty able to undergo the fatigues incident to his po sition. He had two horses shot under him, and received four bullets through his coat, but escaped from the con flict unwounded. General Braddock died a few days after, of a wound in the lungs. The Delawares, and more especially the Shawanees, were implicated in the extensive conspiracy excited by the re nowned Pontiac, in the year 1763. It was in this year that a cruel and disgraceful outrage was perpetrated upon a peaceful community of Indians at Canestoga, near Lan caster. No sooner had news of Indian murders and rav ages been spread among the white settlements, than a determination was evinced by certain miscreants to de stroy these harmless people, upon suspicion or pretence THE DELAWARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 357 that they were concerned, in some way, in the recent border outrages. The Canestoga Indians were few in number, and per fectly peaceful and inoffensive. They had inhabited the same little settlement for more than a century, and, accord ing to Hecke welder, "their ancestors had been among those who had welcomed William Penn, on his first ar rival in this country ; presenting him, at the time, with venison, &c." In the month of November, (1763,) fifty-seven white savages started from Paxton to destroy this establishment. They murdered all whom they could find, to the number of fourteen, of every age and sex : the remainder (fifteen or twenty) escaped to Lancaster, and were locked up, for safety, in the jail. Hither the "Paxton boys," as they were termed, pursued the poor creatures, and, breaking into the inclosure, brutally massacred the whole of them. The following is extracted from the letter of an eye-wit ness to this transaction. " * * I ran into the prison-yard, and there, what a horrid sight presented itself to my view!! Near the back door of the prison, lay an old Indian and his squaw, (wife,) particularly well known and esteemed by the peo ple of the town, on account of his placid and friendly conduct. His name was Will Sock; across him and his squaw lay two children of about the age of three years, whose heads were split with the tomahawk, and their scalps all taken off. Towards the middle of the gaol-yard, along the west side of the wall, lay a stout Indian, whom I particularly noticed to have been shot in the breast, his legs were chopped with the tomahawk, his hands cut off, and finally a rifle-ball discharged in his mouth; so that his head was blown to atoms, and the brains were splashed against, and yet hanging to the wall, for three or four feet around. * * In this manner lay the whole of them, men 358 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. women and children, spread about the prison-yard : shot scalped hacked and cut to pieces."' The events of Cresap's war, in which the Shawanees and Delawares were so largely concerned, have been already briefly described, in connection with the history of the Iroquois. After the great battle at Point Pleasant, in which they and their allies were defeated, a short cessation of hostilities between them and the colonists ensued. The breaking out of the revolutionary war revived old ani mosities, and suggested new motives for contention. The Shawanees were early won over to espouse the British interests : the division of the Delawares upon the question will be hereafter explained. The best information handed down to us concerning the Shawanees, at this period, is to be found in the adventures of the bold pioneer, Daniel Boon. Impatient of the re straints or competitions of an inhabited country, and led by a roving, adventurous spirit, and by an enthusiastic admiration of the beauties and grandeur of the unsettled western wilderness, he forced his way into the trackless solitudes of Kentucky, and laid the foundation of a settle ment whose growth and prosperity are almost unparalleled. On the 8th of February, 1778, Boone was taken prisoner by a strong force of these Indians, then on their march against the settlement at Boonesborough. He was carried to their principal town, Old Chilicothe, on the Little Miami, and there had abundant opportunity for observing their native peculiarities and usages. His character, some what analogous to that of Captain John Smith, Benjamin Church, and others, noted for their successes with the Indians, was bold, frank, and fearless. Men of such nature and disposition, however rude and uncultivated, are always the best able to conciliate the affections, as well as exercise control over the minds of savages. Boone's captors took such a liking to him that they THE DELA WARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 359 positively refused to deliver him up to the English, at Detroit, whither he was conveyed with his companions. Leaving the rest of their prisoners at that post, they took him back to Chilicothe, refusing the governor's offer of one hundred pounds if they would part with their favorite. The king of the tribe treated Boone with great courtesy and respect, and he had no reason to complain of his ac commodations, as he enjoyed whatever comforts were within the reach of his masters. He was adopted into a family, according to the usual Indian custom; in which position he says: "I became a son, and had a great share in the affection of my new parents, brothers, sisters, and friends. I was exceedingly familiar and friendly with them, always appearing as cheerful and satisfied as possi ble, and they put great confidence in me." His captivity lasted until the month of June, when, re turning from a salt-making excursion, on the Scioto, he found four hundred and fifty Shawanee warriors, collected with arms and war-paint, and bound on an expedition against Boonesborough. This incited him to attempt an escape, that he might forewarn the settlement of the intent. He fled a little before day, on the 16th, and made the journey, of one hundred and sixty miles, supported by a single meal. The bold and astonishing defence of the little fort at Boonesborough, in the month of August, against a large force of Indians, accompanied by certain Frenchmen, is simply and unostentatiously described in the auto-biography of this redoubted pioneer. The enemy, after a siege of twelve days, in which every expedient of force and treach ery failed to dislodge the garrison, were forced to retire without effecting their purpose. One of their stratagems was as follows : A treaty was proposed by the assailants, and after the articles were drawn up, in front of the fort, and formally signed, in the words of the narrative: "the 360 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. Indians told us it was customary with them on such occa sions for two Indians to shake hands with every white man on the treaty, as an evidence of entire friendship. We agreed to this, but were soon convinced their policy was to take us prisoners. They immediately grappled us ; but, though surrounded by hundreds of savages, we extri cated ourselves from them, and escaped all safe into the garrison, except one that was wounded, through a heavy fire from their army." Boone took a prominent part in many of the contests which preceded the quiet occupation of the land of his choice, and underwent toils, dangers, and privations sel dom awarded to any one man; but he lived to enjoy the fruits of his labors. An old Indian, upon the occasion of one of the more important treaties of cession, after signing the articles, took Boone by the hand, saying: "Brother, we have given you a fine land, but I believe you will have much trouble in settling it." The old settler adds, speak ing of the former appellation bestowed on this "debateable ground": "My footsteps have often been marked with blood, and therefore I can truly subscribe to its original name. Two darling sons and a brother have I lost by savage hands. * ' * Many dark and sleepless nights have I been a companion for owls, separated from the cheerful society of men, scorched by the summer's sun, and pinched by the winter's cold an instrument ordained to settle the wilderness. But now the scene is changed : peace crowns the sylvan shade." B ORDER THE B F. .1 R. 361 CHAPTER II. DIVISION OF THE DELA WARES WHITE-EYES, AND PIPE INDIAN CONFEDERACY OF 1781 ATTACK ON BRYANT'S STATION, AND BATTLE NEAR THE BLUE LICKS GENERAL CLARKE'S EX PEDITION DISASTROUS CAMPAIGNS OF HARMAR AND ST. CLAIR MILITARY OPERATIONS OF GENERAL WAYNE DECISIVE BATTLE NEAR THE MAUMEE RAPIDS, AND SUBSEQUENT TREATY OF PEACE. I "They waste us ay like April snow In the warm noon, we shrink away; And fast they follow as we go Towards the setting day Till they shall fill the land, and we Are driven into the western sea." BRYANT. As the settlements of the Europeans continued to in crease, the Delawares gradually removed from their old quarters, on the river and bay which bear their name, to the wilderness of the west. No small portion of the tribe was, at the breaking out of the revolutionary war, settled in Ohio, on the banks of the Muskingum, and in the adja cent country. Every influence was brought to bear, by the English emissaries among the Delawares, to induce them to take up the hatchet against the rebellious Americans. The effort was, in part, successful : a large party, headed by the celebrated Captain Pipe, a chief of the Wolf tribe, declared for the king, while those inclined to peace and neutrality, or whose sympathies were on the side of the colonies, re mained under the guidance of Koguethagechton Anglice, Captain "White-Eyes. The disasters and perplexities in which the nation was involved by such a division might 362 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. readily be foreseen. Both the opposing leaders were men of talent, energy, and boldness, and 'each was heart and soul enlisted in the cause to which he had united himself. It is recorded of White-Eyes that, early in the war, he met with a deputation of the Senecas, (then, as we have seen, in the English interest,) and boldly avowed his own opinion. In reply to the old taunt, thrown out by one of the Iroquois, of former subjection and humiliation, the chief broke forth indignantly: "I know well that you consider us a conquered nation as women as your infe riors. You have, say you, shortened our legs, and put petticoats on us! You say you have given us a hoe and a corn-pounder, and told us to plant and pound for you - you men, you warriors ! But look at me. Am I not full- grown, and have I not a warrior's dress? Ay, I am a man, and these are the arms of a man, and all that country (pointing towards the Alleghany) on the other side of the water, is mine!" White-Eyes was signally successful in his efforts to undeceive the Indians within his influence, who had been tampered with and imposed upon by English agents, or excited by sympathy with the war-party. His death, which took place at Tuscarawas, in the winter of 1779-80, was a very unfortunate event for the Americans. He died of that great scourge of the In dian races, the small- pox. The spring of 1781 was a terrible season for the white settlements in Kentucky and the whole border country. The savages who surrounded them had never shown so constant and systematic a determination for murder and mischief. Early in the summer, a great meeting of In dian deputies from the Shawanees, Delawares, Cherokees, Wyandots, Tawas, Pottawatomies, and divers other tribes from the north-western lakes, met in grand council of war at Old Chilicothe. The persuasions and influence of two infamous whites, one McKee, and the notorious Simon THE DEL A WARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 363 Girty, "inflamed their savage minds to mischief, and led them to execute every diabolical scheme." Bryant's station, a post five miles from Lexington, was fixed upon, by the advice of Girty, as a favorable point for the first attack. About five hundred Indians and whites encompassed the place accordingly, on the 15th of August. Stratagem and assault alike failed to effect an entrance: a small reinforcement from Lexington managed to join the garrison, and the besiegers were compelled to retire on the third day, having lost thirty of their number. When Girty came forward, on one occasion during the siege, bearing a flag of truce, and proposing a surrender, he was received with every expression of disgust and contempt. His offers were spurned, and he retired, "cursing and cursed," to his followers. The enemy were pursued, on their return, by Colonels Todd and Trigg, Daniel Boone, and Major Harland, with one hundred and seventy -six men. The rashness of some individuals of this party, who were unwilling to listen to the prudent advice of Boone, that an engagement should be avoided until a large expected reinforcement should arrive, led to their utter discomfiture. They came up with the Indians at a bend in Licking river, beyond the Blue Licks, and had hardly forded the stream when they were attacked by an overpowering force. The enemy had cut off all escape, except by recrossing the river, in the attempt to accomplish which, multitudes were destroyed. Sixty-seven of the Americans were killed; among the number, the three principal officers and a son of Boone. The outrages of the savages were, soon after this, sig nally punished. General Clarke, at the head of a thousand men, rendezvousing at Fort Washington, where Cincinnati now stands, invaded the Indian territory. The inhabitants fled, in terror, at the approach of so formidable an army 364: INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. leaving their towns to be destroyed. " We continued our pursuit," says Boone, who was with 'the army, "through five towns on the Miami river Old Chilicothe, Pecaway, New Chilicothe, Willis' Towns, and Chilicothe burnt them all to ashes, entirely destroyed their corn, and other fruits, and every where spread a scene of desolation in the country." After hostilities between England and America had ceased, these western tribes of Indians still continued to molest the border inhabitants of the colonies. Attempts to bring about conferences failed signally in producing any marked or permanent benefit, and it was determined by the government to humble them by force of arms. In the autumn of 1791, General Harmar marched into the Indian territories, at the head of nearly fifteen hundred men. The campaign was signally unsuccessful. The army returned to Fort Washington, dispirited and broken down, having sustained a heavy loss in men and officers, and with the mortifying consciousness of an utter failure in the accomplishment of the end in view. Major-General Arthur St. Clair was appointed to the command of the next expedition. With a force of more than two thousand men, he marched towards the Indian settlements, and on the 3d of November, (1791,) encamped within fifteen miles of the Miami villages. On his way from Fort Washington to this point, he had built and garrisoned Forts Hamilton and Jefferson. By this reduc tion of his troops, and by a more extensive loss from the desertion of some hundreds of cowardly militia, he had, at the time of which we are speaking, but about fourteen hundred effective soldiers. The confederate Indian tribes kept themselves perfectly informed, by their scouting parties, of all the enemy's movements, and, emboldened by recent success, prepared to give the advancing army a warm reception. The prin- 365 cipal leader of the united nations, was the celebrated Miami chief, Michikinaqua, or Little Turtle. He was one of the greatest warriors and most sagacious rulers evei known among the red men, and he had now an oppor tunity for the fall display of his abilities. An immense horde of fierce savages, impatient for war, was under his control, and his movements were seconded by able subor dinates. Among these, the most noted were Buckonga- helas, now war chief of the Delawares, and Blue-Jacket, the Shawanee. According to Colonel Stone, the great Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, was also present, lending the assistance of his counsel and arms. Hurons or Wyandots, Iroquois, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Chippewas, Miamies, Delawares, and Shawanees, with a host of minor tribes, were collected to repel the common enemy. The number of their warriors assembled on the present occasion is estimated to have been about fifteen hundred, although some have set it down at twice that force. Before the rising of the sun, on the following day, (No vember 4th,) the savages fell upon the camp of the whites. Never was a more decisive victory obtained. In vain did the American general and his officers exert themselves to maintain order, and to rally the bewildered troops. The Indians, firing from covert, thinned the ranks and picked off the officers by a continuous and murderous discharge. A disorderly retreat was the result: Artillery, baggage, and no small portion of the small arms of the militia, fell into the hands of the exultant pursuers. Fort Jefferson was nearly thirty miles distant, and thither the defeated army directed its flight. The Indians followed close upon the fugitives, cutting down and destroying at will, until, as is reported, one of their chiefs called out to them to "stop, as they had killed enough!" The temptation offered by the plunder to be obtained at the camp induced the Indians to return, and the remnant Ml INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. of the invading army reached Fort Jefferson about sunset The loss, in thia battle, on the put of the whites, was DO kHthaaetght hundred and ninety-four! in killed, wounded, or missing. Thirty-eight officers, and five hundred and ninety-three non-commissioned officers and pantos were slain or missing. The Indians lost but few of their men, judging from a comparison of the^different accounts, not much over fifty, At the deserted camp the victorious tribes took up their quarters, and delivered themselves up to riot and exulta tion. General Scott, with a regiment of mounted Kentucky volunteers, drove them from the spot a few weeks later, with the loss of their plunder and of some two hundred of their warriors. No further important movement was mads to overthrow lli- jxnver of liir EttttM lor ur:ir:\ thriv JOSH ftoU fcfalfl period. Negotiation proved utterly fruitless with a race of savages inflated by their recent brilliant successes, and consequently exhorbitant in their demands. When it was finally evident that nothing but force could check the continuance of border murders and robbery, an army was collected, and put under the command of General Wayne, sometimes called "Mad Anthony," in a rude style of com pliment to his energy and courage, not uncommon in those times. The Indians denominated him the "Black-Snake," The winter of 1793-4 was spent in fortifying a military post at Greenville, on the Miami, and another, named Fort Jtecovery, upon the field of St Glair's defeat The last- mentioned station was furiously attached by the Indians, Mstetod i<\ certain OnadftfH ^..l IftgU, on HM BOA ; the following June, but without sooosss. It was not until August, (174,)that General Wayne felt himself sufficiently mil forced, and his military posts sufficiently strengthened and supplied, to justify active operations in the enemy's country. THE DELAWARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 367 When the army was once put in motion, important and decisive events rapidly succeeded. The march was di rected into the heart of the Indian settlements on the Miami, now called Maumee, a river emptying into the western extremity of Lake Erie. Where the beautiful stream Au Glaise empties into this river, a fort was imme- diatoly erected, and named Fort Defiance. From this post General Wayne sent emissaries to invite the hostile na tions to negotiation, but the pride and rancor of the In dians prevented any favorable results. Little Turtle, indeed, seemed to forebode the impending storm, and ad vised the acceptance of the terms offered. "The Ameri cans," said he, "are now led by a chief who never sleeps: the night and the day are alike to him. * * Think well of it. There is something whispers me it would be pru dent to listen to his offers of peace." The British, at this time, in defiance of their treaties with the United States, still maintained possession of va rious military posts at the west. A strong fort and garri son was established by them near the Miami, rapids, and in that vicinity the main body of the Indian warriors was encamped. Above, and below the American camp, the Miami, and Au Glaise, according to Wayne's dispatches, presented, for miles, the appearance of a single village, and rich corn-fields spread on either side. "I have never seen," says the writer, "such immense fields of corn in any part of America, from Canada to Florida." Negotiations proved futile: the Indians were evidently bent on war, and only favored delay for the purpose of collecting their full force. General Wayne therefore marched upon them, and, on the 20th of the month, a ter rible battle was fought, in which the allied tribes were totally defeated and dispersed. The Indians greatly out numbered their opponents, and had taken their usual pre cautions in selecting a favorable spot for defence. They 368 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. could not, however, resist the attack pf brave and disci plined troops, directed by so experienced and skillful a leader as Wayne.' The fight terminated in the words of the official dispatch "under the guns of the British gar rison. * * The woods were strewed, for a considerable dis tance, with the dead bodies of Indians and their white auxiliaries; the latter armed with, British muskets and bayonets." Some days were now spent in laying waste the fields and villages of the miserable savages, whose spirit seemed to be completely broken by this reverse. By the first of January following, the influence of Little Turtle and Buck- ongahelas, both of whom saw the folly of further quarrels with the United States, and the hopelessness of reliance upon England, negotiations for peace were commenced, and, in August, (1795,) a grand treaty was concluded at Greenville. CHAPTER III. CONDITION OF THE INDIANS SUBSEQUENT TO THE PEACE THE PROPHET ELSKWATAWA TECUMSEH : HIS PLANS AND INTRIGUES GENERAL HARRISON'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE PROPHET'S TOWN DEFEAT OF THE INDIANS AT TIPPECANOE WAR OF 1812 HARRISON'S INVASION OF CANADA BATTLE OF THE THAMES, AND DEATH OF TECUMSEH. NEARLY ten years of peace succeeded the treaty of Greenville, an interval which proved little less destructive to the tribes of the north-west than the desolations of their last calamitous war. The devastating influence of intem perance was never more fearfully felt than in the experi ence of these Indian nations at the period whose history s ;: //. THE DELA WARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 369 we are now recording. General Harrison, then commis sioner for Indian affairs, reported their condition in the following terms: "So destructive has been the progress of intemperance among them, that whole villages have been swept away. A miserable remnant is all that remains to mark the names and situation of many numerous and warlike tribes. In the energetic language of one of their orators, it is a dreadful conflagration, which spreads misery and desolation through their country, and threatens the annihilation of the whole race." While this deadly evil was constantly increasing, in the year 1804, a distinguished Indian orator began to excite a wide-spread discontent among the nations of the former north-western confederacy. This was the self-styled proph et, Elskwatawa, Olliwayshila, or Olliwachaca. About the year 1770, a woman of one of the southern tribes, domes ticated with the Shawanees, according to report, became mother to three children at a single birth, who received the names of TECUMSEH, Elskwatawa, and Kumshaka the last being unknown to fame. Their father, a Shawa- nee warrior, perished in the great battle at Point Pleasant. By the time that Tecumseh had attained the age of man hood, he had already become noted as a bold and sagacious warrior. For years before the overthrow of the Indian power by General Wayne, he had been foremost in the incursions which spread desolation throughout the western settlements ; and when the peace, concluded at Greenville, deprived him of a field for warlike enterprise, he only retired to brood over new mischief, and, in conjunction with his brother, the Prophet, to excite a more extensive conspiracy than had ever before been perfected. With consummate art, Elskwatawa exposed the evils attendant on the white man's encroachments, exhorting to sobriety and a universal union for resistance. He pro claimed himself especially commissioned by the Great 24 370 INDIAN KACES OF AMEKICA. Spirit to foretell, and to hasten^by his own efforts, the destruction of the intruders, and by various appeals to the vanity, the superstition, and the spirit of revenge, of his auditors, he acquired a strong and enduring influence. The chiefs who opposed or ridiculed his pretensions were denounced as wizards or sorcerers, and proofs, satisfactory to the minds of the Indians, being adduced in support of the accusation, numbers perished at the stake, leaving a clear field for the operations of the impostor. Tecumseh, meanwhile, was not idle. It is said that the noted Seneca chief, Eed-Jacket, first counselled him to set about the work to which he devoted his life, holding out to him the tempting prospect of a recovery of the rich and extensive valley of the Mississippi from the posses sion of the whites. Whatever originated the idea in his mind, he lent all the powerful energy of his character to its accomplishment. The tribes concerned in the proposed out-break were mostly the same that had in earlier times been aroused by Pontiac, and had again united, under Michikinaqua, as we have seen in the preceding chapter. The undertaking of Tecumseh and his brother was not of easy or speedy accomplishment, but their unwearied efforts and high natural endowments gradually gave them both an unprecedented ascendancy over the minds of the Indians. In 1807, the new movement among the "Western Indians called for attention on the part of the United States, and General, then Governor, Harrison dispatched a message of warning and reproach to the leading men of the Shawa- nee tribe. The prophet dictated, in reply, a letter, in which he denied the charges circulated against him, and strenu ously asserted that nothing was farther from his thoughts than any design of creating a disturbance. In the sum mer of the following year this subtle intriguer established himself on the Tippecanoe river, a tributary of the Wa- bash, in the northern part of the state of Indiana. THE DELAWARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 371 From this place, where lie lived surrounded by a crowd of admiring followers, the Prophet proceeded shortly after to Vincennes, and spent some time in communication with Governor Harrison, for the purpose of disarming suspicion. lie continually insisted that the whole object of his preach ing to the Indians was to persuade them to relinquish their vices, and lead sober and peaceable lives ; and to this effect he often exhorted his people in the presence of the United States' government officials. In September, of 1809, while Tecumseh was pushing his intrigues among various distant tribes, Governor Har rison obtained a cession, for certain stipulated annuities, of a large tract of land on the lower portion of the Wabash, from the tribes of the Miamis, Delawares, Potta- watomies, and Kickapoos. On Tecumseh's return in the following year, he, with his brother, made vehement re monstrances against this proceeding, and a somewhat stormy interview took place between the great chief and Governor Harrison, each party being attended by a pow erful armed force. Upon this occasion, Tecumseh first openly avowed his design of forming an universal coali tion of the Indian nations, by which the progress of the whites westward should be arrested, but he still insisted that it was not his intention to make war. One great principle which he endeavored to enforce was that no In dian lands should be sold, except by consent of all the confederate tribes. Two days after this conference he started for the south, with a few attendant warriors, to spread disaffection among the Creeks, Cherokees, and other tribes of the southern states. In the following year, (1811,) during the prolonged absence of Tecumseh, and contrary, as is supposed, to his express instructions, bold and audacious depredations and murders were committed by the horde of savages gathered at the Prophet's town. ^Representations were forwarded 372 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. to Washington of the necessity for active measures in re straint of these outrages, and a regiment, under Colonel Bojd, was promptly marched from Pittsburg to Yincennes, and placed under the command of Harrison. With this force, and a body of militia and volunteers, the whole amounting to about nine hundred men, the governor marched from Fort Harrison,^ on the Wabash, for the Prophet's town, on the 28th of October. He had previ ously made various attempts, through ' the intervention of some friendly Delaware and Miami chiefs, to bring about a negotiation, a restoration of the stolen property, and a delivery up of the murderers; but his emissaries were treated with contempt and his proposals spurned. The march was conducted with the greatest military skill. A feint was made of taking up the line of march on the south bank of the river; after which, the whole army crossed the stream, and hastened towards the hostile settlement through the extensive prairies, stretching far ther than the eye could reach toward the west. On the 5th of November, having met with no opposition on the route, Harrison encamped within nine miles of the Proph et's town. Approaching the town on the ensuing day, various futile attempts were made to open a conference. Menaces and insults were the only reply to these overtures. Before the troops reached the town, however, messengers from Elskwatawa came forward, proposing a truce, and the arrangement for a conference upon the following day. The chief averred that he had sent a pacific embassy to the governor, but that those charged with the mission had gone down the river on the opposite bank, and thus missed him. Harrison assented to a cessation of hostilities until the next day, but took wise precautions for security against a treacherous night attack. The suspicions of the prudent general proved to be well- founded. The darkness of the night favored the designs THE DELA WARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 373 of the Indians, and, before day-break, about four o'clock, the alarm of an attack was given. In the words of one of Harrison's biographers: "The treacherous Indians had stealthily crept up near our sentries, with the intention of rushing upon them and killing them before they could give the alarm. But fortunately one of the sentries dis covered an Indian creeping towards him through the grass, and fired at him. This was immediately followed by the Indian yell, and a furious charge upon the left flank." The onset of the Indians, stimulated as they were by the assurances of their prophet, that certain success awaited them, was unprecedented for fury and determination. They numbered from five hundred to a thousand, and were led by White Loon, Stone-Eater, and a treacherous Pottawatomie chief named Winnemac. The Prophet took, personally, no share in the engagement. The struggle con tinued until day-light, when the assailants were driven off and dispersed. Great praise has been deservedly awarded to the commanding officer of the whites for his steady courage and generalship during the trying scenes of this night's encounter. The troops, although no small num ber of them were now, for the first time, in active service, displayed great firmness and bravery. The Indians im mediately abandoned their town, which the army proceeded to destroy, tearing down the fortifications and burning the buildings. The object of the expedition being thus fully accomplished, the troops were marched back to Vincennes. In the battle at Tippecanoe, the loss of the victors was probably greater than that of the savages. Thirty-eight of the latter were left dead upon the field: of the whites, fifty were killed, and nearly one hundred wounded. It is not to be supposed that the Prophet's influence maintained its former hold upon his followers after this defeat. He takes indeed, from this time forward, a place in history entirely subordinate to his warlike and powerful brother. 374 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. An interval of comparative quiet succeeded this over throw of the Prophet's concentrated forces, a quiet des tined to be broken by a far more extensive and disastrous war. When open hostilities commenced between England and the United States, in 1812, it was at once evident that the former country- had pursued her old policy of rousing up the savages to ravage our defenceless frontier, with unprecedented success. Tecunlseh proved a more valu able coadjutor, if possible, than Brant had been during the revolution, in uniting the different nations against the American interests. To particularize the part taken by this great warrior and statesman in the war, would involve too prolonged a description 1 of the various incidents of the western cam paigns. By counsel and persuasion ; by courage in battle ; and by the energy of a powerful mind devoted to the cause he had espoused, he continued until his death to aid his English allies. A strong British fortress at Maiden, on the eastern or Canada shore of Detroit river, proved a rendez vous for the hostile Indians, of the utmost danger to the inhabitants of the north-western frontier. The place was under the command of the British General Proctor; the officer whose infamous neglect or countenance led to the massacre of a body of wounded prisoners at Frenchtown, on the river Raisin, in January, 1813. This post was abandoned by the British and Indians, about the time of the invasion of Canada, in September, of the above year, by the American troops under Harrison. The invading- army encamped at the deserted and dismantled fortress, "from which had issued, for years past, those ruthless bands of savages, which had swept so fiercely over our extended frontier, leaving death and destruction only in their path." General Harrison hastened in pursuit of the enemy up the Thames river, and, on the 4th of October, encamped a THE DELA WAKES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 375 few miles above the forks of the river, and erected a slight fortification. On the 5th, the memorable battle of the Thames was fought. General Proctor awaited the ap proach of tne American forces at a place chosen by himself, near Moravian town, as presenting a favorable position for a stand. His forces, in regulars and Indians, rather out numbered those of his opponents, being set down at two thousand eight hundred ; the Americans numbered twenty- five hundred, mostly militia and volunteers. The British army "was flanked, on the left, by the river Thames, and supported by artillery, and on the right by two extensive ' swamps, running nearly parallel to the river, and occupied by a strong body of Indians. * * The Indians were commanded by Tecumseh in person." The British line was broken by the first charge of Colonel Johnson's mounted regiment, and being thrown into irre trievable disorder, the troops were unable to rally, or oppose any further effective resistance. Nearly the whole army surrendered at discretion. Proctor, with a few com panions, effected his escape. The Indians, protected by the covert where they were posted, were not so easily dis lodged. They maintained their position until after the defeat of their English associates and the death of their brave leader. By whose hand Tecumseh fell, does not appear to be decisively settled; but, according to the or dinarily received account, he was rushing upon Colonel Johnson, with his tomahawk, when the latter shot him dead with a pistol. This battle was, in effect, the conclusion of the north western Indian war. Deputations from various tribes appeared suing for peace ; and during this and the ensuing year, when Generals Harrison and Cass, with Governor Shelby, were appointed commissioners to treat with the North-western tribes, important treaties were effected. Tecumseh was buried near the field of battle, and a 376 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. mound still marks his grave. The British government, not unmindful of his services, granted a pension to his widow and family, as well as to the Prophet Elskwatawa. CHAPTER IV. ACQUISITION AND SALE, BY THE UNITED STATES, OF INDIAN LANDS IN ILLINOIS BLACK-HAWK THE SACS REMOVED WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RETURN OF BLACK-HAWK AND HIS FOLLOW ERS DEFEAT OF MAJOR STILLMAN : THE HOSTILE INDIANS PURSUED BY ATKINSON AND DODGE THEIR DEFEAT ON THE BANK OF THE MISSIS SIPPI BLACK-HAWK'S SURRENDER HE IS TAKEN TO WASHINGTON HIS SUBSEQUENT CAREER. WITH the rapid increase of a white population between the Lakes and the Mississippi, which followed the con clusion of hostilities with England and her Indian allies, new difficulties began to arise between the natives and the settlers. Illinois and Wisconsin were inhabited by various tribes of Indians, upon terms of bitter hostility among themselves, but united in their suspicions and apprehensions at the unprecedented inroads of emigrants from the east. The Winnebagos, dwelling in Wisconsin ; the Pottawat- omies, situated aro'und the southern extremity of Lake Michigan; and the Sacs, (afterwards mingled with the Foxes, and usually coupled with that tribe,) of Illinois, principally located upon Eock river, were the most con siderable of these north-western tribes. By various ces sions, the United States acquired, in the early part of the present century, a title to extensive tracts of country, lying east of the Mississippi, and included in the present state of THE DELAWARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 377 Illinois. The tribes who sold the land were divided in opinion ; great numbers of the occupants of the soil were utterly opposed to its alienation, and denied the authority of the chiefs, by whose negotiation the sales or cessions were effected; and upon the parcelling out and the sale by the United States government of this public property to private individuals, conflicting claims soon led to serious disturbances. In July, of 1830, a treaty was formed at Prairie du Chien, between United States commissioners and the tribes of the lowas, Sioux, Omawhas, Sacs and Foxes, &c., for the purpose of finally arranging the terms upon which the lands east of the Mississippi should be yielded up. The Sac chief, Keokuk, was present, and assenting to the ar rangement in behalf of his people; but a strong party, headed by the celebrated Black-Hawk, utterly refused to abide by it. This chief was then between sixty and seventy years of age, and had been, from early youth, a noted warrior. He was born at some Indian settlement upon the Eock river, and retained through life a strong attach ment to the place of his nativity and the stream upon whose banks he so long resided. He was a Pottawatomie, but his whole life was spent among the Sacs. To enforce the removal of the Sacs from their villages, on Eock river, General Gaines visited that locality in June, 1831. He proceeded up the river in a steamer, with several pieces of artillery and two companies of infantry. The general spoke of his visit as follows: "Their village is immediately on Eock river, and so situated that I could, from the steam-boat, destroy all their bark houses, (the only kind of houses they have,) in a few minutes, with the force now with me, probably without the loss of a man. But I am resolved to abstain from firing a shot without some bloodshed, or some manifest attempt to shed blood, on the part of the Indians. I have already induced nearly 378 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. one-third of them to cross the Mississippi to their own land. The residue, however, say, -as the friendly chiefs report, that they never will move ; and, what is very un common, the women urge their hostile husbands to fight rather than to move, and thus abandon their homes." Before the close of the month the forces of the United States and the state militia took possession of the settle ment. The Indians made no attempt at resistance, and betook themselves to the western bank of the Mississippi. In the spring of the following year, the Sacs began to straggle back to their old towns in Illinois; and Black- Hawk, with a considerable force of his warriors, marched up Eock river, with the avowed intent of spending the summer, and raising a supply of corn among the Pottawa- tomies, in accordance with an invitation from that tribe. He proceeded quietly and peaceably up the river, offering no violence to either the persons or property of the white inhabitants. A body of mounted militia, under Major Stillman, set out in pursuit of the Indians about the middle of May. On their approach to his temporary quarters, Black- Hawk sent a number of his followers to meet and confer with the commanding officer; but it so happened, either through mistake as to their intentions, or from a reckless depravity on the part of certain of the whites, that several of these emissaries were killed. Housed by this injurious treatment, the Indian chief prepared to fall upon his pursuers at a point where an ambuscade could be rendered most effective. It is said that when the militia came up, he had but about forty warriors with him, (the rest of his men being off in pursuit of game,) while the whites numbered no less than two hundred and seventy ! As these undisciplined troops were crossing Sycamore creek, in entire disorder, and without any precaution against a surprise, they were fiercely at tacked by the Indians. The rout was complete: unable THE DELA WARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 379 to form, or to offer any effectual resistance, the whites were driven off, leaving eleven of their number dead upon the field. As they again rendezvoused at Dixon's Ferry, thirty miles below, they gave the most extravagant accounts of the numbers of the enemy. Great excitement was produced by this skirmish, and a large army of militia was called into service by Governor Reynolds, and ordered to meet by the 10th of June, at Hennepin, in Putnam county, on the Illinois. Agents were sent to confirm the good-will of the Winnebagos, and other tribes, and the services of several hundred of the Menomonies and Sioux were enlisted against the dan gerous intruders. Black-Hawk and his party, feeling themselves now fully committed, were not slow in following up the ad vantage gained by the terror inspired by the engagement at Sycamore Creek. Between the breaking out of the war and the beginning of the month of August the Indians committed many murders, and various skirmishes took place between them and the troops sent in pursuit. On the 20th of May, a lit tle settlement on Indian Creek was plundered. Fifteen of the inhabitants w'ere killed, and two young girls, by the name of Hall, one sixteen and the other eighteen years of age, were carried into captivity. According to the almost universal custom of the North American In dians, these female prisoners were not exposed to the slightest insult or outrage, but were as well cared for as circumstances would allow. They were afterwards ran somed, at a large price, and returned to their friends. Little mercy was shown to any of Black-Hawk's follow ers upon any occasion of success on the part of the whites. Five persons were killed near Galena on the 14th of June, and, shortly after, twelve Indians, supposed to be connected with the attacking party, were pursued and driven into a 380 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. neighboring swamp. When overtaken, although they made no resistance, they were every one killed and scalped by the whites. The condition of Black-Hawk and his band grew daily more miserable, from destitution, exposure, and starvation. An end would speedily have been put to their operations, but for that terrible disease, the cholera, by which the United States troops, on their route from the east to the scene of action, were almost wholly disabled. Driven from his encampment at the Four Lakes by the approach of General Atkinson, Black-Hawk retreated down the Wisconsin, expecting to find provisions and as sistance among the Indians in that direction. General Dodge, with a strong force of militia, followed close on his trail. He came up with the fugitives on the 21st of July. The Indians were about crossing the river when they were attacked, and, but for the coming on of night, could hardly have escaped entire destruction or capture. They lost in the encounter not far from forty men. The discomfited savages continued their flight down the river in their boats, beset on every side by enemies, and with an overwhelming force Dodge's army having been joined by Atkinson and his troops in hot pursuit. "Some of the boats," says Drake, "conveying these poor wretches, were overset, and many of those in them drowned; the greater number, however, fell into the hands of their enemies in their passage. Many of the children were found to be in such a famished state that they could not be revived." Having reached the mouth of the river, on the first of August, Black-Hawk prepared to cross the Mississippi, but was prevented by a force on board the steam-boat Warrior. tie "did not wish to fight, but to escape; and when the steam-boat fell in with him, he used every means to give the captain of her to understand that he desired to surren- THE DEL AW ARES, SHAWANEES, ETC. 381 der. He displayed two white flags, and about one hundred and fifty of his men approached the river without arms, and made signs of submission." The only reply was a discharge of canister and musketry from the boat, which was returned from the shore. After about an hour's firing, which resulted in the destruction of more than twenty of the Indians, the boat moved off to procure a supply of wood. Next morning General Atkinson, with the whole force in pursuit, (sixteen hundred men) came up with the rem nant of the enemy. Ketreat was cut off on every side, and the half-starved and dispirited savages were shot and cut down at the pleasure of the irresistible numbers who surrounded them. The following is extracted from an account published shortly after this decisive and final en gagement. "The battle lasted upwards of three hours. About fifty of the enemy's women and children were taken prisoners, and many, by accident, in the battle, were kill ed. When the Indians were driven to the bank of the Mississippi, some hundreds of jnen, women, and children, plunged into the river, and hoped, by diving, &c., to escape the bullets of our guns; very few, however, escaped our sharp-shooters." Historians generally speak of an action in which the Indians prove successful as a "massacre," but the above- described proceeding is dignified by the name of a battle! Black-Hawk, who, with a few followers, managed to effect his escape, afterwards declared that, upon the approach of the American army, he and his warriors made no attempt at resistance, offering to surrender themselves un conditionally, and that they only used their arms when it was apparent that the successful pursuers had no intention of showing quarter. It is hard to decide upon the true state of the case. His cause now being palpably hopeless, and most of his 882 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. remaining warriors having yielded themselves prisoners, or been taken by the various bands of Indians friendly to the whites, Black-Hawk surrendered himself at Prairie du Chien, on the 27th of August. With several, other chiefs he was taken to Washington, and after holding conference with President Jackson, was confined, for a period, at Fort Monroe, on an island near Old Point Comfort, on the Chesa peake. Here the captive warriors were well and kindly treated, and in June, of the ensuing year (1833), there be ing no longer any necessity for detaining them as hostages, they were set at liberty. Before returning to the west, these chiefs visited several of the principal eastern cities, and were every where re ceived with the greatest enthusiasm and interest. They were shown the fortifications, navy -yards, &c., and every effort was made to impress them with the irresistible power of the government. They were afterwards escorted back to their homes at the west, and dismissed with valuable presents and tokens of good- will. Black-Hawk lived thenceforth in peace with the whites. He settled upon the Des Moines river, where he died in 1838. The body of the old warrior, in accordance with his own wishes, expressed shortly before his death, was disposed in Indian style. According to Drake: "JSTo grave was made ; but his body was placed in a sitting position, with his cane between his knees and grasped in his hands ; slabs or rails were then piled up about him. Such was the end of Black-Hawk. Here, however, his bones did not long rest in peace, but they were stolen from their place of deposit some time in the following winter; but about a year after, it was discovered that they were in possession of a Burgeon, of Quincy, Illinois, to whom some person had sent them to be wired together. When Governor Lucas, of Iowa, became acquainted with the facts, they were, by his requisition, restored to his friends." INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. CHAPTER I. EARLY LOCATION, NUMBERS, CHARACTER, ETC., OF THE CATAWBAS J OF THE UPPER AND LOWER CHEROKEES ; OF THE MUSCOGEES OR CREEKS ; OF THE CHOCTAWS ; OF THE CHICKASAWS FRENCH WAR WITH THE NATCHEZ AND CHICKASAWS. WE shall not undertake to assign definite boundaries to the several tracts of country occupied by the extensive tribes of the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Catawbas, Uchees, &c., nor to pursue their history, separately. There are no sufficient distinctions in their general habits and character to render such a detail necessary, and as they were nearly all more or less affected by the same political events and changes, they can be best considered collec tively. The name of Creeks, (an English term, taken from the character of the country they inhabited,) has been applied to all the tribes above mentioned. James Adair, a trader and resident among the Southern Indians for forty years, in his History of the American Indians, published in 1775, gives the most complete ac count of these races to be found in the early writers. The principal portion of his book is devoted to a labored dis quisition upon the origin of the red men, and arguments to prove their descent from the Jews: the rest consists of separate details of the manners and history of the southern tribes, with observations and anecdotes connected with the race in general. 38 i INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. He commences with the Catawbas, who then dwelt be tween the Carolinas and the country of the Cherokees. By intercourse with the whites, they had become more degraded than the other nations of which we are now to speak, and drunkenness, indolence, and poverty were obviously prevalent. They were a numerous and warlike people when South Carolina was first settled, mustering about fifteen hundred warriors ; but small-pox and the use of ardent spirits had, at this time, reduced them to less than one- tenth of their former numbers. They were old enemies of the Iroquois, with whom they had waged long and savage wars : with the English they had generally been upon good terms. Adair describes an old waste field, seven miles in extent, as one of the evi dences of their former prosperity, when they could " cul tivate so much land with their dull stone-axes." Of these, as of other Indians, he says:. "By some fatality they are much addicted to excessive drinking; and spirituous li quors distract them so exceedingly, that they will even eat live coals of fire." The Upper Cherokees inhabited the high and mountain ous region of the Appalachian range, and that upon the upper portions of the Tennessee. The Lower tribe occu pied the country around the head waters of the Savannah and Chatahoochee, to the northward of the Muscogees or Creeks proper. When Adair first became acquainted with the Cherokees, about the year 1735, they were com puted by old traders to number six thousand fighting men. They had sixty-four populous towns. In 1738, nearly half of them perished by the small-pox. Like all the other untaught nations of America, they were driven to perfect desperation by the ravages of this disease. The cause to which they ascribed it, and the strange remedies and enchantments used to stay its progress, are alike remarkable. One course was to plunge the INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 385 patients into cold running water (it is elsewhere men tioned that those afflicted will frequently leap into the river themselves to allay the fever and torment) the re sult of which operation y as speedily fatal. " A great many killed themselves; for, koing naturally proud, they are always peeping into their looking-glasses. By which means," seeing themselves disfigured, without hope of re gaining their former beauty, some shot themselves, others cut their throats, some stabbed themselves with knives, and others with sharp-pointed canes; many threw themselves with sullen madness into the fire, and there slowly ex pired, as if they had been utterly divested of the native power of feeling pain." One of them, when his friends had restrained these frantic efforts, and deprived him of his weapons, went out, and taking "a thick and round hoe-helve, fixed one end of it in the ground, and repeat edly threw himself on it till he forced it down his throat ! when he immediately expired." These tribes were formerly continually at war with the Six Nations, at the north, and with the Muscogees at the south; but previous to their war with the English colonies they had been for some time comparatively at peace, and were in a thriving and prosperous condition. They were excellently well supplied with horses, and were "skillful jockies, and nice in their choice." The lower settlement of the Muscogees or Creeks, was in the country watered by the Chatahoochee and Flint; the upper Creeks dwelt about the head waters of the Mobile and Alabama rivers. Their neighbors, on the west, were the Choctaws and Chickasaws. The Creeks were a nation formed by the union of a number of minor tribes with the Muscogees, who constituted the nucleus of the combination. About the middle of the eighteenth century, they were computed to number 'no less than three thousand five hundred men capable of 25 386 INTDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. oeafing arms. They had learned the necessity of seclud ing those infected with the small-pox, so as to avoid the spread of the contagion, and their general habits and usages were such that they were fast increasing, instead of diminishing, like all the surrounding tribes. While the Floridas were in the possession of Spain, the Creeks were surrounded by belligerent powers, both native and European, and they appear to have adopted a very shrewd and artful policy in their intercourse with each. There was a French garrison in their country ; the English settlements lay to the north and east, and those of the Spaniards to the south; and the old sages of the tribe " being long informed by the opposite parties of the dif ferent views and intrigues of those foreign powers, who paid them annual tribute under the vague appellation of presents, were become surprisingly crafty in every turn of low politics." The French were very successful in their efforts to conciliate the good-will of the Muscogees, and in alienating them from the English. The country of the Choctaws extended from that of the Muscogees to the Mississippi, reaching northward to the boundaries of the Chickasaws: their lower towns on the river were about two hundred miles north of New Or leans. Adair gives these people a very bad character, as being treacherous, dishonest, ungrateful, and unscrupulous ; but he bears witness to their admirable readiness of speech. ^They were "ready-witted, and endued with a surprising flow of smooth, artful language on every subject within the reach of their ideas." The strange custom of flattening the head, prevalent among some other American tribes, obtained with the Choctaws. The operation was performed by the weight of a bag of sand kept upon the foreheads of the infants be fore the skull had hardened. This process not improbably affected the powers of the mind: at all events, Adair says: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 387 "their features and mind exactly correspond together; for, except the intense love they bear to their native coun try, and their utter contempt of any kind of danger in defence of it, I know no other virtue they are possessed of: the general observation of the traders among them is just, who affirm them to be divested of every property of a human being, except shape and language." The French had acquired great influence over the Choc taws, as, indeed, over nearly every tribe in North America with whom they had maintained friendly intercourse. Adair enlarges upon the artful policy with which they conciliated and bribed the leaders and orators of the nation. Besides this, he says: "the masterly skill of the French enabled them to do more with those savages, with trifles, than all our experienced managers of Indian affairs have been able to effect by the great quantities of valuable goods they gave them with a very profuse hand. .... The former bestowed their small favors with exquisite wisdom ; and their value was exceedingly enhanced by the external kindly behavior and well-adapted smooth address of the giver." The nation of the Chickasaws, at the time of which we are speaking, was settled near the sources of the Tombigbee, a few miles eastward of the head waters of the Tallahache. They numbered about four hundred and fifty warriors, but were greatly reduced since their ancient emigration from the west. They were said to have formerly consti tuted one family with the Choctaws, and to have been able to bring one thousand men into the field at the time of their removal. Due allowance must of course be made for mistake and exaggeration in these early traditions. The Chickasaws were ever inimical, to the French and friendly to the English colonists. It was by their efforts that the neighboring tribe of the Natchez was stirred up to attack the French settlements, in 1729. The French INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. had, unadvisedly, imposed a species of tax upon the Natchez, demanding a dressed buck-skin from each man of the tribe, without rendering any return ; but, as some of that people afterwards reported to Adair, " the warriors' hearts grew very cross, and loved the deer-skins." The Chickasaws were not slow to foment a disturbance upon intelligence of this proceeding, and sent messengers, with presents of pipes and tobacco, to counsel an attack upon the exercisers of such tyranny. Nothing so strongly excites an Indian's indignation as any attempt at taxation, and the Natchez were easily persuaded that the French had resolved to crush and enslave them. -It took about a year to ripen the plot, as the Indians are "slow in their councils on things of great importance, though equally close and intent." It was in the month of November, (1729,) that the In dians fell upon the French settlement. The commandant had received some intimation of the intended attack from a woman of the tribe, but did not place sufficient depend ence upon it to take any efficient steps for the protection of his charge. The whole colony was massacred: men, women and children, to the number of over seven hun dred Adair says fifteen hundred perished by the weap ons of the savages. The triumph of the Natchez was, however, but of short duration. The French came upon them in the following summer with a large army, consisting of two thousand of their own soldiers and a great array of their Choctaw allies. The Natchez were posted at a strong fort near a lake communicating with the Bayou D' Argent, and received the assailants with great resolution and cour age. They made a vigorous sally, as the enemy approach ed, but were driven within their defences, and "bombarded with three mortars^ which forced them to fly off different ways." The Choctaws took many prisoners, some of whom were tortured to death, and the rest shipped to the West Indies as slaves. INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 389 The remnant of the Natchez fled for safety to the Chicka- saws. This brought about a war between the French and the last-mentioned tribe, in which, if we may believe Adair, the Indians had decidedly the advantage. He tells of one engagement, in which the French and their Indian allies had surrounded the Chickasaw settlements in the night, with the exception of one, which stood at some dis tance from the rest, called Amalahta. The besiegers beset every house, and killed all who came out: "but at the dawn of day, when they were capering and using those flourishes that are peculiar to that volatile nation, the other town drew round them, stark naked, and painted all over red and black; thus they attacked them, killed numbers on the spot, released their brethren, who joined them like enraged lions." The Indians belonging to the French party fled, but the whites were all killed except two, "an officer, and a negroe, who faithfully held his horse till he mounted, and then ran along side of him. A couple of swift runners were sent after them, who soon came up with them, and told them to live and go home, and inform their people, that as the Chickasah hogs had now a plenty of ugly French carcases to feed on till next year, they hoped then to have another visit from them and their red friends; and that, as messengers, they wished them safe home." On another occasion, the same historian informs us that the French approached the Chickasaw stockade, strangely disguised, and protected from the balls of the enemy by paddings of wool. The Indians were to the last degree astonished both at their appearance and invulnerability, and were about to desist from active resistance, and resort to the skill of their own necromancers to oppose what they thought must be "wizards, or old French-men carry ing the ark of war against them." As the enemy ap proached, and began to throw hand-grenades into the f 590 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. they were quickly undeceived, and set in earnest about the work of defence. They pulled 1 the matches out of the grenades, or threw them back among the French ; and, sal lying forth, directed an effective fire at the. legs of the enemy, who were speedily driven off. "I have two of these shells," says Adair, "which I keep with veneration, as speaking trophies over the boasting Monsieurs and their bloody schemes." CHAPTER II. i COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA EARLY INTERCOURSE WITH THE NATIVES TOMOCHICHI INTRIGUES OF THE REVEREND THOMAS BOSOM- WORTH CHEROKEE WAR OF 1759 ATTAKULLAKULLA AND OCCONOSTOTA MURDER OF INDIAN HOSTAGES COLONEL MONTGOMERY'S EXPEDITIONDESTRUCTION OF THE EAST ERN CHEROKEE TOWNS BATTLE NEAR ETCHOE CA PITULATION AT FORT LOUDON INDIAN TREACHERY CAMPAIGN OF COLONEL GRANT, AND COMPLETE REDUCTION OF THE CHEROKEES. WHEN the little colony of one hundred and fourteen souls, under the guidance of James Edward Oglethorpe, commenced the settlement of Georgia, in the winter of 1733, the upper and lower Creeks laid claim to the whole territory south-west of the Savannah. The only natives residing in the vicinity at Yamacraw were peaceably disposed towards the settlers, but the governor of the in fant colony thought it advisable to put himself upon safe grounds as respected the Indian claims. He therefore secured the services of a half-breed woman, named Mary Musgrove, who could speak English, and, by her media tion, brought about a conference with the chiefs of the tribe at Savannah, the seat of the new settlement. INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEKN STATES. 391 Mary had formerly married a white trader from Caro lina. Besides her usefulness as an interpreter, she had such influence ovei her tribe, that Oglethorpe thought it worth his while to purchase her services at the rate of one hundred pounds a year. She became afterwards, as we shall see, a source of no little danger and annoyance to the English. Fifty chiefs of the Creek nation were assembled at the place of conference, and Tomochichi, the most noted among those then known to the settlers, made an amica ble speech, proffering at the same time a present of a buffalo-skin, adorned with eagles' feathers. A treaty w.as concluded, subject to the ratification of the English crown, by virtue of which the Indians were to consider them selves the subjects of the king, and to live in peace and friendship with his white colonists. The lands lying be tween the Savannah and Altamaha, were made over to the English, with all the islands on that coast, except St. Catha rine's and two others, which were reserved for the use of the Indians as bathing and fishing stations. A tract was also set apart for them to encamp upon when they visited their white friends, a little above the Yamacraw bluff, where Savannah now stands. Various other stipulations, respecting terms of trade, the punishment of offences, &c., were entered into, to the satisfaction of both parties. In April, 1734, Oglethorpe took Tomochichi, his queen, and several other Indians with him to England. They were presented to the king, and every pains was taken to produce a strong impression upon their minds of the English power and magnificence. All the Indians with whom the first governor of Georgia held intercourse seem to have formed a great attachment for him, styling him their 1 ' beloved man." If others in authority among the English colonies had pursued as honest a course towards the natives, much bloodshed would doubtless have been averted. 392 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. When difficulties arose in 1738, connected with the con flicting claims of England and Spa*in to jurisdiction ovei the new country, Spanish agents were dispatched to win over the Creeks. They decoyed a body of them to Au gustine, by pretences that Oglethorpe was there, and that he was desirous of seeing them. On their arrival, the Indians were told that the English governor was sick on board one of the ships; but they had begun to sifspect deception, and, refusing to go out to the vessel, left the town in great disgust. Their suspicions were confirmed when they reached home, and the transaction only strength ened their dislike to the Spaniards. In the following year, Oglethorpe attended a great as sembly of Creeks, Cherokees, and Chick asaws, at the Coweta town, several hundred miles from ITrederica, and confirmed their good-will towards the English by presents, and friendly communion. He smoked the calumet with the chiefs, and solemnly renewed the original treaty of amity and mutual protection. This year old Tornochichi died, not far from Yamacraw, expressing to the last his love for his first English patron,' and urging upon his people the policy of maintaining their place in his good will. The chief was nearly ninety-seven years of age. The year 1749 was memorable for a most audacious attempt on the part of one Thomas Bosomworth to- ag grandize himself by attaining a supremacy over the Creeks. He had been formerly a chaplain in Oglethorpe's regiment, and had married Mary Musgrove, his half-breed interpre ter. In December, of 1747, this man fell in with a com pany of chiefs, belonging to the nation, then on a visit to Frederica; and persuaded them to "sign certain articles, acknowledging one of their number, named Malatche Opiya Meco, as rightful king over the whole Creek nation Bosomworth then procured from Malatche a conveyance, for certain considerations among other things, a large ?' // A- /: ^ o i. K . THIS noble bird, various species of which MIX* found in America, was considered by the Indians, no less than by our own poets and writers, a fitting type of swiftness, strength, and proud superiority. His feathers constituted a kingly ornament, and were held worthy gifts at the ratification of important treaties. The old chief Tomochichi, when introduced lo King George II., proflerred several eagles' feathers to the monarch, with the remark: "These are the- feathers of the eagle, which is the swiftest of birds, and who flieth all round our nations. These feathers are a sign of peace in our land, and we have brought them over to leave .neni with you, great kina, as a sign of everlasting jieace." INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 393 quantity of ammunition and clothing, of the islands formerly reserved by the Indians, to himself and his wife Mary, their heirs and assigns, u as long as the sun shall shine, or the waters run in the rivers, forever." This deed was regularly witnessed, proved before a justice of the peace, and recorded in due form. Bosomworth made some efforts to stock and improve these islands, but, his ambition becoming aroused by success in his first intrigue, he entered upon one much more extensive. By his per suasions, his wife now made the extraordinary claim that she was Malatche's elder sister, and entitled to regal au thority over the whole Creek territory. A great meeting of the tribe was procured, and, what ever of truth Mary's claims might be founded upon, she appears to have succeeded in persuading large numbers of the Creeks to espouse her cause, and acknowledge her as an independent queen. Accompanied by a strong force of her adherents, she proceeded incontinently to Savannah, sending emissaries before her to demand a surrender of all lands south of the Savannah river, and to make known her intention of enforcing her claim by the entire destruc tion of the colony, should her demands be resisted. The militia were called out by the president and council, and the Indians were kept quiet by a display of confidence and firmness, that matters might be fully discussed by their leaders and the colonial authorities. "Bosomworth," says McCall, "in his canonical robes, with his queen by his side, followed by the kings and chiefs, according to rank, marched into the town on the 20th of July, making a most formidable appearance. The inhabitants were struck with terror at the sight of this ferocious tribe of savages." Lengthy discussions ensued, between Bosomworth and Mary on the one hand, and the president and council on the other. The fickle and impressible savages leaned 394 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. alternately to either opinion according as they were har angued by their new leaders, or listened to the explanations of the other party. They were told that Mary's claims to royal descent were entirely false ; that she was the daughter of a white man by a squaw of no note, and that the mad ambition of her reprobate husband had led to the whole movement. They expressed themselves convinced, but no sooner had Mary obtained another opportunity to com municate with them, than she succeeded in inflaming and bewildering their minds. It was found necessary to con fine her and her husband before the savages could be quietly dispersed. Before this was accomplished, the town was in a situation of the most imminent danger, as the Indians vastly out numbered the whites; and a very slight matter might have so roused their fury that the whole colony would have been annihilated. The intriguing chaplain had a brother, Adam Bosomworth, agent for Indian affairs in Carolina, who afterwards espoused his interests, so far as the claim to the islands of St. Catharine, Ossabaw, and Sapelo was concerned. This coadjutor visited the Creek nation, procured a new conveyance, and prosecuted the claim before the courts of Great Britain. The case proved almost as tedious and complex as that of the celebrated Mohegan land question in Connecticut. Bosomworth and his wife obtained a decision in their favor, in 1759, by virtue of which they took possession of St. Catharine's island, and resided upon it the remainder of their lives. Ossabaw and Sapelo were decreed to be sold for the benefit of the suc cessful parties, but further litigation arose from the claims of one Isaac Levy, to whom they had sold, as was asserted, a moiety of that portion of the grant. The breaking out of the Cherokee war, in the winter of this year, (1759,) is the next event of special interest, con nected with the affairs of the Southern Indians. They INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 896 Been generally to have been peaceably disposed, and hon est in the fulfillment of their national engagements, and probably would have continued so, had they met with fail treatment at the hands of the English colonists. Parties of Cherokees, under British commanders, had been engaged with the English in campaigns against the French fortifi cations at the west. Upon the evacuation of Fort Du- quesne, numbers of these Indian warriors, whose services were no longer required, set out upon their return home. Having been ill-supplied with provisions, and having lost their horses, some of them caught and availed themselves of such of those animals as they found loose in the woods. In revenge for this theft, the German settlers of Virginia fell upon them, and murdered and scalped a considerable number. They even imitated, in several instances, the horrible cruelties of the savages in the manner of butch ery at least, so says Adair, who further reports, that "those murderers were so audacious as to impose the scalps on the government for those of French Indiatos; and that they actually obtained the premium allowed at that time by law in such a case." The Cherokees did not, for a long time, attempt any retaliation for this act, but made peaceable applications to the authorities of Virginia and the Carolinas ; but all was in vain, and fresh insults and injuries, received from cer tain officers at Fort St. George, finally excited the nation to fury. Adair says truly: "When the Indians find no redress of grievances, they never fail to redress themselves, either sooner or later. But when they begin, they do not know where to end. Their thirst for the blood of their reputed enemies i*> not to be quenched with a few drops. The more they drink, the more it inflames their thirst. When they dip their finger in human Wood, they are rest- *ess till they plunge themselves in it." The French, and, at their instance, the Muscogces, were 396 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. not slow in availing themselves of the above circumstan ces to stir up a war against the English. The Cherokees determined upon direct retaliation for the massacres by the Germans. A party, bound on this errand, first killed two soldiers near Fort Loudon, on the south bank of Ten nessee river, and afterwards spread themselves among the western, settlements of North Carolina, killing such of the whites as fell in their power. It was their first intention to take scalps only equal in number to, that of their mur dered kinsmen, but, once having their hand in, they could not resist the temptation of going much farther. "Soon after they returned home, they killed a reprobate old trader." * The young warriors, now thoroughly roused and excited, would listen to no proposals of restraint: "Nothing but war-songs and war-dances could please them, during this nattering period of becoming great warriors, 'by killing swarms of white dung-hill fowls, in the corn-fields, and asleep,' according to their war-phrase." William H. Lyttleton, governor of South Carolina, set himself strenuously both to prepare for the defence of the colonies, and to bring about an adjustment of difficult ies. At Fort St. George, on the Savannah, he held a con ference with six Cherokee chiefs, on the 26th of December (1759), and formed a treaty of peace, secured by the de livery of thirty-two Indian hostages. These were placed in close confinement in a small and miserable hut, and the governor returned to Charleston. According to the usual course of events, the Cherokees denied the authority of the chiefs who had concluded the above treaty, and hostilities broke out^afresh. The two most celebrated chiefs and leaders among them, at this time, were old Attakullakulla, a promoter of peace, and long the fast friend of the English, and Occonostota, a noted war-chief. Captain Coytmore, commandant at Fort INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 397 George, was an object of the bitterest hatred on the part of the Indians, and a large body of them, led by Occonos- tota, besieged the fort in February of 1760. The place was too strong to be taken by assault, but the Indian chief managed to entice Coytmore out of the de fences into an ambush, where he was shot dead, and lieu tenants Bell and Foster, 'who accompanied him, were wounded. The hostages who were confined within the works, shouted to encourage their friends without, and when an attempt was made to put them in irons, resisted manfully, stabbing one soldier, and wounding two others. Upon this, a hole was cut in the roof over their heads, and the cowardly garrison butchered them by shooting down from above. This war now commenced in earnest, and Indian ravages extended far and wide upon the frontier. Troops were ordered from New York by General Amherst, commander- in-chief of the British forces in America; and the neigh boring colonies appropriated liberal sums for the purpose of buying the aid of the Creeks, Chickasaws, and Catawbas. Colonel Montgomery reached Carolina in April, (1760,) and hastened, in command of the regulars and provincials, to make an effective inroad upon the hostile Indians. His progress through the lower Cherokee country was marked by the entire destruction of the Indian towns. The first place attacked, called Keowee, was surrounded, and the men of the town were put to the sword. Estatoe, con taining two hundred houses, with great quantities of pro visions, was entirely destroyed; but the inhabitants were saved by a timely flight. "Every other settlement east of the Blue Kidge," says McCall, "afterwards shared the same fate." The army made some stay at Fort Prince George, and useless endeavors were put forth to bring about a pacifica tion with the upper portion of the Cherokees. In the 398 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. month of June the troops were again on their advance into the wilderness of the interior.- * Near the Indian town of Etehoe, the native warriors prepared a most skillful am buscade to check the advancing forces. It was in a deep valley, through which ran a muddy stream, with steep banks ; on either side of which the way was completely choked with tangled brushwood. Some hard fighting took place at this spot, in which twenty of the whites- were killed and seventy -six wounded.- The loss on the side of the Indians was much less, and, although driven from the spot where the first stand was made, they in trenched themselves a little farther on. Under these cir cumstances, Montgomery determined to secure the safety of his troops, and to provide for the requisite attention to his wounded men, by a retreat. He soon after sailed for New York, leaving four companies of regulars, under Major Hamilton, for the protection of the frontier. The garrison at the isolated Fort Loudon was now in a state of imminent peril. The provisions of the place were nearly exhausted, and the redoubtable Occonostota was laying close siege to it with his fierce and enraged warriors. After suffering great extremes of privation, and experi encing disappointment in all their hopes of relief, the two hundred men stationed at this place were obliged to ca pitulate, and trust to the honor of their savage enemy. Captain Steuart, an officer greatly in favor with all the friendly Indians, arranged the terms upon which the fort should be evacuated. The troops were to be allowed a free and unmolested passage to Virginia, or Fort Prince George, and a detachment of Indians was to accompany them for the purpose of supplying provisions by hunting. The garrison marched out on the 7th of August (1760). Occonostota himself, with a number of other natives, kept company with the whites, during the first day's march of fifteen miles ; but these all disappeared when they reached INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 399 the place of encampment, near an Indian town called Tali quo. On the next morning, just before day, (the time generally selected by Indians for a surprise, as men sleep more soundly 1jien than at any other hour,) a large body of armed savages, in war-paint, were seen by a sentinel, creeping through the bushes, and gathering f about the camp. Hardly was the alarm given when the attack was made: twenty-six: of the feeble and half-starved soldiers were killed outright, and the rest were pinioned and marched back to the fort. Captain Steuart was among the prisoners, but his evil fortune was alleviated by the staunch friendship of the benevolent Atakullakulla. This chief, as soon as he heard of Steuart's situation, hastened to Fort Loudon, " and pur chased him of the Indian who took him, giving him his rifle, clothes, and all that he could command by way of ransom : he then took possession of Captain Demere's house, where he kept his prisoner as one of his family, and hu manely shared with him the little provisions his table afforded, until an opportunity should offer of rescuing him." A quantity of ammunition was discovered by the In dians, buried in the fort, and Occonostota determined to proceed at once to lay siege to Fort Prince George. Captain Steuart was informed that the assistance of himself and his men would be required in the management of the great guns, and that, furthermore, if the garrison should refuse to capitulate, all the prisoners now in the hands of the Indians should, one by one, be burned in sight of the fort. Perceiving the difficulty of his situation, the captain begged his kind old proprietor to assist him in effecting an escape, and Attakullakulla readily lent his aid. Upon pretence of taking his prisoner out for a hunt, he left Fort Loudon, with his wife and brother, and two English soldiers, and took a direct course for the Virginia frontier. After a most toilsome and dangerous march, they fell in with a L 400 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. party of three hundred men, sent out for the relief of such of the garrison at Fort Loudon as -might have effected their escape. Being now in safety, Captain Steuart dismissed his Indian friends with handsome reward^, to return and attend to the welfare of his former fellow-prisoners. Such of them as had survived were afterwards ransomed and delivered up at Fort Prince George. This post was immediately supplied with provisions in anticipation of the siege ; and care was taken, through the mediation of Attakullakulla, to impress the Cherokees with the idea that it was totally impregnable. Matters appeared now to be, in some manner, at rest; but the majority of the Cherokee nation remained thor oughly inimical, and emissaries from the French colonies were busy in their midst. A French officer, of the name of Latinac, was especially successful in rousing up their hostile feelings. As an instance of his style of proceeding, it is related that, at a great conclave of the tribe, he step ped out, and drove his hatchet into a log, calling out: " ' Who is the man that will take this up for 'the king of France?' Saloue", a young warrior of Estatoe, laid hold of it, and cried out, ' I am for war ! the spirits of our brothers who have been slain still call upon us to revenge their death he is no better than a woman who refuses to fol low me.' " In the following spring, Colonel James Grant, who had succeeded to the command of the Highlanders employed in British service in America, commenced active operations against the belligerent nation. What with the aid of the provincials and friendly Indians, he was at the head of about twenty-six hundred men. The Chickasaws and Catawbas lent some assistance to the English; but the Creeks are said to have alternately inclined to the French or English, according as they received or hoped for favors and presents. X INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 401 The army reached Fort Prince George on the 27th of May, (1761,) and there old Attakullakulla made his ap pearance, deprecating the proposed vengeance of the whites upon his people. He was told that the English still felt the strongest regard for him individually, but that the ill- will and misconduct of the majority of the nation were too palpable and gross to be suffered to go longer unpunished. Colonel Grant marched from the fort in the month of June, and advanced nearly to the spot where Montgomery's progress had been arrested, before coming to an engage ment. Here the Cherokees, on the 10th, made a desperate but unavailing stand ; they were routed and dispersed, leav ing their towns and villages of the interior to be destroyed by the invaders. Etchoe was burned on the day following the battle; and, according to McCall, "all the other towns in the middle settlement, fourteen in number, shared the same fate : the corn, cattle, and other stores of the enemy, were likewise destroyed, and those miserable savages, with their families, were driven to seek shelter and subsistence among the barren mountains." Upon the return of the army to Fort Prince George, after this campaign, Attakullakulla again visited the camp, bringing with him a number of other Cherokee chiefs. Broken down by their disastrous losses, and disgusted with the deceitful promises of the French, they gladly acceded to such terms as Colonel Grant thought fit to impose^ and a treaty of peace was formally concluded. 26 402 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. CHAPTER Hi. CAPTAIN STEUART'S AGENCY DISTURBANCE IN 1767 VISIT OF TECUMSEH TO THE SOUTHERN TRIBES WEATHERFORD SACK OF FORT MIMMS WAR OF 1813 GENERAL JACKSON'S CAMPAIGN BATTLES ON THE TALLUSAHATCHEE ; AT TALLADEGA, AUTOSSEE, ETC. THE HALLIBEES DEFEAT OF THE INDIANS AT HORSE-SHOE BEND END OF THE WAR. IN the year 1762, it was thought advisable by the Eng lish government to appoint a general agent and superin tendent of Indian affairs at the south. Partly through the earnest intervention of Attakullakulla, but especially be cause of his known sagacity 'and influence over the native tribes, this office was conferred upon Captain John Steu- art. Upon entering on the duties of his appointment, he called a great council of deputies, from all the southern tribes, at Mobile. Addressing the assembled chiefs in their own style of oratory, he explained to them the rela tions then existing between France and England, impress ing upon them the idea that all residing east of the Mississippi, must now look to the English for supplies and protection. He directed his harangue to the several nations in separate succession, promising entire amnesty to all who had taken up the hatchet in behalf of the French ; commending those who had remained faithful to the English ; and excusing those who had sided with the enemy, as the victims of deception. It was proposed to adopt, at this time, a more just and equable policy towards the Indians than had heretofore been used, and to take the necessary steps to secure them against the deception of unprincipled speculators. -Affairs, accordingly, looked peaceful and prosperous for some years. The natives made over a large additional tract of - INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 403 land to the growing colony of Georgia, to be sold, and the avails applied to the discharge of the heavy debts they had incurred for supplies of ammunition, clothing, &c. The following circumstance sufficiently evinces the policy of mild measures towards the Indians: In 1767, the whites having made encroachments upon the Indian lands, some of the Creek warriors began to retaliate by stealing horses which they found upon their own territory. A party of them also attacked a store at Trader's Hill, on the St. Mary's, belonging to one Lemmons, and after plundering it of its contents, burned the buildings. Some of the whites pursued these marauders; recovered the stolen horses; laid hands upon what valuable goods they could discover, and destroyed the villages of the offenders. Far less important affairs have often led to long and bloody wars with the natives; but, in this instance, Governor Wright, at Savannah, restored perfect quiet by decreeing mutual restorations and compensation. No events of very striking interest connected with the Indians of the Southern States, call for our attention from this period to that of the wars with the western tribes in the early part of the present century. Until they became, to a certain extent, involved in those hostilities, they re mained in comparative peace with the American whites. After the termination of the revolutionary war, and the establishment of the independence of the United States, the intrigues of opposing parties no longer operated to foment disturbance, or to tempt the unfortunate savages to engage in quarrels where they had nothing to gain, and which ever resulted in their final discomfiture. By a steady increase of numbers, and the adventurous spirit of pioneers, the white settlers every where made advances upon the Indian territory. Sometimes large ac quisitions would be made by a government purchase ; but, to no small extent, the opinion that the occupation of a 404 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. few roving savages could give no natural title to lands, as opposed to the claims of those who had reclaimed, inclosed, and improved the wilderness, satisfied the consciences of the encroachers. The argument in favor of this conclu sion is by no means without force; but who can take upon himself to draw the line of demarkation which shall decide, upon any principle of universal application, the bounds of so artificial a right as the ownership of land? In the autumn of 1811, the great Shawanee chief Te- cumseh, in pursuance of his bold and extensive plans for a universal association of the Indians against the whites, made a tour among the southern tribes. His eloquent appeals, and the overpowering energy which distinguished this truly great man, proved successful in the winning over to his views of no small number of the Indian war riors, even among those who had long maintained a friendly intercourse with the Americans and the govern ment of the United States. At the time of the declaration of war with England, (June 18th, 1812,) the whole western border of the United States was in a position of the greatest danger and inse curity. The machinations of Tecumseh and the Prophet had roused an extensive flame of vindictive ferocity throughout the Indian nations, while British agents, it is said, were widely dispersed, and, by munificent promises and artful persuasions, had still farther widened the breach between the savages and their white countrymen. Fright ful scenes of depredation and murder called for a prompt and decisive check. Many minor forays are recorded, but the destruction of Fort Mimms in the Tensau settlement of Mississippi, in the summer of the year following, may be considered the first important part taken by the south ern tribes in the wars of this period. We shall not under take, in our brief account of the Indian campaign of 1813, to keep up a distinction between the different tribes of INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 405 Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Cherokees, &c., who were drawn into hostilities. Prominent among the chiefs and leaders of the southern confederacy, was the celebrated Weatherford. His mother was said to have been a Seminole, but he was born among the Creeks. He was, beyond question, possessed of many noble and commanding qualities, but these were combined with cruelty, avarice, and degrading vices. A party of about one thousand warriors, led by this popular chief, fell upon the devoted Fort Mimms, on the 30th of -Au gust, 1813. The post was garrisoned by one hundred and sixty efficient soldiers; the rest of its occupants, to the number of one hundred and fifteen', consisted of old men, women and children. The forces were under the com mand of Major Beasly. No regular preparations had been made for the reception of so powerful an enemy, and al though the soldiers did their duty manfully, they were overpowered, and all slain except seventeen. The women and children having ensconced themselves in several block houses, met with a more terrible fate. The savages set fire to the buildings, and consumed them, together with their inmates. The settlers inhabiting exposed districts were now obliged to fly for safety to places of protection, and the hostile hordes of Indians were collecting their warriors for further inroads upon the frontier. To resist them, a large force was called into requisition in Tennessee, and the command bestowed upon General Andrew Jackson. Col onel Coffee, at the head of a considerable body of troops, and such volunteers as could *be immediately collected, hastened forward to defend the country in the vicinity of Huntsville. General Jackson, although disabled at this time, by a broken arm, determined to take the field in per son, and pushed on the necessary preparations with all that zeal and energy which marked his character through life. 406 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA News was brought by some runners from the establish ment of the friendly old Creek chief Chinnaby, that the enemy was approaching Huntsville, or Fort Hampton, in full force. The report was erroneous, but, as other rumors seemed, at the time, to confirm it, the general hurried his army on to relieve the post. This was on the 10th of Oc tober (1813). From Huntsville, Jackson, with his forces, crossed the Tennessee, and joined Colonel Coffee, who was posted upon a high bluff on the south bank of the river. From this place, Colonel Coffee was dispatched, with seven hundred men, to beat up the enemies' quarters on the Black Warrior river, while the commander of the army turned all his attention to securing some supplies of provision for his famishing troops. Encamped in the enemies' country, whither they had arrived by forced marches, the troops were necessarily exposed to great hard ship and want. While awaiting supplies at this encamp ment, General Jackson had an interview with Shelocta, a son of Chinnaby, who had come to request assistance for his father and friends, blockaded in their fort by the hos tile Creeks. He said that a considerable force of the enemy was now in the vicinity of the Ten Islands, on the Coosa. The news was confirmed by other messengers, and the commander proceeded towards the Coosa, to protect his Indian allies, notwithstanding the straits to which his men were reduced from want of provisions. The troops reached the Islands without encountering an enemy. On the route, Colonel Dyer was detached, with two hundred mounted men to fall upon Littafutchee, at the head of Canoe Creek, a western tributary of the Coosa. He accomplished the ser vice, destroyed the town, and brought back to the camp twenty-nine prisoners. While encamped at the Ten Islands, the general ascer tained the real rendezvous of the enemy to be upon the INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 407 Tallussahatchee Creek, emptying into the Coosa about thir teen miles below the encampment. Colonel Coffee, with nine hundred men, was promptly ordered upon the duty of engaging them. He forded the Coosa at the Fish- Dams, and, approaching the Indian camp, so disposed his forces as to partially surround it, while several companies, under Captain Hammond and Lieutenant Patterson, were marched in to beat up the enemies' quarters. The savages fought boldly and desperately, but were overpowered and driven into their buildings, where one hundred and eighty- six of their number perished, fighting hand to hand. Eighty-four women and children were taken prisoners, and a number were killed, as is said, by accident, during the melee. This battle was fought on the 3d of Novem ber (1813). A species of fortification was now prepared at the islands, and named Fort Strother. On the 7th of the month, in formation was received that the 'enemy was collecting in force to attack Talladega, a post about thirty miles be low, occupied by friendly Indians, and General Jackson, with nearly his whole army, consisting of twelve hundred infantry and eight hundred mounted men, hastened to its relief. The baggage, the sick, and the wounded, were left, under a guard of protection, at Fort Strother. The river was forded by the mounted men, each carry ing one of the infantry behind him, a process which was continued till the whole army was safely landed on the opposite shore. It was about midnight when the march commenced, and on the evening of the ensuing day, a spot only six miles from Talladega was reached. By four o'clock, on the following morning, the troops were again in motion; and, acting upon intelligence obtained by re- connoitering during the night, General Jackson was ena bled so to dispose his troops as partially to surround the camp before the action commenced. It is unnecessary to> 408 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. give the details of this battle. The Indians displayed both courage and firmness, and by the impetuosity of their attack, broke through the line of the advancing forces at a point occupied by General Eoberts' brigade. They were driven in again by a body of .reserved troops, but suc ceeded in' making their escape to the mountains, three miles distant, through an opening left by some miscalcu lation in the direction of the Americans' advance. "In this battle," according to Cobbett, " the- force of the enemy was one thousand and eighty, of whom two hundred and ninety-nine were left dead on the ground; and it is be lieved that many were killed in the flight, who were not found when the estimate was made. Their loss, on this occasion, as stated since by themselves, was not less than six hundred: that of the Americans was fifteen killed aod eighty wounded, several of whom afterwards died." The friendly Indians, who had been besieged in their fort at this place, deprived even of water, expressed the liveliest gratitude and exultation at their release. The fatigue, exposure, and want which the army were com pelled to undergo, now began to arouse a spirit of discon tent and mutiny. Few men have ever possessed that self- devotion and noble spirit of endurance, combined with an inflexibility of purpose never surpassed, which enabled Jackson to quell the disturbances which arose, and to preserve the forces under his charge in a condition for active and useful service. After the battle at Talladega, the Hallibee Indians, who were largely concerned in that transaction, sued for peace. They were told by the American general that this should be accorded, upon condition of the restoration of plundered property, and the delivering up of those who had taken part in the massacre at Fort Minims. Unfortunately, while these negotiations were pending, General White, acting under orders independent of General Jackson, at- GEV. JACKSON. INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 409 tacked the towns of these Indians, destroyed many of their warriors, and carried off several hundred captives. Supposing that this was by Jackson's orders, they expected no further favor, and fought" thereafter with the despera tion of men to whom no quarter was to be given. The result of this Indian campaign was the entire re duction of the hostile nations. We need not recount the various battles in which they were defeated and destroyed. The most noted of these were at Autossee, where some two hundred were massacred, on the 29th of November, and that -of the great bend in the Tallapoosie, known as Horse-Shoe Bend. At this latter point, the Indians forti fied themselves for a last and desperate stand. They were supposed to be about one thousand in num ber, and had been, for some time, strengthening their position by every means within their reach. This was in the month of March, 1814. On the 27th, General Jackson, with a force of whites and friendly Indians, three times the number of the enemy, commenced operations against the fort. General Coffee, with most of the cavalry and Indian allies, was directed to surround the bend, in order to cut off all retreat across the river. The place was then carried by storm, under a heavy fire from within. More than half the Indians were killed at the fort, and an un known number perished in their endeavors to escape by crossing the river, beset as it was by the assailants. Some have asserted that probably not more than twenty ever reached a place of safety. At a time when it was evident that the fortune of the day was decided, General Jackson sent a messenger, with a flag of truce, to invite a surrender ; but, from ignorance or desperation, the savages fired upon the bearer of the flag. After this, no mercy was shown : until night put an end to the work of destruction, they were shot or cut down wherever they could be found, and even on the following morning, a considerable number were 410 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. ferreted out from the " caves and reeds," where they had sought concealment, and remorselessly put to death. Sev eral hundred women and children were made captives. The loss of the attacking army, in this battle,. was fifty-five killed, and one hundred and forty-six wounded. In the ensuing month, (April,) General Jackson having effected a junction with the troops from Georgia, under Colonel Milton, received a deputation from the principal hostile tribes, expressing a wish for peace. The general demanded, as one condition upon which he would treat, and as a test of the sincerity of the proposal, that the great but notorious Weatherford should be delivered up for punishment. This chief, hearing of the requisition, and hopeless of further success in resistance, came voluntarily to the American camp, and presenting himself before the commander, with characteristic dignity and composure, requested peace for his people, and announced his own submission to his fate, whatever it might be. His speech on this occasion is given as follows: "I am in your power do with me as you please I am a soldier. I have done the whites all the harm I could. I have fought them, and fought them bravely. If I had an army, I would yet fight I would contend to the last: but I have none. My people are all gone. I can only weep over the misfortunes of my nation." On being told that he was still at liberty to depart, and that no favor would be shown to him or his nation unless they should submit to whatever terms the whites should see fit to impose, he replied: "You can safely address me in such terms now. There was a time when I could have answered you there was a time when I had a choice I have none now. I have not even a hope. I could once animate my warriors to battle; but I cannot animate the dead. My warriors can no longer hear my voice. Their bones are at Talladega, Tallusshatchee, Emuckfaw, and To- INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 411 hopeka. * * * * You are a brave man ; I rely upon jour generosity. You will exact no terms of a conquered people but such as they should accede to." This was the last important incident of the campaign. The Indians submitted to the dictation of the whites, and retired to the districts assigned them, eastward of the Coosa. CHAPTEIUIV. THE REMOVAL OF THE CHEROKEES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI PRESENT LOCATION AND CONDITION OF THE OTHER TRIBES OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. "Bearing a people with all its household Gods into exile, Exile without an end, and without an example in story. " LONGFELLOW. BUT a few years have passed since the Cherokees were in the peaceful occupation of an immense and fertile ter ritory in the northern part of Georgia. They numbered not far from eighteen thousand, and were increasing in a ratio which attested their power of self-support and im provement. They had made advances far beyond most of their red brethren in the arts of agriculture and manu factures. A system of legislation adapted to their capaci ties and wants had been established, and, generally speaking, the nation exhibited a praiseworthy spectacle of sobriety, industry, and good order. They were in possession of about eight millions of acres of land, and their ability and inclination to cultivate it, may appear from the statistics of their stock and agricultural implements. In 1826, they were the owners of seven thousand six hundred horses, twenty-two thousand cattle, forty-six thousand swine, and two thousand five hundred sheep. There were in use 412 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. among them two thousand nine hundred and forty-three ploughs, and one hundred and seventy-two wagons. They occupied their territory under the treaties entered into, and within the bounds assigned at the negotiations between the confederate states and the Indian tribes of the south, at the close of the revolutionary war. In the year 1802, when the long- vexed question of the boundaries of the state of Georgia was finally settled, the United States stipulated to extinguish the title of the Cherokees to the lands then in their possession, "as early as the same could be peaceably obtained, upon reasonable terms." As the states of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi increased in power and population, they became more and more impatient of the existence of self-governing and independent tribes within their boundaries, and began to exert a control over them in some instances exceedingly unjust and oppressive. Strong efforts were made to induce an emigration of these Indians to the west, which were in some measure successful, and, prior to 1829, a cession or sale of a very large district had been obtained from the Cherokees. The members of this tribe, naturally attached to the beautiful country in which they had passed their lives, finally determined to retain possession of what re mained of their lands, and to allow of no further sales to whites. In December, of the above year, the state of Georgia passed a series of acts which justly aroused the fears and indignation of the Indians, and excited a feeling of sym pathy in their behalf, as powerful as extensive. The laws of the state were declared to be in full force over all the Aborigines within its limits; the regulations and provi sions of the Cherokee council were declared invalid and void; heavy penalties (amounting to years of imprison ment at hard labor) were awarded against any Cherokee INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 413 f who should "endeavour" to oppose emigration; and it was even enacted, by the fifteenth section, "that no In dian, or descendant of an Indian, within the Cherokee nation of Indians, shall be a competent witness in any court of Georgia, in a suit in which a white man is a party, unless such white man resides within said nation." Notwithstanding the adverse opinions of many of the ablest jurists in the country, as to the constitutionality or validity of these and other provisions of the Georgia legis lature, and even a decision against them in the Supreme Court of the United States, they were, to a certain extent, enforced. The situation of the Indians became, in conse quence, so precarious and uncomfortable, that a consider able party was formed among them of those favorable to migration. At the head of this faction was Major Eidge, while the celebrated John Eoss was the leader of those opposed to the movement a very large majority of the nation. Matters continued in a disturbed and unquiet state, until 1835. At this time the Eev. J. T. Schermerhorn was deputed by the United States executive to bring about a treaty whereby the Cherokees should remove peaceably, receiving a reasonable compensation for the improvements which they should leave behind them. The negotiation appears to have been conducted as most Indian treaties have been, wherever a specific object was to be gained. Notice was given of a council to be held, and a collection of those favorable to the proposed emi gration ratified a treaty, by which the whole tribe was bound to remove within two years. Notwithstanding the obvious want of authority on the part of those individuals to bind the nation, and a remonstrance signed by the thou sands who opposed the treaty, it was ratified by Congress. An appropriation was made for the indemnification of those who should suffer loss by being torn from their 414 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. homes, and for the other expenses attending the iniquitous transaction, and nothing was left 1 to the unhappy Chero- kees but submission. No resistance was made, as, indeed, any opposition would have been utterly fruitless. The United States' forces, sent to overawe the Indians and enforce compliance with the cruel edict, found no call for their services. With a commendable spirit of energy and perseverance, the Cherokees, with their brethren of the neighboring tribes of the south, have pursued the arts and refinements of civilization in their new homes at the west. They are now set down as numbering not far from twenty -six thou sand, of whom by far the larger portion is located west of the Mississippi. A considerable settlement, however, is still existing in North Carolina. The Creeks or Muscogees have been continually emi grating westward since the era of the difficulties between the southern states and the Indians within their limits, in 1828-9, et seq. They enjoy a tolerably systematic form of government, and are in many respects prosperous. Without going into a particular description of the con dition of the other emigrating nations, we will conclude this subject with the remarks of Mr. Schoolcraffc, upon "The problem of civilization," to be solved in the future history of these races. "Whatever doubts have existed, heretofore, in regard to the satisfactory solution of this question, they must now give way before the cheering results that have attended the philanthropic efforts that have, from time to time, been made, and are at present going on among the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Creeks. These tribes yielded their country east of the Mississippi, rendered dear to them by the associations of youth, their traditions, and the graves of their fathers. They had learned the great truths of Christianity, and the arts of agriculture, and of civilized life ; yet they gave up INDIANS OP THE SOUTHEKN STATES. 415 all, and sought a new home in the far-off wilderness, and have made in that wilderness fruitful and rich farms, and flourishing villages. Some of their schools are of a high order. The gospel ministry is well attended. Some of their constitutions are purely republican. The people are increasing in numbers. Peace dwells within their limits, and plenteousness within their borders ; civilization upon Christian principles; agriculture and the mechanic arts; and schools. With these primary and fundamental prin ciples of human happiness, civilization among them is no longer problematical." NORTHERN RACES. * CHAPTER I. THE ESQUIMAUX I THEIR MANNERS AND PERSONAL APPEARANCE ACCOUNTS OF EARLY VOYAGERS ESQUIMAUX HABITATIONS, FOOD, ETC. THE KAIAK OR CANOE SEALING THE REIN-DEER USES OF THE DOG PATRIARCHAL GOVERNMENT EFFECTS OF FOREIGN INTERCOURSE. ** Semper hyems; semper spirantes frigora Cauri." VIRGIL. THERE is little, besides some analogies in language, to connect the uncouth, race which forms the subject of this chapter with the inhabitants of the more genial climates of North America. The Esquimaux are spread over a vast region at the north, dwelling principally upon the sea-coast, and upon the numberless inlets and sounds with which the country is intersected. There is a striking sim ilarity in the language, habits and appearance of all the tribes of the extreme north, from Greenland to Bhering's Straits. Charlevoix gives a very uninviting description of their personal aspect. He tells us that there are none of the American races who approach so nearly to the idea usu ally entertained in Europe of "savages" as do the Esqui maux. In striking contrast to the thin beard (for the most part artificially eradicated) of other American abo rigines, these people have that excrescence "si epaisse jutq 'aux yeux, qii'un a picnv a decouvrir 'qudques traits NORTHERN RACES. 417 de leur visage." It covers their faces nearly to the eyes; so that one can scarcely distinguish some features of their countenance. They have, moreover, he says, something hideous in their general aspect and demeanor small, wild- looking eyes, large and very foul teeth, the hair generally black, but sometimes fair, and always in extreme disorder, and their whole exterior rough and brutish. Their man ners and character do not falsify this unprepossessing physiognomy. They are savage, rude, suspicious, unquiet, and always evil-disposed towards strangers. He considers their fair hair and skin, with the slight general resemblance they bear towards, and the limited intercourse they carry on with, the neighboring natives, as indisputable evidence of a separate origin. Prichard says, that "the description given by Crantz of the Greenlanders, may well apply to the whole race. They are, for the most part, under five feet in stature. They have well-shaped and proportioned limbs. Their face is com monly broad and flat, with high cheek-bones, but round and plump cheeks; their eyes are little and black, but de void of sparkling fire ; their nose is not flat, but small, and projecting but little; their mouth is little and round, and the under lip somewhat thicker than the other. They have universally coal-black, straight, strong and long hair on their heads, but no beards, because they root it out." These last particulars will be seen to be variant from the description given above by Charlevoix, of the race in general. Crantz proceeds : " Their hands and feet are little and soft, but their head and the rest of their limbs are large. They have high breasts and broad shoulders ; their whole body is fat." The descriptions handed down by the most ancient %voyagers to Greenland of the Skrsellings or natives whom they encountered, corresponds very nearly with the gen eral outline above given. They speak: of them as a 27 418 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. dwarfish people seldom more than four feet four inches in height; suspicious and hostile towards strangers; sub sisting upon the products of the sea; clothed in the same style, and using the same weapons, boats arid implements, as those still inhabiting the country. The inhospitable nature of their climate, their slender resources, and the deterioration of the race consequent upon such a mode of life as theirs, seem to preclude' the probability of much improvement ever taking place in their condition. The Esquimaux received little better treatment, at the hands of the early European discoverers, than did their brethren farther south. It is strange to read of the cool ness with which those adventurers speak of the enormities committed not unfrequently against the unoffending and ignorant natives. The meeting with several "wild men," and the killing one of them "to make the rest tractable," is mentioned as a passing and ordinary event. In Frobisher's expedition, after a skirmish in which many of the Indians were killed, two prisoners were taken. One of them, an old woman, was so disgustingly hideous in her whole appearance that suspicions were entertained lest she should be the devil himself; and the captors pro ceeded, to pluck off her buskins, in order to satisfy them selves as to whether the cloven hoof was not concealed by them. The other captive, a young woman, with a wounded child in her arms, was retained, but the old hag was dis missed as being too revolting an object to be endured. When attempts were made to apply remedies to the wound of the child, the mother "licked off with her tongue the dressings and salves, and cured it in her own way." John Davis was disposed to treat them more kindly than most of his predecessors, but his indignation was finally excited by their "practising their devilish nature,'" and he allowed his men to retaliate upon them in some measure. NORTHERN RACES. 419 Notwithstanding the bad character given of this people, it appears that, after their first suspicions are allayed, they prove gentle and tractable associates ; and are by no means wanting in urbanity and kindliness. How readily their suspicions are allayed, will appear from the account of Captain Back's first meeting with a small party of Esqui maux. They were seen at a short distance, gathering in excited groups, or running about at their wit's-end with astonishment at the appearance of these "Kabloonds" or Europeans, being the first they had ever seen. When the English began to advance towards them, they were at first repelled by wild outcries, and gesticulations, and by hos tile demonstrations with the spears, which formed the weapons of the Indians. The uncouth group stood in a semi-circle, "yelling out some unintelligible word," as the captain boldly and composedly walked up to them, and made signs of peace, throwing up his hands, as he observed them to do, and calling out "Tima" (peace). "In an instant their spears were flung to the ground ; and, putting their hands on their breasts, they also called out Tima, with much more, doubtless greatly to the purpose." Any attempt to give a connected history of the Esqui maux, from the time of their first intercourse with Eu ropeans would necessarily resolve itself into a narrative of the various polar expeditions. The progress of the Christian missions upon the coast, could we afford space to enter upon it, might throw some light upon the natural endowments of the race ; but we must content ourselves with a few general descriptions, cited indiscriminately from different authors. The dwellings of the Esquimaux consist either of move- able tents, constructed of poles and skins, in the style of an ordinary Indian wigwam, or of regularly arched domes of snow and ice. The precision, rapidity, and geometrical accuracy which they display in shaping the blocks of which r 420 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. | these snow huts are composed, excite the admiration of the beholder. An art which the architects of the ancient nations of Europe never acquired the formation of the arch has from time immemorial been in us'e among this untutored race. The snow houses prove as tight, waim, and comfortable as could be desired; but the habits of the occupants render them insufferably offensive to the whites. Crowded with dogs, defiled with oil, blubber, and offal ; and blackened by smoke and filth, they are said to nauseate even those whose lives are passed amid the im purities of a whale-ship. A person entering one of these huts is obliged to creep through a low arched passage into the principal apartment, which, like those leading from it, presents the appearance of a perfectly -formed dome, lighted by a window of transparent ice let into the roof. The tents, used upon the migratory expeditions in search of game, consist of skins, supported by a circle of poles bent together at the top, and in severe weather, thickly lined within with rein-deer skins. During the long dark night of winter, when food is exceedingly scarce ; shut up in these dismal abodes; and enduring extremes of cold and privation elsewhere unknown; the condition of the Esquimaux seems most deplorable to one who has lived in the enjoyment of the comforts of civilization. Far, how ever, from complaining of their lot, they exhibit a singular cheerfulness and equanimity, even when in the greatest straits. Parry speaks, in the following words, of the mis-, erable condition of a few Esquimaux who inhabited a hut in a deserted village, after the rest of the tribe had moVed westward at the approach of spring. "The remaining tenants of each hut had combined to occupy one of the apartments; a great part of the bed-places were still bare, and the wind and drift blowing in through the holes which they had not yet taken the trouble to stop up. The old man Hikkeiera and his wife occupied a hut by themselves, NORTHERN KACES. 421 without any lamp, or a single ounce of meat belonging to them; while three small skins, on which the former was lying, were all that they possessed in the way of blankets. Upon the whole, I never beheld a more miserable specta cle, and it seemed a charity to hope that a violent and constant cough with which the old man was afflicted, would speedily combine witL his age and infirmities to release him from his present sufferings. Yet, in the midst of all this, he was even cheerful, nor was there a gloomy countenance to be seen at the village." The flesh of the rein-deer, musk-ox, walrus, .and seal, with fish, water-fowl, and occasionally the carcase of a stranded whale, forms the chief nourishment of the Es quimaux. Nothing that has life comes amiss to them, and, although they prefer cooked meat to raw, this preparation is by no rrieans deemed essential. The only vegetable diet procurable at the extreme north, except at those places where the natives can obtain foreign articles, consists of the leaves of sorrel, ground- willow, &c., with a few berries and roots. "In eating their meals," according to Parry's account, "the mistress of the family, having previously cooked the meat, takes a large lump out of the pot with her fingers, and hands it to her husband, who, placing a part of it be tween his teeth, cuts it off with a large knife in that position, and then passes the knife and meat together to his next neighbor. In cutting off a mouthful of meat the knife passes so close to their lips, that nothing but constant habit could insure them from the danger of the most ter rible gashes; and it would make an English mother shudder to see the manner in which children five or six years old, are at all times freely trusted with a knife to be used in this way." Most of the birds and quadrupeds upon which they rely are migratory, and only to be taken between the months 422 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. of May and October. In March, April and May, the dif ficult and dangerous hunting of the seal and walrus is their only resource, and success in the pursuit their only refuge from starvation. The "kaiak" or canoe, constructed of skins, and capable of containing but a single person, is all- essential in seal-hunting. Great dexterity is required in its management, and how the operation of throwing the dart or harpoon, and of securing the bulky prey, can be carried on in safety in such a slender and unsteady con veyance, seems incomprehensible to the unpractised eye. The frail boat is built with great elegance and lightness. A frame of slender beams of fir is constructed, twenty or twen ty-five feet in length, a little less than two feet in breadth, and about one foot deep. This is entirely covered with the skin of the neitiek, or small seal, so neatly and strongly sewed as to be perfectly water-tight. A circular hole is then cut in the deck, wherein sits the solitary navigator, urging the kaiak forward by means of a paddle having a blade at each end. He cannot founder so long as he can maintain an upright position. An upset would be inev itable destruction to one unacquainted with the nature of the craft, but the Esquimaux readily rights the kaiak under such circumstances, by a dexterous use of his paddle. A float is attached to the harpoon, used in striking the seal, which prevents him from escape by diving. As he reap pears, after a momentary submersion, his pursuers press upon and speedily dispatch him. When the prey is brought to land, the duty of flaying, separating, and preparing it for preservation, devolves upon the women. Nothing is allowed to be wasted, but every portion of the carcase is applied to some useful pur pose ; the fastidiousness of the whites, touching the portions suitable for food, being utterly unknown. The lean meat of the seal and other animals is preserved in various ways. Much of it is cut in thin slices, and dried in the warm and NORTHERN RACES. 423 smoky atmosphere of the huts, and a concentrated article of food, called "Pemmican," is prepared by pounding it with fat. The welcome event of a wounded or dead whale being driven on shore, brings down the whole neighboring pop ulation to share in the spoil. Nothing could be more valuable to these people than the various substances ob tained from the enormous carcase. The blubber is sepa rated and preserved for oil; the coarse muscular tissue forms to them a palatable article of food; the sinews serve for lines and cordage; and the whale-bone is made avail able by traffic with Europeans. Of the rein-deer, two species furnish food and clothing to the inhabitants of the cold regions of northern America, although, singularly enough, none of them have succeeded in domesticating the animal. They are accustomed to discard no portion of the flesh, and even devour the con tents of the stomach. Perhaps in no instance has the service of an animal proved of more signal aid and comfort to any race than that of the dog to the Esquimaux. The principal use to which he is applied is that of drawing the sledge, but, upon hunting excursions, in the summer, he is loaded with a weight, it is said, of some thirty pounds. The sledges in which winter journeys are performed, are drawn by a number of dogs proportionate to the weight to be transported, the distance to be traversed, and perhaps the possessions of the owner. The animals are separately connected with the sledge, at unequal distances, by single thongs of leather or hide. The most sagacious and well- trained of the pack is placed at the end of the longest tether, some twenty feet from the vehicle, to act as leader, and the intelligence and certainty with which he obeys the signal of command from the driver is very striking. The whip with which the movements of the team are guided, and with which the refractory or stupid are disci 4:24 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. plined. consists of a short' stock only eighteen inches in length to which a lash, long enough to reach the leading dog, is attached, and allowed to trail beside the sledge. This lash is rendered pliable by a process resorted to for preparing leather for various purposes, viz : that of chewing. The operation is performed by the women, and to its con stant exercise, some travellers attribute the bad condition of their teeth, before noticed. The sledge is composed of two runners, of wood or bone, sometimes of the jaw bones of a whale connected by cross-pieces and lashings. Moss is packed closely between these, and skins are laid upon the top. The runners are preserved from wear, and made to slide easily over the surface of the snow by coat ing them with smooth ice. The Esquimaux perform journeys of sixty miles a day, with a single pack of dogs, and stories, at first glance al most incredible, are told of the distances accomplished, and the weights transported by particularly fine specimens of the breed. Besides serving as a beast of burden and draught, the Esquimaux dog is a bold and active assistant in the hunt for rein-deer, bears, &c. ; but, singularly enough, while he will rush upon an animal so much his superior in size and strength as the bear, he is terror-stricken at the sight of the wolf, to whom he bears a striking resem blance, and with whom he would seem more equally matched. Faithful and docile, and subsisting upon the coarsest refuse, the dog supplies to the Esquimaux the place of the rein-deer, in other high latitudes, for all laborious service. He meets with nothing but rough treatment and scanty fare: his master never caresses or makes much of him; but this does not prevent him from forming the strong attachments peculiar to the race. No where do we find a system of patriarchal government maintained in more primeval simplicity than among the NORTHERN RACES. 425 Esquimaux, and no where is that authority more mildly administered. Families and communities live together in the greatest harmony, and no one arrogates to himself a control over those about him beyond the circle of his own family. Dexterity and success in fishing and hunting form almost the only claim for admiration or distinction in the eyes of this unsophisticated people. So peaceful and con tented a life, amid the eternal snows of the north, with such few means of comfort and enjoyment, stands forth in striking contrast with the private discontent and public animosity of more privileged nations. Where the natives of Greenland and other countries at the north have held free intercourse with Europeans, in stances have been found, among them, of much higher intelligence than is usually attributed to the race. Cap tain Parry, in his second voyage, particularly describes a female named Iligliuk. Her correct ear for music, and appreciation of its beauties, were very remarkable; and the interest and attention which all the novel mechanical arts exercised on board the ship excited in her mind, gave evidence of no little capacity for improvement. We cannot give a better idea of the effect which inter course with foreigners has produced upon some of the Esquimaux, in changing their original quiet and unobtru sive demeanor, than by the following quotation from Captain Lyon: "I could not but compare the boisterous, noisy, fat fel lows, who were along-side, in excellent canoes, with well- furnished, iron-headed weapons, and handsome clothing, with the poor people we had seen at Southampton Island ; the latter with their spear-heads, arrows, and even knives of chipped flint, without canoes, wood, or iron, and with their tents and clothes full of holes, yet of mild manners, quiet in speech, and as grateful for kindness as they were anxious to return it, while those' now along-side had, per- 4:26 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. haps, scarcely a virtue left, owing to the roguery they had learned from their annual visit to the Hudson's Bay ships. An air of saucy independence, a most clamorous demand for presents, and several attempts at theft, some of which were successful, were their leading characteristics. Yet I saw not why I should constitute myself the censor of these poor savages; and our barter was accordingly conducted in such a manner as to enrich them very considerably." CHAPTER II. THE ESQUIMAUX OF MELVILLE PENINSULA THEIR STATURE AND COSTUME SNOW HUTS AND THEIR FURNITURE IMPLEMENTS FOR HUNTING AND SEALING MENTAL TRAITS. THE most complete picture ever yet given of Esquimaux life and peculiarities, is to be found in "Parry's Second Voyage in search of a North-west Passage;" particularly in that portion of the work, at the end of the narrative, devoted to an " account of the Esquimaux of Melville Pe ninsula and the adjoining Islands." It is our purpose, in this chapter, to give a brief outline of the statistics and details there collected. Eespecting their general appearance, Parry's descrip tion of the natives does not vary materially from that which we have already given. He represents their stature as follows: the "average height of the men, five feet, five and one-third inches ; of the women, five feet and one-half inch." The women appear shorter than this standard, from a stoop acquired by carrying their infants in a "hood," and from the great bulk of their clothing. They are not an ill-formed race, and, among the tribe, were "three or four grown-up people, of each sex, who, when divested of their skin dresses, their tattooing, and, above all, of their NORTHERN RACES. 427 dirt, might have been considered pleasing-looking, if not handsome people, in any town in Europe." They wear their hair generally long; the men allow ing it to flow carelessly, while the women dispose it in | two plaits or ques, which hang down on each side of the face. Their dress bears marks of no little skill and nicety of finish, and is admirably calculated to defend them from the terrible severity of the winter-season. A double outfit of jackets, breeches, and boots, made of deer and seal skins ; the inner suit having the hair turned inward, while the outer garment exhibits a hairy defence against the snow or rain, is essential upon all occasions of exposure to the open air. Water-proof boots and shoes, made of seal-skin, form a complete protection from the wet when the men are engaged in fishing and sealing. A warm and comfortable hood of furs covers the head and neck, and surrounds the face. The most absurd and ungainly portion of the dress of either sex is the boot worn by the women. This is enormously enlarged, for the purpose of furnishing a convenient pocket or general receptacle for whatever may be carried upon the person. The cavity is even large enough to admit of a child being stowed in it a common custom in Labrador. All their clothing is strongly and neatly stitched, and no little pains is taken to render it ornamental by a judi cious arrangement of light and dark furs. The true Indian taste for beads and showy ornaments prevails, and is satisfied, when other materials are want- j ing, by affixing numberless strings of the teeth of wild animals to the borders of their garments. In one instance, "a row of foxes' noses" was seen "attached to the fore part of a woman's jacket like a tier of black buttons." All the women of this tribe were thoroughly tattooed. The manner of performing this operation was by passing 428 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. a needle and thread through the outer skin, the thread being saturated with oil and lamp-black. The internal aijrangements of the circular snow-huts in which the winter is passed, are as follows: Around each room, next the wall, a bank of -enow is built to the height of two or three feet, upon which are placed, first a coating of pebbles, then a row of tent-poles, paddles, and whale bone, and above all a layer of birch twigs. Upon these are spread the skins and furs which constitute the bedding of the inmates. It is evident that quite a low temperature must be maintained in order to preserve both house and furniture. The only means of warming the huts is by a sort of lamp, consisting of a shallow dish wrought of stone (lapis ollaris\ "its form being the lesser segment of a cir cle. The wick, consisting of dry moss rubbed between the hands till it is quite inflammable, is disposed along the edge of the lamp on the straight side, and a greater or smaller quantity lighted according to the heat required or the fuel that can be afforded." The flame is fed by the drippings of a slice of fat or blubber, suspended with in reach of the blaze. The stone pots for cooking are hung over this lamp, and, above all, is a net, stretched upon a hoop, whereon wet boots and other garments are placed to dry. The general atmosphere of the apartment is kept a lit-, tie below the freezing point. Parry observed the ther mometer, at a time when it fell to twenty -five degrees below zero in the open air, to stand at thirty-two degrees within a few feet of the fire; and this when the hut was filled with Indians and dogs. To increase the warmth, occasions a troublesome dripping from the roof, an incon venience to which the inhabitants are obliged to submit NORTHERN RACES. 429 during some of the spring months, before the season has become mild enough for dwelling in tents. The principal household utensils are the lamps and pots above mentioned, certain cups of the horn of the musk- ox, vessels of whalebone, and the ivory or iron knife. The latter, or at least the material of which it is composed, is obtained by commerce with the whites. They manu facture themselves a knife, having a thin iron edge let into the bone which forms the blade. To a limited extent some of the Esquimaux obtain and manufacture iron from the iron pyrites found in certain localities, and which serves them for flint and steel in lighting fires. The implements for hunting, in use among these Esqui maux, are simple but effective. The " siatko," which serves the purpose of a harpoon in taking seals, walruses, and even whales, is a particularly ingenious contrivance. It consists of a short piece of bone, pointed with iron, .and attached by the centre to the "allek," or long thong of leather. The blunt end of the siatko is fitted to the end of the dart, and is attached by a line, that it can be dis engaged the instant the dart strikes the prey. From the manner in which it is slung, it instantly turns at right angles to the direction of its entrance, and will endure a very severe strain before it can be drawn out. At the other end of the "allek" is tied an inflated seal-skin, which serves to bring the animal quickly to the surface of the water. For their bows, they are obliged to use the wood of the fir-tree, and, in order to give them the requisite strength and elasticity, they are very artfully and neatly served with lines constructed of sinews. At each end of the bow, is a knob of bone, and to these the strengthening lines are attached and drawn tight, while the bow is bent backward. They pass from end to end, on the back of the bow, and are secured and assisted by other shorter cords 430 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. fastened by hitches round the wood. The above descrip tion applies to the best weapons of the sort. " A bow in one piece," says the narrative, "is very rare: they gen erally consist of from two to five pieces of bone, of une qual lengths, secured together by rivets and tree-nails. " The arrows are of wood and bone united, and have heads of iron or slate. They will inflict a mortal wound at a distance of forty or fifty yards.- In the construction of all these implements, a knife and a drill are the principal tools used. The latter operates with a bow, like that in common use among us. It is evident that intellectual advancement is entirely incompatible with such a life as we have described. The ideas of the Supernatural entertained by the Esquimaux are vague in the extreme. " They do not appear," says the description in Parry, "to have any idea of the exist ence of One Supreme Being, nor, indeed, can they be said to entertain any notions on this subject which may be dig nified with the name of Eeligion." Of certain games, consisting mostly in fantastic distor tions of the body, and comical ejaculations, they are never weary; and a strange monotonous song, of which the words and music are given by Parry, furnishes amusement until the performers desist from sheer weariness. Their moral character is probably upon a par with that of most savages. They do not possess the high, indomita ble spirit, the scorn of suffering, the clannish fury of pa triotism, nor the fondness for war, so commonly considered the nobler traits of the American aborigines ; but, on the other hand, they are more kindly domestic in their feel ings, and less cruel and revengeful than their brethren at the South. They exhibit little gratitude for favors, and when ex posed to the strong temptation presented them by the pres ence of such a magazine of treasure as a foreign ship, they NORTHERN RACES. 431 will generally indulge in pilfering. Those travellers who have been most familiar with the strange race, accord to them many pleasing qualities : while their vices are such as must naturally result from their destitute and hopeless condition. Their whole history might prove unspeakably valuable to us did we wisely gather from it a lesson of content. CHAPTER III. THE KNISTENEAUX, CHIPPEWAS, ETC. THE Knisteneaux, or Crees, are a nation materially different from the Esquimaux. They have a much nearer resemblance than that people to the other North Ameri can tribes, and, from close analogies in language, are con sidered as a branch of the great Algonquin stock, which, centering in the Canadas, spread over such an extent of the North American continent. The country formerly occupied by the Knisteneaux- for the ravages of the small-pox have in late years miserably reduced their numbers is of vast extent; lying between the United States and the Esquimaux region, and extend ing westward to the Eocky Mountains. The line of their occupation is thus given by Mackenzie : Commencing with the coast of Labrador, it extends along the north bank of the St. Lawrence, to Montreal. "The line then follows the Utawas river to its source ; and continues from thence nearly west along the high lands which divide the waters that fall into Lake Superior and Hudson's Bay. It then proceeds till it strikes the middle part of the river Wini- pic, following that water through the Lake Winipic, to the discharge of the Saskatchawan into it; from thence it accompanies the latter to Fort George, when the line strik- L 432 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. ing by the head of the Beaver Kiver, to the Elk Kiver, runs along its banks to its discharge in the Lake of the Hills ; from which it may be carried back east to the Isle a la Crosse, and so on to Churchill by the Mississippi. The whole of the tract between this line and Hudson's Bay and Straits, (except that of the Esquimaux in the latter,) may be said to be exclusively the country of the Knisteneaux." They were also to be found upon Eed River, (which, after uniting with the Assinaboin, empties into Lake Winipeg,) and upon the south branch of the Saskatchawan. These people possess all the ordinary characteristics of the American Indian; the copper complexion, black flow ing hair, well-proportioned limbs, and keen black eyes. Travellers speak of the women as being far more attractive in personal appearance than the generality of squaws. Upon them devolves all the drudgery of domestic life, while the men devote their exclusive attention to hunting or war. We notice no very material variation, except so far as climate and the nature of their country have affected their habits, between the dress, habitations, luxuries, cere monies, and general usages of the Knisteneaux, and the great body of our western Indians. They are spoken of as of a friendly and hospitable disposition, and no more dis honest in their dealings than other savages, although some have given them the reputation of being arrant thieves. Little of distinctive character attaches to the various minor tribes of the north, until we reach the Esquimaux, with whom little or no commerce is held by these nations, and with whom, from time immemorial, they have waged a desultory warfare. Mackenzie describes individuals and vil- lages of the Red-Knives, Beavers Indians, Dog-Ribs, Hares, Slaves, Duguthee Dines (quarrellers), and many others; but they have no history, and few noticeable peculiarities. Those farthest north are of rather a lighter complex- irATCHIJfO FOR NORTHERN RACES. 433 ion than the inhabitants of more temperate climes, and ex hibit the deteriorating influence of a life in a cold and desolate country. Some interesting details of the habits and character of the Dog-Ribs, arc given in the account of Sir John Rich ardson's Arctic Searching Expedition. They are rather a low order of the race, and have held sufficient intercourse with the whites to be aware of their own deficiencies and wants. They are nevertheless cheerful, and even hilari ous, and exhibit little or none of that proud and stoical spirit which marks the more celebrated Indian nations. They are grossly improvident, although warned by re peated and terrible experience of famine and suffering. When game is plenty, a scene of general waste and reple tion is presented, to be followed by the utmost misery and want. In a country where the animals upon which the natives depend for subsistence are migratory and uncertain in their habits, such changes of condition must be of fre quent occurrence. When accounts are brought of success on the part of the hunting parties, the whole population of a village put themselves at once en route to share the spoil. If the deer should have shifted their quarters before the arrival of the troupe, and the place of rendezvous be far from home, the return is accompanied with the greatest danger and dis tress. Many of the aged and infirm are frequently left to perish under such circumstances. Of several families of this nation, with whom Macken zie held some intercourse, he says: "They are a meagre, ugly, ill-made people, particularly about the legs, which are very clumsy, and covered with scabs. The latter cir cumstance proceeds, probably, from their habitually roast ing them before the fire. Many of them appeared to be in a very unhealthy state, which is owing, as I imagine, to their natural filthiness." 28 4o6 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. diment is used in the operation, but, in some instances, the pemmican is made savory by the addition of marrow and dried berries. Some of the men are observed to be furnished with a thick bushy beard ; but, generally speaking, the custom of eradicating this appendage is common to the Chippe- was, as to most other of the Indian nations. Tattooing is common among both sexes, and serves as a distinguishing mark of the different tribes. VARIOUS NATIONS AND TRIBES BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC OCEAN. CHAPTER I. THE SIOUX, OR DAHCOTAS, AND OTHER TRIBES OF THE SAME RACE : CLASSIFICATION THE MANDANS : THEIR NUMBER, SITUATION, VILLAGES, ETC. THEIR CEMETERIES AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF THE DEAD. AN accurate classification of the American Indians, either founded upon dissimilarities in the language of dif ferent tribes, or upon differences in physical peculiarities, is impossible, particularly in treating of the scattered and wandering people of the far west. The races vary by such slight shades of distinction, and such analogies exist between their languages, that even where the distinction is perfectly evident in the nation at large, the line of de marcation can with difficulty be drawn. In other instances, the same nation, when divided into separate clans, inhabit ing districts of dissimilar nature, and resorting to different modes of life, will be found, in the course of one or two generations, to present the appearance of distinct races. Perhaps it would-be wiser to accept the popular divisions, whether derived directly from the natives, or established by those most familiar with them, than to attempt any refined distinctions. In an essay upon natural history, or in researches into historical antiquities, a particularity might be useful or necessary, which in an outline of his tory and description would be but perplexing and tedious* 438 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. A vast wilderness at the west, upon the Missouri and the upper western tributaries of the Mississippi, is inhabited by the various tribes allied to the Sioux or Dahcotah. One of the earliest accounts given of these people,- then known as the Naudowessies, is to be found in the travels of Cap tain Jonathan Carver, who spent the winter of 1766-7 among them. Of later observations and descriptions, by far the most interesting and complete are contained in the published letters of Mr. George Catlin, accompanied as they are by spirited and artistic portraits and sketches of scenery. Those of this race known as the proper Sioux, soi disant Dahcotas, are mostly established upon the river of St. Peter and in the country adjacent. Some of the eastern tribes are more or less agricultural, but the others are wild hunt ers like their brethren of the far west. The Sioux were divided, a century since, into the following eight tribes : the Wawpeentowas, the Tintons, the Afracootans, the Maw- haws (Omawhas), and the Schians, all of whom dwelt in the jfriarie country, upon the St. Peter, and three other clans of the then unexplored region to the westward. The Assinaboins anciently belonged to the same stock. By Mr. Gallatin the race is divided as follows: "1, The Winnebagos, of Wisconsin ; 2, The Sioux proper, or Dah cotas, and the Assinaboins; 3, The Minetari and tribes allied to them; 4, The Osages, and other kindred tribes," farther south. (Pritchard's Natural History of Man). The Minetari are held to include the Crows and the Mancfans. To a description of this last people, now, as a separate race, entirely extinct, Mr. Catlin has devoted no small portion of his interesting descriptions of western adventure. They differed widely from all other American Indians in several particulars. The most noticeable of these were the great diversity in complexion and in the color and texture of the hair. When visited by this traveller, in 1832, the Mandans were established at two villages, only two miles TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 439 asunder, upon the left bank of the Missouri, about two hundred miles below the mouth of the Yellowstone. There were then not far from two thousand of the tribe, but, from their own traditions, and from the extensive ruins of their former settlement some distance below it was evident that their numbers had greatly decreased. The principal town was strongly fortified upon the pre cipitous river bank, on two sides defended by the winding stream, and on the other by piqueting of heavy timber, and by a ditch. The houses within were so closely set as to allow of little space for locomotion. They were par tially sunk in the ground, and the roofs were covered with earth and clay to such a depth and of such consis tency that they afforded the favorite lounging places for the occupants. "One is surprised," says Catlin, "when he enters them, to see the neatness, comfort, and spacious dimensions of these earth-covered dwellings. They all have a circular form, and are from forty to sixty feet in diameter. Their foundations are prepared by digging some two feet in the ground, and forming the floor of earth, by levelling the requisite size for the lodge." The building consisted of a row of perpendicular stakes or timbers, six feet or there about in height, supporting long rafters for the roof. A hole was left in the center for air, light, and the escape of smoke. The rafters were supported in the middle by beams and posts: over them was laid a thick coating of willow brush, and over all the covering of earth and clay. An excavation in the centre of the hut was used as a fire place. Each of these houses served for a single family, or for a whole circle of connections, according to its dimen sions. The furniture consisted of little more than a rude sort of bedsteads, with sacking of buffalo skin, and some times an ornamental curtain of the same material. Posts were set in the ground, between the beds, provided with 440 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. pegs, from which depended the arms and accoutrements of the warriors. " This arrangement of beds, of arms, &c.," continues our author, " combining the most vivid display and arrange ment of colours, of furs, of trinkets of barbed and glist ening points and steel of mysteries and hocus pocus, together with the sombre and smoked colour of the roof and sides of the lodge ; and the wild, and rude, and red the graceful (though uncivil) conversational, garrulous, story-telling, and happy, though ignorant and untutored groups, that are smoking their pipes wooing their sweet hearts, and embracing their little ones about their peaceful and endeared fire-sides; together with their pots and kettles, spoons, and other culinary articles of their own manufacture, around them ; present, altogether, one of the most picturesque scenes to the eye of a stranger that can be possibly seen ; and far more wild and vivid than could ever be imagined." If the sight within the dwellings was novel and striking, much more so was that which occupied the painter's atten tion as he surveyed, from the roof of one of these domes, the motley scene of busy life without. In the centre of the village an open court was left for purposes of recrea tion and for the performances of the national religious ceremonies. Upon the rounded roofs of the domicils numerous busy or indolent groups were sitting or loung ing in every possible attitude, while in the central area some were exercising their wild horses, or training and playing with their dogs. Such a variety of brilliant and fanciful costume, ornamented with plumes and porcupine quills, with the picturesque throng of Indians and animals, the closely crowded village, the green plain, the river, and the blue hills in the distance, formed a happy subject for the artist. Without the picket of defence, the only objects visible, TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 441 of man's construction, were the scaffoldings upon which the dead were exposed. The manner in which the funeral rites of the Mandans were conducted, with the subsequent details, constitutes the most touching portion of the au thor's narrative. The body of the dead person was tightly wrapped and bound up in fresh or soaked buffalo skins, together with the arms and accoutrements used in life, and the usual provision of tobacco, flint and steel, knife, and food. A slight scaffold is then prepared, of sufficient height to serve as protection from the wolves and dogs, and there the body is deposited to decay in the open air. Day after day those who had lost .friends would come out from the village to this strange cemetery, to weep and bewail over their loss. Such genuine and long-continued grief as wa,s exhibited by the afflicted relatives puts to shame the cold-heartedness of too many among the culti vated and enlightened. When, after the lapse of years, the scaffolds had fallen, and nothing was left but bleached and mouldering bones, the remains wBre buried, with the exception of the skulls. These were placed in circles upon the plain, with the faces turned inward, each resting upon a bunch of wild sage ; and in the centre, upon two slight mounds, "medicine-poles" were erected, at the foot of which were the heads and horns of a male and a female buffalo. To these new places of deposit, each of which contained not far from one hundred s*kulls, "do these people," says Catlin, "again resort, to evince their further affection for the dead not in groans and lamentations, however, for several years have cured the anguish; but fond affections and endearments are here renewed, and conversations are here held, and cherished, with the dead." The wife or mother would sit for hours by the side of the white relic of the loved and lost, addressing the skull with the most affectionate and loving tones, or, perchance lying down and falling asleep with her arms around it. INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Food would be nightly set before many of these skulls, ajid, with the most tender care, the aromatic bed upon which they reposed would be renewed as it withered and decayed. CHAPTER II. PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND PECULIARITIES OF THE MANDANS THEIR HOSPITALITY AND URBANITY THEIR CLEANLINESS OF PERSON THEIR DRESS PORTRAITS OF MANDAN CHIEFS CONTRAST BETWEEN THE WILD TRIBES AND THOSE OF THE FRONTIER MANDAN DOMESTIC USAGES GAMES AND DANCES TRAINING OF THE YOUTH THE GREAT ANNUAL RELIGIOUS CEREMONY THE MANDANS SUPPOSED TO BE OF WELSH DESCENT ANNIHILATION OF THE TRIBE BY THE SMALL-POX. UNLIKE the other Indian tribes of the west, the Man- dans, instead of presenting a perfect uniformity in com plexion, and in the color of the eyes and hair, exhibited as great diversity in these respects as will be noticed in a mixed population of Europeans. Their hair was, for the most part, very fine and soft, but in a number of instances a strange anomaly was observable, both in old and young, and in either sex, viz: a profusion of coarse locks of "a bright silvery gray," approaching sometimes to white. Some of the women were quite fair, with blue eyes, and the most symmetrical features, combined with a very at tractive and agreeable expression. It does not appear probable that sufficient intermixture with European races had ever taken place to account for these peculiarities, and some authors appear quite convinced that these Mandans are the remains of a great people, entirely distinct from the j TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 443 nations around them. Of Mr. Catlin's researches and con clusions respecting their origin, we shall take occasion to speak hereafter. In their disposition, the Mandans were hospitable and friendly ; affectionate and kind in their treatment of each other ; and mindful of the convenience and comfort of the stranger. Their figures were beautifully proportioned, and their movements and attitudes graceful and easy. Instead of the closely-shorn locks of some other races, they wore their hair long. The men were particularly proud of this appendage, and were at no small pains to arrange it in what they esteemed a becoming manner. It was thrown backward from the forehead, and divided into a number of plaits. These were kept in their position by glue and some red-tinted earth, with which they were matted at intervals. The women oiled and braided their hair, part ing it in the middle ; the place of parting was universally painted red. A greater degree of cleanliness was observable in their persons than is common among savages. A particular location was assigned, at some distance from the village, up the river, where the women could resort undisturbed for their morning ablutions. A guard was stationed, at intervals, upon a surrounding circle of rising ground, to prevent intrusion. Those of both sexes and all ages were excellent swimmers; scarcely was one to be found who could not with ease cross the Missouri in this manner. Their only boats were round tubs made by stretching buf falo-skins over a light frame-work. The form and capacity of these clumsy water-craft, were strikingly similar to that of the coracles used in Wales and upon other portions of the coast of Great Britain. As an additional means of luxury, and as an efficient remedy in case of sickness, a hut was devoted to the pur pose of a steam-bath. This was effected by pouring water 444 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. upon heated stones, over which the patient was placed, wrapped in buffalo-robes, in a wicker-basket. The opera tion was always followed up by a plunge into the river, and a subsequent rubbing and oiling of the body. Such a mode of treatment produced terrible effects, in after times, when the small-pox spread through the tribe. The dress of the Mandan warriors, although in its gen eral fashion similar to that of "the neighboring tribes, was singularly rich and elaborate. It was^ formed entirely of skins: a coat or hunting-shirt of buck-skin; leggins and moccasins of the same material, beautifully fringed, and embroidered with porcupine quills; and an outer mantle of the fur of a young buffalo, formed the principal equip ment. The covering for the head was more elaborate, and was constructed, by all who could obtain the materials, of ermine skins, and feathers of the war-eagle. So high a value was set upon these head-dresses, that Mr. Catlin, after having bargained for the entire suit of a chief, whose por trait he had just painted, was obliged to give two horses, of the value of twenty-five dollars each, for the crowning ornament. Some few chiefs had attained a height of au thority and renown which entitled them to add to their head-dress a pair of buffalo-horns, reduced in size and weight, and arranged as they grew upon the animal. The custom was not confined to the Mandans, but a similar ornament is widely considered as symbolic of power and warlike achievements among the western Indians. Nothing could exceed the pride and delight of the chiefs of the tribe, after their first apprehensions at the novelty of the proceeding were allayed, at the sight of their own portraits, for which they were induced to sit by our author. He was constituted land proclaimed from the moment of the first exhibition, a "great medicine-man," and old and young thronged to see and to touch the worker of such a miracle. All declared that the pictures were, at least par- TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 445 tially, alive : for from whatsoever side they were beheld, still the eyes were seen fixed upon the beholder. An idea was started, and obtained a temporary credence, that some portion of the life of the person represented must have been abstracted by the painter, and that consequently his term of existence must be shortened. It was moreover feared lest, by the picture's living after the death of the original, the quiet rest of the grave should be troubled. By a most ingenious and judicious policy in adopting a mode of explanation, suited to the capacity of his hearers, and by wisely ingratiating himself with the chiefs and medicine-men, Mr. Catlin succeeded in stilling the commo tion excited by such suggestions and suspicions. He was held in high estimation, and feasted by the principal men of the tribe, whose portraits he obtained for his invaluable collection. It is only among such remote tribes as the one which forms the subject of our present consideration, that any adequate idea can be formed of the true Indian character. The gluttony, drunkenness, surliness, and " shiftlessness " of the degraded race, that has caught the vices of the white men, without aiming at his civilization, are strongly contrasted with the abstemiousness, self-respect, and native dignity of the uncontaminated. "Amongst the wild In dians in this country," says Catlin, "there are no beggars no drunkards and every man, from a beautiful natural precept, studies to keep his body and mind in such a healthy shape and condition as will at all times enable him to use his weapons in self-defence, or struggle for the prize in their manly games." The usual custom of polygamy was universally practiced among the Mandans, by all whose rank, position and means enabled them to make the necessary arrangements, and pay the stipulated price for their wives. The girls were generally sold by their parents at a very early age, 446 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. and, as among most barbarous nations, their fate was a life of toil and drudgery. Their time must be almost con stantly employed in getting fuel, cultivating corn and squashes, preparing pemmican and other dried stores for winter, and in dressing and embroidering tKe buffalo-robes which their lord and master accumulated for trade with the whites. Notwithstanding this apparently degraded position, we are informed that the women were, seemingly contented with their lot, that they were modest in their deportment, and that "amongst the respectable families, virtue" was "as highly cherished, and as inapproachable as in any society whatever." White traders among the extreme western tribes are said to be almost universally in tho custom, from motives of policy, and perhaps from inclination,' of allying them selves to one, at least, of the principal chiefs, by a tempo rary espousal of his daughter. In many instances they indulge in a plurality. This is a position greatly sought after by the young women, as they are enabled by it to indulge their native fondness for display, and are freed from the toil usually incident to their existence. The men and boys, leading a life of ease, except when engaged upon a hunt, practiced a great variety of games and athletic sports, some of them very curious and ori ginal. Horse-racing, ball-playing, archery, &c., never failed to excite and delight them. An endless variety of dances, with vocal and instrumental accompaniments, served for recreation and religious ceremonials. Every word and step had some particular and occult signification, for the most part known only to those initiated in the mysteries of "medicine." In times of scarcity, when the buffalo herds had wan dered away from the vicinity, so far that the hunters dared not pursue them, for fear of enemies, the "buffalo dance'* TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 447 was performed in the central court of the village. Every man of the tribe possessed a mask made from the skin of a buffalo's head, including the horns, and dried as nearly as possible in the natural shape, to be worn on these occa sions. When the wise men of the nation determined upon their invocations to attract the buffalo herds, watchers were stationed upon the eminences surrounding the village, and the dance commenced. With extravagant action, and strange ejaculations, the crowd performed the prescribed manoeuvres: as fast as those engaged became weary, they would signify it by crouching down, when those without the circle would go through the pantomime of severally shooting, flaying, and dressing them, while new perform ers took their place. Night and day the mad scene was kept up, sometimes for weeks together! until the signal was given of the approach of buffalo, when all prepared with joy and hilarity for a grand hunt, fully convinced that their own exertions had secured the prize. No less singular was the ceremonial resorted to when the crops were suffering for want of rain. A knot of the wisest medicine-men would collect in a hut, where they held their session with closed doors, burning aromatic herbs and going through with an unknown series of incanta tions. Some tyro was then sent up to take his stand on the roof, in sight of the people, and spend the day in invo cations for a shower. If the sky continued clear, he re tired in disgrace, as one who need not hope ever to arrive at the dignity of a medicine-man. Day after day the per formance continued, until a cloud overspread the skies, when the young Indian on the lodge discharged an arrow towards it, to let out the rain. From their earliest youth, the boys were trained to the mimic exercises of war and the chase. It was a beautiful sight to witness the spirit with which they would enact a sham fight upon the open prairie. A tuft of grass supplied the place of the scalp- 448 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. lock, and blunt arrows of grass or reeds, with wooden scalping-knives, formed their innocuous weapons. " If any one," says Catlin, "is struck with an arrow on any vital part of his body, he is obliged to fall, and his adversary rushes up to him, places his foot upon him, and snatching from his belt his wooden knife, grasps hold of his victim's scalp-lock of grass, and making a feint at it with his wooden knife, snatches it off and puts it into his $ belt, and enters again into the ranks and front of battle." This was the true mode of forming warriors. The youth grew to manhood with the one idea that true dignity and glory awaited him alone who could fringe his garments with the scalps of his enemies. Some of the Mandan braves, even of their last generation, performed feats of daring, and engaged in chivalrous combats, which will almost compare with the deeds of Piskaret or Hiadeoni in the early history of the Iroquois. At the risk of seeming to' linger too long over the history and customs of a single tribe, few in numbers, and now extinct, we will give some description of the strange reli gious ceremony which occupied four clays of each returning year. The religious belief of the Mandans was, in the main, not unlike that of most North American aborigines, but some of their self-torturing modes of adoration and propitiation of their deity were perfectly unique. The grand four days' ceremony had, according to Catlin, three distinct objects ; a festival of thanksgiving for the escape of their ancestors from the flood! of which they had a distinct tradition, strikingly conformable to scriptural history; for the grand "bull-dance," to draw the buffalo herds towards the settlement; and to initiate the young men, by terrible trials and tortures, into the order of war riors, and to allow those whose fortitude had been fully tested to give renewed proofs of their capacity of endur ance, and their claim to the position of chiefs and leaders. TKIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. The period for the ceremony was that in which the leaves of the willow on the river bank were first fully opened; "for, according to their tradition," says Catlin, '"the twig that the bird brought home was a willow bough, and had full grown leaves upon it,' and the bird to which they allude is the mourning or turtle-dove, which they took great pains to point out to me," as a medi cine-bird. The first performances bore reference to the deluge, in commemoration of which a sort of u curb or hogshead" stood in the centre of the village court, sym bolical of the "big canoe," in which the human race was preserved. No intimation was given by the wise men, under whose secret management the whole affair was conducted, of the precise day when the grand celebration should commence ; but at sunrise, one morning, Mr. Catlin and his white com panions were aroused by a terrible tumult throughout the village. All seemed to be in a state of the greatest ex citement and alarm, the cause of which was unexplainable, as the object at which all were gazing was a single figure approaching the village, from a bluff, about a mile distant. This personage soon entered within the inclosed space of the town : he was painted with white clay, and carried a large pipe in his hand. He was saluted by the principal men of the tribe as "Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah (the first or only man," in fact, none other than Noah himself) who had come to open the great lodge reserved exclusively for the annual religious rites. Having superintended the preparation of the medicine- house, and leaving men busy in adorning it with willow boughs and sage, and in the arrangement of divers skulls, both of men and buffaloes, which were essential in the coming mysteries, JSTu-mohk-muck-a-nah made the rounds of the village, repeating before every lodge the tale of the great deluge, and telling how he alone had been saved in 29 450 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. his ark, and left by the retiring waters upon the summit of a western mountain ! At every hut he was presented with some cutting instru ment, (such as was supposed to have been used in the construction of the ark,) to be thrown into the river as a sacrifice to the waters. Next day, having ushered the young men who were to go through the fearful ordeal of self-inflicted torture into the sacred lodge, and appointed an old medicine-man to the office of "0-kee-pah Ka-se-kah, (keeper or conductor of the ceremonies,") he took up his march into the prairie, promising to appear again on the return of the season in the ensuing year. The young warriors, preparatory to undergoing the tor- tare, were obliged, until the fourth day from their entry into the lodge, to abstain from food, drink, or sleep! Meanwhile, various strange scenes were enacted in the cen tral area before the house. The grand buffalo-dance, a performance combining every thing conceivable of the gro tesque and extravagant, was solemnly performed to insure a favorable season for the chase. On the fourth day commenced the more horrible portion of the exercises. Mr. Catlin, as a great medicine-man, was admitted within the lodge throughout the performances, and had full opportunity to portray, with pen and pencil, the scenes therein enacted. Coming forward, in turn, the victims allowed the flesh of their breasts or backs to be pierced with a rough two-edged knife, and splinters of wood to be thrust through the holes. Enough of the skin and flesh were taken up to be more than sufficient for the support of the weight of the body. To these splints cords let down from the roof were attached, and the subject of these inflictions was hoisted from the ground. Similar splints were then thrust through the arms and legs, to which the warrior's arms, and, in some TEIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 451 cases, as additional weights, several heavy buffalo heads, were hung. Thus far the fortitude of the Indian sufficed to restrain all exhibition of pain; while the flesh was torn with the rude knife, and the wooden skewers were thrust in, a pleasant smile was frequently observable on the young warrior's countenance ; but when in the horrible position above described, with his flesh stretched by the splints till it appeared about to give way, a number of attendants commenced turning him round and round with poles, he would "burst out in the most lamentable and heart-rend ing cries that the human voice is capable of producing, crying forth to the Great Spirit to support and protect him in this dreadful trial." After hanging until total insensibility brought a tempo rary relief to his sufferings, he was lowered to the floor, the main supporting skewers were withdrawn, and he was left to crawl off, dragging the weights after him. The first movement, with returning consciousness, was to sacri fice to the Great Spirit one or more of the fingers of the left hand, after which the miserable wretch was taken out of the lodge. Within the court a new trial awaited him ; the last, but most terrible of all. An active man took his position on each side of the weak and mutilated sufferer, and, passing a thong about his wrist, urged him forward at the top of his speed in a circle round the arena. When, faint and weary, he sank on the ground, the tormentors dragged him furiously around the ring until the splints were torn out by the weights attached, and he lay motionless and apparently lifeless. If the splint should have been so deeply inserted that no force even that of the weight of individ uals in the crowd, thrown upon the trailing skulls could break the integuments, nothing remained but to crawl off to the prairie and wait until it should give way by suppuration. To draw the skewer out would be unpardonable sacrilege. 452 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. It is told of one man that he suspended himself from the precipitous river bank by two- bf these skewers, thrust through his arms, until, at the end of several days! he dropped into the water, and swam ashore. Throughout the whole ordeal, the chiefs and sages of the tribe critically observed the comparative fortitude and endurance of the candidates, and formed their conclusions thereupon as to which would be the worthiest t6 command in after time. With all these frightful and hideous sights before his eyes, or fresh in his recollection, our author still maintains, and apparently upon good grounds, and in honest sin cerity, his former eulogium upon the virtues and nat ural, noble endowments of these singular people. We have given, above, but a brief outline of the mysterious conjurations attendant upon the great annual festival: many of these lack interest from our ignorance of their signification. A favorite theme for theorists, ever since the early ages of American colonization, has been found in the endeav or to trace a descent from the followers of the Welsh voyager, Prince Madoc, to sundry Indian tribes of the west. Yague accounts of Indians of light complexion, who could speak and understand the Welsh language, are given by various early writers. They were generally lo cated by the narrator in some indeterminate region west of the Mississippi, at a considerable distance above New Orleans, but no where near the Missouri. It is to be regretted that these ancient accounts are so loose and uncertain, as there can be no doubt but that they are founded upon striking and important facts. A list of Mandan words, compared with Welsh of the same signi fication, has been made public by Mr. Catlin, in which the resemblance is so clear, that almost any theory would be more credible than that such affinity was accidental. This author traced remains of the peculiar villages of the Man- TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 453 dans nearly to the mouth of the Missouri, and describes others of similar character to the northward of Cincinnati. He supposes that the adventurers, who sailed from Wales in the year 1170, and were never thenceforth heard from, after landing at Florida, or near the mouth of the Missis sippi, made their way to Ohio; that they there became involved in hostilities with the natives, and were eventually all cut off, with the exception of the half-breeds who had sprung up from connection with the women of the coun try; that these half-breeds had at one time formed a pow erful tribe, but had gradually been reduced to those whom we have described, and had removed or been driven far ther and farther up the Missouri. The arguments upon which this hypothesis is based are drawn from a careful examination of ancient western fortifications; from phys ical peculiarities and the analogies in language above re ferred to; from certain arts of working in pottery, &c.; and from the remarkable and isolated position occupied by the tribe in question among hostile nations of indubitable aboriginal characteristics. The theory is, to say the least, plausible, and ably supported. In the summer of 1838, the small-pox was communi cated to the Mandans from some infected persons on board one of the steamers belonging to a company of fur-traders. So virulent was the disease, that in a few weeks it swept off the whole tribe, except a few who fell into the hands of their enemies, the Bicarees. One principal reason for the excessive mortality is said to have been, that hostile bands of Indians had beset the village, and the inhabit ants were consequently unable to separate, or to place the infected in an isolated position. The scene of death, lamentation, and terror is said by those who witnessed it to have been frightful in the ex treme. Great numbers perished by leaping into the river, in the paroxysm of fever, being too weak to swim out. 454: INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. Those who died in the village lay in heaps upon the floors of the huts. Of the few secured by. the Ricarees who took possession of the depopulated village, nearly all were said to have been killed during some subsequent hostilities, so that now scarce a vestige of the tribe can be supposed to remain. The Mandans were probably all congregated at their principal village at the time of the great calamity: the other village was situated two miles below, was a small settlement, and was used, as we are led to infer, merely for a temporary "summer residence for a few of the noted families." Mr. Catlin adds the following items to his account of the annihilation of this interesting tribe: "There is yet a mel ancholy part of the tale to be told, relating to the ravages of this frightful disease in that country on the same occa sion, as it spread to other contiguous tribes, the Minatar- rees, the Knisteneaux, the Bl'ackfeet, the Chayennes, and the Crows ; amongst whom twenty-five thousand perished in the course of four or five months, which most appalling facts I got from Major Pilcher, superintendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis, from Mr. McKenzie, and others." TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 455 CHAPTER III. THE SIOUX CONTINUED THEIR MODE OF LIFE MATERNAL AFFEC TION EXPOSURE OF THE AGED THE FAMOUS QUARRY OF RED PIPE-STONE NATURE OF THIS MATERIAL INDIAN SUPERSTI TIONS RESPECTING IT THE BISON OR BUFFALO HORSES OF THE INDIANS VARIOUS MODES OF HUNTING THE BUF FALO WASTEFUL DESTRUCTION OF THE HERDS. THE Sioux proper, known among themselves and by other Indian tribes as Dahcotas, are one of the most ex tensively diffused nations of the west. From the Upper Mississippi, where they mingle with the northern race of Chippewas, to the Missouri, and far in the north-west towards the country of the Blackfeet, the tribes of this family occupy the boundless prairie. Those living on the Mississippi and St. Peter's rely partially, as we have mentioned, upon agriculture, and their proximity to the white settlements has changed, and too often degraded their native character. The more dis tant tribes, subsisting almost entirely upon the flesh of the buffalo, clothed with skins, and using the native weapons of their race, still remain in a state of rude freedom and independence. Graphic descriptions of their wild life, their skill and dexterity in the chase, and innumerable amusing and striking incidents of travel, and portraitures of private and natural character, are to be found scattered through the pages of Catlin's interesting narrative. One of the most remarkable and touching traits of char acter described by this author, as observable among the Sioux, is the strength of maternal affection. Infant chil dren, according to the common custom of western Indians, are carried, for the first six or seven months of their ex istence, strapped immoveably to a board, the hands and arms being generally left at liberty. A hoop protects the 456 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. child's face from injury in case of a fall, and the whole apparatus is often highly ornamented with fringe and em broidery. This pack or cradle is provided with a broad band, which is passed round the forehead of the mother, sustaining the weight of the child pendant at her back. Those who have been most familiar with this mode of treatment generally approve of it as best suited to the life led by the Indian, and as in no way cruel to the child. After the infant has in some degree acquired the use of its limbs, it is freed from these incumbrances, and borne in the fold of the mother's blanket. "If the infant dies during the time that is allotted to it to be carried in this cradle, it is buried, and the disconso late mother fills the cradle with black quills and feathers, in the parts which the child's body had occupied, and in this way carries it around with her wherever she goes for a year or more, with as much care as if her infant were alive and in it; and she often lays or stands it against the side of the wigwam, where she is all day engaged with her needle- work, and chatting and talking to it as famil iarly and affectionately as if it were her loved infant, instead of its shell, that she was talking to. So lasting and so strong is the affection of these women for the lost child, that it matters not how heavy or cruel their load, or how rugged the route they have to pass over, they will faithfully carry this, and carefully, from day to day, and even more strictly perform their duties to it, than if the child were alive and in it." (Letters and Notes of George Catlin.) What appears, at first glance, to be one of the most revolting and cruel customs of the migratory Sioux tribes, (a custom common to other western nations,) is the exposure of the old and infirm to perish, after they have become unable to keep up with the tribe. We are told, however, that dire necessity compels them to this course, unless they TKIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 457 would more humanely, it is true at once put an end to the lives of such unfortunates. The old sufferer not only assents to the proceeding, but generally suggests it, when conscious that he is too weak to travel, or to be of any further service among his people. With some slight pro tection over him, and a little food by his side, he is left to die, and be devoured by the wolves. Certain tribes of this nation, far up the Missouri, are in the habit of performing various ceremonies of self-torture in their religious exercises, somewhat analogous to those of the Mandans, but seldom, if ever, are they carried to such an extent as we have described in treating of that tribe. In the Sioux country, at the southern extremity of the high ridge, called the Coteau des Prairies, which separates the head- waters of the St. Peter's from the Missouri, is situated the far-famed quarry of red pipe-stone. Pipes of this formation are seen throughout the whole of the west, no other material being considered suitable. The district was formerly considered as a sort of neutral ground, where hostile tribes from far and near might harmoniously resort to supply the all-essential want of the Indian. Those versed in the mysteries of Indian heraldry have deciphered the distinguishing marks and escutcheons of a great num ber of western nations, inscribed upon adjacent rocks. Of late years the Sioux have affected a monopoly in the products of this quarry, and it was not without the most vehement opposition that Mr. Catlin and his companions, led by curiosity to visit the remote and celebrated place, were enabled to make their way through the Indian set tlements fallen in with on the route. Throngs of dusky warriors, at these stopping-places, would assemble to discuss, with great heat and excitement, the true motives of the strangers. The general impres sion seemed to be that the travellers were government agents, sent to survey the locality for the purpose of appro- 458 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. priation, and one and all expressed a determination to perish rather than relinquish their* rights to this, their most valued place of resort. The stone is obtained by digging to a depth of several feet in the prairie, at the foot of a precipitous wall of quartz rocks. The whole geological formation of that district is described as exceedingly singular, and the pipe- stone formation is, itself, entirely unique. This material is "harder than gypsum, and softer, than carbonate of lime;" it is asserted that a precisely similar formation has been found at no other spot upon the globe. The compo nent materials, according to the analysis of Mr. Catlin's specimens, by Dr. Jackson, of Boston, are as follows: "water, 8,4; silica, 48,2; alumina, 28,2; magnesia, 6,0; carbonate of lime, 2,6; peroxide of iron, 5,0; oxide of manganese, 0,6." The Indians use the stone only in the manufacture of pipes ; to apply it to any other use they esteem the most unheard-of sacrilege. From the affinity of its color to that of their own skins they draw some fanciful legend of its formation, at the time of the great deluge, out of the flesh of the perishing red men. They esteem it one of the choicest gifts of the Great Spirit. The following extracts from the speeches of some Sioux chiefs, through whose village Mr. Catlin passed on his way to the quarry, may serve to exemplify the veneration with which the stone was regarded. "You see," said one, (holding a red pipe to the side of his naked arm,) "that this pipe is a part of our flesh. The red men are a part of the red stone. ('How, how!')" an expression of strong approbation from the auditors. "If the white men take away a piece of the red pipe- stone, it is a hole made in our flesh, and the blood will always run. We cannot stop the blood from running. ('How, how!') The Great Spirit has told us that the red TEIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 459 stone is only to be used for pipes, and through, them we are to smoke to him. ('How!')" The next speaker pronounced the stone to be priceless, as it was medicine. Another, after a preliminary vaunt of his own prowess, and worthiness to be listened to, pro ceeded: "We love to go to the Pipe-Stone, and get a piece for our pipes ; but we ask the Great Spirit first. If the white men go to it, they will take it out, and not fill up the holes again, and the Great Spirit will be offended. ('How, how, how!')" Another "My friends, listen to me! what I am to say will be truth. (' How !') I bought a large piece of the pipe- stone, and gave it to a white man to make a pipe ; he was our trader, and I wished him to have a good pipe. The next time I went to his store, I was unhappy when I saw that stone made into a dish! ('Eugh!') "This is the way the white men would use the red pipe stone if they could get it. Such conduct would offend the Great Spirit, and make a red man's heart sick. (' How, how!')" Many of the pipes in use among the Sioux, and formed of this material, are shaped with . great labor and nicety, and often in very ingenious figures. Those intended for calumets or pipes of peace, are gorgeously decorated, but even those in ordinary use are generally made as orna mental as practicable. The cavity is drilled by means of a hard stick, with sand and water ; the outer form, with the carvings and grotesque figures, is worked with a knife. Yarious narcotic herbs and leaves, where tobacco is not to be obtained, are used for smoking, under the name of "knick-knick;" the same term is used among some south ern Indians to denote a mixture of tobacco and sumach leaves. In the far west, both among the Sioux and other wild tribes, as the hunt of the buffalo is by far the most import- 460 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. ant occupation of the men, we will devote some little space to a description of the habits of the animal, and the native modes of pursuing and destroying it. The buffalo, or bison of America, is found at the present day throughout no small portion of the vast unsettled country between our western frontier and the Eocky Mountains, from the south ern parts of Texas to the cold and desolate regions of the north, even to latitude fifty-fivexiegrees. No where are these animals more abundant, or in a situation more congenial to their increase, and the development of their powers, than in the western country of the Sioux. During certain seasons of the year, they congregate in immense herds, but are generally distributed over the country in small com panies, wandering about in search of the best pasturage. They have no certain routine of migration, although those whose occupation leads to a study of their move ments can in some localities point out the general course of their trail ; and this uncertainty renders the mode of subsistence depended upon by extensive western tribes of Indians exceedingly precarious. The most valuable possessions of these races, and the most essential in the pursuit of the buffalo, are their horses. These useful auxiliaries are of the wild prairie breed, ex tensively spread over the western territory, the descendants of those originally brought over by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century. They are small, but strong and hardy, and superior in speed to any other of the wild animals of the prairie. Numbers of them are kept about the encamp ment of the Indians, hobbled so as to prevent their straying away. Upon the open prairie the bison is generally pur sued upon horseback, with the lance and bow and arrow. The short stiff bow is little calculated for accurate marks manship, or for a distant shot : riding at full speed, the Indian generally waits till he has overtaken his prey, and discharges his arrow from the distance of a few feet. i TKIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 461 The admirable training of the horse, to whom the rider is obliged to give loose rein as he approaches his object and prepares to inflict the deadly wound, is no less notice able than the spirit and energy of the rider. Such is the force with which the arrow is thrown, that repeated instances are related of its complete passage through the huge body of the buffalo, and its exit upon the opposite side. This near approach to the powerful and infuriated animal is by no means without danger. Al though the horse, from instinctive fear of the buffalo's horns, sheers off immediately upon passing him, it is not always done with sufficient quickness to avoid his stroke. The hunter is said to be so carried away by the excitement and exhilaration of pursuit, as to be apparently perfectly reckless of his own safety ; trusting entirely to the sagacity and quickness of his horse to take him out of the danger into which he is rushing. The noose, or lasso, used in catching wild horses, is often left trailing upon the ground during the chase, to afford the hunter an easy means of securing and remount ing his horse in case he should be dismounted, by the attack of the buffalo or otherwise. In the winter season it is common for the Indians of the northern latitudes to drive the buffalo herds from the bare ridges, where they collect to feed upon the exposed herbage, into the snow-covered valleys. The unwieldy beasts, as they flounder through the drifts, are easily over taken by the hunters, supported by their snow-shoes, and killed with the lance or bow. Another method, adopted by the Indians, is to put on the disguise of a white wolf-skin, and steal unsuspected among the herd, where they can select their prey at leisure. Packs of wolves frequently follow the herds, to feed upon the carcasses of those that perish, or the remains left by the hunters. They dare not attack them in a body, and are consequently no objects of 462 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. terror to the buffaloes; but, should an old or wounded an imal be separated from the company, they collect around him, and gradually weary him out and devour him. When buffalo are plenty, and the Indians have fair op portunity, the most astonishing and wasteful slaughter ensues. Besides the ordinary methods of destruction, the custom of driving immense herds over some precipitous ledge, where those behind trample down and thrust over the foremost, until hundreds and thousands are destroyed, has been often described. Even at seasons in which the fur is valueless, and little besides a present supply of food can be obtained by de stroying the animal which constitutes their sole resource, no spirit of forethought or providence restrains the wild hunters of the prairie. Mr. Catlin, when at the mouth of Teton river, Upper Missouri, in 1832, was told that a few days previous to his arrival, a party of Sioux had returned from a hunt, bringing fourteen hundred buffalo tongues, all that they had secured of their booty, and that these were immediately traded away for a few gallons of whiskey. This author goes, at considerable length, into a calcula tion of the causes now at work, which must, in his opinion, necessarily result in the entire extinction of these animals, and the consequent destitution of the numerous tribes that derive support from their pursuit. According to his rep resentations, we " draw from that country one hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand of their robes annually, the greater part of which are taken from animals that are killed expressly for the robe, at a season when the meat is not cured and preserved, and for each of which skins the Indian has received but a pint of whiskey! Such is the fact, and that number, or near it, are annu ally destroyed, in addition to the number that is necessarily killed for the subsistence of three hundred thousand In dians, who live entirely upon them." TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 463 When this extermination shall have taken place, if, in deed, it should take place before other causes shall have annihilated the Indian nations of the west, it is difficult to conceive to what these will resort for subsistence. Will they gradually perish from sheer destitution, or, as has been predicted, will they be driven to violence and plunder upon our western frontier? CHAPTER IV. INDIANS OF THE GREAT WESTERN PRAIRIES THEIR SUMMER AND WINTER LODGES THE MEDICINE-BAG THE CROWS AND BLACK- FEET RACES HOSTILE TO THE LATTER TRIBE FORTITUDE OF A BLACKFOOT WARRIOR THE CROW CHIEF ARAPOOISH AND HIS GUEST INDIAN CONCEPTIONS .OF A PERFECT COUNTRY STORY OF LORETTO AND HIS INDIAN WIFE ADVEN TURES OF KOSATO, A BLACKFOOT WARRIOR. UPON the Yellowstone, and about the head- waters of the Missouri, the most noted tribes are the Crows and Blackfeet. Bordering upon them at the north and north east, are their enemies, the Ojibbeways, Knisteneaux, and Assinaboins, of some of whom brief mention has been made in former chapters. In 1834 the Blackfeet were computed to number over thirty thousand, but when the small-pox swept over the western country, in 1838, they were frightfully reduced. By the returns of 1850, they were represented as amounting to about thirteen thousand. As these Indians are among the farthest removed from the contaminating influence of the whites, and as the prairie abounds in all that is requsite for their subsistence, viz: horses and buffalo, they present fine specimens of the aboriginal race. They are of manly proportions, active, 464 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. and capable of great endurance : their dress is particularly comfortable and ornamental, bedecked with, all the em broidery and fringes characteristic of savage finery. The style of dress, dwellings, means of subsistence, &c., among the Indians of the western prairies, is in many re spects so similar, that we shall only avoid wearisome repetition by omitting minute descriptions in speaking of the different tribes. The summer lodge, necessarily made moveable to suit their migratory habits, is a tent of buffalo-skins, supported by pine poles brought from the distant mountains. These skins are neatly and substantially stitched together, and often highly painted and ornamented. The tent is trans ported by tying the poles in two bundles, the small ends of which, bound together, are hung over the shoulders of a horse, while the butts trail upon the ground, loaded with the weight of the skins and other paraphernalia of the lodge. The dogs are also pressed into the same service, and loaded, in much the same manner, with as large a load as they can carry. The cold winter is passed in some spot protected by high bluffs or heavy timber, either in these skin lodges, or in rude wigwams of logs. It is among these remote races that we may still see many of the ancient superstitious observances (formerly, with slight variation, common to nearly the whole popu lation of the west,) retained with all their original solem nity. One of the most singular and universal is the preparation of a "medicine-bag," which every man carries with him upon all occasions, as being intricately involved with his own safety and success in war, hunting, or any of the occupations of life. At about the age of puberty the Indian boy bethinks himself of taking the necessary steps for the preparation of this mysterious amulet or charm. Be retires to some solitary spot, where he spends several TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 465 days, lying upon the ground, taking no nourishment, and employed in continual fervent invocations to the Great Spirit. Falling asleep in this condition, he notes particu larly what bird or animal first occurred to his mind in dreams. He then returns home, and, after recruiting his strength, busies himself in the pursuit of the creature until he has secured a specimen. This accomplished, he dresses the skin, stuffs it with moss or some other light substance, and devotes his attention to bedecking it with the most elaborate ornament. This medicine-bag can be procured at no price, and the loss of it, even in the heat of battle, is a signal disgrace, only to be wiped out by the seizure of a similar charm from a slaughtered enemy. "These curious appendages," says Catlin, "to the persons or wardrobe of an Indian, are sometimes made of the skin of an otter, a beaver, a musk- rat, a weazel, a racoon, a pole-cat, a snake, a frog, a toad, a bat, a mouse, a mole, a hawk, an eagle, a magpie, or a sparrow; sometimes of the skin of an animal so large as a wolf; and at others, of the skins of the lesser animals, so small that they are hidden under the dress, and very difficult to be found, even if searched for." The strange and hideous conjurations of the medicine men or necromancers, who perform their ceremonies about the sick or dying with a view to their relief, may be here seen in their utmost extravagance. The Crows are far inferior in numbers to the Blackfeet, with whom they are engaged in perpetual warfare. They inhabit the country adjacent to the Yellowstone, as far westward as the foot of the Eocky Mountains. They are a fine race, physically speaking; their average height is greatly beyond that of any of the neighboring tribes, and they are models of activity and strength. They have been characterized as a lawless, thieving horde of savages ; but those best acquainted with their character and disposition, 30 466 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. speak of them as honest and trust-worthy, and excuse the depredations of which they haye from time to time been guilty, as having generally resulted from gross pro vocation. From whatever cause, and whichever race may have been the most in fault, it is certain that the two wild tribes of whj^h we are now speaking have been, from the earliest periods in which Europeans have penetrated their territory, objects of terror to traders and trappers. One distinguishing peculiarity of these Indians, is the extraordinary length of their hair, which is cherished and cultivated as an ornament, until it sweeps the ground after them. This profusion is to be seen in no tribe except the Crows, although some of their neighbors endeavor to imi tate it, by glueing an additional length to their natural hair. The Crows speak a different language from the Black- feet, and, as we have mentioned, are continually at war with that tribe. They only number about four thousand, and are consequently at great disadvantage in these hostilities. The smaller Minitari tribes, between the mouth of the Yellowstone and the site of the Mandan villages, and the extensive nation of the Gros Yentres, inhabiting the east ern slope of the Eocky Mountains, speak the same lan guage with the Crows, or one very nearly allied to it. The Arapahoes, numbering some three thousand, and dwelling about the sources of the Platte and Arkansas rivers, belong to the race of the Blackfeet. The latter nation, besides their enemies at the East, have had, from an indefinite period, to contend with the Flat- head and other tribes still farther westward. The descent of these remote bands upon the plains in pursuit of buffalo, has ever been deemed by the Blackfeet a signal infringe ment of their rights, and fierce battles often result from the conflicting claims of the rival nations. Although other game abounds in the mountain districts inhabited TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 467 by some of these tribes, nothing possesses such attractions for them as the buffalo-hunt, and they are ready to incur any peril rather than relinquish this favorite pursuit. The N"ez-Perce"s or Pierced-Nose Indians, the Flat-heads, and the Pends Oreilles or Hanging Ears, of the Rocky Mountains and their western slopes, and of the plains drained by the sources of the Columbia, are at continual and deadly feud with the Black feet. These latter seem, indeed, to have their hands against every man, with the exception of their kindred Arapahoes, to whom they make periodi cal visits of friendship. Of the skirmishes between war-parties of these hostile tribes, their forays into each other's territory, and the ex ploits of their most redoubted warriors, many striking tales are told by the traders and trappers who visit these remote regions. In Mr. Irving's admirable publication, "The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West," arranged in the form of interesting and pleasing narrative, from the captain's manuscripts and other sources, are details of various inci dents illustrative of the character and habits of these tribes, so told as to attract the attention of the reader, and to leave a vivid impression upon the mind. In Cox's "Adventures on the Columbia River," fright ful descriptions are given of the cruelties practiced by the Flat-heads upon some Blackfoot prisoners who had fallen into their hands. Such proceedings appeared utterly variant from the natural disposition of those Indians, and only serve to show to what lengths usage, a spirit of re taliation, and natural antipathy, may carry a people whose general character is gentle and kindly. The author particularly describes the endurance of one of the Blackfoot braves, upon whom every species of tor ture was tried in vain attempts to overcome his fortitude. He exulted over his tormentors, vaunting his own deeds 468 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. in the following language: '"My heart is strong. You do not hurt me. You can't hurt me. You are fools. -. You do not know how to torture. Try it again. I don't feel any pain yet. We torture your relations a great deal better, because we make them cry out loud, like little children. You afe not brave ; you have small hearts, and you are always afraid to fight.' Then, addressing one in particular, he said, 'It was by my arrow you lost your eye;' upon which the Flat-head darted at him, and with a knife, in a moment scooped out one of his eyes; at the same time, cutting the bridge of his nose nearly in two. This did not stop him: with the remaining eye he looked sternly at another, and said, "I killed your brother, and I scalped your old fool of a father.' The warrior to whom this was addressed instantly sprung at him, and severed the scalp from his head." The chief restrained this enraged warrior from termin ating the sufferings of the victim by a blow ; but was, him self, immediately afterwards so exasperated by his taunts and insults, that he could not withhold his own hand, and shot the mangled wretch through the heart. Of the Crow character, a very singular trait is exhibited in an adventure of a noted trapper, Mr. Eobert Campbell, as given in Mr. Irving's work, above mentioned. This traveller was upon one occasion hospitably entertained by the celebrated Crow chief, Arapooish, in whose tent he had deposited a large bundle of valuable furs. The greater part of his stores was buried in the ground for safety. The old chief ascertained, during Campbell's stay, that his guest had made a "cache," (the French term applied to such places of concealment,) and that some of his own tribe had discovered and plundered it. The number of beaver-skins stolen was one hundred and fifty. Arapooish immediately assembled all the men of the village, and after making a speech, in which he vehemently TKIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 469 declaimed against their bad faith towards the stranger, vowed that he would neither touch food nor drick until complete restoration should be made. He then took his seat with the trapper in his wigwam, and awaited the re sult, desiring his companion to make no remarks if the skins were brought, but simply to keep account of them. More than a hundred of the stolen articles were brought in before night, but notwithstanding Campbell's expressions of satisfaction, the old Indian would neither eat nor drink throughout that night and the next day. The skins slowly made their appearance, "one and two at a time through out the day ; until but a few were wanting to make the number complete. Campbell was now anxious to put an end to this fasting of the old chief, and again declared that he was perfectly satisfied. Arapooish demanded what number of skins were yet wanting. On being told, he whispered' to some of his people, who disappeared. After a time the number were brought in, though it was evident they were not any of the skins that had been stolen, but others gleaned in the village." Arapooish then broke his fast, and gave his guest much wholesome advice, charging him always, when he visited a Crow village to put himself and his goods under protec tion of the chief. Of Campbell's conclusions upon the character of the race, Mr. Irving says: " He has ever since maintained that the Crows are not so black as they have been painted. 'Trust to their honor,' says he, 'and you are safe; trust to their honesty, and they will steal the hair off your head.' " The manner in which old Arapooish enlarged upon the natural advantages of the Crow country in conversation with Mr. Campbell is too quaint to be passed over. He averred that it was located in precisely the right spot for the security of all that was desirable in life, and the avoid ance of its usual trials and wants. He enlarged upon the 470 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. cold of the north, where dogs must take the place of horses; and upon the barren and arid plains of the south, replete with pestilential vapors. At the west, he said, "On the Colum bia, they are poor and dirty, paddle about in canoes, and eat fish. Their teeth are worn out; they are always tak ing fish-bones out of their mouths. Fish is poor food. " To the east, they dwell in villages ; they live well ; but they drink the muddy water of the Missouri that is bad. A Crow's dog would not drink -such water. " About the forks of the Missouri is a fine country ; good water; good grass; plenty of buffalo. In summer it is almost as good as the Crow country ; but in winter it is cold ; the grass is gone ; and there is no salt- weed for the horses." (EonnevilWs Adventures?) Then followed an enthusiastic enumeration of the bless ings enjoyed by the Crows; the variety of cljmate; the abundance of game ; the winter resources for man and beast ; and the relief from the heat of summer afforded by the cool breezes and fresh springs of the mountains. In a former chapter, we have devoted some little space to illustrations, from Mr. Catlin's letters, of the strength of parental affection among the Western Indians, particularly the Sioux : in the work last cited are numerous anecdotes exemplifying, in a manner equally forcible, the enduring and powerful attachment often noticeable between the sexes; and this not only among the Indians alone, but where they have intermarried with whites. One of these instances was as follows : " Among the free trappers in the Kocky Mountain band was a spirited young Mexican, named Loretto; who, in the course of his wan derings, had ransomed a beautiful Blackfoot girl from a band of Crows, by whom she had been captured. He made her his wife, after the Indian style, and she had followed his fortunes ever since with the most devoted affection." The company, one day, fell in with a numerous party TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 471 of Blackfoot warriors, and the preliminary steps were taken for a parley, and for smoking the calumet, in token of peace. At this moment, Loretto's Indian wife perceived her own brother among the band. "Leaving her infant with Loretto, she rushed forward and threw herself upon her brother's neck ; who clasped his long-lost sister to his heart, with a warmth of affection but little compatible with the reputed stoicism of the savage." Meanwhile, Bridger, one of the trapper leaders, ap proaching the Blackfeet, from an imprudent excess of caution, cocked his rifle just as he came up with them. The Indian chief, who was in the act of proffering a friendly salutation, heard the click of the lock, and all his native 'fury and suspicion were instantly aroused. He sprang upon Bridger, forced the muzzle of the rifle into the ground, where it was discharged, knocked him down, seized his horse, and rode off. A general, but disorderly right ensued, during which Loretto's wife was hurried away by her relations. The noble young Mexican saw her in their power, vainly entreating permission to return, and, regardless of the danger incurred, at once hastened to her side, and restored the child to its mother. The Blackfeet braves admired his boldness, and respected the confidence which he had re posed in them by thus venturing in their midst, but they were deaf to all the prayers of himself and his wife that they might remain together. He was dismissed unharmed, but the woman and child were detained. Not many months afterwards the faithful Loretto pro cured his discharge from the company in whose service he was enlisted, and followed his wife to her own country. A happy reunion took place, and the loving pair took up their residence at a trading-house among. the Blackfeet, where the husband served as interpreter between the In dians and white traders. 472 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Another tale of Indian love and rivalry is that of a Blackfoot warrior, named Kosato, residing among the Nez-Perce's when that tribe was visited by Bonneville. He had fallen in love with the wife of a chief of his own tribe, and his affection was returned. According to his own positive asseverations, although they "talked togeth er laughed together and were always seeking each other's society," they were " as innocent as children." The jealousy of the husband was at last completely aroused, and he visited his vengeance upon both the offend ing parties. The wife was cruelly beaten, and sternly bid not even to bestow a look upon Kosato, while the youth himself suffered the loss of all his horses, upon which the chief had seized. Maddened with love and revenge, Kos ato waited his opportunity; slew the object of his hate; and hastened to entreat his mistress to fly with him. At first she only wept bitterly, but finally, overcome by his persuasions, and the promptings of her own affection, she forsook her people, and sought, with her lover, an asylum among the peaceful and kindly Nez-Perce's. Kosato was foremost in jrousing up a warlike and manly spirit among the tribe of his adoption, but he found the disposition of his new allies far different from that of the hot-blooded Blackfeet and Crows. "They are good and kind," said he to Bonneville; "they are honest; but their hearts are the hearts of women." From these and numberless similar tales, it is sufficiently evident that the cloak of reserve in which the Indian wraps himself from the scrutiny of strangers, covers passions and affections as fiery and impetuous as are to be witnessed in more demonstrative races. 7' H E n I S O vV; GF.NFRALLY CALLED THE BUFFALO. THE hujje animals, whose general conformation is accurately n'jir**entcd in the above sketch, wander in herds of countless numbers, over the wilderness and prairies of the far West. As game, they are invaluable to the Indians, both for their fle^h and the skins which form so considerable an article of traffic in the towns of the East. The bisons scatter widely over the priaries when feeding, but when they t;ike up their line of march, upon their periodical migrations, the whole herd proceeds in a compact mass offering an easy opportunity for the most wasteful slaughter. The animal was formerly found as far East as the Hudson river, and Morton speaks of Ihe descriptions given by the Indians of "great heards of well growne beasts that live nboiit the parts of this lake (Ontario), such as Ihe Christian world (untile this discovery) halh not been mnde acquainted with. 1 ' TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 473 CHAPTER V. TRIBES ON THE COLUMBIA AND ITS TRIBUTARIES THE NEZ-PERC^S THEIR RELIGIOUS CHARACTER THE WALLA-WALLAS THE CHINOOKS MODE OF FLATTENING THE HEAD THE BOTOQUE CANOES OF THE TRIBES ON THE LOWER WATERS OF THE COLUMBIA FISH ING HOUSES OF THE FLAT-HEADS. THE principal tribe dwelling within the vast ampitheatre drained by the Kooskooske, westward from the Blackfoot country, and across the Eocky Mountains, is that of the Nez-Perces or Pierced-Nose Indians. Proceeding down the river, we find numerous tribes, known, collectively, as Flat-heads, although the physical peculiarity from which they derive their name is by no means universal. Upon the main southern branch, the Lewis Fork of the Columbia, or Snake river, dwell the Shoshonees, or Snake Indians, a race perhaps more widely disseminated than any other of the present descendants of the North Ameri can aborigines. The Nez-Perce"s are, as mentioned in a preceding chap ter, a quiet, inoffensive people, although, when fairly aroused, they are not wanting in courage and efficiency. Their susceptibility to religious impressions is remarkable, and their patient reliance upon and sincere invocations to the Great Spirit, in times of want or danger, might shame the most enlightened nation. In a time of great scarcity, Captain Bonneville fell in with a party of these Indians, in a state of the utmost des titution. They were subsisting upon wild rose-buds, roots, and other crude and innutritious food, and their only weapon was a single spear. With this they finally set out, on horse-back, upon what appeared to the whites an ut terly hopeless expedition in search of game. They rode 474 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. off, however, with cheerful confidence that their prayers would now be heard by the Great Spirit. The undertak ing was successful, and the poor Indians freely shared the meat which they had secured among the hungry whites. The kind-hearted captain, from long observation of their character, became more and more enthusiastic in his ad miration of the simplicity, benevolence, and piety of the tribe. Some rude conceptions of Christian doctrines and observances had, in earlier times, been disseminated among them, and they eagerly listened* to such instruction upon these topics as Captain Bonne ville was 1 enabled to convey. In his own words: "Simply to call these people religious, would convey but a faint idea of the deep hue of piety and devotion which pervades their whole conduct. Their honesty is immaculate, and their purity of purpose, and their observance of the rites of their religion, are most uniform and remarkable. They are certainly more like a nation of saints than a horde of savages." There are two tribes of the Pierced-Nose Indians, the upper and the lower: the first of these is that to which particular allusion has heretofore been made in connection with Blackfoot hostilities. The Indians of the lower tribe subsist upon fish, and upon deer, elk, and other game of their own country. Bonneville gives them almost as good a character as their brethren, the upper tribe, pronouncing them "one of the purest-hearted people on the face of the earth." Other travellers and traders, who, probably in consequence of their own unscrupulous villany, have experienced dif ferent treatment at the hands of these Indians, naturally enough set them down as dishonest and inhospitable. As one instance of their generosity and kind-heartedness : the captain's horse was recognized by one of the tribe as hav ing formerly been stolen from himself. He proved owner ship incontestibly, but voluntarily relinquished his claim, TEIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 475 saying : "You got him in fair trade you are more in want of horses than I am : keep him ; he is yours he is a good horse ; use him well." Further westward, upon the banks of the Columbia, below the mouth of the Lewis Fork, are found the Walla- wallas; they are not unlike the Pierced-lSToses in general appearance, language, and habits. They are kind towards strangers, and in their deportment exhibit great decency and decorum. They have plenty of horses, and maintain the same border warfare with the Shoshqnees that their neighbors farther up the river are constantly waging with the Blackfeet. The cause of hostility is similar, viz : a claim of right of hunting within the hostile territory ; in the one case, for the buffalo ; in the other, for the black-tailed deer. Passing over the Spokans, Cootonais, Chaudieres, Point ed Hearts, &c., &c., we will describe a little more at large the Chinooks, Flat-heads in reality, as in name, who dwell about the lower portions of the Columbia. The horrible deformity of the skull, which constitutes their chief phys ical peculiarity, is produced by pressure upon the forehead of the infant while the bone is soft and pliable. The child is stretched upon its back, after the usual Indian fashion, and a bit of board or bark is so secured by strings that it can be tightened at pleasure, creating a steady pressure until the head is so flattened that a straight line can be drawn from the tip of the nose to the unnatural apex. The operation occupies from a few weeks to a year, or more, at the end of which time the skull is hardened, and never thereafter resumes its natural shape. The thickness of the broad ridge at the back of the head is little over an inch. This extensive displacement of the brain does not, as far as travellers have observed, effect any noticeable change in the faculties of the mind. It is an unaccountable cus tom, and is persisted in as being an improvement upon nature; perhaps from the same ideal that suggested the 476 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. retreating forehead characteristic of the ancient sculptures of Egypt and Central America. Various tribes and nations of America were formerly in the habit of flattening the head, who have long since ceased, so to mar their fair pro portions. Even in South America, as we shall see here after, skulls are still found bearing evident marks of this hideous . distortion. Exclusive of the head, there is little particularly notice able about the personal appearance of the Indians of the lower Columbia. The description given of them, particu larly of their women, is by no means attractive. It would seem, from one of Mr. Catlin's illustrations, that a singular custom, generally considered as peculiar to the Brazilian Botocudos, is occasionally observable among them. He gives a sketch of a woman whose under-lip is pierced, and the aperture filled with a large wooden plug or button (termed the "botoque" in South America). Their most successful advance in the arts, is seen in the manufacture of their canoes. These, according to the description given in the history of Lewis and Clarke's travels, are often " upwards of fifty feet long, and will carry from eight to ten thousand pounds weight, or from twenty to thirty persons. * * They are cut out of a single trunk of a tree, which is generally white cedar, though the fir is sometimes used. * * When they em bark, one Indian sits in the stern, and steers with a paddle ; the others kneel in pairs in the bottom of the canoe, and, sitting on their heels, paddle over the gunwale next to them. In this way they ride with perfect safety the high est waves, and venture without the least concern in seas where other boats and seamen could not live an instant. They sit quietly and paddle, with no other movement, except when any large wave throws the boat on her side, and to the eye of the spectator she seems lost : the man to windward then steadies her by throwing his body towards TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 477 the upper side, and, sinking his paddle deep into the waves, appears to catch the water, and force it under the boat, Which the same stroke pushes on with great velocity." They subsist principally upon fish, in taking which they are very expert. Their nets are made of silk-grass, or of the fibrous bark of the white cedar, as are also the lines used for angling. The hooks are procured from white traders, but in earlier times were manufactured from bone. Their houses are described as large and commodious : some of them are said. by Cox to be "upwards of ninety feet long, and thirty to forty broad." The size of the beams used in the construction of these edifices, as well as that of the trunks of trees worked into canoes, is almost incredi ble, considering the miserable tools and implements in their possession previous to European intercourse. Their household furniture and utensils are rude and simple ; in their primitive condition they boiled their fish in kettles of cedar wood, by means of heated stones thrown into the water. The fire-place is a hole sunk in the floor, to the depth of about twelve inches, under the aperture in the roof left for the escape of smoke. CHAPTER VI. THE SHOSHONEES, OR SNAKE INDIANS THE SHOSHOKOES, OR ROOT- DIGGERS EXTENT OF COUNTRY OCCUPIED BY THE SNAKES THE CAMANCHES : THEIR HORSEMANSHIP, MODE OF LIFE, DWELLINGS, ETC. THE PAWNEE PICTS THE NABAJOS AND MOQUES. UNDER various names, and presenting a great variety in habits and appearance, according to the nature of the country they inhabit, the great race of Shoshonees is found scattered over the boundless wilderness, from Texas to the 478 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. Columbia. Their territory is bounded on the north and west by that of their hereditary enemies, the Blackfeet and Crows, the tribes allied to the great Dacotah or Siofts family, and the Indians removeU westward from the United States. Those who dwell amid the rugged and inhospitable regions of the great Eocky Mountain chain, known as Shos- hokoes or Boot-Diggers, are the most destitute and miser able portion of all the North American tribes. They have no horses, and nothing but the' rudest native implements for securing game. They are harmless, and exceedingly timid and shy, choosing for their dwellings the most re mote and unexplored retreats of the mountains, whither they fly in terror at the approach of strangers, whether whites or Indians. "These forlorn beings," says Irving, "forming a mere link between human nature and the brute, have been looked down upon with pity and con tempt by the Creole trappers, who have given them the appellation of l les dignes de pitie] or 'the objects of pity. J They appear more worthy to be called the wild-men of the mountains." Although living in a climate where they experience great severity of cold, these miserable people are very insufficiently protected either by clothing or comfortable huts. Of a party seen by Bonne ville upon the plain be low Powder Eiver, that traveller remarks: "They live without any further protection from the inclemency of the season, than a sort of break- weather, about three feet high, composed of sage, (or wormwood,) and erected around them in the shape of a half-moon." This material also furnishes them with fuel. Many were seen carrying about with them a slow match, made of twisted bark. "When ever they wished to warm themselves, they would gather together a little wormwood, apply the match, and in an instant produce a cheering blaze." TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 479 They live principally, as their name implies, upon roots and a preparation of certain wild seeds ; but by the aid of their dogs a lean and miserable breed they catch rabbits and other small animals. They occasionally take ante lopes by the following singular contrivance: An inclo- sure of several acres in extent is formed by piling up a row of wormwood brush, only about three feet in height. Into this the game is decoyed or driven and the entrance closed. The men then pursue the animals on foot, round and round the confined space, (fresh recruits entering upon the duty as the first become weary), until they are com pletely tired down, and can be killed with clubs. The antelopes never attempt to leap over the frail barrier. Those Shoshokoes who live in the vicinity of streams, add to their supplies by fishing, and some of them are sufficiently skilful and provident to cure stores of fish for winter; but in general the season of scarcity finds them wretchedly Unprovided. " They were destitute," says Bon ne ville, of a party encountered by him, u of the necessary covering to protect them from the weather; and seemed to be in unsophisticated ignorance of any other propriety or advantage in the use of clothing. One old dame had absolutely nothing on her person but a thread round her neck, from which was pendant a solitary bead." The Shoshonees, as distinct from the Boot-Diggers, although their condition varies greatly with their locality, are a free, bold, and wandering race of hunters. In the buffalo plains their life is much like that of the Sioux, Blackfeet, Crows, &c. ; while in the less favored districts, among the mountains and deserts, they approach more nearly to their kindred Shoshokoes. The country inhabit ed by them is of such vast extent, and has been so imper fectly explored, that material for accurate classification of the Snake tribes is entirely wanting. Very interesting descriptions and anecdotes of these Indians are to be 480 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. found in Colonel Fremont's notes of travel and explora tions; in Mr. Schoolcraft's valuable compend of Indian historical and statistical information ; and in the entertain ing adventures of Captain Bonneville. The whole region tenanted by the roving tribes who are included under the general title of Snakes, is thus laid down in Schoolcraft's above-mentioned publication : exclu sive of those residing upon the Snake river, "they em brace all the territory of the Great South Pass, between the Mississippi valley and the waters of the Columbia, by which the land or caravan communication with Oregon and California is now, or is destined hereafter, to be main tained. * * Under the name of Yampatick-ara, or Koot- Eaters, and Bonacks, they occupy, with the Utahs, the vast elevated basin of the Great Salt Lake, extending south and west to the borders of New Mexico and California. Information recently received denotes that the language is spoken by bands in the gold-mine region of the Sacramento." The most noted branch of the whole family is that of the Camanches, "who have descended eastwardly into the Tex an plains at unknown periods of their history." Analogy in language is all that attests the former unity of this nation with the Shoshonees. The Camanches inhabit a country where bisons and wild horses abound, and their general habits and mode of life are consequently very similar to those of the western Sioux and other races of the prairies. As bold and skill ful riders, they are said to have no equals, at least in North America; some of their feats of horsemanship appear almost supernatural to a stranger. One of the most sin gular of these is that of throwing the whole body upon one side of the horse, so as to be entirely shielded from the missile of an enemy, with the exception of the heel, by which they still maintain their hold, and are enabled to TH K GRI7.7.LY li 11 .1 R . No animal, upon the whole continent of America, is so dangerous nnd ferocious* as the mio here depicted . M. Boitard, in his "Pantheon Populaire." a description of the ani mals of the Jardin des PI antes, from which work the above sketch is taken, says: " Tiie grizzly bear joins to the stupidity of the boar the ferocity of the jaguar, the courage of the tiger, and the strength of the lion. Of solitary habits, like other species of his race, he roams over the vast Indian territory of the North-west, inhabited by the wandering nations of the Back-Feet, Nes Perces, Kansas, Crows, &c." Astonishing tales are told of the prodigious strength, and implacable fury of this ant mal. The huge bison is helpless in his grasp, and it is a common saying that, if n hunter comes within his reach, one of the two must die. The Indian hunters display great cour age and resolution in the pursuit of this terrible enemy; an undertaking entered upon rather from prid p -nnd the hope of renown th::n from expectation of profit. TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 481 regain their seat in an instant. The manner in which this seemingly impossible position is retained, was ascertained by Mr. Catlin to be as follows: "I found," says he, "on examination, that a short hair halter was passed around under the neck of the horse, and both ends tightly braided into the mane, on the withers, leaving a loop to hang un der the neck, and against the breast, which, being caught up in the hand, makes a sling into which the elbow falls, taking the weight of the body on the middle of the upper arm. Into this loop the rider drops suddenly and fear lessly, leaving his heel to hang over the back of the horse, to steady him, and also to restore him when he wishes to regain his upright position on the horse's back." The Indian rider, as he sweeps, at full speed, past his enemy, in this unnatural attitude, is said to manage his long lance, and his bow and arrow, with nearly the same facility as if fairly mounted. He will discharge his arrow over the back of the horse, or even his neck ! The Ca- manches, from constant horse-back exercise, have lost that agility and grace which characterize the North American Indian, in his natural state. They are awkward and un gainly in their movements when on foot, but when mounted upon the animals that have become almost a part of them selves, nothing can exceed the lightness and freedom of their posture and movements. The wild horses are taken, as usual, by the lasso, and are at first disabled by being " choked down," as it is termed. When the hunter has thus conquered and enfeebled his prize, he proceeds to tie his fore feet together, and, loosening the noose about his neck, takes a turn with it about the lower jaw, and com pletes the subjection of the animal by closing his eyes with his hand and breathing in his nostrils. After this, little difficulty is experienced ; the horse submits to be mounted, and is soon entirely under the control of his tormentor. The Indians are severe and cruel riders, and the ease of 31 482 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. supplying the loss of a horse prevents that regard for his safety and care for his welfare elsewhere furnished by self- interest. The Camanches are essentially a warlike race, and the whole history of the settlement and occupation of Texas is replete with tales of their courage and prowess. There seems to be reason to fear that difficulties will still con tinue to arise between them and the white settlers of the country until the whole tribe, like so many in the older states, shall be driven from their territory or exterminated. Almost the only man who has ever been able to command their enduring admiration and respect, and to exercise a parental control over these wild rovers of the west, is the redoubted champion of Texan independence, General Houston. Numberless tales are told of the influence of his presence, or even his name, in quieting border trou bles between whites and Indians. No one knows the Camanches better than Houston, and he gives abundant testimony to many excellent traits in their character. According to his representations, the generality of dis turbances which have arisen upon their borders are attrib utable rather to injustice and violence, on the part of the white settlers, than to the native ferocity or treachery of the Indians. The dwellings of the Camanches, like those of other prairie tribes, consist of tents of buffalo-skins, and are transported from place to place in the manner described in a former chapter. The tribe next adjoining them, the Pawnee Picts, living about the extreme head- waters of the Eed Eiver, on the borders of the Eocky Mountains, in habit wigwams of poles thatched with prairie-grass, of very picturesque form and arrangement. These people are said to be entirely distinct from the Pawnees on the Platte river ; they are in a state of friendly alliance with the Camanches. Unlike the latter tribe, they cultivate large TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 483 quantities of maize, beans, pumpkins, &c., and, what with their abundant supply of game, enjoy no little prosperity. In New Mexico, besides the Utahs, Apaches, and other Indian tribes heretofore mentioned, are two very singular communities : the Nabajos and Moques. The first of these lead a pastoral life between the rivers San Juan and Gila. They are spoken of in a communication of Governor Charles Bent, in 1846, as "an industrious, intelligent, and warlike tribe of Indians, who cultivate the soil, and raise sufficient grain and fruits of various kinds for their own consumption. They are the owners of large flocks and herds of cattle, sheep, horses, mules, and asses. It is estimated, that the tribe possesses 30,000 head of horned cattle, 500,000 head of sheep, and 10,000 head of horses, mules, and asses. * * They manufacture excellent coarse blankets, and coarse woolen goods for wearing apparel. # * * Tn e y have in their possession many men, women, and children, taken from the settlements of this territory, whom they hold and treat as slaves. * * The Moques are neighbours of the Nabajos, and live in permanent vil lages, cultivate grain and fruits, and raise all the varieties of stock." (Schoolcrafi s Historical and Statistical Informa tion concerning the Indian 'Tribes). The ISTabajos number from seven to fourteen thousand souls ; the Moques between two and three thousand. The two tribes are at enmity with each other, and the Moques have been, by this cause, much reduced. The following description of the personal appearance of these Indians, (their names being corrupted into "Nab- behoes," and "Mawkeys,") is cited by Mclntosh, in his "Origin of the North American Indians," from the West ern Democrat : we cannot undertake to vouch for its accu racy. After describing the location of the smaller tribes, 484 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. the article proceeds: "Not far distant from the Mawkeys, and in the same range of country, is another band of the same description, called Nabbehoes^ a description of either of these tribes, will answer for both. They have been described to the writer by two men in whose veracity the fullest confidence may be placed: they say -the men are of the common stature, with light flaxen hair, light-blue eyes, and that their skin is of the most delicate whiteness." INDIAN POPULATION UNITED STATES AND TERRITORY, Acc CEDING to the .census taken, under the agency of Mr. Henry K. Schoolcraft, in pursuance of the act of Con gress passed in March, 1847, the following returns were made of the numbers of the Indian tribes subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The grand total was set down at 388,229, and about 30,000 more was considered a probable estimate of tribts inhabiting districts yet unexplored. The " Ultimate Con solidated Tables of the Indian Population of the United States," containing the results of the proposed investiga tion, are given substantially as follows, in Schoolcraft's "History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States:" 1. "Tribes whose vital and industrial statistics have been taken by Bands and Families, under the direction of the act of Congress," including Iroquois, Algonquins, Appalachians, and Eastern Sioux, 34,704 2. "Tribes of the new States and Territories, South and West, including the acquisitions from Mexico, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo," viz: of Texas, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Utah, and Florida, and consisting of Camanches, Apaches, Utahs, Shoshonees or Snake Indians, &c. . . . 183,042 486 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. 3. Tribes between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, to the northward of Texas and New Mexico, viz : Assinaboins, south of lat. 49 deg. . 1,000 Arapahoes, 3,500 Absarokes, or Crows, . . . 4,000 Aurickarees, 1,500 Blackfeet, 13,000 Blood Indians (few reach the Missouri) 500 Brothertons, 600 Cherokees, 26,000 Creeks, ...... 25,000 Chickasaws, 5,000 Choctaws, 16,000 Cheyennes, 2,500 Caddoes, 2,000 Chippewas,west, and Red River, north, 1,500 Cayugas and Iroquois, west, , . 30 Delawares, 1,500 Foxes and Sacs, 2,400 Gros Ventres, 3,000 Kiowas, 2,000 Kickapoos, 600 Kanzas, 1,600 Kaskaskias, 200 MeTiomonies, 2,500 Mandans, (?) 300 Minitarees, 2,500 Miamie t s, 500 Missoiiris, 500 Munsees, 200 Ottawas, west, ..... 300 Otoes, . . 500 Omuhas, .... . 2,000 Ogellahs, .... 1,500 Pawnees, .... . 17,000 Poncas, 700 Pottawatomies, . . . . . 3,200 Peorias, . . . , . . 150 Piankeshaws, . . ... 200 Quappas, . . . . . 400 Shawanees, 1,600 Sioux of the Mississippi (not enume rated in No. 1), .... 9,000 Sioux of the Missouri (not enumerated in No. 1), 5,500 Stockbridges, 400 Seminoles, 1,500 Swan Creek and Black River Chippe- was (not enumerated in the Algon quin groupe), .... 200 Tetans, 3,000 Weas, 250 Within the old States are the following remnants of ancient tribes: Maine, . . V . . . .956 Massachusetts, . . ..,. . " . 847 Rhode Island Narragansetts, . 420 Connecticut Mohegans, . . . 400 New York Besides the Iroquois, be fore enumerated, .... 40 Virginia Nottoways, mixed with the African race, . . i . . 40 South Carolina Catawbas, . . . 200 North Carolina Catawbas, . . 250 Together with Cherokees included in former table. SOUTH AMERICA, TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, AND THE NORTHERN PROVINCES OF SOUTH AMERICA CHAPTER I. INDIANS FIRST SEEN BY COLUMBUS LANDING AT GUANAHANI NATIVES OF CUBA EMBASSY TO THE GRAND KHAN ! DISCOVERY OF HAYTI, AND INTERCOURSE WITH THE NATIVES GUACANA- GARI WRECK OF THE ADMIRAL'S VESSEL HONESTY AND HOSPITALITY OF THE NATIVE INHABITANTS TRADE* FOR GOLD BUILDING OF THE FORTRESS OF LA NAVIDAD DEPARTURE OF THE NINA THE CIGUAYANS DIS ORDERS AND DESTRUCTION OF THE GARRISON AT LA NAVIDAD FORT OF ST. THOMAS. AT the time of the discovery of the New "World by Columbus, the larger West India islands and the Baha mas were, for the most part, inhabited by a kindly and simple-hearted race. Although living in the most prim itive state of nature, unclothed, and possessed of only the rudest weapons and implements, they do not appear to have been deficient in intellectual capacity. The delight ful climate of their country, and the spontaneous fruitful- ness of the soil, removed the ordinary incentives to labor and ingenuity. The rudest huts of branches, reeds, and palm-leaf thatch, with hammocks (originally the Indian word "hamacs") slung between the posts, fully sufficed for their dwellings.. Protection from the rain was alono necessary. 488 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. They were of good figure and proportion, their foreheads svere high and well formed, and the general cast of their countenance and conformation of their features agreeable and regular. The great admiral landed, for the first time since the days of "the Northmen" that any European had visited the Western World, at Gruanahani, San Salvador, or Cat Island, on the 12th of October, 1492. The shore was lined with naked savages, who fled at the approach of the boats ; but watching from a distance the incomprehensible ceremony of taking possession, and the religious exercises of thanksgiving, performed by the strangers, fear soon gave place to reverential curiosity. If any thing could excite their wonder in a higher degree than the majestic approach of the ships, it might well be the splendor of the Spanish dress and arms, the strange complexion, and the thick beards of the strangers who arrived in them. The Indians soon began to gather round the little band, throwing themselves upon the earth in token of submis sion and respect, and worshipping the Spaniards as gods or divine messengers. As nothing but kindness appeared in the 'demeanor of the strangers, the natives grew more familiar, and, with unbounded admiration, touched and examined their dress and beards. Columbus still further won the good-will of the island ers by a judicious distribution of such brilliant beads and toys as ever attract the eye of the savage. Nothing de lighted them so much as hawks'-bells, of whose pleasant tinkling, when suspended from their arms and necks, they were never weary. The next day, laying aside all fear, the Indians came out to the ships, swimming or paddling in their canoes. They brought such little articles of trade as they possessed; balls of cotton yarn, parrots, and cas sava bread (made from the yuca root); eager to traffic, upon any terms, for European commodities. Golden orna- cnn isr or n Kit < <> ' < ; - l//; lis - TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 489 ments worn in the noses of some of them at once aroused the cupidity of the Spaniards, who eagerly bought them up, and made inquiry, by signs, as to whence the material was brought. This was explained to be at the southward. In his further cruise among the Bahamas, in the vain search for gold, Columbus pursued the most humane and gentle policy towards the natives, and their gratitude and delight at his caresses and presents knew no bounds. Equally generous, they were ever ready to proffer to the Spaniards all their little wealth of cotton, fruits, and tame parrots. Seven of the natives of Guanahani were taken on board the vessels upon the departure from that island. The admiral had no doubt but that he had reached the islands of the Asiatic coast, and, in accordance with this mistake, bestowed the epithet of Indians upon the inhab itants. As he came in sight of Cuba, he supposed that he had at last reached Cipango. This opinion was finally changed, from a misapprehension of communications from the natives on board, to a firm belief that this was the main land of the continent of Asia, an error of which Columbus was never disabused. The inhabitants appeared rather more advanced in the arts than those before seen, but, to the intense disappoint ment of all on board the vessels, none of them were pos sessed of any gold. Two embassadors were sent by Columbus to explore the interior, and to visit the court of the prince of the country, whom his imagination led him to conclude must be none other than the Grand Khan ! A rude Indian village, of about one thousand inhabitants, naked savages, like those of the coast, was all Jiat was discovered by these emissaries. They were received and entertained with the greatest kindness and reverence, but were unable to communicate with the native's otherwise than by signs. The most interesting report made by them upon their return, was of a custom then unknown to the 490 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. whites, viz : that of smoking. The name of tobacco, given by the natives to the cigars which they used, was ever after applied to the plant. From Cuba, Columbus took several Indians, men and women, on board, at his departure, that they might be taught Spanish, and thereafter serve as interpreters. In December, he discovered the island of Hayti, named by him Hispaniola, and landing on the 12th of the month, he* raised a cross in token of taking possession. All the inhabitants had fled into the interior ; but a young female was taken by some roving sailors, and brought on board. She was sent on shore with abundant presents of ornaments and clothing, to give a favorable report of the whites to her own people. Next day a party was sent to visit the Indian town upon the bank of the Eiver of three Kivers. The town consisted of about one thousand houses, from which the occupants fled at the sight of .the Spaniards. They were finally reassured, and induced to return. Some two thousand of them made their appearance, advancing slowly, with every gesture and expression of humiliation and respect. The woman whom the Spaniards had the day before entertained, had not failed to report magnificent descrip tions of her captors and their vessels. The tokens which she brought back, in the shape of beads, hawks'-bells, &c., were yet more convincing evidence of the beneficence and wealth of the Spaniards. She now came forward, with her husband, at the head of a throng of Indians, and every expression of gratitude and good-will was lavished by. them upon their guests. Every thing that the poor natives possessed was freely at the Spaniards' service. Columbus writes of these islanders: "True it is that after they felt confidence and lost their fear of us, they were so liberal with what they possessed that it would not be believed by those who had not seen it. If any thing TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 491 was asked of them, they never said no ; but rather gave it cheerfully, and showed as much amity as if they gave their very hearts." The early ^oyagers, and all contemporary writers, agree that this was the character of nearly all the inhabitants of the West India Islands, with the exception of the Caribs. A more guileless, innocent, contented race has never existed, and never were strangers welcomed to a foreign shore with more genuine and kindly hospitality; but what a return did they receive for their friendliness and submission I Coasting along towards the east, Columbus landed at Acul, and held friendly communion with the inhabitants, whose first fears were easily dispelled. The same scenes of mutual presents and hospitalities that characterized the former landings were here repeated. The whole of that region of country was under the command of a great cacique, named Guacanagari, from whom the Spaniards now, for the first time, received messengers, inviting them to visit him, and offering various curious presents. Among these articles, were some specimens of rude work in gold. While pursuing his course eastward, with the intention of anchoring in a harbor described as near the residence of the cacique, Columbus had the misfortune to be cast away upon a sand-bar. No shipwrecked mariners ever received more prompt and efficient relief than was imme diately extended by Guacanagari and his subjects. Every thing was brought to land from the wreck, and guarded with the most scrupulous honesty. The cacique himself, with tears in his eyes, came on board the caravel Nina, whither the admiral and his crew had been obliged to be take themselves, and offered every assistance in his power. With respect to the goods brought on shore in the natives' canoes, "there seemed," says Mr. Irving, "even among the common people, no disposition to take advan tage of the misfortune of the strangers. Although they 492 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. beheld what must, in their eyes, have been inestimable treasures, cast as it were upon their shores, and open to depredation, yet there was not the least attempt to pilfer, nor, in transporting the effects 'from the ship, had they appropriated the most trifling article ; on the contrary, a general sympathy was visible in their countenances and actions; and, to have witnessed their concern, one would have supposed the misfortune had happened to themselves." The Spaniards, wearied with long and profitless voy aging, now revelled in the enjoyment of true Indian hos pitality. The cacique, who was regarded with the utmost love and reverence by his subjects, continued his kind offices, and his people were not behind-hand in following his example. What delighted the shipwrecked mariners more than any other circumstance, was the number of gold ornaments possessed by the natives, and which they were eager to dispart for any trifle of European manufacture. Hawks'-bells, above all other articles of use or ornament, were universally in demand. "On one occasion," says Irving, "an Indian gave balf-a-handful of gold dust in ex change for one of these toys, and no sooner was in posses sion of it, than he bounded away to the woods, looking often behind him, and fearful that the Spaniard would repent of having parted so cheaply with such an inestimable jewel." The natives described the mountains of Cibao as the principal source whence gold was to be obtained. Valua ble mines were, indeed, afterwards discovered in that region, although their yield fell far short of the extravagant anticipations of the Spaniards. A portion of the crew of the wrecked vessel expressed a strong desire to remain at Hispaniola until another ex pedition could be fitted out from Spain, upon the return of the Nina, and Columbus was not displeased with the proposition. The Indians were overjoyed at the prospect of retaining some of the powerful strangers in their island, TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 493 as a protection against the invasions of the dreaded Caribs, and as security for a future visit from European vessels. They had seen, with wonder and awe, the terrible effect of the discharge of artillery, and the admiral had promised the assistance of his men and weapons in case of any inroad from an enemy's country. The little fortress of La Navidad was speedily con structed out of the materials of the stranded vessel, and fortified with her cannon. The Indians eagerly lent their assistance in the labor of transportation and building. Thirty-nine men were chosen, from the numerous volun teers for that service, as a garrison for the fort: to these Columbus addressed the most earnest exhortations to dis cretion and kindness in their intercourse with the natives. His heart might well be touched by the continued courtesy and affection of (juacanagari, who could not refrain from tears at parting with his venerated friend. The Nina sailed on the 4th of January, 1493. Coasting eastward, the caravel joined company with the Pinta, under Pinzon, of which no accounts had been for some time received, and the two vessels passed cape Gaboon, and came to anchor in the bay beyond. Here was seen a tribe of Indians very different from those of the west end of the island. From their bold and warlike appearance, their bows and arrows, clubs, and wooden swords, the Spaniards took them for Caribs, and, unfortunately, before coming to a friendly understanding with them, a skirmish took place, in which two of the Indians were wounded. Eeconciliation and friendly intercourse succeeded. The tribe proved to be that of the Ciguayans, a hardy race of mountaineers. Co lumbus was particularly struck with the noble demeanor of the cacique, supposed to be the same afterwards promi nent in history as Mayonabex. Not long after the departure of the admiral from La Navidad, the Spaniards left at the fort began to give them- 494 INDIAN RACES OF AMEEICA. selves up to the most unbounded and dissolute license. Their savage quarrels among themselves, and, the gross sensuality which characterized their intercourse with the natives, soon disabused the latter of the sublime concep tions formed by them of the virtues and wisdom of their guests. With all this misrule, the precautions of a mili tary post were utterly neglected, and full opportunity was given for an attack. The destruction of the fort by the Carib Chief Caonabo, will be found described in a subse quent chapter. When Columbus returned to Hispaniola, upon his second voyage, nothing but dismantled ruins marked the spot of the settlement. Gruacanagari and his people described the attack of Caonabo and his warriors, their own futile at tempts to assist the garrison, and the slaughter of the Spaniards. Notwithstanding the apparent good faith of the cacique, many of the Spaniards began to mistrust his accounts, and to suspect him of having acted a treacher ous part. This suspicion was strengthened by his sudden departure with several of the female captives brought away by the admiral from the Caribee Islands. The hope of procuring rich treasures of the precious metals, and the desire of holding in check the warlike Caonabo, induced Columbus to establish the fortress of St. Thomas in the province of Cibao. Those stationed at this remote interior position, in the midst of more hardy and proud-spirited tribes than those of the coast, collected and transmitted much curious information concerning na tive superstitions, customs, and nationalities. Some crude notions of supernatural influences, apparitions, necroman cy, &c., were entertained by these islanders, in common with most savage nations. They had also an idea of a future state of happiness for the good, in which all earthly pleasures should be enjoyed in unalloyed perfection. TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 495 CHAPTER II. INDIANS OF JAMAICA CRUISE ALONG THE SOUTHERN COAST OF CUBA SPEECH OF AN INDIAN COUNSELLOR DIFFICULTIES AT THE FOR TRESS OF ST. THOMAS ITS SIEGE BY CAONABO EFFORTS OF COLUMBUS TO RESTORE ORDER GREAT RISING OF THE IN DIANS OFHISPANIOLA THEIR DEFEAT TRIBUTE IMPOSED VISIT OF BARTHOLOMEW TO XARAGUAY FURTHER IN SURRECTIONS IN THE VEGA BOBADILLA AS VICEROY CRUELTIES PRACTISED ON THE INDIANS LAS CA- SAS INCIDENTS RELATED BY PURCHAS ADMIN ISTRATION OF OVANDO EXPEDITION AGAINST XARAGUA REDUCTION OF HIGUEY. IN the month of May, 1494, the island of Jamaica was first discovered by Columbus. The native inhabitants appeared to be of a very different character from the timid and gentle islanders with whom former intercourse had been held. A crowd of canoes, filled with savages gau dily adorned with plumes and paint, opposed the landing of the Spaniards. These were pacified by the Indian in terpreters on board; but upon landing, the next day, the throng of natives on shore exhibited such decidedly hos tile intentions, that it became necessary to intimidate them. A few discharges from the Spanish cross-bows sufficed to put them to flight. The ferocity of a savage* dog, brought on shore by the whites, added greatly to their terror. There was no difficulty in allaying the apprehensions of these Indians, and the -usual friendly intercourse was soon established. During a cruise along the southern coast of Cuba, which occupied the succeeding months of June and July, the islanders seen were as gentle and tract able as those upon the northern shores of the island. The means of communication now afforded by the Indian in terpreters gave new interest to every conference. The 496 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. wondering crowd of natives would gather. with, the mos* eager interest around these their fellow-countrymen, to listen to the tales of gorgeous spectacles and unheard-of wonders witnessed by themselves in the distant country of the whites. There was enough of the novel and won derful before the eyes of the ignorant islanders,, in the ships, appearance, conduct, and costume of the Spaniards, to prevent incredulity, as they listened to the narrations of the interpreters. The performance of the religious ser vices of the Catholic church, struck the natives with awe, particularly when the purport of these ceremonials was explained to them. In testimony of their natural intelli gence and perceptions of right and wrong, Mr. Irving gives us, from Herrera, the following speech of an aged councillor of one of the Cuban caciques, after witnessing the celebration of the mass: " When the service was ended, the old man of fourscore, who had contemplated it with profound attention, ap proached Columbus, and made him an oration in the Indian manner. " ' This which thou hast been doing,' said he, ' is well ; for it appears to be thy manner of giving thanks to God. I am told that thou hast lately come to these lands with a mighty force, and hast subdued many countries, spreading great fear among the people; but be not therefore vain glorious. Know that, according to our belief, the souls of men have two journeys to perform after they have de parted from the body ; one to a place dismal and foul, and covered with darkness, prepared for those who have been unjust and cruel to their fellow-men; the other pleasant and full of delight, for such who have promoted peace on earth. If then thou art mortal, and dost expect to die, and dost believe that each one shall be rewarded accord ing to his deeds, beware that thou wrongfully hurt no man, nor do harm to those who have done no harm to thee.' " TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 497 From Cuba the admiral visited the southern shores of Jamaica. All the first distrust and opposition of the in habitants had vanished, and nothing but gentleness and kindness characterized their demeanor. At one place a cacique came out to the ship with his whole family, "con sisting of his wife, two daughters, two sons, and five broth ers. One of the daughters was eighteen years of age, beautiful in form and countenance ; her sister was some what younger ; both were naked, according to the custom of the islands, but were of modest demeanour." This chief professed himself ready to go, with all his train, in the Spanish vessels, to visit the king and queen of Spain, and acknowledge himself their vassal, if by so doing he could preserve his kingdom. During the absence of Columbus, the dissolute and un principled Spaniards at the fortress of St. Thomas, so grossly abused their power among the natives, that an ex tensive spirit of hostility was roused up against them. Caonabo was unwearied in his efforts to excite the other island caciques to a union against the intruders, and the faithful Guacanagari alone seems to have been proof against his persuasions, in revenge for which non-compliance, the Carib and his brother-in-law, Behechio, committed numberless indignities and injuries upon him and his people. Serious difficulties soon arose; a number of Spaniards were put to death by Guatiguana, a subordinate cacique under the celebrated Guarionex, in punishment for outrages committed upon his people ; and Caonabo besieged the garrison at St. Thomas with a force of many thousands of his warriors. After thirty days' of ineffectual attempts to reduce the place, he gave up the undertaking, and drew off his army. The stratagem by which the person of this noted chief and warrior was secured by the commandant at St. Thomas's, will be detailed hereafter. Columbus, upon his return to Hispaniola, made use of every effort to check 32 498 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. the ruinous disorders which had become prevalent. He punished Guatiguana by an invasion of his dominions and the destruction of no small number of his people. An interview was then brought about with his superior, Gua- rionex, a peaceable and well-disposed chief, who readily consented to the establishment of a Spanish fort -in the very heart of his domains. The crushing system of oppression had now fairly com menced, and was promptly followed up by the shipment of five hundred Indians to be sold as slaves in Spain. This was directly the act of Columbus himself, and histo rians only offer, as his excuse, the argument that such was the ordinary custom of his age in all wars with savages or infidels. The interposition of the kind-hearted Isabella, prevented the consummation of this proposed sale. By her orders, the prisoners were sent back to their homes, but, unfortunately, not until the state of affairs upon the islands was such that the poor Indians might have been better situated as slaves in Spain. A general combination of the island chieftains against the Spaniards finally induced Columbus to commence an active campaign against them. In the dominions of the captive, Caonabo, his brother, Manicaotex, his brother- in-law, Behechio, and his beautiful wife, Anacaona, were the most prominent in authority, and the most active in rousing up hostilities. The Spanish force consisted of a little over two hundred men, twenty of whom were mounted, and twenty blood-hounds, an enemy as novel as terrible to the naked savages. Guacanagari lent his feeble aid, with that of his followers. Of the number of the hos tile Indians in the district of the Vega, the historians of the time gave exaggerated accounts. They speak of an array of one hundred thousand hostile savages. Mani caotex was leader of the united tribes. Near the site of the present town of St. Jago, a decisive battle was fought, TKIBES~OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 499 in which the vast army of the Indians was utterly routed. The Spanish commander did not hesitate to divide his little battalion into several detachments, which fell upon the enemy simultaneously, from different quarters. Torn to pieces by the savage dogs, trampled down by the cavalry, and unable to effect any thing in turn against the mail-clad whites, the poor Indians were overwhelmed with confusion and terror. The rout was as complete, although the mas sacre was not so cruel, as when Pizarro attacked the Peru vian Inca, with an almost equally disproportionate force. "The Indians," says Mr. Irving, "fled in every direction with yells and howlings ; some clambered to the top of rocks and precipices, from whence they made piteous sup plications and offers of complete submission ; many were killed, many made prisoners, and the confederacy was, for for the time, completely broken up and dispersed." Nearly the whole of Hispaniola was speedily reduced to subjection; Behechio and his sister, Anacaona, alone of all the natives in authority, secluded themselves among the unsettled wilds at the western extremity of the island. All the other caciques made conciliatory overtures, and submitted to the imposition of a heavy and grievous tribute upon them and their subjects. A hawks'-bell filled with gold-dust, or twenty -five pounds of cotton, was quarterly required at the hands of every Indian over the age of fourteen ; from the chiefs a vastly larger amount was collected. The contrast between the former easy and lux urious life of the islanders, their gayety and content, their simple pleasures, and unfettered liberty, with the galling servitude and wearisome tasks now imposed, is most touch- ingly and eloquently described by Irving. Unable to endure the unwonted toil and hopeless labor, the Indians vainly endeavored to escape to the mountains, and, sub sisting upon the crude products of the forest, to evade the cruelty of their enslavers. They were hunted out, and 500 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. compelled to return to their homes and to their labors, The unfortunate Guacanagari, receiving no favor from the suspicious Spaniards, and being an object of the deepest hatred to his countrymen for the part he had taken in their struggle for freedom, died in neglect and wretchedness among the mountains. In 1496, Bartholomew, a brother of Columbus, then ex ercising the office of adelantado at Hispaniola, visited Behechio at his remote western province of Xaraguay. He was received with hospitality and kindness by this chief and his sister Anacaona, and entertained in the best manner the country could afford. The object of the ex pedition was to induce the cacique to comply peaceably with the Spanish requisitions of tribute. Behechio had learned by sad experience the power of the European arms, and, as the adelantado agreed to receive the tribute in such articles as his country produced, instead of gold, he readily consented. Bartholomew's judicious policy towards these illustrious islanders gained him their highest esteem. Behechio and his sister paid the tribute required cheerfully and promptly ; and, upon the occasion of a visit from the adelantado to receive it, they both took occasion to visit the caravel in which he had arrived. Anacaona, especially, was filled with delight at the sight of the vessel, and at witnessing the ease and certainty with which its movements were controlled. The females of Xaraguay were of most remarkable beauty, but preeminent among them was the widow of Caonabo. Her queenly demeanor, grace, and courtesy, won the admiration of the Spaniards. In the following year (1497) another insurrection broke out among tribes of the Yega and the vicinity. The im mediate cause of this outbreak was the execution, at the stake, in accordance with the barbarity and bigotry of the age, of a number of Indians, for the offence of sacrilege , TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 501 Guarionex, the principal cacique, had been an object of special interest with the ecclesiastics to whom was com mitted the work of converting the islanders. His easy and pliable disposition caused him to listen patiently to their instructions, and to comply with numerous forms of their enjoining. Some one of the Spaniards having com mitted an outrage upon his wife, Guarionex refused to listen further to the doctrines of a religion whose profess ors were guilty of such villanies. Shortly after this, a chapel was broken open, and images enshrined within it were destroyed by a number of the natives. For this offence, those implicated were burned alive, as above men tioned. The adelantado suppressed the consequent uprising by a prompt and energetic seizure of the leading chiefs. Two of these were put to death, but Guarionex and the others were pardoned. By the persuasions and influence of the rebellious Eol- dan, the unfortunate cacique was, in 1498, drawn into a second conspiracy of the natives. The plot was prema turely developed, and Guarionex fled from the plains of the Vega into the mountains of Ciguay, and joined his fortunes to those of the cacique Mayonabex. This gener ous and noble chief received him, with his family and a few followers, under his protection. From this retreat, with the assistance of Ciguayan war riors, the fugitive was enabled to molest the Spanish settlements of the low country with impunity, until the Adelantado Bartholomew invaded the mountain district, dispersed the armies of Mayonabex, and took both him * and his guest prisoners. The conqueror was more placable towards a fallen foe than most of his countrymen, and, upon the submission of the Ciguayans, was ready to accord them protection and favor. Guarionex perished, in 1502, on his passage for Spain, in the same vessel with Boba dilla and Roldan. The ship foundered at sea in a terrible 502 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. hurricane, which arose immediately after the departure from Hispaniola. It was under the administration of Bobadilla that the Indians of Hispaniola were reduced to a more complete and systematic condition of slavery than before. They were regularly parceled out to the Spanish proprietors of the mines, by whom they were compelled to labor far beyond their powers of endurance, and whose wanton cruel ties excited the strongest indignation in the mind of the benevolent Las Casas one of tfie few historians of his age and nation, who possessed the inclination or courage to paint the cruelties of his countrymen in their true colors. This truly benevolent man devoted the greater portion of his life to efforts for ameliorating the condition of the na tives of the New World, but in his sympathy with their sufferings and oppressions, he unfortunately lost sight of what was due to another scarcely less unfortunate race. He was among the earliest to advocate the substitution of negro slavery for that of the Indians, under the impres sion doubtless in itself just that a state of servitude was less intolerable to the one than the other. It is to Las Casas that we are indebted for the most frightful detail of wrong and cruelty in the settlement of the West Indies, that ever disgraced human nature. His descriptions of the manner in which the native population was annihilated to minister to the luxury and avarice nay, far worse, to the depraved and wanton cruelty of the Spaniards are fright-" ful in the extreme. We can share in the honest indigna tion of old Purchas, from whose "Pilgrimage" we cite the following items: " In the Island Hispaniola the Spaniards had their first Indian habitations, where their cruelties draue the Indians to their shifts, and to their weak defence, which caused those enraged Lions, to spare neither man, woman, nor childe. They set up gibbets, and in honour of CHRIST and TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 503 nis twelve Apostles (as they said, and could the Diuell say worse?) they would both hang and burne them. * * The Nobles and commanders, they broiled on gridirons, * * % T ne y na d dogges to hunt them out of their couerts, which deuoured the poore soules: and because sometimes the Indians, thus prouoked, would kill a Spaniard, if they found opportunitie, they made a law, that an hundred of them should for one Spaniard be slaine." He elsewhere remarks: "Here [in Cuba] was a cacique named Hathuey, which called his subjects about him, and shewing them a boxe of Gold, said, that was the Spaniards God, and made them dance about it very solemnly; and lest the Spaniards should have it, he hurled it into the Eiuer. Being taken and condemned to the fire; when he was bound to the stake, a Frier came and preached heauen to him, and the terrors of hell : Hathuey asked if there were any Spaniards in heauen, the Frier answered, yea, such as were good; Hathuey replied, he would rather goe to hell, then goe where any of that cruell Nation were. I was once present saith Casas, when the inhabitants of one towne brought vs forth victuall, and met vs with great Kindnesse, and the Spaniards without any cause slew three thousand of them, of euery age and sexe. I, by their counsell, sent to other Townes to meet vs, with promise of good dealing, and two and twentie Caciques met vs, which the Captaine, against all faith, caused to be burned." In Hispaniola, under the administration of Ovando, suc cessor to Bobadilla, the sufferings and oppressions of the overtasked natives reached their climax. It would be but a wearisome repetition of barbarities to enumerate the wrongs perpetrated against the submissive inhabitants in the vicinity of the principal Spanish settlements, but the expedition against the province of Xaraguay merits a more particular attention. This was in the year 1503. Behe- 504 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. chio was dead, but his sister Anacaona still maintained her influence over the natives of that district. Upon pretence of an intended insurrection, Ovando determined to reduce Xaraguay to a condition as miserable and hopeless as that of the eastern districts. He started upon this expedition with three hundred well-armed infantry -and seventy mounted men. The army entered the dominions of Ana caona with the appearance of friendship, and the queen, with her associate caciques, was not backward in rendering to her visitors all the hospitalities of the country. Troops of young girls, dancing and waving 'branches of palm, ushered them into the principal village, where they were received and entertained with every token of kindness and good-will. It is impossible to conceive of any adequate motion on the part of the ferocious Ovando for the treacherous cru elty of his conduct towards his hosts. He affected to be lieve that a conspiracy was on foot among the natives, to massacre him and his followers, but, judging from what we can learn of the transaction, there existed no possible ground for such a suspicion. The course taken to avert the supposed danger was as follows. All the caciques were invited to attend, with their people, at a grand festi val or exhibition of Spanish martial exercises. When the unsuspecting Xaraguans had gathered in eager curiosity to behold the scene, at a given signal, the armed Spaniards fell upon the crowd, and a scene of horrible carnage en sued. Forty of the chiefs, it is said, were taken prisoners, and after being subjected to the most cruel torments to extort from them a confession of guilt, the house where* they were confined was set on fire, and the whole number perished in the flames. Anacaona was carried to St. Domingo, tried, adjudged guilty of an attempt at insurrection, and hanged! Her subjects were remorselessly persecuted; hunted from their TKIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 505 retreats among the mountains, slain like wild beasts, or brought into the most servile and hopeless bondage, they attempted no resistance, and submitted to the -cruel yoke of their tyrants. The reduction of the eastern province of Higuey, and the execution of its noble- and gigantic chief Cotubanama, completed the Spanish conquests on the island of Hispan- iola. The details of the barbarities attendant upon this last warfare, as given by Las Casas, are too horrible and disgusting for minute recital. It is sufficient that, not con tent with the destruction of the conquered people, without regard to age and sex, the Spaniards tasked their ingenuity, to devise the most cruel and lingering torments in the mur der of their prisoners. By such a course of atrocities were the "West India islands depopulated of their original inhabitants. The summary with which Purchas concludes his enumeration of various scenes of Spanish cruelty, is too quaint and forcible to be omitted. "But why doe I longer trace them in their bloudie steppes; seeing our Author that relates much more then I, yet protesteth that it was a thousand times worse. * * How may we admire that long-suffering of Groc, that rained not a floud of waters, as in Noahs time, or of fire, as in Lots, or of stones, as in Joshuas, or some vengeance from heauen vpon these Models of Hell? And how could Hell forbeare swallowing such prepared morsels, exceedinge the beastlinesse of beastes, inhuman- itie of wonted tyrants, and diuelishnesse, if it were pos sible, of the Diuels." 506 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. CHAPTER III. THE CARIES THEIR ISLANDS FIRST VISITED BY COLUMBUS ORIGIN AND LOCATION OF THE RACE TOKENS OF CANNIBALISM SEEN BY THE SPANIARDS CRUISE AMONG THE ISLANDS DEMEANOR OF PRISONERS TAKEN RETURN TO HISPANIOLA- DESTRUC TION OF THE FORTRESS AT THAT ISLAND CAPTURE OF CAONABO : HIS DEATH EXPULSION OF THE NATIVES FROM THE CARIBBJSE ISLANDS. AT the time of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, the fierce and celebrated race of cannibals which forms the subject of the present chapter was principally located upon the beautiful tropical islands, extending from Porto Eico to the main land of South America. The ter ror of their invasions, felt by the more gentle and peace able natives of the greater Antilles, inspired no little curiosity and interest in the minds of the early voyagers, and Columbus had promised the assistance of the Spanish power to check their ravages. Upon his second voyage, in 1493, the first Jand made was one of the Caribbean isl ands, and on the following day, (November 4th,) a landing was effected at Guadaloupe. Here the first intercourse took place with the terrible Caribs. This, singular race of savages, according to tradition, had its origin upon the continent of North America, among the mountain districts of the central United States. Perhaps they might have sprung from the same stock as the warlike Monacans and other savage tribes of the interior, spoken of by early historians. " They are said to have migrated," says Mr. Irving, "from the remote val leys embosomed in the Appalachian mountains. The earliest notices we have of them represent them with their weapons in their hands ; continually engaged in wars ; win ning their way and shifting their abode, until in the course TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 507 of time they found themselves on the extreme end of Florida." Hence they made their way from one island to another to the southern continent. "The archipelago ex tending from Porto Eico to Tobago, was their strong-hold, and the island of Guadaloupe in a mariner their citadel." Whether the foregoing account of the original deriva tion of the race be the correct one, it would be difficult to decide at this distance of time. When first ' known to Europeans the different nations of Caribs were widely dif fused upon the Continent of South America. They were to be found upon the banks of the Orinoco, where their descendants are living at this day, and, still farther south, in Brazil. They were every where noted for the same fierce and warlike spirit. Something of the physical char acteristics of the inhabitants of eastern Asia has been observed in the Caribs and the Guarani tribes who in habited the country north of the Amazon. As described by D'Orbigny, the following peculiarities are noticeable in most of them. " Complexion yellowish ; stature middle ; forehead not so much arched as in other races; eyes ob liquely placed, and raised at the outer angle." To return to the experience of the discoverer of the New World at the Caribbee islands. At the landing of the Spaniards, the natives fled from a neighboring village into the interior. In order to conciliate them, the visitors fastened hawks'-bells and attractive ornaments to the arms of some children who had been left behind in the hurry of flight. The sight of human remains, among other things, "the head of a young man, recently killed, which was yet bleeding, and some parts of his body boiling with the flesh of geese and parrots, and others roasting before the fire," at once suggested the thought that this must be the country of the Caribs. Columbus took a number of the natives prisoners, and carried off several women who had been. held in captivity by the islanders. It appeared that 508 INDIAN KACES OF AMEEICA. most of the men of the island were away upon some war like excursion. Pursuing his course towards Hisjoaniola, or Hayti, where the first colony had been planted upon his preceding voy age, Columbus sailed by numerous islands of the Caribbean groupe. He landed at Santa Cruz, called' Ayay by the Indians, and secured a further number of prisoners. Some of these were in a canoe, and offered a fierce resistance when they saw their retreat intercepted by one of the Spanish boats. There were two women of the party, one of them apparently a female cacique, and these showed no less valor than the men. They were taken by upsetting their canoe; but, even in the water, they resisted stoutly to the last, availing themselves of every point of sunken rock, where they could obtain a foothold, to discharge their arrows. One of the men was a son of the queen, and his "terrible frowning brow, and lion's face," excited the admiration of his captors. The demeanor of the whole party reminds one strongly of the early descriptions of the Maquas or Mohawks when in captivity. "When on board," says Irving, "the Spaniards could not but admire their untamed spirit and fierce demeanour. Their hair was long and coarse, their eyes encircled with paint, so as to give them a hideous expression; they had bands of cotton bound firmly above and below the muscu lar parts of the arms and legs, so as to cause them to swell to a disproportionate size, which was regarded by them as a great beauty, a custom which prevailed among various tribes of the new world. Though captives, in chains, and in the power of their enemies, they still retained a frown ing brow and an air of defiance." Arriving at Hayti, Columbus found the settlement at La Navidad laid waste and abandoned. Its destruction was owing to a Carib chief named Caonabo, whose warlike and commanding nature had gained him unbounded au- TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 509 thority over the natives of the island. The fact of his uniting himself with another race by which his own na tion was regarded with the utmost detestation and dread, and his attainment of rank and influence under such circumstances, are sufficient proofs of his enterprise and capacity. The friendly Indian chief Guacanagari had in vain ex tended his assistance to the little band of Spanish colonists. Caonabo had heard at his establishment among the moun tains of Cibao, of the outrages and excesses committed by the whites, and during the absence of the admiral, he made a descent upon the fort. All of the Spaniards per ished, and Guacanagari was wounded in the encounter. As a further punishment for his espousal of the cause of the detested strangers, his village was destroyed by the revengeful Carib. Guacanagari and other Haytian Indians were taken on board the Spanish vessels, and, among other proofs of superiority and power, were shown the Carib prisoners, confined in chains. This seemed to affect them more powerfully than any thing else that they witnessed. These captives were afterwards sent over to Spain for instruction in the Spanish language and in the true religion, it being intended that they should thereafter act as missionaries among their own savage countrymen. The circumstances attending the capture of the Span iards' most dreaded enemy, Caonabo, are too singular and well attested to be passed over. This was accomplished by the celebrated Alonzo de Ojeda, commandant of the fortress of St. Thomas. The Carib chief was able, it is asserted, to bring no less than ten thousand warriors into the field, and his personal strength and courage rendered him no despicable foe in open combat. Ojeda had recourse to the following stratagem to secure his enemy : He pro ceeded, accompanied by only ten mounted companions, 510 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. direct to the chiefs encampment, upon pretence of a friendly mission from the admiral. The cacique was, after great persuasion, induced to undertake an expedition to Isabella for the purpose of peaceful negotiations with Columbus. Among other in ducements, Ojeda promised him the chapel-bell, as a pres ent. Accompanied by a large body of armed warriors, the party set out for the Spanish settlement. Near the river Yagui, in the words of Mr.,Irving, "Ojeda one day produced a set of manacles of polished steel, so highly burnished that they looked like silver. Those he assured Caonabo were royal ornaments which had come from heaven, or the Turey of Biscay," (the location of certain extensive iron manufactories); "that they were worn by the monarchs of Castile in solemn dances, and other high festivities, and were intended as presents to the cacique. He proposed that Caonabo should go to the river and bathe, after which he should be decorated with these orna ments, mounted on the horse of Ojeda, and should return in the state of a Spanish monarch, to astonish his subjects." The bold device was completely successful. Caonabo. en croupe behind Ojeda, for a short time exulted in his proud position, curvetting among his amazed warriors; but suddenly the little cavalcade dashed into the forest with a rapidity that defied pursuit. The cacique was safely carried a distance of fifty or sixty leagues to Isabella, and delivered to the admiral. He ever after expressed great admiration at the skill and courage with which his captor had duped him, and manifested a reverence and respect towards Ojeda which his proud and haughty spirit forbade him to exhibit in any other presence, even that of Colum bus himself. Upon the occasion of the admiral's second return to Spain, in 1497, Caonabo, with several of his relatives, and a number of other Indians, was taken on boaid. Baffled TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 511 by contrary winds, the vessels were a long time delayed at 'the very commencement of the voyage. A landing was effected at Guadaloupe, for the purpose of procuring fresh provisions. The inhabitants exhibited their natural hostility of disposition, and. it was especially observed, as upon a former occasion, that the women were as warlike and effi cient as the men. A number of these females were made prisoners, among the rest, one who was wife of a chief of the island, a woman of most remarkable agility and strength. On setting sail, the admiral, desirous of conciliating the good- will of the natives, set his prisoners free, and gave them divers presents in pay for the provisions and stores plundered by his crew. The cacique's wife was allowed to remain on board, with her daughter, at her own re quest, she having become enamored of the captive Caonabo. This distinguished chieftain died before the vessels reach ed Spain. The Carib tribes who occupied the islands where the race was first encountered by Europeans, maintained pos session of their homes as long as courage and desperation could avail against the superior skill and weapons of the whites. Spanish cupidity, and love of novelty and ad venture led to the gradual occupation of the Caribbee islands. In some of them, bloody battles were fought : " At St. Christopher's," according to the Eev. W. H. Brett, "in 1625, two thousand Caribs perished in battle, whilst their European invaders lost one hundred men. In the other islands their losses were equally great. These calamities would cause a migration of the natives when they found it useless to fight any more. Some of the islands, as Mar- tinico, were suddenly abandoned by them, after a fierce but unavailing struggle. Those of the Caribs who chose to forsake the islands entirely, would naturally take refuge with their brethren 512 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. already settled in Guiana, and by their valor secure to themselves such portions of the country as they might think proper to occupy; as few tribes would be able, 01 indeed dare, to oppose them. A' remnant of the Caribs still remained at St. Yincent, and they were transported, about the' end of the last century, to the island of Kuattan, in the bay of Honduras." This once terrible and dreaded race so dreaded by the Spaniards that vague reports of the approach of an army of Caribs could terrify the conquerors of Peru in the midst of their successes is now reduced to -a few insignificant tribes. They are scattered in the wilderness of Guiana, and mingled with other nations of the interior. About the upper waters of the Pomeroon is one of their most considerable establishments, and the tribe there located numbers but a few hundred savages, living in almost as primitive a state as when Columbus first coasted along these tropical shores. CHAPTER IY. INDIANS OF GUIANA AND VENEZUELA 'CLASSIFICATION THE ARA- WAKS FIRST SEEN BY COLUMBUS ENTRY INTO THE GULF OF PARIA HOSPITALITY OF THE NATIVES RALEIGH'S VISIT TO THE ORINOCO EARLY WARS OF THE ARAWAKS VICTORY OVER THE CARIBS MAROON NEGROES PRESENT CONDITION OF THE ARAWAKS OTHER TRIBES OF THE INTERIOR 'GENERAL DESCRIPTION. THE tribes who inhabit the wilderness between the Amazon and the sea-coast settlements at the north, upon the Caribbean sea and the Atlantic, have been classified as belonging to the same family with the aboriginal inhabit- f * 5- Q r * '. fc II S I. i * ^ I " Hi = s, *, S. ^; I - 5 '"" 2- H H d ^- S '! r ? TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 513 ants of Brazil. The race has been denominated the "Brasilio Guaarani," and has been divided into the nations of Guarani, Caribs, Tupi, and Botocudos. In Guiana one of the most prominent tribes is that of the Arawaks. These people inhabit a great extent of country directly back of the narrow .strip of cultivated sea-coast. Nearly the whole of their territory is a savage wilderness, in which the traveller in vain seeks for any evidence of progress, or any tokens of former civilization and prosperity. A few rude figures, marked upon the rocks in certain localities, are the only records of the num berless generations wlr.ch have passed away, leaving their descendants precisely in the situation of those who pre ceded them, and as hopeless or careless of improvement. The Arawaks were the first natives s.een by Columbus, upon the occasion of his discovery of the continent of South America, in the summer of 1^98. The first land made was the island of Trinidad, at the mouth of the great river Orinoco. No Indians were seen upon the island by a party sent on shore, although unmis takable tokens of a recent and hasty retreat were visible. As the vessels approached the Serpent's Mouth, (the south ern entrance to the gulf of Paria,) twenty-five of the natives made their appearance in a canoe. To the aston ishment of the admiral, who had expected, from the reports at Hispaniola, to find a race of negroes in these southern latitudes, they were of lighter complexion than any with whom he had before held intercourse. Their figures were well proportioned and graceful ; their only clothing was a sort of turban, and a waistband of colored cotton; and their arms were bows and arrows. When an attempt was made to conciliate these wild voyagers by dancing and music, it was mistaken for a sign of hostility, and the sup posed war-dance was summarily stopped by a flight of arrows. The suspicions of the natives prevented the 33 514 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. opening of any communication with them until after the entry of the ships into the gulf. Several of them. were then taken by upsetting their canoe, and, after being kindly entreated and encouraged, were dismissed with the usual pre$ents of trinkets and hawks'-bells. When the fears of the inhabitants were dissipated by this procedure, they were eager to crowd about the vessels in their canoes. These latter were of excellent construction and large size ; some of them were even furnished with a cabin. The cacique of the county received the Spaniards at his house with the greatest respect and hospitality, and feasted them upon whatever luxuries the fruitful soil produced. "Nothing," says Irving, "could exceed the kindness and amity of this people, heightened as it was by an intelligent demeanour and a martial frankness. They seemed worthy of the beautiful country they inhabited. It was a cause of great concern, both to them and to the Spaniards, that they could not understand each others' language." Sir Walter Ealeigh entered the Orinoco in the year 1595, and brought home some account of the natives seen there. As recorded by Purchas : " The inhabitants on the North- erne branches are the Tiuitiuas, a goodly and valiant people, which haue the most manly speech and most deliberate (saith Sir Walter) that euer I heard of whatever Nation soeuer., In the Summer they haue houses on the ground, King Abibda as in other places : in the Winter they dwelt dwelt on a tree ypon the trees, 6 where they built very artifi- lf D a e riena ntrey cia11 Townes and Villages; for betweene Pet. Martyr: May and September the Biuer of Orenoque Dec. 3. lib. 6. riseth thirtie foot vpright, and then are those Islands ouer-flowen twentie foot high, except in some few raised grounds in the middle. This waterie store, when the clouds are so prodigall of more then the Eiuers store house can hold, whereby they became violent intruders and incroachers vpon the land, and not the violence of TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 515 cold, giueth this time the title of "Winter. These Tiuitiuas neuer eat of any thing that is set or sowne ; Natures nurs lings, that neither at home nor abroad, will be beholden to the art or labour of Husbandrie. They vse the tops of Palmitos for bread, and kill Deere, Fish, and Porke, for the rest of their sustenance. They which dwell vpon the branches of the Orenoque, called Capuri and Macureo, are for the most part Carpenters of Canoas, which they sell into Gruiana for gold, and into Trinidado for Tabacco, in the excessiue taking whereof, they exceed all Nations. When a Commander dieth, they vse great lamentation, and when they thinke the flesh of their bodies is putrified and fallen from the bones, they take yp the karkasse againe, and hang it vp in the house, where he had dwelt, decking his skull with feathers of all colours, and hanging his gold- plates about the bones of his arms, thighes and legges. The Arwacas, which dwell on the South of the Orenoque, beat the bones of their Lords into Powder, which their wiues and friends drinke." In early times the Arawaks were engaged in perpetual wars with the Caribs. Those of the latter race, who inhab ited the nearest Caribbean islands, made continual descents upon the main, but are said, finally, to have been worsted. The Rev. W. H. Brett recounts some of the traditions still handed down among the Arawaks of these wars. " They have," says he, "an indistinct idea of cruelties perpetrated by the Spaniards. Tradition has preserved the remem brance of white men clothed with 'seperari' or iron, who drove their fathers before them, and, as some say, hunted them with dogs through the forest. But by far the greater number of their traditions relate to engage ments between themselves and the Caribs on the main land." With peculiar exultation they detail the particu lars of a victory obtained over a great body of these invaders by means of a judicious ambush. The Arawaks 516 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. had fled from their approach to the low marshy countiy upon the "Waini, and laid their ambuscade upon either side of the narrow channel through which the enemy were expected to pass. "The Caribs 'are said to have had a great number of canoes of large size, which followed each other, in line, through the mazy channels of the Savannah. As they rounded a certain island, their painted warriors in the first canoe were transfixed by a shower of arrows from an unseen enemy on both sides of them, and totally disabled. Those in the second canoe shared the same fate ; the others, who could not see what had' happened, hurried forward to ascertain the cause of the cries, but each canoe, as it reached the fatal spot, was saluted by a deadly shower of arrows. The Arawaks then rushed forward, and fought till the victory was completed. It is said that only two Caribs survived, and they were dismissed by the Arawak chieftain, on promise of a ransom to be paid in cotton hammocks, for the manufacture of which their nation is noted." After the settlement of difficulties between the European colonists of Guiana and the neighboring Indian tribes, the introduction of negro slaves by the former proved a ter rible scourge to the natives. Great numbers of the Afri cans escaped from their masters into the wilderness, and there forming predatory bands, were long a terror to both whites and Indians. "The accounts which the Arawaks have received from their ancestors, represent these negroes as equally ferocious with the Caribs, and more to be dreaded on account of their superior bodily strength." The Arawaks of the present day are, like their forefath ers, a more mild and peaceable race than many of their neighbors. In their domestic relations and general man ner of life, they do not differ materially from the gener ality of the North American savages. Together with the rude clubs, bows and arrows, &c., so universal among bar- 517 barous nations, they have the more efficient weapons of the European. The Indian is every where quick to per ceive the advantage of fire-arms, and apt in acquiring their use. Christian missionaries have devoted themselves with great zeal and perseverance to the instruction and improve ment of this tribe, and the natural kindly disposition of the race seems to favor the undertaking. Besides the Caribs and Arawaks, the principal Indian tribes of Guiana are the Waraus, and the Wacawoios; in addition to these are the minor nations of the Arecunas, Zaparas, Soerikongs, Woyawais, Pianoghottos, &c., &c. Most of these are barbarous tribes, not sufficiently variant from each other to render a distinct consideration valuable or interesting. The vast wilderness which they inhabit is little visited by whites. From the coast settlements the only available routes into the interior are by means of the numerous riv ers, upon whose banks missionary enterprise has here and there established a little settlement as a nucleus for future operations among the natives at large. From Mr. Brett's narrative of his own observation and experience in these wilds, we quote the following items of general description : "The appearance of the Indian in his natural state is not unpleasing when the eye has become accustomed to his scanty attire. He is smaller in size than either the European or the negro, nor does he possess the bodily strength of either of these. Few of his race exceed five feet five inches in height, and the greater number are much shorter. They ore generally well made; many are rather stout in proportion to their height, and it is very rare to see a deformed person among them." In respect to dress, which, both for men and women, is of the most scanty proportions, (consisting only of a band age about the loins, with perhaps a few ornamental arti cles of feather-work for state occasions,) the efforts of the 518 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. missionaries have effected some change in those brought under their influence. In a burning tropical clime, the propriety or policy of such fancied improvement is very questionable. If no immodesty is connected with naked ness in the eyes of the unsophisticated natives, it would seem hardly worth while to enlighten them upon such a subject, for the purpose of establishing a conformity to European customs. Our author continues: "Their color is a copper tint, pleasing to the eye, and the skin, where constantly covered from the sun, is little darker than thaf of the natives of Southern Europe. Their hair is straight and coarse, and continues perfectly black till an advanced period of life. The general expression of the face is pleasing, though it varies with the tribe and the disposition of each person. Their eyes are black and piercing, and generally slant up wards a little towards the temple, which would give an unpleasant expression to the face, were it not relieved by the sweet expression of the mouth. The forehead gen erally recedes, though in a less degree than in the African ; there is, however, much difference in this respect, and in some individuals it is well formed and prominent." The usual division of labor among savage nations is observed in Guiana. The daily drudgery of the household belongs to the women, who also cultivate the small fields in which the yuca, (the root from which they make their bread,) and the other cultivated crops are raised. The men pursue their hunting and fishing, and undertake the more severe labors attendant upon the building their huts, the clearing of new ground, &c. The native dwelling is generally little more than a roof of palm-leaf thatch supported upon posts, between which hang the cotton hammocks in which the occupants sleep. Some few implements of iron- ware, and articles of pottery of a more substantial and practical form than that manu- TRIBES OF THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 519 fuctured by themselves, are generally procured by trade with the coast, but these are all of the simplest description. Maize, with cassava, yams, potatoes and other roots, constitutes their principal vegetable food. The cassava is prepared by grating, or scraping, and subsequent pressure in a receptacle of basket-work. This strainer is constructed in the form of a " long tube, open at the top and closed at the bottom, to which a strong loop is attached. The pulpy mass of cassava is placed in this, and it is suspended from a beam. One end of a large staff is then placed through the loop at the bottom, the woman sits upon the centre of the staff, or attaches a heavy stone to the end, and the weight stretches the elastic tube, which presses the cassava inside, causing the juice to flow through the interstices of the plaited material of which it is made. This liquor is carefully collected in a vessel placed beneath. It is a most deadly poison ; but after being boiled, it becomes perfectly wholesome, and is the nutritious sauce, called casareep, which forms the principal ingredient in the pepper-pot, a favourite dish of the country." THE ABORIGINES OF PERU. CHAPTER I. PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES OF THE QUICHUAS, AYMARAS, ATACAMAS, AND CHANGOS NATURE OF THE COUNTRY PERUVIAN WORKS OF ART, ETC. FIRST RUMORS OF THE WEALTH OF THE COUNTRY EXPEDITION OF PASCUAL DE ANDAGOYA FRANCISCO PIZAR- EO I HIS FIRST VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY ALM AGRO's VOYAGE CONTRACT OF PIZARRO, ALMAGRO, AND LUQUE THE SECOND EXPEDITION PIZARRO AND HIS COMPANIONS UPON THE ISLE OF GORGONA CONTINUATION OF THE VOYAGE TUMBEZ RETURN TO PANAMA. THE Peruvian and Araucanian races alone, among the South American aborigines, present subjects of interest to the historian. The other tribes of that great portion of the western continent are at an infinite remove from these in the scale of civilization, and can scarce be said to have any separate national history. We shall describe their habits and physical appearance, much as we should enter upon the duties . of the writer upon natural history : an attempt to arrange a serial narrative of events, as con nected with them would be useless. Widely contrasted with the wild and savage tribes of the interior, and of the eastern coast, the Peruvians offer, in their character and history, a fruitful theme for the attention and research of the historian and the philoso pher. As a nation, they were, when discovered by Euro peans, perfectly unique. Such refinements in government, SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 521 STicli unity of purpose, and such perfect system, as were observable in all their customs and usages, have never been even attempted, much less accomplished, by any other community throughout the globe. The physical conformation of the Quichua race, the most prominent among the ancient inhabitants of Peru, is somewhat singular. The effects of living at such an im mense elevation as that of many of their cities, and of the great plateaus which they inhabit among the Andes, cause a remarkable development of the chest. The rarity of the air in mountainous districts render a much greater volume of it necessary in respiration. The Quichuas have there fore, according to M. d'Orbigny, "very large, square shoulders, a broad chest, very voluminous, highly arched, and longer than usual, which increases the size of the trunk. * * The extremities are nevertheless, very muscu lar, and bespeak great strength; the head is larger than usual in proportion to the rest of the body ; the hands and feet are always small." The Quichuas differ, in a marked manner, from most of the other South American nations, in the features of the countenance. These are said in some degree to approach the Mexican type. A prominent acquiline nose, large nos trils, the forehead somewhat retreating, a moderately full cerebral development, rather a large mouth, adorned with fine teeth, and a short but well denned chin, may be given as generally characteristic of the race. The Quichuas have beautifully soft, thick, and flowing hair, but are almost destitute of beards. Their complex ion is a brown olive, entirely distinct from the reddish or copper hue of most of the North American Indians. It approaches that of the mulatto more nearly than that of the other American aborigines, and is spoken of as singu larly uniform. They are of low stature, particularly those who. live in the more elevated regions. Their general 522 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. physiognomy, in the words of the author above cited, "is, upon the whole, uniform, serious, reflective, melancholy, without, however, showing indifference: it denotes rather penetration without frankness. *' * Their features alto gether retain a mediocrity of expression. The women are seldom very handsome ; their noses are not so .promi nent or curved as those of the men : the latter, although they have no beard, have a masculine expression, derived from their strongly-marked features. An ancient vase, which represents with striking fidelity, the features of the present race of Quichuas convinces us ' that for four and five centuries their physiognomy has undergone no sen sible alteration." The Aymaras, the second in the grand division of the Peruvian races, bear a close resemblance to those just described. In early times the strange and unnatural cus tom of flattening the head obtained among them, as is fully proved by the contour of many skulls found in their ancient places of burial or deposit. No material variation from the Quichuan bodily forma tion is noticeable in the Atacamas, who inhabit the western slope of the Andes; but the Changos, dwelling upon the hot levels of the sea-coast, "are of darker hue: their colour is a tawny, approaching to black." The .country inhabited by these three races, although lying within the tropics, and in certain localities luxuri antly rich and fertile, presents obstacles to the agricultur alist, which would seem almost insurmountable. Nothing but the whole industry of a great nation, directed system atically to the work of reclamation and improvement, could ever have made Peru what it was in the days of the Incas. A flat and sterile plain, washed by the Pacific, forms the western boundary of the ancient empire. On this district rain never falls; at least, the few drops which at certain SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 523 seasons sprinkle the surface, are insufficient to avail in the slightest degree for the promotion of fertility. From the stupendous mountain ranges which extend in an unbroken course throughout the western sea-board of South Ameri ca, impetuous torrents pour down through the plains toward the sea, and, by a laborious and ingenious diver sion, these streams were led by the ancient Peruvians in long and massive aqueducts to irrigate tfce plain or the terraces wrought upon the steep sides of the mountains. Some mention has been made, in a former chapter, of the ruins which still remain to attest the advancement and en terprise of the ancient Peruvians, particularly of the great roads by which ready communication was opened over the most rugged and naturally impassable country in the world. A further description of some of these relics will be given hereafter, as connected with their wonderful system of government, and its effects in the accomplishment of public works. Mexico had already fallen into the hands of the Span iards, and their settlements had long been established upon the Isthmus, before the world obtained any knowledge of the western coast of South America. The national thirst for gold, only the more excited by the successes in contest with the Aztecs, was roused anew by reports gath ered from the natives of the Isthmus, of a far richer and more magnificent empire at the South. The first attempt to explore the coast to the southward had been made in 1522, by Pascual de Andagoya, but he proceeded no further than the Puerto de Pinas, near the mouth of the small river Biru. Two years passed away without any farther discoveries, at the end of which time, the matter was taken in hand by a man whose char acter leaves us at a loss whether we should the more ad- 524 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. mire his courage, fortitude, and indomitable energy, or execrate his cruelty and unscrupulous rapacity. This man was Francisco Pizarro. He was, at this time, about fifty years of age, the last ten of which', at least, he had passed amid the stirring scenes of discovery and conquest in the New World. He had, among other adventures, shared the dangers and the exultation of Vasco Nugnez de Bal boa, in his first passage of the Isthmus, and his discovery of the Western Ocean. He was now residing near Panama, and is said to have accumulated but a small landed property as the reward of his" long labors and privations. Pizarro was the illegitimate son of a colonel of infantry, named Gonzalo Pizarro, and a woman of low rank, resid ing at Truxillo, in Spain, in which city the future con queror was born. In the great enterprise of the conquest of Peru, he was associated with one Diego de Almagro, a man of more uncertain origin, and less favored by worldly prosperity, even than himself. This companion in arms was, at all events, a brave and gallant soldier. Fortunately for the two adventurers, they succeeded in securing the assistance of Hernando de Luque, an ecclesiastic occupied in the duties of his profession at Panama. With such funds as could be raised by these three, a vessel was procured, and about one hundred men were enlisted to share the danger and profits of the expedition. Pedrarias, the Span ish governor, sanctioned the proceeding, stipulating, at the same time, for a proportion of the gold that should be brought home. In November, 1524, Pizarro set sail, leaving Almagro to prepare another vessel which they had purchased, and to follow as soon as possible. Nothing but disaster marked this first voyage. Storms at sea ; conflicts with natives on shore; sickness, exposure, and starvation, thinned the num bers and broke down the spirit of the party. Pizarro SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 525 alone appears to have maintained an unshaken fortitude and determination. No provisions could be procured at the spots where the voyagers landed, and it became necessary to send the ves sel back for supplies. About half the company, under one Montenegro, was dispatched for this purpose, leaving the rest of the adventurers upon the swampy, unwhole some coast, not far from the mouth of the Biru, to support themselves as best they could amid an almost impenetrable wilderness of rank tropical vegetation. Nearly half their number perished before any relief was obtained. When at the extremity of distress, the sight of a distant light amid the forest awakened their hopes, and Pizarro, with a small scouting party, led by this token of human habit ation, penetrated the thicket to an Indian village. His hungry followers seized on whatever offered. As the na tives, who had at first fled in terror, gradually approached and held communication with them, their hopes were again revived by the sight of rude ornaments in gold, and by the confirmation of the reports concerning a rich empire at the south. It was six weeks from the time of his departure before Montenegro returned to rescue his remaining companions. With renewed hope and zeal, the party reembarked, and continued to coast along the shore. After landing at other places, and experiencing severe encounters with the war like natives, it was found necessary to return to Panama to refit. Almagro, in the mean time, had followed in the same course, with the second vessel, and landed at most of the places visited by Pizarro. He was more successful in his engagements with the natives than the first party had proved; and succeeded in extending his voyage as far south as the river of San Juan. At this place unmistake- able tokens of approach to a well-cultivated and inhab- 526 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. ited country presented themselves. Finding 1 no further traces of Pizarro and his companions, and supposing that they must have perished or have been compelled to return, Almagro now turned his course towards Panama. He brought home more gold and more favorable reports than his partner; but the disasters, losses, and miserable con dition of the first voyagers tended to throw almost insur mountable obstacles in the way of a second attempt. The three confederates Pizarro, Almagro, and Father Luque continued as sanguine as ever. The necessary funds were obtained by the latter, as is said, of one Gas- par de Espinosa, in whose name he acted, and in whose behalf he stipulated for one-third of all returns which should result from a successful completion of the immense undertaking. A solemn contract was entered into between the parties, strengthened by all the ceremonials of oaths and religious services. Neither of th'e two soldiers could write, and their signatures were executed in their presence, by the witnesses to the instrument of contract. Pedrarias had been succeeded by Don Pedro de los Kios, and the new governor assented to the second expedition. This was undertaken with two vessels, carrying about one hundred and sixty men and a few horses. The services of Bartholomew Euiz, a skilful pilot, were secured. The adventurers steered direct for the mouth of the San Juan, and, landing at an Indian village on the river, obtained some plunder in gold, and seized upon the persons of a few of the natives. The country appeared too populous to offer much chance of success to such a small band of invaders. Almagro was therefore sent back to enlist more men at home, while Euiz, with the other vessel, explored the coast further to the south, and Pizarro remained near the river, With a portion of the crew. The latter endured much from famine, exposure, and fatigue, during the ab sence of Ruiz. Attempting to penetrate into the interiorj SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 527 in hopes of finding a more open country, they were com pletely worn down and dispirited. The pilot, in the mean time, had made his way far south ward. He had crossed the equator, and touched at several places, where the dense population and well-built dwell ings gave proofs of no little advancement in civilization. He brought with him several Indian prisoners, taken at sea, upon one of the rude boats, or rather rafts, called "balsas," in which they were voyaging. Some of these were from the port of Tumbez, and their marvellous ac counts of the quantities of gold and silver used by their monarch, roused anew the cupidity of the Spaniards. Almagro soon after arrived with numerous fresh re cruits, and, what with the glowing reports of Ruiz, and this addition to their force, the weakened and despairing followers of Pizarro regained their former hopes and cour age. The whole company again set sail for the land of promise. At Tacames, near the mouth of the Santiago, where the present town of Esmeraldas is situated, the flourishing appearance of the country invited the voyagers to land ; but they were opposed by thousands of armed natives, who attacked them with great fury. It was sup posed that all the Christians must have perished in this onslaught, but for a strange mistake on the part of the Indians. A few of the Spaniards were mounted upon horses a sight never before witnessed in Peru and one of the cavaliers happening to fall from his horse, the In dians supposed that a single enemy had become two. The horse and his rider were taken for but one animal, and the confusion and amazement caused by the sight of such a prodigious separation, gave the Spaniards an opportunity to retreat. It was plain that a greater force was necessary to make any advantageous progress in the new empire, and again was one of the little vessels sent back to Panama for re'in- 528 INDIAN KACES OF AMEKICA. foreements, while Pizarro and a portion of his forces took up their quarters upon the little island of Gallo. They suffered every extremity before supplies reached them from the north, and when two ves'sels loaded with stores made their appearance, there was a general cry for return. Pizarro, fortified in his determination by. encouraging letters from his allies, harangued his followers, and gave them their free choice whether to go forward in search of fame and wealth, or to return in poverty and disgrace to Panama. Thirteen only had the resolution to proffer their further services. The commander of the store-ships, who was instructed by the governor to bring back the party, refused to leave either of his vessels for the use of these few valorous spirits, and, grudgingly bestowing upon them a portion of his provisions, set sail, leaving them, as was supposed, to certain destruction. Upon this island, and upon that of Gorgona, twenty-five leagues to the northward, (whither they migrated on a raft, for better quarters,) the little party spent seven miserable and solitary months. By great exertions, Almagro and Luque procured another vessel, and the governor^ per mission to relieve their associates; but this was not ob tained without a positive injunction to Pizarro to return within six months. No recruits were taken on board, beyond the necessary crew of the vessel. Kuiz had charge of the craft, and the sight of its approach soon gladdened the desponding hearts of the destitute and half-famished expectants at Gorgona. Without hesitation the little band stood once more for the south, leaving two of their number ill on the island, in charge of some of the friendly natives, who were still detained in their company. After twenty days' sail, in which they passed, without landing, the spots of former exploration, the vessel entered the unknown gulf of Guayaquil. SOUTH AMEKICAN INDIANS. 529 As the Spaniards directed their course towards the city of Tumbez, the residence of the Indian captives, they en countered many natives, in the balsas which served them for boats. These strange craft were made of logs of light wood, secured together, and fitted with masts and sails. The crews of these rafts, in the midst of their amazement at the prodigy before their eyes, recognized the Indians on board, and learning from them that the strangers were bound merely upon exploration, returned to satisfy the curiosity of the eager crowds gathered upon the shore. A peaceful communication was soon established, and the sea- wearied Spaniards were refreshed by bountiful supplies of the tropical luxuries furnished by the kindly natives. Llamas, or Peruvian camels, as they were called, were now for the first time exhibited and offered to the visitors. A great noble, of the royal race of the Incas, came on board, and was courteously entertained by Pizarro, who pointed out and explained the mysteries of the vessel and its accoutrements. The officers of the Spanish company were, in turn, feasted at the house of the curaca, or governor of the province, and were shown the royal temple and fortresses. Some of the apartments were adorned with such a rich profusion of massive golden ornaments and plating, that the dazzled Spaniards now trusted in the speedy realiza tion of their long-deferred hopes. From Tumbez, Pizarro coasted southward as far as the island and port of Santa, some distance beyond the site of the present Truxillo, stopping at various towns and settle ments on his route. The strangers were every where re ceived with hospitality, kindness, and the most lively curiosity, and enough was seen fully to convince them of the richness, civilization, and prosperity of the thickly populated empire. Eeturning to Panama, they again stopped at Tumbez and 34 530 INDIAN BACES OF AMERICA. other important ports, and thence brought away specimens of the productions of the country ; among other things, a number of llamas. At their own t request, several of the Spaniards were left at Tumbez, to enjoy the luxury and ease which seemed to be offered by a life among the kindly natives. A young Peruvian, named Felipillo, with, one or two companions, was taken on board the vessel, that he might be instructed in the Spanish language, and that his appearance might satisfy the incredulous, at home, as to the character of the inhabitants of Peru. The troubles of the enterprising trio to whom these dis coveries were owing were not yet at an end. The derision and contumely which had tended so long to damp their spirits, was, indeed, changed to congratulations and eager astonishment at the return and reports of Pizarro ; but the governor frowned upon the prosecution of the enterprise. "He did not wish," says Herrera, "to depopulate his own district in order to people new countries " the gold, silver, and sheep which had been exhibited, seemed to him but a paltry return for the expenditure of such an amount of lives and money, and the endurance of such hardships and suffering as were the fruits of the first expeditions. Before continuing the account of the steps by which the great work of conquest was finally achieved, it will be well to take a brief view of the condition of the devoted country at the period of its discovery. The two great monarchies of Mexico and Peru, both of them in a state of semi-civilization at the period of Span ish discoveries and conquests, are closely associated in our minds. The thoughts of one naturally suggests that of the other. We shall, however, find, upon an examination of history, that these nations were widely dissimilar: neither, in all human probability, had any knowledge of the other's existence, and no intercourse could have been maintained between them from a period of the most remote antiquity. SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 531 Without going into a direct comparison between these countries, their respective governments, religion, and na tional customs, we shall enter sufficiently into particulars in treating the present subject, to give the reader such a general idea of its details that he can himself perceive the contrasts and dissimilarities above mentioned. CHAPTER II. MYTHOLOGICAL TRADITIONS TOPA INCA YUPANQU1, AND HIS SON HUAYNA CAPAC THE PERUVIAN CAPITAL RELIGIOUS SYSTEM GOVERNMENT AGRARIAN LAW LLAMAS PUBLIC RECORDS : THE "QUIPU" AGRICULTURE MARRIAGES WARLIKE POL ICY OF THE INC AS THE GREAT ROADS CONTENTMENT OF THE NATIVES DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE : HUASCAR AND ATAHUALLPA CONTEST FOR SUPREMACY. ACCORDING to Peruvian mythology, the whole country was, in early times, as savage and barbarous as the neigh boring nations of the East. Manco Capac, and his sister and wife, Mama Oello Huaco, two children of the Sun, settling in the valley of Cuzco, began the work of regen eration. They taught the arts of civilized life, and from them sprang the long line of the Incas whose glorious kingdom was at the height of its prosperity when discov ered by the Spaniards. Other traditions, more worthy of study and reflection, speak of "bearded white men" to whose immigration the commencement of improvement was due. We gather little of connected or reliable tradition earlier than the reign of Topa Inca Yupanqui. This monarch's victories widely extended the domains bequeathed him by his ancestors. By his warlike achievements, and those of his son, Huayna Capac, the Peruvian empire was extended from the southern portion of Chili to the boundaries of the 532 INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. present republic of New Grenada. The centre of govern ment, and site of the royal palace, the great temple of the sun, and the most celebrated fortification, were at Cuzco, in the interior. The town was situated in a valley of the table-land, at an immense height above the level of the sea, an altitude which secured to it a delightful climate in those tropical regions. The principal buildings of the capital were of hewn stone, wrought entirely by instruments of copper, hard ened by an alloy of tin ; for, like the Mexicans, the people of Peru were entirely ignorant of the use of iron. A cer tain perfection of workmanship, seldom attempted in more advanced nations, and only elsewhere observable in the casings of the great Egyptian pyramids, is described as peculiar to the laying of the courses of stone in these an cient buildings. For the most part no cement was used, but the blocks were so accurately fitted that "it was im possible to introduce even the blade of a knife between them." Mr. Prescott, givingj as his authority, the meas urements and descriptions of Acosta and Garcilasso, says : "Many of these stones were of vast size; some of them being full thirty-eight feet long, by eighteen broad, and six feet thick. * * These enormous masses were hewn from their native bed, and fashioned into shape by a peo ple ignorant of the use of iron; they were brought from quarries, from four to fifteen leagues distant, without the aid of beasts of burden; were transported across rivers and ravines, raised to their elevated position on the sierra, and finally adjusted there with the nicest accuracy, with out the knowledge of tools and machinery familiar to the European." At Cuzco stood the great temple of the sun, by far the most resplendent with gold and ornament of all the pub lic edifices of Peru. The description of this central point of the religious system of the country vies with those of SOUTH AMERICAN, INDIANS. 533 fairy palaces in Arabian tales. It was built of stone, but, by a strange contrast of magnificence with rudeness, was thatched with straw. The most striking object in the in terior was a huge golden sun, represented by the figure of a human face, surrounded with rays. This was so placed as to receive the first beams of the rising sun. The whole building sparkled with golden ornament; even upon the outside a heavy belt of gold is said to have been let into the stone wall around the whole extent of the edifice. Great vases of the precious metals stood in the open space of the interior, filled with offerings of maize, and no less valuable material was used for the various tools and im plements connected with the establishment. This profusion of gold and silver, which, although in inferior degree, was noticeable in the royal palaces and temples throughout the empire, resulted from the circum stance that the mines were a government monopoly. No money was used, and consequently the whole product of the country, in this line, was collected in the coffers of the Inca, or displayed in the gorgeous ornaments which adorned the temples. The mines were worked by bodies of laborers systematically drafted from the common peo ple, to serve for specified periods. The Peruvians had some idea of an invisible deity, whose supremacy they acknowledged, and to whom hom,- age was rendered, but the sun was their chief object of worship. The moon and stars took the place of subordi nate divinities. By virtue of his office, the Inca was the head of the visible church, and high-priest of the sun ; all the other religious functionaries were of the nobility, viz: descendants in the male line of the royal family. One lawful wife gave birth to the successor to the throne, but from the innumerable concubines kept by the empe ror sprang the race of Inca nobility, distinguished by dress and .occupation from the body of the people. 534 INDIAN" RACES OF AMERICA. A most singular resemblance to the ancient order of the vestal virgins existed in that of the Peruvian Yirgins of the Sun. These were set apart, at, an early age, for the services of the temple, the preparations of its tapestry and ornaments, and especially for the preservation of the sa cred fire. Terrible penalties followed the violation of chastity by either of these devotees, always excepting the privileges of the Inca, to whom they were subservient as "brides," or concubines. The office did not necessarily continue during life: many of these "Yirgins" were dis missed to their paternal homes from time to time, and were ever thereafter held in great honor and veneration. The religious ceremonies and festivals familiar to the na tion were singularly numerous and complicated: an enu meration of them would be, for the most part, wearisome and devoid of interest. The Peruvian system of government merits a more particular attention. Here, for the first time in the history of the world, we see the results of a paternal despotism carried to its most extravagant extent, yet meeting the apparent wants of the people, and universally acquiesced in and approved by them. From generation to generation the whole mass of the commonalty was shut out from any possibility of change or improvement, and subjected to immutable rules in every employment or privilege of life. The whole empire was minutely divided and subdivi ded into districts, according to population, and over each of these departments a curaca or governor was set to main tain law. The penal code was sufficiently severe, and rigidly enforced ; in all matters of private right there was no room for contention among the citizens, as the state prescribed every man's place of residence, the amount and nature of his employment, and the provision necessary for his support. The government assumed the entire ownership of the SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 535 soil, which was divided into three parts for the following uses: The first was set apart to support the whole exten sive system of religion; the second sustained the royal court, and furnished the "civil list" for the accomplish ment of all public works, and to defray the current ex penses of the empire; and the third was yearly divided among the people. The apportionment was made to each family, according to its numbers, and, unless some good cause should appear to the contrary, it is supposed that the same spot was continued in the possession of its proprie tor from year to year. The public domains were culti vated by the people in mass, and, in the management of the private allotments, vigilant care was taken, by the appropriate officers, that no one should be idle, no one over-burdened with labor, and no one in a state of suffer ing from want. The only beast of burden in Peru was the llama. The immense herds of this animal were, without exception, the property of the state, and under the management of government officials. The wool and hair of the llama fur nished the most important material for the clothing of the whole population, but before it reached its ultimate desti nation it must pass through the hands of appointed agents, and, after the separation and preparation of the portion devoted to religious and royal purposes, be equitably par celled out and distributed among the private families. The manufacture of cloth was more especially the business of women and children. No man had the power to choose his own employment. A select number of artisans were set apart and instructed in such mechanical sciences as were known to the age and country, while the mass of the population were employed in agricultural labors, or, by a systematic apportionment among the different districts, were engaged upon the vast works of public utility or magnifi cence which astonished the eyes of the Spanish invaders. 536 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. The most exact accounts were kept, by certain appointed officers, of the entire population and resources of the em pire. No birth, marriage, or deatfc, was suffered to pass unchronicled, and an immense amount of statistical matter, relative to the condition of the people, the productions of the soil, the extent of manufactures, &c., was regularly and systematically returned to the proper department. The substitute for writing, by which these results, and even much more abstract particulars (as of dates and historical events), were perpetuated, was exceedingly ingenious and unique. It consisted of the "quipu," viz: a cord of strands varying in color, from which depended numerous short threads at regular distances. A series of knots in these appendages (which were, like the strands of the main cord, of various colors) served to express any amount in num bers, and the difference in hue designated the subject to which they were applied. The endless combinations which could be effected in this system of knots might, as we can readily perceive, be extended to the expression of a very wide range of ideas. In the words of Mr. Prescott: " The peculiar knot, or color, in this way (by association) sug gested what it could not venture to represent; in the same manner to borrow the homely illustration of an old writer as the number of the Commandment calls to mind the Commandment itself. * * * The narrative thus concocted could be communicated only by oral tradition; but the quipus served the chronicler to arrange the inci dents with method, and to refresh his memory." In some of the sciences, particularly in astronomy, the Peruvians were far behind the Aztecs. A few simple ob servations of the movements of the planets; and the meas urement of shadows to mark the solstices, equinoxes, &c., formed the limit of their speculations or experiments. In the more practical and necessary arts of husbandry and agriculture, not even the laborious and patieni population SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 537 of China could excel the subjects of the Incas. The ex tent of the acqueducts, to conduct the mountain-streams through the arid fields where rain never fell ; the immense excavations made to reach a moist soil, fifteen or twenty feet below the surface; and other mighty undertakings which individual enterprise could never have accomplish ed, evince the effects that a complete centralization of power can produce. Were it not for the ruins, of which modern travellers give us measurement and description, we should be tempted to throw aside the early histories of Peruvian achievements as gross exaggerations. The use of guano for manure was common, and the gathering and application of it were in accordance with rigid and careful regulations. The destruction, or even the disturb ance of the birds to whom the formation is owing, was punished by death. A plough was used in the cultivation of the land, but it was rudely and simply constructed of wood, and was forced through the earth by human thews and sinews. The unequalled diversity in soil and climate provided suitable localities for a variety in vegetable pro ductions seldom seen within the same limits. Bananas, Indian corn, potatoes, a grain called quinoa, and many other well-known crops, were successfully cultivated. The desire for stimulants and narcotics, so universal to man kind, was satisfied by a liquor brewed from maize, by to bacco, and by the coca or cuca, whose leaves possess some thing of the sedative qualities o the latter plant. We have mentioned the control exercised by the gov ernment over the private affairs of every citizen; this extended even to the ties of affinity. Every person was required to marry at an appointed age, (eighteen in females, and twenty -four in males,) and, although a certain degree of choice was left to the individual in the selection of a partner, it must be confined within a specified district or community. The Inca always married his sister, that the 538 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. purity of the royal blood might not be contaminated, but such a connection was forbidden between any of lower rank. Although the mass of the people were constantly em ployed in the operations of peaceful husbandry, the policy of the Inca dynasty towards neighboring nations was essentially warlike. The youth of the nobility, and espe cially the presumptive heir to the throne, were instructed in the arts of war, and subjected to a routine of bodily exercise and trials of fortitude not unlike that practised by the ruder nations of North America, in the initiation of their future warriors. An extensive militia system was enforced, and, in time of war, troops were drafted from the different districts in some proportion to the population; regard being had to the hardihood and energy of the various races, in making the levy. Axes, lances, darts, bows and arrows, and slings, formed the principal weapons of offence. The soldiers were also supplied with the quilted coats of such common use in past ages, to ward off arrows and sword- thrusts, and with helmets of skins or wood. * The great roads, led along the mountain ridges, or by the level plain of the sea-coast, furnished ready means of transit to the royal armies throughout the extent of the empire. Enough of these yet remains to excite the ad miration of every traveller. Of the principal of these roads, Mr. Prescott speaks as follows: "It was conducted over pathless sierras buried in snow; galleries were cut for leagues through the living rock; rivers were crossed by means of bridges that hung suspended in the air ; pre cipices were scaled by stairways hewn out of the native bed; ravines of hideous depth were filled up with solid masonry ; in short, all the difficulties that beset a wild and mountainous region, and which might appall the most courageous engineer of modern times, were encountered and successfully overcome. The length of the road, of SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 539 ^whivili scattered fragments only remain, is variously esti mated from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles." No celebrated conqueror of the old world ever pursued such I perfect system and method in the conduct of a campaign as did the Incas. Stations for couriers were built at regu lar intervals throughout the main routes, by means of which messages or light burdens could be conveyed with in credible celerity to any required distance. Granaries and i store-houses filled with supplies for the army stood, under care of appointed officers, at convenient intervals, and all these provisions and supplies being furnished from the state funds, no man felt them as an extraordinary burden. A strange but sagacious policy was observed towards a conquered nation. The Peruvian worship of the sun was immediately introduced; all the laws of the empire were enforced, and its customs established; but, that the yoke might not be too galling, the privileges as well as the duties of a subject were extended to the conquered people. The former nobles and governors were not uncommonly continued in office, and a paternal care was taken of the necessities and interests of the whole populace. With all this, no steps were omitted which would tend to completely denationalize the newly-acquired country. Large colonies of Peruvians were transplanted from their own country to the new, and their places supplied by an equal number of those whose habitations they occupied. The language of the conquerors was every where introduced, and its use encouraged until, with the lapse of years, a complete as similation was brought about. All this complete course of despotism was said by the Spanish historians, who wrote from observation, and be fore the old order of things was entirely overturned, to be precisely that which was best adapted to the Peruvian race, and to the country and climate which they inhabited. The people were contented with their lot, and looked upon 540 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. their priests and rulers with the utmost reverence. " ISTc man could be rich," says Prescott, "no man could be poor, in Peru; but all might enjoy, and did enjoy, a competence. Ambition, avarice, the love of change, the morbid spirit of discontent, those passions which most agitate the minds of men, found no place in the bosom of the Peruvian. * * He moved on in the same unbroken circle in which his fathers had moved before him, and in which his children were to, follow." We cannot help a feeling of natural regret that the ruthless invasion of the Spaniards should have uprooted all these ancient and venerated customs. There was not, as with the Aztecs, a bloody system of religion, whose annihilation could reconcile us to almost any violence on the part of those who came to overturn it. There were, indeed, occasional scenes of human sacrifice at the great religious solemnities; but these were the exception, not the rule. The people at large lived on in peace and quietness, contented with the. government and institutions under whose influence they lived, and by whose care they were secured in the possession of the competencies of life. We have already mentioned the successes and conquests of Tupac Yupanqui, and his son Huayna Capac. The latter prince, having reduced the kingdom of Quito, the modern Equador, took up his residence at its capital, and devoted his attention to beautifying his acquisition, and establishing the Peruvian policy upon a firm basis through out its limits. The first expeditions of the Spaniards to the Peruvian coast, took place during the latter years of this monarch, and the accounts are said to have filled his mind with gloomy forebodings of the overthrow of his empire. His sagacious perception readily recognized the vast superi ority over his own nation, evident in the vessels, arms, intelligence, and enterprise of the strangers. Huayna SOUTH AMEBICAN INDIANS. 541 Capac died about the year 1525, leaving his only legitimate son, Huascar, the regular successor to his throne. Instead of confirming the old order of descent, the king's fondness for another son, named Atahuallpa, (Atabalipa, as spelt by many old writers) led him, upon his death-bed, to bestow upon this favorite a portion of his kingdom. Upon the sub version of the ancient dynasty at Quito, Huayna Capac had taken the daughter of the last native prince as one of his concubines. From this union sprung the prince of whom we are speaking. The share of empire bequeathed to Atahuallpa was that of his maternal ancestors, in which his father had so long resided, and to whose improvement he had devoted his declining years. The rest of the wide domains of Peru were left in possession of Huascar. This new order of things produced no evil effects for about five years. Huascar maintained his court at the old capital, Cuzco, while Atahuallpa remained at Quito; neither interfering with the other's rights of jurisdiction. Their respective subjects readily acquiesced in the new arrangement. Different accounts are given of the first causes of rup ture between the brothers; but whatever occasioned it, the contest which ensued was bloody and disastrous in the extreme. But for the disturbed and distracted state of the empire consequent upon this civil war, it would have been utterly impossible for the Spaniards, with the insignificant force which they finally brought into the field, to have overcome and subverted such an immense and power ful empire. The first important engagement between the armies of the contending princes took place at Hambata, about sixty leagues south from Quito. In this battle, Huascar's forces were utterly defeated, and his victorious brother pressed onward to Tumebamba, no great distance from Tumbez. This city belonged to Atahuallpa's kingdom, 542 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. but the inhabitants had taken up arms in favor of Huas- car. In vain did they sue for mercy from the conqueror: the whole district was ravaged, and all male adults were put to death. Proceeding on ' his march, Atahuallpa reached Caxamalca, where he took up his quarters, and sent forward the chief portion of his army to meet the forces prepared for the protection of the ancient capital of Peru. A bloody and desperate battle was fought near the city, in which the invader was again completely victorious. Huascar was taken prisoner, and placed in close confine ment, but his brother had enough of natural humanity to order that all respect should be shown him in his fallen fortunes. If we are to believe some accounts, Atahuallpa sullied the fame which his successes might have acquired him, by acts of the most unheard-of barbarity. It is said that he put to death, and that too by lingering tortures, all of the royal family upon whom he could lay his hands, including the female branches of the family, that he might cut off all possibility of a rival appearing to contest his right to the throne. Modern hhtorians have pointed out so many discrepancies and improbabilities in the details of this transaction, that they must be now considered as grossly exaggerated, if not utterly false. Atahuallpa, now claiming the title of Inca, and rejoicing in the possession of the whole of the immense empire of his father, held his court at Caxamalca. In the midst of his exultation and triumph, news was brought of a fresh arrival of Spanish ships upon the coast. SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 543 CHAPTER III. PIZARRO'S VISIT TO SPAIN AND APPLICATION TO THE EMPEROR HIS FOUR BROTHERS FUNDS PROCURED FOR A NEW EXPEDITION TO PERU VESSELS AGAIN FITTED OUT AT PANAMA LANDING OF THE SPANIARDS UPON THE PERUVIAN COAST PLUNDER AT COAQUE THE MARCH TOWARDS TUMBEZ BATTLES ON THE ISLE OF PUNA TUMBEZ DESERTED SETTLE MENT OF SAN MIGUEL MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR PASSAGE OF THE ANDES MESSAGES FROBI ATAHUALLPA ENTRY INTO CAXAMALCA. As Pizarro, Almagro, and Unique, received no encour agement from the governor, at Panama, in the prosecution of their plans; and as their funds were exhausted by the first expeditions, it became necessary to seek the assistance of some powerful patron, or to abandon the enterprise. In this emergency, Luque advised an immediate application to the Spanish court. In the discussion of the question as to who should undertake this duty, Almagro strongly urged the expediency of trusting the whole matter to the prudence and soldierly intrepidity of his unlettered com panion-in-arms, Pizarro. He was the man who had seen and experienced more than any other of the nature of the land of promise, and his unflinching determination and perseverance seemed to qualify him as well to press his suit at court, as to undergo the disappointments and physical hardships of the conquest itself. ^ . Pizarro consented to the proposal, and sailed for Spain, where he arrived early in the summer of 1528, carrying with him specimens of Peruvian art and wealth, together with natives of the country, and several of the beasts of burden peculiar to. Peru. He was favorably received, and his accounts were credited by the Emperor Charles the Fifth; and the royal consent was obtained to the prosecu- 544 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. tion of the mighty undertaking of conquest. No pecuniary assistance, however, was rendered or promised. Prospec tive honors and emoluments were bestowed upon Pizarro and his two associates, contingent upon their success, and the latter to be drawn entirely from the conquered nation. Pizarro was to be governor, adelantado -and alguacil mayor of Peru, which office he was to fill for life, and to which a large salary was to be attached. Almagro was placed in altogether an inferior position, as commander at Tumbez ; and Father Luque was declared Bishop of that district, now to be converted into a 'see of the church. One-fifth of the gold and silver to be obtained by plunder, and one-tenth of- all gained by mining was reserved as a royal perquisite. Pizarro immediately set himself to raise funds and enlist men for the proposed conquest. He was joined by his four brothers, one of whom, Hernando Pizarro, was a legitimate son of Gonzalo. The other three, Gonzalo and Juan Pizarro, and Francisco de Alcontara were illegitimate children, and connected with the hero of our narrative, the two first on the father's side, the latter on that of the mother. It was no easy matter to provide money for the necessary j expenses of so hazardous an exploit as that proposed ; but fortunately for Pizarro, Hernando Cortez, the renowned conqueror of Mexico, was at this time in Spain, and, after I seeing and conferring with him, furnished, from his own ample stores, what was needed to complete an outfit. Upon Pizarro's return to America, serious quarrels ensued between him and Almagro, who, as appears justly, thought himself grossly neglected in the arrangements entered into with the Spanish government. Luque also distrusted the good faith of his emissary, and it seemed too evident to both of these parties to the old contract, that Pizarro would readily throw them aside, should occa- SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 545 sion offer, and advance his own relations in their stead. These difficulties were, by Pizarro's representations, prom ises, and concessions, for the time smoothed over, and three vessels were fitted out at Panama for the grand expedition. Those in which the recruits had been brought over from Spain, were necessarily left upon the other side of the Isthmus. It was not until January, of 1531, that the adventurers set sail. The company consisted of less than two hundred men, twenty-seven of whom were provided with horses; the advantage of even a small body of cavalry in fights with the Indians having been so strikingly apparent in the proceedings at Mexico. Tumbez, on the southern shore of the gulf of Guayaquil, was the port for which the little fleet steered its course, but, owing to head winds and other difficulties in navigation, a landing was made at the bay of St. Matthew's. Pizarro, with the armed force, went on shore at this place, not far from where Esmeraldas now stands, and marched southward, while the vessels coasted along the shore. Feeling himself strong enough to com mence serious operations; the unprincipled invader no longer put on the cloak of friendship, but without warn ing fell upon the first Indian town in his route. This was in the district of Coaque. The natives fled, leaving their treasures to be seized and plundered by the Spaniards. A considerable quantity of gold, and a great 'number of the largest and most valuable emeralds fell into the hands of the rapacious adventurers. The spoil was collected, and publicly distributed, according to regulated portions, among the company, it being death to secrete any private plunder. The royal fifth was deducted previous to the division. Tlie vessels were sent back to Panama to excite, by the display of these treasures, the cupidity of new recruits, while the little army continued its march towards Tumbez. 35 546 INDIAN" RACES OF AMERICA. The natives of the villages through which, they passed, learning, in advance of the Spaniards' approach, the course pursued at Coaque, abandoned their homes, bearing all their valuables with them. Privation and suffering en sued. The tropical heat of the country, famine and fatigue, began to dishearten the troops. "Worse than all, a singular and malignant cutaneous disease began to spread among them. Large warts or vascular excresences broke out upon those attacked, which, if opened, bled so pro fusely as to cause death. "The epidemic," says Prescott, "which made its first appearance during this invasion, and which did not long survive it, spread over the whole country, sparing neither native nor white man." The distresses of the Spaniards were somewhat relieved by the arrival of a vessel from Panama, in which came a number of new state officers, appointed by the Emperor Charles since Pizarro's departure from Spain, bringing with them a quantity of provision. With some slight further reinforcement, the commander brought his troops to the gulf of Guayaquil, and, by invitation from the isl anders, who had never been reduced by the Peruvian monarchs, and still maintained a desultory warfare with their forces, he took up his quarters upon the isle of Puna.. The inhabitants of Tumbez, (lying, as we have mentioned, upon the southern shore of the gulf, and oppo site the island,) came over, in large numbers, to welcome the whites, trusting to their friendly demonstrations at the time of the early expeditions. Difficulties soon arose from the bringing of these hostile Indian races in contact. Pizarro was told that a conspiracy had been formed by some of the island chiefs, to massacre him arid his follow ers. Without delay, he seized upon the accused, and delivered them over to their old enemies of Tumbez for destruction. The consequence was a furious attack by the islanders. The thousands of dusky warriors who sur- SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 547 rounded the little encampment, were dispersed and driven into the thickets, with very small loss to the well-armed and mail-clad Europeans. The discharge of musketry, and the rush of mounted men, glistening with defensive armor, seldom failed to break the lines, and confuse the movements even of the bravest and most determined savages. After their victory Pizarro found his situation extremely precarious, for the enemies whom he had driven into the forest continued to harass and weary his army by night attacks, and the difficulty of procuring provisions daily increased. He became desirous of passing over to the main as speedily as possible, and his good fortune sent him, at this period, such assistance as rendered the contin uance of his enterprise more hopeful. This was afforded by the arrival of the celebrated Hernando de Soto, whose romantic adventures in after-life, have been briefly chron icled in the early part of this volume, under the title of the Florida Indians. De Soto brought out one hundred men and a considerable number of horses. Thus reinforced, the commander of the expedition at once undertook the transportation of his men and stores across to Tumbez. Instead of rejoicing their eyes with the splendor of this celebrated city, and luxuriating in its wealth, the Spaniards found the whole place dilapidated and deserted. Such of the Indians as appeared, manifested a decidedly hostile disposition, and several of the party engaged in transport ing the baggage and provisions, upon balsas or rafts, were seized and slain. Most of the houses of the city were found to be destroyed, and the costly ornaments and decorations were all stripped from the temple. It cannot be certainly known, at this day, what were the causes for this conduct on the part of the people of Tumbez. The curaca of the place was taken prisoner by some of Pizarro's men, .and his explanation of the matter was. that the wai r 548 INDIAN EACES OF AMERICA. I . > ( I , ' V r with the Puna islanders had resulted in this demolition of the city. No certain intelligence was ever obtained of the fate of those whites who had been left at Tumbez at the time of the former expedition of discovery. It now became evident to Pizarro that he should have some fixed place of settlement, where his ' troops might encamp and live in safety until a proper opportunity pre sented itself for more active operations. He therefore set himself to explore the country J;o the southward. In con ducting this examination, he made use of a more concilia tory policy than heretofore, in his intercourse with the natives, and took pains to restrain, for the time, the rapacity of his followers. The result was that the Indians were in turn friendly and hospitable. A settlement was made, and the foundation of a town, called San Miguel, cpmmenced on the river Piura. Numbers of the natives were reduced to vassalage, and distributed among the Spaniards to aid in the labor of improving and extending the village. Pizarro had gathered information, by means of the in terpreters in his company the natives formerly taken by him to Spain of the political state of the country, and of the present location of Atahuallpa, at or near Caxamalca. He had secured a considerable amount of gold, which was sent bay a ronie lli:il \\ :t< r T imlccd, Irii nlinosl iiu|i > '!icticI T his iroojjs were oxpox'd to every catainily wliich men csin sittt't'r, tVom fatigue, from ('.inline, and from th riuirrs of the eliikiulr in. Um-c k-viiUjiV tr-n.n- ; THE ARAUCANIAN RACE. 577 hardened alloy of copper, with, other metals, as a substitute for iron. In common with the latter nation, a system of recording events or statistics by the "quipu," was all that was observable as analogous to the art of writing. The Promaucians, whose courage and patriotism had a century before checked the advance of the royal forces of the Inca, were found no less formidable by the first Spanish invaders. Almagro, after his frightful passage of the Cordilleras, in which, as is said, he lost one hundred and fifty Spaniards, and some ten thousand Indian allies, was well received by the tributary provinces of Chili. He collected no small booty in gold, which he distributed among his followers, and continued his march to Coquimbo. Here he was guilty of an act of barbarity too common wherever the Spaniards of that time were successful in their Indian campaigns. Two of his soldiers had been put to death at Guasco, in consequence of some acts of rapacity or violence, and in revenge, Almagro seized and burned alive the chief of the district, with his brother and twenty other of the native inhabitants. Marching into the province of the Promaucians, the Spaniards found an enemy superior to any before encoun tered. Not even the terrors of the cavalry and weapons of the Europeans could daunt the brave mountaineers, who rallied under the banners of their chiefs for the pro tection of home and country. A single battle was suffi cient to satisfy the invaders that little was to be gained by any further advance, and Almagro, with his troops, returned to Peru, as heretofore related, to seize upon Cuzco as being contained within the grant made to him by the crown. In 1540, Pedro de Yaldivia, a bold and active Spanish soldier, and high in the confidence of Pizarro, was com missioned to lead the second expedition against the pro vinces of Chili. He took with him two hundred Spaniards 37 578 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. and a large body of Peruvians, with the intent of form ing a colony and commencing a permanent settlement. Some of the domestic animals of I^urope were taken for use of the new colony, and a number of women and eccle siastics were added to the company. Crossing the mountains during the favorable season of summer, Yaldivia entered Chili, but found on his arrival that the northern tribes, freed from the yoke of the Incas, were disposed to reassert their forjner independence. The want of tmion, however, prevented them from being able to stem the progress of the Spaniards. The invader pressed on, crushing all opposition, to Mapocho, the prov ince where he founded the city of St. Jago. While the new capital was in progress of construction, the natives of the district fell boldly upon the intruders, burned their buildings, and drove them into a fort which they had constructed in the centre of the town. The Spaniards were eventually victorious; but the spirit of the Mapochonians was not broken, and for years afterwards they continued to harass the settlers in every possible manner. The opening of the rich mines of the valley of Quillota reconciled the colonists to every danger and privation ; and, for convenient communication with Peru, a vessel was built in the river Chile, which flows through that district. Yaldivia now sent emissaries to Peru, under convoy of thirty mounted men, to beat up for recruits. These mes sengers were eight in number, and, as a bait to new adven turers, their "spurs, bits, and stirrups he directed to be made of gold." A body of Copiapans attacked this party on their route, and slew all except two, named Alonzo Monroy and Pedro Miranda, whom they carried to their ulmen or cacique. By the intervention of the chief's wife their lives were spared, and they were engaged to teach the young prince, her son, the art of riding. The THE ARAUCANIAN RACE. 579 ungrateful Spaniards took advantage of the confidence placed in them, to murder their charge and escape on the horses. They succeeded in reaching Peru, and procured a considerable number of adventurers to try their fortunes in the new and promising regions of the south. The Chilians did not quietly submit to Spanish en croachments. The inhabitants of Quillota, by an artful stratagem, drew the Spaniards connected with the mines into an ambuscade, and murdered nearly the whole num ber; they followed up their advantage by burning the military stores and the vessel which had been built at the river Chile. Yaldivia had the good fortune or skill to overawe or conciliate the Promaucians, and an alliance was formed between the Spaniards and that tribe. CHAPTER II. THE ARAUCANIANS PROPER CHARACTER AND HABITS OF THE TRIBE HOUSES AND DRESS SECTIONAL DIVISIONS AND GOVERN MENT SYSTEM OF WARFARE COURAGE AND MILITARY SKILL RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND SUPERSTITIONS PATRIOTISM AND PUBLIC SPIRIT OF THE PUSHING his conquests and acquisitions further to the southward, the Spanish commander, in 1550, founded the city of Conception, but as the occupation of this spot led to the important events connected with the Araucanian, war, we will follow the order of Molina, and give a brief account of the warlike people with whom the Spaniards were now to contend. This author speaks enthusiastically of the noble char acter of the Araucanians, their physical perfection, and 580 ^ INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. their powers of endurance. He says "they are intrepid, animated, ardent, patient in enduring fatigue, ever ready to sacrifice their lives in the service f civilization ; or must the usual course of extinc tion or amalgamation be the only means by which the immense and luxuriantly fertile regions which they inhabit shall eventually be improved for the support of the mil lions that they are capable of sustaining? The Iroquois within the state of New York, and the Cherokee settle ments west of the Mississippi, are almost the only prosper ous and civilized districts inhabited by American Indians. It will be a most gratifying result if the next generation shall witness the original proprietors of this vast country taking, in the persons of their representatives, an equal place among its European occupants. A right state of feeling, upon the subject of what is due to the Indian, seems to be upon the ascendant in the United States, except in those districts where there is still a conflict of interest between the different races. THE PAMPAS INDIANS. THEIR HORSEMANSHIP THEIR MODE OF LIFE SIR FRANCIS HEAD 3 DESCRIPTIONS OF THE RACE FEMALE CAPTIVES AMONG THE IN DIANS TRADING VISITS TO EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS CLASSI FICATION OF TRIBES CHANGE IN THEIR CONDITION BY THE INTRODUCTION OF EUROPEAN DOMESTIC ANIMALS. THE vast plains or pampas of Buenos Ayres are inhab ited where European settlements have not yet extended by a wild and singular race of Indians. To them the horse is all that the rein-deer is to the Laplanders, consti tuting their chief support, and almost their only enjoyment. Nearly destitute of clothing, and. careless of the ordinary conveniences and comforts of life, they are trained from "infancy to scour the plains, often without saddles, upon the wild horses who roam at will over the boundless ex panse of meadow. The world has never produced such magnificent horsemen: "The Gauchos," says Sir Francis Head, "who themselves ride so beautifully, all declare that it is impossible to ride with an Indian ; for that the Indians' horses are better than theirs, and also that they have such a way of urging on their horses by their cries, and by a peculiar motion of their bodies, that even if they were to change horses, the Indians would beat them. The Gau chos all seemed to dread very much the Indians' spears. They said that some of the Indians charged without either saddle or bridle, and that in some instances they were hang ing almost under the bellies of their horses, and shrieking so that the horses were afraid to face them." THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 625 The whole lives of these singular people are spent upon norseback, a natural result of which is an incapacity for other species of exertion. Walking is intolerable to them : j the fatigue and tediousness of such a mode of travelling over an unlimited level, would be disheartening to any, more particularly to those who have continually availed themselves of the services of the horse. Something of the ordinary system of Indian government exists among the numerous tribes, but they are all of unset tled and roving habits, shifting their quarters continually in search of better pasturage, and subsisting chiefly upon mares' flesh. Wherever they betake themselves, they drive before them great herds of horses, and the skill with which they will catch, mount, and manage a fresh animal, when the one they have been riding is wearied, is unequalled. The author above quoted, whose characteristically graphic description of a gallop across the pampas has won so ex tensive a reputation, observes of the Indians: "The occu pation of their lives is war, which they consider is their noble and most natural employment; and they declare that the proudest attitude of the human figure is when, bending over his horse, man is riding at his enemy. The principal weapon which they use is a spear eighteen feet long; they manage it with great dexterity, and are able to give it a tremulous motion which has often shaken the sword from the hand of their European adversaries." In addition to the spear, they make use, both in war and hunting, of a most effective instrument called the ballos. This is a species of slung-shot, consisting of a stout leathern thong with a ball of lead attached to either end. A terri ble blow can be struck with this weapon, and, as a missile, the Indians use it with great dexterity and effect within a moderate range. The lasso, or long noose attached to the saddle, is also an effective implement 40 626 ., INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Between them and the Gauchos, a scarcely less wild race of cavaliers, principally of Spanish descent, the most deadly hostility constantly prevails. In the exposed districts, rude fortifications are erected for the protection of the white inhabitants against Indian incursions. The principal de fence of these fortresses is said to be a narrow ditch, over which the Indian horses, accustomed to the unobstructed level of the prairie, refuse to leap, and nothing could in duce their rider to attempt any thing upon foot. Upon occasion of a successful assault, the savages show little mercy. All the unfortunate whites are murdered, except such of the young women as appear sufficiently attractive to make desirable wives. "Whether the poor girls can ride or not," says Head, "they are instantly placed upon horses, and when the hasty plunder of the hut is con cluded, they are driven away from its smoking ruins and from the horrid scene which surrounds it." " At a pace which in Europe is unknown, they gallop over the trackless regions before them, fed upon mares' flesh, sleeping on the ground, until they arrive in the In dian's territory, when they have instantly to adopt the wild life of their captors. " I was informed by a very intelligent French officer, who was of high rank in the Peruvian army, that on friendly terms, he had once passed through part of the territory of these Pampas Indians, in order to attack a tribe who were at war with them, and that he had met several of the young women who had been thus carried off by the Indians. " He told me that he had offered to obtain permission for them to return to their country, and that he had, in addi tion, offered them large sums of money if they would, in the mean while, act as interpreters ; but they all replied that no inducement in the world ' should ever make them leave their husbands, or their children, and that they were quite delighted with the life they led." THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 627 There is certainly something strangely fascinating in the idea of a wild life, unfettered by the artificial restraints of society, and the constant call for exertion and care inci dent to civilized existence. We see that in a majority of cases the inhabitants of even the most desolate and inhos pitable regions of the earth, after experiencing the com forts of civilization, are still glad to return to the scenes and habits to which they were early inured. It is easier for the educated and enlightened European to discard the advantages which he has inherited, and to adopt the hab its and life, of the savage, especially in a genial and spon taneously productive clime, than for the latter to give up his wild freedom for the responsibilities and cares of civilization. In times of peace the free rovers of the South Ameri can pampas make occasional visits to the European towns and settlements for the purpose of trade. They bring in such few articles of peltry, &c., as they deal in, to barter for sugar, "knives, spurs, and liquor." Delivering up all their dangerous weapons to their chief, they devote them selves, at first, to a regular drinking-bout, after recovering from which, they offer their goods to the trades-people. They will have nothing to do with money, or the ordina ry rules of weight and measure, but designate, by some mark of their own, the quantity of the commodity they require in exchange for their own stock. The Pampas Indians are classified as belonging to the great Patagonian or Pampean groupe, which is divided into the following nations: the Tehuelche, Puelche, Char- rua, Mbocobi or Toba, Mataguayo, Abipones, and Lengua. That portion of which we have been speaking in this chapter, consists principally of the Puelche: their ancestors were found further north, bordering upon the tribes of Para guay, and upon the first arrival and settlement of Europeans upon the La Plata, proved most formidable enemies. t52S INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. They also inhabited the eastern mountainous regions of Chili, where they were allied to and classed with the no ble and warlike Araucanians, Molin% in his account of that race, says of the Puelches: "These, although they conform to the general customs of the nation, always dis cover a greater rudeness and savageness of manners. Their name signifies Eastern-men. * * The Araucanians hold these mountaineers in high estimation for the im portant services which they occasionally render them, and for the fidelity which they have always observed in their alliance with them." The first town built upon the site of the present city of Buenos Ayres, in 1534, was destroyed by the Indians ; and their bold attacks repelled the Spanish adventurers in this quarter until 1580. Even then they renewed their hos tilities, but the fall of their chief cacique in battle, and the more emcient fortification of the new town, baffled them and caused their entire defeat In these early times their habits were of course different from what we may now notice, as horses and cattle were not introduced until the arrival of Europeans, The emu or American ostrich, still an inhabitant of the Pampas, the deer, sloth, and small game, supplied them with food. The unprecedented natural increase of cattle and horses, turned free to roam over the rich grassy savannahs, sup plied them with entirely new resources. Those Indians of Buenos Ayres, Paraguay, and other southern provinces, who live in the midst of the white settlements, are mostly Christian converts, at least in name and the observance of religious formulae. The extent to which the different nations of Europe, Africa, and America have become mixed in most of the South American provinces, renders any thing like accurate enumeration of the amount of the present Indian popula tion difficult, if not impossible. THE PATAGONIANS. EARLY EXAGGERATED REPORTS CONCERNING THEM RACE TO WHICH THEY BELONG NATURE OF THE COUNTRY TERRA DEL FUEGO GENERAL DESCRIPTION AI$D CLASSIFICATION OF THE INHABIT ANTS CAPTAIN FITZROY'S NARRATIVE PHYSICAL CONFOR MATION OF THE NATIVES SCANTINESS OF THEIR CLOTHING THEIR HUTS, RESOURCES FOR FOOD, ETC. FUEGIANS CARRIED TO ENGLAND BY FITZROY ATTEMPT AT THE INTRODUCTION OF AGRICULTURE ON THE ISLAND PECHERAIS DESCRIBED IN WILKES' NARRATIVE OF THE u. STATES' EXPLORING EXPEDITION. MOST extravagant reports were circulated, in early times, of the gigantic size of the natives of the southern extremity of the American continent These were not wholly fabu lous, but merely exaggerations, as from recent travellers we have accurate descriptions of various tribes, among which the average height of the men greatly exceeds that of mankind in general. The Tehuelches in particular, although less warlike and dangerous than many other nations, are noted ibr their gigantic proportions. They are said to be more than six feet in height, upon an aver age, and some of them considerably exceed that measure : They are muscular, and athletic in proportion. The Patagonian tribes are included under the same general classification with the Puelches of the pampas, and the numerous nations further north, spread over the vast and indeterminate region denominated Chaco, between Paraguay and Chili. Over the extensive plains, and table land between the Andes and the eastern sea-board, the 630 x INDIAN KACES OF AMERICA. wild tribes of Patagonia wander in undisturbed freedom. Their manner of life is similar to that of the Pampas In dians of Southern Buenos Ay res, as wild horses and cattle have spread over the northern parts of their country in almost equal abundance. The same fierce, untameable spirit, and the same carelessness of the comforts of life, with ability to endure the extremes of exposure and fa tigue, characterize all these races of centaurs. Even in the colder regions of the extreme south, little in the way of clothing is worn, and the naked body of the savage is exposed to snows and storms, against which the covering of the European would afford incomplete protection. " These men," says Purchas, speaking of those near the straits of Magellan, "both Giants and others, went either wholly naked, or so clothed, as they seemed not to dread the cold, which is yet there so violent, that besides the mountaine-toppes, alway couered with Snow, their very Summers, in the middest thereof, freeth them not from ice." A great portion of Patagonia is- sterile and barren, desti tute of timber, and covered only with a kind of coarse grass, or with thorny shrubs. The country rises in a series of terraces from the low eastern sea-coast to the range of the Andes. The northern districts are in many parts fertile and heavily timbered. Crossing the Straits of Magellan, we find one of the most miserable and desolate countries on the globe. Terra del Fuego, the land of fire, so called because of the numerous fires seen upon its coast by the early navigators, is a cold and barren island. The surface of the country is either rocky and mountainous, or of' such a cold and miry soil as to obstruct travel and improvement. The forests are rendered nearly impassable by under-growth. The inhab itants are partly, as would appear, of the same race with the Patagonians, but as a body they are generally classed with the Andian Groupe, and considered to have some THE PATAGONIANS. 631 affinity to the Araucanians. "One description," says Pritchard, "is applicable to both nations. Their heads are proportionably large ; their faces round, with projecting cheek-bones, large mouths, thick lips, short flattened noses, with wide nostrils ; their eyes are horizontally placed, and not inclined; otherwise their countenance would approxi mate greatly to that of the nomadic Tartars : they have little beard ; their foreheads are narrow, and falling back ; their chins broad and short." Among the most interesting accounts of these Indians is that given by Captain Fitzroy, in the "Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and the Beagle." Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States' explor ing expedition, has also very graphically described the ap pearance and peculiarities of the people and country. Fitzroy estimates the whole population at about three thousand adults. They are divided into five different tribes or nations, viz: the Yacanas, Tekeenicas, Alikhoolip, Pecherais, and Huemuls. The name of Pecherais was be stowed by Bougainville (as descriptive of their mode of sub sistence) upon those coast Indians who have been considered as belonging to the Araucanian family. The Yacanas appear to be the same with the neighboring Patagonians. The separate tribes differ considerably in their physical development, but the generality of these islanders present a wretched and miserable aspect of deformity. Their withered and emaciated limbs are in strong contrast to the breadth of the chest and the size of he nbdomen, and the squatting position always assumed by them when at rest, causes the skin of the knee-joint to become stretched and loose: when standing, it hangs in unsightly folds. Their eyes are almost universally inflamed and sore from the effects of the smoke in their wigwams. There are few | races upon the globe who bear so strongly the marks of want and destitution. 632 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. Unlike the natives of the cold climes of Northern Amer ica, the Fuegians totally neglect the precaution of fortify ing themselves against the severities of, winter by warm and comfortable clothing. The majority of the men go almost entirely naked. A single skin of the guanaco (a southern quadruped of the genus of the llama), or of the different species of seal, thrown over the shoulders, and, in a few instances, reduced to the semblance of a garment, by a girdle, is all that is seen in J,he way of clothing. Some slight fillets are worn about the head, rather from a fancy for ornament than as a covering. ' The females usually wear an entire guanaco skin, in the loose fold of which, above the belt, they carry their infants: a more convenient method than that adopted in some northern climes, of stowing the child in the huge boot. The huts which they inhabit are built, much after the fashion of the ordinary Indian wigwam, of poles bent to gether at the top, or of stiff stakes placed in the form of a cone. These rude dwellings are neither tight nor com fortable : they are generally intended merely for temporary domiciles, as the necessity for constant migration in search of the products of the sea and coast, renders any perma nent settlement impracticable. The arts of agriculture are entirely unknown or disregarded. Sundry attempts have been made to introduce the cultivation of such vegetables as the soil is adapted to producing, but the ignorance and barbarity of the inhabitants prevented their appreciation of the advantages which would result from the operation, and the experiments utterly failed. Most of the Fuegians are supplied with roughly-con structed bark canoes. In the centre of these a fire is always kept burning upon a bed of sand or clay. Fire is obtained by striking sparks from the iron pyrites upon a tinder prepared from some dried fungus, or moss, which materials are always kept at hand; but the difficulty of THE PATAGONIANS. 633 obtaining a flame by these means is the probable reason for their care in preserving the embers in their canoes. As we have mentioned, they raise no vegetable food, and the natural products of the country are exceedingly scanty. All that the inhabitants can procure to vary their animal diet offish, seals, shell-fish, &c., consists of "a few berries, as the cranberry and the berry of the arbutus; also a fungus like the oak-apple, which grows on the birch- tree. With the exception of these spontaneous produc tions, and dead whales thrown occasionally upon the coast, the rest of their food must be obtained by their own perseverance, activity, and sagacity." A race of dogs is domesticated among the Fuegians, by the assistance of which the labor and difficulty of hunting the guanaco, otter, &c., is materially alleviated. The weapons used in war or for the chase are bows and arrows, short bone-headed lances, clubs, and slings. The Fuegians are adepts in the use of the last-mentioned implement, and hurl stones with great force and accuracy. They have no means of preserving a store of provision in times of plenty, and are consequently liable to suffer greatly from famine when storms or other causes cut them off from the usual resources of the sea. They will some times bury a quantity of whale's blubber in the sand, and devour it in an offensive condition, when pressed by hun ger. "In Captain Fitzroy's narrative there is an account of a party of the natives who were in a famishing state, on which some of the tribe departed, observing that they would return in four ' sleeps ' with a supply of food. On the fifth day they arrived in a state of great exhaustion, each man carrying two or three pieces of whale-blubber, in a half-putrid state, and which appeared as if it had been buried in the sand. A hole was made in each piece through which the man carrying it inserted his .head and neck." Keport says that, as a last resource, when other food can- 634 INDIAN KACES OF AMEKICA. not be obtained, the Fuegians kill and feed upon the older and more unserviceable members of their own community. The benevolent Fitzroy, deeply interested in the welfare of these unfortunate islanders, made an attempt, in 1830, to effect some improvement in their condition. He took four of them with him to England, one of whom- died. of the small-pox shortly after landing. The others were maintained and instructed, at the captain's own expense, until October of the following year^-when he took them on board the Beagle to return to their homes, and use their influence in introducing the arts and comforts of civiliza tion. One Matthews accompanied them from England, with the purpose of assisting their efforts among their countrymen. Arriving at Terra del Fuego, wigwams were built, and a garden was laid out and planted with various European esculents. Curiosity and astonishment were the first feel ings excited by these operations ; but after the departure of the captain, the rude natives, unable to comprehend the motives for the experiment, and incapable of appreciating the advantages in store for them, destroyed the little plant ation. Jemmy Button, the one most particularly described of those carried to England, when seen, a few years after wards, by Captain Fitzroy, had nearly relapsed into his original state of squalid barbarity. Matthews left the island upon the first failure of the attempt at agriculture. Could there be found men of sufficient self-devotion to be willing to take up their abode in such a dreary country, there seems to be reason to believe that the Fuegians might be reclaimed. They do not lack sagacity or intelligence, and their memories are remarkably retentive. It is said that " they could repeat with perfect correctness each word in any sentence addressed to them, and they remembered such words for some time." The Fuegians described by Commander Wilkes, as seen THE PATAGONIANS. 6E5 at Orange Harbor, were of the Pecherais tribe. His de scriptions correspond with those of former voyagers, but their interest is greatly heightened by the illustrations which accompany his valuable narrative. "They are," he says, " an ill-shapen and ugly race. They have little or no idea of the relative value of articles, even of those that one would suppose were of the utmost use to them, such as iron and glass-ware. A glass bottle broken into pieces is valued as much as a knife. Eed flannel torn into stripes, pleases them more than in the piece ; they wound it round their heads, as a kind of turban, and it was amus ing to see their satisfaction at this small acquisition." The Indians of this party wore no other clothing than a small piece of seal-skin appended to the shoulder and reaching to the waist. This was shifted from side to side according to the direction of the wind, serving rather as a shelter than a covering. Their bark canoes were of exceedingly slight construction, "sewed with shreds of whale-bone, seal-skin, and twigs." Their navigation was mostly confined to the limits of the kelp or sea-weed, where the water was calm, and they could assist the oper ation of their small and inefficient paddles by laying hold of the marine plants. Those natives who were taken on board the vessels, exhibited little or no astonishment at what they saw around them. This did not proceed from surliness or apathy, for they were vivacious and cheerful, and apparently happy and contented. A most uncontrollable propensity to mim icry prevented the establishment of any kind of commu nication, as, instead of replying to signs and gestures, they would invariably imitate them with ludicrous exactness. '' Their imitations of sounds were truly astonishing. One of them ascended and descended the octave perfectly, fol lowing the sounds of the violin correctly. It was then found he could sound the common chords, and follow 636 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. through the semitone scale, with scarcely an error. * * * Although they have been heard to shout quite loud, yet they cannot endure a noise. When th drum beat, or a gun was fired, they invariably stopped their ears. They always speak to each other in a whisper. Their cautious manner and movements prove them to be a timid race. The men are exceedingly jealous of their women, and will not allow any one, if they can help it, to enter their huts, particularly boys." : f ^ i When, after some hesitation, admittance was gained to the huts on shore: "The men creeping in 'first, squatted themselves directly in front of the women, all holding out the small piece of seal-skin, to allow the heat to reach their bodies. The women were squatted three deep behind the men, the oldest in front, nestling the infants." Most writers speak of the condition of the Fuegian women, particularly of this race of Pecherais, as being subjected to the most severe and toilsome drudgery. "In a word," says one, "the Pecherais women are, perhaps, of all the savage women of America, those whose lot is the hardest." Those, however, seen at Orange Harbor had small and well-shaped hands and feet, "and, from appearance, they are not accus tomed to do any hard work." Some vague superstitious belief in dreams, omens, &c., with the idea of an evil spirit in the embodiment of "a great black man, supposed to be always wandering about the woods and mountains, who is certain of knowing every word and every action, who cannot be escaped, and who influences the weather according to men's conduct," is all that is observable of religious conceptions on the part of the natives. They have, connected with each tribe or casual groupe, a man whom their fancy invests with the power of sorcerer and physician; occupying precisely the same position with that of the "powows" of North America. IMPORTANT ERAS AND DATES OF INTERESTING EVENTS IN INDIAN HISTORY. A. D. 544. THE Toltecs, according to ancient traditions, commenced then migration from the north to the vale of Anahuac, or Mexico. 648. The Toltecs arrived at Tollantzinco, in Anahuac. 982. Eirek the Red discovered Greenland, and planted a colony there. 985. Biarni Heriulfson discovered the American coast. 1008. Thorfinn Karlsefni planted a colony in New England. 1051. The Toltecs destroyed by a pestilence. 1070. The barbarous nation of the Chichimecas succeeded the Toltecs. 1170. The Nahuatlacas, or Seven Tribes, among whom were the Aztecs, commenced their migration from the north. 1325. The Aztecs founded the city of ancient Mexico. 1492. Oct. 12. Columbus landed at Guanahani, or Cat Island, on his first voyage of discovery. 1498. Columbus first touched the shores of South America, and held intercourse with the Arawaks. 1500. Jan. 26. Vicente Pinzon landed near Cape St. Augustine, at the eastern extremity of South America, and took formal possession. 1501. Portuguese discoverers, under Vespucius, landed at Brazil. 1509. Juan de Solis slain by the natives at the estuary of I^a Plata. 1518. L. Velasquez de Ay lion landed on the Carolina coast in search of Indian slaves and gold. 1519. Nov. 8. Cortez entered the city of Mexico, and held his first inter view with the Emperor Montezuma. 1520. Night of July 1. The "Noche Triste," on which the Spaniards made their disastrous retreat from the city of Mexico. 1521. Towards the close of May, the Spaniards, with reinforcements, having again advanced upon the Aztec capital, laid close siege to it. " Aug. 13. Gautimozin, successor to Montezuma, was taken prisoner, and the city fell into the power of the Spanish invaders. 1524. Nov. Francisco Pizarro sailed on his first expedition to Peru. 1528. Expedition of Pamphilo de Narvaez to Florida, with a party of four hundred men. About forty horses were landed the first ever seen by the natives. 1531. Pizarro landed and established himself in Peru. 1532. Nov. 15. Entry of Pizarro into Caxamalca, and first interview of his officers with the Inca, Atahuallpa. " Nov. 16. Horrible massacre of the Indians, and seizure of the Inca. 1533. Aug. 29. Atahuallpa infamously put to death, by the garrotte. " Nov. Entry of the Spaniards into Cuzco, the capital of Peru. 1535. Almagro's expedition into Chili. 638 INDIAN RACES OF AMERICA. A. D. 1538. May. Fernando de Soto landed at Tampa Bay. The bloody scenes attendant upon the conquest of Florida ensued. 1540. Pedro Valdivia's invasion of Chili. 1552. His progress through Arauco. t 1553. Dec. 3. Great battle between the Spaniards and the Araucanians, in which the latter, under Caupolican, gained a signal victory. 1555. The Spanish town of Conception attacked and destroyed by the Araucanians, under Lautaro. 1556. Lautaro surprised and slain by Villagran. 1558. Expedition of Garcia de Mendoza to the archipelago of Chiloe. 1562. French refugees settled peaceably among the Indians on the St. John's river, Florida. 1584. Amidas and Barlow opened a friendlyintereourse with the Vir ginia Indians. 1585. Those belonging to Sir Richard Grenville's expedition to Virginia commenced outrages and' hostilities, which resulted in the de struction of several successive colonies. 1595. Raleigh entered the Orinoco, and held intercourse with the natives. 1598. Nov. Great rising of the Chilians, under the Toqui Paillamaehu: expulsion of the Spaniards from the Araucanian territory. 1606. Bartholomew GosnolPs expedition to Virginia; with which the celebrated Captain John Smith was connected. 1608. June. Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake, his first meeting with the Massawomekes, or Iroquois. " In the autumn of this year, Powhatan was formally crowned the regalia having been sent over from England. " Dec. Powhatan's conspiracy against Smith and his party, and their preservation by Pocahontas. L613. Pocahontas seized and detained by Captain Argall. " April. Marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe. 1614. Thomas Hunt landed at Monhegan, and enticed twenty-four In dians on board his vessel, whom he carried to Europe as slaves. 1617. Pocahontas died, at Gravesend, in England. 1618. Powhatan died. 1620. Nov. 9. The May-Flower arrived. " Dec. 8. First skirmish of the N. England settlers with the natives. " Dec. 22. Their landing at Plymouth. 1621. March 22. Treaty between the Plymouth settlers and Massasoit. 1622. March 22. Great massacre of the Virginia settlers, by the Indians, set on by Opechancanough : three hundred and forty-seven killed. 1625. Great battle with the Caribs on the island of St. Christopher; two thousand of that nation destroyed. 1628. Fire-arms extensively diffused among the Indians of New England, by Dutch traders and one Thomas Morton. 1637. The Pequod War broke out: siege of the English garrison at Saybrook. " June 5. A little before day the Pequod fort attacked and destroy ed ; barbarous destruction of women and children. 1640. Peace concluded between the Spanish colonists under Francisco Zuniga, and the Araucanians. IMPORTANT ERAS AND DATES. 639 A. D. 1643. Miantonimo put to death by Uncas. 1644. Second Virginia massacre, planned by Opechancanough. 1653. The nation of the Eries exterminated by the Iroquois. 1662. Philip, or Metacomet, succeeded his brother Alexander. 1665. Peace ag.iin concluded between the Spaniards and Araucanians. 1675. June 24. O. S. First blood shed in King Philip's war. 1675. Dec. 19. Destruction of the Narragansett fort. 1676. Aug. 12. Philip killed by an Indian of Captain Church's party. " Aug. Capture of Annawon, by Church, and end of the war. 1682. Dec. First treaty of William Penn with the Dela wares. 1688. Invasion of Canada, and attack on Montreal by the Iroquois. 1710. First deputation of Iroquois chiefs to the court of Queen Anne. 1711. Sept. 22. Massacre of whites in North Carolina, by the Tuscaroras. 1713. March 26. The Tuscarora fort on Tar river destroyed by Colonel Moore eight hundred prisoners taken. " Union of the main body of the Tuscaroras with the Iroquois. 1729. Nov. 30. Massacre of the French inhabitants of Natchez, by the Natchez Indians. 1738. Nearly one-half of the Cherokces destroyed by the small-pox. 1749. Singular intrigues of the Reverend Thomas Bosomworth and his wife, the half-breed, Mary Musgrove, among the Creeks. 1750. Settlement of difficulties between Spanish and Portuguese colonies on the river La Plata thirty thousand Guarq,ni Indians expatriated. 1755. July 9. Disastrous defeat of General Braddock, by the French and Indians, a few miles from Fort Duquesne. 1759. Winter. War between the Cherokees and the British colonists. 1760. Spring. Colonel Montgomery's expedition against the Cherokees: destruction of all their towns east of the Blue Ridge. 1761. Spring. Colonel Grant's campaign against the Cherokees: their reduction, and the ravage of their towns in the interior. 1763. May. Siege of Detroit commenced by Pontiac. " July 30. Battle of Bloody Bridge, and terrible destruction of Eng lish troops under Captain Dalyell, by Pontiac and his warriors. 1773. Peace concluded between the Spaniards and the Araucanians. 1774. In the spring of this year commenced the bloody war in Western Virginia and Pennsylvania, known as Cresap's war. " Oct. 10. Great battle at Point Pleasant mouth of the Kanawha. 1777. July. Battle of Oriskany; General Herkimer mortally wounded. 1778. July 4. Destruction of the settlements in the valley of Wyoming. " Nov. Massacre at Cherry- Valley. 1779. Sept. General Sullivan's campaign against the Iroquois: destruc tion of all their towns, crops, fruit-trees, and stores. 1780. Aug. Ravage of a portion of the Mohawk valley, by Brant. 1781. Great insurrection of the Peruvian Indians, under Tupac Amaru. " June. Grand council of war held by the western tribes. " Defeat of Colonels Todd, Trigg, and party, near the Blue Licks. " Indian towns of Chilicothe, Pecaway, &c., destroyed by Gen. Clarke. 1785. Brant visited England, and was received with flattering attention. 1786. Dec. Grand Council of Western Indians, at Huron Village. 1791. Autumn. Unsuccessful expedition of General Harmar. 720 INCLUDING ILLUSTRATIONS. A.D. 1791. Nov. 4. Disastrous defeat of General St. Clair, by the Indians, under Little Turtle, near the Miami. 1794. Aug. 20. Battle of Presque Isle, in which the Western Indians, under Blue Jacket, were signally defeated by General Wayne. 1804. Elskwatawa, the prophet, brother of Tecumseh, engaged in intrigues among the tribes of the west. 1809. Sept. Cession of lands on the Wabash, obtained by General Harrison from the Indians. 1810. Departure of Tecurnseh southward, for the purpose of rousing up the Creeks, Cherokees, &c. 1811. Night of Nov. 6. Battle at the Prophet's Town, in which Elskwa- tawa's forces were defeated and dispersed by General Harrison. 1813. Aug. 30. Sack of Fort Minims, in the'Tensau settlement, by the great Creek warrior Weatherford, with fifteen hundred Indians. 1813. Oct. 5. Battle of the Thames: the great Indian chief -Tecumseh killed. 1813. Nov. 29. Battle of Autosse; destruction of two hundred Indians by General Floyd's forces, aided by Indian allies led by M'Intosh. 1814. March 27. Battle of Horse-shoe Bend, in the Tallapoosie: the Creeks and other southern Indians defeated by General Jackson. 1823. Sept. 18. Treaty of Moultrie Creek, by which the Seminoles were to remove within certain limits. 1829. Dec. 20. Acts passed by the Georgia legislature, annulling the Cherokee laws, and infringing upon the rights of that people. 1830. July. Treaty at Prairie du Chien, with the Sacs and Foxes, lowas, Sioux, &c., concerning cession of lands east of the Mississippi. 1831. June. General Gaines' expedition, to compel removal of the Sacs. 1832. May 8. Treaty of Payne's Landing, by the provisions of which the Seminoles were to remove west of the Mississippi. " May 14. Defeat of Major Stillman and his forces, by Black-Hawk. " Aug. 2. Black-Hawk's forces defeated by General Atkinson. " " 27. Surrender of Black-Hawk and the Prophet. 1835. Oct. The Florida War commenced. " Dec. Treaty of New Echota with the Cherokees, (known as Schermerhorn's treaty) upon the subject of removal of that nation west of the Mississippi. " Dec. 28. Destruction of Dade's detachment, by the Seminoles. 1836. March 14. Schermerhorn's treaty with the Cherokees ratified by Congress. 1836. Spring. General Scott's campaign in Florida. 1837. Jan. 22. General Jessup moved southward towards the everglades in pursuit of the Seminoles. 1838. Oct. 3. Black-Hawk died, at the age of 73. 1842. The Florida war at an end: several hundred Indians transported west of the Mississippi. THE END. -f V "* #; ^ f M-V" ' > A \ < * '*