CHAPTER VIII

 

On the 15th of July, 1815, all of the Dakota tribes, unless it may be the Yanktonais, had appeared at the Portage des Sioux, a point near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri, and had on that day signed treaties with the United States. Separate treaties were made with the Tetons, the Sioux of the Lake (M'dewakantons), the Sioux of the River St. Peter's (probably the Wakpekutes), the Sioux of the leaf, of the broad leaf and of those who shoot in the pine tops (probably the Wahpetons and Sissetons), and the Yanktons, five different compacts in all, though of the same tenor. On behalf of the government the treaties were signed by William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Chouteau. Nine headmen signed on behalf of the Tetons, five for the M'dewakantons, but the name of neither Little Crow nor Wapasha appears; six sign for the Sioux of the St. Peter's; forty-one for "the Sioux of the leaf, of the broad leaf and those who shoot in the pine tops." Among these are Redwing and Bad Hail, two well known Dakotas. Eleven Indian names are appended to the Yankton treaty, none of which are familiar. All of the documents are of the same tenor, as follows:

Article I. Every injury or act of hostility, committed by one or either of the contracting parties against the other, shall be mutually forgiven and forgot.

Art. 2. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between all of the citizens of the United States of America and all of the individuals composing said tribe, and all of the friendly relations which existed between them before the war shall be and the same are hereby renewed.

Art. 3. The undersigned chiefs and warriors for themselves and their said tribe, do hereby acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other nation, power or sovereignty whatever.

In addition to the foregoing, the treaty of "the Sioux of the leaf, the broad leaf and who shoot in the pine tops" contain this clause:

The undersigned chiefs and warriors for themselves and their tribes respectively, do by these presents confirm to the United States all and every cession or cessions of land, heretofore made by their tribes to the British, French or Spanish government, within the limits of the United States or their territories; and the parties here contracting do, moreover, in mutual friendship, recognize, re-establish and confirm all and every treaty, contract and agreement heretofore concluded between the United States and such tribes or nations.

At the same time similar treaties were effected with all of the other tribes of the upper Mississippi except the Sacs and Foxes, who remained hostile, and as they commanded the river at Rockport the Americans found great difficulty in communicating with the eastern Sioux, and were finally compelled to send Lieutenant Kennerly to them by way of the Missouri River. These treaties closed the incidents of the war of 1812 so far as the Dakotas were concerned.

This great council of Portage des Sioux (the narrow point between the Mississippi and Missouri at the confluence of these streams), held in July, 1815, was one of the most notable ever held on the continent, both in the character of the Indians gathered there and in the results of it. It was the time of the real naturalization of the Dakotas, as well as the other northwestern tribes, as citizens of the United States, for while they had lived upon American soil for years, only the Tetons and Yanktons had until this time given up their allegiance to the crown of England, and the northwest was American in name only. At this time they gave complete submission to the United States government, and since that date, no matter how hostile they may have been in local matters, they have never failed to recognize the sovereignty of the great father at Washington. Among the Dakotas who were present were Redwing, Smutty Bear, Black Buffalo and the Partisan.

While waiting for the assembling of the council Black Buffalo died, on the night of July 14th. He was a Minneconjou and a man of a good deal of power. It will be recalled that he was the principal chief with whom Lewis and Clark counciled, feasted and quarreled, at the mouth of the Teton (Fort Pierre) from September 25th to the 28th, 1804. when upon the up trip. He was with his band down near Fort Randall when the explorers returned in 1806, and fearing trouble and delay they did not stop to hold communion with him. In 1807 he was in league with the Rees and present in the Ree villages when the attack was made upon the party of Lieutenant Pryor and Pierre John Chouteau, who were endeavoring to get Big White to his home, and in the skirmish Black Buffalo was dangerously wounded, the whites supposing he was killed. We next find him at the head of a party of Dakotas whom the Astorians met at the Big Bend in 1811, protesting against the carrying of arms to the Rees and Mandans, with whom they were then at war. At this time, by reason of his appearance and mild deportment, he made a very favorable impression upon Brakenridge, who was the historian of the expedition. During the ensuing war with Great Britain Black Buffalo was one of the men upon whom Manuel Lisa relied in his efforts to keep the Missouri River Dakotas friendly to the United States, and at the close of the war Lisa himself brought him down to Portage des Sioux, in company with forty-two other western Indians, where, as stated, his death occurred. Colonel John Miller, with a detachment of the Third Infantry, was present, and  at the request of Governor Clark, Black Buffalo was buried with military honors. Indeed he was given the honors of an officer of high rank, and the ceremonies evidently made a deep impression upon the assembled redmen, for Big Elk, chief of the Omahas, who delivered one of the funeral orations, said:

Do not grieve. Misfortunes will happen to the wisest and best of men. Death will come and always comes out of season. It is the command of the Great Spirit and all nations and people must obey. What is passed and cannot be prevented should not be grieved for. Be not displeased or discouraged that in visiting your father here you have lost your chief. A misfortune of this kind may never again befal you, but this would have come to you, perhaps at your own village. Five times have I visited this land and never returned with sorrow or pain. Misfortunes do not flourish particularly in our path. They grow everywhere. What a misfortune for me that I could not have died today, instead of the chief who lies before us. The trifling loss my nation would have sustained in my death would have been doubly paid for in the honors of my burial. They would have wiped off everything like regret. Instead of being covered with a cloud of sorrow my warriors would have felt the sunshine of joy in their hearts. To me it would have been a most glorious occurrence. Hereafter, when I die at home, instead of a noble grave and a grand procession, the rolling music and the thunderous cannon, with a flag waving at my head, I shall be wrapped in a robe (an old robe, perhaps), and hoisted on a slender scaffold to the whistling winds, soon to be blown to the earth, my flesh to be devoured by the wolves and my bones rattled on the plains by the wild beasts. Chief of the soldiers, your labors have not been in vain. Your attention shall not be forgotten. My nation shall know the respect that is paid to the dead. When I return I shall echo the sound of your guns.

Why Wapasha and Little Crow did not attend the council at Portage des Sioux does not appear. On the whole examination of the situation it appears rather remarkable that they should not have done so, for Redwing attended it and signed the treaty, and the bands of Wapasha and Little Crow were present and afterwards deemed bound by the treaty. Wapasha's American tendencies during the war, it would seem, would have induced him to take this early opportunity to square himself with the American authorities.

The English traders were prompt to recognize the error which had been made by the government in abandoning the western Indians at the close of the war, and in August Captain Anderson, who had served the British during the war at Prairie du Chien and was therefore well acquainted with the Indians, was dispatched by Colonel McDonell to the Mississippi to invite the Sioux and other western tribes to come down to Drummond Island, where the British headquarters in the west had been established after the abandonment of Macinac after the treaty of peace, to receive the thanks of the king for their service in the war. Wapasha met Anderson in council near Prairie du Chien on August 15, 1815, and made a speech in which he said: "I am happy that you show us the fine path of peace in which our fathers walked with  such ease."

For some reason the Dakotas were not able to go down to Lake Huron that autumn, but in June, 1816, they appeared at the English post on Drummond Island, and on the 28th a council was held and Wapasha was the first speaker. He said:

My English Father: I salute you—our great father beyond the great lake—also of the officers here.

Father, formerly I used to speak to you upon agreeable subjects. My present speech is rather disagreeable.

Father, your children are miserably situated; there is great appearance of encroachments being made upon their lands. I address you in behalf of all of your red children from the westward, and this wampum (holding up a wampum belt) is to be shown to all of the principal English chiefs on the communication from this to Quebec, and from thence to our great father, the king; and to acquaint them all that an omission appears to have been made at the treaty made between the Big Knives (Americans) and the English, our fathers; for since the hatchet has been buried the Big Knives threaten to erect forts upon your children's lands, which they cannot suffer. The land is their only support. Though I do not know what arrangement you made with the Big Knives when you buried the hatchet, yet learned that you had not forgot us in that arrangement, but on my arrival at Michilimacinac I was told by the Big Knives that it was not the case; that we, your children, are deprived in some measure of the pleasure of seeing you, and totally deprived of the benefit of having English traders amongst them, consequently we cannot live long, or else we must adopt severe measures, but those measures will not be adopted before we hear from our English father.

Father, excuse me if I take up much of your time in my discourse. I am not accustomed to make long speeches, but the subject of the present discourse is of such importance as to compel me to make it more lengthy than usual.

Though there is an obstruction between you and us, yet we stretched our hand over all difficulties and obstructions and hold our English father with a strong hold and never will forget him as long as we live. Before your Indian children have violent measures with the Big Knives they will wait patiently one, two or three nights for an answer from our great father, the king.

Here Wapasha presented a pipe, two pouches and some wampum to the superintendent, and again said:

Father, here is a paper which contains accounts, of provisions which our English traders furnished us with to enable us to visit you. Had they not afforded us that assistance it would have been impossible for us to have reached this place. We, the chiefs and the rest of our nation here present, beg that you will get them paid, so that on some other occasion it may be an inducement for them, the traders, to assist us, should you require our presence.

Little Crow then arose and said:

Father, formerly my ancestors used to visit our great father's representatives, and always went away overjoyed, for they did not meet with any difficulties in coming or returning to their homes. At present it is not the case; for my part I have met with great difficulties on my route to this with those who accompany me.

Father, you know well that you are the father of all the Indian nations, viz: The Menomonees, the Winnebagoes, Sauks, Sioux and all the western Indians, and that you forgot them when you made peace with the Big Knives. It appears that the good work you had begun for your children was lost when you buried the hatchet with-the Big Knives, for the discourse which was held with us as we passed Michilimacinac was very different from what we expected. The Big Knives addressed us by taking us by the left hand and holding in their right a switch, which implies that the Big Knives intend to deprive us of our traders and build forts on our lands without permission.

Father, if I represent our situation in a humble voice, do not believe that your children are afraid of them. No, they believe themselves strong enough to resist them with your consent and assistance. This is the language and determination of your children, the Dakotas. You see before you a part of our nation, whose families are waiting anxiously for the assistance of our great father to support them for a year. Your children are deprived of their traders, consequently they cannot, without your assistance, possibly live for more than one year.

To these speeches Colonel McKay and Colonel McDonell replied in suitable terms, and with encouragement that they should be supplied with English traders, and after supplying them with presents the Indians returned to the Mississippi.

Soon thereafter American dominance was completely established in the west, and the old chiefs, like the consummate politicians which they were, readily fell in with the new order of things. Then they  remembered what had occurred down at Drummond Island after this manner: They recalled that they had made the weary tramp of 800 or 1,000 miles through the wilderness, not to implore aid from the English, but to show their contempt for them. They related how Colonel McDonell had profusely thanked them for their service to the king and had pointed to a small heap of presents he had to offer them, when Wapasha, with great dignity, replied:

My father, what is this I see before me? A few knives and blankets! Is this all you promised at the beginning of the war? Where are those promises you made at Michilimacinac and sent to our villages on the Mississippi? You told us you would never let fall the hatchet until the Americans were driven beyond the mountains; that our British father would never make peace without consulting his red children. Has that come to pass? We never knew of this peace. We are told it was made by our great father beyond the water, without the knowledge of his war chiefs; that it is your duty to obey his orders. What is this to us? Will these paltry presents pay for the men we have lost in battle and in the war? Will they soothe the feelings of our friends? Will they make good your promises to us? For myself, I am an old man. I have lived long and always found the means of subsistence, and I can do so still!  I Then they recalled that Little Crow was even more defiant and vehement:

After we have fought for you, endured many hardships, lost some of our people and awakened the vengeance of our powerful neighbors, you make a peace for yourselves and leave us to obtain such terms as we can! You no longer need our services, and offer us these goods to pay us for having deserted us. But no! we will not take them; we hold them and yourselves in equal contempt!

So saying, he kicked the goods right and left and withdrew. After all the Dakota Indian of 1816 was very human.

 

CHAPTER IX

The memorable campaign with the English apparently developed but one great character. Little Crow and Wapasha went into the war as great chiefs, and do not appear to have either gained nor lost by its exploits. The one great character brought out by its demands and opportunity was Waneta, the Yanktonais boy from the wilds of the James River, who won his name, The Rushing Man, or the man that charges the enemy, by the valor he exhibited at Forts Meigs and Stephenson. He killed seven men in battle and received nine wounds. At the attack on Sandusky he was hit by a bullet and by three buckshot in the breast. The bullet glanced on his breast bone and passed around under the skin and came out at his back. His intrepidity won for him the admiration of whites and Indians alike, and he gained the reputation of being the most powerful Indian upon the continent. Something of the history of this remarkable man may as well be inserted here as elsewhere. He accompanied his father, a Cut Head Yanktonais chief, to join the English in the spring of 1813, when he was about 18 years old. Rev. John It. Renville informed this writer that after the war, owing to his valor, he was given the pay of a captain in the English army and taken to England, where the king gave him an audience. I am unable to verify this statement, but at any rate he retained his English sympathies and his hostility to Americans for a long time after the war, and after the other prominent Dakotas were reconciled to the American dominance. After the war was out of the way the Dakotas resumed their old time feud with the Chippewas, Crees and Assinoboins, and Waneta was a leader. He was with a party under the command of his uncle who completely annihilated a settlement of Chippewas near Pembina, and in 1822 he greatly alarmed the Pembina people by massacreing a party of Assinoboins in that neighborhood.  He seems to have been the most ubiquitous of mortals, and his operations extended from Fort Sandusky to the upper Missouri, from Pembina to St. Louis, and he was in the most distant localities at times so brief that his passage from one to another seems marvelous. In the summer of 1822, after returning from the exploit against the Chippewas and Assinoboins, in compliance with a pledge he had made that if successful in the enterprise that he would do so, he celebrated the sun dance. This involved the giving away of all his property and the abstinence from food for the space of four days, during which time he danced about an upright pole, to which he was fastened by ropes tied into loops cut into the skin of his breast and arms. In the earlier portion of the dance he would swing his entire weight upon the ropes, supported only by the skin loops. He kept it up until 10 o'clock on the morning of the fourth day, when the loop cut into his breast gave way. He kept on until noon, when one of the arm loops pulled out, when his uncle cut him down and he fell in a swoon. The next spring he was all right, so that it is probable that his recovery was rapid. In the autumn of 1820 Waneta was still hostile and gathered up a party of Yanktonais and Sissetons and led them down to Fort Snelling to see what was going on there. Colonel Snelling was just converting St. Peter's cantonment into the fort. They hovered around the barracks, and at last Waneta presented himself at the gates, ostensibly to have a friendly talk with the colonel. The gates were opened, and sufficient information having been obtained to warrant the belief that he meditated an attack, he was placed under arrest and marched to the council hall, where his treachery was fully exposed. A large number of  badges and medals which he had received from the English were found in his possession and they were taken from him and burned before his eyes. They hustled him around until he was fully convinced of the power of the Americans, and from that date showed himself loyal to American interests.'"

 

 

In the spring of 1823 he was again at Fort Snelling and wore, as was his custom, a necklace of the claws of the grizzly bear, which Beltrami, an Italian refugee, a man of great prominence, desired to secure, but Waneta refused to sell. Mrs. Snelling, wife of the commandant, had great influence over Waneta, and the Italian appealed to her for assistance in securing the desired prize. She sought the Yanktonais and asked him to sell her the necklace. He critically examined the beautiful hair the lady and replied that he did not desire to part with the necklace, as he wore it as a badge of prowess and honor, having himself killed the bear from which the claws were obtained, but upon one condition he would part with it. If Mrs. Snelling would cut off her hair and braid it into a necklace for him he would trade. The Italian did not secure the trophy. On the 23d of July, that year, when the expedition under Major Long arrived at the head of Lake Traverse they found Waneta camped there with his family. Keating, the historian of the expedition, thus describes him: "He is a tall man, upwards of six feet high. His countenance would be esteemed handsome in any country. His features are regular and well shaped. There is an intelligence that beams through his eye which is not the usual concomitant of Indian features. His manners are dignified and reserved; his attitudes are graceful and easy, though they appear to be somewhat studied."

When the party arrived at the post of the fur company located at the head of the lake they found it surrounded by Indian tipis, from which American flags were streaming in honor of the expedition. Upon dismounting they were met by an invitation to take dinner with Waneta. We repaired to a sort of pavilion, which they had erected by the union of several large skin lodges; fine buffalo robes were spread all around and the air was perfumed by the odor of sweet scented grass which had been burned in it. On entering the lodge we saw the chief seated near the further end, and one of the principal men pointed out to us the place destined for our accommodation. If was at the upper end of the lodge, the Indians who were in it taking no further notice of us. These consisted of the chief, his son, a lad of about 8 years, and eight or ten of the principal warriors. The chief's dress presented a mixture of the aboriginal and oriental costume. He wore moccasins and leggings of splendid scarlet cloth, a blue breechcloth, a fine shirt of printed muslin, over this a frock coat of fine blue cloth, with scarlet facings, somewhat similar to the undress uniform of a Prussian officer; this was buttoned and secured around the waist with a belt. On his head he wore a blue cloth cap made like a German fatigue cap. A very handsome Macinaw blanket, slightly ornamented with paint, was thrown over his person. His son, whose features favored those of his father, wore a dress somewhat similar, except that his coat was parti-colored, one-half being made of blue and the other half of scarlet cloth. He wore a round hat with a plated silver band and a large cockade. From his neck were suspended several silver medals, doubtless gifts to his father. The lad appeared to be a great favorite of Waneta's, who seemed to indulge him more than it is the custom of the Indians to do. As soon as we were seated the chief passed his pipe around, and while we were smoking two of the Indians arose and uncovered the large kettles which were standing over the fire and emptied their contents into a dozen large wooden dishes, which were placed all around the lodge. These consisted of buffalo meat boiled with tepsin, and also that vegetable boiled without the meat, in buffalo grease, and finally the much esteemed dog meat, all of which were dressed without salt."

The travelers partook of the buffalo meat heartily, and fearing to give offense, ate sparingly of the dog meat, which they were unanimous in declaring was "among the best meat that we had ever eaten. It was remarkably fat, sweet and palatable." They noted that the Indians treated the bones of the dog with great reverence, and after feasting upon the flesh carefully cleaned the bones and buried them as a testimony that no disrespect was meant to the dog in having eaten it.

In August of that year (1823) Colonel Leavenworth, having punished and reduced the Rees for their hostility to General Ashley's men, Waneta removed his home from the Elm River to the Missouri, at the mouth of the Warreconne (Beaver Creek, Emmons county, North Dakota), where he set up a protectorate over the Rees and Mandans, exacting tribute from them in horses, corn and furs, in consideration of protecting them from the Dakotas. On July 5, 1825, he met the Atkinson O'Fallon treaty making expedition at the mouth of the Teton (Fort Pierre), where he signed the treaty regulating trade as a member of the Sioune band, and on August 17th of the same year he met Captain Clark and General Lewis Cass at Prairie du Chien, where he signed the treaty fixing the tribal land boundaries as a Yankton. It is probable that the tribal designation in both cases is an error on the part of the treaty writer.

In 1832 Catlin met him again at Fort Pierre and painted his likeness, and he still wore the bear's claws. He continued to be supreme upon the upper Missouri, without rival or compeer, the traders regarding him as one who could be trusted because it was policy to be at peace with the whites, but placing no confidence in his friendship or integrity. They characterized him as brave, skillful and sagacious as he was artful, grasping and overbearing. He died in 1848.

Red Thunder, the father of Waneta, was himself a man of a good deal of force, but his prominence was overshadowed by the fame of his renowned son. After his return from the war of 1812, acting under the advice of his brother-in-law, Colonel Dickson, Red Thunder, or Shappa, the Beaver, as he was called by the Chippewas, undertook to negotiate a peace between the Dakotas and their Chippewa enemies. He found it somewhat difficult to get in speaking distance of his enemies in order to establish peace negotiations, but after some failures he struck upon an effectual plan. In one of his earlier forays he had taken a young Chippewa girl captive, who by this time had become his favorite wife. This wife he mounted upon his fleetest horse, and giving her his peace pipe sent her to her relatives with the message that upon a certain early date he would come and smoke with them in peace and good will. At the same time the Dakotas of the Mississippi established relations with the eastern Chippewas, and peace was established all along the Dakota frontier. After making peace with the Chippewas in the west a game of ball was played between the young men of the two nations for a large stake. It was hard, indeed, for these people to associate without fighting, and one of the young Dakotas soon picked a quarrel with a Chippewa and batted him over the head with a ball stick, and the fracas was fast becoming serious, when Waneta seized the Dakota who had begun the trouble and administered to him a severe whipping and restored peace.

All of the Chippewas were now pacified except Flatmouth, to whom the pipe had been sent, but he mistrusted the sincerity of the Dakotas. So instead of attending the council he went off upon a hunt, suspecting that the Dakotas had some deep design of treachery beneath their protestations of friendship. He camped one night on Ottertail Creek at the outlet to the lake, when he discovered a war party of 400 Dakotas under the lead of the false Shappa, just in time to evade them.

The Dakotas, however, went on, and the next day killed two cousins of Flatmouth's, near Leaf Lake, but lost three warriors in the fight. Flatmouth, exasperated and desperate at the loss of his relatives and the treachery of the Dakotas, set about to raise a large war party to avenge their death. His war pipe and war club were carried by fleet messengers from village to village and the braves sprang to arms at his call. While he was assembling his men a messenger came from Shappa, who was at a trading post of his brother-in-law, Robert Dickson, on the Red River, denying all participation in the late war party and deploring its work, and inviting Flatmouth to meet him at the trading post to make a peace. Flatmouth chose thirty of his best men and set out for the post, where he found four Frenchmen in charge. The next day Shappa arrived with only two men in his company. The Chippewa warriors were for making an end of him forthwith, but Flatmouth ordered them to desist. He refused to smoke with Shappa and took good care that he did not escape. Shappa knew that his end was near. All night the rain poured and the thunders bellowed, and through the storm the death song of the Yanktonais was heard. In the morning the Chippewas waited until Shappa and his men left the shelter of the post, when they captured them and took them out on the prairie, out of sight of the post, where they shot them down and cut off their heads. In addition to their scalps they secured Red Thunder's English medal, which they considered a great trophy. Dickson was furious when he learned of the death of Red Thunder, and threatened the Chippewas with the direst calamity which can befall them, the withdrawal of all traders, but of course he was unable to make good his threat. From that time until his death Waneta persistently took toll of the Chippewas in requital of his father's death, and he lived to be amply revenged.

 

CHAPTER X

 

Little Crow was the name of a dynasty rather than of a man. For what period of time it had been the designation of the chief of the Kaposia band of Dakotas can not be ascertained. We only know that there was a Little Crow who visited the English in Canada during the Revolution, but that is about all that the record divulges of him. He was the father of that Little Crow so much in evidence in recent pages of this history and whom Pike made head chief of the Dakotas.

The personal name of this latter Little Crow was Chatan Wakoowamani, meaning "Who walks, pursuing a hawk." He continued in office until his death at about 58 years of age in 1827, or thereabouts. He was succeeded by his son, Wamde Tanka, meaning "Big Eagle," who was chief until some time in the middle forties, when his death resulted from an accidental gunshot wound and he was followed by his son Taoyatiduta, meaning "his red people," who was the Little Crow of the war of the Outbreak.

After the resumption of peaceful relations with the Americans following the war of 1812 Chatan Wakoowamani, Little Crow, was still the official chief of the Dakotas, having been given that distinction by Lieutenant Pike in 1806, and not withstanding his disloyalty he was still permitted to enjoy the honor, which in any event was wholly nominal, for as yet the government had taken no hand in the internal concerns of the tribes and they continued to conduct their affairs according to their own traditions and customs.

When Major Forsyth came up in the fall of 1819 to make the presents promised in the Pike treaty of fourteen years before, he found Little Crow at Kaposia and says: "His independent manner I like. I made him a very handsome present, for which he was very thankful and said it was more than he expected." In his report to Governor Clark, Forsyth further says: "I found the Little Crow a steady, generous and independent Indian. He acknowledged the sale of the land at the mouth of the St. Peter to the United States and said he had been looking every year since the sale for the troops to build a fort, and he was happy to see us now, as the Dakotas would have an agent near them. I mentioned to Little Crow the barbarous war that existed between them and the Chippewa and if there was not a possibility of bringing about a peace between the two nations. He observed that a peace could easily be made, but said 'it is better for us to carry on the war in the way we do than to make peace, because," he added, "we lose a  man or two every year, but we kill as many of the enemy during the same time. If we make peace the Chippewa will overrun all of the country between the Mississippi and Lake Superior and have their villages on the banks of the Mississippi itself. In this case the Dakotas will lose all of their hunting grounds on the northeast side of the river. Why then, should we give up such an extensive country to save the life of a man or two annually? I know it is not good to go to war, or to make too much war, or against too many people; but this is war for land which must always exist if the Dakota Indians remain in the same opinion which now guides them." Forsyth adds: "I found the Indian's reason so good that I said no more to him upon the subject."

Little Crow's assertion that the Dakotas did not lose more than a man or two a year in their constant warfare against the Chippewas will strike the unsophisticated reader as an absurd proposition, but that he did not underestimate the loss is borne out by abundant testimony. Forsyth himself relates this circumstance, which is in point: "When I arrived at Little Crow's village he told me that a party of fifty of his young men had gone off to war five days before and he expected them back in a few days. After my arrival at St. Peters I was informed that the war party had got back and reported that they fell in with two Chippewas, at whom the whole fifty fired at one time killing one and wounding the other, who got behind a tree, and there tire fifty left him. The Rev. S. W. Pond, the well known missionary, came among them in the early thirties and learned their language and lived in close association with them for many years. He kept a careful account of the casualties resulting from their warfare from 1835 to 1845, at a time when they were constantly at war, giving the date of the occurrence in each instance and the place where the fight took place. These wars were not against the Chippewas alone but were against the Sacs and Pottawatomies as well. During this period the Santee Dakotas killed and wounded 129 of their enemies and lost in killed and wounded eighty-eight of their own people. This report includes men, women and children killed upon both sides, about seventy of the enemy killed by the Dakotas being women and children.

In summing up this record Mr. Pond says: "What I have here given is sufficient to show the nature and ordinary results of Indian warfare as carried on in Minnesota. The Indians spent a good deal of time at war, but their attempts to kill their enemies were not often very successful. A very large majority of war parties returned without scalps and of such parties I have kept no record. Small parties were usually more successful than large ones as they could move with more celerity and secrecy. If the party was small it generally withdrew precipitately after striking a single blow, or after the enemy was alarmed, whether it had succeeded in taking a scalp or not. If the party was a strong one and supplied with provisions, it might after killing one or more, wait a while for an attack, but it was not the practice of the Indians, after taking one or more scalps to go on farther in quest of more, or to remain in the enemy's country after being discovered. No matter how many were in a war party, nor how far they had traveled in pursuit of an enemy, if a single scalp was taken it was not considered a failure. Dakota war parties were seldom led by the chiefs, though they sometimes accompanied them. They were led by individuals who claimed to receive their commission by revelation from some superior being, who commanded them to make war and promised them success. When such a leader offered himself the warriors could do as they pleased about following him. If they had confidence in his ability or credentials he could raise a large party. If not he could get few followers. His office lasted only during the time of the expedition. Sometimes a few young men started off to look for scalps without the usual formalities and without a leader. Such small, unauthorized parties were as likely to be successful as any.

"It will be seen that the Indians seldom fought sanguinary battles. They had no desire to fight where the forces on both sides were nearly equal. If two war parties met, as they sometime did the meeting was accidental. In such cases there might be a little skirmishing, but seldom severe fighting. It was not their custom to look for armed men who were prepared to receive them. Since I have lived at Shakopee the Chippewas killed a Dakota as he was fishing in the river near my house. The event was immediately known, but though this was a strong band, much stronger than any war party of the Chippewas was likely to be, they did not venture to attack them. The Chippewas spent the night not far from here and though the Dakotas followed them a little way the next day they were careful not to overtake them. At another time two men went over the river to hunt and one of them soon returned and reported that his companion had been killed very near here by the Chippewas, yet they all waited twenty-four hours before they ventured to bring home the dead body. In both cases they were afraid of being drawn into ambush by a strong body of the enemy. When a Dakota was killed at Lake Harriet I was there a few moments after he was killed and saw in the tall grass the trail of the Chippewa leading to a small cluster of young poplars. There were no tracks leading from the grove and all knew they were there. We afterwards learned that they remained there until dark. I urged the Dakotas to try to kill them, but though there were as many as fifty armed Dakotas, they refused to go near them.

"Indeed, Indians consider it foolhardiness to make an attack where it is certain some of them will be killed. Bloody battles were seldom fought by them except when the party attacked rallied and made an unexpected resistance. They occasionally performed exploits which only brave men would undertake and often fought with desperate valor in self defense or in defense of their families. Governor Cass' party which was out exploring the western portion of the territory of Michigan for the purpose of becoming better acquainted with its Indian tribes and agricultural and mineral resources, came up the lakes to Duluth and crossed over to the Mississippi and down that stream to Fort Snelling, where Colonel Henry Leavenworth was with a detachment of troops laying the foundations of the fort in the autumn of 1820. The  party visited Little Crow at his village of Kaposia on the site of St. Paul. Two members of the party kept journals of the expedition; the noted Henry R. Schoolcraft who became a celebrated authority upon the Indian tribes, and James Doty, private secretary to Governor Cass. Schoolcraft says: "Here is a Sioux (Dakotah) band of twelve lodges and consisting of about two hundred souls, who plant corn on the adjoining plains and cultivate the cucumber and the pumpkin. They sallied from their lodges upon seeing us approach and manifested the utmost satisfaction at our landing. LePetit Corbeau, (French for Little Crow) was the first to greet us. He is a man below the common size but brawny and well proportioned; and although rising of 50 years of age retains the looks and vigor of 40. There is a great deal of fire in his eyes, which are black and piercing. His nose is prominent and has the aquiline curve, his forehead falling a little from the facial angle, and his whole countenance animated and expressive of a shrewd mind. We were conducted into his cabin, which is spacious, being about sixty feet in length and thirty in breadth; built in a permanent manner of logs and covered with bark. Being seated he addressed Governor Cass in a speech of some length in which he expressed his satisfaction in seeing him there and said that in his extensive journey he must have experienced a good many hardships and difficulties and seen a good deal of the Indian's way of living. He said he was glad that the governor had not, like a good many other officers and agents of the United States who had lately visited the region, passed without calling. He acquiesced in a treaty just made with the Chippewas. He then adverted to a recent attack of a party of Fox Indians upon some of their people towards the sources of the river Minnesota, in which nine men were killed. He considered it a dastardly act, and said if that little tribe should continue to haunt their territory in a hostile manner they would at length drive him into anger and compel him to do as he did not wish. Doty says: "Two miles further, (below Carver's cave) is the Little Crow's village. It has twelve lodges, ten of them substantially built. The Little Crow was absent but a talk was held with the chiefs found there and some presents made. The reader is permitted to choose between the two accounts. It is likely that Doty is correct, and that Schoolcraft interpolated a description of Little Crow which he obtained at another time. From other accounts, Schoolcraft's description of his personal appearance is correct. In 1824, so much trouble had arisen between the tribes about trespassing upon each other's territory, which appeared to be due to the fact that there was no definite boundary, Major Lawrence Taliaferro determined to take a delegation of Dakotas to Washington and if possible arrange for a convention of all of the interested tribes and agree upon boundary lines. He consequently gathered up a company of Dakotas, including Little Crow, Wapasha, Waneta, and Marcpee. As usual the traders were opposed to 'he visit and when they arrived at Prairie du Chien the dealers prevailed upon Wapasha and Waneta to refuse to proceed further. Little Crow brought them again into line by declaring that "you may do as you please. I am no coward, nor can my ears be pulled about by evil counsels. We are here and should go on and do some good for our nation. I have taken our father here (Taliaferro) by the coat tails and will follow him until I take by the hand our great American father." They then went on and after visiting President Monroe were induced by their relative, William Dickson, to go on to New York. There they called upon some of the notables and when they came away Little Crow had a fine double barreled shot gun. Taliaferro asked him where he obtained it and he replied that it was given him by the Rev. Samuel Peters, for signing a paper. Peters claimed to own the assignment of Carver's land grant and he thus attempted to get Little Crow to confirm the grant. He promised to send him a keelboat load of goods the next year.

Little Crow was highly respected by his own people and had great influence with all of the Dakotas, though hereditarily he was inferior to Wapasha. He was exceedingly anxious that the Dakotas should rely upon the products of the soil rather than the precarious fruits of the chase, and he set them a good example by laboring industriously in his own field. After his death, the date of which I am unable to accurately determine, but which occurred about 1827, he was succeeded by his son, Big Eagle, who was at once designated as Little Crow, by both whites and Indians. He appears to have greatly resembled his father in habit and temperament and to have pursued his policy toward the whites. Nothing of great moment occurred during his administration, which lasted for about twenty years. He signed the treaties of 1830.and 1837. There were no disturbances with, the whites during his incumbency. He accompanied General Sibley on his hunting trips to the neutral strips in 1839 and 1840. On May 11, 1841, two of the sons of Little Crow, who were with a war party hunting Chippewas on the St. Croix, were killed near the Palls. The Chippewas were driven off with the loss of one man killed and another wounded, and the bodies of the Kaposians were not mutilated. When Little Crow learned of the death of his favorite boys he gathered up all the family treasures of wampum and silver and taking his double barreled rifle, of which he was very proud, he made a forced march to the place where the boys had fallen. He had their faces carefully washed and painted, placed new clothing upon them, plaited their hair and covered them with ornaments. He then placed their bodies in sitting positions, supported by trees, and depositing his gun by their sides left them there. A few days later some of the Chippewas returned, scalped them and carried off the gun and valuable ornaments. After some time Little Crow again visited the Falls of the St. Croix and gathered up the bones of his sons and brought them home, where he gave them decent burial. When asked for an explanation of his conduct, he said: "I opposed the formation of the war party, but my sons were so bent upon avenging the death of some relatives who had been killed by the Chippewas that I withdrew the objection. My two sons joined the party and were killed. While I grieve deeply at their loss they fell like brave men in battle and the enemy was entitled to their scalps. I wished the Chippewas to know by the treasures lavished upon their bodies that they had slain the sons of a chief."

Shortly after this event while lifting a loaded gun from i wagon at his village, the piece was discharged and he was severely wounded. He sent word of his accident to General Henry H. Sibley, who taking the post surgeon from Fort Snelling, went at once to Kaposia. When the doctor had examined the wound he told him that it was extremely dangerous and probably fatal. The old man smiled and said he was aware of it and that he would not live through the following day. He then sent for his son Taoyatiduta (Little Crow, Jr.) and directed that only General Sibley, the doctor and Alex. Farebault should remain. When the young man entered, Little Crow told him to seat himself and listen attentively to his words. He told him that it had not been his intention to make him chief; that though he was the oldest son he had very little good sense and that he was addicted to drinking and to other vicious habits. "But," said he, "my second son, upon whom I had intended to bestow the chieftainship, has been killed in battle by the Chippewas and I can now do no better than to name you as my successor." He then proceeded to give him counsel as to his future course in the responsible position he was about to assume as the leader of the band which would have reflected no discredit upon a civilized man similarly situated, though he made no allusion to the subject of religion. After referring to the differences existing between the whites and Indians he told his son that the Dakotas must accommodate themselves to the new state of things which was coming upon them. The whites wanted their land and there was no use in contending against the superior force. The Dakotas could only hope to be saved from the fate of other tribes by making themselves useful to the whites by honest labor and frank and friendly dealings in their intercourse with them. "Teach your people to be honest and laborious," continued he, "and adopt such of the habits of the whites as will be fitted for their change of circumstances, and above all be industrious and sober and make yourself beloved and respected by the white people. Now my son I have finished all I had to say to you. Depart to your own lodge, remembering my final admonitions, for tomorrow I shall die." Turning to the white men he told them he hoped they would help his son and befriend him and then shaking hands with them bade them farewell. He died the next day. A sketch of his son and successor, Taoyatiduta, follows the war of the Outbreak in this history.

 

 

CHAPTER XI

 

 

Wapasha is a time-honored name among the Dakotas. It signifies Red Leaf, and is said to have been the distinguishing title to a line of chiefs in the same family from time immemorial. The first we know of this name was that old Wapasha who traveled down to Quebec to offer himself as a vicarious sacrifice for the offense of Ixatape, the Dakota who had murdered the trader known as the Mallard Duck. Soon after this we find him in the English service in the Revolutionary war, and especial distinctions being shown him upon his arrival at the post at Mackinaw; DePeyster, the commandant, even going to the extreme length of composing a poem of unspeakable meter and worse discourse:

Hall to the chief! who his buffalo's back straddles,

When In his own country, far, far from this fort;
Whose brave young canoe men here hold up their paddles,

In bones that the whizzing balls may give them sport.
Hall! to great Wapasha!

He comes, beat drums, the Sioux chief comes.

 

They now strain their nerves till the canoe runs bounding
As swift as the Solen goose skims o'er the wave,

While on the lake's border a guard is surrounding
A space where to land the Sioux so brave.

Hall! to great Wapasha!

Soldiers! your triggers draw!
Guard! wave the colors and give him the drum.

Choctaw and Chickasaw,

Whoop for great Wapasha;
Raise the portcullis, the King's friend has come.

 

This is a little severe upon him, but he should have been a revolutionary patriot if he wished to escape embarrassing attentions.

This rousing reception occurred on June 6, 1779,  and it appears that there was a large assemblage of Choctaws, Chickasaws and Chippewas there to witness the honors heaped upon the old chief, whose heroism in the starving time had made so deep an impression upon the English officers that they spared no pains to do him honor.

The next year he was at Prairie du Chien with Captain Langlade, where he said he had been sent to take the furs which the English traders had gathered there, lest they be plundered by the Americans. He was a half Chippewa.

I find no other trace of old Wapasha the first after this, and it is probable that he died within a short time, for he was at this time advanced in years. He was succeeded as chief of the Wakpekutes and recognized leading chief of the Santees by his son, Wapasha II, who was not a soldier but a great civil ruler. His home was at the Dakota village of Keoxa, located on the site of the present city of Winona. It is not certain, but it is probable that his father lived there before him. The first information we have relating to Wapasha II was when Pike was returning from his exploration of the upper Mississippi in the spring of 1806. He evidently missed seeing this chief when he went up the previous autumn, and learning of his influence, desired to see him and induce him to go down to St. Louis, but after waiting all day at his village, the chief, who was out on a hunt, failed to come in, so he went on to Prairie du Chien, whence Wapasha followed him the next day. Pike wanted to find the man among the Dakotas who possessed the best qualifications and the most influence, to confer upon him the title of chief of the Dakota tribes, having in mind the Santees only. When Wapasha arrived he had a long private talk with him on the evening of Sunday, April 24th, and the chief took the subject under consideration. The next day he sent for Pike and they engaged in another long and interesting conversation, in which Wapasha told him of the civic polity of the Dakotas and of the jealousies existing among the chiefs, and though he knew it would occasion some hard feelings among the other chiefs, he did not hesitate to declare his opinion that Little Crow possessed more good sense than any other Dakota and he thought his appointment would be more generally acceptable than that of any other This was a really remarkable display of modesty, for the Indian is prone to claim large ability and to aspire to any honors which arc in the way to be conferred.

His course in joining fortunes with the British in the war of 1812 has been followed in previous pages. We recall that he was at Prairie du Chien in 1814 and 1815, and that he desired to take the punishment of a party of his own people who had rebelled against his authority into his own hands, but was restrained by Captain Bulger. After the war he continued loyal to the Americans and lived to an extreme old age, enjoying the respect of both whites and Indians. In 1819 Major Forsyth visited him at Winona and says of him that he is the principal chief of all the Dakotas. "This man is no beggar, nor does he drink, and perhaps I may say he is the only man of this description in the whole Sioux nation." Forsyth made his biggest talk to Wapasha, explaining that the appearance of the large number of soldiers was not intended as a menace to the Dakotas, but for their advantage. The fort would protect the Dakotas from their enemies and afford them a free blacksmith shop. He explained that they must carry their complaints against the government, their enemies or against their own people to the colonel at the fort, and he would secure satisfaction for them. He took pains to impress upon him the power of the United States and to remind him that since he had been disloyal in the war that very good things would be expected of him now. Referring to the anticipated troubles through the Selkirk settlement, he warned him against "the bad birds that come from that quarter. When they tell you, or want to tell you anything which you think is bad, put your fingers in your ears." After sundown Wapasha came down to the boat to visit Forsyth and conversed upon many subjects. Many anecdotes have come to us of Wapasha. Catlin met him in 1835 and painted a likeness of him. He had but one eye. Bishop Whipple relates of him: "On one occasion the Dakotas had killed one of our Ojibways near Cull River. On my next visit to their country I said to their head chief, 'Wapasha, your people have murdered one of my Ojibways and yesterday you had a scalp dance in front of our mission. The wife and children of the murdered man are asking for him. The Great Spirit is very angry.' Wapasha drew the pipe from his mouth and blowing a cloud of smoke into the air, said: 'White men go to war with their brothers and kill more men than Wapasha can count in all the days of his life. Great Spirit looks down and says: 'Good white man; he has my book; I love him and will give him a good place when he dies. Indian has no Great Spirit book. He wild man. Kill one man; has scalp dance; Great Spirit very angry. Wapasha don't believe it.'"

Speaking of Wapasha's name Judge Flaudrau says: "It occurs to me that we have an illustration that original names are passing away in our own state and city. We have a county of Wabasha, a city of Wabasha and in St. Paul a Wabasha street. All of these names come from an Indian chief whom I knew very well and highly respected. His name was Wapasha, not Wabasha. Wapa means a leaf, a staff and a bear's head; sha means red. So his name meant either Red Leaf, Red Staff or Red Bear's Head. We always thought it meant the Red Leaf. This corruption between Wabasha and Wapasha is not of much importance, but it is well while we can to get things right. It amounts to about as much as Thompson with a 'p,' or Thomson, without a 'p.'" Judge Flandrau did not settle in Minnesota until 1855, so that it is apparent that he was still living after that date.

He left as his successor a son, Joseph Wapasha, who still is living with the Santees in northern Nebraska.

 

Tamaha, the one eyed Sioux, is another Indian whose fame was developed in the war of 1812. We have already learned something of his action.  He was a member of Wapasha's band of Dakotas, and was born on the site of Winona in 1775. His name means the Rising Moose and is pronounced Tah-mah-haw, but owing to his great admiration for Lieutenant Pike, to whom he constantly alluded, the Indians, with a humor worthy of the modern punster, changed the last syllabic from "haw" to "hay," which made his name signify "the pike." Because of his admiration for Pike and the "good paper" given him by that officer, he refused to join his people in support of the British in 1812 and made his way to St. Louis, where he was employed by Governor Clark as a scout. He returned to Prairie du Chien with the Americans in 1814 and continued with them until Fort Shelby was taken by the British, when he returned with the garrison to St. Louis.

That autumn he was again dispatched to the Santees, going up the Missouri to the James and thence across the country to Prairie du Chien, where he was imprisoned by Major Dickson in an attempt to extort from him American secrets. He bore the trials with great fortitude and absolutely refused to reveal any information. Being released, he spent the winter among the camps of his own people, inciting them to loyalty to the Americans, and in the spring returned to Prairie du Chien just as the British were abandoning Fort McKay, having first raised an American flag over it and then set it on fire. Tamaha at some risk of life rushed into the post and rescued the flag. He then returned to St. Louis to report to Governor Clark, who as a reward for his fidelity gave him a commission as head chief of all the Sioux Indians. He remained at St. Louis until after the great council at Portage des Sioux, but his name does not appear among the signers of the treaties of peace and friendship negotiated there, probably for the reason that it was not considered appropriate for an Indian who had been so conspicuously loyal to be required to join in such a treaty. He soon repaired to his people upon the upper Mississippi and became the head man of a band of Redwing's Dakotas and for a time settled upon the upper Iowa, where the hunting was good, and from there he came to the Mississippi to meet Forsyth and Leavenworth in 1819. While he was entitled to a full share of the presents due under the Pike treaty of 1805, he accepted a little powder and whisky as his share, saying that it was better to give the blankets to the Indians at the Minnesota, as they were most in want, a bit of consideration of the necessities of others not usual among the Dakotas. When he was leaving St. Louis Governor Clark gave him a captain's uniform and a stovepipe hat, which he treasured as long as he lived and wore upon all special occasions. He moved up to the neighborhood of Hastings, where he was dubbed by the traders "The Old Priest," and being a great talker it was his pride to the day of his death to recite the stories of his patriotic valor during the war and to exhibit the Pike good paper and the commission and medal received from Governor Clark.

He died at Wabasha, Minnesota, in April, i860, aged 85 years. The recital of the facts of his history is probably the best commentary upon his character. He seems to have been especially loyal in his friendships, and that spirit actuated his course. It is not to be presumed that he had any comprehension of the principles involved, but that he had a real admiration for Lieutenant Pike and afterwards for Governor Clark cannot be doubted. It is noteworthy that his allegiance to the Americans did not in the least militate from his popularity with the majority of his tribe, who supported the English. Here is indicated a peculiar trait of Dakota character; the absolute freedom of opinion permitted among them. Every member of the tribe is accorded the privilege of thinking and speaking as he pleases. Tamaha  was a man of fine physique, and but for the less of an eye, which was destroyed while engaged in a game of lacrosse, at Wing Prairie (Winona), in his boyhood, he was a handsome Indian. "He was exceedingly strong and noted among his people for feats of strength and endurance.

Redwing, also known as Tatankamane, or Walking Buffalo, was another chief of prominence in those days and who accompanied Little Crow and Wapasha in most of their pilgrimages, but who was a man of less consequence and character than either of the others. His village was at the head of Lake Pepin, on the west bank of the Mississippi. He was a son of a chief of the same name who was conspicuous in the Pontiac wars and in the Revolution. Redwing was at Michilimacinac in 1812, at Fort Meigs in 1813 and at Prairie du Chien until the end of the war. He signed the treaties of peace and friendship at Portage des Sioux in 1815 and the boundary treaty at Prairie du Chien in 1825. His daughter married Crawford the Scotch trader, and her daughter was the mother of Charles Crawford and Gabriel Renville, the well known Sissetons.

Shakopee, whose name means "six," was another head man of the war of 1812 period. His home was on the St. Peter's or Minnesota River at the Little Rapids, where his name is still preserved in the name of the thriving town which has been built there. He appears to have been a bluffing, bullying fellow of low character. He signed the treaty of peace and friendship of 1815 and the boundary treaty of 1825. In 1819 Shakopee met Forsyth at the mouth of the Minnesota and was exceedingly insolent. Major Forsyth says of him: "I did not like the countenance of Mr. Six, nor did I like his talk. I gave him the remainder of my goods, yet the Six wanted more. Not having any more, he had to do without. I found on inquiring that Mr. Six is a good-for-nothing fellow and rather gives bad counsel to his young men than otherwise. He had a son called Little Six. who was among a party of Dakotas who in violation of a treaty just negotiated with the Chippewas massacred five of the Chippewas under the walls of Fort Snelling in 1825, and being apprehended by Colonel Snelling, was with his companions turned over to the Chippewas for punishment. They were compelled to run the gauntlet and all five were killed. A grandson, also called Little Six, was the most hideous monster in the outbreak of 1862 and paid the penalty of his deviltry on the gallows at Mankato.

Other chiefs of the period were Peneshon, who took his name from his grandfather, a French trader who at a very early date settled near the mouth of the Minnesota; the White Bustard, who lived near Peneshon; the Arrow, who lived near Mankato, and Killiew, the Eagle, who lived a little further up the Minnesota. They did little to distinguish themselves and no distinctive record of their doings has come to us.

 

CHAPTER XII

In July, 1817, Major Stephen H. Long, having completed a reconnaissance of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, made with a view of determining the feasibility of constructing a military road to the west by connecting those streams by a canal, found himself at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, with a six oared skiff, and learning that the Indians of the upper Mississippi were not likely to make him any trouble, he determined to go up to St. Anthony's Falls and sketch and meander the course of the river, and make a general topography of the shores and note such points as were suitable for military purposes. He set out on July 9th, with a crew of seven soldiers and an interpreter named Roque, who subsequently became well known as a trader. Roque was a Dakota half breed and could not talk English, nor could Major Long speak French, so he found it necessary to employ a Mr. Hempstead, a resident of Prairie du Chien, a Connecticut Yankee, to go along and convert the half breed's French into the vernacular. He also took along two grandsons of Captain Carver's, who had come out from New York to investigate the alleged claim of their grandfather to the large tract of land adjacent to the Falls of St. Anthony, making twelve men in the party. The Dakotas and the Foxes were as usual at war, and the first day they passed a small war party of Dakotas camped on the west bank, who ran up the stars and stripes as soon as they saw the boats coming up stream. They did not stop to visit them but some young warriors came out in a canoe and were given a present of some tobacco and whiskey. They did not encounter any other Dakotas until they reached Winona, where they found Wapasha's village, but the old man was not at home. The Indians displayed two American flags and fired a salute. The "folks at home" were well versed in the amenities of the occasion, and upon seeing the boats land, at once assembled and  seated themselves in a circle for a council. Major Long made a talk and Wazzacoota, the second chief, volunteered to go with him up the river and the offer was accepted. When Long arrived at Winona he interrupted a bear dance, which is the ceremony by which the coming to manhood of a young warrior is celebrated, and the major's journal describes the ceremony in detail. "There was a kind of flag made of a fawn skin dressed with the hair on, suspended to a pole. Upon the flesh side of it were drawn certain rude figures indicative of the dream which it was necessary the young mm should have dreamed before he could be considered a proper candidate for this kind of initiation; with this flag a pipe was suspended by way of a sacrifice. Two arrows were stuck up at the foot of the pole, and fragments of painted feathers, etc., were strewed about the ground near it. These pertained to the religious rites attending the ceremony, which consist of bewailing and self mortification, that the good spirit may be induced to pity them, and succor their undertaking.

"At the distance of two or three hundred yards is an excavation, which they call the bear's hole, prepared for the occasion. It is about two feet deep and has two ditches about one foot deep, leading across it at right angles. The young hero of this farce places himself in this hole to be hunted by the rest of the young men, all of whom on this occasion are dressed in their best attire and painted in their neatest style. The hunters approach the hole in the direction of one of the ditches and discharge their guns, which were previously loaded for the purpose with blank cartridges, at the one who acts as the bear; whereupon he leaps from his den. having a hoop in each hand and a wooden lance; the hoops serving as forefeet to help him in characterizing his part and the lance to defend him from his assailants. Thus accoutered he danced around the place, exhibiting various feats of activity, while the other Indians pursue him and endeavor to trap him as he attempted to return to his den, to effect which he was privileged to use any violence he pleased with impunity against his assailants, and even to take the life of any of them. This part of the ceremony is repeated three times that the bear might escape from his den and return to it again from three of the avenues communicating with it. On being hunted from the fourth or last avenue, the bear must make his escape through all of his pursuers and fly to the woods, where he is to remain through the day. This, however, is seldom or never accomplished, as all of the young men exert themselves in order to trap him. When caught he must retire to a lodge erected for his reception in the field, where he is secluded from all society through the day, except one of his particular friends, whom he is allowed to take with him as an attendant. Here he smokes, or performs other rites which superstition has led the Indians to believe are sacred. After this ceremony is ended the young Indian is considered qualified to act any part as an efficient member of their community. The Indian who has had the good fortune to catch the bear and overcome him when endeavoring to make his escape to the woods is considered a candidate for preferment and is on the first suitable occasion appointed the leader of a small war party in order that he may have a further opportunity to test his prowess and perform more essential service on behalf of the nation."

The next of the Dakotas encountered, was a nephew of Wapasha's whom, Wazzacoota informed them, was to succeed the old man as chief. Wazzacoota had by this time taken overmuch whiskey and he persisted in standing up in the boat and singing. Occasionally he would harangue a mythical audience in a loud voice, telling who he was, where he was going and the distinguished company he was in. Wazzacoota told them the story of Winona, the Indian girl who committed suicide by jumping from "Lover's Leap" into Lake Pepin, rather than marry an Indian she did not love. This was the first narration of the story to white men and Major Long wrote it out in full. Wazzacoota represented that he remembered the circumstance. He said some of the Dakotas of Wapasha's band were going down to Prairie du Chien. Among them was a young girl who had formed a strong attachment for a warrior, who entirely reciprocated her views, but her family had made other arrangements. They had contracted an alliance with another man and on the day the party arrived at Lover's Leap the marriage was to take place. They stopped to get a pigment found there to paint themselves for the ceremony. The girl unnoticed slipped away from the party and a few moments later appeared at the top of the hill above the precipice and from there she administered to her family "a piece of her mind" and though they relented and implored her to refrain from the rash act she sang the death song and threw herself from the eminence.  The story in detail with all of the romance Wazzacoota was able to weave about it appears in the journal for July 14th. That day they passed the village of Redwing, Jr., and the next day that of old Redwing, but as the wind was favorable they did not stop but resolved to do so on the return. It is noteworthy however that Young Redwing set up as chief of a band while his father still lived. Little Crow was away from home, but he gives him a bad name, as '"the most notorious beggar of all the Sioux on the Mississippi," a distinction usually accorded to Redwing. Long further says: "One of their cabins is furnished with loop holes and is situated so near the water that the opposite side of the river is within musket shot range from the building. By this means Little Crow is enabled to exercise command of passage over the river and has in some instances compelled traders to land with their goods and induced them probably to bestow presents to a considerable amount before he would suffer them to pass. The cabins are a kind of stockade buildings and of a better appearance than any Indian dwellings I have before met with."

Long reached the Falls on the 17th and enters in his journal a very long story told him by Wazzacoota of a romantic tragedy which occurred at the Falls and "which his mother witnessed with her own eyes." More reliance might be placed upon Wazzacoota's entertaining romances, had they not been in some degree discounted by Major Long's relation of the effect produced upon him by imbibing the "commissary." The story was of a very prominent young chief who was happily married and was the father of two children. His domestic relations were especially felicitous, but his success as a warrior and hunter was such that his people felt that he was not doing justice to himself nor to his nation by skimping along with only one wife, and as they had obligingly picked out another helpmeet for him and brought her to him he espoused her and took her home. The first wife was naturally indignant and went back to her father's tipi, and a few days later painted herself and her children, took them with her in a canoe above the falls, where in view of the tribe she let the craft drift over the falls. It will be observed that Wazzacoota does not tell these as tribal traditions, but as actual events occurring within his own experience, or of that of his mother After examining the site where Fort Snelling was soon after built Major Long returned down river and reached Prairie du Chien on July 26, 1817.

 

CHAPTER XIII

 

After the close of the war of 1812 Robert Dickson found his fortunes wrecked and he came out onto the upper Minnesota about Big Stone Lake and engaged in trade in a smaller way than he had formerly done. His presence in that locality excited the Americans to believe that he was encouraging the Dakotas to hostility against the new government, but the record does not bear out their theory. It is probable he was giving his attention strictly to business at this time. Manuel Lisa resigned his position as government subagent to the Sioux in 1817 but continued in the trade. The records for the period from, 1815 until 1819, relating to the.Dakota country, are very meagre. That they were supplied with trade both from the Mississippi and Missouri and that they resumed their old time wars with the Chippewas and the Sacs and Foxes is about all that is now known.

As early as 1812 Lord Selkirk began his settlement in the lower Red River valley but it does not appear to have aroused much interest among Americans until about 1819, when the western Indian agents began to get wrought up over it and to conceive that it was not only a menace to American trade with the Indians within our own borders, but that indeed it was fraught with deeper portent and that the integrity of our domain was itself threatened. This agitation lead to activity in the war department, and remembering Pike's treaty for a military post site and government factory at the head of navigation upon the Mississippi, Colonel Henry Leavenworth, then stationed at Detroit, was ordered to proceed to the mouth of the Minnesota and there establish a military post, which it was intended should hold the Indians to our allegiance, abate their intertribal wars, insure their trade, and above all offset the pernicious influence of the Selkirk movement. It is unnecessary to add that the influence, of the Selkirkers was quite overestimated and the motives behind it entirely misapprehended.

Leavenworth received his orders to proceed to the Mississippi from John C. Calhoun, secretary of war, on February 10, 1819, and soon thereafter proceeded by way of Macinaw and the Fox River route to Prairie du Chien, where he detached garrisons for small posts at the Prairie and at Rock Island, and with the remainder went on to the mouth of the Minnesota, where he arrived in September. They built mud plastered log huts for the winter. Leavenworth had with him ninety-eight men, and a few days later was joined by 120 recruits. On the trip from Prairie du Chien he was accompanied by Major Thomas Forsyth, Indian agent for the Sacs and Foxes, who had been sent up by the government to pay the Dakotas the two thousand dollars worth of presents stipulated to be paid for the Fort Snelling military reservation by the treaty made by Pike fourteen years earlier.  It is probable that had the government been more prompt in meeting this obligation, that the history of the war of 1812, as related to the western Indians, might have been written upon different lines. Fourteen years is a long time, even for a Sioux Indian, to wait.

When Forsyth arrived at Prairie du Chien on July 5th he was met by Wapasha and also by a son of Redwing's, each accompanied by their bands. Wapasha made a fine impression upon the major but the heir of Redwing, he considered a worthless beggar. On the 8th of July a young Menomonee, becoming insanely jealous of one of the young Dakotas, stabbed him, near the fort. The younger element among the Dakotas siezed the belligerent Menomonee and binding him hand and foot set a watch over him, but when the affair came to the attention of Wapasha he gave the Menomonee a blanket and other clothing and then made him and the Dakota he had stabbed eat out of a single dish in token of forgiveness and friendship. Major Forsyth became utterly disgusted with the insolence of the begging Redwing youth and abruptly left him as they were sitting in council. Before they left the Prairie, old Redwing himself arrived and proved to be as much of a beggar as his son. Redwing told Forsyth some things that indicated that there was some foundation to the Carver claim to lands east of the Mississippi, but his story was not authenticated. On the 10th of September, when about sixty miles above Prairie du Chien, they stopped to confer with Tamaha, "the one eyed Sioux," who had come over from his village, then on the upper Iowa, to meet the expedition. They visited Wapasha at Winona on the 14th and had a long talk with him, which is reported at another place. On the 19th they conferred with Redwing, who was much pleased to receive presents withheld from him at the Prairie. Forsyth takes pains to say: "His son is exactly what I took him to be—a trifling, begging, discontented fellow." On the 21st they reached old Little Crow and his proportionate share of the goods. As we have seen he did not take much stock in the benevolent intentions of the government so far as effecting a peace with the Chippewas was concerned. On the 24th four bands from up the Minnesota came to meet them and the remainder of the goods were distributed among them, but there were all too little to satisfy their demands. In fact Major Forsyth had the delicate task of satisfying about four thousand Dakotas with two thousand dollars' worth of goods, and as Lincoln used to say  "they spread on pretty thin." These bands from up the Minnesota were those of Peneshon, The White Bustard, Shakopee and the Arrow. Forsyth notes that upon his return down the river when near Winona, he met "Mr. Robertson ascending the river to winter in the River St. Peters." This gentleman was the father of Thomas A. Robertson, the accomplished Sisseton interpreter. He was a Scotch nobleman, who having met with disappointment in political affairs came to America and buried himself in the wilderness. Very little is known of his story. Robertson was an assumed name, to hide his identity. That much he told his sons upon his death bed. He was about to reveal to them the story of his life but death closed his lips as he began the narrative. Colonel Leavenworth was too busy getting ready for the winter to give much attention to his neighbors, the Dakotas, that fall of 1819, but the next spring he took the matter up and induced the Dakota bands to agree to a peace with the Chippewas, and he started a large delegation of them into the Chippewa country to negotiate a treaty. They made twenty-three camps between the Minnesota and the point where they turned back, not having come upon the Chippewa. It is evident that they had not traveled very fast. Before turning back they wrote a letter to the Chippewa, which they left upon a high pole. A few days later General Cass and his party coining down the river, stopped to hunt at this point and found the letter. It was a piece of birch bark, on which was marked with the point of a knife, the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, the American camp, the journey of the Dakotas, a few Chippewas and the leaders of the two bands shaking hands. It was shown to the Chippewas who were accompanying Cass down to the military post and they readily understood its meaning. Cass reached Leavenworth's camp on the 30th of July and the next day about 300 Dakotas were gathered up about the fort and a peace treaty made between them and the Chippewas, but the Dakotas were very indifferent about the proceeding, and some of them refused to smoke the peace pipe after the treaty was signed.

A week before General Cass arrived from the north at Leavenworth's post Captain Talcott and Lieutenant Douglas had arrived there, direct across country from Council Bluffs, the object of their trip being to determine the practicability of building a road connecting the two points. About September, 1820, Colonel Josiah Snelling relieved Colonel Leavenworth at the Minnesota and continued the construction of the post, which was named in his honor, Fort Snelling. During the summer of 1820, a party of Sissctons killed, near Council Bluffs, on the Missouri, Isadore Poupin, a half breed, and Joseph Andrews, a Canadian, two men in the employ of the Missouri Fur Company. As soon as the intelligence reached the agent, Major Taliaferro, at Fort Snelling all trade with the Dakotas was interdicted until the guilty were surrendered. To be deprived of blankets, guns, powder, tobacco and other necessaries was a calamity too serious for even the stoicism of the Sissetons, and they assembled in council at Big Stone Lake to consider the matter. Colin Campbell, a well known and ubiquitous frontiersman, was present and advised them to promptly turn the miscreants over to justice and so relieve the tribe from hardship. Masakoda, the Ironfriend, and another young man came forward and announced themselves guilty of the crime and willing to surrender themselves. At that juncture the aged father of the Ironfriend stepped forward and offered himself as a substitute for his guilty son. The council deemed this a good arrangement and accordingly the Ironfriend and his father, accompanied by a company of relatives and friends, started for the new fort the next day, arriving there on November 12. 1820. When near the fort they stopped and chanted the death dirge, and blackened their faces and gashed their amis. The hands of both Masakoda and his father were secured with throngs and then to show their contempt for pain, large splinters of oak wood were thrust through the flesh above their elbows. They then formed a procession, a Sisseton leading, carrying an English flag, followed by Masakoda and his father, the whole company following singing the death song. As they approached the fort Colonel Snelling came out to meet them. Taking the flag, it was placed upon a fire kindled for the purpose and consumed. Masakoda then gave up his English medal, and himself and father surrendered. The old man was held as a hostage and the son sent to St. Louis for trial. When he arrived there no one appeared against him and after some time he was released. He started to follow up the Missouri to his home but was shot and killed by a settler down in Missouri. The other murderer stabbed himself to death while his friends were bringing him down to the fort. About this time Waneta, the Yanktonais chief, learned of the military enterprise and came down to look it over. He was still an "Englishman," and hostile to everything American. He hung about the post for some time and finally concocted a plan to massacre the garrison, but in some way Colonel Snelling got an inkling of his purpose and placed him under arrest. His British flags and medals were taken from him and destroyed and he was forcibly "naturalized upon the spot." His warriors in their mortification gashed their flesh with their knives, but from that time Waneta was friendly to the Americans. The next year Waneta alarmed the Pembina settlers by the massacre of the Chippewas near that point. In this same year of 1822 a terrible war raged among the transMissouri Indians. The Tetons and Cheyennes joined in a campaign against the Crows, the Rees and the Mandans. The Tetons and their allies caught the Crows in an ambush and struck them a blow so severe that they never wholly recovered from it. The number of casualties of course cannot be known, but the Crow loss must from all accounts have been enormous.

This victory extended the Dakotas' country west from the Little Missouri to the Yellowstone and the Rig Horn. During this year the newly organized Columbia Fur Company, of which Joseph Renville, the half-Dakota captain and interpreter to the English was one of the leaders, built a strong central depot for their trade at the head of Lake Traverse and also built several branch establishments on the Missouri; one at the mouth of the James, Fort Lookout and Fort Tecumseh. The American Fur Company also built Fort Kiowa, near Lookout, eight miles north of Chamberlain, and the Missouri Fur Company was operating Fort Recovery on American Island. It is probable that all of these companies had subsidiary posts in the interior. All of these posts were exclusively for the Dakota trade and in the spring of 1823 the Rocky Mountain Fur Company also entered the region and built Fort Brasseau at the mouth of White River. The unpleasantness between the Dakotas and the Rees continued and a war party of the latter in the spring of 1823 had come down into the Dakotas' country and boldly attacked Fort Recovery but had been compelled to withdraw with the loss of one or more killed.  On the 2d of June the Rees at Arickara had attacked and massacred twenty-three of General William H. Ashley's men enroute to the Yellowstone and in August Colonel Leavenworth came up from Council Bluffs with 220 men to punish them for their treachery. Seven hundred fifty men of the Oohenopas, Uncpapas and Blackfeet Sioux joined him in the enterprise, and under Joshua Pilcher, who had succeeded Manuel Lisa as the manager of the Missouri Fur Company, and who was also a sub-agent for the Dakotas. The conduct of the Dakotas was not at all praiseworthy in this campaign, but it is believed they were influenced to obstruct the military by Joshua Pilcher and Colin Campbell, the man who was with the Sissetons in 1820 and who was at this time Pilcher's interpreter to the Dakotas. This campaign is described in so minute detail in the first volume of the collections of this Society that it is only referred to here for the purpose of keeping the order of events before the reader, who is referred to volume I of the Collections of the South Dakota Historical Society for the full account and all of the official correspondence.

 

As might have been expected the peace between the Chippewas and the Dakotas was of short duration and the Sacs and Dakotas, too, were at war and a bad situation generally existed in the Indian country. These conditions led Governor Clark to plan two campaigns for treaty making with all the tribes looking to a better understanding between the Indians and the whites and between the various tribes themselves It was proposed to devote the summer of 1825 to these objects and the campaign up the Missouri was placed under the direction of General Henry Atkinson, commanding the right wing of the western department of the army, and Doctor Benjamin O'Fallon, nephew of Governor Clark and sub-agent for the .Missouri tribes, while the Mississippi campaign fell under the immediate direction of Governor Clark, and Governor Lewis Cass.