The Life & Adventures of James P. Beckwourth
Mountaineer, Scout, Pioneer, & Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians.
Written from his own Dictation by T. D. Bonner. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square. 1856.
CHAPTER 25
Visit of the whole Crow Nation to the Fort.—Seven Days' Trading and Rejoicing. —Separation of the Villages. —Expedition to the Camanches. —Narrow Escape from their Village. —Battle with the Black Feet. —The Whites assist us with their Cannon. —Captured by the Black Feet. —Recaptured by the Crows. —Final Victory.
HAVING now quite a respectable amount of peltry on hand, both of our villages started for the fort to purchase winter supplies. We carried upward of forty packs of beaver, and two thousand four hundred packs of robes, with which we were enabled to make quite an extensive trading. We loitered seven days in the vicinity of the fort; then the villages separated, for the purpose of driving the buffalo back to the Yellow Stone, where they would keep in good condition all winter. This required a considerable force of men, as those animals abounded by the thousand at that time where they are now comparatively scarce, and it is a conclusion forced upon my mind that within half a century the race of buffaloes will be extinguished on this continent. Then farewell to the Red Man! for he must also become extinct, unless he applies himself to the cultivation of the soil, which is beyond the bound of probability. The incessant demand for robes has slain thousands of those noble beasts of the prairie, until the Indians themselves begin to grow uneasy at the manifest diminution, and, as a means of conservation, each nation has adopted the policy of confining to itself the right of hunting on its own ground. They consider that the buffalo belongs to them as their exclusive property; that he was sent to them by the Great Spirit for their subsistence; and when he fails them, what shall they resort to? Doubtless, when that time arrives, much of the land which they now roam over will be under the white man's cultivation, which will extend inland from both oceans. Where then shall the Indian betake himself? There are no more Mississippis to drive him beyond. Unquestionably he will be taken in a surround, as he now surrounds the buffalo; and as he can not assimilate with civilization, the Red Man's doom is apparent. It is a question of time, and no very long time either; but the result, as I view it, is a matter of certainty.
The territory claimed by the Crows would make a larger state than Illinois. Portions of it form the choicest land in the world, capable of producing any thing that will grow in the Western and Middle States. Innumerable streams, now the homes of the skillful beaver, and clear as the springs of the Rocky Mountains, irrigate the plains, and would afford power for any amount of machinery. Mineral springs of every degree of temperature abound in the land. The country also produces an inconceivable amount of wild fruit of every variety, namely, currants, of every kind; raspberries, black and red; strawberries, blackberries, cherries; plums, of delicious flavor and in great abundance; grapes, and numberless other varieties proper to the latitude and fertile nature of the soil.
I am fully convinced that this territory contains vast mineral wealth; but, as I was unacquainted with the properties of minerals during my residence with the Crows, I did not pay much attention to the investigation of the subject. One thing, however, I am convinced of, that no part of the United States contains richer deposits of anthracite coal than the territory I am speaking of, and my conviction is thus founded. I one night surrounded a small mountain with a large force of warriors, thinking I had observed the fires of the enemy, and that I should catch them in a trap. But, to my great surprise, it proved to be a mountain of coal on fire, which had, I suppose, spontaneously ignited. I immediately drew off my forces, as I was fearful of an explosion. I could readily point out the place again.
It would be extremely hazardous to attempt any scientific explorations without first gaining the consent of the Crows. They have been uniformly friendly with the whites; still, they would be jealous of any engineering operations, as they would be ignorant of their nature. The Crows are a very reserved people, and it would be difficult to negotiate a treaty with them for the cession of any portion of their land. They have always refused to send a deputation to Washington, although repeatedly invited. Indeed, when I was their chief, I always opposed the proposition, as I foresaw very clearly what effect such a visit would produce upon their minds. The Crows, as a nation, had never credited any of the representations of the great wealth, and power, and numbers of their white brethren. In the event of a deputation being sent to Washington, the perceptions of the savages would be dazzled with the display and glitter around them. They would return home dejected and humiliated; they would confound the ears of their people with the rehearsal of the predominance and magnificence of the whites; feeling their own comparative insignificance, they would lose that pride in themselves that now sustains them, and, so far from being the terror of their enemies, they would grow despondent and lethargic; they would addict themselves to the vices of the weaker nations, and in a short time their land would be ingulfed in the insatiable government vortex, and, like hundreds of other once powerful tribes, they would be quickly exterminated by the battle-axes of their enemies. These are the considerations that influenced me while I administered their affairs.
From the fort I started on foot with two hundred and sixty trusty warriors for the Camanche territory. We had reached their ground, and were traveling leisurely along upon a high, open prairie, when our spies suddenly telegraphed to us to lie flat down — an order which we promptly obeyed. We soon learned that there was a number of Indians, some distance beyond, engaged in running buffalo and antelope as far as we could see. There appeared to be an outlet to the prairie, through which we could see them emerging and disappearing like bees passing in and out of a hive. We found at night that it was a wide cañon, in which their village was encamped, extending over three miles, and must have contained several thousand warriors. They had just driven a host of horses into it, to have them ready, most probably, for the next day's chase. There were still thousands of horses scattered in every direction over the prairie, but I preferred to take those already collected. The Camanches, being seldom troubled by the incursions of their neighbors (as most of the tribes hold them in dread), take no precaution for the safety of their animals, for which reason they fell an easy prey to us.
At the usual time of night we paid a visit to their immense herd, and started an innumerable drove; we found it larger than we could successfully drive, and were therefore obliged to leave several hundreds of them on the prairie. We then placed a sufficient number of horse-guides ahead, and, whipping up our rear, we soon had an immense drove under full speed for our own country, making the very earth tremble beneath their hoofs. We continued this pace for three days and nights, closely followed by our enemies, who, having discovered their loss the next morning, started after us in pursuit. They kept in sight of us each day, but we had the advantage of them, as we could change horses and they could not, unless they happened to pick up a few stragglers on the road.
On the third day I happened to be leading, and just as I rose to look over the summit of a hill on the Arkansas, I discovered a large village of the Cheyennes not far in advance, and lying directly in our course. In an instant we turned to the left, and continued on through a hollow with all our drove, the Camanches not more than two or three miles in our rear.
On our pursuers arriving at the spot where we had diverged to the left, they held their course right on, and, pouncing upon the astonished Cheyennes, conceived they were the party they were in pursuit of. We could distinctly hear the report of the guns of the contending parties, but did not slacken our pace, as our desire to get home in safety outweighed all curiosity to see the issue of the conflict. We afterward learned that the Cheyennes inflicted a severe beating upon their deluded assailants, and chased them back, with the loss of many of their warriors, to their own country. This was fine fun for us, and Fortune aided us more than our own skill, for we were saved any farther trouble of defending our conquest, and eventually reached home without the loss of a single life.
Our pursuers being disposed of, we allowed ourselves a little more ease. On the fifth day of our retreat we crossed the Arkansas, and, arriving on the bank of the Powder River (a branch of the south fork of the Platte), we afforded ourselves a rest. We drove all our horses into a cañon, and fortified the entrance, so that, in case of molestation, we could have repulsed five times our number. There was excellent pasture, affording our wearied and famishing horses the means of satisfying their hunger, and refreshing themselves with rest. We also needed repose, for we had eaten nothing on the way except what we happened to have with us, in the same manner as our horses would crop an occasional mouthful of grass while pursuing their flight.
After refreshing ourselves we resumed our journey, and, striking the Laramie River, we passed on through the Park, and then crossed the Sweet Water River into our own territory, where we were safe. We fell in with Long Hair's village before we entered our own, with whom we had a good time. Before parting we gave them five hundred horses. From thence we went down to the fort in quest of our own village, but learned they were about twenty miles out, encamped on the Rose Bud. The inmates of the fort thought it must have rained horses, for such a prodigious drove they never saw driven in before. We made them a present of a Camanche horse all round, and, having staid one night with them, the next morning we journeyed on to our village.
We found them all dancing and rejoicing over the success of the other war-parties, who had reached home before us, and our arrival increased their joy to such an extreme that there was no limit to their extravagant manifestations.
We had not parted from the fort more than two or three hours when Big Bowl called there, also in quest of the village, bringing two thousand seven hundred horses, which he had taken from the Coutnees.
Tulleck informed him that his son had but just left for the village with a large drove.
"Yes," said the old, man, "but I can laugh at him this time."
"No, no," replied Tulleck, "he has beat you; he has twice as many as you."
"Ugh!" exclaimed the old brave; "his medicine is always powerful."
We must have started with five thousand horses, for many gave out on the way and were left behind, besides a number that must have straggled off, for the Cheyennes afterward informed me that they picked up a considerable number which had undoubtedly belonged to our drove.
My father, after presenting them with a horse all round at the fort, whipped his drove up, saying that he would yet overtake the Medicine Calf before he reached the village.
He arrived just before sunset, when the joy was at its height.
We had horses enough now to eat us out of house and home, about eight thousand head having been brought in during the last ten days.
When the rejoicing was through, I divided my village, sending two hundred lodges round to start the buffalo toward the mountain, while I took one hundred and seventy lodges, and made a circuit in the direction of the fort, encamping in the bottom close by. I had with me eight or nine hundred warriors, besides my division of the women and children.
While staying in the vicinity of the fort we were usually very careless, never apprehending any attack, but on the third day of our encampment here we were suddenly assailed by nearly fifteen hundred Black Foot warriors, who were probably aware that we had divided our village, and had followed us as the smallest party. Myself and several other warriors were in the fort when the attack was made, but we soon hastened to join our warriors. The contest became severe. The Black Feet fought better than I had ever seen them fight before. The Crows, being outnumbered by their enemies, were sorely pressed, and every man had to exert himself to the utmost to withstand the assault. The men at the fort, seeing our situation, brought out to our aid a small cannon on a cart. The enemy, seeing them bring it up, charged on it and carried it, the Frenchmen who had it in charge running back to the fort with all possible speed. The Crows, seeing what had happened, made a furious charge on the captors of the cannon, and succeeded in retaking it, though not without the loss of several killed and wounded in the conflict. The gun was loaded with musket-balls, and, when finally discharged, did no damage to the enemy.
I was in another quarter, encouraging my warriors to protect our lodges, and we at length succeeded in beating them off, although they drove away over twelve hundred head of our horses with them, without any possibility of our wresting them from them, at least at that time. We lost thirteen warriors killed, twelve of whom were scalped, and about thirty wounded. It is a wonder we did not suffer a loss three times more severe. But the Black Feet are not steady warriors; they become too much excited in action, and lose many opportunities of inflicting mischief. If bluster would defeat a foe, their battles would be a succession of victories. Had we in the least mistrusted an attack, by being in readiness we could have repulsed them without the least effort. But they caught us totally unprepared; there was not a man at his post until they were about to fall upon us. The enemy lost forty-eight scalps in the encounter, besides a number of dead and wounded they carried away with them without our being able to lay hands upon them. They had also over one hundred horses shot under them.
We suffered a severe loss in the death of the veteran brave Red Child, the hero of a hundred fights, who was killed and scalped at his lodge door. His wife, who was by, struck the Indian who scalped him with a club, but she did not strike him hard enough to disable him. The loss of the old brave was severely felt by the whole nation. The crying and mourning which ensued pained me more than the loss of our horses. After spending the night in mourning, we moved on to the other division, to carry the woful tidings of our reverse. When we rejoined them there was a general time of crying. I took a great share of the blame to myself, as it was upon my proposition that the village had been divided and the disaster sustained. I suggested it with a view to facilitate business, never dreaming of an attack by such an overwhelming force. When the excitement had subsided, I determined to wash their faces or perish in the attempt. I ordered every one that could work to engage in the erection of a fort in the timber, sufficiently large to hold all our lodges, laying out the work myself, and seeing it well under way. I directed them, when they had finished the construction, to move their lodges into it, and remain there till my return, for, thus protected, they could beat off ten times their number.
I then took nearly seven hundred of our best warriors, and started for the Black Feet, resolved upon revenge, and careless how many I fell in with.
A small party had recently come in with two scalps, which they had obtained near the head of Lewis's Fork, Columbia River. They reported a large village of eight hundred lodges, from which numerous war-parties had departed, as they had crossed their trails in coming home. They knew the direct road to the village, how it was situated, and all about it, which was of great service to me. I therefore took them with me, and employed them as scouts. Every warrior was well provided for hard service; each man had a riding-horse, and led his war-horse by his side.
On the seventh day we came in view of their village, but we deferred our attack till the next day. The enemy had chosen a very good position; they were encamped on a large bend of the river, at that time shallow and fordable every where. I detached fifty of my warriors for a feint, while I stole round with the main body to the high ground, taking care to keep out of sight of the enemy. Having gained my position, I signaled to the light division to feign an attack, while my men were so excited I could hardly restrain them from rushing out and defeating my purpose. My plan succeeded admirably. The Black Feet, having suffered themselves to be decoyed from their position by the flight of the fifty warriors, I sounded a charge, and my men rushed upon the unprotected village like a thunderbolt. We swept every thing before us; the women took to the bush like partridges; the warriors fled in every direction. They were so paralyzed at our unexpected descent that no defense was attempted. I threw myself among the thickest group I could see, and positively hacked down seventeen who pretended to be warriors without receiving a scratch, although my shield was pretty well cut with arrows. If my warriors had all come to their work according to the example that even the heroine set them, not one of the Black Feet who ventured to show fight would have escaped. The heroine killed three warriors with her lance, and took two fine little boys prisoners. We found but about a thousand warriors to oppose us, while there were lodges enough to contain three times the number. We only took sixty-eight scalps after all our trouble — a thing I could not account for. We took thirty women and children prisoners, and drove home near two thousand head of horses, among which were many of our own.
As I had never seen the Black Feet fight so well as at the fort, I expected an equal display of valor on this occasion, but they offered nothing worthy the name of defense. I learned from my prisoners that my old father-in-law was in that village, whose daughter I had nearly killed for dancing over the scalps of the white men. We had only one warrior wounded, who was shot through the thigh; but it was not broken, and, like all Indian wounds, it soon got well. We reached home in less than four days; and, after our arrival, singing and dancing were kept up for a week.
In taking prisoners from an enemy we gain much useful information, as there are always more or less of their tribe domiciliated with us, to whom the captives impart confidence; these relate all that they hear to the chiefs, thus affording much serviceable information that could not otherwise be obtained. The women seem to care but little for their captivity, more particularly the young women, who have neither husbands nor children to attach them to their own tribe. They like Crow husbands, because they keep them painted most of the time with the emblems of triumph, and do not whip them like their Black Foot husbands. Certain it is that, when once captured by us, none of them ever wished to return to their own nation. In our numerous campaigns that winter we also took an unusual number of boys, all of whom make excellent Crow warriors, so that our numbers considerably increased from our prisoners alone. Some of the best warriors in the Crow nation had been boys taken from the surrounding tribes. They had been brought up with us, had played with our children, and fought their miniature sham-battles together, had grown into men, become warriors, braves, and so on to the council, until they were far enough advanced to become expert horse-thieves.
That winter was an exceedingly fortunate one for the Crow nation; success crowned almost every expedition. Long Hair's warriors achieved some great triumphs over the Black Feet, and in one battle took nearly a hundred scalps.
When Long Hair heard of our misfortune at the fort, he sent a messenger to our village to offer some of his warriors to assist us in retrieving our reverse. But before the arrival of the messenger we had been and returned, and were all in the height of rejoicing. He hastened back to his village to impart the glad tidings, in order that they might rejoice with us.
We then engaged in trapping beaver and hunting buffalo for the next three weeks, during which time we suffered no molestation from any of our enemies.
