tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17013617169036550382024-03-05T17:18:55.675-05:00Native Peoples in North AmericaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger756125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-55616490955633362032024-01-28T00:30:00.001-05:002024-01-28T00:30:00.136-05:00European Profit-Seekers covet the Lands of Americas' Natives <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOY8ZvfIIXUumVxqzfkJVfSBmOOyFEpGL2RFqE4DkWm-2KABHzXa52rgpvW5NOXgUUhPsKh7QDuJ7I-JsbkjZ9H_0IQOZwEmPtvPCZhQnHUwEMS_Prc5B1mJ6RgNck6D1SN_jMQqm8SwE/s528/Cavalry_and_Indians+%25283%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="528" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOY8ZvfIIXUumVxqzfkJVfSBmOOyFEpGL2RFqE4DkWm-2KABHzXa52rgpvW5NOXgUUhPsKh7QDuJ7I-JsbkjZ9H_0IQOZwEmPtvPCZhQnHUwEMS_Prc5B1mJ6RgNck6D1SN_jMQqm8SwE/w640-h436/Cavalry_and_Indians+%25283%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;">19C Print </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;">of </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Cavalry" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0645ad; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;" title="U.S. Cavalry">U.S. Cavalry</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"> pursuing American Indians (artist unknown)</span></span></div><p></p><p>The American Indian Wars (also called American Frontier Wars, & the First Nations Wars) were fought by European governments seeking economic expansion into the Americas & by their colonists, & later by the newly formed United States & Canadian governments plus their settlers, against various American Indian & First Nation tribes. </p><p>America's native people prior to the European invasion were a complex mixture of histories, alliances & conflicts. Humans are human, & some native tribes acted towards one another with the same brutality as the Europeans did towards them, & visa versa. Grudges & the lure of power were similar. It is believed that the colonists intentionally spread contagious diseases among the natives, usually through gifts of infected blankets or clothing. Measles & smallpox probably killed more natives than bullets & bayonets. The Native's "stone age" war technologies eventually succumbed to the deceptions & weapons of the Europeans. </p><p>These particular conflicts occurred in North America from the time of the earliest European colonial settlements from the 17C until the early 20C. The various wars resulted from a wide variety of factors. These wars usually resulted in the sovereignty of combatants being either extended or lost; a massive native indigenous population decline; deportation & forced assimilation of indigenous tribes; many treaties, truces, & armistices made & then broken by combatants; & the establishment of "Indian reservations" in the United States & Canada.</p><p>The European political & economic powers & their colonies also enlisted allied Indian tribes to help them conduct warfare against each other's colonial settlements. </p><p>After the American Revolution, many conflicts were local to specific states or regions & frequently involved disputes over land use; some entailed repeated cycles of violent reprisal.</p><p>As settlers spread westward across North America after 1780, armed conflicts increased in size, duration, & intensity between the European settlers & various Native & First Nation tribes. The climax came in the War of 1812, when major Indian coalitions in the Midwest & the South fought against the United States & lost. Conflict with settlers became less common & was usually resolved by treaty, often involving sale or exchange of territory between the federal government & specific tribes. </p><p>The Indian Removal Act of 1830 authorized the American government to enforce Native American removal from east of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory west on the American frontier, such as the land that later became Oklahoma. The federal policy of removal was eventually refined in the West, as American settlers kept expanding their territories, to relocate native tribes to restricted land areas called reservations.</p><p><b>See:</b></p><p>Barnes, Jeff. <b>Forts of the Northern Plains: Guide to Historic Military Posts of the Plains Indian Wars.</b> Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2008. </p><p>Glassley, Ray Hoard. I<b>ndian Wars of the Pacific Northwest,</b> Binfords & Mort, Portland, Oregon 1972 </p><p>Heard, J. Norman. <b>Handbook of the American Frontier </b>(Compilation of Indian-white contacts & conflicts) Scarecrow Press, 1987–98 </p><p>Volume 1: <b>"The Southeastern Woodlands," </b></p><p>Volume 2: <b>"The Northeastern Woodlands," </b></p><p>Volume 3: <b>"The Great Plains," </b></p><p>Volume 4: <b>"The Far West,"</b></p><p>Volume 5:<b> "Chronology, Bibliography, Index." </b></p><p>Kessel, William and Robert Wooster.<b> Encyclopedia of Native American Wars and Warfare</b> (2005)</p><p>McDermott, John D. <b>A Guide to the Indian Wars of the West. </b>Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. </p><p>Merrell, James H (1989). "Some Thoughts on Colonial Historians & American Indians" <b>William and Mary Quarterly.</b> 46 </p><p>Merrell, James H (2012). "Second Thoughts on Colonial Historians & American Indians"<b> William and Mary Quarterly.</b> 69 </p><p>Michno, Gregory F. <b>Deadliest Indian War in the West: The Snake Conflict, 1864–1868, </b>Caxton Press, 2007</p><p>Miller, Lester L, Jr.<b> Indian Wars: A Bibliography </b>US Army, 1988 online (lists over 200 books & articles)</p><p>Stannard, David. <b>American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World,</b> Oxford, 1992</p><p>Tucker, Spencer, ed. <b>The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890: A Political, Social, and Military History</b> (3 vol 2012)</p><p>Wooster, Robert. <b>The Military and United States Indian Policy, 1865–1903,</b> Published 1995</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-7513145493103361122024-01-26T00:30:00.000-05:002024-01-26T00:30:00.242-05:00Indigenous Women & the Fur Trade<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqDKFDXbnEBl6mKuzn6R2Lfg14uHNZZEjIpxRJNLl2rbJSnnAHql9H6Ms3cf2iWmLwy6vCUKlyUEzk-9JD1cDrG9US99G0wnPL3VDfcCRAaSO_1wYWRU8VWLuVA68NyFHOAL5weBJDXuU/s404/fur2+%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="404" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqDKFDXbnEBl6mKuzn6R2Lfg14uHNZZEjIpxRJNLl2rbJSnnAHql9H6Ms3cf2iWmLwy6vCUKlyUEzk-9JD1cDrG9US99G0wnPL3VDfcCRAaSO_1wYWRU8VWLuVA68NyFHOAL5weBJDXuU/w640-h468/fur2+%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></p>This picture of Alexander & Natawista Culbertson, & their son Joe, was taken c. 1863. Natawista married the American Fur Company’s powerful manager at Fort Union, in 1840. Visitors to the fort, where the Culbertsons entertained in white-linen European elegance, described Natawista as a beautiful, adventuresome woman & a skilled rider. Natawista briefly accompanied Alexander, when he retired to Illinois, but returned to Canada to rejoin her Blood family. Montana Historical Society Photo Archives <p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://montanawomenshistory.org/brokers-of-the-frontier-indigenous-women-and-the-fur-trade/"><b><i>Brokers of the Frontier: Indigenous Women & the Fur Trade</i></b></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://montanawomenshistory.org/brokers-of-the-frontier-indigenous-women-and-the-fur-trade/"><b><i>From Women’s History Matters (assisting the Montana Historical Society) December 2, 2014</i></b></a></p><p><b><i>For 2 centuries—from the mid-1600s to the 1860s—Indian & Métis women...brokered culture, language, trade goods, & power on the Canadian & American fur-trade frontier. They were partners, liaisons, & wives to the French, Scottish, Canadian, & American men who scoured the West for salable furs. Stereotyped by early historians as victims or heroines (and there were both), indigenous women also wielded significant, traceable power in this era of changing alliances, increasing intertribal conflict, & expanding European presence in the West.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The roles indigenous women played during the fur trade reflected the roles they historically held within their communities. Despite cultural distinctions among tribes, indigenous women generally shared the common responsibilities of procuring & trading food, hides, & clothing. Women also embodied political diplomacy as tribes forged internal & intertribal relationships around family alliances & cemented these social structures through (often polygamous) marriage. These traditional economic & political roles placed indigenous women at the center of trade, & made them desirable & necessary partners for fur traders.</i></b></p><p><b><i>A multicultural & economically diverse group working for international companies, the fur traders who came to Montana were all far from their families. Whether company managers, clerks, laborers, or trappers, the men sought companionship, intimacy, & entrée into local tribal communities, as well as assistance in making their economic endeavors a success. Marriage to indigenous women could provide all of these things.</i></b></p><p><b><i>In keeping with tribal customs, traders arranged liaisons with indigenous women by exchanging gifts with tribal families, who themselves recognized the potential benefits of establishing alliances. Depending on both partners’ preferences, relationships lasted a season, many months or years, or a lifetime. Some indigenous wives returned to eastern settlements with their white husbands; some raised families together in the West.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Whatever the specifics of their individual relationships, the important socioeconomic positions indigenous women held in their own cultures manifested in their contributions to the fur trade. Indigenous wives gave fur traders invaluable ties to the land & tribes. Their knowledge of the region’s climate, wildlife, plants, languages, & topography shortened considerably the male outsiders’ learning curves. At the same time, the women brought inside information to their tribes about the reliability of traders & prices while relaying tribal news to their white partners.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Indigenous women also accomplished work fundamental to the survival of the fur traders & to their economic success. While incorporating European household goods into their daily lives (and thus making those goods more marketable), women in the fur trade continued to utilize indigenous methods to produce food & durable goods such as clothing, footwear, & blankets as well as baskets, parfleches, & other portable trade & traveling containers. Women also prepared hides, expertly cleaning & tanning them to command high prices.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Notwithstanding the power they derived from being experienced locals, many indigenous wives faced adversity & tragedy. They had to learn new languages, navigate European cultural norms, & often adapt to unfamiliar dwellings. Separation from their families & the reality of living amid an almost exclusively male population caused particular hardship; fur trade wives lost the support & companionship of other women with whom, in their native societies, they would have shared the duties of daily work & child rearing. Living at fur forts also placed them at increased risk of sexual exploitation. In addition, close proximity to Europeans exposed indigenous women to many infectious diseases. In 1837, when a steamboat brought smallpox up the Missouri, they were among the disease’s first victims—and its first carriers back to tribes...</i></b></p><p><b><i>The feelings & perceptions of women...who brokered the geographical & cultural frontiers of the North American continent’s fur trade, do not exist in written documents. Most of what we know of their lives comes from traders & territorial visitors, not the women themselves. Thus, we know from a visitor’s published account that Coth-co-co-na adorned her husband with her artistry, gifting him with a beautifully beaded tobacco sack. But we don’t know how she felt about her husband or her role as the indigenous wife of a Euro-American. Nevertheless, careful reading of existing documents can reveal glimpses of the complexities that she & other indigenous women faced as they melded their lives with men from a very foreign culture. </i></b></p><p><b><i>The Métis are often called “children of the fur trade.” </i></b></p><p>See:</p><p>Boller, Henry A. Among the Indians: Eight Years in the Far West, 1858-1866. Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1959 (1868).</p><p>Brown, Jennifer S. H. Strangers in the Blood: Fur Trade Company Families in Indian Country. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1980.</p><p>Graybill, Andrew. The Red & the White: A Family Saga of the American West. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013.</p><p>Lansing, Michael. “Plains Indian Women & Interracial Marriage in the Upper Missouri Trade, 1804-1868.” The Western Historical Quarterly 31, no. 4 (Winter, 2000), 413-33.</p><p>Meikle, Lyndel, ed. Very Close to Trouble: The Johnny Grant Memoir. Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1996.</p><p>Milner, Clyde II, & Carol O’Connor. As Big as the West: The Pioneer Life of Granville Stuart. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.</p><p>Schemm, Mildred Walker. “The Major’s Lady: Natawista.” The Montana Magazine of History 2, no. 1 (January 1952), 4-15.</p><p>Van Kirk, Sylvia. Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-Trade Society, 1670-1870. Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer, 1980.</p><p>Waterman, Kees-Jan. Noel, Jan. “Not Confined to the Village Clearings: Indian Women in the Fur Trade in Colonial New York, 1695–1732.” New York History Vol 94 (2013): 40-58.</p><p>White, Bruce M. "The Woman Who Married a Beaver: Trade Patterns & Gender Roles in the Ojibwa Fur Trade." Ethnohistory Vol 46. (1999): 109-47.</p><p>Wischmann, Lesley. Frontier Diplomats: Alexander Culbertson & Natoyist-Siksina among the Blackfeet. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-31815195110460515032024-01-24T00:30:00.001-05:002024-01-24T00:30:00.175-05:001757 The Washingtons' Douge Run Farm, originally Indian Lands, adjoining Mount Vernon<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9Vt8hXG1kJJufA2_EDIHY4zhZKQ1EiZIZkYmV1j1NzK6Vrw3VOxc5FhZo9JYQxX2hi0V4V6RA7FMTWk22GFxGeu9lhnXjeAhwrguMu1ALX7qvxRrKa-QYMdq8R48UZyf0G20DGYsXywHCukop_EXdGlUBvSrsykQB7OSXAMRWd7PMrrVAUJrEQy_J5p6/s810/George%20at%20his%20Farmland.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="810" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9Vt8hXG1kJJufA2_EDIHY4zhZKQ1EiZIZkYmV1j1NzK6Vrw3VOxc5FhZo9JYQxX2hi0V4V6RA7FMTWk22GFxGeu9lhnXjeAhwrguMu1ALX7qvxRrKa-QYMdq8R48UZyf0G20DGYsXywHCukop_EXdGlUBvSrsykQB7OSXAMRWd7PMrrVAUJrEQy_J5p6/s16000/George%20at%20his%20Farmland.jpg" /></a></div>Washington Supervising the Farm Overseer<br /><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">Dogue Run Farm</p><p>Dennis J. Pogue, PhD in Anthropology with an emphasis in historical archaeology, tells us that: <i><b>in 1799, Mount Vernon consisted of 8,000 acres divided into 5 farms: Mansion House, Dogue Run, Muddy Hole, River, & Union, plus a gristmill & distillery. Dogue Run Farm was assembled over time through numerous purchases of smaller tracts. </b></i></p><p><i><b>References in George Washington's diaries as early as 1762 to "Doeg Run Quarter," which was likely composed of at least the western portion of a 500-acre tract purchased from Sampson Darrell in 1757. This holding was enlarged by several smaller parcels acquired in the early 1760s.</b></i></p><p><i><b>Early references to "Doeg Run" describe it as a "Quarter," a term generally used in the region to designate a remote section of a large farm or plantation. During the colonial 18C, the phrase usually denoted a portion of the farm that functioned separately with an overseer & a basic complement of enslaved workers, buildings, & stock, & probably developed because of the fragmented pattern of larger landholdings common in the colonial Chesapeake.</b></i></p><p><i><b>This early quarter was significantly enlarged by the 3 purchases that became the central core of the resurveyed & renamed Dogue Run Farm. The key acquisitions were: 75 acres from Valinda Wade in 1770, 400 acres from Thomas Marshall in 1779, & 118 acres from William Barry in 1783. By 1786 Washington reconfigured these holdings & embarked on a plan to bring order to Dogue Run.</b></i></p><p><i><b>Washington, however, faced inherent obstacles: field systems based on disparate ownership, as well as buildings that were scattered across the newly imagined farm but constructed for outmoded needs. Among the buildings that can be identified on the new farm in the late 1780s were at least 2 dwelling complexes, "Wade's houses" located near "the old dam" on Dogue Run, & "Barry's houses," positioned in reasonably close proximity to Wade's. These dwelling houses were occupied by prior owners, & each complex included a typical array of domestic & agricultural buildings associated with a small tobacco farm.</b></i></p><p><i><b>There was also at least one tobacco house built by Washington at Doeg Run Quarter in the 1760s, as well as a hay barracks, a corn house, & huts for the enslaved people who worked the Washimgton's fields. With the new field system in place, a dwelling available for his overseer & housing for the enslaved workers, Washington turned his attention to improving the agricultural buildings at Dogue Run. In 1786 there were 39 enslaved men, women, & children living on the farm. The number of people grew to 45 in 1799.</b></i></p><p><i><b>These physical improvements were modest at first. The tobacco house was adopted for other crop storage needs & work crews spent available time in the fall of 1788, cutting & hauling rails for enclosing the new fields & preparing stack yards for wheat, oats, & rye. </b></i></p><p><i><b>A simple fodder house was built as well as farm pens & a cellar to store potatoes. Construction work was still at full bore on the Ferry barn in the spring of 1789, when George Washington turned his attention to the need for more substantial improvements at Dogue Run, anticipating a new, solidly built barn on that farm.</b></i></p><p><i><b>The construction of the Ferry barn complex had another 2 years to run to reach completion. However, the bricks for the Ferry complex had been completed the previous fall, & the enslaved bricklayers' duties were nearly complete there as well. Washington seemed intent on shifting to his next project, one that had already been discussed in at least conceptual terms. But no further record of significant building activity can be linked to Dogue Run Farm until 1791. In June of that year, Washington prepared a memorandum of carpentry work to be done throughout the Mount Vernon plantation under the supervision of farm manager Anthony Whiting.</b></i></p><p><i><b>Other needs at Dogue Run took precedence, & by September the Washington's carpenters were at work on a new overseer's house for the farm. The old house of Valinda Wade was incompatible with the new field system & had become a distracting & inconvenient intrusion. It was replaced by a new frame house located in close proximity to the middle meadow. </b></i></p><p><i><b>In the fall of 1792, Washington was prepared to make a major commitment to a new agricultural complex at Dogue Run. By October 28, Washington completed a framing plan & a structural section for a uniquely innovative barn designed specifically to tread wheat.</b></i></p><p><b>Washington had several types of wheat planted by enslaved workers in an attempt to find the perfect fit for his fields, including summer wheat, red-straw wheat, lamas wheat, double-headed wheat, yellow-bearded wheat, early wheat, & Russian wheat. He finally settled on a variety known simply as white wheat.</b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-553896670529483402024-01-22T01:00:00.002-05:002024-01-22T01:00:00.340-05:00Geo Washington's Favorites - Native American Hoecakes & Honey<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwtuVFI--rgGbI29bxbghsjTqtxItatgF6FPZvHCmihWQSWG7xQayv2bAoqthwGdUa8DqM0-lIh-P3XCa9LYtomrDBnwlWzMTsInZ7jJIA1Ll9XARmUC9TbG7DvK49VI0To5sxIXbVNUBusuZNX7z0smnIG5mEvmvmvY_HqjVgHp6RY9T7dFqISkwh4Zj/s750/hoe.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="750" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwtuVFI--rgGbI29bxbghsjTqtxItatgF6FPZvHCmihWQSWG7xQayv2bAoqthwGdUa8DqM0-lIh-P3XCa9LYtomrDBnwlWzMTsInZ7jJIA1Ll9XARmUC9TbG7DvK49VI0To5sxIXbVNUBusuZNX7z0smnIG5mEvmvmvY_HqjVgHp6RY9T7dFqISkwh4Zj/w400-h205/hoe.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">Hoecakes & Honey</p><p>George Washington grew most of the plants used for the meals at his Virginia Plantation, & he <i><b>"enjoyed a bounteous table at his home at Mount Vernon. Various contemporary sources discuss the amount, quality, & variety of items served to Washington & his guests. In both his earlier days as a country gentleman & in his later role as an elder statesman, George & Martha Washington frequently hosted guests at their home.</b></i></p><p><i><b>"As such, the Washingtons had a ready supply of a variety of foods, some of which were imported & many of which were produced at Mount Vernon itself. While foods at Mount Vernon ranged from fish to mutton to hazelnuts, washed down with liberal helpings of whiskey, wine, & home-brewed beer, one of General Washington's favorite meals was also one of the simplest: hoecakes & honey.</b></i></p><p><i><b>"Hoecakes & honey is a distinctly American dish. The recipe originated with Native Americans & subsequently was utilized by enslaved people & European settlers alike. Recipes varied, but the basic idea of a flat cake made of cornmeal mush spread all throughout the country. Various incarnations of the recipe were consumed in New England, Virginia, the Deep South, & the Southwest.</b></i></p><p><i><b>"The American diplomat & poet Joel Barlow immortalized the hoecake in his 1793 poem "The Hasty Pudding," calling it "fair Virginia's pride," but also attested to other regional variants such as the New England johnnycake, which "receives a dash of pumpkin in the paste."1 Along with these names, it was also known variously as a journey cake, ash cake, cornpone, spider bread, mushcakes, Injun bread, & bannock.</b></i></p><p><i><b>"As its many names & its wide regional dispersal illustrates, the hoecake was a ubiquitous food in colonial America. It was a staple for many poor & middling Americans, & was especially associated with enslaved people's diet. Multiple guests of the Washingtons noted hoecakes & honey being a significant component of a Mount Vernon breakfast. George Washington preferred his hoecakes "swimming in butter & honey."2 One guest surmised that having the hoecakes softened with honey & butter made it easier for Washington to chew his breakfast.</b></i></p><p><i><b>"Over the years as hoecakes have faded in their historical memory as a food for the enslaved community or a prominent regional dish of Virginia, they have become more strongly associated with Washington. Although he also enjoyed other foods such as nuts, fish, & Madeira wine, the simple American hoecake has become entwined with his reputation as a simple American."</b></i></p><p><a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/hoecakes-and-honey/">Mount Vernon Digital Encyclopedia By Katie Uva, Graduate Center, City University of New York</a></p><p>Notes</p><p>1. Joel Barlow, "The Hasty Pudding," Selections From the American Poets, ed. William Cullen Bryant (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860). See FTP Address: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/amverse/BAH8718.0001.001/1:5.1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext.</p><p>2. Nelly Custis, quoted in Dining With the Washingtons: Historic Recipes, Entertainment, & Hospitality From Mount Vernon (Chapel Hill: UNC Press Books, 2011), 38.</p><p>See:</p><p>Dining With the Washingtons: Historic Recipes, Entertainment, & Hospitality from Mount Vernon. Chapel Hill: UNC Press Books, 2011.</p><p>The Oxford Companion to American Food & Drink, ed. Andrew F. Smith. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.</p><p>Selections from the American Poets, ed. William Cullen Bryant. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-85500611049375316472024-01-20T01:00:00.004-05:002024-01-30T10:58:17.485-05:00The Oneida Indians join Gen. Washington in The American Revolution<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivuD-SXb8081HcOi3_kzGf6O2G229utXdz5XR2oJ6zWhuYou1j-2Sz-72J4Q9lM6IX036-zl0fPGCK2BITNj5oJmgxPQXcE1iDDDswxykY6KisI3MzPGuHXL2trSSotLA8_da45qHm7tIajPPPljuAy-J49JFuTAkcEU8q8mT52LTUntwKImouf7vykCh8/s850/Battle_of_Oriskany.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="850" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivuD-SXb8081HcOi3_kzGf6O2G229utXdz5XR2oJ6zWhuYou1j-2Sz-72J4Q9lM6IX036-zl0fPGCK2BITNj5oJmgxPQXcE1iDDDswxykY6KisI3MzPGuHXL2trSSotLA8_da45qHm7tIajPPPljuAy-J49JFuTAkcEU8q8mT52LTUntwKImouf7vykCh8/s16000/Battle_of_Oriskany.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">John Reuben Chapin, Battle of Oriskany, State of New York. Ballou's Pictorial 12, no. 18, May 2, 1857, 280.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/oneida/">Mount Vernon tells us that</a> <b><i>the Oneida are one of the Six Nations Iroquois (Haudenosaunee), & the only one that openly declared its support for the American Revolution. In describing the group's support of the revolution, George Washington explained that, "The Oneidas have manifested the strongest Attachment to us throughout this Dispute."1 The Oneida provided American forces with troops & spies throughout the Revolution, beginning at the Battle of Oriskany in New York's Mohawk Valley August 1777.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Initially, the Oneida remained neutral, though they were sympathetic to the American cause, partly because of their friendship with the patriot missionary Samuel Kirkland described by Washington as having "an uncommon Ascendency over them."2 The sympathy Kirkland evoked turned into outright support when the British told the Oneida that General Barry St. Leger would march a combined force of British & American loyalist soldiers through the Oneida lands to attack Fort Schuyler, where he hoped to join forces with General John Burgoyne. The Oneida did not believe themselves to be subservient to either the British or their Mohawk allies, & so the Oneida saw St. Leger's action as an offence they were honor-bound to oppose.3</i></b></p><p><b><i>On August 2, 1777, the Oneida rode out to warn the local patriots at Fort Schuyler & in the New York militia of the impending British attack.4 Four days later, the Oneida fought alongside the militia to defend Fort Schuyler. Commanded by General Nicholas Herkimer, the New York troops went into battle & were ambushed by St. Leger & the Mohawk.5 Eventually, however, the Oneida & the New York militia turned back the British after the Mohawk fled, thus preventing St. Leger from meeting Burgoyne as planned. The achievement helped set the stage for a decisive patriot victory at Saratoga in October.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The Battle of Oriskany, named after the nearby river, was one of the bloodiest battles in the Revolution & the only battle where Native Americans fought each other on a large scale.6 Despite the British retreat, the victors sustained heavy losses. The New Yorkers lost almost their entire local militia & the nearby Oneida village was pillaged by the retreating Mohawk.7 Equally important, this battle determined the sides the different Iroquois nations would take in the war & signified the end of the centuries-old Iroquois alliance.</i></b></p><p><b><i>After the Battle of Oriskany, General Washington invited the Oneida to assist the Americans at Valley Forge. When they arrived, Oneida leaders dined with Washington, who gave each leader a wampum belt in gratitude for their help.8 In addition to troops, the Oneida brought much-needed food & supplies. Most notable is the example of Polly Cooper, who gave white corn to the starving troops & taught them how to prepare the grain to make it edible. Polly Cooper remained at Valley Forge that winter, serving as Washington’s cook.9 Despite the great services they performed, the Oneida refused payment for what they had done. To show her gratitude, Oneida oral tradition holds that Martha Washington presented Polly Cooper with a shawl & bonnet.10</i></b></p><p><b><i>General Washington also deployed the Oneida as scouts, soldiers, & spies. Oneida scouts patrolled the area around Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78. In May 1778, during the Battle of Barren Hill, the Oneida scouts stayed behind so that General Lafayette & his troops could escape, after which they assisted other American officers.11 Oneida men also fought alongside American patriot forces in many battles. Ten Oneida soldiers attained officers' commissions in the Continental Army, & one rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.12 Some Oneida acted as spies, intercepting British communications & gathering information on troop movements & strategies, including Deacon Thomas, who hid in the rafters of the council house in a Mohawk village until his assassination in 1779.13</i></b></p><p><b><i>After the war, Congress thanked the Oneida for their help & granted them war reparations. While the U.S. government punished Native American tribes that sided with the British, the Oneida were left in relative peace. Despite their professed friendship for the Oneida, however, state & federal governments prevented the group from buying back most of their ancestral lands.14 The situation worsened when the State of New York claimed land that, according to a treaty, belonged to the Oneida. Congress ruled that the land was to be returned to the Oneida & that New York should pay reparations. However, when New York then attempted to force the Oneida to pay taxes on their land, Congress issued a mixed verdict, exempting the Oneida from state taxes but also ruling that they did not have sovereignty in the lands that they bought.15 </i></b></p><p><b><i>Alejandra Smith, George Mason University</i></b></p><p><b><i>Notes:</i></b></p><p><b><i>1. "From George Washington to the Commissioners of Indian Affairs, 13 March 1778," Founders Online, National Archives. Source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 14, 1 March 1778?–?30 April 1778, ed. David R. Hoth (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004), 167–8.</i></b></p><p><b><i>2. Ibid.</i></b></p><p><b><i>3. James Kirby Martin, "Forgotten Heroes of the Revolution: Han Yerry & Tyona Doxtader of the Oneida Indian Nation," in Alfred F. Young, Gary Nash, & Ray Raphael, eds., Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, & Reformers in the Making of the Nation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 203; Joseph Glatthaar & James Martin, Forgotten Allies: Oneida Indians & the American Revolution (New York: Hill & Wang, 2006), 156.</i></b></p><p><b><i>4. Martin, "Forgotten Heroes," 205.</i></b></p><p><b><i>5. Paul A. Boehlert, The Battle of Oriskany & General Nicholas Herkimer: Revolution in the Mohawk Valley (Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2013), 80.</i></b></p><p><b><i>6. Martin, "Forgotten Heroes," 205; Karim Tiro, The People of the Standing Stone: The Oneida Nation from the revolution through the Era of Removal (Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011), 48.</i></b></p><p><b><i>7. Glatthaar & Martin, Forgotten Allies, 177; Boehlert, Battle of Oriskany, 101.</i></b></p><p><b><i>8. Glatthaar & Martin, Forgotten Allies, 285.</i></b></p><p><b><i>9. William Sawyer, "The Oneida Nation in the American Revolution," Fort Stanwix, National Park Service.</i></b></p><p><b><i>10. William Rockwell et. al., "The Polly Cooper Shawl," Oneida Indian Nation.</i></b></p><p><b><i>11. Martin, "Forgotten Heroes,", 208; David Norton, Rebellious Younger Brother: Oneida Leadership & Diplomacy, 1750-1800 (DeKalb, Ill,.: Northern Illinois University Press, 2009), 99.</i></b></p><p><b><i>12. Tiro, People of the Standing Stone, 51; Barbara Graymont, "ATIATOHARONGWEN," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003.</i></b></p><p><b><i>13. Tiro, 51.</i></b></p><p><b><i>14. Norton, 111.</i></b></p><p><b><i>15. Glatthaar & Martin, 320-3.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Bibliography:</i></b></p><p><b><i>Boehlert, Paul A. The Battle of Oriskany & General Nicholas Herkimer: Revolution in the Mohawk Valley. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2013.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Glatthaar, Joseph T. & James K. Martin. Forgotten Allies: Oneida Indians & the American Revolution. New York: Hill & Wang, 2006.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Martin, James Kirby, "Forgotten Heroes of the Revolution: Han Yerry & Tyona Doxtader of the Oneida Indian Nation. In Alfred F. Young, Gary Nash, & Ray Raphael, eds., Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, & Reformers in the Making of the Nation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Pages 199-214.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Norton, David. Rebellious Younger Brother: Oneida Leadership & Diplomacy, 1750-1800. DeKalb, Il: Northern Illinois University Press, 2009.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Tiro, Karim. The People of the Standing Stone: The Oneida Nation from the Revolution through the Era of Removal. Amherst & Boston, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011.</i></b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-86424398166446949742024-01-18T01:00:00.004-05:002024-01-30T11:26:48.133-05:00The Creek Nation joins Gen. Washington in The Revolution<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71iR1V1fTIxKsf4m6RtLOkgEx85wLm8sEzHv4JK7b9FhrAavky5Cb8qbD9BggEbeThnWfjTUzooWU4MOZl8XLuhfv4N3QfrB1x7DXh_wxUGlzzXcrjG3rbQ58HUazfvrgygyVtYXCp08r4k26gwrTJiZRUAIcH3HGFb4_nbexC5ssexMa-SRdFBqxZEJI/s967/creek_war_treaty_1814.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="967" height="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71iR1V1fTIxKsf4m6RtLOkgEx85wLm8sEzHv4JK7b9FhrAavky5Cb8qbD9BggEbeThnWfjTUzooWU4MOZl8XLuhfv4N3QfrB1x7DXh_wxUGlzzXcrjG3rbQ58HUazfvrgygyVtYXCp08r4k26gwrTJiZRUAIcH3HGFb4_nbexC5ssexMa-SRdFBqxZEJI/w640-h547/creek_war_treaty_1814.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Creek War Treaty at Fort Jackson 1814, New York Public Library</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/creek-nation/">Mount Vernon tells us that </a>i<b><i>n the 18C, though, the Creek Nation was instead the Creek Confederacy, a multi-ethnic coalition of migrant peoples with a territorial expanse that encompassed much of the Deep South: from South Carolina to Alabama. The Confederacy evolved out of the Mississippian civilizations that collapsed in the southeast during the 16C & 17C as a consequence of European colonialism. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Specifically, Muskogean-language groups such as the Abihka, Tallapoosa, & Apalachicola coalesced into a polyglot alliance of towns, who were later joined by groups of non-Muskogean speakers like the Yuchi, Hitchiti, Shawnee, Natchez, Chickasaw, Apalachee, & others. Over the course of a century, these multilingual communities continuously merged, precipitated by the founding of the “mother” towns – Coweta, Cusseta, Tukabatchee, & Abeka. By the turn of the 18C, they were all collectively identified by Europeans as the “Creek Indians.”</i></b></p><p><b><i>Such fluidity continued to define the Confederacy throughout the eighteenth-century. For example, the primary source of identity in the Creek world was one’s town (talwa). From the annual Busk festival, political councils, & ritual gatherings, to economic exchange, preparation for war, & recreation & sport, all manners of life unfolded in the town square. T</i></b></p><p><b><i>herefore, the Confederacy was less a “nation” as defined by Western standards, & more of a flexible union of towns. The British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, John Stuart, observed as much when he remarked in 1764, “The Towns…may be considered as so many Different Republicks which form one State, but each of these Towns has separate Views & Interests.”1 Yet the autonomous nature of the Confederacy existed side-by-side with “Upper” & “Lower” Creek affiliations, as communities along the Coosa & Tallapoosa Rivers (“Upper”) & towns on the Chattahoochee & Flint Rivers (“Lower”) occasionally acted cooperatively, as in times of war or in negotiations with Europeans.</i></b></p><p><b><i>In addition, Creek society pivoted around family & clan, agriculture, & a particular cosmology. Along with town & regional identities, the Creek privileged their family & clan connections. For instance, each individual belonged to a clan moiety & resided with their extended relatives in a town in clan clusters. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Creek society was also matrilineal, as children inherited the clan of their mothers. Women controlled the means of production, commanded the power to incorporate outsiders, & wielded authority over the household. Similarly, women & men performed complementary yet distinct tasks: men hunted fur-bearing animals for food & trade & waged war, while women cultivated agriculture, the most important responsibility in Creek society. </i></b></p><p><b><i>This gendered labor system was embodied in the Creek cosmology, in which the world was divided into three separate planes of existence: the Upper World, Under World, & This World. Since the Creek lived in This World – the in-between world – they were tasked with maintaining balance between the Upper & Under Worlds, & did so through ritual. For instance, during the Green Corn Ceremony (Posketv), the entire town ritually & physically cleansed their bodies, minds, homes, & communities. Thus, the Confederacy functioned within social & cosmological structures of balance.</i></b></p><p><b><i>When it came to politics, the Confederacy operated at a more local & individual level, as town headmen (micos) competed with one another for authority inside & outside of their towns. Since political authority in the Creek world did not revolve around coercive power as it did in Europe, micos engaged in consensus politics, having to persuade their peers to support them, with the assumption that they had the community’s best interests in mind. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Creek headmen often achieved consensus by redistributing trade goods & presents to the community, sustaining a vibrant trade with Europeans, & mediating conflict with other Native peoples & Europeans. Yet there were instances when micos attempted to assert broader authority over their towns. For example, in 1718, Brims articulated a collective foreign policy – known as the “Coweta Resolution” – that committed all Creek towns & micos to end internal conflict in the Confederacy & to open trilateral negotiations with the French, English, & Spanish. </i></b></p><p><b><i>The Resolution pitted Europeans against one another for the loyalty of the Confederacy, which translated into greater leverage & more favorable trade for the Creek.2 In doing so, the Creek extended their political & commercial reach as far west as the Arkansas & Ohio River Valleys, & north to the Great Lakes & Iroquoia.</i></b></p><p><b><i>While the Confederacy abided by the “Coweta Resolution” for most of the 18C, the American Revolution dramatically changed their situation. No longer able to play Europeans off of one another, the Confederacy at first clashed violently with the United States during the 1780s & 1790s, before embarking on a “Plan of Civilization” – as coined by U.S. officials like Benjamin Hawkins – during the Washington, Adams, & Jefferson administrations. </i></b></p><p><b><i>In this case, “Civilization” was envisioned by a new generation of Creek leaders – many of whom were born of the unions between Creek women & Euro-American men – as a means to counter American colonialism by reinventing the Confederacy as a “nation” similar to the United States, thus putting the two states on equal footing. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Consequently, the Creek Nation adopted a written constitution, established a National Council & other federal forms of government, implemented a legal system that privileged property ownership & patriarchy, & turned to plantation agriculture & African slavery. Such adaptations came at the cost of the clan & town identities, consensus politics, & matrilineality that once characterized the Confederacy. </i></b></p><p><b><i>While such efforts ultimately failed to deter the United States from its violent removal of the Creek during the 1820s-1840s, the Muscogee Nation still thrives to this day, a testament to the fluidity & adaptability that has defined the Creek Indians for centuries.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Bryan Rindfleisch, Marquette University</i></b></p><p><b><i>Notes:</i></b></p><p><b><i>[1] Clarence Edwin Carter, ed. “Observations of John Stuart & Governor James Grant of East Florida on the Proposed Plan of 1764 for the Future Management of Indian Affairs,” American Historical Review Vol. 20: No. 4 (July 1915): 828.</i></b></p><p><b><i>[2] Steven C. Hahn, The Invention of the Creek Nation, 1670-1763 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004).</i></b></p><p><b><i>Bibliography:</i></b></p><p><b><i>Ethridge, Robbie. Creek Country: The Creek Indians & Their World. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Frank, Andrew K. Creeks & Southerners: Biculturalism on the Early American Frontier. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Hahn, Steven C. The Invention of the Creek Nation, 1670-1763. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Piker, Joshua. Okfuskee: A Creek Indian Town in Colonial America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Saunt, Claudio. A New Order of Things: Property, Power, & the Transformation of the Creek Indians, 1733-1816. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.</i></b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-21528720809957438362024-01-16T01:00:00.002-05:002024-01-19T05:10:03.590-05:00Washington joins U.S. Army to Deal with the British & Displaced, Angry Native Americans<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1G-4ydIvf3c7kJ2eVF0BcCSEQWrTtdpmyOWt3MGp70dzh4MGXM_PhKrO0Y7FmCg86B4OwSpBKQUEkP1h4Z-_PKlYPrfa8A0mdP02MP33X7M5djOQGVSSnIKyHBVByHMBMfAmP8hSiwlg/s1600/18+George+Washington+%25281732-1799%2529+By+Charles+Willson+Peale+Dated+1772.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1213" data-original-width="910" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1G-4ydIvf3c7kJ2eVF0BcCSEQWrTtdpmyOWt3MGp70dzh4MGXM_PhKrO0Y7FmCg86B4OwSpBKQUEkP1h4Z-_PKlYPrfa8A0mdP02MP33X7M5djOQGVSSnIKyHBVByHMBMfAmP8hSiwlg/w480-h640/18+George+Washington+%25281732-1799%2529+By+Charles+Willson+Peale+Dated+1772.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></p><span>George Washington (1732-1799) By Charles Willson Peale Dated 1772</span><br /><br /><span>During the summer of 1787, 55 men assembled in the Pennsylvania State House (Philadelphia's Independence Hall) to hammer out a new form of government for the United States of America. On the morning of 15 June 1775, as he had for the past month, George Washington entered Independence Hall & took his seat with the rest of the Virginia delegation to the Continental Congress. He was an imposing presence. At 43, he stood six feet four inches, weighed over 225 pounds & was renowned for his military bearing. The quiet planter was respected as a judicious Patriot with a natural dignity & an intense sense of personal honor. He was also known for an iron will that kept a passionate nature firmly in control. </span><br /><span><br /></span><span>Congress had already agreed to accept responsibility for the improvised army that had set siege to General Thomas Gages' British regulars in Boston in the aftermath of the fighting at Lexington & Concord. New Englanders had responded to that 1st revolutionary bloodshed by taking up arms, but, unaided, they could not hope to withstand the full might of the British. When Congress convened in mid-May, the New England delegates, supported by New Yorkers worried about an invasion from Canada down the Hudson River-Lake Champlain corridor, pleaded for united military action. Colonel Washington's military experience (he had commanded Virginia's troops in the French & Indian War) led his fellow delegates to listen to his views. Acting on his advice, Congress adopted all existing forces as "the American continental army."</span><br /><span><br /></span><span>On the 15th the delegates turned to selecting a general who could be trusted to lead these men. They needed an individual with military experience, but also one who shared their fundamental political values & therefore posed no threat to the Patriot cause. Washington, the highest-ranking native-born American veteran, appeared the ideal choice. He had served in Virginia's House of Burgesses & in both Continental Congresses, where he had impressed his peers as a man who could be trusted with authority. The fact that he came from Virginia would help convince London that Americans from all sections were united in resistance. His habit of wearing a uniform to the sessions indicated his interest in the assignment. His election as commander of <b><i>"all the continental forces raised, or to be raised, for the defense of American liberty" </i></b>was unanimous. </span><br /><span><br /></span><span>The need to defend the relatively poor & sparsely settled colonies against both Native American tribes & European powers led to a new military arrangement in America. Defense had played a major role in colonial life. No colony could afford to maintain enough troops to meet all contingencies, so all relied on the concept of the citizen-soldier to defend the community. Within 2 years of its founding in 1607, for example, Jamestown had organized itself into a virtual regimental garrison complete with companies & squads. Plymouth, on the advice of Miles Standish, formed 4 companies of militia within a comparable period. The Massachusetts Bay Colony by 1629, had a militia company, equipped with the latest weapons, at Salem; by 1636, it had formed 3 permanent regiments throughout the colony.</span><br /><span><br /></span><span>The colonies expanded the trained-band concept to encompass all settlers. Only Pennsylvania remained an exception to the general pattern. Settled by Quakers, it did not pass a law establishing a mandatory militia until 1777. In the early fighting between settlers & Native Americans, citizen-soldiers actually fought in defense of their homes. Later, when more elaborate retaliatory offensive operations were launched against the tribes, the colonists tried to minimize the economic dislocation by using detachments temporarily organized for a specific occasion. Although the immediate military danger subsided as the frontier & the displaced Native Americans moved westward, the colonial standing militia remained as the means to train young men in the rudiments of war, as a law-enforcement agency, & as a source of recruits or draftees for short-lived military assignments on the frontier.</span><br /><span><br /></span><span>Eventually, hired military volunteers began to range the wilderness throughout colonial America, patrolling outposts & giving early warning of an attack by Native Americans. Other volunteers combined with friendly Native Americans for offensive operations deep in the wilderness, where European tactics were ineffective. This volunteer concept matured during the colonial wars. Regiments completely separated from the militia were raised for specific campaigns. These units, called Provincials, were patterned after regiments in the regular British Army & were recruited from the militia, often during normal drill assemblies. In 1754, Royal Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia raised a Provincial regiment to secure the colony's claims to the Ohio Valley against French encroachment. Major George Washington led the vanguard of this regiment toward the forks of the Allegheny & Monongahela rivers (now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) with instructions to force a French withdrawal. After some initial success, he eventually surrendered to superior numbers, thus setting off the French & Indian War, the last & greatest of the colonial wars between France & England.</span><br /><span><br /></span><span>See: Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution by Robert K. Wright, Jr. and Morris J. MacGregor, Jr. </span><span>Center of Military History, United States Army. Washington, D.C., 1987</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-36617084446166026742024-01-12T01:00:00.001-05:002024-01-12T01:00:00.137-05:00The Natives Strike Back - Pontiac's Rebellion<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJaVn3-0cuNJs1fSfn5b-7N59ZDmYYggQiqGch-yBJo6BY5oIjbKz11pbhRM3EGzKL2iS0W9OZGF2qKDTfv2HnpjyqZiTAWLbM4sK0Jqr2A_GjpJGIX11u-RbRdIEFHCuTihz50hXc1ZsENaneHEkPF39psONw70EjV9mW9CySUOvgV-ud_LtM8c3GtAn8/s900/Major%20General%20Israel%20Putnam,%201864%20(%20litho)%20by%20Dominique%20C%20Fabronius%20(1828-94).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="733" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJaVn3-0cuNJs1fSfn5b-7N59ZDmYYggQiqGch-yBJo6BY5oIjbKz11pbhRM3EGzKL2iS0W9OZGF2qKDTfv2HnpjyqZiTAWLbM4sK0Jqr2A_GjpJGIX11u-RbRdIEFHCuTihz50hXc1ZsENaneHEkPF39psONw70EjV9mW9CySUOvgV-ud_LtM8c3GtAn8/s16000/Major%20General%20Israel%20Putnam,%201864%20(%20litho)%20by%20Dominique%20C%20Fabronius%20(1828-94).jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>Famed soldier of the French & Indian War & the American Revolution, Israel Putnam also served during Pontiac's Rebellion. Major General Israel Putnam, 1864 lithograph by Dominique C Fabronius (1828-94)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Seems like we’ve been in wars in the past 20-40 years that don’t really end & raise more problems than they resolve. In that that sense, Pontiac’s War is a classic & hopefully instructive insurgency.</p><p style="text-align: center;">The military career of George Washington spanned over 45 years of service (1752–1799). Washington's service can be broken into 3 periods, French & Indian War, American Revolutionary War, & the Quasi-War with France, with service in 3 different armed forces - the British Colonial Provincial Militia, the Continental Army during the American Revolution, & the United States Army.</p><p>Mount Vernon tells us that <b><i>for much of George Washington's life, the Ohio Valley was a driving force of politics & the politics of expansion. Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-1765) was an armed conflict between the British Empire & Algonquian, Iroquoian, Muskogean, & Siouan-speaking Native Americans following the Seven Years’ War. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Also known as “Pontiac’s War” or “Pontiac’s Uprising,” the violence represented an unprecedented pan-Indian resistance to European colonization in North America, in which Indigenous nations – Ottawa, Delaware, Potawatomie, Shawnee, Mingo (Seneca), Wyandot, Ojibwe, Huron, Choctaw, Piankashaw, Kickapoo, Tunica, Peoria, & Mascouten – challenged the attempts by the British Empire to impose its will & abrogate Native sovereignty. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Although the war originated in the Great Lakes & Ohio River Valley, the violence spread as fast west to the Illinois Country & as far east to western Virginia. Even though the conflict ended in a stalemate after 2 years of intense fighting, the British Empire was forced to reconsider its policy toward Native Americans, ultimately recognizing Indigenous autonomy. </i></b></p><p><b><i>However, the British American colonists resented the empire’s change of heart, given that such conciliatory measures ran counter to their anxieties & hostility toward Native Americans, which contributed to the growing disillusionment that culminated in revolution.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The origins of “Pontiac’s Rebellion” can be traced to the political fallout of the Seven Years’ War. Following the victory in 1763, the British empire sought to integrate former French & Spanish territories – Canada, Florida, & the Great Lakes – into its American dominion. </i></b></p><p><b><i>At the same time, the English inherited an elaborate system of alliances with the Indigenous peoples of those regions, which prompted imperial administrators to deliberate on whether or not Native Americans were the subjects of empire or autonomous polities. </i></b></p><p><b><i>In the end, the governor general in North America – Jeffrey Amherst – summed up British attitudes toward Native Americans, who were “the Vilest Race of Beings that Ever Infested the Earth,” & he was “fully convinced the only true method of treating those [Indians] is to keep them in a proper subjection.” </i></b></p><p><b><i>Most egregiously, Amherst discontinued the political tradition of gift-giving, an unnecessary cost in his eyes. But in most Indigenous societies, gifting was culturally important & cemented the political relationships between two parties. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Therefore, Amherst violated Native expectations &, in effect, severed potential alliance between the British Empire & Indigenous nations. Coupled with the post-war encroachments on Native territories by colonists, imperial restrictions on trade, & stationing English troops in the Great Lakes & Ohio River Valley, Native American groups such as the Ottawa & Iroquois complained “These steps appears to them as if the English have a mind to cut them off the face of the earth.”1</i></b></p><p><b><i>Simultaneous to these developments was the spread of a revitalization movement by the Delaware Prophet, Neolin. Burdened with a vision from the “Master of Life” (the “Great Spirit” to others), Neolin expressed that Native Americans had become too dependent on Europeans for their livelihoods, particularly when it came to the tools & weapons they used on a daily basis. </i></b></p><p><b><i>In addition, alcohol corrupted Indigenous societies, missionaries threatened Native ways of life, & colonists trespassed on their lands. Neolin’s message also represented a fusion of Delaware & Christian traditions, driven by a millenarian faith that the world was on the brink of disaster unless they acted against the European threat. After which Neolin promised their old ways – & previous lives – would return & flourish. It did not take much to convince leaders like the Ottawa headman, Pontiac, “it is important for us, my brothers, that we exterminate from our lands this nation [British] which seeks to destroy us.”2</i></b></p><p><b><i>In May 1763, Native American in the Great Lakes & Ohio River Valley went on the offensive & overran Britain’s westernmost fortifications, from Fort Edward Augustus in present-day Wisconsin to Fort Presque Isle in western Pennsylvania. </i></b></p><p><b><i>While historians dispute whether “Pontiac’s Rebellion” started as a coordinated or spontaneous assault, the war quickly spread throughout Native America. From the beginning, Indigenous strategy revolved around besieging the western forts, cutting off all communications & reinforcements, & subduing the surrounding settler communities. </i></b></p><p><b><i>For the most part, the offensive was successful, & by the end of June 1763, only three forts remained – Niagara, Detroit, & Pitt. British responses proved sluggish, since Amherst believed Indigenous peoples incapable of concerted action. </i></b></p><p><b><i>It was not until the following year that the empire launched expeditions to try & relieve the pressure on the surviving garrisons. Even then, British forces scored only minor victories, which were offset by continuous raids in western Pennsylvania, Maryland, & Virginia. </i></b></p><p><b><i>The war came to an end in early 1765 when French aid failed to materialize for Native Americans, the prospect of the Iroquois Confederacy’s intervention on behalf of the empire, & – more significantly – promises by imperial administrators to conform to Native understandings of their alliances & recognize Indigenous sovereignty.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The results of “Pontiac’s Rebellion” were many. Most important, the conflict enabled Native Americans to endure as major players in the geopolitics of North America during the 18C by compelling the British to reevaluate its “Indian Affairs” & give in to Native demands for fear of a prolonged war. Similarly, it displayed pan-Indian resistance to colonization & provided examples for future pan-Indian movements like the “Northwest Confederacy” of the 1790s & Tecumseh & Tenskwatawa’s coalition in the early 19C. </i></b></p><p><b><i>The violence also produced unforeseen consequences. Those who bore the brunt of the violence were Americans settlers; scholars estimate that over 500 civilians lost their lives. The mortality & resulting trauma & resentment incited indiscriminate settler attacks against Native populations during & after the conflict, including the infamous Paxton Boys massacre of the Conestoga (Susquehannock) Indians. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Emerging in the Btitish American colonies was a culture of “Indian-hating” – or the “anti-Indian sublime”3 – in which Europeans of different religions, ethnicities, & political affiliations rallied together, despite their dissimilarities, against a Native “Other.” </i></b></p><p><b><i>And when the British Empire across the Atlantic took measures to defend Native sovereignty, like enforcing the Proclamation Line of 1763, the colonists vented their frustrations upon the mother empire, all of which contributed to the revolutionary storm brewing in the American colonies between 1763 & 1775.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Bryan Rindfleisch, Marquette Universtiy</i></b></p><p><b><i>Notes:</i></b></p><p><b><i>1. Silverman, David J. Thundersticks: The Violent Transformation of Native America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016) 130, 122, 128.</i></b></p><p><b><i>2. Calloway, Colin G. The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 & the Transformation of North America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 70.</i></b></p><p><b><i>3. Silver, Peter. Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008)</i></b></p><p><b><i>Bibliography: </i></b></p><p><b><i>Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War & the Fate of Empire in North America, 1754-1766 (New York: Vintage Books, 2001)</i></b></p><p><b><i>Calloway, Colin G. The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 & the Transformation of North America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)</i></b></p><p><b><i>Dowd, Gregory Evans. War Under Heaven: Pontiac, the Indian Nations, & the British Empire (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2002)</i></b></p><p><b><i>Silver, Peter. Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008)</i></b></p><p><b><i>Silverman, David J. Thundersticks: The Violent Transformation of Native America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016)</i></b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-16342568739913737292024-01-10T01:00:00.005-05:002024-01-10T01:00:00.447-05:001754 Young Washington Encounters the French Commander & the Native Americans<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6j0FAawHBMaO68az1H2iblUVz6xbYAe08gDbyO0wgtsIg5p9qqocqObt_TNCWQPF4M0iLOnFUr6B6BUW8Cd1UMiE3rM1uutT_kxvCl22jjh9zggy6y4V5VYeryo3-XP4R7OvczdlzN8/s1600/George+Washington+by+Rembrandt+Peale+1778-1860.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6j0FAawHBMaO68az1H2iblUVz6xbYAe08gDbyO0wgtsIg5p9qqocqObt_TNCWQPF4M0iLOnFUr6B6BUW8Cd1UMiE3rM1uutT_kxvCl22jjh9zggy6y4V5VYeryo3-XP4R7OvczdlzN8/w518-h640/George+Washington+by+Rembrandt+Peale+1778-1860.jpg" width="518" /></span></a></p><span>A portrayal of a young George Washington by Rembrandt Peale 1778-1860. The son of portraitist Charles Willson Peale, the young man spent hours of copying portraits in his father's museum. His first encounter with George Washington took place on July of 1787.</span><div style="text-align: center;">British Colonial George Washington in the French & Indian War</div><div><br /></div><div>George Washington's military experience began in the French & Indian War with a commission as a major in the militia of the British Province of Virginia. In 1753 Washington was sent as an ambassador from the British crown to the French officials & Indians as far north as present-day Erie, Pennsylvania.</div><div><br /></div><div>The following year he led another expedition to the area to assist in the construction of a fort at present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before reaching that point, he & some of his men, along with Mingo allies led by Tanacharison, ambushed a French scouting party. </div><div><br /></div><div>This peacetime act of aggression is seen as one of the 1st military steps leading to the global Seven Years' War. The French responded by attacking fortifications Washington erected following the ambush, forcing his surrender. Released on parole, Washington & his troops returned to Virginia.</div><div><br /></div><div>In 1755, he participated as a volunteer aide in the ill-fated expedition of General Edward Braddock, where he distinguished himself in the retreat following the climactic Battle of Monongahela. He served from 1755 until 1758 as colonel & commander of the Virginia Regiment, directing the provincial defenses against French & Indian raids & building the regiment into one of the best-trained provincial militias of the time. </div><div><br /></div><div>He led the regiment as part of the 1758 expedition of General John Forbes that successfully drove the French from Fort Duquesne, during which he & some of his companies were involved in a friendly fire incident. When Washington did not get a commission commission in the British Army, he resigned from the provincial militia, married, & took up the life of a Virginia plantation owner.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Journey to the French Commandant: Narrative</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><i>On Wednesday the 31st. of October 1753 I was Commission’d & appointed by the Honble. Robert Dinwiddie Esqr. Governor &ca. of Virginia</i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>To visit & deliver a Letter to the Commandant of the French Forces on the Ohio, & set out on the intended Journey the same Day. The next I arriv’d at Fredericksburg, & engag’d Mr. Jacob Vanbraam, Interpreter, & proceeded with him to Alexandria where we provided Necessaries. From thence we went to Winchester & got Baggage Horses &ca. & from there we pursued the new Road to Wills Creek, where we arriv’d the 14th: of November.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>Here I engag’d Mr. Gist to Pilot us out, & also hired four others as Servitors (vizt.) Barnaby Currin, & John McGuier (Indian Traders) Henry Steward, & William Jenkins; & in Company with those Persons I left the Inhabitants the Day following. The excessive Rains & vast Quantity of Snow that had fallen prevented our reaching Mr. Frazer’s, an Indian Trader at the Mouth of Turtle Creek, on Monongehela, ’til Thursday.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>22d: We were inform’d here, that Expresses were sent a few Day’s ago to the Traders down the River to acquaint them with the General’s Death, & return of Major Part of the French Army into Winter Quarters. The Waters were quite impassable, without Swimming our Horses, which oblig’d us to get the loan of a Canoe from Mr. Frazer, & to send Barnaby Currin & Henry Steward down Monongehela, with our Baggage to meet us at the Forks of Ohio, about 10 Miles to cross Allegany.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>As I got down before the Canoe, I spent some Time in viewing the Rivers, & the Land in the Fork, which I think extreamly well situated for a Fort; as it has the absolute Command of both Rivers. The Land at the Point is 20 or 25 Feet above the common Surface of the Water; & a considerable Bottom of flat well timber’d Land all around it, very convenient for Building. The Rivers are each a quarter of a Mile, or more, across, & run here very nigh at Right Angles; Allegany bearing N: E: & Monongehela S: E: The former of these two is a very rapid swift running Water the other deep & still, with scarce any perceptable Fall. About two Miles from this, on the S: E: Side of the River, at the Place where the Ohio Company intended to erect a Fort; lives Singess, King of the Delawars; We call’d upon him to invite him to Council at the Logstown.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>As I had taken a good deal of Notice Yesterday of the Situation at the Forks; my Curiosity led me to examine this more particularly; & my Judgement [is] to think it greatly inferior, either for Defence or Advantages, especially the latter; For a Fort at the Forks wou’d be equally well situated on Ohio, & have the entire Command of Monongehela, which runs up to our Settlements & is extreamly well design’d for Water Carriage, as it is of a deep still Nature; besides a Fort at the Fork might be built at a much less Expence, than at the other Place. Nature has well contriv’d the lower Place for Water Defence, but the Hill whereon it must stand, being a quarter of a Mile in Length, & then descending gradually on the Land Side, will render it difficult & very expensive making a sufficient Fortification there. The whole Flat upon the Hill must be taken in, or the Side next the Descent made extreamly high; or else the Hill cut away: otherwise the Enemy will raise Batteries within that Distance, without being expos’d to a single Shot from the Fort.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>Singess attended us to Logstown, where we arriv’d between Sunsetting & Dark, the 25th: Day after I left Williamsburg. We travel’d over some extream good & bad Land to get to this Place. As soon as I came into Town, I went to Monacatoocha (as the Half King was out at his hunting Cabbin on little Bever Creek, about 15 Miles off) & inform’d him, by John Davison Interpreter that I was sent a Messenger to the French General, & was ordered to call upon the Sachems of the Six Nations, to acquaint them with it. I gave him a String of Wampum, & a twist of Tobacco, & desir’d him to send for the Half King; which he promis’d to do by a Runner in the Morning, & for other Sachems. I invited him & the other Great Men present to my Tent, where they stay’d an Hour & return’d.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>According to the best Observations I cou’d make, Mr. Gist’s new Settlement (which we pass’d by) bears about W: N: W: 70 Miles from Wills Creek, Shanapins, or the Forks N: B[y]: W: or N: N: W: about 50 Miles from that; & from thence to the Logstown, the Course is nearly West, about 18 or 20 Miles; so that the whole Distance, as we went & computed it, is at least 135 or 40 Miles from our back Settlements.</span></i></b><div><b><i><span><br /></span><span>25th: Came to Town four of ten French Men that Deserted from a Company at the Cuscusas, which lies at the Mouth of this River; I got the following Account from them. They were sent from New Orlians with 100 Men, & 8 Canoe load of Provisions, to this Place; where they expected to have met the same Number of Men, from the Forts this Side Lake Erie to convoy them, & the Horses up, but were not arriv’d when they ran off. I enquir’d into the Situation of the French on the Mississippi, their Number, & what Forts they had Built: They inform’d me that there were four small Forts between New Orlians, & the Black Islands, Garrison’d with about 30 or 40 Men, & a few small Pieces of Cannon in each. That at New Orlians, which is near the Mouth of the Mississippi, there is 35 Companies of 40 Men each, with a pretty strong Fort, mounting 8 large Carriage Guns; & at the Black Islands there is several Companies, & a Fort with 6 Guns. The Black Islands is about 130 Leagues above the Mouth of the Ohio, which is 150 above New Orlians: They also acquainted me, that there was a small Palisadoed Fort on the Ohio, at the Mouth of the Obaish, about 60 Leagues from the Mississippi: the Obaish heads near the West End of Lake Erie, & affords the Communication between the French on Mississippi, & those on the Lakes. These Deserters came up from the lower Shawnesse Town, with one Brown an Indian Trader, & were going to Philadelphia.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>About 3 o’Clock this Evening the Half King came to Town; I went up & invited him & Davison privately to my Tent, & desir’d him to relate some of the Particulars of his Journey to the FrenchCommandant, & reception there, & to give me an Account of the Way & Distance. He told me that the nearest & levelest Way was now impassable, by reason of the many large miry Savannas; that we must be oblig’d to go by Venango, & shou’d not get to the near Fort under 5 or 6 Nights Sleep, good Traveling. When he went to the Fort he said he was receiv’d in a very stern Manner by the late Commander, who ask’d him very abruptly, what he had come about, & to declare his Business; which he says he did in the following Speech.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>Fathers I am come to tell you your own Speeches, what your own Mouths have declar’d.fathers You in former Days set a Silver Bason before us wherein there was the Leg of a Beaver, and desir’d of all Nations to come & eat of it; to eat in Peace & Plenty, & not to be Churlish to one another; & that if any such Person shou’d be found to be a Disturber; I here lay down by the Edge of the Dish a rod, which you must Scourge them with; & if Me your Father shou’d get Foolish in my old Days, I desire you may use it upon me as well as others.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>Now Fathers it is you that is the Disturber in this Land, by coming & building your Towns, and taking it away unknown to us & by Force. fathers We kindled a Fire a long Time ago at a Place call’d Morail, where we desir’d you to stay, & not to come & intrude upon our Land. I now desire you may dispatch to that Place; for be it known to you Fathers, this is our Land, & not yours. fathers I desire you may hear me in Civilness; if not, We must handle that rod which was laid down for the Use of the obstropulous. If you had come in a peaceable Manner like our Brothers the English, We shou’d not have been against your trading with us as they do, but to come Fathers, & build great Houses upon our Land, & to take it by Force, is what we cannot submit to.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>Fathers Both you & the English are White. We live in a Country between, therefore the Land does not belong either to one or the other; but the great being above allow’d it to be a Place of residence for us; so Fathers, I desire you to withdraw, as I have done our Brothers the English, for I will keep you at Arm’s length. I lay this down as a Tryal for both, to see which will have the greatest regard to it, & that Side we will stand by, & make equal Sharers with us: Our Brothers the English have heard this, & I come now to tell it to you, for I am not affraid to discharge you off this Land. This, he said, was the Substance of what he said to the General, who made this Reply.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>Now My Child I have heard your Speech. You spoke first, but it is my Time to speak now. Where is my Wampum that you took away, with the Marks of Towns in it? This Wampum I do not know, which you have discharg’d me off the Land with; but you need not put yourself to the Trouble of Speaking for I will not hear you: I am not affraid of Flies or Musquito’s; for Indians are such as those; I tell you down that River I will go, & will build upon it according to my Command: If the River was ever so block’d up, I have Forces sufficient to burst it open, & tread under my Feet all that stand in Opposition together with their Alliances; for my Force is as the Sand upon the Sea Shoar: therefore here is your Wampum, I fling it at you. Child, you talk foolish; you say this Land belongs to you, but there is not the Black of my Nail yours, I saw that Land sooner than you did, before the Shawnesse & you were at War: Lead was the Man that went down, & took Possession of that River; it is my Land, & I will have it let who will stand up for, or say against it. I’ll buy & sell with the English (mockingly). If People will be rul’d by me they may expect Kindness but not else.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>The Half King told me, he enquir’d of the General after two English Men that were made Prisoners, & receiv’d this Answer.</span></i></b><br /><span><b><i>child You think it is a very great Hardship that I made Prisoners of those two People at Venango, don’t you concern yourself with it we took & carried them to Canada to get Intelligence of what the English were doing in Virginia.</i></b></span><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>He inform’d me that they had built two Forts, one on Lake Erie, & another on French Creek, near a small Lake about 15 Miles asunder, & a large Waggon Road between; they are both built after the same Model, but different in the Size; that on the Lake the largest; he gave me a Plan of them of his own drawing. The Indians enquir’d very particularly after their Brothers in Carolina Goal. They also ask’d what sort of a Boy it was that was taken from the South Branch; for they had, by some Indians heard, that a Party of French Indians had carried a White Boy by the Cuscusa Town, towards the Lakes.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>26th: We met in council at the Long House, about 9 o’Clock, where I spoke to them as follows,</span></i></b><br /><span><b><i>Brothers I have call’d you together in Council, by Order of your Brother the Governor of Virginia, to acquaint you that I am sent with all possible Dispatch to visit & deliver a Letter to the French Commandant of very great Importance to your Brothers the English: & I dare say to your their Friends & Allies. I was desir’d Brothers, by your Brother the Governor, to call upon you, the Sachems of the Six Nations, to inform you of it, & to ask your Advice & Assistance to proceed the nearest & best Road to the French. You see Brothers I have got thus far on my Journey. His Honour likewise desir’d me to apply to you for some of your young Men to conduct and provide Provisions for us on our Way: & to be a Safeguard against those French Indians, that have taken up the Hatchet against us. I have spoke this particularly to you Brothers, because His Hon. our Governor, treats you as good Friends & allies, & holds you in great Esteem. To confirm what I have said I give you this String of Wampum.</i></b></span><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>After they had considered some Time on the above, the Half King got up & spoke.</span></i></b><br /><span><b><i>Now My Brothers. In Regard to what my Brother the Governor has desir’d of me, I return you this Answer. I rely upon you as a Brother ought to do, as you say we are Brothers, & one People. We shall put Heart in Hand, & speak to our Fathers the French, concerning the Speech they made to me, & you may depend that we will endeavour to be your Guard.</i></b></span><br /><span><b><i>Brother, as you have ask’d my Advice, I hope you will be ruled by it, & stay ’til I can provide a Company to go with you. The French Speech Belt is not here, I have it to go for to my hunting Cabbin likewise the People I have order’d are not yet come, nor can ’til the third Night from this, ’till which Time Brother I must beg you to stay. I intend to send a Guard of Mingoes, Shawnesse, & Delawar’s, that our Brothers may see the Love and Loyalty We bear them.</i></b></span><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>As I had Orders to make all possible Dispatch, & waiting here very contrary to my Inclinations; I thank’d him in the most suitable Manner I cou’d, & told that my Business requir’d the greatest Expedition, & wou’d not admit of that Delay: He was not well pleas’d that I shou’d offer to go before the Time he had appointed, & told me that he cou’d not consent to our going without a Guard, for fear some Accident shou’d befall us, & draw a reflection upon him—besides says he, this is a Matter of no small Moment, & must not be enter’d into without due Consideration, for I now intend to deliver up the French Speech Belt, & make the Shawnesse & Delawars do the same, & accordingly gave Orders to King Singess, who was present, to attend on Wednesday Night with the Wampum, & two Men to their Nation to be in readiness to set off with us next Morning. As I found it impossible to get off without affronting them in the most egregious Manner, I consented to stay.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>I gave them back a String of Wampum that I met with at Mr. Frazer’s, which they had sent with a Speech to his Honour the Governor, to inform him, that three Nations of French Indians, (vizt.) Chippaway’s, Ottaway’s, & Arundacks, had taken up the Hatchet against the English, & desired them to repeat it over again; which they postpon’d doing ’til they met in full Council with the Shawnesse, & Delawar Chiefs.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>27th: Runners were dispatch’d very early for the Shawness Chiefs, the Half King set out himself to fetch the French Speech Belt from his hunting Cabbin.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>28th: He return’d this Evening, & came with Monacatoocha & two other Sachems to my Tent, & beg’d (as they had comply’d with his Honour the Governor’s Request in providing Men, &ca.) to know what Business we were going to the French about? This was a Question I all along expected, & had provided as satisfactory Answers as I cou’d, which allay’d their Curiosity a little. Monacatoocha Informed me, that an Indian from Venango brought News a few Days ago; that the French had call’d all the Mingo’s, Delawar’s &ca. together at that Place, & told them that they intended to have been down the River this Fall, but the Waters were geting Cold, & the Winter advancing, which obliged them to go into Quarters; but they might assuredly expect them in the Spring, with a far greater Number; & desired that they might be quite Passive, & not intermeddle, unless they had a mind to draw all their Force upon them; for that they expected to fight the English three Years, (as they suppos’d there would be some Attempts made to stop them) in which Time they shou’d Conquer, but if they shou’d prove equally strong, that they & the English wou’d join to cut them off, & divide the Land between them: that though they had lost their General, & some few of their Soldiers, yet there was Men enough to reinforce, & make them Masters of the Ohio. This Speech, he said, was deliver’d to them by an Captn. Joncaire, their Interpreter in Chief, living at Venango, & a Man of Note in the Army.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>29th: The Half King and Monacatoocha came very early & beg’d me to stay one Day more, for notwithstanding they had used all the Diligence in their Power, the Shawnesse Chiefs had not brought the Wampum they order’d, but wou’d certainly be in to Night, if not they wou’d delay me no longer, but send it after us as soon as they arriv’d: When I found them so pressing in their request; & knew that returning of Wampum, was the abolishing of Agreements; & giving this up was shaking of all Dependence upon the French, I consented to stay, as I believ’d an Offence offer’d at this Crisis, might have been attended with greater ill Consequence than another Day’s Delay.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>They also inform’d me that Singess cou’d not get in his Men, & was prevented from coming himself by His Wife’s Sickness, (I believe by fear of the French) but that the Wampum of that Nation was lodg’d with Custaloga, one of their Chiefs at Venango. In the Evening they came again, & acquainted me that the Shawnesse were not yet come, but it shou’d not retard the Prosecution of our Journey. He deliver’d in my Hearing the Speeches that were to be made to the French by Jeskakake, one of their old Chiefs, which was giving up the Belt the late Commandant had ask’d for, & repeating near the same Speech he himself had done before. He also deliver’d a String of Wampum to this Chief, which was sent by King Singess to be given to Custaloga, with Orders to repair to, & deliver up the French Wampum. He likewise gave a very large String of black & white Wampum, which was to be sent immediately up to the Six Nations, if the French refus’d to quit the Land at this Warning, which was the third & last Time, & was the right of this Jeskakake to deliver.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>30th: Last Night the great Men assembled to their Council House to consult further about this Journey, & who were to go; the result of which was, that only three of their Chiefs, with one of their best Hunters shou’d be our Convoy: the reason they gave for not sending more, after what had been propos’d in Council the 26th. was, that a greater Number might give the French Suspicion of some bad Design, & cause them to be treated rudely; but I rather think they cou’d not get their Hunters in.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>We set out about 9 o’Clock, with the Half King, Jeskakake, White Thunder, & the Hunter; & travel’d on the road to Venango, where we arriv’d the 4th: of December, without any Thing remarkably happening, but a continued Series of bad Weather. This is an old Indian Town, situated on the Mouth of French Creek on Ohio, & lies near No. about 60 Miles from the Logstown, but more than 70 the Way we were oblig’d to come. We found the French Colours hoisted at a House where they drove Mr. John Frazer an English Subject from: I immediately repair’d to it, to know where the Commander resided: There was three Officers, one of which, Capt. Joncaire, inform’d me, that he had the Command of the Ohio, but that there was a General Officer at the next Fort, which he advis’d me to for an Answer.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>He invited us to Sup with them, & treated with the greatest Complaisance. The Wine, as they dos’d themselves pretty plentifully with it, soon banish’d the restraint which at first appear’d in their Conversation, & gave license to their Tongues to reveal their Sentiments more freely. They told me it was their absolute Design to take Possession of the Ohio, & by G—— they wou’d do it, for tho’ they were sensible, that the English cou’d raise two Men for their one; yet they knew their Motions were too slow & dilatory to prevent any Undertaking of theirs. They pretended to have an undoubted right to the river from a Discovery made by one La Sol 60 Years ago, & the use of this Expedition is to prevent our Settling on the River or Waters of it, as they have heard of some Families moving out in order thereto.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>From the best Intelligence I cou’d get, there has been 1,500 Men this Side Oswago Lake, but upon the Death of the General, all were recall’d to about 6 or 7 Hundred, which were left to Garrison four Forts, 150 or thereabouts in each, the first of which is on French Creek, near a small Lake, about 60 Miles from Venango near N: N: W: the next lies on Lake Erie, where the greatest Part of their Stores are kept about 15 Miles from the other; from that it is 120 Miles from the Carrying Place, at the Fall of Lake Erie, where there is a small Fort, which they lodge their Goods at, in bringing them from Morail, the Place that all their Stores come from; the next Fort lies about 20 Miles from this, on Oswago Lake; between this Fort & Morail there are three others; the first of which is near the English Fort Oswago. From the Fort on Lake Erie to Morail is about 600 Miles, which they say if good Weather, requires no more than 4 Weeks Voyage, if they go in Barks or large Vessells that they can cross the Lake; but if they come in Canoes, it will require five or six Weeks for they are oblig’d to keep under the Shoar.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>5th: Rain’d successively all Day, which prevented our traveling. Capt. Joncaire sent for the half King, as he had but just heard that he came with me: He affected to be much Concern’d that I did not make free to bring him in before; I excused it in the best Manner I was capable, & told him I did not think their Company agreeable, as I had heard him say a good deal in dispraise of Indians in General. But another Motive prevented my bringing them into his Company: I knew that he was Interpreter, & a Person of very great Influence among the Indians, & had lately used all possible means to draw them over to their Interest; therefore I was desirous of giving no more Opportunity than cou’d be avoided. When they came in there was great Pleasure express’d at seeing them, he wonder’d how they cou’d be so near without coming to visit him, made several trifling Presents, & applied Liquors so fast, that they were soon render’d incapable of the Business they came about notwithstanding the Caution that was given.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>6th: The Half King came to my Tent quite Sober, & insisted very much that I shou’d stay & hear what he had to say to the French. I fain wou’d have prevented his speaking any Thing ’til he came to the Commandant, but cou’d not prevail. He told me that at this Place Council Fire was kindled, where all their Business with these People were to be transacted, & that the Management of the Indian Affairs was left solely to Monsieur Joncaire. As I was desirous of knowing the Issue of this, I agreed to stay, but sent our Horses a little Way up French Creek, to raft over & Camp, which I knew wou’d make it near Night.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>About 10 oClock they met in Council, the King spoke much the same as he had done to the General, & offer’d the French Speech Belt which had before been demanded, with the Marks of four Towns in it, which Monsieur Joncaire refused to receive; but desired him to carry it to the Fort to the Commander.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>7th: Monsieur La Force, Commissary of the French Stores, & three other Soldiers came over to accompany us up. We found it extreamly difficult getting the Indians off to Day; as every Stratagem had been used to prevent their going up with me. I had last Night left John Davison (the Indian Interpreter that I brought from Logstown with me) strictly charg’d not to be out of their Company, as I cou’d not get them over to my Tent (they having some Business with Custaloga, to know the reason why he did not deliver up the French Belt, which he had in keeping,) but was oblig’d to send Mr. Gist over to Day to fetch them, which he did with great Perswasion.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>At 11 o’Clock we set out for the Fort, & was prevented from arriving there ’till the 11th: by excessive rains, Snows, & bad traveling, through many Mires & Swamps, which we were oblig’d to pass to avoid crossing the Creek, which was impassible either by Fording or Rafting, the Water was so high & rapid. We pass’d over much good Land since we left Venango, & through several extensive & very rich Meadows, one of which was near 4 Miles in length, & considerably wide in some Places.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>12th: I prepar’d early to wait upon the Commander, & was receiv’d & conducted to him by the 2d. Officer in Command; I acquainted him with my Business, & offer’d my Commission & Letter, both of which he desir’d me to keep ’til the Arrival of Monsieur Riparti, Capt. at the next Fort, who was sent for & expected every Hour.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>This Commander is a Knight of the Military Order of St: Lewis, & named Legadieur St. Piere, he is an elderly Gentleman, & has much the Air of a Soldier; he was sent over to take the Command immediately upon the Death of the late General, & arriv’d here about 7 Days before me. At 2 o’Clock the Gentleman that was sent for arriv’d, when I offer’d the Letters &ca. again, which they receiv’d, & adjourn’d into a private Appartment for the Captain to translate, who understood a little English, after he had done it, the Captain desir’d I wou’d walk in & bring my Interpreter to peruse & correct it, which I did.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>13th: The chief Officer retired to hold a Council of War, which gave me an Opportunity of taking the Dimensions of the Fort, & making what Observations I cou’d. It is situated on the South or West Fork of French Creek, near the Water, & is almost surrounded by the Creek, & a small Branch of it which forms a Kind of an Island, as may be seen by a Plan I have here annexed, it is built exactly in that Manner & of that Dimensions. 4 Houses compose the Sides; the Bastions are made of Piles drove into the Ground, & about 12 Feet above sharpe at Top, with Port Holes cut for Cannon & Small Arms to fire through; there are Eight 6 lb. Pieces Mounted, two in each Bastion, & one of 4 lb. before the Gate: In the Bastions are a Guard House, Chapel, Doctor’s Lodgings, & the Commander’s private Store, round which is laid Platforms for the Cannon & Men to stand on: there is several Barracks without the Fort for the Soldiers dwelling, cover’d some with Bark, & some with Boards, & made chiefly of Logs, there is also several other Houses such as Stables, Smiths Shop &ca: all of which I have laid down exactly as they stand, & shall refer to the Plan for Explanation.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>I cou’d get no certain Account of the Number of Men here; but according to the best Judgement I cou’d form, there is an Hundred exclusive of Officers, which are pretty many. I also gave Orders to the People that were with me, to take an exact Account of the Canoes that were haled up, to convey their Forces down in the Spring, which they did, and told 50 of Birch Bark, & 170 of Pine; besides many others that were block’d out, in Readiness to make.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>14th: As the Snow increased very fast, & our Horses daily got weaker, I sent them off unloaded, under the Care of Barnaby Currin & two others, to make all convenient Dispatch to Venango, & there wait our Arrival, if there was a Prospect of the Rivers Freezing, if not, then to continue down to Shanapin’s Town at the Forks of Ohio, & there wait ’till we came to cross Allegany; intending my Self to go down by Water, as I had the Offer of a Canoe or two.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>As I found many Plots concerted to retard the Indians Business, & prevent their returning with me, I endeavour’d all in my Power to frustrate their Schemes, & hurry them on to execute their intended Design. They accordingly pressed for admittance this Evening, which at length was granted them privately with the Commander, & one or two other Officers. The Half King told me that he offer’d the Wampum to the Commander, who evaded taking it, & made many fair Promises of Love & Friendship; said he wanted to live in Peace & trade amicably with them; as a Proof of which, he wou’d send some Goods immediately down to the Logstown for them, but I rather think the Design of that is to bring away all of our stragling traders that they may meet with; as I privately understood they intended to carry an Officer, &ca. with them; & what rather confirms this Opinion, I was enquiring of the Commander by what Authority he had taken & made Prisoners of several of our English Subjects. He told me the Country belong’d to them, that no English Man had a right to trade upon them Waters; & that he had Orders to make every Person Prisoner that attempted it on the Ohio or the Waters of it.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>I enquir’d of Capt. Riparti about the Boy that was carried by, as it was done while the Command devolved upon him, between the Death of the late General & the Arrival of the Present. He acknowledg’d that a Boy had been carried past, & that the Indians had two or three white Scalps, (I was told by some of the Indians at Venango 8) but pretended to have forgot the Name of the Place that the Boy came from, & all the Particulars, tho’ he Question’d him for some Hours as they were carrying him past. I likewise enquired where & what they had done with John Trotter, & James McClocklan, two Pensylvania Traders, which they had taken with all their Goods: they told me that they had been sent to Canada, but were now return’d Home.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>This Evening I receiv’d an Answer to His Honour the Governor’s Letter from the Commandant.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>15th: The Commander order’d a plentiful Store of Liquor, Provisions & ca. to be put on board our Canoe, & appear’d to be extreamly complaisant, though he was ploting every Scheme that the Devil & Man cou’d invent, to set our Indians at Variance with us, to prevent their going ’till after our Departure. Presents, rewards, & every Thing that cou’d be suggested by him or his Officers was not neglected to do. I can’t say that ever in my Life I suffer’d so much Anxiety as I did in this affair: I saw that every Stratagem that the most fruitful Brain cou’d invent: was practis’d to get the Half King won to their Interest, & that leaving of him here, was giving them the Opportunity they aimed at: I went to the Half King and press’d him in the strongest Terms to go. He told me the Commander wou’d not discharge him ’till the Morning; I then went to the Commander & desired him to do their Business, & complain’d of ill Treatment; for keeping them, as they were Part of my Company was detaining me, which he promis’d not to do, but to forward my Journey as much as he cou’d: He protested he did not keep them but was innocent of the Cause of their Stay; though I soon found it out. He had promis’d them a Present of Guns, &ca. if they wou’d wait ’till the Morning. As I was very much press’d by the Indians to wait this Day for them; I consented on a Promise that Nothing shou’d hinder them in the Morning.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>16th: The French were not slack in their Inventions to keep the Indians this Day also; but as they were obligated, according to promise, to give the Present: they then endeavour’d to try the Power of Liquor; which I doubt not wou’d have prevail’d at any other Time than this, but I tax’d the King so close upon his Word that he refrain’d, & set off with us as he had engag’d. We had a tedious & very fatiguing Passage down the Creek, several Times we had like to have stove against Rocks, & many Times were oblig’d all Hands to get out, & remain in the Water Half an Hour or more, getting her over the Shoals: on one Place the Ice had lodg’d & made it impassable by Water; therefore we were oblig’d to carry our Canoe across a neck Land a quarter of a Mile over. We did not reach Venango ’till the 22d: where we met with our Horses. This Creek is extreamly crooked, I dare say the Distance between the Fort & Venango can’t be less than 130 Miles to follow the Meanders.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>23d: When I got Things ready to set off I sent for the Half King, to know whether they intended to go with us, or by Water. He told me that the White Thunder had hurt himself much, & was Sick & unable to walk, therefore he was oblig’d to carry him down in a Canoe: As I found he intended to stay a Day or two here, & knew that Monsieur Joncaire wou’d employ every Scheme to set him against the English, as he had before done; I told him I hoped he wou’d guard against his Flattery, & let no fine Speeches Influence Him in their Favour: He desired I might not be concern’d, for he knew the French too well, for any Thing to engage him in their Behalf, & though he cou’d not go down with us, he wou’d endeavour to meet at the Forks with Joseph Campbell, to deliver a Speech for me to carry to his Honour the Governor. He told me he wou’d order the young Hunter to attend us, & get Provision &ca. if wanted. Our Horses were now so weak & feeble, & the Baggage heavy; as we were oblig’d to provide all the Necessaries the Journey wou’d require, that we doubted much their performing it; therefore my Self & others (except the Drivers which were oblig’d to ride) gave up our Horses for Packs, to assist along with the Baggage; & put my Self into an Indian walking Dress, & continue’d with them three Day’s, ’till I found there was no Probability of their getting in, in any reasonable Time; the Horses grew less able to travel every Day. The Cold increas’d very fast, & the Roads were geting much worse by a deep Snow continually Freezing; And as I was uneasy to get back to make a report of my Proceedings to his Honour the Governor; I determin’d to prosecute my Journey the nearest way through the Woods on Foot. Accordingly I left Mr. Vanbraam in Charge of our Baggage, with Money and Directions to provide Necessaries from Place to Place for themselves & Horses & to make the most convenient Dispatch in. I took my necessary Papers, pull’d off my Cloths; tied My Self up in a Match Coat; & with my Pack at my back, with my Papers & Provisions in it, & a Gun, set out with Mr. Gist, fitted in the same Manner, on Wednesday the 26th.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>The Day following, just after we had pass’d a Place call’d the Murdering Town where we intended to quit the Path & steer across the Country for Shanapins Town, we fell in with a Party of French Indians, which had laid in wait for us, one of them fired at Mr. Gist or me, not 15 Steps, but fortunately missed. We took this Fellow into Custody, & kept him ’till about 9 o’Clock at Night, & then let him go, & then walked all the remaining Part of the Night without making any Stop; that we might get the start, so far as to be out of the reach of their Pursuit next Day, as were well assur’d they wou’d follow upon our Tract as soon as it was Light: The next Day we continued traveling ’till it was quite Dark, & got to the River about two Miles above Shanapins; we expected to have found the River Froze, but it was not, only about 50 Yards from each Shoar; the Ice I suppose had broke up above, for it was driving in vast Quantities.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>There was no way for us to get over but upon a Raft, which we set about with but one poor Hatchet, & got finish’d just after Sunsetting, after a whole days Work: We got it launch’d, & on board of it, & sett off; but before we got half over, we were jamed in the Ice in such a Manner, that we expected every Moment our Raft wou’d sink, & we Perish; I put out my seting Pole, to try to stop the Raft, that the Ice might pass by, when the Rapidity of the Stream through it with so much Violence against the Pole, that it Jirk’d me into 10 Feet Water, but I fortunately saved my Self by catching hold of one of the Raft Logs. Notwithstanding all our Efforts we cou’d not get the Raft to either Shoar, but were oblig’d, as we were pretty near an Island, to quit our Raft & wade to it. The Cold was so extream severe, that Mr. Gist got all his Fingers, & some of his Toes Froze, & the Water was shut up so hard, that We found no Difficulty in getting off the Island on the Ice in the Morning, & went to Mr. Frazers. We met here with 20 Warriors that had been going to the Southward to War, but coming to a Place upon the Head of the Great Cunnaway, where they found People kill’d & Scalpt, all but one Woman with very Light Hair, they turn’d about; & ran back, for fear of the Inhabitants rising & takeing them as the Authors of the Murder: They report that the People were lying about the House, & some of them much torn & eat by Hogs; by the Marks that were left, they say they were French Indians of the Ottaway Nation, &ca. that did it.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>As we intended to take Horse here, & it requir’d some Time to hunt them; I went up about 3 Miles to the Mouth of Yaughyaughgane to visit Queen Aliquippa, who had express’d great Concern that we pass’d her in going to the Fort. I made her a Present of a Match Coat; & a Bottle of rum, which was thought much the best Present of the two.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>Tuesday 1st: Day of Jany: We left Mr. Frazers House, & arriv’d at Mr. Gists at Monangahela the 2d. where I bought Horse Saddle &ca. The 6th: We met 17 Horses loaded with Materials & Stores for a Fort at the Forks; & the Day after, a Family or two going out to settle; this Day we arriv’d at Wills Creek, after as fatiguing a Journey as it is possible to conceive, rendered so by excessive bad Weather: From the first Day of December ’till the 15th. there was but one Day, but what it rain’d or snow’d incessantly & throughout the whole Journey we met with nothing but one continued Series of cold wet Weather; which occasioned very uncumfortable Lodgings, especially after we had left our Tent; which was some Screen from the Inclemency of it.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>On the 11th. I got to Belvoir, where I stop’d one Day to take necessary rest; & then set out for, & arrived at Williamsburg, the 16th. & waited upon His Honour the Governor with the Letter I had brought from the French Commandant, & to give an Account of the Proceedures of my Journey. Which I beg leave to do by offering the Foregoing, as it contains the most remarkable Occurrences that happen’d to me.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>I hope it will be sufficient to satisfy your Honour with my Proceedings; for that was my Aim in undertaking the Journey: & chief Study throughout the Prosecution of it.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>With the Assurance, & Hope of doing it, I with infinite Pleasure subscribe my Self Yr. Honour’s most Obedt. & very Hble. Servant. Go: Washington</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>Almost immediately upon GW’s return to Williamsburg, Dinwiddie ordered publication of his journal. It appeared as The Journal of Major George Washington, Sent by the Hon. Robert Dinwiddie, Esq; His Majesty’s Lieutenant-Governor, and Commander in Chief of Virginia, to the Commandant of the French Forces on Ohio. To Which Are Added, the Governor’s Letter, and a Translation of the French Officer’s Answer (Williamsburg: William Hunter, 1754). GW prefaced the publication with the following “Advertisement”:</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>“As it was thought adviseable by his Honour the Governor to have the following Account of my Proceedings to and from the French on Ohio, committed to Print; I think I can do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the numberless Imperfections of it.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>“There intervened but one Day between my Arrival in Williamsburg, and the Time for the Council’s Meeting, for me to prepare and transcribe, from the rough Minutes I had taken in my Travels, this Journal; the writing of which only was sufficient to employ me closely the whole Time, consequently admitted of no Leisure to consult of a new and proper Form to offer it in, or to correct or amend the Diction of the old; neither was I apprised, or did in the least conceive, when I wrote this for his Honour’s Perusal, that it ever would be published, or even have more than a cursory Reading; till I was informed, at the Meeting of the present General Assembly, that it was already in the Press.</span></i></b><br /><b><i><span><br /></span><span>“There is nothing can recommend it to the Public, but this. Those Things which came under the Notice of my own Observation, I have been explicit and just in a Recital of:—Those which I have gathered from Report, I have been particularly cautious not to augment, but collected the Opinions of the several Intelligencers, and selected from the whole, the most probable and consistent Account.</span></i></b><br /><span><b><i>G. Washington. </i></b></span><span>See: The Maryland Gazette, 21 & 28 Mar. 1754; and The Boston Gazette, 16 April–21 May 1754). </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><a href="http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-01-02-0003-0002">“Journey to the French Commandant: Narrative,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified October 5, 2016,</a> [Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 1, 11 March 1748–13 November 1765, ed. Donald Jackson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976, pp. 130–161.]</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><div>On May 28, 1754 Virginia Regiment Lieutenant Colonel George Washington & Mingo chief Tanacharison led a party of roughly 40 men in a raid against 29 French soldiers in present-day western Pennsylvania killing 10 & capturing 21. The attack represented the opening salvoes of the French & Indian War.</div><div><br /></div><div>By 1753, the upper Ohio River Valley became an increasing source of friction between French & British imperial ambitions. In October, following reports of the French constructing forts in the region, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie dispatched Washington with a request for French withdrawal.1 </div><div><br /></div><div>After a 3 month journey, Washington reported to Dinwiddie that the French had no intention of departing the Ohio & were in fact adding troops to the region.2 In response, Dinwiddie ordered the newly raised Virginia Regiment under Colonel Joshua Fry to the frontier. After raising & equipping his force in Alexandria, Washington was to proceed with an advance portion of the regiment & aid Captain William Trent in establishing a fort at the Forks of the Ohio, where the Monongahela & Allegheny rivers converge.3</div><div><br /></div><div>When Washington & his roughly150 men arrived at Wills Creek (present-day Cumberland, Maryland) in April 1754, they learned that 1,000 French soldiers under the command of Captain Claude-Pierre Pécaudy, sieur de Contrecœur had overrun the scant force of British already working at the Forks.4 </div><div><br /></div><div>Washington ordered his small command over the Allegheny Mountains in the hopes of establishing a defensive position along Red Stone Creek & demonstrating British resolve to fight alongside their Native American allies in the region. For the next month, Washington’s 150 men worked to open a road from Will’s Creek to their position in the Great Meadows (near present-day Farmington, Pennsylvania) while awaiting reinforcements.5</div><div><br /></div><div>On May 27th, reports came into Washington’s camp of a force of 50 French soldiers less than fifteen miles from his position. Washington met with Tanacharison, & they decided to take a portion of their troops & meet the French. Throughout the night, the column of roughly 50 men traveled single file through the inky wilderness, with 7 Virginians getting lost along the way. </div><div><br /></div><div>The next morning, they discovered the French in a sheltered glen hidden from the main trail. Tanacharison’s took his Mingos behind the French position, while Washington’s Virginias advanced towards the front of the glen. With Washington in the lead, the Virginians swiftly moved on the French position & the resulting engagement lasted only 15 minutes before the French surrendered.6</div><div><br /></div><div>The details of the “battle” continues to plague Washington’s legacy to this day. By his own account, upon sighting the British advancing on their position, the French soldiers immediately went for their weapons prompting Washington’s soldiers to fire in their own defense. According to the French, they had no knowledge of the British soldiers until the Virginians fired their 1st volleys.7 Since Great Britain & France were not at war, the French argued, the actions of Washington’s soldiers amounted to murder. This was especially egregious since the French asserted they were an ambassadorial delegation under the command of Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville, the commander of the French party & a mortal victim of the skirmish. </div><div><br /></div><div>To his death, Washington argued that, by hiding in the woods near the Virginian position for many days rather than openly acknowledging their presence, the French were acting in a military capacity, not a diplomatic one.8 As such, he & his soldiers were in danger of the French, & had a right to defend themselves & their camp.</div><div><br /></div><div>The treatment of French wounded following the engagement also plagues Washington’s reputation. French versions of the battle’s aftermath, related to them by a soldier that escaped, stated that the Virginians fired on the wounded French, & would have killed more if the Mingos had not intervened. Washington’s account states that the Mingos killed & scalped the French wounded, later sending those scalps as proof to their allies that war had begun & requesting their assistance in the conflict.9</div><div><br /></div><div>Just over a month after the skirmish at what became known as Jumonville Glen, 600 French soldiers & their Native American allies overwhelmed Washington’s position at Fort Necessity in the Great Meadows.10 </div><div><br /></div><div>The capitulation was especially awkward because the French force was led by Jumonville’s half-brother, Louis Coulon de Villers. During the surrender negotiations, the French had Washington sign a statement asserting that he and his troops had assassinated Jumonville.11 France later used the Jumonville Glen skirmish as causus belli to engage in the French & Indian War.</div><div><br /></div><div>Joseph F. Stoltz III Mount Vernon Digital Historian at Mount Vernon Fred W. Smith National Library </div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-26972619593193795502024-01-08T01:00:00.002-05:002024-01-08T01:00:00.249-05:00 1754 Geo Washington's 1st Trip to Fort Duquesne moving toward Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). <p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1x_rS0Zs-b3snw0Wm7QNYxxP2HNlRQDUMwYzZih16AvWaskLgy112VP6YIkQPHbxMiaqwPFsKBy3KawStuz2z6TYE_QjlYclGZ_u1NrDqEqJS-BKfbsjC_4hZoVjdJVdSGOKQdMlsd7ZGD0r8rBkS_Ik6F8HhZHkL9rPwgfJnvZcoL5mZSu451Knw4pNJ/s850/burial-general-edward-braddock-1755-near-great-18178958.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="850" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1x_rS0Zs-b3snw0Wm7QNYxxP2HNlRQDUMwYzZih16AvWaskLgy112VP6YIkQPHbxMiaqwPFsKBy3KawStuz2z6TYE_QjlYclGZ_u1NrDqEqJS-BKfbsjC_4hZoVjdJVdSGOKQdMlsd7ZGD0r8rBkS_Ik6F8HhZHkL9rPwgfJnvZcoL5mZSu451Knw4pNJ/s16000/burial-general-edward-braddock-1755-near-great-18178958.jpg" /></a></div>The burial Of General Edward Braddock Engraved in the 19C by John Rogers after J Mcnevin. In 1755 near Great Meadows, Pennsylvania, General Edward Braddock 1695-1755 unsuccessful British commander in North America in the early stages of the French & Indian War. Braddock, was mortally wounded in battle in 1755 at what is now Braddock, near Pittsburgh, while leading an expedition of 14,000 toward Fort Duquesne. He was buried in the middle of the road that his men had just cut through & wagons were rolled over top of the grave site to prevent his body from being discovered & desecrated by the Indians. George Washington presided at the burial service, as the chaplain had been severely wounded.<br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"> Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). </p><p>George Washington's 1st expedition to remove the French for Fort Duquesne resulted in a skirmish near what is now known as Jumonville Glenn. The French & Indian War started in 1754 & did not end until 1763. Many battles were fought & powers shifted over the course of the war. Native American tribes eventually allied with both the French & British troops, & therefore fought for both sides.</p><p>Constructed by the French in 1754 at the heart of the Ohio River Valley, Fort Duquesne was an important landmark during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). Because of its strategic location on the land where the Allegheny & Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio River, the British made several attempts to take the fort from the French & gain control of the Ohio Country. In 1758, an expedition led by General John Forbes finally succeeded in capturing Fort Duquesne, & Fort Pitt was established by the British on the site.</p><p>After several generations of imperial rivalry, the construction of Fort Duquesne triggered the French & Indian War between the British & French in 1754. Despite the fort’s small size, poor construction, & underwhelming force, its power was in its location. The French were able to prevent British expansion into the Ohio Country by positioning the fort at the intersection of the Allegheny, Monongahela, & Ohio Rivers. The location gave the French the opportunity to trade with Native American groups in the Ohio Country & deter the growth of British trade & settlement in North America.</p><p>In spring 1754, Major George Washington led an expedition of 300 Virginians toward Fort Duquesne to force the French to abandon the site. In May, Washington’s men, along with the Seneca tribe led by Tanacharison (also known as the Half King), found a campsite of about 30 Frenchmen & their commander, Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville. They ambushed the French, & the battle ended with one Virginian & 14 Frenchmen dead, including Jumonville.</p><p>Nervous about a counterattack by the French & Indians, Washington encouraged his men to hasten the construction of Fort Necessity. In late June, Indian allies informed Washington & his men that the French had assembled a force with the intention of driving the Virginia militia back. </p><p>On July 3, the French attacked Washington & his men at Fort Necessity. After a few hours of fighting, the French offered to let the overmatched British provincials walk away if they agreed to leave the Ohio Country for a year. Having lost 30 men & with 70 wounded, Washington abandoned Fort Necessity the next morning, & the French destroyed it.</p><p>For the past several decades the English & the French had struggled for control of the lucrative fur trade with the American Indians of North America. In June 1755, Braddock & an army of 1,400 English soldiers & colonial militiamen, including George Washington, marched to the Ohio Country. Their goal was to drive the French from Fort Duquesne at the place where the Allegheny & Monongahela Rivers joined to become the Ohio River.</p><p>With the hope of, once again, trying to halt French expansion, the British led a series of expeditions to Fort Duquesne between 1755 & 1758, starting with a disastrous mission commanded by General Edward Braddock, which is known today as “Braddock’s Defeat.” Braddok arrived in Virginia in February 1755, with a plan to take control of Fort Duquesne already forming. </p><p>With the aid of Lieutenant Colonel George Washington, who was still serving as a provincial officer, Braddock led 1400 men towards his target in June 1755. When they were about 10 miles from Fort Duquesne, an army of 900 Frenchmen, Canadians, & Native Americans attacked Braddock & his men. The massacre ended with 977 British killed or wounded, including Braddock. The French & their Indian allies, on the other hand, had only 39 casualties. Despite Britain’s monumental losses, Washington valiantly evacuated the remaining British forces & was the only surviving officer. He earned the title “Hero of the Monongahela” & a promotion to colonel of the entirety of Virginia’s forces.</p><p>In fall 1758, General John Forbes led the final British expedition to Fort Duquesne. Forbes had some 6,000 men under his command, including Washington & members of the Cherokee & Catawba tribes. In order to cut travel time on Braddock’s previously established road, Forbes decided to construct a new road that would take him & his men directly west to Fort Duquesne. Washington did not support Forbes’ decision & spoke outwardly about it to Forbes’ second in command, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Bouquet. The plan proceeded, despite Washington’s objections.</p><p>Forbes after he learned The general that only 200 French regulars occupied the fort & suffered from low morale & a limited food supply. Forbes & his men began their final move on Fort Duquesne in November 1758. It was a perilous journey for the three brigades, the third of which was led by Washington. the night before the British planned to take the fort, Forbes received word from his Native American scouts. that the French had destroyed & abandoned Fort Duquesne. One report by Bouquet stated that the scout “had discovered a very thick smoak from the Front extending in the bottom along the Ohio” & “sent word that the Enemies had abandoned their Fort after having burnt everything.”1 To this, Forbes responded, “I will sleep in Fort Duquesne or in hell tonight.”2 Forbes & the British troops simply claim the land the fort occupied.</p><p>The Forbes’ Expedition was Washington’s final campaign serving the British Army before his retirement. Plans for a new fort 1,000 feet upstream from the location of Fort Duquesne along the Monongahela River. Fort Pitt, as it came to be known, was 10x the size of Fort Duquesne. & it stood throughout the American Revolution.</p><p>Alison Dundore, George Washington University for Mount Vernon</p><p>Notes:</p><p>1. Henry Bouquet to William Allen, 25 November 1758, in The Papers of Henry Bouquet. Vol. 2, The Forbes Expedition, ed. S.K. Stevens, et al. (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, 1951), 610.</p><p>2. Forbes quoted in Douglas R. Cubbison, The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania, 1758: A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2010), 172.</p><p>Bibliography:</p><p>Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War & the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. New York: Vintage Books, 2000.</p><p>Clary, David A. George Washington’s First War: His Early Military Adventures. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011.</p><p>Crocker, Thomas E. Braddock's March: How the Man Sent To Seize a Continent Changed American History (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2009)</p><p>Cubbison, Douglas R. The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania, 1758: A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2010. </p><p>Kopperman, Paul. Braddock at the Monongahela (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977).</p><p>McCardell, Lee, III. Starred General: Braddock of the Coldstream Guards (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1958).</p><p>Waddell, Louis M. & Bruce D. Bomberger, The French 7 Indian War in Pennsylvania: Fortification & Struggle During the War for Empire (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, 1996).</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-1575334671332405252024-01-06T01:00:00.002-05:002024-01-14T12:51:12.790-05:001754 A Young George Washington sent to meet the French & the Native Americans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>1772 Portrait of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale 1741-1827</span><br />
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<span>Journey to the French Commandant: Narrative</span><br />
<b><i><span>On Wednesday the 31st. of October 1753 I was Commission’d & appointed by the Honble. Robert Dinwiddie Esqr. Governor &ca. of Virginia</span></i></b><br />
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<span>To visit & deliver a Letter to the Commandant of the French Forces on the Ohio, & set out on the intended Journey the same Day. The next I arriv’d at Fredericksburg, & engag’d Mr. Jacob Vanbraam, Interpreter, & proceeded with him to Alexandria where we provided Necessaries. From thence we went to Winchester & got Baggage Horses &ca. & from there we pursued the new Road to Wills Creek, where we arriv’d the 14th: of November.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>Here I engag’d Mr. Gist to Pilot us out, & also hired four others as Servitors (vizt.) Barnaby Currin, & John McGuier (Indian Traders) Henry Steward, & William Jenkins; & in Company with those Persons I left the Inhabitants the Day following. The excessive Rains & vast Quantity of Snow that had fallen prevented our reaching Mr. Frazer’s, an Indian Trader at the Mouth of Turtle Creek, on Monongehela, ’til Thursday.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>22d: We were inform’d here, that Expresses were sent a few Day’s ago to the Traders down the River to acquaint them with the General’s Death, & return of Major Part of the French Army into Winter Quarters. The Waters were quite impassable, without Swimming our Horses, which oblig’d us to get the loan of a Canoe from Mr. Frazer, & to send Barnaby Currin & Henry Steward down Monongehela, with our Baggage to meet us at the Forks of Ohio, about 10 Miles to cross Allegany.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>As I got down before the Canoe, I spent some Time in viewing the Rivers, & the Land in the Fork, which I think extreamly well situated for a Fort; as it has the absolute Command of both Rivers. The Land at the Point is 20 or 25 Feet above the common Surface of the Water; & a considerable Bottom of flat well timber’d Land all around it, very convenient for Building. The Rivers are each a quarter of a Mile, or more, across, & run here very nigh at Right Angles; Allegany bearing N: E: & Monongehela S: E: The former of these two is a very rapid swift running Water the other deep & still, with scarce any perceptable Fall. About two Miles from this, on the S: E: Side of the River, at the Place where the Ohio Company intended to erect a Fort; lives Singess, King of the Delawars; We call’d upon him to invite him to Council at the Logstown.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>As I had taken a good deal of Notice Yesterday of the Situation at the Forks; my Curiosity led me to examine this more particularly; & my Judgement [is] to think it greatly inferior, either for Defence or Advantages, especially the latter; For a Fort at the Forks wou’d be equally well situated on Ohio, & have the entire Command of Monongehela, which runs up to our Settlements & is extreamly well design’d for Water Carriage, as it is of a deep still Nature; besides a Fort at the Fork might be built at a much less Expence, than at the other Place. Nature has well contriv’d the lower Place for Water Defence, but the Hill whereon it must stand, being a quarter of a Mile in Length, & then descending gradually on the Land Side, will render it difficult & very expensive making a sufficient Fortification there. The whole Flat upon the Hill must be taken in, or the Side next the Descent made extreamly high; or else the Hill cut away: otherwise the Enemy will raise Batteries within that Distance, without being expos’d to a single Shot from the Fort.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>Singess attended us to Logstown, where we arriv’d between Sunsetting & Dark, the 25th: Day after I left Williamsburg. We travel’d over some extream good & bad Land to get to this Place. As soon as I came into Town, I went to Monacatoocha (as the Half King was out at his hunting Cabbin on little Bever Creek, about 15 Miles off) & inform’d him, by John Davison Interpreter that I was sent a Messenger to the French General, & was ordered to call upon the Sachems of the Six Nations, to acquaint them with it. I gave him a String of Wampum, & a twist of Tobacco, & desir’d him to send for the Half King; which he promis’d to do by a Runner in the Morning, & for other Sachems. I invited him & the other Great Men present to my Tent, where they stay’d an Hour & return’d.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>According to the best Observations I cou’d make, Mr. Gist’s new Settlement (which we pass’d by) bears about W: N: W: 70 Miles from Wills Creek, Shanapins, or the Forks N: B[y]: W: or N: N: W: about 50 Miles from that; & from thence to the Logstown, the Course is nearly West, about 18 or 20 Miles; so that the whole Distance, as we went & computed it, is at least 135 or 40 Miles from our back Settlements.</span></i></b></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><br /></i></b>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>George Washington by Rembrandt Peale 1778-1860. The son of portraitist Charles Willson Peale, the young artist's natural talents guided by his father & honed through hours of copying portraits in his father's museum. Born on February 22, 1778, Rembrandt Peale shared his birthday with George Washington. His first encounter with George Washington took place on July of 1787.</span><br />
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<span>25th: Came to Town four of ten French Men that Deserted from a Company at the Cuscusas, which lies at the Mouth of this River; I got the following Account from them. They were sent from New Orlians with 100 Men, & 8 Canoe load of Provisions, to this Place; where they expected to have met the same Number of Men, from the Forts this Side Lake Erie to convoy them, & the Horses up, but were not arriv’d when they ran off. I enquir’d into the Situation of the French on the Mississippi, their Number, & what Forts they had Built: They inform’d me that there were four small Forts between New Orlians, & the Black Islands, Garrison’d with about 30 or 40 Men, & a few small Pieces of Cannon in each. That at New Orlians, which is near the Mouth of the Mississippi, there is 35 Companies of 40 Men each, with a pretty strong Fort, mounting 8 large Carriage Guns; & at the Black Islands there is several Companies, & a Fort with 6 Guns. The Black Islands is about 130 Leagues above the Mouth of the Ohio, which is 150 above New Orlians: They also acquainted me, that there was a small Palisadoed Fort on the Ohio, at the Mouth of the Obaish, about 60 Leagues from the Mississippi: the Obaish heads near the West End of Lake Erie, & affords the Communication between the French on Mississippi, & those on the Lakes. These Deserters came up from the lower Shawnesse Town, with one Brown an Indian Trader, & were going to Philadelphia.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>About 3 o’Clock this Evening the Half King came to Town; I went up & invited him & Davison privately to my Tent, & desir’d him to relate some of the Particulars of his Journey to the FrenchCommandant, & reception there, & to give me an Account of the Way & Distance. He told me that the nearest & levelest Way was now impassable, by reason of the many large miry Savannas; that we must be oblig’d to go by Venango, & shou’d not get to the near Fort under 5 or 6 Nights Sleep, good Traveling. When he went to the Fort he said he was receiv’d in a very stern Manner by the late Commander, who ask’d him very abruptly, what he had come about, & to declare his Business; which he says he did in the following Speech.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>Fathers I am come to tell you your own Speeches, what your own Mouths have declar’d.fathers You in former Days set a Silver Bason before us wherein there was the Leg of a Beaver, and desir’d of all Nations to come & eat of it; to eat in Peace & Plenty, & not to be Churlish to one another; & that if any such Person shou’d be found to be a Disturber; I here lay down by the Edge of the Dish a rod, which you must Scourge them with; & if Me your Father shou’d get Foolish in my old Days, I desire you may use it upon me as well as others.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>Now Fathers it is you that is the Disturber in this Land, by coming & building your Towns, and taking it away unknown to us & by Force. fathers We kindled a Fire a long Time ago at a Place call’d Morail, where we desir’d you to stay, & not to come & intrude upon our Land. I now desire you may dispatch to that Place; for be it known to you Fathers, this is our Land, & not yours. fathers I desire you may hear me in Civilness; if not, We must handle that rod which was laid down for the Use of the obstropulous. If you had come in a peaceable Manner like our Brothers the English, We shou’d not have been against your trading with us as they do, but to come Fathers, & build great Houses upon our Land, & to take it by Force, is what we cannot submit to.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>Fathers Both you & the English are White. We live in a Country between, therefore the Land does not belong either to one or the other; but the great being above allow’d it to be a Place of residence for us; so Fathers, I desire you to withdraw, as I have done our Brothers the English, for I will keep you at Arm’s length. I lay this down as a Tryal for both, to see which will have the greatest regard to it, & that Side we will stand by, & make equal Sharers with us: Our Brothers the English have heard this, & I come now to tell it to you, for I am not affraid to discharge you off this Land. This, he said, was the Substance of what he said to the General, who made this Reply.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>Now My Child I have heard your Speech. You spoke first, but it is my Time to speak now. Where is my Wampum that you took away, with the Marks of Towns in it? This Wampum I do not know, which you have discharg’d me off the Land with; but you need not put yourself to the Trouble of Speaking for I will not hear you: I am not affraid of Flies or Musquito’s; for Indians are such as those; I tell you down that River I will go, & will build upon it according to my Command: If the River was ever so block’d up, I have Forces sufficient to burst it open, & tread under my Feet all that stand in Opposition together with their Alliances; for my Force is as the Sand upon the Sea Shoar: therefore here is your Wampum, I fling it at you. Child, you talk foolish; you say this Land belongs to you, but there is not the Black of my Nail yours, I saw that Land sooner than you did, before the Shawnesse & you were at War: Lead was the Man that went down, & took Possession of that River; it is my Land, & I will have it let who will stand up for, or say against it. I’ll buy & sell with the English (mockingly). If People will be rul’d by me they may expect Kindness but not else.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>The Half King told me, he enquir’d of the General after two English Men that were made Prisoners, & receiv’d this Answer.</span></i></b><br />
<span><b><i>child You think it is a very great Hardship that I made Prisoners of those two People at Venango, don’t you concern yourself with it we took & carried them to Canada to get Intelligence of what the English were doing in Virginia.</i></b></span><br />
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<span>He inform’d me that they had built two Forts, one on Lake Erie, & another on French Creek, near a small Lake about 15 Miles asunder, & a large Waggon Road between; they are both built after the same Model, but different in the Size; that on the Lake the largest; he gave me a Plan of them of his own drawing. The Indians enquir’d very particularly after their Brothers in Carolina Goal. They also ask’d what sort of a Boy it was that was taken from the South Branch; for they had, by some Indians heard, that a Party of French Indians had carried a White Boy by the Cuscusa Town, towards the Lakes.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>26th: We met in council at the Long House, about 9 o’Clock, where I spoke to them as follows,</span></i></b><br />
<span><b><i>Brothers I have call’d you together in Council, by Order of your Brother the Governor of Virginia, to acquaint you that I am sent with all possible Dispatch to visit & deliver a Letter to the French Commandant of very great Importance to your Brothers the English: & I dare say to your their Friends & Allies. I was desir’d Brothers, by your Brother the Governor, to call upon you, the Sachems of the Six Nations, to inform you of it, & to ask your Advice & Assistance to proceed the nearest & best Road to the French. You see Brothers I have got thus far on my Journey. His Honour likewise desir’d me to apply to you for some of your young Men to conduct and provide Provisions for us on our Way: & to be a Safeguard against those French Indians, that have taken up the Hatchet against us. I have spoke this particularly to you Brothers, because His Hon. our Governor, treats you as good Friends & allies, & holds you in great Esteem. To confirm what I have said I give you this String of Wampum.</i></b></span><br />
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<span>After they had considered some Time on the above, the Half King got up & spoke.</span></i></b><br />
<span><b><i>Now My Brothers. In Regard to what my Brother the Governor has desir’d of me, I return you this Answer. I rely upon you as a Brother ought to do, as you say we are Brothers, & one People. We shall put Heart in Hand, & speak to our Fathers the French, concerning the Speech they made to me, & you may depend that we will endeavour to be your Guard.</i></b></span><br />
<span><b><i>Brother, as you have ask’d my Advice, I hope you will be ruled by it, & stay ’til I can provide a Company to go with you. The French Speech Belt is not here, I have it to go for to my hunting Cabbin likewise the People I have order’d are not yet come, nor can ’til the third Night from this, ’till which Time Brother I must beg you to stay. I intend to send a Guard of Mingoes, Shawnesse, & Delawar’s, that our Brothers may see the Love and Loyalty We bear them.</i></b></span><br />
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<span>As I had Orders to make all possible Dispatch, & waiting here very contrary to my Inclinations; I thank’d him in the most suitable Manner I cou’d, & told that my Business requir’d the greatest Expedition, & wou’d not admit of that Delay: He was not well pleas’d that I shou’d offer to go before the Time he had appointed, & told me that he cou’d not consent to our going without a Guard, for fear some Accident shou’d befall us, & draw a reflection upon him—besides says he, this is a Matter of no small Moment, & must not be enter’d into without due Consideration, for I now intend to deliver up the French Speech Belt, & make the Shawnesse & Delawars do the same, & accordingly gave Orders to King Singess, who was present, to attend on Wednesday Night with the Wampum, & two Men to their Nation to be in readiness to set off with us next Morning. As I found it impossible to get off without affronting them in the most egregious Manner, I consented to stay.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>I gave them back a String of Wampum that I met with at Mr. Frazer’s, which they had sent with a Speech to his Honour the Governor, to inform him, that three Nations of French Indians, (vizt.) Chippaway’s, Ottaway’s, & Arundacks, had taken up the Hatchet against the English, & desired them to repeat it over again; which they postpon’d doing ’til they met in full Council with the Shawnesse, & Delawar Chiefs.</span></i></b><br />
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<span>27th: Runners were dispatch’d very early for the Shawness Chiefs, the Half King set out himself to fetch the French Speech Belt from his hunting Cabbin.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>28th: He return’d this Evening, & came with Monacatoocha & two other Sachems to my Tent, & beg’d (as they had comply’d with his Honour the Governor’s Request in providing Men, &ca.) to know what Business we were going to the French about? This was a Question I all along expected, & had provided as satisfactory Answers as I cou’d, which allay’d their Curiosity a little. Monacatoocha Informed me, that an Indian from Venango brought News a few Days ago; that the French had call’d all the Mingo’s, Delawar’s &ca. together at that Place, & told them that they intended to have been down the River this Fall, but the Waters were geting Cold, & the Winter advancing, which obliged them to go into Quarters; but they might assuredly expect them in the Spring, with a far greater Number; & desired that they might be quite Passive, & not intermeddle, unless they had a mind to draw all their Force upon them; for that they expected to fight the English three Years, (as they suppos’d there would be some Attempts made to stop them) in which Time they shou’d Conquer, but if they shou’d prove equally strong, that they & the English wou’d join to cut them off, & divide the Land between them: that though they had lost their General, & some few of their Soldiers, yet there was Men enough to reinforce, & make them Masters of the Ohio. This Speech, he said, was deliver’d to them by an Captn. Joncaire, their Interpreter in Chief, living at Venango, & a Man of Note in the Army.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>29th: The Half King and Monacatoocha came very early & beg’d me to stay one Day more, for notwithstanding they had used all the Diligence in their Power, the Shawnesse Chiefs had not brought the Wampum they order’d, but wou’d certainly be in to Night, if not they wou’d delay me no longer, but send it after us as soon as they arriv’d: When I found them so pressing in their request; & knew that returning of Wampum, was the abolishing of Agreements; & giving this up was shaking of all Dependence upon the French, I consented to stay, as I believ’d an Offence offer’d at this Crisis, might have been attended with greater ill Consequence than another Day’s Delay.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>They also inform’d me that Singess cou’d not get in his Men, & was prevented from coming himself by His Wife’s Sickness, (I believe by fear of the French) but that the Wampum of that Nation was lodg’d with Custaloga, one of their Chiefs at Venango. In the Evening they came again, & acquainted me that the Shawnesse were not yet come, but it shou’d not retard the Prosecution of our Journey. He deliver’d in my Hearing the Speeches that were to be made to the French by Jeskakake, one of their old Chiefs, which was giving up the Belt the late Commandant had ask’d for, & repeating near the same Speech he himself had done before. He also deliver’d a String of Wampum to this Chief, which was sent by King Singess to be given to Custaloga, with Orders to repair to, & deliver up the French Wampum. He likewise gave a very large String of black & white Wampum, which was to be sent immediately up to the Six Nations, if the French refus’d to quit the Land at this Warning, which was the third & last Time, & was the right of this Jeskakake to deliver.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>30th: Last Night the great Men assembled to their Council House to consult further about this Journey, & who were to go; the result of which was, that only three of their Chiefs, with one of their best Hunters shou’d be our Convoy: the reason they gave for not sending more, after what had been propos’d in Council the 26th. was, that a greater Number might give the French Suspicion of some bad Design, & cause them to be treated rudely; but I rather think they cou’d not get their Hunters in.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>We set out about 9 o’Clock, with the Half King, Jeskakake, White Thunder, & the Hunter; & travel’d on the road to Venango, where we arriv’d the 4th: of December, without any Thing remarkably happening, but a continued Series of bad Weather. This is an old Indian Town, situated on the Mouth of French Creek on Ohio, & lies near No. about 60 Miles from the Logstown, but more than 70 the Way we were oblig’d to come. We found the French Colours hoisted at a House where they drove Mr. John Frazer an English Subject from: I immediately repair’d to it, to know where the Commander resided: There was three Officers, one of which, Capt. Joncaire, inform’d me, that he had the Command of the Ohio, but that there was a General Officer at the next Fort, which he advis’d me to for an Answer.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>He invited us to Sup with them, & treated with the greatest Complaisance. The Wine, as they dos’d themselves pretty plentifully with it, soon banish’d the restraint which at first appear’d in their Conversation, & gave license to their Tongues to reveal their Sentiments more freely. They told me it was their absolute Design to take Possession of the Ohio, & by G—— they wou’d do it, for tho’ they were sensible, that the English cou’d raise two Men for their one; yet they knew their Motions were too slow & dilatory to prevent any Undertaking of theirs. They pretended to have an undoubted right to the river from a Discovery made by one La Sol 60 Years ago, & the use of this Expedition is to prevent our Settling on the River or Waters of it, as they have heard of some Families moving out in order thereto.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>From the best Intelligence I cou’d get, there has been 1,500 Men this Side Oswago Lake, but upon the Death of the General, all were recall’d to about 6 or 7 Hundred, which were left to Garrison four Forts, 150 or thereabouts in each, the first of which is on French Creek, near a small Lake, about 60 Miles from Venango near N: N: W: the next lies on Lake Erie, where the greatest Part of their Stores are kept about 15 Miles from the other; from that it is 120 Miles from the Carrying Place, at the Fall of Lake Erie, where there is a small Fort, which they lodge their Goods at, in bringing them from Morail, the Place that all their Stores come from; the next Fort lies about 20 Miles from this, on Oswago Lake; between this Fort & Morail there are three others; the first of which is near the English Fort Oswago. From the Fort on Lake Erie to Morail is about 600 Miles, which they say if good Weather, requires no more than 4 Weeks Voyage, if they go in Barks or large Vessells that they can cross the Lake; but if they come in Canoes, it will require five or six Weeks for they are oblig’d to keep under the Shoar.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>5th: Rain’d successively all Day, which prevented our traveling. Capt. Joncaire sent for the half King, as he had but just heard that he came with me: He affected to be much Concern’d that I did not make free to bring him in before; I excused it in the best Manner I was capable, & told him I did not think their Company agreeable, as I had heard him say a good deal in dispraise of Indians in General. But another Motive prevented my bringing them into his Company: I knew that he was Interpreter, & a Person of very great Influence among the Indians, & had lately used all possible means to draw them over to their Interest; therefore I was desirous of giving no more Opportunity than cou’d be avoided. When they came in there was great Pleasure express’d at seeing them, he wonder’d how they cou’d be so near without coming to visit him, made several trifling Presents, & applied Liquors so fast, that they were soon render’d incapable of the Business they came about notwithstanding the Caution that was given.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>6th: The Half King came to my Tent quite Sober, & insisted very much that I shou’d stay & hear what he had to say to the French. I fain wou’d have prevented his speaking any Thing ’til he came to the Commandant, but cou’d not prevail. He told me that at this Place Council Fire was kindled, where all their Business with these People were to be transacted, & that the Management of the Indian Affairs was left solely to Monsieur Joncaire. As I was desirous of knowing the Issue of this, I agreed to stay, but sent our Horses a little Way up French Creek, to raft over & Camp, which I knew wou’d make it near Night.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>About 10 oClock they met in Council, the King spoke much the same as he had done to the General, & offer’d the French Speech Belt which had before been demanded, with the Marks of four Towns in it, which Monsieur Joncaire refused to receive; but desired him to carry it to the Fort to the Commander.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>7th: Monsieur La Force, Commissary of the French Stores, & three other Soldiers came over to accompany us up. We found it extreamly difficult getting the Indians off to Day; as every Stratagem had been used to prevent their going up with me. I had last Night left John Davison (the Indian Interpreter that I brought from Logstown with me) strictly charg’d not to be out of their Company, as I cou’d not get them over to my Tent (they having some Business with Custaloga, to know the reason why he did not deliver up the French Belt, which he had in keeping,) but was oblig’d to send Mr. Gist over to Day to fetch them, which he did with great Perswasion.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>At 11 o’Clock we set out for the Fort, & was prevented from arriving there ’till the 11th: by excessive rains, Snows, & bad traveling, through many Mires & Swamps, which we were oblig’d to pass to avoid crossing the Creek, which was impassible either by Fording or Rafting, the Water was so high & rapid. We pass’d over much good Land since we left Venango, & through several extensive & very rich Meadows, one of which was near 4 Miles in length, & considerably wide in some Places.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>12th: I prepar’d early to wait upon the Commander, & was receiv’d & conducted to him by the 2d. Officer in Command; I acquainted him with my Business, & offer’d my Commission & Letter, both of which he desir’d me to keep ’til the Arrival of Monsieur Riparti, Capt. at the next Fort, who was sent for & expected every Hour.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>This Commander is a Knight of the Military Order of St: Lewis, & named Legadieur St. Piere, he is an elderly Gentleman, & has much the Air of a Soldier; he was sent over to take the Command immediately upon the Death of the late General, & arriv’d here about 7 Days before me. At 2 o’Clock the Gentleman that was sent for arriv’d, when I offer’d the Letters &ca. again, which they receiv’d, & adjourn’d into a private Appartment for the Captain to translate, who understood a little English, after he had done it, the Captain desir’d I wou’d walk in & bring my Interpreter to peruse & correct it, which I did.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>13th: The chief Officer retired to hold a Council of War, which gave me an Opportunity of taking the Dimensions of the Fort, & making what Observations I cou’d. It is situated on the South or West Fork of French Creek, near the Water, & is almost surrounded by the Creek, & a small Branch of it which forms a Kind of an Island, as may be seen by a Plan I have here annexed, it is built exactly in that Manner & of that Dimensions. 4 Houses compose the Sides; the Bastions are made of Piles drove into the Ground, & about 12 Feet above sharpe at Top, with Port Holes cut for Cannon & Small Arms to fire through; there are Eight 6 lb. Pieces Mounted, two in each Bastion, & one of 4 lb. before the Gate: In the Bastions are a Guard House, Chapel, Doctor’s Lodgings, & the Commander’s private Store, round which is laid Platforms for the Cannon & Men to stand on: there is several Barracks without the Fort for the Soldiers dwelling, cover’d some with Bark, & some with Boards, & made chiefly of Logs, there is also several other Houses such as Stables, Smiths Shop &ca: all of which I have laid down exactly as they stand, & shall refer to the Plan for Explanation.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>I cou’d get no certain Account of the Number of Men here; but according to the best Judgement I cou’d form, there is an Hundred exclusive of Officers, which are pretty many. I also gave Orders to the People that were with me, to take an exact Account of the Canoes that were haled up, to convey their Forces down in the Spring, which they did, and told 50 of Birch Bark, & 170 of Pine; besides many others that were block’d out, in Readiness to make.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>14th: As the Snow increased very fast, & our Horses daily got weaker, I sent them off unloaded, under the Care of Barnaby Currin & two others, to make all convenient Dispatch to Venango, & there wait our Arrival, if there was a Prospect of the Rivers Freezing, if not, then to continue down to Shanapin’s Town at the Forks of Ohio, & there wait ’till we came to cross Allegany; intending my Self to go down by Water, as I had the Offer of a Canoe or two.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>As I found many Plots concerted to retard the Indians Business, & prevent their returning with me, I endeavour’d all in my Power to frustrate their Schemes, & hurry them on to execute their intended Design. They accordingly pressed for admittance this Evening, which at length was granted them privately with the Commander, & one or two other Officers. The Half King told me that he offer’d the Wampum to the Commander, who evaded taking it, & made many fair Promises of Love & Friendship; said he wanted to live in Peace & trade amicably with them; as a Proof of which, he wou’d send some Goods immediately down to the Logstown for them, but I rather think the Design of that is to bring away all of our stragling traders that they may meet with; as I privately understood they intended to carry an Officer, &ca. with them; & what rather confirms this Opinion, I was enquiring of the Commander by what Authority he had taken & made Prisoners of several of our English Subjects. He told me the Country belong’d to them, that no English Man had a right to trade upon them Waters; & that he had Orders to make every Person Prisoner that attempted it on the Ohio or the Waters of it.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>I enquir’d of Capt. Riparti about the Boy that was carried by, as it was done while the Command devolved upon him, between the Death of the late General & the Arrival of the Present. He acknowledg’d that a Boy had been carried past, & that the Indians had two or three white Scalps, (I was told by some of the Indians at Venango 8) but pretended to have forgot the Name of the Place that the Boy came from, & all the Particulars, tho’ he Question’d him for some Hours as they were carrying him past. I likewise enquired where & what they had done with John Trotter, & James McClocklan, two Pensylvania Traders, which they had taken with all their Goods: they told me that they had been sent to Canada, but were now return’d Home.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>This Evening I receiv’d an Answer to His Honour the Governor’s Letter from the Commandant.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>15th: The Commander order’d a plentiful Store of Liquor, Provisions & ca. to be put on board our Canoe, & appear’d to be extreamly complaisant, though he was ploting every Scheme that the Devil & Man cou’d invent, to set our Indians at Variance with us, to prevent their going ’till after our Departure. Presents, rewards, & every Thing that cou’d be suggested by him or his Officers was not neglected to do. I can’t say that ever in my Life I suffer’d so much Anxiety as I did in this affair: I saw that every Stratagem that the most fruitful Brain cou’d invent: was practis’d to get the Half King won to their Interest, & that leaving of him here, was giving them the Opportunity they aimed at: I went to the Half King and press’d him in the strongest Terms to go. He told me the Commander wou’d not discharge him ’till the Morning; I then went to the Commander & desired him to do their Business, & complain’d of ill Treatment; for keeping them, as they were Part of my Company was detaining me, which he promis’d not to do, but to forward my Journey as much as he cou’d: He protested he did not keep them but was innocent of the Cause of their Stay; though I soon found it out. He had promis’d them a Present of Guns, &ca. if they wou’d wait ’till the Morning. As I was very much press’d by the Indians to wait this Day for them; I consented on a Promise that Nothing shou’d hinder them in the Morning.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>16th: The French were not slack in their Inventions to keep the Indians this Day also; but as they were obligated, according to promise, to give the Present: they then endeavour’d to try the Power of Liquor; which I doubt not wou’d have prevail’d at any other Time than this, but I tax’d the King so close upon his Word that he refrain’d, & set off with us as he had engag’d. We had a tedious & very fatiguing Passage down the Creek, several Times we had like to have stove against Rocks, & many Times were oblig’d all Hands to get out, & remain in the Water Half an Hour or more, getting her over the Shoals: on one Place the Ice had lodg’d & made it impassable by Water; therefore we were oblig’d to carry our Canoe across a neck Land a quarter of a Mile over. We did not reach Venango ’till the 22d: where we met with our Horses. This Creek is extreamly crooked, I dare say the Distance between the Fort & Venango can’t be less than 130 Miles to follow the Meanders.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>23d: When I got Things ready to set off I sent for the Half King, to know whether they intended to go with us, or by Water. He told me that the White Thunder had hurt himself much, & was Sick & unable to walk, therefore he was oblig’d to carry him down in a Canoe: As I found he intended to stay a Day or two here, & knew that Monsieur Joncaire wou’d employ every Scheme to set him against the English, as he had before done; I told him I hoped he wou’d guard against his Flattery, & let no fine Speeches Influence Him in their Favour: He desired I might not be concern’d, for he knew the French too well, for any Thing to engage him in their Behalf, & though he cou’d not go down with us, he wou’d endeavour to meet at the Forks with Joseph Campbell, to deliver a Speech for me to carry to his Honour the Governor. He told me he wou’d order the young Hunter to attend us, & get Provision &ca. if wanted. Our Horses were now so weak & feeble, & the Baggage heavy; as we were oblig’d to provide all the Necessaries the Journey wou’d require, that we doubted much their performing it; therefore my Self & others (except the Drivers which were oblig’d to ride) gave up our Horses for Packs, to assist along with the Baggage; & put my Self into an Indian walking Dress, & continue’d with them three Day’s, ’till I found there was no Probability of their getting in, in any reasonable Time; the Horses grew less able to travel every Day. The Cold increas’d very fast, & the Roads were geting much worse by a deep Snow continually Freezing; And as I was uneasy to get back to make a report of my Proceedings to his Honour the Governor; I determin’d to prosecute my Journey the nearest way through the Woods on Foot. Accordingly I left Mr. Vanbraam in Charge of our Baggage, with Money and Directions to provide Necessaries from Place to Place for themselves & Horses & to make the most convenient Dispatch in. I took my necessary Papers, pull’d off my Cloths; tied My Self up in a Match Coat; & with my Pack at my back, with my Papers & Provisions in it, & a Gun, set out with Mr. Gist, fitted in the same Manner, on Wednesday the 26th.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>The Day following, just after we had pass’d a Place call’d the Murdering Town where we intended to quit the Path & steer across the Country for Shanapins Town, we fell in with a Party of French Indians, which had laid in wait for us, one of them fired at Mr. Gist or me, not 15 Steps, but fortunately missed. We took this Fellow into Custody, & kept him ’till about 9 o’Clock at Night, & then let him go, & then walked all the remaining Part of the Night without making any Stop; that we might get the start, so far as to be out of the reach of their Pursuit next Day, as were well assur’d they wou’d follow upon our Tract as soon as it was Light: The next Day we continued traveling ’till it was quite Dark, & got to the River about two Miles above Shanapins; we expected to have found the River Froze, but it was not, only about 50 Yards from each Shoar; the Ice I suppose had broke up above, for it was driving in vast Quantities.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>There was no way for us to get over but upon a Raft, which we set about with but one poor Hatchet, & got finish’d just after Sunsetting, after a whole days Work: We got it launch’d, & on board of it, & sett off; but before we got half over, we were jamed in the Ice in such a Manner, that we expected every Moment our Raft wou’d sink, & we Perish; I put out my seting Pole, to try to stop the Raft, that the Ice might pass by, when the Rapidity of the Stream through it with so much Violence against the Pole, that it Jirk’d me into 10 Feet Water, but I fortunately saved my Self by catching hold of one of the Raft Logs. Notwithstanding all our Efforts we cou’d not get the Raft to either Shoar, but were oblig’d, as we were pretty near an Island, to quit our Raft & wade to it. The Cold was so extream severe, that Mr. Gist got all his Fingers, & some of his Toes Froze, & the Water was shut up so hard, that We found no Difficulty in getting off the Island on the Ice in the Morning, & went to Mr. Frazers. We met here with 20 Warriors that had been going to the Southward to War, but coming to a Place upon the Head of the Great Cunnaway, where they found People kill’d & Scalpt, all but one Woman with very Light Hair, they turn’d about; & ran back, for fear of the Inhabitants rising & takeing them as the Authors of the Murder: They report that the People were lying about the House, & some of them much torn & eat by Hogs; by the Marks that were left, they say they were French Indians of the Ottaway Nation, &ca. that did it.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>As we intended to take Horse here, & it requir’d some Time to hunt them; I went up about 3 Miles to the Mouth of Yaughyaughgane to visit Queen Aliquippa, who had express’d great Concern that we pass’d her in going to the Fort. I made her a Present of a Match Coat; & a Bottle of rum, which was thought much the best Present of the two.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>Tuesday 1st: Day of Jany: We left Mr. Frazers House, & arriv’d at Mr. Gists at Monangahela the 2d. where I bought Horse Saddle &ca. The 6th: We met 17 Horses loaded with Materials & Stores for a Fort at the Forks; & the Day after, a Family or two going out to settle; this Day we arriv’d at Wills Creek, after as fatiguing a Journey as it is possible to conceive, rendered so by excessive bad Weather: From the first Day of December ’till the 15th. there was but one Day, but what it rain’d or snow’d incessantly & throughout the whole Journey we met with nothing but one continued Series of cold wet Weather; which occasioned very uncumfortable Lodgings, especially after we had left our Tent; which was some Screen from the Inclemency of it.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>On the 11th. I got to Belvoir, where I stop’d one Day to take necessary rest; & then set out for, & arrived at Williamsburg, the 16th. & waited upon His Honour the Governor with the Letter I had brought from the French Commandant, & to give an Account of the Proceedures of my Journey. Which I beg leave to do by offering the Foregoing, as it contains the most remarkable Occurrences that happen’d to me.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>I hope it will be sufficient to satisfy your Honour with my Proceedings; for that was my Aim in undertaking the Journey: & chief Study throughout the Prosecution of it.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>With the Assurance, & Hope of doing it, I with infinite Pleasure subscribe my Self Yr. Honour’s most Obedt. & very Hble. Servant. Go: Washington</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>Almost immediately upon GW’s return to Williamsburg, Dinwiddie ordered publication of his journal. It appeared as The Journal of Major George Washington, Sent by the Hon. Robert Dinwiddie, Esq; His Majesty’s Lieutenant-Governor, and Commander in Chief of Virginia, to the Commandant of the French Forces on Ohio. To Which Are Added, the Governor’s Letter, and a Translation of the French Officer’s Answer (Williamsburg: William Hunter, 1754). GW prefaced the publication with the following “Advertisement”:</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>“As it was thought adviseable by his Honour the Governor to have the following Account of my Proceedings to and from the French on Ohio, committed to Print; I think I can do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the numberless Imperfections of it.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>“There intervened but one Day between my Arrival in Williamsburg, and the Time for the Council’s Meeting, for me to prepare and transcribe, from the rough Minutes I had taken in my Travels, this Journal; the writing of which only was sufficient to employ me closely the whole Time, consequently admitted of no Leisure to consult of a new and proper Form to offer it in, or to correct or amend the Diction of the old; neither was I apprised, or did in the least conceive, when I wrote this for his Honour’s Perusal, that it ever would be published, or even have more than a cursory Reading; till I was informed, at the Meeting of the present General Assembly, that it was already in the Press.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span><br /></span>
<span>“There is nothing can recommend it to the Public, but this. Those Things which came under the Notice of my own Observation, I have been explicit and just in a Recital of:—Those which I have gathered from Report, I have been particularly cautious not to augment, but collected the Opinions of the several Intelligencers, and selected from the whole, the most probable and consistent Account.</span></i></b><br />
<span><b><i>G. Washington.</i></b></span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>The journal was printed in various colonial newspapers (see, The Maryland Gazette, 21 & 28 Mar. 1754; and The Boston Gazette, 16 April–21 May 1754). </span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span><a href="http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-01-02-0003-0002">“Journey to the French Commandant: Narrative,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified October 5, 2016,</a> [Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 1, 11 March 1748–13 November 1765, ed. Donald Jackson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976, pp. 130–161.]</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-71112216105798829172024-01-04T01:00:00.001-05:002024-01-04T01:00:00.134-05:00George Washington's Complicated Relationships with Native Americans.<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6X1dBQ1Stv6e-mZQElw5WpaE-yTu-foQEsFGEFAdO6V4t5V4Ie__u7QeXKn4LiYFhFWKVTkb39RBMulJqi6Bi3IT6cRF40I8t8Kq8YYvwS0vOq_lIjeEMwYYzgO0NFNKoggONiVQ_gdg7m88XsClJ1Qhgm2N-4tV1VyYzg9GPoEtaRuLm4ET7-zDBWz4/s841/Washington%20&%20Fairfax%20at%20a%20War-Dance,%20engraved%20by%20John%20Rogers%20after%20John%20McNevin,%20c%201857..jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="841" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6X1dBQ1Stv6e-mZQElw5WpaE-yTu-foQEsFGEFAdO6V4t5V4Ie__u7QeXKn4LiYFhFWKVTkb39RBMulJqi6Bi3IT6cRF40I8t8Kq8YYvwS0vOq_lIjeEMwYYzgO0NFNKoggONiVQ_gdg7m88XsClJ1Qhgm2N-4tV1VyYzg9GPoEtaRuLm4ET7-zDBWz4/s16000/Washington%20&%20Fairfax%20at%20a%20War-Dance,%20engraved%20by%20John%20Rogers%20after%20John%20McNevin,%20c%201857..jpg" /></a><br /><span style="text-align: left;">"Washington & Fairfax at a War-Dance," </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">engraved by John Rogers (American c 1808-c 1888) after John McNevin, (British active 1848) </span><span style="text-align: left;">c 1857. Baltimore Museum of Art</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>Washington was born into a world in which native peoples were still major players in the Americas, despite having suffered through three centuries of European diseases, dispossession, & warfare. Throughout his life, Washington negotiated with & served alongside Native peoples, fought against others, & sought their land for his own prosperity. </i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b><i>George Washington's 1st recorded encounter with Native Americans occurred while on a surveying trip in 1748 when he was 16 years old. Noting in his journal on March 23, at about 2:00 pm: we were agreeably surpris’d at the sight of thirty odd Indians coming from War</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>During the French & Indian War, Washington spent the majority of his army service in Indian country & had the opportunity to interact with Native Americans from many nations. He grew to appreciate Native warriors’ military tactics he saw first-hand & later implemented some of them during the Revolutionary War. As commander-in-chief, Washington instructed armed forces to attack native nations allied with the British or who resisted American expansion.</i></b></p><p><b><i>By the time of his presidency, Washington & many of his contemporaries had come to believe that Native Americans had no choice but to assimilate into American society or face extinction. He also spoke of wanting to create policies based on "principles of Justice & humanity" towards native nations but the stability of the young republic & its citizens was his clear priority.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Washington himself lived in a multi-lingual world that included people speaking numerous Algonquin, Iroquoian, & Siouxan languages & dialects. His actions on behalf of the British government & later the United States affected Native peoples in often tragic ways.</i></b></p><p>See:</p><p><a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/native-americans/">Mount Vernon,org</a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-53217184192115056902024-01-02T01:00:00.002-05:002024-01-29T10:44:59.619-05:00Native Peoples in Mount Vernon Area 1000s of Years<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOmylCAylhfrQEUfjhrfN_x4D_bi7Na4XTxDua6IeXDMikKvDfrBl0eXCZW6TxNfvKe54WsBFQoNOSE7h7IAhbqKYqoqgJtNQjeYNSckTZ0eUUxN-LpX8pZq3e32W04qYdaPCl4rq1A35WFlrBrEkCiPV6zgEpvnJrcB695b7breJfCODNcyt6LusL5S3u/s1076/1645%20Unus%20Americanus%20ex%20Virginia%20(An%20American%20from%20Virginia)%20Wenceslaus%20Hollar.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="837" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOmylCAylhfrQEUfjhrfN_x4D_bi7Na4XTxDua6IeXDMikKvDfrBl0eXCZW6TxNfvKe54WsBFQoNOSE7h7IAhbqKYqoqgJtNQjeYNSckTZ0eUUxN-LpX8pZq3e32W04qYdaPCl4rq1A35WFlrBrEkCiPV6zgEpvnJrcB695b7breJfCODNcyt6LusL5S3u/w498-h640/1645%20Unus%20Americanus%20ex%20Virginia%20(An%20American%20from%20Virginia)%20Wenceslaus%20Hollar.jpg" width="498" /></a><p style="text-align: center;">1645 Unus Americanus ex Virginia (An American from Virginia) Wenceslaus Hollar</p><p style="text-align: center;">Natives on the Mount Vernon Landscape for Centuries before Europe "Discovered" The Americas</p><p>Mount Vernon explains that <b><i>archaeologists uncover artifacts used & left by mankind in the deep past. Generally the kinds of tools, manufacturing techniques, & the styles of many Native artifacts changed over time in patterns, that archaeologists & scientists can often identify by region; after they have recovered enough to see a pattern emerge. In the Mount Vernon area date ranges might span thousands of years that can often serve as benchmarks in attempting to create a timeline of mankind in the area from the ancient past. </i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Early/Middle Archaic Period 10,000–4,500 years ago</i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiKVFdlJ8jQfNNMsIIQcofMmgXPSppXnB4ZVmwpIA8-gfkaeFSuRDyiJDWsGM6e9dQzyVm7Uwet1Jq0usK-M3dFFnc794w-Ynd-tH15gE419tjb9_NVDOymaY1ISS2jowMvVIkRTFoWdX4u9xPkLm1Y5U2A1I_iDmy8caLDRvkEB_e_0pm1DZvf8Gnt2-1/s750/mt%20vernon1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><i><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="750" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiKVFdlJ8jQfNNMsIIQcofMmgXPSppXnB4ZVmwpIA8-gfkaeFSuRDyiJDWsGM6e9dQzyVm7Uwet1Jq0usK-M3dFFnc794w-Ynd-tH15gE419tjb9_NVDOymaY1ISS2jowMvVIkRTFoWdX4u9xPkLm1Y5U2A1I_iDmy8caLDRvkEB_e_0pm1DZvf8Gnt2-1/w400-h296/mt%20vernon1.jpg" width="400" /></i></b></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Early archaic projectile points recovered from the Mansion vicinity. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)</i></b></div><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Earth's Changing Environment</i></b></p><p><b><i>While human occupation in North America dates back to at least 17,000 years ago (the Paleoindian Period), the 1st occupation identified at Mount Vernon dates to the Archaic period, which saw significant ecological shifts brought about by climatic change. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Over thousands of years, regional forests became dominated by deciduous & nut bearing trees. The formation of the Chesapeake Bay caused rivers to slow creating more diverse ecological environments for marine & plant species. Game animals such as deer, elk, rabbit, & turkey became common.</i></b></p><p><b><i>In this changing landscape, Native populations began to grow & thrive. Societies consisted of small groups, or bands, of people who moved frequently throughout the year to exploit seasonal resources. Towards the end of this period, groups began to move less frequently or widely, as local resources became more plentiful & predictable.</i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VbgXu0_nhSONoDyNgxC_qRR1T_EpqHeFUxtFqTu8rTnqq7e2p77GwDmyUCGGNMjz21y5fgFYKwpagpwoB1UUzNihIFKv47W05HVuFG0Um5a84XUMLs86krzz0Z1XW4Fd-yFCgX4qfnMjXK4qfKtlEyx9q4VcRz-CbRoflvW1eRxL5a133-sqWK7bBPKb/s750/my%20vernon%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><i><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="750" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4VbgXu0_nhSONoDyNgxC_qRR1T_EpqHeFUxtFqTu8rTnqq7e2p77GwDmyUCGGNMjz21y5fgFYKwpagpwoB1UUzNihIFKv47W05HVuFG0Um5a84XUMLs86krzz0Z1XW4Fd-yFCgX4qfnMjXK4qfKtlEyx9q4VcRz-CbRoflvW1eRxL5a133-sqWK7bBPKb/w400-h296/my%20vernon%202.jpg" width="400" /></i></b></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b><i>Early archaic projectile points recovered from the South Grove Midden. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Earliest Period of Human Occupation</i></b></p><p><b><i>Evidence suggest that this is the earliest period of mankind in the area of Mount Vernon. Stone spear & javelin heads, often mistakenly called arrowheads, dating to the Early & Middle Archaic have been recovered close to the Mansion. Initial research on artifacts recovered archaeologically at the Slave Memorials & early burial ground suggests that this site was 1st visited at the end of this period.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Rather than a permanent settlement or village, the site seems to have been continually revisited by communities over the succeeding several thousand years on a seasonal or temporary basis.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Late Archaic Period 4,500-3,200 years ago</i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUjIB_HHaRAensn40GS_O1BSUh6I0-A9j0DYqSPk_gRek_LP299e2Yz40Jq3cOKyAP-la_awSAPNqewoOVLd9pEudYh5-H6j5YAP-q5HGEmMlPDO-CfbCcQXLRBMWQQh1noUBqLjzhD7iKiWUqnMsyhJlQyA9lvNyuFa3iyeu0PptKtilgQihsZDMSCEo/s750/mt%20vernon%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><i><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="750" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUjIB_HHaRAensn40GS_O1BSUh6I0-A9j0DYqSPk_gRek_LP299e2Yz40Jq3cOKyAP-la_awSAPNqewoOVLd9pEudYh5-H6j5YAP-q5HGEmMlPDO-CfbCcQXLRBMWQQh1noUBqLjzhD7iKiWUqnMsyhJlQyA9lvNyuFa3iyeu0PptKtilgQihsZDMSCEo/w400-h385/mt%20vernon%203.jpg" width="400" /></i></b></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b><i>A fragment of the rim of a steatite bowl. Note the quarrying marks, or grooves, on the surface. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Population Growth</i></b></p><p><b><i>The environmental changes of the Early & Middle Archaic periods seem to encourage continued population growth among groups during the Late Archaic period. River resources played an important role to the communities of this period. Migratory fish species, such as shad & herring, as well as shellfish, became increasingly important to regional diets.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The appearance of steatite or soapstone bowls also helps define sites from this period. Such stone bowls were carved or hollowed out by hand from blocks of steatite which were quarried from local sources. These bowls could be directly heated on a hearth unlike vessels fashioned from animal hides or plant fiber. These factors encouraged the Native inhabitants toward a more sedentary lifestyle, moving less frequently & staying in a single location for longer periods of time.</i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOz8Uo8VdKvhaWigZVFfSzoF1c9v6CI7qmVB9B4tPWsmwa9xDhOBj9vYKu2rnnXfCRXM9XhFfNxkeFdkpJRSMPJWC-uhLUTIVC43uup0oPORna0fMPUYXmwR7CWwmyWSX-R58AVp0mlrM2C94HQJkZxq1up8er5gFFcL42OAexNkxJEF9Plk-jMCLBcXD/s750/my%20veron%204.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><i><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="750" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOz8Uo8VdKvhaWigZVFfSzoF1c9v6CI7qmVB9B4tPWsmwa9xDhOBj9vYKu2rnnXfCRXM9XhFfNxkeFdkpJRSMPJWC-uhLUTIVC43uup0oPORna0fMPUYXmwR7CWwmyWSX-R58AVp0mlrM2C94HQJkZxq1up8er5gFFcL42OAexNkxJEF9Plk-jMCLBcXD/w400-h266/my%20veron%204.jpg" width="400" /></i></b></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b><i>A flaked, pecked, & ground stone ax. Such tools were used from the Middle Archaic through the Woodland periods. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Stone Tools</i></b></p><p><b><i>At Mount Vernon, archaeologists have recovered evidence of Late Archaic communities living throughout the property. The burial site, however, was clearly most heavily occupied throughout this period based on the artifacts recovered from excavations. For example, stone “axes” used to cut wood for fueling fires & building; as well as, stone pestles used to grind nuts, grains, or plant fibers were recovered.</i></b></p><p><b><i>These tools invented & used in the Middle Archaic continued to be essential for Native peoples in the following periods as well. Archaeologists also recovered large numbers of steatite fragments from the cemetery, in addition to numerous examples of distinctive broad bladed “spear” points usually indictive of Late Archaic traditions.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Early/Middle Woodland Period 3,200-1,000 years ago</i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiapDnqEBjcQjApOSl7EoyT5AFWjSJFNBJaQzAM4R6Ky0B3UyM3joc9FnBWcz5rwZ3m1oo2xUIWpcDbvQSQdStooEzCggZj-MUlfS6EgLF8QGz4-A5i9wxKK1cEaCvxhT3iPPnUf1ecvRTTYIG41ppAzBlhX1BEG4kC0bbjSeHfSRL3B2FtWjB2a7jldfj2/s750/mt%20vernon5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><i><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="750" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiapDnqEBjcQjApOSl7EoyT5AFWjSJFNBJaQzAM4R6Ky0B3UyM3joc9FnBWcz5rwZ3m1oo2xUIWpcDbvQSQdStooEzCggZj-MUlfS6EgLF8QGz4-A5i9wxKK1cEaCvxhT3iPPnUf1ecvRTTYIG41ppAzBlhX1BEG4kC0bbjSeHfSRL3B2FtWjB2a7jldfj2/w400-h341/mt%20vernon5.jpg" width="400" /></i></b></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b><i>A “lug” handle for a ceramic pot. Note the crushed steatite mixed into the clay body of the fragment. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)</i></b></span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Clay Container Pottery </i></b></p><p><b><i>The transition from the Archaic to the Woodland Period is often defined by the invention & production of clay container pottery by Native communities. These vessels played a key role in the cooking & preservation of foods & medicinal plants</i></b></p><p><b><i>Increasing the cultivation of edible & medicinal plant species & the exploitation of diverse local food resources, such as fish & small game, led to greater population growth & sedentism. Indeed, as this period progressed, communities moved towards settlement into larger villages often supplemented with small seasonal camps for additional resource gathering.</i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfPMOJ8pjR6-bxskKEZ6b5bRkm0hJgswoR6OMkO1vXiMUxBHz2_xnE_yS3qAxYe5AnCidt7fRpw3I6a7YM_tpf2Hjd90UvSOZasSqwHlDFj_apMojjWo_RuSQlFglPzr5DOqIGgl4kb8Kkhhd7EFlRzhSMoBOgYoEKXEdU9cM7todb-P62lwSVciMeJxe/s750/mt%20veron%206%207.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><i><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="750" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfPMOJ8pjR6-bxskKEZ6b5bRkm0hJgswoR6OMkO1vXiMUxBHz2_xnE_yS3qAxYe5AnCidt7fRpw3I6a7YM_tpf2Hjd90UvSOZasSqwHlDFj_apMojjWo_RuSQlFglPzr5DOqIGgl4kb8Kkhhd7EFlRzhSMoBOgYoEKXEdU9cM7todb-P62lwSVciMeJxe/w400-h361/mt%20veron%206%207.jpg" width="400" /></i></b></a></div><b><i><br /></i></b><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b><i>A fragment from the rim of a ceramic storage vessel that has been tempered with sand. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Pottery Fragments </i></b></p><p><b><i>Native communities continued to occupy Mount Vernon in the transition from the Late Archaic to the Woodland periods based on the presence of early ceramics on the property. We can tell these are early ceramics by examining the inclusions, or temper, in the ceramic. Temper is a term archaeologists use to refer to material Native potters mixed into the clay while making pots.</i></b></p><p><b><i>These additions made the pots less susceptible to breaking from the thermal expansion & contraction of cooking. Importantly, for archaeologists, the kind of temper Native groups used varied over time. Some of the earliest temper regionally was crushed steatite. Later ceramics were tempered with sand or crushed oyster shell, & were often decorated.</i></b></p><p><b><i>At Mount Vernon’s burial site archaeologists have recovered examples of pottery that suggest groups continued to exploit the riverine resources here into the beginning of the Woodland period. Fragments of pottery have also been recovered from excavations at other locations in Mount Vernon's historic core, including in the South Grove & Upper Garden.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Late Woodland Period</i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9eTJh4c9KcfJa0fofSAnsX0j8-EWz_lY7LLraq3POsEYVzln8GHlelZ6NMb42P9AaoBIT5dFvGskx3TTCHNZ0M6JaKET6NKDW2VqaLi2X7OH4dyyFkMDKenczeVcMNCNu3D1ZeYgfdjKpGoEYraHgq06tTXkpja_1vn7SEmxSxM8nV-mdRTYqEOu0rsU/s750/mt%20vernon%207n%208.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><i><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="750" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9eTJh4c9KcfJa0fofSAnsX0j8-EWz_lY7LLraq3POsEYVzln8GHlelZ6NMb42P9AaoBIT5dFvGskx3TTCHNZ0M6JaKET6NKDW2VqaLi2X7OH4dyyFkMDKenczeVcMNCNu3D1ZeYgfdjKpGoEYraHgq06tTXkpja_1vn7SEmxSxM8nV-mdRTYqEOu0rsU/w400-h294/mt%20vernon%207n%208.jpg" width="400" /></i></b></a></div><b><i><br /></i></b><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b><i>A Late Woodland projectile point which would have tipped an arrow. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Agricultural Societies </i></b></p><p><b><i>Regionally, the Late Woodland period saw a transition into fully agricultural lifestyles among the local Native communities. With more intensive farming came the rise of centralized political power & larger villages often served as the seats of chiefdoms, with rules & enforcement. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Tobacco, beans, native copper, & other trade goods arrived in the area throughout this period via expanding networks of interregional trade with other Native tribes.. </i></b></p><p><b><i>The growing, more stationary, agricultural lifestyle was supplemented with hunting & foraging. The prevalence of the bow & arrow for hunting, which seems to become prevalent in this area was 1st used in the Middle Woodland period, meant a general shift towards the small, triangular-shaped arrowheads & away from larger projectile points.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Colonial European arrival disrupted these societies as disease, conflict & colonial policy destabilized traditional Native social & political structures, & land rights within many established Native communities.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Throughout the Late Woodland, Native communities would have hunted & foraged for resources, as well as, farmed throughout the landscape of the area surrounding Mount Vernon. Current evidence, suggests that Mount Vernon was not directly occupied on a permanent basis during the period of contact with Europeans in the early 1600s. </i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmNkrvvbi4Lr9AajaaxxxaQ9-YJg4VHN64bI4d7btBwmTGDCISyAKx3_mBCz3YaC_5KVe9hbbyWwNA769ql2yyD6xjoYcpdkk4alk5goCUW8weuffo0UVLma82RMthXQgSnnm6iftm5XIiwYycZyE9Mv27upBEbCleoysy9LcQODGxQOK78pmEcmMxnf1/s750/mt%20vernon%208%209.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><i><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="750" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmNkrvvbi4Lr9AajaaxxxaQ9-YJg4VHN64bI4d7btBwmTGDCISyAKx3_mBCz3YaC_5KVe9hbbyWwNA769ql2yyD6xjoYcpdkk4alk5goCUW8weuffo0UVLma82RMthXQgSnnm6iftm5XIiwYycZyE9Mv27upBEbCleoysy9LcQODGxQOK78pmEcmMxnf1/w400-h283/mt%20vernon%208%209.jpg" width="400" /></i></b></a></div><b><i><br /></i></b><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>A variety of Late Woodland ceramics recovered from sites at Mount Vernon. <span style="text-align: left;">(Mount Vernon Ladies Association)</span></i></b></p><p><b><i>Instead, Native groups such as the Dogue, who had a major settlement on Mason’s Neck, artifacts associated with the Late Woodland have been found at sites located both inside & outside the core of Mount Vernon.</i></b></p><div><a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/preservation/archaeology/native-american-occupation/">For this research see: mountvernon.org</a></div><div><br /></div><br /><br />For detailed discussion see: <div><br /><div><b><i>The Archaeology of Virginia’s First Peoples,</i></b> Edited by: Elizabeth A. Moore & Bernard K. Means. Copyright 2020. The Archeological Society of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia</div><div><br /><div>Authors include:<br />Christopher Egghart<br />Cliff Boyd<br />Michael B. Barber<br />Carole Nash<br />Bernard K. Means<br />Elizabeth A. Moore<br />Christopher J. Shephard<br />Martin D. Gallivan<br />Keith Egloff</div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-10152620152489930792023-12-31T01:00:00.005-05:002023-12-31T01:00:00.128-05:00One of Washington's 5 Farms by Mt Vernon named for The Doeg Native Peoples<p style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="840" height="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_XHLPjk1XnM3bRAFmtm-Z8_hFuA767BS-VyylKnQQtz3AnWGipV7goeWTpyjKlPNSMpToCSjWKFOsAQmhsoZykn9vvnCIBzhteX8Finsu40pIrsIFLv8sAVqI1k42_qlYoQkFQ6Dj3VpRQa_GO6wnNTuDxuw0HRuAEE9I-Vm1LnGWHC7yzTkbxj-2vo3/w640-h550/John%20White.jpg" width="640" /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Watercolor, by English artist John White, Recreation of an Algonquian village</span></p><p style="text-align: center;">One of Martha & George Washington’s 5 outlying farms at Mount Vernon, Dogue Run Farm, shares the name of a local indigenous tribe. <span style="font-family: inherit;">The Doeg or Dogue tribe of Virginia were part of the coastal </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Algonquian language group</span><span background-color:="" color:="" style="background-color: family. They probably spoke </span>Piscataway<span style=or a dialect similar to </span>Nanticoke<span style=; font-family: inherit;" white="">.</span></p><p>Dogue is the English spelling for the Doeg/Tauxenent people who lived in Virginia since ancestral times. The Doeg built in villages & settlements along the Potomac & Occoquan Rivers. As their lands were encroached upon by colonists to expand tobacco production, they were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands. Today Prince William Forest Park is a diverse natural & cultural area located near Washington, D.C. The park sits on is 15,000 acres of secondary growth forest managed by The National Park Service where the Doeg Peoples once flourished.</p><p>Today, there are 7 federally recognized tribes by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock, Pamunkey, Nansemond, & Monacan. </p><p style="text-align: center;">Native American Prehistory </p><p>(10,000 – 3,000 Years Ago)</p><p><a href="https://www.nps.gov/prwi/learn/historyculture/americanindian.htm">The National Park Service tells us</a> that <b><i>thousands of years ago, Prince William Forest Park was part of the great forest that spanned most of eastern North American. Oak, hickory, chestnut, & other trees covered the hills. Under the trees, ancient Native Americans hunted, fished, camped, & traveled. In what archeologists call the Archaic period, between 10,000 & 3,000 years ago, Native Americans lived by hunting & gathering. They roamed the forests, marshes, & shores of the Potomac & other rivers searching for food & necessities. They did not stay long in one place but moved frequently. They traveled along or in small groups, but sometimes may have come together in gatherings of a few hundred people. We know Archaic people had a rich spiritual life as elaborate burials from this period have been found in some places, but it is hard to know what they believed about the world from the artifacts left behind.</i></b></p><p><b><i>In the Archaic period, Native Americans made tools of wood, bone, & stone, but in most places only stone tools survived the ravages of time. As such, spear points, knives, axes, & other stone tools are what tell us where Archaic peoples wandered & camped. Small stone flakes left behind from making tools are the most common artifacts found by archeologists. They were left by Native Americans wherever they camped. Small flakes of quarts & other stones are scattered across the ridge tops overlooking both branches of Quantico Creek. From these flakes we know that people camped on these ridges, & from their tools we can learn something about what they were doing on the site. Spear points tell us they were hunting large game, & we can sometimes tell if knives & other tools were used for scraping hides or cutting wood.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Where are the sites?</i></b></p><p><b><i>It is not difficult to find evidence of native Americans from the Archaic period in Prince William Forest Park. Professional archeologists can go to any level ridge top overlooking either branch of Quantico Creek, place a shovel in the soil, & most likely turn up small flakes of quarts & other stones. These stone flakes, which archeologists call debitage, are the discarded remnants of stone left by people making stone tools. People who relied on stone tools left them behind whenever they camped, & we can get a general idea of how a camping spot was used by Native Americans from the numbers of flakes we find. On most of the small Native American sites in the Park, archeologists have found only a few flakes. In a few places they have found many more pieces of debitage along with stone tools & other traces of Native Americans. These larger camps are mostly on the lower reaches of the streams, within an easy day’s walk of the Potomac River.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>The Williams Branch Site</i></b></p><p><b><i>The Williams Branch site is one of a group of Archaic period sites on hills that surround a swampy floodplain along the South Fork Quantico Creek. These hills are strewn with evidence of ancient campsites. Archeologists found more than 4,500 artifacts during test excavations of the Williams Branch Site. Most of this material was flakes of quartz left by people making stone tools from cobbles; in all, 3,690 flakes were recovered. One part of the site must have been a quarry & stonecraft shop, where people collected quartz cobbles & made them into spear points & other tools. We also found cobbles broken by heat, known to archeologists as fire-cracked rock, showing us that fires were built in stone-lined hearths on the site. Several stone tools were found including spear points & scrapers. These spear points were manufactured between 4,500 & 500 BC.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The archeological work conducted at the Williams Branch Sites tells us that the site was not permanently occupied, but rather, it was a camping place. These types of sites are quite common. Follow almost any stream that flows into the Potomac up to where it forks, & if there is a suitable camping spot nearby, you will find sites similar to Williams Branch. Add to these large sites the thousands of smaller sites that dot the countryside, & you begin to understand that the hunter-gatherers of the Archaic period have left an enduring record of their presence all across the landscape. These Archaic period people did not invest a great deal into any single site; instead, they spread their activities throughout the woods, swamps, & waterways of their homeland. It is clear they returned often to certain favored locations, such as at the meeting places of major streams & rivers, near groves of nut-bearing trees, or stands of plants with medicinal roots & bark. Still other sites may be way stations along well-used trails. When all we find are flakes & a few stone tools, we can say very little about why people came to a particular spot, but the broad patters of these sites in the landscape provides us with important clues about how these people lived.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>The Lands of Tsenacommacah</i></b></p><p><b><i>At the start of the seventeenth century, the Doeg people residing near today’s Prince William Forest Park lived on the northern fringes of Tsenacommacah, the Powhatan paramount chiefdom. The Powhatan chiefdom was one of the largest & most powerful tribal bodies encountered by European colonists in Virginia during the late 1500s & early 1600s. At its zenith, Powhatan paramountcy encompassed over thirty tribes & nearly 6,000 square miles (15,500 square kilometers), from the Nansemond River in southern Virginia to the Potomac River in the north.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Civilization on the Coastal Plain</i></b></p><p><b><i>In what became Virginia, Algonquian-speakers such as the Doeg lived in the coastal region from today’s Hampton Roads to the Potomac River. Monacan peoples, whose languages were Siouan, & the Patuxent, another Algonquian-speaking group, lived to the west & north of the Doeg. Relations between the Powhatan & Monacan were often hostile, but Powhatan relations with the Patuxent were generally friendly. Around 1600, between 14,000 & 25,000 people lived in eastern Virginia.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The Doeg (also written as Douge or Tauxenent) lived on the west bank of the Patawomeck (Potomac) River, in modern Fairfax & Prince William counties. A chief known as a weroance (male) or, more rarely, a weroansqua (female), meaning “commander,” governed Doeg tribes.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Doeg lands & people were remote to the Powhatan chiefdom, which was centered between the York & James rivers to the south. Its chief was Wahunsonacock, popularly known as Powhatan. He was mamanatowick (paramount chief) of nearly thirty vassal tribes. He did not directly govern most of these groups. Instead, tribes gave him various goods as tribute, & it is likely that for a brief time in the early 1600s, the Doeg provided such tributes. In 1624, Englishman John Smith recollected that tributes vassal tribes paid to Powhatan included “skinnes, beades, copper, pearle, deare, turkies, wild beasts, & corne.” As the Powhatan chiefdom collapsed, it lost the minimal power it held over its most distant tribes, which regained their autonomy.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Weroances inherited their status through their mothers. They had multiple roles in society as social & political leaders & accumulated greater personal wealth than most tribal members; they could afford to support several wives. Villages also had war-chiefs, responsible for leading warriors in battle. Councils of tribal leaders advised their weroance.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Life Near the Patawomeck</i></b></p><p><b><i>The Doeg used the area of today’s park for hunting expeditions, camping on the banks of the Quantico Creek. Villages were closer to large bodies of water such as the Potomac; a settlement with fifty buildings was large. Doeg diet reflected the seasons. The Doeg cultivated a variety of vegetables - including the staples of squash, maize, & beans - & foraged for nuts & berries in local forests. Agriculture was the responsibility of women; men hunted, fished, & gathered shellfish.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Homes & outbuildings were made of woven mats or bark attached to pole frames. A central opening in ceilings allowed smoke from cooking fires to escape. Fire was also an important agricultural tool; the Doeg used it to clear land, girdling trees & burning ground cover to prepare soil for planting. Everyone in a family had a role in the large wintertime hunts near the fall line. These hunts occurred far from villages to avoid depleting animals hunted during other times of the year.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Hunting also provided clothing, as most Doeg garments were made of deerskin. Women & men wore belted loincloths that reached the knee. Leather leggings & moccasins were worn during forest treks. Fur cloaks provided warmth in the depths of winter. Men kept their hair on the right of the head short to facilitate archery & for religious reasons, while women wore symbolic tattoos.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Religious beliefs differed slightly among the Powhatan tribes, but for all groups beliefs were intricately connected with daily life, especially medicine. Priests treated serious illnesses when other cures failed. Temples were mysterious buildings that also stored tribute & gifts; lay people did not enter them. The Powhatan were polytheists & believed in many gods, including Ahone, the beneficent creator of the world, & Okeus, a severe god who caused illness, crop loss, or other misfortunes if angered. John Smith wrote that “Blood, deare suet, & Tobacco” might be presented as offerings to the gods to give thanks or request assistance.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>English & Powhatan Relations</i></b></p><p><b><i>The motives of the London Company merchants who sponsored Virginia’s colonization were primarily commercial, though they also believed their colonists would bring ‘civilization’ to the ‘wilderness.’ The English asserted that Virginia’s native peoples were childlike, requiring English governance to escape ‘heathenism’ & live ‘civilized’ lives. Like children, they would implicitly obey the English & their teachings. Europeans were not unknown to the natives; Spanish & French missions encountered coastal tribes from the 1500s. Moreover, native contacts with Europeans in other parts of the Americas affected Powhatan civilization even before the London Company launched its ships. Europe’s diseases travelled with its sailors, infecting indigenous Americans who then infected others in areas distant from European contact.</i></b></p><p><b><i>When colonists from the Susan Constant, Godspeed, & Discovery established the Jamestown settlement in May of 1607, the Powhatan treated them as potential trading partners, not expecting them to remain permanently. In subsequent years, as additional colonists arrived (and as poor planning by the colonists required them to purchase or commandeer food from the Powhatan), the relationship between the two peoples became increasingly antagonistic. While English trade goods & arms appealed to the Powhatan, English customs & faith did not. Few Powhatan wished to discard their customs & live as the colonists lived; they did not consider themselves uncivilized or heathens, or of lower social status than the English. Moreover, few colonists made significant efforts to understand Powhatan perspectives to their new neighbors, as multiculturalism was not an important value among the seventeenth-century English. There was little cross-cultural assimilation through marriage. John Rolfe’s 1614 marriage to the kidnapped - & already married - Matoaka (Pocahontas) was a highly unusual diplomatic union & an attempt at peacemaking.</i></b></p><p><b><i>In the summer of 1608, John Smith led an expedition up the Potomac & met the Doeg, who gave his party a friendly welcome. However, Virginia’s native residents soon realized that the English did not intend to leave & attacked Jamestown in 1610. European weapons repulsed the superior Powhatan numbers, presaging future conflicts. Even a 1622 Powhatan attack that killed nearly 25% of the colonists could not halt European immigration. Meanwhile, violence & disease drastically reduced the Powhatan population & the cohesiveness of the paramount chiefdom. It ceased to exist after the 1646 assassination of Opechancanough, Wahunsunacock’s brother, although the individual tribes of the chiefdom persevered.</i></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>The Legacy of the Doeg & Powhatan</i></b></p><p><b><i>The Doeg population of today’s Prince William County dropped rapidly during the 1600s. Powhatan populations to the south also fell precipitously due to intertribal wars, wars with the English colonists, & the introduction of European diseases, to which the native Virginians lacked defenses. During the 1660s, some Doeg relocated to Piscataway territories on the east bank of the Potomac; others moved south to the north bank of the Rappahannock. There they integrated with other groups & eventually lost their Doeg identity.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The sociopolitical power of the tribes of Virginia declined greatly in the seventeenth & eighteenth centuries as the European population of the colony of Virginia grew. By the late 1660s, nearly 30,000 colonists lived within its borders.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The colonial government of Virginia signed treaties with several native tribes between the 1650s & 1670s. These treaties, the oldest valid pacts between a tribal government & a colony, established several reservations; while many Powhatan tribes lost their reservations, those for the Pamunkey & Mattaponi still exist & are among the oldest reservations in the United States.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Recent archaeological studies within the Park found campsites & areas near the Quantico Creek where the area’s native peoples crafted tools from stone outcroppings over thousands of years. These studies show that the relationship between people & the land in today’s Prince William Forest Park is an ancient & ongoing series of interactions that predates the great empires of Europe, the Americas, or Africa.</i></b></p><p><b><i>In the 1650s, as English colonists began to settle the Northern Neck frontier, then known as Chicacoan (Secocowon), some Doeg, Patawomeck & Rappahannock began moving into the region as well. They joined local tribes in disputing the settlers' claims to land & resources. In July 1666, the colonists declared war on them. By 1669, colonists had patented the land on the west of the Potomac as far north as My Lord's Island. By 1670, they had driven most of the Doeg out of the Virginia colony & into Maryland—apart from those living beside the Nanzatico/Portobago in Caroline County, Virginia. </i></b></p><p><b><i>Tensions between English colonists & the Doeg on the Northern Neck continued to grow. In July 1675, a Doeg raiding party crossed the Potomac & stole hogs from Thomas Mathew, in retaliation for his not paying them for trade goods. Mathew & other colonists pursued them to Maryland & killed a group of Doeg, as well as innocent Susquehannock. A Doeg war party retaliated by killing Mathew's son & two servants on his plantation.</i></b></p><p><b><i>A Virginian militia led by Nathaniel Bacon entered Maryland, attacked the Doeg & besieged the Susquehannock. This precipitated the general reaction against natives by the Virginia Colony that resulted in "Bacon's Rebellion". Following this conflict, the Doeg seem to have become allied with the Nanzatico tribe, who paid for the release of some Doeg jailed for killing livestock in early 1692. The Doeg maintained a presence near Nanzatico at "Doguetown" (around Milford in Caroline County) as late as 1720.</i></b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-52375104203121335552023-12-29T03:00:00.001-05:002023-12-29T03:00:00.128-05:001837 Crow Indian on the Lookout by Alfred Jacob Miller (American, 1810-1874) <p separator="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrlVsol6bnSFwqGDeMvVakj9PTdUOsR29ReMBxD0DP-UhbjH2-BthNGAsDP1UWCHyWW25s8c0qEktMtIt_1GMfrrVFaJlPqROuv9ILAuKMRSQhBGW2W0J446mp2YnR5_QsMa6xipBAD3mgsMuJJd1WoVueuLtHoSxZlSo9-ekjjXKb1PFLzCB96CXvqC8/s1070/Alfred%20Jacob%20Miller%20(American,%201810-1874).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1070" data-original-width="823" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrlVsol6bnSFwqGDeMvVakj9PTdUOsR29ReMBxD0DP-UhbjH2-BthNGAsDP1UWCHyWW25s8c0qEktMtIt_1GMfrrVFaJlPqROuv9ILAuKMRSQhBGW2W0J446mp2YnR5_QsMa6xipBAD3mgsMuJJd1WoVueuLtHoSxZlSo9-ekjjXKb1PFLzCB96CXvqC8/s16000/Alfred%20Jacob%20Miller%20(American,%201810-1874).jpg" /></span></a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1837 Crow Indian on the Lookout by Alfred Jacob Miller (American, 1810-1874) Walters Art Gallery</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: \;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>"From the bluffs, as from an observatory, the vigilant Indian overlooks the prairie far & near. His cunning eye sweeps the horizon in all directions & from long practice he discerns an object (like the sailor on the ocean) much sooner than an ordinary observer. He marks in what direction game is to be had, the approach of an enemy or emigrant train (all being fish that come to his net). He balances the chances if the latter, & uses his discretion whether to send out his warriors or not, for he will not give battle without the odds are greatly in his favor. In collision he asks no quarter, nor expects any, but has an intense admiration that 'to the victor belongs the spoils' & carries it out to the last letter." </i></b>A.J. Miller, extracted from "The West of Alfred Jacob Miller" (1837).</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div><br /></div><div>In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at $12 apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, & were delivered in installments over the next 21 months & ultimately were bound in 3 albums of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming). </div><div><br /></div><div>Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text accompanied his images of Native Americans These words, which shaped how Miller’s contemporaries viewed the watercolors, often reveal an underlying racism & sexism embedded in 19C exploration & colonization of the western part of what is today the United States.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>William T. Walters (1820-1894) was a prominent American businessman, philanthropist, & art collector in the 19C. He was known for his successful career in the railroad industry. Walters amassed a substantial fortune through his business ventures, which allowed him to pursue his passion for art collecting. Upon his death in 1894, Walters bequeathed his extensive art collection, along with significant funds, to the city of Baltimore. This collection formed the basis of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.</div></div></span></span></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-64078798254356684892023-12-27T03:00:00.001-05:002023-12-27T03:00:00.127-05:001837 Chinook Indian Columbia River by Alfred Jacob Miller (American, 1810-1874) Walters Art Gallery<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJ24c2dQIzl7cAEGpUjI1pViBZJ7Y6noVAIOUQrJu31meTvCYoWcKjPjvh7fJHIaIK_C5CHwkwkUxHqPeye0bfPGtJluhVt-ObBx-WfDRngxAFgIQ5WZvLCV1yGttEXl9FKuj9-E9OhDuGe5D9yL__yr8OaOtXvbKZAQgTXrHSZxBGAxVRwTZSVbTKR8/s1118/Chinook%20Indian%20Columbia%20River%20by%20Alfred%20Jacob%20Miller%20(American,%201810-1874)%20Walters%20Art%20Gallery.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1118" data-original-width="850" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJ24c2dQIzl7cAEGpUjI1pViBZJ7Y6noVAIOUQrJu31meTvCYoWcKjPjvh7fJHIaIK_C5CHwkwkUxHqPeye0bfPGtJluhVt-ObBx-WfDRngxAFgIQ5WZvLCV1yGttEXl9FKuj9-E9OhDuGe5D9yL__yr8OaOtXvbKZAQgTXrHSZxBGAxVRwTZSVbTKR8/s16000/Chinook%20Indian%20Columbia%20River%20by%20Alfred%20Jacob%20Miller%20(American,%201810-1874)%20Walters%20Art%20Gallery.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Chinook Indian Columbia River by Alfred Jacob Miller (American, 1810-1874) Walters Art Gallery</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at $12 apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, & were delivered in installments over the next 21 months & ultimately were bound in 3 albums of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming). </div><div><br /></div><div>William T. Walters (1820-1894) was a prominent American businessman, philanthropist, & art collector in the 19C. He was known for his successful career in the railroad industry, specifically with the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad. </div><div><br /></div><div>Walters amassed a substantial fortune through his business ventures, which allowed him to pursue his passion for art collecting. Upon his death in 1894, Walters bequeathed his extensive art collection, along with significant funds, to the city of Baltimore. This collection formed the basis of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, which remains a renowned institution housing a diverse array of art spanning thousands of years & various cultures.</div></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-84969328549910239262023-12-25T04:00:00.001-05:002023-12-25T04:00:00.132-05:001621 Encounters - Edward Winslow records Natives at Plymouth <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUeNLMNX6k0zI_Bp7BfhnbZjqZ0OLR15OU79GojOeFGqx6PMApfhob341PpXh2GIk45DuzSxSIso7eEo1e481w5GlnLBAiMf7QYqWZ7Xdne5P1xSaiEH3-x0O4cLcz2IhrBLHErHO7L4c/s400/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz+%25283%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUeNLMNX6k0zI_Bp7BfhnbZjqZ0OLR15OU79GojOeFGqx6PMApfhob341PpXh2GIk45DuzSxSIso7eEo1e481w5GlnLBAiMf7QYqWZ7Xdne5P1xSaiEH3-x0O4cLcz2IhrBLHErHO7L4c/s16000/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz+%25283%2529.jpg" /></span></a></p><span>Portrait of Edward Winslow(1595-1655) </span>Pilgrim Hall Museum<div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">On December 11, 1621, Plymouth colonist Edward Winslow (</span>1595-1655)</div>wrote a letter to a friend back in England He summarized the Pilgrim's 1st year in early America & praised the life-saving friendships with the Native Americans.<div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Letter of Edward Winslow, 11 December 1621 <b><i>... We set the last spring some 20 acres of Indian corn, & sowed some 6 acres of barley & peas, & according to the manner of the Indians, we manured our ground with herrings or rather shads, which we have in great abundance, & take with great ease at our doors. Our corn did prove well, & God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, & our barley indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown, they came up very well, & blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom; our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent 4 men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, & among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some 90 men, whom for 3 days we entertained & feasted, & they went out & killed 5 deer, which they brought to the plantation & bestowed on our governor, & upon the captain, & others...We have found the Indians very faithful in their covenant of peace with us; very loving & ready to pleasure us: we often go to them, & they come to us; some of us have been 50 miles by land in the country with them; the occasions & relations whereof you shall understand by our general & more full declaration of such things as are worth the noting, yea, it hath pleased God so to possess the Indians with a fear of us, & love unto us, that not only the greatest king amongst them called Massasoit, but also all the princes & peoples round about us, have either made suit unto us, or been glad of any occasion to make peace with us, so that 7 of them at once have sent their messengers to us to that end, yea, an Fle at sea, which we never saw hath also together with the former yielded willingly to be under the protection, & subjects to our sovereign Lord King James, so that there is now great peace amongst the Indians themselves, which was not formerly, neither would have been but for us; & we for our parts walk as peaceably & safely in the wood, as in the highways in England, we entertain them familiarly in our houses, & they as friendly bestowing their venison on us. They are a people without any religion, or knowledge of any God, yet very trusty, quick of apprehension, ripe-witted, just, the men & women go naked, only a skin about their middles...all the winter we have mussels & othus at our doors: oysters we have none near, but we can have them brought by the Indians when we will...</i></b><span style="text-align: center;"><b>Your loving Friend E.W. </b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-edward-winslow-plymouth-hero-thanksgiving-180961174/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Plymouth Hero You Should Really Be Thankful for This Thanksgiving. </span></a><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-edward-winslow-plymouth-hero-thanksgiving-180961174/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Without Edward Winslow, we probably wouldn’t even be celebrating the holiday</span></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-edward-winslow-plymouth-hero-thanksgiving-180961174/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Smithsonian Magazine by John Hanc November 21, 2016</span></a></p><p><b><i>Almost everything we know about the Pilgrim Thanksgiving in 1621 is based on a letter by Edward Winslow. But more interesting than the letter’s content is its author, a figure largely missing from the Thanksgiving story.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Edward Winslow—diplomat, printer, author, trader & politician (some might even call him a social scientist & a public relations practitioner)—was one of the most important, & today, perhaps least remembered, leaders of the group of separatists called Pilgrims. Without Winslow, Plymouth—and indeed, the New England colonies—might not have survived.</i></b></p><p><b><i>“He was hugely significant,” says Rebecca Fraser, a British historian whose book about the Winslow family will be published next year. “He was one of those people who have so much energy. He needed to be striding around doing lots of things."</i></b></p><p><b><i>The prominent Boston theologian & writer Cotton Mather, writing in 1702, referred to Winslow as a “Hercules” for his strength & fortitude in dealing with multiple challenges facing the Plymouth settlement & later, New England as a whole. Winslow faced down Native American tribes hostile to the colonists & their allies & confronted warring political & economic factions on the other side of the Atlantic. In those latter battles, the ones fought in the corridors of power & the court of public opinion back in England, Winslow was the equivalent of a modern-day lobbyist.</i></b></p><p><b><i>"Winslow was the designated defender of New England's reputation," says Donna Curtin, executive director of Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts. "It wasn't in the political interest of Plymouth or Massachusetts Bay to be viewed as fractious or repressive by authorities back in England,.”</i></b></p><p><b><i>Winslow's unique background more than qualified him for the job. Most of the Pilgrims were yeoman farmers, with little formal education. Not Winslow. Born in 1595, he was educated in an Anglican cathedral school where the students spoke Greek & Latin, & he may have attended university in Cambridge. He then became an apprentice printer in London, although he left before he had completed his training. “I suppose he was inspired by the last book he worked on,” says Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum in the Netherlands. That book, he says, was what we might now call a travel memoir by an Englishman who had spent time in Europe.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Possibly influenced by Puritan literature, Winslow ended up in Holland, a refuge for many English separatist groups, including the congregation that formed a new community in the Dutch university town of Leiden. “As far as we know, he wasn’t involved with a separatist church until he got to Leiden,” says Bangs, who also authored a biography of Winslow.</i></b></p><p><b><i>In Leiden, young Winslow worked with William Brewster, a printer & prominent member of the group. He immersed himself in the theology & goals of the Pilgrims who decided, after a decade in Holland, that their best hope for creating the kind of religious community they aspired to could be found in the New World. Winslow was one of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower. Later, he wrote a stirring account of the ship's arrival on distant shores after a fearful Atlantic passage: Falling in with Cape Cod, which is in New England, & standing to the southward for the place we intended, we met with many dangers & mariners put back into the harbor of the Cape, which was the 11th of November, 1620: Where considering winter was come, the seas dangerous, the season cold, the winds high & being well-furnished for a plantation, we entered upon discovery & settled at Plymouth: Where God please to preserve & enable us.</i></b></p><p><b><i>That preservation was made possible by the local Wampanoag people, whom the Pilgrims befriended. Here, Winslow played a critical role. He was a natural diplomat, a keen observer & inherently curious. “He really is interested in learning more about the Wampanoag people & their beliefs & customs,” says Curtin “Not only does he observe their life ways, but he records them.”</i></b></p><p><b><i>“You’ll find out more about the Indians from Winslow than almost anyone else,” agrees Bangs. Notably, he was also willing to re-assess his attitudes based on what he learned from the indigenous people he met. “In the first year, he thought they had no concept of religion at all,” says Bangs. “In the next year or two, though, he had a more elaborate idea of what they thought in philosophic & religious terms & he corrected what he said.”</i></b></p><p><b><i>In his best-selling 2006 book Mayflower, historian Nathaniel Philbrick praises a detailed, first-person description of wigwams co-written by Winslow & William Bradford; “a modern anthropologist would have a hard time outdoing the report,” he writes.</i></b></p><p><b><i>When the Wampanoag sachem, or leader, Massasoit—himself a skilled diplomat—first visited the hardscrabble Plymouth settlement, Winslow was chosen from among the English settlers to walk out & greet him personally. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship; one that would prove critical to the stability of the colony. “[Winslow] had a terrific relationship with Massasoit,” says Fraser. The friendship was forged in a dramatic way. When the chief was seriously ill, Winslow—who had no medical training—walked to his village & reportedly nursed him back to health using a time-honored remedy: chicken soup. “There’s a wonderful relation by Winslow about going to Massasoit’s home & making chicken broth for him,” Fraser says. “It’s very tender.”</i></b></p><p><b><i>Like most Pilgrims, Winslow suffered personal loss in the early years of the settlement. His first wife Elizabeth died in March, 1621. Barely six weeks later, Winslow married Susanna White, whose husband had died as well. It was the first marriage in the new colony & produced five children.</i></b></p><p><b><i>In terms of his career, Winslow went further & higher than anyone else from the Plymouth settlement. He was the man selected first by Plymouth, & later by the emerging new Massachusetts Bay Colony to the north, to be the colonists’ liaison with London. In 1624, he returned to England to represent the interests of his fellow Pilgrims.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Though the Pilgrims were far from their native shores, the Plymouth colony was still affected by the mother country. Fish & furs needed to be sent back to help pay off their debts to those who had helped underwrite the cost of the journey. Many fellow separatists had remained in England & Holland—what would become of them? Would they join the new religious community founded by their friends in the new world? If so, how…and who would pay for it?</i></b></p><p><b><i>The colonists had other far-off struggles, too. There were conflicts with a rival colony in Maine, formed soon after the founding of Plymouth. There were denominational issues about church membership that needed to be addressed by Puritan authorities back home. And most important of all was the looming tussle between Parliament & the sovereignty, held by James I, whose attitudes towards the Pilgrims & their ilk had inspired them to leave England in the first place. The dispute between the Pilgrims & the crown finally exploded into the English Civil War two decades after the Pilgrims first landed.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Edward Winslow found himself in the midst of this roiling, complex political drama. His first mission was to sort out a boundary dispute in the wilds of Maine. "A settler named John Hocking had been killed by the Plymouth settlers because he went onto a part of the Kennebec River which belonged to the colony." Fraser explains. "Winslow had to apologize to Lord Saye, who was one of the founders of the Piscataqua settlement."</i></b></p><p><b><i>He had other business, too. Winslow published a number of pamphlets defending & promoting the New England colonies. After the English Civil War, when at first Parliament & later, in 1653, Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protectorate, Winslow’s entreaties on behalf of the colonists were more warmly received than before. Cromwell recognized Winslow’s talents & appointed him to number of important committees, including one overseeing the confiscation of property from royalty. Soon, Winslow found himself doing everything from inventorying palaces to hearing the grievances of aristocrats who felt they had been unfairly treated.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Winslow’s 17th-century equivalent of jet-setting diplomacy didn’t always sit well with his friends back in Plymouth. In 1646 as Winslow headed for England yet again, William Bradford, Plymouth's governor & Winslow's close friend, grumbled that he had done so without permission. And Winslow's open-mindedness had limits. In 1645, Curtin notes, "he opposed a remarkable proposal to establish full religious freedom for all faiths in Plymouth despite his own experience of religious toleration as an exile in Holland."</i></b></p><p><b><i>Winslow’s star appeared to be reaching its zenith when, in 1655, he was sent by Cromwell to the West Indies as part of a military expedition aimed at establishing English settlements there. He had been designated by Cromwell to be the new governor of Jamaica. “That was an enormously powerful position,” Bangs says.</i></b></p><p><b><i>But he never made it to the new colony. During the voyage, Winslow took ill & died at sea.</i></b></p><p><b><i>While Edward Winslow did indeed travel more widely & in higher circles than the rest of his original group of settlers from Plymouth, he seems to have remained at heart, a god-fearing Pilgrim, & never lost his pride in what he & his fellow dissenters had accomplished with their small settlement on the edge of a vast new continent. Plymouth was a community, he wrote, “not laid upon schism, division or separation, but upon love, peace & holiness; yea, such love & mutual care of the Church of Leyden for the spreading of the Gospel, the welfare of each other & their posterities to succeeding generations, is seldom found on earth.”</i></b><span style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> </i></span></b></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-86419375588876700532023-12-23T03:00:00.019-05:002023-12-23T03:00:00.259-05:001825 Encounters - Letter by Wm. Becknell regarding the early Southwestern Trade & the Indians <p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ0o3JYhmH6yIa1PAPm5B3oi52JzHMWI2Ai6GWn_hKMOvnFKIMu90P18N3ddjHnQl7z_Y1sfA2UnWcvVjnWzcCu_iEtKUl4fJ9ozLr1EnMvI1RsRll78Vj7Tzuv8WV1QPtv3C2YJDVxGgrdwCq7i7K3eNYvHrO9HXykr7YvpoIrw1QPhH2DuWb9IYmGPU/s640/oregon-trail-4217528_640.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ0o3JYhmH6yIa1PAPm5B3oi52JzHMWI2Ai6GWn_hKMOvnFKIMu90P18N3ddjHnQl7z_Y1sfA2UnWcvVjnWzcCu_iEtKUl4fJ9ozLr1EnMvI1RsRll78Vj7Tzuv8WV1QPtv3C2YJDVxGgrdwCq7i7K3eNYvHrO9HXykr7YvpoIrw1QPhH2DuWb9IYmGPU/w640-h320/oregon-trail-4217528_640.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Originally Published in the </span><cite style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Missouri Intelligencer</cite><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">, June 25, 1825</span><p></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>Capt. Becknell's Tour</i></span></h3><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>If the following narrative of my late tour in the upper province of Mexico, is sufficiently interesting to deserve a place in your columns, you are at liberty to publish it.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>On the 5th of November last, I left Santa Cruz with a party of nine men, employed in my service, with a view of trapping on the Green River, several hundred miles from Santa Fe.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In the course of my route towards the point of destination, I passed through the gap in a mountain, which was so narrow as greatly to resemble a gate-way. This mountain, which had the appearance of an artificial mound, was about three or four hundred feet high, and not more than ten feet in breadth at the base. The country here is poor, and only timbered with pine and cedar. I met in this vicinity, several parties of Indians, who were poor and inoffensive. It was, however, reported that some of the Indians who spent some time with us, afterwards committed murders upon the persons of some of the engages of Mr. Prevost of St. Louis, and robbed the remainder. We suffered every misery incident to such an enterprise in the winter season, such as hunger and cold-but were exempted from robbery. The flesh of a very lean horse, which we were constrained to break our fast with, was at this time, pronounced excellent. But when his bones were afterwards served up, as a matter of necessity, they were not as well relished, but had nearly proved fatal to the whole party. We found to our cost, that our stomachs, although tolerably commodiously disposed, were not equal to the task of digesting bones. You can readily imagine, that we were in that deplorable condition where it would be justifiable to adopt the philosophy of the ancient Romans, and give odds to die. But such is not the practice of Missourians. Although we were forty days from settlements, the snow three or four feet deep, and our small stock of horses, our principal reliance for effecting a retreat, considered sacred, so that to have eaten them would have been like dining upon our own feet, we still contrived to supply our tables, if not with the dainties of life, with food of the most substantial kind. For instance, we subsisted two days on soup made of a raw hide we had reserved for sealing our moccasins; on the following morning the remains were dished up into a hash. The young men employed by me had seen better days, and had never before been supperless to bed, nor missed a wholesome and substantial meal at the regular family hour, except one, who was with me when I opened the road to Santa Fe. When afterwards we were enabled to procure indifferent bear meat, we devoured it in that style of eagerness, which, on a review of our operations at this time, very forcibly reminds us of the table urbanity of a prairie wolf.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>While at our winter camp we hunted when we could, and the remainder of the time attempted to sleep, so as to dream of the abundance of our own tables at home, and the dark rich tenants of our smoke houses.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In the vicinity of our encampment, I discovered old diggings, and the remains of furnaces. There are also in this neighborhood the remains of many small stone houses, some of which have one story beneath the surface of the earth. There is likewise an abundance of broken pottery here, well baked and neatly painted. This was probably the scite of a town where the ancient Mexican Indians resided, as the Spaniards, who seldom visit this part of the country, can give no account of it.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>On our way back to the settlements, we halted at the encampment of a band of Indians, who shocked our feelings not a little by the disposition they were about to make of an infirm (and no longer useful) squaw. When the principal part of the band had left their camp, two of those remaining proceeded to lay the sick woman upon her face, by the side of some of her effects. They then covered her with a funeral pile of pine wood, to which they set fire, and thus made a Hindoo sacrifice of the patient old matron.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>As the depth of the snow, and the immense cold of the season rendered trapping almost impracticable, we succeeded, on a third attempt, in making good our retreat from this inhospitable wilderness, and reached a Spanish village on the fifth of April, after an absence of five months.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>It was reported in the Spanish settlements, by a man who had been employed by George Armstrong, of Franklin, who accompanied me to Santa Fe, that he had been murdered by the Indians; but I have good reason to believe, and I most sincerely hope, this may be only an idle fabrication.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span>William Becknell (1787-8 – 1856) was an American soldier, politician, & freight operator who is credited by Americans with opening the Santa Fe Trail in 1821. He found a trail for part of the route that was wide enough for wagon trains & draft teams, making it easier for trader & emigrants along this route. The Santa Fe Trail became an early major transportation route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico, serving both trading & emigrant parties. It served as a vital commercial highway from the 1820s until 1880, when the railroad was introduced to Santa Fe.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-52034951549449997392023-12-21T03:00:00.072-05:002023-12-23T00:03:49.179-05:001829 Encounters - William Craig (1806-1868) Indian Agent for the Nez Perces at Walla Walla. <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv2UUZ6HjZ_r3bZ7qilbD5O0iXTpCwgOMLC8YW9-jjbseoNlLaO_aOGA5rU1fekfUvRwpjTRV3niUxjrsb3aIRU58TNxeOfkaiGzvCP8w-xYuagNWsUU6Bw_rF73gGz5iyrXImgHQT9UgchIiuTsOaIHmQGluv8d8QEWOFvO35EhQUPt7iNmdFdO8iZ2U/s652/1807-1869.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv2UUZ6HjZ_r3bZ7qilbD5O0iXTpCwgOMLC8YW9-jjbseoNlLaO_aOGA5rU1fekfUvRwpjTRV3niUxjrsb3aIRU58TNxeOfkaiGzvCP8w-xYuagNWsUU6Bw_rF73gGz5iyrXImgHQT9UgchIiuTsOaIHmQGluv8d8QEWOFvO35EhQUPt7iNmdFdO8iZ2U/s16000/1807-1869.jpg" /></a></span></div><p></p><div class="front"><div class="preface" style="border-bottom: medium solid navy; clear: both;"><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From: <cite>Lewiston Morning Tribune</cite>, Sunday, March 3, 1918</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">Recollections of William Craig (1806-1868)</span></p></div><div class="titlepage" style="border-bottom: medium solid navy; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><h2><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">He came to the Lewiston Country in 1829</span></h2><h2><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Craig Mountain Named in His Honor </span>By Thomas J. Beall</span></h2></div></div><div 1em="" both="" class="body" clear:="" margin-bottom:="" margin-top:=""><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>To the Tribune--Will you please grant the space in your columns that I may inform your readers as to my early recollections of William Craig the trapper of the Rocky mountains, frontiersman and after whom Craig mountain was named. I first met Craig in the latter part of September, 1857. He was at The Dalles, Oregon, for the purpose of purchasing his winter supplies accompanied by several Nez Perce Indians, among them Chief Lawyer and Reuben. As I wanted to see the Walla Walla country, my cousin, Lloyd Brooke, of Vancouver, thought I would have an opportunity in so doing by joining Craig's party on his return trip to that country, so he gave me a letter of introduction to Craig which I tendered on my arrival at The Dalles.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Craig was the sub-Indian agent for the Nez Perces at that time and the agency was at Walla Walla. I was at The Dalles two days visiting the army officers stationed at the garrison. I was soon informed that Craig would not be able to return to the agency for several days and as I was anxious to proceed on my journey, I joined a party of Hudson Bay people who were on their way to Fort Colville and traveled with them as far as old Fort Walla Walla, now Wallula. I there severed my connection with the Hudson Bay people and proceeded to Cantonments Stevens in the Walla Walla valley, Occupied by two companies of the First Dragoons and two of the Ninth Infantry, U.S. army, under the command of Col. E. J. Steptoe. I was there nearly two months and saw a great deal of Craig nearly every day during my stay, and our intercourse with each other soon ripened into an ever lasting friendship.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In the fall of 1858 Craig was superseded by A.J. Cain as Indian agent for the Nez Perce Indians and the agency was at Cantonment Stevens, it being abandoned, and the U.S. troops were removed to the garrison built for them and now called Fort Walla Walla.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In the latter part of December, 1858, Mr. Cain received orders to move the agency on to the Nez Perce reservation, but it was not accomplished until the early spring of 1860. Craig then concluded that he would move to his old home on the Lapwal and I accompanied him also Jake Schultz. Nearly all of the old timers knew Jake, and that reminds me of a little incident that occurred in which Jake took a part. Craig had some hogs running up what is now called Mission creek. One evening Jake returned to the house and in a very excited manner accosted Craig, who was reading, and told him there was a cougar up the creek eating his hogs. Craig says: "Jake you ride back and tell that cougar I'll mess with him." The next morning the old man saddled his horse took his gun and dogs and went for Mr. Cougar, and it was not long until he returned with the hide of the cougar.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Craig was rather reticent as to his past life and not very communicative on that subject unless he was out in camp and then by the camp fire in the evening he became reminiscent and his stories and accounts of his exploits and travels in the mountains and on the plains were very interesting. There was no egotism in his recounting his exploits. He would invariably say, in speaking of his travels, "we" did so or "he" never "I."</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>It was in the fore part of the month of May, 1867, that Craig and a man by the name of Mike Mayer and myself took a trip to the headwaters of Potlatch creek for the purpose of hunting and prospecting. We departed from his old home at what is now called Jacques Spur on the Camas Prairie Railway and we intercepted the Clearwater river at Big Eddy, twenty-five miles above Lewiston, thence up the river to a point four miles above the present railway station at Lenore. It is not necessary to give any details as to our trip from there on; suffice to say we crossed the river and traveled in a northerly direction to the head-waters of the Potlatch, remained there several days, passing the time in prospecting, hunting and fishing. It was on this trip that I learned a great deal of Craig's past life.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>He was born in the Old Dominion, as he loved to call his native state (Virginia) in Green Brier county about the year 1799 or 1800. At the age of eighteen he became involved in an altercation or quarrel with one much older than he was and was forced to kill him in self-defense. Being quite young and somewhat alarmed at his act he made his "getaway" and he found himself in time in the city of St. Louis. This city at that time was the emporium for the fur traders, trappers and frontiersmen of the northwest. Craig soon joined a party of French Canadians who were on the eve of starting up the Missouri river on a trading expedition and their mode of transportation was with bateaus which made it a long tedious journey. When near Fort Benton they encountered a party of trappers, their destination being the Rocky mountains. Craig severed his connections with the Canadians, joined the trappers, and in time became a full-fledged trapper and plainsman.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The main rendezvous for the trappers, and Indians also, was at Fort Bridger on Green River, now Wyoming. It was there that Craig first met the Nez Perces who told him of the quantities of beaver and other fur animals there were in the waters of their country...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>It was here among the Nez Perces that they got their Indian wives and accompanied by them they returned to their old haunts east of the Rocky mountains.</i></b></p><p id="walker" style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>At one time Craig in his reminiscent mood told me that in the year 1832 or 1833 a party of mountaineers were organized on Green river, now in Wyoming, for the purpose ostensibly of trapping for furs on the waters flowing from the Sierra Nevada mountains into the Pacific ocean. In fact the object was to steal horses from the Spaniards residing in California. In this party was Joe Walker, the headman; Joe Meek, Joe Gale, Bill Williams, Mark Head, Bob Mitchel, Alex Godey, Antoine Janise, William Craig and some others.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>When they camped on a stream where the water would admit they usually stripped at their tepees or lodges and proceeded to the stream to take a plunge.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Now Craig tells this story: "The waters of the Humbolt river are of a milky cast, not clear, so one afternoon while camped on the said stream and being the first to strip, I started for the swimming hole and was just about to plunge in when I got a hunch that things were not as they should be and I had better investigate before taking a dive. I did so and found the water was about a foot and a half deep and the mud four, this condition being in the eddy. So I waded to where there was a current and found the water a little more than waist deep, no mud and good smooth bottom. In looking towards the camp I espied Joe Walker coming and he was jumping like a buck deer, and when he arrived at the brink he says to me: 'How is it?' 'Joe,' I replied 'it is just splendid.' With that he plunged head-first into that four and a half feet of blue mud.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Fearing trouble and not being interested in the subsequent proceedings, I made myself scarce by hiding in the brush on the opposite side and in so doing I ran into some rose brier bushes and scratched myself some, but I was so full of laughter I did not mind that. I peeped through the bushes just in time to see him extricate himself from the mud. He then washed the mud off as well as he could, returned to the tepee, put on his clothes, shot his rifle off, cleaned it, then reloaded it and hollered at me and said: 'Now show yourself and I'll drop a piece of lead into you,' which I failed to do as I did not want to be encumbered with any extra weight especially at that time. I was compelled to remain in hiding nearly the whole afternoon. Before sundown I was told to come into camp and get my supper and leave, that I could not travel any further with that party.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I was very glad of the permit for it was rather monotonous out there in the brush with nothing but a blanket around me and nobody to talk to and my pipe in camp. I soon dressed myself and then it was time to chew. Our company was divided into messes and each mess was provided with a dressed buffalo hide. It was spread on the ground and the grub placed upon it. When supper was announced we sat down. I sat opposite to Walker and in looking at him I discovered some of that blue mud of the Humbolt on each side of his nose and just below his eyelids and I could not help laughing. He addressed me in an abrupt manner and said: 'What the h--l are you laughing at.' I told him that gentlemen generally washed before eating. With that the others observed the mud and they too roared with laughter in which Walker joined, but he threatened if ever I played another such trick on him he would kill me as sure as my name was Craig."</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>This place on the Humbolt river was ever afterward called by the mountain men. "Walker's Plunge," or "Hole." Craig says in this raid, Walker's party got away with five or six hundred head of the Spaniards horses and they drove them through what is now known as Walker's basin and Walker's pass of the Sierra Nevada mountains, which is south of the Truckee pass where the Central Pacific railway now traverses. The most of these horses were traded to the different tribes of Indians they encountered for furs, buffalo robes and such other things as they wished to barter, especially the mares and colts. I think that this was the only means by which the Indians east of the Rocky mountains acquired their ponies. They evidently came from California and New Mexico, either stolen from or traded by the Spainards. The tribes on the west side of the Rockies secured their horses from the Pacific coast by trading or raiding.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I once questioned Craig as to the bravest of the frontiersmen. He told me that actually Bill Williams was the bravest and the most fearless mountaineer of all: that the tribes from the Mexican border to the Canadian know him and feared him thinking perhaps he was some supernatural being. He never trapped in company with anyone else, always alone. His furs were the best dressed and he received more for them. He could speak the dialects of several tribes, especially the Osages and was proficient in what is termed the sign talk among the Indians, that is with the hands, hence he could go among any of the tribes and make himself understood.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Craig told me at one time that a missionary preacher came among the Osages to preach the gospel and Williams was to do the interpreting for him. It seems that Williams at one time was a minister of the gospel previous to his becoming a trapper and he asked the missionary from what part of the bible he'd select his text. He was told it would be from the book of Jonah. Than said Williams, "I will advise you not to mention that fish story for you will not get one of these Indians to believe you, but if you insist in telling about the big fish do so and I'll interpret for you." The missionary got no further in his discourse than reading the text, for one old chief arose and pointing his finger at the preacher said: "We have heard several of the white people talk and lie, we know they will lie, but, that is the biggest lie we ever heard." Then he gathered his blanket around him and proceeded to his tepee followed by the others to their respective places of abode, leaving the missionary meditating on their conduct as predicted by Bill Williams. I am digressing from my subject, but the aforesaid story was told to me by Craig, hence I insert the same in writing my recollections of him.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The land on the Lapwai creek known as the Craig donation claim, was not donated by the government but by the Nez Perces. In the treaty of 1855 at Walla Walla between Governor J.J. Stevens of Washington territory on the part of the government on one side and the Nez Perces on the other, there was a stipulation in the said treaty that Craig or his heirs should have so much land (one section) on the reservation. I think this is on record in the department at Washington D.C. and Craig had the privilege of selecting it.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In 1862 I visited Craig who was then living on Mission creek, a half a mile from its junction with the Lapwai. After I had put up my horse he said to me: "See here Thomas, I am glad you came I have got some barley to deliver to Weingerber and Gamble at the brewery in Lewiston tomorrow and it will require two wagons to hold it all and I want someone to drive one of the teams." I told him I would assist him. He then proposed to load the wagons that evening so as to get an early start in the morning. He had two teams, one being mules. He asked me which I preferred. I told him either would be satisfactory. He then said: "I'll drive the mules." The next morning we had an early start and in due time arrived, delivered the barley, then put our teams up at the White Front stable. Craig went to the different stores to make his purchases, not forgetting Blue John (an appellation put on a one gallon blue keg) to have it replenished.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>After dinner we went to the stable to hitch up and return home. While waiting for our teams to be harnessed he said to me: "See here, Thomas, I don't like this way of traveling." I knew what he meant so I told him I would hitch his mules to my wagon, it being the heaviest, put my horses in the lead and tie his wagon behind, then he could ride with me. This proposition was agreed on. I then hitched the mules to my wagon and drove to the different places where he had made his purchases. After collecting them I drove back to the stable hitched the other team in the lead and tied the other wagon behind mine and then started for home with Craig sitting beside me on my left.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>We were traveling along very nicely until we arrived at Mulkey's orchard, since called Lindsay's orchard. Mulkey had constructed an irrigating ditch, the waters of which were taken out of what is now known as Lindsay creek and the road was on the edge of this ditch for some distance. I was driving along telling some story and not paying much attention to the team when suddenly one of the fore wheels went into the ditch and Craig and I parted company - he fell on his back into that ditch. He got out of it, pulled off his coat, shook the mud off of it, then made the remark that: "if that was the way I drove a team he'd be --- if he would ride with me." I told him it was optional. He got into the trail wagon and laid down on the empty barley sacks. I drove along whistling and singing and I never thought to look behind till I was half way down Soldier canyon; then I observed that I had a wagon missing and I didn't know how far back it was to where I lost it. I tied my team to some trees dropped the tugs and went back in search of the lost one. Just at the head of the canyon I discovered the wagon silently approaching. I placed my optics on the form of my friend Craig in the arms of Morpheous I did not wish to disturb his peaceful slumbers so I picked up the tongue and started down the canyon. A short distance beyond was a rather steep piece of road and on approaching it I stopped and put on the brake, but I could not move the vehicle with the brake on and it would move too fast with it off. I took another peek at my sleeping friend and he seemed so comfortable: therefore, I did not feel inclined to wake him up, so I grasped the tongue once more and proceeded on. This particular piece of road was about thirty feet long and steep, but I thought I could manage to get along. I soon discovered that the wagon wanted to go in advance and not wishing to be run over I jumped aside to let it proceed on but it did not do so, it ran off of the road and upset. I could hear Craig's muffled voice, he being covered with grain sacks, saying. "What the h--l does all this mean." It was an extremely ridiculous situation and I being in a hilarious mood I could not reply, but I approached the wagon, raised the body and let him crawl out. That being done he stood up, rubbed his eyes and took a reconnaoissance of the situation, and in a solemn manner said: "Well I'll be d--m:" then exploded with laughter from which the canyon replied in echo.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In getting our wagon back on the road we were assisted by a young man passing by. We were now ready to move on and I asked Craig on which side he wished to work, off or nigh. He said he'd push. I told him I thought he had better work by my side, that we were well matched and made a good team hitched up together. He complied. We soon had our two wagons attached together and was ready to move on when Craig asked me if I did not think the incident just occurring demanded a sentiment. I told him it absolutely did. He then went to my wagon, resurrected Blue John and giving the usual salutation, "how," then passed John to my embrace and I followed suit by moistening my lips with John's tears.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In the year 1863 a portion of the territory of Washington was cut off and the territory of Idaho was created from it. A republican convention was held at Mt. Idaho to nominate a delegate to congress. Rob't Newell, a frontiersman, a companion of Craig, aspired to get the nomination, so he started for Mt. Idaho, accompanied by Craig. The first day they got as far as Durkeeville on Craig mountain.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>This place was a road house established by a man named Durkee, afterwards called Masons, in fact he sold out to Harry Mason. There was quite a crowd at this place that evening whose destination was Mt. Idaho. Newell being tired, and not wishing to sit up, retired early. Some were reading, some conversing and others engaged in playing cards, in which pastime Craig participated. He soon became tired of card playing and concluded to retire. He and Newell were to sleep together, so when Craig came into the room he saw the prepared speech of Newell sticking out of his coat pocket. Craig took the speech and returned to the lower room and read to those there assembled and perhaps added some to it, for when Newell made his appearance next morning he was hailed as a good fellow, a brick and a fine old man. He was invited to have a drink and a cigar both of which he refused. They had their breakfast and by that time their team was ready to convey them on.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>They had not proceeded very far when Newell says to Craig: "Bill, if I am the nominee at the convention as the delegate to congress, I'll go to congress and all h--l won't stop me." Says Craig: "See here, Bob, I'll tell you what I think." "Well what is that." "I think you'll go to h--l and all congress won't stop you." Newell made his speech but he was told in the convention that they had heard it before. In that convention Governor Wallace was the nominee.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In 1868 Craig received a paralytic stroke from which he never entirely recovered. I was contemplating on going to Moose creek and I paid him a visit before doing so and we sat up nearly the whole night talking of the pleasant hours spent together and when I bid him good bye, he said: "Thomas I'll never see you again on this earth." He invariably addressed me as Thomas.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I had been to Moose creek and on my return at Weippe I received a letter from Sam Phinney, his son-in-law, informing me of his death which was in the latter part of September 1868. The Nez Perces always called him William; did not know him as Craig. </i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span>William Craig (1806-1868} fled Virginia & headed west at the age of 17 after he killed a neighbor in an argument. He was recognized as an American West explorer as early as 1829. In partnership with other men he established Fort Davy Crockett on the Green River in Brown's Hole, a favorite wintering place for Indians in northwest Colorado. They closed the fort in 1840 when they learned that supply trains would no longer be passing by & Craig moved further west. On November 20, 1840 he arrived in the Lapwai Valley & became the first non-missionary settler in Idaho. He married the daughter of a Nez Perce Chief, Big Thunder. Working with missionary Henry Spalding a Nez Perce dictionary was developed & the Nez Perce were taught to read & write. From 1848 to 1858 he was the first Indian Agent for the Nez Perce people. Craig served as a volunteer in the Yakima Indian War, eventually attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Over time, he became frustrated with some of the consequences of the treaties. The Nez Perce thought so highly of Craig that they asked to have a provision in their treaty allowing the former mountain man to keep his homestead in a reservation otherwise off-limits to whites. His homestead was often used for councils of the Nez Perce, occasionally drawing crowds of up to 2000 people. In the winter of 1858-1859 he left Lapwai & briefly became the postmaster of Walla Walla, Washington. He returned to his farm from which he ran a hotel & stage stop & remained until he died at age of 62 from a paralytic stroke.</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-12289048021845845842023-12-19T10:50:00.104-05:002023-12-23T00:00:17.737-05:001832 Encounters - John Ball (1794-1884) notes Indians while Crossing the Plains to Oregon<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1XBm4hoImkZODxn1egFEcSD8dL9pN2K-1wcC2eB1KWOAE3n-BYah0czXeoNz_6vD9BgVd0qBshu0GaD8l9VwxxBTW1ahnI-LukuyDujzkJiMo3XL2d2FOTkC5ERPXKIti2PE7C9KOsH0BnbBJ8GF9xzOmW0SL3qdPF2bdBTOKFIDFAjh1KB0qJCDk7M/s1068/ball_john.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="798" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1XBm4hoImkZODxn1egFEcSD8dL9pN2K-1wcC2eB1KWOAE3n-BYah0czXeoNz_6vD9BgVd0qBshu0GaD8l9VwxxBTW1ahnI-LukuyDujzkJiMo3XL2d2FOTkC5ERPXKIti2PE7C9KOsH0BnbBJ8GF9xzOmW0SL3qdPF2bdBTOKFIDFAjh1KB0qJCDk7M/s16000/ball_john.jpg" /></a></span></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">John Ball (1794-1884) was member of Nathaniel Wyeth's 1832 expedition to the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest. Ball provides an account of: Sublette's expedition across the plains to the 1832 Pierre's Hole rendezvous, the famous battle with the Blackfeet that occurred there, the continuation of Wythe's remaining men to Oregon, and the 1st settlements in Oregon.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="text"><div class="front"><div class="preface" style="border-bottom: medium solid navy; clear: both;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ball, John, <cite>Autobiography of John Ball</cite>, Grand Rapids, Mich., The Dean-Hicks company, 1925.</span></p></div></div><div class="body" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><div class="chapter" id="ch1" style="border-bottom: medium solid navy;"><div class="head" style="margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: center;"><div class="argument"><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>NEW PLANS</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a class="pb" id="p59" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>CHAPTER I</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>While in New York I sought out and found some of John Jacob Astor's Oregon men for the purpose of gaining information from them about that country...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Notables in Washington</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Having the time, before the arrival from Boston of my Oregon traveling companions, I went for the first time to Washington. Put up at Brown's Hotel, standing there almost alone, on the Avenue, Washington then being comparatively but a village...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>While thus spending a few days at Washington I took the opportunity with other things to attend the sitting of the United States Supreme Court. And then I listened to Chief Justice Marshall's celebrated decision of the Georgia and Cher<a class="pb" id="p60" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>okee case, with regard to the Cherokee lands. And, of course, attended the sitting of the houses of Congress, Calhoun, then Vice-President, presiding over the Senate, in which Benton, Clay, Webster and other celebrities were then members. As a presiding officer I have never seen Mr. Calhoun's equal, or a finer man to look on. And, as then constituted, it was indeed an August body and in the House were then Adams and Choate. The latter I knew well at College and there were others in both houses with whom I might without impropriety have claimed acquaintance. But no, I poked about as a stranger. And as such presumed to call on General Jackson at the White House without any introduction. He however received me kindly.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>President Jackson</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Then, as always through life, I neglected to make use of men in place and of notoriety, as I perhaps might have done to my great advantage. Had I then told the President and others of my proposed journey they might have taken such interest, as to have given some aid, or more notoriety to my journey and personal advantage after its performance. But so it has always been, I have never felt much deference for men barely on account of holding office or claiming consequence. Had I studied to make use of such and shown them more regard and aid, who knows but some more notorious place might not have been mine. But there is this consolation, I have no less self respect, and may have escaped more severe troubles than have now been my lot.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Captain N. Wyeth</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>After spending a few days at Washington I returned to Baltimore and awaited the coming from Boston by sea of Mr. Wyeth and his party... While at Baltimore I stopped <a class="pb" id="p61" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>at Belsover's, where was one of the best tables I ever sat at. And I made the best of it, knowing when I left it, I should go into camp life. I had always liked Baltimore, so beautifully located and its fine fountains of water.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Leaves Baltimore</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Having arranged matters for our journey, about the middle of March we left Baltimore on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for Frederick, sixty miles, by horse power. That sixty miles was then more than all the other railroads in the Union....From Frederick we took our journey on foot, having a wagon for our baggage. In fact commenced our camp life, sleeping at night under tents and cooking our grub at a fire by the roadside. And so for some days we trudged on. At Cumberland visited the coal mines, which to me were quite new and interesting as were many other things on our way, for I had never been before in these parts. And so we continued along on the National Cumberland road to Brownsville on the river Monongahela. There we took a steamboat for Pittsburgh, where on arrival we looked about to see its wonders; for from its history, its commanding location, at the junction of those two mountain streams to form the Ohio, and its coal and iron made it one of the most marked places in the country. In passing thus slowly the Alleghenies, I noticed with much interest the geology of the country.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Bound for St. Louis</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>From Pittsburgh we took passage in a steamboat bound for St. Louis. And as we descended the river I noticed its high bluffs, where at first the openings to the coal mines were high up the same, but as we sailed on, they gradually opened lower and lower, till the coal veins passed below the river. We stopped for a time at Cincinnati; which was then but a village, with few buildings hut of wood and these of no great pretensions. That spring the river had been so high as to flood much of the town, doing a good deal of damage. Among the passengers on the boat, bound to Cincinnati was the Reverend <a class="pb" id="p62" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>Lyman Beecher, and one pleasant day, as we were smoothly gliding down the stream, he and also Wyeth and myself were promenading the deck which had no bulwarks. We noticed that he turned many steps before he reached the stern of the boat, while we went so near that our next step would have been overboard. My companion remarked, "How is it that Mr. Beecher is so much more cautious than we sinners?" Implying that Mr. Beecher doubtless claimed that all would be right with him should he be drowned, while with us we made no pretensions in that direction.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>We had a pleasant sail down the river, running the rapids at Louisville, and stopping there and at a few other places, but not at Cairo, for there, all was swamp about the mouth of the Ohio. And when we entered the Mississippi we found it a muddy instead of a clear stream like the Ohio, and that we made much slower progress in stemming its current. The first sight of this mighty river strikes one as a thing almost sublime, thinking of the thousand streams so far away that make up its rushing volume. Arriving at St. Louis, I found it then but a village, mostly consisting of old French buildings along the levee and a street near the river, but few good buildings in the place. Draw a line then from there to, say Detroit and the entire white population beyond I do not think was ten, if five thousand. I saw a steamboat sail, while there to go up the Illinois River, with the United States soldiers to fight Black Hawk, who was overrunning the country about where Chicago now is.</i></b></span></p></div><div class="chapter" id="ch2" style="border-bottom: medium solid navy;"><div class="head" style="margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: center;"><div class="argument"><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>ACROSS THE PLAINS</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a class="pb" id="p63" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>CHAPTER II</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Sail up the Mississippi</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Here we expected to settle about the manner of performing our further journey. We did not propose to undertake it, without guides or inducing some experienced mountaineers to join our party. And we learned that a Mr. William Sublette of St. Louis, successor with Smith & Jackson, of Gen. Ashley in the mountain fur trade business, was now fitting out in the upper part of the state for their annual trip. So thinking that we might probably join his party in the journey, we determined to go right on up the country. </i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Joins Fur Traders</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>When all had arrived at Lexington, we went on to Independence, near which Mr. Sublette and his party were in camp. And on meeting him he readily consented that we might join them on this condition: that we should travel fully under his command and directions, and under the most strict military discipline; take our due part with his people in guarding camp and defense in case of attack by the Indians, which he rather expected, from a personal dislike they had to him. They charged him with leaving the year before a horse in the country packed with infected clothing, to give them the smallpox...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Leaves Last Settlement</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Our last encampment, before crossing the west line of the state, was at a Morman settlement...Here we found means to cross the river and swam our horses. For here was one white man, acting I think as a gunsmith for the Indians. He was the last white man we saw except of our own party.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a class="pb" id="p66" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>Kansas River</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>We continued our march up the Kansas river along the edge of the prairie back of the timber bordering the river...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>At this time I think the Indians were away, but we passed one of their villages where I noticed their mode of building. They dug holes in the dry ground some five or six feet deep and then built a roof of split plank, so made quite a warm winter house. W</i></b></span></p></div><div class="chapter" id="ch3" style="border-bottom: medium solid navy;"><div class="head" style="margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: center;"><div class="argument"><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>THE MOUNTAINS</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a class="pb" id="p71" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>CHAPTER III</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Crossing the Laramie</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Finally we came to a big, rapid, turbulent tributary, the Laramie from the mountains of the same name, and to a dead halt at the point where since has been Fort Laramie. For here we had to make what proved a serious undertaking, a crossing of said river... </i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Indian Attack</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>One night in this part of our journey when we were encamped in the usual way, in messes all around, leaving quite a space within for our horses to feed, and the usual guard. But unperceived by the guard, Indians approached near camp and raised their whoop and fired guns and arrows, and so frightened the horses that they all broke loose from their fastenings and rushed by us out of camp. And all were instantly on their feet ready for fight. For myself the first consciousness I had, I found myself on my feet with my rifle in my hand. For always all were required to sleep with their rifles by their side, well loaded for action. But the Indians were not to be found. And we soon collected our horses and tied them and laid down to sleep. At least I did so, showing how a man will become, in a measure, indifferent to danger. I felt some fears before getting where there were Indians, but felt but little after. But this time we found in the morning, they so far did what they aimed at, had stolen some dozen or more of our best horses, those probably which ran farthest out...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Grand Rendezvous</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Here we found not only Sublette's traders and trappers, -but a party of the American Fur Company, and hands of Nez Perce and Flat Head Indians, who had by appointment met the traders here with their furs and five or six hundred horses. Many of them they sold us to take the place of our lean ones. They would allow something for the lean ones for with them, in their slow way of journeying they would recruit. But the full price of a pony was but a blanket and a cheap knife. So we supplied ourselves with all we needed. These mountain horses are of the Arabian stock, brought to Mexico by the early Spanish settlers--light of limb and fleet. It was a grand sight to look on their immense herd out on the prairie of all colors from white to black and many spotted ones. For during the day they would send them out on to the open prairie to feed <a class="pb" id="p75" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>with the mounted guard with them, to run them into camp, if the Blackfeet, in whose country we were, should make a dash down the mountain side to steal them. At night they would bring them into camp where they would quietly remain among their owners tents till morning.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Pierre's Hole</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Here in Pierre's Hole was for us a grand time of rest and recruit. The Indians had an abundance of good, dried buffalo meat which we bought of them and on which we feasted, took a bite of the fat part with the lean, eating it like bread and cheese, uncooked or slightly roasted on the coals as we chose. And I never witnessed such recuperation of men as during the two weeks we lay at our ease in this camp, feeding on the dried buffalo meat, and our drink the pure cool mountain creek, a branch of the Lewis river, on which we were encamped. And among us, a varied congregation of some two hundred white men and perhaps nearly as many Indians, there was quite a social time, and a great exchange of talk and interesting indeed, from the wide and varied experiences of the narrators. There were cultured men from city and country down to white men lower than the Indian himself. Men of high-toned morals, down to such as had left their country for its good, or perhaps rather personal safety...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>And here we had the test of the honesty of the Indian. When we had purchased a horse and it had got back into the immense herd, we could never have reclaimed it, or perhaps known it if seen, but they would bring them back to us, and again and again, if needed. And if any of our property, tools or camp things seemed lost, they would bring them to us, were in all things orderly, peaceful, and kind. And the Flat Head chief used of an evening to mount his horse from which he would give his people a moral lecture. A white man who had been some years in their country and well understood their language told us what he said. And it was of a <a class="pb" id="p76" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>high, moral tone, telling them to be punctual in their dealings with us and orderly among themselves.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Here we were more than a thousand miles from the white settlements and had met no natives till now. And not having then ever seen much of them, I observed with much interest their ways. Their usual dress was a frock and leggings and moccasins made from dressed deer skin, and a well dressed buffalo skin with the hair on for a blanket, to ride on and sleep in. The frock of the women was longer than that of the men. Both had their dresses somewhat ornamented by a projecting edge of the leather, cut into a fringe, shells, feathers and beads, when to be had, worked into their dresses, or in their hair. The women, these mountain women were extremely diffident, would blush if looked at. And though they and their friends deemed it quite an honor to be married by a w trite man--one of these traders or trappers, who had passed years in their country--they, that is the father or nearest male relative, would never consent to any intercourse with these women, but for life. But I fear that the more virtuous and honorable Indian was sometimes betrayed into an alliance that the white man betrayed and annulled when he quit the country.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Sublette Returns</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>... For myself I never turned my face back for a moment and resolved to go on, if it was in the company of the Nez Pierces whose country was down near the mouth of the Lewis river. But a Mr. Frapp and Milton Sublette with a trapping party of Sublette s men were to go off trapping somewhere westward, so we resolved to go on, joined their party of some forty whites, half-breeds and Indians, and so keep on, thinking some way to bring out rightly.</i></b></span></p></div><div class="chapter" id="ch4" style="border-bottom: medium solid navy;"><div class="head" style="margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: center;"><div class="argument"><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>JOURNEY CONTINUES WITH TRAPPERS</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a class="pb" id="p77" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>CHAPTER IV</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>We had a quiet night but in the morning, as we were about to commence our day's march, Indians were seen in line of march on horseback off across the prairie, say some two miles. And the trappers at once decided they must see who they were. So Frapp told Antoine, the half-breed, to take a good horse and have an Indian of the party go with him and go out and see who they were. As Antoine approached them he saw they were Blackfeet, and their chief left his party and came out in a friendly way to meet him. But his father having been killed by the Blackfeet, he was going to have his revenge. So he said to his companion, "I will appear to be friendly when we meet, but you watch your chance and shoot him." His plan was carried out. He was shot down. Antoine caught his robe, a square of blue and scarlet cloth, and turned and the Blackfeet fired after him, when they saw his treachery. He escaped and came into our camp, said they were Blackfeet, and that he had killed their chief and there was his robe in evidence.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>"All right" they said, "they would play friendly now but at night attack our camp." But we twelve could not appreciate the reasoning. But here we were in the company that thus decided. But as we watched to see what they would next do they seemed at first to break up and scatter, but soon we saw <a class="pb" id="p78" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>that a large band, the warriors, seemed coming directly towards us to make fight. So we immediately tied our horses to bushes near and put up our saddles as a kind of breastwork but before they reached us, they turned off into some timber on a stream, built a kind of fort of logs, bushes, their saddles and blankets, as a shade if we attacked them, and took their horses into the fort with them.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Fight with the Blackfeet</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The moment that Antoine gave the information that they were Blackfeet, an express flew off back to the old camp to tell we had met the enemy, and in the time, it seemed to me, that race horses could have hardly gone over the ground, some of Sublette's men and the friendly Indians came rushing into our camp inquiring where were the Blackfeet. And on soon finding where they had fortified themselves, each white or Indian, as he felt that his gun was right, and all things ready for his part, would start off. And so they went helter skelter, each on his own hook to fight the common enemy. For the friendly Indians had their own wrongs to avenge. As they thus almost singly approached their brush and saddle fort, they could only see the defences whereas, they, the Blackfeet, could see everyone who approached them. They soon shot down some of the trappers and Flatheads, for the timber was not large enough to shelter a man. And soon wounded men were brought back to our camp.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>We twelve Yankees felt that we had no men to spare to be killed or wounded that we were not called upon to go out of the way to find danger, but had they attacked our camp, we should have taken our full part, to save ourselves and horses. But we readily assisted in taking care of the wounded and in other ways aid, as far as we felt belonged to us. They kept up a firing at them at a safer distance, but did not rout them. Six trappers and as many friendly Indians were killed or mortally wounded. And as night approached it was determined to retreat. And the whites took a wounded man on a horse, others riding each side to hold him up. The Indians fixed long fills to a horse letting the ends draw on the smooth ground and fixed onto them a kind of hurdle, onto which they laid the wounded and drew them off easily over the smooth prairie. A better way than ours.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a class="pb" id="p79" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>When night came on we encamped in the best manner of defense we could, and the next day expecting surely an attack from them, built a high fence and strong pen for our horses in such case, and a guard on the open prairie to run them in if attacked, and then awaited the result. Their fort was finally visited and a number of dead horses found. But of course they had secreted any men they lost from scalping. We did not go back so far as the old camp.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Birth of an Indian Baby</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Mr. Frapp had an Indian wife who traveled along with him, and the Indians of the party, some of them, had their wives, these women as good horsemen as the men, always riding astride. One day we delayed our march, we knew not why, till after a time we heard an outcry for a few minutes from Frapp's wife, out to one side in some bushes. And we soon learned the cause of our laying over, was to give her the opportunity to lay in, give birth to a child in camp and not on our day's march. But the very next day, she sat her newborn baby, feet down, into a deep basket that she hung to the pummel of her saddle, mounted her horse and rode on in the band as usual. And she had another child of two or three, who had his own horse. He was sat on the saddle and blankets brought around him so as to keep him erect, and his gentle pony went loose with the other pack horses, which kept along with those riding and never strayed from the common band. I mention these things to show something of the Indian ways in their own country, and that whites in their country readily from necessity and convenience, fall into like habits, and soon find but little inconvenience from the same. The Canadian Frenchman seems to adopt their life as readily as though raised in that way, and others the same after a little time...</i></b></span></p></div><div class="chapter" id="ch5" style="border-bottom: medium solid navy;"><div class="head" style="margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: center;"><div class="argument"><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>TWELVE OF WYETH'S PARTY GO ON ALONE</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a class="pb" id="p83" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>CHAPTER V</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The first day after leaving the trappers, we traveled over a rough country of all sorts of rock, burnt and unburnt, and encamped in what is now called a canyon, between high basaltic rocks. We twelve thus for the first time alone it seemed a little lonely... And laying over the next day and going a short distance down the creek, we found Indians who had our future food, dried salmon. And getting out on the other side we traveled on and when we came again to the river we found it, <a class="pb" id="p84" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>though now quite a stream, decidedly warm, made so by hot springs gushing in from porous bluffs. Quite a stream came in of the temperature of 100 degrees.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Shoshone Indians</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The creek finally comes out of the ravine into a better looking country, and here we met other Indians. They call themselves Shoshones and seemed very friendly and sold us their salmon for such of our goods as they seemed most to need-- awls of iron to prick their deer skins for sewing into garments, and knives, for they hardly possessed an article of our manufacture. They used a sharp bone for an awl, one flattened for a chisel, stone knives and hatchets. Ourselves and all we had seemed to them great curiosities. For their country being poor in furs it had not been visited by traders.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In some ten or twelve days after leaving the trappers, we reached the mouth of the creek where it joins the Lewis river. And here we found a large encampment of Indians, being a favorable site for fishing. The first thing on arriving the chief, in their usual hospitable manner, sent us a fine salmon for our dinner, and would have deemed it an insult to be offered pay for it. We were strangers and his guests.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Indian Fishing</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Their manner of fishing was ingenious. The stream was shallow and they built a fence across it near its mouth and then some distance above, leaving weirs at one side, so that the fish coming down or going up would come in, but would not find their way out. They had spears with a bone point with a socket that fitted onto a shaft, and a hole through the point by which a string tied it to the handle. At sunrise at a signal from the chief they rushed in from both sides, struck the salmon through with the spear, the point came off, and held by the string to the shaft, they towed them to shore and so soon had hundreds on land...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Reckless of Danger</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In this part of our journey we twelve were often very reckless of danger... At another time we found the Indians about at night, for though generally friendly, they could not forego the attempt to steal away in a quiet manner, our horses, of which we had two to a man.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>We traveled some days along or in the vicinity of the Lewis river after meeting Indians, and subsisting mostly on fresh or dried salmon bought or given us from them, and making short or long day's journeys and laying over to catch the beaver. They are a night animal.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a class="pb" id="p86" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>At one night's encampment, we made the Indians understand that we were going to Walla Walla, the name of that place being the only word we had in common. All else was by signs, talk with the fingers. Inquiring the way, one of the Indians said that he had been to Walla Walla and made in the sand a map of the country...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I felt confident I understood him, though this all by signs, and it proved just as he had said, and of great help to us. But as we traveled on we met with no more Indians from whom to buy our fish, and we met with no game that we could kill. And not taking the precaution to pack along much, we soon got short of food. And we hurried on making thirty miles one day, crossing a most beautiful fertile plain surrounded by mountains, the same I think is called the Big Pound. And came to the mountains, the Indian described, the Blue Mountains...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Wyeth Presses Ahead</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Here, the next day, Wyeth took four of the men and the best horses and started off express for Walla Walla, requesting me the next day after to follow on and he would get food and send back for us. So the next day following I told the men they better pack along some of the horse meat they had dried, and some of them did so. And we ascended the mountain on the Indian trail and found a quite level road along its ridge, and scattering pine and cedar timber on its sides... </i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Mount Hood</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>...And now I proposed to the men, as we had been so long without food, to kill another horse and the best conditioned one in the lot, but they thought they could stand it another day, so we did not kill the horse. The next day we started early down the creek, for I thought that would bring us out right, and in a few hours we came to an Indian encampment, where we got some food. They had dried-bear and other meat and elderberries, and we bought and ate, for they had learned of the whites. For myself I did not eat so ravenous, but the men ate till I urged them to desist, for I feared the result. We soon after encamped, and the next day arrived at the fort, where we found Wyeth who had been there two or three days.</i></b></span></p></div><div class="chapter" id="ch6" style="border-bottom: medium solid navy;"><div class="head" style="margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: center;"><div class="argument"><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>OREGON</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a class="pb" id="p89" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>CHAPTER VI</i></b></span></p></div><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Down the Columbia...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>We procured at the fort a boat and two Canadians to take us down the river and started the day after our arrival. And in descending soon came into the high perpendicular basaltic bluffs with only river and a narrow shore on one or the other side, of grass and sand, the current of the clear water with a slight blue ocean shade sweeping swiftly on. And when we encamped at night, if we could find a place that we could <a class="pb" id="p90" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>ascend the bluff we found no timber, but a dry, grassy plain stretching far away to distant mountains, in the west the Cascade range and snow-clad Mount Hood. At one night's encampment the Indians, being acquainted with our boatmen, gave them a young horse to kill for our supper. And though we had received a plenty of food for our voyage at the fort, I tried the horse and found it as good meat as I had ever eaten, it being in better condition than the one killed by us at the Blue Mountains. And we voyaged on past the big falls and came to the Dalles and then stopped to see the Indians and found there had been great mortality among them. We walked by the wonderous chute or flume through which all the water rushes at its low stage, but passed the boat through it...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Fort Vancouver, 1832</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Stopped over night at a sawmill of the company on a creek, and saw there, two strange looking men, saw at once they could be neither Caucasian, Indian or African. And so it proved, they were Kanakas, Sandwich Islanders, in the employ of the traders. And the mill was under the superintendence of one of Astor's men who had remained in the country. ..</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Indian Burial</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Though a hard looking set and unexpected, we were received very kindly and treated ever in the most hospitable way.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Some of us did not feel that we had reached the end of our journey till we had seen the Pacific. So a few days after, five of us took an Indian canoe and paddled down the river, passed the mouth of the Willamette river, found the country for miles level, prairie and timber, met a company's sloop, and often Indians singing as they paddled their canoes swiftly along...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>The Pacific</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>There to stand on the brink of the great Pacific, with the rolling waves washing its sands and seaweeds to my feet! And there I stood on the shore of the Pacific enjoying the happiest hour of all my journey, till the sun sank beneath its waters, and then by a beautiful moonlight returned on the beach to camp, feeling that I had crossed the continent. Cape Disappointment is in Lat. 46.19 N. and 123.59 W. Mount Saint Helens being due east, majestic and symmetrical in its form. This was the 9th of November and we had left Baltimore the 26th of March, seven and one-half months before. We returned slowly up the river, seeing something of the Indians, always peaceable in their ways, for these traders had the good sense and tact to keep a good understanding with them, though they had to deal with them quite in their own way, the Indian always knowing just how much he was to get for his furs in the articles he wanted. I should mention the fact that the Columbia in parts, as we passed, seemed alive and white with geese and ducks...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Indian Customs</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Near by was the graveyard of the Indians, and on one occasion I attended with them the burial ceremony of one of their young men. They dug a grave as we would, put down some slabs at the sides and bottom, wrapped the body in his clothing and over these some mats, lowered it down to its place, put a board over and filled up with the earth. Then they built a fire on the grave and sat on the ground around and for an hour chanted a mournful dirge, all very orderly and impressive. And for a long time after his mother would come almost daily to place food in the earth at the head of the grave for his use on his journey to the other world. At the head of a man's grave they stuck a paddle and at the woman's a camas stick, a crooked pointed stick used by them to dig the camas root, with them a great article of food, the digging of which is woman's business, while paddling the canoe is that of the man...</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Chenook Language</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>There was in use a mongrel language between the Indians and traders, called the Chenook; but unlike theirs, which was <a class="pb" id="p97" style="visibility: hidden;"></a>said by a man well acquainted with that and other Indian languages, to be the most copious of any. But this comprised hardly three hundred words, and probably not half of these theirs. but composed in part of words of other tribes, English and French. Things new to the Indians were called by their accustomed names. The hog had its French name, the ox the Indian name of the buffalo where the buffalo ranges in the mountains. The Indians on the Williamette, as most of the Indians, talked much by signs and sounds. One word was used for bird, for instance, then by imitating its cry, would express that it was the swan, goose or duck. One word meant growing vegetables; then by an adjective, or some motions, show whether grapes or trees were meant.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>In enclosing my lands I fenced in a portion of their road or trail, and they went around, never crossing my fields. And in all things they were kind and just, as far as I observed, so I am disposed to ascribe our troubles with the Oregon Indians to injustice, or indiscretion, on the part of the whites. And this was the cause of the trouble, in most cases from the first settlement of the country.</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Ague and Discouragement</i></b></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I suffered much while residing on my farm from the ague, a disease said to be unknown to the Indians or traders, till within some four or five years. It first broke out among the Indians near the fort, and spread far into the country, except near the ocean. And with the natives it proved very fatal, sweeping off whole bands, partly probably owing to their plunging into the water when the fever came on, and other improper ways. Still they seemed wonderfully aided by the use of such medicines as they procured from the whites.</i></b></span></p></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-86008426466484514232023-12-17T03:00:00.108-05:002023-12-17T03:00:00.139-05:001825 Encounters - William H. Ashley writes of Indians While looking for a Route to The Pacific Ocean<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS5mOehgApcEWg0KnFlUHR6Ru4JkmXDIBeZi2d7qg5l3T-y12SWoiUGDF2pEgOQHdCl5f3dCud4KGLmYIe4lKt6lbidH-HpOpIkJLmDIDUyVeR_cwvnLWzOmboj953JWQ-hI2tcvzDdZPiTTlmq17lhUX3FGkXlDWz9-HJQ8-oo0tVUqMqmBwjF6eLVdc/s989/William_Ashley.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="989" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS5mOehgApcEWg0KnFlUHR6Ru4JkmXDIBeZi2d7qg5l3T-y12SWoiUGDF2pEgOQHdCl5f3dCud4KGLmYIe4lKt6lbidH-HpOpIkJLmDIDUyVeR_cwvnLWzOmboj953JWQ-hI2tcvzDdZPiTTlmq17lhUX3FGkXlDWz9-HJQ8-oo0tVUqMqmBwjF6eLVdc/w518-h640/William_Ashley.jpg" width="518" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">William H. Ashley (1778-1838) National Park Service</span></div>Letter from William H. Ashley to Gen. Henry Atkinson<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">William H. Ashley (1778-1838) was a fur trader, entrepreneur, & politician in the Rocky Mountains & the Western United States during the early 19C. Ashley is remembered for organizing a group of fur trappers known as the "Ashley Hundred" or "Ashley's Hundred." He was also active in politics, </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><span>Ashley remained active in politics, running for governor of Missouri & being elected to Congress in 1831, 1832, & 1834. However, he lost his bid for re-election in 1838 & died soon after of pneumonia.</span></span><span 18px="" font-size:="" oboto="" quot="" serif="" slab="" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> </span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">General Henry Atkinson (1782-1842) was a military leader who served in the United States Army. He played a prominent role in various conflicts & expeditions during the early to mid 19C. Atkinson served in the War of 1812 & later became a brigadier general. He was involved in frontier conflicts, including the Black Hawk War & other engagements with Native American tribes.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3scxCu8nXcnehDVFIBUI2Av033hh1tlstjiyMM8Mv56MFwshXNMHn9xJigEp5c36sKKg8vZTRygE4uxHzdWxzahBY9vnoWVVid8Ouh63CHqaPmtwIJTDVQvwzvkbp8wNZPpLreyF30vP67Ib451N0pd5MOkAyniRKY3cVjy2CaJgzVu5R0yWPl_DXS4/s956/Henry%20Atkinson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="956" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3scxCu8nXcnehDVFIBUI2Av033hh1tlstjiyMM8Mv56MFwshXNMHn9xJigEp5c36sKKg8vZTRygE4uxHzdWxzahBY9vnoWVVid8Ouh63CHqaPmtwIJTDVQvwzvkbp8wNZPpLreyF30vP67Ib451N0pd5MOkAyniRKY3cVjy2CaJgzVu5R0yWPl_DXS4/w536-h640/Henry%20Atkinson.jpg" width="536" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">General Henry Atkinson (1782-1842) </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><center><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From: <b><i>The Ashley-Smith explorations and the discovery of a central route to the Pacific, 1822-1829, with the original journals</i>, </b>by Harrison Clifford Dale, Cleveland, The Arthur H. Clark company, 1918</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>1825</i></b></span></p></center><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Letter from William H. Ashley to Gen. Henry Atkinson</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>From: The Ashley-Smith explorations & the discovery of a central route to the Pacific, 1822-1829, with the original journals, by Harrison Clifford Dale, Cleveland, The Arthur H. Clark company, </i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>DEAR SIR, Yours of the 23 November is at hand, & in compliance with the request therein contained, I herewith enclose you a sketch of the country over which I passed on my late tour across the Rocky mountains. I left Fort Atkinson on the 3rd November, 1824.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>On the afternoon of the fifth, I overtook my party of mountaineers (twenty-five in number), who had in charge fifty pack horses, a wagon & teams, etc. On the 6th we had advanced within miles of the villages of the Grand Pawney's, when it commenced snowing, & continued with but little intermission until the morning of the 8th. During this time my men & horses were suffering for the want of food, which, combined with the severity of the weather, presented rather a gloomy prospect. I had left Fort Atkinson under a belief that I could procure a sufficient supply of provisions at the Pawney villages to subsist my men until we could reach a point affording a sufficiency of game; but in this I was disappointed, as I learned by sending to the villages, that they were entirely deserted, the Indians having, according to their annual custom, departed some two or three weeks previous for their wintering ground. As the vicinity of those villages afforded little or no game, my only alternative was to subsist my men on horse meat, & my horses on cottonwood bark, the ground being at this time covered with snow about two feet deep. In this situation we continued for about the space of two weeks, during which time we made frequent attempts to advance & reach a point of relief, but, owing to the intense cold & violence of the winds, blowing the snow in every direction, we had only succeeded in advancing some ten or twelve miles, & on the 22nd of the same month we found ourselves encamped on the Loup fork of the river Platt within three miles of the Pawney towns. Cold & hunger had by this time killed several of my horses, & many others were much reduced from the same cause. On the day last named we crossed the country southwardly about fifteen miles to the main fork of the Platt, where we were so fortunate as to find rushes & game in abundance, whence we set out on the 24th & advanced up the Platt as expeditiously as the nature of things under such circumstances would admit. After ascending the river about one hundred miles, we reached Plumb point on the 3d December, where we found the encampment of the Grand Pawney Indians, who had reached that point (their usual crossing place) on their route to the wintering ground on the Arkansas river.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>At two or three of my encampments previous to arriving at Plumb point, I was visited by small parties of young warriors, who were exceedingly troublesome to my party & committed several thefts before leaving us, but on my arrival at the encampment, the chiefs & principal men expressed much friendship & manifested the same by compelling the thieves to return the articles stolen from me. From our encampment of the 24th to this place our hunters supplied us plentifully with provisions, & the islands & valleys of the Platt furnished a bountiful supply of rushes & firewood, but I was here informed by the Indians that until I reached the vicinity the mountains, I should meet with but one place (the forks of the Platt) where a plentiful supply of fuel could be had, & but little food of any description for our horses. They urged me to take up winter quarters at the forks of the Platt, stating that if I attempted to advance further until spring, I would endanger the lives of my whole party.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>The weather now was extremely cold, accompanied with frequent light snows. We advanced about eight miles further up the river, where we fell in with the tribe of Loup Pawneys & travelled in company with them to the forks of the Platt (their usual wintering place) where we arrived on the 12th day of December, & had so far found the Indians' information in relation to fuel & horse food to be correct. At this time my men had undergone an intense suffering from the inclemency of the weather, which also bore so severely on the horses as to cause the death of many of them. This, together with a desire to purchase a few horses from the Loups & to prepare my party for the privations which we had reason to anticipate in travelling the next two hundred miles (described as being almost wholly destitute of wood), induced me to remain at the forks until the 23d December, the greater part of which time, we were favoured with fine weather, &, notwithstanding the uplands were still covered with from eighteen to twenty-four inches of snow, the valleys were generally bare & afforded a good range for my horses, furnishing plenty of dry grass & some small rushes, from the use of which they daily increased in strength & spirits.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>The day after our arrival at the forks, the chiefs & principal men of the Loups assembled in council for the purpose of learning my wants, & to devise means to supply them. I made known them that I wished to procure twenty-five horses & a few buffalo robes, & to give my men an opportunity of providing more amply for the further prosecution of the journey, I requested that we might be furnished with meat to subsist upon while we remained with them, & promised that a liberal remuneration should be made for any services they might render me. After their deliberations were closed, they came to this conclusion: that, notwithstanding they had been overtaken by unusually severe weather before reaching their wintering ground, by which they had lost a great number of horses, they would comply with my requisition in regard to horses & other necessaries as far as their means would admit. Several speeches were made by the chiefs during the council, all expressive in the highest degree of their friendly disposition towards our government, & their conduct in every particular manifested the sincerity of their declarations.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>On the 23d December, having completed the purchase of twenty-three horses & other necessary things, I made arrangements for my departure which took place on the next morning. The south fork of the river being represented as affording more wood than the north, I commenced ascending that stream. The weather was fine, the valleys literally covered with buffaloe, & everything seemed to promise a safe & speedy movement to the first grove of timber on my route, supposed to be about ten days' march. The Loup Pawneys were not at this time on very good terms with the Arapahoe & Kiawa Indians, & were anxious to cultivate a friendly understanding with them, to accomplish which, they concluded to send a deputation of five men with me to meet those tribes & propose to them terms of peace & amity. This deputation overtook me on the afternoon of the 25th.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Having now reached a point where danger might be reasonably apprehended from strolling war parties of Indians, spies were kept in advance & strict diligence observed in the duty of sentinels.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>The morning of the 26th was cloudy & excessively cold. At 3 o,clock in the afternoon it began to snow & continued with violent winds until the night of the 27th. The next morning (28th) four of my horses were so benumbed with cold that they were unable to stand, although we succeeded in raising them on their feet. A delay to recruit them would have been attended with great danger, probably even to the destruction of the whole party. I therefore concluded to set forward without them. The snow was now so deep that had it not been for the numerous herds of buffaloe moving down the river, we could not possibly have proceeded. The paths of these animals were beat on either side of the river & afforded an easy passage to our horses. These animals were essentially beneficial to us in another respect by removing (in their search for food) the snow in many places from the earth & leaving the grass exposed to view, which was the only nourishment our horses could obtain.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>We continued to move forward without loss of time, hoping to be able to reach the wood described by the Indians before all our horses should become exhausted. on the 1st january, 1825, I was exceedingly surprised & no less gratified at the sight of a grove of timber, in appearance, distant some two or three miles on our front. It proved to be a grove of cottonwood of the sweet-bark kind suitable for horse food, situated on an island, offering among other conveniences, a good situation for defence. I concluded to remain here several days for the purpose of recruiting my horses, & made my arrangements accordingly. My Indian friends of the Pawne Loup deputation, believing this place to be nearly opposite to the Arrapahoe & other Indian camps on the Arkansas determined to proceed hence across the country. They prepared a few pounds of meat & with each a bundle of wood tied to his back for the purpose of fuel, departed the following morning on their mission. Being informed by the Pawneys that one hundred of my old enemies (the Arikara warriors) were encamped with the Arkansas Indians, & my situation independent of that circumstance, being rendered more vulnerable by the departure of the Indians, who had just left us, I was obliged to increase my guard from eight to sixteen men. This was much the most severe duty my men had to perform, but they did it with alacrity & cheerfulness as well as all other services required at their hands; indeed, such was their pride & ambition in the discharge of their duties, that their privations in the end became sources of amusement to them. We remained on this island until the cottonwood fit for horse food was nearly consumed, by which time our horses were so refreshed as to justify another move forward. We therefore made arrangements for our departure & resumed our march on the 11th january.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>The weather continued extremely cold, which rendered our progress slow & very labourious. We procured daily a scanty supply of small pieces of driftwood & willow brush, which sufficed for our fuel, but we did not fall in with any cottonwood suitable for horse food until the 20th, when we reached another small island clothed with a body of that wood sufficient for two days subsistence. From this last mentioned island, we had a clear & distant view of the Rocky mountains bearing west, about sixty miles distant. Believing from the information of the Indians that it was impracticable to cross them at this time, I concluded to advance to their base with my whole party, &, after fortifying my camp, to proceed with a part of my men into the mountains, to ascertain if possible the best route to cross over, & at the same time, endeavour to employ my men advantageously until a state of things would allow me to proceed on my journey.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>We advanced slowly to the point proposed, & had the good fortune to find on our way an abundance of wood for fuel as well as for horse food. on the 4th february, we approached near to the base of the mountain & encamped in a thick grove of cottonwood & willows on a small branch of the river Platt. our situation here was distant six or eight miles north of a conspicuous peak of the mountains, which I imagined to be that point described by Major Long as being the highest peak & lying in latitude 40 N., longitude 29 W. On my route hither from our encampment of the 20th january, I was overtaken by three Arapahoe Indians. They stated to me that they had been informed by the Indians of the Pawney deputation (whom they had received & treated with friendship) of my journey up the Platt, & that they with 60 or 70 other warriors had started from their encampment on the Arkansas to join me, but the unusual depth of snow on the prairies had deterred all the party except themselves from proceeding further than their second day's encampment. I made them some presents, gave them advice in relation to the course of conduct they should pursue towards our citizens, & pointed out to them the advantages which a friendly understanding between them & the Pawneys would produce to both tribes. They acknowledged the correctness of my admonition & promised in future to pursue the line of conduct I had advised them to adopt. They then thanked me for the presents I had made them & departed to rejoin their tribe.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>We were busily [engaged] on excursions in different directions from our camp until the 25th february. Although the last ten days had been pleasant weather partly accompanied with warm suns, the scene around us was pretty much the same as when we arrived, everything being enveloped in one mass of snow & ice, but, as my business required a violent effort to accomplish its object, notwithstanding the mountains seemed to bid defiance to my further progress, things were made ready, & on the 26th we commenced the doubtful undertaking.our passage across the first range of mountains, which was exceedingly difficult & dangerous, employed us three days, after which the country presented a different aspect. Instead of finding the mountains more rugged as I advanced towards their summit & everything in their bosom frozen & torpid, affording nothing on which an animal could possibly subsist, they assumed quite an altered character. The ascent of the hills (for they do not deserve the name of mountains) was so gradual as to cause but little fatigue in travelling over them. The valleys & south sides of the hills were but partially covered with snow, & the latter presented already in a slight degree the verdure of spring, while the former were filled with numerous herds of buffaloe, deer, & antelope.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>In my passage hither I discovered from the shape of the country, that the range of mountains twenty or thirty miles to the north of my route, was not so lofty or rugged & in all probability would afford a convenient passage over them. From here I pursued a W.N.W. course with such variations only as were necessary in selecting the smoothest route. The face of the country west & northwardly continued pretty much the same. Successive ranges of high hills gradually ascending as I advanced, with detached heaps of rock & earth scattered promiscuously over the hills several hundred feet higher than the common surface. On the south there appeared at the distance of fifteen or twenty miles a range of lofty mountains bearing east & west, entirely covered with snow & timbered with a thick growth of pine. We were able to procure but a scanty supply of fuel till we arrived on the 10th march at a small branch of the north fork of the Platte, where we found an abundance of wood. This stream is about one hundred feet wide, meandering northeastwardly through a beautiful & fertile valley, about ten miles in width. Its margin is partially wooded with large cottonwood of the bitter kind. The sweet cottonwood, such as affords food for horses, is nowhere to be found in the mountains; consequently our horses had to subsist upon a very small allowance of grass, & this, too (with the exception of a very inconsiderable proportion) entirely dry & in appearance destitute of all nutriment. Yet my horses retained their strength & spirits in a remarkable degree, which with other circumstances, confirms me in the opinion that the vegetation of the mountains is much more nourishing than that of the plains.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>On the 12th, I again set out & in the evening encamped at the foot of a high range of mountains covered with snow & bearing N.N.W. & S.S.E., which, as they appeared to present the same obstructions to my passage as far north as the eye could reach, determined me (after a day's examination) to attempt the continuation of my course W.N.W., hoping to be as successful as I had been in crossing the first range. My attempt, however, proved unsuccessful. After an unremitting & severe labour of two days, we returned to our old encampment with the loss of some of my horses, & my men excessively fatigued. We found the snow to be from three to five feet in depth & so firmly settled as to render our passage through it wholly impracticable. This mountain is timbered with a beautiful growth of white pine & from every appearance is a delightful country to travel over in the summer season. After remaining one day longer at the camp to rest my men & horses, I left it a second time & travelled northwardly along the base of the mountains. As I thus advanced, I was delighted with the variegated scenery presented by the valleys & mountains, which were enlivened by innumerable herds of buffaloe antelope, & mountain sheep grazing on them, & what added no small degree of interest to the whole scene, were the many small streams issuing from the mountains, bordered with a thin growth of small willows & richly stocked with beaver. As my men could profitably employ themselves on these streams, I moved slowly along, averaging not more than five or six miles per day & sometimes remained two days at the same encampment.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>On the 21st march, the appearance of the country justified another attempt to resume my former course W.N.W. The principal or highest part of the mountain having changed its direction to east & west, I ascended it in such manner as to leave its most elevated ranges to the south & travelled north west over a very rough & broken country generally covered with snow. My progress was therefore slow & attended with unusual labour untill the afternoon of the 23d, when I had succeeded in crossing the range & encamped on the edge of a beautiful plain of a circular form & about ten miles in diameter. The next day (24th) we travelled west across the plain, which terminated at the principal branch of the north fork of the river Platt, on which we encamped for the night. on the two succeeding days we passed over an elevated rough country entirely destitute of wood & affording no water save what could be procured by the melting of snow. We used as a substitute for fuel an herb called wild sage. It resembles very much in appearance the garden sage but acquires a much larger growth & possesses a stock of from four to five inches in diameter. It burns well & retains fire as long as any fuel I ever used.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>From the morning of the 27th to the night of the 1st april, we were employed in crossing the ridge which divides the waters of the Atlantic from those of the Pacific ocean. The first two days, the country we met with was undulating with a gradual ascent to the west Southwardly at the distance of twenty or thirty miles appeared a range of high mountains bearing east & west. Northwardly, at an equal distance, were several mountains or high hills irregularly seated over the earth, which I afterwards ascertained to surround the sources of a branch of the Platt called Sweet Water.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>On the 3d, 4th & 5th days, we travelled over small ridges & valleys alternately, the latter much the most extensive & generally covered with water produced by the melting of the snow & which appeared to have no outlet. This dividing ridge is almost entirely destitute of vegetation except wild sage with which the earth is so bountifully spread that it proved a considerable impediment in our progress. As my horses were greatly exhausted by the fatigue & hunger they had underwent, I advanced on the 2d april only two or three miles to a place where I had, on the preceding evening, discovered some grass. After my camp was arranged, I advanced with one of my men eight or ten miles on my route to a high hill for the purpose of taking a view of the adjacent country in the expectation of finding the appearance of water courses running westwardly. Nothing, however, was visible from which I could form an opinion with the exception of a huge craggy mountain, the eastern extremity of which, bearing from this hill due north, made nearly a right angle. The arm which extended northwardly divides (as I afterwards ascertained) the waters of the Yellow Stone & Bighorn from some of the headwaters of the Columbia, while the west arm separates the southern sources of Lewis's fork of the Columbia from what I suppose to be the headwaters of the Rio Colorado of the West. While on the mountain, I was discovered by a war party of Crow Indians, who were returning from an excursion against the southern Snake Indians. This party, unobserved by me, followed me to my camp & on the succeeding night stole seventeen of my best horses & mules. This outrage reduced me to a dreadful condition. I was obliged to burden my men with the packs of the stolen horses, &, after making the necessary arrangements, they were directed to proceed to the hill where I had been discovered the day previous by the Indians, while I, with one man, pursued the fugitives who travelled northwardly over the roughest parts of the country & with all possible expedition. In the course of the day we recovered three of the stolen horses, which were left on the way, & rejoined our party that night. on the next morning I dispatched nine men on the trail of the Indians, & with the residue of my party I proceeded in search of a suitable encampment at which to await their return. on the 6th we reached a small stream of water running north west. We deemed it about ten miles where it formed a junction with another rivulet of the same size, which headed northwardly in the range of mountains before described. This stream is clothed with a growth of small willows & furnishes the only constant running water we have met with since the 24th march & also the first wood we have seen in the same space of time. We continued at this camp until the 11th inst., on which day, the men sent in pursuit of the Indians came back without success. They had ascertained, however, from the direction of the trace & other circumstances that they belonged to the Crow nation. on the 12th we again proceeded on our journey, pursuing the meanders of the creek last mentioned in a south west direction; but the weather was so exceedingly bad, snowing a greater part of the time, that we were unable to advance more than six or eight miles per day until the 18th inst., when we left the creek & traveled west about fifteen miles to a beautiful river running south. This stream is about one hundred yards wide, of a bold current, & generally so deep that it presents but few places suitable for fording. Its margin & islands are wooded with large long leafed (or bitter) cottonwood, box-elder, willows, etc., &, judging from the quantity of wood cut on its banks, & other appearances, it once must have contained a great number of beaver, the major part of which (as I have been informed) were trapped by men in the service of the North West company some four or five years ago.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>The country in this vicinity & eastwardly fifty miles is gently rolling. Some of the valleys afford a species of fine grass, but the uplands produce but little vegetation of any kind except a small growth of wild sage.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>I have hitherto said but little in relation to the fertility of the soil on my route because that part of it lying east [of] the mountains has in two or three instances been described by gentlemen who have travelled over the country for that express purpose & further because the perfect sameness in the quality of the soil & its productions enabled me to describe them altogether & that in but few words. From this place to Plumb point on the river Platt, the proportion of arable land (which is almost entirely confined to the valleys of the mountains) is so inconsiderable that the whole country (so far as my observations extended) may be considered of no value for the purpose of agriculture. The surface generally either exhibits a bed of sand or a light coloured barren earth, which is in many places wholly destitute of the least semblance of vegetation. In relation to the subsistence of men & horses, I will remark that nothing now is actually necessary for the support of men in the wilderness than a plentiful supply of good fresh meat. It is all that our mountaineers ever require or even seem to wish. They prefer the meat of the buffaloe to that of any other animal, & the circumstance of the uninterrupted health of these people who generally eat unreasonable quantities of meat at their meals, proves it to be the most wholesome & best adapted food to the constitution of man. In the different concerns which I have had in the Indian country, where not less than one hundred men have been annually employed for the last four years & subsist altogether upon meat, I have not known at any time a single instance of bilious fever among them or any other disease prevalent in the settled parts of our country, except a few instances (& but very few) of slight fevers produced by colds or rheumatic affections, contracted while in the discharge of guard duty on cold & inclement nights. Nor have we in the whole four years lost a single man by death except those who came to their end prematurely by being either shot or drowned. In the summer & fall seasons of the year, the country will afford sufficient grass to subsist any number of horses in traversing it in either direction & even in the winter season, such is the nutricious quality of the mountain grass that, when it can be had plentifully, although perfectly dry in appearance, horses (moderately used) that partake of it, will retain in a great degree their flesh, strength, & spirits. When the round leaf or sweet-bark cottonwood can be had abundantly, horses may be wintered with but little inconvenience. They are very fond of this bark, &, judging by the effect produced from feeding it to my horses last winter, I suppose it almost, if not quite, as nutricious as timothy hay.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>On my arrival at the point last described. I determined to relieve my men & horses of their heavy burdens, to accomplish which, I concluded to make four divisions of my party, send three of them by land in different directions, &, with the fourth party, descend the river myself with the principal part of my merchandise. Accordingly, some of the men commenced making a frame about the size & shape of a common mackinaw boat, while others were sent to procure buffaloe skins for a covering. On the 21 april, all things being ready for our departure, I dispatched six men northwardly to the sources of the river; seven others set out for a mountain bearing s.s.w. & N.N.E., distant about thirty miles; & six others were sent in a southern direction. After selecting one of the most intelligent & efficient of each party to act as partizans, I directed them to proceed to their respective points of destination & thence in such direction as circumstances should dictate for my interest. At the same time they were instructed to endeavor to fall in with two parties of men that were fitted out by me in the year previous, & who were then, as I supposed, beyond the range of mountains appearing westwardly. The partisans were also informed that I would descend the river to some eligible point about one hundred miles below, there deposit a part of my merchandise, & make such marks as would designate it as a place of general rendezvous for the men in my service in that country, & where they were all directed to assemble on or before the 10th july following.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>After the departure of the land parties, I embarked with six men on thursday, the 21st april, on board my newly made boat & began the descent of the river. After making about fifteen miles, we passed the mouth of the creek which we had left on the morning of the 18th & to which we gave the name of Sandy. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon we encamped for the remainder of the day & night at a place distant about forty miles from where we embarked, finding from the movement of our boat in its day's progress that she was too heavily burthened, we began the construction of another, which was completed & launched on the morning of the 24th, when we again set out. As we advanced on our passage, the country gradually became more level & broken. The river bottom, which in point of soil, is but little better than the uplands, becomes narrower as we descended & has generally the appearance of being subject to inundation. Today we made 30 miles.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>MONDAY, 25TH: the country today under our observation is mountainous on either side of the river for twenty miles, then it resumes its former appearance of elevated & broken heights. A beautiful bold running stream about 50 yards wide empties itself on the west side of the river bearing N.W. & S.E. Below this junction the river is 150 yards wide, the valley narrow & thinly timbered. We encamped on an island after making about twenty-five miles. Thence we departed on the succeeding morning & progressed slowly without observing any remarkable difference in the appearance of the river or surrounding country until the 30th inst., when we arrived at the base of a lofty rugged mountain, the summit of which was covered with snow & bearing east & west. Here also a creek sixty feet wide discharges itself on the west side. This spot I selected as a place of general rendezvous, which I designated by marks in accordance with the instruction given to my men. So far, the navigation of this river is without the least obstruction. The channel in the most shallow places affords not less than four feet water. Game continues abundant, particularly buffaloe. There is no appearance of these animals wintering on this river; but they are at this time travelling from the west in great numbers.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>SATURDAY, MAY 2d: we continued our voyage about half a mile below our camp, when we entered between the walls of this range of mountains, which approach at this point to the waters, edge on either side of the river & rise almost perpendicular to an immense height. The channel of the river is here contracted to the width of sixty or seventy yards, & the current (much increased in velocity) as it rolled along in angry submission to the serpentine walls that direct it, seemed constantly to threaten us with danger as we advanced. We, however, succeeded in descending about ten miles without any difficulty or material change in the aspect of things & encamped for the night. About two miles above this camp, we passed the mouth of a creek on the west side some fifteen yards wide, which discharged its water with great violence.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>SUNDAY, 3RD: after progressing two miles, the navigation became difficult & dangerous, the river being remarkably crooked with more or less rapids every mile caused by rocks which had fallen from the sides of the mountain, many of which rise above the surface of the water & required our greatest exertions to avoid them. At twenty miles from our last camp, the roaring & agitated state of the water a short distance before us indicated a fall or some other obstruction of considerable magnitude. our boats were consequently rowed to shore, along which we cautiously descended to the place from whence the danger was to be apprehended. It proved to be a perpendicular fall of ten or twelve feet produced by large fragments of rocks which had fallen from the mountain & settled in the river extending entirely across its channel & forming an impregnable barrier to the passage of loaded watercraft. We were therefore obliged to unload our boats of their cargoes & pass them empty over the falls by means of long cords which we had provided for such purposes. At sunset, our boats were reloaded & we descended a mile lower down & encamped.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>MONDAY, 4TH: this day we made about forty miles. The navigation & mountains by which the river is bounded continues pretty much the same as yesterday. These mountains appear to be almost entirely composed of stratas of rock of various colours (mostly red) & are partially covered with a dwarfish growth of pine & cedar, which are the only species of timber to be seen.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>TUESDAY, 5TH: after descending six miles, the mountains gradually recede from the water's edge, & the river expands to the width of 250 yards, leaving the river bottoms on each side from one to three hundred Yards wide interspersed with clusters of small Willows. We remained at our encampment of this day until the morning of the 7th, when we descended ten miles lower down & encamped on a spot of ground where several thousand Indians had wintered during the past season. Their camp had been judiciously selected for defence, & the remains of their work around it accorded with the judgment exercised in the selection. Many of their lodges remained as perfect as when occupied. They were made of poles two or three inches in diameter, set up in circular form, & covered with cedar bark.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>FRIDAY, THE 8TH: we proceeded down the river about two miles, where it again enters between two mountains & affording a channel even more contracted than before. As we passed along between these messy walls, which in a great degree exclude from us the rays of heaven & presented a surface as impassable as their body was impregnable, I was forcibly struck with the gloom which spread over the countenances of my men; they seemed to anticipate (& not far distant, too) a dreadful termination of our voyage, & I must confess that I partook in some degree of what I supposed to be their feelings, for things around us had truly an awful appearance. We soon came to a dangerous rapid which we passed over with a slight injury to our boats. A mile lower down, the channel became so obstructed by the intervention of large rocks over & between which the water dashed with such violence as to render our passage in safety impracticable. The cargoes of our boats were therefore a second time taken out & carried about two hundred yards, to which place, after much labor, our boats were descended by means of cords. Thence we descended fifty (50) miles to the mouth of a beautiful river emptying on each side, to which I gave the name of Mary's river. The navigation continued dangerous & difficult the whole way; the mountains equally lofty & rugged with their summits entirely covered with snow. Mary's river is one hundred yards wide, has a rapid current, & from every appearance very much confined between lofty mountains. A valley about two hundred yards wide extends one mile below the confluence of these rivers, then the mountain again on that side advances to the water's edge. Two miles lower down is a very dangerous rapid, & eight miles further the mountain withdraws from the river on the west side about a half mile. Here we found a luxurious growth of sweet-bark or round-leaf cottonwood & a number of buffaloe, & succeeded by narrow river bottoms & hills. The former, as well as several islands, are partly clothed with a luxuriant growth of round-leaf cottonwood & extend four miles down the river, where the mountains again close to the water's edge & are in appearance more terrific than any we had seen during the whole voyage. They immediately produce bad rapids, which follow in quick succession for twenty miles, below which, as far as I descended, the river is without obstruction. In the course of our passage through the several ranges of mountains, we performed sixteen portages, the most of which were attended with the utmost difficulty & labor. At the termination of the rapids, the mountains on each side of the river gradually recede, leaving in their retreat a hilly space of five or six miles, through which the river meanders in a west direction about (70) seventy miles, receiving in that distance several contributions from small streams on each side, the last of which is called by the Indians Tewinty river. It empties on the north side, is about (60) sixty yards wide, several feet deep, with a bold current.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>I concluded to ascend this river on my route returning, therefore deposited the cargoes of my boats in the ground near it, & continued my descent of the main river fifty miles to the point marked 5 on the topographical sketch sent you. The whole of that distance the river is bounded by lofty mountains heaped together in the greatest disorder, exhibiting a surface as barren as can be imagined. This part of the country is almost entirely without game. We saw a few mountain-sheep & some elk, but they were so wild, & the country so rugged that we found it impossible to approach them. On my way returning to Tewinty river, I met a part of the Eutau tribe of Indians, who appeared very glad to see us & treated us in the most respectful & friendly manner. These people were well dressed in skins, had some guns, but armed generally with bows & arrows & such other instruments of war as are common among the Indians of the Missouri. Their horses were better than Indian horses generally are east of the mountains & more numerous in proportion to the number of persons. I understood (by signs) from them that the river which I had descended, & which I supposed to be the Rio Colorado of the West, continued its course as far as they had any knowledge of it, southwest through a mountainous country. They also informed me that all the country known to them from south to west from Tewinty river was almost entirely destitute of game, that the Indians inhabiting that region subsist principally on roots, fish & horses. The Eutaus are part of the original Snake nation of Indians. They have no fixed place of residence but claim a district of country which (according to their representation) is about 150 miles long by one hundred miles wide, to which their situation at that time was nearly central.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>I purchased a few horses of the Eutaus, returned to Tewinty river & ascended to its extreme sources, distant from its mouth about seventy miles, in general bearing W.N.W. & S.S.E.; [it] runs through a mountainous sterile country. From the head waters of Tewinty river, I crossed a range of lofty mountains nearly E. & W., which divide the waters of the Rio Colorado from those which I have represented as the Beaunaventura. This range of mountains is in many places fertile & closely timbered with pine, cedar, quaking-asp, & a dwarfish growth of oak; a great number of beautiful streams issue from them on each side, running through fertile valleys richly clothed with grass. I proceeded down the waters of the Beaunaventura about sixty miles bordered with a growth of willow almost impenetrable. In that distance I crossed several streams from 20 to 60 yards wide running in various directions. All of them, as I am informed, unite in one in the course of 30 miles, making a river of considerable magnitude, which enters a few miles lower down a large lake, represented on your sketch as Lake Tempagono. This information was communicated to me by our hunters who (as I before told) had crossed to this region in the summer of 1824 & wintered on & near the borders of this lake. They had not explored the lake sufficiently to judge correctly of its extent, but from their own observations & information collected from Indians, they supposed it to be about eighty miles long by fifty broad. They represented it as a beautiful sheet of water deep, transparent, & a little brackish, though in this latter quality the accounts differ; some insist that it is not brackish. I met several small parties of Eutaw Indians on this side of the last mentioned range of mountains, 100 miles long bearing about W.N.W. & S.S.E. [who said] that a large river flowing out of it on the west end runs in a western direction, but they know nothing of its discharge into the ocean or of the country any considerable distance west of the lake. I also conversed with some very intelligent men who I found with our hunters in the vicinity of this lake & who had been for many years in the service of the Hudson Bay Fur company. Some of them profess to be well acquainted with all the principal waters of the Columbia, with which they assured me these waters had no connection short of the ocean. It appears from this information that the river is not the Multnomah, a southern branch of the Columbia, which I first supposed it to be. The necessity of my unremitted attention to my business prevented me from gratifying a great desire to descend this river to the ocean, which I ultimately declined with the greatest reluctance. The country drained by these waters, which is about 150 wide & bounded on the north, east & south by three principal & conspicuous mountains, is beautifully diversified with hills, mountains, valleys, & bold running streams & is in parts fertile. The northern part of it is well supplied with buffaloe, elk, bear, antelope, & mountain-sheep. The country east & a considerable distance north of these lakes, including the headwaters of the Rio Colorado of the West & down the same to Mary's river, is claimed by the Shoshone Indians. The men in my employ here have had but little intercourse with these people. So far they had been treated by them in the most friendly manner. They had, however, some time in the fall of 1824, attacked & killed several of our citizens who had crossed from Taus & were trading.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>On the 1st day of july, all the men in my employ or with whom I had any concern in the country, together with twenty-nine, who had recently withdrawn from the Hudson Bay company, making in all 120 men, were assembled in two camps near each other about 20 miles distant from the place appointed by me as a general rendezvous, when it appeared that we had been scattered over the territory west of the mountains in small detachments from the 38th to the 44th degree of latitude, & the only injury we had sustained by Indian depredations was the stealing of 17 horses by the Crows on the night of the 2nd april, as before mentioned, & the loss of one man killed on the headwaters of the Rio Colorado, by a party of Indians unknown.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>Mr. Jedediah Smith, a very intelligent & confidential young man, who had charge of a small detachment, stated that he had, in the fall of 1824, crossed from the headwaters of the Rio Colorado to Lewis fork of the Columbia & down the same about one hundred miles, thence northwardly to Clark's fork of the Columbia, where he found a trading establishment of the Hudson Bay company, where he remained for some weeks. Mr. Smith ascertained from the gentleman who had charge of that establishment, that the Hudson Bay company had then in their employment, trading with the Indians & trapping beaver on both sides of the Rocky mountains, about 80 men, 60 of whom were generally employed as trappers & confined their operations to that district called the Snake country, which Mr. Smith understood as being confined to the district claimed by the Shoshone Indians. It appeared from the account, that they had taken in the last four years within that district 80,000 beaver, equal to 160,000 pounds of furs.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>You can form some idea of the quantity of beaver that country once possessed, when I tell you that some of our hunters had taken upwards of one hundred in the last spring hunt out of streams which had been trapped, as I am informed, every season for the last four years.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>It appears from Mr. Smith's account that there is no scarcity of buffalo as he penetrated the country. As Mr. Smith returned, he inclined荘west & fell on the waters of the Grand lake or Beaunaventura. He describes the country in that direction as admitting a free & easy passage & abounding in salt. At one place particularly hundreds of bushels might have been collected from the surface of the earth within a small space. He gave me some specimens, which equal in appearance & quality the best Liverpool salt. Mr. S. also says the buffaloe are very plenty as far as he penetrated the country over it in almost any direction.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>On the 2nd day of july, I set out on my way homewards with 50 men, 25 of whom were to accompany me to a navigable point of the Big Horn river, thence to return with the horses employed in the transportation of the furs. I had forty-five packs of beaver cached a few miles east of our direct route. I took with me 20 men, passed by the place, raised the cache, & proceeded in a direction to join the other party, but, previous to joining them, I was twice attacked by Indians first by a party of Blackfeet about 60 in number. They made their appearance at the break of day, yelling in the most hideous manner & using every means in their power to alarm our horses, which they so effectually did that the horses, although closely hobbled, broke by the guard & ran off. A part of the Indians being mounted, they succeeded in getting all the horses except two, & wounded one man. An attempt was also made to take our camp, but in that they failed. The following night, I sent an express to secure horses from the party of our men who had taken a direct route. In two days thereafter, I received the desired aid & again proceeded on my way, made about ten miles, & encamped upon an eligible situation. That night, about 12 o'clock, we were again attacked by a war party of Crow Indians, which resulted in the loss of one of the Indians killed & another shot through the body, without any injury to us. The next day I joined my other party & proceeded direct to my place of embarkation just below the Big Horn mountain, where I arrived on the 7th day of august.</i></b></p><p style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><i>On my passage thither, I discovered nothing remarkable in the features of the country. It affords generally a smooth way to travel over. The only very rugged part of the route is in crossing the Big Horn mountain, which is about 30 miles wide. I had the Big Horn river explored from Wind River mountain to my place of embarkation. There is little or no difficulty in the navigation of that river from its mouth to Wind River mountain. It may be ascended that far at a tolerable stage of water with a boat drawing three feet water. The Yellowstone river is a beautiful river to navigate. It has rapids extending from above Powder river about fifty miles but I found about four feet water over the most.</i></b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-22910900530161592072023-12-15T03:00:00.018-05:002023-12-15T03:00:00.141-05:001856 Geo Catlin's Letters # 54-5 Letters & Notes on Manners, Customs & Conditions of N. American Indians<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVikXtyf3OuJlTT-KoF5_l_OtS32q_JPG1tdzb9wQjP-yxTBMdFAN9luEYR4izTsx5eTFYDWThtglSL8wv29dkmIs9GnkEcv6hM2ODI3ENiJkpcZR90H614RW70FjUMJFm1YLbuE6XD2yZ2Zegdg5rAjJG_BWWttqbt6Qn1TafFw7Qa-a4kQyxM5Esd5s/s996/George%20Catlin%20%20(1796%20_1872)%20%20in%201849%20at%20National%20Portrait%20Gallery%20Washington%20DC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVikXtyf3OuJlTT-KoF5_l_OtS32q_JPG1tdzb9wQjP-yxTBMdFAN9luEYR4izTsx5eTFYDWThtglSL8wv29dkmIs9GnkEcv6hM2ODI3ENiJkpcZR90H614RW70FjUMJFm1YLbuE6XD2yZ2Zegdg5rAjJG_BWWttqbt6Qn1TafFw7Qa-a4kQyxM5Esd5s/w514-h640/George%20Catlin%20%20(1796%20_1872)%20%20in%201849%20at%20National%20Portrait%20Gallery%20Washington%20DC.jpg" width="514" /></span></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> George Catlin (1796 _1872) at National Portrait Gallery Washington DC</span> </p><p style="text-align: center;">LETTER-NO. 54-5</p><p align="CENTER">RED PIPE STONE Quarry, COTEAU DES PRAIRIES.</p><p>Well, to proceed with the Story of the Dog, which I promised; (after which I shall record the tale of Wi-jun-jon, (the pigeon's egg head), which was also told by me during the last night, before we retired to rest.</p><p>"I think I said that my little canoe had brought-us down the Missouri, about eight hundred miles below the mouth of Yellow Stone, when we landed at Laidlaw's Trading-house, which is twelve hundred miles above civilization and the city of St. Louis. If I did not say it: it is no matter, for it was even so; and 'Ba'tiste and Bogard who had paddled, and I who had steered,' threw our little bark out upon the bank, and taking our paddles in our bands, and our 'plunder' upon our backs, crossed the plain to the American Fur Company's Fort, in charge of Mr, Laidlaw, who gave us a hearty welcome; and placed us in an instant at his table, which happened at that moment to be stationed in the middle of the floor, distributing to its surrounding guests the simple blessings which belong to that fair and silent land of buffalo tongues and beavers' tails! A bottle of good Madeira wine sprung (a l'instant) upon the corner of the table, before us, and swore, point blank, to the welcome that was expressed in every feature of our host. After the usual salutations, the news, and a glass of wine, Mr. Laidlaw began thus:</p><p>"Well, my friend, you have got along well, so far; and I am glad to see you. You have seen a great many fine Indians since you left here, and have, no doubt, procured many interesting and valuable portraits; but there has been a deal of trouble about the ' pictures,' in this neighborhood, since you went away. Of course, you have heard nothing of it at the Yellow Stone ; but amongst us, I assure you, there has not a day passed since you left, without some fuss or excitement about the portraits. The 'Dog' is not yet dead, though he has been shot at several times, and had his left arm broken. The 'Little Bear's' friends have overtaken the brother of the Dog, that fine fellow whom you painted, and killed him! They are now sensible that they have sacrificed one of the best men in the nation, for one of the greatest rascals; and they are more desperately bent on revenge than ever. They have made frequent enquiries for you, knowing that you had gone up the river; alleging that you had been the cause of these deaths, and that if the Dog could not be found, they should look to you for a settlement of that unfortunate affair!</p><p>"That unlucky business, taken altogether, has been the greatest piece of medicine (mystery), and created the greatest excitement amongst the Sioux, of anything that has happened since I came into the country. My dear Sir, you must not continue your voyage down the river, in your unprotected condition. A large party of the Little Bear's' band, are now encamped on the river below, and for you to stop there (which you might be obliged to do), would be to endanger your life."</p><p>* * * Reader, sit still, and let me change ends with my story, (which is done in one moment,) and then, from a relation of the circumstances which elicited the friendly advice and caution of Mr. Laidlaw just mentioned, you will be better enabled to understand the nature of the bloody affair which I am undertaking to relate.</p><p>"About four months previous to the moment I am now speaking of, I had passed up the Missouri river by this place, on the steam-boat "<strong><em>Yellowstone</em></strong>", on which I ascended the Missouri to the mouth of Yellow Stone river. While going up, this boat, having on board the United States Indian agent: Major Sanford -- Messrs. Pierre, Chouteau, McKenzie of the American Fur Company, and myself, as passengers, stopped at this trading-post, and remained several weeks; where were assembled six hundred families of Sioux Indians, their tents being pitched in close order on an extensive prairie on the bank of the river.</p><p>"This trading-post, in charge of Mr. Laidlaw, is the concentrating place, and principal trading depot, for this Powerful tribe, who number, when all taken together, something like forty or fifty thousand. On this occasion, five or six thousand had assembled to see the steam-boat and meet the Indian agent, which, and whom they knew were to arrive about this time. During the few weeks that we remained there, I was busily engaged painting my portraits, for here were assembled the principal chiefs and medicine-men of the nation. To these people, the operations of my brush were entirely new and unaccountable, and excited amongst them the greatest curiosity imaginable. Every thing else (even the steam-boat) was abandoned for the pleasure of crowding into my painting-room, and witnessing the result of each fellow's success, as he came out from under the operation of my brush.</p><p>"They had been at first much afraid of the consequences that might flow from so strange and unaccountable an operation; but having been made to understand my views, they began to look upon it as a great honour, and afforded me the opportunities that I desired; exhibiting the utmost degree of vanity for their appearance, both as to features and dress. The consequence was, that my room was filled with the chiefs who sat around, arranged according to the rank or grade which they held in the estimation of their tribe; and in this order it became necessary for me to paint them, to the exclusion of those who never signalized themselves, and were without any distinguishing character in society.</p><p>"The first man on the list, was Ha-wan-ghee-ta (one horn), head chief of the nation, of whom I have heretofore spoken; and after him the subordinate chiefs, or chiefs of bands, according to the estimation in which they were held by the chief and the tribe. My models were thus placed before me whether ugly or beautiful, all the same, and I saw at once there was to be trouble somewhere, as I could not paint them all. The medicine-men or high priests, who are esteemed by many the oracles of the nation, and the most important men in it -- becoming jealous, commenced their harangues, outside of the lodge, telling them that they were all fools -- that those who were painted would soon die in consequence; and that these pictures, which had life to a considerable degree in them, would live in the hands of white men after they were dead, and make them sleepless and endless trouble.</p><p>"Those whom I had painted, though evidently somewhat alarmed, were unwilling to acknowledge it, and those whom I had not painted, unwilling to be outdone in courage, allowed me the privilege; braving and defying the danger that they were evidently more or less in dread of. Feuds began to arise too, among some of the chiefs of the different bands, who (not unlike some instances amongst the chiefs and warriors of our own country), had looked upon their rival chiefs with unsleeping jealousy, until it had grown into disrespect and enmity. An instance of this kind presented itself at this critical juncture, in this assembly of inflammable spirits, which changed in a moment, its features, from the free and jocular garrulity of an Indian levee, to the frightful yells and agitated treads and starts of an Indian battle! I had in progress at this time a Portrait of Mah-to-tchee-ga (little bear); of the Onc-pa-pa band, a noble fine fellow, who was sitting before me as I was painting. I was Painting almost a profile view of his face, throwing a part of it into shadow, and had it nearly finished, when an Indian by the name of Shon-Ka (the dog), chief of the Caz-a-zshee-ta band; an ill-natured and surly man -- despised by the chiefs of every other band, entered the wigwam in a sullen mood, and seated himself on the floor in front of my sitter, where he could have a full view of the picture in its operation. After sitting a while with his arms folded, and his lips stuffy arched with contempt; he sneeringly spoke thus:</p><p>"Mah-to-tchee-ga is but half a man."</p><p>Dead silence ensued for a moment, and nought was in motion save the eyes of the chiefs, who were seated around the room, and darting their glances about upon each other in listless anxiety to hear the sequel that was to follow! During this interval, the eyes of Mah-to-tchee-ga had not moved -- his lips became slightly curved, and he pleasantly asked, in low and steady accent,'Who says that?' 'Shon-Ka says it,' was the reply; 'and Skon-Ka can prove it.' At this the eyes of Mah-to-tchee-ga, which had not yet moved, began steadily to turn, and slow, as if upon pivots, and when they were rolled out of their sockets till they had fixed upon the object of their contempt; his dark and jutting brews were shoving down in trembling contention, with the blazing rays that were actually burning with contempt, the object that was before them. 'Why does Shon-ka say it?'</p><p>"Ask We-chash-a-wa-kon (the painter), he can tell you; he knows you are but half a man-he has painted but one half of your face, and knows the other half is good for nothing!"</p><p>"Let the painter say it, and I will believe it; but when the Dog says it let him prove it."</p><p>"Shon-ka said it, and Shon-ka can prove it; if Mah-to-tchee-ga be a man, and waste to be honoured by the white men, let him not be ashamed; but let him do as Shon-ka has done, give the white man a horse, and then let him see the whole of your face without being ashamed."</p><p>"When Mah-to-tchee-ga kills a white man and steals his horses, he may be ashamed to look at a white man until he brings him a horse! When Mah-to-tchee-ga waylays and murders an honorable and a brave Sioux, because he is a coward and not brave enough to meet him in fair combat, then he may be ashamed to look at a white man till he has given him a horse! Mah-to-tchee-ga can look at any one; and he is now looking at an old woman and a coward!"</p><p>"This repartee, which had lasted for a few minutes, to the amusement and excitement of the chiefs, being ended thus -- The Dog rose suddenly from the ground, and wrapping himself in his robe, left the wigwam, considerably agitated, having the laugh of all the chiefs upon him."</p><p>"The Little Bear had followed him with his piercing eyes until he left the door, and then pleasantly and unmoved, resumed his position, where he sat a few minutes longer, until the portrait was completed. He then rose, and in the most graceful and gentlemanly manner, presented to me a very beautiful shirt of buckskin, richly garnished with quills of the porcupine, hinged with scalp-locks (honorable memorials) from his enemies' heads, and painted, with all his battles emblazoned on it. He then left my wigwam, and a few steps brought him to the door of his own, where the Dog intercepted him, and asked, What meant Mah-to-tchee-ga by tile last words that he spoke to Shon-ka. "Mah-to-tchee-ga said it, and Shon-ka is not a fool -- that is enough." At this The Dog walked violently to his own lodge: and the Little Bear retreated into his, both knowing from looks and gestures what was about to be the consequence of their altercation.</p><p>"The Little Bear instantly charged his gun, and then (as their custom is) threw himself upon his face, in humble supplication to the Great Spirit for his aid and protection. His wife, in the meantime, seeing him agitated, and fearing some evil consequences, without knowing anything of the preliminaries, secretly withdrew the bullet from his gun, and told him not of it.</p><p>"The Dog's voice, at this moment, was heard, and recognized at the door of Mah-to-tchee-ga's lodge -- If Mah-to-tchee-ga be a whole man, let him come out and prove it; it is Shon-Ka that calls him!'</p><p>"His wife screamed; but it was too late. The gun was in his hand, and he sprang out of the door -- both drew and simultaneously fired! The Dog fled uninjured; but the Little Bear lay weltering in his blood (strange to say) with all that side of his face entirely shot away, which had been left out of the picture: end, according to the prediction of the Dog, "good for nothing"; carrying away one half of the jaws, and the flesh from the nostrils and corner of the mouth, to the ear, including one eye, and leaving the jugular vein entirely exposed. Here was a 'coup'; and any one accustomed to the thrilling excitement that such scenes produce in an Indian village, call form some idea of the frightful agitation amidst several thousand Indians, who were divided into jealous bands or clans, under ambitious and rival chiefs ! In one minute, a thousand guns and bows were seized! A thousand thrilling yells were raised: and many were the fierce and darting warriors who sallied round the Dog for his protection -- he fled amidst a shower of bullets and arrows; but his braves were about him! The blood of the Onc-pa-pas was roused, and the indignant braves of that gallant band rushed forth from all quarters, and, swift upon their heels, were hot for vengeance! On the plain, and in full view of us, for some time, the whizzing arrows flew, and so did bullets, until the Dog and his brave followers were lost in distance on the prairie! In this rencontre, the Dog had his left arm broken; but succeeded, at length, in making his escape.</p><p>"On the next day after this affair took place, the Little Bear died of his wound, and was buried amidst the most pitiful and heart-rending cries of his distracted wife, whose grief was inconsolable at the thought of having been herself the immediate and innocent cause of his death, by depriving him of his supposed protection.</p><p>"This marvelous and fatal transaction was soon talked through the village, and the eyes of all this superstitious multitude were fixed upon me as the cause of the calamity--my paintings and brushes were instantly packed, and all hands, both Traders and Travellers, assumed at once a posture of defense.</p><p>"I evaded, no doubt,.in a great measure, the concentration of their immediate censure upon me, by expressions of great condolence, and by distributing liberal presents to the wife and relations of the deceased; and by uniting also with Mr. Laidlaw and the other gentlemen, in giving him honourable burial, where we placed over his grave a handsome Sioux lodge, and hung a white flag to wave over it.</p><p>"On this occasion, many were the tears that were shed for the brave and honourabe Mah-to-tchee-ga, and all the warriors of his band swore sleepless vengeance on the Dog, until his life should answer for the loss of their chief and leader.</p><p>"On the day that he was buried, I started for the mouth of Yellow Stone, and while I was gone, the spirit of vengeance had pervaded nearly all the Sioux country in search of the Dog, who had evaded pursuit. His brother, however, a noble and honourable fellow, esteemed by all who knew him, fell in their way in an unlucky hour, when their thirst for vengeance was irresistible, and they slew him. Repentance deep, and grief were the result of so rash an act, when they beheld a brave and worthy mall fall for so worthless a character; and as they became exasperated, the spirit of revenge grew more desperate than ever, and they swore they never would lay down their arms or embrace their wives and children until full and complete, should light upon the head that deserved it. This brings us again to the first part of my story, and in this state were things in that part of the country, when I was descending the river, four months afterwards, and landed my canoe as I before stated, at Laidlaw's trading-house.</p><p>"The excitement had been kept up all summer amongst these people, and their superstitions bloated to the full brim, from circumstances so well calculated to feed and increase them. Many of them looked to me at once as the author of all these disasters, considering I knew that one half of the man's face was good for nothing, or that I would not have left it out of the picture, and that I must therefore have foreknown the evils that were to flow from the omission; they consequently resolved that I was a dangerous man, and should suffer for my temerity in case the Dog could not be found. Councils ]lad been held, and in all the solemnity of Indian medicine and mystery, I had been doomed to die ! At one of these, a young warrior of the One-Papa band, arose and said. "The blood of two chiefs has just sunk into the ground, and an hundred bows are bent which are ready to shed more! On whom shall we bend them? I am a friend to the white men, but here is one whose medicine is too great -- he is a great medicine-man ! his medicine is too great ! he was the death of Mah-to-tchee-ga! He made only one side of his face! He would not make the other -- the side that he made was alive; the other was dead, and Shonka shot it off! How is this? Who is to die.'</p><p>"After him, <em>Tah-zee-kee-da-cha</em> (Torn Belly), of the Yankton band, arose and said -- "Father, this medicine-man has done much harm! You told our chiefs and warriors, that they must be painted -- you said he was a good man, and we believed you -- you thought so, my father, but you see what he has done! -- He looks at our chiefs and our women and then makes them alive!! In this way he has taken our chiefs away, and he can trouble their spirits when they are dead! -- they will be unhappy. If he can make them alive by looking at them, he can do us much harm! -- you tell us that they are not alive -- we see their eyes move! -- their eyes follow us wherever we go, that is enough! I have no more to say!" After him, rose a young man of the Onc-pa-pa band. 'Father! You know that I am the brother of Mah-to-tchee-ga! -- you know that I loved him -- both sides of his face were good, and the medicine-man knew it also! Why was half of his face left out? He never was ashamed, but always looked white man in the face! Why was that side of his face shot off? Your friend is not our friend, and has forfeited his life -- we want you to tell us where he is -- we want to see him!"</p><p>"Then rose Toh-ki-e-to (a medicine-man) of the Yankton band, and principal orator of the nation.) 'My friend, these are young men that speak -- I am not afraid! your white medicine-man painted my picture, and it was good -- I am glad of it -- I am very glad to see that I shall live after vengeance. This brings I am dead! -- I am old and not afraid! -- some of our young men are foolish. I know that this man put many of our buffaloes in his book I for I was with him, and we have had no buffaloes since to eat, it is true -- but I am not afraid!! his medicine is great and I wish him well--we are friends!"</p><p>It In this wise was the subject discussed by these superstitious people during my absence, and such were the reasons given by my Friend Mr. Laidlaw, for his friendly advice; wherein he cautioned me against exposing my life in their hands, advising me to take some other route than that which I was pursuing down the river where I would find encamped at the mouth of Cabri river, eighty miles below, several hundred Indians belonging to the Little Bear's band, and I might possibly fall a victim to their unsatiated revenge. I resumed my downward voyage in a few days, however, with my little canoe, which 'Ba'tiste and Bogard paddled and I steered,' and passed their encampment in peace, by taking the opposite shore. The usual friendly invitation however, was given (which is customary on that river), by skipping several rifle bullets across the river, a rod or two ahead of us. To those invitations we paid no attention, and (not suspecting who we were), they allowed us to pursue our course in peace and security. Thus rested the affair of the Dog and its consequences, until I conversed with Major Bean, the agent for these people, who arrived in St. Louis some weeks after I did, bringing later intelligence from them, assuring me that 'the Dog had at length been overtaken and Killed, near the Black-hills, and that the affair might now for ever be considered as settled."</p><p>Thus happened, and thus terminated the affair of "the Doe"; wherein have fallen three distinguished warriors; and wherein might have fallen one "great medicine-man!" and all in consequence of the operations of my brush. The portraits of the three first named will long hang in my Gallery for the world to gaze upon; and the head of the latter (whose hair yet remains on it), may probably be seen(for a time yet) occasionally stalking about in the midst of this Collection of Nature's dignitaries.</p><p>The circumstances above detailed, are as correctly given as I could furnish them! and they have doubtless given birth to one of the most wonderful traditions, which will be told and sung amongst the Sioux Indians from age to age; furnishing one of the rarest instances, perhaps, on record, of the extent to which these people may be carried by the force of their superstitions.</p><p></p><p align="CENTER">STORY OF WI-JUN-JON (The PIGEON'S EGG HEAD);</p><p>I recited it as I first told it to poor Ba'tiste, on a former occasion,</p><p>which was as follows:--</p><p>"Well, Ba'tiste, I promised last night, as you were going to sleep, that I would tell you a story this morning -- did I not ? "Oui, Monsieur, oui -- de 'Pigeon's Head.'</p><p>"No, Ba'tiste, the 'Pigeon's Egg Head.'</p><p>"Well den, Monsieur Cataline, de ' Pigeon Egg's Head.</p><p>"No, Ba'tiste, you have it wrong yet. The Pigeon's Egg Head.</p><p>"Sacre -- well, 'Pee--jonse--ec--head.'</p><p>"Right, Ba'tiste. Now you shall hear the 'Story of the pigeon's Egg Head.</p><p>"The Indian name of this man (being its literal translation into the Assinneboin language) was Wi-jun-jon.</p><p>"Wat! comment! by Gar (pardon); not Wi-jun-jon, le frere de medouce Wee-ne-on-ka, his du chef Assinneboin? But excusez; go on, s'il vous plait.'</p><p>"Wi-jun-jon (the Pigeon's Egg Head) was a brave and a warrior of the Assinneboins -- young -- proud -- handsome -- valiant, and graceful. He had fought many a battle, and won many a laurel. The numerous scalps from his enemies' heads adorned his dress, and his claims were fair and just for the highest honours that his country could bestow upon him: for his father was chief of the nation.</p><p>"Le meme! de same -- mon frere-mon am I! Bien, I am compose; go on, Monsieur.</p><p>"Well, this young Assinneboin, the 'Pigeon's Egg- Head,' was selected by Major Sanford, the Indian Agent, to represent his tribe in a delegation which visited Washington city under his charge in the winter of 1832. With this gentleman, the Assinneboin, together with representatives from several others of those North Western tribes, descended the Missouri river, several thousand miles, on their way to Washington.</p><p>"While descending the river in a Mackinaw boat, from the mouth of Yellow Stone, Wi-jun-jon and another of his tribe who was with him, at the first approach to the civilized settlements, commenced a register of the white men's houses (or cabins), by cutting a notch for each on the side of a pipestem, in order to be able to shew when they got home, how many white men's houses they saw on their journey. At first the cabins were scarce; but continually as they advanced down the river, more and more rapidly increased in numbers; and they soon found their pipe-stem filled with marks, and they determined to put the rest of them on the handle of a war-club, which they soon got marked all over likewise; and at length, while the boat was moored at the shore for the purpose of cooking the dinner of the party, Wi-jun-jon and his companion stepped into the bushes, and cut a long stick, from which they peeled the bark; and when the boat was again underweight, they sat down, and with much labour, copied the notches on to it from the pipe-stem and club; and also kept adding a notch for every house they passed. This stick was Boon filled; and in a day or two several others; when, at last, they seemed much at a loss to know what to do with their troublesome records, until they came in sight of St. Louis, which is a town of 15,000 inhabitants; upon which, after consulting a little, they pitched their sticks overboard into the river!</p><p>"I was in St. Louis at the time of their arrival, and painted their portraits while they rested in that place. <em>Wi-jun-jon</em> was the first, who reluctantly yielded to the solicitations of the Indian agent and myself, and appeared as sullen as death in my painting-room -- with eyes fixed like those of a statue, upon me, though his pride had plumed and tinted him in all the freshness and brilliancy of an Indian's toilet. In his nature's uncovering pride he stood a perfect model; but superstition had hung a lingering curve upon his lip, and pride had stiffened it into contempt. He had been urged into a measure, against which his fears had pleaded; yet he stood unmoved and unflinching amid the struggles of mysteries that were hovering about him, foreboding ills of every kind, and misfortunes that were to happen to him in consequence of this operation.</p><p>"He was dressed in his native costume, which was classic and exceedingly beautiful; his leggings and shirt were of the mountain goat skin, richly garnished with quills of the porcupine, and fringed with locks of scalps, taken from his enemies' heads. Over these floated his long hair in plaits, that fell nearly to the ground; his head was decked with the war-eagle's plumes -- his robe was of the skin of the young buffalo bull, richly garnished and emblazoned with the battles of his life; his quiver and bow were slung, and his shield, of the skin of the bull's neck.</p><p>"I painted him in this beautiful dress, and so also the others who were with him; and after I had done, Major Sanford went on to Washington with them, where they spent the winter.</p><p>"Wi-jun-jon was the foremost on all occasions-the first to enter the levee -- the first to shake the President's hand, and make his speech to him-the last to extend the hand to them, but the first to catch the smiles and admiration of the gentler sex. He travelled the giddy maze, and beheld amid the buzzing din of civil life, their tricks of art, their handiworks, and their finery; he visited their principal cities-he saw their forts, their ships, their great guns, steamboats, balloons, &c. &c.; and in the spring returned to St. Louis, where I joined him and his companions on their way back to their own country.</p><p>"Through the politeness of Mr. Chouteau, of the American Fur Company, I was admitted (the only passenger except Major Sanford and his Indians) to a passage in their steamboat, on her first trip to the Yellow Stone; and when I had embarked, and the boat was about to depart, Wi-jun-jon made his appearance on deck, in a full suit of regimentals! He had in Washington exchanged his beautifully garnished and classic costume, for a full dress 'en militaire'. It was, perhapg, presented to him by the President. It was broadcloth, of the finest blue, trimmed with lace of gold; on his shoulders were mounted two immense epaulettes; his neck was strangled with a shining black stock, and his feet were pinioned in a pair of waterproof boots, with high heels, which made him 'step like a yoked hog.</p><p>"Ha-ha-hagh (pardon, Monsieur Calaline, for I am almost laugh) -- well, he was a fine gentleman, ha?"</p><p>"On his head was a high-crowned beaver hat, with a broad silver lace band, surmounted by a huge red feather, some two feet high; his coat collar stiff with lace, came higher up than his ears, and over it flowed, down towards his haunches -- his long Indian locks, stuck up in rolls and plaits, with red paint.</p><p>"Ha-ha-hagh-agh-ah.</p><p>"Hold your tongue, Ba'tiste.</p><p>"Well, go on--go on.'</p><p>"A large silver medal was suspended from his neck by a blue ribbon -- and across his right shoulder passed a wide belt, supporting by his side a broad sword.</p><p>"Diable!"</p><p>"On his hands he had drawn a pair of white kid gloves, and in them held, a blue umbrella in one, and a large fan in the other. In this fashion was poor Wi-jun-jon metamorphosed, on his return from Washington; and, in this plight was he strutting and whistling Yankee Doodle, about the deck of the steamer that was wending its way up the mighty Missouri, and taking him to his native land again; where he was soon to light his pipe, and cheer the wigwam fire-side, with tales of novelty and wonder.</p><p>"Well, Ba'tiste, I travelled with this new-fangled gentleman until he reached his home, two thousand miles above St. Louis, and I could never look upon him for a moment without excessive laughter, at the ridiculous figure he cut -- the strides, the angles, the stiffness of this travelling beau! Oh Ba'tiste, if you could have seen him, you would have split your sides with laughter; he was -- 'puss in boots', precisely!</p><p>"By gar, he is good compare! Ha-ha, Monsieur: (pardon) I am laugh: I am see him wen he is arrive in Yellow Stone; you know I was dere. I am laugh much wen he is got off de boat, and all de Assinneboins was dere to look. Oh diable! I am laugh almost to die, I am split I -- suppose he was pretty stiff, ha? 'cob on spindle,' ha? Oh, by gar, he is coot pour laugh--pour rire?'</p><p>"After Wi-jun-jon had got home, and passed the usual salutations among his friends, he commenced the simple narration of scenes he had passed through, and of things he had beheld among the whites; which appeared to them so much like fiction, that it was impossible to believe them, and they set him down as an impostor. 'He has been, (they said,) among the whites, who are great liars, and all he has learned is to come home and tell lies.' He sank rapidly into disgrace in his tribe; his high claims to Political eminence all vanished; he was reputed worthless -- the greatest liar of his nation; the chiefs shunned him and passed him by as one of the tribe who was lost; yet the ears of the gossipping portion of the tribe were open, and the campfire circle and the wigwam fireside, gave silent audience to the whispered narratives of the 'travelled Indian.'</p><p>"The next day after he had arrived among his friends, the superfluous part of his coat, (which was a laced frock), was converted into a pair of leggings for his wife; and his hat-band of silver lace furnished her a magnificent pair of garters. The remainder of the coat, curtailed of its original length, was seen buttoned upon the shoulders of his brother, over and above a pair of leggings of buckskin; and Wi-jun-jon was parading about among his gaping friends, with a bow and quiver slung over his shoulders, which, sans coat, exhibited a fine linen shirt with studs and sleeve buttons. His broadsword kept its place, but about noon, his boots gave way to a pair of garnished moccasins; and in such plight he gossiped away the day among his friends, while his heart spoke so freely and so effectually from the bung-hole of a little keg of whiskey, which he had brought the whole way, (as one of the choicest presents made him at Washington), that his tongue became silent.</p><p>"One of his little fair enamoratas, or 'catch crumbs', such as live in the halo of all great men, fixed her eyes and her affections upon his beautiful silk braces, and the next day, while the keg was yet dealing out its kindnesses, he was seen paying visits to the lodges of his old acquaintance, swaggering about, with his keg under his arm, whistling Yankee Doodle, and Washington's Grand March; his white shirt, or. that part of it that had been flapping in the wind, had been shockingly tithed -- his pantaloons of blue, laced with gold, were razed into a pair of comfortable leggings -- his bow and quiver were slung, and his broad-sword which trailed on the ground, had sought the centre of gravity and taken a position between his legs, and dragging behind him, served as a rudder to steer him over the earth's troubled surface.</p><p>"Ha-hah-hagh ------ah-------o-------oo-- k, eh bien.</p><p>"Two days' revel of this kind, had drawn from his keg all its charms; and in the mellowness of his heart, all his finery had vanished, and all of its appendages, except his umbrella, to which his heart's strongest affections still clung, and with it, and under it, in rude dress of buckskin, he was afterwards to be seen, in all sorts of weather, acting the fop and the beau as well as he could, with his limited means. In this plight, and in this dress, with his umbrella always in his hand, (as the only remaining evidence of his quondam greatness), he began in his sober moments, to entertain and instruct his people, by honest and simple narratives of things and scenes he had beheld during his tour to the East; but which (unfortunately for him), were to them too marvellous and improbable to be believed. He told the gaping multitude, that were constantly gathering about him, of the distance he had travelled-of the astonishing number of houses he had seen--of the towns and cities, with all their wealth and splendour -- of travelling on steamboats, in stages, and on railroads. He described our forts, and seventy-four gun ships, which he had visited -- their big guns -- our great bridges--our great council-house at Washington, and its doings-the curious and wonderful machines in the patent office, (which he pronounced the greatest medicine place he had seen); he described the great war parade, which he saw in the city of New York -- the ascent of the balloon from Castle Garden -- the numbers of the white people, the beauty of the white squaws; their red cheeks, and many thousands of other things, all of which were so much beyond their comprehension, that they 'could not be true' and 'he must be the very greatest liar in the whole world."</p><p>''But he was beginning to acquire a reputation of a different kind. He was denominated a medicine-man, and one too of the most extraordinary character; for they deemed him far above the ordinary sort of human beings, whose mind could invent and conjure up for their amusement, such an ingenious fabrication of novelty and wonder. He steadily and unostentatiously persisted, however, in this way of entertaining his friends and his people, though he knew his standing was affected by it. He had an exhaustless theme to descant upon through the remainder of his life; and he seemed satisfied to lecture all his life, for the pleasure which it gave him. "So great was his medicine, however, that they began, chiefs and all, to look upon him as a most extraordinary being, and the customary honours and forms began to be applied to him, and the respect shewn him, that belongs to all men in the Indian country, who are distinguished for their medicine or mysteries. In short, when all became familiar with the astonishing representations that he made, and with the wonderful alacrity with which 'he created them', he was denominated the very greatest of medicine; and not only that, but the 'lying medicine'. That he should be the greatest of medicine, and that for lying, merely, rendered him a prodigy in mysteries that commanded not only respect, but at length, (when he was more maturely heard and listened to) admiration, awe, and at last dread and terror; which altogether must needs conspire to rid the world of a monster, whose more than human talents must be cut down, to less than human measurement."</p><p>'Wat! Monsieur Cataline, dey av not try to kill him?'</p><p>"Yes, Ba'tiste, in this way the poor fellow had lived, and been for three years past continually relating the scenes he had beheld, in his tour to the Far East; until his medicine became so alarmingly great, that they were unwilling he should live; they were disposed to kill him for a wizard. One of the young men of the tribe took the duty upon himself, and after much perplexity, hit upon the following plan, to-witt -- he had fully resolved, in conjunction with others who were in the conspiracy, that the medicine of Wi-jun-jon was too great for the ordinary mode, and that he was so great a liar that a rifle bullet would not kill him; while the young man was in this distressing dilemma, which lasted for some weeks, he had a dream one night, which solved all difficulties; and in consequence of which, he loitered about the store in the Fort, at the mouth of the Yellow Stone, until he could procure, by stealth, (according to the injunction of his dream,) the handle of an iron pot, which he supposed to possess the requisite virtue, and taking it into the woods, he there spent a whole day in straightening and filing it, to fit it into the barrel of his gun; after which, he made his appearance again in the Fort, with his gun under his robe, charged with the pot handle, and getting behind poor Wi-jun-jon, whilst he was talking with the Trader, placed the muzzle behind his head and blew out his brains!</p><p>"Sacre vengeance! oh, mon Dieu! let me cry -- I shall cry always, for evare Oh he is not true, l hope? no, Monsieur,no!"</p><p>"Yes, Ba'tiste, it is a fact: thus ended the days and the greatness, and all the pride and hopes of WI-JUN-JON, the 'Pigeon's Egg Head', -- a warrior and a brave of the valiant Assinneboins, who travelled eight thousand miles to see the President, and all the great cities of the civilized world; and who, for telling the truth, and nothing but the truth, was, after he got home, disgraced and killed for a wizard.</p><p>"Oh, Monsieur Cataline -- I am distress -- I am sick -- I was hope he is not true -- oh I am mortify. Wi-jun-jon was coot Ingin -- he was my bruddare --- eh bien -- eh bien.</p><p>"Now, my friend Ba'tiste, I see you are distressed, and I regret exceedingly that it must be so; he was your friend and relative, and I myself feel sad at the poor fellow's unhappy and luckless fate; for he was a handsome, an honest, and a noble Indian."</p><p>"C'est vrais. Monsieur, c'est vrai."</p><p>"This man's death, Ba'tiste, has been a loss to himself, to his friends, and to the world; but you and I may profit by it, nevertheless, if we bear it in mind ----</p><p>"Oui! yes, Monsr. mais, suppose, 'tis bad wind dat blows nary way, ha?"</p><p>"Yes, Ba'tiste, we may profit by his misfortune, if we choose. We may call it a'caution;' for instance, when I come to write Your book, as you have proposed, the fate of this poor fellow, who was relating no more than what he actually saw, will caution you against the imprudence of telling all that you actually Know, and narrating all that you have seen, lest like him you sink into disgrace for telling the truth. You know, Ba'tiste, that there are many things to be seen in the kind of life that you and I have been living for some years past, which it would be more prudent for us to suppress than to tell."</p><p>"Oui, Monsieur. Well, soppose, perhaps I am discourage about de book. Ma is,we shall see,ha?"</p><p>Thus ended the last night's gossip, and in the cool of this morning, we bid adieu to the quiet and stillness of this wild place, of which I have resolved to give a little further account before we take leave of it.</p><p>From the Fall of St. Anthony, my delightful companion (Mr. Wood, whom I have before mentioned) and myself, with our Indian guide, whose name was O-kup-pee, tracing the beautiful shores of the St. Peters river, about eighty miles; crossing it at a place called "Traverse des Sioux", and recrossing it at another point about thirty miles above the mouth of "Terre Bleue", from whence we steered in a direction a little North of West for the "Coteau des Prairies", leaving the St. Peters river, and crossing one of the most beautiful prairie countries in the world, for the distance of one hundred and twenty or thirty miles, which brought us to the base of the Coteau, where we were joined by our kind and esteemed companion Monsieur La Fromboise, as I have before related. This tract of country as well as that along the St. Peters river, is mostly covered with the richest soil, and furnishes an abundance of good water, which flows from a thousand living springs. For many miles we had the Coteau in view in the distance before us, which looked like a blue cloud settling down in the horizon; and we were scarcely sensible of the fact, when we had arrived at its base, from the graceful and almost imperceptible swells with which it commences its elevation above the country around it. Over these swells or terraces, gently rising one above the other, we travelled for the distance of forty or fifty miles, when we at length reached the summit; and from the base of this mound, to its top, a distance of forty or fifty miles, there was not a tree or bush to be seen in any direction, and the ground everywhere was covered with a green turf of grass, about five or six inches high; and we were assured by our Indian guide, that it descended to the West, towards the Missouri, with a similar inclination, and for an equal distance, divested of every thing save the grass that grows, and the animals that walk upon it.</p><p>On the very top of this mound or ridge, we found the far-famed quarry or fountain of the Red Pipe, which is truly an anomaly in nature.</p><p>The principal and most striking feature of this place, is a perpendicular wall of close-grained, compact quartz, of twenty-five and thirty feet in elevation, running nearly North and South with its face to the West, exhibiting a front of nearly two miles in length, when it disappears at both ends by running under the prairie, which he comes there a little more elevated, and probably covers it for many miles, both to the North and the South. The depression of the brow of the ridge at this Place has been caused by the wash of a little stream, produced by several springs on the top, a little back from the wall; which has gradually carried away the super-incumbent earth, and having bared the wall for the distance of two miles, is now left to glide for some distance over a perfectly level surface of quartz rock; and then to leap from the top of the wall into a deep basin below, and from thence seek its course to the Missouri, forming the extreme source of a noted and powerful tributary, called the "Big Sioux".</p><p>This beautiful wall is horizontal, and stratified in several distinct layers of light grey, and rose or flesh-coloured quartz; and for most of the way, both on the front of the wall, and for acres of its horizontal surface, highly polished or glazed, as if by ignition. At the base of this wall there is a level prairie, of half a mile in width, running parallel to it; in any and all parts of which, the Indians procure the red stone for their pipes, by digging through the soil and several slaty layers of the red stone, to the depth of four or five feet.****[SEE NOTE] From the very numerous marks of ancient and modern diggings or excavations, it would appear that this place has been for many centuries resorted to for the red stone; and from the great number of graves and remains of ancient fortifications in its vicinity, it would seem, as well as from their actual traditions, that the Indian tribes have long held this place in high superstitious estimation; and also that it has been the resort of different tribes, who have made their regular pilgrimages here to renew their pipes.</p><p>The red pipe stone, I consider, will take its place amongst minerals, as an interesting subject of itself; and the "Coteau des Prairies" will become hereafter an important theme for geologists; not only from the fact that this is the only known locality of that mineral, but from other phenomena relating to it. The single fact of such a table of quartz, in horizontal strata, resting on this elevated plateau, is of itself (in my opinion) a very interesting subject for investigation; and one which calls upon the scientific world for a correct theory with regard to the time when, and the manner in which, this formation was produced. That it is of a secondary character, and of a sedimentary deposit, seems evident; and that it has withstood the force of the diluvial current, while the great valley of the Missouri, from this very wall of rocks to the Rocky Mountains, has been excavated, and its debris carried to the ocean, there is also not a shadow of doubt; which opinion I confidently advance on the authority of the following remarkable facts:</p><p>At the base of the wall, and within a few rods of it, and on the very ground where the Indians dig for the red stone, rests a group of five stupendous boulders of gneiss, leaning against each other; the smallest of which is twelve or fifteen feet, and the largest twenty-five feet in diameter, altogether weighing, unquestionably, several hundred tons. These blocks are composed chiefly of felspar and mica,.of an exceedingly coarse grain (the felspar often occurring in crystals of an inch in diameter). The surface of these boulders is in every part covered with a grey moss, which gives them an extremely ancient and venerable appearance, and their sides and angles are rounded by attrition, to the shape and character of most other erratic stones, which are found throughout the country. It is under these blocks that the two holes, or ovens are seen, in which, according to the Indian superstition,</p><p align="CENTER"><<<<<<NOTE>>>>>></p><p>[[[***** <em>From the very many excavations recently and anciently made, I could discover that these layers varied very much, in their thickness in different parts; and that in some places they were overlaid with four or five feet of rock, similar to, and in fact a part of, the lower stratum of the wall. the two old women, the guardian spirits of the place, reside; of whom I have before spoken.</em>]]]]</p><p align="CENTER"><<<<<<END OF NOTE>>>>>></p><p>That these five immense blocks, of precisely the same character, and differing materially from all other specimens of boulders which I have seen in the great vallies of the Mississippi and Missouri, should have been hurled some hundreds of miles from their native bed, and lodged in so singular a group on this elevated ridge, is truly matter of surprise for the scientific world, as well as for the poor Indian, whose superstitious veneration of them is such, that not a spear of grass is broken or bent by his feet, within three or four rods of them, where he stops, and in humble supplication, by throwing plugs of tobacco to them, solicits permission to dig and carry away the red stone for his pipes. The surface of these boulders are in every part entire and unscratched by anything; wearing the moss everywhere unbroken, except where I applied the hammer, to obtain some small specimens, which I shall bring away with me.</p><p>The fact alone, that these blocks differ in character from all other specimens which I have seen in my travels, amongst the thousands of boulders which are strewed over the great valley of the Missouri and Mississippi, from the Yellow Stone almost to the Gulf of Mexico, raises in my mind an unanswerable question, as regards the location of their native bed, and the means by which they have reached their isolated position; like five brothers, leaning against and supporting each other, without the existence of another boulder within many miles of them. There are thousands and tens of thousands of boulders scattered over the prairies, at the base of the COTEAU on either side; and so throughout the valley of the St. Peters and Mississippi, which are also subjects of very great interest and importance to science, inasmuch as they present to the world, a vast variety of characters; and each one, though strayed away from its original position, bears incontestible proof of the character of its native bed. The tract of country lying between the St. Peters river and the Coteau, over which we passed, presents innumerable specimens of this kind; and near the base of the COTEAU they are strewed over the prairie in countless numbers, presenting almost an incredible variety of rich, and beautiful colours; and undoubtedly traceable, (if they can be traced), to separate and distinct beds.</p><p>Amongst these beautiful groups, it was sometimes a very easy matter to sit on my horse and count within my sight, some twenty or thirty different varieties, of quartz and granite, in rounded boulders, of every hue and colour, from snow white to intense red, and yellow, and blue, and almost to a jet black; each one well characterized and evidently from a distinct quarry. With the beautiful hues and almost endless characters of these blocks, I became completely surprised and charmed; and I resolved to procure specimens of every variety, which I did with success, by dismounting from my horse, and breaking small bits from them with my hammer; until I had something like an hundred different varieties, containing all the tints and colours of a painter's palette. These, I at length threw away, as I had on several former occasions, other minerals and fossils, which I had collected and lugged along from day to day, and sometimes from week to week.</p><p>Whether these varieties of quartz and granite can all be traced to their native beds, or whether they all have origins at this time exposed above the earth's surface, are equally matters of much doubt in my mind. I believe that the geologist may take the different varieties, which he may gather at the base of the Coteau in one hour, and travel the Continent of North America all over without being enabled to put them all in place; coming at last to the unavoidable conclusion, that numerous chains or beds of primitive rocks have reared their heads on this Continent, the summits of which have been swept away by the force of diluvial currents, and their fragments jostled together and strewed about, like foreigners in a strange? land, over the great vallies of the Mississippi and Missouri, where they will ever remain, and be gazed upon by the traveller, as the only remaining evidence of their native beds, which have again submerged or been covered with diluvial deposits.</p><p>There seems not to be, either on the Coteau or in the great vallies on either side, so far as I have travelled, any slaty or other formation exposed above the surface on which grooves or scratches can be seen, to establish the direction of the diluvial currents in those regions; yet I think the fact is pretty clearly established by the general shapes of the vallies, and the courses of the mountain ridges which wall them in on their sides.</p><p>The Coteau des Prairies is the dividing ridge between the St. Peters and Missouri rivers; its southern termination or slope is about in the latitude of the Fall of St. Anthony, and it stands equi-distant between the two rivers; its general course bearing two or three degrees West of North for the distance of two or three hundred miles, when it gradually slopes again to the North, throwing out from its base the bend-waters and tributaries of the St. Peters, on the East. The Red River, and other streams, which empty into Hudson's Bay, on the North; La Riviere Jaque and several other tributaries to the Missouri, on the West; and the Red Cedar, the Iowa and the Des Moines, on the South.</p><p>This wonderful feature, which is several hundred miles in length, and varying from fifty to a hundred in width, is, perhaps, the noblest mound of its kind in the world; it gradually and gracefully rises on each side, by swell after swell, without tree, or bush or rock (save what are to be seen in the vicinity of the Pipe Stone Quarry), and everywhere covered with green grass, affording the traveller, from its highest elevations, the most unbounded and sublime views of -- nothing at all -- save the blue and boundless ocean of prairies that lie beneath and all around him, vanishing into azure in the distance without a speck or spot to break their softness.</p><p>The direction of this ridge, I consider, pretty clearly establishes the course of the diluvial cut-rent in this region, and the erratic stones which are distributed along its base, I attribute to an origin several hundred miles North West from the Coteau. I have not myself traced the Coteau to its highest points, nor to its Northern extremity; but it has been a subject, on which I have closely questioned a number of traders, who have traversed every mile of it with their carts, and from thence to Lake Winnipeg on the North, who uniformly tell me, that there is no range of primitive rocks to be crossed in travelling the whole distance, which is one connected and continuous prairie.</p><p>The top and sides of the COTEAU are everywhere strewed over the surface with granitic sand and pebbles, which, together with the fact of the five boulders resting at the Pipe Stone Quarry, shew clearly that every part of the ridge has been subject to the action of these currents, which could not have run counter to it, without having disfigured or deranged its beautiful symmetry.</p><p>The glazed or polished surface of the quartz rocks at the Pipe Stone Quarry, I consider a very interesting subject, and one which will excite hereafter a variety of theories, as to the manner in which it has been produced, and the causes which have led to such singular results. The quartz is of a close grain, and exceedingly hard, eliciting the most brilliant spark from steel; and in most places, where exposed to the sun and the air, has a high polish on its surface, entirely beyond any results which could have been produced by diluvial action, being perfectly glazed as if by ignition. I was not sufficiently particular in my examinations to ascertain whether any parts of the surface of these rocks under the ground, and not exposed to the action of the air, were thus affected, which would afford an important argument in forming a correct theory with regard to it; and it may also be a fact of similar importance, that this polish does not extend over the whole wall or area; but is distributed over it in parts and sections, often disappearing suddenly, and reappearing again, even where the character and exposure of the rock is the same and unbroken. In general, the parts and points most projecting and exposed, bear the highest polish, which would naturally be the case whether it was produced by ignition, or by the action of the air and sun. It would seem almost an impossibility, that the air passing these projections for a series of centuries, could have produced so high a polish on so hard a substance; and it seems equally unaccountable, that this effect could have been produced in the other way, in the total absence of all igneous matter.</p><p>I have broken off specimens and brought them home, which certainly bear as high a polish and luster on the surface, as a piece of melted glass; and then as these rocks have undoubtedly been formed where they now lie, it must be admitted, that this strange effect on their surface has been produced either by the action of the air and sun, or by igneous influence; and if by the latter course, there is no other conclusion we can come to, than that these results are volcanic; that this wall has once formed the side of a crater, and that the Pipe Stone, laying in horizontal strata, is formed of the lava which has issued from it. I am strongly inclined to believe, however, that the former supposition is the correct one; and that the Pipe Stone, which differs from all known specimens of lava, is a new variety of steatite, and will be found to be a subject of great interest and one worthy of a careful analysis.</p><p>With such notes and such memorandums on this shorn land, whose quiet and silence are only broken by the winds and the thunders of Heaven, I close my note-book, and we this morning saddle our horses; and after wending our way to the "Thunders' Nest" and the "Stone-man Medicine," we shall descend into the valley of the St. Peters, and from that to the regions of civilization; from whence, if I can get there, you will hear of me again. Adieu.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-16069878882029062432023-12-13T03:00:00.019-05:002023-12-13T03:00:00.160-05:001844 Geo Catlin's Letters & Notes on Manners, Customs & Conditions of North American Indians #49<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVikXtyf3OuJlTT-KoF5_l_OtS32q_JPG1tdzb9wQjP-yxTBMdFAN9luEYR4izTsx5eTFYDWThtglSL8wv29dkmIs9GnkEcv6hM2ODI3ENiJkpcZR90H614RW70FjUMJFm1YLbuE6XD2yZ2Zegdg5rAjJG_BWWttqbt6Qn1TafFw7Qa-a4kQyxM5Esd5s/s996/George%20Catlin%20%20(1796%20_1872)%20%20in%201849%20at%20National%20Portrait%20Gallery%20Washington%20DC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVikXtyf3OuJlTT-KoF5_l_OtS32q_JPG1tdzb9wQjP-yxTBMdFAN9luEYR4izTsx5eTFYDWThtglSL8wv29dkmIs9GnkEcv6hM2ODI3ENiJkpcZR90H614RW70FjUMJFm1YLbuE6XD2yZ2Zegdg5rAjJG_BWWttqbt6Qn1TafFw7Qa-a4kQyxM5Esd5s/w514-h640/George%20Catlin%20%20(1796%20_1872)%20%20in%201849%20at%20National%20Portrait%20Gallery%20Washington%20DC.jpg" width="514" /></span></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> George Catlin (1796 _1872) at National Portrait Gallery Washington DC</span> </p><p style="text-align: center;">LETTER--No. 49</p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">ST. LOUIS.</span></p><p>IN one of my last Letters from Fort Gibson, written some months since, I promised to open my note-book on a future occasion, to give some further account of tribes and remnants of tribes located in that vicinity amongst whom I had been spending some time with my pen and my pencil; and having since that time extended my rambles over much of that ground again, and also through the regions of the East and South East, from whence the most of those tribes have emigrated; I consider this a proper time to say something more of them, and their customs and condition, before I go farther.</p><p>The most of these, as I have said, are tribes or parts of tribes which the Government has recently, by means of Treaty stipulations, removed to that wild and distant country, on to lands which have been given to them in exchange for their valuable possessions within the States, tell or twelve hundred miles to the East.</p><p>Of a number of such reduced and removed tribes, who have been located West of the Missouri, and North of St. Louis, I have already spoken in a former Letter, and shall yet make brief mention of another, which has been conducted to the same region--and then direct the attention of the reader to those which are settled in the neighborhood of Fort Gibson, who are the Cherokees-Creeks-Choctaws-Chickasaws-Se and Euchees.</p><p>The people above alluded to are the</p><p align="CENTER">SHA-WA-NO'S.</p><p>The history of this once powerful tribe is so closely and necessarily connected with that of the United States, and the revolutionary war, that it is generally pretty well understood. This tribe formerly inhabited great parts of the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, (and for the last sixty years,) a part of the states of Ohio and Indiana, to which they had removed; and now, a considerable portion of them, a tract of country several hundred miles West of the Mississippi, which has been conveyed to them by Government in exchange for their lands in Ohio, from which it is expected the remainder of the tribe will soon move. It has bees said that this tribe came formerly from Florida, but 1 do not believe it. The mere fact, that there is found in East Florida a river by the name of Su wa-nee, which bears same. resemblance to Sha-wa-no, seems, as far as I can learn, to be the principal evidence that has been adduced for the fact. They have evidently been known, and that within the scope of our authenticated history, on the Atlantic coast-on the Delaware and Chesapeak bays. And after that, have fought their way against every sort of trespass and abuse-against the bayonet and disease, through the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, to their present location near the Kon-zas River, at least 1500 miles from their native country.</p><p>This tribe and the Delawares, of whom I have spoken, were neighbours on the Atlantic coast, and alternately allies and enemies, have retrograded and retreated together--have fought their enemies united, and fought each other, until their remnants that have outlived their nation's calamities, have now settled as neighbours together in the Western wilds; where, it is probable, the sweeping hand of death will soon relieve them from further necessity of warring or moving; and the Government, from the necessity or policy of proposing to them a yet more distant home. In their long and disastrous pilgrimage, both of these tribes laid claim to, and alternately occupied the beautiful and renowned valley of Wy-o-ming; and after strewing the Susquehana's lovely banks with their bones, and their tumuli, they both yielded at last to the dire necessity, which follows all civilized intercourse with natives, and fled to the Alleghany, and at last to the banks of the Ohio; where necessity soon came again, and again, and again, until the great " Guardian " of all "red children" placed them where they now are.</p><p>There are of this tribe remaining about 1200; some few of whom are agriculturists, and industrious and temperate, and religious people; but the greater proportion of them are miserably poor and dependent, having scarcely the ambition to labour or to hunt, and a passion for whiskey-drinking, that sinks them into the most abject poverty, as they will give the last thing they possess for a drink of it. There is not a tribe on the Continent whose history is more interesting than that of the Shawanos, nor any one that has produced more extraordinary men.</p><p>The great Tecumseh, whose name and history I can but barely allude to at this time, was the chief of this tribe, and perhaps the most extraordinary Indian of his age.</p><p>The present chief of the tribe Lay-law-she-kaw (he who goes up the river), is a very aged, but extraordinary man, with a fine and intelligent head, and his ears slit and stretched down to his shoulders, a custom highly valued in this tribe; which is done by severing the rim of the ear with a knife, and stretching it down by wearing heavy weights attached to it at times, to elongate it as much as possible, making a large orifice, through which, on parades, &c. they often pass a bunch of arrows or quills, and wear them as ornaments.</p><p>In this instance(which was not an unusual one), the rims of the ears were so extended down, that they touched the shoulders, making a ring through which the whole hand could easily be passed. The daughter of this old chief, Ka-te-qua (the female eagle), was an agreeable looking girl, of fifteen years of age, and much thought of by the tribe. Pah-te-coo-saw (the straight man), a warrior of this tribe, has distinguished himself by his exploits; and when he sat for his picture, had painted his face in a very curious manner with black and red paint.</p><p>Ten-sgua-ta-way (the open door), called the "Shawnee Prophet", is perhaps one of the most remarkable men, who has flourished on these frontiers for some time past. This man is brother of the famous Tecumseh, and quite equal in his medicines or mysteries, to what his brother was in arms; he was blind in his left eye, and in his right hand he was holding his "medicine fire", and his "sacred string of beans" in the other. With these mysteries he made his way through most of the North Western tribes, enlisting warriors wherever he went, to assist Tecumseh in effecting his great scheme, of forming a confederacy of all the Indians on the frontier, to drive back the whites and defend the Indians' rights; which he told them could never in any other way be protected. His plan was certainly a correct one, if not a very great one; and his brother, the Prophet, exercised his astonishing influence in raising men for him to fight his battles, and carry out his plans. For this purpose, he started upon an embassy to the various tribes on the Upper Missouri, nearly all of which he visited with astonishing success; exhibiting his mystery fire, and using his sacred string of beans, which every young man who was willing to go to war, was to touch; thereby taking the solemn oath to start when called upon, and not to turn back.</p><p>In this most surprising manner, this ingenious man entered the villages of most of his inveterate enemies, and of others who never had heard of the name of his tribe; and manoeuvred in so successful a way, as to make his medicines a safe passport for him to all of their villages; and also the means of enlisting in the different tribes, some eight or ten thousand warriors, who had solemnly sworn to return with him on his way back; and to assist in the wars that Tecumseh was to wage against the whites on the frontier. I found, on my visit to the Sioux -- to the Puncahs, to the Riccarees and the Mandans, that he had been there, and even to the Blackfeet; and everywhere told them of the potency of his mysteries, and assured them, that if they allowed the fire to go out ill their wigwams, it would prove fatal to them in every case. He carried with him into every wigwam that he visited, the image of a dead person of the size of life; which was made ingeniously of some light material. and always kept concealed under bandages of thin white muslin cloths and not to be opened; of this he made great mystery, and got his recruits to swear by touching a sacred string of white beans, which he had attached to its neck or some other way secreted about it. In this way, by his extraordinary cunning, he had carried terror into the country as far as he went; and had actually enlisted some eight or ten thousand men, who were sworn to follow him home; and in a few days would have been on their way with him, had not a couple of his political enemies in his own tribe, followed on his track, even to those remote tribes, and defeated his plans, by pronouncing him an impostor; and all of his forms and plans an imposition upon them, which they would be fools to listen to. In this manner. this great recruiting officer was defeated in his plans, for raising an army of men to fight his brother's battles; and to save his life, he discharged his medicines as suddenly as possible, and secretly travelled his way home, over those vast regions, to his own tribe, where the death of Tecumseh, and the opposition of enemies, killed all his splendid prospects, and doomed him to live the rest of his days in silence, and a sort of disgrace; like all men in Indian communities who pretend to great medicine, in any way, and fail; as they all think such failure an evidence of the displeasure of the Great Spirit, who always judges right.</p><p>This, no doubt, has been a very shrewd and influential man, but circumstances have destroyed him, as they have many other great men before him; and he now lives respected, but silent and melancholy in his tribe. I conversed with him a great deal about his brother Tecumseh, of whom he spoke frankly, and seemingly with great pleasure; but of himself and his own great schemes, he would say nothing. He told me that Tecumseh's plans were to embody all the Indian tribes in a grand confederacy, from the province of Mexico, to the Great Lakes, to unite their forces in an army that would be able to meet and drive back the white people, who were continually advancing on the Indian tribes, and forcing them from their lands towards the Rocky Mountains -- that Tecumseh was a great general, and that nothing but his premature death defeated his grand plan.</p><p>The Shawanos, like most of the other remnants of tribes, in whose countries the game has been destroyed, and by the use of whiskey, have been reduced to poverty and absolute want, have become, to a certain degree, agriculturists; raising corn and beans, potatoes, hogs, horses, &c; so as to be enabled, if they could possess anywhere on earth, a country which they could have a certainty of holding in perpetuity, as their own, to plant and raise their own crops, and necessaries of life from the ground.</p><p>The Government have effected with these people, as with most of the other dispersed tribes, an arrangement by which they are to remove West of the Mississippi, to lands assigned them; on which they are solemnly promised a home for ever; the uncertain definition of which important word, time and circumstances alone will determine.</p><p>Besides the personages whom I have above-mentioned, I painted the portraits of several others of note in the tribe; and amongst them Lay-loo-ahpe-ni-shee-liaw (the grass-bush and blossom), whom I introduce in this place, rather from the very handy and poetical name, than from any great personal distinction known to have bees acquired by him.</p><p align="CENTER">THE CHER-O-KEES.</p><p>Living in the vicinity of, and about Fort Gibson, on the Arkansas, and 700 miles west of the Mississippi river, are a third part or more of the once very numerous and powerful tribe who inhabited and still inhabit, a considerable part of the state of Georgia, and under a Treaty made with the United States Government, have been removed to those regions, where they are settled on a fine tract of country; and having advanced somewhat in the arts and agriculture before they started, are now found to be mostly living well, cultivating their fields of corn and other crops, which they raise with great success.</p><p>Under a serious difficulty existing between these people (whom their former solemn Treaties with the United States Government, were acknowledged a free and independent nation, with powers to make and enforce their own laws), and the state of Georgia, which could not admit such a Government within her sovereignty, it was thought most expedient by the Government of the United States, to propose to them, for the fourth or fifth time, to enter into Treaty stipulations again to move; and by so doing to settle the difficult question with the state of Georgia, and at the same time, to place them in peaceable possession of a large tract of fine country, where they would for ever be free from the continual trespasses and abuses which it was supposed they would be subjected to, if they were to remain in the state of Georgia, under the present difficulties and the high excited feelings which were then existing in the minds of many people along their borders.</p><p>John Ross, a civilized and highly educated and accomplished gentleman, who is the head-chief of the tribe, and several of his leading subordinate chiefs, have sternly and steadily rejected the proposition of such a Treaty; and are yet, with a great majority of the nation remaining on their own ground in the state of Georgia, although some six or 7000 of the tribe have several years since removed to the Arkansas, under the guidance and control of an aged and dignified chief by the name of Jol-lee.</p><p>This man, like most of the chiefs, as well as a very great proportion of the Cherokee population, has a mixture of white and red blood in his veins, of which, in this instance, the first seems decidedly to predominate. Another chief, and second to this, amongst this portion of the Cherokees, by the name of The-ke-neh-kee (the black coat), I have also painted and placed in my Collection, as well as a very interesting specimen of the Cherokee women.</p><p>I have travelled pretty generally through the several different locations of this interesting tribe, both in the Western and Eastern divisions, and hare found them, as well as the Choctaws and Creeks, their neighbours, very far advanced in the arts; affording to the world the most satisfactory evidences that are to be found in America, of the fact, that the Indian was not made to shun and evade good example, and necessarily to live and die a brute, as many speculating men would needs record them and treat them, until they are robbed and trampled into the dust; that no living evidences might give the lie to their theories, or draw the cloak from their cruel and horrible iniquities.</p><p>As I have repeatedly said to my readers, in the course of my former epistles, that the greater part of my time would be devoted to the condition and customs of the tribes that might be found in their primitive state, they will feel disposed to Pardon me for barely introducing the Cherokees, and several others of these very interesting tribes, and leaving them and their customs and histories (which are of themselves enough for volumes), to the reader, who is, perhaps, nearly as familiar as I am myself, with the Full and fair accounts of these people, who have had their historians and biographers.</p><p>The history of the Cherokees and other numerous remnants of tribes, who are the exhabitants of the finest and most valued portions of the United States, is a subject of great interest and importance, and has already been woven into the most valued histories of the country, as well as forming material parts of the archives of the Government, which is my excuse for barely introducing the reader to them, and beckoning him off again to the native and untrodden wilds, to teach him something new and unrecorded. Yet I leave the subject, as I left the people (to whom I became attached, for their kindness and friendship), with a heavy heart, wishing them success and the blessing of the Great Spirit, who alone can avert the door, that would almost seem to be fixed for their unfortunate race.</p><p>The Cherokees amount in all to about 22,000, 16,000 of whom are yet living in Georgia, under the Government of their chief, John Ross, whose name I have before mentioned; with this excellent man, who has been for many years devotedly opposed to the Treaty stipulations for moving from their country, I have been familiarly acquainted; and, notwithstanding the bitter invective and animadversions that have been by his political enemies heaped upon him, I feel authorized, and bound, to testify to the unassuming and gentlemanly urbanity of his manners, as well as to the rigid temperance of his habits, and the purity of his language, in which I never knew him to transgress for a moment, in public or private interviews.</p><p>At this time, the most strenuous endeavours are making on the part of the Government and the state of Georgia, for the completion of an arrangement for the removal of the whole of this tribe, as well as of the Choctaws and Seminoles; and I have not a doubt of their final success, which seems, from all former experience, to attend every project of the kind made by the Government to their red children.*</p><p>It is not for me to decide, nor in this place to reason, as to the justice or injustice of the treatment of these people at the hands of the Government or individuals; or of the wisdom of the policy which is to Place them in a new, though vast and fertile country, 1000 miles from the land of their birth, in the doubtful dilemma whether to break the natural turf with their rusting ploughshares, or string their bows, and dash over the boundless prairies, beckoned on by the alluring dictates of their nature, seeking laurels amongst the ranks of their new enemies, and subsistence amongst the herds of buffaloes.</p><p>Besides the Cherokees in Georgia, and those that I have spoken of in the neighbourhood of Fort Gibson, there is another band or family of the same tribe, of several hundreds, living on the banks of the Canadian river, an hundred or more miles South West of Fort Gibson, under the Government of a distinguished chief by the name of Tuch-ee (familiarly called by the white people, "Dutch"). This is one of the most extraordinary men that lives on the frontiers at the present day, both for his remarkable history, and for his fine and manly figure, and character of face.</p><p>This man was in the employment of the Government as a guide and hunter for the regiment of dragoons, on their expedition to the Camanchees, where T had him for a constant companion for several months, and opportunities in abundance, for studying his true character, and of witnessing his wonderful exploits in the different varieties of the chase. The history of this man's life has been very curious and surprising; and I sincerely hope that some one, with more leisure and more talent than myself, will take it up, and do it justice. I promise that the life of this man furnishes the best materials for a popular tale, that are now to be procured on the Western frontier.</p><p>He is familiarly known, and much of his life, to all the officers who have been stationed at Fort Gibson, or at any of the posts in that region of country.</p><p>Some twenty years or more since, becoming fatigued and incensed with civilized encroachments, that were continually making on the borders of the Cherokee country in Georgia, where he then resided, and probably, foreseeing the disastrous results they were to lead to, he beat up for volunteers to emigrate to the West, where he had designed to go, and colonize in a wild country beyond the reach and contamination of civilized innovations; and succeeded in getting several hundred men, women, and children, whom he led over the banks of the Mississippi, and settled upon the head waters of White River, where they lived until the appearance of white faces, which began to peep through the forests at them, when they made another move of 600 miles to the banks of the Canadian, where they now reside; and where, by the system of desperate warfare, which he has carried on against the Osages and the Camanchees, he has successfully cleared away from a large tract of fine country, all the enemies that could contend for it, and now holds it, with his little band of myrmidons, as their own undisputed soil, where they are living comfortably by raising from the soil fine crops of corn and potatoes, and other necessaries of life ; whilst they indulge whenever they please, in the pleasures of the chase amongst the herds of buffaloes, or in the natural propensity for ornamenting their dresses and their war-clubs with the scalp-locks of their enemies.</p><p align="CENTER">THE CREEKS (or MUS-KO-GEES).</p><p>Of 20,000 in numbers, have, until quite recently, occupied an immense tract of country in the states of Mississippi and Alabama; but by a similar arrangement (and for a similar purpose) with the Government, have exchanged their possessions there for a country, adjoining to the Cherokees, on the South side of the Arkansas, to which they have already all removed, and on which, like the Cherokees, they are laying out fine farms, and building good houses, in which they live; in many instances, surrounded by immense fields of corn and wheat. There is scarcely a finer country on earth than that now owned by the Creeks; and in North America, certainly no Indian tribe more advanced in the arts and agriculture than they are. It is no uncommon thing to see a Creek with twenty or thirty slaves at work on his plantation, having brought them from a slave-holding country, from which, in their long journey, and exposure to white man's ingenuity, I venture to say, that most of them got rid of one-half of them, whilst on their long and disastrous crusade.</p><p>The Creeks, as well as the Cherokees and Choctaws, have good schools and churches established amongst them, conducted by excellent and pious men, from whose example they are drawing great and lasting benefits.</p><p>I have given the portraits of two distinguished men, and I believe, both chiefs. The first by the name of Stee-cha-co-me-co (the great king), familiarly called "Ben Perryman" and the other, Hol-te-mal-te-tez-te-neehk-ee (---), Failed "Sam Perryman". These two men are brothers, and are fair specimens of the tribe, who are mostly clad in calicoes, and other cloths of civilized manufacture; tasselled and hinged off by themselves in the most fantastic way, and sometimes with much true and picturesque taste. They use a vast many beads, and other trinkets, to hang upon their necks, and ornament their moccasins and beautiful belts.</p><p align="CENTER">THE CHOCTAWS.</p><p>Of fifteen thousand, are another tribe, removed from the Northern parts of Alabama, and Mississippi, within the few years past, and now occupying a large and rich tract of country, South of the Arkansas and the Canadian rivers; adjoining to the country of the Creeks and the Cherokees, equally civilized, and living much in the same manner.</p><p>In this tribe I painted the portrait of their famous and excellent chief, Mo-sho-la-tub-bee (he who puts out and kills), who has since died of the small-pox. In the same plate will also be seen, the portrait of a distinguished and very gentlemanly man, who has been well-educated, and who gave me much curious and valuable information, of the history and traditions of his tribe. The name of this man, is Ha-tchoo-tuck-nee (the snapping turtle), familiarly called by the whites "Peter Pinchlin".</p><p>These people seem, even in their troubles, to be happy ; and have, like all the other remnants of tribes, preserved with great tenacity their different games, which it would seem they are everlastingly practicing for want of other occupations or amusements in life. Whilst I was staying at the Choctaw agency in the midst of their nation, it seemed to be a sort of season of amusements, a kind of holiday r when the whole tribe almost, were assembled around the establishment, and from day to day we were entertained with some games or feats that were exceedingly amusing: horse-racing, dancing, wrestling, foot-racing, and ball-playing, were amongst the most exciting; and of all the catalogue, the most beautiful, was decidedly that of ball-playing. This wonderful game, which is the favorite-one amongst all the tribes, and with these Southern tribes played exactly the same, can never be appreciated by those who are not happy enough to see it.</p><p>It is no uncommon occurrence for six or eight hundred or a thousand of these young men, to engage in a game of ball, with five or six times that number of spectators, of men, women and children, surrounding the ground, and looking on. And I pronounce such a scene, with its hundreds of Nature's most beautiful models, denuded, and painted of various colours, running and leaping into the air, in all the most extravagant and varied forms, in the desperate struggles for the ball, a school for the painter or sculptor, equal to any of those which ever inspired the hand of the artist in the Olympian games or the Roman forum.</p><p>I have made it an uniform rule, whilst in the Indian country, to attend every ball-play I could hear of, if I could do it by riding a distance of twenty or thirty miles; and my usual custom has been on such occasions, to straddle the: back of my horse, and look on to the best advantage. In this way I have sat, and oftentimes reclined, and almost dropped from my horse's back, with irresistible laughter at the succession of droll tricks, and kicks and scuffles which ensue, in the almost superhuman straggles for the ball. These plays generally commence at nine o'clock, or near ii, in the morning; and I have more than once balanced myself on my pony, from that time till near sundown, without more than one minute of intermission at a time, before the game has been decided.</p><p>It is impossible for pen and ink alone, or brushes, or even with their combined efforts, to give more than a caricature of such a scene; but such as I have been able to do, I have put upon the canvass, and in the slight outlines which I have here taken from those paintings, (for the colouring to which the reader must look to my pen), I will convey as correct an account as I can, and leave the reader to imagine the rest; or look to other books for what I may have omitted.</p><p>While at the Choctaw agency it was announced, that there was to be a great play on a certain day, within a few miles, on which occasion I attended, and made the three sketches which are hereto annexed ; and also the following entry in my note-book, which I literally copy out.</p><p>On Monday afternoon at three, o'clock, I rode out with Lieutenants S. and M., to a very pretty prairie, about six miles distant, to the ball-play-ground of the Choctaws, where we found several thousand Indians encamped. There were two points of timber about half a mile apart, in which the two parties for the play, with their respective families and friends, were encamped; and lying between them, the prairie on which the game was to be played. My companions and myself, although we had been apprised, that to see the whole of a ball-play, we must remain on the ground all the night previous, had brought nothing to sleep upon, resolving to keep our eyes open, and see what transpired through the night. During the afternoon, we loitered about amongst the different tents and shantees of the two encampments, and afterwards, at sundown, witnessed the ceremony of measuring out the ground, and erecting the "byes" of goals which were to guide the play. Each party had their goal made with two upright posts, about 25 feet high and six feet apart, set firm in the ground, with a pole across at the top. These goals were about forty or fifty rods apart; and at a Point just half way between, was another small stake, driven down, where the ball was to be thrown up at the firing of a gun, to be struggled for by the players. All this preparation was made by some old men, who were, it seems, selected to be the judges of the play, who drew a line from one bye to the other to which directly came from the woods, on both sides, a great concourse of women and old men, boys and girls, and dogs and horses, where bets were to be made on the play. The betting was all done across this line, and seemed to be chiefly left to the women, who seemed to have martialled out a little of everything that their houses and their fields possessed. Goods and chattels -- knifes -- dresses -- blankets -- pots and kettles -- dogs and horses, and guns; and all were placed in the possession of stake-holders, who sat by them, and watched them on the ground all night, preparatory to the play.</p><p>The sticks with which this tribe play, are bent into an oblong hoop at the end, with a sort of slight web of small thongs tied across, to prevent the ball from passing through. The players hold one of these in each hand, and by leaping into the air, they catch the ball between the two nettings and throw it, without being allowed to strike it, or catch it in their hands.</p><p>The mode in which these sticks are constructed and used, will be seen in the portrait of <em>Tullock-chish-Ro</em> (He Who Drinks The Juice Of The Stone), the most distinguished ball-player of the Choctaw nation, represented in his ball-play dress, with his hall-sticks in his hands. In every ball play of these people, it is a rule of the play, that no man shall wear moccasins on his feet, or any other dress than his breech-cloth around his waist, with a beautiful bead belt, and a "tail", made of white horsehair or quills, and a "mane" on the neck, of horsehair dyed of various colours.</p><p>This game had been arranged and "made up", three or four months before the parties met to play it, and in the following manner. The two champions who led the two parties, and had the alternate choosing of the players through the whole tribe, sent runners, with the ball-sticks most fantastically ornamented with ribbons and red paint, to be touched by each one of the chosen players; who thereby agreed to be on the spot at the appointed time and ready for the play. The ground having been all prepared and preliminaries of the game all settled, and the bettings all made, and goods all "staked", night came on without the appearance of any players on the ground. But soon after dark, a procession of lighted flambeaux was seen coming from each encampment, to the ground where the players assembled around their respective byes; and at the beat of the drums and chants of the women, each party of players commenced the "ball-play dance". Each party danced for a quarter of an hour around their respective byes, in their ball-play dress; rattling their ball-sticks together in the most a violent manner, and all singing as loud as they could raise their voices; whilst the women of each party, who had their goods at stake, formed into two rows on the line between the two parties of players, and danced also, in an uniform step, and all their voices joined in chants to the Great Spirit; in which they were soliciting his favour in deciding the game to their advantage; and also encouraging the players to exert every power they possessed, in the struggle that was to ensue. In the mean time, four old medicine-man, who were to have the starting of the ball, and who were to be judges of the play, were seated at the point where the ball was to be started; and busily smoking to the Great Spirit for their success in judging rightly, and impartially, between the parties in so important an affair.</p><p>This dance was one of the most picturesque scenes imaginable, and was repeated at intervals of every half hour during the night, and exactly in the same manner; so that the players were certainly awake all the night, and arranged in their appropriate dress, prepared for the play which was to commence at nine o'clock the next morning. In the morning, at the hour, the two parties and all their friends, were drawn out and over the ground; when at length the game commenced, by the judges throwing up the ball at the firing of a gun; when an instant struggle ensued between the players, who were some six or seven hundred in numbers, and were mutually endeavouring to catch the ball in their sticks, and throw it home and between their respective stakes; which, whenever successfully done, counts one for game. In this game every player was dressed alike, that is, divested of all dress except the girdle and the tail, which I have before described; and in these desperate struggler for the ball, when it is up, where hundreds are running together and leaping, actually over each other's heads, and darting between their adversaries' legs, tripping and throwing, and foiling each one in every possible manner, and every voice raised to the highest key, in shrill yelps and barks. There are rapid successions of feats, and of incidents, that astonish and amuse far beyond the conception of any one who has not had the singular good luck to witness them. In these struggles, every mode I used that can be devised, to oppose the progress of the foremost, who is like: to get the ball; and these obstructions often meet desperate individual resis tance, which terminates in a violent scuffle, and sometimes in fisticuffs; when their stricks are dropped, and the parties are unmolested, whilst they are set tling it between themselves; unless it be by a general stampede, to whici they are subject who are down, if the ball happens to pass in their direction. Every weapon, by a rule of all ball-plays, is laid by in their respective en campments, and no man allowed to go for one; so that the sudden broil that take place on the ground, are presumed to be as suddenly settled with out any probability of much personal injury; and no one is allowed to inter fere in any way with the contentious individuals.</p><p>There are times, when the ball gets to the ground, and such a confused mass rushing together around it, and knocking their sticks te gether, without the possibility of any one getting or seeing it, for the dust that they raise, that the spectator loses his strength, and everything else but his senses; when the condensed mass of ball-sticks, and shins, and bloody noses, is carried around the different parts of the ground, for a quarter (an hour at a time), without any one of the mass being able to see the ball and which they are often thus scuffling for, several minutes after it has bee thrown off, and, layed over another part of the ground.</p><p>For each time that the ball was passed between the stakes of either part: one was counted for their game, and a halt of about one minute; when was again started by the judges of the play, and a similar struggle ensued and so on until the successful party arrived to 100, which was the limit (the game), and accomplished at an hour's sun, when they took the stakes and then, by a previous agreement, produced a number of jugs of whiskey: which gave all a wholesome drink, and sent them all off merry and in good humour, but not drunk.</p><p>After this exciting day, the concourse was assembled in the vicinity I the agency house, where we had a great variety of dauces and other amusements; the most of which I have described on former occasion One, however, was new to me, and I must say a few words of it: this with the Eagle Dance, a very pretty scene, which is got up by their your men, in honour of that bird, for which they seem to have a religior regard. This picturesque dance was given by twelve or sixteen men, whet ludiPn were chiefly naked and painted white, with white clay, and each one holding in his hand the tailof the eagle, while his head was also decorated with an eagle's quill. Spears were stuck in the ground, around which the dance was performed by four men at a time, who had simultaneously, at the beat of the drum, jumped up from the ground where they had all sat in rows of four, one row immediately behind the other, and ready to take the place of the first four when they left the ground fatigued, which they did by hopping or jumping around behind the rest, and taking their seats, ready to come up again in their turn, after each of the other sets had been through the same forms.</p><p>In this dance, thesteps or rather jumps, were different from anything I had ever witnessed before, as the dancers were squat down, with their bodies almost to the ground, in a severe and most difficult posture, as will have been seen in the drawing.</p><p>I have already, in a former Letter, while speaking of the ancient custom of Aattening the head, given a curious tradition of this interesting tribe, accounting for their having come from the West, and I here insert another or two, which I had, as well as the former one, from the lips of Peter Pinchlin, a very intelligent and influential man in the tribe.</p><p>The Deluge. "Our people have always had a tradition of the Deluge, which happened in this way:</p><p>"There was total darkness for a great time over the whole of the earth; the Choctaw doctors or mystery-men looked out for daylight for a long time, until at last they despaired of ever seeing it, and the whole nation were very unhappy. At last a light was discovered in the h'orth, and there was great rejoicing, until it was found to be great mountains of water rolling on, which destroyed them all, except a few families who had expected it and built a great raft, on which they were saved."</p><p>Future State. "Our people all believe that the spirit lives in a future state -- that it has a great distance to travel after death towards the West -- that it has to cross a dreadful deep and rapid stream, which is hemmed in on both sides by high and rugged hills -- over this stream, from hill to hill, there lies a long and slippery pine-log, with the bark peeled off, over which the dead have to pass to the delightful hunting-grounds. On the other side of the stream there are six persons of the good hunting-grounds, with rocks in their hands, which they throw at them allwhen they are on the middle of the log. The good walk on safely, to the good hunting-grounds, where there is one continual day -- where the trees are always green -- where the sky has no clouds -- where there are continual fine and cooling breezes -- where there is one continual scene of feasting, dancing and rejoicing -- where there is no pain or trouble, and people never grow old, but for ever live young and enjoy the youthful pleasures.</p><p>"The wicked see the stones coming, and try to dodge, by which they fall from the log, and go down thousands of feet to the water, which is dashing over the rocks, and is stinking with dead fish, and animals, where they are carried around and brought continually hack to the same place in whirlpools -- where the trees are all dead, and the waters are full of toads and lizards, and snakes -- where the dead are always hungry, and have nothing to eat -- are always sick, and never die -- where the sun never shines, and where the wicked are continually climbing up by thousands on the sides of a high rock from which they can overlook the beautiful country of the good hunting-grounds, the place of the happy, hut never can reach it."</p><p>Origin of the Craw-fish band. "Our people have amongst them a band which is called, the Craw-fish band. They formerly, but at a very remote period, lived under ground, and used to come up out of the mud -- they were a species of craw-fish; and they went on their hands and feet, and lived in a large cave deep under ground, where there was no light for several miles. They spoke no language at all, nor could they understand any. The entrance to their cave was through the mud -- and they used to run down through that, and into their cave; and thus, the Choctaws were for a long time unable to molest them. The Choctaws used to lay and wait for them to come out into the sun, where they would try to talk to them, and cultivate an acquaintance.</p><p>"One day, a parcel of them were run upon so suddenly by the Choctaws, that they had no time to go through the mud into their cave, but were driven into it by another entrance, which they had through the rocks. The Choctaws then tried a long time to smoke them out, and at last succeeded-they treated them kindly-taught them the Choctaw language-taught them to walk on two legs -- made them cut off their toe nails, and pluck the hair from their bodies, after which they adopted them into their nation--and the remainder of them are living under ground to this day."</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-14691575279061999302023-12-11T03:00:00.006-05:002023-12-11T03:00:00.143-05:001844 Geo Catlin's Letters & Notes on Manners, Customs & Conditions of North American Indians #46<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVikXtyf3OuJlTT-KoF5_l_OtS32q_JPG1tdzb9wQjP-yxTBMdFAN9luEYR4izTsx5eTFYDWThtglSL8wv29dkmIs9GnkEcv6hM2ODI3ENiJkpcZR90H614RW70FjUMJFm1YLbuE6XD2yZ2Zegdg5rAjJG_BWWttqbt6Qn1TafFw7Qa-a4kQyxM5Esd5s/s996/George%20Catlin%20%20(1796%20_1872)%20%20in%201849%20at%20National%20Portrait%20Gallery%20Washington%20DC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVikXtyf3OuJlTT-KoF5_l_OtS32q_JPG1tdzb9wQjP-yxTBMdFAN9luEYR4izTsx5eTFYDWThtglSL8wv29dkmIs9GnkEcv6hM2ODI3ENiJkpcZR90H614RW70FjUMJFm1YLbuE6XD2yZ2Zegdg5rAjJG_BWWttqbt6Qn1TafFw7Qa-a4kQyxM5Esd5s/w514-h640/George%20Catlin%20%20(1796%20_1872)%20%20in%201849%20at%20National%20Portrait%20Gallery%20Washington%20DC.jpg" width="514" /></span></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> George Catlin (1796 _1872) at National Portrait Gallery Washington DC</span></div><p style="text-align: center;">LETTER 46.</p><p align="CENTER">ALTON, ILLINOIS.</p><p><b><i>A few days after the date of the above Letter, I took leave of Fort Gibson, and made a transit across the prairies to this place, a distance of 550 miles, which I have performed entirely alone, and had the satisfaction of joining my wife, whom I have found in good health, in a family of my esteemed friends, with whom she has been residing during my last year of absence.</i></b></p><p><b><i>While at Fort Gibson, on my return from the Camanchees, I was quartered for a month or two in a room with my fellow-companion in misery, Captain Wharton, of the dragoons, who had come in-from the prairies in a condition very similar to mine, and laid in a bed in the opposite corner of the room; where we laid for several weeks, like two grim ghosts, rolling our glaring and staring eyeballs upon each other, when we were totally unable to hold converse, other than that which was exchanged through the expressive language of our hollow, and bilious, sunken eyes.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The Captain had been sent with a company of dragoons to escort the Santa Fee Traders through the country of the Camanchees and Pawnees, and had returned from a rapid and bold foray into the country, with many of his men sick, and himself attacked with the epidemic of the country. The Captain is a gentleman of high and noble bearing, of one of the most respected families in Philadelphia, with a fine and chivalrous feeling; but with scarce physical stamina sufficient to bear him up under the rough vicissitudes of his wild and arduous sort of life in this country.</i></b></p><p><b><i>As soon as our respective surgeons had clarified our flesh and our bones with calomel, had brought our pulses to beat calmly, our tongues to ply gently, and our stomachs to digest moderately; we began to feel pleasure exquisitely in our convalescence, and draw amusement from mutual relations of scenes and adventures we had witnessed on our several marches. The Captain convalescing faster than I did, soon got so as to eat(but not to digest) enormous meals, which visited back upon him the renewed horrors of his disease; and I, who had got ahead of him in strength, but not in prudence, was thrown back in my turn, by similar indulgence; and so we were mutually and repeatedly, until he at length got so as to feel strength enough to ride, and resolution enough to swear that he would take leave of that deadly spot, and reek restoration and health in a cooler and more congenial latitude. So he had his horse brought up one morning, whilst he was so weak that he could scarcely mount upon its back, and with his servant, a small negro boy, packed on another, he steered off upon the prairies towards Fort Leavenworth, 500 miles to the North, where his company had long since marched.</i></b></p><p><b><i>I remained a week or two longer, envying the Captain the good luck to escape from that dangerous ground; and after I had gained strength sufficient to warrant it, I made preparations to take informal leave, and wend my way also over the prairies to the Missouri, a distance of 500 miles, and most of the way a solitary wilderness. For this purpose I had my horse "Charley" brought up from his pasture, where he had been in good keeping during my illness, and got so fat as to form almost an objectionable contrast to his master, with whom he was to embark on a long and tedious journey again, over the vast and almost boundless prairies.</i></b></p><p><b><i>I had, like the Captain, grown into such a dread of that place, from the scenes of death that were and had been visited upon it, that I resolved to be off as soon as I had strength to get on to my horse, and balance myself upon his back. For this purpose I packed up my canvass and brushes, and other luggage, and sent them down the river to the Mississippi, to be forwarded by steamer, to meet me at St. Louis. So, one fine morning, Charley was brought up and saddled, and a bear-skin and a buffalo robe being spread upon his saddle, and a coffee-pot and tin cup tied to it also -- with a few pounds of hard biscuit in my portmanteau -- with my fowling piece in my hand, and my pistols in my belt -- with my sketch-book slung on my back, and a small pocket compass in my pocket; I took leave of Fort Gibson, even against the advice of my surgeon and all the officers of the garrison, who gathered around me to bid me farewell. No argument could contend with the fixed resolve in my own mind, that if I could get out upon the prairies, and moving continually to the Northward, I should daily gain strength, and save myself, possibly, from the jaws of that voracious burial-ground that laid in front of my room; where I had for months laid and imagined myself going with other poor fellows, whose mournful dirges were played under my window from day to day. No one can imagine what was the dread I felt for that place; nor the pleasure, which was extatic, when Charley was trembling under me, and I turned him around on the top of a prairie bluff at a mile distance, to take the last look upon it, and thank God, as I did audibly, that I was not to be buried within its enclosure. I said to myself, that "to die on the prairie, and be devoured by wolves; or to fall in combat and be scalped by an Indian, would be far more acceptable than the lingering death that would consign me to the jaws of that insatiable grave", for which, in the fever and weakness of my mind, I had contracted so destructive a terror.</i></b></p><p><b><i>So, alone, without other living being with me than my affectionate horse Charley, I turned my face to the North, and commenced on my long journey, with confidence full and strong, that I should gain strength daily; and no one can ever know the pleasure of that moment, which placed me alone, upon the boundless sea of waving grass, over which my proud horse was prancing, and I with my life in my own hands, commenced to steer my course to the banks of the Missouri.</i></b></p><p><b><i>For the convalescent, rising and escaping from the gloom and horrors of a sick bed, astride of his strong and trembling horse, carrying him fast and safely over green fields spotted and tinted with waving wild flowers; and through the fresh and cool breezes that are rushing about him, as he daily shortens the distance that lies between him and his wife and little ones, there is an exquisite pleasure yet to be learned, by those who never have felt it.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Day by day I thus pranced and galloped along, the whole way through waving grass and green fields, occasionally dismounting and lying in the grass an hour or so, until the grim shaking and chattering of an ague chill had passed off; and through the nights, slept on my bear-skin spread upon the grass, with my saddle for my pillow, and my buffalo robe drawn over me for my covering. My horse Charley was picketed near me at the end of his lasso, which gave him room for his grazing; and thus we snored and nodded away the nights, and never were denied the doleful serenades of the gangs of sneaking wolves that were nightly perambulating our little encampment, and stationed at a safe distance from us at sun-rise in the morning -- gazing at us, and impatient to pick up the crumbs and bones that were left, when we moved away from our feeble fire that had faintly flickered through the night, and in the absence of timber, had been made of dried buffalo dung.</i></b></p><p><b><i>This "Charley" was a noble animal of the Camanchee wild breed, of a clay bank colour; and from our long and tried acquaintance, we had become very much attached to each other, and acquired a wonderful facility both of mutual accommodation, and of construing each other's views and intentions. In fact, we had been so long tried together, that there would have seemed to the spectator almost an unity of interest; and at all events, an unity of feelings on the subject of attachment, as well as on that of mutual dependence and protection.</i></b></p><p><b><i>I purchased this very showy and well-known animal of Colonel Burbank, of the ninth regiment, and rode it the whole distance to the Camanchee villages and back again; and at the time when most of the horses of the regiment were drooping and giving out by the way -- Charley flourished and came in good flesh and good spirits.</i></b></p><p><b><i>On this journey, while he and I were twenty-five days alone, we had much time, and the best of circumstances, under which to learn what we had as yet overlooked in each other's characters, as well as to draw great pleasure and real benefit from what we already had learned of each other, in our former travels.</i></b></p><p><b><i>I generally halted on the bank of some little stream, at half an hour's sun, where feed was good for Charley, and where I could get wood to kindle my fire, and water for my coffee. The first thing was to undress "Charley" and drive down his picket, to which he was fastened, to graze over a circle that he could inscribe at the end of his lasso. In this wise he busily fed himself until nightfall; and after my coffee was made and drank, I uniformly moped him up, with his picket by my head, so that I could lay my hand upon his lasso in an instant, in case of any alarm that was liable to drive him from me. On one of these evenings when he was grazing as usual, he slipped the lasso over his head, and deliberately took his supper at his pleasure, wherever he chose to prefer it, as he was strolling around. When night approached, I took the lasso in hand and endeavored to catch him, but I soon saw that he was determined to enjoy a little freedom; and he continually evaded me until dark, when I abandoned the pursuit, making up my mind that I should inevitably lose him, and be obliged to perform the rest of my journey on foot. He had led me a chase of half a mile or more, when I left him busily grazing, and returned to my little solitary bivouac, and laid myself on my bear skin, and went to sleep.</i></b></p><p><b><i>In the middle of the night I waked, whilst I was lying on my back, and on half opening my eyes, I was instantly shocked to the soul, by the huge figure (as I thought) of an Indian, standing over me, and in the very instant of taking my scalp! The chill of horror that paralyzed me for the first moment, held me still till I saw there was no need of my moving -- that my faithful horse "Charley" had "played shy" till he had "filled his belly," and had then moved up, from feelings of pure affection, or from instinctive fear, or possibly, from a due share of both, and taken his position with his forefeet at the edge of my bed, with his head hanging directly over me, while he was standing fast asleep!</i></b></p><p><b><i>My nerves, which had been most violently shocked, were soon quieted, and I fell asleep, and so continued until sunrise in the morning, when I waked, and beheld my faithful servant at some considerable distance, busily at work picking up his breakfast amongst the cane-brake, along the bank of the creek. I went as busily to work, preparing my own, which was eaten, and after it, I had another half-hour of fruitless endeavors to catch Charley, whilst he seemed mindful of success on the evening before, and continually tantalized me by turning around and around, and keeping out of my reach. I recollected the conclusive evidence of' his attachment and dependence, which he had voluntarily given in the night, and I thought I would try them in another way. So I packed up my things and slung the saddle on my back, trailing my gun in my hand, and started on my route. After I had advanced a quarter of a mile, I looked back, and saw him standing with his head and tail very high, looking alternately at me and at the spot where I had been encamped, and left a little fire burning. In this condition he stood and surveyed the prairies around for a while, as I continued on. He, at length, walked with a hurried step to the spot, and seeing everything gone, began to neigh very violently, and at last started off at fullest speed, and overtook me, passing within a few paces of me, and wheeling about al a few rods distance in front of me, trembling like an aspen leaf.</i></b></p><p><b><i>I called him by his familiar name, and walked up to him with the bridle in my hand, which I put over his head, as he held it down for me, and the saddle on his back, as he actually stooped to receive it. I was soon arranged, and on his back, when he started off upon his course as if he was well contented and pleased, like his rider, with the manoeuvre which had brought us together again, and afforded us mutual relief from our awkward positions. Though this alarming freak of " Charley's" passed off and terminated so satisfactorily; yet I thought such rather dangerous ones to play, and I took good care after that night, to keep him under my strict authority; resolving to avoid further tricks and experiments till we got to the land of cultivated fields and steady habits.</i></b></p><p><b><i>On the night of this memorable day, Charley and I stopped in one of the most lovely little valleys I ever saw, and even far more beautiful than could have been imagined by mortal man. An enchanting little lawn of five or six acres, on the banks of a cool and rippling stream, that was alive with fish; and every now and then, a fine brood of young ducks, just old enough for delicious food, and too unsophisticated to avoid an easy and simple death. This little lawn was surrounded by bunches and copses of the most luxuriant and picturesque foliage, consisting of the lofty bois d'arcs and elms, spreading out their huge branches, as if offering protection to the rounded groups of cherry and plum-trees that supported festoons of grapevines, with their purple clusters that hung in the most tempting manner over the green carpet that was everywhere decked out with wild flowers, of all tints and of various sizes, from the modest wild sun-flowers, with their thousand tall and drooping heads, to the lilies that stood, and the violets that crept beneath them. By the side of this cool stream, Charley was fastened, and near him my bear-skin was spread in the grass, and by it my little fire, to which I soon brought a fine string of perch from the brook; from which, and a broiled duck, and a delicious cup of coffee, I made my dinner and supper, which were usually united in one meal, at half an hour's sun. After this I strolled about this sweet little paradise, which I found was chosen, not only by myself, but by the wild deer, which were repeatedly rising from their quiet lairs, and bounding out, and over the graceful swells of the prairies which hemmed in, and framed this little Picture of sweetest tints and most masterly touches.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The Indians also, I found, had loved it once, and left it; for here and there were their solitary and deserted graves, which told, though briefly, of former chants and sports; and perhaps, of wars and deaths, that have once rung and echoed through this little silent vale.</i></b></p><p><b><i>On my return to my encampment, I laid down upon my back, and looked awhile into the blue heavens that were over me, with their pure and milk white clouds that were passing -- with the sun just setting in the West, and the silver moon rising in the East, and renewed the impressions of my own insignificance, as I contemplated the incomprehensible mechanism of that wonderful clock, whose time is infallible, and whose motion is eternity! I trembled, at last, at the dangerous expanse of my thoughts, and turned them again, and my eyes, upon the little and more comprehensible things that were about me. One of the first was a newspaper, which I had brought from the Garrison, the National Intelligencer, of Washington, which I had read for years, but never with quite the zest and relish that I now conversed over its familiar columns, in this clean and sweet valley of dead silence!</i></b></p><p><b><i>And while reading, I thought of (and laughed), what I had almost forgotten, the sensation I produced amongst the Minatarees while on the Upper Missouri, a few years since, by taking from amongst my painting apparatus an old number of the New York Commercial Advertiser, edited by my kind and tried friend Colonel Stone. The Minatarees thought that I was mad, when they saw me for hours together, with my eyes fixed upon its pages. They had different and various conjectures about it; the most current of which was, that I was looking at it to cure my sore eyes, and they called it the "medicine cloth for sore eyes!" I at length put an end to this and several equally ignorant conjectures, by reading passages in it, which were interpreted to them, and the objects of the paper fully explained; after which, it was looked upon as much greater mystery than before; and several liberal offers were made me for it, which I was obliged to refuse, having already received a beautifully garnished robe for it, from the hands of a young son of Esculapius, who told me that if he could employ a good interpreter to explain everything in it, he could travel about amongst the Minatarees and Mandans, and Sioux, and exhibit it after I was gone; getting rich with presents, and adding greatly to the list of his medicines, as it would make him a great Medicine-Man. I left with the poor fellow his painted robe, and the newspaper; and just before I departed, I saw him unfolding it to show to some of his friends, when he took from around it, some eight or ten folds of birch bark and deer skins; all of which were carefully enclosed in a sack made of the skin of a pole cat, and undoubtedly destined to become, and to be called, his mystery or medicine-bag.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The distance from Fort Gibson to the Missouri, where I struck the river, is about five hundred miles, and most of the way a beautiful prairie, in a wild and uncultivated state without roads and without bridges, over a great part of which I steered my course with my Docket-compass, fording and swimming the streams in the best manner I could; shooting prairie hens, and occasionally catching fish, which I cooked for my meals, and slept upon the ground at night. On my way I visited "Riqua's Village" of Osages, and lodged during the night in the hospitable cabin of my old friend Beatte, of whom I have often spoken heretofore, as one of the guides and hunters for the dragoons on their campaign in the Camanchee country. This was the most extraordinary hunter, I think, that I ever have met in all my travels. To "hunt", was a phrase almost foreign to him, however, for when he went out with his rifle, it was "for meat", or "for cattle"; and he never came in without it. He never told how many animals he had seen -- how many he had wounded, &c. -- but his horse was always loaded with meat, which was thrown down in camp without comment or words spoken. Riqua was an early pioneer of Christianity in this country, who has devoted many years of his life, with his interesting family, in endeavouring to civilize and Christianize these people, by the force of pious and industrious examples, which he has successfully set them; and, I think, in the most judicious way, by establishing a little village, at some miles distance from the villages of the Osages; where he has invited a considerable number of families who have taken their residence by the side of him; where they are following his virtuous examples in their dealings and modes of life, and in agricultural pursuits which he is teaching them, and showing them that they may raise the comforts and luxuries of life out of the ground, instead of seeking for them in the precarious manner in which they naturally look for them, in the uncertainty of the chase.</i></b></p><p><b><i>It was a source of much regret to me, that I did not see this pious man, as he was on a Tour to the East, when I was in his little village.</i></b></p><p><b><i>Beatte lived in this village with his aged parents, to whom he introduced me; and with whom, altogether, I spent a very pleasant evening in conversation. They are both French, and have spent the greater part of their lives with the Osages, and seem to be familiar with their whole history. This Beatte was the hunter and guide for a party of rangers (the summer before our campaign), with whom Washington Irving made his excursion to the borders of the Pawnee country; and of whose extraordinary character and powers. Mr. Irving has drawn a very just and glowing account, excepting one error which I think he has inadvertently fallen into, that of calling him a "half-breed." Beatte had complained of this to me often while out on the prairies; and when I entered his hospitable cabin, he said he was glad to see me, and almost instantly continued, "Now you shall see, Monsieur Catline, I am not 'half breed', here I shall introduce you to my father and my mother, who you see are two very nice and good old French people."</i></b></p><p><b><i>From this cabin where I fared well and slept soundly, I started in the morning, after taking with them a good cup of coffee, and went smoothly on over the prairies on my course.</i></b></p><p><b><i>About the middle of my journey, I struck a road leading into a small civilized settlement, called the "Kickapoo prairie", to which I "bent my course"; and riding up to a log cabin which was kept as a sort of an hotel or tavern, I met at the door, the black boy belonging to my friend Captain Wharton, who I have said took his leave of Fort Gibson a few weeks before me; I asked the boy where his master was, to which he replied, "My good masse, Massa Wharton, in dese house, jist dead of de libber compliment!"</i></b></p><p><b><i>I dismounted and went in, and to my deepest sorrow and anguish, I found him, as the boy said, nearly dead, without power to raise his head or his voice -- his eyes were rolled upon me, and as he recognized me he took me by the hand, which he firmly gripped, whilst both shed tears in profusion. By placing my ear to his lips, his whispers could he heard, and he was able in an imperfect manner to make his views and his wishes known. His disease seemed to be a repeated attack of his former malady, and a severe affection of the liver, which was to be (as his physician said) the proximate cause of his death. I conversed with his physician who seemed to be a young and inexperienced man, who told me that he certainly could not live more than ten days. I staid two days with him, and having no means with me of rendering him pecuniary or other aid amongst strangers, I left him in kind hands, and started on my course again. My health improved daily, from the time of my setting out at Fort Gibson; and I was now moving along cheerfully, and in hopes soon to reach the end of my toilsome journey. I had yet vast prairies to Pass over, and occasional latent difficulties, which were not apparent on their smooth and deceiving surfaces. Deep sunken streams, like, ditches, occasionally presented themselves suddenly to my view, when I was within a few steps of plunging into them from their perpendicular sides, which were overhung with long wild. grass, and almost obscured from the sight. The bearings of my compass told me that I must cross them, and the only alternative was to plunge into them, and get out as well as I could. They were often muddy, and I could not tell whether they were three or ten feet deep, until my horse was in them; and sometimes he went down head foremost, and I with him, to scramble out on the opposite shore in the best condition we could. In one of these canals, which I had followed for several miles in the vain hope of finding a shoal, or an accustomed ford, I plunged, with Charley, where it was about six of eight yards wide (and God knows how deep, for we did not go to the bottom), and swam him to the opposite bank, on to which I clung; and which, being perpendicular and of clay, and three or four feet higher than the water, was as insurmountable difficulty to Charley; and I led the, poor fellow at least a mile, as I walked on the top of the bank, with the bridle in my hand, holding his head above. the water as he was swimming; and I at times almost inextricably entangled in the long grass that was often higher than my head, and hanging over the brink, filled and woven together, with ivy and wild pea-vines. I at length (and just before I was ready to drop the rein of faithful Charley, in hopeless despair), came to an old buffalo ford, where the banks were graded down, and the poor exhausted animal, at last got out, and was ready and willing to take me and my luggage (after I had dried them in the sun) on the journey again.</i></b></p><p><b><i>The Osage river which is a powerful stream, I struck at a place which seemed to stagger my courage very much. There had been heavy rains but a few days before, and this furious stream was rolling along its wild and turbid waters, with a freshet upon it, that spread its waters, in many places over its banks, as was the case at the place where I encountered it. There seemed to be but little choice in places with this stream, which, with its banks full, was sixty or eighty yards in width, with a current that was sweeping along at a rapid rate. I stripped everything from Charley, and tied him with his lasso, until I travelled the shores up and down for some distance, and collected drift wood enough for a small raft, which I constructed, to carry my clothes and saddle, and other things, safe over. This being completed, and my clothes taken off, and they with other things, laid upon the raft, I took Charley to the bank and drove him in and across, where he soon reached the opposite shore, and went to feeding on the bank. Next was to come the "great white medicine"; and with him, saddle, bridle, saddle-bags, sketch-book, gun and pistols, coffee and coffee-pot, powder, and his clothes, all of which were placed upon the raft, and the raft pushed into the stream, and the "medicine man" swimming behind it, and pushing it along before him, until it reached the opposite Bore, at least half a mile below! From this, his things were carried to the top of the bank, and in a little time, Charley was caught and dressed, and straddled, and on the way again.</i></b></p><p><b><i>These are a few of the incidents of that journey of 500 miles, which I performed entirely alone, and which at last brought me out at Boonville on the Western bank of the Missouri. While I was crossing the river at that place, I met General Arbuckle, with two surgeons, who were to start the next day from Boonville for Fort Gibson, travelling over the route that I had just passed. I instantly informed them of the condition of poor Wharton, and the two surgeons were started off that afternoon at fullest speed, with orders to reach him in the shortest time possible, and do everything to save his life. I assisted in purchasing for him, several little things that he had named to me, such as jellies-acids-apples, &c. &c.; and saw them start; and (God knows), I shall impatiently hope to hear of their timely assistance, and of his recovery.</i></b></p><p><b><i>From Boonville, which is a very pretty little town, building up with the finest style of brick houses, I crossed the river to New Franklin, where I laid by several days, on account of stormy weather; and from thence proceeded with success to the end of my journey, where I now am, under the roof of kind and hospitable friends, with my dear wife, who has patiently waited one year to receive me back, a wreck, as I now am; and who is to start in a few days with me to the coast of Florida, 1400 miles South of: this, to spend the winter in patching up my health, and fitting me for future campaigns.</i></b></p><p><b><i>On this Tour (from which I shall return in the spring, if my health will admit of it), I shall visit the Seminoles in Florida,--the Euchees-the Creeks in Alabama and Georgia, and the Choctaws and Cherokees, who are get remaining on their lands, on the East side of the Mississippi.</i></b></p><p><b><i>We take steamer for New Orleans to-marrow, so, till after another campaign, Adieu.</i></b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1701361716903655038.post-16809448684857283042023-12-09T03:00:00.011-05:002023-12-09T03:00:00.259-05:001844 Geo Catlin's Letters & Notes on Manners, Customs & Conditions of North American Indians #45<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVikXtyf3OuJlTT-KoF5_l_OtS32q_JPG1tdzb9wQjP-yxTBMdFAN9luEYR4izTsx5eTFYDWThtglSL8wv29dkmIs9GnkEcv6hM2ODI3ENiJkpcZR90H614RW70FjUMJFm1YLbuE6XD2yZ2Zegdg5rAjJG_BWWttqbt6Qn1TafFw7Qa-a4kQyxM5Esd5s/s996/George%20Catlin%20%20(1796%20_1872)%20%20in%201849%20at%20National%20Portrait%20Gallery%20Washington%20DC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVikXtyf3OuJlTT-KoF5_l_OtS32q_JPG1tdzb9wQjP-yxTBMdFAN9luEYR4izTsx5eTFYDWThtglSL8wv29dkmIs9GnkEcv6hM2ODI3ENiJkpcZR90H614RW70FjUMJFm1YLbuE6XD2yZ2Zegdg5rAjJG_BWWttqbt6Qn1TafFw7Qa-a4kQyxM5Esd5s/w514-h640/George%20Catlin%20%20(1796%20_1872)%20%20in%201849%20at%20National%20Portrait%20Gallery%20Washington%20DC.jpg" width="514" /></span></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> George Catlin (1796 _1872) at National Portrait Gallery Washington DC</span></div><p style="text-align: center;">LETTER -- No. 45</p><p align="CENTER">FORT GIBSON, ARKANSAS.</p><p>The last Letter was written from my tent, and out upon the wild prairies, when I was shaken and terrified by a burning fever, with home and my dear wife and little one, two thousand miles ahead of me, whom I was despairing of ever embracing again. I am now scarcely better off, except that I am in comfortable quarters, with kind attendance, and friends about me. I am yet sick and very feeble, having been for several weeks upon my back since I was brought in from the prairies. I am slowly recovering, and for the first time since I wrote from the Canadian, able to use my pen or my brush.</p><p>We drew off from that slaughtering ground a few days after my last Letter was written, with a great number sick, carried upon litters -- with horses giving out and dying by the way, which much impeded our progress over the long and tedious route that laid between us and Fort Gibson. Fifteen days, however, of constant toil and fatigue brought us here, but in a most crippled condition. Many of the sick were left by the way with attendants to take care of them, others were buried from their litters on which they breathed their last while travelling, and many others were brought in, to this place, merely to die and get the privilege of a decent burial.</p><p>Since the very day of our start into that country, the men have been constantly falling sick, and on their return, of those who are alive, there are not well ones enough to take care of the sick. Many are yet left out upon the prairies, and of those that have been brought in, and quartered in the hospital, with the soldiers of the infantry regiment stationed here, four or five are buried daily; and as an equal number from the 9th regiment are falling by the same disease, I have the mournful sound of "Roslin Castle" with muffled drums, passing six or eight times a-day under my window, to the burying-ground; which is but a little distance in front of my room, where I can lay in my bed and see every poor fellow lowered down into his silent and peaceful habitation. During the day before yesterday, no less than eight solemn processions visited that insatiable ground, and amongst them was carried the corpse of my intimate and much-loved friend Lieutenant West, who was aid-de-camp to General Leavenworth, on this disastrous campaign, and who has left in this place, a worthy and distracted widow, with her little ones to mourn for his untimely end. On the same day was buried also the Prussian Botanist, a most excellent and scientific gentleman, who had obtained an order from the Secretary at War to accompany the expedition for scientific purposes. He had at St. Louis, purchased a very comfortable Dearborn waggon, and a snug span of little horses to convey himself and his servant with his collection of plants, over the prairies. In this he travelled in company with the regiment from St. Louis to Fort Gibson, some five or six hundred miles, and from that to the False Washita, and the Cross Timbers and back again. In this Tour he had made an immense, and no doubt, very valuable collection of plants, and at this Place had been for some weeks indefatigably engaged in changing and drying them, and at last, fell a victim to the disease of the country, which seemed to have made an easy conquest of him, from the very feeble and enervated state he was evidently in, that of pulmonary consumption. This fine, gentlemanly and urbane, excellent man, to whom I became very much attached, was lodged in a room adjoining to mine, where he died, as he had lived, peaceably and smiling, and that when nobody knew that his life was in immediate danger. The surgeon who was attending me, (Dr. Wright,) was sitting on my bed-side in his morning call at my room, when a negro boy, who alone had been left in the room with him, came into my apartment and said Mr. Beyrich was dying -- we instantly stepped into his room and found him, not in the agonies of death, but quietly breathing his last, without a word or a struggle, as he had laid himself upon his bed with his clothes and his boots on. In this way perished this worthy man, who had no one here of kindred friends to drop tears for him; and on the day previous to his misfortune, died also, and much in the same way, his devoted and faithful servant, a young man, a native of Germany. Their bodies were buried by the side of each other, and a general feeling of deep grief was manifested by the officers and citizens of the post, in the respect that was paid to their remains in the appropriate and decent committal of them to the grave.</p><p>After leaving the head waters of the Canadian, my illness continually increased, and losing strength every day, I soon got so reduced that I was necessarily lifted on to and off from, my horse; and at last, so that I could not ride at all. I was then put into a baggage-waggon which was going sack empty, except with several soldiers sick, and in this condition rode eight days, most of the time in a delirious state, lying on the hard planks of the waggon, and made still harder by the jarring and jolting, until the skin from my elbows and knees was literally worn through, and I almost "worn out", when we at length reached this post, and I was taken to a bed, in comfortable quarters, where I have had the skillful attendance of my friend and old schoolmate Dr. Wright, under whose hands, thank God, I have been restored, and all; now daily recovering my flesh and usual strength.</p><p>The experiment has thus been made, of sending an army of men from the North, into this Southern and warm climate, in the hottest months of the year, of July and August; and from this sad experiment I am sure a secret will be learned that will be of value on future occasions.</p><p>Of the 450 fine fellows who started from this place four months since, about one-third have already died, and I believe many more there are whose fates are sealed, and will yet fall victims to the deadly diseases contracted in that fatal country. About this post it seems to be almost equally unhealthy, and generally so during this season, all over this region, which is probably owing to an unusual drought which has been visited on the country, and unknown heretofore to the oldest inhabitants.</p><p>Since we carne in from the prairies, and the sickness has a little abated, we have had a bustling time with the Indians at this place. Colonel Dodge sent runners to the chiefs of all the contiguous tribes of Indians, with an invitation to meet the Pawnees, &c. in council, at this place. Seven or eight tribes flocked to us, in great numbers on the first day of the month, when the council commenced; it continued for several days, and gave these semi-civilized sons of the forest a fair opportunity of shaking the hands of their wild and untamed red brethren of the West -- of embracing them in their arms, with expressions of friendship, and of smoking the calumet together, as the solemn pledge of lasting peace and friendship.</p><p>Colonel Dodge, Major Armstrong (the Indian agent), and General Stokes (the Indian commissioner), presided at this council, and I cannot name a scene more interesting and entertaining than it was; where, for several days in succession, free vent was given to the feelings of men civilized, half-civilized, and wild; where the three stages of man were fearlessly asserting their rights, their happiness, and friendship For each other. The vain orations of the half polished (and half-breed) Cherokees and Choctaws, with all their finery and art, found their match in the brief and jarring gutturals of the wild and naked man.</p><p>After the council had adjourned, and the fumes of the peace-making calumet had vanished away, and Colonel Dodge had made them additional presents, they soon made preparations for their departure, and on the next day started, with an escort of dragoons, for their own country. This movement is much to be regretted; for it would have been exceedingly gratifying to the people of the East to have seen so wild a group, and it would have been of great service to them to have visited Washington -- a journey, though, which they could not be prevailed upon to make.</p><p>We brought with us to this place, three of the principal chiefs of the Pawnees, fifteen Kioways, one Camanchee, and one Wico chief. The group was undoubtedly one of the most interesting that ever visited our frontier; and, I have taken the utmost pains in painting the portraits of all of them, as well as seven of the Camanchee chiefs, who came part of the way with us, and turned back. These portraits, together with other paintings which I have made, descriptive of their manners and customs -- views of their villages-landscapes of the country, &c., will soon be laid before the amateurs of the East, and, I trust, will be found to be very interesting.</p><p>Although the achievement has been a handsome one, of bringing these unknown people to an acquaintance, and a general peace; and at first sight would appear to be of great benefit to them -- yet I have my strong doubts, whether it will better their condition, unless with the exercised aid of the strong arm of Government, they can be protected in the rights which by nature, they are entitled to.</p><p>There is already in this place a company of eighty men fitted out, who are to start tomorrow, to overtake these Indians a few miles from this place, and accompany them home, with a large stock of goods, with traps for catching beavers, &c., calculating to build a trading-house amongst them, where they will amass, at once, an immense fortune, being the first traders and trappers that have ever been in that part of the country.</p><p>I have travelled too much among Indian tribes, and seen too much, not to know the evil consequences of such a system. Goods are sold at such exorbitant prices, that the Indian gets a mere shadow for his peltries, &c. The Indians see no white people but traders and sellers of whiskey; and of course, judge us all by them--they consequently hold us, and always mill, in contempt; as inferior to themselves, as they have reason to do -- and they neither fear nor respect us. When, on the contrary, if the Government would promptly prohibit such establishments, and invite these Indians to our frontier posts, they would bring in their furs, their robes, horses, mules, &c., to this place, where there is a good market for them all -- where they would get the full value of their property -- where there were several stores of goods --where there is an honourable competition, and where they would get four or five times as much for their articles of trade, as they would get from a trader in the village, out of the reach of competition, and out of sight of the civilized world.</p><p>At the same time, as they would be continually coming where they would see good and polished society, they would be gradually adopting our modes of living--introducing to their country our vegetables, our domestic animals, poultry, &c., and at length, our arts and manufactures; they would see and estimate our military strength, and advantages, and would be led to fear and respect us. In short, it would undoubtedly be the quickest and surest way to a general acquaintance -- to friendship and peace, and at last to civilization. If there is a law in existence for such protection of the Indian tribes, which may have been waived in the case of those nations with which we have long traded, it is a great pity that it should not be rigidly enforced in this new and important acquaintance, which we have just made with thirty or forty thousand strangers to the civilized world; yet (as we have learned from their unaffected hospitality when in their villages), with hearts of human would, susceptible of all the noble feelings belonging to civilized man.</p><p>This acquaintance has cost the United States a vast sum of money, as well as the lives of several valuable and esteemed officers, and more than 100 of the dragoons; and for the honour of the American name, I think we ought, in forming an acquaintance with these numerous tribes, to adopt and enforce some different system from that which has been generally practiced on and beyond our frontiers heretofore.</p><p>What the regiment of dragoons has suffered from sickness since they started on their summer's campaign is unexampled in this country, and almost incredible. When we started from this place, ten or fifteen were sent back the first day, too sick to proceed; and so afterwards our numbers were daily diminished, and at the distance of 200 miles from this place we could muster, out of the whole regiment, but 250 men who were able to proceed, with which little band, and that again reduced some sixty or seventy by sickness, we pushed on, and accomplished-all that was done. The beautiful and pictured scenes which we passed over had an alluring charm on their surface, but (as it would seem) a lurking poison within, that spread a gloom about our encampment whenever we pitched it.</p><p>We sometimes rode day after day, without a tree to shade us from the burning rays of a tropical sun, or a breath of wind to regale us or cheer our hearts -- and with mouths continually parched with thirst, we dipped our drink from stagnant pools that were heated by the sun, and kept in fermentation by the wallowing herds of buffaloes that resort to them. In this way we dragged on, sometimes Passing picturesque and broken country, with fine springs and streams, affording us the luxury of a refreshing shade and a cool draught of water.</p><p>Thus was dragged through and completed this most disastrous campaign; and to Colonel Dodge and Colonel Kearny, who so indefatigably led and encouraged their men through it, too much praise cannot be awarded.</p><p>During my illness while I have been at this post, my friend Joe has been almost constantly by my bedside; evincing (as he did when we were creeping over the vast prairies) the most sincere and intense anxiety for my recovery; whilst he has administered, like a brother, every aid and every comfort that lay in his power to bring. Such tried friendship as this, I shall ever recollect; and it will long hence and often, lead my mind back to retrace, at least, the first part of our campaign, which was full pleasant; and many of its incidents have formed pleasing impressions on my memory, which I would preserve to the end of my life.</p><p>When we started, we were fresh and ardent for the incidents that were before us -- our little packhorse carried our bedding and culinary articles; amongst which we had a coffee-pot and a frying-pan -- coffee in good store, and sugar -- and wherever we spread our bear-skin, and kindled our fire in the grass, we were sure to take by ourselves, a delightful repast, and a refreshing sleep. During the march, as we were subject to no military subordination, we galloped about wherever we were disposed, popping away at whatever we chose to spend ammunition upon -- and running our noses into every wild nook and crevice, as we saw fit. In this way we travelled happily, until our coffee was gone, and our bread; and even then we were happy upon meat alone, until at last each one in his turn, like every other moving thing about us, both man and beast, were vomiting and fainting, under the poisonous influence of some latent enemy, that was floating in the air, and threatening our destruction. Then came the "tug of war", and instead of catering for our amusements, every one seemed desperately studying the means that were to support him on his feet, and bring him safe home again to the bosoms of his friends. In our start, our feelings were buoyant and light, and we had the luxuries of life--the green prairies, spotted with wild flowers, and the clear blue sky, were an earthly paradise to us, until fatigue and disease, and at last despair, made them tiresome and painful to our jaundiced eyes.</p><p>On our way, and while we were in good heart, my friend Joe and I had picked up many minerals and fossils of an interesting nature, which we put in our portmanteaux and carried for weeks, with much pains, and some pain also, until the time when our ardour cooled and our spirits lagged, and then we discharged and threw them away; and sometimes we came across specimens again, still more wonderful, which we put in their place, and lugged along till we were tired of them, and their weight, and we discharged them as before; so that from our eager desire to procure, we lugged many pounds weight of stones, shells, &c. nearly the whole way, and were glad that their mother Earth should receive them again at our hands, which was done long before we got back.</p><p>One of the most curious places we met in all our route, was a mountain ridge of fossil shells, from which a great number of the above-mentioned specimens were taken. During our second day's march from the mouth of the False Washita, we were astonished to find ourselves travelling over a bed of clam and oyster shells, which were all in a complete state of petrifaction. This ridge, which seemed to run from N. E. to S.W. was several hundred feet high, and varying from a quarter to half a mile in breadth, seemed to be composed of nothing but a concretion of shells, which, on the surface, exposed to the weather for the depth of eight or ten inches, were entirely separated from the cementing material which had held them together, and were lying on the surface, sometimes for acres together, without a particle of soil or grass upon them; with the colour, shapes and appearance exactly, of the natural shells, lying loosely together, into which our horses' feet were sinking at every step, above their fetterlocks. These I consider the most extraordinary petrifactions I ever beheld. In any way they could be seen, individually or in the mass together, they seemed to be nothing but the pure shells themselves, both in colour and in shape. In many instances we picked them up entire, never having been opened; and taking our knives out, and splitting them open as we would an oyster, the fish was seen petrified in perfect form, and by dipping it into water, it shewed all the colours and freshness of an oyster just opened and laid an a plate to be eaten. Joe and I had carefully tied up many of these, with which we felt quite sure we could deceive our oyster-eating friends when we got back to the East; yet, like many other things we collected, they shared the fate that I have mentioned, without our bringing home one of them, though we brought many of them several hundreds of miles, and at last threw them away. This remarkable ridge is in some parts covered with grass, but generally with mere scattering bunches, for miles together, partially covering this compact mass of shells, forming (in my opinion) one of the greatest geological curiosities now to be seen in this country, as it lies evidently some thousands of feet above the level of the ocean, and seven or eight hundred miles from the nearest point on the sea-coast.</p><p>In another section of the country, lying between Fort Gibson and the Washita, we passed over a ridge for several miles, running parallel to this, where much of the way there was no earth or grass under foot, but our horses were travelling on a solid rock, which had on its surface a reddish or oxidized appearance; and on getting from my horse and striking it with my hatchet, I found, it to contain sixty or eighty per cent of solid iron, which produced a ringing noise, and a rebounding of the hatchet, as if it were struck upon an anvil.</p><p>In other parts, and farther West, between the Camanchee village and the Canadian, we passed over a similar surface for many miles denuded, with the exception of here and there little bunches of grass and wild sage, a level and exposed surface of solid gypsum, of a dark grey colour; and through it, occasionally, as far as the eye could discover, to the East and the West, streaks of three and five inches wide of snowy gypsum, which was literally as white as the drifted snow.</p><p>Of saltpetre and salt, there are also endless supplies; so it will be seen that the mineral resources of this wilderness country are inexhaustible and rich, and that the idle savage who never converts them to his use, must soon yield them to the occupation of enlightened and cultivating man.</p><p>In the vicinity of this post there are an immense number of Indians, most of whom have been removed to their present locations by the Government, from their Eastern original positions, within a few years past; aud previous to my starting with the dragoons, I had two months at my leisure in this section of the country, which I used in travelling about with my canvass and note-book, and visiting all of them in their villages. I have made many paintings amongst them, and have a curious note-book to open at a future day, for which the reader may be prepared. The tribes whom I thus visited, and of whom my note-book will yet speak, are the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles, Chickasaws, Quapaws, Senecas, Delawares, and several others, whose customs are interesting, and whose history, from their proximity to, and dealings with the civilized community, is one of great interest, and some importance, to the enlightened world, Adieu.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com