The History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier Part 3

MISSIONS.

The missionary period is one full of interest in the history of the State of Minnesota. The devoted people who sacrifice all the pleasures and luxuries of life to spread the gospel of Christianity among the Indians are deserving of all praise, no matter whether success or failure attends their efforts. The Dakotas and Chippewas were not neglected in this respect. The Catholics were among them at a very early day, and strove to convert them to Christianity. These worthy men were generally French priests and daring explorers, but for some reason, whether it was want of permanent support or an individual desire to rove, I am unable to say, they did not succeed in founding any missions of a lasting character among the Dakotas before the advent of white settlement. The devout Romanist, Shea, in his interesting history of Catholic missions, speaking of the Dakotas, remarks that "Father Menard had projected a Sioux mission, Marquette, Allouez, Druillettes, all entertained hopes of realizing it, and had some intercourse with that nation, but none of them ever succeeded in establis.h.i.+ng a mission."

Their work, however, was only postponed, for at a later date they gained and maintained a lasting foothold.

The Protestants, however, in and after 1820, made permanent and successful ventures in this direction. After the formation of the American Fur Company, Mackinaw became the chief point of that organization. In June, 1820, the Rev. Mr. Morse, father of the inventor of the telegraph, came to Mackinaw, and preached the first sermon that was delivered in the Northwest. He made a report of his visit to the Presbyterian Missionary Society in New York, which sent out parties to explore the field. The Rev. W. M. Terry, with his wife, commenced a school at Mackinaw in 1823, and had great success. There were sometimes as many as two hundred pupils at the school, representing many tribes of Indians. There are descendants of the children who were educated at this school now in Minnesota, who are citizens of high standing, who are indebted to this inst.i.tution for their education and position.

In the year 1830 a Mr. Warren, who was then living at La Pointe, visited Mackinaw to obtain a missionary for his place, and not being able to secure an ordained minister, he took back with him Mr. Frederick Ayre, a teacher, who, being pleased with the place and prospect, returned to Mackinaw, and in 1831, with the Rev. Sherman Hall and wife, started for La Pointe, where they arrived on August 30th, and established themselves as missionaries, with a school.

The next year Mr. Ayre went to Sandy lake, and opened another school for the children of voyageurs and Indians. In 1832 Mr. Boutwell, after his tour with Schoolcraft, took charge of the school at La Pointe, and in 1833 he removed to Leech lake, and there established the first mission in Minnesota west of the Mississippi.

From his Leech lake mission he writes a letter in which he gives such a realistic account of his school and mission that one can see everything that is taking place, as if a panorama was pa.s.sing before his eyes. He takes a cheerful view of his prospects, and gives a comprehensive statement of the resources of the country in their natural state. If s.p.a.ce allowed, I would like to copy the whole letter; but as he speaks of the wild rice in referring to the food supply, I will say a word about it, as I deem it one of Minnesota's most important natural resources.

In 1857 I visited the source of the Mississippi with the then Indian agent for the Chippewas, and traveled hundreds of miles in the upper river. We pa.s.sed through endless fields of wild rice, and witnessed its harvest by the Chippewas, which is a most interesting and picturesque scene. They tie it in sheaves with a straw before it is ripe enough to gather to prevent the wind from shaking out the grains, and when it has matured, they thresh it with sticks into their canoes. We estimated that there were about 1,000 families of the Chippewas, and that they gathered about twenty-five bushels for each family, and we saw that in so doing they did not make any impression whatever on the crop, leaving thousands of acres of the rice to the geese and ducks. Our calculations then were that more rice grew in Minnesota each year, without any cultivation, than was produced in South Carolina as one of the princ.i.p.al products of that state, and I may add that it is much more palatable and nutritious as a food than the white rice of the Orient or the South. There is no doubt that at some future time it will be utilized to the great advantage of the state.

Mr. Boutwell's Leech lake mission was in all things a success.

In 1834 the Rev. Samuel W. Pond and his brother, Gideon H. Pond, full of missionary enthusiasm, arrived at Fort Snelling, in the month of May.

They consulted with the Indian agent, Major Taliaferro, about the best place to establish a mission, and decided upon Lake Calhoun, where dwelt small bands of Dakotas, and with their own hands erected a house and located.

About the same time came the Rev. T. H. Williamson, M. D., under appointment from the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, to visit the Dakotas, to ascertain what could be done to introduce Christian instruction among them. He was reinforced by Rev. J.

D. Stevens, missionary, Alexander Huggins, farmer, and their wives, and Miss Sarah Poage and Miss Lucy Stevens, teachers. They arrived at Fort Snelling in May, 1835, and were hospitably received by the officers of the garrison, the Indian agent, and Mr. Sibley, then a young man who had recently taken charge of the trading post at Mendota.

From this point Rev. Mr. Stevens and family proceeded to Lake Harriet, in Hennepin county, and built a suitable house, and Dr. Williamson and wife, Mr. Huggins and wife, and Miss Poage, went to Lac qui Parle, where they were welcomed by Mr. Renville, a trader at that point, after whom the county of Renville is named.

The Rev. J. D. Stevens acted as chaplain of Fort Snelling, in the absence of a regularly appointed officer in that position.

In 1837 the mission was strengthened by the arrival of the Rev. Stephen R. Riggs, a graduate of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, and his wife.

After remaining a short time at Lake Harriet, Mr. and Mrs. Riggs went to Lac qui Parle.

In 1837 missionaries sent out by the Evangelical Society of Lausanne, Switzerland, arrived, and located at Red Wing and Wapashaw's villages, on the Mississippi, and about the same time a Methodist mission was commenced at Kaposia, but they were of brief duration and soon abandoned.

In 1836 a mission was established at Pokegama, among the Chippewas, which was quite successful, and afterwards, in 1842 or 1843, missions were opened at Red Lake, Shakopee, and other places in Minnesota. During the summer of 1843 Mr. Riggs commenced a mission station at Traverse des Sioux, which attained considerable proportions, and remained until overtaken by white settlement, about 1854.

Mr. Riggs and Dr. Williamson also established a Mission at the Yellow Medicine Agency of the Sioux, in the year 1852, which was about the best equipped of any of them. It consisted of a good house for the missionaries, a large boarding and school house for Indian pupils, a neat little church, with a steeple and a bell, and all the other buildings necessary to a complete mission outfit.

These good men adopted a new scheme of education and civilization, which promised to be very successful. They organized a government among the Indians, which they called the Hazelwood Republic. To become a member of this civic body, it was necessary that the applicant should cut off his long hair, and put on white men's clothes, and it was also expected that he should become a member of the church. The republic had a written const.i.tution, a president and other officers. It was in 1856 when I first became acquainted with this inst.i.tution, and I afterwards used its members to great advantage, in the rescue of captive women and the punishment of one of the leaders of the Spirit Lake ma.s.sacre, which occurred in the northwestern portion of Iowa, in the year 1857, the particulars of which I will relate hereafter. The name of the president was Paul Ma-za-cu-ta-ma-ni, or "The man who shoots metal as he walks,"

and one of its prominent members was John Otherday, called in Sioux, An-pay-tu-tok-a-cha, both of whom were the best friends the whites had in the hour of their great danger in the outbreak of 1862. It was these two men who informed the missionaries and other whites at the Yellow Medicine Agency of the impending ma.s.sacre, and a.s.sisted sixty-two of them to escape before the fatal blow was struck.

What I have said proves that much good attended the work of the missionaries in the way of civilizing some of the Indians, but it has always been open to question in my mind if any Sioux Indian ever fully comprehended the basic doctrines of Christianity. I will give an example which had great weight in forming my judgment. There were among the pillars of the mission church at the Yellow Medicine Agency (or as it was called in Sioux, Pajutazee) an Indian named Ana-w.a.n.g-mani, to which the missionaries had prefixed the name of Simon. He was an exceptionally good man, and prominent in all church matters. He prayed and exhorted, and was looked upon by all interested as a fulfillment of the success of both the church and the republic. Imagine the consternation of the worthy missionaries when one day he announced that a man who had killed his cousin some eight years ago had returned from the Missouri, and was then in a neighboring camp, and that it was his duty to kill him to avenge his cousin. The missionaries argued with him, quoted the Bible to him, prayed with him,--in fact, exhausted every possible means to prevent him carrying out his purpose; but all to no effect. He would admit all they said, a.s.sured them that he believed everything they contended for, but he would always end with the a.s.sertion that, "He killed my cousin, and I must kill him." This savage instinct was too deeply imbedded in his nature to be overcome by any teaching of the white man, and the result was that he got a double-barreled shotgun and carried out his purpose, the consequence of which was to nearly destroy the church and the republic. He was, however, true to the whites all through the outbreak of 1862.

When the Indians rebelled, the entire mission outfit at Pajutazee was destroyed, which practically put an end to missionary effort in Minnesota, but did not in the least lessen the ardor of the missionaries. I remember meeting Dr. Williamson soon after the Sioux were driven out of the state, and supposing, of course, that he had given up all hope of Christianizing them, I asked him where he would settle, and what he would do. He did not hesitate a moment, and said that he would hunt up the remnant of his people and attend to their spiritual wants.

Having given a general idea of the missionary efforts that were made in Minnesota, I will say a word about

THE INDIANS.

The Dakotas (or as they were afterwards called, the Sioux) and the Chippewas were splendid races of aboriginal men. The Sioux that occupied Minnesota were about eight thousand strong,--men, women and children.

They were divided into four princ.i.p.al bands, known as the M'day-wa-kon-tons, or Spirit Lake Villagers; the Wak-pay-ku-tays, or Leaf Shooters, from their living in the timber; the Si-si-tons, and Wak-pay-tons. There was also a considerable band, known as the Upper Si-si-tons, who occupied the extreme upper waters of the Minnesota river. The Chippewas numbered about 7,800, divided as follows: At Lake Superior, whose agency was at La Pointe, Wis., about 1,600; on the Upper Mississippi, on the east side, about 3,450; of Pillagers, 1,550; and at Red lake, 1,130. The Sioux and Chippewas had been deadly enemies as far back as anything was known of them, and kept up continual warfare. The Winnebagoes, numbering about 1,500, were removed from the neutral ground, in Iowa, to Long Prairie, in Minnesota, in 1848, and in 1854 were again removed to Blue Earth county, near the present site of Mankato. While Minnesota was a territory its western boundary extended to the Missouri river, and on that river, both east and west of it, were numerous wild and warlike bands of Sioux, numbering many thousands, although no accurate census of them had ever been taken. They were the Tetons, Yanktons, Cut-heads, Yanktonais, and others. These Missouri Indians frequently visited Minnesota.

The proper name of these Indians is Dakota, and they know themselves only by that name, but the Chippewas of Lake Superior, in speaking of them, always called them, "Nadowessioux," which in their language signifies "enemy." The traders had a habit, when speaking of any tribe in the presence of another, and especially of an enemy, to designate them by some name that would not be understood by the listeners, as they were very suspicious. When speaking of the Dakotas, they used the last syllable of Nadowessioux,--"Sioux," until the name attached itself to them, and they have always since been so called.

Charlevoix, who visited Minnesota in 1721, in his history of New France, says: "The name 'Sioux,' that we give these Indians, is entirely of our own making; or, rather, it is the last two syllables of the name of 'Nadowessioux,' as many nations call them."

The Sioux live in tepees, or circular conical tents, supported by poles, so arranged as to leave an opening in the top for ventilation and for the escape of smoke. These were, before the advent of the whites, covered with dressed buffalo skins, but more recently with a coa.r.s.e cotton tent cloth, which is preferable on account of its being much lighter to transport from place to place, as they are almost constantly on the move, the tents being carried by the squaws. There is no more comfortable habitation than the Sioux tepee to be found among the dwellers in tents anywhere. A fire is made in the center for either warmth or cooking purposes. The camp kettle is suspended over it, making cooking easy and cleanly. In the winter, when the Indian family settles down to remain any considerable time, they select a river bottom where there is timber or chaparral, and set up the tepee; then they cut the long gra.s.s or bottom cane, and stand it up against the outside of the lodge to the thickness of about twenty inches, and you have a very warm and cozy habitation.

The wealth of the Sioux consists very largely in his horses, and his subsistence is the game of the forest and plains and the fish and wild rice of the lakes. Minnesota was an Indian paradise. It abounded in buffalo, elk, moose, deer, beaver, wolves, and, in fact, nearly all wild animals found in North America. It held upon its surface eight thousand beautiful lakes, alive with the finest of edible fish. It was dotted over with beautiful groves of the sugar maple, yielding quant.i.ties of delicious sugar, and wild rice swamps were abundant. An inhabitant of this region, with absolute liberty, and nothing to do but defend it against the encroachments of enemies, certainly had very little more to ask of his Creator. But he was not allowed to enjoy it in peace. A stronger race was on his trail, and there was nothing left for him but to surrender his country on the best terms he could make. Such has ever been the case from the beginning of recorded events, and judging from current operations, there has been no cessation of the movement. Why was not the world made big enough for homes for all kinds and colors of men, and all characters of civilization?

As the white man progressed towards the West, and came in contact with the Indians, it became necessary to define the territories of the different tribes to avoid collision between them and the newcomers as much as possible. To accomplish this end, Governor Clark of Missouri and Governor Ca.s.s of Michigan, on the nineteenth day of August, 1825, convened, at Prairie du Chien, a grand congress of Indians, representing the Dakotas, Chippewas (then called Ojibways), Sauks, Foxes, Menomonies, Iowas, Winnebagoes, Pottaiwatomies and Ottawas, and it was determined by treaties among them where the dividing lines between their countries should be. This part.i.tion gave the Chippewas a large part of what is now Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the Dakotas lands to the west of them; but it soon became apparent that these boundary lines between the Dakotas and the Chippewas would not be adhered to, and Governor Ca.s.s and Mr. T.

L. McKenney were appointed commissioners to again convene the Chippewas, but this time at Fond du Lac, and there, on the fifth day of August, 1826, another treaty was entered into, which, with the exception of the Fort Snelling treaty, was the first one ever made on the soil of Minnesota. By this treaty the Chippewas, among other things, renounced all allegiance to or connection with Great Britain, and acknowledged the authority of the United States. These treaties were, however, rather of a preliminary character, being intended more for the purpose of arranging matters between the tribes than making concessions to the whites, although the whites were permitted to mine and carry away metals and ores from the Chippewa country by the treaty of Fond du Lac.

The first important treaty made with the Sioux, by which the white men began to obtain concessions of lands from them, was on Aug. 29, 1837.

This treaty was made at Was.h.i.+ngton, through Joel R. Poinsette, and to give an idea of how little time and few words were spent in accomplis.h.i.+ng important ends, I will quote the first article of this treaty:

"Article I.--The chiefs and braves representing the parties having an interest therein cede to the United States all their land east of the Mississippi river, and all their islands in said river."

The rest of the treaty is confined to the consideration to be paid, and matters of that nature.

This treaty extinguished all the Dakota t.i.tle in lands east of the Mississippi river, in Minnesota, and opened the way for immigration on all that side of the Mississippi; and immigration was not long in accepting the invitation, for between the making of the treaty, in 1837, and the admission of the State of Wisconsin into the Union, in 1848, there had sprung into existence in that state, west of the St.

Croix, the towns of Stillwater, St. Anthony, St. Paul, Marine, Arcola, and other lesser settlements, which were all left in Minnesota when Wisconsin adopted the St. Croix as its western boundary.

Most important, however, of all the treaties that opened up the lands of Minnesota to settlement were those of 1851, made at Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, by which the Sioux ceded to the United States all their lands in Minnesota and Iowa, except a small reservation for their habitation, situated on the upper waters of the Minnesota river.

The Territory of Minnesota was organized in 1849, and immediately presented to the world a very attractive field for immigration. The most desirable lands in the new territory were on the west side of the Mississippi, but the t.i.tle to them was still in the Indians. The whites could not wait until this was extinguished, but at once began to settle on the land lying on the west bank of the Mississippi, north of the north line of Iowa, and in the new territory. These settlements extended up the Mississippi river as far as St. Cloud, in what is now Stearns county, and extended up the Minnesota river as far as the mouth of the Blue Earth river, in the neighborhood of Mankato. These settlers were all trespa.s.sers on the lands of the Indians, but a little thing like that never deterred a white American from pus.h.i.+ng his fortunes towards the setting sun. It soon became apparent that the Indians must yield to the approaching tidal wave of settlement, and measures were taken to acquire their lands by the United States. In 1851, Luke Lea, then commissioner of Indian affairs, and Alexander Ramsey, then governor of the Territory of Minnesota and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs, were appointed commissioners to treat with the Indians at Traverse des Sioux, and, after much feasting and talking, a treaty was completed and signed, on the twenty-third day of July, 1851, between the United States and the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Sioux, whereby these bands ceded to the United States a vast tract of land lying in Minnesota and Iowa, and reserved for their future occupation a strip of land on the upper Minnesota, ten miles wide on each side of the center line of the river. For this cession they were to be paid $1,665,000, which was to be paid, a part in cash to liquidate debts, etc., and five per cent per annum on the balance for fifty years, the interest to be paid annually, partly in cash and partly in funds for agriculture, civilization, education, and in goods of various kinds; which payments, when completed, were to satisfy both princ.i.p.al and interest, the policy and expectation of the government being that at the end of fifty years the Indians would be civilized and self-sustaining.

Amendments were made to this treaty in the senate, and it was not fully completed and proclaimed until Feb. 24, 1853.

Almost instantly after the execution of this treaty, and on Aug. 5, 1851, another treaty was negotiated by the same commissioners with two other bands of Sioux in Minnesota, the M'day-wa-kon-tons and Wak-pay-koo-tays. By this treaty these bands ceded to the United States all their lands in the Territory of Minnesota or State of Iowa, for which they were to be paid $1,410,000, very much in the same way that was provided in the last-named treaty with the Si-si-tons and Wak-pay-tons. This treaty, also, was amended by the senate, and not fully perfected until Feb. 24, 1853.

Both of these treaties contained the provision that "The laws of the United States, prohibiting the introduction and sale of spirituous liquors in the Indian country, shall be in full force and effect throughout the territory hereby ceded and lying in Minnesota until otherwise directed by congress or the president of the United States." I mention this feature of the treaty because it gave rise to much litigation as to whether the treaty making power had authority to legislate for settlers on the ceded lands of the United States. The power was sustained. These treaties practically obliterated the Indian t.i.tle from the lands composing Minnesota, and its extinction brings us to the

TERRITORIAL PERIOD.

It must be kept in mind that, during the period which we have been attempting to review, the people who inhabited what is now Minnesota were subject to a great many different governmental jurisdictions. This, however, did not in any way concern them, as they did not, as a general thing, know or care anything about such matters; but as it may be interesting to the retrospective explorer to be informed on the subject, I will briefly present it. Minnesota has two sources of parentage. The part of it lying west of the Mississippi was part of the Louisiana purchase, made by President Jefferson from Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803, and the part east of that river was part of the Northwest Territory, ceded by Virginia, in 1784, to the United States. I will give the successive changes of political jurisdiction, beginning on the west side of the river.

First, it was part of New Spain, and Spanish. It was then purchased from Spain by France, and became French. On June 30, 1803, it became American, by purchase from France, and was part of the Province of Louisiana, and so remained until March 26, 1804, when an act was pa.s.sed by congress, creating the Territory of Orleans, which included all of the Louisiana purchase south of the thirty-third degree of north lat.i.tude. This act gave the Territory of Louisiana a government, and called all the country north of it the District of Louisiana, which was to be governed by the Territory of Indiana, which had been created in 1800 out of the Northwest Territory, and had its seat of government at Vincennes, on the Wabash.

On June 4, 1812, the District of Louisiana was erected into the Territory of Missouri, where we remained until June 28, 1834, when all the public lands of the United States lying west of the Mississippi, north of the State of Missouri, and south of the British line, were, by act of congress, attached to the Territory of Michigan, under whose jurisdiction we remained until April 10, 1836, when the Territory of Wisconsin was created. This law went into effect July 3, 1836, and Wisconsin took in our territory lying west of the Mississippi, and there it remained until June 12, 1838, when the Territory of Iowa was created, taking us in and holding us until the State of Iowa was admitted into the Union, on March 3, 1845, which left us without any government west of the Mississippi.

The part of Minnesota lying east of the Mississippi was originally part of the Northwest Territory. On May 7, 1800, it became part of the Indiana Territory, and remained so until April 26, 1836, when it became part of the Wisconsin Territory; and so continued until May 29, 1848, when Wisconsin entered the Union as a state, with the St. Croix river for its western boundary. By this arrangement of the western boundary of Wisconsin all the territory west of the St. Croix and east of the Mississippi, like that west of the river, was left without any government at all.