Old Fort Snelling Part 7

Because of the attack which Hole-in-the-Day had made on the Sioux a short time before, Major Plympton decided not to execute the prisoners.

They were turned over to their own people to be flogged in the presence of the officers. More humiliating than death was their punishment. Their blankets, leggins, and breech-cloths were cut into small pieces, and finally the braves whipped them with long sticks while the women stood about crying.[330]

Although there was now a deep desire for revenge in each of the tribes, they manifested outward friendliness when they met at the fort. During the month of June, 1839, there came to Fort Snelling over twelve hundred Chippewas thinking that there they would be paid their annuities for the land they had ceded in 1837. There were two main groups--one which came down from the headwaters of the Mississippi, and the other which came up the river from the vicinity of the St. Croix. At the same time Sioux numbering eight hundred and seventy were encamped near the agency. This was considered an opportune time to conclude a peace, and so the long calumet with its mixture of tobacco and bark of the willow tree was smoked while friendly athletic contests were held on the prairie.

On July 1st the two parties of Chippewas started for home. But in one of the bands were the two sons of the man who had been murdered the year before. In the evening before beginning their homeward journey, they visited the graveyard of the fort to cry over the grave of their father.

Here the thought of vengeance came to them, and morning found them hidden in the bushes near the trail that skirted the sh.o.r.e of Lake Harriet. The Badger, a Sioux warrior, was the first to pa.s.s that way as he went out in the early morning to hunt pigeons. A moment later he was shot and scalped. The murderers then hurried away and hid behind the water at Minnehaha Falls.

A few hours later, when the news had spread throughout all the Sioux villages, two bands set out to take revenge upon the departing Chippewas. The old men, the women, and the children remained at home, eagerly awaiting the result of the coming battle and cutting their arms and legs with their knives in grief over the losses which they knew their bands would have to undergo.

It happened that at that time the Right Reverend Mathias Loras, the first Bishop of Dubuque, was at Fort Snelling. He had been an interested spectator at the Sioux-Chippewa peace parleys, had watched the departure of the determined avengers, and now was anxiously awaiting the result of the conflict. On the morning of July 4th as he was praying at his altar for the prosperity of his country he was startled by the shrill notes of the Sioux death-song, and gazing through the window saw a b.l.o.o.d.y throng, dancing about the long poles from which dangled scalps with parts of the skulls still attached. Two terrible struggles had taken place the day before. On the Rum River seventy Chippewa scalps had been taken, and on the banks of Lake St. Croix twenty-five more were obtained. In both cases the losses of the Sioux were smaller. These trophies were brought to the villages, where they were danced about nightly until the leaves began to fall in the autumn, when they were buried.[331]

These incidents which centered about Fort Snelling have led to the charge made against it, that instead of preventing the conflicts the fort intensified them. The fort was a convenient meeting place, it is argued, whither both parties resorted only to become involved in altercations and disputes which resulted in a flaring-up of old flames.[332] But it must be remembered that the murders away from the fort were more numerous;[333] and it is easier to recall the spectacular encounters which occurred at the fort, than the many occasions when the two tribes met peacefully as the guests of the officials.

A military officer who was stationed there wrote: "At Fort Snelling I have seen the Sioux and Chippeways in friendly converse, and pa.s.sing their pipes in the most amicable manner when if they had met away from the post each would have been striving for the other's scalp."[334] The Indian agent, whose success depended upon the continuation of peace, noted with pleasure these friendly gatherings. "The Crane and the Hole in the Day--and other Chippeways at the Agency this day--Several Sissiton Sioux also at the Agency."[335] These visits were often protracted for several weeks without trouble. "Chippeways--a number of these people also at the agency--some have been here for nearly 30 days--fis.h.i.+ng & liveing better & more independently than the Sioux."[336] On the 29th and 30th of June, 1831, Chippewas to the number of one hundred and fifty met five villages of Sioux.[337]

Efforts to combat the evil were made in council with the Indians. "Your wars with the Chippeways can never be of service to anyone", reasoned their "Father", "for as fast as you destroy one--two or three more young men are ready to take the track of their deceased friends--The old people among you ought to know this--after the long wars between you".[338] Most of the encounters took place either when the warriors were emboldened by liquor, or when the rival hunting parties met on the plains. The strict enforcement of the law of 1832 prohibiting the introduction of spirits had a tranquilizing effect in the country of the Chippewas. Indeed, the princ.i.p.al object of all efforts to suppress the liquor traffic was the prevention of inter-tribal wars.[339]

Constant watching of the hunting parties and admonition as to their conduct were among the duties of the agent. "Sent my interpreter up the Mississippi among the Indians", he writes, "to see how they are progressing in their hunts and as to the present hunting grounds of the Chippeways." Eight days later record is made of the fact that "the Rum River Chippeways left for their camp this morning--Sent word to their people to hunt on their own Lands & not by any Means to intrude upon the Soil of the Sioux." When the interpreter returned he reported that everything was quiet between the two tribes.[340] The sending of "runners" to the camps was a frequent occurrence during the winter of 1831, the region covered being eighty miles to the east and two hundred miles to the north.[341]

In the treaty of Prairie du Chien of 1825 a dividing line between the two tribes, beyond which neither should pa.s.s, was agreed upon.[342] But this provision was for many years a dead letter. As long as the line was unsurveyed the natives could urge indefiniteness of territory as an excuse for murder and depredations--claiming that the other party was the trespa.s.ser. When Schoolcraft met the chiefs of the Chippewas in council at Leech Lake in 1832, the latter complained that the provisions of the treaty had not been carried out. "The words of the Long-knives have pa.s.sed through our forests as a rus.h.i.+ng wind, but they have been words merely. They have only _shaken_ the trees, but have not stopped to break them down, nor even to make the rough places smooth."[343] As a result Mr. Schoolcraft urged upon the Secretary of War the necessity of marking the line.[344]

Seven thousand dollars were appropriated by the act of June 26, 1834, for the purpose of running this line,[345] and the next spring Major J.

L. Bean, accompanied by Duncan Campbell, the Sioux interpreter of the agency, commenced the survey.[346] Later an escort of troops from Fort Snelling was sent him under the command of Lieutenant William Storer, with the result that the reduced garrison was unable to enforce order.[347] When the survey had been completed from the Chippewa River to Otter Tail Lake the return of the military escort put an end to the work, but the agent was of the opinion that the most important part had been marked.[348]

Efforts were made by the government to keep down the warlike spirit of the tribes. Thus, when Captain Gale allowed the Indians to come into the fort and dance the scalp dance in June, 1830, his act was disapproved of, and he had to stand trial.[349] Likewise peace conferences were fostered in order to put the seal of the authority of the government upon the transactions. During the winter of 1831 truces were made between several of the bands through the efforts of Agent Taliaferro.[350] On August 2, 1843, a great gathering of the two nations was held at the fort, where a treaty of peace was drawn up under the auspices of the civil and military authorities.[351] During the first year it was kept inviolate, "if we except two or three individual cases of outrage."[352]

Even as late as June, 1850, an a.s.semblage of both tribes was called together by Governor Ramsey. The Chippewas were encamped north of the fort on the bluff above the Mississippi. In front of them a detachment of infantry was drawn up. Within the fort the artillery was in readiness. When word was sent to the Sioux that all things were ready, they approached, about three hundred strong, on horseback, all armed and painted, their whoops mingling with the jingling of their arms, ornaments, and the bells of their horses. Making a feint as if to rush around the soldiers, they suddenly wheeled to one side and became quiet; while the Chippewas on the other side of the line of infantry continued to dance and wave their weapons. It was amid such stirring war-like scenes that attempts for peace were made.[353]

The earliest policy of the government had been to interfere as little as possible, and to allow retribution to be made by one tribe on another.

But such inactivity did not appeal to a red-blooded officer like Colonel Snelling, who wrote after the trouble in 1827: "I have no hesitation in Saying that the Military on this frontier are useless for want of discretionary power, and that if it is not intrusted to the Commander, Men of Straw with Wooden Guns and Swords will answer the purpose as well as a Regt of Infantry."[354]

But later the policy was adopted of confining in the "Black Hole" of the fort any culprits who were captured. Thirteen of the Sioux who partic.i.p.ated in a ma.s.sacre at Apple River were imprisoned;[355] and on one occasion Little Crow's band performed the scalp dance near Fort Snelling in commemoration of the murder of two Chippewas, while the murderers themselves languished in the fort.[356] Probably this method of dealing with the problem would have been adopted earlier; but "the force at this point", wrote an officer, "has been too small to send a sufficient force to take the offenders, even should an order to that effect be issued."[357]

To determine how influential Fort Snelling was in maintaining order is impossible. As was the case with the liquor traffic, conditions were bad but could have been worse. From time to time there were events that indicated some success. After a peace had been concluded on the fourth of June, 1823, a small quarrel almost precipitated a general conflict on the sixth. Much to the chagrin of the Italian traveller, J. C. Beltrami, who was then a guest at the fort, the officers were successful in preventing bloodshed. "Everything conspired against my poor notes", he wrote, "I had already perched myself on an eminence for the purpose of enriching them with an Indian battle, and behold I have nothing to write but this miserable article!... I almost suspected that the savages were in a league with the gentlemen of the fort to disappoint me."[358]

Peace was maintained during the winter of 1831 on a line of three hundred and forty miles above and below Fort Snelling, and on one occasion there occurred the pleasant sight of Sioux and Chippewas departing in company for their hunting grounds on the Sauk River.[359]

Man-of-the-sky, who was chief of the Lake Calhoun band of Sioux, boasted that although he was only twenty-five years old at the time, he had already killed six Chippewas when Fort Snelling was erected, and added: "Had it not been for that I should have killed many more, or have been myself killed ere this."[360] It is interesting to note in connection with the sacredness of these treaties the comment of Major Taliaferro that "much more reliance is to be placed in the good faith of the Chippeways than in that of the Sioux."[361]

These spasmodic successes at least acquainted the Indians with governmental restraint. A paragraph from the ma.n.u.script diary of the agent refutes the argument that Fort Snelling intensified rather than alleviated these struggles. "From January 1833 up to this day", wrote Taliaferro, "there has been no difficulty between the Sioux and Chippeways--I once kept these tribes at peace for two years and Six Months lacking 15 days. And this between the years 1821 & 1825 till June 8th of the latter year. Colonel Robert d.i.c.kson remarked to me that Such a thing had never occurred before even when he headed the tribes against Us in the War of 1812."[362]

IX

THE FUR TRADE

The Indian trading-house which had been planned for the agency at Fort Snelling never materialized. Failure of the houses in operation to pay expenses and the opposition of the private traders led to their abolition in 1822. Thereafter, whatever attention the government directed toward the trade was influenced by the desire to prevent tampering with the allegiance of the Indians on the part of foreigners and to control this traffic which could contribute so much good or so much evil to the lives of the government's wards.[363]

With the Indian trade left to the private traders, great trading companies developed, since the fur trade easily lent itself to the corporation system. Cooperation in the marketing of furs and in the buying of goods eliminated many of the difficulties which a single individual would meet. The American Fur Company, so long guided by John Jacob Astor, had a practical monopoly of the trade during the time that Old Fort Snelling was in existence. Mendota was the headquarters of a vast region which extended from the Mississippi to the headwaters of the streams flowing into the Missouri. At various places throughout this territory were trading posts called "forts", although they consisted of no more than a few huts within a stockade. These were all subsidiary to the post at Mendota.

Goods for the Indian trade were much the same as those given as presents by the government officials--blankets, trinkets, tobacco, knives, and the like. These goods were sent in great Mackinac boats from the East to be distributed among the posts. Each Indian hunter received on credit goods valued at forty or fifty dollars in payment for which he pledged the spoils of his winter's hunt. If the trader did not go with his band, he visited them occasionally or sent his engages to see that they were hunting and that no other trader was tampering with them to secure their furs. In the spring the Indian would deliver furs valued at twice the amount of the goods received. The trading company's profit was, accordingly, about one hundred per cent. To carry out the details of the traffic there grew up within the company a complicated system of factors, clerks, voyageurs, and hivernants.[364]

With the entire system of the fur trade the military officials had little to do except in the matter of regulation. Not much military protection was necessary as the Indian looked upon the trader more as a friend than an enemy.[365] Care in respect to the character of the men engaged and supervision of the method of carrying on trade were the two things necessary. According to the act of March 30, 1802, which was supplemented by the acts of April 29, 1816, and June 30, 1834, no one could carry on trade with the Indians without obtaining a license from an Indian agent, which was subject to revocation by the superintendent of the district.[366]

Many were the problems which Major Taliaferro was obliged to consider when he granted a license. A license was valid for trade only at a certain place and among a certain tribe. The trader must be an American citizen. He was not allowed to carry with him any insignia of a foreign power. An invoice of his goods was presented to the agent, who had to certify to its correctness. Liquor was prohibited, and the trader was responsible for the conduct of all the members of his party in this matter. To guarantee the fulfillment of all these requirements, bond had to be given at the time of obtaining the permit.[367]

To examine all the applicants, to keep in touch with them in the field, and to obtain the truth in regard to their conduct was enough to keep both agent and officers at Fort Snelling busy. In 1826 twenty-five licenses were granted; in 1827, eleven; in 1830, thirteen; and in 1831, fourteen.[368] The amount of this trade was very large, as is indicated by the case of Mr. Faribault who traded on the Cannon River. One year he marketed 50 buffalo-robes, 39,080 muskrats, 2050 pounds of deer skins, 125 pounds of beaver, 130 martin, 1100 mink, 663 racc.o.o.ns, 331 otter, 25 lynx, and 5 foxes.[369]

There was a great deal of vagueness as to the application of the trade laws--"a mist of uncertainty" as Taliaferro called it.[370] Governor Ca.s.s of Michigan Territory allowed foreigners to enter into expeditions as interpreters or boatmen, who upon entering the wilderness took active charge of the crew and all operations.[371] As far as Fort Snelling was concerned there was little call for the ejection of foreigners by force. In 1833 it was rumored that a foreigner was trading on the Sheyenne River--a tributary of the Red River. But with the despatch of a company of troops and the rumor of their approach, the culprit immediately decamped.[372]

The building of the fort was in itself enough to impress British subjects with the firmness of the United States government. Joseph Renville, Kenneth McKenzie, and William Laidlaw, former employees of the English companies, in 1822 organized the Columbia Fur Company, and obtained a license from Major Taliaferro. In five years they had posts from Green Bay to the Missouri River, with their headquarters at Land's End, a short distance up the Minnesota River from Fort Snelling. But in 1827 a union with the American Fur Company was brought about.[373]

Traders licensed by the agent at Fort Snelling covered the territory as far west as the Missouri River. No post could be established without his approval; and he even attempted to regulate the form in which the establishment should be built.[374] On the whole, cooperation between the factors of the fur companies and the officials at the post was desired by both parties. The most notable disagreement is that which existed between Alexis Bailly, the chief factor at Mendota, and Major Taliaferro. This disagreement continued until September 15, 1834, when the agent reported that he had refused to allow Bailly to hold further intercourse with the natives, "not only in Consequence of his bad tongue, but on account also of his frequent Violations of the intercourse laws". In this action he was seconded by the authorities of the fur company, who sent Mr. H. H. Sibley to fill Mr. Bailly's place.[375] The pleasant relations which existed between Mr. Sibley and all the government officials--civil and military--is one of the charming chapters in the history of the fort.[376]

Intimately connected with the fur trade was the liquor traffic. Not that the traders were always responsible for the introduction of the tabooed commodity, but they were connected with it to such an extent as to be always under suspicion. Nor was the att.i.tude of the government consistent. When Pike ascended the Mississippi he spoke of the evil effects of rum to the chiefs who ceded to the United States the military reservation; but the explorer closed with the words: "before my departure I will give you some liquor to clear your throats."[377] Even Taliaferro, foe that he was of liquor, knew its power. When a neighboring chief and thirty of his men visited the agency, he recorded: "After council--gave him 30 Rats Bread--50 Rats Pork--10 lbs Tobacco--3 gallons of whiskey--the last for good Conduct towards the Chippeways."[378]

Liquor was an important a.s.set in carrying on the fur trade. The object was to please the red man, not to stupefy him to such an extent that he could be swindled. With the growth of the great companies and the influx of numbers of private traders there were many bidders for each Indian's furs. Complaint was continual that the British traders about the Lake of the Woods successfully offered whiskey as an inducement to get the trade of the American Indians.[379] Governor Ca.s.s, thinking it would be worse to lose the trade than admit the liquor, allowed its introduction, in "limited quant.i.ties", by those engaged in business along the boundary.[380] But the act of July 9, 1832, provided, that "no ardent spirits shall be hereafter introduced, under any pretence, into the Indian country."[381] This put an end to the stock excuse. At the same time Americans suffered to such an extent that Mr.

Norman W. Kittson at Pembina wanted permission to destroy all liquor and punish all offenders, promising "that very little would be introduced after a short time".[382] So acute was the difficulty that it became the subject of diplomatic correspondence with Great Britain; but the authorities of the Hudson's Bay Company retorted that "spirits are even clandestinely introduced into the Company's territories by citizens of the United States."[383]

During the first years stringent measures were in force at the mouth of the Minnesota River. At Prairie du Chien, Taliaferro had seen the barrels rolled out from the river vessels and they foretold to him coming murders and depredations. His cooperating friend, Colonel Snelling, graphically described its evil effects. "Herds of Indians", he said, "are drawn together by the fascinations of whisky, and they exhibit the most degraded picture of human nature I ever witnessed."[384] The drunken Indian did not molest the trader; his peaceful fellow-tribesman suffered more. "An Indian killed at Al [?]

Faribault's Trading house--whiskey was given the Indian for his furs--by Mr. F.--The deceased then invited one of his friends to drink with him--the invitation was accepted--when this friend becoming inflamed with the Liquor very inhospitably sunk his Tomahawk into the head of his host--whiskey it is said does no harm in the Trade by persons interested--but the foregoing is only one of the many hundred fatal occurrences from its use in procuring furs unlawfully."[385]

In fact, the Indians were continually agitated. If they received the spirits they naturally revelled. When their supply was exhausted they raged and fumed until they secured more. Sometimes the disease was more desirable than the cure. "I have thus far seen but few of the indians of this place and I am in hopes of pa.s.sing on North without much trouble there has just arrived a fresh supply of whiskey which will keep them busy for a few days and by that time my carts will be almost out of their reach."[386]

The eagerness for liquor on the part of the Indians made its introduction all the more easy. For it they were willing to pay much: eight horses were at one time exchanged for eight kegs of whiskey,[387]

and the current rate at which it sold is indicated by the complaint which a Chippewa chief poured into the ears of the agent: "My Father--Is it right for our traders to make us pay 200 Musk Rats, and 3 otters for a 3 gallon keg of mixed whiskey?"[388] They would undergo extreme physical suffering, lying out in the rain and wading rivers and swamps, to bring the precious liquid to their villages.[389]

The officers were never successful in entirely banis.h.i.+ng the prohibited article. Conditions depended upon the eagerness of the military and civil agents, on the number of soldiers stationed at the fort, and on the wiliness of the culprits. On one occasion liquor "was found secreted in barrels of corn, buried on the beach and in other secret places, and destroyed."[390]

Major Taliaferro was not lax in enforcing the laws. Every boat pa.s.sing Fort Snelling was searched, and no liquor was allowed to enter the Indian country.[391] A few stray references seem to indicate what was a usual occupation of the troops. "The Sub Agent Mr. Grooms left with 10 men on his 2d expedition below Lake Pepin in quest of whiskey Smuglers--as our Indians even entering the country with it from Prairie du Chiens and the Traders of the Am Fur Cpy are geting whiskey over the country by land and water".[392] During May, 1827, the agent called the attention of Colonel Josiah Snelling to the fact that in Mr. Bailly's store at Mendota there was whiskey which had been introduced into the Indian country contrary to law. Accordingly a detachment of soldiers was sent under the command of Lieutenant J. B. F. Rupel, who succeeded in finding two barrels which were taken away and stored in the fort.[393]

The year 1832 saw especial activity in the destruction of liquor. The boat of one trader pa.s.sed up the Mississippi during April, having on board eighteen barrels of whiskey.[394] Later in the season the vigilance of the officers had direct results. In July eleven kegs of high wines, very strong in quality, and in quant.i.ty amounting to one hundred and ten gallons, were taken from the boat of Hazen Moores by Captain J. Vail. The value of this liquor was $330. In October of the same year, five kegs of high wines and one keg of whiskey were found by Lieutenant I. K. Greenough in the boat of Louis Provencalle. These confiscated kegs were stored in the fort, and an interesting side-light on their ultimate fate is contained in the report of Major Taliaferro "I am of opinion", he wrote, "from what I hear that the High Wines, and Whiskey Seized by Lieuts Vail and Greenough, and in Store here will soon be of little account in Consequence of loss by leakage, and the property Not in charge of any responsible person--Other than its mere deposite in the public store." Whether any efforts were made to stop the leaks is not mentioned.[395]

These energetic movements caused "consternation among those natives who have not yet joined the temperance Societties".[396] But they also caused violent opposition from the men whose goods had been seized. These traders commenced a suit in the courts at Prairie du Chien against the commanding officer at Fort Snelling, arguing that while the law prohibited the introduction of liquor into the Indian country, this seizure had been made on the Mississippi River--"a common highway open to all the Citizens of the United States".[397]

It is impossible to follow the course of the whiskey traffic through its ups and downs. Numerous cases are recorded where the soldiers "knocked in the head" the whiskey barrels.[398] But it was probably true, as the missionary S. R. Riggs wrote from Lac qui Parle on June 15, 1847, to the Indian agent: "The whiskey destroyed by the efforts of yourself and the commanding officer at Fort Snelling forms the glorious exception, and not the rule."[399]

Under the regulations existing in 1830 the traders were allowed to take with them into the Indian country one gallon per month for every person engaged in the party. Under plea of this they brought in high wines which were later diluted with water and distributed among the Indians.

Of the amount brought in, the employees actually saw only one-third, and this they paid for at the rate of from eight to sixteen dollars per gallon.[400] Accordingly, Major Taliaferro issued a circular letter in which he stated that high wines and whiskey would be allowed to be brought in "in no case whatever".[401] Actions such as these by the agent, who was still a young man, brought about the remark which Mr.

Aitkin, a trader among the Chippewas, is reported to have made to some chiefs: "The Medals and Flags which you received at St Peters are nothing more than pewter and dish rags, and were given to you by a boy, and with a boys paw."[402]

Much of the good which should have resulted from the activities of the officers was lost because the Indian could not be punished. If liquor was found in his possession and seized there was nothing to prevent his going back and obtaining more, taking the chance of being more successful in evading the authorities the second time.[403] Accordingly prevention as well as cure was tried, and Captain Eastman, Mr. Sibley, and others sought, with some success, to persuade the Indians to refuse to accept liquor.[404] Two years later the Indian agent, R. G. Murphy, organized a temperance society among the Sioux, who, an observer stated, were careful in living up to the pledge when once taken; and added, "One such man as Major Murphy does more _real, practical good_ than all the missionary societies of New York and Boston."[405]

X