Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers Part 63

_15th_. A letter of this date from Council Bluffs, describes a most shocking and tragic death of a Sioux girl, of only fourteen years of age, who was sacrificed to the spirit of corn, by the p.a.w.nees, on the 22d of February last. For this purpose she was placed on a foot-rest, between two trees, about two feet apart, and raised above the ground, just high enough to have a torturing fire built under her feet. Here she was held by two warriors, who mounted the rest beside her, and who applied lighted splinters under her arms. At a given signal a hundred arrows were let fly, and her whole body was pierced. These were immediately withdrawn, and her flesh cut from her bones in small pieces, which were put into baskets, and carried into the corn-field, where the grain was being planted, and the blood squeezed out in each hill.

CHEROKEE EMIGRATION.--A letter from Gen. Scott of this date, to the Governor of Georgia, states that, of the two parties of Cherokees, or those who are for and against the treaty of New Echota, only about five hundred (including three hundred and seventy-sixty Creeks) remain east of the Mississippi, and of the anties a little over five thousand souls.

About two thousand five hundred of these had been emigrated in June, when the emigration was suspended on account of sickness. An arrangement was made in the month of September, by which John Ross was, in effect, const.i.tuted the contractor for the removal of the remainder (twelve thousand five hundred) of his people.

_16th_. Mr. J. Toulmin Smith, the phrenologist, of Boston, writes: "I perfectly concur with you in your remarks on the _minor details_ of phrenology. They have hitherto been loose and vague, but though at first sight they seem _minor_, they will be found, in truth, of great importance to the thorough elucidation and application of the subject.

"The Indian tribes do, indeed, present most interesting subjects for examination, and it is an anxious wish of my mind to be able to examine them thoroughly (per crania), and also to compare them with the crania found in their ancient burial-places, supposed to be the remnants of an anterior race. Not only will this throw light on their history, but it will do so also on those 'minor' but most interesting points, to the elucidation of which my attention has been, and is particularly directed. I should be exceedingly happy to be able to compare also one or two _female_ Indian skulls with the males of the same tribe. The females, I presume, may be easily recognized phrenologically; it may be done with facility by the large philoprogenitiveness, and the smaller general size of the head."

_22d_. Rumor says that Mr. Harris, Com. Indian Affairs, had entered into land speculations in Arkansas, which led Mr. Van Buren to call for a report, which, being made, the President returned it with the pithy and laconic endors.e.m.e.nt "unsatisfactory," whereupon Mr. H. tendered his resignation. Rumor also says, that Mr. T. Hartley Crawford, of Pennsylvania, is appointed in his stead. This gentleman is represented to be a person of some ability; an old black-letter lawyer, but a man who is apt to lose sight of main questions in the search after technicalities. They say he is very opinionated and dogmatical; personally unacquainted with the character of the Indians, and the geography of the western country, and not likely, therefore, to be very ready or practical in the administrative duties of the office. Time must test this, and time sometimes agreeably disappoints us.

_29th_. I reached Detroit this day, with my family, in the new steamer "Illinois," having had a pleasant pa.s.sage, for the season, from Mackinack. The style of the lake steamboats is greatly improved within the last few years, and one of the first-cla.s.s boats bears no slight resemblance to a floating parlor, where every attention and comfort is promptly provided. He must be fastidious, indeed, who is not pleased.

_31st_. Col. Whiting called at my office to get the loan of an elementary work on conchology. Dr. Pitcher stated that the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan had adopted a plan of buildings to be erected at Ann Arbor. Four Saginaw delegates are sent in by Ogema Kegido, to ascertain the time and place of their annuity payments.

_Nov. 4th_. The Regents of the University of Michigan adopt resolutions respecting the establishment of branches in the counties, which are apprehended to be rather in advance of their means; but the measure is stated to be popular.

_3d_. Mr. James Lawrence Schoolcraft, the acting agent of Indian Affairs at Michilimackinack, writes respecting the additional claim of the estate of John Johnston, an Irish gentleman of the upper country, whose name is mentioned in a prior part of these memoirs: "I have looked over the old books belonging to the estate, and find the following result upon the most critical examination.

"William's account of the beaver skins due was 7,221. Mr. Edmonds'

account was 4,313. My own 6,043. William's account exceeded mine 1,178.

Mine exceeds Mr. Edmonds' 1,730. In my account I have cast out all debts (or skins) charged for liquor. William did not. Mr. Edmonds did.

"I found all the books but one in the box, which one, according to William's account, contained five hundred and sixty skins. From these five hundred and sixty, I made deductions corresponding with the skins found to be charged in all the other books, so that the difference can be but very trifling, and, by the liberal discount made, I think, will be in favor of the claim."

The account stands thus:--

Due 6,043 beavers at $4 = $24,172 00 Average loss on four years' trade, from 1813 to 1816, at $2,014 per annum = $8,056 00

Add:--

Item 2 as allowed in 1836. $6,040 00 " 6 " " . $9,192 00 " 7 " " . $1,141 00 " 8 " " . $44 90 = $10,384 72 ---------- $42,612 72 Allowed in 1836. = $32,436 72 ---------- $10,176 00

"Books are shown from 1816 to 1828, a period of twelve years; consequently twelve divided into 24,172 will give the average loss for the four years' trade, for which no books are shown. Mr. Edmonds made an error in computing the number of skins due; the other difference was, of course, in consequence. I am inclined to think Mr. E. was prejudiced against the claim, as I cannot see how he could so much reduce the number of skins due."

_6th_. The Rev. Mr. Potter, a missionary for sixteen years among the Cherokees, called and introduced himself to me. He said that he thought the Cherokees had received enough for their lands; that they were peaceably emigrating west, but had been delayed by low water in the streams. While thus waiting, about five hundred persons had died.

This gentleman had been stationed at Creek Path, where the morally celebrated Catherine Brown and her brother and parents lived. While there, he had a church of about sixty members, and thinks they exhibited as good evidences of Christianity as the same number of whites would do.

He speaks in raptures of the country this people are living in, and are now emigrating from, in the c.u.mberland Mountains, as full of springs, a region of great salubrity, fertility, and picturesque beauty. Says a portion of the country, to which they are embarking west, is also fertile.

Florida, the papers of this date tell us, is now free from Indians. This can only be strictly true of the towns on the Apalachicola, &c. The majority of them are doubtless gone.

A Wyandot, of Michigan, named Thomas Short, complains that his lands, at Flat Rock, are overflowed by raising a mill-dam. Dispatched a special agent to inquire into and remedy this trespa.s.s.

The Swan Creeks complain that a Frenchman, named Yaks, having been permitted to live in one of their houses at Salt River, on rent, refuses to leave it, intending to set up a pre-emption right to the lands. I replied, "That is a matter I will inquire into. But you have ceded the land without stipulating for improvements, and cannot prevent pre-emptions."

_7th_. I received instructions from Was.h.i.+ngton, dated 29th Oct., to draw requisitions in favor of the Ottawas and Chippewas, for the amounts awarded for their _public_ improvements in the lower peninsula, agreeably to the estimates of Messrs. MacDonnel and Clarke, under the treaty of March 28th, 1836.

Eshtonaquot (Clear Sky), princ.i.p.al chief of the Swan Creeks, states that his people will be ready to remove to their location on the Osage, by the middle of next summer. He states that his brother-in-law, an Indian, living at River _Au Sables_, in Upper Canada, reports that a large number of Potawattomies have fled to that province from Illinois; and that many of the Grand River Ottawas, during the past summer, visited the Manitoulines, and gave in their names to migrate thither. Little reliance can be placed on this information. Besides, the government does not propose to hinder the movements of the Indians.

Maj. Garland states that he was present, a few years ago, at Fort Snelling, Upper Mississippi, at the time the fracas occurred in which the Sioux fired on the Chippewas and killed four of their number. Col.

Snelling exhibited the greatest decision of character on this occasion.

He immediately put the garrison under arms, and seized four Sioux, and put them in hold till their tribe should surrender the real murderers.

Next day the demand was complied with, by the delivery of two men, to replace two of the four hostages, the other two of the prisoners being, by hap, the murderers. The Indian agent vacillated as to the course to be adopted. Col. Snelling said that he would take the responsibility of acting. He then turned the aggressors over to the Chippewas, saying: "Punish them according to your law; and, if you do not, I will." The Chippewas selected nine of their party as executioners. They then told the prisoners to run, and shot them down as they fled. Two were shot on the very day after the murder, and two the following day, when they were brought in. One of the latter was a fine, bold, tall young fellow, who, having hold of the other prisoner's hand, observed him to tremble. He instantly threw his hand loose from him, declaring "that he was ashamed of being made to suffer with a coward."

_8th_. Col. Whiting exhibited to me, at his office, several bound volumes of MSS., being the orderly book of his father, an adjutant in a regiment of Ma.s.sachusetts Continentals, during the great struggle of 1776. Many of the orders of Gen. Was.h.i.+ngton show the exact care and knowledge of details, which went to make up a part of his military reputation.

_12th_. Texas is involved in troubles with fierce and intractable bands of Indians. Among these the Camanches are prominent, who have shown themselves, in force, near Bexar, and in a conflict killed ten Americans with arrows.

CHAPTER LXV.

Embark for New York--A glimpse of Texan affairs--Toltecan monuments--Indian population of Texas--Horrible effects of drinking ardent spirits among the Indians--Mr. Gallatin--His opinions on various subjects of philosophy and history--Visit to the South--Philadelphia--Was.h.i.+ngton--Indian affairs--Debt claim--Leave to visit Europe--Question of neutrality--Mr. Van Buren--American imaginative literature--Knickerbocker--Resume of the Indian question of sovereignty.

1838. _Nov. 14th_. I Embarked in a steamer, with my family, for New York, having the double object of placing my children at eligible boarding-schools, and seeking the renovation of Mrs. S.'s health. The season being boisterous, we ran along sh.o.r.e from river to river, putting in and putting out, in nautical phrase, as we could. On the way, scarlatina developed itself in my daughter. Fortunately a Dr. Hume was among the pa.s.sengers, by whose timely remedies the case was successfully treated, and a temporary stop at Buffalo enabled us to pursue our way down the ca.n.a.l. Ice and frost were now the cause of apprehension, and our ca.n.a.l packet was at length frozen in, when reaching the vicinity of Utica, which we entered in sleighs. In conversation on board the packet boat on the ca.n.a.l, Mr. Thomas Borden, of Buffalo Bayou, Texas, stated that there is a mistake in the current report of the Camanche Indians being about to join the Mexicans. They are, perhaps, in league with the Spaniards of Nacogdoches, who now cry out for the federal const.i.tution of 1824; but there is no coalition between them and the Mexicans. Lamar is elected president, the population has greatly increased within the last year, customs are collected, taxes paid, and a revenue raised to support the government. Mr. Borden said, he was one of the original three hundred families who went to Texas, with my early friend Stephen F. Austin, Esq., the founder of Texas, of whom he spoke highly.

"Hurry" was the word on all parts of our route; but, after reaching the Hudson, we felt more at ease, and we reached New York and got into lodgings, on the evening of the 24th (Nov.). The next day was celebrated, to the joy of the children, as "Evacuation Day," by a brilliant display of the military, our windows overlooking the Park, which was the focus of this turnout.

_28th_. In conversation with the Rev. Henry Dwight, of. Geneva, he made some pertinent remarks on the Toltecan monuments, and the skill of this ancient people in architecture, in connection with some specimens of antiquities just deposited in the New York Historical Society. This nation had not only preceded the Aztecs in time, as is very clearly shown by the traditions of the latter, but also, there is every reason to believe, in knowledge.

_29th_. Texas papers contain the following statistics of the Indian population of that Republic, of whom it is estimated that there may be 20,000. "The different tribes known as wild Indians, comprise about 24,000, west and south-west. There are on the north ten tribes, known as the 'Ten United Bands,' between the Trinity and Red River, numbering between 3 and 4000. Of these latter tribes, three are said to have wandered off beyond the Rio Grande and the Rocky Mountains. Of the _Comances_, nearly one-half of the Indians known by that name are, and have always been, _without_ the limits, and press upon the tribes of New Mexico. In all it appears that we have within the limits of Texas, an Indian population of 20,000--of whom one-fifth may be accounted Warriors. There are one or two remnants of tribes (perhaps not more than fifty in number) living within the settlements of the whites, whom they supply with venison, and in that way support themselves.

"Some of these tribes are the hereditary enemies of Mexico, who has nevertheless furnished them with arms and ammunition, in the hope of inciting them against our people, at a risk to her own. If, looking beyond our borders, we turn our eyes to the north, we behold within striking distance of the United States frontier on the north-west, an indigenous Indian population of 150,000, and on their western frontier 46,000; in all between 2 and 300,000 Indians within the jurisdiction of the United States--against whom, were they to combine, they could at any moment direct a war force of 60,000 men."

These popular estimates, may serve the purpose of general comparison, but require some considerable abatements. There is a tendency to estimate the numbers of Indian tribes like those of flocks of birds and schools of fish. We soon get into thousands, and where the theme is guessing, thousands are soon added to thousands.

_Dec. 4th_. James L. Schoolcraft of Michilimackinack, in a letter of Nov. 10th, describes a most revolting scene of murder, which, owing to the effects of drinking, recently occurred at the Menomonie pay-ground at Grande Chute, Wisconsin.

"Since closing my letter of this morning, Lieut. Root, just from Fort Winnebago, informs me that he attended the payment of the Menomonies, at the _Grande Chute_; that liquor, as usual, had found its way to the place of payment, and that, in consequence, an Indian had killed two Indian women. That the individual (murderer) was taken to the tent of the agent, Colonel Boyd, but that, in consequence of the repeated and threatening demands of the Indians for the man, the agent was obliged to deliver him up to them, and that they then, in front of the tent, inflicted wounds of death, from six different blades, upon the body of the murderer, beat his brain out with clubs, and then threw his body upon a burning fire, after which he was dragged some distance, to which place he might be traced by attached embers strewed along the path.

"A child was crushed to death by a drunken Indian accidentally. Lieut.

Root informs me that he left the ground, soon after the scene above alluded to, and that many of the Indians were armed with knives, and in much excitement."

_6th_. I visited Mr. Gallatin at his house in Bleecker Street, and spent the entire morning in listening to his instructive conversation, in the course of which he spoke of early education, geometric arithmetic, the principles of languages and history, American and European. He said, speaking of the

EARLY EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.--Few children are taught to read well early, and, in consequence, they never can become good readers. A page should, as it were, dissolve before the eye, and be absorbed by the mind. Reading and spelling correctly cannot be too early taught, and should be thoroughly taught.

_Arithmetic_.--_G_. There is no good arithmetic in which the reasons are given, so as to be intelligible to children. Condorcet wrote the best tract on the subject, while in confinement at a widow's house near Paris, before his execution. The language of arithmetic is universal, the eight digits serving all combinations. They were not introduced till 1200. The Russians count by sticks and beads. The Romans must have had some such method. M stood for 1000, D for 500, C for 100, L for 50, X for ten, V for five, and I for one. But how could they multiply complex sums by placing one under another.

LANGUAGES.--_S_. How desirable it would be if so simple a system could be applied to language.

_G_. Ah! it was not designed by the Creator. He evidently designed diversity. I have recently received some of the native vocabularies from Mackenzie--the Blackfeet and Fall Indians, &c. Parker had furnished in his travels vocabularies of the Nez Perces, Chinooks, &c.

LEADING FAMILIES.--_S_. The term Algonquin, as commonly understood, is not sufficiently comprehensive for the people indicated.

_G_. I intended to extend it by adding the term "Lenape." The Choctaw and the Muscogee is radically the same. The Chickasaw and Choctaw has been previously deemed one. Du Pratz wrote about the Mobilian language without even suspecting that it was the Choctaw.

_G_. The National Inst.i.tute at Paris has printed Mr. Duponceau's Prize Essay on the Algonquin. Dr. James wrote unsuccessfully for the prize.

Duponceau first mentioned you to me. He has freely translated from your lectures on the substantive, which gives you a European reputation.