A Life on the American Frontiers: Collected Works of Henry Schoolcraft. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

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СКАЧАТЬ the repast, the room became filled with Indians, apparently the relatives and intimate friends of the chief, who seated themselves orderly and silently around the room. When we arose, the chief assumed the oratorical attitude, and addressed himself to me.

He expressed his regret that I had not been able to visit them the year before, when I was expected.13 He hoped I had now come, as I came by surprise, to remain some days with them. He said, they lived at a remote point, and were involved in wars with their neighbors, and wished my advice. They were not insensible to advice, nor incapable of following it. They were anxious for counsel, and desirous of living at peace, and of keeping the advice which had heretofore been given them. They had been told to sit still on their lands, but their enemies would not permit them to sit still. They were compelled to get up, and fight in self defence. The Sioux continued to kill their hunters. They had killed his son, during the last visit he had made to my office. They had never ceased to make inroads. And he believed there were white men among them, who stirred them up to go to war against the Chippewas. He named one person particularly.

      It was necessary, he continued, to take some decisive steps to put a stop to these inroads. This was the reason why he had led out the war party, which had recently returned. This was the reason why I saw the stains of blood before me.

      He alluded, in the last expression, to the flags, war clubs, and medals, which decorated one end of the room, all of which had vermilion smeared over them to represent blood. I replied, that I would assemble the Indians at a general council, at my camp, as soon as preparations could be made; that notice would be given them by the firing of the military, and that I should then lay before them the advice I came to deliver from their Great Father, the President, and offer, at the same time, my own counsel, on the subjects he had spoken of.

      During the day constant accessions were made to the number of Indians, from neighboring places. And before the hour of the council arrived, there could have been but little short of a thousand souls present. Most of the warriors carried their arms, and were painted and drest in their gayest manner. And they walked through the village with a bold and free air, in striking contrast with the subdued and cringing aspect, which is sometimes witnessed in the vicinity of the posts and settlements. Many applications were made for the extraction of decayed teeth, and for blood letting, the latter of which appears to be a favorite remedy among the northern Indians. Most of the time of the surgeon, (Dr. Houghton,) was however employed in the application of the vaccine virus, which constituted one of the primary objects of the visit. Among the number vaccinated by him, one was past the age of eighty, several between sixty and eighty, and a large number under the age of ten. Little difficulty was found in getting them to submit to the process, and wherever there was hesitancy or refusal, it seemed to arise from a distrust of the protective power of the disease. None had been previously vaccinated. Of the younger classes, it was remarked here, as at other places, that the boys evinced no fear on the display of the lancet, but nearly every female child, either came with reluctance and entreaty of the parents, or was absolutely obliged to be held, during the process. The ravages made by the small pox in this quarter, about the year 1782, were remembered with the distinctness of recent tradition, and had its effects in preparing their minds, generally, not only to receive the vaccine virus, but in imparting a solicitude that all might be included, so as to ensure them from the recurrence of a pestilence, which they regard with horror. Their name for this disease, of Ma Mukkizziwin, suggests the disfiguration of the flesh and skin produced by it.

      Among the number of Indians who arrived here, during the day, were a party of nine Rainy Lake Indians under the leadership of a man named Wai Wizhzhi Geezhig, or The Hole in the Sky. He represented himself and party as part of a small band residing at Springing-bow-string Lake, in the middle grounds between Lake Winnipec and Rainy Lake. He said, they had heard of my passing the post of Winnipec, with an intention of returning through Leech Lake. This was the cause of his visit. They lived off from the great lake, and seldom saw Americans. He came to express his good will, hoping to be remembered, as he now saw his father, among his children, &c. I presented him, publicly, with my own hand, with a flag, and directed to be laid before him an amount of presents, committing to him, at the same time, a short address to be delivered to the American portion of the Rainy Lake Indians.

      The hour for the council having arrived, and the Mukkundwa, or Pillagers, being present with their chiefs and warriors, women and children, I caused the presents intended for this band, to be displayed in bulk, on blankets spread on the grass, in front of my tent. I called their attention to the subjects named in my instructions, the desire of the government for the restoration of peace, and its paternal character, feelings, and wishes in relation, particularly, to them—reminded them of their solemn treaty of peace and limits with the Sioux, at Prairie du Chien in 1825, enforcing the advantages of it, in its bearings on their hunting, trade, and well being. The presents were then delivered to the chiefs, as an earnest of good will and sincerity on the part of the government, and were by them directed to be immediately divided and distributed.

      Aish Kibug Ekozh, or the Guelle Plat, was their speaker in reply. He called the attention of the warriors to his words. He thanked me for the presents, which reminded him, in amount, of the times when the British held possession in that quarter. He pointed across an arm of the lake, in front, to the position formerly occupied by the North West Company’s fort. He said many winters had now passed since the Americans first sent one of their chiefs to that post, (alluding to the visit of Pike.) He remembered that visit. I had now come, it appeared, to remind them that the American flag was flying in the land, and to offer them counsels of peace. He thanked me for them. He had hoped that I was to spend more time with them, that they might consult on a reply, but as they must speak on the instant, (orders had been given for embarking that evening) they would not lose the opportunity of declaring their sentiments.

He had before heard the Americans say, peace, peace! But he thought their advice resembled a rushing wind. It was strong and went soon. It did not abide long enough to choke up the road. At the treaty of Tipisagi,14 it had been promised that the aggressors should be punished; but that very year they were attacked by the Sioux; and almost yearly since, some of their nation had been killed. They had even been fired on by the Sioux, under the walls of the fort at Ishki Buggi Seebi,15 and four of their number had been killed. He had, himself, been present. He here asked one of his subordinates for a bundle of sticks, which he handed to me saying, it is the number of the Leech Lake Chippewas who have been killed by the Sioux, since they signed the treaty of Tipisagi. The number was forty-three.

      He then lifted up four silver medals, attached by a string of wampum, and smeared with vermilion. Take notice, he said they are bloody. I wish you to wipe off the blood. I am unable to do it. I find myself irretrievably involved in a war with the Sioux. I believe it has been intended by the creator that we should be at war with this people. I am not satisfied with the result of the last war party. My warriors are not satisfied. They are brave men. It is to them I owe success, and not to myself. Both they, and I, have heretofore looked for help where we did not find it. (He alluded to the American government.) We are determined to revenge ourselves. If the United States does not aid us, I have it in mind to apply for aid elsewhere. (He alluded to the British government.) My warriors are in a restless state. I have sent my pipe and invitations to my friends around, to continue the war. Circumstances control me. I cannot avoid it. My feelings are enlisted deeply in the contest. When the enemy killed my son, I resolved never to lay down the war club. I have sought death in battle but have not met it. All I now can say is this, that perhaps I shall not lead out the next war party.

      Other parts of his speech on the war are omitted. This is, however, the thread, although a broken thread of his argument, omitting frequent and glowing appeals to his warriors, who expressed their approbation at every pause.

      He proceeded to accuse persons on the waters of the Upper Mississippi, of giving advice to the Sioux to СКАЧАТЬ