6. _Letter to the Secretary of the Historical Institute of
France_, (in French). Heidelberg, 1836. (Reprinted in the
Bergamo city memorial).
The Indian curiosities and other articles brought by Beltrami to his
native country from the region of our present Minnesota, together with
his MS. papers &c., were presented by his heir, a nephew, shortly after
his death, to the library of Bergamo, the municipality of which city
caused them to be properly displayed in the vestibule of the building.
Signore Rosa, his chief eulogist, says, in a private letter, that there
is no genuine portrait of him extant;—the one by Professor Scuri being
drawn from the engraving in the “Pilgrimage,” and from tradition.
§ 4. REMINISCENCES OF MAJOR TALIAFERRO.
Major Lawrence Taliaferro, of Beaufort, Penn., a soldier of 1812, who
from the year 1819 to 1840, acted as Agent for Indian Affairs for the
tribes of the north-west, and who yet lives in the memories of the Sioux,
to whom he was known as _Mahza Bakah_ or Iron Cutter, furnished, under
date of the 4th of April, 1866, the following information concerning his
friend Beltrami:
“I was in Washington in 1823 relative to my official connection with the
north-western tribes of Minnesota; whilst on my return, in March, to my
post, I found a note, or card, at a hotel in Pittsburg, from Beltrami,
asking permission to bear me company to the Falls of St. Anthony. When
I saw him, his presence and manner at once obtained my confidence, and
leave was granted to do so. We passed together down the Ohio, and up the
Mississippi to Fort Snelling. I divided my quarters with him; and Col.
Snelling and lady invited him to take his meals at their hospitable table.
“Beltrami was six feet high, of commanding appearance and some forty-five
years of age; proud of bearing, and quick of temper, high spirited, but
always the gentleman. He expressed an earnest wish to explore the sources
of the Mississippi. I gave him a passport to go where he pleased, and
instructed the Chippewas of Otter Tail, and other lakes, to see him
safely through their country, should he seek assistance. Shortly after
this desire, Major Long, of the Topographical Engineers, with his corps,
arrived. Beltrami was introduced to Major L. and permission granted Mr.
B. to accompany the party to Pembina. At Pembina, a difficulty occurred
between Major Long and Beltrami, when the latter sold his horse (my
horse) and equipments, and in company with a half breed, passed near the
line of 49° to the sources of the Mississippi. His sufferings were of no
agreeable nature. Here, near Leech Lake, he fell in with a sub-chief,
the ‘Cloudy Weather,’ most fortunately, who knew Mr. B., having seen
him in one of my councils at the agency. This old man was given, by
signs, to know that white man wanted to descend the river. The chief
took our Italian friend in his canoe, and turned down stream. Indians
are proverbially slow, hunting and fishing on the way; Beltrami lost all
patience,—abused his Indian crew,—made many menaces, &c. The ‘Cloud’
tapped him on the hat with his pipe stem, as much as to say, ‘I will take
you to my father safe if you will be still.’ The old chief told of this
temper of my friend, but Mr. B. never made allusion to it, but was very
grateful to his kind Pillager friends.
“Beltrami had been in the military service;—was judge of a court.
I touched him at times with the appellation of Count; ‘Who is your
dear Countess to whom you address many affectionate letters?’—‘Not my
wife,’ said he; ‘but a lovely woman; and if you would replace the G in
your name, [Tagliaferro] and come with me to Italy—the home of your
ancestors—I would make you happy in her company.’
“That the tour of Mr. B. was not altogether abortive, I have full
reason to believe. He explained by his notes to me his whole route,
put the discovery of the true sources correctly, as others have since
done,—including the distinguished Nicollet. To learn the habits of the
Indian tribes was almost a mania with him. He had every facility;—his
greatest anxiety was, before he left Italy, as he stated to me, to
explore the wildest portion of the continent, north and west,—to see as
many of the noble North American Indians as possible. He seemed fond of
adventure. I saw he was dispirited for the lack of means;—he did not deny
it when questioned delicately on this point.
“In conversing of Italy and Italian affairs, he hesitated not to speak
very broadly about the highest ecclesiastical dignitary, touching whom he
often lost his patience. Beltrami was a patriot, and undoubtedly of note,
and had suffered persecution.”
§ 5. CONCLUSION.
No further direct information concerning Beltrami, personally, can be
added to the preceding; and enough undoubtedly has been said to fill the
blank hitherto existing, and to place him properly before the people of
Minnesota, to the majority of whom his name is totally unknown. There
remains, however, to supplement this monograph, one more task to be
performed, at some future time, when the territory he independently
explored shall have been surveyed and mapped by the deputies of the
General Land Office, and that is the examination and verification of the
route traveled by him, and of the lakes and rivers he visited, in order
to restore and bring into popular use, so far as practicable, the names
he gave to many places; though he named only certain lakes, streams and
islands, hitherto undistinguished.
The Legislature, last winter, at the instance of the Historical Society,
and in conformity with the custom of naming some of the counties of a
territory or state after its early explorers, established a county by
the name of Beltrami; which extends from the first “range line” below
the mouth of Turtle River, on the east, to the line between ranges 38
and 39 on the west, and from the line between townships 154 and 155 on
the north to the north line of Beecher county, and to the Mississippi
on the south. This county comprehends the region of the head of “Bloody
River,” &c., and is in area about 4,000 square miles—subject to reduction
and modification of boundary it is true; but, it is to be hoped, always
to retain the same name, and to include the “Julian Sources of the
Mississippi” within its limits. Of this act of legislation, his friend,
Major Taliaferro says, “It is a high compliment;—one well deserved, and
creditable to the movers and State;” and all lovers of justice who read
Beltrami’s own words will rejoice that his claims have at last been
officially recognized.
In reference to the opportunity he had of perpetuating his own name in
the Indian territory by giving it an archipelago, as he terms it, of the
Mississippi—the present “Thousand Islands,” situated a mile or two below
St. Cloud—he wrote, “After my death, men will dispose of my name as God
will of my soul, according as I shall have well or ill deserved during my
life; and I leave to my friends, and to those who have had opportunities
of becoming acquainted with my heart, the charge of defending my memory,
should it ever be attacked by injustice or prejudice.”