AN ADVENTURE WITH INDIANS.
In the early part of June, 1850, I loaded my train, consisting of ten
wagons drawn by 130 oxen, at Kansas City, Mo., with merchandise destined
for Santa Fé, N. M., a distance of about eight hundred miles from Kansas
City, and started for that point. After being out some eight or ten days
and traveling through what was then called Indian Territory, but was not
organized until four years later, and was then styled Kansas. Arriving
one evening at a stream called One Hundred and Ten, I camped for the
night. I unyoked my oxen and turned them upon the grass. Finding the
grass so good and the animals weary with the day's work, I thought they
would not stroll away, and therefore did not put any guard, as was my
custom.
At early dawn on the following morning I arose, saddled my horse, which,
by the way, was a good one, and told my assistant to arouse the
teamsters, so they could be ready to yoke their teams as soon as I drove
them into the corral, which was formed by the wagons. I rode around what
I supposed to be all the herd, but in rounding them up before reaching
the wagons, I discovered that there were a number of them missing. I
then made a circle, leaving the ones I had herded together. I had not
traveled very far when I struck the trail of the missing oxen; it being
very plain, I could ride my horse on a gallop and keep track of it.
[Illustration: AN ADVENTURE WITH INDIANS.]
I had not traveled more than a mile when I discovered the tracks of
Indian ponies. I then knew the Indians had driven off my oxen. I thought
of the fact that I was unarmed, not thinking it necessary to take my gun
when I left the wagons, as I only expected to go a few hundred yards. We
had not yet reached the portion of the territory where we would expect
to meet hostile Indians, so I went ahead on the trail, thinking it was
some half-friendly ones that had driven my oxen away, as they sometimes
did, in order to get a fee for finding and bringing them back again.
I expected to overtake them at any moment, for the trail looked very
fresh, as though they were only a short distance ahead of me. So on and
on I went, galloping my horse most of the time, until I had gone about
twelve miles from my camp. I passed through a skirt of timber that
divided one portion of the open prairie from the other, and there
overtook thirty-four head of my oxen resting from their travel.
About sixty yards to the east of the cattle were six painted Indian
braves, who had dismounted from their horses, each one leaning against
his horse, with his right hand resting upon his saddle, their guns being
in their left. I came upon them suddenly, the timber preventing them
from seeing me until I was within a few rods of them. I threw up my
hand, went in a lope around my oxen, giving some hideous yells, and told
the cattle they could go back to the wagons on the trail they had come.
They at once heeded me and started. I never saw six meaner or more
surprised looking men than those six braves were, for I think they
thought I had an armed party just behind me, or I would not have acted
so courageously as I did. So I followed my cattle, who were ready to
take their way back, and left the six savages standing in dismay. The
oxen and myself were soon out of sight in the forest, and that is the
last I saw of the six braves who had been sent out by their chief the
night before to steal the oxen.
Very soon after I got through the timber and into the prairie again I
met, from time to time, one or two Indians trotting along on their
ponies, following the trail that the cattle made when their comrades
drove them off. When within a short distance of the herd they would
leave the trail and leave plenty of space to the cattle, fall in behind
me, and trot on toward the six braves I had left. I will say here that I
began to feel very much elated over my success in capturing my cattle
from six armed savages, and being given the right-of-way by other
parties also armed. But I did not have to travel very far under the
pleasant reflection that I was a hero; when I was about half-way back to
the wagons I looked ahead about half-a-mile and saw a large body of
Indians, comprising some twenty-five warriors, who proved to be under
the command of their chief, armed and coming toward me. I then began to
feel a little smaller than I had a few minutes previous, for I was
entirely unarmed, and even had I been armed what could I have done with
twenty-five armed savages?
My fears were very soon realized, for when they arrived within a few
hundred yards of me and the chief saw me returning with the cattle he
had sent his braves to drive off, he commanded his men to make a descent
upon me, and he undertook the job of leading them. They raised a hideous
yell and started toward me at the top of their horses' speed. If my oxen
had not been driven so far and become to some extent tired, I would have
had a royal stampede. The animals only ran a few hundred yards until I
succeeded in holding them up. By this time the Indians had reached me
and my cattle. The braves surrounded the cattle, and the chief came at
the top of his horse's speed directly toward me, with his gun drawn up
in striking attitude. Of coarse I did not allow him to get in reaching
distance. I turned my horse and put spurs to him; he was a splendid
animal and it was a comparatively easy matter for me to keep out of the
reach of the vicious chief, who did not want to kill me, but desired to
scare me, or cause me to run away and leave my herd, or disable me so I
could not follow him and his band if they attempted to take the cattle.
This chasing me off for some distance was repeated three times, I
returning in close proximity to where his braves surrounded the cattle
on every side, some on foot holding their ponies, others on horseback.
Those who had alighted were dancing and yelling at the tops of their
voices. The third time I returned to where the chief and one of his
braves, armed with bow and arrows, were sitting on their horses, some
distance from the cattle and in line between me and the group of braves.
When I got within thirty or forty yards of him he beckoned me to come to
him, for all the communication we had was carried on by means of signs;
I did not speak their language nor they mine. I rode cautiously up side
by side, a short distance from the chief, with our horses' heads in the
same direction. When I had fairly stopped to see what he was going to
do, his brave who was on the opposite side from me slid off his horse,
ran under the neck of the chief's, and made a lunge to catch the bridle
of my horse. His sudden appearance caused the animal to jump so quick
and far that he had just missed getting hold of the rein. Had he
succeeded in the attempt they would have taken my horse and oxen and
cleared out, leaving me standing on the prairie. When he found he had
failed in his attempt, he returned to his horse, mounted, and he and the
chief rode slowly toward me, for I had reined up my horse when I found I
was out of reach. I sat still to see what their next maneuver would be.
The brave changed from the left of the chief to the right as they came
slowly toward me. When they got within a few feet of me, with the heads
of our horses in the same direction, they reined up their ponies and
the brave suddenly drew his bow at full bend, with a sharp-pointed steel
in the end of the arrow. He aimed at my heart with the most murderous,
vindictive, and devilish look on his face and from his eyes that I ever
saw portrayed on any living face before or since. Of course there was no
time for doing anything but to keep my eye steadfast on his. To show the
influence of the mind over the body, while he was pointing the arrow at
me I felt a place as large as the palm of my hand cramping where the
arrow would have struck me had he shot. While in this position he
pronounced the word "say" with all the force he could summon. I did not
at that time understand what he meant. The chief relieved my suspense by
holding up his ten fingers and pointing to the oxen. I then understood
that if I gave him ten of my animals he would not put the dart through
me. I felt that I could not spare that number and move on with my train
to its destination, and in a country where I had not the opportunity of
obtaining others, so I refused. He then threw up five fingers and
motioned to the cattle. Again I shook my head. He then motioned me to
say how many I would give, and I held up one finger. The moment I did so
he gave the word of command to his braves, who were still dancing and
screaming round the cattle, and they, whirling into line, selected one
of the animals so quickly that one had hardly time to think, and left
thirty-three of the oxen and myself standing in the prairie. I had held
them there so long, refusing to let them go without following them, I
think they were afraid some of my party would overtake me. There was no
danger of that had they only known it, for on my return I found all my
men at the wagons wondering what had become of me. I had left the camp
at daylight and it was after noon when I returned.
In conclusion, I will say that never at any time in my life, and I have
encountered a great many dangers, have I felt so small and helpless as
upon this occasion, being surrounded by twenty-five or thirty armed
savages and with whom I could communicate only by signs. To surrender
the animals to them was financial ruin, and to stay with them was
hazarding my life and receiving the grossest abuse and insults. The
effect of passing through this ordeal, on my mind, was that I became so
reduced in stature, I felt as if I was no larger than my thumb, a
hummingbird or a mouse; all three passed through my mind, and I actually
looked at myself to see if it was possible I was so small.
No one can tell, until he has been overpowered by hostile savages, how
small he will become in his own estimation. However, when they left me,
I at once came back to my natural size and felt as if a great weight had
been lifted from me.
Although the Indians were nothing more nor less than specimens of
nature's sons, without any education whatever of a literary nature, they
were very shrewd and quick to see and take up an insult. They were
remarkable for reading faces, and although they were not able to
understand one word of English, they could tell when looking at a white
man and his comrades when in conversation about them, almost precisely
what they were saying by the shadows that would pass over their faces,
and by the nodding of heads and movement of hands or shoulders, for the
reason that they talked with each other and the different tribes that
they would meet by signs, and it was done generally by the movement of
the hands.
They had but few vices, in fact might say almost none outside of their
religious teachings, which allowed them to steal horses and fur skins,
and sometimes take the lives of enemies or opposing tribes. Persons who
were not thoroughly acquainted with Indian character and life might
wonder why there were so many different tribes--or bands, as they were
sometimes called--and if it could be there were so many nationalities
among them. This is accounted for solely and truly upon the fact that
when a tribe grew to a certain number it became a necessity in nature
for them to divide, which would form two bands or tribes and at that
point of time and condition it became necessary for the one leaving the
main tribe to have a name to designate themselves from the family that
they had of necessity parted from, for as soon as a tribe reached such a
proportion in numbers that it was inconvenient for them to rendezvous at
some given point easy of access, their necessities in such cases
demanded a new deal or different arrangements; hence the different names
by which tribes were called.
These tribes differed in their methods of living according to the
conditions with which they were surrounded. Indians who lived along the
Atlantic Coast and made their living from fishing, as well as from
hunting, were very different from the Indians of the plains and Rocky
Mountain regions, who live almost solely upon buffalo and other
varieties of game that they were able to secure.
The Indians from the Atlantic and Mississippi valleys were more
dangerous, as a rule, when they came into a combat with white soldiers,
than were the Indians of the plains and Rockies. The Shawnee and
Delaware Indian braves a hundred years ago, when my grandfather was an
Indian fighter in Kentucky, were considered equal to any white soldiers
and proved themselves in battle to be so. Their mode of warfare,
however, was not on horseback, as was the mode of warfare with the
Indians of the plains. They were "still" hunters, as they might be
called, and when they met with white men in battle array, would get
behind trees, if possible, as a protection, and remain and fight to the
bitter end. When these tribes became overpowered, it was easy, compared
with the Indians of the plains, to bring them under some of the
conditions of civilization; therefore the Cherokees, Seminoles,
Chickasaws, Choctaws, Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandottes, Kickapoos, Sacs,
Foxes, the Creeks, and many others whose names I can not now recall,
have become somewhat civilized, and many of them semi-civilized tribes,
but the Indians of the plains and Rocky Mountain regions have been very
slow to accept what we term civilization. They seem somewhat like the
buffalo and other wild animals that we have never been able to
domesticate. It looks to one like myself that has known them for so many
years, that before they are civilized they will become almost
exterminated; that is to say that civilized life does not agree with
them, and they die from causes and conditions that such life compels
them to exist under, and in my opinion the day will come when there will
be few, if any, in the near future, left of the tribes that were known
to belong to the territory west of the Mississippi River and extending
to the Pacific Coast. There was often among the wildest tribes of
America many good traits. If they found you hungry and alone and in
distress, as a rule they would take care of you, giving you the very
best they had, and never with a view of charging you for their kindness.
If they had a grudge against the white race for some misdemeanor some
white man may have committed, they might kill you in retaliation. For
this reason white men always felt, when they were among them, that their
safety depended largely upon how the tribe had been treated by some
other white man, or party of white men. As far as I know, throughout the
entire savage tribes retaliation is one of the laws by which they are
governed. The women, as a rule, were very generous and kind-hearted,
and I know of one case where a friend of mine, Judge Brown of Pettis
County, Mo., had his life saved and his property restored to him through
the instrumentality of an Indian woman. The Indians were at that time
quite hostile toward the whites, and had held council and determined to
kill him, as they had him a prisoner and at their mercy. This woman
seemed to be one of great influence in the tribe, and when the braves
held their council and decided to take his life and property, she rose
to her feet and plead for the life of my friend. Of course he could not
understand a word she said, but he saw in her face a benevolence and
kindness that gave him heart, for he had about despaired of ever living
another hour. From the way in which she looked, talked, and gestured, he
felt certain that she was assuming his cause, and he in relating the
circumstances to me and others said he never saw a greater heroine in
the appearance and conduct of any woman in his life. Of course this he
had to judge largely of from appearances, as the Indians judge of the
white people that I before alluded to.