_Transactions at Leech Lake.—Notice of the Pillager band.—Their
chief, Aish Kibug Ekozh, or the Flat Mouth.—He invites the agent
and his interpreter to breakfast.—His address on concluding
it.—Vaccination of the Indians.—A deputation from the Rainy Lake
band is received, and a flag presented to their leader, The Hole
in the Sky.—Council with the Pillagers.—Speech of Aish Kibug
Ekozh, in which he makes an allusion to Gen. Pike.—He descants on
the Sioux war, the Indian trade, and the interdiction of ardent
spirits.—Personal notices of this chief._
The domestic manners and habits of a people, whose position is so
adverse to improvement, could hardly be expected to present any thing
strikingly different, from other erratic bands of the northwest. There
is indeed a remarkable conformity in the external habits of all our
northern Indians. The necessity of changing their camps often, to
procure game or fish, the want of domesticated animals, the general
dependence on wild rice, and the custom of journeying in canoes, has
produced a general uniformity of life. And it is emphatically a life of
want and vicissitude. There is a perpetual change between action and
inanity, in the mind, which is a striking peculiarity of the savage
state. And there is such a general want of forecast, that most of their
misfortunes and hardships, in war and peace, come unexpectedly. None
of the tribes who inhabit this quarter, can be said to have, thus far,
derived any peculiarities from civilized instruction. The only marked
alteration which their state of society has undergone, appears to be
referable to the era of the introduction of the fur trade, when they
were made acquainted with, and adopted the use of, iron, gunpowder,
and woollens. This implied a considerable change of habits, and of the
mode of subsistence; and may be considered as having paved the way
for further changes in the mode of living and dress. But it brought
with it the onerous evil of intemperance, and it left the mental
habits essentially unchanged. All that related to a system of dances,
sacrifices, and ceremonies, which stood in the place of religion,
still occupies that position, presenting a subject which is deemed the
peculiar labor of evangelists and teachers. Missionaries have been
slow to avail themselves of this field of labor, and it should not
excite surprise, that the people themselves are, to so great a degree,
_mentally_ the same in 1832, that they were on the arrival of the
French in the St. Lawrence in 1532.
“Unknown the measured joys of peaceful art,
Love, hatred, pity, storm, by turns, the heart,
And all the evils of the savage state,
Arise from false conceits of being great.”
Partial exceptions in the acquisition of civil information, are to be
found; and the incident I am about to relate, is the more remarkable
as connected with the history of a chief, who has passed his life in
so very unfrequented a part of the continent, with only the advantages
of occasional short visits to the posts of St. Mary’s, St. Peter’s and
Michilimackinac. Aish Kibug Ekozh, or the Guelle Plat, is the ruler
of the Pillager band, exercising the authority of both a civil and
war chief. And he is endowed with talents which certainly entitle him
to this distinction. Complying with European customs, he directed his
young men to fire a salute on the morning of my arrival. Soon after he
sent one of his officials to invite me to breakfast. I accepted the
invitation. But not knowing how the meal could be suitably got along
with, without bread, I took the precaution to send up a tin dish of
pilot bread. I went to his residence at the proper time, accompanied by
Mr. Johnston. I found him living in a comfortable log building of two
rooms, well floored, and roofed, with a couple of small glass windows.
A mat was spread upon the centre of the floor, which contained the
breakfast. Other mats were spread around it, to sit on. We followed
his example in sitting down after the eastern manner. There was no
other person admitted to the meal but his wife, who sat near him, and
poured out the tea, but ate or drank nothing herself. Tea cups, and tea
spoons, plates, knives and forks, of plain manufacture, were carefully
arranged, and the number corresponding exactly with the expected
guests. A white fish, cut up and boiled in good taste, occupied a dish
in the centre, from which he helped us. A salt cellar, in which pepper
and salt were mixed in unequal proportions, allowed each the privilege
of seasoning his fish with both or neither. Our tea was sweetened
with the native sugar, and the dish of hard bread seemed to have been
precisely wanted to make out the repast. It needed but the imploring of
a blessing, to render it essentially a christian meal.
This chief brought me a letter from the interior some years ago,
at St. Mary’s, in which he is spoken of as “the most respectable
man in the Chippewa country.” And if the term was applied to his
mental qualities, and the power of drawing just conclusions from
known premises, and the effects which these have had on his standing
and influence with his own band, it is not misapplied. Shrewdness
and quickness most of the chiefs possess, but there is more of the
character of common sense and practical reflection, in the Guelle
Plat’s remarks, than, with a very extensive acquaintance, I recollect
to have noticed in most of the chiefs now living, of this tribe.[12] He
is both a warrior and a counsellor, and these distinctions he holds,
not from any hereditary right, for he is a self-made man, but from the
force of his own character. I found him ready to converse on the topics
of most interest to him. And the sentiments he uttered on the Sioux
war, the fur trade, and the location of trading posts and agencies,
were such as would occur to a mind which had possessed itself of facts,
and was capable of reasoning from them. His manners were grave and
dignified, and his oratory such as to render him popular with his tribe.
During 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 go to war against the Chippewas. He
said it was the interest of persons in the trade to induce the Sioux
to extend their hunting grounds across the boundary lines. He evinced
a familiarity with persons and places. He boldly accused, not only
traders, but even some persons holding offices under government, of
participating in this course of mal-advice.
He complained of the traders. He criticised their conduct with
severity. He declared their prices to be exorbitant, and said they were
so intent on getting furs, that they did not deem it necessary to use
much formality in their dealings. He complained of the exclusion of
ardent spirits, but at the same time admitted, that formerly it was
brought in to buy up their wild rice—a practice which left them at the
beginning of cold weather, in a destitute situation.
Much of the sentiment of this address appeared to be uttered for
popular effect. There was a marked difference between the tone of his
private conversation, and his public address, of which more will appear
in the sequel. Such parts of it, as required it, were replied to, and
the simple truths, political and moral, dictating the visit to them,
brought clearly before their minds, so as to leave definite impressions.
So far as related to the traders withdrawing the article of whiskey
from the trade, I felt it due to say, that no hard feelings should be
entertained towards them. That it was excluded by the Indian Office.
They should, therefore, in justice, blame me or blame the government,
but not the traders. I was satisfied, I added, that the use of whiskey
was very hurtful to them, in every situation of life, and felt
determined to employ every means which the control of the agency of the
northwest gave me, to exclude the article wholly, and rigidly from the
Chippewas, and to set the mark of disapprobation upon every trader who
should make the attempt to introduce it.
It was near the hour of sunset when the council closed. Minor duties
employed some time after. And while these were in the progress of
execution, the Guelle Plat, who had been the principal actor during
the day, gave us occasion to observe, that if he had studied effect in
speaking, he was also a judge of propriety in dress. At a dinner to
which I invited him, at my tent, and also during the public council
following it, he appeared in his native costume. But after the close
of the council and before we embarked, he came down to the lake shore,
to bid us fare well, dressed in a blue military frock coat, with red
collar and cuffs, with white underclothes, a linen ruffled shirt, shoes
and stockings, and a neat citizen’s hat. To have uttered his speeches
in this foreign costume, might have been associated in the minds of
his people, with the idea of servility; but he was willing afterwards
to let us observe, by assuming it, that he knew we would consider it a
mark of respect.
This chief appears to be turned of sixty. In stature he is about
five feet nine or ten inches, erect and stout, somewhat inclined to
corpulency. He is a native of this lake, of the _totem_[16] of the
Owásissi, a kind of fish. He observed at my table, at St. Mary’s, four
years ago, that he had been twenty-five times on war parties, either
as leader or follower, and had escaped without a wound. He was once
surrounded by a party of Sioux, with only three companions. They cut
their way out killing two men. He was early drawn into intercourse with
the British at Fort William, on Lake Superior, where he received his
first medal. This medal was taken from him by Lieut. Pike, in 1806. I
renewed it, by the largest class of solid silver medals, July 19th,
1828.
Reciprocating the customary compliment in parting, we embarked and
encamped on a contiguous part of the coast, where we could procure fire
wood, and be sure of making an early start on the morrow.