PREACHERS AND PROPHETS.
There was a time when the preachers and prophets of the Indians,
by properly exerting the unbounded influence which the popular
superstitions gave them, might have excited among those nations such
a spirit of general resistance against the encroachments of the
Europeans, as would have enabled them, at least, to make a noble
stand against their invaders, and perhaps to recover the undisturbed
possession of their country. Instead of following the obvious course
which reason and nature pointed out; instead of uniting as one nation
in defence of their natural rights, they gave ear to the artful
insinuations of their enemies, who too well understood the art of
sowing unnatural divisions among them. It was not until Canada, after
repeated struggles, was finally conquered from the French by the united
arms of Great Britain and her colonies, that they began to be sensible
of their desperate situation--this whole northern continent being now
in the possession of one great and powerful nation, against whom it
was vain to attempt resistance. Yet it was at this moment that their
prophets, impelled by ambitious motives, began to endeavour by their
eloquence to bring them back to independent feelings, and create among
them a genuine national spirit; but it was too late. The only rational
resource that remained for them to prevent their total annihilation
was to adopt the religion and manners of their conquerors, and abandon
savage life for the comforts of civilised society; but of this but a
few of them were sensible; in vain Missionaries were sent among them,
who, through the greatest hardships and dangers exerted themselves to
soften their misfortunes by the consolations of the Christian faith,
and to point out to them the way of salvation in this world and the
next; the banner of Christ was comparatively followed but by small
numbers, and these were persecuted by their friends, or, at least,
those who ought to have been such, as well as by their enemies. Among
the obstacles which the Missionaries encountered, the strong opposition
which was made to them by the prophets of the Indian nations was by no
means the least.
I have known several of these preachers and prophets during my
residence in the Indian country, and have had sufficient opportunities
to observe the means which they took to operate on the minds of their
hearers. I shall content myself with taking notice here of a few of the
most remarkable among them.
In the year 1762, there was a famous preacher of the Delaware nation,
who resided at _Cayahaga_, near Lake Erie, and travelled about the
country, among the Indians, endeavouring to persuade them that he had
been appointed by the great Spirit to instruct them in those things
that were agreeable to him and to point out to them the offences by
which they had drawn his displeasure on themselves, and the means by
which they might recover his favour for the future. He had drawn, as
he pretended, by the direction of the great Spirit, a kind of map on a
piece of deer skin, somewhat dressed like parchment, which he called
“the great Book or Writing.” This, he said, he had been ordered to shew
to the Indians, that they might see the situation in which the Mannitto
had originally placed them, the misery which they had brought upon
themselves by neglecting their duty, and the only way that was now left
them to regain what they had lost. This map he held before him while
preaching, frequently pointing to particular marks and spots upon it,
and giving explanations as he went along.
The size of this map was about fifteen inches square, or, perhaps,
something more. An inside square was formed by lines drawn within it,
of about eight inches each way, two of those lines, however, were not
closed by about half an inch at the corners. Across these inside lines,
others of about an inch in length were drawn with sundry other lines
and marks, all which was intended to represent a strong inaccessible
barrier, to prevent those without from entering the space within,
otherwise than at the place appointed for that purpose. When the map
was held as he directed, the corners which were not closed lay at the
left hand side, directly opposite to each other, the one being at the
south-east by south, and the nearest at the north-east by north. In
explaining or describing the particular points on this map, with his
fingers always pointing to the place he was describing, he called the
space within the inside lines “the heavenly regions,” or the place
destined by the great Spirit for the habitation of the Indians in
future life; the space left open at the south-east corner, he called
the “avenue,” which had been intended for the Indians to enter into
this heaven, but which was now in the possession of the white people,
wherefore the great Spirit had since caused another “avenue” to be
made on the opposite side, at which, however, it was both difficult
and dangerous for them to enter, there being many impediments in their
way, besides a large ditch leading to a gulf below, over which they
had to leap; but the evil spirit kept at this very spot a continual
watch for Indians, and whoever he laid hold of, never could get away
from him again, but was carried to his regions, where there was nothing
but extreme poverty; where the ground was parched up by the heat for
want of rain, no fruit came to perfection, the game was almost starved
for want of pasture, and where the evil spirit, at his pleasure,
transformed men into horses and dogs, to be ridden by him and follow
him in his hunts and wherever he went.
The space on the outside of this interior square, was intended to
represent the country given to the Indians to hunt, fish, and dwell
in while in this world; the east side of it was called the ocean or
“great salt water Lake.” Then the preacher drawing the attention of
his hearers particularly to the south-east avenue, would say to them:
“Look here! See what we have lost by neglect and disobedience; by being
remiss in the expression of our gratitude to the great Spirit, for
what he has bestowed upon us; by neglecting to make to him sufficient
sacrifices; by looking upon a people of a different colour from our
own, who had come across a great lake, as if they were a part of
ourselves; by suffering them to sit down by our side, and looking at
them with indifference, while they were not only taking our country
from us, but this (pointing to the spot), this, our own avenue, leading
into those beautiful regions which were destined for us. Such is the
sad condition to which we are reduced. What is now to be done, and what
remedy is to be applied? I will tell you, my friends. Hear what the
great Spirit has ordered me to tell you! You are to make sacrifices,
in the manner that I shall direct; to put off entirely from yourselves
the customs which you have adopted since the white people came among
us; you are to return to that former happy state, in which we lived
in peace and plenty, before these strangers came to disturb us, and
above all, you must abstain from drinking their deadly _beson_, which
they have forced upon us, for the sake of increasing their gains and
diminishing our numbers. Then will the great Spirit give success to our
arms; then he will give us strength to conquer our enemies, to drive
them from hence, and recover the passage to the heavenly regions which
they have taken from us.”
Such was in general the substance of his discourses. After having
dilated more or less on the various topics which I have mentioned, he
commonly concluded in this manner: “And now, my friends, in order that
what I have told you may remain firmly impressed on your minds, and to
refresh your memories from time to time, I advise you to preserve, in
every family, at least, such a book or writing as this, which I will
finish off for you, provided you bring me the price, which is only
one buckskin or two doe-skins a piece.”[227] The price was of course
bought,[228] and the book purchased. In some of those maps, the figure
of a deer or turkey, or both, was placed in the heavenly regions, and
also in the dreary region of the evil spirit; the former, however,
appeared fat and plump, while the latter seemed to have nothing but
skin and bones.
I was also well acquainted with another noted preacher, named
_Wangomend_, who was of the Monsey tribe. He began to preach in the
year 1766, much in the same manner as the one I have just mentioned.
When Mr. Zeisberger first came to _Goschgoschink_ town[229] on the
Allegheny river, this Indian prophet became one of his hearers, but
finding that the Missionary’s doctrine did not agree with his own, he
became his enemy. This man also pretended that his call as a preacher
was not of his own choice, but that he had been moved to it by the
great and good Spirit, in order to teach his countrymen, who were on
the way to perdition, how they could become reconciled to their God. He
would make his followers believe that he had once been taken so near
to heaven, that he could distinctly hear the crowing of the cocks,
and that at another time he had been borne by unseen hands to where
he had been permitted to take a peep into the heavens, of which there
were three, one for the Indians, one for the negroes, and another for
the white people. That of the Indians he observed to be the happiest
of the three, and that of the whites the unhappiest; for they were
under chastisement for their ill treatment of the Indians, and for
possessing themselves of the land which God had given to them. They
were also punished for making beasts of the negroes, by selling them as
the Indians do their horses and dogs, and beating them unmercifully,
although God had created them as well as the rest of mankind.
The novelty of these visions procured him hearers for a time; he found,
however, at last, that the Indians became indifferent to his doctrines,
particularly as he frequently warned them not to drink the _poison_
brought to them by the white people, of which his congregation were
very fond. Then he bethought himself of a more popular and interesting
subject, and began to preach against witchcraft and those who dealt
in the black art. Here he had all the passions and prejudices of the
poor Indians on his side, and he did not fail to meet with the general
approbation, when he declared to them that wizards were getting the
upper hand, and would destroy the nation, if they were not checked in
their career. He travelled in 1775, to _Goschachking_, at the forks
of the Muskingum, to lay this business before the great council of
the Delawares, and take their opinion upon it. The first report which
the Missionaries on the Muskingum heard on this subject, was that the
chiefs had at first united in having every conjurer and witch in the
nation brought to an account and punished with death, that, however, on
a more mature consideration, they had thought proper in the first place
to ascertain the number and names not only of those who were known, but
even of those who were suspected of dealing in sorcery, and Wangomend
was appointed to cause the enumeration to be made. He accordingly
hastily set off for his home; and on his arrival immediately entered
on the duties of his mission; when behold! it was discovered that the
number of offenders was much greater than had been at first imagined,
and he found himself in danger of having his own name inserted in the
black list. His zeal, in consequence, became considerably cooled,
and by the time when he returned the chiefs were no longer disposed
to meddle with this dangerous subject, justly fearing that it could
not but terminate in the ruin of their nation. Wangomend, therefore,
returned to his former mode of preaching, recommending to his hearers
to purge themselves from sin by taking certain prescribed medicines,
and making frequent sacrifices to the great Spirit.
The last whom I shall take notice of is the Prophet-warrior _Tecumseh_,
lately so celebrated among us, and who lost his life in the last war at
the battle of the Thames, on the 30th of September, 1813, at the age,
it is said, of 43 years. The details of his military life have been
made sufficiently known through the medium of journals and newspapers,
and his famous speech to the British general Proctor delivered at
Amhertsburg, a short time before the battle which decided his fate,
is in every body’s hands.[230] But his character as a prophet and the
means that he took to raise himself to power and fame are not so well
nor so particularly understood, although it is, in general, admitted
that he was admirably skilled in the art of governing Indians through
the medium of their passions. The sketch which I am going to draw will
sufficiently prove how well this opinion is founded.
From the best information that I was able to obtain of this man, he
was by nation a Shawanese, and began his career as a preacher much in
the manner that others had done before him. He endeavoured to impress
upon the minds of his Indian hearers, that they were a distinct people
from the whites, that they had been created and placed on this soil for
peculiar purposes, and that it had been ordered by the supreme being
that they should live unconnected with people of a different colour
from their own. He painted in vivid colours, the misery that they had
brought upon themselves by permitting the whites to reside among them,
and urged them to unite and expel those lawless intruders from their
country. But he soon discovered that these once popular topics no
longer produced any effect on the minds of the dispirited Indians, and
that it was impossible to persuade them to resort to strong measures,
to oppose the progress of the whites, much less to endeavour to drive
them beyond the great lake. He had long observed that whenever he
touched on the subject of witchcraft, his discourses were always
acceptable to his hearers, whose belief in those supernatural powers,
instead of diminishing, seemed constantly to gain ground. He knew
that his predecessor, Wangomend, had failed in his endeavour to gain
influence and power by availing himself of these popular opinions.
But his ill success did not deter him from making the same attempts.
He did not, however, like him, seek the assistance of the national
councils, but boldly determined to try what his talents and courage
could do without any other aid. There is a saying among the Indians,
“That God ordained man to live until all his teeth are worn out, his
eyesight dim and his hair grey.” Of this he artfully availed himself to
persuade those ignorant people, that the early deaths which constantly
took place could not be attributed to any natural cause, since it was
the will of God that every man should live to an advanced old age.
When he found that he had thus obtained a fast hold on the minds of
his hearers, by raising their fears of the powers of witchcraft to
the highest pitch, he thought it was time to work on their hopes, and
after gradually feeling the pulses of those he had to deal with, after
successively throwing out a great number of hints and insinuations,
the effects of which he had carefully observed, he at last did what no
preacher before him had ventured to do, by declaring that the great
Mannitto had endowed him with supernatural powers, to foretel future
events, and to discover present secrets, and that he could point out
with certainty, not only those, whether men or women, who were in the
full possession of the art of witchcraft, but those who had even a
tincture of it, however small. His bold assertions met with implicit
belief, and he obtained by that means such an unlimited command over a
credulous multitude, that at last, he had only to speak the word, or
even to nod, and the pile was quickly prepared by willing executioners
to put to death whomsoever he thought proper to devote. Here was a
wide field opened for the gratification of the worst passions. Whoever
thought himself injured, denounced his enemy as a wizard; the least
real or pretended cause of resentment, nay, even a paltry bribe, would
bring the most innocent man to the pile or tomahawk, and no one availed
himself more of this frantic delusion of the populace, than the great
prophet himself. Having his spies out in every direction, he well
knew who were his friends and who his enemies, and we to all who were
reported to him or even suspected by him to be of the latter class! The
tyrant had only to will their deaths, and his commands no one durst
contradict, but all were ready to execute.
Among the number of his victims was the venerable Wyandot Chief
Sha-te-ya-ron-yah, called by the whites _Leather-lips_. He was one of
those who in August, 1795, signed the treaty of Greenville on behalf
of the Huron tribe. His only crime was honesty, and the honourable
character which he had acquired. In a fit of jealousy Tecumseh ordered
him to be put to death, and his commands were but too readily obeyed.
I cannot conclude this chapter better than by an account of his
death, which was transmitted to me at the time (in August, 1810) by a
respectable and philanthropic gentleman in the state of Ohio.
The relation which I here transcribe was accompanied with the following
letter:
“DEAR SIR--I here enclose an imperfect sketch of the execution
of an unfortunate Indian. From your benevolent exertions, for
many years, to ameliorate their condition, and the confidence
reposed in you by them, I trust you may have it in your power
successfully to oppose the wasteful influence of this prophet
over these too credulous people. It is the office of humanity
and worthy of the attention of the Society of the United
Brethren. I may be incorrect in the recital of some of the
circumstances; it was given to me from respectable sources;
sources, in my opinion, entitled to credit.
“I am, &c.”
ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF LEATHER-LIPS.
“This unfortunate Chief of the Seneca[231] tribe, who had attained the
sixty-third year of his age, had pitched his camp a few miles west of
the town of Worthington in the county of Franklinton. From his constant
attachment to the principles of honesty and integrity, he had obtained
a certificate from an officer of the government as a testimonial of
the propriety of his deportment. This aged Chief was suspected by the
_Prophet_, a man of a restless, turbulent spirit, who by his exceeding
address, has obtained an unbounded influence over many of the northern
and western tribes of Indians, by impressing upon their minds a belief
that he is endowed with supernatural knowledge, and can foretel events
yet to come. This is the same prophet who gathered the Indians at
Greenville a few years ago, from which meeting so much was apprehended.
In order that he should no longer have anything to apprehend from
him (this Indian) he issued orders for his immediate death. These
orders were given to _Crane_,[232] a chief of the Sandusky tribes, who
immediately sat out with four other Indians, in quest of the old chief.
About three weeks ago they found out his camp, and immediately sent
his brother to him (who was one of their party) with a piece of bark,
on which they had painted a tomahawk, as a token of his death! On the
same day, Crane and his party spoke publicly in the settlements of the
whites of their intention to kill him. When they sat out for his camp
they were accompanied by five white men, amongst whom was a _justice of
the peace_, no doubt to gratify their curiosity. Upon their arrival at
the camp, they informed him of the object of their mission, and that he
must prepare to meet his fate! In vain did he remonstrate against the
cruelty of the sentence; he told them that he was an old man, and must
soon die; that if they would spare him they might have his camp, and
that he would go far beyond the Mississippi, where he would never again
be heard of. He also alleged that he was a man of honesty, and had done
nothing to incur so hard a fate! One of the white men also made an
offer of his horse, to save the old man from the impending storm. Those
offers all proved ineffectual. All hopes of a reconciliation now gone,
he prepared to meet his fate with becoming dignity. While the Indians
were digging his grave, he dressed himself with his best clothes in the
war style, and then got his venison and refreshed himself. As soon as
the grave was finished, he went to it and knelt down and prayed most
fervently! He then took an affectionate leave of the Indians, and of
the white men present, and when he came to the one who had offered
his horse to redeem him, penetrated with gratitude, he burst into a
flood of tears, and told him that _his God would reward him_. This was
the only instance in which the least change could be perceived in his
countenance. He was then attended to the grave by Crane--they knelt
down, while Crane offered up to the great Spirit his prayers in his
behalf. The fatal period had now arrived; they arose from their knees,
and proceeded a few paces, and seated themselves on the ground. The
old chief inclined forward, resting his face upon his hand, his hand
upon his knees; while thus seated, one of the young Indians came up
and struck him twice with the tomahawk. For some time he lay senseless
on the ground. The only evidence of life that yet remained, was a
faint respiration. The Indians all stood around in solemn silence;
finding him to respire longer than they expected, they called upon the
whites to take notice how hard he died, and pronounced him a witch--no
good--they struck him again and terminated his existence. He was then
borne to the grave, where the last sad office was soon performed.”