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[Illustration: A GROUP OF IOWA]
THE IOWA
A reprint from _The Indian Record_, as originally published and edited
by Thomas Foster, with introduction, and elucidations
through the text
By WILLIAM HARVEY MINER
_With Illustrations and a Map_
[Illustration]
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA
THE TORCH PRESS, 1911
COPYRIGHT
1911
BY THE TORCH PRESS
_August_
DEDICATED TO
A BIBLIOPHILE IN THE BEST SENSE; TO A LOVER OF BOOKS AND MEN; TO A
STUDENT OF ABORIGINAL HISTORY; TO A HIGHMINDED AMERICAN GENTLEMAN
JOSEPH PARKER CAMP
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION xv
THE IOWAY MONOGRAPH 1
THE IOWA CAMPING CIRCLE 45
TREATIES 49
SYNONYMY 77
LIST OF IOWA INDIANS 83
INDEX 91
ILLUSTRATIONS
A GROUP OF IOWA _Frontispiece_
(From the scarce original engraving made
in London, when these Indians were under
the supervision of George Catlin)
FACING PAGE
AN IOWAY GRAMMAR 7
(Reproduced in facsimile from a copy of
the rare original)
WAW--NON--QUE--SKOON--A'S MAP 24
(From the original, slightly reduced, in
Schoolcraft's INDIAN TRIBES)
MA--HAS--KAH, THE YOUNGER 42
(After the colored portrait in Vail's
NOTICE SUR LES INDIENS, etc.)
PREFACE
_The material forming the greater part of the present monograph is
reprinted verbatim et literatim from certain portions of volume 1,
Numbers 1, 2, and 3, Washington, November 30, 1876, of Foster's_ INDIAN
RECORD AND HISTORICAL DATA. _The complete work so far as carried out
consists only of the three parts here mentioned, printed in folio and
comprising four numbered pages each. The editor, Dr. Thomas Foster, who
termed himself "Indian historiographer" hoped to be able to publish the
sheet weekly "should funds permit." Evidently lack of finances or the
small amount of interest shown in the venture determined against its
continuance as it ceased with the third issue._
_During Foster's connection with the Indian Bureau at Washington, John
Q. Smith held the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs and it is
not improbable looked with little favor on the scheme. In any event the_
RECORD _is a desideratum in most collections and as such, even a portion
of it may not be amiss in this reprint. Unfortunately its short
existence did not permit of finishing the sketches of the Iowa or
Winnebago, though it would appear that in the instance of the former but
little more would have been added. It is hoped however, that in the
foreword the more necessary data are given and that it is appropriately
terminated._
_The actual worth of the_ INDIAN RECORD _is slight. Foster's idea with
reference to several monographs relating wholly or in part to certain
tribes was a worthy one and could be executed to advantage even at this
date. The two treatises attempted in his short--lived publication were on
the Iowa and their parent stock, the Winnebago, although several shorter
tribal sketches, as for example those on the Attacapa,[1] Oroyelles,[2]
Arapahoes,[3] and Eries[4] are included among other features, these
being as scattered notes through the forty--eight columns and of more or
less value, particularly as concerns the linguistics.[5] It is evident
from his Introduction that Foster must have had many difficulties to
contend with, especially in the matter of procuring suitable faces of
type for his Indian vocabularies as well as in the matter of actual
printing. At the best the work is poorly done. The proof--reading is
wretched and the statements of fact often in grave error. Abject
carelessness in the matter of transcription appears without excuse,
hence quoted portions through the present text have invariably been read
and compared with the originals, obviously enhancing the value of such a
reissue. Although a praiseworthy effort for the period and due every
consideration at this time, a project of the kind attempted today would
fail ingloriously unless handled with requisite care._
_In the absence of any cognate facts referring in detail to the Iowa
tribe it has been deemed best to reprint Foster's sketch in its entirety
from the_ Record _and to add to it, as appendices, some features which
will be of special interest and value to the student of American
aboriginal history and ethnology. In this textual portion will be found
much from Schoolcraft's_ INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UNITED STATES, _also
extracts, some of considerable length, from the first volume of the
Minnesota Historical Society's_ COLLECTIONS, 1850--56, _and Neill's_
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. _Nevertheless such facts as are garnered from
sources of this character although purloined, are to be welcomed, and in
a certain sense it may be considered fortunate that all of the material
is not wholly original._
_In the introductory sketch following this, an attempt has been made to
gather all material readily available on the Iowa tribe. The writer
acknowledges his indebtedness to the Bureau of American Ethnology,
without assistance from which no authentic or in any way exhaustive
sketch on any subject connected with the Indian question could be
accomplished. The many references in the form of foot--notes have been
verified with the greatest care. In many instances the meanings in the
original are ambiguous. In the present form this fault is rectified and
it is hoped that the concise yet lucid account of this important branch
of the great Siouan family may assist in giving it some of that
prominence to which it should rightfully aspire. A list of some of the
more famous warriors is included as an appendix, and though incomplete
and taken in part from printed records it will show that the tribe
numbered among its members men who were famous outside of their own
precincts, and these names may inspire some future historian to delve
even more deeply into those archives that are known to be only memoirs
of a past existence._
_Students of Iowa history or of the Indians of the central west can ill
afford to overlook a work on the Indian tribes by A. R. Fulton entitled_
THE RED MEN OF IOWA. _The volume is now scarce but fortunately the
writer has been able to use it and is glad to acknowledge its
excellence. To Worthington C. Ford, of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, and to W. H. Holmes, of the Smithsonian Institution, James
Mooney and F. W. Hodge of the Bureau of American Ethnology, he is also
indebted and wishes publicly to express his thanks for their kindly
interest._
INTRODUCTION
THE IOWA INDIANS--AN HISTORICAL--SKETCH
SYNONYMS[6]
PAH8TET. _Marquette, (1673) in Shea, Discovery, etc., p. 268, map, 1852.
Variants: Nadoessi Mascouteins, Aiounouea, Avoys, Paoté, Ayoes, Aiowais,
Ayouez, Ainoves, Iawas._
HO--WAH. _Name given by the Mdewakanton (Sioux). Ioewaig, name given by
the Santee Dakota. Iyakhwa, name given by the Teton. Máqude, name given
by the Omaha Ponca. Pa'--qo--tce, name given by the Kansa. Pa'qu--te, name
given by the Quapaw. Páqutse, name given by the Osage. Pashóhan, name
given by the Pawnee. Paxodshe, name given by the Kansa. Wa--qotc, name
given by the Winnebago._
IYUHBA. _Riggs, Dak. Gram. & Dict. p. 278, 1852, trans. "Sleepy Ones."
Nadouessioux Maskoutens: Minn. Hist. Coll., 1864,_
_(Part 2, p. 30, note), trans. "Sioux of the Prairies;" Algonkin name.
Pa--ho--cha: Neb. Hist. Soc., 1885, (p. 47), trans. "Dusty Men."
Pa--ho--dje: Maximilian, (p. 507, 1843) trans. "Dust Noses."_
IOWA. _Pike's Travels; Ed. of 1811 (p. 134). Variants: Iowai, Iaways,
Ihoway, Ioway, Jowoi, Jowas, Joways, Ohoa, and Pahoja, names by which
they are known among themselves. May be translated as "Gray Snow."_
SIGN. _Draw the extended right hand across the throat from left to right
as if severing the head from the body. Possibly derived from an old
Siouan custom of decapitating their prisoners._[7]
_Mallery refers to this branch of the Siouan tribe as "Cut Throats,"[8]
or a "Cut Throat" from a curious practice adopted by the Iowa after
battle. Mooney also advocates this theory though he suggests it applied
only to the Sioux and not to the whole Siouan stock and is doubtful as
to the common interpretation of the sign--a sweeping motion of the hand
in front of the neck--as the Kiowa and certain other tribes called the
Iowa the "Necklace People." He also says that this tribe was a little too
far from the plains to have a special sign and were probably merged with
the Oto, Missouri, Sauk and others in the general region of the "shaved
heads."_
The Iowa tribe of Indians forms one of the Southwestern branches of the
great Dakota or Siouan stock and has been included both linguistically
and ethnographically by careful students, with the Oto and the Missouri
tribes, forming the so--called Chiwere group.[9] The real difference
existing between the tribes here noted is one of dialect only.
Traditional evidence proves conclusively that they sprung originally
from that stem which appears to have been the parent stock of certain
other southwestern Siouan tribes, notably, the Winnebago, and from
direct information obtained from their people as late as 1883,
investigators have been told that not only the Iowa, Missouri, and Oto
tribes were from the same source but that the Ponca and Omaha could
without question be included, having "once formed part of the Winnebago
Nation."[10]
From their primal home, to the north of the Great Lakes, as tradition
has it, came the forebears of these tribes. Attracted by the abundance
of fish, the Winnebago halted on the shores of Lake Michigan, while the
other bands continued southwestward, eventually coming to the
Mississippi. At this point another division took place and it was here
that the Iowa separated from the larger group, and it is also at this
period that they received the name of Pahoja or Gray Snow.[11] Without
stopping for any length of time after separating from their comrades,
the Iowa continued down the general course of the Mississippi until Rock
River (in Illinois) was reached. At this point as in most of the early
history of the tribe we must depend largely on hearsay. Certain
traditions however, place them farther north. Waw--non--que--skoona--a's
map, drawn in 1848, shows their movements quite clearly until that date.
It is hardly necessary to reiterate statements here that appear
textually in connection with the cartographical features, especially as
these successive movements are of comparatively recent date and
considered to be substantially correct. There is a tradition still
popular among the Sioux that when their ancestors first came to the
Falls of St. Anthony the Iowa tribe occupied the country adjacent to the
Minnesota river and that the Cheyenne[12] occupied territory farther up
the same stream.[13]
On the arrival of Le Sueur in 1701 for the purpose of erecting his fort
near the mouth of the Blue Earth river, many of the tribe were found and
messengers were sent to invite them to settle in the vicinity of the
stockade, because of their excellence in farming and general husbandry.
Those despatched for this purpose found however, that the Indians had
recently moved westward toward the Missouri river and wished to be
closer to the Omaha who then dwelt in that region. The tribes with whom
Le Sueur came in contact informed him that the river upon which he was
about to settle belonged to the Sioux of the West (Dakota), the Ayavois
(Iowa), and the Otoctatas (Oto), who lived nearby. Probably the first
among the whites to come in actual contact with the Iowa, was Pére
André[14] who referred to them in 1676, at which time they were situated
about 200 miles west of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The next reference made by
a European seems to be that of Father Zenobius Membré[15] in 1680, who
mentions the Authontontas (Oto), Nadouessious Maskoutens (Iowa)[16]
"about 130 leagues from the Illinois river in three great villages built
near a river which empties into the Colbert (Mississippi) on the west
side above the Illinois, almost opposite the mouth of the Wisconsin." He
also seems to locate a portion of the Aiuoves (probably Aioues) to the
west of the Milwaukee river. On Marquette's manuscript map which
accompanied his Journal, 1673,[17] the Pahoutet (Iowa) are placed on or
near the Missouri river, in close company with the Maha, (Omaha) and
Ontontana (Oto). This is no doubt conjecture on the part of the
cartographer. The Sieuer de la Salle knew of both Oto and Iowa, and in
his Hennepin letter of August 22, 1682, he refers to them as Otoutanta
and Atounauea respectively. He further states that one of his
company[18] was familiar with the languages of both these tribes, which,
however, is doubtful.
When Le Sueur first supplied these Indians with firearms in 1700 they
were situated at the extreme headquarters of the Des Moines river,
though from the translation of this explorer's narrative, as contained
in WIS. HIST. COLL., Vol. XVI, it would seem that this band and the Oto
removed and "established themselves toward the Missouri river, near the
Maha." In Jefferys' FRENCH DOMINIONS IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, 1760,
the Iowa are located on the Mississippi in latitude 43° 30'. His map
however places them on the east side of the Missouri, west of the
sources of the Des Moines river and above the Oto, who were on the west
side of the Missouri and below the Omaha.[19] According to Lewis &
Clark's TRAVELS, ETC., (Coues' edition, 1893), their villages consisted
"of 300 men ... on the river De Moines."[20] The map by
Waw--non--que--skoona--a as included in Schoolcraft and reproduced
herewith, gives the final stopping place of the Iowa at a point near
the junction of the Wolf and Missouri rivers, within the limits of the
present State of Nebraska. Some authorities give their final location as
being in two villages, one on the Platte[21] and another on the Great
Nemaha river, from which places they conducted traffic with the traders
from St. Louis, dealing principally in beaver, otter, racoon, deer, and
bear skins. They also appear to have been cultivators of the soil to
some extent, even at this early date, and it is recorded that Le Sueur
made efforts to have them locate near his Fort l'Huillier[22] as they
were "industrious and accustomed to cultivate the earth." In addition to
corn they grew beans[23] and Pike says "they cultivated corn but not
proportionately as much as did the Sauks and Foxes." This traveler also
states that they were less civilized than the latter.[24] At a much
earlier date Father André[25] writes that, while their village was a
large one they were poor as a tribe, their greatest wealth being in
"ox--hides[26] and red calumets,"[27] indicating thereby that the Iowa
early traded in and manufactured catlinite pipes. In many customs
prevailing among the Iowa it has been found that they differed but
little from cognate tribes. In their visiting, marriage relations, and
management of children they were not unlike the Omaha and others closely
allied among the Dakota. In the matter of fraternity they were distinct.
The camp circle[28] was divided into half circles and occupied by two
phratries of four gentes each.[29]
The first regulated the hunt and other affairs pertaining to the tribe
during the autumn and winter. Throughout the other parts of the year the
lead was taken by the other phratry.[30] In a general way however, the
Iowa social institution differs but slightly from others of the Siouan
stock, nor do their visiting or marriage customs vary greatly from those
of kindred tribes. Children are managed similarly to those of the Dakota
or Omaha. Formerly murder was punished with death by the nearest of kin
or by some friend of the murdered person.[31] Occasionally however,
presents were made to the avengers by the murderer, in consequence of
which the crime was palliated.
Like many other Mississippi Valley tribes the Iowa are not to any great
extent associated with the tumuli of America. With the exception of some
few mounds in Wapello County, Iowa, at a point near Iowaville, the site
of an early trading post, there is little evidence that the Iowa were in
any way connected with the mounds in that State. Along the valley
located in this section, were many spots frequented by both the Sauk and
Fox as well as Iowa and here also were situated the famous race tracks
of nearly a mile in length, belonging to the latter tribe.[32] The
various games indulged in by the Iowa differed but slightly from those
in vogue among kindred or allied tribes.[33] As is almost universal,
dice games, or games of chance are more generally to be desired, while
games of dexterity take second place. Catlin[34] describes under the
former class, one called Kon--tho--gra, or the game of platter which is
played almost exclusively by women.[35] It is said to have been
exceedingly fascinating and consists of little blocks of wood marked
with certain points for counting, to be decided by throws, the lot being
shaken in a bowl and thrown out on a sort of a pillow. Bets were made
after the bowl was turned and decided by the number of points and
colors. Another game described by Catlin[36] is called Ing--Kee--Ko--Kee,
or, The Game of the Moccasin. It was played to a song accompaniment[37]
among the Iowa by two, four or six people seated on the ground in a
circle. In the center are three or four moccasins, under one of which
the players in turn try to conceal some small article, as a stone or a
nut. The opponents choose what appears to be the lucky covering and if
successful, win the stakes. The game, according to this writer,
appeared simple and almost foolish, yet he professes to have seen it
played for hours without intermission in perfect musical rhythm, and
states that it "forms one of the principle gambling games of these
gambling people." Among the Omaha, Ponca, Oto, and Iowa the game of
Arrow (Ma^{n}muqpe), was most common. This however was more of a religious
game and now practically obsolete since the introduction of fire arms.
Arrows were shot up into trees until they lodged in the branches. The
players then tried to dislodge them and whoever brought down the first,
won. There were no sides or opposing parties. Probably the most exciting
and to many the most important game among many of the tribes, aside from
those of the Mountain Indians, is that of Ball--playing or Racket. This
is distinctly a man's game as opposed to double--ball and some other
forms commonly played by women. There are instances however of this
having been played by women, and among the Santee Sioux it is at times
played by both sexes together. This game has been divided into two
principal classes, those of the single and those of the double racket or
bat; the latter is more especially peculiar to the southern tribes.[38]
The racket may be likewise termed a throwing stick as it is used to pick
up and throw the ball rather than for the purpose of hitting. The ball
is either of wood or of buckskin stuffed with hair,[39] and the usual
size is about two and one--half inches in diameter. Various kinds of
rackets are used by the players, some preferring long and some short
handles. Among the Oto of Oklahoma, one measured was forty inches in
length.[40] Catlin[41] gives an excellent description of this game among
the Iowa Indians. His details concerning the goals and byes and various
points connected with the different features, make this sketch one of
the most complete we have.[42]
As among all tribes east and west, north and south, the Iowa were given
to their numerous dances, many of which were of the highest importance.
Mention is made here, only of several of the more common or necessary
dances, inasmuch as the subject is one if it were treated fully would
occupy a volume in itself.
This is a peculiar dance given in honor of one or more strangers whom
[Sidenote: +The Welcome Dance+] the tribe may decide to welcome to their
village. The musicians as well as spectators, out of respect, all rise
to their feet while it is being performed. The song which accompanies it
is at first one of lament, but ends in a gay and lively manner.
The most exciting as well as the longest and most tiresome of all
[Sidenote: +The War Dance+] dances. It is usually divided into three
parts, _i. e._, Eh--Ros--Ka--The Warriors Dance--usually given after a
party had returned from war as a boast and was ofttimes given as an
amusement. The song used at this time entitled Wa--Sissica--The War
Song--appeared to be addressed to the body of an enemy, from the name
Eh--Ros--Ka, meaning tribe, war party or body.[43]
The most spirited part of this greatest of all dances was called the
[Sidenote: +Approaching Dance+] in which the dancers by their gestures
exhibited the methods of advancing on an enemy. The song in this portion
is also similar to that above mentioned.[44]
Ha Kon--E--Crase, or as more familiarly known "the soaring eagle," forms
[Sidenote: +The Eagle Dance+] the third and most pleasing part of the
War Dance and is in every respect a most interesting spectacle. Each
dancer imagines himself a bird on the wing, and as they dance forward
from behind the musicians, they take the position of an eagle headed
against the wind and about to swoop down upon some unsuspecting prey.
They have a peculiar method of singing and whistling at the same
time.[45]
The Calumet Dance, the Ball--Play Dance, the Scalp Dance, the Buffalo
Dance, and the Bear Dance, are all important but vary very slightly from
those of similar import among other tribes of the same family. What we
have said about the dances applies with equal force to the songs and
music. The War Song, Death Song, Wolf Song, Medicine Song, Bread Song,
and Farewell Song are all of much significance, indeed so much so that a
large amount of space could well be devoted to this subject as well as
to the dances.
In 1836 the Iowa were assigned a reservation in northeastern Kansas,
having two years previous, ceded all their lands in Missouri. A portion
of the tribe later moved to another tract in Oklahoma allotted to them
in 1890 in severalty, the surplus acreage being opened to settlement by
the whites.
It is difficult to compile a bibliography that will treat exhaustively
of this tribe. Catlin's Works, Lewis and Clark's TRAVELS, Long's
EXPEDITION, Pike's EXPLORATIONS, Maximilian's TRAVELS, and in fact
nearly all of the prominent trans--continental explorers knew the tribe
under one or another name. In the absence of any well defined plan it is
best to refer to the various titles as shown in the index to the present
volume. Such titles are printed in small capitals throughout. Special
stress must be laid on the value of Dr. Hayden's important work,
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHILOLOGY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF
THE MISSOURI VALLEY. Phila., 1862. The map is particularly useful. The
Burrows Brothers monumental reprint of the JESUIT RELATIONS (73 vols.
octavo) is of course invaluable.
WILLIAM HARVEY MINER
March 5, 1911
THE IOWAY MONOGRAPH
"IOWAY" TRIBE: (Aiyuwæ, or Pähu'tchæ)
This is the cognomen of a small tribe of Indians, never very
numerous,[46] known to the whites for the last one hundred and eighty
years,[47] during which period they have been wanderers from the
Mississippi to the Missouri, and from the Missouri to the Mississippi:
their migrations being confined mainly to the limits of the present
State of Iowa, which was therefore very properly named after them.[48]
They are now located within a Reservation of land on the west bank of
the Missouri, between the Great Nemahaw and Wolf Creeks, in the State of
Nebraska, on the borders of Kansas and Iowa.[49]
NOMENCLATURE
The name by which we know them--that of IOWAY--(or IOWA, which is the
form the word takes when applied to the State)--is not that for
themselves, nor is it a name which belongs to the language of any _one_
Indian tribe; but seems to have been made up, or compounded, by the
early French, from the Dakota--Sioux designation for them of Äyu'h'äpä,
by taking the first two syllables, Ayu', and adding to it one of the
common Algonquin--French terminations to tribal names in _ois_, _vois_,
or _vais_ or _ouez_: all of which terminations appear on the early
records compounded with Ayu, or a modification of it, to indicate the
Ioway Tribe. In La Harpe's[50] narrative of Le Sueur's[51] mining
expedition, in 1700, to the Blue Earth region, in now Minnesota, where
the Ioways are first of record referred to, they are written of as
"AYA--VOIS"; in Pennecaud's[52] relation of the same expedition they
are the Aiaos or Aiavos, (his MSS[53] in the Congressional Library is
obscure); in Charlevoix's[54] history, 1722, he gives the name with a
characteristic effort at precision, as "AIOUEZ"; and in Lewis and
Clark's TRAVELS, 1812,[55] they appear as "AYAUWAYS." The French first
knew of the Ajowæ through the Dakota--Sioux: (as we will observe
hereafter in the gleanings of their early history,) and it is not
surprising to me that they should (or that other Indian tribes should)
seek to find some easier way of distinguishing the Tribe than to attempt
to pronounce the extremely difficult _guttural_ ending of their Sioux
designation. THE DAKOTA--LEXICON[56] thus gives its meaning:
"Ayu'hpä, _n. p._ (_sleepy ones_:) the _Ioway Indians_."
The proper name which the Ioway give themselves, acknowledging no other,
is Pähutch'æ, _Dusty--Heads_: sometimes translated, but I think
erroneously, _Dusty--Noses_.[57] The prefix _pä_ anciently signified
_head_; and it does yet in some cognate dialects and in combinations,
especially in old hereditary proper names; though in modern parlance it
is generally confined to _nose_, but not invariably.
[Illustration:
AN
IOWAY GRAMMAR,
ILLUSTRATING
THE PRINCIPLES
OF THE
LANGUAGE
USED BY THE
IOWAY, OTOE AND MISSOURI
INDIANS.
[Illustration]
PREPARED AND PRINTED
BY
REV. WM. HAMILTON
AND
REV. S. M. IRVIN.
_Under the direction of the Presbyterian B. F. M._
IOWAY AND SAC MISSION PRESS.
1848.
EXACT SIZE OF THE ORIGINAL
]
Inquiring into the origin of this name Pähutch'æ, which, whether meaning
_Dusty--Heads_ or _Dusty--Noses_, is quite a singular one for a people to
confer upon themselves, I find recorded a _theory_ to fit each
translation. In Schoolcraft's official COLLECTIONS, in a paper prepared
February 1, 1848, by the Ioway missionaries,[58] page 262, volume III, I
read of the fanciful and somewhat strained solution, as follows:
When they [the Ioway] separated from the first Indian tribe,
or family, to hunt game, their first location was near the
mouth of a river, where there were large sand--bars, from which
the wind blew quantities of sand or dust upon their faces,
from which they were called Pa--hu--chas or Dusty--noses.
_Per contra_: During November, 1873, when I was at the former Winnebago
Agency, Blue Earth County, Minnesota, I mentioned the above theory of
the Ioway name to the intelligent Winnebago ex--Chief "Baptiste," the
Half--Breed, who in his youthful wanderings had lived a considerable time
on the Missouri amongst the Ioway. He smiled at it, and, in his broken
English at first and then through ex--Interpreter Menaige, who was
present, said, that the Ioway name meant _Dusty_, or Dusty Gray,
_Heads_, and that it occurred in this way: Living on the Missouri as
they had done in the earliest time: wandering away from it and then
wandering back again; they were accustomed to bathe a great deal in its
yellow--muddy waters; and that when they dried off after coming out of
the water, the sediment of the water remained on their _heads_ making
them look _dusty_ and _gray_; and this was the true reason they became
the Pähutch'æ, or _Dusty--Head_ Tribe. Baptiste said this was the
accepted theory amongst the old people of the Ioway as to the way
Pähutch'æ came to be their name. The Winnebago cognomen for them, which
is Wähotch'ærä, the _Gray--Ones_, is evidently but a modification of the
same _Dusty--Head_ idea: (in the Hotchank'ærä language hotch is _gray_
and rähätch, _ashes_). And such modification is, also, I think the
Dakota--Sioux name for them of Äyu'h'äpä, notwithstanding the
Dakota--Sioux Lexicon gives it as meaning the _Drowsy--Ones_, and to doubt
such authority may seem presumptuous. But, in these investigations I
have noticed, that aboriginal nations, unless there is some special
reason to the contrary--for instance a special enmity--(as the Chippeway
name for the Sioux of Opwan'äk, "those whom we roast,") all endeavor to
_translate_ into their own vernacular the names of neighboring tribes,
rather than adopt them bodily: a notable instance of which is, that the
name _Saulteurs_, people of the _Sault_ or _Leap_ or _Rapids_, is
repeated in idea but in different forms by both the Winnebago and the
Sioux, the latter terming them Hähä'towa and the former Ræh'ätche'rä,
both meaning, alike, "_The Falls Dwellers_." Sometimes, in these
dialectical translations, the original meaning of the tribal name was
correctly rendered, and sometimes not: the early French in fact, made
frequent failures. Now, the Sioux were well acquainted with the Ioway.
They were, at the advent of the whites, their allies and neighbors,
living as the Ioway did in 1700, on the borders of Iowa and Minnesota,
about the headwaters of the Blue Earth and Des Moines rivers:[59] though
they soon wandered from there to the Missouri again. The Dakota must
have known the name they called themselves, and the reason for it: and
what more likely than that they should endeavor to render the idea it
conveyed _literally_ into their own language? May not the Sioux name for
them, therefore, have been originally Äyu'h'äpä, deduced thus: Ä is the
preposition _on_ or _upon_; yu "as a prefix to _adjectives_ and
sometimes to nouns, it sometimes forms verbs, and means to _make_ or
_cause to be_" (Dakota--Lexicon); h'ä, is an _adjective_, meaning, (says
the Lexicon) "_gray_ or _mixed_, as black and white, the black appearing
under the white, as in the badger;" and pä, signifying _head_. This
combination would be literally, "upon--to cause--graymixed--the head:"
which is exactly the idea that the Ioway themselves and the Winnebago
also seek to convey by their respective names Pähutch'æ, the
_Dusty--Heads_, and Wähotch'ærä, the _Gray_, (through dust?) People.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE IOWAY
The earliest mention[60] of the Tribe is in Le Sueur's narrative of his
expedition in 1700 to the fancied copper mines[61] of _Riviere de
Vert_, (the Blue Earth tributary of the Minnesota river), embodied in La
Harpe's mss.[62] HISTORY OF LOUISIANA, parts of which including Le
Sueur's NARRATIVE, have been recently published.[63] As to this mine, we
are told in the mss. copy[64] in the Congressional Library of the
RELATION OF PENICAUD, the shipwright who accompanied Le Sueur--"a man,
(says Neill,[65] the erudite historian of Minnesota) of discernment but
little scholarship"--that:
M. Le Sueur had heard of the mine some years before while
travelling in the country of the Aiaos--(or Aivoe: the name has
been written twice: and the orthography is obscure,)--where he
traded.
This acquaintance with the Ioway must have been achieved when, as chief
trader,[66] he occupied the "factory" of "Fort Perrot" on the "left" or
east bank of the Mississippi,[67] just below Point Le Sable, near the
foot of Lake Pepin: which first trading post of the upper Mississippi
was erected in 1683, by Nicholas Perrot[68] and M. le Sueur by order of
Governor De la Barre,[69] of Canada, "to establish (says the historian
Neill) friendly alliances with the Ioway and Dakota"; and this post was
for years the only one in all that region, until Le Sueur himself, in
1695, built the "French factory" of "Isle Pelee," at the "right" bank,
on Prairie or "Bald" Island, about ten miles below the St. Croix. The
Ioway, (as will hereafter appear), occupied at that time a not very
remote nor inaccessible location from Fort Perrot, in the region around
and amidst the head waters of the Des Moines and Blue Earth rivers, and
being allies of the Sioux, they doubtless brought their furs and
obtained their trading supplies of Le Sueur at this "Fort": and it is
not improbable that Le Sueur (and his engages) also travelled in their
country on hunting or trading expeditions.
In La Harpe's account of Le Sueur's long "voyage" up the Mississippi
from its mouth to the "mine" with his "felucca,[70] two canoes and
twenty men,"[71] the Ioway are frequently mentioned. The first instance
is when about the 14th[72] of July, 1700, as he passed the mouth of the
Illinois, he "met three Canadian voyageurs, who came to join his band,
and received by them a letter from Father Marest,[73] Jesuit, dated July
10, 1700, at the Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin
in Illinois:" of which the following is a copy:
I have the honor to write in order to inform you, that the
Saugiestas have been defeated by the Scioux and the
Ayavois.[74] The people have formed an alliance with the
Quincapous, and some of the Mecoutins, Renards, and
Metesigamias, and gone to revenge themselves, not on the
Scioux, for they are too much afraid of them, but perhaps on
the Ayavois, or very likely upon the Paoutees, or more
probably upon the Osages, for these suspect nothing, and the
others are on their guard. As you will probably meet these
allied nations, you ought to take precaution against their
plans, and not allow them to board your vessel, since they are
traitors, and utterly faithless. I pray God to accompany you
in all your designs.
This letter of Father Marest shows, that the Ioway were then in alliance
with the Sioux, and establishes, that their Indo--_French_ name of
"_Ayavois_" was already pretty well understood: and that even their own
name for themselves was not unknown, PAOUTÉES, or--(to transliterate the
French orthography into our Indian alphabet),--Päut'æs, was not far off
from their true designation of Pähutchæs: though, curiously enough, they
are held to be another tribe! The warning of this war-party given Le
Sueur by the "Father" proved no false alarm; for just below the
Wisconsin, "five Canadians" were met with, "descending from the Scioux
to go to Tamarois," who, above the Wisconsin, had been fallen in with by
a war--party of "ninety savages in nine canoes," being of "four different
nations, the _Outagamis_ [Foxes], _Saquis_ [Saukes], _Poutouwatamis_ and
_Puans_ [Winnebago]", who had "robbed and cruelly beat them." Taking
these five men with him as volunteers, Le Sueur proceeded up the river
until he met this war--party near Black River, returning from an
unsuccessful encounter with the "_Scioux_," and brought them to terms,
and, being evidently too strong for them to maltreat or meddle with in
any way, extorted a kind of apology from them for what they had done.
On the first of October Le Sueur finally reached his destination near
his "_mine_." We extract from the narrative of his proceeding while here
so much of it as refers to the Ioway:
After he [Le Sueur] entered into BLUE river, thus named on
account of the MINES of blue earth found at its mouth, he
founded his post, situated in 44 degrees 13 minutes north
latitude. He met at this place nine Scioux, who told him the
river belonged to the Scioux of the WEST, the AYAVOIS
[Ioways], and Otoctatas [Otoes], who lived a little farther
off: that it was not their [the "Scioux"] custom to hunt on
ground belonging to others, unless invited to do so by the
owners, and that when they would come to the fort to obtain
provisions they would be in danger of being killed in
ascending or descending the rivers, which were narrow, and
that if he would show them pity, he must establish himself on
the Mississippi, near the mouth of the St. Pierre, where the
AYAVOIS, the OTOCTATAS, and the other SCIOUX, could go as well
as them.... Le Sueur had forseen that the establishment of
BLUE river would not please the SCIOUX, ... because they were
the first with whom trade was commenced, and in consequence of
which they had already quite a number of guns.... On the 3d of
October, they received at the fort several SCIOUX, among whom
was WAHKANTAPE, chief of the village. Soon two Canadians
arrived who had been hunting, and had been robbed by the
SCIOUX of the east, who had raised their guns against the
establishment which M. LE SUEUR had made on Blue river. On the
14th the fort was finished and named "Fort L'Huillier," and on
the 22d two Canadians were sent out to invite the Ayavois and
Otoctatas to come and establish a village near the fort,
because these Indians are industrious [?] and accustomed to
cultivate the earth, [?] and they hoped to get provisions from
them and to make them work [!] in the mines.
An assertion, a hope and an expectation which rather proves, that Le
Sueur knew nothing of these Indians from actual observation in their
country, but only knew of them from report and by a few individuals
whom he probably met for trade at the posts at Forts _Perrot_ or _Isle
Pele_; for there is no evidence that they ever were "industrious," or
given to "cultivating the earth" any more than other Indians: nor are
they at this day. But, to continue our extracts:
The same day [the 24th] the Canadians, who had been sent off
on the 22d arrived without having found the road which led to
the Ayavois and Otoctates.
... On the 16th [of Nov.] the Scioux returned to their
village, and it was reported that the Ayavois and Otoctatas
were going to establish themselves towards the Missouri river,
near the Maha [Omahaw], who dwell in that region.
In May, 1701, Le Sueur left Fort d'Huillier in charge of M. d'Evaque, a
Canadian gentleman, with a force of twelve Frenchmen, while he himself
in his felucca with the rest of his men returned to Mobile, carrying
with him "three canoe loads," or "four thousand pounds," of the "green
earth," supposed to be oxide of copper, but which was really from a kind
of shelly marly strata, interposed between the fossiliferous limestone
and the sandstone of that region, that was colored bluish--green by
silicate of iron. We next find Le Sueur--(who it has been stated was the
father of the three distinguished brothers D'Iberville, DeBienville, and
Sauvolle)[75]--in the summer of 1701 accompanying D'Iberville, the
Governor of Louisiana, on his return to France, and assisting him while
on shipboard in concocting a Memorial on the Mississippi Valley,
addressed to the French government: in which D'Iberville says:
He [M. LE SUEUR] has spoken to me of another, [nation] which
he calls the Mahas, [Omahaw], composed of more than twelve
hundred families [!], the Ayooues and the Octootatas, their
neighbors, are about three hundred families. They occupy the
lands between the Mississippi and the Missouri, about one
hundred leagues from the Illinois. These savages do not know
the use of (fire?) arms....
The memorial, (a manuscript copy of which, quoted by Professor Neill in
his Minnesota history, is in possession of the Historical Society of
that State), contains the first _attempt_ we have upon the record at a
_Census_ of the Tribes of the Mississippi, and partially of the Missouri
Valleys: made thirty--four years before the French Census of the Cass
manuscript[76]--a census formerly claimed as being the very first
extant--so claimed by Schoolcraft, in the third volume of his
COLLECTIONS.
Penicaud, the carpenter, states, that D'Evaque and the men Le Sueur left
in charge of the Blue Earth post, abandoned it, and returned to Mobile
[arriving there on the 3d of March], 1703, having left, as they alleged,
on account of being warred upon "by the nations of Maskoutens and
Foxes," and "seeing that he was out of powder and lead." Le Sueur for
several years after his operations on the Blue--Earth was kept busy
leading expeditions against the Natchez and other Indians of the
southwest; and is said to have died[77] on the road during one of them.
Some further information in regard to the Ioway is gathered from a chart
of the northwestern part of Louisiana, by "WILLIAM DE L'ISLE, _de
l'Academy Royale des Sciences, et Premier Geographe du Roy: a Paris_:
1703" in the preparation of which Le Sueur probably assisted by his
notes and observations.[78] A section of this map, (lithographed for
Neill's History of Minnesota), shows a traders trail marked "_Chemin des
Voyageurs_," across the State of Iowa, commencing at the Mississippi, a
few miles below the mouth of the Wisconsin, and following west by a
little north until in the vicinity of Spirit Lake, it struck just below
the lowest of the lakes which are at the head of the Little Sioux river,
upon which lower lake is marked "Village des Aiaoues _ou_ Paoutez"
(Pähutch'æ); then continuing due westward towards the Big Sioux this
_Chemin du Voyageurs_ bends a little southward towards the mouth of that
river; on which river, near the Missouri, three or four villages of
"_Maha_" (Omahaw), are marked. Besides these a couple of minor
"_Aianouez_" villages are likewise set down at the west end of the
_Chemin des Voyageurs_ where it strikes the Big Sioux, which is
apparently about the junction of "Fish Creek" with it: [See
Waw--non--que--skoon--a's map of Ioway migrations in Vol. III,
Schoolcraft, page 256],[79] and again further westward, considerably
beyond the western termination of the "_Chemin_" on the James River,
four minor villages of "_Aiaouez_" are also noted: while far south by a
little east of the first mentioned main "Village des Aiaoues _ou
Paoutez_," upon the north or "left" bank of the Missouri river at a
point nearly due west from the mouth of the "_Des Moines ou le
Moingona_," we find located the "Yoways," and a few miles above them on
the same side, the "Les Octotata": which locations were not a great
distance from the spot where the Ioway and Otoe now live upon one common
"Reservation," on the opposite side of the Missouri just within
Nebraska.
ANTE--WHITE HISTORY OF THE IOWAY
[Illustration: MAP of the COUNTRY _formerly occupied by the_ IOWAY TRIBE
of INDIANS from a map made by WAW--NON--QUE--SKOON--A AN IOWAY BRAVE
Drawn by Capt. S. Eastman. U.S. Army Engraved by W. Williams.]
For the history of the Ioway before the whites knew them, there is no
data, beyond language and ancestral beliefs and customs, except their
own vague traditions or those equally vague and uncertain of other
tribes. The Reverends William Hamilton, and S. M. Irvin, their
missionaries, communicated to Schoolcraft[80] in 1848, this statement of
"an old Ioway Indian [aged] about sixty years or more."
About sixty--six years ago, we lived on a river, which runs
from a lake to the Mississippi, from the east, and on the east
side of that river. Our fathers and great fathers lived there
for a long time, as long as they could recollect. At that time
we had about four hundred men fit to go to war, but we were
then small to what we had been. Our fathers say, as long as
they can recollect, we have been diminishing. (This is a usual
Indian complaint: in most instances an unfounded one). We
owned all the land east of the Mississippi. (This usual Indian
claim of very extended possessions has generally very little
foundation in fact). Whatever ground we made tracks through,
it was ours. Our fathers saw white men on the [great?] lakes
about 120 years ago; [Nearer 200 probably]; do not know where
they came from. About the same time we first got guns. We were
afraid of them at first, they seemed like the "Great Spirit."
Our fathers also, at the same time, for the first received
iron, axes, hoes, kettles and woollen blankets. We, the
[present] old men of our nation, first saw white men between
forty and fifty years ago, near the mouth of the Missouri.
The same missionary gentlemen, in the same paper, make these
observations, which every one who has ever engaged in Indian researches,
or in inquiries of the Indians themselves, will endorse as entirely
correct:
In tracing their history, religion, &c., it will be
exceedingly difficult to proceed with certainty and
satisfaction, from the differences we find in the notions of
different individuals: _e. g._ today we will sit down with an
old Indian, who will enter into a plausible detail of their
history, or religious belief, or some traditions of their
fathers. Another of the same age and patriarchal rights will
give quite a different statement about the same things; or
perhaps the same individual would tomorrow give his own story
quite a different shade. This is the reason why the reports of
the transient observers vary so much. It requires long
acquaintance, and close observation, to arrive at anything
like just conclusions on these points; and it is only by
collecting different and conflicting notions, and balancing
them, that we can find which prevails.
Now, in regard to the story of the "old Ioway Indian" above quoted, it
may be remarked that it is quite certain the Ioway Tribe did not "about
sixty years" previous to 1848, that is, in 1788, live anywhere on the
east side of the Mississippi, nor had they for more than a hundred years
before 1848, and it is doubtful if they had ever done so since the
advent of the whites upon the great lakes. But though documents extant
negative this story of the "old Ioway Indian" as to _time_, may there
not be in this statement the shadowy tribal recollection of the period
when they were a Band of the Hotchankærä or Winnebago, and lived near
them? This lake and river "east of the Mississippi," their former
residence, may have been _Mille Lacs_ and its outlet in Minnesota,
subsequently the home of the Sioux when first visited by De Groseilliers
and Raddison,[81] and then by DuLuth[82] and Hennepin? or the Chippeway
River? or the Wisconsin? or _Rock River_? Traditions of the Santee
[Esanyäte] Sioux who up to 1852 occupied the upper Mississippi in
Minnesota allege that when they emigrated from the North the Ioway were
in possession of the region around the mouth of the Minnesota river, and
that they drove them away. On this head, two of their reliable
missionaries, Reverends Dr. Williamson and G. H. Pond, have communicated
articles to the Minnesota Historical Collections.
Mr. Pond writes, in the number for 1852, pages 23 and 24, as follows:
Takoha, the old war prophet, says that the Iowa Indian never
occupied the country around the mouth of the Minnesota river.
He affirms that it once belonged to the Winnebagoes who were
long ago driven from it by the Dakotas--a few others of the
Dakotas agree with Takoha. But Black Tomahawk, who is by some
of the most intelligent half--breeds considered the best
Mdewakantonwan traditionist, says that in the earliest years
of the existence of the Dakotas they became acquainted with
the Iowa Indians, and that they lived in a village at the
place which is now called Oak Grove, seven or eight miles from
Fort Snelling, on the north side of the Minnesota river. The
numerous little mounds which are to be seen about Oak Grove,
he says, are the works of the Iowa Indians.
The old man says that in ancient times, when the Dakotas had
no arms but the bow and stone or horn headed arrows, and used
knives and axes manufactured from the same materials, these
little mounds which we now see at the place above named were
the dwellings of the Iowas. They were the enemies of the
Dakotas, who used occasionally to make a warpath from Mille
Lac, where they then resided, down to the Iowa village, and
carry off with them scalps, which made glad the hearts of
their wives and daughters. The strife between the two nations
eventually became desperate, and the gods, who are always
deeply interested in Indian wars, espoused the cause of the
Dakotas.