and which in character seems to answer very well to the Mars
of the ancient heathen, bore down upon the Iowa village in a
most terrible and god--like manner. Tempests howled, the forked
lightnings flashed, and the thunders uttered their voices; the
earth trembled; a thunderbolt was hurled at the devoted
village, which ploughed the earth, and formed that deep ravine
near the present dwelling of Peter Quinn. This occurrence
unnerved the Iowas, and the Dakotas, taking advantage of it,
fell upon their enemies and drove them across the Minnesota
river and burned up their village.
The Iowas then built another village on the south side of the
river near the present planting grounds of Grey Iron, where
they remained till the Dakotas obtained firearms, when they
fought their last battle with them in Minnesota, on Pilot
Knob, back of Mendota. The Iowas who escaped on this occasion
fled and erected their next village at the mouth of the Iowa
river, from which they were again eventually driven by the
Dakotas towards the Missouri. The old man from whom we gather
the substance of what has gone before says that these mounds
are the remains of the dwelling houses of the ancient Iowas.
Some say that they are not the remains of the dwellings of the
Iowas, but those of some other people with whom tradition does
not acquaint them; and others still say that they are ancient
burial places.
The following two or three facts may not be without interest
to the reader. Some six years since, Mr. Quinn of Oak Grove
removed the earth of one of these mounds at the same place
where Black Tomahawk says the ancient Iowa village stood. As
the earth was removed on a level with the natural surrounding
surface, charred poles and human bones were found.
It was easy and natural for the imagination to supply the
rest, and make the fact corroborate the tradition of the old
man, when he says that the Iowas constructed their houses by
leaning poles together at the top and spreading them at the
foot, forming a circular frame, which they covered with earth.
In one of these houses a man or woman had been killed, and the
timbers of the house fired, which, of course, would let the
earth fall in upon the dead body and burning poles.
Dr. Williamson, on page 10 to 12, of the Minnesota Historical
Collections of 1856, says:
We think it is sufficiently manifest that the Sioux occupied
the better part of Minnesota when Europeans entered it, a
little after the middle of the seventeenth century. It does
not, however, appear that they were the first, much less the
only inhabitants of the country. Their common and most
reliable traditions inform us, that when their ancestors first
came to the Falls of St. Anthony, the Iowas--whom they call
AYUHBA [Drowsy]--occupied the country about the mouth of the
Minnesota river, and the Shiens, called by the Dakotas
SHA--I--ENA, sometimes written by the French Chaienne, and by
others Shiene, dwelt higher up on the same river. We cannot
pretend to determine with certainty at what time the Sioux
first came to the Falls of St. Anthony; but may say, with
confidence, it was a long time ago, probably before the
discovery of America by Columbus. One of the best informed men
concerning their traditions that I have met with among the
Dakotas, who has been dead more than ten years, when
questioned on this point, told me, that they supposed it to
be at least equal to the lifetime of four old men, who should
live one after the other; and as an example of an old man,
named his father, who, I suppose, was at the time at least
eighty years old, [which would make the time three hundred
years.]
The Winnebagoes, Otoes, and Omahas, have been named among the
nations driven by the ancestors of the Dakotas from the
Minnesota valley. I have not found any evidence, satisfactory
to my mind, that the Winnebagoes ever had a home in this
Territory prior to their late removal into it by the United
States government. As respects the Otoes and Omahas it seems
not improbable that they were reckoned as a part of the Dakota
nation, when the Sioux first hunted on the banks of the
Mississippi, and for some time after. The Anthontantas,
mentioned as a part of the Nadouesiouz, by Hennepin, were
probably the same people as the Otoctatas, mentioned in
connection with the Ayavois, as owners of the country about
Blue Earth river, in the fragment of Le Sueur, preserved by La
Harpe, and again some further on, as having recently left
their village in that neighborhood, and settled near the Mahas
on the Missouri river, and it is highly probable that the
Otoctatas of Le Sueur are the same people now called Ottoes or
Otoes. The Mawhaws, Shiens and Schiannesse, are mentioned by
Carver, as bands of the Naudowessiex of the plains. Thus it
appears that the Shiens, the Iowas, the Omahas and the Ottoes,
were the earliest inhabitants of Minnesota of whom we have any
written or certain traditional account. I have neither seen
nor heard of any artificial mounds, ancient fortifications, or
monuments of any kind in or near the Minnesota valley, which
might not have been constructed by these Indians. Such mounds
are probably as numerous in the lower part of the valley of
the Minnesota, and the contiguous part of the Mississippi, as
anywhere else between the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains; but
they are very small, compared with those near the Ohio, not to
speak of those farther south. Some of them are still used by
the Dakotas, as burying places for their dead, and in this way
are receiving a small increase almost every year. The
situation of many others indicates that they had a similar
origin.
But by far the most numerous class appear from their size and
situation, to be what Dakota tradition says they are, the
remains of houses, made of poles and bark, covered with earth,
such as were a few years since, and probably still are, the
habitations of the Mandans, and some other tribes living on
the Missouri.... Mounds of this class are found in clusters,
of from less than half a dozen to upwards of fifty, arranged
irregularly as we find the bark houses of the Indians at
present. Their base usually approaches to an oval form. Their
length is from ten to forty feet, and a few exceed this, with
a height of from one or two feet, to three or four. Very few
of this class exceed four feet; though some of those used for
places of sepulture are more than twice that height. Back of
them we find the land level, or nearly so, dry and fertile. In
front it descends towards some water, and almost always there
is a lake or morass in sight, indicating that the inhabitants
depended for a subsistence partly on cultivating the earth,
and partly on water fowl or roots, which they obtained from
wet swampy land. Several clusters of such mounds may be seen
about Oak Grove, where the Dakotas say the Iowas lived, when
their ancestors first came to this country. The path from
Mendota to Shakopee, or Prairieville, passes through several.
One large one, a little south of what has been called Black
Dog's or Grey Iron's village, where the IOWAS are said to have
resided after they were driven from Oak Grove. Another is not
far from the tamarack swamp below Shakopee. Many may be found
on the bluffs of the Mississippi and Lake Pepin. Such mounds
are very numerous in the prairie near the mouth of Cannon
river.
It is somewhat remarkable that the Iowas, whose language shows
that they are descended from the same stock as the Dakotas,
should have been viewed and treated by the Dakotas as enemies.
While the SHIENS, who Gallatin says have a language kindred to
the Algonquin, were received as allies, and though speaking a
different language were long, if they are not still counted as
a part of the Dakota nation. Hence their name, Sha--i--e--na in
the Ihanktonwan dialect, being equivalent to Sha--i--api in the
Isanyati [missionary special alphabet spelling][83] both
applied to those who speak a different language from the
Dakotas, and applied especially to Shiens, because all others
speaking a different language were counted as enemies. It is
also worthy of remark, that notwithstanding the hostility
between the Iowas and Sioux, the former, who are called by the
latter Ayukba, (they sleep, or "sleepy ones"), from which we
probably got Iowa, remain much nearer their original location
than the Shiens, or any of the other tribes, who dwelt in the
Minnesota valley before the Dakotas.
When the Dakotas first came in contact with the Shiens, I
have not been able to learn, farther than that the Shiens
formerly planted on the Minnesota, between Blue Earth and
Lac--qui--Parle, whence they moved to a western branch of Red
River of the North, which still bears their name; being called
by the Dakotas who hunt in that region, Shai--e--na--wojupi,
("the place where those of another language plant"). The
various spellings of this name, all show plainly their origin
from the Dakota name. From this planting place on the
Chaienne, or Shienne of the North, this people removed across
the Missouri, where they gave their name to another river; and
having ceased to cultivate the soil, it is said they now hunt
on the head waters of the Platte and of the Arkansas. From
their retiring so rapidly, it is probable that the Shiens had
not occupied the Minnesota valley long before the arrival of
the Dakotas, and that the first inhabitants of it, if not the
Iowas, were Otoes, Omahas, or some other family of the Dakota
stock. The languages of the tribes just named, as well as of
the Winnebagoes and Osages, are so similar to the Dakota, as
to indicate a common origin. In the languages of the Mandans,
Minetares and Crows or Upsarakas, so many Dakota words have
been found, as to render it highly probable, that they also,
in part at least, belong to the same stock....
Various circumstances, ... indicate that the Sioux resided
long in the region where Hennepin found them. Many of them
suppose that they originated there. They [the modern
Sioux],[84] have a tradition, however, that their ancestors
came thither from the Northeast, where they had resided on a
lake. It has been generally supposed, that the lake referred
to in this tradition, is Rainy lake, or Lake of the Woods. It
is more probable, however, that it was the northern shore of
Lake Superior, or Hudson's Bay, or some of the lakes between
those large expanses of water. The Ojibwas have a tradition,
that their ancestors drove the Sioux from the shores of Lake
Superior.
In Schoolcraft's COLLECTIONS, Volume III, page 256, there is presented a
map drawn by the Ioway Missionaries, the Reverends Hamilton and Irvin,
from the rough draft of "WAW--NON--QUE--SKOON--A," an Ioway brave, showing
the successive migrations of the tribe: their starting point being given
from the mouth of Rock River in Illinois: which last named river, it may
be observed, answers exactly the description of the one on which was the
ancient or first residence of the Tribe mentioned in the tradition
before given as being "a river which runs from a lake to the Mississippi
from the east, and on the east side of that river:" Rock river heading
as is well known in the "Four Lakes" upon the banks of one of which
Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, is built, and also in another, Lake
Koshkonong; which lakes, however, did not become the seat of the
Winnebago until long after they were known to the whites. The
letter--press description of this map of the "Migrations of the Ioway,"
Vol. III, at page 257, of Schoolcraft, we here copy, with additional
explanations, inserted in brackets:
The object of Waw--non--que--skoon--a was to denote the places
where the Iowas had lived during the sixteen migrations which
preceded their residence at their present location, the
Missouri; and, in truth, it nearly exhausts their history. The
marks to denote a fixed residence, are a symbol for a lodge.
These are carefully preserved, with their exact relative
position. Their order, as given, is also preserved by figures.
Could eras be affixed to these residences, it would give
entire accuracy to the modern part of their history.
As it is, it depicts some curious facts in the history of
predatory and erratic tribes, showing how they sometimes
crossed their own track, and demonstrates the immense
distances to which they rove.
The earliest date to which their recollection extends, as
indicated by location No. 1, is at [or near] the junction of
Rock river with the Mississippi. This was, manifestly, in or
very near Winnebago territory, and confirms the traditions of
several of the Missouri tribes (vide Fletcher's paper), [and
also of the Ioway Indian aged "sixty years or more"]. From
this point they migrated down the Mississippi to the river Des
Moines, and fixed themselves at No. 2, on its south fork.
[eighty miles above the mouth]. They next made an
extraordinary migration, abandoning the Mississippi and all
its upper tributaries, and ascending the Missouri to a point
of land formed by a small stream, on its east shore, called by
the Indians Fish creek, which flows in from the direction of,
and not far from, the celebrated Red Pipe stone quarry, on
the heights of the Coteau des Prairies. No. 3.
They next descended the Missouri to the junction of the
Nebraska, or Great Platte river, with that stream. No. 4. They
settled on the west [or right] bank, keeping the buffalo
ranges on their west. They next migrated still lower down the
Missouri, and [crossing to its left side], fixed themselves on
the headwaters of the Little Platte river. [not far from Fort
Leavenworth], No. 5.
From this location, when circumstances had rendered another
change desirable, they returned to the Mississippi, and
located themselves at the mouth of Salt river. No. 6. Here
passed another period. They next ascended the Mississippi, and
settled on its ["left"] east bank, at the junction of a stream
in the present area of Illinois. [about midway between the Des
Moines and the Ioway]. No. 7. Their next migration carried
them still higher on that shore, [nearer the mouth of the
Ioway] to the junction of another stream, No. 8, which is well
nigh--[within fifty or sixty miles], to their original starting
point at No. 1.
They receded again to the south and west, first fixing
themselves on Salt river, No. 9, above their prior site, No.
6, and afterwards changing their location to its very source.
[about thirty miles higher]. No. 10. They then passed,
evidently by land, [about sixty miles due west], to the higher
forks of the river Chariton, of Missouri, No. 11, and next
descended that stream to near its mouth. No. 12. The next two
migrations of this tribe were [about thirty miles] to the west
valley of the Grand river, and then to its forks. [twenty--five
miles from them]. No. 14. Still continuing their general
migrations to the south and west, they chose the east bank of
the Missouri, opposite the present site of Fort Leavenworth,
No. 15, and finally settled on the west bank of the Missouri,
[on their Reservation] between the mouth of the Wolf and Great
Namahaw, No. 16, where they now reside.[85]
These migrations are deemed to be all of quite modern date,
not excepting the probable period to which well--known
tradition could reach. They do not, it would seem, aspire to
the area of their ancient residence on the lower and upper
Iowa rivers, and about the region of St. Anthony's falls.[86]
We are taught something by these migrations. They were
probably determined by the facility of procuring food. They
relied, ever, greatly on the deer, elk, and buffalo. As these
species are subject to changes, it is probable they carried
the Indians with them.[87] It is not probable that their
locations were of long continuance at a place. Not over a
dozen years at a location, on the average. It might be longer
at some places, and less at others. This would not give a
period of more than 180 years, before their arrival at their
present place....[88]
It is not probable that the game--pursuing Indians were more
fixed in their ancient, than in their modern locations.
Indeed, the very reverse is true; for the modern hunter tribes
avail themselves of the proximity of military posts, and
out--settlements, to guard themselves from the approaches of
hostile bands.
The population of the Iowas, as given at early dates, is very
uniform, having evidently been copied by one writer from
another. In some ancient MS. data in the Royal Marine Office,
at Paris, which were submitted to the inspection of the
American Minister (General Cass) in 1842, their numbers were
put down, for about 1730, at 1100. When Colonel Bouquet
marched over the Alleghanies against the western Indians, in
1764, the same numbers were used. Each of these dates assigns
their residence to the Missouri, and there had, evidently, no
recent information been received. The French alone were at
that time in communication with them, and their alliance with
the western Indians, in this war, made it impracticable to
obtain further data.
By the official returns made to the Indian Bureau, in 1848, they are
stated at "a fraction under seven hundred and fifty souls," but in
Sub--Agent Vaughan's report in the fall of the same year, 669 is the
enumeration.[89] In the report of 1844 their census is stated at 470.
In 1701,[90] D'Iberville's memorial[91] to France says:
the Ayooues and the Octootatas, their neighbors, are about 300
families. [In M. Chauvignerie's Report[92] of the Census of
tribes, made to the French government in 1736, the "Ayouas"
are put down at 80 warriors].
In the report of the Indian Bureau for 1874, the Ioway and Otoe
together, including some Sauk and some Missourie, numbered 864 persons.
It is recorded, that there were ten Ioway ("Ayeouais") with Montcalm and
the French Army at the seige of Ticonderoga in July, 1757, and also 48
Winnebago ("Puants")--De Tailly being their joint Interpreter.
According to Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike's report of 1806,[93] the
"Aiowais" were called by the French, colloquially, "_Ne Perce_"; which
was probably "_Nez Perce_," Pierced or Perforated Noses:[94] the first
syllable of Pähutchæ, their own tribal name, being translated _nose_,
which in some word--relations would be correct; while probably the last
two syllables--ru'tchæ--were deemed to be in the sense of Keru'tchæ, a
word signifying to _divide_ or _part_. This was a near enough
translation for the early French traders, who were not particular.
[Illustration: MA--HAS--KAH, THE YOUNGER]
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
THE IOWA CAMPING CIRCLE
The camping circle among the Iowa was usually divided into two half
circles, each occupied by two phratries of four gentes each. These
regulated the hunt and numerous other tribal affairs during the four
seasons, the first phratry taking the lead during Autumn and Winter; the
second during Spring and Summer.
The list which follows was prepared in part by Rev. William Hamilton
about 1880 and before his death communicated to the late J. O. Dorsey,
who added a considerable number of gentes and subgentes, some further
assistance being obtained through the aid of a delegation of Iowa while
on a visit to Washington.
[Table: FIRST PHRATRY]
[Table: SECOND PHRATRY]
APPENDIX B
TREATIES BETWEEN THE IOWA AND THE UNITED STATES, 1815--1861
(For further reference to treaties with complete amendments thereto see
LAWS AND TREATIES, by Charles J. Kappler, 2 vols. Washington, 1903. The
early texts of some of the first peace negotiations previous to the
publication date, can be found in the volumes of THE AMERICAN STATE
PAPERS, edited by Walter Lowrie and Matthew St. C. Clarke, _Indian
Affairs_, 2 vols. Washington, 1832. See also Royce, CESSIONS OF LAND BY
INDIAN TRIBES TO THE UNITED STATES, in Rep. B. A. E., vol. 1, 1881, and
the same author's INDIAN LAND CESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, Rep. B. A.
E., 1889).
TREATY WITH THE IOWAS, [SEPTEMBER 16,] 1815
_A treaty of peace and friendship, made and concluded at
Portage des Sioux, between William Clark, Ninian Edwards, and
Auguste Chouteau, Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United
States of America, on the part and behalf of the said States,
of the one part; and the undersigned, King, Chiefs, and
Warriors, of the Iaway Tribe or Nation, on the part and behalf
of the said Tribe or Nation, of the other part._
The parties being desirous of re--establishing peace and friendship
between the United States and the said tribe or nation, and of being
placed in all things, and in every respect, on the same footing upon
which they stood before the war, have agreed to the following articles:
ARTICLE 1
Every injury, or act of hostility, by one or either of the contracting
parties against the other shall be mutually forgiven and forgot.
ARTICLE 2
There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between all the citizens
of the United States and all the individuals composing the said Ioway
tribe or nation.
ARTICLE 3
The contracting parties do hereby agree, promise, and oblige themselves,
reciprocally to deliver up all the prisoners now in their hands, (by
what means soever the same may have come into their possession,) to the
officer commanding at St. Louis, to be by him restored to their
respective nations, as soon as it may be practicable.
ARTICLE 4
The contracting parties, in the sincerity of mutual friendship,
recognize, re--establish, and confirm, all and every treaty, contract,
and agreement, heretofore concluded between the United States and the
said Ioway tribe or nation.
TREATY WITH THE IOWAYS [AUG. 4,] 1824
_Articles of a treaty made and concluded at the city of
Washington, on the 4th day of August, 1824, between William
Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, being specially
authorized by the President of the United States thereto, and
the undersigned chiefs and headmen of the Ioway tribe or
nation, duly authorized and empowered by the said nation._
ARTICLE I. The Ioway tribe or nation of Indians, by their deputies,
Mah--hos--kah, (or White Cloud,) and Mah--ne--hah--nah, (or Great
Walker,) in council assembled, do hereby agree, in consideration of a
certain sum of money, etc., to be paid to the said Ioway tribe by the
Government of the United States, as hereinafter stipulated, to cede and
forever quit claim, and do, in behalf of their said tribe, hereby cede,
relinquish, and forever quit claim, unto the United States, all right,
title, interest, and claim to the lands which the said Ioway tribe have
or claim within the State of Missouri, and situated between the
Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and a line running from the Missouri,
at the mouth or entrance of Kanzas river, north one hundred miles, to
the northwest corner of the limits of the State of Missouri, and from
thence east to the Mississippi.
ARTICLE II. It is hereby stipulated and agreed, on the part of the
United States, as a full compensation for the claims and lands ceded by
the Ioway tribe in the preceding article, there shall be paid to the
said Ioway tribe, within the present year, in cash or merchandise, the
amount of five hundred dollars; and the United States do further agree
to pay to the said Ioway tribe five hundred dollars annually, for the
term of ten succeeding years.
ARTICLE III. The chiefs and headmen, who sign this treaty, for
themselves, and in behalf of their tribe, do acknowledge the lands east
and south of the lines described in the first article, (which have been
run and marked by Col. Sullivan,) so far as the Indians claimed the
same, to belong to the United States; and that none of their tribe shall
be permitted to settle or hunt upon any part of it, after the first day
of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty--six, without special
permission from the superintendent of Indian affairs.
ARTICLE IV. The undersigned chiefs, for themselves, and all parts of the
Ioway tribe, do acknowledge themselves and the said Ioway tribe to be
under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other
sovereign whatsoever; and they also stipulate that the said Ioway tribe
will not hold any treaty with any foreign Powers, individual State, or
with individuals of any State.
ARTICLE V. The United States engage to provide and support a blacksmith
for the Ioway tribe, so long as the President of the United States may
think proper, and to furnish the said tribe with such farming utensils
and cattle, and to employ such persons to aid them in their agriculture,
as the President may deem expedient.