“The agent states that the Omahaws waited on him, previous to their
starting on their summer hunt, and most earnestly begged for arms
and ammunition to enable them to defend themselves against their
enemies, declaring, ‘If our great father will now furnish us arms and
ammunition, we will defend ourselves.’ The agent remarks, further, ‘The
Sioux, from all that we can learn, are resolved on exterminating this
little band of Indians. Some few days after the visit of the Omahaws,
above spoken of, I was called on by an express from the Omahaw camp,
asking for the assistance of the troops to defend them against their
enemies, and to retake thirty-six horses, which the Sioux had taken in
a skirmish, a few days previous.’ He adds, that, ‘until the fierce and
bloody war now prosecuted by the Sioux shall subside, it will be in
vain to try to prosper the Omahaws in agricultural pursuits.--Owing to
the game receding, the Omahaws have to seek food in the more distant
prairies, which makes them the more accessible; and unless they can
be provided for in agricultural pursuits, where they will be more
remote from their harassing enemy, the same fierce and cruel war, in
all probability, will continue. The Omahaws have this season returned
to their old village, near the Missouri River, and, from present
appearances, they will have to abandon it again.’”
The Pawnees own an extensive country on the Great Platte River, lying
west of the Otoes and Omahaws. They still retain their fondness for
savage life, and keep up among them many of their old customs. Various
treaties have been formed with them, but, as yet, they evince no
desire for civilization. They are divided into the Grand Pawnees, the
Tapage Pawnees, the Wolf Pawnees, or Pawnee Loups, and the Republican
Pawnees. They were formerly a numerous nation; but the small-pox being
introduced in 1832, by the fur-traders and whisky-sellers, swept off
ten thousand or more of them, in a few months, so that they do not now
number more than ten or twelve thousand. They are a warlike people,
and live in four villages, several miles apart, having their allies,
the Omahaws and Otoes, so near them, that they may act in concert in
case of invasion. The Pawnee chief who visited Washington, at the time
before alluded to, in company with Major O’Fallon, like the Omahaw
chief, declined the offer of teachers, on the ground that the Great
Spirit made them for the chase, and intended them “to go to war, to
take scalps, steal horses, and triumph over their enemies.”
One of the delegation, at this time, was a Pawnee brave, of a noble
size, figure, and countenance. At the early age of twenty-one, his
heroic deeds acquired for him the rank of the “bravest of the braves.”
The following incident was related of him. An unfortunate female of
the Paduca nation, as the Camanches are called by them, having been
taken prisoner, was destined to torture. The fatal hour arrived; the
trembling victim, far from her home and her friends, was fastened to
the stake; the whole tribe was assembled on the surrounding plain to
witness the awful scene. Just when the funeral pile was to be kindled,
and the whole multitude of spectators were excited with expectation,
this young warrior, having prepared two fleet horses, with the
necessary provisions, sprang from his seat, rushed through the crowd,
liberated the victim, seized her in his arms, placed her on one of
the horses, mounted the other himself, and made the utmost speed
towards the nation and friends of the captive. The multitude, struck
dumb and nerveless by the boldness of the deed, made no effort to
rescue their intended victim from her deliverer. They viewed it as the
immediate act of the Great Spirit, submitted to it without a murmur,
and quietly retired to their village. The young chief accompanied
the released captive three days, through the wilderness, towards her
home. He then gave her the horse on which she rode, with sufficient
food for the remainder of the journey, and they parted. On his return
to the village, no inquiry was made into his conduct, and no censure
was passed on it. Since this transaction, no human sacrifice has been
offered in this or any other of the Pawnee tribes, and the practice has
been thus abandoned.
On the occasion of the visit of this Pawnee chief to Washington, the
young ladies of a seminary in that city, having heard of the anecdote
just related, presented him a handsome silver medal, in token of
commendation of his noble act in rescuing one of their sex from a cruel
death, closing their address with these words:--“Brother, accept this
token of our esteem; always wear it for our sakes; and when again you
have the power to save a poor woman from death and torture, think of
this and of us, and fly to her relief and her rescue.”
His reply was to this effect:--“Sisters, I am glad you have heard of
the good deed I have done. I did it partly in ignorance; but your gift
makes me feel happy, and enables me more fully to see that I did right.
I shall now be even more ready to listen to the words of the white
man, for they tell me what is good.”
The following speech of a Pawnee chief was made at Fort Gibson in 1833,
and addressed to Mr. Ellsworth, the United States commissioner, on
taking leave of him to return home, after having accompanied him on a
part of his tour.
“I have travelled with my grandfather many miles on foot. He came to
our village. We ran to meet him. We followed him here. We came through
many villages of hostile bands, whom we never have met before. All
treated us kindly, and peace is made. My heart is glad. I am a wild
man, and come naked to follow my grandfather; but I am not ashamed. A
bird hovers over her young, and takes care of them; so does our Great
Father pity and care for us. I feel now as though I was born again. I
used to worship the Great Spirit as my forefathers did; but now I will
worship him as the white men do. Every day, when I speak to you, I look
to the Great Spirit to help me speak the truth, and what I say is true.
I go out alone and speak to the Great Spirit, and ask his aid; but we
now look to him together. I am now going home. The wild Indians will be
glad to hear how we have been treated by our enemies, and how our great
father has spoken to us. Our ears are bored out, and nothing shall be
forgotten.”
Mr. Murray, an English gentleman, who travelled among the Indians about
eight years since, gives us the following sketch.
“Within twenty or thirty miles of Fort Leavenworth are settled a great
variety of Indian tribes, most of them emigrants from the country now
inhabited by the whites, especially from the States of Illinois and
Michigan. The nearest to the fort are the Kickapoos, who are settled in
a village distant from it about four miles. They are a weak and daily
decreasing tribe; their natural properties are much changed by constant
communication with the whites. There is a Methodist missionary resident
among them.
“The fort is supplied with beef and other meat, chiefly by a farmer
who lives in the Great Bottom, immediately opposite to it. Among other
articles for the supply of the table, one of the most abundant to be
met with here, is the cat-fish. I found it somewhat coarse, but not
unpalatable eating. These fish are caught, of a most enormous size, and
in great quantities, by the settlers on the banks of the river; one of
whom told me that he caught four in the course of one morning, weighing
above fifty pounds each.
“On the 4th of July, the usual commemoration took place, of firing
twenty-four guns; after which ceremony we adjourned to an excellent
dinner, and madeira and champagne were the order of the day. We had
spent an hour or two in the festivities of the table, when news was
brought in that a hundred and fifty Pawnees had arrived, under the
guidance of Mr. Dougherty, one of the principal Indian agents; and,
upon an invitation from the officers, twelve or fourteen of their chief
warriors came into the mess-room. I had already seen many Indians,
but none so wild and unsophisticated as these genuine children of the
wilderness. They entered the room with considerable ease and dignity,
shook hands with us all, and sat down comfortably to cigars and
madeira. I was quite astonished at the tact and self-possession of
these Indians, two thirds of whom had never been in a settlement of
white men before, nor had ever seen a fork, or table, or chair in their
lives; yet, without asking questions, or appearing to observe what was
passing, they caught the idea with intuitive readiness, and during the
whole dinner were not guilty of a single absurdity or breach of decorum.
“The dress of these Indians consisted of a belt of deer-skin round the
middle, with a flap passing between the legs, and fastened again to the
belt behind. Their legs were covered with tight leggins of deer-skin,
and their feet by moccasins; while their shoulders were loosely and
gracefully covered, or half covered, by a blanket or buffalo-skin.
Most of them had ear-rings, bead-necklaces, and armlets; and the two
principal chiefs wore round their necks a large medal each, on which
was engraved the head of the late president of the United States.
The greater part of them were lusty, and a few even fat, giving no
outward evidence of the privations to which their mode of life renders
them so liable. Generally speaking, they were of middle height, with
fine chests, arms well proportioned, but not muscular, and remarkably
fine-shaped legs. I do not think there was a countenance among them
that could be pronounced handsome, though several were pleasing and
good-humored; but the prevalent character of their expression was
haughty, impenetrable reserve, easily distinguishable through the mask
of frank conciliation, which their present object rendered it expedient
for them to wear.
“As we, in our mirth, sang one or two choral songs, we called upon
our red brethren. They rose all at once; and I never shall forget the
effect of that first Indian chorus which I ever heard. Each singer
began, by strange and uncouth sounds, to work his mind and lungs up
to the proper pitch of excitement; and when, at length, their shrill
and terrible cry rose to its full height, its effect was astounding,
and sufficient to deafen a delicate ear. Then, again, they would allow
their strain to fall into a monotonous cadence, to which they kept time
with inflections of the head and body, and again burst forth into full
chorus of mingled yell and howl.”
During Mr. Murray’s stay among the Pawnees, he witnessed the following
scene.
“While I was sitting near my packs of goods, like an Israelite in
Monmouth Street, an elderly chief approached, and signified his wish
to trade. Our squaws placed some meat before him, after which I gave
him the pipe; and, in the meantime, had desired my servant to search my
saddle-bags, and to add to the heap of salable articles every thing of
every kind beyond what was absolutely necessary for my covering on my
return. A spare shirt, handkerchief, and waistcoat were thus draughted;
and, among other things, was a kind of elastic flannel waistcoat, made
for wearing next to the skin, and to be drawn over the head, as it was
without buttons or any opening in front. It was too small for me, and
altogether so tight and uncomfortable, although elastic, that I had
determined to part with it.
“To this last article my new customer took a great fancy; and he
made me describe to him the method of putting it on, and the warmth
and comfort of it when on. Be it remembered that he was a very large,
corpulent man, probably weighing sixteen stone. I knew him to be very
good-natured, as I had hunted once with his son; and, on returning
to his lodge, the father had feasted me, chatted with me by signs,
and taught me some of that most extraordinary Indian method of
communication. He said he should like to try on the jacket; and as he
threw the buffalo-robe off his huge shoulders, I could scarcely keep
my gravity, when I compared their dimensions with the garment into
which we were about to attempt their introduction. However, by dint of
great industry and care, we contrived to get him into it. In the body,
it was a foot too short, and fitted him so close that every thread
was stretched to the uttermost; the sleeves reached a very little way
below his elbow. However, he looked upon his arms and person with great
complacency, and elicited many smiles from the squaws at the drollery
of his attire; but, as the weather was very hot, he soon began to find
himself too warm and confined, and he wished to take it off again. He
moved his arms,--he pulled the sleeves,--he twisted and turned himself
in every direction, but in vain. The woollen jacket was an admirable
illustration of the _Inferno_ of Dante and Virgil, and of matrimony
as described by many poets; it was easy enough to get into it, _sed
revocare gradum_ was a difficult matter indeed. The old man exerted
himself till the drops of perspiration fell from his forehead; but had
I not been there, he must either have made some person cut it open, or
have sat in it until this minute.
“For some time, I enjoyed this scene with malicious and demure gravity,
and then I showed him that he must try and pull it off over his head.
A lad, who stood by, then drew it till it enveloped his nose, eyes,
mouth, and ears; his arms were raised above his head, and for some
minutes he remained in that melancholy plight, blinded, choked, and
smothered, with his hands rendered useless for the time. He rolled
about, sneezing, sputtering, and struggling, until all around were
convulsed with laughter; and the squaws shrieked, in their ungovernable
mirth, in a manner that I had never before witnessed. At length
I slit a piece of the edge, and released the old fellow from his
straight-waistcoat confinement. He turned it round often in his hands,
and made a kind of comic-grave address to it, of which I could only
gather a few words. I believe the import of them was, that it would be
a ‘good creature in the ice-month at the village.’ I was so pleased
with his good humor, that I gave it to him, and told him to warm his
squaw with it in the ice-month.”
Mr. Murray gives us, also, the following sketch.
“On the 6th, I rode out with Captain Hunter to the Kickapoo village,
which is about five miles from the fort. The Kickapoos are a branch of
the great northern nation of Indians, which includes the Potawatomies,
the Chippewas, and other numerous tribes. Their former territory has
been bought by the United States, and this tract of country, along the
southern bank of the Missouri, allotted in its stead; beside which,
the United States engaged to supply them, for a certain time, with a
stipulated quantity of provisions, clothes, &c. Living so near the
settlements, they have lost most of the traits of their original
character, and are a reduced, debased race; nevertheless, they are
now interesting in a religious point of view. A miniature Mahomet
has arisen among them, and the tribe is divided into two sects, the
religious and irreligious; these are pretty equal in number, and
the former acknowledge and obey, as secular chief, the prophet who
teaches the new creed. This man preaches very good and enlightened
morality. He pretends to have seen the Great Spirit in a vision, and
to have received his command to proclaim his truths and precepts to
the Indians. I should have been astonished at the excellence of his
doctrine, and the soundness of his religious views, if I had not
learned from a gentleman, long resident among them, the fountain from
which he drew his knowledge. It appears, that, when very young, he
learned the English language thoroughly, and, in remote parts of the
State of Illinois, attended many Christian meetings. He thus became
acquainted with the outlines of the Christian scheme, and with the
morality which the Bible inculcates; and afterward grafting the
knowledge thus acquired upon his Indian prejudices and superstitions,
he has used it as an engine of personal aggrandizement, and become
priest, prophet, and chief of half his nation.
“I attended a preaching, which was held under a large, open,
reed-thatched shed. The meeting was conducted with the greatest
decorum; all the men under or near the shed stood uncovered; but in
this, as in all the Christian churches that I have seen in any country,
the greater part of the assembly were females. Each was supplied with a
flat board, on which were carved symbols, which answered the purpose
of letters, and enabled them to chime in with the prayer or hymn of the
preacher.
“I regretted to find that the officiating preacher was not the ‘great
prophet himself,’ but one of his favorite disciples. He was a man of
middle age, with a quiet and earnest expression of countenance, and a
voice capable of much modulation and variety of tone; he spoke without
the slightest hesitation. I placed myself within hearing, and, keeping
at my elbow the half-breed French interpreter, took down in pencil
the following scraps from his lecture:--‘Look up at the heavens! look
around you at the earth fertile with fruit, and the animals given for
our use. All these show the goodness of the Great Spirit. If he were
not good, much better than any of us, he would be angry with us, for we
are all bad, and disobey him; he would punish, and not forgive us. But
if we are good and obey him, we are happier and more flourishing here;
all goes well with us. We are but half-taught children; we are poor
Indians. It is only a few years since we learned his will and commands,
through his prophet; but if we ask him, and obey him, we shall daily
grow wiser and happier’;--and so on in a similar strain. After this
sermon, a hymn was sung. It was a low, melancholy, and not unmusical
air, and was rendered wild and peculiar by the closing of each verse in
the minor key. I left the scene with strong emotions of interest and
compassion, and must own that I entertain hopes, though but faint ones,
that this twilight may be the forerunner of the sunrise of the gospel
among them.”
There is another tribe of Indians, called Pawnee Picts, who live on
the banks of the Red River, in alliance with the Camanches, and are
sometimes reckoned as belonging to the Pawnees, though a thousand miles
from them. Catlin asserts that “there is no family resemblance, nor any
similarity in their language and customs.” Their village is described
as being a large one, containing some five or six hundred wigwams. The
nation consists of from eight to ten thousand persons. At a council
held while Catlin was present, Colonel Dodge restored to them two
Pawnee girls, who had been purchased from their captors, the Osages,
and received in return a little boy, the son of Judge Martin, whose
family had been murdered on the False Washita. On this occasion, “the
heart of the venerable old chief seemed to melt at the evidence of the
white man’s friendship; he rose on his feet, and, taking Colonel Dodge
in his arms, and placing his left cheek against the left cheek of the
Colonel, held him for some minutes without saying a word, whilst tears
were flowing from his eyes. He then embraced each officer in turn, in
the same silent and affectionate manner.” The chief, with two others,
accompanied Colonel Dodge to Fort Gibson, and formed a treaty with the
United States. Their residence is among the Rocky Mountains.
Close by the Pawnee Picts are the Kioways, who are described as being
a fine looking race of men, very tall, some of them being seven feet
high, and having a Roman outline of head. They are decidedly distinct
from the Pawnee Picts and the Camanches, and also differ from them in
language and customs.
The Camanches are supposed to be at least twenty thousand strong.
Catlin even estimates them as high as thirty or forty thousand, and
says they are able to show some six or seven thousand warriors, well
mounted and well armed. They are a very warlike tribe, traversing the
immense space of country extending far north and south, and east and
west, from the Red River to the Pacific Ocean. They were long the
dreaded enemy of the Spaniards, as they now are of the Mexicans, on
whom they make frequent incursions, and bear off prisoners, especially
female children, whom they adopt and marry. About sixty years ago,
the daughter of the governor-general of Chihuahua was stolen by them.
The father, by an agent, some weeks after, was allowed to ransom her.
But she refused to return to her parents, and sent them word that
the Indians had tattooed her face, and given her to be the wife of a
young man of their tribe; that her husband treated her well, and had
reconciled her to his mode of life. In her present circumstances,
therefore, she preferred remaining where she was. She continued in the
nation, and raised a family of children.
The Camanches have fought many a bloody battle with their enemies,
and have always succeeded in preserving their independence. They
particularly excel in catching and taming for use the wild horses of
the plains, and form a terrible cavalry in war, particularly as they
are able, in a moment, to throw themselves over to the opposite side of
the horse, so as to be screened from their enemy, while they can shoot
their arrows, either over or under the horse’s neck, with such force as
to pierce through a buffalo. They also carry, in war, a shield, and
a lance of fourteen feet in length, which they use with great effect.
Numerous instances of their intrepidity are on record. The following
incident is related by Farnham in his travels. About the middle of
June, 1839, a band of fifty or sixty crossed the river in the night,
and concealed themselves near where the animals of the establishment
were feeding during the day. As they concealed themselves in the
bushes, they were not perceived by the Mexican horse-guard, who, after
having driven out his charge within reach of the guns of the fort, took
his station, as usual, beyond them, holding his horse by a long rope,
and suffering him to graze around him. While here on duty, the Indians
suddenly rose, and ran towards the animals with horrible yells, seeking
to drive them across the river. “The guard, however, nothing daunted,
mounted quickly, and drove his horse at full speed among them. The
mules and horses, hearing his voice amidst the frightening yells of the
savages, immediately started at a lively pace for the fort; but the
Indians were on all sides, and bewildered them. The guard still pressed
them onward and called for help, and on they rushed, despite of the
Indians to the contrary. The battlements were covered with men. They
shouted encouragement to the brave guard, ‘Onward, onward!’ and the
injunction was obeyed. He spurred his horse to his greatest speed from
side to side, and whipped the hindermost of the band with his leading
rope. He had saved every animal; he was within twenty yards of the
open gate, when he fell; three arrows from the bows of the Camanches
had cloven his heart. And, relieved of him, the lords of the quiver
gathered their prey, and drove them to the borders of Texas, without
injury to life or limb. Thus forty or fifty mules, and their best
servant’s life, were lost to the Messieurs Bents in a single day.”
The Appachees are a numerous tribe of Indians, estimated at 20,000,
who inhabit the country lower down than the Camanches. But little is
known of them. The Eutaws, estimated at 19,200, dwell in the midst of
the Rocky Mountains, occupying alternately both sides of the Eutaw or
Anahuac range. They are continually migrating from one side to the
other, still holding the superstitions of their fathers, though a few
of them, principally half-breeds, have embraced the Catholic faith.
The Arrapahoes reside on the western side of the Rocky Mountains,
and are said to number about 3,000 souls. They wander, in the winter
season, around the head-waters of one branch of the Colorado of the
West, and in summer hunt the buffalo farther east. They are said to be
a brave, thrifty, and hospitable people. They derive their name, which
signifies _dog-eaters_, from fattening and eating that animal. They
admit whites, who desire it, to the privilege of citizenship on certain
conditions.