The Author's Reasons for Recording the History of His People, and Their
Language--History of His Nationality--A Sketch of His Father's History
--How the Indians Were Treated in Manitoba Country One Hundred Years
Ago--His Father's Banishment to Die on a Lonely Island by the White
Traders--Second Misfortune of the Ottawas on Account of the Shawanee
Prophet--The Earthquake.
The Indian tribes are continnually diminishing on the face of this
continent. Some have already passed entirely out of existence and are
forgotten, who once inhabited this part of the country; such as the
Mawsh-ko-desh, Urons, Ossaw-gees--who formerly occupied Saw-gi-naw bay;
and the Odaw gaw-mees, whose principal habitation was about the
vicinity of Detroit River. They are entirely vanished into nothingness.
Not a single page of their history can be found on record in the
history of this country, or hardly an allusion to their existence. My
own race, once a very numerous, powerful and warlike tribe of Indians,
who proudly trod upon this soil, is also near the end of existence. In
a few more generations they will be so intermingled with the Caucasian
race as to be hardly distinguished as descended from the Indian
nations, and their language will be lost. I myself was brought up in a
pure Indian style, and lived in a wigwam, and have partaken of every
kind of the wild jubilees of my people, and was once considered one of
the best "Pipe" dancers of the tribe. But when nearly grown up, I was
invited by a traveling Protestant Missionary, whose name was Alvin Coe,
to go home with him to the State of Ohio, with the assurance that he
would give me a good education like the white man, and the idea struck
me that I could be really educated and be able to converse with the
white people. And although at that time (in the fall of 1840) I missed
the opportunity, the idea was never after off of my mind. So some time
afterwards I started out voluntarily to obtain an education; and I had
nearly succeeded in completing my professional studies when I called
away to come home and look after my aged father, in 1850. And now I
have four children, but not one of them can speak the Indian language.
And every one of the little Indian urchins who are now running about in
our town can speak to each other quite fluently in the English
language; but I am very sorry to add that they have also learned
profanity like the white children. For these reasons it seems desirable
that the history of my people should not be lost, like that of other
tribes who previously existed in this country, and who have left no
record of their ancient legends and their traditions.
Before proceeding to record the history of the Ottawas of the State of
Michigan, to whom I am immediately connected in their common interests
and their future destinies, I propose to rehearse in a summary manner
my nationality and family history. Our tradition says that long ago,
when the Ottawa tribes of Indians used to go on a warpath either
towards the south or towards the west, even as far as to the Rocky
Mountains, on one of these expeditions towards the Rocky Mountains my
remote ancestors were captured and brought to this country as prisoners
of war. But they were afterwards adopted as children of the Ottawas,
and intermarried with the nation in which they were captives.
Subsequently these captives' posterity became so famous among the
Ottawas on account of their exploits and bravery on the warpath and
being great hunters that they became closely connected with the royal
families, and were considered as the best counselors, best chieftains
and best warriors among the Ottawas. Thus I am not regularly descended
from the Ottawa nations of Indians, but I am descended, as tradition
says, from the tribe in the far west known as the Underground race of
people. They were so called on account of making their habitations in
the ground by making holes large enough for dwelling purposes. It is
related that they even made caves in the ground in which to keep their
horses every night to prevent them from being stolen by other tribes
who were their enemies. It is also related that they were quite an
intelligent class of people. By cultivating the soil they raised corn
and other vegetables to aid in sustaining life beside hunting and
fishing. They were entirely independent, having their own government
and language, and possessing their own national emblem which
distinguished them as distinct and separate from all other tribes. This
symbolical ensign of my ancestors was represented by a species of small
hawk, which the Ottawas called the "Pe-pe-gwen." So we were sometimes
called in this country in which we live the "Pe-pe-gwen tribe," instead
of the "Undergrounds." And it was customary among the Ottawas, that if
any one of our number, a descendant of the Undergrounds, should commit
any punishable crime, all the Pe-pe-gwen tribe or descendants of the
Undergrounds would be called together in a grand council and requested
to make restitution for the crime or to punish the guilty one,
according to the final decision of the council.
There were several great chieftains of the Undergrounds among the
Ottawas who were living within my time, and some are here mentioned who
were most known by the American people, particularly during the war
with Great Britain in 1812. Most of these chieftains were my own
uncles. One was called Late Wing, who took a very active part for the
cause of the United States in the war of 1812, and he was a great
friend to Governor Lewis Cass of Michigan. Wing was pensioned for life
for his good services to the United States. He was one of my father's
own brothers. Shaw-be-nee was an uncle of mine on my mother's side, who
also served bravely for the United States in the war of 1812. He
traveled free all over the United States during his lifetime. This
privilege was granted to him by the Government of the United States for
his patriotism and bravery. He died in the State of Illinois about
twenty years ago from this writing, and a monument was raised for him
by the people in that State. Wa-ke-zoo was another great chieftain who
died before my time in the country of Manitoba, out north. He was also
one of my father's brothers. It is related that he was also a prophet
and a great magician.
My own dear father was one of the head chiefs at Arbor Croche, now
called Middle Village or Good Heart, which latter name was given at my
suggestion by the Postoffice Department at Washington. My father died
in June, 1861. His Indian name was Macka-de-pe-nessy, [Footnote: This
name is written variously, the letters d, b, t, and p, being considered
identical in the Ottawa language.--Ed.] which means Black Hawk; but
somehow it has been mistranslated into Blackbird, so we now go by this
latter name. My father was a very brave man. He has led his warriors
several times on the warpath, and he was noted as one who was most
daring and adventurous in his younger days. He stayed about twenty
years in the country of Manitoba with his brother Wa-ke-zoo, among
other tribes of Indians and white fur-traders in that section of the
country. Many times he has grappled with and narrowly escaped from the
grizzly bear and treacherous buffalo which were then very numerous in
that portion of the country. This was about one hundred years ago. He
has seen there things that would be almost incredible at this present
age: liquor sold to the Indians measured with a woman's thimble, a
thimbleful for one dollar; one wooden coarse comb for two beaver skins;
a double handful of salt for one beaver skin--and so on in proportion
in everything else; the poor Indian had to give pile upon pile of
beaver skins, which might be worth two or three hundred dollars, for a
few yards of flimsy cloth. Englishmen and Frenchman who went there
expressly to traffic with the Indians, generally started from Quebec
and Montreal, leaving their families at home; but so soon as they
reached this wild country, they would take Indian wives. When they left
the country, they would leave their Indian wives and children there to
shift for themselves. Consequently there are in this region thousands
of half breeds, most beautiful men and beautiful women, but they are as
savage as the rest of the Indians. No white man there ever told these
poor Indians anything about Christianity, but only added unto them
their degradations and robbed them.
My father was once there left to perish on a lonely island by the fur
traders, not because he had done any crime, but simply from inhuman
cruelty and disregard of Indians by these white men. He was traveling
with these traders from place to place in a long bark canoe, which was
the only means of conveyance on the water in those days. It appears
that there were two parties, and two of these long bark canoes were
going in the same direction, one of which my father was paddling for
them. He was not hired, but simply had joined them in his travels. But
these two parties were thrown into a great quarrel about who should
have my father to paddle their canoe. Therefore they landed on this
little island expressly to fight amongst themselves; and after fighting
long and desperately, they left my poor father on this little island to
die, for they concluded that neither of them should take him into their
canoe. He was left to die! What must be the feelings of this poor
Indian, to whom life was as sweet as to any human creature? What
revenge should he take upon those traders? He had a gun, which he
leveled at them as they started off in their canoes. His fingers were
on the trigger, when suddenly a thought flashed across his mind--
"Perhaps the Great Spirit will be displeased." So he dropped his gun,
and raised a fervent prayer to the Almighty Ruler for deliverance from
this awful situation. After being several days on this little island,
when almost dying from starvation, fortunately deliverance came. He
spied a small canoe with two persons in it within hail. They came and
took him off from his dying situation. It was an Indian woman with her
little son who happened to travel in that direction who saved my
father's life.
From this time hence my father lost all confidence in white men,
whatever the position or profession of the white man might be, whether
a priest, preacher, lawyer, doctor, merchant, or common white man. He
told us to beware of them, as they all were after one great object,
namely, to grasp the world's wealth. And in order to obtain this, they
would lie, steal, rob, or murder, if it need be; therefore he
instructed us to beware how the white man would approach us with very
smooth tongue, while his heart is full of deceit and far from intending
to do us any good.
He left Manitoba country about 1800, or about the time when the
Shawanee prophet, "Waw-wo-yaw-ge-she-maw," who was one of Tecumseh's
own brothers, sent his emissaries to preach to the Ottawas and
Chippewas in the Lower and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan, who advised
the Ottawas and Chippewas to confess their sins and avow their wrongs
and go west, and there to worship the Great Spirit according to the old
style as their forefathers did, [Footnote: The worship of the Great
Spirit consisted mostly in songs and dancing accompanied with an Indian
drum, which has a very deep and solemn sound, alnot very large, about a
foot in diameter. I used to think that the sound of it must reach to
the heaven where the Great Spirit is.] and to abandon everything else
which the white man had introduced into the tribes of Indians, to
abandon even the mode of making fire, which was by flint and steel, and
to start their fires by friction between the two pieces of dry wood as
their forefathers made their fires before the white people came to this
country, and to eat no flesh of domestic animals, but to eat nothing
but wild game, and use their skins for their wearing apparel and robes
as the Great Spirit designed them to be when He created them. He taught
them that the Great Spirit was angry with them because they conformed
to the habits of the white man, and that if they did not believe and
practice the old habits, the Great Spirit would shake the earth as an
evidence that he tells them the truth. A great many Ottawas believed
and went far west accordingly. And it happened about this time the
earth did quake in Michigan; I think, if I am not mistaken, the earth
shook twice within a year, which is recorded in the annals of this
country. At the earthquake many Indians were frightened, and
consequently many more believed and went west; but nearly all of them
died out there because the climate did not agree with them. Saw-gaw-
kee--Growing-plant--was the head chief of the Ottawa nation of Indians
at that time, and was one of the believers who went with the parties
out west, and he also died there. [Footnote: This Chief Saw-gaw-kee was
Ne-saw-wa-quat's father, the last head chief of Little Traverse. Ne-
saw-wa-quat was the only child remaining alive of the whole family of
Saw-gaw-kee. Therefore the child was brought back to this country and
was the last head chief of Little Traverse, now Harbor Springs.] This
is the second time that the Ottawas were terribly reduced in numbers in
the country of Arbor Croche.