INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI
BY EDWIN THOMPSON DENIG
EDITED WITH NOTES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
BY J. N. B. HEWITT
Forty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to
the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1928-1929, Government
Printing Office, Washington, 1930, pages 375-628.
PREFACE
This manuscript is entitled “A Report to the Hon. Isaac I. Stevens,
Governor of Washington Territory, on the Indian Tribes of the Upper
Missouri, by Edwin Thompson Denig.” It has been edited and arranged
with an introduction, notes, a biographical sketch of the author, and a
brief bibliography of the tribes mentioned in the report.
The report consists of 451 pages of foolscap size; closely written
in a clear and fine script with 15 pages of excellent pen sketches
and one small drawing, to which illustrations the editor has added
two photographs of Edwin Thompson Denig and his Assiniboin wife,
Hai-kees-kak-wee-lãh, Deer Little Woman, and a view of Old Fort Union
taken from “The Manoe-Denigs,” a family chronicle, New York, 1924.
The manuscript is undated, but from internal evidence it seems safe to
assign it to about the year 1854.
The editor has not attempted to verify the statements of the author as
embodied in the report; he has, however, where feasible, rearranged
some portions of its contents by bringing together under a single
rubric remarks upon a common topic which appeared in various parts of
the report as replies to closely related but widely placed questions;
and he has attempted to do this without changing the phraseology or
the terminology of Mr. Denig, except in very rare instances, and then
only to clarify a statement. For example, the substitution of the
native term for the ordinary English expression, the Great Spirit,
and divining in the place of “medicine” in medicine man, practically
displacing _medicine man_, by the word _diviner_.
In his letter of transmittal “To his Excellency, Isaac I. Stevens,
Governor of Washington Territory,” Mr. Denig writes: “Being stimulated
with the desire to meet your wishes and forward the views of
government, I have in the following pages endeavored to answer the
‘Inquiries’ published by act of Congress, regarding the ‘History,
Present Condition, and Future Prospects of the Indian Tribes’ with
which I am acquainted. * * * Independent of my own personal observation
and knowledge acquired by a constant residence of 21 years among the
prairie tribes, in every situation, I have on all occasions had the
advice of intelligent Indians as to the least important of these
inquiries, so as to avoid, if possible, the introduction of error. * * *
“It is presumed the following pages exhibit a minutiæ of information,
on those subjects not to be obtained either by transient visitors or
a residence of a few years in the country, without being, as is the
case with myself, intimately acquainted with their camp regulations,
understanding their language, and in many instances entering into their
feelings and actions.
“The whole has been well digested, the different subjects pursued
in company with the Indians for an entire year, until satisfactory
answers have been obtained, and their motives of speech or action well
understood before placing the same as a guide and instruction to others.
“The answers refer to the Sioux, Arikara, Mandan, Gros Ventres, Cree,
Crow, Assiniboin, and Blackfeet Nations, who are designated as prairie,
roving, or wild tribes—further than whom our knowledge does not extend.
“I am aware of your capacity to judge the merits of the work and will
consider myself highly honored if I have had the good fortune to meet
your approbation; moreover I shall rejoice if I have contributed in any
degree toward opening a course of policy on the part of the Government
that may result in the amelioration of the sad condition of the
savages. Should the facts herein recorded ever be published or embodied
in other work it is hoped the errors of language may be corrected, but
in no instance is it desired that the meaning should miscarry.”
Elsewhere in this letter Mr. Denig writes: “Some of their customs and
opinions now presented, although very plain and common to us who are in
their daily observance, may not have been rendered in comprehensible
language to those who are strangers to these things, and the number of
queries, the diversity of subjects, etc., have necessarily curtailed
each answer to as few words as possible.”
The report was made in response to a circular of “Inquiries, Respecting
the History, Present Condition, and Future Prospects of the Indian
Tribes of the United States,” by Henry R. Schoolcraft, Office of Indian
Affairs, Washington, D. C., printed in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1851.
This circular is a reprint of the circular issued in July, 1847, in
accordance with the provisions of section 5, chapter 66, of the Laws of
the Twenty-ninth Congress, second session, and approved March 3, 1847,
which read, “_And be it further enacted_, That in aid of the means now
possessed by the Department of Indian Affairs through its existing
organization, there be, and hereby is, appropriated the sum of five
thousand dollars to enable the said department, under the direction
of the Secretary of War, to collect and digest such statistics and
material as may illustrate the history, the present condition, and
future prospects of the Indian tribes of the United States.”
The original circular recites that it was addressed to four classes
of individuals, namely, “I. Persons holding positions under the
department, who are believed to have it in their power to impart much
practical information respecting the tribes who are, respectively,
under their charge. II. Persons who have retired from similar
situations, travelers in the Indian Territory, or partners and factors
on the American frontiers. III. Men of learning or research who have
perused the best writers on the subject and who may feel willing to
communicate the results of their reading or reflections. IV. Teachers
and missionaries to the aborigines.”
The circular closes with an expression of the “anxiety which is felt to
give to the materials collected the character of entire authenticity,
and to be apprised of any erroneous views in the actual manners and
customs, character, and condition of our Indian tribes which may have
been promulgated. The Government, it is believed, owes it to itself
to originate a body of facts on this subject of an entirely authentic
character, from which the race at large may be correctly judged by
all classes of citizens, and its policy respecting the tribes under
its guardianship, and its treatment of them, properly understood and
appreciated.”
The 348 inquiries in the circular embrace the history (and archeology),
the tribal organization, the religion, the manners and customs, the
intellectual capacity and character, the present condition, the future
prospects, and the language, of the Indian tribes of the United States.
But the report of Mr. Denig consists of brief and greatly condensed
replies to as many of the questions propounded in the circular in
question as concerned the native tribes of the upper Missouri River, to
wit, the Arikara, the Mandan, the Sioux, the Gros Ventres, the Cree,
the Crows, the Assiniboin, and the Blackfeet, tribes with whom he was
thoroughly acquainted, although the Assiniboin seem to have been the
chief subjects of his observations. It should be noted that the answers
to some of the questions, if adequately treated, would have required
nearly as much space as was devoted to the entire report.
While the facts embodied in the replies of Mr. Denig are, when
unqualified, affirmed of all the eight tribes mentioned in his letter
of transmittal, he is nevertheless careful, when needful, to restrict
many of his answers to the specific tribes to which their subject
matter particularly related. But, of course, all the tribes mentioned
belonged measurably to a single cultural area at that time.
That Mr. Denig made use of the circular issued by Mr. Schoolcraft is
clearly evident from the fact that on the left-hand margin of the
manuscript he usually wrote the number of the question to which he was
giving an answer.
In the manuscript there appear two quite distinct handwritings, and so
it is possible that this particular manuscript is a copy of an original
which was retained by the author.
Dr. F. V. Hayden made extensive use of this report in preparation of
his “Contributions to the Ethnography and Philology of the Indian
Tribes of the Missouri Valley,” Philadelphia, C. Sherman & Son, 1862.
But he did not give Mr. Denig proper credit for using verbatim numbers
of pages of the manuscript without any indication that he was copying a
manuscript work from another writer whose position and long experience
among them made him an authority on the tribes in question. This piece
of plagiarism was not concealed by the bald statement of Doctor Hayden
that he was “especially indebted to Mr. Alexander Culbertson, the
well-known agent of the American Fur Co., who has spent 30 years of his
life among the wild tribes of the Northwest and speaks several of their
languages with great ease. To Mr. Andrew Dawson, superintendent of Fort
Benton; Mr. Charles E. Galpin, of Fort Pierre; and E. T. Denig, of Fort
Union, I am under great obligations for assistance freely granted at
all times.”
Mr. Edwin Thompson Denig, the author of this manuscript report, was the
son of Dr. George Denig and was born March 10, 1812, in McConnellstown,
Huntingdon County, Pa., and died in 1862 or 1863 in Manitoba, probably
in the town of Pilot Mound, in the vicinity of which his daughters
live, or did live in 1910. His legally married wife was the daughter of
an Assiniboin chief, by whom he had two daughters, Sara, who was born
August 10, 1844, and Ida, who was born August 22, 1854, and one son,
Alexander, who was born May 17, 1852, and who was killed by lightning
in 1904.
To his early associates Mr. Denig was a myth, more or less, having
gone West as a young man and having died there. He lost caste with his
family because of his marriage with the Assiniboin woman.
Mr. Denig entered the fur trade in 1833 and became very influential
among the tribes of the upper Missouri River. He was for a time a
Government scout; then a bookkeeper for the American Fur Co. Earlier he
had gone to St. Louis and became connected with the Chouteaus and the
American Fur Co. Before he was 30 years of age he was living among the
Indians as the representative of these two companies in that vast and
almost unknown region between the headwaters of the Mississippi and the
Missouri Rivers inhabited by tribes of the Sioux.
Mr. Denig became a bookkeeper for the American Fur Co. at Fort Union,
situated near the mouth of the Yellowstone River, of the offices of
which for a time, about 1843, he was superintendent. Because of his
thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the Indians of his adopted
tribe, their language, customs, and tribal relations, he was consulted
by most of the noted Indian investigators of that period—Schoolcraft,
Hayden, and others.
Being a Government scout, Mr. Denig was able to conciliate the Indians
during the expedition of Audubon in 1843, making it possible for the
great Frenchman to collect his wonderful specimens. A very colorful
description of Fort Union was written by Mr. Denig July 30, 1843.
This description is found in Volume II, page 180, of “Audubon and His
Journals.” In it Mr. Denig writes: “Fort Union, the principal and
handsomest trading post on the Missouri River, is situated on the north
side, about 6½ miles above the mouth of the Yellowstone River; the
country around it is beautiful and well chosen for an establishment
of the kind.” Then after describing in detail the structure and
furnishings of the fort, he says: “The principal building in the
establishment, and that of the gentleman in charge, or bourgeois, is
now occupied by Mr. Culbertson, one of the partners of the company,”
and farther on, “Next to this is the office, which is devoted
exclusively to the business of the company. * * * This department is
now under my supervision [viz., E. T. Denig].”
During this period Audubon sojourned with him for some time and spoke
of him not only as an agreeable companion but also as a friend who
gave him valuable information and enthusiastic assistance. One of his
frequent companions at Fort Union was the Belgian priest, Father De
Smet. Their correspondence was continued after De Smet had returned to
Belgium. (See Life, Letters and Travels of Father De Smet, Chittenden
and Richardson, 4 vols., New York, 1905.)
Several plausible but nevertheless quite unsatisfactory etymologic
interpretations of the name, Assiniboin, have been made by a number
of writers. Among these interpretations are “Stone Roasters,” “Stone
Warriors,” “Stone Eaters,” etc. These are unfortunately historically
improbable. It appears that difficulty arises from a misconception of
the real meaning of the limited or qualified noun it contains, namely,
_boin_. This element appears in literature, dialectically varied,
as _pour_, _pouar_, _poil_, _poual_, _bwân_, _pwan_, _pwât_, etc.
Evidently, it was the name of a group of people, well known to the Cree
and the Chippewa tribes, whom they held in contempt and so applied
this noun, _boin_, _bwân_, _pwât_, etc., to them. The signification of
its root _bwâ_(n) or _pwâ_(t) is “to be powerless, incapable, weak.”
So that _Pwâtak_ or _Bwânŭg_ (animate plurals) is a term of contempt
or derision, meaning “The Weaklings, The Incapable Ones.” This name
was in large measure restricted to the nomadic group of Siouan tribes
in contradistinction from the sedentary or eastern group of Siouan
peoples who were called Nadowesiwŭg, a term appearing in literature
in many variant spellings. The name Dakota in its restricted use is
the appellation of the group of tribes to which the name _Bwânŭg_,
etc., was applied. This fact indicates that the _Assiniboin_, or
_Assinibwânŭg_, were recognized as a kind of Dakota or Nakota peoples.
Nakota is their own name for themselves. The rupture of the Dakota
tribal hegemony thrust some of these peoples northward to the rocky
regions about Lake Winnipeg and the Saskatchewan and Assiniboin
rivers. So it was these who were called Rock or Stone Dakota (i. e.,
_Bwânŭg_). It would thus appear that the rupture occurred after there
were recognized the two groups of Siouan tribes in the past, namely,
the nomadic or western, the Dakota, and the sedentary or eastern, the
_Nadowesiwŭg_ of literature.
Traditionally, the Assiniboin people are an offshoot of the Wazikute
gens of the Yanktonai (Ihañkto^nwa^nna) Dakota.
Dr. F. V. Hayden in his “Contributions to the Ethnography and Philology
of the Indian Tribes of the Missouri Valley” says that Mr. Denig was
“an intelligent trader, who resided for many years at the junction
of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers as superintendent of Fort
Union, the trading post for the Assiniboins.” Of the vocabulary of
the Assiniboin language, recorded by Mr. Denig, Doctor Hayden wrote
that it is “the most important” one theretofore collected. From the
citation from Mr. Denig’s description of Fort Union in a preceding
paragraph it appears that Doctor Hayden is in error in making Mr. Denig
superintendent of the fort rather than of the office of the American
Fur Co. at that point.
In one of his letters Reverend Father Terwecoren wrote that Mr. Denig,
of the St. Louis Fur Co., is “a man of tried probity and veracity.”
From references in Audubon, Kurtz, De Smet, Hayden, and Schoolcraft,
and as well from a perusal of this manuscript, it is evident that
Mr. Denig was an exceptional man, and for more than 20 years was a
prominent figure in the fur trade of the upper Missouri River.
In this summary report to Governor Stevens Mr. Denig has succinctly
embodied in large measure the culture, the activities, the customs,
and the beliefs of the native tribes who occupied the upper Missouri
River 75 years ago, more than 75 per cent of which has been lost beyond
recovery by contact with the white man. For more than 40 years the
native life with which Mr. Denig was in contact has been largely a
thing of the past, so that it is futile to attempt to recover it from
the remnants of the tribes who formerly traded with Mr. Denig at Fort
Union.
In addition to preparing this report to Governor Stevens Mr. Denig also
recorded a Blackfoot Algonquian vocabulary of about 70 words, a Gros
Ventres Siouan vocabulary, and an Assiniboin Siouan vocabulary of more
than 400 words, which was published by Schoolcraft in his fourth volume.
From a letter written February 27, 1923, by Dr. Rudolph Denig, of 56
East Fifty-eighth Street, New York, N. Y., the following interesting
biographical matter relating to the ancestry of Mr. Denig is taken:
The Denigs, or “Deneges,” trace their descent from one Herald Ericksen,
a chieftain, or “smaa kongen,” of the Danish island of Manoe in the
North Sea, from whose descendant Red Vilmar, about 1460, they derive an
unbroken lineage. They were seafarers, commanding their own vessels,
and engaged in trade in the North and Baltic Seas.
About 1570 Thorvald Christiansen changed the tradition of the family by
becoming a tiller of the soil, having obtained possession of a large
farm near Ribe in northern Slesvig, which to this day bears its ancient
name of Volling gaard. Christian Thomsen, 1636-1704, was the first of
the family to take up a learned profession; he studied theology, and
being ordained a minister in the Lutheran Church, he was also the first
biographer of the family, in that he left a kind of genealogy inscribed
on the flyleaves of his Bible.
His grandson, Frederick Svensen, took part as corporal in a Danish
auxiliary corps at the age of 17 in Marlborough’s operations in the
Netherlands in the war of the Spanish Succession. Following the
disbanding of his corps he took up his residence in Cologne, and after
a few years he found a permanent home, about 1720, in Biebrich-Mosbach,
opposite Mayence.
The two branches of the family at present are the descendants of Philip
George and Johan Peter, both sons of Frederick. Johan Peter emigrated
to America in 1745, leaving among his descendants Edwin Thompson Denig,
the subject of this treatise; Commodore Robert Gracie Denig, United
States Navy, his son; Major Robert Livingston Denig, United States
Marine Corps, a distinguished soldier of the World War, and Dr. Blanche
Denig, a well-known woman physician of Boston.
The descendants of Philip George include Dr. Rudolph C. Denig,
professor of clinical ophthalmology in Columbia University, New York,
N. Y.
Ethnologically, it may be of more than passing interest to know that
the name Denig was originally Denek(e), then Deneg, which was taken as
a family name by Frederick Svensen at the time he left Denmark in 1709.
Until then the family had followed the old Scandinavian custom of the
son taking his father’s first name with the suffix sen or son as his
family name.
The Denigs came to their present name in the following manner: After
the Kalmar War, 1611-1613, conditions in Denmark became critical, and
the Danes were hard pressed for all the necessaries of life, especially
foodstuffs. They were therefore forced to import grain from neighboring
countries. So it happened that Ludvig Thorvaldsen, born in 1590, was
sent by his father, Thorvald Christiansen, to Valen in Westphalia, a
district still renowned for its agriculture, to buy corn.
Ludvig went there every fall for three or four successive years.
Eventually the Westphalians nicknamed him Deneke; “Den” meaning Dane,
and the suffix “eke,” like “ike,” “ing,” and “ig,” a diminutive,
derivative, or patronymic. Naturally this surname was not used at home,
but it became useful when occasional trips took members of the family
outside of Denmark.
The use of such a nom de guerre has always been popular with
Scandinavian and kindred races like the Friesians. As the supply of
available names did not meet the demand, frequent similarity of names
made it difficult to avoid losing one’s identity.
When Frederick Svensen Deneg had settled in Biebrich-Mosbach the name
Deneg had to undergo another change. While in the north the syllable
“eg” is pronounced like “ek,” the Chatto-Franconian dialect around
Mayence pronounces it like “esh.” Automatically, for euphonic reasons
the name was dialectically changed to Denig. In former times such
capricious changes in names were frequently made. In perusing old
chronicles many names are found written in three or four different ways
within one century. An instance to the point is the Frankish name of
King Meroveg, who was also called Merovig, and his descendants were
called Meroveger, Meroviger, and Merovinger, according to dialects
spoken in the different regions of the former Frankish empire. This
parallels the change of Deneg to Denig.
Upon his arrival, September 5, 1851, at Fort Union, 3 miles above the
mouth of the Yellowstone River on the Missouri, Mr. Frederick Kurz, the
Swiss artist, of Berne, Switzerland, who had heard some ugly rumors
about Mr. Denig, wrote in his Journal (yet in manuscript): “Bellange
delivered the letter he brought to a small, hard-featured man, wearing
a straw hat, the brim of which was turned up in the back. He was my new
_bourgeois_, Mr. Denig. He impressed me as a rather prosy fellow....
He ordered supper delayed on our account that we might have a better
and more plentiful meal. A bell summoned me to the first table with
Mr. Denig and the clerks. My eyes almost ran over with tears. There
was chocolate, milk, butter, omelet, fresh meat, hot bread—what a
magnificent spread. I changed my opinion at once concerning this new
chief; a hard, niggardly person could not have reconciled himself to
such a hospitable reception in behalf of a subordinate who was a total
stranger to him” (pp. 205-206). Kurz remained with Denig three years.
Again, Kurz wrote: “In his relations with me he is most kind and
agreeable. Every evening he sits with me either in my room or in front
of the gate and relates experiences of his earlier life. As he has held
his position in this locality for 19 years already, his life has been
full of adventure with Indians—particularly since the advent of the
whisky flask. He wishes me to paint, also, a portrait of himself and
his dog, Natah (Bear), a commission I am very glad to execute” (p. 211).
Again, in speaking of the duties of Mr. Denig, Kurz wrote: “It goes
without saying that a _bourgeois_ who occupies the position of
responsible warden, chief tradesman, and person in highest authority at
a trading-post far removed, where he has fifty men under his direction,
may regard himself of more importance than a man who directs five men”
(p. 213).
Again Kurz wrote: “As a matter of course, Denig keeps the subordinate
workmen strictly under his thumb—what is more, he has to, if he is to
prevent their overreaching him. He feels, however, that one man alone
is not sufficient to enforce good order among these underlings, for
every one of them is armed and, though not courageous in general, are,
nevertheless, touchy and revengeful. So, for purposes of order and
protection he has attached to himself the clerks who stand more nearly
on the same level with him in birth and education and afford, besides,
the only support, moral as well as physical, upon which he can reckon”
(p. 216).
Again Kurz wrote: “He talks to me continually about Indian legends and
usages. As he writes the best of these stories for Pere De Smet, by
whom they are published, there is no need of my preserving more than
some bits of memoranda” (p. 238). This explains why the writings on
these matters of Father De Smet have a close family resemblance with
those of Mr. Denig.
Again Kurz wrote: “Mr. Denig has been reading to me again from his
manuscript, which is extremely interesting. He is very well educated
and he has made a thorough study of Indian life—a distinct advantage
to him in trade. He is so fond of the life in this part of the country
that he is averse to any thought of going back to his Pennsylvania home
in the United States. For the reason, as he says, that he may avoid
political carryings-on that disgust him” (p. 242).
Another entry in the Kurz Journal reads: “September the 24th. Began
a portrait of Mr. Denig—life-size, knee-length. This work is to be
finished before Mr. Culbertson’s return from Fort Laramie” (p. 254).
The following citation is from the Kurz Journal at page 577: “February
the 26th, Mr. Denig is a Swedenborgian and at the same time he is a
Freemason. He mentioned to me that it would be of great advantage on my
travels if I were a Freemason.”
It seems appropriate to insert here briefly what another intimate
friend of Mr. Denig, the Reverend Father De Smet, thought of the
knowledge and attainments of our author. Father De Smet in speaking of
the source of his information in a particular instance wrote: “I have
it from two most reliable sources—that is to say, from a man of tried
probity and veracity, Mr. Denig of the Saint Louis Fur Company....”[1]
[1] Chittenden, H. M., and Richardson, A. T. Life, letters, and travels
of Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S. J., 1801-1873. Vol. IV, p. 1111. New
York, 1905.
On page 1215 of this same work Father De Smet in a personal letter
to Mr. Denig, dated September 30, 1852, wrote: “I do not know how to
express my gratitude for your very interesting series of narratives
concerning the aborigines of the Far West.... Nothing could be more
gratifying to me than the beautiful and graphic details which you have
given me of the religion, manners, customs, and transactions of an
unfortunate race of human beings.”
It is hoped that these excerpts from the writings of Frederick Kurz and
Father De Smet, both intimately associated with Mr. Denig, will supply
some data concerning our author not otherwise accessible.
The Swiss artist, Friedrich Kurz, who painted many pictures of the
region around Fort Union, lived with Denig for some time, and in 1851
painted his portrait.
The Indians called Mr. Denig “The Long Knife,” which simply meant that
they knew him as “an American.”
In the manuscript Mr. Denig employs the word “band” to denote “a gens
of a tribe,” the word “clans” to denote “societies” or “corporations,”
and the “orders of doctors” he calls “shamans or theurgists.” To
understand Mr. Denig these meanings must be kept in mind.
THE EDITOR.
CONTENTS
Page
Letter of transmittal 393
THE ASSINIBOIN
History 395
Origin 395
Name and geographical position 396
Ancient and modern habitat 397
Vestiges of early tradition 398
Names and events in history 399
Present rulers and condition 401
Intertribal rank and relations 403
Magnitude and resources of territory a cause of the
multiplication of tribes 405
Geography 406
Figure of the globe 406
Local features of the habitat 406
Surface of the country 407
Facilities for grazing 408
Effect of firing the prairies 408
Waste lands 409
Effects of volcanic action 409
Saline productions 409
Coal and mineral products 410
Climate 410
Wild animals 410
Ancient bones and traditions of the monster era 411
Animals used as armorial marks 412
The horse—Era of importation 412
Pictographs—Charts on bark 412
Antiquities 413
Pipes 413
Vessels and implements 414
Astronomy and geology 414
Earth and its motions 414
The sun 415
The sky 415
Future life—Indian paradise 418
Arithmetic 418
Numeration 418
Coin 420
Keeping accounts 420
Elements of figures 421
Medicine 422
General practice 422
Depletion by bleeding 426
Stoppage of blood and healing art 427
Amputation 427
Theory of diseases and their remedy 428
Parturition 429
Government 430
Tribal organization and government 430
Chiefs 431
The Sndoo-kah, “Circumcised” 434
Soldiers 436
Councils 446
Scope of civil jurisdiction 448
Chiefship 448
Power of the war chief 449
Power of the priests in councils 450
Matrons in councils 451
General councils 451
Private right to take life 452
Game laws, or rights of the chase 455
Indian trade 457
Education 466
Warfare 470
Property 474
Territorial rights 476
Primogeniture 478
Crime 479
Prayers 483
Prayer of warrior 483
Prayer to ghosts 484
The moon 484
Parental affection 485
Religion 486
Immortality 498
Mythology: Legends, tales 500
Manners and customs 503
Constitution of the Assiniboin family; kinship 503
Camp life 505
Courtship and marriage 510
Music 512
Longevity 513
Hospitality 513
Midwifery, childbirth, naming 516
Assiniboin personal names 518
Children 519
Suicide 522
Personal behavior 523
Scalping 524
Oaths 524
Smoking 524
Fame 525
Stoicism 525
Taciturnity 526
Public speaking 526
Travel 526
Senses 527
Juggling and sorcery 528
Strength and endurance 529
Spirituous liquors 529
Hunting 530
Throwing buffalo in a park 532
Approaching buffalo 534
Deer hunting 536
Elk hunting 537
Grizzly bears 537
Beaver 538
Wolves and foxes 538
Instruction in hunting 542
Fishing 544
War 544
Costume of a warrior 553
Weapons 555
Dancing and amusements 556
Scalp dance 557
Brave’s dance 558
Fox dance 561
Duck dance 562
Bulls’ dance 562
Soldiers’ dance 562
White crane dance 563
Crow dance 564
Dance of the mice comrades 564
Whip dance 564
God-seeking dance 564
Women’s dance 564
Games 565
Racing 566
Gambling 567
Death and its consequences 570
Orphans and the aged 576
Lodges 577
Canoes 579
Mental and ethical advancement 579
Medicine; drugs 581
Food 581
Garments; dresses 584
Ornaments 590
Paints and dyes 591
Tattooing 592
Badges of office 592
Beard 593
Intellectual capacity and character 593
Picture writing 603
Myth telling 607
Fables 609
Songs; music 617
Present condition and future prospects 620
Intermarriage with whites 625
Population 625
Language 625
Bibliography 627
Index 629
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
Page
62. Fort Union as it appeared in 1833 394
63. Edwin Thompson Denig and Mrs. Denig 394
64. Drawings by an Assiniboin Indian 414
65. Culinary utensils 414
66. Characteristic implements of the Assiniboin 414
67. _a_, Comb root; _b_, Cat-tail 414
68. The calumet and its accompaniments 446
69. A buffalo park or “surround” 532
70. An Assiniboin running a buffalo 532
71. Scalp dance 558
72. Coo-soo´, or game of the bowl 558
73. The Chun-kan-dee´ game 578
74. A lodge frame and a completed lodge 578
75. The interior of a lodge and its surroundings 578
76. An Assiniboin stabbing a Blackfoot 578
77. Map of region above Fort Union 606
78. Diagram of a battle field 606
79. Diagram of a battle field 606
80. Musical instruments 606
TEXT FIGURES
30. Lancet 426
31. Diagram of a council lodge 437
32. Cradle board 519
33. Tool for fleshing the hide 540
34. Tool for scraping hides or shaving the skin 541
35. Picture writing 603
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
To His Excellency ISAAC I. STEVENS,
_Governor of Washington Territory_.
SIR: Being stimulated with a desire to meet your wishes and forward the
views of Government, I have in the following pages endeavored to answer
the Inquiries published by act of Congress regarding the history,
present condition, and future prospects of the Indian tribes with which
I am acquainted.
Had I been called upon to illustrate the facts herein recorded by
reference to their different individual histories and actions, a more
voluminous and perhaps interesting work might have been presented the
general reader, but in conformity to the instructions laid down in
the document referred to, have only replied to the various queries,
limiting the answers to plain statements of facts.
Independent of my own personal observation and knowledge acquired by
a constant residence of 21 years among the prairie tribes in every
situation, I have on all occasions had the advice of intelligent
Indians as to the least important of these queries, so as to avoid,
if possible, the introduction of error. Should there be new ideas
presented, and the organization, customs, or present condition of
the Indians made public in the following manuscript differ either
materially or immaterially from any other now extant I would beg leave
to say I would much rather have the same rejected than to see it
published in a mutilated form or made to coincide with any histories
of the same people from others who have not had like opportunities of
acquiring information.
Some of their customs and opinions now presented, although very plain
and common to us who are in their daily observance, may not have been
rendered in comprehensible language to those who are stranger to these
things, and the number of queries, the diversity of subjects, etc.,
have necessarily curtailed each answer to as few words as possible.
In the event, therefore, of not being understood or of apparent
discrepancies presenting, it would be but justice done the author and
patron to have the same explained, which would be cheerfully done.
It is presumed the following pages exhibit a minutiæ of information
on those subjects not to be obtained either by transient visitors or
a residence of a few years in the country, without being, as is the
case with myself, intimately acquainted with their camp regulations,
understanding their language, and in many instances entering into their
feelings and actions. The whole has been well digested, the different
subjects pursued in company with the Indians for an entire year, until
satisfactory answers have been obtained, and their motives of speech
or action well understood before placing the same as a guide and
instruction to others. The answers refer to the Sioux, Arikara, Mandan,
Gros Ventres, Cree, Crow, Assiniboin, and Blackfeet Nations, who are
designated as prairie roving or wild tribes, further than whom our
knowledge does not extend.
I am aware of your capacity to judge the merits of the work, and will
consider myself highly honored if I have had the good fortune to meet
your approbation. Moreover, I shall rejoice if I have contributed in
any degree toward opening a course of policy on the part of Government
that may result in the amelioration of the sad condition of the
savages. Should the facts herein recorded ever be published or embodied
in other works, it is hoped the errors of language may be corrected,
but in no instance is it desired that the meaning should miscarry.
Should any references be required by the department for whom this is
written I beg leave to name as my friends and personal acquaintances in
addition to your Excellency, Col. D. D. Mitchell, Kenneth Mackruger,
Esq., Rev. P. I. De Smet, Messrs. P. Chouteau, Jr., & Co., and Alex.
Culbertson, Esq., all of St. Louis, and Dr. John Evans, United States
geologist, any of whom will satisfy inquiries on this head.
Permit me, my dear friend, to remain with great respect and high
consideration, truly your most obedient servant,
EDWIN T. DENIG.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT
PLATE 62
FORT UNION AS IT APPEARED IN 1833]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT
PLATE 63
EDWIN THOMPSON DENIG AND MRS. DENIG]
INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI
By EDWIN T. DENIG
THE ASSINIBOIN[2]
[2] Consult Preface for etymologic analysis of this word and for its
objective meaning.
HISTORY
ORIGIN.—But little traditionary can be stated by these Indians as
authentic of their origin which would be entitled to record in history,
though many singular and fabulous tales are told concerning it. As a
portion of people, however, once inhabiting another district and being
incorporated with another nation, their history presents a connected
and credible chain of circumstances. The Assiniboin were once a part of
the great Sioux or Dacotah Nation, residing on the tributary streams of
the Mississippi; say, the head of the Des Moines, St. Peters, and other
rivers. This is evident, as their language with but little variation
is the same, and also but a few years back there lived a very old
chief, known to all of us as Le Gros François, though his Indian name
was Wah-he´ Muzza or the “Iron Arrow-point,” who recollected perfectly
the time of their separation from the Sioux, which, according to his
data, must have been about the year 1760.[3] He stated that when Lewis
and Clark came up the Missouri in 1805 his band of about 60 lodges
(called Les Gens des Roches) had after a severe war made peace with the
Sioux, who at that time resided on the Missouri, and that he saw the
expedition referred to near White Earth River, these being the first
body of whites ever seen by them, although they were accustomed to be
dealt with by the fur traders of the Mississippi. After their first
separation from the Sioux they moved northward, making a peace with the
Cree and Chippewa, took possession of an uninhabited country on or near
the Saskatchewan and Assiniboin Rivers, in which district some 250 or
300 lodges still reside. Some time after the expedition of Lewis and
Clark, or at least after the year 1777, the rest of the Assiniboin,
at that time about 1,200 lodges, migrated toward the Missouri, and as
soon as they found superior advantages regarding game and trade, made
the latter country their home. One principal incident in their history
which they have every reason to remember and by which many of the
foregoing data are ascertained is a visitation of the smallpox in 1780
(see Mackenzie’s travels), when they occupied the British territory.
Even yet there are two or three Indians living who are marked by the
disease of that period and which greatly thinned their population,
though owing to their being separated through an immense district, some
bands entirely escaped. Upon the whole it does not appear to have been
as destructive as the same disease on the Missouri in 1838, which I
will have occasion to mention in its proper place in these pages and
which reduced them from 1,200 lodges to about 400 lodges.
[3] This traditional date given by Denig is evidently much too late,
for as early as the middle of the seventeenth century they were known
to the Jesuit missionaries of Canada.
NAME AND GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.—The name of the Assiniboin among
themselves is Da-co-tah, same as the Sioux, which means “our people.”
By the Sioux they are called Ho´-hai or “Fish-eaters,” perhaps from
the fact that they lived principally on fish while on the British
grounds, as most of those Indians do. By the Cree and Chippewa they
are called As-see-nee-poi-tuc or Stone Indians; hence the English name
of Assiniboin arises. As has been stated, at the earliest date known
they roved about the head of St. Peters, Des Moines, Lac du Diable, and
Lac qui Parle; and they were then joined with the Sioux Indians, who
inhabited and claimed all the lands between the Mississippi and the
Missouri as low down as Big Sioux River and as high up as the head of
Rivier à Jacques, thence northward toward Lac du Diable, other bands of
Sioux (Teton) residing west of the Missouri. The number of Assiniboin
when they separated must have been at least 1,500 lodges, averaging
six souls to a lodge [or about 9,000 persons]. Their migration has
been referred to and the extent of land they occupied in the British
territory on the Saskatchewan, etc., was very large, but at present
their habitat is entirely different, and it may be as well to state
it here. The northern Assiniboin, 250 or 300 lodges, rove the country
from the west banks of the Saskatchewan, Assiniboin, and Red Rivers in
a westward direction to the Woody Mountains north and west among small
spurs of the Rocky Mountains east of the Missouri, and among chains of
small lakes through this immense region. Occasionally making peace with
some of the northern bands of Blackfeet enables them to come a little
farther west and deal with those Indians, but, these “peaces” being
of short duration, they are for the most part limited to the prairies
east and north of the Blackfeet range. The rest of the Assiniboin,
say 500 to 520 lodges [who may be called the Southern Assiniboin],
occupy the following district, viz., commencing at the mouth of the
White Earth River on the east, extending up that river to its head,
thence northwest along the Couteau de Prairie, or Divide, as far as
the Cyprus Mountains on the North Fork of the Milk River, thence down
Milk River to its junction with the Missouri River, thence down the
Missouri River to the mouth of White Earth River, or the starting
point. Formerly they inhabited a portion of country on the south side
of the Missouri River along the Yellowstone River, but of late years,
having met with great losses by Blackfeet, Sioux, and Crow war parties,
they have been obliged to abandon this region and now they never go
there. As before remarked, the Assiniboin still numbered 1,000 to
1,200 lodges, trading on the Missouri until the year 1838, when the
smallpox reduced their numbers to less than 400 lodges. Also, being
surrounded by large and hostile tribes, war has had its share in their
destruction, though now they are increasing slowly.
ANCIENT AND MODERN HABITAT.—Before proceeding further it would be
well to state and bear in mind that of all the Indians now residing
on the Missouri River the Assiniboin appear to have made the least
progress toward acquiring civilized ideas or knowledge of any kind.
Superstitious, lazy, and indisposed to thought, they make no attempt
to improve themselves in any way. Neither are they anxious that others
should teach them; consequently they are far behind the other tribes
even as regards their own savage manner of life. This will receive
further explanation. They do not think the Great Spirit created them
on or for a particular portion of country, but that he made the whole
prairie for the sole use of the Indian, and the Indian to suit the
prairie, giving among other reasons the fact that the buffalo is so
well adapted to their wants as to meat and clothing, even for their
lodges and bowstrings. To the Indian is allotted legs to run, eyes to
see far, bravery, instinct, watchfulness, and other capacities not
developed in the same degree in the whites. The Indian, therefore,
occupies any section of prairie where game is plentiful and he can
protect himself from enemies. With regard to any other kind of right
than that of possession and ability to defend, besides the general
right granted by the Great Spirit, they have not the most distant idea.
The Assiniboin conquered nothing to come into possession of their
habitat, they had their difficulties with surrounding tribes and still
have, as others have, and continue as they commenced, fighting and
hunting alternately. Their first interview with Europeans (now spoken
of) was when the traders of the Mississippi pushed their traffic as far
as their camps, and from whom they obtained firearms, woolen clothing,
utensils, etc. Afterwards these supplies were had from the Hudson Bay
Co. and, latterly, from the Americans on the Missouri River. There is
every reason to believe that the introduction of ardent spirits among
them was coeval, if not antecedent, to that of any other article of
trade. Before the trade was opened with them by the whites they say
they used knives made of the hump rib of the buffalo, hatchets made of
flint stone, mallets of the same, cooking utensils of clay and wood,
bones for awls, and sinew for thread, all of which articles can yet
be found among them. They made with these rude tools their bows and
arrows, pointing the latter with stone, and, as game was abundant,
hunted them on foot or threw them into pens built for the purpose,
which method they continue to use to this day. In this way they had
no difficulty in supporting themselves, and so contend that they have
gained nothing by intimacy with the whites but diseases which kill them
off in numbers and wants which they are unable at all times to gratify.
They have never sold lands by treaty, and the only treaty (with the
exception of that at Laramie, 1851) was made by them through an Indian
agent of the United States named Wilson, at the Mandan village in 1825.
But this was merely an amicable alliance for the protection of American
traders and an inducement held out to the Indians to leave off trading
at the Hudson Bay Co.‘s posts and establish themselves on the Missouri,
without, however, any remuneration on the part of the United States.
VESTIGES OF EARLY TRADITION.—They have no creditable tradition of the
Mosaic account of the creation or deluge, neither of their ancestors
having lived in other lands nor knowledge of foreign quadrupeds nor any
idea of whites or other races occupying the country before the Indians.
It is easy to perceive in converse with them that whites have from
time to time endeavored to explain the Mosaic account of the creation
and deluge, together with other scriptural records, but instead of
comprehending the same they have mixed with their own superstitions and
childish notions in so many various and nonsensical forms that none is
worthy of record.
They have no name for America, neither do they know of its extent,
for the most part believing that the lands occupied by themselves and
the surrounding tribes compose the greatest part of the world, and
certainly contain the greatest reputed number of people. It vexes and
grieves them to be told of large tracts of land elsewhere, and they do
not or will not believe the whites to be as human as they are.
There is nothing in this subject any Assiniboin could either comprehend
or answer, except that there is a mound about 50 miles above the mouth
of the Yellowstone on the west side and near the Missouri consisting
of an immense pile of elk horns, covering an area of about an acre of
ground, and in height about 30 feet. We have frequently inquired of
these and the surrounding nations as to its origin, but it was raised
previous to the knowledge or even tradition of any tribe now living in
these parts. From the state of decay the horns are in it must be very
ancient.
NAMES AND EVENTS IN HISTORY.—There is no great event in the history
of the Assiniboin that gives them cause to rejoice. True, they have
occasionally gained a battle, but at other times have lost greatly by
wars. Upon the whole they have had the worst of it; at least they,
being a smaller nation than the Blackfeet and Sioux (their enemies)
have felt the loss more severely. The principal calamity that first
overtook them, and by which they suffered greatly, was the smallpox in
1780. (See Mackenzie’s travels and other authors.) On this occasion
they lost about 300 lodges of their people, and it is to this day
mentioned by them as their greatest first misfortune. In the spring
of 1838 this disease was again communicated to them, being brought up
the Missouri by a steamboat, and although every precaution had been
used, the boat cleansed, and no appearance of disease for a long time
aboard, yet it in some way broke out among the Indians, beginning with
the Sioux tribes and ending with the Blackfeet. Being an eyewitness
to this, we can with certainty give an account of its ravages. When
the disease first appeared in Fort Union we did everything in our
power to prevent the Indians from coming to it, trading with them a
considerable distance out in the prairie and representing to them the
danger of going near the infection. All efforts of the kind, however,
proved unavailing, for they would not listen, and 250 lodges contracted
the disease at one time, who in the course of the summer and fall were
reduced to 65 men, young and old, or about 30 lodges in all. Other
bands coming from time to time caught the infection and remained at the
fort, where the dead were daily thrown into the river by cartloads. The
disease was very virulent, most of the Indians dying through delirium
and hemorrhage from the mouth and ears before any spots appeared. Some
killed themselves.