THE INDIAN'S GIFTS TO THE NATION
What does the original American contribute, in the final summing up, to
the country of his birth and his adoption? Not much, perhaps, in
comparison with the brilliant achievements of civilization; yet, after
all, is there not something worthy of perpetuation in the spirit of his
democracy--the very essence of patriotism and justice between man and
man? Silently, by example only, in wordless patience, he holds stoutly
to his native vision. We must admit that the tacit influence of his
philosophy has been felt at last, and a self-seeking world has paused in
its mad rush to pay him a tribute.
Yes, the world has recognized his type, seized his point of view. We
have lived to see monuments erected to his memory. The painter,
sculptor, author, scientist, preacher, all have found in him a model
worthy of study and serious presentation. Lorado Taft's colossal "Black
Hawk" stands wrapped in his stony blanket upon the banks of the Rock
River; while the Indian is to keep company with the Goddess of Liberty
in New York Harbor, besides many other statues of him which
pre-eminently adorn the public parks and halls of our cities.
No longer does the red man live alone in the blood-curdling pages of the
sensational story-writer. He is the subject of profound study as a man,
a philosopher, a noble type both physically and spiritually. Symmetrical
and finely poised in body, the same is true of his character. He stands
naked before you, scorning the garb of deception and pretence, for he is
a true child of nature.
How has he contributed to the world's progress? By his personal
faithfulness to duty and devotion to a trust. He has not advertised his
faithfulness nor made capital of his honor. Again and again he has
proved his worth as a citizen of his country and of the world by his
constancy in the face of hardship and death. Racial antagonism was to
him no excuse for breaking his word. This simplicity and fairness has
cost him dear; it cost his country and his freedom, even the extinction
of his race as a separate and peculiar people; but as a type, an ideal,
he lives and will live!
The red man's genius for military tactics and strategy has been admitted
again and again by those who have fought against him, often unwillingly,
because they saw that he was in the right. His long, unequal struggle
against the dominant race has produced a brilliant array of notable men
without education in letters. Such were King Philip of the Wampanoags;
Pontiac, the great Ottawa; Cornplanter of the Senecas, in the eighteenth
century; while in the first half of the nineteenth we have Weatherford
of the Creeks, Tecumseh of the Shawnees, Little Turtle of the Miamis,
Wabashaw and Wanatan of the Sioux, Black Hawk of the Foxes, Osceola of
the Seminoles. During the last half of the century there arose another
set of Indian leaders, the last of their type--such men as Ouray of the
Utes, Geronimo of the Apaches, Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, and Sitting Bull
of the Sioux, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces, and Dull Knife of the
Northern Cheyennes. Men like these are an ornament to any country.
It has been said that their generalship was equal to that of Caesar or
Napoleon; even greater considering that here was no organization, no
treasury, or hope of spoils, or even a stable government behind them.
They displayed their leadership under conditions in which Napoleon would
have failed. As regards personal bravery, no man could outdo them. After
Jackson had defeated the Creeks, he demanded of them the war chief
Weatherford, dead or alive. The following night Weatherford presented
himself alone at the general's tent, saying: "I am Weatherford; do as
you please with me. I would be still fighting you had I the warriors to
fight with; but they no longer answer my call, for they are dead."
Chief Joseph, who conducted that masterly retreat of eleven hundred
miles, burdened with his women and children, the old men and the
wounded, surrendered at last, as he told me in Washington, because he
could "bear no longer the sufferings of the innocent." These men were
not bloodthirsty or wanton murderers; they were as gentle at home as
they were terrific in battle. Chief Joseph would never harm a white
woman or child, and more than once helped non-combatants to a place of
safety.
In oratory and unstudied eloquence the American Indian has at times
equalled even the lofty flights of the Greeks and Romans. The noted Red
jacket, perhaps the greatest orator and philosopher of primitive
America, was declared by the late Governor Clinton of New York to be the
equal of Demosthenes. President Jefferson called the best-known speech
of Logan, the Mingo chief, the "height of human utterance."
Now let us consider some of his definite contributions to the birth and
nurture of the United States. We have borrowed his emblem, the American
eagle, which matches well his bold and aspiring spirit. It is impossible
to forget that his country and its freely offered hospitality are the
very foundation of our national existence, but his services as a scout
and soldier have scarcely been valued at their true worth.
THE INDIAN SOLDIER AND SCOUT
The name of Washington is immortal; but who remembers that he was safely
guided by a nameless red man through the pathless wilderness to Fort
Duquesne? Washington made a successful advance upon the British army at
Trenton, on Christmas Eve; but Delaware Indians had reported to him
their situation, and made it possible for the great general to hit his
enemy hard at an opportune moment. It is a fact that Washington's
ability was shown by his confidence in the word of the Indians and in
their safe guidance.
In the French and Indian wars there is abundant evidence that both
armies depended largely upon the natives, and that when they failed to
take the advice of their savage allies they generally met with disaster.
This advice was valuable, not only because the Indians knew the country,
but because their strategy was of a high order. The reader may have seen
at Fort George the statue of Sir William Johnson and King Hendrix, the
Mohawk chief. The latter holds in his hand a bundle of sticks. Tradition
says that the chief was arguing against the division of their forces to
meet the approaching French army, saying: "If we are to fight, we are
too few: if we are to die, we are too many!"
As an Indian, and having often heard my people discuss strategic
details, I am almost sure that the chief anticipated the tactics of the
enemy; and the pathetic sequel is that he was selected to lead a portion
of the English forces to Fort Edward that morning, and when only a mile
or so out was ambushed by the enemy. He stood his ground, urging his men
to face the foe; and when he was shot dead, they were so enraged that
with extraordinary valor they routed the French, and thus Hendrix in
dying was really the means of saving Forts George and Edward for the
colonists.
History says that Braddock was defeated and lost his life at Fort
Duquesne because he had neglected and disregarded his Indian scouts, who
accordingly left him, and he had no warning of the approach of the foe.
Again, the Seminole war in Florida was a failure so long as no Indians
were found who were willing to guide the army, and the Government was
compelled to make terms, while the swift and overwhelming defeat of the
Creeks, a much stronger nation, was due more to the Cherokee and
Chickasaw scouts than to the skill of General Jackson. Of course, once
the army is guided to an Indian village, and the warriors are surprised
in the midst of their women and children, the civilized folk, with
superior weapons and generally superior numbers, has every advantage.
The Indian system of scouting has long been recognized as one of the
most useful adjuncts of war. His peculiar and efficient methods of
communication in the field by means of blanket signals, smoke signals,
the arrangement of rock-piles, and by heliograph (small mirrors or
reflectors), the last, of course, in more modern days, have all been
made use of at one time or another by the United States Army. It is
interesting evidence of the world-wide respect for our strategy and
methods, that when the Boer commission came to Washington a few years
ago, Mr. Vessel called upon me to advise him how he might secure one
thousand Sioux and Cheyenne scouts in their war against Great Britain.
Of course I told him that it could not be done: that I would not involve
my country in an international difficulty. I was similarly approached
during the Russo-Japanese war.
The aid of friendly Indians in the case of massacres and surprises of
the whites must not be overlooked. It may be recalled that some Cherokee
warriors, returning from Washington's later successful expedition
against Fort Duquesne, were murdered in their sleep by white
frontiersmen after giving them friendly lodging. Here again is brought
out the genuine greatness of the Indian character. The Cherokees felt
keenly this treacherous outrage by the very people to whom they had just
sacrificed the best blood of their young men in their war against the
French. Some declared their intention of killing every white man they
could find in retaliation for such unprovoked murder; but the chief
Ottakullakulla calmly arose and addressed the excited assembly:
"Let us have consideration," said he, "for our white neighbors who are
not guilty of this deed. We must not violate our faith or the laws of
hospitality by imbruing our hands in the blood of those who are now in
our power. They came to us in the confidence of a pledged friendship;
let us conduct them safely back within their own confines before we take
up the hatchet!"
He carried his point to some extent, and himself saved Captain Stewart,
his friend, by giving up all of his property to ransom him. In
difficulties between the races since colonial times there has been an
unbroken record of heroic work in the rescue of missionaries and other
white persons resident among the Indians by their native converts and
friends. In the Minnesota Sioux outbreak of 1862 there were many notable
instances. A man named Arrow stood beside Mr. Spencer and dared the
infuriated warriors to touch him. There were over two hundred white
captives saved by friendly Indians and delivered to General Sibley at
Camp Release. During the following December some young Yanktonnais
Sioux voluntarily ransomed and delivered up two white women and four
children. I knew some of these men well; among them Fast Walking, who
carried one of the children on his back to safety, after giving his own
horse to redeem him. Seldom have such deeds been rewarded or even
appreciated. When these men became old and feeble an attempt was made to
have them recompensed by Congressional appropriation, but so far as I am
informed it has been unsuccessful.
I do not wish to disparage any one, but I do say that the virtues
claimed by "Christian civilization" are not peculiar to any culture or
religion. My people were very simple and unpractical--the modern
obstacle to the fulfilment of the Christ ideal. Their strength lay in
self-denial. Not only men, but women of the race have served the nation
at most opportune moments in the history of this country.
HISTORIC INDIAN WOMEN
It is remembered that Pocahontas saved the first Virginia colony from
utter destruction because of her love for Captain John Smith, who was
the heart and brain of the colony. It was the women of the Oneida and
Stockbridge Indians who advised their men not to join King Philip
against the New England colonies, and, later, pointed out the wisdom of
maintaining neutrality during the war of the Revolution.
Perhaps no greater service has been rendered by any Indian girl to the
white race than by Catherine, the Ojibway maid, at the height of
Pontiac's great conspiracy. Had it not been for her timely warning of
her lover, Captain Gladwyn, Fort Detroit would have met the same fate as
the other forts, and the large number of Indians who held the siege for
three months would have scattered to wipe out the border settlements of
Ohio and Pennsylvania. The success of Pontiac would certainly have
delayed the settlement of the Ohio valley for many years. It is not to
be supposed that Catherine was moved to give her warning by anything
save her true womanly instincts. She stood between two races, and in her
love and bravery cut short a struggle that might have proved too full of
caprice and cruelty on both sides. She was civilization's angel, and
should have a niche in history beside Pocahontas.
Sacajawea, the young Indian mother who guided Lewis and Clark in their
glorious expedition to the Pacific, was another brave woman. It is true
that she was living in captivity, but according to Indian usage that
would not affect her social position. It does not appear that she joined
the expedition in order to regain her tribe, but rather from a sense of
duty and purpose of high usefulness. Not only as guide, but as
interpreter, and in rescuing the records of the expedition when their
canoe was overturned in the Missouri River, the "Bird Woman" was of
invaluable aid, and is a true heroine of the annals of exploration.
THE CHILDREN'S HERO
Nearly all the early explorers owed much to the natives. Who told the
white men of the wonders of the Yellowstone Park and the canyon of the
Colorado? Who guided them and served them without expectation of credit
or honor? It is a principle among us to serve friend or guest to the
utmost, and in the old days it was considered ill-bred to ask for any
remuneration. To-day we have a new race, the motive of whose actions is
the same as that of a civilized man. Nothing is given unless an
equivalent is returned, or even a little more if he can secure it. Yet
the inherent racial traits are there: latent, no doubt, but still
there. The red man still retains his love of service; his love for his
country. Once he has pledged his word to defend the American flag, he
stands by it manfully.
In the Civil War many Indians fought on both sides, some of them as
officers. General Grant had a full-blood Indian on his staff: Col. Ely
Parker, afterward Commissioner of Indian Affairs. At one time in recent
years a company of Indians was recruited in the regular army, and
individual red men are still rendering good service in both army and
navy (thirty-five ex-students of Carlisle alone), as well as in other
branches of the Federal service. We have lived to see men of our blood
in the councils of the nation, and an Indian Register of the Treasury,
who must sign all our currency before it is valid. An Indian head is on
the five-dollar bill and the new nickel.
George Guess, or Sequoyah, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, is the
only red man admitted to the nation's Hall of Fame in the Capitol at
Washington. The Indian languages, more than fifty in number, are better
appreciated and more studied to-day than ever before. Half our states
have Indian names, and more than that proportion of our principal lakes
and rivers. These names are as richly sonorous as they are packed with
significance, and our grandchildren will regret it if we suffer the
tongues that gave them birth to die out and be forgotten.
Best of all, perhaps, we are beginning to recognize the Indian's good
sense and sanity in the way of simple living and the mastery of the
great out of doors. Like him, the wisest Americans are living, playing,
and sleeping in the open for at least a part of the year, receiving the
vital benefits of the pure air and sunlight. His deeds are carved upon
the very rocks; the names he loved to speak are fastened upon the
landscape; and he still lives in spirit, silently leading the multitude,
for the new generation have taken him for their hero and model.
I call upon the parents of America to give their fullest support to
those great organizations, the Boy Scouts and the Camp Fire Girls. The
young people of to-day are learning through this movement much of the
wisdom of the first American. In the mad rush for wealth we have too
long overlooked the foundations of our national welfare. The
contribution of the American Indian, though considerable from any point
of view, is not to be measured by material acquirement. Its greatest
worth is spiritual and philosophical. He will live, not only in the
splendor of his past, the poetry of his legends and his art, not only in
the interfusion of his blood with yours, and his faithful adherence to
the new ideals of American citizenship, but in, the living thought of
the nation.
THE END
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The documents chiefly used in the preparation of this book, aside from
the author's own observations and personal knowledge, were the annual
reports of the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, of the
United States Board of Indian Commissioners, and of the Bureau of
American Ethnology, the proceedings of the Mohonk Indian Conferences,
and of religious and philanthropic societies engaged in Indian work;
also the reports and magazines published by the larger Indian schools,
especially Carlisle and Hampton. The following list of books about the
North American Indian is not presented as complete in any sense, but
merely as a suggestive guide to the reader who wishes to pursue the
subject further:
EARLY STUDENTS AND EXPLORERS
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS _Geo. Catlin_
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF THE
INDIANS OF N. A. _Drake_
WORKS OF _John G. Heckewelder_
INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA _Henry R. Schoolcraft_
THE OREGON TRAIL _Parkman_
THE JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA _Parkman_
JESUIT RELATIONS _Edited by Shea_
INDIAN MISSIONS
MARY AND I; OR FORTY YEARS AMONG THE SIOUX _John Williamson_
LIFE OF BISHOP HARE _De Wolf Howe_
A QUAKER AMONG THE INDIANS _T. C. Battey_
FATHER JUNIPERO AND THE MISSION
INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA _H. H._
LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE
BLACKFOOT LODGE TALES _G. B. Grinnell_
PAWNEE HERO STORIES _G. B. Grinnell_
ALGONQUIN LEGENDS OF NEW ENGLAND _Chas. G. Leland_
THE LENAPE AND THEIR LEGENDS _Daniel Brinton_
THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON AND OTHER
PUEBLO FOLK TALES _Chas. F. Lummis_
MUSIC AND ART
THE INDIANS' BOOK _Natalie Curtis_
INDIAN BASKETRY _George W. James_
INDIAN STORY AND SONG _Alice C. Fletcher_
PRIMITIVE INDIAN MUSIC _Frederick Burton_
MODERN WRITERS
THE VANISHING RACE _Joseph K. Dixon_
THE STORY OF THE INDIAN _G. B. Grinnell_
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY _G. B. Grinnell_
NORTH AMERICANS OF YESTERDAY _Dellenbaugh_
MY FRIEND THE INDIAN _James McLaughlin_
WHAT THE WHITE MAN MAY LEARN
FROM THE INDIAN _G. W. James_
INDIAN CHIEFS I HAVE KNOWN _O. O. Howard_
LIVES OF FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS _N. B. Wood_
A CENTURY OF DISHONOR _Helen Hunt Jackson
(H. H.)_
THE INDIAN DISPOSSESSED _Setti K. Humphrey_
INDIAN SKETCHES _Cornelia S. Hulst_
EDUCATION OF THE INDIAN (Pamphlet) _Hailmann_
THE AMERICAN INDIAN _Warren K. Moorehead_
THE INDIAN IN RELATION TO THE WHITE
POPULATION OF THE U. S. (Pamphlet) _F. A. McKenzie_
FICTION
RAMONA _Helen Hunt Jackson_
TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS _F. W. Calkins_
THE WOOING OF TOKALA _F. W. Calkins_
AN INDIAN WINTER _J. W. Schultz_
CHILDHOOD OF JISHIB THE OJIBWAY _A. E. Jenks_
THE MIDDLE FIVE _Francis La Flesche_
THE OJIBWAY _James Gilfillan_
TABLE OF INDIAN RESERVATIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES
(_Compiled by the Office of Indian Affairs._)
ARIZONA
Camp McDowell
Colorado River
Fort Apache
Gila Bend
Gila River
Havasupai
Hopi
Navajo
Papago
Salt River
San Carlos
Walapai
CALIFORNIA
Digger
Hupa Valley
Mission (28 reserves)
Round Valley
Tule River
Yuma
COLORADO
Ute
IDAHO
Coeur d'Alene
Fort Hall
Lapwai
Lemhi
IOWA
Sauk and Fox
KANSAS
Chippewa and Munsee
Iowa
Kickapoo
Potawatomie
Sauk and Fox
MICHIGAN
Isabella
L'Anse
Ontonagon
MINNESOTA
Bois Fort
Deer Creek
Fond du Lac
Grand Portage
Leech Lake
Mdewakanton
Mille Lac
Red Lake
Vermillion Lake
White Earth
White Oak Point and Chippewa
MONTANA
Blackfeet
Crow
Fort Belknap
Fort Peck
Jocko
Northern Cheyenne
NEBRASKA
Niobrara
Omaha
Ponca
Sioux (additional)
Winnebago
NEVADA
Duck Valley
Moapa River
Pyramid Lake
Walker River
NEW MEXICO
Jicarilla Apache
Mescalero Apache
Pueblos (20 reserves)
NEW YORK
Allegany
Cattaraugus
Oil Spring
Oneida
Onondaga
St. Regis
Tonawanda
Tuscarora
NORTH CAROLINA
Qualla Boundary (Cherokee)
NORTH DAKOTA
Devil's Lake
Fort Berthold
Standing Rock
Turtle Mountain
OKLAHOMA
Cherokee
Cheyenne and Arapahoe
Chickasaw
Chocktaw
Creek
Iowa
Kansa or Kaw
Kickapoo
Kiowa and Comanche
Modoc
Oakland
Osage
Otoe
Ottawa
Pawnee
Peoria
Ponca
Potawatomie
Quapaw
Sauk and Fox
Seminole
Seneca
Shawnee
Wichita
Wyandot
OREGON
Grande Ronde
Klamath
Siletz
Umatilla
Warm Springs
SOUTH DAKOTA
Crow Creek and Old Winnebago
Lake Traverse
Cheyenne River
Lower Brule
Pine Ridge
Rosebud
Yankton
UTAH
Uintah Valley
Uncompahgre
WASHINGTON
Chehalis
Columbia
Colville
Hoh River
Lummi
Makah
Muckleshoot
Nisqually
Ozette
Fort Madison
Puyallup
Quileute
Quinaiette
Shoalwater
Skokomish
Snohomish or Tulalip
Spokan
Squaxon Island
Swinomish
Yakima
WISCONSIN
Lac Court Oreille
Lac du Flambeau
La Pointe
Red Cliff
Menominee
Oneida
Stockbridge
WYOMING
Wind River
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS
GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
[Transcriber's Note:
The following typographical errors have been corrected:
Page 85: "cooperating" changed to "cooperating." (cooperating
intelligently in the effort)
Page 130: A period was added to the sentence ending in "the greatest
all-round athlete in the world."
Page 152: "southwest" changed to "Southwest." (the women of the
Southwest)]