(more generally known as Teteboxti), Patterson, his nephew,
Coltos, an old woman, and an aged man called Joshua. These were
successively marked by the prophet, and doomed to be burnt alive.
The tragedy was commenced with the old woman. The Indians roasted
her slowly over a fire for four days, calling upon her frequently
to deliver up her charm and medicine bag. Just as she was dying,
she exclaimed that her grandson, who was then out hunting, had it
in his possession. Messengers were sent in pursuit of him, and when
found he was tied and brought into camp. He acknowledged that on
one occasion he had borrowed the charm of his grandmother, by means
of which he had flown through the air over Kentucky, to the banks
of the Mississippi, and back again, between twilight and bedtime;
but he insisted that he had returned the charm to its owner, and,
after some consultation, he was set at liberty. The following
day a council was held over the case of the venerable chief
Tatepocoshe, he being present. His death was decided upon after
full deliberation; and, arrayed in his finest apparel, he calmly
assisted in building his own funeral pile, fully aware that there
was no escape from the judgment that had been passed upon him. The
respect due to his whitened locks induced his executioners to treat
him with mercy. He was deliberately tomahawked by a young man, and
his body was then placed upon the blazing fagots and consumed. The
next day the old preacher Joshua met a similar fate. The wife of
Tatepocoshe and his nephew Billy Patterson were then brought into
the council house and seated side by side. The latter had led an
irreproachable life, and died like a Christian, singing and praying
amid the flames which destroyed his body. While preparations were
making for the immolation of Tatepocoshe’s wife, her brother, a
youth of 20 years of age, suddenly started up, took her by the
hand, and, to the amazement of the council, led her out of the
house. He soon returned, and exclaiming, “The devil has come among
us (alluding to the prophet), and we are killing each other,” he
reseated himself in the midst of the crowd. This bold step checked
the wild frenzy of the Indians, put an end to these cruel scenes,
and for a time greatly impaired the impostor’s influence among the
Delawares. (_Drake, Tecumseh, 2._)
The prophet now changed his name to Tenskwatawa, “The Open Door” (from
_skwa′te_, a door, and _the′nui_, to be open; frequently spelled
Elskwatawa), significant of the new mode of life which he had come to
point out to his people, and fixed his headquarters at Greenville,
Ohio, where representatives from the various scattered tribes of
the northwest gathered about him to learn the new doctrines. Some,
especially the Kickapoo, entered fervently into his spirit, while
others were disposed to oppose him. The Miami, who regarded the Shawano
as intruders, were jealous of his influence, and the chiefs of his
own tribe were somewhat inclined to consider him in the light of a
rival. To establish his sacred character and to dispel the doubts of
the unbelievers, he continued to dream dreams and announce wonderful
revelations from time to time, when an event occurred which effectually
silenced opposition and stamped him as one inspired.
By some means he had learned that an eclipse of the sun was to take
place in the summer of 1806. As the time drew near, he called about him
the scoffers and boldly announced that on a certain day he would prove
to them his supernatural authority by causing the sun to become dark.
When the day and hour arrived and the earth at midday was enveloped
in the gloom of twilight, Tenskwatawa, standing in the midst of the
terrified Indians, pointed to the sky and cried, “Did I not speak
truth? See, the sun is dark!” There were no more doubters now. All
proclaimed him a true prophet and the messenger of the Master of Life.
His fame spread abroad and apostles began to carry his revelations to
the remotest tribes.
We get but fragmentary light in regard to the details of the doctrine
and ceremonies of this religious revival, as well as of that which
preceded it. There were then no railroads, no newspaper correspondents
to gather each day’s proceedings, and no telegraph to flash the news
across the continent before nightfall; no reservation system, with its
attendant army of employees, everyone a spy when an emergency arose;
and no investigators to go among the tribes and study the matter
from an ethnologic point of view. Our information is derived chiefly
from military officers, who knew these things only as vague rumors
of Indian unrest fomented by British agents; from the statements of
a few illiterate interpreters or captives among the savages, and
from the misty recollections of old men long after the excitement
had passed away. Of the dances which are a part of every important
Indian ceremony, the songs which they chanted, the peculiar dress or
adornments which probably distinguished the believers—of all these we
know nothing; but we may well surmise that the whole elaborate system
of Indian mythology and ceremonial was brought into play to give weight
to the words of the prophet, and enough is known to show that in its
leading features the movement closely resembled the modern Ghost dance.
It is impossible to know how far the prophet was responsible for the
final shaping of the doctrine. Like all such movements, it undoubtedly
grew and took more definite form under the hands of the apostles who
went out from the presence of its originator to preach to the various
tribes. A religion which found adherents alike in the everglades
of Florida and on the plains of the Saskatchewan must necessarily
have undergone local modifications. From a comparison of the various
accounts we can arrive at a general statement of the belief.
The prophet was held to be an incarnation of Manabozho, the great
“first doer” of the Algonquian system. His words were believed to be
the direct utterances of a deity. Manabozho had taught his people
certain modes of living best suited to their condition and capacity.
A new race had come upon them, and the Indians had thrown aside their
primitive purity of life and adopted the innovations of the whites,
which had now brought them to degradation and misery and threatened
them with swift and entire destruction. To punish them for their
disobedience and bring them to a sense of their duty, Manabozho had
called the game from the forests and shut it up under the earth, so
that the tribes were now on the verge of starvation and obliged to eat
the flesh of filthy hogs. They had also lost their old love for one
another and become addicted to the secret practices of the poisoner
and the wizard, together with the abominable ceremonies of the calumet
dance. They must now put aside all these things, throw away the weapons
and the dress of the white man, pluck out their hair as in ancient
times, wear the eagle feather on their heads, and clothe themselves
again with the breechcloth and the skins of animals slain with the
bows and arrows which Manabozho had given them. (_Kendall, 1._) They
must have done with the white man’s flint-and-steel, and cook their
food over a fire made by rubbing together two sticks, and this fire
must always be kept burning in their lodges, as it was a symbol of the
eternal life, and their care for it was an evidence of their heed to
the divine commands. The firewater must forever be put away, together
with the medicine bags and poisons and the wicked juggleries which had
corrupted the ancient purity of the Midé rites. Instead of these the
prophet gave them new songs and new medicines. Their women must cease
from any connection with white men. They were to love one another and
make an end of their constant wars, to be kind to their children, to
keep but one dog in a family, and to abstain from lying and stealing.
If they would listen to his voice and follow his instructions, the
incarnate Manabozho promised that at the end of four years (i. e., in
1811) he would bring on two days of darkness, during which he would
travel invisibly throughout the land, and cause the animals which he
had created to come forth again out of the earth. (_Kendall, 2._) They
were also promised that their dead friends would be restored to them.
The ideas as to the catastrophe that was to usher in the new era seem
to have varied according to the interpreter of the belief. Among the
Ottawa, and perhaps among the lake tribes generally, there was to be a
period of darkness, as already stated. Among the Cherokee, and probably
also among the Creek, it was believed that there would be a terrible
hailstorm, which would overwhelm with destruction both the whites
and the unbelievers of the red race, while the elect would be warned
in time to save themselves by fleeing to the high mountain tops. The
idea of any hostile combination against the white race seems to have
been no part of the doctrine. In the north, however, there is always a
plain discrimination against the Americans. The Great Father, through
his prophet, is represented as declaring himself to be the common
parent alike of Indians, English, French, and Spaniards; while the
Americans, on the contrary, “are not my children, but the children of
the evil spirit. They grew from the scum of the great water, when it
was troubled by an evil spirit and the froth was driven into the woods
by a strong east wind. They are numerous, but I hate them. They are
unjust; they have taken away your lands, which were not made for them.”
(_Kendall, 3._)
From the venerable James Wafford, of the Cherokee nation, the author
in 1891 obtained some interesting details in regard to the excitement
among the Cherokee. According to his statement, the doctrine first
came to them through the Creek about 1812 or 1813. It was probably
given to the Creek by Tecumtha and his party on their visit to that
tribe in the fall of 1811, as will be related hereafter. The Creek
were taught by their prophets that the old Indian life was soon to
return, when “instead of beef and bacon they would have venison, and
instead of chickens they would have turkeys.” Great sacred dances
were inaugurated, and the people were exhorted to be ready for what
was to come. From the south the movement spread to the Cherokee, and
one of their priests, living in what is now upper Georgia, began to
preach that on a day near at hand there would be a terrible storm,
with a mighty wind and hailstones as large as hominy mortars, which
would destroy from the face of the earth all but the true believers
who had previously taken refuge on the highest summits of the Great
Smoky mountains. Full of this belief, numbers of the tribe in Alabama
and Georgia abandoned their bees, their orchards, their slaves, and
everything else that might have come to them through the white man,
and, in spite of the entreaties and remonstrances of friends who put no
faith in the prediction, took up their toilsome march for the mountains
of Carolina. Wafford, who was then about 10 years of age, lived with
his mother and stepfather on Valley river, and vividly remembers the
troops of pilgrims, with their packs on their backs, fleeing from the
lower country to escape from the wrath to come. Many of them stopped
at the house of his stepfather, who, being a white man, was somewhat
better prepared than his neighbors to entertain travelers, and who took
the opportunity to endeavor to persuade them to turn back, telling
them that their hopes and fears alike were groundless. Some listened
to him and returned to their homes, but others went on and climbed the
mountain, where they waited until the appointed day arrived, only to
find themselves disappointed. Slowly and sadly then they took up their
packs once more and turned their faces homeward, dreading the ridicule
they were sure to meet there, but yet believing in their hearts that
the glorious coming was only postponed for a time. This excitement
among the Cherokee is noted at some length in the Cherokee Advocate of
November 16, 1844, published at Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation. Among the
Creek the excitement, intensified by reports of the struggle now going
on in the north, and fostered and encouraged by the emissaries of Spain
and England, grew and spread until it culminated in the summer of 1813
in the terrible Creek war.
Enough is known of the ceremonial of this religion to show that it must
have had an elaborate ritual. We learn from Warren that the adherents
of the prophet were accustomed to perform certain ceremonies in solemn
councils, and that, after he had prohibited the corrupt secret rites,
he introduced instead new medicines and songs, and that at the ancient
capital of the Ojibwa on Lake Superior the Indians collected in great
numbers and performed these dances and ceremonies day and night.
(_Warren, 1._) They were also instructed to dance naked, with their
bodies painted and with the warclub in their hands. (_Kendall, 4._) The
solemn rite of confirmation, known as “shaking hands with the prophet,”
was particularly impressive. From the narrative of John Tanner, a
white man captured when a child from his home in Kentucky and brought
up among the wild Ojibwa, we get the best contemporary account of the
advent of the new doctrine in the north and its effect on the lake
tribes. He says:
It was while I was living here at Great Wood river that news
came of a great man among the Shawneese, who had been favoured
by a revelation of the mind and will of the Great Spirit. I was
hunting in the prairie, at a great distance from my lodge, when
I saw a stranger approaching. At first I was apprehensive of
an enemy, but as he drew nearer, his dress showed him to be an
Ojibbeway; but when he came up, there was something very strange
and peculiar in his manner. He signified to me that I must go
home, but gave no explanation of the cause. He refused to look at
me or enter into any kind of conversation. I thought he must be
crazy, but nevertheless accompanied him to my lodge. When we had
smoked, he remained a long time silent, but at last began to tell
me he had come with a message from the prophet of the Shawneese.
“Henceforth,” said he, “the fire must never be suffered to go out
in your lodge. Summer and winter, day and night, in the storm,
or when it is calm, you must remember that the life in your body
and the fire in your lodge are the same and of the same date.
If you suffer your fire to be extinguished, at that moment your
life will be at its end. You must not suffer a dog to live; you
must never strike either a man, a woman, a child, or a dog. The
prophet himself is coming to shake hands with you; but I have
come before, that you may know what is the will of the Great
Spirit, communicated to us by him, and to inform you that the
preservation of your life, for a single moment, depends on your
entire obedience. From this time forward we are neither to be
drunk, to steal, to lie, or to go against our enemies. While we
yield an entire obedience to these commands of the Great Spirit,
the Sioux, even if they come to our country, will not be able to
see us; we shall be protected and made happy.” I listened to all
he had to say, but told him, in answer, that I could not believe
we should all die in case our fire went out; in many instances,
also, it would be difficult to avoid punishing our children; our
dogs were useful in aiding us to hunt and take animals, so that I
could not believe the Great Spirit had any wish to take them from
us. He continued talking to us until late at night; then he lay
down to sleep in my lodge. I happened to wake first in the morning,
and, perceiving the fire had gone out, I called him to get up and
see how many of us were living and how many dead. He was prepared
for the ridicule I attempted to throw upon his doctrine, and told
me that I had not yet shaken hands with the prophet. His visit had
been to prepare me for this important event, and to make me aware
of the obligations and risks I should incur, by entering into
the engagement implied in taking in my hand the message of the
prophet. I did not rest entirely easy in my unbelief. The Indians,
generally, received the doctrine of this man with great humility
and fear. Distress and anxiety was visible in every countenance.
Many killed their dogs, and endeavored to practice obedience to
all the commands of this new preacher, who still remained among
us. But, as was usual with me, in any emergency of this kind, I
went to the traders, firmly believing that if the Deity had any
communications to make to men, they would be given, in the first
instance, to white men. The traders ridiculed and despised the
idea of a new revelation of the Divine will, and the thought that
it should be given to a poor Shawnee. Thus was I confirmed in my
infidelity. Nevertheless, I did not openly avow my unbelief to
the Indians, only I refused to kill my dogs, and showed no great
degree of anxiety to comply with his other requirements. As long
as I remained among the Indians, I made it my business to conform,
as far as appeared consistent with my immediate convenience and
comfort, with all their customs. Many of their ideas I have
adopted, but I always found among them opinions which I could not
hold. The Ojibbeway whom I have mentioned remained some time among
the Indians in my neighborhood, and gained the attention of the
principal men so effectually that a time was appointed and a lodge
prepared for the solemn and public espousing of the doctrines of
the prophet. When the people, and I among them, were brought into
the long lodge, prepared for this solemnity, we saw something
carefully concealed under a blanket, in figure and dimensions
bearing some resemblance to the form of a man. This was accompanied
by two young men, who, it was understood, attended constantly upon
it, made its bed at night, as for a man, and slept near it. But
while we remained no one went near it or raised the blanket which
was spread over its unknown contents. Four strings of mouldy and
discoloured beans were all the remaining visible insignia of this
important mission. After a long harangue, in which the prominent
features of the new revelation were stated and urged upon the
attention of all, the four strings of beans, which we were told
were made of the flesh itself of the prophet, were carried with
much solemnity to each man in the lodge, and he was expected to
take hold of each string at the top, and draw them gently through
his hand. This was called shaking hands with the prophet, and was
considered as solemnly engaging to obey his injunctions, and accept
his mission as from the Supreme. All the Indians who touched the
beans had previously killed their dogs; they gave up their medicine
bags, and showed a disposition to comply with all that should be
required of them.
We had now been for some time assembled in considerable numbers.
Much agitation and terror had prevailed among us, and now famine
began to be felt. The faces of men wore an aspect of unusual
gloominess; the active became indolent, and the spirits of the
bravest seemed to be subdued. I started to hunt with my dogs, which
I had constantly refused to kill or suffer to be killed. By their
assistance, I found and killed a bear. On returning home, I said to
some of the Indians, “Has not the Great Spirit given us our dogs to
aid us in procuring what is needful for the support of our life,
and can you believe he wishes now to deprive us of their services?
The prophet, we are told, has forbid us to suffer our fire to be
extinguished in our lodges, and when we travel or hunt, he will not
allow us to use a flint and steel, and we are told he requires that
no man should give fire to another. Can it please the Great Spirit
that we should lie in our hunting camps without fire, or is it
more agreeable to him that we should make fire by rubbing together
two sticks than with a flint and a piece of steel?” But they would
not listen to me; and the serious enthusiasm which prevailed among
them so far affected me that I threw away my flint and steel, laid
aside my medicine bag, and, in many particulars, complied with the
new doctrines; but I would not kill my dogs. I soon learned to
kindle a fire by rubbing some dry cedar, which I was careful to
carry always about me, but the discontinuance of the use of flint
and steel subjected many of the Indians to much inconvenience and
suffering. The influence of the Shawnee prophet was very sensibly
and painfully felt by the remotest Ojibbeways of whom I had any
knowledge, but it was not the common impression among them that
his doctrines had any tendency to unite them in the accomplishment
of any human purpose. For two or three years drunkenness was much
less frequent than formerly, war was less thought of, and the
entire aspect of affairs among them was somewhat changed by the
influence of one man. But gradually the impression was obliterated;
medicine bags, flints, and steels were resumed; dogs were raised,
women and children were beaten as before, and the Shawnee prophet
was despised. At this day he is looked upon by the Indians as an
impostor and a bad man. (_Tanner, 1._)