Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

It was a humane but visionary plan which Reverend Jedidiah Morse in 1822 presented to the Secretary of War as the correct method of procedure in the task of civilizing the Indians. At various centers in the Indian country were to be established "Education Families"--groups of honest, industrious whites who were to have houses and farms, where the natives could observe their activities. And without any forcing it was expected that the red men, seeing the superior advantages of civilization, would be themselves gradually transformed.[276]

To the north and east of Fort Snelling was the home of the Chippewa or Ojibway Indians--extending from the Mississippi to the Great Lakes. To the west, on the great prairies, the Dakota, or Sioux Indians lived and hunted. The veteran missionary, S. W. Pond, estimated that the five bands of Sioux, which most often came into direct touch with the government at Fort Snelling, numbered in 1834, seven thousand, and wandered over southern Minnesota and South Dakota, near the lakes of Big Stone and Traverse.[277] Major Taliaferro reported in 1834 that the number of Indians in his agency was 6721, and that they extended as far as the Sheyenne fork of the Red River.[278] To one man, the agent, was given the task of civilizing these thousands of Sioux. While it was for this tribe that the agency at Fort Snelling was established, yet the Chippewas often frequented its headquarters. One hundred and seventy warriors of these northern Indians arrived at the agent's house on the evening of August 4, 1830.[279] The presence of these red men more than doubled the work of the agent, because there was now the difficulty of keeping peace between two warring tribes.

Indian life was not so worthless as sometimes pictured. It is true that one could see laziness and poverty during the months of January and February, if he came upon an Indian village pitched near a wooded slope and above a frozen stream. There could be seen the smoke curling from the dingy tepee, the women dragging home wood for the ever-diminishing pile outside the door, and a few of the hardier men fishing through holes in the ice. About the tepee the snow was banked, and within the air was warm and heavy from the open fire and the long pipes of the reclining braves, who gambled with their neighbors at the game of "the shot and the mitten".

Thus through the two stormy months the Indians frittered away the time, eating their corn and wild rice seasoned with tallow. But when the first thaws of spring caused the sap in the maple trees to run, and when some of the more venturesome came back from a winter visit to the trading house with the word that the trader was waiting for skins in return for the blankets and ammunition he had given them the preceding fall, the village divided--part going to the sugar bush, and part going to the prairie lakes and swamps for muskrats. In May they returned on the swollen streams with heavily freighted canoes to their villages of bark houses. During the summer there were many tasks--blue berries to be gathered in the woods, canoes to be built, tepees to be repaired, turnips to be dug, and pipestone to be brought from the far distant quarry. All through the hot months the women toiled in the corn fields; and when the corn was in the milk, all the village children screamed and waved their arms to frighten away the blackbirds. When the harvest had been carefully placed in bark barrels and buried, part of the village had already left to hunt the fox or gather wild rice along the lakes and cranberries in the marshes.

And now came October and the deer hunt. There were only the extremely old people and the invalids to wave good-bye as the procession set out over the prairie--old men who could scarcely walk, bands of shouting children, hunters already on the alert, women with their bundles, and horses and dogs dragging on two poles the provisions and the skins of the tepees. For more than two months the program was the same: the march through the drifts and across the icy rivers, the morning council about a blazing fire before scattering over the prairie, and the triumphal return of the successful hunter at evening with the carcass of a bear, deer, or elk, across his shoulders and his name shouted through the camp by the children gathered to welcome him. By January they were all back again at their villages.[280]

It was this scheme of life which was to be gradually transformed. There were, of course, variations when war parties crept against the Chippewas, when drunken debaucheries resulted from a keg of whiskey that had escaped the vigilant eyes of the soldiers, and when migrations to the Canadian posts were prompted by the hope that there they could obtain enough supplies to support them without work and that there they could enjoy some ceremony to break the monotony of life. But these migrations were few on the part of the Sioux: they could enjoy councils just as good near home.

On the occasion of a visit to Old Fort Snelling and the agency near by, the authorities were careful to see that there was a due amount of ceremony. Probably a whole band of Indians would come down from the headwaters of the Minnesota River. Their chiefs and braves gathered in the log Council Hall, and there took place the scene so picturesquely described by the eccentric traveller, J. C. Beltrami.

"The council-hall is, as it ought to be, a great room built of trunks of trees. The flag of the United States waves in the centre, surrounded by English colours, and medals hung to the walls. They are presented by the Indians to their _Father_, the agent, as a proof that they abjure all cabal or alliance with the English. Pipes, or calumets and other little Indian presents, offered by the various tribes as pledges of their friendship, decorate the walls and give a remarkable and characteristic air to the room." The dignitaries of the post are seated about a table and the braves recline upon the ground during the council.

"The _seance_ opens with a speech of the chief, who rises and addresses the agent. He generally begins with the Great Spirit, or the sun, or the moon 'whose purity is equalled by that of his own heart,' &c. &c. always finishing with a petition for presents;--_whiskey_ is sure to find honourable mention: these are what English lawyers call the _common counts_."[281]

After the reply of the agent the peace pipe was solemnly passed from one to another, and the council ended with the distribution of presents. These presents were of tobacco, gunpowder, vermilion, pipes, kettles, blankets, snuff-boxes, armbands, looking-glasses, horse bells, jews'-harps, ivory combs, and shawls.[282] Not the least popular of these were the jews'-harps, which had their uses--in spite of the sarcastic invective delivered against them by Senator Benton in 1822 when the abolition of the Factory System was being considered. "They were innocent", observed the Senator, "and on that account precisely adapted to the purposes of the superintendent, in reclaiming the savage from the hunter state. The first state after that, in the road to refined life, is the pastoral, and without music the tawny-colored Corydons and the red-skinned Amaryllises, '_recubans sub tegmine fagi_,' upon the banks of the Missouri and Mississippi, could make no progress in the delightful business of love and sentiment."[283]

These councils were frequent occurrences, and their importance lies in the fact that through them certain principles could be instilled into the minds of the natives under the most favorable circumstances. The words spoken by the agent on these occasions had probably as much effect in controlling the Indians as a like number of bullets would have had. Major Taliaferro has recorded one of the orations which he delivered to his listening wards. He referred to the presence of the Great Spirit, told of his long service among them, eulogized their departed elders--"the old branches which have fallen from the Trunk of the old oak of your Nation"--and then inserted a few wise admonitions as to the futility of their wars with the Chippewas.

"Your Great Father", he said, "has had much to do with war--but his heart is changed for peace & he wishes all his red children as well as his white ones to follow his good example--he knows this course to be best for all--we should endeavor to please him--for by doing so we shall please the Great Spirit also--You will see your children growing up around you and your wives smiling as you approach from your days hunt."

The speech ended with the announcement of the coming of "something good from below" and an approaching visit to the village of the Red Head.[284]

During these meetings at the agency the sound of the fort's cannon and the sight of the well-uniformed guards impressed the Indians even more than did the words of the agent. There they became acquainted with white men other than traders, and when exploring and scientific expeditions came over the plains with a guard of soldiers, they were wise enough not to interfere. These visits in themselves were pleasant, and the rations of bread and pork offered an agreeable respite from their usual fare.[285]

At the time of the treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1825 one ration consisted of one pound of bread or one pint of corn and either one pound of beef or three-quarters of a pound of pork. This may be taken as a fair standard of the kind of rations issued at the agency.[286] It was during the winter months especially when starvation or suffering would otherwise result that this aid was given to the Indians. During the summer when other means of subsistence were present, all appeals for food were refused.[287] This custom of granting rations was formally incorporated in the law of June 30, 1834, with the only restriction that they were to be given only if "they can be spared from the army provisions without injury to the service".[288]

The condition of the tribes was often appalling, and many deaths would have occurred without this aid. At one time Taliaferro wrote that "400 Indians encamped near the Agency--many from a distance and in a starving condition."[289] Often he had to take from his own private funds, after he had drawn all he could from the public stores.[290] The winter of 1842-1843 was particularly severe. On the first of November the ground was covered with snow which as late as April still lay from two to two and a half feet deep. No hunting was possible because of the drifts, and fishing through the ice was impracticable, the wind blowing the holes full of snow as soon as they were cut. The Indians living about Lac qui Parle, about two hundred miles up the Minnesota River, came with the missionary Dr. Thomas Williamson to winter on the site of old Camp Cold Water, knowing that only from the fort could they obtain relief.

Everything that was possible was done. Blankets, guns, and ammunition to the value of $2500 were granted the Indians. Indeed, so many provisions were distributed that on April 3rd it was computed that there was only enough left to supply the garrison until the opening of navigation. The officers and soldiers saved all the remains from the tables and once a day the squaws and children were allowed to enter and receive these crumbs. The Indians who were away from the post were not neglected. Sixty bushels of corn and several barrels of pork were furnished by Major Dearborn to Mr. H. H. Sibley who sent them to destitute Indians on the Minnesota River. Still there was much suffering, for not enough food could be spared to satisfy all. Before spring arrived many of the Indians lived upon a syrup made of hickory chips and the boiled bark of the bitter sweet. All became greatly emaciated and some were unable to walk.[291]

From time to time a solitary Indian on a business visit to the trader would drop in to chat with the "Father". Here he could make any complaints which he had to offer and be sure of a sympathetic if not satisfactory answer. "I have had more than fourteen hundred Indians on visits from all Sections of this Agency during the Month past--and all with Grieveances of Some Sort to redress", wrote Taliaferro on June 30, 1838.[292] In all matters concerning lands, hunting, treaties, annuities, and the like, the Indian looked only to the agent for advice or explanation. Instigated by the traders, many of whom were hostile to him, the Indians considered him responsible for the acts of the soldiers.[293] If a provision of a treaty was not carried out, the Indians thought it was Taliaferro's fault "for they know nothing of Congress or of their Multifarious and protracted debates, and proceedings."[294]

A personal present was due the visitor at these "shake hands" occasions. If he were a headman or a brave he received a pound of powder, two pounds of lead, a fish line, a knife, four fish hooks, and six plugs of tobacco. If he were "any respectable Individual" he was sure of a knife, four fish hooks, and six plugs of tobacco.[295] These individual visits did much to acquaint the natives personally with the agent, in the same way that the council impressed them with the agent's great power.

But even more appreciated was the help offered in time of sickness. On December 25, 1830, Taliaferro records in his diary: "I rode up the SPeters to See an Indian.... Doctor Wood went up also--I dressed her wound--I Sent my Interpreter up with other restoratives--she being delerious."[296] On Saturday, June 28, 1834, there came to him a brave saying that both his son and daughter were ill. "Sent a message to Doct Jarvis to call & see the girl." The Sioux boy died two days later. But there the ministration did not end. To the mourners were given cotton and calico, or a blanket in order that the body might be decently covered.[297]

The dread scourge of smallpox raged in the vicinity of Fort Snelling during the summer of 1832. Two Indians coming from the Missouri River were suffering from violent attacks. Immediately the disease spread. But Dr. Wood, the post's physician, was called upon by Major Taliaferro and at the end of five days three hundred and thirty Sioux had been vaccinated. It is interesting to notice that in case the Indians came to the agency Dr. Wood received six dollars for every hundred he treated, but if he went to their villages he received six dollars per day.[298]

Besides these services the visits to the fort offered direct opportunity for the giving of tangible evidence of American supremacy. The English government had lavishly distributed signs of authority. During the first two years of his term of service, Taliaferro collected no less than thirty-six medals of George the Third, twenty-eight British flags, and eighteen gorgets.[299] Some of these were presented to the agent as direct evidence of submission to American authority. In 1820 two employees of the Missouri Fur Company were murdered on the Missouri River. The surrender of the murderers was demanded by Taliaferro, and while he was away the tribe came to Fort Snelling with one of the culprits and a hostage. Colonel Snelling, then acting as agent, described the scene in a letter.

"These unfortunate wretches were delivered up last evening with a great deal of ceremony, & I assure you with affecting solemnity; the guards being first put under arms, they formed a procession in the road beyond the bake house; in front marched a Sussitong bearing a British flag, next came the Murderer & the devoted chief, their arms pinioned & large splinters of wood thrust through them above the elbows, intended as I understood to show us that they did not fear pain & were not afraid to die. the Murderer wore a large British medal suspended to his neck & both of the prisoners bore offerings of skins, &c. in their hands. last came the chiefs of the Sussitongs, in this order they moved, the prisoners singing their death song & the Sussitongs joining in chorus until they arrived in front of the guard house where a fire being previously prepared, the British flag was burnt, and the medal worn by the murderer given up."[300]

In return for these greatly coveted signs of respect the agent delivered to the most prominent chiefs the medals and certificates of the United States. And thus by flattering the leaders control over the Indians was assured. What chief was not proud to carry with him this certificate, even if he could not read it himself? "The bearer _The Whole in the day_ is a respectable Man, and wears a Seccond Size Monroe Medal Presented to him for his uniform Good Conduct and great attachment to the United States--His Residence is at Sandy Lake Law Taliaferro Indian Agent at St. Peters".[301]

But the memory of the days of English rule was still alive, the suggestion being made to the government that "the gordgets would be More Acceptable were they to be fashioned after those introduced formerly by the British Government--with the difference only of the Eagle engraved upon each."[302] To counteract this feeling it was necessary that the government should be lavish in the distribution of presents. British influence and example, wrote Taliaferro to Clark in 1831, were not yet "fairly purged of their baneful effects".[303] Even as late as 1834 a few extracts from the reports of Major Bliss indicate that this feeling was still noticeable. "The Sioux Indians expecting and favourable to an English war with the U. States", he wrote in April. The next month he reported "Sioux and Chippewas pacific but dissatisfied with U. States", and in July 1835 he informed headquarters that "the Chippewas & Sioux are dissatisfied & both exhibit symptoms of hostility to the U. States & to each other. The Sioux the most decided."[304]

English visitors at a much later period congratulated their government because the Indians, as they said, still had a greater fondness for the British than for the Americans.[305] Except, however, along the border, among the tribes outside of the sphere of the agent at Fort Snelling, this feeling manifested itself only as a sentiment which could lead to trouble if a break between the two nations should occur.

To emphasize the power of the Nation, the agent brought to Washington in 1824, and again in 1837, delegations of chiefs.[306] On these occasions they were taken to the largest and busiest cities, entertained in the most delightful manner, and shown the most impressive sights. As crowds were always drawn together to see the Indians, the latter received a lasting opinion as to the numbers of the Americans.[307] Previously the Sioux bands had thought that if ever they should unite their forces, they would be able to win in a war against all the whites; but now they were disillusioned.[308]

Undoubtedly the Indians were pleased with their journey. "Since the treaty was signed", stated a contemporary newspaper, "each of them has received a coat, hat, blanket, leggins, epaulettes, bands, and scarfs, and when dressed in full uniform, they exhibit more lively pleasure than would have been expected from the apathy of Indian character."[309] The magnificence which they had seen was described amid the squalor of their home villages. "The effect produced by the visit of their chiefs to Washington is wonderful, since their return, the power, wealth, and numbers of the American people have been their constant themes, many of their stories approach so near the marvellous as to be discredited, such for example is the account of casting a cannon which they witnessed, and the magnitude of our ships. Old _black dog_ shakes his head & says 'all travellers are liars'."[310] The memory of these trips lingered long. Little Crow came to call upon the agent in 1831. "The old chief left much delighted with his reception and my Talk--he departed singing the song which was often repeated when on his trip to Washington City in 1824."[311]

The Indians touched by these relations with the fort were not only its immediate neighbors. The surrender of murderers from the tribes on the Missouri has been noted. On March 11, 1831, Taliaferro wrote that "I observe Indians from the Missouri & various sections of the Sioux country."[312] During the entire winter of 1831, a party of Missouri River Indians encamped about Fort Snelling.[313] The Indians on the prairies were wide travellers. "There are a good many Indians about here", says a letter from Lac qui Parle. "There have arrived 120 lodges of Missouri at Lake Traverse and 200 lodges at James River."[314] By this continual movement, the influence of Fort Snelling was enlarged.

How great was this influence? No one has contradicted the statement of Mr. Taliaferro that "it is due the Sioux of your territory to record one fact as to them, and that is, from the commencement of our agency to its close, our frontier pioneers were never even molested in their homes, nor did they shed one drop of American blood".[315] It was when this frontier encroached on their lands that hostility broke out. If the Indians had been left in peace by covetous land-seekers, their civilization might in time have been accomplished.

There was practically no hostility manifested against the garrison by the surrounding Indians. In January, 1822, Colonel McNeil, who was in command at Fort Dearborn, received word from John Kinzie, the pioneer Chicago trader, that the Sioux and Fox Indians were planning an attack on Fort Snelling. Lieutenant James Webb immediately volunteered to bring the news to Fort Armstrong on Rock Island, from whence it could be sent to the upper post. After a journey rendered terrible by the extreme cold and the danger from hostile Indians, he was successful in reaching Fort Armstrong.[316]

In due time the letter was delivered to Colonel Snelling. "When I first received Col McNeils letter," he wrote later, "I was disposed to smile at the absurdity of connecting the Sioux & Foxes, in a design to attack this post". But he later found out that the Foxes had sent wampum and tobacco to the bands of Wabasha and Little Crow, asking them not to stand in the way of any movements they might make. Wabasha accepted the wampum but Little Crow came to the fort to make known the danger. The vagueness of the rumors, however, made it impossible to act, and later developments showed that there was no truth in the report--at least no violence was attempted.[317]

Fear of the strength of the fort prevented hostilities. It was the Indian fashion to attack by ambush. They did not have the patience to endure a protracted siege. The Americans did not belittle the strength of the military works. Little Thunder and White Head, two Indians who had escaped from the jail at Mackinac by cutting through the log walls, met an American, George Johnson, at Lac du Flambeau. They were very inquisitive about the strength of Fort Snelling and the number of Americans stationed there. Regarding this incident the white man wrote: "I answered saying, that the fort at River St. Peters was as strong as Quebec, and more Americans there than in any other post."[318]

The government did not adopt Dr. Morse's plan for civilizing the Indians, but the agent tried to carry out the policy therein suggested. The colony at Eatonville, located on Lake Calhoun, and the Indian schools soon passed into the hands of the missionaries. After the making of treaties a blacksmith shop was added to the agency. In line with his policy of providing for all classes of Indians, Taliaferro urged the erection of an orphan asylum where "all poor blind, and helpless women" would also be accommodated.[319]

If time had been given doubtless a new form of Indian life would have arisen about the fort; but the coming of the land-seekers destroyed the plan. The failure was to result in a great massacre in 1862. This much at least can be said for Old Fort Snelling; it kept the Indians friendly while the foundations of American life were being laid in the Northwest.

VIII

THE SIOUX-CHIPPEWA FEUDS

One of the reasons given for the building of Fort Snelling was that it would prevent the disastrous wars existing between the Sioux and Chippewa Indians.[320] Beginning so far in the past that no cause could be ascribed for the hostility, each encounter was in itself both the result of preceding conflicts and the excuse for further warfare. Pierre Esprit de Radisson, who was the first writer to leave an account of the Chippewas, said that even at the time of his visit in about 1660 they were carrying on "a cruell warre against the Nadoueseronoms [Sioux]."[321]

Lurking in the bushes to waylay their enemies on the woodland paths, hiding on the river banks to intercept hostile canoes, pretending peace and enjoying hospitality in order to have an opportunity for treachery were the military tactics of the Sioux and Chippewa warriors. To prevent such warfare, a military post was almost powerless. In fact, so insidious was the hostility that even the very grounds of Fort Snelling were the scene of bloody encounters.

Attempts were made to keep the Chippewas away from Fort Snelling by attaching them to the agency of H. R. Schoolcraft at Sault Ste. Marie.[322] But the distance was so great and the route so difficult that the Chippewas did not make the journey to consult that agent. On the other hand, Fort Snelling was so close, and the Mississippi such a natural outlet from their country, that a trader declared that "you might as well try to Stop the Water in the Mississippi from going to St Louis, as attempt to keep the Chippeway Indians from St Peters."[323]

During the last days of the month of May, 1827, Flat Mouth, chief of the Sandy Lake band of Chippewa Indians was encamped near Fort Snelling. A number of men, women, and children were with him, bringing maple sugar, which they had gathered in the northern woods during the winter, and other articles to sell to the garrison. Major Taliaferro was away at the time, but on May 24th the steamboat "Pilot" landed him safely at Fort Snelling. To welcome their "Father" home, and perchance to see if he had any presents or promises for them, a large number of Sioux came from their villages to the fort, as was usual on such occasions. The agent took the opportunity presented by the presence of both Sioux and Chippewas to deliberate with them in regard to peace, and also to request the Chippewas not to visit Fort Snelling again, in accordance with instructions which he had received from the Indian Department. To this Flat Mouth replied sorrowfully: "I feel myself now like a Dog driven away from your door to find another--I am ashamed of this--but I know you are doing this not by your wish."[324]

The twenty-eighth day of the month proved the value of the advice Major Taliaferro had given. Several Sioux came to visit at a Chippewa lodge pitched directly under and in front of the agency house on the flats that border the Minnesota River. The guns of the fort could easily have been trained upon the spot. There was feasting and friendly revelry at the lodge that afternoon and evening. Meat, corn, and sugar were served in wooden platters; a dog was roasted and eaten. The peace pipe was smoked, and the conversation was peaceful regarding exploits in the hunt and the chase.

At nine o'clock when the party broke up, as the Chippewas were calling friendly good-byes to the departing Sioux who had advanced a few steps, the latter turned and fired into the midst of the unsuspecting inhabitants of the tepee. There was instant confusion. With a shout of triumph the Sioux ran off. The sentinel on the hill above heard the shots and cries and called for the guard. In a few moments there was at the gate of the fort a crowd of panic-stricken Chippewas carrying their wounded and crying for protection. Six men, one woman, and a girl about eight years old were handed over to the surgeon of the post, Doctor McMahon.

Immediately Major Taliaferro notified the Sioux that they had insulted the flag that waved over the land, and that ample satisfaction must be made to the Chippewas who had been treated in such a cowardly manner. In council with the agent, Strong Earth, a chief of the Chippewas, complained of the lack of protection: "Father: You know that two Summers ago we attended a Great Council at Prairie du Chien, when by the advice of Our White Friends, we made Peace with the Sioux--We were then told, that the Americans would Guarantee our Safety under their Flags--We have Come here under that Assurance. But Father, look at Your Floor it is stained with the blood of our people shed while under Your Walls. If you are great and powerful why do You not protect us? _If Not_, of what use are Your Soldiers?"[325]

On the morning following the massacre a large body of Sioux--estimated at about three hundred and fifty--appeared on the prairie west of the fort. Brevet Major Fowle was ordered to march against them with two companies. Upon his appearance they fled, but he followed and was successful in capturing some of them. Nine Sioux--one of whom Major Taliaferro reports was given up voluntarily--were delivered up to the Chippewas. Identifying two of these as being among the murderers, they requested permission to execute them immediately.

Upon the broad prairie the two prisoners were given their freedom. They were told to run, and when a few paces away the Chippewa warriors fired, and the Sioux fell dead. Then followed a hideous scene which a spectator described many years later. "The bodies, all warm and limp, are dragged to the brow of the hill. Men who at the sight of blood, become almost fiends, tear off the reeking scalps and hand them to the chief, who hangs them around his neck. Women and children with tomahawks and knives cut deep gashes in the poor dead bodies, and scooping up the hot blood with their hands, eagerly drink it; then, grown frantic, they dance, and yell, and sing their horrid scalp songs, recounting deeds of valor on the part of their brave men, and telling off the Sioux scalps, taken in different battles, until tired and satiated at last with their horrid feast, they leave the mutilated bodies--festering in the sun."[326] At evening the bodies were thrown over the cliff into the river below.

On the morning of the thirty-first the Sioux delivered up to the Chippewas two others who, they claimed, had been the principal men in the affair. If the Chippewas did not shoot them, they said, they would do it themselves, as trouble had come to their nation on their account. But the Chippewas were willing.

About this second execution there has grown up an interesting story. One of the offenders, Toopunkah Zeze, was a favorite among the children of the fort. Tall and handsome and athletic and brave, he was the ideal of Indian manhood. The other, called the Split Upper Lip, was well known as a thief, and was as much detested as his companion was respected. He cried and begged for his life, saying that his gun had missed fire--he had killed no one. The other calmly distributed his clothes among his friends, upbraiding his companion for his cowardice. "You lie, dog. Coward, old woman, you know that you lie. You know that you are as guilty as I am. Hold your peace and die like a man--die like me."

The two were brought out upon the prairie. Again the thirty yards were allowed; again the Chippewa guns were fired. For once it seemed that this Indian punishment of "running the gantlet" would lose a victim. For Toopunkah Zeze was still running. The bullet had cut the rope that bound him to his falling companion. With new hope he leaped forward. There was a shout of triumph from a group of Sioux hidden in the bushes; and the children of the fort, who had climbed upon the buildings to view the bloody scene from afar, clapped their hands. But the Chippewas were cool in their vengeance. Guns were reloaded and deliberate aim taken. The flints struck, and Toopunkah Zeze, now a hundred and fifty yards away and a second's distance from a place where the straggling groves of the prairie offered life, fell dead. Two more bodies were thrown over the precipice into the river.[327]

For ten years the hostility continued, but the environs of the fort were sacred places. An effective lesson had been taught in 1827. But on August 2, 1838, Hole-in-the-Day, a Chippewa chief, and five of his band came to Fort Snelling on a visit. That spring there had been a treacherous massacre by Hole-in-the-Day at a Sioux camp. It was true, as he said in the poetic simplicity of Indian style: "You See I cannot keep my face Clean--as fast as it is Washed--I am Compelled to black it Again.--but My heart towards you is the Same.--My Fathers Bones Sleep by your house--My Daughter at the Falls Near the Grave of my Uncle--My Wife lies at the Mouth of Sauk River--and a few days past I buried My Son."[328]

On the following evening some Sioux of Mud Lake, hearing of the presence of the Chippewas, rode over to Baker's trading house where the Chippewas were encamped. Major Taliaferro had heard of the departure of the war party and had hurried to the scene. Just as he arrived the Sioux fired upon their enemies, killing one outright and wounding another in the knee. All but one of the Chippewas had laid aside their guns, thinking that they were upon neutral ground. This one, seeing a Sioux in the act of scalping the fallen Chippewa, fired upon him and wounded him mortally. But aided by the dusk the wounded Sioux was able to run more than a mile before he fell from loss of blood.

The Chippewas were immediately brought into the fort for protection. On the next day Major Plympton and the Indian agent called together the chiefs of the neighboring villages. There was a long council until Major Plympton broke it up by saying peremptorily: "It is unnecessary to talk much. I have demanded the guilty--they must be brought."

At half past five that evening the Sioux were delivered up. Three brothers had been accused of being guilty of the murder. One of them could not be brought because he was dying of the wound received the evening before. Much ceremony attended the proceedings as the Indian mother led her sons to the officers saying: "Of seven sons three only are left; one of them is wounded, and soon will die, and if the two now given up are shot, my all is gone. I called on the head men to follow me to the Fort. I started with the prisoners, singing their death song, and have delivered them at the gate of the Fort. Have mercy on them for their youth and folly."[329]

Because of the attack which Hole-in-the-Day had made on the Sioux a short time before, Major Plympton decided not to execute the prisoners. They were turned over to their own people to be flogged in the presence of the officers. More humiliating than death was their punishment. Their blankets, leggins, and breech-cloths were cut into small pieces, and finally the braves whipped them with long sticks while the women stood about crying.[330]

Although there was now a deep desire for revenge in each of the tribes, they manifested outward friendliness when they met at the fort. During the month of June, 1839, there came to Fort Snelling over twelve hundred Chippewas thinking that there they would be paid their annuities for the land they had ceded in 1837. There were two main groups--one which came down from the headwaters of the Mississippi, and the other which came up the river from the vicinity of the St. Croix. At the same time Sioux numbering eight hundred and seventy were encamped near the agency. This was considered an opportune time to conclude a peace, and so the long calumet with its mixture of tobacco and bark of the willow tree was smoked while friendly athletic contests were held on the prairie. On July 1st the two parties of Chippewas started for home. But in one of the bands were the two sons of the man who had been murdered the year before. In the evening before beginning their homeward journey, they visited the graveyard of the fort to cry over the grave of their father. Here the thought of vengeance came to them, and morning found them hidden in the bushes near the trail that skirted the shore of Lake Harriet. The Badger, a Sioux warrior, was the first to pass that way as he went out in the early morning to hunt pigeons. A moment later he was shot and scalped. The murderers then hurried away and hid behind the water at Minnehaha Falls.

A few hours later, when the news had spread throughout all the Sioux villages, two bands set out to take revenge upon the departing Chippewas. The old men, the women, and the children remained at home, eagerly awaiting the result of the coming battle and cutting their arms and legs with their knives in grief over the losses which they knew their bands would have to undergo.

It happened that at that time the Right Reverend Mathias Loras, the first Bishop of Dubuque, was at Fort Snelling. He had been an interested spectator at the Sioux-Chippewa peace parleys, had watched the departure of the determined avengers, and now was anxiously awaiting the result of the conflict. On the morning of July 4th as he was praying at his altar for the prosperity of his country he was startled by the shrill notes of the Sioux death-song, and gazing through the window saw a bloody throng, dancing about the long poles from which dangled scalps with parts of the skulls still attached. Two terrible struggles had taken place the day before. On the Rum River seventy Chippewa scalps had been taken, and on the banks of Lake St. Croix twenty-five more were obtained. In both cases the losses of the Sioux were smaller. These trophies were brought to the villages, where they were danced about nightly until the leaves began to fall in the autumn, when they were buried.[331]

These incidents which centered about Fort Snelling have led to the charge made against it, that instead of preventing the conflicts the fort intensified them. The fort was a convenient meeting place, it is argued, whither both parties resorted only to become involved in altercations and disputes which resulted in a flaring-up of old flames.[332] But it must be remembered that the murders away from the fort were more numerous;[333] and it is easier to recall the spectacular encounters which occurred at the fort, than the many occasions when the two tribes met peacefully as the guests of the officials.

A military officer who was stationed there wrote: "At Fort Snelling I have seen the Sioux and Chippeways in friendly converse, and passing their pipes in the most amicable manner when if they had met away from the post each would have been striving for the other's scalp."[334] The Indian agent, whose success depended upon the continuation of peace, noted with pleasure these friendly gatherings. "The Crane and the Hole in the Day--and other Chippeways at the Agency this day--Several Sissiton Sioux also at the Agency."[335] These visits were often protracted for several weeks without trouble. "Chippeways--a number of these people also at the agency--some have been here for nearly 30 days--fishing & liveing better & more independently than the Sioux."[336] On the 29th and 30th of June, 1831, Chippewas to the number of one hundred and fifty met five villages of Sioux.[337]

Efforts to combat the evil were made in council with the Indians. "Your wars with the Chippeways can never be of service to anyone", reasoned their "Father", "for as fast as you destroy one--two or three more young men are ready to take the track of their deceased friends--The old people among you ought to know this--after the long wars between you".[338] Most of the encounters took place either when the warriors were emboldened by liquor, or when the rival hunting parties met on the plains. The strict enforcement of the law of 1832 prohibiting the introduction of spirits had a tranquilizing effect in the country of the Chippewas. Indeed, the principal object of all efforts to suppress the liquor traffic was the prevention of inter-tribal wars.[339]

Constant watching of the hunting parties and admonition as to their conduct were among the duties of the agent. "Sent my interpreter up the Mississippi among the Indians", he writes, "to see how they are progressing in their hunts and as to the present hunting grounds of the Chippeways." Eight days later record is made of the fact that "the Rum River Chippeways left for their camp this morning--Sent word to their people to hunt on their own Lands & not by any Means to intrude upon the Soil of the Sioux." When the interpreter returned he reported that everything was quiet between the two tribes.[340] The sending of "runners" to the camps was a frequent occurrence during the winter of 1831, the region covered being eighty miles to the east and two hundred miles to the north.[341]

In the treaty of Prairie du Chien of 1825 a dividing line between the two tribes, beyond which neither should pass, was agreed upon.[342] But this provision was for many years a dead letter. As long as the line was unsurveyed the natives could urge indefiniteness of territory as an excuse for murder and depredations--claiming that the other party was the trespasser. When Schoolcraft met the chiefs of the Chippewas in council at Leech Lake in 1832, the latter complained that the provisions of the treaty had not been carried out. "The words of the Long-knives have passed through our forests as a rushing wind, but they have been words merely. They have only _shaken_ the trees, but have not stopped to break them down, nor even to make the rough places smooth."[343] As a result Mr. Schoolcraft urged upon the Secretary of War the necessity of marking the line.[344]

Seven thousand dollars were appropriated by the act of June 26, 1834, for the purpose of running this line,[345] and the next spring Major J. L. Bean, accompanied by Duncan Campbell, the Sioux interpreter of the agency, commenced the survey.[346] Later an escort of troops from Fort Snelling was sent him under the command of Lieutenant William Storer, with the result that the reduced garrison was unable to enforce order.[347] When the survey had been completed from the Chippewa River to Otter Tail Lake the return of the military escort put an end to the work, but the agent was of the opinion that the most important part had been marked.[348]

Efforts were made by the government to keep down the warlike spirit of the tribes. Thus, when Captain Gale allowed the Indians to come into the fort and dance the scalp dance in June, 1830, his act was disapproved of, and he had to stand trial.[349] Likewise peace conferences were fostered in order to put the seal of the authority of the government upon the transactions. During the winter of 1831 truces were made between several of the bands through the efforts of Agent Taliaferro.[350] On August 2, 1843, a great gathering of the two nations was held at the fort, where a treaty of peace was drawn up under the auspices of the civil and military authorities.[351] During the first year it was kept inviolate, "if we except two or three individual cases of outrage."[352]

Even as late as June, 1850, an assemblage of both tribes was called together by Governor Ramsey. The Chippewas were encamped north of the fort on the bluff above the Mississippi. In front of them a detachment of infantry was drawn up. Within the fort the artillery was in readiness. When word was sent to the Sioux that all things were ready, they approached, about three hundred strong, on horseback, all armed and painted, their whoops mingling with the jingling of their arms, ornaments, and the bells of their horses. Making a feint as if to rush around the soldiers, they suddenly wheeled to one side and became quiet; while the Chippewas on the other side of the line of infantry continued to dance and wave their weapons. It was amid such stirring war-like scenes that attempts for peace were made.[353]

The earliest policy of the government had been to interfere as little as possible, and to allow retribution to be made by one tribe on another. But such inactivity did not appeal to a red-blooded officer like Colonel Snelling, who wrote after the trouble in 1827: "I have no hesitation in Saying that the Military on this frontier are useless for want of discretionary power, and that if it is not intrusted to the Commander, Men of Straw with Wooden Guns and Swords will answer the purpose as well as a Regt of Infantry."[354]

But later the policy was adopted of confining in the "Black Hole" of the fort any culprits who were captured. Thirteen of the Sioux who participated in a massacre at Apple River were imprisoned;[355] and on one occasion Little Crow's band performed the scalp dance near Fort Snelling in commemoration of the murder of two Chippewas, while the murderers themselves languished in the fort.[356] Probably this method of dealing with the problem would have been adopted earlier; but "the force at this point", wrote an officer, "has been too small to send a sufficient force to take the offenders, even should an order to that effect be issued."[357]

To determine how influential Fort Snelling was in maintaining order is impossible. As was the case with the liquor traffic, conditions were bad but could have been worse. From time to time there were events that indicated some success. After a peace had been concluded on the fourth of June, 1823, a small quarrel almost precipitated a general conflict on the sixth. Much to the chagrin of the Italian traveller, J. C. Beltrami, who was then a guest at the fort, the officers were successful in preventing bloodshed. "Everything conspired against my poor notes", he wrote, "I had already perched myself on an eminence for the purpose of enriching them with an Indian battle, and behold I have nothing to write but this miserable article!... I almost suspected that the savages were in a league with the gentlemen of the fort to disappoint me."[358]

Peace was maintained during the winter of 1831 on a line of three hundred and forty miles above and below Fort Snelling, and on one occasion there occurred the pleasant sight of Sioux and Chippewas departing in company for their hunting grounds on the Sauk River.[359] Man-of-the-sky, who was chief of the Lake Calhoun band of Sioux, boasted that although he was only twenty-five years old at the time, he had already killed six Chippewas when Fort Snelling was erected, and added: "Had it not been for that I should have killed many more, or have been myself killed ere this."[360] It is interesting to note in connection with the sacredness of these treaties the comment of Major Taliaferro that "much more reliance is to be placed in the good faith of the Chippeways than in that of the Sioux."[361]

These spasmodic successes at least acquainted the Indians with governmental restraint. A paragraph from the manuscript diary of the agent refutes the argument that Fort Snelling intensified rather than alleviated these struggles. "From January 1833 up to this day", wrote Taliaferro, "there has been no difficulty between the Sioux and Chippeways--I once kept these tribes at peace for two years and Six Months lacking 15 days. And this between the years 1821 & 1825 till June 8th of the latter year. Colonel Robert Dickson remarked to me that Such a thing had never occurred before even when he headed the tribes against Us in the War of 1812."[362]

IX

THE FUR TRADE

The Indian trading-house which had been planned for the agency at Fort Snelling never materialized. Failure of the houses in operation to pay expenses and the opposition of the private traders led to their abolition in 1822. Thereafter, whatever attention the government directed toward the trade was influenced by the desire to prevent tampering with the allegiance of the Indians on the part of foreigners and to control this traffic which could contribute so much good or so much evil to the lives of the government's wards.[363]

With the Indian trade left to the private traders, great trading companies developed, since the fur trade easily lent itself to the corporation system. Cooeperation in the marketing of furs and in the buying of goods eliminated many of the difficulties which a single individual would meet. The American Fur Company, so long guided by John Jacob Astor, had a practical monopoly of the trade during the time that Old Fort Snelling was in existence. Mendota was the headquarters of a vast region which extended from the Mississippi to the headwaters of the streams flowing into the Missouri. At various places throughout this territory were trading posts called "forts", although they consisted of no more than a few huts within a stockade. These were all subsidiary to the post at Mendota.

Goods for the Indian trade were much the same as those given as presents by the government officials--blankets, trinkets, tobacco, knives, and the like. These goods were sent in great Mackinac boats from the East to be distributed among the posts. Each Indian hunter received on credit goods valued at forty or fifty dollars in payment for which he pledged the spoils of his winter's hunt. If the trader did not go with his band, he visited them occasionally or sent his engages to see that they were hunting and that no other trader was tampering with them to secure their furs. In the spring the Indian would deliver furs valued at twice the amount of the goods received. The trading company's profit was, accordingly, about one hundred per cent. To carry out the details of the traffic there grew up within the company a complicated system of factors, clerks, voyageurs, and hivernants.[364]

With the entire system of the fur trade the military officials had little to do except in the matter of regulation. Not much military protection was necessary as the Indian looked upon the trader more as a friend than an enemy.[365] Care in respect to the character of the men engaged and supervision of the method of carrying on trade were the two things necessary. According to the act of March 30, 1802, which was supplemented by the acts of April 29, 1816, and June 30, 1834, no one could carry on trade with the Indians without obtaining a license from an Indian agent, which was subject to revocation by the superintendent of the district.[366]

Many were the problems which Major Taliaferro was obliged to consider when he granted a license. A license was valid for trade only at a certain place and among a certain tribe. The trader must be an American citizen. He was not allowed to carry with him any insignia of a foreign power. An invoice of his goods was presented to the agent, who had to certify to its correctness. Liquor was prohibited, and the trader was responsible for the conduct of all the members of his party in this matter. To guarantee the fulfillment of all these requirements, bond had to be given at the time of obtaining the permit.[367]

To examine all the applicants, to keep in touch with them in the field, and to obtain the truth in regard to their conduct was enough to keep both agent and officers at Fort Snelling busy. In 1826 twenty-five licenses were granted; in 1827, eleven; in 1830, thirteen; and in 1831, fourteen.[368] The amount of this trade was very large, as is indicated by the case of Mr. Faribault who traded on the Cannon River. One year he marketed 50 buffalo-robes, 39,080 muskrats, 2050 pounds of deer skins, 125 pounds of beaver, 130 martin, 1100 mink, 663 raccoons, 331 otter, 25 lynx, and 5 foxes.[369]

There was a great deal of vagueness as to the application of the trade laws--"a mist of uncertainty" as Taliaferro called it.[370] Governor Cass of Michigan Territory allowed foreigners to enter into expeditions as interpreters or boatmen, who upon entering the wilderness took active charge of the crew and all operations.[371] As far as Fort Snelling was concerned there was little call for the ejection of foreigners by force. In 1833 it was rumored that a foreigner was trading on the Sheyenne River--a tributary of the Red River. But with the despatch of a company of troops and the rumor of their approach, the culprit immediately decamped.[372]