Chapter LXXVII: Section 1: Record of Expedition

The following account from Lafitau (_a_) explains the device for prisoner, under the heading of marked sticks, in Chapter IX, section 2, supra:

The most grievous time for them is at night; for every evening
they are extended on their backs almost naked, with no other bed
than the earth, in which four stakes are driven for each prisoner;
to these their arms and legs are attached, spread apart in the form
of a St. Andrew’s cross. To a fifth stake a halter is tied, which
holds the prisoner by the neck and is wound around it three or four
times. Finally, he is bound around the middle of the body by another
halter or girdle, the two ends of which are taken by the person in
charge of the captive and placed under his head while he sleeps,
so that he will be awakened if the prisoner makes any movement to
escape.

With the same object of explaining pictographic devices, the following is extracted from James’s Long (_h_):

Returning war parties of the Omaha peel off a portion of the
bark from a tree, and on the trunk thus denuded and rendered
conspicuous, they delineate hieroglyphics with vermilion or
charcoal, indicative of the success or misfortune of the party, in
their proceedings against the enemy. These hieroglyphics are rudely
drawn, but are sufficiently significant to convey the requisite
intelligence to another division of the party, that may succeed
them. On this rude chart the combatants are generally represented by
small straight lines, each surmounted by a head-like termination,
and are readily distinguishable from each other; the arms and legs
are also represented when necessary to record the performance of
some particular act or to exhibit a wound. Wounds are indicated by
the representation of the dropping of blood from the part; an arrow
wound, by adding a line for the arrow, from which the Indian is
able to estimate with some accuracy its direction, and the depth to
which it entered. The killed are represented by prostrate lines;
equestrians are also particularized, and if wounded or killed they
are seen to spout blood or to be in the act of falling from their
horses. Prisoners are denoted by their being led, and the number of
captured horses is made known by the number of lunules representing
their track. The number of guns taken may be ascertained by bent
lines, on the angle of which is something like the prominences of
the lock. Women are portrayed with short petticoats and prominent
breasts, and unmarried females by the short queues at the ears.

In Margry (_e_) there is an account of La Salle’s finding in 1683 on the bark of a tree a record of the party of Tonty’s pilot. The picture was that of a man with the costumes and general appearance of the pilot who had deserted, another man tied as a captive, and four scalps. This corresponded with the facts afterwards learned. The pilot had been left free, another man kept alive, and four killed, thus accounting for the lost party of six. The record had been made by the captors.

The figures in the following group, taken from several of the Winter Counts of the Dakotas, picture a number of important expeditions, all of which are independently known. Some of them are narrated in the official documents of the United States.

Fig. 776. The Oglalas, Brulés, Minneconjous, San Arcs, and Cheyennes united in an expedition against the Crows. They surprised and captured a village of thirty lodges, killed all the men and took the women and children prisoners. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1801-’02.

The three tipis stand for thirty; the spots in the original are red for blood.

Fig. 777. The Oglalas and Minneconjous took the war-path against the Crows and stole three hundred horses. The Crows followed them and killed eight of the party. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1863-’64. Eight scalped heads are portrayed.

Fig. 778. The Dakotas assaulted and took a Crow village of a hundred lodges. They killed many and took many prisoners. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1820-’21.

Fig. 779. The Oglalas helped Gen. Mackenzie to whip the Cheyennes. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1876-’77. The head of the Indian on which is the ornamented war bonnet represents the man who was the first to enter the Cheyenne village, which is figured by the tipis in a circle. The hatted, i. e., white man holding up three fingers is Gen. Mackenzie, who, as was explained by the interpreter, is placed upon the head of the Dakota to indicate that the Dakotas backed or assisted him, but it may mean that he commanded or was at the head of the party. The other white man is Gen. Crook, or Three Stars, as indicated by the three stars above him, and as he is called in another record. This designation might be suggested from the uniform, but it is not accurate. Gen. Crook’s rank as major-general of volunteers, or as brevet major-general in the Army, did not entitle him to more than two stars on his shoulder straps. It is possible that one of the stars in this figure belongs to Gen. Mackenzie.

Fig. 780. The Dakotas joined the whites in an expedition up the Missouri river against the Rees. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1823-’24.

White-Cow-Killer calls it “Old-corn-plenty-winter.”

The union line between the Indian and the white soldier shows that on this occasion they were allies.

Fig. 781. United States troops fought Ree Indians. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1823-’24.

This and the preceding figure are signs of a specially interesting expedition, a condensed account of which follows taken from the annual report of J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, November 29, 1823:

Gen. William H. Ashley, a licensed trader, was treacherously
attacked by the Arickaras at their village on the west bank of the
Missouri river, about midway between the present Fort Sully and Fort
Rice. Twenty-three of the trading party were killed and wounded,
and the remainder retreated in boats and sent appeals for succor
to the commanding officer at Fort Atkinson, the present site of
Council Bluffs. This officer was Col. H. Leavenworth, Sixth United
States Infantry, who marched June 22, with 220 men of that regiment,
80 men of trading companies, and two 6-pound cannon, a 5-1/2-inch
brass howitzer, and some small swivels, nearly 700 miles through
a country filled with hostile or unreliable Indians, to the Ree
villages, which he reached on the 9th of August. The Dakotas were
at war with the Arickara or Rees, and 700 to 800 of their warriors
had joined the United States forces on the way; of these Dakotas 500
are mentioned as Yanktons, but the tribes of the remainder are not
designated. The Rees were in two villages, the lower one containing
seventy-one dirt lodges and the upper seventy, both being inclosed
with palisades and a ditch and the greater part of the lodges having
a ditch around the bottom on the inside. The enemy, having knowledge
of the expedition, had fortified and made every preparation for
resistance. Their force consisted of over 700 warriors, most of
whom were armed with rifles procured from British traders. On the
9th of August the Dakotas commenced the attack and were driven back
until the regular troops advanced, but nothing decisive resulted
until the artillery was employed on the 10th, when a large number of
the Rees, including their chief, Gray Eyes, were killed, and early
in the afternoon the survivors begged for peace. They were much
terrified and humbled by the effect of the cannon, which, though
small, answered the purpose. During the main engagement the Dakotas
occupied themselves in gathering and carrying off all the corn to be
found.

See also the record of Lean-Wolf’s expedition in Fig. 452.