Chapter V: Introduction (3)

On this trip Tecumtha went as far as Florida and engaged the Seminole for his confederacy. Then, retracing his steps into Alabama, he came to the ancient Creek town of Tukabachi, on the Tallapoosa, near the present site of Montgomery. What happened here is best told in the words of McKenney and Hall, who derived their information from Indians at the same town a few years later:

He made his way to the lodge of the chief called the Big Warrior.
He explained his object, delivered his war talk, presented a bundle
of sticks, gave a piece of wampum and a war hatchet—all which the
Big Warrior took—when Tecumthé, reading the spirit and intentions
of the Big Warrior, looked him in the eye, and, pointing his finger
toward his face, said: “Your blood is white. You have taken my
talk, and the sticks, and the wampum, and the hatchet, but you
do not mean to fight. I know the reason. You do not believe the
Great Spirit has sent me. You shall know. I leave Tuckhabatchee
directly, and shall go straight to Detroit. When I arrive there, I
will stamp on the ground with my foot and shake down every house
in Tuckhabatchee.” So saying, he turned and left the Big Warrior
in utter amazement at both his manner and his threat, and pursued
his journey. The Indians were struck no less with his conduct than
was the Big Warrior, and began to dread the arrival of the day
when the threatened calamity would befall them. They met often and
talked over this matter, and counted the days carefully to know the
day when Tecumthé would reach Detroit. The morning they had fixed
upon as the day of his arrival at last came. A mighty rumbling was
heard—the Indians all ran out of their houses—the earth began to
shake; when at last, sure enough, every house in Tuckhabatchee was
shaken down. The exclamation was in every mouth, “Tecumthé has got
to Detroit!” The effect was electric. The message he had delivered
to the Big Warrior was believed, and many of the Indians took their
rifles and prepared for the war. The reader will not be surprised
to learn that an earthquake had produced all this; but he will be,
doubtless, that it should happen on the very day on which Tecumthé
arrived at Detroit, and in exact fulfillment of his threat. It was
the famous earthquake of New Madrid on the Mississippi. (_McKenney
and Hall, 1._)

The fire thus kindled among the Creek by Tecumtha was fanned into a blaze by the British and Spanish traders until the opening of the war of 1812 gave the opportunity for the terrible outbreak known in history as the Creek war.

While Tecumtha was absent in the south, affairs were rapidly approaching a crisis on the Wabash. The border settlers demanded the removal of the prophet’s followers, stating in their memorial to the President that they were “fully convinced that the formation of this combination headed by the Shawano prophet was a British scheme, and that the agents of that power were constantly exciting the Indians to hostility against the United States.” Governor Harrison now sent messages to the different tribes earnestly warning them of the consequences of a hostile outbreak, but about the same time the prophet himself announced that he had now taken up the tomahawk against the United States, and would only lay it down with his life, unless the wrongs of the Indians were redressed. It was known also that he was arousing his followers to a feverish pitch of excitement by the daily practice of mystic rites.

Harrison now determined to break up the prophet’s camp. Accordingly, at the head of about 900 men, including about 250 regulars, he marched from Vincennes, and on the 5th of November, 1811, encamped within a few miles of the prophet’s town. The Indians had fortified the place with great care and labor. It was sacred to them as the spot where the rites of the new religion had been so long enacted, and by these rites they believed it had been rendered impregnable to the attacks of the white man. The next day he approached still nearer, and was met by messengers from the town, who stated that the prophet was anxious to avoid hostilities and had already sent a pacific message by several chiefs, who had unfortunately gone down on the other side of the river and thus had failed to find the general. A truce was accordingly agreed on until the next day, when terms of peace were to be arranged between the governor and the chiefs. The army encamped on a spot pointed out by the Indians, an elevated piece of ground rising out of a marshy prairie, within a mile of the town. Although Harrison did not believe that the Indians would make a night attack, yet as a precaution he had the troops sleep on their arms in order of battle.

At 4 o’clock in the morning of the 7th, Governor Harrison,
according to his practice, had risen preparatory to the calling
up the troops, and was engaged, while drawing on his boots by
the fire, in conversation with General Wells, Colonel Owen, and
Majors Taylor and Hurst. The orderly drum had been roused for the
purpose of giving the signal for the troops to turn out, when the
attack of the Indians suddenly commenced upon the left flank of the
camp. The whole army was instantly on its feet, the campfires were
extinguished, the governor mounted his horse and proceeded to the
point of attack. Several of the companies had taken their places in
the line within forty seconds from the report of the first gun, and
the whole of the troops were prepared for action in the course of
two minutes, a fact as creditable to their own activity and bravery
as to the skill and bravery of their officers. The battle soon
became general, and was maintained on both sides with signal and
even desperate valor. The Indians advanced and retreated by the aid
of a rattling noise, made with deer hoofs, and persevered in their
treacherous attack with an apparent determination to conquer or
die upon the spot. The battle raged with unabated fury and mutual
slaughter until daylight, when a gallant and successful charge by
our troops drove the enemy into the swamp and put an end to the
conflict.

Prior to the assault the prophet had given assurances to his
followers that in the coming contest the Great Spirit would render
the arms of the Americans unavailing; that their bullets would
fall harmless at the feet of the Indians; that the latter should
have light in abundance, while the former would be involved in
thick darkness. Availing himself of the privilege conferred by his
peculiar office, and perhaps unwilling in his own person to attest
at once the rival powers of a sham prophecy and a real American
bullet, he prudently took a position on an adjacent eminence, and
when the action began, he entered upon the performance of certain
mystic rites, at the same time singing a war song. In the course of
the engagement he was informed that his men were falling. He told
them to fight on—it would soon be as he had predicted. And then,
in louder and wilder strains, his inspiring battle song was heard
commingling with the sharp crack of the rifle and the shrill war
whoop of his brave but deluded followers. (_Drake, Tecumseh, 6._)

Drake estimates the whole number of Indians engaged in the battle at between 800 and 1,000, representing all the principal tribes of the region, and puts the killed at probably not less than 50, with an unusually large proportion of wounded. Harrison’s estimate would seem to put the numbers much higher. The Americans lost 60 killed or mortally wounded, and 188 in all. (_Drake, Tecumseh, 7._) In their hurried retreat the Indians left a large number of dead on the field. Believing on the word of the prophet that they would receive supernatural aid from above, they had fought with desperate bravery, and their defeat completely disheartened them. They at once abandoned their town and dispersed, each to his own tribe. Tecumtha’s great fabric was indeed demolished, and even its foundations rooted up.

The night before the engagement the prophet had performed some medicine rites by virtue of which he had assured his followers that half of the soldiers were already dead and the other half bereft of their senses, so that the Indians would have little to do but rush into their camp and finish them with the hatchet. The result infuriated the savages. They refused to listen to the excuses which are always ready to the tongue of the unsuccessful medicine-man, denounced him as a liar, and even threatened him with death. Deserted by all but a few of his own tribe, warned away from several villages toward which he turned his steps, he found refuge at last among a small band of Wyandot; but his influence and his sacred prestige were gone forever, and he lived out his remaining days in the gloom of obscurity.

From the south Tecumtha returned through Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois, everywhere making accessions to his cause, but reached the Wabash at last, just a few days after the battle, only to find his followers scattered to the four winds, his brother a refugee, and the great object of his life—a confederation of all the tribes—brought to nothing. His grief and disappointment were bitter. He reproached his brother in unmeasured terms for disobeying his instructions to preserve peace in his absence, and when the prophet attempted to reply, it is said that Tecumtha so far forgot his dignity as to seize his brother by the hair and give him a violent shaking, threatening to take his life.

Early in 1812 Tecumtha sent a message to Governor Harrison, informing him of his return from the south, and stating that he was now ready to make the proposed visit to the President. To this Harrison replied, giving his permission, but refusing to allow any party to accompany him. This stipulation did not please the great leader, who had been accustomed to the attendance of a retinue of warriors wherever he went. He declined the terms, and thus terminated his intercourse with the governor. In June, 1812, he visited the agent at Fort Wayne, and there reiterated the justice of his position in regard to the ownership of the Indian lands, again disclaimed having had any intention of making war against the United States, and reproached Harrison for marching against his people in his absence. In return, the agent endeavored to persuade him now to join forces with the United States in the approaching conflict with England. “Tecumtha listened with frigid indifference, made a few general remarks in reply, and then with a haughty air left the council house and took his departure for Malden, where he joined the British standard.” (_Drake, Tecumseh, 8._) His subsequent career is a part of the history of the war of 1812.

Formal declaration of war against Great Britain was made by the United States on June 18, 1812. Tecumtha was already at Malden, the British headquarters on the Canadian side, and when invited by some friendly Indians to attend a council near Detroit in order to make arrangements for remaining neutral, he sent back word that he had taken sides with the king, and that his bones would bleach on the Canadian shore before he would recross the river to join in any council of neutrality. A few days later he led his Indians into battle on the British side. For his services at Maguaga he was soon afterward regularly commissioned a brigadier general in the British army.

We pass over the numerous events of this war—Maguaga, the Raisin, Fort Meigs, Perry’s victory—as being outside the scope of our narrative, and come to the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813, the last ever fought by Tecumtha. After Perry’s decisive victory on the lake, Proctor hastily prepared to retreat into the interior, despite the earnest protests of Tecumtha, who charged him with cowardice, an imputation which the British general did not dare to resent. The retreat was begun with Harrison in close pursuit, until the British and Indians reached a spot on the north bank of the Thames, in the vicinity of the present Chatham, Ontario. Here, finding the ground favorable for defense, Tecumtha resolved to retreat no farther, and practically compelled Proctor to make a stand. The Indian leader had no hope of triumph in the issue. His sun had gone down, and he felt himself already standing in the shadow of death. He was done with life and desired only to close it, as became a warrior, striking a last blow against the hereditary enemy of his race. When he had posted his men, he called his chiefs about him and calmly said, “Brother warriors, we are now about to enter into an engagement from which I shall never come out—my body will remain on the field of battle.” He then unbuckled his sword, and, placing it in the hands of one of them, said, “When my son becomes a noted warrior and able to wield a sword, give this to him.” He then laid aside his British military dress and took his place in the line, clothed only in the ordinary deerskin hunting shirt. (_Drake, Tecumseh, 9._) When the battle began, his voice was heard encouraging his men until he fell under the cavalry charge of the Americans, who had already broken the ranks of the British regulars and forced them to surrender. Deprived of their leader and deserted by their white allies, the Indians gave up the unequal contest and fled from the field. Tecumtha died in his forty-fourth year.

After the close of the war the prophet returned from Canada by permission of this government and rejoined his tribe in Ohio, with whom he removed to the west in 1827. (_Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 2._) Catlin, who met and talked with him in 1832, thus speaks of him:

This, no doubt, has been a very shrewd and influential man, but
circumstances have destroyed him, as they have many other great men
before him, and he now lives respected, but silent and melancholy,
in his tribe. I conversed with him a great deal about his brother
Tecumseh, of whom he spoke frankly, and seemingly with great
pleasure; but of himself and his own great schemes he would say
nothing. He told me that Tecumseh’s plans were to embody all the
Indian tribes in a grand confederacy, from the province of Mexico
to the Great Lakes, to unite their forces in an army that would be
able to meet and drive back the white people, who were continually
advancing on the Indian tribes and forcing them from their lands
toward the Rocky mountains; that Tecumseh was a great general,
and that nothing but his premature death defeated his grand plan.
(_Catlin, 2._)

+Chapter V+

KÄNAKÛK AND MINOR PROPHETS

KÄNAKÛK

My father, the Great Spirit holds all the world in his hands. I
pray to him that we may not be removed from our lands.... Take pity
on us and let us remain where we are.—_Känakûk._

I was singularly struck with the noble efforts of this champion of
the mere remnant of a poisoned race, so strenuously laboring to
rescue the remainder of his people from the deadly bane that has
been brought amongst them by enlightened Christians.—_Catlin._

The scene now shifts to the west of the Mississippi. With the death of Tecumtha the confederacy of the northwestern tribes fell to pieces, and on the closing of the war of 1812 the government inaugurated a series of treaties resulting, within twenty years, in the removal of almost every tribe beyond the Mississippi and the appropriation of their former country by the whites. Among others the Kickapoo, by the treaty of Edwardsville in 1819, had ceded the whole of their ancient territory in Illinois, comprising nearly one-half the area of the state, in exchange for a much smaller tract on Osage river in Missouri and $3,000 in goods. (_Treaties, 1._) The government also agreed to furnish two boats to take them up the river to their new home, where “the United States promise to guarantee to the said tribe the peaceable possession of the tract of land hereby ceded to them, and to restrain and prevent all white persons from hunting, settling, or otherwise intruding upon it.”

For some reason, however, the Kickapoo manifested no overwhelming desire to remove from their villages and cornfields on the broad prairies of Illinois to the rugged hills of Missouri. This may have been due to the innate perversity of the savage, or possibly to the fact that the new country guaranteed to them was already occupied by their hereditary enemies, the Osage, who outnumbered the Kickapoo three to one. To be sure, these aboriginal proprietors had agreed to surrender the territory to the United States, but they were still at home to all visitors, as the immigrant Cherokee had learned to their cost. Be that as it may, several years passed and it began to be suspected that the Kickapoo were not anxious to go west and grow up with the country. Investigation disclosed the fact that, instead of removing to the reservation on Osage river, one-half of the tribe had gone southward in a body and crossed over to the Spanish side of Red river (now Texas), where they might reasonably hope to be secure from the further advance of the Americans. Others were preparing to follow, and the government agents were instructed to make a strong effort to effect the immediate removal of the tribe to Missouri and to prevent the emigration of any more to the south.

It now appeared that they were encouraged to hold their ground by a new prophet who had sprung up among them, named Känakûk. The name (also spelled Kee-an-ne-kuk and Kanacuk), refers to putting the foot upon a fallen object, and does not denote “the foremost man,” as rendered by Catlin. In a letter written to General Clark, in February, 1827—a few days after the prophet himself had visited General Clark—the agent, Mr Graham, after reporting his failure to induce the tribe to remove, states that the prophet “had no idea of giving up his lands,” and continues:

This man has acquired an influence over his people through supposed
revelations from God, which he urges on them with an eloquence,
mildness, and firmness of manner that carries to their credulous
ears conviction of his communications with God.

To give a favorable turn to his mind, I apparently gave credence
to his statements of these revelations, and attempted to put
a construction on them for him. He listened to me with great
attention, and, after I had finished, said I might be right;
that God would talk to him again and he would let me know what
he said. In the meantime he would use his influence to get his
people to move, but that he could not himself come over until all
had removed; that there were many bad men yet among them, whom
he hoped to convert to the ways of God, and then all would come
over. He would preach to his men and warn them from taking away or
injuring the property of the white people, and if any white man
struck them—to use his own expression—he would bow his head and not
complain; he would stop any attempt to take revenge. He seems to
have a wonderful influence over those Indians who accompanied him.
They neither drank nor painted, were serious, though not gloomy.
(_Ind. Off., 1._)

In the same month Känakûk himself visited General Clark at Saint Louis, and in the course of a long talk explained the origin of his divine mission and the nature of his doctrine, illustrating the subject by means of a peculiar diagram (figure 61), and closing with an earnest appeal in behalf of his people that they should be allowed to remain undisturbed. Although it was said by the traders that he had stolen his inspiration from a Methodist preacher, it is plain from an examination of his doctrine that he was the direct spiritual successor of Tenskwatawa and the Delaware prophet, who in their generation had preached to the same tribe. Like his predecessors, also, he condemned the use of “medicine bags” and medicine songs, which, although universal among the tribes, seem to have been regarded by the better class of Indians as witchcraft was in former days among the whites.

After the usual preliminary expressions of mutual friendship and good will, Känakûk stated that all his people were united in sentiment, and then proceeded to explain his religious views as follows:

My father, the Great Spirit has placed us all on this earth; he
has given to our nation a piece of land. Why do you want to take
it away and give us so much trouble? We ought to live in peace
and happiness among ourselves and with you. We have heard of some
trouble about our land. I have come down to see you and have all
explained.

* * * * *

My father, the Great Spirit appeared to me; he saw my heart was in
sorrow about our land; he told me not to give up the business, but
go to my Great Father and he would listen to me. My father, when I
talked to the Great Spirit, I saw the chiefs holding the land fast.
He told me the life of our children was short and that the earth
would sink.

My father, I will explain to you what the Great Spirit said to
me—to do so, I must make some marks. The Great Spirit says: My
father, we started from this point (A, figure 61). We are here
now (B). When we get here (C), the Great Spirit will appear to me
again. Here (B) the Great Spirit gave his blessings to the Indians
and told them to tell his people to throw away their medicine bags
and not to steal, not to tell lies, not to murder, not to quarrel,
and to burn their medicine bags. If they did not, they could not
get on the straight way, but would have to go the crooked path of
the bad here (D); that when we got to this place (the curved line,
E), we would not be able to cross it unless we were all good. It
was fire. That we should go to this place (E), where there would be
collected all the red chiefs and there would be a great preaching.
That if we had not thrown away all our bad doings, these two points
would meet (D and E), and then the Great Spirit would destroy
everything and the world would be turned over. That if we would be
good and throw away all our bad doings, we would cross this fire,
when we would [come] to water (second line), which we would cross.
There we would come to a country where there was nothing but a
prairie and nothing grew upon it. There the sun would be hid from
us by four black clouds. When we get here (C), the Great Spirit
will explain these round marks.

My father, I have now explained as well as I can, with much pains,
our situation. I wish you to tell me the truth and hide nothing
from me. I have heard that some of your warriors are going to take
up the tomahawk. I explained to you last fall our situation. We are
now here (B), where we are in great trouble. I told you of all our
troubles. I asked you to reflect on our situation and that we would
come back to see you.

* * * * *

My father, you call all the redskins your children. When we have
children, we treat them well. That is the reason I make this long
talk to get you to take pity on us and let us remain where we are.

My father, I wish after my talk is over you would write to my Great
Father, the president, that we have a desire to remain a little
longer where we now are. I have explained to you that we have
thrown all our badness away and keep the good path. I wish our
Great Father could hear that. I will now talk to my Great Father,
the president.

My Great Father, I don’t know if you are the right chief, because
I have heard some things go wrong. I wish you to reflect on our
situation and let me know. I want to talk to you mildly and in
peace, so that we may understand each other. When I saw the Great
Spirit, he told me to throw all our bad acts away. We did so. Some
of our chiefs said the land belonged to us, the Kickapoos; but this
is not what the Great Spirit told me—the lands belong to him. The
Great Spirit told me that no people owned the lands—that all was
his, and not to forget to tell the white people that when we went
into council. When I saw the Great Spirit, he told me, Mention all
this to your Great Father. He will take pity on your situation and
let you remain on the lands where you are for some years, when you
will be able to get through all the bad places (the marks in the
figure), and where you will get to a clear piece of land where you
will all live happy. When I talked to the Great Spirit, he told
me to make my warriors throw their tomahawks in the bad place. I
did so, and every night and morning I raise my hands to the Great
Spirit and pray to him to give us success. I expect, my father,
that God has put me in a good way—that our children shall see their
sisters and brothers and our women see their children. They will
grow up and travel and see their totems. The Great Spirit told me,
“Our old men had totems. They were good and had many totems. Now
you have scarcely any. If you follow my advice, you will soon have
totems again.” Say this to my Great Father for me.[2]

* * * * *

My father, since I talked with the Great Spirit, our women and
children and ourselves, we have not such good clothes, but we don’t
mind that. We think of praying every day to the Great Spirit to get
us safe to the good lands, where all will be peace and happiness.

My father, the Great Spirit holds all the world in his hands. I
pray to him that we may not be removed from our land until we can
see and talk to all our totems....

My father, when I left my women and children, they told me, “As you
are going to see our Great Father, tell him to let us alone and let
us eat our victuals with a good heart.”

* * * * *

My father, since my talk with the Great Spirit we have nothing
cooked until the middle of the day. The children get nothing in the
morning to eat. We collect them all to pray to the Great Spirit to
make our hearts pure, and then eat. We bring our children up to be
good.

My father, I will tell you all I know. I will put nothing on my
back. God told me, Whenever you make a talk, tell everything true.
Keep nothing behind, and then you will find everything go right.

* * * * *

My father, when I talked with the Great Spirit, he did not tell me
to sell my lands, because I did not know how much was a dollar’s
worth, or the game that run on it. If he told me so, I would tell
you to-day.

My father, you have heard what I have said. I have represented to
you our situation, and ask you to take pity on us and let us remain
where we are....

My father, I have shown you in the lines I have made the bad
places. Our warriors even are afraid of those dark places you see
there. That is the reason they threw their tomahawks aside and put
up their hands to the Great Spirit.

* * * * *

My father, every time we eat we raise our hands to the Great Spirit
to give us success.

My father, we are sitting by each other here to tell the truth. If
you write anything wrong, the Great Spirit will know it. If I say
anything not true, the Great Spirit will hear it.

My father, you know how to write and can take down what is said for
your satisfaction. I can not; all I do is through the Great Spirit
for the benefit of my women and children.

My father, everything belongs to the Great Spirit. If he chooses
to make the earth shake, or turn it over, all the skins, white and
red, can not stop it. I have done. I trust to the Great Spirit.
(_Ind. Off., 2._)

A few years later, in 1831, Catlin visited Känakûk, who was still living with the remnant of his people in Illinois, and was then regarded as their chief. He still preached the same doctrine, which the artist incorrectly supposed was the Christian religion—probably from the fact that the meetings were held on Sunday in imitation of the whites—and especially was constantly and earnestly exhorting his tribesmen to cease from drinking whisky, which threatened to destroy their race. His influence had extended into Michigan, and many of the Potawatomi were counted among his disciples. Catlin, who painted his portrait (of which figure 60 is a reproduction), heard him preach, and expressed surprise and admiration at the ease and grace of his manner and his evident eloquent command of language. The traveler continues:

I was singularly struck with the noble efforts of this champion
of the mere remnant of a poisoned race so strenuously laboring to
rescue the remainder of his people from the deadly bane that has
been brought amongst them by enlightened Christians. How far the
efforts of this zealous man have succeeded in Christianizing, I can
not tell, but it is quite certain that his exemplary and constant
endeavors have completely abolished the practice of drinking whisky
in his tribe, which alone is a very praiseworthy achievement, and
the first and indispensable step toward all other improvements. I
was some time amongst those people, and was exceedingly pleased
and surprised also to witness their sobriety and their peaceable
conduct, not having seen an instance of drunkenness, or seen or
heard of any use made of spirituous liquors whilst I was amongst
the tribe. (_Catlin, 3._)

After mentioning, although apparently not crediting the assertion of the traders, that the prophet had borrowed his doctrines from a white man, Catlin goes on to describe a peculiar prayer-stick which Känakûk had given to his followers, and which reminds us at once of the similar device of the Delaware prophet of 1764, and is in line with the whole system of birchbark pictographs among the northern tribes. These sticks were of maple, graven with hieroglyphic prayers and other religious symbols. They were carved by the prophet himself, who distributed them to every family in the tribe, deriving quite a revenue from their sale, and in this way increasing his influence both as a priest and as a man of property. Apparently every man, woman, and child in the tribe was at this time in the habit of reciting the prayers from these sticks on rising in the morning and before retiring for the night. This was done by placing the right index finger first under the upper character while repeating a short prayer which it suggested, then under the next, and the next, and so on to the bottom, the whole prayer, which was sung as a sort of chant, occupying about ten minutes.

Without undertaking to pass judgement on the purity of the prophet’s motives, Catlin strongly asserts that his influence and example were good and had effectually turned his people from vice and dissipation to temperance and industry, notwithstanding the debasing tendency of association with a frontier white population.

The veteran missionary, Allis, also notes the use of this prayer stick as he observed it in 1834 among the Kickapoo, then living near Fort Leavenworth, in Kansas. The prophet’s followers were accustomed to meet for worship on Sunday, when Känakûk delivered an exhortation in their own language, after which they formed in line and marched around several times in single file, reciting the chant from their prayer-sticks and shaking hands with the bystanders as they passed. As they departed they continued to chant until they arrived at the “father’s house” or heaven, indicated by the figure of a horn at the top of the prayer-stick. The worshipers met also on Fridays and made confession of their sins, after which certain persons appointed for the purpose gave each penitent several strokes with a rod of hickory, according to the gravity of his offense. (_Allis, 1._)

Through the kindness of Mr C. H. Bartlett, of South Bend, Indiana, the United States National Museum has recently come into possession of one of these prayer-sticks. The stick, of which plate +LXXXVI+ gives a good idea, is of maple, a little more than 12 inches in length, 2⁹⁄₁₆ inches in its greatest width, and three-eighths of an inch thick. It is said to have been painted a bright red on one side and a vivid green on the other. The paint has now disappeared, however, leaving bare the surface of the wood, polished from long use. One side is carved with the symbolic figures already mentioned, while the other is smooth. In all its details it is a neat specimen of Indian workmanship. According to the tradition of the Armstrong family, its former owners, the small square in the lower left-hand corner represents hell or the final abode of the wicked, while the house with the four pine (?) trees, at the top, symbolizes the spiritual home of the devout followers of the prophet. As is well known, four is the sacred number of many Indian tribes. The significance of several other lines above and below is unknown. Along the shaft of the stick from bottom to top are the prayer characters, arranged in three groups of five each, one group being near the bottom, while the others are along the upper portion of the shaft and are separated one from the other by a small circle. The characters bear some resemblance to the old black-letter type of a missal, while the peculiar arrangement is strongly suggestive of the Catholic rosary with its fifteen “mysteries” in three groups of five each. It will be remembered that the earliest and most constant missionaries among the Kickapoo and other lake tribes were Catholic, and we may readily see that their teachings and ceremonies influenced this native religion, as was afterward the case with the religions of Smohalla and the Ghost dance. Neither three nor five are commonly known as sacred numbers among the Indians, while three is distinctly Christian in its symbolism. It is perhaps superfluous to state that the ideas of heaven and hell are not aboriginal, but were among the first incorporated from the teachings of the white missionaries. The characters resembling letters may be from the alphabetic system of sixteen characters which it is said the Ojibwa invented for recording their own language, and taught to the Kickapoo and Sauk, and which resembled somewhat the letters of the Roman alphabet, from which they apparently were derived. (_Hamilton, 1._)

THE PRAYER-STICK]

This prayer-stick or “bible,” as it has been called, was obtained by Mr Bartlett from Mr R.V. Armstrong, of Mill Creek, Indiana, who stated that it was the only remaining one of a large number which had been in possession of the family for many years. The story of the manner in which it was originally obtained, as told by Mr Armstrong, is interesting. “His father, Reverend James Armstrong, was a Methodist minister and missionary who had been sent to northern Indiana in the early part of this century. In 1830, while living on Shawnee prairie, 3 miles from the present site of Attica, Indiana, a large band of Kickapoo Indians came to his house to visit the missionary, and apparently regarded the interview as of great importance to themselves. They declared that they were from beyond the Mississippi river, that they had heard of Mr Armstrong and his missionary labors, and that they believed him to be the one for whom their people had long been looking. Each Indian held in his hand one of these wooden crosses, and as they knelt on the grass in front of the missionary’s house, they went through their devotions in their own tongue, moving their fingers over the inscription that ascends the shaft of the cross. The missionary understood them to state that this cross was their “bible,” that they knew that it was not the true bible, but that they had been told to use it until one should come who would give them in exchange the genuine word of God. Thereupon the missionary gathered up their crosses—and there were more than a large basketful of them—and gave in exchange to each a copy of the New Testament. The Indians received the books with profuse expressions of gratitude and apparently viewed them at once as sacred possessions. These wise men from the west then went away to their far country.”

Känakûk died of smallpox in 1852, in Kansas, where his people had been removed in spite of his eloquent appeals in their behalf. For many years he had been recognized as the chief of his tribe, and as such exerted a most beneficial influence over the Kickapoo in restraining the introduction and use of liquor among them. At the same time he staunchly upheld the old Indian idea and resisted every advance of the missionaries and civilization to the last. He was regarded as possessed of supernatural powers, and in his last illness asserted that he would arise again three days after death. In expectation of the fulfillment of the prophecy, a number of his followers remained watching near the corpse until they too contracted the contagion and died likewise. (_Comr., 1._) After his death, the decline of his tribe was rapid and without check. In 1894 there remained only 514, about equally divided between Kansas and Oklahoma. These few survivors of a large tribe still hold in loving reverence the name of their chief and prophet.

PA′THĔSKĔ

Recent personal investigation among the Winnebago failed to develop any knowledge of a former doctrine of an approaching destruction of the world, as mentioned in a statement already quoted (see page 661). It appeared, however, that at the time indicated, about 1852 or 1853, while the tribe was still living on Turkey river, Iowa, a prophet known as Pa′thĕskĕ, or Long Nose, announced that he had been instructed in a vision to teach his people a new dance, which he called the friendship dance (chû′‘korăki′). This they were to perform at intervals for one whole year, at the end of which time, in the spring, they must take the warpath against their hereditary enemy, the Sioux, and would then reap a rich harvest of scalps. The dance, as he taught it to them, he claimed to have seen performed by a band of spirits in the other world, whither he had been taken after a ceremonial fast of several days’ duration. It differed from their other dances, and, although warlike in its ultimate purpose, was not a war dance. It was performed by the men alone, circling around a fire within the lodge. He also designated a young man named Sara′minûka, or “Indistinct,” as the proper one to lead the expedition at the appointed time. The friendship dance went on all through the summer and winter until spring, when the prophet announced that he had received a new revelation forbidding the proposed expedition. His disgusted followers at once denounced him as an impostor and abandoned the dance. Sara′minûka was soon afterward killed by an accident, which was considered by the Indians a direct retribution for his failure to carry out his part of the program. The prophet died a few years later while on a visit to Washington with a delegation of his tribe.

Although the old men consulted on the subject seemed to know nothing of any predicted destruction of the world in this connection, it is probable that the statement given by Agent Fletcher at the time was correct, as such cycle myths are very general among the Indian and other primitive tribes. The Arapaho informed the author that we are now living in the sixth cycle, and that the final catastrophe will take place at the close of the seventh.

TÄ′VIBO

About 1870 another prophet arose among the Paiute in Nevada. As most Indian movements are unknown to the whites at their inception, the date is variously put from 1869 to 1872. He is said to have been the father of the present “messiah,” who has unquestionably derived many of his ideas from him, and lived, as does his son, in Mason valley, about 60 miles south of Virginia City, not far from Walker River reservation. In talking with his son, he said that his father’s name was Tä′vibo or “White man,” and that he was a _capita_ (Spanish, _capitan_) or petty chief, but not a prophet or preacher, although he used to have visions and was invulnerable. From concurrent testimony of Indians and white men, however, there seems to be no doubt that he did preach and prophesy and introduce a new religious dance among his people, and that the doctrine which he promulgated and the hopes which he held out twenty years ago were the foundation on which his son has built the structure of the present messiah religion. He was visited by Indians from Oregon and Idaho, and his teachings made their influence felt among the Bannock and Shoshoni, as well as among all the scattered bands of the Paiute, to whom he continued to preach until his death a year or two later. (_G. D., 1 and 2; A. G. O., 1; Phister, 1._)

Captain J. M. Lee, Ninth infantry, formerly on the staff of General Miles, was on duty in that neighborhood at the time and gives the following account of the prophet and his doctrines in a personal letter to the author:

I was on Indian duty in Nevada in 1869, 1870, and 1871. When
visiting Walker Lake reservation in 1869–70, I became acquainted
with several superstitious beliefs then prevailing among the
Paiute Indians. It was a rough, mountainous region roundabout, and
mysterious happenings, according to tradition, always occurred when
the prophet or medicine-men went up into the mountains and there
received their revelations from the divine spirits. In the earlier
part of the sixties the whites began to come in and appropriate
much of the Indian country in Nevada, and in the usual course it
turned out that the medicine-men or prophets were looked to for
relief. The most influential went up alone into the mountain and
there met the Great Spirit. He brought back with him no tablets of
stone, but he was a messenger of good tidings to the effect that
within a few moons there was to be a great upheaval or earthquake.
All the improvements of the whites—all their houses, their goods,
stores, etc.—would remain, but the whites would be swallowed up,
while the Indians would be saved and permitted to enjoy the earth
and all the fullness thereof, including anything left by the wicked
whites. This revelation was duly proclaimed by the prophet, and
attracted a few believers, but the doubting skeptics were too many,
and they ridiculed the idea that the white men would fall into
the holes and be swallowed up while the Indians would not. As the
prophet could not enforce his belief, he went up into the mountain
again and came back with a second revelation, which was that when
the great disaster came, all, both Indians and whites, would be
swallowed up or overwhelmed, but that at the end of three days (or
a few days) the Indians would be resurrected in the flesh, and
would live forever to enjoy the earth, with plenty of game, fish,
and pine nuts, while their enemies, the whites, would be destroyed
forever. There would thus be a final and eternal separation between
Indians and whites.

This revelation, which seemed more reasonable, was rather popular
for awhile, but as time wore along faith seemed to weaken and the
prophet was without honor even in his own country. After much
fasting and prayer, he made a third trip to the mountain, where he
secured a final revelation or message to the people. The divine
spirit had become so much incensed at the lack of faith in the
prophecies, that it was revealed to his chosen one that those
Indians who believed in the prophecy would be resurrected and be
happy, but those who did not believe in it would stay in the ground
and be damned forever with the whites.

It was not long after this that the prophet died, and the poor
miserable Indians worried along for nearly two decades, eating
grasshoppers, lizards, and fish, and trying to be civilized until
the appearance of this new prophet Quoit-tsow, who is said to be
the son, either actual or spiritual, of the first one.

Additional details are given in the following interesting extract from a letter addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under date of November 19, 1890, by Mr Frank Campbell, who has an intimate acquaintance with the tribe and was employed in an official capacity on the reservation at the time when Tävibo first announced the new revelation. It would appear from Mr Campbell’s statement that under the new dispensation both races were to meet on a common level, and, as this agrees with what Professor Thompson, referred to later on, afterward found among the eastern Paiute, it is probable that the original doctrine had been very considerably modified since its first promulgation a few years before.

Eighteen years ago I was resident farmer on Walker Lake Indian
reserve, Nevada. I had previously been connected with the Indian
service at the reserve for ten years, was familiar with the Paiute
customs, and personally acquainted with all the Indians in that
region. In 1872 an Indian commenced preaching a new religion at
that reserve that caused a profound sensation among the Paiute.
For several months I was kept in ignorance of the cause of the
excitement—which was remarkable, considering the confidence they
had always reposed in me. They no doubt expected me to ridicule the
sayings of the new messiah, as I had always labored among them to
break down, their superstitious beliefs. When finally I was made
acquainted with, the true facts of the case, I told them, the
preachings of Waugh-zee-waugh-ber were good and no harm could come
from it. Indian emissaries visited the reserve from Idaho, Oregon,
and other places, to investigate the new religion. I visited the
Indian camp while the prophet was in a trance and remained until
he came to. In accordance with instructions, the Indians gathered
around him and joined in a song that was to guide the spirit back
to the body. Upon reanimation he gave a long account of his visit
in the spirit to the Supreme Ruler, who was then on the way with
all the spirits of the departed dead to again reside upon this
earth and change it into a paradise. Life was to be eternal, and no
distinction was to exist between races.

This morning’s press dispatches contain an account of Porcupine’s
visit to Walker lake ... that proves to me that the religion
started at Walker lake eighteen years ago is the same that is now
agitating the Indian world. There is nothing in it to cause trouble
between whites and Indians unless the new Messiah is misquoted and
his doctrine misconstrued. I left Walker Lake reserve in June,
1873, and at the time supposed this craze would die out, but have
several times since been reminded by Nevada papers and letters that
it was gradually spreading. (_G. D., 3._)

The name given by Campbell certainly does not much resemble Tävibo, but it is quite possible that the father, like the son, had more than one name. It is also possible that “Waughzeewaughber” was not the prophet described by Captain Lee, but one of his disciples who had taken up and modified the original doctrine. The name Tävibo refers to the east (_tävänagwat_) or place where the sun (_täbi_) rises. By the cognate Shoshoni and Comanche the whites are called _Taivo_.

From oral information of Professor A. H. Thompson, of the United States Geological Survey, I learn some particulars of the advent of the new doctrine among the Paiute of southwestern Utah. While his party was engaged in that section in the spring of 1875, a great excitement was caused among the Indians by the report that two mysterious beings with white skins (it will be remembered that the father of Wovoka was named Tävibo or “white man”) had appeared among the Paiute far to the west and announced a speedy resurrection of all the dead Indians, the restoration of the game, and the return of the old-time primitive life. Under the new order of things, moreover, both races alike were to be white. A number of Indians from Utah went over into Nevada, where they met others who claimed to have seen these mysterious visitors farther in the west. On their return to Utah they brought back with them the ceremonial of the new belief, the chief part of the ritual being a dance performed at night in a circle, with no fire in the center, very much as in the modern Ghost dance.

It is said that the Mormons, who hold the theory that the Indians are the descendants of the supposititious “ten lost tribes,” cherish, as a part of their faith, the tradition that some of the lost Hebrew emigrants are still ice-bound in the frozen north, whence they will one day emerge to rejoin their brethren in the south. When the news of this Indian revelation came to their ears, the Mormon priests accepted it as a prophecy of speedy fulfillment of their own traditions, and Orson Pratt, one of the most prominent leaders, preached a sermon, which was extensively copied and commented on at the time, urging the faithful to arrange their affairs and put their houses in order to receive the long-awaited wanderers.

According to the statement of the agent then in charge at Fort Hall, in Idaho, the Mormons at the same time—the early spring of 1875—sent emissaries to the Bannock, urging them to go to Salt Lake City to be baptized into the Mormon religion. A large number accepted the invitation without the knowledge of the agent, went down to Utah, and were there baptized, and then returned to work as missionaries of the new faith among their tribes. As an additional inducement, free rations were furnished by the Mormons to all who would come and be baptized, and “they were told that by being baptized and going to church the old men would all become young, the young men would never be sick, that the Lord had a work for them to do, and that they were the chosen people of God to establish his kingdom upon the earth,” etc. It is also asserted that they were encouraged to resist the authority of the government. (_Comr., 2._) However much of truth there may be in these reports, and we must make considerable allowance for local prejudice, it is sufficiently evident that the Mormons took an active interest in the religious ferment then existing among the neighboring tribes and helped to give shape to the doctrine which crystallized some years later in the Ghost dance.

NAKAI′-DOKLĬ′NI

Various other prophets of more or less local celebrity have arisen from time to time among the tribes, and the resurrection of the dead and the return of the olden things have usually figured prominently in their prophecies. In fact, this idea has probably been the day-dream of every Indian medicine-man since the whites first landed in America. Most of these, however, have been unknown to fame outside of their own narrow circles, except where chance or deliberate purpose has given a warlike meaning to their teachings and thus made them the subjects of official notice.