Part 9 (2/2)
Between them and the Sacs and Foxes, there has existed, from the settlement of the two latter tribes on the waters of the Mississippi, a hostility of feeling that has kept them embroiled in a constant warfare.
The efforts of government to break down their prejudices and make peace between them, have failed in accomplis.h.i.+ng that benevolent end. It is not, however, against the Sacs and Foxes alone, that their arms are turned. From time immemorial they have been at war with the Chippeways, and are also constantly making hostile incursions upon other neighboring tribes. They usually fight on horseback, and being very superior hors.e.m.e.n, they are generally more than a match for their antagonists. In Schoolcraft's Narrative, we find the following account of their numbers, habits and peculiarities of character.
”The numerical strength of the Sioux nation was stated by the late General Pike at 21,675, three thousand eight hundred of whom are warriors. This is the most powerful Indian tribe in North America. It consists of seven bands, namely the Minokantongs, the Yengetongs, the Sissitongs, the Wahpetongs, the t.i.tongs, the Mendewacantongs and the Washpecontongs. These are independent bands under their own chiefs, but united in a confederacy for the protection of their territories; and send deputies to a general council of the chiefs and warriors, whenever the concerns of their nation require it. If one of the tribes is attacked, the others are expected to a.s.sist in the repulsion of the enemy. They inhabit all the country, between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, from north lat.i.tude about 46 to the junction of these rivers near St. Louis, with trifling exceptions in favor of some scattered bands of Foxes, Sacs and Kickapoos. Their country also extends south of the Missouri, where the princ.i.p.al part of the t.i.tongs reside, and east of the Mississippi to the territories of the Chippeways--the Winnebagoes and the Menominies. The greatest chief of the nation at present (1820) is Talangamane, or the Red Wing.
”The Minocantongs, or people of the waters, are located at St. Peters, and along the banks of the Mississippi towards Prairie du Chien. They reside in four princ.i.p.al villages.
”The Yengetongs and the Sessitongs inhabit the upper parts of the river St. Peters, and are sometimes called the Sioux of the plains. Their traffic is princ.i.p.ally in Buffalo robes. The Wahpetongs, or people of the leaves are the most erratic in their dispositions of all the Sioux; they inhabit the St. Peters between the Prairie de Francois and the White Rock, during a part of the year, and generally go out to hunt above the falls of St. Anthony towards the sources of the river De Corbeau, and upon the plains which give origin to the Crow, Sac and Elk rivers.
”The t.i.tongs inhabit both banks of the Missouri, and rove in quest of game over an immense extent of country. They are said to be related to the Mahas, and some other bands south of the Missouri.
”The Mendewacantongs, or people of the Medicine Lake, the Washpecontongs, or people of the Leaves, who have run away, and some other scattered bands, whose names are unknown, inhabit the country generally, from St. Peters south to the mouth of the Missouri, and are chiefly located upon the sources of the rivers Ocano, Iowa, and Desmoines.
”The Sioux are generally represented as a brave, generous and spirited people, with proud notions of their origin as a tribe, and their superiority as hunters and warriors, and with a predominant pa.s.sion for war. They speak the Narcotah language, which is peculiar to themselves, and appears to have little affinity with any other Indian tongue. It is not so soft and sonorous as the Algonquin which abounds in l.a.b.i.als, but more so than the Winnebago, which is the most harsh and guttural language in America. The Narcotah sounds to an English ear, like the Chinese, and both in this, and in other respects, the Sioux are thought to present many points of coincidence. It is certain that their manners and customs differ essentially from those of any other tribe, and their physiognomy, as well as their language, and opinions, mark them a distinct race of people. Their sacrifices and their supplications to the unknown G.o.d--their feasts after any signal deliverance from danger--their meat, and their burnt offerings--the preparation of incense, and certain customs of their females, offer too striking a coincidence, with the manners of the Asiatic tribes, before the commencement of the Christian era, to escape observation, while their paintings and hieroglyphics bear so much a.n.a.logy to those of the Asteeks of Mexico, as to render it probable that the latter are of Naudowessian origin.”
”From my knowledge of the Sioux nation,” observes Lieutenant Pike, ”I do not hesitate to p.r.o.nounce them the most warlike and independent nation of Indians, within the boundaries of the United States, their every pa.s.sion being subservient to that of war. Their guttural p.r.o.nunciation, high cheek bones, their visages, and distinct manners, together with their own traditions, supported by the testimony of neighboring nations, put it in my mind beyond a shadow of doubt, that they have emigrated from the north west point of America, to which they had come across the narrow streights, which in that quarter divide the two continents; and are absolutely descendants of a Tartarean tribe.”
The following anecdote of a Sioux chief, and of a council held by Governor Ca.s.s, some years since, for the purpose of making peace between the Sioux and Chippeways, is drawn from a letter from that officer, to the war department.[16]
”Some years since, mutually weary of hostilities, the chiefs of both nations met, and agreed upon a truce. But the Sioux disregarding the solemn compact they had formed, and actuated by some sudden impulse attacked and murdered a number of Chippeways. The old Chippeway chief was present at the time, and his life was saved by the intrepidity and self-devotion of a Sioux chief. This man intreated, remonstrated, threatened. He adjured his countrymen, by every motive, to abstain from any violation of their faith: and finding his remonstrances useless, he attached himself to the Chippeway chief, and avowed his determination to save him or perish. Awed by such intrepidity, the Sioux finally agreed that he should ransom the Chippewa. This he did at the expense of all the property he possessed. The Sioux chief now accompanied him on his journey, until he considered him safe from any of the parties of the Sioux, who might be disposed to pursue him.
”Believing it equally inconsistent with humanity and sound policy, that these border contests should be suffered to continue; and feeling that the Indians have a full portion of moral and physical evils, without adding to them the calamities of a war, which had no definite object, Governor Ca.s.s being at Sandy lake, offered his mediation to the Chippeway chiefs, to which they readily acceded. In consequence, a deputation of ten of their men descended the Mississippi with him.
”The Chippeways landed occasionally, to examine whether any of the Sioux had recently visited that quarter. In one of these excursions, there was found, suspended to a tree, in an exposed situation, a piece of birch-bark, made flat, by being fastened between two sticks, about eighteen inches long by fifteen broad. This bark contained the answer of the Sioux nation, to overtures which the Chippeways had made, on Governor Ca.s.s' offer of mediation:--which overtures had been found and taken off by a party of the Sioux. So revengeful and sanguinary had the contest been between these tribes, that no personal communication could take place. Neither the sanct.i.ty of the office, nor the importance of the message, could protect the amba.s.sador of either party from the vengeance of the other.
”The preliminaries to a peace being thus settled, the Sioux and Chippeways met in joint council--smoked the pipe of peace together, and then in their own figurative language, 'buried the tomahawk so deep, that it could never be dug up again.'”
Another anecdote is related by Mr. Schoolcraft which we quote as ill.u.s.trative of the character, in some degree, of this singular and warlike race.”
”Le Pet.i.t Corbeau, a chief of a small band of Sioux, located upon the banks of the Mississippi, towards the confines of the Chippeway territory, going out one morning to examine his beaver trap, found a Sauteur in the act of stealing it. He had approached without exciting alarm, and while the Sauteur was engaged in taking the trap from the water, he stood maturely surveying him with a loaded rifle in his hands.
As the two nations were at war, and the offence was in itself one of the most heinous nature, he would have been justified in killing him on the spot, and the thief looked for nothing else, on finding himself detected. But the Sioux chief walking up to him discovered a n.o.bleness of disposition which would have done honor to the most enlightened of men. 'Take no alarm,' said he, 'at my approach; I only come to present to you the trap of which I see you stand in need. You are entirely welcome to it. Take my gun also, as I perceive you have none of your own, and depart with it to the land of your countrymen, but linger not here, lest some of my young men, who are panting for the blood of their enemies, should discover your footsteps in our country, and fall upon you.' So saying he delivered him his gun and accoutrements, and returned unarmed to the village of which he is so deservedly the chief.”
COLONIZATION OF THE INDIANS.
The plan, now in progress of execution, for the removal of all the Indians, within the limits of the United States, to a region of country west of Missouri and Arkansas, will of course, when carried out, greatly modify our relations with them. New laws must be enacted by Congress, and new treaties formed between the Indians and the United States.
From the organization of the federal government to the present time, our relations with the Indians have been the subject of frequent legislation, and the statute book bears many evidences of benevolent action towards this ill-fated race. If the laws enacted by Congress for the protection and civilization of the aborigines of this country, had been regularly and rigidly enforced, and a more impartial interpretation of the treaties made with them, had been observed, their condition would have been far better than it now is--they would have pa.s.sed from the hunter to the pastoral state, and have grown in numbers, virtue and intelligence. But these laws and these treaties, have been year after year violated by our own people, and the result has been a constant deterioration of the Indians. This is especially true of those laws intended to prevent our citizens from hunting on the Indian lands, residing in their country, and trading with them without a license from the United States. These have generally been a dead letter upon the national statute book, and the encroachments of the lawless frontiers-men, the trader, the land speculator, and the vender of spirituous liquors, have impoverished degraded, and vitiated, more or less, every tribe within the limits of the United States. It is to this intercourse, with these cla.s.ses of persons, that the bad faith, the savage barbarities, and border-wars, of which so much complaint is made against the Indians, are to be mainly attributed. The rapacity of our people, for their peltries and their land, the feeble execution of laws made for their protection, and the loose morality which has governed our general intercourse with them, have wasted their numbers, debased their character, and tarnished the honor of that nation, which, from the very organization of its government, has claimed to be their benevolent protector.
The plan of removing the Indians beyond the limits of the United States is not new. If not original with Mr. Jefferson, it was commended by him, and has been approved, we believe, by each successive administration since his day. It looked of course to a peaceable not a forcible removal of them. Whether the details of the original plan corresponded with those of the law, under which this removal is going on, we do not know.
The substance of the present plan may be gathered from the following provisions:
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