CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1 89 1 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library F 606 N411883 History of Minnesota: from tfie earliest oiin 3 1924 028 912 826 S B Cornell University WjMJ Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028912826 THE HISTORY OF MIMISOTl: PEOM THE EAELIEST FRENCH EXPLORATIOIS PRESENT TIME, BY THE REV. EDWARD DUFFIELD NEILL, PEEflDENT OF MACALESTEB COLLEGE ; corresponding member of massachusetts historical society; author ol* "Virginia Compant of Lonuon," "The English Colonization of America," Founders of Maryland," Etc., Etc., Etc. " Nescire quid antea quam natus sis accident, id semper esse puerum." FIFTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. MINNEAPOLIS: JIINNESOTA HISTORICAL COMPANY. 1888. 1 & i\ /-S %"- ^ A \ •i ''ip- « .5 \» V ^, &<' 3 ft 'V ft,:; PREFATORY NOTE. In the preparation of an enlarged edition of the Histoiy of Minnesota, great assistance has been received from material -which was not accessible when the earlier editions were published. Two years ago tracings were obtained, from some unpub- lished maps, which more fully exhibit the movements of the first explorers of Minnesota th^n the ' published charts of De risle and others, and have led tq . a modification of some statements, in the former editions. Tfiese tracings were loaned to the State Geologist, Prof. Winchell, who considered them 'of suflScient importance to be engraved for his final report on. the geology of Minnesota, and by his courtesy two of the maps appear in this work. Appended to this edition will be found a chapter on the published and unpublished maps of the region west of Lake Superior; additional notices of Groselliers and Radisson, the first white men to visit the Sioux; a memoir of Du Luth; a ■careful examination of the writings of Hennepin; additional notices of Perrot, and Pierre Le Sueur the explorer of the St. Pierre, now Minnesota River; an abstract of La Hontan's fabulous voyage in midwinter, upon a so - called Long River; an extended account of Fort Beauharnois on the shores of Lake Pepin; the explorations of the Verandries; a sketch of David Thompson, the geographer and astronomer of the North- West Company; large extracts from the manuscripts ■of Alexander Henry, one of the first English traders in the valley of the Red River of the North; and a history of Fort :Snelliug. PEBFATOET NOTE. An acknowledgment is due to Alpheus P. Tod, the awom- plished librarian of the Parliament Library of the Dominion of Canada, at Ottawa, for tlie use of nianuscripts; to his court- eous assistant, L. P. Sylvain, for repeated favors; and to the Hon. A. S. Hardy, Secretary of the Province of Ontario, for valuable documents, and access to the unpublished journals of David Thompson. Lyman C. Draper, the Secretary, and D. S. Durrie, the Librarian of the Wisconsin Historical Society, have also aided me by sending valuable works of that Society which I desired to examine. As the last pages were going through the press, my friend, A. F. Spofford, LL. D., Librarian of Congress, forwarded for my inspection, the first sheets of the fifth volume of the Margry Documents now being printed in Paris. Therein is a letter of the Jesuit Engalran, written at Mackinaw on the 26th of August, 1683, to Lefevre de La Barre, the new Governor of Canada. It mentions that Du Luth, who had returned to Mackinaw from France, went with thirty-one men, about the eighth day of August, by way of Green Bay, to visit the Pot- towattomies, and express the displeasure of the Governor at- their manifestation of ill will toward the French,and their sym- pathy with the Iroquois. He was not long absent from Mack- inaw, and upon his return, again began to make preparations for trading with the Sioux and the tribes north of Lake Supe- rior, as is noted in Appendix C. It is not claimed that this history is free from errors but an attempt has been made to be fair minded, "nee falsa dicere nee vera reticere", neither to promulgate falsehood nor to conceal the truth. If, hereafter, it shall be of any service to one competent to write a better history, a great object of its preparation will have been attained. E. D. N. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY. Physical characteristics, Page xxxi Minnesota welj watered, . xxziz Boundaries of the state, xxxi Cascades of Pigeon river, . xl Climate of Minnesota, xxzii Falls of Kettle river, . xl Eulogy on climate by Maury, xxxii Vermillion Falls, xl Report of Minnesota and Minne-ha-ha, ili Pacific Railroad, . xxxiii Falls of St. Anthony, , xlii Temperature of Minnesota, xxxiii Early French maps, . 'xlv Table illustrative of tempe- De I'Isle's maps, xlvi rature, .... xxxiv Jeffery's map, 1762, . xlvii Annual temperature equal Pronunciation of certain to Central New York, XXXV Indian names. xlviii Table sliowing mean fall of Census of Minnesota, 1857, xlii rain and melted snow at Rev. Albert Barnes' de- various places. xxxvi scription of Minnesota Less snow than on the At- scenery J lantic border. xxxvii Meaning of the word Min- Table showing mean force nesota, .... li of wind in winter for sev- Dahkotah used in place of eral years, xxxviii Sioux 11 CHAPTER I. Dabkotahs, a distinct group, Language difficult, . Mille Lac region, . Dahkotah, its signification, ■Origin of term Sioux, Divisions of the Dahkotahs, M'dewakatitonwans, . 49 Yanktons, 52 . 49 Teetwawns, . 52 . 50 Assineboines, 52 . 50 Revolt of the Assineboines, 53 . 51 Religious characteristics. 54 . 51 No idea of a Supreme Being, 54 . 52 Oanktayhee, . (7) 55 CONTENTS. Hayoknb, Takushkankan, Wahkeenyan, Thunder Nest, 56 57 58 58 Poem on Thunder Bird, . . 59* Sun worships .... 60 Offerings to stones, . . 60 CHAPTER II. Dahkotahs priestridden, . Sacred men, . Sacred or medicine dance. Initiation as a sacred man, Ceremonies, . Sacred song, . Medicine sack, Dalikotah doctors, . . Vapour bath, . Hennepin steamed. Medicine man, signification, Cause of disease,' . Manner of calling a doctor. Mode of medical practice^ Fondness for war, . Vows of a young warrior, The return of a war party, Scalp, its preparation, . Scalp dance, . Feathers, signs of prowess. 61 Maternal affection, . 61 Lament over an infant, . 62 Mode of obtaining wives, 62 Custom of son-in-law, . > 63 Penalty for adultery, 64 The woodpecker charm, . 64 Love of dress, 65 Games, plum stones, 65 Ball play, 65 Ball play at Oak Grove, 66 Dog dance, 66 Fish dance, 67 Cormorant dance, . 67 Secret clubs, . 68 Crow Feather in Cap Club, 68 Strong Heart Club, 69 Uncleanness, . 69 Dog meat, a delicacy, 69 Irregular mode of life, . 69 70 71 72 72 73 73 73 74 74 75 76 76 77 77 78 78 79 80 81 CHAPTER IIL Dahkotah women, . Hardships of women, Husbands cruel. Disposition to be suicides. Disguised girl. Chiefs, no authority, Absence of law. Names of months, . Moon eaten by mice. Looking-glass, Peculiar views. Belief in relation to future. Burial ceremonies, . Death song, . 82 82 83 84 84 85 85 86 87 87 87 87 88 89 ■Schiller's poem, Translations of Bulwer and Herschell, . Legends, Eagle-Eye and Scarlet Dove, Anpetusapa, ... Weenonah, Hogan-wanke-kiuj St. Croix River, Language of Dahkotahs, Hennepin collecting a vocabu lary Riggs's Lexicon, Dahkotah Alphabet, 89 89 90 90 91 93 94 95 95 96 97 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Sourcie of St. Lawrence in Mia nesota, Cartier discovers the mouth, Champlain in Huron country, Nioolet, in Wisconsin, Le Jeune's mention of Dahko- tahs, . Jogues and Raymbault at Sault St. Marie, . Traders west of Lake Superior, Garreau and Dreuilletes, Puritan Eliot, Two traders visit Dahkotahs, '. Their description, . Grosellier, Murder of Garreau, Ben6 Menard, His farewell letter, Arrival in Lake Superior, Hurons at La Pointe, . 106 99 Guerin, Menard's companion, 106 99 Menard lost, . . . .107 99 AUouez succeeds Menard, . 107 100 Arrives at La Pointo, . . 108 Grand Council, . . . 108 101 Allouez meets Dahkotahs, . 109 First mention of the " Mes- 101 sipi," .... 110 102 Description of Dahkotahs, . 110 • 102 Marquette succeeds Allouez, . Ill 102 His opinion of the Dahkotahs, 111 103 Number of Dahkotah villages, 112 103 La Pointe Mission abandoned,, 113 103 Dahkotahs killed at Sault St. 104 Marie 113 104 Ojibways intermarry with Dah- 104 kotahs, . . . .113 105 CHAPTER V. Fur trade, .... Fascination of the business . Licenses granted to old officers, Clerks, Voyageurs, .... Careless and hardy class. Fondness for the frontier, Complaints against coureurs des bois, .... Meaning of the expression, . Number of annual licenses, . Profits of the trade, Nicholas Perrot, 115 Perrot a Canadian, 119 115 Visits tribes of Lake MicWgan, 120 115 Council at Sault St. Marie, . 120 115 French take possession of 116 North-west, 121 116 Trading post at head of Lake 117 Superior, . ^ . . 121 Du Luth visits Minnesota, 122 117 Intendant of Canada dis- 117 pleased 122 118 Mille Lac called Lake Buade, 122 119 Perrot's account attracts La 119 Salle, ...... 123 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. La Salle at Kingston, Louis Hennepin. . His early life, Not a Jesuit, . Embarks for Canada, At the Falls of Niagara, Visits Albany, La Salle launches the Griffin, He builds Fort Crevecoeur, Sends Hennepin to Upper Mis- sissippi, Hennepin seized by the Dahko- tahs, . Indians astonished at prayer- book, . First mention of a Dahkotah ■word Hennepin at Lake Pepin, Old mode of kindling fire, Indians land near St. Paul, Journey to Mille Lao, Hennepin's robe, . Sweating cabin. Astonishment at mariner' compass. The mystery of an iron pot, Amazement at writing, . 124 Ridicule of the Indians, . . 133 124 First infant baptism in Minne- 124 nesota, .... 134 125 Arrival of distant Indians, 125 HopeofaNorthernPacifioroute, 135 126 Hennepin's falsehoods, . 126 List of editions of his travels, 127 Calliere's opinion of Hennepin, 127 Louis XIV. orders his arrest, Hennepin in Italy, i27 DuLuth,discoverer of Mille Lac Du Luth in France, 128 Du Luth at Mackinaw, . Perrot near the mouth of Wis- 129 oonsin, Droll strategy of Dahkotahs, 129 Miamies bring lead, 130 Du Luth and Perrot obtain 130 allies for Iroquois war, 131 Louis XIV. censures Du Luth 131 Du Luth at a post above De- 131 troit, .... 132 Du Luth and Tonty at Detroit, Du Luth captures Englishmen, 132 Du Luth in New York, . 132 Afflicted with gout, 133 Notice of his death. CHAPTER VII. Formal occupation of Minne- sota, 143 First official document, . . 143 Boisguillot at the Wisconsin, 144 Mantantons 144 First French post inMinnesota, 145 Frontenao's opposition to Je- suits, 145 Perrot visits Montreal, . . 146 Grand feast of Frontenac, . 146 Frontenac sings the war song. Long-expected furs, Le Sueur at La Pointe, . Second post in Minnesota, First Dahkotah in Montreal, Ojibway chief from La Pointe His speech, Dahkotah's speech, Dahkotah woman in Montreal, Dahkotah chief dies, CONTENTS. Le Sueur goes to France, Perrot about to be burned, Le Sueur's mining project. 151 Louis XIV. revokes his license, 153 151 Le Sueur's second visit to 152 France 153 CHAPTER VIIL D'Iberville Governor of Loui- siana, .... Relative of Le Sueur, . Le Sueur arrives with miners. Ascends the Mississippi, Marest's letter to Le Sueur, Le Sueur meets Dahkotah war- riors, . '. At the mines near Galena, ■Canadians attacked by Wis consin Indians, . Le Sueur at mouth of Wiscon- sin, .... War party returning from Minnesota, . Le Sueur at Chippeway river. Lake Pepin, . Cannon river. La Place, a deserter, killed by Dahkotahs, Denis, Canadian voyageur, St. Croix river named after a Frenchman, River St. Pierre entered, . Blue Earth river, . Post established, Dahkotahs desire a post near Mendota, Dahkotahs described. Fort L'Huillier finished. 154 154 154 154 154 155 155 156 156 157 158 159 159 160 160 161 161 162 162 162 163 164 Dahkotahs sue for favour, Canoes filled with blue earth, Mantantons visit the post, M'dewakantons at Mille Lac, Assineboines, loways and Ottoes moving west, .... Dahkotahs mourn the death Tioscat§, Le Sueur makes presents. Cultivation of the earth pro- of Mantantons give a feast, M'dewakantons at the post, Catalogue of Dahkotah vil- to Le Sueur returns to Gylf of .Mexico, Acccompanies D'Iberville France, D'Iberville's manuscript, State of the tribes, Census of Indians, Mississip- pi valley. Frenchmen should not follow Indians, ... Canada and Louisiana govern- ments, Workmen leave Mahkahto, Le Sueur's death, . 164 165 165 165 166 166 167 168 168 168 169 170 171 171 171 172 173 173 174 175 175 CHAPTER IX. ' \ Westward tendency of Dahko- Sauks and Foxes defeated by tabs 176 Dahkotahs and loways, . 176 Sauk and Fox hostility to Language of the Foxes, not French, .... 176 Algonquin, . . 176 Foxes attack Detroit, Their repulse, Defeat near Lake St. Clair, . Louvigny invades the Fox country, .... Foxes break their treaty. Licenses to traders renewed, . Prediction of English mastery. Captain St. Pierre sent to La Pointe, .... De Lignery concludes peace with Foxes, Peace between Ojibways and Dahkotahs, .... La Pointe Ojibways at Mon- treal, Foxes again faithless, ' . Lake Pepin re-occupied by French Importance of the post urged, De Lignery's expedition against Foxes, .... Foxes leave their country. 177 177 178 178 Father Guignas captured, Returns to Lake Pepin, . Establishment at Lake Ouini- pigon, .... Veranderie discovers Lake 186 18& 186 179 179 179 Winnipeg Alleged pillars of stone, Alton's letter on stone heaps, 187 187 187 180 Stone heaps near Red Wing, . Dahkotahs attack Veranderie, Extermination of Foxes deter- 188 139 180 mined, .... 189 181 Moran, captain of the expedi- tion 189 181 Koran's strategy, . Final defeat of the Foxes, 190 190 182 De Lusignan visits Dahkotahs, Coureurs des bois refuse to re- 191 183 turn, 191 184 185 Trading-post burned, .' St. Pierre at Mackinaw, His character, 191 191 191 186 Escape of Indian prisoners, . 192 CHAPTER X. Canada and English colonies at war, .... French enlist savages, . Le Due robbed at Lake Supe- rior La Ronde, officer at La Pointe, Veranderie at Fond du Lac, . Marin at Green Bay, List of Upper Indian allies, . St. Pierre in the state of Penn- sylvania, .... Beaujeu and De Lignery at Fort Duquesne, . Beaujeu killed while attack- ing Braddock, St. Pierre killed at Lake Cham- plain Langlade of Wisconsin, at Ti- 193 conderoga, .... 196 193 loways and Ojibways at Ticon- deroga; . . . .197 194 List of Upper Indians, . . 197 194 Rogers and Jonathan C8,rver 194 at Fort George, . . . igg 194 Rogers's amusing note, . . 198 194 Ojibways returning, die of small-pox 199 195 French deliver up their posts, 199 English troops at Green Bay, . 199 195 Dahkotahs visit, and make peace 199 195 Penneshaw a French trader, . 199 His influence with Dahkotahs, 200 195 Friendly to the English, . 200 CONTENTS. CHAPTBB XI. Indians partial to French tra- ders 201 Jonathan Carver's early life, . 202 At Fort William Henry, . . 202 Visits Mackinaw, . . . 202 Arrives at Green Bay, . . 202 Carver's description of Prairie du Chien 203 Artificial earth works, . . 203 Lake Pepin, .... 206 Nehogatawonahs, Mawtaw- hauntowahs, Shashweento- wahs, 206 Carver's Cave in suburb of St. Paul 207 Indian burial place, . . 207 Minnesota river, . . . 208 Falls of St. Anthony in 1766, 208 Mound near St. Paul opened, . 208 Exploration of Carver's Cave, 208 Dahkotahs at Carver's Cave, . 210 Speech over dead chief, . . 211 Versification, by Schiller, . 212 Sir Wm. Johnson in. relation to Ojibways, . . . 212 Rogers makes a treaty with Dahkotahs and Ojibways, . 213 Prediction of speedy route to New York, . . . .213 Carver's Pacific route, . . 214 Supposed origin of Dahkotahs, 214 Analogies of language, . . 215 Carver's death, . . . 215 Claim of his heirs, . . . 215 Marriage of Carver's daughter, 216 Alleged deed given at Cave near St. Paul, . . .216 Agent of Carver's heirs mur- dered, ... . 216 Rev. Samuel Peters purchases Carver claim, . . . 217 Testimony before Senate com- mittee, . . . .217 General Leavenworth's letter, 218 Indians do not recognise the grant 218 Frenchmen cut timber on Chip- peway, .... 219 Report of Senate committee in 1823, . ' . . . .219 British government prohibited grants 220 Lord Palmerston finds no pa- pers about the grant, . . 221 CHAPTER XIL Dahkotahs formerly at Leech Lake, . . . , Driven from Sandy Lake, Fight at mouth of Crow Wing, Pillagers, origin of name. Battle of Falls of St. Croix, . Foxes and Dahkotahs defeated, English trader killed by Dah- kotahs, .... Murder near Mendota, . British withdraw their trade, Wapashaw, .... 226 222 Determines to visit Quebec, . 227 222 Delivers himself, . . .227 222 Winters in Canada, . . 227 223 Wapashaw dies an exile, . 228 223 Depeyster commands Mack- 224 inaw 228 Wapashaw visits him, . . 228 225 Song for Wapashaw, . . 228 225 Troop leaves Mackinaw, 229 226 Langlade at Prairie du Chien, 229' CONTENTS. Wapashaw at Prairie du Chien, 1780 Speech to the Foxes, Peltries taken by British to Mackinaw, M'dewakantonwans in one band, Penneshaw's village, History of North-west Com- pany Clerks, Pork Eaters, .... Winterers Kay in Minnesota, Kay intoxicated. Winters at Pine river, . • 234 230 Kay stabbed by an Indian, . 235 230 Perrault and Harris at Leech Lake, . . . • -236 230 Dubuque at Prairie du Chien, 236 The lead mines of Dubuque, . 236 231 Kenville, Grignon, and Dick- 231 son 236 Perlier falls in love on the St. 231 Croix, . . . .237 232 North-west Company build at 232 Sandy Lake," . . .238 232 British do not surrender posts, 238 233 Jay's treaty 239 233 CHAPTER XIIL Indiana organized, . , 240 Louisiana transferred, . . 240 Territory of Upper Louisiana, 241 Territory of Michigan, . . 241 First United States officer in Minnesota, .... 241 Pike's expedition, . . . 241 Pike at Kaposia, . . . 242 J. B., Faribault, sketch of . 242 Sketch of Fisher, the trader, 242 Pike's council on island, . 243 Articles of treaty, . , . . 243 Pike's speech to Dahkotahs, . 244 Flag lost, . . . .248 Portage at Falls of St. An- thony, .... 248 Sergeant breaks a blood-vessel, 249 Pike's block house, . . 249 •Complaints against Dickson, . 250 Dickson visits Pike, . .251 Ascent of the Mississippi, . 252 Sled falls into the river, . 253 Baggage wet, . . .253 Ignorance and inattention of voyageurs 254 ■Ojibway encampment . . 254 Pike's indignation at British flag, ' 255 Tent on fire 256 Sandy Lake, .... 256 North-west Company's post at Sandy Lake described, . 257 Arrival from Fond du Lac, . 258 Leech Lake, . . . . 259 : North-west Company's post, . 259 American flag hoisted, . . 259 English flag lowered, . . 260 Council with Ojibways, . . 260 Pike at Red Cedar Lake, . 261 Shabby actions of Pike's ser- geant 262 Peculiar hospitality, . . 265 Arrival at mouth of Minnesota, 266 Carver's Cave not found, . 267 Conference with Little Crow, 268 Pike at Red Wing, . . 269 The murderer, Roman Nose, . 270 Pike ascends the Barn bluff, . 271 Pike visits Wapashaw, . . 272 Pike at Prairie du Chien, . 273 Ball play, . . . .274 Red Thunder, Yankton chief, 275 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. Traders disregards Pike's in- structions, . . Cameron, principal trader, His grave Milor, old voyageur, His perilous journey, Indians combine against Uni- ted States, . Nicholas Jarrot, Measengers from Tecumseh, . Dickson, his character and in- fluence, .... Dickson a British partisan, Mackinaw surprised, Rolette and Langlade present, Kaposia andWapashaw bands at Fort Meigs, . Refuse to eat an American, . Americans fortify Prairie du Chien, .... Site of Fort Shelby, British attack the fort, . Joseph Rolette, British guide, Americans capitulate, Americans attacked near Rock Island, .... Fort Shelby called McKay, . Zachary Taylor retreats from 276 Rock Island, . . .286 276 Daring of Paul Harpole, . 286 276 One-eyed Sioux, . . .286 276 Dickson imprisons him, . . 287 277 British evacuate Prairie du Chien 287 278 Sketch of one-eyed Sioux, . 288 '■78 Dickson at Lake Traverse, . 287 279 Prejudice against Selkirk, , 290 O'Fallon's letter, . . '. 290 279 Dickson's character misrepre- 280 sented, . . . ,291 280 Ramsay Crooks on Dickson, . 291 280 Wapashaw and Little Crow visit British, . . .292 281 Treaty of Portage des Sioux, 293 282 Astor organizes a fur com- pany, 293 283 History of Aster's company, . 293 283 Lockwood trader in Minnesota, 294 284 Indian trade in 1816, . . 294 284 First grist-mill above Prairie 285 du Chien 298 Saw-mill on Black river, . 298 285 Spartan conflict of Ojibways, 298 285 CHAPTER XV. Bed River difficulties. Early posts on the northern border, .... Formation of North-west Com- pany Earl of Selkirk's project, Selkirk's grant described. Pioneers of Selkirk colony, . "Winter at Pembina, Colony augmented, The North-west Company op- 300 Duncan Cameron, . . . 305 Selkirk storehouse broken 300 open 306 First Selkirk emigrants Pres- 301 byterians 306 301 Colonists driven away, . . 307 302 Return to Red river, . . 308 303 Earl of Selkirk comes to 303 America 308 304 Messenger to Red river robbed, 309 Governor Semple attacked, . 310 305 Massacre of his party, . , 311 CONTENTS. Selkirk settlers again exiled, . Owen Keveny seized, His murder, .... His trunks opened and papers read, Earl of Selkirk seizes Fort William John Tanner discovered, Sketch- of Tanner, . Selkirk's interest in Tanner, . 312 Sufferings at Pembina, 1817, 312 1818 315 313 Grasshopper invasion, . . 316 Complete devastation, . . 316 313 Mackinaw boats from Prairie du Chien to Pembina, . 317 314 Selkirk's agent visits Switzer- 314 land 318 314 Compromise of Hudson Bay 315 and North-west Company, . 318 CUAPTBE XVI. United States fortify the North- west, Orders to proceed to Mendota, Crawford county, Wisconsin, organized, .... Oolonel Leavenworth ascends Mississippi, Primitive mode of living, Troops move to Camp Cold- water, .... Lumber cut on Bum river, Cass expedition, Negro and Indian offspring, . Arrival of Cass at Sandy Lake, At Upper Ked Cedar Lake, . This lake the supposed source of Mississippi, . Emaciated and suffering voy- ageur, Buffalo hunt above Elk river, Cass at Fort Snelling, . Description of Little Crow, Red Wing and Wapashaw in 1820, ..... -Colonel Snelling met by Cass, First infant of European pa^ rents, .... "Wanata hostile. Chief offers himself as a substi- 319 tute for son, . . .328 319 Solemnity of surrender, . 329 Saw-mill in Chippeway valley, 330 320 Columbia Fur Company form- ed, 330 320 Names of partners, . . 330 320 Mill at Minneapolis, . . 331 J. R. Brown visits Minne 321 Tonka 331 322 Family of Hess murdered, . 832 322 Rescue of a daughter, . . 332 322 Swiss come to United States, 323 from Red river, . . .333 323 First steamboat above Rock Island 334 323 Passengers on board, . . 334 Grand illumination, . . 335 324 Arrival of steamboat at Men- 324 dota 335 325 Astonishment of natives, . 336 326 Reminiscences of Taliaferro, . 337 Origin of name Lake Calhoun 327 and Harriet, . . . 333 327 Flat Mouth at Fort Snelling, . 339 Penneshaw's-mother kills Ojib- 327 way girl 340 328 CONTENTS. xtU CHAPTER XVII. Major Long's expedition to Red river, .... 341 Arrival at Fort Snelling, . 341 Renville, interpreter, . . 342 J. Snelling, assistant, . . 342 Beltrami, Italian refugee, . 842 Arrival at Big Stone Lake, . 342 Wanata's appearance and cha- racter, .... 343 Wanata's vow to the Sun, . 344 Cuttings of the flesh, . . 344 Wanatafeasts Long and party, 346 Dog meat presented, . . 347 Origin of word Pembina, . 348 Boundary line at that point fixed, 348 Tanner wounded by an Indian, 349 Beltrami separates from Major Long 349 Returns by way of Red Lake, 350 Beltrami's characteristics, . . 350 Beltrami deserted by his guides, 353 Awkward attempt at paddling, 354 The difficulties of travel, . 355 Indians' astonishment at um- brella, . . . .357 Ludicrous appearance of Bel- trami, .... 357 Fear of the Dahkotahs, . . 358 Beltrami at Red Lake, . . 359 Dogs tear his clothing, . . 360 Ojibways mourn the loss of a brave, . . . . 361 Half-breed hut described, . 362 Notice oi Red river, . . 363 Topography of Red Lake, . 364 Theory of old geographers in relation to what constitutes the sources of a stream, . 366 Beltrami leaves Red Lake, . 367 Table land of North America, 368 Beltrami discoverer of northern source of Mississippi, . 369 Beautiful description, . . 370 Indian stories unreliable, . 371 Beltrami suggests western source of Mississippi, . 371 Leech Lake described, . . 372 Interview of the Italian with Pillagers, . . . .373 Pike makes Leech Lake source of Mississippi, . . . 374 Beltrami's tribute to Pike, . 375 William Morrison's letter, . 375 Morrison at Leech Lake, 1802, 375 Morrison at Lake Itasca, 1804, 376 Wintered there in 1811-12, . 37,6 Beltrami at Sandy Lake, . 377 Government mill, . . . 378 Beltrami returns to Fort Snel- ling, 379 Cordial reception, . . . 380 Accuracy of Beltrami's map, . 380 Underrated by Long and Keat- ing, . , . . .380 Findlay and party killed at Lake Pepin, . . .381 Degraded state of traders and Indians, . . . .382 Traders among Dahkotahs, 1825-26 382 CHAPTER XVII L Prairie du Chien treaty of Boundary fixed between Dah- 1825, 383 kotahs and Ojibways, . . 383 2 CONTENTS. Fond du Lao treaty, 1826, CommissioneTs Cass and Mo- Kenney, .... Aged woman scalped when a girl Woman in council. Agreement to deliver up mur- derers, .... Cass orders a canoe, Building of birch bark canoe. Murderers surrender them- selves, .... Severe snow storm, 1825, Famine, ..... Freshet in Red River valley, . Swiss emigrants home-sick, . Swiss move to vicinity of St. Paul Swiss, the first farmers in Min- nesota, . . . . Oj ib way s at Fort Snelling, 1826, Slaughtered by the Dahkotahs, Ojibway revenge, . 384 Dahkotah coward, . - 393 Troops removed from Prairie 384 duChien, . . . .394 Methode and family killed, . 394 385 Red Bird at Prairie du Chien, 395 385 Attempts to kill Mrs. Lock- wood 396 386 Murders the Gagnier family, . 395 386 Dahkotahs unruly, . . 396 387 Winnebagoes attack keel-boats, 396. The father's wail, . . .397 387 Fort Crawford put in a state 388 -of defence 397 388 Cass at Buttes des Morts, . 397 389 Soldiers march from Green 389 Bay 398 General Atkinson starts for the 390 scene 398 , Bed Bird described, . . 398 390 His dress, . . . .399 391 The surrender, . . . 399 391 Death in prison, . . .399 392 CHAPTER XIX. Prairie du Chien treaty, 1830, 400 Half-breed tract of Lake Pe- pin, 400 Attempt to erect a mill, . . 400 Holmes builds a mill on Chip- pewa river, . . . 401 Schoolcraft visits Ojibways in 1831, 401 Snake river chief, . . . 402 Schoolcraft's expedition of 1832, 403 Associates of Schoolcraft, . 403 Child of Rev. S. Hall, first child of pure European stock on Lake Superior, . . 404 Portage of St. Louis river, . 404 Strength of Indian women, . 404 Dahkotah scalp at Cass Lake 405 Grand scalp dance, , . 406 Indian burial place, . . 406 Elk or Itasca Lake, . . 407 Lieut. Allen surveys and makes a map, .... 407 Allen's canoe upsets, . . 408 Flat Mouth's lodge at Leech Lake 408 Vaccination of Indians, . 409 Beautiful country, . . . 409 Good soil 4XQ Falls of St. Anthony, . . 410 Schoolcraft talks with Dahko- tahs, . . . , _ 4J2 Haste of Schoolcraft, . .411 Hostile intentions of Black Hawk 412 Dahkotahs, allies of United States, .... 412 Black Hawk routed by Dodge, Battle of Bad Axe, General Z. Taylor present, Preservation of Indian babe, . Black Hawk surrenders. Alleged speech of that chief, . First land mail to Fort Snel- ling, .... Traders in Minnesota, 1833-34, Missouri Territory attached to Michigan, . . . . Wisconsin Territory organized, Iowa organized, George Catlin, the artist, Featherstonbaugh, geologist, . Nicollet, the astronomer, CONTENTS. ziz 412 Nicollet's early life. 417 413 Arrival in Minnesota, . 417 413 Pillagers molest Nicollet, ' 418 414 Rev. Mr. Boutwell assists him. 418 414 Nicollet visits Itasca Lake, 4l8 414 Surveys the sources of Itasca, Explorations beyond School- 418 415 craft 419 415 Devotion to science. 419 Nicollet's second tour, . 419 416 J. C. Fremont, his assistant, . 419 416 'Valuable map. 420 416 Leech Tiake Ojibways kill a 416 trader, .... 421 416 Sibley's tribute to Nicollet, . 421 417 CHAPTER XX. History of missions, . 422 Frontispiece of La Hontan's travels 422 Savages no regard for law, . 422 Youth trained to war, . 423 Error in the teachings of Mar- quette, . . . . 423 Rev. Dr. Morse visits Macki- naw, 424 E Rev. Mr. Ferry opens mission school 424 On manual labour princi'ple, . 424 Warren trader at La Poinfce, . 425 Introduction of missionaries by him 425 Rev. Sherman Hall, . . 425 Mr. Frederic Ayer, . . 425 Mode of travel through Lake Superior 426 Rev. S. Hall's arrival at La Pointe 427 Aitkin requests a school at . Sandy Lake, ... 428 Hall's tour to Oakes' trading post, . ,. . . .428 Mode of carrying goods at a portage, . .- . . 429 Mr. Ayer arrives at Yellow Lake 431 Rev. W. T. Boutwell at Leech Lake 432 First mission in Minnesota west of Mississippi, . . . 432 F. Ely, teacher at Sandy Lake, 432 Indian children in missionary's lap 433 Indians laugh at missionary, . 434 Number and locality of Leech , Lake Indians, . . . 435 Fish of the Lake, . . , . 436 Wild rice, . . . .436 Soil around the lake, . . 436 Danger of gifts to the Indians, 437 Polygamy common, . . 438 Mr. Boutwell married, . . 439 Primitive mode of life, . . 440 Jesuits did not stay with Dtli- kotahs 441 S. W. Pond 441 CONTENTS. G. H. Pond 441 First to labour for the welfare of Dahkotaha, . . . 441 Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D., 442 Arrives at Fort Snelling, May, 1835 442 First church and communion iii Minnesota, . . . 443 Indian mode of gathering corn, 443 Fondness of Dahkotahs for meat, . . . > . . 444 Rev. J. I). Stevens preaches at Fort Snelling, ... 445 Indian mourning at Lake Har- riet 445 Mourners out their flesh, . 446 Church at Fort Snelling, . 446 Indian school at Lake Harriet, 447 Presbyterian church, Lao qui Parle 447 Rev. S. R. Riggs joins the mis- sion 447 CHAPTER XXL Buffaloes unknown in Lower Canada, . ,. Rumour in relation to lions' skins, . . . , . Marquette's description of the buffalo, . . . . First engraving of the buffalo, Hudson Bay Co. buffalo hunters. Carts of the half-breeds, Hunters' camp described, Bules of the camp, Great buffalo hunt in Minne- sota, ..... Last buffalo east of Mississippi, Pemmican, .... Dickson's proposed invasion, . MoLeod and Bottineau's peri- lous journey, Swiss missionaries at Red Wing, .... Methodist mission at Kaposia, Treaty of 1837 with Ojibways, Dahkotah treaty of 1837, Faribault's claim to Pike Island, .... Baker, Taylor, and Steele at Falls of St. Croix, Visit of Captain Maryatt, Small-pox among Dahkotahs, G. H. Pond buries slaughtered 448 Dahkotahs, . . .455 Ojibways chase lumbermen, . 456 448 First steamboat in the St. Croix, .... 456 448 Ratification of treaty of 1837, 456 449 Marine mills, . . .456 449 Dahkotah killed at Lake Har- 449 riet 457 450 Battles of Rum river and 450 Stillwater, .... 457 Settlers on Fort Snelling re- 450 serve, .... 458 451 Forcible ejection, . . .459 451 Death of Arctic explorer in 452 Minnesota, . . .460 Supposed insanity, . . 461 452 J. R. Brown makes a claim near Stillwater, . . . 462 452 St. Croix county, . . . 468 452 Lake Pokeguma, . . .463 453 Mission at Pokeguma, . . 464 453 Pleasing prospect, . . . 404 Little Crow's son killed at 453 Falls of St. Croix, . . 465 Battle of Lake Pokeguma, . 466 453 Daring feat, .... 457 453 Scene after the fight, . . 468 454 Christian burial. . . 46g CONTENTS. Ojibway attack below St. Paul, 469 Mr. Ayer visits Red Lake, . 470 Governor Doty makes treaties with Dahkotahs, . . . 470 Stillwater commenced, . . 471 'Captain Allen's tour to Big Sioux 472 Mill at Little Canada, . . 472 Drpvers lose their way, . . 472 Captain Sumner and dragoons visit Red River, . . 472 Murderer of one of the drovers arrested, .... 473 Death of Joseph Renville, . 474 Sketch of Renville, . . 474 One-eyed whiskey-seller, . 475 Residence at St. Paul, . . 476 His shanty called Pig's Eye, . 478 Henry Jackson settles at St. Paul 479 Roberts and J. W. Simpson, . 480 Little Crow requests a mission- ary, 480 Dr. Williamsofi comes to Ka- posia; .... 480 Procures a teacher for St. Paul, 481 Miss H. E. Bishop, . . 482 First school-room in St. Paul, 482 First court in St. Croix county, Wisconsin, . . . . 483 Rev. Mr. Boutwell moves near Stillwater, .... 483- H. M. Rice selects a new home, for Winnebagoes, . . 483 Winnebago removal, . . 484 Halt at Wapashaw, , . . 484 Excitement, .... 485 Battle array, . ' . 486 Winnebagoes arrive at Watab, 487 CHAPTER XXIL Act for Wisconsin to form a constitution. Bill for organization of Minne- sota, 1846, .... Sioux and Red River of North, proposed boundary, Wisconsin desires to extend to Rum river, .... ' Remonstrance of citizens of St. Croix, .... Wisconsin admitted into the Union, . . . Debate on the name of Minne- sota Territory, Discussion on territorial organ- ization, .... First meeting in St. Paul, Public meeting at Stillwater, . Catlin's letter to Holcombe, . Catlin resides at Stillwater, . The delegate from Wisconsin 488 resigns 492 H. H. Sibley elected successor, 492 488 Minnesota Territory created, March 3, 1849, . . .492 488 Boundaries of territory, . 492 Sparse settlements, . . 493 488 St. Paul in 1849, . . .494 Steamer brings news of the ex- 489 istence of Minnesota Terri- tory 494 490 Joyful demonstrations, . . 494 Goodhue arrives with press, . 494 490 Governor Ramsey and family arrive, .... 495 490 List of early citizens at the 490 capital, ... 495 490 First newspaper, . . . 495 491 Sketch of Governor Ramsey, . 496 492 Anna Earl Ramsey, . . 497 CONTENTS. Sketch of Governor Sibley, . Notice of Mrs. Sibley, . Sketch of H. M. Rice, U. S. Senator, Notice of Mrs. Rice, Franklin Steele, . ' Notice of Mrs. Steele, Fish dance at Kaposia, Proclamation of Governor Ram- sey, organizing the terri- tory, . 0. K. Smith, . A. Goodrich, . D. Cooper, B. B. Meeker, J. L. Taylor, . H. L. Moss, '. Temporary judicial districts, . Major Wood's expedition to Pembina, .... Governor Ramsey commences housekeeping at St. Paul, . H. M. Rice and family remove to St. Paul, Fourth of July at St. Paul, . First census, .... Recognition and death of a young chief, Indian fight in Cheyenne val- ley Tipsinna or Dahkotah turnip, H. M. Rice transports goods by horse-boats, . First election, A. M. Mitchell, U. S. Marshal, Vote at first election. Newspapers, when established, Old printing press. Court at Stillwater, 497 498 498 500 500 501 501 502 502 502 502 502 502 502 503 503 504 504 504 504 505 506 506 507 507 507 507 508 508 509 Court at Minneapolis, Court at Mendota, . Temperance reform among Dahkotahs, Session of first legislature. Names, age, and nativity of members, .... Officers of first legislature. Governor Ramsey's message, . Funeral of child of a member of legislature. Counties formed, . Resolution in relation to pipe stone slab, .... Sibley's letter on red pipe stone, • . . • . History of Pipe Stone Quarry, Nicollet's description of red pipe stone, .... Allusions to pipe stone in Hiar watha, .... Territorial seal described. Captain and Mrs. Eastman, . Poem by Mrs. Eastman, Ramsey and Chambers, com- missioners to treat with In- dians, ..... The project unsuccessful. Organization of Democratic party Death of David Lambert, Notice of D. Lambert, . . Meeting in behalf of public schools, . . . . Names of first school teachers, County elections, . St. Anthony Library Associa- ciation, .... 50» 509 610 511 511 511 512 512 513 5ia 514 514 515 515 516 516 517 518 518 518 519 519 520 520 520 521 CHAPTER XXIII. Historical Society, . . .522 Carrier Boys' Address, Jan. First public meeting of His- 1, 1850 52? ♦orical Society 522 Marriage at Fort Snelling, . 52:{ Hoad by land to Prairifi du Chien opened, First trial for murder, . Apple river battle, Scalp dance in Stillwater, Captive boy sent back by Gov. Ramsey, .... High water in 1850, ' Hole-in-the-Day" scalps near St.'taul, . First Presbyterian church burned, .... Indian council at Fort Snelling, Description of council ground, ■Speech of Governor Ramsey, . Sahkotah rudeness, Cjibway gallantry, . ■Ojibways visit St. Paul, . Navigation on Minnesota be- gun Trip of the Yankee, Steamer at Traverse des Sioux, Passengers on steamer, . Steamer at Blue Earth, . CONTENTS. xxib Supposed buffaloes, 537 524 Mosquitoes 537 '525 Ice fails on board the boat, 538 526 Uncomfortable night, 538 526 Return of steamer, . 538 Traverse des Sioux in 1850, . 539 526 Shokpay's village, . 540 527 The ministry needed for the West, ..... 541 527 Election in September, . 542 Sibley and Mitchell candidates, 543 528 Sibley elected delegate to Con- 528 gress, 543 529 OfBcial vote 543 530 Miss Bremer visits St. Paul, . 543 533 Fredrika Bremer's sketch of 533 the capital, . . . 543 534 The Dahkotah Friend pub- lished, .... 544 534 D. A. Robertson, ... 544 534 Minnesota Democrat com- 535 manced, . . . . 544 536 C. J. Henniss, editor, . . 545 537 First Thanksgiving Day, . 545 CHAPTER X^IY. Legislature of 1851, Age and birth-place of mem bars of the legislature, Editor stabbed, Bitter party feeling, University of Minnesota, Apportionment bill. Members resign their seats, . Sufferings of Ojibways, . Mortality at Sandy Lake, flole-in-the-Day addresses gislature, . Alleged cannibalism. Debate on school lands Washington, (Remarks of Stevens, of Penn- sylvania. ... le- at 546 Sibley's reply, Chronicle and Register sus- 555 546 pended, .... 555 547 Murder of Andrew Swartz, . 555 547 Remarkable escape' of mur- 547 derers 556 548 First newspaper beyond the 548 capital, .... 556 549 Treaties of 1851, . 556 550 Lea and Ramsey, commission- ers, 550 551 Rev. Mr. Hopkins drowned, . 557 552 Thunder Bird dance, Treaty at Traverse des Sioux 558 553 concluded 559 Provisions of the treaty, . 559 554 Treaty at Mendota concluded, 560 CONTENTS. Provisions of the treaty, . 560 Indians as horse purchasers, . 561 Shokpay as it was in 1851, . 562 New paper started at St. Paul 562 J. P. Owens, editor of Minne- sotian, .... 562 October election, . . .563. Second Thanksgiving Day, . 563 Governor's Proclamation, . 563 CHAPTEll XXV. Legislature of 1852, Names of members. Occupation of members. Liquor law enacted, Memorial to discontinue " St. Peter's'' as a name of Min- nesota river, . . , . Superintendent of Public In- struction report. Number of school-houses in Minnesota, Rae, Arctic explorer, in St. Paul Exploration between Watab and Long Prairie, 564 564 564 565 565 565 569 570 570 Birch Bark Fort, . . .571 LakeNeill, .... 572 Special election on liquor law 572 Vote On liquor law, . . 572 Claims before ratification of treaties, .... 573 Death of James M. Goodhue, 574 Sketch of pioneer editor, . 574 Editorial hoax, . . . 576 Trial of Yuhazee for murder, . 577 Escort of dragoons, . . 578 Judge Hayner's decision against liquor law, . . 579- ..'0, CHAPTER XXV L Legislature of 1853, . . 580 Officers chosen, . . . 580 Governor Ramsey's last mes- sage 581 Rapid growth of Minnesota, . 581 Advantages of Minnesota, . 582 Hopeful future, . . .583 Prospective railways, . . 584 Roman Catholic petitions, . 585 Proposed school law, . . 586 Counties west of Mississippi, . 587 Baldwin School, . . . 587 College of St. Paul, . . 587 Ojibway and Dahkotah skir- mish at the capital, . . 587 Burial scafibld at Kaposia, . 588 Appointments by President Pierce 588 Governor W. A. Gorman, . 589 J. T. Rosser, Secretary, . W. H. Welch, Chief Justice, . Moses Sherburne, Associate, . A. G. Chatfield, Associate, Indian villages below St. Paul, 1853 Villages near Fort Snelling, . Alleged fraud of Ramsey and Sibley, .... Presbyterian missionaries among Dahkotahs, Honourable exculpation of Ramsey by United States Senate, .... Robertson retires from edito- rial duties, .... David Olmsted, October election for delegate, . Official vote, .... 589 589- 589 589 589 590 590 590 591 591 591 591 591 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVII. New political coalitions, Legislature of 1854, Governor Gorman's message, . Members of legislature, age and birth-place, . Mission-house at Lao qui Parle burned, .... Minnesota and North-western Railroad incorporated, E. S. Goodrich becomes editor of Pioneer, Great railroad excursion. Names of distinguished visiters. Pursuit of pleasure under diffi- culties, .... Guests at Port Snelling, Speeches of Fillmore and Ban- croft, 592 Railroad sermon, . . . 597 592 Railways in a religious view, 599 593 Antidotes to bigotry, ' . .601 Savers of time, . . . 603 593 Extend Christianity, . . 605 Land grant of Congress, . 606 594 Repeal of land grant, .■ . 607 Debate on the repeal, . . 607 594 Rice's letter about the repeal, 610 Minnesota and North-western 594 Railroad suit, . ' . .610 595 Appeal to United States Su- 595 preme Court, . . . 611 Case dismissed, . ■ . . 611 596 Execution of Yuhazee, . . 611 597 Governor's letter to ladies de- clining to pardon Yuhazee, 612 597 CHAPTER XXVIIL Legislature of 1855, First bridge over the Missis- sippi Wire bi-idge Clovernor's message. Governor opposes Minnesota and North-western Railroad Company, .... United States Senate refuse to annul charter of Minnesota and Notth-westeru Railroad, General illumination, Governor Gorman vetoes an act amending charter of Minnesota and North-west- ern Railroad Company, Act passed by a two-thirds vote, ..... Formation of Republican party, 613 W. R. Marshall nominated delegate to Congress, . . 614 613 David Olmsted candidate for 613 Congress, , . . . . 614 613 H. M. Rice elected delegate, . 614 Votes for delegate enumerated, 614 Express arrives at St. Paul 613 with relics of Sir John Franklin 615 Legislature of 1856, . . 615 613 Railroad discussion, . . 615 613 Governor Gorman signs a bill giving extension of time to Minnesota and North-west- ern Railway Company, . 615 614 His message on the subject, . 615 List of members of Council of 614 1856, 617 614 CONTENTS. Mffi "ibers of House of Repre- sentatives, 1856, . State organization agitated by J. E. Warren, . Ojibways scalp Dahkotah child at a farm-house. Legislature of 1857, Presiding ofiSoers of legislature, Bill removing capital to St. Peter passes the House, Council resolutions of Mr. Bal- combe, .... Bolette, Chairman of Commit- tee of Enrolled Bills, absent, Call of the Council, Sergeant-at-arms ordered to report absent member in his seat, Council remains in session under the call for several days, .... Last night of session proceed- ings under the call dispensed with Committee on Enrolled Bills report, .... Report, Call of the Council again moved, Under the call the session ex- pired, Council adjourned. Massacre at Spirit Lake and Springfield, Inkpadootah, 617 618 618 618 618 618 619 619 619 619 619 620 620 620 621 621 621 621 621 Indians fire house of settlers. 622 The inmates killed. 622 , Murder of the Gardners, 622 White women captives, . 623 United States troops and vol- unteers bury the dead. 623 Captive women maltreated, . 623 Mrs. Thatcher shot, 624 Two Indian youths rescue Mrs. Marble 624 Paul and party rescue Miss Gardner, .... 625 Killing of Mrs. Noble, . 625 , Inkpadootah's son shot, . 626 Outlaws' retreat beyond the Missouri, .... 626 Enabling act passed by Con- gress, . ... 626 Special session of legislature, 626 Election for delegates to form constitution, . 636 Meeting of constitutional con- vention, .... 627 Division into two bodies, 627 Compromise, .... 627 Constitution adopted by the people, 628 Meeting of first state legisla- ture, 628 Election of United States Sen- ators, ..... 628 Admission of -Minnesota into the Union 628 CHAPTER XXIX. Financial embarrassments, Land grant fcr railways, . Disposition of land grant, . Constitutional amendment loan' ing state credit to railway com panies, .... Vote of people on the amend ment, .... 629 629 629 630 630 Repeal of the amendment, First state legislature. Gov. Sibley's administration, State railroad bonds issued, Normal school law, . Steamboat on Red river, . Gov. Ramsey's administration, , Second legislature, . 631 631 632 632 633 633 633 633 CONTENTS. XXTll Educational policy inaugurated, 634 University system, . , 633-637 Memorial for UniTeraity lands 637-639 Mrs. Bilansky hung, . . . 640 Third state legislature, . . 640 School land policy, . . . 640 Debate on public instruction, . 641 Chancellor of University resigns, 642 Besignation withdrawn by re- quest 642 Legislature elect Superintendent of Public Instruction, . . 642 CHAPTER XXX. Influence of attack upon Fort Sumter, 645 Gov. Bamsey offers a regiment, 645 Proclamation of Lt.-Gov. Don- nelly, 645 U. S. artillery move to the seat of war, 647 Major Pemberton joins the rebels, 647 Capt. Acker raises first company of first regiment, . . . 647 First regiment raised, . . 647 Adj.-Gen. Sanborn's order, . 648 Begiment mustered for three years, . . . . . 649 Flag presentation, . . . 649 First regiment's departure, . 650 Chaplain's address, . . . 650 Staff officers first regiment, . 650 Departure from St. Paul, . . 651 Opinions of Chicago editors, . 652 First regiment at Alexandria, . 653 Fourth of July in Virginia, . 655 Bunaway slave, .... 656 Beligioua service in camp, . 657 Arrest of Bev. Mr. Leftwich, . 657 Chaplain Neill's letter, . 658, 659 Chaplain Neill's circular to churches, .... 660 Hospital fund contributed, . 661 Hospital fund distribution, . 662-664 March from Alexandria, . 666-669 Beeonnoissance of Capt. Wilkin 669 Beconnoissance of Lt.-Col. Miller 670 Lt. Thomas brings in a negro, . 671 Bull Bun battle, . . 672-681 Javan B. Irvine's account, 672-675 Heintzelman's report, . 673-676 Chaplain Neill's Journal, . 675-681 Gen. Franklin's report, . 676, 677 Col. Gorman's report, . 678-681 Col. N. J. T. Dana, . . .682 First regiment near Ball's Bluff, 682, 683 Second regiment organized, . 683 Second regiment officers, . 683, 684 Sharp-shooters' company, . . 684 Third regiment organized, . 684 First battery organized, . . 684 Cavalry companies organized, . 684 Second regiment engaged, . Mill Springs battle, . Col. McCook's report. Col. Van Cleve's report, . Letters of soldiers, "First battery engaged. Battle of Pittsburg Landing, 'Capt. Munch's report, lit. Cooke's letter, CHAPTEB XXXI. . 685 Soldier's letter, . . . .690 . 685 Gorman's brigade, . . . 69G . 685 Gorman's brigade before York- . 686 town, 691 686, 687 Yorktown evacuated, . . 692 . 688 Cornwallis field, . . .692 . 688 Gorman's brigade at West Point, 693 688, 689 Transports shelled, . . .693 689, 690 St. Peter's Church, 694 CONTENTS. Washington's marriage, . . 695 First regiment at Goodly Hole Creek, Battle of Fair Oaks, . Described in Cincinnati paper, Position of first regiment, . Dana's brigade, .... 8 cen days' battle, . . 699-701 Mechanicsville and Gaines' Mills 699 peach Orchard and Savage Sta- tion, Malvern Hills, .... Harrison's Xianding, . . . Antietam battle, Minnesota troops in army of the Mississippi, .... 695 695 696 696 697 700 701 701 701 701 Fifth regiment in battle, . . 701 Staff officers fourth regiment, . 702: Staff officers fifth regiment, . 702 Battle of luka 703 Col. Sanborn's report, . . 703 Battle of Corinth, . . 704-709 Monch's battery, . . 704 Fourth regiment at Corinth, . 706 Captain Mowers killed, . . 706 Fifth regiment at Corinth, . 710 Col. Hubbard's report, . . 710 Chaplain Ireland's letter, . . 711 Soldier's letter, . . . .712 Second battery at Perry ville, - , 714 First regiment in Virginia, . 714 Third regiment surrender, . 715- CHAPTER XXXII. to the Sioux masnacre, Braiuerd's opinion of Indians, . Peaceful policy of English, Early legislation, First Virginia massacre, . Murder of Thorpe, . Influence of Indian priests, Cause of Virginia massacre, London company on extermi- nation, Presbyterian mbsion Sioux, . Books published by aries, .... ' Causes of outbreak, . Young warriors at Acton, . Young warriors kill four persons. Massacre at lower agency, Geo. H. Spencer's escape, . Missionaries escape, . Port Eidgley attacked, Kew Ulm attacked, . . 716 716 716 717 718 718 719 719 719 . 720 mission- 721-725 . 721-725 725 726 726 726 727 728 728 New Ulm defended by Col. Flandreau 728 Capt. Dodd killed, . . . 728. Gov. Eamsey appoints Col. Sib- ley head of opposing force, . 728 Difficulties in the way, . .729- Troops arrive at Fort Eidgley, 730 Major Brown's camp at Birch Coolie attacked, . . . 730 Battle of Wood Lake, . . 731 Lt. Col. Marshall leads a charge, 731 Captives rescued, . . .732 Camp Eelease, .... 733 Military commission for trial of murderers, .... 733: Execution at Mankahto, . . 734 Col. Sibley made Brig.-General, 734 Second campaign under Gen. Sully and Sibley, . . . 736 Little Crow killed, . ^ . 737 Notice of Philander Prescott, . 737 CONTENTS. xil» CHAPTER XXXIII. Movements of 1663, . Fcoirth regiment at Baymond, Champion and Yicksburg, Fifth at Vicksburg, . First at Gettysburg, . 738 Capt. Coates' report, . 740-745 Soldiers' graphic account. 740-743 739 Second at Chickamauga, . 745 739 Second at Mission Bidge, . 746 739 First at Bristow Station, . 747 CHAPTEB XXXIV. Movements of 1864, . Begiments on furlough, First banquetted at Washington, A letter-writer's impressions, Services of First recounted. First battery on furlough, . Third regiment in a skirmish, , Second battery on furlough, First regiment mustered out, 748 Battalion formed. 751 748 Fifth in a skirmish, . 752 748 Fifth, Seventh, Ninth and Tenth 749 near Tupelo 752 749 Col. Alexander Wilkin killed, . 752 751 Fourth at Atlanta, . . 753 751 751 Eighth near Murfreesboro', Fifth, Seventh, Ninth and Tenth 753 751 in battle at Nashville, . 75a CHAPTEB XXXV. Movements of 1865, . Begiments at siege of Mobile, . Begiments with Gen. Sherman, 754 Lee's surrender, , , . 754 754 Table of Minnesota troops, . 755- 754 CHAPTEB XXXVI. Governors of Minnesota, . . 756 St. Paul and Pacific railway, . 756- Extra session of legislature in Gov. H. A. Swift, . . . 757 1862 756 Gov. Stephen Miller, . . .757 Eon. H. M. Bice, retiring Sena- Shakpedan and Medicine Bottle tor, . . . . . 756 hung at Fort Snelling, . . 757 Gov. Barasey elected U. S. Sena- Gov. W. E. Marshall, . . 758 tor, 756 Gov. Horace Austin, . , . 75& xxx» CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXVII. Governor Horace Austin, . 759 Veto of Railroad grant, . . 760 Impeachment of Treas. Seeger, 760 Governor C. K. Davis, . . 760 Railway freight rates, . . 762 Arguments of W. P. Clough, . 762 Women vote for school oflScers, 763 Governor J. S. Pillabury, . 764 VaUdity of railroad bonds, . 765 Eocky Mountain locust, . . 766 Plentiful harvest, . . . 767 State funds for sectarian schools prohibited, .... 768 Flour mills explosion at Minne- apohs 769 Impeachment of Judge Page, . 769 Death of Rev. G. H. Pond, . 770 Mission life at Lake Calhoun, . 770 Supreme Court decision in His- torical Society case, . . 772 Death of Rev.T. S. Williamson, M.D. ' 774 Gov. Pillsbury elected for the third time 776 Fire at lunatic asylum, . . 776 First biennial session of legis- lature, 776 Senator McMillan re-elected . Act for bond liquidation, . Supreme Court decision on rail- road bond tribunal. Special session of legislature . Governor L. P. Hubbard, . Judge E. St. J. Cox impeached, U.S.Sen'tor Windom re-elected State Capitol burned. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Railway development, , Edmund Rice, President Saint Paul and Pacific R. R., . First railway in operation. Editorial notice, Geo. L. Becker, President R. R. Railroad completed to Red river J. J. Hill, President St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba R. R., ,782 782 782 783 783 783 784 B. P. Drake, President Minne- sota Valley, R. R., W. L. Banning, President of Lake Superior and Miss. R. R. First train to Lake Superior, , Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul R. R., . '. . Winona and St. Peter R. R., . Minneapolis and St. Louis R. R. Northern Pacific R. R., . CHAPTER XXXIX. Representatives in Congress, . 787 Territorial delegates, . . 787 Members U. S. House of Rep's. 788 United States Senators, Territorial Governors, State Governors, APPENDIX A. Early charts of Northwest, . 797 Map by Du Val, A. D. 1664, . 797 Randin's map, . . . 797 Joliet and Franquelin's . . 797 Gravier publishes Joliet's map ofA. D. 1674, . . .797 Map of A. D. 1682, . Hennepin's map, A. D. 1683, . Franquelin's map, A. D. 1688. Notice of FranqueUn, Fort La Tourette, . " St. Croix, . . . . 777 777 777 777 778 778 778 778 784 785 785 785 786 786 791 796 796 798 798 798 799 799 799 CONTENTS. xxxl» Fort St. Antoine, 799 Verendrye's sketch. . 801 " St. NicholaB, . 799 De la Jemeraye's map, • , 801 Ochagac.h's map, . . 800 APPENDIX B. Piret white men in Minnesota, 803 Menard visits L. Superior with Grrosellier'a early life. 803 Groselliers, . 806 His marriage, .... 803 " on the Mississippi before Names of his children. 803 1 Joliet and Marquette, . 806 Lake Winnipeg not seen by him 804 Flight of the Hurons, 806 Beaches Hudson's Bay, . 804 Tinontates or Petuns, 806 Sails from London with Captain Hurons above Lake Pepin, 807 Gillam of Boston, 805 at Black river. Wis., . 807 Mother of the Licarnation's let- " migrate to LaPointe, 807 ter, 805 " at war with Sioux, 808 Radisson, nolice of, . 803 " retreat to Mackinaw, . 808 His arrest ordered, . 804 Sioux killed at Sault St. Marie, 809 Bene Menard, missionary. 805 Jesuits censured, . 809 APPENDIX C. Du Luth's birth-place, . . 809 Post at Kamanistigoya or Three Rivers, A. D. 1679, . ^ . 809 Supposed visit of Du Luth to Sandy Lake, . . .810 IVade with New England, . 810 LaSalle's disparagement of Du Luth, .... 810—811 Randin's visit to Lake Superior. 813 Paffart, interpreter of DuLuth. 811 DuLuth visits France, . . 813 Letter of DuLuth to the Minister of Marine, . . . 813—819 Notice of DuLuth's early life, . 813 DuLuth's vindication, . . 813 Military career of DuLuth, . 813 Assineboines at the extremity of Lake Superior, . . . 814 DuLuth visits the Sioux, . . 814 DuLuth's descent of the Saint Croix river. . DuLuth meets Hennepin, Design to seek Western Sea, Traders killed. Execution of murderers, , DuLuth at Nepigon, " goes to Niagara, " returns to L. Superior, " builds Fort St. Joseph, " in battle near Roches- ter, N. T., Notice of DuLuth's brother, Fort St. Joseph destroyed, DuLuth opposed to liquor traffic, " in command at Ft. Fron- tenac, . " death of, APPENDIX D. Noticeof Hennepin's writings, 822-8 LaSalle's account of the Upper Mississippi, .... 822 Hennepin and LaSalle compared 815 815 816 817 818 818 818 818 82Q 820 820 821 821 821 822 822 823 DuLuth's narrative and Henne- pin's compared, . . , 824 nxiii* CONTENTS. Henncpin'a first work, . 824, 825 Tronson on Sennepin, . . 825 Abbe Bernou's estimate of first book, . . . . .825 Hennepin's second book, . . 825 LaSalie censured, . . . 826 Mistake as to Archbishop Fen- elon, Voyage to Gulf of Mexico, Hennepin's exaggerations. His last volume. Answers to objections, 827 827 828 830 831 APPENDIX E. Sketch of Perrot, . . 832—839 Winter encampment, . . 832 Tort St. Antoine, Lake Pepin. 832 " St. Nicolas, . . .832 Perrot's earlier days, . . 832 Builds i'oirt St. Antoine, . . 833 lowaya visit Perrot, . . 833 -Miamis visited, . . . 834 Perrot's ruse, .... 835 ■Soleil presented to Jesuits, . 836 Perrot's expedition against Sen- ecas 836 Second visit to Lake Pepin, Captive Chippeway girls, Sioux visit Perrot, . Goods recovered by a cup of brandy and water. Foxes visit Perrot, . Perrot at Montreal, . " escorts Louvigny tb Mack- inaw, .... " visits lead mines, Penicaut describes lead mines. Perrot's later days, . 836 836 837 837 838 839 839 839 APPENDIX F. Xa Hontan's early life, . . 840 " escorts DuLuthan^Tonty. 840 Fort St. -Toseph destroyed, . 840 La Hontan's book, . ■ . 840 Bobe's letter to De I'lsle, . 840 Long River fabrication, . . 841 •Charlevoix criticises LaHontan. 841 Nicollet's opinion, . LaHontan 's alleged visit to Eo- koros, . . , . Guacsitares, Midwinter canoe voyage, APPENDIX G. 842 842 842 848 843 Pierre LeSueur, . . . 845 St. Pierre river, . . . 845 LeSueur's marriage, . . 845 His children, .... 845 Sioux chief baptized, . . 845 Order for LeSueur to sail with D'Iberville 846 Preparations to ascend the Mis- sissippi, . . . . 846 Penicaut accompanies LeSueur. 847 Penicaut describes supposed copper mine, . . . 846 LeSueur leaves Blue Earth river. 847 D'Evaque in charge of Fort L' Huillier, .... 847 D'Evaque retires, . . . 847 Blue earth shipped to France, . 847 Juchereau St. Denis, . . 847 LeSueur Lt. General for Misis- sippi, . . . . .845 D'Iberville's death, , , . 845 CONTENTS. xzziii* APPENDIX H Fort Beaubamois, Lake Pepin. 849 i'ather de la Chasso on Sioux mission, .... 849 father Marest's opinion, . . 849 Father Gaignas described as an "able mathematician," . 849 Building of fort described Occupation of fort, . Flood of April,. 1728, Port, removal of, Benin's statement, . 850 850 8i0 850 850 APPENDIX I. Rene Boucher, Sieur de la Per- riere, 851 Sieur Montbrun, his brother, . 851 Jemeray, his nephew, . . 851 Lake Pepin, occasion of its name suggested, , . , . 851 Father DeGonor returns to Can- ada, Father Guignas captured, Montbrun escapes from Indians. Boucherville captured, Goods given for release, . . APPENDIX J. La Noue sent to extremity of Lake Superior, . . . 856 Pachot visits the Sioux, . . 856 Verandrie at Lake Nepigon, . 857 Route to Pacific revived, . . 857 ■Conference with DeGonor, . 857 Ochagach, Indian guide, . . 857 Map ot Ochacagh, . . . 857 Verandrie's early life, . . 858 Verandrie's explorations, t 858 De la Jemeraye's map, . . 859 Massacre at Lake of the Woods. 859 Father Ouneau killed, , . 859 Verandrie's son killed, . . 859 Death of De la Jemeray, , . Fort LaReine built, Rocky Mountains discovered, . Fort Bourbon, Verandrie, Jr., Verandrie, the father, dies. Father Uoquard describes Mis- souri Indians, Bougainville on Verandrie's discovery, .... Jacques Legardeur St. Pierre. Louis Luc La Come, Boucher de Niverville, . . LaMarque de Marin, 851 851 851 852 852 859 860 860 860 860 860 863 863 864 865 865 APPENDIX K. Sioux kill Vercindrie's son, Ossiniboia, origin of name David Thompson, astronomer and geographer of N. W. Co. Early life of Thompson, . In service of Hudson Bay Co. . Joins North-West Company, . Observations at Grand Portage. Convocation of traders, . . 865 866 866 866 866 867 l^homnson ascends Saskatche- wan, Visits the Mandans, Ascends the Assineboine. Explores Red River, . Observations at Pembina. Reaches northern source of the Mississippi, Visits Sandy Lake, . 867 807 867 868 869 869 xxxiT* CONTENTS. Descends St. Louis river, . 869 Arrives at Sault St. Marie. 869 Pranchere alludes to Thompson. 870 Irving's description, . ,. 870 Thompson's later years, . . 870 N. W. Company formed, . 870 X. T. Company organized, . 870 Count Andriani criticises N. W. Company, .... 871 Alexander Henry of N. W. Co. 871 His manuscripts, . . . 872 Grasshoppers, A. D. 1800, . 882 Hudson Bay Co. boats, . . 872 Names of Henry's voyageurs. 873 Bonga, of African descent, , 874 A wife offered for liquor, . 874 A faithless wife tortured, . 874 Great buffalo crossing, . . 870 Old fprt at Pembina, . . 870 Trading post at Park River, . 877 ' Cheyenne Indians, . . . 877 Nose lost in a fight, . . . 877 Horses sent to Red Lake, . 877 A child torn asunder,- . . 877 An effeminate warrior, . . 878 A race for life 879 Buffalo abundant, . • . 880 Red River cart invented, • , 881 Fort William commenced, . 882 First Red River train, . . 882 Death of trader's wife, , . 884 Products of trader's garden, . 884 A mare for a wife, . . . 884 Death of trader Cameron, . 885 Hesse, trader, .... 885 Drunken fight, ... 886 Joseph' Rainville, . . . 886 ^t. Germain accidentally shot. 836 Fight in 1805 between Sioux and Chippeways, . . . 887 Horrible details, ... 888 News of Lt. Z. M. Pike, ' . .889 "William Henry's arrival, . . 889 Visit to Maudans, . . .889 Explorations of Columbia river. 890 APPENDIX L. Early days of Fort Snelling, . 890 A birth in camp, . . . 890 Major Forsyth at Mendota with presents for Sioux, . . . 891 Col. Leavenworth's arrival, . 891 Officers visit St . Anthony Falls. 89 1 First schoolmaster, . . .811 Old chief stabbed, . . . 89ii Col. Snelling, arrival of . . 892 Marriage at cantonment, . 892 Complimentary letter to Ageut Taliaferro, . . . .892 Sissetons kill traders, . . 893 , , First occupation of fort, . . 839 Alexis Bailly drives cattle to Selkirk settlement, . . 893 First sawmill, .... 894 Beltrami visits fort, . . . 894 First steamboat arrival, . . 894 First flour mill, . . .895 First Sunday School, . . 895 Lieut. Alexander's land trip to Prairie du Chien. . . , 896 Name of fort changed, . . 896 Gen. Scott's report, . . . 896 Agent Taliaferro, in 1824 takes a Sioux delegation to Wash- ington, . . . .897 Rev. Samuel Peters and the Carver claim, . . . 898 Surgeon Purcell's death, . . 898 Indian treaty of 1825 at Prairie du Chien 898 Lieut. Col. W. Morgan compli- mented 898 Events of 1826, ... 900 Indian woman crazed, . . 900 Steamboat arrivals, . . . 901 Indians attack supply boats, . 901 General Gaines inspects fort, . 902 CONTENTS. XXXV* Deaths and desertions, Fifth regiment relieved, Col. Saelling's death, A drover lost, . Old Spanish commission, Jacob Falstrom, Proposed Huron Territory, Events of 1829, Polish count arrives, Wahcoota made chief Wing Sioux, Dog feast, Little Crow's speech, . 903 Presbyterian missionaries, . 907 . 903 A bridal tour in canoe, . . 908 . 903 Drunken and licentious Indians 909 . 903 Letters of Gale and TaliafeiTo,909,910 . 903 Events of 1831, . . ,. 911 . 904 Events of 1832, . . .912 . 904 Marriages, . . . .912 . 904 Dred Scott case, . . .913 . 905 Visit ofAlex. Hamilton's widow 914 Bed Impudent whisky sellers, . 916 . 905 First church beU in Minnesota. 917 . £i05- Sutlers at Fort Snelling, . 918—920 . 906 APPENDIX M. Letter of Agent Taliaferro, (Coupon, a half-breed, killed, 920 Andrews, a Canadian, killed, 920 Council' at Fort Snelling, 920 APPENDIX N. Wm. Joseph Snelling, . . 921 Dael with Lt. Hunter, . . 921 Lt. W. Alexander fights a duel. 921 General Games' inspection, . 921 Col. Snelling's views censured. 921 " Tales of the North-west, " .922 "Truth," a poem by Joseph Snelling, ' . , . .922 WillisMampoon, . . .922 Snelling's reply, ' . . .922 Other books by Snelling, . . 923 APPENDIX 0. Treaties of 1837, Fui company charge tribe with debts of individuals. Exorbitant claim, Chipp'way treaty at Pt.Snelling Sioux treaty at Washington, . Sudden departure of delegation Sioux return from Washington 923 Pitts cuts lumber in St. Croix valley 925 923 Steele, Russell and others make 924 claims .925 924 Steamer Palmyra biings news 924 of ratification of treaty, . 925 924 Steamer Gypsy first steamboat 925 at Falls of St, Croix, . . 926 , Founders of Marine Mills, . 926 APPENDIX P. Onpt Marryatt, R. N., at Men- dota, 927 Quest of H. H. Sibley, . . 927 Notice of Rainville family, . 927 Anecdotes of Jack Eraser, . 928 xxxvi* CONTENTB. APPENDIX Q. Cmsus of Minnesota for 1880. APPENDIX R. Brief record of the officers of Minnesota regiments. MAPS AND PORTRAITS. Franquelin's map, A. D. 1688, Faces title. Part of De I'Isle's Canada, . li page . . xlvi. " " Louisiana, , t( t( . 164 Discoveries west of Lake Superior, . •' a . 188 Northern Louisiana,i . . . . H l( . 300 Portrait of Governor Sibiwy, . n t( . 488 Franklin Steele, . t( 4t . 490 " U. S. Senator Rice, tl (1 . 492 " U. S. Senator Ramsey, . .(( t< , 494 " Mrs. Ramsey, 4t i( . 496 " Mrs. Sibley, . . . ii it . 498 " Mrs. Rice, n It . 500 Mrs. Steele, . (4 H . 502 Table of railway organizations. n it . 780 Ochagach'i map, «« * . . 8oa INTRODUCTORY. The physical characteristics of a land should be • known, to correctly understand the history of its people. In an important sense, when the skies do change,' men also change. Grand scenery, leaping waters, and a bracing atmosphere, produce men of different cast from those who dwell where the. land is on a dead level, and where the streams are all sluggards. We associate heroes like Tell and Bruce with the mountains of Swit- zerland and the Highlands of Scotland, and not with regions of country where the outline is unbroken, and the horizon appears as a continuation of the earth. Minnesota occupies the elevated plateau of North America; and from its gently sloping plains descend the rivulets that feed the mighty Mississippi, that flows into the Gulf of Mexico; the noble St. Lawrence, emptying its volume into the Atlantic ; and the wind- ing Eed River of the North, flowing into Hudson's Bay. It extends from 43° 30' to 49° north latitude, and its boundaries are : on the north, the British Possessionei ; <.31) HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. on the south, the state of Iowa ; on the east, Lake Su- perior and the state of Wisconsin ; and on the west Red river, Sioux Wood river, Lake Traverse, and Big Stone Lake, and from the latter a due south line to the north- em boundary of Iowa. The climate of Minnesota has elicited an eulogy froin every observing traveller, and yet erroneous impressions prevail in the public mind. During the summer, the temperature corresponds with that of Philadelphia; and while the -thermometer has a high ra"nge during the day, the evenings are generally cool and refreshing. Nights, so frequent on the Atlantic border, when the body welters in pe;rspiration, and the individual arises exhausted rather than refreshed by sleep? are unknown. Nor i^ the winter any more trying to the constitution than the summer. The air is dry and bracing, and the skies are by day generally cloudless, and at night are studded with stars. Maury, the author of the Physi- cal Geography of the Sea, and Superintendent of the National Observatory at Washington, has remarked: — " At the small hours of the night, at dewy eve and early morn, I have looked out with wonder, love, and admiration upon the steel-blue sky of Minnesota, set with diamonds, and sparkling with brilliants of purest ray. The stillness of your small hours is sublime. I feel constrained, as I gaze and admire, to hold my breath, lest the eloquent silence of the night should be brokea by the reverberations of the sound, from the seemingly solid but airy vault above. " Herschell has said, that in Europe, the astronomer might consider himself highly favoured, if by patiently watching the skies for one year, he shall, during that MAURY'S ESTIMATE OF MINNESOTA. axxUi period find, all told, one huridred hours suitable for sat- isfactory observations. A telescope mounted here, in this atmosphere, under the skies of Minnesota, would have its powers increased many times over what they would be under canopies of a heaven less brilliant and lovely." Corroborative of these statements are tables which appear in the report of the Minnesota and Pacific Kail- road Company which we have extracted. No region which at present engages the public min4, as a field for settlement, has been so grossly misrepre- sented, in regard to peculiarities of climate, as Minne- sota. Fabulous accounts of its arctic temperature, piercing winds, and accompanying snows of enormous depth, embfeUish the columns of the Eastern press. An examination of this subject, arid especially in relation to the snows and winds of winter, as opposed to the operation of lines of railroad, seems necessary to correct existing prejudices ; and fortunately the means are at hand for conducting this examination with an exactness nearly reaching matheinatical precision. The data employed are compiled from the " Army Meteorological Kegister," and " Blodgett's Climatology of the United States," both standard authorities, based upon the sys- tem of meteorological observations which have been conducted by the surgeons of the United States army, and other scientific gentlemen, through a series of upwards of thirty years. In the following table, illustrative of the temperature of Minnesota, St. Paul is inserted in the place of Fort Snelling (six miles distant), where the observationH were made : — HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. SPRING. UlAH TKHnBATSai, 45° 36'. St. PanI, Boston, Massachusetts, . Springfield, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts, Einderhook, New York, . XJtica, New York, . . . Cooperstown, New York, Onondaga, New York, . Lewiston, New York, . . Detroit, Michigan, . . Ann Arbor, Michigan, . Battle Creek, Michigan, . Chicago, Illinois, . , . Beloit, Wisconsin, . . . Portage City, Wisconsin, ADTUMN. , MsAN Tehfebatttre, .46° S4'. No. of Years.! STTMUER. MEiK Tempeeatdke, 70° 3W. 35i 20 2 7 17 9 16 16 18 13 3 6i 5 6 16 St. Paul, Lowell, Massachusetts, . Trenton, New Jersey, Middletown, New Jersey, Flatbush, Long Island, Now York, Nfiwburg, New York, . . . P&iladelphia, Pennsylvania, K^fflintown, Pennsylvania, Warren, Pennsylvania, Hudson, Ohio, . . . dberlin, Ohio, . . . Chicago, Illinois, . . Beloit, Wisconsin, . . Portage City, Wisconsin, Pembina, M. T. lat. 49° , St. Paul, Portland, Maine, .... Burlington, Vermont, . . . Montreal, Canada, . . . Lake Sinicoe, Canada West, LowviUe, Lewis County, Now York, Plattsburg, New York, . . . Fairfield Academy, New York, Mexico, Oswego County, New York, Cherry Valley, New York, Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, Smethport, Pennsylvania, G^reen Bay, Wisconsin, . Manitowoc, Wisconsin, . Baraboo, Wisconsin, . . No. of Years. 35} 31 6 15 1 19 11 ]9 11 15 21 3 21 21 1 WINTER. Mian Tbmpeeatdbe, 16° 6'. No. oS- YeiiK 35} 1 5 . 3 24 IS 10 s 1* 7 fi 5 6 1« 7-12tfc St. Paul, Houlton, Maine, , . . . Hanover, New Hampshire, . Williamstown, Massachusetts, MontreaJ, Canada, .... Sault St. Marie, .... No. of Yeari. 35i 17 3 13 16 31 Taking a map of the United States, and applying to it lilies of mean temperature for the seasons and year, passing through the places indicated in the foregoing table, we find that while the winter temperaturie of St. 1 The column headed " No. of years" gives the duration of the obserya* tions at each station. TEMPERATURE COMPARED WITH EASTERN STATES xxxv Paul does not fall below the average of places on its parallel of latitude, its spring temperature coincides with that of Central Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, Southern Michigan, Central New York, and Massachu setts; its summer with that of Central Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, Northern Ohio, Central and Southern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey ; its autumn with that of Central Wisconsin, Northern New York, a small part of Northern Pennsylvania, Northern Vermont, and Southern Maine ; and its entire year with that of Cen- tral Wisconsin, Central ' New York, Southern New Hampshire, and Southern Maine. Viewing this subject with reference to the extremes of latitude touched by these isothermal lines, we disco- ver that St. Paul has a temperature in spring equal to Chieago, which is two and a half degrees of latitude south; in a,utumn, equal to Northern New York, one and a half degrees south ; and during the whole year, -equal to Central New York, two degrees south. These statements do not admit of the slightest doubt or question, no matter how widely they may differ from preconceived opinions, for they are founded on facts of ■experience which have occupied an entire generation in their development. This condition of temperature not only obtains in Minnesota, but it is a well established fact, that there •extends hundreds of miles to the north-west of her. an immense area of fertile and arable soil, possessed of a climate hardly inferior in warmth to her own. The <;losing chapter of Blodgett's Climatology is an admira- ble treatise on the climate and resources of this vast region. The obstruction opposed by snows to the rapid and iixvi HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. regular passage of trains, is among the chief difficulties of winter operation, and in order to submit in the plain- est and most concise manner possible the magnitude of this obstacle, as found here in comparison with other districts, a table of mean results, compiled from the same sources with the preceding table, is here intro- duced. The results given in the table are all reduced to Vrater, but in order to convert them into equivalents of snow, we have only to consider fthe figures in the columns as representing feet and decimals of a foot. The rule adopted in the " Register," gives ten inches of snow as equivalent to one inch of water, but the pro- portion of twelve to one is believed to be more correct^ particularly as regards snows of our latitude. Mean Fall of Rain and Melted Snow at various' places for the different sea- sons and the entire year. Also, the Maximum and Minimum Fail during the winter months. DEPTH IN INCHES AND DEOIHALS OF AN iNOH. 8PKIN8. BUMHEE. ADTtMN. WINTEB. TEAR. No. PLACES. of Years. Mean. Mean. Mean. Minim. Mean. Maxim. Mean. St. Paul, M.T. . . . 6.61 10.92 6.98. 0.36 1.92 3.661 26.43 19 Montreal^ Canada . . 11.64 11.18 16.60 7.26 47.28 2 Houlton, Me. . . . 7.62 11.92 9.96 4.02 7.48 10.00 , 36.97 , 8t Bastport, Me. . . . 8.88 10.06 9.86 8.91 10.61 11.95 39.39 ' Portsmouth, N. H. . . 9.03 9.21 8.96 4.44 8.38 11.08 36.57 IS Hanover, N.H. . . . 9.90 11.40 10.60 9.10 41.00 18 Burlington, Tt. . . . 7.41 10.83 9.82 6.02 34.11 . 20 Cambridge, Mass. . . 10.85 i 11.17 12.67 9.89 44.43 12 Worcester, Mass. . . 10.89 10.71 13.61 11.85 46.96 IS New York Citj , . . 11.69 11.64 9.93 4.99 40.39 19.27 43.66 14 Plattsburg, N. Y. . . 8.36 10.03 10.06 2.90 4.96 9.33 33.39 10 Potsdam, N. T. . . . 6.20 10.16 8.38 3.90' 28.63 20 Utica, N. Y 9.26 12.83 9.76 8.72 40.67 ' M ' Rochester, N. Y. . . 6.82 8.86. 9.38 6.38. 30.44 19 Fort Niagara, N. Y. . 6.87 ■ 9.81 8.68 3.23 6.41 9.24 31.77 18 Pittsburgh, Pa. . . . 9.38 9.87 8.23 4.39 7.48 11.97 34.96 Hudson, 9.76 8.87 6.16 . S.0rf 32.79 7 Cincinnati, 0. . . . 12.14 13.70 9.90 ' tiM « 46.89 20 Detroit, Mich. . . . 8.61 9.29 7.41 2.84 4.86 6.01 30.07 12J 16f Sanlt St. Marie, Mich. 6.44 9.97 10.76 2.86 ■ i.i» 11.67 31.36 Athens, IH 12.20 13.30 9.20 . 7.10 41.80 10 Muscatine, Iowa . . 11.19 16.08 10.34' 6.72 t ' 44.33 10 Milwaukee, Wis. . . 6.60 9.70 6.80 4.20 27.20 7 Green Bay, Wis. . . 9.00 14.46 7.84 2.90 3 36 4.80 34.66 ? Portage City, Wis. . . 6..'i8 11.46 7.63 1.92 2.82 8.84 27.49 Beloiti Wis 13.16 18.12 10.44 &43 48.16 4 • In the winter of 1849. The next less fall was in the winter of 1837—2.96 Inchea. LESS SNOW THAN ON THE ATLANTIC BORDER. xxxvii Without going irfto a detailed review of the contents of the foregoing table, which presents the facts in a light that argument cannot strengthen, it may be well to inquire what proportion of the winter precipitation is in the form of snow, and in the absence of positive knowledge we may arrive at general conclusions by other means. Since Houlton, Hanover, Plattsburg, Montreal, and Sault St. Marie, coincide in. mean winter temperature with St. Paul, we must infer that the precipitation at those places assumes the form of snow in the same pro- portion as here. Admitting this, and supposing the entire winter precipitation to be a successive accumula- tion of snows, the resulting depths would be as follows, viz., Average annual depth at St. Paul, 3 feet; Houl- ton, 7i feet; Hanover, 9 feet; Plattsburg, 5 feet; Mon- treal, 7 feet; Sault St. Marie, 11 J feet. Maximum depth, at St. Paul, 3i feet; Houlton, 10 feet; Platts- burg, 9i feet; and Sault St. Marie, Hi feet. It is hardly necessary to add that such immense depths of snow are never known, and it must follow that a great part of the fall at all these localities is dissipated during the higher fluctuations of temperature. This is confirmed by Mr. Blodgett, who estimates the average depth of snow constantly occupying the ground in winter among the elevated and northern districts of New England at two feet, and the experience of the present winter, 1857-8, at St. Paul, is, that, out of a total fall of up- wards of twenty inches of snow, the depth on the ground has at no time exceeded six inches. Although no reliable evidence can be adduced upon this point, it seems entirely safe to assume that the xxxviii HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. average of extreme depths of snow in Minnesota, during the nineteen years through which the observations ex- tend, does not exceed ten inches, and it is certain that the average here falls quite below that in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, or New York, and very far below that in the Easterp States. Table showing the Mean Force of the Wind at Various Places during tht Months of January, February, March, and December, in eacJi Tear for a Series of Years} PLACES. 1845 1846 II 1847 III 1848 11 1849 u 1850 |i as 2.05 2.98 3.14 3.24 1.48 2.31 2.18 2.29 2.11 1851 2.18 2,31 3.40 2.59 1.54 2.37 2.53 2.15 2.32 18S2 ^ 2.00 2.45 3.14 3.54 2.19 2.55 2.70 2.74 1853 ll 1.80 2.16 1.90 2.20 1854 si 2.41 1.66 2.57 "S .a 10 7 10 8 5 5 5 10 * 2 10 u ll Fort Snelling, M. T., near St. Paal, . . Fort Trumbull, New 1.59 2.63 3.28 3.33 2.58 3.29 2.44 2.13 !?,52 1.72 2.S5 3.43 3.28 1.69 1.85 2.46 2.07 2.19 2.40 1.63 1.74 1.55 3.41 3.40 3.30 1.87 ?fi7 Fort Hamilton, New ' York City, . . . Fort Niagara, New York Plattsburg Barracks, Plattsburg, N. Y. . Fort Sullivan, Bast- port, Maine, . . . Fort Constitution, Portsmouth, N. H. . Alleghany Arsenal, Pittsburgh, Pa. . . Detroit Barracks, De- 3.18 3.08 2.96 .3.01 1 90 2.08 1.86 2.08 1.72 2.63 2.65 2.31 2.55 2.63 2.50 2.20 2 26 Fort Atkinson, Winne- shiek County, Iowa, 2.88 2.30 2.63 2.48 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, . . . . Average force at all places, . . , . 1.70 2.15 1.99 2.17 2.55 2.57 1.4S 2.32 1.61 2.30 2.03 2.59 2.07 2.22 2.30 2.30 2.09 2.42 1 In this classification signifies a 4 a brisk breeze, and so on to 10 calm, 1 a barely perceptible breeze, 2 which represents a violent hurricane, a gentle breeze, 3 a moderate breeze, NUMEROUS LAKES.— WATERFALLS. mix " It appears that the mean force of the wind at Fort •Snelling for the whole term is less than at any other -station, and twenty-five per cent, less than the average of all stations for the whole term, and that the mean force in any year is below the average at all stations for the year, except in 1854, when it slightly exceeds the average." . Like the Garden of Eden, the state is encircled by rivers and lakes. There is " water, water everywhere ;" and in view of this characteristic, Nicollet called the •country Undine. To naiads and all water spirits it would be a perfect paradise. The surface of the country is dotted with lakes, and in some regions it is impossible to travel five miles without meeting a beautiful expanse of water. Many of these lakes are linked together by small and clear rivulets, while others are isolated. Their configuration is varied and picturesque ; some are large, with precipitous shores, and contain wooded islands, others are approached by gentle grassy slopes. Their bottoms are paved with agates, carnelians, and -other beautiful quartz pebbles. Owens, in his Geological Report, says : " Their beds are generally pebbly, or covered with small boulders, which peep out along the shore, and frequently show a rocky line around the entire circumference. Very few of them have mud bot- toms. The water is generally sweet and clear, and north of the water-shed is as cool and refreshing^uring the heats of summer as the water of springs or wells. All the lakes abound with various species of fish, of a •quality and flavour greatly superior to those of the streams of the Middle- or Western States. The country also contains a number of ha^ha, as the Dahkotahs call all waterfalls. As the state of New xl HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. York shares with Great Britain the sublimest cataract, so Minnesota has a joint ownership in a picturesque fall. It is about a mile and a half' above the mouth of Pigeon river. The perpendicular descent is sixty feet, after which the river chafes its way for many yards. About one mile below the west end of Grand Portage, the old dep6t of the North-west Company, are the great cascades of Pigeon river. " The scenery at the cas- cades presents the singular combination of wild grandeur and picturesque beauty, with an aspect the most dreary and desolate imaginable. In the distance of four hundred yards, the river falls one hundred and forty- four feet. The fall is in a series of cascades through a narrow gorge, with perpendicular walls, varying from forty to one hundred and twenty feet, on both sides of the river."^ The streams in the north-east county of Minnesota nearly all come into Lake Superior with a leap. Half a mile from the lake, the Kawimbash hur- ries through perpendicular walls of stone, seventy-five feet in height, and at last pitches down a height of eighteen or twenty feet. On Kettle river, a tributarj/ of the St. Croix, there are also interesting rapids and falls. The Falls of St. Croix, thirty miles above Stillwater, elicit the admira- tion of the traveller. Between lofty walls of trap rock, the river rushes, " at first with great velocity, forming a succession of whirlpools, until it makes a sudden bend, then glides along placidly, reflecting in its deep waters the dark image of the columnar masses, as they rise towering above each other to the height of a hundred to a hundred and seventy feet." On the Vermillion '■ Owens' Report, p. 409, 4to THE FALLS OP MINNE-HA-HA. xli river, which is a western tributary of the Mississippi, opposite the St. Croix, there are picturesque falls, about a mUe from Hastings. A drive of less than fifteen minutes from Fort Snel- ling, in the direction of St. Anthony, brings the tourist to a waterfall that makes a lifetime impression. " Stars in the silent night . Might be enchained, Birds in their passing flight Be long detained,, And t^ this scene entrancing, Angels might roam, Or make their home. Hearing, in waters dancing, 'Mid spray and foam, Minnehaha !" These, within a brief period, have obtained a world- wide reputation, from the fact that " ^ certain one of our own poets" has given the name of Minne-ha-ha to the wife of Hiawatha. Longfellow, in his vocabulary, says : " Minne-ha-ha — Laughing-water ; a waterfall or a stream running into the Mississippi, between Fort Snell- ing and the Falls of St. Anthony." All waterfalls, in the Dahkbtah tongue, are called Ha-ha, never Minne- ha-ha. The ''h" has a strong guttural sound, and the word is applied because of the cwrling or laughing of the waters. The verb I-ha means to curl the mouth ; secondarily to laugh, because of the curling motion ol the raourti in laughter. The noise of Ha-ha is called by the Dakhotahs I-ha, because of its resemblance to laughter. A small rivulet, the outlet of Lake Harriet and Cal- houn, gently gliding over the bluff into an amphithea- xlii HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. tre, forms this graceful waterfall. It has but little of " the cataract's thunder." Niagara symbolizes the sub- lime ; St. Anthony the picturesque ; Harha the beauti- ful. The fall is about sixty feet, presenting a parabolic- curve, which drops, without the least deviation, until it has reached its lower level, when the stream goes on. its way rejoicing, curling along in laughing, childish glee at the graceful feat it has performed in bounding, over the precipice. Five miles above this embodiment of beauty, are the- oaore pretentious Falls of St. Anthony. This fall was ttot named by a Jesuit, as Willard says, in her History of the United States, but by Hennepin, a Franciscan of the Recollect Order. He saw it while returning from Mille Lac, in the month of July, 1680, and named it after his patron Saint, Anthony of Padua. In the last edition of his travels, the adventurous- father says, " the navigation is interrupted by a fall, which I called St. Anthony of Padua's, in gratitude for the favours done me by the Almighty through the inter- cession of that great saint, whom we had chosen patron and protector of all our enterprises. This fall is forty or fifty feet high, divided in the middle by a rocky island of pyramidal form." As Hennepin was passing the falls, in company with a party of buffalo hunt- ers, he perceived a Dahkotah up in an oak opposite the great fall weeping bitterly, with a well dressed beaver robe, whitened inside, and trimmed with porcu- pine quills, which he was offering as a sacrifice to the falls, which is in itself admirable and frightful. I heard him while shedding copious tears say, as he spoke ta the great cataract : " Thou who art a spirit, grant that FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY. xliii our nation may pass here quietly without accident, may kill buffalo in abundance, conquer our enemies, and, bring in slaves, some of whom we will put to death before thee ; the Messenecqz [to this day the Dahkotahs call the Fox Indians by this name] have killed our kindred, grant that we may avenge them." The only other European, during the time of the French dominion, whose account of the^ falls is pre- served, is Charleville. He told Du Pratz, the author of a history of Louisiana, that, with two Cg,nadians and two Indians, in a birch canoe laden with goods, he pro- ceeded as far as the Falls of St. Anthony. This catar ract he describes as caused by a flat rock, which forms the bed of the river, and causing a fall of eight or ten feet. It was not far from a century after Hennepin saw the " curling waters," that it was gazed upon by a British subject. Jonathan Carver, a native of Connec- ticut, and captain of a Provincial troop, was the Yankee who first looked on this valuable water-power, and began to make calculations for further settlement. His sketch of the falls in 1766 was the first ever taken, and was well engraved in London. - Carver, like Hennepin, speaks of a rocky island dividing the falls, and estimates its width about forty feet, and its length not much more, " and about half way between this island and the eastern shore, is a rock, lying at the very edge of the fall, that appeared to be about five or six feet broad, and thirty or forty long." During the two generations that have elapsed, since this description was penned, some changes have taken place in the appearance of the falls. The small island xliv HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. about forty feet broad, which is now some distance in front of the falls, was probably once in its midst. The geological character of the bed of the river is such, that an undermining process is constantly at work. The upper stratum is limestone, with many large crevices, and about fifteen feet in thickness. Beneath is the saccharoid sandstone, which is so soft, that it cannot resist the wearing of the rapid waters. It is more than probable that in an age long passed, the falls were once in the vicinity of Fort SnelHng. In the course of two years they have receded many feet. The numbers of pine logs that pitch over the falls, have increased the reces- sion. As the logs float down they are driven into the fissures, and serve as levers, other logs and the water communicating the power, to wrench the limestone slabs from their localities. At length engineering skill has prevented the fall of the limestone ledge The fall of water on the west side of the dividing island, is several rods above that on the east side, and the difference is occasioned by the greater volume of water on the former side, causing a more rapid re- cedence. There are two islands of great beauty in the rapids above the falls. The first juts some feet beyond the falls, and contains about fifteen acres. It is now gene- rally known as Hennepin Island, not, as some blunderer says in Harper's Magazine for July, 1853, because the Jesuit father was placed there hy the Indians, but in accordance with the following suggestion, in an address before the Historical Society of Minnesota, on January first, 1850:— " As a town in the state of Illinois has already taken EARLY FRENCH MAPS. xiv the name of Hennepin, which would have been so ap- propriate for the beautiful village of St. Anthony, we take leave of the discoverer of those picturesque falls, which will always render that town equally attractive to the eye of the poet and capitalist, by suggesting that the island which divides the laughing waters, be called' Hennepin." When Du Luth left Minnesota, in 1680, one of the Dahkotah chiefs drew on birch bark a map of the Mississippi, and it was agreed that the French should bring goods to the Mississippi, and that the Dahkotahs would come down and traffic with them. Perrot, in carrying into eflfect this arrangement, appears to have erected the trading establishment, called Fort St. Nicholas, in the vicinity of Prairie du Chien. When forts are spoken of in connection with the French explorations of the North-west, the reader must divest himself of the idea of massive walls of masonry, and turrets and buttresses, and angles with ordnance protruding their muzzles ; — and picture before him' a log cabin, surrounded by a few pickets. The early French maps on America, are both curious and instructive.* Without their aid it is impossible to trace with certainty the progress of discovery in Minne- sota, and the whole North-west. An early chart representing Minnesota that has been examined is that of Coronellis, corrected by Tillemon, published at Paris, 1688. Mille Lac is called Lac Buade, and the map states that it was named by Du Luth. The St. Croix river appears as Magdeline, and Snake river is marked Prophet. The second map that attempts a representation of * Appendix A xlvi HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. the region now known as Minnesota, is attached to the Utrecht edition of Hennepin's Travels, published in 1698. Lake Pepin is on this marked Lac des Pleurs, and the St. Croix as Riviere du Tombeau, and Mille Lac is the Lake of the Issati. North-east of this lake are placed the Ouadebaton band of Dahkotahs ; and near by the Chongas-kabions, and Songasquitons. A member of the Franciscan priesthood, Hennepin, was very jealous of the influence of the Jesuits, yet he is frequently by loose writers called a Jesuit. Ta convey the impression that his order were the pioneers in the evangelization of the North-west, he has marked^ beyond Sauk Rapids, in a region where a white man's footsteps were not seen for years subsequent, a house which is called Mission of the Recollects. The maps on the North-west that were the basis of the French and English charts, for half a century, were prepared by Wilham de I'lsle, a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. In his preparation of the chart of Louisiana, he was assisted by the obser- vations of the early explorer of Minnesota, Le Sueur. The map was issued about the year 1700, and as the section of it accompanying another chapter of this work shows,' attempted to designate the villages of the Sioux of the East and Sioux of the West. It places a coal mine on the Minnesota river, in the neighbourhood of the present town of Carver, and calls Lake St. Croix, Lake Pepin. The fort built by Le Sueur on the island below Hastings, and by Perrot at an earlier period, above the Chippeway river, and Fort Huillier on the small tributary of the Mahkahto, are clearly designated. * See page 164. Section of a Map of Canada. SECURITY, AND PROSPERITY OF PIONEERS. ilvij In the map of Canada, by the same author, Minnesota is more fully delineated. Pepin is attached to the lake which now bears the name. Mille Lac is called Buade, after the family name of Frontenac, and also by an Ojibway word Missisacaigan, conveying the idea ex- pressed by the French term Mille Lacs. Kum river is called the Mendeouacanton, after the division of Dahkotahs that dwelt in the valley. Snake river bears its present name, and the mines of lead near Galena and Dubuque are noted. In the year 1750, after Veranderie's tour by the chain of lakes that form the northern boundary of Minnesota, Philip Buache' revised and improved the .maps of De I'lsle. The fort at the Kamanatekwoya river, built by Du Luth, appears, and this locality was afterwards occupied by Fort Wil- liam , and was the great dep6t of the North-west Com- pany. The post on Rainy Lake, and Lake Winnipeg and Lake of the Woods, are also presented for the first time. Previous to the treaty of peace at Paris, in 1763, Tho- mas Jefferys, Geographer to the King of England, pre- pared a map which embodied all of the latest correc- tions, and exhibits the sites of all the French establish- ments in Minnesota.^ So ^recent has been the removal of the Dahkotahs,. there is danger, in reading the history of Minnesota,, of supposing that the emigrant will be exposed to the scalping knife of the savage. It is true that there was a massacre by some oiitlaws on the extreme south- western frontier, years ago ; but this barbarity wa» condemned by the Indian Dands, as much as by Ame- rican citizens. Although the war-whbop has scarcely, > See page 188. * See page 300. ilviii HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. ceased to resound through the vales, and over the prai- ■ ries, yet, since 1863, the Indian population has receded westward several hundreds of miles, and an Indian, when he appears on the site of what was only yesterday his village, is gazed at with curiosity. At Weenonah,^ so lately the residence of Wapashaw,^ there is already an embryo 6ity of several thousand in- habitants, and two newspapers ; at Raymneecha, the re- cent village of the Red Wing band, at the head of Lake Pepin, there is a busy town, the seat of a Collegiate Institute, with comfortable church edifices of brick, and an industrious population. At Shokpay,' which was one of the largest Dahkotah* villages, is a thriving county seat, with a population that is rapidly increasing. Near the old mission-house of Traverse des Sioux, is the town of St. Peter, and a few miles beyond is the city of Mankahto, at the mouth of the Blue Earth river. Notwithstanding the erroneous impressions that have prevailed, -that Minnesota was too far north for agricul- tural success, and the emigration to Kansas, Nebraska, find California, its growth has been surprising. In 1849, the population was less than five thousand, in- cluding all of the soldiers of the forts ; in 1857, a census that was not fully completed, presented the following fig- ures :" — 136,464. Since then there has been great increase. ' In several places we write • Shokpay or Shakpaj, is now Winona as it is pronounced, because written Shakopee, but we prefer the some are beginning to talk of the old method. town of Wyenonay, a barbarism * Dahkotah is also spelled Dakota, that would shock a Dahkotah. Dacota, Dahcotah, and Dakotah. ' Wapashaw is used for Wabasha, The accent is emphatic, and on the because, more correct and euphonious penult. — See Dahkotah Lexicon, vol. iv. Smithsonian Publications. DESCRIPTION OF FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY, 1848. POPULATION OF MINNESOTA. xlix County. Aitken Anoka Becker Beltrami Benton Big Stone Blue Earth BrickefR/ridge... Brown CarletoD.. Carver...., Chippe'fva Chisago Clay Cottonwood .... Crow Wing..... Dakota „, Dodge Douglas Faribault Fillmore. Freeborn... Goodhue Grant Hennepin Houston Isanti Itasca , Jackson .......... Kanabeck Kandiyohi , Lac qui Parle.. fjake Le Sueur , Mankahio Manomin Martin UcLeod. •Tot^...- 1870 1860 1850 178 2 3,940 2,106 308 386 80 1,568 627 41S 24 17,302 4,803 79 6,393 2,339 26 286 51 11,586 6,106 •■■■■> 380 150 1,467 ...... 4,35S 92 584 1,743 12 200 269 16,312 9,093 8,598 3,797 4,239 9,940 1,3^5 24,887 13,642 10,578 3,367 22,618 8,977 340 31,566 12,849 14,936 6,645 ...... 2,036 284 . 06 61 97 1,825 ' 181 92 30 1.760 76 146 135 '248 11,607 6,318 136 'lB8 3,867 161 5,643 1,286 CODNTT. Meeker. Mille Lacs.,,. Monongalia.. Morrison Mower.......... Murray Nicollet, w^ Nobles .'.'. Olmsted Otter Tail Pembina....... P£erce..i. Pine Phe Stone PoVc Pope.. Ramsey Redwood Renville Rice Rock Scott Sberburne Sibley Stearns.. ..J..., Steele, Stevens St. Louis Todd Traverse ....... Wabashaw.... Wadena., Wdhnata Waseca Washington.. Watonwan ... Wilkin WinoUa. Wright 1870 1860 1850 6,098 1.109 3,161 1,681 10,447 209 8,362 117 19,793 1,968 61 648 2,691 23,085 1,829 3;219 16,083 138 11,042- 2,050 6,725 14.206 8,271 174 4,661 2,036 13 15,869 7,869 11.709 2.426 296 22,318 9,457 928 73 360 618 3,217 29 3,773 36 9,524 240 1,612 11 91 23 245 7,543 3,635 723 2,609 4,606 2.863 406 430 7,228 2,601 . 6,1^ 40 9.208 3,729 ..439,706 172,023 For population of Counties in 1880 see Appendix Q. PEINCIPAl, TOWNS— 1880. 2,227 160 1,066 6,077 Minneapolis., 45,887 St. Paul 41,408 Winona 10,2li8 Stillwater 9,054 Eed Wing ;. 5.876 Mankato 5,550 Faribault ..VIS Eooljester 5,103 Hastings , 3,809 St. Peter ..3,436 Owatonna 3,1^1 Du Lutli : 2,805 Anoka 2,706 St. Cloud 2,462 Austin 2,039 In 1848, Minnesota seemed a wilderness to a divine, the Rev. Albert Barnes, of Philadelphia, who visited the country on a tour of pleasure ; and he thus presents his views of a locality, which is spanned by several bridges^ the seat of the State University, and a city of abort fifty -five thousand active inhabitants : — "I visited the Falls of St. Anthony. I know not how other men feel when standing there, nor haw men will feel a century hence, when standing there — then, 1 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. not in the West, but almost in the centre of our great nation. But when I stood there and reflected on the distance between that and the place of my birth and my home ; on the prairies over which I had passed ; and the stream — the ' Father of Rivers' — up which I had sailed some five hundred miles, into a new and un- settled land — ^where the children of the forest still live and roam — I had views of the greatness of my country, such as I have never had in the crowded capitals and the smiling villages of the East. Far in the distance ■did they tl^en seem to be; and there came over the soul the idea of greatness, and vastness, which no figures, no description, had ever conveyed to my mind. To an inexperienced traveller, too, how strange is the appear- ance of all that land i * * * * You ascend the Mississippi amidst scenery unsurpassed in beauty probably in the world. You see the waters making their way along an interval of from two to four miles in width — between bluffs of from one hundred to five hundred feet in height. Now the river makes its way along the eastern range of blufis, and now the western, and now in the centre, and now it divides itself into numerous channels, forming thou- sands of beautiful islands, covered with long grass, •ready for the scythe of the mower. Those bluffs, rounded with 'taste and skill, such as could be' imitated by no art of man, and set out with trees here and there, .gracefully arranged like orchards, seem to have been sown with grain to the summit, and are clothed with beautiful green. You look out instinctively for the house and bam; for flocks and herds; for men, and women, and children ; but they are not there. A race ■that is gone seems to have cultivated those fields, and MINNESOTA, THE SKY-TINTED WATER. ' 15 then to have silently disappeared — ^leaving them for the first man that should come from the older parts of our own country, or from foreign lands, to take possession of them. It is only by a process of reflection that you are convinced that it is not so." JThe state of Minnesota derives its name from the principal tributary of the Mississippi within its bounda- ries. The name is a compound Dahkotah word. This nation call the Missouri, Minneshoshay, muddy water, and this stream Minnesota. The precise signification of Sota is difficult, to express. Some writers have said it means clear, Schoolcraft bluish green, others turbid. Nicollet remarks : — " The adjective Sotah is of diBGicult translation. The Canadians translated it by a pretty equivalent word brouill^, perhaps more properly rendered into English hy blear, as for instance Minisotah, blear water. I have entered upon this explanation because the word sotah really means neither clear nor turbid, as some authors have asserted, its true meaning being readily found, in the Sioiix expression Ishta-sotah, blear eyed." From the fact that the word signifies neither white nor blue, but the peculiar appearance of the sky on <3ertain days, the Historical Society publications, define Minnesota to mean the sky-tinted water, which is certainly poetic, and according to Gideon H. Pond, one of the best Dahkotah scholars, correct. Throughout the work, we have called the tribe who were the aborigines of Minnesota, Dahkotahs, a name by which they recognise themselves. The term Sioux is a mere nickname given for convenience by the early voyageurs. Minnesota, as a state, ought to have the highest aspi- lii HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. rations. The birthplace of many rivers, flowing north, south, east, and west ; with varied scenery, the prairie, the forest, the lofty bluff, the placid lake, and the laughing waterfall; the summit of the central valley of North America; with an atmosphere peculiarly dry and bracing, it must ever be attractive to emigrants from all regions of the world. If the aims of her citizens only correspond with the elevated natural position and ad- vantages, the cattle upon a thousand hills will soon occupy the old pasture-grounds of the elk and bison, and school-houses will crown the eminences but lately adorned with burial scaffolds ; and the State will become the birth-place of not only majestic rivers, but great men. If the perusal of the following pages shall tend to foster a proper State pride, and interest the generation now f> pringing up in the history of their country, the chi'.'f Qnd of the work will have been attained. HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER I. Minnesota is the "land of the Dahkotahs." Long before their existence was known to civilized men, they wandered through the forests, between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, iu quest of the bounding deer, and over the prairies beyond in search of the ponderous buffalo. They are an entirely different group from the Algon- quin and Iroquois, who were found by the early settlers of the Atlantic States, on the banks of the Connecticut, Mohawk, and Susquehanna rivers. Their language is much more difficult to comprehend; and, while they have many custojns in common with the tribes who once dwelt in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, they have peculiarities which mark them as belonging to a distinct family of the aborigines of America. Winona, Wapashaw, Mendota, Anoka, Kasota, Mah- kahto, and other names designating the towns, hamlets, and streams of Minnesota, are words derived from the Dahkotah vocabulary. Between the head of Lake Superior and the Missis- 4 (49J 50 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. sippi river, above the Falls of Saint Anthony, is a country of many lakes. So numerous are they, and interlaced by clear and sparkling brooks, to an aeronaut they would appear like a necklace pf diamonds, on silver filaments, gracefully thrown upon the bosom of Earth. Surrounded by forests pf the sugar maple — the neigh- bouring marshes fertile in the gr6wth of wild rice— the waters abounding in fish-^the shores once alive with the beaver, the otter, the bear, and the fox — they were sites just adapted for the residence of an Indian popu- lation. When the Dahkotahs were first noticed by the Euro- pean adventurer, large numbers were occupying this region of country, and appropriately called by the voya- geur, " People of the Lakes." ' And tradition, asserts that here, was the ancient centre of this tribe. Though we have traces of their warring and hunting on the shores of Lake Superior, there is no satisfactory evidence of their residence, east of the Mille Lac region.* The word Dahkotah, by which they love to be desig- nated, signifies allied or joined together in friendly com- pact, and is equivalent to " E pluribus unum," the motto on the seal of the United States. In the history of the mission at La Pointe, "Wisconsin, published nearly two centuries ago, a writer, referring to the Dahkotahs, remarks : — " For sixty leagues from the extremity of the Upper Lake, toward sunset ; and, as it were in the centre of the western nations, they have all united their force hy a general leaguer ' Gens du Lac. 2 They have no name for Lake Superior. — G. H. P/)nd, in " Bahkotak Tawaxifku Kin." THE NAMES SIOUX, AND DAHKOTAH. 51 The Dahkotahs in the earliest documents, and even ■until the present day, are called Sioux, Scioux, or Sooa. The name Originated with the early " voyageurs." Foi centuries the Ojibwayg of Lake Superior wagal war against the Dahkotahs ; and, whenever they spoke of them, called them Nadowaysioux, which signifies ene- mies. The French traders, to' avoid exciting the attention of Indians, while conversing in their presence, were accustomed to designate them by names, which would not be recognised. The Dahkotahs were nicknamed Sioux, a word com- posed, of the two last syllables, of the Ojibway word, for foes. Charlevoix, who visited Wisconsin in 1721, in his history of New France says : " The name of Sioux, that we give to these Indians, is entirely of our own making, or rather it is the last two syllables of the name of Nadouessioux, as many nations call them." From an early period, there have been three great divisions of this people, which have been subdivided into smaller bands. The first are called the Isanyati, the Issati of Hennepin, after one of the many lakes at the head waters of the river, marked on modern rmapg, by the unpoetic name of Kum. It is asserted by Dahkotah missionaries now living, that this name was ^iven to the lake because the stone from which they manufactured the knife (isan) was here obtained. The principal band of the Isanti was the M'dewakanton- wan.' In the journal of Le Sueur, they are spoken of as residing on a lake east of the Mississippi. Tra- ' Pronounced as if written Medday-wawkawn-twawn. 52 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. ditJon says that it was a day's walk from Isantamde or Knife Lake. On a map prepared in Paris in 1703, Rum River is called the river of the M'dewakantonwans, and the Spirit Lake on which they dwelt, was, without doubt,. Mille Lac of modem charts. The second great division is the Ihanktonwan, com- monly called Yankton. Th^y appear to have occupied the region west of the M'dewakantonwan, and north of the Minnesota river. The geographer De Lisle places their early residence in the vicinity of Traverse des Sioux, extending northward. The last division, the Titonwan, hunted west of the Ihanktons, and all the early maps mark their villages at Lac-qui-parle and Big Stone Lake. Hennepia, in August, 1679, in the vicinity of the Falls of Niagara, met the Senecas returning from war ' with the Dahkotahs, and with them some captive Tin- tonwans (Teetwawns). This division is now the most numerous, and comprises about one-half of the whole nation. They have wan- dered to the plains beyond the Missouri, and are the plundering Arabs of America. Whenever they appear in sight of the emigrant train, journeying to' the Pacific coast, the hearts of the company are filled with painful apprehensions. North of the Dahkotahs, on Lake of the Woods and the watercourses connecting it with Lake Superior, were the Assiniboine. These were once a portion of the nation. Before the other divisions of the Dahkotahs had traded with the French, they had borne their pel- tries to the English post, Fort Nelson, on Hudson's Bay, and had received in return British manufactures. By DIFFERENT DAHKOTAH BAN1>S. 53 association with the English, they learned to look upon the French with distrust, and in time to be hostile towards those who had formed alliances with the French. Le Sueur writes, in relation to their separation from the rest of the nation, in these words : — " The Assinipoils speak Scioux, and are certainly oJ' that nation., It is only a few years since they became enemies. It thus origtuated : The Christianaux having the use of arms before the Scioux, through the English at Hudson's Bay, they constantly warred upon the Asssinipoils, who were their nearest neighbours. The latter being weak sued for peace, and, to render it more lasting, married the Christianaux women. The other Scioux, who had not made the compact, continued to war, and seeing some Christianaux with the Assinipoils, broke their heads." After this there was ahenation. A letter, however, written at Fort Bourbon, on Hudson's Bay, about 1695, remarks : " It is said that the Assini- boins are a nation of the Sioux, which separated from ithem a long time ago." The Dahkotahs call these alienated tribes Hohays, and make woman the cause of the separation. They are said to have belonged to the Ihanktonwan (Yankton) division of the nation. A quarrel, tradition asserts, ■occurred between two .families hunting at the time in the vicinity of Lake Traverse. A young man seduced the wife of one of the warriors. The injiired husband, m attempting to rescue his wife, was killed in the tent of the seducer. His father and some relatives wanted to secure the corpse. On the road, they were met, by some of the friends of the guilty youth, and tbree of their number were killed. The father then turned back 64 HISTOBV OF MINNESOTA. and raised a party of sixty warriors, wh.o waged war against the seducer and his friends, which continued! until the whole band were involved, and ended in a- revolt upon the part of the aggressor and his friends, wha^ in time became a separate people. In the valleys of the Blue Earth, the Des Moines, and the eastern tributaries of the Missouri, within the limita- of the territory of Minnesota, there also dwelt in ancient days bands of the loways, Ottoes, Cheyennes, Aricarees,. and Omahaws, who sought other hunting-grounds as the Dahkotahs advanced westward. The Dahkotahs, like all ignorant and barbarous peo- ple, have but little reflection beyond that necessary tO' gratify the pleasure of revenge and of the appetite. It would be strange to find heroes among skulking: savages, or maidens like "Minnehaha" of the poet,- among those whose virtue can be easily purchased^ While there are exceptions, the general characteristics of the Dahkotahs, and all Indians, are indolence, im- purity, and indifference to the future. The religion of this people is exceedingly indistinct, and with reluctance do they converse on the subject. That a nation so low in the scale of humardty should have preserved the idea of one great spirit, the father of all spirits, the supreme and most perfect of beings,, is not to be supposed. To a|;tribute to them more elevated conceptions than those of the cultivated Athe- nians, is perfect absurdity. The Dahkotahs, in their religious belief, are polytheists. The hunter, as he passes over the plainSj finds a granite boulder : he stops and prays to it, for it is " Wawhaivri' — ^mysterious or supernatural. At another time, he will pray to hia dog; and at another time, to the sun, moon, or stars. DAHKOTAH WORSHIP AND GODS. 55 In every leaf, in every stone, in every shrub, there is a spirit. It may be said of them, as Cotton Mather said of the Massachusetts Indians, in his Life of Eliot : " Ah the reUgion they have amounts to thus much: they believe that thei:e are many gods, who made and own the several nations of the world. They believe that every remarkable creature has a peculiar god within or about it ; there is -with them a sun god or a moon god and the hke ; and they cannot conceive but that the fire must be a kind of god, inasmuch as a spark of it will soon produce very strange effects. They believe that when any good or ill happens to them, there is the favour or anger of a god expressed in it." The Dahkotahs have greater and minor deities, and they are supposed to multiply as men and animals, and the superior to have power to exterminate the inferior. The Jupiter Maximus of the Dahkotahs is styled Oanktayhee. As the ancient Hebrews avoided speak- ing the name of Jehovah, so they dislike to speak the name of this deity, but call him " Taku-wakan," or " That which is supernatural." This mighty god mani- fests himself as a large ox. His eyes are as large as the moon: He can haul in his horns and tail, or he can lengthen them, as he pleases. Prom him proceed in- visible influences. In his extremities reside mighty powers. He is said to have created the earth. Assembling in grand conclave all of the aquatic tribes, he ordered them to bring up dirt from beneath the water, and proclaimed death to the disobedient. The beaver and others for- feited their lives. At last the muskrat went beneath the waters, and, after a long time, appeared at the sur- face nearly exhausted, with some dirt. From this, 56 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Oanktayhee fashioned the earth into a large circular plain. The earth being finished, he took a deity, one of his own oifspring, and grinding him to powder, sprinkled it upon the earth, and this produced many worms. The worms were then collected and scattered again. They matured into infants ; and these were then collected and scattered and became full-grown Dahkotahs. The bones of the mastodon, the Dahkotahs think, are those of Oanktayhee, and they preserve them with the greatest care in the medicine bag. It is the belief of the Dahkotahs that the Rev. R. Hopkins, who was drowned at Traverse des Sioux, on July 4th, 1851, was killed by Oanktayhee, who dwells in the waters, because he had preached against him. This deity is supposed to have a dwelling-place beneath the Falls of Saint Anthony. A few years ago, by the sudden breaking up of a gorge of ice, a cabin near Port Snelling, containing a soldier, was swept off by the flood. The Dahkotahs supposed that this great god was descending the river at the time, and, being hungry, devoured the man. Hay-o-kah {the antUiatural god) . — There are four per- sons in this godhead. The first appears like a tall and slender man with two faces, like the Janus of ancient mythology. ApoUo-hke, he holds a bow in his hand streaked with red lightning, also a rattle of deer clanvs. The second is a little old man with a cocked hat and enormous ears, holdmg a yellow bow. The third, a man with a flute suspended from his neck. Th.e fourth is invisible and mysterious, and is the gentle zephyr which bends the grass and causes the ripple of the water. Hayokah is a perfect paradox. He calls bitter sweet. HAYOKAH, AND OTHER DEITIES. 57 and sweet bitter ; he groans when he is fiill of joy ; he laughs when he is in distress ; he calls black, white, and white, black ; when he wishes to tell the truth he speaks a lie, and when he desires to lie, he speaks the truth ; in winter he goes naked, and in summer he wraps up in buffalo robes. The little hills on the prairies are called Hay-o-kah-tee, or the house 6i Hay-o-kah. Those whom lie inspires, can make the winds blow and the rain fall, the grass to grow and wither. There is said to exist a clan who especially adore this deity, and at times dance in his honour. At dawn of day they assemble within a teepee, in the centre of which is a fire, over which are suspended kettles. With c6ne- shaped hats and ear-rings, both made of bark, and loins girded with the same material, they look like incarnate demons. On their hats are zigzag streaks of paint — representations of lightning. The company remain seated and smoking around thfe fire, until the water in the kettle begins to boil, which is a signal for the commencement of the dance. The excitement now becomes intense. They jump, shout, and sing around the fire, and at last plunge their hands into the cauldron, seize and eat the boiled meat. Then they throw the scalding water, on each others backs, the sufferers never wincing, but insisting that it is cold. Taku-shkan-shkan. — This deity is supposed to be mvisible, yet everywhere present. He is full of revenge, exceedingly wrathful, very deceitful, and a searcher of hearts. His favourite haunts are the four winds, and the granite boulders strewn on the plains of Minnesota. He is never so happy as when he beholds scalps, warm and reeking with blood. The object of that strange ceremony of the Dahko- 58 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. talis, in whkh the performer being bound hand and foot with the greatest care, is suddenly unbound by an invi- sible agent, is to obtain an interview with Taku-shkan- shkan. The name of another one of the superior divinities is Wahkeenyan. His teepee is supposed to be on a mound on the top of a high mountain, in the far West. The teepee or tent has four openings, with sentinels clothed in red down. A butterfly is stationed at the east, a bear at the west, a fawn at the south, and a reindeer at the north entrance. He is supposed to be a gigantic bird, the flapping of whose wings makes thunder. He has a bitter enmity against Oanktayhee, and attempts to kill his offspring. The high water a few years ago was supposed to be caused by his shootiag through the earth, and allowing the water to flow out. When the lightning strikes their teepees or the ground, they think that Oanktayhee was near the surface of the earth, and that Wahkeenyan, in great rage, fired a hot thunderbolt at him. By him wild rice, is said to have been created, alsa the spear, and tomahawk. A bird of thunder was once killed, the Indians assert, near Kaposia. Its face resembled the human counte- nance. Its nose was hooked like the bill of an eagle. Its wings had four joints, and zigzag like the lightning. About thirty miles from Big Stone Lake, near the head waters of the Minnesota, there are several small lakes bordered with oak-trees. This is the supposed birth-place of the Thunder Bird, and is called the Nest of Thunder. The first step the spirit ever took in this world was equal to that of the hero, in the child's story, who wore seven-league boots, being twenty-five miles in length. A rock is pointed out which has a foot-like WAHKEENYAN.— THUNDER BIRD. 59^ impression, which they say is his track; and the hill is- called Thunder Tracks. A son of Colonel Snelling, the first commander of the fort of that name, in a poem, which is pubHshed in Griswold's collection of American poetry, alludes to the foregoing incidents : — " The moon that night withheld her light. By fits, instead, a lurid glare Illumed the skies ; while mortal eyes Were closed, and yoioes rose in prayer While the revolving sun Three times his course might run, The dreadful darkness lasted ; And all that time the red man's eye A sleeping spirit might espy, Upon a tree-top cradled high, Whose trunk his breath had blasted. So long he slept, he grew so fast, Beneath his weight the gnarlM oak Snapped, as the tempest snaps the mast: It fell, and Thunder woke 1 The world to its foundation shook. The grizzly bear his prey forsook, The scowling heaven an .aspect bore That man had never seen before ; The wolf in terror fled away. And shone at last the light of day. " 'Twas here he stood ; these lakes attest Where first Waw-kbe-an's footsteps press'd. About his burning brow a cloud, Black as the raven's wing, he wore ; Thick tempests wrapt him like a shroud, Ked lightnings in his hand he bore ; Like two bright suns his eyeballs shone. His voice was like the cannon's tone ; And, where he breathed, the land became^ Prairie and wood, one sheet of flame. " Not long upon this mountain height The first and worst' of storms abode, 60 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. For, moving in his fearful might, Abroad the GoD-begotten strode. Afar, on yonder faint blue mound. In the horizon's utmost bound. At the first stride his foot he set ; The jarring world confessed the shock. Stranger ! the track of Thunder yet Remains upon the living rock. " The second step, he gained the sand On far Superior's storm-beat strand : Then with his shout the concave rung. As up to heaven the giant sprung On high, beside his sire to dwell ; But still, of all the spots on earth, He loves the woods that gave him birth. — Such is the tale our fathers tell." After an individual has dreamed in relation to the Bun, there are sacred ceremonies. Two persons are the participants, who assume a peculiar attitude. Almost naked, holding a small whistle in their mouths, they look towards the sun, and dance with a strange and awkward step. One of their interpreters remarks, " The nearest and best comparison I can make of them when worshipping, is a frog held up by the middle with its legs half drawn up." During the continuance of the ceremony, which may last two or three days, the parties fast. When a Dahkotah is troubled in spirit, and desires to be delivered from real or imaginary danger, he will select a stone that is round and portable, and, placing it in a spot free from grass and underbrush, he will streak it with red paint, and, offering to it some feathers, he will pray to it for help. The stone, after the ceremony ia over, does not appear to be regarded with veneration. If visitors request them, they can be obtained. SACKED MEN INITIATED. 61 CHAPTER 11. ■ In all nations where the masses are unenlightened, their spiritual nature is uncultivated, and they believe whatever a class of men pretending to have authority from the spirit world, may impose upon them. AU ignorant communities are superstitious and easily priest- ridden. The early Britons looked upon the Druids, as a supernatural, and wonder-working class, and they fed, and feared them. The Wawkawn, or medicine men, hold the same relation to the Dahkotahs as the Druids to the ancient Britons. They are the most powerful and influential of the tribe. They are looked upon as a species of demi-gods. They assert their origin to be miraculous. At first they are spiritual existences, encased in a seed of some description of a winged nature, like the thistle. Wafted by the breeze to the dwelling-place of th6 gods, they are received to intimate communion. After being instructed in rela- tion to the mysteries of the spirit world, they go forth to study the character of all tribes. After deciding upon a residence, they enter the body of some one about to become a mother, and are ushered by her into the world. A great majority of the M'dewakantonwans are medicine men. When an individual desires to belong to this priestp 62 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA hood, he is initiated by what is termed a "medicine dance." This dance is said to have been instituted by Oanktayhee, the patron of medicine men. The editor of the "Dahkotah Friend," in a description of this dance, remarks : — " "When a member is to be received into this society, it is his duty, to take the hot bath, four days in succes- sion. In the mean time, some of the elders of the society instruct him in the mysteries of the medicine, and Wahrftnoo-Aah^ — shell in the throat. He is also provided with a dish (wojute) and spoon. On the side of the dish is sometimes carved the head of some vora- cious animal, in which resides the spirit of Eeyah (glut- ton god). This dish is always carried by its owner to the medicine feast, and it is his duty, ordinarily, to eat all which is served up in it. Gray Iron has a dish which was given him at the time of his initiation, on the bottoln of which is carved, a bear complete. The candidate is also instructed with what paints, and in what manner, he shall paint himself, which must always be the same, when he appears in the dance. There is supernatural virtue in this paint, and the manner in which it is applied ; and those who have not been fur- nished with a better, by the regular war prophets, wear it into battle, as a life-preserver. The bag contains besides, the claws of animals, with the toanwan of which they can, it is believed, inflict painful diseases and death on whomsoever, and whenever, they desire. " The candidate being thus duly prepared for initia- tion, and having made the necessary offerings for the benefit of the institution, on the evening of the day pre- vious to the dance a lodge is prepared, and from ten to itwenty of the more substantial members pass the night MEDICINE DANCE AND SONGS. 63 in singing, dancing, and feasting. In the morning, the tent is opened for the dance. After a few appropriate ceremonies preliminary to the grand operation, the can- didate takes his place on a pile of blankets which he has contribtited for the occasion, naked, except the breech-cloth and moccasins, duly painted and prepared for the mysterious operation. An elder having been stationed in the rear of the novice, the master of the •ceremonies, with hiH knee and hip joints bent to an ■angle of about- forty-five degrees, advances, with an unsteady, unnatural step, with his bag in his Jmnd^ ■uttering, '^' Heen, Jieerij heen," with great energy, and raising the bag near a painted spot on the breast of the 'Candidate, gives the discharge, the person stationed in the rear gives him a push forward at the same instantj and as he falls headlong throws the blankets over him Then, while the dancers gather around him and chant, the master throws off the covering, and, chewiag a piece of the bone of the Oanktay^ee, spirts it over him, and he revives, and resumes a sitting post»ire. All then return to their seats except the maste? he approaches, and, making indescribable noises, pats upon the breasl of the novice, till the latter, in agonizing throes, heaves up the Wahmnoo-7iah or shell, which falls from his mouth upon the bag which had been previously spread before him for that purpose. Life being now completely restored, and with the mysterious shell in his open hand, the new-made member passes around and exhi- bits it to all the members and to the wondering by- standers, and the ceremonies of initiation are closed. The dance continues, interspersed with shooting each other, rests, smoking, and taking refreshments, till they ■ after midnight, 1660. ) 106 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. subsisted on J)0unded fish-bones and aoorns. Wlien the vernal breezes began to blow, duoks, geese, and wild pigeons made their appearance, and their bodies strengthened. The refugee Hurons, and Ottawas hearing that a " black gown" was on the shores of the lake, invited him to visit them. Menard appointed three young Frenchmen to act as pioneers, and reconnoitre the country and make presents. On their journey their canoe was stolen, and after many difficulties they returned. Their report was discouraging, but did not deter the aged enthusiast. His last written sentences, penned in July, 1661, are : — " I hear every day four populous nations spoken of, that are distant from here about two or three hundred leagues. I expect to die on my way to them ; but as I am so far advanced, and in health, I shall do all that i* possible to reach them. The route, most of the way, lies across swamps, thj"Ough which it is necessary to feel your way in passing, and to be in danger every moment of sinking too deep to extricate yourself; provisions which can only be obtained by carrying them with you, and the mosquitoes, whose numbers are frightful, are the three great obstacles which render it difficult for me to obtain a companion." Some Hurons having come to treat with the Ojibways, agreed to act as guides. Selecting John Guerin, a faith- ful man, as his companion, he started, with some dried fish and smoked meat for provisions. The Indians, full of caprice, soon moved off, and left the priest and his. friend in an unknown country. Bruised in limb, and faint in body, on the 10th of August, Menard, while DISAPPEARANCE OF MENARD. 107 following his companion, lost himself in Wisconsin near the sources of Black River.* The agony of Guerin is great when he looks behind and beholds not the aged traveller. He calls at the top of his voice, but he only hears the echo. He fires his gun repeatedly, to lead him to the right path ; at last he wanders to a Huron village, and, by gestures and tears, and the promise of reward, induced a youth to go- in search. He soon returned, weary ; and from that day there have been no traces of his body. His camp kettle was found in a Sauk's hand, and some years after his disappearance, his robe and prayer book were found in a Dahkotah lodge, and were looked upon as " wawkawn " or supernatural. In the summer of 1663 the mournful intelligence of the loss of Menard reached Quebec, and one was soon found to be his successor — Father Claude AUouez, wha anxiously awaited the means of conveyance to his scene of labour. In the year 1665 a hundred canoes, laden with Indians and peltries, arrived at Montreal from' , Lake Superior. A Frenchman, who accompanied them,^ reported that the Outaouaks (Ojibways) were attacked on one side by the Iroquois, and on the other by the Nadouessioux (Dahkotahs), a warlike people, who carry on cruel wars with nations still more distant. Allouez rejoiced at the sight of the frail barks, and greeted the besmeared savages as if they were visitants from a better land. In a 'letter written at the time, his full heart thus speaks : " At last it has pleased God tO' send us the angels of the Upper Algonquins to conduct us to their country." On the 8th of August, 1665, with six Frenchmen * Appendix B 108 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. and four hundred savages, returning from their trading expedition, he embarked. Having made a portage at Sault St. Marie, on the 2d of September their birch canoes ghded on the waters of Lake Superior. On the 1st of October they arrived at, the Chegoimegon, a beautiful bay (Bayfield, Wisconsin), where were two large villages, one of which was occupied by the Hurons, who had been driven from the Dahkotah country under the following circumstances : — Having claimed superiority, on account of the pos-, session of fire-arms,, they taunted the Dahkotahs, who had received them when they were outcasts and flying from the Iroquois, on account of their ?impUcity. At last, provoked beyond endurance, they decoyed a num-. ber of HuTons into a wild rice marsh, and killed many with their primitive, but not to be despised, stone-tipped arrows, and drove the remnant to Chegoimegon. The second village was composed of several bands of Ojibways, whose ancestors had, a long time before, lived east of Lake Michigan, but had been driven westward by the Iroquois. This point was a centre of trade for many nations. Even the Illinois came here to fish and exchange com- modities. AUouez, when he landed at La Pointe, as the French named the place, in consequence of a tongue-like pro- jection of land, found a scene of great confusion. In the language of Bancroft, " It was at a moment when the young warriors were bent on a strife with the war- like Sioux. A grand council of ten or twelve neigh- bouring nations was held to wrest the hatchet from the hands of the rash braves, and AUouez was admitted to an audience before the vast assembly. In the name of ALLOUEZ AT XA POINTE 109 Louis XIV. and his viceroy, lie commanded peace, and offered commerce and alliance against the Iroquois — the soldiers of France would smooth the path between the Chippewas and Quebec — would brush the pirate canoes from the rivers — ^would leave to the Five Nations no choice, but between tranquillity and destruction. On the shore of the bay to which the abundant fisheries at- tracted crowds, a chapel soon rose, and the mission of the Holy Spirit was founded. There admiring throngs, who had never seen an European, came to gaze on the white man, and on the pictures which he displayed of the realms of hell, and of the last judgment. There a choir of Chippewas were taught to chant the pater and the ave. * * * * ipj^g ga,cs and Foxes travelled on foot from their country, which abounded in deer, beaver, and buffalo. The Illinois also, a hospitable race, unaccustomed to canoes, having no weapon but the bow and arrow, came to rehearse their sorrows. ******* Curiosity was roused by their tale of the noble river on which they dwelt, and which flowed toward the south. Then, too, at the very extre- mity of the lake, the missionary met the wild and impassioned Sioux, who dwelt to the west of Lake Superior, in a land of prairies, with wild rice for food, and skins of beasts instead of bark for roofs to their cabins, on the bank of the great river, of which AUouez reported the name to be Messipi." While on an excursion to Lake Alempigoh (Saint Anne), he met, at Fond du Lac, in Minnesota, some Dahkotah warriors ; and, in describing them, he is the first to give the name of the great river of which the Indians had told so many wonderful stories. 1.10 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. In the relations of the mission of the Holy Spirit, the following remarks are made of the Dahkotahs : — " This is a tribe that dwells to the west of this (Fond du Lac), toward the great river called Messipi. They are forty or fifty leagues from here, in a country of prairies, abounding in all kinds of game. They have fields iu which they do not sow Indian com, but only tobacco. Providence has provided them with a species of marsh rice, which, toward the end of summer, they go to collect in certain small lakes that are covered with it. They know how to prepare it so well that it is quite agreeable to the taste and nutritive. They pre- sented me with some when I was at the extremity of Lake Tracy (Superior), where I saw them. They do not use the gun, but only the bow and arrow, which they use with great dexterity. Their cahins are not -covered with bark, but with deerskins well dried, and stitched together so well that the cold does not enter. These people are, above all other, savage and warlike. In Our presence they seemed abashed, and were motion- less as statues. They speak a language entirely unknown to us, and the savages about here do not understand -them." After two years passed among the Algonquins at La Pointe and vicinity, AUouez was convinced that his mission would not prosper, unless he had some assist* ance. He determined to go in person to Quebec, and implore labourers for the field. Arriving there on the 3d day of August, 1667, he worked night and day ; and, after two days, the bow of his canoe was again turned towards the far West. His party consisted at first of Father Louis Nicholas, and another Jesuit, with four labourers; but, when they came to the canoes, tho MARQUETTE'S DESCRIPTION OF DAHKOTAHS. Ill whimsical savages only allowed AUouez, Nicholas, and one of their men, to enter*. But, notwithstanding the help obtained, the savage hearts could not be subdued ; and, " weary of their obstinate unbelief," he resolved to leave La Pointe. On the 13th of September, 1669, the renowned Marquette took his place ; and, writing to his Superior, describes the Dahkotahs in these words : — " The Nadouessi are the Iroquois of this country, be- yond La Pointe, but less faithless, and never attack till attacked. "They lie south-west of the mission of the Holy Spirit, and we have not yet visited them, having con- fined ourselves to the conversion of the Ottawas. " Their language is entirely different from the Huron and Algonquin; they have many villages, but are widely scattered; they have very extraordinary cus- toms ; they principally use the calumet ; they do not speak at great feasts, and when a stranger arrives give him to eat of a wooden fork, as we would a child. "All the lake tribes make war on them, but with small success. They have false oats (wild rice), use little canoes, and keep their word strictly. I sent them a present by an interpreter, to tell them to recog- nise the Frenchman everywhere, and not to kill him or the Indians in his company ; that the black gown wishes to pass to the country of the Assinipouars (Assineboines), and to that of the Kilistinaux (Cnistineaux) ; that he was already with the Outagamis (Foxes), and that I was going this fall to the Illinois, to whom they should leave a free passage. " They agreed ; but as for my present waited till all came from the chase, promising to come to La Pointe^ 112 / HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. in the fall, to hold a council with the Illinois and speaK with me. Would that all these nations loved God as they feared the French." The relations of the Jesuits for 1670-71, allude to the Dahkotahs, and their attack on the Hurons and Ojibways of La Pointe : — " There are certain people, called Nadouessi, dreaded by their neighbours, and although they only use the bow and arrow, they use it with so much skill and so much dexterity that, in a moment, they fill the air. In the Parthian mode, they turn their heads in flight, and discharge their arrows so rapidly, that they are no less to be feared in their retreat than in their attack. " They dwell on the shores of, and around the great river, Messipi, of which we shall speak. They number no less than fifteen populous towns, and yet they know not how to cultivate the earth by seeding it, contenting themselves with a species of marsh ryej which we call wild oats. " For sixty leagues, from the extremity of the upper lakes towards sunset, and, as it were, in the centre of the western nations, they have all united their force, by a general league, which has been made against them, as against a common enemy. "They speak a peculiar language, entirely distinct from that of the Algonquins and Hurons, whom they generally surpass in generosity, since they often content themselves with the glory of having obtained the vie-' tory, and freely release the prisoners they have taken in battle. "Our Outaouacs and Hurons, of the Point of the Holy Ghost, had, to the present time, kept up a kind LA POINTE MISSION ABANDONED.— OJIBW AYS DIVIDED. 113 of peace with them, but affairs having become ehibroiled during last w^inter, and some murders having been com- mitted on both sides, our savages had reason to appre- hend that the storm would soon burst upon thertl, and judged that it was safer for them to leave the place, which in fact they did in the spring." La Pointe being abandoned, the nearest French set- tlement is Sault Str Marie, at the foot of the lake. In the year 1674 a party of Dahkotahs arrived there to make an alliance with the French, having been defeated in recent engagements with their foes. They visited the mission-house of Father Dreuilletes, where some of their nation were under religious instruction; and a council of the neighbouring tribes was called to delibe- rate on the proposed peace. A Cre§ Indian insulted a Dahkotah chief by brandishing his knife in his face. Fired at the indignity, he drew his own stone knife from his belt, and shouted the war cry. A fierce con- flict now took place, in which the ten Dahkotah envoys were scalped and the mission-house burned. The Saulteurs^ or Ojibways divided into two bands, not far from this period. One remained at the Falls of Saint Mary, and subsisted on the delicious white fish, the other retired towards the extremity of Lake Supe- rior, and settled at two places, making an alliance with the Dahkotahs, who were anxious for French goods, which they strengthened by intermarriages. The Dah- kotahs, who had their villages near the Mississippi, ' Name applied because they lived called them Pauotig-oueieuhak, In- at Sault St. Marie. The Dahkotahs habitants of the Falls, or Pahoui- call them Ha-hartwawns, Dweller at tingdachirini, Men of the Shallow the Falls. The Algonquin tribes Cataract. 8 114 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. about the forty-sixth degree of latitude, shared their country with their new allies. During the winter, the Ojibways hunted, and in the spring they returned to the shores of Lake Superior. While in the land of the Dahkotahs, they took care not to assist them in their wars, lest they should be embroiled with surrounding jiations.' ' In 1864, Tailhan, a Jesuit, pub- lished at Leipsic and Paris, for the first time, the narrative of Nicolas Parrot. It states that the Hurons, flying from the Iroquois of New York, reached the Mississippi, ■crossed and ascended the Upper Iowa Eiver. Eetracing their steps, they entered the Scioux country, and lived for a time an the prairie island a few iniies above Lake Pepin. Having quarrelled with the Sioux, they migrated to the head-waters of the Black Eiver. In 1659 the trader Grosellier visited the Sioux, and found the Hurons in the Black Eiver Valley. After this they again moved, and joined the Hurons at La Pointe. THE FUE TRADE 1 15 CHAPTER V. The trade in furs has produced a class of men of marked peculiarities. Under the French dominion, military officers, and the descendants of a decayed nobility, were licensed, by authority, to trade in a particular district. These men were well educated, polished in their manners, and fond of control. Living in a savage land, surrounded by a few dependents, they acted as monarchs of all they surveyed. The freedom from the restraints of civilized life, and the adulation received from the barbarians, who are so easily im- pressed by tinsel and glare, had a wonderful fascina- tion, so that a " lodge in some vast wilderness" became preferable to the drawing-rooms of ancient France, and the gay assemblies of Quebec. These licensed officers did not harass themselves with the minutiae of the Indian trade. In their employ were a few clerks, chiefly natives of Canada, who had re- ceived the rudiments of an education. Upon these •devolved the task of conducting European articles of merchandise, to the tribes on the various watercourses that radiated from the centre of trade, with whom they wintered, and then returned in the spring or summer with the peltries that had been obtained in exchange for powder, lead, rum, and tobacco. 1 1 6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Under (;ach clerk were a few men of no cultivation, the children of poverty or shame, who from their earliest youth had led a roving life, and who acted as canoe men, hewers of wood, and drawers of water. Mercurial in temperament, and with no sense of responsibility, they were a "jolly set" of fellows, in their habits approximating to the savage, rather than the European. The labours of the day finished, they danced around the camp-fire to the sound of the viol, or they purchased the virtue of some Indian maiden, and engaged in debauch as disgusting as that of sailors sojourning in the isles of the South Sea, or " Worn with the long day's march, and the chase of the deer, and the bison, Stretched themselves on the ground and slept where the quivering fire-light Flashed on their swarthy cheeks, and their forms wrapped up in their blankets."' Inured to toil, they arose in the morning " when it was yet dark," and pushing the prow of their light canoes into the water, swiftly they glided away " like the shade of a cloud on the prairie," and did not break fast until the sun had been above the horizon for several hours. Halting for a short period they partook of their coarse fare, and sang their rude songs; then re-embarking, they pursued their course to the land of the beaver and the buffalo, until the "shades of night began to fall." From early youth accustomed to descend rapids, and ascend lofty bluffs with heavy burdens, they guided ' Evangeline. HABITS OF THE VOYAGETJRS. 117 their canoes, and carried their packs through places that would have been impassable to any but the " cou- reurs des bois.'" When old age relaxed their sinew}' joints, they returned to Mackinaw, or some other «ntrep6t, and with an Indian woman obtained, after the manner of the country, to mend their moccasins and hoe their gardens, passed the remainder of life in (Whiffing the pipe and recounting hair-breadth escapes. The " bois brul^"^ offspring naturally became enam- oured with the rover's life, a retrospect of which infused fire into the dim eyes of the old man, and as soon as employment could be obtained they left the homestead to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. The voyageur seldom remains in a settled country. As civilization advances he feels cramped and uncom- fortable, and follows the Indian in his retreat. On the •confines of Minnesota are many of this class, whose fathers, a generation ago, dwelt at La Pointe, Green Bay, or Prairie du Chien. Before France had taken formal possession of the region of the Lakes, hundreds of " coureurs des bois" had ventured into the distant North-West. The absence of so many from regular pursuits, was supposed to be disastrous to the interests of the colony, and measures were taken by the French government to compel them to return, which resulted in only partial success. Du Chesneau, Intendant of Canada, was worried by the lawlessness of the rovers, and writes to the Minister of Marine' and Colonies of France : — ' So called because they wandered wood," applied to half-breeds be- through the woods, to obtain peltries cause of their dark complexions, from the savages. ' Nov. 10, 1679, Paris Documents, 'This term, meaning "burnt 11. Col. Hist. N. Y. vol. ix. p. 133. nS , HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. " Be pleased to bear in mind, my lord, that there was a general complaint, the year previous to my arrival in this country, that the great quantity of people whp went to trade for peltries to the Indian country, rumed the colony, because those who alone could improve it, being young and strong for work, abandoned their wives and children, the cultivation of lands, and rear- ing of cattle ; that they became dissipated ; that their absence gave rise to licentiousness among their wives, as has often been the case, and is still of daily occur- rence; that they accustomed themselves to a loafing and vagabond life, which it wa.s beyond their power to quit; that they derived little benefit from their labours, because they were induced to waste in drunkenness and fine clothes the little they earned, which was very trifling, those who gave them licenses having the larger part, besides the price of the goods, which they sold them very dear, and that the Indians would no longer bring them peltries in such abundance to sell to the honest people, if so great a number of young men went in search of them to those very barbarians, who despised us on account of the great cupidity we manifested." At one period, three-fourths of the revenue of Canada was derived from the fur trade. Only twenty-five licenses were granted each year; and when a " poor gentleman" or " old officer" did not wish to go West, he disposed of his permit, which was valued at six hundred crowns, to the merchants of Quebec or Montreal. Each license allowed the pos- sessor to send two canoes into the Indian country. Six " voyageurs" were employed for the canoes, and were furnished with goods valued at one thousand crowns, with an addition of fifteen per cent. The losses and PKOFITS OF FUR TRADE.— PERROT, 119 risk were great, but when a venture was successful the profits were enormous. The two canoes sometimes brought to Montreal beautiful furs valued at eight thousand crowns. Tho merchants received from the "coureurs des bois" six hundred crowns for the license, one thousand for the goods, and forty per cent, on the balance of sales ; the residue was divided among the "coureurs," giving to each five or six hundred crowns, which was disposed of as quickly, and much in the same way, as mariners dis- charged from a ship of war spend their wages. During the latter part of the seventeenth century, the name of Nicholas Perrot was familiar, not only to the men of business, and ofiicers of government at Montreal and Quebec, but around the council fires of the Hurons, Ottawas, Otchagras, Ojibways, Pottawota- mies, Miamies, and Dahkotahs. A trader of Canada, accustomed from childhood to the excitement and in- cidents of border life, he was to a certain extent pre- pared for the wild scenes witnessed in after days. If the name of Joliet is worthy of preservation, the citizens of the North- West ought not to be willing to let the name of that man die, who was the first of whom we have any account that erected a trading post on the upper Mississippi. Perrot was a man of good family, and in his youth applied himself to study, and, being for a time in the service of the Jesuits, became familiar with the customs and languages of most of the tribes upon the borders of our lakes. Some years before La Salle had launched the " Griffin" on Lake Erie, and commenced his career of discovery, Perrot, at the request of the authorities in Canada, who 13Q HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. looked upon him, as a man of great tact, visited the various nations of the North- West, and invited them to a grand council at Sault St. Marie, for the purpose of making a, treaty with France. Of mercurial tempera- ment, he performed the journey with great speed, going as far south as Chicago, the site of the present city. On the 3d of September, 1670, Talon, the Intendant of Canada, ordered, Sieur ; de St. Lusson to proceed to the "countries of the Outaouais, Nez Perces, Illinois, and other nations discovered" near Lake Superior or the Fresh Sea, and search for mines, particularly cop- per. He was also delegated to take possession of all the countries through which he passed, planting the cross and the arms of France. In May, 1671, there was seen at the Falls of St. Mary, what has been of late, a frequent occurrence. Here was the, first convocation of civilized men, with the aborigines of the North- West, for the formation of a compact, for the purposes of trade and mutual assist- ance.' It was not only the custom but policy of the court of France to make a great display upon such an occa- sion. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that we should see the ecclesiastic and military officers, sur- rounded "with all of the pomp and circumstance" peculiar to their profession in that age of extravagance in externals. AUouez, the first ecclesiastic who saw the Dahkotahs ' The Europeans present, besides a soldier of the castle of Quebec ; De Lusson and Perrot, were the Je- Dennis Masse ; Chavigny ; Chevriot- snits, Andrfe, Dreoilletes, All6uez, tiere; Lagillier; Mayser6 : Dupuis : and Dablon ; also Joliet, the ex- Bidaud Joniel ; Po'teet ; Du Prat : plorer of the MississiJDpi ; Mogrsis, Vital Oriol ; Guillaume^ of Three Riyers, Canada; Touppin^, TAKING POSSESSION OP THE NORTH-WEST. 121 face to face, and the founder of the mission among the Ojibways at La Pointe, opened council by detailing to the painted, grotesque assemblage, enveloped in the robes of the beaver and buffalo, the great power of his monarch who lived beyond the seas. Two holes were then dug, in one of which was planted a cedar column, and in the other a cross of the same material. After this the European portion of the assemblage chanted the hjnnn which was so often heard in the olden time from Lake Superior to Lake Pont- chartrain : — " Vexilla regis prodeunt Fulget crucis mysterium, Qua vita mortem pertulit, Et morte, vitam pertulit." The arms of France, probably engraved on leMen plates, were then attached to both column and cross, and again the whole company sang together the " Exau- diat," of the Eoman Catholic service, the same as the 20th Psalm, of the King James' version of, the Bible. The delegates from the different tribes having signified their approval of what Perrot had interpreted of the! speech of the French Envoy, St. Lusson, there was a grand discharge of musketry, and the chanting of the noble " Te Deum Laudamus." After this alliance was concluded, Perrot, in a spirit of enterprise, opened the trade with some of the more remote tribes. The first trading posts on Lake Superior, beyond Sault St. Marie, were built of pine logs, by Daniel Greysolon du Luth, a native of Lyons, at Kamanisti- gova, north east of Pigeon river, Minnesota. On the * Appendix C 122 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 1st of September, 1678, he left Quebec, to explore the country of the Dahkotahs and Assineboines. The next year, on the 2d of July, he caused the, kmg's arms to be planted " in the great village of the Nadouessioux (Dahkotahs), called Kathio, where no Frenchman had pver been, also at Songaskicons, and Houfetbatons,' one hundred and twenty leagues distant from the former." On the 15th of September, he met the Assineboines and other nations, at the head of Lake Superior, for the purpose of settling their difficulties with the Dahkotahs^ and was successful. On this tour he visited Mille Lac, which he called Lake Buade, the family name of Frontenac, governor of Canada.^ Du Chesneau, the intendant of Canada, appears ta have been hostile to Du Luth, and wrote to Seignelay,. Minister of the Colonies, that he and Governor Fronte- nac were in correspondence, and enriching themselves by the fur trade. He also intimated that the governor clandestinely encouraged Du Luth to sell his peltries to the English. From the tone of the correspondence^ Du Chesneau was excitable and prejudiced.^ ' The Chongasketons and Onade- vernor, having returned this year^ batons of the early French maps, and I being advised that he had The former were the same as the traded in two days, one hundred and Sissetoans. fifty beaver robes in a single village ^ Coronellis' map, corrected by of this tribe, amounting in all to Tillemon, published at Paris, 1688. nearly nine hundred beavers, which ' " The man named La Taupine, is a matter of public notoriety, and a famous 'coureur de bois,' who that he left with Du Luth, two men,, set out in the month of September whom he had with him, considered of last 7''ar, 1678, to go to the Ou- myself bound to have him arrested tawacs, with goods, and who has and to question him, but having pre- always been interested with the go- sented a license from the governor DU LUTH'S UNCLE. 123. He attempted to imprison several of Du Luth's friends,. among others his uncle, named Patron, who was a mer- chant, and his agent for the sale of furs. The account that Perrot gave of his explorations be- yond Lake Michigan, attracted the attention of La Salle, and induced him to project those enterprises which have given distinction to his name. permitting him and his comrades, Lamonde, and Dupuy, to repair to the Outawac nation to execute his secret orders, I had him set at li- herty. Immediately on his going out, Sieur Prevost, Town-Mayor of Quebec, came at the head of some soldiers, to force the prison, with written orders in these terms from the governor : — " ' Count de Frontenao, Councillor of the King in his Council, Governor and Lieutenant-General of His Ma- jesty in New France : "Sieur Prevost, Mayor of Quebec,, is ordered, in case the Intendant ar- rest Pierre Moreau, alias La Tau- pine, whom we have sent to Quebec as bearer of despatches, upon pre- text of his having been in the bush,. to set him forthwith at liberty, and employ every means for this purpose at his peril. Done at Montreal, Sih September, 1679. Fkontbnac' " 124 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER VI. The same autumn that Du Luth left Montreal for the region west of Lake Superior, La Salle was at Fort' Frontenac, the modem Kingston, busily engaged in maturing his plans for an occupation of the Mississippi valley. During the winter and the following spring his . employees were occupied in building a vessel to navi- gate the lakes. Among those who were to accompany him on the voyage was Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan priest, of the Recollect order. Among the first to explore the Mississippi above the mouth of the Wisconsin; the first to name and describe the Falls of Saint Anthony ; the first to pre- sent an engraving of the Falls of Niagara to the literary world ; the Minnesotian will desire to know something of the antecedents and subsequent life of this individual. The account of Hennepin's early life is chiefly ob- tained from the introduction to the Amsterdam edition of his book of travels. He was born in Ath, an inland town of the Netherlands. From boyhood he longed to visit foreign countries, and^ it is not to be wondered at that he assumed the priestly office, for next to the army, it was the road, in that age, to distinction. For several years he led quite a wandering life. A member HENNEPIN'S FONDNESS OF ADVENTURE. 125 of the Recollect branch of the Franciscans, at one time he is on a begging expedition to some of the towns on the sea coast. In a few months he occupies the post of chaplain at an hospital, where he shrives the dying and administers extreme unction. From the quiet of the hos- pital he proceeds to the camp, and is present at the battle of Seneflfe, which occurred in the year 1674. His whole mind, from the tjiAe that he became a priest, appears to have been on "things seen and tem- poral," rather than on those that are " unseen and eternal." While on duty at some of the ports on the Straits of Dover, he exhibited the characteristic of an ancient Athenian more than that of a professed successor of the Apostles. He sought out the society of strangerg " who spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing." With perfect nonchalance he confesses that notwithstanding the nauseating furnes of tobacco, he used to slip behind the doors of sailors" taverns, and spend days, without regard to the loss of his meals, listening to the adventures and hair-breadth escapes of the mariners in lands beyond the sea. In the year 1676 he received a welcome order from his Superior, requiring him to embark for Canada. Un- accustomed to the world, and arbitrary in his disposi- tion, he rendered the cabin of the ship in which he sailed anything but heavenly. As in modern days, the passengers in a vessel to the new world were composed of heterogeneous materials. There were young women going out in search for brothers or husbands, ecclesias- tics, and those engaged in the then new, but profitable, commerce in furs. One of his fellow passengers was the talented and enterprising, though imfortunate. La Salle, with whom he afterwards associated. ,K he is to be 126 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 'Credited, his intercourse with La Salle was not very pleasant on ship-board. The young women, tired of being cooped up in the narrow accommodations of the ship, when the evening was fair sought the deck, and engaged in the rude dances of the French peasantry of that age. Hennepin, feeling that it was improper, began to assume the air of the priest, and forbade the sport. La Salle, feeling that his interference was un- called for, called him a pedant, and took the side of the girls, and during the voyage there were stormy discus- ^ sions. Good humour appears to have been restored when they left the ship, for Hennepin would otherwise have not been the companion of La Salle in his great Western journey. Sojourning for a short period at Quebec, the adven- tijre-loving Franciscaii is permitted to go to a mission station on or near the site of the present town of Kings- ton, Canada West. Here there was much to gratify his love of novelty, and he passed considerable time in rambling among the Iroquois of New York, who hunted as far eastward as the Dutch Fort Orange, now the city of Albany. In 1678 he returned to Quebec, and was ordered to join the expedition of Robert La Salle. On the 6th of December Father Hennepin and a por- tion of the exploring party had entered the Niagara river. In the vicinity of the Falls, the winter was passed, and while the artisans were preparing a ship above the Falls, to navigate the great lakes, the Recol- lect wiled away the hours in studying the manners and THE SHIP GRIFFIN.— HENNEPIN. 127 customs of the Seneca Indians, and in admiring the fiublimest handiwork of God on the globe. On the 7th of August, 1679, the ship being com- pletely rigged, unfurled its sails to the breezes of Lake Erie. The vessel was named the " Griffin," in honour of the arms of Frontenac, Governor of Canada, the first «liip of European construction that had ever ploughed the waters of the great inland seas of North America. After encountering a violent and dangerous storm on ■one of the lakes, during which they had given up all hopes of escaping shipwreck, on the 27th of the month, they were safely moored in the harbour of " MissiU- mackinack." From thence the party proceeded to Green Bay, where they left the ship, procured canoes, tind continued along the coast of Lake Michigan. By the middle of January, 1680, La Salle had conducted his expedition to the Illinois river, and on an eminence near Lake Peoria, he commenced, with much heaviness of heart, the erection of a fort, which he called Creve- coeur, on account of the many disappointments he had •experienced. La Salle, in the month of February, selected Henne-. pin and two traders for the arduous and dangerous undertaking of exploring the unknown regions of the upper Mississippi. ■ Daring and ambitious of distinction as a discoverer, lie was not averse to such a conunission, though per- haps he may have shrunk from the undertaking at so inclement a season as the last of February is, in this portion of North America. On the 29th of February, 1680, with two voyageurs, named Picard du Gay and Michael Ako, Hennepin em- barked in a canoe on the voyage of discovery.* ♦Appendix D 128 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. The venerable Ribourde, a member of a Burgundian family, of high rank, and a fellow Franciscan, came down to the river bank to see him off, and^ in bidding him farewell, told him to acquit himself like a man, an4 be of good courage. His words were, " Viriliter age et confortetur cor tuum." The canoe was loaded with about one hundred and fifty dollars' worth of merchandise for the purpose of trade with the Indians, and in addition La Salle pre- sented to Hennepin ten knives, twelve awls or bodkins, a parcel of tobacco, a package of needles, and a pound or two of white or black beads. The movements of Hennepin, during the month of March, are not very clearly related. He appears to have been detained at the junction of the Illinois with the Mississippi by the floating ice, until near the mid- dle of that month. He then commenced the ascent o" the river for the first time by civilized man, though Marquette had, seven years before, descended from the Wisconsin. Surrounded by hostile and unknown natives, they •autiously proceeded. On the 11th of April, 1680, ..hirty- three b^-rk canoes, containing a Dahkotah war party against the Illinois and Miam,i nations, hove iu .sight, and conunenced discharging their arrows at the canoe of the Erenchmen. Perceiving the calimiet of peace, they ceased their hostile demonstrations and ap- proached. The first .night that Hennepin and his com- panions passed with the Dahkotah party, was one of anxiety. The next morning, a chief named Narrhetoba asked for the peace calumet, filled it with willow bark and all smoked. It was then signified that the white ir.en were to return with them to their villages. FRANCISCAN'S ATTEMPT TO PRAY. 129 In his narrative the Franciscan remarks : — " I found it difficult to say my office before these Indians. Many seeing me move my lips, said in a fierce tone, ' Ouak- anche.' Michael, all out of countenance, told me, that if I continued to say my breviary, we should all three be killed, and the Picard begged me at least to pray apart, so as not to provoke them. I followed the latter's advice, but the more I concealed myself, the more I had the Indians at my heels, for when I entered the Wood, they thought I was going to hide §ome goods under ground, so that I knew not on what side to turn to pray, for they never let me out of sight. This obliged me to beg pardon of my canoe-men, assuring them I could not dispense with saying my office. By the word ' Ouakanche,' the Indians meant that the book I was reading was a spirit, but by their gesture they nevertheless showed a kind of aversion, so that to accustom them to it, I chanted the Litany of the Blessed Virgiu in the canoe, with my book opened. They thought that the breviary was a spirit which taught me to sing for their diversion, for these people are naturally fond of singing." This is the first mention of a Dahkotah word in a European book. The savages were annoyed rather than enraged, at seeing the white' man reading a book, and exclaimed " Wakan-de !" this is wonderful or super- natural. The war party "VNTas composed of several bands of the M'dewakantonwan Dahkotahs, and there was a diversity of opinion in relation to the disposition that should be made of the white men. The relatives of those who had been killed by the Miamis, were in favour of taking their scalps, but others were anxious 9 130 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. to retain the favour of the French, and open a trading intercourse., Perceiving one of the canoe-men shoot a wild turkey, they called the gun Manza Ouackange — ^iron that has understanding ; more correctly, Maza Wakande, this is the supernatural metal. Aquipaguatin, one of the head men, resorted to the following device to obtain merchandise. Says the Father, " this wily savage had the bones of some dis- tLnguished relative, which he preserved with great care in some skins dressed and adorned with several rows of Black and red porcupine quills. From time to time he assembled his men to give it a smoke, and made us come several days to cover the bones with goods, and by a present wipe away the tears he had shed for him, and for his own son killed by the Miamis. To appease this captious man, we threw on the bones several fathoms of tobacco, axes, knives, beads, and some black and white wampum bracelets. ******* We slept at the point of the Lake of Tears,* which we so called from the tears which this chief shed all night long, or by one of his sons whom he caus,ed to weep when he grew tired." The next day, after four or five leagues' sail, a chief came, and telling them to leave their canoes, he pulled up three piles of grass for seats. Then taking a piece of cedar, full of little holes, he placed a stick into one, which he revolved between the palms of his hands, until he kindled a fire, and informed the Frenchmen that they would be at Mille Lac in six days. On the nineteenth day after their captivity, they arrived in the ' Lake Pepin. HENNEPIN NEAR ST. PAUL.— MILLE LAC. 131 ■vicinity of Saint Paul, not far, it is probable, from the marshy ground on which the Kaposia band once lived, and now called " Pig's Eye." The journal remarks, " Having arrived, on the nine- teenth day of our navigation, five leagues below St. Anthonj'^'s Falls, these Indians landed us in a Isay, broke our canoe to pieces, and secreted their own in the reeds." They then followed the trail to MUle Lac, sixty leagues distant. As they approached their Adllages, the various bands began to show their spoils. The tobacco was highly prized, and led to some contention. The ■chalice of the Father, which glistened ia the sun, they were afraid to touch, supposing it was " wakan."* After five days' walk they reached the Issati (Dahkotah) ^settlements in the valley of the Rum river. The dif- ferent bands each conducted a Frenchman to their village, the chief Aquipaguetin taking charge of Hen- nepin. After marching through the i&arshes towards the sources of Rum river, five wives of the chief, in three bark canoes, met them and took them a short league to an island where their cabins were. An aged Indian kindly rubbed down the way-worn Franciscan — placing him on a bear-skin near the fire, he anointed his legs and the soles of his feet with wild- cat oil. The son of the chief took great pleasure in carrjdng upon his bare back the priest's robe with dead men's bones enveloped. It was called P^re Louis Chinnien — in the Dahkotah language Shinna or Shinnan signifies ' The -word for supernatural, in ed, but pronounced " wakon," or i.the Dahkotah Lexicon, is thus spell- " wawkawn." Ib2 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. a bufialo robe. Hennepin's description of his life on the island is in these words : — " The day after our arrival, Aquipaguetin, who was the head of a large family, covered me with a robe made of ten large dressed beaver skins, trimmed with porcu- pine quills. This Indian showed me five or six of his wives, telling them, as I afterwards learned, that they should in future regard me as one of their children. " He set before me a bark dish full of fish, and, seeing that I could not rise from the ground, he had a small sweating-cabin made, in which he made me enter naked with foiir Indians. This cabin he covered with bufialo skins, and inside he put stones red-hot. He made me a sign to do as the others before beginning to sweat, but I merely concealed my nakedness with a handkerchief As soon as these Indians had several times breathed out quite violently, he began to sing vociferously, the others putting their hands on me and rubbing me while they^ wept bitterly. I began to faint, but I came out and could scarcely take my habit to put on. When he made me sweat thus three times a week, I felt as strong as ever." The mariner's compass was a constant source of wonder and amazement. Aquipaguetin having assem- bled the braves, would ask Hennepin to show his com- pass. Perceiving that the needle turned, the chief harangued his men, and told them that the Europeans were spirits, capable of doing anything. In the Franciscan's possession was an iron pot with lion paw feet, which the Indians would not touch unless their hands were wrapped in bufialo skins. The women looked upon it as " wakan," and would not enter the cabin where it was. QUERIES OF THE DAHKOTAHS. 133 " The chiefs of these savages, seeing that T was de- sirous to learn, frequently made me write, naming all the parts of the human body ; and as I would not put on paper certain indelicate words, at which they do not blush, they were heartily amused." They often asked the Franciscan questions, to answer which it was necessary to refer to his lexicon. This appeared very strange, and, as they had no word for paper, they said, " That white thing must be a spirit which tells Pere Louis all we say." j Hennepin remarks : " These Indians often asked me how many wives and children I had, and how old I was, that is, how many winters ; for so these natives always count. Never illumined by the light of faith, they were surprised at my answer. Pointing to our two French- men, whom I was then visiting, at a point three leagues from our village, I told them that a man among us could only have one wife; that, as for me, I had pro- mised the Master of life to live as they saw me, and to come and live with them to teach them to be like the French. " But that gross people, till then lawless and faithless, turned all I said into ridicule. 'How,' said they, 'would you have these two men with thee have wives ? Ours would not live with them, for they have hair all over their face, and we have none there or elsewhere.' In fact they were never better pleased with me than' when I was shaved, and from a complaisance, certainly not criminal, I shaved every week. " As I often went to visit the cabins, I found a sick ohild, whose father's name was Mamenisi. Michael Ako would not accompany me ; the Picard du Gay alone 134 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. followed me to act as sponsor, or rather to witness the baptism. " I ch ristened the child Antoinette, in honour of St. Anthony of Padua, as well as for the Picard's name, which was Anthony Auguelle. He was a native of Amiens, and nephew of the Procurator-General of the Premonstratensians both now at Paris. Having poured natural water on the head and uttered these words : — ' Creature of God, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' I took half an altar cloth which I had wrested from the hands- of an Indian who had stolen it from me, and put it on the body of the baptized child ; for as I could not say mass for want of wine and vestments, this piece of linen could not be put to better use, than to enshroud the first Christian child among these tribes. I do not know whether the softness of the linen had refreshed her, but she was the next day smiling in her mother's arms, who believed that I had cured the child — but she died soon after, to my great consolation. " During my stay among them, there arrived four savages, who said they were come alone five hundred leagues from the west, and had been four months upon the way. They assured us there was no such place as the Straits of Anian, and that they had travelled with- out resting, except to sleep, and had not seen or passed over any great lake, by which phrase they always mean the sea. " They further informed us that the nation of the Assenipoulacs (Assiniboines) who lie north-east of Issati, was not above six or seven days' journey ; that none of the nations, within their knowledge, who lie to the east FALSEHOODS OF HENNEPIN. 135 or north-west, bad any great lake about their countries, which were very large, but only rivers which came from the north. They further assured us that there were very few forests in the countries through which they passed, insomuch that now and then they were forced to make fires of buffaloes' dung to boil their food. All these circumstances make it appear that there is no such place as the Straits of Anian, as we usually see them set down on the maps. And whatever efforts have been made for many years past by the English and Dutch, to find out a passage to the Frozen Sea, they have not yet been able to effect it. But by the help of, my discovery, and the assistance of God, I doubt not but a passage may still be found, atid that an easy one too. " For example, we may be transported into the Paci- fic Sea, by rivers which are large and capable of carry- ing great vessels, and from, thence it is very easy to go to China and Japan, without crossing the equinoctial line, and, in all jprobahility, Japan is on the same continent as America." It is painful to witness a member of the sacred pro- fession so mendacious as Hennepin. After publishing a tolerably correct account of his adventures in Minne- sota, in 1683, at Paris, fifteen, years after he issued another edition greatly enlarged, in which he claims to iave descended the Mississippi towards the Gulf of Mexico, as well as discovered the Falls of St. Anthony. As the reader notes his glaring contradictions in this last work, he is surprised that the author should have been bold enough to contend, that the statements were reliable. Though a large portion was plagiarized from 136 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the acojunts of other travellers, it had a rapid sale, and was translated into several languages.^ ' The following will give gome idea of the popularity of Hennepin's narrative. It was prepared by Dr. 0'Callagha,n, for the Historical Mar gazine, Jan. 1858, and is believed to be nearly a complete list of the seve- ral editions of Hennepin's books : No. 1. Description de la Louisiane. 12mo. Paris, 1683. Meusel. Ter- uaux, No. 985. 2. The same. 12mo. Paris, 1684. Rich., in No. 403 of 1683. 3. Desorizione della Luisiana. 12mo. Bologna, 1686. Rib. Belg. Meusel Ternaux, No. 1012. Trans- lated by Casimir Frescot. 4. Description de la Louisiane. 12mo. Paris, 1688. Richarderie Faribault. 5. Beschryving van Louisiana. 4to. Amsterdam, 1688. Harv. Cat. 6. Beschreibung, &g. 12mo. Nurnberg, 1689. Meusal. Ternaux, No. 1041. 7. Nouvelle Decouverte. ]2mo. Utrecht, 1697. Ternaux, 1095. " Nouvelle Description," Meusel. Faribault. 8. The same. 12mo. Amsterdam, 1698. Ternaux, No. 1110. 9. New Discovery. London, 1698. Ternaux, No. 1119, who calls it a 4to. ; all the other catalogues an 8vo. J. R. B. says 2v. ; but see Rich. 10. Another, same title. 8vo. London, 1698. J. R. B. 11. Nouveau Voyage. 12mo. Utrecht, 1698. Ternaux, No. 1111. 2v. Bib. Belg. Hennepin calls this his third vol. ; No. 1 sup., being his first, and No. 7 sup. his second. Rich. 12. An edition in Dutch. 4to. Utrecht, 1698. J. R. B. 13. Nouveau Voyage. Amster- dam, 1698. Faribault. 14. A New Discovery of a Vast Country, &c. 8vo. London, Bon- wick, 1699. t. f. Ded. 4ff. Pref. 2ff. Cont. 3ff. Text, pp. 240 and 216, with tit., pref. and cont. to part II. ; two maps, six plates. [Not in any catalogue.] 15. Relagion, de un Pays, &o. 12mo. Brusselas, 1699. Ternaux, 1126. A translation into Spanish by Seb. Fern, de Medrano. 16. Neue Bntdekungen vieler grpssen Landsohaften in Amerika. 12mo. Bremen, 1699. Ternaux, 1049, who gives the date incorrectly, 1690. Translated by Langen. Meu- ^ sel. No. 6 of J. R. B., and an edition in German of No. 7. Supra. 17. Voyage ou Nouvelle Decou- verte. 8vo. Amsterdam, 1704. Meusel, Rich., No. 8. 18. The same. 8vo. Amsterdam, 1711. Meusel. Faribault says "Nouvelle Description." 19. The same. 12nio. Amster- dam, 1712. J. R. B. 20. A Discovery of a large, rich, &c. 8vo. London, 1720. Rich., No. 12. 21. Nouvelle Description. Am sterdam, 1720. Faribault. 22. Nouvelle Decouverte. 4to. Amsterdam, 1737. Richarderie. In KING OF FRANCE DISSATISFIED WITH HENNEPIN. 137 No doubt much of the information which the author obtained in relation to Minnesota, was obtained from Du Luth, whom he met in the Dahkotah country, i i with whom he descended the Mississippi on his return to Canada. Having made a favourable acquaintance with English gentlemen, he dedicated the edition of his work, pub- lished at Utrecht, in 1698, to King William, and the contents induced the British to send vessels to ei^ter the Mississippi river. Callieres, Governor of Canada, writing to Pontchartrain,^ the Minister, says, " I have learned that they are preparing vessels in England and Holland to take possession of Louisiana, upon the rela- tion of Pere Louis Hennepin, a Recollect who has made a book ahd dedicated it to King William." After he had earned a reputation, not to be coveted, he desired to return to America, and Louis XIV., in a despatch to Callieres, writes, " His majesty has been informed that Father Hennepin, a Dutch Franciscan, who has formerly been in Canada, is desirous of return- ing thither. As his majesty is not satisfied! with the conduct of the friar, it is his pleasure, if he return thither, that they arrest and send him to the Inten^3'»,nt of Rochefort." In the year 1701 he was still in Europe, atticheo fo a Convent in Italy.^ He appears to have died ii obscurity, unwept and unhonoured. Histoire des Incaa. A translation of * May 12, lfi99. See Smith's Hist Garcilasso de la Vega by Rousseler. Wisconsin, vol. i., p. 318, 23. Neue Entdekungen, &c. Bre- ^ Historical M*^»«\np, Boston, p. men, 1742. The same as No. 15, 316, vol. i. vrith a new title page. 138 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Du Luth and not Hennepin was considered the real discoverer of Minnesota. Le Clercq remarks, that " in the last year of M. de Frontenac's first administration, Sieur du Luth, a man of talent and experience, opened a way to the missionaries and the gospel in many dif- ferent nations, turning toward the north of that lake (Superior), where he even built a fort. He advanced as far as the Lake of the Issati (Mille Lac), called Lake Buade, from the family name of M. de Frontenac." In the month of June, 1680, he left his post on Lake Superior, and with two canoes, an Indian, and four Frenchmen, entered a river, eight leagues below, ascend- ing to the sources of which, he made a portage to a lake,, which is the head of a river that entered into the Mis- sissippi. Proceeding toward the Dahkotah villages he met Hennepin, with a party of Indians. Keturning to Quebec, Du Luth visited France, and conferred with the Minister of the Colonies, but in 1683, he was at Mackinaw fortifying the post against a threatened attack by the savages, and sending ex- presses to the Indians north and west of Lake Superior, who traded at Hudson's Bay with the English, to come and trafl&c with the French. In the spring of 1685, Governor De La Barre sent twenty nien, under the command of Nicholas Perrot, to establish friendly alliances with the loways and Dah- kotahs. Proceeding to the Mississippi, he established a post near the mouth of Lake Pepin in Minnesota, which was known as Fort Perrot. He found the Miamies, Foxes, and Maskoutens, at war TERROT'S INTERVIEW WITH DAHKOTAHS.— LEAD MINES. IS^- with the Dahkotahs, who were at that time in alliance with their old foes, the Ojibways.* Frenchmen visited the Dahkotahs during the winter ; a*d, at the opening of navigation, a deputation of them came down to the post, and carried Perrot with great parade, on' a robe of beavers, to the lodge of their chief, chanting songs, and weeping over his head according to custom. He learned from the Dahkotahs a droll adventure. The Hurons, who had fled to them for refuge, at length excited them to war. The Hurons secreted themselves in marshes, keeping their heads only out of water. The Dahkotahs, knowing that they would travel in the night, devised an ingenious stratagem. Cutting up beaver-skins- into cords, they stretched them around the marshes, and suspended bells on them which they had obtained from the French. When night came the Hurons marched, and, stumbling over the unseen cords, they rung thfr bells, which was a signal for the attack of the Dahko- tahs, who killed the whole party with one exception. While they were in the neighbourhood, they pillaged' the goods of some Frenchmen ; but, under the threats of Perrot, they were brought back. The Miamies brought to Perrot lumps of lead, which they said were found between the rocks, on the banks of a small stream which flowed into the Mississippi, about two days' journey below that point. These were pro- bably the mines of Galena, which are marked on De I'Isle's maps of the Mississippi. In the month of March, 1684, notwithstanding all the attempts of the French to keep the peace, a band of Seneca and Cayuga warriors, having met seven canoes * Appendix E 140 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. maimed by fourteen Frenchmen, with fifteen or sixteen thousand pounds of merchandise, who were going to trade with the "Scioux," pillaged and made them prisoners; and, after detaining them nine days, sent them away without arms, food, or canoes. This attack caused much alarm in Canada; and Du Luth, who appeared to have been at Fort Kamanatekwoya was ordered by the Governor of Canada to come and state the number of alUes he could bring. Perrot, who happened to be engaged in trade among the Outagamis (Foxes), not very far distant from the bay, rendered him great assistance in collecting allies.; With great expedition he came to Niagara, the place of rendezvous, with a band of Indians, and would alone have attacked the Senecas, had it not been for an express order from De La Barre, the governor, to desist. When Louis XIV. heard of this outbreak of the Iro- quois, he felt, to use his words, " that it was a grave misfortune for the colony of New France," and then, in his letter to the governor, he adds : " It appears to me that one of the pripcipal causes of the war arises from one Du Luth having caused two Iroquois to be killed who had assassinated two Frenchmen in Lake Superior, and you sufficiently see how much this man's voyage, which fcannot produce any advantage to the colony, and which was permitted only in the interest of some private persons, has contributed to distract the repose of the colony." The EngHsh of New York, knowing the hostility of the Iroquois to the French, used the opportunity to trade with the distant Indians. In 1685, one Roseboom, with DU LUTH.— ENGLISH CAPTUKED. 141 some young men, had traded with the Ottawas in Michi- gan. In the year 1686, an old Frenchman, who had lived among the Dutch and English in New York, came to Montreal, to visit a child at the Jesuit boarding-school ; and he stated that a Major McGregory, of Albany, was contemplating an expedition to Mackinac. Denonville having declared war in 1687, most of the French left the region of the Mississippi. Perrot and Boisguillot, at the time trading near the Wisconsin, leaving a few " coureurs des bois" to protect their goods from the Dahkotahs, joined I)u Luth and Duran taye at Mackinaw The Governor of Canada ordered Dv* Luth to proceed to the present Detroit river, and watch whether the Eng- lish passed into Lake St. Clair. In accordance with the order, he left Mackinaw. Being provided with fifty armed men, he established a post called Fort St. Joseph, some thirty miles above Detroit. . In the year 1687, on the 19th of May, the brave and distinguished Tonty, who was a cousin of Du Luth, arrived at Detroit, from his fort on the Illinois. Duran- taye and Du Luth, knowing that he had arrived, came down from Port St. Joseph with thirty captive English. Here Tonty and Du Luth joined forces and proceeded toward the Iroquois country. As they were coasting Lake Erie, they met and captured Major McGregory, of Albany, then on his way with thirty EngUshmen, to trade with the Indians at Mackinac. Du Luth having reached Lake Ontario, we find him engaged in that conflict with the Senecas of the Gene- see valley, when Father Angleran, the superintendent of the Mackinac mission, was severely but not mortally 142 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. wounded.* After this battle, he returned, in company with Tonty, to his post on the Detroit river.* ?■ Baron La Honfcan speaks of Grisolon de la Tourette being at Niagara in August, 1687, and calls him a brother of Du Luth. In 1689, immediately previous to the burning of Schenectady, we find him fighting the Irbquois in the neighbourhood, and there is reason to suppose that he was engaged in the midnight sack of that town. As late as the year 1696, he is on duty at Fort Frontenao; but after the peace of Ryswiok, which occa- sioned a suspension of hostilities,' we hear but little more of this man, who was the first of whom we have «,ny account, jvho came by way of Lake Superior to the upper Missis- sippi. The letter of one of the -Jesuit fathers, shows that in some things he was as superstitious as the Dah- kotahs, with whom he once traded. While in command of Fort Fronte- nac, in 1696, he gave the following certificate : "I, the subscriber, certify to all whom it may concern, that having been tormented by the gout for the space of twenty-three years, and with such severe pains that it gave me no rest for the space of three months at a time, I addressed myself to Catherine Tegahkouita, an Iro- quois virgin, deceased at the Sault Saint Louis, in the reputation of sanctity, and I promised her to visit her tomb if God should give me health through her intercession. I have been so perfectly cured at the end of one novena which I made in her honour, that after five months I have not perceived the slightest touch of my gout. " Given at Fort Frontenac, this 18th day of August, 1696. "J. De Luth, Capt.-of the Marine Corps, Commander Fort Frontenac." He died in 1710. The despatch announcing the fact to the Home Government, is expressive in its sim- plicity : Capt. Du Luth is dead, " he was an honest man." Who would wish more said of him f His name is spelled Du Luth, Du Lut, Dulhut, and De Luth, in the olil documents. * Appendix F FORMAL OCCUPANCY OF MINNESOTA. 143 CHAPTER VIL Eajily in 1689, Parrot, with a party of forty men, returned to his post at the Lake Pepin, and resumed trade with the Dahkotahs. The same year he formally ■claimed the country for France. The first official document pertaining to Minnesota is worthy of preservation, and thus reads : — " Nicholas Parrot, commanding for the King, at the post of the Nadouessioux, commissioned by the Marquis iDenonville, Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of all New France, to manage the interests of commerce among all the Lidian tribes, and people of the Bay des Puants,^ Nadouessioux,'' Mascoutins, and other western nations df the Upper Mississippi, and to take possession in the King's name of all the places where he has here- tofore been, and whither he will go. " We, this day, the eighth of May, one thousand six hundred and eighty-nine, do, in the presence of the Reverend Father Marest of the Society of Jesus, mis- sionary among the Nadouessioux ; of Monsieur de Borie- » Green Bay, Wisconsin. * Dahkotahs. 144 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. guillot/ commanding the French in the neighbourhood of the Ouiskonche^ on the Mississippi ; Augustin Legar- deur, Esquire, Sieur de Caumont, and of Messieurs Le Sueur, Hebert, Lemire, and Blein : "Declare to all whom it may concern, that, being come from the Bay des Puants, and to the Lake of the Ouiskonches, and to the river Mississippi, we did trans- port ourselves to the country of the Nadouessioux, on the border of the river St. Croix,^ and at the mouth of the river St. Pierre,'' on the bank of which were the Mantantans;' and, farther up to the interior to the north-east of the Mississippi, as far as the Menchoka- tonx,° with whom dwell the majority of the Songes- kitons, and other Nadouessioux, 'who are to the north- east of the Mississippi, to take possession for, and in the name of the King, of the countries and rivers inhabited ' Charlevoix writes Boisguillot. cause they had their, village on Kiow ^ Wisconsin, (Fort St. Nicholas,) Creek, a stream which empties into Ouiskonche, Mesconsing, Ouisoon- the Mississippi seven miles above sing, Wiskonsan, are some of the the Falls of St. Anthony. The sig« former spellings of this word. nifloation of the latter name is un- ' This is not ecclesiastical in its known. It is said that Ta-te-psin, associations, but named after Mons. Wa-su-wi-ca^xta-xni, Ta-can-rpi-sa- Saint Croix, who was drowned at its pa, A-nog-i-iia jin, Ru-ya-pa, and Ta* mouth. — La Harp^s Louisiana. can-ku-wa-xte, whose names signify, * Nicollet supposes that this river respectively, Bounding-Wind, Bad- bore the name of Capt. St. Pierre. Hail, Black-Tomahawk, He-stands- * The Dahkotahs have a tradition, both-sides, Eagle-Head, and Good- that a tribe called Onktokadan, who Road, are descendants of the Wa-kpa- lived on the St. Croix just above the a-ton-we-dan. — Warku-te, Ta-o-yarte- lake, was exterminated by the Foxes, du-ta, Ma-zarro-ta, Marrpi-ya-marza, At an early date the Mde-warkan- Ma-rpi-wi-ca-xta, and Xa-kpe-dan, ton-wan division of the Dahkotah afe said to be Martan-ton-wans. The tribe split into two parties, one of respective signification of their names which was denominated Wa-kpa-ar is as follows: Shooter, His-scarlet- ton-we-dan, and the other Ma-tan- people, Grey-Iron, Iron-Cloud, Sky- ton-wan. The former name signifies, Man, and Little-six. — Those-who-dwell-on-the-creek, be- ' M'daywawkawntwawns. FORT AT LAKE PEPIN. 145 by the said tribes, and of which they are proprietors. The present act done in our presence, signed with our hand and subscribed.'" The fii-st French establishment in Minnesota was on the Mississippi river, above the entrance of Lake Pepinl On a map of the year 1700, it was called Fort Bon Secours ; three years later it was marked Fort Le Sueur, and abandoned ;' but in a much later map it is correctly called Fort Perrot.'' The year that Perrot visited Minnesota, Frontenac, who had been recalled seven years before, was recom- missioned as Governor of Canada. He issued orders that the Frenchmen in the upper Mississippi country should return to Mackinaw. Frontenac was dogmatic and overbearing, though deeply interested in the extension of the power of France. During the first term of office he had opposed the ecclesiastics, who deplored the ill effects of rum and Ucentious " coureurs des bois" upon the morals of the savages, and desired both excluded from the country. He had no interest in Christianity, and still less confi- dence in the Jesuits. In a communication to the government he bluntly said, to Colbert the minister, " To speak frankly to you, they think as much about the conversion of beavers as of souls. The majority of their missions are mere mockeries." Learning that Durantaye, the Commandant at Macki- ' Then are given the names of ^ Bellin'B description of Map of those already mentioned. This re- North America, cord was drawn up at Fort St. ' De I'lsle's Maps 1700, and 1703 Antoine Lake Pepin This last name appears incorrect * See Jeffery's Map, 1762. 10 146 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. naw, waa disposed to be friendly to missionary schemes, he superseded him by the appointment of Louvigny. Perrot, who was on a visit to Montreal, conducted the new commander to his post, where he found the Ottawas wavering, and about to carry their peltries to the English; but by his uncommon tact he regained their confidence) and a flotilla of one hundred canoes, with furs valued at one hundred thousand crowns, started towards Montreal. On the eighteenth of August, 1690, the citizens of that city perceived the waters of the Saint Lawrence dark- ened by descending canoes, and supposing that they were filled by the dreaded Iroquois, alarm-guns were fired to call in the citizens from the country ; but this terror was soon turned to joy, by a messenger arriving with the intelligence that it was a party of five hundred Indians, of various tribes near Mackinaw, who had come to the city to exchange their peltries. So large a number from the North- West had not appeared for years ; and, on the twenty-fifth. Count Frontenac gave them a grand feast of two oxen, six large dOgs, two barrels of wine, and some prunes, with a plentiful supply of tobacco. The Ottawas in council demanded the meaning of the hatchet Perrot had hung in their cabin. Frontenac told them that they were aware of the tidings he had received, that a powerful army was com- ing to ravage his country; that all that was necessary to conclude was the mode of proceeding, whether to go and meet this army, or to wait for it with a firm foot ; that he put into their hands the hatchet which had been formerly given them, and had since been kept suspended LONG DESIRED PELTRIES ARRIVE AT MONTREAL. 147 ibr them, and he doubted not they would make good use of it. He then, hatchet in hand, sung the war song, in which the Indians joined. The increasing Iroquois and English hostility made it a dangerous undertaking to transport in canoes to or from Mackinaw, Lieutenant D' Argenteuil was despatched by Frontenac dn 1&92, with eighteen Canadians on increased pay to JMackinaw, with an order to Louvigny, the commander, "to send down all the Frenchmen that could be spared ■from the North- West, and the large amount of peltries 'that had accumulated at his post. On the seventeenth of August two hundred canoes^ filled with Frenchmen and Ottawas arrived from the 'upper country at Montreal with the long-detained fuifs. " The merchant, the farmer, and other individualsVho might have some peltries there, were dying of hunger, with property they could not enjoy. Credit was ex- hausted, and the apprehension universal that the Eng- lish might seize this last resource of the country while 4t was on the way. Terms sufficiently strong were net to be found to praise and bless him by whose care so much property had arrived.'" The Indians were entertained at the governor's table, and on Sunday, the sixth of September, there was a grand war dance. The next day they received presents, and during the week returned to their own country. The French soon followed under the direction of Tonty, Conmiandant of the Illinois. La Motte Cadil- lac, and D' Argenteuil shortly after were ordered to Mackinaw, Louvigny being recalled. Perrot was sta- I Paris Doo. vol. ix. N. Y. Col. Hist. 148 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. lioned among the Miamis, at a place called " Malamek," in Michigan ; and Le Sueur was sent to La Pointe of Lake Superior to maintain the peace that had just been concluded between the Ojibways and Dahkotahs. The mission of Le Sueur was important. As the Foxes and Mascoutins had become inimical, the north- ern route to the Dahkotahs was the only one that could be used in transporting goods. In the year 1695, the second post in Minnesota was built by Le Sueur. Above Lake Pepin, and below the mouth of the St. Croix, there are many islands, and the largest of these was selected as the site.' The object of the establishment was to interpose a barrier between the Dahkotahs and Ojibways, and maintain the peaceful delations which had been created. Charlevoix speaks on^the island as having a very beautiful prairie, and remarks that " the French of Canada have made it a centrfe of commerce for the western parts, and many pass ths winter herej because it is a good country for hunting."^ On the fifi^eenth of July, Le Sueur arrived at Mon- treal with a painty of Ojibways, and the first Dahhotah hrave that had ever visited Canada. The Indians were much impressed with the power of France by the marching of a detachment of seven hundred picked men, under Chevalier Cresafi, who were on their way to La Chine. On the eighteenth, Frontenac, in the presence of Callieres and other persons of distinction, gave them an audience. The first speaker was the chief of the Ojibway band at La Pointe, Shingowahbay, who said : — ' Bellin in his description of the Chart of North America. OJIBWAY AND DAHKOTAH CHIEFS' SPEECH. 149 " That he was come to pay his respects to Onontio/ in the name of the young warriors of Point Chagoua migon, and to thank him for having given them some Frenchmen to dwell with them ; to testify their sorrow for one Jobin, a Frenchman, who was killed at a feast a,ccidentally, and not maliciously. We come to ask a favour of you, which is to let us act. We are allies of the Sciou. Some Outagamies or Mascoutins have been killed. The Sciou came to mourn with us. Let us act, Father; let us take revenge. " Le Sueur alone, who is acquainted with the lan- guage of the one and the other, can serve us. We ask that he return with us." Another speaker of the Ojibways was Le Brochet. Teeoskahtay, the Dahkotah chief, before he spoke, spread oUt a beaver robe, and laying another with a tobacco pouch and otter skin, began to weep bitterly. After drying his tears he said : — " All of the nations had a father who afforded them protection ; all of them have iron. But he was a bas- tard in quest of a father ; he was come to see him, and begs that he will take pity on him." He, then placed upon the beaver robe twenty-two arrowSj at each arrow naming a Dahkotah village that desired Frontenac's protection. Eesuming his speech, he remarked : — " It is not on account of what I bring that I hope he who rules this earth will have pity on me. I learned from the Sauteurs that he wanted nothing; that he was the Master of' the Iron ; that he had a big heart, into which he could receive all the nations. This has ^ The title the Indians always gave to the Governor. 150 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. induced me to abandon my people to come to seek his protection, and to beseech him to receive me among the- number of his children. Take courage, Great Captain,, and reject me not ; despise me not though I appear poor in your eyes. All the nations here present know that: I am rich, and the little they offer here is taken from my lands." Count Frontenac in reply told the chief that he would' receive the Dahkotahs as his children, on condition that they would be obedient, and that he would send back Le Sueur with him. Teebskahtay, taking hold of the governor's knees, wept, and said : — " Take pity on us ; we are well aware that we are not able to speak, being children ; but Le Sueur, who understands our language, and has seen all our villages, will next year inform you what will have been achieved by the Sioux nations, represented by those arrows before you." Having j&nished, a Dahkotah woman, the wife of a great chief whom Le Sueur had purchased from captivity at Mackinaw, approached those ia authority, and with downcast eyes embraced their knees, weeping and say- ing:— ' ■ " I thank thee. Father ; it is by thy means I have been liberated, and am no longer captive." Then Teeoskahtay resumed : — " I speak like a man penetrated with joy. The Great Captain ; he who is the Master of the Iron, assures ine of his protection, and I promise him that if he conde- scends to restore my children, now prisoners among the Fox'es, Ottawas, and Hurons, I will return hither, and bring with me the twenty-two villages whom he has just restored to life by promising to send them Iron." DAHKOTAH CHIEF DIES IN CANADA. 151 On the 14th of August, two weeks after the Ojibway chief left for his home on Lake Superior, Nicholas Fer- ret arrived with a deputation of Sauks, Foxes, Meno- monees, Miamis of Maaramek, and Pottowattamies. Two days after, they had a council with the governor, who thus spoke to a Fox brave : — " I see that you are a young man ; your nation has quite turned away from iny wishes; it has pillaged some of my young men, whom it has treated as slaves. I know that your father, who loved the French, had no hand in the indignity. You only imitate the example of your father, who had sense, when you do not co- operate with those of your tribe who are wishing to go over to my enemies, after tliey grossly insulted me, and defeated the Sioux, whom I now consider my son. I pity the Sioux; I pity the dead vhose loss I deplore. Perrot goes up there, and he will speak to your nation from me, for the release of their prisoners ; let them attend to him." Teeoskahtiay never returned to his native land. While in Montreal he was taken sick, and in thirty- three days he ceased tb breathe; and, followed by white inen, his body was interred in the white man's grave. Le Sueur, instead of going back to Minnesota that year, as was expected, went to Prance, and received a license, in 1697, to open certain mines supposed to exist in Minnesota. The ship in which he was returning, was captured by the English, and he was take^ to England. After his release, he went back to France, and, in 1698, obtained a new commission for mining. While Le Sueur was in Europe, the Dahkotahs waged war agaijist the Foxes and Miamis. In retalia- ]52 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. tion, the latter raised a war party, and entered the land of the Dahkotahs. Finding their foes intrenched, and assisted by " coureurs des bois," they were indignant ; and on their return they had a skirmish with some Frenchmen, who were carrying goods to the Dahko- tahs. Shortly after, they met Perrot, and were about to bum him to death, when prevented by some friendly, Foxes. The Miamis, after this, were disposed to be friendly to the Iroquois. In 1696, the year previous, the authorities at Quebec decided that it was expedient to abandon all the posts west of Mackinaw, and with- draw the French from Wisconsin and Minnesota. The "voyageurs" were not disposed to leave the country, and the governor wrote to ' Pontchartrain for instructions, in October, 1698. In his despatch he remarks : — "In this conjuncture, and under all these circum- stances, we consider it our duty to postpone, until new instructions from the court, the execution of Sieur Le Sueur's enterprise for the mines, though the promise had already been given him to send two canoes in advance to Missilimackinac, for the purpose of pur- chasing there some provisions and other necessaries for his voyage, and that he would be permitted to go and join them early in the spring with the rest of his hands. What led us to adopt this resolution has been, that the French who remained to trade off with the Five Na- tions the remainder of their merchandise, might, on seeing entirely new comers arriving there, consider themselves entitled to dispense with coming down, and perhaps adopt the resolution to settle there ; whilst, seeing no arrival there, with permission to do what is LE SUEUR'S LICENSE TO MINE REVOKED. 153 forbidden, the reflection they will be able to make during the winter, and the apprehension of being guilty of crime, may oblige them to return in the spring. " This would be very desirable, in consequence of the great difficulty there will be in constraining them to it, should they be inclined to lift the mask altogether and become buccaneers; or should Sieur Le Sueur, as he easily could do, furnish them with goods for their beaver and smaller peltry, which he might send down by the return of other Frenchmen, whose sole desire is to obey, and who have remained only because of the impossibility of getting their effects down. This would rather induce those who would continue to lead a vaga^ bond life to remain there, as the goods they would obtain from Le Sueur's people would afford them the means of doing so." In reply to this communication, Louis XIV. answered that — " His majesty has approved that the late Sieur de Frontenac and De Champigny, suspended the execution of the license granted to the man na.med Le Sueur to pioceed, with fifty men, to explore some mines on the bf nks of the Mississippi. He has revoked said license, a] id desires that the said Le Sueur, or any other person, b The Saint Pierre, like the Saint and prominent in the Indian affairs Croix, just below it, was possibly in that age. Carver, in 1776, on named after a Frenchman. Charle- the shores of Lake Pepin, discovered 7oix speaks of an ofBcer by that the ruins of an extensive trading name, who was at Mackinaw in 1692, post, that had been under the control 11 162 HISTORY 01? MINNESOTA. had made in this river forty-four and one-fourth leagues. After he entered into Blue river, thus named on account of the mines of blue earth found at its mouth, he founded his post, situated in forty-four degrees, thirteen minutes, north latitude. He met at this place nine Scioux,* who told him that the river belonged to the Scioux of the West, the Ayavois (lowas), and Otoctatas (Ottoes), who lived a little farther off; that it was not their custom to hunt on ground belonging to others, unless invited to do so by the owners, and that when they would come to the fort to obtain provisions, they would be in danger of being killed in ascending or descending the rivers, which were narrow, and that if they would show their pity, Tie must establish himself on the Mississippi, near the mouth of the St., Pierre,^ where the Ayavois, the Otocta- tas, and the other Scioux, could go as well as they. Having finished their speech, they leaned over the head of Le Sueur, according to their custom, crying out, " Ouaechissou ouaepanimanabo," that is to say, " Have pity upon us." Le Sueur had foreseen that the esta- blishment of Blue Earth river, would not please the Scioux of the East, who were, so to speak, masters of the other Scioux, and of the nations which will be hereafter mentioned, because they were the first with whom trade was commenced, and in consequence of which they had already quite a number of guns. As he had commenced his operations, not only with a view to the trade of beaver, but also to gain a of a Captain Saint Pierre, and some Lahontan, Le Sueur, and the Jesuits have asserted that Le Sueur of that period in their relations, and named the Minnesota river in honour it has not heen altered to Dahkotah of his fellow explorer and trader. in this chapter. ' Scioux, is tba orthography of ' Neighbourhood of Mendota. DAHKOTAHS OF THE PLAINS. 163 knowledge of the mines, which he had previously dis- covered, he told them he was sorry that he had not known their intentions sooner; and that it was just, since he came expressly for them, that he should esta- blish himself on their land, but that the season was too far advanced for him to return. He then made them a present of powder, balls, and knives, and an armful of tobacco, to entice them to assemble as soon as possible, near the fort which he was about to construct, that when they should be all assembled he might tell them the intention of the king, their and his sovereign. The Scioux of the West, according to the statement taf the Eastern Scioux, have more than a thousand lodges. They do not use canoes, nor cultivate the earth, nor gather wild rice. They remain generally in "the prairies, which are between the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and live entirely by the chase. ■The^. Scioux generally say they have three souls, and that after death, that which has done well goes to the warm country, that which has done evil to the cold regions, and the other guards the body. Polygamy is -common among them. They are very jealous, and sometimes fight in duel for their wives. They manage the bow admirably, and have been seen several times to kill ducks on the wing. They make their lodges of a number of buffalo skins interlaced and sewed, and carry them wherever they go. They are all great smokers, but their manner of smoking dififers from that of other Indians. There are some Scioux who swallow all the smoke of the tobacco, and others who, after having kept it some time in their mouth, cause it to issue from the nose. In each lodge there are usually two or three men with their families. 164 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. On the third of October, they received at the fort several Scioux, among whom was Wahkantape, chief of the village. Soon two Canadiaiis arrived who had been hunting, and had been robbed by the Scioux of the East, who had raised their guns against the esta- blishment which M. Le Sueur had made on Blue Earth river. On the fourteenth the fort was finished and named Fort L'Huillier,^ and on the twenty-second two Cana- dians were sent out to invite the Ayavois.and Otoctatas to come and establish a village near the fort, because these Indians are industrious and accustomed to culti- vate the earth, and they hoped to get provisions from them, and to make them work in the mines. On the twenty-fourth, six Scioux Oujalespoitons wished to go into the fort, but were told that they did not receive men who had killed Frenchmen. This is the term used when they have insulted them. The next day they came to the lodge of Le Sueur to beg him to have pity on them. They wished, according to custom, to weep over his head and make him a present of packs of beavers, which he refused. He told them he was surprised that people who had robbed should come to him ; to which they replied that they had heard it said that two Frenchmen had been robbed, but none from their village had been present at that wicked action. Le Sueur answered, that he knew it was the Men- deoucantons and not the Oujalespoitons; "but," con- tinued he, " you are Scioux ; it is the Scioux who have robbed me, and if I were to follow your manner ol ' The farmer general at Paris who had encouraged Le Sueur in his pro- jects. JJorietort ^ ^SIOUX D>s L'tjgT Cnoineivas) SIOUX ot fouyjj^' jl^nf ci- C^^opjc LJ't^roL '"'^Mm&^Oihvv' aye __ ^ANKTONS _ ^^ "iV^ LESCANSEZ rVOWAlfS If 1 L |.jl N I S -£j-i*j.. ""at^^^/ni^ YS DES 0SA6ES /-& TMAROIS ■'JKihW 'fCAEUJUIAS SECTIOM OF A CHART WILLIAM DE L'ISLE, ofihe Royal Academy of Sciences. LE SUEUR FILLS CANOES WITH BLUE EARTH. 165 acting, I should break your heads ; for is it not true, that when a stranger (it is thus they call the Indians who are not Scioux) has insulted a Scioux, Mendeou- canton, Oujalespoitons, or others^ — all the villages re- venge upon the first one they meet ?" As they had nothing to answer to what he said to them, they wept and repeated, according to custom, *' Ouaechissou ! ouaepanimailabo !" Le Sueur told them to cease crying, and added, that the French had good hearts, and that they had come into the country to have pity on them. At the same time he made them a pre- sent, saying to them, " Carry back your beavers and say to all the Scioux, that they will have from me no more powder or lead, and they will no longer smoke any long pipe until they have made satisfaction for rob- bing the Frenchman." The same day the Canadians, who had been sent off on the 22d, arrived without haAring found the road which led to the Ayavois and Otoctatas. On the 25th Le Sueur went to the river with three canoes, which he filled with green and blue earth.' It is taken from the hills near which are very abundant mines of copper, some of which was worked at Paris in 1696 by L'Huil- lier, one of the chief collectors of the king. Stones were also found there, which would be curious, if worked. On the 9th of November, eight Mantanton Scioux arrived, who had been sent by their chiefs to say that the Mendeoucantons were still at thevr lake on the east of *ke Mississippi, and they could not come for a long time ; and that, for a single village which had no good sense, '■ The locality was a branch of the river, and on a map published in Blue Earth, about a mile above the 1773, the river St. Remi. fort, called by Nicollet Le Sueur 166 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the oth(!rs ought not to bear the punishment ; and that they were willing to make reparation if they knew how. Le Sueur replied that he was glad that they had a dis- position to do so. On the 15th the two Mantanton Scioux, who had been sent expressly to say that all of the Scioux of the east, and part of those of the west, were joined together to come to the French, because they had heard that the Christianaux and the Assinipoils were making war on them. These two nations dwell above the fort on the east side, more than eighty leagues on the Upper Mis- sissippi. The Assinipoils speak Scioux, and are certainly of that nation. It is only a few years since that they be- came enemies. The enmity thus originated : The Chris- tianaux, having the use of arms before the Scioux, through the English at Hudson's Bay, they constantly warred upon the Assinipoils, who were their nearest neighbours. The latter, being weak, sued for peace, and to render it more lasting, married the Christianaux women. The other Scioux, who had not made the com- pact, continued the war ; and, seeing some Christianaux with the Assinipoils, broke their heads. The Chris- tianaux furnished the Assinipoils with arms and mer- chandise. On the 16th the Scioux returned to their village, and it w'as reported that the Ayavois and Otoctatas were gone to establish themselves towards the Missouri river, near the Maha, who dwell in that region. On the 26th the Mantantons and Oujalespoitons arrived at the fort; and, after they had encamped in the woods, Wahkan- tape* came to beg Le Sueur to go to his lodge. He ' Wakandapi or Esteemed Sacred, was the name of one of the head men at Red Wing, in 1850. WEEP OVER THE DEATH OF TEEOSKAHTAV. 167 there found sixteen men with women and cL . ^en, with their faces daubed with black. In the middle ot the lodge were several buffalo skins, which were sewed for a carpet. After motioning him to sit down, they wept for the fourth of an hour, and the chief gave him some wild rice to eat (as was their custom), putting the first three spoonsful to his mouth. After which, he said all present were relatives of Tioscat^,^ whom Le Suei^r took to Canada in 1695, and who died there in 1696. At the mention of Tioscat4 they began to weep again, and wipe their tears and heads upon the shoulders of Le Sueur. Then Wahkantape again spoke, and said that Tioscat6 begged him to forget the insult done to the Frenchmen by the Mendeoucantons, and take pity on his brethren by giving them powder and balls whereby they could defend themselves, and gain a living for their wives and children, who languish in a country, full of game, because they had not the means of killing them. " Look," added the chief, " Behold thy children, thy brethren, and thy sisters ; it is to thee to see whether thou wishest them to die. They will live if thou givest them powder and ball ; they will die if thou refusest." Le Sueur granted them their request, but as the Scioux never answer on the spot, especially in matters of importance, and as he had to speak to them about his establishment, he went out of the lodge without sajdng a word. The chief and all those within followed him as far as the door of the fort ; and when he had gone in, they went around it three times, crying with all their strength, " Atheouanan !" that is to say, " Father, have pity on us." (Ate unyanpi, means Our Father.) * Teeoskahtay. 168 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. The next day, he assembled in the fort the principal men of both villages ; and as it is not possible to subdue the Scioux or to hinder them from going to war, unless it be by inducing them to cultivate the earth, he said to them that if they wished to render themselves worthy of the protection of the' king, they must abandon their erring life, and form a village near his dwelling, where they would be shielded from the insults of their ene- mies ; and that they might be happy and not hungry, he would give them all the corn necessary to plant a large piece of ground ; that the king, their and his chief, in sending him, had forbidden him to purchase beaver skins, knowing that this kind of hunting separates them and exposes them to their enemies ; iand that in conse- quence of this he had come to estabUsh himself on Blue river and vicinity, where they had many times assured him were many kinds of beasts, for the skins of which he would give them all things necessary; that they ought to reflect that they could not do without French goods, and that the only way not to want them was, not to go to war with our allied nations. As it is customary with the Indians to acconlpany their word with a present proportioned to the affair treated of, he gave them fifty pounds of powder, as many balls, six guns, ten axes, twelve armsful of tobacco, and a hatchet pipe. On the first of December, the Manta^tons invited Le Sueur to a great feast. Of four of their lodges they had made one, in which were one hundred men seated around, and every one his dish before him. After the meal, Wahkantape, the chief, made them all smoke one after another in the hatchet pipe which had been given them. He then made a present to Le Sueur of a slave M'DEWAKANTONWAN CHIEFS AT BLUE EARTH FORT. 169 and a sack of "mid rice, and said to him, showing him his men : " Behold the remains of this great village, which thou hast aforetimes seen so numerous ! all the others have been killed in war ; and the few men whom thou seest in this lodge, accept the present thou hast made them, and are resolved to obey the great chief of all nations, of whom thou hast spoken to us. Thou oughtest not to regard us as Scioux, but as French, and instead of saying the Scioux are miserable, and have no mind, and are fit for nothing but to rob and steal from the French, thou shalt say my brethren are miserable and have no mind, and we must try to procure some for them. They rob us, but I will take care that they do not lack iron, that is to say, all kinds of goods. If thou dost this, I assure thee that in a little time, the Mantantons will become Frenchmen, and they will have none of those vices with which thou reprbachest us." Having finished his speech, he covered his face with his garment, and the others imitated him. They wept over their companions who had died in war, and chanted an adieu to their country in a tone so gloomy, that one could not keep from partaking of their sorrow. Wahkantape then made them smoke again, and dis- tributed the presents, and said that he was going to the Mendeoucantons, to inform them of the resolution, and invite them to do the same. On the twelfth, three Mendeoucanton chiefs and a large number of Indians of the same village, arrived at the fort, and the next day gave satisfaction for robbing the Frenchmen. They brought 400 pounds of beaver skins, and promised that the summer following, after their canoes were built and they had gathered their wild rice, that they would come and establish themselves lyO HISTOKT OF MINNESOTA. near the French. The same day they returned to their village east of the Mississippi. NAMES OF THE BANDS OF SCIOTJX OF THE EAST, WITH THEIR SIGNIFICATION. Mantantons — That is to say, Village of the Great Lake which empties into a small one. Mendeouoantons — ^Village of Spirit Lake. QuioPETONS — Village of the Lake with one Kiver. PsiouMANiTONS — Village of Wild Rice Gatherers. OuADEBATONS. — The River Village. OuATEMANETONS. — Village of the Tribe who dwell on the Point of the Lake. SoNGASQUiTONS — The Brave Village. THE SCIOUX OF THE WEST. ToucHOUAsiNTONS — The Village of the Pole. PsiNCHATONS — Village of the Red Wild Rice. OujALESPOiTONS — -Village divided into many small Bands. PsiNOUTANHHiNTONS — The Great Wild Rice Village. TiNTANGAOUGHiATONS — The Grand Lodge Village. OuAPETONS — ^Village of the Leaf. OuGHETGEODATONS — Dung Village. OuAPETONTETONS — Village of those who Shoot in the Large Pine. HiNHANETONS — Village of the Red Stone Quarry. The above catalogue of villages concludes the extract that La Harpe has made from Le Sueur's Journal.^ ^ The " History of Louisiana, by nal, and deposited among the ar- La Harpe," who was a French offi- chives of the American Philosophi- cer, remained in manuscript more oal Society, from which a few ex- than one hundred years. In 1805, tracts were published by Professor a copy was taken from the origi- Keating, in his narrative of Major D'IBERVILLE'S MANUSCRIPT. 171 In the narrative of Major Long's second expedition^ there are just the same number of villages of the Gens du Lao or M'dewakantonwan Scioux mentioned, though the names are different. After leaving the Mille Lac region, the divisions evidently were different, and the villages known by new names. Charlevoix, who visited the valley of the Lower Mis- sissippi in 1722, says that Le Sueur spent a winter in hi& fort on the banks of the Blue Earth ; and that in the following April he went up to the mine about a mile above. In twenty-two days they obtained more than thirty thousand pounds of the substance, four thousand of which were selected and sent to France. Early in the summer of 1701, Le Sueur came back to the post on the Gulf of Mexico, and found D'Iberville absent, who, however, arrived on the eighteenth of the next Feb'y , with a ship from France, loaded with sup- plies. After a few weeks, the Governor of Louisiana saUed again for the old country, Le Sueur being a fellow passenger. On board of the ship, D'Iberville wrote a memorial upon the Mississippi Valley, with suggestions for carry- ing on commerce therein, which contains many facts furnished by Le Sueur. A copy of the manuscript is in possession of the Historical Society of Minnesota, from which are the foUowiag extracts : — " If the Sioux remain in their own country they are useless to us, being too distant. We could have no commerce with them except that of the beaver. M. Long's expedition. In the year 1831, tion of that part which pertains to. the original was published at Paris, Minnesota, appeared in a St. Paul for the first time, in the French newspaper in 1850. language. The first English translar '172 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Le Suewr, who goes io FVanoe to give an account of this country, is the proper person to make these movements. He estimates the Sioux at four thousand families, who could settle upon the Missouri. " He has spoken to me of another which he calls the Mahas, composed of more than twelve hundred families, the Ayooues (loways)' and the Octoctatas their neigh- bours, are about three hundred families. They occupy the lands between the Mississippi and the Missouri, about one hundred leagues from the Illinois. These savages do not know the use of arms, and a descent might be made upon them in a river, which is beyond the Wabash on the west. ********** "The Assinibouel, Quenistinos, and people of the North, who are upon the rivers which fall into the Mississippi, and trade at Fort Nelson (Hudson Bay), are about four hundred men. We could prevent them from going there if we wish." " In four or five years we can establish a commerce with these Havages of sixty or eighty thousand buffalo skins ; more than one hundred deer skins, which will produce, delivered in France, more than two million four hundred thousand livres yearly. One might obtain for a buffalo skin four or five pounds of wool, which sells for twenty sous, two pound of coarse hair at ten sous. " Besides, from smaller peltries, two hundred thou- sand livres can be made yearly." In the third volume of the " History and Statistics of the Indian Tribes," prepared under the direction- of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, by Mr. Schoolcraft, a manuscript, a copy of which is in possession of General Cass, is referred to as containing the first enumeration EARLIEST CENSUS OF INDIANS OF MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 17S of the Indians of the Mississippi Valjey. The following was made thirty-four years earlier : — Families, "The Sioux, Mabas, . . Octata and Ayoues, Causes, (Kansas)^ Missouri, . . . Arkansas, &c., Manton, (Mandan) Panis, (Pawnee) . Illinois, of the great village ■ andCamaroua(Tamaroa) 800 Meosigamea, (Metchigamias) 200 Eikapous and Mascoutens, 450 Miamis, ...... 500 Chaotas 4,000 4,000 12,000 300 1,500 1,500 200 100 ' 2,000 Chioachas, 2,000 Mobiliens and Chohomes, . 350 Concaques, (Conchas) . . 2,000 Ouma, (Hpumas) . . , 150 Colapissa 250 Bayogoula 100 People of the Fork, ... 200 Counica, &o., (Tonicas) . 300 Caensa, (Taensa) . . . 150 Nadeches, 1,500 Beloehy, (Biloxi) Paseoboula. 100 Total, , 23,850 " The savage tribes located in the places I have marked out, make it necessary to establish three posts on the Mississippi. One at the Arkansas, another at the Wabash (Ohio), and the third at the Missouri. At each post it would be proper to have an officer with a detachment of ten soldiers, with a sergeant and corporal. All Frenchmen should be allowed to settle there with their families, and trade with the Indians, and they might establish tanneries for properly dressing the buffalo and deer skins for transportation. " No Frenchman shall he allowed to follow the Indians on their hunts, as it tends to leeep them hunters, as is seen in Canada, and when they are in the woods they do not desire to become tillers of the soil. ***** " I have said nothing in this memoir of which I have not personal knowledge or the mo^t , reliable sources. The most of what I propose is founded upon personal reflection, in relation to what might be done for the defence and advancement of the colony. H: * 174 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. * * * It will be absolutely necessary that the king should define the limits of this country^ in relation to the government of Canada. It is important that the commandant of the Mississippi should have a report of those who inhabit the rivers that fall into the Mississippi, and "principally those of the river Illinois. " The Canadians intimate to the savages that they ought not to listen to us, but to the governor of Canada, who always speaks to them with large presents ; that the governor of the Mississippi is mean, and never sends them anything. This is true, and what I cannot do. It is imprudent to accustom the savages to be spoken to by presents, for, with so many, it would cost the king more than the revenue derived from the trade. When they come to us, it will be necessary to bring them in subjection, make them no presents, and compel them to do what we wish, as */ they were Frenchmen. " The Spaniards have divided the Indians into parties on this point, and we can do the same. When one nation does wrong, we can cease to trade with them, and threaten to draw down the hostility of other Indians. We rectify the difficulty by having mission- a,ries, who will bring them into obedience secretly. " The Illinois and Mascoutens have detained the French canoes they find upon the Mississippi, saying that the governors of Canada have given them permis- sion. I do not know whether this is so, but, if true, it follows that we have not the liberty to send any one on the Mississippi. " M. Le Sueur would have been taken if he had not been the strongest. Only one of the canoes he sent to the Sioux was plundered." ****** On the third of March, 1703, the, workmen left at RETURN OF WORKMEN FROM MAHKAHTO. 175 Mahkahto returned to Mobile, having left Minnesota on account of the hostility of the Indians, and the want of means. Le Sueur, after leaving Mahkahto does not appear to have visited Minnesota.' ' Penicaut wrote a journal of his voyage to the Blue Earth, a MS. •which has recently been purchased for the Library of Congress. He mentions the Falls of St. Anthony, and says the party visited them, and that their height was 60 feet. Betuming, they ascended the Minnesota to the Blue Earth River, :and a league up the latter, on a point of land a quarter of a mile from •the woods, they built the fort. The mine they worked was three- fourths of a league distant, on the banks of the river, in a bluff. The green earth was a foot and a half in thickness. In May, 1701, Le Sueur left the fort in charge of D'Evaque, a Cana- ■ dian and twelve Frenchmen, and returned to Mobile. D'Evaque, being molested by the Sacs and Foxes, abandoned the fort in the spring of 1702. Eeturn- ing to Louisiana, he met Juchereau, who had 'been oflScer of justice in Montreal, with thirty-five men, on his way to establish a tannery at the mouth of the Ohio. Penicaut remained in Louisiana until 1721, when he went to France for treatment of his eyes, and there prepared the account of his ad- ventures which has lately been brought to light. 176 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER IX. At the commencement of the eighteenth century, tW Dahkotahs were still dwelling at the Spirit Lake, east of the Mississippi; but influences were beginning to operate, which eventually led to dislodgment from their ancient stronghold. When the French traders first visited Green Bay, they found the Sauks a fierce and haughty people, wandering about the country between the head waters of the Fox and Chippeway rivers. Below them, and above the Illinois, resided the Fox or Outagami nation,' with whom they were closely allied by intermarriage. The French, from the first, seemed to be unsuccessful in obtaining their good-will, the early voyageurs having behaved themselves as bandits rather than civilized men. In the year 1700 the Sauks and Foxes were defeated in a contest with the Dahkotahs and loways; and ' The Ojibways assert that the statement. " The Foxes are eighteen Foxes, before tbeirincorporation with leagues from the Sacs, they number the Sauks, spoke a different Ian- five hundred men, abound in women guage, and they called them "0-dug- and children, are as industrious as aum-eeg," or people of the opposite they can be, and have a different side. language from the Ottawas. An A French memoir on the Indians Ottawa interpreter would be of no between Lake Erie and Mississippi, use with the Foxes." Paris Doc. prepared in 1718, confirms this vii. in N. Y. C. H. vol. ix. ATTACK OP FOXES ON DETROIT. 177 shortly after this they began to manifest open hostility against the French'. Under the direction of the noted warriors Lamina and Pemoussa, they marched to the post at Detroit, which was the key to the commerce of the upper lakes, with the intention of exterminating the small garrison of thirty men, and delivering the post to the English, who, from the year 1687, had been looking wistfully towards the beautiful peninsula which now comprises the commonwealth of Michigan. For days they prowled around the rude stockade, watching every opportunity for insult and murder. To prevent the burning of the post, Du Buisson, the commander, ordered the chapel, storehouse, and other outbuildings to be destroyed. After a few days De Vincennes and eight Frenchmen arrived, hut brought no news that was cheering; and the commander, in his despatch to the governor of Canada, admits his alarm, and writes, " I did not know on what saint to call." The hour now came for decided action. The gates of the little fort were closed ; the garrison divided into four companies ; arms and ammunition duly inspected ; two swivels, mounted on logs, loaded with slugs; all were waiting, with anxious impatience, for the attack to commence, when the commander, ascending the bastion, descried a friendly force uf Osages, Missouris, Illinois, and other alHes, issuing from the forest. The gates being thrown open, they were warmly greeted. A moment's silence, a terrific war-whoop; that made the very earth tremble, and the battle began in earnest, and murderous missiles flew like hail-stones. To pro- tect themselves from the fire of the fort, the Sauks and Foxes dug holes in the ground, but they were soon 12 178 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. besieged. After being surrounded for nineteen days, they succeeded in iriaking their escape, on a dark and rainy night, after the attacking party were asleep. The discovery was not made till morning, when they were found at Presque Isle, near Lake St. Clair. The fight was here renewed, and the Foxes were thoroughly de- feated, losing about one thousand men, women, and children.' Maddened by their want of success, they came back with the portion of the Sauks who were their allies to their residence in Wisconsin, and revenged themselves by scalping every French trader they could find, and waging war on the Ojibwaya and Other tribes who had aided the French. Travel to Louisiana by way of the Wisconsin river was entirely cut off; and in 1714 the governor of Ca- nada determined to subdue or exterminate them. A force of eight hundred men marched to their villages, and the Foxes, under the pressure of necessity, formed a friendly alliance with their old foes, the Dahkotahs of Minnesota. The invading army found the foe, to the number of five hundred men and three thousand women, strongly intrenched. De Louvigny, the com- mander, planted his field pieces and a grenade mortar, and began the attack ; but the Foxes soon capitulated, and six hostages were given by them as security for the presence of their deputies at Montreal, to perfect the terms of the treaty. While at Montreal, Pemoussa, the great warrior, and others of the hostages, died of small- pox. Fearing that this calamity might defeat the arrange- ' This must be an exaggeration of the French report, from which the facts were obtained. PKEDICTION IN RELATION TO ENGLISH MASTERY. 179 ments for the final treaty, De Louvigny was sent to Mackinaw with one of the hostages, who had recovered from the small-pox with the loss of one eye. Arriving in May, 1717, he despatched the one-eyed chief with juitable presents to cover the dead. The Fox chiefs promised to comply with the provisions of the original capitulation, and the pock-marked warrior departed for Mackinaw, with the interpreter, but he soon eloped, and in a little whUe the truce-breaking Foxes were -again shedding blood. They not only harassed the French, but leagued with the Chickasaws of the south, -as well as the fierce Dahkotahs of the north. For a number of years the French government had ■discountenanced traders dwelling with the Indians West of Mackinaw, and the old license system was abolished. But, in 1726, it was observed that the English were obtaining such an influence over the distant nations, that, to counteract it, the licensing of traders to dwell among the upper tribes was renewed. A despatch on this point, made a prediction, which lias been fully verified : — " From all that precedes, it is more and more obvious, "that the English are endeavouring to mterlope among ^11 the Indian nations, and to attach them to them- selves. They entertain constantly the idea of becoming - masters of North America, persuaded that the European nation which will be possessor of that section, will, in -CQurse of time, be also master of all America, because it is there alone that men live in health, and produce strong ■and rolmst children." To thwart them it was proposed to restore the twenty- five licenses for trading, which had been suppressed, by ^hich seventy-five " coureurs des bois" would proceed 180 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. annually to the upper tribes, and be absent eighteen months ; also, to abolish the prohibitory liquor law, which had been enacted through the influence Of the mission- aries. The argument in favour of this measure was in these words : — " 'Tis true, that the Indians are crazy when drunk, and when they have once tasted brandy, that they give all they possess to obtain some more, and drink it to excess. " Missionaries will complain that this permission de- stroys the Indians and the religion among them. But, apart from the fact that they will always have rum from the Enghsh, the question is, whether it be better that the English penetrate into the continent by favour, of that rum, which attracts the Indians to them, than to suffer the French to furnish them with liquor in order to preserve these nations, and to prevent them declaring eventually in favour of the English."' In view of the troubles among the tribes of the north- west, in the month of September, 1718, Captain St, Pierre, who had great influence with the Indians of Wisconsin and Minnesota, was sent with Ensign Linctot and some soldiers to re-occupy La Pointe on Lake Supe- rior, now Bayfield, in the north-rwestern point of Wis- consin. The chiefs of the. band there and at Keweenaw, had threatened war against the Foxes, who had killed some of their number. On the seventh of June, 1726, peace was concluded by De Ligneiry with the Sauks, Foxes, and Winneba- goes, at Green Bay; and, Linctot, who had succeeded Saint Pierre in command at La Poiate, was ordered, by » Written May 7th, 1726. LINCTOT AT LA POINTE. 181 presents and the promise of a missionary, to endeavour to detach the Dahkotahs from their alliance with the Foxes. At this time Linctot made arrangements for peace between the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, and sent two Frenchmen to dwell in the villages of the latter, with a promise that, if they ceased to fight the Ojib- ways, they should have regular trade, and a " black robe" reside in their country. The Ojibways, after the treaty, came down to Mon- treal, and were thus addressed by Longeuil,^ the gover- nor : — " I am rejoiced, my children of the Sauteurs, at the peace which Monsieur De Linctot has procured for you with the Sioux, your neighbours, and also on account of the prisoners you have restored to them. I desire him, in the letter which I now give you, my son Cabuia, for him, that he maintain this peace, and support the happy reunion which now appears to exist between the Sioux and you. I hope he will succeed in it, if you are attentive to his words, and if you follow the lights which he will show you. '" My heart is sad on account of the blows which the Foxes of Green Bay have given you, of which you have just spoken, and of which the commandant has written in his letter. It appears to me that Heaven has revenged you for your losses, since it has given you the flesh of a young Fox to eat. You have done well to listen to the words of your commandant to keep quiet, and respect the words of your Father. ' " It would not have been good to embroil the whole land in order to revenge a blow struck by people with- ' The BaVon Longeuil, was Charles Le Moyne, a native of Canada. He died in 1729. 182 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. out sense or reason, who have no authority in their own villages. " I invite you by this'tobacco, my children, to remain in tranquillity in your lodges, awaiting the news of what shall be decided in the council at the bay (Green Bay), by the commandant of Mackinaw. \ " There is coming from France a new Father, who will not fail to inform you, as soon as he shall be able to take , measures and stop the bad affair which the Foxes wish to cause in future. " And to convince you, my children, of the interest I take in your loss, here are two blankets, two shirts, and two pairs of leggings, to cover the bodies of those of your children who have been killed, and to stop the blood which has been spilled upon your mats. I add to this, four shirts to staunch the wounds of those who have been hurt in this miserable affray, with a package of tobacco to comfort the minds of your young men, and also to cause them to think hereafter of good things, and wholly to forget bad ones. " This is what I exhort you all, my children, while waiting for news from your new Father, and also to be always attentive to the words of the French command- ant, who now smokes his pipe in security among you." The Foxes again proved faithless, having received belts from the English, and determined to attack the French. The authorities at Quebec now determined to send a regular army into their country. Their prepara- tions were kept secret; for, says Beauharnois, "they already had an assurance of a passage into the country of the Sioux of the Prairies, their allies, in such a man- ner, that if they had known of our design of making war, it would have been easy to have withdrawn in FBENCH RE-ESTABLISHED AT LAKE PEPIN. 183 that directiou, before we could block up tbe way and attack tbem in tbeir towns." To hem in the Fox nation as much as possible, it was determined to build a fort on the point of laiid that juts into Lake Pepin, in sight of Maiden's Eock, and traders and missionaries resolved to accompany the expedition. On April 20, 1727, the Governor of Canada wrote to France, that the Fathers appointed for the projected Sioux mission desired a case of mathe- matical instruments, a universal astronomic dial, a spirit- level, chain and stakes, and a telescope of six or seven feet tube. On the 16th of June the party left Montreal under the command of De la Perriere Boucher, the officer who gained an unenviable notoriety as the leader of the brutal savages who sacked Haverhill, Massachusetts, a few years before, and exultingly killed the Puritan minister of the town, scalped his loving wife, and then dashed out her infant's brains against the rocks. On the 17th of September, Lake Pepin was reached. The stockade when completed was one hundred feet square, within which were three buildings, one, thirty by sixteen feet, one, thirty-eight by sixteen, and the last, twenty-five by sixteen feet in dimensions. There were also two bastions, and the whole was surrounded by twelve-foot pickets. The fort, in compliment to the Governor of Canada, was called " Beauharnois," and the mission was known as that of "St. Michael the Archangel." Guignas writes, " On the morning of the 4th of November [1727] we did not forget it was the general's birthday. Mass was said for him in the morning, and they were well disposed to celebrate in the evening, but * Appendix H 184 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the tardiness of the pyrotechnist caused them to post- pone the celebration to the 14th, when they set off some very fine rockets, and made the air ring with a hundred shouts: 'Vive le Roy,' and 'Vive Charles de Beau- harnois.' . . . ' . What contributed much to the amuse- ment was the terror of some lodges of Indians who were at that time around the fort. When these poor people saw the fireworks in the air, and the stars fall down from heaven, the women and children began to fly, and the most courageous of the men to cry for mercy and implore us very earnestly to stop the surprising display of that wonderful medicine." The spring of 1728 was remarkable for floods, and the water covered the floors of the fort. Early in the season the traders and Father Guignas were obliged to leave on accouiji of the hostility of the Foxes. This year the Governor of Canada wrote to France relative to the reinforcement of the post on Lake Pepin as follows: "The Foxes will, in all proba- bility, come or send next year to sue for peace; therefore, if it be granted to them on advanta- geous conditions, there need be no apprehension when going to the Scioux, and another company could be formed, less numerous than the first, through whom, or some responsible merchants able to afford the outfits, a - new treaty could be,, made whereby these difiiculties would be soon obviated. One olily trouble remains, and that is, to send a commanding and sub-officer, and some soldiers up there, which are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of good order at that post ; the mission- aries would not go there without a commandant. This -article, which regards the service, and the expense of * Appendix I DE LIGNERY'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE FOXES. 185 which must be on his majesty's account, obliges them to apply for orders. They will, as far as lies in theii power, induce the traders to meet that expense, which will possibly amount to 1000 livres or 1500 livres a year for the commandant, and in proportion for the officer under him ; but, as in the beginning of an establishment the expenses exceed the profits, it is improbable that any company of merchants will assume the outlay, and in this case they demand orders on this point, as well as his majesty's opinion as to the necessity of preservini so useful a post, and a nation which has already affiarde proofs of its fideUty and attachment. "These orders could be sent them by way of I'' . Koyale, or by the first merchantmen that will sail fi r Quebec. The time required to receive intelligence of the occurrences in the Scioux country, will admit of their waiting for these orders before doing anything." On the fifth of June, 1728, an army of four hundred Frenchmen and ^ght or nine hundred savages, em- barked at Montreal, on an expedition to destroy the Fox nation and their allies, the Sauks. De Lignery' was the head of the expedition — a man like Braddock at Fort Duquesne, who moved his army with precision and pomp, as if the savages were accustomed to fight in platoons, and observe the laws of war, recognised by all civiUzed nations. On the seventeenth of August, in the dead of night, the army arrived at the post at the mouth of Fox river. Before dawn the French crossed over to the Sauk vil- lage, but all had escaped with the exception of four. Ascending the stream on the twenty-fourth, they came ' Taught by experience, he afterwards became an able officer in the French war. 186 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. to a Winnebago village which was also deserted. Pass- ing over the Little Fox Lake, on the twenty-fifth, they entered a small river leading to marshy ground, on the borders of which there was a large Fox village. Here again was another disappointment, for the swift-footed savages had gone many miles on their trail long before the army came in sight. Orders were then given to advance upon the last stronghold of the enemy, near the portage of the Wis- consin, and on their arrival they found all as still as the desert. On the return of the army from this fruit- less expedition, the Lidian villages on the line of march were devastated, and the fort at Green Bay abandoned. The Foxes, having abandoned everything, retired to the country of the loways and Dahkotahs, and probably at this time they pitched their tents and himted in the valley of the Sauk river in Minnesota. During the year of this badly managed expedition. Father Guignas visited the Dahkotahs, and would have remained there if there had not been hostility between the Foxes and French. While travelling to the Illinois jountry he fell into the hands of the Kickapoos and Mascoutens, allies of the Foxes, in the month of October. He was saved from being burned to death by an aged man adopting him as a son. For five months he was in captivity. In the year iVSB, while St. Pierre was the commander at Lake Pepin, Father Guignas was also there, and thought that the Dahkotahs were very friendly. About the period of the revival of the post on Lake Pepin, an establishment was built on Lake Ouinipigon west of Lake Superior. *Apendix J VERANDERIE'S TOUR TOWARDS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 187 Veranderie, a French officer, was, at this early date, commissioned to open a northern route to the Pacific. Proceeding westward from the Grand Portage of Lake Superior, he followed the chain of lakes which form tt& boundary line of Minnesota and British America, to Lake Winnipeg. Ascending the Assiniboine, he struck out on the plains, and for several days journeyed towards the Eocky Mountains. Kalm, the Swedish traveller, who saw him in Canada, says that he found on the prairies of Rupert's Land, pillars of stone. At one place, nine hundred leagues from Montreal, he discovered a stone with characters i;ascribed, which the learned at Paris, where it was sent, supposed were Tartarean ; but probably it was a pictograph set up by some passing war or hunting party.^ ^ Stone heaps are seen on the prai- ries of Minnesota. Having written to a gentleman some years ago, to in- quire of the Dahkotahs " what mean ye by these stones ?" I received an interesting reply : — Dear Sir: Your letter of the third instant, relating to the stone heaps near Ked Wing, was duly received. I am happy to comply with your request, hoping that it may lead to an accurate survey of these mounds. In 1848 1 first heard of stone heaps on the hill-tops, back of Eed Wing. But business, and the natural suspi- cion of the Indian, prevented me from exploring. The treaty of Men- dota emboldened me to visit the hills, and try to find the stone heaps. Accordingly, late last autumn, I started on foot and alone from Red Wing, following the path marked P. on the map, which I herewith trans- mit. I left the path after crossing the second stream, and turning to the left, I ascended the first hill that I reached. This is about a mile- distant from the path that leads from Fort Snelling to Lake Pepin. Here, on the brow of the hill, which was about two hundred feet high, was a heap of stones. It is about twelve feet in diameter and six in height. The perfect confusion of the stones and yet the entireness of the heap,, and the denuded rocks all around, convinced me that the heap had been formed from stones lying around, picked up by the hand of man. But why and when it had been done, were questions not so easily decided. For solving these I re- solved to seek internal evidence. Prompted by the spirit of a first explorer, I soon ascended the heap ;. and the coldness of the day, and thfr 188 HISTOEY OF MINNESOTA. He established some six commercial posts on the line of his route, some of which are in existence to this day, and bear the same names. His journey was ended by difficulties with the Indi- ans, and he was obliged to return. The Dahkotahs were suspected of having molested this expedition. The king of France, writing to the proximity of my gun, tended to sup- press my dread of rattlesnakes. The stones were such tliat I could lift, or roll them, and soon reached a stick about two feet from the top of the heap . After descending about a foot further, I pulled the post out ; and about the same place found a shank bone, about five inches long. The post was red cedar half decayed, I. e. one side, and rotted to a point in the ground; hence I oould not tell whether it grew there or not. The bone is similar to the two which you have. I left it apd the post on the heap, hoping that some one better skilled in osteology might visit the heap. The stones of the heap are magnesian limestone, which forms the upper stratum of the hills about Red Wing. Much pleaseji, I started over the hill top, and was soon greeted by an- other silent monument of art. This heap is marked B. on the map. It is similar to the first which is marked A., only it is larger, and was so co- vered with a vine, that I had no suc- cess in opening it. From this point there is a fine view southward. The valleys and hills are delightful. Such hills and vales, such cairns and bushy glens, would, in my father's land.have been the thrones and playgrounds of fairies. But I must stick to facts. I now started eastward to visit a coni- cal appearing hill, distant about a mile and a half. I easily descended the hill, but to cross the plain and ascend another hill," hie labor est." But I was amply repaid. The hill proved to be a ridge with several stone heaps on the summit. Near one heap there is a beautiful little tree with a top like " Tam O'Shanter's" bonnet. In these heaps I found the bones which I left with you. I discovered «aoh about half-way down the heaps. I then descended northward about two hundred feet, crossed a valley, passed some earth mounds, and as- cended another hill, and there found several more stone heaps similar to the others. In them I found no bones, nor did I see anything else worthy of particular notice at pre- sent. If these facts should, in any mea- sure, help to preserve correct infor- mation concerning any part lof this new country, I shall be amply re- warded for writing. Your obedient servant, J. F. AiToif. Kaposia, Jan. 17, 1852. €AETE MS NOUVittf § M^OyVlRTlS drejse'esur [es Me'moirekt deM^Del'Me , T^ro/essmr a/'j^cademie. Aowale de-r Jciencej' J'ar .Bi^^ji/u^ BuacAe. /750. Brawn frpm ib Oru/iinaZ iy Ji. Orm^iy Sa-ee/iy . FINAL ATTACK ON THE FOXES. 1H9 governor of Canada, under date of May tenth, 1737, says : — " As respects the Scioux, according to what the com- mandant^ and missionary'' have written to Sieur de Beauharnois, relative to the disposition of these Indians, nothing appears to be wanting on that point. But their delay in coming down to Montreal since the time they promised to do so, must render their sentiments some- what suspected, and nothing but facts can determine whether their fidelity can be absolutely relied on. But what must still further increase the uneasiness to be entertained in their regard, is the attack on the convoy of M. de la Veranderie." The Foxes having killed some Frenchmen in the Illinois country, in 1741, the governor of Canada, Mar- quis de Beauharnois, assembled at his house, some of the most experienced officers in the Indian service, the Baron de Longeuil, La Come, De Lignery, and others, and it was unanimously agreed, that the welfare of the French demanded the complete extermination of the Foxes, and Ijhat the movements against them should be conducted with the greatest caution. Louis XV. was glad to hear of the determination of the governor of Canada, but he was afraid that it would not be conducted with sufficient secrecy. He, with great discernment, remarks, " If they foresee their inability to resist, they will have adopted the policy of retreating to the Scioux of the Prairies, from which point they will cause more disorder, in the colony, than if they had been allowed to remain quiet in their village." The officer in charge of tho incursion, was Moran,' » Saint Pierre. * Guignas. ' Probably Sieur Marin, of the French Documents. 190 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. who once had charge of the post St. Nicholas near the mouth of the Wisconsin, on the Mississippi. His strategy was not unlike that of the besiegers of ancient Troy. At that time the Fox tribe lived at the Little Butte des Morts, on the Fox river of Wisconsin. When- ever a trader's canoe hove in sight, they lighted a torch upon the bank, which was a signal for Frenchmen to land, and pay for the privilege of using the stream. Moran having placed his men in canoes, with their guns primed, had each canoe covered with canvas, as if he was bringing into the country an outfit of mer- chandise, and desired to protect it from storms. When near Little Butte des Morts the party was divided, a portion proceeding by land to the rear of the Fox vil- lage, and the remainder moving up the stream. The oarsmen having paddled the canoes within view of the Foxes, they, accordiag to custom, planted the torch, supposing it was a trader's " brigade."' Curiosity brought men, women, and children to the river's bank, and as they gazed, the canoes were suddenly uncovered, and the discharge of a swivel, and volleys of musketry, were the presents received. Before they -could recover from their consternation, they received " a fire in the rear" from the land party, and many were killed. The remnant retreated to the Wisconsin, twenty-one miles from Prairie du Chien, where, the next season Moran and his troops, on snow shoes, sur- prised them while they were engaged in a game, and slew nearly the whole settlement. =* During the winter of 1745-6, De Lusignan visited ' In the North-West a, collect on Recollections. Vol. iii., Wis. His. of traders' canoes is called a brigi-Je. Sac. Col. " Siielling's North-West, Grignon's LUSIGN AN, VISITS THE DAHKOTAHS. 191 the Dahkotahs, ordered by government to hunt up the *' coureurs des bois," and withdraw them from the country. They started to return with him, but learn- ing that they would be arrested at Mackinaw, for viola- tion of law, they ran away. While at the villages of the Dahkotahs of the lakes and plains, the chiefs brought to this officer nineteen of their young men, bound with cords, who had killed three Frenchmen at the niitiois. While he remained with them they made peace with the Gjibways of La Pdinte, with whom they had been at war for some time. On his return, four chiefs accompanied him to Montreal, to solicit pardon for their young braves. The lessees of the trading post lost many of their peltries that winter, in consequence of a fire. English influence produced increasing dissatisfaction among the Indians that were beyond Mackinaw. Not only were voyageurs robbed and maltreated at Sault St. Marie, and other points on L,ake Superior, but even the •commandant at Mackinaw was exposed to insolence, and there was no security anywhere. The Marquis de Beauharnois determined to send St. Pierre to the scene of disorder. In the language of a document of the day, he was "a very good officer, much esteemed amon^ all the nations of those parts — ^none more loved and feared." On his arrival, the savages were so cross, that he a,dvised that no Frenchman should come to trade. By promptness and boldness, he secured the Indians who had murdered some Frenchmen, and obtained the respect of the tribes. While the three murderers were being conveyed in a canoe down the St. Lawrence to Quebec, in charge of a 192 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. sergeant and seven soldiers, the savages, with character- istic cunning, though manacled, succeeded in killing or drowning the guard. Cutting their irons with an axe, they sought the woods, and escaped to their own country. " Thus," writes Galassoniere, in 1748, to Count Mau- repas, " was lost in a great measure the fruit of Sieur St. Pierre's good management, and of all the fatigue I endured to get the nations who surrendered these rascals to listen to reason." INDIAN ENLISTMENT.—FRENCH WAR. 193 CHAPTER X. Canada was now fairly involved in the war with New York and the New England colonies. The Home Governments were anxious lookers on, for momentous issues depended upon the failure or success of either party. The French knew that they must enlist the Upper Indians on their side, or lose Detroit, Mackinaw, and indeed all the keys of the valley of the Mississippi, and the region of the lakes. They, therefore, sent officers with presents to Mackinaw, to induce the tribes of the far West to unite with them in expelling the English. It was impossible to form regiments of the North American savages, as the French of modern days have done ia Algeria, or as the British with the Sepoys: Indians can never be made to move in platoons. From youth they have marched in single file, and have only answered to the call of their inclinations, and over them their chiefs have not the slightest authority. To their capricious natures enlistment for a fixed time is repugnant. At the same time, under the guidance of coloiiial officers who humoured them in their whims, they frequently rendered efficient service. They were conversant with the recesses of the forest, and walked through the tangled wilderness with the same ease that 13 194 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the Frencli military ofl&cers promenaded the gardens of Paris. They discovered the trail of men with the instinct that their dogs scented the tracks of wild beasts. Adroit in an attack, they would also, amid a shower of musket balls, feel for the scalp of an enemy. "With such alUes it is no wonder that New England mothers and delicate maidens turned pale when they heard that the French were coming.* On the twenty-third of August, 1747, Philip Le Due arrived at Mackinaw from Lake Superior, stating that he had been robbed of his goods at Kamanistigoya,^ and that the Ojibways of the lake were favourably disposed toward the English. The Dahkotahs were also becoria- ing unruly in the absence of French ofl&cers. , In the few w^eks after Le Due's robbery, St. Pierre left Montreal to become commandant at Mackinaw, and Vercheres was appointed for the post at Green Bay. On the twenty-first of June of the next year, La Ronde started for La Pointe, and La Veranderie for West Sea' — ^FondduLac, Minnesota. For several years there was constant dissatisfaction among the Indians, but under the influence of Sieur Marin, who was in command at Green Bay in 1753, tranquillity was in a measure restored. ' The following are some of the Aug. 6, 40 Ottawas of the Fork, arrivals in a few weeks at Montreal, " 10, 65 MississaguesT in 1746. July 23—31 Ottawas of " " 80 Algonkins and Neprs- Detroit. sings. July 81, 16 FoUes Avoines for war. " " 14 Sauteurs. " " 14Kiskakons " " " 22, 38 Ottawas of Detroit. " " 4 Soioux, to ask for a " " 17 Sauteurs commandant. • " " 24 Hurons. Aug. 2, 50 Pottowattamiesforwar. " " 14 Poutewatamis. " " 15 Puans " " ' Pigeon river, part of northern " " 10 Illinois " " boundary of Minnesota. " 6. 50 Ottawas of Mackinaw. ' Carver's map calls it West Bay. BEADDOCK'S DEFEAT.— ST. PIERRE'S DEATH. 195 As the war between England and France, in America became desperate, the officers of the north-western posts were called into action, aild stationed nearer the enemy. Legardeur de St. Pierre, whose name some thought was formerly attached to the river from which the state of Minnesota derives its name, was in command of a rude post in Erie county, Pennsylvania, in December, 1753, and to him Washington/then just entering upon manhood, bore a letter froni Governor Diuwiddie of Virginia.^ On the iiinth of July, 1755, Beaujeu and De Lignery, Tvho had pursued so unsuccessfully the Foxes, in the v^alley of the Wisconsin, in 1728, were at Fort Duquesne, and marched out of the fort with soldiers, Canadians, and Indians, to seek an ambush, but about noon, before reaching the desired spot, they met the enemy under Braddock, who discharged a galling fire from their artil- lery, by which Beaujeu was killed. The sequel, which led to the memorable defeat of Braddock, is familiar to all who have read the life of "Washington. Under Baron Dieskaw, St. Pierre commanded the Indians, in September, 1755, during the campaign on Lake Champlain, where he fell gallantly fighting the English, as did his commander. The Reverend Claude Cocquard, alluding to the French defeat, in a letter to his brother, remarks : — " We lost, on that occasion, a brave officer, M. de St. Pierre, and had his advice, as well as that of several •other Canadian officers been followed, Jonckson^ was irretrievably destroyed, and we should have been spared the trouble we have had this year." • St. Pierre's reply was manly and dignified. See Pennsylvania Colo- nial Records, v. 715. ' Johnson. 196 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Other officers who had been stationed on the borders of Minnesota, also distinguished themselves during the French war. The Marquis Montcalm, in camp at Ticon- deroga, on the twenty-seventh of July, 1 757, writes to Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada. " Lieutenant Marin, of the Colonial troops, who has exhibited a rare audacity, did not consider himself bound to halt, although his detachment of about four hundred men was reduced to about two hundred, the balance having been sent back on account of inability to follow. He carried off a patrol of ten men, and swept away an ordinary guard of fifty, like a wafer; went up to the enemy's camp, under Fort Lydius (Edward), where he was exposed to a severe fire, and retreated like a warrior. He was unwilling to amuse himself making prisoners ; he brought in only one, and thirty-two scalps, and must have killed many men of the enemy, in the midst of whose ranks it was neither wise nor prudent to go in search of scalps. The Indians generally all behaved well. ****** The Outaouais, who arrived with me, and whom I designed to go on a acouting party towards the lake, had conceived a pro- ject of administering a corrective to the English barges. * * * * On the day before yesterday, your brother formed a detachment to accompany them. I arrived at his camp on the evening of the same day. Lieutenant de Corbiere, of Colonial troops, was returning in conse- quence of a misunderstanding, and as I knew the zeal and intelligence of that officer, I made him set out with a new instruction to rejoin Messrs. de Langlade ' and Hertel de Chantly. They remained in ambush all day ' This officer has relatives in Wis- his life is in Grrignon's Recollections, " .p'n fl,nd ar interesting sketch of Wis. Hist. Soc. Collections, vol. iii. lOWATS AT TICONDBROGA. 197 and night yesterday; at break of day the English appeared on Lake St. Sacrament (Champlain), to the number of twenty-two barges, under the command of Sieur Parker. The whoops of our Indians impressed them with such terror that they made but feeble resist- ance, and only two barges escaped." After De Corbiere's victory on Lake Champlain, a large French army was collected at Ticonderoga, with which there were many Lidians from the tribes of the North-west,^ and the loways appeared for the first time in the east. It is an interesting fact that the English officers who ' INDIANS OP THE UPPER COUNTST. OFFICERS. Tetes de Boule 3 Oataouais Kiskakons 94 De Langlade. " Sinagos 35 Florimont. " of the Forks 70 Herbin. ' " of Mignogan 10 Abbe Matavet. " of Beaver Island 44 - Sulpitian. " of Detroit 30 " of Saginau 54 Sauteors of Chagoamigon 83 La Plante. " of Beaver 23 De Lorimer. " of Coasekimagen 14 Chesne, Interpreter. " of the Carp 37 ofCabibonkfe 50 Foutouatamis of St. Joseph 70 of Detroit 18 FoUes Avoines of Orignal 62 " of the Chat 67 Miamis !> Puans of the Bay 48 De Tailly, Interpreter Ayeouais (loways) 10 Foxes 20 Marin, Lingus. Ouillas 10 Eeaume, Interpreter. Sacs 33 Loups 5 198 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. were in frequent engagements with St. Pierre, Lusignan^ Marin, Langlade, and others, became the pioneers of the British, a few years afterwards, in the occupation of the outposts on the Lakes, and in the exploration of Minne- sota. Rogers, the celebrated captain of rangers, subse- quently commander of Mackinaw, and Jonathan Carver, the first British explorer of Minnesota, were both on duty at Lake Champlain — the latter narrowly escaping at the battle of Fort George. On Christmas eve, 1757, Rogers approached Fort Ticonderoga, to fire the out-houses, but was prevented by discharge of the cannons of the French. He contented himself with killing fifteen beeves, on the horns of one of which he. left a laponic and amusing note, addressed to the commander of the post.^ On the thirteenth of March, 1758, Durantaye, for- merly at Mackinaw, had a skirmish with Rogers. Both had been trained on the frontier, and they met "as Greek met Greek." The conflict was fierce, and the French victorious. The Lidian allies, finding a scalp of a chief underneath an oflScer's jacket, were furious, and took one hundred and fourteen scalps in return. When the French returned, they supposed that Captain Rogers was g,mong the killed. At Quebec, when Montcalm and Wolfe fell, there were Ojibways present, assisting the French. The Indians, returning from the expeditions against * " I am obliged to you, Sir, for the my compliments to the Marquis dii repose you have allowed me to take ; Montcalm. Rogers, Commandant 1 thank you for the fresh meat you Independent Companies." have sent me, I request vou to present ENGLISH AT GREEN BAY.— DAHKOTAH EMBASSY. 199 the English were attacked with small-pox, and many died at Mackinaw. On the eighth of September, 1760, the French de- livered up all their posts in Canada. A few days after the capitulation at Montreal, Major Bogers was sent with English troops, to garrison the posts of the distant North-west. On the eighth of September, 1761, a year after the surrender, Captain Belfour, of the eightieth regiment of the British army, left Detroit, with a detachment, to take possession of the French forts at Mackinaw and Green Bay. Twenty-five soldiers were left at Macki- naw, in command of Lieutenant Leslie, and the, rest sailed to Green Bay, where they arrived on the twelfth of October. The fort had been abandoned for several years, and was in a dilapidated condition. In charge of it, there was left a lieutenant, a corporal, and fifteen soldiers. Two English traders arrived at the same time — McKay from Albany, and Goddard from Mon- treal. On the first of March, 1763, twelve Dahkotah war- riors arrived at the fort, and proffered the friendship of the nation. They told the English ofiicef , with warmth, that if the Ojibways, or other Indians, wished to obstruct the passage of the traders coming up, to send them a belt, and they would come and cut them ofi", as all Indians were their slaves or dogs. They then produced a letter written by Penneshaw, a French trader, who had been permitted, the year before, to go to their country. On the nineteenth of June, Penneshaw re turned from his trading expedition among the Dahko- tahs. By his influence the nation was favourably affected toward the English. He brought with him a 200 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. pipe from them, witli a request that traders might be sent to them.* * Extracts from the journal of Lt. Goi-ell, an English officer at Green Bay, Wis. His. Coll. vol. i. " On March 1, 1763, twelve war- riors of the Sous came here. It is certainly the greatest nation of Indians ever yet found. Not abote two thousand of them were ever armed with fire-arms, the rest de- pending entirely on bows and arrows, which they use with more skill than any other Indian nation in America. They can shoot the wildest and largest beasts in the woods at seventy or one hundred yards distant. They are remarkable for their dancing, and the other nations take the fashions from them. * * * * This nation is always at war with the Chippewas, those who destroyed Mishamakinak. They told me with warmth that if ever the Chippewas or any other Indians wished to ob- struct the passage of the traders coming up, to send them word, and they would come and cut them off from the face of the earth, as all Indians were their slaves or dogs. I told them I was glad to see them, and hoped to have a lasting peace with them. They then gave me a letter wrote in French, and two belts of wampum from their king, in which he expressed great joy on hearing of there being English at hispost. The letter was written by a French tra- der, whom I had allowed to go among them last fall, with a promise of his behaving well, which he did, better than any Canadian I ever knew. * * * * With regard to traders, I told them I would not allow any to go amongst them, as I then understood they lay out of the government of Canada, but made no doubt they would have traders from the Missis- sippi in the spring. They went away extremely well pleased. 'June 14th, 1763, the traders came down from the Sack country, and confirmed the news of Landsing and his son being killed by the French. There came with the traders some Puans and four young men, with one chief of the Avoy (loway) nation to de- mand traders.' * * * * "On the nineteenth, a deputation of Winnebagoes, Sacs, Foxes, and Me- nominees arrived with a Frenchman named Pennensha. This Pennen- sha is the same man who wrote the letter the Sous brought with them in French, and at the same time held council with that great nation in favour of the English, by which he much promoted the interest of the latter, as appeared by the behaviour of the Sous. He brought with him a pipe from the Sous, desiring that as the road is now clear, they would by no means allow the Chippewas to obstruct it, or give the English any disturbance, or prevent the traders from coming up to them. If they did so they would send all their warriors and cut them off." NO ENGLISH POSTS BEYOND MACKINAW. 201 CHAPTER XL Though the treaty of 1763, made at Versailles, be- tween France and England, ceded all the territory comprised within- the limits of Wisconsin and Minne- sota to the latter power, the English did not for a long time obtain a foothold. The French traders having purchased wives from the Indian tribes, they managed to preserve a feeling of friendship towards their king, long after the trading posts at Green Bay and Sault St. Marie had been dis- continued. The .price paid for peltries by those engaged in the fur trade at New Orleans, was also higher than that which the British could afford to give, so that the Indians sought for French goods in exchange for their skins. Finding it useless to compete with the Freilch of the lower Mississippi, the English government established no posts of trade or defence beyond Mackinaw. The country west of Lake Michigan appears to have been trodden by but few British subjects, previous to him who forms the subject of the present chapter, and whose name has become somewhat famous in consequence of his heirs having laid claim to the site of St. Paul, and many miles adjacent. 5i02 HISTORY OP MimiESOTA. Jonathan Carver was a native of Connecticut. It hai* been asserted that he was a lineal descendant of John Carver, the first governor of Plymouth colony ; but the only definite information that the writer can obtain concerning his ancestry is, that his grandfather, William Carver, was a native of Wigan, Lancashire, England, and a captain in King William's army during the cam- paign in Ireland, and for meritorious services received an appointment as an officer of the colony of Connecticut. His father was a justice of the peace in the new world, and in 1732, at Stillwater, or Canterbury, Connecticut, the subject of this sketch was bom. At the early age of fifteen he was called to mourn the death of his father. He then commenced the study of medicine, but his roving disposition could not bear the confines of a doctor's office, and feeling, perhaps, that his genius would be cramped by pestle and mortar, at the age of eighteen he purchased an ensign's commission in one of the regiments Connecticut raised during the French war. He was of medium stature, and of strong mind and quick perceptions. In the year 1757, he was present a,t the massacre of Fort William Henry, and narrowly escaped with his hfe. After the peace of 1763, between France and Eng- land, was declared. Carver conceived the project of ex- ploring the North-west. Leaving Boston in the month of June, 1766, he arrived at Mackinaw, then the most distant British post, in the month of August. Having obtained a credit on some French and English traders from Major Rogers, the officer in command, he started with them on the third day of September. ~ Pursuing the usual route to Green Bay, they arrived there on the eighteenth. CARVER'S DESCRIPTION OP PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 2,03; The French fort at that time was standing, though much decayed. It was, some years previous to his arrival, garrisoned for a short time by an officer and thirty English soldiers, but they having been captured by the Menominees, it was abandoned. In company with the traders he left Green Bay oni the twentieth, and ascending Fox river, arrived on the twenty-fifth at an island at the east end of Lake Win- nebago, containing about fifty acres. Here he found a Winnebago village of fifty houses. He asserts that a woman was in authority. In the month of October the party was at the portage of the Wisconsin, and descending that stream, they arrived,. on the ninth, at a town of the Sauks. While here he visited some lead mines about fifteen miles distant.. An abundance of lead was also seen in the village, that had been brought from the mines. On the tenth they arrived at the first village of the " Ottigaumies" (Foxes), and about five miles before the- Wisconsin joins the Mississippi, he perceived the rem- nants of another village, and learned that it had been deserted about thirty years before, and that the inhabit- ants, soon after their removal, built a town on the Mis- sissippi, near the mouth of the " Ouigconsin," at a place called by the French La Prairie les Chiens, which signified the Dog Plains. It was a large town, and contained about three hundred families. The houses were built after the Indian manner, and pleasantly situated on a dry rich soil. He saw here many horses of a good size and shape. This town was the great mart where all the adjacent tribes, and where those who inhabit the most remote- branches of the Mississippi, annually assemble about 204 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the latter end of May, bringing with them their furs to dispose of to the traders. But it is not always that they conclude their sale here. This was determined by a general council of the chiefs, who consulted whether it would be more conducive to their interest to sell their goods at this place, or to carry them on to Louisiana or Mackuiaw. At a small stream called Yellow river, opposite Prairie du Chien, the traders who had thus far accompanied Carver took up their residence for the winter. From this point he proceeded in a canoe, with a " Canadian voyageur and a Mohawk Indian, as com- panions. , Just before reaching Lake Pepin, while his attend- ants were one day preparing dinner, he walked out and was struck with the peculiar appearance of the surface of the country, and thought it was the site of some vast artificial earth-work. It is a fact, worthy of remembrance, that he was the first to call the attention of the civilized world to the existence of ancient monuments in the Mississippi valley. We give his own description : — " On the first of November I reached Lake Pepin, a few miles below which I landed, and, whilst the ser- vants were preparing my dinner, I ascended the bank to view the country. I had not proceeded far before I came to a fine, level, open plain, on which I perceived, at a little distance, a partial elevation, that had the appearance of entrenchment. On a nearer inspection, I had greater reason to suppose that it had really been intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it was now covered with grass, I could plainly see that it had once been a breast-work of about four feet in SUPPOSED EARTH WORKS NEAR LAKE PEPIN. 205 height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five thousand men. Its form was somewhat circular, and its flanks reached to the river. " Though much defaced by time, every, angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular and fashioned with as much military skill as if planned by Vauban himself. The ditch was not visible ; but I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there certainly had been one. From its situation, also, I am convinced that it must have been designed for that purpose. It fronted the country, and the rear was covered by the river, nor was there any rising ground for a considerable way that commanded it; a few straggling lakes were alone to be seen near it. In many places small tracks were worn across it by the feet of the elks or deer, and from the depth of the bed of earth, by which it was covered, I was able to draw certain conclusions of its great antiquity. I examined all the angles, and every part with great attention, and have often blamed myself since, for not encamping on the spot, and drawing an exact plan of it. To show that this description is not the offspring of a heated imagination, or the chimerical tale of a mistaken travel- ler, I find, on inquiry, since my return, that Mons. St. Pierre and several traders have, at different times, taken notice of similar appearances, upon which they have formed the same conjectures, but without exa- mining them so minutely as I did. How a work of this kind could exist in a country that has hitherto (according to the generally received opinion) been the seat of war to untutored Indians alone, whose whole stock of military knowledge has only, till within two centuries, amounted to drawing the bow, and whose 206 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. ■only breastwork, even at present, is the thicket, I know not. I have given as exact an account as possible of this singular appearance, and leave to future explorers, of those distant regions, to discover whether it is a pro- duction of nature or art. Perhaps the hints I have here given, might lead to a more perfect investigation of it, and give us very different ideas of the ancient state of realms, that we at present believe to have been, from the earliest period, only the habitations of savages." Lake Pepin excited his admiration, as it has that of ■every traveller since his day, and here he remarks : " I ■observed the ruins of a French factory, where it is said Captain St. Pierre resided, and carried on a very great trade with the Naudowessies, before the reduction of •Canada." Carver's first acquaintance with the Dahkotahs com- menced near the river St. Croix. It would seem that the erection of trading posts on Lake Pepin had enticed them from their old residence on Rum river and Mille Lac. He says : " Near the river St. Croix, reside bands of the Naudowessie Indians, called the River Bands. This nation is composed at present of eleven bands. They were originally twelve, but the Assinipoils, some years ago, revolting and separating themselves from the others, there remain only at this time eleven. Those I met here are termed the River Bands, because they chiefly dwell near the banks of this river; the other eight are generally distinguished by the title of Naudowessies of the Plains, and inhabit a country more to the westward. The name of the former are Nehogatawonahs, the Mawtawbauntowahs, and Shashweentowahs. CAVE AND BURIAL PLACE NEAR ST. PAUL. 207 Arriving at what is now a suburb of the capital of Minnesota, he continues, "about thirteen miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, at which I arrived the tenth day after I left Lake Pepin, is a remarkable cave of an amazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe (Wa- kan-tipi) . The entrance into it is about ten feet wide, the height of it five feet. The arch withiu is near fifteen feet high, and about thirty feet broad ; the bottom consists of fine clear sand. About thirty feet from the entrance, begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and ex- tends to an unsearchable distance, for the darkness of the •cave prevents all attempts to 'acquire a knowledge of it. I threw a small pebble towards the interior part of it with my utmost strength ; I could hear that it fell into the water, and, notwithstanding it was of a small size, it caused an astonishiiig and terrible noise, that reverbe- rated through all those gloomy regions. I found in this cave many Indian hieroglj^hics, which appeared very ancient, for time had nearly covered them with mossj so that it was with difficulty I could trace them. They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the wall, which was composed of a stone so extremely soft that it might be easily penetrated with a knife ; a stone every- where to be found near the Mississippi. " At a little distance from this dreary cavern, is the burying-place of several bands of the Naudowessie Indians. Though these people have no fixed residence, being in tents, and seldom but a few months in one spot, yet they always bring the bones of the dead to this place.^ * The cave has beeti materially and the atmosphere. Years ago the altered by nearly a centuty's work top fell in, but on the side walls, not of those effective tools, frost, water, covered by debris, pietographs gray 208 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. " Ten miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, the river St. Pierre, called by the natives Wadapaw Menesotor, falls into the Mississippi from the west. It is not men- tioned by Father Hennepin, though a large, fair riv^r. This omission, I consider, must have proceeded from a small island (Faribault's), that is situated exactly in its entrance." When he reached the Minnesota river, the ice became so troublesome that he left his canoe in the neighbour- hood of what is now the ferry, and walked to St. Anthony, in company with a young Winnebago chief, who had never seen the curling waters. The chiefs on reaching the eminence some distance below Cheever's, began to invoke his gods, and o£fer oblations to the spirit in the waters. " In the middle of the Falls stands a small island, about forty feet broad, and somewhat longer, on which grow a few cragged hemlock and spruce trees, and about half way between this island and the eastern shore, is a rock, lying at the very ed.ge of the Falls, in an oblique position, ihat appeared to be about five or six feet broad, and thirty or forty long. At a little distance below the with age, are visible. Ip 1817,. the It is now walled up and used as a present mouth of the cave was so roofc-house by the owner of the land, covered up, that Major Long, to use On the bluff above are numerous a vulgarism, was obliged to " creep mounds. Under the supervision of on all fours" to entfer. In 1820, it the writer, one eighteen feet high and seems to have been closed, as School- two hundred and sixty feet in cir- craft describes another cave three cumference at the base, was opened miles above, as Carver's. Feathers- to the depth of three or four feet, tonhaugh made the same mistake. Fragments of skull, which crumbled In 1837 Nicollet the astronomer on exposure, and perfect shells of and his assistants, worked many human teeth, the interior entirely hours and entered the little cavity decayed, were found, that remained. FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY IN 1766. 209 Falls, stands a small island of about an acre and a half, on which grow a great number of oak trees." From this description, it would appear that the little island, now some distance in front of the Falls, was once in the very midst, and shows that a constant recession has been going on, and that in ages long past, they were not far from the Minnesota river. A century hence, if the wearing of the last five years is any criterion, the Falls will be above the town of St. Anthony. No description is more glowing than Carver's, of the country adjacent : — " The country around them is extremely beautiful. It is not an uninterrupted plain, where the eye finds no relief, but composed of many gentle ascents, which in the summer are covered with the finest verdure, and interspersed with little groves that give a pleasing variety to the prospect. On the whole, when the Falls are included, which may be seen at the distance of four miles, a more pleasing and picturesque view I believe cannot be found throughout the universe." He arrived at the Falls on ihe seventeenth of Novem- ber, 1766, and appears to have ascended as far as Elk river. On the twenty-fifth of November, he had returned to the place opposite the Minnesota, where he had left his canoe, and this stream as yet not being obstructed with ice, he commenced its ascent, with the colours of Great Britain fljdng at the stem of his canoe. There is no doubt that he entered this river, but how far he explored it cannot be ascertained. He speaks of the Rapids near Shokopay, and asserts that he went as far as two hundred miles beyond Mendota. He remarks : — " On the seventh of December, I arrived at the utmost 14 210 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. extent of my travels towards the West, where I met a large party of the Naudowessie Indians; among whom I resided some months." After speaking of the upper bands of the Dahkotahs ■and their allies, he adds that he " left the habitations of the hospital^le Indians the latter end of April, 1767, but did not part from them for several days, as I was accompanied on my journey by near three hundred of them to the mouth of the river St. Pierre. At this season these bands annually go to the great cave (Day- ton's Bluff), before mentioned." When he arrived at the great cave, and the Indians had deposited the remains of their deceased friends in the burial-place that stands adjacent to it, they held their great council, to which he was admitted. When the Naudowessies brought their dead for inter- ment to the great cave (St. Paul), I attempted to get an insight into the remaining burial rites, but whether it was on account of the stench which arose from so many bodies, or whether they chose to keep this part of then- custom secret from me, I could not discover. I found, however, that they considered my curiosity as ill-timed, and therefore I withdrew. * * * One formality among the Naudowessies in mourning for the dead, is very different from any mode I observed in the other nations through which I passed. The men, to show how great their sorrow is, pierce the flesh of their arms above the elbows with arrows, and the women cut and gash their legs with sharp broken flints tni the blood flows very plentifully. * * * * * * h= After the breath . is departed, the body is dressed in the same attire it usually wore, his face is painted, and he is seated in an erect posture on a mat or skin, placed ALLEGED BURIAL SPEECH AT ST. PAUL. 211 an the middle of the hut, with his yreapons by his side. His relatives seated aroundj each harangues in turn the ■depeased ; and, if he has been a great, warrior, recounts ' his heroic actions nearly to the following purport, which in the Indian language is extremely poetical and pleas- ing:— " You still sit among us, brother, your person retains its usual resemblance, and continues similar to ours, without any visible deficiency, except it has lost the power of action! But whither is that breath flown, which a few hours ago sent up smoke to the Great •Spirit ? Why are those lips silent that lately delivered i» us expressions and pleasing language? Why are those ieet motionless that a short time ago were fleeter than the deer on yonder mountains? Why useless hang those arms that could climb the tallest tree, or •draw the toughest bow ? Alas ! every part of that frame which we lately beheld with admiration and wonder, is now become as inanimate as it was three hundred years ago ! We will not, however, bemoan thee as if thou wast for ever lost to us, or that thy name would be buried in oblivion — thy soul yet lives in the great country of Spirits with those of thy nation that have gone before thee; and, though we are left behind to perpetuate thy fame, we shall one day join thee. " Actuated by the respect we bore thee whilst living, we now come to tender thee the last act of kindness in our power; that thy body might not lie neglected on the plain and become a prey to the beasts of the field or fowls of the air, we will take care to lay it with those of thy predecessors who have gone before thee ; hoping at the same time that thy spirit will feed with their 212 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. spirits and be ready to receive ours when we shall also arrive at the great country of souls." For this speech Carver is principally indebted to his imagination, but it is well conceived, and suggested one of Schiller's poems.' It appears from other sources that Carver's visit to the Dahkotahs was of some effect in bringing about friendly intercourse between them and the commander of the English force at Mackinaw. The earliest mention of the Dahkotahs, in any public British documents that we know of, is in the correspond- ence between Sir Wilham Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Colony of New York, and General Gage, in command of the forces. On the eleventh of September, less than six months after Carver's speech at Dayton's Bluff, and the de- parture of a number of chiefs to the English fort at Mackinaw, Johnson writes to General Gage : — " Though I wrote to you some days ago, yet I would not mind saying something again on the score of the vast expenses incurred, and, as I understand, still incurring at Michi- limackinac, chiefly on pretence of making a peace between the Sioux and Chippeweighs, with which I think we have very little to do, in good policy or other- wise." Sir William Johnson, in a letter to Lord Hillsborough, , one of his Majesty's ministers, dated August seventeenth, 1768, again refers to the subject: — " Much greater part of those who go a trading are men of such circumstances and disposition as to venture their persons everywhere for extravagant gains, yet the ' For translations of Schiller, see Chapter III. p. 89. PROPOSED PACIFIC ROAD 213 consequences to the public are not to be slighted, as we may be led into a general quarrel through their means. The Indians in the part adjacent to Michilimackinac have been treated with at a very great expense for some time previous. " Major Eodgers brings a considerable charge against the former for mediating a peace between some tribes of the Sioux and some of the Chippeweighs, which, had it been attended with success, would only have been interesting to a very few French, and others, that had goods in that part of the Indian country, but the con- trary has happened, and they are now more violent, ^nd war against one another." Though a wilderness of over one thousand miles inter- vened between the Falls of St. Anthony and the white settlements of the English, Carver was impressed with the idea that the state now organized under the name of Minnesota, on account of its beauty and fertility, would attract settlers. Speaking of the advantages of the country, he says that the future population will be " able to convey their produce to the seaports with great facility, the current of the river from its source to its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico, being extremely favourable for doing this in small craft. This might also in time he foucilitated hy canals or shorter cuts, and a communication opened hy water with New York, hy way of the Lakes." The subject of this sketch was also confident that a route could be discovered by way of the Minnesota river, which " would open a passage for conveying intelligence to China, and the English settlements in the East Indies." Carver, having returned to England, interested Whit- 214 HISTOKT OF MINNESOTA. ■worth, a member bf Parliament, in the Northern route. Had not the American Revolution commenced, they proposed to have built a fort at Lake Pepiuj to hS,ve proceeded uj) the Minnesota, until they found, as they supposed they could, a branch of the Missouri, and from thence joumejdiig over the summit of lands, until they came to a river which they called Oregon, they expected to descend to the Pacific. Carver, in common with otheV travellers, had his theory in relation to the origin of the Dahkotahs. He supposed that they came from Asia. He remarks, " But this might have been at dififerent times and from various parts — ^from Tartary, China, Japan, for the inha- bitants of these places resemble each other. * * * * " It is very evident that some of the names and cus- toms of the American Indians resemble those of the Tartars, and I make no doubt but that in some future era, and this not very distant, it will be reduced to certainty that during some of the wars between the Tartars and the Chinese, a part of the inhabitants of the northern provinces were driven from their native country, and took refuge in some of the isles before mentioned, and from thence found their way into Ame- " Many words are used both by the Chinese and In- dians which have a resemblance to each other, not only in their sound but in their signification. The Chinese call a slave Shungo; and the Naudowessie Indians, whose language, from their little intercourse with the Europeans, is least corrupted, term a dog Shungush (Shoankah). The former denominate our species of their tea Shoushong ; the latter call their tobacco Shous- as-sau (Chanshasha) . Many other of the words used EXAMINATION OF THE CARVEE CLAIM. ' 215 by the Indians coMain the syllables che, chaw, and chu, after the dialect of the Chinese." The comparison of languages has become a rich source of historical know- ledge, yet very many of the analogies traced are fanciful. The remark of Humboldt in " Cosmos" is worthy of re- membrance :^" As the structure of American idioms appears remarkably strange to nations speaking the modem languages of Western Europe, and who readily suffer themselves to be led away by some accidental analogies of sound, theologians have generally be- lieved that they (30uld trace an affinity with the Hebrew, Spanish colonists with the Basque and the English, or French settlers with Gaelic, Erse, or the Bas Breton. I one day met on the coast of Peru, a Spanish naval officer and an English whaling captain, the former of whom declared that he had heard Basque spoken at Tahiti; the other, Gaelic or Erse at the Sandwich Islands.' " Carver became very poor while in England, and was a clerk ia a lottery office. He died in 1780, and left a widow, two sons, and five daughters, in New England, and also a child by another wife that he had married iu Great Britain. After his death a claim was urged for the land upon which the capital of Minnesota now stands, and for many miles adjacent. As there are still many persons who believe that they have some right through certain deeds purporting to be from the heirs of Carver, it is a matter worthy of an investigation. Carver says nothing in his book of travels in relation to a grant from the Dahkotahs, but after he was buried, it was asserted that there was a deed belonging to him in existence, conveying valuable lands, and that said 216 . HISTOIIY OF MINNESOTA. deed was executed at the cave now in the eastern suburbs of Saint Paul.' The original deed was never exhibited by the assignees of the heirs. By his English wife Carver had one child, a daughter Martha, who was cared for by Sir Richard and Lady Pearson. In time she eloped and married a sailor. A mercantile firm in London, thinking that money could be made, induced the newly married couple, the day after the wedding, to convey the grant to them, with the understanding that they were to have a tenth of the profits. The merchants despatched an agent by the name of Clarke to go to the Dahkotahs, and obtain a new deed ; but on his way he was murdered in the State of New York. ' Deed prBPORTiNG to have been GIVEN AT THE CAVE IN THE BLUIT BELOW St. Paul. " To Jonathan Carver, a Chief under the most mighty and potent George the Third King of the Eng- lish, and other nations, the fame of whose warriors has reached our ears, and has now been fully told us by our gaod brother Jonathan, aforesaid, whom we rejoice to have come among us, and bring us good news from his country. "We, Chiefs of the Naudowessies, who have hereunto set our seals, do by these presents, for ourselves and heirs forever, in return for the aid and other good services done by the said Jonathan to ourselves and allies, give, grant, and convey to him, the said Jonathan, and to his heirs and assigns forever, the whole of a certain *ract of territory of land, bounded as follows, viz : from the Falls of St. Anthony, running on east bank of the Mississippi, nearly south-east, as far as Lake Pepin, where the Chippewa joins the Mississippi, and from thence eastward, five days tra- vel accounting twenty English miles per day, and from thence again to the Falls of St. Anthony, on a direct straight line. We do for ourselves, heirs, and assigns, forever give unto the said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns, with all the trees, rocks, and rivers therein, reserving the sole liberty of hunting and fishing on land not planted or improved by the said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns, to which we have affixed our respec- tive seals. "At the Great Cave, May 1st, 1767." " Signed, Hawnopawjatin. Otohtongoomlisheaw. CARVER'S CLAIM BEFORE CONGRESS. 217 In the year 1794, the heirs of Carver's American wife, in consideration of fifty thousand pounds sterhng, conveyed their interest in the Carver grant to Edward Houghton of Vermont. In the year 1806, Samuel Peters,^ who had been a tory and an Episcopal minister during the Eevolutionary war, alleges, in a petition to Congress, that he had also purchased of the heirs of Carver their rights to the grant. Before the Senate Committee, the same year, he testified as follows : — "In the year 1774, I arrived there (London), and met Captain Carver. In 1775, Carver had a hearing before the king, praying his majesty's approval of a deed of land dated May first, 1767, and sold and granted to him by the Naudowissies. The result was his majesty approved of the exertions and bravery of Captain Carver among the Indian nations, near the Falls of St. Anthony, in the Mississippi, gave to said Carver 1373Z. 13s. 8d. sterling, and ordered a frigate to be prepared, and a transport ship to carry one hundred and fifty men, under command of Captain Carver, with four others as a committee, to sail, next June to New Orleans, and then to ascend the Mississippi to take possession of said territory conveyed to Captain Carver, but the battle of Bunker Hill prevented."^ In 1821, General Leavenworth, having made inqui- ries of the Dahkotahs, in relation to the alleged claim, addressed the following to the commissioner of the land office : — ' Said to have been the author of the great-grandson of Governor John a fictitious work called " Connecticut Carver, the first Chief Magistrate of Blue Laws." Plymouth Colony. ' Peters also testified that he was 218 HISTOKY OP MINNESOTA. " Sir : — Agreeably to your request, I have the honour to inform you what I have understood from the Indians of the Sioux Nation, as well as some facts within my own knowledge, as to what is commonly termed Car- ver's Grant. The grant putports to be made by the chiefs of the Sioux of the Plains, and one of the chiefs- uses the sign of a serpen:t, and the other a turtle, pur- porting that their names are derived froni those animals. " The land lies on the east side of the Mississippi. The Indians do not recognise or acknowledge the grant to be valid, and they among othets assign the follow- ing reasons : — " 1. The Sioux of the Plains never owned a foot of land on the east side of the Mississippi. The Sioux Nation is divided into two grand divisions, viz : The Sioux of the Lake, or perhaps more literally Sioux of the River, and Sioux of the Plain. The former subsists by hunting arid fishing, and usually move from place to place by water, in canoes, during the summer season, and travel on the ice in the winter, when not on their hunting excursions. The latter subsist entirely by hunting, and have no canoes, nor do they know but little about the use of them. They reside in the large prairies west of the Mississippi, and follow the buffalo^ upon which they entirely subsist ; these are called Sioux of the Plain, and never owned land east of the Mis- sissippi. " 2. The Indians say they have no knowledge of any such chiefs, as those who have 'signed the grant to Carver, either amongst the Sioux of the River, or Sioux of thei Plain. They say that if Captain Carver did ever obtain a deed or grant, it was signed by some foolish young men who were not chiefs, and who were not LEAVENWORTH'S LETTER ON THE GRANT. 21& authorized to make a grant. Among the Sioux of the River there are no such names. "3. They say the Indians never received anything for the land, and they have no intention to part with it, without a consideration. From my knowledge of the Indians, I am induced to think they would not make so considerable a grant, and have it go into full effect, without receiving a substantial consideration. " 4. They have, and ever have had, the possession of the land, and intend to keep it. I know that they are very particular in making every person who wishes^ to cut timber on that tract, obtain their permission ta do so, and to obtain payment for it. In the month of May last, some Frenchmen brought a large raft of red cedar timber out of the Chippewa river, which timber was cut on the tract before mentioned. The Indians at one of the villages on the Mississippi, where the prin- cipal chief resided, compelled the Frenchmen to land the^raft, and would not permit them to pass until they had received pay for the timber; and the Frenchmen were compelled to leave their raft with the Indiana until they went to Prairie du Chien, and obtained the necessary articles, and made the payment required." On the twenty-third of January, 1823, the Committee of Public Lands made a report on the claim to the Senate, which, to every disinterested person, is entirely satisfactory. After stating the facts of the petition, the report continues : — "The Rev. Samuel Peters, in his petition, further states that Lefei, the present Emperor of the Sioux and Naudowessies, and Red Wing, a Sachem, the heirs and successors of the two grand chiefs who signed the said deed to Captain Carver, have given satisfactory and 220 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. positive proof, that they allowed their ancestors' deed, to be genuine, good, and valid, and that Captain Carver's heirs and assigns are the owners of said territory, and may occjipy it free of all molestation. " The committee have examined and considered the claims thus exhibited by the petitioners, and remark that the original deed is not produced, nor any compe- tent legal evidence offered, of its execution ; nor is there any proof that the persons, whom it is alleged made the deed, were the chiefs of said tribe, nor that (if chiefs) they had authority to grant and give away the land belonging to their tribe. The paper annexed to the petition, as a copy of said deed, has no subscribing wit- nesses; and it would seem impossible at this remote period, to ascertain the important fact, that the persons who signed the deed comprehended and understood the meaning and effect of, their act. " The want of proof as to these facts, would interpose, in the way of the claimants insuperable difficulties. But, in the opinion of the committee, the claim is not such as the United States are under any obligation to allow, even if the deed were proved in legal form. " The British government, before the time when the alleged deed bears date, had deemed it prudent and necessary, for the preservation of peace with the Indian tribes under their sovereignty, protection, and dominion, to prevent British subjects from purchasing lands from the Indians ; and this rule of policy was made known and enforced by the proclamation of the king of Great Britain, of seventh October, 1763, which contains an express prohibition. " Captain Carver, aware of the law, and 'knowing that such a contract could not vest the legal title in him, REPORT OP SENATE COMMITTEE. 221 applied to the British government to ratify and confirm the Indian grant, and though it was competent for that government then to confirm the grant, and vest the title of said land in him, yet, from some cause, that govern- ment did not think proper to do it. " The territory has since become the property of the United States, and an Indian grant, not good against the British government, would appear to be not binding upon the United States government. " What benefit the British government derived from the services of Captain Carver, by his travels and resi- dence among the Indians, that government alone eould determine, and alone could judge what remuner9,tion those services deserved. " One fact appears from the declaration of Mr. Peters, in his statement in writing, among the papers exhibited, namely, that the British government did give Captain Carver the sum of one thousand three hundred and seventy-five pounds six shillings and eight pence ster- ling.^ To the United States, however. Captain Carver rendered no services which could be assumed as any equitable ground for the support of the petitioners' claim. " The committee being of opinion that the United States are not bound, in law or equity, to confirm the said alleged Indian grant, recommend the adoption of the following resolution : — " ' Besolved, that the prayer of the petitioners ought not to be granted." ' ' Lord Palmerston stated in J839, papers, showing any ratification of that no trace could be found in the the Carver grant, records of the British office of state 222 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XIL Sustained by French influence and fire-arms, the Ojihways began to advance into the Dahkotah country. Carver found the two nations at war in 1766, and was told that they had been fighting forty years. Pike, when at Leech Lake, in 1806, met an aged Ojibway chief, called " Sweet," who said that the Dahkotahs lived there when he was a young man. Ojibway tradition says that about one hundred and twenty-five years ago, a large war party was raised to march against a Dahkotah village at Sandy Lake ; the leader's name was Biauswah, grandfather of a well known chief of that name at Sandy Lake. Some years after Sandy Lake had been taken by this chief, sixty Ojibways descended the Mississippi. ^ On their return, at the confluence of the Crow Wing and Mississippi, they saw traces of a large Dahkotah party that had ascended to their village, and probably killed their wives and children. Digging holes in the ground they concealed themselves, and awaited the descent of their enemies. The Dahkotahs soon came floating down, singing songs of triumph and beating the drum, with scalps dangling from poles. The Dahkotahs were five times as many as the Ojibways, but when the latter OEIGIN OF THE NAME PILLA.GER. 223 ibeheld the reeking scalps of their relatives they were nerved to fight with desperation. The battle soon com- menced, and when arms and ammunition failed, they dug holes near to each other and fought with stones. The bravest fought hand to hand with kijiives and clubs. The conflict lasted three days, till the Dahk,otahs at last retreated. The marks of this battle are still thought to be visible. The band of Ojibways, living at Leech Lake, have long borne the name of " Pillagers," from the fact that, while encamped at a small creek on the Mississippi, ten miles from Crow Wing river, they robbed a trader of his goods. Very near the period that France ceded Canada to -England, the last conflict of the Foxes and Ojibways took place at the Falls of the St. Croix. The account which the Ojibways give of this battle is, that a famous war chief of Lake Superior, whose name was Waub-o-jeeg, or White Fisher, sent his war club and wampum of war to call the scattered bands of the Ojibway tribes, to collect a war party to march against the Dahkotah yillages on the St, Croix and Mississippi. Warriors from St. Marie, Keweenaw, Wis- consin, and Grand Portage joined his party, and with three hundred warriors, Waub-o-jeeg started from La Pointe to march into the enemy's country. He had sent his war club to the village of Sandy Lake, and they had sent tobacco in return, with answer that on a certain day, sixty men from that section of the Ojibway tribe would meet him at the confluence of Snake river with the St. Croix. On reaching this point on the day designated, and the Sandy Lake party not having arrived as agreed upon, Waub-o-jeeg, not confident in 224 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. the strength of his numbers, continued down the St. Croix. They arrived at the Falls of St. Croix early in the morning, and, while preparing to take their bark canoes over the portage, or carrying place, scouts were sent in advance to reconnoitre. They soon returned with the information that they had discovered a large party of Foxes and Dahkotahs landing at the other end of the portage. The Ojibways instantly prepared for battle, and the scouts of the enemy having discovered them, the hostile parties met as if by mutual appointment, in the middle of the portage. The Foxes, after seeing the compara- tively small numbet of the Ojibways, and over confident in their own superior numbers and prowess, requested the Dahkotahs not to join in the fight, but to sit by and see how quickly they could rout the Ojibways. This request was granted. The fight between the contend- ing warriors, is said to have been fiercely contested, and embellished with many daring acts of personal valour. About noon the Foxes commenced yielding ground, and at last were forced to flee in confusion. They would probably have been driven into the river and killed to a man, had not their allies the Dahkotahs, who had been quietly smoking their pipes and calmly viewing the fight from: a distance, at this juncture, yelled their war whoop, and rushed to the rescue of their discomfited friends. The Ojibways resisted their new enemies manfully, and it was not until their ammunition had entirely failed that they in turn showed their backs in flight. Few would have returned to their lodges to tell the sad tale of defeat, and death of brave men, had not the party of sixty warriors from Sandy Lake, who were to DEFEAT OF FOXES AT FALLS OF ST. CROIX. 225 have joined them at the mouth of Snake river, arrived at this opportune moment, and landed at the head of the portage. Eager for the fight and fresh on the field, this band withstood the onset of the Dahkotahs and Foxes, till their retreating friends could rally again to the battle. The Dahkotahs and Foxes in turn fled, and it is said that the slaughter in their ranks was great. Many were driven over the rocks into the boiling flood below; and every crevice in the clifls contained a dead or wounded enemy. From this time the Foxes retired to the south, and for ever gave up the war with their victorious enemies. Tradition says that, while the English had possession of what is now Minnesota, and while they occupied a trading post near the confluence of the waters of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, the M'de-wa-kan-ton- wan Dahkotahs sent the " bundle of tobacco" to their friends, the Wa-rpe-ton-wan, Si-si-ton-wan, and I-han- kton-wan bands, who joined them in an expedition agarast the Ojibways of Lake Superior. Notwithstand- ing the great strength of the party, they found and scalped only a single family of their enemies. Soon after their return to their own country, a quar- rel arose between a M'dewakantonwan named Ixkatape (Toy) and their trader. The Indian name of the trader was Pagonta, Mallard Duck. The result of the quarrel was, that one day as the unsuspecting Englishman sat quietly smoking his Indian pipe in his rude hut near Mendota, he was shot dead. At this time some of the bands of the Dahkotahs had learned to depend very much upon the trade for the means by which they subsisted themselves. At an 15 226 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. earlier period it would have been to them a matter of trifling importance whether a white man wintered with them, or not. In consequence of the murder, the trade was tempo- rarily withdrawn. This was at that time a severe measure, and reduced these bands to sufferings which they could not well endure. They had no ammunition, no traps, no blankets. For the whole long dreary winter, they were the sport of cold and famine. - That was one of the severest winters that the M'dewakantonwans ever experienced, and they had not even a pipe of tobacco to smoke over their unprecedented misery. They hardly survived. On the opening of spring, after much deliberation, it was determined that the brave and head men of the band should take the murderer, and throw themselves at the feet of their English Fathers in Canada. Accord- ingly, a party of about one hundred of their best men and women left Mendota early in the season, and de- scended the Mississippi in their canoes to the mouth of the Wisconsin. From thence they paddled up the Wisconsin, and down the Fox river to Green Bay. By this time, however, more than half their number had meanly enough deserted them. While they were en- iamped at Green Bay, all but six, a part of whom were emales, gave up the enterprise, and disgracefully re- turned, bringing the prisoner with them. The courage, the bone and sinew of the M'dewakantonwan band might have been found in that little remnant of six men and women. Wapashaw, the grandfather of the present chief who bears that name, was the man of that truly heroic little WAPASHAW AT MONTREAL. 227 half-dozen. With strong hearts, and proud perseverance, they toiled on till they reached Quebec. Wapashaw, placing himself at the head of the little deserted band, far from home and friends,, assumed the guilt of the cowardly murderer, and nobly gave him- self up into the hands of justice for the relief of his suffering people. After they had given him a few blows with the stem of the pipe through which Pagonta was -smoking when he was killed, the English heard Wapashaw with that noble generosity which he merited. He represented the Dahkotahs as living in seven bands, and received a Uke number of chiefs' medals; one of which was hung about his own neck, 'and the remaining six were to be given, one to each of the chief men of the other bands. It would be highly gratifying to know who were the persons who received those six chiefs' medals; but, although not more than one century, at the longest, has passed, since Wapashaw's visit to Canada, it cannot now be certainly ascertained to which divisions of the Dahkotah tribe they belonged ; it seems most probable, liowever, that the following were the seven divisions to which Wapashaw referred, viz. : — M'de-wa-kan-ton-wan, Wa-rpe-kute, Wa-rpe-ton-wan, Si-si-ton-wan, I-han-kton- "wan, I-han-ktoh-wan-nan, and Ti-ton-wan. The names of this little band of braves are all lost but that of Wapashaw. ' They wintered in Canada, and all had the small-pox. By such means Wapashaw re- opened the door of trade, and became richly entitled to the appellation of the Benefactor of the Dahkotah tribe. Tradition has preserved the name of no greater nor better man than Wapashaw. 228 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Wapashaw did not, however, end his days in peace. The vile spirit of the fratricidal Cain sprung up among his brothers, and he was driven into exile by their mur- derous envy. To' their everlasting shame be it recorded, that he died far away from the M'dewakantonwan vil- lage, on the Hoka river. It is said that the father of Wakute was his physician, who attended on him in his last illness. The Dahkotahs will never forget the name of Wapashaw.^ During the war of the Kevolution, De Peyster was the British officer in command at Mackinaw. Having made an alliance with Wapashaw, the chief desired that, on his annlial visit, he should be received with ihore distinction than the chiefs of other nations. This respect was to be exhibited by firing the cannon charged with ball, in the place of blank cartridge, on his arrival, so that his young warriors might be accustomed to fire- arms of large calibre. On the sixth of July, 1779, a number of Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Ojibways were on a visit to the fort, when Wapashaw appeared; and great was their astonishment when they beheld balls discharged from the cannons of the fort flying over the canoes, and the Dahkotah braves lifting their paddles as if to strike them, and crying out, " Taya ! taya !" De Peyster, who was fond of rhyming, composed a rude song, suggested by the scene, which is copied as a curiosity : — " Hail to the chief! who his buffalo's back straddles, When in his own country, far, far, from this fort • Whose brave young canoe-men, here hold up their paddles, \ In hopes, that the whizzing balls, may give them sport. ' G. H. Pond. EXPEDITION TO PRAIRIE DU CHIEN IN 1780. 229 Hail to great Wapashaw I He comes, beat drums, the Soioux chief comes. " They now strain their nerves till the canoe runs bounding, As swift as the Solen goose skims o'er the wave, While on the Lake's border, a guard is surrounding A space, where to land the Scioux so brave. Hail 1 to great Wapashaw ! Soldiers 1 your triggers draw ! Guard 1 wave the colours, and give him the drum. Choctaw and Chickasaw, Whoop for great Wapashaw ; Raise the portcullis, the King's friend is come.' When tlie news reached Mackinaw that Colonel George R. Clark, in command of Virginia troops, was taking possession of the Wabash and Mississippi settle- ments, and establishing the jurisdiction of Virginia, the English traders became uneasy lest the Americans should advance to the far North-west. As a precau- tionary measure they formed themselves into a militia company, of which John McNamara was captaia, and a trader by the name of J, Long lieutenant. In the month of June, 1780, the intelligence was received from the Mississippi that the traders had depo- sited their furs at the Indian settlement of Prairie du Chien, and had left them in charge of Langlade, the king's interpreter ; and also that the Americans were in great force in the Illinois country. By request of the commanding officer at Mackinaw, Long went to Prairie du Chien, with twenty Canadians, ' These uncouth lines are from a he seems to have been popular with volume of miscellanies published by the traders. When he was ordered De Peyster, at Dumfries, Scotland, in to another post, they presented him 1812, in the possession of Hon. L. C. with a silver punch bowl, gilt inside. Draper, Secretary of the Wisconsin holding a gallon and a half, and a Historical Society. De Peyster's wife silver ladle, as a mark of regard, accompanied him to Mackinaw, and 230 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. And thirty-six Fox and Dahkotah Indians, in nine large birch canoes. One day, while camping on the Wisconsin river, they discovered a small log hut, in which'was a trader, with his arms cut off, lying on his back, who had been mur- dered by the Indians. The next day the expedition arrived at the " Forks of the Mississippi," where two hundred Fox Indians, on horseback, armed Avith spears, bows, and arrows, awaited them. Among the Dahkotah Indians of the party was Wapashaw, by whose order the birch canoes were brought to the shore. Upon landing the Foxes greeted Wapashaw and his party, and invited them to a feast of dog, bear, and beaver meat. After the feast a council was called, when the chief of the Foxes addressed Wapashaw to this effect : — " Brothers, we are happy to see you ; we have no bad heart against you. Although we are not the same nation by language, our hearts are the same. We are all Indians, and are happy to hear that our Great Father has pity on us, and sends us wherewithal to cover us, and enable us to hunt." To which Wapashaw replied : — " It is true, my children, our Great Father, has sent me this way to take the skins and furs that are in the Dog's Field (Prairie du Chien), under Captain Lang- lade's charge, lest the Great Knives (Americans) should plunder them. I am come with the white men to give you wherewithal to cover you, and ammunition to hunt." Arriving at Prairie du Chien, the peltries were found in a log-house, guarded by Captain Langlade and some Indians. After resting a short period, the canoes were FORMATION OF NORTH-WEST COMPANY. 231 filled with three hundred packs of the best skins, and the balance burned to keep them from the Americans, who a few days afterwards arrived for the purpose of attacking the post. At this period the M'dewakantonwan Dahkotahs had retired from the region of Mille Lac, and were residing at Penneshaw's' post, on the Minnesota, a few miles above its mouth. After the disturbance of commerce, incident to the cession of Canada, had ceased, the trade in furs began to revive. In the year 1766, traders left Mackinaw, and proceeded as far as Kamanistigoya, thirty miles east of Grand Portage. Thomas Curry shortly after ventured as far as the valley of the Saskatchewan, and his success in obtaining furs induced a Mr. James Fin- lay to establish a post in the same valley, as high as the forty-eighth and a half degree of latitude. The Hudson Bay Company were uneasy at this en- croachment of private enterprise upon the territory, and endeavoured to counteract it, thbugh without success. About the .year 1780, two establishments on the Assiniboine river were destroyed by the Indians, and a plot laid to extirpate the traders, but that "noisome pestilence," the small pox, breaking out among the tribes, their attention was diverted. During the winter of'l 783-4, there was a partnership formed by a number of traders, which was called the North-west Company. There were at first but sixteen shares, and the management of the whole was entrusted to the brothers Frobisher and McTavish, at Montreal. A few that were dissatisfied, formed an opposition 1 The same individual called Penneshon and Pinohon. 232 1 (STORY OF MINNESOTA. company, one of the members of which was the explorer and author Alexander Mackei^zie. After a keen rivalry, this company was merged with the North-west in 1787, and the number of shares was increased to twenty. From that time the fur trade of the north-west wap systematized. The agents at Montreal received the goods from England, and two of them went every year to the Grand Portage of Lake Superior, to receive packs and ship the furs for Europe. In 1798, the company was re-organized, new partners admitted, and the shares increased to forty-six. The magnitude of the operations of the company sur- prise us. At the close of the last century, they em- ployed fifty clerks, seventy-one interpreters, eleven hundred and twenty canoe-men. Five clerks, eighteen guides, and three hundred and fifty canoe-men were employed between the head of Lake Superior and Mon- treal. The others were in Minnesota, and the country above. The canoe-men were known as " Pork Eaters," or " Goers and Comers," and " Winterers," the latter so called because they entered the interior and passed the winter in traffic with the Indians, received double wages, and were hired from one to three years. The clerks were a kind of apprentices, and received a salary of one hundred pounds, with their board and clothing, with the prospect of being taken into partnership, if they proved good business men. The guides and interpreters were paid in goods. , In July the " Winterers" began to assemble at Grand Portage to settle their accounts and receive new outfits, and at times more than one thousand were congregated. The mode of Hying at the Portage was truly baronial. The proprietors, clerks, guides, and interpreters all ate in TRADERS AT SANDY LAKE AND PINE RIVER. 233 one large hall, at different tables, and, the labours of the day over, the fiddlers were brought in and there was a merry time. The trader in his lonely outpost, con- sidered the reunions at Lake Superior halcyon days, and was buoyed up by anticipating the annual visit. The love of adventure has often led educated yoxmg men "into the woods," as well as "before the mast." Sailor life and Indian trade, unless there is strong reli- gious principle, are apt to render one " earthly, sensual and devilish." There have been scenes enacted in Min- nesota which wiU never be known till the judgment day, for ignorance of which we should be grateful. The history of one trader at an outpost, is substan- tially the history of all. In the year 1784, Alexander Kay visited Montreal to obtain an outfit for the purpose of trading at Fon du Lac, Leech Lake, and vicinity in Minnesota. A young man, educated at the CoUege of Quebec, named Perrault, became his clerk. They arrived at La Pointe on the first of November. On the little lake at the entrance of the St. Louis river, they found the quarters of Default, a clerk of the North-west Company. Kay while here was mad, in consequence of intoxica- tion, and with obstinacy pushed up the St. Louis river, with only a bag of flour, a keg of butter, and of sugar, while his party consisted of his squaw mistress, Perrault, and fourteen employees. At the portage of the river he met his partner, Mr. Harris, also without food, except some salt meat. The men now remonstrated with Kay about proceed- ing inland, with no provision for the winter ; but draw- 234 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. ing a pistpl, he threatened to shoot those that did not follow. Taking Mr. Harris, an Indian named Big Marten,, and seven men, he pushed on in advance, and the next day sent back word that he had gone on to Pine River,' and desiring his clerk to winter at the Savaune portage if possible. After eleven days' hard toil amid ice and snow, sub- sisting on the pods of the wild rose, and the sap of trees, Perrault and the men reached the point designated. For a time they lived there on a few roots and fish, but about Christmas, hunger compelled them to seek their employer at Pine River. Weak in body, they passed through Sandy Lake, descended the river, and at last arrived at Kay's post at Pine River. After he was recruited, Perrault was despatched to the Savanne portage, where, with his men, he built a log hut. Toward the close of February, Brechet, Big Marten, and other Ojibway Indians, brought in meat. Mr. Kay shortly after visited his clerk, and told the troubles, he had with the Indians, who exceedingly hated him. In April Kay and Perrault visited Sandy Lake, where Bras Cass6, or Broken Arm, or Bo-koon-ik, was the Ojibway chief On the second of May, Kay went out to meet his partner Harris coming from Pine River. During his absence, Katawabada,^ and Mongozid, and other Indians, came and demanded rum. After much entreaty Perrault gave them a little. Soon Harris, Kay, and Pinot arrived, all intoxicated. The Indians Avere ripe for mischief An Indian, named Le Cousin ^ Pine Eirer is a tributary of the possible to reaoli Leech Lake by this Mississippi, about a day's journey stream. in a canoe from Sandy Lake. It is * Katawabada or Parted Teeth> died at Sandy Lake 1828. KAY WOUNDED IN A DRUNKEN REVEL. 23& by the French, came to Kay's tent, and asked for rum, Kay told him " No," and pushed him out ; the Indian then drew a concealed knife, and stabbed him in the neck. Kay, picking up a carving knife, chased him, but before he could reach his lodge, the passage was blocked up by Indians. The assailant's mother, approaching Kay, said, " Eng- Ushman ! do you come to kill me ?" and, while implor- ing for her son, with savage cruelty stabbed him in the side. Le Petit Mort, a friend of the wounded trader, took up his quarrel, and sallying forth, seized Cul Blanc, an Ojibway, by the scalp lock, and, dravidng his head back,^ he plunged a knife into his breast, exclaiming "Die, thou dog!" The Indian women, becoming alarmed at this bac- chanal, went into the lodges and emptied out all the rum they could find. On the fifth of May, Kajr's wound was better, and sending for Harris and Perrault to come to his tent, h& said : — " Gentlemen, you see my situation ; I have determined to leave you at all hazards, to set out for Mackinaw, with seven men, accompanied by the Bras Cass^ and wife. Assort the remainder of the goods, ascend to Leech Lake, and wait there for the return of the Pil- lagers, who are out on the prairies. Complete the inland trade." Kay, then taking hold of Perrault's hand, Harris having retired, said : — " My dear friend ! you understand the language of the Ojibway s. Mr. Harris would go out with me^ but he must accompany you. He is a good trader, but he 236 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. has, like myself and others, a strong passion for drink ing, which takes away his judgment." In the afternoon Kay left, in a litter, for Mackinaw Perrault and Harris proceeded to Leech Lake, where they had a successful trade with the Pillagers. Eeturning to the Savannah river, they found J. Reaume there, and a Mr. Piquet. The former had wintered at the fort of Red Lake, at its entrance into Red River. They all proceeded by way of the Fond du Lac to Mackinaw, where they arrived on the twenty-fourth of May, and found Kay in much pain. The latter soon after this started for Montreal, but his wound suppurated on the journey, and he died at the Lak^ of the Two Moun- tains, August twenty-eighth, 1785.' About the period of this occurrence, Prairie du Chien made its transition, from a temporary encampment of Lidians and their traders, to a hamlet. Among the first settlers were Giard, Antaya, and Dubuque. In the year 1780, the wife of Peosta, a Fox warrior, discovered a large vein of lead, in Iowa, on the west bank of the Mississippi. At a council held at Prairie du Chien, in 1788, JuUen Dubuque obtained permission to work the lead mines, on and near the site of the city that bears his name, and the bluff, on which is the Httle stone house that covers his remains. Towards the close of the last century we find Dick- son, Renville, Grignon, and others, trading with the Ojibways and Dahkotahs of Minnesota. In the employ- ' " History, condition, and pros- Mr. Schoolcraft says that Harris pects of the Indian Tribes of the was a native of Albany, and was United States," vol., iii. alive in 1830. JUDGE PERLIER, TRADER IN MINNESOTA. 237 ment of the latter, at his trading-house on the river St. Croix, was James Perlier, a youth, who ia the next century became one of the most useful citizens of Green Bay, Wisconsin. He was a native of Montreal, and arrived at Green Bay in 1791. Two years after he was employed by an old trader, Pierre Grignon, to act as clerk, at his trading post on the St. Croix. While there he found, with a band of Menomonees, an inte- resting girl, the daughter of a woman that had been abandoned by a French trader, with whom he fell in love, and married. In the year 1797, in company with Dickson, he wintered near Sauk Rapids. When Pike visited the country he was still engaged in trading above the Falls of St. Anthony, and he gave this young officer much information, which he deemed valua,- ble. Returning to Wisconsin he acted as chief justice of Brown county, for a period of sixteen years, and died in 1839, much respected. While Perlier was wintering on the St. Croix, a broken-down merchant of Montreal, who had married a lady of wealth in that city, a pompous and ignorant man, full of eccentricity, by the name of Charlies Reaume, was his companion. To the early settlers of Green Bay he was known as Judge Reaume. While on the St. Croix the following anecdote is related of him: — " One day he invited Perlier and other traders in the vicinity to dine with him. The guests had arrived, and the venison, cooked in bears' oil and maple sugar was prepared, when Amable Chevalier, a half-breed, told Reaume that there were not plates enough on the table, as there was none for him. ' Yes, there are enough,' said Reaume, sternly; when the half-breed tore from 238 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Reaume's head his red cap, and spreading it upon the table, filled it with the hashed venison. Reaume, in - retaliation, seizing a handful of meat, threw it into the half-breed's face. Becoming much excited, it was neces- sary for the guests to part the belligerents."* In the year 1794, the North-west Company built an establishment at Sandy Lake, with bastions, and aper- tures in the angles for musketry. It was enclosed with pickets a foot square and thirteen feet in height. There were three gates, which were always closed after the Indians had received liquor. " The stockade enclosed two rows of buildings, containing the provision store, workshop, warehouse, room for clerks, and accommoda- tion for the men. On the west and south-west angles of the fort were four acres of ground, enclosed with pickets, and devoted to the culture of the potato." The British posts were not immediately surrendered after the treaty of 1783 between Great Britain and America, and led to some ill-feeling upon the part of the United States. When Baron Steuben was sent by Washington, in 1784, to Detroit, to take possession of the fort, the British commandant informed him that he had no authority to deliver up the post, as it was on Indian territory. By the presence of British ofiicials among the Indian tribes, a hostile feeling was main- tained towards the citizens of the United States, which led to the wars with the Indians toward the close of the last century. In the treaty effected by Mr. Jay, Great Britain agreed to withdraw her troops from all posts and places within the boundary lines assigned by the treaty of ' Wisconsin Historical Society Collections, vol. iii. NORTH-WEST CO. ESTABLISH POSTS IN MINNESOTA. 239 peace to the United States, on or before the first day of June, 1796. The treaty also provided that all British settlers and traders might remain for one year, and enjoy all their former privileges without being com- pelled to be citizens of the United States. Taking advantage of this clause, the North-west Company, through the Pond du Lac department, dotted every suitable place in Minnesota with trading posts. They not only encircled the lakes, but did not pay duties nor apply for licenses. At these posts the British flag was hoisted; and they frequently created civil chiefs among the Indians, to whom ihey preseijted the colours and medals of his Britannic majesty. 240 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XIll. On- the seventh of May, 1800, the North-west terri- tory, which included all of the western country east of the Mississippi, was divided. The portion not desig- nated as Ohio was organized as the Territory of Indiana. On the twentieth of December, 1803, the province of Louisiana, of which that portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi was a part, was officially delivered up by the French, who had just obtained it from the Spaniards, according to treaty stipulations. To the transfer of Louisiana by France, after twenty days' possession, Spain at first objected; but in 1804 withdrew all opposition. President Jefferson now deemed it an object of parsr mount importance for the United States to explore the country so recently acquired, and make the acquaint- ance of the tribes residing therein ; and steps were taken for an expedition to the upper Mississippi. Early in March, 1804,* Captain Stoddard, of the United States army, arrived at St. Loliis, the agent of the French Republic, to receive from the Spanish authorities the possession of the country, which he immediately transferred to the United States. ORGANIZATION OF TERRITORIES. 241 As the old settlers, on the tenth of March, saw the ancient flag of Spain displaced by that of the United States, the tears coursed down their cheeks. On the twentieth of the same month the territory of upper Louisiana was constituted, comprising the present states of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and a large portion of Minnesota. On the eleventh of January, 1805, the territory of Michigan was organized. The first American officer who visited Minnesota, on business of a public nature, was one who was an ornament to his profession, and in energy and endu- rance a true representative of the citizens of the United States. We refer to the gallant Zebulon Montgomery Pike, who afterwards fell in battle at York, Upper Canada, and whose loss was justly mourned by the whole nation. When a young lieutenant, he was ordered by General Wilkinson to visit the region now known as Minnesota, and expel the British traders who were found violating the laws of the United States, and form alliances with the Indians. With only a few common soldiers, he was obliged to do the work of several men. At times he would precede his party for miles to reconnoitre, and then he would do the duty of hunter. During the day he would perform the part of sur- veyor, geologist, and astronomer, and at night, though hungry and fatigued, his lofty enthusiasm kept him awake until he copied the notes, and plotted the courses of the day. On the fourth of September, 1805, Pike arrived at Prairie du Chien, from St. Louis, and was politely 16 242 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. treated by the traders, Fisher/ Frazer,^ and "Woods, who were there at that time. On the eighth, in two batteaux, with Joseph Renville and Pierre Rpsseau as interpreters, he continued his ascent of the river. On the twelfth he was at the Prairie La Crosse, so called from the Indian game of ball, where he noticed some earth works, and holes that had been dug by the Dahkotahs to screen their wives and children duriiig battle. At this place, Mr. Frazer, of Prairie du Chien, overtook him. Amid terrific thunder claps, forked lightning, and torrents of rain, he reached, on the seventeenth^ Point de Sable, on Lake Pepin, where he took shelter, and remained the rest of the day. He here found a trader by the name of Cameron, and his son, also a young man, John Eudsdell. The next day he, in company with Cameron, came to Canoe river, where he found a small band under Red Wing, the second war chief of the Dahkotahs. On the twenty-first he breakfasted at the village of the Kaposia band, which was on the site just below Saint Paul, now known as Pig's Eye. The same day he passed the encampment of a trader, J. B. Faribault,' ' Fisher was a trader at Prarie du ' " Jean Baptist Faribault is the Jhien untillSlS. He then went to the last survivor of the old traders. He Red River of the North in the service is now more than eighty years of age, of the Hudson Bay .Company. From and resides at Faribault, in Rice 1824 to '26, he was at Lake Traverse, county, with his sons. He is a the source of the Minnesota. One nativepf Canada, and removed to this of his daughters is the mother of country, in 1798, fifty-seven years Joseph Rolette of Pembina, by a ago. He enjoyed considerable ad- former husband, and afterwards vantagesof education in early youth, married H. L. Dousman, Esq. His career in this region has been * The father of Jack Frazer of marked with more of adverse fortune Mendota? than usually occurs, even in the SALUTE FROM LITTLU CROW. 243 which was three miles below Mendota. Arriving at the confluence of the Minnesota and the Mississippi, he pitched his camp on the north-east point of the island. The next day was Sunday, and Little Crow, of the Kaposia village, arrived with one hundred and fifty warriors, ascending the hill which is now covered by Fort Snelling, they saluted him with balls according to their custom. During the day he went up to the Dah- kotah village, just above Mendota, to visit Mr. Cameron. On Monday' he held a council with the Dahkotahs, and obtained a grant of land for the use of the United -States.' His speech will always be interesting, as the ^perilous life of an Indian trader. Shortly after the close of the war with Great Britain he was robbed by the Winnebagoes at Prarie du ■Chien, of a large stock of goods, for which he never received any remu- neration. Some years subsequently ■he fixed his residence upon Pike's Island, near Fort St. Anthony (now Snelling), and had barely established 'himself in his vocation of trader when he was forced by the mandate of the commandant of the fort to abandon his buildings, and to betake himself, with his movable property, to the bottom land on the east side of the Mississippi, where he erected new tenements. The following spring, the water, which was unusually high, carried off his houses and live stock, he and his family escaping in boats, by means of which he was fortunately enabled to save his goods and furs from destruction. Still not discouraged, he built a house at the iPoip* now known as Mendota, where he resided many years, except during^ the winter months, when he assumed charge of his trading post at Litile Kapids, on the Minnesota river." — Sibley's Addfess. ■ Whereas, at a conference held be- tween the United States of America, and the Sioux Nation of Indians, Lieutenant Z. M. Pike, of the army of the United States, and the chiefs and the warriors of said tribe, have agreed to the following articles, which, when ratified and approved of by the proper authority, shall be binding on both parties : Art. 1. That the Sioux Nation grant unto the I)^nited States, for the purpose of establishment of military posts, nine miles square, at the mouth of the St. Croix, also from below the confluence of the Missis- sippi and St. Peters, up the Missis- sippi to include the Falls of St. .Anthony, extending nine miles on each side of the river, that the Sioux Nation grants to the United States 244 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. first expression of the views of the United States to the Dahkotahs : — " Brothers^I am happy to meet you here at this council fire, which your father has sent me to kindle, and to take you by the hands as our children. We having but lately acquired from the Spanish the exten- sive territory of Louisiana, our general has thought proper to send out a number of his warriors to visit all his red children; to tell them his will, and to hear what request they may have to make of their father. I am happy the choice has fell on me to come this road, as I find my brothers, the Sioux, ready to listen to my words. " Brothers — It is the wish of our Government to esta- blish military posts on the Upper Mississippi, at such places as might be thought expedient. I have, there- fore, examined the country, and have pitched on the mouth of the river St. Croix, this place, and the Falls of St. Anthony, I therefore wish you to grant to the United States, nine miles square, at St. Croix, and at this place, from a league below the confluence of the St. Peters and Mississippi, to a league above St. Anthony, the full sovereignty and power over undersigned, have hereunto set our said district forever. hands and seals, at the mouth of the Art. 2. That, in consideration of river St. Peters, on the 23d day of the above grants, the United States September, 1805. shall pay (filled up by the Senate Z. M. Pike. [l. b.J with 2,000 dollars). 1st Lieut, and agent at the above Akt. 3. The United States pro- conference, mise, on their part, to permit the his Sioux to pass and re-pass, hunt, or Lb Petit Corbeau. X [l. s.j make other use of the said districts mark as they have formerly done, without his any other exception than those Way Ago Bnaoeb, jx [l. s.J specified in article first. mark In testimony whereof, we, the PIKE'S SPEECH AT MOUTH OF MINNESOTA. 24^ extending three leagues on each side of the rivei ; and as we are a people who are accustomed to have all our acts written down, in order to have them handed to our children, I have drawn up a form of an agreement, which we will both sign in the presence of the traders now present. After we know the terms, we will fill it up, and have it read and interpreted to you. " Brothers — Those posts are intended as a benefit to you. The old chiefs now present must see that their situation improves by a communication with the whites. It is the intention of the United States to establish at those posts factories, in which the Indians may procure all their things at a cheaper and better rate than they do now, or than your traders can afford to sell them to you, as they are single men, who come far in sihall boats. But your fathers are many and strong, and wUl come with a strong arm, in large boats. There will also be chiefs here, who can attend to the wants of their brothers, without their sending or going all the way to St. Louis, and will see the traders that go up your rivers, and know that they are good men. " Brothers — Another object your father has at heart, is to endeavour to make peace between you and the Chippeways. You have now been a long time at war, and when will you stop ? If neither side will lay down the hatchet, your paths will always be red with blood ; but if you will consent to make peace, and suffer your father to bury the hatchet between you, I will endea- vour to bring down some of the Chippeway chiefs with me to St. Louis, where the good work can be completed, under the auspices of your mutual father. I am much pleased to see that the young warriors have halted here to hear my words this day ; and as I know it is hard MQ HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. for a warrior to be struck and not strike again, I will send (by the first Chippeway I meet) word to their chiefs : — That if they have not yet felt your tomahawk, it is not because you have no legs, nor the hearts of men, but because you have listened to the voice of your father. " Brothers — If the chiefs do not listen to the voice of their father, and continue to commit murders on you and our traders, they will call down the vengeance of the Americans ; for they are not like a bHnd man walk- ing into the fire. They were once at war with us, and joined to all the Northern Indians, were defeated at Boehe de Boeuf, and were obliged to sue for peace — that peace we granted them. They know we are not children, but, like all wise people, are slow to shed blood. " Brothers — Your old men probably know, that about thirty years ago we were subject to, and governed by the king of the English ; but he, not treating us like children, we would no longer acknowledge him as father — and after ten years war, in which he lost one hundred thousand men, he acknowledged us a free and inde- pendent nation. They know that not many years since, we received Detroit, Michilimackinac, and all the posts on the lakes, from the English, and now but the other day, Louisiana from the Spanish ; so that we put one foot on the sea at the east, and the other on the sea at the west ; and, if once children, are now men ; yet, I think the traders who come from Canada are bad birds amongst the Chippeways, and instigate th'em to make war on their red brothers, the Sioux, in order to prevent our traders from going high up the Mississippi. PIKE'S SPEECH AT MOUTH OF MINNESOTA. 24'« This I shall inquire into, and, if so, warn those person^ of their ill conduct. "Brothers — Mr. Choteau was sent by your father to the Osage Nation, with one of his young chiefs. He sailed some days before me, and had not time to pro- cure the medals which I am told he promised to send up, but they will be procured. > " Brothers — I wish you to have some of your head chiefs to be ready to go down with me in the spring. From the head of the St. Pierre, also, such other chiefs as you may think proper, to the number of four or five. When I pass here, on my way, I will send you word at what time you will meet me at the Prairie des Chiens. " Brothers — I expect that you will give orders to all your young warriors to respept my flag and protection which I may extend to the Chippeway chiefs who may come down with me in the spring ; for was a dog to. run to my lodge for safety, his enemy must walk over me to hurt him. " Brothers — Here is a flag, which I wish to send to Gens de Feuilles, to show them they are not forgotten by their father. I wish, the comrade of their chief to take it on himself to deliver it with my words. " Brothers — I am told that hitherto the traders have made a practice of selling rum to you. All of you, in your right senses, must know that it- is injurious; and occasions quarrels and murders amongst yourselves. For this reason, your father has thought proper to pro- hibit the traders from selling you any rum. Therefore, I hope my brothers, the chiefs, when they know of a trader to sell an Indian rum, wilL prevent that Indian from paying his credit. This will break up the pemi- 24& HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. cious practice, and oblige your father. But I hope you will not encourage your young men to treat our traders ill from this circumstance, or from a, hope of the indul- gence formerly experienced; but make your complaints to persons in this country, who will be authorized to do you justice. "Brothers — I now present you with some of your father's tobacco, and some other trifling things, as a memorandum of my good will, and before my departure I will give you some liquor to clear your throats." On the morning after the council it was discovered that the flag, which had been hoisted from his boat, was gone. Calling the guard he had one whipped for his negligence. The next day, before he was out of his bed. Little Crow came bustling up from his village, flag in hand, which had been found floating down the river, and he supposed that the whites had all been kiUed. On Friday, the twenty-sixth of September, he had transported all of his goods to a post above the Falls of St. Anthony, and then occupied a few leisure hours in writing to his general, and to his wife, whom he thought might not see him return from the land of savages. All the next day and Sunday the soldiers were hard at work dragging the barge over the portage, and when night came they were so fatigued that they could not cook their suppers, and went to sleep. On Monday he encamped on what is now known as Hennepin Island. Opposite the mouth of Crow river, on the fourth of October, a bark canoe, cut to pieces with tomahawks, and paddles broken, was seen, which appeared as if there had been a fight between Ojibways and Dahko- tahs. The next day he passed fortifications, and found BLOCK-HOUSE NEAR SWAN KIVER. 249 five litters in which wounded had been carried, at a place, where five years before there had been fought a severe battle. On the sixteenth of October, when they awoke in the morning, they were astonished to find that snow had fallen during the night. Pike desired, if possible, to reach Crow Wing, the highest point ever made by traders in their bark canoes, that day, but after the soldiers had worked four hours their limbs were be- numbed by the cold. Going ashore they built a fire, and found the boats were leaking. The sergeant, remarkable for strength, by over exertion burst a blood-vessel, and a corporal also gave evidence of internal injuries. In view of the unforeseen difiiculties, he determined to leave the large boats, and a portion of the men. By the last day of the month a block-house was erected near Swan river, and in his journaP he writes : — " October thirty-first, Thursday. — Enclosed my little work completely with pickets. Hauled up my two boats and turned them over on each side of the gate- ways; by which means a defence was made to the river, and had it not been for various political reasons, I would have laughed at the attack of eight hundred or a thousand savages, if all my party were within. For, except accidents, it would only have afforded amuse- ment, the Indians having no idea of taking a place by storm. Found myself powerfully attacked with the ' The journal and letters of Pike Since his day Major' Long, Fre- convcy so correct an idea of the con- mont, Allen, Pope, Marcy, Stans- dition of Minnesota, at the com- bury, and other military officers, by meneement of this century, that we their published journals have made have thought it advisable to give knovra the region virest of the Missis- many extracts. sippi. 250 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA fantastics of the brain, called ennui, at the mention of which I had hitherto scoffed; but my books being packed up, I was like a person entranced, and could easily conceive why so many persons who have been confined to remote places, acquired the hg,bit of drink- . ing to excess, and many other vicious practices, which have been adopted merely to pass time, "November twenty-ninth, Friday. — A Sioux (the, son of a warrior called the Killeur Rouge, of the Gens des Feuilles) and a Fols Avoin came to the post. He said that haying struck our trail below, and finding some to be shoe tracks, he conceived it to be the esta- blishment of some traders, took it, and came to the post. He informed me that Mr. Dickson had told the Sioux ' that they might now hunt where they pleased, as I had gone ahead and would cause the Chippeways, wher- ever I met them, to treat them with friendship ; that I had barred up the mouth of the St. Peter's, so that no liquor could ascend that river ; but that, if they came on the Mississippi, they should have what liquor they wanted ; also, that I was on the river and had a great deal of merchandise to give them in presents.' This information of Mr. Dickson to the Indians, seemed to have self-interest and envy for its motives ; for, by the idea of having prevented liquor from going up to St. Peter's, he gave the Indians to understand that it was a regulation of my own, and not a law of the United States ; and by assuring them h^ would sell to them on the Mississippi, he drew all the Indians from the traders on the St. Peter's, who had adhered to the restriction of not selling liquor, and should any of them be killed, the blame would all lie on me, as he had (without autho- rity) assured thein they might hunt in security. I took DICKSON VISITS PIKE. 261 care ix) give the young chief a full explanation of my ideas on the above. He remained all night. Killed two deer. " December third, Tuesday. — Mr. Dickson, with one engagee and a young Indian, arrived ,at the fort. I re- ceived him with every pohteness in my power, and after a serious conversation with him on the subject of the information given me on the twentyninth ultimo, was induced to believe it, in part, incorrect. He assured me that mo hquor was sold by him, nor by any houses under his direction. He gave me much useful information relative to my future route, which gave me great encour- agement as to the certainty of my accomplishing the object of my voyage, to the fullest extent. He seemed to be a gentleman of general commercial knowledge, and possessing much geographical information of the Western country, of open, -frank, manners. He gave me many assurances of his good, wishes for the prosperity of my undertaking. , "December sixth, Friday. — I despatched my men down to bring up the other peroque with a strong sled, on which it was intended to put the canoe about one- third, and to let the end drag on the ice. Three families of the Fols Avoins arrived and encamped near the fort : also, one Sioux, who pretended to have been sent to me, from the Oens des Feuilles, to inform me that the Yanctongs and Sussitongs (two bands, of Sioux from the head of the St. Peter's and the Missouri, and the most savage of them) had commenced the war dance, and w^ould depart in a few days, in which case he conceived it would be advisable for the Fols Avoins to keep close under my protection; that making a stroke on the Chippeways would tend to injure the grand object of 252 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. my voyage, &c., &c. Some reasons induced me to be- lieve he was a self-created envoy ; however, I offered to pay him, or any other young Sioux, who would go to those bands and carry my word. He promised to make known my wishes upon his return. My men returned in the evening without my canoe, having been so unfor- tunate as to split her in carrying her over the rough hilly ice in the ripples below. So many disappoint- ments almost wearied out my patience ; but, notwith- standing, I intend to embark by land and water in a few days. "December ninth, Monday. — Prepared to embark. Expecting the Sioux, I had two large kettles of soup made for them. Had a shooting-match with fdur prizes. The Sioux did not arrive, and we eat the soup ourselves. Crossed the river and encamped above the rapids. Wind changed, and it grew cold. " December tenth, Tuesday .^After arranging our sleds ' and peroque commenced our march. The sleds on the prairie, and the peroque towed by three men. Found it extremely difficult to get along, the snow being melted off the prairie in spots. The men who had the canoe were obliged to wade and drag her over the rocks in many places. Shot the only deer I saw. It fell three times, and after made its escape. This was a great disappointment, for upon the game we took now we depended for our subsistence. This evening disclosed to my men the real danger they had to encounter. Dis- tance five miles. " December fourteenth, Saturday. — We departed from ' Sleds were such as are frequently weight, in which two men wore seen about farmers' yards, calculated geared abreast. to hold twc barrels, or four hundred SLED FALLS INTO THE EIVER.— BAGGAGE WET. • 25?, our encampment at the usual hour, but had not ad- vanced one mile when; the foremost sled, which hap- pened unfortunately to carry my baggage and ammuni- tion, fell into the river. We were all in the river up to our middles in recovering the things. Halted and made a fire. Came on to where the river was frozen over. Stopped and encamped on the west shore in a pine wood. Upon examining my things, found , all my baggage wet, and some of my books materially injured ; but a still greater injury was that all of my cartridges, and four pounds of double battle Sussex powder for my own use, was destroyed. Fortunately my kegs of pow- der were preserved dry, and some bottles of common glazed powder, which were so tightly corked as not to admit water. Had this not been the case, my voyage must necessarily have been tettninated, for we could not have subsisted without ammunition. During the time of our misfortune, two Fols Avoin Indians came to us, one of whom was at my stockade, on the twenty-ninth ultimo, in company with the Sioux. I signified to them by signs the place of our intended encampment, and invited them to come and encamp with us. They left me, and both arrived at my camp in the evening, hav- ing each a deer which they presented me. I gave them my canoe to keep until spring ; and, in the morning, at parting, made them a small present. Sat up until three o'clock, A. M., drying and assorting my ammunition and baggage. Killed two deer. Distance four miles. "■ December twenty-first, Saturday. — Bradley and my- self went on 9,head and overtook my interpreter, who had left carap very early 'in hopes that he would be able to see the river De Corbeau, where he had twice wintered. He was immediately opposite to a large 254 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. island, which he supposed to have great resemblance to an island opposite the mouth of the above river ; but finally he concluded it was not the island, and returned to camp. But this was actually the river, as we disco- vered when we got to the head of the island from which we could see the river's entrance. This fact exposes the ignorance and inattention of the French arid traders; and^ with the exception of a few intelUgent men, what little confidence is to be placed on their information. We ascended the Mississippi about five miles above the confluence; found it frozen; but in many places, not more than one hundred yards over; mild and still. Indeed all the appearance of ai small river of a low country. Returned and found my party, having broke sleds, had only made good three miles, while I had marched thirty-five. " December thirty-first, Tuesday. — Passed Pine river about eleven o'clock. At its mouth there was a Chip- peway's encampment of fifteen lodges; this had been occupied in the summer, but is now vacant. By the significations of their marks we understood that they had marched a party of fifty warriors against the Sioux ; and had killed four men and four women, which were represented by images carved out of pine or cedar. The four men painted and put in the ground to the middle, leaving above ground those parts which are generally concealed; by their sides were four painted poles, sharpened at the end to represent the women. Near this were poles with deer skins, plumes, and silk hand- kerchiefs. Also a circular hoop of cedar with something attached representing a scalp. Near each lodge they had holes dug in the ground, and boughs ready to cover INDIGNATION AT SIGHT OF BRITISH FLAG. 25fe them, as a retreat for their women and children if attacked by the Sioux. "January second, 1806, Thursday. — Fine warm day. Discovered fresh sign of Indians. Just as we were en- camping at night, my sentinel informed us that some Indians were coming full speed upon our trail or track. I ordered my men to stand by their guns carefully. They were immediately at my camp, and saluted the flag by a discharge of three pieces ; when four Chippeways, one Englishman and a Frenchman of the North-west Com- pany presented themselves. They informed us that some women having discovered our trail gave the alarm, ^nd not knowing but it was their enemies, they had departed to make a discovery. They had heard of us and revered our flag. Mr. Grant, the Englishman, had only arrived the day before from Lake De Sable ; from which he marched in one day and a half. I presented the Indians with half a deer, which they received thank- fully, for they had discovered our fires some days . ago, a,nd, believing it to be the Sioux, they dared not leave their camp. They returned, but Mr. Grant remained all night. "January third, Friday. — My party marched early, but I returned with Mr. Grant to his establishment on the Ked Cedar Lake, having one corporal with me. When we came in sight of his house, I observed the flag of Great Britain flying. I felt indignant, and cannot say what ray feelings would have excited me to, had. he not informed me that it belonged to the Indians. This was not much more agreeable to me. " January fourth, Saturday. — We made twenty-eight points in the river; broad, good bottom, and of the Usual, titnber. lii the night I was awakened by the cry 256 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. of the sentinel, calling repeatedly to the men ; at length he vociferated, " will you let the lieutenant be burnt tn death ?" This immediately aroused me ; at first I seized my arms, but, looking round, I saw my tents in flames. The men flew to my assistance and we tore them down, but not until they were entirely ruined. This, with the loss of my leggins, moccasins, and socks, which I had hung up to dry, was no trivial misfortune, in such a country, and on such a voyage. But I had reason to thank God that the powder, three small casks of which I had in my tent, did not take fire; if it had, I must certainly have lost all my baggage, if not my life. January eighth, Wednesday. — Conceiving I was at no great distance from Sandy Lake, I left my sleds, and with Corporal Bradley, took my departure for that place, intending to send him back the same evening. We walked on very briskly until near night, when we met a young Indian, one of those who had visited my camp near Red -Cedar Lake. I endeavoured to explain to him, that it was my wish to go to Lake De Sable that evening. He returned with me until we came to a trail that led across the woods ; this he signified was a near course. I went this course with him, and shortly after found myself at a Chippeway encampment, to which I believe the friendly savage had enticed me with an expectation that I would tarry all night, knowing that it was too late for us to make the lake in good season. But, upon our refusing to stay, he put us in the right road. We arrived at the place where the track left the Mississippi at dusk, when we traversed about two leagues of a wilderness, without any very great diflBculty, and at length struck the shore of Lake De Sable, over a branch of which our course lay. The SANDY LAKE POST.— HOKSES FROM RED RIVER. 257 snow having covered the trail made by the Frenchmen, who had passed before with the rackets, I was fearful of losing ourselves on the lake; the consequence of which can only be conceived by those who have been exposed on a lake or naked plain, a dreary night of January, in latitude 47° and the .thermometer below 0. Thinking that we could observe the bank of the other shore,- we kept a straight course, and some time after discovered Ughts, and on our arrival were not a Httle surprised to find a large stockade. The gate being opened, we entered and proceeded to the quarters of Mr. Grant, where we were treated with the utmost hospitality. "January ninth, Thursday. — -Marched the corporal early, in order that our men should receive assurance of our safety and success. He carried with him a small keg of spirits, a present from Mr. Grant. The estab- Hshment of this place was formed twelve years since, by the North-west Company, and was formerly under the charge of a Mr. • Charles Brusky. It has attained at present such regularity, as to permit the superintend- ent to live tolerably comfortable. They have horses they procured from Ked River, of the Indians; raise' plenty of Irish potatoes, catch pike, suckers, pickerel, and white fish in abundance. They have also beaver, deer, and moose ; but the provision they chiefly depend upon is wild oats, of which they purchase great quanti- ties from the savages, giving at the rate of about one dollar and a half per bushel. But flour, pork, and salt, are almost interdicted to persons not principals in the trade. Flour sells at half a dollar; salt a dollar; pork eighty cents ; sugar half a dollar ; and tea four dollars 17 :\,b HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. aft^- ionts per pound. The sugar is obtained from the Indians, and is made from the maple tree. "January nineteenth, Sunday. — Two men of the North west Company arrived from the Fond du Lac Superior with letters; one of which was from their estabhahment, in Athapuscow, and had been since last May on the route. While at this post I eat roasted beavers, dressed in every respect as a pig is usually dressed with us ; it was excellent. I could not discern the leaat taste of Des Bois. I also eat boiled moose's head, which when well boiled, I consider equal to the tail of the beaver; in taste and substance they are much alike. "January twentieth, Monday. — The men with the sleds took their departure about two o'clock. Shortly after I followed them. We encamped at the portage between the Mississippi and Leech Lake river. Snow fell in the night. ^ "January twenty-fifth, Saturday. — Travelled almost all day through the lands, and foujid them much better than usual. Boley lost the Sioux pipe stem, which I carried along for the purpose of making peace with the -Chippeways ; I sent him back for it ; he did not return until eleven o'clock at night. It was very warm, thaw- ing all day. Distance forty-four points. '''January twenty-sixth, Sunday. — I' left my party in order to proceed to a house (or lodge) of Mr. Grant's, on the Mississippi, where he was to tarry until I overtook him. Took with me my Indian, Boley, and some trifling provisions; the Indian and myself marched so fast, that we left Boley on the route, about eight miles from the lodge. Met Mr. Grant's men on their return to Lake De Sable, having evacuated the house this morning, and BRITISH FLAG SHOT AT, AND BROUGHT DOWN. 259 Mr. Grant having marched for Leech Lake. The Lidian :and I arrived before sundown. Passed the night very uncomfortably, having nothing to eat, not much wood, nor any blankets. The Indian slept sound. I cursed his insensibility, being obliged to content myself over a few coals all night. Boley did not arrive. La the night the Indian mentioned something about his son. "February first, Saturday. — Left our camp pretty early. Passed a continued train of prairie, and arrived at Lake La Sang Sue,^ at half-past two o'clock. I will not attempt to describe my feelings, on the accomplish- jnent of my voyage, for this is the main source of the Mississippi. The Lake Winipie branch is navigable from thence to Red Cedar Lake, for the distance of five leagues, which is the extremity of the navigation. Crossed the lake twelve miles to the establishment of the North-west Company, where we arrived about three •o'clock ; found all the gates locked, but upon knocking were admitted, and received with marked attention and ^hospitality by Mr. Hugh McGillis. Had a good dish of ■coffee, biscuit, butter, and cheese for supper. " February second, Sunday. — Remained all day within •doors. In the evening sent an invitation to Mr. Ander- son, who was an agent of Dickson, and also for gome young Indians at his house, to come over and breakfast in the morning. " February seventh, Friday. — Remained within doors, my limbs being still very much swelled. Addressed a letter to Mr. McGillis on the subject of the North-west Company trade in this quarter. "February tenth, Monday. — Hoisted the American Jlag in the fort. The English yacht still flying at the '■ Leech Lake. 260 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. top of the flagstaff, I directed tlie Indians and my rifle- men to shoot at it, who soon broke the iron pin to which it was fastened, and brought it to the ground. Reading: Shenstone. " February sixteenth, Sunday. — Held a council with the chiefs and warriors at this place^ and of Eed Lake;, but it required much patience, coolness, and manage- ment to obtain the objects I desired, viz. That they should make peace with the Sioux ; deliver up their medals and flags ; and that some of their chiefs should follow me to St. Louis. As a proof of their agreeing to the peace, I directed that they should smoke out of the Wabasha's pipe which lay on the table ; they all smoked, from the head chief to the youngest soldier ;, they generally delivered up their flags with a good grace ; except the Flat Mouth, who said he had left both at his camp, three days' march, and promised to deliver them up to Mr. McGillis, to be forwarded. With respect to their returning with me, the old Sweet thought it most proper to return to the Indians of the Eed Lake, Eed Eiver, and Eainy Lake Eiver. The Flat Mouth said it was necessary for him to restrain his young war- riors. The other chiefs did not think themselves of consequence sufiicient to offer any reason for not fol- lowing me to St. Louis, a journey of between two and three thousand miles through hostile tribes of Indians. I then told them, 'that I was sorry to find that the hearts of the Sauteurs of this quarter were so weak, that the other nations would say : what, are there no soldiers at Leech, Eed, and Eainy Lakes, who had the hearts to carry the calumet of their chief to their father?' This had the desired effect. The Bucks and ' Leech Lake. RED LAKE.— McGILLIS, TRADER. 261 Beaux, two of the most celebrated young warriors, rose and offered themselves to me for the embassy; they were.acceptdd, adopted as my children, and I installed their father. Their example animated the others, 'and it would have been no difficult matter to have taken a company; two, however, were sufficient. I determined that it should be my care, never to make them regret the noble confidence placed in me ; for I would have protected their Uves with my own. The Beaux is brother to the Flat Mouth. Gave my new soldiers a •dance, and a small dram. They attempted to get more liquor, but a firm and peremptory denial convinced them I was not to be trifled with. "February eighteenth, Tuesday. — We marched for Eed Cedar Lake about 11 o'clock, with a guide provided for me by Mr. McGillis; were all provided with snow shoes ; marched off amidst the acclamations and shouts of the Indians, who generally had remained to see us take our departure. Mr. Anderson promised to come on with letters; he. arrived about twelve o'clock, and remained all night. He concluded to go down with me to see Mr. Dickson. " February twenty-fifth, Tuesday. — We marched, and arrived at Cedar Lake before noon; found Mr. Grant and De Breche (chief of Sandy Lake) at the house. This gave me much pleasure, for I conceive Mr. Grant to be a gentleman of as much candour as any with whom I had made an acquaintance in this quarter ; and the chief (De Breche) is reputed to be a man of better information than any of the Sauteurs. "March third, Monday. — ^Marched early; passed our Christmas encampment at sunrise. I was ahead of my' party in my cariole. Soon afterwards, I observed smoke 262 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. on the west shore. I haUqoed, and some Indians ap- peared upon the bank. I waited until my interpreter came up; we then went to the camp. They proved ta be a party of Chippeways, who had left the encamp- ment the same day we left it. They presented me with some roast meat, which I gave my sleigh dogs. They then left their camp and accompanied us down the river. We passed our encampment of the twenty- fourth December, at nine o'clock; of the twenty-third, at ten o'clock, and of the twenty-second, at eleven o'clock; here the Indians crossed on to the west shore; arrived at the encampment of the twenty-first Decem- ber, at twelve o'clock, where we had a barrel of flour. I here found Corporal Meek, and another man from the post, from whom I heard that the men were all well. They confirmed the account of a Sioux having fired on a sentinel, and added, that the sentinel had first made him drunk, and then turned him. out of the tent, upon which he fired on the sentinel and ran off, but promised to deliver himself up in the spring. The corporal in- formed me that the sergeant had used all the elegant hams and saddles of venison which I had preserved to present to the commander-in-chief, and other friends; that he had made away with all the whiskey, include ing a keg I had for my own use, having publicly sold it to the men, and' a barrel of pork; that he had broken open my trunk and sold some things out of it, traded with the Indians, gave them liquor, and this, too, con- trary to my most pointed and particular directions. Thus, after I had used, in going up the river with my party, the strictest economy, living upon two pounds of frozen venison a day, in order that we might have pro- vision to carry us down in the spring, this fellow was MEAN CONDUCT OF PIKE'S SERGEANT. 263- squandering away the flour, pork, and liquor during the winter, and while we were starving with hunger and cold. I had saved all our com, bacon, and the meat of six deer, and left it at Sandy Lake with some tents, my mess boxes, salt, and tobacco, all of which we were obliged to sacrifice by not returning the same route we went, and we consoled ourselves at this loss by the flai> tering idea that we should find at our little post a hand- some stock preserved; how mortifying the disappoint- ment ! We raised our barrel of flour and came down to the mouth of a little river on the east which we had passed on the twenty-first December. The ice covered with water. " March fifth, Wednesday. — Passed all the encamp- ments between Pine Creek and the post, at which we arrived about ten o'clock. I sent a man on aheM to prevent the salute I had before ordered by letter ; this I did from the idea that the Sioux chiefs would accom- pany me. Found all well. Confined my sergeant. About one o'clock, Mr. Dickson arrived with the Kil- leur Rouge, his son, and ,two other Sioux men, with two women, who had come up to be introduced to the Sauteurs they expected to find with me. Received a letter from Reinville. " March fifteenth, Saturday. — ^^This was the day fixed upon by Mr. Grant and the Chippeway warriors for their arrival at my fort ; and I was all day anxiously expect- ing them, for I knew that should they not accompany me down, the peace partially efiected between them and the Sioux would not be on a permanent footing ; and upon this I take them to be neither so brave nor gener- ous as the Sioux, who, in all their transactions, appear to be candid and brave, whereas, the Chippeways are £64 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. i iuspicious, consequently treacherous, and, of course, cowards. "March seventeenth, Monday. — Left the fort with my interpreter and Roy, in order to visit Thomas, the Pols Avoin chief, who was encamped, with six lodges of his nation, about twenty miles below us, on a little 'river which pmpties into the Mississippi, on the west side, a little above Clear river. On our way down, killed one goose, wounded another, and a deer that the dogs had driven into an air hole ; hung our game on the trees. Arrived at the creek, took out on it ; as- cended three or four miles on one bank, and descended on the other. Killed another goose. Struck the Mis- sissippi below ■ . Encamped at our encampment of the of October, when we ascended the river. Ate "our goose for supper. It snowed all day, and at night a ^ery severe storm arose. It may be imagined that we spent a very disagreeable night, without shelter, and but one blanket each. " March eighteenth, Tuesday. — We marched, deter- mined to find the lodges. Met an Indian, whose track we pursued, through almost impenetrable woods, for about two and a half miles, to the camps. Here there was one of the finest sugar camps I almost ever saw, the whole of the timber being sugar tree. We were conducted to the chief's lodge, who received us in the patriarchal style. He pulled off my leggins and mocca- sins, put me in the best place in his lodge, and offered me dry clothes. He then presented us with syrup of the maple to drink, then asked whether I preferred eating beaver, swan, elk, or deer ; upon my giving the preference to the first, a large kettle was filled by his wife, of which soup was made ; this being thickened with NO CHASTITY AMONG SAVAGES. 265 flour, we had what I then thought a delicious repast. After we had refreshed ourselves, he asked whether we would visit his people at the other lodges, which we did ; and in each were presented with something to eat ; by some with a bowl of sugar, by others, with a beaver's tail. After making this tour, we returned to the chief's lodge, and found a berth provided for each of us, of good soft bear skins, nicely spread, and on mine there was a large feather pillow. I must not here omit to mention an anecdote which serves to characterize more particularly their manners. This, in the eyes of the contracted moralist, would deform my hospitable host into a monster of Ubertinism; hut, by a liberal mind, would be considered as arising from the hearty genero- sity of the wild savage. In the course of the day, ob- serving a ring on one of my fingers, he inquired if it was gold ; he was told it was the gift of one with whom I should be happy to be at that time. He seemed to think seriously, and at night told my interpreter, ' that perhaps his father (as they all called me) felt much igrieved for the want of a woman ; if so, he could furnish him with one.' He was answeredi, that with us, each man had but one wife, and that I considered it strictly my duty to remain faithful to her. This he thought strange (he himself having three), and replied that 'he knew some Americans at his nation who had half a dozen wives during the winter.' The interpreter ob- served that they were men without character, but that all our great men had each but one wife. The chief acquiesced, but said he liked better to have as many as he pleased. This conversation passing without any appeal to me, as the interpreter knew my mind on those occasions, and answered immediately, it did not 266 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. appear as an immediate refusal of the woman. Con- tinued snowing very hard all day. Slept very warm. " April eleventh, Friday. — Although it snowed very- hard, we brought over both boats, and descended the river to the island at the entrance of the St. Peter's. I sent to the chiefs and infornied them I had something to communicate to them. The Fils de Pinchow immediately waited on me, and informed me that he would provide a place for the purpose. About sundown I was sent for and introduced into the council-house, where I found a great many chiefs of the Sussitongs, Gens des Feuilles, and the Gens du Lac. The Yanctongs had not yet come down. They were all waiting for my arriyal. There were about one hundred lodges, or, six hundred people; we were saluted on our crossing the river with ball as usuaL The council-house was two large lodges, capable of con- taining three hundred men. In the upper were forty chiefs, and as many pipes set against the poles, along side of which I had the Sauteurs' pipes arranged. I then informed them in short detail, of my transactions with the Sauteurs ; but my interpreters were not capable of making themselves underst-ood. I was therefore obliged to omit mentioning every particular relative to the rascal who fired on my sentinel, and of the scoundrel who broke the Fols Avoins' canoes, and threatened my life; the interpreters however informed them that I wanted some of their principal chiefs to go to St. Louis ; and that those who thought proper might descend to the prairie,^ where we would give them more explicit information. They all smoked out of the Sauteurs' pipes, excepting three, who were painted black, and were some of those who lost their relations last winter. I invited the Fils FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR CARVER S CAVE. 26T de Pinchow/ and the son of the Killeur Rouge, to come over and sup with me ; when Mr. Dickson and myself endeavoured to explain what I intended to have said to them, could I have made myself understood; that at the prairie we would have all things explained ; that I was desirous of making a better report of them than Captain Lewis could do from their treatment of him. The former of those savages was the person who remained around my post all last winter, and treated my men so well ; they endeavoured to excuse their people. "AprU twelfth, Saturday. — Embarked early. Al- though my interpreter had been frequently up the river, he could not tell me where the cave (spoken of by Carver) could be found ; we carefully sought for it,. but in vain. At the Indian village, a few miles below St. Peter's, we were about to pass a few lodges, but on receiving a very particular invitation to come on shore, we landed, and were received in a lodge kindly ; they presented us sugar. I gave the proprietor a dram, and was "about to departVhen he demanded a kettle of liquor ; on being refused, and after I had left the shore, he told me, that he did not like the arrangements, and that he would go to war this summer. I directed the interpreter to tell him, that if I returned to the St. Peter's with the troops, I would settle that affair with him. On our arrival at the St. Croix, I found the Petit Corbeau with his people, and Messrs. Frazer and Wood. We had a conference, when the Petit Corbeau niade many apologies for the misconduct of his people; he represented to us the different manners in which the young warriors had been inducing him to go to war ; ' Probably the son of the French trader Penneshaw. 268 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. that he had been much blamed for dismissing his party last fall ; but that he was determined to adhere as far as lay in his power to our instructions ; that he thought it most prudent to remain here and restrain the warriors. He then presented me with a beaver robe and pipe, and his message to the general. That he was determined to pf-eserve peace, and make the road clear ; also a remem- brance of his promised medal. I made a reply, calculated to confirm him. in his good intentions, and assured him that he should not be the less remembered by his father, although not present. I was informed that, notwith- standing the instruction of his license, and my particular request, Murdoch Cameron had taken liquor and sold it to- the Indians on the river St. Peter's, and that his partner below had been equally imprudent. I pledged myself to prosecute them accordiag to law ; for they have been the occasion of great confusion, and of much injury to the other traders. This day met a canoe of Mr. Dickson's loaded with provisions, under the charge of Mr. Anderson, brother of the Mr. Anderson at Leech Lake. He politely offered me any provision he had on board (for which Mr. Dickson had given me an order), but not now being in want, I did not accept of any. This day, for the first time, I observed the trees beginning to bud, and indeed the climate seemed to have changed very materially since we passed the Falls of St. Anthony. "April thirteenth, Sunday. — We embarked after breakfast. Messrs. Frazer and Wood accompanied me. Wind strong ahead. They out-rowed us ; the first boat or canoe we met with on the voyage able to do it, but then they were double manned and light. Arrived at the band of the Aile Rouge at two o'clock, where we *vere saluted as usual. We had , a council, when he PIKE SPENDS A DAY AT RED WING. 26ft spoke with more detestation of the rascals at the mouth of the St. Peter's, than any man I had yet heard. He assured me, speaking of the fellow who had fired on my sentinel and threatened to kill me, that if I thought it re- quisite, he should be killed; but that, as there were many chiefs above with whom he wished to speak, he hoped I would remain one day, when all the Sioux would be down, and I might have the command of a thousand men of them, that I would probably think it no honour; but that the British used to flatter them they were proud of having them for soldiers. I replied in general terms, and assured him it was not for the conduct of two or three rascals that I meant to pass over all the good treatment I had received from the Sioux nation ; but that in general council I would explain itiyself. That as to the scoundrel who fired at my sentinel, had I been at home the Sioux nation would never have been troubled with him, for I would have killed him on the spot. But that my young men did not do it, appre- hensive that I would be displeased. . I then gave him the news of the Sauteurs, that as to remaining one day, it would be of no service; that I was much pressed to arrive below; as my general expected me, my duty called me, and that the state of my provision demanded the utmost expedition; that I would be happy to oblige him, but that my men must eat. He replied that Lake Pepin being yet shut with ice, if I went on and en- camped on the ice, it would not get me provision. That he would send out all his young men the next day; and that if the other bands did not arrive, he would depart the day after with me. In short, after much talk, I agreed to remain one 'day, knowing that the lake was 270 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. olosed, and that we could proceed only nine miles if we went; this appeared to give general satisfaction. " I was invited to different feasts> and entertained at one by a person whose father was enacted a chief by the Spaniards. At this feast I saw a man (called by the French the Roman Nose, and by the Indians the Wind that Walks) who was formerly the second chief of the Sioux/ but being the cause of the death of one of the traders, seven years since, he voluntarily relinquished the dignity, and has frequently requested to be given up to the whites. But he was now determined to go to St. Louis and deliver himself up where he said they might put him to death. His long repentance, the great confidence of the nation in him, would perhaps protect him from a punishment which the crime merited. But as the crime was committed long before the United States assumed its authority, and as no law of theirs could affect it, unless it was ex post facto, and had a retrospective effect, I conceived it would certainly be •dispunishable now. I did not think proper, however, to inform him so. I here received a letter from Mr. RoUet, partner of Mr. Cameron, with a present of some hrandy, coffee, and sugar. I hesitated about receiving those articles from the j)artner of the man I intended to prosecute; their amount being trifling, however, I accepted of them, offering him pay. I assured him that the prosecution arose from a sense of duty, and not from any personal prejudice. My canoe did not come up in consequence of the head wind. Sent out two men in a canoe to set fishing lines; the canoe overset, and had it not been for the timely assistance of the savages, who carried them into their lodges, undressed them, and treated them with the greatest humanity and ATTEMPT TO TAKE PIKE'S LIFE. 271 kindness, they must inevitably have perished. At this place I was infonned, that the rascal spoken of as hav- ing threatened my life, had actually cocked his gun to shoot me from behind the hills, but was prevented by the others. "April fourteenth, Monday. — Was invited to a feast by the Roman Nose. His conversation was interesting, aiid shall be detailed hereafter. The other Indians not yet arrived. Messrs. Wood, Prazer, and myself, ascended a high hill called the Barn, from which we had a view of Lake Pepin ; the valley through which the Missis- sippi by numerous channels wound itself to the St. Croix ; the Cannon river, and the lofty hills on each side. "April fifteenth, Tuesday. — Arose very early and embarked about sunrise, much to the astonishment of the Indians, who were entirely prepared for the council when they heard I had put off; however, after some ■conversation with Mr. Frazer, they acknowledged that it was agreeably to what I had said, that I would sail ■early, and that they could not blame me. I was very positive in my word, for I found it by far the best way to treat the Indians. The Aile Rouge had a beaver robe and pipe prepared to present, but was obliged for the present to retain it. Passed through Lake Pepin with my barges; the canoe being obliged to lay by> did not come on. Stopped at a prairie on the right bank descending, about nine miles below Lake Pepin. Went out to view some hills which had the appearance of the old fortifications spoken of; but I will speak more fully of them hereafter. In these hollows I discovered a flock of elk, tpok out fifteen men, but we were not able to kill any. Mr. Prazer came up and passed on about 272 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. two miles. We encamped together. Neither Mr. Wood's nor my canoe- arrived. Snowed considerably. "April sixteenth, Wednesday. — Mr. Frazer's canoes and my boats sailed about one hour by sun. We waited some time expecting Mr. Wood's barges and my canoe, but hearing a gun fired first just above pur encamp- ment, we were induced to make sail. Passed the AUe Prairie, also La Montague qui Trompe k L'eau, the prairie De Cross, and encamped on the west shore, a few hundred yards below, where I had encamped on the day of September, in ascending. Killed a goose flying. Shot at some pigeons at our' camp, and was answered from behind an island with two guns ; we re- turned them, and were replied to by two more. This day the trees appeared in bloom. Snow might still be seen on the sides of the hills. Distance seventy-five miles. " April seventeenth, Thursday. — Put off pretty early and arrived at Wabasha's band at eleven o'clock, where I detained all day for him; but he alone of all the hunters remained out all night. Left some powder and tobacco for him. The Sioux presented me with a kettle of boiled meat and a deer. I here received information that the Puants had killed some white men below. Mr. Wood's and my canoe arrived. "April eighteenth, Friday. — Departed from our en- campment very early. Stopped to breakfast at the Painted Kock. Arrived at the Prairie Des Chiens at two o'clock; and were received by crowds on tiie bank. Took up my quarters at Mr. Fisher's. My men received a present of one barrel of pork from Mr. Campbell, a bag of biscuit, twenty loaves of bread, and some meat GREAT BALL PLAT AT PRAIRIE DU CIIIEN. 273 from Mr. Fisher. A Mr. Jearreau/ from Cahokia, is here, who embarks to-morrow for St. Louis. I wrote to General Wilkinson by hitn. I was called on by a num- ber of chiefs, Reynards, Sioux of the Des Moyan. The Winnebagoes were here intending, as I was informed, to deliver some of the murderers to me. Received a great deal of news from the States and Europe, both civil and military. " April nineteenth, Saturday. — Dined at Mr. Camp- bell's in company with Messrs. Wilmot, Blakely, Wood, Rollet, Fisher, Frazer, and Jearreau. Six canoes arrived from the upper part of the St. Peter's with the Yanctong' chiefs from the head of that river. Their appearance was indeed savage, much more so than any nation I have yet seen. Prepared my boat for sail, Gave notice to the Puants that I had business to do with them the next day. A band of the Gens du Lac arrived. Took into my pay as interpreter Mr. Y. Rein- viUe. " April twentieth, Sunday. — Held a council with the Puant chiefs, and demanded of them the murderers of their nation ; they required till to-morrow to consider on it ; this afternoon they had a great game of the cross on the prairie, between the Sioux on the one side, and the Puants and Reynards on the other. The ball is made of some hard substance and covered with leather,, tiie cross sticks are round and net-work, with handles of three feet long. The parties being ready, and bets agreed upon (sometimes to the amount of some thou- sand dollars), the goals are set up on the prairie at the distance of half a mile. The ball is thrown up in the middle, and each party strives to drive it to the opposite ' Or Jarrot. 18 274 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. goal; and when either party gains the first rubber, which is driving it quick round the post, the ball is again taken to the centre, the ground changed, and the contest renewed ; and this is continued until one side gains four times, which decides the bet. It is an inter- esting sight to, see two or three hundred naked savages •contending on the plaia who shall bear off the palm of victory; he who drives the ball round the goal is much shouted at by his companions. It sometimes hap- pens that one catches the ball in his racket, and depend- ing on his speed endeavours to carry it to the goal, and when he finds himself too closely pursued, he hurls it with great force and dexterity to an amazing distance, where there are always flankers of both parties ready to receive it ; it seldom touches the ground, but is some- times kept in the air for hours before either party can gain the victory. In the game I witnessed, the Sioux were victorious, more I believe from the superiority of their skill in throwing the ball, than by their swiftness, for I thought the Puants and Reynards the swiftest runners. I made a written demand of the magistrates to take deposition concerning the late murders. Had a private conversation with Wabasha. " April twenty-fifth, Monday. — Was sent for by La Feuille, and had a long and interesting conversation with him, in which he spoke of the general jealousy of his nation towards their chiefs ; and that although he knew it might occasion some of the Sioux displeasure, he did not hesitate to declare that he looked on the Nez Corbeau as the man of most sense in their nation ; and that he believed it would be generally acceptable if he was reinstated in his rank. Upon my return I was sent for by the Red Thunder, chief of the Yanctongs the RED THUNDER'S (YANKTON CHIEF) SPEECH. 275 anost savage band of the Sioux. He was prepared with ■the most elegant pipes and robes I ever saw ; and shortly he declared, that ' That white blood had never been shed in the village of the Yanctongs, even when rum was permitted; that Mr. Murdoch Cameron arrived at his village last autumn; that he invited him to eat, gave him com as a bird; that he (Cameron) informed him of the prohibition of rum, and was the only person who afterwards sold it in the village.' After this I had a council with the Puants. Spent the evening with Mr. Wilmot, one of the best informed and most gentle- manly men in the place. "April twenty-second, Tuesday. — Held a council with the Sioux and Puants, the latter of whom deUvered up their medals and flags. Prepared to depart to-morrow." 27tt HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XIV. The traders of the North-west Company, though they treated Lieutenant Pike with the respect due his commission, and extended to him their hospitality, did not approve of the policy that the United States govern- ment were intending to inaugurate. They were well aware if the system of establishing central dep6ts of trade, with goods furnished by the government at low rates, was successful, that "their occupation was gone." Influence was* consequently employed to prevent the tribes from patronizing the United States factories, and cultivating friendly inter- course with the Americans. Pike had scarcely disappeared from the waters of the Mississippi, before Dickson, Rolette, and Cameron dis- regarded the regulations which had been established. At the commencement of the century Cameron was the principal British trader on the Upper Minnesota, and the spot where he was buried in 1811, is known among voyageurs as " Cameron's Grave." He was a shrewd and daring Scotchman. One of his employees was an old Canadian, familiarly called Milor, who has recently died at Mendota. He related a circumstance which occurred while in the service of Cameron, which well exhibits the hard- SUFFERINGS OF CAMERON'S VOTAQEURS. 277 ships to which the engag6es of the fur trade are often exposed. While at one of the outposts of Cameron, on a tribu- tary of the Minnesota, the winter suddenly set in, and it was impossible to use the canoe. Hoping that there would be a thaw, he and his companions waited from day to day, until their provisions were exhausted. The weather remaining cold, their only alternative was to place their packs of furs beneath the upturned canoe, and seek the shelter of the woods, in the hope that Cameron would send relief. With their last meal in their pockets, they com- menced their journey through the deep snow. Mee^ting with no game, when they encamped on the evening of the second day, they were compelled by hunger to eat of the bark of a tree. During the third day two of the party began to fail in strength, and to beg the others to stop and show that they were losing their judgment. Milor gave no heed to their entreaties, but pushing ahead came at dusk to a place sheltered from the piercing wind, and there found an Indian frozen to death beside the remnants of a small fire. Milor now shouted to his fellow voyageurs, and told them that to stop was to secure a similar fate. Frightened by the scene, they quickened their pace, until late at night. Milor and another succeeded in catching two muskrats, and, building up a good fire, they feasted on one of the rats, and rested till the break of day. Making a breakfast on the remaining rat, the party resumed their march, Milor encouraging them by saying that they would soon come to a place where there was an abundance of muskrats, and that as soon as they had 278 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. laid in a supply of them, they would strike for Traverse- des Sioux, when they would be sure to hear of Cameron and obtain food. For several days they found but one muskrat ; but on the morning of the eighth day, after they had been marching an hour, Milor, looking attentively in a south- east direction, declared that he saw smoke, and that there must be a fire. This, for a time, had the exhila- rating effect of wine; but after two or three hours the sign disappeared, and they began to despond ; when the thought came to Milor that if there was a party coming to their relief, they would be on the lookout also. In less than half an hour he had ascended a bluff, and descried a thick column of smoke, about three miles distant. Waving his cap to his companions, and shout- ing for joy, he hurried in that direction, and found a party who had come to their aid. Two men were there, each with a pack of pork and biscuit, which had been despatched from Traverse des Sioux, whUe Cameron and three others were expecting to start with an addi- tional supply. When the fatigued party came into- camp, they literally danced for joy. Featherstonhaugh, who relates the story, remarks : " This incident is very much to the credit of Cameron, who made so resolute an attempt to relieve his poor engag^es, when the chances of success were so few." As early as the year 1807, it was evident that undei some secret influence the Indian tribes of the North- west were combining with hostile iatentions towards the United States. In the year 1809, a trader by the name of Nicholas Jarrot, who frequently visited Prairie du Chien, made an affidavit at Saint Louis, that the British traders at that place were furnishing the Indians DICKSON— HIS CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE. 279 with guns for hostile purposes. Messengers from the Prophet, brother of Tecuinseh, painted black, were sent among the Ojibways, and in solemn council they told the astonished natives that the Prophet who sent them had been told by one of the great spirits that it was the will of the gods that Indians should live independent of the whites, and return to primitive usages. The flint and steel were to be discarded; and fire obtained as of old, by the friction of two sticks. To those who believed the message, blessings were promised. They also claimed that the Prophet could resuscitate the dead. The late William Warren asserts that a dead child was taken from Lake Ottawa to Keweena, on Lake Superior, for the purpose of having it brought to life by the Pro- phet ; but putrefaction having taken place, the project was abandoned. At this period, a red-haired Scotchman, of strong intellect, good family, and ardent attachment to the crown of England, was at the head of the Indian trade in Minnesota. Pike, who visited, him in 1806, at one of his trading posts near Sauk Rapids, describes him as " a gentleman of general commercial knowledge, and of open, frank manners." Governor Edwards of Illinois, writing to the secretary of war, says : " The opinion of Dickson, the celebrated British trader, is, that, in the event of a war with Great Britain, all the Indians will be opposed to us, and he hopes to engage them in hos- tility by making peace between the Sioux and Chippe- ways, and in having them to declare war against us." A source of influence among the Dahkotahs of Minne- sota was the fact that he had married a sister of Eed Thunder, one of their bravest chiefs, and that the 280 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Britisli government had appointed him agent and super- intendent of the western tribes. On the first of May, 1812, two Indians were appre- hended at Chicago, who were on their way to meet Dickson at Green Bay. They had taken the precaution to put their letters in their moccasins, and bury them in the ground, and were allowed to proceed. A Mr. Frazer, of Prairie du Chien, who was present at the portage of the Wisconsin, when the Indians deli- vered the letters, stated that Dickson was informed that the British flag would soon be flying on the American garrison at Mackinaw. About this time, Cadotte, Deace, and John Askiii were at Fond du Lac, Minnesota, collecting Ojibway warriors. At Green Bay, Black Hawk was formally created commander-in-chief , of the Indian forces, by Dickson presenting him with a medal and certificate, a British flag of silk. The garrison at Mackinaw was composed of fifty-seven soldiers, with a lieutenant in command. Before Lieu- tenant Hanks was aware that war had been proclaimed by the United States, he was surprised by a force of British soldiers and Indians landing from a ship that belonged to the North-west Company, and numerous batteaux and birch canoes. With the British army were traders who had long been familiar with the ,tribes of Wisconsin and Minnesota, Askin, Langlade, Michael Cadotte, and Joseph Rolette. The American ofiicer, perceiving the overwhelming force of the enemy, which consisted of forty regulars of the royal veteran batta- lion, two hundred and sixty Canadians, with their bour- geois or employees, and several hundred Dahkotah, Ojib way, Winnebago, and Menomonee Indians, capitulated without firing a single gun on July the seventeenth, 1812. INVITATION TO EAT AN AMERICAN". 281 An American gentleman, who had been made pris- oner, writes from Detroit on August sixth, to the Sec- retary of War : — " The persons who commanded the Indians are Robert Dickson, Indian trader, and John Askin, Jr., Indian agent, and son. The latter two were painted and dressed after the manner of the Indians. Those who com- manded the Canadians are John Johnson, Crawford, Pothier, Armitinger, La Croix, Rolette, Franks, Living- ston and other traders, some of whom were lately con- cerned in smuggling British goods into the Indian country, and, in conjunction with others, have been using their utmost efforts, several months before the declaration of war, to excite the Indians to take up arms. The least resistance from the fort would have been attended with the destruction of all the persons who fell into the hands of the British, as I have been assured by some of the British traders." The next year Dickson, Renville, and other Minne- sota traders, are present with the Kaposia, Wapashaw, and other bands of Dahkotahs, at the siege of Fort Meigs. While Renville was seated one afternoon with Wapa- shaw, and the then chief of the Kaposia band, a deputa- tion came to invite them to meet the other allied Indians, . with which the chiefs complied. Frazer, an old trader in Minnesota, came and told Renville that the Indians were about to eat an Ame- rican. On repairing to the spot, the flesh was found carved up, and apportioned in dishes, one for each nation present. The bravest man of each tribe was urged to step forward and partake of the heart and 282 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. bead, and only one warrior of a tribe was allowed to partake of tbese rarities. Among tbose assembled tbere was a nephew of tbe Kaposia chief, known among the traders as the Grand Chasseur, who was pressed by a Winnebago to partake of the human flesh. In a moment his uncle told him to leave the feast, and, arising, made a speech creditable to his humanity : — "My friends," said he, "we came here not to eat: Americans, but to wage war against them ; that will suffice for us ; and could we do that if left to our own forces? We are poor and destitute, while they possess the means of supplying themselves with all that they require ; we ought not therefore to do such things." Wapashaw then spoke in these words, " We thought that you, who live near to white men, were wiser and more refined than we are who live at a distance ; but it must indeed be otherwise if you do such deeds." Col. Dickson, sending for the Winnebago, who origi-^ nated the disgusting feast, asked what impelled him to- such a course. To which the savage rephed, that it was better for him to kill the American and eat him,, than it was for the Americans to burn his house, ravish and murder his wife and daughters. The citizens of the United States, ia the valley of the Mississippi, now began to feel uneasy ; and in the Mis- souri Gazette of July thirty-first, 1813, published at St. Louis, there is a plea by the editor, for the defence of Prairie du Chien : — " Last winter," he says, " We endeavoured to turn the attention of the government toward Prairie du Chien, a position which we ought to occupy by establishing a military post at the village, or on the Ouisconsin. For FIRST AMERICAN FORT AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 28S several months we have not been able to procure any other than Indian information from the prairie, the enemy having cut off all communication ; but we are persuaded that permanent subsistence can be obtained for one thousand regular troops in the upper lake coup- try. At Prairie du Chien there are about fifty families, most of whom are engaged in agriculture. Their com- mon field is four miles long by half a mile in breadth. Besides this field they have three separate farms, and twelve horse-mills to manufacture their produce." In February, 1814, the Americans captured St. Jo- seph's, in Lake Huron, not far from Sault St. Marie, and Mr. Bailly and five others connected with the- Mackinaw Company were taken prisoners. On the first of May, 1814, Governor Clark, with twa hundred men, left St. Louis, to build a fort at the junc- tion of the Wisconsin and Mississippi. Twenty days before he arrived at Prairie du Chien, Dickson had started for Mackinaw with a band of Dahkotahs and Winnebagoes. The place " was left in command of Captain Deace and the Mackinaw Fencibles. The Dahkotahs refusing to co-operate, when the Americans made their appearance they fled. The Americans took possession of the old Mackinaw house, in which they found nine or ten trunks of papers belonging to Dick- son. From one they took the following extract: — " Arrived, from below, a few Winnebagoes with scalps. Gave them tobacco, six pounds powder, and six pounds ball." A fort was immediately commenced on the site of the residence of H. L. Dousman, which was composed of two block-houses in the angles, and another on the bank of the river, with a subterranean communication. In 284 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. honour of the governor of Kentucky it was named '' Shelby." The fort was in charge of Lieutenant Perkins, and sixty rank and file, and two gun-boats, each of which carried a six-pounder ; and several howitzers were com- manded by Captains Yeiser, Sullivan, and Aid-de-camp Kennerly. The traders at Mackinaw, learning that the Ameri- cans had built a fort at the Prairie, and knowing that as long as they held possession they would be cuf oiF from the trade with the Dahkotahs, they immediately raised an expedition to capture the garrison. The captain was an old trader by the name of McKay, and under him was a sergeant of artillery, with a brass six-pounder, and three or four volunteer companies of Canadian voyageurs, commanded by traders and officered by their clerks, all dressed in red coats, with a number of Indians. The Americans had scarcely completed their rude fortification, before the British force, guided by Joseph Kolette, Sr., descended in canoes to a point on the Wis- consin, several miles from the Prairie, to which they marched in battle array. McKay sent a flag demand- ing a surrender; Lieutenant Perkins replied that he would defend it to the last. At three o'clock, on the afternoon of July seventeenth, the British and Indians attacked the gun-boat of Captain Yeiser ; the Indians firing from behind the houses and pickets. The boat moved up toward the head of the village, discharging volleys, which were quickly an- swered by the British. The enemy now crossed the river, and commenced an attack from the opposite side, AMERICANS RETREAT FROM PRAIRIE DC CHIEN. 285 which caused Captain Yeiser to run his boat through the enemy's lines to a point a few miles below. Lieutenant Perkins, in the meantime, fought bravely in the fort for three days and nights. Pi msions, am- munition, and water, began to fail, and the enemy were approaching the pickets by mining. He therefore wisely surrendered, capitulating that they were to retain their private property, and not to serve until duly exchanged. After placing them on parol, the British commander escorted them to the gun-boat " Governor Clark," in which they had arrived only a month before, and sent 'them down the river. In their descent they were followed by a party of the blood-thirsty savages in canoes, who did not turn back until they reached Rock Island. About the time of the capture, a detachment of troops were on their way from St. Louis, under the command of a Lieut. Campbell, to- strengthen the garrison. Ar- riving at Eock Island, he held a confereiice with Black Hawk at his village. A few m,oments after his depar- ture, runners j by way of Eock Biver, brought the news to the Sauk village that the Americans had been de- feated at Prairie du Chien. Immediately they started in pursuit of Campbell's party, which they overtook at a small island near the Illinois shore, about three miles above their village. A fierce encounter took place, in which the Americans were worsted. The officer was wounded, several men were killed, and one of their boats captured, so that it became necessary to retreat to St. Louis. Fort Shel- by, after the capture, was called Fort McKay. After the attack of Black Hawk on Campbell, the commander of Fort McKay erected a battery, with two twelve- 286 HISTOEY OF MINNESOTA. pounders and six painted wooden guns, near Rock Island, on the east side of the river. Late in August, 1814, Major Zaehary Ta.ylor, the late president of the United States, proceeded in some gun-boats to punish the' Indians who had attacked Celmpbell ; but on his arrival he was astonished to find the British there with a large force of Indians. It was a bright, beautiful morning in September when the ■engagement began, and the first cannon ball fired from the British battery passed through one of Taylor's gun- boats, commanded by Captain Hempstead. Taylor, like Ceimpbell, soon had his boats disabled, a;nd was obliged to drOp down the stream about three miles to repair, and attend to the wounded. During the conflict it became necessary for some one to carry a cable from a disabled boat which was drifting towards the Indians to one commanded by Captain Whiteside. A youth of twenty-three, named Paul Hafpole, per- formed the undertaking successfully, but having done this, he lingered and fired fourteen guns which were lianded him at the enemy, when he himself was shot. His body, floating down the stream, was seized by yell- ing savages and cut into many pieces. In the engage- ment eleven Americans were badly wounded. Among those who came m Captain Yeiser's gun-boat -to St. Louis, after the Surrender of Prairie du Chien, was a friendly "one-eyed Sioux," who had behaved gallantly when the boat was attacked by British artil- lery. In the fall of the same year, this onereyed Sioux, with another of the same nation, ascended the Missouri under the protection of the distinguished trader, Manual Lisa, as far as the Au Jacques river, and from thence he struck across the country, enlisting the Sioux in DICKSON AND THE "ONE-EYED SIOUX." 287 ■favour of the United States, and at length arrived at Prairie du Chien. On his arrival, Dickson accosted hiin, and inquired from whence he came, and what was his business ; at the same time rudely snatching his bundle from his shoulders, and searching for letters. The "one-eyed warrior" told him that he was from St. Louis, and that he had promised the white chiefs there that lie would go to Prairie du Chien, and that he had kept his promise. Dickson then placed him in confinement in Fort Mc- Kay, as the garrison was called by the British; and ordered him to divulge what information he possessed, or he would put him to death. But the faithful fellow said h^ would impart nothing, and that he was ready for death if he wished to kill him. Finding that con- finement had no effect, Dickson at last liberated him. He then left, and visited the bands of Sioux on the Upper Mississippi, with which he passed the winter. "When he returned in the spring, Dickson had gone to Mackinaw, and Captain Bulger was in command of the fort. While there, on May twenty-third, 1815, the British evacuated the fort, the news of peace having arrived. As they retired, they fired the fort with the American colours fljdng ; and the brave Sioux, exposing himself to the flames, rushed in and bore off the American flag and an American medal. This one-eyed Sioux, if Dr. Foster of Hastings is correct, is still living. In an article published in the Minnesota Democrat, May, 1854, he speaks of the sign- ers of the treaty between Pike, on the part of the Uni- ted States, and the Dahkohtahs, and says : — " I have omitted till the last, mention of Le Orig- 288 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. nal Lev6, who, next to Little Crow, appears to have been the most prominent individual present. Pike calls him ' my friend,' and seems to have made him some marked presents — ^indeed, the Indian relationship and tie of comradeship was probably adopted between them. Pike says he 'was a war chief, and that he gave him my [his] father's tomahawk,' though what he means by that, passes my comprehension. In the tablp of Indian chiefs, in the appendix to Pike's Journal, he is set down as belonging to the Medaywokant'wans; his Indian name is given as Tahamie, his French as L'Orignal Leve, and his English as the ' Rising Moose,' which is stated to be literally translated. "I believe this war chief to be identical with the aged Indian, with whom most of the old settlers are familiar by the name of Tah-mah-haw, whose character- istics are one eye, and his always wearing a stove-pipe hat. He is remarkable among the Sioux — and it is his greatest pride and boast, that he is the only American in his tribe. This is explained by the fact, that in the war with Great Britain in 1812, when the rest of the Sioux sided with the British, and when Little Crow, with Joseph Eenville, led on a war party to join the British army against us, he refused to participate on that side, and joined the Americans at St. Louis, where he was employed by General Clarke, in the American service. " He has now in his possession, and carefully keeps a commission from General Clarke, dated in 1814, as a chief of the Sioux; the commission says of the Ked Wing band of Indians — which was originally part of WabashaVs band. " If he is the same person as L'Orignal Lev^, then FOSTER'S ACCOUNT OF TAMAHAW. 289 Pike and his Indian comrade fought in the same ranks, and the friendship the latter imbibed at Pike's visit for the Americans, stood the ,test of time and vicissitudes. " He deserves on this account to receive from the go- vernment authorities, special and marked attention. "Joseph Mojou, an old Canadian of Point Presoott, told me that Tamahaw was called by the voyageurs, the 'Old Priest,' because he was a great talker on all^ occasions. In Sioux, tamwamda means to talk earnestly; to vociferate ; and this bears some resemblance to his Indian name as at present pronounced. " My friend Mr. Hatch informs me, when he traded with the Winnebagoes and with the Sioux of Wabashaw band, he knew him, and has seen his commission /from General Clarke. The Winnebagoes, who were ac- quainted with him, translated his name to mean the pike fish, and therefore called him Nazeekah — though tahrmah-hay and not ixihrmah-Jiaw, is the word for ' pike' in the Dakotah tongue. " It may be thought more pains are taken to elucidate this personal history of an old Indian, than the subject warrants. But when we reflect that this old Indian was the contemporary, if not personal friend of Pike; that he and one other Sioux were of all his tribe wha sided with the Americans in the war of 1812 ; there is an interest justly attached to his identity and history, which deserves more than ordinary attention. The other SioUx who, like Tamahaw, joined the Americans in 1812, was Hay-pee-dan, who belonged to Wakootay's band. He is now deceased." As late as 1817, Colonel Dickson was living in Min- nesota, at, Lake Traverse, and the Indian agent at Prairie du Chien suspected that he was alienating the 19 290 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Dahkotahs from the United States, and in company with Lord Selkirk, striving to secure their trade, as the fol- lowing extract from his letter of February sixteenth, 1818, to the governor of Illinois will show: — "What do you suppose, sir, has been the result of the passage through my agency of this British nobleman ?* Two entire bands, and part of a third, all Sioux, have deserted us and joined Dickson, who has distributed to them large quantities of Indian presents, together with flags, medals, etc. Knowing this, what must have been my feelings on hearing that his lordship had met with a favourable reception at St. Louis. The newspapers announcing hia arrival, and general Scottish appearance, all tend to discompose me; believing as I do, that he is plotting with his friend Dickson our destruction — sharpening the savage scalping knife, and colonizing a tract of country, so remote as that of the Red River, for the purpose, no doubt, of monopolizing the fur and peltry trade of this river, the Missouri and their waters ; a trade of the first importance to our Western States and Territories. A courier who had arrived a few days since, confirms the belief that Dickson is endeavouring to undo what I have done, and secure to the British government the affections of the Sioux, and subject the North-west Company to his lordship. ***** Dickson, as I have before observed, is situated near the head of the St. Peter's, to which place he transports his goods frond Selkirk's Red River establishment, in carts made for the purpose. The trip is performed iii five days, sometimes less. ' He is directed to build a fort on the highest land between Lac du Tra-verse and Red ' Earl of Selkirk. The agent's fears were entirely groundlegs. DICKSON'S TRUE CHARACTER. 291 Eiver, which he supposes will be the established line be- tween the two countries. This fort will be defended by twenty men, with two small pieces of artillery." It is said that after this, Dickson was arrested be- iiween the Minnesota and St., Croix, and carried to St. Louis. Dickson, though an active partisan, is believed to have been a humane man. The American papers were naturally prejudiced against him, and all the cruelties of the savages were charged upon him. Says one editor at that day : " How will the English government, and their agent, Robert Dickson, a native of Scotland, appear when it is announced to the world, that he employed a Sauk warrior to assassinate Governor Clarke at Prairie 'du Chien? The governor's timely shifting of his -sword alarmed and deterred from the commission of the act." There appears to have been no real foundation for any such impression. On the contrary, when Black Hawk expressed a desire to attack the defenceless settlements on the Mississippi, Dickson remonstrated, saying " that he had been a trader on the Mississippi many years; had always been kindly treated ; and could not consent to send brave men to murder women and children. That there was no soldiers there to fight, but where he was going to send the Indians there were a number of soldiers, and if they defeated them,_ the Mississippi -country should be given up to them."^ ^ Ramsay Crooks of New York Lakes to the Missouri, and from the city, in a letter to Hon. H. M. Rice, Wabash to the boundary between •October 16, 1857, writes. the United States and Great Britain. " I first went to Mackinaw in Dickson's connection as a trader 1805, as a clerk to Robert Dickson with the Indians was almost entire- & Co., who were then engaged in the ly with the Scioux, (Dahcotahs) of ■trade with the Indians from the St. Peters, (Minnesota) ***** 292 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, In 1815, Wapashaw and Little Crow, of the Kaposia band, visited the British post at Drummond's Island in Lake Huron, at the request of the commanding officer, who desired to thank them in the name of his majesty, for the services the Dahkotahs had rendered during the war. After his remark, he pointed to a few presents on ' the floor, which called forth the following speeches : — "My Father," said Wapashaw, "what is this I see before me ? A few knives and blankets ! , Is this all you promised at the beginning of the war ? Where are those promises you made at Michilimackinac, and sent to our villages on the Mississippi ? You told us you would never let fall the hatchet until the Americans were driven beyond the mountains; that our British Father would never make peace without consulting his red children. Has that come to pass ? We never knew of this peace. We are told it was made by our Great Father beyond the water, without the knowledge of his war chiefs ; that it is your duty to obey his orders. What is this to us ? Will these paltry presents pay for the men we have lost both in the battle and in the war ? Will they soothe the feelings of our friends ? Will they make good your promises to us ? For myself I am an old man. I have lived long and always found the means of subsistence, and I can do so still !" The Little Crow, whose residence at that time was just below St. Paul, on the east side of the river, was more indignant. With vehemence he said, " After we have fought for you, endured many hardships, lost some I was proud to call Robert Dickson . ferocity of the Indians on the fron- mj friend, and I shall ever cherish tier, in the war of 1812, although he his memory as a man who exerted was branded as the worst of savages, himself in restraining the natural at the very time." FOKMATION OF THE AMERICAN FUR COMPANY. 293 of our people, and awakened the vengeance of our power- ful neighbours, you make a peace for yourselvfes, and leave us to obtain such terms as we can ! You no longer need our services, and offer these goods as a compensa- tion for having deserted us. But no ! we will not take them; we hold them and yourselves in equal contempt!" So saying, he spumed the presents with his foot, an(2 walked away. On the nineteenth of July, at Portage des Sioux, a treaty was concluded between the Dahko- tahs of th^ Mississippi, Minnesota, and the Yankton division, and the United States, in which it was stipu- lated that there should be perpetual peace between them, and that all previous acts of hostility should be mutually forgiven and forgotten. After the fame of the North-west Company Was esta- blished, another association of traders was formed, called the Mackinaw Company. In 1809 Astor organized the American Fur Company, and after two years bought out the Mackinaw Company, and created a new com- pany distinguished as the South-west. During the winter of 1815-16 Congress enacted a law, that no foreigner should engage in the Indian trade who did not become a citizen. Astor, after this, established a company with a former title, the American Pur Com- pany. The Indian trade of the North-west was so completely in the hands of British subjects, that it was discovered that the trade could not be carried on without their aid, and the Secretary of the Treasury issued a circular, allowing the Indian agents to license interpreters and voyageurs, who might be employed by the American traders. Under the new arrangements, American citizens began 294 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. to identify themselves with the fur trade of Minnesota, As early as 1816 the late Judge Lockwood of Prairie du Chien, in the capacity of clerk, took charge of a trading post, near the sources of the Minnesota. His remarks, in relation to the Indian trade, which are given in his personal reminiscences,^ show an intimate acquaintance with the trader's life : — " Tradition says that many years since, when there were many wintering traders in both the Upper and Lower Mississippi, it was the custom of every trader visiting Prairie du Chien, to have in store a keg of eight or nine gallons of good wine for convivial purposes when they should again meet in the spring, on which occasions they would have great dinner parties, and, as is the English custom, drink largely. But, when I came into the country, there were but few of the old traders remaining, and the storing of wine at Prairie du Chien had become almost obsolete, although the traders were then well supplied with wine, and that of the best kind, of which they made very free use. It was then thought that a clerk in charge of an outfit must have his keg of wine ; but, after the American Fur Company got fairly initiated into the trade, they abolished the custom of furnishing their clerks with this luxury at the expense of the outfit. As I have already said, the Indian trade of the Mississippi and Missouri and their tributaries was carried on from Mackinaw as the grand dep6t of the trade of the North-west. " The traders and their clerks were then the aristo- cracy of the country ; and, to a Yankee at first sight, presented a singular state of society. To see gentle- ' Wis. His. Soc. Collections, vol. ii. VOYAGEURS' FOOD, DRESS, SALARY. 295 men selecting wives of the nut-brown natives, and raising children of mixed blood, the traders and clerks living in as much luxury as the resources of the country would admit, and the engagees or boatmen living upon soup made of hulled com with barely tallow enough to season it, devoid of salt, unless they purchased it them- selves at a high price — all this to -an American was a novel mode of living, and appeared to be hard fare; but to a person acquainted with the habits of life of the Canadian peasantry, it would not look so much out of the way, as they live mostly on pea soup, seasoned with a piece of pork boiled down to grease ; seldom eating pork except in the form of grease that seasons their soup. With this soup, and a piece of coarse bread, their meals were made; hence the change from pea soup to com is not so great, or the fare much worse than that which they had been accustomed to, as the com is more substantial than peas, not being so flatu- lent. These men engaged in Canada generally for five years for Mackinaw and its dependencies, transferable hke cattle to any one who wanted them, at generally about five hundred livres a year, or, in our currency, about eighty-three dollars and thirty-three cents ; fur- nished with a yearly equipment or outfit of two cotton shirts, one three point or triangular blanket, a portage collar, and one pair of beef shoes ; being obliged, in the Indian country, to purchase their moccasins, tobacco, pipes, and other necessaries, at the price the trader saw fit to charge for them. Generally, at the end of five years, these poor voyageurs were in debt from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars, and could not leave the country until they had paid their indebtedness ; and the policy of the traders was to keep as many of them in 296 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the country as they could; and to this end they allowed and encouraged their engagees to get in debt during the five years, which of necessity required them to remain. " These new hands were by the old voyageurs called in derision, mangeurs de lard—porTcreaters — as on leaving Montreal, and on the route to Mackinaw, they were fed on pork, hard bread, and pea soup, while the old voyar geurs in the Indian country ate com soup, and such other food as could conveniently be procured.^ These mangeurs de lard were brought, at considerable expense and trouble from Montreal and other parts, of Canada, frequently deserting after they had received some ad- vance in money and their equipment. Hence it was the object of the traders to keep as many of the old voyageurs in the country as they could, and they gene- rally permitted the mangeurs de lard to get largely in debt, as they could not leave the country and get back into Canada, except by the return boats or canoes which brought the goods, and they would not take them back if they were in debt anywhere in the country, which could be easily ascertained from the traders at Macki- naw. But if a man was prudent enough to save his wages, he could obtain passage, as he was no longer wanted in the country. " The engagements of the men at Montreal were made in the strongest language ; they bound themselves not to leave the duties assigned them by their employers or assigns either by day or night, under the penalty of for- feiting their wages ; to take charge of, and safely keep, the property put into their trust, and to give notice of any portending evil against their employers, or their ' The experienced voyageurs are ing to Snelling's work on the North- called hivemans or winterers, accord- west. CHARACTER OF EARLY TRADERS. 297 interests^ that should come to their knowledge. It was the practicftof the traders, when anything was stolen from the goods during the voyage, whether on the boat or on shore, to charge the boat's crew with a good round price for it ; and, if anything not indispensable was ac- cidentally left on shore at the encampment, they did not return for it, but charged it to the crew, as it was understood to be their duty, not the employer's, to see that everjrthing was on board the boat. These people in the Indian country became inured to great hardships and privations, and prided themselves upon the distance they could travel per day, and the small quantity of pro- visions they could subsist on while travelling, and the number of days they could go without food. They are very easily governed by a person who understands something of their nature and disposition, but their burgeois or employer must be what they consider a gentleman, or superior to themselves, as they never feel much respect for a man who has, from an engagee, risen to the rank of a clerk. " The traders in this country, at the time I came into it, were a singular compound ; they were honest so far as they gave their word of honour to be relied upon; and, in their business transactions between themselves, seldom gave or took notes for balances or assumptions. It rarely happened that one of them was found who did not fulfil his promises j but when trading in the In- dian country, any advantage that could be taken of each other in a transaction was not only considered lawful — such as traiding each other's credit — but 'an in- dication of tact and cleverness in business. Two traders ha\Tng spejit the winter in the same neighbourhood, and thus taken every advantage they could of each 298 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. other, would meet in the spring at Prairie du Chien^ and amicably settle all difficulties over a glass of wine." After the war with Great Britain, enterprise made a few attempts to develope the resources of the Upper Mississippi. In 1818 the first grist-miU was built at Fisher's Coulee, four miles above Prairie du Chien. The next year the first saw-mill in the country was erected at the Falls of Black river, which was soon burned by the Indians. While the Ojibways and Dahkotahs now acknow- ledged the authority of the United States, they stUl continued their destructive warfare upon each other. Toward the close of the year 1818 one of their terrible conflicts took place, between Lac Traverse and the head waters of the Mississippi. During the summer a Yank- ton chief, called by the French the Grand, held a coun- cil with some Ojibways, and smoked the pipe of peace. When the latter were returning home, some of the Dahkotahs sneaked after them, scalped a few, and took a woman prisoner. When the receipt of the iatelligence reached Leech ,Lake, thirteen young warriors, whose leader was Black Dog, started for the Dahkotah land, having vowed that they would not return until they had avenged the insult. For four weeks they travelled without meeting any of their foes; but at length, on the Pomme de Terre river, on a very foggy morning, they thought a bufFala herd was in sight, which proved to be a large Dahkotah camp. Some of the latter, who were on horseback, saw them, and gave the alarm. The Ojibways, finding that they were discovered, and that their enemies were nume- rous, sent one of their number to their homes east of the Mississippi, to announce their probable death. The SPARTAN BRAVERY. 29& twelve who remained now began to dig holes in the ground, and prepare for the conflict, from which they could not hope to escape. Soon they were surrounded by the Dahkotahs ; but as they drew nigh many were mortally wounded by the Spartan band. The leader of the Dahkotah party, exasperated by their continual loss, gave orders for a general onset, when the whole Ojibway party were tomahawked in their holes. The thirteenth returned home, and related the circumstances; and though their friends mourned their death, they delighted in their bravery. On July 9th, 1817, Major S, H. Messrs. Gun and King, grandsons Long and his friend, Mr. Hemp- of Carver, visited the cave a few' stead, left Prairie du Chien in a six- days after, to find some basis for oared boat for Falls of St. Anthony, urging the alleged land grant to They reached Carver's Cave on the Carver by the Indians, but they 16th, and found the entrance so could find but one Indian disposed low that they had to lie down and to know anything relative to the creep in. Its greatest width was claim, eight, and its height seven feet. 300 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XV. While citizens of tlie United States and Great Bri- tain, speaking the same language, and having many common associations, were engaged in war near the southern Umits of Minnesota, a disgraceful strife was beginning between the employees of the Hudson Bay and North-west Companies, on the northern border. The channel of trade, west of Lake Superior, followed the line of the Algonquin settlements, and entered the interior chiefly by way of Pigeon river, and the chain of lakes that separates the British possessions from Minnesota. Veranderie, the French officer, as we have seen in a previous chapter, was the first that pushed his way to- ward the Kocky Mountains, and is said to have built a fort at the junction of the Assineboine and Red Biver. As soon as 1762 maps designate Fort la Reine at the confluence, and here at an early period coureurs des bois, from the French establishment at Mackinaw, used to trade with the Omahaws and Assineboines. On the east side of Lake Winnipeg, before the cession of Canada to the English, there was a French post called Maure- pas. On the Lake of the Woods there was Fort St. Charles, and in the lake was an island, near the south- MASSACRE IN LAKE OF THE WOODS. 301 eastern extremity, called Massacre Island, from tlie fol- lowing circumstance :— About the year 1736, a birch canoe with eight french- men, left the post on the shores of the Lake of the Woods, and had proceeded to this island, which is not far from the mouth of the river which leads to Eainy Lake. It was quite early when they arrived, and there was not a breeze perceptible. Kindling a fire to cook their repast, the smoke rose like a lofty column, and attracted a war party of the Dahkotahs,-who, landing on the opposite side of the isle, surprised the French and massacred them. At the junction of Kainy Lake river with the lake, there was Fort St. Pierre, and at the grand portage of Lake Superior there was the trad- ing establishment of Kamanistigoya. This region of country was claimed by the Hudson Bay Company, under a charter granted to them by Charles II. on May second, 1670; but during the eighteenth century they did not establish posts in the region bordering on Min- nesota. Before the American Eevolution, private traders, who obtained their outfits at Mackinaw, gained possession of the trade, and, after the consolidation of several com- panies with the North-west Company of Montreal in 1783, there was a larger business transacted with the Indians who lived in this region so abundant in furs. At the commencement of the nineteenth century, the Earl of Selkirk, a wealthy, kind-hearted, but visionary nobleman of Scotland, wrote several tracts, urging the importance of colonizing British emigrants in these dis- tant British possessions, and thus check the disposition to settle in the United States. In the year 1811, he * Appendix E -302 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. obtained a grant of land from the Hudson Bay Com- pany, described as follows : — " Beginning on the western shore of Lake Winipie, at a point in 52" 30' north latitude, and thence running due west to the Lake Winipigashish, otherwise called Little Winipie, thence in a southerly direction, through the said lake, so as to strike its western shore in lati- tude 52°, thence due west to the place where the par- allel 52° intersects the western branch of Red river, otherwise called Assiniboine river, thence due south from that point of intersection, to the height of land which separates the waters running into Hudson's Bay from those of the Missouri and Missisippi rivers, thence in an easterly direction along the height of land to the source of the river Winipie, meaning by such last-named river the principal branch of the waters which unite in the Lake Saginagas, thence along the main stream of those waters, and the middle of the several lakes through which they pass, to the mouth of the Winipie river, and thence in a northerly direction through the middle of Lake Winipie, to the place of beginning, which territory is called Ossiniboia" or Assiniboia. Previous to this time the only inhabitants besides the Indians, were Canadians, who, by long intercourse with savages, had learned all their vices, and imitated none of their admirable traits. Unwilling to return to the restraints of well-ordered society, from which they had ;fled in youth, they were fond of "Vast And sudden deeds of violeneSj Adventures wild, and wonders of the moment." SUFFERINGS OP HIGHLANDERS. 303 They were proud of the title " Gens Libres," the free people. The offspring of their intercourse with Indian females was numerous. The "bois bruMs" were athletic, ex- 3)ert hunters, good boatmen, fine horsemen, and able to speak the native language of both father and mother. Their chief delight and mode of subsistence was in fishing and snaring the buffalo. In the autumn of 1812, a small advance party of colonists proceeded to a point in latitude 50° north near the confluence of the Assineboine, on the banks of the lied river, whose head waters after heavy rains inter- lock with those of the Minnesota river, and commenced the erection of houses and preparations for the expected •colonists. But their work was soon stopped by a party of men of the North-west Company, attired in Indian costume, ordering them to desist. The affrighted emi- grants were persuaded to take refuge at Pembina, Min- nesota, by a company of men that they thought were :savages. The latter agreed to carry the children, but the men and women were obliged to walk. The exac- tions of the guides were cruel. One Highlander had to relinquish a gun that had been carried by his father at the battle of CuUoden, and which was prized next to the family Bible, and a shrinking woman had to part with the marriage ring which had been placed upon her finger in the bloom of her youth, by a devoted lover in the Highlands. For the sake of creating alarm, the guides would run off with the babes and children, and the distracted mothers refused to be comforted, because their children were not to be seen any more, as they supposed.* • " Ked River Settlement, by Alexander Ross. London, 1856." 304 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. This sport, more worthy of bears than of men, so shocked the nervous system of the more delicate that they nev^r recoveredj and found an early and cold grave. At Pembina the more hardy lived during the winter in tents, and in the spring returned to the colony to resume their labours. Returning in the spring to the site of the colony, the^ in the sweat of their brow cultivated the soil, but the fowls of the air anticipated the harvest, and the, winter of 1813-14 was again passed at Pembina.^ Their success in the chase was however limited, and when they returned to their settlement in the spring they were in appearance half starved, and all tattered and torn. By the month of September, 1815, the number of settlers was about two hundred, and the colony was callted Kildohan, after the old parish ia Scotland in which many were born. With increased numbers all things seemed auspicious. Houses were built, a mill was erected, imported cattle and sheep began to graze on the undulating plains. The Highlander was pleased when he discovered that •' Here no stoily ground provokes the wrath of the farmer. Smoothly the ploughshare runs through the soil, as a keel through the water. Here, too, numberless herds run wild, and unclaimed in the prairies ; Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and forests of timber With a few blows of the axe, are hewn and framed into houses." ' This word is pronounced as if name of a red berry that grows in written Pembinnaw, and is a con- the yicinity. ..raction of an Ojibway word, the CAMERON PRODUCES DISCONTENT. 305 ' The employees of the North-west Company were however exceedingly restive under the march of im- provement, and the proprietors of the company sus- pected that it was a ruse of their powerful rival, the Hudson Bay Company, to oust them from the lucrative posts they were occupying. As early as 1813 the clerks and engag^fes of the Mon- treal traders endeavoured to excite the suspicions of the Indians, but without success. At a meeting of the partners of the North-west Company, held at Fort William, at the head of Lake Superior, in the summer of 1814, Duncan Cameron and Alexander McDonell were appointed to concert mea- sures to stop the progress of the colony.^ ' About the last of August, they arrived at the North- west Company's post, about a half mile from the Kil- donan settlement, at the forks of the Red and^ Assine- boine rivers. Cameron, during the winter and spring of 1815, with great art obtained the confidence of the Highlanders. He spoke their native Gaelic tongue, extended hospi- tality to their families, and insinuated rather than evinced direct hostility to the plans of Selkirk. Ta give the air of authority, he wore a suit of regimentals that belonged to a disbanded corps of voyageurs, and in his communications, subscribed himself " D. Cameron, Captain Voyageur Corps, Commanding Officer, Red ' Alexander McDonell, in a letter ties against the enemy in Red river. * irritten to a friend at Montreal, from * * * * Nothing but the complete' one of the portages west of Lake downfall of the colony will satisfy Superior, says, " Tou see myself and some by fair or foul means. So here ■ our mutual friend Mr. Cameron, so is at them with all my heart and far on our way to commence hostili- energy." 20 S06 HISTORY OF, MINNESOTA. Kiver." The fair promises he made unsettled the minds of the colonists, and seduced many to leave the spot. As soon a^ the free Canadians and half-breeds learned that their employers were not favourable to the colony, they grew insolent. One of the disaffected Selkirkers, by the name of George Campbell, one Sunday, immedi- ately after a sermon had been read in accordance with a, venerable Scotch custom' to the assembled settlement, rose and read an order issued by Cameron, and directed to the temporary superintendent of the colony, demand- ing the surrender of their brass field-pieces. On Monday morning, the governor's house being guarded, the employees of the North-west Company went to the store-house, broke it open, and carried off to their post, field-pieces, swivel, and a small howitzer; in all amounting to nine. This was a signal for the desertion of the disaffected Selkirkers, who repaired to the quarters of the North-west Company. In the spring of 1815, McKenzie and Morrison, of the North-west Company at Sandy Lake, Minnesota, told the chief Kawtawabetay, that they would give him and his people all the goods or merchandise and rum they s ' The first emigrants were all the governor-in-ohief of the country, Presbyterians. Their expected min- as well as by the governor of the ister having been delayed, a vforthy colony. These men with their fol- and pious elder, James Sutherland, lowers gladly heard him expound " was appointed to marry and bap- the Scriptures. *' * * * Of all men, tize, from which functions he was clergymen or others, that ever en- never released by the arrival of the tered this country, none stood higher ordained minister, in consequence in the estimation of the settlers, both of the difBculties in which the colony for sterling piety, and Christian con- was placed. * * * On his arrival duct, than Mr. Sutherland." — Red at York Factory, the right hand of Biver SettlemeiU, p. 31. fellowship was held out to him by THE MARCH OF THE EXILES. 307 had at Leech Lake, Sandy Lake, and Fort William, if they would declare war against the settlers on Red river. ^ On the morning of Sunday, June the eleventh, a party of North-west employees, armed with loaded muskets, stationed themselves in a grove near the governor's house, and commenced an attack, wounding four in- mates, one of whom died. After this unprovoked assault, they demanded Miles McDonell, the governor, who was delivered, and subsequently carried to Mon- treal. This step did not at all satisfy the traders of the. North-west Company, but as soon as the governor was carried off toward Canada by Duncan Cameron, his partner, Alexander McDonell, commenced new aggres- sions, such as seizing the horses, driving off the cattle, and pillaging the farms of the colonists. Opposite the settlement he ejected a battery, upon which he mounted two of the Selkirk field-pieces, and established a camp of about fifty or sixty of the Canadian servants, clerks, and bois bruits. Dispirited by constant annoyance, the broken-hearted settlers sent word to the head of the North-west Com,- pany, that they would leave their farms and homes in a few days. About this time, toward the latter part of the pleasant month of June, two Ojibway chiefs arrived with forty braves, aid strange as it may seem, they offered to escort the persecuted colonists with their pro- perty to Lake Winnipeg. Guarded by the grim children of the forest from the assault of their foes, they, like the Acadian peasants in Evangeline, were " friendless, hopeless, homeless." ' Earl of Selkirk's statement. 308 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. " Driving in ponderous wains, their household goods to the sea-sh(Jre, Pausing, and looking back to gaze once more on their dwellings, Ere they were shut from sight, by the winding road, and the woodland f Close at their sides, their children ran, and urged on the oxen. While in their little hands they clasped some fragments of playthings." After they had embarked in the boats, "sheeted smoke with flashes of flame intermingled," announced that the mill and their houses were fired by the torch of the incendiary. When the fugitives from persecution had been some- time at the northern extremity of Lake Winnipeg, Colin Robertson, of the Hudson Bay Company, arrived, and offered to lead them back to the settlement from which they had been expelled. Accepting his proposal,, they returned, and were soon augmented by a party of emigrants just arrived from the Highlands of Scotland. During the winter of 1816, a majority remained at the mouth of the Pembina river, iu Mianesota, for the purpose of huntiug the bufialo. But early in the spring they returned to the Kildonan settlement. In the spring of 1816, Duncan Camerpn, who had returned, was arrested by Colin Robertson, and taken towards the coast of Hudson's Bay, for the purpose of being sent to England for trial. The Earl of Selkirk, hearing of the distressed condi- tion of his colony, sailed for America, and on his arrival at New York, in the fall of 1815, heard that they had been bribed or compelled to leave the settlement. Proceeding to Montreal, he found some of the settlers who had been under the influence of the North-west Company, in great poverty. While here he gained the information that a remnant of the colony had returned and re-established themselves, and immediately sent an express to announce his arrival and determination to be SELKIRK SENDS Alf ARMED FORCE. 309 with them in the spring. These glad tidings were sent by Laguimoniere, who, in the depths of winter, had tra- velled on foot from the Red River, by way of Red Lake and Fond du Lac, Minnesota, to bring the intelligence to Montreal that the colony had reoccupied their settlement. The messenger never reached his destination with the kind words of Selkirk. In the night he was way-laid near Fond du Lac, brutally beaten, and robbed of his canoe and despatches. At a council held by the super- intendent of Ladian afiai^s, at Drummond's Island, on the twenty-second of July, 1816, an Ojibway chief of Sandy Lake, Minnesota, stated that Grant, one of the North-west Company, offered him two kegs of rum, and two carrots of tobacco, if he would send some of his young men in search of some persons taking despatches to Red River, and pillage the letters and papers. Shortly after this, the chief testified that Laguimoniere was brought in by a negro and a party of Ottawas. Failing to obtain military aid from the British autho- rities in Canada, Selkirk made an engagement with four officers and eighty privates, of the discharged Meuron regiment, twenty of the De "Watteville, and a few of the Glengary Fencibles, which had served in the late war with the United States, to accompany him to Red River. They were to receive monthly wages for navi'^ gating the boats to Red River, to have lands assigned them, and a free passage if they wished to return. When he reached Sault St. Marie, he received the intelligence that the colony had again been destroyed. In the spring of 1816, Semple, a mild, amiable, but not altogether judicious man, the chief governor of the factories and territories of the Hudson Bay Company, arrived at Red River. In the month of April he sent 310 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. a Mr. Pambrun to a trading post on a neighbouring river, and as he was returning with five boats, a quan- tity of furs, and six hundred bags of pemmican, he was attacked, on the twelfth of May, by an armed party of the adherents of the North-west Conapany, and cap- tured. This act was in retahation for the attack made by Eobertson on their post, at the junction of the Red and Assineboine rivers, during the previous autumn. On the eighteenth of June a portion of this party left Fort Qui Appele, under the guidance of Cuthbert Grant, Lacerte, Frazer, Hoole, and Thomas McKay, and went toward Red River. Information had been brought by friendly Indians and others, that an attack was intended, and an almost constant watch was kept up night and. day, to discover the approach of any of the parties of the enemy. About five o'clock in the afternoon, on the nineteenth of June, a man in the watch-house of the fort of the Selkirkers, called out to Governor Semple that horsemen were approaching. The governor, per- ceiving with a spy-glass sixty or seventy men, ordered. twenty men to accompany him, and meet them. After Semple had proceeded half a mile, some of the settlers were met moving toward the fort, saying that a party was coming with cannon. One of the governor's party was requested to go back and obtain a field-piece from the fort. As the messenger was returning with the cannon, Governor Semple was surrounded. The hostile party first sent forward the reckless son of a Montreal tavern-keeper, to inquire what the governor was about. Semple inquired what his party wanted? Boucher insultingly asked, " Why did you, rascal ! destroy our fort ?" The governor, laying hold of his horse's bridle, said, " Scoundrel ! do you talk thus to me ?" Instantly GOVERNOR SEMPLE KILLED. 311 Boucher sprang from his horse, and the firing com- menced. Semple was soon wounded, and called to his men to take care of themselves ; but they gathered in a knot around their bleeding leader, and while they collected, the North-west party fired a volley, by which the greater part were instantly killed. The remnant called for mercy, but in vain; all were massacred but four or five. Among those who were spared, was John .Pritchard. In his narration he remarks, that " the knife, axe, or ball put an end to the existence of the wounded, and on the bodies of the dead were practised all those horrible barbarities, which characterize the in- human heart of the savage. The amiable and mild Mr. Semple, with broken thigh, lying on his side, supporting his head upon his hand, said to Grant, the leader of the attacking party, *I am not mortally wounded, and if you could get me conveyed to the fort, I think I should live.' Grant promised he would do so, and immediately left him in the care of a Canadian, who afterwards told, that an Indian of their party came up and shot Mr. Sem- ple in the breast. I entreated Grant to procure me the watch or even the seals of Mr. Semple, for transmitting them to his friends, but I did not succeed. Our force amoimted to twenty-eight persons, of whom twenty-one were killed." The Indian who killed the kind-hearted Semple was an Ojibway of Minnesota. Schoolcraft, in 1832, says, he saw, at Leech Lake, Majegabowi, the man who had killed Governor Semple, after he fell wounded from his horse. The morning after the massacre. Grant and Bourassa, with sixteen or seventeen others, insisted upon the abandonment of Fort Douglas, and the settlement. 312 . HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Two days afterwards the settlers, to tlie number of two hundred, including women and children, were compelled to embark in boats, to be conveyed to the sea-coast. On the second day's voyage they were met by Norman McLeod, a partner of the North-west Company, with nine or ten canoes, and a batteau with two pieces of artillery, formerly belonging to the Selkirk settlement, and a hundred armed men. As his party perceived the settlers they raised the warwhoop, and McLeod inquired whether Eobertson or Semple was in the boats. In- formed of the death of the governor, they broke open his trunks, and took his papers. On his way to Red River, McLeod held a council with the Ojibways at Rainy Lake, and persuaded the Round Lake Chief and some fifteen or twenty others to join his party. Among those who accompanied Mc- Leod in the capacity of clerk was Charles de Reinhard, once a sergeant in the De Meuron regiment. He was sent to a station of the company, at " Bas de la riviere Winipic." In August some deserters from the employ of Owen Keveny, a Hudson Bay trader, arrived there. They told McLeod that they had been badly treated, and he deputed Reinhard to act as constable and seize seize- Keveny. Six bois bruits accompanied him, and he soon re- turned with the trader, who was then placed in a canoe with three half-breed voyageurs, and consigned to Fort William on Lake Superior. On their way they were met by a partner of the North-west Company, who re- moved the half-breeds and substituted two Canadians and an Indian, who was to act as guide. The canoe was again met by traders of the company, who ordered them back. The two Canadians, on their return, quar- THE MURDER OF KEVENY. 313 .reled with the Indian who left them, and losing their way, they landed Keveny on a small island and de- serted him. Mr. McLellan now started in search of the missing party, and first found the Indian and two Canadians ■and at last Keveny, who was with an encampment of Indians. McLellan apprehended him, and purchasing a canoe placed him alone in company with Reinhard, a bois brul6, and an Indian. He then told Reinhard to put Keveny to death at the first favourable spot. A short distance above a deep gorge of granite through which the Winnipeg river rushes, the traveller used to pass a cross, which marked the spot where Keveny's life was taken. It seems, from the confession of Reinhard, that he had desired to go on shore for a few moments, and when he was returning to the canoe, the half-breed took aim and shot him, through the neck. As he fell against the canoe, Reinhard, seeing that he wished to speak, drew his sword, and twice plunging it in his back, soon rendered him speechless. Joining their employer McLellan, they detailed the circumstances, and a distribution of his bloody clothes and other effects took place. McLellan, opening the writing desk of the murdered man, spent the night in reading and burning his letters and papers. Reinhard, after a, protracted trial in Canada, was convicted and executed. During the trial stress was laid upon the question, whether the scene of the muMer was in the province of Upper Canada. After much testimony from the best geographers in the country, it was decided that the limits of Canada did not extend to that point. Previous to the intelligence of the death of Grovernor 314 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Semple, the Earl of Selkirk had made arrangements to visit his colony by way of Fond du Lac, the St. Louis river, and Red Lake of Minnesota; but he now changed his mind, and proceeded with his force to Fort William, the chief trading post of the North-west Company on Lake Superior ; and apprehending the principal part> ners, warrants of commitment were issued, and they were forwarded to the attorney-general of Upper Ca- nada. "While Selkirk was engaged at Fort William, a party of emigrants in charge of Miles McDonnel, governor,, and Captain D'Orsomen, went forward to reinforce the colony. At Rainy Lake they obtained the guidancie of a man who had all the characteristics of an Indian, and yet had a bearing which suggfested a different origin. By his efficiency and temperate habits, he secured the respect of his employers, and on the Earl of Selkirk's arrival at Red river, his attention was called to him, and in his welfare he became deeply interested. By repeated conversations with himj memories of a differ- ent kind of existence were aroused, and the light of other days began to brighten. ' Though he had foXgo1> ten his father's name, he furnished sufficient data for Selkirk to proceed with a search for his relatives. Visiting the United States in 1817, he pubhshed a cir- cular in the papers of the Western States, which led to the identification of the man. It appeared from his own statement, and those of his friends, that his name was John Tanner, the son of a minister of the gospel, who, about the year 1790, lived on the Ohio river, near the Miami. Shortly after his residence there a band of roving Indians passed near the house, and found John Tanner, then a little boy. JOHN TANNER CARRIED OFF BY INDIANS. 315- filling hi& hat with walnuts which he had picked from a troe. Sei2;ing him, they kept him quiet by threats, and fled. . The party was led by an Ottawa Indian, whose wife had lost a son. To compensate for. his death, the mother begged her husband to capture one about the same age. To accoinplish this was the object of the Indian's visit to the white settlements, and great was the joy of the wife, when he brought her the desired gift. Adopted into the tribe, Tanner grew up as an Indian, and became expert with the gun, and noted for bravery. In time the band with which he was con- nected wandered into the Red River country. Declin- ing the position of chief which was offered to him, he was esteemed by all of his companions. After Lord Sel- kirk found his relatives he visited them, but soon returned to the Indian country. The harvest of 1817 was luxuriant ; the seed that had been sown proved good seed, bearing forty and sixty fold, but so little had been sown that it again became neces- sary for the settlers to pass the winter in hunting. From Pembina they proceeded into the open prairies of North-western Minnesota, to join a camp of Indian and half-breed hunters. Unprovided with snow shoes, the road was truly a " via dolorqsa." Without a par- ticle of food remaining, the half-starved colonists at last reached the long-sought camp. The night of their arrival was Christmas eve of 1817, and the Indians and mixed bloods were touched by their haggard faces, and shared with them their own scanty fare. The buffalo this winter was very scarce, and the Scotch dragged .through it, a set of mere camp slaves. With the mild rays of the spring of 1818, hope re- 316 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. vived, and once more they trudged back to their settle- ment. They worked with pleasant anticipations as they beheld first the blade, then the ear develope ; but, one afternoon, just as the harvest was ripe, and they were about to put in the sickle, " behold, the Lord formed grasshoppers, in the beginning of the shoot- ing up of the latter growth/' ^ and their joy was turned to mourning. The air was filled with these insects ; " the earth did quake before them, like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, or hke the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble," was the sound of their movements. When the next morn- ing arose, it was " a day of darkness and of gloominess ; a day of clouds and thick darkness," and strong men were bowed down ; and, like the Hebrew captives, by the waters of Babylon, they lifted up their voices and wept. The next year the calamity was worse. " They were produced in masses, two, three, and four inches in depth. The water was infected by them. Along the river they were to be found in heaps like sea-weed, and might be shovelled with a spade. Every vegetable substance was either eaten up, or stripped to the bare stalk ; the ieaves of the bushes, and the bark of the trees, shared the eame fate ; and the grain vanished as fast as it appeared above ground. Even fires, if kindled out of doors, were immediately extinguished by them."^ The old Highlander understood, as he never had before, the imagery of the prophet, which he had often read in his well-thumbed Bible, for truly " the land was as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a ' Amos, chap, vii., verse 2. Joel, ohap. ii. ' Ross GRASSHOPPER INVASION. 317 desolate wilderness, nothing did escape them." < They ran upon the wall ; they climbed up on the houses ; they entered in at the windows like a thief. With the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint,; the brawny Scotchmen sought once more the plains of Minnesota, and became sons of Nimrod, chasing the deer and the buffalo. But, when they reflected upon the influence of this " vagabond" life upon their child^ ren, they were impelled by their consciences to make one more attempt to establish a home for their wives and little ones. During the winter of 1819-20, a deputation of their number, mounted on snow shoes, passed through the then wilderness of Minnesota, and came to Prairie du Chien, a journey of a thousand miles, to purchase wheat for seed. In 1820, on the fifteenth day of April, three Ma,cki- naw boats, manned with six hands each, laden with two hundred bushels of wheat, one hundred bushels of oats, and thirty bushels of peas, under the charge of Messrs. Graham and Laidlaw, left Prairie du Chien for Selkirk's colony, on the Red River of the North. Detained by ice at Lake Pepin, they planted the May pole thereon. On the third of May, the boats passed through the lake. The voyage was continued up the Minnesota to Big Stone Lake, from which a portage was made into Lake Tra^ verse, a mile and a half distant, the boats being placed on wooden rollers. Then descending the Sioux Wood river to the Red river, the party arrived at Pembina in safety, with their charge, on the third day of June. Pembina was, at that time, as now, a small hamlet, the rival companies of the North-west and of Hudson's Bay having each a trading post, at the confluence of the :318 IIISTOEY OF MINNESOTA. stream with the Red river, but on opposite sides. The crop at Selkirk's colony having entirely failed the pre, vious year, the grain was much needed for seed the en- suing season. The trip performed in these boats is worthy of mention, as it is the only instance of heavy articles being transported the entire distance from Prairie du Chien to the Red River settlement, with the excep- tion of the portage between Big Stone and Traverse Lakes by water Charles St. Antoine, who was one of the crew, became a citizen of Dahkotah county, and is one of the few survivors of that eventful voyage. The party returned across the plains on foot as far as Big Stone Lake, from which, point they descended to Prairie du Chien in canoes.' The cost of this expedition was about six thousand dollars, and was borne by Lord Selkirk. In 1820, Captain R. May, a citizen of Berne, in the British service, was commissioned by Selkirk to visit Switzerland, and engage persons to repair to his colony. After years of bloodshed, heart burnings, fruitless liti- gations, and vast expense, the strife was concluded by compromise. In the year 1821, the two companies, in the language of the articles of settlement, finding " that the competition in the said trade had been found for some years, then past, to be productive of great inconvenience and loss, not only to the said company and association, but to the said trade in general, and also of great injury to the native Indians, and of other persons his Majesty's subjects," they did enter into an agreement for putting an end to competition, and carrying on the trade to gether. ' Sibley's Historical Society Address. UNITED STATES TBOOPS STATIONED IN MINNESOTA. 3J5 , CHAPTER XVL The rumour that Lord Selkirk was founding a colony •on the borders of the United States, and that the Hud- son Bay Company had posts within the region of country -comprised within the boundaries of Minnesota, did not fail to reach the authorities at Washington. Under the administration of Mr. Monroe, the, head of the war department was the intellectual and dis- tinguished John C. Calhoun. At that period he was deeply interested in developing the resources of every section of the Union. During his term of office, the efficiency of the army was increased 5 the condition of the aborigines noted, and" the power of the United States felt in remote regions where it had not been acknowledged. On the tenth of February, 1819, an order was issued from the war department, concentrating the Fifth Eegi- ment of Infantry at Detroit, with a view to transporta- iion by way of Fox and Wisconsin rivers to Prairie ■du Chien. After garrisoning that post and Kock Island, the remainder were to proceed to the, mputh of the, Minnesota, then designated the Saint Peter's, to esta- blish a post at which the head^quarters of the regiment ■were to be located. About the time of this order, the 820 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. portion of Illinois territory not included within the state of that name,' was attached to Michigan, of which Lewis Cass was governor. In the spring of 1819, the county of Crawford was organized, which included a large portion of Minnesota. Colonel Leavenworth, with the troops on their way to build the new post at the junction of the Minnesota, brought blank commissions for county officers to be filled up by the inhabitants. With difficulty officers were obtained. Johnson, United States factor, was made Chief J^istice of the County Court, and his asso- ciates Were Michael Brisbois and Francis Bouthillier} Wilfred 0w6ns was appointed Judge of Probate ; John S. rindley. Clerk of the Court, and Thomas McNair, Sheriff. Colonel Leavenworth, having attended to his duties at the Prairie, ascended the Mississippi with his soldiers in keel-boats. The water was so low at that period, that for weeks they " dragged their slow length along," ' not reaching Mendota until September, the, contem- plated site for temporary barracks, the remains of which are visible above the present village of Mendota, on the south side of the river. The officers with their wives lived in the boats until rude huts and pickets were erected. Before the quarters were completed, the rigour of winter was felt, and the removal from the open^ boats to the log cabins, plastered with clay, was con- sidered a privilege. Though the first winter was ex- tremely cold, the garrison remained cheerful, and the officers maintained pleasant social intercourse.' During ' Mrs. Ellet, in a sketch of the wife " Huts had also to be built, though of the first commissary of this post, in the rudest manner, to serve as a says: shelter ' during the winter, from the CANTONMENT AT MENDOTA. 321 the winter, that dreadful disease, . scurvy, appeared among the troops, and raged so extensively, that for a few days military duty was suspended. It is said that " so sudden was the attack, that soldiers apparently in good health when they retired at night, were found dead in the morning. One man who was relieved from his tour of sentiael duty, and stretched himself upon a bench, when he was called four hours after to resume his duties, was found lifeless."^ The colonel at this time displayed his humanity, and, with a few friends, spent several days searching the country for antiscorbutics.* In the month of May, 1820, they entered into summer encampment at a spring not far from the old Baker trading house. The camp was named Cold Water. On the tenth of September the corner stone of Fort Snel- hng was laid. The winter of 1820-21 found them again at the cantonment on the south side of the river ^ the present fort not being sufficiently advanced for occupation by the teoops. The first piue lumber ever rigours of a severe climate. After was no proteotion for the inmates, living vyith her family in the boat but the baby in the cradle was foramonth, itwasahiglilyappreeia- pushed under the bed for safety, ted luxury for Mrs. Clark to find Notwithstanding these discomforts herself at home in a log hut, plastered and perils, the inconveniences they with clay, and chinked for her re- had to encounter, and their isolated caption. It was December before situation, the little party of emi- they got into winter quarters, and grants were not without the social the fierce winds of that exposed enjoyments ; they were nearly all region, with terrific storms now and young married persons, cheerful, then, were enough to make them and fond of gayety, and had their keep within doors as much as possi- dancing assemblages once a fortn ble. Once in a violent tempest, the night." roof of their dwelling was raised by ' Sibley's Address before Minne the wind, and partially slid off; there sota Historical Society. 21 * Appendix L 322 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. cut on Kum River was by soldiers for the use of the for- tifications. On the eighteenth of November, 1819, Governor Cass addressed a communication to Mr. Calhoun, secretary of war, proposing an exploration of the territory recently attached to Michigan, for the purpose of becom- ing better acquainted with the Indian tribes, and its mineral and agricultural resources. The suggestions were approved, and on the morning of July fifth, 1820, the expedition, on the forty-third day of their journey by the lakes from Detroit, entered the St. Louis river of Minnesota. The expedition consisted of Governor Cass, Dr. Wolcott, Indian agent at Chicago and surgeon, Captain Douglass, military engineer, H. R. Schoolcraft, mineralogist. Lieutenant Mackay, James Doty, Esq., secretary. Major Forsyth, private secretary to the governor, C. C. Trowbridge, topographer, besides the voyageurs, soldiers, and Indians, amounting in all to about forty persons. Three miles , above the mouth of the St. Louis they came to an Ojibway village of fourteen lodges. Among the residents were the children of an African, by the name of Bilngo, the servant of a British ofl&cer who once commanded at Mackinaw. Their hair was curled •and skin glossy, and their features altogether African. A short distance above there was the abandoned estar blishment of the old North-west Company. On the evening of the first day's ascent of the stream, the expedition lodged at the American Fur Company's houses, twenty-four miles from the lake. The establish- ment consisted of a range of log buildings, enclosing three sides of a square, open towards the river, and contained the warehouse, canoe and boat yard, and GENERAL CASS AT SANDY LAKE. 323 dwellirig-house of the resident clerk. The company jiad also three horses, two oxen, three cows, and four bulls at this post. On the fifteenth of the month they arrived at Sandy Lake, and were received at the post of the American Company, in the temporary absence of me "trader Morrison, byiwo of his clerks. They occupied the establishment of the old North-west Company, which was built in 1794, and has been described in a previous chapter. On the appearance of the exploring party, in accordance with custom, the Sandy Lak^ Ojibways saluted them with a discharge of fire-arms loaded with balls. The population of the Indian village at that time was •one hundred and twenty, and their principal men were Broken Arm and De Breche. On the sixteenth a council was held, and Governor Cass proposed that they should send a deputation of their best men to the mouth of the Minnesota, and con- clude a peace with the Dahkotahs, to which they cheer- fully consented. The next day the officers of the expe- dition, with nineteen voyageurs and Indians, and pro- visions for twelve days, left the post, with a view to ■exploration of the Upper Mississippi. On the nine- teenth, the atmosphere in the region of Pokeguma Kapids was so cold that the canoes in the morning were coated with a scale of ice. On the twenty-first of July they reached Upper Red Cedar Lake, which they ■considered the true source of the Mississippi, and named Cass Lake. On the north shore of the lake was a village of sixty Ojibways, of whom Wiscoup, or the Sweet, was the chief Here were found two employees of the Fur 324 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Company, one of -whom, during the previous winter, having been caught in a snow storm, had his feet frozen so hadly that they had sloughed off. For a time his Indian wife felt an interest in his sad condition, and supported him by catching fish ; but at last he became a weariness to her, and she deserted. For months, as he was unable to walk, he had subsisted upon the coarse weeds about his hut. The expedition discovered him seated on a mat of ' rushes, in a cabin of bark, with the stumps of his legs tvrapped in deer skins. With long beard, sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, and bones ready to protrude through the skin, he was more to be pitied than Job. In the words of the patriarch, his '"^ flesh was clothed with worms and clods of dust; his skin was broken and loathsome ; by night he was full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day." The sympathies of the whole party v^re aroused, and Governor Cass took means to make him comfortable, and have him trans- ported to the Fur Company's post at Sandy Lake. The next day they commenced the descent of the river, and returned to Sandy Lake on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth. On the twenty-fifth, with a delega- 'ion of Ojibways, they entered the canoes once more, and steered towards the fort at the mouth of the Min- nesota. The twenty-eighth was passed in hunting buf- falo, between Elk river and the Little Falls. Having spent several hours in hunting, they descended the river until three o'clock, when they landed again to hunt at the site of a recent Dahkotah encampment. In the centre of the deserted camp, on a long pole, was a letter of birch bark, addressed to the Ojibways, in whiqh they were informed that a peace party, at the solicita- CASS AT FORT SNELLING.— RAPID VEGETATION. B2b tion of the commander of the fort, had proceeded to that spot, but not finding any of their nation, had re- turned. On the afternoon of the thirtieth, they reached the garrison at " Camp Cold Water," near the present St. Louis House, near Fort Snelling, and Governor Cass was received with the customary national salute. They found here a busy scene : officers and their men were all occupied. In addition to building the fort, ninety acres of ground were under cultivation, and the soil proved very fertUe. Green peas had been ready for the table on the fifteenth of June ; the com was ripe on the fifteenth of July, and the wheat was now ripe for the harvest. , On the first of August, at the winter barracks on the south side of the Minnesota, which were then being occupied by Taliaferro as an Indian agency, a council was held with the Dahkotahs and Ojibways. Go- vernor Cass, Colonel Leavenworth, and other officers represented the United States. Shokpay and other chiefs spoke for the Dahkotahs, and Babasikumsiba for the Ojibways. Though the Dahkotahs agreed to a ces- sation of hostilities against the Ojibways, they were very indifferent, and some of the chiefs and braves re- fused to smoke the pipe of peace. On the second of August, the party continued their •descent of the Mississippi, and visited the cave near the upper limits of the city of Saint Paul, which they were erroneously told was "Carver's Cave."' Four miles be- low, at a point now called Pig's Eye, they found the village of Little Crow. "Here," says Schoolcraft, in Jus narrative of the expedition, is a " Sioux CDahkotah) ' Carver's cave, is in the lower suburb. 326 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. band of twelve lodges, and consisting of about two hun- dred souls, who plant com on the adjoining plain, and cultivate the cucumber and pumpkin. They sallied from their lodges on seeing us approach, and manifested the utmost satisfaction in our landing. Le Petit Cor- beau was among the first to greet us. He is a man be- low the common size, but brawny and well proportioned;, and although rising of fifty years of age, retains the looks and vigour of forty. There is a great deal of fire in his eyes, which are black and piercing. His nose is prominent and has the aquiline curve, his forehead fall- ing a little from the facial angle, and his whole counte- nance animated, and expressive of a shrewd mind. We were conducted into his cabin, which is spacious, being: about sixty feet in length and thirty in width, built in a permanent manner of logs, and covered with bark. Being seated, he addressed Governor Cass in a speech of some length, in which he expressed his satisfaction in seeing him there, and said that in his extensive- journey, he must have experienced a good many hard- ships and difficulties, and seen a great deal of the In- dian, way of living. He said he was glad that the go- vernor had not, like many other officers and agents of the United States, who had lately visited those regions, passed by without calling. He acquiesced in the treaty which had lately been concluded with the Chippeways,. and was happy that a stop had been put to the effusion of human blood. He then adverted to a recent attack of a party of Fox Indians upon some of their people towards the sources of the river Minnesota, in which ' nine men had been killed. He considered it a dastardly act, and said that if that little tribe should continue to haunt their territories in a hostile manner, they would,- SNELLING ARRIVES.— WANAXA ARRESTED. 327 at length drive him into anger, and compel him to do a thing he did not vrish." The next day they arrived at the village of Rem- nichah, or Red Wing. Tatankimani, or the Walking Buffalo, one of the signers of the treaty of friendship at Portage des Sioux, in 181-5, vras the principal man, and about sixty years of age. One of his granddaughters married a Mr. Crawford, who was a prominent British trader dhring the war of 1812. On the afternoon of the fourth, they stopped a few minutes at Wapashaw village, the site of the town of Winona ; and on the evening of the fifth, their canoes grated on the pebbly banks of the village of Prairie du Chien. At this point Colonel Snelling was met on his way to relieve Lieu;tenan1>Colonel Leavenworth of the command of the troops at Camp Cold Water, opposite Mendota. His wife, a few days after her arrival at the post, gave birth to the first infant of white parents in Minnesota, which, after a brief existence of thirteen months, departed to a better land. The dilapidated monument which marks the remains of the "little one," is still visible in the grave-yard of the fort. Beside Mrs. Snelling, the wife of the Commissary, and of Cap- tain Gooding, were in the garrison, the first America]^ ladies that ever wintered in Minnesota. Shortly after Colonel Snelling assumed command of the garrison, the Dahkotahs appeared unfriendly. A large body of warriors under the leadership of the cele- brated Yankton Wanata, hovered around the barracks for some time, and at last the chief presented himself at the gates, >ostensibly desiring to have a friendly talk with the commander. The gates were opened, and suf- ficient information having been obtained to warrant the 328 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. suspicion that they meditated an attack, he and his companions -were seized, and marched to the council hall under a guard of glittering bayonets. In the council chamber his treachery was fully exposed, and he was deprived of his badges and medals which he had received from the British, and they were destroyed in his presence. In their mortification, the Indians with the chief gashed their flesh with knives. By this decided step, Wanata was impressed with the folly of opposing the United States troops, and. from that time showed himself friendly to all American officers with whom he was brought in contact. Not far from this period two persons were shot by a party of Sissetoan Dahkotahs, near Council Bluffs, on the Missouri.* The United States authorities, to compel the surrender of the murderers, notified the Sissetoan bands, that no traders should visit them till the guilty ones were delivered. Deprived of blankets, powder, and tobacco, they held a council, at Big Stone Lake, to determine what should be done, and listened to the arguments of a trader named Colin Campbell. Mahzah Khotah, and another of the band, announced themselves as the guilty ones, and expressed a willingness to deliver themselves to the soldiers, at the mouth of the Minnesota. The aged father of the latter then offered himself as a substitute, which was agreeable to the council. The next day Mahzah Khotah, and the old man, started for the gar rison, accompanied by friends and relatives. On the twelfth of November, 1820, when about a mile distant, the party halted, smoked, and the death dirge was chanted. Blackening their faces, and gashing their arms, as a token of grief, they formed a proces- * Appendix M A FATHER'S ATONEMENT FOR HIS SON. 329 sion, and marched to the centre of the soldier's parade ground. First came a Sissetoan, bearing a British flag, and then one of the murderers and the aged chief, who had become an atonement for his only son. Their arms were secured by ropes of buffalo hair, and large splinters of oak were thrust through the flesh, above the elbows, to indicate their contempt of death. As they approached, Bulging death-songs, a company of soldiers was drawn up, and Colonel Snelling came out to meet them. A fire was then kindled, and the British flag burned, after which the medal of the murderer was given up, and then both surrendered themselves. The old chief was detained as a hostage, and th6- murderer sent to St. Louis, for trial.^ Placed in a boat, he was rowed by ' The following letter addressed to the secretary of war, contains most of the facts narrated. "Cantonment St. Peter's, November 13, 1820. " Sir — when I had the honour to address you on the tenth, from the disposition then manifested by the Sussitongs, I had no hope of obtain- ing the surrender of the mui;derers of our people on the Missouri, but ■contrary to my expectation, one of the murderers, and an old chief self- devoted in the place of his son, were voluntarily brought in and delivered up yesterday. " The ceremony of delivery was conducted with much solemnity. A procession was formed at some dis- tance from the garrison, and marched to the centre of our parade. It was preceded by a Sussitorig bearing the British flag ; the murderer and de- voted chief followed with their arms pinioned, and large splinters of wood thrust through them above the el- bows, to indicate as I understood their contempt of pain and death. The relatives and friends followed, and on their way joined them in singing their death-song. When they ar- rived in front of the guard the British flag was laid on a fire, pre- pared fortheocoasion, and consumed ; the inurderer gave up his medal, and both the prisoners were surrendered. The old chief I have detained as a hostage, the murderer I have sent to St. Lewis, under a proper guard, for trial, presuming it is a course you will approve. "I am much indebted to Mr. Colin Campbell, the interpreter, for his great exertions in bringing this affair to a speedy issue. The delivery of the murderer is to be solely attri- buted to his influence over the Sussi tongs." aso HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. wldiors to tlie place of destination, but no witn^8g= appearing against him/ he was discharged, and while returning, is said to have been killed by a frontiersman, in Missouri. In 1822 a man by the name of Perkins, of Kentucky, )btained permission of Taliaferro, the agent for the Dah- kotahs, to build a saw-mill in the Chippeway valley. His partners were Lockwood and Rolette, of Prairie du Chien. For the privilege of cutting timber they agreed to pay Wapashaw's band, who claimed the country, one thousand dollars annually, in goods. The spot selected for the mill, was on a small stream running into the Menomonee, about twenty miles from its mouth. After the coalition of the two great British Fur Com- panies, some of those who had been in their service, Renville, Jeffries, McKenzie, and others, in company with a few" American traders, formed a new company called the Columbia, whose central establishment was at Lake Traverse. They were licensed by the proper authorities, to trade with the Indians south of the British boundary line. The only rival in the trade, was the American Fur Company.' They also had a trading-post on the Minnesota, about a mile above Fort Snelling. ' One of their number furnished of furs formerly obtained in this to the historian of Long's expedition, region, the folbwing statementof the amount NameB. No. of packs. Beaver 10 . Bear, ...... 20 . Buffalo, .... 400 . Martin 10 . Otter 10 . Fisher 25 . Elk 40 . No. of skins, or wc. of each pack. 100 lbs. weight 12 skins 10 skins 100 lbs. . . 100 lbs. . . 16 skins Talue of pack. $400 . 75 . 40 . 300 . 600 . 450 . 80 . $4000 , 1500 16,000 3000 6000 11,250 3200 FIRST MILL IN MINNESOTA. 331 It was during this year, the fort being sufficiently completed for occupancy, that the first mill in Minnesota, was erected. It was built under the supervision of ofB,cers of the fort, on the site of Minneapolis, and was guarded by a sergeant and a few privates. Joseph R. Brown, who afterwards was a noted citizen, at this time a soldier in the army, in company with a son of Colonel Snelling, and one or two others, explored the rivulet that supplies the cascade of Minne Ha-Ha, as far as Lake Minne Tonka. The settlers at the Selkirk colony were, as has been- seen, reduced to great straits. Owing to their fratricidal strife agriculture had been neglected, and at one time they were forced to live upon salt and lettuce. Among others at Pembina was a trader by the name of Hess, who, finding provisions scarce, determined to go and join a party who had gone out on a bufialo hunt. He commenced his journey with two daughters and two- other settlers. As he had married an Ojibway woman, he travelled through the Dahkotah country with the- greatest precaution, knowing the hereditary feud that existed between the nation of his mother's children and Name. Mynz, . Muskrat, tynx, . Swan, . Rabbit, Wolverine, Cowskins, Wolves, Moose, . Fox, . . No. of packs. . 10 . 40 . 20 . 2 . 4 . 1 . 20 . 10 . 10 . 5 !. No. of skins. Value of pack. $200 . . . . 500 skins , 1 60 skins . . 400 skins . . 400 skins . . 16 skins 200 280 60 8 80 40 80 260 Total.. 12000 8000 5600 120 32 75- 1600 400 800 ISOO- 637 $64,877 832 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the Dahkotahs. On the sixth day of the journey he left his companions to chase some buffaloes that were ill sight. He did not return for some time, but after a long ride across the prairie he saw the primitive cart in which his family had travelled, and hoped to find them and recount his success in the hunt. On his approach he found one of his companions scalped, and deprived of both his feet. A few steps beyond, lay one of his beloved daughters with a knife lodged in her heart. He then discovered the lifeless form of his other fellow- traveller, but could not find his second daughter. Horrified and helpless he returned to Pembina, after travelling three days and three nights on foot, without a morsel of food. Reciting his melancholy story, the settlers were seized with a panic, and not one would accompany him to the scene of slaughter and bury the dead. Obtaining an intimation that one daughter lyet lived, a captive in a Yankton lodge, with the energy of despair he started for the camp, determined to rescue her or to die in the attempt. After a long tramp he descried the cone-shaped teepee, and before he reached the spot a Yankton accosted him and asked whether he was a friend or foe. Hess, nerved to the highest physical courage, said, " You knOw me as your foe ; you know me by the name of Standing Bull ; you know you have killed one of my daughters and taken the other prisoner." The Dahkotah was impressed by his fearlessness, and ■extended his hand, and, taking him to the camp, all complimented him. Finding his daughter, he was cheered to learn that she had been treated with kind- ness. Her owner was at first unwilling to release her, but at last consented for a certain ransom. HESS'S DAUGHTER RANSOMED. 333 Seeking the neighbouring trading posts of the Columbia Fur Company, the traders sympathized with him, and furnished him the necessary amount of goods on a long credit, and bearing the merchandise to the camp, the Dahkotah, true to his word, delivered the daughter ; but now the maiden had become attached to those with whom she had been dwelling, and reluctantly left their lodges. On the appearance of spring in the year 1823, a num- ber of emigrants who had been induced by the prospec- tus of the Earl of Selkirk's agent to leave their mountain homes in Switzerland, and settle in ,the valley of the Red river, determined to seek the United States. After a long journey from Pembina, by way of Lake Traverse, they reached what is now Fort Snelling,. in a state of great destitution, and were there aided by the officers of the garrison.' ' "In 1823, news was brought by ham. His mother had an infant, the traders that two white children but he saw the Indians dash its were with a party of Sioux on the St. brains out against a tree, then killed Peter's. It appeared from what his father and mother. iBeoause he they could learn, that a family from cried they took him by his hair, and Red river — Selkirk's settlement — cut a small piece from his head, had been on their way to the fort, which was a running sore when he when a war party of Sioux met them, was retaken. Col. Snelling took murdered the parents and an infant, John into his family. Major Clark and made the boys prisoners. Col. the other, but he was afterwards Snelling sent an ofBcer with a patty sent to an orphan asylum in New of soldiers to rescue the children. York. The eldest died of lockjaw, After some delay in the ransom, occasioned by a cut in the ankle they were finally brought. An old while using an axe. His death-bed squaw, who had the youngest, was conversion was affecting and r'emark- very unwilling to give him up, and able. One day, after he had been ill indeed the child did not wish to leave several weeks, he said, 'Mrs. Snel- her. The oldest, about eight years ling, I have been a very wicked boy ; old, said his name was John TuUy, I once tried to poison my father be- and his brother, five years old, Abra- cause he said he would whip me. 1 334 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. It was during this year that it was demonstrated that it was practicable to navigate the Mississippi from St. Louis to the junction of the Minnesota river. Pre- viously it had been supposed that the rapids at Kock Island would prove an insurmountable barrier. On the second of May, according to a printed announce- ment, the Virginia, a steamer one hundred and eighteen feet in length and twenty-two in width, drawing six feet of water, left her moorings at the St. Louis levee destined for Fort Snelling. Among the passengers were Major Taliaferro, the agent of the Dahkotahs ; Beltrami, an Italian Count, once a judge of the Royal Court, then a political refu- gee ;' Great Eagle, a Sauk chief, returning to his stole a ring from you which you valued much, and sold it to a soldier, and then I told you a lie about it. I have given you a great deal of trouble. I have been very wicked. I am going to die the day after to- morrow, and don't know where I shall go. Oh, pray for me.' " His benefactressanswered, 'John, God will forgive you, if you repent; but you must pray too, for yourself. God is more willing to hear than we are to pray. Christ died to save just such a sinner as you are, and you must call upon that Saviour to save you.' All his sins appeared to rise before him as he confessed them, and he seemed to feel that he was too great a sinner to hope for pardon. Mrs. Snelling read to him, and in- structed him. He never' had re- ceived any religious instruction, ex- cept in the Sunday school taught by Mrs. Clark and herself, and being accustomed to say his prayers with her children, and always be present when she road the church service on Sundays. The next morning after the above conversation, when she asked him how he had rested during the night, he said, ' I prayed very often in the night ; I shall die to- morrow, and I know not what shall become of me.' For several hours he remained tranquil, with his eyes closed, but would answer whenever spoken to ; then suddenly he ex- claimed, 'Glory! glory 1' His friend said, 'John, what do you mean by that word ?' ' Oh ! Mrs, Snelling, I feel so good — I feel so good ! Oh ! I cannot tell you how good I feel.' " — Mrs. Snelling's Reminiscences in " Pioneer Women of the West." ' " An Italian gentleman came on the boat, who professed to be travel- ling for the purpose of writing a book, and brought letters of introduction from Mrs. Snelling's friends in St. Louis. The colonel FIRST STEAMBOAT ON UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 385 Tillage from a conference with Governor Clark ; and a family from Kentucky, with their children, guns, chests, cats, dogs, and chickens, emigrating to Galena, which was then the extreme frontier. At Dubuque, the In- dians held possession of their mines, and watched all who "visited them with a jealous eye. After the steamer had passed the mouth of the Tj pper Iowa, a grand illumination greeted the appearance of the " great fire canoe," as it glided along the confines of Minnesota. An eye-witness writes: "It was per- fectly dark, and we were at the mouth of the river loway, when we saw at a great distance all the com- bined images of the infernal regions in full perfection. I was on the point of exclaiming with Michael Angelo, 'How terrible! but yiet how beaatiful!' invited him to his house to remain as long as he pleased, and he was with them several months. He could not speak English, but spoke French fluently, and seemed much pleased when he found his fair hostess could speak the language, she having learned it when a child at St. Louis. A French schopl was the first she ever attended, and she thus early acquired a perfectly cor- rect pronunciation. She lamented ■on one occasion to Mr. Beltrami, that her teacher had received his discharge, and was about leaving, and he politely offered his services in that capacity. She was then translating the life of Caesar in an abridged form, and from the emotion beitrayed by the foreigner at a por- tion of the reading, it was concluded he had been banished from the Pope's dominions at Kome, and that the lesson reminded him of his mis- fortunes. The passport he ^howedj gave him the title of ' Le Chevalier Count Beltrami.' "When at the fort he was busy in collecting Indian curiosities. One day he brought a Sioux chief into Mrs. Snelling's room, who had on his neck a necklace of bears' claws highly polished, saying, ' I cannot tempt this chief to part with his necklace ; pray see what you can do with him, he will not refuse you.' ' He wears it,' answered the lady, as a trophy of his prowess, and a badge of honour ; however, I will try.' After some time, Wanata said, ' On one condition I will consent : if you will cut off your hair, braid it, and let it take the place of mine, you may have the necklace.' All laugh- ed heartily at the contrivance to get rid of further importunity." — Mrs, Snelling's Reminiscences in " Pio^ neer Women of the West." 336 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. "The venerable trees of these eternal forests were on fire, which had communicated to the grass and brushwood, and these had been borne by a violent north- west wind to the adjacent plains and valleys. The flames towering above the tops of the hills where the wind raged with most violence, gave them the appear- ance of volcanoes at the moment of their most terrific eruptions ; and the fire, winding in its descent through places covered with grass, exhibited an exact resem-, blance to the undulating lava of Etna or Vesuvius. Almost all night we travelled by the light of this su- perb torch." The arrival of the VirgLuia at Mendota, is an era in the history of the Dahkotah nation, and will probably be transmitted to their posterity as long as they exist as a people. They say that' some of their sacred men, the night before, dt'eamed of seeing some monster of the' waters, which frightened them xery much. As the boat neared the shore, men, women, and children beheld with silent astonishment, supposing that it was some enomious water spirit coughing, puff- ing out hot breath, and splashing water in every direc- tion. When it touched the landing their fears prevailed, and they retreated some distance, but when the blowing oflf of steam commenced they were completely unnerved : mothers forgetting their children, with streaming hair, sought hiding-places ; chiefs, renouncing their stoicism scampered away like affrighted animals. The peace agreement between the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, made through the influence of Governor Cass, was of brief duration, the latter being the first to violate the provisions. iALUFERBO, UNITED STATES AOBNT FOE DAHKOTAHS. 337 On the fourth of June, Taliaferro,^ the Indian agent among the Dahkotahs, took advantage of the presence of a large number of Ojibways to renew the agreement for the cessation of hostilities. The council hall of the agent was a large room of logs, in which waved con- spicuously the flag of the United States, surrounded by ' Mr. Taliaferro was the first Indian agent in Minnesota, and what is re- markable; he held the office for twenty-one years. Having left the country in 1840, he visited it in 1856, and contributed the annexed reminis- cences to the Pioneer and Democrat newspaper, published at St. Paul : — "It may not be deemed out of place at this period in the rapid and un- precedented growth of cities, towns, hamlets, and population in Minne- sota, to refer to, and present date in reference to some of the historical reminiscences of the past. " There were two expeditions or- ganized — that for the ' Yellow Stone,' in 1818, under Colonel Atkinson, and the second in 1819, under Lieu- tenant-Colonel Leavenworth, of the Fifth Infantry, to the Falls of St. Anthony, which latter expedition cantoned at the entry of the river St. Peter's, and their first monthly report was dated September thirtieth, 1819. The object of these military move- ments during the administration of President Monroe, was to open the country to the fur trade, and extend protection to our hitherto defenceless frontiers, north and west. Your hum- ble writer was selected by the presi- dent from the army, on the twenty- seventh of March, 1819, and appoint- ed the pioneer Agent for Indian Af- 22 fairs for the North-west, and estab- lished his agency near the Minnesota, and continued his ai'duous, delicate, and responsible duties under several successive administrations of the Ge- neral Government, down to the year 1840, when— though appointed for the sixth term — ^he declined longer ser- vice, from a rapid decline in health. " In the summer of the year 1820^ Colonel Snellingrelieved Lieutenant- Colonel Leavenworth from the com- mand of what was then called ' Fort St. Anthony,' though not a stone had been set for the permanent work. This was left for the action of the gallant Snelling, who, as acting As- sistant Quartermaster, set all bands at work, and laid the corner stone of Fort Snelling on the tenth day of September, 1820, with due ceremo- nies, in presence of the civil and military officers of the post and several citizens. It is known that- in 1805, Pike procured from the Sioux (the chief,, ' Little Crow' being present) a cession of nine by eighteen miles, wintered his men below the Sauk Rapids, and returned to St. Louis in the spring of 1806. In excavating the foundation of the circular battery in rear of the com- manding officer's quarters, at the. foot of a small oak tree, a workman found a black bottle, and upon being 338 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. British colouis and medals that had been delivered up from time to time by Indian chiefs. Among the Dahkotah chiefs present were Wapashaw, Little Crow, and Penneshaw; of the Ojibways there were Kendouswa, Moshomene, and Pasheskonoepe. After mutual accusations and excuses concerning the placed in the^ hands of Colonel Snelling it was found to contain a synopsis of the grant made to the United States by the Indians. "To recount all those thrilling inci- dents, which occurred in the course of the first twenty-one years on this then remote frontier, would fill a vol- ume from our seventeen manuscript journals, in the hands of a ready wri- ter. We would remark upon the ever memorable days the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth of May, 1827, when the Sioux, shortly after night- fall, fired into the lodges of a party of Ohippewas encamped below, and in front of the Agency, killing and wounding some eight or nine — and for this unprovoked attack we caused ■the ofifenders to be forthwith given' up for this outrage, and insult to our flag and neutrality — and four Sioux were shot, within two hundred paces from the spot on which we now pen this sketch of facts. " We thought nothing of taking a crew of brave Medawakantons, with Mr. Alexander Farribault as a com- panion, and passing down to Du- buque, and rescuing a Yankton Sioux prisoner the Sacs and Foxes had captured in 1823, — performing this act of humanity in a few days ; evad- ing the vigilance of a party of the Sac braves despatched to intercept and cut us off. It was a dangerous effort, but we determined to risk our lives to save that of a human being, and we landed safely at St. Peter's, and in due season, despatched her off safely to her friends and family on the»Des Moines. "Some are curious to learn how certain locations received designated names. Minnehaha was first indi- cated as the Little Falls, then as Brown's Falls, in honour of Major General Brown. Lake Calhoun for the distinguished Secretary at the head of the War Department, and other smaller lakes, Harriet, Eliza. Abigail, Lucy, &c., after the ladies of the civil and military o£5cers of the post. " The first measured distance from Fort Snelling to Fort Crawford (Prairie du Chien), was measured in February, 1822, by Quartermaster Sergeant Heckle, with a perambula- tor on a wheel, which reported the distance by a sharp crackling every few hundred yards ; it was invented by this good old German soldier. The distance was 204 miles. " Could we write without the use of the personal pronoun, a more con- nected history of former years might be noted; but in conclusion, it is due the Sioux of your territory to record one fact as to them, and that is, from "FLAT MOUTH" AT FORT SNELLING. 339 infraction of the previous treaty^ the Dahkotahs lighted the calumet, they having been the first to infringe upor the agreement of 1820; After smoking, and passing the pipe of peace to the Ojibways, who passed through the same formalities, they all shook hands as a pledge of renewed amity. The morning after the council, Flat Mouth, the dis- tinguished Ojibway chief, arrived, who had left his lodge vowing that he would never be at peace with the Dah- kotahs. As he stepped from his canoe, Penneshaw held 'Out his hand, but was repulsed with scorn. The Dah- kotah warridr immediately gave the alarm, and in a moment runners were on their way to the neighbour- ing villages to raise a war party. On the sixth of June, the Dahkotahs had assembled, stripped for a fight, and surrounded the Ojibways. The latter, expecting the worst, concealed their women and •children behind the old barracks which had been used by the troops while the fort was being erected. At the solicitation of the agent and commander of the fort, the Dahkotahs desisted from an attack and retired. On the seventh, the Ojibways left for their homes; but, in a few hours, while they were making a portage at St. Anthony, they were again approached by the the commencement of our agency to twenty-fourth of June, the ' widow's its close, our frontier pioneers were son' was Irving's Rip Van Winkle ; never even molested in their homes, after a nap of fifteen years, we awoke nor did they shed one drop of Amer- in the midst of fast times. We ican blood ; while the Chippewas, truly felt bewildered when we found Winnebagoes, and Sacs and Foxes, all the haunts and resting-places of were in the yearly habit of the most the once noble sons of the forest, revolting and foul murders on all coveredbycities, towns, and hamlets, who unfortunately fell in their war We asked but few questions, being path. to our mind received as a strange " We were in St. Paul on the animal, if nothing worse." 340 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Dalikotahs, who would have attacked them, if a detach- ment of troops had not arrived from the fort. A rumour reaching Penneshaw's village that he had been killed at the falls, his mother seized an Ojibway maiden, who had been a captive from infancy, and, with a tomahawk, cut her in two. Upon the return of the son in safety he was much gratified at what he con- sidered the prowess of his parent. LONG'S EXPLORATION OF MINNESOTA RIVER. 341 CHAPTER XVII. The interesting information procured by the expedi- tion of Lewis and Clarke to tlie tributaries of the Mis- souri and Kocky Mountains, and that of Governor Cas? through the north-eastern district of .Minnesota, induced the United States government to send an expedition to explore the Minnesota river, and the country situated on the northern boundary of the United States between the Eed river of Hudson's Bay, and Lake Superior. The command of the expedition was intrusted to Major Stephen H. Long, and the scientific corps attached were Thomas Say, zoologist and antiquary, William H. Keating, mineralogist and geologist, Sainuel Sey- mour, landscape painter and designer. Late at night, on the second of July, 1823, they arrived at Mendota opposite the fort, and slept in the open air. On the morning of the third, Colonel Snelling and the five companies of the 5th Infantry, within the fort, were much surprised by the appearance of the exploring party ; and, on the afternoon of the ninth of July; they the afternoon to a trading post of the American Fur Company, in charge of Mr. Mooers, where presents of * Appendix N WAHNAHTAH'S APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER. 343 tobacco were distributed. The traders of the Columbia Fur Company, at Lake Traverse, received the party with a salute, and exhibited the most hospitable dis- position. Keating, the historian of the expedition, remarks : — " The principal interest which we experienced in the neighbourhood of Lake Travers, was from an acquaint- ance with Wanotan,^ the most distinguished chief of the Yanktoanan tribe, which, as we were informed, is sub- divided into six bands. He is one of the greatest men of the Dahkotah nation, and although but twenty-eight years of age, he has already acquired great renown as a warrior. At the early age of eighteen, he exhibited much valour in the war against the Americans, and was wounded several times. He was then inexperi- enced and served under his father, who was chief of his tribe, and bore a mortal enmity to the Americans. Wanotan has since learned to form a better estimate of oar nation. He is aware that it is the interest of his people to remain at peace with us, and would, probably, in case of another war between the United States and England, take part with the former. Those who know him well, commend his sagacity and judgment, as well as his valour. He is a tall man, being upwards of six feet high; his countenance would be esteemed hand- some in any country; his features being regular and well shaped. There is an intelligence that beams through his eye, which is not the usual concomitant of Indian features. His manners are dignified and re- served ; his attitudes are graceful and easy, though they appear to be somewhat studied. When speaking of the ' This chief's name is flpelled Wahnahtah, Wanata, Wanotan. 344 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Dahkotahs, we purposely postponed mentioning the fre- quent vows which they make, and their strict adherence to them, because, one of the best evidences which we have collected on this .point, connects itself with the character of Wanotan, and may give a favourable idea of his extreme fortitude in enduring pain. In the sum- mer of 1822, he undertook a journey, from which, ap- prehending much danger on the part of the Chippewas, he made a vow to the Sun, that, if he returned safe, he would abstain from all food or drink, for the space of four successive days and nights, and that he would dis- tribute among his people all the property which he pos- sessed, including all his lodges, horses, dogs, etc. On his return, which happened without accident, he celebrated the dance of the Sun; this consisted in making three cuts through his skin, one on his breast, and one on each of his arms. The skin was cut in the manner of a loop, so as to permit a rope to pass .under the strip of skin and flesh which was thus divided from the body. The ropes being passed through, their ends were secured to a tall vertical pole, planted at about forty yards from his lodge. He then began to dance round this pole, at the commencement of his fast, frequently swinging him- self in the air, so as to be supported merely by the cords which were secured to the strips of skin cut off from his arms and breast. He continued this exercise with few intermissions, during the whole of his fast, until the , fourth day about ten o'clock, A. M., when the strip, of skin from his breast gave way. Notwithstanding which, he interrupted not his dance, although supported merely by his arms. At noon the strip from his left arm snapped off. His uncle then thought that he had suf- fered enough ; he drew his knife and cut off thfj skin WAHNAHTAH'S SUN DANCE. 845 from his right arm, upon which Wanotan fell to the ground and swooned. The heat at the time was ex- treme. He was left exposed in that state to the sun until night, when his friends brought him some p-o- visions. After the ceremony was over, he distributed to them the whole of his property, among which were five fine horses, and he and his two squaws left his lodge, abandoning every article of their furniture. "As we appeared upon the brow of the hill which commands the company's fort, a salute was fired from a number of Indian tents which were pitched in the vi- cinity, from the largest of which the American colours were flying. And as soon as we had dismounted from our horses, we received an invitation to a feast which Wanotan had prepared for us. The gentlemen of the company informed us that as soon as the Indians had heard of our contemplated visit, they had commenced their preparations for a festival, and that they had killed three of their dogs. We repaired to a sort of pavilion which they had erected by the union of several large ^kin lodges. Fine buffalo robes were spread all around, and the air was perfumed by the odour of sweet scents ing grass which had been burned in it. On entering the lodge we saw the chief seated near the further end of it, and one of his principal men pointed out to us the place which was destined for our accommodation: it was at the upper end of the lodge; the Indians who were in it taking no further notice of us. These con- sisted of the chief, his son, a lad about eight years old, and eight or ten of the principal warriors. The chief's dress presented a mixture of the European and abori- ginal costume ; he wore moccasins and leggings of splen- did scarlet cloth, a blue breech-cloth, a fine shirt of 346 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. printed muslin, over this a frock coat of fine blue cloth' with scarlet facings, somewhat similar to the undress uniform coat of a Prussian officer ; this was buttoned and secured round his waist by a belt. Upon his head he wore a blue cloth cap, made like a German fatigue cap. A very handsome Mackinaw blanket, slightly orna- mented with paint, was thrown over his person. His son, whose features strongly favoured those of his father, wore a dress somewhat similar, except that his coat was party- coloured, one half being made of blue, and the other half of scarlet cloth. He wore a round hat, with a plated silver band, and a large cockade. From his neck were suspended several silver medals, doubtless presents to his father. This lad appeared to be a great favourite of Wanotan's, who seems to indulge him more than is customary for the Indians to do. As soon as we had taken our seats, the chief passed his pipe round, and while we were engaged in smoking, two of the In- dians arose and uncovered the large kettles which were standing over the fire, they emptied their contents into a dozen of wooden dishes which were placed all round the lodge. These consisted of buffalo meat boiled with tepsin, also the same vegetable boiled without the meat,, in buffalo grease, and finally, the much esteemed dog meat, all which were dressed without salt. In compli- ance with the established usage of travellers to taste of everything, we all partook of the latter with a mixed feeling of curiosity and reluctance. Could we have divested ourselves entirely of the prejudices of educa- tion, we should doubtless have unhesitatingly acknow- ledged this to be among the best meat that we had ever eaten. It was remarkably fat, was sweet and palatable. It had none of that dry, stringy character, which we MAJOR LONG RBLISHES DOG MEAT. 347 had expected to find in it, and it was entirely destitute of the strong taste which we had apprehended that it possessed. It was not an unusual appetite, or the want of good meat to compare with it, which led us to form this favourable opinion of the dog, for we had, on the same dish, the best meat which our prairies afford ; but so strongly rooted are the prejudices of education, that, though we all unaffectedly admitted the pxcelknce of this food, yet few of us could be induced to eat much of it. We were warned by our trading friends that the bones of this animal are treated with great respect by the Dahkotahs ; we therefore took great care to replace- them in the dishes; and we are informed that, after such a feast is concluded, the bones are carefully col- lected, the flesh scraped .off from them, and that, after being washed, they are buried in the ground, partly, as it is said, to testify to the dog species, that in feasting- upon one of their number, no disrespect was meant ta the species itself; and partly also from a belief that the bones of the animal will rise and reproduce another one. The meat of this animal, as we saw it, was thought to resemble that of the finest Welsh mutton, except that it was of a much darker colour. Having so far overcome our repugnance as to taste of it, we no longer wonder that the dog should be considered a dainty dish by those in whom education has not created a prejudice against this flesh. In China it is said that fattened pups are frequently sold in the market place ; and it appears that the invitation to a feast of dog meat is the greatest distinction that can be offered to a stranger by any of the Indian nations east of the Rocky Mountains." On the morning of the fifth of August, the expedi- 348 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. tion arrived at Pembina, a corruption of Anepeminan, an Ojibway word/ and were kindly received by Mr. Nolen. This had been the upper settlement of the Selkirk colony, and the Hudson Bay Company had maintained a post here until a few months before the visit of Major Long. Observations made by their own astronomers, led to the supposition that it was within the American boundary line. At the time of the ex- ploration, there were about three hundred and fifty half- breeds residing in fifty or sixty log huts. The next day after the arrival of the expedition, the buffalo hunters returned from the chase. " The proces- sion consisted of one hundred and fifteen carte, each loaded with about eight hundred pounds of the finest buffalo meat ; there were three hundred persons includ- ing the women." The number of horses was about two hundred. Twenty hunters mounted on their best steeds rode in abreast, firing a salute as they passed the Ame- rican camp. Major Long and his party remained several days, de- termining the boundary line of the United States. " A ' flag-stafi" was planted, which after a series of observations, made during four days, was determined to be in latitude 48° 59' 574", north. The distance to the boundary line was measured off, and an oak post fixed on it, bearing on the north side the letters G. B., and on the south side those of U. S." On the eighth of August the United States flag was hoisted on the staff, a national salute fired, and a pro- clamation made in the presence of all the inhabitants, that all the country on the Red river, above that point. ' Pronounced as if written Pembin- known to botanists as Viburnim aaw. Anepeminan, is a red berry, oxycoccos. JOHN TANNER SHOT. 34? was within the territory of the United States. As far as practicable the expedition commenced their return, along the northern boundary line of what is now Min- nesota. At Rainy Lake they found John Tanner, of whom mention has been made in another chapter, and the father of that erratic bois brule James Tanner, so well known to the older residents of Minnesota, severely wounded, and in a tent attended by two half-breed daughters. An Indian had shot him, and the ball had passed through the right arm and breast. At his re- quest he was transferred to the camp of the expedition. The evening preceding the departure from Rainy Lake, his daughters went over to the Hudson Bay trading- post, to visit an old half-breed woman ; but they never returned. All efforts to find them were unavailing, and the father, who was taking them to Mackinaw, to attend a mission school, seemed much distressed. After travel- ling a few miles with the party, the pain from his wounds was so great, that it was necessary to leave him in the care of one of the employees of the trading-post. It is a Uttle remarkable that Tanner should also have disap- peared as mysteriously as his daughters.^ At Pembina, Joseph Snelling left the expedition and returned to the fort, his services as interpreter not being needed beyond that point. Beltrami, the Italian, who had become obnoxious, also detached himself, and conceived the bold project of striking for the most northern point of the Mississippi river. With a " bois brul^," a mule, dog train, and two ' It is said tliat, on the day. Mr. and Tanner disappeared. If rightly Schoolcraft's brother was found inforined, he had not long before killed at Sault St. Marie, the log threatened Mr. Schoolcraft. cabin of Tanner was burned down. 350 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Ojibways who were going to Red Lake to raise a war party to avenge the death of a companion who had been murdered by the Dahkotahs^ he commenced his adven- turous journey. On the fifth day they arrived at Thief river, so called, it is said, from a Dahkotah who for years lurked in the marshes, robbing and scalping his foes as they would pass alone. At this point the half-breed returned with the mule and train to Pembina ; and the Italian, finding no trading post here as anticipated, was obliged to pro- ceed with the two Ojibways. There is much egotism and gasconade in the writings of Beltrami, but it cannot be denied that the Italian was the first to make known to the world the most northern source of the Mississippi, and the region around Red Lake. As the work written by this foreigner is little known, and not accessible to the general reader, large extracts will be given from his letters to a lady whom he addresses as the Countess : — "I had been informed at Pembenar that a number of Bois-hruiUs had proceeded to this confluence in order to erect huts for their winter-hunting establishment, and that some one of them would certainly be able to accom- pany me, and act as my interpreter, as far as Red Lake ; and, if I desired it, still farther; but we found none there. The Cypowais had driven them away, as we were informed by one of the latter, and they were gone to establish themselves about a hundred miles lower down. On the other hand, my interpreter from Pem- benar could not possibly continue with me : besides his having to conduct back the mule, other powerful reasons <,)perated to prevent him. I was therefore compelled to BELTRAMI VISITS RED Li^KE. 351 decide ; and I delivered myself over to the care of my two Indians. *" We had not again proceeded up the river more than two miles before they stopped, and presented an offering of dry provisions and tobacco to Midliki, the Manitou of Waters. This was a stake painted red, and fixed under a kind of sacellum, like those of anti- quity, and the ceremony is by no means modern. They were, for this once, more generous towards their deities than Indians in such circumstances generally are : the reason is, that their offering was at my expense. " The frequent rapids which we had met with in the course of five or six miles, and which had compelled us to walk continually in the water, and over pointed and •cutting rocks, in order to preserve our canoe from injury, had very much fatigued us, and our appetite also induced us to make a halt : we accordingly did so, and, after eating my repast, I went to sleep beneath a tree, recommending myself to the care of Providence. " I was awakened by discharges of fire-arms, and, on starting up, perceived five or six Indians on the oppo- site bank of the river, apparently desirous to cross it. On seeing me they seemed struck with astonishment and terror, and fled with precipitation ; one of our In- dians was wounded. Those who had fired at them were Sioux. I was already known among the Indians of that nation as the TonhxrWasd-cw-Jionsca, or the Oreai Chief from a far cowntry ; and my tall stature and noble horse had rendered me the more remarked by them, as these are two things of which thej- are extreme admirers. When they again saw me on this spot, they concluded that the whole expedition was thpre, and fled Avith all haste for fear of being recog- 352 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. nised. This was the idea that first presented itself to my mind, and I instantly acted upon it. We jumped immediately into our canoe ; I performed to the best pf my power the labours of the wounded Indian, who had his left arm shot completely through, and his right shoulder grazed. The ball, however, had not touched the bone of the arm, and the wound in the shoulder had injured only the integuments. The juice of some boiled roots was applied as the healing balsam; the down of a swan-skin, which I had purchased at Pem- benar, was substituted for lint, my handkerchief served for a bandage, and the bark of a tree called ormgohinigy, or white wood, answered the purpose of securing the arm in a sling. We kept on our course till evening, and saw nothing more of them. " My intrepid champions saw nothing but Sioux. The slightest sound from wind or water, the shadow of a tree or of a rock, everything was the Sioux. I disco- vered that they were plotting against me, for they care- fully avoided my looks. I had not the shghtest doubt that they meant to leave me on the spot, and deter- mined therefore to make them re-embark, it being more easy to guard them in the canoe. About midnight we stopped. I had but little to fear, being left without my canoe, for I was already well aware that their intention must be to continue their course by land, by a route which would conduct them in two or three days to Red Lake ; whereas, were they to proceed by the river they would require more than six. However, I considered that no precaution ought to be neglected by me; I therefore drew the ceknoe to land, and fastened it to a tree by a cord, one end of which I tied to my leg, and ' m laid myself down by the side of them in such a BELTRAMI DESERTED BY INDIAN GUIDES. 353 manner that they could not rise, even if I should be able to sleep, without waking me. These precautions, and my musket and my sword between my legs, ready for immediate use, kept them quiet the whole night. " On the following morning they ernbarked withou. difficulty. But this was only with a view of reaching a certain point, whence the route by land was shorter. I might have used violence against them if I had chosen, for certainly I had no fear of them; I had even taken the precaution of putting water into their musket barrels : but I should only have exasperated their nation, in a territory where it was now absolute and despotic, and where I could expect no assistance but from my own energies and the care of Providence ; I therefore suffered them quietly to go off. They intimated to me, what I was before well aware of, that they were going to leave me. They invited me to follow them, and to leave the canoe, provisions, and baggage, concealed in the brush- wood. I deliberated with myself on the subject for a moment : I considered that the river was my best and surest way, that I was in possession of a canoe, provi- sions, a musket, a sword, and ammunition ; whereas, by accepting their invitation, I should be following barba- rian'} who had the cowardice to abandon a stranger, con- fided to their guardianship at Pembenar by their most intimate friends, one who had treated them as brothers, saved them from the hands of the enemy, healed their wounds, and assisted them kindly with all his means. I should, with wretches of this description, be exposing myself in inextricable forests, in the midst of swamps and lakes, and abandoning to the mercy of a thousand accidents, my baggage, my provisions, and materials for the presents, which are indispensable passports through 23 354 HISTOKY OF MINNESOTA. a savage country. My determination, therefore, was soon fixed : after having vainly endeavoured to make them comprehend tKat both Manitovs and men would punish such atrocity, I commanded them by words and «igns peremptorily to be gone. " I imagine, my dear Countess, that you will feel the frightfulness of my situation at this critical moment more strongly than I can express it. I really can scarcely help shuddering, as well as yourself, whenever I think of it. Fortunately, I was not at the time over- powered and confounded. Woe be to us, if in exigen- cies like this, despair takes possession of our minds. In that case all is completely over with us ! * * * " The solitude I now experienced, which romance- writers would not have found so pleasant and delightful as that which they have been pleased to exhibit in their fictions, impressed me at first with ideas the most dread- ful. I must, said I to mygelf, leave this place some way or other ; and I jumped into my canoe and began row- ing.' But I was totally unacquainted with the almost magical art by which a single person guides a canoe, and particularly a canoe formed of bark, the lightness ' of which is overpowered by the current, and tlie con- duct of which requires extreme dexterity. Frequently, instead of proceeding up the river, I descended ; a cir- cumstance which by no means shortened my voyage. Renewed efforts made me lose my equilibrium, the canoe ' upset, and admitted a considerable quantity of water. My whole cargo was wetted. I leaped into the water, drew the canoe on land, and laid it to drain with the keel upwards. I then loaded it again, taking care to place the wetted part of my effects uppermost, to be dried by the, sun. I then resumed my route. BELTRAMI'S EMBARRASSMENTS. 355 " You sympathize with the embarrassment in which you conceive I must have been involved, with all my •difl&culties and want of means for continuing my course. I bore aU, however, \^ith great philosophy, and with a resignation which I believe you will readily admit is not very natural to me. I could scarcely help inces- santly smiling. I threw myself into the water up to my waist, and commenced a promenade of a rather un- usual kind, drawing the canoe after me with a thong from a buffalo's hide, which I had fastened to the prow. The first day of my expedition, the fifteenth of the mouth, was employed in this manner, and I did not stop till the evening. ****** "The weather on the second day of my progress was very disagreeable. A storm which commenced before mid-day continued till night. Notwithstanding this, however, I did not relax an instant but to take my food. I saw the hand of providence in the physical and moral vigour which supported me during this dreadful •conflict. In the evening I had no access to a more com- ibrtable hearth than on the preceding one. My bear skin and my coverlid, which constituted the whole of my bed, were completely soaked; and, what was worse, the mould began to affect my provisions. I was almost tempted to think that it was all over with my pro- menades, and that I began to travel, and that not very ■comfortably. " On the morning of the seventeenth of August, the sun's beams gilded the awful solitude by which I was surrounded, and I eagerly availed myself of their in- fluence. I laid out my provisions, baggage, gun, and sword, and stretched myself also at full length under -his rays. The powder, which had fortunately been 35b HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. closely confined in tin canisters, was the only thing that escaped the water. " Necessity makes man industrious, and the necessity I was now Under to become so, was great indeed, as otherwise it was impossible for me to continue my pro- gress. The river became narroM'er and deeper the farther I ascended it, as is the case with all rivers origi- nating in lakes. It was thus absolutely indispensable for me to learn how to guide the canoe with the oar. I set myself, therefore, to study this art in good earnest ; and in the afternoon, when I struck my tent, I exerted .nyself first to pass several deep gulfs, and afterwards to traverse short stages or distances of the river ; but the fatigue I endured was extreme, and I preferred re- turning to my drag-rope whenever the river permitted my walking in it. As appearances seemed to threaten rain, I covered my efiects with my umbrella, stuck into the bottom of my canoe. It was singular enough to see them conveyed thus in the stately style and manner of China, while I was myself condemned to travel in that of a galley slave ; nor could I help reflecting on those unfortunate victims of despotism which the resto- ration has condemned to drag the vessels bn the Dan- ube. As it was of consequence for me to avail myself of everything that could promote cheerfulness and keep up my spirits, I could not help smiling, which I am sure, my dear Countess, you would yourself have done, at the sight of my grotesque convoy. * * * " The morning of the eighteenth awakened me to my active duties, and I proceeded in my course ; and before mid-day fell in with two canoes of Indians. Bein"- alone in a canoe of their nation, with three muskets (for those of my two Indians were in my possession), 1 INDIANS' ASTONISHMENT AT UMBRELLA. 357 might naturally have been apprehensive of exciting their most dangerous suspicions. But, heaven be praised, I entertained no apprehension whatever. I called to them with confidence, while they, struck. with wonder at so extraordinary an object, halted on the opposite bank of the river. What astonished them most was my superbly conveyed baggage. They could form no idea of what that great red shin (my umbrella) could possibly be, nor of what was placed beneath it; and, observing me walking in the water, they perhaps ima- gined me to be their Miciliki. ***** " I made them comprehend what had occurred to me, and that I wanted one of them to accompany me as far as Red Lake. At first they started immense difficul- ties ; but a woman was captivated by the beauty of my handkerchief, which was hanging from my pocket ; a lad was fascinated with the one I had about my neck, and an old man muffled up in a miserable ragged rug, which through its innumerable holes displayed nearly one-half of his person, had already cast his rapacious glance on mine ; pretending to search for something in my portmanteau, a bit of calico which casually came to hand excited the full gaze of one of the young girls; and my provisions, which they had already tasted, strongly stimulated their gormandizing appetite : I satis- fied the whole of them, and the old man decided to accept my proposal. He took the helm of my vessel, and we set off. " This assistance extricated me from a situation which certainly was by no means pleasant, and it was so much the more valuable, as it would have been impossible for me to proceed alone, because the river was constantly increasing in depth. Notwithstanding this, however. 358 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. my mind was in a state of incessant agitation as I pro- ceeded, and I perceived its attention completely occu- pied about something which it left behind it with regret. It was no diiEcult matter for me to detect this secret. My mind was, in fact, adverting to the four days of its- solitude and independence. I, at that moment, fully comprehended why the Indians consider themselves happier than cultivated nations, and far superior to them. " It is difficult to meet with a rower as strong as my patriarchal companion, and we advanced at a rapid rate^ without stopping, till the evening. Our table was fur- nished with a couple of ducks : I had fire to make ' a roast, and I shot them accordingly. Though my bed was without a coverlid (the cunning old fellow having left in his own canoe the one which I had given him), yet wrapping myself, like the Indians, in the skin I wore about me, I lay down to rest very comfortably. In the course of the night I was waked by my caution- ary cord ; and, at first, I imagined that my pilot was also going to desert me, but it turned out to be occa- sioned by some large animal who had taken a fancy to- my provisions. I gently seized my gun, which I alwaj'^s keep at my side, and in an instant brought him down. " My Indian, confounded by the report of fire-arms, thought he had been attacked by the Sioux, about whom, not improbably, he had been dreaming, and im- media,tely betook himself to flight. I called out to him, I ran towards him to convince him of his error and restore his confidence, but the forest and darkness con- cealed him from my view, and thus in a moment my solitude and independence were renewed. However I ARRIVAL AT RED LAKE. 359 could still have smiled at the adventure, if such an expression of feeling had been at all seasonable. " I waited for him in vain for the remainder of the night. Two discharges of the gun, however, which I fired off immediately, one after the other (considered by them as a signal of friendship), brought him back to, his quarters with the dawn of day. " We searched for the animal I had fired at, which it seems retained strength sufficient to drag itself to a few paces distance among the brushwood, to which traces of blood guided us ; it proved to be a wolf My com- panion refused to strip the animal of its skin, a superb one, viewing it at the same time with an air of respect, and murmuring within himself some words, the mean- ing of which will probably surprise you. In fact, the wolf was his Manitou. He expressed to it the sincerity of his regret for what had happened, and informed it that he was not the person who had destroyed it. " On the ] 9th, my Mentor wanted to play me the trick of handing me over to the charge of another Indian whom he fell in with ; but I gave him a frown, and he went on with me. We again made a good day's progress, to which I contributed by rowing to the best of my ability. " Night arrived without his pausing in his exertions. He gave me to understand that it was indispensable for him to reach the destined place without delay, and appeared excessively eager to rejoin his canoes. " Much fatigued, and shivering under a cold moist air, with which the nighi^dews in this country pierce to the very bones, I lay down under my bear skin to sleep. A distant sound awoke me, and I found myself alone in my canoe, in the midst of rushes. On turning my head. 360 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. I observed three or four torches approaching me. My imagination had at first transported me to the enchanted land of fairies, and I was in motionless expectation of receiving a visit from their ladyships, or of being ad- dressed, like Telemachus, by the nymphs. They proved, however, to be female Indians, who came to convey my effects, and to guide me to their hut. My Charon, who from purgatory had conducted me to Hell, had applied to them for this purpose, and then hastened his return to his family, who were waiting for him where he first met with me. I was now at Red Lake, at the marshy spot whence the river springs, and about a mile from an Indian encampment. " I was conducted to a hut covered with the bark of trees, like those which I have already described to you as belonging to the Cypowais, but on a larger scale. I there found fourteen Indians, male and female, nineteen dogs, and a wolf The latter was the first to do the honours of the house ; however, as he was fastened, he could not attack me so effectively as he was evidently desirous of doing, and merely tore my pantaloons, which were, indeed, the Only pair I had still serviceable. This wolf was one of their household gods. " The first two of the Indians that my eyes glanced on were my former treacherous companions : I appeared not to observe them. I desired the women to hang up my provisions to the posts which supported the roof, to preserve them from the voracity of the dogs ; and, not having any power to help myself, I lay down in the corner assigned to me in this intolerably filthy stable. When I got up again, you will easily believe that I did not rise alone : thus I incurred an addition of wounds and inflictions on a body which the pointed flints and INDIAN MOtmNING. 361 cutting shells of the river, and the boughs of treej, thorns, brambles, and mosquitoes, had previously con verted into a Job. "On the morning of the twentieth, I desired to fte conducted to a bois brule, for whom I had brought a letter from Pembenar. I was told that he resided ai a distance, and that the waters of the lake were in a state of great agitation. I could not even obtain the favour of having him sent for, for this happened to be the d ly when it was the bounden duty of all the members of the hut to devote themselves to yelling, eating, drink- ing, and dancing, in commemoration of the Indian killed at the river Cayenne. I quitted the place, and offered the only handkerchief that I had remaining to the first Indian whom I met, and he immediately went off with my letter. " The funeral ceremony presented nothing more extra- ordinary than what we have already seen, excepting the pillaging of my provisions in honour of the hero of the fete ; and the convulsions of the father and mother composed to quietude by the blowings and exorcisms of the priests, and the wounds inflicted on the arms and legs, the contortions, yellings, and bowlings of his rela^ tives. * =f: * * * * * " A party of the relatives and friends was gone on an expedition for discovering whether the Sioux had left no remains whatever on the spot where the tragedy had been acted, while my old friend the pilot, as herald- at-arms, had proceeded to rouse the vengeance and im- plore the succour of some Cypowais Jumpers, who were scattered in various spots about the forests. The doc- trine of these Indians is strikingly singular : it is per- haps held by them only, of all mankind. For they 362 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. seem to recognise rather the immortality of the body than of the soul. " My bois brul6 had now arrived. He was one of the numerous progeny scattered over the country by the vice and immoraUty of the fur traders. He is the son of a Canadian and a female Indian of the tribe of the Cjrpowais. ***** "My bois brul6 resides about twelve miles distant from this encampment to the south of the lake. The wind was too high for a canoe made of bark, and the lake too violently agitated ; we were compelled, there- fore, to disembark, and passed the night under an im- mense plane tree. This plane is, perhaps, the Colossus of the whole vegetable kingdom. The Indians adore it as a Manitou; the ancients would have done the samej and though I am myself a modern, I admire it as one of the most prodigious and most beautiful productions of nature. " We arrived at his hut on the morning of the twenty- first. Misery might be said to be personified in his family, and in all by which he was surrounded ; a wife (the daughter of a father she has never seen) nourishing an infant at her breast, but nearly destitute of nourish- ment herself, and five naked and famine-struck children, constituted the whole of his property. The uncertain fishery of the lake, and a small quantity of maize, in its green and immature state, furnish the whole means of their subsistence. They are neither civilized nor savage, possessing the resources of neither state, but every inconvenience and defect of both. The worst part of the case is, that this bois brul6 has a great deal of natural talent, which serves only to render him more dangerous. He has been taught both to read and write. RED RIVER OF RED LAKE. 36S and has obtained that species of education which just serves to strengthen the innate evil propensities of the man, when unaccompanied by that moral training which is their proper curb and correction : in fact, the obliquity of his character has quite ruined him in the opinion of the traders who have successively employed him ; and his crimes obliged him to abscond from Pem- benar, where I was informed that I ought to be more- on my guard against him than against the Indians themselves. I mention all these circumstances to you^ my dear Countess, because, with the truest and noblest friendship, you are desirous of participating, as it were,, in every description of danger incurred by me, and in order that those of our mutual friends who may be inclined to engage in the field of adventure like myself, may learn how to meet and overcome the various ejie- mies they may have to encounter. * * * " But we will now return to the Red river, from ^vhich we have somewhat, though not unnaturally, digressed^ and which we have surveyed hitherto rather through the imagination than the senses. " It presents no other extraordinary feature than the very frequent winding of its course, in which perhaps it is scarcely exceeded by the Meander itself. It waters a country uniformly level, and the rapids which we have seen do not lower its level but by the height of its banks. After Robber's river,' as you ascend, no other river flows into it. This is more particularly to be noticed, because the English Hudson's Bay Company ,^ according to their theories, have created on their map other Red rivers, with many more tributary streams flowing into it than this has. " At the distance of about forty miles from the lake,. 364 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. its banks are lined with impenetrable forests; above, the view is agreeably varied by smiling meadows and handsome shrubbery. On flowing from the lake it passes among rushes and wild rice. It is an error of geographers^ founded on the vague information of In- dians, that it derives its source from this lake ; indeed, a lake which is formed by five or six rivers which flow into it can never be considered as itself the source of any single river. We shall soon have occasion to look farther for this source. " The lake, by means of a strait, is divided into two ports, one to the north-east and the other to the south-west. Let us proceed to make the circuit of the last, which is certainly the most interesting. " It receives on the western side the river Broachers {Kinougeo-sibi) , and that of the Great Rock {Kiscia- cinahed-dbi) ; to the south, the river Kahasinilaguesibi, or Gravel river, near which the hut of my Bois-bruU guide is situated ; that of Kiogokaguesibi, or Gold-fish river ; and that of Madaoanakan-sibi, or Great Portage river ; on the south-east. Cormorant river ( GacaJeiscimtr mU). a large tongue of land on the E. N. E. forms a peninsula about four miles in length, and of varying breadth, ending in a point towards the west. At a little distance, towards the north, there is another en- campment of Indians, consisting of about three hundred persons, the chief of whom is the Grand Carabou {Kisd- Adihe) . The strait is situated to the N. N. E., and there is a small island in the midst of its waters dividing them into two. To the north we find another tongue of land, which serves also to separate the two lakes .and reaches as far as the strait, commencing at the spot whence, as we have seen. Red river, or (more pro- NUMEROUS LAKES. 365 perly speaking) Bloody river, proceeds. The other lake receives, on the east, Sturgeon river {AmeniTcanins-aibi). By the channel of this river, and by mea,ns of two portages, there is a communication with Rain river, from whence one can easily communicate with Lake Superior, to the south; and with the waters of Hud- son's Bay, by the Lake of Woodg, to the north. The waters which flow into Lake Superior on this side, may be considered as the sources of the river St. Lawrence. " These two lakes are about one hundred and thirty miles in circumference ; and Red river traverses about three hundred from the lake to Pembenar; but in a straight line the whole distance scarcely amounts to one hundred and sixty. "How much has it cost me, my dear Countess, to write you these details ! Perhaps as much as it will you to peruse them ; for, like all women of spirit, you are fond of the brilliant and romantic. But our geo- graphical friends would accuse me of negligence if I forgot them in a country completely unknown to them, aiid where no white man had previously travelled. * * "In the course of an excursion which I made to the south-west, I discovered eight small lakes, undistin- guished by names, which all communicate with each other, and of which Gravel river is the outlet. These lakes seem to have been negligently scattered by nature through a territory sometimes gloomy and sometimes gay, varied with hills and dales, and presenting to the eye landscapes the most delightful and enchanting. I i-esolved to pass a night amidst scenes so uncommonly charming, that I might enjoy as long as possible the exquisite impressions they made upon my mind and senses. T dedicated these lakes to the family to which ■366 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. I am united by the most cordial friendship ; and accord- ingly gave them the names of Alexander, Lavinius, Everard, Frederica, Adela, Magdalena, Virginia, and Eleonora. The purity of the waters of these lakes I considered a correct ijnage of that of their minds ; and their union reminded me of the aflfection by which the members of this happy family are so tenderly connected. "I returned to the encampment of Great Hare, to~ ■engage an Indian to attend ijie, together with my bois brul^ guide, during the continuance of my excursion, :and to purchase the canoe which was the scene of my tragi-comedy on Red" river; for I was desirous of hav- ing it conveyed, if possible, to my rural cottage, and preserve it with my other Indian curiosities as a memo- rial and trophy of my labours in these my transatlantic promenades. ******** "The river of Great Portage is so called by the In- -dians because a dreadful storm that occurred on it blew ■down a vast number of forest trees on its banks, which ^ncujnber its channel, and so impede its navigation as to make an extensive or great portage in order to reach it. The river thus denominated, however, is the true Red, or rather Bloody river. It enters the lake on the south, and goes out, as we have seen, on the north- west. This is the opinion of the Indians themselves, and it is not difficult to find arguments in support of it. " According to the theory of ancient geographers, the sources of a river which are most in a right line with its mouth should he considered as its principal sources and partkmlarly when they issue from, a cardinal point and flow to the one directly opposite. This theory appeals conformable to nature and reason ; and upon this prin- ''inle we should proceed in forming the sources of the SOURCES OF KED RIVER. 367 riyer of Great Portage. By the name Portage, is meant a, passage whicli the Indians make over a tongue of land, from one river or lake to another, carrying with them on their backs their light canoes, their baggage, and cargoes. "I left Eed Lake on the morning of the twenty-sixth. The commencement of Portage is between the river so called and Gold-fish river. It is about twelve miles lo^ig ; and I therefore engaged another Indian, with his horse, to effect it more conveniently. The country is ■delightful, but at times almost impenetrable. * * "On the ensuing day, the twenty-seventh, I dis- charged the supernumerary Indian, with his horse ; for, having, no provisions but what we could procure by means of our guns, we were already three too many. We crossed the small lake strictly in the direction from north to south ; and here we commenced another port- age of four miles. ******* " At the end of this corvSe we found the Great Port- age river. We embarked and proceeded up its current, crossing two lakes which it forms in its course, each about five or six miles in circumference, and containing patches of wild rice — unfortunately for us not yet ripe, We gave these lakes the name oi Manomeny-Kany-aguen, or the Lakes of Wild Kice. " After proceeding upwards of five or six miles, always in a southerly direction, we entered a noble lake, formed like the others by the waters of the river, and which has no other issue than the river's entrance and dis- charge. " Its form is that of a half-moon, and it has a beauti- ful island in the centre of it. Its circumference is about twenty miles. The Indians call it Puposhy-Wiza- 368 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Kany-aguen, or the End of the shaking Lands; an ety- mology very correct, as nearly all the region we have traversed from the Lake of Pines may be almost con- sidered to float upon the waters. * * * * " I passed on this spot a part of the day of my arrival and the whole of the succeeding, night. On the morn- ing of the twenty-eighth, we resuBaed our navigation of the river, which enters on the south side of the lake. " About six miles higher up we discovered its sources, which spring out of the ground in the middle of a small prairie, and the little basin into which they bubble up is surrounded by rushes. We approached the spot within fifty paces in our canoe. " But now, my dear Countess, let me request you to step on quickly for a moment, pass the short portage which conducts tO the top of the small hill, which over- hangs these sources on the south, and transport your- self to the place where I am now writing. Here, re- posing under the tree, beneath whose shade I am rest- ing at the present moment, you will, survey with an eager eye, and with feelings of intense and new delight, the sublime traits of nature; phenomena which fill the soul with astonishment, and inspire it at the same time with almost heavenly ecstasy ! This ig a work which belongs to the Creator of it alone to explain. We can only adore in silence his omnipotent hand. * * " We are now on the highest land of North America, if we except the icy and unknown mountains which are lost in the problematical regions of the pole of that part of the world, and in the vague conjectures of vi- sionary mapmakers. Yet all is here plain and level, and the hill is merely an eminence formed, as it were, for an observatory. NORTHERN SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 3bU " Casting our eye around us, we perceive the flow of waters — to the south towards the Gulf of Mexico, to the north towards the Frozen Sea, on the east to the Atlantic, and on the west towards the Pacific Ocean. * * * " You have seen the sources of the river which I have ascended to this spot. They are precisely at the foot of the hill, and filtrate in a direct line from the north bank of the lake, on the right of the centre, in descend- ing towards the north. They are the sources of Bloody river. On the other side, towards the south, and equally at the foot of the hill, other sources form a beautiful little basin of about eighty feet in circumference. These waters likewise filtrate from the lake, towards its south- western extremity : and these sources are the actual sources of the Misdssippi ! This lake, therefore, sup- plies the most souiliern sources of Ked, or, as I shall in future call it (by its truer name). Bloody river; and the most northern isources of the Mississippi — sources till now unknown of both. " This lake is about three miles round. It is formed in the shape of a heart ; and it may be truly said to speak to the very soul. Mine was not slightly moved by it. It was but justice to draw it from the silence in which geography, after so many expeditions, still suf- fered it to remain, and to point it out to the world in all its honourable distinction. I have given it the name of the respectable lady whose life (to use the language of her illustrious friend the Countess of Albany) was •me undeviating course of moral rectitude, and whose death was a calamity to all who had the happiness of knowing her ; and the recollection of whom is inces- santly connected with veneration and grief by all who can properly appreciate beneficence and virtue. I have 24 370 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. called the late, accordingly, Lake Julia ; and the sources of the two rivers, the Julian sources of Bloody river, and the Julian sources of the 'Mississippi, which, in the Algonquin language, means the Father of Rivers. Oh ! what were the thoughts which passed through my mind at this most happy and brilliant moment of mylU'e! The shades of Marco Polo, of Columbus, of Americus Vespucius, of the Cabots, of Yerazani, of the Zenos, and various others, appeared present, and joyfully assist- ing at this high and solemn ceremony, and congratu- lating themselves on one of their countrymen having, by new and successful researches, brought back to the recollection of the world the inestimable services which they had themselves conferred on it by their own pecuhar discoveries^ by their talents, achievements, and " I find it impossible to become weary of examining and admiring the least objects of attention furnished by this scene. The majestic river, which embraces a world in its immense course, and speaks in thunder in its cataracts, is at these its sources nothing but a timid Naiad, stealing cautiously through the rushes and briars which obstruct its progress. The famous Mississippi, whose course is said to be twelve hundred leagues, and which bears navies on its bosom, and steamboats super rior in size to frigates, is at its source merely a petty stream of crystalline water, concealing itself among reeds and wild rice, which seem to insult over its hum- ble birth. ********* " Neither traveller, nor missionary, nor geographer, nor expedition-maker, ever visited this lake. A great many of the stories which find their way into books are invented by the red men, either to deceive the whites INDIANS DISPOSED TO MISLEAD. 371 or to conceal their own belief or their own weaknesses. * * * The Indians themselves have confessed to me that, when they go down to the traders' settlements, they amuse themselves with guUiiig their credulity by a number of fables, which afterwards become the oracles of geographers and book-makers. * * * * '' On the fourth of September we struck our tents very early, and arrived in the evening at Red Cedar Lake, so called on account of the number of those beau- tiful trees, whose dark green foliage overshadows its islands and banks. * * * * " This lake is the non plus ultra of all the discoveries ever made in these regions before my own. No tra- "veller, no expedition, no explorer, whether European or American, has gone beyond this point ; and it is at this lake that Mr. Schoolcraft fixed the sources of the Mis- sissippi in 1819. For' the more complete celebration of this fortunate discovery, this illustrious epoch, he rebap- tized it by the name of Lake Cassina, from the name of Mr. Cass, Governor of Michigan territory, who was at the head of the expedition. Mr. Schoolcraft was the -historiographer. * * * * " At the bottom of this last lake, on the west, is found the entrance of a considerable river, which the Indians •call Demizimaguamaguensibi, or the river of Lake Tra- verse. It issues from the lake (the second of that name), twenty miles above its mouth, on the north- west. This lake communicates, in the same direction, by a strait of two or three miles in length, with another lake, which, the Indians cali Moscomguaiguen, or Bitch' Lake, which receives no tributary stream, and seems to draw its waters from the bosom of the earth. It is here, ' La Biohe Lake, or Elk Lake. 372 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. in my ojinion, that we shall fix the western sources of the Mississippi.' * * * * " On the night of the seventh I slept at the mouth of Leech river. The lake whence it issues is a new Colchis, where a second Jason found, like the first, a golden' fleece ; where Mr. Pike fixed the sources of the Missis- sippi, fourteen years before Mr. Cass fixed them at Red Cedar Lake. This circumstance could not fail of excit- ing my curiosity, and I determined, in consequence, to go and view the scene which had given birth to the con- jectures of the first of my two predecessors. * * " On the ninth we arrived at Leech Lake {Kaza-gas- guaiguen), at Macuwa, or Bear Island, where we found a considerable band of Gypowais plunderers, so denomi- nated from their plundering and murdering the first Canadians who pushed their commerce to such a dan- gerous distance. " This band is very numerous and warlike. I found it divided into two factions, one of which is actuated by the spirit of legitimacy, th« other by its opposite. The Poheshononepe, or Cloudy Weather, a usurper, contests the crown and empire with the chief Usquibusicoge, or "Wide Mouth, who possesses them by hereditary right : but as these Indians, beyond all others, require for their head a daring and active man, who can conduct them to victory over the Sioux, by whom they are frequently harassed, instead of an idle and profligate poltroon, always reposing under the shade of his genealogical tree, and destitute of all merit but that allowed him by his flatterers. Cloud// Weather has the majority on his side. The government of the United States acknow- ' Nine years after this suggestion, Allen and Schoolcraft visited the western sources of the Mississippi. BELTRAMI AT LEEOH LAKE. 373 ledges both: Gloudy Weather, because he declaims in their favour ; and Wide Matith, in order to detach him from the English, to whom he is friendly ; but princi- pally, I imagine, from the policy of keeping alive divi- sion in a band powerful in force but precarious in attachment. - * * * * " On my arrival among them they were in n6 little commotion on another subject, involving the two parties in new contention. Cloudy Weather's son-in-law had been killed a few days before by the Sioux, and they had at the same time received intelligence of the affair at Cayenne river, and of what had happened to my two Indians on Bloody river. Wide Mouth demanded an immediate war, and was desirous of forming an army, of which he himself never constituted any part. Cloudy Weather, who is not deficient in sense, suspected that this warlike ardour, this extraordinary eagerness and zeal, were assumed with a view to remove him out of the way, and turn his absence *to his injury; and there- fore, although the principal person aggrieved, strongly recommended prudence and moderation. * * " I was a spectator of the funeral ceremony performed in honour of the manes of Cloudy Weather's son-in-law, whose body had remained with the Sioux, and was sus- pected to have furnished one of their repasts. What appeared not a little singular, and indeed ludicrous in this funeral comedy, was the contrast exhibited by the terrific lamentations and yells of one part of the com- pany, while the others were singing and dancing with all their might. I was scarcely able several times to refrain from laughing; but the ceremony having some resemblance to the usages of the ancients, who also on such occasions paid and employed together Tibicenes 374 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. and Prcejicce, my respect for antiquity and antiquaries- enabled me to preserve my gravity. At another fune- ral ceremony for a member of the Grand Medicine, and at which, as a man of another world, I was permit- ted to attend, the same practice occurred. But, at the feast which took place on that occasion, an allowance was served up for the deceased out of every article of which it consisted, while others were beating, wounding,, and torturing themselves, and letting their blood flow both over the dead man and his provisions, thinking possibly that this was the most palatable seasoning for the latter which they could possibly supply. His wife furnished out an entertainment present for him of all her hair and rags, with which, together with his arms, his provisions, his ornaments, and his mystic medicine bag,, he was wrapped up in the skin which had been his last covering when alive. He was then tied round with the bark of some particular trees which they use for mak- ing cords, and cords of t very firm texture and hold (the only ones indeed which they have), and instead of being buried in the earth, was hung up to a large oak. The reason of this was, that as his favourite Manitou was the eagle, his spirit would be enabled more easily from such a situation to fly with him to Paradise. Here again we perceive another trait of antiquity, and a rich relish for our antiquarian amateurs, whom, I think, I must at length have completely satisfied. The oak is also among the Indians the tree consecrated to the eagle, that is to say, to Jupiter. " Mr. Pike, who was at the head of the expedition, despatched by the government of the United States in 1805, to discover the sources of the Mississippi, fixe* them at this lake, although the river Leecli which flowa MORRISON AT ITASCA LAKE IN 1804. 375 into it on the N.N.W., ascends more than fifty miles higher up ; and although various other rivers, the courses of which are as yet unknown, equally flow into this lake. But it was in winter ; the cold was excessively severe, and it is no pleasant or easy matter to discover sources through ice. It is impossible to doubt, that, at a diflFer ent season of the year, and with a less embarrassing party, Mr. Pike would have pushed his discoveries far- ther. He was a bold and enterprising man ; and his expedition to New Mexico, and his glorious death in the field of honour, merit a place in history. He will always be entitled to the distinction of having been the first who extended his researches so far in regions so wild and repulsive, and that at a time when there ex- isted no fort whatever on the Mississippi." The following letter, written by William Morrison, an old trader, to his brother, Allan Morrison, published in the Annals of the Minnesota Historical Society for 1856, shows that the lakes of the Upper Mississippi were visited early in the present century by those en- gaged in Indian commerce : — "Dear Brother, — In answering your favour of the tenth January, I will pass several incidents that I pre- sume you are well informed of, and give you the time and circumstances that led me to be the first white man that discovered the source of the great Mississippi river. I left Grand Portage, on the north shore of Lake Superior, now the boundary line between the United States and the British Possessions, in the year 1802, and landed at Leech Lake in September or October, the same year. I wintered on one of the streams of the Crow Wing, near its source. Our Indians were Pillar ' gers. In 1803 and 1804, I went and wintered at Rice 376 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Lake. I passed by Red Cedar Lake, now called Cass Lake, followed up the Mississippi to Cross Lake, and then up the Mississippi again to Elk Lake, now called Itasca Lake, the source of the great river Mississippi. A short distance this side, I made a portage, to get to. Rice river, which is called the Portage of the Heights of Land, or the dividing ridge that separates the waters of the Mississippi and those that empty into the Red River of the North ; thence to Hudson's Bay, the port- age is short. I discovered no traces of any white man before me, when I visited Itasca Lake in 1804. And if the late General Pike did not lay it down as such, when he came to Leech Lake, it is because he did not happen to meet me. I was at an outpost that winter. The late General Pike laid down Cass Lake on his map as the head of the Mississippi river. In 1811-12, I went the same route, to winter on Rice river, near the plains. There I overtook a gentleman with an outfit from Mackinac, by the name of Otesse, with whom I parted only at Fond du Lac, he taking the southern route to Mackinac, and I the northern to head-quarters, which had been changed from Grand Portage to Fort William. This will explain to you that I visited Itasca Lake, then called Elk Lake, in 1803-4, and in 1811-12, and five small streams that einpty into the lake, that are short, and soon lose themselves in the swamps. " By way of explanation, why the late General Pike, then Captain Pike, in 1805, who had orders to stem the Mississippi to its source, and was stopped by the ice a little below Swan river, at the place since called Pike's Rapids, or Pike's Block House, and had to proceed from there to Leech Lake on foot. He had to loam there MOKRISON'S LETTER ABOUT PIKE. 377 where the source of the Mississippi was; He went to Cass Lake, and could proceed no further. He had been told that I knew the- source, but could not see me, T being out at an outpost. This want of information made him commit the error ; some person, not hrunoing better, told him there was no river above Cass Lake. Cass Lake receives the waters of Cross Lake, and Cross Lake those of Itasca Lake, and five small streams that empty into Itasca Lake, then called Elk Lake. Those streams I have noted before, no white man can claim the dis- covery of the source of the Mississippi before me, for I was the first that saw and examined its shores." , From this digression, let us return to the narrative of Beltrami : — " On the morning of the fourteenth, I landed at the establishment of the South-west Company, near the exit of the Leech river, in hopes of replacing in some mea- sure my Bais hruU. But we found only a single person there, left to take care of the place ; and it was quite impossible for him to leave it ; I was therefore obliged to go on with Clmdy Weather only. However, I ob- tained all the instructions that were necessary to enable me to proceed with information as far as Sandy Lake ; and I found myself gradually more intelligible to my new Lidian associate. * * * * " On the evening of the seventeenth we arrived at Sandy Lake, on the east, which is about one hundred and twenty miles from the last-mentioned place, about three hundred from Red Lake, and about three hundred also from Leech Lake. * * * * " All the maps, whether of former or recent date, even those constructed conformably to expeditions, are exceed- ingly incorrect with respect to the situation of Sandy 378 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Lake. They place it at the south-east of Lake Leech, thougti. it is nearly at the east ; and this error draws after it others respecting its latitude and longitude. I have observed this mistake by the due apphcation of my com- pass, the result of which corresponds with the opinions of the Indians on the subject, who, indeed, are very seldom deceived in their geographical statements. * * " After passing the confluence of the Missay-guani- sibi, or River Brandy, on the east, and that of another river, which is unknown, on the west, I approached that grand and interesting spectacle — the Falls of St. Anthony.' * * The strength of the current hurried forward our canOe ^th alarming rapidity ; and at length I discerned between the trees, and in a pleasant back- groimd, the roof of a house, indicating of course civilized habitation. This was the mill for the garrison at the fort. On reaching this place, my mind, still dweUiug on all the grand and terrible scenes which had occurred to me in the course of three months, while traversing eternal deserts, among barbarous tribes and unknown regions, was agitated with emotions which I could scarcely describe or discriminate. " The sight of this object, which announced my ap- proach to the residence of cultivated man, produced in me a conflict of opposite feelings. I regretted the inde- pendence of savage life, while at the same time I expe- rienced a thrill of delight at returning within the sphere of civilized society. " After having cleared the portage, I completed my Indian toilet for the last time ; that is, I shaved myseU" without either soap or glass, and with razors which were much like saws. I took my bath in the river, and ' September thirtieth. BELTRAMI IN TATTERS AT FORT SNELLING. 379 ■ dressed myself as well as I was able, in order to appear at tlie fort as decraitly as possible. But I was beset on< all sides with dirt and squalidnesss : these perhaps have in fact formed the greatest of my sufferings. My head was covered with the bark of a tree, formed into the shape of a hat and sewed with threads of bark ; and shoes, a coat, and pantaloons, such as are used by Cana- dians in the Indian territories, and formed of orignai skins sewed together by thread made of the muscles of that animal, completed the grotesque appearance of my person. I am indebted for my new wardrobe to the- fair Woascita, who had compassion on the nakedness to which the thorns and brambles of the forest had reduced me. The Indians attach a high value to the skins of the orignal, which is the most beautiful of quadrupeds, the monarch of reindeer, and only very rarely to be met with. ***** " My Indians announced their approach in the cus- tomary manner, that is, by the discharge of guns loaded with ball, and with shouts and chants accompanied by the sound of their harmonious drums. " Melancholy rumours respecting my safety had been circulated at the fort, and young Snelling, on his return to it, having expressed the apprehensions he felt on my account when we parted at Pembenar, had thus strengthened the belief in them. These gentlemen in fact supposed me to be dead. " On the arrival of the flotilla all the officers hastened down to inquire about me. They were answered by the supposed, dead man himself While replying to their kind questions I divested myself of the skin covering which I had on, in the disguise of an Indian ;. a character which my countenance and general appear- 380 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. auce greatly contributed to my supporting. I saw in the expression of their physiognomies both a movement of surprise, and sentiments of affection and friendship. The excellent Mr. Tagliawar embraced me in the most cordial manner, and the colonel, his respectable wife, and his children, received me with demonstrations of the most lively joy. I was much moved, and could not help shedding tears of gratitude and attachment. This was the first time since fate began to steep my exist- ence in anguish that I beheld a gleam of those happy moments which, in Italy, friendship always procured for .me whenever I returned from my occasional absences. And during the short time that I remained among them I experienced nothing Of the constraint, nothing of the cold and formal politeness which Americans in general are accustomed to affect, particularly towards strangers, and which, like a moral rust, tarnishes their natural benevolence and impairs the value of their hospitality." Dr. Norwood, who was the assistant of Dr. Owens, in the United States' Geological Survey of Minnesota, speaking of his route from Cass Lake, says : — " Our route from this place led through Turtle river, and the chain of lakes described by Mr. J. C. Beltrami, in 1823, as the 'Julian sources of the Mississippi.' * * * * * The map sketched by him is a tolerably correct one, and appears to have been the source from which Mr. Nicollet derived his information with regard to the route between Cass and Red Lakes." ' In the language of Nicollet, the last explorer of the extreme western source of the Mississippi, " I may be mistaken, but it strikes me that American critics have been too disdainful of Mr. Beltrami's book." ' Owens' Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, pp. 322-3. FINDLAY KILLED AT LAKE PEPIN. 381 In the ye^r 1824, a Mr. Findlay left Prairie du Chien in a canoe, and ascended the Mississippi in company with a Canadian named Barrette, and two others. On their arrival at Lake Pepin, they were met by an Ojib- way war party from Lac du Flambeau. The Canadian thought he recognised in the party an Indian, who, the the previous winter, had come to the place on Black river where he was cutting lumber, and stole his horse. Both Findlay and Barrette had partaken freely of whiskey, and, quarrelling with the Indians, they were all killed, and their goods and provisions stolen. Until the American Fur Company systematized the trade in Minnesota, and Congress took measures to exclude whiskey dealers from the Indians, trade was carried on in a way to make humanity blush. The fol- lowing letter of Colonel Snelling, addressed to the secre- tary of war, exhibits the disgraceful condition of affairs at that time : — "In former letters addressed to the department of war, I have adverted to the mischievous consequences resulting from the introduction of w;hiskey, and other distUled spirits, into the Indian country. The pretext is, that our traders cannot enter into successful compe- tition with the British traders without it. If the sale of whiskey could be restricted to the vicinity of the British line, the mischief would be comparatively trivial, but, if permitted at all, no limits can be set to it. A series of petty wars and murders, and the introduction of every species of vice and debauchery, by the traders and their engagees, will be the consequence. It be- comes, also, a fruitful source of complaint with those engaged in the same trade from the "West. The traders who obtain their supplies from St. Louis, pass Fort Snel- line, where, in obedience to the orders I have received 382 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. from the president, their Boats are searched, and no spirituous liquors are permitted to be taken further. " The traders who are licensed for the lakes, spread themselves over the whole country between Lake Supe- rior and the Upper Mississippi ; their whiskey attracts a large proportion of the Indians to their trading-houses ; and the Weston traders not only have to complain of the loss of custom, but, in many instances, the Indians who have obtained their goods of them, are seduced by v/hiskey to carry their winter's hunt to others. This has long been one of the tricks of the trade. The traders, who are not generally restrained by any moral rules, after they pass the boundary, practise it without scruple, whenever opportunity occurs, and he who has the most whiskey generally carries off the furs. They are so far from being ashamed of the practice, that it affords them subject for conversation by their winter fires. I have myself frequently heard them boast of their exploits in that way. The neighbourhood of the trading-houses where whiskey is sold presents a disgust- ing scene of drunkenness, debauchery, and misery. In my route I passed Prairie du Chien, Green Bay, and Mackinac ; no language can describe the scenes of vice which there present themselves. Herds of Indians are drawn together by the fascinations of whiskey, and they exhibit the most degraded picture of human nature I ever witnessed." ' ' Licensed Indian traders among Duncan Campbell. Falls St. Croix. Dahkotahs in 1826 :— John Campbell, Mouth of Chippe- P. Prescott, Leaf River. way. D. Lamont, Mouth of Minnesota. Francis Grandin, Traverse deg •J. Renville, Lac qui Parle. Sioux. Wra. Dickson, Lac Traverse. Hagan Moores, Lao Traverse. B. F. Baker, Crovr Island, Upper Louis Provencallf,, Traverse des Mississippi. Sioux. PRAIRIE DIT CHIEN TREATY OF 1825. 383 CHAPTER XVIII. For more than a century there had been a westward tendency in the emigration of the Indian nations, and a frequent source of war among the North-western tribes, was the encroachment upon each other's hunting ground. In the hope that good might result from well defined boundary lines, on the nineteenth of August, 1825, by order of the authorities at Washington, Governor ■Clark, of Missouri, and Cass, of Michigan, convened at Prairie du Chien, a grand Congress of Dahkotahs, Ojib^ ways, Sauks, and Foxes, Menomonies, loways, Winne- bagoes, Pottawottamies, and Ottawas. After some discussion, it was agreed between the Dahkotahs and Ojibways, that the line dividing their respective countries, should coirimence at the Chippewa river, half a day's march below the falls, and from thence to Red Cedar river just below the falls, and thence to the Standing Cedar, a day's paddle above the head of Lake St. Croix; thence between two lakes called by the Ojibways, "Green Lakes," and the Dah- kotahs, the "Lakes of the Buried Eagles;" and from thence to the Standing Cedar that the Dahkotahs split; thence to Rum river, crossing at Choking Creek, a day's 384 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. march from its mouth ; thence to a point of woods that projects into the prairie a half day's march from the Mississippi; thence in a straight line to the mouth of the first river above the Sauk; thence up that river to a small lake at its source; thence to a lake at the head of Prairie river, a tributary of Crow Wing; thence to the portage of Otter Tail -Lake; thence to the outlet of said lake; thence to the Buflfalo river, mjdway between its source and mouth, and down said river to Ked river, and down Red river to the mouth of the Outard creek. The eastern boundary of the Dahkotahs, was to com- mence opposite the loway river, running back to the bluffs, and along the bluffs to Bad Axe river; thence to mouth of Black river; and thence to half a day's march below 'the falls of the Chippewa. A few months after the treaty of Prairie du Chien, it was very evident that neither Dahkotah nor Ojibway were willing to be pent up by any boundary lines. As the Ojibways were dispersed over a great extent of country, it was agreed at Prairie du Chien, that the government of the United States should convene them in 1826, at some point on the shores of Lake Superior. The, place selected, was Fond du Lac; and Lewis Cass and T. L. McKenney were the commissioners to assemble the Indians, and conclude the first formal treaty on the soil of Minnesota. On the twenty-eighth of July, the expedition ap- proached in their barges, with flying colours and mar- tial inusic, the trading post of Fond du Lac; and for the first time the ears of the Indians of that region were greeted with the tune of "Hail Columbia." On the thirty-first, the commissioner, McKenney, went over to the island opposite the Fur Company's post, to visit an VISIT TO A WOMAN SCALPED WHEN A GIRL, 385 Qjibway «roman who had been scalped when a child, under these circumstances : Having accompanied a band of sixty men, women, and children to the vicinity of the falls of the Chippeway river, they were surprised by a Dahkotah war party which rushed down from the bluffs, and fired into their lodges. The woman, who was then only fourteen years of age, ran towards the woods, and was pursued by a Dahkotah brave, who captured and bound her. Just then another Dahkotah approached, and struck her with a war club, scalped her, and was about to cut her throat, when he was shot. In the contest for the child, each warrior had taken off a portion of her scalp, and, while they were wrangling, her father had ap- proached and fired his gun, which killed both. When the shades of night came, he went to the spot where he had last seen his daughter, recovered the pieces of her scalp, and, after some search, found her senseless on the snow, about a half mile from the scene of conflict. By proper attention she was restored, and at the time of the treaty of Pond du Lac, she was the mother of ten children, and her skull still bore the marks of violence. On the second of August the council met, and con- tinued several days. Among those who took a seat was an aged Ojibway woman, from Montreal river. She wore around her neck her husband's medal, and, being very poor, in the place of wampum she laid on the com- missioners' table some grass and porcupine quills. In pre- senting them, she said : " I come in the place of my hus- band. He is old and blind, but he yet has a mouth and ears. He can speak and hear. He is vei:y poor. He hopes to receive a present from his fathers." 25 386 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. After the usual feastings and speeches, and exhaust- ing of patience, a treaty was concluded on the fifth daj' of August, which, with some modifications, was ratified by the United States Senate, on the second day of Feb- ruary of the next year. By an article of the treaty the Ojibways fully dis- claimed all connexion with Great Britain, and acknow- ledged the authority of the United States. At the council there were present deputations from the Min- nesota bands at Fond du Lac, river St. Croix, Rainy Lake, Sandy Lake, Leech Lake, Snake River, and Crow Wing. Supplementary to the treaty was inserted the follow- ing clause. " As the Chippeways who committed the murder upon four American citizens, in June, 1824, upon the shores of Lake Pepin, are not present at this council, but are far in the interior of the country, so that they cannot be apprehended and delivered to the proper authority before next summer ; and as the com- missioners have been specially instructed to demand the surrender of those persons, and to state to the Chippe- way tribe the consequence of sufiering such a flagitious outrage to go unpunished, it is agreed that the persons guilty of the aforementioned murder shall be brought in, either to the Sault St. Marie, or Green Bay, as early next summer as practicable." Governor Cass, having determined to return in a bark canoe, contracted with a son of the scalped woman to build one of suitable dimensions, about five feet in width, and thirty-six in length. Immediately a large company of squaws and children commenced the work, for they are the mechanics of every Indian village. Stakes were driven into the ground, the desired length of the canoe, CASS ORDERS A BIRCH CANOE. 387 and then rolls of birch bark stripped from the trees unbroken, and stitched together with the roots of the larch, were placed within the enclosure and secured to the stakes. Cross pieces of cedar.are now inserted, pro- ducing the desired form, and constituting the ribs or framework. The birch bark properly secured to the frame, the stakes are pulled out of the ground, and the seams covered with resin that the water should not •enter. After some ornamenting of the sides, it was ready for delivery to Mr. Cass. " Thus the birch canoe was builded, In the valley, by the river, In the b'osom of the forest ; And the forest's life was in it. All its mystery, and its magic. All the lightness of the birch tree, ' All the toughness of the cedar, All the larch's supjjle sinews ; And it floated on the river, Like a yellow leaf in Autumn, Like a yellow water lily." Not long after the treaty, twenty-nine Ojibways sur- rendered themselves at Sault St. Marie. After an exa- mination, seven were committed for trial, and confined at Mackinaw. At the next term of court, the judge declined trying the prisoners, in consequence of doubts of jurisdiction ; and, during the next winter, they aut their way out of the log jail, and escaped to their dis- tant home. The year of the treaty of Pond du Lac, was another remarkable year to the Selkirk colony, known to this ■«lay as the year of the flood. In the month of January, it was rumored at the Selkirk settlement, that the hunters who were on the - 388 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. plains of Minnesota in quest of buffalo were starving. The sufferers were from one hundred and fifty to two hundred miles from Pembina, and the only way to carry provisions to them was by dog sleds. The sym- pathy for their welfare was very great; and even the widow contributed a mite to their relief. It appears from a statement made by one who was m the colony at the time, that in the month of Decem- ber, 1825, a snow storm raged with violence for several days, and drove the buffalo out of the hunter's reach. As this was an unexpected contingency, they, had no meat as a substitute, and famine stared them in the face. Says an eye-witness:' "Families here, and families there, despairing of life, huddled themselves together for warmth, and in too many cases, their shelter proved their grave. At first the heat of their bodies melted the snow ; they became wet, and being without food or fuel, the cold soon penetrated, and in several instances froze the whole body into solid ice. Some again were in a state of actual delirium, while others were picked up frozen to death; one woman was found with an infant on her back within a quarter mile of Pembina. This poor creature must have travelled at the least, one hundred and twenty-five mi^es in three days and nights. Those that were found alive, had devoured their horses, their dogs, raw-hides, leather, and their very shoes. So great were their sufferings, that some died on the road to the colony after- being relieved at Pembina. One , man with his wife and three children were dug out of the snow where they had been buried for five days and ' Alexander Ross. FLOOD AT RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. 389 nights without food, fire, or light of the sun, and the wife and two of the children recovered." When the spring came, the melting of the winter's snow produced a still greater calamity. On the second day of May, in twenty-four hours, the Red river rose nine feet; and by the fifth, the plains were submisrged. A panic now seized every living thing ; dogs howled, cattle lowed, children cried, mothers wept and wrung their hands, and fathei-s called out to their families to escape to the hills. The water continued to rise until the twenty-first, and houses and bams floated in the rushing waters. On one night a house in flames moved over the waters amid logs and uprooted trees, house- hold furniture, and drowning cattle, relninding one of the day when "the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved." The waters began to abate in June; and such is the surprising quickness with which vegetation ' matures five degrees of latitude north of St. Paul, that barley, potatoes, and wheat sowed on the twenty-second of June, came to maturity. Misled by the florid representations of one of Lord Selkirk's agents, a .number of Swiss arrived in the colony, in 1821. Their occupations had been mechani- cal, chiefly that of clock making, and they were not adapted for the stern work of founding a colony in the interior of the North American continent. From year to year their spirits drooped, and, when the Switzers' song of home was sung, they could not keep back their tears. After the flood, they could no longer remain in the land of their adversity, and they became the pioneers in emigration and agriculture in the state of Minnesota. 390 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. At one time a party of two hundred and forty-three de- parted for the United States, who found homes at dif- ferent points on the banks of the Mississippi. Before the eastern wave of emigration had ascended beyond Prairie du Chien, the Swiss had opened farms on and near St. Paul/ and should be recognised as the first actual settlers in the country. The spring of 1826 was very cold. On the 20th of March, at Fort Snelling, snow fell to the depth of one and a half feet on a level and drifted into heaps ten or twelve feet in height. On the 5th of April, there was a violent snow storm, and on the 10th of April, the thermometer was 4 degrees below zero. On the 21st the ' Stevens, in an address on the early history of Hennepin county, says : — " Strange as it may appear, the immigrants were from the north, all from the Hudson Bay Territory, from which they had been driven by high water. This colony consisted of Louis Massey, Mr. Perry, Pierrie, Garvas, and others. Most of them are now citizens of different parts of the territory and Wisconsin. They settled near where the St. Louis house now stands, and in the vicinity of Kittson's and Baker's landing. Owing to the arbitrary and tyranni- cal power which then held sway in the territory, they were driven from their homes in 1836 and '37. At that time, and both before and since, the commanding officers at the fort were the lords of the north. They ruled supreme. The citizens in the neighbourhood of the fort were liable at any time to be thrust into the guard-house. While the chief of the fort was the king, the- subordinate officers were princes,, and persons have been deprived of their liberty and imprisoned by those tyrants for the most trivial wrong or some imaginary offence. Some had their houses torn down ; others were more unfortunate, and had their buildings burnt. To the latter class Mr. Garvas belonged. Mr. Perry was the Abraham of Hennepin county. He resided in front of- the slaughter-house, near the landing. He pitched his tent after being driven off of his first home on the bank of the brook be- tween the cave and St. Paul. Here he attended to his numerous flocks and cultivated a field, and I think died below St. Paul, near where the large hotel was burnt a year or two since. He was a Swiss by birth. At one time he owned more cattle than all the rest of the inhabitants of what is now Minnesota, if we ex- cept Mr. Renville." DASTARDLY ATTACK OF DAHKOTAHS. 391 ice moved at the Fort, and for several days the river was twenty feet above low water mark. On the 2d of May every white person was full of joy, at the arrival of Captain Reeder with the steamboat St. Lawrence, and he proposed the first pleasure trip in a steamer, above the Fort, on the Mississippi. The offi- cers and their wives, after the long, cold, ^reary winter, were glad to accept the invitation, and once on board, they made themselves merry with music and dance. After reaching a point within three and a half miles of the Falls of St. Anthony, the Captain found the cur- rent so strong that he deemed it prudent to return, being entirely unacquainted with the channel. Major Taliaferro had some slaves at the fort, whom the Indians called " black Frenchmen." On the 26th of May, he writes, " Capt. Plimpton wishes to purchase my servant girl." A few years later that girl became the wife of the historic Dred Scott, then a servant of Surgeon Emerson. On May 28, 1827, the Ojibway chief Flatmouth, of Sandy Lake, with seven warriors, and women and children, the whole party amounting to twenty-four, arrived at Fort Snelling in the morning at day-break Walking to the gates of the garrison, they asked the protection of Colonel Snelling and Taliaferro, the In- dian agent. They were told, that as long as they re- mained under the United States flag, they were secure, and were ordered to encamp within musket shot of the high stone walls of the fort. During the afternoon a Dahkotah, Toopunkah Zeze, from a village near the first rapids of the Minnesota, with eight others, visited the Ojibway camp. They were cordially received, and a feast of meat, and com, 392 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. and sugar, was soon made ready. The wooden platters emptied of their contents, they engaged in conversation, and whiffed the peace pipe. About nine o'clock in the evening they rose and de- parted ; but as soon as they were outside, turned and discharged their guns with deadly aim upon their enter- tainers, and ran off with a shout of satisfaction. The report was heard by the sentinel of the fort, and he cried, repeatedly, "Corporal of the guard!" and soon at the gates, were the Ojibways, with their women and the wounded, telling their tale of woe in wild and incoherent language. Among others, was a little girl about seven years old, who was pierced through both thighs with a bullet. Flat Mouth, the chief, reminded Colonel Snelling that he had been attacked while under the protection of the United States flag, and early the next morning, Captaiin Clark, with one hundred soldiers, proceeded toward Land's End, a trading-post of the Columbia Fur Com- pany, on the Minnesota, a mile above the present resi- dence of Franklin Steele, where the Dahkotahs were supposed to be. The soldiers had just left the large gate of the fort, when a party of Dahkotahs, in battle array, appeared on one of the prairie hills. After some parleying they turned their backs, and being pursued, thirty-two were captured near the trading-post. Colonel Snelling ordered the prisoners to be brought before the Ojibways, and two being pointed out as par- ticipants in the slaughter of the preceding night, they were delivered to the aggrieved party to be dealt with in accordance with their customs. They were led out to the plain in front of the gate of the fort, and when placed nearly without the range of the Ojibway guns, OJIBWAY RETALIATION. 393 they were told to run for their lives. With the rapidity of deer they bounded away, but the Ojibway bullet flew faster, and after a few steps, they fell gasping on the ground, and were soon lifeless. , Then the savage nature displayed itself in all its hideousness. Women and children danced for joy, and placing their fingers in the bullet holes, from which the blood oozed, they licked them with delight. The men tore the scalps from the dead, and seemed to luxuriate in the privilege of plung- ing their knives through the corpses. After the execu- tion, the Ojibways returned to the fort, and were met by the colonel. He had prevented all over whom his authority extended from witnessing the scene, and had done his best to confine the excitement to the Indians. The same day a deputation of Dahkotah warriors re- ceived audience, regretting the violence that had been done by their young men, and agreeing to deliver up the ringleaders. At the time appointed, a son of Flat Mouth, with those of the Ojibway party that were not wounded, es- corted by United States troops, marched forth to meet the Dahkotah deputation, on the prairie just beyond the old residence of the Indian agent. With much solemnity two more of the guilty were handed over to the assaulted. One was fearless, and with firmness stripped himself of his clothing and ornaments, and distributed them. The other could not face death with composure. He was noted foj a hideous hare-Hp, and had a bad reputation among his fellows. Iii the spirit of a coward he prayed for life, to the mortification of his tribe. The same opportunity was presented to them as to the first, of running for their lives. At the 'first fire the coward fell a corpse ; but his brave com- 394 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. panion, though wounded, ran on, and had nearly reached the goal of safety, when a second bullet kiUed him. The hody of the coward now became a common object of loathing for both Dahkotahs and Ojibways. Colonel Snelling told the Ojibways that the bodies must be removed, and then they took the scalped Dah- kotahs, and dragging them by the heels, threw them off the bluff, into the river a hundred and fifty feet beneath. The dreadful scene was nov over ; and a detachment of troops was sent with the old chief Flat Mouth, to escort him out of the reach of Dahkotah vengeance. In the fall of 1826, all the troops at Prairie du Chien had been removed to Fort Snelling, the commander taking with him two Winnebagoes that had been con- fined in Fort Crawford. After the soldiers left the Prairie, the Indians in the vicinity were quite insolent. About this period a bois brul6 from Red river, named Methode, came to the Prairie to reside. In the month of March, 1827, he went to Painted Rock creek, a few miles above on the Iowa side, accompanied by his family, for the purpose of making maple sugar. He not re- turning as soon as was expected, search was instituted by his friends, when they found him, his children, and his wife with an unborn infant, nearly burned to cin- ders in their camp — the work of hostile savages. At the time of the shooting of the Dahkotahs at Fort Snelling, Red Bird, a distinguished Winnebago chief, whose residence was often on Black river, Wisconsin, was on a war party against the Ojibways, in which he was unsuccessful. In some way the Winnebagoes gained the impression that two of their own numbei who were confined at Fort Snelling, had been delivered to the RED BIRD'S VIOLENCE AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 395 Ojibwajs and scalped ; and from that hour they becamt hostile to the whites^ On the 26th of June, 1827, Red Bird, with two other Indians, entered the dwelling of a trader at Prairie du Chien by the name of Lockwood, who was absent, and loading their guns in the kitchen, proceeded to the bed- room of his wife. On their entrance, she crossed the hall into the store, where she found Duncan Graham, a man of influence with the Indians, who induced them to leave. Thirsting for blood, they proceeded in an easterly direction to a place called McNair's Coulee, where there was an isolated log cabin, in which dwelt a man of mulatto and French extraction, named Gagnier. As Eed Bird and his companions entered, Gagnier was sitting on a chest, and near the window ; his wife, of French and Dahkotah extraction, was washing; while on the bed lay an infanl sleeping. In the cabin there was also a discharged soldier. Treated with civility, they were asked if they would have something to eat. While the wife was procuring refreshments, she heard the click caused by the cocking of Ked Bird's rifle, and in the twinkling of an eye there was a discharge and her husband was dead. One of the other two Indians shot the soldier, and the third, named Wekaw, had his rifle wrested from him by the desperate wife. Unable to cope with three furious savages, she ran to the village and gave the alarm. Returning with a company of armed men, she found her infant with its head scalped, and neck cut, in the bed and still alive. Recovering from these wounds^ the daughter still lives, and is now a grandmother. A little while before this murderous assault two keel- boats had passed Prairie du Chien, on their way to Fort 396 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Snelling with provisions. When they reached Wapashaw village, on the site of the present town of Winona, the\^ were ordered to come ashore by the* Dahkotahs. Com- plying, they found themselves surrounded by Indians, with hostile intentions. The boatmen had no fire-arms, but assuming a bold mien, and a defiant voice, the cap- tain of the keel-boats ordered the savages to leave the decks, which was successful. The boats pushed on, and at Red Wing and Kaposia the Indians showed that they were not friendly, though they did not molest the boats. Before they started on their return from Fort Snelling, the men on board, amounting to thirty-two, were all provided with muskets, and a barrel of ball cartridges. When the descending keel-boats passed Wapashaw, the Dahkotahs were engaged in the war dance, and menaced them but made no attack. Below this point one of the boats moved in advance of the other, and when near the mouth of the Bad Axe the half-breeds on board descried hostile Indians on the banks. As the channel neared the shore the sixteen men on the first boat were greeted with the war whoop, and a vol- ley of rifle balls from the excited Winnebagoes, killing two of the crew. Rushing into their canoes, the Indians made the attempt to board the boat, and two were successful. One of these stationed himself at the bow of the boat, and fired with killing effect on the men below deck. An old sailor of the last war with Great Britain, called Saucy Jack, at last despatched him, and began to rally the fainting spirits on board. During the fight the boat had stuck on a sand-bar. With four companions, amid a shower of balls from the savages, he plunged into the water and pushed off the boat, and thus moved out of reach of the galling shots of the ATTACK ON KEEL-BOATS. 397 "^innebagoes. As they floated down the river during the night, they heard a wail in a canoe behind them, the voice of a father mourning the death of the son, who had scaled the deck, and was now a corpse in pos- session of the white men. The rear boat passed the Bad Axe river late in the night, and escaped an attack. It was the day after the murder of Gagnier and Lip- cap, the soldier, that the first keel-boat arrived at Prairie du Chien^ with two of their crew dead, four wounded, and the Indian that had been, killed on the boat. The two dead men had been residents of the Prairie, and now the panic was increased. On the morning of the twenty-eighth of June the second keel- boat appe^ed, and among her passengers was Joseph Snelling, a talented son of the colonel, who wrote a story of deep interest, based on the facts narrated. At a meeting of the citizens it was resolved to repair old Fort Crawford, and Thomas McNair was appointed captain. Dirt was thrown around the bottom logs of the fortification to prevent its being fired, and young Snelling was put in command of one of the block- houses. On the next day a voyageur named Loyer, and the well known trader Duncan Graham, started through the interior, west of the Mississippi, with intelligence of the murders, to Fort Snelling. A company o;^ volunteers soon arrived from Galena, and a few days after four companies of the fifth regiment from Fort Snelling, with Colonel Snelling in command,. The citi- zens had seized De-kau-ray, a Winnebago chief, and re; tained him as a hostage. Governor Cass, at the time of these occurrences, was at Butte des Morts, for the purpose of negotiating a treaty, and, proceeding immediately to Jefierson Bar- 398 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. racks, a large body of troops, under General Atkinson, were soon on their way to the scene of excitement. A detachment from Green Bay, under Major Whistler, also moved up to the portage of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. The Winnebagoes were not prepared to engage in war with the United States, and it was decided in council that Eed Bird and We-Kaw should surrender^ themselves to Major Whistler. Colonel McKinney describes , the scene in this lan- guage : " On the right was the band of music, a little in advance of the line. In front of the centre, about ten paces distant, were the murderers. * * * * ^jj eyes were fixed on Red Bird, and well they might be, for of all the Indians I ever saw, he is, without excep- tion, the most perfect in form, in face, and gesture. In height he is above six feet; straight, but without re- straint. His proportions are of the most exact sym- metry ; his very fingers are models of beauty. I never beheld a face that was so full of all the ennobling, and, ■at the same time, the most winning expression. " During my attempted analysis of his face, I could not but ask myself, Can this man be a murderer ? Is he the same who shot, scalped, and cut the throat of Gagnier ? There was no ornamenting of the hair after the Indian fashion, but it was cut aftdr the civilized manner. His face was painted ; one side red, the other intermixed with green and white. Around his neck he wore a collar of blue wampum, beautifully mixed with white, which was sewed to a piece of cloth, the width ■of the wampum being about two inches, — while the claws of the wild-cat, distant from each other a.bout a ■quarter of an inch, with their points inward, formed the rim of the collar. He was clothed in a Yankton IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH OF BED BIRD. 399 -dress, new and beautiful. The material is of dressed elk or deer skin, almost a pure white. ***** Across his breast, in a diagonal position, and bound tight to it, was his war pipe, brightly ornamented with dyed horse-hair, the feathers and bills of birds. In one of his hands he held the white flag, in the other the calumet of peace. There he stood. Not a muscle moved, nor was the expression of his face changed a particle. He and We-Kaw were told to sit down. His motions as he seated himself were no less graceful and captivating, than when he stood or walked. At this moment the band struck up Pleyel's Hymn. Every- thing was still. It was a moment of intense interest to all." The ceremony of surrender now took place. The Winnebagoes asked kind treatment of the prisoners, and begged that they might not be ironed. Major Whistler said in reply that he would treat them with considerar tion, and Red Bird standing up said : " I am ready," and was immediately marched off with his accomplice to a tent in the rear and placed under guard. The prisoners having been handed over to General Atkinson, who had arrived, were conveyed to Prairie du Chien, and delivered to the civil authorities. There they were chained and placed in close confinement, which so chafed the proud spirit of Red Bird, that he soon drooped, and at last died with a broken heart. In September, 1829, Eev. A. Coe and J. D. Stevens arrived at Fort Snelling. Agent Taliaferro treated them kindly, and offered the old mill and buildings at the Falls of St. Anthony for a Presbyterian mission school for the Dahkotahs, as well as the Indian farm opened at Lake Calhoun, and called Eatonville. 400 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA CHAPTER XIX. In the year 1 830, steps were taken for another con- gress o£ tribes at Prairie du Chien. A few weeks pre- vious to the convocation, a party of Dahkotahs and Menomonees surprised a band of Foxes, who were eat- ing their dinner on an island in the Mississippi, a short distance below the Wisconsin, and killed eight of their chief men. On this account the Fox tribe refused to be present at the council at Prairie du Chien. The M'dewakantonwan Dahkotahs, in a treaty made on this occasion, bestowed on their relatives of mixed blood that tract about Lake Pepin known as the half-breed tract.' During this year another attempt was made to erect a mill on the Chippeway river, Wisconsin. In the month of May, workmen proceeded to the old site on the Menomonee. Three or four Ojibways arrived one night and told them if they did not leave they would kill them. The superintendent (Armstrong) was so much alarmed that he took a canoe and floated down ' The tract is described in said Lake Pepin and the Mississippi, treaty as follows: " Beginning at a about thirty-two. miles to a point place called the Barn, below and oppositeBeef or O'Beuf river, thence near the village of the Red Wing fifteen miles, to the Grand Encamp- Ohief, and running back fifteen ment, opposite the river aforesaid." miles, thence in a parallel line with HOLMES BUILDS A SAW-MILL. 401 the river the same evening, and the workmen followed the next day. In August, one of the proprietors at Prairie du Chien started with other workmen ; among others, a discharged soldier by the name of Holmes,^ under whose supervi- sion the mill was at last constructed ; and, by the sum- mer of the next year, had sawed about one hundred thousand feet of lumber. After the ipiprovoked attack on the part of the Dah- kotahs, which has been related, a continual border war- fare prevailed between them and the Ojibways until 1831. War parties of the latter, descending the Chip- peway river, constantly lurked around the shores of Lake Pepin, in the hope of obtaining Dahkotah scalps, and endangered the lives of white men ascending or de- scending the Mississippi. During the month of April, 1831, the authorities at Washington instructed H. R. Schoolcraft, Indian agent dt Sault St. Marie, to proceed to the Upper Mississippi, and use his influence to make peace between the Dah- kotahs and Ojibways. The expedition was composed of twenty-seven men, beside a few soldiers under Lieu- tenant Clary. Ascending the Mushkeg river, which enters Lake Superior below Bayfield, they passed Lake Kagino, and a chain of small lakes, until they came to the Name- kagon, a tributary of the St. Croix. Descending this stream to Lake Pukwaewa, they found a village of fifty-three persons under Odabossa. At this point the expedition divided, a part going to Ottawa Lake by a direct route, and a portion accompanying Mr. School- ■ This gentleman has since become an active pioneer in Minnesota 26 402 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. craft down the Namekagon to its junction with the St Croix, and down that stream to a trading post at Yellow river. On the first of August, Mr. Schoolcraft held a council with the Ojibways at this point. The Indians, through one of their speakers, referred to an attack that had been made the previous year by the Dahkotahs, on a band of Ojibways and bois brul6s, in which four of their friends had been killed, and that the Ojibways had not been in the habit of crossing the boundary line mejitioned in the treaty pf Prairie du Chien. At the solicitation of Mr. Schoolcraft, Kabamappa,, and Shakoba (the war chief of Snake river), consented to bear wampum and tobacco to the Dahkotah chiefs at Kaposia and Wapashaw village, and invite them to renew the league of friendship. On the fifth of August, the two detachments of^ the expedition were re-united at Ottawa Lake, when an- other council was held at the trading-post with the Indians. At Lake Chetac, they found the trading-house burned, and village deserted; and while breakfasting on the shores of a little lake below this, eight canoes filled with a returning war party floated into the lake. They were young braves from Ottawa Lake, and had been in pursuit of Dahkotahs near the mill which had recently been erected. On the seventh of August, the expedi- tion arrived at Rice Lake, the residence of a band of warlike Ojibways, much exposed to the Dahkotahs. because they were on the verge of the Dahkotah pos- sessions. The young chief Neenaba claimed that the saw-mills just erected on the Red Cedar branch of the Chippeway NEENABA'S SPEECH. 403 were on their lands, though the Dahkotahs had granted permission, for a certain consideration, to the oWners. At the request to drop his war club, he was confused, and would not receive the proffered presents of a medal and flag until he was pressed by his young warriors. On the next day he came, followed by his braves, with the flag on one arm and the war club in the other hand, and stated that while he accepted the one, he did not -drop the other. "He had reflected upon the advice sent by the President, and particularly that part of it which counselled them to sit still upon their lands, but while they sat still, they wished also to be certain that their enemies would sit still." After this interview, Mr. Schoolcraft visited the mills on the Red Cedar river, which were then in charge of Mr. Wallace. In 1832, instructions were again issued, ordering Mr. •Schoolcraft to visit the tribes toward the sources of the Mississippi. Attached to the expedition, was the late Dr. Douglass Houghton, as botanist, geologist, and sur- :geon, and the Eev. W. T. Boutwell, now of Washing- ton county, who was appointed by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, to explore the field, to observe the condition of the Indians, and the practicability of establishing mission stations. The military escort was in command of Lieutenant James Allen. On the afternoon of the twenty-third of June, the Fond du Lac trading-house on the St. Louis river, about twenty miles from the mouth, was reached. This was formerly the head-quarters of the fur trade west ■of Lake Superior ; but the American Fur Company re- moved their dep&t to Sandy Lake, because of its more 404 HiST'or r OF Minnesota. central situation. Th^s department of the Indian trade, included the posts at Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Rainy Lake, Vermillion Lake, Red Lake, Pembina, Red Cedar, Leech, and Sandy Lakes. The value of furs from all these posts in 1832, was about twenty-five thousand dollars. On the twenty-first of June, the party were at La Pointe. The chief trader of the place, was the father of the late Mr. Warren, who had thirty or forty acres under cultivation. Among other residents, was the father of his wife, Cadotte, an old French trader, and the Rey. Sherman Hall, for some time beceasebthen a missionary among the Ojibways. His child was said to have been the first child of pure European parents bom on the shores of Lake Superior. On the twenty-fifth, of June, the first portage on the St. Louis river was made. The entire length of it is nine miles, and it was necessary to commence carrying the baggage and provisions up a very steep bluff; while the experienced voyageurs ascended with ease, bfearing a bag of flour and a keg of pork, the raw recruits of the expedition had, stumbling work. On the twenty-sixth, in the midst of a drenching rain, the men with heavy loads on their backs, waded through mud and water. Some Indian women who were assisting in the portage, carried at once a bag of flour, a trunk, and soldier's knapsack, surmounted by a nursing infant in an Indian cradle.* About noon of the next day the end of the difficult portage was reached. ' " When we stopped at night my were disabled, and all of them were men, and even the Canadians, were galled in the back by the kegs in literally fagged out. Two of the such a degree as to make their Ion'' soldiers had snagged their feet, and very painful. It requires an expp ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH OF SQUAWS. 405 Heavy rains fell on the first and second of July, and in reaching the portage of the Savannah, some lost their moccasins, and some a leg of their pantaloons, and all were covered with mud to their waists, so that they were perfect "sans culottes" when they camped at the end of the carrying place. On the afternoon of July third, reached the trad- ing-post of Mr. Aitkin at Sandy Lake, where they were tvelcomed by the discharge of muskets, and the hoisting of the American flag. On the ninth, the ex- pedition was at Lake Winnibigoshish, and found a trading-post in the charge of Mr. Belanger, made of logs, with windows of deer skin, surrounded by a little garden, in which were growing tobacco, com, peas, and potatoes. On the tenth they entered Cass Lake, which Mr. Schoolcraft visited in company with the present secretary of state in 1820. Here were several fine com fields, which had been cultivated by Indian women. In one of the. lodges were three Dahkotah scalps, one of which had been lately taken by the Leech Lake Band. Flat Mouth and one hundred warriors had gone forth to chastise the Dahkotahs for encroaching on his hunt^ ing grounds, and meeting a party of the enemy had killed three and wounded others. In the affray a Cass rience of years to habituate men to tomed to it. I saw a small young currying in this way, and the life Indian woman at the close of the and habits of soldiers by no means day, carry a keg of one thousand iit them for such labour. I had musket ball cartridges, fur a distance four or five Indian women, and as of one mile without resting, and many Indian men carrying for me, most of the distance through swamp and without these I could not have that was frequently over her knees, iniide half the distance. The Indian and this too, after having carried women carry better than the men, heavy loads all day." — Lt. Allen's tieing less indolent and more accus- Journal. toe HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Lake Ojibway was killed, and when night came there was a grand scalp dance, which an eye-witness has de- scribed : — "Before I had returned to our tent, which is pitched but a few yards from two graves, the greater part of - the Indians had here collected, and begun the scalp dance. It was led by three squaws, each bearing in her hand one of the recent scalps. Two or three men sat beating drums and singing, while old and young, male and female, all joined in the song. Occasionally all would become so animated that there would be one general hop, and all at the same time, throwing their heads back, would raise a most horrid yell, clapping the mouth with the hand, to render it, if possible, more terrific. Here were seen little boys and girls, not six years old, all looking on with the most intense interest^ imitating their fathers and mothers, and participating in their brutal joy. Thus early do they learn, by pre- cept and example, to imbibe the spirit of revenge and war, which is fostered in their bosoms, and in after life stimulates them to go and perform some deed of daring and blood, which shall gain for themselves the like ap- plause. "A circumstance which rendered the scene not a little appalling, is, it was performed around the graves of the dead. At the head of those graves hangs an old scalp, some ten feet above the ground, which the winds have almost divested of its ornaments and its hair. The grass and the turf for several yards around, are literally destroyed, and, I presume, by their frequent da,ncing. One of the scalps I examined. The flesh side had apparently been smoked and rubbed with some material till it was pliant, after which it was painted ALLEN'S FIRST MAP OF ITASCA LAKE. 407 with Vermillion. A piece of wood is turned in the form of a horse-shoe, into which the scalp is sewed, the threads passing round the wood, which keeps it tight. Narrow pieces of cloth and ribands of various colours, attached to the bow, were ornamented with beads and feathers. A small stick, which serves for a handle to shake it in the air when they dance, was attached to the top of the bow by a string. While exaniining it, a lock of hair fell from it, which the Indian gave me, and which I still preserve.'" At two P. M., on July thirteenth, they reached Elk Lake, named Itasca by Mr. Schoolcraft.^ With the ex- ception of traders, no white men had ever traced the Mississippi so far. The lake is about eight miles in length, and was called Elk by the Ojibways, because of its irregularities, resembling the horns of that ani- mal. Lieutenant Allen, the commander of the mili- tary detachment, who made the first map of this lake, thus speaks : — "From these hills, which were seldom more than two or three hundred feet high, we came suddenly down to the lake, and passed nearly through it to an island near its west end, where we remained one or two hours. We were sure that we had reached the true source of the great river, and a feeling of great satisfaction was manifested by all the party. Mr. Schoolcraft hoisted a flag on a high staff, on the island, and left it fljnng. The lake is about seven miles long, and from one to three broad, but is of an irregular shape, conforming to ' Boutwell. syllable of the first and the final syl- '^ It is asserted that this is a name lable of the last word, Itasca is oh- made up by Mr. Schoolcraft from tained ; but Mrs. Eastman says, two Latin words, Veritas caput. It that it is the name of an Indian is true, that by dropping the first maiden. 108 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the bases of pine hills which, for a great part of its cir- cumference, rise abruptly from its shore. It is deep, cold, and very clear, and seemed to be well stocked with fish. Its shores show some boulders of primitive rock, but no rock in place. The island, the only one of the lake, and which I have called Schoolcraft Island, is one hundred and fifty yards long, fifty yards broad in the highest part, elevated twenty or thirty feet, over- grown with elm, pine, spruce, and wild cherry. There can be no doubt that this is the true source and fountain of the longest and largest branch of the Mississippi." Soon after sunrise, on the next day, the expedition turned the bows of their canoes towards the region of civilization. In a little while the canoes were whirUng amid splashing rapids, and Allen's capsized. Kegs of pork, loaves of bread, notes of travel, compass, and apparatus, were soon swept out of sight. When the canoe-men are experienced, there is a pleasurable ex- citement attending the descent of such rapids. On the afternoon of this day they passed the Dahko- tah embankments, which are holes in the earth, where a war party lay in wait for Ojibways descending the rapids, to which allusion has been made in a previous chapter. At ten o'clock at night Leech Lake was reached. In the morning they were welcomed by a salute, from the Indians. The chief of the band was Aishkebuggekozh, or Flat Mouth, whose party sufiered the dastardly assault at Fort Snelling in 1827. He occupied a log-cabin, twenty by twenty-five feet, which had been presented to him by a trader. He possessed cups, saucers, knives, and forks of European manufac- ture. At one end of the eating-hall were hung his flags, medals, gun, and scalping knife. Bare-legged and with BOUTWELL'S GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION. 409 bare feet,' the old chief received his visiters with dignity. He was surrounded by about forty warriors, with stand- ing feathers around their head, and fox tails around their heels. The whole band consisted at that time of over seven hundred men, women and children, and many were vaccinated by Dr. Houghton. On the twenty-second of July, it being Sunday, the party remained at Baker's trading-post, about fifteen jniles below the mouth of the Crow Wing, and here they learned from a small newspaper, which here reached them, concerning the Black Hawk difficulties in Wisconsin. At eight, on Monday morning, they arrived at Little Falls. Says the Rev. Mr. Boutwell, in his journal : — " At eight we reached the Little Falls. Instead of making a short portage here, as is usual, the water being sufficiently high to clear the canoe from stones, we only put into the current and let her drive. The stream is full of small islands, many of which are covered with a beautiful growth of elm, maple, butternut, and white walnut. The country here is prairie, extending as far as the eye can reach, with here and there a clump of oaks, which at a distance looks like some old New England orchard. It is the most interesting and inviting tract of country I have ever seen. If there is anything that can meet the wishes, and fill the soul of man with gratitude, it is found here. What would require the labour of years, in preparing the land for cultivation in many of the old states, is here all prepared to the hand. As far as the eye can reach, is one continued field of grass and flowers, waving in the passing breeze, exhibit- ing the appearance of a country which has been culti- vated for centuries, but now deserted of its inhabitants. 4iU HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. The gentle swells, which are seen here and there, give a pleasing variety. The soil is apparently easy of cul- tivation, — a black earth and a mixture of black sand. Nothing can be more picturesque or grand, than the high banks at a distance, rising before you as you de- scend. The islands, in the stream, are most of them alluvial, a soil of the richest quality. " We have marched thirteen hours and a half to-day, at the rate of ten miles per hour, and are encamped this^ evening in the dominions of the Sioux, though we have as yet seen none. " Embarked at five next morning, and marched till twelve, when we reached the Falls of St. Anthony, nine miles above the mouth of the St. Peter's. Our govern- ment have here a saw-mill and grist-mill on the west bank of the Mississippi, and also have a large farm. The soldiers are here cutting the hay. For beauty, the country around exceeds all that I can say. These falls are an interesting object to look at, but there is nothing about them that fills one with awe, as do the Falls of Niagara. The stream is divided in about its centre by a bluff of rocks covered with a few trees. The perpen- dicular fall is perhaps twenty feet on each side of thi& bluff, at the foot of which there is a shoot of some ten or fifteen feet more in a descent. " A short portage was made around the falls, when we again etnbarked in the rapids, and in about an hour reached Fort Snelling. This post is located at the junc- tion of the St. Peter's with the Mississippi. It stands on a high bluff!, rising on the north, nearly three hun- dred feet above the water. The walls of the fort, and of most 'of the buildings, are of stone. The tower com- mands an extensive and beautiful view of the adjacent EXPEDITION ARRIVES AT FORT SNELLING. 411 country, and of the Mississippi and St. Peter's rivers. The officers visited us at our tents, invited us to their- quarterSj and treated us with much kindness and attention. " After Mr. Schoolcraft had stated to three or four of the principal Sioux chiefs who had been requested to visit him, the object of his tour, and mentioned the complaints which the Ojibwas brought against them for breaking the treaties of Prairie du Chien and Fond, du Lac, Little Crow rose and replied, that he recollected those treaties, when they smoked the pipCj and all agreed to eat and drink out of the same dish. He wished the line to be drawn between them and the Ojibwas ; the sooner it was fixed the better. He alluded to the late war party from Leech Lake, which had killed two of his nephews, and were now dancing around their scalps; but he did not complain, nor would he go and revenge their death. He denied that the Sioux were in league with the Sacs and Foxes. Black Dog, and the Man- who-floats-on-the-water, also spoke in much the same manner." After the expedition left Fort Snelling Mr. School- craft pushed ahead, and proceeded without the military escort,' by way of the St. Croix to Lake Superior. Near the Falls of St. Croix he met Joseph R. Brown, whO' had been trading at that point, but was now on his way to establish a new post at the mouth of the river. Lieutenant Allen was sorely displeased with the sum- mary manner in which Mr. Schoolcraft left him, and in his published report gives full expression to his senti- ments. Early in the spring of 1832, the noted Sauk chief. Black Hawk, raised the British flag, and ascended the 412 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Mississippi with hostile intentions against the frontier settlers. General Atkinson, in the latter part of May, sent an express from Dixon, Illinois, to Prairie du Chien, requesting the Indian agent to procure the services of the Dahkotahs as allies of the United States troops. On the thirtieth of May, John Marsh, who had accom- panied the troops to Fort Snelling in 1819, and Burnett, sub-agent at Prairie du Chien, left that place in a canoe paddled by eight men, to secure the aid of the Dahko- tahs. On their way they stopped at the Winnebago village at La Crosse, to inquire if any were willing to join General Atkinson's army on Rock River ; Winnie- shiek opposed the measure, but the young men agreed to accompany them on their return. On the first of June, Marsh and Burnett were at Wapashaw Prairie, and found the Dahkotahs fully pre- pared to go to war against their old enemies. In six days the commissioners returned to the Prairie with eighty Dahkotah and twfenty Winnebago warriors. Marsh, the Dahkotah interpreter, and W. S. Hamilton, marched with the Dahkotahs toward the Pecatonica, and, arriving there the day of the skirmish between G;eneral Dodge and the Sauks and Foxes, they gloated over the corpses of their enemies, and, dancing the scalp dance, cut them to pieces. On the twenty-first of July General Dodge met Black Hawk near an old Sauk village on the Wisconsin and routed him, he retreating north of the Wisconsin, in direction of the Mississippi. As soon as the intelligence of Black Hawk's retreat reached Prairie du Chien, Cap- tain Loomis, now colonel of the 5th regiment United States Infantry, hired the steamboat Enterprise, to pro- ceed to La Crosse, and bring down any Winnebagoes BATTLE OF BAD AXE. 413 that niight be there, lest they should assist Black Hawk in crossing the river. On the thirtieth of July the Win- nebagoes and their canoes were at Fort Crawford. On the first of August, Loomis, one of the officers at Fort Crawford, hired a faster steamboat, called the ""Warrior," to ascend the Mississippi. When they came to the mouth of the Bad Axe they discovered Black Hawk's party, who had just arrived with wearied limbs, and diseased and famished bodies. As the steamer approached he told his braves not to shoot, and taking a piece of white cotton placed it on a pole, and signified a desire to come on board ; but about this time there was a discharge from the six-pounder on board of the boat, which was returned by Black Hawk's braves. The steamboat returned that evening to Prairie du Chien, but arrived agaia the next day, and found that a battle had commenced between the Indians and the regular troops, who had come up to them by land a few hours before. Some of the Indians had fled to the islands of the Mississippi near the Bad Axe, and they were fired at by those on the steamboat. Batteaux were also sent to the main land to receive and transport the troops of Colonel Z. Taylor and Major Bliss to one of the islands, where a severe fight took place, during which every Indian was killed but one, who made his escape by swimming.' During Ihe fight, General Atkinson came on board of the steamer and remained until the close of the battle. After three hours the battle ended, which was a slaugh- ter rather than a victory. A writer, in the nearest newspaper,* four days after, ' Narrative of Captain Bate, Black Hawk, and others. ' Galena Gazette. 414 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. says, " When the Indians were driven to the bank of the Mississippi, some hundreds of men, women, and children, plunged into the river, and hoped by diving to escape the bullets of our guns. Very few, however, escaped our sharp-shooters." Among those killed on the Wisconsin shore was a mother. Her infant was feeding on her breast, and the bullet had passed through and broken the arm of the child, and penetrated to the heart of the parent. When •discovered, the child was alive; it survived the wound, which was attended to by one of the surgeons of the volunteer troops. Those Indians that escaped the fire from the main shore and steamboat, were inet on the west side of the Mississippi by the scalping knife of the Dahkotahs. Wapashaw, with a party of warriors, had arrived during the fight, and they were ordered to pursue those who should escape. Black Hawk, perceiving that all was lost, in forlorn condition fled to the Winnebago vUlage at La Crosse, where the squaws gave him a dress of white deer skin. He was accompanied by the Winnebago chief. One-eyed Dekorrah, to Prairie du Chien, and delivered up to the Americans on the morning of August twenty- seventh. Black Hawk, on that occasion, is said to have made the following speech : — " My warriors fell around me ; it began to look dis- mal. I saw my evil day at hand. The sun rose clear on us in the morning, and at night it sunk in a dark cloud, tmd looked like a ball of fire. This was the last sun that shone on Black Hawk. He is now a prisoner to the white man. But he can stand the torture. He IS not afraid of death. He is no coward. Black Hawk BLACK HAWK'S SPEECH. 415 is an Indian; he has done nothing of which an Lidian need to be ashamed. He has fought the battles of his country against the white men, who came year after year to cheat them and take away their lands. You know the cause of our making war — ^it is known to all white men — they ought to be ashamed of it. The white men despise the Indians, and drive them from their homes. But the Indians are not deceitful. The white men speak bad of the Indian, and look at him spite- fully. But the Indian does not tell lies. Indians do not steal. Black Hawk is satisfied. He will go to the world of spirits contented. He has done his duty — his Father will meet him and reward him. The white men -do not scalp the head, but they do worse, they poison the heart — it is not pure with them. Farewell to my nation ! Farewell to Black Hawk !" During the year of the Black Hawk war, the first regular land mail was carried between Fort Crawford and Fort Snelling. The mail carrier was a soldier of the United States' army, and his journeys were on foot. Leaving Prairie du Chien, he crossed to the Iowa side, and then continued on the western side till he came to Fort Snelling. He occupied fourteen days in going and returning, and carried the mail for a period of twelve months.' At that time there were no white families in the country. The entire population, beside the soldiers of the fort, were Indian traders.* • Smith's History of Wisconsin, Louis Proven^alle, Traverse des vol. i. p. 289. Sioux. ' Licensed Indian Traders in J. B. Faribault, Little Rapids of Minnesota, 1833-1834: — Minnesota. Alexis Bailly, Mendota. Hazen Moores, Lac Traverse. J. R. Brown, Oliver's Grove, Joseph Renville, Lac qui Parle. Mouth of the St. Croii. B. F. Baker, Fort Snelling. 416 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. In the year 1805, Upper Louisiana was organized as Missouri Territory ; and, after the state of that name, was, in 1820, admitted into the Union, the territory beyond its northern boundary, comprising lowa^ and all of Minnesota west of the Mississippi river, was without any organized government. In 1834, the inhabitants petitioned Congress to give them a territorial organi- zation, or attach them to Michigan. Por the present it was thought better to pursue the latter course. In 1836, the territory of Wisconsin was organized, comprising all of Michigan west of the lake of that naine; and, in 1838, Iowa was formed, embracing all of the old Missouri Territory beyond the north line of the state of that name. During the year 1835, an artist of some notoriety, George Catlin, visited Minnesota, and made many sketches which were truthful, and subsequently pub- lished many statements which were unreliable. Featherstonhaugh, in company with Professor Mather, under the direction of the United States government, made a slight geological survey of the valley of the Minnesota. After Featherstonhaugh returned to England, his native land, he published a work entitled " Canoe voy- age up the Minnaysotar," which is only remarkable for its J. Kenville, Jr., Little Rock. P. Prescofct, Traverse des Sioux. James Welles, Little Bapids. Joseph R. Brown, Mouth of Chip- peway. W. A. Aitkin, Fond du Lac. Alfred Aitkin, Sandy Lake. John Aitkin, Prairie Perc6e. Ambrose Devenport, Gull Lake. Wm. Devenport, Leech Lake. A. Morrison, Mille Lac. George Bonga, Lao Platte. J. H. Fairbanks, Red Cedar Lake. Louis Dufault, Red Lake. Wm. Stitt, Lower Red Cedar Lake. L. M. Warren, La Pointe, Wis. Chas. Wolfborup, Yellow Lake. NICOLLET ARRIVES IN MINNESOTA. 417 vulgarity, and its attack upon the character of gentle^: men who (Jid not show him the attention which he thought he should have received. The next year, another foreign gentleman visited, the country, who was the antipodes to him whom we have just noticed. His name wiir always be honoured in the university and colleges of the state; and his career will incite others to the culture of those exact sciences^ which are so useful in their results to the practicdl man. Jean N. Nicollet,' with letters of introduction, having arrived in Minnesota, on the twenty-sixth of July, 1836, ' Jean N. Nicollet -was born in ihe year 1790, at Oluses, a small town, capital of Fansigny in Savoie. His parents were poor, and he was con- sequently reduced to the necessity of gaining a subsistence by playing upon the flute and violin, before he ihad reached the .tender age of ten - years. He was then apprenticed to a watchmaker, and remained with hipi until he was eighteen years old, when he removed to Chambry, the capital of Savoie, -where he followed his occupation, at the same time prosecuting his studies , iii math^ matic8,;for his prc^ciency in which science he received a prize. From Chambry he returned to Cluses, and there gave lessons ipc mathematics, he himself receiving instruction in Latin and other languages. He continued this course of life for about two years, when he went to Paris and Vas admitted in the first class. !of Ij'Ecole Normale, and soon after- wards he was placed in charge jof the Biathematical, course in -the, col- lege of " Louis Le GranS." . It was in 1818 that Nicollet pub- 27 lished his celebrated letter to M. Outrequin Banquier, " on assurances having for their basis, the probable duration of human life." , , From 1819 arid 1820, may be dated the commencement of his astronomi- cal labours. , , , , , , , On the twenty-first of January, 1821, between six and seven in the evenirigj he discovered a comet in tjie constellation of Pegastis (seen on the same day and at the same hour by Pons at Marseilles), and from his own observations; and those of the astronomers and the observa- tory, he completed its parabolic elements. ' ' Previous to 1825, M. Nicollet re- ceived the decoration of thelLegion of Honour,.. and had also been at- tached as Professor, to the Rbyal College of " Louis Le Grand." Having been iinfortunate in spec- ulations which . involved others in pecuniary loss, he came to the United States in 1832 ; poor, but honest. — See sketch in Annals Minnesota Hist. Soc, No. iv. 1853. " ' 418 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. left Fort Snelling with a French trader, named Fron- chet, to explore the sources of the Mississippi. While at the Falls of St. Anthony, the Dahkotahs pilfered some of his provisions, but writing back to the fort for another supply, he ascended the Mississippi, telescope in hand, and with a trustful, child-like spirit, hoped with Sir Isaac Newton, to gather a few pebbles from the great ocean of truth. After reaching Crow Wing river, he ■entered its mouth, and by way of Gull river and lake, he reached Leech Lake, the abode of the Pillagers. When the savages found that he was nothing but a poor scholar, with neither medals, nor beef, nor flags to present, and constantly peeping through a tube into the heavens, they became very unruly. The Rev. Mr. Boutwell, whose mission house was on the opposite side of the lake, hearing the shouts and drumming of the Lidians, came over as soon as the wind which had been blowing for several days, would allow the passage of his canoe. His arrival was very grateful to Nicollet, who says: "On the fourth day, however, he arrived, and although totally unknown to each other previously, a sympathy of feeling arose, growing out of the precarious circumstances under which we were both placed, and to which he had been much longer exposed than myself. This feeling, from the kind attentions he paid me, soon ripened into affec- tionate gratitude." Leaving Leech Lake with an Indian, Fronchet and Francis Brunet, a Canadian trader of that post, " a man six feet three inches in height, a giant of great strength, and at the same time full of the milk of human kind- ness," he proceeded toM^ard Itasca Lake. With the sex- tant on his back, thrown over like a knapsack, a ba- THE ASTRONOMER IN THE WILDERNESS. 419 rometer and cloak on his left shoulder, a portfolio under his arm, and a basket in hand holding thermometer, chronometer, and compass, he followed his guides over -the necessary portages. After the usual trials of an inexperienced traveller, he pitched his tent on School- craft's Island, in Lake Itasca, and proceeded to use his telescope and instruments. Continuing his explorations beyond those of Lieut. Allen and Schoolcraft, he entered on the twenty-ninth ■of August, a tributary of the west bay of the lake, two or three feet in depth, and from fifteen to twenty feet in width. While the previous explorers had passed but one or two hours at Itasca Lake, he stayed three •days with complete scientific apparatus, and sought the ^sources of the rivulets that feed the lake. With great appropriateness has his claim been recognised by the people of Minnesota, as the individual who completed the exploration of the Mississippi, by giving his name "to a county. Returning to Fort Snelling in the beginning of Octo- ber, he- occupied a room at the stone agency house, a quarter of a mile beyond the gate, where he passed the time in studying the Dahkotah. The latter portion of the winter Nicollet was a guest of Mr. Sibley, at Men- dota. That gentleman says : — " A portion of the winter following was spent by him at my house, and it is hardly necessary to state that I found in him a most instructive companion. His devo- tion to his studies was intense and unremitting, and I frequently expostulated with him upon his imprudence in thus over-tasking the strength of his delicate frame, but with little effect. When the weather was auspi- cious, telescope in hand, he would spend hours of the 420 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. cold winter nights of our high latitude in astral observa- tions. He continued his labours until the opening of spring called him to encounter the privations and suf- ferings necessarily attendant upon a long sojourn in the wilderness. Such was the enthusiasm of his nature, that he submitted to all physical inconveniences with- out murmuring, and as of no moment when compared with the magnitude of the enterprise in which he was engaged." Going to Washington, after his tour of 1836-37, he was honoured with a commission from the United States government, and John C. Fremont was detailed as his assistant. Ascending the Missouri river in a steamboat, to Fort Pierre, he travelled through the interior of Min- nesota Territory, visiting the Red Pipe Stone Quarry, which he accurately describes, Minne Wakan, or Devil's Lake, and other important localities. The map which he constructed, and the astronomical observations which he made, were invaluable to the country.' t ' Hen . H. H. Sibley, in his notice gentleman, alike entitled him to such of Nicollet, says : — a distinction. But his enemies were " His health was so seriously numerous and influential, and when affected after his return to Washing- his name was presented in accord- ton in 1839, that from that time for- ance with a previous nomination, to ward he was incapacitated from de- fill a vacancy, he was black-balled voting himself to the accomplishment and rejected. This last blow was of his work as exclusively as he had mortal. True, he strove against the previously done. Still he laboured, incurable melancholy which had but it was with depressed spirits and fastened itself upon him, but his blighted hopes. He had long as- struggles waxed more and more pired to a membership in the Aca- faint, until death put a period to his demy of Sciences of Paris. His long sufferings on the eighteenth Sep- continued devotion and valuable tember, 1844. contributions to the caiise of science, "Even when he was aware that and his correct deportment as a his dissolution was near at hand, his ' NICOLLET'S DEATH.— AITKIN KILLED. 42) The Leech Lake Ojibways this year killed the trader' in charge of the American Fur Company's post, at that point, and many threatened to drive away the Eev. Mr. Boutwelly and manifested bitter hostility. thoughts reverted back to the days when he roamed along the valley of the Minnesota river. It vras my fortune to meet him for the last time in the year 1842 in Washington City. A short time before his death I re- ceived a kind but mournful letter from him, in which he adverted to the fact that his days were numbered, but at the same time he expressed a hope that he would have strength sufficient to enable him to make his way to our country, that he might yield up his breath and be interred on the banks of his beloved stream. " It would have been gratifying to his friends to know that the soil of the region which had employed so much of his time and scientific re- search, had received his mortal re- mains into his bosom, but they were denied this melancholy satisfaction He sleeps beneath the sod far away, in the vicinity of the capital of the nation, but his name will continue to be cherished in Minnesota as one of its early explorers, and one of its best friends. The astronomer, the geologist, and the christian gentle- man, Jean N. Nicollet, will long be remembered in connection with the history of the North-west. " Time sball quench fall many A people's records, and a hero's acts. Sweep empire after empire into nothing; But even then shall spare this deed of thine. And hold it up, a problem few dare imilate, And none despise." ' Alfred Aitkin. 422 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XX. The history of missions among the roving tribes of Minnesota and the regions adjacent, must necessarily be- a dark and saddening page. They are all bands with- out law. The frontispiece of the first volume of the voyages of Baron La Hontan to the Lakes of the West, pub- lished more than one hundred and fifty years ago, is an engraving of an Indian, attired for war, with a bow in one hand and arrow in the other, a statute book under one foot, and a crown and sceptre beneath the othei Over his head is the appropriate motto " Et leges, et sceptra terit :" On laws and sceptres he tramples. The savages of the north-west, as has been shown,, have nothing that corresponds to a civilized government. Their chiefs hold their influence by a trimming and somersaulting which would put the most adroit politi- cian to the blush. Society takes no cognisance of offences, and each man revenges his real or imaginary wrongs. If one is killed, the relative in return goes and kills the person who committed the act. They also hold their property in common. If, on a hunting expe- dition, a man shoots a deer, he does not claim it as pri- vate property, but it is shared with aU present. If an JESUITS PERMITTeI) HEATHEN SACRIFICES. 423 industrious person should settle down and cultivate a field of corn and potatoes, custom requires that he should share it with the idler and the passer-by. The aversion to labour is such that the men ordi- narily feel it an insult to be urged to work. Toil is only becoming to women. In addition to these preju- dices, when not hunting for wild beasts, they, with the ferocity of wild beasts, hunt for the scalps of their wild neighbours. There is scarcely a large plain in Minne- sota that has not been an, Aceldama. The youth from his earliest childhood is trained to delight in war. Bancroft, catching the enthusiasm of the narratives of the early Jesuits, depicts, in language which glows, their missions to the North-west ; yet it is erroneous to suppose that they exercised any permanent influence on the Aborigines. Fond of novelty and attention, the untutored children of the forest for a little while were interested in the pictures and vestments and tales of the " black gown," but they at length grew weary. Marquette, while at La Pointe on Lake Superior, made a fatal mistake as a minister of Christianity. In his narrative he says that he allowed the Ojibways to retain such sacrifices to ima- ginary spirits as he thought were harmless, as if it was possible to serve God and Manitou. After he was driven from the shores of Lake Superior, no further attempt was made to elevate the Aborigines of that region, until the arrival of Protestant missionaries more than a century subsequent. The devout Romanist, Shea, in his interesting history of Catholic missions, speaking of the Dahkotahs remarks that, " Father Menard had projected a Sioux mission ; Marquette, AUouez, Druilletes, all entertained hopes of 424 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. realizing it, and had some intercourse with that nation,; but hone of them ever succeeded in establishing a mis- sion." After the American Fur Company was formed, the island of Mackinaw became the residence of the principal agent for the North-west. In the month of June of the year 1820, the Eev. Dr. Morse, father of the inventor of the Morseograph,', visited the spot, and preached the first Protestant ser- mon ever delivered in this portion of the North-west, He became quite interested in the condition of traders and natives ; and in consequence of his statements, a Presbyterian Missionary Society in the state of New York, sent a graduate of Union College, the Rev. W. M. Ferry, in 1822, to explore^ the field. In October, 1823, with his wife, he commenced a school, which, before the close of the year, contained twelve Indian children. Mackinaw being easy of access to the Indians of the Upper Lakes, and the Upper Mississippi, the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, who had assumed the expense, determined to make it a central station, at which there should be a large boarding-school, composed of children collected from all the North-west- ern tribes, who were expected to Remain long enough to acquire a common school education, and a knowledge of manual labour. Mechanics' shops and gardens were provided for the lads, and the girls were trained for household duties. The school, for many years, succeeded admirably; and gained the confidence of traders and chiefs. At times there were nearly two hundred pupils present, representatives of the Ottawas, Ojibways, Dah- ' This word is a novelty found at the head of the telegraphic reports of the Philadelphia Public Ledger. HAPPY INFLUENCE OF MACKINAW SCHOOL. 425 kotahSjWinnebagoes, Pottowattamies, Knistenoes, Sauks, Foxes, and Menomonees. There are those now in Minnesota, surrounded by all the comforts of civiliza- tion, who are indebted to this school for their entire education. After a series of years, the plan was modi- fied, the school limited to fifty, and smaller stations commenced in the region between Lake Superior and the Mississippi. During the summer of 1830, Mr. Warren, the father of the late bois bruM William Warren, came to Macki- naw, with an extra boat, for the purpose of taking a missionary to his post at La Pointe. As there were no ordained ministers that could be spared, the teacher of the boys' school, Mr. Frederic Ayer, now of Belle Prai- rie, with one of the scholars as an interpreter, returned with the trader to La Pointe, for the purpose of explor- ing the field. After surveying the country, Mr. Ayer returned to Mackinaw ; but in August of the next year, in com- pany with a graduate of Dartmouth College, the Rev. Sherman Hall and wife, left with the intention of estab- lishing a permanent mission among the Ojibways. The brigade with which they travelled consisted of five boats and about seventy persons. The following ex- tracts from the journaP of the first Protestant minister among the Ojibways of the far west, may be perused with interest : — "August fifth, 1831. The manner of travelling on the upper waters of the great lakes, is with open canoes and batteaux. The former are made in the Indian stvle, the materials of which are the bark of the white birch < and the wood of the white cedar. The cedar ' Rev. Sherman Hall 426 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. forms the ribbing, and the bark the part which cornea in contact with the water. These are made of various sizes, from ten to thirty feet in length. The largest are sufficiently strong to carry from two to three ton* of lading. They are propelled with the paddle ; and when well built and well manned, without lading, will go from eighty to one hundred miles in a day, in calm weather. " Batteaux are light-made boats, about forty feet in length, and ten or twelve feet wide at the centre, capa- ble of carrying about five tons burden each, and are rowed by six or seven men. They have no deck^ Upon articles of lading, with which the boat is filled, is the place for the passengers, who have no other seats than they can form for themselves, out of their travel- ling trunks, boxes, beds, etc. On these they place themselves in any position which necessity may require, or convenience suggest, with very little regard to grace- fulness of position. Such is the vehicle which is to convey us to the place of our destination. In the small compass of this boat we have to find room for eleven persons, including our family and our men, one of whom is an Indian, and four are Frenchmen. " A person travelling in this region, is obhged to sub- mit to many inconveniences. Here the traveller must take his bed, his house, his provisions, and his utensils to cook them with, along with him, or consent to sleep in the open air on the ground, and to subsist on what the woods and the waters may chance to afibrd. In short, if he would have anything to make himself com- fortable, he must provide himself with it before he leaves home. There are no New England taverns here, at which the traveller can rest when he is weary, and CAMPING FOR THE NIGHT. 427 find supplies for all his wants. Journeys are frequent. In this country, people think those near neighbours who live two hundred or three hundred miles distant. A journey of this length, even in the dead of winter, is no more accounted of here, than a ride from one city t» another on the sea-coast of the United States, though he who performs it must take his provision and his snow shoes, and march without a track through the unbroken wilderness. "At night our tent is pitchled at some convenient place on the shore. After the tent is raised, a painted cloth is spread withiii it on the ground. This forms a kind of flooring. On this a carpet of Indian mats,^ made of a kind of coarse grass or rush, which answers the triple purpose of a carpet, a table, and a bedstead. The bed is composed of several thicknesses of blankets^ coverlets, or anything else one may choose to carry for this purpose, with a sufficient quantity of other clothes for covering. Each family of travellers has a willow basket, with a lock and key, sufficiently capacious ta hold from one to two bushels, of close texture, which is covered with a swinging lid. This basket answers the purpose of a pantry. This is divided into various de- partments in the inside, for meat, tea, bread, coffee, and dishes. The cooking is done without, in the open air. With such accommodations a j©umey of several hun- dred miles may be performed with tolerable comfort, though at the expense of some inconveniences. "August thirtieth. After sailing thirty leagues in a day and a half, we arrived at La Pointe, the place of our destination, about noon to-day, all heartily glad to find a resting place, and a shelter from the storm and cold. We were agreeably disappointed on finding the 428 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. place so much more pleasant than we had anticipated. As we approached it, it appeared like a small village. There are several houses, stores, barns, and out-build- ings about the establishment, and forty or fifty acres of land under cultivation. " September first. This evening we cooked our first meal, and united together around the family altar in our new abode. We returned thanks to God for his goodness in preserving us and bringing us to this place, as we had prayed, and besought his blessing on our future labours." Mr. Hall immediately established a school for child- ren, and placed it in charge of Mr. Ayer. The next year, at the urgent solicitation of the trader, Mr. Aitkin, Mr. Ayer went to Sandy Lake and opened a school for the children of voyageurs and Indians. The Rev. Mr. Boutwell, a graduate of Dartmouth ; in the summer of 1832, after his tour with H. R. School- craft, became a colleague of Mr. Hall at La Pointe,~and took charge of the school. In the month of September, 1832, the Rev. Sherman Hall made an exploring tour to Lac du Flambeau, in North-western Wisconsin, and reached the trading-post of Charles H. Oakes, at that place, on the twentieth of the month. His journal is instructive : — " September eleventlj, 1832. I left La Pointe for Lac du Flambeau, accompanied by one man to carry my provisions and baggage. Our journey was partly by water and partly by land, and much of the way througl dense forests of tall and heavy timber. Our road was a small foot-path, which has been formed by those who make this wilderness their highway to the interior. The grounf", in this great forest is not as level as much of the REV. S HALL VISITS OAKES' TRADING HOUSE. 420 western country. We crossed no higji hills, but the surface of the country vras continually undulating. The soil appeared to be of excellent quality, and capable of furnishing the means of subsistence for a dense popula- tion, if it should be cleared of its present heavy burden of timber, and suitably tilled. It is not stony, though stones are to be found nearly all the way. The country seems to be well watered with clear transparent streams." Crossing Forty-five Mile Portage, between Montreal river and Portage Lake, at the same time that the gen- tleman engaged in the fur trade at Lac du Flambeau was conveying his goods to that post, Mr. Hall describes the laborious method of transportation, which is neces- sarily resorted to in those uncultivated and almost deso- late regions. "All the goods for this department of the Indian trade, together with a considerable quantity of provi- sions, are carried across this portage on the backs of men. Not a pound of flour, or salt, or butter, or pork, or scarcely any other article of living consumed at the post, except vegetables, a little com, wild rice, and fish, and a small quantity of wild meat, can be obtained in any other manner. AH the tobacco, powder, shot, and balls, used in the trade, and every heavy utensil for household use, and implements for cultivating the ground, which cannot be made by unskilful mechanics on the spot, all the nails and glass for building, and the tools necessary for, mechanical purposes, must all find their way through these forests in the same manner. On the other hand, all the furs and peltries collected in the department, many of which are brought some hun-' dreds of miles before they reach Lac du Flambeau, are 430 , HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. conveyed to market over the same road, and by the same kind of conveyance. " The goods are obtained at Mackinaw, and brought through the lake, till they enter the Montreal river, a distance of five or six hundred miles, in boats rowed by men. At the commencement of the portage, they are put up into packs or bales, convenient for carrying, which, in the language of the country, are termed pieces. Each piece is allowed to weigh eighty pounds. A barrel of flour is put into two bags, and each is con- sidered a piece. A keg of pork or a keg of gunpowder is .considered also a piece, and a bushel and a half of corn. Two of these pieces constitute each man's load. The carrier uses a collar, which is composed of a strap of leather about three inches wide in the middle, to which smaller straps are attached of a sufficient length to tie round the object to be carried. These straps are tied round each end of the piece, which is then swung upon the back, the lower part resting about on the loins, ■and the collar is brought over the top of the head. The person, when he takes his load, inclines a little forward, so that it rests considerably on the back, and draws but gently on the collar suspended across the head. After the first piece is thus swung on the back, the second is taken up and laid on the top of it, reaching, if it be large, nearly to the top of the head. I was surprised to see with what ease these men, after they had sus- pended the first piece, would raise up the second and place it on the top of it. The party consisted of ten men, and each man had ten pieces, pr five loads to carry across the portage. They keep the whole of the goods together ; that is, each one takes one load and marches with it, the distance of one-half or one-third of a mile, REV. MR. BOTJTWELL'S MISSION AT LEECH LAKE. 431 and then returns for a second. This they repeat till all their loads are brought up to this point. Each man's pieces are allotted to him at the commencement of the portage, and he keeps the same through. There are in all one hundred and twenty-two poses, or stopping places, on this portage. The carriers march very rapidly when loaded. About two hundred of these pieces, in -goods and provisions, are required for this department annually. When we passed these men, -fchey had been sixteen days on the portage, and had got about two-thirds of the way across it. After they cross this, they have two other portages to make before they reach Lac du Flambeau, one of which is one hundred and fifty or two hundred rods, and the other about three miles in length. " September twenty-third. I reached the trading- post of Mr. Oakes, by whom I was very kindly received, on the twentieth. The village of the Indians isi two or three miles distant from his post. This morning three men, having heard that I had arrived, came, as they said, to see me, and to hear what I had to say to them. Two of them were young men, and the other I should judge to be about fifty, of a straight, well proportioned body and limbs, not very tall, a countenance rather •dignified, a keen, arch-looking eye," and a carriage that told him to be a man who claimed some title to chief- tainship among his band. I greeted them in a friendly manner, and told them I was glad to see them, and if they would listen, I would tell them something about God and his word." On the fifteenth of September, 1833, Mr. Ayer arrived at Yellow Lake, also in the extreme north-western por- tion of Wisconsin, for the purpose of commencing a mis- 432 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. sion station. In October of the same year the Rev. W. T. Boutwell proceeded to Leech Lake, and established the first mission in Minnesota west of the Mississijctpi. Mr. E. F. Ely' became a teacher during this year, at the trading-post of Mr. Aitkin, at Sandy Lake, Minnesota!; but the next year opened a school at Fond du Lac, on the St. Louis river. Calvinism is frequently represented, by those who do not embrace its tenets, as a mere abstract system, only anxious to impress upon the race stem theological for- mulas ; but the journals of its missionaries among the savages are always eminently cheerful, hopeful, and practical. They came to the untutored Indians of Min- nesota, not with a long-drawn countenance, and severe exterior, but they came singing songs for the little ones, and teaching the men to plough, and the women to sew and knit. The following letter, written in 1833, by Rev. Mr. Boutwell, is full of sunshine from one of the dark places of earth. Leech Lake, the abode of the Pillagers, the most savage of all the bands of Minnesota : — " I arrived at this place October third. Passing for the present in silence the particulars of my voyage, I will proceed directly to give you some account of my reception. When I arrived, the men, with few excep- ' Letter from Mr. Ely, at Sandy with the outlet of the lake running Lake, September twenty-fifth, 1833. within eighty feet of the house ; the " I arrived at this post September Mississippi is about the same dis- nineteenth, and am happily disap- tance on the west ; and their conflu- pointedintheappearanceof the place, ence is about ten rods below. On I occupy a large chamber in Mr. Ait- the twenty-third Mr. Boutwell left kin's house, which is both a school- us for Leech Lake. My school was room and lodging-room, commanding commenced on the same day with an eastern view of Mr. A.'s fields six or eight scholars. To-dayfi'I and meadows, and of the lake and , have had fifteen.'' ■ , hills covered with pines, togeth'er ^ "... LITTLE CHILDREN ATTRACTED BY SONGS. 433 tions, were making their fall hunts, while their families remained at Jhe lake, and in its vicinity, to gather their corn and make rice. A few lodges were encamped quite near. These I began to visit for the purpose of read- ing, singing, etc., in order to interest the children, and awaken in them a desire for instruction. I told them about the children at Mackinaw, the Sault, and at La Pointe, who could read, write, and sing. To this they would listen attentively, while the mother would often .reply, ' My children are poor and ignorant.' To a per- son unaccustomed to Indian manners and Indian wild- nesss, it would have been amusing to have seen the little ones, as I approached their lodge, running and scream- ing, more terrified, if possible, than if they had met a bear robbed of her whelps. It was not long, however, before most of them overcame their fears ; and in a few days my dwelling (a lodge which I occupied for three or four weeks) was frequented from morning till eve- ning by an interesting group of boys, all desirous to learn to read and sing. To have seen them hanging, some on one knee, others upon my shoulder/ reading and singing, while others, whether from shame or fear I know not, who dared not venture within, were peeping in through the sides of the cottage, or lying flat upon the ground and looking under the bottom, might have provoked a smile, especially to have seen them as they caught a glance of my eye, springing upon their feet and running like so many wild asses' colts. The rain, cold, and snow were alike to them, in which they would come day after day, many of them clad merely with a blanket and a narrow strip of cloth about the loins. "The men ait length returned, and an opportunity, •was presented me for r6ading to them. The greater 28 434 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. part listened attentively. Some would come back and ask me to read more. Others laughed and aimed to make sport, both of me and my book. I heeded as if I understood not. I had been laughed at and called a fool before. Besides, I remembered "to have read, ' the servant is not above his master.' The second chief ^Eiji Osaie), the Elder Brother as he is called, now re- turned. This chief, though nominally second, is really the first in the affections of the band. He is a man who courts neither the favour, nor fears the frown of his fello)^, but speaks independently what he thinks. One morning, after breakfasting with us, I said to him, ' I have come to pass the winter with your trader, and I thought I would teach some of the children to read if their parents~were pleased.' ' It is a good thing to in- struct the children, and I do not think an Indian in the whole band can be displeased or say a word against it,' replied he. A higher object than this, even this man could not appreciate at present. This was all and even more than I anticipated from him, knowing as I did something of the past history, as well as present dispo- sition of the band. A few days after, as an Indian was leaving with his family for his winter hunt, he came and asked me if I should be pleased to have his little boy, a lad of ten years, remain with me. ' Certainly,' repHed I, 'if I had the means of feeding him.' The trader sit- ting by kindly offered to feed the boy, and the father left him in my care, saying, ' If you will teach him to read as the whites do, I should be so glad I do not know what I could do for you.' He, is a lad of much promise, enthusiastically fond of his books, and often expresses a strong desire to learn to read English. It is but about six weeks since he first saw a book in his own language; NOTICE OF LEECH LAKE OJIBWAYS. 433 jet he now reads and spells in two syllables, counts one hundred m Indian, and forty in English, repeats and «ings several hymns in Indian, and is committing the ten commandments. The like request was made by one or two others, but I had no means of my own of either feeding or sheltering them. " You are now prepared to hear me say from what I have seen, and so far as I am able to judge, the Lord hath opened a door, and apparently preparing the way for you to occupy this field as soon as you can furnish the men and the means. In my opinion the sooner you occupy it the better. The question has often been put to me by the Indians, ' Will you leave in the spring?' 'Will you come back again ?' The only reply I could make (but to an Indian of ambiguous interpre- tation), 'the Lord willing, I will return or send some other person.' That there are individuals who would be unwilling to have their children instructed at present, I have no doubt. I am not without hope, however, ^ that by kindness and a judicious course of conduct, their prejudices would soon give way. I am equally confident also, that there are individuals in the band, and I trust a goodly number, who would be highly pleased to have a kind and judicious missionary located here. " In relation to their numbers and locality, my jour- nal, now in your possession, may perhaps give you all necessary information. Including the small band on Bear Island, excluded from the estimate, there are at least eight hundred souls belonging to Leech Lake. The Winnipeg and Upper-Red-Cedar Lake bands are distant but a day's march, which in this country and by an Indian is not a matter of reckoning. " The means of subsistence which the country affords 436 HISTORY /)F MINNESOTA. are not inconsiderable. These are fish, corn, and rice, and they are the almost entire dependence of the traders. Fish is the principal. Not less than thirty thousand were taken this fall for the winter supply of the four houses here. They are called tuUibees, the only name save the Indian (Etonibins) that I have ever heard. They will average from one to three pounds as they are taken from the water. The manner of curing them is merely to hang them in the air to freeze — a simple rather than a safe way. The trader with whom I pass the winter has now upon the scaffold about ten thou- sand. For two weeks past the weather has been quite warm, and he fears, as do his neighbours, that we shall not be able to use them. If fish faU, to say the least, we shall all grow poor, if we do not some of us grow hungry. There was comparatively little corn raised the past season by the Indians, perhaps one hundred and fifty bushels. They are now in the habit of exchanging corn and rice with their traders for slrouds and blankets, which, happily for the Indians, have taken the place of liquor, which is now a prohibited article in the trade. I am credibly informed that the exceptions were rare in which an Indian would not give his last sack of provi- sions for whiskey. Wild rice, an article of much de- pendence among the Indians, nearly failed the past season on account of high water. Hundreds of bushels of this excellent food are often gathered from the small lakes in the vicinity, and from the deep bays of this lake. Nowhere between Lake Superior and the head waters of the Mississippi has the God of providence so bountifully provided for the subsistence of man as here. In addition to rice and several species of fish which this lake affords, the soil is also of a rich quaUty and highl\' FERTILITY OF SOIL AT LEECH LAKE. 437 susceptible of cultivation. AH the English grains^ in my opinion, may be cultivated here. At present ari Indian's garden consists merely of a few square rods in which he plants a little corn and a few squashes. Very few as yet cultivate the potato, probably for want of seed. Fish, instead, of bread, is here the staff of life. " The traders here have found it impracticable to keep any domestic animal save the dog and cat. For the least offence an Indian here will sooner shoot a horse or cow for revenge than a dog. Still a missionary by the second or third year will be better able to judge than I now can, with how much security he could make the experiment. " If the Indians can be induced ]yy example and other helps (such as' seed and preparing the ground), to culti- vate more largely, they would, I have no doubt, furnish provisions for their children in part. If a mission here should furnish the means of feeding, clothing, and in- structing the children, as at Mackinaw, I venture to say there would be no lack of childreil. But such an estar blishment is not only impracticable here ; it is such as would ill meet the exigencies of this people. While a mission proffers them aid, they should be made to feel that they must try at least to help themselves. It should be placed on a footing that will instruct them in the principles of political economy. At present there is among them nothing like personal rights, or individual j)roperty, any further than traps, guns, and kettles are concerned. They possess all things in common. If an Indian has anything to eat, his neighbours are all allowed to share it with him. While, therefore, a mission extends the hand of charity in the means of instruction, and occa- manally an article of clothing, and perhaps some aid in 438 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. proewring the means of suhsistence, it sTwuld he only^ U> ■such individuals as will themselves use the means so far as they possess them. This might operate as a stimulus with them to cultivate and fix a value upon com, rice, etc., at least with such as care to have their children instructed, rather than squander it in feasts and feeding such as are too indolent to makp a garden themselves. It will require much patience, if not a long time, to break up and eradicate habits so inveterate. An Indian cannot eat alone. If he kills a pheasant, his neighbours must come in for a portion, small indeed, but so it is.. As it respects furnishing them with seeds and imple- ments of husbandry, this may be done, but only to a certain extent. An Indian would most surely take advantage of your liberality. Every on& would come,, the last expecting to be served as well, if not better, than the first. The mention of a single fact may throw sufficient light upon this trait in Indian character. While at Sandy Lake, on my way here, I presented a little boy with a shirt. Not half an hour after he had gone out, no less than "half a dozen others came for the same favour. But more, I have known boys who had a shirt pull it off and throw it aside, while they would come expecting to get a new one, in case you had made a present to one who had none. They are so jealous, that the utmost precaution must be observed in making a present of the least article to one that you cannot make to another. " So far as my observation extends, polygamy is more common among this band than any other with which I am acquainted. Not only the chiefs, but all the best hunters who are able to clothe, in their miserable man- ner, more than one woman, keep from two to five. One HOUSEKEEPING OF LEECH LAKE MISSIONARY. 439 individual keeps three who are sisters; and this not being sufficient, has a fourth woman." In the year 1834, Mr. Boutwell was married at Fond du Lac, to an interesting and educated Anglojibway lady, who died a few years ago. The experiences of married life at Leech Lake, are narrated in his journal published in the Missionary Herald, and are probably the first housekeeping of a couple married according to the rites of Christianity, beyond the walls of Fort Snelling, in Minnesota. "The clerk very kindly invited me to occupy a part of his quarters, until I could prepare a place to put myself. I thought best to decline his oifer; and on the thirteenth instant, removed my effects, and commenced housekeeping in a bark lodge. Then, here I was, with- out a quart of com or Indian rice to eat "myself, or give my man, as I was too late to purchase any of the mere pittance which was to be bought or sold. My nets, under God, were my sole dependence to feed myself and hired man. I had a barrel and a half of flour, and ninety pounds of pork only before me for the winter. But on the seventeenth of the same month, I sent my fisherman ten miles distant to gather our winter's stock of provisions out of the d6ep. In the mean time, I must build a house, or winter in an Indian lodge. Eather than do worse, I shouldered my axe and led the way, having procured a man of the trader to help me ; and in about ten days had my timbers cut and on the ground ready to put up. " On the twelfth of November, I recalled my fisher- man, and found on our scaffold nearly six thousand tulibees (a kind of fish found in the north-western lakes), for our winter supplies. *4C HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. " On the second of December, I quit my bark lodge for a mud-walled house; the timbers of which, I not only assisted in cutting, but also carrying on my back, until the rheumatism, to say the least, threatened to double and twist me, and I was obliged to desist. My house, when' I began to occupy it, had a door, three windows, and a mud chimney; but neither chair, stool, nor bedstead; A box served for the former, and an In- dian mat for the two latter. A rude figure, indeed, my house would make in a New England city, with its deer-skin windows, a floor that had never seen a plane, or a saw, and a mud chimney; but it is, nevertheless, comfortable. " When I arrived, the Indians, as I expected, were mostly off for their fall hunt. As their gardens were nearly destroyed last summer by the worm, and rice again failed, their families were obliged to go to the deer country, ten days' march from us. This circum- stance has tended to remove them, for the time being, from our intercourse and influence. March will ■ bring them back and settle them down around us, at least the major part of them, as they make sugar and cultivate little gardens here and there, where each family chooses. " Among those whom I have seen, is the Elder Bro- ther, the second chief, who expressed his satisfaction that I had returned, and regretted that he was not present at my arrival, while there remained a few men with' whom he would have smoked and spoken on the occasion. The first chief, a few days since, sent me word that he would call his young men together in the spring, when he returns from his hunt. Thus far these two men have taken an honourable and decided course, so far as precept can go, and have given assurance that FIRST MISSIONS ESTABLISHED AMONG DAHKOTAHS. 441 this should be followed by practice, in case a permanent missionary was located here. What, however, , the spring will decide, when the good, bad, and indifferent all meet together, I do not pretend to foretell. The cause is God's, and he will order all things well." The Jesuits considered the Dahkotahs as the most fierce of all the tribes, and did not venture their lives in their midst, except for a few months by the side of a French officer. It was not till the year 1834, that any formal attempt was made to instruct them in the arts, letters, or in the morality of the Bible. The Rev.. Samuel W. Pond, at that time a layman and school teacher in Galena, Illi- nois, hearing accounts of the Dahkotahs from Red river emigrants, became interested in their welfare, and wrote to his brother Gideon H. Pond, then a young man in their native place in Connecticut, proposing that they should cast their lot with the Dahkotahs, and try to do them good. The proposition was accepted, and in the spring of 1834, provided with neither brass, nor scrip, nor purse, he joined his brother at Galena, and embarking on board of a steamer, they arrived at Fort Snelling in May. They stated their plans to Mr. Taliaferro, the Dah- kotah agent, and were treated with kindness by him and Major Bliss, the commander of the fort. Without aid or encouragement from any missionary society, they proceeded to the east shore of Lake Calhoun, on the banks of which and Lake Harriet, dwelt small bands of Dahkotahs, and with their own hands erected a rude cabin on the site of a building in recent times occupied by Charles Musou. About this period, a native of South Carolina, and 442 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. graduate of Jeflferson College, Pennsylvania, the Rev, T. g. Williamson, M. D., who, previous to his ordiha^ tion, had been a respectable physician in Ohio, was appointed by the American ^o^rd of Commissioners of Foreign Missions to visit the Dahkotahs, with the view of ascertaining what could be done to introduce Christ- ian instruction. Having made inquiries at Prairie du Chien and Fort Snelling, he reported that the field was favourable. The Presbyterian and Congregational churches, through their joint missionary society, ap- pointed the following persons to labour in Minnesota : Rev. Thomas S. WilUamson, M. D., missionary and phy- sician ; Rev. J. D. Stevens, missionary j Alexander Hug- gins, farmer ; and their wives ; Miss Sarah Poage, and Lucy C. Stevens, teachers ; who were prevented during -the, year 1834, by the state of navigation, from entering upon their work. During the winter of 1834-35, a pious officer of the . army exercised a good influence on his feUow officers, and soldiers under their command. In the absence of a chaplain or ordained minister, he, like General Have- lock of the British army in India, was accustomed not only to drill the soldiers, but to meet them in his own quarters, and " reason with them of righteousness, tem- perance, and judgment to come."' In the month of May, 1835, Dr. Williamson and mission band arrived at Fort Snelling, and were hospita- bly received by the officers of the garrison, the Indian agent, and Mr. Sibley, then a youiig man, who had re- ' The growling Englishman Fea- as he thought sufSciently notice him, therstonhaugh, whose book has and vents his spleen by calling him been noticed, became very much a long, lean, canting, " pBalm-singiog offended because this officer did not major." FIRST CHURCH AND COMMUNION IN MINNESOTA. 445 cently tak§n charge, of the trading-post at Mendota. On the second Sabbath in June, a Presbyterian church was organized in one of the company rooms of the fort, and the communion was administered for the first time in Minnesota to twenty-two persons of European extraction, composed of oflBcers and soldiers of the army, those engaged in the fur trade, and the mission families. The late Major Ogden, of the army, who died at Fort Eiley, here professed his faith iu Christianity. Two posts were selected by the missionaries as stations. The Rev. Mr. Stevens and family proceeded to Lake Harriet, in Hennepin county, and erected a house near the property of Eli Pettijohn ; and the Rev. Dr. Wil- liamson &nd wife, Mr. Huggins, the farmer, and wife, .and Miss Poage, proceeded to Lac qui Parle. After a fatiguing journey of seventeen days, without meeting man or beast, they arrived at the lake on the ninth of July, and were warmly welcomed by the well known trader, Renville, whose name is attached to one of the counties of Minnesota. Lnmediately after their arrival at the stations, the missionaries began to study the language of the Dahko- tahs, and teach the children what they could. In a letter to the Cincinnati Journal, written in November, 1835, Dr. Williamson describes Dahkotah habits as follows : — " Gathering the corn, as well as whatever else pertains to cultivating the earth, is considered to be the business of the women. They gather it in their blankets, and carry it to the scaffold, on which they stand to drive off the birds. Here it is thrown in a heap exposed to the sun, till the husks begin to wilt. These husks are then stripped from the com, but most of them still left 444 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. attached to the cob. The husks of many ears, still fast to the ear, are then platted together into a long string, by which the corn is suspended over a hole to dry. After hanging for several weeks, exposed to the weather till it is entirely freed from moisture, the com is threshed off the cobs, arid put ia bags made of skins of small fibres of lynn bark woven together with the fingers. " The smallest and most ucjripe ears are prepared in a different way. The husks being entirely torn off, they are boiled. Then the corn is shelled, and dried by being strewed thin where it will be exposed to the direct rays of the sun. When thoroughly dried it is put in bags same as the other. When the com is sufficiently dried it is put in sacks containing from one to two bushels- each, and put away in what are called caches- by the traders. These are made by digging a circular hole about eighteen inches in diameter, perpendicularly one or two feet deep, and then enlarging it in the form of an earth oven till of sufficient size to contain what they have to put into it. They are usually five or six feet in diameter at the bottom, and as much in depth. The bottom and sides are lined with dry grass, on which the sacks of corn are placed. Dry grass is also put on top of the com till it is filled, except the perpendiculalr part. This is filled with earth which is stamped down firmly. Corn thus laid away keeps dry and good from September till April under ground. " Flesh of every kind is such a rarity with the Dah- kotahs of these partsj that they eat every kind of quad- rupeds and fowls they can obtain. Not only deer, bear, and squirrels, grouse, ducks, and geese, but muskrats; otters, wolves, foxes and badgers, cranes, hawks, and owls. They eat not only what is properly called the WEEPING AND WAILING AT LAKE HARRIET. 445 flesh of these animals, but every part which can be supposed to contain nutriment, — ^the heads, feet, en- trails, and the skins, if they be not valuable as an article of traffic. After picking the flesh off the larger bones, they break them and boil them to get any little oil they may contain to mix with their corn. Exclusive of their corn, their food consists in winter chiefly of muskrats, badgers, otters, and raccoons ; in the spring, of fish, and roots which the earth produces spontaneously, with some ducks ; in the summer, roots, fish, wild pigeons, and cranes; in autumn, wild ducks, geese, and muskrats." As there had never been a chaplain at Fort Snelling, the Rev. J. D. Stevens, the missionary at Lake Harriet, preached on Sundays to the Presbyterian church, re- cently organized. Writing on January twenty-seventh, 1836, he says, in relation to his field of labour : — '' Yesterday a portion of this band of Indians, who had been some time absent from this village, returned. One of the number (a woman) was informed that a brother of hers had died during her absence. He was not at this village, but with another band, and the in- formation had just reached here. In the' evening they set up a most piteous crying, or rather wailing, which continued, with some little cessations, during the night- The sister of the deceased brother would repeat, times without number, words which may be thus translated into English : ' Come, my brother, I shall see you no more for ever.' The night was extremely cold — the thermometer standing from ten to twenty below zero. About sunrise, next morning, preparation was made for performing thd ceremony of cutting their flesh, in order to give relief to their grief of mind. The snow was removed from the frozen ground over about as large a 446 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. space as would be required to place a small Indian lodge or wigwam. In the centre a very small fire was kindled up; not to give warmth apparently, but to cause a smoke. The sister of the deceased, who was the chief mourner, came out of her lodge followed by three other women, who repaired to the place prepared. They were all barefooted, and nearly naked. Here they set up a most bitter lamentation and crying, ming- ling their wailings with the words before mentioned. The principal mourner commenced gashing or cutting, her ankles and legs up to the knees ■p^ith a sharp stone, until her legs were covfered with gore and flowing blood ; then in like manner her arms, shoulders, and breast. The others cut themselves in the same way, but not so severely. On this poor infatuated woman I presume there were more than a hundred long deep gashes in the flesh. I saw the operation, and the blood instantly fol- lowed the instrument, and flowed down upon the flesh. She appeared frantic with grief. Through the pain of her wounds, the loss of blood, exhaustion of strength by fasting, loud and long-continued and bitter groans, or the extreme cold upon her almost naked and lacerated body, she soon sunk upon the frozen ground, shaking as with a violent fit of the ague, and writhing in apparent agony. 'Surely,' I exclaimed, as I beheld the bloody scene, 'the tender mercies of the heathen are cruelty!' " The little church at the fort begins to manifest something of a missionary spirit. Their contributions are considerable for so small a number. I hope they will not only be willing to contribute liberally of their substance, but will give themselves, at least some of them, to the missionary work. " The surgeon of the military post. Dr. Jarvis, has G. H. POND.— S. W. POND.— S. R. RIGGS. 4 If been very assiduous in his attentions to us in our sick- ness, and has very generously made a donation to our hoard of twenty-five dollars, being the amount of his medical services in our family. " On the nineteenth instant we commenced a school with six full Indian children, at least so in all their habits, dress, etc. ; not one could speak a word of any language but Sioux. The school has since increased to the number of twenty-five. I am now collecting and arranging words for a dictionary. Mr. Pond is assidu- ously employed in preparing a small spelling-book, which Ve may forward next mail for printing. " Since the Indians have returned to their village, I have felt it important to spend the Sabbath at the sta- tion generally. I have determined on going to the fort .only on one Sabbath in each month. "We have not yet ibeen able to collect the Indians together, to give them religious instructions on the Sabbath, for want of an interpreter." During the year 1836 a Presbyterian church was organized at Lac qui Parle, and the bois brul4 trader, Renville, became a member, and subsequently his wife, the first pure Dahkotah that ever professed, and the first that ever died in the Christian faith. During the year 1837 Mr. G. H. Pond ofiered his ser- vices as farmer and teacher at Lac qui Parle, and Mr. S. W. Pond became a teacher in the mission at Lake Harriet. The mission was also strengthened by the arrival of Kev. Stephen R. Riggs, a graduate of Jeffer- son College, Pennsylvania, and his wife. After remain- ing some time at Lake Harriet, Mr. and Mrs. Riggs went to Lac qiii Parle. ing of the flag in the morning all hands are " up and doing," and at the lowering of the flag all halt for the night and pitch their tents. The flag, to these modern sons of Ishmael, is what the pillar of cloud was to the camp of the children of Israel. On the fourth of July, 1840, there was a grand buffalo chase near the Cheyenne river in Minnesota. An eye- witness ^ describes the scene : — "At eight o'clock, the whole cavalcade made for the buffalo ; first at a slow trot, then at a gallop, and lastly at full speed. Their advance was on a dead level; the ' In 1840, the following were some these laws, the offender to have his of the rules of the camp, as deter- saddle and bridle cut up. mined at Pembina :— 6. For the second offence, the coat 1. No buffalo to be run on the to be taken off the offender's back. Sabbath day. and cut up. 2. No party to fork off, lag be- 7. For the third offence, offendei hind, or go before, without permis- to be flogged. «'0°- 8. Any person convicted of theft, 3. No person to run buffalo before even to the value of a sinew to be the general order. brought to the middle of the'camp, 4. Every captain with his men, in and the crier to. call out his or her turn to patrol the camp and keep name three times, adding the word guard. « Thief," at each time. 5. For the first trespass against ' Alexander Ross. BUFFALO HUNT IN 1840. 451 plain having no hollow or shelter of any kind to con- ceal their approach. When -within fouiror five hundred yards, the bulls began to curve their tails and paw the ground, and in a moment more the herd take flight, ^nd the hunters burst in among them and fire. Those who have seen a squadron of horse dash into battle may imagine the scene. The earth seemed to tremble when the horses started ; but when the animals fled, it was like the shock of an earthquake. The air was •darkened, and rapid firing at last became more faint, as the hunters became more distant." During the day, at least two thousand bufialoes must have been killed, for there were brought in to the camp that evening 1375 tongues. The hunters are exceed- ingly expert ; with theit mouth full of balls, they load .and fire on the gallop. The carts follow out after the hunters and bring in the carcasses, and for several days there is a busy scene in camp. Much of the meat is useless in consequence of the heat of the season; but the skins are dressed, the tongues cured, and pemmican prepared.* The last bufialo seen below St. Paul east of the Mis- sissippi, was in 1832, in the neighbourhood of Trempe k I'Eau. The history of Minnesota is now beginning to be identified with those who are its citizens, and still in the vigour of life. The duty of the historian is simply to narrate facts; ' Pemmican is a staple to the Sacks of raw hide are then made, hunter and voyageur. It is made by into which the preparation is poured ■coiling the tallow of the buffalo, and in a fluid state, uiixing with it shreds of meat. 452 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. and his views concerning living men, and their public act^, are not to be expected. During the year 1836, a Mr. Dickson, styling himself General of the Indian Liberating Army, with several others, appeared in the Ked Eiver settlement, and endeavoured to enlist the settlers in a project to unite all the Indian nations under a common government, of which he was to he the head, with the title of Monte- zuma the Second. His officers were dressed in showy uniforms and gUttering epaulettes.' Before they arrived at Red river, the cold weather came, and the leader had his toes frozen off, which crippled him as well as the whole enterprise. The latter part of the following winter, one of the ^ expedition, Martin McLeod, who has since become one of our most active citizens, and whose name is attached to a county, left Eed river for the United States, on snow shoes. His two companions, a Polander and an Irishman, both perished in a snow storm near Cheyenne river. He and his guide, Pierre Bottineau,^ were twenty- six days without seeing a living soul ; and after being; five days without food, ate one of their dogs, and at last reached the trading-post of the Hon. Joseph E. Brown, at Lake Traverse. In the month of February, 1837, missionaries sent out by the Evangelical Society at Lausanne, Switzer- land, arrived and located at Eed Wing and Wapashaw villages ; but after a few years of toil, they abandoned the attempt to ameliorate the condition of the Dahko- tah. About the same time a Methodist mission was ' Martin's Hudson's Bay, London. IMPORTANT TREATIES IN 1837. 453 commenced at Kappsia, afterwards moved to Red Rock, after a large expenditure, was finally abandoned. The year 1837, forms an era in the history of Min- nesota, as the first steps were then taken for the intro- duction of the woodman's axe, and the splash of the mill-wheel. Governor Dodge, of Wisconsin Territory, convened the Ojibways at Fort Snelling, and made a treaty by which the pine forests of the valley of the St. Croix and its tributaries were ceded to the United States. A deputation of Dahkotahs the same year proceeded to Washington, and in the month of September, con- cluded a treaty by which they ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi, including all of Washington and Ramsey counties, to the United States. J. B. Faribault and Pelagie, his wife, presented a claim to the United States government for the island in front of Fort Snelling, which Pike had purchased. The claim was based upon a grant made by the Dahkotahs in 1820.' After the treaties -with the Indians were concluded, Messrs. Baker, Taylor, and Franklin Steele made a claim, and commenced the improvement of the valuable water-power at the Falls of St. Croix. Among visiters of note this year was the distinguished novelist, Maryatt. Like all mere tourists, he has been ' Extract from papers presented to bault, and to her heirs for ever, the the secretary of war by Alexis Bailly, island at the mouth of the river St. and S. C. Stambaugh, prosecutors Pierre, being the large island, con- of the claim. Grant confirmed by taining by estimation, three hundred Indians August ninth, 1820: — and twenty acres. ****** ■' Also we do hereby reserve, give, The said Pelagi Farribault beug the grant and convey, to Pelagi Farri- daughter of Franqois Kinic Dy a tiault, wife of John Baptist Farri- woman of our nation." 454 HISTORY Ot MINNESOTA. betrayed into inaccuracies; and yet it is interesting ta note the impression produced by an intelligent mind at that period — when the country was still in possession of savages. The winter of 1837-38 was one of suffering among the Dahkotahs of the Upper Minnesota. Famine, and the loathsome disease small-pox, made its appearance at Lake Traverse, and produced wailing, weeping, and gnashing of teeth. The disease was communicated by some who had been on a steamboat on the Missouri, and they were swept off by scores. In addition to famine and pestUence, the war whoop was again raised. On the first of April, 1838, a small hunting party left Lac qui Parle, accompanied by Mr. Gideon H. Pond,, who was desirous of becoming more thoroughly ac- quainted with Dahkotah modes of life. In the fall of 1837, Hole-in-the-day, a distinguished Ojibway chief,. father of the young man who now bears that name, had smoked the calumet with the Dahkotahs, and promised to meet them the next spring, and make them presents for the privilege of hunting on their lands. After travelling for a few days, the huijting party separated, and a portion proceeded in advance. Three lodges of men, women, and children remained. The afternoon of the day of the division of the party, eleven Ojibways came to the advance lodges. They were re- ceived as friends : two dogs were killed, and they feasted. Hilarity ended, the Dahkotahs lay down to sleep. When all was silent, the guests arose and scalped men, women^ children, and infants, nearly the whole catdp. Among' those who escaped, was a mother. While fleeing, her babe was shot in her arms, and she was wounded. G. H. POND BURIES SLAUGHTERED INDIANS. 455 Hastening behind a tree, she eluded the enemy, and watched them in their fiendish work. , After they left the scene, she returned to the lodges, and remained till the dawn of day. Fastening two poles, after the manner of Indians, to a horse, she placed on them a wounded boy, and her scalped little ones, and proceeded in search of the party that had gone ahead. At length finding them, she told her tale of woe. Mr. Pond, in company with an Indian, imme- diately repaired to the scene of carnage, and found several bodies who had passed from the sleep of life to the sleep of death, without opening their eyelids. Hastily digging a grave, the severed limbs, heads, and' mangled bodies of eleven Dahkotahs were interred, and covered with a buflFalo skin teepee. On the fourteenth of April the survivors returned to Lac qui Parle, and the intelligence caused " wailing and weeping." In the month of August, a war party left Lac qui Parle to retaliate for the April slaughter. Discovering five or six Ojibways, they attempted to scalp them, but all escaped their hands but a woman. About to beconie a mother, she swam a stream with difiiculty, and sank down on the opposite bank exhausted. Her pursuers soon tore her scalp from her head, and then, ripping open her body, dashed the unborn babe to pieces. The Ojibways, at Ppkeguma, became very much afraid that the Dahkotahs of the Mississippi would now attack -them. Dancing the war dance, they were unfriendly to the mission at their lake ; shooting cattle, and dashing a canoe to pieces. They also threatened to drive the missionaries and all others from the country. Finding some lumbermen, in anticipation of the rati- fication of the treaty of 1837, cutting trees at the mouth 456 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. of Snake river, they pursued them. The men fled down the St. Croix in their canoes, and, at the imminent risk of their lives, floated over the falls, where their canoe sunk, but they were unhurt. A few miles below the falls they were met by the first steamboat that had ever ascended the St. Croix, bring- ing the welcome news of the ratification of the treaty, which had been made at Fort Snelling the year before, and ratified by the Senate on the fifteenth of June, 1838. The Palmyra, Capt. Holland, arrived at Fort Snelling on the 15th, but did not reach Fall of St. Croix until the 17th of July. She brought men and machinery for the projected mills. After the unprovoked attack of Hole-in-the-Day, be- yond Lac qui Parle, some Dahkotahs met an Ojibway, near the grave-yard, at Fort Snelling, and killed him. The murderers were for a time confined in the guard- house of the fort, but at last set at liberty. During the month of June, 1839, hundreds of Ojibway s arrived at Fort Snelling, under the erroneous impression that they were to receive their annuities there. While there, the neighbouring Dahkotahs visited them. They drank, they feasted, they danced together. Two sons of the Ojibway, murdered near the grave-yard the year before, took the occasion to go and weep over the burial-place of their father. The thought of their murdered parent excited a desire for revenge ; and, that night secreting themselves near a frequented trail at Lake Harriet, at the next day's dawn they shot and scalped one of that band named " Badger," who was starting to hunt. The friends of the murdered one soon brought him home, wrapped in his blanket. Yeetkadootah, or Red Bird, a near relative, approach- BATTLES OF STILLWATER AND RUM RIVER. 457 ing, removing the ornaments from the corpse, kissed it, and said he would die for it. His voice was now lifted up for war. Raising a party, he crossed the Mississippi at Fort Snelling, in pursuit of the Ojibways, who had departed for their country the day before. ' While assembled on the east bank of thfe Mississippi they bound themselves to kUl all. The Ojibways had gone partly by the St. Croix, and partly by the Mississippi, to their villages. Eed Bird deter- mined to follow the party that had ascended the Mis- sissippi. The same day warriors from Kaposia, and the other villages in the vicinity of the fort, followed the trail leading through St. Paul, in search of the Ojibways that had gone in that direction. Travelling until night, they found the Ojibways sleeping in the ravine near the penitentiary at Stillwater. Perceiving that there was a white man, an old trader (Mr. Aitkin), in the enemy's camp, they postponed their attack until dawn of the next day, as they did not wish to injure him. At daybreak, the first intelligence of the presence of the Dahkotahs was a volley of musket balls poured from the bluffs into the midst of the Ojibway camp. The Ojibways, fighting bravely, retreated to the shore of the lake, and endeavoured to escape in their canoes ; but, before the conflict was over, forty or fifty of their number were slain. Ten or fifteen Dahkotahs were killed and wounded.' About the time that the battle of Stillwater ended, Yeetkadootah's party came up to the women and child- ' The one-legged Indian, known to lost his leg by a wound in this bat- 4b6 citizens of St. Paul as Lame Jim, tie. 458 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. ren of the Ojibways, who were making a portage on Rum river, while the men were absent hunting deer. With lance, scalping knife, and tomahawk, in a brief period they made bloody work. In their haste to take scalps, it is said they scalped one of their own number. Yeetkadootah, on horseback, approaching a wounded Ojibway, who still held his gun in his hand, was shot through the neck, just as he was alightiag to scalp him. It is said that while the Ojibways were at Fort Snel- ling, a young Dahkotah brave had wooed an Ojibway maiden, and was loved in return. In the heat of the battle he found his tomahawk raised to strike a woman, and behold, it proved to be her whom he had loved. She begged to be his captive, but it had been agreed that there should be no quarter. As he could not save her he passed' on, and in an instant, one in the rear cleft her skull with the sharp tomahawk. From these two engagements the Dahkotahs brought back ninety- one scalps, and were frantic with glory. In 1836, before the Indian title was extinguished, settlers located on the tract of land on the east side of the Mississippi, between St. Paul and Fort Snelling. By the treaty of September, 1837, made by the Dah- kotahs with the United States, which was ratified by the Senate on the fifteenth of June, 1888, the Indian title to the tract in question ceased. In March, 1838, the commander at Fort Snelling selected this land as a part of a military reservation. Consequently, it was withheld from sale. Those who had made claims upon it, were much dissatisfied, and evinced a disposition to resist. Orders were issued fi:om the war department, to the United States Marshal of REMOVAL OF SQUATTERS. 459" Wisconsin, to remove the intruders/ The greater poi'- tion of the settlers were Swiss, and after all of their migrations from Switzerland, via Hudson Bay Com- pany's possessions, to the present desirable location, they were loath to depart. The troops were sum- marily called out from the fort on the sixth of May, 1840, and the settlers with undue haste removed, and on the next day the troops destroyed their cabins, to- prevent re-occupation. , ' ' Order for removal of squatters on Military Reserve, Fort Snelling: — " War Department, Oct. 21, 1839. " Sir — The interests of the service, and the proper and effective main- tenance of the military post at Fort Snelling, requiring that the intruders on the land recently reserved for military purposes, opposite to that post east of the Mississippi river be removed therefrom, the President of the United States directs that when required by the commanding officer of the post you proceed there, and remove them under the provi- sions of the act of March third, 1807, entitled ' An act to prevent settlements being made on lands ceded to the United States, until authorized by law.' " You will satisfy yourself of the shortest period within which the intruders can make . their arrange- ments for removal, and depart from the reservation without serious loss or sacrifice of the property which they may have tp take with them, and you will pr9mptly make known to them that it is exfjeCted they will not delay beyond that period; as- should they do so, it will become your duty to remove them by military force. It is hoped, however, that a resort to such force for this purpose which by the Act above-mentioned the Presi- dent is authorized to employ, will not be necessary ; but that they wift promptly depart, on being informed, of the determination of the execu- tive, not to permit them to remain.. Should you however be unfortunate- ly obliged to use force in order to acr complish the object, you are author- ized to call for such as you may deem necessary on the commanding officer at Fort Snelling. In this event you will act with as much, forbearance, consideration, and deli- cacy as may be consistent with the prompt and faithful performance of the duties hereby assigned to you, first fully and mildly explaining the folly of resistance on thejr part, and your own want of discretion in the matter.. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. R. Poinsett. Edward James, Esq., United States Marshal for the- Territory of Wiskonsan, Peru." 460 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. During the summer of 1840, a tragic and melancholy occurrence took place on the plains of Minnesota. On the sixth of June, Thomas Simpson, the youthful, educated, and adventurous explorer, who had disco- vered and named Victoria Land, in the Arctic Regions, left Fort Garry, in the Red River settlement, to visit England, by way of the traders' route through Minne- sota. He left the settlement with quite a number, but anxious to behold Great Britain, from which he had been absent for years, they travelled too slow, and he moved on in advance with a Canadian, two half-breeds, and a lad, the son of one, of the latter. His movements were those of one whose mind was excited, and in two days he had advanced one hundred miles. He then complained of sickness, and said he , would never recover ; and when told that there was a physician at the mission-house of Lac qui Parle, he replied " that he did not wish a doctor." At his urgent solicitation, his guides turned back on the fourteenth of June, and an hour and a half after the setting of the sun, they encamped near Turtle river. While two of the men and the lad were busy in raising the tent, one of them, named Bird, was shot, and instantly died, and on turning around, the others saw Simpson fire at a half- breed, named Legros, father of the boy, and in a few minutes he expired. The boy and surviving guide ran off, when Simpson called out that their lives were safe, and that he had shot the others because they intended to murder him on that night, and take the papers on his recent Arctic explorations. Before Legros died, he called his son and kissed him. Bruce, the remaining guide, and lad, that night mounted their horses, and proceeded toward the main camp that INSANITY AND SUICIDE OF THOMAS SIMPSON. 461 they had left a few days before. Relating their strange story, five accompanied them to the scene of the disaster. As they approached the cart the next day, on their re- turn, a shot was fired, as they at first supposed at their party. Drawing nigh with great caution, crawling through the grass on their stomachs, they discovered Mr. Simpson stretched out, with one leg across the other, the butt end of his gun between his legs, the right hand with the glove off directed to the trigger, all the head above the nose blown off, and his night- cap some yards distant with a bullet hole in it, arfd some of his hair attached. Since Bruce and the son of Legros left the night before, the body of one of the guides had been covered with the tent, and the poles laid on the top, and "the body of the other had been covered with a blanket, and a pillow placed beneath the head. From the beaten path it was supposed that he had passed ,the whole night in walking between these two dead bodies. It was a tragic scene. The moon that night shone brightly. The faithful dog of one of the party remained watching, and Simpson, with his over-tasked mind, gibbered over the corpses, and wrapped them up, filled with some strange fancy. On the fifteenth of June, Simpsonj only thirty-two years of age, and his two guides, were wrapped up in the same winding-sheet, the cover of the tent, and de- posited in the same grave. The news of this tragedy did not reach Red river until the party returned from Fort Snelling, in the month of October. A medical gentleman with some men then proceeded to the grave, and disinterring the bodies, made a post mortem exami- nation, which corresponded with the deposition of 462 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Bruce, as given before Mr. Sibley at Mendota in July. His body was conveyed to Red river, and there re-in- terred.^ The Dahkotahs in the neighbourhood of Lakes Harriet and Calhoun, through fear of their enemies, after the troubles of 1839, began . to reside on the banks of the Minnesota, near Oak Grove. On the seventeenth of June, 1840, four Ojibways who had secreted themselves about two miles below Mendota, •on the Mississippi, killed and scalped a Dahkotah man and woman. Joseph R. Brown, who since 1838 had lived at Chan Wakan, on the west side of Grey Cloud Island, this year made a claim near the upper end of the city of Stillwater, which he called Dahkotah, and was the first to raft lumber down the St. .Croix, as well as the first to represent the citizens of the valley in the legislature ■of Wisconsin. On the second of September, of this year, the Rev. Mr. Riggs, of the Lac qui Parle mission, accompanied by the mission farmer, Mr. Huggins, made a tour to the Missouri, in company with a party of Indians on a buflalo hunt.^ Until the year 1841, the jurisdiction of Crawford county, Wisconsin, extended over the delta of country between the St. Croix and Mississippi. Joseph R. Brown, having been elected as representative of the '■ Alexander Simpson, in " Life who was a justice of the peace, and ■and Travels of T.' Simpson," ^entley,' examined the eye-witnesses, thinks London, 1845, conveys the irapres- he became deranged, and shot his sion that he was murdered by the guides and himself, half-breeds. Ballantyne, in " Sud- ^ An interesting account of this son's Bay," has the same opinion, but journey is published in the Missioiir Ross, in " Red River Settlement," ary Herald, Boston, 1841. DESCRIPTION OF LAKE POKEGUMA. 46a county, in the territorial legislature of Wisconsin, suc- ceeded in obtaining the passage of an act on November twentieth, 1841, organizing the county of St. Croix, with DahkotaK designated as the county seat. At the time prescribed for holding a court in the new county, it is said that the judge of the district arrived, and to his surprise, found a claim cabin occupied by a Frenchman. Speedily retreating, he never came again, and judicial proceedings for St. Croix county ended for several years. After the Ojibway slaughter of 1839, the missionaries removed from Lake Harriet to the stone building above Fort Snelling, now known as the St. Ldiiis House. Early in the spring of 1841, in a thicket in the vicinity, three Ojibway warriors lay watching for scalps. At length Kaibokah, a Dahkotah chief, with his son, and another man, passed. The chief and his son were both shot, and their foe escaped in a canoe to the east bank of the Mississippi. For this act retaliation soon took place. Pokeguma is one of the " Mille Lacs," or thousand beautiful lakes for which Minnesota is remarkable. It is about four or five miles in extent, and a mile or more in width. Its shores are strewn with boulders that in a past geologic age hiave been brought by some mighty impetus from the icy north. Down to the water's edge grow the tall pines, through which, for many years, the deer have botmded, and the winds sighed mournfully, as they wafted away to distant lands the shriek of many Dahkotah or Ojibway mothers, caused by the slaughter of their children. This lake is situated on Snake river, about twenty miles above the junction of that stream with the St. Groix. Though as late as the year 1700, the Dahko- 464 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. tabs resided in this vicinity, for a long period it has been the abode of their enemies, the Ojibways. In the year 1836, missionaries of the American Board of Foreign Missions connected with the Congre- gational and Presbyterian denominations, came to re- side among the Ojibways of Pokeguma, to promote their temporal and spiritual welfare. Their mission-house was built on the east side of the lake; but the Indian village was on an island not far from the shore. In a few years, several Indian families, among others that of the chief, were induced to build log houses around the mission. The missionaries felt, to use the language of one of them, that " the motives of the gospel had no more influence over the Indian, in themselves consid- ered, than over the deer that he follows in the chase." They therefore first encouraged the Indian to work, and always purchased of him his spare provisions. ' By aiding them in this way, many had become quite industrious. In a letter written in 1837, we find the following : " The young women and girls now make, mend, wash, and iron after our manner. The men have learned to build log houses, drive team, plough, hoe, and handle an American axe with some skill in cutting large trees, the size of which, two years ago, would have afibrded them a sufficient reason why they should not meddle with them." On May fifteenth, 1841, two young men had gone, by order of Mr^ Russell, now of Sauk Rapids, then In- dian farmer at Pokeguma,' to the Falls of St. Croix, after a load of provisions. On the next day, which *was Sunday, the news arrived there, that a Dahkotah war party, headed by Little Crow, of the Kaposia band, whose face is so familiar to the older citizens of St. BATTLE OF LAKE POKEGUMA. 465 Paul, was on the way to their village. Immediately they started back on foot to give the alarm to their relatives and friends. They had hardly left the Falls, on their return, be- fore they saw a party of Dahkotahs^ stripped and be- daubed with Vermillion, and preparing themselves for war. The sentinel of the fenemy had not noticed the approach of the young men. A few yards in front of the Ojibway youth sat two of the sons of Little Crow, behind a log, exulting, no doubt, in anticipation of the scalps in reserve for them at the lake. In the twink- ling of an eye, these two young Ojibways raised their guns, fired, and killed both of the chief's sons. The sentinel, who had by his carelessness allowed them to pass, was a third son. The discharge of the guns re- vealed to him that an enemy was near, and as the Ojib-; ways were retreating, he fired, an4 mortally wounded one of the two. Fiendish was the rage of the Dahkotahs at this disastrous surprise. According to custom, the corpses of the chief's sons were dressed, and then set up with their faces towards the country of their ancient enemies: The wounded Ojibway was horribly mangled by the infuriated party, and his limbs strewn about in every direction. His scalped head was placed in a kettle, and suspended in front of the two Dahkotah corpses, in the belief that it would be gratifjdng to the spirits of the ;deceased, to see before them the bloody and scalpless tiead of one of their enemies. Little Crow, disheartened by the loss of his two boys, returned with his party to Kaposia. But other parties were in the field. The Dahkotahs had divided themselves into three bands; and it was the understand- so 466 - HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, mg that one party was first to attack Pokeguma, and then retire. After the, Qjibways supposed that the attack was over, the second party was to commence their fire, and after they had ceased to fight, the third party was to begin to slaughter. The second party proceeded as far as the mouth of Snake river, but, supposing that the Ojibways had dis- covered them, they turned, back,- and upon their arrival at the Falls of St. Croix, they were still more chagrined, by hearing of the death of ' the sons of the Kaposia chief It was not till Fridayj the twenty-first of May, that the death of one of the young Ojibways sent by Mr. Russell, to the Falls of St. Croix, was known at Poke- guma. The murdered youth was a son of one of those families who had renounced heathenism, and whose parents lived on the lake shore, in one of the log build- ings, by the mission-house. The intelligence alarmed the Ojibways on the island opposite the mission, and on Monday, the twenty-fourth, three young men left in a canoe to go to the west shore of the lake, and from thence to Mille Lac, to give intelligence to the Ojibways there, of the skirmish that had already occurred. They took with them .two Indian girls, about twelve years of age, who were pupils of the mission school, for the pur- pose of bringing the canoe back to the island. Just as the three were landing, twenty or thirty Dahkotah war- riors, with a war whoop emerged from their conceal- ment behind the trees, and fired into the canoe. The young men instantly sprang into the water, which was shallow, returned the fire, and ran into the woods, esca- oing without material injury. The little girls, in their fright, waded into the lake; BATTLE OF LAKE POKEGUMA. 467 and as in Indian warfare it is as noble to kill an infant as an adult, a delicate woman as a strong man, the Dahkotah braves, with their spears and war clubs, rushed into the water after the children and killed them. Their parents upon the island, heard the death cries of their children ; and for a time the scene was one of the wildest confusion. Some of the Indians around the mission-house jumped into their canoes and gained the island. Others went into some fortified log huts. The attack upon the canoe, it was afterwards learned, was premature. The party upon that side of the lake were ordered not to fire, until the party stationed in the woods near the mission commenced. There were in all one hundred and eleven Dahkotah warriors, and the fight was in the vicinity of the mis- sion-house, and the Ojibways mostly engaged in it were those who had been under religious instruction. The rest were upon the island. During the engagement, an incident occurred, as worthy of note as some of those ' in Grecian history. The fathers of the murdered girls, burning for re- venge, left the island in a canoe, and drawing it up on the shore, hid behind it, and fired upon the Dahkotahs -and killed one. The Dahkotahs advancing upon them, they were obliged to escape. The canoe was now launched. One lay on his back in the bottom; the other plunged into the water, and, holding the canoe with one hand, and swimming with the other, he towed his friend out of danger. The Dahkotahs, infuriated at their escape, fired volley after volley at the swimmer, but he escaped the balls by putting his head under water whenever he saw them take aim, and waiting till 468 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA he heard the discharge, when he would look up and breathe. After a fight of two hours, the Dahkotahs retreated with a loss of two men. At the request of the parents, Mr. E. F. Ely, now of Oneota, from whose notes the writer has obtained these facts, being at that time a teacher at the mission, went across the lake, with two of his friends, to gather the remains of his murdered pupils. He found the corpses on the shore. The heads cut off and scalped, with a tomahawk buried in the brains of each, were set up in the sand near the bodies. The bodies were pierced in the breast, and the right arm of one was taken away. Kemoving the tomahawks, the bodies were brought back to the island, and in the afternoon were buried in accordance with the simple but solemn rites of the Church of Christ, by members of the mission. It is usual for Indians to leave their murdered on or near the battle-field, with their faces looking towards the enemy's country; and on Wednesday the Ojibways started out in search of the Dahkotahs that had been killed. By following the trail, they soon found the two bodies, and scalped them. One of the heads was also cut off, and brought to the island, to adorn the graves of the little girls. To a North-western savage, such a head-stone at a daughter's grave is more gratifying than one of sculptured Italian marble. Strips of flesh were fastened to the trees. A breast was also taken, and cooked and eaten by the braves to express their hatred to the Dahkotahs. The mother and wife of the young man who had been killed by Little Crow's third son, were each pre- sented with a hand. These women had been accustomed ATTACK BELOW ST. PAUL. 469 to attend preaching at the mission-house, and knew the principles of the Prince of Peace. Though they had, in 1839, lost many relatives by an attack from the Dah- kotahs, on Rum river, they engaged in no savage orgies, but, withdrawing to their wigwam, they placed the hands of their foes upon their knees, gazed in silence, then wrapped them in white muslin and interred them. Such is one of the many similar scenes that have occurred in our own territory within ten years. Governor Ram- sey, the president of the Historical Society, in his address of 1851, well remarked that the region between the Falls of St. Croix and Mille Lac, was a "Gol- gotha" — a place of skulls. The sequel to this story is soon told. The Indians of Pokegnma, after the fight, deserted their village, and went to reside with their countrymen near Lake Supe- rior. In July of the following year, 1842, a war party was formed at Fond du Lac, about forty in number, aiid pro- ceeded towards the Dahkotah country. When they reached Kettle river they were joined by the Ojibways of St. Croix and Mille Lac, and thus numbered about one hundred warriors. Sneaking, as none but Indians can, they arrived unnoticed at the Uttle settlement below St. Paul, commonly called " Pig's Eye," which is oppo- site Kaposia, or Little Crow's village. Finding an Indian woman at work in the garden of her husband, a Canadian, by the name of Gamelle, they killed her; also another woman, with her infant, whose head was cut off. The Dahkotahs, on the opposite side, were mostly intoxicated ; and, flying across in their canoes but half prepared, they were worsted in the encounter. They lost thirteen warriors, and one of their number. 470 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA known as the Dancer, the Ojibways are said to have skinned. The year of the Pokeguma battle, Governor Doty visited the Dahkotahs, and negotiated a treaty with the several bands at Wapashaw, Mendota, and Traverse des- Sioux, by which the country west of the Mississippi would have been ceded, but the United States Senate did not ratify it. During the winter of 1842-3, Mr. Ayer visited Eed Lake, whose waters flow into the Red River of the North, with the view of ascertaining the practicability of missionary operations there. The chief received the proposition with favour, and thus addressed his warriors : — " My braves ! I should be ashamed to suffer one who has come so far to visit us to turn back again.* We should not turn him away. We would not treat our trader in this way ; we should run to meet him. My braves ! you have listened to what he said. I behevfe^ what he says. Let us try him four years, and if we do not find him true, then we will send him away." On the 17th of April he made a second visit, accom- panied by Mr. Spencer, and Mr. E. F. Ely. The latter two immediately commenced assisting the Indians in. their ploughing and in preparations for putting in a crop. The months of February and March, 1843, were exceedingly severe, the thermometer ranging lower than ever before recorded. The snow had fallen to such depths that the snow shoe was not very serviceable, and the waters were so troubled by high winds that it wa& diflScult for the Indians to spear the fish through the holes cut in the ice. The Dahkotahs were brought to the verge of starvation, some bands being reduced to SETTLEMENT OF STILLWATER. 471 the necessity of subsisting on a syrup made of hickory chips, or boiled bitter sweet. The United States government, in view of their peculiar necessities, granted them twenty-five hundred dollars worth of pro- visions, powder, and clothing. During the summer the Rev. Mr. Riggs, on his return from a visit to Ohio, commenced a mission station at Traverse des Sioux. His family and the Rev. Mr. Hopkins and wife proceeded to Lac qui Parle. While drawing to the close of their last day's journey, three young Dahkotahs, who had been on a visit to Ohio, hurried on in advance. Shortly two Indian lads said that, while drinking at a little stream, they had heard the report of fire-arms, and had seen Ojibways. The intelligence was confirmed by the return of one of the three who had gone ahead, who said that he had con- versed with the Ojibways, and had been saved by his white man's dress. In a little while the travellers beheld on an eminence fifteen or twenty Ojibway war- riors, who retreated as they approached. Crossing the Maya-wakan, they found the two corpses of the young Dahkotahs. Taking the wagon cover for a winding- sheet, the missionaries wrapped one of the bodies and proceeded toward Lac qui Parle. The Indians there having gained intelligence of the attack, rushed forth to meet them, and were enraged because the whites had not pursued the Ojibways. On the tenth of October, 1843, was commenced a settlement which has become the town of Stillwater. The names of the proprietors were John McKusick from Maine, Calvin Leach from Vermont, Elam Greeley from Maine, and Elias McKean from Pennsylvania. They immediately commenced the erection of a sa\^- 472 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. mill/ and made improvements which fixed the point as the centre of the lumbering interests of the valley of the St. Croix. On the eleventh of August, 1844, Captain Allen, with fifty United States dragoons, left Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and passed through the south-western portion of Minne- sota ; but, the guide having left them soon after they commenced their march, they wandered through the country in great uncertainty. After fioundering through marshes, they came, as they supposed^ to a tributary of the Minnesota ; and, on the tenth of September, about latitude 45°, they found the Big Sioux, and there, for the first time since they started, met a party of Dah- kotahs. B. Gervais, during this year, moved to a point five miles north-east of St. Paul, known as Little Canada, and erected the first mill in Minnesota beyond the mili- tary reservation of Fort Snelling. In the summer of this year, a party of drovers, on their way from the South to Fort Snelling with cattle, lost their way, and were captured and maltreated by the Sissetoan Dahkotahs. As soon as the intelligence reached the fort, troops were despatched in pursuit of the offenders, who were captured, but subsequently escaped. The United States, having learned that the half-breed hunters of Ked River settlement were killing thousands of bufialo annually in Minnesota, sent a miUtary expe- dition to the valley of the Red river, under the charge of Captain Sumner of the dragoons. They left Fort Atkinson, Iowa, on the third of June, 1845, and, march- ing through the interior, reached Traverse des Sioux on the twenty-fifth. Proceeding to Lac qui Parle, a council SUMNER ARRESTS MURDERERS OF A DROVER. 47S was held with the Dahkotahs of that vicinity. Although they had difficulty with the li:alf-breeds of the North, in consequence of hunting buffalo in their country^ they did not wish the United States t6 interfere. On the fifth of July, another council was held at Big Stone Lake, but it was unsatisfactory. The next day they marched northward, and, on the eighth, while Captain Sumner was holding an informal council in the saddle, three of the murderers of the drover (Watson) and party, who had escaped the pre- vious autumn from Colonel Wilson's detachment of the First Infantry, boldly walked into council. Immediately they were recognised and arrested. The excitement for a few moments was intense, but Sumner told them that it was useless to talk at that time, as he would be there again in about a month. The prisoners then accom- panied the troops to Minne Wakan ' Lake, about the 48th degree of latitude, which was reached on the eighteenth. In this vicinity they struck the trail of the hunters, and soon met a deputation of them with an interpreter. The next morning Captain Sumner proceeded to their camp, which was composed of one hundred and eighty men. In his interview with them he found them frank and sensible. They told him that they had been trained to the hunter's life from childhood, and knew no other occupation, and that the buffalo was their only subsist- ence, and they desired to know whether they would be received as citizens, if they moved within the American lines. The officer told them that he was not authorized to express any opinion on such points, but advised them to write a letter to Washington. ' Devil's Lake. 474 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. The expedition returned to Traverse des Sioux on the seventh of August, and was surprisedat seeing two fine horses, that belonged to the oflBcers of Captain Allen's company, and some mules, among the Indians. The thieves were arrested and sent down to Fort Snelling. In the spring of 1845, one of Good Road's band of Dahkotahs was killed by Pillagers at Otter Tail Lake. Not long after, a party of Ojibways came to Fort Snel- ling, and to protect them from the exasperated Dahko- tahs, Captain Backus quartered them within the walls. In the month of March, 1846, Joseph Renville, of Lac qui Parle, whose name one of the counties of the State bears, died. Previous to the ratifi9ation of the treaty of 1837, he was, perhaps, the most prominent citizen in Minnesota.' • Joseph Kenville was of mixed descent, and his history forms a link between the past and the present history of Minnesota. His father was a French trader of much repu- tation. His mother was a Dahkotah, connected with some of the principal men of the Kaposia band. He was born just below the town of St. Paul, about the year 1779, during the war of the American Revolution. At that time, there was probably not a white family residing in the whole of that vast territory that now com- prises Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, excepting offi- cers of the British army. Accustomed to see few European countenances, in sports, habits, and feelings he was a full Dahkotah youth. As often happens, his mo- ther deserted her husband, and went to live with one of her own blood. The father, noticing the activity of his son's mind, took him to CanadiL before he was ten years' of age, and placed him under the tuition of a. priest of Eome. His instructor ap- pears to have been both a kind and good man, and from him he received a slight knowledge of the French, language, and the elements of the Christian religion. Before he at- tained to manhood, he was brought back to the Dahkotah land, and was called to mourn the death of his father. At that time, there was a British^ officer by the name of Dickson, who lived in what is now Minnesota, and the head of an English Fur Com- pany. Knowing that young Ren- ville was energetic, he employed him as a " coureur des bois." While- ONE-EYED CANADIAN, EARLY SETTLER AT ST. PAUL. 475- The year that the Dahkotahs ceded the land east of the Mississippi, a Canadian Frenchman, by the name of Parant, the ideal of an Indian whiskey-seller, erected a mere stripling, he had guided his canoe from the Falls of Pokeguma to the Falls of St. Anthony, aiid fol- lowed the trails from Mendota to the Missouri. He knew by heart the legends of Winona, and Ampato Sa- pawin, and Hogan-wanke-kin. He had distinguished himself as a brave, and also became identified with the Dahkotahs more fully by following in the footsteps of his father and purchasing a wife of that nation. In 1797, he wintered, in company with a Mr. Perlier, near Sauk Ra- pids. The late General Pike was introduced to him at Prairie du Chien, and was conducted by him to the Falls of St. Anthony. This officer was pleased with him, and recommended him for the post of United States Interpreter. In a let- ter to General Wilkinson, written at Mendota, Septeniber ninth, 1805, he says : " I beg leave to recommend for that appointment, a Mr. Joseph Renville, who has served as inter- preter for the Sioux last spring at the Illinois, and who has gratuitous- ly and willingly served as my inter- preter in all my conferences with the Sioux. He is a man respected by the Indians, and I believe an honest one." At the breaking out of the last war with Great Britain, Col. Dickson was employed by that government, to hire the warlike tribes of the Jforth-west to fight against the .United States. Renville received from hiin, the appointment and rank of captain in the British army, and with warriors from the Wapishaw,. Kaposia, and other bands of Dahko- tahs, marched to the American fron- tier. In 1822 he became a member of the Columbia Fur Company. Shortly after, the American Fur Company of New York, of which John Jacoh - Astor was one of the directors, not wishing any rivals in the trade, pur- chased their posts, and good-will, and retained the " coureurs des bois." Under this new arrangement, Renville removed to Lac qui Parle,, and erected a trading-house, and here he resided until the end of his- days. Living as he had done, for more- than a half century among the- Dahkotahs, over whom he exercised the most unbounded control, it is- not surprising that in his advanced age he sometimes exhibited a domi- neering disposition. As long as Min- nesota exists, he should be known as one given to hospitality. He- invariably showed' himself to be a. friend to the Indian, the traveller, and the missionary. Aware of the improvidence of his mother's race, he used his influence towards the raising of grain. He was instru- mental in having the first seed corn planted on the Upper Minnesota. An Indian never left his house hungry, and they delighted to do him honour. He was a friend to the- traveller; His conversation was in- telligent, and he constantly commu- 470 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. a shanty at what is now the principal steamboat land- ing in St. Paul. Ignorant and overbearing, he loved money more than his soul. Destitute of one eye, and nicated facts that were worthy of re- cord. His post obtained a reputation among explorers, and their last day's journey to it was generally a quick march, for they felt sure of a warm welcome. His son was the interpreter of Nicollet, that worthy man of science who explored this country in connection with Fremont. This gentlemen, in his report to Congress, pays the following tribute to the father and son : — " I may stop a while to say, that the residence of the Renville family, for a number of years back, has afforded the only retreat to travellers to be found between St. Peter's and the British posts, a distance of seven hundred miles. The liberal and untiring hospitality dispensed by this respectable family, the great influence exercised by it over the Indians of this country in the main- tenance of peace and the protection of travellers, would demand, besides our gratitude, some especial acknow- ledgment of the United States, and :also from the Hudson's Bay Com- pany." The only traveller that has ever given any testimony opposed to this is Featherstonhaugh, a dyspeptic and growling Englishman, whose book, published in London in 1847, and styled a ' Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor,' betrays a filthy im- agination. He remarks: — > " On reaching the fort, Renville tidvanced and saluted me, but not cordially. He was a dark, Indian- looking person, showing no white blood, short in his stature, with strong features and coarse black hair. ***** I learnt that Renville entertained a company of stout Indians to the number of fifty, in a skin lodge behind his house, of extraordinary dimensions, whom he calls his braves, or soldiers. To these men he confided various trusts, and occasionally sent them to distant points to transact his business. No doubt he was a very istriguing per- son, and uncertain in his attach- ments. Those who knew, him inti- mately, supposed him inclined to the British allegiance although he pro- fesses great attachment to the Amer- ican government, a circumstance, however, which did not prevent him from being under the surveillance of the garrison at Fort Snelling." He was also a friend to the Mis- sionary of the Cross. Until the year 1834, no minister of the church, made arrangements to devote his life to the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Dahkotahs. The Rev. T. S. Williamson, M.D., of the Presbytery of Chilicothe, ar- rived at Fort Snelling in 1834 ; then returned to the East, and in 1835 came back with assistant mission- aries. Renville warmly welcomed him, and rendered him invaluabl,c assistance in the establishment of the missions. Upon the arrival of the missionaries at Lac qui Parle, he provided them with a tempoi-ary home. He acted as- interpreter, ha ORIGIN OF THE TERM "PIG'S EVE." 47V the other resembling that of a pig, he was a good repre- sentative of CaKban. In the year 1842, some one writing a letter in his assisted in translating the Scrip- tures, and removed many of the pre- judices of the Indians against the teachers of the white man's religion. His name appears in connection with several Dahkotab books. Dr. Watts' second Catechism for child- ren, published in Boston, in 1837, by Crocker & Brewster, was partly translated by him. In 1839, a volume of extracts from the Old Testament, and "a volume containing the Gospel of Mark, was published by Kendell & Henry, Cin- cinnati, the translation of which was given orally by Mr. Renville, and penned by Dr, Williamson. CrCicker & Brewster, in 1842, published Dah- kotab Dowanpi Kin, or Dahkotab Hymns, many of which were com- posed by the subject of this sketch. The following tribute to his ability as a translator, appeared in the Mis- sionary Herald of 1846, published at Boston : — " Mr. Renville was a remarkable man, and he was remarkable for the energy with which he pursued such objects as he deemed of primary im- portance. His 'power of observing and remembering facts, and also words expressive of simple ideas, was extraordinary. Though in his latter years he could read a little, yet in translating he seldom took a book in his hand', choosing to depend on hearing rather than sight, &nd I have often had occasion to observe, that after hearing a long and unfa- miliar verse read from the Scrip- tures, he would immediately render it from the French into Dahkotab, two languages ext|remely unlike in their idioms and ideas of the words, and repeat it over two or three words at a time, so as to give full opportu- nity to write it dovvn. He also had a remarkable tact in discovering the aim of a speaker, and conveying the intended' impression, when many of the ideas and words were such as had nothing corresponding to them in the minds and language of the addressed. These qualities fitted him for an interpreter, and it was generally admitted he had no equal." It would be improper to conclude this article without some remarks upon the religious character of Ren^ ville. Years before there was a clergyman in Minnesota, he took his Indian wife to Prairie du Chien, and was married in accordance with Christian rites by a minister of the Roman Church. Before he became acquainted with missionaries, he sent for a large folio Bible in the French language, and requested those connected with him in the fui trade to procure for him a clerk who could read it. This Bible was pro- bably the first Bible in Minnesota, and in itself valuable for its anti quity. It was printed at Geneva, in 1588, and had a Latin preface by John Calvin, the great Reformer. The writer, in 1853, requested Dr. Williamson, of the Dahkotab Mis- sion, to procure this same copy fcir the Historical Society. At hi^ »'li- 478 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. groggery, for the want of a more euphonious name, designated the place as "Pig's Eye," referring to the pecuUar appearance of the whiskey-seller. The reply citation, one of the sons of the late Mr. Renville, brought it to the Mis- sion House at Lao qui Parle, to be ' forwarded to St. Paul. Before an -opportunity occurred, the Mission House, with all of its contents, was consumed by fire. After the commencement of the mission at Lac qui Parle, his wife was the first full Dahkotah that join- ed the Church of Christ, of whom we have any record. She was also the first Dahkotah that died in the Christian faith. Before She had ever seen a teacher of the religion of Christ, through the instruction of her husband she had renounced the gods of the Dahkotahs. The .following is an extract from a trans- lation of Mr. Renville's account of his wife's death: — "Now, to-day, you seem very much exhausted, and ^he said ' yes ; this day, now God invites me. I am remembering Jesus Christ who suffered for me, and depending on him alone. . To- day I shall stand before God, and ■will ask him for mercy for you, and for all my children, and all my kinsfolk." Afterwards, when all her children and relatives sat round her weeping, she said, " it is holy day, sing and pray." From very early in the . morning, she was speaking of God, and telling her husband what to do. Thus she died " when the clock struck two." Like Nicodemus, one of the rulers of Israel, he loved to inquire in relation to spiritual things. Of independent mind, he claimed and exercised the right of private judg- ment in matters of faith. In 1841, he was chosen and or- dained a ruling elder, and from that time, till his death, discharged the duties of" his office in a manner acceptable and profitable both to the native members of the church and the mission. After a sickness of some days, in March, 1846, his strong frame began to give evidence of speedy decay. He was aware he was soon to take " his chamber in the silent halls of death," but he knew " in whom he had believed," and went, "Not like the quarry slave, at night Scourged to his dungeon; hut sustained and soothed. Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch Ahout bim, and lies down to pleasant dreams!" Dr. Williamson thus narrates the death-scene: "The evening before his decease, he asked me what be- came of the soul immediately after death? I reminded him of our Saviour's words to the thief on the cross, and Paul's desire to depart and be with Christ. He said, ' That is sufficient,' and presently added, ' I have great hope I shall be saved through grace.' Next morning ( Sun- day) about eight o'clock, I was called to see him. He was so evidently in the agonies of death, I did not think of attempting to do anything for him. After some time, his breathing be- coming easier, he was asked if he FIRST STORE AT ST. PAUL. 479 to the letter was directed in good faith to " Pig's Eye," and was received in due time. In 1842, the late Henry Jackson, of Mahkahto, settled at the same spot, and erected the first store on the height just above the lower landing ; and shortly wished to hear a hymn. He replied, 'Yes.' After it was sung he said, 'It is very good.' As he reclined on the bed, I saw a sweet serenity settling on his countenance, and I thought that his severest struggle was probably past, and so it proved. JThe clock striking ten, he looked at it and intimated that it was time for us to go to church. As we were about to leave, he extended his withered hand. After we left, he spoke some words of exhortation to his family, then prayed, and before -noon calmly and quietly yielded up his spirit." Sixty-seven years passed by, before he closed his eyes upon the world. "The citizens of Kentucky delight in the memory of Daniel Boone ; let the citizens of Minnesota not forget Joseph Renville, though he was a " bois brul6." His descendants are still living among the Dahkotahs. The son who bore his name, died on February Eighth, 1856, in the neighbourhood of the mission at Payutazee. The Rev. S. R. Riggs, in a communica- tion to the St. Paul Daily Times, remarks : — " The deceased was about forty- seven years of age, a son of Joseph Renville, who died ,at Lao qui Parle some years since, and whose memory is identified with the past history of Minnesota. Inheriting from his father many noble and generous qualities, unfortunately for himself and family, the habits of the Indian trade in which the deceased was educated, were not such as enabled him to gain a comfortable livelihood by labour. After the death of his father, he removed with his family to the Mississippi, and resided for some time at Kaposia, with Little Crow's band, many of whom wore his mother's relatives. Soon after the cession of this Minnesota country to the United States, he with a younger brother, and cousin of the same family name, removed up to the neighbourhood of Fort Ridgley. When they attended the payment at Yellow Medicine, he was already far gone in the disease which has just terminated his earthly career. Here, in the house of a younger brother, and with other relations, he with his family found a temporary home, and a place to die. Through the kindness of friends and neighbours, they have not wanted. It has been pleasant to see that former kind- nesses received from the family when his father was a prince in wealth ^mong them, have not been entirely forgotten by the Dahkotahs, but have been returned now to the son in his sickness." 480 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, after, Roberts and Simpson foUowedj and. opened small Indian trading shops. In the year 1846, the site of St. Paul was chiefly occupied by a few shanties, owned by " certain lewd fellows of the baser sort," who sold rum to the soldier and Indian. It was despised by all decent white men, and known to the Dahkotahs by an expres- sion in their tongue, which means, the place where they sell minne-wakan.' The chief of the Kaposia band in 1846, was shot by his own brother in a drunken revel, but surviving the wound, -and apparently alarmed at the deterioration under the influence of the modem harpies at St. Paul, went to Mr. Bruce, Indian agent, at Fort Snelling, and requested a missionary. The Indian agent in his report to government, says : — " The chief of the Little Crow's band, who reside below this place (Fort Snelling) about nine miles, in the im- mediate neighbourhood of the whiskey dealers, has requested to have a school established at his village. He says they are determined to reform, and for the future, will try to do better. I wrote to Doctor Williamson soon after the request was made, desiring him to take charge of the school. He has had charge of the misr sion school at Lac qui Parle for some years ; is well quaUfied, and is an excellent physician." In November, 1846, Dr. Williamson came from Lac qui Parle as requested, and became a resident of Kar posia. While disapproving of their practices, he felt a kindly interest in the whites of Pig's Eye, which place was now beginning to be cfilled, after a little log chapel , ' Supernatural water. ORIGIN OF THE NAME OP CITY OP ST. PAUL. 481 which had been erected by the voyageurs, St. Paul's.' Though a missionary among the Dahkotahs, he was the first to take steps to promote the education of the whites and half-breeds of Minnesota. In the year 1847, he wrote to Ex-Governor Slade, President of the Na- tional Popular Education Society, in relation to the condition of what has subsequently become the capital of the state.* ' St. Paul was then called St. Paul's, because at that time refer- ence was had to the chapel of St. Paul, the designation of the log church. ' 2 The letter of Dr. Williamson gives, probably, the first description of the hamlet of St. Paul as it was in 1847:— " My present residence is on the utmost verge of civilization, in the north-western part of the United States, within a few miles of the principal village of white men in the territory that we suppose will bear the name of Minnesota, which some would render 'clear water,' though strictly it signifies slightly turbid or whitish water. "Thevillage referred to has grown up within a few years in a romantic situation on a high bluff of the Mis- sissippi, and has been baptized by the Roman Catholics, by the name •>{ St. Paul. They have erected in it a 'small chapel, and constitute much the larger portion of the inha- bitants. The Dahkotahs call it Im- ni-ja-sfca (white rock), from the colour of the sandstone which forms the bluff on which the villagestands. 31 This village has five stores, as they call them, at all of which intoxicat- ing drinks constitute a part, and I suppose the principal part, of what they sell. I would suppose the vil- lage contains a dozen or twenty fa- milies living near enough to send to school. Since I came to this neigh- bourhood I have had frequent occa- sion to visit the village, and have been grieved to see so many children growing up entirely ignorant of God, and unable to read his Word, with no one to teach them. Unless your Society can send them a teacher, there seems to be little prospect of their having one for several years. A few days since, I went to the place for the purpose of making inquiries in reference to the prospect of a sch(X)l. I visited seven families, in which there were twenty-three child- ren of proper age to attend school, and was told of five mor^ in which were thirteen more that it is sup- posed might attend, making thirty- six in twelve families. I suppose more than half of the parents of these children are unable to read them- selves, and care but little about hav- ing their children tiught. Possibly 482 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. In accordance with his request, Miss H. E. Bishop came to his mission-house at Kaposia, and, after a short time, was introduced by him to the citizens of St. Paul. The first school-house in Minnesota besides those con- nected with the Indian missions, stood on the site of the First Presbyterian Church, and is thus described by the teacher: — "The school was commenced in a little log hovel, covered with bark, and chinked with mud, previously used as a blacksmith shop. It was a room about ten by twelve feet. On three sides of the interior of this humble log cabin, pegs were driven into the logs, upon which boards were laid for seats. Another seat was made by placing one end of a plank between the cracks of the logs, and the other upon a chair. This was for the priest might deter some from at- teudiDg, . who might otherwise be able and willing. " I suppose a good female teacher can do more to promote the cause of education and true religion than a man. The natural politeness of the French (who constitute more than half the population) would cause them to be kind and courteous to a female, even though the priest should seek to cause opposition. I suppose she might have twelve or fifteen scholars to begin with, and if she should have a good talent of winning the affections of children (and one who has not should not come), after a few months she would have as many as she could attend to. "One woman told me she had four children she wished to send to school, and that she would give boarding and a room in her house to a good female teacher, for the tuition of her children. " A teacher for this place should love the Saviour, and for his sake should be willing to forego, not only many of the religious privileges and elegances of New England towns, but some of the neatness also. She should be entirely free from preju- dice on account of colour,' for among her scholars she might find not only English, French, and Swiss, but Siouz and Chippewas, with some claiming kindred with ^ the African stock. " A teacher coming should bring books with her sufficient to begin a school, as there is no book istore within three hundred miles." FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE IN WHITE SETTLEMENTS. 483 visiters. A rickety cross-legged table in the centre, and a lien's nest in one corner, completed the furniture."^ St. Croix county, in the year 1847, was detached from Crawford county, Wisconsin, and reorganized for judicial purposes, and Stillwater made the county seat. In the month of June the United States District Court held its session in the store-room of Mr. John McKusick ,; Judge Charles Dunn presiding. A large number of lumbermen had been attracted by the pineries in the upper portion of the valley of St. Croix, and Stillwater Tv^as looked upon as the centre of the lumbering interest. The Rev. Mr. Boutwell, feeling that he could be more useful, left the Ojibways, and took up his residence near •Stillwater, preaching to the lumbermen at^the Falls of St. Croix, Marine Mills, Stillwater, and Cottage Grove. In a letter, speaking of Stillwater, he says, " Here is a little village sprung up like a gourd, but whether it is to perish as soon, God only knows." For a long time it had been thought expedient to change the location of the Winnebago Indians, from the neutral ground of Iowa, to a point more remote from white men. By the terms of a treaty, made at Wash- ington in October, 1846, they agreed to recede from their possessions, in Iowa, in the year 1848. Hon. Henry M. Rice had selected for them a new home, and -with difficulty obtained it from the Ojibways, between the Sauk and Long Prairie, and Crow Wing rivers. In the spring of 1848 their agent, Mr. J. E. Fletcher, discovered that a large portion of the tribe were desirous of emigrating to the Missouri, and grumbled at the pre- parations to remove northward. The treaty granted ' " Floral Sketches," by Miss H. E. Bishop, p. 87. 484 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. twenty thousand dollars to the Indians, to pay the ex- penses of their removal to their new location, to be paid after they arrived there. As no one was willing to trust Indians, for large amounts, Mr. Eice, and a few 'others, were obliged to advance tjae supplies necessary for the support of the tribe. The diflSculty in relation to subsistence being over- come, it was agreed that the tribe should move in two parties, one in canoes and boats up the Mississippi, in charge of Mr. Rice, the other by land, under the direc- tion of Agent Fletcher. When the appointed time came to start, June the sixth, 1848, the Indians dallied, and the agent grew impatient, and, in the hope of hurrying them, had their baggage placed in the wagons, which was as qvuckly thrown out again by the savages. The agent sent for the troops at Fort Atkinson, and the Indians made ready for battle. The troops remained drawn up in hostile array until dark ; the next day an appeal was made to the stomach of the Winnebagoes, always potent : beef was plentifully distributed, and a calm ensued. The land party now agreed to move, provided they could join the river detachment at Wapashaw Prairie. At Wapashaw they arrived without any trouble, and found Mr. Rice, with his division of the tribe, and the company of volunteers that had accompanied him, wait- ing for their appearance. Almost the entire nation, with the exception of Little Hill, instead of encamping on the river bank, near the whites, sought the land beneath the bluffs, thus causing a creek and slough to intervene. Pleased with the appearance of the prairie, where the town of Winona now stands, they purchased it of Wapa- WINNEBAGOES DESIRE TO SETTLE AT WINONA. 485 shaw, the Dahkotah chief, and expressed their deter- mination not to move a step further. Wapashaw and his band uniting with them, thev made war speeches, prepared for battle^ and worked themselves into frenzy Mr. Eice, perceiving that this was a critical juncture, chartered a steamboat . that happened to be there, and it was hurried to Fort Snelling^ By request, Captain S. H. Eastman came down with a company of infantry, and a party of Dahkotah s from the Minnesota river, who came to welcome the Winne- bagoes, and say that they would be pleased to have them, in the place of the Ojibways, for their neighbours on the north. The company of volunteers from Crawford county, the United States dragoons from Fort Atkinson, and the infantry from Fort Snelling, and sixty armed teamsters, were now placed under the command of Eastman. The Indians, arrayed on the other side of the slough, numbered about twelve hundred. The next day was appointed for a council, between the Winnebagoes and the Dahkotahs of the Minnesota river. The day was one of those beautiful days in June which so charm the resident of Minnesota, and the troops were all drawn out ready for service at a mo- ment's warning ; the teamsters, near the wagons, under Mr. Culver, now deceased on the right, the infantry in the centre, with two six-pounders charged Avith grape ; the dragoons on the left. About ten o'clock in the morning, the Indians, chiefly on horseback, painted and decked with all their war ornaments, marched around the head of the slough toward the camp. A mile from the council ground they halted, and sent forward a deputation to ask " Why the array of glitter- 486 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. ing muskets, as they supposed tHey were coining to council, and not to fight ?" Captain Eastman replied, " that he was prepared for either : if they wished to hold a council, they would not be molested." Permis- sion being granted, they rode around the arranged council ground and returned. In a moment the whole cavalcade, twelve abreast, were in motion toward the United States troops ; and as the terrific war whoop was sounded, the Americans began to think that they might feel the scalping knife. "Everything was made ready for the worst : the cannon were loaded, and soldiers stood by with the lighted matches, waiting for the voice of command. While the council was proceeding between the Dah- kotahs and Winnebagoes, an Indian and a soldier met, and were about to fight. Should either party' fire, the slaughter would be instantaneous, as both sides knew ; and the excitement for a moment was intense. By the timely interposition of Mr. Rice and others, the Indian and soldier were led away, and the dangpr passed. During the rest of the day the Indians were in coun- cil, but, sustained by Wapashaw, they still remained firm in their determination not to leave that prairie. Little Hill, and a small band of Winnebagoes, had never sympathized in the revolt ; and at last. Agent Fletcher, taking them on board of a steamboat, carried them up to Fort Snelling, leaving matters at Wapashaw in charge of Mr. Rice. This sudden movement was a great surprise to the disafiected, and by the efforts of Mr. E. A. Hatch, S. B. Lowry, George Culver and others, they began; to waver, and by the time the boat came back seventeen hundred were ready to embark ; the remainder retreat- H. M. RICE ARRESTS WAPASHAW. 487 ing towards the Missouri river or into Wisconsin. Mr. Rice, with a lieutenant and two soldiers, now proceeded to the lodge of Wapashaw, and arresting him, he was sent a prisoner to Fort Snelling. About the first of July, the Winnebagoes began to move again ; but on their route, those who had charge of the Indians were much annoyed by creatures that were destitute of the instincts of manhood, selling liquor to them. As a precaution against further difficulty, orders were given to destroy all the whiskey that was discovered on the hne of march. About the first of August they arrived at Watab in their new country, on the west side of the Mississippi, above St. Cloud.' ^ For the facts concerning the re- George Culver, of St. Paul, and to moval, I am indebted to a manu- conversations with Hon. Henry M script kindly furnished me by Mr. Rice. 488 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XXII. Three years elapsed from the time that the Territory of Minnesota was proposed in Congress to the fimal pas- sage: of the organic act. Qn tjie. sixth of August, 1846, an act was passed. by Congress authorizing the citizens of Wisconsin Territory to frame a constitution, and form a state government; The act fixed the St. Louis river to the rapids, from thence south to the St. Croix, and thence down that river to its junction with the Mississippi, as the western boundary. On the twenty-third of December, 1846, the delegate from Wisconsin, Morgan L. Martin, introduced a bill in Congress for the organization of a territory of Minne- sota. This bill made its western boundary the Sioux and Eed River of the North. On the third of March, 1847, permission was granted to Wisconsin to change her boundary, so that the western limit would proceed due south from the first rapids of the St. Louis river, and fifteen miles east of the most easterly point of Lake St. Croix, thence to the Missis_sippi. A number in the constitutional convention of Wis- consin were anxious that Eum river should be a part of her. western boundary, while citizens of the valley of St. Croix were desirous that the Chippeway river KJIiraKY K]„8DE.[L[SV. GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA 1 Srj6_l KHU REMONSTRANCE AGAINST PROPOSED BOUNDARY. 489 should be the limit of Wisconsin. The citizens of Wis- consin Territory, in the valley of the St. Croix, and about Fort Snelling, wished to be included in the pro- jected new territory, and on the twenty-eighth of March, 1848, a memorial signed by H. H. Sibley, Henry M. Rice, Franklin Steele, William R. Marshall and others, was presented to Congress, remonstrating against the proposition before the convention to make Rum river a portion of the boundary line of the contemplated state of Wisconsin. The petitioners remark : — " Your memorialists conceive it to be the intention of your honourable bodies so to divide the present terri- tory of Wisconsin as to form two states nearly equal in size as well as other respects. A line drawn due south from Shagwamigan Bay, on Lake Superior, to the inter- section of the main Chippeway river, and from thence down the middle of said stream to its debouchure ilito the Mississippi, would seem to your memorialists a very proper and equitable division, which, while it would secure to Wisconsin a portion of the Lake Superior shore, would also afford to Minnesota some countervail- ing advantages. But if the northern line should be changed, «,s suggested by the convention, Minnesota would not have a single point on the Mississippi below the Falls of St. Anthony, which is the limit of steam- boat navigation. This alone, to the apprehension of your memorialists, would be a good and suflBcient reason why the mouth of Rum river should not be the bound- ary, as that stream pours its waters into the Mississippi nearly twenty miles above the Falls. Besides this, the Chippeway and St. Croix valleys are closely connected in geographical position with the Upper Mississippi, while they are widely s^arated from the settled parts 490 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. of Wisconsin, not only by hundreds of miles of mostly waste and barren lands, which must remain uncultivated for ages, but equally so by a diversity of interests and character in the population." On the twenty- ninth of May, 1848, the act to admit Wisconsin changed their boundary line to the present^ and as first defined in the enabling act of 1846. After the bill of Mr. Martin was introduced into the House of Representatives in 1846 it was referred to the Com- mittee on Territories, of which Mr. Douglas was chair- man. On the twentieth of January, 1847, he reported in favour of the proposed territory with the name of Itasca. On the seventeMth of February, before the bill passed the House/ a discussion arose in relation to the proposed; Tiames. ;Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts proposed; Ghippeway as a substitute, alleging that this tribe was the prineipal in the proposed territory, which was not correct. Mr. J. Thomson of Mississippi dis- liked all Indian, names, and hoped that the territory would be called Jackson. Mr. IJouston of Delaware thought that there ought.fe) be one territory named after the " Father of his country," and proposed Washington. AH of the names proposed were rejected, and the name in the original bill inserted. On the last day of the session, March third, the bill ' was called up in the Senate and laid on the table. When Wisconsin became a state the query arose whether the old territorial government did not continue in force west of the St. Croix river. The first meeting on the subject of claiming territorial privileges was held in the building at St. Paul, known as Jackson's store, near the corner of Bench and Jackson streets, on the bluff". This meeting was held in July, and a convention FBiAtlKlDH ST EE 0=11, PUBLIC MEETING AT STILLWATER. 491' was proposed to consider their position. The first pub- lic meeting ' was held at Stillwater on August fourth, and Messrs. Steele and Sibley were the only persons present from the west side of the Mississippi. This meeting- issued a call for a general convention to take steps to secure an early territorial organization, to assemble on the twenty-sixth of the month at the same place Sixty-two delegates answered the call, and to the con- vention a letter^ was presented from Mr. Catlin, who- ' Among those present, were W. D. Phillips, J. W. Bass, A. Larpen- teur, J. McBoal, and others from St. Paul. » "Madison, August 22, 1848. Hon. Wm. Holcombe : " Dear Sir : I take the liberty tu write you briefly for the purpose of ascertaining what the citizens of the present Territory of Wisconsin desire in relation to the organization of a territorial government. Congress adjourned on the fourteenth instant, without taking any steps to organize the Territory of Minnesota, or of amending the act of 1836, organizing Wisconsin, so that the present go- vernment could be successfully con- tinued. " I have given Mr. Bowron, by whom I send this, a copy of Mr. Buchanan's opinion, by which he gives it as his opinion that the laws of Wisconsin are in force in your territory; and if the laws are in force, I think it is equally clear that the officers necessary to carry out those laws are still in office. After the organization of the State of Michigan, but before her admission, Gen. G. W. Jones was elected by the Territory of Michigan (now State of Wisconsin), and was allowed' to take his seat. " It is my opinion that if your peo- ple were to elect a delegate this fall, he would be allowed to take his seat in December, and then a government might be fully organized: and! unless a delegate is elected and sent on, I do not believe a government will be organized for several years.. You are aware of the difficulty which has prevented the organization of Oregon for two years past ; and the same difficulty will prevent thii organization of Minnesota. If Mr Tweedy were to resign, (and he would if requested), I do not see anything to prevent my issuing a proclamation for an election to fill the vacancy, as the acting governor ; but I should not like to do so unlesa^ the people would act under it, and. hold the election. " If a delegate was elected by cO' lour of law. Congress never would in quire into the legality of the, election " It is the opinion of almost all this way that the government of the Territory of Wisconsin still conti- nues, although it is nearly inopera- 492 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. claimed to be acting governor, giving his opinion that the Wisconsin territorial organization was still in force. The meeting also appointed l^Cr. Sibley to visit Wash- ington and represent their views ; but the Hon. John H. Tweedy having resigned his office of delegate to Congress on September eighteenth, 1848, Mr. Catlin, who had made Stillwater a temporary residence, on the ninth of October issued a proclamation ordering a special election at Stillwater on the thirtieth, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation. At this election Henry H. Sibley was elected as delegate of the citizens of the remaining portion of Wisconsin Territory. His credentials were presented to the House of Repre- sentatives, and the coriiiiilttee to whom the matter was referred presented a majority and minority report ; but the resolution, introduced by the majority passed, and Mr. Sibley took his seat as a "delegate from Wisconsin Territory on the fifteenth .of January, 1849. Mr. H. M. Rice, and other gentlemen, visited Wash- ington during the winter, Sand, uniting with Mr. Sibley, used all their energies to obtain the organization of a new territory. On the third of March, 1849, a bill was passed or- ganizing the Territory of Minnesota,^ whose boundary tive, for want of a court and legisla- " I shall be pleased to hear from ture. you at your earliest convenience. " I write in haste, and have not " Yours very respectfully, time to state further the reasons " John Catlin." which lead me to the conclusion that ' Boundaries of the Territory of the territorial government is still Minnesota: — in being ; but you can confer with " Beginning in the Mississippi Mr. Bowron, who, I believe, is in river, at the point where the line of possession of the views and opinions forty-three degrees and thirty mi- HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. and ■»,' ho must always be considered as among the pro- minent early settlers. Alexander Ramsey is still living in Saint Paul and was bom near the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Blessed with worthy and industrious parents, he was not trained to habits of idl.eness. From an early period, he betrayed a fondness for reading, and amid difficulties which would have deterred many, he persevered until he succeeded in entering Lafayette College, at Easton, Pennsylvania. Circumstances were such that he re- mained but a brief period. A correspondent of the Public; Ledger, of Philadelphia, under date of April fourth, 1849, thus. writes: — " By untiring industry :and perseverance, he. struggled through the; study of law, and was admitted to the bar of Danphin county; The first public office ever held by him, was that of Secretary of the Harrison Electoral College of 1840, A month afterward, in January, 1841, he was elected Clerk of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. In 1843, he was nominated by the Whig Conferenise as a candidate for Congress, to repre- sent the district, embracing the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon, and Schuylkill. He was elected by a decisive majority; and in Harrisburg, his place of residence, 'vliich; before had given a Democratic majority, there was a large vote in his favour. His course in Congress was marked rather by a practical business devotion to his duties, than by any effort at oratorical display. He was nominated and re-elected for a second term ; and in 1846, declined in favour of another. He is social and good-humoured, but cool, cautious, shrewd, and perse- vering. He is a man of very large perceptive powers, and of much grasp of intellect ; altogether what might AH K^ E. Wifi^t \K\i ANNA E. RAMSEY, 497 be termed a man of a good deal of force of character. He speaks well, not eloquently; but to the point, quite as fluently in German as in English." No longer " In the land of the Dahkotahs, Lives the arrowmaker's daughter, Minnehaha, Laughing Water, Handsomest of all the women ;" Yet the first governor of the territory appears to have received from some one, as good advice as Old Nokomis gave to Hiawatha: — " Bring not here an idle maiden, Bring not here a useless woman, Hands unskilful, feet unwilling. Bring a wife with nimble fingers. Heart and hand that move together. Feet that run on willing errands." His wife is Anna E., the daughter of Hon. Mr. Jenks^ of Newtown, a former member of Congress from Bucks county, Pennsylvania. At the time of his marriage in 1845, she was eighteen years of age. Accompanying her husband to Minnesota, when it was chiefly occupied by savages, removed from the associations of her child- hood, she with great cheerfulness adapted herself to her new position. Queenly and attractive in appearance, she well fulfilled the duties of a governor's wife. Afia- ble, open-hearted, and well informed, she immediately became a favourite, not only with " those in authority," but also with the plain frontiersman. Domestic in her tastes, she is best appreciated by those who know her most intimately. Henry Hastings Sibley was born in Detroit, in 1812. His father was a native of Massachusetts, and one of 32 498 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the early settlers of MicMgan, having been a member of the first Legislative Assembly of the North-west Ter- ritory, which met at Cincinnati. Subsequently he was delegate to Congress, and Judge of the Supreme Court of Michigan. His mother, was a native of Khode Island, who removed with her parents at an early age to Ohio. Educated at the celebrated Moravian School at Bethle- hem, and in the, .city of Philadelphia, she was refined and accomplished, and trained her children well. When the subject of this sketfch was eighteen years of age, he became/a clerK of Mr. Stewart, a gentleman of probity and intelligence, who had charge of the dep6t of the American Fur Company at Mackinaw. In the year 1834, when but twenty-two years of age, Mr. Sibley commenced his., residence at Mendota, as agent of the American Fur Company's establishment. After this company failed in 1842, the inventory was pur- chased by F. Chouteau, Jr., and Co.^ of St. Louis, and Mr.' Sibley continued the business until he became a delegate to Congress in 1848-49, which post he held for several years,- and faithfully discharged its duties. After a long delay, in 1858 was declared by the board of canvassers the governor of the state. Mr. Sibley's wife was » native of Pennsylvania, and the sister of Mr. Franklin Steele. Married at an early age, she also gracefully accommodated herself to the novelty of frontier life, although, Uving immediately op- posite to Fort Snelling, she found some congenial society among the families of the officers. Sprightly in disposi- tion, and devoted to her children, her venerable mother and her husband her death was a great loss. Henry M. Rice, was the first to represent the state in the Senate of the United States, is a native of ' Died May 21, 1869. 3?? SAOliAKl §0 IB LEV. SKETCH OF HENRY M. RICE. 499 Vermont, although his life, from youth, has been passed in the far West. With much foresight, and quick in execution, he has always been prominent in develop- ing the resources of the state he represents. The fol- lowing sketch, published a few years ago, gives the views -of one of Mr. Rice's friends : — " He settled here when there were no white men in the territory, except Indian traders, missionaries, and soldiers ; and during his long residence, has been noted as the promoter of every enterprise tending to develop the hidden wealth of Minnesota, and attract hither im- migration from other portions of the country. Two years ago, he was elected to Congress by an overwhelm- ing vote ; and then commenced a series of labours on his part which will make him long remembered in the territory as the most efficient of representatives. The pre-emption system he caused to be extended to un sur- veyed lands; the military reserves opened to actual settlers; land offices to be established; post routes opened out and offices established ; millions of acres of lands to be purchased from Indians, and thrown open to settlers ; and thousands of dollars to be appropriated to the construction of government roads. Nor was this all : legislation for the benefit of individuals entitled to it, was secured, and no exertion ever spared, in Congress and out of it, at the executive departments or elsewhere, that would benefit the territory. The heavy immigra- tion of the past two years is as strong proof as could be desired that Minnesota is regarded as the chosen -spot of the West, either for immigrants seeking to estab- lish themselves, or capitalists desiring investments ; and for much of this heavy immigration, we cannot help thinking our territory is indebted to the late delegate; 500 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the beneficial legislation he procured for us, rendered Minnesota indeed a land of promise. " Mr. Kice possesses in a great degree the qualities necessary to make a good delegate. His winning man- ners secure him hosts of friends, and enable him to acquire great influence; his business habits, industry, and perseverance, insure the accomplishment of what- ever he undertakes, while his perfect knowledge of the wants of the territory, prevents his efibrts from being misdirected. His political opinions are those of a Na- tional Democrat — coinciding with those of the president and heads of departments, a majority of the Senate, and a respectable and united minority in the House — which will successfully combat a divided majority." In the year 1849 Mr. Rice was married to Miss Matilda Whitall, whose, family reside in the vicinity of Richmond, Virginia. Youthful, graceful in bearing, and ' with warm impulses, her houses in, Washington and St. Paul have always been an a,greeable resort to. her hus- band's friends. With a disposition to be identified with whatever will promote the interests of her husband, she proves a valuable wife as well as attentive mother. Franklin Steelewasa native of Chester county, Penn- sylvania, and, when a youth, was advised by Andrew Jackson, late President of the United States, to identify himself with the West. John H, Stevens, Esq., of Glencoe, formerly a clerk of Mr. Steele's, in a lecture before Hennepin County Lyceum, says : — " The day he landed at Fort Snelling, the Indians had concluded a treaty with the whites, by which the St. Croix Falls were ceded to the latter. Mr. Steele went over ; liked the place much, made a claim, hired a large crew of men, put Calvin A. Tuttle, Esq., now of St. Anthony, Ca?? taATTOlSA KOfflE. MR. FRANKLIN STEELE AND WIFE. 501 at their head, and commenced in earnest to build mills. Upon being appointed sutler to the army at Fort Snel- ling, he disposed of the St. Croix property, and became interested on the east side of St. Anthony's Falls. He has continued to make this county his home ever since his first arrival in the territory. Mr. Steele has been a good friend to Hennepin, and as most of the citizens came here poor, they never had to ask Mr. Steele a second time for a favour. Fortune has favoured him, and while many a family has reason to be thankful for his generosity and kindness, he has constantly made money.'' On the tenth of September, 1880, he died Mrs. Franklin Steele was born in, Maryland, and was a Miss Barney, a relative of the naval officer whose name is associated with the glory of our marine. Com- manding in person, and well educated, she had been much admired in society. In January, 1881, she died. About the last of May, 1 849, the Dahkotahs of the Ka- posia band, just below St. Paul, performed one of their peculiar ceremonies. A short distance from their lodges they formed an elliptical enclosure with willow bushes stuck in the ground. In the centre was placed a large buffalo fish on some green fern, and a cat-fish on a bunch of dry grass. A small arbour was placed over the fish. At one end of the enclosure was a teepee, in which were men singing Hah-yay, Hah-yay, Hoh, Hoh, Hoh, Hoh-ah. Soon six men and three boys issued with bent bodies and long, dishevelled hair, who moved around the enclosure, keeping their faces as much as possible in the direction of the fishes. Then a tall man, of threescore years, painted entirely black, appeared with a small hoop in each hand, walking " on all fours," and howling like a bear. Entering within the enclosure of 602 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA willow branches, he moved around as if scenting some- thing. While thus occupied, two more made their appearance smeared all over with white clay, one repre- senting a grizzly bear, the other, with a tail suspended from his breech cloth, and body bent, represented a wolf The other Indians danced and sang for two or three hours, while these men as beasts prowled around the fishes, .pawing, snuffing at them, and then retreating. At last one of the bears crept up to one of the fish, and, after much growling^ bit off a piece, and went round the ellipse chewing. The other bear then bit the remaining fish. These signals caused all the dancers to follow, and flesh, fins, bones, and entrails were all devoured without being touched by the hands. The sacred men also prayed to the spirits of the fish, and the object of the feast, was supposed to be, to induce a, change of , weather. On the first of June, Governor Raihseyj by proclama- tion, declared the territory duly organized, with the fol- lowing officers : Alexander Ramsey, of Pennsylvania, Governor ; C. K. Smith, of Ohio, Secretary ; A. Good- rich, of Tennessee, Chief Justice; D. Cooper, of Penn- sylvania, and B. B. Meeker,, of Kentucky,- Associate Judges; Joshua L. Taylor, Marshal; H. L. Moss, At- torney, of the United States.' ^A Proclamation, by Alexander Ram- a government was erected over all sey. Governor of the Territory of the country described in said act to Minnesota. be called " The Territory of Minne- TO ALL WHOM IT MAT CONCERN. sota ;" and whcreas the following Whereas by an act of the Congress named officers have been duly ap- of the United States of America, pointed and commisssioned under entitled " An act to establish the the said act as officers of said govern- Territorial Governmentof Minnesota," ment, viz : approved March third, 1849, a true Alexander Bamsey, Governor of 3opy whereof is hereto annexed,' said Territory, ani Commander-ia 3'?? FlSAtaKlDH STTEELE. JUDGES GOODRICH, MEEKER, AND COOPER. 503 On the eleventh of June, a second proclamation was issued, dividing the territory into three temporary judi- cial districts. The first comprised the county of St. Croix; the county of La Pointe, and the region north and west of the Mississippi, and north of the Minnesota, and of a Hne running due west from the headwaters of the Minnesota to the Missouri river, constituted the second ; and the country west of the Mississippi, and south of the Minnesota, formed the third district. Judge Goodrich was assigiaed to the first, Meeker to the second, and Cooper to the third. A court was ordered to be held at StUlwater on the second Monday, at the Falls of St. Anthony on the third, and at Mendota on the fourth Monday of August. On the sixth of June, Major Wood left Fort Snelling, charged with the duty of making a military examina- tion of the country in the vicinity of Pembina, in view of establishing a military post there. Captain Pope, of the topographical engineers, accompanied the expedi- tion, and his report, published by Congress, is valuable Chief of the Militia thereof, and tively assumed the duties of their Superintendent of Indian affairs said o£5ces according to law, said therein, territorial government is declared Charles K. Smith, Secretary of to be organized and established, and said territory, all persons are enjoined to obey, Aaron Goodrich, Chief Justice, conform to, and respect the laws and David Cooper and Bradley B. thereof accordingly. Meeker, Associate Justices of the Given under my hand, and the Supreme Court of said territory, and r-g™ . , i seal of said Territory, this to act as Judges of the District Court first day of June, a. d. 1849, of said territory, and of the Independence of the ■Joshua L. Taylor, Marshal of the United States of America the seventy- United States for said territory, third. Henry L. Moss, Attorney of the By the Governor, Alex. Ramsey. United States for said territory, Chas. K. Smith, Secretary. And said officers having respeo 504 HISTORY OF MINIjIESOTA. in information, concerning the adaptation of the Eed River valley JFor agricultural purposes. Until the twenty-sixth of June, Governor Ramsey and family had been guests of Hon. H. H. Sibley, at Mendota. On the afternoon of that day they arrived at St. Paul, in a birch-bark canoe, and became perma- nent residents at the capital. The mansion first occu- pied as a gubernatorial mansion, is the small frame building, on Third, between Robert and Jackson streets, subsequently known as the New England House. A few days after, the Hon. H. M. Rice and family moved from Mendota to St. Paul, and occupied the house he had erected on St. Anthony street, near the corner of Market. On the first of July, a land ofiice was established at Stillwater, and A. Van Vorhees, after a few weeks, be- came the register. The anniversary of our National Independence, was celebrated in a becoming manner at the capital. The place selected for the address, was a grove that stood on the sites of the City Hall and the Baldwin School Building. In pursuance of a requirement in the organic act,,the sheriff" of St. Croix was ordered to take a census of all inhabitants.' '■ The result was as follows : — Namea of Places, Males. Females. Total. Stillwater 455 154 609 Lake St. Croix 129 82 211 Marine Mills 142 31 173 St. Paul 540 300 840 Little Canada and St. Anthoiiy, 352 219 571 Crow Wing and Long Prairie, 235 115 350 Osakis Rapids 92 41 133 Falls of St. Croix, 15 1 ig GOVERNOR RAMSEY RECOGNISES A CHIEF. 505 On the seventh of July, a proclamation was issued, dividing the territory into seven council districts, and ordering an election to be held on the first day of August, for one delegate to represent the people in the House of Kepresentatives of the United States, for nine councillors, and eighteen representatives to constitute the Legislative Assembly of Minnesota. Shortly after his arrival. Governor Ramsey recognised a new hereditary chief of the Wahk-pay-koo-tay band of Dahkotahs, named Wa-min-di-yu-ka-pi, by investing him with a sword and a soldier's medal. He was a fine looking youth, and a few weeks after this honour he and seventeen others were slaughtered in broad day- light, by a party of Indians they met near the head- waters of the Des Moines river. The Dahkotahs took four scalps, and the citizens of St. Paul, during the quiet nights of that summer, could hear the noise of the scalp dance at Kaposia. Names of Places, Males. Females. Total. Snake River, 58 24 82 La Pointe County 12 10 22 Crow Wing, 103 71 174 Big Stone Lake and Lao qui Parle, 33 35 68 Little Rock 20 15 35 Prairieville, 9 13 22 Oak Grove, 14 9 28 Black Dog Village, . ' 7 11 18 Crow Wing, east side, 35 35 70 Mendota, 72 50 122 Red Wing Village, 20 13 33 Wabe-shaTv and Root River 78 36 114 FortSnelling, 26 12 x38 Soldiers and women and children in forts, . . 26J 50 317 Pembina, 295 342 637 Missouri River, 49 37 86 3067 1713 4680 506 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. During the latter part of July, a band of Sissetoan Dahkotahs, near Big Stone Lake, proceeded to a bujBala hunt. Unsuccessful, they were obliged to eat their dogs and tipsinna.' One day they were startled by a horse- man galloping across the plain in the direction of their camp. On his approach, they saw he was a Red River half-breed, who had formerly lived in their country. He had come to tell them that the Ojibways were in the neighbourhood, and contemplated an attack. The Dah- kotahs had just hid their women and children in holes, and covered them with brush-wood, when the enemy came in sight. A few of the bravest t)ahkotahs went out to meet the foe, and the fight commenced near a rivulet, in the valley of the Cheyenne. The leader, after fighting bravely, found himself surrounded by the Ojibways, who had concealed themselves in the grass. While in the act of raising his head to draw the stopper from his powder-horn, he was shot through the brain. His little son, not ten years of age, seeing his father fall, rushed to the corpse, and after clasping it, he lay by its side, and fired at the enemy until aid came from ' The Tipsinna, or Dahkotah tur- once on the tipsinna. They eat it nip, grows only in the high and dry both raw and cooked. This root prairie. It seeks the high points has lately acquired a European and gravelly hills, where it continues i-eputation. Mr. Lamare Picot, of to grow in size from year to year, France has, within a few years past, increasing with every summer that introduced it into his native country^ passes over it. The root is roundish and the Savans of Paris, it is said, oroval, and of various sizes, according have given it the name of " Picoti- to its age. It has a thick, hard rind, anna." It has been supposed that which the Dahkotah usually remove this dry prairie root might yet take with their teeth. During the months an important place among thfr of June and July, when the top can vegetables which are cultivated for be easily discovered in the grass, the support of human life ; but this the Indians of the Upper Minnesota expectation will probably end in depend, very much, for their subsist- disappointment. FIRST ELECTION IN MINNESOTA. 507 the Dahkotah camp, and his corpse was cared for by friends. After skirmishing till dusk, the Ojibways re- treated with three killed. The Dahkotahs lost the same number.' - In this month the Hon. H. M. Rice despatched a boat laden with Indian goods from the Falls of St. Anthony to Crow Wing, which was towed by horses after the manner of a canal boat. The election on the first of August, passed off with little excitement, Hon. H. H. Sibley being elected delegate to Congress without opposition.^ David Lam- bert, on what might, perhaps, be termed the old settlers' ticket, was defeated in St. Paul, by James McBoal. The latter, on the night of the election, was honoured with a ride through town on the axle and fore-wheels of an old wagon, which was drawn by his admiring, but somewhat midisciplined friends. J. L. Taylor having declined the office of United States Marshal;^ A. M. Mitchell, of Ohio, a graduate of ' Communication in Minnesota Pioneer, September 19, 1849. ' The vote in St. Paul was : — Delegate to Congress, H. H. Sibley, 188 Councillors W. H. Fotbes, 187 J. McBoal, 98 " X>. Lambert 91 House of Representatives, . . . B. Branson, 168 .... P. K. Johnson 104 . . , . H. Jackson, 165 .... J.J.Dewey 171 . . . . J. R. Brovm, 84 . . . . A.G. Fuller, 24 Unsuccessful in Italia. ' The following exhibits the result under the C9untie8 into which the Df the first census, along with the territory was subsequently divided vote cast for the Delegate to Congress by the first Legislature : — on the first August, 1849, arranged 508 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. West Point, and colonel of a regiment of Ohio volun- teers ia Mexico, was appointed, and arrived at the capi- tal early in August. There were three papers published in the territory- soon after its organization. The first was the Pioneer,' issued on April twenty-eighth, 1849, under most dis- couraging circumstances. It was at first the intention of the witty and talented editor to have called his paper " The Epistle of St. Paul." About the same time there was issued, in Cincinnati, under the auspices of the late Dr. A. Randall, of California, the first number of the Regis- ter. The second number of the paper was printed at St. Paul, in July,' and the office was on St. Anthony, between Washington and Market Streets. About the first of June, James Hughes, now of Hudson, Wisconsin, arrived with a press and materials, and established the Minnesota Chronicle. After an existence of a few weeks these papers were discontinued ; and, in their place, was Co. Seats. Oounties. Males. females. Tote for Del. St. Paul, . Ramsey, 976 564 273 Stillwater, . Washington 821 291 213 Sauk Rapids, Benton 249 108 18 Mendota, . Dahkotah, 301 167 75 Wahnatah 344 182 70 Wabashaw, Wabashaw, 246 84 33 Pembina, . Pembina, 295 342 — Itasca, 21 9 — Mankato, — — — 3253 1687 682 1687 Total population, June 30, 1849, . . . 4940 ^ The press used in printing the purchased in Cincinnati in 1836, " Pioneer" is said to have been the and first used in printing the Du- drst ever used north of Missouri, and buque Visitor, published by John west of the Mississippi. It was King. SESSIONS OF THE FIRST COURTS. 509 issued the "Chronicle and Kegister," edited by Nathaniel •McLean and John P. Owens. The first courts, pursuant to proclamation of the governor, were held in the month of August. At Still- water, the court was organized on the thirteenth of the month. Judge Goodrich presiding, and Judge Cooper, by courtesy, sittiag on the bench. On the twentieth, the second judicial district held a court. The room used was the old government mill at Minneapolis. The presiding judge was B. B. Meeker ; the foreman of the grand jury, Frankhn Steele. On the last Monday of the month, the court for the third judicial district was organized in the large stone warehouse of the fur com- pany at Mendota. The presiding judge was David Cooper. Governor Ramsey sat on the right, and Judge Goodrich on the left. Hon. H. H. Sibley was the foreman of the grand jury. As some of the jurors could not speak the English language, W. H. Forbes acted as interpreter. The charge of Judge Cooper was lucid, scholarly, and dignified. At the request of the grand jury it was afterwards published. R. G. Murphey, the United States' agent for the Dah- kotahs, used commendable diligence during this year in checking the whiskey traffic, and in inducmg the In- dians to renew their temperance pledges. Under the influence of a vile class of whiskey sellers that infested the neighbourhood of what is now the capital of Min- nesota, the Dahkotahs, a few years before this, were a nation of drunkards. Men would travel hundreds of miles to the "place where they sell Minne-wakan," as they designated St. Paul, to traffic for a keg of whiskey. The editor of the Dahkotah Friend says : — " Twelve years ago they bade fair soon to die, all to- &10 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. gether, in one drunken jumble. They must be drunk — the}' could hardly live if they were not drunk. Many of them seemed as uneasy when sober as a fish does when on land. At some of the villages they were drunk months together. There was no end to it. They would have whiskey. They would give guns, blankets, pork, lard, flour, corn, coffee, sugar, horses, furs, traps, any- thing for whiskey. It was made to drink — it was good — it was wakan. They drank it — they bit off" each other's noses — ^broke each other's ribs and heads — they knifed each other. They killed one another with guns, knives, hatchets, clubs, fire-brands — they fell into the fire and water, and were burned to death and drowned — they froze to death, and committed suicide so fre- quently that, for a time, the death of an Indian, in some of the ways mentioned, was but little thought of by themselves or others. Some of the earlier settlers of St. Paul and Pig's Eye remember something about these matters. Their eyes saw sights which are not exhibited now-ardays." The reform was commenced through the influence of the missionai;ies, Mr. Sibley, and Mr. Murphey's prede- cessor. On one occasion Agent Murphey met a Sissetoan Dahkotah, a few miles above Mendota, returning home with a supply of " fire water." A wagon happening to pass at the time, he secured the fellow, and returned with him in the vehicle toward Fort Snelling; but, in passing a wooded ravine, the Indian, a most active and athletic man, succeeded, by a desperate exertion, in leaping from the wagon, and, dashing into the woods, made his escape. During the summer a steamboat landed in the night at Raymneecha (Red Wing), and a MEETING OF FIRST LEGISLATURE. 511 son of one of the chiefs, told his father that the hand were obtaining whiskey at the boat. The chief was in- dignant, and, awaking the Indian farmer, he went to the landing, and told the crew that he would cut the boat loose unless they immediately removed. On Monday, the third of September, the first Legis- lative Assembly convened in the "Central House," a building which answered the double purpose, of capi-tol and hotel. On the first floor of the main building was the secretary's office and Representative chamber, and in the second story was the library and Council chamber. As the flag was run up the stafi" in front of the house, &, number of Indians sat on a rocky blufi" in the vicinity, and gazed at what to them was a novel, and perhaps saddening scene; for if the tide of emigration sweeps in firom the Pacific as it has from the Atlantic coast, they must diminish. The legislature having organized, elected the follow- ing permanent officers : David Olmsted, President of douncil;' Joseph R. Brown, Secretary; H. A. Lambert, Assistant. In the House of Representatives, Joseph W. Furber was elected Speaker; W. D. PhUlips, Clerk; L. B. Wait, Assistant. On Tuesday afternoon, both houses assembled in the 1 Councillors. No. of District. Residence. Age. Place of NitlTlty. James S. Norris, . . 1 . Cottage Grove, . . 38 Maine. Samuel Burkleo, . . 2 . Stillwater 45 Delaware. William H. Forbes, . 3 . St. Paul, .... 38 Montreal, C. James McC. Boal, . 3 . (( 38 Pennsylvania. David B. Loomis, . 4 . Marine Mills, . . 32 Connecticut. John Rollins, . . . 5 . Falls of St. Anthony, 41 Maine. David Olmsted, . . 6 . Long Prairie, . . 27 Vermont.. William Sturgos, . 6 . Elk River 28 Up. Canada. Martin MeLeod, . . 7 . Lao qui Parle; . . 36 Montreal, C 512 HISTORf OF MINNESOTA. dining hall of the hotel, and after prayer was offered by Rev. E. D. Neill, Governor Ramsey delivered his mes- sage. The message was ably written, and its perusal afforded satisfaction at home and abroad. The members of the first legislature were generally acquainted with each other previous to their election, and there was but little formality manifested in their proceedings. A child of one of the members having died, the House of Representatives ' adjourned to attend the little one's funeral.* 1 Repreaentatives. No. of District.- Residence. Age. PJttce of Nativity. Joseph W. Furber, . 1 . Cottage Grove , . . 36 N. H. James Wells 1 . Lake -Pepin, . . 46 N. Jersey. M. S. Wilkinson, . . . 2 Stillwater, . . 30 New York. Sylvanus Trask, . . 2 (( . , — tt Mahlon Black, . . . 2 " . . — Ohio. Benjamin W. Brunson, 3 St. Paul, . . . 25 Michigan. Henry Jackson, . . . 3 " . . 42 Virginia. John 'J. Dewey, . . . 3 tt . . — New York. Parsons K. Johnson, 3 i( . . — Vermont. Henry F. Setzer, . 4 Snake River, . . — Missouri. William R. Marshall, . 5 Falls of St. Ar ithonv, 25 William Dugas, . . . 5 Little Canada, . '. 37 L. Canada. Jeremiah Russell, . . 6 Crow Wing, . , — L. A. Baboook, . . . 6 Sauk Rapids, . . 29 Vermont. Thomas A. Holmes, 6 C( . . 44 Pennsylvania. Allen Morrison, . . . 6 Alexis Bailly, . . . 7 Mendota, . . . . 50 Michigan. Gideon H. Pond, . . . 7 . Oak Groye, . . 39 Connecticut. ^ Extract from the Journal of the House, October fourth, 1849 : — Mr. Wilkinson offered the follow- ing :■— " Whereas, by the sudden and mysterious dispensation of Provi- dence, one of our brother members of this house, has been painfully bereaved by the death of a beloved member of his family, and feeling a deep sympathy for our worthy brother in his bereavment, therefore Resolved, That when this house adjourn, that it adjourn until to- morrow morning at ten o'clock, and that the members be requested by the speaker to attend the funeral of the daughter of the Hon. B. W. Brunson, at one o'clock." FIRST COUNTIES.— RED PIPE STONE. 513 The first session of the legislature adjourned on the first of November. Among other proceedings of in- terest, was the creation of the following counties- Itasca, "Waubashaw, Dahkotah, "Wahnahtah, Mahkahto, Pembina, Washington, Ramsey, and Benton. The three latter counties comprised the country that up to that time had been ceded by the Indians on the east side of the Mississippi. Stillwater was declared the county seat of "Washington ; St. Paul, of Ramsey; "and the seat of justice of the county of Benton, was to be within one-quarter of a mile of a point on the east side of the Mississippi, directly opposite the mouth of Sauk river." The day of elections after the year 1849, was ap- pointed to be on the first of September. A warm interest was manifested in the common school system, and an able report on the subject was made to the Council by the Hon. M. McLeod, chairman of the committee. A joint resolution was passed, ordering a slab of the red pipe stone to be forwarded to the Washington Monument Association.' ' Mr. McLeod submitted the fol- Association, to the effect that a por- lowing communication from the Hon. tion of rock from each state, would Henry H. Sibley, which be received to be used in the con- On motion of Mr. McLeod, was struction of the monument, has ordered to be read and entered on caused to be procured from the the minutes of the council : — quarry, about two hundred miles distant, a specimen of the Bed or Mbndota, Sept. 11, 1849. Pipe stone, which is peculiar to our To the Honourable, the Legislative territory, to be proffered for that Council of Minnesota Territory : purpose. Believing it to be meet The undersigned having seen a and proper that Minnesota should notice in the public journals some not be backward in her contribution time since, signed by the general to a work which is intended to per- agent of the Washington Monument petuate the memory of the " Fathci 614 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Tho stone for ages has been used by the Dahkotahs and other tribes for the manufacture of pipes, and is esteemed "wakan." In the State Cabinet of Albany there is a very ancient pipe of this material, which was obtained in the Seneca country, and the tradition is that it was taken from the Dahkotahs. Charlevoix, in his History of New France, speaking of the pipe of peace, says : " It is ordinarily made of a species of red marble, very easily worked, and found beyond the Mississippi among the Aaiouez (loways)." Le Sueur speaks of the Yanktons, as the village of the Dahkotahs at the Red Stone-quarry. It is asserted that in days gone by hostile nations used to assemble at this €[uarry, and obtain the material for pipes without mo- <)f his Country," and that the offer- ing should be that of the constituted authorities of the territory, rather than the act of a private individual, T have hereby the honour to present the specimen of rock to your honour- able body, for your acceptance, to be disposed of in such manner as your vfisdom may suggest. The slab is about two and a half feet in length, and a little over one and a half in brefidth, and two inches in thickness. In the last particular it does not meet the requirements of the Association ; but, apart from the impracticability of transporting a huge mass of stone, weighing nearly, if not quite, half a ton, if of the di- mensions stated, to so remote a point as Washington City, it is known that the strata of pipe stone rarely, if ever, exceed three inches in thick- ness. In length and breadth, it is b^' eved, the specimen will come up to the standard, and can be so used as to face a solid block of granite or other material, and thus answer the proposed end. In conclusion, I would beg leave to state, that a late geological work of high authority, by Dr. Jackson, designates this formation as Catli- nite, upon the erroneous supposition that Mr. George Catlin was the first white man who had ever visited that region ; whereas, it is notorious that many whites had been there and examined the quarry long before he came to the country. This designa- tion is therefore clearly improper and unjust. The Sioux term for the stone is Eyanskah, by which, I con- ceive, it should be known and classi- fied. I have the honour to be. Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, H. H. SlBLET. RED PIPE STONE QUARRY DESCRIBED. 515 iestation. Whether facts will sustain the tradition may be doubtful. The first canto of the " Song of Hiawatha" gives an impressive picture of the conclave of natives at " the great Red Pipe Stone Quarry."^ Nicollet, in his admirable report, remarks : " This red pipe stone, not more inljeresting to the Indian than it is to the man of science, by its unique character, de- serves a particular description. In the quarry of it which I had opened, the thickness of the bed is one foot and a half, the upper portion of which separates in thin slabs, whilst the lower ones are more compact. As a mineralogical species it may be described as follows : 'Compact; structure, slaty ; receiving a dull polish; having a red streak; colour, blood red, with dots of a fainter shade of the same colour ; fracture, rough ; sextile, fat, somewhat greasy ; hardness, not yielding to the nail 1 "Down the rivers, o'er the prairies, Came the warriors of the nations, Came the Belawares and Mohawks, Came the Choctaws and Camanches, Came the Shoshonies and Blackfeet, Came the Pawnees and Omahaws, Cnme the Mandana and Dacotahs, Came the Huron and Ojibways, All the warriors drawn together. By the signal of the Peace-Pipe, To the mountains of the prairie. To the great Bed Pipe Stone Quarry. # « * « * Gitche Manito, the mighty. The creator of the nations, Looked upon them with compassion, With paternal love and pity; ***** Spake to them with voice majestic As the sound of far off waters, ***** -0 my children! my poor children! Listen to the words of wisdom, Listen to the words of warning, From the lips of the Great Spirit, From the Master of Life, who made you ; I have given you lands to hunt in, I have given you streams to fiah in, I have given you bear and bison, I have given you roe and reindeer, I have given you brant and beaver, Filling the marshes full of wild fowl. Filled the rivers full of fishes; Why then are you not contented ? Why then will you hunt each other ? I am weary of your quarrels, Weary of your wars and bloodshed; Weary of your prayers for vengeance, Of your wranglings and dissensions ; All your strength is in your union, All your danger is in discord ; Therefore be at peace henceforward, And as brothers live together, Bathe now in the stream before you. Wash the war paint from your faces, Wash the blood stains from your fingers. Bury your war clubs and your weapons, Break the red stone from thU quarry. Mould and make it into peace-pipes. Take the reeds that grow beside you. Deck them with your brightest feathers, Smoke the calumet together, And as brothers live henceforward 1" , 516 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. not scratched by selenite, but easily by calcareous spar; specific gravity, 2.90. The acids have no action upon it ; before the blow-pipe it is infusible, per se ; but with borax gives a green glass." The committee on seal recommended as a device an Indian family, with lodge and canoe, encamped, a single white man vi^ting them, and receiving from them the calumet of peace. The report was accepted, and the committee discharged. During the following winter, Governor Ramsey and the delegate to Congress devised at Washington the territorial seal. The design was: Falls of St. Anthony in the distance; an emigrant ploughing the land on the borders of the Indian coun- try, full of hope, and looking forward to the possession of the hunting-grounds beyond. An Indian, amazed at the sight of the -plough, and fleeing on horseback towards the setting sun. The motto of the Earl of Dunraven, " Quae sursum volo videre," " I wish to see what is above," was most appropriately selected by Mr. Sibley, then delegate in Congress, but by the blunder of an engraver it appeared on the Territorial seal " Quo sursum velo videre," which no scholar could translate. At length was substituted " L'Etoile du Nord," "Star of the North," while the de- vice of the setting sun remained, and this is objection- able, as Maine had already placed the North Star on her escutcheon, with the motto " Dirigo," " I guide." Perhaps some future Legislature may direct the first motto to be restored, and correctly engraved. The wife of Captain S. Eastman, who was formerly in command of Fort Snelling, a lady of fine literary qualifications, who, with her husband, has done more chan any one to illustrate Dahkotah-land and Dahko- EFFORT TO EXTINGUISH INDIAN TITLE. 517 tah-life, prepared a poem on the " Seal of Minnesota," about the time it was designed.^ When the Territory of Minnesota was organized, the Indian title had been extinguished of but a small por- tion of the country. The ceded region was chiefly east ■of the Mississippi, being bounded on the north by a line extending east from the mouth of the Crow Wing river to the western boundary line of Wisconsin. The lands above were occupied by the Ojibw&,ys. It therefore seemed very desirable to make room for the rushing emigration to procure the right of occu- pancy to the lands in possession of the Dahkotahs west 1 Give way, give way, young warrior, Thou and thy steed gire way- Rest not, though lingers on the hilla The red sun's parting ray. The rocky blufif and prairie land The white man claims them noW| The symbols of his course are here, The rifle, axe, and plough. T7ot thine, the waters bright whose laugh Is ringing in thy ear; Not thine the otter and the lynx, The wolf and timid deer. The forest tree, the fairy ring, The sacred isle and mound Have passed into another's handfr— Another claimant found. ■Give way, give way, young warrior— Our title would you seek 7 'Tis " the rich against the poor. And the strong against the weak.*' We need thy noble rivers, Thy prairies green and wide, And thy dark and frowning forests That skirt the valley's side. The red man's courBe is onward— Nor stayed hifi footsteps be, Till by his nigged hunting ground Beats the relentless seal ■We claim his noble hpritage, And ^Minnesota's land Must pass with all its untold wealth To the white man's grasping hand. Give way, give way, young warrior. Thy father's bones may rest No longer here, where earth has rlasped Them, closely to her ,brfiast — Here, were thy fiercest battles fought — -Here, through the valleys rung The voices of the victors bruve, As they their triumph snnjr. Here, too, with long and braided hair, Thy maidens in the dance Rivalled the wild deer's fleetest step, The wild deer's brightest glance. And here they gathered oft at eve From aged lips to hear Hovr flowed the warrior's heart's best blood. How fell the maiden's tear. Give way— I know a thousand ties Most lovingly must cling, I know a gush of sorrow deep Such memories must bring. Thou and thy noble race from earth Must soon be passed away. As echoes die upon the hills, Or darkness follows day. Yet hear me still, young warrior, Thou and thy steed give way — Rest not, though lingers on the hills The red sun's parting ray. The rocky bluff and prairie land The white man claims them now, The symbols of his course are here— The ride, axe, and plough. 518 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. of the Mississippi, and in the valley of the Minnesota- Governor Ramsey and Ex-Governor Chambers of Iowa were appointed Commissioners to trefit with the Dahko- tahs. They repaired to Mendota during the session of the legislature; but in consequence of the absence of many Indians on their fall hunt, and other circum- stances, they did not wholly comply with their instruc- tions. They however made a treaty for the purchase of what is knoAtn as the half-breed tract of Lake Pepin,. Previous to the session of the legislature, there had been no organization of any political party in the ter- ritory. On the evening of September twenty-fourth, a Democratic caucus was held at the house of H. M. Rice, at St. Paul, on St. Anthony near Market street, and it was determined to call a mass meeting of Democrats. ' ' On October twentieth,' the first party convention assem- bled in the ball-room of the American House. Henry Jackson was Chairman, pro tern., and as permanent officers were chosen James S. Norris, President ; John A. Ford, S. Trask, W. Dugas, H. N. Setzer, James Wells, John Rollins, and A. Morrison, Vice-Presidents j B. "W. Lott, A. Larpeiiteur, H. A. Lambert, and John Morgan,' Secretaries. The Minnesota Pioneer was de- ' " At a Democratic caucus held at in all parts of the territory, to as- the house of Henry M. Rice, on Mon- semhie in mass meeting at St. Paul, day evening, September twenty- on Saturday, the twentieth day of fourth, 1849, the undersigned were October, to take measures to secure appointed a committee to call a Mass a permanent and thorough organiza- Meeting of the Democracy of the tion. Territory of Minnesota. W. D. Phillips, 3d Dist. "Believing that the safety and inte- John Rollins, 5th " grity of our party, and the perma- J. S. Noreis, 1st " nent interests of our infant territory, S. Trask, 2d " demand that the partylines be hence- H. N. Setzer, 4th " forth drawn, we extend a cordial in- T. A. Holmes, 6th " " vitatioh to our Democratic brethren DEATH OF DAVID LAMBERT. 519 clared to be the organ of the party, and from that period there was manifest a different spirit in the conduct of public affairs. On Friday evening, David Lambert, Esq., who had been prominent in the meetings that led to the ^organization of the territory, under the influence of that mania, which hurries so many of our public men to the grave, jumped from a steamer, on which he was returning from Galena, and was drowned.^ During the session of the legislature, considerable dis- cussion arose in relation to the right of the territory, to expend the twenty thousand dollars appropriated in the organic act for a capitol, at the temporary seat of govern- ment. Joseph R. Brown, desiring information, wrote to the secretary of the treasury, who decided that the money could only be appropriated at the permanent seat of government.^ ■ ' His friend, the editor of the ^ Treasury Department, Pioneer, in his paper of November Oct. 30, 1849. eighth says : Sir : — Your letter of the eleventh " Mr. Lambert was about thirty inst., is received, inquiring whether years of age, was prosperous in " the twenty thousand dollars appro- business, and acknowledged to be a priated for the erection of public man of superior abilities. He had buildings in Minnesota can be ex- suffered some wounds in his domestic pended previous to the location of relations, which made him misan- the permanent seat of government thropic, reckless, and miserable. We by a vote of the people 1" should characterize him as a man It is provided by the thirteenth of very remarkable conversational section of the act to establish the tailent, and when he devoted himself territorial government of Minnesota, to literary pursuits he was considered approved third of March, 1849, that a very promising writer. Mr. L. the Governor and Legislative Assem- graduated at Washington (Trinity) bly shall, at such time as they shall College, Hartford; Ct. He published see proper, prescribe by law, the a newspaper at Little Rock, Ark., manner of locating the permanent and, afterwards published the Wis- seat of government of said territory consin Inquirer at Madison." by a vote of the people. " And the b20 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. On the fourth Monday of November, the elections for the officers of the new counties took place.' In the month of November, the first meeting in relar tion to the establishment of public schools, was held in the small school-house thiat stood on St. Anthony street, near the First Presbyterian Church. Previous to this, the English schools, in the white settlements, had chiefly been taught by teachers who had been sent out by the National Society of Popular Education : Misses Bishop and Scofield having taught at St. Paul, Miss A. Hos- ford^ at Stillwater, and Miss Backus at St. Anthony. sum of twenty thousand dollars out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, is hereby appropriated and granted to said Territory of Minnesota, to be applied by the Governor and Legislative Assembly to the erection of suitable public buildings at the seat of go- vernment," In view of the antecedent, and the object of this appropriation, the Department cannot doubt that the public buildings in question, can only be erected at the permanent seat of government, located as pre- scribed. Of course the reply to your inquiry must be, that nothing can be expended from this appropri- ation until after the location shall be duly made. Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, W. M. Meredith, Secretary of the Treasury. Joseph B. Brown, St. Paul, M. T. ^ The vote in Ramsey county was as follows Register, Sheriff. . Treasurer, Commissioners, Judge of Probate, * Mrs. H. L. Moss. St. Anthony. St. Paul. Total. Day, . . . 39 172 211 Phillips, . . 30 69 99 Lull, . . . 17 172 189 Irvine, . . . 33 60 93 Brisette, . . 19 2 21 Simpson, . . 69 240 309 Roberts, . . 57 202 259 Godfrey, . . 19 123 142 Gervais, . . 31 167 198 BanflU, . . 37 70 107 Russell, . 54 108 162 Lambert, . . 34 149 183 Lott, . . . 33 93 126 ST. ANTHONY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 521 In the month of December, the St. Ant'hony Library Association, which had been incorporated by the legis- lature, commenced a series of lectures. The intro- ductory was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Neill, and part of it was published, as a supplement, in the annals of the Historical Society for 1850. Among other lecturers, were the Rev. Mr. Gear, Chaplain of Fort Snelling, and Wm. R. Marshall, Esq. The association was the first institution of the kind^ excepting the Historical Society, in Minnesota ; and had a small library of valuable standard works. 522 HISTORy OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XXIII. Bt the active exertions of the secretary of the terri- tory, C. K. Smith, Esq., the Historical Society of Min- nesota^ was incorporated at the first session of the legis- '■ The Chronicle and Register of January fifth, 1850, has the following editorial : — " The first public exercises of the Minnesota Historical Society, took place at the Methodist Church, St. Paul, on the first inat., and passed off highly creditably to all concerned. The day was pleasant, and the at- tendance large. At the appointed hour, — the President and both Vice- Presidents of the society being ab- sent; on motion of Hon. C. K. Smith, Hon. Chief Justice Goodrich was called to the chair. The same gen- tleman then moved that a committee, consisting of Messrs. Parsons K. Johnson, John A. Wakefield, and B. W. Brunson, be appointed to wait upon the Orator of the day, Rev. Mr. Neill, and inform him that the audience was in waiting to hear his address. " Mr. Neill was shortly conducted to the pulpit ; and after an eloquent and appropriate prayer by the Rev. Mr. Parsons, and music by the band, he proceeded to deliver his discourse upon the early French Missionaries and voyageurs into Minnesota. It was a highly creditable production ; and we hope the society will provide for its publication at an early day. In truthfulness to history — candour and liberality of sentiment — and strength, and beauty of composition,, it commended itself to all present. "After some brief remarks by Rev. Mr. Hobart, upon the objects and ends of history, the ceremonies were concluded with a prayer by that gentleman. The audience dis- persed highly delighted with all that occurred. " The occasion owed much of its interest to the presence of the far- famed ' Sixth Infantry Band,' now stationed at Fort Snelling. They ' discoursed most eloquent music' at appropriate intervals throughout the exercises. We have never heard a band anywhere that appeared more NEWSPAPER CARRIERS* ADDRESS. 52S lature. The opening annual address was delivered in the Methodist church at St. Paul, on the first of Janu- ary, 1850. At this early period the Minnesota Pioneer issued a Canrier^s New Year's Address, whidh was amusing dog- gerel. The reference to the future greatness and igno- ble origin of the capital of Minnesota is as follows : — The cities on this river mast be three, The workshop of the nation it shall be. Two that are built and one that is to be. Propelled by this wide stream, you'll see One, IB the mart of all the tropics yield ; A thousand factories at St. Anthony : The cane, the orange, and the cotton-field ; And the St. Croix a hundred mills shall drive, And sends her ships abroad and boasts And all its smiling villages shall thrive; Her trade extended to a thousand coasts ; But then my town — remember that high bencb The oifier, central for the temperate zone. With cabins scattered over it, of !French? Garners the stores that on the pMns are grown ; A man named Henry Jackson 's living there, A place where steamboats from all quarters, Also a man — why every one knows L. Robair ;■ range, Below Fort Snelling, seven miles or so, To meet and speculate, as Hwere on 'change. And three above the village of Old Crow ? The ^»ri:2 wiA &«, where rivers confluent flow Pig's Eye? Yes; Pig's Eye! That's the spot I' From the wide spreading north through plains A very funny name ; is't not ? of snow ; Pig's Bye 's the spot, to plant my city on, The mart of all that boundless forests give To be remembered by, when I am gone. To make mankind more comfortably live, Pig's Eye, converted thou sbalt be, like Saulr The land of mann&cturing industry, Thy name henceforth shall be St. Paul. i On the evening of New Year's day, at Fort Snelling,. there was an assemblage which is only seen on the out- posts of civilization. In one of the stone edifices belonging to the United States there resided an unas- suming gentleman of integrity who had dwelt in Min- nesota since the year 1819, and for many years had been in the employ of the government. In youth he had been a member of the Columbia Fur Company, and conforming to the habits of traders, had purchased a Dahkotah wife who was wholly ignorant of the English complete masters of their profession, be cafried forward energetically, and t;ie celebrated Styermarkich not its good results will be felt and excepted. appreciated by generations that will " The Society has made a most occupy our place centuries to come." auspicious commencement. Let it 524 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. language. As a family of children gathered around him he recognised the relation of husband and father, and conscientiously discharged his duties as a parent. His daughter at a proper age was sent to a boarding- school of some celebrity, and on the night referred to was married to an intelligent young American farmer. Among the guests present were the officers of the garri- son in full uniform, with their wives, the United States Agent for the Dahkotahs, and family, the bois bruits of the neighbourhood, and the Indian rela,tives of the mother. The mother did not make her appearance, but, as the minister proceeded with the ceremony, the Dahkotah relatives, wrapped in their blankets, gathered in the hall and looked in through the door. The marriage feast was worthy of the occasion. In consequence of the numbers, the officers and those of European extraction partook first; then the bois bruits of Ojibway and Dahkotah descent; and, finally, the native Americans, who did ample justice to the plenti- ful supply spread before them. The union has been blessed, and the bride, now a mother, in the fear of God, is training up her little ones, who bid fair to be useful and industrious citizens. Until the close of the year 1849 the only roadway in winter to the settlements of Wisconsin and Iowa was the ice of the Mississippi. Late in December, after five weeks' work, a road was marked out from Prairie du Chien to Hudson, Wisconsin, and the hauling of supplies by land was commenced. The mail service ' during the ' Proposals for carrying mail in By Lake St. Croix, Nelson's Land- Minnesota, 1850 : — ing. La Cross, Wis., and Lansini;; From St. Paul at 6 a. m., once a To Prairie du Chien by 6 p. M^uext week, Monday : Sunday, 270 miles ; FIRST TRIAL FOR MURDER. 525 jear 1850 was very meagre. The first murder case was brought before Judge Cooper, at the February term of the court, at Stillwater. On the afternoon of the twelfth of September, a mma- ber of boys were playmg on the bluff in St. Paul, near the corner of St. Anthony and Franklin streets, oppo- site the stone block, now occupied by the carpet rooms of 0. King. One of the number, Isaiah McMillan, see- ing another, by the name of Heman Snow, approaching with a press-board before his face, said he would shoot him, and taking aim with a gun, he had in his hands, fired. The shot entered the right eye and left cheek of Snow, who was a lad about twelve years of age, and after a few hours he expired. The counsel for the prose- cution were Messrs. Bishop and Wilkinson, and for the defendent Messrs. Ames and Moss. From the testi- mony adduced, it was not clear that there was malice prepense, and the jury brought in a verdict of man- slaughter, with a recommendation that the court would inflict the least possible penalty under the law. The boy was sentenced to one year's imprisonment. As there was no prison in which to confine him, he was sent up to Fort Snelling, and subsisted at the expense of the soldiers, and by permission of the colonel, was And ba«k between 6 a. m. Monday of departure and arrival, ■will be and 6 p. m. next Sunday. considered. Proposals for more frequent supply From St. Paul at 6 a. m., once a will be considered. week, Monday ; From St. Paul at 6 a. m., once a By Stillwater and Marine Mills ; week, Monday ; To Falls of St. Croix by 12 m. next To Fort Snelling by 8 a. m., 6 miles ; day, 49 miles ; And back between 10 a. 4i. and And back between 2 p. h. Tuesday 12 M. and 6 p. m. next day ; Proposals for more frequent supply. With one additional weekly trip stating the number of trips, times from St. Paul to Stillwatfer. 52G HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. occasionally allowed to make himself useful by sawing wood. In the month of April, there was a renewal of hostili- ties between the Dahkotahs and Ojibways, on lands that had been ceded to the United States. A war prophet at Red Wing, dreamed that he ought to raise a war party. Announcing the fact, a number expressed their willingness to go on such an expedition. Several from the Kaposia village also joined the party, under the leadership of a worthless Indian, who had been confined in the guard-house at Fort Snelling, the year previous, for scalping his wife. Passing up the valley of the St. Croix, a few miles above Stillwater, the party discovered on the snow the marks of a keg and foot-prints. These told them that a, man and woman of the Ojibways had been to some whiskey dealer's, and were returning. Following their trail, they found on Apple river, about twenty miles from Stillwater, a band of Ojibways encamped in one lodge. Waiting till daybreak of Wednesday, April second, the Dahkotahs commenced firing on the unsus- pecting inmates, some of whom were drinking from the contents of the whiskey keg. The camp was composed of fifteen, and all were murdered and scalped, with the exception of a lad, who was made a captive. On Thursday, the victors came to Stillwater, and danced the scalp dance around the captive boy, in the heat of excitement, striking him in the face with the scarcely cold and reeking scalps of his relatives. The child was then taken to Kaposia, and adopted by the chief Governor Ramsey immediately took measures to send the boy to his friends. At a conference held at the governor's mansion, the boy was delivered up, and FRIGHT OF THE CAPTIVE BOY AT THE GOVERNOR'S. Vii t on being led out to the kitchen, by a little son of the governor, since deceased, to receive refreshments, he •cried bitterly, seemingly more alarmed at being left with the whites than he had been while a captive at Kaposia. From the first of April the waters of the Mississippi began to rise, and on the thirteenth, the lovper floor of the warehouse, once occupied by William Constans, at the foot of Jackson street, St. Paul, was submerged. Taking advantage of the freshet, the steamboat Anthony Wayne, for a purse of two hundred dollars, ventured through the swift current above Fort Snelling, and reached the Falls of St. Anthony. The boat left the fort after dinner, with Governor 'Ramsey and other quests, also the band of the sixth regiment on board, and reached the falls between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. The whole town, men, women, and children, lined the shore as the boat approached, and welcomed this first arrival, with shouts and waving handkerchiefs. On the afternoon of May fifteenth, there might have been seen, hurrying through the streets of St. Paul, a number of naked and painted braves of the Kaposia band of Dahkotahs, ornamented with all" the attire of war, and panting for the scalp of their enemies. A few hours before, the youthful and warlike head chief of the Ojibways, " Hole in the Day," having secreted his canoe in the retired gorge which leads to the cave in the upper suburbs, with two or three associates had crossed th^ river, and, almost in sight of the citizens of the town, had sCttacked a small party of Dahkotahs, and murdered and scalped one man. On the receipt of the news, Governor Ramsey granted a parole to the thirteen Dahkotahs confined in Fort Snelling, for participating 528 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. in the Apple river massacre. On the morning of the sixteenth of May, the first Protestant church edifice completed in the white settlements, a small frame building, built for the Presbyterian Church, at St. Paul, was destroyed by fire, it being the first conflagration that had occurred since the organization of the territory. One of the most interesting events of the year 1850, was the Indian council, at Fort Snelling. Governor Ramsey had sent runners to the different bands of the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, to meet him at the fort, for the purpose of endeavouring to adjust their difficulties. We give the account of the proceedings, as reported in the Minnesota Pioneer : — " Tuesday morning, June eleventh, was one of the sweetest days of the month. By nine o'clock in the morning, a large concourse of persons had assembled at Port Snelling, from various quarters, and especially from St. Paul, to witness the council. Fort Snelling is at the extreme angle of a high table land, between the Mississippi and the St. Peter's — a beautiful elevated plain, covered with grass as far as the eye can extend. Near the bank of the Mississippi, and distant from the fort a few hundred yards, are the stables of the garri- son, and on the open space between the garrison and the stables were the encampments of the Chippewas, and there was the council ground. Captain Monroe was present with a small detachment of infantry, and a few troops were ready for service in the fort, as well as artillery. The Chippewas were lying about their tents, seeming quite contented, laughing, talking, playing together, and some gambling in various ways. Th'^re seemed nothing surly or stoical in their, countenances. A message was at length sent by the governor to notify DAHKOTAHS ADVANCING TO THE COUNCIL. 529 the Sioux that they would be expected in half an hour, if at all. " At length they made their appearance a mile distant, upon a brow of the hill across the St. Peter's. The few infantry present, on the approach of the Sioux, were extended in an open line, nearly from the Fort to the stables, so as to form a separation between the Chippe- was in their rear and the advancing band of the Sioux, numbering perhaps three hundred, a large portion on horseback, armed and painted, who by this time were rushing up on the plateau, screaniing and whooping horribly, themselves loaded with jingling arms and orna- ments, and their horses with bells on, the whole of them rushing on at full speed and making a feint as if they would pass around the stable, turn the right flank of the infantry, and attack the Chippewas ; but they were only showing off; having, in fact, all due respect for those ugly cast iron of atftfs of Uncle Sam's. The hne of Chippewas remained where it was at the time of the grand entree (for we can compare it to nothing it s6 much resembled as a grand entree into a stupendous circus), they continuing to dance and shout, and bran- dish their wea,pon& as if aching for an onslaught. Among them, conspicuous as Achilles in the battle of Troy, stood the young Pillager chief, Sitting-in-arrow, standing six and a half feet in his moccasins, well pro- portioned, and weighing two hundred and twenty poflnds, who takes his name, perhaps, from the fact that he is equal to a man or two beside himself. The Sioux eoon fell back and formed a line ; they discharged their pieces in a scattering fire along the line. The Chippe- wa line returned their salute,; after which Uncle Sam replied by the mouth of one of his cast iron orators. 34 530 HISTORY OF MIJiNESDTA. who were so persuasive in Mexico. The representation of a white flag then appearing between the two oppos- ing lines, the Chippewas first and next the Sioux, marched away and stacked their arms. Then return- ing, the two lines advanced until they reached the file of infantry which separated them, when the chiefs and braves met at the centre between the lines, and, advanc- ing, went through the ceremony of shaking hands. The governor then took his seat in a marquee, with Captain Todd, Captain Monroe, Mr. McLean, Mr. Prescott, Sioux Interpreter, Mr. Warren, Chippewa Interpreter, W. B. White, Esq., Secretary of the Council, and the Sioux chiefs occupying one side, while the Chippewas occupied the other side of the marquee ; . besides which some small space was occupied by several ladies who were present, just in front of the Sioux. " His excellency, the governor, having given notice that the council was now open, then made substantially the following speech, through the interpreters, who both seemed very prompt and accurate in translating. Mr. Prescott speaking the harsh, guttural, clucking language of the Sioux, and Mr. Warren, an educated half-breed Chippewa, rolling ofi" the euphonious sentences in the Chippewa tongue, with the utmost fluency : — "Chiefs, braves, and head men of the Chippewa nation, and chiefs, braves, and head men of the Sioux nation : You are here, under the flag of our Great Father, the president, to see if you can settle your diffi- culties and bury the hatchet. I hope this will be done, and that peace will be made, for the sake of your poor bleeding wives and children. Long ago, the white children of your Great Father, lived far off and only heard of the outrages you committed upon each other; GOV. EAMSEY^S SPEECH IN COUNCIL. 531 but now they live amongst you, and all around you. They see the reeking scalps of your victims. Things are now changed. The whites are upon the Mississippi, the Missouri, the St. Peter's, every where. They witness what you do. They will not suffer these atrocities ; if they did, the Great Spirit would not smile upon them. To many of you, this may seem harsh. If we only wanted your lands, we would give you firearms and let you kill each other. You know at what trouble and expense your Great Father has been to keep ardent spirits away from you, which would, if not thus pre- vented, soon destroy you, if we wanted only your lands. You well know the power of your Great Father ; that he has ten thousand villages, each larger than all the villages together of either of your tribes; and that his people not only live upon the land, but upon the ocean, sailing upon long voyages; that all you see here of the Great Father's villages, are few and small, but that it is not so elsewhere. Your white brethren are proud to be the children of so great a Father, and no doubt, you, his red children, are proud of it. Your Father is not only great, but good. He loves his red children as well as his white, or he would let them go to war. He regards both of your tribes with equal favour. Under his flag he has red, white, and black children, all whose difier- ■ent interests he protects. Numerous as you are, yet when compared to all the tribes under his protection, you are but as a single blade of grass to a whole prairie. [Here some interruption occurred by the Sioux outside, riding about on horseback. They were required to dis- mount.] I do not say these things by way of boast, but to let you know that your Great Father is able to ■enforce any treaty you may make. I am aware that 532 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. complaints are made on hoth sides, that the treaty has not been enforced ; but as I told you, his business ex- tends so far that he has to do it by agents and officers, who sometimes neglect to do their duty ; that the Great Father has now sent an agent, who thinks as I do, that it is right that your old troubles should be buried. A treaty between'you, made in 1843, is now in full force, but it has been so long neglected, that we do not like to make it a rule of redress. Your Great Father -prefers that you settle these troubles yourselves. If you say you are hereditary foes and cannot make a permanent peace, it is" not true. The two nations next in power to this, France and Great Britain, were foes for many hundreds of years, but are now friends, peaceful and happy, without wars. You should leave off wars and learn that a bushel of potatoes is worth more to one who is hungry than a pile of eagle plumes. Long ago the white race had your notions about labour, but now they are changed. Your Great Father knows that when you strike, you often kill those who have treated you as friends ; that three-fourths of the scalps you take are those of women and children, who could not and would not hurt you. Amongst the whites, he who should kill a woman or a child would be considered less than a dog. Your Great Father is determined that you shall not scalp women and children, You have a treaty in force, but your Great Father prefers that you settle matters and make a new treaty. I should be glad to send him word that you had buried the hatchet. There are many bleeding hearts here, but you must forgive and forget. To assist in shaping a treaty, I recommend that each nation appoint a committee of three or five men to DAHKOTAHS RUDE.— HOLE-IN-THE-DAY'S GALLANTRY. 533 assist — submitting it afterwards to yourselves to decide upon. " Hole-irh-the-day. — ^AU men that live have minds of their own, and had better settle their own affairs. , "After some explanation, the committee was agreed to. The following gentlemen were appointed : On the part of the Sioux, W. H. Forbes, 0. Faribault, and Captain Monroe, United States Army; on the part of the Chippewas, Mr. Warren, Mr. Beaulieu, and Captain Todd. Bad-Hail, a saucy-looking Sioux orator, then stepped up and asked that another commissioner, Mr. Alexander Faribault, might be appointed on their part.. The governor replied, that he would submit their pro- position to the magnanimity of the Chippewas. At this time the Sioux arose, with a great deal of talk, and left the council en masse. Upon inquiry, it seems that their highnesses had taken offence at the presence of the ladies in council; and word came in that 'they thought they were to meet Chippewas in council, not women.' Hole-in-the-day adroitly turned the matter to his own advantage, saying very politely, that he was happy to see so many sweet women there, and that they were all wel- come with their angdic smiles, to a seat on his side of the council. The ladies, however, chose to withdraw, the young Chippewa chief shaking each one cordially by the hand. The Sioux having returned, the governor rebuked them sharply for their act of disrespect to the council, saying, that if they withdrew again in that manner, he would enforce the treaty of 1843. Bad- Hail said they wanted time to consider, and that a treaty could not be made in a day. After this little mterlude, the council proceeded, the Chippewas con- senting to the appointment of the fourth commissioner 534 HISTORY OF M1NNK8UTA. on each side. Rev. Mr. Gear was appointed on the part of the Chippewas; for the Sioux, A. Faribault. The council then adjourned to meet at ten o'clock on Wednesday morning." On Wednesday, after much talking, as is customary at Indian councils, the two tribes agreed as they had frequently done before, to be friendly, and Governor Eamsey presenting to each party an ox, the council was dissolved. On Thursday, the Ojibways visited St. Paul for the first time, Hole-in-the-Day being dressed in a coat of a captain of United States infantry, which had been presented to him at the fort. On Friday, they left in the steamer Governor Ramsey, which had been built at St. Anthony, and just commenced running between that point and Sauk Rapids, for their homes in the wil- derness of the Upper Mississippi. The summer of 1850 was the commencement of the navigation of the Minnesota river by steamboats. With the exception of a steamer that made a pleasure excur- sion as far as Shokpay, in 1842, no large vessels had ever disturbed the waters of this stream. In June, the "Anthony Wayne," which a month previous had ascended to the Falls of St. Anthony, made a trip. On the eighteenth of July she made a second trip, going almost to Mahkahto. The " Nominee" also navigated the stream for some distance. On the twenty-second of July the officers of the "l(!ankee," taking advantage of the high water, deter- mined to navigate the stream as far as the size of the boat would allow. The author was one of the numer- ous party of exploration, and he here inserts impressions in the form they were written at that time, when the FIRST STEAMBOAT ABO,VE MAHKAHTO. 535 whole country west of the Mississippi was in possession of the barbarians. As there was some danger in navigating a stream, whose waters had never been disturbed for any distance by the paddles of the " fire canoe," we did not ascend on the first evening more than twenty-five miles above ^he fort. At early dawn on Tuesday, the steamer was again in motion, and curved around the numerous short bends of this zig-zag stream, with wonderful ease. The scenery, the farther we advanced, became more varied and beautiful. Here there was an extensive prairie, " stretching in ^aceful undulations far away ;" there a wide amphitheatre encircled by cone-shaped hills, and inviting the agriculturist to seek shelter for himself and his cattle ; owing to the high tide of water, we passed quite early in the morning some rapids without any difficulty. During the day we met with little to excite us. Now and then, we would pass an Indian in his canoe, who, frightened by the puffing and novel appear- ance of the boat, had crouched behind the overhanging boughs of the weeping willow. Upon the south bank of the river, eighty-five miles from Fort Snelling, withir I a few yards of some ledges of fawn-coloured Umestone, there enters a little stream of clear and pure water, which Featherstonhaugh, who explored the country some years ago, named "Abert's Run." In the afternoon, we passed a blufi" of sand and limestone, similar to ' those so frequent on the Upper Mississippi, which is called White Rock. About twelve miles beyond this, we came to Traverse des Sioux, where we did not stop, as we were anxious to ascend as far as possible by suii- set. The wood we had taken with us began to grow scarce, and a little distance above this point the boat 536 HTSTORY OP MINNESOTA. stopped, and the crew and many of the passengers began to chop wood. While engaged in this occupation, some two or three Dahkotah Indians, painted and plumed, and covered with perspiration, galloped up on their Indiah ponies. To pacify them, and pay for the wood which it was necessary to take from their lands, the party presented them with some sacks of corn, and treated them to a glass of fire water, which was entirely unnecessary. At dusk the boat tied up, in front of a beautiful prairie, elevated some seventy feet above the river ; and there those whose tastes and principles permitted, danced until the heat and the mosquitoes forced them back to the boat. The view from this prairie was exceedingly interesting. It was bounded by a belt of woodland, and upon the opposite side, were slopes most beautifully rounded. Upon its surface, jutting from the green sward, were boulders of every size and shape, looking in the dark as if the cattle had come down from a thousand hills, and were in repose. As the writer sat upon the deck, he could but be interested in looking over the party and seeing how well they harmonized, born, as they had been, in var rious parts of the continent, and educated under diverse influences. Among the party was one who had been an aid of General Harrison, and at a later day our am- bassador at the court of Russia ; another who had grad- uated at West Point and the Yale Law School, and who had been wounded while in command of a regiment at Monterey. Among the half-breeds was one who had been the guide and interpreter of Nicollet, while engaged in sci- entific explorations in the valley of the Minnesota; SUPPOSfi'u BUFFALOES— MOSQUITOES. 5'i1 also one by th,e name of Eenville, the son of one of the most intelligent and benevolent half-natives who ever dwelt in the Dahkotah country. Before sunrise on Wednesday morning, the boat had left her moorings, and was proceeding onward. At breakfast time we had reached the highest point to which a steamboat had ever ascended, a feat that was accomplished the week previous by the " Anthony Wayne." About nine and-Orhalf, A. M., we passed the Blue Earth river. The latitude of this point is about forty- four degrees, being nearly one degree lower than the mouth of the Minnesota. Our course until now was south-westerly, but henceforward it is north-westerly. After passing the Blue Earth, the Minnesota is much narrower, and the bends so numerous that the boat did not go in one direction at any one time for more than five minutes. During the morning, the report was raised that some buffaloes were grazing in the distance, and, for a time, there was quite an excitement ; but the nearing of the boat, and the use of the spy-glass, dis- pelled our hopes, and exhibited in their stead huge boulders scattered among the prairie grass. At night, we arrived near the mouth of the Cotton Wood river, about two hundred miles from Tort Snelling. The day had been intensely hot, the thermometer having been at one hundred and four degrees in the shade; and as soon as the sun had set a cloud of mosquitoes enveloped us. The cabins were smoked, and the mosquitoes beat with green boughs, but they could not be forced to re- treat. They looked upon us as intruders, and seemed determined to make us smart, and leave their impres- sion. 538 HISTORY OF MINKESOTA. The ice, too, had failed, and the ladies of the party- began to feel that there was more reality than poetry in an exploring expedition into an uncivilized country. A meeting was called to see if the captain should turn back, but the majority decided to go on. That night few of the male members of the party entered their state-rooms, but nearly all wrapped in mosquito-bar were stretched upon the hurricane deck, vainly endea- vouring to sleep. When Thursday's sun arose, the boat was not in motion. The crew were worn out by their extra labours, and even those of the passenger* who had been anxious to navigate farther, had been brought to terms by the severe wounds that had been inflicted upon them hf the mosquito. It is quite a coincidence that Major Long and his party, twenty-seven years before, suffered the same in- convenience, near the same place, by the same insect. Says his narrative : " We never were tormented at any period of our journey, more than when travelling in the vicinity of the St. Peter's. The mosquitoes rose all of a sudden. We have been frequently so much an- noyed by these insects, as to be obliged to relinquish an unfinished supper, or to throw away a cup of tea which we could not enjoy. To protect our feet and legs we were obliged to lie with our boots on." While at breakfast, to the satisfaction of all parties concerned, the prow of the boat turned once more to- wards the land of civilization and comfort. At dinner time we turned into the Blue Earth river. This is a rapid stream, with pebbly banks, and the principal tributary of the Minnesota. The scenery around it is picturesque, and it will always be viewed with interest because of a French fort or trading-post having been TRAVERSE DES SIOUX. 539" built here one hundred and fifty years ago. Upon the banks of the Blufe Earth, the party gathered some tol- erable specimens of agate and camelian, and a dark substance resembling cannel coal, but probably lignite. It was the discovery of this mineral, no doubt, that led some of the old travellers to ma,rk on their maps a coal mine on the Minnesota, a few miles above Fort Snelling. Just at dark, the boat reached. Traverse des Sioux. Tliis is one of those spots which nature has marked out for a town of some iinportance. It derives its name from the fact, that for a long period it has been a cross- ing-place of the Sioux or Dahkotahs. The landing here is easy, the soil is fertile, woodland is convenient, and from a ridge of two hundred feet in elevation, there is a creek affording a great amount of water power, and easily accessible from the river. The spot is now occu- pied by an Indian village of a portion of the Dahko- tahs, a trading-house, and three neat and plain white buildings occupied for mission purposes by the mission- aries. There are many acres of land in cultivation, presenting quite an air of comfort and of civilization.. As it had been some time since we had any ice, most of the passengers left the boat, and walked to the mis- sion premises, where they found a well of clear and cool water, and to which they did ample justice. Instead of returning to the boat, the writer passed the evening with the Eev. Mr. Hopkins, the missionary of the American Board in charge of this station. His wife, in the course of conversation, mentioned that the Indians could not conceive of the pbject that led the white men to navigate a stream which was not theirs ; and that the children had been in through the day, to- tell her how terribly frightened they had been by the 640 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. steam-whistle ; and to inquire whether it was a human being or the boat that made such an unearthly noise. Leaving Traverse des Sioux early on Friday morning, we passed during the day some ancient mounds of the same kind as those scattered through Wisconsin and Illinois. Inasmuch as the Smithsonian Institution has volunteered to publish a description of the earth-works near Lake Pepin, and mounds in other parts of Minne- sota, it is to be hoped that some gentleman of leisure will sketch and prepare descriptions of them. In the middle of the afternoon, we stopped at Six Village, the largest village of the -Dahkotahs. About three hundred warriors, squaws, and children were on the bank, eaget to see the wonder. As the steam-whis- tle screeched it was amusing to see the boys and girls tumbling over each other in their haste to escape. The chief soon stepped on board and demanded a present, for the privilege of navigating the river. He also con- tended that a canoe had been broken ; but as he did not gi^'e the com,pany ocular evidence of the fact, they did not pay him ; but presented him with some pieces of calico, provisions, and a box of Spanish green. Since 1847, the American Board has had a missionary resid- ing here, the Rev. S. W. Pond. The population around him, within four or five miles, is about six hundred ; and at a little distance is another band of two hundred and fifty. Sixteen miles below this is a fourth mission station. The missionary in charge is the Rev. G. Pond; He has resided with the Indians for many years, and is one of the best speakers of their language. Though there are four stations on thei Minnesota river, and two on the Mississippi below St. Paul, the prospects of the Dahkotah mission are not bright. T he OPPOSITION TO MISSIONARIES. 541 male portion of the nation, with but few exceptions, have an inveterate hatred of the Christian religion, and look upon the missionaries as intruders who drink their water and plough their soil, but give nothing in return. The few that would gladly listen to instruction are de terred from the fear of ridicule and persecution. After a rapid run of nine miles from the village at which the Eev. Gideon Pond resides, we came once more in sight of the stars and stripes floating from the walls of Fort Snelling. At an early bed hour, on Friday night, the steamboat was moored at the landing of St. Paul. It had been demonstrated that steamboats of light draught could navigate the Minnesota, by the removal of a few obstructions, at all stages of water, to Traverse des Sioux, and even to the Blue Earth river. In a year or more the Dahkotahs will make a treaty and leave the land of their ancestors, and then, in an incredibly short period, the war whoop, the scalp dance, the skin lodge, and the canoe, of the red man, will give place to the lowing of cattle, the hum of children conning their lessons in the school-house, the, neat village church, with its spire pointing heavenward, and a frugal and indus- trious American husbandry. The foreign missionary will soon give way to the home missionary, and what a field is the Territory of Minnesota for the latter to work in ! Like the people of the northern latitudes of Europe, the future population of Minnesota will be hardy and intelligent. They will crave a learned and zealous ministry. The towns now settled are like what Stock- bridge, Massachusetts, was a century ago, filled with Indians and white land speculators, and a few church members. We would have labour here in the hotne 542 HISTORY Of MINNESOTA. field, just such missionaries as Jonathan Edwards and his wife, the beautiful and holy SArah Pierpont, who was such a valuable helpmeet in spiritual as well as temporal things, Whitfield is said to have offered up a prayer that God would send him just such a daughter of Abraham to be his wife. Minnesota does not desire ministers that will leave the East, because they possess narcotic properties; she does not want men who wUl love New England or any other section so as to be un- fitted to construct society out of the " rude and jostling materials" which will here abound ; she does not want heralds of salvation to come here and sow wheat upon a quarter-section, but to sow the seed of God beside all waters ; she does not want firm partisans of any school •or ism, but men who will advocate a broad and com- prehensive Christianity ; she does not want young men to come within her borders, because they think that to their friends they will appear more comely and bril- liant, upon the principle that " distance lends enchants ment to the view ;" but she desires, in view of the fact that Indian claims will be soon extinguished, scholars who have bathed themselves in the learning of the in- spired writings ; gentlemen like Paul who will be high- minded, wilhng to work with their own hands rather than cringe, glorying in being able to visit some rude cabin, to whisper consolation, and thinking themselves happy when they can gain the ear of an Agrippa, Felix, Drusilla, or Bernice. In fine, Minnesota desires for her future population a ministry who, in the true sense, can be •' all things to all men." As the time for the general election in September approached, considerable excitement was manifested. As there were no political issues before the people, ELECTION FOR DELEGATE.— MISS BREMER. 543 parties were formed based on personal preferences. Among those nominated for delegate to Congress, by various meetings, were H. H. Sibley, the former dele- gate to Congress, David Olmsted, at that time engaged in the Indian trade, and A. M. Mitchell, the United States' marshal. Mr. Olmsted withdrew his name be- fore election day, and the contest was between those interested in Sibley and Mitchell. The friends of each betrayed the greatest zeal, and neither pains nor money were spared to insure success. Mr. Sibley was elected by a small majority.' For the first time in the terri- tory, soldiers at the garrisons voted at this election, and there was considerable discussion as to the propriety of such a course. Miss Fredrika Bremer, the well known Swedish novelist, visited Minnesota in the month of October, -and was the guest of Governor Ramsey.^ ' The following are the returns of -the late election for Delegate, as filed iin the ofSce of the Secretary : — Precincts. Sibley. Mitchell. St. Paul, . . 151 153 St. Anthony, . . 64 110 Little Canada, 44 8 Stillwater, . . 117 59 Marine, . . 17 4 Falls St. Croix, . 17 Snake River, . 10 Prairie, . . . 54 24 Sauk Bapids, . 3 60 Swan River, . 22 56 Crow Wing, . 8 48 Elk River, . . 16 8 Nokaseppi, 36 26 Lac qui Parle, 12 -Mendotii, . . 78 3 649 559 ' St. Paul, as described by the novelist of Sweden, in 1850, and St. Paul in 1858, with its gas lamps and public edifices, are very differ- ent places : — " Scarcely had we touched the shore, when the governor of Minne- sota, and his pretty young wife, came on board and invited me to take up my quarters at their house. And there I am now; happy with these kind people, and witli them I make excursions into the neighbour- hood. The town is one of the youngest infants of the Great West, scarcely eighteen months old ; and yet it has in a short time increased to a population of two thousand persons, and in a very few years it will certainly be possessed of twen- ty-two thousand ; for its situation i« 544 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. During November, the Dahkotah Tawaxitku Kin, or the Dahkotah Friend, a monthly paper, was commenced, one-half in the Dahkotah and one-half in the English language. Its editor was the Rev. Gideon H. Pond, and its place of publication at St. Paul. It was published for nearly two years, and, though it failed to attract the attention of the Indian mind, it conveyed to the English reader much correct information in relation to the habits, the belief, and superstitions, of the Dahkotahs. On the tenth of December, a new paper, owned and edited by Daniel A. Robertson, late United States' mar- shal, of Ohio, and called the Minnesota Democrat, made its appearance. as remarkable for its beauty and healthiaess, as it is advantageous for trade. "As yet, however, the town is but in its infancy, and people ma- nage with such dwellings as they aan get. The drawing-room at Go- vernor Ramsey's house is also his 1 ffice, and Indians and workpeople, and ladies and gentlemen, are all alike admitted. In the mean time, Mr. Ramsey is building a handsome, spacious house upon a hill, a little out of the city [now in the middle of the west end of the city], with beautiful trees around it, and com- manding a grand view of the river. If I were to live on the Mississippi, I would live here. It is a hilly re- gion, and on all sides extend beauti- ful and varying landscapes. "The city is thronged with In- dians. The men, for the most part, go about grandly ornamented, with naked hatchets, the shafts of which •»crve them as pipes. They paint themselves so utterly without any taste, that it is incredible. Here comes an Indian who has painted a great red spot in the middle of his nose ; here another who has painted, the whole of his forehead in lines of black and yellow ; there a third with coal black rings round his eyes. * * * * The women are less painted, with better taste than the men, generally with merely ~ one deep red little spot in the mid- dle of the cheeks ; and the parting of the hair on the forehead is dyed purple. There goes an Indian with his proud step, bearing aloft his plumed head. He carries only his pipe, and when ho is on a journey, perhaps a long staff in his hand. After him, with bowed head and stooping shoulders, follows his wife, bending under the burden which she bears. . Above the burden peeps forth a little round-faced child, with beautiful dark eyes." FIFfT THANKSGIVING DAY. 546 During the summer there had been changes in the editorial supervision of the " Chronicle and Register." For a brief period it was edited by L. A. Babcock, Esq., who was succeeded by W. G. Le Due. About the time of the issuing of the Democrat, C. J. Henniss, formerly reporter for the United States Gazette, Philadelphia, became the editor of the Chronicle. The first proclamation for a thanksgiving day was issued in 1850 by the governor, and the twenty-sixth of D«»cemher was the time appointed, and it was generally observed. 35 546 HISTORY OF MINNiSOlA. CHAPTER XXIV. On Wednesday, January first, 1851, the second Legitt- iative Assembly^ assembled in a three-story brick baiid- The following persons composed the second Legislative Assembly : — GouncUlora. No. of DiaMct, Residence. ■ Age. Place of Nativity James S. Norris, . . . 1 . Cottage Grove , . . 39 Maine. Samuel Burkleo, . . 2 . Stillwater, . . . . 46 Delaware. William H. Forbes, . 3 . St. Paul, . . . . 35 Montreal, C. James MoC. Boal,' . 3 ti . . . 39 Pennsylvania David B. Loomis, . 4 . Marine Mills; . . 33 Connecticut. John Rollins, . . . 5 . Palls of St. Anthony, 42 Maine. David Olmsted, . '. 6 . Long Prairie, . . . 28 Vermont. "William Sturges, . 6 . Elk River, . . . . '32 Up. Canada. Martin McLeod, . . 7 . Lac. qui Parle . . 36 Montreal, C. BepreaentatiTea. , . James Wells, . . . John A. Ford, . . . 1 . 1 Lake Pepin, . Red Rock, . . . 47 . . . 38 N. Jersey. New York. M. E. Ames, . . . . 2 Stillwater, . . . . 30 Vermont. Sylvanus Trask, . . . 2 it . . . 30 New York. Jesse Taylor, . . . Benjamin W. Brunso J. C. Ramsey, . . . Edmund Rice, . . . 2 n, 3 . . 3 . 3 . It St. Paul, . . . 45 . . 26 . . 29 . . 30 Kentucky. Michigan. Pennsylvania. Vermont. H. L. Tilden, . . . John D. Ludden, . . John W. North, . . Edward Patch, . . . 3 . . 4 . . 5 . . 5 . It Marine Mills, Falls of St. Ab tt . . 32 . . 32 thony, 35 27 Connecticut. Massachusetts New York. S. B. Olmstead, . . . 6 . Belle Prairie, . . 36 (( W. W. Warren, . . . 6 . Gull Lake, . . . 26 L. Superior. BITTER PARTY FEELING. 547 ing, since destroyed by fire, that stood on St. Anthony street, between Washington and Franklin. D. B. Loomis was chosen speaker of the Council, and M. E, Ames speaker of the House.' This assembly was char racterized by more bitterness of feeling than any that has since convened. The previous delegate election had been based on personal preferences, and cliques and fac- tions manifested themselves at an early period of the session. On the morning of January sixteenth, an editorial appeared in the Pioneer grossly attacking the character of one of the judges of the territory. Every word was barbed, and naturally irritated the brother of the judge, who was then absent at Washington. Meeting the editor near the building used as the capitol, a ren- •contre took place in which Mr. Goodhue was severely ^stabbed in the abdomen, and the other party was shot. Among other excitiiig topics was the election of public printer. The candidates were the editors of the Pioneer, Democrat, and the Chronicle and Register; the Whig members coalescing with the friends of Mr. Sibley, the editor of the Pioneer was elected. The locating of the penitentiary at Stillwater, and the capitol building at St. Paul gave some dissatisfac- tion. By the efforts of J. W. North, Esq., a bill creat- ing the University of Minnesota at or near the Fallp of St. Anthony was passed and signed by the governor. This institution, by the constitution afterwards adopted KepresentativcR. No. of District. Rpsidence. Age. Place of Nativity. :D. T. Sloan 6 . Little 'Rook, ... 36 New York. David Gilraan, . . . 6 . Watab 39 Alex. Faribault, . . ' . 7 . Mendota, .... 46 Minnesota. ■B.H.Randall, . . . 7 . Fort Snellingj '. . 27 Vermont. 548 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. by the vote of the people, is now the state university, and has obtained the two townships of land granted for that purpose. The apportionment bill, based on the census of 1850, led to a bitter personal discussion, but was passed on Saturday, March twenty-ninth. The opponents of the bill in the House of Kepresentatives, seven in number, on the same day resigned their seats. They contended that the census was incorrect ; that Benton county, with four thousand acres under cultivation, by the bill had but one half the representation that Pembina county had, where there were but seventy acres under cultiva- tion, and more than one-half of that belonging to one individual. They also urged the fact that, excepting soldiers, at least seven-eighths of the population were Indians, and that the legislature had no authority over the unceded lands.' ' Correspondence in relation to weight in the settlement of the points in dispute : — points referred to. I have the honour, " House OF Representatites, therefore, to request that you will "Washington, Feb. 27, 1851. reply to the following queries, to "Hon. James Thompson, Chairman wit: — of the Judiciary Committee : " First : Does, or does not the or- " Dear Sir : — There are questions ganic act of Minnesota, grant to the mooted among the people of Minne- Legislative Assembly full jurisdic- sota, as to the extent of the authority tion over all the country embraced conferred by the Organic Act, upon within the limits of the territory, the Legislative Assembly of the ter- restricted solely by provisions of ritory, and other matters connected Indian treaties conflicting with it, with the exercise of that jurisdic- should such exist ? tion on the Indian country, which " Second : Does, or does not the comprises all the region west of the organic act secure to all the peo- Mississippi. The distinguished po- pie, living as well on the unceded as sition you occupy as the head of the the ceded lands, the right of repre- J'ldiciary Committee, and your ac- sentation in the Assembly, and of knowledged eminence as a lawyer, voting at all elections, subject only will invest your opinion with great to the restriction! of the laws to SUFFERING AND SICKNESS OF OJIBWAYS. 549 The Ojibways of Red, Cass, Leech, and Sandy Lakes suffered much during the winter of 1850-5L About the first of October, 1850, the Lidians collected at the new agency at Sandy Lake, to receive their annuities. regulate the qualifications of voters, and are not elections held on the unceded lands made equally valid, and legal by the provisions of the organic law, with those held on the ceded country ? " An early reply to the questions will be gratefully acknowledged by, " Tours, very respectfully, "H. H. Sibley." "Washington, Feb. 28, 1851. " Hon. H. H. Sibley, Delegate from the Territory of Minnesota : " Dear Sir : — I have examined, though briefly, the law organizing the Territory of Minnesota,, in rela- tion to the questions you propound in your note of yesterday. I was surprised that any question of the kind could arise in the mind of any one. I had been one of the com- mittee that framed the law in ques- tion, and I presume that no one of that committee ever doubted that the legislative power of the terri- tory extended to the entire limits of the territory, restricted only to ' rightful subjects of legislation, con- sistent with the Constitution of the United States, and the provisions of this act,' and subject to the approval of Congress. Nothing of course could be done by the legislature of the territory in regard to the Indian tribes, as this subject belongs ex- clusively to Congress, but that the territory, in all its parts, was devoted to the same legislative control, is proved by the provision that every free white citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of the territory at the time of the passage of the act, shall be entitled to vote at the first election. All could vote; the conse- quence of which is apparent — thai all, in contemplation of law, were to be represented. Subsequent legis- latures could regulate the qualificar tions of voters, biit in the territory, and in any part of it, the right of voting would remain, and of course the right of representation. "This short view of the subject answers the points made in your note. The organic law of the terri- tory regarded the entire territory in precisely the same light — all parts of it entitled to representation — all male citizens of twenty-one years of age, being free, no matter where situated or living, being entitled to vote. The legislation over the whole territory is a complete right in the territorial legislature, subject only to the restrictions implied in the ex- clusive right of Congress to regulate the intercourse between the Indian tribes. Excuse the imperfections of this note, written in the midst of a boisterous debate. " With great respect, " I am truly yours, "James Thompson." 560 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. supposing that they would be immediately paid. Ta their disappointment they were kept waiting for seven or eight weeks, and while there measles and dysentery carried off hundreds. Some of the provisions received at the payment appear in some way to have been damaged, and this increased the mortality. The wife of a missionary, writing from Red Lake, on the first of February, says : — "Many of the Indians who attended the payment last fall at Sandy Lake, will remember the place for a long time as the burying-place of their friends. The Indians gathered there to receive 'their annuities about the first of October, expecting payment to take place in a few days ; but they were put off from time to time for two long months, and then were obliged to leave, hav- ing received but a part of their dues. During their stay there, the dysentery and measles prevailed, and carried ofl" great numbers of them; many others were attacked, and in this state were obliged to start for their respec- tive homes. Provisions were so scarce that they could not procure food for their journey home, and many of them died on the way. It is reported that more than five hundred have died since the sickness commenced. " To give you an idea of their sufiering, I will furnish you with an account of one family, near neighbours of ours. " This family consisting of a man and his wife, two, children, and his wife's brother, started from Sandy Lake in health, with food enough for their journey, if they had not been detained on their way. About half- way from Sandy Lake to Leech Lake, the wife's brother was taken sick, and detained them several days, when he died; they buried him and came on. Three days! MORTALITY AMONG OJIBWAYS. 551 I march from Leech Lake,.the two children were taken sick, the oldest a boy of twelve years old (who, by the way, was the best boy we have known in the country, a member of our school, one we had hoped to educate), the other a girl two years old. At this time their food was all gone. The father was obliged to carry his sick son, and the mother the daughter, until the last night before they reached Leech Lake, when the boy died. The next morning they set off again, the father carry- ing the corpse of his son, and the mother a sick child. About noon the girl died, but they came on until they reached Leech Lake, bringing the dead bodies of their children on their backs. ''^ Another man started from Sandy Lake for Cass Lake with his sister, in company with another family. He was taken sick soon after he left Sandy Lake, but travelled on until about half-way to Leech Lake, and died. The next morning the family went on. The sister remained by the body alone, one night and two days, when some Indians came along and buried it. " There are more Indians about us this winter than there have been any winter before, since I have been m the country. Many have come here from Leech Lake, Cass Lake, and Lake Winnepec, to live by begging, having nothing to eat at home. Probably not less than forty families are wintering here from other bands. Many of them were intending to go to the plains, but so many are sick, and the snow so deep, that they dare not start out. This band last fall, had provision enough to make them comfortable for the year, but having so many beggars to live upon them, they will all be out by sugar-making." Hole-in-the-day. the Ojibway chief, addressed the 652 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. legislature in relation to the wants of his people. The speech at the First Presbyterian Church, attracted a great crowd. He in true Indian style narrated the suf- fering of his people, and begged in the inimitable manner of his race ; and a committee Was appointed to solicit subscriptions for their relief. During the winter, hunger is said to have driven some to cannibalism.' ^ Extract from Minnesota Demo- crat, July 29, 1851 :— " Last winter an old man and wo- man of the Pillager Band of Chip- pewa Indians, with two married daughters, went from Leech Lake to Lake Itasca, to spend the winter. The husbands of the daughters were not with them^-one had four and the other five children, varying in age from one to eighteen years. " They were reduced to a starving condition, and the mothers com- menced killing and eating their children ! They fed voraciously upon the flesh of their children, and be- came passionately fond of it. All of the children were despatched and eaten, but one, a boy about eighteen years of age. " In the latter part of winter his mother called him to her, and re- quested him to put his head in her la.p, under pretence of desiring to look for vermin, as is the custom among the Indians. The boy com- plied. The mother had some molten lead at hand, which she poured into his ear, and killed him. His cries of agony alarmed the old people. The old man told his wife to go and see what was the matter. She went and looked into the door of the lodge. and there saw the woman with the body of the boy on the fire, singeing his hair off. She said tO her, ' Come in, and get some— it is good ;' and narrated to her mother how she had killed the boy. " The old woman returned, and informed the old man what had taken place. He went to the lodge with his gun, and shot her. He did not kill her immediately, but despatched her with an axe. Before this hap- pened, there were two men with their wives encamped in the same vicinity. One of the men was led to mistrust that they were eating the children, from the fact of their being missed, and also from the signs of plenty indicated by the personal ap- pearance of the women. He told the other what he suspected, and expressed a desire to go to some other place, and asked him to raise camp, and leave with him. " He agreed to leave, and request- ed the other to go and encamp at a spot named, saying that he would jojn him next day. He ^vaited at the place appointed several days, and ultimately moved on without him. The man and wife, who re- mained, have never been heard from. " A blanket, recognised as belong- DEBATE ON SCHOOL LANDS. 553 A spirited debate occurred on February sixth, 1851, in tbe House of Kepresentatives of the United States. previous to the passage of the bill granting two town- ships of land for the use and support of a University in Oregon and Minnesota, and authorizing the legislatures of those territories to make necessary laws to protect the school sections. The bill before the" House also granted to Oregon and Minnesota the privilege of leasing their school lands for four years before they were sold. Mr. Bowlin, of Missouri, chairman of the committee on public lands, moved that all relating to the leasing of the lands should be stricken out. Mr. Sibley, in reply, contended that the provision in the bill was almost an exact transcript of acts that had been passed in relation to Michigan and Wisconsin. The second section of the bill provided, that when a hond fide settlement was made on any school sections previous to survey, that the settler should have the right to enter the land. Mr. Wentworth, of Illinois, was opposed to touching the school lands. He remarked : — "When a man squats upon the school lands, there is a higher law that takes him off. So far as I am con- cerned, whenever a territorial bill comes up here con- taining a provision in relation to school lands similar to that contained in this, I shall feel compelled to oppose it. I would leave the matter to the townships. If ing to them, was found near the winter, and finding out what had place. It is supposed that they met been done with his children, killed the same fate as the children. his wife with his knife and toma- " The husband of the surviving hawk. The old people, and the man woman returned to his lodge, at who killed his wife, returned to Itasca Lake, in the latter part of Leech Lake, where they now are." 554 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. when the townships are organized they choose to let men squat on their school lands, it is their business, not the business of Congress. I remember well, that in order to encourage education in the Territory of Min- ' nesota, we gave them another section, twice as much as other states have received; and now they come here and ask us to give settlers the privilege of squatting on those lands. I should have been willing to have given them twice as much land as they have received for school purposes; but I would not have voted to give them any, if I had thought squatters should settle on the lands before they were surveyed." Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, moved to strike out the word " Minnesota" from the section. He said : — " I make this motion, for the purpose of destroying the section. I understand the law to be, that any man who squats upon the public land, in any of the new states or territories, before it is surveyed, is entitled to • no pre-emption right. He is a wrongdoer, a trespasser. But if he settles down after the land is surveyed, he gets his pre-emption right. This section proposes to give to this wrongdoer a right to take possession of the lands devoted to sacred charity, if I may call it charity, for school purposes. * * * * j believe there is no law which gives a right of pre-emption to settlers upon unsurveyed lands. I may be wrong in this." Mr. Fitch — "You are decidedly wrong." Mr. Stevens — "I am informed by a gentleman be- hind me, who, I believe, is right, that there is no law which gives a right to unsurveyed land but the 'higher law,' which the gentleman from Minnesota speaks of, the law of the bowie-knife. Now, I think that we ought not to recognise that kind of higher law at any MK. SIBLEY ON THE HIGHER LAW. o55 rate. If we are to recognise a higher law above, we are not at any rate to recognise a higher law below. I cannot go for that. I hope the whole bill will be killed."^ Mr. Sibley, in reply, said : — " That the ' higher law' to which he had referred wa& not any law of violence, nor that of the bowie knife, as stated by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, nor a law from below, but the law of pubhc opinion, of public sentiment ; a higher law which he believed existed else- where in this country as well as in Minnesota." Mr. Stevens's motion prevailed. Mr. Bowlin of Mis- souri moved to strike out all in the bill relative to the leasing of the lands, which was agreed to, and the bill passed in a modified form. In the winter of 1851, the publication of the " Chroni- cle and Register " ceased. About the middle of May a war party of Dahkotahs discovered near Swan river an Ojibway with a keg of whiskey. The latter escaped with the loss of his keg. The war party, drinking the contents, became intoxi- cated, and, firing upon some teamsters they met driving their wagons with goods to the Indian Agencj^, killed one of them, Andrew Swartz, a resident of St. PauL The news was conveyed to Fort Ripley, and a party of soldiers, with Hole-in-thcrDay as a guide, started in pursuit of the murderers, but did not succeed in capture ing them. Through the influence of Little Six, the Dah- kotah chief, whose village was at, and named after him>. Shokpay, five of the oifenders were arrested and placed in the guard-house at Fort Snelling. On Monday, June ninth, they left the fort in a wagon guarded by twenty- five dragoons, destined for Sauk Eapids for trial. As they departed they all sung their death song, and tht> 656 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. coarse soldiers amused themselves by making signs that they were going to be hung. On the first evening of the journey the five culprits encamped with the twenty- five dragoons. Handcuffed, they were placed in the tent, and yet at midnight they all escaped, only one being wounded by the guard. What was more remark- able, the wounded man was the first to bring the news to St. Paul. Proceeding to Kaposia, his wound was examined by Dr. Williamson, and then fearing an arrest, he took a canoe and paddled up the Minnesota. The excuse offered by the dragoons was, that all the guard but one fell asleep. Had they lived in ancient Eome they would all have slept the sleep of death for their negligence. The first paper published in Minnesota, beyond the capital, was the St. Anthony Express, which made its appearance during the last week of May. The most importaJnt event of the year 1851 was the treaty with the Dahkotahs, by which the west side of the Mississippi and the valley of the Minnesota river were opened to the enterprise of the hardy emigrant. The commissioners on the part of the United States were Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Governor Kamsey. The place of meeting for the upper bands was Traverse des Sioux. The commis- sion arrived there on the last of June, but were obliged to wait many days for the assembling of the various bands of Dahkotahs. Steps had been taken for the observance of the fourth of July, by those associated with the commissippers, but that day proved to be one of sadness. Mr. Goodhue, who was on the spot, writes to the " Pioneer," of which he was the editor : — ^ REV. MR. HOPKINS' DEATH BY DROWNING. 557 " Instead of the joyous festivities we had this day. anticipated, the sudden death, by drowning, this morn- ing, before breakfast, of the Rev. Mr. Hopkins, tesident missionary here, has thrown over our whole encampment a shadow of gloom. A multitude of men and women of both races ran to the spot to search the water for his body. His clothes were found upon the bank of the river, or, rather, the bank of a slough, near the bed of a pretty strong current of water. A little Indian girl says she saw him wading breast deep toward shore, and that looking again, after filling her pail with water, she saw only his hands above water. As he could not swim, he was, doubtless, drowned by wading into a deep hole. Search has been made all day with nets and hooks, and by Indians diving, but, as yet, in vain. Mr. Hopkins was a good man, and left a most amiable wife, and four children." Under date of July seventh, he writes : — " Suddenly, news arrives in camp that the body of the lamented Mr. Hopkins is caught in a drag-net; and, instantly, the most of our company, and hundreds of Indians, are running from all directions to the spot. The body being washed was removed to the mission- |iouse, amid much sUent grief, while a very aged squaw indulged in piteous lamentations, which affected every listener, saying, ' He was my son ; he was very kind to me ; he provided for me when I was hungry and needy.' This afternoon we are engaged in the mournful duty of burying this good man, who, buried in the seclusion of savage life, spent the flower of his days in a work as disinterested as that which made Howard immortal." For several days there had been violent rains and thunderstorms, and the Dahkotahs supposed that the Great Thunder Bird had dashed his wing upon the head So8 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. , of the Blue Earth river, and broken up fountains which had caused the rise in the waters. One day there was a propitiatory dance to Wahkeenyan, the God of Thunder. On the afternoon of July twelfth the dance was com- menced. The spot selected was nearly a half mile from the river bank. The commissioners and their party, and perhaps one thousand Dahkotahs, were present. The dance was performed within a circular enclosure made of the limbs of the aspen stuck in the ground, interwoven with four arched gateways, forming an area like a large circus. A pole was planted in the middle ■of the area, with an image cut out of bark, designed to represent the Thunder Bird, suspended by a string at the top. At each of the arched gateways stood another pole and image of the same description, but smaller than the one in the centre. Near the foot of the cen- tral pole was a little arbour of «,spen bushes, in which sat an ugly-looking Indian with his face blackened, and a wig of green grass over his head, who acted as sorcerer, and uttered incantations with fervent unction, and beat the drum, and played on the Indian flute, and sung by ' turns, to regulate the various evolutions of the dance. Before this arbour, at the foot of the central pole, were various mystical emblems ; the image of a running buf- falo cut out of bark, with his legs stuck in the ground, also a pipe and a red stone shaped something like a head, with some coloured down. At a given signal by the conjurer, the young men sprang in through the gate- ways, and commenced a circular dance in procession around the conjurer, who continued to sing and beat his drum. After fifteen or twenty minutes, the dancers ran out of the ring, returning after a short respite. The THUNDER BIRD CEREMONIES. 559 third time a few horsemen, in very gay fantastic costume, accompanied the procession of dancers who were within, by riding outside of the enclosure. The last time a multitude of boys and girls joined the band of dancers in the area, and many more horsemen joined the caval- cade that rode around the area, some dressed in blue embroidered blankets, others in white. Suddenly seve- ral rifles were discharged at the poles upon which th( Thunder Birds were suspended, knocking them down, and the sacred dance ended. On the eighteenth of July, all those expected having arrived, the Sissetoans and Wahpaytoan Dahkotahs as- sembled in grand council with the IJnited States com^ missioners. After the. usual feastings and speeches, a treaty was concluded on Wednesday, July twenty-third. The pipe having been smoked by the commissioners, Lea and Ramsey, it was passed to the chiefs. The ' The treaty is in substance as ten miles on each side to Lac Tra- foUows : — verse. Perpetual peace. The Indians are to receive The cession of all the Siouz lands $1,665,000, as follows : •east of Sioux river and Lac Traverse. To be paid after their removal to The line then runs up the head the reservation, $275,000, and waters of Otter Tail Lake, thence To be expended in breaking land, •down from the head of Watab river erecting mills, and establishing to the Mississippi. manual labour schools, $30,000, The cession embraces the entire amounting to $305,000. -valley of the Minnesota, and the Thebalanceof $1,360,000 to be in- •eastern tributaries of the Sioux vested at five per cent, fer fifty years, river, and is estimated to contain which will give an annual ineome •21,000,000 acres. of $68,000, to be paid as follows : The Indians reserve a tract on In cash, annually $40,000 the Minnesota, about one hundred Goods and provisions, 10,000 miles in length, and twenty in Civilization fund, 12,000 breadth. This reserve commences Education, 6,000 at the mouth of Yellow Medicine river, and extends up the Minnesota 68,000 "160 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. paper containing the treaty ^ was then read in English, and translated into the Dahkotah by the Rev. S. R. Riggs. This finished, the chiefs came up to the secre- tary's table and touched the pen ; the white men pre- sent then witnessed the document, and nothing remained but the ratification of the United States Senate to open- that vast country for the residence of the hardy emi- grant. During the first week in August, a treaty was also concluded beneath an oak bower, on Pilot Knob, Men- dota, with the M'dewakantonwan and Wahpaykootay bands of Dahkotahs. About sixty of' the chiefs and principal men touched the pen, and Little Crow, who had been in the mission-school at Lac qui Parle, signed his own name. Biefore they separated. Colonel Lea and Governor Ramsey gave them a few words of advice on various subjects connected with their future well-being, but particularly on the subject of education and tempe- rance. The treaty was interpreted to them by the Rev. G. il. Pond, a gentleman universally conceded to be the most correct speaker of the Dahkotah tongue of any who are not natives. The day after the treaty these lower bands received thirty thousand dollars, which, by the treaty of 1837, was set apart for education ; but, by the misrepresenta- tions of interested half-breeds^ the Indians were made to believe that it ought to be given to them to be em- ployed as they pleased. The next week, with their sacks filled with money. After fifty years all payments to relates to the introduction and sale cease, and the principal of |1,360,000 of ardent spirits, shall be continued to revert to the government. in full force, until changed by legal The intercourse laws, so far as authority. INDIANjS :AT THE HORSE MAJIKET. 561 they thronged the streets of St. Paul, purchamng what- ever pleased their fancy. Many desired horses. Now an Indian always purchases a horse on a different prin- ciple from a white man. If he desires a white horse, all other considerations are secondary. He may he awkward in gait, or slow in motion ; these are all oui> weighed by the colour that he desires. Another one Vf^ai want a long-tailed horse, and, if such an animal can be found, but few questions are asked in relation to his age or freedom from trick. The week subsequent to the treaty there was a general clearing out of worn-out nags from the livery stables of the capital ; and, when the cavalcade started for the Indian country, in John Gilpin style, it was a scene to excite the laughter of a stoic. Many departed empty-handed, and, if they had not given a kingdom, had given their all for a horse that would die, under Indian treatment and grooming, in a few months.^ ' B/thc treaty signed at Mendota, expenses of their remoTal, and settle August fifth, the above-named bands their affairs generally, ceded to the United States all their In opening farms, erecting mills, lauds in Minnesota and Iowa. smith-shops, and school-houses, is to A reserve is granted them on the be expended thirty thousand dollars. Minnesota river, commencing at In annuities to be continued fifty Little Rock, which is about fifty years : miles by land from Traverse des In agricultural fund . $12,000 Sioux, and extending up the river In goods and provisions 10,000 ten miles wide on each side to Yel- In education .... 6,000 low Medicine arid Chatanl)a rivers, In cash 30,000 to which they are to remove within By the two treaties concluded be- one year after the ratification of the tween the United States and four treaty. divisions of the Dahkotah tribe. On the ratification of the treaty, about thirty millions of acres of the chiefs were paid the sum of two land have been added to the posses- nundred and twenty thousand dol- sions of the United States, and most lars, to be used by them in the pur- of it is in Minnesota. Much of it is chase of provisions, to defray the of an excellent quality, well tim- 86 662 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. A few days before the treaties, one of the Dahkotah missionaries at Shokpay's village, now a flourishing town, the county seat of Scott county, writes :: — " Our situation is in many respects unpleasant. We have no persons residing with us, and no white neigh- bours within sixteen miles. This is much the largest band Of the Dahkotahs, on the Minnesota or Mississippi, and they all dwell within a hundred rods of our door, some of them much nearer. We have great reason to be thankful for the degree of peace and security we enjoy whilst living in the midst of so many savages ; but we are continually annoyed in a thousand ways. They are almost universally thieves and beggars ; and, though we endeavour to have as little property exposed as possible, we are obliged to be continually on the watch. My wife has been only a mile from home in thr6e years, and, when the Indians are here, I seldom go out of sight of the house, unless I am obliged to do so. Few days pass in which they do not commit some depredation. I do not mention these things by way of complaint. We are annoyed much less than we might reasonably expect in such circumstances ; and we should feel contented and cheerful in our situation, if the In- dians would only listen to the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." On the seventeenth of September, a new paper was commenced in St. Paul, under the auspices of the "Whigs," and John P. Owens became editor, which relation he sustained until the fall of 1857. The election for members of the legislature and bered and well watered. It ia an the rooks and hills. Here is room inviting oountrytocramped-up New enough, a rich soil, and healthy England farmers, who dig among climate. FIRST DEMOCRATIC TICKET. 5CiJ <5ounty oflGicers occurred on the fourteenth of October ; and, for the first time, a regular Democratic ticket was placed before the people. The parties called themselves Democratic and Anti-organization, or Coalition. In the month of November Jerome Fuller arrived, and took the place of Judge Goodrich as Chief Justice of Minnesota; and, about the same time, Alexander Wilkin was appointed secretary of the territory in place of C. K. Smith. The eighteenth of December, pursuant to proclama- tion, was observed as a day of thanksgiving.^ "^A Proclamation, by Alexander Ramr sey, Oovernor of the Territory of Minnesota. " The Harvest is past, the Sum- mer is ended;" the corn and the ■wheat that stood thick upon our fruitful soil, have been "gathered into the garner." Once more, "cold •out of the North" has come ; " frost is given, and the breadth of the war ters is straitened." Before the year •closes, it seems a becoming act for the people of Minnesota, by public assembly and solemn observance, to unite in giving thanks to Him " who crowneth the year with goodness," and whose blessings " are more in •number than the sand." In accordance, therefore, with a time-honoured, and now general cus- tom of the states of the Republic, I respectfully recommend to the peo- ple of this territory the observ- ance, in the way that to them is most appropriate, of Thursday, the eighteenth day of December, as a day of Praise and Thanksgiving. Given under my hand, and the [seal.] great seal of the Territory, at St. Paul, this third day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one. Alex. Ramsey. By the Governor: Alexander Wilkin, Secretary. 564 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XXV. The third Legislative Assembly commenced its ses- sions in one of the edifices on Third below Jackson street, which now forms a portion of the Merchants' Hotel, on the seventh of January, 1852.' ' CouDcillorB. No. of District Keeidence. Occupation, Elam Greeley, . . . . 1 . Near Stillwater. D. B. Loomis, . . . . 1 . Marine Lumber Merchant Gr. W. Farrington, . . 2 . St. Paul Merchant. William H. Forbes, . . 2 (( Indian Trader. W. L. Lamed, . . . 3 . St. Anthony. L. A. Baboook, . . 4 St. Paul, .... Lawyer. S. B. Lowry, . . . 5 Watab, Indian Trader. Martin McLeod, . . 6 Oak Grove, . . . Indian Trader. N. W. Kittson, . . 7 Pembina, .... Indian Trader. Reprefientatives. Mahlon Leavitt, , . 1 Stillwater Lumber Dealer. Mahlon Black, . 1 (( Lumber Dealer. Jesse Taylor, . . 1 It John D. Ludden, . . 1 Marine, .... Lumber Dealer. Charles S. Cave, , . 2 St. Paul Saloon Keeper. W. P. Murray, . . 2 " .... Lawyer. S. D. Findlay, . . . 2 Near Fort Snelling, Indian Trader. J. W. Selby, . . . 2 . St. Paul Farmer. J. E. FuUerton, , . 2 . . . . Merchant. S. W. Farnham, . . 3 St. Anthony, . . . Lumberman, J. H. Murphy, . 3 a Physician. F. S. Richards, . . 4 Lake Pepin, . . . Trader. ST. PETER'S DISCONTINUED IN PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 565 This session, compared with the previous, formed a contrast as great as that between a boisterous day in March and a calm June morning. The minds of the population were more deeply interested in the ratifica- tion of the treaties made with the Dahkotahs, than in pohtical discussions. Among other legislation of interest was the creation of Hennepin county, the passage of an act punishing trespassers on school lands, and the post- ponement of the election of delegate to Congress until October, 1853. An important liquor law was also passed, subject to a vote of the people, similar in its provisions to what is known as the Maine Liquor Law. The election was ordered to be held on the first Monday of April, and if the majority of citizens were in favour, it was to be in force after the first of May. Among the memorials to the Congress of the United States, was one relative to the name of the Minnesota river. Ever since the acquisition of this country by the United States, it had been called the St. Pierre by the French voyageurs, and Anglicized by the Americans into St. Peter's. The memorial states that the stream was named after Mons. St. Pierre, who was never in this country, which is incorrect. It then asserts " that Minnesota is the true name of this stream, as given to it in ages past, by the strong and powerful tribes of RepresentatiTes. No. of District. Residence. Occupation. James Beatty, . . 6 Itasca, . . . . Farmer. David Day, . . . . . 5 Long Prairie, . Physician James MoBoal, . . . 6 Mendota, . , . Painter. B. H. Randall, . . . 6 Fort Snelling, . Clerk. Joseph Rolette, . . . 7 Pembina, . . . Clerk. Antoine Gingras, . . . 7 r school pur- poses are far in advance of the log huts that were for- merly erected by pioneer settlers, as school-rooms for their ' little ' ones,' and which even the cows of the farmer might blush to own as their resting place. " In saying this, however, it is not to be understood that they can receive no improvement. Nearly all, like the barns, remain unp£(.inted, and are destitute of all those surrounding conveniences which are so necessary to cultivate neat md modest habits in youth. The 668 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. trustees:; 'have, in ialmost evefy instance, neglected to plant shadfe'^hd ornamental trees,' and, unless some care is shown, it will not be long beifore the school-houses will look as dilapidated as the drunkard's dwelhng. " It is strange that ' fathers who know how to give good gifts to their children,' almost invariably neglect to furnish their offspring with a school-house that is cal- culated to make the associations with their studies plea- sant, or to teach them the principles of correct architec- ture, or give them a single idea of beauty. " ' Barnard's School Architecture' is a book that a trifling sum will purchase, and, in the erection of school- houses in our new settlements and villages, it is desir- able that the trustees should follow some of the plaiis there detailed: It is, therefore, suggested that the trus- tees of each school district purchase a copy for the school library. Before we pass from the subject of school architecture, it is proper to call your attention to the importance of trustees securing larger lots for school buildings. " One of the largest school lots in the territory is. that of district No. 5, in Ramsey county, and yet the build- ing appears to be squeezed into the back ground by the pressure of a building on each side. " To make a full man, the boy must be developed physically as well as intellectually; and the village which would have its youth prosper most in school hours, should take care in this new country, where land is not held at an exorbitant price, that the school-house be situated in the centre of at least an acre lot. No- thing raises a population so much in the estimation of a traveller or emigrant, as to see a crowd of boys issuing SCHOOL TEACHERS.— SCHOOL-HOUSES. 569 from a pleasant School-house, to play during the recess upon a capacious lawn.* " The vocation of teacher is a noble one. He is far from being a drone in society, but is eminently one of the class of producers. His duties are such as often to require ' an angel's wisdom ;' " For he does the work Deputed by the parent, still uncheered By that rich filial love, whose magic makes All burdens light." " In many states he is forbidden the social position to which, if competent, he is entitled, and looked upon as a servant, rather than an equal, and therefore receives but a servant's wages. ^ Table representing the condition of School Districts in the Territory of Minnesota, January, 1852. School-House— by whom owned. When built. Ck)8t. Dimensions. Size of Lot. Washiugton Co. > Point Douglas, Cottage Grove, Priv. property 16 by 18 ft. [No school building erected, or school kept.] Stillwater, l/isnne Mills, District do. 1848 now building 20 by 30 ft. 20 by 30 ft. 50 by 150 ft. 75 by 150 ft. Bbntos ConSTY. [No returns received.] Rahset Codnty,-. District, No. 1. St. Paul, " 2. do. " 3. do. " 4, District Priv^ individual [No returns.] 1850 1848 $600 $400 18 by 36 ft. 20 by 24 ft. 50 by 160 ft. St. Anthony, " 6. do. « 6. District None 1849 $600 24 by 34 ft. l-4th acre. District " 7. do. " 8. [No returns.] 670 HISTOKY OF MINNESOTA. "Immediately after the orga,nizatipn of our school dis- tricts, the ground was taken by the friends of education, that so valuable a member of society as the faithful teacher should receive at least the wages of an ordinary- day labourer." On Saturday, the fourteenth of February, a dog-train arrived at St. Paul from the north, with the dis- tinguished Arctic explorer. Dr. Eay. He had been in search of the long-missing Sir John Franklin, by way of the Mackenzie river, and was now on his way to England. During the same month, Captaia Simpson, of the Corps of Topographic£|,l Engineers, United States Army, made the first reconnoissance of the country between Watab and the Winnebago Agency at Long Prairie. One of the party gives a sketch of the exploration in the Minnesota Pioneer : — " Securing for guides the noted old Ojibway, of Crow Wing, White Fisher, and a half-breed, Johnson, the party and guides started from Sauk Kapids, on Monday, February second. On the next Thursday evening they camped on a Httle branch of Two Rivers. The next Friday, the fifth day out, came into a high maple region, and one large marsh, which they crossed on the ice; but on examination, discovered where two points of high timber ground approximated each other; and here one hundred and fifty feet of log-way might be neces- sary. After this, it was all maple high land until they camped. " The next day, Saturday, they only proceeded three miles, crossing one little stream, and encamped at the Birch Bark Fort Lake, on a singular neck of land be- tween the lake and a succession of marshes extending COUNTRY BETWEEN WATAB AND LONG PRAIRIE. 571 far to the northward. Here they remained until Tues- day, one of the nurabpr retnrning to Sauk Rapids wit)i the team for further supplies. They found here a camp of ten lodges of Chippewas, who were living fat on plenty of white fish, and a bear they had just killed,. The country on Ijiis part of the route seemed alive with game — .deer tracks and other tracks in every direction. So far from the Winnebago country being destitute of game, it is full of it'; but the tribe are too indolent to hunt it. Birch Bark Fort they calculated was from twenty to twenty-four miles from the Rapids; while it was about fifteen miles further to the Agency. It is a noted Indian pass— the remains of two war forts con- structed of birch trees being seen in the vicinity. One was erected a great many years ago by the Sioux ; and the other more recently by Strong Ground, the brother of old Hole-in-the-Day. " Starting again on Tuesday, their route that day was over high rolling dry land, all the way, with occasion- ally a little run to cross ; they made but six miles and camped. The next day, Wednesday, the route con- tinued good — only meeting one place, where log-waying, about one hundred feet, will be required. They now came to a magnificent and beautiful s^ieet of water, some fifteen milps in length, and five or six wide, the northern shore rising almost into mountainous height; the water clear and transpaxent, and abounding in luscious white-fish; and beautified by several islands with blufi" shores, one of them booming moui^tain-likfe out of the water more than one hundred feet ; and all wooded to the tops with red cedar. The only name the Chippewas have for this fine lake, is ' The Lake where there is Red Cedar ;' but there being a dozen lakes of this 572 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. name, besides the great Red Cedar Lake up the Missis- sippi, this amounts to no distinctive name at all ; and we have, therefore, called it Neill's Lake, in honour of the Rev. Edward D. Neill, of St. Paul, Territorial Superintendent of Common' Schools. A large unnamed lake, with islands in it, which is, perhaps, intended to represent Neill's Lake, is set down in Nicollet's map (from reports of Indians merely — he never was there), as dischar^ng its water into the Watab river. This is discovered to be an error. It really empties into Sauk j'iver. " The party passed to the northward of Neill's Lake. The next day, Thursday, they found small, open, dry prairies, for four miles before reaching the south-east corner of Round Prairie, and thence continuing north- ward, they arrived without further difficulty at the Agency." The election on the first Monday in April for the approval or rejection of the Liquor Law interested all classes of citizens. It was a theme of conversation with mothers and daughters, and the subject of discourses in the pulpits of both the Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy, all heartily co-operating. When it was disco- vered that Ramsey county had voted in favour of the law, all the church bells at the capital about nine o'clock at night, rang a simultaneous peal of joy.* Before the ratification of the treaties with the Dah- kotahs, impatient pioneers had gone in and possessed the land. Among the earlier settlements commenced ' The Vote on the Liquor Law : — Counties. For. .4eaipst. CountieB. Ramsey, .... 528 496 Chisago, . . . Washington, ... 218 68 Benton and Cass, Dahkotah, ... 32 4 ■— 853 662 For. 13 Against 3 62 91 ROLLING STONE COLONY.— LAND SLIDE. 573 on the Minnesota, were those of Mahkahto, Traverse des Sioux, Kasota, Louisville, and Shokpay. A pioneer, by the name of Mackenzie, had a claim on Eden Prairie, and near by, on a lake in the woods, were other claim- ants. The first settlement of any magnitude, on the west bank of the Mississippi, was made on EoUing Stone Creek, just above Winona. The colony was from New York city and vicinity. Inexperienced in frontier life, with theoretical rather than practical views, many of them shrunk from the hardships which every pioneer must endure, others sickened and died, and what was begun in so much hope soon dwindled away. The place for the town was not judiciously selected, though the name, " KoUing Stone," in view of the results, was not wholly insignificant. On the fourteenth of May, an interesting lusus naturae occurred at Stillwater. On the prairies, beyond the ele- vated blufis which encircle the business portion of the town, there is a lake which discharges its waters through a ravine, and supplies McKusick's Mill. Owing to heavy rains the hills became saturated with water, and the lake very full. Before daylight the citizens heard the " voice of many waters," and looking oui, saw rushing down through the ravine, trees, gravel, and diluvium. Nothing impeded its course, and as it issued from the ravine it spread over the town site, covering up barns arid small tenements, and continiiing to the lake shore, it materially improved the landing, by a deposit of many • • tons of earth. One of the editors of the day, alluding to the fact, quaintly remarked, that "it was a vei-y extraordinary movement of real estate." During the summer, Elijah Terry, a young man who h3,d left St. Paul the previous March, and gone to 574 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Pembina, to act as teacher to the mixed bloods in that vicinity, was murderfed under distressing circumstances. With a bois briile he had started to the woods on the morning of his death, to hew timber. While there he was fired upon by a small party of Dahkotahs ; a ball broke his arm, and he was pierced with arrows. His scalp was wrenched from his head, and was afterwards seen among Sissetoan Dahkotahs, near Big Stone Lake. About the last of August, the pioneer editor of Minnesota, James M. Goodhue, died. The deceased was born iii Hebron, N. H., March thirty-first, 1810. His parents possessed the strong faith and stern virtue of the Puritans, and felt that an education was the greatest treasure they could give their children. After passing through preparatory studies, he entered Amherst College, where he listened to the lectures of the distin- guished geologist, Hitchcock, and other devout men of science. lii the year 1832, he received a diploma from that institution. It was his desire to have attended a meeting of his surviving classmates in the halls of his " Alma Mater ;" but another summons came to take " his chamber in the silent halls of death." Having studied law, he entered upon the practice of the profession. He became an editor unexpectedly to himself. Having been invited to take the oversight of a press, in the lead region of Wisconsin, during the temporary absence of its conductor, he discovered that he increased the interest of the readers in the paper. From that time he began to pay less attention to the* legal profession, and was soon known among the citizens of the mines as the editor of the Grant County Herald, published at Lancaster, Wisconsin. While residing at this place, he became interested in the territory "of SKETCH OF JAMES M. GOODHUE. 575 sky-tinted waters" (Minnesota). With the independ- ence and teSmerity of one Benjamin Franklin, he left Lancaster as suddenly as the ostensible editor of the New England Coufant left Boston, and he arrived at the landing of what is now the Capital of Minnesota, with little more money and few more friends than the yOung printer who landed at Market street wharf, in the capital of the then youthful territory of Penn sylvania. In April, 1849, he found St. Paul nothing more than a. frontier Indian trading settlement, known by the savages as the place where they could obtain Minne Wakan, or whiskey, and wholly unknown to the civil- ized world. When he died, with the sword of his pen he had carved a name and reputation for St. Paul, and he lived long enough to hear men think aloud and say, that the day was coming when school-boys would learn from their geography that the third city in commercial importance, on the banks of the mighty Mississippi, was St. Paul; His most bitter opponents were convinced, whatever might be his course towards them, that he loved Minnesota with all his heart, all his mind, and all his might. When, in the heat of partisan warfare, all the quali- ties of his mind were combined to defeat certain mea- sures, the columns of his paper were like a terrific storm in midsummer amid the Alps. One sentence would be like the dazzling arrowy lightning, peeling in a moment the mountain oak, and riving from the topmost branch to the deepest root; the next like a crash of awful thunder ; and the next like the stunning roar of a tor- rent of many waters. The contrarieties of his character often increased his 76 HISTQRY OF MINNESOTA. force. Imagining his foes to be Cossacks, he often dashed among them with all the recklessness of Murat. The fantastic magnificence of his pen, when in those moods, was as appalling in its temerity as the white ostrich feather and glittering gold band of Napoleon's famed marshal. His prejudice was inveterate against sham and clap- trap. He refused to publish many of the miserable advertisements of those quacks, who seek to palm off their nostrums upon young men, diseased through their own vices. When a " stroller" for a hving, or a self- dubbed professor, came to town, he sported with him as the Philistines with bhnd Samson. By sarcasm and ridicule, " Jarley, with his wax works," was made to decamp.^ ' His love for a joke frequently led him to sacrifice truth. In his paper of February twentieth, 1850, with all gravity he has a paragraph, headed Singular Petrifaction, and adds, that " at the mouth of Crow Eiver there are several petrifactions in the shape of men and horses." A man in St. Louis about establishing a museum, saw the paragraph, and wrote a letter to the editor. The letter appeared in the paper of May 16th, with an editorial, entitled " Stone Cavalry Wanted." " We have received the following letter from a gentleman in St. Loiiis. In answer to it, we can only say, that it is generally understood here in St. Paul, that the secre- tary of the territory, had all the petrifactions in question (four horses and riders, beside a few fragments), raised at the expense of the trea- sury, and put in a small new stable, erected for the purpose, in the rear of the Central House, St.. Paul, at an expense of four hundred and thirty-one dollars to the government, which has been duly audited and allowed in his accounts. Secretary C. K. Smith, who is also secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, is now absent. On his return, a few weeks hence, a letter addressed to him on the subject, will no doubt re- ceive prompt attention. Crow Wing river is one hundred and twenty- eight miles above Saint Paul. To prompt further search for similar petrifactions at the mouth of the Crow Wing, we will now make an offer of fifty dollars for each sound petrified horse, mare, or gelding, the same for each perfect petrified man or woman, and half that price for ponies and children, delivered in STORY OF THE PETRIFIED HORSES. 577 When untrammelled by self-interest or party ties, his sentiments proved that he was a man that was often ready to exclaim : — " Video meliora proboque ; Deteriora sequor." At the November Term of the United States District Court, for Ramsey county, a Dahkotah, named Yu-har boxes on the bank of the river, ready to be shipped down to St. Anthony, on the steamboat Governor Kamsey, in good condition. "St. Louis, April 27, 1850. "Sir: — You will, I hope, excuse the liberty I take of addressing this let- ter to you, being an entire stranger to you. My object in writing it is to inquire of you some particulars with respect to a notice I observed in the St. Louis Union of the twenty-ninth inst., copied from your paper, of a number of petrifactions, in the shape of men and horses, which are said to be at the bottom of Crow river, near its mouth. . If not too much trouble, will you be good enough to let me know, at your earliest con- venience, more about the matter, and if there is any possibility of getting at them ? " I am about establishing amuseum in this city, and am desirous of col- lecting all the natural curiosities I can get for the same. If there are any specimens of fossils, minerals, or in fact anything in the way of curiosities in your neighbourhood, that could be sent to this city, I would pay liberally for them. 37 "Trusting that I may, at some future time, have it in my power to reciprocate the favour, I remain, dear sir, Tours most respectfully." The Philadelphia North Ameri- can, receiving the hoax, writes: — " The Crow River Petrifactions. — The petrified men and horses, re- cently discovered at the bottom of Crow river, Minnesota, near its mouth, have been housed in a build- ing near St. Paul, erected for the purpose, and are under the care of the territorial officers. There are four horses with their riders." Goodhue, feeling that he had car- ried his joke far enough, publishes the above paragraph in his paper of June twentieth, and adds : — "Yes ; but as oats in St. Paul are scarce at one dollar per bushel, the secretary enlisted them in the new company of dragoons, and they were shipped down on the Dr. Tranklin, No. 2, last week, under command of Captain Garland, U. S. A., to hunt the Sacs and Foxes out of Iowa." And thus ended the Horse Marine Story. 578 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. zee, was tried for the murder of a German woman. With others she was travelling above Shokpay, when a party of Indians, of which the prisoner was one, met them ; and, gathering about the wagon, were much excited. The prisoner punched the woman first with his gun, and, being threatened by one of the party, loaded and fired, killing the woman and wounding one of the men. On the day of his trial he was escorted from Fort Snelling by a company of mounted dragoons in full dress. It was an impressive scene to witness the poor Indian half hid in his blanket, in a buggy with the civil officer, surrounded with all the pomp and circum- stance of war. The jury found him guilty. On being asked if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed, he replied, through the interpreter, that the band to which he belonged would remit their annuities if he could be released. To this Judge Hay- ner replied, that he had no authority to release him ; and, ordering him to rise, after some appropriate and impressive remarks, he pronounced the only sentence of death ever pronounced by a judicial officer in Min- nesota. The prisoner trembled while the judge spoke, and was a piteous spectacle. By the statute of Min- nesota, one convicted of murder cannot be executed until twelve months have elapsed, and he was confined until the governor of the territory should by warrant order his execution. Judge Hayner, havmg been appointed chief justice in the place of Puller, whose nomination was not confirmed by the United States Senate, on an appeal of Alexis Cloutier, who had been fined twenty-five dollars for vio- JUDGE HA7NER'8 DECISION ON LIQUOR LAW. 579 lating the liquor law, decided that the legislative power was vested by the organic act, in the Governor and Legislative Assembly alone, and that they had no power to delegate their authority to the people ; that the act in question was an attempt at such transfer of power, and was consequently null and void. 580 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XXVI. The fourth Legislative Assembly convened on the fifth of January, 1853, in the two story brick edifice at the corner of Third and Minnesota streets. The Council chose Martin McLeod as presiding ofl&cer, and the House Dr. David Day, Speaker. Governor Kamsey's message was an interesting document, and thus eloquently con- cluded : — " In conpluding this my last annual message, per- mit me to observe that it is now a little over three years and six months since it was my happiness to first land upon the soil of Minnesota. Not far from where we now are a dozen framed houses, not all completed, and some eight or ten small log buildings, with bark rooffe, constituted the capital of the new territory, over whose destiny I had been commissioned to preside. One county, a remnant from Wisconsin territorial organiza- tion, alone afforded the ordinary facilities for the execu- tion of the laws ; and in and around its seat of justice resided the bulk of our scattered population. Within this single county were embraced all the lands white men were privileged to till ; while between them and the broad rich hunting grounds of untutored savages, rolled the River of Rivers, here as majestic in its north- GOVERNOR RAMSEY'S LAST MESSAGE. 581 ern youth, as in its more southern maturity/ Empha- tically new and wild appeared everything to the in comers from older communities ; and a not least novel feature of the scene was the motley humanity partially filling these streets — ^the blankets and painted faces of Indians, and the red sashes and moccasins of French voyageurs and half-breeds, greatly predominating over the less picturesque costume of the Anglo-American race. But even while strangers yet looked, the elenients of a mighty change were working, and civilization with its hundred arms was commencing its resistless and beneficent empire. To my lot fell the honourable duty of taking the initial step in this work by proclaiming, on the first of June, 1849, the organization of the terri- torial government and consequent extension of the pro- tecting arm of law over these distant regions. Since that day, how impetuously have events crowded time ' The fabled magic of the eastern tale that renewed a palace in a single night, only can parallel the> reality of growth and prog]?ess. " In forty-one months the few bark-roofed huts have been transformed into a city of thousands, in which com- merce rears its spacious warehouses, religion its spired temples, a broad capitol its swelling dome, and luxury and comfort, numerous ornamented and substantial abodes : and where nearly every avocation of life pre- sents its appropriate follower and representative. In forty-one months have condensed a whole century of achievements, calculated by the old world's calendar of progress — a government proclaimed in the wilderness, a .judiciary organized, a legislature constituted, a icompre- hensive code of laws digested and adopted, our popula- tion quintupled, cities and towns springing up on every 582 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. hand, and steam with its revolving wings, in its season, daily fretting the bosom of the Mississippi, in bearing fresh crowds of men and merchandise within our borders. " Nor is that the least among the important achieve- ments of this brief period, which has enabled us, by^ extinguishing the Indian title to forty million acres of land, to overleap the Father of Waters, and plant civi- lization on his western shore. Broad and beautiful, by universal concession, are these newly acquired lands — the very garden spot of the north-west, as explorers have pronounced them — and it is scarcely surprising, though less than six months have elapsed since the rati- fication of the treaties by the Senate, that the keen-eyed enterprise of our race has within them already planned towns, built mills, opfened roads, commenced farms, the nucleus of many a happy home. " But it is, however, in their initiatory stages only, we can consider the present growth and advancement of our territory in all the constituents of national and individual prosperity. Our brief, though energetic past, foreshadows but faintly the more glorious and brilliant destiny in store for us in the future ; nor is prophetic inspiration necessary to foretell it. It is writfen so plainly that he who runs may read it. It is written in the advantages nature has so liberally bestowed upon us ; by a beautiful country, unqualified by the drawback of much waste land, with an universally fertile soil, wrhere prairies, ' that blossom as the rose,' with groves and woods are proportionately intermingled ; while dot- ting it over, in refreshing profusion, are gem-like lakes, ind intersecting its map, at convenient distances, are jrystal streams whose precipitous waters afibrd elements )ut of which to create future Lowells and Manchesters. FUTURE GREATNESS OF MINNESOTA. 583 "It is written ia our geographical position, in the centre of our continent, at the head of the Mississippi ' valley, and enfolding either bank of the great rivei* with its very head springs, even as its delta is embraced on both sides by our sister Louisiana. It is written in our proximity to Superior's inland sea, and the abund- ant mines of rich ores possessed alike by its northern, as by its southern shores — mines, whose workmen it will be our inevitable lot to feed and clothe. " And it is written likewise, on a thousand features of interest and advantage incident to our territory ; in our extensive pineries, the livelihood of hardy lumber- men, and a future chief resource for building purposes of the people of the great valley below us ; in the m&ny opportunities for manufacturing establishments offered by our magnificent water powers, and the ease with which the Mississippi enables us to procure the material, and export the products of factory labour ; in our salu- brious climate, insuring a healthy, hardy, and numer- ous population, and in the immediate advantage to our early growth and prosperity, which follows the expendi- ture of a quarter of a million of dollars annually by the national government, for the benefit of the Indian tribes in our midst. " That which is written is written — the life of a short generation will realize it. In ten years a state—in ten years more half a million of people, are not extravagant predictions. In our visions of that coming time, rise up in magnificent proportions, one or more capitals of the North, Stockholms, and St. Petersburgs, with many a town besides, only secondary to these in their trade, wealth, and enterprise. Steam on the water and steam 584 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. on the land, everywhere, fills the ear and the sight. Steamboats crowd our waters, and railroads intersecting in .every direction, interlink remotest points within and without our territory. The blue waters of Lake Supe- rior and the red-tinged floods of the Mississippi are united by iron bands, and a southreastern line connects St. Paul direct with Lake Michigan. "The great New Orleans and Minnesota Railroad pours into its depSt, somewhere on the Upper Minnesota river, passengers and products from the far sunny South, to receive in return, for ultimate ocean transit perhaps, furs and merchandise from the polar circle, which steam- boats on the Red River of the North, or a railroad on its banks, have just brought from Selkirk, or the plains of distant Athabasca. Let none deem these visions improbable, or their foreshadowing impracticable. Man, in the present age, disdains the ancient limits to his career; and in this country, especially, all precedents of human progress, growth of states, and march of empires, are set aside by an impetuous originality of action, which is at once both fact and precedent. -Doubt- less an overruling Providence, for inscrutable purposes, has decreecj to the American nation this quicker transi- tion from the wilderness of nature to the maturity of social enjoyments — this shorter probation between the bud and green tree of empire ; and it well becomes us therefore, in our gratulations upon present prosperity, and in our speculations upon greater power and happi- ness in the early future, to render humble, yet fervent thanks * unto Him who holdeth nations in the hollow of his hand,' and shapes out the destinies of everv people." Two subjects came before the legislature afFe-iting PROPOSED ALTERATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 585 domestic happiness. The large majority of citizens peti- tion that a liquor law might be enacted that would be free from the objections existing against the law of the previous session. A bill was proposed by the friends of temperance, but it failed to pass. During this session, an estimable citizen, the late Bishop Cretin, in accordance with an understanding with the other bishops of the Roman Catholic branch of the Church in this country, caused petitions to be presented, asking a division of the common school fund. Mr. Murray, from the select committee to which was referred sundry petitions for a change in the school law, made the following report:-;— "A majority of the committee to whom was referred sundry petitions from the citizens of St. Anthony, St. Paul, and Little Canada, praying a modification of the present school law, beg leave to report : " That while they have been unable to give the mat- ters set forth in the petitions, that attention and investi- gation which their implortance as affecting the rights and interests of so large and respectable a number of the citizens of this territory, would demand, it is evi- dent to them that the petitioners have just grounds of complaint, and that the present school law is defective in this : that while a revenue is derived from every tax- payer of this territory, to support and maintain common schools, more than one-third of the entire population of this territory have never derived any benefit from the large amounts paid for that purpose. " Your committee believing that duty demands a con- ciliation of law with individual liberty and freedom of conscience ; and where any law does not, by reason of its imperfections, meet the wants and situation, and the 586 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. thousand circumstances which diversify human cha- racter and pursuits, or where it fails to benefit commu- nities or denominations, by reason of a conscientious belief in opposition thereto, in common with their fellow- citizens, their case, of right, ought to be provided for by such legislation as is consistent with the welfare of every other citizen, and of the whole. "Your committee, therefore, ask leave to introduce the accompanying bill, and recommend its passage."' The moderate of all denominations, and the friends of the American system of public instruction, were sur- prised at the introduction of a bill with such features as ' The following is the bill as originally introduced by the Com- mittee ; — "No. 18, (E. of B.)— Introduced hy Mr. Murray, from, Select Com- mittee to which was referred sundry petitions on the subject, February sixteenth, 1863. Read first and second times, and laid on the table to he printed, February sixteenth, 1853 : — A Bill Amendatory op the School Law : " Be it enacted hy the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Minne- sota ! — Sec. 1. That all communities of any denomination, willing to have a school of their own, in which religious instruction will be taught as well as other branches of educa- tion, be authorized to do so, and their schools shall be entitled to all the benefits accruing to district schools. "Sec. 2. All schools well organ- ized, and composed of at least twenty- five children, shall receive a part of the school money, according to the number of children regularly at- tending the said school. " Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the trustees of any school district to issue warrants upon the treasurer for the proportionate share of money coming to any school as aforesaid, on application of the teacher or trustees of said school. Provided, that said teacher or trustees shall prove by the affidavit of at least one person, the number of scholars in regular attendance, which number shall be at least twenty-five. "Sec. 4. Such schools as only are composed of at least twenty-five child ren, and are kept in operation at least four hours every day, during five- days of every week, shall he con- sidered well organized schools, and entitled to a share of the school fund. "Sec. 5. All acts and parts of acts, contravening the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. " Sec. 6. This act to be in force- from and after its passage." BALDWIN SCHOOL INCORPORATED. 58T that introduced by Mr. Murray, and it led to consider- able discussion.^ The region west of the Mississippi was divided, by the legislature, into the following counties : Dahkotah,^ Goodhue, Waupashaw, Fillmore, Scott, Le Sueur, Eice, Blue Earth, Sibley, McoUet, and Pierce. The Baldwin School, founded by the Kev. ISdward D. Neill, Eev. Albert Barnes, and M. W. Baldwin of Philadelphia, Pa., was also incorporated at this session of the legislature, and was opened the following June. On the ninth of April, a party of Ojibways killed a Dahkotah, at the village of Shokpay. A war party, from Kaposia, then proceeded up the valley of the St. Croix, and killed an Ojibway. On the morning of the- twenty-seventh, a band of Ojibway warriors, naked,, decked, and fiercely gesticulating, might have been seen in the busiest street of the capital, in search of their enemies. Just at that time a small party of women, and one man, who had lost a leg in the battle of Stillwater, arrived in a canoe from Kaposia, at the Jackson street landing. Perceiving the Ojib- ways, they retreated to the building now known as the " Pioneer" office, and the Cyibways discharging a volley ' "No. 18, (H. of K.) 'A bill "Messrs. Lott, Murray, Noot, amendatory of the Schpol Law,' Oliver, and Rolette — 5. "Was taken up. "Those who voted in the negative " The question then recurring on were, ordering the bill to a third reading, " Messrs. Ames, Button, Ludden, "And the ayes and noes being McKee, Randall, Russell, Ramsey, called for and ordered, there were Stimson, Truax, Wells, Wilcox and ayes 5, noes 12. Speaker — 12. " Those who voted in the affirm- " So the House refused to order ative were, the bill to be read a third time." 588 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. through the windows, wounded a Dahkotah woman who soon died. For a short time, the infant capital pre- sented a sight similar to that witnessed in ancient days in Hadley and Deerfield, the then frontier towns of Mas- sachusetts. Messengers were despatched to Fort Snel- ling for the dragoons, and a party of citizens mounted on horseback, were quickly in pursuit of those who with so much boldness had sought the streets of St. Paul, as a place to avenge their wrongs. The dragoons soon followed, with Indian guides scenting the track of the Ojibways, like bloodhounds. The next day they disco- vered the transgressors, near the Falls of St. Croix. The Ojibways manifesting what was supposed to be an insolent spirit, the order was given by the lieutenant in •command, to fire, and he whose scalp was afterwards •daguerreotyped, and appeared in Graham's Magazine, wallowed in gore. During the summer the passenger, as he stood on the hurricane deck of any of the steamboats, might have seen, on a scaffold on the bluffs, in the rear of Kaposia, a square box covered with a coarsely fringed red cloth. Above it was suspended a piece of the Ojibway's scalp, whose death had caused the affray in the streets of St. Paul. Within was the body of the woman who had been shot in the " Pioneer", building while seeking refuge. A scalp suspended over the corpse is supposed to b6 a consolation to the soul, and a great protection in the journey to the spirit land. On the accession of Pierce to the Presidency of the United States, the officers appointed under the Taylor and Fillmore administrations were removed, and the following gentlemen substituted : Governor W. A. NEW TERRITORIAL OFFICERS. 589- Gorman, of Indiana;' Secretary, J. T. Kosser, of Virginia; Chief Justice, W. H. Welch, of Minnesota ; Associates, Moses Sherburne, of Maine, and A. G. Chatfield, of Wis- consin. One of the first official acts of the secona governor, was the making of a treaty with the Winne- bago Indians at Watab, Benton county, for an exchange of country. At the close of the summer the Dahkotahs began to leave their ancient villages, and move tp the reserve on the Upper Minnesqta. Their locations on the Missis- sippi and Minnesota, previous to this period, was as follows : — The Kiyuksah band, called by that name, signifying "relationship overlooked," because they disregard the Dahkotah custom, and marry their relatives, lived below Lake Pepin. Their chief Wapashaw lived in the vici- nity of Winona, and they hunted on the Chippeway river and branches. At the head of Lake Pepin, where the town of Red Wing now stands, was the Raymneecha band. They were so designated because their village was near a hill (Ha), water (min), and wood (chan). The chief was Wah-koo-tay, the uncle of the celebrated half-breed Jack Frazer. Four miles below St. Paul dwelt the Kaposia band. The signification of Kaposia is " light," and applied be- cause of the agility with which they travelled. Their chief was called by the whites Little Crow, after his an- cestor. His real name is Tahohyahtaydootah, " His '■ Governor Gorman was born in Buena Vista, he commanded the Fleming Co., Ky., but for many years Kifle Battalion, and in 1849 he was was a resident of Indiana. , During elected as a member of Congress the Mexican war, at the battle of from the sixth Indiana district. 590 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Scarlet People." The first village on the Minnesota was on the south side, and known as Black Dog's, about four miles above Mendota. At Oak Grove and vicinity lived Good Road's band, .and the band driven by the Ojibways from Lake Calhoun. . The Tintatonwan band occupied the site of Shokpay, and their principal chief was Shokpaydan, or Little ■Six.^ During the year 1853 an exciting topic of conversa- tion was an alleged fraud, said to have been perpetrated by Governor Ramsey, H. H. Sibley, H. L. Dousman, Franklin Steele, and others, in the payment of the Dah- kotahs at Traverse des Sioux, in the autumn of 1852. Charges were made against Governor Ramsey by an Indian trader named Madison Sweetser, who had come into the country after the treaty, and was not satisfied with the mode of payment. At the request of Mr. Sibley, then a delegate to Congress, Senator Gwin moved that the Senate of the United States investigate the alleged fraud. Commissioners were appointed to proceed to Minnesota, and examine all the facts in the case. A large number of witnesses testified, and on the twenty-fourth of February, 1854, the Committee of ' Presbyterian missionaries and Shokpat. — Samuel W. Pond, Mis- assistants among the Dahkotahs, in sionary; Mrs. Cordelia F. Pond. 1850-53:— Oak Gkovb.— Gideon H. Pond, LacquiPariiB. — Stephen K.Eiggs, Missionary; Mrs. Sarah P. Pond. Moses N. Adams, Missionaries; Kaposia. — Thomas S. Williamson, Jonas Pettijohn, Assistant; Mrs. M. D., Missionary and Physician: Mary Ann C. Rigigs, Mrs. Mary A. Mrs. Margaret P. Williamson, Miss M. Adams, Mrs. Fanny H. Pettijohn, Jane S. Williamson. Miss Sarah Rankin. ' Red Wing. — John F. Aiton, ^.9- Trateese DBS Sioox. — Rev. Robert sionary ; Joseph W. Hancjck, Licenr Hopkins and Mrs. Agnes Hopkins, tiate; Mrs. Nancy H. Aiton, Mrs Alexander 0. Huggins, Assistant; Hancock. Mrs. Lydia P. Huggins. ELECTION FOR DELEGATE TO CONGRESS. 591 Indian Affairs of the Senate, to whom the testimony taken by the commissioners appointed by the President of the United States was referred, reported " that they have carefully examined all the testimony taken by the commissioners during nearly three months in session at St. Paul, and have arrived at the conclusion that the conduct of Governor Ramsey was not only free from blame but highly commendable and meritorious. Not one of the charges preferred against him has been sus- tained by the testimony. On the contrary, the wit- nesses of the complainants themselves, in almost every instance, have negatived them, proving conclusively that he neither violated the stipulations of the treaties as understood by the parties to them, nor was governed in his conduct by motives other than such as entitle him to commendation, both as a man and an oflBcer." On the twenty-ninth of June, D. A. Robertson, who bj his enthusiasm and earnest advocacy of its princi- ples had done much to organize the Democratic party of Minnesota, retired from the editorial chair and was succeeded by David Olmsted. At the election held in October, Henry M. Rice and Alexander Wilkin were candidates for delegate to Con- gress. The former was elected by a decisive majority.' ' The official vote was: — Bice. Wilkin. Bice. Wilkin Ramsey, . . 880 292 Fillmore, . . . 161 12 Benton and Cass, 233 38 Nicollet, . . . 81 00 Hennepin, . . 160 30 Chisago, . . . 41 8 Sibley, . . . 13 2 Washington, . . 288 147 Wabasha, . . 10 .24 Itasca, . . . . 18 00 Dahkotah, . . 114 46 Pembina, . . . 60 68 Scott, . . • 51 9 Blue Earth, . 16 12 Total, 2149 696 Le Sueur, . . 23 8 592 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XXVIL With the advent of a new governor, a different arrangement of parties in a territory naturally fol- lows. During the early periods of a territorial government, citizens are s3f much occupied with local and personal interest, as not to feel the interest in national poHtics which is witnessed in the Atlantic States. From the previous chapters it appears that the excit- ing question of the year 1851 was the apportionment bill of the legislature of that year, allowing citizens on the unceded lands a representation. The year 1852 was characterized by the discussion on the liquor question, and the passage of a law prohi- biting the sale of intoxicating beverages, except for medicinal, mechanical, and sacramental purposes. The year 1853 was one of bitter personal controversy, and parties were known as Fur Company and Anti-Fur Com- pany. The year 1854 witnessed entirely new coalitions. Those who had previously -stood shoulder to shoulder were found withstanding each other to the face. On the one side are. ranged Eamsey, Rice, and Robertson; on the other side, Sibley and Gorman. The fifth session of the legislature was commenced in LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, 1854. 593 the building just completed as the Capitol, on January fourth, 1854. The President of the Council was S. B. Olmstead.* Governor Gorman dehvered his first annual message on the tenth, and with his predecessor urged the importance of railway communications, and dwelt upon the neces- sity of fostering the interests of education, and of the lumbermen. The exciting bill of the session was the act incorpo- ' Council. Age. S. B. Olmstead, 41 J. R. Brown, 48 I. Van Etten, 27 N. W. Kittson 40 A. Stimson, 37 W.P.Murray, 28 W. Freeborn 37 T B, Mower, 36 p,. Watson, 28 Cephas Gardner, . . . . 53 W. A. Davis 31 Levi Sloan 31 W.H.Nobles, 36 Wm. MoKusick 28 D. G. Morrison 27 C. P. Stearnea, 46 N. C. D. Taylor 42 Peter Roy 26 John Fisher, 29 H. Fletcher 35 B. M. Richardson 36 J. H. Day 33 0. M. Lord 27 Louis Bartlette, 33 H. S. Plumer, ..... 25 Wm. Noot 43 Joseph Rolette, 32 , Birth-place. Otsego Co., N. Y. York Co., Penn. Orange Co., N. Y. Sorel, Canada. York Co., Me. Butler Co., Ohio. Richland Co., Ohio. Somerset Cd., Me. Scotland. N. H. St. Louis, Mo. Schoharie Co., N. Y. Genesee Co., N. Y. Maine. Fond du Lac, M. T. Berkshire Co., Mass. Belknap Co., N. H. Rainy Lake, M. T. Canada West. Maine. Pickaway Co., Ohio. Virginia. Wyoming Co., N. Y. Montreal, C. B. Sheffield Co., N. H. Prussia. Prairie du Chien. 694 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. rating the Minnesota and North-western Railroad, Com- pany, intri)daced by Joseph- R. Brown. It wap passed after the hour of midnight on the last day of the ses- sion. Contrary to the expectation of his friends, the governor signed the bill. On Friday, the third of March, the Presbyterian mis- sion-house at Lac qui Parle was burned. Two of the children of the Rev. Mr. Riggs went into the cellar to procure some vegetables for their mother; bearing a lighted candle, they unintentionally communicated fire to the hay, and soon the house was in flames. Nearly everything was destroyed. The missionary, in a letter, says : " A few books were thrown out of the window, Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon and a few others, but neither my Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, Vulgate, French Bible, nor Greek Testament, nor a single copy of the English Scriptures, were saved. A short time since I had, at the request, of Dr. Williamson, obtained of Mr. M. Renville his father's large French Bible, for the library of the Minnesota Historical Society. It was printed at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1588, if I remember correctly, and was not only the oldest, hut probably the first Bible in Min- nesota. For its historical value we all very much regret its loss. ***** ^^YiQu Paul and those who ailed with him were shipwrecked on the island of Melita, he says, ' The barbarous people showed us no little kindness.' How often have I thought of this within a few days ! While some of the Dahkotahs came, both during and after the fire, to steal, the majority exerted themselves to save for us. what could be saved." During the same month Joseph R. Brown, who had been editor of the Pioneer, was succeeded by Earle S. Goodrich. GREAT KAILROAD EXCURSION. 595 Tuesday, the eighth of June, is a day that will long be remembered by the early settlers, of Minnesota. Mr. Famham, the builder of the Rock Island Railroad, to mark the era of its completion, with princely libe- rality, extended an invitation to hundreds of " the wise men of the East," to accompany him, via the Chicago and Rock Island Road, on a pleasure excursion to the Upper Mississippi. At the wharf at Rock Island, the company found five large steamers ready to receive them. Among the guests were some of the prominent statesmen, divines, scholars, editors, and merchants of the land.^ Passing through Lake Pepin, on a beautiful night, the steamers quietly approached each other, and being fastened together, the signal was given for a gene- ral exchange of visits from boat to boat. The scene of grandeur and excitement, as these boats moved through the lake, side by side, with their precious freight, will probably never be repeated. Arriving near St, Paul a ■day sooner than was anticipated, the firing of a cannon on board 5f the steamer in advance, created considerable surprise and confusion, as the preparations for the proper reception of one thousand guests were not completed. All felt that they could not return without beholding the ■ Falls of St. Anthony, and yet appropriate vehicles were very scarce. Though a man could have given a king- dom, he could not have obtained a horse for himself. The ride to St. Anthony was however accompUshed, ^'Ex-President Fillmore. Professor H. B. Smith, New York. George Bancroft. Rev. Dr. Vermilye. Professor Silliman. Eev". Dr. Spring. Edward Robinson, LL. D. Jlev. Dr. Bacon. Professor Gibbs, Yale College. Charles Sedgwick. Professor Larned, Yale College. Miss Catharine Sedgwick, and Professor Parker, Harvard. many others. 596 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. after a fashion. A Galena editor thus described the scene :--- " The ' March to Finchley' was nothing compared to our motley cavalcade. Here was a governor astride a sorry Rozinante of which even the great Don would have been ashamed; here an United States Senator, acting the part of footman, stood bold upright in the baggage boot of a coach, holding on by the iron rail surrounding the top ; here the historian of whom the country is justly proud, squatted on the top of a crazy van, unmindful of everything but himself, his book, hat, and spectacles ; there a hot-house flower, nursed in some eastern conservatory, so delicate and fragile that a fall- ing leaf might crush it, but a beautiful specimen of the feminine gender withal, would be seated over the hind axle of a lumber wagon, supported on each side by opera glass exquisites, who only wondered ' why the devil the people in this country didn't send to New York for better carriages ?' and whose groans between every jolt, furnished amusement for the more hardy of the party ; here some corpulent madame, whose idea of a ride is bounded by luxuriant cushions, shining hammer cloths, spirited horses, and obsequious flunkies, was seated in a hard bottom chair, in an open one-horse wagon, first' cousin to her husband's vegetable drag, or perhaps his pedlar's cart, before riches came to bless them (about which she has forgotten*, of course), here she was, sur- rounded perhaps by the canaille whom she has learned in latter days to despise, dragged along at a snail's pace by one old mare, with a crazy, foolish, wickering colt alongside, to torment her and to make the driver curse ; there a politician who has ridden successfully more than SPEECHES OF FILLMORE AND BANCROFT AT CAPITOL. 59'. oue easy hobby, would have been glad to ride a rail. The scene was animated and amusing !" ; In the afternoon the steamers proceeded to Fort Snelling, and the gates being thrown open, the fort was completely stormed. As the fair company retired from the green sward, within the walls, the fort never seemed so lonely to the young lieutenants, and that night memory brought the light of other days around them. Eeturn- ing to St. Paul before dark, the citizens and the guests repaired to the Capitol. The more grave listened to speeches in the Senate Chamber, from Ex-President Fillmore, and Bancroft the historian, while the more gay tripped it, in the Supreme Court Room. At mid- night the guests embarked on their respective steamers, whose bows were soon turned towards the homes of the visiters. On the following Sunday, Rev. E. D, Neill, who had not been able to give his usual attention to study, preached a discourse suggested by the occasion, which was pub- Hshed in one of the St. Paul papers, and was severely criticised by the Daily Times of New York city, as ia- appropriate to the pulpit. From the fact, that it led to some profitable discussion on what a sermon should be, we give an abstract. The texts were : — " Isaiah xl. 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill jshall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. "Judges V. 6. In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccu- pied and the travellers walked through byways." 598 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. The introduction was in these words : — " The Prophet Isaiah, in uttering this language, fore- told in figurative expressions, the pioneer work of John the Baptist, yet it primarily was applied to the return of the Hebrews from their captivity in Babylon. " Not only in the days of Shamgar, but during all of the earlier periods of the history of the world, there was but little international intercourse. The means of trans- portation were exceedingly limited, and there were few roads that were common thoroughfares for nations. "Here and there, over the mountains and through the valleys, there were the trails of the hunter and rest less adventurer, and pathways of sheep and their shep- herds, but seldom was there a highway of any costHness extending beyond the national boundaries. It was the policy of the day to intrench or wall themselves around^ and cut off the intercommunication of the people. When, therefore, great bodies of men were necessitated to move toward some distant land, a preparatory work was needed. Pioneers preceding the army or caravan, made highways for their passage, smoothing down the rough hills and filling up the marshy valleys. " Diodorus, an ancient historian, in giving an account of Semiramis, Queen of Babylon, says : ' In her march to Ecbatane, she came to the Zarcean mountain, which, extending many furlongs, and being full of craggy pre- cipices and deep hollows, could- not be passed without taking a great compass. Being therefore desirous of leaving an everlasting memorial of herself, as well as shortening the way, she ordered the precipices to be digged down and the hollows to be filled up, and at a great expense she made a shorter and more expeditious RAILWAYS IN THEIR RELIGIOUS ASPECTS. 599 road, which to this day is called from her the road of Semiramis.' " Babylon was separated from Judea by a wide and dreary country, and no doubt pioneers were literally sent on before to ' make straight in the desert a high- way.' " Since the advent of the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, the community in which we dwell have been greatly interested in the propositions for making a straight iron highway from the head of Lake Superior to this point on the Mississippi, and from hence to the waters of the Pacific, connecting with bracelets of iron the Naiads of the St. Lawrence, Mississippi, and Columbia. " Every mail is watched with eagerness, in the hope that it may bring the intelligence that the National Congress has taken measures for exalting the valleys and lowering the hills and mountains that lie between our Mediterranean and Pacific. " The week that has passed has been signalized b^ the arrival of hundreds of our fellow-countrymen on an excursion in boats as far excelling in splendour the re- nowned barges of the luxurious Cleopatra, as those sur- passed the osier vessels of the Briton, or the birchen canoe of the Ojibway, — who have been gratified and astonished by a continuous journey in a steam vehicle from the shores of the Atlantic to the head of naviga- tion of the mighty Mississippi, in the brief space of a few days. " ' To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven,' saith Ecclesiastes. " Fatigued with the multiplied duties of last week, unfitted for severe thought, and believing that the 600 • HISTOKY OF MINNESOTA. . theme can be appropriately discussed, without infring- ing upon the sacredness of the day, or deviating from the dignity of the pulpit, we enter upon the considera- tion of railways and other modes of international com- munication, in the higher and religious aspects." The preacher proceeded to show that they decrease idleness ; expand the mind of the nation ; were aids to contentment; rode over sectional prejudices ; promoted a common healthful public sentiment ; and lastly, were agencies in the promotion of pure and undefiled religion. Under this head the clergyman remarked : — " First : They draw th6 emigrant population to cer- tain localities. Before the mountains were depressed, and the valleys exalted, and the rough places made plain, the roads were so unbroken that the farmer mov- ing into a new land, was not attracted by the beaten path, but he branched off in the direction inclination prompted. Settlements consequently were much scat- tered, and it was difficult for him who longed to pro- claim the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ to discover the abiding places of the lost sheep of Israel. It was almost impossible in the first period of the settlement of a new country to pass from house to house, on ac- count of the impassable state of the road. But the condition of affairs has changed. " The emigrant population of the Atlantic and Euro- pean states are drawn as if by magnetic influence along the great iron railway leading from the eastern cities of commerce to the remotest west. In this way, made acquainted with the sections of land in the vicinity, and knowing the advantages of a railway in finding a mar- ket for produce, they settle along the line of the great inland road, and the labourer in Christ's cause, finds the RAILROADS ANTIDOTES TO BIGOTRY 601 fields white for the harvest, and numbers in the same neighbourhood to whom the gospel should be preached. By these highways he is enabled to advance along with, or before the wave of emigration, and commence turn ing the wilderness into the garden of the Lord, before the rank weeds of error have taken deep root. '•Had the means of conveyance to this town not been expeditious, the ministers of Jesus Christ, would not have been here at the laying of the foundation stones of our territorial existence, and years would have probably elapsed before so many temples erected to the worship of the true and living God would have been visible, or the community reached its present position in the scale of civilization. '•' Secondly : They aid religion by proving antidotes to bigotry. When the wagon drawn by oxen was the mode of conveyance to a new country, but few penetrated the wilds of the west, except those who had been driven away from the homestead of their fathers by povertj' or other misfortune. * '' Far away from all refining influences, they r,apidly degenerated; their children, debarred the knowledge of the common school, grew up without education, and were semi-barbarous. The only religious teachers they possessed were those who came to them because they knew they were ignorant and ripe for error, or because their own ignorance had rendered them unfit for the exercise of the ministry where there was intelligence. Under the guidance of these, they grew up with strong prejudices towards those who attempted to present the truth in a different light, or a more polished dress, or wore a blacker coat. The religion they possessed was tinctured with the quintessence of bigotry. 602 HISTOKY OF MINNESOTA. "Thioughthe influence of railways and steam car- riages, this state of things has been almost dissipated. " The very year a town starts into existence, the in- habitants are visited by religious teachers of various schools of belief The student who has been disciplined in the college, and who has studied the Bible systemati- cally, as well as he who has hurried from the work-bench into the pulpit, stand side by side. "He who defends the general teachings of Calvin, and he who eulogizes "Wesley, appear before the same audi- ence, perhaps upon the same Sabbath. It will not do- for either to show an improper spirit, or an unwise sectarian zeal. Men who listen to the herald of salva^ tion in such circumstances are not won to Christ by a minister of the gospel depreciating his fellow-ministers. They are impenitent under discourses in which there is an attempt to prove that none are safe out of the line of a certain succession, or off of certain platforms of faith. They demand that those truths shall be preached which will convince them that religion is adapted to expand the mind, and promote man's highest well-being. They become acquainted with the writings of Fenelon and Pascal, Leighton and Taylor, Edwards and Chal- mers, Wesley and Fletcher, and love them not because of denominational peculiarities, but because of their likeness to Jesus. The contractedness that in days gone by was manifested in places that were settled almost exclusively by Scotch Presbyterians, English Puritans,, and Wesleyan Methodists, in this progressive age will now disappear, and religion will assume a higher and more effective, because a more scriptural type. " Thirdly : Religion is promoted by the construction of expeditious routes of travel, because there is a great RAILWAYS SAVE TIME. 603' saving of time. The days that were once lost. by a minister in passing from preaching station to preaching station, are saved upon a line of railway, or a river navigated by regular steamers. He can accomplish in a few hours what once occupied as many days, and thus he lias more time for study, prayer, and meditation; "Under the improved system of travelling, a man. like the eloquent Dr. Duff, can cross the ocean, and one Sunday hold the attention of thousands on the Atlantic coast, and on the next be discoursing to an audience equally interested far away iu the valley of the Missis- sippi, and ere long a divine can pass his third Sabbath with the future dwellers on the mountain tops of Oregon, and the fourth Sabbath, address a congregation on the Pacific coast. '* Finally, our great thoroughfares are destined to facihtate intercourse with the Pagan world of Asia, and hasten the approach of Millennial glory. ' Coming events cast their shadows before.' " For more than two centuries an impression has pre- vailed that the welfare of the whole globe would be promoted by a channel of travel through North America^ connecting the western settlements of Europe with the eastern nations of Asia. The island of Montreal was named by Robert de La Salle, ' China,' to commemorate his cherished plan of civilizing and evangelizing the great empire of that name, by establishing a channel pf communication through this continent. Hennepin, the first European that ever ascended the Mississippi, and the discoverer of the Falls of St. Anthony, was a Fran- ciscan priest, despatched by the adventurous La Salle 604 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. to explore a route to Japan, which he thought could be found in this direction. "The first British subject that entered Minnesota, about a century ago, predicted that there would be 'a short cut made from New York to Green Bay,' and had no doubt, to use his own words, 'that mighty kingdoms would emerge from these wildernesses, and stately palaces and solemn temples with gilded spires rending the skies, supplant the Indian huts, whose only decorations are the barbarous trophies of their vanquished enemies.' Returning to London, he formed a plan, with the aid of a member of Parliament, ' that would disclose new sources of trade, promote many useful discoveries, and open a passage for conveying intelligence to China and the English settlements in the East Indies, with greater expedition than a tedious voyage by the Cape of Good Hope or the Straits of Magellan.' " Had not the American Revolution taken place, it was designed to have built a fort at Lake Pepin, to have proceeded up the river St. Pierre (now known by its original name, Minnesota), then up a branch of the Missouri, till they discovered, as they supposed they could, the river Oregon, down which they expected to sail into the Pacific. "One year ago, we witnessed a civil and military expedition start forth from our vicinity, by order of the United States, in search of the long-desired thoroughfare to the Pacific. The commander of that expedition ' has returned to Washington, by the way of San Francisco, and reports that such a route is entirely practicable. " On Thursday of the last week, men distinguished m the professional, scientific, and commercial circles of "he country, visited us, and felt that the day was not ' Grovernor Stevens. PACIFIC RAILROAD PROMOTER OF CHRISTIANITY. 605 far distant when the waters of Superior and Pacific would be bound together. Let this only occur, and who can doubt that the Redeemer's kingdom will be extended, that — " From Java to the furthest West The Jieavenly light shall reach, And truth divine its power attest In every clime and speech." " A Pacific Railroad would be a voice in the wilder ness, saying, ' Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low ; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth ; and all flesh shall see the salva- tion of God.' , " In view of the good results, it becomes Christians to watch with interest the enterprises of the day Every great invention is an aid to the cause of religion^ The telescope, the printing press, the telegraph, the ocean steamers, a Pacific Railway, are ordained by God, not for the pulling down but the upbuilding of religion — ^they are all working together to produce the grand consummation of giving the kingdoms of this world to Christ— of bringing about the day when all will cry : — " Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us ; The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks " Shout to each other, and the mountain tops From distant mountains catch the flying joy ; Till, nation after nation taught the strain, Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round." " With a few remarks we close the discourse. " In such a fast age every Christian must be up and 606 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. doing. It is high time to awake out of sleep. We must gird ourselves up for the race, and pray earnestly that we may not as a Church of Christ be found lag- ging when all things else are advancing with accele- rated speed. This one thing we ought to do — ' Forget- ting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before, we should press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of Ood in Christ Jesus.' " It would be doing violence to my own feelings, and a neglect of ministerial duty, if I should conclude this discourse without reminding this audience that this world is a great station-house, in which we are await- ing the approach of the cars that lead to ' that bourne from whence no traveller returns,' but through which every traveller passes to regionfe of bliss or despair. " My hearers ! some of you have tickets that wiU lead you to hell. The car of death is hastening on, swifter than an eagle hasteneth to its prey, or any 'lightning train.' Before it arrives we urge you to change that ticket. Christ is always in his office. He says, ' If any man knocketh, the door shall be opened.' If any man asketh, he will change his ticket, and that ' without money and without price.' " Hasten before it is too late. Now ! now ! now ! ' is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation.'" On the twenty-ninth of the month of this excursion, Congress passed an act to aid the Territory of Minne- sota in the construction of a railroad therein, which was approved by the President, and directions were issued from the General Land Office to the offices in Minnesota, withdrawing from sale a city, certain townships on the line of the proposed road. The citizens of Minnesota REPEAL OF LAND GRANT BY CONGRESS. 607 Teceived the intelligence with joyful enthusiasm, but the ■Oreek proverb, there's manj a slip between the cup and the lip, was soon fulfilled. On the twenty-fourth of July, in the House of Repre- sentatives of the United States, Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, rose to a question of privilege. He said the House, on the twenty-ninth of June, passed the bill granting lands to Minnesota, to aid in the construction ■of railroads, and a material alteration had been made since its engrossment. The bill was introduced here by the Committee on Public Lands. It was drawn up by a gentleman from Minnesota, who was well acquainted with the subject, and who had frequent consultations with him (Mr. Washburne) concerning its provisions. Minnesota had chartered a company with most extra- ordinary powers, granting to it all the lands which have been or may hereafter be donated to that territory for the construction of railroads. The House, to avoid this, added a proviso that said lands shall be subject to the disposition of any future legislature for the purpose aforesaid. Nor shall they inure to the benefit of any company hereafter to be constituted or organized. This was the way the bill was originally framed, to prevent the company from receiving the benefit of the grant. The first alteration he noticed was the striking out of the word " future," but this he believed was made by the committee. The second alteration, which he charged with being made after the bill was engrossed, was the changing of the word " or" to the word " and," so as to read " constituted and organized company." This com- pany, not being constituted and organized, expects tci 308 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. hold these lands under the bill, and hence he charged this object in the alteration. The word was in a hand different from that of the engrossment. This was a matter affecting deeply the proceedings of the House, and it was due that an examination should be made, as the records of this House have been mutilated. Mr. Washburne said lie understood the bill was altered after it was sent from the House to the Senate. He offered a resolution for the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the fact which he brought before the House, with power to send for persons and papers, and to examine witnesses under oath. Mr. Stevens, of Michigan, rose to make a personal explanation with reference to the subject on which the special committee had a short time since been ordered to be appointed. Hfe intended to make his statement on honour. After the Minnesota Land Bill had been sent to the Committee on Public Lands, of which he is a member, it was referred to him for his individual action on it. Gentlemen who were connected with the bill called on him, and requested that certain alterations should be made in the third section before he returned the bill to the committee. The alterations desired were explained. One of them was to affect the subject of legislation in Minnesota in relation to lands granted by Congress, and he, with his own hands, struck from the original bill the word "future." The other was the alteration of the word " or" to " and," and he thought proper it should be made, and he supposed he had made it. He presented the bill with some explanation to the Committee on Public Lands, which approved of it. He then reported it to the House. It passed, and was sent to the Senate. After getting there, his attention was DISCUSSION IN U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 609 called to the bill. It was remarked that the alteratioa which he said he had made, he did not make, or that the bill did not contain the alteration. He conferred with one or two gentlemen of the Senate, and told them frankly that when he reported the bill to the Committee on Public Lands, he made the alterations, or intended to do so. Subsequently one of the Senate clerks came tO' him in the lobby fronting the centre door. He met General Patton, who held out the bill, and pointing out the third section, asked him whether it was right. To which he (Mr. Stevens) replied it was not right as it passed from the Committee on Public Lands, and ac- cording to his recollection, he further said, " You will find, if you look at the original draft, the word ' and' instead of ' or' is there." He went to the desk of the House engrossing clerk (Mr. Sperle), where the matter was talked over. He there stated he had supposed he had made the alteration in the original draft, and thought he voted for the bill thus amended. The ques- tion came up as to whether the alteration could l>e made, and several Senators said it was a mere verbfil alteration, and they had frequently made such. Mr. Forney said he did not know whether the bill could be altered. But Mr. Patton said, " We frequently make such alterations." Whereupon Colonel Forney re- marked, " Then perhaps it would be better the alteration should be made." He (Mr. Stevens) left, and he sup- posed the alteration was made in consequence of what had taken place. He wished to withhold nothing, but to state the facts. However much he may have erred, he wished to state them frankly. If he had sinned, it was an error of judgment, nothing more. He was per- fectly certain that Colonel Forney, in giving his sanction 39 610 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. to the alteration, supposed he was right and justified in so doing. He wished here to say, this was the first and last interview he had with Colonel Forney on the sub- ject. So help him God, he did not then know of any design in having the bill changed from its original form ; he said the only interest he had in the bill was to con- nect the waters of the Mississippi with the lake and steamboat navigation, and thereby benefit other states, and the substitution of the word " and" for " or" could not affect the original purpose. On the morning of August the third the bill was re- pealed, and the news was quickly transmitted by the energetic delegate of Minnesota, Hon. H. M. Rice.' The Minnesota and North-western Eailroad Com- pany contended that they had complied with the pro- visions of the act of Congress, and that that body had no right to repeal. A complaint was brought before • Washington, Aug. 3, 1854, the clerk of the House, Col. For- 1 o'clock, p. M. ney. Dear Sir r^This morning the se- The vote to repeal was 109 to 56. lect committee reported that the The vote for expelling Col. Forney ■word " and" between the words was ayes 18, nays 154. "constituted" and "organized" had The Senate must now act in re- been substituted for the word " or,'' gard to the repeal of the grant — its but exonerated Gen. Stevens and the non-concurrence will save the grant clerk of the House — and recommend- — ^but it is impossible for me to now ed that the word " or" be reinstated, give a conjecture of its probable ac- Mr. Letcher's (of Virginia) repeal tion. To-morrow will tell the tale : bill was introduced and carried by the result will be forwarded by tcle- « large majority — so the House has graph. Many able lawyers are of repealed the Minnesota land grant, the opinion that Congress has not The testimony taken by tjie commit- the power to repeal the act. That, tee will be printed — a copy of which however, is a question to be settled I will send you as soon as possible — hereafter. then the people of Minnesota can In haste, respectfully yours, judge for themselves. A motion is H. M. Ricb. now before the House to discharge D. Olmsted, Esq. DECISION OF JUDGE WELCH ON RAILROAD TRESPASS. 611 Judge Welch, at a session of the United States District ■Court, in Goodhue county, against the company. The •complaint alleged that the company had cut and carried •off five hundred trees, the property of the United States, in Goodhue county. On the fourth of November, Chief Justice Welch gave judgment in favour of the railroad •company. The case was carried up to the Supreme Court of Minnesota, on December sixth, which con- firmed the decision of Chief Justice Welch. Chancellor Walworth, and other jurists of New York, furnished written opinions that Congress had no right to repeal the act. The case was then taken to the Supreme Court of the United States.' On the afternoon of December twenty-seventh, the first public execution in Minnesota, in accordance with the forms of law, took place. Yuhazee, the Dahkotah who had been convicted in November, 1852, for the murder of a German woman, above Shokpay, was the individual. The scaffold was erected on the open space, between the Franklin House and the rear of Mr. J. W. Selby's enclosure. About two o'clock, the prisoner, •dressed in a white shroud, left the old log prison, near the court house, and entered a carriage with the ofiicers of the law. Being assisted up the steps that led to the scaffold, he made a few remarks in his own language, and was then executed. A disgraceful rabble sur- rounded the scaffold, and none of the decencies of law were manifested on the occasion. Says an editor, " liquor was openly passed through the crowd, and the last- moments of the poor Indian were disturbed by baccha- ' At the December Term, 1855, continue the case, which motion Supreme Court of the United States, was granted. 4he attorney-general moved to dia- 612 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. naliaii yells and cries. Kemarks too heartless and de» prayed, in regard to the deceased, to come from men, were freely bandied. A half-drunken father could be seen holding in his arms a child eager to see wellj giddy and senseless girls chatted with their attendants, and -old women were seen vying with drunken ruffians for a place near the gallows." Numerous ladies sent in a petition to the governor, asking the pardon of the Indian, to which that officer made an appropriate reply.' 1 ' Executive Department, M. T., St. PAth, Dec. 28, 1854. Ladies : — I have the hpuour to ac- knowtedge the receipt of your peti- tion, asking me, as the executive of the territory, to pardon the Indian now under sentence of death, or to commute his punishment to' impris- onment for life in the penitentiary. I cannot conceal the sympathy I feel, in common with each of you, on this melancholy suhject ; and I find it «ven more difficult to reject the prayer of those whose hearts are always first in missions of mercy ; those who are always first to imitate the divine character and forgive. Those whose gentle hands smooth the hrow of the sick and afflicted. Those who are first to console even in the last hours of trial. And this petition is a high compliment to these many virtues, and even a still higher one to the benevolence of your hearts. " To forget is a vir- tue; but to forgive is divine." But, ladies, I deeply regret, that, in ac- cordance with what I deem to be my duty to the country, and the general peace of society, I cannot consistently grant the prayer of your petition. The murder for which this unfor- tunate child of nature is condemned, was without a shadow of excuse. It was seemingly deliberate, and his victim was of your sex, innocent and defenceless. She was murdered by the side of a poor, but no doubt fond and devoted husband, while in the public highway, wending their course to a new home. If such criminals should be al-, lowed to escape the stern demands of the law, others of his savage tribe might be tempted t6 hope for . a like release, and commit a like of- fence ; and the danger of such re- sults would be far greater from In- dians than from civilized man. Every effort that can be has been made to save him by the law. An impartial jury of the country gave him a fair trial, and found him guil- ty. And there is no just reason known to stay the execution of the penalty of the law. With sentiments of the highest personal regard, I am, most respectfully, Your ob't serv't, W. A. Gorman. To Mrs. .Julia E. Fillmore, Mrs. An- na E. Ramsey, Mrs. E. R. H5I- liushead, and others. FIRST BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI. 61E CHAPTER XXVIII. The discussion concerning the charter of the Min- nesota and North-western Railroad Company did not ^terminate with the year 1854. The sixth session of the legislature convened on the third of January, 1855. S. B. Olmstead i was elected President of the Council, and J. 8. Norris Speaker of the House. About the last of January, the two houses adjourned one day to attend the exercises occasioned by the open- ing of the fij^pt bridge of any kind over the mighty Mississippi ever completed, from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. It is made of wire, and at the time of its opening, the patent for the land on which the west piers were built had not been issued from the Land Office, a striking evidence of the rapidity with which Minnesota is being developed. The governor, in his message to the legislature, took strong ground against the railroad charter, and in the United States House of Representatives a resolution was passed declaring the charter of the Minnesota and North- western Company null. Oi\ the twenty-seventh of Feb- ruary, the United States Senate refused to approve of the resolution that had passed the House, annulling the charter of the company. The news tliat the charter was not annulled caused great rejoicing among the friends of the railroad, and on Saturday night, March 1 Should be W. P. Murray. 614 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. twenty-fourth, there was a general illumination of the- principal stores and residences of the capital. Governor Gorman having vetoed a bill passed by the Minnesota legislature, amending the act incorporating the Minnesota and North-western Railroad Company, it was again passed in the legislature on February twenty- first, by a two-thirds vote, and became a law. On the twenty-ninth of March, a convention was held at St. Anthony, which led to the formation of the Repub- lican party of Minnesota. This body took measures for the holding of a territorial convention at St. Paul, which convened on the twenty-fifth of July, and William R.. Marshall was nominated as delegate to Congress. Shortly after the friends of Mr. Sibley nominated David Olmsted and Henry M. Rice, the former delegate was also a candidate. The contest was animated, and resulted in the election of Mr. Rice.' > Vote for Delegate :— Ckinnties. Rice. Marshall Olmsted. Oountiea. Bice. Marshal . Olmstedi Blue Earth, . 54 52 12 Nicollet, . . 85 34 39 Brown,* . . 30 Olmsted,* • ■ 100 Benton, . . 195 52 121 Pierce, . Carver, . . 37 28 33 Pembina, . 46 Cass, . . . 57 Bice, . . . . 50 226 48 Chisago, . 104 61 11 Renville, Dahkotah, . 153 161 331 'Ramsey, . 735 510 529 Dodge, . . 48 49 1 Scott, . . . 190 125 127 Doty,* . . 100 Stearns, . . . 125 7 42 Davis, . , . Sibley, . . . 96 4 1 Fillmore, ,. 185 15] 9 Superior,* . . 200 Freeborn, Steele, Faribault, , Todd, . . . 9 Goodhue, . 184 126 1 Wabashaw, . 18 103 30- Hennepin, . 358 415 80 Winona, . 132 134 57 Houston,* . 115 16 Washington, . 292 121 37 Itasca, . . Wright, . . . 11 63 18 Le Sueur,* . 56 55 19 Mower,® . . 40 3705 2493 174& * Incomplete. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.— LEGISLATURE OF 1856. 61.5 About noon of December twelfth, 1855, a four horse vehicle was seen driving rapidly through St. Paul; and deep was the interest when it was announced that one of the Arctic exploring party, Mr. James Stewart, was on his way to Canada with relics of the world-rehowned and world-mourned Sir John Franklin. Gathering to- gether the precious fragments found on Montreal island and vicinity, the party had left the region of icebergs on the ninth of August, and after a continued land journey from that time had reached St. Paul on that day en route to the Hudson Bay Company's quarters in Canada. The seventh session of the Legislative Assembly was begun on the second of January, 1856, and again the exciting question was the Minnesota and North-western Railroad Company. John B. Brisbin was elected President of the Council, and Charles Gardiner, Speaker of the House. Governor Gorman, in his annual message, (^svoted much space to railroad projects, and expressed his oppo- sition to the Minnesota and North-western Railroad. Contrary to what the community had anticipated, on . the last night of the session, the governor signed a bill giving an extension of time to the company. With the announcement of the approval, he submitted the follow- ing message : — ' '• I have this day approved and signed an act, entitled ' An act granting an extension of time to the Minnesota "and North-western Railroad Company, and for other purposes.' " This bill is satisfactory so far as the resulting in- terest is concerned, yet there are not such guards as in 616 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. my judgment should be thrown around so important an interest as is involved in this company's charter. " I have, from the beginning of this railroad questiqn, earnestly sought the permanent welfare of Minnesota, and in conjunction with many faithful and upright men in public and private life, finally succeeded in procuring two per cent, upon the gross proceeds, receipts, and income of said road. " Thi-s percentage, if the road is ever built, is to be applied to the governmental expenses, of our future state, and must yield ample means in a few years to relieve our fellow-citizens from all state taxes for state pur- poses, and must be admitted by all as an important event to the tax-payers of our country. "If, on the other hand, said company shall not con- struct the road nor get the land, nothing can be lost to the people. I have yielded other objections, because three several legislatures have passed favourably upon this company's charter and amendments, and I feel that each favourable amendment should not be lost, because others are desirable. Strong professions of ample capa- city to build this road have been made ; we shall now see how far they are to be realized ; I confess that my confidence in these professions is still feeble. "The means used to accomplish ends by this com- pany have never met my approval, and I trust never will ; but if they shall fairly and lega,lly get possession of the lands granted by Congress to aid in constructing said road, I trust we shall have no cause to regret having urged the demands of the people for the interest and guards we have succeeded in throwing around their corporate powers. Trusting to the calm and consider- ate judgment of my fellow-citizens, and especially to LIST OF LEGISLATORS OF 1856. 61" the members of the legislature, I leave the future to develop its results." ^ ^ List of Members of the Seventh Session of the Legislative Assembly of Minnesota, COTTNCIL. Balcomb, Saint A. D- BaiUey, Henry G-. Dooley, Samuel Flandrau, Gbarles E. f reeborn, William HanFion. D. M..^ Ladden, John D. Lowry. Williani D. Kollins, John Rolette, Joseph Setzer, Henry N. Stone, Lewis TTiUotson, Benj. F. Thompson',. CW. Brisbin, Jobn B., 7 Frefiident. / COUNTY. P0STH3FFICE. Winona Dahkotab Scott Nicolkt Goodhue Hennepin Chisago Olmsted, Ramsey Pembina Washington Benton Fillmore Houston Ramsey Winona , Hastings Louisville Traverse d'Sioux Red Wing Minneapolip Taylor's Falls Rochester St. Anthony Pembina Stillwater Royalton Richland Uokah St. Paul AOE CONDI'N. 26 married liV married 67 married He single 30 married i!8 married 36 single 34 married' 48 married «5 married 31 married 60 widow'! 36 married 30 single •JD married NATIVITY. OCCDPATION. New York Parmer Minnesota Merchant Kentucky Farmer New Y6rk Lawyer Ohio Farmer Maine . Lawyer Massachusetts Lumberman Pennsylvania , Farmer Maine Farmer Wiscotiain Indian tradei Missouri Lumberman New York Farmer Ohio Farmer Canada Miller New York Lawyer HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES. Boutillier, C. W. Le Bradley, James T. Buck, C. P. Bnrdick, R. C. ' Cleaveland, Arba Covel, Wm. B. De La Vergne, A. F. Dunbar, Wm. F. Farnham, Sumner F. tialbraith, Tbos. J. Gpre. William B. Gibb?, 0. C. > Grant, Charles Jlartenbower, J. H. Uaus, Reuben Holliind, J. M. Uubbell, J. B. Hull, Samuel, Hunt, Thomas B. Ide. J. C. Jackman, H. A. Johnson, Parsons K. Kirkman, James Knauft, Ferdinand Lott. B. W. iltfclieod, (Jeorge A. Murphy, M. T. mbles, Wm. H. Norris, James S. Pierce. T. W. Sturgis, William Taylor, Nathan C. D. Thompson, M. G. Thorndike, F. Van Vorhea, A. Wilfeiiiaon, Ross Wilson. John L. Gardiner, Charles, ) Speaker. J POST-OFPIOE. Ramsey Hennepin Winona Pembina Carver Mower Le Supur Houston Kamsey Scott Fillmore Dabkotah Pembina Olmsted Kamsey Scott Dodge Fillmore Carver Rice Washington Blue Earth Wabash aw Ramsey Ramsey NicODlet Dahkotati Ramsey Washington Hennepin Benton' Chisago Houston Hennepin Washington Ramsey Stearns Goodhue St. Anthony Minpeapolis Winona Pemhina Chanhasgen Frankfort Le Sueur Caledonia St. Anthony Shakdpee Chatfield St.Taul ' St. Joseph Pleasant Grove St. Paul Shakopee Mantorville Carimona Chaska Farribault Stillwater Mankato Wabashaw St. Paul St. Paul Traverse d'Sioux Mendota St. Paul Cottage Grove Minneapolis Little Falls Taylor's Falls Brownsville Elm Creek Stillwater St. Paul St. Cloud Westervelt AGE CONDrK. married inarried married single married single married married married married si ogle married married married married Fingle married married married married married married married married single married single married married married married single married married married married married married Isl'd of Jersey Connecticut New York Michigan Massachusetts New York New York Rhode Island Maine Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Vermpnt Red River, B.p. Kentucky Pennsylvania Maryland New York Pennsylvania Canada Vermont '< Maine 'Vermont Canada Prussia New Jersey Canada Ireland New York Maine Pennsylvania Canada N. Hampshire New York Maine Pennsylvania i Pennsylvania Maine New York OCCUPATION. Physician Carriage m'kr Lawyer Indian trade** Farmer Surveyor Shoemaker Farmer Lumberman Lawyer Farmer Farmer Indian tradez Farmer Carpenter ' Lawyer Farmer Farmer Litwyer Mechanic Lumbernian Tailor Blacksmith Carpenter Lawyer Merchant Farmer Miller Farmer Carpenter, Farmer Lumberman Lawyer Farmer Gunsmith Farmer Architect Lawyer 618 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. During the session of 1856, there was some conversa- tion about the division of the territory by an east and) west line, and forming a new territory north of the forty-sixth degree of latitude, but no definite action was taken. But in the summer the question of a state organization was for the first time formally agitated in a series of earnest articles in the newspaper, from the pen of John E. Warren. This year was comparatively devoid of interest. The citizens of the territory were busily engaged in making claims in newly organized counties, and in enlarging the area of civilization. On the twelfth of June, several Ojibways entered the farm house of Mr. Whallon, who resided in Hennepin county, on the banks of the Minnesota, a mile below the Bloomington ferry. The wife of the farmer, a friend, and three children, besides a little Dahkotah girl,^ who had been brought up in the mission-house at Kor- posia, and was so changed in nianners that her origin was scarcely perceptible, were sitting in the room when the Indians came in. Instantly seizing the little Indian maiden, they threw her out of the door, killed and scalped her, and fled before the men who were near by in the field could reach the house. The procurement of a state organization, and a grant of lands for railroad purposes, were the topics of politi- cal interest during the year 1857. The eighth Legislative Assembly convened at the capitol on the seventh of January, and J. B. Brisbin was elected President of the Council, and J. W. Furber, Speaker of the House. A bill changing the seat of government to St. Peter^ on the Minnesota river, passed the House. LONG SESSION OF COUNCIL. 619' ' On Saturday, February twenty-eighth, Mr. Balcombe^ ofFered the following resolutions : — "Resolved, That the Hon. Joseph Rolette be very respectfully requested to report to the Council, Bill No.. sixty-two Council File, entitled ' A Bill for the removal of the Seat of Government for the Territory of Min- nesota,' this day ; and that should said Rolette fail so to- do before the adjournment of the Council jthis day, that the Hon. Mr. Wales, who stands next in the list of said Committee on Enrolled Bills, be respectfully requested to procure another truly enrolled copy of the said bill,, and report the< same to the Council on Monday next. "And he it further Resolved., That the secretary of the Council is very respectfully requested to give said bill,, after it has been signed by the Speaker of the House^ and President of the Council, to the Hon. Mr. Wales,, to deliver to the Governor for his approval." Mr. Setzer, after the reading of the resolutions, moved a call of the Council, and Mr. Rolette was found to be absent. The chair ordered the sergeant-at-arms to report Mr. Rolette in his seat. Mr. Balcombe moved that further proceedings under the call be dispensed with, which did not prevail. From that time until the next Thursday afternoon, March the fifth, a period of one hundred and twenty-three hours, the Council re- mained in their chamber without recess. At that time a motion to adjourn prevailed. On Friday, another motion was made to dispense with the call of the Coun- cil, which did not prevail. On Saturday, the Council met, the president »d©clared the call still pending. At seven and a half p. m., a committee of the House was announced. The chair ruled, that no communication from the House could be received while a call of the 620 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Council was pending, and the committee withdrew. A motion was again made during the last night of the session, to dispense with all further proceedings under the call, which prevailed, with one vote only in the negative. Mr. Freeborn, from the committee on enrolled bills, made the following report : — " The Committee on Enrolled Bills would respectfully report, that owing to the ^absence of the chairman of this committee. Bill No. (62) sixty-two. Council File, being a bill for the removal of the seat of government of the Territory of Minnesota, introduced by Mr. Lowrj' on the sixth of February, 1857,, has not been reported by this committee back to the Council. Your com- mit^e would further state that the above-named bill might have been reported back to the Council at this time, but that after examining the enrolled copy of said bill, which M^as delivered to this committee with the engrossed bill, by the secretary of the Council, io pre- sence of the enl-oUing clerk of the Council, and care- fully comparing the same, we find numerous errors in the enrolled^ copy — some portions of the engrossed bill being left out of the enrolled copy, and matter being inserted in the enrolled copy which is not in the en- grossed bill. , Your committee cannot, therefore, report the said Bill No. 62, C. F., as correctly enrolled, but retain the same in our possession, subject to the ordefr of the Council. " Air which is respectfully submitted." Mr. Ludden moved that a committee be appc linted to wait on the governor, and inquire if he had any fur- ther communication to make to the Council. Mr. Lowry moved a call of the Council, which was EXCITEMENT ON REMOVAL OF CAPITAL. 621 ordered, and the roll being called, Messrs. Rolette, Thompson, and Tillotson were absent. At twelve o'clock at night the president resumed the chair, and announced that the time limited bj law for the continuation of the session of the territorial legis- lature had expired, and he therefore declared the Coun- cil adjourned without day. The excitement on the capital question was intense, and it was a strange scene to see members of thje Coun- cil, eating and sleeping in the hall of legislation for days, waiting for the sergeanl^at-arms to report an ab- sent member in his seat. During the spring and early summer, the public mind, was indignant at an atrocity perpetrated in the extreme so,uth-western frontier of Minnesota, the recital of which causes the blood to curdle, and the mind to revert to the border scenes of the past century, which occurred in the valley of Wyoming. In the north-western corner of Iowa, a few miles from the Minnesota boundary, there is a lake known as Spirit Lake. In the spring of 1856, persons from Red Wing had visited this place, and determined to lay off a town. In the winter of 1857, there were six or seven log cabins on the borders of the lake. About fifteen or twenty miles north, in Minnesota, there was also a small place called Spring- field! For several years, Inkpadootah, a Wahpaykootay Dahkotah, had been roving with a few outlaws, being drivfen away from their own people by internal diffi- culties. These Indians were hunting in north-western Iowa when one was bitten by a white man's dog, which he killed! The whites then procieeded to the Indian camp, and disarmed them, but they soon supplied them- ■622 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. selves again. After this, they arrived on Sundaj, the eighth of March, at Spirit Lake. They proceeded to a cabin, where only men dwelt, and aeked for beef. Understanding, as they assert, that they had permission to kill one of the cattle, they did so, and commenced cutting it up, when one of the white men came out and knocked down the Dahkotah. For this &,ct the settler was shot, and another one coming out of the cabin, he was also killed. Surrounding the house, the Indians now fired the thatched roof, and as the mi^n ran out all were killed, making the whole number eleven. About the same time, the Indians went to the house of a frontiersman, by the name of Gardner, and de- manded food, and all the food in the house was given to them. The son-in-law, and another man, left to go and see if all was right at the neighbouring cabin, but they never came back. Toward night, excited by the blood they had been spilling through the day, they came back again to Mr. Gardner's house, and soon killed him, and despatching his wife, a,nd two daugh-' ters, and grandchildren, carried off Abby, the surviv- ing daughter. The next day, they continued their fiendish work, and brought into camp Mrs. Thatcher and Mrs. Noble. That day a man by the name of Markham -visited the house of Gardner, and saw the dead bodies. Secreting himself till night, he came to the Springfield settlement in Minnesota, and re- ported what he had seen. Three miles above the Thatcher family on the lake, there lived a Mr. Marble. On Thursday, the twelfth of March, an Indian, who had been on friendly terms with Marble's family, called lit his house, and (as near as Mrs. Marble, with her im- perfect knowledge of the language, could make out) SPIRIT LAKE AND SPRINGFIELD MASSACRE. 623 told them that the white people below them on the Lake had been nippoed (killed) a day or two previously. This aroused the suspicion of the Marbles, and none the less that the great depth of the snow made it almost impossible to get out and ascertain the truth of the story. The next day (the thirteenth), quite early in the forenoon, four Indians came to Marble's house and were admitted. Their demeanour was so friendly as to disarm all suspicion. They proposed to swap rifles with Marble, and the terms were soon agreed upon. After the swap, the chief suggested that they should go out on the lake and shoot at a mark. Marble assented. After a few discharges they turned to come in the direction of the house, when the savages 'allowed Marble to go a few paces ahead, and immediately shot him down. Mrs. Marble, who was looking out of the cabin, saw her husband fall, and immediately ran to him. The Indians seized her and told her that they would not kill her, but would take her with them. They carried her in triumph to the camp, whither they had previously taken three other white women, Mrs. Noble, Mrs. Thatcher, and Miss Gardner. Inkpadootah and party now proceeded to Springfield, where they slaughtered the whole settlement, about the twenty-seventh of March. When the United States troops arrived from Fort Ridgely, they buried two bodies, and the volunteers from Iowa buried twenty-nine others. Besides these, others were missing. The outlaws, per- ceiving that the soldiers were in pursuit, made their escape. The four captive women were forced by day to carry heavy burdens through deep snow, and atnight^fall they were made to cut wood and set up the tent, and, after dark, to be subject to the indignities that suggested 624 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. themselves to savages. When food began to fail, the white women subsisted on bones and feathers. Mrs. Thatcher was in poor health in consequence of the recent birth of a child, and she became burdensome. Arriving at the Big Sioux river, the Indians made a bridge by felling a tree on each side of the river bank. Mrs. Thatcher attempted to cross, but failed, and, in despair, refused to try again. One of the men took her by the hand, as if to help her, and, when about midway, pushed her into the stream. She swam to the shore, and they pushed her off, and then fired at her as if she was a target, until life was extinct. " In the early spring it was next to impossible to make any considerable efforts for their rescue ; and it was not known what direction the captors had taken. Time passed on. Two miUtary expeditions reached the place where the massacre took place, but did nothing, except to bury the slain. Early in the month of May,i two young men from Lac qui Parle, who had been taught by the mission to read and write, and whose mother is a member of our church,' while on their spring hunt, found themselves in the neighbourhood of Inkpadoota and his party. Having heard that they held , some American women in captivity, the two brothers visited the camp,-^though this was at some risk of their lives, since Inkpadootah's hand was now against every man,— and found the outlaws, and succeeded in bargain- mg for Mrs. Marble, whom they first took to their mother's tent," and then brought her to a trading-house at Lac qui Parle, when she was visited by t^se con- nected with the mission at Hazelwood, and clothed once more in civilized costume. On her arrival at the hotel at. St. Paul, thp citizens welcomed her, and presented ' Letter of Dr. Williamson. ' RESCUE OF WHITE WOMEN FROM CAPTIVITY. 625 her with a thousand dollars. The desire to rescue the two surviving white women now became intense. One night a good Indian, named Paul by the whites, an elder of the mission church, came into the mission- house and said : — " If the white chief tells me to go, I will go." " I tell you to go," replied Mr. Flandrau, then Dahkotah Agent. With two companies he started next day, with a wagon and two horses, and valuable presents. After a diligent search the outlaws were found on the James river with a band of Yanktons. A few days before Mrs. Noble had been murdered, a Yankton, who had lost his legs by disease, had pur- chased the two women.' One night Mrs. Noble was ordered to go 6ut, and be subject to the wishes of the party. She refusing to go, a son of Inkpadootah dragged her out by the hair and killed her. The next morning a Dahkotah woman took Miss Gardner, the sole surviv- ing captive, to see the corpse, which had been horribly treated after death. Paul, by his perseverance and large presents, at length redeemed the captive, and she was brought to the mis- sion-house, and from thence she visited St. Paul, and was restored to her sister in Iowa. For some days previous to the first of July it had been reported that one of Inkpadootah's sons was in a camp on the Yellow Medicine river. A message was sent to the agent, Flandrau, who, with a detachment of soldiers from Fort Ridgely, and some Indian guides, soon arrived and surrounded the lodges. The alarm being given, Inkpadootah's son, said to have been the murderer of Mrs. Noble, ran from his lodge followed by his wife. He concealed himself for a short, period in the brush by 40 626 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the water, but was soon ferreted out and shot by United States soldiers. The rest of the outlaws are said to be west of the Missouri, and that they may yet meet the punishment which they so richly deserve for their horrible barbarity, is the wish of every righteous man. On the twenty-third of February, 1857, an act passed the United States Senate, to authorize the people, of Minnesota to form a constitution, preparatory to their admission into the Union on an equal footing with the original states. And at the close of the session another act passed, making a grant of land in alternate sections, to aid in the construction of certain railroads in the ter- ritory. , , Governor Gorman called a special session of the legis- lature, to take into consideration measures that would give efficiency to these acts. The extra session con- vened on April twenty-seventh, and a message was transmitted by Samuel Medary,' who had been appointed governor in the place of W. A. Gorman, whose term of office had expired. An act was passed to execute the trust created by Congress; and the lands, under certain conditions, were given to certain chartered rail- road companies. The extra session adjourned on the twenty-third of May ; and in accordance with the pro- visions of the enabling act of Congress, an election was held on the first Monday in June, for delegates to a con- vention which was to assemble at the capital on the second Monday in July. The election resulted, as was thought, giving a majority of delegates to the Republi- can party. At midnight previous to the day fixed for the meet- ' He acted as governor for a few months only. ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 627 mg of the convention, the Repubhcans proceeded to *he capitol, because the enabling act had not fixed at what hour on the second Monday the convention should sissemble, and fearing that the Democratic delegates might anticipate them, and elect the oflBcers of the body. A little before twelve, A. m., on Monday, the secretary of the territory entered the speaker's ros- i;rum, and began to call the body to order ; and at the same time a delegate, J. W. North, who had in his pos- session a written request from the majority of the dele- gates present, proceeded to do the' same thing, the -secretary of the territory put a motion to adjourn, and the Democratic members present voting in the aflBrmative, they left the hall. The Eepublicans, feel- ing that they were in the majority, remained, and in •due time organized, and proceeded with the business specified in the enabling act, to form a constitution, and take all necessary steps for the establishment of a state government, in conformity with the Federal Constitu- tion, subject to the approval and ratification of the people of the proposed state. . , , After several days the Democratic wing also organized in the Senate chamber at the capitol, and, claiming to be the true body, also proceeded to form a constitution. Both parties were remarkably orderly and intelligent, and everything was" marked by perfect decorum. After they had been in session some weeks, moderate coun- sels prevailed, and a committer of conference was ap- pointed from each body, which resulted in both adopting the same constitution, on the twenty-ninth of August. According to the provision of the constitution, an election was held for state officers and the adoption of the con- :stitution, on the second Tuesday, the thirteenth of Oo 628 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. tober. The constitution was adopted by almost a unani- mous vote. It provided that the territorial officers should retain their offices until the state was admitted into the Union, not anticipating the long delay which has been experienced. The fifst session of the state legislature commenced on the first Wednesday of December, at the capitol, in the city of St. Paul; and during the month elected Henry M. Rice and James Shields as their Representar tives in the United States Senate. On the twenty-ninth of January, 1858, Mr. Douglas submitted a bill to the United States Senate, for the admission of Minnesota into the Union. On the first of • February, a discussion arose on the bill, in which Sena- tors Douglas, Wilson, Gwin, Hale, Mason, Green, Brown, and Crittenden participated. Brown, of Mississippi, was opposed to the admission of Minnesota, until the Kansas question was settled. Mr. Crittenden, as a Southern man, could not endorse all that was said by the Senator from Mississippi ; and his words of wisdom and moderar tion during this day'n discussion, are worthy of remem- brance. On April the seventh, the bill passed the Senate with only three dissenting votes ; in a short time the House of Representatives agreed to the action of the Senate, one hundred and fifty-eight out of one hundred and ninety-six votes being cast in* favor of admission, and on May 11th the President approved the Act, and Minnesota became one of the United States of America. FINANCIAL CONDITION OP THE NEW STATE. 629 CHAPTER XXIX. FINANCIAL EMBARRASSMENT PROM 1858 TO 1861, AND EDU- CATIONAL POLICY. The transition of Minnesota, from Territorial depend- ency, to tlie position of an organized and self-support- ing Commonwealth, equal in dignity and privilege with the then thirty-bne United States of America, occurred under adverse circumstances. The great commercial cities of the Atlantic coast were suffering from financial embarrassment, and the stringency of the money market seriously cramped those who had hoped to develop the resources of a fertile and healthful State, by the aid of borrowed capital. The exigencies of the pioneer settlers were such, that they were ready to lend a willing ear to any one who would present plans, ostensibly for the relief of a community that was literally without money. By an act of Congress approved March fifth, 1857, lands had been granted to the Territory amounting to 4,5p0,0p0 acres, for the construction of a system of railways. Immediately a number of shrewd and energetic men combined to procure the control of the land grant, and during an extra session of the Legislature an act was passed on May twenty-second, 1857, giving the 630 HiSTOBf OP MINNESOTA. entire Congressional grant to certain chartered railroad companies. , A few months only elapsed, hefore the citizens dis- covered that those who obtained the lands had neither the money nor the credit to carry on these great internal improvements. In the winter of 1858 the Legislature again listened to the siren voices of the railway coi;porations, until their words to some mem- bers seemed like " apples of gold in pictures of silver," and another act was passed, submitting to the people an amendment to the Constitution, which provided for the loan of the public credit to the land-grant railroad companies to the amount of $5,000,000, upon condi- tion that a certain amount of labour on the projected roads was performed. The time specified in the act for the voting of the people upon the amendment was April fifteenth. Sonie of the more prudent citizens saw in this mea- sure a "cloud no larger than a man's hand" which would lead to a terrific storm, and a large public meet- ing was convened at the Capitol and addressed by Ex- Governor Gorman, D. A. Robertson, William R. Mar- shall, and others, deprecating the engrafting of such a peculiar amendment upon the Constitution; but the people would not listen, their hopes and happiness seemed to be bound up in railway corporations, and on the appointed day of election 25,023 votes were cast in favour of, while only 6733 werfe deposited against, the amendment. Before the amendment was ratified, the Constitution prohibited the State from loaning its credit to any in- dividual or corporation; but by its adoption, section 10, article 9, was made to read as follows : AMENDMENT OF THE CREDIT ARTICLE. 631 "The credit of this State shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual, association, or corpo- ration; except that for the purpose of expediting the construction of the lines of railrdads, in aid of which the Congress of the United States has granted lands to the Territory of Minnesota, the Governor shall cause to be issued and delivered to each of the companies in which said grants aje vested by the Legislative As- sembly of Minnesota, the special bonds of the State, bearing an interest of seven per cent, per annum, pay- able semi-annually in the city of New York, as a loan of public credit, to an amount not exceeding twelve hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or an aggregate amount to all of said companies not exceeding five millions of dollars, in manner following, to wit," etc. The good sense of the people soon led them to amend this article, and on November sixth, 1860, the section was made to read as follows: "The credit of the State shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual association or corpora- tion; nor shall there be any further issue Of bonds de- nominated Minnesota State Railroad Bonds, under what purports to be an amendment to section ten (10) of article nine (9; of the Constitution, adopted April fif- teenth, eighteen hundred and fifty -eight, which is hereby expunged from the Constitution, saving, ex- cepting and reserving to the State, nevertheless, all rights, remedies, and forfeitures accruing under said amendment." The first State Legislature had assembled on December second, 1857, before the formal admission of Minnesota into the Union, and on March twenty-fifth, 1858, ad-r journed until June second, when it again met. 632 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Hon. H. H. Sibley, who had been declared Governor after the election of the previous October, on the next day delivered his inaugural address. ; His term of office was arduous, growing out of the peculiar position of the State in consequence of her loan of credit to the railway corporations. On August fourth, 1858, he expressed his determination not to deliver any State bonds to the railway com- panies, unless they would give first mortgage bonds with priority of lien upon their lands, roads,, and fran- chises, in favour of the State. One of the companies applied for a mandamus from the Supreme Court of the State, to compel the issue of the bonds without the restriction of the Governor. In November the court. Judge Flandrau dissenting, ordered the Governor to issue State bonds as soon as the company delivered their first mortgage bonds, as provided by the Constitution. But, as was to be expected, bonds put forth under such peculiar circumstances were not sought after by capitalists. "After over $2,000,000 of bonds had been issued, not an iron rail had been laid, and only about 250 miles of grading wei'e completed. In his annual message to the second Legislature in December, 1859, Governor Sibley said of the loan of State credit : " I regret to be obliged to state that the measure has proved a failure, and has by no means accomplished what was hoped from it, either in providing means foi the issue of a safe currency, or of aiding the com- panies in the completion of the work upon the roads. ' Notwithstanding the pecuniary complications of the State during Governor Sibley's administration, the Legislature did not entirely forget that there were ELECTION OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 633 some interests of more importance than railway con- struction, and on August second, 1858, largely through the influence of the late John D. Ford, M.D., a public- spirited citizen of Winona, an act was passed for the establishment of three normal schools for the training -of public school teachers. In the month of June, 1859, an Important route of travel was opened between the Mississippi and Red River of the North. The enterprising firm of J. C. Burbank & Co. having secured from Sir George Simpson, the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, the transportation of their supplies by way of St. Paul, which had hitherto been carried by tedious and tortuous routes from York River or Lake Superior, purchased a little steamer that had been built by ^nson Northrup and was on the Red River of the North, and commenced the carrying of goods and passengers by land to Breckinridge, and from thence by water to Pembina. At an election held inthe fall of 1859, Alexander Ramsey was elected Governor, and in his inaugural message to the second Legislature, on January second, 1860, he devotes a large space to the complications arising from the loan of the State credit to railroad companies. He argued that something should be done relative to the outstanding |2,300,000 of State rail- road bonds, and suggested several methods which might be adopted for withdrawing them. In the course of his argument he remarked: " It is extremely desirable to remove as speedily as possible so vexing a question from ou? State politics, and not allow it to remain for years to disturb our elections, perhaps to divide our people into bond and anti-bond parties, and introduce .634 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. annually into our legislative haUs an element of dis- cord and possibly of corruption, all to end just as similar complications in other States have ended : the men who will have gradually engrossed the possession of all the bonds, at the cost of a few cents on the dol- lar, will knock year after year at the door of the Legis- lature for their payment in full; the press will be sub- sidized ; the cry of repudiation will be raised ; all the ordinary and extraordinary means of procuring legis- lation in doubtful cases will be freely resorted to; until finally the bondholders will pile up almost fabulous -fortunes. * * * It is assuredly true that the present time is, of all others, alike for the present bondholders and the people of the State, the very time to arrange, adjust, . and settle these unfortunate and deplorable ' railroad and loan complications." Initiatory steps were taken during the session of the second Legislature for securing an efficient system of public instruction. An act for the regulation of the State University, in place of the Territorial University, was passed ; and in a report of the joint committee of Senate and House of Representatives on the University, largely written by the recently elected head of the in- stitution, the following views were presented: " A University is necessarily of slow development. It is the outgrowth of the common school system. Ten years must sometimes elapse before there is suffi- cient strength to make a good beginning, and then in twice ten years its influence will begin to have its due effect. A University in a new and sparsely settled State must not precede, but succeed the 'common schools. When these nurseries of education are fairly established, and begin to have their full measure of in- REPORT OK THE UNIVERSITY. 635 fluence, then follows a demand for a stjle of education which no one locality can afford to give^ and which it IS the peculiar province of the University to furnish. By a premature organization of State institutions, the .seeds of decay have been sown in the beginning. In- cipient consumption takes place, and in a decade of years they dwindle down to large infant schools, or at best to academies no more respectable than can be found in other localities of the State. " From a provision in the enactment of the present session in relation to donations to the State University, the committee are very hopeful of results. " The universities of our Western States have gen- erally excited but little interest among the friends of education. The Legislature has been the only ' alma mater' to which they could look for nutrition, and too* often they have been made to feel, in the literal signification of the word, that they were ' alumnj.* Good men, fearing constant and hasty changes in policy by succeeding Legislatures, have preferred to endow institutions of learning under the supervision of some branch of the church. Already in our Commonwealth, Baldwin, the distinguished manufacturer of locomo- tives, and public-spirited citizen of Philadelphia, has given thousands of dollars to an institution of learn- ing at St. Paul, and Hamline, an honored bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, has given a large sum to the college at Red Wing. "Such security is given to the philanthropist, in the fifth section of the act providing for the government and regulation of the University of Minnesota, that it is believed that in the course of three or four years, the State may expect similar endowments from indi- g36 HISTORY Q¥ MINNESOTA. viduals who love to build up establishments for sound lea;rhing, the greatest ornaments a republic can possess. " Indeed, we do not see, with the guards thrown around donations by the provisions of the sections alluded to, why men of every school of philosophy, and shade of religious belief, should not become zealous supporters of one great university, which shall be known far and wide as the University of the State. "The framer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, at the close of his life, looked back with the greatest pleasure to the share he had in the foundation of the University of Virginia, and he de- sired that a record of the fact should be engraved on the marble that marks his grave. There can be no doubt that it is a wise policy for every State so to con- ciliate all of her best citizens as to enlist their sympa- thies in behalf of her eleemosynary institutions. " Nothing so cultivates a proper State pride as an in- stitution of learning, in which the youth of the State can be educated, and feel that their advantages have been inferior to none. " Time, toil, and great patience will be needed to per- fect a university system. The oaks of California^ ma- jestic in appearance now, required centuries for de- velopment after the acorn was buried in the soil. For five years nothing may be done by the Regents, which is visible or tangible, and yet these silent and invisible processes are necessary to permanent growth. " The general government for years employed skilful engineers in throwing vast rocks into the ocean, at the entrance of Delaware Bay. To the class of men who looked for results in a day, it seemed a foolish and ex- pensive workj but little better than ' building ca&tles MEMORIAL FOR GRANT OF LAND. 63tf in the air;' but now that these piles of rock have reached the surface of the waters, and are surmounted by massive walls behind which ships nestle in the fiercest storm, with the security of the brood under the shadow of the mother's wing, the humblest mari- ner appreciates the work, and as he sails along, prays ' God save the Commonwealth.' Let us lay the foun- dation stones of the University, and the generation which follow us, when they behold the superstructure, will be sure to bless the foresight and the persevering labour which has secured to them the priceless boon of a complete education ; a breakwater against the waves of anarchy, superstition, and ' science falsely so called.' ■' For the sake of economy, as well as procuring unity of development during the State's infancy, an act was passed by the second Legislature making the Chan- cellor of the University also Superintendent of Public Instruction. At the first meeting of the Regents of the State University, on April fifth, 1860, the following memo- rial was adopted, relative to a grant of land, which, after long delay, was secured : " His Excellency Alex. Ramsey, Qao. of Mvrmesota : " Deae Sir, — In February, 1851, the Territorial Leg- islature passed an act incorporating ' a Territorial In- stitution of learning under the name of the University of Minnesota,' to which were granted ' the proceeds of all lands that may hereafter be granted by the United States to the Territory for the support of a university.' On February nineteenth, of the same year, it was enacted by Congress: "'That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he €38 HISTORY OE MINNESOTA. hereby is, authorized and directed to set apart and re- serve from sale, out of the public lands, within the Territory of Minnesota, to which the Indian title has been or may be extinguished, and not otherwise ap- propriated, a quantity of land not exceeding two entire townships, for the use and support of a University in said Territory, and for no other use and purpose what- ever, to be located in legal subdivisions of not less than one entire section.' " Shortly after this Congressional enactment the Ee- gents of the Territorial University organized, obtained a site, erected a building thereon, and commenced in- struction therein, — the first instance on record of a Territorial University going into operation at so early a period in the history of a Territory. "The Eegents also, with the approbation of the Sec- retary of the Interior, proceeded to select a large porr tion of the lands granted for the Territorial institution. Subsequently they erected a costly edifice and mort- gaged it, by virtue of a power granted by the Terri- torial Legislature of 1856, for $15,000, to secure the payment of certain bonds, and by another act passed in 1858, on the eighth day of March, before the ad- mission of- Minnesota into the Union, mortgaged lands that had been selected by the Regents, to secure the payment of a further sum of $40,000 borrowed by the Regents for the Territorial institution. "Heretofore Congress has made grants to Territories not having organized any Universities, and the , lands being free from all prospective incumbrances, the En- abling Acts of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa have used the following similar phraseology : " 'Seventy-two sections of land,, set apart and reserved MEMORIAL FOR GRANT OF LAND. 639 for the use and support of a University by an Act of Oongress approved on — ■ day of -^ are hereby granted and conveyed to the State, to be appropriated solely to the use and support of such University in «uch manner as the Legislature may prescribe.' " The condition of Minnesota being different, so far as « Territorial University was concerned, we expect and find different language in the Enabling Act. There is no reference, as in acts alluded to, to previous reserves, but it is prospective. It says, if certain provisions are accepted: " ' That seventy-two sections of land shall be set apart- «nd reserved for the use and support of a State Uni- versity to he selected by the Governor of said' State, sub- ject to the approval of the Commissioner of the Gen- eral Land Office.' " Although a Territorial University had been in ex- istence for years, and the Regents had selected lands, there is no reference thereto, but the language pre- scribes selections for a future State University. " Certainly it was not the intention of Congress to turn over the debts and prospectively encumbered lands of an old and badly managed Territorial institu- tion, but to give the State, that was to be, a grant for a State University, free from all connections with Ter- ritorial organizations. '^ Will you, therefore, take the steps indicated in the Enabling Act, and appoint, at an early day, some one to select two townships of land for the State Univer- sity, incorporated by the last Legislature. . , " In behalf of the Regents of the University of the State of Minnesota. "E. D. Neill, Ghancellor." 640 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. On March twenty-third, 1860, the first white per- son* executed under the laws of the ' State was hung, and, from the fact that the one who suffered the penalty was a woman, attracted considerable attention. Michael Bilansky died on March eleventh, 1859, and upon examination was found to have been poisoned. Anna, his fourth wife, was tried for the offence, found guilty, and on December third, 1859, sentenced to be hung. The opponents of capital punishment secured the passage of an act by the Legislature to meet her case, which was vetoed by the Governor as unconstitutional. Two days before the execution the unhappy woman requested her spiritual adviser to write to her father and mother in North Carolina, but not to state the cause of her death. The scaffold was erected in St. Paul near the county jail. The third State Legislature assembled on January eighth, and adjourned on March eighth, 1861. As Minnesota was the first State which received 1280 acres of land in each township for school purposes, the Governor, in his annual message, occupied several pages in an able and elaborate argument as to the best methods of guarding and selling the school lands, and protecting the school fund. The comprehensive views set forth made a deep irapfession, and were embodied in appropriate legisla- tion, and the School Land policy of the State has called forth the highest commendation from educators in other States. The educational policy of the State was freely dis- 1 A.n Indian was hung in December, 1851. See p. 611. OFFICE OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 641 cussed during the third session of the Legislature. The Seriate Committee, in presenting a bill prescribing the salary of Chancellor of the University, ex-offido Super- intendent of Public Instruction, made the following report : " That in Wisconsin the Chancellor of the University receives for services rendered to the State the annual compensation of three thousarid dollars, while the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, with an assistant •and one clerk, receives thirty-six hundred dollars ; also that in Iowa the Chancellor of the State University receives two thousand dollars, and the office of Public Instruction twenty-four hundred dollars. Our own State, profiting by the counsels of experienced edu- cators in other States, has recognized the unity of educational interests, and the fact that there must be a thorough and efficient system of primary, secondary, and high schools before there can be a proper university, and therefore the last Legislature made the Chancellor of the State University ex-officio Superintendent of Public Instruction. Thus one of the most delicate and responsible departments of the State government is entrusted to one who is presumed to be and ought to be acquainted with the educational systems of the past and present, and who is also lifted above the din of party strife and the influences which so often lead to a caucus nomination and an election by a political party, or their representatives assembled in joint conven- tion." The views of the Committee were clamorously assailed by a small minority. That no personal prejudices against the head of the educational systeui might endanger the important cause of public instruction, the Chancellor of 41 €42 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the University resigned.^ The result of the discussion was that a law was passed creating a separate office of public instruction, and in joint convention the Legis- lature, five members only dissenting, elected the late Chancellor of the University as the head of the new ofiice. The Regents of the University at their next meeting having requested Mr. Neill to withdraw his resignation, he again became chancellor, and so con- 1 " St. Paul, Feb. 25, 1861. "Hon. Alez. Ramsey: " Dear Sir : — In tendering my resignation as Chancellor of the University of Minnesota, it is proper that a brief allusion should be made in relation to my connection with the educational affairs of the State. " In the year 1858, during the administration of your predecessor, and at the instance of Hon. H. M. Kioe, I was elected chancellor. After several weeks of deliberation I ac- , ^epted the office ; for although I dis- ■oovored that by poor management the institution had incurred a heavy debt by the erection of a building in advance of the wants of the insti- tution, yet I supposed that by strict watchfulness the debt might in years be liquidated, and the University serve its purpose at its proper time. The last Legislature repealed the old charter of the Territorial Univer- sity, and passed a new act by which the old Kegents as well as myself were displaced. They also enacted that the chancellor under the new arrangement should be ex-qfflcio State Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion. The new Board, with one ex- ception, were of different political opinions from a majprity of the old Board, but at their first meeting they re-elected me chancellor. ' " The action of the last Legislature commended itself to me, for it made a unit of educational interests too often separated. Believing that a State University should be kept in the closest sympathy with the normal and public schools, and tha* there never could be a university worthy of the name unless the public schools were made efficient, I entered upon the duties of the office with ^enthu- siasm, and the hearty ', God-speed,' as I supposed, of men of all creeds and parties. The correspondence on file in the office gives abundant evi- dence that the position has not been a sinecure. But a respectable number of the present Legislature desire to modify the system lately inaugu- rated, and which has been com- mended by distinguished educators abroad, and bring the office of Su- perintendent of Public Instruction nearer to political influences. In order that they may have no ob- stacles to the reconstruction of the educational system as their wisdom and matured experience may sug- gest, I think it better that I should retire. " Since 1858 I have performed the UNIVERSITY CHANCELLORSHIP. 643 tinued until, during his absence in the public service, his office was vacated by legislation. duties of the chancellorship, and since March, 1860, those of the State superintendency, without any compensation, and have been obliged to furnish the office with desks, postage, stationery, and a part of the time employ a clerk, and also pay all my travelling expenses while ill the service of the State. " By law the Legislature is re- quired to provide suitable compen- sation, and I have no doubt that if ■this Legislature, owing to the extreme poverty of the State, fail to remu- nerate me for the services performed and money expended in behalf of the Commonwealth, that the day will come when 1 will be paid in full, with interest. Assure the Regents of my high personal regard, and that, while no longer holding any official connection, I am still, as ever, ready to co-operate in any movement that will tend to give our State a name for intelligence. " Yours truly, " Edw. D. Nbii.1. " 644 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XXX. MINNESOTA'S PART IN SUPPRESSING SLAVEHOLDERS' REBELLION: OCCURRENCES OF 1861. The people of Minnesota had not been as excited as those of the Atlantic States relative to the ques- tions that were discussed previous to the presidential election of November, 1860. A majority had calmly declared their preference for Abraham Lincoln as President of the republic. The sources of the Mississippi River being in the State, its waters, after rolling by the capital, also wash the borders of the former slave States of Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and passing the city of New Orleans, are lost in the Gulf of Mexico. Living upon the banks of the same river, in the summer-time, the slaveholder would leave his plantation and breathe the bracing atmosphere of the valley of the Upper Mississippi, and while he dis- covered that the citizens of Minnesota, with but few exceptions, considered the holding of persons of Afri- can descent in slavery as a foul blot upon the repu- tation of States that belonged to a so-called free re- public, yet he was treated with kindness,, and was convinced that there was no disposition upon the part of the inhabitants to use unlawful measures for the abolition of slavery. ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER. 645 But the blood of her quiet and intelligent population was stirred on the morning of April fourteenth, 1861, by the intelligence communicated in the daily papers of the capital, that the insurgents of South Carolina had bombarded Fort Sumter, and that after a gallant resistance of thirty-four hours. General Anderson and the few soldiers of his command had been obliged to haul down their country's flag and evacuate the fort. The sad, thoughtful countenances of the congrega- tions worshipping in the churches, the groups of earnest men talking at the corners of the streets on that event- ful Sunday, indicated their conviction that the existence of the nation was imperilled, and that the honour of the flag must be sustained by the expenditure of life and much treasure. Governor Ramsey was in Washington at this period, and on Sunday called upon the President of the re- public with two other citizens from Minnesota, and was the first of the State governors to tender the services of the people he represented in defence of the republic. The offer of a regiment was accepted, and the Gov- ernor sent a dispatch to Lieutenant-governor Donnelly, which caused the issuing on Tuesday, the sixteenth ^ of the following proclamation: "Whereas, the governi- ment of the United States in the due enforcement of the laws has for several mouths past been resisted by armed organizations of citizens in several of the South- ern States, who precipitating the country into revolu- tion, have seized upon and confiscated the property of the nation to the amount of many millions of dollars; have taken possession of its forts and arsenals; have (546 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. fired upon its flag, and at last consummating their treason, have, under circumstances of peculiar indignity and humiliation, assaulted and captured a Federal fort^ occupied by Federal troops. And whereas, all these outrages, it is evident, are to be followed by an at- tempt to seize upon the national capital and the offi- cers and archives of the government. And whereaS). the President of the United States, recurring in this extremity to the only resource left him, the patriot- ism of a people who through three great wars, and all the changes of eighty-five years, have ever proved true to the cause of law, order and free institutions^ has issued a requisition to the governors of the seve- ral States for troops to support the government. " Now therefore, in pursuance of law and of the re- quisition of the President of the United States, I do- hereby give notice that volunteers will be received at the city of St. Paul for one regiment of infantry, com- posed of ten companies, each of sixty-four privates,, one captain, two lieutenants, four sergeants, four cor- porals, and one bugler. The volunteer companies al- ready organized, upon complying with the foregoing requirements as to numbers and ofiicers, will be en- titled to be first received. " The term of service will be three months, unless sooner discharged. Volunteers" will report them- selves to the adjutant-general, at the capital, St. Paul, by whom orders will at once be issued, giving all the necessary details as to enrollment and organ- ization." Business during the week was almost suspendecj. The national flag displayed over the stores and the roofs of private residences evinced that there was a TKOOPS QDICKLY RAISED. 647 determination to preserve what, with all of its blem- ishes, was still the best of earthly governments. All political party ties were obliterated, and the public meetings at the capital and at St. Anthony, Minneapolis, Red Wing, Winona, and in all the prin- cipal towns, indicated a surprising unanimity and re- solve to use every effort to conquer the slaveholders' rebellion. Under the call issued by the lieutenant-governor, acting in the absence of the Governor, recruiting was begun with alacrity. On Monday morning, the six- teenth, companies of the artillery of the regular army arrived at St. Paul from Fort Eidgley in charge of Major Pemberton, hastening to Washington to aid in protection of the capital ; but this ofl&cer, before he reached the destination, resigned his command, and, although a native of one of the free States, offered his sword in defence of the confederacy of slave States. The first company raised under the call of the State was composed of the most energetic of the young men of St. Paul, and its captain was the esteemed William H. Acker, who bad been the adjutan1>general of the State militia. Other companies quickly followed in tendering their services. On the last Monday of April a camp for the 1st Regiment was opened at Fort Snelling, and Captain Anderson D. Nelson, U. S. A., in two or three days mustered in the companies, and on the twenty-seventh of the month Adjutant-General John B. Sanborn, in behalf of Governor Ramsey, ex-qfficio commander-in- chief of State troops, issued the following order : " The commander-iiirchief expresses his gratification at the prompt response to the call of the President of 648 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, the United States upon the militia of Minnesota, and his regret that under the present requisition for only ten companies it is not possible to accept the services of all the companies offered. " The following companies, under the operation of General Order No. 1, have been accepted : Coinpany B, 2d Regiment, Capt. Lester ; Company A, 6th Regiment, Capt. Pell ; Company A, 7th Regiment, Capt. Colville ; Company A, 8th Regiment, Capt. Dike; Company A, 13th Regiment, Capt. Adams j Company A, 16th Regi- m'ent, Capt. Putnam; Company A, 17th Regiment, Capt. Morgan; Company A, 23d Regiment, Capt. Wilkin; Oompany B, 23d Regiment, Capt. Acker; Company A, 25th Regiment, Capt. Broomley. Each officer and private is recommended to provide himself with a blanket. Captains of the above companies will report their respective commands to the adjutant-general at Fort Snelling. " The commander-in-chief recommends the com- panies not enumerated above to maintain their organi- zation and perfect their drill, and that patriotic citizens throughout the State continue to enroll themselves and be ready for any emergency." More companies having offered than were necessary to fill the quota of the 1st Regiment, on May third the Governor sent a telegram to the President offering a second regiment. The authorities at Washington were soon convinced of the magnitude of the rebellion, and on May seventh Mr. Cameron, secretary of war, sent the following telegram to Governor Ramsey : " It is decidedly preferable that all the regiments mustered into the service of the government from your FLAG PRESENTATION. 64^ State not already actually sent forward should be mus- tered into service for three years or during the war. If any persons belonging to the regi/ments already mustered for three months, but not yet actually sent forward, should be unwilling to serve for three years or during the war, could not their places be filled by others willing to serve ?" On May eleventh Lieutenant-governor Donnellj telegraphed to Governor Ramsey, then in Washington on official business : " The entire 1st Regiment, hy its conimissioned officers, is this day tendered to the , President for three years or during the war. The men will be mustered in to-day by Capt. Nelson. In case of deficiency in the ranks, what course would you re- commend ? Answer." The same day the Governor replied : " Adjutant- General Thomas authorizes me to say that Captain Nelson may muster in Colonel Gorman's regiment at once for three years or during the war. Do this at once under dispatch of May seventh." The ladies of St. Paul having purchased a hand- some silk flag for the regiment, on May twenty-fifth they came to receive the present. After a six miles' march from Fort Snelling, the regiment arrived in the suburbs of the city about 10 o'clock in the morning. Before they reached the capitol the grounds surround- ing and adjacent streets were crowded with spectators. The troops having been formed in hollow square in front of the building, the wife of the Governor appeared on the steps with the flag in her hand, and Captain Stansbury, of U. S. A. Topographical Engineers, made the presentation speech in behalf of the ladies, after which Colonel Gorman replied most appropriately. 650 HISTORY OB MINNESOTA. On June fourteenth, the Governor received a dis. patch from the secretary of war ordering the regiment to "Washington. Messengers were immediately sent by Colonel Gorman to the companies temporarily garrison- ing Forts Ripley and Eidgley to report at Fort Saelling. On the twenty -first, at an early hour they embarked in the steamers Northern Belle and War Eagle.' Before marching out of the fort to the boats, their chaplain delivered the following address : "Soldiers of Minnesota! This is not the hour for many words. The moment your faces are turned toward the South you assume a new attitude. Gray- haired sires, venerable matrons, young men and fair maidens will look upon you with pride as you glide by their peaceful homes. From week to week they will eagerly search the newspapers to learn your posi- tion and condition. " To-day the whole State view you as representative men, and you no doubt realize that the honour of our Co rhmon wealth is largely entrusted to your keeping. "Your errand is not to overturn, but to uphold the most tolerant and forbearing government on earth. ' Stait Officebs. Jacob H. Stewart, Surgeon. Pris- "Willis A. Gorman, Colonel. Promo- oner of war at Bull Kun, July 1861. ted to Brigadier-General by advice of Paroled at Richmond. General Winfield Scott, Oct. 7, 1801. Charles W. Le Boulillier, Assistant- Stephen Miller, Lieutenant-Col- Surgeon. Prisoner of war at Bull onel. Made Colonel of 7th Eegi- Kun. Surgeon 9th Regiment. Died ment, Aug. 1862. April 1863. William H. Dike, Major. Ke- Edward D. Neill, Chaplain. Bc- signed Oct. 22, 1861. signed July 13, 1862, and commis- William B. Leach, Adjutant. Made sioned by President Lincoln as Hos- Oaptain and A. A.-G. Feb. 23, 1862. pital Chaplain U. S. A. In 1864 Mark W. Dowuie, Q;uartermaster. resigned, and commissioned as one Promoted Captain Company B, July of the secretaries to President. 16, 1861. DEPARTURE OF FIRST RBQIMENT. 651 you go to war with misguided brethren, not with wrathful, but with mourning hearts. Your demeanour from the day of enlistment shows that you are fit for something else than ' treason, stratagem, and spoils.' " To fight for a great principle is a noble work. We- are all erring and fallible men ; but the civilized world feel that you are engaged in a just cause, which God will defend. " In introducing myself to you, I would say, I come not to command, but to be a friend, and to point to you the'' Friend of friends,' who sticketh closer than a brother, who pities when no earthly eye can pity, and who can save when no earthly arm can save. " As far as in me lies, I am ready to make known the glad tidings of the gospel, the simple but sublime truth as it is in Christ Jesus. The religion I shall in- culcate will make you self-denying, courageous, cheerful here, and happy hereafter. " Soldiers ! if you would be obedient to God, you must honour him who has been ordained to lead you forth. The colonel's will must be your will. If, like the Roman centurion, he says, ' go,' go you must. If he says ' come,' come you must. God grant you all the Hebrew's endur- ing faith, and you will be sure to have the Hebrew's valor. Now with the Hebrew benediction I close. " The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen !" At 7.30 A.M. the troops arrived at the upper landing of St. Paul, and amid the tears and cheers of its citizens, marched through the city to the lower landing, and again embarked for the Seat of war. 652 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. While this regiment did not contain any braver or better men than those which were subsequently raised, yet because it was the First, and also the only one, from Minnesota, in the Army of the Potomac engaged in de- fence of the national capital, its course during the war was watched with deep interest. Their journey to Wash- ington so soon after the call for troops, and. their fine, healthful appearance, were commended by the public press. The Chicago Tribune, June twenty-third, said : " Gal- lant Minnesota deserves high credit for her noble sons and their appearance yesterday. Th6y have enjoyed in their make-up that rare and excellent process of selec- tion and culling from the older States which has thrown into the van of civilization the hardy lumbermen and first settlers of the wilds. There are few regiments we ever saw that can compete in brawn and muscle with these Minnesotians, used to the axe, the rifle, the oar, the setting pole, and thus every way splendid material for soldiers." Another paper of the same city, in an editorial with the caption " Northern Hive," thus descants : " The advent of the Minnesota regiment on Sunday on their way to the seat of war was suggestive of many curious reflections. It carried the mind back to the twilight of modern civilization, to the days when not hireling mercenaries, but companiqns in arms, free men of northern Europe, burst from their icy homes and over- whelmed their efieminate southern neighbors. The old story of the world's history seemed to be repeated ; and chronicle and tradition alike teach us what the result must be. As we beheld the men march by, their stal- wart forms, wild dress, martial bearing, and healthy FIRST KEGIMENT AT ALEXANDRIA. §53 complexions gave reality to the reflection, that this, after all was repetition of the scene, — thiat these were forms as brawny, faces as intelligent, expressions as resolute, as in the days of old issued from the Northern Hive to plant the foundations of all that we now know of free- dom and civilization." After remaining a few days encamped at Washington, the regiment was ordered to cross the Potomac. A correspondent of the St. Paul Press writes as follows from " (Jamp Minnesota, rear of Alexandria, " Fourth of July night. " The Minnesota Regiment, since yesterday after- noon, has not been 'in clover,' but in a field of timothy. " On the morning of the 3d we pulled up stakes in the rear of the Capitol, and, marching down to the Washington Navy Yard, were received by Commodore Dahlgren, a noble specimen of Philadelphia, and a true patriot, who had two staunch steamers all ready to convey us to Alexandria. As I renewed acquaintance with the commodore, I could but realize the painful estrangements that have taken place in a few months. The last time I had met him was at a smaill evening party, at the hospitable house of Senator Toombs, then recognized as a patriot, and particularly as a friend of our young State, now known the world over as one of a few fanatics who have conspired to overthrow the most beneficent government ever devised by man. "Arriving at Alexandria in less than, an hour, we marched to General McDowell's head-quarters, and received directions to retire to our camping- ground, and were reviewed by him and other military officers. ■«554 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. "The reception in Alexandria formed the widest ■contrast to that in Chicago. " The latter was enthusiastic, and the filled streets, although it was the peaceful Sabbath eve, waved with a forest of clapping hands ; but, in the formar, vacant houses, with here and there a half-opened shutter, re- vealing a curious, peeping female, and in the streets a knot of sullen or expressionless faces, were all the manifestations witnessed. " The spot selected for our encampment was a large field of waving timothy, yesterday belonging to a man of secession proclivities, but to-day it has withered under the Alaric heel of our Northmen. " It was after night before all the tents arrived, and it was pleasant to see the cheerfulness with which the soldiers bore the loss of their usual meals. " During the afternoon we had ocular evidence that we were in 'Ole Virginny,' as the negroes say. Our arrival was soon chronicled among the sable popula- tion, and soon a small army of venders of gingerbread made their appearance. " Lads of all hues, from the darkest ebony to the lightest cinnamon, basket in hand, grinned at you in the bewitching, good-humoured way peculiar to negro boys, that is irresistible and forces you to buy a cake and dispense with any change that is due. Fat, shining, waddling, turbaned, composed, thick-lipped Dinahs stop in front of you so graciously and courtesy so low that you must take their glass of lemonade, which is only three cents. Toward night, dealers in large craft, — •. Sambo, who is too big a gentleman to carry bundles, has harnessed up master's large horse to the heavy wood-cart, and has driven out with the ponderous load FOURTH OF JULY IN VIRGINIA. 65& of two or three baskets of pies and sweet things, and, with a due sense of importance, awaits customers. " The Fourth of July, with more than one thousand Minnesotians near Alexandria, with the Massachusetts 5th on the other side of the road, and Ellsworth's Zouaves adjoining them, and a Pennsylvania and Michigan regiment on a hill near by, shows that the times are sadly out of joint, and that ' there is some- thing rotten in Virginia.' " Yet, all day long, we have felt as if the spirit of Washington was with us, and if he was to arise from his tomb at Mount Vernon, and move with his wonted stately step through the streets of Alexandria, once so familiar to him, that he would look around as Jesus once gazed on the Jews, with righteous indignation. "He lived not for Virginia, nor for the South, but denied and sacrificed to make one great nation out of several petty, jealous, and insignificant colonies. As he urged the suppression of the Shays rebellion by the force of arms, so we feel sure that he approves of the occupancy of Virginia soil on this Fourth of July by government troops to suppress the Davis insurrection. "Being dead, he yet speaks to us and tells us that our nation is one, and that the people o^ the United States have formed a perpetual Union, which no State authority can abrogate. " But I must restrain my patriotism, as I am writing a familiar letter on the top of a trunk, and not deliver- ing a Fourth of July oration. " This morning about 3 o'clock the camp was called to arms by the rapid beat of the drum, as the discharge of musketry indicated that the rebel pickets were firing upon ours some two or three miles distant. 656 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. " Chaplain Da Costa, of the 5th Massachusetts Eegi- ment, visited us this evening. He is a member of the Episcopal branch of the church catholic, and a genial Christian gentleman. He has to-day received what he has long waited for, a piece of contraband property, a first-rate black servant, trained in all the arts and mysteries of his profession. " His master's residence was near by, but he has been some time absent as captain of a rebel troop. A few days ago he ;wrote to have his man sent to him. Two constables to-day went out from Alexandria to see Sambo at his master's place, and convey him to a 'lock-up' for safe-keeping until there was a favourable opportunity to forward the chattel. "Sambo liked his master well enough, but did not relish leaving the old home and going into a strange country among a people who were doing very st-range things. So, watching his opportunity, he turned a short corner, and, dodging his pursuerSj threaded the lanes and alleys of Alexandria, and, with the speed of a deer, bounded into the Massachusetts camp, and is now the happy drawer of water and blacker of boots of Chaplain Da Costa. " Would that some other injured individual would take to his heels and fly to the tent of the Minnesota chaplain, who is sadly in need of a Gibeonite!" The same correspondent again writes : " Camp Gorman, near Alexandria, " July 10, 1861. " Last Sunday, our first in Virginia, was to me a calm, pleasant, holy day. At the appointed hour the •egiment formed, and, preceded by the band^ marched SUNDAY SERVICE. 65? to a clump of oaks a short distance from the camp, which formed a Bethel in the original Hebrew signifi- cation, and would have delighted a Ruskin, or any other lover of the aesthetic. " The trees were not more than twenty in number, but lofty and venerable, and so arranged as to leave an open and shady centre just sufficient to accommo- date the regiment. While the companies under their respective officers were filing into the grove, the birds, poised amid the graceful arches of nature's leafy temple, sang a cheerful voluntary, which sounded far more like an anthem of praise than the artistic performances of mere heartless hirelings on the solemn-toned organ in some modem sanctuaries. - " The prayers, the hymns, and the discourse were conformed to the occasion, and it is said that the audience was not weary. While the chaplain was invoking the blessing of Heaven upon our nation's arms, the Rev. Mr. Leftwich, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, in his own pulpit offered earnest prayer for the success of those in armed rebellion against the government. " After the services w6re over, Colonel Heintzelman, the commanding officer in Alexandria, sent for and re- monstrated with him. He acknowledges the charge, and says he must obey God rather than man. The church had a military guard around it that night, and evening services were postponed. In the Washington Star of to-night Mr. Leftwich has a note, in which he com- plains of the interference with him as tyrannical ; but he forgets that if he conscientiously uses the privilege of publicly praying for treason in the face of a govern- ment order, he must, like Daniel, who only prayed in 42 658 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. his own home, be ready to suffer the penalty, and be ready to go to the prison-house. The concluding sen- tences of his letter, while beautiful, show how the people of this vicinity are estranged. I send them for your readers : " ' As to the alleged division of sentiment in my church, all that I shall say is, that, unless the signs are strangely deceptive, my prayers carry weekly to Company H. 10.00 Hospital Steward 3.00 Telegram to Governor 4.95 Charles Dorothy, Alexandria Hospital 2.50 Express charges on package to Mra. Scofield 1.00 Dr. Hand, for hospital stores. 25.00 Hotel and traveling expenses, visiting wounded at Wash- ington and Alexandria 11.00 Dinner for sick soldier 50 Dinner for ambulance driver. .60 Hospital Steward, for bread... 1.00 Dr. Hand, for medicines and 8.00 3.00 expenses Hospital Steward.. 664 HISTORY OF MINNESOfA. On July sixteenth, the regiment began to take part in the movement that culminated in the battle of Sept. 21st. 26th. Iflt. 3d. 5th. Aug. 20th. Expenses for DuBois and McMuUen 8 1.03 . B. C. Knapp, Company K 10.00 , Gum Bougies 2.00 , Expenses to Washington and Annapolis 15.95 Brandy and provisions fur- nished to fatigued soldiers after battle, by Sutler King. 43.60 . Repairing truss 1.00 Chickens for Biddle 1.00 Dinner for ambulance horses and driver 2.00 Driver's board in Waahin gton . 2.00 Horse-doctor and medicine.... 1.50 Mending harness 75 Ambulance livery bill 3.00 Vaccine virus 3.00 Medicines 4.25 Wines and liquors 12.00 Hospital Steward 1.66 Charges on box, care of Co. D. 6.65 Chickens for hospital 1.00 Wounded at Alexandria 20.00 , Hospital Steward 66 , Ten hospital cote, per Major Dike 25.00 . Hospital Steward 1.00 , Chickens for hospital 3.00 Postage Stamps 2.00 Oscar Gross, Company G, per Capt. Mesaick 5.00 Ten hospital cots, per Oscar King 26.00 Hospital Cook 2.25 Hospital Nurse 50 Hardware, washing, and ne- cessaries . .. .J 4.00 Board of Drs. Murphy and Hand, to be refunded when paid for services 56.08 , Broom for hospital 25 . Chas. Kicketts, Alexandria, per Capt. Downie 10.00 , Randolph, Company C, per Lieut. Hoyt 2.50 Sundries, per Dr. Hand 3,50 Ruler and blank book 2.50 Livery bill 6.00 Medicines 2.00 Brandy 50 Expenses of ambulance driver 1.50 Chickens 50 Candles 1.50 6th. 8th. 10th. 16th. 17th. 23d. 2Tth. 4th. 5th. 7th. 21st. " 25 th. w 26 th. Deo. .10th. 1862. Jan. 24th. " 24th. " 30th. KoT. 21et. Oysters, for Gummings i .50 " " Hardware 1.25 " " Wine for Oummings 1.00 " " Hardware 1.00 ** " Ambulance and horses in Washington 5.00 " " Repair of cots 1.00 " " Blank book 1.00 " " Stove and pipe 7l60 Chickens 75 Second Stove 12.rt Bichmond prisoners of war... 100.00 Hiram Wentworth, per Oapt. Coates 25.00 Chickens 2.50 Hospital steward 1.00 Milk 1.00 " " 0. 0. Marr, Bichmond pris- oner 5.00 " " Dr. Morton, for hospital use.. 5.00 Feb. 18th. James Scurry, sick soldier on furlough 30.00 " " David Marshall, wounded sol- dier 30.00 " 24th. Counterfeit bill contributed... 6.00 " " Hospital washing, 261 pieces. 10.44 Total expenditures 665.93 Cash on hand 1261.74 81917.72 for want of .space two reports that were published are omitted. "United States Army Hospital, " South Street, Phila., "Oct. 16, 1863. "Governor H. A. Swift: "Dear Sib,— Shortly after the wounded of the 1st Minnesota were received in the hospitals of this city from the field of Gettysburg, I wrote to the Surgeon of the Regi- ment, proposing that I should give to each of the wounded five dollars of the Keli ef F und th at was for warded to me by the churches and citizens of Minnesota, j ust after the first battle of MARCH TO BULL RUN. 665 Bull Run. We continue, as more graphic than the sober words of the historian, the views of a letter- writer, July seventeenth, at Sangster's Station : D. S. Wearts, Company I ......v. S5.00 D.Barton, " I. 5.00 J. S. Eaton, " K Wm. Kinyon, " K C. B. Boardman, " £ V. B. Baker, " L W. M. Coleman, " L Bull Run — the unexpended balance of which had been placed by me in the hands of the State Treasurer for safe keeping, after my resignation as . regimental chaplain. " Two or three weeks ago I received aletter from Dr. Le Blond, approving the proposition, and a draft was drawn on the State Treasurer for two hun- dred and fifty dollars. "Since the first of the month the • following soldiers have each received five dollars, and in one case, by mis- take, a payment of ten dollars was made : Chas. MuUer, Company A $5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 Julian Bauch, Ist Company Sharp- shooters 5.00 Adam Marty, P. P. Schonbach, E. F. Neystadt, Fred. Marty, Andrew P. Quist, Barth. Carigalt, Peter Everson, G. L. Squires, Andrew Kreiger, J. W. Kautz, E. e. Perkins, Jas. Walsh, Beuj. F. Noel, Chas. W. Geer, L. B. Geer, W. C. Smith, Henry Fisher, 6. Weaver, Marion Abbott, Romulus Jacks, Geo. Magee, G. S. Hopkins, EiJlion Drindle, Lewis Breisch, John H. Docker, P. Hess, €. B. Berk, J. Donovan, Wm. D. Howell Ernest Miller, O. M. Knight, W. K. Kichard, B.. B.. B.. B... B.. B... B.. C. c. D.. D.. D.. D.. D.. D.. D.. E.. E.. F.: F.. G.. G.. H.. H.. H.. H.. H.. 5.06 5.00 6.00 8.00 5.00 5.00 6.00 5.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 5.00 6.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 6.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 6.00 5.00 5.00 6,00 10.00 6.00 5.00 6.00 $210.00 RECAPIT ULATION. Draft on Charles Scheffer $250.00 Paid soldiers $210.00 Telegram for soldiera 2.63 Exchange 2.60 Expenses of delivery 50 215.63 Balance on hand $34.37 " Before this you will have proba- bly received the official announce- ment of the contemplated dedication of the battle-flelfi cemetery at Gettys- burg on November nineteenth ; and, feeling assured that it will meet a hearty response from every donor of the fund, I would respectfully suggest that you forward a draft for $500 (presuming that there still re- mains that amount in the hands of the State Treasurer) to be expended in procuring a monument, with ap- propriate designs, to designate the spot in that cemetery where the hon- ored dead of the 1st Minnesota are interred. " Yours, very respectfully, " Edward D. Neill, "Chaplain U. S. A.' " Philadelphia, Dec. 30, 1863. " To THK G-OVBRNOK OF MINNESOTA " Dear Sir, — Expecting in a few days to resign my position as chap- lain in the army, I forward my final report of the funds entrusted to me 666 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. "On the top of an old, and I am glad to say empty^ whisky barrel, I write that after a tramp of sixteen miles by all sorts of ways, highways, by-ways, and no ways, wo are, not encamped (for we have no tents), but are reclining in a field near a saw- and grist-mill, which was to-day suddenly deserted. " Yesterday, about ten o'clock, we marched frpm our camp near Alexandria, and in a few hours there was a column, under Colonel Heintzelman, moving in a direction to leave Fairfax Court-House on our rights General McDowell marching at the same time, by another road, for that point, now become so familiar to every one interested in the war. " The regiments of Heintzelman's division marched yesterday in the following order: Colonel Franklin's Brigade, consisting of the Massachusetts 5th, Pennsyl- vania 4th, Minnesota 1st, and Ricketts' United States Artillery ; then followed Michigan 1st, United States Cavalry, New York Zouaves, Michigan 4th, New York 38th, Maine 4th, Vermont 2d, Maine 5th, a.nd Maine 3d. " All day yesterday we marched through a country by the churches, etc., for relief of Steen, Company A, York, $5. Total, soldiers. $16. " A reference to my last report, " The amount left in my hands i» published in the papers of St. Paul, therefore eighteen dollars and thirty- and dated October sixteenth, ^ill sevencents, for which a check in favor show that then the sum of thirty-four of the State Treasurer is enclosed, dollars and thirty-seven cents re- " For the information of the donors mained in my hands. to the fund, and for my own protec- " Since that period Ihave presented tion, you will confer a favor by pub- the following sums : Charles Drake, lishing this, as all previous reports Company A, South Street Hospital, have been, in the Press and Pioneer. $3 ; Dana Barton, Company G, Chest- " Yours truly, nut Hill (additional), $3 ; Chas. Ely, " Edward D. Nbill, Company K, Broad Street, $5; Chas. " Chaplain U. S. A.'* POOR WHITES OF VIRGINIA. 66^ diversified by pine forests and a few valleys, but sparsely settled. Toward night the country became more broken^ and the valley of the Accotink Creek was quite pleasing. After sunset we reached the Pohick, a small stream, and on the hillside of the valley, toward the west, we rested for the night. " After sleeping under the hospital ambulance, with a horse tied to each hind wheel, who stood as a body- guard all night, I arose quite refreshed, and after a cup of coffee with some pilot bread soaked therein, was ready to follow the fortunes of war. During the night, another regiment, the 11th Massachusetts, joined oui column. Before sunrise we were all ' on our winding way,' the ponderpus artillery immediately in front ot our regiment. " The face of the country is now more broken. Travelled all the forenoon through a wooded country, with here and there a clearing, with a poor log farm- house and an apology for a barn, in the shape of a few pine logs loosely put together and half decayed. The inmates are what the Virginians call 'poor whites.' The mother stands at the > door, a tall, vacant, gaunt, care-worn woman; the children pale and buttonless ; the father ill clad, and looking as if he was half ashamed to hold his head up in the presence of decent people. "About two miles on our march we passed an aguish- looking, badly frightened man, whose horse had been shot last night by our pickets, and who had received a wound on his own head, not very serious. " Two women were by his side, one white and coarse featured, the other, more refined, a plump matronly quadroon, who seemed to show quite a conjugal interest in the captured man. She told me that he was hunting €68 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. for a colt when the soldiers challenged, and not un- derstanding them, he did not stop, and they fired. " Our march to-day was truly cautious. Like a serpent (and with our different uniforms as variegated) we have crept through the thick woods by unfrequented paths, and with serpent wisdom, determined not to be caught by the enemy. At midday we reached an improved country, and the farm of an intelligent person, originally from Rensselaer county, New York. The aged grand- father, his son and son's wife, a pretty granddaughter of sixteen, and a grandson of twelve years, stood at the gate, and their eyes beamed and every feature was bright with joy as we passed. They shook hands, they talked, they laughed, for they felt that the hour of deliverance had come. During the week some of their neighbors had been drafted and unwillingly forced into the rebel army, but now they knew that the reign of terror must soon cease. "While standing at the farm gate, the news comes down the road that the enemy are at Fairfax Station, and the pickets near by. Orders are soon given for the axemen to go forward to cut out the obstructions the enemy has placed in the road. The work is speedily executed. The New York Zouaves are hurried up, and go by us, jumping like squirrels, to strike the railway near the supposed rebel camp, while we move along with the Massachusetts 5th and U. S. Artillery, to attack the left flank. "Deserted pickets now appear, and in 'a little while we discover at a camping ground of a detachment of rebels, half a mile distant, a dense smoke, and learn that they had left in haste this morning, and, as they could not carry them, had burned up all their stores. MARCH TO CENTREVILLB. 669 " On we hasten till we reach a high plateau, looking into the valley through which the railways pass, and over toward the Blue Ridge, when we perceive smoke again, and in a half hour arrive at Sangster Station^ six miles southwest of Fairfax Court-House, and only eight from Manassas Junction, and find that the rebels as usual have retreated, and in passing down from Fairfax Court-House to-day have burned all the railroad bridges. "Could we have been here but four or five hours sooner we could have caught them all. " After a tramp of sixteen miles in the hot sun, we reached here at four o'clock, and officers and men are all well." The same person wrote, July nineteenth, to the St. Paul Pioneer and Democrat from Centreville, Va. : "A three days' march has brought us to this place, where we found the rear of General McDowell's di- vision. " The first day, without peril or obstruction, we ad- vanced from Alexandria to Pohick Creek, and on the second day tramped by a roundabout road sixteen or seventeen miles, to a station on the Orange Railway, twenty miles from Alexandria, where we arrived about 4 P.M. " General McDowell had reached Fairfax Court-House before dinner, and a number of Alabama and other troops passed by this station, flying to Manassas Junc- tion, two hours before we reached the spot, and in their rear left burning bridges, to prevent pursuit. "Yesterday morning Captain Wilkin was sent up the railway with twenty men, to scout. He returned in about two hours and a half with intelligence that three '6t0 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. miles distant he perceived about five hundred of the enemy on a hill commanding the road. " In the afternoon Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, with companies A and B, was ordered to proceed on the railway, and discover if the bridge at Union Mills was burned. They proceeded about the same distance, and with the aid of a glass Lieutenant-Colonel Miller and Lieutenants Downie and Thomas all distinctly saw a battery* of five or six guns at the point seen by Captain Wilkin in the morning. "While they were absent the long roll was sounded, and the brigades of Colonel Heintzelman's division were quickly on the march again. Just at dark, not far from this place, we heard that there had been a bloody engiigement at Bull Run, where a detachment under , General Tyler had been mowed down by a masked battery. " Shortly after this rumor, it began to rain, and we were drenched by a nice little shower. Without provisions, surrounded by twenty hungry and wet regiments, and with nothing but the bad news of the afternoon fight to digest, we went supperless to bed, if sleeping in the open air can be thus designated. " This morning the rumor of last night is confirmted. Yesterday about midday, Sherman's Artillery, the 12th and another New York regiment, marched into the mouth of a masked battery. The men behaved bravely, but they could not stand before the galling and unexpected fire, and after a time they retreated, with at least sixty killed. " It is hinted, by those who profess to know, that this mishap was occasioned by Tyler, who is an oflBcer of the regular array, not strictly following orders. REBEL PICKET CAPTURED. 671 "A negro who escaped from the rebel army, and was picked up by Lieutenant Thomas yesterday afternoon towards dusk, says that his master, a captain, was killed, and hundreds of others by the fire of our artil- lery. He also states that Beauregard was there," and that a shot struck a white house, in the porch of which the general was viewing the engagement, and knocked ■out one end. "This morning, amidst anathemas fierce and loud from long lines of Zouaves and others, a band of eight rebel soldiers was marched through the camp up to General McDowell's tent. They were a picket sta- tioned near Fairfax Court-House, which the rebels in their haste had forgotten to call in. " Their uniform was rather Falstaffian. Their heads . were covered with apologies for caps and hats. Two wore dark brown blouses, and the rest were dressed in iron-gray satinet, with green trimmings, and belong, I believe, to an Alabama regiment. " To-day I had the pleasure of meeting General Burn- side, one of the most gentlemanly and efficient officers. Having resigned the army several years ago, he engaged in the manufacture of small arms, which he had im- proved. About six years ago the firm with which he was connected failed. An industrious man, he came out to St. Paul, and passed a short period in the hope of identifying himself with some of our then projected railways. Finding insufficient encouragement, he be- came, through the influence of McClellan, first, assist-, ant treasurer, and then treasurer of the Illinois Central Railroad. " The war breaks out, and these two friends and ngble men leave situations yielding them an income of thou- 672 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. sands of dollars, to serve their country. Their services have been appreciated, — McClellan ranking as major- general of the United States army, and Burnside as brigadier in command of the Rhode Island forces. "To-day we are at a 'stand-still,' probably awaiting more troops, to render success more sure, and save the shedding of more blood." As it is impossible for any person to see the entire battle-field, it is always better to present the statement of several eye-witnesses, made from different stand- points. Using the reports of the division, brigade, and regi- mental commander on the conduct of the 1st Minne- sota Regiment in battle on Sunday, July twenty-first, at Bull Run, we have added thereto in footnotes' the statements of others. 1 Javan B. Irvine, of St. Paul, ar- rived a few days before the battle on a visit to his brother-in-law, Mr. Halsted, of Company A. In civilian's dress, he took a musket and went into action, and captured the officer of the highest rank among all the prison- ers taken by the' various brigades. For his bravery, he was made First Lieutenant 13th United States In- fantry on October twenty-sixth, 1861. He is still a captain in the regular array. Mr. Irvine's letters to his wife, published in one of the St. Paul papers, were among the best written after the fight, and are worthy of preservation. He says: " We took a circuitous route through the woods, and arrived in vicinity of the enemy at about ten o'clock in the morning. While on the rfSarch, the battle was commenced by the artillery who were in the ad- vance, and the roar of which we could distinctly hear some three or four miles off, and the smoke rising at every discharge of the same. "You can form some idea, per- haps, of our forces, when I tell you that our lines were some five or six miles in length, and the Minnesota Kegiment was as difficult to find as it would be to find a single person in a very large crowd of men. " At about eleven o'clock we halted in a ravine, to give the men an op- portunity to fill their canteens with water. At this time the firing had become pretty general, and the roar of artillery and the rattle of mus- ketry was heard only about a mile distant. You have, no doubt, read of the agitation and fear which coma over individuals on the approach of battle, but I must say, and I say it not in the spirit of braggadocio eitherj BULL RUN BATTLE. 673 Colonel S. P. Heintzelman, of ITth United States In- fantry, was the commander of the division to which the Minnesota Regiment was attached. He says in his report of the battle : " At Sudley's Springs, while waiting the passage of the troops of the division in our front, I ordered forward the 1st brigade to fill their canteens. Before this was ac-- complished the leading regiments of Colonel Hun- that I experienced no snct fears or agitation during the conflict. I was surprised at this myself, for I cer- tainly thought that I should feel as writers have so often described. " While halting here, I, together ■with others of the boys, coolly went to picking blackberries, with which the whole country abounds. We soon took up our line of march, and drew near to the battle-field (at double- quick time), and were stationed in a field, ^sheltered by a strip of woods, about one-half mile from where our forces were fighting. Here we di- vested ourselves of our blankets, and haversacks of provisions, and what- ever might impede us in fighting, retaining however, of course, our arms and ammunition. "Tou have no idea how desperate men will act while approaching or retiring from a battle-field. Thoy appeared to have no care or anxiety for anything except their arms ; all else was thrown off and strewn along the road. "We did not remain long in the field where we were stationed, before the order came to advance, which we did through the woods at double- quick, and soon came up to the field where the conflict was raging. Here we halted in the edge of the 43 woods, in the presence of the dead and wounded, who were lying all around us, until about 5000 troops filed past us to take their position. "As they passed the general offi- cers and staff they cheered in the wildest and most enthusiastic man- ner. After they had passed, we took our position in the open field in sight of the enemy's batteries. We were soon ordered to advance from this position and file around to the left, for the purpose of outflanking and taking them. While doing this the' cannon-balls and bomb-shells fiew around us thick and fast. Fortu-' nately they were most of them aimed too high, and we passed unharmed, but not without frequent dodging by some of the boys as the balls and shells whistled by. Our battery had engaged them by this time in front' while we were passing to the left. We ran down a hill and crossed a small stream. I being a little in ad- vance, stopped to pick a few black- berries to quench my thirst while the ' regiment came up. We soon came to a road where we were met by an aid to the commanding officer, who desired us to follow him and take up a position where he could get no other troops to stand. We told him we would follow him, and he 6Y4 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. ter's division became engaged. General McDowell, who, accompanied by his staff, had passed us a short time before, sent back Captain "Wright of the engineers, and Major McDowell, one of his aids, to send forward two regiments. * * * * Captain Wright led forward the Minnesota Regiment to the left of the road which XJrossed the run at this point. * * * * j accompanied this regiment. At a little more than a mile from the gave us a position to the left of the battery and direotl}' opposite to it. Here we formed in line of battle, with a strip of woods between us and about four thousand secessionists. We had just formed when we were ordered to kneel and fire upon the rebels, who were advancing under cover of the woods. We fired two volleys through the woods, when we were ordered to rally in the woods in our rear, which all did except the first platoon of our own company, who did not hear the order and stood their ground. The rebels soon came out from their shelter between us and their battery. Colonel Gorman mis- took them for friends and told the men to cease firing upon them, although they had three ' secession flags flying directly in front of their advancing columns. This threw our men into confusion, some declaring they were friends, others that they were enemies. I called to our boys to give it to them, and fired away myself as rapidly as possible. The rebels themselves mistook us for Georgia troops, and waved their hands at us to cease firing. I had just loaded to give them another charge when a lieutenant-colonel of a Mississippi regiment rode out be- tween us, waving his hand for us to stop firing. I rushed up to him and asked if he was a secessionist. He said 'he was a Mississippian.' I presented my bayonet to his breast and commanded him to surrender, which he did after some hesitation. 1 ordered him to dismount, and led him and his horse from the field, in the meantime disarming him of his sword and pistols. I led him off about two miles and placed him in charge of a lieutenant, with an escort of cavalry, to be taken to General JMcDowell. He requested the officer to allow me to accompany him, as he desired my jsrotection. The officers assured him that he would be safe in their hands, and he rode ofl". I re- tained his pistol, but sent his sword with him." In another letter, on July twenty- fifth, Mr. Irvine writes: " I have just returned from a visit to Lieutenant-Colonel Boone, who is confined in the old capitol. I found him in a pleasant room on the third story, surrounded by several southern gentlemen, among whom was Sena- tor Breckinridge. He was glad to see me, and appeared quite well after the fatigue of the battle of Sunday. "There were with me Chaplain Neill, Captains Wilkin and ColviUe, ■ and Lieutenant Goates, who were in- HEINTZBLMAN'S REPORT. 675 ford we came upon the battle-field. Ricketts's Battery was posted on a hill to the right of Hunter's Division, aqd to the right of the road. After firing some twenty minutes at a battery of the enemy placed just beyond the crest of a hill, the distance being too great, it was moved forward to within about one thousand feet of the enemy's battery. Here the battery was exposed to a heavy fire of musketry, which soon disabled it. troduced to the colonel. We had a very pleasant interview, and invited the colonel to call on us at our camp when he obtained his parole. He is a fine-appearing and pleasant man. I also saw the two other prisoners. They are fine-looking fellows, and one, Mr. Lewis, of the Palmetto Ri- fles of South Carolina, very much of a gentleman. The other man's name is Walker, of Mississippi. * * * * As to the fighting qualities of the ■1st Minnesota, Company A took its position as you will see on the plan, and the first platoon never moved from it until ordered to retreat. •Captain Wilkin fought like a hero. He seized a rifle and shot down four or £ve of the rebels, and took one prisoner. The drummer boy Hines '[Company A] took an officer's horse, with sword, pistol, and trappings. "Much praise is awarded to Lieu- tenant Welch, of Ked Wing, for the gallantry and intrepidity he dis- played in rallying and cheering his men. " Lieutenant Harris, of the Same -company, also behaved nobly. " Captain McKune, of the Fari- bault Company, while leading his men, was shot dead. " The regimental flag presented by the ladies of Winona was pierced by thirteen halls, one a cannon-ball through the blue field, making a hole about a foot long. « » * * « » " I have not been mustered in yet, and think I shall not be. I shall fight on my own hook, always, how- ever, going into the field with Com- pany A, and sticking to them." EXTElCTS FROM CHAPLAIN'S JOURNAL. ^'Saturday, July twentieth. — In company with Chaplain Da Costa and Assistant-Surgeon Keen of the Massachusetts 5tb, walked to the scene of Thursday's engagement. When we came in sight of the ene- my's hospital, our advance pickets stopped us, as it was dangerous to proceed nearer. " Captain Adams, of Company H, afterward obtained permission to pass the picket, and was fired upon by the enemj'. " This afternoon a flag taken at Fairfax was paraded under an escort of Fire Zouaves and Michigan 1st. It is of silk, and bears the inscrip- 676 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Franklin's Brigade was placed on the right of the woods near the centre of our line, and on ground rising toward the enemy's position." Colonel W. B. Franklin of the regular army, brigade commander, in his report, after stating that Ricketts's Battery in its second position was soon disabled, says he ordered the 5th and 11th Massachusetts Regiments to save the battery, but that it was impossible to get tion, ' Tensas Kifles,' — 9. Louisiana corps. On the central stripe is 9, representation of a cotton^bale. " General McDowell has issued orders directing us to be ready to march at six o'clock p.m. After all things were ready, an aid came with an order postponing the march until two o'clock to-morrow. ' ' Sunday, July twenty-first. — Ser- geant Young came and told me that it was time to rise. The night was cold, and after I rose I has- tened to one of the few camp-fires that had been lighted, to warm my- self. The moon shone brightly, and men moved about without much speaking, feeling that this might be their last Sunday on earth. " About three o'clock a.m. we left camp, and wound up the hill to Cen- treville. At the end of the village we halted until daylight, being de- layed by the passage of Colonel Hunter's column, which had pre- ceded us by another road to this point. " Following the column of Hunter, we passed a bridge near Centreville, I believe on the Warrenton road. While Tyler's division kept on this road, those of Hunter and Heintzel- man soon turned. For several miles we passed through woodlands of oak and hickory, where no springs could be found that were serviceable, and the men suffered much for water and were quite fatigupd, as it was warm; many of them had neither had breakfast nor supper the night before., " Emerging into an open country and looking to our left, we could see the smoke of artillery rising from the woods about a mile or two dis- tant, indicating that the action with the enemy had fairly commenced. About eleven o'clock we crossed a small branch which I supposed was Bull Kun. As Company A was crossing. Colonel Gorman, who was on the other side, in a loud voice urged the regiment to close up »nd hurry on. With alacrity the men obeyed, and with double-quick step they ran up the hill-side, which was through woodland. Just before we reached the summit, we met ambu- lances and soldiers carrying down wounded and dying men to a church called Sudley Church, which was on the roadside between the scene of action and the ford. As we turned into the wood ni-ar the battle-field an officer in uniform, and wounded badly in the neck, passed in a vehicle. With a smile of enthusiasm he threw out his arms and urged us on ; he was said to be Hunter. After pass- BULL RUN BATTLE. 677 the men to draw off the guns." He then continues: " The Minnesota Regiment moved from its position on the right of the field to the support of Ricketts's Bat- tery, and gallantly engaged the enemy at that point. It was so near the enemy's lines that friends and foes were for a long time confounded. The regiment be- haved exceedingly well." Colonel Gorman, in his report to General Prank- ing through the woods several rods, we came to a clearing, and our regi- ment formed in column and stood alone, the other regiments of the brigade having passed at a later period directly up the road from the ford. As the regiment waited for a few moments. Colonel Heintzelman, the commander of our division, and another officer, went to an eminence near by, and with a telescope took a view. As the wounded men of the regiments began to appear on the edge of the woods, Surgeon Le Boutil- lier requested me to go and ask Dr. Stewart to come up with the hospital attendants and the litters. I went back as requested, and saw the doctor ; he told me that the medical director had requested him to stay at and near Sudley Church. With privates Dengle and Williams, attached to the assistant-surgeon, I hurried back with the litters, and found the regi- ment had left the clearing. ■ Passing through a narrow strip of woods, 1 came to open and cultivated land, and found the regiment. They occu- pied ground lately occupied by the enemy, who had been driven back by the Rhode Island Brigade. The enemy's batteries were planted on the heights on the opposite side of the open valley. Captain Kiuketts's TJ. S. Battery, belonging to our bri- gade, was ordered to engage the enemy, and the Minnesota Kegiment to support it. As they .^hurried through an old gate-way to take position opposite the enemy's rifled eannqn, it was difficult for' the sol- diers to push through, and I busied myself in pulling down fence rails, so they could move faster and not break column. " After Ricketts's U. S. Artillery began to fire I did not follow our regiment, but remained on the field at the point where the artillery un- limbered. " As I stood. General Burnside, of Rhode Island, whose acquaintance I had made in the winter of '59-'60, at the house of General McClellan, in Chicago, rode up on horseback, anl I learned from him the history of tb t engagement of the Rhode Island A • tillery with the enemy. He suppose that the enemy's battery was on th.. opposite side ofthe road from wherehe found it, and when he came in sight, he was obliged to reply, and at half- wheel engage them. After » hot contest, he dislodged them from their position. " While talking with General Burn- side, General McDowell rode on to the elevated field on the left hand 6T& HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. lin, remarks : " Immediately upon Ricketts's Battery coming into position and we in line of battle, Colonel Heintzelman rode up between our lines and that of the enemy, within pistol-shot of each, which circumstance staggered my judgment whether those in front were friends or enemies, it being equally manifest that the enemy were in the same dilemma as to our identity;, but a few seconds, however, undeceived both, they side of the road, and with several members of the staff, sat in their saddles iind viewed the action. Rick- etts's Battery now ceased firing, and, attaching their caissons came out of the field where they were first posted, and wheeling into the road, descended to a position nearer the regiment and the enemy, and while there suffered severely. One of his lieutenants, Douglas Ramsey, a nephew of one with whom I was acquainted, had his head shot off. " As I stood I could see the locality- where the Minnesota 1st and the Fire Zouaves were fighting. With a piece of woods on their right, they had reached the ascent of the slope, on the crest of which was the principal battery of the Confederates ; but the woods, as the clouds of dust indi- cated, were fast being filled with fres\ troops of the enemy As the cam ')n-balls flew past me I changed my pjsition from time to time, and once came to a small one-story house on our left filled with wounded of other regirfienls. Even here the shots from the rifled cannon came. Just before the retreat from the field, I went into the woods that skirted over near where stood the ambu- lances. One of these attached to our brigade was foremost, and a horse with saddle on, that was next the ambu- lance, was shot while I was talking to the driver. I had been here but a few minutes when a young man named Workman, a member of the Regimental Band, came up and told me that there were several of our regiment wounded and on the field not far distant, and that he feared unless we could reach them soon they would be captured. In the absence of the surgeons, I told the driver of the ambulance to take Workman and myself to the spot indicated. Drove up to a fence of a small farm-house, and into the yard of a house, where lay numbers of wounded men ; all were eager to be placed in the ambulance, but I was obliged to tell them it wa" reserved for the wounded of tho Minnesota Regiment. Receiving four of our men, I drove off the field to Sudley Church, which was used as a hospital.. " Here was a scene bafliing all de- scription. The benches from this, rude country church had all been removed, and its floor was strewn with wounded and dying. The gal- lery also was full. Ascending, I found Dr. Stewart. Stretched on his back was an elderly man of Company. B, begging for water ; his look was irresistible, and picking up a cupi GORMAN'S REPORT. 6T9 displaying the rebel, and we the Union flag. Instantly a blaze of fire was poured into the forces of the com- batants, each producing terrible destruction, owing to the close proximity of the forces, which was followed by volley after volley, in regular and irregular order as to time, until Ricketts's Battery was disabled and cut to pieces, and a large portion of its officers and tnen had fallen, and until Companies H, J, K, C, G, besmeared with blood, I went to a brook some distance off and brought him what was mud and water ; but this impure potion was eagerly quaffed. Finding John T. Halsted, of St. Paul, I led him up-stairs to the doctor, as the fingers of his left hand were shattered by a ball. While his right arm was round my neck, he manifested some feeling, and when I told him his wound was not serious he said, ' Oh, I am not thinking of that, but of how many of our brave men have been cut down by the enemy V "Captain Acker, of St. Paul, slightly wounded in the eye, was lying on the church floor near the pulpit. As the groans of those mor- tally wounded were dreadful, he walked out to the open air leaning on my arm. As I sat with him near a tree, I noticed my trunk containing my entire wardrobe not far distant, also those of Doctors Stewart and Le Boulillier, all of which became spoil of the enemy. While under the tree a private of Company K called my attention to a prisoner he had taken, a soldier of a Mississippi regiment. The prisoner first addressing me as captain, I told him I was a chaplain ; ho grasped my hand, and said he hoped 'he was a Christian, and had enlisted from conscientious motives. as he thought Southern rights had been infringed upon. ' He then begged me to protect him from ill-usage, and not force him toflght against his brethren. I assured him there was neither danger of ill-treatment from our troops, nor compulsion by the U. S. government to make him bear arms on our side. " Captain Acker, fearing capture, told me he would like to find our re- giment. Taking my arm we walked down to the ford, not far from the church, and there learned that Col- onel Gorman, with such officers and soldiers as he could find, had re- turned towards Centreville. Meeting Gates Gibbs, a son of Justice Gibbs of St. Paul, and one of my Sunday- school scholars when I preached in the First Presbyterian Church, driv- ing an empty arfibulance, I placed therein Captain Acker. Had not proceeded far before I found soldiers carrying Lieutenant Harley, of Cap- tain Pell's company, on a litter. He was taken up, and in a few min- utes had our ambulance full of our wounded, and among others, Robert Stephens, who, in 1849, when a lad, assisted in plastering my house, tho first brick edifice built in Minnesota, now occupied by John W. Bond, at St. Paul. 680 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. and those immediately surrounding my regimental, flag, were so desperately cut to pieces as to make it more of a slaughter-house than an equal combat. * * * * I feel it due to my regiment to say that, before leaving the extreme right of our line, the enemy attempted to make a charge with a body of cavalry, who were met by my command and a part of the Fire Zouaves and repulsed with considerable loss to the enemy, but with- " While on the Warrenton Turn- pike, in the woods, about two miles south of the bridge over Cub Eunj the soldiers in foot of the ambulance appeared to be in great confusion ; was told that the enemy had flanked us. Fearing that a charge might be jnade, I asked the driver for some- thing red to hang out of the ambu- lance as a hospital flag. A j'outh of the Taribault Company, by the name of Kerrot, hearing my question, although lying in the bottom of the ambulance, wounded in the leg, and very weak, sat up and tore off his red flannel shirt and gave it to me. Placing it on a sabre bayonet, I held it for a time over the ambulance. As we neared Cub Eun Bridge, there was evidence of a panic. Baggage- wagcms were . overturned, muskets and blankets strewn on the road, and cavalry and infantry mingled to- gether without any officers to restore confidence. Just at the bridge were broken artillery wagons, and a horse lying on the road with a wound in the breast. When we crossed at dusk by the ford adjoining the bridge, which was done with diflSculty, we saw in an open field a regiment drawn up in line, and the stars and stripes indicated they were a reserve ■of friends. "Just after dark reached old camp- ing ground at Centreville. Met Ad- jutant Leach, and was told that the field-officers and a portion of the re- giment was in the field near the old quarters of General McDowell. Pre- pared to go to sleep on some blankets I had borrowed, when an order was given for us to retire to Washington. By the kindness of the wagon-mas- ter, the well-known old settler, An- son Northrop, I obtained a tin cup of coffee, with some pilot bread, and I think it was the most refreshing meal I ever had. About half-past nine o'clock the regiment formed and began its march to Washington, beyond Fairfax Court-House ; a por- tion, by mistake, took the Vienqa road. This was the front with the' field officers. Beached Vienna about half-past three Monday morning. " Monday morning, July twenty- second. — As the men had been on their feet twenty-four hours, halted at Vienna until five o'clock. Major Dike and I lay on the grass, with his saddle for a pillow, but as it rained I did not sleep half an hour. Began to march for Georgetown, fifteen miles distant ; when ten or eleven miles off hired a blacksmith, with a rickety one-horse wagon, for six dol- lars, to take Captain Putnam, Lieu- GORMAN'S REPORT. ■ 681 out any to us. * * * * I regard it as an event of rare occurrence in the annals of history that a regi- ment of volunteers, not over three months in the service, marched up without flinching to the mouth of batteries supported by thousands of infantry, and opened and maintained a fire until one-fifth of the whole regi- ment was killed, wounded, or made prisoners, before retiring, except for purposes of advantage of position. " My heart is full of gratitude to my officers and men for their gallant bearing /throughout the whole ot this desperate engagement, and to distinguish the merits of one from another would be invidious, and injustice might be done. " Major Dike and my adjutant bore themselves with coolness throughout. My chaplain. Rev. E. D. Neill, was on the field the whole time, and, in the midst of danger, giving aid and comfort to the wounded. Dr. Stewart while on the field was ordered to the hospital by a medical officer of the army. Dr. Le Boutillier continued with the regiment." After the battle, the regiment returned to Washing- ton to recruit. On the second of August they marched tenant Coates, and Zeinrenberg to Gorman and Major Dike. The corn- Georgetown. He drove so slow it manding officer, W. T.Sherman, was was some time before we reached not very obliging. With some diffi- Captain Putnam ; by the time the culty the guard allowed me to pass, wagon reached Falls Church, a under an order from Colonel Gorman, wounded Zouave and a soldier of to Georgetown Perry. Taking an om- the New Tork Highland Regiment nibus at Georgetown went to Wash- bogged a place, and it was impossible ington, called and informed Mrs. to refuse them. Finding Captain Dike and Mrs.Leach that their bus- Putnam, I relinquished my seat to bands were safe, and in the afternoon the driver, and was glad to be on my went to Philadelphia to replenish my feet again. own wardrobe, and procure supplies "About eleven o'clock, in the rain, for our wounded." called at Fort Corcorani with Colonel 682 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. to the Upper Potomac, and on the seventh went into- camp near Seneca Mills, where they remained until the fifteenth, and then moved to a point between Pooles- ville and Edward's Ferry, which proved to be their winter quarters. They were attached to Gorman's Brigade, in Stone's Division, and commanded by Colonel N. J. T. Dana,' who, on October second, was mustered in as colonel. No event of importance occurred during the remainder of the year except in Connection with the movement on October twenty-first, toward Leesburg, which resulted in the death of Colonel E. D. Baker, late U. S. Senator from Oregon. About one p.m. on Sunday, October nineteenth, the regiment was ordered to Edward's Ferry, and Colonel Dana was directed to send two companies to the Vir- ginia side in three flat-boats. The companies of Cap- tain Morgan and Captain Lester crossed, protected by the fire of our artillery, but in fifteen minutes were recalled, and the regiment was sent back to camp. A little after midnight jColonel Dana received orders to move again to the Ferry at daybreak. By half-past eight A.M. the whole regiment had crossed the Potomac, and was formed in line of battle, its left resting on Goose Creek. For three days, exposed to cold rains, this position was held. On Monday night other troops that had followed were ordered back to their camps, and, while they were recrossing, tjie 1st Minnesota • Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh G-ordo, in Mexico. Captain and as- Oana, son of an army officer, was siatant quartermaster, March, 1848. born in Maine. Cadet 1838 ; second Eeaigned commission in BegulaU lieutenant, 7th Infantry, July, 1842 ; Army, 1855. Brigadier-general of first lieutenant, February, 1847. April volunteers, 1862. Major-general of 18, 1847, severely wounded at Cerro volunteers, Novemher, 29, 1862. COLONEL D vi^A S KBPORT. 683 were kept in line and protected them. On Tuesday afternoon Company I, commanded by Second Lieu- tenant Halsey, was attacked by the enemy, and one killed and one wounded. On Wednesday night, at half-past nine o'clock, General Stone appointed Colonel Dana to superintend the withdrawal of our troops from. Goose Creek, to the east side ot the Potomac. Colonel Dana in his report says : "As the first streak of dawn made its appearance, Minnesota again alone, with General Stone, stood upon the Virginia shore, and everything else having been placed on board, the men were ordered to follow. 1 coveted the honor to be the last man upon the bank, but the gallant general would not yield his place, and I obeyed his order to go on board and leave him: alone."' Other troops from Minnesota began to enter the field about thi^ time. The 2d Regiment,* which had ' A writer in the Faribault Eepub- period of stormy adversity must be lican speaks of a Sunday in camp f f.^&ed through to prepare the nation after Ball's Bluff disaster : lor greater excellency. Nations must " To-day the chaplain preached to be baptized in blood, and subjected us dut in the woods. The cold winds to defeat, before suflSoient strength brought the dead leaves down in of purpose and character is obtained ) I) ' Staff Offickks 2d KifGiMENT. showers and swept them in heaps, to ensure permanent prosperity.' The chaplain could scarcely raise his voice above the rustling of the leaves, but wo heard him say : ' That death Horatio P. Van Cleve, Colonel. was essential to life and prosperity. Promoted Brigadier-General, March It was so in the natural world. We 21, 1862. could see around us that these trees, James George, Lieutenant-Colonel. late densely covered with verdure, Promoted Colonel; resigned June 29, were now saplesa and naked. But 1864. after the storms of the coming winter Simeon Smith, Major. Appointed life would clothe with brighter ver- Paymaster TJ. S. A., September, dure these ssime trees. So would it 1861. be with our nation. Dangers and Alex. Wilkin, Major. Colonel 9th difficulties must be met. A long Minnesota, August, 1,862. €84 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. been organized. in July, left Fort Snelling on the thir- teenth of October, and, proceeding to Louisville, were incorporated with the Army of the Ohio. A company of sharp-shooters, under Captain F. Peteler, proceeded to Washington, and on the eleventh of Octo- ber was assigned as Company A, 2d Regiment U. S. Sharp-shooters. On the sixteenth of November, the 3(f Regiment' left the State and proceeded to Tennessee. In December, the 1st Battery Light Artillery left and reported for duty at St. Louis, Mo. In October and November, three companies of cavalry were organized, and proceeded to Benton Barracks, Mis- souri, and were ultimately incorporated with the 5th Iowa Cavalry. The following paragrapli of Gorman's Reporb should have appeared on page 681. " A portion of the right wing, owing to the configuration of the ground, became detached, under Lieut. Col. Miller, whose gallantry was conspicuous * * * and who contested every inch of the ground." , Reginald Bingham, Surgeon. Dis- Benjamin P. Smith, Lieuienant- joissed May 27, 1862. Colonel. Eesigned May 9, 1862? M. C. Tollman, Assistant-Surgeon. John A. Hadley, Major. Pro- Promoted f?urgeon. moted Lieutenant-Colonel, May 29, Timothy Cressey, Chaplain. Ke- 1862. ligned October 10, 1863. E. C. Clin, Adjutant. Daniel D. Heaney, Adjutant. Pro- C. H. Blakeley, appointed January jioted Captain Company C. 9, 1862. William S. Grow, (Quartermaster. Leyi Butler, Surgeon. Kesigned ■Resigned January, 1863. September 30, 1863. Francis E. Milligan, Assistant- ' Staff Officers 3d Regiment. Surgeon. Eesigned April 8, 1862. Henry C. Lester, Colonel. Dis- missed December 1, 1862. SBOOWD MINNESOTA REGIMENT. 685 CHAPTER XXXI. MINNESOTA TROOPS IN 1862 THEIR POSITION AND SERVICES. Before the month of January, 1862, expired, the 2d Minnesota Regiment won a distinguished reputation. On Sunday, the nineteenth, not far from Somerset, about forty miles from Danville, Kentucky, they were engaged in the battle of Mill Springs. . Colonel Robert ' L. McCook, the brigade commander, says : "The position of the Minnesota regiment covered the ground formerly occupied by the 4th Kentucky iand 10th Indiana, which brought their flank within about ten feet of the enemy, when he had advanced upon the 4th Kentucky. * * * * On the right of the Minnesota regiment the contest was almost hand to hand, and the enemy and 2d Minnesota were poking their guns at each other through the fence." Colonel Van Cleve made the following report: " I have the honour to report the part taken by the 2d Minnesota Regiment in the action of the Cumber^ land, on the nineteenth inst. About seven o'clock in the morning of that day, and before breakfast, I was informed by Colonel Manson, of the lOtb Indiana, com- manding the Second Brigade of our division, that the enemy were advancing in force, and that he was hold- ing them in check, and that it was the order of General €86 HISTOEY OF MINNESOTA. Thomas that I should form my regiment and march immediately to the scene of action.^ " Within ten minutes we had left our camp. Arriv- ing at Logan's Field, by your order we halted in line of battle, supporting Standards Battery, which was re- turning the fire of the enemy's guns, whose balls and shells were falling near us. "As soon as the 9th Ohio came up, and had taken its position on our right, we continued the march, and 1 A correspondent of Cincinnati Commercial writes : " General ZoUi- Coffer's body lay upon the ground in front of one of the Minnesota tents surrounded by some twenty soldiers. Two soldiers were busy washing ofiF the mud with which it.had been cov- ered. It was almost as white and 1;ransparent as wax. The fatal wound was in the breast, and was evidently made by a pistol-ball. This was Zollicoffer I He whose name had so long been a terror to men who loved 1;heir country on the banks of the Cumberland." Geo. D. Strong, of Company D, writes: " We were just in the edge of the woods, close to a fence, the other side of which were the rebel forces resting their guns on the fence. My position was next to the regi- mental colors, and only fifteen to twenty feet from the foe. We all dropped on our knees and behind . rotten logs, loading and firing as rapidly as possible, pouring in a fearful fire, which told upon them. A momentary silence caused me to look round, when I saw one of our company, W. H. H. Morrow, wounded. I assisted in carrying him to a safe place. He was shot in ■the right shoulder, the ball turning towards the breast. He died two hours after I left him." W. S. Welles, of Company I, writes: "Lieutenant Bailie Peyton was shot by Adam "Wichet, a Ger- man, in Company I. Peyton stood exactly in front of the flag, while Company D was on the right, and Company I on the left of it. " Peyton stood about two rods from our line, firing right oblique into Company I. A bullet from his revolver had just severely wounded Lieutenant Stout. At this moment Lieutenant Uline caught a glimpse of him through the smoke, and as his revolver was useless, he ordered Wichet, who stood by, to shoot him.'> Wichet fired, and Peyton breathed his last. The whole charge, a bullet and three buckshot, entered the left side of his face, taking out the eyb, and coming out just below the left ear." A correspondent of the St. Paul Press says: " Wm. H. Blake, the little drummer-boy of Company H, dropped his drum and seizing the gun of a wounded man, fought it out with us stoutly." A DEAD BROTHER. " Dear Parents, — 1 am weary and lonesome, and hardly know what BATTLE OF MILL SPKINGS. 68t after proceeding about a half- mile came upon the •enemy, who were posted behind a fence along the road, beyond which was an open field broken by ravines. The enemy opening upon us a galling fire, .fought desperately, and a hand to hand fight ensued, Ivhich lasted about thirty minutes. The enemy, met with so warm a reception in front, — and afterwards being flanked on their left by the 9 th Ohio, and on their right by a portion of our left, who had, by their well-directed fire, driven them from behind their hid- ing-places — that they gave way, leaving a large number of their dead and wounded on the field. We joined in the pursuit, which continued till near sunset, when we arrived within a mile of their intrenchments, where we rested upon our arms during the night. The next inorning we marched into their works, which we found -deserted. Six hundred of our regiment were in the engagement, twelve of whom were killed and thirty- three wounded." to write to you. We have had a gre^t the surgeon, hut he said, ' If you call battle with Zollicoflfer's forces, one him he will leave some poor fellow mile and a half from this camp, but that will die, and it may as well be I am safe and well. Ten of our poor me as any one.' When he was laid boys are killed, and some ten or in his grave he looked as if asleep. I fifteen wounded. Dear father and cannot write you the particulars of mother, how can I tell you, — but you the battle, for I am so lonesome and -will hear of it before this gets to you, ' sad that I have no mind to do any- — Samuel has gone to his God. He thing. I have a board at the head now sleeps the sleep that knows no of his grave, with his name, rogi- waking on this earth, beneath the ment, and company cut upon it. Oh, cold soil of Kentucky. He died dear father and mother, may God charging boldly on the enemy, from help us to bear up under this our a bayonet wound in the left groin, affliction I Good-bye, my dear pa- which passed through the kidneys, rents. He died in about fifteen minutes after " Prom your sorrowing son, receiving the thrust. He died calmly " Albbet. anrl easily, without much pain. One "Camp Logan, January 20, 1862." of the drummer-boys offered to call egg HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. The 1st Minnesota Battery was present at the great battle of Pittsburg Landing, which occurred on Sun- day, the sixth of April. Lieutenant W. Pfaender, com- manding the battery, in a communication to Governor Ramsey, says : " The people of our State are probably anxious to learn the fate of the Minnesota volunteers who fought at the late battle of Pittsburg, Tennessee ; and as the 1st Minnesota Battery was the only representative of our State in the terrible fight, I deem it my duty to send you a short account. " At our arrival here, on the eighteenth of March, we were attached to the Fourth Brigade of General Sherman's Division, but afterward we were attached to General Prentiss's Division ; and on Saturday, the fifth, removed to our new camp, immediately on the right of General Prentiss's head-quarters. * * " At our arrival at the scene of action, our infantry were already retreating. * * * * q^q ^f q^j. jjjgj^ and two horsies were already killed before we com- menced firing; another, and third one, all belonging to my section, were killed in quick succession. " Now Captain Munch's horse was shot in the head, and immediately afterward the captain was severely wounded in the leg. My horse was wounded in both fore-legs. Several other horses had received injuries, and our position became critical. * * * * q^j. division now fell back behind the line coming to our support under General Hurlbut, and after a short rest General Prentiss formed the remainder of our division again on the left centre of our line. * * * * Lieu- tenant Peebles maintained his position on our left nobly, and at a charge of a Louisiana regiment com- BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING. 689 pletely mowed them down with canister. The enemy, however, also took good aim; two of our cannoniers were here killed, Lieutenant Peebles severely wounded in the jaw. Sergeants Clayton and Conner severely wounded, and a number of horses killed. * * "Arriving at the bluffs of Pittsburg Landing, I tried to get the whole battery in the best possible condition again, and succeeded, by dismounting and changing pieces, to get five pieces in good shape, at least able to open fire again. *. * * * We located our five pieces, together with Margreff's Ohio Battery, on a hill commanding a long ravine. * * * * The rebels knew that this last attack would decide the day, and, about six o'clock in the evening, opened on us again. * * * * The 1st Minnesota Battery poured in such a caimonade as has never before been witnessed on this continent. It was really majestic, and no army wquld have been able to take that posi- tion. * * * * ^ heavy rain-storm had drenched us thoroughly during Sunday night, yet the Minnesota Battery was ready for another trial; and being without an immediate commander, as General Prentiss had been taken prisoner, 1 reported to General Grant, who ordered me to keep position until further orders; and as Monday's fighting was mostly done by General Buell's forces, which had been crossing all night, and steadily poured in, we remained there until we were removed to our old camp again.'" ' Lieutenant Cooke writes to a was asked by hundreds of anxious friend : voices. Who could answer ? « • "Our battery took breakfast ear- But hark I the long roll beats The 3ier than usual, and had just finished bugle sounds 'to arms,' 'to horse.' mhen we heard occasional firing A mounted orderly then rode to our in front. What does this mean? head-quarters, and the battery re- 44 690 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. The 1st Minnesota Regiment, after remaining in camp near Edward's Ferry during the winter, moved, with Gorman's Brigade, to Harper's Ferry, and crossing the Potomac on a pontoon, were attached to Sedg- wick's Division, and on the thirteenth of March, marched to the suburbs of Winchester,^ when an order came to return, and by the last of the month they had ceived orders to repair to the front and commence firing immediately. In less time than I give you the de- tails we were flying to the scene of action, which was not five hundred yards distant. * • * "We poured a galling fire into them, until they were nearly close enough to make a chai-ge and capture our pieces. " ' Limber to the front,' and away we went into another position. By the way, our captain and one corpo- ral were wounded as we were exe- cuting the above command. We had one man killed before we fired a gun. Brave boy I one of the men picked him up, and he remarked, ' Don't stop with me — stand to your posts like men. ' He expired soon after. He was from Minneapolis. * ♦ * • Just about noon I was struck on the thigh by a six-pound spent ball. It hit the ground about twenty or thirty feet from me, then rising, came near taking me ofl' the saddle. It struck me right on the joint, making me sick and causing me to vomit. 1 sat down by a tree, and was called by Lieutenant Pee- bles to get some ammunition. I could not use my limb. Two of the boys helped me, I hobbled to the caisson, and, sitting down on the trail, issued ammunition. • * « Soon after, Johnson was wounded se- verely by a musket-ball. A moment or two afterwards Tilson was killed, shot through the head. Then Ser- geant Clayton was wounded; then Saxdale was killed ; then Sergeant Conner was wounded, and immedi- ately after Lieutenant Peebles." The St. Anthony News publishes letter of J. P., to his mother : " Sunday morning, justafterbreak- fast, an ofScer rode up to our captain's tent and told him to prepare for ac- tion. * * * We wheeled into battery and opened upon them. * * * The first time we wheeled one of our dri- vers was killed* his name was Colby Stinson. Hey wood's horse was shot at almost the same time. The second time we came into battery the captain was wounded in the leg, and his horse shot under him. They charged on our guns, and on the sixth platoon howitzer, but they got hold of the wrong end of the gun. We then lim- bered up and retreated within the line of battle. While we were re- treating they shot one of our horses, when we had to stop and take him out, which let the rebels come up rather close. When within about six rods, they fired , and wounded Corporal Davis, of the gun detach- ment, breaking his leg above the ankle." ' While on the march. Col. Alfred Sully took command in place of Dana, promoted. SIEGE OF TORKTOWN. 691 joined the Army of the Potomac, near Fortress Monroe, and, by the middle of April, were taking part in the siege of Yorktown, and stationed on a road that led from Warwick Court-House to Yorktown. The chaplain of the regiment, in one of the St. Paul j)apers, gave the following account of the gradual ad- vance from Yorktown to within sight of the spires of Eichmond : "As the telegraph informed you from day to day, the Army of the Potomac advanced toward Yorktown "during the first week in April, Our line extended in front of the enemy's works, which were a continued •chain from the Warwick to York River. " Until near the middle of April the soldiers were busily employed in cutting new roads through the woods, so as to enable our wagons and artillery to move without being exposed to the enemy's fire. By the last •of April the preparation for a siege was fast being com- pleted, gabions had been platted, trenches dug, and batteries erected. Sedgwick's Division occupied a posi- tion midway between Warwick Court-House and York- town, on the old Warwick Road. " Smith's Division was on our immediate left, and watched the enemy at Lee's Mills while we annoyed them with our artillery and sharp-shooters at Wynne's Mills. " Battery No. 8 was erected by our engineers to com- mand the enemy's fortifications at Wynne's Mills, and would have opened fire in a day or two had they not ■fled. While for two weeks there were frequent dis- •charges of artillery during the night, on the evening of Saturday the 3d of May there was an incessant booming ■of cannon, which suddenly ceased just before the day- 693 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. break of Sunday. The pickets of General Dana's Brigade, noticing the stillness and perceiving no move- ment, cautiously approachfed, and were astonished to find that an evacuation had taken place. By sunrise the whole of the brigade was within the works of the enemy or bivouaeed on the fields in the rear. After breakfast they were relieved by Gorman's Brigade, who passed the day in searching for some memento of the place to send home to friends. The correspondence left by the troops excited much attention, and was of every description, ' from grave to gay, frona lively to severe,' and very much of it was not fit to be read in the presence of ears polite. " It was distressing to see a spirit of vand8|,lism mani- fested on the part, of the troops in searching the houses of rebels ; officers in some cases showed neither the dig- nity nor discretion of ordinary boys. One major of a New York regiment rode into camp on Sunday night with a large looking-glass, which could be of no manner of use; and another from the same State, and of similar rank, brought in a mahogany rocking-chair, trimmed with red velvet, to be lolled in for the night and aban- doned or destroyed in the morning. " On Monday in a soaking rain the whole division pro- ceeded to Yorktown, and bivouaeed on the field where, in 1781, the troops of Cornwallis surrendered to the allied American and French forces. '' The fortifications near and about Yorktown im- press you with their magnitude. For months hun- dreds of negroes had toiled under task-masters as hard as the Egyptians, in throwing up these walls of earth. ' "All day Monday we could hear the discharge of BATTLE OF WEST POINT. 693 artillery, indicating that our advance was in proximity to the rebel rear. Just before dusk an order came for the division to march toward Williamsburg, but the troops had not proceeded a half-mile before a halt was ordered. The wagon train had blockade^ the road for miles, and the increasing rain and Egyptian dark- ness of the night made it impossible to move. Hour after hour, drenched to the skin, the soldiers stood in the mud, but no advance, and toward midnight the order came to return to camp. ' " The next afternoon the division began t^ embark in transports for the bend of York Kiver, for the pur- pose of intercepting the retreat of the enemy, if pos- sible. " Dana's Brigade first moved off, and then Gorman's, and last Burns's. About eleven o'clock on Wednesday, Gorman's Brigade came in sight of West Point. The sound of musketry, and smoke arising above the woods on the south side of the Pamunky, indicated that a portion of Franklin's Division, which had preceded Sedgwick's, was engaged with the enemy. The 1st Minnesota was ordered to leave their transports and land in batteaux as soon as possible. The wide plain on the lower side of the Pamunky was soon filled with regiments drawn up in the line of battle, ready to sup- port Franklin's troops if necessary. About one o'clock P.M., the enemy, with three cannon, began to fire from the wooded heights on the transports, but three United States gunboats quickly took position, and their heavy guns in thunder notes soon silenced the battery on the hill. "As one travels through this peninsula, he con stantly meets with places, rich in historic interest. (594 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. "West Point, the terminus of the York and Rich- mond Railway, was originally called West's Point, after a gentleman, a near relative of Lord Delaware, whose plantation was on the promontory caused by the junc- tion of the Pamunky and Mattapony Rivers. " To give room for the stores and troops that were moving, Sedgwick's Division, during the second week of May, moved their camp to Eltham, on the Pa- munky, a few ipiles above. " This, like West Point, proved to be a place of his- torical associations. The huge though dilapidated brick mansion, with its extensive wings, and the hand- some sepulchre in the garden, showed that once no mean person had lived here. " The inscription upon the large and handsome mon- ument in the high-walled graveyard tells us that on this plantation lived the Hon. William Bassett, who died in 1727, 'a loss to his country, county, and family.' On Sunday morning, the eighteenth of May, the di- vision was at New Kent CourtrHouse. " For seveical days we remained on the plantation of a Dr. Mayo, the brother-in-law of General Scott, but now a rebel and fugitive. This place is about two miles from Cumberland. Departing from here on Wed- nesday, we passed the old St. Peter's Church. "It is an antique brick structure, with open porch and tower in front, giving it a quaint appearance, al- though conformed to no particular order of archi- tecture. " Here, for forty years, as a tablet oi> the wall near the chancel, with Latin inscriptions, informs us, preached the Rev. David Mossom, a graduate of St. John's Col- lege, Cambridge, and the second to few in learning, the GOKMAN'S BRIGADE. 695 first presbyter of the Church of England specially or- dained to preach in Virginia. " The building is without pews, and filled with single heavy seats, but every one that could draw made a sketch of it, because it was in this church that George Washington did take for his lawfully wedded wife that lovely and dignified young widow, Martha Custis, whose estate was near by. In the corner, by the front door of the church, there is a little table with old- fashioned legs, not much lai*ger than a small card-table, from which the newly married pair are said to have taken their first breakfast. " That evening we arrived at the Savage Farm, the fourteen-mile station on the Richmond and York Railroad, and a mile and a half from Bottoms Bridge. "On Friday, the twenty-third, we encamped at Goodly Hole Creek, in Hanover County, a short distance from the Chickahominy. " The next week Gorman's Brigade moved up to Cold Harbor, but on Thursday they returned to Goodly Hole Creek. " About noon on Saturday, the thirty-first of May, we heard rapid musketry firing, and at three o'clock a message came for Sedgwick to move, as Casey's and Couch's Divisions were being driven by the enemy. By a road that had just been cut through the swamp, we hastened to the rescue, and, crossing a rude bridge of logs, both ends submerged by the waters of the swollen Chickahominy, reached the battle-field just in time to save defeat. " Our regiment, as at Bull Run, was placed on the right, and before we were fairly in line of battle the 696 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. enemy were seen advancing. A crash of musketry, like the snapping of limbs in a hurricane, greeted us. " In a few minutes the whole of Gorman's Brigade was drawn up in a field within a few hundred feet of the rebels, who were concealed in the woods. " For two or three hours, until it became perfectly dark, the brigade stood solid as a stone wall, and with a roar of musketry really terrific, kept the foe from advancing one foot." A correspondent of a Cincinnati paper graphically describes the action : " At about six o'clock the head of Sedgwick's column, Gorman's Brigade, deployed into line of bat- tle, in the rear of Fair Oaks, upon the crest of a hill, which was in the centre of an open field, a farm-house (Adams's) bisecting bis line, which stretched from the north-west, on a line which if prolonged in a south-east- erly direction, would haye cut the railroad at an acute angle on his left. The hill sloped gently towards the station. Colonel Sully's 1st Minnesota, and the 2d New York, Lieutenant-Colonel Hudson, composed the right wing, on one side of the house, the 34th New York, Colonel Senter, constituting the left, the 15th Massa- chusetts, Lieutenant-Colonel Kimball commanding, sup- porting Kirby's Battery, which was posted at the right of the line, and trained at a point of woods a little to the left of the railway station, this being the field to which the enemy had driven General Abercrombie. Two of his regiments were still stubbornly contesting the field. Colonel Cochrane's 1st U. S. Chasseurs (N. Y.), and Colonel Neill's 23d Pennsylvania Regiment, and a Pennsylvania battery, were in line of battle at Gor- man's right, forming an obtuse angle projecting towards BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS. 69^ the battery. General Burns formed his brigade in' line of battalions in mass, forming the second line in sup- port of Gorman. But one of the regiments had not formed, when the enemy opened a furious enfilading fire of musketry on our right, in a direction from which fire was not expected, indicating an effort to turn our right flank. Meantime part of Dana's Brigade had come up. His 19th Massachusetts and 42d New York had been detached for picket duty and a,rtillery guards. His 7th Michigan and 20th Massachusetts deployesd into line on Gorman's left, and the line of battle com- menced, moving to the right, delivering terrific volleys at the enemy, who were sweeping in force to their left. Again and again they pushed forward. Masses of them gathered in the forest, attempting to dash at the bat- tery, but were as often swept back by murderous hur- ricanes of lead and canister. The battle raged for two hours with unremitting fury. The rebels found it impossible to break our inflexible lines, and we found it difficult to shake him off. Dana's wing was finally swung around almost on the hypothenuse of an angle to the original line of battle, his gallant Michigan and Bay State lads sweeping the perimeter of the circle they were describing with irresistible fury. Gorman's line had extended itself on the right, until his left rested in front and in advance of the first position of 'his right, his line being swung round at right angles with the crest of the hill, and Burns's two regi- ments, executing the order of Sedgwick, found them- * selves lapping over Gorman's extreme right; the enemy was fighting perpendicular to our old front. " The officers were all in their places, animating and encouraging the men by their example, and the 698 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. men moving unflinchingly towards the foe. Dana, on the left, narrowly escaped death. His dashing gray received a bullet in his head, which he cast off with a snort of despair. The next instant three balls struck him in the body. Rearing and plunging with col- vulsive agony, he dismounted his rider, fled frantically up the field, and fell dead in front of Kirby's Battery. Gorman was moving up and down his glorious line, exhibiting fiery enthusiasm, and enjoying the proudest hours of his life. The men were delivering their fire with admirable! coolness and regularity, and with a quick, nervous energy, which indicated their determi- nation to decide the conflict. The enemy, too, fought rapidly and well. "Sedgwick was gallantly moving to the right and left, reckless of personal hazard; and Burns held his forces firmly in hand on the right, waiting the decisive moment. The sun had set grimly; flinging his last rays feebly through the thick smoke hovering over the field. Darkness had enveloped the fearful spectacle, only to add gloom to its horrors. The enemy still clung in masses to the thick woods, now and then dashing out at the battery, only to be driven back with cruel punishment. Thousands of muskets in streaming volleys, with the sonorous roar of the can-, non and the hoarse screams of the combatants, created an uproar as if fiends had been unleashed to prey upon each other. Storms of bullets and canister tore wide passages through the trees, and mangled bodies of men. Baleful fires gleamed among the foliage, as if myriads of huge fireflies were flitting among the boughs, and there was a fringe of flame blazing on the skirts of the thickets, while outside another and a fiercer flame SEVEN DAYS' BATTLES. 699^ girdling the centre seemed burning into the hedge which screened our enemy. It was past eight o'clock before the carnage ceased. Knowing that the foe was in superior force, and menacing our flank, we were compelled to meet his point of attack without attempt- ing to envelope him with our wings ; but finding our steady lines invulnerable, and having sufiered wretch- edly, he finally fell back, and by half-past eight o'clock he was driven clear back to his own defensive line. The splendid conduct of the division elicited the plaudits of the whole army. General Sumner held his troops well in hand; Sedgwick exhibited perfect coolness and courage ; Gorman was as enthusiastic as a boy, and firm as a rock; Burns's quick judgment and admirable conduct, at the most critical moment of action, undoubtedly had an inspiring influence, and, it was acknowledged with frenzied acclamations by the stout regiments wherever he exhibited himself. Na more could have been asked of Dana. He "proved him- self a fearless soldier. Colonel John Cochrane, Colonel Neill, Colonel Sully, Colonel Senter, and indeed nearly every field officer in all the divisions engaged, except- ing Casey's, showed themselves good soldiers and brave officers." On Thursday, the twenty-sixth of June,-the soldiers of Sumner's corps were made anxious by the continual firing at Mechanicsville, and on Friday occurred the disastrous conflict at Gaines's Mill. At daylight on Saturday morning, the serious face of General Sedg- wick told the soldiers of the division that a crisis had been reached. All that day the sick of Sumner's corpa were hurried to the rear, and in the afternoon soldiers were employed in emptying all surplus ammunition 700 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. into the vats of a tannery near the Fair Oaks battle- field, showing that a rapid change of base was con- templated. Just before daylight, on Sunday, June twenty-ninth, Sedgwick's Division left the position that it had held since the battle of Fair Oaks, and proceeding less than two miles the enemy made their appearance, and after a brief and sharp fight, in a peach orchard, retired. About five P.M., at Savage Station,' on the York Kailroad, the enemy again gave battle. Until dark the conflict raged, but by the valour and coolness of our men the foe were held in check, with a loss of about eighty killed and wounded. On Monday, between White Oak Swamp and Wil- lis's Church, the enemy again appeared, and in the skirmish Captain Colville was slightly wounded. The 'Sergeant Harmon, Company D, from the battle field at Bull Kun ; ■writes : " he was a fine fellow as well as "About 4 P.M. the rebels came upon brave. Every man in the regiment «s and commenced shelling us; several was his friend. He was shot by ii of the boys in our regiment were minie ball through the lungs, and wounded by them. We laid down on killed instantly, and the colors fell the ground. McOaslin had his knap- to the ground. They were raised by sack torn from his back by a piece one of the guard. Our company was of a shell. We moved forward to the very fortunate not to lose any one. left into the woods, out of range of Joseph McDonald, a son of McDon- the battery in that direction, to sup- aid that lives opposite Elk Kiver, was port another regiment that was fight- wounded, but not seriously. Judson ing on the left. The fight lasted here Jordan, a brother of C. B. Jordan, until after dark, the whole division was killed ; he was a member of the being engaged, besides the Vermont 1st Michigan. This was' Sunday's Brigade in Smith's Division. The fight at Savage's Station. About rebels got driven back. We lost out 10 p.m. we started on the march, of our regiment in this fight about leaving the wounded, that could thirty killed and wounded. not walk, in old buildings ; sur- " Sergeant Burgess, the color- geons and hospital stewards stopped bearer, was shot dead: he was the with them." onmi that brought the colors off MALVERN AND ANTIBTAM. 701 next day, July first, the 1st Regiment was drawn up at the dividing line of Charles City and Henrico coun- ties, in sight of James River, and although much exr posed to the enemy's batteries was not slctually engaged. At midnight the order was given to move to James River, and early on the second of July they encamped on the Berkeley plantation, where President Harrison was born. , After Pope's repulse, General McClellan resumed command of the army, and Sumner's corps, with others, were advanced north of Washington to meet Lee, who had crossed the Potomac with the insurgent army. By forced marches Sedgwick's Division arrived near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and took part in the great battle of seventeenth of September. After an active contest the 1st Regiment was flanked by the enemy, and they were obliged to fall back. Captain Russell's company of sharp-shooters was attached to the regiment during this fight. The 4th Regiment and 2d Minnesota Battery, on April twenty-first, left St. Paul for Benton Barracks, Missouri. They were both assigned to the Army of the Mississippi. The 5 th Regiment also departed on the thirteenth of May, and on the twenty-third took posi- tion with their comrades of the 2d and 4th Regiments near Corinth, Mississippi. In less than a week they were brought into" action, and Second Lieutenant David Oakes was killed. A correspondent writes : " On Wednesday, the twenty-eighth, there was heavy cannonading during the entire day. At ten o'clock in the morning a force of Federal infantry was thrown out to plant a 24-pound Parrott gun upon an eminence commanding a piece of timber on our left, which shel- 702 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. tered the rebel regiment who so continually annoyed us. The enemy discovering our intentions advanced a body of troops to take the gun. Our forces were im- mediately drawn up in line of battle. Not a man stirred from the ranks until the enemy approached within fifty yards of our line) when Colonel Purcell, of 10th Iowa, acting brigadier, ordered the 5th Minnesota to charge bayonets. * * * * Terribly did they re- venge their fallen comrades. The casualties to the 5th Minnesota did not exceed forty killed and wounded. This is a new regiment, and this is the first occasion , they have been able to show the material of which they have been made."' On the eighteenth of September, Colonel Sanborn, acting as brigade commander in the Third Division of the Army of- the Mississippi, moved his troops, includ- ing the 4 th Minnesota Regiment, to a point on the • STAFF OFFICERS OF 4th REGIMENT. STAFF OFFICERS OF 5TH REGIMENT. John B. Sanborn, Colonel. Made Kudolph Borgensrode, Colonel. Brigadier-General. Resigned Aug. 31, 1862. Minor ' T. Thomas, Lieutenant- Lucius F. Hubbard, lAeuienant- ■Colonel. Made Colonel 8th Eegi- Colonel. Promoted Colonel Aug. 31, ment, August 24, 1862. 1862. A. Edward Welch, Major: Died William B. Gere, Major. Pro- t Nashville, Feb. 1, 1864. moted Lieutenant-Colonel. John M. Thompson, Adjutant. Alpheus E. French, Adjutant. romoted Captain Company E, Resigned March 19, 1863. Nov. 20, 1862. Wm. B. McGrorty, quartermaster. Thomas B. Hunt, Quartermaster^ Resigned Sept. 15, 1864. Made Captain and Assistant Quarter- Francis B. Etheridge, Surgeon. master April 9, 1863. Resigned Sept. 3, 1862. John H. Murphy, Surgeon. Re- Vincent P. Kennedy, Assistant- sij^ned July 9, 1863. Surgeon. Promoted Surgeon Sept. 3, Elisha W. Cross, Assistant-Surgeon. 1862. Promoted July 9, 1863. James F. Chaffee, Chaplain. Ee- Asa S. Piske, Chaplain. Resigned signed June 23, 1862. Oct. 3, 1864. John Ireland, CAapiaire. Appointed June, 1862. Resigned April, 1803. BATTLE OF lUKA. 703 Tuscumbia road, and the next day advanced towards luka, driving pickets to enemy's position. Under the fire of the enemy's battery he placed his troops in line of battle,, and the 4th Minnesota was stationed on the crest of a ridge. Captain Legro, in command of the regiment, reported as follows : "At five P.M. I moved my command at double-quick to a position on the left of the 48th Indiana, which ■regiment was in support of the 11th Ohio Battery, commanded by Lieutenant Sears. Shortly after, the battle was opened by the battery, and raged fiercely along the line for half an hour, when the 48th Indiana, tieing compelled to give way, fell back to the edge of the woods, leaving my regiment exposed to an oblique fire in the rear from the advancing enemy. "I then ordered the right wing to fall back ten rods to the timber, which was accomplished in good order, notwfthstanding the galling and incessant fire of the *i£* tl* il' ?& ftif ^Is ,,_—,,,„ ^ ^ ^ ^ *•* "*" "I was then ordered to move by the right flank flibout forty rods up the road, at nearly a right angle to-my former position, then by the left flank to a point near the battery, which I did immediately. * * "Throughout the whole, both officers and men be ■haved with coolness and courage, conducting them selves in a manner highly commendable. " Too much praise cannot be awarded to Surgeon J. H. Murphy and his assistants for their unceasing at- tention to the wounded through the action and during the night. I enclose a list of the killed, wounded, and missing." The battle of luka was but the beginning of the jiiovenient that in a few days culminated at Corinth, 704 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. in which conflict the 1st Minnesota Battery and the 4th and 5th Regiments participated. At Corinth the Union army faced northward. On the left centre the ground was quite hilly, and here the Qhevally road entered the town. Fort Robinett with Fort Williams enfiladed the Chevally and Bolivar roads, and another fort on the extreme left, near the seminary, protected the left and strengthened the centre. Hamilton's Division, to which the 4th Regiment was attached, was on the extreme right, and Stanley's Division, to which the 5th belonged, was on the left. Captain Munch, in a communication to Governor, Ramsey, says : " On the first [of October] the battery, then stationed in town, was ordered out to take up camp at Fort No. F, one of the forts on our western line of defence, about two miles from town. Not yet fairly in camp there, we received orders to send two of the pieces (two 12- pound howitzers) to Chevally to support a brigade of infantry then at that place. * * * * ^g j ^g^ not legally reinstated in my command yet, and almost, too lame for any hard work, Lieutenant Clayton was sent with that section, I retaining the other in the fort, i They went as far as Chevally that evening, when they found the enemy entering the town from the opposite side. Not strong enough to ofier much resistance, our forces fell back about a mile, and took up camp for the night. On the second day there was skirmishing; all day along the road, no artillery engaged on the same. " Early on Tuesday morning, the third, our boys opened the ball with the two howitzers, and to judge from the rapid succession of reports, they must have BATTLE OP CORINTH. 705 been well to work, and by their cool and unflinching attention to their duty earned the praise of the com- manding general. Lieutenant Clayton has shown good judgment in taking positions, and by th^ general man- agement of affairs gave evidence that he well earned the confidence you kindly reposed in him. " In the meantime I was placed in command of the remaining section of our battery, together with a sec- tion of the 3d Ohio Battery. I planted them all in the fort. At eight o'clock p.m., a report was sent in that one of the howitzers was disabled, not by the fire of the enemy, but by the weakness of the carriage, which broke by the recoil of the piece. As they could not drag it along fast enough, the enemy then being in hot pursuit, with greatly superior numbers, they spiked, the piece, throwing it into a deep creek, rendering it useless to the enemy. " Another pieee was immediately sent to replace it. This after a few rounds was disabled and brought to the rear, when the last piece of the battery was sent forward. The battery then had an excellent position across the railroad, and did great execution. By and by, the little command became so exhausted by heat, thirst, and hard work, that it became necessary to order them to the rear, and replace them by new troops. But the enemy soon became so numerous that it made any further resistance at that place useless, and a general retreat was ordered, which was carried out in good shape. The musketry became general along the lines, and we could discover heavy columns moving forward. The enemy planted a battery in range for our fort, and comiTienced throwing shells, which were well directed^ but could not injure us much behind the breastworks; 45 506 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA, we of course were not lazy to answer, and our second shot silenced their battery. " At four o'clock p.m., all the forces were drawn into the inner line of defences, and both armies rested for the night. Our battery took- a good position near the seminary, and during the second day of the fight as- sisted the big guns of the forts to clear the woods across the abattis. After the enemy were so deadly repulsed in their eflfort to take the town, they commenced re- treating in their common way, by sending in a flag of truce purporting to bury their dead." Colonel J. B. Sanborn, in his report to his superior officer, says : " At about a quarter before five o'clock I advanced my line by your order across the field in my front, to- wards a heavy growth of timber, where our skirmishers had encountered the enemy in some force. Company K was again deployed forward as skirmishers, and had advanced but a short distance in a westwardly direction, before they drew a very heavy musketry fire from the enemy concealed in the timber. In the meantime I had wheeled my battalion to his left, so that I was fronting the southwest. At this time, the fire of the enemy was brisk and enfiladed nearly my whole line. At this moment Captain Mowers beckoned to me with his sword, as if he desired to communicate important information, ' and I started towards him upon a gallop, but had rode but a few steps when I saw him fall dead — shot through the head. From the course of the balls and the position the enemy seemed to occupy, I interpreted the informal, tion that Captain Mowers desired to give, to be that the enemy were passing to my rear by my right, my com- mand at this time holding the right of the infantrv in COLONEL SANBORN'S REPORT. 701 the whole army. These impressions were immediately communicated to the general commanding the brigade, and I received orders to dislodge the enemy from the woods on my right. I at once changed the front of my battalion to the rear on the tenth (10th) company ; this was done under a heavy fire of musketry, in ' double- quick' time, but with as much coolness and precision as if on ordinary battalion drill. "This movement completed, I ordered the regimeht forward at 'quick time' until within about one hundred and fifty paces of the enemy's line of battle at this [ioiht, when I gave the further command, ' forward one hun- dred and fifty paces, double-quick.' This was executed in the most gallant and splendid manner. The regiment, in perfect line and with triumphant shouts, rushed for- ward against a most murderous fire, and when within fifty yards of the enemy's line, he fled to the rear with the greatest precipitancy, receiving two or three volleys from my regiment as he retired. Immediately after this was accomplished, I received your order to fall back and join Colonel Alexander (59th Indiana) on his right, which order was at once obeyed-, and skirmishers thrown forward one hundred paces to my front, and around my right flank. " It was now night. We were exhausted, and obe- dient to orders, I moved to the first position held in the morning and bivouaced there at 11 P. M. During the ^ay. my loss was one compiissioned officer and one private killed, and four men wounded. The heat -during the engagement of my command was most in- tense, said to be 108° in the shade, and more men were carried oiF the field on litters from the effect of sunstroke than from wounds. iJOS HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. "Ammunition was distributed to the men, so that each had seventy-five rounds, between eleven and one o'clock at night, and at half-past one I received your order to move my command to the right, across the Pittsburg and Hamburg road,. and about one hundred yards to the rear, which was done at once, and the regiment stood to arms, fronting the north, for the re- maining part of the night. " My command remained in this position until half- past ten o'clock on the following morning, when I re- ceived your order to move by the left flank into position on the ridge at my left, in support of the 11th Ohio Battery. This order was at once executed and my front changed to the west. I formed my regiment about fifty feet in- rear of this battery, which- masked the six centre companies. These six companies were ordered by me to fix bayonets, and charge the enemy whenever he should charge, upon the battery. Two companies on the right and two on the left were moved forward on the line of the guns of the battery, with instructions to engage the enemy with musketry wherever he might ap- pear, and meet him with the bayonet in case of a charge. "The enemy retired from the ground covered by the valley, and from the front of my regiment, in about forty minutes after the firing commenced. I maintained the same relative position to the battery in its movements upon the field;, to get in rear of the enemy, until your orders came to occupy again the ground left, when I went into action. I at once reoccupied that position, where I remained until the morning of the 6th inst., at four o'clock, when the pursuit commenced. " In the engagement on the fourth I lost one commis- sioned ofiicer, and five privates wounded. FOURTH REGIMENT AT CORINTH. |J09 " Of the pursuit it is enough to report that it was commenced on Sunday morning, the fifth inst., and continued without cessation or delay, except such as was absolutely necessary to rest the men temporarily, until the following Saturday night, the troops having marched during the time about one hundred and twenty miles. " I cannot speak too highly of the patient endurance and valor of my command. During a period of nine days of the most heated and most uncomfortable weather, my regiment marched one hundred and thirty miles, and for two days and nights of that time were engaged in one of the most extensive and desperate battles of the war. The conduct of all officers was satisfactory. Captains Tourtellotte and Edson conducted themselves with most extraordinary coolnes'', and determination. " My commissioned staff, First Lieutenant Thomas B. Hunt, Regimental Quartermaster, and First Lieu- tenant John M. Thompson, Adjutant, behaved with coolness and iudgment, and in the absence of other field officers rendered me efficient service, repeating com- mands and communicating orders. " Quartermaster-Sergeant Frank E. Collins, for dis- tinguished valor and services on the field in aiding me in every movement, and in arresting and bringing pris- oners from the field near the close of the engagement, deserves special mention. Commissary-Sergeant T. P. Wilson remained under fire all the time, directing litter carriers to the wounded, and furnishing water to the famishing soldiers, as well as repeating my com- mands when near the lines. Sergeant-Major Kittredge was among the coolest men on the field, and most efficient until he was overcome by sunstroke. ;10 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. "Surgeon Dr. J. H. Murphy, and second Assistant Surgeon Dr. H. R. Wedel, conducted their department with perfect order and method. Every wound was dressed in a few moments after it was received, and the wounded cared for at once in the most tender manner." Colonel L. F. Hubbard, of the 5th Regiment, reported as follows : " We were aroused before dawn on the morning of the fourth inst. by the discharges of the enemy's guns, and the bursting of his shells in the immediate vicinity of where we lay. One man of my regiment was quit© severely wounded here by a fragment of a shell. At about 9 A. M., I was ordered by General Stanley to de- ploy one company, as skirmishers, into the edge of th& timber towards the front and right ; in obedience to which Company A was sent forward under command of Captain J. R. Dart. A few moments later the advance of the enemy along our entire line was made. I soon observed that the part of our line running from near my right towards the rear was giving way, and that the enemy was rapidly gaining ground towards the town. I immediately changed front, moving by the right flank by file right, and took a position at right angles to my former one. The movement was but just completed, when I was ordered by General Stanley, through Major Coleman, to support a battery which had, been in posi- tion about four hundred yards towards the front and right, but which was being driven from the field. I moved by the right flank at double-quick, a distance of perhaps two hundred yards. By this time the battery mentioned had retired from the field entirely. Captain Dee's Michigan Battery, occupying the crest of a ridge near the Mobile and Ohio Railroad towards the left, had BATTLE OF CORINTH. Ill been abandoned and fallen into the hands of the enemy. Our line for the distance of several hundred yards had been repulsed, became scattered, and was rapidly re- treating. The enemy, in considerable numbers, had already entered the streets of the town from the north, and was pushing vigorously forward.* His flank was presented to the line I had formed, which exposed him to a most destructive fire, and which the 5th Min- 'Eev. John Ireland, appointed, oil twenty- second of Jui^e, chaplain, writes : "On the night of the third we quietly took our rest in one of the central squares of Corinth, on a line parallel with the Mobile and Colum- bus Eailroad. There we remained, while the shells were bursting over our heads before daybreak on the morning of the fourth ; from there we were at full liberty to contemplate the fight going on in our centre, and on the extreme part of our right, there being but an extensive abatis between us and these portions of our lines. ****** " We turn around, and great is our surprise. .At the lower end of the square the artillery are skedaddling with an astounding rapidity ; the in- fantry rush in through every inlet ; the citizens and all idle gazers-on disappear in a second ; the Butternuts emarge from the streets leading into the square. It was a solemn moment ; then, indeed, as one of our generals remarks, the fate of the day hung in the balance, and little time was left for reflection. What were we able to do? Were we to join in, allow ourselves to be carried off by the torrent, and turn ingloriously our backs to the enemy? For any not prodigal of their blood in the per- formance of their duty, such was the course to he taken. But far froin the minds of our brave boys was the thought of assuring their safety in flight. Of them it may verily be said, as of another gallant band of yore, ' They can flght or die, but neither surrender or run I ' Our men in- stinctively rush to their arras ; Col- onel Hubbard, with the most re- markable presence of mind, at one glance sees all the danger. Imme- diately his voice is heard, amid all the bustle and confusion ; he gives orders to move and to' take up a po- sition at right angles with his former one ; it was then that an aid-de-camp of General Stanley rode by and shouted out, ' Support that battery at the right !' Perplexing order I for at that moment, of the two batteries that were stationed to the right, one was abandoned and the other was being driven from the field. Our colonel, not in the least dismayed, fronts his men towards where he perceives the enemy rushing into the town. Oh, what an admirable spectacle, to gaze then on our brave boys- 1 With what unanimity, with what rapidity, what! visible coolness and unflinching cour- age, they poured in volley after volley into the ranks of their opponents! 712 HISTORT OF MINNESOTA. nesota delivered with deadly effect. After receiving and returning a number of volleys, the eneii^y began to fall back. I then moved forward in line, at a run, pressing hard upon the enemy, who was flying in great confusion. I moved on outside the town, and halted on the crest of a ridge to the left of, and on a line with, the former position of the battery 1 was ordered to sup- port, regaining, meantime, possession of the abandoned The latter, who, doubtless, a few mo- ments before, elated by their previous success, had thought that Cprinth was once more theirs, and had emitted a contemptuous smile when a hand- ful of men proposed to contest their passage, staggered, broke ranks and turned. And hotly were they pur- sued through a narrow street, until they reached the limits of the town, and concealed themselves in the wpods. Our men then halted, and wondered at what they had accom- plished. Had we not encountered the rebels, the town was in their hands, they might have destroyed it together with all our stores, and taken our other forces in the rear, placing, them between two fires, and triumphed: — and by whom was Corinth saved ? by the 5th Minne- sota alone, by six companies, Com- pany A having been sent out skir- mishing in another direction. " I am proud of the 5th Regiment, and every one here feels proud of it. Oreat is our renown in this army. The other regiments fully appreciate our valor ; our praise is on every tongue. Privates and officers are of the same sentiment, when the Min- nesota Fifth is mentioned." A private in the regiment writes : "Next morning [October fourth] we were awoke by a shell from one of the enemy's guns, which had been adroitly planted very near us. It came so near where I was sleeping that when it struck it dashed the earth all over me. The fire continued for about fifteen minutes, when one of our batteries put a stop to it. One hour later the enemy advanced on all sides, and the cannonading became general, and the fight became close, fierce, and bloody. The rebels charged a battery and succeeded in getting inside of cannon range, and it was left between a large force of rebels and a smaller number of federal sol- diers hand to hand. Many of our brave boys fell, but the clay-colored ruffians were repulsed. " When the rebels made the charge on the north side, the 63d Ohio gave way, and finally all our forces on that side skedaddled in every direction. We were held as a reserve, but at that moment were called on by one of General Stanley's aids ,to save the town. We marched double-quick into the very face of the advancing enemy and formed in line of battle. Just before we formed some of our half-breeds fired on and killed three rebel color-bearers in plain sight, and one of our men was killed. We then gave them our b^st, and after firing FIFTH REGIMENT AT CORINTH. 713 guns of the Michigan Battery. The enemy continued his retreat under a galling fire from our guns and the artillery of the forts on the left, until lost sight of in the woods in our front, when he re-formed, and again advanced in considerable force. I at once opened upon him a hot fire, which, with the fire from along the line upon my right, which had now rallied and was re-form- ing, arrested his progress, and soon drove him back under cover of the timber. five or six rounds the enemy gave way, and the little Fifth followed them up so fast that they were com- pelled to skedaddle in the q^uickest manner that their long legs could invent. They, howbver, met their re- serves and re-formed in the edge of the woods. We did the same. They advanced while we stood firm as a wall, and after we opened fire on them they came to a dead halt. We could hear their officers exhort them to 'for- ward,' hut they knelt lower and lower behind the logs and brush. Their fire slackened and their colonel was shot from his saddle. (This was Col- onel Johnson, of the 15th Arkansas.) Their color-bearer placed himself behind a large oak-tree, and waved his flag on one side, but took care not to show his precious body. " After remaining for some time under our rifle range, they returned, leaving many of their number on the field, dead or wounded, besides some who would not follow any longer. Our loss was six killed and thirty- three wounded. When we charged on the enemy. General Eosecrans asked what little regiment that was, and on being told, said that the 5th Minnesota had saved the town. Major Coleman, General Stanley's assist- ant adjutant-general, was with us when he received his death wound, and his last words were, ' Tell thfegen- eral that the 5th Minnesota fought nobly, God bless the 5th I ' Some of the boys of the 11th Missouri call us General Stanley's bully regiment. "Colonel Hubbard is now com- manding the brigade, Colonel Mower being in the hospital. It was an awful sight to pass over the battle- field,— men lying on their heads, others with their heads blown off, arms, hands, and feet scattered about, and dead and dying lying all around, some in heaps. It was a sight that I do not want to see again, but God only knows how soon it will again happen. On Sunday, when we started to follow retreating Price, the stench was rising from some parts of the battle-field. We had a hard time running after Price, took a great many prisoners, and had to march night and day. I was so sleepy sometimes that I could go to sleep walking if I would allow myself, We went as far as Kipley, but have at last been allowed,to rest. I cap- tured two secesh swords. " Lieutenant-Colon<^l Gere is very 714 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. " About forty prisoners fell into our hands, and large numbers of killed and wounded marked the line of the enemy's retreat. The regiment expended near fifty rounds of ammunition. I feel authorized in referring especially to the coolness and courage of the officers and men of my command, and their general good conduct during the action." A few days after the battle of Corinth, Buell's army attacked Bragg at Perryville, Kentucky, and here the 2d Minnesota Battery, Captain W. A. Hotchkiss, did good service. A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, describing the conflict, says : " The 2d Minnesota Battery, Captain Hotchkiss, came up nearly at the same time with the 2d Missouri Infantry, and by delivering a well-directed fire upon the flank of the rebels, assisted materially in driving them from the woods." In the battle of Fredericksburg, on the thirteenth of December, the 1st Regiment supported Kirby's Bat- tery, and retired to camp near Falmouth, Virginia, with- out' serious loss. The position of the 3d Regiment during this year was most unfortunate. much liked. He is commanding the familiar. He asked me what my regiment. We are getting very an x- name was, and I told him. He told ious about the three companies in me he was one of General Eosecrans' Minnesota, because the authorities spies. His name is Conger. He used threaten to unite us with some other to work on Bromley's farm, near St. regiment, on account of our small Paul. He has been in the Southern size ; but If they arrivi I do not think jails for a long time, and is now suf- there is any danger of our being fering from a severe wound. He united with some other United States was present when Pierre Dufort and militia. We always had to do the Baptiste Charette were hung for try- duty of a full regiment. ing to escape to their homes in " I was talking, with a secesh the Minnesota.'' other day whose face appeared to be THIRD REGIMENT SURRENDER. 715. On the morning of the thirteenth of July, neir Mur- freesboro', Kentucky, the rebels attacked the 7th Michi- gan, and after their commanding officer was wounded, and they lost nearly half their number, they surrendered. The 3d Minnesota, which was a little more than a mile off, and a battery of four guns, as soon as they heard of the attack, marched up the turnpike and took position in an open field, and in a little while fell back a half- mile. The colonel called a council of officers to decide whether they should fight, and the first vote was to fight; a subsequent vote being taken, by ballot, was in favour of surrender. Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Griggs^ Captains Andrews and Hoyt, voted on both occasions to fight. .In September the regiment returned to the State humiliated by the lack of judgment upon the part of their colonel, and was assigned to duty in the Indian country. 716 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. OHAPTEH XXXII. THE SIOUX MASSACRE, More than a hundred years ago, the missionary John Brainerd wrote from the valley of the Delaware to Wheelock, President of the Indian Academy at Han- over, New Hampshire : " I am greatly distressed often. There is too much truth in that common saying, * Indians will be Indians.' " The past generations of white men have not been indifferent to, the welfare of the American savage. One of the objects of English colonization was to "bring the infidels and savages living in those parts to human civility and a settled and quiet government." Our forefathers, at the outset, ^shrank from the cruel coercive policy of the Spaniards in South America, and in their own language' employed "fair and loving means suited to our English natures." The author of the "New Life of Virginia," printed in 1612, says : " This is the work that we first intended and have published to the world, to be chief in our thoughts, to bring those mfidel people from ike worship of devils to the service of Qod. And this is the knot that you must untie, or cut asunder, before you can conquer those sundry ' Nova Britannia. London, 1609. EARLY PEACE POLICY. 717 impediments that will surely hinder all other proceed- ings, if this be not first preferred. " Take their children and train them up with gentle- ness ; teach them our English tongue and the principles of religion ; win the elder sort by wisdom and discre- tion; make them equal vyith your English, in case of wealth, protectixm, and habitation, doing justice on such as shall do them wrong. Weapons of war are needful, I grant, but for defence only, and not in this case. If you seek to gain this victory upon them by stratagems of war, you shall utterly lose it and never come near it, but shall make their names odious to all their posterity. Instead of iron and steel, ynu must have patience and humanity to manage their crooked nature to your form of civility, for as our proverb is, ' Look ; how you win them so you must wear them.' If by way of peace and gentleness, then shall you always range them in love to your wards, and in peace with your English people ; and by proceeding in that way shall open the springs of earthly benefits to them both, and of safety to yourselves." Before the passengers of the May Flower landed at Plymouth Rock, collections were taken in the churches of England, for training the children of savages of Virginia in virtue and civility. Among the enactments of the first legislative assembly in America, convened at Jamestown, on July thirty, 1619, was the following : "Be it enacted by this present Assembly, That for lay- ing a surer foundation for the conversion of the Indians to the Christian religion, each town, city, borough, and particular plantation do obtain unto themselves by just means a certain number of the natives' children to be educated by them, in true religion and a civil course of ^7l8 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. life; of which children the most towardly boys in wit and graces of nature to be brought up by them in the first elements of literature, so as to be fitted for the college intended for them, that from thence they may be sent to that work of conversion." A wealthy person in LondoJn, as early as 1620, gave a large sum of money to teach Indian youth to read, and " then to bfe brought up in some lawful trade, w'ith all humanity and 'gentleness, until the age of twenty- one years ;" and George Thorpe, a person of piety, cul- ture, and social position, came to Virginia to carry out this beneficent idea ; but in less than a year after his arrival this good man was scalped by the very chief for whom he had caused a white man's house to be built, and all the plantations on the upper James Kiver were made desolate by the torch and arrows of the warriors under his influence. The slaughter had been universal, if God had not put it into the heart of an Indian converted to Christianity to give the alarm. The authorities, in a letter sent to London, said : " Though three hundred and more of ours died by many of these pagan infidels, yet thousands were saved by means of one of these alone who was made a Christian." While white men engaged in trade with the Indians at that early period were sometimes unjust and violent toward the natives, yet the majority bf the settlers were friendly, and the Indians had no fear as they passed from plantation to plantation. Their priests or sacred men had, however, viewed the advent of the European to their shores with sadness. They foresaw that their occupation would be gone should industry and intel- ligence prevail among their tribes, and it was their de- light to foment suspicions, and stir up ill-feeling toward INDIAN SACRED MEN. 719 the planters. Powhatan, persuaded by his priests, slaughtered the first plantation of white men at Roan- oke, in North Carolina,' and his successor, under the same stimulus, fearing that he would lose his power over the tribe if his people became landholders and fellow-citizens with the new-comers, resolved to exter- minate the pale-faces from the valley of the James River. The divines and public men of the London Company were so shocked and surprised when the intelligence of the Indian atrocities was received, that they abandoned their mild policy, and felt that it was a Christian duty to cast out the heathen, and wrote to the colonial authorities to urge a war of extermination.^ A letter- 'Strachey, who was secretary of Iiord Delaware, in " History of Trav- ;aile into Virginia," says : " His Ma- jesty bath been acquainted that the -men, women, and children of the first plantation at Eoanoak were, by com- ■mandmentof Powhatan, he pursuaded thereto by his priests, miserably slaughtered without any offence given by the first planted, who 20 and odd years had peaceably lived intermixt with those savages, and were out of his territory." — Hakluyt Publications, vol. vi. p. 85. 2 On August 1, 1622, the London •Company wrote : " As for the actors thereof, we can- not but with much griefe proceed to the condemnation of their bodies, the saving of whose soules we have so zealously affected ; but since the inocent blood of so many Christians doth in justice crie out for revenge, and the future secnritie in wisdom require, we must adviss you to roote out from being any longer a people so cursed, a nation ungratefull to all benefltts, and uncapable of all good- nesse ; at least to the removall of them so farr from you as you may not only be out of danger, but out of feare of them, of whose faith and good mean- ing you can never be secure. Where- fore, as they have merited, let them have a perpetual warre without peace or truce ; and, although they have desired it, without mercie, too. Yet, remembering who we are, rather than what they have been, we cannot but advise not only the sparing but the preservation of the younger people of both sexes, whose bodies may by labor and service become profitable, and their minds not overgrowne with evill customes, be reduced to ci vilitie, and afterwards to Ohristianitie." For theentire letter see Neill's " Virginia Company of London," pp. 330, 331. Published by Joel Murisell, Alban>% 1869. "J 20 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. writer, also of that day, used the following strong language : " We have sent boys among them to learn their lan- guage, but they returned worse than they went; but I am no statesman, nor love to meddle with anything but my books, but I can find no probability by this course to draw them to goodness ; but I am persuaded if Mars and Minerva go hand in hand, they will effect more good in an hour, than those verbal Mercurians in their lives, and till their priest and ancients have their throats cut there is no hope to bring them to conversion."' Two hundred and forty years after the first great massacre in the valley of the James River, another occurred in the valley of the Minnesota just as unex- pected, accompanied by . barbarities as revolting, and which would have been more extensive had it not been for the influence of a converted Indian, Paul Mazakutamani, a member of the Presbyterian Mission Church.'' ' Smith's General History. of August, 1862, were dark weeks * * ^At the time of the outbreak there White men said the Dakota mission was a small Presbyterian church was a failure, that if our teachings had composed of Indians, at the Lower beenrigbtthey would have prevented Agency, and also churches of the such an outbreak. But the vindication same denomination at Payutazee and was coming. Even now, John Other Hazlewood. At the latter station Day, a member of Dr. Williamson's was also an Indian boarding-school, church, helped away sixty-two per- The aggregate number of members sons from the agency at Yellow of the Presbyterian churches before Medicine. And while the troops the outbreak was only sixty-five, but under General Sibley were making' since the removal of the Indians to preparations to advance, Simon Ana- the Missouri the Presbyterian mis- wanymane came into our lines with sionaries have been greatly blessed, a white woman and three children and there are now eight hundred who had been taken captive by the Dahkotahs belonging to their hostile Sioux. Simon was an elder in churches. Eev. S. E. Kiggs says : the Hazlewood church. A few days ■'The weeks that followed the 18th after this, Lorenzo Lawrence, a mem- CAUSES OF OUTBREAK. 721 There have been many theories advanced to account for the Sioux outbreak of 1862, but they are for the most part superficial and erroneous. Little Crow, in his written communications to Colonel Sibley, explain- ing the causes which had provoked hostilities on the part of the Indians, makes no allusion to the treaties, but stated that his people had been driven to acts of violence by the suffering brought upon them by the ber of the same church, brought down 40. Cincinnati : Kendall and Henry, Mrs. De Camp and her children." for the A. B. C. P. M. 1839. The following list of works pre- Extracts from Genesis and the pared by the Presbyterian mission- Psalms : with the Third Chapter of aries among the Dahkotahs, until the Proverbs, and the Third Chapter of year 1869, is taken from vol. iii., part Daniel, in the Dakota Language. 1, of Minnesota Historical Society Translated from the French Bible Collections, and shows their active as published by the American Bible interest for the welfare of the Indians: Society, by Joseph Renville, Sr. Compared with other translations, DAHKOTAH BIBLIOGRAPHY. Sioux Spelliitg Book, designed for the use of native learners. By Kev. J. D. Stevens, Missionary. 12mo : pp. 22. Boston : Crocker and Brewster, for the A. B. C. P. M. 1836 and prepared for the press by Thomas S. Williamson, M.D., Missionary. Cincinnati; Kendall and Henry, for the A. B. C. P. M. ISmo : pp. 72. 1839. WOTANIN WaXTB MaRKTJS OwA KIN. The Gospel according to Mark, WicoNi OwiHANKK Wanin ^" ^^^ Language of the Dakotas. Translated from the Prench by Joseph Renville, Sr. : written out and pre- pared for the press by Dr. Thomas S. Williamson, Missionary. Cincin- Tanin KIN. 12mo:pp. 23. Boston: Crocker and Brewster, for the A. B. C. P. M. 1837. [Thia little tract contains Dr. Watts' Second Catechism for (JhiWren, translated into the nati : Kendall and Henry, for the A. Dahkotah Language by Joseph Eenyille, Sr. and Dr. T. S. Williamson.] B. C. P. M. 18mo : pp. 96. 1839. Extracts from the Gospels of The Dakota Pibst Reading Matthew, Luke and John, from tho Book. By Gideon H. Pond and Acts of the Apostles, and from the Stephen B. Riggs- 18mo: pp. 50. j'irst Epistle of John, in the Lan- Cincinnati, Ohio : Kendall and Henry, guage of the Dakota or Sioux Indians, for the A. B. C. P. M. 1889. Translated from the Prench as pub- JoSEPH Otakapi kin. The Story lished by the American Bible Society, of Joseph and his Brethren, trans- by Joseph Renville, Sr. Written lated from Genesis by Revs. Gideon and prepared for the press by Thomas H. and Samuel W. Pond. 18mo:pp. S. Williamson, M. D., Missionary. 46 722 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. delay in the payment of their annuities, and by the bad treatment they had received from their traders. In fact, nothing has transpired to justify the con- clusion that when the bands first assembled at the agency, thei"e was anything more than the usual chronic discontent among them, superinduced by the failure of the government, or its agents, faithfully to carry out the stipulations of the different treaties. Cincinnati : Kendall and Henry'. 18mo : pp. 48. 1839. WowApi MiTAWA : Tamakoce KAGA. My Own Book. Prepared from Rev. T. H. GfiUaudet's "Mo- ther's Primer.," and "Child's Picture Defining and Reading Book," in the Dakota Language. By S. ,E. Kiggs, A. M., Missionary of the A. B. C. P. M. Boston: 6rocker and Brewster. Square 12mo : pp. 64. 1842. WowAPi Inonpa. The Second Dakota Reading Book. Consisting of Bible Stories from the Old Testa- ment. By Rev. S. W. Pond. Boston: Crocker and Brewster, for the A. B. C. P. M. 18mo : pp. 54. 1842. Dakota Dowanpi kin. Dakota Hymns. Boston : Crocker and Brew- ster, for the A. B. C. F. M. 18mo : pp. 97. 1842. [These Hymns were composed in the Dakota Ijanguage by Mr. Joseph Renville and sons and the Missionaries of the American Board. — S. R. E.] WOAHOPB WlKCEMNA KIN. (Sheet.) The Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, in the Da- ];ota Language. Boston. 1842. Eliza Makpi-cokawin, Raraton- wan Gyato en Wapiye sa: qa Sara Warpanioa qon. . A Narrative of Pious Indian Women. Prepared in Dakota hy Mrs. M. A. C. Rigga. ]?oston : Crocke and Brewster, for the American Tract Society. 12mo : pp. 12. 1842. ■WlCOlCAQB WOWAPI QA OdOWAN Wakan, etc. The Book of Genesis, a Part of the Psalms, and the Gospels of Luke and John. Cincinnati, Ohio : Kendall and Barnard, for the A. B. C. F. M. 12mo : pp. 295. 1842. [These translations were made partly from the original Hebrew and Greek, and partly from the lYench, by Dr. T. S. Williamton, Kev Gt H. Pond, S. R, Riggs, and Joseph Renville, Sr.— S. R. R.] JeSITS OhNIHDBWICAYE CIIT Aea- NYANPi QON ; qa Palos Wowapi kage ciqon; nakun, Jan Woyake ciqon dena cepi. Tamakoce okaga. The Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles of Paul ; with the Revelation of John ; in the Dakota Language. Translated from the Greek, by Stephen R. Riggs, A. M. Published by' the American Bible Society. Cincinnati : Kendall and Barnard. 12mo : pp. 228. 1843. Dakota Wiwangapi Wowapi. Catechism in the Dakota or Sioux Language. By Rev. S. W. Pond, Missionary of the A. B.C. P.M. New Haven, Conn. Printed by Hitchcock and Stafford. 12mo : pp. 12. 1844. Dakota Tawoonspe. Wo>yapi I. Tamakoce kaga. Dakota Lessons. Book I. By S. R. Riggs, A. M., Missionary of A. B. C. P. M. Louis- CAUSES OF DISSATISFACTION. 723 During the trial of the prisoners before the military •commission hereinafter mentioned, every effort was made to elicit evidence bearing upon the outbreak and the motives which actuated the leaders in inaugurating the bloody work. . The only inference that can be drawn from all of these sources of information is, that the movement was not deliberate and predetermined, but was the result of various concurrent causes, to wit: ville, Ky. : Morton and Gri^wold. in this smaller form for the use of Square 12ino : pp. 48. 1850. Dakota Tawoonspb. "Wowapi II. Dakota Lessons. Book II. By S. E. Riggs, Missionary, etc. Louis- ville, Ky. : Morton and G-riswold. ■Square 12mo : pp. 48. 1860. Dakota Tawaxitku Kin. The Dakota Friend, a small monthly paper in Dakota and English, pub- lished at St. Paul by the Dakota Mission. Kev. G-. H. Pond, Editor. 1850-52. [In all 20 numbers were published. The first 12 (Vol. I.) were in a small three-column size. 'The second volume was enlarged to four col- umns. The first number was issued ia No- vember, 1850. It is asserted that there is but one other i nstance known of a periodical being pub- lished In an American aboriginal tongue, viz., among the Cherokees. — W.] Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language, collected by the members of the Dakota Mission. By Eev. S. K. Kiggs, A. M., Missionary of A. B. C. F. M. Under the pa- tronage of the Historical Society of Minnesota. Printed by K. Craig- head, 53 Vesey Street, New York, 1852 ; for the Smithsonian Institu- tion, Washington City. 4to : pp. 34 ; 338. An English and Dakota Vo- Colohel Adams, now acting colonel, has made his country his debtor by nine scars, six of which were gotten at Gettysburg. The rags of what was the old flag of the regiment, clinging vigorously to their staff, told of the dangers past and victories won. They were handsomely wel- comed, these veterans, with viands and courtly speeches at the National, and with warmly throbbing hearts all through the city, and everywhere where hath reached the story of their deeds and ' the dangers they have passed.' And truly- the story of that one regi- ment is the story of the whole war, the sunshine and shadow, side by side, — one-quarter here, with music and feasting, and well-earned honour; three-quarters out there, somewhere in the night, and cold, and hun- ger. One heart made joyous by the fame of a gallant soldier; three more wailing over desolate hearthstones. At first sight these workings of Providence seem one- sided, jangled, and out of tune, the sunshine too narrow -and the shadow too black ; but, in the lofty courage. POSITION OF REGIMENTS. "751 the endurance and heroic purpose of this maimed little band, come home, not to stay, but to rest and recruit and go back, one catches a glimpse of a purpose lifting us above the exigencies of mortality. A few hand- shakes with old neighbours, a few sacred hours by their own fireside^, a few days' nursing for their maimed leader, a few more stalwart shoulders abreast of their own, and that devoted band rushes back again to mingle its blood, if need be, with that of comrades gone before. May God speed them, and the cause which such men die for !" The 1st Battery, that had been attached to the 17th Army Corps, now commanded by Captain William T. •Clayton, arrived early in March, and on the twentieth the 4th returned on furlough. The 3d Regiment, which, after the Indian expedition had been ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas, on the thirtieth had an engagement with McRae's forces, near Augusta, at Fitzhugh's Woods. Seven men were killed and sixteen wounded. General C. C. Andrews, in command of the force, had his horse killed by a bullet. The 2d Battery, Captain W. A. Hotchkiss, having re-enlisted, left Chattanooga on the twelfth of April and returned on furlough. By order of the War Department, the 1st Regiment was mustered out at the expiration of its three years term of service. On the twenty-eighth of April it held its last evening dress-parade in the presence of Governor Miller, who had once commanded them, and a large number of spectators. A portion of its members were organized into a battalion, and in May proceeded to Washington, and Y52 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. from thence went to Virginia and joined the Army of the Potomac, and participated in engagements near Petersburg, Jamestown, Plank Road, Deep Bottom, and Reams Station. The 6th Regiment, which had been actively engaged in the Indian expedition of 1862, was ordered to the South in October, 1863, and in June, 1864, was assigned to the 16th Army Corps. The 7th at the same time was assigned to this corps, and also the 9th and 10th Regiments. The 5th Regiment, which had been attached to the corps 'since January, was in the expedition up the Red River of Louisiana during the spring, and on the sixth of June was uil- der Major Becht, in Hubbard's Brigade, engaged in battle with General Marmaduke's forces at Lake Chicot, Arkansas. On the thirteenth of July the insurgents, under Forrest, opened fire upon General A. J. Smith's Divi- sion, near Tupelo, Mis'sippi, in which were portions of the 5th, the 7th, the 9th, and 10th Regiments. During the first day's fight, Surgeon Smith of the 7th was shot through the neck and killed. On the morning of the 14th the battle began in earnest, and the 7th, under Colonel Marshall, made a successful charge. Colonel Alexander Wilkin, of" the 9th, while gallantly leading a brigade, was shot and fell dead from his horse.^ • Alexander Wilkin will always be teers in the Mexican War. In 1849 remembered as among the bravest he came to Mitinesota, and succeeded of the officers who gave their, lives O.K. Smith as Secretary of the Terri- for their country. tory. As soon as Port Sumter was He was the son of Hon. Samuel J. fired upon be began to raise a com- Wilkin, formerly a member of Con^ pany, and when the 1st Kegiment greps from New York, and was born was organized he was captain of m Orange County. After studying Company A. For gallantry at Bull law he became a captain of v.olun- Bun he was made captain in the REGIMENTS BEFORE NASHVILLE. 753 On the fifteenth of October the 4th Regiment, with Dther troops under General Corse, were attacked near Altoona, Georgia, by a superior force of insurgents under General French, and after six hours' fight the latter retired. On the seventh of December, the 8th Regiment, with other troops under General Milroy, met the insurgents near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and drove them from their position. In rushing up to the eneiny's batteries fourteen of the regiment were killed and seventy-six wounded. In the great battle before Nashville in the same month, the 5th, 7th, 9th, and 10th Regiments were engaged. The 1st Brigade, 1st Division, of General A. J. Smith's fofee, was commanded by Colonel Hub- bard of the 5th, and the 2d Brigade by Colonel W. R. Marshall of the 7th. All the Minnesota Regiments distinguished themselves. Colonel Hubbard, after he had been knocked ofi" his horse by a ball, rose and on foot led his command over the enemy's works. Colonel Marshall also made a gallant charge, and Lieutenant- Colonel Jennison of the 10th was one of the first on the enemy's parapet, and received a severe wound. regular army, and then appointed was giving his orders as coolly as h© major of the 2d, and subsequently ever did on dress-parade. He was in- colonel of the 9th Minnesota. The stantly killed. He was shot under the manner of his death is thus de- left arm, the ball passing through the scribed by Captain J. K. Arnold, of body and coming out under the right the 7th Kegiment, who was his ad- arm. I had left him but a moment jutant : before with an order. He never "JThe bullets and shells were flying spoke after being hit, but fell froEf thick and fast. Colonel Wilkin sat his horse and was dead before reach on his horse, and when he was struck ing the ground." 48 754 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XXXV. SUPPKESSION OF THE REBELLION IN 1865. In the spring of 1865, the 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th Minnesota Regiments, attached to the 16th Armj^, Corps, took part in besieging the rebel works at Spanish Fort opposite Mobile, and at Blakely, near the terminus of the Mobile and Montgomery Railroad. The final and victorious assault was begun about six o'clock on Sunday afternoon, the ninth of April, by two brigades of the 13th Army Corps, commanded by General C. C. Andrews, formerly colonel of the 3d Minnesota Regiment. On this day General Lee had also surrendered his army to General Grant, and the rebellion ended. The 2d and 4th Regiments and 1st Battery had accom- panied General Sherman in his wonderful march through Georgia, South and North Carolina, and the 8th Regiment in March had moved to North Caro- lina from Tennessee by the way of Washington. The battalion that was the outgrowth of the 1st Regiment was active in the last campaign of the Army of the Potomac, commencing in March and resulting in the surrender of Lee's army. Arrangements were soon perfected for the disbanding of the Union army, and before the close of the sum- mer all the regiments that had been in the South had returned, and were discharged. SYNOPSIS OF BBGIMENTS. 75f SYNOPSIS OF REGIMENTS. Organized. First April, 1861. Second July, 1861. Third October, 1861. Fourth December, 1861. Fifth May, 1862. Sixth August, 1862. Seventh , " " Eighth " " Ninth " " Tenth i " " Eleventh August, 1864. Infantry Battalion May, 1864. Artillery. ' Organized. Fikst Bbgiment Heavy Artillery April, 1865. Discharged. May 5, 1864. July 11, 1865. September, 1865. August, 1865. September, 1865. August, 1865. July, 1865. Discharged. September, 1865. Batteries. Organized, .Discharged. First October, 1861. June, 1865. Second December, 1861. July, 1865. Third February, 1863. February, 1866. Cavalry. Organized, Kanqers Ma'rcb, 1863. Brackett's Oct. and Nov., 1861. Second Kegiment January, 1864. Hatch's July, 1863. Discharged. Oct. to Dec, 1863. May to June, 1866. Nov. to June, 1866. April to June, 1866. Sharpshooters. Organized. Company A 1861 ^ Company B 1862. On duty with First Begiment in the Army of the Potomac. 75t HISTOKY OF MINNESOTA. CHAPTER XXXVI. ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL AFFAIKS DUEINO AND SINCE THB REBELLION. In consequence of the Indian outbreak in the Valley of the Minnesota, Governor Rajnsey called an extra session of the Legislature, which convened on Septem- ber 9, 1862, and in his message urged prompt and severe measures to subdue the savage cut-throats. As long as Indian hostilities continued, the flow of immigration was checked and the agricultural interests suffered; but notwithstanding the disturbed condition of affairs within the borders of the* State, the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company completed ten miles of the first railway from the capital. Governor Ramsey, having been elected for a second term, delivered his annual message before the fifth State Legislature on January seventh, 1863, and during the session was elected to supply the vacancy about to take place in the United States Senate by the expiration of the term of office of the Hon. Henry M. Rice,^ who had been a ' Mr. Rice has been for years iden- and Watab Rivers. In 1853 he was tified with the public interests of a delegate to Congress ; re-elected in Minnesota. He was one of the com- 1855. Took his seat in United States missi oners in 1847 who met the Pil- Senate 1858. In 1860 was on the lagers at Leech Lake and negotiated special committee on the Condition for the cession of the country be- of the Country. During his term he tween the Mississippi, Long Prairie, was also a member of the, commit- GOVERNORS OF MINNESOi'A. 757 inember of that body from the time that Minnesota was admitted into the Union. He continued to act as Governor until he took his seat in the Senate, when the Lieutenant-Governor, Henry A. Swift,^ became Governor by constitutional provision, and held the office until the inauguration, on January eleventh, 1864, of Stephen Miller,^ who had been duly elected by the people at the regular elec- tion of the previous fall. During Miller's adminis' tration Shakopee, or Little Six, and Tahta-e-chash- nah-manne, or Medicine pottle, were tried by a mili|;ary commission at Fort Snelling for participation in the massacre of white citizens during the year 1862, and found guilty and sentenced to be hung. The execution took place on the tenth of November, 1865, in the presence of the soldiers at the fort and a number of civilians.^ . tees on Military Affairs, Finance, Public Lands, and Post OfSce. While in Washington he united with Senators Douglas and Breckin- ridge in building three elegant man- sions on H Street, still called Min- nesota Row ; and in one of these he lived, and used an elegant hospi- tality to the citizens of Minnesota ■without regard to their political opinions. I Henry A. Swift was born in 1823 at Kavenna, Ohio. Graduated at Western Keserve College, studied law at Ravenna, and in 1845 ad- mitted to practice. In 1846-7 he was assistant clerk •of House of Bepresentatives of Ohio, and during the next two sessions was •chief clerk. In 1853 he came to Minnesota and settled at St. Paul. In 1856 he removed to St. Peter. Prom 1861 to 1865 he was a State Senator, and in 1865 was appointed by the President Begister of United States Land OflBce at St, Peter. He died on Pebruary 26, 1869, respected and beloved by all. ^ Stephen Miller was born in 1816 in Perry County, Pennsylvania. In 1849 was prothonotary of Dauphin County, and in 1855 flour inspector of Philadelphia. He came in 1858 to Minnesota. Was lieutenant-colo- nel of 1st, and colonel of 7th Eegi- ment, and on October twenty-sixth, 186^ was made brigadier-general. 'Shakopee, or Shakpedan, was born about 1811, and was, the son of the blustering, thieving chief of the same name, who died at the village of Sha- kopee in 1860. He was a mean In- 758 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. William E. MarshalP succeeded Governor Miller on the eighth of January, 1866, and after serving two terms was followed by Horace Austin, the present Gov- ernor, on the seventh, of January, 1870. The prosperity of the State during the last decade has surpassed the expectations of the most sanguine. In 1862 there were not twenty miles of railway in operation, while at the close of 1872 there were nearly two thousand, with many miles in process of construc- tion. The increase in population and agricultural produc- tions has been correspondingly great, and there is every reason to suppose that Minnesota will always continue to be one of the most important States in the Va,lley of the Mississippi. dian, of but little mental capacity. Medicine Bottle was born about It is said tbat when the first loco- 1831, at Mendota, and was head sol- motive pfissed on the railway' just dier of his brother, the chief Grey completed beneath the walls of Fort Eagle. Snelling, he pointed to it from ' W. E. Marshall was born October his prison window and said, with a seventeenth, 1825, in Boone County, touch of sentiment: "There I that Missouri. C&me to Minnesota in is what has driven us away." July, 1847, and was in 1849member,of , His body was forwarded to Jeffer- the first legislature of the Territory, son Medical College, in Philadelphia, In 1855 was nominated by the first and after being placed upon an ana- convention of the Kepublican party tomical table. Prof. Pancoast gave a as delegate to Congress. For several brief sketch of his career, and then years was engaged in banking and proceeded to expose his body for the mercantile pursuits. During the war benefit 6t science to the gaze of the was lieutenant-colonel, then colonel ,. students. of 7th Kegiment. lUrERNAL IMPBOVEMEifX LANDS. 759 CHAPTER XXXVn. ADMimSTEATIOH'OB GOVEUWOBS AUSTIN, DATES, AND PILLSBUBT. Horace Austin^ in January, 1872, entered upon a second term as Governor of Minnesota, having been re-elected to tlie office by a large majority .2 The important event of his admin- istration was the veto of an act passed by the Legislature of 1871, dividing the Internal Improvement Lands of the State among several railway companies. Wisconsin, admitted as a State in 1848, in her Constitution provided that the grant of 500,000 acres under the act of Con- gress approved Sept. 4, 1841, and also the five per cent, of net proceeds of the public lands should be used for the support of schools. Iowa, and California made similar provision, but the firamers of the Constitution of Minnesota paid no attention to these precedents, which have since been followed by Kansas, Oregon, and other States. As soon as the legislature acquired control over these lands under the act of 1841, they were sought for by railroad corpo- 1 Horace Austin was, in 1831, born In In 1869 was nominated as Governor by Connecticut. He received a common the KepuWican party, and elected. He scliool education, and for a time worlced Is now an Auditor of the U. S. Treasury at the trade of his father. After spend- at Washington, ing some time in the law ofBce of Brad- 2 Vote for Governor, 1869. bury and Merril,Augusta, Maine, in 1864 Horace Austin, Eepubllcan 27,348 he came West, and in 1855, removed to George L. Otis, Democrat 25,401 Minnesota, and the next year became a Daniel Cobb, Temperance 1,764 resident of the town of Saliit Peter. Vote for Oovemor, 1871. During Gen. Sibley's expedition of 1863, Horace Austin, Republican 45,833 against the Indians, he served as a Cap- Wlnthrop Young, Democrat 30,092 tain of Cavalry. Inl864 he was elected Samuel Mayall, Temperance 846 Judge of the Kxth Judicial District, and 760 HISTOET OF MINNESOTA. rations, and a bill was passed in 1871 giving to them, that which other States had appropriated to the support of schools. It failed, however, to receive the approval and signature of the Governor, and this led to the adoption, in November, 1873, by a vote of the people, of an amendment to the Consti- tution which forbids all moneys belonging to the Internal Improvement Land fund to be appropriated " for any purpose whatever, until the enactment for that purpose shall have been approved by a majority of the electors of the State, voting at the annual general election following the passage of the act/' During the second term of Governor Austin's administration the House of Representatives, through a committee, appeared before the Senate of 1873, and impeached William Seeger, Treasurer of the State of Minnesota, for misuse of the public funds, and embezzlement. The Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment, adjourned on the 7th of March, to meet on the 20th of May, 1873. Upon the re-assembling of the Court it was informed that Mr. Seeger had resigned the office of Treasurer; but it was resolved to receive no evidence on this point. On the 22d of May the Treasurer entered the plea of guilty, but denied that he had acted with corrupt or willful intent. The Court found him guilty of all the charges, and the following was unani- mously adopted: " Ordered, As the judgment of this Court, that William Seeger be and he is hereby disqualified to hold and enjoy any ofiBce of honor, trust or profit in this State." Cushman K. Davis,^ on the 9th of January, 1874, delivered his inaugural message as Governor.^ He called the attention 1 Cushman K. Davis was born in the General, and served upon the staff of State o£ New York in 1838, and in boy- Gen. Willis A. Gorman. In 1864 he set- hood removed with his parents to Wau- tied in St. Paul, and in 1866 was amem- kesha, Wisconsin. He graduated in 1867, berofthe Legislature. In 1868 he was at the, University of Michigan. After appointed U. S. District Attorney, studying law with Ex-Gov. Alex. Kan- 2 Vote for Oovemor, 1873. dall, of Wisconsin, in 1859, he was admit- Cushman K. Davis, Eepublican...40 741 ted to the bar. In 1852 he enlisted in the Samuel Mayall, Temperance i 036 28th Wisconsin Volunteers, and was Ara Barton, Democrat, 35 245 afterwards appointed an Ass't Adj't CASE BBFOBB U. S. SUPREME COUBT. 761 of the Legislature to the importance of the State checking a tendency upon the part of railroad corporations to make an abatement of freight rates in favor of their friends at the expense of farmers and other customers. His langdage upon this subject was emphatic: "The expense of moving products has become the great expense of life, and it is the only disjiursement over which he w;ho pays can exercise no control whatever. He has a voice in determiaing how much his taxes shall be. In the ordinary transactions of life he can buy and sell where he chooses, and competition makes the bargain a just one; but in regard to his crops, he is under duress as to their carriage, and under - ■dictation as to their price. In the very nature of lihings, the occasion must be rare which will justify any advance in the rates for moving graiu from Minnesota. In September, 1873, however, when a wheat crop of unexampled abundance was overcrowding the means of transportation, and when there was every reason why there should be a reduction instead of an advance of rates, the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, and the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company simultaneously imposed upon our wheat crop a tax of three cents per bushel, by an advance of that amount in charges. If any admiaistration should commit such an act as this in performing the functions of taxation, it would be deposed by an indignant constituency. No less deserving of condemna^ tion is the policy of the companies in regard to freights which are moved wholly within the State." A case involving the power of the State to regulate the fates of railways, reached the Supreme Court of the United States during the 1874 term. It was that of the Winona & St. Peter Railroad, plaintiff in error, against John D. Blake and others, defendants. The argument for the defendants was made by W. P. Clough of Saint Paul. In concluding his plea Mr. Clough said: " That the plaintiff in error, or any other railroad corporar tion, should be subject to legislative control in respect to the 762 HISTOET OF MmifESOrA. rates of its tolls, or in respect to its dealings generally withi the public, is not a proposition at all startling in its nature- On the contrary it is one in accord with the highest degree of public policy and interest; a proposition the truth of which should occasion satisfaction and not regret. "The experience of the world has demonstrated, that to regulate the compensation of all public employments is absolutely necessary, for the protection of the public against imposition, inconTenience, and extortion. And such regula- tions are rigidly imposed everywhere and in all countries. "In Europe, where competition between carriers is much greater than in America, and where, on that account, the- public are better protected than here by the natural laws of business, a system of control over the business of carriers,, descending to the minutest detail thereof, has everywhere been deemed necessary, and everywhere been iustituted. And' this- power, while it has benefited and protected the public, has not been found at all oppressive or injurious to^the carrier.. Nor will it be found so it this country. Mistakes on the part of the law making power itiay sometimes happen in the prac- tical use of its authority; but such mistakes, when discovered, it is confidently believed, will be speedily and completely rectified. " The theory that the public would derive protection against extortion and imposition committed by railroad carriers, through the rule insisted upon by the plaintijBf in error in this case, is as complete and utter a fallacy as could be devised. Such extortions in any iudividual case are small and petty in amount. It is the number and frequency of them that renders them great public evils. No individual could afford to enter into a legal contest with a powerful railroad corporation, for a few dollars, with the burden upon himself to make out an overcharge, however plain the fact of extortion might be to him. Unless the State interposes its authority and determines by law what is a proper charge and what is an WOMEir VOTE FOK SCHOOL OFFICERS. 763 improper one, the public will Have no rights against railroad companies worth preservation or vindication. "A vested right in a railroad company to charge such rates of tolls as a court. and jury shall declare to be proper in each individual case, is practically a vested right in the company to charge such tolls as it shall see fit; for nobody could afford' to litigate the question with it." In October, 1876, the Supreme Court of the United States sustained the judgment of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, and decided that there was nothing in the charter of the rail- road company limitiag the power of the State to regulate the rates of charge. By an act of the Legislature approved on March 5th, 1874^ the Baldwin School^ founded by private munificence early in the year 1853, was made the Preparatory Department of Mac- alester College. During the administration of Gov. Davis, the people, at the election of November, 1875, sanctioned amend- ments to the Constitution relative to judicial districts, and terms of office, the investment of funds from the sale of school lands, and permission of women to vote for school ofiicers. The last amendment is in this language: '"The Legislature may, notwithstanding any thing in this article [Article 7, Sec- tion 8] provide by law, that any woman at the age of twenty- one years and upward, may vote at any election held for the ^ purpose of choosing any officers of schods, or upon any measure relating to schools, and may also provide that any such women shall be eligible to hold any office solely pertaining to the management of schools." i 1 See Page 6SI. 76i HISTOBY OP MINNB80TA. John S. Pillsbury,! on the 7th of January, 1876, delivered his inaugural message as Governor.^ At the outset of his administration he called the ?ittention of tlie Legislature to the importance of making some equitable settlement with the holders of the State Railroad Bonds. In language which called forth a hearty response from every intelligent citizen who had dispassionately investigated the subject, he said — " No duty surely can be more obligatory upon those entrusted with the highest public interests than the vigilant mainte- nance of a sensitive public credit. Without that, indeed, little is left worthy of public preservation. The fact that the hold- ers of these qbligations are debarred the ordinary remedy pro- vided by courts of justice, and are forced to rely wholly upon the honor of the State, should deepen rather than weaken the sense of such obligation in the minds of honorable men. " I will not insult your understanding or sense of justice so far as to attempt a serious argument in support either of the validity or equity of this claim upon the State. The purpose to evade a just obligation is never, indeed, without a pretext, either in public or private affairs. In this case it will suffice to say that there is, if possible, less than the customary excuse for a resort to subterfuge. The measure providing for the issue of these bonds underwent an unusually protracted and searching discussion, during the longest legislative session ever held in the Territory or State. Its various provisions were subjected to close inspection and criticism by the people, conr vened in public meetings, and by a jealous and watchful public IJohn S. Pillsbuiy was bom on July came one of the most respected mer- 29, 1828, at Sutton, New Hampshire, chants of Minneapolis. Since 18fi3, he Alter a common school education, at has been a faithful regent of the State the age of sixteen he entered a store, University, and for nine sessions repre- and at the age of twenty-one formed a sented Hennepin county as Senator, in partnership with Walter Harrimon,who the Legislature of Minnesota, became Governor of New Hampshire. 2 Votefor Qovemor, Nov. 1876. In June, 1855, he came to Minnesota, J. S. Pillsbury, Kepublican 47,073 and established a hardware store at D. L. Buell, Democrat 35,27f St. Anthony, and after a few years be- VALIDITY OF BAIL EOAD BONDS. 765 press, and, finally, following the maturity of the scheme, ample time was given for its further discussion prior to its submission to the people; whereupon it received the popular approval by an afBrmative vote of nearly four to one, and thus became, not by hasty and inconsiderate action, but by successive deliberate steps, a part of the Constitution, entrenched within the impreg- nable sanction of organic law. Moreover, the bonds thus provided for, were finally issued only upon the most rigid compliance by the obligees with every legal pre-requisite» insisted upon by a faithful and vigilant Executive. " The bonds thus deliberately issued are held by persons in all parts of the country. They express an ilnmistakable obli- gation, attested by the great seal of the State, but they convey no hint of qualified payment, nor intimation that could, by any possibility, serve as a warning to innocent purchasers. Every day they ihus remain dishonored threatens the lasting dishonor of our State.. But the conclusive estopple of the last plea for non-payment, whether upon legal or equitable grounds, is the fact that the State long ago obtained by foreclosure the property which was the consideration for her assumption of the debt to secure which such property was pledged. Except for her obligation to pay such debt, she had no right to the property securing it. And moreover, this property, tjius obtained, consisting of lands, road-beds and franchises, by are- grant from the State, served to forward the construction of the existing railroads, whose benefits we have since enjoyed. Can there remain a possible plea for the non-payment of a debt thus honestly contracted, and where the object for which it was contracted, has been attained and enjoyed?" On the sixth of September, 1876, the quiet inhabitants of •Minnesota were excited by a telegraphic announcement, that at midday, a band of outlaws from another State had ridden into the town of Northfield, recklessly discharging firearms, while a portion proceeding to the bank, killed the acting Cashier, in an attempt to take out the funds. Two of the desperadoes were shot in the streets, by firm citizens, and in a ^66 HISTOST OB MINNESOTA. brief period, parties from the neighboring towns were in pur- suit of those who niade their escape. After a long and weary search, four were surrounded in a swamp, and one was killed and the others captured. At the November term of the Fifth District Court at Faribault, the culprits were arraigned, and under an objectionable statute, by pleading guilty, secured an imprisonment for life, in place of the death they had so fully "deserved. In 1874, in some of the counties of Minnesota, the Rocky Mountain Locust, of the same genus, but a different species from the European and Asiatic locust, driven eastward by a failure of the succulent grasses on the high plains of the Upper Missouri and Saskatchewan valleys, appeared as a short, stout-legged, • devouring army, and in 1875, the myriads of eggs deposited were hatched out and these insects bom within the State, taking unto themselves wings, flew to new camping grounds to deposit their ova. ]Jn consequence of their devastations, many farmers were .deprived of successive crops. As other States between the Mississippi and Rocky Mountains were suffering from these pests, at the suggestion of Governor Pillsbury, a confer- ence of Governors was convened on the 25th of October, at Omaha, Nebraska, to devise measures by which there might be a diminution of their vast numbers. A circular was also prepared and distributed by the Governor, through the infested and other counties, giving directions as to the best methods of extermination. By visiting the suffering, pledging his personal credit before the assemblijig of the Legislature, and inciting the charitable to send clothing and provisions, he did much to . sustain the desponding. In his annual message to the Legislature of 1877, Governor Pillsbury again urged upon, the legislators to take steps which would relieve Min^iesota from being any longer classed in the money markets of the world, with those States which repudi- ated obligations, to which were affixed the seal of their com- monwealths. PLENTIFUL HABTEST. 767 An act was passed, and approved on the first of March, ■providing for the payment of bonds known as the " Minnesota State Railroad Bonds." The efficiency of the law, however, 'was conditioned upon the assent of voters, to the appropriation ■of the 500,000 acres of Internal Improvement Lands, towards "the liquidation of these obligations; and a special election, on the 12th day of June, was held to adopt an amendment to the Constitution, to allow of the disposal of the lands for the pur- poses indicated. To the surprise, as well as mortification of those who were sensitive as to the honor of the State, the pro- position was rejected by a very large vote. The summer of 1877 lifted a burden from the hearts of the farmers of Minnesota. In the spring, the locusts began to appear in some counties, but by an ingenious contrivance of sheet iron covered with coal tar, their numbers were rapidly reduced. It was soon seen that the area occupied by the locusts was limited, and before the harvest time arrived they were devoured by parasites, or had flown away, and weeping was turned into joy. By observation and comparison it also was ascertained that usually only one hatching of eggs took place in the same district, and it was evident that the crops of 1877 were to be very large. When the National Thanksgiv- ing Day was observed, on the 29th day of November, nearly forty millions of bushels of wheat had been garnered, and many 'devoutly thanked Him who had again given plenty, and med- itated upon the expression of the Psalmist, " He maketh peace within thy borders, and fiUeth thee with the finest of the wheat." Governor Pillsbury, in November, 1877, was elected by the people for another term of two years.i At this election amendments to the Constitution were adopted relative to the election and term of Senators and Representatives; the canvassing of election returns; biennial 1 Vote for Governor, Nod., 1877. J. S. Fillsbury. Eepublican. 57,071 W. L. Banning, Democrat 39,241 ^68 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. sessions of the legislature,^ and the prohibition of the use of State funds for sectarian schools'.^ At the opening of the Legislature of 1878, the Govemor used these words relative to the action of the voters at the- special election on the 12th of June, 1877, in refusing the pro- posed settlement of the Railroad Bonds: " The measure proposed for this purpose by the last Legis- lature, and submitted to the people in June last, was rejected, as you are aware, by an overwhelming popular vote. This resulted, I am persuaded, from a prevalent , misapprehension respecting the real nature and provisions of the proposed plan of adjustment. I should be sorry, indeed, to be foiced to the conviction that the people by this act intended other than their disapproval of the particular plan of settlement submitted to them. For in my opinion no public calamity, no visitation of grasshoppers, no wholesale destruction or insidious pesti- lence, could possibly inflict so fatal a blow upon our State as the deliberate repudiation of her solemn obligations. It would be a confession more damaging to the character of a govern- ment of the people than the assaults of its worst enemies. With the loss of public honor little could remain .worthy of preservation. Assuming, therefore, as I gladly do, that this vote of the people indicated a purpose not to repudiate the debt itself, but simply to condemn the proposed plan for its payment, I shall be happy to co-operate in any practicable measure looking to an honorable and final adjustment of this vexed question." For several years, the scientific men of Germany had been puzzled to account for the sudden explosions within flouring 1 Amencl/ment to Section l, Article i. 2 Amendment to SectUn 3, Article S. " The legislature of the State shall " But in no case shall the moneys de- consist of a Senate and House of Eepre- rived as aforesaid, or any portion there- sentatives, who shall meet biennially, of, or any public moneys or property, he at the seat of government of the State, appropriated or used for the support of at such time as shall be prescribed by schools wherein the distinctive doc- law, but no session shall exceed the trines, creeds, or tenets of any particu- term of sixty days. lar Christian or other religious sect, are promulgated or taught." EXPLOSIOIT IN FLOUR MILLS. 769 mills, and a prize was offered for the best essay upon the sub- ject. A professor in Berlin was the successful essayist, and he contended that there was always a liability to explode when particles of dust of any kind were thickly distributed in the atmosphere of narrow ducts or poorly yentilated rooms.^ An explosion which occurred in Minneapolis, between seven and eight o'clock of the evening of the 2d of May, has renewed investigation, which will no doubt lead to an improvement in mill machinery and architecture. One of the largest mills in the world, known as the Wash- bum "A," suddenly exploded, which was followed in the twinkling of an eye by the explosion' of two mills in the imme- diate vicinity, and by the conflagration of three other mills,, the loss of eighteen Uves, and the destruction of much val- uable property. The concussion was so great in the first mill that all the walls fell, and hardly one stone was left upon another. The personal unpopularity of Judge Page, which had existed for several years, culminated in the presentment of charges by the House of Representatives, at the session of 1878. On Wednesday, the sixth of March, the Senate of Minnesota organized as a Court of Impeachment, to consider articles against Sherman Page, Judge of the Tenth Judicial Dis- trict. On the 8th the Court adjourned until the 22d of May.^ IPiof.McAdam of Great Britain, re- feed in one case, and led to a violent lates tliat a spider's web stopped the explosion iu an English flour mill. 2 Mmuigers upon the part of the House of Representative. S. L. Campbell, F. L. Morse. C. A. Grllman, Henry Hinds, W. H. Mead, W. H. Feller. J. P. West, A.ttomeys for Respondent. Officers of ttie Cowrt. ■ C. K. Davis, President, J. B. Walcefleld, J. W. Losey, Secretary, Clias, W. .lohnson, J. W. Lovely. Sergeant-at-Arms, M. Andersoifc 4S 770 HISTORY OF MIM"KE30TA. The articles charged that his conduct had been arbitrary, -abusive to a graud jury, and that he subjected a deputy sheriff to humiliating treatment. On the 28th of June the court voted on the several article^ of impeachment, and the Judge was acquitted. During the year 1878, one of the first, men to labor for the welfare of the Sioux, and one of the oldest citizens of Minne- sota, the Rev. Gideon H. Pond, departed this life on the 20th of January, at his home in Bloomington, Hennepin county.^ 1 The following letter written in 1856 to 4he author of this work, by the Rev. G, H. Pond, 13 worthy of preservation : ** After the arrival of my brother and myself at FortSnelling, in May, 1834, we ascertained to our satisfaction' that our first move should be to assist the Indians About their cornfields, as by this we could ahow our good will, conciliate their favor, -and the better acquire their language. Invited by the father of the present chief ■of Kaposia, my brother spent about one w^eek at that village, helping them plow. The oxen were Indian property kept at 4he Fort Snelling agency. At that time the Indians appeared anxious that we should locate at that place, but after< wards the chief and some of the soldiers treated us coldly. It was not long before the agent [Major Lawrence Taliaferro] returned from the East, where he had spent the winter. He was from the day of his return our warm friend, and treat- ed us kindly. Major Bliss, then in com- mand at this post, w;as so much our friend as to surprise us. ** Major lioomis had not then arrived, Mr. Sibley came the following Septem- ber. By advice of the agent we went to the Lake Calhoun band without consult- ing the Indians. I spent a few days with them, immediately after my brother re- turned from Kaposia, helping them plow. With a yoke of oxen and chain (I have it now) and some other necessary tools, we commenced to chop timber in a beautiful grove on the highest ground on the east bank of Lake i Calhoun, to build a cabin. The village was on the lower ground, south or down the lake, toward Lake Harriet. We erected a log hut, and ob- tained boulders from the lake shore to build a fireplace and chimney. For our supplies we purchased a barrel of pork and a barrel of fiour. We were unable to plant any thing this year except some beans, which the pigeons rooted up. Till our hut was enclosed we left our eflPects at the agency house, carrying on our backs occasionally such things as we needed. At times I took my load of pork and fiour on my back, and carried it to the lake to be stolen by Indians or dogs, and lay me down to sleep empty. More than once, rather than make another trip immediately for provisions, we dined on muscles from the lake; sometimes on fish, but not often, for it took too long to take them. Cooking at first we found very unpleasant business, as well as our washing ; indeed, we found no change in this respect as long as we baked and washed. We did not attempt to bake bread but a few times. By degrees we adopted the habit of frying our pork at each meal very thoroughly, and then ad- ding a little water, we stirred in ilour. For a change we made it thicker or thin- ner. This was our food, and this our uniform, manner of cooking for more than a year and a half. We disliked cooking so much that we did not cat till we were hungry, seldom more than twice aday^andoftenbutonce. During tlic sum- i mcrwehad learned to talk considerably, . and had adopted the alphabet to write the language which is now used, except we used v instead of r and / instead of g. " During the winter of 1834—35 we bad taught one young man to write and read; for he had to write first, as there were no books. HISTORICAL SOCIETY CASE. 771 On the 11th of January, 1879, the Supreme Court of the State filed a decision in relation to the charter of the Historical Society of Minnesota, in which important principles relative to eleemosynary corporations are discussed. This society is the oldest incorporation of the literary class in the commonwealth. Its charter was prepared by the first Secretary of the Territory, who desired to establish an associ- ation lor historical purposes. The charter of the New York Historical Society, granted in A. D. 1806, constitutes certain *' In the summer of 1835, Dr. William.- Bon and associates, and Rev. J. I>. Stevens arrived. Mr. Stevens located himself on the west shore of Lake Harriet, about midwaLy, on land now owned by Mr. Eli Pettijohn, He labored to draw^ the In- dians to him, but succeeded with only- two or three families. Out of respect to the feelings of Mr. Stevens, w^e left Lake Calhoun in the tall of the same year. My brother went with the Indians and I re- mained at the Mission. After my broth- er's return "with the Indians, in mid-w^in- ter, we opened a school at the home of Mr. Stevens. He prepared lessons in manuscript. The young Indians showed a great desire to learn. It w^as tiot long before the Indians expressed an earnest desire that brother and I should return to our old place on Lake Calhoun and teach them near their village; and brqfher made arrangennents to do so, but Mr. Ste- vens did not approve, and we abandoned the plan. " In the spring of 1836 I left Lake Har- riet and went to Lac qui Parle, where I remained three years, and where, in No* vember, I was married. ' ' About the time that I left for Lac qui Parle, my brother left for Connecticut, to study for a year. He was ordained a min- ister of the gospel during his absence. He returned to Lake Harriet. Mr. Ste- vens remained at the place till the sum- mer of 1838, and while there he opened a school, which resulted in some good to quite a number of mixed bloods. She who is now Mrs. Pettijohn is one of them, but for some reason the school fell through. •* In September, 1837, the land east of the Mississippi was ceded to the United States. In April. 1838, with my wife and eldest daughter, I floated down in a ca- noe from Lac qui Parle to Mendota, and returned to Lake Harriet, at the earnest solicitation of the Indians of the Lake Calhoun band and their agent, and re^ ceived the appointment of farmer for that band. I held that appointment til^ I was satisfied thoroughly that I could turn it to no good account to the I ndians and then resigned and put myself under the Dakota Presljytery as a candidate for the ministry. This I had long before been urged to do, and I had already made some progress in Latin, Greek and French. "When we returned to Lake Harriet from Lac qui Parle, immediately the Indians sent some of their children to us for instruction ; which they continued to do till routed by the Chippeways from. that place and they fled for safety to the banks of the St. Peters (Minnesota). " In April of 1837, the celebrated Hole- in-the-Day butchered thirteen Dakotas of Lac qui Parle, as you know. These butch- ered ones had friends living at Lake Cal- houn, and the next time they saw Hole- in-the-Day at Fort Knelling, they vowed they would kill him. Through mistake they killed another man, in consequence of which the son-in-law of the Lake Oal ■ houn chief, the step-father of Mi's, Jan^ Titus, was killed, and the Rum River and Stillwater massacres followed. This drove the band from Lake Calhoun, be- cause that was a place of peculiar danger. When the band left that place it split, and a part held with us, and the anti-mission- ary went away. Those who clung to us 772 HISTOKT OF MINNESOTA. persons, whose names are mentioned, "and their associates", a body corporate and politic. The charter of the Minnesota Historical Society uses the same phraseology, and on the 20th of October, 1849, the act of incorporation was approved by Alexander Ramsey, first Governor of the Territory. The same year, with others. Governor Ramsey was associated with the persons mentioned in the act of incorporation, in or- ganizing the society, was chosen its first President, held the office continuously for nearly fifteen years, and until his ab- sence as United States Senator suggested a successor. For more than a quarter of a century most of the contribu- tions to the treasury, and also to the printed collections of the society, were by persons who were elected associates and mem- bers, but whose names were not mentioned in the charter. On the 2d of May, 1877, eleven of the nineteen whose names hap- pened to be in the act of 1849, having died, five of the eight survivors met in the office of H. H. Sibley, and elected eleven persons as corporators to fill vacancies, claimed to be the His- torical Society, and filed a record of their proceedings with the Secretary of State. As Alexander Ramsey, the first President of the Society, and many of the most valuable members were, by these five suddenly declared to have no membership, an unpleasant con- troversy arose, and the legislature of 1878, in making the annual appropriation to the society, enacted that none of it should be drawn from the treasury until a competent tribunal decided who were the rightful custodians, and managers of the trust and assets of the society. settled here, and some went to the other gave substantial expression. He soon bank of the river. The chief, a sensible commenced to distribute tracts in the man, has always been a decided friend'of companies' quarters, and early in the the missionaries. If he had not, 1 think winter to collect as many of the soldiers he would still have been chief, where«s as would consent, and read to them a ser- a little more than a year ago he was de- mou. About that time Finney's lectures posed and hisrival, a bitter enemy of all came out in the New York Evangelist, good, was advanced to the head of the and he read them in the meetings. My band. brother or myself generally attended- '* Major Loomis came to this post soon Major talked, and we talked and prayed. after we arrived here, and we soon made Soldiers began to talk, and on the 11th of his acquaintance, and from the first June a Presbytenan church was formed formed an intimacy with him. He was a at Fort Snelling with twenty-two mem. ^an of much good feeling to which he bers." ^ STTPKEME OOUBT DECISION. 773 The Executive Council of the Historical Society, therefore, in the name of the State, by the Attorney General, caused a quo warranto to be issued against H. H. Sibley, Aaron Good- rich and others, for the determination of this question. The case was heard by the Supreme Court, and the result was that H. H. Sibley and those he represented were, in legal language, "ousted." The court, in relation to the force of the word "associates," in the charter, remarked, "That the term as here used is not meaningless, as claimed by respondents, is further apparent from the language and the whole tenor of the act itself. It is first enacted 'that the nineteen persons therein designated and their associates be and they are hereby constituted a body cor- porate and politic, by the name of the Minnesota Historical Society,' and then, in proceeding to enumerate the specific powers and franchises which are conferred, and how and by whom they shall be exercised, this significant language is used: ' And by that name they (the corporators and their associates) and their successors shall be, and they are hereby made capable in law to contract and be contracted with, sue and to be sued,' etc. The legislature could scarcely have chosen more plain and unequivocal language in which to express an intention that the continuous artificiaLbody it was about to create should consist of a membership comprising the grantees named in the charter, their associates, and the successors of both these classes instead of the successors of the original grantees alone, and that the powers and franchises vested in the corporation, should belong to it as representing for the time being the entire body of the existing members of whatev* class." As to the validity of an amendatory act in 1856 the Court said : " That there has been an unqualified acceptance by the society in this case of all the provisions of the act of March 1, 1856, is beyond any reasonable controversy upon the evi- dence before us. At a special meeting held soon after its > passage, a resolution was adopted and spread upon the records of the society, declaring an acceptance in express terms, and that it would then proceed to the election of an executive council under its provisions, to take charge of the affairs of 774 HISTORY OF MIN-NESOTA. the corporation,' as was therein provided,and such council was there and then unanimously elected by the m^mbera there present. Conceding the irregularity and even the inva- lidity of these proceedings, as claimed by respondents, on the ground that the requisite notice of such meeting had not been properly served upon all the members, it is clearly shown that their validity has remained unquestioned, and been distinctly and repeatedly recognized and acted upon by the society at various subsequent regular meetings and by various corporate acts for over twenty years. The entire administration of the affairs of the society for that whole period has been conducted by the executive council then chosen and ever since continued under the provisions of section two of the amendatory act, by the exercise, on its part, of the corporate powers, of the society, and by the selection of its agents and officers, as therein provided, and this without any protest whatever from any one until quite recently. The additional privileges and powers granted by that act have also been used by the society in acquiring and holding, exempt from taxation, a large amount of real and personal property in excess of the limit prescribed by the original charter. Under these circumstances, there would seem to be no ground for any serious controversy on the question of acceptance. " For the reasons above stated the Court awards judgment against the respondents." On the 24fch of June, 1879, the venerable Sioux missionary, the Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, M. D., died at the age of seventy-nine years at^Saint Peter. He was the son of the Rev. William Williamson, and born in March, 1800, in Union District, South Carolina. His father had inherited slaves, but to give them their freedom, in 1805 he removed to Adams County, Ohio. The son, Thomas, was sent to Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pa., where, in 1820, he graduated. He then commenced the study of medicine, and in the spring of 1824 received the dea;ree of M. D. from Yale College. For eight years he practised as a physician at Ripley, Ohio . In the spring of 1833, from a sense of duty, he commenced the NOTICE OF EEV. T. S. WILLIAMSON', M. D. 775 study of theology, and the next year was licensed to preach by the Piesbytery of Chillicothe, and was soon appointed by the Foreign Mission Board "to proceed on an exploring tour among the Indians of the Upper Misissippi, with special reference to the Sacs and Foxes, but also to collect what in- formation he could in reference to the Sioux, Winnaba^os and other Indians." He visited Fort Snelling in 1834, and there found the brothers Pond, who were erecting a log house at Lake Cal- houn. Returning to Ohio, he made his report, and on the 18th of September was ordained by the Presbytery of Chilli- cothe as an Indian missionary. In April, 1835, with his wife and family, accompanied by a farmer assistant, Alexan- der G. Huggins, and his family, he left Ripley, Ohio, and on, the 16th of May landed at Fort Snelling. He remained here for a few weeks, and in June organized at the Fort a Presby- terian church of twenty-two members. On the 9bh of July, he established a mission on the north side of Minnesota River in sight of Lac-qui-Parle. In the fall of 1839 he went to Cin- cinnati to superintend the printing of the Gospel of Mark in the Dakotah language. In the year 1842, assisted by his associates there was prepared for the press the Book of Gen- esis, a part of the Psalms, and about two-thirds of the New Testament. In^ 1846 he was invited, through the Indian Agent, to establish a mission among the Kaposia Sioux, four miles below where is now the city of Saint Paul. While there, as has been noticed on the 481st page, he procured a school teacher for the insignificant hamlet, which, in 1849, was designated as the capital of Minnesota. After the treaty of 1851 he established a mission at Yellow Medicine, in the upper Minnesota Valley, and there he labored until the Sioux outbreak of 1862, and with difficulty escaped from the scalping knives of those for whom he had toiled and prayed. After this he passed two years with the Sioux who were in prison at Davenport, Iowa. In 1866 he followed the Sioux to the Missouri river, and superintended the establish- ment of missions among them. His last years on earth were passed in translating the Sacred Scriptures, He lived to read 776 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the proofs of the entire Bible in Dakota, although it was not published until after his death. His beloved colleague, Rev. S. R. Riggs, LL, D., the editor of the Dakota Lexicon, wrote of his death: " Perhaps it was most fitting that he should die as he lived, with no exalted imagery of the future, but a stern faith which gives hope and peace in the deepest waters." Patient, capable of enduring hardship, fond of study, plain in manner, slow to form, but decided in the expression of his opinions, a gentleman in his instincts, to those who knew him he appeared a calm Christian warrior, ever ready to do the bidding of his Master. In the fall of 1879 the Republican party nominated John S- Pillsbury, as Governor for a third term, and at the election in November, he received 57,741 votes, while 42,444 were given for Edmund Rice, the candidate of the Democratic party. On the night of the 15th of November, 1880, a fire was dis- covered in the north wing of the State Lunatic Asylum, at St. Peter, and it was entirely destroyed. The shrieks of the lunatics, and wanderings over the snow-covered prairies, can never be forgotten by the witnesses of the scene. Twenty- seven of the patients lost their lives, and it is supposed that the building was set on fire in the cellar, by a patient who had been employed in the kitchen. The twenty-second session an^ the first biej;inial session of the State Legislature convened on the 4th of January, 1881, and Governor Pillsbury, in his message read on the 6th, again urged the settlement of the State railroad bonds. In his argu- ment he said: " The liability having been voluntarily incurred, whether it was wisely created or not is foreign to the present question. It is certain that the obligations were fairly given for which consideration was fairly received; and the State having chosen foreclosure as her remedy, and disposed of the property thus acquired unconditionally as her own, the conclusion seems to me irresistible that she assumed the payment of the debt rest- ing upon such property by every principle of law and equity .i And, moreover, as the State promptly siezed the railroad pro- perty and franchises, expressly to indemnify her for payment SETTLEMENT OP BAILEOAD BONDS. 777 of the bonds, it is difficult to see what possible justification there can be for her refusal to make that payment." On the 19th of January the legislature, in joint convention, re-elected S. J. R. McMillan United States Senator for the term which on March 4, 1887, expires. Selah Chamberlain, in behalf of a majority of the holders of the State railroad bonds, having expressed a willingness to ac- cept new bonds to one-half of the amount of the old, an act was approved on March 2, 1881, for the purpose of effecting a liquidation of bonds which had been a source of controversy for so many years. The act provided that the Supreme Judges should hear ar- guments, and decide whether the legislature had power to provide for the payment of the bonds without submitting the matter to a vote of the electors of the State, and this tribunal was ordered on March 22, 1881, to convene. Provision was also made that in case any of the Supreme Judges declined to be a member of this tribunal, the Governor could appoint a District Judge. After some delay a tribunal was appointed composed wholly of District Judges, and about the time they were to enter upon their duties, David A. Secombe, of Minneapolis, one of the oldest lawyers of the State, asked the Supreme Court to issue a writ of prohibition restraining the tribunal from taking any action. Able arguments were heard on both side, and on the 9th of September the Supreme Court decided that the amendment of .1860 to the Constitution was invalid as it impaired the obligation of contracts, also that the act of March 2, 1881, was null and void, because it delegated legislative power to the tribunal created by the act. A writ of prohibition restraining the tribunal was therefore issued. Legal difficulties having been removed by this decision. Governor Pillsbury caused an extra session of the legislature for the settlement of the bond question, which convened in October, and provision was made for cancelling bonds, the ignoring of which, for more than twenty years, had been a humiliation to the more thoughtful citizens, and a blot upon the otherwise fair name of Minnesota. T78 HISTORY OF MIKNESOTA. Lucius. F. Hubbard,! ^jjo jiad been Colonel of the Fifth Kegiment. was nominated by the Republican party for Gov- ernor, and at the election in November, 1881, received 65,025 votes, while 37,168 votes were polled for Richard W. Johnson, the nominee of the Democratic party. The House of Representatives of the legislature of 1881 impeached E, St. Julien Cox, Judge of the ninth District for conduct unbecoming his position, resulting from the intemperate use of intoxicants, and the Senate, sitting as a Court, after a long trial, found him guilty, and he was deposed. The legislature had elected William Windom United States Senator for the term which, on March 4th, 1883, would expire, but in March, 1881, having been appointed by President Gar- field as the head of the U. S. Treasury "Department, he resigned, and Governor Pillsbury appointed A.^ J. Edgerton to fill the vacancy until there was an election by the legislature. After the death of President Garfield, in September, 1881, from the bullet fired by an assassin, Mr. Windom resigned the Secretaryship of the Treasury, having been, on the 26th of October, by the Minnesota legislature again elected to fill a vacancy which had been caused by his own acceptance of the Secretaryship of the Treasury. A. J. Edgerton, who had been appointed U. S. Senator, ad interim, by the Governor, before this election, was in a few months mdde Chief Justice of Dakota Territory. On the night, of the 1st of March, 1881, the Capitol, first occupied in 1853, was destroyed by fire. About nine o'clock m the evening, two gentlemen who lived opposite discovered the roof was on fire, and immediately notified the occupants. The flames rapidly covered the cupola, and licked the flag fly- 1 Lucius Fredeiick Hubbard was born private in the 5th Minnesota regiment, January 26th, 1836, at Troy, N. Y. His and in less than a year was its colonel father died sheriff of Kensselaer county. For military record, see page 710 At the age of sixteen he left North Gran- He was made Brevet Brig. General for ville Acadenay, N. Y., and leEimed the services in the battle of Nashville, (inner's trade. After living four years in After the war he returned to Eed Wing, Chicago, in 1857 he came to Minnesota, and has been engaged in the flour and and established at Eed Wing a paper oo^nmission business. He was State Sen- called the " Republican," which he con- ator 1871 to 1875. ducted until 1861, when he enlisted as a CAPITOL DESTKOTED BY FIEE. 7T9 ing from the staff ou top. One of the reporters of the Pio- neer Press, who was in the Senate Chamber at the time, graphically describes the scene within. He writes : " The senate was at work on third reading of house bills ; Lieutenant Governor Gilman in his seat, and Secretary Jennisdn reading something about restraining cat- tle in Rice county ; the senators were lying back listening carelessly, when the door opened, an«l Hon. Michael Doran announced that the building was on fire. All eyes were at once turned in that direction, and the flash of the flames was visible from the top of the gallery, as well as from the hall, which is on a level with the floor of the senate. The panic that ensued had a different effect upon the different persons, and those occupying places nearest the entrance, pushing open the door, and rushing pell mell through the blinding smoke. Two or three ladies happened to be in the vicinity of the doors, and happily escaped uninjured. But the opening of the door produced a draft, which drew into the senate, chamber clouds of smoke, the fire in the meantime having made its appearance over the center and rear of the gallery. All this occurred so suddenly that senators standing near the reporters' table and the secretary's desk, which were on the opposite side of the chamber from the entrance, stood as if paralyzed, gazing in mute astonishment at the smoke that -passed in through the open doors, at the flames over the gallery, and the rushing cro,wd that blocked the doorways. The senate suddenly and formally adjourned. President Grilman. how- ever, stood in .his place, gavel in hand, and as he rapped his desk loud and often, he yelled, 'Shut that door!' Shut that door!' " The cry was taken up by Colonel Crooks and other sena- tors, and the orderVas finally obeyed; after which, "the smoke clearing away, the' senators were enabled to collect their senses and decide what was best to be done. President Gilman, still standing up in his place, calm and collected, as if nothing un- usual had happened, was encouraging the senators to keep cool. Colonel Crooks was giving orders as if a battle was raging around him. 780 HISTORY OF MISrirESOTA. "Other senators were giving such advice as occurred to them, but, unfortunately, no advice was pertinent except to keep cool, and that was all. Some were importunina: the Secretary and his assistants to save the records, and General Jennison, his hands full of papers, was waiting a chance to walk out with them. But that chance looked remote indeed for there, locked in the- senate chamber, were at least fifty men walking around, some looking at each other in a dazed sort of way, others at the windows looking out at the snow- covered yard, now illuminated from the flames, that were heard roaring and crackling overhead. From some windows men were yelling to the limited crowd below, 'Get some ladders! Send for ladders!' Other windows were occupied. About this time terror actually siezed the members, when Senator Buck remarked that the fire was raging overhead, and at the same moment burning brands began to drop through the large ventilators upon the desks and floor beneath. " Then, for a moment, it seemed as if all hopes of escape were cut off. * * * * * * •* But, happily, the flames having made their way through' the dome, a draught was created strong enough to clear the halls of smoke. The dome was almost directly over the entrance of the senate chamber, and burning brands and timbers had fallen down through the glass ceiling in front of the door, rendering escape in that -direction impossible. " But a small window looking from the cloak room of the senate chamber to the first landing of the mai^ stairway fur- nished an avenue of escape, and through this little opening every man in tKe senate chamber managed to get out. " The window was about ten feet high, but Mr. Michael Doran and several other 'gentlemen stood at the bottom, and nobly rendered assistance to those who came tumbling out some headlong, some sideways, and some feet foremost. " As the reporter of the Pioneer-Press came out and landed on his feet, he paused for a moment to survey the scene over- head, where the flames were lashing themselves into fury as LAW LIBRART LARGELY DESTROYED. 781 they played underneath the dome, and saw the flag-staff burn- ing, and coals dropping down like fiery hail. " It^took but a few minutes for the senators to get out; after which they assembled on the outside, and they had no sooner gained the street than the ceiling of the senate chamber fell in, and in ten minutes that whole wing was a mass of flaimes." Similar scenes took place in the hall of the house of repre- sentatives. A young lawyer, with a friend, as soon as the fire was noticed, ran into the law library, and began to throw books out of the windows, but in a few minutes the density of the smoke and the approach of the flames compelled them to desist, and a large portion of the law library was burned. The portraits of Generals Sherman and Thomas, which were hung over the stairway, were saved. The books of the Historical Society, in the basement, were removed, but were considerably damaged. In three hours the bare walls alone remained of the capitol which for thirty years had been familiar to the law- makers and public men of Minnesota. Immediate steps were taken by Governor Pillsbury for the removal of the debris, and building a new Capitol, which was so far completed as to be used in January, 1883, by the legislative assembly. The present capitol is of red brick, upon a high base- ment of cut-stone, and is in the form of a Greek cross. The Governor's room, and State offices are upon the first main floor, and the Supreme Court room, State Library, and legislative chambers are upon the story above. The halls upon each floor are wide and well lighted. The Senate chamber iS forty by flfty-one feet in dimensions, and that of the House of Eepreaentatives is forty-four by eighty-five feet. The tower of the capitol is seen from every part of the city, and is to be surmounted with a dome. At the election in November, 1882. Milo White, J. B. Wakefield, H. B. Strait, W. D. Washburn, and Knute Nelson were elected to the U. S. House of Representatives, and by the legislature of 1883, Dwight M. Sabin was elected United States Senator, a sketch of whom will be found in Appendix Q. 782 msTOKT OS musnesoxa. CHAPTER XXXVIIl. MINNTESOTA BAILWAY SYSTEM. The History of Minnesota would not be complete without at least a brief notice of the development of its far - reaching railway system. For the construction of the first railroad within the borders of the State, its citizens will always acknowledge their indebt- edness to Edmund Rice' and his associates. In 1860 the State hSti foreclosed the mortgages it held against certain railroads as security for bonds issued under the seal of Minnesota, and in March, 1862, the legislature incor- porated the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad, and assigned to them certain franchises of a company chartered in 1857 as the Minnesota and Pacific. Mr. Rice, as the first President of the Saint Paul and Pacific, visited New York and other cities, and was successful in securing funds for the use of the road. A coi> tract was made with EliasF. Drake and other gentlemen from Ohio for the immediate construction of ten miles, to the town of Saint Anthony, now the east division of the city of Minneapolis. On the 28th of June, 1862, at the hour when the citizens were filled with anxiety by the news passing over the tele- graphic wires that a battle was raging in front of Richmond, Edmund Bice, on February 14th, 1819, linshead and Becker, was a successful was bom in Waitsfleld, Vermont. In 1842 lawyer. In 1857 he became President of he was, admitted to the bar at Kal«ma- Minnesota and Pacific E. R. He has fre- zoo, Michigan, and became clerk of the quently been in both branches of the Supreme Court. During the Mexican legislature. In 1879 he was the Democrat- war he was 1st Lieutenant of Co. A, let ic candidate for Governor, and in May Michigan regiment. In July, 1849, he 1881, was elected Mayor of St. Paul by a came to St. Paul, and for six years, as the large majority, senior member of the firm of Bice, Hoi- FIKgT RAILWAY IH nmJSJfiBOTA. 783 and the day before the two sharp conflicts of the E'irst Minne- sota Regiment, the first locomotive in Minnesota with a train of cars left Saint Paul for Saint Anthony. The editor of ,the St. Paul Press, in the issue of the 29th, wrote, , " An important event in the history of Minnesota transpired yesterday.^ The first division of the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad is finished, and trains have commenced to run from Saint Paul to Saint Anthony. " Let it be recorded for the benefit of the fut re historian of the vast Northwest, that on the 28th of June, 1862, the first link in the great chain of railroad which will, in the course of a few years, spread all over this State, from the valley of the Mississippi to t be Red River of the Ii[orth, and from Lake Superior to the Iowa boundary line, was completed, and a passenger train started in the direction of Pugets' Sound." Early in 1864 this railway corporation was divided into two companies. The line from Saint Paul to Breekenridge, called the " First Division," was under the presidency of George L. Becker,^ and the other portion remained under the presidency of Edmund Rice, who several times visited London. M;. Rice in 1864, gave his attention to the construction of a branch line from Saint Paul to Winona, and in 1867 the directors gave this the name of the Saint Paul and Chicago Railway. Slowly but steadily the Saint Paul and Pacific company laid its rails to the banks of the Red River of the North. In 1864 the road was completed to Elk River, 34 miles from Saint Paul, and in 1866 to Saint Cloud, 74 miles, a branch line. On the main line it was, in 1867, completed to Wayzata, on Lake Minnetonka, 25 miles; in 1869, to Willmar, 104 miles; in 1870, to Benson, 134 miles, and in October, 1871, to Breekenridge, on the Red River, 217 miles. IGeorge L. Becker was born February of St. Paul and Pacific E, E., andinFeb- 4tb, 1829, in Locke, Cayuga county, N. Y. ruary, 1864, Presidentof its First Division. In 1841, his fatlier's family having re- In 18 )6 was Mayor of St. Paul ; in 1857 a moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, he, in member of the Constitutional Conven- 1846, graduated at the University of Mich- tion ; in 1859 elected to Congress, on the igan. He studied law with George Sedg- supposition that the State was entitled to wick; and on the 29th of October, 1849, three members. In 1857 he was the arrived in St. Paul, and formed a law Democratic candidate for Governor. He partnership with Edmumd Riee, and has also served four terms in the State subsequently with William HoUinshead. Senate, and is President of the West- In 1862 he was the Land Commissioner em Railroad Company. 784 HISTOKT OF MINNESOTA. In September, 1872, trains began to run on the Chicago and St. Paul, by way of Winona, to a point opposite the city of La Crosse. In 1873, the Saint Paul and Pacific became involved in a difiSculty with the bondholders, and in time the court appointed J. P. Farley, receiver. The road subsequently was purchased by a syndicate of capitalists, and George Stephens, of Mon- treal, became President, and James J. Hill, of Saint Paul, Manager, and the name of the road was changed to Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba. On the 22d of August, 1882, Mr. Hill was chosen President. The Pioneer Press the next day^ in an editorial, wrote : "The promotion of James J. Hill to the presidency of the Saint Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company, at the Di- rectors' meeting yesterday, was an appropriate recognition of his practical primacy in the administration of its affairs. The whole scheme of acquiring possession of the magnificent property of the bankrupt Saint Paul and Pacific railroad, with its splendid possibilities of future development, originated with Mr. Hill. He went to work to investigate the financial condition of the road, and was thoroughly master of the sub- ject, in all its details, when he finally laid the whole project before his Canada friends, and with the aid of Norman W. Kittson, whose active support he had early enlisted, secured their co-operation and the capital necessary to purchase the outstanding bonds at the prices then current. If Mr. Hill was the master spirit of this grand enterprise in its inception and earlier days,he has been equally its master spirit ever since." The road stretches in two lines toward Lake Winnipeg, and the line through the vallgy of the Red River ol the North to the town of St. Vincent near the line of the Dominion of Canada is 393 miles in length. In 1864, the legislature incorporated the Minnesota Valley Railroad, whose first President and guiding mind was Eliaa F. Drake.^ In November, 1865, its trains ran to Shakopee, E. P. Drake was born in Ohio, and for ■wa.y in Minnesota, for the St. Paul and several years was Cashier of the Ohio Pacific B. E., extending to St. Anthony. State Bank, and at one time Speaker of For two years, 1874 and 1875, he was a. the Ohio Legislature. In June, 1862, State Senator in Minnesota, and is one of with his associates, he completed the con- the most energetic of the citizens of St. tract to build the first ten miles of fail- Paul. MINNESOTA BAILEOAD CORPORATIONS. 785 28 miles from Saint Paul ; in November, 1866, to Belle Plaine, 46 miles ; in December, 1867, to Le Sueur, 62 miles; in August, 1868, to Saint Peter, 74 miles ; in October to Mankato ; in December, 1869, tO Lake Crystal ; in Septem- ber, 1870, to Madelia, 109 miles ; in November, 1870, to Saint James, 122 miles ; in 1871, to Worthington, 178 miles, and the next year, by a branch called the Sioux City and Saint Paul R. R., it reached the bank of the Missouri River. On the first of June, 1881, this road was consolidated with the West Wisconsin, and is now known as the "Chicago, Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha R. R." The Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad was in 1861 incorporated, but nothing of importance was done toward the linkiiig of the waters of the Misissippi to Lake Superior, until 1865, when William L. Banning^ was elected Presi- dent, who enlisted J. Edgar Thompson, Moorhead, Hinckley, Felton and other capitalists of Philadelphia in the building of the road. On the 22d of August. 1870, the cars, through the winding valley of the St. Louis River, reached the docks of Duluth, on Lake Superior, and it has been the great inlet of fuel to Minnesota from the coal fields of Pennsylvania, and an im- portant outlet for the wheat of the Northwest. Among those on the first train from Saint Paul was Chief Justice S. P. Chase, of the U. S. Supreme Court. It is now known as the Saint Paul and Duluth Railroad. '^ The Chicago, Milwaukee and' Saint Paul is an outgrowth of the Minnesota Central, which was sold in 1867 to the Mil- waukee and Saint Paul. The line to the Iowa boundary, was, in 1867, completed by way of Northfield, Faribault and Austin, and in 1872 this company obtained possession ot the Chicago and Saint Paul the river route by way of Hastings, Red Wing and Winona, to La Crosse. It is one of the most picturesque 1 William L. Banning was bom in Wil- Bota legislature. In 1861 he was appoint- xnington, Delaware, but at an early age ed a Captain and Commissary of U. S. removed to the city of Philadelphia, and Volunteers, and for two years of the last Btudied law. He was in 1845 a member war, was on duty in Missouri. For about of the Pennsylvania legislature. In 1855 seven years he was President of the St. he came to St. Paul, and became a bank- Paul andDuluth B. E., when he resigned, er. In 1860 he was elected to the Minne- 786 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. and best managed roads in the State, and controls the Hast- ings and Dakota, and the Southern Minnesota. Its centtd depot is at Minneapolis. The Winona and Saint Peter, organized in 1860, was the outgrowth of the '• Transit" that in 1855 had been chartered. In 1864, the rails were laid to Rocbester; in 1867, the road reached Waconia; in 1870, Janesville; in 1871, Saint Peter; in 1872, NewUim; in 1874, the boundary of Dakota Territory. The Minneapolis and Saint Louis, under the efficient presi- dency of W. D. Washburn, was in 1877. completed to Albert Lea, and in 1879 to the Iowa State line. The Northern Pacific was chartered by U. S. Congress, on the 21st of July, 1864, and was completed on September 2t 1871, to Moorehead, on the Red River, two hundred and fifty miles from Duluth. 'Owing to financial difficulties, the com- pany was reorganized in 1875, and during the last year has made rapid strides, and soon expects to reach the gates of the Rocky Mountains, at Helena, Montana. We append a page from the last report of the Commissioner of Statistics of 1881, which is an admirable condensation. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION. 787 CHAPTER XXX IX. Minnesota's eepeesbntatives in congress of united states oe america. From March, 1849, to May, 1868, Minnesota was a Territory, and entitled to send to the Congress of the United States one ■delegate with the privilege of representing the interests of his ■constituents, but not allowed to Tote. TEBKITORIAL DELEGATES. Before the recognition of Minnesota as a separate Territory, Henry H. Sibley^ sat m Congress, from January, 1849, as a •delegate of the portion of Wisconsin Territory which was beyond the boundaries of the State of Wisconsin, in 1848, admitted to the Union. In September, 1850, he was elected -delegate, by the citizens of Minnesota Territory, to Congress. Henry M. Rice^ succeeded Mr. Sibley as delegate, and took his seat in the thirty-third Congress, which convened on Dec. 5, 1853, at Washington. He was re-elected to the thirty-fou-rth •Congress, which assembled on the 3d of December, 1855, and •expired on the 3d of March, 1857. During his term of office, Congress passed an act extending the pre-emption laws over the unsurveyed lands of Minnesota, and Mr. Rice obtained valuable land grants for the construction of railroads. William W. Kingsbury^ was the last Territorial delegate. JEe took his seat in the thirty-fifth Congress, which convened 1 For notices of Mr. Sibley, tlie reader is referred to General and Military Index. 2 For notices of Mr. Rice, see General Index. 3 William W. Kingsbury, in 1828, was a member of the Minnesota Legislature, bom in Towauda, Bradford Co., Pa., and in 18B7, a member of the Constitu- -and was self-educated. Hewas,inl866, tional Convention. 788 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. on the 7th of December, 1857,^ and the next May his seat was vacated by the admission of Minnesota as a State. STATE EEPRESENTATION IN U. S. HOTTSE OF KEPKESENTATIVES. William W. Phelps was one of the first members of U. S. House of Representatives from Minnesota. Born in Michigan, in 1826, he graduated in 1846, at its State University. In 1854 he came to Minnesota as Register of the Land Offise at Red Wing, and in 1857, was elected a Representative to Con- gress.2 . James M. Cavanaugh was of Irish parentage, and came from Massachusetts. He was elected to the same Congress as Mr. Phelps, and subsequently removed to Colorado. William Windom was elected in the falj of 1859, to the thirty-sixth Congress,* and was continuously re-elected, and occupied a seat in the House of Representatives until 1870^ when he entered the U. S. Senate. Mr. Windom was born on May 10, 1827, in Belmont Co., Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, and was in 1853, eleet^d Prosecuting Attorney for Knox Co., Ohio. The next year he came to Minnesota, and has represented the State in Congress longer than any other person. He has occupied a responsible position upon some of the most important com- mittees, and acquitted himself with honor. 1 1 Vote for Delegate, 1857. Kingsbury, Democrat 15,188 McClure, EepuWloan 12,999 2Attlie first Congressional Election o£ two meml)ers of Congress were elect- ol the State, by mistake, three instead ed. The vote was as follows : W. W. Phelps, Democrat 18,218 H. A. Swift, Eepuhlican 16,937 J. M. Cavanaugh, Democrat 18,064 Cyrus Aldrich, KepuMican 16,955 Geo. L. Becker, Democrat 18,019 M. S.Wilkinson, Eepuhlican 16,938 3 Congressional Vote, Nov., 1859. 1st Dist., William Windom, Sep.. 21,016 C. Graham, Dem 17,417 2d Dist., Cyrus Aldrich, Eep 21,300 J. M. Cavanaugh. Dem 17,668 ALDBICH, DONBLLT, WILSON. 789 Cyrus Aldricli,! of Minneapolis, Hennepin county, was elected a member of the thirty-sixth Congress, which convened Dec. 6th, 1859, and was re-elected to the thirty-seventh Con- gress. During his last term he was chairman of the Commit- tee on Indian Affairs. Ignatius Donnelly was born in Philadelphia in 1831; grad- uated at the high school of that city, and in 1853 was admitted to the bar. In 1857 he came to Minnesota, and in 1859 was elected Lt. Governor, and re-elected in 1861. He became a representative of Minnesota in the U. S. Congress which con- vened on Dec. 7feh, 1863, and was re-elected to the thirty-ninth Congress, which convened on Dec, 4th, 1865. He was also elected to the fortieth Congress,^ which convened in Dec, 1867. Since 1873 he has been an active State Senator from Dakota Oounty, in which he has been a resident, and is editor of the Anti-Monopolist. Eugene M. Wilson, of Minneapolis, was elected to the forty- first Congress, which assembled in December, 1869. He was bom Dec. 25, 1833, at Morgantown, Virginia, and graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. From 1857 to 1861, he was U. S. Dist. Attorney for Minnesota. During the civil war he was Captain in First Minnesota Cavalry. While in 1 Cyrus Aldrlcli was, born In 1808, at 1849 became Receiver of XJ. S. Land Smitbfield, E. I. In boyhood he worked Office at Dixon, 111., which he held four on a farm and went to sea. At the age years. In 1855 he renjpved to Minnesota, of 29 he came to Alton, 111., and in 1842 and in 1857 was a member of the Con- came to Galena, and became a propri- stitutional Convention. In 1865 he was etor of stage coaches. In 1845 and 1846 amemberoftheMinnesotaLegislature, he was a member of the Illinois Legis- and in 1867 became Post Master at Min- iature. In 1847 he was elected Register neapolis, and held the office Jour years, of Deeds for Jo Daviess Co., 111., and in He d^ed Oct. 6, 1871. 2 Cmigresaimwl Vote, Nov., 1862. W. Windom, Bepubllcan 8,663 A. G. Chatfleld, Democrat 6,423 I. Donnelly, Eepublican 7,091 W. J. Cullen, Democrat 5,019 CongresaUmal Vote, 1864. W. Windom, Kepubllcan 13,965 H. W. Lamberton, Democrat 9,092 I. Donnelly, Bepublican, 10,874 J. M. Oilman, Democrat 8,212 Congressional Vote, 1866. W. Windom, Eepublican 13,961 J.E. Jones, Democrat 8,021 I. Donnelly, Eepublican 12,022 W. Colville, Democrat 7,754 790 HISTORY OF MmKBSOTA. Obngress he was a member of the Pacific Railroad Committee^ and introduced a bill by which the State University obtained the lands which had long been claimed. Mr. Wilson's father, grandfather, and maternal great grand- father were members of Congress. M. S. Wilkinson, of whom mention will be made as U. S. Senator, was elected in 1868^ a representative to the Congress which convened in Dec, 1869. Mark H. Dunnell. of Owatonna, in the fall of 1870, was elected from the First District to fill the seat in the House of Representatives so long occupied by Mr. Windom. Mr. Dunnell, in July, 1823, was born at Buxton, Maine. He graduated at the college established at Waterville, in that State, in 1849. From 1855 to 1859 he was the State Superin- tendent of Schools, and in 1860 commenced the practice of law. For a short period he was Colonel of the 5th Maine regiment, but resigned in 1862, and was appointed U. S. Coiisul at Vera Cruz, Mexico. In 1865 he came to Minnesota, and was State Superintendent of Public Instruction, from April, 1867, to August, 1870. Mr. Dunnell still represents his district. John T. Averill was elected in November, 1870, from the Second District, to succeed Eugene M. Wilson.^ Mr. Averill was born at Alma, Maine, and completed his studies at the Maine Wesley an University. He was a member of the Minnesota Seaate in 1858 and 1859, and during the rebellion was Lieiit. Colonel of the 6th Minnesota regiment. He is a member of the enterprising firm of paper manufac- turers, Averill, Russell, and Carpenter. In the fall of 1872^ he was re-elected as a member of the forty-second Congress which convened in December, 1873. 1 Ccmgressio: ;al Vote, 1868. M. S. Wilkinson, Kepubllcan 23,724 G. W. Batchelder, Democrat 14,646 C.C.Andrews, Republican 8,595 E.M.Wilson, Democrat 13,506 I. Donnelly, ludependent 11,229 , , 2 CongressimM Vote, 1870., Mark H. Dunnell, Republican . . . .19,606 C. F. Black, Democrat - 14,904 John T. Averill, Republican 17,133 Ignatius Donnelly 14,491 791 Horace B. Strait was elected to the 43(1 and 4:4th Congress. and is still a representative. He was born on the 26th of January, 1835, and in 1846 removed to Indiana, In 1855 he came to Minnesota. In 1862 he was made Captain of the 9th Minnesota regiment, and became Major. William S. King of Minneapolis, was born, Dec. 16, 1828, at Malone, New York. He has been one of the most active citizens of Minnesota, in developing its commercial and agri- cultural interests. For several years he was Postmaster of the U. S. House of Representatives, and was elected to the 44th Congress, which convened in 1875.^ Jacob H. Stewart, M. D. was elected to the 45th Congress,2 which convened in December, 1877. He was born Jan. 15th, 1829, in Columbia Co., N. Y., and in 1851, graduated at the University of New York. For several years he practiced ,medicine at Peekskill, N. Y., and in 1855 removed to St. Paul. In 1859 he was elected to the State Senate, and was Chairman of the Railroad Committee. In 1864 he was Mayor of St. Paul. He was Surgeon of First Minnesota, and taken prisoner at first battle of Bull Run. From 1869 to 1873 he was again Mayor of St. Paul. UNITED STATES SENATOES. Henry M. Rice, who had been for four years delegate to the House of Representatives, was on the 19th of December, 1857, elected one of two U. S. Senators.' During his term the civil Ccmgressional Yoie, 1872. 1st Dist—M. H. Bunnell, Bep 20,371 M.S. Wilkinaou, Ind. Kep 10,841 2d Distr-H. B. Strait, Hep 15,287 0. Grabain, Democrat 10,832 4d Dlst— J. T. Averlll, Kep 19,182 G.L.Becker, Democrat 12,609 1 Congressional Vote of 1874. Horace B. Strait, Eep 13,742 E. St. J, Cox, Democrat 13,521 W. S. King.Kep 17,177 E. M. Wilson, Democrat 15,060 2 Congressional Vote of 1^76. ,T. H. Stewart, Kep 22,823 McNair, Dem 20,727 H. B. Strait, Kep 19,730 Wilder, Dem 14,99() M. H, Dunnell, Kep 26.910 Stacy, Dem 16,065 3 Vote for V. S. Senator, Dec. 19, 1867. Henry M. Klce, Democrat 86 David Cooper, Kepubliean 60 James Sliields, Democrat 66 H. D. HuS, Kepubliean 64 792 HISTOET OB MUfTJifESOTA. war began, and he rendered efficient service to the Union and the State he represented. For notices of Mr. Rice, see Gen- eral Index. James Shields, elected at the same time as Mr. Rice to the TJ. S. Senate, drew the short term of two years.^ Morton S. Wilkinson^ was chosen by a joint convention of the Legislature, on Dec. 15, 1859, to succeed General Shields. During the rebellion of the Slave States he was a firm sup- porter of the Union. He served as Chairman of the Commit- tee on Revolutionary Claims, and was one of the Committee on Indian Affairs. Alexander Ramsey^ was elected by the Legislature, on the 14th of January, 1863,* as the successor of Henry M. Rice. He served on Naval, Post Office, Pacific Railroad, and other im- portant committees. The Legislature of 1869^ re-elected Mr, Ramsey for a second term of six years, ending March, 1875. > Daniel S. Norton^ was on January 10, 1865, elected 1 James Shields came from Ireland In 1868 he was elected to the TJ. S. House 1826, a lad of sixteen years of age. In of Bepresentatives, and since then he 1832 he opened a lawyer's^ oliace at Kas- has represented Blue Earth county, in kaskia. 111. In 1843 he was appointed which he resides, in the State Senate. Judge of the Illinois Supreme Court, 3 Alexander Eamsey : for notices of and in 1845 was made Commissioner see Generailndex. of the TJ. S. Land Offtce, Washington. 4 Vote for U. S. Senator. During the Mexican War he was a Brig- Alexander Bamsey, Bepublican 45 adier General, and distinguished Mm- A. G. Chatfteld, Democrat 17 self by gallant services. In 1849 he was 5 Fofe /or U. S. Senator, 1869. elected United States Senator from Till- Alex. Eamsey, Bep 62 nois, and served six years. Iii 1856 he C. W. Nash, Dem 14 came to Minnesota. After his brief 6 Daniel S. Norton, on April 12, 1829, term as its representative. General was born in Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Shields removed from Minnesota. He Ohio, and was educated at Keny on Col- was for a time a General in the Army of lege. Be served with the 2d Ohio regi- the Union during the rebellion of the ment in the Mexican War. In 1848 he Slavu States, ^nd is now a resident of became a law student, and in 1850 went Missouri. to California, and from thence to Nica- 2 Morton S. Wilkinson, on January 22, ragua. Eetuining to Ohio, he was ad- 1819, was born at Skaneateles, N. Y. mitted to the bar in 1852, and in 1855 After studying law, he settled at Eaton removed to Minnesota. In 1857, i860, Eapids, Michigan, and in 1847, came to 1863, and 1864, he was a member of the Minnesota. He was a member in 1849, Minnesota Senate, and of the Minne- of the first Territorial Legislature. In sota House of Bepresentatives in 1862. NORTON, WOTDOM, m'mILLAN. 793 to the United States Senate, as the successor of Mr, WilMnson.i Mr. Norton, having offended the party by whom he was elected, its members manifested their dis- pleasure, in the Legislature of 1867, by the passage of resolutions requesting him to resign, which were unnoticed by the Senator, who felt that he did not go to Washington to be a blind instrument. Mr. Norton, who had been in feeble health for years, died in June, 1870. 0. P. Steams^ was elected on January 17, 1871, for the few weeks of the unexpired term of Mr. Norton. William Windom, so long a member of the U. S. House of Representatives, was elected U. S. Senator for a term of six years, ending March 4, 1877, and has been re-elected for a second term ending March 4, 1883,3 S, J. R, McMillan* of St. Paul, on the 19th of February, 1875, was elected^ U. S. Senator for the term expiring March 4th, 1881. 1 VoUfor United States Senator. 3 Vote for U.\8. Senator, 1877, Daniel S. Nortou, Kep 46 William Windom, Eep 98 James C. George, Dem 13 M. S. Wilkinson, Dem 36 2 0. P. Steams, on January 15, 1832, 4 S.J.B.McMillan was born at Browns- was bom at De Ealb, St. Lawrence Co., ville. Fa., and in 1846 completed bis aca- Kew York. In 18S8 be graduated in demlc education at Duquesne College, literature at University of Michigan, Pittsburg. He studied law in the office and in 1860 finished his studies in the of Edwin M. Stanton, late Secretary of Law School of that institution. The War, and in 1849 was admitted to the same year he settled at Bocbester, bar. In 1852 he settled at Stillwater, and Minnesota. He entered as a -private inl857 was elected Judge of 1st Judicial soldier of the 9th Minnesota Regiment, District. From 1864 to 1874 he was an and was appointed in April, 1864, Colo- Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, nel of 39th Begt, IT. S. Colored Troops, and at the time of bis election to the and was present at the attack on Fort XT. S. Senate, was Chief Justice. Fisher, and Petersburg. B Vote for U. S. Senator, 1875. S. J. B. McMillan, Bep 82 Wm. Locbren, Dem 61 794 HISIOEY OF MIKNESOTA. Henry Poehler was born at Lippe Detmold, Germany, on the 22d of August^ 1833, and came, in 1848, to the United States. After living in Iowa for some time, he removed to Minnesota, and settled at Henderson, Sibley County. Twice he was elected to the Minnesota House of Represent- atives, and twice to the State Senate. In November, 1878, he was nominated by the Democratic party for the U. S. House of Representatives, and elected.^ William Drew Washburn was bom on January 14th, 1831,. at Livermore, Maine. In 1854 he graduated at Bowdoin Col- lege, and in 1857 was admitted to the bar, and this year was appointed Agent of the Minneapolis Mill Company. In 1861 he was commissioned U. S. Surveyor General for Minnesota. In November, 1878, he was elected, for the Third District, a membpr of the U. S. House of Representatives. At the election in November, 1880, Mark H. Dunnell, Henry B. Strait, and William D. Washburn were elected member* of the U. S. House of Representatives* for the Congress which on the 4th of March, 1883, expires. HEADS OF DBPAETMBHrTS OF U. 8. GOVEBITMEBrT. Alexander Ramsey, appointed Secretary of War by Presi- dent Hayes, to take the place of Judge McCrary, and in office until March 4, 1881. William Windom, appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Garfield. The iall of 1881 he resigned, having been returned to the TJ. S. Senate by the Minnesota Legislature. I. COKORBSSIOirAI. YOTB, 1878. First JXetrict—ll. H. Dunnell, .Bep...l8,613 T?mrd I>isWct— "W. D. Washburn, B.20,942' — Meighen, Dem 12,845 I. Donnelly, D 17,92* Second IH»tri was thought to have some advantage over the Missouri, be- cause there was no danger of meeting with the Spaniards. In 1743, Verendrye the father returned to Quebec, and to the charge that he had enriched himself, he answered, " If the 40,000 livres of debt that I have over my head were an advan- tage, I can compliment myself on being very rich." Governor Beauharnois having been prejudiced against Ve- randrie by envious persons, De Noyelles was appointed to take command of the post. During these difficulties we find Sieur de la Verandrie, Jr. engaged in other duties. In August, 1747, he arrives from Mackinaw at Montreal, and in the au- tumn of that year he accompanies St. Pierre to Mackinaw, and brings back the convoy to Montreal. In February, 1748, with five Canadians, five Christenaux, two Ottawas, and one Sauteur, he attacked the Mohawks near Schenectady, and returned to Montreal with two scalps, one that of a chief. On June 20th, 1748, it is recorded that Chevalier de la Veran- drie departed from Montreal for the head of Lake Superior. DEATH OF SIEDR VEKANDRLB. 861 Ma'gry states that he perished at sea in November, 1764, by the wreck of the "Auguste." Fortunately, Galissioniere the successor of Beauharnois, although deformed and insignificant in appearance, was fail minded, a lover of science, especially botany, and anxious to push discoveries toward the Pacific. Verandrie the father was restored to favor, and made Captain of the Order of St. Louis, and ordered to resume explorations. He expected to leave Montreal in May, 1750, and reach by December, Fort Bourbon, where he would await the navigation of the Saskatchewan, the next spring, and proceed to cross the Rocky Mountains to the great lake [perhaps Puget's SoundJ of which the Indians had spoken. A little while after he formed this plan, on the 6th of December, 1749, he died. The Swedish Professor Kalm met him in Canada, not long before his decease, and had interesting conversations with him about the furrows on the plains of the Missouri, which he conjectured indicated the former abode of an agricultural people. These ruts are familiar to modern travelers, and may be only buffalo trails. Father Coquard, who had been aasociated with Verandrie, says that they first met the Mantanes, and next the Brochets- After these were the Gros Ventres, the Crows, the Flat Heads' the Black Feet and Dog Feet, who were established on the Missouri, even up to the falls; and that about thirty leagues beyond they found a narrow pass in the mountains. Bougainville gives a more full account. He says, '' He who most advanced this discovery was the Sieur Veranderie. He went from Fort la Eeine to the Missouri. He met on the banks of this river the Mandans or White Beards, who had seven villages, with pine stockades strengthened by a ditch- Next to these were the Kinongewiniris or the Brochets, in three villages, and toward the upper part of the river were three villages of the Mahantas. All along the mouth of tee Wabeik or Shell River, were situated twenty-three villages of the Panis To the >southwest of this river, on the banks of the Ouanaradeba or LaGraisse, are the Hectanes or Snake tribe. They extend to the base of a chain of mountains which €62 HISTORY OF MINXESOTA. runs north-northeast. South of this is the river Karoskiou or Cerise Peiee, which is supposed to flow to California. "He found. in the immense region watered by the Missouri and in the vicinity of forty leagues, the Mahantas, the Owili- niock or Beaux Hommes, four villages; opposite the Brochets the Black Feet, three villages of a hundred lodges each ; oppo- site the Mandans are the Ospekakaerenousques or Flat Heads, four villages; opposite the Panis are the Arcs or Christinaux, and Utasibaoutcbatas or Assiniboels, three villages; following these the Makesch or Little Foxes, two villages; the Piwassa •or Great Talkers, three villages; the Kakokoscbena or Gensde la Pie, five villages; the Kiskipisounouini or the Garter tribe^ seven villages." Galassoniere was succeeded by Jonquiere in the governor- ship of Canada, who proved to be a graspins:, peevish and very miserly person. For the sons of Verandrie he had no sym- pathy, and forming a clique to profit by their father's toils, he determined to send two expeditions toward the Pacific Ocean ; one by the Missouri and the other by the Saskatchewan. Father Coquard, one of the companions of Verandrie, was consulted as to the probability of finding a pass in the Eocky Mountains through which they might in canoes reach the great lake of salt water; perhaps Puget's Sound. , The enterprise was at length confided to two experienced officers, Lamarque de Marin and Jacques Legardeur de Saint Pierre. The former was assigned the way by the Missouri, and to the latter was given the more northern route. But Saint Pierre in some way excited the hostility of the Christi- naux, who attempted to kill him, and burned Fort la Heine. His lieutenant, Boucher de Niverville, who had been sent to establish a post toward the source of the Saskatchewan, failed on account of sickness. Some of his men, however, pushed on to the Rocky Mountains, and in 1752 established Fort Jon- quire. Henry says Saint Pierre established Fort Bourbon. Bellin, in " Remarks upon the Map of North America," published in 1765 at Paris, upon the authority of the journal of M. le Gardeur St. Pierre, written in 1750, mentions that Fort La Reine was built upon the north side of the Assineboine ^nd that by a portage of three leagues Swan Lake would be LEQABDBTJB SAINT PIEERB KILLED. 863 reached; and he states, further, that the fort on Red River had heen abandoned because of its nearness to La Reine. In 1753 Saint Pierre was succeeded in the command of the West by De la Come, and sent to French Creek, in Pennsyl- Tania. He had been but a few days there when he received a Tisit from Washington, just entering upon manhood, bearing a letter from Governor Dinwiddle of Virginia, complaining of the encroachments of the French. Soon the clash of arms between France and England began, and Saint Pierre, at the head of the Indian allies, fell near Lake George, in September, 1755, in a battle with the English. After the seven years' war was concluded, by the treaty of Paris the French relinquished all their posts in the Northwest and the work begun by Verandrie was, in 1805, completed by Lewis and Clarke, and the Northern Pacific Railway is fast approaching the passes of the Rocky Mountains, through the valley of the Yellowstone, and from thence to the great land- locked bay of the ocean, Puget's Sound. NOTICE OE FKENCH OFFICEKS. Jacques Legardeur St. Pierre, born on the 24:th of October, 1701, was the son of Paul Legardeur, the Sieur St. Pierre who was born in 1661, whose father, J. Baptiste Legardeur, on the 11th of July, 1656, had married Marguerite, the daughter of the brave explorer, Jean Nicolet, the first white man, who, about A. D. 1635, reached the valley of the Wisconsin River. His father, Capt. St. Pierre, in 1719 was sent to La Pointe. The son, in 1746, was engaged in fighting the Mohawks near Montreal, and in the fall of 1746 he arrived at Mackinaw with •one hundred canoes of supplies. The next year he was in command at that post, with his brother, Louis Legardeur, the €hevalier de Repentigny, as second officer. Prom Mackinaw he appears to have been ordered to the Winnipeg region, and from there, in 1753, to a rude post in Erie county. Pa., where he had an interview with young