History of Cass county, Michigan, Part 9

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co.
Number of Pages: 670

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" Another speech being delivered, four men and two women marched out at the door of the hall with ho-ho's and gesticulations which cannot be described. They formed a semi-circle in front of the door, and one of the men delivered a speech which was followed by singing. Their otter skins were held horizontally in the two hands, with a tremulous motion that rattled the trinkets suspended to them, and which made the

skin assume the appearance of the living animal when about to leap forward. While thus shaking their skins they ran around, now stooping toward the earth, and then stretching upward and hallooing; they then marched into the hall again. severally point- ing a hand to each one seated as they passed, and each person pointed at uttered an awful groan as be- fore. They marched around the hall until they reached the door again, when each of the four men pretended to swallow a small bullet, which apparently almost choked him, and gave him great uneasiness at the moment ; but as he did not fall to the ground, it was understood that he was wise and good, and an expert in the performance.

" All these fooleries were but preliminaries to the regular course of exercises on which they were now prepared to enter. Two principal men took the lead ; each held in one hand a rattle, and in the other a piece of folded cloth to defend the hand against injury when the gourd should be struck against it. The leader delivered a speech, and all became seated again, when the drummer, and the gourd-men on each side of him, beat in unison, and the leader sung alone. Three or four persons presented themselves before the drum and danced ; when these dancers had retired to their seats, the musicians rose and the leader delivered a brief speech. They then marched twice around the hall with their instrumental music, stopping to sing a few minutes at the completion of each semi-circle. The drummer then facing the door, became seated by the middle post, with one of the rattlers in front and one behind; the principal one delivered a speech at the conclusion of which they both commenced singing, and then rattled, and were joined by the drummer.

"Now all appeared to become inspired with new life. Some rose and danced in their places, then others, until all were on their feet and dancing to the sound of the drum and the gourds. Suddenly, as if moved by supernatural impulse, one man stepped from his place into the space left for them to pass in single file around the room, which, as before observed, is always with the left hand toward the center ; he bends forward, whirls around (always to the left), ap- pears frantic, though not mad, shakes his otter skin, crying Ho-0-0-0 in a quick, frightful tone. He falls into the rear of the music, now passing around the room, and somewhere in his circuit he becomes more frantic, gives a few louder Whoh-whohs, and suddenly punches the nose of his otter skin against some one of the company, who are all standing with their backs to the wall. The person punched either drops to the earth as if dead, like a butcher's beef, or bows and staggers back against the wall, uttering a horrid shriek of O-ho-ho, as if pierced to the vitals. He

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.

now kisses the nose of his otter skin with gestures expressive of profound respect and warm affections. These fond kisses counteract the electric shock just received from the nose of his neighbor's otter skin, and in half a minute he is restored and falls into the rear of the company as they march around with the music.

" When a person fell apparently lifeless, I noticed he never hurt himself in falling. Each one invariably fell in the same position. In about half a minute, he would recover and rise, and as in the other case, fall into the company of the music. Each one on recover- ing from the electric shock, before he went around the room once, would become frantic and Whoh- whoh oftener and louder than usual, and punch his otter skin at the nose of another person, after which he danced until he came around to his proper place, where he again took his station, with his back to the wall. In this manner they continued to go around the room, usually seven or eight persons at a time, with their music, whooping and dancing, and shaking their otter skins and punch- ing them at each other's faces. Sometimes a short pause is made, and again the vocal music strikes a new tune, and at the same instant many set up a hideous whoop of Ho-ho-ho, until the ear is stunned with almost every frightful kind of noise that can be imagined. Having proceeded in this way a sufficient length of time, the music ceased, and each took his or her proper place against the wall. The principal actor, followed by the other gourd man, with the drummer in the rear, went twice around the hall, halting and singing twice in performing each circuit ; at length, halting at the man who was designed next to use a gourd as the leader in the farce, they made an uncommon ado in hallooing and in singular antics and gesticulations, and finally laid down the gourds, cushions and drums at his feet. They then continued around the hall once more, each pointing a finger at every one as they passed, groaning each time, and being answered by the person pointed at with a fright- ful groan.

" Another now takes the lead, and the same cere- monies are acted over again, and this round is repeated until every male has once led in the exercises. If, therefore, the company be small, the exercises will end the sooner. Sometimes the company is so large that the services continue until late in the night, and even all night. The females follow in all the exer- cises, but never lead. They carry their otter skins, or medicine bags, sing, dance, blow, etc., and at this meeting one went so far as to deliver two short public speeches, but this was a rare occurrence. The males having each led in a round of the regular ceremonies, all became seated to rest, and the men smoked. On

coming together, each had brought a kettle or bowl ; seven or eight large kettles of boiled meat were now brought into the house, and every one's small kettle or bowl was placed near the food. A man then arose and delivered a speech. Next, the man who had sup- erintended the cookery, distributed to each a portion, using a sharpened stick for a fork ; and when a piece was not too hot he took hold with his hand.

" It was now between sundown and dark ; they all ate, having nothing before them besides meat. An- other speech was delivered, and when it was concluded, every one rose, vessel in hand, in which remained a considerable portion of food. They marched once around the room, and the leader halted at the door, where he performed some antic feats, attended by noises of divers kinds, and then marched out of the house, followed by all in single file; and those who did not reside at the place marched directly off to their homes, not stopping within sight to speak to any one, or even to look back."

ILLUSTRATION OF INDIAN SUPERSTITION.

The following story, illustrating Indian superstition, was related by Bertrand, the half-breed French trader. The episode occurred, as he related it, while a large party of Pottawatomies were on their way to the treaty of Wabash, in the autumn of 1826, he (Bertrand) accompanying them :

" After their company was formed," said he, " which consisted of four or five hundred souls, they set out for the treaty-ground, compelled by circumstances to travel slowly. Within the first three days' journey, their most expert hunters, to the number sometimes of fifty, with their utmost vigilance, were unable to kill a deer. They saw game, and often shot at it, but killed nothing. The consequence was that they began to be distressed for want of food. Soon after, the company halted to encamp on the evening of the third day, Saugana, a well-known chief, fell asleep and slumbered soundly through the night. On the follow- ing morning, he informed the company that in a dream a person had acquainted him with the cause which had rendered their hunting unsuccessful, which was an error in Chebass, a celebrated chief, who had been the principal agent in prevailing them to set off on the journey to attend a place at which business of impor- tance was to be transacted, and had neglected to make a sacrificial feast before they started. He had started on this important journey, the dreamer said, as a white man would, without making any religious preparation, and, for this dercliction of duty, the whole company had been rebuked by being left by the Great Spirit to realize the scarcity of food. In order to propitiate the Deity, Chebass must fast that day ; twelve men, neither

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.

more nor fewer, with faces blacked, indicative of hunger and want, and of their devotion, must proceed to their hunting, six of them on each side of the road, along which the company had to travel. By the time the sun had risen to a height pointed out in the heavens (we should say about 9 o'clock), Saugana said they would have killed four deer, and he assured them that such would be the fact, because he had seen in the vision four deer lying dead.

" The hunters set off according to instructions ; killed the four deer within the time spoken of, and brought them to the company. A general halt was called. The four deer, including heads, legs, feet, etc., were all boiled at the same time, and feasting immedi- ately followed, in which all participated, each receiving a portion meted out, excepting Chebass. The feast was considered his, and, on that account, it was neces- sary for him to fast until the sun had gone down. Several speeches were made during the festival. About noon of the same day, the company resumed their march, and, on the following day, they killed five deer and one bear, and, during the two or three remaining days of their journey, had plenty."

MODES OF BURIAL.

Various modes of disposing of the dead were in vogue among the Indians. Mr. McCoy gives descriptions of several.

On one occasion, when he was present with some other missionaries at the death of a Pottawatomie man, whom he says they had buried as decently as time would permit. He continues : "It is their custom to bury their dead as soon as possible. We were not allowed time to procure a coffin ; but we placed boards about the corpse. They will not permit their graves to be dug so deep as civilized people usually inter their dead. Agreeably to their custom, a piece of tobacco was by them put into the grave at the head. The countenance of his wife indicated melancholy, and her sister shed tears. Before the burial, a nephew of the deceased, who was somewhat intoxicated, came running and hallooing like a madman. He set up a hideous lamentation, which resembled the howling of a wolf more than the expressions of grief of a bereaved relative. After some foolish incantations, such as blowing his breath into the nostrils of the corpse, etc., he declared that the deceased had been poisoned, and hurried off, threatening to be avenged upon the Indian whom he suspected of the crime. To us it was evident that his death had been caused by intemper- ance and privation."

Sometimes the corpse was inclosed in a hollow log. The position of the body was in most cases recum- bent, but instances were common where the corpse

was placed in a sitting posture, and occasionally standing erect. The same authority whom we have been quoting says that in some instances the corpse was placed on the surface of the earth and inclosed with small poles, the walls either being laid up per- pendicularly or inclining inward. Frequently in the graves of men, a small wooden post extended a few feet above the tomb, on which were cut notches, each supposed to stand for a scalp which the deceased had taken. Over the graves of chiefs, tall poles were usually erected, from the tops of which flags depended.

Almost universally, food and various implements, weapons and ornaments were placed in the graves of the dead. In cases where the body was placed above ground in an inclosure of poles or logs, a small aper- ture was made at one end to introduce food or tobacco from time to time. McCoy mentions a Pottawatomie "who had acquired the name of Tobacco from his fondness for that article, and who desired to be buried in" a public place which travelers would frequently pass, in the hope that by this means he should fre- quently receive a piece of tobacco, the use of which he could not think of discontinuing." Accordingly, he was buried in the forks of a road between Detroit and Chicago.

Disposal of the dead by placing upon an elevated platform, supported by poles or the limbs of trees, was frequently practiced by the Northern tribes, but seldom or never resorted to by the Pottawatomies or other tribes in Southern Michigan.

An Indian funeral is thus described: "I saw a company of women carrying kettles of food to the grave of a child who had been buried a few weeks previously. The nature of this funeral rite, as it was described to me at the time, is as follows: A few days after the burial of a child, the father or mother, or if neither of these be living and present, another of the near relatives of the deceased, makes a feast. The food is prepared and carried to the grave to which the company of sympathizing friends repair. If the feast be prepared by a man, none but men attend, and the same principle applies to the females. When assembled at the grave, the ruler of the feast distributes to each of the attendants a portion of the food which has been prepared, and each, before eating any, puts a small quantity on the head of the grave. A small aperture is usually made in the poles or boards which cover the dead, through which the food is passed. If it be a company of females, and one of their number be esteemed profligate, she is not per- mitted to make the offering to the dead from her own hands, but another receives it at her own hand, and offers it in her behalf. After the offerings are made to the deceased, the remainder of the food is eaten by

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.

the company. Similar feasts are prepared for adults as well as for children, and when the party consists of males, addresses are made to the deceased. These festivals are usually repeated once a year. On re- turning from their wintering grounds to the villages, in the spring of the year, the grass and weeds are carefully removed from about the graves of deceased relatives and none are permitted to grow there during the summer.

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE.

McCoy says : " I found none who possessed distinct ideas on the subject of their religious ceremonies. There has been a time, no doubt, when something more like system was observed in the small amount of relig- ion embraced by their pretensions ; but changes in their original ceremonies have been progressing ever since their acquaintance with white people. Keeshwa, the aged Pottawatomie female, * who * * was long an inmate of our family, has stated to us, with tears, that since her recollection there had been great deterioration in the observance of religious ceremonies. Formerly, said she, 'on the return of the Indians to their villages in the spring, prepara- tion was early made for a feast. This would require a day or more. At noon on the day appointed, men, women and children would assemble, when an elderly and respectable man would proclaim aloud, that the time for them to take their seats had arrived. All being seated, he would make a speech to them, and they would sing a song to the Great Spirit. The elderly leader would follow with a prayer in behalf of the company, in which thanks would be returned for their preservation through the past winter, and for their safe arrival at their villages, and prayer made for a blessing on their labors through the summer. On these occasions such language as the following was employed : 'Oh! Our Father, we want corn, we want beans, etc .; pity us and give us these things.' After the prayer, all would eat, and after a little respite they would again sing. Singing was repeated four times during the service. After the due observ- ance of this festival, all felt at liberty to commence preparations for planting their fields. These meet- ings, said she, ' were affecting, and frequently I wept all the time.' "

CANNIBALISM.

The fact that the horrors of Cannibalism were occa- sionally practiced among the Indians is well attested. Schoolcraft, Parkman, Drake and various other writers, whose reliability is unquestionable. cite in- stances of the commission of this revolting crime.

they ate the flesh of their victims. He said that " in 1825, while the Sauks were making their annual journey to Canada, an Osage man who was a prisoner, when sitting in his tent unconscious of danger, was approached by two Sauks, who taking him by the two arms, conducted him out of the company and killed him. A woman afterward cut him to pieces and boiled the flesh, and it was eaten by the party." Such deeds were not done on account of hunger. but through superstition, the Indians believing that they were thus endowed with greater strength and courage.

It appears that the Pottawatomies had also practiced occasionally the abomination of which Pokagon ac- cused the Sauks. McCoy says " we were compelled to believe that it was such a people as this that we labored to improve. From well-attested facts, the recital of which was no less shocking than the above, we are constrained to believe that the Pottawatomies, Otta- was, Chippewas and Miamis, the tribes among whom we labored, have all been guilty of cannibalism. *

* * If the accounts of the Indians can be credited, the last war between England and the United States, in which Indians were mercenaries on both sides, was disgraced by cannibalism; the last instance of which we have been informed occurred near Fort Meigs, on the Maumee River, in 1813. Deeds, the enormity of which cannot be described, we know have been done in the country about us."

FIRE-WATER.

Many of the evil deeds of the Indians were directly traceable to the excessive use of ardent spirits. The traders who located in or traveled through the country sold enormous quantities of whisky, and, in fact, de- rived their principal support from a revenue which produced daily murders and a very general condition of destitution. So eager were the Pottawatomies to secure their beloved "fire-water" that they would sacrifice any article in their possession to secure a sufficient quantity to make them drunk. An instance is mentioned by a good authority in which an Indian gave a trader a fine silver-mounted rifle, worth at least $25, for 75 cents worth of whisky. Articles picked up in this way by the traders were again given to the Indians in exchange for furs.

When annuities were paid to the Indians by Gov- ernment agents the traders, who were sure to be pres- ent, would receive in a few days, and in some cases in only a few hours, almost every dollar of the red men's money. Scenes of the wildlest debauchery would fol- low, and be protracted for days or weeks. It was not unusual, on such occasions, that murders would be

Pokagon. the Pottawatomie chief. assured McCoy that the Sauks frequently killed their prisoners after they had been a considerable time captives and that | perpetrated, and those too under the most shocking

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN

circumstances. Sometimes three or four or a half dozen would be committed in one day.

The utterly abject condition to which the Pottawat- omies were degraded in the latter days of their resi- dence in Michigan is vividly portrayed by the language of one of their chiefs, used in answer to the expostu- lation of Judge Lieb, a Government agent, and the Rev. Isaac McCoy. He spoke with great feeling, saying: "They were all sensible of the deleterious effects of whisky, and of the ravages it had made and was still making among them; that they did not seek it, but it was brought to them ; that they could not pre- vent it, nor could they possibly forbear from drinking it when it was within their reach ; that they had lost all their manhood with their independence ; that they were a degraded and disgraced race ; that they now looked upon the whites as so much their superiors that they would not attempt to resist anything they did or should do. But." continued the chief. elevating his dignified person, "if our Great Father feels such an interest to preserve us as you mention, all powerful as he is. why does he not command his people to abstain from seeking, in the ways you mention, our destruc- tion. He has but to will it, and his will will be done. He can punish. He can save us from the ruin which surrounds us. We can do nothing ourselves. If whisky were not brought to us, we should soon cease to think of it, and we should be happier and health- ier." And the missionary adds: "All this was said with so much feeling and truth that I blushed for my country, and could find no apology for my Govern- ment in not devising means to restrain these licen- tious traders, high and low individuals and companies, who, by every means, open and covert, are conveying to the Indian the poison of his life and hopes."

Elsewhere, McCoy says: " Many of the Indians manifested a dislike to this traffic in ardent spirits, fraught with ruin to themselves, though they seldom possessed fortitude to withstand the temptation to drink. On the 20th of August (1824), Pokagon, a chief, and many others, came to inform us of liquor in their country and expressed a wish to go and seize it. We could not hope that Indians, in such cases, would be governed by sound discretion, and therefore dissuaded them from their purpose. About this time they frequently applied to us for aid in securing their little property and money received from the Govern- ment from the rapacity of lawless white people. But we could oftener pity than help them."

SEASONS OF DESTITUTION.

corn ripened or vegetables were grown was, with them, the most trying season of the year, because of the scarcity of food. The Pottawatomies in this region made very frequent begging visits to the Carey Mis- sion. Mr. McCoy, under date of July 17, 1824, made the following note in his journal : "The Indians are so exceedingly pinched with hunger at this season of the year that swarms of them linger about us in hopes of getting a few crumbs or bones from our table, or the liquor in which any food may chance to have been boiled. We are continually grieved at witnessing their distresses ; we cannot feed them, and yet many cases present themselves, espe- cially of women and children, too affecting to be wholly disregarded. Often on presenting a petition for the relief of hunger, they place a hand on the stomach to show how it is sunken for want of food. A few hours ago a woman appeared in our house with moc- casins to exchange for powder and lead ; pleading that she and the family with which she lived were in a measure starving. She had nephews who would hunt for wild mneat, did they possess the means of taking it. She was informed that we could not conveniently grant her the articles she needed, yet she continued her importunity, entreating for a ' very little.' Beg- ging like this occurs almost hourly through the day. At this time, eight or ten unfortunate women are at our house begging for a morsel to eat. When we gave the old woman alluded to above a little salt, she said * this will season the weeds on which I feed.' She declared to us that for several days she and the families with which she was connected had not eaten a particle of any kind of food, except weeds boiled without salt or grease. This is, at this time, the con- dition of hundreds around us."

CHAPTER VIL.

THE POTTAWATOMIE INDIANS-[CONTINUED].

Indian Villages-Their Locations in Cass County-Pokagon's Progres- sive Spirit-Indian Trails in Cass County-The Chicago and Grand River Trails-Network of Paths in Porter Township-Topinabe- Weesaw, the War Chiet-Pokagon, the Second Chief in Rank- Shavehead-His Enmity to the Whites-Probable Manner of His Death-Indian Murders-Removal of the Pottawatomles to the West-Exemption of Pokagon and ITis Band-The Latter Days of the old Chief.

INDIAN VILLAGES.

ENERALLY speaking, the term " permanent In- G dian village," is a misnomer. Nearly all of the set- tlements were abandoned in the fall or early winter, at which time the Indians went on long hunting ex- peditions, alternating the fields each season in order that the game might not be exhausted. The In-

In May or June, the Indians usually returned to their villages from their winter hunt for the purpose of planting their fields. From this time on until their dian method of agriculture contained nothing con-

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

ducive to permanency of location, and the construc- tion of the lodges or wigwams was so crude and simple as to make their removal or abandonment a matter of comparative indifference to the builders or possessors. Encampment would, in the great majority of cases, be a better term than village for the habitation of a band of Western Indians. They had, indeed, favorite localities, but their villages in such spots had at the most but a few years' duration. At the time the whites came among the Pottawatomies, they had, within the present limits of Berrien and Cass Coun- ties, at least a dozen so-called villages, and it is prob- able that within the first twenty-five years of the present century, they had occupied a hundred loca- tions. Every chief of any note whatever had a " vil- lage," and, with a few exceptions, they were moved every two or three years. Besides these there were sugar camps, which are often confused in tradition with the places of more permanent residence. A Pottawatomie village usually consisted of a group of a dozen to a score of bark huts or wigwams made of flags, irregularly disposed in a locality offering some pecular advantages, such as water supply, natural shelter, ground suitable for the growing of corn, etc. Proximity to a stream navigable for canoes, and afford- ing a supply of fish, was also considered desirable, and hence the most important villages in the region of the St. Joseph River were immediately upon its banks. After the Carey Mission was established, and as the result of its influence, the Indians in the vicin- ity began to make more valuable improvements than they had before attempted-to build houses instead of huts and wigwams, to fence their fields, and otherwise to imitate the methods of the whites.

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History of Cass county, Michigan, Part 9

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co. Number of Pages: 670

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co.
Number of Pages: 670