USA > Missouri > A history of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the union, Volume I > Part 21
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From those left behind on the lower Missouri, subsequently originated the tribes known as the Missouris, Osages, Kansas, Ponkas, and Iowas.25 After the migration of the Omahas, the Ponkas separated and moved up the Missouri river, then the Kansas, then the Osages, then the Iowas, all off-shoots from the same parent stock; and finally the Missouris 26 gradually moved from near the mouth of the Missouri river to the mouth of Grand river. Here they were found by the French early in 1700, and continued to reside for nearly one hundred years, until conquered and dispersed by the Saukees and Outagamies (Foxes) and other tribes. The destructive character of this war is shown by the fact that over two hundred
21 Long spells the name "Omawhaws." --- Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 155 et seq.
22 Margry Les Coureurs des Bois, vol., vi., p. 407.
23 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 338. Carver's Travels, p. 80. (London Ed., 1779).
24 La Hontan's Voyages, vol. i., p., 161.
25 15 Annual Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, p. 191 et seq.
26 Spelled "Massorites" in Coxe's Carolana.
174
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
Missouris were destroyed by them in one contest.27 In 1777 the tribe was still' composed of two hundred warriors; the principal chief was named "Kaige." At that time they sowed a little corn but not enough for their own supply. Their business was then profitable to St. Louis, as they produced from eighty to ninety packages of furs a year. They were addicted to stealing horses from the French settlers.28 Five or six lodges subsequently joined the Osages, two or three took refuge with the Kansas,29 and the remainder amalgamated with the Otoe or Wah-toh-ta-na, Wah-to- ta-ta or Wa-do-tan nation, a word which means, according to Long,30 "those who copulate," translated by McGee 31 euphonistically " Aphrodisian." They adopted the name, probably because their chief at the period of their separation from the Missouris, forcibly carried off a squaw of that tribe.32 The Otoes, being an off-shoot of the same stock as the Missouris, were closely allied to them in man- ners, habits, and language. "They are probably," says Long,33 "the bravest of the native inhabitants of Missouri, and there are but few males, having arrived at the age of maturity, who have not fleshed their arms in battle. Indeed, many of them can strike upon individuals of almost all of the neighboring nations, not excepting the distant Indians of Mexico and the Spaniards themselves. In vain should we seek among the nations of the Missouri for an in- dividual whose daring deeds have been more numerous than those of Mi-a-ke-ta, 'Little Soldier,' or for more brave and generous com- batants than Shau-mo-ne-kus-se, Ha-she-a (Cut nose), Na-ho-je- ming-ya, and Was-sa-ca-ru-ja." The Otoes joined Bourgmont in 1724, in his expedition against the Padoucahs.34 In 1777, they counted about 100 warriors - and the name of the principal chief was La Bala -i. e. The Bullet. The hunting grounds of the Otoes
27 Lewis and Clark's Expedition (Cous' edition), vol. i.,p. 22.
28 See copy of Report in the Archives of Seville in Mo. Historical Society.
29 Variously known as Konza, Cansa, Canzes, Kaws, and the "Quans" of Bourgmont .- 15 Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, p. 193.
30 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 338.
31 15 Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology, p. 162.
32 This name variously spelled Otos, Ottos, Ottoes, Hotos, and by the French "Othonez;" and "Otataches" in An Account of Louisiana, p. 41.
33 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 341.
34 Margry, Coureurs des Bois, vol. vi., p. 410. In Bourgmont's Journal they are called "Othos." Also General Archives of the Indies, Seville - Report of Principal Tribes on the Missouri.
175
HUNTING GROUNDS
in 1819 extended from the mouth of the Little Platte up to Boyer creek, on the north side of the Missouri, and from Independence creek to about forty miles above the mouth of the Platte, on the south side of the river. On Bluewater creek in 1818, says Long, 35 and between the Platte and the sources of the Kansas, they hunted bison.36 They traded with the merchants of St. Louis.
The Kansas and other Indians on the plains, when on their hunts, traveled with troops of dogs. According to Bourgmont,37 a single dog would drag, on poles, skins to build a cabin, in which from six to twelve persons could lodge, and in addition, plates, kettles and other utensils representing a weight of three hundred pounds. Castaneda 38 says that the Querechos and Teyas traveled with their tents and troops of dogs loaded with poles and skins for tents, and that when the load would get disarranged, the dogs would stop and howl. Jaramillo 39 says that these Indians of the plains did not live in houses, but had a set of poles on which they carried cow (buffalo) skins with which they built huts, and the conjecture seems correct that the Querechos and Teyas, met by Coronado, were the Kansas Indians out on the plains on their periodical hunts.
When the French first came up the Missouri river the Kansas hunted on the south side of the Missouri, between the Little Blue and the headwaters of the Big Blue, and west along the Kansas in the prairies.40 They had their lodges on the Missouri river. In 1777 this tribe had 350 warriors. They lived generally in friend- ship and amity with the Osages, intermarried with them, and their customs and manners were the same, yet at times they were engaged in war with them.41 They had no idea of the exclusive possession of any country.
The Iowas12 resided in a village on the lower Missouri for some
35 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 187.
36 Long's Expedition p. 342. In and about this locality they were found by Bourgmont. Margry, Les Coureurs des Bois, vol. vi., p. 414.
37 Margry, Relation de Voyage du Sieur de Bourgmont, vol. vi., p. 414. 38 14 Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, Part i., p. 527.
39 14 Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, Part i., p. 588.
40 Margry Les Coureurs des Bois, vol. vi., p. 400 et seq. Morse's Report, P. 203.
41 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 241.
42 Spelled "Ougas" in Present State etc. p. 19; and "Ayous" in An Ac- count of Louisiana, p. 41. In a report made in 1777 to the Spanish authorities, from St. Louis, it is said: "The Hayuas-This tribe is composed of two hun-
I76
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
time, and there a band separated from them, going farther up the river, and were called the Pa-ho-ja.43 Subsequently the parent tribe abandoned the Missouri and removed to the Des Moines and built a village on this river, where this band, known as the Pa-ho-jas, reunited with them.44 These Iowas hunted between the Missouri and the headwaters of Grand river and the Des Moines, and from the head of the two Charitons west to the Nodaway and Nish- nabotna.15 Although of the same Siouan stock, they united with the Saukees and Renards (Foxes), and expelled the Missouris from the mouth of Grand river. In 1818 they had a village about seventy miles above the mouth of this river. The Iowas cultivated some corn and were, if anything, less civilized than the Saukees and Renards. Captain Anderson46 says that they were "a vile set." Afterward, in 1824, the Saukees and Renards practically extermi- nated this tribe.47
These aboriginal inhabitants of the Missouri,-the Omahas, the Osages, the Ponkas, the Kansas, Otoes, Missouris and Iowas,-each spoke a different dialect of the same language, thus confirming the theory that all sprang from the same original stock. The individuals in each of these tribes could make themselves reciprocally understood after a very little practice. The pronunciation of the Omahas and Ponkas was guttural; that of the Osages brief and vivid, but that of the Missouris nasal.48 Nuttall49 says that the languages of these tribes differed little from each other.
One observation as to the purity of the language of these Indians, made by Major Long 50 in 1819, is not without interest. He says: "The free and independent spirit of the Indians is carried even into their language, and may be recognized there by its absolute
dred and fifty men of arms, the name of the principal chief being El Ladron; they live distant from this town by water eighty leagues along the Mississippi river, on the river Muen (Des Moines). This tribe is in war with the tribes of the Missouri river. Their occupation is hunting, the trade of this town deriv- ing no benefit from it, as they deal with the British on the Mississippi."
43 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 339.
44 Ibid., p. 340.
45 Morse's Rep., p. 204.
46 9 Wisc. Hist. Coll. p. 131.
47 Stevens' Black Hawk, p. 69.
48 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 342.
49 Nuttall's Arkansas, p. 82.
50 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 343.
177
THE OSAGES
destitution of a single word drawn from the language of a civilized people. Thus, notwithstanding their constant familiarity with certain traders, and with various articles of manufacture of the white people, they universally, and in every instance reject the names which they originally hear for such men and things, and apply others, which they readily invent."
When Marquette and Joliet made their voyage down the Mis- sissippi the hunting grounds of the Omahas extended east to the waters of the Grand river. Their habitat was in the Great Bend of the Missouri until the white men came.51 The Missouris then resided and followed game near the mouth of the river. The Big Osages had removed farther up the stream now known by that name. Out of the Indian name Wa-ca-se,52 or, according to Long,53 Waw-sash-e, or Wassashsha,54 by some occult process the modern name of these Indians has been coined. Of these Indians the Big Osages, known as "Pa-he'tsi," that is to say, "campers on the mountains," were the dwellers of the hills, and the Little Osages, the "U-tseh-ta," which means "campers in the low lands," lived in the bottom lands or low lands of the Missouri and tributary streams. The Kansas had taken up their abode on the borders of the Kaw, where the winds blow high, although the precise significance of the name is unknown. The Missouris, or Oumessourits, or 8-mess-8- rits, or Ni-u-t'a-tci, (meaning of word uncertain but according to McGee is said to refer "to drowning of people in a stream"55) remained near the mouth of the Missouri. But Long 56 says : " Another band had seceded from the migrating nation and estab- lished a village at the mouth of the Missouri river, from which cir- cumstance they received the name "Ne-o-ta-cha," or "Ne-o-ge-he," signifying "those who build a town at the entrance of a river." Instead of seceding, however, it appears on investigation that all the other tribes successively seceded or migrated, leaving the Mis- souris behind, so that they were really and truly "people of this
51 15 Annual Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, p. 191.
52 As to the origin of this appellation, see McGee in the 15th Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology, p. 193.
53 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 328.
54 The Great Osages called themselves the "Wassashsha."-Brown's Western Gazetteer, p. 193.
55 15th Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, p. 162.
56 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 339.
178
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
place," or the people "who build a town at the entrance of a river;" but they finally also removed up the river, as already explained, perhaps to escape the warlike Saukees and Outagamies.
In discussing the significance and meaning of these names, McGee well remarks that "The aborigines were, at the time of the discovery, and indeed most of them remain to-day, in the pre- scriptorial stage of culture, i. e., the stage in which ideas are crys- tallized, not by means of arbitrary symbols, but by means of arbitrary associations, and in this stage names are connotive and descriptive rather than denotive as in the scriptorial stages." Thus, the Osages were without any denotive designation, merely styling themselves Wa-ca-ce, meaning "people," but being known to others as the Pa-he-tsi, "campers on the mountains," and U-tseh-ta, "campers of the low lands," the interpreters constructing out of such connotive or descriptive words, a denotive name of a particular tribe. The corruption of such aboriginal terms, modified and remodified, is almost endless. It is difficult to trace Wa-ca-ce in the word "Osage," so spelled by the French, whose orthography was adopted and mis-pronounced by the English-speaking pioneers. By Marquette the word was spelled "Ouchage" and " Autrechaha," on Franquelin's map "Zages," and by Penicaut "Huzzaus," "Ous" and "Wawhas."57 So, also, out of the word Pa-go-tce meaning "dusty heads," or Pa-ho-ja, meaning "gray snow," or Pa-o-ja, meaning "pierced noses," and Ay-u-was the word "Iowa" was evolved.
The territory from the Great Bend of the Missouri south to the waters of the Arkansas and east toward the Mississippi was the country of the Osages for several centuries before the advent of the European. Here were their hunting grounds. Over the high plateaux of the Ozarks and in the deep valleys cut through these plateaux by water they reigned as masters. On the banks of the pellucid streams meandering through the narrow valleys, overhung by fragrant trees, with a background border of abrupt and pictur- esque hills or perpendicular cliffs, they raised their lodges, pitched their barbaric tents of buffalo skins. Attracted by the water, count- less bison roamed in the high prairie grass in summer, and in winter found shelter in the deep valleys from the rude north winds. Here De Soto found the "Cayas" and Coronado the "Teyas," "Haxas"
57 15th Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, p. 192.
179
LARGE SIZE OF OSAGES
and "Hayas," and it may be the "Wawhas" or "Wa-ca-ce," we now know as "Osages." 58
Morse 59 says that the Osages were of remarkable height, not many being less than six feet high, and of fine figure. Some would have been perfect models for a sculptor. "They are in appearance," says Mrs. Jones, "as noble a race of people as I have ever seen". "Well-formed, athletic and robust men of noble aspect" are the words of Audubon. "The Osages" says Bradbury,60 "are so tall and robust as almost to warrant the appellation of the term gigantic ; few of them appear to be under six feet, and many are above it. Their shoulders and visages are broad, which tends to strengthen the idea of their being giants." Instances of deformity were rare among them. They were fleet in their movements. Indian runners were prodigies in respect to their continued rapidity in conveying messages to distant tribes. "The activity and agility of the Osages is scarcely credible," says Nuttall,61 "they not uncommonly walk from their villages to the trading houses, a distance of sixty miles a day." In the attack on Detroit in 1712 they were represented,
58 A report made from St. Louis, in 1777, found in the Spanish archives of Seville, says about the Grand Osages: "This tribe is composed of eight hun- dred men of arms; the principal chief of this tribe is Clermont. They are at a distance from this town by water eighty leagues, and by land about one hundred and ten, located on a tributary of the Missouri river, which is one hundred and forty leagues in length. This tribe is in war with the tribes of La Republica, Hotos, the Alcanzas, Panis, Piquies, and the tribes located on the Mississippi, on the British side. The harm done by this tribe is that they steal some horses from the inhabitants of these settlements. Their occupation has always been that of hunting, which brings great advantage to the trade of this place, as every year it produces from five hundred to five hundred and fifty packages of Deer skins." And of the Little Osages this same report says: "The tribe of the Lit- tle Osages is composed, as per advices of those who know, of as high as three to four hundred armed men. The name of the principal chief of this tribe is Balafre. Their village is situated at half a league from the border of the Mis- souri river, at a distance from this town of about eighty-five leagues. Their occupation has always been, and is now, hunting, from which results the fur trade they have, which is done in this place. This tribe is generally at war with the tribes living on the Mississippi. This year, advices have been received, that they were about to make peace, but peace has not been made yet. Even if they make peace, this being a very warlike people, for a horse that one would steal from another, they would break all the peace treaties. This peace rumor cannot be relied on, nor indeed any news given on this matter. Their work or occupation is profitable enough in the line of furs. The only harm which is experienced from this tribe in these settlements is that some horses are stolen from the inhabitants, but it is an easy matter to make them return them."
59 Morse's Report, p. 69.
60 Bradbury's Travels, p. 42. See, also, An Account of Louisiana, p. 37, where it says that they are of "gigantic stature."
61 Nuttall's Arkansas, p. 182.
180
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
traveling the wilderness with confederates yet more remote, thus giving us an idea of the wild energy of these people when aroused to action. Che-to-ka, or Whetstone, a Little Osage, claimed that he was at Braddock's defeat with all the warriors that could be spared from the villages; that they were supplied with powder and ball by Chevalier Macarty, commandant of Fort De Chartres, and that in this expedition they were absent from their villages seven months.62
The Osages possessed all the Indian characteristics, talked little, in conversation did not interrupt each other, and except when intox- icated, were not vociferous or noisy. They were not drunkards and were greatly and favorably distinguished from the other Indians by their general sobriety. Lieutenant Frazier,63 in 1764, remarked that the Indians "in general are great drunkards," but adds, "I mus except the Osages." Long 64 says that among the Osages "drunk- enness is rare and is much ridiculed; a drunken man is said to be bereft of his reason, and avoided." According to Sibley, who knew them well, they were very intelligent, and in general communicative. They were acquainted with some peculiar characters and con- figurations of the stars; knew the Pleiades and the three stars of Orion's belt; in the planet Venus they recognized the harbinger of day, and they called the galaxy "the heavenly path or celestial road." The waxing and waning of the moon regulated their minor periods of time, and the number of moons, accompanied by the concomitant phenomena of the seasons, for them pointed out the natural duration of the year.65 They bore sickness and pain with great fortitude, seldom uttering a complaint; and Brown says that they were most skilful in medicine.66. Insanity was unknown among them. The blind were well taken care of by their friends, and were well dressed and fed.67
Scarcely any Indian nation has encountered more enemies than the Osages, and Nuttall68 says that, in 1818, they still flattered them- selves by saying that they were seated in the middle of the world,
62 Pike's Expedition, vol. ii., p. 531.
63 Ind. Hist. Publication, vol. i., p. 415.
64 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 125.
65 Nuttall's Arkansas, pp. 175-6.
66 Brown's Western Gazetteer, p. 193.
67 Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 125.
68 Nuttall's Arkansas, p. 172.
18I
NUMBER OF THE OSAGES
and that although surrounded by enemies, they had ever maintained their usual population and their country. To protect their settle- ments on the Mississippi from the attacks of the Osages, the Span- iards induced the Shawnees and Delawares to immigrate into the Spanish dominions and settle on Apple creek, and at other places near the river. A small band of thirty Peorias and Kaskaskias living at Ste. Genevieve seldom hunted because of their fear of the Osages.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Osages lived principally along the Osage river, but the commercial rivalry of the Chouteaus and De Lisa led to the establishment of a new Osage village near the Arkansas river. In 1680, according to Hennepin,69 the Osages had seventeen villages; and Coxe70 states that they had from seventeen to eighteen villages in 1770. They then still had villages on the Missouri, but in about 1790 they and the Missouris, who had joined them, were driven from this river by the encroach- ments of the Saukees and Outagamies.71 Ashe 72 says that they could muster a thousand warriors in 1805, and this is also the statement made in " An Account of Louisiana," published in 1804.73 In 1817 Sibley reports that the Great Osages had four hundred war- riors, the Little Osages two hundred and fifty, the Osages of the Arkansas six hundred, and the Kansas two hundred and fifty. The hunting lodges, traces and warpaths of this tribe were found in all the territory between these two great rivers.
Up to 1820 the largest section of the Great Osages dwelt on the upper reaches of the Osage river, but greatly diminished in numbers. The principal village was located about seventy-five miles south of Fort Osage. They hunted over a great extent of country, along the waters of the Osage, Gasconade, Neosho, and numerous other streams, branches of these rivers, and also at the headwaters of the St. Francois, White, and Arkansas. Another offshoot of this tribe at that time lived on the Neosho, about one hundred and thirty miles from Fort Osage. These had separated from the other village about seven or eight years before that time but hunted in common with them. Both villages did not contain
69 Hennepin's New Discovery, vol. iii., p. 143 (McClurg Ed.)
70 Coxe's Carolana, p .---
71 Lewis and Clark's Expedition (Cous' Ed.), p. 37.
72 Ashe's Travels, vol. iii., p. 102.
73 An Account of Louisiana, p. 37.
182
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
more than two thousand souls, of which about four hundred and fifty were warriors and hunters. The Little Osages also dwelt in three other villages on the Neosho under sub-chiefs, "Kahegas,"74 and with them about twenty families of the Missouris lived and had intermarried. These hunted much in common with the other Osages on the headwaters of some of the branches of this stream.
"At this time these Osages were continually removing," says Mr. Sibley,75 "from one village to another, quarreling and inter- marrying, always at war, and not a year elapsed that did not show a decrease in numbers. Epidemic diseases swept away now and then whole families." Yet Catlin,76 in 1838, estimates the total num- ber of Osage Indians to be over five thousand, this being about the same population as when this tribe first became known to the Euro- peans. Nuttall77 gives the number in 1819 as eight thousand.
The main dependence of these Indians was hunting, but they raised annually small crops of corn, beans and pumpkins, which they cultivated entirely with the hoe and in the simplest manner, planting in April. They entered upon their summer hunts in May and returned about the first of August to gather their crops, left unhoed and unfenced all summer. "Each family," says Mr. Sib- ley,78 "if lucky, can save from ten to twenty bags of corn and beans, of a bushel and a half each, besides a quantity of dried pumpkins. On this they feast, with dried meat saved in the summer, until Sep- tember, when what remains is cached, and they set out for their fall hunt, from which they return about Christmas. From that time, till some time in February or March, as the season happens to be mild or severe, they stay pretty much in their villages, making only hunting excursions occasionally, and during that time they consume the greater part of their caches. In February or March the spring hunt commences; first the bear, then the beaver hunt. This they pursue until planting time, when they again return to their village, pitch their crops, and in May set out for the summer hunt, taking with them the residue, if any, of their corn, etc. This is the circle of Osage life, here and there indented with war and trading expe-
74 Southern Literary Messenger, 1842, p. 148.
15 Morse's Report, vol. ii., p. 204-5.
76 Catlin's North American Indian, vol. ii., p. 40
77 Nuttall's Arkansas, p. 173.
78 Morse's Report, p. 205.
183
ATTRACTIONS OF SAVAGE STATE
ditions. . I ought to have stated that these people derive a portion of their subsistence regularly from wild fruits their country abounds with. Walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, acorns, grapes, plums, pawpaws, persimmons, hog-potatoes, and several very nutritious roots-all these they gather and preserve with care, and possess the art of preparing many of them, so that they are really good eating. I have feasted daintily on preparations of acorns (from small white- oak) and buffalo grease. I had the advantage, however, of a good appetite, well whetted by nearly two days' abstinence from food."
While not indifferent to the agricultural skill of the white set- tlers, and the profit arising therefrom, the Indians could not be induced to devote themselves to agricultural pursuits. "I see," said a noted Osage chief, Has-ha-ke-da-tungar, or the Big Soldier, "and admire your way of living, your good warm houses, : our extensive corn-fields, your gardens, your cows, oxen, work horses, wagons and a thousand machines that you know the use of; I see that you are able to clothe yourself, even from weeds and grass. In short, you can do almost what you choose. You whites possess the power of subduing almost every animal you use. You are surrounded by slaves. Everything about you is in chains, and you are slaves yourselves. I fear if I should change my pursuit for yours, I, too, should become a slave. Talk to my sons; perhaps they may be persuaded to adopt your fashions, or at least recommend them to their sons; but for myself, I was born free, was raised free, and wish to die free." And he added, "I am perfectly contented with my condition. The forests and river supply all the calls of nature in plenty. and there is no lack of white people to purchase the supplies of our industry."
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