USA > Missouri > A history of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the union, Volume I > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
159 Menard Papers, 4 Draper Collection Wisconsin Historical Society.
160 Brackenridge mentions an old chief in one of these villages of unusual intelligence, and says: "He was one of the Nine Brothers, a curious institution which exerted a kind of Masonic influence over the tribe." Recollections of the West, p. 198. At that time this order or clan was kept up by choice among the most distinguished Indians.
161 Lorimier, in his journal of the exciting period in 1793-4, when the Span- iards were expecting a filibustering expedition to invade upper Louisiana, makes mention of a number of these Indians by name, and who were active in watching and reporting to him, now not without interest. Thus he mentions "La Mas- kon," a Shawnee chief, Pennaoues and Chapaoutousa as runners sent out to look for the chiefs, that Savnarechika brought important information from Belle-Rivière; but that Paispamerchika contradicts him next day. Raniska is another messenger. Minnien holds a conversation with Petite Poisson, a Peoria. Rodgers, a Shawnee chief, and Vuesunen Pesse (Ouesnenperis) came to Cape Girardeau on an errand from Trudeau during this time. Aouikaniska came from the Iron-mine, La Corbeau, a Loup, and Le Point du Jour, a Pottowa- tomie, also visited him. Le Point du Jour, also known as Wau-bun-see, received this name because he attacked some boats on White river at break of day, and was celebrated afterward in the Indian wars. He was engaged in the Chicago massacre, also in wars with the Osages; did not agree with Tecum- seh in his plans; was a man of intellect; died in 1848 at Jefferson City, when on his way to Washington. He was a brother of Black Partridge. Netompsica was a highly esteemed Shawnee; so, also, Ouapipelene (likely Wahepelathy), a leader of another band of these Indians; so, too, Papikoua. Paranne, a Miami chief, also visited his post and went with Pecositais, in a canoe to Belle- Rivière. Thimouse was another Loup messenger; and another Loup, known as La Pensée, reported that La Patte d'Inde (Turkey-foot), a chief of Pottowato- mies, would visit him and the Spaniards. Aukakeraukaske, a chief of the Ottawas, with his band, also came to his post; and so, too, Rakoone, a Loup chief, and it may be noted, by the way, that after the acquisition of Louisiana, one Hughes was indicted for making an assault on this Indian. At this time Paispetetmeta was chief of the Loups, and he as well as Pecanne, Jr., chief of the Miamis, came to his post to consult with him.
214
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
attend a solemn council at their town near Cape Girardeau, where three Indians and a squaw were tried. She was acquitted, and the three Indians found guilty of murder. They were led out into a thick woods and tomahawked, then placed on an immense pile of wood and burnt to ashes. Upward of one hundred were assisting at the execution." What murder these Indians committed, for which they were so summarily punished by the tribe, the "Gazette" does not say.
The largest Shawnee village contained about four hundred inhab- itants and was built on the top of a hill, at the foot of which flowed Apple creek, then known as Rivière de Pomme. These Indians usually called their villages "Chillicothe" or "Chilliticaux," perhaps because the word means "A place of residence." 162 Menard says they called their town "Chalacasa," after their old town on the Scioto. They lived there in log houses constructed in the French fashion, by posts set close together, the interstices filled out with clay. They were active, industrious and good hunters, and thus secured without trouble clothing and trinkets, of which they were very fond. In addition, they cultivated fields of corn, pumpkins, melons, and potatoes, and raised cattle and hogs. They owned a number of horses, and some of these always stood ready at their doors in order to pursue the Osages in case they should attempt to steal those running about loose in the woods and fields and feeding. When they first settled in the country they were in frequent wars with the Osages, on account of such thefts, but in 1802 they had measurably succeeded in inspiring them with a wholesome fear of their warlike prowess, and thus secured peace. These Shawnees were distinguished by their hatred of the Americans.163 Nor could anything else be expected, because they emigrated from the United States, owing to their grievances and defeat. The Delawares settled in upper Louisiana at the same time as the Shawnees; they were tall, handsome, and well-made, and the women, says Du Lac, although not handsome, were far preferable to those of surrounding nations; and Volney 164 says that the stature of the women astonished him more than their beauty. The Shawnees were divided into four separate classes: the Piqua, meaning "A man coming out of the
162 Morse's Report, p. 97.
163 Perrin du Lac's Travels in Louisiana, p. 40.
104 Volney's Travels, p. 60.
215
TRADE
ashes," or "made of ashes"; the Mequachake, signifying "A fat man filled" (this tribe had the priesthood) ; the Kiskapocoke, to which belonged Tecumseh and his brother Elsquataway, and the Chilli- cothe, having no definite meaning but signifying a place of residence.165 All were attentive to dress, and the women wore their hair tied close to their heads and covered with skin. They were more careful of their children than the other Indians. Like other tribes, they cut the cartilages of their ears so as to lengthen them as much as possible, and from them were suspended silver trinkets in the form of stars. On their necks they wore crosses, and on their heads bands and crowns covered with spangles. They used great quantities of vermillion and black, with which they painted their bodies on festive days.166 From one of these villages, about four miles from the Mississippi, boatmen and travelers on the river were frequently furnished with supplies. When the voyageurs desired to trade with them they landed near the mouth of Apple creek; and Schultz, who passed here with his boat in 1807, says that then "one of our Canadian sailors gave the whoop," this being the usual signal for trading; and that soon thereafter they would be visited by ten or twelve squaws with their papooses, to whom they made known their wants, and after the customary pre- liminaries of a glass of whiskey, some of them would go back up to the town to bring down supplies of dried venison hams, which he desired to purchase. On this occasion, when the women returned, several men accompanied them. One of them being rather better dressed than the others and distinguished by a silver band around his forehead and bracelets around his arms, Schultz took to be a chief, and soon found he could express his ideas tolerably well in broken English. Among the women Schultz noticed one more attractive than the others, but she did not understand English, except the sentence, "You lie," used as a kind of by-word among them on all occasions without comprehending its import. Schultz inquired of the one who appeared to be the chief whether she was an Indian woman or not, and was informed that she was taken prisoner when about six years old, with her mother, and that he could not tell to what country they belonged, because they spoke "No French, no English, no Indian," that she was not captured by his tribe, but
165 Morse's Report, p. 97.
166 Perrin du Lac's Travels in Louisiana, p. 46.
216
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
had been transferred from place to place, and that he had heard she was from Schu-che-au-naw, and in this he was confirmed by the fact that she spoke "no French, no English, no Indian;" hence, must have been the child of German settlers who had settled on the upper Susquehanna, on the Indian frontier. Schultz made some inquiry of her through the chief, but found she had lost all knowledge of her name, her country and her friends, and had only learned, from the tribe to which she now belonged, that her mother was a white woman, who had died about one year after her captivity. Schultz made use of some of the German words which were most common and first learned by children. But she was perfectly ignorant of their mean- ing.167 While he was here he was informed by these Shawnees that they intended shortly to go to war with the Osages, because the latter had stolen some of their horses the previous fall, while they were out hunting; in this war they expected to be joined by some of their friends from the lakes.
During the Spanish occupation there was no adequate protection of the settlements along the Mississippi, and the settlers were continually exposed to the predatory raids of the Osages. Even after the set- tlement of the Shawnees and Delawares on the west side of the river, their insolence was very great. Brackenridge says: "Until pos- session was taken of the country by us, there was no safety from the robberies of the Osage Indians. That impolitic lenity, which the Spanish and even the French government have manifested toward them, instead of a firm though just course, gave rise to the most insolent deportment on their part. I have been informed by the people of Ste. Genevieve, who suffered infinitely the most, that they were on occasions left without a horse to turn a mill. The Osages were never followed to any great distance or overtaken; this impu- nity necessarily encouraged them. They generally entered the neighborhood of the villages, divided into small parties, and during the night stole and carried away everything they could find, fre- quently breaking open stables and taking out the horses. After uniting at a small distance, their place of rendezvous, they marched leisurely home, driving the stolen horses before them and without the least dread of being pursued. They have not dared to act in this manner under the present government; there have been a few solitary robberies by them within three or four years, but they are
167 Schultz's Travels, vol. ii., p. 77.
217
INSOLENCE
sufficiently acquainted with the Americans to know that they will be instantly pursued and compelled to surrender. The following well attested fact will serve to show the insolence of the Osages under the former government. A young couple on their way from the settlement, just then formed on the Big River, to Ste. Genevieve, accompanied by a number of friends, with the intention of having the matrimonial knot tied by the priest, were met by sixty Osages, robbed of their horses and the whole party actually deprived of all their clothes, reducing them to the condition of our first parents in the garden of Eden. What serves, however, to lessen the atrocity of these outrages is the fact that they were never known to take the lives of those that fell into their hands. The insolence of other nations who came openly to the villages, the Piorias, Loups, Kick- apoos, Chickasas, Cherokees, etc., is inconceivable. They were sometimes perfect masters of the villages and excited general con- sternation. I have seen the houses on some occasions closed up and the doors barred by the terrified inhabitants, and they were not always safe even then. It is strange how these people have entirely disappeared within a few years. There are at present scarcely a sufficient number to supply the village with game."168
After the first settlement of the Shawnees and Delawares on the west side of the Mississippi, they gradually moved farther west. They successively had villages on White Water, by the French called l'Eau Blanche, then on Castor river, and also a village at the present site of Bloomfield, in Stoddard county, and another village near the present site of Kennett. While residing in this locality they prin- cipally traded at Ste. Genevieve.169 In 1806 the Delawares had a
168 Brackenridge's Recollections of the West, p. 209. He says that this out- rage took place after the change of government, but this, no doubt, is an error.
169 The Shawnees principally obtained goods there from Menard & Valle on credit. From the account-book of this firm, now in the manuscript collection of the Missouri Historical Society of St. Louis, we copy the names of the Indians who thus obtained credit there, and which may interest some readers:
A-la-quo-oa, A-sou-a-bi-ai-chi-ca, A-pi-tou-al-cn, (a Delaware) A-chaud-qua-ka, A-chaud-sais, A-to-wa, (Delaware), Aua-que-ni-man (Delaware), Ack-ai-pi, An-deil-le-con-ae, Ai-tha-thu-aca, Ambroise (Kaskaskia), Beaver Gorge (Delaware), Bercume Foiss (la femme) Beaver Little, Chi- kai-tawai, Chi-ca-wais, Cha-pa-is, Che-lo sa, Cash-co-cas-sa, Ca-ti-pi-ta-ca, Cha-chi-ta-no-wa, Ca-ya-quoi, Che-cami, Ca-wil-ai-chi, Co-noi chi, Che-pi-teau, Cal-ai-chai, Co-ne-chi, Co-lo-cha, Cou-pe-ment, Cho-a-mien, Che-a-louis, Co-wa-quo-i-pi, Ca-auch-i-ca, Ca-wil-ai-chi, Corn-stalk Peter, Cha-pau-tais-ca, Cha-qua-i-pi-teau, Cha-a-pa-quais, Co-ni-ha, Callico, Che-ki-ua-quois, Charlie (Weas), Calsh-ki-ni-wai, Ci-ca-cox-say, Ca-la-nat-chi, Chi-lit-cou, Chapeau, Che-pa-chi- tha, Chawae-na-ea, Chi-ti-yia, Ca-te-wi-ca-cha, Cat-chem, Cho-an-ae, Daguet, Es-que-pi, E-tha-wa-chi-ca, E-quoi-chi-ka, E-quo-tho-ai-chi-ca, E-le-mes-sa-ta, E-le-mo-al-en, Capt. John, E-cou-ach-i-ca, E-le-men-pi-ea-chi-ca, Gray John, George Lewis, Hai-le-qui-coch-a-ca, Ha- handy, He-a-la, He-le-bin-don, Hai-swa, Hais-quoi-ta-bi-ai-chi-ca, Jni-oi-pia-i-chi-ka, John, Jaco, (Kaskaskia Indian), 1-tha-the-ca-ca, John Brown big nose. (Seneca), Ill-en-e-sa, Kish-Ka la-wa, Ka-wai-pi-chi-ca, Ka-ki-ne-chi-mon, Kish-qui-si-pi. Kc-ta-ca-sa, Kai-chau-kai-ka-ka Kai-ta-ka-kai, Kai-tae-qui-sa, Kas-kas-kia, Le-no-wa-ka-me-chi-ka, Less-a-wi-ca-chet, Le-ca-wa,
218
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
village on White river, near Forsythe, in what is now Taney county; a village on James' Fork, in what is now Christian county, and a village on Wilson's creek, in what is now Greene county; in addi- tion, Shawnee and Delaware villages were located on the Maramec and Current rivers, and on the headwaters of the Gasconade, and other points in the interior.170 A village of allied Piankishaws was
La-to-wai, Lath-ci-ca, La-wai-chi-ca, Loa-me-chi-ca, Le-noi-quoi-pi, La-mi-ci-nouis, La-path-ka Le-mi-sa, La-pe-piais, La-puce-au-pi-pi-quais, Lais-sa-wiea-chet, fils Daguet, Le-tois-La-ge Ca-paui, La-wa-cai-chi-ca, La-pa-ne-hi-las, Louis Madline, Little Duck, Le-on-ap-pa, Me-so lo-nais, Mes-ce-pechez, Messa-quai-pi, Me-ya-wa-the-ca-ca, Mascou-Lo, Me-the-ta-ca, Me-nal, Me-qui-pia, Mou-va, Me-tou-a-ki, Mingo, Mia-wi-ui-chi-ca, Mi-tais-cheaud, Met-cha-quai-ti Chara, Me-ya-wa-te-qua-ka, Me-chal-vui-Ma, Ma-ca-tai-pi-ai-chi-ca, Ma-chie-la-i-ni, Mascou a L. M., Mia-wi-ca-pa-wi, Marilouise, McLean John, Me-la-chi-tha (Seneca), Ne-me-chi-co-ta- wais, Ne-mat-chi-quai, Ne-chi-ta-wi, Nat-chi-quai, Ne-nicote, Na-pa-wi-ta, Ne-la-wi-chi-ca, Ne-he-pi-teau, Ni-qua-ni-cher, Na-wi-chi-ca, Ne-ca-bi-ai-chi-ca, Ne-qui-men-te, Na-ua-me-pi- te-ai, Na-no-chi-nais, (Nacanchica) Nau-me-au-chi-ca, Ne-ca-ni-pae-chi-ka, Ni-ta-wi-nau, Ne-na- hi-chi-ka, Nat-com-ming Loup, Na-pe-pa-es, Ne-lai-non-deu, Na-wel-chi-ca-ca, fils de Pae-chi-ca, Na-ni-quoi-the-ca-ca, fils de Na-pa-wi-ta, Ou-an-ke-to-ais, Owl John, Owl George, O-tha- war-ca-ta-yeux gris, Pe-pa-so, Pae-chi-ca, Pa-yai-pac-chi-ca, Pa-ma-la-wis, Pe-pa-mous-se, Pa-min-quoi-chi-ca, Puce-La, Pi-pi-se, Pi-lai-wa, Pac-chi-qua, Pau-tchi-qua, Pa-pa-me-tha-cou- tais, Pi-ta-toua, Pe-con-ges-si, Pie-chi-mon, Po-can-gi-pac-cau, Pied-mon-chi-nois, Pe-te-naka, Pa-yai-chi-ca-ca, Pe-me-che-pi-teau, Pe-chi-qua-kami, Pe-lo-wi-ta-chi-mou, Pe-wa-lai-chi-ca, Pa-chi-teau, Pet-che-pak-chois, Pa-ta-thais, Pia-to-ta, Pa-pa-quoi, Paut-chi-tais, Pe-mit-sai, Pe-mi-cai-ta, Pot-jane, Pas-cal (Kaskaskia), Petit Jean (Peoria), Perry Capt., Pem-ca-wai (Kas- kaskia), Paut-chi-tais, On-quai-quilchi, Piai-ta-wa-chi-ca, Pa-yai-ta-wai-chi-ca, Pe-tha-cou- chi-ca, Pi-ca-cha, Pe-lowi-chi-thais, Quai-po, Qui-no-ge-shi-mon, Quoi-chi-cane, Qua-nio- quoi, Quai-tak-sa, Que-no-mi-ta, Qui-noui-qua, Quo-quoi-qui-qui, Qoui-la-wa, Qui-qoi-pieds, Que-chi-le-sa, Quoi-coke, Quai-ha-ha, fils de Relaipia, Qui-man-sa, Quoi-que-nau-ou Borgne, Que-o-rou-al-ou-ai-chi-ca, Capt. Reed, Rastineer, frere de Menal, Sou-ani-ai-chi-ca, Sa-wa- ca-mi, Sa-qui-cho-laine, Sa-wai-quoi-chi-ca, S. B. Socur, Squa-biai-chi-ca, Si-pi-wois, Sally, niece de Menal, Squi-la-wais, Se-pe-chez, Squai-cami, Sandres James, Sa-wai-quai-chi-ca, Squa-nake, Ski-cke-qua, Se-ni-ca, Capt. Squirrel (Delaware), Si-co-ni-chre, Silk Humbus, Senixawi (Huron), Seneca (little son with beard), Sana-quoi, Sia-loir-ing, Va-nio-mi-chit-a-rian, Vincenne le Petit, Wai-ho-ca-tair, Wai-tai-wai-ni-chi-ca, Wha-he-la-pis-ca-se, Wai-li-co-ho, Wa- pi-min-qua, We-na-ca-mi, Wa-qui-wais, Wai-ho-lai-la-mi-ai, Wai-ho-lai-la-mint, Wac-ca-no-se, Wa-ho-lo-has, Wi-ta-min-quai, Wa-wi-lai-ua, We-na-hi-neau-wai, Wi-quoi-nau-quai, Wa-chi- qui-nau, Wahh-pi-pi-cha, Wa-wi-la-quois, Wi-lo-chi, Wai-spi-ai-chi-ca, Wa-chi-ca-ten-a-ca, Wai- tai-ta-ca, Wilson William, Wa-chi-qui-uain, Wa-pa-po-ke-thi, frere de Pepamousse, Wi-a-pe-ne- chi-ca-Shaw, Wais-nau-ke, Yo-me-chi, Ya-ni-quoi-ta, Ya-pa-lou-chi-ca, Yai-tas-ka-ka, Ya-hi-chi, Ya-cou-ai-chi-ca, n v de Perry, Ya-wa-chi-ca, n v de Perry, Tha-oais, Ta-quo-qui-ui-les, Te- ca-mi-chi-ca, Tai-qui-quai-ca-ca, Ta-wau-an, Ta-ta-quois, Ta-lo-wai-chi-nau, Ta-kau-key, Te- mi-chi-ca, The-wa-ca-mi-chi-ca, Tote (Petit loup qui est avec Pemit-sais), Ta-ta-oui-ta-caus-si, Te-mes-te-te on Pierre Woolf D. N. V., Troit Del, Mutake, Tote (Chawaunon Huron).
To these names may be also added the following from the account-book of Gilly & Pryor, dated 1815, now in possession of Henry L. Rozier, Esq., of Ste. Genevieve, some of these names being evidently the same:
A-la-cou-a, Beaver Little (a Loup), Beaver George, Chi-cai-tawa, Chi-ca-wais, Cha-pais, Cash-co-capa, Cate-pi-taca, Cha-chi-tanos, Caya-quois, Chi-cami, Ca-wil-aichai, Con-aichi (fem- me), Cho-con-awa, Chu-asa, Che-pi-teau (frere de Che-losa), Ca-lai-chi (fils de Te-cam-chi-ca), Ca-nai-chi (frere de Te-cam-chi-ca), Es-que-pi, Mai-li-qui-co-chaca, Man-ha-nai (Loup), Ini-oi-pi- ai-chi-ca (fils du frere Lorimier). John (Loup), John (Shawnee village), James Sondres (Shawnee), Kau-ai-pi-chi-ca, La soeur de la femme du Lorimier, La femme du frere a Lorimier, Leno-wa- ka-me-chi-ca, Lis-ca-wi-ca-chee, Le-ca-wa, Lam-ni-si-noui, Leat-chica, La-wai-chi-ca, La-puce, Me-sa-lou-ais, Me-the-ca-ca, Me-ce-pe-ches, Mes-sa-qua-pi, Me-yau-at-te-ca-ca, Mi-qui-pi-ai (courteau), Ne-mi-chi-co-ta-wais, Ne-mo-chi-quai, Ne-chi-tau-i, Na-chi-taui, Na-chi-quai (frere de Ne-chi-taut-i), Na-to-wai, Ne-ni-cothe, Na-pa-wi-ta, Ne-la-wi-chi-ca, Ne-chi-pi-teau, Ni-qua- ni-chu, Ne-mi choi-pe, Ne-ca-vi-ai-chi-ca (fils de Te-cam-chi-ca), Pa-pa-seau, Pa-ma-loo-uis (fils de Kis-ca-la-wa), Pa-min-quai-chi-ca, Pa-pa-me-sa-cure (sa Femme), Pe-mi-ta-ca-mi-chi-ca, Pe-pi-se, Pi-tai-ua, Pac-chi-ca (medecin, probably a medicine man), Pa-ut-chi-c, Pa-chi-ca (mere de Sandros), Pi-ta-lou-a (frere Te-cum-chi-ca), Pa-pa-me-tha-cou-tas, Qu-ai-po, Qui-no-ge-shi-mou (fils We-ta-min-quai), Quoi-che-cane, Quai-chou-is-pi-to, Sa-wa-ca-mi, Sa-qui-cho-lai-ne (Dela- ware), Squa-vi-ai-chi-ca, Squa-i-ca-mi, Tha-oai-pre, Te-mi-chi-ca, Ta-quo-qui-ne-las, Te-cam- chi-ca, Va-ni-omi-chi-a-u-an, Wai-tai-wai-ni-chi-ca, Wha-he-la-pis-ca-re (Loup), Wai-cho-ca-tais (Loup), Wa-pi-man-quai, Wa-qui-wais, Wai-cho-lai-ta-mint (the bear Loup), Wa-ho-lo-has, Wi-ta-min-quai.
Other Indian names in said account book, and with which said firm did business, are: Ca-ya- quoi, Ne-la-wi-chi-ca, Wi-na-ca-ni, La-te-wai, Wai-ho-lai-la-ni-cai, a cousin of Squoi-bi-ai- chi-ca, Quoi-pi-ai-chi-ca, Sa-wa-ca-mi, Na-pa-wi-ta, (fils de Na-pa-wi-ta.)
170 Morse's Report, p. 366.
219
MISTREATED
situated on the St. Francois, and one of the Peorias at Ste. Genevieve in 1794, under a chief named Massa-Rosanga - and another on Current river. A band of Indians also had a village near Pilot Knob in 1818, presumably Shawnees and Delawares.171 These Indians finally all removed beyond the borders of Missouri, and by the treaty of 1825 the Shawnees and Delawares received for the Spanish grant in southeast Missouri, a tract on the Kansas river, fourteen miles square, and in addition, fourteen thousand dollars for their improve- ments.172 With the Shawnees, according to Flint,173 were also mixed some Creeks.
It was not long after the American occupation of the country and the spread of the white settlements that these Indians, then having their principal villages on Apple creek, in the north part of Cape Girardeau county, began to suffer from the encroach- ments of their white neighbors. Some of these, not too honest, would steal their horses and "many other things." 174 In 1815, when a treaty was made at St. Louis with the Indians, the Shawnees and Delawares complained of these matters to the commissioners, Gen- eral Clark, Governor Ninian Edwards, and Colonel Chouteau. Wahepelathy, their principal chief, who afterwards had his village where Bloomfield now is, made this talk: "When the Spaniards told us to choose a piece of land, and when we made choice of it, we obtained from them a grant which has since been recorded by the board of commissioners, and we understand that all the concessions granted to the white people by the Spaniards were good. We live among the white people, and our behavior has been such that no honest white man can have any cause to find fault with us; and we are certain they never will have cause to complain. We have always conducted ourselves honestly and intend to continue so. Early in the spring, on my return from hunting, I found my house had been broken open and what I had left in it all gone. I then took the resolution of moving to another place on Castor river to settle myself, provided my father, General Clark, would be pleased with my doing so. He recommended to us to raise stock and cultivate our land with industry. His advice we have followed, and wish to remove to
171 Life of Peck, p. 109.
172 Harvey's History of the Shawnee Indians, p. 184.
173 Flint's Mississippi Valley, vol. i., p. 159.
174 Harvey's History of the Shawnee Indians, p. 162.
220
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
a new settlement, if we can be permitted to do so, and we do not care anything more for our old town; but again, lately we have been encroached upon by a bad white man, by the name Jenkins, who we hope you will remove from this country, if we are permitted to remain in it." 175 In accordance with this petition, within twenty- two days all intruders were ordered by the President to remove from the land of the Shawnees and Delawares. But this was only a temporary relief, and as has already been stated, in 1825 these In- dians were compelled by the encroachments of white settlers to sell their Spanish grant and leave the state for a home farther west.176
According to Lesieur, in 1808-9, these Indians became possessed of the infatuation that witchcraft was being practiced among them, and no less than fifty women suffered cruel death by the torch within twelve months. The charges against these unfortunate beings were usually based upon the report of some one who imagined that he had seen an intended victim in the form of an owl or some other bird, or in the form of a panther or beast of the forest. "This was enough," says Lesieur,177 " the accused was brought forth, tried by three selected criminal judges, and nine out of ten at least were found guilty and doomed to suffer death by fire." When the frenzy and madness of these people had reached the highest pitch, it was suddenly checked by the appearance among them of Tecumseh, who was then engaged in his scheme to form a vast confederacy of all the Indian tribes to stem the encroaching tide of the white set- tlers.
It is certain that bands of Cherokees at an early period crossed the Mississippi. According to an old tradition, after the first treaty
175 2 American State Papers, Indians, p. II.
176 Morse's Report, p. 107. Of these Indian villages on Apple creek, says Flint : "I saw at Jackson, in Missouri, another emigration of the Shawnees and Delawares to the country assigned them at the sources of the White river I had passed through the villages of these people when they inhabited them, and no place is more full of life and motion than an Indian village. At the upper end of the villages, under the shade of the peach trees, sat the aged chiefs on their benches, dozing, their eyes half-closed, with their ruminating and
thoughtful sullenness depicted on their countenances. The middle and lower end of the villages were all bustle and life; the young warriors fixing their rifles; the women carrying water, and the children playing at ball. I passed through the same villages when every house was deserted. The deer browsed upon their fields, and the red-bird perched upon their shrubs and fruit trees. The mellow song of the bird, and the desolate contrast of what had been but a few months before, formed a scene calculated to awaken in my mind melancholy emo- tions."-Flint's Recollections, pp. 149, 150.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.