Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 49

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074

USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 49

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Missouri Antiquities.

Dr. C. A. Peterson, former president of the Missouri Historical Society, devoted a great deal of time to the study of Missouri "antiquities." He summed up his conclusions in this forcible language :

"But credulity has been taxed to the utmost, and columns of crude ideas and inane arguments have been published, by half-baked archaeologists, to establish a great antiquity for the mounds and an advanced civilization for their builders, and the extreme and ridicu- lous flights which the imagination has been permitted to take in building up the story of the mythical mound builders may be well illustrated by this case: About thirty years ago an amateur archaeologist in exploring quite a modern Indian mound reported that he had found the skeletons buried beneath it to be a proper complement in number and arranged in proper order and position to represent the principal officers of a Masonic lodge at work, each officer being equipped with implements and insignia of the craft. To those attached to a contemplation of mystery, and to revellers in the occult, this was the most marvelous and entertaining discovery ever reported in American archaeology, but there were a few incredulous, unfeeling scoffers who would not accept the story as true because the dis- coverer did not produce the bones of the candidate and the goat. In conclusion, let it be reiterated that there was never an iota of evidence in existence tending to establish the contention that some people, other than the American Indian, erected the mounds and other earthworks found in connection with them, and the physical condition of the abandoned works, and their contents, does not justify a belief that any of them were erected more than one thousand years ago."

Missouri's Indian Population.

That the Indian population of Missouri was numerous and lived in this region many generations before the white man came, Walter B. Douglas, Dr. H. M.

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Whelpley, Gerard Fowke and all other investigators agree. One Indian mound in Missouri has yielded more than a thousand pieces of pottery. The capitol of Missouri was built upon an Indian burial mound. When the excavation for the foundations was made the workmen uncovered many human bones and much pottery. Indian graves were found on most of the high bluffs of Cole county overlooking the Missouri. Arrow-heads and stone implements, tons of them, have been picked up within the limits of the county.

Some of the Indian communities of Missouri were much more civilized than others. They had industries. The Missouri Historical Society has a great clay bowl three feet in diameter and six inches deep. It was found at Montesano, twenty miles south of St. Louis, where there are fourteen mineral springs. An Indian town of considerable size was located at Montesano. The bowl was one of many used in the manufacture of salt by evaporation. Gerard Fowke, the archaeologist, said : "This bowl may be 300 or it may be 3,000 years old. How long the Indian settlement remained there will never be any more definite to us than the word ancient implies. The deposits at Montesano give us no clew as to this question. We know that as recently as 100 years ago the Indians made salt and sold it to white settlers and traders. But whatever the age of this settlement, we do know there was an Indian village at the spot now called Montesano. They were a tribe inclined to manufacture and had an extensive salt industry. They were naturally attracted to the spot by the springs, and the fact that they could keep an eye on the surrounding country from the bluff on which the springs are located. Possibly they caught the salt-making idea from watching their animals lick the rocks over which the salt water flowed."

Vice-President Walter B. Douglas of the Missouri Historical Society, who had devoted much study to the traces of the aboriginal Missourians, said : "Many Indian relics are found in pits which the Indians used for storing grain. They dug large holes in the ground and built fires in them to bake the sides and bottom. The baking process made the pits as hard and dry as though walled with brick. Into these pits the Indians poured their grain to keep it through the winter. They were great granaries. But after a certain time moisture in the ground would find its way to the grain, and the pits became useless as store- houses. Then the Indians used them as dumps into which they would throw refuse of all kinds, broken arrow-heads, pottery and bones. Wherever there was an Indian village of any size these pits can be found. I believe we can find some of these pits at Montesano, and believe they will show the size of the Indian city. whose remains are buried there, and give up many interesting relics."

Laclede's Indian Policy.

With practical tact Laclede treated an Indian crisis before St. Louis was two months old. At the same time he established an important policy for the com- munity. Auguste Chouteau and "the first thirty" had built the great shed for the temporary storage of the goods. They had put together cabins for them- selves. They were assembling the rock and the timbers for Laclede's house, · which was to serve for headquarters for the fur company. The Missouris arrived from the west. There were 125 warriors and the complement of squaws and papooses. No hostility was shown. On the other hand, there was embarrassing

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friendliness. The Missouris announced that they would build a village and live beside the white men. They begged food. They helped themselves to tools. Some of the intending settlers who had come over from Cahokia to join the settlement showed alarm and began to move back to the east side. Auguste Chouteau sent word of the emergency to Laclede at Fort Chartres. Meanwhile he put the squaws to work for pay in paint and beads digging the cellar for Laclede's house and carrying away the dirt. The founder came quickly in response to Auguste Chouteau's call and with due formality went into council with the Missouris. The chiefs repeated their decision to become part of the settlement and to depend upon the white men for protection against their enemies, the Illinois nation. Laclede listened and promised an answer the next day.

Auguste Chouteau remembered that diplomatic speech and 'wrote it into his diary. It was a speech which averted a crisis and which laid the foundation of an Indian policy of long and far-reaching advantage to Missouri. Laclede called the chiefs together, as he had promised. He went over the reasons they had given for joining his settlement. He reminded them that by moving to the bank of the Mississippi they would be placing themselves within reach of their hered- itary enemies, the Illinois nation. He pictured an awful fate, which he, with the best of intentions, could not avert, if they, the Missouris, came to live where they could be so easily attacked from the east side of the river.

"I warn you, as a good father," he said. "that there are 600 or 700 warriors at Fort de Chartres, who are there to make war against the English, which occupies them fully at this moment, for they turn all of their attention below Fort de Chartres, from whence they expect the English; but if they learn you are here, beyond the least doubt they will come here to destroy you. See now, warriors, if it be not prudent on your part to leave here at once rather than to remain to be massacred-your wives and your children to be torn to pieces and their limbs thrown to dogs and birds of prey. Recollect, I speak to you as a good father. Reflect well upon what I have told you and give me your answer this evening. I can not give you any longer time, for I must return to Fort de Chartres."

That night the Missouris departed, going up the river of their name to their old home. Laclede sent to Cahokia and brought over corn to give them for food.

Traditions of the Missouris.

The Missouris were so called because they lived in the Missouri river country. The name had been given by the Illinois or Illini nation of red men. In an earlier time the Missouris were known as the Nudarches. They had established a record of friendliness with white people long before Missouri was permanently settled. Marquette was welcomed by them nearly a century before the coming of Laclede. The good disposition of the Nudarches or Missouris was reported by other early explorers. It is history that in 17.12 this tribe was one of several which marched to the relief of the white settlement at Detroit. But the Mis- souris distinguished between white nations. They were kindly disposed toward the French. For the Spaniard they had a different feeling. They ambushed and destroyed a Spanish expedition sent up from Mexico by way of Santa Fe to the Missouri country. An account of this affair is given in the History of Missouri by Davis & Durrie :

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"As early as 1719 the Spaniards, alarmed at the rapid encroachments of the French in the Upper and Lower Mississippi valleys, made strenuous exertions to dispossess them; 'in order to accomplish which they thought it necessary to destroy the nation of the Missouris, then situated on the Missouri river, who were in alliance with the French and espoused their interests. Their plan was to excite the Osages to war with the Missouris, and then take part with them in the contest. For this purpose an expedition was fitted out in Santa Fe for the Missouri in 1720., It was a moving caravan of the desert-armed men, horses, mules, families, with herds of cattle and swine to serve for food on the way, and to propagate in the new colony. In their march they lost the proper route, the guides became bewil- dered and led them to the Missouri tribe instead of the Osages. Unconscious of their mistake, as both tribes spoke the same language, they (the Spaniards) believed themselves among the Osages, instead of their enemies, and without reserve disclosed their designs against the Missouris and supplied them with arms and ammunition to aid in their exter- mination. The chief of the nation perceived the fatal mistake but encouraged the error. He showed the Spaniards every possible attention, and promised to act in concert with them. For this purpose he invited them to rest a few days after their tiresome journey, till he had assembled his warriors and held a council with the old men. The Spanish captain imme- diately distributed several hundred muskets among them, with an equal number of sabres, pistols and hatchets. Just before the dawn upon which the company had arranged to march, the Missouris fell upon their treacherous enemies and dispatched them with indiscriminate slaughter, sparing only a priest whose dress convinced them that he was a man of peace rather than a warrior. They kept him some time a prisoner, but he finally made his escape, and was the only messenger to bear to the Spanish authorities the news of the just return upon their own heads of the treachery they intended to practice upon others."

There is a tradition that a selected party of the Missouris was taken to France in order that their loyalty might be rewarded and they might return with impressions of the white men's ways. The daughter of the chief who was in the party became converted, was baptized and married a French officer. After the return of these Missouris to the Mississippi Valley, the tribe joined other Indians in an attack on a French post and massacred the people. Auguste Chouteau may have known of this tradition, and that may have increased his alarm. The bad name given the. Missouris by the tradition was not borne out by the events of that day on the site of St. Louis. Subsequent relations between the white people and the Missouris were friendly. The French tried to instruct them. The priests directed missionary efforts toward them. But the Missouris did not accept civilization.

Extermination of the Missouris.

After their initial visit to St. Louis the Missouris maintained friendly relations with the French settlers for years. They camped along the Missouri river, part of the time in the vicinity of St. Charles. The entire tribe was practically wiped out by the strategy of the Sioux. One of the earliest writers of St. Charles county history, more than half a century ago, told the story. At the time of their destruction the Missouris were living on a plateau along the river. The location was about twenty miles above the mouth of the Missouri river. It commanded a view of miles up and down the river and was partially surrounded in the rear by a range of hills. Game abounded. The Missouris were at peace with the few white neighbors who had settled in what are now St. Louis and St. Charles counties. The narrative of the St. Charles county historian follows :

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"The Sioux had left their home and were descending the Mississippi river in force, 'seeking whom they might devour,' intent on robbery and murder. Being unincumbered with women, children and baggage, their light canoes soon floated them to the borders of our country. The Missouris, by some means, the precise character of which history has not preserved, became aware of the near proximity of their hereditary foes, and sachems, warriors and braves were summoned to a council of war; and commencing with the young- est man present. they proceeded to elicit the judgment of all, each rising in his place around the council fire and gravely and deliberately giving his opinion, and the burden of all that warm eloquence was, 'let us engage our foes and our fathers' foes-their enemies and ours.'

"The distance from the encampment of the Missouris to the junction or 'point' made by the two rivers was, as it is, twenty miles. The Sioux were intending to descend the junction and, leaving their canoes in safety, depart hither and thither for a season on their accustomed predatory and scalp-hunting excursions. The Missouris, knowing this usual custom of their enemies, dispatched all their available force to the point, where they knew the Sioux generally landed, and, hiding in ambush, awaited their approach. The Sioux, however, became aware of the position of the Missouris, and instead of prosecuting their journey to the place at first intended, disembarked at a point several miles above, and shouldering their light canoes, carried them across the neck of land between the two rivers, at this place about two miles wide, and launching forth on Missouri's muddy stream while their enemy of the same name was anxiously expecting them below, proceeded up stream. with the intention of attacking the Missouris' camp. From that camp the party could be discerned at a distance of three miles, and those in camp, supposing. it was the Missouri party returning successful, and not dreaming of the sad fate that awaited them, prepared to welcome back their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons. But, sad mistake! No sooner had the Sioux landed than they fell upon their defenseless enemies; nor did they cease till every woman and child was either killed or driven off and every vestige of the camp either taken or destroyed. Few and little escaped the 'heartless vengeance of these warriors; stimulated and frenzied by genuine Indian hatred, the destruction was complete. As soon as their savage work was done, without a moment's delay they hastily reembarked, and, as swiftly as brawny arms could urge them on, descended to the 'Point' where the Missouris, in ignorance of what had transpired, were anxiously, and, as hour after hour glided by, yet more and more anxiously awaiting them. While thus momentarily expecting the approach of their enemies from the Mississippi, they were suddenly surprised by the war-whoop at their backs. But a moment sufficed for them to spring to their feet and engage in the deadly conflict. The battle raged furiously, and so fiercely was it con- tested that it was long doubtful which party would be compelled to bite the dust; but the arms of the Sioux, nerved by unrelenting hate, were strong, and they prevailed. The vic- tory was complete-few, very few, of the Missouris escaped-so few that never afterwards were they regarded as a nation.

. "The spot at which the Sioux disembarked on the Mississippi river, and from which they commenced to carry their canoes across the neck of land to the Missouri river, as above narrated, is well known, and is the site of the town of Portage des Sioux, a point of some importance in the early history of Missouri territory, one of the oldest settlements in this region, still retaining much of the quiet, simple, unique character always found in the early French villages of the country."

Pontiac's Funeral.

One of the notable days of the administration of St. Ange de Bellerive at . St. Louis was the military funeral given to an Indian. Pontiac was a chief of three tribes in his youth. He ruled over the Ottawas, the Ojibways and the Pottawattomies. He consistently sided with the French and fought the British. In one of his orations he called the English "dogs dressed in red who have come to rob you of your hunting grounds and to drive away the game." That was the year that Laclede came up the Mississippi to found St. Louis. France was

PONTIAC

Buried with military honors near what is now Broadway and Market Street, St. Louis.

A TYPE OF THE SHAWNEES Welcomed to Missouri by Spanish governors

From an old wood cut

AN INDIAN CAMP

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surrendering by treaty her possessions east of the Mississippi to England. Pontiac led an uprising against the new authority. "Pontiac's war" continued until 1766. The chief was compelled to make a treaty with the English. He came west to the Illinois country and found a congenial retreat in the French community of St. Louis. He was still in his prime but disappointed ; he became a hard drinker. St. Ange de Bellerive had known the chief in better days and treated him kindly. While in his cups Pontiac was enticed across the river to the vicinity of Cahokia by a Kaskaskia Indian, and killed from ambush. It is tradition that an English trader bribed the Kaskaskian with a barrel of rum to get Pontiac out of the way. St. Ange went after the body of the chief. Upon the return to St. Louis, Pontiac was dressed in the uniform of a French general, a gift to him by Montcalm. The body lay in state, guarded by the French soldiers who had come from Fort Chartres after the evacuation. At the hour of burial military honors were paid. Pontiac had never been baptized. His body could not be placed in consecrated ground. A grave was dug for him a short distance west of the cemetery. Its precise location, as determined by the Missouri Historical Society, was twenty feet east of Broadway and fifty feet south of Market street. The full garrison paraded at the funeral and the entire population of the settlement attended.

The Gift of Chouteau Springs.

The good will of the Indian toward the French pioneers of Missouri was shown in substantial ways. A locality known as Chouteau Springs, in Cooper County, obtained its name from a gift of land made by the Osages to Major Pierre Chouteau, the son of Laclede, as early as 1792. The Spanish government approved the grant and the United States later confirmed it. Pierre Chouteau spent most of his time for thirty years among the Indians. How he won their confidence was shown in the words of the land gift, which was signed by the principal men of the Osages :

"Brother: As thou hast, since a long time, fed our wives and our children, and that thou hast always been good to us, and that thou hast always assisted us with thy advice, we have listened with pleasure to thy words, therefore, take thou on the River La Mine, the quantity of land which may suit thee, and anywhere thou pleasest. This land is ours; we do give it to thee, and no one can take it from thee, neither today nor ever. Thou mayest remain there, and thy bones shall never be troubled. Thou askest a paper from us, and our names; here it is. If our children do trouble thee, you have but to show this same paper ; and if some nation disturbs thee, we are ready to defend thee. At the fort of Grand Osages, this 19th of March, 1792."

The Spaniards and the Indians.

If the French fur traders and merchants accepted Spanish sovereignty easily, the same was not altogether true of their Indian constituents. Down the Mis- souri came a chief of the Osages about 1770 to see the new flag and its repre- sentative. Governor Piernas had established cordial relations with Laclede and with St. Ange. It didn't occur to the Spanish don that the red chief expected the courtesy of one governor to another. Governor Piernas was dignified. The Osage went home and returned with a band. He met a Shawnee chief who was in St. Louis to see the governor about moving to some land south of St. Louis.

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The Shawnee looked inquiringly at the war bonnet. The Osage was drinking. He confided to the Shawnee his intention to avenge the slight the Spanish governor had put upon him: he was going to kill him at the first opportunity. The Shawnee saw the way to win favor for himself. He provoked the Osage to quarrel and killed him with a blow of the knife. The Osage chief was buried on Grand Terre, or Big Mound, which gave the name to Mound street, and there the Osages came year after year in the colonial period to mourn and to decorate the grave.

American historians have charged Cortez and Pizarro and other Spaniards with atrocious treatment of the Indians. They have never given credit where due for the tactful course pursued toward the natives by white men who settled and governed in Missouri for more than sixty years. In all of the relations with Indians during the pioneer generations of this country, there is no period, no place which can offer comparison with the record established in Missouri. In the years of Spanish dominion at St. Louis there were times when financial stringency was felt. Salaries were reduced. Soldiers were not paid for months. Retrenchment was ordered. But the annual presents or "gratifications," as they were called, for the Indian nations were not passed by. At the time of the American occupation the presents made by the Spanish government to the Indians in Upper Louisiana amounted to $12,000 a year. An official gunsmith was located at St. Louis to repair the guns of the Indians. He received $140 a year from the government. The Indians made visits to St. Louis to have their fire- arms put in order.

When Louis Lorimier came in 1794 to found Cape Girardeau on the Spanish grant given him, he was welcomed by the Indians. There were three Indian villages up Apple Creek, twenty miles above its mouth. These Indians made considerable progress toward civilization. They lived in cabins of hewn logs with shingles on the roofs.

One of the schemes of Spanish governors was the settlement of Shawnee and Delaware Indians near St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. They thought these Indians could be partially civilized and made useful as allies to ward off attacks from wilder tribes in the west. The Shawnees and Delawares professed to like the arrangement. They formed villages and raised corn. But the young bucks would get out and commit depredations. One day a band of these Indians came upon a St. Louis settler named Duchouquette, who was alone in the vicinity of what is now Lafayette Park. They killed the white man. Francis Duchou- quette was some distance away, and saw the attack. He ran to the village and gave the alarm. Officer Tayon called for help and led a posse in pursuit. The Frenchmen came upon the Indians. Duchouquette saw the one who had killed his brother and who was wearing the fresh scalp tied to his belt. He shot him. Four other Indians were killed. This discouraged the Spanish governors. Dela- wares and Shawanoes, or Shawnees, as commonly called, to the number of 3,000 Indians, remained in Perry County until 1825.

Execution of Tewanaye.

To illustrate how discreet the St. Louisans had been in their Indian relations, Captain Stoddard, who raised the American flag, told of the speech made by a

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truculent chief at a peace conference in St. Louis a few years previously. This chief said: "We have come to offer you peace. We have been at war with you many moons, and what have we done? Nothing. Our warriors have tried every means to meet you in battle; but you will not; you dare not fight us. You are a parcel of old women. What can be done with such a people but to make peace since you will not fight ? I come therefore to offer you peace, and to bury the hatchet ; to brighten the chain, and again to.open the way between us."

The treatment of Tewanaye, the Mascutin, is an illustration of the Indian policy which prevailed in the early days. When the Osages had delivered to Governor Delassus the band of Mascutins responsible for the massacre of David Troter and his son and for the burning of their home on the Meramec, investi- gation showed that Tewanaye was guilty and that five others who were brought in were not guilty. Tewanaye confessed his participation. His execution took place in January, 1803. It was attended by a great demonstration. The militia companies of half a dozen posts marched under command of Governor Delassus to New Madrid. Tewanaye was unshackled. The sentence of death was read and translated for him in his own language. The militia paraded in front of the standard. The execution was by shooting. The other Indian prisoners were so placed that they could see all that occurred. The body of Tewanaye was placed in the coffin. The soldiers, with drums beating, marched by. The Indian prisoners were unshackled, taken to the governor's headquarters and turned over to their chief, Agyponsetchy of the Mascutin nation. The governor returned to St. Louis. The militia companies marched back to Cape Girardeau, Ste. Gene- vieve, New Bourbon and Platin. There was no more trouble.

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Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 49

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939 Publication date: 1921 Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1074

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074