USA > Missouri > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Missouri : past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Vol. I > Part 14
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CHAPTER XIV.
LEWIS AND CLARK'S EXPEDITION OF 1804-6.
Thus far the actors of whose doings we have spoken have been mainly subjects of Spain and France and the aborigines of the territory of which we are treating. And it is refreshing to emerge from the realms of uncertainty and obscurity that involve much of their doings into the clear light of recorded facts.
In the year 1803 the United States by what is known as the Louisiana Purchase came into possession of all the territory west of the Mississippi river, between the Mexican dominions on the south and the limits of Oregon on the north, through to the Pa- cific ocean. Fifteen million dollars was the price paid France for this cession, which caused adverse criticism in many quarters. the amount being thought excessive. Largely to allay this feel- ing, expeditions, by direction of President Jefferson, were equipped and sent out, one under command of Captains Merri- weather Lewis and William Clark and another commanded by Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike. The former ascended the Missouri river from St. Louis, starting in the spring of 1804 and returning in 1806, and the latter went from the same point in the upper Mississippi regions, starting in the summer of 1804 and return- ing in April, 1806, his journey having taken him to the source of the Father of Waters.
Lieutenant Pike's success in this undertaking led to his being placed at the head of a second expedition up the Missouri by General James Wilkinson, to be carried out pursuant to instruc- tions here, in part, given :
"St. Louis, June 24, 1806.
"Sir-You are to proceed without delay to the cantonment on the Missouri river, where you are to embark the late Osage cap- tives, and the deputation recently returned from Washington, with their presents and baggage, and are to transport the whole up the Missouri and Osage rivers to the town of Grand Osage. * * Having safely deposited your passengers and their property, vou
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are to turn your attention to the accomplishment of a permanent peace between the Kansas and Osage nations, for which purpose you must effect a meeting between the head chiefs of those na- tions, and are to employ such arguments, deduced from their own obvious interests, as well as the inclinations, desires and com- mands of the President of the United States, as may facilitate your purpose and accomplish the end.
"A third object is to effect an interview and estab- lish a good understanding with the Yanctons, Tetans or Com- anches.
"For this purpose you must interest White Hair of the Grand Osage, with whom, and a suitable deputation, you will visit Panis (Pawnees) Republic, where you may find interpreters and inform yourself of the most feasible plan by which to bring the Com- anches to a conference. Should you succeed in this attempt (and no pains must be spared to effect it) you will endeavor to make peace between that distant powerful nation and the nations which inhabit the country between us and them, particularly the Osage, and finally you will endeavor to induce eight or ten of their chiefs to make a visit to the seat of government next Sep- tember, and you may attach to this deputation four or five Panis. and the same number of Kans chiefs.
"It is an object of much interest with the executive to ascer- tain the direction, extent and navigation of the Arkansas and Red rivers; as far, therefore, as may be compatible with these instructions, and practicable to the means you may command, I wish you to carry your views to those subjects, and should cir- cumstances conspire to favor the enterprise, you may detach a party of a few Osages to descend the Arkansas under the orders of Lieutenant Wilkinson or Sergeant Ballinger, properly in- structed and equiped. This party will, after reaching our post on the Arkansas descend to Fort Adams and there wait further orders; and you yourself may descend the Red river accompanied by a party of the most respectable Comanches to the post of Nachitoches, and there receive further orders.
Wishing you a safe and successful expedition, I am, sir, with much respect and esteem, your obedient servant,
"JAMES WILKINSON."
To Lieutenant Z. M. Pike.
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Pursuant to these instructions Pike, with a company of some twenty-three men, officers, privates, interpreters and a physician, on July 15, 1806, embarked at Belle Fontaine, employing a barge and a pirogue, and started on their expedition up the Missouri and Osage rivers. In their charge were some fifty Osage Indians and a few Pawnees, whom our Government had ransomed from the Pottawatamies, who had captured them two or three years before, in an attack on their camp on the Grand river of the Osage when most of the men were away on a hunting trip. Among these captives were the under chiefs Tattasuggy (The Wind), Tetobasi (Without Ears), Shenga Wasa (Beautiful Bird), and Hasakedatunga (Big Soldier). The expedition was well equipped and provisioned, though the company found abundance of game, deer, bear, and fowl for their subsistence. The boats were pro- pelled by oars and poles, the Indians, for the most part following the river course on foot. Reaching the mouth of the Osage on July 28th the journey was continued up that river. The progress of the heavily laden boats against the current of the river was slow and tedious, and on the 12th day of August, at their own request, the Osages, under charge of Lieutenant Wilkinson, left the boats at the mouth of Grand river, the place where they had been captured by the Pottawatomies, and after a tiresome, six days' tramp across the prairies, reached the village of the Little Osages on the 18th. Concerning their arrivel Lieutenant Wilkin- son wrote: "When within a mile of the town the chief Tutta- suggy, cr "The Wind," desired a regular procession might be observed and accordingly he placed me between himself and his first warrior, and the ransomed captives followed by files. Half a mile from the village we were met by 180 horsemen, painted and decorated in a very fanciful manner. Those were considered as a guard of honor, and on our approach, opened to the right and left, leaving a sufficient space for us to pass through. A few yards in advance, on the right, I perceived sixty or more horse- men, painted with a blue chalk, which, when the chief observed, he commanded a halt, and sent forward his young brother, Nezuma, or "The Rain that Walks," with a flag and silk hand- kerchief, as a prize for the swiftest horseman. At a given signal they started off at full speed, the two foremost taking the flag and handkerchief, and the rest contenting themselves with having shown their agility and skill.
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As I entered the village I was saluted by a discharge from four swivels (which the Indians had taken from an old fort erected by the Spaniards on the river) and passed through a crowd of nearly a thousand persons, part of whom I learned were of the grand village. I was immediately, but with ceremony, ushered into the lodge of the Soldier of the Oak, who, after having paid me some very handsome compliments, courteously invited me to eat of green corn, buffalo meat, and water-melons, the latter about the size of a twenty-four pound shot, which, though small, were highly flavored." Describing the meeting, he says: "Wives throwing themselves into the arms of their husbands, parents em- bracing their children and children their parents, brothers and sisters meeting, one from captivity, the other from the towns- all at the same time returning thanks to the good God for having brought them once more together." Tetobasi (Without Ears), who had several children in captivity, none of whom were recov- ered, addressed the company saying in part : "Osage, you now see your wives, your brothers, your daughters, your sons redeemed from captivity. Who did this? Was it the Spaniards? No! Was it the French? No! Had either of those people been gov- ernors of the country, your relatives might have rotted in cap- tivity, and you never would have seen them; but the Americans stretched forth their hands and they are returned to you. What can you do in return for all this goodness? Nothing! All your lives would not suffice to repay their goodness."
Lieutenant Pike was not present at this meeting, he having remained with the boats, but continuing up the Osage, on August 19th, writes : "We commenced very early to arrange our bag- gage, but had not finished at 1 o'clock when the chief of the Grand Osage and forty or fifty men of his village arrived with horses. We loaded and took our departure for the place where Manuel de Liza had his establishment, at which we arrived about 4 o'clock, and commenced pitching our encampment near the edge of the prairie." * "Our reception by the Osage was flattering, and particularly by the White Hair and our fellow travelers." From the description and account given, this encampment, which was "on the bank of the river equi-distant from the Grand and Little Osages." was south of the Osage, in the northern part of what is now Vernon county. While the exact site of the villages cannot be definitely located, enough is known to be able to state
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with reasonable certainty, that the Grand Osage village was a short distance below the mouth of the Marmeton, and that of the Little Osage was west of that river.
CAMP INDEPENDENCE.
Pike and his party named these temporary quarters Camp Independence and remained here until September 1st, counseling with the chief men of the Osages and arranging the details for continuing their journey. A census of the villages taken by Pike showed that they comprised a total of 2,519 persons, includ- ing warriors, women and children, 214 lodges, and 1,200 pieces of fire-arms. In his description of the region, as it appeared to this clear-headed, tactful and far-sighted explorer, he writes: "The country round the Osage villages is one of the most beautiful the eye ever beheld. The three branches of the river, viz: the large east fork (the Sac), the northern one (the Marias des Cygnes), and the middle one (the Little Osage), up which we ascended all winding round and past the villages, giving the advantage of wood and water, and at the same time the extensive prairies covered with rich and luxuriant grass and flowers gently diversi- fied by the rising swells and sloping lawns, present to the warm imagination the future seats of husbandry occupied by numerous herds of domestic animals, which are no doubt destined to crown with joy those happy plains. From the last village on the Mis- siouri (La Charrette) to the prairies on the Osage river, we found plenty of deer, bear and some turkeys. From thence to the towns there are some elk and deer but near the villages they become scarce. From the Osage towns to the source of the Osage river there is no difference in the appearance of the country, except that on the south and east, the view on the prairies becomes unbounded and is only limited by the imbecility of our sight."
THE OSAGES.
Much has been written concerning these first occupants of this territory, the Osages : The name was first spelled Ou-chage, then Oua-chage, later Ousashe, Ochage and finally Osage, the meaning of which in the various forms is, the strong, or strong armed, it being an early custom among the Osages, who were men of strong physique, to have the right arm bared to the shoulder. Their manners, customs and morals were similar to those of the Kaus,
.
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the Otoes, the Missouris and the Mahaws, with whom they spoke a common language, from which, and the further fact that they came from the north and west, we are justified in concluding they belonged to the great Dahkota family of Indians. Separating from the parent tribe, for whatever reason, whether by an amica- ble arrangement, growing out of a scarcity of the spoils of the chase, or led by motives of self-preservation, or the desire for greater independence, incited by those who aspired to leadership, the Osages and the Kansas came to the south and east, while the Mahaws (Omahas), Missouris and Otoes remained farther north on the Missouri.
From the account of his ascent of the Mississippi, in 1687, by Father Anastasius Donay, we learn that the Missouri river, which was so called for the Indians of that name, was originally known as the River of the Osages: That the Osage Indians inhabited the territory to the south of that river, and that the Osage river, on which were seventeen villages, was so called before the time of his writing: And it is but reasonable to conclude that among these villages were those mentioned by Du Tissenet in the account of his explorations in 1819, and by Pike in the report of his expedition in 1806. About a hundred years before Pike's visit here, a colony. taking the name of Little Osage, were permitted to go out from the main tribe; and, led by their chiefs, they settled on the Missouri river near what became the site of Fort Clark, later called Fort Osage. They soon found, however, that they were too weak to withstand the attacks of warring tribes from the north and east, and returning were allowed to build their village, where Pike found it, on the south fork of the Osage, some six miles from that of the Big Osages. There was also another branch of the Osages, who called themselves the Chaneer- Ouachage (the Wise Osages); commonly called the Arkansaw Osages. This branch was organized in 1796 through the influence of Pierre Chouteau, who sought to continue a monopoly of the Osages' trade which he formerly held at the Fort Carondolet trading post, after De Lisa became agent there in his stead. At the head of this branch were Chiefs Cushesegra (Big Track) and Clermont (Town Builder), whose hereditary right as head of the Big Osages had been usurped by Pawhuska (White Hair) when Clermont was an infant. This Arkansaw branch, which numbered some fifteen hundred, men, women and children, settled along
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the Arkansas river, Clermont's village being on the bank of the Verdigris some sixty miles above its mouth. A democratic form of government prevailed among the Osages, and all important questions relating to any undertaking were first submitted to. and discussed by a council of the head men, chiefs, warriors, etc., and decided by the vote of the majority. Under the prevailing cus- toms the warriors and hunters composed a class, next to whom came a second division composed of the doctors and cooks, who were of considerable importance. The doctors, or medicine men, on account of their supposed magical insight into mysteries and their skill in the use of medicines, were held in awe and had great influence ; while the cooks, who included the warriors and hunters who, on account of age, or disability or other causes, were not fit for war or to join in the chase, played no mean part in the affairs of the tribes.
Their lodges were rude structures, varying in size, sometimes 100 feet in length, arranged without regard to regularity, but near to each other, so as to accommodate a large number of per- sons in a small space. The center or ridge poles rested in the crotches of upright posts sharpened and driven into the ground. The sides, to a height of four or five feet, with openings for the doors, were formed by stakes driven into the ground close together to which were fastened poles bent over the ridge-pole to form the frame work of the upper part. Puncheons or slabs were used to enclose the gables, and the whole was made water-proof by a covering of matting made of rushes, while an opening in the top allowed the escape of smoke from the fire in the center below. As a place of honor for guests, and for the display of trophies and family treasures, a raised platform, covered with skins, occu- pied one end of the lodge.
The Osages were noted for their splendid physiques, being tall, muscular, supple and of erect and dignified bearing. Old White Hair is reputed to have been nearly seven feet tall, and the average height of the men was more than six feet.
They were brave warriors and were so regarded by the na- tions to the south, but by those to the north, the Sacs, the Iowas, the Pottawatomies and Foxes, were looked down upon as weak and insignificant; and while it may be. as has been said, that the northern nations often whipped them two to one, their conflicts did not always end that way. Dr. C. B. Brand, who came. to
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Vernon county in 1866, and lived near Balltown, says that Newel Dodge, with whom he was well acquainted, told him of a great battle between the Osage Indians and the Sacs and Fox Indians which deserves to be classed among the decisive battles of his- tory. Mr. Dodge got his information from the Osage Indians, with whom he held intimate and friendly relations, being for many years their interpreter and one of them by adoption.
INDIAN BATTLE.
It was in February, 1820, the year before the missionaries came, that a band of 500 Sacs and Foxes from northern Illinois, near the site of the present city of Chicago, conceived the idea of making a raid upon the Osages and robbing them of all their possessions; and, with this purpose in view, came hither. The Osages were divided into three camps: one was situated about a mile southeast of the site of the present town of Horton, at a place later known as the Widow Doake's farn, one near Pryer's creek, just west of where the town of Metz now stands, and one on an elevation or mound south of the site of Carbon Center, near what came to be known as the Dick Baughn place. Surrounding the camp last named, the Sacs and Foxes made an onslaught upon it, but were held at bay by the Osages, whose runners carried word to the other camps. With their combined forces a fierce battle ensued in which the Osages routed the invaders, who rushed for the low lands bordering the Osage river. The bottoms were overflowed by recent heavy rains, but. the Sacs and Foxes plunged in, closely followed by the Osages, who forced them into the forks of the river where they fought in water waist deep till every Sac and Fox, with a single excep- tion, was either killed or drowned. This survivor made his escape by stripping himself naked and swimming three miles; and subsisting on two rabbits he managed to catch, he made his way to Booneville where he was cared for by some Catholics. He afterwards returned to this country and joined his former enemies, Mr. Dodge being present at the ceremony of his adop- tion into the Osage tribe. And it was this Indian who told of the utter rout and extermination of his fellow invaders from the North. As a result of this battle the Osages, in place of being held in contempt, and as an easy prey by the Sacs and Foxes,
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were ever after feared and respected, and never again molested by them.
TREATIES WITH THE OSAGES.
Fort Clark on the Missouri, later known as Fort Osage, was established by our Government in October, 1808. Here, at this time, was concluded the first treaty between the United States and the Osage nation, by the terms of which the Government was to "establish and permanently continue, at all seasons of the year, a well assorted store of goods; to furnish at this place, for the use of the Osage nation, a blacksmith and tools to mend their arms and utensils of husbandry, and also to build them a horse-mill or water-mill; also, to furnish them with plows and to build for the great chief of the Great Osages, and for the great chief of the Little Osages, a strong blockhouse, in each of their towns which are .to be established near this fort." And further, the Government was to deliver to the Great Osages and to the Little Osages a thousand dollars worth, and five hundred dollars worth of merchandise, respectively, each year, and on the signing of the treaty, was to pay the former eight hundred, and the last named, four hundred dollars in cash. In return, the Osages, through Pierre Chouteau, who had become a citizen of the United States, and acted as the authorized agent of the Indians, surrendered to the Government all their rights in and to that part of Missouri territory, east of a line twenty-four miles east of what is now the west boundary line of the state, described as, "Beginning at Fort Clark on the Missouri, five miles above Fire Prairie, and running thence a due south course to the river Arkansaw, and down the same to the Mississippi," the cession including all territory east of that line north of the south bank of the Arkansas river and north of the Missouri. and a tract six miles square surrounding Fort Clark. This treaty was executed by the Osages on November 10th, after some objec- tions on their part, when they learned that what they had thought a mere act of friendship on the part of the United States, was in reality a part of the price paid for their land. Old White Hair, especially, protested, but yielded in the interest of har- mony with the Government. The United States Senate ratified the treaty in 1810, and in September of the next year the Indians were paid their first annuity.
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INDIAN SETTLEMENTS.
In White Hair's village, which was in the southern part of what is now Blue Mound township, the Government sent a black- smith, named Armstrong, and the greater part of the Osages continued to live in, and in the vicinity of this town, though some settled around Fort Clark, and a few years later, about 1815, a band went from here and settled on the Neosho river, in what is now Labette county, Kansas.
During the troubles incident to the War of 1812, the Osages, for the most part, continued faithful in their allegiance to the United States, through the influence of White Hair, The Wind, and other leading men, though some, incited by English emis- saries who came among them, sided with the British. Fort Clark was abandoned as a military post in June, 1813, and the stores taken to St. Louis, as a precaution against raids from British allies from the North; but after peace was restored, in 1818, it was re-established as Fort Osage, and placed in command of Colonel Sibley, who served as the Government agent till 1825, when it was finally abandoned. This wise commander commends in the highest terms, the loyalty of the Osages, and his explicit accounts, after an intimate acquaintance with, and long residence among them, furnish much of the reliable information we have concerning them. Writing from Fort Osage, October 1, 1820, he says of the Great Osages of the Osage river: "They live in one village on the Osage river, seventy-eight miles due south of Fort Osage. They hunt over a very great extent of country, com- prising the Osage, Gasconade and Neeozho rivers and their numer- ous branches. They also hunt on the heads of the St. Francois and White rivers, and on the Arkansas. I rate them at about 1,200 souls, 350 of whom are warriors or hunters, fifty or sixty are superannuated, and the rest are women and children." Of those of the Neeozho, he says: "They have one village on the Neeozho river about 130 or 140 miles southwest of Fort Osage. They hunt pretty much in common with the tribe of the Osage river, from whom they separated six or eight years ago. This village contains about 400 souls, of whom about 100 are warriors or hunters, some ten or fifteen are aged persons, and the rest are women and children. Papuisea, or White Hair, is principal chief." Speaking of the Little Osages he states they
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occupy "three villages on the Neeozho river, about 130 or 140 miles southeast of this place. This tribe, comprising all three vil- lages, and comprehending about twenty families of Missouris that are intermarried with them, I rate about 1,000 souls, about 300 of whom are hunters and warriors, twenty or thirty superan- nuated and the rest are women and children. They hunt pretty much in common with the other tribes of Osages mentioned, and frequently on the headwaters of the Kansas, some of the branches of which interlock with those of the Neeozho. Nechoumani, or Walking Rain, principal chief." And continuing, he states : "Of the Chaneers, or Arkansas tribes of Osages, I say nothing, because they do not resort here to trade. I have always rated that tribe at about an equal half of all the Osages. They hunt chiefly on the Arkansas and White rivers, and their waters."
We further learn from Colonel Sibley's reports that the Osages raised small crops of corn, beans and pumpkins, which were cul- tivated in the most primitive manner, before leaving in May, for their summer hunt, and gathered on their return in August. That they subsisted on these and the dried meat saved from their chase, till September, when they cached whatever supplies were left, and started out on the fall hunt. That after their return, about Christmas, they stayed in their villages for the most part, consuming the remains of their caches, till in February or March, when they began the spring hunt, first for bear then the beaver, and continued till planting time, when they returned to their villages, and that this, varied with trading expeditions, and an occasional war, comprised the general routine of their life.
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