History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 7

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 7

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The mounds vary in shape as well as in size. Some of them are rudely conical. This is per- haps the most common form. Others are

somewhat elliptical in form having one axis much longer than the other. This is the case of the great mound in Pemiscot county. Others, still, are almost square at the base with tapering sides in the form of a pyramid. These mounds however are very much less numerous than the conical ones. It is rather remarkable that few if any of the countless mounds here show any resemblance to bird or beast. In other parts of the country, where mounds exist in such numbers as here, some are usually found bearing unmistakable re- semblance to the form of some animal. This is true of the great serpent mound of Ohio. One mound iu Pemiscot bears some resem- blance to the handle of a gourd. A few others in this part of the state bear some real or fancied resemblance to some natural object. Most of them, however, have no such resem- blance.

Another fact that is true of a very large number of these mounds is that they are earth mounds. In many parts of the country there are mounds which have rude structures of stones at their base. There are some of this character in Southeast Missouri, but the great number are built entirely of earth. It is plainly evident, in many cases, just where the earth which entered into the construc- tion of the mound was secured, for the de- pression or excavation made in taking up the earth is still to be seen in the immediate neighborhood of the earthwork itself. No matter who built them, nor for what purpose, it is still true that they were built of earth taken in most if not all cases from near the site of the mound itself.

These mounds are often grouped in rather significant ways. They are as we have said often situated on the bank of a stream or pond. They are nearly always grouped to-

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

gether in numbers. Not many are solitary. Often one large mound is surrounded by many smaller ones. Sometimes a number of larger ones are found near together. It is the all but universal rule that they are not found singly. In some cases the group of mounds is surrounded by a wall. Mention is made elsewhere of a group in New Madrid county around which a wall of some height was con- structed. Beckwith, in his history of the In- dians of Missouri, mentions another similar group in Mississippi county which is also in- closed within a wall.

On Bayou St. Jolm, about eighteen miles from New Madrid, is a group of interesting mounds. They lie on the west side of the bayou and are situated on the sloping ground that rises from the bayou to the prairie land above. It seems that in carly times an area of about fifty acres was here inclosed by a wall. This wall may be traced in part yet, though much of it has disappeared. It is from three to five feet in height and about fifteen thick at the base. It is built of earth. Inside the inclosure made by this wall and near its western side is an oblong mound about three hundred feet long by one hundred in width and twenty feet high. Near this mound is a depression in the earth about ten feet in depth. Within the memory of men now living this depression had very steep sides so that a ladder was necessary to reach its bottom. In the center of the inclosure is another mound, circular in shape, seventy-five feet in diameter and twenty feet in height. Directly in line with these two is another circular mound, one hundred feet in diameter and twelve feet high. Sur- rounding this one are a number of smaller mounds, while still within the inclosure are a large number of shallow depressions about three feet in average depth.

In connection with these mounds there was to be seen at one time a curious formation of the banks of the bayou. Conant, from whom this description is taken, says that small tongues of the land had been carried out into the water, from fifteen to thirty feet in length and ten to fifteen in width, with open spaces between. These are quite similar, says Con- ant, to the wharves of a seaport town. It is Conant's theory that this bayou was once the channel of the Mississippi river, which no doubt it was, that with the recession of the waters of the river, a lake was formed and that upon the shores of this lake the builders of the mounds and the inclosing wall built these miniature walls for the convenience of handling their fishing boats.

Conant further describes an excavation ly- ing about one mile from the mounds here de- scribed. This excavation is in the form of an oval, one hundred and fifty feet by seventy- five feet and six feet deep. It has an en- bankment around it. On the northern side this embankment is eight feet high while at the south it is only five. On the southern side there is a narrow opening in the wall and from this opening a curved dump or fill, such as are erected by railroads, leads to the swamp. At the end of this fill and within the swamp the dirt taken from the excavation was deposited, until a circular mound or wharf was raised about twenty feet in diameter and five feet high. The same opening and elevated way extends from the northern end of the excava- tion to the water. (Switzler's "History of Missouri.")

In addition to the mounds which we have described there are a large number of other striking ones to be seen in several of the coun- ties. One of these is a group of mounds south of the present site of Ste. Genevieve. They

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

are found within the "Big Field" and are very evidently of artificial origin. Imme- diately around them the ground is perfectly level being alluvial soil. The mounds vary in size, the largest being about thirty feet in height and probably one hundred and fifty feet by one hundred feet. There are a nun- ber of other smaller mounds some of these too being of considerable size. Most of these mounds have been partly explored and have yielded some material to the work of the ex- plorers.

In Dunklin county, just south of the town of Cottonplant on the main county road, there is a large mound probably thirty feet in height and one hundred feet in diameter at the base. This mound has been dug into at various times and considerable quantities of Indian relics taken from it. It was evidently a burial ground for there have been found vessels containing bones in the mound. This mound is the site of the substantial dwelling of C. V. Langdon.

Still another group of mounds is on the main road between Bernie and Dexter not far from the line of the Cotton Belt Railway. Just as is true of all the others we have de- scribed, this group of mounds is found on per- fectly level ground. There are four of them varying in size from a small heap of earth to the largest which is perhaps twenty-five feet in height. Different persons have dug in this group of mounds at various times and in 1900 some persons living in Malden opened the largest of these mounds and took from it a quantity of Indian relics. Among these relics are some specimens of Indian pottery that are unusually good. There were found water bottles, pots and urns of a very high class of workmanship. Some of these pieces are in the possession of the Malden High school.

It is evident that these mounds present to the student of history and archaeology a most fascinating problem. Here are thousands of mounds of earth, scattered throughout every county of this section, varying in size from the tiny one of a few feet in diameter and a few inches in height, to the giant earthwork hundreds of feet in dimensions large enoughi to be mistaken for natural hills, and yet bear- ing unmistakable evidence of artificial origin. These structures are grouped in some order, follow the water-courses, are inclosed some- times by walls of earth, are of such age in many cases as to bear upon their summits or sides great trees hundreds of years old. Who built these mounds ? For what purpose were they built? These questions presented them- selves at once to those who first recognized their artificial character.

An answer to these questions was sought in the mounds themselves. Many of them were excavated. They returned to the researches of those who dug in them very different re- wards. Some of them contained absolutely nothing at all. In many of them nothing was found except the evidences of fire. Burned pieces of wood and ashes constituted the en- tire contents of many of the mounds. But some of the mounds contained other and very interesting remains. Pottery of every char- acter and size, bones of persons and of beasts, implements and tools, and weapons of war, all these have been found in mounds. Most numerous of all are the mounds which con- tain bones and pottery. In some cases the bones are found in the earth itself, in others they are in vessels of pottery. Many people have engaged in the exploration of these mounds and many mounds have been opened. There are still others in this section which have not been touched as yet. These are for

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

the most part owned by persons who do not wish them disturbed. It is quite probable that there exist large numbers of mounds, some of them not yet known, which contain many in- teresting remains such as those mentioned.

So many bones are found in some of the mounds that they are classified as burial mounds. In some of them there are evidences of two or more distinct burials, leading us to believe that after the first bodies were placed in the mound and covered, other bodies were then placed above and the mound carried on to its completed form. The condition of the bones leads to the belief that most of the bodies were denuded of flesh before being placed in the mounds, and that frequently only a part of the bones were buried at all. Often only the skull and some of the large bones of the legs are found. In some cases a large number of bones are found together, comprising parts of a number of skeletons. The probability is that in such cases a large number of bones were gathered together and then put into the mound without separation. The tools and implements sometimes found in the mounds are often associated with bones, showing them to have been buried together, and suggesting some connection between their presence and the rites of burial. The pottery found in these mounds is of various shapes and sizes. A few large urns containing bones have been found, other and smaller vessels seem to have been made to hold food or water.

As has been said, these mounds and their contents have given rise to a great deal of dis- cussion and many theories have been ad- vanced to explain their origin. Archaeologists believed for a long time that they were the work of a vanished race whom they called the "Mound Builders." These people were re- garded as having lived in this country prior

to the coming of the Indians and to have been a much superior race. The grouping of the mounds has suggested to some the arrange- ment of cities and villages about a center which was a great capital. It was insisted that the Indians could not have built the mounds for a number of reasons. One reason was that their arrangement indicated an or- ganization, a nation with a capital. This or- ganized national life the Indians did not have; consequently they did not build the mounds. Another reason was that the In- dians could not have built mounds of such great size as some of the works. Still another advanced was that the age of the mounds pre- cludes the idea that they were the work of the Indians.

The balance of opinion inclines however, at this time, to the idea that the mounds are the work of Indians. It is difficult to accept the hypothesis of the Mound Builders, with their high state of civilization, their organized gov- ernment and their great capital. There is not sufficient evidence of such a state of civiliza- tion. The excavation of the mounds did not disclose any evidence at all of a high state of civilization supposed by those who believe the Mound Builders to have existed. There has been little or nothing found in the mounds which was not entirely familiar to the Indian of this country. No such finds were made in these mounds as in the somewhat similar ap- pearing mounds of the Tigris-Euphrates val- ley. There the spade of the archaeologist turned up all the external evidences of a great civilization. Mighty palaces and temples ; the walls and streets of great cities, libraries, in- scriptions ; the record of long years of exist- ence and civilization, were all uncovered. bear- ing silent but unmistakable evidence to the ex- istence of mighty and wealthy nations. Con- trast this with the meager contents, the im-

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

plements of stone, the vessels of pottery, and the masses of bones found in the mounds of this country, and we see at once how strong is the negative argument against the existence of a great civilized race of people antedating the Indians. It is true that in Central Amer- iea some ruins are found approaching the con- structions unearthed in the East, but such is not the case in North America. We may wonder at the industry that reared the mounds of such great size, we find some things difficult to explain in any way about them, but we cannot believe them to have been the work of eivilized people.

On the other hand there are reasons for be- lieving that they are the work of the Indians. One of these is the faet of their arrangement. The Indian, for many reasons, selected most frequently as a site for his habitation or vil- lage, the bank of a stream or lake. This is the situation of many of the mounds. Another evidence of the Indian origin of the mounds is the fact that the utensils and implements found in some of them are similar to those used by the Indians. Yet another is the fact that the Indians of this country were ac- customed to practice mound burial. They placed the dead body on a scaffold or in a tree until it was denuded of flesh, then gathered up the bones and placed them in a mound. That is evidently what the builders of the mounds did. The age of some of the mounds also indicates their Indian origin. Many of the mounds, it is true, are very old. On the other hand many of them bear unmistakable evidence of having been built in recent times. The mound described by Conant near Bayou St. John in New Madrid county, cannot be very old for within very recent times the pit, from which the earth was taken for the mound, had very steep sides ; so steep, in faet.

that a ladder was needed to descend into it. This would not have been the case if the mound had not been of recent origin. The natural action of the elements would have partly filled it up and reduced the steepness of its sides. In fact this has happened within the memory of those living when Conant wrote.

These facts, while not conclusive, point to the Indians as the builders of the mounds. There are other facts pointing in the same direction. Many of the mounds contain traces of what seems to be the mud plastering from a wall constructed of canes or sticks. Such walls were built by the Indians of the Mississippi valley having been copied, doubt- less, from the Indians of the southwest.

It has been objected to this theory that some of the mounds are too old. It is pointed out that many of them must have been in ex- istenee for centuries before the coming of the white men, for at the time when DeSoto was liere these mounds had trees growing ou them. This objection assumes the Indians to have lived here but a short time. That is not known to be true. On the contrary we have strong reason for believing that they must have lived in North America for many hun- dreds of years. If they have not been here for a long time, it is difficult or even impos- sible to explain how they became seattered over the great continent. They were found to be living in practically every part of this country. No matter how they first reached the continent it required a long period of years for them to people such a vast expanse of territory.

It is objected too that the Indians had no reason for building the mounds. We may not understand just why they were built by In- dians, but neither do we know why they were built by Mound Builders or anyone else. It

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

is just as difficult to explain the motive of their construction, if we assume them to have been reared by the Mound Builders, as it is if we ascribe them to the Indians. To imagine another race of people does not lessen the dif- ficulty of explaining the reason for their con- struction.

It is not, however, impossible to give a rea- sonable explanation of the existence of these mounds on the theory that they were the work of the Indians. When the ancient Assyrians began to rear buildings, they put them on mounds of earth and constructed them of sun- dried brick, and this, in spite of the fact that their country contained many hills suitable for building purposes and plenty of wood and stone which might have been utilized for building. The explanation of these remark- able facts is found when we remember that they were imitating the work of an older civilized people, the Babylonians. These Babylonians had neither hills as sites, nor wood or stone as building materials. They found substitutes for them. The Assyrians, who began later, simply copied what they had seen others do. It is highly probable that the Indians who build mounds were simply imitat- ing a form of village arrangement with which they had become familiar elsewhere. Per- haps in the southwest, where the Pueblo In- dians placed their dwellings on the top of cliffs and utilized the tall rocks for lookout stations, there was formed the notion that the suitable place for a dwelling was on an eleva- tion. The Indians who went out from there carried this idea into places where no natural elevation was to be found. In lieu of this they reared artificial mounds. In time it came to be accepted that a mound of earth was the proper place for the location of the honse or temple. This idea, in turn, was car-

ried from the alluvial plains where it was formed into the hills where again mounds were reared.

In considering this, which is advanced simply as a theory which may explain the building of mounds, it should be remembered that mounds are not found in all parts of the country. A careful investigation may dis- close the fact that they are found in those parts of the country where the inhabitants had some connections with the south and southwest.

What seems the best and most reasonable explanation of the existence of the mounds is this. The Indians selected as a site for their village the vicinity of some stream or lake. They then erected mounds. One was for the house of the chief; another, sometimes pyr- amidal in shape for the temple; another was for the burial of the dead; still another formed a station for the priests and orators of the tribe, and one was for the purpose of a lookout from which to observe the approach of enemies. The size of the mounds depended in part upon the number of Indians in the village and in part upon their inclination and industry. In the course of years the dwel- lings and temples, of frail construction as they were, disappeared, leaving only a heap of earth to puzzle those who found them.

The contents of these mounds, as we have said, are interesting as being the record of the degree of civilization of the people who built them. Many of the mounds have yielded interesting and curious returns to the spade of the investigator. Hundreds of mounds have been explored more or less completely. The relies taken from them have been carried to museums and the collections of private indi- viduals in many parts of the country. There

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are a great many of these relics owned in Southeast Missouri. Most of them are scat- tered, but there are several good collections.

Perhaps the largest collection of Indian relics in Southeast Missouri, if not in the en- tire state, is that owned by Thomas Beckwith, of Charleston. This collection has been gath- ered by Mr. Beckwith through a period of more than thirty years, and now comprises about ten thousand different pieces; some of them of the every finest workmanship and of the greatest value. Practically all of these were found in Mississippi county and by far the larger number on Mr. Beckwith's own farm. This collection is described and pic- tured in his book, "Indians of North Amer- ica." There are a number of other collections, most of them smaller, owned by residents of this section. Louis Houck in his book, "His- tory of Missouri," described some unique pieces which he has seen, one of which, a pipe bearing a carved head, has disappeared. An- other of these was a statuette, the figure of a woman carved in sandstone, about eight inches in height and bearing considerable re- semblance to the Venus de Melos. Unfortu- nately this remarkable piece of senlpture has been lost. Another of these unique pieces is a figure in tlie collection of Mr. Beckwith. It represents some animal and is also carved from sandstone and evidences considerable skill on the part of the artist.

There are other collections not so large as this, but containing many things of interest. Some collections which formerly existed have been broken up and the pieces dispersed. It seems unfortunate that at some central point in this part of the state, there might not be gathered a great and complete collection of Indian relics of this section to be perma- nently retained as a memorial for all time of the presence of the aborigines.

Besides these collections having a general interest, there have been found oceasionally certain pieces which have been dcemed of great importance owing to the fact that they were different from the usual character of Indian relics. In - there was found on a farm just south of Malden a very remarkable series of Indian plates. Ray Groomes while plowing on the farm of Mrs. Baldwin, turned up a piece of metal which attracted his atten- tion by being caught on the point of his plow. On examination he found that there had been thrown out of the furrow some metal plates. He searched about and picked up eight of these plates which had been buried to a depth of about sixteen inches. There was nothing to mark the spot and he is confident that there was nothing else buried in connection with the plates. He dug about hoping to find some other relics, but the only thing that he dis- covered was a kind of white powder in the place where the plates had been lying. This powder he did not preserve as he could make nothing of it at all. The plates were taken by him to the town of Malden and offered for sale. They were finally bought by A. S. Davis and kept by him for a time, and then dis- posed of to J. M. Wulfing, of St. Louis, who now owns them. These plates are the most remarkable of the Indian relics found in Southeast Missouri. They are of thin copper and represent what seemed to be eagles hav- ing faces of men. One of them seems to be a double eagle. They at once suggest, from their appearance and workmanship, the work of the Indians of Mexico. There is nothing else like them to be found in the Mississippi valley. How or why they were put into the place where they were discovered are ques- tions which cannot now be answered. No one who has examined them has been able to solve

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

the mystery of their presence in this part of America.

There existed in Southeast Missouri two or three other unusually good collections of In- dian relics. Dr. G. W. Travis, of Cape Girar- deau, at one time owned one of these large collections. On his removal from Cape Girar-

deau the collection was broken up and sold, part of it coming into the possession of the State Normal School. Another large collec- tion was owned by Dr. L. P. Ruff. This col- lection has been removed from this part of the state.

CHAPTER II

ADVENTURES OF DE SOTO

Is MADE GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA-LANDS IN FLORIDA-DISCOVERS THE MISSISSIPPI - PLACE OF CROSSING-DIRECTION OF MARCH-THE CASQUINS-RELIGIOUS SERVICE-ATTACK ON CAP- AHAS-SEARCH FOR SALT-PROBABLE SITUATION OF CAPAHA CAMP-RETURN TO THE SOUTH -QUIGATE-LOCATION OF CALIGOA-FURTHER TRAVELS AND DEATH-INTEREST CONCERNING EXACT ROUTE.

It seems probable that De Soto was the first white man to set foot on the soil of Missouri. Certain difficulties are in the way of an exact determination of the question of his visit to this state. One of these is the somewhat ro- mantie style of the Spanish chroniclers who wrote the earliest accounts of his journey ; an- other is the difficulty of telling, from their ac- counts, just what places are referred to. It is no easy matter to identify with certainty, from the description given of places visited, where these places are. Yet, while we may not be sure, it seems highly probable that the travels of De Soto and his companions brought them into the Southeast Missouri.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 7

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844