Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Fairbanks, Jonathan, 1828- , ed; Tuck, Clyde Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1086

USA > Missouri > Greene County > Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I > Part 3

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THE OSAGE INDIANS.

When the French and Spanish explorers first penetrated into this region. they found it to be the hunting ground, and at times the more or less permanent residence, of the Osage Indians. This tribe was the dominant one all through that territory which lies south of the Missouri river in Missouri and in north-

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

ern Arkansas. From the traditions of their medicine men, corroborated by similar traditions in other allied tribes, these Indians probably inhabited this country several centuries before the coming of the white man. The name "Osage" was a corruption of their own name, "Was-haz-he," made by the French, or, as the artist-explorer Catlin writes it, "Wa-saw-see." Catlin, in his "American Indians," says that they were the tallest race in North America, either among the red or white men. He states that few were less than six feet in stature, and that many were six and one-half and even seven feet. They were well-proportioned, good looking, rather narrow in the shoulders, and, like most tall men, rather inclined to stoop. Their movements were graceful and quick. In war, or the chase, they were equal to any of the tribes about them. Though long living on, or near, the borders of civilization, they studi- ously rejected all civilized customs, and uniformly dressed in skins of their own preparation. They were one of the few tribes that shaved their heads, and they decorated and painted themselves with great care and some taste. Their heads were of a peculiar shape, owing to the fact that they strapped their infants to a board, binding the head so tightly as to force in the occipital bone, thus creating an unnatural deficiency in the back part and consequently a more than natural elevation of the top of the head. They explained that this was done because it pressed out a bold and manly front. The Flat Head In- dians press the head between two boards, while the Osages used only one board, thereby compressing to only a slight degree. The latter, also, cut and slashed their ears and suspended from them great quantities of wampum and tinsel ornaments. Their necks were decorated with great quantities of wampum and beads. Living in a warm country, their shoulders, arms and chests were generally naked, and they wore silver bands on their wrists and frequently a profusion of rings on their fingers .* Washington Irving, in his "Tour of the Prairies." says, "The Osage Indians are the finest looking Indians I have seen in the West."

Further description of the dress of these Indians is given by Houck* who writes: "The dress of the Osages was usually composed of moccasins for the feet : a breech-cloth : an overall or hunting shirt, seamed up and slipped over the head, all made of leather, softly dressed by means of fat and oily sub- stances and often rendered more durable by the smoke with which they were purposely imbued. Perhaps this caused Brackenridge to describe them as hav- ing a filthy and dirty appearance. Long says that the ordinary 'dress of the men was a breech-cloth of blue or red cloth, secured in its place by a girdle ; a pair of leggins made of dressed deer-skin, concealing the leg excepting a small portion of the upper part of the thigh : a pair of moccasins made of dressed deer, elk or bison's skin, and a blanket to cover the upper part of the

* Catlin's "North American Indians," Vol. II, p. S9.

** "History of Missouri." Louis Houck. Vol. I, p. 186.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

body. The dress of the women was composed of a pair of moccasins, leggings of blue or red cloth, with a broad projecting border on the outside and cover- ing the leg to the knee or a little above; around the waist, secured by a belt, they wrapped a piece of blue cloth the sides of which met, or came nearly in contact, on the outside of the right thigh, and the whole extending downward as far as the knee or to the midleg ; and around the shoulder a similar piece of cloth was attached by two of the corners at the axilla of the right arm and ex- tended down to the waist. This garment was often laid aside in warm weather. The women allowed their hair to grow long, hanging over the shoulders, and parted longitudinally on the top of the head. The children were allowed to go naked in hot weather. Many of them tattooed different parts of their bodies."

History tells us that several centuries ago the Osage Indians, with allied *ribes, forming one great family, called Siouan, after the principal tribe, the Sioux, either migrated, or were driven by the Iroquois and other tribes, west- ward from Virginia and North Carolina, making long stops at various points along the Kanawha and Ohio valleys until the Mississippi was reached. While on the way, small bands were here and there left behind and so distributed themselves throughout the surrounding country. At the Mississippi, this Siouan band divided, one group, called the Omaha, or up-river group, going north up that river, and the other, the Quawpaw (Kwapa), or down-river group, going down the river. The Omaha group again divided at the mouth of the Missouri river, further dividing, as they went, into the Kaws (Kansas), who settled on the Kansas river; the Osage, along the Osage river; and the Missouris, along the Missouri river.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OSAGES.

Ethnologists have classified the Indians of North America into 56 great linguistic stocks, or families, which have been separated into more than 2,000 tribes, or affiliations ; and it is by a careful study of the Osage language that Dorsey has been able to show that this tribe belonged to the great Siouan stock, thereby confirming the relationship which the historian has pointed out in his account of the wanderings of the various tribes of this great family. As a further proof that the Siouan family was more or less homogenous in com- position, Nuttall* says that the language of these tribes differ little from each other. Major Long ** states that the pronunciation of the Omahas and Poncas was guttural, the Osages brief and vivid, and the Missouris nasal.

One reason for the migrations and separation into different tribes is found in the fact that they were largely dependent upon hunting for food and clothing, and when a village became too large, or its enemies too strong, it was necessary for them to break up and find new hunting grounds.

* Nuttall's "Arkansas." p. 82.

** "Long's Expedition," Vol. I. p. 342.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

At the mouth of the Osage river, one group remained, while another migrated to a point near what is now the southeast corner of Bates county.

From a geographical standpoint, the Osages may be divided into three bands, ¡ "Pahatsi," or Great Osages, the Bates county band; the "Utsehta or Little Osages, the band near the mouth of the Osage river ; and the "Saut- sukhdhi," or Arkansas band, south of the Osage.

About 1802, according to Lewis and Clark, nearly half of the Great Osages, under a chief named Big Track, migrated to the Arkansas river. From the same authority we learn that in 1804 the Great Osages numbered about 500 warriors, living in a village on the south bank of the Osage river. The Little Osages had about 250 warriors ; and the Arkansas band, with about 600 warriors, were on the Vermilion river, a branch of the Arkansas.

It is with the Pahatsi, or Big Osages that we of Greene county are especially interested, for here was one of the most important parts of their hunting ground. Here were beautiful large prairies, for the timber, in those days, was mainly confined to the neighborhood of the water courses ; and over these broad expanses roamed the buffalo, elk, deer, wolf and bear, while the tall prairie grass was alive with all the smaller game that would naturally in- habit so favorable a region. In the eastern, northeastern and northwestern parts of the county, the streams had cut deep valleys, and their tributary spring branches had worn out precipitous gorges which abounded in beaver, ducks and food fishes, making an earthly paradise for aboriginal man. Too much cannot be said of the beauty of the scenery as well as the abundance of natural re- sources which would appeal to him. That the Osage had a love for scenery was evinced by the fact that he always selected the most sightly positions-the tallest bluffs or promontories which commanded broad views of plain and low- land-for the burial of his dead. It was in such an environment of natural beauty, with rich soil, a great abundance of pure, clear, cold springs and broad, spring-fed streams and rivers, pure air, bounteous rainfall, and a food supply unlimited in quality and abundance, that was developed the Osage. who was the largest, most perfect in physique and the most admirable in character of any tribe of the great Siouan family, and probably of all the North American Indians.

Houck* says that "the Osages possessed all the Indian characteristics, talked little, in conversation did not interrupt each other, and except when in- toxicated, were not vociferous or noisy. They were not drunkards and were greatly and favorably distinguished from the other Indians by their general so- briety. Lieut. Frazier remarked that the Indians are in general great drunk-

+ "Handbook of American Indians," Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 30. Pt. II, p. 156.

* "History of Missouri," Louis Houck, Vol. I, p. 1S2.

(3)

3-4

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

ards, but adds, I must except the Osages. They rejected whiskey and refused to use it." Catlin, in another work, quoting from J. M. Stanley, 1843, says that "one admirable trait in their character was worthy of remark, viz, their aver- sion to ardent spirits. Such was their abhorrence of the 'fire water,' as they termed it, that they could not be induced to drink it. It is generally supposed that all Indians are passionately fond of it, those particularly who are brought into contact with the whites. We note this fact as an exception to the gen- eral rule."

The Osages were notable thieves, especially of horses. They took long trips. in the nature of forays, from their villages to the carly French and Span- ish settlements along the Mississippi. They were the terror of the early hunt- ers in the Ozarks, on account of their predatory habits, though they rarely shot or killed the whites. Anything left in their care, they would guard and protect at the cost of life, if necessary. However, after the restoration to its owner of the property thus guarded, they would, perhaps, avail themselves of the first opportunity to steal it. According to Sibley, who knew them well, "they were very intelligent. * They bore sickness and pain with great fortitude, seldom uttering a complaint, and Brown says they were most skillful in medicine."

Mrs. Hamilton ** , who lived five years among the Osages, says she never heard of an Osage man abusing his wife or children. As a rule, he was devoted to his family. The mother had control of the children. As soon as the girl was large enough to assist the mother in her work, she was set such tasks as she was capable of, but the boy was allowed more liberty. As. a rule, cach family lived in its own separate lodge. The women did most of the work, such as providing fuel, water, cooking, scraping skins and convert- ing them into articles of clothing and setting up the lodge. She also per- formed the various duties involved in their limited pursuit of agriculture. The man made his weapons, hunted and fished, provided meat for the family and aided in the mutual protection of their village and tribal interests.

Dorsey states that the virtues of their women were zealously guarded and their reputations defended.

In regard to government, each village had its chief and sub-chief. Pike* says "their government is oligarchical, but still partakes of the nature of a republic ; for, although the power nominally is vested in a small number of chiefs, yet they never undertake any matter, of importance without first as- sembling the warriors and proposing the subject in council, there to be dis- cussed and decided on by a majority. Their chiefs are hereditary in most instances, yet there are many men who have risen to more influence than those of illustrious ancestry by their activity and boldness in war. Although

** * Missouri Historical Review," Vol. IV, p. 19.

* * Pike's Expedition," Vol. II, p. 526.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

there is no regular code of laws, yet there is a tacit acknowledgment of the right which some have to command on certain occasions, while others are bound to obey, and even to submit to corporal punishment. -x- On the whole, their government may be termed an oligarchical republic, where the chiefs propose, and the people decide on all public acts."

In 1817 Sibley reports that the Great Osages had 400 warriors and the Little Osages 250, which, compared with the estimate given by early his- torians, shows that the tribe was diminishing.

Catlin* estimates the total number of Osage Indians to have been 5,000 in number in 1838.

Houck ** states that "the main dependence of these Indians was hunt- ing, but they raised, annually, small crops of corn, beans and pumpkins, which they cultivated entirely with the hoe, and in the simplest manner, planting in April. They entered upon their summer hunts in May and returned about the first of August to gather crops which had been left unhoed and unfenced all summer. Sibley states that each family, could save from ten to twenty bags of corn and beans, besides a quantity of dried pumpkins. On this they feasted, with dried meat saved in the summer, until September, then what remained was cached; and they set out for their fall hunt from which they returned about Christmas. From that time, until some time in February or March, if the season happened to be severe, they stayed pretty much in their villages, making only hunting excursions occasionally and during that time they consumed the greater part of their caches. In February or March the

* "North American Indians," Catlin, Vol. II, p. 40. 1204198

** "History of Missouri," Louis Houck, Vol. I. p. 182.

f In Pike's Journal, 1804 (see "Pike's Expedition," Vol. II, p. 385), he calls attention to Halley's Bluff, named for Col. Halley, in charge of Chouteau's Fort, or Fort Carondelet, on the Little Osage, nine miles from the Big Osage village, where some old caches in the sandstone may still be seen. These were more fully described by Broadhead ("Geological Survey of Missouri," Vol. I, 1873-1874, p. 152), who says: "They consist of a series of circular holes, twenty-three in number, dug down in the lower part of a thick sandstone, which forms the face of a bluff, and is a member of the Coal Measures. The holes are five feet deep each, on an average; they are larger at the bottom than at the top, being three feet across at the top and five and one-half feet in diameter at the bottom. They are only from one to three feet apart, and follow the course of the outerop of the sandstone, which is north and south. They appear to have been made by some such instrument as a pick-faint marks as of such a tool being still visible. At one place there are six holes, side by side, forming a double row; the rest are single, following one after another. . . . From the regularity in the order, and the manner in which the holes were made, in the nicety with which they were formed, and the regularity of size, I am led to believe them to be the re- mains of old caches made by former traders with Indians, or parties who were neces- sitated to conceal their goods." A careful study of these excavations made by the writer strongly inclines him to the belief that they were the caches of the Big Osage Indians, where they stored their corn and other supplies, as they were so near the Big Osage village as to have been a very convenient repository for their surplus prodnets.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

spring hunt commenced, first the bear and then the beaver hunt. This was pursued until the planting time when they again returned to their village, pitched their crops, and in May set out for the summer hunt, taking with them the residue, if any, of their corn, etc. This was the routine of their life, broken occasionally by war and trading expeditions. Sibley further states that these people "derived a portion of their subsistence regularly from dried fruits that the country abounded with, walnuts, hazel nuts, pecans, acorns, grapes, plums, pawpaws, persimmons, hog potatoes and several very nutri- tious roots, all of which they gathered and preserved with care."

FOND OF THE OZARKS.

Early explorers give an account of some of the deserted hunting camps of the Osage people in the region which is now Christian and Greene counties. Pike,* in 1804, said, "Their villages hold more people in the same space of ground than any places I ever saw. Their lodges are posted with scarcely any regularity and usually very close togethier. Added to this, they have pens for their horses, always within the village, into which they always drive them at night. * * * The lodges in the villages are generally constructed with upright posts, put firmly in the ground, about 20 feet in height, with a crotch at the top. They are about 12 feet distant from each other. In the crotch of the posts are put the ridge poles, over which are bent small poles, the ends of which are brought down and fastened to a row of stakes about five feet in height. These stakes are fastened together with three horizontal bars and form the flank walls of the lodge. The gable ends are generally broad slabs rounded off to the ridge pole; the whole of the building and sides are covered with matting made of rushes, two or three feet in length and four feet in width, which are joined together and entirely exclude the rain. The doors are on the sides of the building and generally are one on each side. The fires are made in holes in the center of the lodge, the smoke ascending through apertures left in the roof for the purpose. At one end of the dwelling, a raised platform about three feet from the ground, which is covered with bear skins, generally holds all the little choice furniture of the master, and on which repose his honorable guests. They vary in length from 36 to 100 feet."

On their hunting trips in the Ozark region (in which what is now Greene county must have been one of their favorite haunts), they would go to some point along the trail where game and fishing were abundant, and there erect lodges and occupy them as long as the products of the chase encouraged their stay. Then they would move to some other desirable point, where they would proceed to erect another lodge, occupying it in a similar manner for the per- iod of the hunting season.

* "Pike's Expedition." Vol. II, pp. 528, 529.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

Schoolcraft,* on his trip up Swan Creek in 1818, into what is now Greene county, describes three of these camps, the construction of which differs some- what from the lodges in the villages described by Pike, and are worthy of attention here, since these are what this interesting tribe of Indians used for shelter during their hunting trips in what is now Greene county. He says, "We passed successively three of their camps, now deserted, all very large, ar- ranged with much order and neatness, and capable of quartering probably, 100 men each. Both the method of building and the order of encampment observed by this singular nation of savages, are different from anything of the kind I have noticed among the various tribes of aboriginal Americans, through whose territories I have had occasion to travel. The form of the tent, or camp, may be compared to an inverted bird's nest, or hemisphere, with a small aperture left in the top for the escape of smoke; and a similar, but larger one, at one side, 'for passing in and out. It is formed by cutting a number of slender, flexible green poles, of equal length, sharpened at each end, stuck in the ground like a bow, and crossing at right angles at the top, the points of entrance into the ground forming a circle. Small twigs are then wove in, mixed with the leaves of cane, moss and grass, until it is perfectly tight and warm. These tents are arranged in large circles, one circle within another, according to the number of men to be accommodated. In the center is a scaffolding for meat from which all are supplied every morning, under the inspection of a chief whose tent is conspicuously situated at the head of the en- campment, and differs from all the rest, resembling a half-cylinder inverted. Their women and children generally accompany them on the hunting excur- sions which often occupy them three months."

TREATIES.

On October 10th, 1808, after the Louisiana Purchase, the Big and Little Osage tribes made a treaty with the United States at Fort Osage, now called Fort Sibley, about twenty-five miles east of Kansas City, on the Missouri river, by which they ceded to the United States all that portion of southern Missouri lying east of a line extending from Fort Sibley due south to the Arkansas river and north of the Arkansas to its mouth, west of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, and following that river back to the original starting. For this vast tract, covering practically all of the Ozark country, the Big Osages were given $800.00 in cash and $1,000.00 in merchandise ; while the Little Osages received just half this amount. On June 2nd. 1825, they relinquished all their land remaining in Missouri and Arkansas, and a portion of their Kansas possession, recognizing the right of the United States

*"Journal of a Tour in the Interior of Missouri and Arkansas in 1818," School- craft, London, 1821, p. 52.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

to use all navigable rivers in what was left in their original territory. For this they were to receive $7,000.00 yearly for seven years .*

By Act of Congress, July 15th, 1870,* the limits of their reservation in 1in 30, Part 11. p. 155.

the then Indian Territory were established. This reservation consisted, in 1906, of 1,470,058 acres, and in addition the tribe possessed funds in the Treasury of the United States amounting to $8,562,690.00, including a school fund of $119.911.00, the whole yielding an annual income of $428, 134.00. Their income from pasturage leases amounted to $98,376.00 in the same year, and their total annual income was, therefore, about $265.00 per capita, making this tribe the richest in the entire United States.

By Act of Congress of June 28, 1906, an equal division of the lands and funds of the Osages was provided for. The population of the tribe at this time, after the division of the tribal lands and trust fund had been provided for, was 1,994.

We have given this somewhat full and extended account of the Osage Indians, because they were, for many years, probably centuries, the only in- habitants of the region now known as Greene county.

TIIE DELAWARE INDIANS.

The Delaware Indians were a group of the great Algonquin tribe, or fam- ily, whose early home was on the Atlantic coast, in Delaware, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and southeastern New York, a territory including the basin of the Delaware river. When first discovered by the whites, they called themselves the "Lenape," a collective term for men, or, as it was afterward written, "Leni-lenape." William Penn bought large tracts of land from them. They were forced to migrate westward, and in 1751 the Hurons invited them to settle in eastern Ohio, where the government gave them a reservation. In 1789 the Spaniards permitted some of them to come to Missouri, and with a band of Shawnees they moved to a point near what is now Cape Girardeau, and later to Arkansas. In 1818 the whole tribe deeded to the government all their possessions in Ohio and removed to the White river in Missouri. This was the treaty that was in force from 1818 to 1829.

The first mention of the Delaware Indians in what is now Greene county is found in the statement quoted by Houck* from Morse's Report that "in 1805 the Delawares had a village on White river near Forsyth, in what is now Taney county ; one on James fork, in what is now Christian county, and one on Wilson's creek, in what is now Greene county."

* See 1Sth Annual Report, United States Bureau American Ethnology, Part II, p. 676.

* "Handbook of American Indians," United States Bureau of Ethnology. Bulle- tin 30, Part II, p. 158.

* "History of Missouri," Louis Houck, Vol. II, p. 218.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

The writer of this chapter believes that this last-named village was lo- cated southwest of and near the site of the present city of Springfield.

On September 24th, 1829, the Delawares, by another treaty with the United States, ceded all claims to land in Missouri, comprised in two tracts : First, that known as the Cape Girardeau tract, and, second, the tract in south- west Missouri, selected for them under the provisions of the treaty of Octo- ber 3d, 1818, and lying along the James fork of the White river, which in- cluded the tract lying south of the Kickapoo reservation (later to be described under Kickapoo Indians), to the present line of Missouri and Arkansas, which included the south half of Greene county .**

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Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Fairbanks, Jonathan, 1828- , ed; Tuck, Clyde Edwin Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen Number of Pages: 1086

Author: Fairbanks, Jonathan, 1828- , ed; Tuck, Clyde Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1086