USA > North Dakota > Early history of North Dakota: essential outlines of American history > Part 22
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BATTLE OF FORT M'KENZIE
The Piegans had been drinking heavily of intoxicating liquors, and singing most of the night, and early in the morning of August 28, 1833, they were attacked by the Assiniboines without the slightest warning, and many of them killed before they could be aroused from their slumbers. The gate of the post was thrown open, and they were hurried into the fort as rapidly as possible, though some were killed at the very gates before the defense was fully organized, the women
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having blockaded the gate by crowding into the narrow passage-way with their burden of horse and camp equipment of every nature.
Maximilian thus describes the thrilling scene: "As fast as the Piegans got in, they mounted the palisades and opened fire. When it was found that the attack was intended for the Blackfeet, and not for the whites, Mitchell ordered the men to stop firing. Two of the employees, however, persisted in firing, and went outside and killed a nephew of the principal chief.
"While all of this was passing, the court yard of the fort presented a very strange scene. A number of wounded men, women, and children were laid or placed against the walls; others in a deplorable condition were pulled about by their relatives amid tears and lamentations. White Buffalo, whom I have men- tioned, and who received a wound in the back of his head, was carried in this manner, amid singing, howling, and crying. They rattled the schischikue (sic) in his ears, that the evil spirit might not overcome him, and gave him brandy to drink. He, himself, though stupefied, sang without intermission, and would not give himself up to the evil spirits. Otsequa-Stomik, an old man of my acquaint- ance, was wounded in the knee by a ball which a woman cut out with a pen- knife, during which operation he did not betray the least symptom of pain. Natan-Otanee, a handsome young man with whom we became acquainted on our visit to Kutonaoi, was suffering dreadfully from severe wounds. Several Indians, especially young women, were likewise wounded. We endeavored to assist the wounded, and Mr. Mitchell distributed balsam, and linen for bandages, but very little could be done. Instead of suffering the wounded who were exhausted by loss of blood to take some rest, their relatives continuously pulled them about, sounded large bells, and rattled their medicines or amulets, among which were the bear's paws which White Buffalo wore on his breast.
"Only a spectator of this extraordinary scene could form any idea of the con- fusion and noise, which was increased by the loud report of the musketry, the moving backward and forward of the people carrying powder and ball, and the turmoil occasioned by about twenty horses shut up in the fort."
The main body of the Blackfeet was ten miles away, and messengers having been sent hurriedly for their help (to quote from Maximilian), "They came galloping in, grouped from three to twenty together, their horses covered with foam, and they, themselves, in the finest of apparel, with all kinds of ornaments and arms, bows and quivers on their backs, guns in their hands, furnished with their medicines, with feathers on their heads ; some had splendid crowns of black and white eagle feathers, and a large hood of feathers hanging down behind, sitting on fine panther skins lined with red; the upper part of their bodies partly naked, with a long strip of wolf skin thrown across their shoulders, and carry- ing shields adorned with feathers and pieces of colored cloth. A truly original sight."
The Assiniboines, who proved to be the best fighters, finally withdrew toward the Bear Paw Mountains, only retiring when their ammunition was exhausted.
MAXIMILIAN, PRINCE OF WIED
Alexander Philip Maximilian, Prince of Wied (Neuwied), was a major-gen- eral in the army and a scientific author of distinction in Rhenish Prussia. He
HORSE RACING OF SIOUX INDIANS
From a painting by Charles Bodmer from "Travels to the Interior of North America in 1832-3-4," by Maximilian, Prince of Wied, 1843.
FORT MACKENZIE, AUGUST 28, 1833
From a painting by Charles Bodmer from "Travels to the Interior of North America in 1832-3-4," by Maximilian, Prince of Wied, 1843.
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came to North America as a naturalist in 1832, arriving in Boston on the Fourth of July, and returned to Europe on a Havre packet from New York on July 16, 1834. His "Travels in the Interior of North America," in three volumes, trans- lated from the German by Hannibal Evans Lloyd, were published in 1843. He brought with him a skillful illustrator, Charles Bodmer, a Swiss artist, from whose sketches plates were engraved and reproduced in the work.
From the translated preface of Maximilian to his great work, the following data are taken: At St. Louis on April 10, 1833, the party joined a fur-trading expedition on its annual trip by the steamer Yellowstone to the posts of the Upper Missouri, by the advice of Gen. William Clark and Maj. Benjamin O'Fallon. On the 22d they were at Fort Leavenworth, and on the 2d of May reached Belle- vue, just below the present Omaha. May 18th they had the first sight of buffalo, and arrived at Fort Pierre, the company's main post, among the Sioux the last of May.
At Fort Pierre the travelers were transferred from the "Yellowstone" to the "Assiniboine," a more recently-built boat and larger, but with a lighter draft. The description of this, "the first steamer above the Yellowstone," on a former page, embraces the item that the prince was on board. Passing the Arikara villages, they steamed into the land of the Mandans and the Minetarees (Hidatsa), where, on June 18th, they landed at the company's post, Fort Clark, remaining there one day, and then moving up to the mouth of the Yellowstone River, where Fort Union was reached on the 24th of June. Two weeks were passed at Fort Union, and then they embarked on a keel-boat, and continued their journey to Fort Mc- Kenzie at the mouth of the Marias River among the Blackfeet. During their stay there of two months, they were initiated into the mysteries of the fur trade, and witnessed the battle between the Blackfeet (Piegans) and Assiniboines, as described in notes quoted, and Maximilian observes that the song of the Assini- boine warriors resembled that of the Russian soldiers heard in the winter of 1813-1814.
In company with Toussaint Charbonneau, Lewis and Clark's former inter- preter, they attended various ceremonies, dances and feasts, sketched many por- traits of the chiefs, and studied the manners and customs. The succeeding winter was spent at Fort Clark, and on the breaking up of the ice the following spring they went down the river, and May 18th were at Fort Leavenworth. Coming down in the Assiniboine, there was a fire on the steamer (at Sibley Island, near Bismarck), and much of their collection, which was uninsured, was destroyed, in view of which contingency the prince advises other travelers to insure their collections. They went east, homeward bound, by way of Niagara Falls and New York.
In the author's preface he declares that the works of American writers on this subject, with the exception of Cooper and Washington Irving, "cannot be taken into account," as in writing for their countrymen they "take it for granted that their readers are well acquainted with the country." He has "endeavored to supply the deficiency to the best of his ability," but "a faithful and vivid pic- ture of these countries and the original inhabitants can never be placed before the eye without the aid of a fine portfolio of plates by the hand of a skillful artist."
The journal of Alexander Culbertson, then a young fur-trade clerk, confirms Vol. I-12
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these interesting reminiscences of Prince Maximilian. Culbertson accompanied the prince from Fort Union to Fort McKenzie, and says the prince was from "Coblentz on the Rhine." Kenneth Mckenzie, subsequently, visited him at his palace at Coblentz. He was in this country hunting for experience and oppor- tunity to view frontier life, and with his presence at the battle of Fort McKen- zie, and the hardships endured in his camp at Fort Clark the following winter, it may be assumed that he got his full measure of experience, which enabled him to write so entertainingly and accurately of the Indians. He also published a book entitled "A Systematic View of Plants Collected on a Tour on the Missouri River," and his library and collections are among the chief treasures of Neuwied. He died in 1867, at the age of eighty-five.
CHARDON AND HARVEY
Francois A. Chardon had charge of Fort McKenzie for some years, and his colored servant having been killed by the Indians, he planned to attack them when they should next come to the post to trade. Accordingly, Alexander Harvey, one of the most desperate men in the fur trade, as has been shown, acting in con- cert with Chardon, trained the post cannon on the gate, and was to fire the moment the gate was opened, when it was expected the Indians would flee in a panic and abandon the rich furs which they had brought for trade. The gate was thrown open, Chardon began firing, but Harvey's shot being delayed a moment, the Indians scattered and but three were killed and three wounded.
Chardon scarcely dared go beyond the gates of the fort after that, and the post was finally abandoned; the company feeling obliged to dispense with the services of Harvey, who established an opposition company known as Harvey, Premeau & Company, in 1845, as stated, with headquarters at Fort Defiance, previously mentioned as located six miles above the Big Bend of the Missouri, and continued in business several years.
The uneasiness of the Blackfeet, however, was attributed by Laidlaw of the Upper Missouri Outfit, who was then at Fort Union, to "certain retrenchments of liquor heretofore given them in their ceremonies, the discontinuance of which has become absolutely necessary for the better regulation of that post."
SUBLETTE'S FORT WILLIAM
In 1833 Mckenzie's success had been so great that furs valued at upwards of $500,000 were shipped from the Upper Missouri. This led to competition, and that fall William L. Sublette and Robert Campbell, spoken of in relation to a division of the American Fur Company, established a new post at the mouth of the Yellowstone on almost the identical spot where Fort Buford was later built. They put in an immense stock of goods, hired popular clerks and interpreters, who had formerly worked for Mckenzie, and a fierce rivalry was the result ; Mckenzie giving his men authority to use any means necessary to hold the trade. and to pay any price necessary to obtain it. As high as $12 was paid for beaver skins, the usual price being $3, and smuggled liquors were freely used by both contestants, with the result that Fort William, as the post was called, was aban- doned the following year.
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Fort William on the Missouri was completed on Christmas day, 1833. It was 150 feet front, 130 deep. The stockade was of cottonwood logs 18 feet in length, hewn on three sides, set three feet in the ground. The trader's house was a double cabin, 18 by 20 feet, with a passage between. The store and warehouse were 40 feet in length, 18 feet wide. There were two bastions, a carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, ice house, meat house, etc. It was later moved back from the river on account of the rise cutting away the bank, called Fort Mortimer, and occupied under that name by Fox, Livingston & Company, alluded to in connec- tion with Fort George in 1842.
LIQUOR FOR THE YELLOWSTONE TRADE
In accordance with the act of Congress of July 9, 1832, prohibiting the intro- duction of liquors into the Indian country, inspectors were placed at Fort Leav- enworth to prevent shipments by boat. The boats which went up the river in 1831, and the early boat in 1832, had been untrammeled. Sublette and Campbell prevailed upon Gen. William Clark to allow them to ship liquors, and a like privi- lege was granted to Mr. Chouteau, of the American Fur Company, but his shipment of 1,400 gallons of liquor was confiscated at Fort Leavenworth, and other shipments were intercepted and confiscated.
In 1833 Kenneth Mckenzie, having failed in an attempt to get a considerable amount of liquor by the inspectors, is quoted as saying: "They kicked and knocked about everything they could find, and even cut through our bales of blankets, which had never been undone since they left England."
THE DISTILLERY AT FORT UNION
He could scarcely rest under his failure to secure intoxicants, which he knew the opposition possessed, and against the advice of the officers of the American Fur Company, who were certain to be held responsible for his acts, he estab- lished a distillery at Fort Union in 1833, arguing that to manufacture liquor in the Indian country was not equivalent to introducing it, and, therefore, was not a violation of the law. He shipped men to Iowa, and set them at work raising corn for his still, and in the meantime secured a supply from the Mandans for present needs, and succeeded in making, as he expressed it, "as fine a liquor as need be drunk, from the fruits of the country."
He was a lavish entertainer, and took great pride in his post, and when a party of opposition traders visited him, he entertained them in his accustomed manner, showing them all of the features of the post, including his distillery. dilating on its merits, but when they took leave he refused to sell them liquor, and charged them traders' prices for their supplies. This offended them, and one of them, Capt. Nathaniel Wyeth, noted for his expedition to the Columbia River, made complaint on his arrival at St. Louis, which resulted in the destruc- tion of the distillery, and it was with great difficulty that the company retained its license.
To meet this evasion of the law, Congress passed the drastic legislation of 1834, under which steamboats, or any other means of conveyance, might be con- fiscated if found carrying liquors into the Indian country, and prohibiting its manufacture.
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Illustrating the use of alcohol in the Indian trade, Charles Larpenteur relates that he went to an Indian camp when it was so cold that his mules were frozen to death in the shelter provided for his team, and the Indians were suffering for the necessaries of life, and yet he secured 180 buffalo robes for five gallons of alcohol, on which the whole camp got drunk twice. He obtained thirty more robes for "goods," there being no more liquor, and hardly any robes, left in camp.
As George Bancroft, the historian, says, in speaking of the influence of whisky on the Indians: "Whisky as applied to the noble savage is a wonderful civilizer. A few years of it reduces him to a subjection more complete than arms, and accomplishes in him a humility which religion can never achieve. Some things men will do for Christ, for country, for wife and children ; there is nothing that an Indian will not do for whisky."
In the attack by the Indians on Fort McKenzie, the defenders managed to get some alcohol to the Indians, and by that means stopped the battle, and on. another occasion when the Indians became troublesome at Fort Union, they were supplied with whisky mixed with laudanum, which put them all to sleep, but for- tunately none were killed by the experiment.
ILLICIT TRADE AT FORT WILLIAM
Notwithstanding the strict laws and rigid inspection, Sublette & Campbell had been able to secure all the liquor necessary for their trade, and in opening their post at Fort William gave a striking example of its use among the Indians. Charles Larpenteur, who was in charge of the liquor sales, says:
"It was not until night that we got ready to trade. It must be remembered that liquor was the principal and most profitable article of trade, although it was strictly prohibited by law, and all boats on the Missouri were thoroughly searched at Fort Leavenworth. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Sublette managed to pass through what he wanted. * * ** The liquor trade started at dark, and soon the singing and yelling commenced. The Indians were all locked up in the fort, for fear that some might go to Fort Union, which was about 21/2 miles distant. Imagine the noise! Five hundred Indians with their squaws, all drunk as they could be, locked up in that small space ! * *
* Gauche (the Indian chief ) had provided himself with a pint cup, which I know he did not let go during the whole spree, and every now and then he would rush into the store with his cup, and order it filled, and to 'hurry up'.
"The debauch continued during that entire night and well into the next day, Gauche being the leading figure until the end, while Indians in stupor from drink lay in every direction.
"Back in the mountains whisky was sold at $5 a pint, but here at the opening the price was $1 per pint. Salt and sugar, and later coffee, were the same price."
SMUGGLING LIQUOR
Writing to Gen. Henry Atkinson in 1819, Thomas Biddle observed: "So violent is the attachment of the Indian for it (intoxicating liquor) that he who gives most is sure to obtain the furs, while should anyone attempt to trade with-
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out it, he is sure of losing ground with his antagonist. No bargain is ever made without it."
In 1843 the Omega was the American Fur Company's annual boat, carrying supplies for the Yellowstone trade. Joseph A. Sire was master, with Joseph La Barge at the wheel. John James Audubon, the celebrated ornithologist, was a passenger, one of a party of scientists. The boat carried a supply of ardent spirits for the use of the party, under permit from the Indian authorities, and the usual supply for the Indian trade, in defiance of the laws governing inter- course with the Indians.
Captain Sire had anticipated inspection at Fort Leavenworth, but they escaped that post, and at Bellevue there was no inspector, but at Hart's Bottom, a few miles above Bellevue, Capt. John H. Burgwin, of the First United States Dra- goons, brought the boat to by a shot across the bows, and presented his creden- tials as inspector. Mr. Audubon presented his card, and expressed a desire to see the commandant of the military camp about four miles distant, and Captain Burgwin courteously accompanied him to the camp. While he was thus engaged, Captain Sire prepared for inspection. There was a track around the boat, in the hold, and cars for moving heavy freight. The liquor covered by the sci- entists' permit was freely exposed, and its quality tested, but the traders' supplies were loaded on the cars, and with muffled wheels, silently moved from one part of the boat to another, while the inspectors were peering into the dimly lighted corners, to make sure that nothing was escaping their attention, and the boat passed on with a clean bill. The trick, however, was discovered and could not be used again.
The next year, 1844, the Nimrod made the annual trip with the same officers. The Indian agent at Bellevue made a most rigorous inspection. Every package was broken and every bale pierced by sharp pointed rods. While this was going on a consignment of flour in barrels for the trader at Bellevue was being unloaded and placed in the warehouse, and that night, while the good man slept, the barrels were reloaded, and the boat proceeded up the river without the usual clearance. The liquor was packed in the barrels of flour.
Hiram M. Chittenden, in his "History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West," says: "The depths of rascality into which this traffic (in liquor) fell, might well stagger belief, were they not substantiated by the most positive evi- dence. The liquor was generally imported in the form of alcohol, because of the smaller compass for the same amount of poison. It was stored in every con- ceivable form of package. In overland journeys it was generally carried in short, flat kegs, which would rest conveniently on the sides of pack mules. When car- ried by water, it was concealed in flour barrels, in bales of merchandise or any- where it would most likely escape discovery. *
* In retailing the poisonous * stuff-a pure article never found its way to the Indians-the degree of deception could not have been carried further. A baneful and noxious substance to begin with, it was retailed with the most systematic fraud, often amounting to sheer exchange of nothing for the goods of the Indian. It was the policy of the shrewd trader to first get his victim so intoxicated that he could no longer drive a good bargain. The Indian, becoming more and more greedy for liquor, would yield up all he possessed for an additional cup or two. The voracious trader, not sat- isfied with selling his liquor at a profit of many thousand per cent, would now
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cheat in quantity. As he filled the cup, which was the standard measure, he would push in his big thumb and diminish its capacity by one-third. Sometimes he would substitute another cup with bottom thickened by running tallow into it until it was one-third full. He would also dilute the liquor until, as the Indian's senses became more and more befogged, he would treat him to water, pure and simple."
Later on, the difficulties of obtaining intoxicating liquor increased to such a degree that coffee was used to a great extent to take its place. Pots of coffee were kept ready for use, and with sugar, was almost as efficacious in composing the Indian's mind and disposing him to liberality in trade as alcohol, with none of its evil effects.
NATURAL DISLIKE OF THE ARIKARAS AND CROWS
It will be remembered that Lewis and Clark were surprised to find that the Arikaras indignantly refused their offer of intoxicating liquors.
Charles Larpenteur states that the Crows in 1833 roamed over the prairies in considerable bands, and thus describes their attitude toward the liquor question as he observed it the next day after a trade, as a visit for that purpose was called : "They had just made their trade at the fort, one day's march from where we were. The Crows did not drink then, and for many years remained sober. It was not until a few years ago, when they were driven out of their country by the Sioux, and became a part of the tribes on the Missouri, that they took to drinking with the Assiniboines. As they did not drink, their trade was all in substantial goods, which kept them always well-dressed and extremely rich in horses; so it was really a beautiful sight to see that tribe move."
Like other tribes, when the curse of intoxicating liquors became fastened upon the Crows, their riches, their homes, and their pride disappeared.
IN MILITARY AND CIVIL LIFE
In later days a visit to the military trading posts would have shown similar frauds, equally disreputable, practiced upon United States soldiers, with a view to separating them from their money. Soldiers in drunken stupor might be seen lying around the trader's store, reminding one of the dead upon a battlefield. The proceeds from the pay-table having been squandered, usually within two or three days, by a large percentage of the soldiers, an era of temperance and good order would prevail until the next pay day.
In civil life frauds upon those who habitually linger around retail liquor stores after pay day are quite as pronounced. They may be held in check, some- times, by municipal restraint, but the result is the same.
From its earliest history the use of intoxicating liquor has proven harmful, demoralizing and disgusting, in its general results. There is no need to dwell on the suffering of widows and orphans, or even to recall the miserable wrecks and tragedies which come to one's notice during the course of an ordinary human life. It is enough to know that there is no place in the employ of great industries for the man who uses intoxicating liquors. He is not a safe man in any official position, and business interests under his management are almost certainly
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doomed to failure. The life insurance companies reject him as a risk ; he is looked upon with disfavor in society, and is at a disadvantage in every walk of life that is open to him. Maximilian, in his account of the great smallpox scourge, speaks of the enervating influence of ardent spirits.
MORTALITY AMONG THE INDIANS-THE SCOURGE OF 1837
The smallpox scourge of 1837, which was variously estimated by the writers of that period to have destroyed from 60,000 to 150,000 Indians -- the true figures from later information being about seventeen thousand-originated from a case on the steamer St. Peter, the annual boat of the American Fur Company, on its way up the Missouri to Fort Union in June of that year. Every possible means was adopted to keep the Indians away from the boat, but knowing that it was loaded with supplies for them, they were certain that these efforts were part of a plan to defraud. At Fort Clark, then in charge of Francois A. Chardon, a Mandan chief stole a blanket from a watchman on the boat who was dying with the disease, and though offered a new blanket and pardon for his offense, the infected blanket could not be recovered and the contagion was spread by this means.
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