USA > Nebraska > Nebraska history and record of pioneer days, Vol. V > Part 10
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Oto Deceive the Spaniards.
The Otoptata, warned by the Pani-Maha of the Spanish approach, marched to meet him. They called themselves Pani-Maha, which was rendered easier since they spoke the language of the Pani-Maha as though their native language. The Spanish commander, deceived, asked if there were any French on the Missouri river and assured them that he would give them a great quantity of goods if they would deliver French into his hands. They replied that there were French with the Otoptata and that they would make it easy for him to capture them. They passed the night together, but in very different ways. The Otoptata danced, the Padoka fled from fear, while the Spaniards, abandoned by their allies kept on their guard. The Spaniards feared nothing, since they trusted in such a great number of the pretended Pani- Maha.
35. The Padouka (Comanche) are allies to the great Shoshonean family whose diverse branches, located at first in the north, successively occupied a wide territory which stretched from Vancouver Island as far as Texas. In 1720 the Padouka dwelt near the headwaters of the Kansas. It was there that Bourgmont in 1724 came to visit them in order to break their alliance with the Spaniards. But these Indians, essentially nomads, living in tents, always at war with their neighbors, later emigrated south and crossed the Red river. By virtue of infor- mation we may point out that this author of the Spanish manuscript already cited, who very well knew the Indians of Texas, was astonished because, in spite of his extensive researches hewas not able to under- stand what had become of the great nation of the Padouka which numbered 2,000 warriors-and, in consequence, supposed that these In- dians dispersed and formed the following nations: Wetepahatoe (one of the tribes of the Kiowa), Kiawa, Kanenawish, Kalteka, Dotame, etc.
36. Two of these tribes, according to Father Charlevoix made part of the Otoptata nation, but this statement seems doubtful.
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Oto Council
Great Council of Otoe Indian tribe held with Major Long October 3, 1819 at Long's Encampment on the Missouri river, about 6 miles north of the present Florence. Sketch made at the time by Thomas Seymour, member of Long's Expedition. Chief Ietan or Chon-moni-case was one of the chief speakers.
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Oto Destroy the Spanish Army.
On the next day the savages proposed an Iroquois dance. The Spaniards agreed and unloaded their mules in order to rest. About two o'clock in the afternoon the Otoptata asked for the lances of the Spaniards for their, dancers to use in the dance and they were granted them.s7 The chief of the sav- ages during the dance formed his warriors in groups about the Spaniards who were always under arms. When he saw everything arranged as he wished he fired a pistol upon the Spanish. At the signal all his men attacked with such im- petuosity that all the Spaniards were killed in less than an instant. Only four of them were quick enough to mount their horses and drive their mules ahead of them. But some young warriors seized their quivers, shot and killed two of them. The two sole survivors of the sixty Spaniards pushed on to- ward Mexico, which they could reach with difficulty depriv- eu as they were of all provisions.
The chaplain of the detachment was made prisoner. The Otoptata chief was bringing him to Sieur Boisbriant, but the chief was compelled to turn back on receiving news that the Renards (Fox) had come to attack his village. A man named Chevallier was ordered to go in search of the chaplain. . Spaniards Plan to Colonize Nebraska Country.
This undertaking of the Spanish shows the necessity of establishing a post on the Missouri. They brought with them a large number of oxen, cows and sheep which proves their purpose to make a permanent settlement.
Booty from the Battlefield.
According to Charlevoix there were two chaplains. "All that was told me" said he "related to the chaplain who was slain and from whom was taken a book of prayers which I have not seen. It was apparently his breviary. I purchased his pistol, his shoes were worthless, and the savage would not part with the ointment because when taken it was a sovereign remedy for all kinds of ills. I was curious to know how he used it and he replied that it was enough to swallow a little at a time and whatever illness one had he was instantly cur- ed. He assured me that he had not yet tried it and I coun- selled him not to do so. We find the savages here very coarse. There is much need of spirituality or at least that their minds should be as open as those who have had more intercourse with us."
37. According to Dumont the Spaniards, after having made a treaty with the Indians, had given them arms to attack the French. He adds what seems correct (after correcting the names) that the Oto and their allies, taken for Pani by the Spaniards, learned from the mouth of the latter (the Spaniards) that they had come to destroy them (the Oto). * See notes by Addison E. Sheldon on pages 29-31.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
The spoils of the Spaniards were scattered everywhere. The letter of Charlevoix is dated at Michillimakinac. The following one was written to the Illinois by the engineer Lallemand who explored the mines of the Maramek river re- gion.
"The Spaniards of New Mexico"as Says he "came three or four months ago with the design to establish themselves on the Missouri. They had with them a number of mules loaded with all kinds of tools to work the mines. They drove with lnem a number of cows and sheep. In this array they arriv- ed at a nation called Octotata, two hundred leagues from here."
"They took only 40 days to reach the Octotata. It is pre- sumed that they did not move rapidly on account of the bag- gage and the animals which they brought with them."39
Distance from Santa Fe to Nebraska Country.
"It is believed that it is not more than 120 leagues+ from New Mexico to the Octotata. These savages say there is a fort built of stone four days journey from where they are."
"On their way they killed and destroyed many savage nations. They flattered themselves they would finish the others. The affair turned our differently."
Account of Charlevoix.
"The Octotata who were on the hunt learned all the cruelties which the Spanish had inflicted on their neighbors. They dissimulated and came to the number of 60 to smoke the pipe of peace with their new hosts, the Spaniards, who suspected nothing. The savages all of a sudden gave a great cry which was the signal to strike them down, they did this so well only one remained. The mules took fright and fled on the run with their loads. The prisoner whom the savages had captured was a monk of San Juan de Dios. He escaped a little later. The savages were foolish enough to let him have a horse in order to show them how to ride one.« His shrewd- ness had been too smart for them and he fled with all speed. Since then it is learned that other Spaniards had returned to the attack and that they had met the same fate as the first, excepting one whom the savages would send here at once. M.
38. This letter is dated April 5, 1721.
39. This note is found on the margin of the document.
40. This figure is, manifestly, incorrect. The figure of 300 leagues, as given by the Spaniards, approaches very much nearer to the truth. 41. Charlevoix says that the Chaplain who escaped from the "Missouristes" was a remarkable horseman and the Indians who, ac- cording to Dumont, did not know how to manage a horse, greatly ad- mired his skill. Before fleeing the "Jacobin" had had the foresight to prepare a package of food.
* See notes by Addison E. Sheldon on pages 29-31.
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de Boisbriant has shown me several documents written in Spanish, among others one which is marked Esquadras with the names of those who apparently were on guard for that day. The other papers are songs of hymns and prayers to the Virgin. There are some leaves of the breviary of the Spanish monk and some rosaries with their crosses, evident proof that the savages have not made up a tale. From this it must appear that there are rich mines on the Missouri since the Spaniards wish to penetrate there whether desired or not."
Hope of Mines in Missouri River Region.
Poor Lallement who, in spite of his efforts, never suc- ceeded in discovering in the region of the river Maramek any- thing but very poor mines difficult to work, had not yet lost his illusions. It was for him a deadly irony, the news of the death of the Spanish prospectors, duped like himself by the chimerical prospectus of the Company of the Indies, coming just at this time to beguile him.
In Le Page du Pratz there is a long account, very pictur- csque but fantastic, of the arrival at Kaskaskia of Indians bearing the spoils of the Spaniards. His account would make one think a whole convent had been massacred, so much one glimpses of defiling of chasubles, of stoles, of surplices, of crosses and candlesticks.
But what is for us more interesting Du Pratz adds: Spanish Maps of Nebraska Region.
"The Indians brought with them the map which had so ill-guided the Spaniards. After having examined it, it seems to me better, for the west of our colony which is toward them, than for the region which concerns us. According to this map it appears that the Red River and the Arkansas must bend more than I have said and that the source of the Mis- souri is more to the west than shown by our geographers- since the Spaniards should know that region better than the French who have given notes upon it."
Where Did Massacre Take Place?
Let us now see whether the documents which precede, in spite of their apparent lack of certainty, may not, in reality, be sufficiently exact to determine with satisfactory approx- imation, the place where the massacre of the Spaniards oc- curred.
Not in Osage Country.
Let us observe, at the start, that the expedition did not go to the Osage,42 as Le Page du Pratz believed, but to the Pani, most of whose tribes then dwelt to the north of or along
· See notes by Addison E. Sheldon on pages 29-31.
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the middle course of the river Platte. The Spanish officers seemed much better informed than that author thinks and would therefore seek to avoid contact with the Osage who had always shown themselves faithful allies of the French. On the other hand the Spanish, who held only distant friend- ly relations (except with the Apache and Padoka) could hardly yet have knowledge of the peace, quite recent, between the Pani-Maha and our allies the Missouri, the Oto and the Kanza.
The Platte or Kansas River?
The geographic hints contained in the last leaves of the note book of the route furnish only rather vague information and the author seems a little lost among the divers branches which join the river "Jesus-Maria." However, since it must relate to some affluent of the Kanzas-or of the river Platte -the description seems precise enough to show that the river, not navigable and full of islands, which the Spaniards in search of the Pani, crossed on the 7th and 8th of August, 1720, (after having traveled 300 leagues) could be none other than the river Platte, whose name indicates that it is as broad as it is shallow.
So far as the Creek of "Saint Lawrence", a veritable river, since the mules could hardly cross it in the month of August, in studying the map of this region, and in compar- ing the place then inhabited by the Oto, with the various dis- tances indicated which otherwise show remarkable agree- ment, one may, we believe, identify it most surely with the Loup Fork and the name of this river comes from the sur- name of the tribe of Loup Indians, which our trappers gave at another time to the later Pani-Maha along its banks.
Paris Editor Believes it was at Junction of Loup and Platte.
The Spanish expedition was, then, exterminated on Au- gust 11, 1720, by the Oto and Pani-Maha at a point below, but very near, the junction of the Loup Fork and the river Platte. This place is in fact, located in a straight line about 25 leagues from the Missouri. And the disaster according to Boisbriant, occurred about 15 leagues west of the Otoptata who dwelt about 8 hours in an air line, from Missouri.
When once the gold mines had vanished it does not seem that the Spaniards renewed their efforts, although this dis- patch from Bienville on April 25, 1722, reports :
"I learned a little while ago, from the savages of the Missouri, that the Spaniards of New Mexico calculated to re- turn and demand satisfaction from those who defeated them, and to make at the same time, a settlement upon the river of the Kanzes (Kansas) which flows into Missouri."
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Revenge on the French.
And one might also ask whether it was not at the insti- gation of the Spaniards that the Indians massacred, about 1725-26, under mysterious circumstances the garrison of Fort d'Orleans, " then reduced on account of economy, to 8 men. It was then, we have already stated, commanded by Dubois, the first husband of the "Princess of the Missouri."
42. A tribe of this nation lived at this period a little below the junction of the Missouri and the Kanzas but most of the Osage lived in the valley of the river which still bears their name.
43. "It is only navigable for very small hunting canoes," Journal
of Truteau (American Historical Review, January 1914.) Perrin du Lac says' that one can navigate it only in the springtime.
44. This fort whose site is not exactly known was located on the Missouri a few leagues above its junction with Grand river.
NOTES BY ADDISON E. SHELDON
Page 3
1. Under the title, "The Spanish Caravan", Sheldon's "History and Stories of Nebraska", first edition published in 1913, gave a summary of what was then known upon this subject and a critical review of con- jectures upon it. The new information contained in this article clears up many of the conjectures and gives us an historical basis for the real story.
2. The discovery of new documents upon Louisiana and the Missouri river region in the last 20 years has been full of interesting encourage- ment. These documents were generally sent from New Orleans to France or to Spain during the 18th century. They were filed away in pigeon holes from which they are now being rescued by the diligent scholarship of Europe and America.
3. The books mentioned by the French editor in his notes 1, 2, 3, are the chief bases of our knowledge of the French Province of Louisiana as it was 150 years ago. The Missouri country (including Nebraska) was even then known in its general features from reports of French fur-traders.
4. Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix, born 29 October, 1682, died 1 February, 1761. Twice visited Canada. Wrote "History of New France" and "Journal and Letters" of his travels.
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5. Pierre Margry, born 8 December, 1818, at Paris. Died 27 March, 1894, at Paris. He was author of many important books on early his- tory of America-most valuable of them six volumes on French and Spanish explorations entitled "Memoires et Documents pour servir a l'histoire des origines francaises des pays d'outremer." Volume six of this series contains the most important documents relating to the Mis- souri river region including the present Nebraska. (See a fine article on Margry's life work in the Louisiana Historical Quarterly for April, 1922.)
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6. John Law, born in 1671, died 1729, was a shrewd Scotch economist and promoter. His most famous financial promotion was the Company of the Indies. This company sold shares to the French public based upon the expectation of great profit from the region known as the Pro- vince of Louisiana, including the present Nebraska. The company had the support of the French government and a practical monopoly of the French foreign trade. The immediate expectation of profit was from the development of mines in the Missouri river region. These mines were reported as having vast quantities of all kinds of metals. The shares in the Indies Company rose to a premium of 4,000%. A perfect craze to make fortunes out of the undeveloped resources in the Mississ- ippi Valley seized the French public. It was impossible for these ex- pectations to be realized at once, and, after a period of three years of the wildest speculation, the company went up in smoke and its share- holders were ruined. This is called "The Mississippi Bubble." It was accompanied with a large issue of paper money through the Royal Bank controlled by John Law.
7. The Rue Quinquempoix was the location of the stock-exchange at Paris in 1720. It corresponded in the popular language with the American phrase "Wall Street."
8. The original French is more musical and sarcastic than the best translation:
Les Mines, l'on y fouillera Car, sans doute on en trouvera Si la Nature en a mis!
9. The Otoe occupied in general, southeastern Nebraska a century
ago. The salt basin at Lincoln was near the dividing line between territory claimed by the Pawnee and claimed by the Otoe. Both tribes gathered salt at the basin. In 1868-70 bands of Otoe and bands of Pawnee camped frequently on the homestead in Seward county, where the editor of this magazine lived as a boy.
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10. Morse's Geography of the World (copy dated 1805 in the Histori- cal Society library) has the legend "R. Plate or Shallow R.", upon the chief stream on the map in the Nebraska region. The French editor (or his printer) has simply misspelled the word in suggesting that the river is ever called "Swallow." In the Otoe language Ne-brath-ka means Water Shallow.
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11. This chief of the Metchigamias is the original from which the name of the modern city of Chicago is derived.
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12. "Salt Marshes of the Lake of Nimnehaw" is the earliest reference I have found in literature to the Nemaha river. It suggests that the early explorers had the idea that the salt basin at Lincoln was connected with the streams we now call Nemaha.
13. (By section lines the site of the great Otoe village near Yutan is 25 miles west and about eleven north of the mouth of the Platte. This village was the capital city of the Otoe tribe for 100 years or more. Its remains today cover 640 acres of land.
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Page 14
14. "Fresh Sand Cherries." In the original French "des feuilles
d'Oloues ( ? ) fraiches." The Paris editor inserts the question mark into the Spanish text, evidently not understanding what kind of wild fruit is meant. Any one familiar with the Platte Valley in the month of August knows that sand cherries are the most abundant fruit to be found and most likely to be the one eaten by this band of Indians.
15. "The great number of islands in the river" certainly fits the Platte better than any other stream between Santa Fe and the Missouri river.
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16. The junction of the river Jesus-Maria with the creek named St. Lawrence by the Spanish commander "in such a manner that if we had not already crossed it would be impossible to do so," suggests one of three difficulties, great depth of water, very swift current or difficult banks. Either of the first two would fit the junction of the Loup and the Platte today.
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17. Early records of the plains Indians clearly show a system of slavery or servitude for captives. Human sacrifice is known to have existed among the Pawnee in Nebraska, with many citations on that point.
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18. "An Iroquois dance." The Iroquois tribe set the style in dancing for all other Indian tribes in North America. More than thirty differ- ent Iroquois dances are described by competent writers on the subject. Each dance had a distinct style and signification.
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19. The distance from Santa Fe to the junction of the Loup and the Platte, as measured in air line across the map today is 619 miles. The distance by railroad, via Denver from Columbus, Nebraska to Santa Fe is 965 miles. The league unit of measurement is about 3 miles. The French kilometre is about 3-5th of a mile.
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20. Mines in the Missouri region. All the early explorers got the idea of very rich mines in the region now occupied by the states of Mis- souri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. There are in fact rich mines in that region, but not the kind either the Spanish or French could utilize at that time. A number of early references to "Spanish Mines," on the Weeping Water refer beyond doubt to the excavations on the Pol- lard farm at Nehawka, studied twenty years ago by Curator Blackman and others of the Nebraska State Historical Society. About forty acres of limestone hill is tunnelled and dug in a most extraordinary manner, probably by Indians searching for flint. Early fur-traders saw this hill and carried report down the Missouri of Spanish mines on the Weeping Water. There were expert advertising geniuses in 1720 as well as in 1923.
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LETTER FROM REV. M. A. SHINE ON
THE MASSACRE OF THE SPANISH EXPEDITION
Plattsmouth, Nebr., July 5, 1923.
Dear Mr. Sheldon:
Being somewhat pressed for time, it has been impossible for me to give as much attention to Baron de Villiers Article, as I would wish.
However, having read the original French article, and your excel- lent and substantial translation of the same, I most certainly agree with you, that this article on the Villasur Expedition of 1720, is of great historical importance to Nebraska.
The three new documents, namely, the Leaf from the Spanish jour- nal of the expedition; the letter of Governor Boisbriant, dated Novem- ber 22, 1720; and the Mining Engineer Lallemand's letter of April 5, 1721, give us some new and contemporaneous evidence of the expedition.
Hitherto, the reports have been very conflicting and confusing, and the scene of the massacre has been variously located.
While I was inclined to follow the opinions of Prof. John B. Dunbar, and William Dunn, in favor of the North Platte location, after reading that Spanish Leaf, I am now convinced that the Baron de Villier's lo- cation conforms more closely to the Leaf's description, than does the North Platte, and consequently the scene of the massacre would be somewhere in the vicinity of the present Linwood, Nebr.
Various dates are given for the occurrence, and we know that Felipe de Tamaris, one of the soldiers that escaped the massacre, brought the news of the Spanish defeat to Santa Fe, on September 6, 1720. There were a few other survivors.
The Chaplain, who was slain, was Father Juan Minguez, a Fran- ciscan, who was stationed in Santa Fe in 1705; at Zuni, in 1706 and later at Nambe, Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara Missions in New Mexico.
The route of the expedition, was generally northeast, from Santa Fe to Jicarilla, (now in Conejos County, Colorado,) then to Cuartelejo, in Scott County, Kansas, and from there to the Jesus-Maria, or Platte river, a little southwest of the mouth of Prairie Creek.
It now appears that it was the Loup river that was named St. Lawrence in honor of that famous martyr, whose feast day falls on August tenth. Undoubtedly some Spanish documents will be found, that will throw more light on the event.
MICHAEL A. SHINE.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
FIRST VISIT of NEBRASKA INDIANS TO PARIS IN 1725
. The following account of the first visit of Indians from the Nebraska region to the King of France, and Royal court at Paris is furnished by Rev. M. A. Shine, of Plattsmouth. The original article appeared in the London Postman, Jan- uary 27, 1726. It was copied into the United States Catholic Historical Magazine for April, 1890, where it was found by Father Shine. It confirms the account translated from the Journal des Americanistes in many respects and adds to our knowledge of the relation of the Indians of the Missouri val- ley to France two centuries ago :
ILLINOIS, OSAGE AND OTOPTATA CHIEFS IN PARIS, IN 1725.
Since our last, came in the mail due from Holland with a farther Account from Paris of the four Savages of Missis- sippi :
On the 28th of November, the four Chiefs, and the Sav- age Maid were again presented to the Company, (of the Indies) when the Chief of the Illinois, as a Christian, and an ancient Ally of the French, presented his Speech to the Comp- troller General, and the three other Chiefs also presented theirs in the name of their Three Nations, which were read by the Company's Secretary.
The speech of the Illinois to the India Company, was as follows :
"The Black Gown* tells me that you are some of the most eminent Men of the French Nation, whom the King has made Chiefs of Mississippi. I am ashamed to be so little in comparison with you. Tho' I am Chief of my Village, and esteemed in my own Country, I am nothing; but I love Prayer and the French. Therefore, you ought to love me and and to love my Nation, which has always been allied to the French. "The French are with us. We have yielded them the country which we possess in Cassakias. We are very well pleased with them, but we don't like to see them come and mingle themselves with us, and to take up their Habitations in the midst of our Village and our Deserts. 'Tis my Opinion that you who are great Chiefs, should leave us Masters of the country where we have placed our Fire.
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