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Next day, the chiefs of the two nations paid me a visit; and one of the Otchagras showed me a Catalonian pistol, a pair of Spanish shoes, and I do not know what drug, which appeared to me to be a sort of ointment. All this. they had received from one of the Aiouez, and the following is the oc -. casion, by means of which these things fell into the hands of this person.
About two years ago, some Spaniards, who had come as they say, from New Mexico, with design to penetrate as far as the country of the Illinois, and to drive the French out of it, whom they saw with extreme regret approach so near the Missouri, descended this river and attacked two villages of the Octotatas, a people in alliance with the Aiouez, from whom it is pretended they draw their origin. As these In- dians had no fire-arms, and being besides surprised, the Span- iards easily succeeded in their enterprize, and made a great slaughter of them. A third village of the same nation, and at no great distance from the two others, making no doubt that the conquerors would pay them a visit, laid an ambush- cade for them, into which the Spaniards blindly stumbled. Others say, that the Indians having learned that the Span- iards had almost all of them got drunk, and were sleeping in great security, fell upon them in the night; and it is certain they cut the throats of almost every one of them.
There were two chaplains in this party, one of whom was killed in the beginning of the affair, and the other saved himself amongst the Missourites who kept him prisoner, and from whom he made his escape in a very dexterous manner. He happened to have a very fine horse, and the Missourites delighting in beholding him perform feats of horsemanship, he took the advantage of their curiosity, in order to get out of their hands. One day as he was scampering about in their presence, he withdrew insensibly to a distance, when clapping spurs to his horse, he instantly disappeared. As they made no other prisoner but him, it is not yet exactly known neither from what part of New Mexico these Spaniards came, nor
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
· with what design; for what I first told you of the affair, was founded upon the reports of the Indians only, who perhaps had a mind to make their court to' us by giving it to be under- stood, that they had done us a very material piece of service by this defeat.
All they brought me was the spoils of the chaplain who had been killed, and they found likewise a prayer-book, which I have not seen: this was probably his breviary. I bought the pistol; the shoes were good for nothing; and the Indian would by no means part with the ointment, having taken it into his head, that it was a sovereign remedy against all sorts of evils. I was curious to know how he intended to make use of it; he answered that it was sufficient to swallow a little or it, and let the disease be what it would the cure was im- mediate; he did not say however that he had as yet made trial of it, and I advised him against it. The Indians begin here to be very ignorant, and are very far from being so sen- sible or at least so communicative, as those who have more commerce with us.
Volume II Page 218
On the tenth about nine in the morning, after sailing five leagues on the Mississippi, we arrived at the mouth of the Missouri, which lies north-west and south-south-east. Herc is the finest confluence of two rivers that, I believe, is to be met with in the whole world, each of them being about half a league in breadth ; but the Missouri is by far the most rapid of the two, and seems to enter the Mississippi like a conquer- or, carrying its white waters unmixed across its channel quite . to the opposite side; this colour it afterwards communicates to the Mississippi, which henceforth it never loses, but hurls with precipitation to the sea itself.
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Shau-hau-napo-tinia was a noted chief of the Ioway tribe. His name means "Man who Killed Three Sioux". He was also called Moano-honga or Great Walker. His boy chum was killed at the age of 19 by the Sioux. Shau-hau-napo-tinia rushed into a Sioux village of 400 lodges killed one warrior and two squaws. He returned with their scalps. He went to Washington in 1837 when this portrait was made.
STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULA- TION, ETC., REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912,
Of Nebraska Hist. & Record of Pioneer Days published Quarterly at Lincoln, Nebraska for April 1, 1923.
State of Nebraska
County of Lancaster
SS.
Before me, a Notary Public in and for the State and county afore- said, personally appearedA. E. Sheldon, who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the Editor and Business Manager of the Nebr. Hist. & Record of Pioneer Days and that the fol- lowing is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management (and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown in the above caption, re- quired by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 443, Postal Laws and Regulations, printed on the reverse of this form, to wit: ...
1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business managers are:
Publisher Nebraska State Historical Society
Name of- Post office address- Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska
Editor A. E. Sheldon
Managing Editor A. E. Sheldon
Business Managers A. E. Sheldon Lincoln, Nebraska
2. That the owner is: (If the publication is owned by an individual his name and address, or if owned by more than one individual the name and address of each, should be given below; if the publication is owned by a corporation the name of the corporation and the names and addresses of the stockholders owning or holding onc per cent or more of the total amount of stock should be given.)
Nebraska State Historical Society
3. That the known bondholders, mortgagecs, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mort- gages, or other securities are: (If there are none, so state.) None.
4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of the own- ers, stockholders, and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the company but also, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the company as trustee or in any other fidu- ciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing affiants's full knowledge and belief as to the cir- cumstanees and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no reason to believe that any other person, association, or corporation has any interest direct or indirect in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 2nd day of August, 1923. A. E. SHELDON.
Max Westermann, Notary Public. (My commission expires August 4, 1927.)
(Seal)
Beginnings of Nebraska Literature
NEBRASKA AND RECORD OF
HISTORY PIONEER DAYS
Published Quarterly by the Nebraska State Historical Society
Addison E. Sheldon, Editor
Subscription, $2.00 per year
All sustaining members of the Nebraska State Historical Society receive Nebraska History and other publications without further payment.
Vol. VI
April-June, 1923
No. 2
· CONTENTS
Page
Poem, Addison E. Sheldon
41
Orsamus Charles Dake, portrait and sketch.
42-44
Notes on the Weeping Water
45
Beginnings of Nebraska Literature (Editorial) .... 47-48 The Weeping Water-a Legend, reprinted from "Nebraska Legends and Other Poems" by Orsamus Charles Dake (1871) 49-68
Indian Summer-Bows and Arrows-The Penn-
sylvania Germans.
69-70
Historical Notes-West Point-Old Nursery Hill -Fickler's Ranch-The 1881 Roundup-Table Rock, Etc. 70-72
Entered as second class matter February 4, 1918, at the Post Office, Lincoln, Nebraska, under Act August 24, 1912.
Printed November, 1923
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Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
THE NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY Founded September 25, 1878
The Nebraska State Historical Society was founded Sep- tember 25, 1878, at a public meeting held in the Commercial Hotel in Lincoln. About thirty well known citizens of the State were present. Robert W. Furnas was chosen president and Professor Samuel Aughey, secretary. Previous to this date, on August 26, 1867, the State Historical Society and Library Association was incorporated in order to receive from the State the gift of the block of ground, now known as Hay- market Square. This original Historical Association held no meetings. It was superseded by the present State Historical Society.
PRESENT GOVERNING BOARD
Executive Board-Officers and Elected Members
President, Hamilton B. Lowry, Lincoln
1st V-President, W. E. Hardy, Lincoln
2nd V-President, Rev. M. A. Shine, Plattsmouth
Secretary, Addison E. Sheldon, Lincoln
Treasurer, Don L. Love, Lincoln James F. Hanson, Fremont Samuel C. Bassett, Gibbon
John F. Cordeal, McCook
Novia Z. Snell, Lincoln
*Robert Harvey, Lincoln
Ex Officio Members
Charles W. Bryan, Governor of Nebraska Samuel Avery, Chancellor of University of Nebraska J. S. Kroh, Ogallala, President of Nebraska Press Association Andrew M. Morrissey, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Nebraska.
*Died, Nov. 1, 1923.
BEGINNINGS OF NEBRASKA LITERATURE 1854-1871 Addison E. Sheldon
A pair of shirt sleeves,-a hand lever press,- An inky slab-a devil by its side; An open-door log cabin,-frontier loveliness Stretching toward the sunset's far divide.
Swiftly across the inky, hand-set page The roller flies-molasses mixed with glue- Making a mirror of the place and age Forever faithful and forever true.
Upon that mirror page today still glows . The fires that filled the prairie sky with flame,- The Sioux and Pawnee war whoop to their foes, The white-topped wagon halted on the Claim.
Yet more,-the rolling waves of grassy plain, Unmarked by tree, unfurrowed by the plow,- Th' Overland Trail, the ox-drawn freighting train,- And all of Then which still is cherished Now.
A thin small volume bound in black and green,- "Legends and Other Poems"-from an old Greek Urn outpoured-whose images are seen Walking across Nebraska as they speak. -
The "Weeping Water" legend, in blank verse, With many a strange Maha and Otoe chief Stalking our prairies like an Attic bas-relief And with orations quaint, if nothing worse.
"The Praise of New Lands" -: "Thank God, new lands are vast as fair,
"Earth for her millions still has room, "Her wealth of plains and mountain air,
"Her prairies where no want is known"
"The Missouri": "Who shall sing the song of the River ? "Channel of Empire, Highway of God"-
"The Rawhide" legend: "It was a Pawnee maiden, "The dwellings of her tribe were near "The prairies, bright and lone, "Mild on her face the low sun beamed
"And fear, it was unknown"
Oh! Frontier Press! Oh! near-forgotten Book! Oh! fountain-spring of Letters! Happy fate! Flow on forever, like a prairie brook. Toward the glorious future of our state.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
.
-
ORSAMUS CHARLES DAKE
O. C. Dake is a native of Portage, Livingston County, New York, where he was born January 19, 1832. He is the sixth generation from the primitive Welch stock, and a motley of many nationalities. His father being in good circumstances, young Dake had no youthful needs unsupplied. He was kept studying until his majority. Since he as- sumed the duties of manhood he has led a busy life. He has been a student, followed in turn the vocation of teacher, county superintendent of schools, editor of a political paper in Illinois, clerk in the Interior Department at Washington, clergyman, and now professor of belle lettres in the State University of Nebraska. He is a graduate of Madison University, Hamilton, New York, of the class of 1849. He was married February 9, 1853, to Miss Amanda Catherine, daughter of Judge H. K. Eaton, of Edwardsville, Illinois. He has two children, a son and a daughter. He was ordained in June, 1862, as a minister in the Epis- copal Church, the same year of his arrival in Nebraska. In 1863 he organized Brownell Hall, in Omaha, which he conducted for one
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year, and which continues to this day as a worthy tribute of his devo- tion to educational and church interests. In 1865 he went to Fremont, where he organized a church and built a house of worship. In Feb- ruary, 1871, he published "Nebraska Legends and other Poems," and has a volume of prose nearly ready for the press. It may not be out of place to give a brief notice of this, the first volume of Nebraska poems. The leading article is entitled the "Weeping Water," and is founded on the following legend:
"The Omaha and Otoe Indians, being at war, chanced to meet on their common hunting ground south of the Platte river, in Nebraska. A fierce battle ensued, in which all the male warriors of both tribes being slain, the women and children came upon the battlefield and sat down and wept. From the fountain of their tears arose and ever flows the little stream known as Nehawka or Weeping Water."
The incident upon which the poem entitled "The Rawhide" is found- ed, is as follows:
"A certain man of a small company moving up the great plain of the Platte, in spirit of bravado, said he would shoot the first Indian he met; which he did, having shortly afterward found a Pawnee woman a little removed from her tribe. But a band of warriors pursuing, de- manded from his companions the surrender of that man; which being refused the Pawnees made ready to slay the whole company of whites. Whereupon the offender being given into their hands, they flayed him alive. From this circumstance the little stream, on whose banks it occurred, takes the name of Rawhide."
We are credibly informed that the man, or boy rather, (for he was seventeen years of age) was one Oliver Smith, of Logan County, Illinois, and that the facts, as narrated above, are substantially true.
We have not space to quote all the good lines we find in this vol- ume, but we give without comment, some taken at random:
"Men grow by independent thought- Self-centered action unconstrained. Far greater he whose lines are wrought By purpose in himself contained, Than he who by another's will Some petty place must daily fill-
Some tiresome, endless, dull routine,
That makes him but a mere machine."
"Toward heaven we tend, God give us grace, To see, without great fear, His face."
"But for us the scramble is ended, 'Tis time to be sober and still;
We are nearing the mist-covered river-
Are down at the foot of the hill. Our baskets have never been empty-
A trifle our slender store; Yet only for you and the children Have I ever wished for more."
Once more, we quote a single line, a sermon of itself, a condensed statement of the guiding influences which shadow forth the aim and end of life. It is-
"The wise omnipotence of love."
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
The poem entitled "Magdalen," is, in our opinion, the most finished, the best study in the volume. The opening stanza is as follows:
"A burning, weary waste of years, A torture of disease and fears,
And yet, alas! not many tears:
The heart must feel ere eyes can fill. As farther and fainter the strokes be
Of bells on ships that sail to sea.
So humbled conscience spoke to me
With lessening voice, and then was still."
Those who have not yet read this little volume should purchase a copy and do so at once. It is really a credit to the literature of Ne- braska.
Professor Dake is of small stature but of a compact and perfect build; possessed of strong mental and muscular developments. His whole soul is wrapped in the love of literature, and his religious train- ing and experiences give caste to all his productions. As professor in the University of Nebraska, he unostentatiously fills the chair with which he is honored and in which he honors our state. He is devoting his whole soul to the interests of the institution and the advancement of those entrusted to the discipline of his better experience. Long may he live to be honored in our land .- From the illustrated book, "Nebras- kans," by A. C. Edmunds (1872).
Professor Dake died in Lincoln October 18, 1875, leaving a wife, a son, and a daughter.
From H. H. Wilson, Lincoln, (U. of N. Graduate, 1878).
It is now just fifty years since I entered the University and came in personal contact with Professor Dake. During my first year in the University there were registered just one hundred students, twelve of whom were in the college classes and eighty-eight of whom were in the preparatory department, known as the Latin school. It was there- fore my good fortune to come into very much closer personal relations with the members of the faculty, of whom there were only five, than would be possible under modern conditions.
Until within the last fifty years, higher education in this country was almost entirely under the control of the various branches of the church. It was therefore very natural that when the University was organized, the principle of the church dominance should have its effect. Inasmuch as everybody recognized that it could not be under the con- trol of any one denomination, it was thought proper to make the State University a sort of pan-denominational institution and the five mem- bers of the faculty were, in a sense, representatives of the five differ- ent branches of the church.
Professor Dake was brought into the faculty as the representative of the Episcopal church, having been clergyman of that sect. He was already a man past middle age with habits of thought more or less fixed by his long experience in the pulpit. He was, however, thoroughly human, with a genial and lovable nature.
As I look back to those early years, he seems to me to have been widely read in the best literature and to have been a discriminating and inspiring instructor. It was one of his duties to listen to, and criticize our youthful literary productions and I can now appreciate better than I could then how irksome this task must often have been. However, through it all, he was patient and, by his discriminating criticism, was
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
a great aid in developing style of expression. Perhaps his most last- ing influence upon the students that came in contact with him grew out of the fact that his work as a professor inspired us with an ambition to become acquainted with the best that had been written. He, himself, had a keen appreciation of the master pieces of literature and he suc- ceeded in no small degree, in communicating his enthusiasm to his stu- dents.
NOTES ON THE WEEPING WATER
July 20th, Friday, 1804-
A cool morning passed a large Willow Island (1) on the S. S. and the mouth of Creek about 25 yds. wide on the L. S. called by the french l'Eue que (L'Eau Qui) pleure, or the Water which cry's (weep- ing water), this creek falls into the river above a Clift of brown Clay opposit the Willow Island, I went out above the mouth of this Creek and walked the greater part of the day thro: Plains interspersed with small Groves of Timber on the branches, and some scattering trees about the heads of the runs, I killed a very large yellow Wolf, The Soil of those Praries appears rich but much Parched with the frequent fires.
Lewis and Clark Journals (original) page 85.
Friday 20th. We embarked early; passed high yellow banks on the south side and a creek, called the Water-which-cries, or the Weeping stream, opposite a willow island, and encamped on a prairie on the south side.
Gass's Journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, page 14.
There is an Indian tradition that somewhere near the source of the river now known as the Weeping Water, there once dwelt a powerful but peaceful tribe, governed by sound laws, ruled over by a chief as mild tempered as he was valorous, whose warriors were as straight as their own arrows, as strong and fleet as the horses which they rode, whose maidens were lithe and lovely, their beauty far exceeding that possessed by any of the surrounding tribes. And it is further said that the fairest of these maidens was the chief's daughter-so fair that she captivated the heart and brain of the ruler of a still more powerful tribe upon the west, who asked her father for her, was refused, and finally succeeded in abducting the maiden while she was bathing with her companions in the deep, still lake adjacent to the village.
Pursuit was made, the lodges being left in charge of the women and the infirm. The chase was a long and hard one, and the result most disastrous, every man of the pursuers being killed in the fight that followed.
For three long days and nights those who had been left at the village waited, then started out in search of their fathers, husbands, and lovers, to find them dead upon the plains; and, finding them, to weep so long that their falling tears formed a stream that still exists- Nehawka-the Weeping Water.
From Andreas' History of Nebraska, Chicago, 1882, p. 509.
From E. E. Blackman, Curator Historical Society Museum:
Isaac Pollard, who settled on the fertile banks of the "Nehawka" or Weeping Water, in 1856, and who assisted so materially in solving the mystery of the Nehawka Flint Mines, discussed with me this Legend of the Weeping Water during my two years of study and excavation in that field. in 1901-03.
Mr. Pollard was the active agent in selecting a name for the new settlement, and he told me that after a careful investigation of the en- tire field he concluded that the "Legend of the Weeping Water" orig- inated with Dake, who wrote the poem.
I have given the legends of Nebraska considerable study for the
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
NEBRASKA LEGENDS
POEMS
QRSAMUS CHARLES DAKE
TENT
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
BEGINNINGS OF NEBRASKA LITERATURE
Any collection of real literature upon Nebraska would certainly be- gin as far back as the Coronado expedition in 1541. Brief passages in the reports of Coronado and his lieutenants upon the beauty, the wild life, the landscapes and resources of this region must always rank as real literature, quite apart from their historical or scientific information. There is much truth in the same statement when made of the long list of noted and of unknown explorers and discoverers in the Nebraska region,-including such names as Lewis and Clark, Major Long, Lieu- tenant Fremont, George Catlin, Prince Maximilian, Missionaries Moses Merrill, John B. Dunbar, Samuel Allis, Father DeSmet and a thousand other travelers on the overland trails, whose minds were moved by the stirring scenes they saw while traveling across these plains.
But the beginnings of Nebraska literature as designed in this issue of the Nebraska History Magazine relate to the creation of a literature by people living in Nebraska. The earliest of this literature is found in the files of the territorial press preserved in the archives of the Ne- braska Historical Society. The very first newspapers published in Ne- braska exhibit the quality of real literature,-warm imagination, a clear and attractive English style, the gift of prophecy, the power to inspire. Through many columns of this earliest press,-The Bellevue Palladium, the Huntsman's Echo, the Nebraska City News, the Brownville Adver- tiser, the Omaha Arrow, runs this splendid current of newspaper liter- .ature, full and strong-its major theme the boundless West, the ad- ventures of life there, wild animals and Indians, the meaning of human life in these great spaces. Easily a book having all the elements of a great literature in style, content, and power to move the human mind, might be gleaned from these earliest newspaper columns.
The beginnings of Nebraska literature first took the form of books · written upon Nebraska themes at the hands of Professor O. C. Dake, first teacher of literature in the Nebraska State University. Any future reckoning of the literature of this commonwealth must find in Profes- sor Dake's work a point of departure for the years which follow. What he wrote may not be highly valued as a literary creation by future critics. But the place of first to produce Nebraska books having definite literary aims must always be assigned to him. His first book "Nebraska Legends and Other Poems" bears the date line 1871, the year in which he began his service as teacher of literature in the State University.
The first poem in the book is entitled "Weeping Water." It pur- ports to give, in a highly idealized form, the story of a feud between the Omaha and Otoe Indian tribes, leading to the complete destruction of the warriors in a band of each of these nations. It is perfectly clear to anyone familiar with literature who reads this poem, that the writer brought to his theme a mind filled with Greek and Latin poetry and that he never freed himself from their overwhelming influence in the attempt to portray the life of the wild west. Moreover, the figures of speech employed in the poem "Weeping Water" are derived from the Iliad. The setting of the dialogues, the tone of the conversation between the characters, is of the same kind. Consciously or unconsciously the writer is transcribing his own memory of college day instruction in the literature of southern Europe. Such equipment could not produce the real spirit of the western life.
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