USA > Nebraska > Sherman County > Loup City > The trail of the Loup; being a history of the Loup River region > Part 3
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From an early day we find them divided into four grand divisions, or clans, having distinct government though with language in common. There were the Shani, or Grand Pawnees with villages on the south bank of the Platte, opposite the present Grand Island: the Kitkehaki, or Republican Pawnees, on the Republican in northern Kansas; the Pitahauerat, or Noisy Pawnees, also on the Platte; and the Skidi, or Loup ( Wolf) Pawnees on the Loup Fork of the Platte. Here they lived in well built log houses, covered with turf and earth, preferring these to the movable tepee, which was only used when the bands were on an extended hunt. They depended more on horticulture, the raising of corn and pumpkins. than upon the buffalo hunt. In this manner they never outgrew the sedentary and agricultural habits peculiar to all southern tribes.
Lieutenant Zebulon Pike's exploring expedition, when on its way to the mountains in 1806, encountered the Republican Pawnees in northern Kansas. This was a few years before they moved north to join their brothers already established on the Loup Forks. Lieut. Pike and his aid. Lieut. Wilkinson held a grand council with the chiefs of that nation on the 29th of September, which is interesting to us. as it gives an idea of the northward limit of Spanish activity at that time. The council is described in the following language: "The council was held at the Pawnee Republic village (near the present site of Scandia in Republic county ) and was attend- ed by 400 warriors. When the parties assembled for their council, Lieut. Pike found that the Pawnees had unfurled a Spanish flag at the door of the chief, one which had lately been presented by that government, through the hands of Lieut. Malgoras. To the request of Lieut. Pike that the flag should be delivered to him, and one of the United States hoisted in its place, they at first made no response; but, upon his repeating his demand, with the emphatic declaration that they must choose between Americans and Spaniards and that it was impossible for the nation to have two fathers, they decided to put themselves, for the time, at last, under American pro-
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THE ABORIGINES
tection. An old man accordingly rose, went to the door, took down the Spanish flag and laid it at the feet of Lieut. Pike, and in its stead elevated the stars and the stripes."
Another expedition was sent out by the War Department in 1819, for the purpose of gaining a more thorough topographical knowledge of the central region of the great Louisiana purchase. This was the Long Expedition. Leaving "Engineer Cantonment" just below Council Bluffs on the 10th of June, it crossed the Missouri near the site of Omaha and struck boldly across the "Indian Country." And indeed there was nothing just then to fear from the Indians, as treaties of amity had lately been entered into by government agents and the leading tribes along the route.
One was ratified with the Pawnees as early as January 5, 1812, one with the Mahas, December 26, 1815, aud one with the Otoes, December 26, 1817. Major Long's instructions read to see that the treaties were strictly lived up to by redskin and white man alike. In the course of his westward advance he made it a point to visit the Pawnee villages. His account has it that after crossing the Elkhorn he trailed along the north bank of the Platte till the confluence of the Loup was reached. At sunset, June 10th, the expedition went into camp at a small creek about eleven miles distant from the village of the Grand Pawnees. Then in Major Long's
account of the visit we read :
"On the following morning, having arranged the party according to rank, and given the necessary instructions for the preservation of order, we proceeded forward, and in a short time came in sight of the first of the Pawnee villages. The trail on which we had travelled since leaving the Missouri had the appearance of being more and more frequented as we approached the Pawnee towns; and here, instead of a single footway, it consisted of more than twenty parallel paths, of similar size and appear- ance; at a few miles distance from the village, we met a party of eight or ten squaws, with hoes and other implements of agriculture, on their way to the corn plantations. They were accompanied by one young Indian, but in what capacity-whether as assistant, protector or taskmaster, we were not informed. After a ride of about three hours we arrived before the village, and dispatched a messenger to inform the chief of our approach.
"Answer was returned that he was engaged with his chiefs and warriors at a medicine feast, and could not, therefore, come out and meet us. We were soon surrounded by a crowd of women and children, who gazed at us with some expressions of astonishment; but as no one appeared to welcome us to the village, arrangments were made for sending on the horses and baggage to a suitable place for encampment while Major Long with several gentlemen who wished to accompany him, entered the village. The party after groping about for some time and traversing a considerable part of the village, arrived at the lodge of the principal chief. Here we were again informed that Tarrarecawaho, with all the principal men of the village, was engaged at a medicine feast. Notwithstanding his absence, some mats were spread for us upon the ground in the back part of the lodge. Upon
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them we sat down, and, after waiting some time, were presented with a large wooden dish of hominy or boiled corn. In this was a single spoon of the horn of a buffalo, large enough to hold a pint, which, being used alternately by each of the party, soon emptied the dish of its contents." After this strange reception and feast the expedition visited in turn
Roam Chief (Pawnee) and Yellow Hair (Sioux) agree to "bury the Hatchet."
the villages of the Republican and Loup (Wolf) Pawnces, lying a few miles apart, an hour's ride above the village of the Pawnee Grand. Major Long was especially struck with the thrift of these villages. For miles up and down the river large droves of horses were grazing; fields of maize and patches of tomatoes, pumpkins and squashes were seen in many places
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and added much to the apparent wealth of the community. This was before misfortune overtook the nation.
The expedition spent the night of June 12 on the banks of the river, within a stone's throw of the Loup village. This was, as far as we know, the first organized party of white men to slumber on the banks of this beautiful stream.
The Pawnee nation formerly numbered some 25,000 souls and in the day of its prime was the terror alike of trapper and trader and bands from other tribes which by chance ventured too far into the hunting grounds of these fierce fighting foes. But calamity was at hand. In 1831, a terrible smallpox epidemic carried off several thousand of their number, leaving the nation in a pitiable condition. Their agent, John Dougherty, in making his report to the government, says: "Their misery defies all description. I am fully persuaded that one-half the whole number will be carried off by this frightful distemper. They told me that not one under thirty years of age escaped, it having been that length of time since it visited them be- fore. They were dying so fast, and taken down at once in such large numbers that they had ceased to bury their dead, whose bodies were to be seen in every direction -lying in the river, lodged on the sand- bars, in the weeds around the villages and in their corn cashes."
On the 9th of October, 1834, a treaty was made between the Pawnees and the United States government whereby the former agreed to vacate all their lands south of the Platte. All the plague stricken southern villages were abandoned and the miserable remnant of a once proud tribe reassembled on the Loup and westward along the Platte.
But scarcely had the enfeebled nation had time to set up their tepees and break soil in their new home, when the Sioux made bold by their hereditary foes, apparent weakness, swept down the North Loup and the Cedar and began a war of extermination. Villages and fields were abandoned to the revengeful foe and safety sought in flight. The Pawnee found every man's hand against him. Even the government was indifferent and did little to check the depredations of the Sioux. To make matters still worse, other enemies on the south, the Chevennes and the Arapahoes, infested the Pawnees' old Kansas hunting grounds, eager to strike the final blow. But this was not to come by the hand of red men. In 1849, gold seekers on their way to California brought the cholera to the Pawnee camps. Again several thousand died and the handful of survivors, reduced to beggary, besought the government for protection, which was granted. By the treaty of September 4, 1857, they ceded all their original territory except a strip 30 miles long by 15 wide upon the lower Loup river. This was the old Nance county Reservation, whence they were finally removed to their present abode in Oklahoma. During the Indian troubles of 1862-'65 the Pawnees furnished scouts to the government and proved a valuable aid against the crafty Sioux. The latter. however, reaped sweet revenge after the war closed. The Pawnees were never safe if they ventured away from the reservation. Red Cloud's bands might at
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any moment sweep down upon them to kill and plunder. As if the loss of their hunting grounds were not enough to fill the cup of troubles, the grasshoppers, in 1872, devoured their corn crop. This meant starvation. Congressional appropriation through land sales kept them alive till 1874, when, as stated above, the Pawnees set their faces southward, forever to leave the Loup and the Platte.
The story of their rapid decay is read in the following figures : In 1835,
Pawnee Ceremonial Lodge. Now Abandoned by the Dying Tribe
according to the missionaries Dunbar and Allis, they numbered 10,000. In 1840 disease and war had reduced them to 7,500. In 1849 cholera had reduced them to 5,000. Later official reports give 4,686 in 1856; 3,416 in 1861; 2376 in 1874; 1440 in 1879; 824 in 1889; 629 in 1901.
Thus passed the Pawnees, the Wolf People of the North, while their arch enemy, the Sioux, still roamed the plains.
The latter belonged to one of the most widely extended and important
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THE ABORIGINES
Indian families in North America. Prior to the advent of white man to this country they appear to have held sway of the Atlantic seaboard of Virginia and the Carolinas, outlying tribes even penetrating south to the Gulf. In those days the Sioux were sedentary and inclined to horti- culture. They lived in well built lodges and tilled the soil. Within the recent historic period they set their faces westward and removed to the banks of the Ohio. The cause of this migration can only be surmised. In all probability it was the outcome of an undue pressure by Maskoki tribes living in the South Atlantic states, coupled with a like Algonquin or Iroquoian movement from the north.
From their own traditions we learn that at some point on the Ohio, probably near the mouth of the Wabash, the Sioux and Winnebagoes parted company with the rest of the tribes and took a northwesterly trail [across Illinois, the former taking possession of the headwaters of the Mississippi, the latter pitching their lodges around the lake that bears their name in Wisconsin. Meanwhile other tribes of the great family had reached the mouth of the Ohio and descended the Mississippi till the Missouri was reached. Here the tribes further separated. The 'Quapas"-"the people who went down stream"-penetrated the wilds southward and possessed themselves of Arkansas; the "Omahas"-"the people who went up the stream"-ascended the Missouri and made their home in eastern Ne- braska. The Poncas and Iowas are usually classed as belonging to this tribe. The Otoes, Peorias and Missouris, who we will recall were first mentioned by Father Marquette in 1673, also belonged to the Siouan family. They all took up abodes along the Missouri and drifted westward up the Kaw and the Platte. At this juncture the Pawnees swarmed in form the south and by sheer force of numbers overcame the smaller Siouan tribes and reduced them to a state of vassalage. This was, however of so mild and paternal a nature that the vanquished appear to have been quite content with the new condition of things. Indeed when in later times the Pawnees became weak and dependent, the wards took the part of the task- master against their own kinsmen, the Dakotahs.
The Sioux are the most important of the Siouan stock. Numerically they are the largest in the United States with the possible exception of the Ojibwas. The Sioux call themselves Dakotah, Nakotah, or Lakotah, according to the respective dialect, the name signifying "allies,." The popular name by which we know them is a corruption of the old Ojibwa "Nadawesiwug," meaning "'enemies." The early French pronounced this as "Nadaousioux," which by shortening became modern "'Sioux." This warlike tribe had at an early date forgotten their sedentary habits and become a nation of roaming buffalo hunters. From the headwaters of the Mississippi they gradually moved westward, pressed upon the east by the fierce Ojibwas who were aided by the French. Crossing the Missouri they invaded the hunting grounds of the Kiowas, Cheyennes and Crows, whom they crowded beyond the Black Hills. For many years the Niobrara River in Nebraska formed the line of demarkation between the
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Sioux aud Pawnees. When the Sioux finally extended their hunts and for- ays beyond this stream a relentless war commenced, which ended only with the utter annihilation of the valient foe from the southland. In 1837 the Sioux sold to the government all their claims to lands east of the Mississippi. In 1851 they surrendered the greater part of Minnesota and removed to the plains of Dakotah. But a general dissatisfaction with the manner in which the government fulfilled the terms of the treaty led to the massacre of white settlers at Spirit Lake, Iowa, in 1857. A few years later, in 1862, the shrewd chieftain, Little Crow, still chafing under real and imaginary wrongs. took advantage of the national government's embarassment consequent upon the Civil War and with his bands fell upon the outlying settlements in Minnesota, massacring fully 1000 of the settlers. This inaugurated a bitter war which lasted until 1869. The Indians were speedily driven out of Minnesota by General Sibley. Little Crow and his bands escaped to Canada, while the remainder, under command of Red Cloud and other noted chiefs sought refuge in Nebraska, where they continued the contest for seven years. Those were bloody days upon the plains. The valley of the Platte was then the great thoroughfare to California. Along a line hundreds of miles in length the plainsmen were exposed to attack. To hazard crossing the plains in small companies was now to invite sure destruction. The pioneers were forced therefore to organize in strong caravans or trains, armed to the teeth. Even then they were not always successful in making their way to the mountains. The trail from the Missouri to the Rockies became marked with bleaching bones, burnt wagons and rotting harness.
The military had its hands full and indeed on occasion suffered severely. Thus, in 1866, Colonel Fetterman's entire command of 165 men was massacred near Fort Phillip Kearney. The frontiers and outlying ranches were panic stricken and at one time in 1864 many were entirely abandoned The Sioux were aided by the Cheyennes in these raids or, more correctly, the latter headed the first Platte River attack, after which the Brules and other Sioux joined in the fray, soon becoming the leaders. The Cheyennes were by this time closely allied to the Sioux through intermarriage of the tribes, and trouble with the one nation was sure to mean war with both. The Cheyennes had long been dissatisfied with the way the whites treated them and especially did they hate the soldiers at the army posts along the route. These seem to have been unnecessarily harsh in their treatment of the Indians, and at times to have brutally mis- used them.
Let us here note the magnitude of the traffic by the great overland route of the Platte. It was not unusual, says an old rancher, to stand at one's cabin door and count from 1000 to 1500 wagons passing in a single dav. Or to take an example more to the point : One St Louis firm, Russell, Majors, Waddell & Cu., operated no less than 6,250 wagons, requiring a team force of 70,000 oxen, and representing an investment of nearly $2,000- 000. When it is borne in mind that this firm was only one of the many
H
Rosebud Sioux Group.
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doing business between the river and the mountains, we shall readily com- prehend the enormous proportions of the traffic.
The first outbreak of the war occurred at Plum Creek in Dawson county on the 17th day of August, 1864. This point was at that time the most important stage and telegraph station between Fort Kearney and Ft. McPherson. After leaving the station and the broad valley the route led
Sioux Mother and Babe; Early Trailers of the Loup.
to a point where steep bluffs and wood covered canyons afforded excellent concealment to a prowling foe. In this death trap the Indians planned their ambuscade, and fell upon an unsuspecting wagon train, killing the entire party of eleven, plundering the wagons and then setting fire to them. Fortunately the Indians had neglected to cut the telegraphic communica- tion eastward, and this alone prevented the general massacre, long planned.
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THE ABORIGINES
Settlers and ranchmen received timely warning and generally succeeded in reaching some point of refuge. For weeks all was panic and confusion. However, with the aid of the military, some degree of reassurance was established and many of the fugitives returned to their homes. For almost five years did the war drag on. involving terrible loss in life and property. During these years numerous pitched battles were fought between the government regulars and the Sioux. The last and decisive fight took place at Summit Springs. Sunday, July 11, 1869.
The Sioux, under command of the vile chief, Tall Bull, had for some time made life unsafe along the Republican. when Gen. Carr of Fort McPherson started in pursuit with several companies of U. S. Troops and Major Frank North's band of 300 Pawnee scouts and fighters. William Cody, better known as "Buffalo Bill, " acted as guide. July 5, Cody and six Pawnee scouts discovered the Sioux in the sand hills south of the Platte, whither they had retreated in haste upon hearing of the pursuit. When the attack was made the Sioux broke up into small bands and escaped under cover of darkness. Three days later, however, 600 Sioux were discovered in the act of fording the river and a sharp fight ensued. The Indians suffered heavy loss, among others the famous chief, Tall Bull, falling a victim to Cody's unerring aim. On the following Sunday General Carr, who had followed the main trail, overtook the reunited bands at Summit Springs. The Sioux held their ground and a day-break battle ensued. It was short but decisive. Many soldiers and Pawnee scouts were slain, and at least 700 of the Sioux, including many chiefs and sub-chiefs. The handful who escaped the carnage sought safety in headlong flight. Considerable booty was made. Herds of ponies, the entire camp outfit and 300 squaws fell into the victors' hands. This battle practically ended the war. The Indians, power of resistance was broken and while a few depredations were com- mitted after this time, they were limited to the stealing and running off of stock in the border settlements.
The same year a treaty of peace was made which remained unbroken until the invasion of the Black Hills by miners, consequent upon the discovery of gold, led to another war in 1876-77. Nebraska fortunately was spared the brunt of this outbreak, the main actions taking place in Mon- tana. The chief event of the war was the surprise and massacre of the intrepid Gen. George A. Custer and his entire command of nearly 300 regular troops in the bluffs of the Little Big Horn country. Sitting Bull is credited with being the leader of the hordes who on that memorable occasion overwhelmed one of the most daring and idolized Indian fighters of his century. Four days later Gen. Crook arrived upon the battlefield and in a series of fights took summary revenge upon the Indians. Of these Sitting Bull with several thousand followers escaped to Canada where he remained till 1881, when he returned on promise of amnesty.
In 1889 another treaty was made by which the Sioux surrendered the richest lands of the "Great Sioux reservation," embracing all of South Dakota west of the Missouri. In lieu for this they were given five small
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distinct reservations and certain annuities. The new arrangements were exceedingly distasteful to a powerful minority, and this, together with an Indian "Messiah Craze" led to a new outbreak in the fall of 1890. At Wounded Knee, on the White River, one of the bands, which had voluntarily surrendered, attempted a treacherous surprise of the troops which all but succeeded. The trick was, however, discovered in the nick of time, and what had at first promised the annihilation of the unsuspecting regulars, was turned into a terrible massacre of the red men. When the affray was ended fully 300 Indian dead covered the field.
A blot upon our escutcheon in this war was the slaying of old Sitting Bull and members of his family December 15, 1890, by a troop of soldiers sent to arrest him at his lodge. The old chieftain made but little show of resistance and his death was entirely unwarranted.
The Sioux were typical nomad hunters and warriors. Numerically and physically strong, they made themselves masters of the buffalo plains, no other tribes being able to make a successful stand against them. In their skin tepees they dwelt where the buffalo was plentiful. They had their horses, dogs and weapons of war and were content. As warriors they were ruthless and unforgiving. No more striking example of these traits is found than in the vengeful spirit with which they hunted down and hounded the Pawnees to utter annihilation.
The census of 1900 places the nation at fully 24,000, distributed as follows: Canada (refugees from the U. S. ), 600; Minnesota, 930; Montana (Fort Peck Agency.) 1180; Nebraska (Santee Agency), 1310; North Dakota (Devil's Lake and Standing Rock Agencies), 4630; South Dakota (Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Lower Brule, Pine Ridge and Rosebud Agencies), 15,480.
Glimpses of State History.
CHAPTER III.
"Now let us climb Nebraska's loftiest mount, And from it's summit view the scene below.
The moon comes like an angle down from heaven:
Its radiant face in the unclouded sun:
Its outspread wings the over-arching sky;
Its voice the charming minstrels of the air:
Its breath the fragrance of the brightest wild-flowers.
Behold the prairie, broad and grand and free - 'Tis God's own garden' unprofaned by man!" "Nebraska - a Poem."
NE is accustomed to think of Nebraska as a state with but a brief his- tory. And when we consider her history in relation to her forty-four sister states this is perfectly true. In another sense, however, the state has a history surprisingly old. Fully sixty years before the founding of Jamestown in Virginia, and three quarters of a century prior to the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers to New England shores, did white men travel over the great plains of which Nebraska forms a part, and write narratives minutely describing the fauna and flora of those parts. Not from the east but from the far southland, Mexico, came the adventurers who were first to gaze upon her virgin beauty of plain and hill. It fell to the lot of the romantic Spaniard to shed poetic glamour over the first pages of Nebraska history. And it came with the far famed expedition of Cavalier Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, which left Compostela, Mexico, February 23, 1540.
From an early date wild stories had been afloat in New Spain (Mexico), telling about a marvelous province, Cibola, in which were said to be seven magnificent cities, far surpassing the city of the Montezuma in riches and splendor. Several expeditions were dispatched to find the much coveted prize, but all these, daunted by the terrible journey across mountain and through desert waste, despairing of success, returned empty-handed. It was not till the year 1536 that the government determined to make a con- certed effort to reach Cibola. In that year Cabeza de Vaca and three companions-the only survivors of the Narvaez Expedition, which had been shipwrecked at the mouth of the Mississippi-arrived at San Miguel on the Gulf of California. These men told marvellous tales of their tramp from gulf to gulf. Of how their Indian captors had carried them from
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