USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 7
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In the morning a party of the Indians set out in search of him. They could scarcely conceive of any one being so stupid as to lose his way in the woods. Some of them suspected that he had deserted them. They followed his trail with that wonderful Indian sagacity which is almost miraculous. Soon, observing the zigzag manner in which he had marched, they became satisfied that the white man, like a child, had got lost. Shouts of derisive laughter burst from their lips.
At length they found him. Though they still treated him kindly, he was mortified in seeing how contemptuously they regarded his unfortunate adventure. Upon their return to the village the chief took from him his rifle, saying: "A child should
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not be entrusted with the weapons of a man." A bow and arrows, the weapons of a boy, were then placed in his hands.
It was deemed necessary that he, an ignorant white man, should be placed under a sort of tutelage. They, therefore, entrusted him to the care of a chief named Tontileango, a renowned hunter and warrior. Under his kind instructions he learned many things which he had never known before. He was taught the difficult art of trapping beaver, how to creep within gun-shot of the timid and watchful deer, how safely to encounter the ferocious grizzly bear, and in what way to pursue and overtake the swift-footed buffalo.
Smith proved to be an apt scholar. He was very ambitious and learned rapidly. During the autumn he acquired a high rep- utation for the skill he displayed. Day after day he returned from his hunting excursions laden with game, to the great joy of the women and children who were entirely dependent upon the hunters for their subsistence.
Winter came with its freezing blasts, and snow fell to the depth of four or five feet on a level. Hunting became exceedingly diffi- cult. It was almost impossible to approach within gun-shot of the long-legged deer. The only resource then was to hunt bears. They would climb some gigantic decayed tree, half dead, which had an opening and a hollow in the trunk many feet, often fifty, from the ground. Here the bears would find shelter for snug winter quarters. The interior was generaly dry as tinder, and by dropping in some coals could be easily set on fire.
The bear hunter would climb the tree and apply a torch to the inside of the hollow. If a bear were there he would be speedily waked from his winter doze and driven out by the flame and smoke. The hunter, watching below, as soon as the immense creature, blinded and bewildered, emerged from his retreat, would, with unerring aim, plant a bullet between his eyes, and the mons- ter would fall, in dying struggles, into the snow beneath.
The life of the Indian, Mr. Smith describes, as full of extremes. At one time he would be feasting in abundance; again he would be starving. There were certain seasons of war and successful hunt- ing when all his energies, mental and physical, would be raised to their utmost tension. Again there would be a season of the utter listlessness and indolence, with absolutely nothing to interest the mind or occupy the body. Generally in the months of August
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and September the ears of corn were ripe for roasting. This was the Indians' season for Lent. He then partook of but little ani- mal food. Hunting was with him a toil, not a pastime. Having gorged himself with roasted corn, he felt no disposition to shoulder his rifle and make long and tiresome marches through the forest, lugging home upon his shoulders the small game, or sending his wife and daughters far into the wilderness to bear upon their backs the heavy burdens of quarters of deer and bears.
In what we called savage, as well as in civilized life, the de- partments of men's and women's work are quite distinctly defined. In American and European communities the men are not expected to cook the dinner, to sweep the rooms, to wash the dishes and make the beds. With the Indians, the men were not expected to bring the water, to skin the deer or the buffalo, or to bring home the venison. An Indian woman would have felt as much dishon- ored and mortified in seeing her lordly husband return from the chase with a deer upon his back, as an American woman would feel in having her husband habitually wash the dishes or sweep the rooms. The hunter might, in accordance with established etiquette, take an Indian pony with him and load him down with the game he had taken.
During the season of lethargy the Indian hunter spends his time dosing in the sunshine, upon the grass, or upon the couch of skins and leaves in his wigwam. They had occasional dances, such as we have described, with the matrons and girls. Foot-ball was a favorite pastime with them. They also had a gambling game somewhat resembling dice, of which they were immoderately fond.
Mr. Burnet, in his Notes, gives the following account of a game of foot-ball which the renowned chief Bu-kon-ge-he-las got up on the River Auglaise to entertain a party of white men who visited him. ·
This Indian village was beautifully situated in the center of a large green and level plain. The game was arranged for the after- noon. The chief selected two young men to get a purse of trink- ets made up, to be the reward of the successful party. That matter was soon accomplished, and the whole village, male and female, in their best attire, were on the lawn-which was a plain of four or five acres, thickly covered with blue grass. At each of the opposite extremes of this lawn two stakes were set up about six feet apart.
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The men played against the women; and, to countervail the superiority of their strength, it was a rule of the game that they were not to touch the ball with their hands on the penalty of for- feiting the purse. The females had the privilege of using their hands as well as their feet. They were allowed to pick up the ball and run and throw it as far as their strength and activity would permit. When one of the women or girls succeeded in getting the ball, the men were allowed to seize her, whirl her around, and, if necessary, throw her on the grass for the purpose of disengaging the ball, taking care not to touch it except with their feet.
The contending parties arranged themselves in the center of the lawn; the men on one side, the women on the other. Each party faced the goal of its opponent. The side which succeeded in driving the ball. through the stakes at the goal of its adversary, was proclaimed victor, and received the purse.
All matters being thus arranged, the venerable chief came upon the lawn, and saying something in the Indian language, not under- stood by his guests, threw up the ball and retired. The contest then began. The parties were pretty equally matched as to num- bers, there being about one hundred on each side. For a long time the victory appeared to be doubtful. The young girls were the most active of their party, and most frequently caught the ball. It was very amusing to see the struggle between them and the young men. It generally terminated in the prostration of the girl upon the grass, before the ball could be forced from her hand.
The contest continued about an hour, with great animation and various prospects of success. It was finally decided in favor of the women. One athletic girl seized the ball, and triumphing over all the efforts to wrench it from her, rushed toward the goal and succeeded in throwing it through the stakes.
Great was the exultation of the victors. Their countenances beamed with joy. It seemed to add greatly to the appreciation of their triumph, that it was gained in the presence of their dis- tinguished white guests.
One day Smith, seeing the women and young girls at work in the corn-field, took a hoe and joined them, working diligently, very much to their amusement, half an hour. One of the chiefs severely reprimanded him for the impropriety of his conduct,
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saying that it was inconsistent with the dignity of a warrior to descend to the drudgery of woman's work. " I hope for the future," he added, "you will demean yourself more properly, and remem- ber that you are a member of a tribe of warriors, and have been adopted into a noble family."
Hospitality has ever been one of the distinguishing traits of Indian character. Whenever a stranger enters a wigwam, food, the best the lodge affords, was immediately placed before him. And it was considered a great breach of politeness not to accept the refreshment. It was no excuse that one had just been eating to repletion. If it so happened that there were no food in the house, which not unfrequently was the fact, it was immediately mentioned, and was invariably accepted as an all-sufficient apology.
On one occasion the chief, Tontileango, and Smith, were absent from the village on a distant hunting excursion. They had pad- dled, in a birch canoe, several miles up one of the numerous rivers in that vicinity. They had taken with them some choice stores, such as sugar and bear's oil, which were esteemed great delicacies. Leaving their stores in the canoe, which was moored on the banks of the stream, they proceeded about a mile into the forest, until they came to good hunting ground, where they built a comfortable camp and kindled their fire.
The chief, leaving Smith to attend to sundry domestic labors, took his rifle and disappeared in the woods in search of game for supper. Shortly after his departure, a Wyandott hunter, who had been unsuccessful, came across the camp. He was hungry, faint and weary. Smith received him, as he supposed, with true Indian hospitality, feeding him abundantly with hominy and some venison, which he chanced to have on hand. The Wyandott, thus refreshed, went on his way rejoicing.
When Tontileango returned, Smith informed him of the visit of the stranger, and of his hospitable reception. The chief listened with much gravity to his report, and then said :
" I suppose, of course, that you went to the canoe and brought up, for your guest, the sugar and bear's oil which we left there."
" No," Smith replied, "I never thought of that. The canoe was so far off that it would have been too much trouble."
" Well, brother," the chief replied with much solemnity of man- ner, "you have not behaved like a warrior. But as you are
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young, and have been brought up among the white people, and consequently know no better, I can excuse you for this time. But you must learn to behave like a warrior. Never allow yourself again to be remiss in the rites of hospitality, that you may avoid trouble. Never be caught again in such a little action. Great actions alone make great men."
The power of the Indians of enduring long-continued fasting and fatigue, was extraordinary. Even the women, with heavy burdens upon their backs, would travel as fast and far as any pack horse. In the Spring of the year, 1756, a large quantity of game was killed at a considerable distance from the village where Smith resided. The amount was so large, and the danger of its being devoured by wild beasts so great, that the whole commu- nity, including the women and the boys, turned out to bring it home.
Smith took upon his shoulders three large pieces of buffalo . meat. After bearing the heavy burden for several miles, he be- came utterly exhausted, and was compelled to throw down the load. An Indian woman, who was marching gaily along, under an equal burden, laughed heartily at his discomfiture, and took up a large part of the meat which he had thrown down, and added it to her own load.
An Indian could not run, for a short distance, any swifter than an athletic white man. But the Indians were capable of sustain- ing the exertion of running for an incredible length of time. One of their renowned runners would frequently continue at a rapid pace for twelve or fourteen hours, even without taking any nour- ishment. Then, after a hasty meal, and a very brief season of repose, he would resume his course, apparently without any ex- haustion. Smith found that he could never compete with the Indians in this respect.
While Smith and the Chief Tontileango were encamped at some distance from the village, it was necessary for them to carry their game home on their shoulders. It was winter, and the ground was white with snow. There were three wild horses grazing near them, finding grass in abundance on a large treeless plain beneath the snow. It had been found impossible to catch the horses, and the chief suggested that they should run them down.
" Smith, having but little relish for the undertaking, urged the impossibility of success. But Tontileango replied, that he had
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frequently run down bear, deer, elk and buffalo, and believed that, in the course of a day and night, he would run down any four-footed animal except the wolf. Smith observed, that, although deer were swifter than horses for a short distance, yet, that a horse could run much longer than either the elk or buffalo, and that he was confident that they would tire themselves to no purpose. The other insisted upon making the experiment at any rate ; and at daylight, on a cold day in February, and on a hard snow several inches deep the race began. The two hunters stripped themselves to their moccasins and started at full speed. The horses were in very high order, and very wild, but contented themselves with running in a circle of six or seven miles in cir- cumference, and would not abandon their usual grazing ground.
" At ten o'clock Smith had dropped considerably astern, and before eleven Tontileango and the horses were out of sight, the Indian keeping close at their heels, and allowing them no time for rest. Smith, naked as he was, and glowing with exercise, threw himself upon the hard snow; and having cooled himself in this manner, he remained stationary until three o'clock in the evening, when the horses again came in view, their flanks smoking like a seething keetle, and Tontileango close behind them, run- ning with undiminished speed. Smith being now perfectly fresh, struck in ahead of Tontileango, and compelled the horses to quicken their speed, while his Indian brother, from behind, encouraged him to do his utmost, after shouting, ' Chako! chakoa- nough ! ' (pull away, pull away my boy).
" Had Tontileango thought of resting, and committed the chase to Smith alone, for some hours, and then in his return relieved him, they might have succeeded; but neglecting this plan, they both continued the chase until dark, when, perceiving that the horses ran still with great vigor, they dispaired of success, and returned to the camp, having tasted nothing since morning, and one of them, at least, having run nearly one hundred miles. Tontileango was somewhat crestfallen at the result of the race, and grumbled not a little at their long wind ; but Smith assured him that they had attempted an impossibility, and he became reconciled to their defeat."
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CHAPTER V.
INDIAN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
PARENTAL DISCIPLINE - THE IGNOMINY OF WHIPPING - RE- MARKABLE ACT OF THE CONJUROR - INDIAN MILITARY DIS- CIPLINE - BRADDOCK'S FOLLY - HUNTING ADVENTURE - A NIGHT IN THE HOLLOW TREE - ESCAPE - RECEPTION AT THE CAMP - SPEECH OF THE INDIAN CHIEF - THE INTEMPERATE CAROUSAL - A HUNTING EXPEDITION - FORTITUDE OF TE- CAUGH-NE-TA-NE-GO - PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCE - PIETY AND PRAYER OF THE AGED CHIEF.
THE DISCIPLINE which the Indians exercised over their children was peculiar, and, by no means, as severe as might have been ex- pected. Whipping was considered a very disgraceful punishment, and was seldom inflicted. The ordinary punishment for miscon- duct consisted in ducking the offender in cold water. In winter this was an infliction which the children greatly dreaded. Smith witnessed one scene of punishment.
The chief Tontileanga was married to an Indian woman of the Wyandot tribe. She was a widow with several children. One of these boys in some way offended his father-in-law. He whip- ped the boy, though not severely, with a strap of buffalo hide. The boy shrieked with all the strength of his stentorian lungs. This called out the mother, and she instantly took the part of her child. The husband very calmly explained the offense, stated the necessity that the child should be punished, and urged the mod- eration of the punishment inflicted. But the indignant mother was not to be appeased. She felt that her boy had been disgraced by corporal punishment.
" The child was no slave," she exclaimed, "to be beaten and scourged with a whip. His father was a warrior and a Wyandot, and the son of such a sire is entitled to honorable usage. If he has offended his step-father, there is cold water enough to be had.
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Let him be ducked until he is brought to reason, and I will not utter one word of complaint; but a buffalo strap is no weapon with which the son of a warrior should be struck. The spirit of his father is frowning in the skies at the degradation of his child."
Tontileango listened imperturbably to these rebukes. He then, without speaking a word, lit his pipe and strolled away, to give his wife's anger time to cool. But the offense in her eyes was of the most serious nature. Her child had been, as she judged, degraded. She caught a horse, and mounting it with her children, set out to return to her father's home, which was distant about forty miles. In the afternoon Tontileango returned to the cabin. He found that his family had abandoned him, and that there was no one there but Smith. He seemed very much troubled, uttered several very expressive pathetic ejaculations, and soon followed his offended wife to win her back again.
There are many things occurring in this world which are not explainable upon any known principles of human philosophy. The Indians were very superstitious, and their conjurors were held in great estimation. They were generally aged men, of very serious and dignified bearing. Upon one occasion, when Ton- tileango, Smith and a few other prominent Indians were out on a hunting excursion, they were very hospitably received, for the night, in a small Indian encampment on the southern shore of Lake Erie. In the evening an Indian woman came running into the camp, in a state of great alarm, saying that she had seen two warriors, armed with rifles, on the other side of a small creek near by, apparently spying out their position. It was at once supposed that they belonged to the hostile and war-renowned tribe of the Mohawks; that a large party of these fierce warriors were hidden, and that, before morning, the camp would be attacked by a resist- less force. Great was the consternation. The women and children were sent into the woods, to be secreted there; the warriors all retired from the light of their fires, and in the dark took their stations, rifle in hand, to await the approach of the foe.
The venerable conjuror, Manetohcoa by name, alone remained in the full blaze of the camp fires. Apparently unconscious or regardless of any danger, he was busily employed in the necro- mantic arts. He had provided himself with the white and polished shoulder-blade of a wild cat. He then bound together some carefully-selected tobacco leaves with some gorgeously-colored
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feathers. These he burned, fumigating himself with the smoke, and at the same time heating the shoulder-blade by the fire. He expected to see come out, in distinct delineation, upon the bone, images of the Mohawk warriors, and in such a way that he could in some degree judge of their numbers.
But to his surprise, real or feigned, as he carefully examined the smooth bone, he saw the figures of two wolves rise upon its surface. He immediately called out to the warriors in ambush that the woman had been deceived, that there was no enemy near, and that she had mistaken the wolves for the Mohawks. The Indians, reposing implicit confidence in their conjuror, unhesi- tatingly returned to the camp. The next morning several of them crossed the creek for exploration, and actually found the tracks of two wolves just at the spot where the affrighted woman fancied that she had seen the warriors.
The military principles of the Indians were very simple, and yet admirably adapted to the mode of warfare in which they were accustomed to engage. Their principal features were caution and cunning rather than recklessness and boldness. It is by no means correct to suppose that they were without military discipline. They had carefully studied and clearly defined manœuvers, in the performance of which they were remarkably alert and intelligent.
Very promptly they would form their whole force in line, each one seeking the protection of some tree, stump or log. The Indi- ans admitted that it might be very brave for two regiments of 'white men to face each other on the open prairie, and shoot until one or the other were virtually annihilated, but they did not deem such recklessness of daring to be wisdom. In forming a line of battle, the warriors were ever careful to protect their flanks. Not unfrequently, when assaulted by a superior force, they would form in a large hollow square, such as the instructed skill of Napoleon taught him to adopt in contending with the Mamelukes of Egypt.
Each movement of the troops, for advance, retreat, concentra- tion or dispersion, was indicated by a loud signal-whoop from the leader, varying in its intonations.
The folly which General Braddock manifested in his fatal march, excited their constant derision. Immediately after the dreadful massacre of Braddock's army, on the Monongahela, the Indians assured Smith that the "Long Knives " acted like fools. "They did not know enough," said one of the chiefs, "either to fight or
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run away. They huddled themselves together so that we could completely surround them, and shoot them down at our leisure, without any danger to ourselves. They gave us the best possible opportunity."
General Grant, with the advance guard of General Forbes' army, marched upon Fort Duquesne, in the year 1757. With great celerity and secrecy, he pressed through the trails of the forest, in a night march, and took position upon a forest-crowned hill, above the fort, before the dawn of the morning. He then, exulting in his achievement, by way of bravado, caused the drums to beat and the bagpipes to play, as if to inform the enemy of his arrival. The wary Indians, thus instructed, stole out from the fort, and creep- ing along beneath the protection of ravines, bushes and forest, placed themselves in an ambush, guided by the camp-fires of the foe, and every man selected his victim. Just as the day was dawning, when there was light enough to take deliberate aim, they commenced the assault. Grant's army, in a very short time, was nearly annihilated. A venerable warrior, an Caugnewaughna .chief, speaking of this, their victory, to Mr. Smith, said :
" The conduct of General Grant was to me totally inexplicable. The great art of war consists in ambushing and surprising your enemy, and in preventing yourself from being surprised. General Grant acted like a skillful warrior in coming secretly upon us. But his subsequent conduct, in giving us the alarm, instead of falling upon us with the bayonet, was very extraordinary. I can only account for it by supposing that Grant, like too many other warriors, was fond of rum, and had become drunk."
The Indians had a supreme contempt for any man who was ignorant of what may be called woodcraft. It will be remembered that Smith had been degraded from the rank of a warrior and re- duced to that of a boy, for allowing himself to be lost in the woods. About two years after this event, he went out in midwin- ter with Tontileango, and several other warriors, on a hunting expedition. It was very severe weather, and the ground was covered with snow one or two feet deep. As they were moving along, late in the afternoon, several miles from their camp, they came across the tracks of a number of raccoons. Smith was di- rected to follow them. The tracks were quite fresh in the snow, and it was supposed that the animals would soon be found treed, where they could easily be shot.
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Smith was, however, led to a much greater distance than he anticipated, and still found no raccoons. Night was coming on, dark, tempestuous and fiercely cold. The wintry gale rose to a perfect hurricane, and the gigantic trees were swayed like willow twigs by the blast. The smothering snow blinded his eyes, and entirely obliterated all the tracks he had made. He had only a bow and arrows, with neither gun nor flint with which he could strike a fire. He had a single blanket to wrap around him, and a tomahawk in his belt.
Soon night enveloped him in its gloom. To stop would be inev- itable death by freezing. So he stumbled along over stumps and stones, bewildered and exhausted, while the snow-flakes fell so thick that he could not see whither he was going. He shouted again and again for help, but his voice was lost in the rush and roar of the storm. His situation seemed utterly desperate, and he began to think that his last hour had come.
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