History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 5

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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We then gave some tobacco to each of the chiefs, and a certificate to two of the warriors who attended the chief. We prevailed on Mr. Durion to remain here, and accompany as many of the Sioux chiefs as he could collect down to the seat of government. We also gave his son a flag, some clothes, and provisions, with directions to bring about a peace between the surrounding tribes, and to convey some of their chiefs to see the President. In the evening they left us and encamped on the opposite bank, accompanied by the two Durions.

During the evening and night we had much rain and observed that the river raised a little. The Indians who have just left us are the Yanktons, a tribe of the great nation of Sionx. These Yanktons are about two hundred men in number, and inhabit the Jacques. Des Moines and Sioux rivers. In person they are stout. well proportioned, and have a certain air of dignity and boldness. In their dress they differ nothing from the other bands of the nation whom we saw and will describe afterwards; they are fond of decorations, and use paint and porcupine quills and feathers. Some of them wear a kind of necklace of white bear's claws, three inches long and closely strung together around their necks.

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

They have only a few fowling pieces, being generally armed with bows and arrows, in which, however, they do not appear to be as expert as the more northern Indians. What struck us most was an institution peculiar to them, and to the Kito Indians farther to the westward, from whom it is said to have been copied. It is an association of the most active and brave young men, who are bound to each other by attachment, secured by a vow never to retreat before any danger, or give way to their enemies. In war they go forward without sheltering themselves behind trees, or aiding their natural valor by any artifice. This punc- tilious determination not to be turned from their course became heroic or ridiculous a short time since, when the Yanktons were crossing the Missouri on the ice. A hole lay immediately in their course which might easily have been avoided by going round. This the foremost of the band disdained to do, but went straight forward and was lost. The others would have followed his example, but were forcibly prevented by the rest of the tribe. These young men sit, and encamp, and dance together, distinct from the rest of the nation ; they are generally about thirty or thirty-five years old; and such is the deference paid to courage that their seats in council are superior to those of the chiefs, and their persons more respected. But, as may be supposed, such indiscreet bravery will soon diminish the number of those who practice it, so that the band is now reduced to four warriors, who were among our visitors. These were the remains of twenty-two who composed their society not long ago; but in a battle with the Kito Indians of the Black Mountains eighteen of them were killed, and these four were dragged from the field by their companions.

While these Indians remained with us we made very minute inquiries in relation to their situation and numbers, and trade and manners. This we did very satisfactorily by means of two different interpreters, and from their accounts joined to our interviews with other bands of the same nation, and much intelligence acquired since, we were enabled to understand with some accuracy the condition of the Sioux, hitherto so little known.

The Sioux, or Dacota Indians, originally settled on the Mississippi, and called, by Carver, Madowesians, are now subdivided into tribes as follows :

First, the Yanktons. This tribe inhabits the Sioux, Des Moines and Jacques rivers, and numbers about two hundred warriors.

Second, the Tetons of the burnt woods. This tribe numbers about three hundred men, who rove on both sides of the Missouri, the White, and the Teton rivers.

Third, the Tetons Okaudaudas, a tribe consisting of about one hundred and fifty men, who inhabit both sides of the Missouri River below the Cheyenne River.

Fourth. Tetons Minna Kennozzo, a nation inhabiting both sides of the Missouri River, above the Cheyenne River, and containing about two hundred and fifty inen.

Fifth. Tetons Saone. These inhabit both sides of the Missouri River below the Warre- conne River, and consist of about three hundred men.

Sixth, Yanktons of the Plains, or Big Devils, who rove on the heads of the Sioux, Jacques and Red rivers ; the most numerous of all the tribes and number about five hundred men.

Seventh, Wahpatone, a nation residing on the St. Peter's, just above the month of that river. and numbering 200 men.

Eighth, Minda-war-carton, or proper Dacota or Sioux Indians. These possess the orig- inal seat of the Sioux and are properly so denominated. They rove on both sides of the Mississippi about the Falls of St. Anthony, and consist of 300 men.

Ninth. the Wahpakoota. or Leaf Beds. This nation inhabits both sides of the River St. Peter's below Yellowwood River, amounting to about one hundred and fifty men.

Tenth, Sistasoone. This nation numbers 200 men and reside at the head of the St. Peter's. Of these several tribes more particular notice will be taken hereafter.

.A slight digression here seems to be necessary because of some divergent accounts regarding the place where this council was held.

The language of the Lewis and Clark journal regarding this camp is this : "At the distance of 81/2 miles ( from the last camp 112 miles above the mouth of James River) is the beginning of Calumet Bluff, under which we formed our camp, on the south." This would bring the second camping place above the James ten miles from its mouth. The encampment near the mouth of the James was in section 19. town 93, range 54, as since surveyed. The next camp ( esti- mated) was not far from the present township line dividing ranges 55 and 56 west, which is only a few feet west of Broadway, Yankton, and nearly opposite the old Village of Green Island, Nebraska, which was swept away in the flood of 1881. It is impossible to locate Calumet Bluff, or the beginning of it, at Green Island, or within any reasonable distance of that place. The insuperable difficulty is to make the natural conditions on the south side correspond with the description of the country on that shore as given by the editor of Lewis and Clark's journal, while no such difficulty exists with regard to the north side. The editor of the journal admits that there may be discrepancies between the original notes and his transcription. The notes had already passed through two

IHISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

hands in preparation for publication. None of these transcribers or editors were members of the expedition party. Captain Lewis died five years before the journal was finally edited and ready for publication, and could not have revised the work of the editors.

The camp of the Yankton Indians was not far from the mouth of the James River, and the journal says the Indians had come twelve miles from their camp to the place of this grand council. The journal does not state on which side of the James the Yanktons had their camp, and this distance of twelve miles, owing to their being obliged to follow the bends of the river, would just about bring them to within a half mile of the foot of Broadway. We disdain any purpose to deny the integrity of the journal, but there is no way to harmonize its state- ment with regard to this council ground, assuming that the south side of the river was meant, unless we move the council ground to the north side, or remove Calumet Bluff from the north to the south side. Then, again, why should the Yankton Indians, a powerful representative of the great Dahkotah nation, whose good will and friendship was so much desired by the Government, have been compelled to cross the great river to a country not their own to hokl this council when they could offer superior camping facilities, with far less incon- venience, in their own country ?

It may be asked why, if the camp was on the north side of the river, a boat was sent to transfer Sergeant Pryor across? The boat, however, is not men- tioned when the Indians were sent for; but presuming that the camp had been formed under Calumet Bluff on the north side, and on the south side of the Calumet Bluff, which is a reasonable interpretation of the language, the camp would not have been easily accessible by land. There was no trail down the bluff in this vicinity. The journal says the river ran near the bluffs on both sides. It would seem that the Indians coming up from their camp on the James reached the high bank of the Missouri in the neighborhood of the foot of Locust Street, Yankton, where the camp down in the valley could be distinctly seen and the Indians could also be observed from the camp. It is not at all unlikely that the approach to the camp, along the Yankton shore, was beset with sand bars and water holes, and may have been entirely under water, and that Lewis and Clark had formed their camp with the purpose of taking advantage of the protection afforded by nature in these and other favorable surroundings. As the Indians could not descend the bluff and make their way to the camp along the shore, a boat was sent down to the first landing place for them. The locality of the camp might be regarded as of less importance but for the first council that was here held under the sanction of the Government and the protection of the flag. This was the first formal council held between the representatives of the United States and the native inhabitants of this territory, and the first occasion when the Stars and Stripes, our national emblem, was displayed as a token of sovereignty upon the soil of Dakota.

The Indians were fine specimens of physical manhood. The chiefs, and a number of his warriors, wore a suit of buckskin curiously wrought with beads of a variety of colors, while the head chief wore, in addition, a coronet of eagle's feathers continuing down the back almost to his feet.

Captain Lewis was particularly impressed with the frank demeanor and dis- ingenuous manners of the savages, and he seems to have been greatly gratified at meeting with such courtesies as they, in their primitive etiquette, extended him and his crew. Their conical tepees were a subject of close investigation and greatly admired. These were made of dressed buffalo and elk skins, painted 'or stained white and crimson, presenting a most pleasing and fanciful appear- ance. Inside, the principal ones, were partially carpeted with robes and an occa- sional beaver and fox skin could be seen. Probably the Indians had designed to make their appearance and display of regal order, and were not exhibiting to the white people their ordinary domestic life or every day apparel, which, however, only serves to prove that they possessed a certain barbaric culture

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

that we look for almost in vain amongst our American Indians after a century's intercourse with white people.

The council was the occasion for the distribution of many medals and presents to the chiefs and braves who were in attendance and they were given to under- stand that these gifts were from the Great Father at Washington, who, though he could not be present in person, was with them in these gifts and wished to assure them that the welfare of his Indian children was a matter in which he felt the warmest interest. Some of these Jeffersonian medals were in possession of the Yankton Indians more than a half century later.

The language of the Lewis and Clark journal in leaving Yankton September Ist betrays the error of presuming that their camp at Yankton had been on the south side. First, the journal of the 28th says they made their camp at the beginning of the Calumet Bluff on the south.

As no such bluff existed on that side a camp could not be made under it ; but such a bluff did exist and still exists on the north side and extends for several miles up the river, and when the expedition left its Yankton Camp on Saturday, September Ist, the journal says: "We proceeded this morning and passed the Calumet bluffs. These are composed of a yellowish-red and brownish clay as hard as chalk which it much resembles, and are 1;o to 180 feet high." This description could not have been given unless Mr. Lewis made a personal examination. These are the same Calumet bluffs or chalk rock bluffs that extend from Yankton to the Cement works, and under the beginning of these the expedition's journal states that they made their camp. There is nothing even remotely resembling them on the south side.

Mr. M. K. Armstrong, author of the history of Dakota published in 1866, was well informed in such matters, and had frequent occasion during his pioneer residence in Yankton, beginning in 1859, to converse with the old Yankton Indians then residing here, many of whom, including the chief, "Strike the Ree," remembered the occasion of Lewis and Clark's visit. \ published statement made at the time by Mr. Armstrong regarding the location of Lewis and Clark's camps, says :

It is difficult to determine the exact locality of their encampment at that time, but from all the information that can be gained from their journal and other authentic sources, we are of the belief that it must have been at the Oak Point and Bluff on the premises of J. S. Presho, adjoining the townsite. It could hardly have been at the Billido Bluffs, four miles above, or at Smutty Bear's camp, nine miles from here; for in descending the river in 1806 they encamped on a sandbar opposite Calumet Bluff, on the night of the Ist of September, and passed the mouth of James River at 8 o'clock next morning, having traveled by river about ten miles from the bluff.

It will be observed that the sojourn of the explorers at the Yankton Camp covered a period of four days, a longer time than was given to any other locality until the party went into winter quarters.

Saturday, September 1, 1804. We proceeded this morning and passed the Calumet Bluffs ; these are composed of a yellowish-red and brownish clay as hard as chalk, which it much resembles, and are 170 or 180 feet high. At this place the hills on each side come to tle verse of the river, these on the south being higher than those on the north. Opposite the bluffs is a large island (Ambrose Island ) covered with timber, above which the high- land form a chff over the river on the north side called White Bear Cliff, an animal of that kind being killed in one of the holes in it, which are numerous and apparently deep. At six mile we came to a large sand island covered with cottonwood. We made fifteen miles to a place on the north side at the lower point of a large island called Bon llomme or Good- 11 .1 s I land.

The country on both sides has the same character of prairies, with no timber, with occa- unal Island covered with cottonwood, elm and oak. Our hunters had killed an elk and Beaver ; the catfish, too, are in great abundance. The following day we went three miles to the I wer part of an ancient fortification on the south side, and passed the head of Bon Homme Island, which is large and well timbered. After this the wind became so violent that we were compelled to land at four miles on the northern side, under a high bluff of yellow clay about one hundred and ten feet in height Our hunters supplied us with four elks,

range

Back the Country is level

FORTIFICATION

Yards wide

500

IHROSSIK

fiom mr

Vurert

Island

& Pas Augh

Ral d a Redoubt

Mud Bar

12 97 Yards

NOT

Small poppy

MAP OF FORT BUILT BY INDIANS ON BON HOMME ISLAND Drawn by Lewis and Clark

Youny Willows

100 Yards apart.

This Hall about

5 feet high

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

and we had grapes and plums on the banks; we also saw the beargrass and rue on the sides of the bluffs. At this place there are highlands on both sides of the river, which become more level at some distance back, and contain but few streams of water. On the southern bank, during this day, the grounds have not been so elevated. Captain Clark crosed the river to examine the remains of the fortification we had first passed. This interesting object is on the south side of the Missouri opposite the upper extremity of Bon Homme Island, and in a low, level plain, the hills being three miles from the river. It begins by a wall composed of earth, rising immediately from the bank of the river, and running in a direct course S. 76: W. ninety-six yards ; the base of this wall or mound is seventy-five feet and its height about eight. It then diverges in a course S. 84: W. and continues at the same height and depth to the distance of fifty-three yards, the angle being formed by a sloping descent ; at the junction of these two is the appearance of a hornwork of the same height with the first angle; the same wall then pursues a course at 69: W. for 300 yards; near its western extremity is an opening or gateway at right angles to the wall and projecting inwards; this gateway is defended by two nearly semi-circular walls placed before it, lower than the large walls, and from the gateway there seems to have been a covered way com- municating with the interval between these two walls; westward of the gate the wall becomes much larger, being about one hundred and five feet at its base and twelve feet high; at the end of this high ground the wall extends for fifty-six yards on a course at 32: W .; it then turns to N. 32: W. for seventy-three yards; these two walls seem to have had a double or covered way; they are from 10 to 15 feet S inches in height, and from 75 to 150 feet in width at the base, the descent inwards being step, while outwards it forms a sort of glacis. At the distance of seventy-three yards the wall ends abruptly at a large hollow place much lower than the general level of the plain, and from which is some indication of a covered way to the water.

The space between them is occupied by several mounds scattered promiscuously through the gorge, in the center of which is a deep, round hole. From the extremity of the last wall, in a course N. 32: W. is a distance of ninety-six yards over the low ground, where the wall recommences and crosses the plain over in a course N. SI: W. for 1,830 yards to the bank of the Missouri. In this course its height is about eight fect, till it enters, at the distance of 533 yards, a deep circular pond of seventy-three yards diameter; after which it gradually lowers towards the river : it touches the river at a muddy har, that bears every mark of being an encroachment of the water, for a considerable distance, and a little above the junction is a small circular redoubt.

Along the bank of the river and at 1, 100 yards distance, in a straight line from this wall, is a second, about six feet high and of considerable width; it rises abruptly from the banks of the Missouri, at a point where the river bends, and goes straight forward, forming an acute angle with the last wall until it enters the river again not far from the mounds just described, towards which it is obviously tending. At the bend the Missouri is 500 yards wide ; the ground at the opposite side highlands, or low hills on the bank ; and where the river passes between this front and Bon Homme Island, all the distance from the bend, it is constantly washing the banks into the streams, a large sand bank being already taken from the shore near the wall. During the whole course of this wall or glacis, it is covered with trees, among which are many large cotton trees that are two to three feet in diameter. Immediately opposite the citadel, or the part most strongly fortified on Bon Homme Island, is a small work in a circular form, with a wall surrounding it about six feet in height. The young willows along the water joined to the general appearance of the two shores induce a belief that the bank of the island is encroaching, and the Missouri indemnifies itself by washing away the base of the fortification.

The citadel contains about twenty acres, but the parts between the long walls must embrace nearly five hundred acres. These are the first remains of the kind which we have had an opportunity of examining; but our French interpreter assures us that there are great numbers of them on the Platte, the Kansas, the Jacques, etc .. and some of our party say that they observed two of these fortresses on the Petite Arc ( Little Bow) Creek not far from its mouth ; that the wall was about six feet high and the sides of the angles 100 yards in length.

This fortification, Lewis concluded, was the ruins of an ancient fort that had been constructed by a fairly intelligent people, who possessed considerable knowledge of the science of military architecture. Dttrion, the interpreter, who had spent his life with the Indians, was unable to enlighten the captain, butt told him that a similar work would be found on the James River ; but even the Sioux Indian tribe had no tradition that threw any light upon the matter. Directly across the channel on the island shore was found the disintegrating remains of what appeared to have been a citadel as ancient and probably a contemporary with the fort when constructed and undoubtedly designed for use in connection with the fortification in case of necessity. The citadel was or had been a circular structure, and outside and enclosing it was a stone wall six feet high in places. Vol. 1-2

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

[ Note by Ed.] The traditional story of the Mandan people forces itself upon the mind in contemplating the description of these works and those at Fort Thompson, constructed apparently for the protection and defense of a partially civilized people against an enemy that was at any time liable to assail them. These Mandans had passed up the Missouri Valley long before,-how long is left to conjecture, but they had constructed and occupied a fortification above Fort Pierre, and had abandoned that, and Lewis found them hundreds of miles farther north. There is a mystery connected with them, which the present gen- eration of Mandans nor that which existed when Captain Lewis met them, were able or willing to unravel. Many of them did not resemble other Indians except partially, while in many striking physical characteristics they are essentially non- Indian. Some had blue eyes, various shades of hair ; the absence of high cheek bones, the almost fair complexion of many of them, the knowledge they still possessed of some of the primitive arts, including agriculture, all go to prove that they are a race of people developing into a higher civilization, or in the process of retroceding from a civilized and enlightened race to the barbaric state. It would seem that the latter theory would conform best with the little that is known of this remarkable people. They are the special aversion of the Dahkotah Indians who have never omitted an opportunity to wreak their enmity upon them, and in explanation of the fortifications at Bonhomme it would appear to have been built for the purpose of protecting and defending a numerous body of civilized or semi-civilized people against a relentless and powerful enemy. The site had been selected intelligently for the purpose of a permanent abode, and no doubt was occupied and used as the home of a people who practiced agriculture, trapped, hunted, fished, always wary of their red skinned enemy who sometimes may have come in force to assail them, when lodged behind the battlements of their fort they could as successfully resist as the other could assault, and if the dire emergency ever arose when their fortifications were taken, their citadel across the narrow channel afforded a secure place of retreat and an almost absolute defensive structure against any arms their enemy was conversant with. The Mandans courted peace by isolating themselves from all other human beings. They were unlike any other Indian tribe and avoided any fellowship with their race. They had no desire to affiliate with other Indian tribes or other whites. They desired to be let alone, and pass unobserved except as their necessities required them to barter with the traders.

Now that we have indulged in some speculation concerning this strange band of nomadic people we ask the reader's attention to a brief review of the career of this remarkable tribe, and would direct attention to the result, after many centuries of trial, of the intermarriage of whites and Indians. The Mandans would seem to furnish a living illustration of the benefits accruing to the Indian nature by this intermarriage or miscegenation, with the better class of white people, and if the narrative is a true one it furnishes the most interesting evi- dences that truth is stranger than fiction. The Mandan Indians have been recognized as one of the oldest tribes in North America and their existence and career have been traced back for several centuries, when even before the Colum- bian era, they were a numerous and peaceful tribe inhabiting a portion of the South Atlantic coast. It is known that connected with them were a number of white men of superior intelligence and of strong religious inclinations. These were supposed to be Welshmen, who. under a leader known as Prince Madoc, visited this continent from Wales in the twelfth century. This party made one successful voyage and a second was undertaken, but no authentic information of the fate of the party was ever obtained, unless this tradition, which has the support of one, or perhaps two, early missionaries, should prove to be well founded. The tradition informs us that these white voyagers and explorers were shipwrecked near the coast peopled by the Mandans, probably Georgia as now known, and the survivors found shelter and subsistence from the Indians, with whom they continued to dwell, and realizing the hopelessness of rescue,

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 5

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198