History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 12

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998

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Irving tells a rather amusing bear story re- lating to this camp: "Among the hired men of the party was William Cannon, who had been a soldier at one of the frontier posts and had entered the employ of Mr. Hunt at Mackinaw. He was an inexperienced hunter and a poor shot, for which he was much bantered by his more adroit companions. Piqued at their raillery, he had been practicing ever since he joined the ex- pedition, but without success. In the course of

the present afternoon (August 13th) he had gone forth by himself to take a lesson in venery and to his great delight had the good fortune to kill a buffalo. As he was a long distance from the camp, he cut out the tongue and some of the choice bits, made them into a parcel and, slinging them onto his shoulders by a strap passing around his forehead as the voyageurs carry a package of goods, set out all glorious for the camp, anticipating a triumph over his brother hunters. In passing through a narrow ravine he heard a noise behind him and, looking around, beheld, to his dismay, a grizzly bear in full pur- suit, apparently attracted by the scent of the meat. Cannon had heard so much of the invulnerability of this animal that he never at- tempted to fire, but, shipping the strap from his shoulders, let go the buffalo meat and ran for his life. The bear did not stop to regale himself with the game but kept on after the hunter. He had nearly overtaken him when Cannon reached a tree and, throwing down his gun, scrambled up it. The next instant bruin was at the foot of the tree. but, as this species does not climb, he con- tented himself with turning the chase into a blockade. Night came on. In the darkness Can- non could not perceive whether or not the enemy maintained his position ; but his fears pictured him rigorously mounting guard. He passed the night, therefore, in the tree, a prey to dismal fancies. In the morning the bear was gone. Cannon wearily descended the tree, gathered up his gun and made his way back to camp, without venturing to look after his buffalo meat." At this juncture the party became very suspicious of Edward Rose and conceived that he was plotting to betray them to the Crow Indians, with whom he was allied by marriage, and to steal their merchandise. Rose bore a bad char- acter, but there is no proof that he contemplated treachery and was doubtless most agreeably sur- prised when Hunt called him up and paid him a half year's salary and a lot of goods and traps in addition to his regular wages, and told him he might stop with the Crows. The future history of the Astorians does not affect South Dakota.

CHAPTER IX

SOUTH DAKOTA AND THE WAR OF 1812.

When the second war with England came on the British entrusted their interests on the Mis- sissippi, and beyond, in the hands of Col. Robert Dickson, a well-known trader. Dickson was a Scotchman whose headquarters at this time appears to have been at Prairie du Chien, but he did an extensive business over a wide range of country. Ramsey Crooks, writing in 1857, says : "When I first went to Mackinaw, in 1805, it was as a clerk to Robert Dickson & Co., who were then engaged in trade withf the Indians from the lakes to the Missouri and from the Wabash to ; the boundary between the United States and the British possessions. Dickson's connection with the Indians as a trader was almost entirely with the Sioux." This generalization would extend his business over South Dakota and it is probable that he had business relations with the South Dakota Indians at the time, if he did not actually have posts among them. That he had their con- fidence and great influence with them is certain. Zebulon Pike met him in 1807 and describes him · as "a gentleman of general commercial knowl- edge and possessing much geographical informa- tion of the western country ; of open, frank man- ners." He certainly very frankly, while trading on American soil, entered into the employment of the mother country and did what he could to further the English cause at our expense. Therc are still living, among the Sissetons, Indians who recollect Dickson, whom they always call "the Red Headed." The exact nature of Dick- son's commission from the English government

has not been revealed, but judging by what he accomplished he was doubtless empowered to establish friendly relations with the American tribes and to enlist as many as possible in the British army. At any rate he set out promptly to enlist an auxiliary army of Indians and met with considerable success. Wapashaw, whose home was at Winona, and the elder Little Crow, whose home was at St. Paul, were the Indian leaders in the enlistment. but Joseph Renville, a mixed-blood Sisseton, was doubtless most in- fluential in recruiting the Indians and was given a captain's commission and pay for his effort and influence. Renville came to the Sissetons in South Dakota, residing on Big Stone lake, and recruited twenty-two Sissetons and several Yanktonais for the English service and they went east and engaged in several skirmishes and in the important battle before Fort Meigs ; many descendants of these men are still among the Sissetons. The most famous of the South Dakota Indians were the two Wantotans, father and son, chiefs of the Yanktonais, who resided on Elm river near the present Frederick, and claimed the country on both sides of the river. Major Long met the younger Wantotan, at Lake Traverse in 1823, and says of him: "The most interest which we experienced in the neighbor- hood of Lake Traverse was from an acquaintance with Wanotan, the most distinguished chief of the Yanktonais, which we were informed is subdivided into six bands. He is one of the greatest men of the Dakota nation, and,

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

although but twenty-eight years of age, has already acquired great renown as a warrior. At the early age of eighteen he exhibited much valor in the war against the Americans, and was wounded several times. He was then in- experienced and served under his father, who was chief of his tribe and bore a mortal enmity to the Americans." Major Long then proceeds to tell much of the personal appearance, habits and manners and dress of this eminent South Dakotan. He tells us that he was more than six feet high and would be considered handsome in any company. On this occasion he was dressed in a mixture of the European and aboriginal costume ; he wore leggings of splendid scarlet cloth, a blue breech cloth, a fine shirt of printed muslin, over this a frock coat of fine blue cloth with scarlet facings somewhat similar to the undress uniform of a Prussian officer ; this was buttoned and secured around his waist with a belt. Upon his head he wore a blue cloth cap made like a German fatigue cap. A very hand- some Mackinaw blanket, slightly ornamented with paint, was thrown over his person.".

Wanotan's name is variously spelled in the old documents. It signifies the Rushing Man, in allusion to his valor in battle. It is frequently called Waneta, Waneton and Wahneta. He met the Atkinson-O'Fallon commission of 1825 at Fort Tecumseh (Fort Pierre) and signed the treaty there. He is called at this time a Sioune and his name is spelled Wahneta. He continued to grow in importance among his people. Shortly after the conquest of the Rees, by Leavenworth in 1823, Wanotan removed from the Elm to the mouth of the Warreconne on the Missouri. where he set up a protectorate over the Rees, protecting them from their Sioux enemies, in consideration of which they annually supplied him with a store of vegetables and furs. He was exceedingly tenacious of the territorial rights of his people and denied the right of the Sissetons to the "Buffalo Republic," lying be- tween the Jim and the coteau, and would not permit them to occupy it except for annual hunts. The facts mentioned relating to the twenty-two Sissetons and the band of Yanktonais probably

defines the actual participation of South Dakota Indians in the war of 1812, but indirectly the Indians of South Dakota were involved in it in many ways.

It will be recalled that in the previous chapter we left Manuel Lisa at the Ree towns, in South Dakota, on July 18, 1811, the day the Astorians struck out from the river on the long tramp to the Columbia. He spent some time in closing up his affairs with the Rees, but by October was back in St. Louis, where, during the ensuing winter, he reorganized the St. Louis-Missouri Fur Company on a basis which added to his im- portance and influence in the management. May 2, 1812, six weeks before the declaration of war, he left for the Dakota country, and with two barges went as far as the Mandans, where he spent the winter and on June 1, 1813, he was back in St. Louis with a profitable year's business and with information which set the authorities in a furror. "The wampum was carrying by British influence along the banks of the Missouri and all the nations of this great river were ex- cited to join the universal confederacy then setting on foot, of which the Prophet was the instrument and the British traders the soul." Manuel imparted to General Clark, then Indian commissioner, a plan by which the British scheme should be thwarted and "the Indians of the Mis- souri, which are to those of the upper Mississippi as four to one, should arm not against the re- public ; on the contrary should arm against Great Britain and strike the allies of that power."

General Clark was pleased with the scheme proposed by the wily Spaniard and he was promptly commissioned agent for all the Indians who inhabited the Missouri river above the Kansas. While all of the authorities join in prais- ing Lisa for his excellent work in behalf of the American interests, there is really little of record to tell us precisely what he did do. The state papers say, "He has been of great service the last year in preventing British influence by sending large parties to war," which is beautifully in- definite, and it does not appear that he made more than one written report, which was sent in with his resignation, in July, 1817, after four years

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

of service. During this period of four years that he held the commission he resided at Fort Lisa, near Omaha, and it is probable that he made continued visits to the South Dakota country, though we have knowledge of but one trip made in 1814 when he brought Tahama, the "one-eyed Sioux," to the mouth of the James river, whence he dispatched him to Prairie du Chien to obtain information of the situation there for General Clark. Mrs. Dye says he held councils all along the river from Omaha to Mandan, and this seems probable. In any event through his influence the Missouri river Indians were kept loyal at a time when it was highly im- portant to American interests that her foes on the rear should be kept occupied with their own affairs. Manuel's letter to General Clark, re- signing his commission as sub-agent, is unique and characteristic and contains much which is more or less pertinent to our subject. It is dated at St. Louis, July 1, 1817, and is directed to "His excellency, Governor Clark :"

Sir: I have the honor to remit to you the com- mission of sub-agent, which you were pleased to be- stow upon me in the summer of 1813, for the Indian nations which inhabit the Missouri river above the mouth of the Kansas, and pray you to accept my res- ignation of that appointment.

The circumstances under which I do this demand of me some exposition of the actual state of these In- dians and of my own conduct during the time of my sub-agency.

Whether I deserve well or ill of the government depends upon the solution of these questions:

1. Are the Indians of the Missouri more or less friendly to the United States than at the time of my employment?

2. Are they altered better or worse in their own condition at this time?

1. I received this appointment when war was raging between the United States and Great Britain and when the activity of British emissaries had armed against the republic all of the tribes of the up- per Mississippi and of the northern lakes. Had the Missouri Indians been overlooked by British agents?

No. Your excellency will remember that more than a year before the war broke out I gave you the intelligence that the wampum was carrying by Brit- Ish influence along the banks of the Missouri and that all the nations of this great river were excited to join the universal confederacy now setting on foot,

of which the Prophet was the instrument and British traders the soul. The Indians of the Missouri are to those of the upper Mississippi as four is to one. Their weight would be great if thrown into the scale against us. They did not arm against the republic: on the contrary, they armed against Great Britain and struck the Iowas, the allies of that power.

When peace was declared more than forty chiefs had intelligence with me; and together we were to carry an expedition of several thousand warriors against the tribes of the upper Mississippi and si- lence them at once. These things are known to your excellency.

To the end of the war, therefore, the Indians of the Missouri continued friends of the United States. How are they when I come to lay down my appoint- ment? Still friends, hunting in peace upon their own ground and we trading with them in security, while the Indians of the upper Mississippi, silenced but not satisfied, give signs of enmity and require the pres- ence of a military force. And the first question re- solves itself to my advantage.

2. Before I ascended the Missouri as sub-agent your excellency remembers what was accustomed to . take place. The Indians of that river killed, robbed and pillaged the traders; these practices are no more. Not to mention the others, my own establishments furnish the example of destruction then, of safety now. I have one at the Mahas, more than six hun- dred miles up the Missouri, another at the Sioux, six hundred miles further still. I have from one to two hundred men in my employ, large quantities of horses and horned cattle, of hogs and domestic fowls; not one has been touched by an Indian; for I count as nothing some solitary thefts at the instigation of white men, my enemies; nor as an act of hostilities the death of Pedro Antonio, one of my people, shot this spring as a man is sometimes shot among us, without being stripped or mutilated. And thus the morals of the Indians are altered for the better and the second question equally results to my advantage.

But I have had some success as a trader and this gives rise to many reports. "Manuel must cheat the government, and Manuel must cheat the Indians, oth- erwise Manuel could not bring down every summer so many boats loaded with rich furs."

Good. My accounts with the government will show whether I receive anything out of which to cheat it. A poor five hundred dollars, as sub-agent's salary, does not buy the tobacco for them who call me father. Cheat the Indians! The respect and friendship which they have for me, the security of my possessions in the heart of their country, respond to this charge and declare with voices louder than the tongues of men that it cannot be true.

"But Manuel gets so much cheap fur!" Well,

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

I will explain how I get it. First, I put into my op- erations great activity; I go a great distance while some are considering whether to start today or to- morrow. I impose on myself great privations; ten months of the year I am buried in the forest at a vast distance from my own house. I appear as the benefactor and not as the pillager of the Indians. I carry among them the seed of the large pompion, from which I have seen in their possession the fruit weighing one hundred sixty pounds, also the large bean, the potato, the turnip, and these vegetables now make a comfortable part of their subsistence. And this year I have promised to carry the plow, besides my blacksmith's work incessantly for them, charging nothing. I lend them traps-only demanding prefer- ence in their trade. My establishments are the ref- uge of the weak and old men no longer able to follow their lodges, and by this means I have acquired the confidence and friendship of these nations and the consequent choice of their trade. These things have I done and propose to do more. The Arikaras, the Mandans, the Gros Ventres, and the Assinibois find themselves near the establishments of Lord Selkirk upon the Red river. They can communicate with it in two or three days. The evils of such communica- tion will strike the minds of all persons, and it is for those who can handle the pen to dilate upon them. For me, I go to form another establishment, to coun- teract the one in question and shall labor to draw upon the esteem of these nations, and to prevent their trade from passing into the hands of foreigners.

I regret to have troubled your excellency with this exposition. It is right for you to hear what is said of a public agent and so to weigh it, and con- sider the source from which it comes. In ceasing to be in the employment of the United States, I shall not cease to be less devoted to its interests. I have suffered enough in person and property, under a dif- ferent government, to know how to appreciate the one under which I now live.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your excellency's obedient servant,

MANUEL LISA.

It will be observed that Manuel asserts that at the date of this letter, July 1, 1817, he has a post "at the Mahas, more than six hundred miles up the river, and another at the Sioux (Indians), six hundred miles further still." The post at the Mahas was "Fort Lisa," located about midway between the present cities of Omaha and Calhoun, Nebraska, which, according to the reckoning of that time, was six hundred fifty miles. Accord- ing to the Lewis and Clarke schedule, which was

accepted for many years, "the upper part of the Big Bend" was twelve hundred and two miles and the mouth of the Teton river (Pierre) was twelve hundred and sixty-nine miles. Therefore if Manuel meant to be understood with exactness his "establishment at the Sioux" was somewhere between the Big Bend and Pierre. The old Loisell post on Cedar island was at twelve hun- dred and twenty-six miles. We have seen that this post, which came into the possession of Manuel's company, was burned in 1810, but it is not improbable that it was rebuilt. No other record appears to exist of Manuel's post in the Sioux country at this date, but from this letter it is manifest that at that time he did maintain a post somewhere in the central portion of South Dakota and from his further statement of the number of horses, horned cattle, hogs and fowls he safely kept in the heart of the Indian country, as well as from the number of men employed, it must have been an important establishment.

Generally speaking, the fur trade was ruined by the war of 1812, Lisa being about the only trader who seems to have stuck through it ; most of the operators suspended entirely during several years. The market was utterly ruined so that even the great Astor felt the pinch of it. The warehouses of St. Louis "were filled with moth- eaten and rotting furs." By 1817, however, there was something of a revival. As we have seen, at least Lisa was trading on the Missouri, within South Dakota, and our old friend, Robert Diekson, had taken up his home on Lake Traverse and was confining his attention to the trade with the Sissetons and neighboring Indians. The event of the war of 1812 had been disastrous to Dickson's fortunes ; his business was destroyed and he found himself at the foot of the ladder and compelled to start over again. With Seotch dog- gedness, he went at it and settled at Brown's valley, being an actual resident of Minnesota, though his business was largely on the South Dakota side. His presence in the Dakota country was a source of great anxiety to the American officers at Prairie du Chien. The United States Indian agent at that place reports: "Two en- tire bands and a part of a third have deserted us

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

and joined Dickson, who has distributed to them large quantities of Indian presents, together with flags, medals, etc. Knowing this, what must have been my feeling on hearing that his lordship (Lord Selkirk, enroute to his colony on the lower Red River) had met with a favorable reception at St. Louis. The newspapers, announcing his arrival and general Scottish appearance, all tend to discompose me very much, believing as I do that he is plotting with his friend, Dickson, our destruction-sharpening the savage scalping knife and colonizing a tract of country so remote as that of the Red river, the Missouri and their waters, for the purpose, no doubt, of monopoliz- ing the fur and peltry trade, a trade of the first importance to the western states and territories. A courier, who had arrived a few days ago, confirins the belief that Dickson is endeavoring to undo what I have done, and secure to the British government the affections of the Sioux." "Dickson, as I have observed, is situated at the head of the St. Peters, to which he transports his goods from Selkirk's Red river settlement in carts made for the purpose."

The American newspapers were greatly aroused at the time over Dickson's supposed at- titude and painted him as a monster. A leading newspaper, quoted by Niell but not identified, says: "How will the English government and their agent, Robert Dickson, a native of Scot-

land, appear when it is announced to them that he employed a Sauk warrior to assassinate Governor Clarke at Prairie du Chien? The Governor's timely shifting of the sword alarmed and deterred him from the commission of the. act." This characterization of Dickson seems to be unfounded. Every one who associated with him and his letters, collected and published by the Wisconsin Historical Society, all declare him to have been a humane man who restrained the Indians from excesses. Ramsey Crooks says of him : "I was proud to call Robert Dickson my friend and I shall ever cherish his memory as a man who exerted himself in restraining natural ferocity of the savages on the frontier in the war of 1812, although he was branded as the worst of savages at the very time."

The strong probability is that Dickson, at this period, was struggling to redeem his lost fortune without any ulterior motive. He was, however, arrested and taken to St. Louis for trial, but was dismissed by the United States commissioner be- fore whom he had his preliminary examination and returned to Lake Traverse. When or where his death occurred I have not learned. He left a family and his descendants are still prominent in Minnesota affairs. A daughter married Joseph LaFramboise, the well-known trader and fron- tiersman who made the first settlement at Fort Pierre.

CHAPTER X

THE STORY OF JOSEPH LAFRAMBOISE.

The winter counts of the Tetons for the years 1817-18 show a log hut with a chimney, standing beside a dead tree. This is variously interpreted, the weight of opinion being that it signifies that Joseph LaFramboise built a trading store at the mouth of the Teton river that year and that the house was built of dead timber. Another in- terpretation is that Louis LaConte built a trading house on the Missouri just below the big bend. No other record of this settlement has been de- veloped, but it is the popular impression, sup- ported by Indian tradition, that LaFramboise did really settle at Fort Pierre in November or De- cember, 1817. In confirmation of this story Joseph LaFramboise, Jr., a son of the party in question, who was born in 1829 and who recalls many of the incidents related to him by his father regarding his movements before the birth of his son, recalls that his father told him that at one time he had engaged in trade on the Missouri at Fort Pierre, that he was at the time represent- ing Joseph Rolette and that he went to Fort Pierre from Prairie du Chien, accompanied by two half-breed Frenchmen and a party of Sioux Indians, who packed with them a quantity of light merchandise which LaFramboise traded out to the Indians. Joseph, Jr., can not tell anything about the date of this settlement except that it was late in the fall, after the river was frozen, and that he built the house out of floatwood.

There is no doubt that LaFramboise settled at. Fort Pierre at about the date mentioned, though it may have been in 1818 or 1819. He

was known to have been there in 1819. The next year he was trading on Big Stone lake, and in 1822 was sent by Rolette to the big bend of the Sioux, where Flandreau, South Dakota, now is located, and engaged in trade there for five years in a substantial house. He then moved his wares across the coteau and traded on the headwaters of the Des Moines. Some doubt is thrown on the early movements of LaFramboise by evidence secured by the Wisconsin Historical Society that he was born in 1805 and presumably was too young to engage in these pioneer movements at the dates first mentioned. His son, Joseph, too, says he was but fifty years of age at the date of his death in 1856, which would tend to confirm the date fixed by the Wisconsin authority.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 12

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 998

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998