History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 9

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

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"Wednesday, October 10th, the weather being fine and as we were desirous of assembling the whole nation at once, we despatched Mr. Grave- lines, who, with Mr. Tabeau, another French trader, had breakfasted with us, to invite the chiefs of the two upper villages to a con- ference, and after the usual ceremonies we ad- dressed them in the same way in which we had spoken to the Ottoes and the Sioux. We then made or acknowledged three chiefs, one for each of the three villages, giving to each a flag, a medal, a red coat, a cocked hat and feather, also some goods, paint and tobacco, which they divided among themselves. After this the air gun was exhibited, very much to their astonish- ment, nor were they less surprised at the color and manner of York. On our side we were equally gratified at discovering that these Arickaras made use of no spirituous liquors of any kind. The example of the traders who bring it to them, so far from tempting them, has in fact disgusted them. Supposing that it was agreeable to them as to the other Indians, we had at first offered them whiskey, but they re-

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

fused it with the sensible remark that they were surprised that their father should present to them a liquor which made them foolish. On another occasion they observed to Mr. Tabeau that no man could be their friend who tried to lead them into follies.'"

At one o'clock next day they set sail and proceeded to the upper villages of the Rees, which they reached in one hour. These are the villages captured and destroyed by General Leavenworth nineteen years later, and a full description and map will be found in the account of the Ree Conquest in Chapter XI of this work. The journal proceeds :

"We visited both of the villages and sat con- versing with the chiefs for some time, during which they presented us with bread made of corn and beans, also corn and beans boiled and a large rich bean which they take from the mice of the prairies, who discover and collect it. These villages are placed near to each other on a high smooth prairie, a fine situation except that they have no wood. The inhabitants are obliged to go for this across the river to a timbered low- land opposite to them." The next forenoon they remained with the Rees and addressed them in both villages. The Indians presented them with a large quantity of corn, beans and dried pumpkin. One of the chiefs accompanied the expedition to the Mandans as an emissary of peace, the two nations being at war. Lewis and Clarke contribute the following information to the "sum of human knowledge" relating to the history, manner and customs of these primitive South Dakotans :

"The three villages which we have just left is the residence of a nation called the Ricaras ; they were originally colonies of Pawnees, who established themselves on the Missouri, below the Cheyenne, where the traders still remember that twenty years ago they occupied a number of villages. From that situation a number of the Ricaras emigrated to the neighborhood of the Mandans, with whom they were then in alliance. The rest of the nation continued near the Chey- enne until the year 1797, in the course of which, distressed by their wars with the Sioux, they

joined their countrymen near the Mandans. Soon after another war arose between the Ricaras and the Mandans, in consequence of which the former came down to their present location. In this migration those who had first gone to the Mandans kept together and now live in the two lower villages, which may now be considered as the Ricaras proper. The third village was com- posed of such remnants of the villages as had survived the wars. As there were nine of these villages, a difference of pronounciation and some difference of language may be observed between them and the Ricaras proper, who do not 1111- derstand all the words of these wanderers. The villages are within four miles of each other, the two lower ones consisting of between one hundred fifty and two hundred men each and the third of three hundred. The Ricaras are tall and well proportioned, the women handsome and lively, and, as among other savages, to them falls all the drudgery of the field and the labors of pro- curing subsistence, except hunting ; both sexes are poor, but kind and generous, and although they receive with thankfulness what is given to them, do not beg as the Sioux did, though this praise should be qualified by mentioning that an axe was stolen last night from our cooks. The dress of the men is a simple pair of moccasins, leggings, and a cloth around the middle, over which a buffalo robe is occasionally thrown, with their hair, arms and ears decorated with different ornaments. The women wear moccasins, leg- gings, a long shirt mnade of goats' skins, gen- erally white and fringed, which is tied around the waist; to these they add, like the men, a buffalo robe without the hair in summer. These women are handsomer than the Sioux; both of them are, however. disposed to be amorous, and our men found no difficulty in procuring com- panions for the night, by means of the in- terpreters. These interviews were chiefly clan- destine, and were of course to be kept a secret from the husband or relations. The point of honor, indeed, is completely reversed among the Ricaras ; that the wife or sister should submit to a stranger's embraces without the consent of the husband or brother is a cause of great disgrace

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

and offense, especially as for many purposes of civility, or gratitude, the husband and brother will themselves present to a stranger these females and be gratified by attentions to them. The Sioux had offered us squaws, but while we remained there, having declined, they followed us with offers of females for two days. The Ricaras had been equally accommodating ; we had equally withstood their temptation ; but such was their desire to oblige that two very handsome young squaws were sent on board this evening, and persecuted us with civilities. The black man, York, participated largely in these favors, for in- stead of inspiring any prejudice, his color seemed to procure him additional advantages from the Indians, who desired to preserve among them "some memorial of this wonderful stranger. Among other instances of attention a Ricara in- vited him to his house, and presenting his wife to him retired to the outside of the door; while there one of York's comrades who was looking for him came to the door, but the gallant husband would permit no interruption before a reasonable time had elapsed. The Ricara lodges are in circular or octagonal form, and generally about forty feet in diameter ; they are made by placing forked posts about six feet high around the cir- cumference of a circle ; these are joined by poles from one fork to another, which are also sup- ported by other forked poles slanting up from the ground ; in the center of the lodge are placed four higher forks about fifteen feet in length, connected together by beams; from these to the lower poles the rafters of the roof are extended so as to leave a vacancy in the middle for the smoke ; the frame of the building is then covered with willow branches, with which is interwoven grass and over this mud or clay; the aperture for the door is about four feet wide and before it is a sort of entry about ten feet from the lodge. They are very warm and compact."

"They cultivate maize or Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, watermelons, squashes and a species of tobacco peculiar to themselves. Their com- merce is chiefly with the traders, who supply them with goods in return for peltries, which they procure not only by their own hunting, but in

exchange for corn from their less civilized neigh- bors. The object chiefly in demand seemed to be red paint, but they would give anything they had to spare for the most trifling article. One of the men today gave an Indian a hook made out of a pin, and he gave him in return a pair of moccasins. They express a disposition to keep at peace with all nations, but they are well armed with fusils, and being much under the influence of the Sioux, who exchange the goods they get from the British for Ricara corn, their minds are sometimes poisoned and they cannot always be depended upon. At present they are at war with the Mandans."

Mr. Gravelines here contributed something to the misinformation relative to the geography of the locality which Valle and Dorion had pre- viously given them. He said that the Jim river rises about forty miles east of the Ree towns, the Cheyenne of the Red river twenty miles further and the St. Peter about eighty miles away.

The next morning they went on up river, having tarried with the Ricaras from October 8th until the morning of the 13th. They were accompanied by a brother of old Lightning Crow's whom they induced to go with them to the Mandans as a peace envoy. That day they passed Spring creek, which they named Stone Idol river, from a story told them by the Rees that a short distance back from the river are two stones which resemble human beings in form and a third the shape of a dog, all of which are objects of great veneration to the Rees. "Their history," says the journal, "would adorn the matamorphoses of Ovid. A young man was deeply enamoured with a girl whose parents refused consent to their marriage. The youth went out into the fields to mourn his misfortunes ; a sympathy of feeling led the lady to the same spot and the faithful dog would not cease to follow her master. After wandering together and having nothing but grapes to subsist on they were at last converted into stone, beginning at the feet and gradually invading the nobler parts, and leaving nothing unchanged but a bunch of grapes which the female holds in her hands to this day. Whenever

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

the Ricaras pass these sacred stones they stop to make some offering of dress to propitiate the deities. Such was the account given us by the Ricara chief, which we had no mode of examin- ing, except that we found one part of the story very agreeably confirmed, for on the river near where the event is said to have occurred we found a greater abundance of fine grapes than we had yet seen." With this fairy tale the expedition passed out of South Dakota. Going on to the Mandan towns, which were situated five or six miles below the mouth of Knife river, they en- camped for the winter and the next season, 1805, went on to the mouth of the Columbia, where they arrived November 5th and remained there until March 23, 1806, when they began the return trip. Their adventures during this portion of the long trip were intensely interesting and were ac- companied by a good deal of hardship, but do not have any bearing upon the history of South Dakota. They reached the north boundary of South Dakota on August 21, 1806, just two years from the day they entered South Dakota from the south on the upward trip. That night they stopped with their old friends, the Rees, and Lightning Eagle, the chief to whom they had given the flag and medal when they went out, brought to them another chief whom he said was a greater man than himself and to whom he had therefore surrendered the flag and medal. This new chief was Grey Eyes, and we shall have occasion to know him better as this history progresses. At this time Captain Clarke de- scribed him as "a stout, well-looking man, thirty- five years old."

There was a party of Cheyennes at the Ricara town and the captains availed themselves of the occasion to hold a council with these people and inform them of the sovereignty of the United Status over the Cheyenne country. They pro- ceeded rapidly down stream without incident. passing the mouth of the Teton on the 26th and, though they were prepared for trouble, did not see a single Indian. The same day they passed Loisell's post, which this time they call "Louis-

ville's." Down stream they averaged about fifty-five miles daily. At every camp their rest was destroyed by the swarms of mosquitoes. On the 29th they passed White river and on the 30th, when near Fort Randall, run upon a party of Black Buffalo's Tetons, the fellows who had made them the trouble at Fort Pierre when they were going up, and they were insolent and threat- ening but were easily bluffed out. The next day they passed the Niobrara and when near Spring- field met a large party of friendly Yanktons. They went on to Bon Homme island and stopped to re- plenish their stores with elk meat. At Yankton they found the flagstaff which they erected two years before still standing. The morning of the 2d of September they passed Jim river and stopped to shoot wild turkeys. The next morn- ing they passed the Vermilion, which this time they call "the Redstone." That night, a short distance below Elk Point, they met "a Mr. James Airs, a partner in a house at Prairie du Chien, who had come from Mackinaw, by way of St. Louis, with a license to trade among the Sioux for one year. He had brought two canoe loads of merchandise, but lost many useful articles in a squall some time since. After so long an interval a sight of anyone who could give us information of our country was peculiarly delightful, and much of the night was spent in making inquiries into what had occurred during our absence. We found Mr. Airs a very friendly and. liberal gentleman and when we proposed to purchase a small quantity of tobacco, to be paid for in St. Louis, he very readily furnished every man of the party with as much as he could use during the rest of the voyage and insisted upon our ac- cepting a barrel of flour. This last we found very agreeable, although we still have a little which we had deposited at the mouth of Marias river.

"The next morning, being Thursday, Septem- ber 4th, we left Mr. Airs at eight o'clock and passed the big Sioux and stopped at Floyd's Bluff at noon." Passing on down the river without adventure, the expedition reached St. Louis at noon on Tuesday, the 23d day of September, 1806.

CHAPTER VII

THE STORY OF BIG WHITE.

When Lewis and Clarke were coming back from the trip to the Pacific coast, in the summer of 1806, they induced a Mandan chief, Shahaka by name, known to the French as Gros Blanc and to the Americans by the English translation, Big White, to return with them and visit Wash- ington. Big White was a somewhat remarkable man. He was about thirty-seven years of age, was six feet ten inches high and his hair was as white as the hair of an Albino, a peculiarity of some types of the Mandan. His great height and his hair were combined in his name. He was accompanied by his wife and one infant son and his interpreter, a French half-breed named Rene Jesseaumme, and wife and two children.

In their journal Lewis and Clarke relate the circumstance of the embarkation of his royalty. They were particularly anxious to take back with them representative men from the several Mis- souri river tribes, but the Mandans and Minne- tarees were reluctant to allow any of their men to go, through fear of the Rees and Sioux, through whose country they would be compelled to pass. The captains, however, pressed them hard to send a representative and finally the chiefs presented a young man, a notorious thief and a general bad character. Captain Clarke re- proached them for offering such a man as their representative to the great father, but old Black Cat, the chief, said that the risk was so great that they dared not risk a better man. Finally Big White, in a spirit of self-sacrifice, offered himself to go. His going was to prove an in-

teresting event in the history of South Dakota. The captains entered into an engagement with Black Cat to safely take Big White to Washington and at the conclusion of his visit to safely escort him back to his home. The journal says: "We dropped down to the village of the Big White, attended on shore by all the Indian chiefs who went to take leave of him. We found him sur- rounded by his friends, who sat in a circle smok- ing, while the women were crying. He im- mediately sent his wife and son on board, ac- companied by the interpreter and wife and two children : and then, after distributing among his friends some powder and ball, which we had given to him, and smoking a pipe with us, went with us to the river side. The whole village crowded about us and many of the people wept aloud at the departure of the chief. As Captain Clarke was shaking hands with the principal chiefs of all the villages they requested that he would sit with them one moment longer. Being willing to gratify them, he stopped and ordered a pipe ; after smoking, the Borge requested that we should take good care of this chief, who would report whatever the great father should say, and the council being then broken up we took leave. with a salute from a gun." The next morning. however, August 19th, as they were breaking camp an Indian came running down to the beach who appeared to be very anxious to speak to them.

"We went ashore and found it was the brother of the Big White, who was encamped at no great

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

distance and hearing of our departure came to take leave of the chief. The Big White gave him a pair of leggings and they separated in the most affectionate manner." The circumstances related will indicate something of the esteem in which the man was held among his own people and to show a side of Indian life not usually understood ; that is the real affection existing among mem- bers of the family.

When the party arrived at the Ree towns, within South Dakota, Big White rather in- discreetly mixed into a trouble between the Rees and the Cheyennes in which he told them that both parties were at fault ; apparently, however, this indiscretion was forgiven by the Rees who treated him thereafter with great civility. The captains very much desired to take some of the Ree chieftains to Washington, but it seems that after Lewis and Clarke left them, Gravelines, as he had agreed to do, took one of their number down the river and presumably to Washington, and he had not returned. They were, therefore, fearful that some mishap had befallen him and refused to venture out until his safe return was assured. Now the captains were already in- formed by three traders who had spent the winter of 1804-5 with them among the Mandans and whom they had met midway between the Rees "and Mandans a day or two previously, that this Ree chief had successfully made the eastern pilgrimage, but that while returning up river he had been taken very ill and had died at the mouth of the Sioux. It does not appear that they saw fit to communicate this to the Rees, but, fail- ing to get any one to go with them, left, with apparent good feeling on both sides. When they arrived at the lower village on Grand River island, however, the feeling between the Rees and the Mandans was exhibited by the second chief there who, at sight of Big White, began a tirade of threatening abuse against him, but was promptly silenced by Captain Clarke.

Proceeding down river, the party, as de- scribed in the previous chapter, arrived in St. Louis and thence, along the next January, arrived in Washington, where Big White was made much of : Jefferson and his cabinet entertained G

him and his tawny wife and little one. They were guests at the White House and received special attention from Dolly Madison and Mrs. Gallitin.

March 15th, Captain Clarke, now commis- sioner of Indian affairs for Louisiana, with Big White and his retinue in charge, set out from Washington to St. Louis and the first thing he learned when he arrived at St. Louis, a month later. was that Manuel Lisa, the Spaniard. Pierre Menard. a brother-in-law of the Chouteaus, and George Druillard, guide to Lewis and Clarke, had formed a partnership and had already de- parted for the headwaters of the Missouri, re- fusing to wait to undertake the return of Big White to his people, as they were requested to do by Frederick Bates, the secretary of the ter- ritory.

When Lisa arrived at the Ree towns, having passed through the Sioux country without molestation, he found two or three hundred Rees awaiting his approach and they were evidently bent on mischief. They fired a volley across the bow of his boat and indicated to him where he was to land. He took the hint and came to. A party of women then appeared with bags of corn as if for trade, but a warrior rushed forward and slashed the bags with a knife and the women retreated. Whatcver their purpose was by this behavior they could not bluff Lisa, who promptly trained his two swivels upon them, when the chiefs came down and humbly apologized for the bad behavior of some of the men, for whom they denied responsibility. He stayed with them but a few minutes and hurried along up stream. The foregoing is Lisa's version of the affair.

Finding that Lisa had gone off without Big White, although he had faithfully promised Sec- retary Bates that he would take him, a new ex- pedition was made up and placed under com- mand of Sergeant Nathanial Pryor, who had ac- companied Lewis and Clarke upon their famous expedition. Pierre Dorion, acting under the authority vested in him two years before, had finally got to St. Louis with a party of Yanktons, and the government had these people on its hands. It was therefore deemed best to organize

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

a military party to take Big White and the Yank- tons home. Pryor was given two non-commis- sioned officers and eleven men to handle the Big White enterprise and a separate escort, under Lieut. Joseph Kimball, took charge of the Yank- tons, but the two parties moved together. In ad- dition to this military party Pierre Dorion, Jr., had a trading party of ten men going to the Yanktons and Pierre Chouteau had in his party of traders thirty-two men. making in the expedi- tion seventy-two white men in all. I quote Cap- tain Chittenden's account of what followed, which he informs us is based on four letters written by Captain Clark and Nathanial Pryor :

"The departure from St. Louis took place late in May, 1807. The expedition proceeded pros- perously, although very slowly, passing all the lower Sioux bands in safety. Here Kimball's and Dorion's parties left the expedition, which, now reduced to about fifty men, continued the journey and reached the lower Arickara village at nine o'clock on the morning of September 9th. The Indians fired several guns in the direction of the boats. Dorion, the interpreter, asked what was the matter and they replied by inviting the party ashore to obtain a supply of provisions. The hospitable treatment which Lewis and Clarke had received from these same Indians the year before threw the party off their guard and the boats were ordered to land. Here it was learned that the Arickaras and Mandans were at war with each other and that several of the upper Sioux bands were allied with the Arickaras and were present in the village. There now came on board a Mandan woman who had been captive among the Arickaras for several years and who imparted some interesting and important in- formation, which would not otherwise have been found out. * According to the story of the Mandan woman, when Lisa found the Arickaras disposed to stop him, he told them that a large party with the Mandan chief would soon arrive and, after giving them a considerable part of his goods, including some guns, he was al- lowed to proceed. The Indians determined to kill him upon his return, but let him pass for the present lest rumors of their acts and intentions

might reach the parties below and cause them to turn back. Lisa's account of this affair, as related by Brackenridge, has already been given. Pryor and Chouteau were led to believe that Lisa had secured his own passport through these tribes at their expense. How far their suspicions were true cannot be said. It is not the only charge of the kind against Manuel Lisa, but it is a singular fact that his various acts of alleged bad faith, such as here related, come only from those who claim to have suffered by them. The reputable historians of the time make no mention of them and they are evidently to be taken with caution.

"The fortunate interview with the Mandan woman acquainted Ensign Pryor with the true situation. He ordered the Mandan chief to bar- ricade himself in his cabin and prepared his men for action. After considerable parleying and speech-making, in which Ensign Pryor explained the purpose of his journey, and after presenting a medal to one of the chiefs, the party left the Indians at the lower village (on Grand River island) and proceeded to the upper villages. The two interpreters, Dorion and Jesseaume, went by land through the villages. The Indians being clearly bent on mischief, Pryor determined to land for the double purpose of taking his in- terpreters on board and of seeing the chief of the upper village, whom he had not been able to communicate with in the village below. The Indians ordered the boats to proceed up a narrow channel near the shore, but the whites discovered the trap in time and refused to comply. They now made known their intention to detain the boats, saying that Lisa had told them it was the intention of the present party to remain and trade with them. They first seized the cable of Choutean's barge, intending to first attack the party in which there were no soldiers, and motioned to Pryor to go on. This Pryor refused to do, but seeing the desperate state of affairs, he urged Chouteau to offer the Indians some concessions. Finally Chouteau offered to leave with them a trader and half of the goods ; but the Indians, confident in their ability to capture the outfit, refused the offer.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 9

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