HISTORY
OF THE
( ' fi
a *
BY
H B, CUSHMAN,
Copyright, 1899, by H. B. Cushman
(All rights reserved.)
GREENVILLK, TEXAS:
HEADLIGHT PRINTING HOUSE
1899.
To the memory of my parents, Calvin and Laura Cush-
man, as Heralds of the Cross of Christ, they, with a few
other congenial spirits, left their homes in Massachusetts,
A. D. 1820, as missionaries, and went to the Choctaw Indian*,
then living- in their Ancient Domains east of the Missisipr.i
River. 'Devoted their lives to the moral and intellectual
improvement and spiritual interests of that peculiar and in
teresting race of mankind, living- and dying- the sincere and
abiding friends of. the Red Man of the North American Con
tinent.
.i1
ALSO
To the Choctaw and Chickasaw people, each the novv-
feeble remnant of a once numerous, independent, contented
and happy people, whose long line of ancestry dates back to
the pre-historic ages of the remote past, it is ascribed in
loving remembrance of the writer's earliest and most faith
ful friends, whom he has a just cause to cherish for their
many long known and tested virtues.
£<?
Cs
Iii compliance with current copyright
law, U. C. Library Bindery produced
this replacement volume on paper
that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-
1984 to replace the irreparably
deteriorated original.
1993
INTRODUCTION.
To bring one's material to a strictly historical and clas
sified order is almost an impossibility when dealing" with a
.subject so diversified as that of the Red Race of the North
American Continent. But I have sought, found and brought
together an amount of information concerning that pecu
liar people that has never before been published; having
been born of parents who were missionaries to the Choc-
taws in 1820, and having been reared among them and in
timately acquainted with them during the vicissitudes of a
life extending to nearly four score of years. I well know
ihat the Indian race has oft been the subject of the pen, and
still continues to be, but only in short details, thus leaying
vthe reader in bewilderment, though historical truths were to
be found in abundance among them wherever one turned —
truths one can never forget; scenes and events which have an
imperishable memory.
Then come awhile with me, reader, from what you have
hitherto learned about the Red Man of this continent, to that
which may be entirely ;new to you no matter how old it may.
be to others; 'since you might learn something more of the
primitive influences which shaped the career of the North
American Indians in their dealings with the White Race from
their first acquaintance to the present day; as I have endeav
ored to present many based upon knowledge acquired by a
personal acquaintance with two tribes (closely allied) dur
ing a protracted life of many years, seeing and learning the
romance and poetry of their natures, a people of interest,
moral worth and individuality of character. I know that to
all my race, the Indian (comparatively speaking) lives only in
the vague memory of the legendary past — that period made
vivid by the wrongs of the White Race perpetrated upon the
Red — all a series of struggles terminating in sanguinary
executions when no services rendered by the tribe in their
vain struggle to be free, availed to save the defeated Chieftain
from a felon's grave; while the feeble remnant that still sur
vives stands as the best commentary of their wrongs, while
they despairingly cry ''kill us also, and thus complete your
cruelty by taking our lives as you began with our liberties."
Truly, wrhat a sad and melancholy record is their his
tory; undervalued by the civilized world, though in op
position to the declarations of all who knew them as justice
demanded they should be known. Alas, broken-hearted for
INTRODUCTON.
two centuries, yet having their souls pierced and lacerated
by the poisonous shafts of unj.ust defamation and cruel false
hood, while they sadly ask in lamentations of woe: "Where
is to 'be the end!'? Only to hear echo's fearful response,
"Thegrave." Therefore they seem indifferentnowasto what
the world is doing- around them, since none extend the hand
of friendship to them but to defraud; none smile on their dejec
ted faces but to deride; none sympathize with them in their
poverty but to mock; and now when you meet them, they
neither look to the right nor left, but straight forward walking
with slow and measured steps that betoken the thoughts of
a helpless and hopeless people— hopeless, at least, of all that
life may bring- them of freedom and prosperity. Few even
speak to them in tones of kindness, yet all momentarily stop
to gaze on them with wondering- stare as if they were cum-
berers of the ground, though there is still upon their faces
of despair a visible touch of lingering chivalry worthy of a
better fate'. \
With many of their illustrious men (long- deceased)
whom I have broug-ht into this history, I \vas personally ac
quainted throug-h the vicissitudes of many years; \vith others,
though not personally, yet I knew their minds and the
motives of their actions, and these truly constitute the man.
.And they were men whose hig-h endowments (nature's gift)
could not be misled into selfish ambition; nor prosperity in
flate; nor disappointment depress from holy trust and honor
able action known by the veritable touch-stone, "Ye shall
know a tree by its fruits." Nor have I sketched a virtue
that I have not seen, nor painted a folly from imagination;
but have endeavored to be faithful to reality, in all thing's as
touching- that peculiar yet noble race of the human family,
who sought resignation in all their misfortunes and woes,
and found it only in the decrees of the "Great Spirit" who
had given to their race so many centuries of uninterrupted
bliss, truly a noble people who taught misfortune dignity.
They had never left their secluded and quiet homes amid
nature's forest groves to expose themselves to the contami
nations of the vices (to them unknown) of the civilized (so-
called) world of traffic and trade.
Sequestered from its view, neither its pageants nor its
follies had ever reached them there. It was then and
there I studied their unsophisticated natures with an enthu
siasm which is the fragrance .of the flower that lives after
the bloom is withered. Nor am I ashamed to confess my
profound admiration of the North American Indian, to whom
there was nothing so dear as Kis freedom unrestrained,
which he proved beyond all dispute by fearlessly resisting
INTRODUCTION. 5
the hand of tyrannical oppressions from the Atlantic coast to
the Pacific, against odds in point of numbers, munitions of
war, skill and means, as one to ten thousand, and yielded
not until the last warrior had fallen, the last bow broken and
his race reduced to absolute poverty, want and woe. Still,
though poor and lowly as he seemed to his venal destroyers,
yet his whole heart and life were wrapt up in the remem
brance of his freedom. He worshipped the thought as his
most precious property, the dear treasure of his secret and
highest bliss. It was the constant companion of his thoughts
the monitor of his actions and the true key to his life.
But alas, when memory now turns to the past of his
early life and its unexpected blighting, and raises before his
mind every hope connected with it, and his seeming present
doom stares him in the face, what can rid him of those suc
cessive images that seem to glide around him like mournful
apparitions of the long lamented dead, since grief long since
has looked up the avenues of complaint, and he stands as one
petrified to stone. But how wonderful, amid all their adver
sities, has been their 'power to rally and to recover their
waning resolution and courage; verily, they oft seemed to
experience a kind gf determined pleasure in resolutely con
fronting the worst aspect of their innumerable reverses;
yea, in standing in the breech that has long since overthrown
their future, and hurling back in defiant despair, "Here we
stand, at least an honest and chivalrous people;" but alas,
only to seek solitude by retiring within themselves pleading
"Jailor, lock the door." Truly their lives, though not with
out their efforts of strong exertion, have been during the
last two centuries, and still are, a dream spent in chewing
the cud of sweet and bitter fancy, while they have worn the
garb of hope which has diverted their past and present woes
by a touch of the wand of imagination and gilded over the
future by prospects fairer than were ever realized. But it is
impossible to deny and yet not to admire and praise the
strong sense of solidity and fraternity which, through all
their lives, still unite the members of the same tribe, and the
feelings which have not been dimmed by modern changes but
still exist as warm and active as- ever; yet the White Race has
ever looked upon the Red from the Ishmaelitish standpoint,
and in all its intercourse, from first to last, began and so
continued by treating them as inferior beings, too low in the
scale of humanity to be reached by the hand of Christianity
and civilization; inveterate and uncompromising enemies to
be circumvented and overreached under an exhibition of
smiling and artful hypocrisy and base venality unknown to
the Red Man and unsurpassed in the annals of the White.
6 INTRODUCTION.
But long* since cut loose from their ancient moorings, they
have felt for more than a century that they were slowly but
surely drifting- toward an unknown destiny foreshadowing-
extermination. What other people that wrould not have had
recourse to war or the suicide's rifle? yet, after despair had
usurped the place of hope in longer resistance, they had
principle to resist the one, and resolution to combat the
other. But they were to tread the lowest paths of sorrow,
poverty and humiliating- depressions; whose circumstances
were too humble to expect redress and whose sufferings
(mental and physical) were too great even for pity^ and
whose wrong's, at the hands of inside white intruders and
outside defamers, have long- since destroyed that streng-th of
mind with which mankind can meet distress; therefore they
prepare to suffer in silence rather than openly complain.
What else could they do? The world disclaims them.
Christianity even seems to have turned its back upon their
distress, given^ them up to spiritual nakedness and hunger,
and left them to plead to white wretches whose hearts are
stone, or to debauchees who may curse but will not give re
lief, while every devilish trick is played upon them, and their
every action made a fund for eternal ridioule.
Truly, instead of wondering that so little of their true
history has been preserved, it is a matter of much gre; ter
wonder that so much of truth has escaped the waste of < two-
centuries through which they have been dragged from p\ace
to place, while all narratives concerning them have l»een
written, with few exceptions, in shameful derogation of their
true characters, all exaggerated and still continuing to be
exaggerated, evincing a strange love of defamation only to
gratify the morbid fondness of their readers for the marve
lous, and their own manifested inability to tell the truth;
therefore the most absurd and ridiculous falsehoods are fabri
cated and published about this people and joyfully read and
believed by all who are in harmony with their traducers, a
truth that remains, in essential points at least, from one end
of the scale to the other.
True, the ways of the Indians are not the ways of the
civilized world of which they knew. nothing; nor were they,
being without its ways, versed in its revolting vices, aiid
their so-called love of war and carnage existed but in the
imagination of the White Race, one of its beliefs which may
be traced hither and thither but never to the propitiation of
truth concerning anything about the Red; since, having its
origin alone in the impatience of its venality while drifting
amid zones of ignorance and prejudice; and when I contem
plate such, I am taught to look upon their errors more in sor-
INTRODUCTION. 7
row than anger. True the Indians were cruel to their ene
mies in war, and so are we together with all the nations of
earth. •
But when I take up dhe North American Indian who has
suffered and represent to myself the struggles he has passed
through for centuries past, to defend his just rights and
sustain the freedom of his country from exotic vandals, and
reflect upon his brief pulsations of joy; the tears of woe; the
feebleness of purpose; the scorn of the world that has, with
out just reason, no charity for him; the desolation of his
soul's sanctuary, his freedom buried in the memory of the
past; happiness gone; hope fled; I fain would leave his blight
ed soul with Him from whose hands it came, for how diffi
cult it is to roll away the black and huge stone of prejudice
from off the white man's heart, to whom ignorance is bliss
in regard to all Indians; thousands, therefore, hate the In
dian because they do not know him and desire not to know
him because they hate him.
Truly, the North American Indians constitute as grand
a record of human courage, patriotic endurance, and as har
rowing a history of human suffering as has ever been told;
while their oppressors and destroyers, who have figured in
their nefarious designs against them from the alpha to omega
as the beau-ideal of cruel injustice, are still laboring with a
zeal never manifested before to intensify the public feeling
against the helpless people, that they may the more effect
ually accomplish their infamous schemes to rob and plunder
them; and whose consciences seem so elastic that, at one
time it seems difficult for them to stretch them over a mole
hill; at another, with ease, they stretch them over a moun
tain. Yet the influence, power and grip these characters
exert and impress upon the public mind are truths both hu
miliating and disgraceful, and the strange liberties that are,
by our seemingly defective systems of jurisprudence, legal
ly permitted to such plunderers in highxplaces who have the
audacity and impertinence to appeal to law, and misuse its
machinery for selfish and covetous purposes, are everywhere
illustrated at the expense of the misguided and alike help
less and unfortunate Indians, upon whom they have descend
ed in countless thousands as blow-flies on a decomposing
body, to rob and plunder them of the last acre of their terri
tories. Truly our sensibilities in the light of humanity, and
our judgment in the light of truth and justice, are abso
lutely dead in regard to this people; therefore, thousands
have supinely yielded to the false assertions of thieves and
robbers, the reverence due to a Divine decree, without any
8 INTRODUCTION.
investigation whatever, which has been done in all cases of
dealing- with Indians from -first to last.
Truly it may be written as an epitaph for their history,,
"unutterably sad, because so disastrously true." Alas! mul
tiplied thousands to-day look with horror on the wrong's and
suffering's of the feeble and helpless Indians still hovering- in
our midst, yet are content to hide themselves from their
woes; yea, they openly acknowledge their shameful reality
yet do nothing to alleviate their condition. They well know
of the thousand wrong's continually being heaped upon them,
yet only shrug- their shoulders and fold their arms in callous
acquiescence in that which they falsely and. cowardly declare
to be inevitable; while they, at the same time, acknowledge a
sense of shame and personal guilt in permitting such infa
mous cruelty and oppression to be heaped upon that help
less race in their midst and under their own eyes, without
being actuated to noble efforts to stop it. No wonder the
Indian's countenance seems prematurely marked by deep
furrows, and his long hair waves over his brow on which is
fixed a deep gloom that no smile from the lips can chase
away! Alas, through what direful changes have they been
forced to pass! througli what cycles of hope and fear have
their generations been coerced while the world about them
seemed like a vision hurrying by as they stood still in
silence, helplessness and woe! Therefore, in their entire
history, how little there is to , contemplate but the most
agonizing struggles followed by the deepest and most osten
sible decay through their long and continued attempts at
redress and the recovery of their God-inherited rights
which expired with their liberty.
HISTORY
OF THE
Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez
INDIANS.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NORTH
AMERICAN INDIANS.
There has been, and is to-day, as great a proportion of
of those characteristics that elevate and adorn mankind
found among" the North American Indian race as ever were
found upon earth. Men and women in whose breasts were
seats of virtues as pure as ever found in man or woman.
This may seem as shadows to many, incontrovertible truths
to those who truly know them, not as enemies but as friends.
Through a long life of personal acquaintance with and ex
perience among- them, I can and do here testify to the
same when living- in their ancient domains, and still find
them in the present years as in those of the long- past,
though my opinions then may have been formed to some ex
tent as shadows in the back-ground of imagination, yet they
took substantial form and substance with time, in perfect
harmony with the positive assertions of all the early ex
plorers, as far back as anything is known of their history.
Truly, prolific fancies of the larger portion of modern
writers seem to have been governed by the many false des
criptions of the ancient; and poetic license has extended the
peculiarities of the ancestors with all their imaginary faults
and none of their virtues to their descendants, this too in the
absence of all authentic history; while our own traditions
have dealt no less unjustly with the remnant whom we are
following down to their seemingly inevitable destiny (exter
mination) so unjustly and cruelly decreed through the insti
gation of our insatiable venality, whose merciless sword is
still drawn and stretched athwart the gate of the Indian's
highest ambition, his freedom; allowing him no place in that
10 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
higher civilization concerning which heaven and earth are
amazed at our continued vociferations, and stupified in our
inconsistency that denies to them their, natural and individ
ual' rights, since it does but establish our inability to compre
hend the eternal principles of human development, as we
assume to fear to trust them with the choice of their own
destiny, and that of their souls, moved and actuated by the
divine principles therein implanted. It could not justly be
expected that they would at once adopt our principles and
institutions, to them a chaos of contradictions. Yet we
charge them with the utter want of those virtues that dis
tinguish man from the brute, though well knowing the
falsity of the accusation by the undeniable testimony mani
fest among them every where to the contrary.
We also charge them with every crime, but how greatly
inconsistent and unjust when being so deeply stained our
selves! Alas, when hope of longer freedom had given place
to hopeless despair, and they as a forlorn hope, threw them
selves upon our boasted humanity, they awoke but to find a
myth; for we then displayed our so-called Christian virtues
and high sounding hallelujahs of .freedom to all mankind by
cooping them up in isolated reservations, but more properly
vestibules of the cemetery, the ante-rooms where the re
cruiting agents of death (woe and despair) assemble their
conscripts to prepare them for the ranks whence there is
neither desertion or discharge; and having thus and there
caged them, now perform the honorable (?) and humane (?)
task of watching them at the doors of their prisons, while
our parasites keep a faithful record of the complaints of the
unfortunate, helpless, hapless and hopeless sufferers,
whose dire misfortunes few have the magnanimity to
respect, while thousands scoff and mock and which they
seem determined shall only cease in the silence of the last
Indian's grave.
Can the Indians of to-day but cherish the greatest ab
horrence toward those who forced them into those lazar-
prisons where curses reply to their just complaints and
blows and kicks to their dying groans, as each is tortured in
his separate hell where all can hear but none will heed? Can
they but shun, in their limited inch of freedom, as a blighting
pestilence, those who still seek to debase them in the estima
tion of the world by falsely branding them as creatures to
be feared and shunned, with no power to resent but only to
weep in silence and hopeless despair, while their blighted
spirits are being proved in this furnace like steel in temper
ing fire ?
Once they were quick in feeling and fearless in resent-
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 11
nent — that is o'er. They are now the sons of silence; their
Abounds of mind and body are now callous, or long- since
they would have dashed their brains against their pris
on bars, as the rays of the sun of their re
membered freedom and happiness flashed through them in
seeming mockery of their woes. Neither are their slumbers
sleep but only a continuance of enduring woes, a lingering
despair whose envenomed tooth preventing truth, justice and
humanity would still mangle the dead. Their hair is gray,
but not from years; 'tis the impatient thirst for freedom par
ching the heart, and abhorred slavery maddening the soul
with heaviness and woe as it battles v^ith its agony under the
knowledge that to them earth and air are banned and barred
— a living grave of long years of oppression, abuse, calumny
and outrage; yet they live, endure and bear the likeness of
breathing men, while they bear the innate tortures of a living
despair, becoming ol(^ in their youth, and dying ere middle
age, some of weariness, some of disease, (the legacy of
their destroyers) but more of withered hopes and broken
hearts. Alas, that they should have found so few among the
White Race with whom they could safely wear the chain of
unassumed friendship and confidence; therefore have shunned
their companionship and sadly sought as long as they could
the solitude of the remote wilderness and there with its more
congenial spirit divided the homage of their hearts, but alas,
only to find even there no secure retreat from their restless
foes. This fatalism, the assured certainly that nothing good
can now be expected; the full conviction that even the United
States government seems indifferent to protect them from
the venality of its own unprincipled and seemingly law defy
ing white subjects, is now deeply rooted in the minds of the
aged Indians; while the younger receive their education in the
high (so-called) schools of the States in learning by heart
Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill,. Darwin, and noted exotic
philosophers, thus losing much of their respect for their
own religion as taught them by the true missionaries of the
gospel of the world's Redeemer, rendering their present a
gloomy back-ground, a black shadow of a once bright picture;
therefore the}' have become decrepit and have fallen down
like a huge memorial of antiquity prostrate and broken to
pieces, while the fragments only remain as a treasure belong
ing alone to the modern archieologist. Yet, a noble people
whose memorials have long since been swept away by the hand
of usurpation, and whose relics of their former greatness
have alike crumbled to dust leaving no trace of their former
existence, save here and there names of a few rivers and
little streams, touching for their simplicity, but for whom
12 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
justice has long- but vainly demanded an honorable plact
among1 Christian people, and for whom the time has surely
(yea, years ago) arrived to be redeemed from the cruel and
unjust bondage of that long-, dark nig-ht of misrepresentation
to which they have been so mercilessly subjected for so many
long- and weary years — a people g-ood without a pretense and
blest with plain reason and sober sense; whose traditional
history, connected as it is with the Eastern Continent, abound
ed with many of those striking- events which furnish modern
history with its richest materials; as every tribe had its
Thermopylae, and every village had produced its Leonidas.
But the veil of centuries past now hides those events* that
might have been bequeathed to the admiration of the present
age of the world. The opportunity was offered by the Red Man
to the White two centuries ago but was rejected, though
advancing years proved their merit. But too late was dis
covered the error . Our many unfortunate misunderstandings
and contests with the ancient and modern Native Americans of
this continent are as fertile as any of similar character that
have afflicted man-kind; while many characters and scenes
have been brought upon the theatre by the sanguine hand of war
which history has not recorded. Many of such have been
obtained and are recorded in this book; as it was my fate
(whether good or bad, fortunate or unfortunate yet without
cause for regret) to be born and • reared among the Choc-
taws; and having spent the bright morn of life to man-hood
among that excellent people and sister-tribe, the Chickasaws,
as well as my long and well known friendship and admiration
entertained for them and their entire race, have influenced
them to give me a hearing (not boasting but unvarnished
truth) upon any and all subjects above that which generally
falls to the lot of the White Man to obtain.
THE DISCOVERY OF THIS CONTINENT. IT'S RE
SULTS TO THE NATIVES.
In the year 1470, there lived in Lisbon, a town in Portu
gal, a man by the name of Christopher Columbus, who there
married Dona Felipa, the daughter of Bartolome oMonis de
Palestrello, an Italian (then deceased), who had arisen to
great celebrity as a navigator. Dona Felipa was the idol of
her doting father, and often accompanied him in his many
voyages, in which she soon equally shared with him his love
of adventure, and thus became to him a treasure indeed not
only as a companion but as a helper; for she drew his maps
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 13
and geographical charts, and also wrote, at his dictation, his
journals concerning his vovages. Shortly after the marriage
of Columbus and Felipa at Lisbon, thev moved to the island
of Porto Santo which her father had colonized and was gov
ernor at the itime of his death, and settled on a large landed
estate which belonged to Palestrello, and which he had be
queathed to Felipa together with all his journals and papers.
In that home of retirement and peace the young husband and
wife lived in connubial bliss for manv years. 'How could it
be otherwise, since each had found in the other a congenial
spirit, full of adventurous explorations, but which all others
regarded as yisionary follies. They read together and talked
over the journals and papers of Bartolomeo, during which
Felipa also entertained Columbus with accounts of her own
voyages with her father, together with his opinions ajid those
of other navigators of that age — his friends and companions
— of a possible country that might be discovered in the dis
tant West, and the future fame of the fortunate discoverer.
Thus they read, studied, thought and talked together 'con
cerning that which they believed the future would proye? a
reality, but of which no other had a thought. .;This opinion,
had found a permanent lodgment in the mind of Columbus
and awakened an enthusiasm therein never experienced -be
fore in the breast of man upon alike subject, and which
aroused him to that energy of determination which .rebuked
all fear and recognized no thought of failure. But alas, the
noble Felipa, who alone had stood by him in their mutual
opinions and shared with him the storm of thoughtless ridi
cule, lived not to learn of the fulfillment of their hopes, and
the undying fame of her adored husband, even as he lived not
to learn* the extent of his discovery. But alas, for human
justice and consistency. Instead of naming the "New
World11 in honor of his equally meritorious wife, the heroic
Dona Felipa, or in honor of both, it was wrested from them
by one Amerigo Vespucci, a pilot on a vessel of an obscure
navigator named Hojeda, and the world acquiesced in the
robbery. But such are its rewards!
But more than four-hundred years have been numbered
with the ages of the past, since a little fleet of three ships,
respectively named Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina, under the
command of Christopher Columbus, were nearing the coast of
that country that lay in its primitive grandeur and loveliness,
even as when pronounced "good11 by its- -Divine Creator,
beyond the unknown waters that stretched away in the
illimitable distance-to the West where sky and sea, though
ever receding, seemed still to meet in loving embrace, but
whose existence was first in the contemplations of Columbus
14 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
and Felipa,and its reality, first in the knowledge of Columbus.
At 10. o'clock, p.m., as it-is recorded, Columbus discovered
the feeble glimmerings of a distant light,' to which he at
once directed the attention of Pedro Gutierrez, who also saw
it. On the next day, at 2 a. m., the distant boom of a gun
was heard rolling along on the smooth surface of the tranquil
waters, the first that ever broke the solitude of the night
in those unknown regions of the deep. It came from
the Pinta, and bore the joyful intelligence that land
was found. But how little did these daring adventurers
iiriagine the magnitude of their discovery; or. that that mid
night signal also heralded the extermination of old notions
and the birth of new; the prelude to war and bloodshed with
a people whose types. were unknown to the civilized world!.
For man was there — man in his primitive state. Fiercely-
energetic, yet never demonstrative or openly expressing his
emotions; uncultured, yet slow and deliberate in his speech;
congenial, vet ever exhibiting a reserve and diffidence among
strangers; hospitable, yet knowing his rights, knew no fear
in maintaining them; trusting, yet welcomed death rather
than endure wrong. Yet, in most of his characteristics and.
peculiarities ' seemingly to have a foreign origin from the ~
known races of' mankind; still indisputably of the human'
ralce— he, too, was man; though with no regular or consistent'-
ideas of the Deity, religion or civil government, yet possessing'
correct views of a distinction between right and wrong, on_
wHich were founded very correct maxims orx codes of moral-'/;
ity; but whose penal code was a definite and' fixed rule ^oifii
personal retaliation — "An eye ior an eye and a tooth for a-
tpbtn;" thus they were gliding smoothly along on the tide of.
tirrie, nor had a troubled wave ever risen to disturb the tran-
quility of their voyage, or shadows darkened their sky, and
to whom the past had been so bright that the future held
only fair promises for them. But, alas, how little did they .
realize how dark a future was in store for them! That mid
night gun, as it momentarily flashed upon the deck of the
Pinta and then sent its welcomed boom to the listening ears
and watching eyes upon the decks of the Santa Maria and
Nina proclaiming that their languishing hopes were realized
and their declining expectations verified, was also the death
signal, first to the distant Peruvians by the hand of Pizarro ;
next, to the Aztecs by the hand of Cortez; then last, but not
least, to the North American Indians by the hand of De
Soto — as an introduction of what would be — but the Old died
hard to make way for the New.
Once the dominant power of this continent; but alas,
through unequal wars: through altered circumstances,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 15
through usurpation and frauds; through oppressions and
trials; through misfortunes and hardships, sorrows and suf
ferings, of which none can know but themselves, they have
been coerced by arbitrary power exerted, through treaty and
cessions by open-handed tyranny and wrong, to surrender
their country, their all, to make way for white civilization and
that liberty that only seemed to prosper and rejoice in pro
portion to "the destruction of their own; while they long but
vainly looked for the expected day when the White Man's
avarice would be satiated, and then the red and white races
could walk together in harmony and peace each aiding the
other in the development of the resources of their respective
portions of the vast continent that lay between them, extend
ing from ocean to ocean, to the mutual advantages of each in
the noble and humane endeavors to attain the chief end of
man — the glory of God and the enjoyment of Him in this world
and the one to come — but the White Race would not.
But whence the origin of this peculiarly interesting and
wonderful people? From what nation of people descended?
Whence and at what date, how and by what route came they
to this continent? Language has contributed its mite and the
archaeologist handed in his little, concerning the infancy of
this peculiar people, yet the veil of mystery still hangs around
them shutting out all knowlege of the primitive past. Who
shall rend the veil and tell whence they came to possess this
continent in that distant long-ago before the dawn of history's
morn? Alas, even the feeble glimmerings of vague traditions
have not furnished a ray of light to penetrate the darkness of
the long night that enshrouds their origin. It is a sealed
book.
Such has been for two centuries past, and still is, the
long drawn and doleful wail concerning the North American
Indians' primitive land; romantic in affording an unlimited
field over which the wild, dreamy speculations of the imagina
tive minds, of which the present age is so prolific in every
thing read or heard about the Red Race, may find abundant
space to indulge in their visionary delights unrestrained, un
disturbed, undismayed; the alpha and the omega of their
knowledge of the North American Indian race in toto; since
the causes that induced them to forsake and how they drifted
from the shores of the eastern to the western continent, are
today treasured in their ancient traditions still remembered
by the few remaining of their aged and also written upon a
few wampum — the archives of their historic past — that has
escaped the white vandals' devilish delight in destroying all
that is Indian, now forever buried in that night of darkness
which precedes their known history.
16 HISTORY OF THK INDIANS.
But to those who knew them in their native freedom, when
uncontaminated by the demoralizing" influences of unprincip
led whites, they were truly a peculiar and interesting- people
whose external habits, strange opinions, peculiar dispositions
and customs, seemed to belong alone to themselves and to
distinguish .them from all known people of the human race;
yet, wholly susceptible to as high moral and intellectual im
provements as any other race of man-kind; while their distinct
identity with the human race is a fact which has never yet
been successfully disproved. Though severed by climate,
language and a thousand external conditions, there is still
one deep underlying identity, which makes all man-kind
brothers; an instructive and interesting subject worthy
the attention and consideration of all man-kind. It is
neither new nor novel but is as ancient as the creation of
Adam and Eve.
Though the Indians were without letters, chronology, or
any thing by which correctly to denote their dynasties but
that which may be inferred from their monumental remains,
yet there is much in their recitals of ancient epochs to give
great consistency to their legends and traditions, and fully
sufficient to reunite the assumed broken link in the chain of
their history, which, in the ages of the past, connected them
with the Old World; and their history, antiquities and mytho
logy are still preserved by many striking allegories, here
and there, or in wild yet consistent romance. And we can
but admit that there are many evident truths which we must
acknowledge; for when viewed by the light of facts, we see
in the North American Indians a peculiar variety of the
human race with traits of character plainly oriental, but
who long since have been lost to all ancient and modern
history.
But the time and manner of their migration to the
western continent, as before stated, are wrapt in impenetra
ble mystery. Those who have studied the physiology, lan
guage, antiquities, and traditions of this peculiar people,
have alike concluded that their migration to this continent,
judging from .the ancient ruins found, probably extends
back to within five hundred years of the building of Babylon.
Dating from the discoverv of Columbus, the western con
tinent has been known to the European world upwards of
four hundred years; yet it is now generally conceded (if not
universally admitted) that the Scandinavians (or Northmen)
discovered it long before Columbus, and had sailed along the
Atlantic coast from Greenland early in the 10th century.
Those ancient and daring sea-rovers of Norway, who ventured
upon the pathless ocean without chart or compass guided
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 17
alone by the planetary worlds above, discovered Iceland^ in the
year 850, upon which they established a settlement; and in
the following- century, stumbled upon the bleak and inhospi
table shores of Greenland upon which was also founded a
colony. But it has been awarded to Leif, the son of Eric the
Red, as the first discoverer of the North American continent
in the 10th century. He named the, new country (now
believed to be the coast of Massachusetts) Vinland, or Vine-
land, from the abundance of wild grapes that were there
found . It is said the records of this expedition state: "And
when spring came they sailed away, and Leif g-ave to the land
a name after its sort, and called it Vinland. They sailed
then until they reached Greenland; and ever afterward, Leif
was called 'Leif the Lucky."
The traditions of the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creek,
Cherokees, Seminoles, Delawares, Shawnese, as learned by
the early missionaries, and, in fact, of all the tribes who
formerly dwelt east of the Mississippi River, state that the
White Race come to this continent from the East, but that
their fore-fathers came from the North West.
It is also said, that a Mexican historian makes a new
attempt to show that America was discovered in the fifth
century, A. D., by a party of Buddhist monks from Afg-hanis-
tan, of whom one, Hwai Shan, returned to Asia after an
absence of forty one years. A short account of the land
which he visited, supposed to be Mexico, was included in the
official history of China. It is said, there is proof that Hwai
Shan actually visited some unknown eastern regions, and the
traditions of Mexico contain an acqount of the arrival of
monks. But whenever seen or found, whether in the fifth,
tenth, fifteenth, or eig-hteenth centuries, the North American
Indians have possessed nearly all the leading- traits that they
now possess. And all admit, that of all the races of man
kind upon earth that wandered from the native countries and
have been thrown back into intellectual darkness, the North
American Indians have undergone the least chang-e, preserv
ing1 their physical and mental type nearly the same, seemingly
as if bound by the irresistible power of an unchanging-
decree; and who, in their unvarying individuality and univer
sal idiosyncracy, point back to no known race of the human
family except the Jews. When regarded as a whole, they
appear to have been composed of fragments of different
tribes of the races of man, yet having a general affinity to
each other, and, with here and there an exception, appearing
to be parts of a whole. The majority of their languages are
evidently derivative, and of a style of synthesis more ancient
18 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
than those even of Greece and Rome, but exhibiting- no
analogies to those of northern and western Europe. N
Though Bancroft affirms "that their ancestors were,
like themselves, not yet disenthralled from nature," yet the
traditions of many of the tribes pointed back to an era in the
distant past in which they lived in a better and happier con
dition, but that was all, nor have ever the fragmentary
writings of the ancients thrown any light upon their history.
The Nilotic inscriptions, the oldest known, are alike silent
concerning them, but that they may be still more ancient,
their language, strange idiosyncracies, and all that render
them so peculiar and seemingly different from all the known
human race, evidently denote and sustain the probability, if
nothing nore. Be this as it may, all evidence, yet obtained
' proves them to be of very ancient origin; and no known book
goes far enough back into the past to date the period of their
origin, unless it be the Sacred Scriptures. If we refer to
them a proto-type may possibly be traced in the Eberites, a
branch of the house of Almodad, the son of Joktan, of whom
it is said, during all periods of their history, that they were
reckless, heedless, impatient of restraint or reproof. Yet,
this but adds to the affirmation, that history will ever vainly
inquire, "whence their origin."
But that many of their traditions were based on facts is
unquestionably true. Many tribes possess traditions of the
first appearance of the White Race among them. The
Mohicans and Lenni Lenapes have a tradition of the voyage,
in 1609, of the great navigator and explorer, Hudson, up the
river now bearing his name. Cartier's visit to the St. Law
rence in 1534, is remembered by tradition among the
Algonquins, who still call the French, "People of the Wooden
vessel." The Chippewas declared (1824) according to their
traditions that seven generations of people had lived and died
since the French first sailed upon the Lakes. Taking 1608
as the year of the settlement of Canada by the French, and
allow thirty years to a generation, the accuracy of their
tradition is certainly praiseworthy, to say the least of it.
That their ancestors came from the Eastern continent there
are many traditional evidences that seem founded on truth.
In Sir Alexander Mackenzie's travels among the most
.northern tribes, he says the Chippewas had a tradition that
they originally came from another country, which was
inhabited by a very wicked people, that in their travels they
suffered greatly in passing over a great lake, which was
always frozen and covered with snow. McKe'rizie, page 387,
says: "Their progress (the great Athapasca family) was
easterly, and acc'orq jng to to their own tradition, they came
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 19
from Siberia ; agreeing- in dress and manners with the people
now found upon the coast of Asia." John Johnston, for
many years an agent among- the Shawnees, an Algonquin
tribe, states that these Indians had a tradition of a foreign
origin. In a letter of July 7th, 1819, (American Archaeolo
gist, p. 273) he says : "The people of this nation have a
tradition that their ancestors crossed the sea ; and that they
migrated from Florida to Ohio and Indiana;" where they
were located at the time of his agency among them. "They
were the only tribe," he writes, "with which I am acquainted,
who admit a foreign origin." The Cherokees also admit it.
Oconostata, or the Big warrior, chief of the ancient Chero
kees, claimed that his people's ancestors came from Asia,
landing far to the north-west of this continent; thence to
Mexico ; thence to this country. (Milfort, p. 269.) Johnston
further states respecting the Shawnees. "Until lately, they
kept yearly sacrifices for their safe arrival in this country.
Whence they came, or at what period they arrived in
America, they do not know. It is a prevailing opinion among
them, that Florida had been inhabited by white people, who
had the use of iron tools. Blackhoof, a celebrated Chief,
affirms that he has often heard it spoken of by old people,
that stumps of trees, covered with earth, were frequently
found, which had been cut down with edged tools." But
this, no doubt, was the work of De Soto and his army in 1541.
Many attribute to the Indians a Jewish origin, and not
without some seemingly plausible reason. James Adair, a
man, it is recorded, of fine erudition, and who lived more
than thirty years among the ancestors of the present
Chickasaws, and was often among the ancient Choctaws,
Cherokees and Muscogees, and thus became familiar with
the customs and habits of these Southern Indians. Tradition
states that Adair commenced living among the Chickasaws
in 1844. He wrote and published a work; "The American
Indians," in 1775. He was well versed in the Hebrew
language, and in his long residence with the Indians acquired
an accurate knowledge of their tongue, and he devoted the
larger portion of his work to prove that the Indians were
originally Hebrews, and were a portion of the lost tribes of
Israel. He asserts that at the "Boos-Ketous" (the ceremony
of initiating youth to manhood) "among the ancient Musco
gees and other tribes, the warriors danced around the holy-
fire, during which the elder priest invoked the Great Spirit,
while they responded Halelu! Halelu! then Haleluiah!
Haleluiah!" He based his belief that they were originally
Jews, upon their division into tribes, worship of Jehovah,
notions of theocracy, belief in the ministrations of angels,
20 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
language and .dialects, manner of computing time, their
Prophets and High Priests, festivals, fasts and religious
rites, daily sacrifices, ablutions and anointings, laws of
uncleanlinless, abstinence from' unclean things, marriages,,
divorces, and punishments for adultery, other punishments,
their. towns of refuge, purification and ceremony preparatory
to war, their ornaments, manner of curing the sick, burial
of the dead, mourning for the dead, choice of names adapted
to their circumstances and times, their own traditions, and
the accounts of our English writers, and the testimony which
the Spanish and other authors have given concerning the
primitive inhabitants of Peru and Mexico. He insists that
in nothing do they differ from the Jews except in the rite of
circumcision. The difference In food, mode of living and
climate are relied on by Adair, to account for the difference
in the color, between the Jew and the Indian. Abram
Mordecai, an intelligent Jew, who dwelt fifty years in the
the ancient Creek nation, confidently believed that the
Indians were originally of his people, and he asserted that in
their Green Corn Dances he had heard them often utter in
graceful tones, the word Yavoyaha! Yavoyaha! He was
always informed by the Indians that this meant Jehovah, or
the Great Spirit, and that they were then returning thanks
for the abund'ant harvest with which they were blest.
I often heard the Choctaws, when engaged in their
, ancient dances at their former homes east of the Mississippi
River, utter in concert and in solemn tone of voice Yar-vo-hah,
Yar-vo-yar-hah! and when asked its signification, replied :
"It is the name of the Great Spirit we worship." According
to an ancient tradition of the Choctaws, as before stated, the
ancient Choctaws, Chickasaws and Muscogees (ndw Creeks)
were once the same people, and today the Creeks have many
pure Choctaw words in their language.
Other writers, who have lived among the ancient Indians,
are of the same opinion with Adair and Abram Mordecai,
forming this conclusion solely on the fact that many of the
religious rites and ceremonies of the various tribes they
regarded as truly Jewish, to that extent as to induce them
to believe that the North American Indians are originally
from the Jews.
Even the renowned Quaker, Wm. Penn, in expressing
his views upon this subject, says: "For the original, I am
ready to believe them the Jewish race, I mean of the stock of
the ten tribes, and that for the following reasons:
"First. They were to go to a land not planted or known,,
which, to be sure, Asia and Africa were, if not Europe, and
He that intended that extraordinary judgment upon them,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 21
might make the passage not uneasy to them, and it is not im
possible in itself, from the easternmost part of Asia to' the
westernmost part of America. In the next place, I find them
of like countenance, and their children of so lively resemb
lance that a man would think himself in Duke's place or
Berry street in London, when he seeth them. But this is not
all. They agree in' rites; they reckon by moons; they offer
their first fruits; they have a kind of feast of tabernacles; they
are said to lay their altar upon twelve stones; their mourning
a year; customs of women; with many other things. "
There was a belief among many of the ancient tribes of
the North American Indians, that their earliest ancestors
were created within or at least. once lived within, the interior
of the earth. The Lenni Lenape, now known as the Delaware
Indians, "considered,'' says Heckewelder, in his "Manners
and Customs, of the Indians," page 249, "the earth as their
universal mother. They believed that they were created
within its bosom, where for a long time they had their abode
before they came to live on its surface. But as to the form
under which they lived in the interior of the 'earth, their
mythologists differ. Some'assert that they 'lived 'there in
human shape, while others, with much more consistency,
declare that their existence was' in the form of ' : certain*
terrestrial animals, such as the ground:hog, rabbit and the
tortoise." Similar views respecting their origin were held
by the Iroquois. The Rev. Christopher Pyrloeus, who
formerly lived among the Iroquois and spoke their language,
was told, (according to Heckewelder) by a respectable
Mohawk chief, "a tradition of the Iroquois which was as
follows: That they had dwelt in the earth when' it was dark
and where no sun ever shone. That, though they engaged
in hunting for a living, they ate mice. That one of their
tribe called Ganawayahhah having accidentally found a hole
at which to g*et out of the earth, went out, and after look
ing around a while saw a deer, which he killed, and took back
with him to his home in the earthj and that, ' on account both
'-of the flesh of the deer proving such excellent food, and the
favorable description1 he gave of the appearances above, they
concluded it best to change their homes from the inside to
the. outside of the earth, and accordingly did so, and im
mediately engaged in raising corn, beans, etc." Hecke
welder does not state whether these traditions of the Lenni
Lenape and Iroquois were associated by them with any-
particular localities. However, the place of origin was
generally located in some suitable spot within the territory
of the tribes, and which was regarded with much veneration
by all. "We are told by Cussac, a later authority for the Iro-
22 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
qois tradition," says Schoolcraft (in his Indian Tribes, part
5, pag-e 636) "that the place at which the first small band of
Indians was believe to have issued from the earth was a
certain eminence near the Oswego Falls. Also, -(part 5, p*
682) "that the Caddos, lonies, and Amaudakas believe that
their original ancestors came out of the Hot Springs of Ark
ansas." Mercy, in his Exploration of the Red River, p. 69,
states that the Wichitas, on the Red River, believed that
their fore-fathers came out of the mountains which bear
their name. Jones, in his Traditions of the Nosth American
Indians, v. 3. p.. 187,. says: The Minetories, on the Upper
Missouri, pointed out two hills as marking- the spot of of the
tribe's origin. Side by side with these of the "earth born"
ancestry is another group of origin traditions, which repre
sent the first of the human race as having their origin in
and coming out of some body of water, a river, spring or
lake, instead of the ground. Long, in his expedition to the
Rocky Mountains, v. 1. p. 336, said: One branch of the
Omahas asserted that their founder arose out of the waterr
bearing in his hand an ear of red maize, for which reason
the red maize was never used by them for food." De Smet,
in his Oregon Missions, p. 178, states that, in the country of
the Blackfoot tribe there are two lakes; one of them is known
as the lake of men, and the other, as the lake of women.
Out of the former came the father of the tribe and of the
latter, the mother,
These two traditions of man'sorigin, the one thathe came
out of the ground, the other, that he came out of the water,
have been regarded by some as distinct from one another
both in origin and meaning; while by others, as identical, and
both being the mutilated interpretations of a myth into
which a cave and a body of water enter as prominent and
essential features.
Very similar, says Schoolcraft, in his Indian Traditions,
4, pp. 89 and 90, is the tradition of the Navajoes, of New
Mexico. According to their tradition as recorded by Dr.
Ten Brock, all mankind and all the animals once lived in a
gloomy cavern in the heart of the Cerro Naztarny mountains,
on the river San Juan. A lucky accident led them to suspect
that the walls of their prison-house were quite thin, and the
raccoon was set to dig a way out. .As he did not succeed the
moth worm took his place and after much hard labor effected
an opening. But when he reached the outside of the moun
tain, he found all things submerged under the sea, so he
threw up a little mound of earth and sat down to ponder on
the situation. Presently the water receded in four great
rivers and left in their place a mass of soft mud. Four
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 23
winds arose and dried up the mud and then the men and ani
mals came up, occupying" in their passage several days. As
yet there was no sun, moon nor stars; so the old men held a
council and resolved to manufacture these luminaries.
There were among them two flute players, who, while they
had dwelt within the mountain, had been wont to enliven them
with music; and when the sun and moon were finished, they
were given into the charge of these musicians, who have been
carrying them ever since. These are the main points of the
Navajo legend as recorded by Dr. Ten Brock. It will be
observed that the sea, which is nothing else than the prime
val sea that forms so common a feature in cosmogonies, holds
quite as prominent a place in the story as does the cavern
itself, and the two might easily become separated in an incom
plete version. Either the cave or the water might be dropped.
In fact, there is another version of this legend, given by
Col. J. A. Eaton, in which there is no mention of a cave. The
Navajoes, according to Eaton's version of the story, came out
of the earth in the middle of a certain lake in the' valley of
Montezuma, at some distance from their present location.,
The question which occurs first, upon surveying this group
of legends so alike in their general tenor, is, are they histor
ically connected with one another in the sense that they are
the fragments of some primeval tale current among the In
dians at a time when they were less widely scattered over
the continent than at pr'esent, or have thfey sprung up at sev
eral centers .independently of each other? This question is
of great interest to American ethnologists, but one to which,
in the present state of our knowledge respecting the mode of
growth and diffusion of popular tales, it would, perhaps, be
rash to attempt an answer. It may be said, however, in fa
vor of the former hypothesis that the account of man's ori
gin — at least, however, the story is circumstantially related
— is, so far as I have been able to discover, peculiar to Ameri
ca. It is true it has sometimes been classed with those old
World legends which represent man as of an earthly nature,
either as having been fashioned out of clay by the hand of
some Promethean potter, or as having sprung from a seed of
stones or of dragon's teeth scattered over the soil, but a
close inspection of any of its detailed versions will show that
the story teller has in mind a thought essentially different
from those embodied in these classic legends. The first
men, according to the Indians' account, did not spring up as
vegetable life from the surface of the earth; they came out of
its interior in the human shape and afterward accompanied
by the animals of the chase. Indeed, when closely scanned,
the story is seen to be an account, not of man's origin, but
24 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
simply of a change in the scene of his existence. Except in
a few cases in which we are told that the original men were
created by the gods before being- brought^ above ground, we
receive no hint as to how their life began. We are merely
told that the}r; came a long- time ago out of a cave or
out of a lake, within which they have lived from the begin
ning-. This is a characteristic feature which I have not met
with distinctly portrayed in any legends outside of America.
But whether or not these tales have any true kinship with
one another , it hardly admits of doubt that they have a com
mon basis, either of facts or of logic, and that they may' "bet
regarded as practically, if not actually, different versions of
a single original tale., What is this basis, and what is the
meaning of .the story? This question has often been asked,
and has been answered variously. From a number of pro
posed "interpretations," It select two, which seem the
most worthy of. consideration', as. well from theirinherent
plausibility, as from the names by which they are endorsed.
Mr. Herbert Spencer, speaking, in a /recent work, with .ex
press reference to the Navajo tradition, of which an outline
has been given above; says: "Either the early progenitors
of a tribe were dwellers in caves or the mountains; or the
mountains making most conspicuously the elevated region
whence they came is identified with the object whence they
sprung." — (Spencer Principles of Sociology, Vol. i,.p. 393.)
And again: \"W/here caves are used for interments, t.hey
became the supposed places of abode for the dead; and
hence develops the notion of a subterranean World." — (Ibid,
p. 219.) Underlying the tradition of the Delawares and Iro-
quois, Heckewelder saw an admirable philosophical meaning
— a curious analogy between the general and the individual
creation. This view has been adopted by Dr. D. G. Brinton
who presents it as follow: "Out of the earth rises life, to it
all returns. She it is who. guards all germs, nourishes all
beings. T] e Aztecs painted her a woman with countless
breasts; the Peruvians called her Mama Alpha, mother
earth; in the Algonquin tongue the word for earth, mother,
father, are from the same root Home, Adam, Chomaigenes,
what do all these words mean but earth — born, the son of the
soil, repeated in the poetic language of Attica in anthropos,
he who springs up like — a flower? As in Oriental legends
the origin of man from the earth was veiled under the story
that he was the progeny of some mountain fecundated by the
embrace of Mithras or Jupiter, so the Indians often pointed
to some height or some cavern, as the spot whence the first
men issued, adult and armed from womb of All — mother
earth . This cavern, which thus dimly lingered in the mem-
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS 25
ory of nations, occasionally expanded to a mother- wo rid,
imagined to underlie this of ours, and still inhabited by be
ing's of our kind, who have never been lucky enough to dis
cover its exit. Such tales of an under-world are very fre
quent among the Indians, and are a very natural out-growth
of the literal belief that the race is earth-born."— (The
Myths of the New World, 2nd. ed., pp. 238 to 245.) The fol
lowing is the version given by Lewis and Clark of the tradi
tion of the Mandans, on the upper Mississippi:
"The whole nation resided in one large village under
ground near a subterraneous lake. A grapevine extended
its roots down to their habitation and give them a view of the
light, ^ome of the most adventurous climbed up the vine,
and were delighted with the sight of the earth, which they
found covered with buffalo, and rich with every kind of fruit.
Returning with the grapes they had gathered, their country
men were so pleased with the taste of them, that the whole
nation resolved to leave their dull residence for the charms
of the upper region. Men, women and children ascended by
means of the vine; and when about half the nation had
reached the surface of the^ earth, a corpulent woman, who
was clambering up the vine, broke it with her weight and
closed upon herself and the rest of the nation the light of the
sun.
When the Mandans die, -they .expect to return to the
original seats of their forefathers, the good reaching the
ancient village by means of the lake, which the burden of
sins of the wicked will not enable them to pass. We might
conjecture upon1 general grounds* that the idea of an under
world found among the Mandans, and many other American
tribes sprang from the same sort of reasoning as has .evi
dently given rise to it among other nations."
Prince Maximilian of New Wied, who visited the Man-
dans subsequently to Lewis and: Clark, and learned addit
ional particulars respecting their belief in an under-ground
origin tells us that the Mandans, like so many other nations,
supposed the world to be divided into stages and stories.1
These were ' eight in number, four of them v/erzabove the
earth, and four below, the earth itself forming the fourth
stage from the bottom. (Maximilian, Travels in North
America, London ed. p. 336.) There seems, therefore, to
be very little room for doubt as to the original character of
the cave of the Mandan legend. Among the Navajoes we
obtain equally satisfactory evidence touching the original of
this legendary cave. Dr Ten Brock tells us that he often
conversed with the Navajoes on the subject of their beliefs,
and he gives us, among other particulars, this very impor-
26 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
tant item: ."The old men say that the world (i. e. the earth)
is, as it were, suspended, and that when the sun disappears
in the evening", he passes under and lights up our former
place of abode, until he again reappears at morning in the
east. There can be no question as to the location and the
real character of the cave into which the sun descends at
evening, and from which at morning" he comes forth. Under
one disguise or another, this cavern occurs in legends the
world over. It is the cave which the Polynesian Mani
descends to visit his deserting mother, and into which
Orpheus descends in search of Eurydiee; it is the L/atinian
cave, in which Selene, the Moon, wooes Endymion, the
Setting Sun. Nor need we be disconcerted because the
Navajoes have located it within a particular mountain. " It
would seem that these Indian leg-ends have been handed
down by tradition through cycles of ages, founded upon the
declaration of the Bible, that man is a child of the soil— that
he is earth born. Professor Campbell, of the Presbyterian
College, Montreal, believes that he 'has found the key to the
Hittite inscriptions, and has sent ,^ie result of his investiga-
jtions to the Society of Biblical' Archaeology. The most
•striking and important feature of this work is the identity
established by Professor Campbell, as he believes, between
the Aztecs and the Hittites. He concludes a statement of
his discovery in the "Montreal Witness" as follows: "It is
interesting to know that we have on this continent the re
mains of a people who played a great part in ancient history.
It is also gratifying to learn that by the .establishment of the
Hittite origin of the Aztecs, evolutionism in philology and
ethnology will receive its death blow."
There is a clan of Choctaws now living among the
Creeks in the Creek Nation,- who did not move in 1832 with
the Choctaws east of the Mississippi River until the exodus
of the Creeks and then came with them to the present Creek
nation where they have remained to this day. They were
known when living east of the Mississippi River "as. the
Hitchiti or Hichitichi clan, both words (as given above) are
corruptions of the two Choctaw words Hish-i (hair) It-ih
(mouth.)
Now if the Aztecs be of Hittite origin, and the Choctaws
of Aztec origin, of which there is great probability (if /their
ancient traditions may be relied on) may not the Choctaw
words Hishi Itih, the name of one of their ancient Iksas
(clans) be itself a corruption of the word Hittite, and point
ing back to their ancient origin in the eastern world?
A few of the Iksas of the Choctaws, at the advent of the
missionaries in 1818-20, claimed the earth to be their mother,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 27
and connected a tradition of their origin with a certain
artifical mound erected by their ancestors as a memorial of
their arrival in Mississippi from the West (Mexico) of which
I will more definitely speak elsewhere.
But though the remote history of this peculiar people is
forever hidden in the darkness of by-gone ages, yet they had
a true history, which, if only known, would have presented
as many interesting and romantic features, as that of any
of the races of mankind. Truly, would there not be found
much in that distant period of their existence that precedes
their introduction to the White Race, which, when placed in
contrast to their now seemingly inevitable destiny (extermi
nation) would loudly appeal to the hearts of the philanthro
pists and Christians of these United States. And even after
their introduction to the Whites, had they possessed the
same desire. to learn their history, and also to elevate them
in the scale of intelligence and morality, as they did in get
ting possession of their country and destroying them, in
what a different condition would that race of people be to
day, and what interesting and instructive narratives would
have been given to the world? What interesting narratives
could have been written even of the Natchez in the days of
their prosperity and power — those worshippers of the sun
with Eastern rites! What too, of the Grecian fignres, the
letters and the hieroglyphics, which have been found repre
sented on the earthen pottery of so many tribes of this pe
culiar people's work — a people which might have been better
understood and more comprehended, but for shameful mis
representation and calumnious falsehood ! What, also, of
the once powerful Choctaw; the invincible Chickasaw; the
intrepid Muscogee and the peerless Seminole, when in the
pride and strength of their respective nationalities! But it
is to be greatly regretted that, of that history nothing will
ever be learned — not even its alphabet, as the mists of ages,
have drawn their impenetrable curtain over all; and though
the remote past has been questioned, still no response ever
comes, except through the vague and unsatisfactory evi
dence of an ancient people, long antedating all historical in
formation. But tribe after tribe have appeared upon the
theater of life, acted their part in its drama, and then passed
off into the silence of forgetfulness; and their ancient do
mains have passed from the hands of their, long line of
descendants into those of stranger of whom they never knew
or even heard; and who have left behind no memorials but
embankments of earth in the form of mounds and fortifica
tions, separate and in combination, scattered all over the land
Li numbers an<3 magnitude that "awaken and exctte the curi-
28 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
osity of the beholder, but fail to satisfy; yet giving- numer
ous and satisfactory evidences of the foot-prints of a long-
vanished people and the prolonged occupancy of the North N
American continent by the Indian risce wliose few and feeble
descendants still ling-er upon the stageof life, as the wretched
and miserable words ol oppression and cruelty — a. living-,
breathing- allegory of poverty and want; since, by the law of
force we extended our.possessions and made the irrestiveness
our excuse for conquering them, and then plundering them
of their lands and homes, and as each'territory was added, a
new tribe was' encountered; and its fears and res'.iveness ,in
like manner taken advantage of as our avarice dictated that it
could be made profitable to pur pecuniary interests. And
th'at we may alike bury the ' remainirig- few in the grave of ig
nominy, every thing that is"spok'en, written, or publistied,
concerning that. nb\y conquered, oppressed, .impoverished,'
hopeless and unhappy people. Is but a reiterated and pro
longed mass of exaggerations, misrepresentations and false
hoods, sent broadcast over the land by- government officials,
landed experts, and,. in fact, every other kind of unprincipled
white skins; from constable to congressmen, and from land-
sharks to governors, who 'ride across the Indians' country
on railroads and gather their "wisdom" upon Indian matters
from the car windows, or a moments chat upon the platforms
with the white scums which infest every depot in their coun
try—thus keeping the Indian between the devil and his imps
—then return each to his retreat, there, to disgorge their
foul^souls of the putrid mass.
Yet, that this noble but wrongfully abused peo'ple, to
whom Christopher Columbus gave the name Indian, from
their fancied resemblance to the people of India, but whose
habits, customs and characteristics differed so widely that
it may be truthfully affirmed, that no people could be more
dissimilar, are one of the primitive races of man-kind, cannot
be questioned; though it is admitted by all who are truly
acquainted with them, that among all the races of man-kind,
few have exhibited a greater diversity, or, if it may be so
expressed, greater antithesis of character, than the native
North American Indian warrior before humiliated by the
merciless hands of his white conquerors. The office of the
chief was not hereditary, but depended upon the confidence
entertained in him by his warriors. His power also de
pended upon his personal merit and the confidence reposed
in him as a skillful war-leader. His prerogative consisted in
conducting negotiations of peace and war; in leading his
warriors against the enemies of their country, in selecting
the place of encampment, and in receiving and entertaining;
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 29
strangers of note. Yet, even in those he was controlled to a
great extent by the views and inclinations of his warriors.
The Indian warrior was indeed well fitted for the destiny to
which nature seemingly had adapted him. He was light in
form, yet sinewy and active, and unsurpassed in the endur
ance of protracted fatigue and hardship; strictly temperate
even to abstemiousness requiring but little food when upon
the war-path, and that of the simplest kind. He was en
dowed with a penetrating sagacity, subtle wit, quick con
ception, and brilliant imagination, with quick and acute
sensibilities; a proud and fearless spirit was stamped upon
his face and flashed from his black and piercing eye; easily
aroused by the appeals of eloquence; his language, whose
words might well be compared to gems and flowers made him
truly nature's orator; and though a restless warrior, yet, he
was generous and hospitable, and the door of his cabin was
always open to the wayfarer; and his most inveterate enemy,
having- broken bread with him, could repose unharmed
beneath the inviolable sanctity of his home. In war he was
daring, cunning, reckless, self-denying, and self-devoted; in
peace, strictly just, generous, proverbially hospitable to
strangers as well as acquaintances, modest, revengeful,
superstitious, and truthful to the greatest degree— ever faith
ful to the last to his promised word. Justly could the North
American Indian claim as having no lineal descendant of
Ananias and Sapphira among his race.
Such were some of the traits of this peculiar people.
And even to day many tribes are the same as they were
centuries ago, still clinging to their ancient habits and
customs and adhering to the belief of their ancient theories,
seeing and recognizing alone their Great Spirit both in
animate and inanimate nature, And why? Because, in so
few instsnces, have the renovating principles of the Bible
been presented to them as they should and could have been.
True the arts of civilization as possessed by ns were
unknown by the Indians prior to the discovery of the conti
nent by the White Race, still its seemingly illimitable forests
were alive with a free, independent and happy people, a war
like race, jealous of their rights; and its shades and glens
rang with the wild hoyopa-tussaha (Choctaw-warcry), and
the echoes of its hills and .mountains threw back the" defiant
shout of many a gallant warrior, as he huried along the war
path in the noon-tide of his joyous man-hood, but soon to
slumber in the long night of oblivion, as the fatal result of
his unrestrained zeal; while the more experienced veteran
made his movements with that calm deliberation that scorned
every appearance of haste. Though war-like, yet, they
30 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
were a devotional people, to their beliefs, founded alone upon
the teaching's of nature — their only light. They had
their good "Great Spirit" and their evil. "Great Spirit"
between which there was continual strife for the mas
tery and possession of the human mind. What less
or more have we? They acknowledged the mysterious
power of these two antagonistic spirits, and that in
numerable numbers of subordinate spirits waited upon
both. In what do they differ from us in this? They
believed a spirit governed the winds, guided the clouds,
and ruled in all things that inspired fear; thus they re-
garded'the elements, and all nature, as spirits, whose images
were seen and whose voices were heard above, beneath, every
where. Little differing from the mythology of the ancients
Witchcraft swayed its sceptre . over the mind of the poor.
Indian, whose intellectual light emanated alone from nature;
yet he was not so much the object of just censure, as those
who had the Bible and yet advocated the doctrine. Remem
ber Cotton Mather, a licensed expounder of the Sacred
Scriptures, and his numerous adherents, who advocate^ and
taught the doctrine of Witchcraft, and persecuted their
opposers, even to the burning of them at the stake. But for
the delusive beliefs and fears, which seemed to the Indian
as truth, that encompassed him on every side rendering him
the ready victim of the wildest superstition and dread, he has
been called "The Wild Man of the Woods," and though his
religion involved the varying and confused belief in good and
evil spirits in every imaginary creation of air, earth, and sky
conceivable to the human mind, existing with not a ray of
intellectual light shedding its healing beams through his soul,
is it just that he should be reviled for his seeming apathy in
moral and intellectual advancement by those who have ever
lived within the circle of ever good and truthful influence,
but who closed nearly every avenue by which the hapless
Indian might return to the ,first principles of truth and
intellectual light? Were not their traditions concerning the
creation of the world, and those of their own origin; and
their views and opinions of man, more worthy of praise than
contempt? Was not their belief in the Great Good Spirit by
whom all things were made; also in a Great Evil Spirit, who
ever plans and labors to counteract all the good and benevolent
designs of the Great and Good Spirit, so universal among all
the North American Indians, and their great respect for, and
undeviating and unwearied devotion to, the Great and Good
Spirit, and hate, fear, and dread of the Great and Evil Spirit,
a silent but pungent rebuke to their white scoffers and
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 31
defamers, who profess so much concerning- the Deity,
yet exercise so little of a devotional spirit?
But whence their universal belief in a future state of ex
istence after death, though vague their ideas in regard to
future rewards and punishments? Whence also their uni
versal belief in a deluge at an ancient epoch, which destroyed
all mankind^ but a few? Whence their belief that the earth
was their mother, who sent them forth from caves, ravines,
mounds and mountains? Whence the belief in fatality — that
the fate of man is irrevocably fixed? to which, perhaps, may
be attributed their stability and indifference to danger
and death? Whence their belief in transmigration and thus
claiming relationship with the beasts of the field and the
birds of the air — '-expressive of an idea, it seems, of a foreign
origin? Whence their belief that the race of animals was
first created, then followed the creation of man? From
what ancient fountain of knowledge obtained they these va
rious views? Was it intuitive? How manifest their pride
also, and great their delight in having their traditions and le
gends point back to local origin, even to that of mysterious
revelation with all the quadrupeds that burrow in the hidden
recesses of the earth, differing in this but little from the
mythology of the ancients.
Their opinions concerning the departure of the spirit at
death were various. Some believed that it lingered for a
time near those earthly precincts which it had just left, and
it continued still to be, in a certain manner, akin to the
earth. For this reason, provisions were placed at the feet
of the corpse during the time it lay on its elevated scaffold,
exposed to the influence of light or 'air. The deceased had
not as yet entered into the realm of spirits; but when the
flesh had' withered away from the bones, these were buried
with songs and cries, terminating in feasts and dances pecu
liar to the ceremonies of disposing of the dead. Others be
lieve that when the spirit leaves the body, it lingers for some
time before it can be wholly separated from its former con
ditions; after which it wanders off traversing vast plains in
the -moonlight. At length, it arrives at a great chasm in the
earth, on the other side of which is the land of the blessed,
where there is eternal spring and hunting grounds supplied
with great varieties of game. But there is no other way of
crossing this fearful gulf l)ut by means of a barked pine log
that lay across the chasm, which is round, smooth and slip
pery. Over this the disembodied spirits must pass if they
would reach the land of a blissful immortality. Such as
have lived purely and honestly upon earth are enabled to pass
safely over the terrific abyss on the narrow bridge to the
32 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
'land of eternal happiness. But such as have lived wickedly.
in their attempt to pass over on the log-, are sure to lose then-
Acting and fall into the mighty abyss yawning- below.
Surely this is not a very objectionable, idea of retribution af
ter death. However, their estimate of good and evil, in
'many respects, was imperfect and circumscribed; and their
ideas of future rewards and punishments after death seemed
merely the the reflex of their earthly joys and sorrows, the
natural consequence of minds not enlightened by the teach
ings of the Bible. Therefore, they beheld a transformed di
vinity in animate and inanimate nature, in every thing which
lives or evinces an in-dwelling power, whom they sought to
propitiate by gifts and sacrifices. Their ".Medicine Men"
were the mediators between themselves and their imagined
deity; these "Medicine Men" were believed, by means of
their knowledge of the mysteries of nature and the power of
magic, to be able to invoke spirits,, to avert evil, to heal sick
ness, and to obtain the fulfillment of human wishes. These
men were held in high esteem among all Indians every
where, and acted in the capacity of both priests and physi
cians. Their medical knowledge, even if classed -with su
perstitious usages, is not to be despised, as they have large
acquaintance with healing herbs and the power of nature.
The virtues of the Indian race are well known to those who
truly know them; and their fidelity in keeping a promise,
their true hospitality, and their strength of mind under sor
row and suffering, merits the highest praise. They had no
other government nor governors but through their chiefs
and medicine men. The former had but little power and re
spect, only in their own individual character, and they
dreaded the loss of their popularity in their tribe. Thus
the Indian warrior was truly his own man, free and inde
pendent loathing all restraints.
What but sad forebodings can fill the souls of the feeble
few, when contemplating the past and looking to the future
walled up before them to that extent, that all action and
energy of their lives seem at an end and their only hope of
refuge in the grave?
But the peagant has fled, and the majority of those who
gave it such depth of interest to their destroyers have long
since passed away into humble and nameless yet honorable
graves, into which the living few, in vacant desolation, are
fast falling, bewildered and counfounded amid the toils that
have been skillfully and successfully spread for them; and
into which when fallen and hopelessly entangled, they ap
pealed to our mercy but to find it amy,th. Alas, whatacruel
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 33'
and inconsistent system has been practiced toward the Red
Race from the time we enticed them under our jurisdiction,
as wards, to the present day — a system, calculated in its
very nature to uncivilize rather than to civilize them, — de
stroying all confidence, all love and all respect; yea, stifling-
all the social affections of the heart and the generosity of
every noble sentiment; spreading devastation and desolation
among them — then to be cursed and pronounced a blotch
upon the fair face of nature, while we, influenced alone by"
that degrading venality, that acknowledges no^criterion but
success, closed the heart and hand of our charity against
them and shut our eyes on their woes — hearts, hands and
eyes never to be opened until the last of the race is extermi
nated, and there will be left no Indian possessions to excite
our avarice; and we be left to boast our achievements in ex
terminating a helpless people whom to conquer was coward
ice — the checkered features of whose prehistoric history are
vStill dimly shadowed in the memorials scattered around.
Yet their history, shorn as it is of its antique and ro
mantic features by the march of civilization of the White
Race with its accompanying vices and follies, which were pre
sented before them in proportion to its virtues as ten to one,
and thus rendered sad and mournful, is still interesting ;
and, I might justly add, instructive. But passing as theyr
have through many changes of a long pre-historic age, as
well as that of an imperfectly known history, the events of
their fortunes seem like the incidents of a fairy tale ; and
while we regard with admiration the many known traits of
their character, yet we can but be astonished that to so
many of them natural refinement supplied the external defi
ciencies of accomplished instruction denied by their situa-
. tion, while a sense of the proper, under every variety of cir—
1 cumstances, appeared intuitive ; and many of their names
and ^patriotic deeds are worthy of being transmitted to the
remotest posterity, accompanied by those honorable and
considerate epithets which flattery can never invest, and are
never deceitful ; and had they have had a written language,,
their native historians would have presented many things as
interesting and dramatic asxany of those of ancient or mod
ern renown. But as it is, they may be justly styled mar
tyrs — uncrowned .and uncanonized ; since they are still
known to-day to millions of the people of these United States un
der stereotyped appellation of "savages, "and to an equal num
ber of others, as "Heathen Barbarians ;" though the Indians
belong not to either department of that scientific knowledge
in which they have been enrolled by those whose extreme ig
norance is thus made manifest ; and who feel it an impera-
.34 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
tive duty to assume a countenance indicative of a holy horror
• and puerile fear at the very mention of the word Indian ; and
should they chance to meet one upon the high-way serious
convulsions would inevitably be the result ; while. others, of
.somewhat greater intrepidity, have beenknown to venture even
.into the presence of an Indian, their so-called devil incar
nate ; and, to display their imagined heroic daring, they
ipoint the finger of scorn at him and question concerning
him and his race in the language of ridicule and contempt
v(to which I have oft been an eye witness when passing
.through the Irfdian Territory) with that apparent instinct
^which makes one feel that humanity, at least that much of it
as professed by such ignorant and imbecile yet highly self-
conceited specimens of mortality, must be closly allied to
Darwin's progenitor of man ; and to whom the words of
Schiller are justly applicable — "Heaven and Earth was in
vain against a dunce."
Liberty, equality, and fraterntiy have ever been found
to be cardinal principles among the North American Indians,
from their first acquaintance with the White Race even to
the present day. All stood, and still stand upon the
same social level. No one regarded himself better, i'n any
manner whatever, than his neighbor; none turned up the lip
of scorn, or sneered at the misfortunes of one of his tribe.
The members of each tribe lived in perfect harmony to
gether, constituting, in every particular, one great, loving,
confiding brother-hood. The clan was the unit of political
and social life with all tribes. The individual was never con
sidered. Hence to insult, wrong or injure a member of a
tribe was actually to insult, wrong and injure the whole tribe;
thus each tribe held the other responsible for the actions of
its individual members according to the nature of the offence.
In like manner were also construed all favors. Hence when
a favor was bestowed upon any individual of a tribe, it was
accepted as bestowed upon each member of the tribe. (He
.who was a friend to one was regarded as equally a friend to
all, and as such was received into the confidence and friend
ship of the entire tribe. What feature in the characteristics
of any nation of people more commendable than this? Yet
they are charged as being in want of a single redeeming
trait of character.
Despotism, oppression, ' avarice, fraud, misrepresenta
tion in trade, were things absolutely unknown in all their
own tribal" relations, and in their dealings with neighboring
tribes. Therefore were they, at first, so easily swindled in
trade by unprincipled white men; since the white man hid the
defects of his article of trade tinder falsehoods, and the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 35
Indian openly exposed the defects of his in truth. Though it
was easy to cheat an Indian once, to accomplish it the second
time was a more difficult task. His confidence was gone
never again to be secured. I recollect a little incident of this
nature among the Choctaws when living east of the Mississip
pi river. A young Choctaw was cheated in a trade with a
white man, and when censured for making the trade, he
calmly replied: "Pale-face cheat me, me sorry; pale-face
cheat me twice, me big fool." After that as a matter of
course, he would never believe a word that a white man would
say.
Their tradition, always based on facts though abound
ing perhaps with many errors by misinterpretations and
corruptions, in the cycles of ages through which they have
passed, were no less dear to him, making a stainless history
such as few nations had, save in those pure days of yore
when men love truth, justice and honor more than gold; but
while all those ancient places are still thronged with tradi
tions, they are over grown with the weeds of popular fancy
like ruins of ancient castles covered with ivy; yet, the names
of some of them are still remembered by the aged Indians
and sometimes mentioned in their ancient traditions, but the
namesof theirpredecessors have completely disappeared from
their memories, and the time will never come in which these
secrets of the centuries will be remembered or ever known
again.
As aids to memory they used various devices, among
which belts of wampum were the chief. Wampum was truly
the archives of the tribe among all North American Indians.
It was made of dressed deer skin, soft and pliable as cloth,
and interwoven with various shells cut into uniform siz.e,
carefully polished, strung together and painted in different
colors, all of which were significant; white being the emblem
of peace and friendship; red, the symbol of hostility and war.
As the colors of the wampum were significant, so also were
the length and breadth of these belts, and also .the* peculiar
arrangements of the differently painted strings attached,
each and all fully understood by the Indians alone. A belt of
wampum was presented to one tribe by another as a remem
brance token of any important event that was communicated.
They had many and various kinds of wampum; some in the
form of belts of different breadth and length; some in strings
of various width and length, all reaching back in regular order
to centuries of the remote past, with an accuracy incredible
to the White Race.
The wampum was the Indians' history the chronicles of
the past; and the readers of each clan of the tribe, from one
36 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
\
generation to another, were carefully and thoroughly instruc
ted by their predecessors for that particular business and
were held in the highest esteem by all Indians everywhere.
Bundles of small round sticks were also used to assist
them in accurately keeping- the number of days that would
intervene between the day agreed upon that anything should
be done, and the day upon which the bundle had been pre
sented, one stick being drawn from the bundle at the termi
nation of each day and thrown away; which duty was never
forgotten nor neglected to be done by him to whom it was en
trusted. A long string was also used, having as many knots
tied in it as the number of days that were desired to be re
membered; at the close of each day, as the withdrawing of a
stick from the bundle, so a knot was untied. This custom
of using a string was also^practiced, it is said, by. 'the ancient
Persians, which is confirmed by Herodotus in his statement,
that "Darius gave to his allies a string with sixty knots tied
in it, and told them to untie one knot at the close of each day;
and, if he had not returned by the time the last one was un
tied, they could go home."
Pictures, rudely carved on rocks and trees, were used to
convey information, each figure being a true symbol under
stood and fully comprehended by the Indians wherever
seen.
, The Indians regarded their majestic forest trees with
emotional pride ; and, as they reclined under their broad ex
panding shades, they listened to their solemn whispers as
possessing a mysterious connection with themselves, and as
sharing with them their hopes and fears, their joys and sor
rows, and they grieved to see them fall before the ax of civil
ization ; since, between the Native American and the White
Race, who only saw lumber in the forest tree and money in
the lumber, there is the same difference existing that there
is between the man who hears the most refined music only
as a senseless noise-and him who hears it in messages of di
vine import to his soul ; thus it is that Nature bestows on
man only that which he is able to receive from her ; to one
lumber and the jingle of money ; to the other beauty and
harmony. Oft have I been an eye witness to the sensibility of
this people to the charms of natural objects, though accused
of its utter want : and with emotions of pleasure listened to
their expressive words of delight in admiration of the grand
and beautiful in nature, as they pointed the finger of unas-
sumed pride to their magnificent forests, and the majestic
appearance of the old patriarchs of their woods — seeming- to
be charmed with their grand forests, the beauty of their
flower bedecked prairies, the purity of their streams, the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 37
Brightness of their skies and the salubrity" of their climate.
To the peculiarly fascinating1 eharms of which, as they ap
peared to my admiring gaze seventy years ago in the ancient
domains of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, east of the Mis-
.sissippi river, I can testify from personal observation, as it
.also was the home of my birth ; nor can time nor distance
-ever erase from memory their grandeur and beauty ; and,
to-day, their seeming power is exercised over me in calling
up the reveries and picturings of the past clothing reality
with the illusions of the memory and imagination. But to
many, nature, in her primitive grandeur, is but an indiffer
ent beauty, though she stops to smile, to caress and enter
tain with exhaustless diversion her admiring and loving
wooer.
So to the Indian also, the grandeur and beauty of his
ancient forests left a memory which abides as a constant
source of gratification, as he reflects upon their natural
beauty upon which his eyes so oft had rested, and from
which his soul had gathered a noble conception of the sym
phonies from which it drew its pure aspirations ; .and truly,
no one who has any conception of the grand and beautiful,
-could have gazed upon the outstretched panorama of their
forests as presented in their ancient domains, without being
lastingly impressed with the marvelous picture, in which
there stood forth most striking beauties in the form of ma
jestic trees and green swards, on whose bosoms rested, in
gentle touch, most inviting shades free of all under-growth
of bushes but covered with luxuriant grass interspersed
with innumerable flowers of great variety, rivaling the most
beautiful flower garden of art. Never have I witnessed
any thing more grand and impressive than the Mississippi
forests presented when left by the Choctaws and Chicka
saws as an inheritance .to the Whites. Then and there na
ture, in all% her diversified phases, from the finite to the in
finite, and from the infinitessimal to the grand aggregate of
knowledge, was full of instruction ; by which she would
teach man his duty to his God, to his fellow man and to him
self. But alas, how few ever heed the symbolic whispers of
her low, sweet voice !
It was truly a vast wilderness of trees entirely free of
all undergrowth except grass with that peculiar stillness
that attested the absence of man, and possessing a vastness
and boundless extent, ' and uninterrupted contiguity of
shade, which prevented the attention from being distracted,
.and allowed the mind to the solitude of itself, and the imagi
nation to realize the actual presence and true character of
that which burst upon it like a vivid dream. Truly that is
38 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
*.
happiness that breaks not the link between man and nature.
The Indians of this continent openly acknowledged and
sincerely believed in the One Great and Good Spirit, and also
in the One Great and Evil Spirit; to the former they gave
divine homage with a devotion that well might put to shame
many of those who have lived, a life time under the light of
the Gospel dispensation, with scarcely a devotional emotion.
Towards the latter they cherished the greatest fear and dread
and sought continually the aid of the Good Spirit in averting
the dreaded machinations of the Evil Spirit, therefore every
warrior had his totem; i. e. a little sack filled with various
ingredients, the peculiarities of which were a profound
secret to all but himself; nor did any Indian ever seek or de
sire to know the contents of another's totem, it was sacred to
its possessor alone. I have more than once asked some
particular warrior friend concerning the contents of his
totem but was promptly refused- with the reply: "You would
not be any the wiser thereby." Every warrior kept his
Totem or "Medicine" about his person, by which he sincere
ly believed he would be enabled to secure the aid of the Good
Spirit in warding off the evil designs of the Evil Spirit, in the
existence of which they as sincerely believed, and to whom
they attributed the cause of all their misfortunes, when fail
ing to secure the aid of the Good Spirit. Therefore, each
and every warrior of the tribe., with eager zeal, endeavored to
put himself in direct communication with the Great and
Good Spirit. There was but little difference between the
"Indian Magician" and the Indian "Medicine Man," but
when a. warrior had attained to that high and great!}' desired
point of direct communication with the Great and Good
Spirit, and had impressed that belief upon his tribe as well as
himself, he at once became an object of great veneration, 'and
was henceforth regarded by all his tribe, regardless of
age or sex, as a ' great "Medicine Man," upon whom
had been conferred supernatural powers to foretell
coming events, to exorcise evil spirits, and to perform
all kinds of marvelous works. But few attained the
coveted eminence; yet he who was so fortunate, at once
reached the pinnacle of his earthly aspirations. But before
entering upon his high and responsible duties, and assuming
the authority of a diviner — a graduated Medicine Man, in
other words, with a recognized and accepted diploma, he
must also have enlisted in his service one or more lesser
spirits, servants of the Great and Good Spirit, as his allies or
mediators, and to secure these important and indispensable
auxiliaries, he must subject himself to a severe and testing
ordeal. He now retires alone into the deep solitudes of his
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 39'
native forest and there engages in meditation, self examina
tion, fasting- and prayer during the coming and going of
many long and weary days, and even weeks. And all that for
what end? That he might, by his supernatural power thus
attained, be enabled to gratify his ambition in playing the
tyrant over his people through fear of him? Or that he might
be enabled the better to gratify the spirit of avarice that
rankled in his heart? Neither, for both tyrant and avarice
were utterly unknown among, all Indians.
What then? First, that he might ever be enabled, by
his influence attained with the great and Good Spirit, toward
off the shafts of the Evil Spirit, and thus protect himself from
seen and unseen dangers, and also be successful in the ac
complishment of all his» earthly hopes and wishes. *
Second. That he might be a benefactor to his tribe, by
being enabled to divine future events, and thus forewarn
them of approaching danger and the proper steps to take to.
successfully avoid it; also to heal the sick, , etc. True, the
fearful ordeal of hunger, thirst, fatigue wrought their part
in causing his imagination to usurp the place of reason, fill
ing his fevered mind with the wildest hallucinations and
rendering him a fit subject to believe anything and every
thing. Yet, no doubt, when he left his place of prayer and
self-examination and returned to his people, he sincerely be
lieved that he had been admitted to the special favor of the
great and Good Spirit and was fully prepared to exercise his-
newly acquired supernatural attainments for his own bene
fit and to the interest of his tribe. Smile not at this, per
haps, to you, seeming folly of one who thought, reasoned and
acted as taught by the feeble light of nature alone ; with
•such a devotional spirit, what would he have been if enlight
ened by the renovating influences of the precepts of the Son
of God ? But I ask, if this doctrine of the spiritual world, the-,
disembodied spirits of our departed loved ones everywhere
about us, and the power of communication with them, has
not sprung into new life among us in this boasted enlightened
age illumined, by the glorious light of the Bible shining
around us for centuries past ? though the doctrine was dis
carded by the Indians at once and forever, so soon as the
light of the Bible shone into their untutored minds. But
alas, we still speak of them as savages and barbarians ; yet
should not emotions of shame fill our hearts, when the simi
larity of belief between the unlettered" Indians of seventy-
five years ago, and the boasted intelligence and Christian
civilization of the "Anglo Saxon" of the present day, is so
manifest? Need we try to deny that modern Spiritualism
-40 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
its counterpart in the philosophy 'of the ^North Ani'erican
Jndians of three-quarters of a century ^ag-p?;; .: ;• .
May we justly scorn the Indian wtie&'iiot free ourselves
of his , ancient superstitious follies, ; btit^tilf hz£v$ : so large
4 portion, thoug-h long- discarded by the civilized tribes, se
cretly -hidden away in the strata of our boasted common
,sense, besides being greatly tinctured with the fashionable
skepticism (unknown to all Indians) of the present civilized
but fearfully corrupt age ?
The Indians reasoned from the known to the unknown
-differing from us only in that they had no accumulated
knowledge to guide them but their traditions. And when
we take into consideration the great difficulties with which
Ihey had to contend and overcome in the struggle up the
nigged hill of civilization and Christianity, as presented to
vthem with all their manifested contradictions and enigmas
by the ''Pale-faces," it is. a matter of profound astonishment
that they have achieved as much as they have.
Alas, that our universal error, in all our dealings with
that people, should consist in the deplorable yet inexcusable
failure to perceive how greatly their ideas differed from our
own in regard to every thing appertaining to our civilization,
Christianity and love of gain ; and at the same time forget
ting that the idea of civil government was with us of long and
slow growth, takin'g many ages to develop us from our own
ignorant and savage ancestry to our present enlightened
state ; and how greatly to be regretted is the fact, that our
feelings and actions are still so influenced and governed by
deplorable ignorance of the true nature and characteristics
of the Indian, and so swayed by a foolish prejudice against
him, and so led captive by self-conceit and imagined superi
ority over him by nature, that we do not and will not justly
and impartially weigh the evidence before us ; through fear,
it truly seems, that our preconceived opinions may be proved
to be formed in error, if tested by the knowledge of the truth
that would be gained by investigation.
The' Indian is accused of stolidity. Wherefore? Is it
because he can and does control his tongue when the white
man would fly into a violent passion? Is it because the Indian
.never speaks evil of any one, not even of a personal enemy,
.but keeps his thoughts and opinions of others in the secret
recesses of his own breast, while the reverse is an innate
•characteristic of the White Race? Is it because the Indian
has learned never to talk to the purpose of what is not the
purpose to talk of, but in which the white man has long since
proved himself an adept to the entire satisfaction of himself
and all man-kind? If all this, seemingly so mysterious to his
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 41
•defamers who' would search earth and heaven to find an
.accusation/against an Indian, merits- the title Stolidity, then
indeed is the Indian meritorious, and that is/the whole of it
in- a'li'u't "shell.
He has also been ridiculed as being" an idiot for carrying"
with him his mystic Medicine-pouch, and relying- on it for
safety both in seen and unseen dangers. Yet in this how
little did he^ differ from thousands of the White Race of even
today with all their professed culture, among whom there
can still be detected a foolish superstition, a lingering1 sur
vival of Fetchism, for it can be nothing- else. See the still
lingering belief in Witchcraft and magic charms; behold the
horse shoe still nailed over the door as a guarantee to "good
luck" and the prevention of injury from the >jnidnight ca
rousals of witches; view the stig-ma placed upon the *good
names of one of the days of the week — unfortunate Friday!
Contemplate the Charm-string- composed of various childish
g-ew-gaws dangling from the watch-chain of the empty and
unbalanced head of the "pale-face" dude, and also its counter
part around the neck of the empty-headed little Miss of
"sweet sixteen"! Think of the harmless little bug snugly
ensconced in a crack of the wall humming its lulla-by in token
of its happiness yet is stigmatized with the appellation of
"Death-watch," the fore-runner of the grim monster so
much feared and dreaded by frail humanity, and many more
that might be mentioned! What are all these but a lingering
spirit of superstition, legitimate offsprings Fetishism, and
differing in nothing from the Indian's totem. Yet. the
Indian is regarded as meriting condemnation in this world
.and damnation in the next because he still adheres, in. some
few instances where the truths of the Bible have never
reached him, to his ancient superstitious belief and so-called
.savage folly, but the white man,, cradled in the. lap of Chris
tianity and yet carrying secretly in his -breast his totems,
verily, might not the reproving language of Saul to Bar Jesus
be justly applied to us in all our dealing with the Red .Race
from the Alpha to the Omega? — ,"O, full of .all subtlety, and
all mischief, thou child of the devil, tftou enemy of all
righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways
•of the Lord?" / , '.,'*,
^ Again: The Indians' passion for war, so erroneously
proverbial among us, has ever been shamefully exaggerated.
True, their passion for war, when engaged in it for the re
dress of real or imaginary wrongs, was unequalled : and, in
defense of their country has few parallels in the history of
nations, of which we have the full attestation of experience ;
though we fought. them, taking all things into consideration,
42 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
the advantages of fifty to one. But they seldom made war
upon each other actuated alone by the motives of ambitious
conquests for national or personal aggrandizement, as far as
has been ascertained from actual proof. They had no' mo
tive for such a war, as it is well known to all who have at
tained any true knowledge of the North American Indians
worthy of notice, since avarice, in a national or personal point
of view with all its baneful consequences, was utterly un
known to the ancient Indians of this continent, as it is to this
day to their pnre blooded descendants. Their desperation
in resisting- our encroachments upon their rights gave birth
to the false charge that "they are a blood-thirsty race de
lighting in human gore ;" but there is no proof basedv upon
truth that they are meritorious to a greater extent than any
other race of mankind to bear such reproach. Nor were
their tactics of war, so loudly condemned by us, any more
irreconcilable to justice and humanity, than our own. We
stigmatize them writh the name of "cowards" for limiting-
their fighting to ambuscade and surprise ; and which we, if
out-witted and defeated in a battle wTith them, pronounced,
with assumed horror, a "cruel massacre ;" yet, truth posi
tively declares that we too have adopted equally with them
the ambuscacle, the surprise, and every art of war known to
us to out-general them in cunning, in treachery, and in de
ceit; but call it, if we succeed, "a glorious military strate
gy," as if that would^make it appear more honorable or
justifiable in the sight of truth, justice and humanity or that
of a just God. Absolute necessity compelled the Indians to
resort to ambuscade and surprise in their wars with us-, on
account of our vast superiority over them in numbers, skill,
and instruments of warfare. What hope of success could
they entertain by coming out in the open field with ^en
feeble bows and arrows and few worthless old guns,, and
stand up before our deadly rifles and destructive batteries £
They would simply have acted the part of fools in so doing.
They fought as best they could, and just as we, or any other
people, would have fought under similar circumstances.
We charge them with deception and being full of all man
ner of hypocrisy in all places and at all times, even in the
social and business relations of life. A more false charge
was never made against anyone; and it is but one among the
thousands that have been unjustly used in justification of
robbing them of their country and wiping them out as cum-
berers of the ground, wrholly unfit any longer to inhabit the
earth. •
Who ever heard of the Indians adulterating their food
with poisonous ingredients to add a dime more-to their gains?
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 43-
Who ever heard of them adulterating- their medicines, thus
endangering- life to make a nickel more? Who ever heard of
them banding tog-ether to oppress the poor of their own race
by buying- up certain articles of food or medicine and hold
ing it to extort a higher price from the needy, and thus add
a few more cents to their own coffers? And yet we see fit
to falsely charge the Indians with deception and hypocrisy.
But to misrepresent in all that is said or written about'the
Red Race is an axiom of long standing. As an illustration^
Ridpath, in his ''History of the United States" — page 45,
says:
"But the Red Man was, at his best estate, an unsocial, sol
itary and gloomy spirit. He was a man of the woods. He
sat apart. Tfre forest was better than the village." Let
others speak that it may be known how near the above de
lineation of the Red Man's characteristics, as exhibited by
the glare of imagined erudition, throws its light to the line
of truth according to the positive declarations of the -early
writers who visited the Indians; and the missionaries who-
first preached the Gospel of the world's Redeemer to them.
All, everywhere, and among all Indians back to the Pilgrims
oi 1620, affirm that the tribes everywhere lived in separate
districts, in which each had numerous large and permanent
towns and villages, and were the most social, contented and
happy people they ever knew. La Salle, the renowned
French explorer, states that he found numerous towns and
villages everywhere. He affirms that the Indians lived in
comfortable cabins of great proportions, in some cases, forty
feet square with dome-shaped roofs, in which several fami
lies lived. De Soto, in his memorable raid through the ter
ritories of the Southern Indians in 1541-42, found towns and
villages containing "from fifty to three hundred houses,
protected by palisades, walls and ditches filled with water;"
it is also stated, "every few miles he found flourishing towns
and villages." So also, the early explorers of the head
waters of the Mississippi river found the Indians every
where dwelling in towns and villages: "The houses being-
framed wfth poles and covered with bark."
Lewis and Clark, when exploring the waters of the Col
umbia River in 1805, under the auspices of the United Sates
Government, found the Indians in the valley of the Columbia
living in villages in which there were many large houses.
They mention some capable of "furnishing habitations for
five hundred people." The Iroquois, whose territories lay
along the southern border's of the Great Lakes, Erie and
Ontario, when visited by the Jesuit priests and French
traders in 1771, were found dwelling in large towns and
44 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. .
, . • ••' .v.- . .• . . .. ,
'/villages^ some of which- are described as having- "120 houses,
• many of them from 50 to ^60 feet in length, and affording am
ple room and' shelter for twelve or fifteen- families." , The
Indians 'of the Atlantic Stages were settled in permanent
towns and villages. The Pokanokets, Narragansets, Pe-
quods, and others, as stated by early writers, lived in towns-
and, villages. The missionaries, when they established
,Ghirstain missions among the Cherokees in 1815, the Choc-
taws in 1818, and Chickasaws in 1821, found them living in
prosperous towns and villages scattered from two to six miles
apart all over their then vast territories, and to which I testify
from actual, personal knowledge; and. no people with whom I
was ever acquainted, or of whom I ever read, exhibited more
real social virtues, true contentment and genuine social
happiness than they; yet Ridpath's doleful and stereotyped
edition of misrepresentation and ignorance says: "But the
Red Man was, at his best estate, an unsocial, solitary, and
gloomy spirit. He communed only with himself and the
genius of solitude. He sat apart; the forest was better than
the village." •# .
The six nations, to whom the French gave the name Iro-
quois(Longhouses) were composed of the Senecas, Cayugas,
Onandagas, Oneidas, Mohawks and Tuscaroras, inhabiting
the northern part of the continent, and the Choctaws; Chick-
saws, Cherokees, Muscogees, Semiiioles, Natchez and Ya-
masas, living in the southern part and known at an early day
as the Mobela Nations, presented, no doubt, the highest
type of the North American Indians, and were unsurpassed
in, point of native eloquence, unalloyed patriotism, and heroic
bravery, by any ancient or modern race of people, civilized
or uncivilized ; in friendship faithful and true, in war not
safe or comfortable to encounter ; and whose highest bliss
was found in national independence and absolute personal
freedom from all restraint whatever ;' and of whose ancient
history, if only known, it might truthfully be said, would be
stranger and more interesting than the "most thrilling fic
tion ; abounding with hidden romances of which the civilized
•\vorkl never conjectured or even dreamed, if we may judge
from the little that has escaped oblivion. The Iroquois, and
the six Nations of the North have long since disappeared be
fore the White Race as autumnal leaves before the wintry
winds, except with here and there a few lonely wanderers
who, like ghosts, still hover around the graves of their ances
tors, feeblesparksyetlingeringiiitheashesof an exterminated
race. The Natchez and Yamases of the Mobela Nations
have also long since passed through the same ordeal, and
Ichabod is written upon their urns with thousands of others
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 45
of. their unhappy race ; ;while a few still linger to justly re
buke our cruelty and avarice.
They know that they only can learn the; present through
the memory of the blood-stained past; that temple from
which posterity draws its lessons of. human life; yet they are
not ashamedxof their past; or do they undervalue it, but
advocate, as they have many, long years before, the great
brotherhood of man; and still hope and expect, as in the years
of the long past, great things from Christianity and intellect
ual culture;. though oft have been doomed to that ^bitter dis
appointment which so loudly and justly rebukes and con
demns that prejudice still cherished so bitterly but unjustly
against them by the White Race, ,and so difficult to be
reconciled to its published professions of Christian attain
ments, too deep for them or any other people, to understand
or even : rightly conjecture. But the question naturally
arises, Why are they still distrusted by us? Is it because
they still honor their past which they can never renounce nor
forget as a brave and patriotic people? Must we forever hate
them and eternally make them the subjects of our ridicule
and contempt because, forsooth, they will not repudiate the
memory of their ancient line of ancestry to them as honor
able as to us is our own? And though self respect is all that
we have left to them, except a few acres of begrudged land,
do we now demand and expect them to so far forget them
selves and to stoop so lowr in the scale of humanity as to
adopt voluntarily, the impious and degrading estimate put
upon them by the unprincipled of our own race, who through
ignorance and prejudice have misjudged them? Then know
we not the North American Indian; nor will our demand or
expectation ever be realized.
We may exterminate them as we have millions of their
race, for we have the power to do so ; but we never can co
erce them to voluntarily place a degrading estimate upon
themselves. Never. I have heard the charge over and over
again ^made against them, that they would stop the progress
of the white man's civilization and the religion of Jesus
Christ among them if they could. Without fear or favor, Ix
here denounce the charge as a falsehood, begat by the devil,
born in the regions of eternal night, thence escaped to find
lodgement in the hearts of its miserably degraded author,
and his congenial spirits, the foul mouthed promulgators ;
and into their teeth I fearlessly hurl it back. But I freely
admit, if the "white man's civilization and the white man's
Christianity" is meant the grim visage of infidelity with its
abominable train of liberalism, socialism, secularism, nihi
lism, spiritualism, and whiskeyism with their legitimate
46 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
children, saloonism and baudy-houseism, and all other devil
ish isms presented in the white man's Christian civilization
(so-called), they want none of it ; anp in proof of which they
have warred, and still war and will ever continue to war
ag-ainst the foul brood, be they ever so protective to the
white man's "Personal Liberty ;" or ever so dearly cher
ished by him, as among- the brig-htest lig-hts along- the horizon
of his modern and advanced civilization. But let Christ's
glorious Christianity and civilization, as it was presented to
them eighty years ago in their ancient domains east of the
Mississippi river by the pure minded, devoted, self-sacrific
ing1, God approved missionaries, whose God-like teaching's,
both by precept arid example, have been handed down by
that g-eneration to this, (of whom many old Choctaws of that
day have frequently spoken to me during my sojourn among-
them, during- the last five or six years, and as often drew the
contrast between the white mail's religion of those days and
the white man's religion of to-day, the g-enuine fruits of
which are so manifest) be rudely assailed or imperilled, and
every warrior, old and young-, would at once rise as one man
in its defense, and freely give their lives as sacrificial offer
ings upon the altar of its protection. They had long- walked
in darkness, but they have seen the light as it shone in the
daily life, conversation, and actions, of those old heralds of
the' Cross, who came to them in their ancient domains, four
score years ag-o, as messeng-ers of the Son of God, proclaim
ing- Peace Good and Will to them. But they would see greater
lig-ht and know more of that lig-ht ; therefore, they who
charg-e them with a hankering to still return to the customs
of their ancestors, though in many respects more to be de
sired than the isms and degrading vices of the white man's
modern civilization as presented to them, can lay no just
claim to the right of judging or estimating the merits, or
demerits of any one, as they measure every thing by the
standard of their own imbecility so manifest to all.
There is today, and has ever been, as much talent found
among- the true Native Americans as among the Americans,
,or ever was found in any race of uneducated people; and the
Indian is naturally as much of a religious being as the wh'ite
man, yea, to a greater degree, which is fully sustained by his
more faithful adherence and unassumed" devotion to his
newly adapted religion, as taught him by the missionary of
the Gospel, than are we with all of our fine churches and
noisy professions. The Sabbath day is reg-arded with much
more reverence, and observed with greater emotions of un-
feig-ned devotion, yet we call him a savage. Long- before the
light of the Gospel illuminated the mind of the Indian, and
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 47
the knowledge of his own dignity and destiny had dawned
upon^his understanding, his reason taught him a belief in the
existence of a Superior Being whose wisdom and goodness he
saw, acknowledged and reverenced in every leaf and flower
that adorned the earth; in the rising and setting of the sun;
in the storm of night and the calm of day. But the mis
sionary came, and the Gospel of the Son of God then erected
his alter among them and shed the benign influences of her
oracles over them, leading their understanding from the
intellectual darkness of that long starless night that had
, brooded over them during ages untold. Great indeed must
be the reward in heaven for those men and women of God
who carried the Bread of Eternal Life to the southern Indians
of this continent, over three quarters of a century ago; when
civilization and Christianity had never before found lodge
ment, and Nature was presented in all her seemingly new
ness of life, unchanged by the handi-work of man. The
pride of ancestry may be just; to rehearse the deeds of illus
trious predecessors may by laudable; but they, who devote
life to the Glory of God and the benefit of the;r fellow men
are truly the ones that make life illustrious and the grave
glorious; for when time had silvered their heads with gray,
and the summons came that bade them go hence; then it was
their good deeds lighted up the gloom of the grave and
soothed and softened the pangs of dissolution; and when
they have long slumbered in the citv of the silent, yea, when
every trace of the unhappy Indian shall have been wiped out
and forgotten in the oblivion of the past, still will the mem
ory of their labors of love live, and their monuments be in
scribed with characters of imperishable fame. Years hence,
when the inquisitive shall ask what manner of people were
the fallen and exterminated race of North American conti
nent, and inquire concerning those who enlightened the
minds that only here and there have left a monument of their
independence, will some venerable patriarch point to the
catalogue of renowned names, who disseminated the Gospel
and the light of learning among the primitive inhabitants of
the North American continent. But the question naturally
arises here, will the mighty tide of humanity, now flowing
like a great river into and over our country, bear to future
posterity our virtues or our vices, our glory or our shame?
Will the moth of inmorality and the vampire of luxury trans
mit, as an inheritance, their natural results to our future
posterity, and ultimately prove the overthrow of our Govern
ment, or shall our knowledge and virtue, as pillars of rock,
support them against the whirlwind of ambition and corrup
tion now overspreading the land? The little insect intrud-
48 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
ing" upon our path is despised and wantonly crushed; yet
united, they have destroyed nations and depopulated cities.
"Coming- events" cease not to "cast their shadows before.'*
The North American Indians, in symmetry of form,
seemed perfect men and women ; all were straight and
erect ; the men, of a proud, independent and manly bearing-,
with sinewy form that denoted great strength, agility and
fleetness ; with dark complexion, resolute, yet quiet in ex
pression, except when ag-itated by emotion ; frank in de
meanor, and always courteous, never* meeting you without a
grave but polite and cheerful salutation ; and whose confi
dence was not a sudden spark that shone for a moment then
went out, but endured through life unless betrayed, then
was never more regained, nor was their hatred impulsive
but fixed in their judgment and their thoughts rather than
in their passing feelings. And what is said of the charac
teristics of the men, as men, so it may be said equally of the
women, as women. Their traditions, which form the con
necting link between truth and romance, throw but a glim
mering light, as before stated, upon the unwritten history
of their past, which has so long been forgotten, as well as
upon their ancient habits and customs, of which there can be
no reliable information, therefore all must be left to conject
ure. But I came in possession of many traditions seemingly
to founded more -in truth than in fiction, as I oft sat
among the Choctaws and Chickasaws in youth and early
manhood and listened with romantic emotions to the narra
tions of the aged, whose plurality of years had consigned
them to the retired list of warriors, as unable longer to en
dure the hardships and dangers that begirt the war-path
and the chase, and thus acquired much concerning their
past history, not to be found inbooks, of which I wrill
more fully speak in their proper place.
But alas, that the writings of so many of their White
historians (so-called) seemingly throug-h ignorance or preju
dice, or both, should contain more fiction than truth, and dif
fuse more error than true information concerning this pecu
liar and so poorly comprehended race of people ; hence it
may be truly affirmed that there is no race of people that
now exists upon the earth, or has ever existed, of whom -so-
much has 'been said and written, yet of whom the world has
been taught less true knowledge and correct information
than of the North American Indians. But it should not be,
perhaps, a matter of very great surprise that the majority
of the writers of the present day, especially the sensational
newspaper correspondents, as many of their predecessors of
years ago, should give prejudiced accounts of this people ;
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 49
since it is plainly manifest, when taken into just considera
tion, that they are1 utterly ig-norant of the subject offered for
their contemplation, yet fail to see their incapacity , since
the ingredients are pure and have given abundant and unmis
takable proof of their many-valuable qualities ; therefore, as a
natural result, are lost to the blind observers whose compo
sitions, regarding the unfortunate Indians, are made up of
equal parts (well mixed) of self-conceit, ignorance, duplicity
and falsehood ; which, in their very nature, so utterly dis
qualify them of judging- bevond the surface of anything ex
cept self ; but seem extravagantly delighted when they have
struck a new vein of precious metal in the mine of falsehood
against the unoffending Indians, and foolishly imagine it has
stamped them •with a wisdom higher than man's, though dif
ficulties arise in the minds of a majority from a failure to so
comprehend it. Still it is diverting to see them strut about
after a safe delivery, as if they were at the head of a new
dispensation and waiting for unknown converts to kneel and
pay homage to their imagined greatness.
It is a universally admitted that the color of the Indians
is peculiar to themselves, and though some affirm that they
have discovered indications of a Tartar origin in their cheek
bones, others assert that their eyes do not justify the affir
mation. Their manner of life may have exerted", perhaps,
some influence in regard to color, but it would be a difficult
matter to satisfactorily -explain how it coult have produced
the great difference that is so plainly manifest in
that of the eyes. Still it is affirmed that "'their imagery,,
bpth. poetry and oratory, is Oriental, though suffering by the
limited extend of th-ear practical knowledge." Their
metaphors were drawn from nature, the seasons, the clouds,
the storms, the mountains, birds and beast, and the vegetables
world. Yet in this, they only did what all other races of the
human family have done, whose bounds to fancy were
governed by experience. They also clothed their ideas in.
Oriental dress. They expressed a phrase in a word, and
qualified the signification of a whole sentence by a syllable;:
and also conveyed different significations by the simplest
inflections of the voice. Some philologists affirm that among
all the North American Indians who once inhabited this con-
tinent,^ ''there are, properly speaking, but two or three
languages," and the difficulty which different tribes ex
perience in understanding each other, is attributed to the
corruptions in dialects. This may seem more plausible
from the following incident. Shortly after the Choctaws
.were removed from their ancient domains east of the Mis-
sissippi River to their present places of abode, a small tribe
50 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
of strange Indians was discovered occupying- a portion of
their western territory, now the Chickasaw Nation. A party
of Choctaws, under the command of Peter P. Pitchlynn,
was sent out to ascertain who they were . When the dele
gation arrived at one of the villages of the unknown tribe,
they were totally unable to communicate with them only
through the sign language, so well understood by all the
Indians, and them alone. However, it was soon observed
that the villagers, in conversation with each other, used a
few words that were decidedly of Choctaw origin, and now
and then one or more purely Chactaw words. This but in
creased the interest of the now deeply interested delegates.
Upon further investigation by means of the sign-language,
It-was ascertained that the name of the little tribe of stran
gers wasBaluhchi, a pure Choctaw word, signifying hickory-
bark (formerly used by the Choctaws in making ropes and
whips when peeled from the hickory bush in the spring). It
was also learned that they originally came from a country, to
their pleasant place of abode, that lay beyond the "Big
Waters," and this was all that could be learned concerning
them. Being anxious to ascertain something more definite,
the delegates, upon further inquiry, learned that there lived
in another village a few miles distant, an aged man who was
formerly their chief but owing to his advanced age he no
longer acted in that capacity, but was regarded by the tribe
as their national Seer or Prophet. To him the delegation
immediately went, and found to their agreeable surprise that
tlie venerable old patriarch, for such he truly was, could speak
the Choctaw language fluently. He corroborated the state
ment of the villagers in regard to the migration, and also
claimed that he and his tribe were Choctaws. When asked,
How long since he left his people east of the "Big Waters,"
he replied: "Long ago, when a little boy," and further
stated that he was the only survivor of the little company
that had wandered away years ago from the parent stock.
JBut to fully test the matter, he was questioned as to the
name of the Choctaw Iksas (Clans) and their ruling chiefs at
the time of his boyhood and the departure of the company to
£he far west. He readily gave the name of several clans and
^heir then ruling chiefs, together with the names of the clan
(Baluhchi) to which his parents belonged; also many memor
able incidents connected with the Choctaws in his boyhood
together with the general features and outlines of their
territory. All of which was known to be true. 'The test
was satisfactory. The delegates returned; made their re
port, and the Choctaw Nation at once received its long wan
dering prodigals into its paternal embrace, and without
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 51
hesitation took them into full fellowship as children of one
and the same family. About fifty families of this once lost
clan, numbering- about two hundred souls still survive, with
a few of whom I am personally acquainted. The little band,
I was informed, still adheres to the ancient customs of their
Clan with that tenacity peculiar to the North American
Indians alone, but has returned to the use of the Choctaw
language proper.
Here then, in this little band of strayed Choctaws, who
had wandered from the parent stock scarcely a century be
fore, is found a case in which their language had become so
blended or mixed with that of the languages of other adjoin
ing tribes, and thereby so corrupted and changed as not to
be understood by their own people from whom they had
wandered but a generation or two before. The ancient
Baluhchi Clan of Choctaws was first made known to the
whites by La Salle, who visited them on his voyage of dis
covery down the Mississippi River in 1682, and to which I
will again refer.
Fenimore Cooper, in reference to the sign-language of
the North American Indians, says, he was present at an in
terview between two chiefs of the western plains, and when
an interpreter was present who spoke both languages of
the two different tribes to which the two chiefs respectively
belonged. The two warrior chiefs appeared to be on the
most friendly terms, and apparently conversed much togeth
er; yet, according to the affirmation of the interpreter, each
was absolutely ignorant of what the other said .in his native
tongue. Their tribes were hostile to each other, but these
two chiefs had accidentally been brought together by the in-'
fluence of the Government ; and it is worthy of remark that
a common policy influenced them both to adopt the same
subject. They mutually exhorted each other to befriend
the one the other in the event that the chance of war should
throw either of them in the hands of his enemies.
But whatever may be the truth as respects the root and
the genius of the Indian tongue, it is quite evident they are
now so remote in their words as to possess most of the dis
advantages of strange languages ; hence, much of the em
barrassment that has arisen in learning their history, and
most of the uncertainty which exists in their traditions.
The North American Indians conform to rule as rigidly
as any nation of people that ever existed. They regulated
their whole conduct in conformity to some general maxims
implanted in their minds in their youthful days. The moral
laws by which they were governed were few, 'tis true.
Butthey conformed toall of them most rigidly ; while our moral
52 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
laws are many by which we assume to be governed, yet we
frequently violate them with little compunction of conscience
when conflicting' with our real or imaginary interests. We
accuse the Indians of stoicism and habitual taciturnity, with
out studying- their characteristics; but if we had
'only informed ourselves, we would have learned that they
are more firmly linked to us by mutual sympathies and affec
tions than we have ever even imagined. But why do the In
dians appear taciturn and unsocial to us ? Because we
have, from first to last, manifested toward them an uncon
cealed coldness, indifference, distrustfulness bordering
largly on contempt ; and never with that confidence, frank
ness and sincerity which are so indispensable to g-enuine love
and true friendship. Let a little group of Indians be at a
railroad station on the arrival of 'a passenger train. See the
rush to the platform and the circle formed around them ;
hear the remarks of attempted wit made about them and the
laug-h of ridicule, as they stare at them as if they were a
group of wild beasts, yet assuming themselves to be a people
remarkable for their strict adherence to the rules and regu
lations of politeness ! What feelings must pervade the In
dians' breasts but emotions .of manifold pity and mingled
contempt for such an ill-mannered set, who profess so much
yet display so little of common sense ! Who, with any de
gree of justice, can blame the Indians for manifesting their
wisdom and good sense by keeping themselves aloof from
the company of the self-conceited and scornful, whose moral
worth and . highest attainments begin and end seemingly
with the nronkey ? and, as a natural consequence, can exhibit
no other disposition when in the presence of one or more In
dians than that of gratifying an ignorant curiosity in behold
ing the so-called "red devils, red skin, Indian bucks," appel
lations having their origin in the depraved hearts of as cor
rupt and reckless specimens of humanity as ever cursed a
land or county, and are a foul blot upon the fair face of na
ture, and the language of whose hearts is "justice, truth,
honor, mercy, humanity depart from us, we desire not the
knowledge of thy ways." Thus, in all our intercourse with
this unfortunate race of people, we have exhibited, in the
majority of instances, every disposition toward them that
was calculated to drive them far from even the sight of us,
and to stamp indelibly upon their hearts the belief that our
only desire is, and ever has been, to dispossess them. of their
hereditary possessions ; and in which they are wholly con
firmed by reading our publications in which we portray them
as "red devils, red skins, blood-thirsty savages, Indian
bucks," thus seemingly to attempt to justify ourselves, by
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 53
our calumniating- epithets, in our cruelties and outrages upon
them without any respect to their claims upon truth, justice,
mercy and humanity whatever ; and also, that they have no
rights when conflicting1 with ours, but must succumb any
where and everywhere to the nod of our interest be it at
their sacrifice what it may ; therefore we continue, as we
have done for centuries past, to execute our verdict pro
nounced against them from the beginning: "It is easier and
less expensive to exterminate the Indians, than to obey the
mandates of the Son of God in attempting to Christianize
them." Said an old chief: "We've been driven back until
we can retreat no farther ; our tomahawks have none to wield
them ; our bows have none to shoot them ; our council fires
are nearly burned out ; soon the white man will cease tooppress
and persecute us, for we will have perished and gone from
the earth." Thus have their expectations ..darkened into
anxiety, their anxiety into dread, their dread into despair
and their despair into death.
„ Never in the history of man has the extermination of a
people been more complete than that of the North American
Indians within the last two and a half centuries. To the
query, "Where are they"? Echo but responds, "Where"?
Alas! all have disappeared from their ancient abodes, and
hundreds .of tribes have long since ceased to exist as
nations, the majority not even leaving a name behind them;
and even the former homes ^of the hapless remaining few
refuse to acknowledge the feeble exiles but as vile intruders,
while the names of mountains, hills and streams are all that
remain as testimonials of their former occupancy, even as
solitary heaps of drift-wood left far from the channel of the
river bear testimony to the extent of its inundation. And to
the query, Where are they? The best reply may be found
in a book bearing the title "Shank's Report On Indian
Frauds," made March 3d, 1873, -to the 420 Congress, 3d,-
Session,. in the management of Indian Affairs. It is as
follows: "In 250 years we have wasted their numbers from
2,500,000" (nearer the truth would be, 20,500,000) "down to
250,000 or a waste of. a number equals to all their children
born to them in the last 250 years, and 2, 250,000, or 9-10 of
their original number, residing in the limits of our Govern
ment, and have taken absolute ownership of 3,232,936,351
acres of their lands, prairies, forests, game and homes,
leaving, to all their tribes collectively, only 97,745,000 acres
of ground, generally not the best, and . even that is sought
after with a greed that is not worthy . a Christian people."
Nevertheless we boast of ourselves .being a true . Christian
nation of the "Anglo Saxon" blood. Who can but pity the
54 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
unfortunate Cubans and the Filipinos! With what emotions
of horror must they shrink from their prospective future,
when contemplating- the extermination of the North Ameri
can Indians.
Even at an early day the Indians themselves, believed, felt
andacknowledg-ed it. In 1611, all the Indians, then known to
the whites, complained, according to the statements of the
early writers, that from the time the French came to trade
with them they began to decline and die off more rapidly
than ever before. It is stated by the early explorers, that
they would often fumig-ate their heads to avoid infection
from the magic charms they believed the French carried
about their persons, secret poison, harmless to themselves,
but fatal to all Indians ; at other times they would accuse
the whites of selling them poisonous provisions. "In 1634,"
writesk the French journalist, "the orphans were sadly nu
merous, for after the Indians began to use whiskey they
died in great numbers." "Not so," said a chief in 1636, "It
is not your drink which kills us, but your writings ; fo,r
since you have described our country, our rivers, land and
forests, we are all dying-. This was not so before your com
ing." Unhappy chief! Thou wert honest in thy convic
tions, but erring; in your judgment. Whiskey was the se
cret power employed by the pale-face to silently but effectu
ally destroy thy race, as it has been from that 'day to this ;
and, as auxiliaries to that terrible destructive, the introduc
tion of small-pox, scarlet fever, measles, mumps, whooping-
cough, unknown before to the Indians, did their fatal work,
and hurried millions of that unfortunate people to premature
graves, often depopulating entire towns and villages, and
even tribes. These new and unaccountable diseases ap
pearing- among them with the coming of the whites, baffling"
their utmost powers in the healing art, and which it ap
peared no skill could obviate, nor remedy dispel the fearful
infection, they very naturally attributed the cause of them
to the writings of the Pale-face, so mysterious and incom
prehensible to them. While some tribes attributed their
mysterious dying- to the anger of the Great Spirit, who thus
punished them for permitting the Pale-faces to "describe
their country, lands, rivers and forests."
A Huron convert told the Jesuit priests in 1639, that it
was almost the universal opinion of his nation, that all the
professed friendship of the whites for the Indians was but
a blind to conceal their deep hidden hypocrisy and treachery;
and that they were really aiming to the total destruction of
the Indians, in order to secure their country for themselves.
How truly prophetic, and how much more of truth than
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. • 55
fiction were their rational conclusions, and was there not
manifested also, in their just reasonings, in regard to the
secret designs of the whites, as far-sighted statemanship as
was ever exhibited by any nation of people that ever existed,
ancient or modern? Were the phillippics hurled against the
ambitious Macedonian king and conqueror by the world
wide renowned statesman and orator of ancient Athens more
prophetic than were the predictions of those ancient Hurons
of North America? "You will see," said a relative of the
above mentioned Huron 'convert, to whom he spoke of the
kind words and friendly actions of the Jesuit priests towards
the Indians, ''your children die before your eyes; you your
self will soon follow, and if we listen to them, we all will go
the same way." "Whether it is the work of the devil or the
providence of God," adds the annalist, "we dare not say, but
of five children in the family, but one remains. Soon after
that speech, one was carried off by fever; another has been
ill for months and cannot live; the oldest, who was one of our
pupils, a lad of fourteen, died very suddenly; an adopted
daughter has a dangerous cough; the youngest boy is dying
too, while the Lord has seen fit to afflict the wife also, who,
after losing four children, herself died of small-pox. Truly
the poor Indian may say Probasti me et cognovisti me." In
1657, Father Menard himself, while laboring among the Iro-
quois, wrote as follows: "The hostility to our faith and to our
persons which the Hurons had transmitted to those abori
gines, persuading them that we carried with us disease and
misfortune to every country we approached, caused our re
ception to be cool and the presents to be spurned which we
offered as a help to the introduction of our religion."
Could the Indians be justly censured, with such potent
convictions resting upon their minds, that many, in wild de
spair and in blind revenge, if, peradventure, they might be
able to turn back the fearful and destructive tide of; disease
and death that was so effectually and rapidly destroying
them, by driving from their territories the pale-faces —
seemingly the author of all their misfortunes and woes? and
did not their hopes of success, their devotion to and love of
country, and their irresistible idealism which stimulates the
mighty effort, constitute the essence of true patriot
ism? But alas, our prejudice denies it to them.
Wherefore ? Because we, as a people, were blinded
by our imagined superiority over them, and pre-con-
ceived determination to convert their country to our own use
— every foot of it — as is so manifest to-day ; therefore refused
to become properly acquainted with them lest we might see
and learn of their many characteristic virtues. Their coun-
56 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
try was the philosopher's stone to us — the true secret that
influenced our actions toward, and all our dealing's with
them, both of a peaceful and host'le nature. It was the
sceptre that was to give us dominion over them, to their de
struction, but our aggrandizement ; the key that would un
lock to us a store-house of national power and personal
emolument, opening unto us the untold treasures of the
western continent. Therefore, whatever in them appeared
strange and forbidding to our disordered imagination ; what
ever did not agree in every punctilio to our self-conceited,
"high-born," civilized customs, we at once misjudged and
underrated, haughtily condemned and pushed aside as un
worthy our refined attention. Hence it is a lamentable
truth, that all the impressions ever made by the whites upon
the Indians, with few exceptions, from their earliest associa
tions to the present day, have been contrary to every thing that
had a tendency to secure their confidence, maintain their friend
ship, and induce them to forsake their primitive customs
and adopt those of ours ; and we have to-day the evidence
on every side that the evil influences placed before the In
dians, and the baneful impressions made upon their minds
by unprincipled and lawless white men, who have always in
fested their country, from the beginning, have been deeply
and lastingly made, and have long ago assumed the form of a
justly bitter but silent hatred enduring as time, and, it is to
be feared, forever to rankle in their breasts. This prejudice
against and hatred of all that appertains to the white race
has been widening and deepening from their first acquain
tance with the whites, from whom they have received noth
ing but sneers, cuffs and kicks from the alpha to the omega,
and now stands a yawning gulf between the confidence and
friendship of the red man and the white, so broad and deep
that all hope -of its being bridged seems nearly if not entirely
at an end. As the great and good /Washington exclaimed.,
when informed of the treason of Benedict Arnold, "Whom
can we trust?" so the Indians, long ago, have been entirely
justifiable to exclaim of the white race "Whom can -we
trust.?" Memory is, and always has been-, the Indian's only
record-book, their history of ' past events; and upon its
pages, handed down through ages from generation to gener
ation, are truthfully, faithfully and lastingly recorded in the
archives of their respective nations, and the vicissitudes of
their individual lives. Its instructions they never forget, be
they of joy or sorrow, hope or fear, rights or wrongs, bene
fits or injuries ; and. to-day, could the heart of every Indian,
whose blood is not contaminated with that of the white, male
or female, old or young, now living within the jurisdiction of
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 57
these United States' as their miserable and down-trodden
wards, be read as an open scroll-, I venture the assertion as
being* within the line of truth, though broad and inconsistent
as it may seem, there would be found written, and with just
cause approved and sustained' by truth, against the white
race, with pen dipped in the stream of as bitter hatred as
ever flowed through the human soul, "Tekel." They would
be superhuman if otherwise. But upon whom justly rests
the cause of all this? At whose door lies the fearful wrong?
Who has been the first and last cause ? The voice of truth,
as potent as that which fell upon the ears of Israel's guilty
king, sustained CLOW as then by the God of justice and truth,
comes also to the white man, and declares in thunder tones,
"Thou art the man."
The era (1492) in which Columbus discovered the
western continent was unprecedented in the history of the
world, awakening the long slumbering ambition of man-kind
to an energy unknown before, and giving origin to number
less speculative enterprises, which resulted in a fierce strug
gle among the different nations of the Old World to secure a
permanent foot-hold in the New, which offered such bright
prospects for national power and glory and individual wealth,
and soon the representatives of the different maritime
powers were seen upon the wide and seemingly illimitable
field disputing, quarrelling and fighting for supremacy upon
the soil of the Native American, and adopting every art and
device that ingenuitv could suggest, right or wrong, so it did
prove but successful in preventing the opposite from attain
ing its desired end, or displacing the fortunate one who had
secured a coveted prize. Among the most 'conspicuous
contestants were the representatives of Spain, France, Eng
land and Holland; who sent out corporations for colonizing
purposes, establishing them at different points according to
the inclinations of each, extending from the Great v
Lakes of the North to the Gulf in the South;
each assuming the right based upon that of discovery
and occupancy to possess, hold, occupy and retain
any territory desired; but in reality, more by virtue of
professed intellectual superiority over the Native Americans
and the actual advantages in the munitions of war, than that
of .any right accrued by virtue of discovery; influencing the
inexperienced and unlettered natives by cajolery and decep
tion, and oft by compulsion, to dispose of their lands to them
at nominal prices, a mere pittance under the name of ''pur
chase," without any regard whatever to the claims of truth,
justice and honor, or to the validity of the Indians' title by
previous occupancy for ages unknown. But after many
58 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
\ '
years of disputation, wrangling- and fighting-, the greatest
arena of contending disputants was cleared of all but two,
the French and English, to whom was left the task of closing
the bloody drama; but into which the two hostile and con
tending rivals continued to involve (as had been done from
the beginning of their feuds) the bewildered India'ns in their
battles with each other, and also arraying them in deadly
strife and prolonged war-fare among themselves, tribe
against tribe, that they might thus weaken their numerical
strength, and thus the quicker and the more easily drive
them from their ancient possessions; a scheme artfully
adopted by us, after the dispossession of the §higlish, in turn,
in 1776 and the handing over of the Indians to us, to complete
the destruction of that unfortunate race.
But truly has it been said, "The Father of Waters" has
two epochs, and each with a romance, the one as different
from the other as day and night. The first belongs to the
northern Mississippi, and the second to the southern ; the
former has its pastor, Father Marquette ; the latter its nov
elty, Hernahdo de Soto. France and England, long the am
bitious rivals and zealous competitors for territorial acquisi
tions throughout the inhabited globe, were the first and only
nations that disputed and contended for the entire posses
sion of the North American continent at that early day ; re
garding which it has also been said that religious enthusiasm
planted the Puritan colony on Plymouth Rock ; religious en
thusiasm planted the Cross on the shores of the St. Law
rence, among the Indians around Lake Superior, thence to
the Great Valley of the Mississippi. Thus France and her
Christianity stood in Canada and the Mississippi valley; En
gland and her Christianity stood on the hills of the Hudson
and in the Susquehanna valley, and invited the Indians each
to their respective civilization and Christianity, while bloody
conflicts and cruel scenes marked the footsteps of the intro
duction of the new order of things among the confused In-
diajns.
In 1608, Quebec was founded by the intrepid explorer,
Samuel Champlain, and whose name is perpetuated in that of
Lake Champlain. From Quebec the French Jesuits pene
trated and explored the vast solitudes of the Canadian
wilderness to the Great Lakes of the West, then a terra
incognita, to the civilized world. Following in their wake
came the English in their representatives, known as the
Pilgrims landing on the rock-bound coast of Massachusetts
in 1620/where the foot of the white man had never trod,
though the adventurous and indefatigable La Salle had ex
plored the Ohio River as far down as the present city of
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 59
Louisville, Ky., many years before, while other French
adventurers and also Jesuit missionaries had penetrated the
wild regions around the Great Lakes, thence southward
along- the various tributaries of the Mississippi which drained
the vast and wild region between them and the Gulf of
Mexico far to the south; there they planted the Cross in
those seemingly illimitable forests, whose solitudes never be
fore had been broken by the voice of anthems sang- in praise
to the one and only true God, and there left behind them
many monuments scattered here and there, as memorials of
their adventurous and perilous travels, which, in after years,
wrould remind the passer-by of the names of La Salle,
Allouez, Marquette, Joliet, Meynard, and other kindred
spirits, whose energy and untiring- efforts to convert to
their religious creed the various tribes of the Native Ameri
cans, and to successfully and permanently secure all their
territories for the French, has no parallel in the annals of
the world's history. Quebec soon became the great and
frequented mart of trade between the French and the
Indians, to which the various tribes came from far and near
in their canoes laden with the skins and furs of the
various wild animals that roamed in countless numbers
over the vast forests of those primitive days, to
see the pale-face strangers, and to exchange their furs
and skins for the new and strange articles that seemed
so greatly to excel their own comforts of life, and especially
the white man's wonderful gun, which they had quickly
learned far surpassed their bows and Arrows in killing game
and in destroying their enemies.
In 1679, James Marquette, a French Jesuit, and Louis
Joliet, a French Canadian merchant, entered the Mississippi
river by way of the Wisconsin in two birch-bark canoes;
thence down the Mississippi to a point below the mouth of
the Arkansas. In 1682, Robert de Lasalle, a French Cana
dian officer, entered the Mississippi from the Illinois river,
thence up to its source, thence down to its mouth, and gave
the name Louisiana to that vast territory in honor of Louis
XIV, king of France. In 1683, Kaskaskia, in the no'w state
of Illinois, was founded by the French ; in 1701,
Detroit, in Michigan ; in 1705, Vincennes, in Indi
ana. In 1699, the French, under the command of Le-
moyne de Iberville, also a French Canadian, founded Biloxi,
in Mississippi, which was named after a clan of the ancient
Choctaws called Bulohchi (Hickory Bar), of whom I have al
ready spoken. New Orleans was founded by the French
under Bienville, in 1718. Fort Rosalie among the Natchez
Indians, which was destroyed by them in 1729, who had be-
60 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
come exasperated by the oppressions of the French, of whom
I will again more pa, >ularly speak. In 1722, Bienville also
founded Mobile, in Alabama. A chain of forts was then
built by the French between Montreal and New Orleans ;
the most important of which were, the one at Detroit, erect
ed in 1701 ; the one at Niagara, 1726 ; and one at Crown
Point, in 1730. However, De Monts, a French Huguenot,
established the first permanent French settlement upon the
continent, at Port Royal (now Annapolis) in Nova Scotia, call
ing the territory Acadia.
February 10th, 1763, witnessed the total subversion of
French power in North America by the English, at which
time peace was made between the belligerents, England,
France and Spain, by which the North American continent
<ind-its native inhabitants were handed over to England.
Reader contemplate the following, which is only one of
thousands. In the "California Illustrated," a book written
in 1849, the Author, on page 111, says: "In passing through
a slight gorge, I came upon the bodies of three Indians who
had been dead apparently about two days, each bearing the
mark of the unerring rifle; two of them were shot through
the head; the sight was a sad one, and gave rise to melan
choly reflections, for here these poor beings are hunted and
shot down like wild beasts, and they no doubt fell by the
hand of the assassin, not for lucre but to satiate a feeling of
hate." "In an adjoining territory the Red Man had a quiet
home; there he was always supplied with venison, their corn
fields ripened in autumn, their rude1 trap furnished clothing
for the winter, and in the spring they danced in praise of
the Great Spirit for causing flowers to bloom upon the graves
of their fathers, but the white stranger came and took
possession of their hunting grounds and streams, and har-«
vested their corn. They held a council and decided that the
Great Spirit had sent the white stranger, and it would be
wrong not to give him all he wished; they collected their
traps, bows and arrows, and prepared to fall back in search
of new streams and hunting grounds; they paid the last visit
to the graves of their fathers. What were their -feelings?
The moon threw a pale, dim light through the foliage, the
air breathed a mournful sigh as they reached the lonely
mound; the stout hearted warrior drew his blanket to hide
his tears as he bowed down to commune for the last time
with the spirits that had so often blessed him in the chase;
his heart was too full, and he fell upon his face and wept
bitterly. But a last adieu; they rise, cross the arrows over
the grave, walk mournfully away; the Great Spirit give them
a new hunting ground, and the corn ripens on the plain, but
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 61
soon the white stranger comes and tells them to fall back.
They are at the base of the mountain; there are no hunting-
grounds beyond; they hold a council and deci.de to defend
their homes against further encroachments of the white
stranger. The white was strong aiid drove the Red Man
into the mountains, and for the crime of having tried to de
fend their homes and families, they are placed under a ban,
and hunted down like beasts. No matter where they are
found the crime of being a Red Man is a forfeiture, not only
of all right to prosperty but to life itself.
"Will not some philanthropist rise above sectional -preju
dices and undertake the regeneration of this truly noble but
down-trodden people? Had I the wealth of an Astor I would
not wish a better or nobler field for immortality." Will not
the philanthropists of these United States "rise above sec
tional prejudices, and undertake the regeneration of these
truly" infamous, God-forsaken, white scoundrels, that so
curse our land? "I would not wish a better or nobler field
for immortality."
"The first man I met after my arrival in the interior
was an Oregonian on horseback, armed with a revolving rifle
in search of Indians. He had had a horse stolen, and pre
sumed it was taken by an Indian ;he swore he would shoot the
first red skin he met;' and I had no reason .to doubt his
word ; still the chances were ninety-nine out of a hundred,
that the horse was stolen by a white man, and the charges of
the white man upon the Indians are like Nero's setting Rome
on fire and charging it upon Christians. I have no doubt the
three Indians above spoken of were wantonly shot while
walking peacefully along their trail." But alas ! who would
undertake the task of regenerating the harpies that are, at
the present day, pursuing the Indians, and howling at their
heels.
Eugene V. Smalley, in his travels, says: "Near the
town (Benton) we visited the camp of a dozen lodges of Pie-
gan Indians, who had come to stay all winter for the sake of
such subsistence as they could get from the garbage barrels
of the citizens. A race of valorous hunters and warriors has
fallen so low as to be forced to beg at back doors for kitchen
refuse. In one of the tepees in the Piegan camp there was
an affecting scene. A young squaw lay on a pile of robes
and blankets, hopelessly ill and given up to die. In the lines
of her face and the Expression of her great black eyes there
were traces of beauty and refinement not often seen in Indian
women. Crouched on the ground by her side sat her father,
an old' blind man with long white hair and a strong, firm face
clouded with an expression of stolid grief. The Piegans
62 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
and Blackfeet, who possess the great reservation north and
east of Fort Benton, have suffered grievously for want 'of
food, and hundreds have died from scrofula and otherdiseas-
es induced by insufficient nourishment. In fact the
government has kept them in a state of semi-starva
tion. Father Palladini told me that the speeches of
Indian chiefs at the council, where they told of their
suffering of their tribes and bared their emaciated arms
and breasts to show what a condition they had been brought
by hunger, were thrilling bursts of Indian oratory, even af
fecting listeners who could not, as he did, understand the
spoken words." What a picture is here represented of our
policy toward the Indians ! What an illustration of the de
signs of that arch dissembler, the author of the "Severalty
Bill," whose venal soul plunders a helpless people of the
homes and little all through wilful misrepresentation and
brazen-faced falsehood. What a true elucidation of the so-
called "Indian Problem" which our congress has so long
held up in imaginary suspension in mid air as a kind of Mo
hamet's coffin !
The ancient traditional history of the Choctaws and Chick-
asaws, (the former signifying Separation and the latter Re
bellion — separation and rebellion from the Muskogees, now
known as Creeks, who, according to tradition, were once of
one tribe before their migration from some distant country-
far to the west, totheir ancient domain east of the Mississippi
river, which is of more than dubious authority) claims for
them a Mexican origin, and a migration from that country at
some remote period in the past, under the leadership of two
brothers, respectively named Chahtah aud Chikasah, both
noted and influential chiefs, to their possessions east of the
Mississippi. Adair, in his "American Indians," says:
•'The Choctaws and Chickasaws descended from a people
called Chickemacaws, who were among the first inhabitants
of the Mexican empire ; and at an ancient period wandered
east, with a tribe of Indians called Choccomaws ; and finally
crossed the Mississippi river, with a force of ten thousand
warriors." It is reasonable to suppose that the name
Choctaw has its derivation from Choccomaw, and Chickasaw,
from Chickemacaw (both corrupted) ; as they claim, and no
doubt justly, the names Choctaw and Chickasaw to be their
ancient and true names.
Their tradition, in regard to their origin as related by
the aged Choctaws to the missionaries in 1820, was in sub
stance as follows: In a remote period of the past their an
cestors dwelt in a country far distant toward the setting
sun1; and being conquered and greatly oppressed by a more
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. . • 63
powerful people (the Spaniards under Cortez) resolved to
seek a country far removed from the possibility of their op
pression.
A great national council was called, to which the entire
nation in one vast concourse- quickly responded. After
many days spent in grave deliberations upon the question in
Avhich so much was involved, a day was finally agreed upon
and a place of rendezvous duly appointed whence they should
bid a final adieu to their old homes and country and take up
their4ine of march to seek others, they knew not where.
When the appointed day arrived it found them at the desig
nated place fully prepared and ready for the exodus under
the chosen leadership of two brothers, Chahtah and Chika-
sah, both equally renowned for /their bravery and skill in
war and their wisdom and prudence in council ; who, as
Moses and Aaron led the Jews in their exodus from Egypt,
were to lead them from a land of oppression to one of peace,
prosperity and happiness. The evening before their de
parture a "Fabussa" (pole, pro. as Fa-bus-sah) was firmly
set up in the ground at the centre point of their encamp
ment, by direction of their chief medicine man and prophet,
whose wisdom in matters pertaining to things supernatural
was unquestioned and to whom, after many days fasting and
supplication, the Great Spirit had revealed that the Fabussa
would indicate on the following morning, the direction they
should march by its leaning ; and, as the star led the Magi
to where the world's infant Redeemer and Savior sweetly re
posed, so the leaning of the pole, on each' returning morn,
would indicate the direction they must travel day by day un
til they reached the sought and desired haven; when, on the
following morn, it would there and then remain as erect as
it had been placed the evening before. At the early dawn of
the following morn many solicitous eyes were turned to the
silent but prophetic Fabussa, Lo! It leaned to the east.
Enough. Without hesitation or delay the mighty host began
its line of march toward the rising sun, and followed each
day the morning directions given by the talismanic pole,
which was borne by day at the head of the moving multi
tude, and set up at each returning evening in the centre of
the encampment, alternately by the two renowned chiefs-aiid
brothers, Chahtah and Chikasah. For weeks and months
they journeyed toward the east as directed by the undeviat-
ing fabussa, passing over wide extended plains and through
forests vast and abounding with game of many varieties
seemingly undisturbed before by the presence of man, from
which their skillful hunters bountifully supplied their daily
wants. Gladly would they have accepted, as their future
64 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
asylum, many parts of the country /through which they
traveled, but were forbidden, as each returning1 morn the un
relenting- pole still gave its silent but comprehended com
mand: "Eastward and onward." After many months of
wearisome travel, suddenly a vast body of flowing1 water
stretched its mighty arm athwart their path. With un
feigned astonishment they gathered in groups upon its banks
and gazed upon its turbid waters. Never before had they
even heard of, or in all their wanderings stumbled upon
aught like this. Whence its origin? Where its terminus?
This is surely the Great Father the true source of all waters,
whose age is wrapt in the silence of the unknown past, ages
beyond all calculation, and as they then and there named it
"Misha Sipokni" (Beyond Age, whose source and terminus'
are unknown).
Surely a more appropriate, beautiful and romantic name,
than its usurper Mississippi, without any signification. But
who can tell when the waters of Misha Sipokni first
found their way from the little Itasca lake hidden in its
northern home, to the far away gulf amid the tropics of the
•south? Who when those ancient Choctaws stood upon its
banks and listened to its murmurings which alone disturbed
the silence of the vast wilderness that stretched away on
every side, could tell of its origin and over what mighty dis
tances it rolled its muddy waters to their ultimate , destiny?
And who today would presume to know or even conjecture,
through what mysterious depths its surging currents strug
gle ere they plunge into the southern gulf? But what now
says their dumb talisman? Is Misha Sipokni to be the
terminus of their toils? Are the illimitable forests that so
lovingly embraced in their wide extended arms its restless
waters to be their future homes? Not so. Silent and motion
less, still as ever before, it bows to the east and its mandate
"Onward, beyond Misha Sipokni" is accepted without a
murmur; and at once they proceed to construct canoes and
rafts by which, in a few weeks, all were safely landed upon
its eastern banks, whence again was resumed their eastward
march, and so continued until they stood upon the western
banks of the Yazoo river and once more encamped for the
night; and, as had been done for* many months before, ere
evening began to unfold her curtains and twilight had
spread o'er all her mystic light, the Fabussa (now truly
their Delphian oracle) was set up; but ere the morrow's sun
had plainly lit up the eastern horizon, many anxiously watch
ing eyes that early rested upon its straight, slender, silent
fo.rm, observed it stood erect as when set up the evening be
fore. And then was borne upon that morning breeze
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 65
throughout the vast sleeping- encampment, the joyful accla
mation, "Fohah hupishno Yak! Fohah hupishno Yak! (pro.
as Fo-hah, Rest, hup-ish-noh, we, all of us, Yak, here.)
Now their weary pilgrimage was ended, and flattering-
hope portrayed their future destiny in the bright colors of
peace, prosperity and happiness. Then, as commemorative
of this great event in their national history, they threw up a
large mound embracing three acres of land and rising
forty feet in a conical form, with a deep hole about ten feet
in diameter excavated on the top, and all enclosed by a ditch
encompassing nearly twenty acres. After its completion, it
was discovered not to be erect but a little leaning, and they
named it Nunih (mountain or mound, Waiyah, leaning, pro. as
Nunih Wai-yah). This relic of the remote past still stands half
buried in the accumulated rubbish of years unknown, dis
figured also by the desecrating touch of time which has
plainly left his* finger marks of decay .upon it blotting out
its history, with all others of its kind, those memorials of
ages past erected by the true Native American, about which
so much has been said in conjecture and so much written in
speculation, that all now naturally turn to anything from
their modern conjectures and speculations with much doubt
and great misgivings.
Several years afterward, according to the tradition of
the Choctaws as narrated to the missionaries, the two
brothers, still acting in the capacity of chiefs, 'disagreed
in regard to some national question, and, as Abraham sugr
gested to Lot the propriety of a separation, so did Chikasah
propose to Chahtah; but not with that unselfishness that
Abraham manifested to Lot; since Chikasah, instead of
giving to Chahtah the choice of directions, proposed that
they should leave it to a game of chance, to which Chahtah
readily acquiesced. Thus it was played: They stood fac-^
ing each other, one to the east and the other to the west,
holding a straight pole, ten or fifteen feet in length, in an
erect position between them with one end resting on the
ground; and both were to let go of the pole at "the same
instant by a pre-arranged signal, and the direction in which
it fell was to decide the direction in which Chikasah was to
take. If it fell to the north, Chikasah and his adherents
were to occupy the northern portion of the country, and
Chahtah and his adherents, the southern; but if it felfto the
south, then Chikasah, with his followers, was to possess
the southern portion of the country, and Chahtah with his,
the northern. The game was played, and the pole decreed
that Chikasah should- take the northern partv of their then
vast and magnificent territory. Thus they were divided
66 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
(
and became two separate and distinct tribes, each of whom
assumed and ever afterwards retained the name of their
respective chiefs, Chahtah and Chikasah. The ancient
traditions of the Cherokees, as well as the ancient traditions
of the Muscogees (Creeks) and the Natchez also point back
to Mexico as the country from which they, in a period long-
past, moved to their ancient possessions east of the Missis
sippi river. But whether they preceded the Choctaws
and Chickasaws or came after, their traditions are silent.
Milfort, (p. 269) says : Big- Warrior, chief of the Chero
kees, as late as 1822, not only confirms their tradition that
Mexico was their native country, but goes back to a more
remote period for their origin and claims that his ancestors
came from Asia; crossing Behring Straits in their canoes;
thence down the Pacific coast to Mexico; thence to the coun
try east of the Mississippi river, where they were first
known to the Europeans.
Mr. Gaiues, United States agent to the Choctaws in 1810,
asked Apushamatahaubi (pro. Ar-push-ah-ma-tar-hah ub-ih),
the most renowned chief of the Choctaws since their acquain
tance with the white race, concerning- the origin of his peo
ple, who replied: "A hattaktikba bushi-aioktulla hosh hopaki
fi/una moma ka minti" (pro. as Arn (my) hut-tark-tik-ba
(forefather) hush-ih, -ai-o-kah-tullah (the west) mo-mah (all)
meen-tih (came) ho-par-kih (far) feh-nah (very)). And the
same response was always given by all the ancient Choctaws
living- east of the Mississippi river, when the inquiry was
made of them, whence their origin? By this they only re
ferred to the country in which their forefathers long dwelt
prior to their exodus to the east of the Mississippi river; as
they also had a tradition that their forefathers come from a
country beyond the "Big Waters" far to the northwest,
crossing a large body of water in their canoes of a day's
travel, thence doyvn the Pacific coast to Mexico, the same as
the Cherokees. In conversation with an aged Choctaw in
the year 1884, (Robert Nail, along known friend,) upon the
subject, he confirmed the tradition by stating that his peo
ple first came from Asia by way of the Behring Straits. He
was, a man well versed in geography, being taught in boy
hood by the missionaries prior to their removal from their
eastern homes to their present abode north of Texas. The
Muscogees, Shawnees, Delawares, Chippeways, and other
tribes also have the same traditions pointing beyond Behring
Straits to Asia as the land whence their forefathers came in
ages past. Some of their traditions state, that they crossed
the Strait on the ice^ the Chippeways for one ; but the most,
according to their traditions, crossed in their canoes. But
HISTOKY OF THE INDIANS. 67
that the ancestors of the North American Indians came at
some unknown period in the remote past, from Asia to the
North American continent, there can be no doubt. Their
traditions, pointing" back to ancient historical events, and
many other things, though vague by the mists of ages past,
yet interestingly strange from proximity to known historical
truths. Noah, who lived 350 years after the flood, which oc
curred 1656 years from the creation of man, or 2348 B. C.,
divided the earth, according to general opinion, among his
three sons. To Shem, he gave Asia; to Ham, Africa, and to
Japheth, Europe, whose posterity are described occupying
chiefly the western and northern regions (Gen. x, 2-5); this
well accords with the etymology of the name, which signifies
widely spreading ; and how wonderfully did Providence en
large the boundaries of Japheth! His posterity diverged
eastward and westward, from the original settlement in Ar
menia, through the whole extent of Asia north of the great
range of Taurus distinguished by the general namesof Tarta-
ry and Siberia as far as the Eastern Ocean: and, in process of
time, by an easy passage across Behring Straits, over the en
tire continent; and they spread in the opposite direction,
throughout the whole of Europe, to the Atlantic Ocean ; thus
literally encompassing the earth, within the precincts of
the northern temperate zone ; while the war-like genius of
this hardy hunter race frequently led them into the settle
ments, and to dwell in the "tents of Shem," whose pastoral
occupations rendered them more inactive, peaceable, and un-
war-like.
There is much proof in favor of the belief that the Choc-
taws, Chickasaws, Cherokees and Muscogees, were living in
Mexico when Cortez overthrew the Aztec dynasty.
But heavily has the hand of time, with its weight of
years, rested upon the descendants of the people over whom,
the two brothers, Chahtah and Chikasah swayed the
sceptre of authority as chiefs, counselors and warriors, in
the unknown ages of the past; and from the time of their
traditional migration to that of their first acquaintance with
the White Race, what their vicissitudes and mutations; wrhat
their joys and sorrows; what their hopes and fears; what
their lights and shadows, during the long night of historical
darkness, was known to them alone, and with them has long
been buried in the oblivion of the hidden past, together with
that of their entire race. Truly, their legends, their songs
and romances, celebrating their exploits, would form, if but
known, a literature of themselves; and though their ghosts
still ride through the forests and distant echoes o^ them are
still heard in vague tradition, yet they afford but a slender
68 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
basis for a history for this broad fabric of romance,' while
around them still cluster all those wonderful series of myths
which have spread over the land and assumed so many
shapes. But what a volume of surpassing- romance; of fon
dest hopes, of blighted aspirations; of glorious enthuiasms;
of dark despair, and of touching- pathos, would their full
history make? They owned this vast continent, and had
possessed it for ages exceeding- in time the ability of the
human mind to conceive; and they too speak of the long in
fancy of the human race; of its slow advance in culture; of
its triumphs over obstacles, and of the final appearance of
that better day, when ideas of truth, justice, and that ad
vanced stage of enlightenment had been reached wherein we
speak of man as civilized. They were of a cheerful and joy
ous disposition, and of a kindly nature, the croaking- and
.snarlings of ignorance and prejudice to the contrary not
withstanding. Their civilization has been ' grossly under
estimated. We have unjustly contemplated them to a ridicu
lous extent through our own selfish and narrow contracted
spectacles, and have so loudly talked of and expatiated upon
their forests, that we have forgotten their cornfields; and
repeatedly spoken of their skill as hunters, until we have
overlooked their labors as herdsmen; while, at the same time,
it has been customary every where to look down upon them
with emotions of contempt and to decry their habits and
customs. I do not deny the existence of blemishes in many
of their characteristics; nor deny that superstitions and
erroneous opinions were prevalent, at which we have assumed
to be greatly horrified; yet, do condemn the modern writers
for their want of judgment on this point, -?nd their unreason
able severity in their condemnation of the Indians, in whom
they profess to have discovered so many defects without a
redeeming- virtue; and their disregard of the truth, that, to
him alone who is without sin is given the right to cast the
first stone. Therefore, how could it be otherwise than that,
concerning- the dealings of the White Race with the Red,
there is a sad, fearful and revolting, story 'to be told; while
losing ourselves in the wild revelry of imagination, we dream
of the time when our civilization and Quixotic ideas of human
liberty shall embrace the entire world in its folds.
The Choctaws were first made known to the European
world by the journalists of that memorable adventurer.
Hernando De Soto, who invaded their territory October,
1540, and introduced the civilized (so-called) race of man
kind to the Choctaws in the following manner: A manly
young Indian of splendid, proportions, and with a face ex
tremely attractive and interesting, visited De Soto after he
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 69
had left Tallase. He was the son of Tuscaloosa (corruption
of the Choctaw words Tushka, warrior, Lusa, black), a re
nowned chief whose territories extended to the distant
Tombigbee in the west. (Tombigbee is a corruption of the
Choctaw words Itombi, box, ikbi, maker), a name given to a
white man, it is said, who, at an early day, settled on the
banks of the river and made boxes for the Choctaws, in
which were placed the bones of their dead, which will be par
ticularly noticed elsewhere.
The young warrior bore an invitation from his father
to De Soto to visit him at his capital. The next da.y De Soto,
advancing to. within six miles of where the great chief await
ed him, made a halt, and sent Louis de Mascosso with' fifteen
horsemen to inform Tush ka Lusa of his near approach.
Mascosso and his troopers soon appeared before Tush ka
Lusa, who was seated upon an eminence commanding a
broad and delightful view. He was a man of powerful stat
ure, muscular limbs, yet of admirable proportions, with a
countenance grave and severe, yet handsome. When De
Soto arrived Tush ka Lusa arose and advanced to meet him
with a proud and haughty air, and said : ''Great Chief ; I re
ceive you as a brother, and welcome you to my country. I am
ready to comply with your requests." After a few prelimi
naries, in company with Tush ka Lusa and his followers, De
Soto took up his line of inarch for Mobila the capital of the
mighty chief. (Mobila is a corruption of the two Choctaw
words moma, all, binah, a lodge, literally a lodge or encamp
ment for all.)
.On the third day of their march from Piache, (a corrup
tion of the Choctaw word Pi-a-chih, to care for us), they
passed through many populous towns, well stored with corn,
beans and other provisions. On the fourth morning, De
Soto, with a, hundred cavalry and as many infantry, made a
forced march with Tush ka Lusa in the direction of Mobila,
leaving Mascosso to bring up the rear. At eight o'clock the
same morning, October 18th, 1540, De Soto and Tush ka
Lusa reached the capital. It stood by the side of a large
river, upon a beautiful plain, and consisted of eighty hand
some houses, each large enough to contain a thousand men,
and all fronting a large public square. Dodge says in his
book styled "Our Wild Indians" that "The aboriginal in
habitants of the North American continent, have never at any
time exceeded half a million souls;" yet according to De
Soto's journalists who were with him in his memorable raid,
Mobila alone, "consisted of eighty handsome houses, each
large enough to contain a thousand men;" 'and if each house
contained Dodge's "several families consisting 6f men, with
70 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
two or three wives, and children of all ages and sexes, occu
py for all purposes one single lodge of 12 or 15 feet in
diameter what must have been the number of iiidabitants
in Mobila with "80 handsome houses, each large enough to
contain a thousand men" with two, three, or more wives,
and children occupying "for all purposes," a space only "12
or 15 feet, in diameter"? The reader can make the calcula
tion at his own leisure ; though it seems Mobila alone con
tained over half the number of souls that Dodge allows for
the entire continent, "at one time."
A high wrall surrounded the town, made of immense
trunks of trees set close together and deep in the ground,
and made strong with heavy cross timbers interwoven"with
large vines. A thick mud plaster, resembling handsome
masonry, concealed the wood work, while port-holes were
abundant, together with towers, capable of holding eight
men each, at the distance of fifteen paces apart. There
were two gates leading into the town, one on the east, the
other on the west. De Soto and Tush ka Lusa were es
corted into the great public square with songs and chants,
and the dancing of beautiful Indian girls. They alighted
from their horses, and' were given seats under a canopy of
state. Having remained seated for a short time, Tush ka
Lusa now requested that he should no longer be held as a
hostage ; to which De Soto giving no heed, the indignant
chief at once arose and walked off with an independent atti
tude to where a group of his warriors stood. De Soto had
scarcely recovered from his surprise at the independent con
duct of Tush ka Lusa, when Jean Ortez followed the chief
and stated that breakfast awaited him at De Soto's table ;
but he refused to return, and added, "If your chief knows
what is best for him, he will immediately take his troops out
of my territory." At this juncture De Soto secretly sent word
to his men to be prepared for an attack. Then, hoping to
prevent an attack until he could again get in possession of
the chief, De Soto advanced toward him with assumed smiles
and words of friendship, but Tush ka Lusa scornfully
turned his back upon him, and was soon hidden among the
multitude of now highly excited warriors. Justthen a warrior
rushed out of a house, 'denouncing the Spaniards as robbers
and murderers and declared that they should no longer impose
on their chief, by holding him as a prisoner. His words so en
raged Baltaserde Gallagas, that he cut the warrior in twain with
one sweep of his broad sword. At the sight of their slain
warrior, the Choctaws, with their defiant war-whoop, at once
rushed upon De Soto and his men. De Soto, placing himself
at the head of his men, fighting and retreating,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 71
slowly made his way out of the town into the
plain; and continued to retreat until he had
reached a considerable distance upon the plain. In the
mean time the troopers rushed to secure their horses, which
had been tied outside of the walls. The Choctaws at once
knocked the chains from the hands and feet of the Indian
prisoners whom De Soto had brought with him, giving1 them
weapons bade them help destroy the perfidious strang'ers. In
the first rush the Choctaws killed five of the Spaniards, who
had been left outside of the walls, and were loudly exulting
over their seeming good fortune in dense masses before the
gate. At that moment, De Soto with his cavalry, closely
followed by his infantry, made a fearful charge upon the
disordered mass of the Choctaws, who were still on the out
side of the enclosures, and with a terrible slaughter drove
them back into the town. Immediately the Choctaws
rushed to the port-holes and towers, and hurled clouds of ar
rows and spears upon the Spaniards, and again drove them
from the walls. Seeing the Spaniards again retreat, again
/the Choctaws rushed through the gate and fearlessly attacked
the Spaniards fighting them hand to hand and face to face.
Three long hours did the battle rage, the Spaniards now re
treating, then the Choctaws. Like a spectre De Soto seemed
every where hewing down on the right and left, as if his
arm could never tire. vThat sword, which had been so often
stained with the blood of the South American, was now red
with that of the North American, a still braver race. Above
the mighty din was heard the voice of Tush ka Lusa en
couraging his warriors ; his tomahawk, wielded by his mus
cular arm, ascended and descended in rapid strokes, like a
meteor across a starry sky. But could the feeble bow and
1 arrow and the tomahawk avail against the huge lance and
broad-sword? What the unprotected body of the Choctaw
warrior against the steel clad body of the Spanish soldier?
At length the Choctaws were forced to make a permanent re
treat within the enclosure of their town, closing the gates
after them; and at the same time the Spaniards made a des
perate charge against the gates and walls, but were met
with showers of arrows and other missiles. But the infant
ry, protected by their bucklers, soon hewed the gates to
pieces with their battle-axes, and rushed into the town, while
the cavalry remained on the outside to cut to pieces all who
might attempt to escape. Then began a carnage too awful
to relate. The Choctaws fought in the streets, in the
square, from the house top, and walls ; and though the
ground was covered with their dead and dying relatives and
friends, still no living one entreated* for -quarter. Hotter
72 HISTORY OF THR INDIANS.
and hotter, and more bloody waxed the desperate conflict.
Often the Choctaws drove the Spaniards out of the town, but
to see them return again with demoniac fury. To such a
crisis had the battle now arrived, that there could be no idle
spectators ; and now were seen women and girls contending
side by side with the husbands, fathers and ^brothers^ and
fearlessly sharing in the dangers and in the indiscriminate
slaughter. At length the houses were setson fire, . and the
wind blew the smoke and flames in all directions adding hor
ror to the scene. The flames ascended in mighty volumes.
The din of strife began to grow fainter. The sun weut
down, seemingly to rejoice in withdrawing from the sicken
ing scene. Then all was hushed. Mobila was in ruins,
and her people slain. For nine long hours had the battle
raged. Eighty-two Spaniards were killed^ and forty-five
horses. But alas, the poor Choctaws, who participated in
the fight were nearly all slain.
Garcellasso asserts that eleven thousand were slain;
while the "Portuguese Gentleman" sets the number at twenty
five hundred within the town alone. Assuming a point be
tween the two, it is reasonable to conclude that six thousand
were killed in and outside of the town. Tushka Lusa
perished with his people. After the destruction of Mobila,
De Soto remained a few days upon the plains around the
smoking town ; sending out foraging parties, who found the
neighboring villages well stocked with provisions. In all
these foraging- excursions, females of great beauty were
captured, and added to those taken at the close of the battle.
On Sunday the. 18th of November, 1540, this monster and
his fiendish crew took their departure from the smouldering
ruins of Mobila, and its brave but murdered inhabitants; and
with the poor Mobila girls, at whose misfortunes humanity
weeps, resumed their westward march.''
Thus the Europeans introduced themselves to the Native
Americans nearly four centuries ago as a race of civilized and
Christian pe.ople, 'but proving themselves to be a race of
fiends utterly void of every principle of virtue known to man.
And thus the Native' American's introduced themselves to the
Europeans as a race unknown to civilization and Christianity,
yet proving themselves possessed of many virtues that adorn
man, together with a spirit of as true and noble patriotism,
martyrs upon the. altar of liberty, that has never been sur
passed .
I challenge history to show a nation whose people ever
displayed a more heroic courage in defense of their country
and homes than did Tushka Lusa and his brave people in
defending their town Mama-binah. They exposed their
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 73
naked breasts to the keen lances and swords of those iron-clad
Spaniards with but stone and bone-tipped spears and the
feeble bow and arrow, which were but as toy pistols against
the deadly Winchester rifle of the present day; and heroic
ally stood face to face with their terrible foes with their frail
weapons and disputed every inch of ground, and yielded
only when none was left to fight. That they should have
killed eighty two of the Spaniards with their feeble weapons
is truly astonishing, proving conclusively that had they been
on equal footing with the Spaniards, not a Spaniard would
have survived to tell the tale of their complete destruction.
That the Mobiliaiis,as they have been called by the early
writers, were a clan of the ancient Choctaws there can be no
doubt whatever The early French colonists established in
the south under Bienville called the Choctaws, Mobilians
and Pafalaahs (corruption of the Choctaw words pin, our,
okla, people, falaiah, tall), and also called the Chickasaws
Mobilians; they also state that the Choctaws, Pifalaiahs or
more properly, Hottak falaiahs (long or tall men) and Mobi
lians spoke the same language. The present city of Mobile
in Alabama was named after the Mobila "Iksa," or clan of
Choctaws by Bienville at the time he laid its foundation.
Moma binah, or Mobinah (from which Mobile is derived) and
Pifalaiah are pure Choctaw words. According to the ancient
traditions of the Choctaws, and to which the ag*ed Choctaws
now living still affirm, their people were, in the days of the
long past, divided into two great Iksas ; one was Hattak i ho-
lihtah (Pro. har-tark, men, i, their holihta, ho-lik-tah,
fenced ; i, e. Their men fortify). The other, Kashapa okla
{as Ka-shar-pau-oke-lah): Part people, i. e. A divided people.
The two original clans, subsequently divided into six clans,
were named as follows : Haiyip tuk lo hosh, (The two
lakes.) Hattak falaiah (as, Har-tark fa-lai-yah hosh. The
long man or men. Okla huniiali hosh (as Oke-lah huri-nar-
lih hosh. People six the. Kusha (Koon-shah) Being broken.
Apela, (A help.) Chik a sah ha, (A Chckasaw.)
In 1721, a remnant of the Mobilians were living at the
junction of the, Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, but finally
united with other clans of the Choctaws, their own people,
and thus became extinct as an iksa. The laws of the great
Iksas or families, Hattak i holahta and kash ap a okla, for
bade the marriage of: any person, either male or female,
belonging to the same clan; which, as the laws of the Medes
and Persians, were unchangeable ; and to this day, the same
laws relating to marriage are strictly observed.
From the destruction of Mobila by De Soto, a long, star
less night of nearly two centuries throws its impenetrable
74 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
veil over the Choctaws shrouding- their history in the oblivion
of the past. But that they, with other southern tribes, were
a numerous and also an agricultural people as far back as
the fifteenth century there is no doubt ; though agricultural
to a small extent in comparison with the whites; yet to a
sufficient degree to satisfy the demands of any people to
who avarice was an entire stranger, and who adhered to the
maxim "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
When De Soto passed through Georgia, his route was
lined with towns, villages and hamlets, and many sown fields
which reached from one to the other. The numerous log-
pens were full of corn, while acres of that which was grow
ing bent to the warm rays of the sun and rustled in the
.breeze. "On the 18th of September, 1540, De Soto reached the
town of Tallase, a corruption of the Choctaw words Tuli,
rock, and aisha, abound, i. e. the place of rocks."
It stood upon a point of land almost surrounded by a
main river. Extensive fields of corn reached up and down
the banks. On the opposite side were other towns, skirted
with rich fields laden with heavy ears of corn. On the
third day the of march from Piache, they passed through
many populous towns, well stored with corn, beans, pump
kins, and other provisions."
But the six great southern tribes, Choctaws, Chickasaws,
Cherokees, Muscogees, Seminoles and Natchez possessed
too grand a country not to attract the eyes of the fortune
hunters of all Europe, and excite their cupidity to the high
est degree; therefore, the French in Lousiana, the Span
iards in Florida, and the English in Virginia and the Caro-
linas, early sought to establish a foothold in the territories
of those warlike and independent tribes by securing, each
for himself, their trade, with a view of ultimately conquering
them and thus getting possession of their territories and
country. As early as 1670 the English traders and emissa
ries had also found their way to the Choctaws, Chickasaws
and Muscogees; and but few years had passed before their
designs, together with those of the French and Spaniards,
were plainly manifested.
By each exciting the Indians and influencing them to
drive the others from their territories; each hoping thus to
ultimately secure these regions for their own country and
their personal interests. As the French had artfully gained
and held the friendship and confidence of the Choctaws, so
had the English secured and held that of the Chickasaws;
hence those two brave, and then powerful tribes, were in
duced to. make frequent wars upon each other, , and thus
each foolishly but ignorantly furthering the designs of their
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 75
mutual foes against themselves, the Choctaws weakening and
destroying the Chickasaws for the benefit of the French,
alone, and the Chickasaws for the benefit alone of the Eng
lish; neither caring a fig for either the Choctaw^ or Chicka
saws, 'only so far as prosecuting their designs the one against
the otheV; each with the hope of driving the other out
of the country, and then, being enabled easily to subjugate
the Indians by their weakened condition, they would soon
secure their country; therefore, the more Indians killed, no
matter by whom or by what means, the better. Thus were
the grasping hands of the two unscrupulous rivals mani
fested as long as they possessed any power or authority upon
the North American continent now forming the United
States.
In 1696, Bienville convened the chiefs of the Choctaws
and Chickasaws in council, that he might conciliate their good
will by presents; and, with a view of impressing them with
his power and greatness by an imposing display, he also
called together all the colonists within his reach; but his effort
to impress the Choctaws and Chickasaws with an idea of his
greatness proved more humiliating than flattering to the
pride of Bienville, as they manifested to him their utter con
tempt of such a farcical evidence of power and greatness, by
propounding- a question to him, through one of- their chiefs,
which was a humiliating proof of the low estimation in which
they held him as well as the entire French people; it was, "If
his people at home were as numerous as those who had set-'
tied in their country"? In reply, Bienville, who had learned
to speak their language to some extent, attempted to describe
to them by various comparisons the great numbers and
power of the French. But still the chiefs proved not only to
be douhting Thomases, but wholy established in the belief
that all he had said was false, by finally propounding the
following questions: "If your countrymen are as thick, as you
say, on their native soil as the leaves on the trees of our
forests, why have they not sent more of their warriors here
to avenge the death of those whom we have slain in battle?
When they have the power to avenge their death and then fail
do so, is an evidence of great cowardice or a mean spirit.
And why is it that the places of the strong and brave soldiers
that first came with you, but now dead, are filled by so many
little, weak and bad looking men, and even boys? If your
nation is so great and your people so numerous, they would
not thus act, and we believe that our white brother talks with
a forked tongue." Thus was Bienville fully convinced that
the Choctaws and Chickasaws did not tremble through fear
of his boasted power; and that, they also well knew that he
76 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
only had about, fifty soldiers at his command, and that his
attempted display of power had but convinced them of his
weakness. And had the ChOctaws and Chickasaws been so
disposed, they could, with a little handful of their warriors,
have wiped out the French colony, Bienville, soldiers and all.
In 1702, Bienville, then commander of the French at Mo
bile, secretly sent out a small party to the Choctaws and
ChickasawTs to solicit their friendship, and thus secure their
trade. A few chiefs returned with the party to Mobile,
whom Bienville welcomed and entertained with affected
friendship and assumed hopitality, bestowing" presents and
soliciting" their friendship; yet, "In January, 1704," says
Barnard de la Harpe, pp. 35, 83, "Bienville induced several
war parties of the Choctaws to invade the country of the In
dian allies of the English, and having" taken several scalps,
they broug-ht them to Bienville, who rewarded them satisfac
torily;" thus involving" the Choctaws, whose interests he' pro
fessed to have so much at heart, in destructive warfare so
greatly detrimental to their national interests; and proving
the shallowness of his professed friendship for the Indians
and the perfidy of his nature, in a letter to the French min
ister, October 12. 1708, in which he suggested the propriety
of the French colonists in North America, being" allowred the
privilege offending Indians to the West India Islands to be
exchanged as slaves for negroes, and asserting that "those
Islanders would give t\vo negroes for three Indians."
There was a tradition of the Choctaws related to the
missionaries over seventy-five years ago by the old warriors
of the Choctaws of that day, who for many years before had
retired from the hardships of the war-path, which stated
that a two years' war broke out between their nation and
the Chickasaws, over a hundred years before (about 1705)
the advent of the missionaries among them, resulting in the
loss of many warriors on both sides and finally ending in the
defeat of the Chickasaws ; whereupon peace was restored to
the mutual gratification of both nations wearied with the
long fratricidal strife. This war had its origin as the tra
dition affirms, in an unfortunate affair that occurred in Mo
bile, (then a little French trading post) between a party of
Chickasaw warriors (about seventy) who had gone there
for the purpose of trade, and a small band of Choctaws who
had preceded them on the same business. While three to
gether, a quarrel arose between some of the different war
riors resulting in a general fight, in which, though several
Chickasaws were killed and wounded, the entire little band of
Choctaws was slain as was supposed; but unfortunately for
the Chickasaws a Choctaw happening to be in another part 'of
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 77
the town at the time of the difficulty, escaped ; and learning
at once of the killing1 of his comrades, fled for home, where
arriving- safely he informed his people of the bloody tragedy
at Mobile. Without delay the Choctaws adopted measures
of revenge. Knowing that the company of Chickasaws
would have to return home 'through their country, they laid
their plans accordingly. The Chickasaws, not without fears,
however, lest the Choctaws might have heard of the unfor
tunate affair, secured an escort from Bienville of twenty-five
Canadians under the command of Boisbriant. As they ap
proached a village, the Choctaws sent a small company to
invite' and escort them to a council pretenvedly to be in
session ; which the Chickasaws, feeling- safe under their
escort, accepted. They were escorted to the sham council,
and were given, as was customary on such occasions, the
inside circles, all seated on the ground; while the Choctaws
formed a circle completely hemming- them in. A Choctaw
chief then arose and advanced with g*reat solemnity and dig-
nity to thecspeaker's place in the centre, with a tomahawk
concealed under his dress, wrhich, when he drew from its
place of concealment, was the signal for the work of death
to begin. The speaker went on for a few minutes in a
strain of wild eloquence, but saying nothing that would
awaken the least suspicion in the minds of his still unsus
pecting guests; when suddenly he snatched the fatal toma
hawk from its concealment and in an instant hundreds of
tomahawks, heretofore concealed, gleamed a moment in the
air and then descended upon the heads of the doomed Chicka
saws, and, ere they had time for a second thought, all were
slain. The Choctaws knowing that the Chickasaws would
hear of the destruction of their brethren and would retaliate
upon them, rushed at once jnto their country and destroyed
several villages ere the Chickasaws could recover from their
surprise. But the brave and dauntless Chickasaws, ever equal
to any and all emergencies, soon rallied from their discom
fiture, and presented a bold and defiant front. Then com-
'menced a two years' war of daring deeds and fatal results
between those two nations of fearless warriors, known and to
be known to them alone. The creek, dividing that portion
of their territories that lay contiguous t6 the place where
the band of Chickasaws were slain on their return from
Mobile, now in the northern part of Oktibbiha county, Mis
sissippi, and known as Line Creek, was named by the Choc
taws, after the two years' war, Nusih (sleep or slept, Chiah,
yau-yau slept, that is, you were taken by surprise) in
memorial of those two tragical events, the surprise and
destruction of the Chickasaw warriors, and the disquiet and
78 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
discomfiture of their nation at the unexpected attack upon
them by the Choctaws, Nusih Chia has been erroneously
interpreted by some as meaning- "Where acorns abound."
Nosi aiasha — means where acorns abound;
The killing" of this little band of Chickasaws under the
circumstances, together with that of being- under the escort
and protection of the French, caused the Chickasaws to be
lieve it was done throug-h the connivance of the French, and
ever afterwards they were the most inveterate and uncom
promising- enemies of the French, among- all the Indian
tribes, north and south, except the Iroquois, and in which,
as a matter of course, they were encouraged by the Carolina
traders from the English settlements.
That the southern Indians were friendly to their foreig-n
intruders and disposed to live in peace with them, and were
not such a bloodthirsty people as they have been repre
sented, is clearly demonstrated by the fact that, in 1810
there was such a scarcity of provisions, that Bienville had to
scatter his men among- the Indians in order to obtain food
for them, and so informed his g-overnment; a plan to which
he had been driven before; and had not the Indians pre
ferred peace to • war with the whites, they surely would have
embraced such favorable opportunities to destroy the un
welcome invader of their country.
In 1711, throug-h the machinations of the English, who
were ever ready to embrace every opportunity to enhance
their own interests, though at the destruction of the Indians',
the Choctaws "end Chickasaws, were ag-aiii involved in a
fratricidel war, at fye beginning of which, there was a little
company of thirty Chickasaw warriors instead of Choctaws,
in Mobile, and fearing- to return home throug-h the Choc taw
nation, they too earnestly requested Bienville to send a com
pany of his soldiers with them for protection. Bienville,
seeing- so favorable opportunity of winning- the friendship
of the Chickasaws, and hoping- thus to seduce them from
their alliance to the English to that of the French, cheerfully
complied to their request by sending- his brother, Cha-
teaug-ne, to escort them through the Choctaw nation, which
he safely did. But the cause and result of this war have
long- since paased with its participants into the silence Of the
unknown past.
Charles Gayarre (Vol. 1, p. 91) says: "In 1714 twelve
English men, with a large number of Muskog-ees, came
among- the Choctaws, and were kindly received by all the
towns except two, who fortified themselves and, while be-
seig-ed by the Muskogees, one night made their escape to
Mobile." From the above, it appears that the visit of the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. , 79
twelve Englishmen to the Choctaws was attributed to an in
vitation extended to them by a Choctaw chief; since in. the
following year, July 1715, Bienville sent messengers to the
Choctaws, demanding the head of Outoct-chito"(a corrup
tion of his true name, Oktak (oketark) (Prairie) Chitoh (Big
or Big Prairie)) "who had persuaded the English traders to
visit- their nation, and had thereby caused to be driven off
the inhabitants of two Choctaw towns, who were still in Mo
bile. The messengers returned to Mobile with the head of
the unfortunate Oktark Chitoh, which had been stricken off
by the Choctaw chiefs, who now were afraid of Bienville."
How different the Choctaws then from what they were
in 1696, when they closed their interrogatories to him with"
the bold assertion, "We believe our white brother talks with
a forked tongue." Alas! how rapidly had they fallen from a
state of perfect independence to that of servile dependence
within the period of three quarters of a century; the dupes
at first, only to become the abject slaves of a heartless tyrant.
Thus did the rivalry of France and England for the posses
sion of the North American continent, encouraged and em
boldened by their national jealousy and .innate hatred long
cherished each for the other, involve the deceived Indians in
continued war-fare with each other, as their respective
traders and emissaries throughout the length and breadth
of the Indian territories to contend for the patronage of the
Indians, and to drive each the other from thos positionse
where they had established themselves, ultimately to end in
ruin and destruction of the Indians. But the Choctaws,
though reduced to such servile extremities and seemingly
wholly under the arbitrary power of the French, were still
dreaded by many of the neighboring tribes, and even by the
English themselves.. As an illustration, in 1727, the English,
being at war with the Spaniards, used every means in their
power to influence the Indians to make war upon them, and
by their instigation a tribe, then known as Talapauches, had
laid seige to Pensacola (corrupted from the Chahtah words
Puska, bread, and Okla, people, Bread People, or people
having bread); but Pirier, who had succeeded Bienville in the
governorship at New Orleans, sent word to the Talapauches
(corrupted from the Choctaw words Tuli, rock or iron, and
Poo-shi, dust; and no doubt an ancient off-shoot of the Choc
taws) to return to their homes without delay, or he would
put the Choctaws after them; and they at once sought their
homes with much more alacrity than when they left them.
Such was the dread of the Choctaws and such the terror in
spired by their name alone.
In 1733, the Choctaws, as allies to the French, engaged
80 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
in a war with the Natchez, of which I will more particularly
notice in the history of that tribe.
On January 13th, 1733, the truly Christian philanthro
pist, Oglethorpe, with a hundred and twenty emigrants
landed at Charleston, South Carolina. , Afterwards sailing
down the coast, he anchored his vessel, "Anne," for a few
days at Beaufort, while he, with a small company ascended
the Savannah river to a high bluff on which the present city
of Savannah. Georgia, now stands, which he selected as the
place for the establishment of his little colony. And there,
February 1st, 1733, he laid the foundation of the oldest En
glish town south of the Savannah river. In a few days the
great chief of the Yemacaws, Tam-o-chi-chi, called upon the
strangers who had thus unceremoniously taken posession of
that portion of of his people's territories; and then and there
two congenial spirits, the one of European, the other of an
American, first met and- formed a friendship each for the
other that wras never broken; and at the departure of the
venerable old man, he presented to Oglethorpe a magnificent
buffalo robe upon the inside of which was painted with elabo
rate Indian skill, the head and feathers of an eagle, and said:
"Accept this little token of the good will of myself and peo
ple. See, the eagle is bold and fearless, yet his feathers are
soft; as the eagle, so are my people bold and fearless in war;
yet as his feathers, so are they soft and beautiful in friend
ship. The buffalo is strong, and his hair is warm; as the
buffalo, so are my people strong in war; yet, as his robe,
the}7 are warm in love. I and my people would be your
friends, beautiful in our friendship and warm in our love.
Let this robe be the emblem of friendship and love between
me and you, and mine and thine." Oglethorpe accepted the
present with its tokens; nor was the purity of those em
blems ever tarnished by a dishonorable act of Tomochichi
and his tribe or Oglethorpe and his colony, the one toward
the other.
It is evident that the Yamacaws were an ancient off
shoot of the Choctaws from the similarity of their language,
habits and customs. The very name of the tribe is plainly a
corruption of the Choctawr words yummakma (that one also)
Ka-sha-pah, (to be a part).
Also the name of their chief, Tamochichi, is also a cor
ruption by the whites of the Choctaw words, Tum-o-a-chi
(wandering away, from the Choctaws in the pre-historic oj
the past).
How well did the North American Indians read and
comprehend the symbolic language of Nature in all its dif
ferent phases ! What white man, whether illiterate or
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 81
boasting- the comprehensive genius of a United States Colonel
(Dodge) who was enabled to discover one race of God's
created intelligences (the North American Indians) to be
"absolutely without conscience," could have drawn such
grand sentiments from a buffalo robe and a bunch of eagle
feathers, since "the money that was in them" would have
absorbed every other consideration of his soul! Alas! that
"The love of money" should so engross every noble faculty
of our souls, that we could not, or would not, comprehend
those beautiful symbols found in nature, on earth and in
heaven, everywhere, and would not, or did not, heed them, as
they call with their ten thousand voices to jthe discharge of
our duty to the Indians and plead for the perfection of the
character of both the red and white race, as illustrated in
those grand sentiments of the no less grand old chief of the
Yummak ma kashapas. "I and my people would be your
friends, beautiful in our friendship and warm in our love!"
How sad ! how humiliating* the reflection that, during* four
centuries, the North American Indians have found no re
sponsive sentiment in the White Race, except in Penn and
his followers, Oglethorpe and his colony, the self-sacrificing*
missionaries and a few noble philanthropists, thoug-h the
same earnest and sincere plea was heard from the mouths
of every tribe, when first visited by the whites, echoing- from
the Atlantic's stormy shores in the east to the Pacific's rock-
bound coast in the distant west, "I and my people would be
your friends, beautiful in our friendship "and warm in our
love;" but only to fall upon the 'ear of our avarice as a tink
ling cymbal, since deaf to all else but the gratification of our
love of greedy gain, (that stranger to truth and justice, and
untouched by any emotion of humanity) which demanded
the extermination of the Indians, as the onlv guarantee to
sure possession of their country and homes ; and then called
for obloquy to cover their memory as an honorable justifica
tion for that extermination. And though Nature, every
where in all its phases from the finite to the infinite, and the
infinitesimal to the grand aggregate of knowledge, is full of
instruction, by which she would teach us our duty to God,
our fellow-men, and to ourselves, yet we heeded not the
symbolic whispers of her low, sweet plaintive voice pleading
in behalf of the Red Race; and in so doing, forfeited a privf-
lege that heaven's angels would have embraced with eager
ness and joy, for the gratification of our frenzied avarice.
On the 29th of May following, Oglethorre held a council
with the Muscogees at Savannah; for whom and all their
allies, Long Chief of the Ocona clan of Muscogees spoke
.and welcomed Oglethorpe and his tittle colony to their coun-
82 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
, try in the name of peace and friendship by presenting- to
him large bundles of the skins and furs of wild animals in
which their territories then abounded. And soon so great
and wide extended became the fame of Oglethorpe and 'his
followers as true and sincere friends to the Indian race, that
the chiefs of the Cherokees, from their distant mountain
homes, came to see and confer with Oglethorpe and his
colony, to them a prodigy, a white man and great chief and
yet a true man to his word pledged to an Indian. Naught like
this had been known since the days of Penn and his Quakers.
Was the bright morn of a glorious future about to dawn upon
their race dispelling the long night of darkness that had for
ages obscured their moral and intellectual vision? Was the
White Race truly to prove their benefactor, once so brightly
shadowed forth in the precepts and practice of the noble
Penn and his colony? Indeed it appeared as^the second
dawn of hope; but alas, only to nicker a moment as the feeble
and expiring taper, and then to go out to be seen no more, an
illusive dream even as the first had proven to be.
In August, 1739, a great council was convened at Coweta
in the Muscogee Nation by Oglethorpe, the Indians' undevi-
ating friend, in which the Muscogees, Choctaws, Chicka-
saws, Cherokees, Yummakmakashapahs and many others
were represented, and in peace and harmony equally par
ticipated. The faithful and honest old Tumoachi stood
among the most conspicuous of the various and distinguished
chiefs. Coweta was, at that time, one of the larg-e'st towns
of the Muscogee Nation, and many days' travel froin Savan
nah through the deep solitudes of a vast wilderness, un
trodden by the foot of a white man since the days of De Soto's
march, two hundred years before; but through which Ogle
thorpe and his little band of followers fearlessly and safely
traveled, to fulfill his engagement with the unknown Indians
there in council to assemble. When it was learned that he
had arrived near Coweta, a deputation of chiefs, representa
tives of the respective tribes assembled, met and escorted
him to the town with unfeigned manifestations of pride and
joy. The next day the council convened, and remained in
session several days, during which stipulations of peace
and friendship were ratified, and free trade and friendly
intercourse to all established, to the mutual satisfaction
and delight of both red and white; after which the Grand
Finale was performed, the solemn ceremonv of drinking the
"Black drink,'.' and smoking the Pipe of* Peace; in all of
vyhich the noble Oglethorpe participated, to the great de
light and satisfaction of the admiring Indians; then, after the
closing ceremony of bidding adieu, all to their respective
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 83
"homes returned delighted with the happy results of the coun
cil. Oglethorpe was ever afterwards held in grateful remem
brance, and loved and honored by all the southern Indians;
and was known everywhere as the Indians' friend, and
everywhere regarded and received as such with implicit
confidence. How so? Because he was never known to
wrong them in a single instance; therefore their admiration
.and confidence for and in him had no limits.
The morn of the southern Indians' Christian era, as
professed by the Protestant world, dawned, according to an
cient Choctaw tradition, at the advent of Oglethorpe to this,
continent and the establishment of his colony on the banks
•of the Savannah; and was heralded by the two brothers who
so justly rank among earth's illustrious modern great as
preachers of the Gospel of the Son of God; viz: John and
Charles Wesley, who came with Og'lethorpe in 1733, and ac
companied him to his councils with the Indians, and there
preached the glad tidings of "Peace and Good will toward
men." Shortly after, John Wesley influenced the renowned
preacher, George Whitfield, to also come to America. In a
letter to Whitfield, John Wesley thus wrote: "Do you ask
what you shall have? Food to eat, raiment to wear, a house
in which to lay your head such as your Lord had not, and a
crown of glory that fadeth not away." Upon the reception
of which, Whitiield said his heart echoed to the call, and to
which he at once responded; and upon the return of the
Wesleys to England, he says in his journal. "I must labor
most heartily since I came after such worthy predecessors."
In 1734, Tumoahchi, with his wife and son and seven
Muscogee warriors accompanied Oglethorpe to George II.
and before whom Tumoahchi made a speech in that shrewd
and captivating manner so characteristic of the North Ameri
can Indians; which so pleased the king that he caused the
American chief and warriors to be loaded with presents and
even sent him and his wife and son in one of the royal carria
ges to Grovesend when he embarked to.Yeturn to his native
forest home. Shortly after his return home, the noble old
chief was taken sick, ancl was at once visited by W^hitfield,
who says: "He now lay on a Blanket, thin and meager, little
else but skin and bones. Senanki, his wife, sat by fanning
him with Indian feathers. There was no one who could talk
English, so I could only shake hands with him and leave
him." In a few days after, Whitfield returned to -the couch
of the dying chief and was rejoiced to find Tooanoowe, a
nephew of Tumoahchi present, who could speak English.
"I requested him," says Whitfield, "to ask his uncle whether
he thought he should die? He answered' 'I cannot tell.' I
84 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
then asked where he thought he would go after death? He
replied, 'to heaven.' But, alas, how can drunkards enter-
there? I then exhorted Tooanoowe, who is a tall, proper
youth, not to get drunk, telling- him that he understood^Eng-
lish,'and therefore would be punished the more if he did not
live better. I then asked him whether he believed in a
heaven, 'yes,' said he. I then asked whether he believed in a
hell, and described it by pointing to the fire He replied, 'No.'
From whence we may easily gather how natural it is to all
man-kind to believe there is a place of happiness, because
they wish it to be so; and on the contrary, how averse they
are to believe in a place of torment because they wish it not to
be so." But if the poor, unlettered, yet, generous and noble
hearted Tumoahchi, who knew nothing of the sin of drunk-
eness, was unfit for heaven because "how can a drunkard
enter there"? How unfit must be he who made him such, by
making the whiskey, then taking it thousands of miles to the'
before temperate Indian and teaching him to drink it! and
how inconsistent with reason and common sense, and how
insulting to the God of -justice it must be, for us to call our
selves Christians and the Indians savages! And if Tooanoo
we "would be, punished the more if he did not live better,"
since "he understood English" a little, what will be the fate
of us whose native tongue in English, and who, with all our
boasted attainments, led, influenced and taught them to
adopt and practice, by precept and example, our "civilized"
vices, but seldom instructed them in the virtues of the reli
gion of the Bible! Does not the just and merciful Redeemer
of the world of man-kind regard with much less approbation
all external professions and appearances, than do thousands
of his professedjollowers found among our own White Race?
Did he not prefer the despised but charitable Samaritan to
the uncharitable but professed orthodox priest? And does
He not declare that^hose who gave food to the hungry, enter
tainment to the stranger, relief to the sick, and had charity
(all of which are to-day, and ever have been, from their
earliest known history, the noted characteristics of the
North American Indians, though they never heard of the
name of Jesus) shall in the last day be accepted? When
those who boisterously shout Lord! Lord, valuing themselves
upon, their profess-ed faith, though sufficient to perform
miracles, but have neglected good works shall be rejected.
And though we have scarcely permitted the Indians, though
starving and pleading for moral, intellectual and spiritual
food, to pick up the crumbs that fell from our tables loaded
with professed virtues, yet we have displayed a wonderful
talent in traducing them and manifest a strange desire that.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 85
they should be falsely handed down to posterity as
not" embraced in the Hat of Him who said "Let
creatures
us make
Never did a North American Indian acknowledge that
he recognized in the white man a master; nor was ever an
emotion of inferiority to the white man experienced- by an
Indian. Nearly four centuries of unceasing effort by the
White Race have utterly failed to make the Indian even feel,
much less acknowledge, the white man as master.
In 1741, Bienville was superseded by Marquis de Van-
dreuil, to whom the Chickasaws sent a delegation to New
Orleans to treat for peace. But Vandreuil refused to treat
unless the Choctaws, allies of the French, were made parties
to the treaty. The Chickasaws then made an effort to in
duce the Chocta'ws to form an alliance with them, supported
by the English, against the French. But their design was
discovered and thwarted by the secret intriguing of Van-
.dreuil with Shulush Hum ma, (Red Shoe), then a noted Choc-
taw chief and shrewd diplomatist, and belonging to the clan
called Okla Hunnali, (Six People and living in the present
Jasper county, Mississippi, who had been favorably disposed
toward the English for several years; and finally, in 1745,
through personal interest alone it was thought, he went over
to the English; and, at the same time, innuencing'a .chief of
the Mobelans (properly, Moma Binah, or Mobinah, a clan of
the ancient Choctaws) to do the same with his warriors, and
also some of the Muscogees, all of whom were, at that time,
allies of the French. Shortly after, Vandreuil went from
New Orleans to Mobile, and there met twelve hundred Choc-
taw warriors in council assembled, with whom he made re
newed pledges of friendship bestowing upon them many
presents of various kinds. But Shulush Humma stood "aloof
and refused to participate in anv of the proceedings; and to
place beyond all doubt the position he occupied, he, a few
weeks after, slew a French officer and two French traders,
who unfortunate ventured into his village.
Thus the Choctaws were divided into two factions; at
first peaceable, but which finally culminated into actual civil
war through the instigations and machinations of both the
French and English. And thus the Chickasaws and the
Choctaws, blinded to their own national interests, were led
to destroy each other, the one in behalf of the English and
the other of the French; while both the English and French
under an assumed friendship, used them as instruments
-alone to forward their own selfish designs and self-in
terests, though to the destruction of both the misguided
'Choctaws and Chickasaws. Truly misfortune seems to
86 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
have set her fatal seal upon the North American Indians, and'
doomed them to eternal misery while upon earth, in contend
ing- with the White Race for the right to live and enjoy life
with the rest of mankind. Unhappy race! What heart so-
lost to every emotion of sympathy but weeps at the re
hearsal of your woes!
In 1750, still infatuated with the belief that the White
Race sought their interests, the Choctaws still remained in
two hostile factions, thirty of their villages adhering- to the
French, and only two to the English, who, in a terrible bat
tle which ensued, had one hundred and thirty of their war
riors slain, and soon after, were ag-ain defeated by the
French, with a party of Choctaws, and compelled to sue for
peace, while the English stood aloof and left them to fight
alone ag-ainst fearful odds, thoug-h their accepted friends.
Three years after (1753), De Vandreuil was succeeded
by Kerleree, who, in one of his dispatches, thus spoke of the
Choctaws: "I am satisfied with them. They are true to
their plighted faith. But we must be the same in our trans
actions with them. They are men who reflect, and who
have more logic and precision in their reasoning than is. sup
posed."
How true it is, that the above assertion of Kerleree, in
regard to the Choctaws, may be as truthfully affirmed of the
entire North American Indian race. And~ had that truth
been admitted and acted upon by the-White Race in all their
dealings with the Red Race from first to last, the bloody
charges that to-day stand recorded against us in the volume
of truth would not have been written.
November 3rd, 1762, the -King ' of France ceded to the
King of Spain his entire possessions in North America
known under the name of Louisiana; and at which time, a
treaty of peace was signed between the Kings of Spain and
France of the one party, and the King of England of the
other, by which France was stripped of all her vast landed
possessions to which she had so long and tenaciously laid
claim at the useless and cruel destruction of thousands of
helpless Indians who alone held the only true and just claim.
When the Indians learned of this treaty of cession, and were
told that they had been transferred from the jurisdiction of
the French to that of the English, whom they feared and
dreaded ten fold more than they did the French, they were
greatly excited at the outrage, as they rightly termed it; and
justly affirmed that the French possessed no authority over
them by which to transfer them over to the English, as if
they were but so many horses and cattle. Truly, as human
beings, as a free and independent people and as reasoning
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 87
men, how could they but feel the degradation of being- thus
bartered away as .common chattels, and feel the deep humi
liation that followed the loss of their national character and
national rights. Yet, how little did they imagine the still
deeper humiliation, degradation and woe that were in store
for their race! How little did they believe that they were
soon to be driven away by merciless intruders, from their
ancient and justly owned 'possessions and the cherished
graves of their Ancestors, to wander, they knew not where,
in the vain search of a pity and commiseration, never to be
found among their heartless oppressors and conquerors!
Alas! how else but broken-hearted can the surviving little
remnant be, when no words of consolation and hope ever
greet their ears ! How can they be industrious when that
industry but brings them in contact with the authors of all
their misfortunes and woes ! How can they forget their
wrongs and sow, unless it be to sow dragon's teeth with
the hope that warriors might spring up to avenge their blood.,
that vengeance justly claimed ! Did they not in all sincerity
believe themselves wrongfully oppressed? which they truly
were; and in resisting that oppression, did they do more
than any other Nation, under similar circumstances, has
done and will ever do, that claims the right to exist as a
Nation? They contended for that which they honestly be
lieved to be their birthright, and it was, both by the laws of
God and man. Could they have done otherwise, when they
desired and sought our civilization and Christianity ; but we
would grant it to them only upon the terms of yielding up to
us their country, their nationality, their freedom, their
honor, their all that makes life worth living? Have we not
treated them from first to last as inferior beings, and in our
bigoted egotism scorned them and pushed them from us as
creatures below our notice? Can we establish a just plea
upon the broad foundation of truth to sustain the right to
treat them as we have treated them, take their country from
them by the strength of arbitrary power, and call it honor
able purchase, and then annoy them by reiterated extortions
and oppress them to extermination?
In November, 1763, the Choctaws, Chickasa\YS, Chero-
kees, and Muscogees were, through their representative-
chiefs, assembled in council at Augusta, Georgia, with the
representative Governors of Virginia, North and South Car
olina, and Georgia. But two years later, August, 1765, the
Choctaws and Muscogees — inveterate enemies — commenced
a fearful and devastating war, which, acordingto their tradi
tions, continued six years with unabated hostility; and dur
ing which many battles were fought and heavy losses sus-
88 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
tained on both sides, yet each displaying- the most undaunted
and heroic bravery. But as they had no native historians,
the cause, the progress, the successes, the defeats, as Dame
Fortune alternately bestowed her favors upon the one and
the other, will never be known; for the long- period of those
six years of bloody strife is wrapt in the silence of the un
known past, and all that now may be written is contained in
"They lived; they foug-ht." Nor has much more been re
corded concerning the vicissitudes of the North American
Indian race, by their white historians; thoug-h "they killed,
they robbed" is but a counterpart of the mutations of the
White Race also.
k . Be it as it may, we find the Choctaw people, amid all their
vicissitudes and misfortunes, occupying-, all along- the line of
their kno\yn history, a prominent place as one of the five great
southern tribes, who have been justly regarded as being- the
most to be dreaded in war of all the North American Indians,
for their skill and invincible bravery; and the most to be ad
mired in peace for the purity of their friendship and fidelity
to truth. And to compare the present enfeebled, oppressed",
broken-hearted, down trodden, the still surviving- little rem
nant, to their heroic, free, independent, and justly proud
ancestors of two centuries ag-o, or even less than one cen
tury ago, is to compare the feeble light of the crescent moon
lingering upon the western horizon to the blaze of the sun in
the zenith of its power and glory. But what has wrought
the fearful change? Who hurled them from their once high
and happy state down to this low and wretched state of
humiliation and slavery? Truth points its unerring finger to
these LJnited States, and says as he to Israel's ancient king,
"Thou art the man." What the difference? None in princi
ple. The one, Israel's king, a murderer, to gratify a beastly
lust; the other, America's people, tyrant, to gratify a beastly
avarice. And yet we claim to advocate the right of freedom
and self government to all nations of people; and boldly hurl
our anathemas against the iron heel of England's oppression
of Ireland, and curse the greedy avarice of a heartless and
grasping landlordism that for years has sapped the vitals of
that unfortunate country and broken the spirit of its noble
people; while we are guilty of the same greedy avarice that
has broken the spirit of as noble a people as. ever lived;- and
against whom we have exercised the aggressive tyranny, and
made it a point to preserve towards them an attitude the
most commanding and supercilious, and against whom we have
long cherished and still cherish the basest and most unjust
prejudice. Alas, how inconsistent are we.
Many other tribes living in the same regions are men-
v HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 89
tioned by the earhr writers, but who, in comparison to num
bers and prominence as a people, fell far below the Choctaws,
Chickasaws, Cherokees, Muscogees, Seminoles and Natchez;
though it is reasonable to conclude that many of them were
offshoots of the above mentioned. But the cruel and bloody
scenes that marked the conflicts of the whites with the brave
warriors of these five nations of the North American Indians,
before they overpowered them by superiority in numbers,
skill and weapons of warfare and drove them from their
•ancient homes under the false plea of "fair and honorable
purchase," scattering along the whole line of their known
history, fraud, dissimulation, oppression, destruction and
death, clothe the character of this wonderful people in the
wildest romance and truly render them worthy heroes "of
fable and song; of whom it may truly be said that, in point of
numbers; in the magnitude and grandeur of their territories
abounding in every variety of game that could render them
truly the paradise of the Indian hunter; in their far sighted
sagacity; in their peculiar native eloquence; in their legends
and traditions handed down from generation to generation
through cycles of ages unknown; in their strange and mys
terious religious rites and ceremonies; in all that strange
and peculiar phenomena, that stamp the true Native Ameri
cans as the independent aud fearless sons of the forest, un
surpassed in daring and heroic deeds in defense of their
country, the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Muscogees,
Seminoles and Natchez stand unsurpassed by any other of
the North American Indians, or any other unlettered race of
people on earth.
Pickett, in his History of Alabama states: "In 1771, the
eastern district of the Choctaw Nation was known as Oy-pat-
oo-coo-la, signifying the 'Small Nation;' and the western dis
trict was called Oo-coo-la Falaya, Oo-coo-la Hanete and
Chickasaha," The four names are fair samples of the mis
erable corruption of the languages- of the North American
Indians every where, by the whites.
And in the above, Pickett is greatly in error in the word
Oy-pat-oo-coo-la signifying "Small Nation," if he uses it as
a Choctaw or Chickasaw word. In the first place there is 110
such word in either of their languages, and even admitting
there is, it cannot signify "small nation." The words of
both for small nation are Iskitini Pehlichika, small nation or
kingdom. "And the western district was called Oo-coo-la
Falaya, and Oo-coo-la Hanete and Chickasaha." It is evident
also that these three names are corruptions from Choctaw
words. The first being a corruption of the words Okla
90 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Falaiah, Tall People; the second, "Oo-coo-la Hanete," from
Okla Hunnali, People Six, or Six' People.
The third, Chickasaha, from Chikasah, Rebellion, all of
which were names of different clans of the ancient Choctaws.
There was also an ancient clan named Okla Jsskitmi, People
Small, or Small People, which, no doubt, was corrupted to
Oy-pat-oo-coo-la; if not, some linguist, other than a Choctaw,
or Chickasaw, will have to give its signification.
Alas; If the errors of our race were confined alone to
the orthography, orthoepy and signification of various In
dian languages, though as inconsistent and absurd as .they
are in that of the Choctaw, we might be excusable; but
when they enter into every department of our dealings with
that people, there can be no excuse whatever offered in justi
fication of them.
See the gross errors set forth in the publications re
garding the Indians from first to last, clothed in scarcely a
word of truth to hide their hideous deformity, so humiliat
ing to justice, and all in direct opposition to known truth
and common sense. The newspapers and periodicals of the
present day are full of the same old stereotyped edition of
vile calumniations and base falsehoods against that helpless
people, the latter of which stand in close and worthy prox
imity to that of the devil's to the mother Eve. Even that
class of literature devoted to the instruction af the young,
books and papers bearing the title of "School History of
the United States," "Youth's Companion," etc., are contami
nated with falsehoods and defamatory articles against the
Indians; the writers of: which seem determined that the
memory of the North American Indians MUST and SHALL de
scend from generation to generation to the one which shall
be the fortunate one to hear the tones of Gabriel's mighty
trumpet sounding a truce to longer defamation of the Red
Race; and thus escape the nauseating dose which its prede
cessors bave been forced to swallow; and though justice
calls upon these white slanderers of the Red Race to turn
their attention from the arduous labor attending the suc
cessful finding of a few defects in the Indians, to the correc
tion of the hideous sins of their own race, yet they heed not
her voice.
Before me lies a book bearing the title, "School History
of the United States," under the signature of "W. H. Ven-
able." by which its author would stuff the minds of the
present generation, and those to follow, with the false asser
tions and self-imagined erudition, in which he has displayed
as much knowledge of the North American Indians as might
reasonably be expected to be found in a Brazilian monkey if
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 91
writing- its views upon the characteristics of the Laplanders
in their icy homes. On page 17 of this so-called "Illumina
tion of the Youthful Mind," in the matter of Indian charac
teristics, is found the following1 absurdities: "The Ameri
can Indians were fit inhabitants of the wilderness. Children
of nature, they were akin to all that is rude, savage, and
irredeemable. Their number within the limits of what is
now the United States was at 110 time, since the discovery of
America, above four hundred thousand individuals, for the
Indian, hopelessly unchanging in respect to individual and
social development, was as regarded tribal relations and
local haunts, mutable as the wind."
"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," there
fore his "Ipse dixit."
Again, (page 19) he affirms: "Stratagem, surprise, and
the basest treacherv were approved and practiced even by
the bravest." But what of the White Race? Did not Wash
ington and his generals "approve and practice deception,
surprise and stratagem" upon the British in fighting for the.
independence of these United States? Did not Oglethorpe
"approve and practice stratagem and deception" upon the
Spanish fleet, when he gave a Spanish prisoner his liberty if
he would deliver a letter to one of his own men who .had
deserted and fled to the Spanish ships, the particulars of
which are too well known to be repeated here? Did not Lee
and Grant, yea, every officer from general down to captain,
"approve and practice stratagem, deception and surprise,"
during our Civil war? and when an advantage, by these
means, was gained, was it not acknowledged as a grand dis
play of superior generalship and dubbed "Military Skill?"
When "practiced and approved" by the whites, they are
virtues; but when by the Indians, in their wars of resistance
against our oppression and avarice, they at once become
odious characteristics. But when and upon whom, did the
Indians approve and practice stratagem, surprise and the
basest treachery? alone upon their enemies in war; never
elsewhere. But we have alike "approved and practiced
stratagem and surprise" in our wars with them always, and
everywhere; and have, in numerous instances, approved
and practiced the basest treachery," upon them by false
promises, misrepresentations and absolute falsehoods of
such hideous proportions as to cause the devil to blush at
his^own impotency in the art, when trying to influence them
to enter into treaties with us by which we would secure for
ourselves their landed possessions, and all under the dis
guise of declared disinterested friendship, and deep-felt
interest in their prosperity and happiness; and I challenge
92 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
anyone to successfully refute the charge. Yet this man
would contribute his mite of misrepresentation and false
hood to assist others of his own congeniality, to hand down
the Indians to the remotest posterity as a race of people the
most infamous; but would have it remembered that he and
hjs fall below their merits — the white "children of the
Uord." \
Therefore, he thus continues his lecture to the children,
as set forth in his ephemeral history: "Language cannot
exaggerate the ferocity of an Indian Battle, or the revolting
cruelty practiced upon their captives of war." Surely this
sensitive educator of the young, never perused that truthful
little volume, bearing the name of "Our Indian Wards" as
written by a Christian philanthropist, W. Manypermy! But
thus he continues; "The very words tomahawk, scalping
knife, and torture scaffold fill the fancy with dire images;
and to say 'as savage as an Iroquois warrior' is to exhaust the
power of simile." But in impressing the youthful "fancy
with dire images'' while studying his "School History of
tomahawks, scalping knives and torture scaffolds" and in
delibly stamping upon their memories his emphatic "to say
as savage as 'ait Iroquois warrior' is to exhaust the powers
of simile," he is scrupulously careful not to mention, or even
drop a hint, in regard to the foul massacre of the friendly
Cheyenne chief, Black Kettle and his band by Gen. Custer
and his soldiers,; X,ov. 27th, 1868; of which Superintendent
Murphy, after the diabolical massacre, wrote the commis
sioner of Indian affairs; "It was Black Kettle's band of
Cheyennes. Black Kettle, one of the best and truest friends
the whites ever had among the Indians of the plains;" and of
the "horrible" butchery of the Piegan Indians, on the 23rd
of January, 1870, who were helplessly afflicted with the
small pox, and guilty of no offense except being Indians, but
in which assassination, one hundred and seventy -three In
dians were slaughtered in cold blood by the whites, without
the "loss of a man: ninety of whom were women, and fifty-
five of them children, none older than twelve years, and
many of them in their mothers' arms;" and though the
butchery <j| these unoffending and helpless human beings
merits the execration of all men, yet the actors in the bloody
scene lived to boast among their fellows "I too have killed an
Indian," though' that Indian was an infant in its mother's
arms; while their head was honored as the "Great" General
Sheridan, backed by General Sherman, at whose feet syco
phants bow and humbly solicit a smile from his august per
sonage, then die happy, if obtained, but in despair, if
refused. Merciful God! If the very words "tomahawlv,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 93
x
scalping knife and torture fill the fancy with dire images;
and to say as savage as an Iroquois warrior is to exhaust the
powers of simile," does not the butcher of helpless and un
offending Indian women and children by civilized whites
equally "fill the fancy with dire images"? and to say as sav
age as a Sheridan and Sherman in the blood-thirsty wars of
exterminating the Indians of the western plains, to protect
the white desperadoes in their depredations upon that help
less people, and thereby stick another feather in their cap of
war fame to conciliate shouts of the, .rabble, music more
sweet to their bloody senses than that of heavenly angels,
"is to exhaust every power of simile." In the name of truth,
justice and humanity, if what Mr. Many penny has revealed
in his " Our Indian Wards," a copy of which every lover of
truth, justice and humanity should purchase and read, as
jdue to the interests of truth, justice, religion and humanity,
is not enough to cause an indignant God to visit these United
States with his avenging hand, then indeed they have noth
ing to fear in regard to wrhat they must do. Be it as it may,
there is abundant reason to tremble, if we would reflect that
God is just.
On the 16th of February, 1763, the whole of Louisiana,
for which they had so long struggled, passed entirely from
under the" dominion of the French to that of the Engiish ;
and all evidences of their occupancy of the sea coast of Mis
sissippi, since Iberville first landed there on the 16th of Feb
ruary, 1693, are now only remembered as matters of history
and traditions of the long past.
In 1765, through the solisitation of Johnstone, then act
ing as governor, the Choctaws and Chickasaws convened in
feneral council with him at Mobile, at wrhich time were con-
rmed the former treaties of peace and friendship, and also
regulations of trade were established between them and the
English; and in 1777, the Choctawrs, the first time ever be
fore sold a small portion of their country then known as the
Natchez District, to the English Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, which lay on the Mississippi river and extended
north from the bluff then known as Loftus Cliffs to the
mouth of the Yazoo river, 110 miles above.
In June, 1784, the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Muscogees
convened in council at Pensacola, (corrupted from the Choc-
taw words Puska Okla, People with abundant bread) and
there made a treaty of peace with Spain.
Soon after, Alexander McGillervey, the famous chief of
the Muscogees, as representative of the Coweta claim of the
Muscogees, ^together with the Seminole.s, Mobelans (prop
erly^, Mobinahs)andTalapoosas (corrupted from the Choctaw
'94 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Words Tuli Pushi, Iron Dust) concluded a treaty v of peace
and friendship with the same nation.
At this time, the United States set up her claim over the
entire territories of'the southern Indians by virtue of the
English title, though the Cherokees, Choctaws Chickasaws
and Muscogees, whose landed possessions were more exten
sive than all the southern tribes combined; but out of which
she finally ousted them, though they had replenished the
feeble ranks of her army with their warriors, and helped her
out from under the yoke of British oppression fighting- un
der Gen. Wayne and Gen Sullivan, only to have her yoke of
oppression placed upon their necks in turn as a recompense
of reward for their services and as a memento of our "dis
tinguished" gratitude to them; while Spain claimed, at the
same time, the lion's part of their territories by virtue of her
treaties, not with the Indians, the legal owners, but with'
England and France; while the Indians In whom rested the
only true and valid title, gazed upon the scene of controversy
over their ancient domains, as silent but helpless specta
tors.
That the Choctaws were once a numerous people, even
years after the destruction of Mobinah, the chief town of
Tushkalusas Iksa or clan, by De Soto, there can be but little
room for doubt. Their ancient traditions affirm they were
at one time one hundred and fifty thousand strong, but some
allowance perhaps should be made upon that statement,
however, their territory, as late as 1771, extended from Mid
dle Mississippi south to the Gulf of Mexico; and from the
Alabama river west to the Mississippi river, embracing as
fine a country as the eye could possibly desire to behold;
and De Soto states he passed through towns and villages all
along- his route through their territory, as well as through
the territorities of other southern tribes. Roman states, in
his travels through the Choctaw Territory in 1771, he pass
ed through seventy of their towns. Rev. Cyrus Byington,
who was a missionary among the Choctaws for many
years previous to their exodus to the west, and had traveled
all over their country in his labors of love and mercy, com
puted their number," all told, at the time of their removal, at
forty thousand, but at which time six thousand died en route
many with cholera, and others with various other diseases
contracted on the road, as is well authenticated. I was in
formed, when traveling over their country in 1884, by an old
Choctaw with whom I was personally acquainted when living
east of the Mississippi, that many, when they first moved to
their present homes, settled contiguous to the pestilential
Red river, and in a few years four hundred of the colony
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 95
had died, and the rest moved away from that stream of death
. to other parts of their territory.
Picket, in his History of Alahama, says: "In 1771
there were two thousand three hundred warriors registered
upon the superintendent's books at Mobile, while two thous
ands were scattered over the country, engaged in hunting."
But that did not weigh the value of a poor scruple in sustain
ing the seemingly advanced position, that the Choctaws at
that time only numbered about forty-three hundred war
riors; as it is safe to say, the French did. not register a fifth
of the warriors, for several reasons: First, from their great
aversion to their numbers being known to the whites; sec
ond, their dread and superstitious fear of having their names
written in the "white man's books;" third, the great dis
tance that the homes of thousands lay from Mobile, but
few of whom ever saw the place; fourth, the missionaries
who traveled all over their country found their villages and
towns everywhere.; And if the French had twenty-three
hundred Choctaw warriors' names registered upon the pages
of their books, I feel confident, from my own knowledge of
the Choctaws over seventy years ago, in saying very few; if
any, of the owners of those registered names knew they
were recorded there. And if all be taken into consideration,
the six thousand, the lowest estimate, slain in the destruc
tion of Mobinah, then the great number that must have per
ished in their wars with the English and French, as allies
first to the one and then to the other; and their wars with
various other tribes; and the many that were killed and died
from disease when engaged in our Revolutionary war; and
the six thousand that died on their removal to the west in
1832-33; and the multiplied 'hundreds that died soon after
their arrival to their present place of abode, from diseases
contracted en route and from not being acclamated to their
new country; and in addition to all this', the many depress
ing influences they have labored under since they have had
to do with the White Race, and the terrible dispensation un
der which they have 'lived, they must, at an early period
have"" been a numerous people, or long since they would have
become totally eAtinct.
"The Severally Bill!" I was in the Indian Territory
and read a letter from an Indian delegate in Washington
City, to a friend in the Territory and was forcibly struck
with the shameful truth of one sentence "Congress can and
will pass any bill to destroy the Indians." Yet nothing
strange" in this, since rascality and debauchery characterize
that once pure and noble body, if even half be true that is
said about it, by those who have seen behind the curtains. I
96 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
also read another letter written by an Indian in the Territory
to a delegate of his people, then (Feb. 15, 1887,) in Wash
ington from which, by request and permission, I copied the
following- without alteration :
"Dear old friend:"
"Wounded and grieved over the action* of Congress and
the President, who gave the Indians his word (which should
be as his bond) to stand by us, when our rights were trepass-
ed upon. Behold now, his actions in the severally bill. Are
there no honest men, citizens of^ the United States? Alas,
even the highest in power .has no regard for his word 1
There must be very little honesty among them, and if God
forsakes us, we will soon be remembered only in story. God
knows, if we had only th& power that the United States have
I would be willing to resent the wrong and insult, if it should
be at the sacrifice of every drop of Indian blood that is1 cir
cling in our race." (All praise to that noble and patriotic
spirit), "Cleveland thinking" he might lose the next nomina
tion for President, is willing to sacrifice his word or honor
(whatever you may choose to call it) to be on the popular
side. Away with such hypocrisy! He should be a man of
some principle and stamina, but he lacks all of it.
"Dawes, when here, said he would do everything to ad
vance our cause; that he was surprised to see the intelligence
and evidences of progress existing among us. See too, what
he has done! God will surely damn such hypocrites. Poor
Mr. Brown, I feel sorry for him, standing alone, as it were,
in the cause of humanity and justice; but 'I hope he will not
feel disheartened in the good cause, .but will gather strength
from the ruins of broken treaties^ and shattered pledges,
made and violated by his so-called great and magnanimous
government. All honor and peace be his.
"We will ever feel grateful to him for the active part he
took in our behalf. Had there been a few more honest and
fearless men like him in Congress, we might have fared bet
ter. ^ Inch by inch, does Congress trespass upon and violate
the solemn vows rt bas made. Surely such an outrage is
almost enough to drive us to raise the tomahawk, and- die,
every one of us, in fighting for justice against such high
handed tyranny and insupportable oppression of our help
less and hopeless race. "
What patriotic heart but leaps with emotions of pride
at the heroic sentiments expressed in the above. Truth,
justice, humanity, Christianity, our honor and integrity as a
professed Christian people, backed by a just and righteous
God above, demand of us to proclain our fiat to the scoun-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. , 9/
drels that to-day so curse our country and disgrace us as a
people, in a tone of voice that shall be heard and, obe}red, in
the imperative command, Halt!
On June 22nd, 1784, the Spaniards convened a council
at Mobile, Ala., in which the Choctaws and Chickasaws were
largely represented, also a few other smaller tribes came
with their families. As usual on all such occasions, the
Spaniards, unexcelled only by the Americans afterwards,
lavished upon the Indians their flattery and presents, each
of equal value, with unwearied tong-ues and unsparing- hands,
thus to induce them to form a treaty of alliance and trade,
which wras successfully consummated. The last article of
this treaty then entered -into, confirmed, in the name 'of the
xSpanish King, the Indians in the peaceable possession of all
their territories within the King's dominions; and further
more, it was stipulated, should any of them be deprived of
their lands by any of the King's enemies, he would re
possess them with other lands within his territories equal
in extent and value to those lost. But as stipulations and
promises, never intended to be fulfilled, and cajolery
and flattery to deceive them into a trusting belief of true
friendship, were the means adopted and practiced by the
foreign nations that contended with each other for a portion
of the North American Continent, so they, as the vicissitudes
of war dictated, withdrew their interest in and protection
from the confiding Indians to whom, they had made so many
fair promis'es of protection, and manifested such high
tentions of sincere and disinterested friendship, and
hesitatingly assumed the right of transferring them to any
nation which their interest demanded without a care, or even
a thought, of the interests and welfare of the Indians; thus
conclusively proving that they, each haunted with the fear of
the other, using' every effort to secure and maintain the good
will of the Indians only for the purpose of interposing them
between themselves and their encroaching rivals, when it
was to their interests so to do.
The Spaniards again induced thirty-six of the most
prominent and influential chiefs of the Choctaws and Chick
asaws to visit them at New Orleans in 1787, where they were
received and entertained with the greatest manifestations of
sincere respect and friendship, by escorting tliem to public
balls and military parades, and the usual bestowal of pres
ents and flattery; nor did it ever occur to the Choctaws and
Chickasaws that all this was but for the purpose of rendering
them, their more easy prey, and their assumed friendship de
signed but to throw them off their guard, and thus conceal
their real intentions; thus they were induced to renew their
98 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
pledges of peace and friendship. to the Spaniards, by smok
ing- the pipe of peace in confirmation of their former treaty,
by judging- the actions of the Spaniards from the standpoint
of the integrity and honesty of their own hearts.
The first treaty made with the Choctaws by the United
States was at Hopewell, on January 3rd, 1786; and 'between
this and January 20th, 1825, seven additional treaties were
made with them; the second being' December 17th, 1801, in
which it was mutually agreed between the Choctaw Nation
and the United States Government, "that the old line of de
marcation heretofore established by and between the officers
of his Brittanic Majesty and the Choctaw Nation, shall be
retraced, and. plainly marked in such a way aiidnnanner as
the President may direct, in the presence of two persons to
be appointed by the said nation; and that the said line shall
be the boundary between the settlements of the. Mississippi
Territory and the Choctaw nation."
James Wilkerson, as commissioner of the United States;
and Push-kush Miko, (Baby Chief), and Ahlatah Humma,
(Mixed Red, i. e. Mixed with Red), as commissioners of the
Choctaw nation, did run and make distinctly this division
line, and made a report of the same, August 31st, 1803, as
follows: "And we, the said commissioners plenipotentiary,
do ratify and confirm, the said line of demarcation, and do
recognize and acknowledge the same to be the boundary
which shall separate arid distinguish the land ceded to the
United States, between the Tom big-bee, Mobile, and Pascu-
gola rivers* from that which had not -been ceded by the said
Choctaw nation."1
The names of the ancient Choctaws, as well as their
entire race, as far as I have been enabled to learn, were
nearly always connative referring1 generally to some animal,
and often predicating' some attribute of that animal. Such
names were easily expressed in sign language; as the ob-
jectiveness of the Indian proper names with the result, is
that they could all be signified by gesture, whereas the best
sign talker among deaf mutes, it is said, is unable to translate
the proper names in his speech, therefore resorts to the
dactylic alphabet. The Indians were generally named, or
rather acquired a name, and sometimes several in succession,
from some noted exploit or hazardous adventure. Names
of rivers, creeks, mountains, hills, etc.. were given with
reference to some natural peculiarity; for the Indian had "a
literature of his own, which grew every year in proportions
and value; it was the love of Nature, which may be developed
in every heart and which seldom fails to purify and exalt.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 99
Ignorance and prejudice call the Indians savages. I call
them heroes. You and I, reader, may not know where or
how they live. God does.
As before stated, the first treaty was made by the United
States with the Choctaw Nation on Jan. 3d, 1786. The follow
ing" Articles of this treaty were concluded at Hopewell, on the
Keowee River, near a place known as Seneca Old Town be
tween Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, and Joseph
Martin, commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States
of America, of the one part, Yockenahoma, (I give the names
of the Choctaws as recorded in the treaty, and also give their
corrections and significations), corruption, Yoknahoma;
Orig., Yoknihumma Land, Hoommar , Red, great medal chief
of Soanacoha, corruption of Sanukoah, pro. as Sar-nook-o-ah *
(I am mad); Yackehoopie, corruption of Yakni Hopaii pro. as
Yark-nih, (Land) Ho-py-ye (Land of the war chief, leading
chief of Bugtoogoloo, corruption of Bok Tuklo, pro. as Boke
(Creek) Took-lo (Two); Mingohoopari, corruption of Miko
Hopaii, pro. as Mik-o (Chief) Ho-py-ye (Leader as War Chief),
leading chief of Hashooqua, corruption of Hashokeah, pro.
as Harsh-oh-ke-ah (Even the aforesaid); Tobocoh, corruption
ofTobihEoh, pro. as Tone-bih Eoh (All Sunshine) great
medal chief of Congetoo, utterly foreign to the Choctaw
language; Pooshemastuby, corruption of Pasholih-ubih, pro.
as Par-sha-lih (To handle) ub-ih (and kill) gorget captain of
Senayazo; cor. of Siah (I am) Yo-shu-ba (as ah) Lost; and
thirteen small medal chiefs of the first-class, -twelve' medal
and gorget captains, commissioners plenipotentiary of all the
Choctaw nation, of the other part.
The commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States
of America give peace to all ,the Ghoctaw Nation, and.re-
ceive them into favor and protection of the United States of
America, on the following conditions:
Article 1st. — The commissioners plenipotentiary of all
the Choctaw Nation, shall restore all the prisoners, citizens
of the' United States (useless demand, as the Choctaws were
never at war with the United States, and never held any
citizen of the United States as a prisoner, but always were
their faithful allies) or subjects of their allies, to their entire
liberty, if any there be in the Choctaw Nation. . Thev shall
also restore all the negroes, and all other property," taken
during the late war, from the o^tizens, to such person, ancTat
such time and place, as the commissioners of the United
States of America shall appoint, if any there be in the Choc
taw Nation.
Article 2nd. — The commissioners plenipotentiary of all
.the Choctaw Nation, 'do hereby acknowledge the tribes and
\ 100 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
towns of the said Nation, and the lands with the boundary
allotted to the said Indians to live and hunt on, as mentioned
in the Third Article, to be under the protection of the.
United States of America, and of no other sovereign what
soever.
Article 3rd.— The boundary of the lands hereby allotted
to the Choctaw Nation to live and hunt on, within the limits
of the United States of America, is and shall be the follow
ing1, viz.: Beginning at a point on the thirty-first degree of
north latitude, where the eastern boundary of the Natchez
district shall touch the same ; thence east along- the thirty-
first degree of north latitude, being* the southern boundary
* of the United States of America, until it shall strike the
eastern boundary of the lands on which the Indians of the
said nation did live and hunt on the twenty-ninth of Novem
ber, 1782, while they were under the protection of the King*
of Great Britain: thence northerly along the said eastern
boundary, until it shall meet the northern boundary of the
said lands; thence westerly along the said northern boun
dary, until it shall meet the western boundary thereof:
thence southerly along the same, to the beginning; saving
and reserving for the establishment of trading posts, three
tracts or parcels of land, of six miles square each, at such
places as the United States, in Congress assembled, shall think
proper; which posts, and the lands annexed to them, shall
be to the use and under the government of the United States
of America.
Article 4th. — If any citizen of the United States, or other
person, not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of
s the lands hereby allotted to the Indians to live and hunt on,
such persons shall forfeit the protection of the United States
of America, and the Indians may punish him or not as they
please.
Article 5th. — If any Indian or Indians, or persons resid
ing among them, or who shall take refuge in their nation,
shall commit a robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on
any citizen of the United States of America, or person under
their protection, the tribe to which such offender may be
long, or the nation, shall be bound to deliver him or them up
to be punished according to the ordinances of the United
States in Congress assembled: provided, that the punish
ment shall not be greater than if the robbery or murder, or
other capital crime, had been committed by a citizen on a
citizen.
Article 6th. — If any citizen of the United States of
America, or person under their protection, shall commit a
robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on any Indian,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 101
-such offender or offenders shall be punished in the same
manner as if the robbery or murder, or other capital crime,
had been committed on a citizen of the United States of
America; and the punishment shall be in the presence of
some of the Choctaws, if any will attend at. the time and
place; and that they may have an opportunity so to do, due
notice, if practicable, of the time of such intended punish
ment shall be sent to some one of the tribe.
Article 7th. — It is understood that the punishment of
the innocent, under the idea of retaliation, is unjust, and
.shall not be practiced on either side, except where there is a
manifest violation of this treaty; and then it shall be pre
ceded, first by a demand of justice; and if refused, then by a
declaration of hostilities . (But wherein is this to benefit the
Choctaws, if, to the best of their 'judgment, "this treaty"
was violated by us, and their demand of justice was refused?
Could they hope to obtain justice "by a declaration of hostili
ties"? What a farce is such a futile attempt to display our
wonderful generosity to the Choctaws, when we have openly
violated every treaty made with them, whenever it was to
-our interest so to do, a truth we cannot deny, knowing the
folly they would be guilty of in declaring war against us
when \ve were as a thousand to one of them in every particu
lar as to advantage. Nor have we neglected to use those ad
vantages from 1786 down the passing years to^the present,
to the utter impoverishment and final extermination of 'the
too confiding Indians).
For the benefit and comfort of the Indians, and for the
prevention of injuries or oppressions on the part of the citi
zens or Indians, the United States in Congress assembled
shall have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the trade
with the Indians, and managing all their affairs in such man-
jier as they think proper.
Then wras inaugurated a system of fraud by which the
Choctaws were completely given into the hands .of a few
soulless white traders who fleeced their victims at will.
Article 9th. — Until the pleasure of Congress be known,
respecting the 8th article, all traders, .citizens of the United
States of America, shall have liberty to go to any of the tribes
or towns of the Choctaws, to trade with them, and they shall
be protected in their persons and property and kindly
treated.
Article 10. — The said Indians shall give notice to the citi
zens of the United States of America, of any designs which
they may know or suspect to be formed in any neighboring
tribe, or bv any person whomsoever, against the peace,
trade, or interest, of th^ United States, of America.
102 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
/ \
Article 11. — The hatchet shall be forever buried, and the
peace given by the United^States of America, and friendship
re-established between the said States on the one part, and
all the Choctaw nation on the other part, shall be universal,
and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors
to maintain the peace given as aforesaid, and friendship
established.
In witness of all and every thing herein determined, be
tween the United States of America and all the Choctaws, we,
the underwritten commissioners, by virtue of our full powers\
have signed this definitive treaty, and have caused our seals-
to be hereunto affixed.
Done at Hopewell, on the Keowee, third dav of Jan
uary, 1786 L. S. (Locus Sigilli) Place of the Seal.
BENJAMIN HAWKINS,
ANDREW PICKENS, ,
JOSEPH MARTIN.
Corruption: Yockenahoma, his x mark. Original: Yok-
ni Humma, pro. Yak-nih Hoom-mah Land Red.
Corruption: Yokehoopoie, his x mark. Original: Yak-
ni hopaii (as, hopy ye). Land of the Oar-chief.
Corruption: Mingo hoopaie, his x mark. Original: Mi-
kohopaii. Leader, as War-chief.
SECOND TREATY.
CONCLUDED DECEMBER I?TH, 1801, BETWEEN THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATES.
S"
Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of
America, by James Wilkerson, of the State of Maryland,,
brigadier general in the army of the United States, Benjamin
Hawkins, of North Carolina, and Andrew Pickens, of Softth
Carolina, commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States,
on the one part,, and the Mingoes, principal men and ;war-
riors of the Choctaw Nation, representing the said Nation in
council assembled, on the other part, have entered into the
following articles and conditions, viz.:
Article 1st. — Whereas, the United States in Congress,
assembled, did, by their commissioners plenipotentiary,
Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, and Joseph Martin, at
a treaty held with the chiefs and head men of the Choctaw
Nation at Hopewell, on the Keowee, Julie 30th, 1786, give
peace to the said Nation, and receive it into, the favor and
protection of the United States of America; it is agreed by
the parties to these presents respectively, that the Choctaw
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 103
Nation, or such part of it as may reside within the limits of
the United States, shall be and continue under the care and
protection of the said United States; and that the mutual
confidence and friendship which are hereby acknowledged
to subsist between the contracting" parties, shall be main
tained and perpetuated.
Article 2nd. — The Mingoes, principal men, and warriors
of the Choctaw Nation of Indians, do hereby give their free
consent that a convenient and desirable wagon-way may be
explored, marked, opened, and made, under the orders and
instructions of the President of the United States, through,
their lands; to commence at the northern extremity of the
settlements of the Mississippi Territory, and to extend from
thence, by such .route as may be selected and surveyed un
der the authority of the President of the United States, until
it shall strike the lands claimed by the Chickasaw Nation;
and the same shall be and continue forever, a high-way for
the citizens of the United States and the Choctaws; and the
said Choctaws shall nominate two discreet men from their
Nation, who may be employed as assistants, guides, or
pilots, during the time of laying- out and opening the said
high-way, or so long* as may be deemed expedient, under the
direction of the officer charged with this duty, who shall re
ceive a reasonable compensation for their services.
Article 3rd. — The twro contracting parties covenant and
agree, that the old line of demarkation heretofore established
by and between the officers of his Britanic Majesty and the
Choctaw Nation, which runs in a parallel direction with the
Mississippi river, and eastward thereof, shall be retraced
and plainly marked, in such a way and manner as the Presi
dent may direct, in the presence of two persons to be ap
pointed by the said Nation; and that the said line shall be
the boundary between the settlements of the Mississippi
Territory and the Choctaw Nation. And the said Nation
does, by these presents, relinquish to the United States and
quit claim forever, all their right, title, and pretension, to
the land lying between the said line and the Mississippi
river, bounded south by the thirty-first degree of north lati
tude, and north by .the Yazoo river, where the said line shall
strike same; and on the part of the commissioners it is
agreed, that all persons who may be settled beyond this line
shall be removed within it, on the side toward the Missis
sippi, together with their slaves, household furniture, tools,
materials, and stock, and the cabins or houses erected by
such persons shall be demolished.
Article 4th.— The President of the United States may,
at his discretion, proceed to execute the Second Article of
104 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
this treaty; and the Third Article shall be carried into effect
as soon as may be convenient to the Government of the
United States, and without unnecessary delay on the one
part or the other, of which the President shall be judge; the
Choctaws to be reasonably advised, by order of the Presi
dent of the United States, of the time when, and the place
where, the re-survey and re-marking- of the old line referred
to in the preceding Article will be commenced.
Article 5th. — The commissioners of the United States
for and in consideration of the foregoing concessions on the
part of the Choctaw Nation, and in full satisfaction, do give
and deliver to the Mingoes, chiefs, and warriors, of the said
Nation, at the signing of these presents, the value of $2,000
in goods and merchandise, net cost at Philadelphia, the re
ceipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, and they further en
gage to give three sets of blacksmith tools to the said Na
tion.
Article 6th. — This treaty shall take effect and be obliga
tory on the contracting' parties, as soon as the same shall be
ratified by the President of the United States of America,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof.
In testimony whereof, the commissioners plenipoten
tiary of the United States, and the Mingoes, principal men,
and warriors of the Choctaw nation, have hereto subscribed
their names and affixed their seals, at Fort Adams, on. the
Mississippi, this the 17th day of December, 1801, and of the
independence of the United States the 26.
JAMES WILKERSON,
BENJAMIN HAWKINS,
ANDREW Pic KENS.
Corruption: Tuskana Hopia, his x mark. Original:
Tushka -hopnii, Warrior of the War Chief.
Corruption: Toota Homo, his x mark. Original: Tobu
hum ma, made red.
Corruption: Ming*o Horn Massatubby, his x mark.
Original: Miko humma ubi (i, as ih) Red chief killer.
This treaty was also signed by twenty-two other Choc-
taws, whose names are omitted.
AGREEMENT.
CONCLUDED OCTOBER 17'rir, 1802, BETWEEN' THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATES.
A provisional convention, entered into and made by
Brigadier General James Wilkerson, of the State of Mary-
HISTORY OI^ THE INDIANS 105
land, commissioner for holding- conferences with the In
dians south of the Ohio river, in behalf of the United States,
on the one part, and the whole Choctaw Nation, by their
chiefs, -head men, and principal warriors, on the other
part .
Preamble: For the mutual accommodation of the par
ties, and to perpetuate that concord and friendship, which so
happily subsists between them, they do hereby freely, vol
untarily, and without constraint, covenant and agree:
Article 1st.— That the President of the United States
may, at his discretion, by a commissioner or commissioners,
to be appointed by him, by and with the advice and con
sent of the Senate of the United States, retrace, connect,
and plainly re-rnark the old line of limits, established by and
between his Britannic majesty and the said Choctaw nation,
which begins on the left bank of the Chickasaw-hay river,
and runs thence in an easterly direction to the right bank
of the Tombigbee river, terminating- on the same, at a bluff,
well-known by the name of Hacha Tiggeby (corruption of
Hacha toh bichi. You are very white,) but it is to be clear
ly understood, that two commissioners, to be appointed, by
the said nation, from their own body, are to attend the com
missioners of the United States, who may be . appointed to
perform this service, for which purpose the said Choctawr
Nation shall be reasonably advised by the President of the
United States, of the particular period at which the opera
tion may be commenced, and the said Choctaw commission
ers shall be subsisted by the United States, so long' as they
may be engaged on this business, and paid for their services,
during the said term, at the rate of one dollar per day.
Article 2nd. — The chiefs, head men, and warriors, of the
said Choctaw nation, do hereby constitute, authorize, and
appoint, the chiefs and head men of the upper towns of the
said nation, to make such alteration in the old boundary
line near the mouth of the Yazoo river, as may be conven
ient, and may be done without injury to the said Nation.
Article 4. — This convention shall take effect, and becorhe
obligatory on the contracting parties, as soon as the Presi
dent of the United States, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate, shall have ratified the same.
In testimony whereof, the parties have hereunto set
their hands and affixed their seals, at Fort Confederation, on
the Tombigbee, in the Choctaw country, the 17th, of Octo
ber 1802, and of the independence of the United States the
twenty-seventh.
JAMES WILKEKSON.
In behalf of the lower towns and Chickasaw-hay.
\
106 ,. HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. ^
Corrupted: Tuskona Hoopoio, his x mark. Original:"
Tushkahopaii. Warrior of the Prophet.
' Corruption: Mingo Hoopoio, his x mark. Original:
Mikohopaii. King- of the War-chief.
The names of twelve Choc taws are omitted who signed
this treaty.
AGREEMENT.
> CONCLUDED AUGUST 31st, 1803, BETWEEN THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATES.
i /
To whom these presents shall come: ,
Know ye, that the undersigned commissioners plenipo
tentiary of the United States of America, of the one part, and
the whole Choctaw Nation of the other part, being- dulf au
thorized by the President of the United States, and by the
chiefs and head men of said Nation, do hereby establish, in
conformity to the convention of Fort Confederation, for the
line of demarkation recognized in said convention, the follow
ing metes and bounds, viz: Beginning at the channel of the
Hatche at the point where the line of limits between the
United States and Spain crosseth the same, thence up the
channel of said river to the confluence of the Chickasaw-hay
(corruption of Chikasahha) and Buckhatannee (corruption of
Buchchah, a range of hills) and Haiitah (to be. .bright) rivers,
thence up the channel of the Buchhatannee to Boque Hooma
(corruption of Bokhumma, Red Creek, thence up said creek
to a pine tree standing on the left bank of the same, and
blazed on two of its sides, about twelve links southwest of an
old trading path, leading from the town of Mobile to the
Hewanee towns, much worn, but not in use at the present
time. From this tree we find the following bearings and
distances, viz: south 54 degrees 30 minutes west, one chain,
one link, a blackgum, north 39 degrees east, one chain, 75
links, water oak; thence with the old British line of partition
in its various inflections to a mulberry post, planted on the
right bank of the main branch of Sintee Bogue, (cor. of Sinti
Bok and pro. as Seen-tih Boke, Snake Creek) where it makes
a sharp turn to the south east, a large broken top cypress
tree standing near the opposite bank of the creek, which is
about three poles wide, theaice down the said creek to the
Tombigbee and Mobile rivers to the above mentioned line of
limits between the tTnited States and Spain, and with the
same to the point of beginning; and we, the said commission
ers plenipotentiary, do ratify and confirm the said line of
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 107
demarkation, and do recog'nize and acknowledge the same to
be the boundary which shall separate and distinguish the
land ceded to the United States, between the Tombigbee,
Mobile and Pascagola rivers, from that which has hot been
ceded by the said Choctaw Nation. (Tombigbee, corruption
of Itombiikbi, Boxmaker; Mobile, corruption of Momabinah,
A lodge for all; Pascag'ola, corruption of Puskaokla, Bread
people). In testimony whereof, wre hereunto affix our
hands and seals, this 31st, day of August, 1803, to triplicates
of this tenor and date. Done at Hoe-Buck-intoopa, (corrup
tion of Hoburk, coward intakobi lazy) the day and year above
written, and in the 27th year of the independence of the
United States.
JAMES WILKEKSON.
""Corrupted: Mingo Pooscoos, his x mark; Original:
Mikopuscus (pro. Mik-o Poos-koosh) Infant King. ,
Corrupted: Alatala Hooma, his x mark. Original:
Alatalihhumma, (pro. Ar-lah-tah-lih hoom.mah.)
Witnesses present: Joseph Chambers, U. S. Factor.
Young Gaines, Interpreter,
John Bowyer, Capt. 2nd U. S. Regt.
We the commissioners of the Choctaw nation, duly
appointed, and the chiefs of the said nation who reside on the
Tombigbee river, next to Sintee Bogue, do acknowledge to
have received from the United States of America, by the
hand of Brigadier General, James Wilkerson, as a considera
tion in full for the confirmation of the above concession, the
following articles, viz.; fifteen pieces of strands, three rifles,
one hundred and fifty blankets, two hundred and fifty pounds
of powder, two hundred and fifty pounds of lead, one bridle,
and man's saddle, and one black silk handkerchief. (Thus
we have an exhibition of the wonderful generosity expressed
in the Government's reiterated "To give peace to all the
Choctaw nation," and the meaning of "and receive them into
favor and protection of the United States of America,"
Wonderful protection! to take advantage of their ignorance
in the value of their lands, and disposses them of hundreds
of thousands of acres for a few pounds of powder and lead,
a few blankets, a saddle and bridle, and lastly though not
least, "one black silk handkerchief."
Mingo Pooscoos, his x mark.
Alatala Hooma, his x mark.
Commissioners of the Choctaw nation.
Corrupted: Pio Mingo, his x mark Original:'
Pin Miko. Our chief.
Corrupted: Pasa Mastubby Mingo, his x mark. Origi-
108 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
nal: Pisahmiahubih Miko, (pro. Pe-sah-me-ah-ub-ih Miko.
To see, go ahead and kill the chief.)
In November, 1805, another portion of their country was
ceded to the United States; and in October, 1816, still another
portion; and October 18, 1820, another portion was ceded for
and in consideration of a tract of country west of the Missis
sippi river, being between the Arkansas and Red rivers, the
lines of which were to be ascertained and distinctly marked,
by commissioners for that purpose, to be accompanied by
such persons as the Choctaws might select. Again, January
20th, 1825, they ceded another portion of their lands, east of
the Mississippi river, to the United States. Then in Sep
tember, 1830, the climax of the white man's greediness as
far as the Choctaws w.ere involved, was reached, by forcing
that people to cede the last acre of land they possessed east
of the Mississippi river. And thus by hypocrisy, deception,
fraud, misrepresentation and unblushing falsehood, has the
octopus arm of white avarice seized in its insatiable
embrace the Indians' country from Maine to California, un
til scarcely enough is left them upon which to eke out a mis
erable existence; and yet, year by year, generation by
generation, the grasp widens and tightens, and creeps fur
ther and futrher upon them until with its stiff-necked, in
corrigible brutishness, its hissing is heard, throughout the
length and breadth of the land, vibrating upon that harp of a
thousand strings that still remains in tune to the same old
howl "Open to white settlement, open up to white settle
ment."
A TREATY OF LIMITS.
CONCLUDED NOVEMBER IbTH, 1805, BKTWKICN THK CHOCTAW
NATION AND THK UNITED STATES.
Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of
America, by James Robertson, of Tennessee, Silas Dins-
more, of New Hampshire, agent of the United States to the
Choctaws, commissioners plenipotentiary of the United
States, on the one part, and [the Mingoes, chiefs, and war
riors of the Choctaw Nation of Indians, in council assembled
on the other part, have entered into the following agree
ment, viz. :
Article 1st. — The Mingoes, chiefs, and warriors, of the
Choctaw Nation of Indians, in behalf of themselves and the
said Nation, do, by these presents, cede to the United States
of America, all the lands to which they now have or ever had
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 109
claim, lying- to the right of the following lines; to say, Be
ginning at a branch of theHumecheeto (Cor. of.Humma chitoh,
being greatly red), where the same is intersected by the
path leading- from Natches to the county of Washington,
usually called McClary's path, thence eastwardly along
McClar^y's path, to the east or left bank of Pearl river,
thence on such a direct line as would touch the lower end of
a bluff on the left bank of Chickasaw hay river, the first
above the JJiyoo wunnee (corruption of Hiohlib, Standing,
uni, berries) towns, called Broken Bluff, thence in a direct
line nearly parallel with the river, to a point whence an east
line of four miles in length will intersect the river below the
lowrest settlement at present occupied and improved in the
Hiyoo wunnee town, thence still east four miles, thence in a
direct line nearly parallel with the river to a point to be run
from the lower end of the Broken Bluff to Falukta bunnee
(corruption of Falakna, a fox squirrel, and bunna, one who
wants) on the Tom big-bee riyer, four miles from the Broken
Bluff, thence along the said line to Falukta bunnee, thence
east to the boundary between the Creeks and Choctawrs on
the ridge dividing the waters running into the Alabama from
those running- into the Tombig'bee, thence southwardly along
the said ridge and boundary to the southern point of the
Choctaw claim. Reserving- a tract of two miles square, run
on meridians an4 parallels, so as to include the houses and
improvements in the town of Fuket chee poonta, (corrup
tion of Fakit chipinta, and pr6. as Fah-kit che-pin-tah, Tur
key very small), and reserving also a tract of 5120 acres, be
ginning at a post on the left bank of Tombigbee river op
posite the lower end of Hatch a tigbee (corruption of Ha-
chotukni — pro. Har-cho-tuk-nih, Loggerhead turtle) Bluff,
thence ascending the river four miles front and two back ;
one half for the use of Alzira, the other half for the use of
Sophia, daughters of Samuel Mitchell, by Molly, a Choctaw
woman. The latter reserve to be subject to the same laws
and regulations as may be established in the circumjacent
country; and the said Mingoes of the Choctaw, request the
government of the United States to confirm the title of this
reserve in the said Alzira an,d Sophia.
Article 2nd. — For and in consideration of the foregoing
cession on the part of the Choctaw Nation, and in full satis
faction for the same, the commissioners of the United States
do hereby covenant and agree with the said Nation, in behalf
of the United States, that the said States shall pay to the said
Nation fifty thousand and five hundred dollars for the follow
ing purposes, to wit, forty-eight thousand dollars to enable
the Mingoes to discharge the debt due to their merchants and
110 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
traders (thus went the poor Choctaws' land and money, to a
set of white sharpers;) and also pay for the depredations
committed on stock and other property, by evil disposed
persons of the said Choctaw Nation; (but who were the "evil
disposed persons of the said Choctaw Nation"? No other
than the white refugees from the violated laws of the States,
who had fled to the Choctaw Nation, and of whose character
the Choctaws were wholly ignorant; they stole horses and
kille.d cattle, not belonging to the Choctaws for they feared
them, but belonging to the white traders, who charged
up their losses, duly exaggerated, to the Choctaws, thus
they were swindled and robbed by the shrewd, but not too
honest, white traders through a credulous government — the
truth in a nut shell.) 5 twenty-five hundred dollars to be paid
to John Pitchlynn, to compensate him for certain losses sus
tained in the Choctaw Country, and as a grateful testimonial
of the Nation's esteem. And the said States shall also pay
annually to the said Choctaws, for the use of the Nation,
three thousand dollars, in such goods (at net cost in Phila
delphia) as the Mingoes may choose, they giving at least one
year's notice of such choice.
Article 3d.— The commissioners of the United States,
on the part of the said States, engage to give to each of the
three great medal Mingoes Puckshuiinubbee (corruption of
Apucksheubih) Mingo Hoomastubbee (corruption of Humma-
ubi, Red Killer) and Poosshamattaha (corruption of Anuma-
ishtayaubih, a messenger of death), five .hundred dollars, in
consideration of past services in their Nation, and also to pay
to each of them an annuity of one hundred and fifty dollars
during their continuance in office. It is perfectly under
stood, that neither of those medal Mingoes is to share any
part of the general annuity of the Nation.
Article 4th. — The Mingoes, chiefs, and warriors of the
Choctaws, certify that a tract of land, not exceeding fifteen
hundred acres, situated between the Tombigbee river and
Jackson's creek, the front or river line extending down the
river from a blazed white oak, standing on the left bank of
the Tombigbee, near the head of the shoal, next above Ho-
bukenloopa (corruption of Hobachit Yukpa, a laughing
echo), and claimed by John McGrew, was, in fact, granted to
the said McGrew by Opiomingo Hesmitta, (corruption of the
words Hopoamikohimmittah, The hungry young chief) and
others, many years ago, and they respectfully request the
government of the 'United States to establish" the claim of
the said McGrew to the said fifteen hundred acres.
Article 5th. — The 'two contracting parties covenant and
agree, that the boundary, as described in the second article,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. Ill
shall be ascertained and plainly marked, in such way and
manner as the President of the United States may direct, in
the presence of three persons to be appointed by the said
Nation; one from each of the great medal districts, each of
whom shall receive for their service two dollars per day for
his actual attendance; and the Choctaws shall have due and
reasonable notice of the place where, and time when 'the
operation shall commence.
The first article is presumed to be meant. The second
does not designate a boundary :
Article 6th. — The lease granted for establishments on
the roads leading- through the Choctaw country, is hereby
confirmed in all its conditions; and, except in the alteration
of boundary, nothing- in the instrument shall affect or change
any of the pre-existing- obligation of the cortracting parties.
Article 7th. — This treaty shall take effect and become
reciprocally obligatory so soon as the same shall have been
ratified by the, President of the United States of America, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United
States.
Done on Mount Dexter, in Pooshapukanuk (corruption
of Pashiakona, Unto the dust) in the Choctaw country, this
the 6th of November, 1805, and of the independence of the
United States of America the thirtieth. '
JAMKS ROBE TSON,
SILAS DINSML Ni,
Commissioners.
Puchunmibbee, his x mark
Mingo Hoomastubbe, his x mark,
Pooshamattah, his x mark,
Great Medal Mingoes.
Chiefs and Warriors: —
Corruption Ookchummee, his x mark; original, Okchulih,
Tiller of the land,
Corruption Tushamiuboee, his x mark; Tusuhahmutu-
bih, to whoop and also kill, and thirty-one others.
A TREATY OF CESSION
CONCLUDED, OCTOBER 24TH, 1816, BETWEEN THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATICS.
A treaty of cession between the United States of America
and the Choctaw Nation of Indians.
James Madison, President of the United States of Amer
ica, by General Coffee, John Rhea, and John McKee,
112 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Esquires, commissioners on the part of the United States,
duly authorized for that purpose, on the one part, and the
Mingoes, leaders, Captains, and warriors, of the Choctaw
Nation, in general council assembled, in behalf of themselves
and the whole Nation, on the other part, have entered into
the following- articles, which, when ratified by the President
of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Sen
ate, shall be obligatory on both parties:
Article Isti — The Choctaw Nation, for the consideration
hereafter mentioned, cede to the United States all their title
and claim to land lying1 east of the following1 boundary,
beginning- at the mouth of Oaktibuha (corruption of O-ka,
water, it-tib-ih, having fought) river, the Chickasaw boun
dary, and running thence down the Tombigbee river, until it
intersects the northern boundary of a cession made to the
United States by the Choctaws at Mount Dexter, on the 16th
of November, 1805.
Article 2nd. — In consideration of the foregoing cession,
the United States engage to pay to the Choctaw Nation the
sum of six thousand dollars annually, for twenty years; they
also agree to pay them in merchandize, to be delivered imme
diately on signing the present treaty, the sum of ten thou
sand dollars.
Thus we again see the Choctaws swindled out of their
lands, by getting only as many thousands of dollars for their
lands as they were worth in as many millions. But we had
taken them under our fatherly protection, and, as a matter
of course, they must pay for so great a favor and so great a
blessing.
Done and executed in full and open council, (but by
much misrepresentation and dissimulation, as will be here
after shown) at the Choctaw trading house, October 24th,
1816, and of the independence of the United States the forty-
first. JOHN COFFEE,
JOHN RHEA,
JOHN McKEE,
Mushoolatubbe, his x mark,
Pooshamallaha, his x mark,
Pukshunnubbee, his x mark,
TREATY.
CONCLUDED, OCTOBER 18, 1820, BETWEEN THE CHOCTAW
NATION AND THE UNITED STATES.
A treaty of friendship, limits and accommodation, be
tween the United States of America and the Choctaw Nation
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 113
of Indians, began and concluded at the treaty ground,' in
said nation, near Doak's Stand, on the Natchez road.
Preamble: Whereas, it is an important object with the
President of the United States, to promote the civilization of
the Choctaw Indians, by the establishment of schools
amongst them; and to perpetuate them as a nation, by ex
changing, for a small part of their land here, a country be
yond the Mississippi river, where all, who live by hunting,
and will not work, may be collected and settled together:
And whereas, it is desirable to the State of Mississippi, to
obtain a small part of the land belonging to said nation; for
the mutual accommodation of the parties, and for securing
the happiness and protection of the whole Choctaw nation,
as well as preserving that harmony and friendship which so
happily subsists between them and the United States, James
Monroe, President of the United States of America, by
Andrew Jackson, of the State of Tennessee, Major General
in the army of the United States, and General Thomas
Hinds, of the State of Mississippi, commissioners plenipo
tentiary of the United States, on the one part, and the Min-
goes, head men, and warriors, of the Choctaw Nation, in full
council assembled, on the other part, hav& freely and volun
tarily entered into the following articles, viz.: to promote the
civilization of the Choctaw Indians, by the establishment of
schools among them, and to perpetuate them as a Nation,
and securing the happiness of the whole Choctaw Nation:
Article 1st. — To enable the President of the United
States to carry into effect the above grand and humane ob
ject, the Mingoes, head men, and warriors, of the Choctaw
Nation in full council, assembled, in behalf of themselves and
said Nation, do, by these presents,1 cede to the United
States of America, all the land lying and being within the
boundaries following, to-wit: Beginning on. the Choctaw
boundary, eastpfPearl'river,'at a point due south of the White
Oak spring, on the old Indian path; thence north to said
spring; thence northwardly to a black oak, standing on the.
Natchez road, about forty poles eastwardly from Doak's
fence, marked A. J. and blazed; thence, a straight line to the
head of Black Creek, or Bogue Loosa (original Bok Lusa),
thence, down Black Creek, or Bogue Loosa, to a small lake;
thence, a direct course, so as to strike the Mississippi o'rre-
mile below the mouih of the Arkansas river; thence, down
the Mississippi to our boundary; thence, around and along
the same to the beginning.
Article 3rd. — , To prevent any dispute upon the sub
ject of the boundary mentioned in the First and Second
Articles, it is hereby stipulated between the parties, that
114 HISTORY OF THK INDIANS.
the same shall be ascertained and distinctly marked by a
commissioner, or commissioners, to be appointed by -the
United States, accompanied by such person as the Choctaw
Nation may select ; said Nation having- thirty days previous
notice of the time. and place at which the operation will com
mence. The person so chosen by the Choctaws, shall act as
a pilot or guide, for which the United States will pay him
two dollars per day, whilst actually engaged in the performa-
tion of that duty.
Article 4th. The boundaries hereby established be
tween the Choctaw Indians and the United States, 011 this
side of the Mississippi river, shall remain without alteration
until the period at which said Nation shall become so civiliz
ed and enlightened as to be made citizens of the United States,
and Congress shall lay off a limited parcel of land for the
benefit of each family included in the Nation.
Yet, that "period at which said nation shall become so
civilized and enlightened as to be made citizens of the United
States," never was realized, since "the boundaries" did
not "remain without alteration" by the open violation of said
4th, article on the part of the United States, as will be fully
shown and established; proving that our professed desire
and vociferous declarations, concerning the civilization, the
moral and intellectual interest of the Choctaws, were myths,
palpable falsehoods, assumed and practised to deceive the
Choctaws and thereby take advantage of their credulity, as it
is manifested even unto the present day with unblushing
boldness in our dealing with the entire Indian race, feeling
the reproof of conscience in our injustice and inhumanity to
that unfortunate and helpless people, and our determination
to rob them of their last acre of land, as a wave separated for
a moment by the course of a ship that passes through it.
Article 5th.— For the purpose of aiding and assisting the
poor Indians, who wish to remove to the country hereby
ceded on the part of the United States, and to enable them to
do well and support their families, the commissioners of the
United States engage, in behalf of said States, to give to each
warrior a blanket, kettle, rifle gun, bullet mould and nip
pers, and ammunition for hunting and defence, for one year.
Said warrior shall also be supplied with corn to support him
and his family, for the same period, and whilst travelling to
the country above ceded to the Choctaw Nation." (Mirabile
dictu! When before, in all the annals of time, was there
such a display of munificence in the simple manifestation of
an expressed desire "to promote the civilization of the Chot-
taw Indians, and for securing their happiness and protec
tion." The bestowal of "a blanket, kettle, rifle gun, bullet
HISTORY OF TITE INDIANS. 115
mould and nippers." Wonderful! Indeed, did not the
angels of heaven look with profound astonishment at such a
display of human magnanimity in its effort "to promote the
civilization of the Choctaw Indians," and bring- them into the
folds of Christianity? Surely the devil may give up his chase
after the souls of the Choctaws, since they have such a lov
ing and powerful protector in the United States of America.
Magnanimous United States ! Well may we make the welkin
ring with our huzzas of Liberty, freedom and equal rights to
all people of earth's remotest bound, when in the magnani
mity of our Christian zeal "to promote the civilization of the
Choctaws," we made that munificent bequest of "a blanket,
flap, kettle, rifle gun, bullet moulds and nippers." and then
drove them to that distant wilderness, as far from the means
of being benefitted by the influences of Christianity as we
could drive them, there to be civilized and Christianized by
our remarkable munificent gifts.)
Article 6th. — The commissioners of the United States'
further covenant and agree, on the part of said States, that
an agent shall be appointed, in due time, for the benefit of the
Choctaw Indians who may be permanently settled in the
country ceded to them beyond the Mississippi river, and, at
a convenient period, a factor shall be sent there with goods,
to supply their wants. A blacksmith shall also be settled
amongst them, at a point most convenient to the population;
and a faithful person appointed, whose duty it shall be to
use every reasonable exertion to collect all the wandering
Indians belonging to the Choctaw Nation, upon the land
hereby provided for their permanent settlement.
Article 7th. — Out of the lands ceded by the Choctaw
Nation to the United States, the commissioners aforesaid, in
behalf of said States, further covenant and agree that fifty-
four sections of one mile square shall be laid out in good
land, by the President £>f the United States, and sold, for the
purpose of raising a fund, to be applied to the support of the
Choctaw schools, on both sides of the Mississippi river.
Three-fourths of said fund shall be appropriated for the
benefit of the schools here; and the remaining fourth for the
establishment of one or more beyond the Mississippi; the
whole to be placed in the hands of the President
of the United States, and to be applied by him,
expressly and exclusively, to this valuable object.
(But what was the result of this appropriation "fifty-
four sections" of their land to the establishing and
supporting "of the Choctaw schools, on both sides of the'
Mississippi river." In ten years after, when hundreds of
dollars, proceeds of the sale of the fifty-four sections of their
116 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
own lands,; had been used in establishing' schools, and these
schools were nourishing- all over their country, I speak of
that east of the Mississippi river, and though, in spite of
embarrassments, adversities and misfortunes, they \vere
making- the most rapid progress in civilization and Chris
tianity, a quietus was placed upon everything- by the United
States forcing' them to sell their entire land possessions to
them, and driving- them, by the unmerciful hand of arbitrary
power, to the distant wilderness in the west where they had
driven the former, there to civilize themselves by means of
a "blanket, flap, kettle, rifle g"un, moulds and nippers, 'v
while their schools and the "fifty-four sections of land" be
came thing's of the past to the Choctaw, to be heard of no
more by them ; and thus we sacrificed this trusting- people,
our faithful allies, to our avarice, more odious in all its feat
ures than even the nefarious proposal which Themistocles
sug-g-ested to Aristides, of burning" the ships of the allies at
the very time in which they were engaged in fighting
for the common liberties of Greece; since he was blinded
by the glare of military glory, but we by a sordid, debas
ing and degrading avarice.
Article 8th. — To remove any discontent which may have
arisen in the Choctaw Nation, in consequence of six thousand
dollars of their annuity having' been appropriated annually
for sixteen years^by some of their chiefs, for the support of
their schools, the commissioners of the United States oblige
themselves, on the part of said States, to set apart an addi
tional tract of land, for raising* a fund equal to that given by
said chiefs, so that the whole of the annuity may remain in
the Nation, and be divided amongst them. And in order
that exact justice may be done to the poor and distressed of
said Nation, it shall be the duty of the agent to see that, the
wants of every deaf, dumb, blind, ,and distressed Indian,
shall be first supplied out of said annuity, and the balance
equally distributed amongst every individual of said Nation.
Article 9th. — All those who have separate settlements,
and fall within the limits of the land added by the Choctaw
Nation to the United States, and who desire to remain where
they now reside, shall be secured in a. tract or parcel of land
one mile square, to include their improvements. Any one
who prefers removing, if he does so within one year from
the date of this treaty, shall be paid their full value, to be
ascertained by two persons to be appointed by the President
of the United States.
Article 1.0th.— As there are some who have valuable
buildings on the roads and elsewhere, should they remove, it
is further agreed by the aforesaid commissioners, in behalf
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 117
of the United States, that the inconvenience of doing so shall
be considered, and such allowance made as will amount to an
equivalent. For this purpose, there shall be paid to the
Mingo Puckshenubbe (original, A-pak-foh-li-chih-ubih), five
hundred dollars; to Harrison, two hundred dollars; to Cap
tain Cobb, two hundred dollars; to William Hays, two hun
dred dollars; to O'Gleno, two hundred dollars; and to all oth
ers who have comfortable houses, a compensation in the
.same proportion.
Article llth. — It is also provided by the commissioners
of the United States, and they agree in behalf of said States,
that those Choctaw chief sand warriors, who have not received
compensation for their services during the campaign to Pen-
sacola, in the late war, shall be paid whatever is due them
over and above the value of the blanket, shirt, flap, and leg-
gins, which have been delivered to them.
Article 12th. — In order to promote industry and sobriety
.-amongst all classes of the Red People in this Nation, but
particularly the poor, it is further provided by the parties
that the agent appointed to reside here, shall be, and he is,
hereby, vested with the full power to seize and confiscate all
the whiskey which may be introduced into said' Nation, ex
cept that used at public stands, or brought in by the per
mit of the agent, or the principal chiefs of the three dis
tricts.
Thus was the law of the Choc taws forbidding the intro
duction of anv kind and all kinds of spirituous liquors into
their country virtually abrogated, and their strenuous efforts
to keep the hideous hydra in its proper place, among its
makers and worshippers (the white man) proved unavailing
as the door was thus opened for the white smugglers — of
whom the agents were leaders.
Article 13th. — To enable the Mingoes, chiefs, and head
men/ of the Choctaw Nation, to raise and organize a corps of
light horse, consisting of ten in each district, so that good
order may be maintained, and that all men, both White and
Red, may be compelled to pay their debts, it is stipulated
and agreed, that the sum of two hundred dollars shall be ap
propriated by the United States, for each district, annually,
and placed in the hands of the agent, to pay the expenses in
curred in raising and establishing said corps; which is to
act as executive officers, in maintaing good order, and com
pelling bad men to remove from the Nation, who are not
authorized to live in it by a. regular permit from the agent.
Article 14th. — Whereas the father of the beloved chief
Mushulatubbee (original Mosholatubil, with whom I was
personally acquainted), of the lower towns, for and during his
118 HISTORY OF .THE INDIANS. .
life, did receive from the United States the sum of one hun
dred arid fifty dollars, annually;' it is hereby stipulated, that
his son and successor Mushulatubbee, shall annually be paid
the same amount during his natural life, to commence from
the ratification of this treaty. *
Article' 15th. — The peace and harmony subsisting- be-
tw.een the Choctaw Nation of Incfians and the United States,
are 'hereby renewed, continued, and declared to be perpet
ual.
Article 16th. — These articles shall take effect, and be
come obligatory on the contracting parties, so soon as the
same shall be ratified by the President, by and with the 'ad
vice and consent of the Senate of the United States.
In testimony whereof, the commissioners plenipoten
tiary of the United States and the Mingoes, headmen and
warriors of the Choctaw Nation, have hereunto subscribed
their names and affixed their seals, at the place above writ
ten, this the 18th, of October, 1820, and of the independence
of the United States the forty fifth.
ANDREW JACKSON,
THOMAS HINDS,
Commissioners..
Medal Mingoes:—
Corrupted: Puckshenubbee, his x mark. Original:
A-pak-foh-li-chihub-ih.
Corrupted: Poohawattaha, his x mark. Original: Ar-
noom-pah-ish-tam-yah-ub-ih .
One hundred and twenty-eight names of Choctaws, who
signed this treaty are omitted.
COUNTY DISPUTE.
THE DISPUTE IN THE RIGHT OF OWNERSHIP OF GREEK COUNTY
BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND TEXAS.
The petition of the Attorney-General of the United
States affirms that according to the treaty of Feb. 22, 1819
made by the United States and the King of Spain, which was
ratified two years later, and so proclaimed by both the Uni
ted States and Spain, and that by the third article of the
treaty it was provided and agreed that "the boundary line
between the two countries west of the Mississippi River
shall begin on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Sabine
River, in the sea, continuing north' along the,' western bank
of that river to the thirty-second degree of latitude; thence by
a line due north to the'*degree of latitude where it strikes the-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 119
Rio Roxo of Natchitoches or Red River; then following" the
course of the Rio Roxo westward to the degree of longitude
100 west from London and 23 from Washington; then cross
ing the said Red River and running thence by a line due
north to the river Arkansas: thence following the course of
the southern bank of the Arkansas to its source in latitude 42
north, and thence by that parallel of latitude to the South
Sea.-- The whole being as laid down in Melish's map of the
United States, published at Philadelphia, improved to Jan
uary, 1, 1818.
"The two high contracting parties agreeing to cede and
renounce all their rights, claims and pretensions to the ter
ritories described by the said line. That is to say, the
United States hereby cede to his Catholic majesty and re
nounce forever all their claims, rights, and pretensions to
the territories lying west and south of the above described
line, and in like manner his Catholic majesty cedes to the
United States all his rights, claims and pretensions to any
territories east and north of the said line, and for himself,
his heirs and successors- renounces all claim to the said ter
ritory forever."
"The petition states that at the date of the conclusion of
the treaty aforesaid Mexico constituted a part of the Spanish
monarchy, but that Mexico, subsequently, in the year
1824, became and was established as a separate and indepen
dent power and government, and the boundary line defined
and designated in the treaty of 1819, aforesaid, thereby be
came in part the boundary line between the United States
and Mexico, all the territory of the state of Texas being* then
a part of the Mexican territory.
"The Attorney General's petition to the court then goes
on to review the different movements of the United States
and Texas commissioners to establish the line between the
disputed territory, and which all resulted in a failure -to
agree.
"The Attorney General further states that the said
state of Texas has, without any right or title thereto, claimed,
taken possession of, and endeavored to extend its laws and
jurisdiction over the said parcel or tract of land herein 'be
fore described, and does still claim, hold possession of, and
exercise certain jurisdiction over the same, and has excluded
the United States from possession of and jurisdiction over
the same in violation of the treaty rights of your oratrix as
aforesaid; all of which your oratrix charges is a manifest in
vasion of her sovereign rights and tends to the disturbance
of that amity and peace which ought to exist between the
authorities of the United States and the state of Texas.
f
120 __ .HISTORY. OF THE INDIANS.
\ "The area of the disputed territory is one million, five
hundred and eleven thousand, five hundred and seventy six
and seventeen one hundreds acres, of land.
"The petition futher states that the south fork of Red
river as now named and delineated on the maps, is the Rio
Roxo or Red river delineated on Melish's maps, described in
the treaty of February, 22, 1819, and as the boundary line of
said treaty to the point where the 100th degree of west longi
tude crosses the same.
''And your oratrix futher states that under and by virtue
of the terms of the treaty of 1819, between the United States
and Spain, she became entitled to possession of and jurisdic
tion over all that parcel or tract of land which lies between
what has been herein designated as the Prairie Dog" town
fork or Main Red river, and the north fork or Red river,
and is more accurately described as the extreme portion of
the Indian territory lying west of the north fork of Red
river, and east of the one hundreth meridian of west
longitude from Greenwich; that she has never voluntarily
abandoned or relinquished such claim to title and jurisdic
tion, but has continually asserted the same at all times since
the ratification of said treaty of 1819 up to the present time,
and does still assert the the same; that said tract of land was
never subject to the jurisdiction or claim of Spain subsequent
to the treaty of 1819 aforesaid, nor was it subject to any claim
or jurisdiction on the part of Mexico after her independence
from Spain was secured and asserted."
The following clause in the petition of the Attorney-Gen
eral states that "in consideration whereof, and for as much
as your oratrix can only have adequate relief in the premises
in a court of equity; where matters of this nature are prop
erly cognizable, and in this court by original bill, to the
end for the purpose of determining and settling the true
boundary line between the' United -States and the state of
Texas, and to determine and put at rest questions whi^h
now exist as to whether the Prairie Dog Town fork or the
North fork of Red river, as aforesaid, constitutes the true
boundary line of the treaty of 1819, aforesaid, and whether
the tract or parcel of land lying' and being between two said
streams and called by the authorities of the state of Texas
Greer county, is within the boundary and jurisdiction of the
United States or of the state of Texas."
Dr. Gideon, Lincicum who lived in Columbus, Miss, several
years prior to the exodus of the Choctaws, was present at
the treaty held by General Jackson and General Hinds at a
place known as Doak's Stand, in the Choctaw nation, in the
fall of 1820.. The object of the United States in holding this
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 121
Ireaty was to exchange all that country where the five civil
ized tribes now reside south of the Canadian River for a strip
of territory from the lower and western part of the then
Choctaw nation, known as the Huchchalusachitoh — pro. as
asHuch-chah (River) loo-sah (black) che-toh (big-.) i. e. Big
Black River country. A great many Choctaw's were in at
tendance, and after General Jackson had read the commis
sion and the President's letter to them, in a lengthy speech
he explained the object and purpose for which they had been
called together. He declared to them, that^ "to promote
their civilization by the establishing of schools among them,
and to perpetuate them as a nation, was a constant solicitude
with the president of the United States." : (But the sequel
soon proved that ''solicitude" to be false.)
"To enable the President to effect this great national
.and very desirable object to accommodate the growing state
of Mississippi ^and thereby secure greater safet}r and protec
tion to the Choctaws and their 'seminaries of learning at
home, it was proposed bv him to exchange for a small part of
their lands here, a large country beyond the Mississippi
river, where all who live by hunting and will not work, and
who by the nature of their mode of life are widely scattered,
may be collected and settled together in a country of tall
trees, many water courses, rich lands and high grass,
.abounding in game of all kinds — buffalo, bear and deer, ante
lope, beaver, turkeys, honey, and fruits of many kinds, in
this great hunting ground they may be settled near together
for protection and to be able to pursue their peculiar vocation
without dang-er.
'Another great benefit to be derived from this arrange
ment would be the removal from among the people at home
who are alreadv inclined to progress and civilization of the
bad -example of those who, in their wild wandering propensi
ties do not care for improvement. The project recom
mends itself to the thinking portion of the industrious com
munity, while it will provide ample means for the protec
tion of the careless stragglers of the Nation.
'The tract of territory which the President proposes to
exchange for the Big Black river country here, lies between
the Arkansas and Red rivers. It is a large and extended
country. Beginning where the lower boundary line of the
Cherokees strikes the Arkansas river, thence up the Arkan
sas to the Canadian river fork; thence up the Canadian to its
source, thence due south to Red river, thence down Red riv-
«r to a point three miles below% the mouth of Little river
which enters into Red river from the north, thence on a di
rect line to place of beginning.
1-22 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
'This extensive rich territory is offered in exchange by
the President for the little strip of land in the lower part of the
present Choctaw Nation. It is a much larger territory than
the whole of your possessions this side of the Mississippi
river, and is certainly a very liberal proposition. What say
the chiefs and Choctaw people to this great offer?
"After the pipe lighters had finished handing the pipes-
around and order was again restored, Apushamatahah arose,
and, addressing himself to his own people first, told them
the man who had just finished his big talk was the great
warrior, General Jackson, of whom they had all so of ten heard.
Many of them had, no doubt, seen him and, like himself, had
served under him in many successful battles. His great
character as a man and warrior, in addition to the commis
sion he bore from the President of the United States, de
manded from the Choctaw people respectful replies from his.
propositions, and for that purpose he moved that .the council
adjourn until the middle of the day, to-morrow, which mo
tion was carried and the council adjourned.
"The chiefs and head men went into secret council that
night, where they very deliberately discussed the merits of
the propositions that "had been made by the United States
commissioners. They considered it a wise and benevolent
proposition, and, notwithstanding that the land they offered
to exchange the large tract of western territory for was-
worth more to them at this time than two such countries as
the one they were offering, with the Choctaws, the thing
stood very differently, particularly in relation to the fixing
of a home for our wandering hunters in the midst of a game-
country. However, good as the proposition is, we. must in
this case adopt the white man's rules in the transaction and
get all we can from them. General Jackson is a great man,
but in his talk in making* the proposition to exchange coun
tries he has been guilty of misrepresentations which he
knows are such, and others which, perhaps, he is not ap
prised of their being false. Our plan is to meet him in the
treaty with his own policy and let the hardiest reap the
profits. If we can do no better we will take them at the offer
already made." "This much and the appointment of Apush
amatahah to do the talking, next day was the result of the
secret council.
"When at 12 o'clock the next day the council 'had assem
bled, the commissioners inquired of the chiefs if they liad
come to an y conclusion on the subject of the propositions
made to them yesterday in relation to the exchange of coun
tries? Apushamatahah arose and said that the chiefs and
leaders of his people had appointed him to reply to the com-
/ HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 123
missioners on the subject. He remarked that he fully ap
preciated the magnitude of the proposition and his incom-
peteiicy ito do it justice, especially while in contact with two
such master minds as he would have to deal with. He fur
ther remarked that when any business was intended to be
fairly and honestly transacted it made no difference as to the
capacity of the contracting- parties. One party might be a
great man as General Jackson, the other a fool, but the re
sult would be the same. The wise man in such cases would
protest the rights of the fool, holding him firm on safe gound.
From what he had already heard he had discovered that the
great transaction now about to take plnce between friendly
nations, was not to be conducted on those equitable princi
ples, and that it would not be safe for him, fool as he was, to
rely upon any such expectations. He was to come to the
contest with such powers as he possessed, do the best he
ould , and his people must be satisfied and abide the results
nd consequences.
The object and benefits to be derived by the United
States were very great and desirable, or they would not
have sent two of their greatest warrior generals to conduct
the treaty in their behalf. He was friendly toward the
United States, and particularly to their two distinguished
agents, for he had served under them and side by side in the
hour of peril and deadly strife, had aided them in the acqui
sition of Florida and a considerable portion of the Muscogee
country with his manhood, and as many of his countrymen
as he could persuade to take part in the dangers of the en
terprise. Under all these considerations he intended to
strike the bargain in the exchange of countries with them if
he could. He thought it was one of those kind of swaps, if
it could be fairly made, that would accommodate both par
ties. He should do his best, and he hoped to succeed in
presenting the thing in such a form as to convince the com
missioners that 'further misrepresentation would be entire
ly unnecessary. 'D He then sat down.
"General Jackson arose and gravely remarked: 'Broth
er Push, you have uttered some hard words. You have ac
cused me of misrepresentation, and indirectly, of the desire
to defraud the red people in behalf of my government.
These are heavy charges, charges of a very serious charac
ter. You must explain yourself in a manner that will, clear
them up or I shall quit you.' "Apushamatahah then 'arose
and made a long explanatory speech, but its length precludes
its production here.
"The closing portion was, 'I shall take much pleasure
in. my explanation to render a plain and irrefutable inter-
124 . HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
pretation of what I have said, and which will present in a
very clear light the misrepresentations in relation to the
quality of the country west of the Mississippi and the size of
the country on this side of the great river.
'In the first place, he speaks of the country you wish to
obtain in the swap as a little slip of land at the lower part of
ihe present Choctaw Nation, whereas it is a very consider
able tract of country. He has designated the boundaries of
it, and I am very familiar with the entire tract of land it will
cut off from us. *
"In the second place, he represents the country he wishes
to exchange for the 'little slip' as being- a very extensive
country 'of tall trees, many water -courses, rich lands and
liigh grass, abounding in -game of all kinds, buffalo, bear,
elk, deer, antelope, beavers, turkey, honey and fruits of
many kinds.' I am also well acquainted with that country.
I have hunted there often, have chased the Comanche and
Wichita over those endless plains, and they too have some
times chased me there. I know the country well. It is in
deed a very extensive land, but a vast amount of it is poor
and sterile, trackless and sandy deserts, nude of vegetation
-of any kind. As to tall trees, there is no timber anywhere,
^except on the bottom lands, and it is low and brushy even
there. The grass is everywhere short; as for the game, it
is not plenty, except buffalo and deer. The buffalo, in the
western portion of the .tract described, and on the great
plains into which it reaches, are very numerous and easily
taken. Antelopes, too, are there, and deer almost every
where, except in the dry grassless; sandy desert There
are but few elk, and the bear are plenty only on the Red riv
er bottom lands. Turkey are plentiful on all the water
courses. There are, however, but few beaver, and fruit and
honey are a rare thing. The bottoms on the river are gen-
erally good soil, but liable to inundation during the spring
/•season, and in summer the rivers and creeks drv up or be
come so salty that the water is unfit for use. It is not at these
times always salty, but often bitter and will purge a man
like medicine.
'This account differs widely from the description given
by my friend yesterday, and constitutes what, in my reply
to him, I styled a misrepresentation. He has proven to me
by that misrepresentation and one great error that he is en
tirely ignorant of the geography of the country he is offering
to swap, and therefore I shall acquit him of an intentional
fraud. The testimony that he bears against himself, in re
gard to his deficiency of a knowledge of that far-off country
manifests itself in the fact that he has offered to swap to me
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. \ 125
an undefined portion of Mexican territory. He offers to run
the line up the Canadian river to its source, and thence due
south to the Red river. Now, I know that a line running"
due south from the source of the Canadian would never touch
any portion of Red river, but would go into the Mexican pos
sessions beyond the limits even of my geographical knowl
edge.'
"General Jackson interrupting him, said: 'See here,.
Brother Push, you must be mistaken. Look at this map.
It will prove to you at once that .you are laboring under a
great geographical error yourself,' and he spread out the
map.
"Apushamataha examined it very minutely, while
General Jackson traced out and read the names of the rivers"
for him. Apushamatahah said: 'T#e paper is not true.'
"He then proceeded to mark out on the ground with the
handle of the pipe hatchet, which he held in his hand while
speaking, the Canadian and the upper branches of Red
river, and said, holding the end of the hatchet handle on the
ground, 'there is the north,' then rapidly tracing a deep line
on the ground, 'here is the south, and, you see, the line be
tween the two points do not touch any portion of Red river,
and I declare to you that it is the natural position of the
country and its water courses. '
"You must be mistaken, said General Jackson; at
any rate, I am willing1 to make good the proposition I have
named.'
"Very well,' replied Apushamataha, 'and you must
not be surprised nor think hard of me if I call your attention
to another subject within the limits of the country you
designate west of the Mississippi, which you dp not seem to
be apprised of. The lower portion of the land you propose
to swap to us is a prett}T good country. It is true that as high
up the Arkansas river as Fort Smith the lands are good and
timber and water plenty, but there is an objectionable diffi
culty in the way. It was never known before, in any treaty,
made by the United States with the Red people, that their
commissioners were permitted to offer to swap off or sell •
any portion of their citizens. What I ask to know in the
stipulations of the present treaty is, whether the American
settlers you propose to turn over to us in this exchange of
countries are, when we get them in possession", to be con
sidered Indians or white people?'
"General Jackson replied and told the speaking chief
that, 'As for the white people on the land, it was a mere
matter of moon-shine. There were perhaps a few hunters-
126 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
/
scattered over the country, and I will have them ordered
off.'
'"I beg- your pardon,' said Apushamataha, 'there are a
great many of them, many of them substantial, well-to-do
settlers, with good houses and productive farms, and they
will not be ordered off.'
" 'But,' said General Jackson, 'I will send my warriors,
and by the eternal, I'll drive them into the Mississippi or
make them leave.'
" 'Very well,' replied the chief, 'and now the matter is
settled as far as the land west of the Mississippi river is
concerned. We will now consider the boundary and coun
try the Choctaws are to give to you for it, and if wre can
agree upon that the trade will be completed. You have de
nned its boundaries and they include a very valuable tract of
country of considerable extent, capable of producing corn,
cotton, wheat and all the crops the white man cultivates.
Now, if we do agree on terms and run this line, it must, as a
part of this contract, be very clearly understood, and put on
paper in a form that will not die or wear out, that no altera
tion shall be made in the boundaries of that portion of our
territory that will remain, until the Choctaw people are suf
ficiently progressed in the arts of civilization to become citi
zens of the States, owning land and homes of their own, on
an equal footing with the white people. Then it may be
surveyed and the surplus sold for the benefit of the Choctaw
people. '
/ "'That,' • said General Jackson, 'is a magnificent ar
rangement and we consent to it readily.'
'An adjournment of the council was then made until 10
o'clock next day to allow the chiefs and warriors time to dis
cuss the treaty ^ and the secretary of the commissioners for
preparing his big paper, the treaty, ready for the seal.
"Next day at the appointed time the council met and
General Hinds, one of the commissioners of the United
States, made a long talk to the chiefs and warriors.
"Apushamatahah was the speaking chief, and demanded
the following additional remuneration:
1st.— 'That the United States furnish each of those who
chose to go to the new country a good rifle, bullet mould,
camp-kettle, one blanket and powder and lead to last one year.
Also corn for one year.
2nd. — "Out of the land about to be swapped, fifty-four
sections of, a mile square shall be surveyed and sold to the
best bidder by the United States for the purpose of raising
a fund to support Choctaw schools, all to be placed in the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 127
hands of the President of the United States to be dealt out
by him for school purposes only in the Choctaw Nation.
3rd. — "The United States to pay for military services of
all the Choctaw warriors during- the campaign to Pensacola.
4th. — 'Payment to all having good houses and residing
on the ceded territory.'
';A11 the propositions were agreed to by the United
States commissioners. The commissioners first signed the
treaty, them Mushulatube, Apukshinubi and Apushimataha,
the head chiefs of the upper, middle and lower districts of
the Choctaw Nation. Then 100 leaders and warriors signed
with their names or x mark. All were pleased and satisfied.
"Apushimataha was then requested to speak. His effort,
now on record, would equal Daniel Webster in any of his fam
ous orations.
"He concluded «as follows": 'I most solemnly declare
that on my part the sacred words 'perpetual friendship,'
included in the last article of the treaty, shall never be vio
lated or suffer the slightest infringement. We have made
many treaties with the United States, all conducted in peace
and amacably carried out, but this last one, the greatest of
all. has been peculiar in its stipulations, giving another and a
stronger proof of the fostering care and proctecting inten-
titons of the United States toward their Choctaw friends.
In all our treaties we have been encouraged by them to in-
situte schools, urging us to prepare ourselves as fast as
possible to become citizens and members of that great
Nation. In the treaty which has been concluded to-day the
subject of schools has been more particularly urged, and
appropriations more extensively provided than any
other former treaty. The applauding murmurs on that
subject have passed through the camps of the Red people. It
meets their approbation. They will most certainly succeed.
It is a peculiar trait in the Choctaw character, that all the
national movements turn out to be successes. - I am pleased
to hear so many speaking favorably of school institutions.
It tells me that they will have them. It is a national senti
ment, and I here venture the prediction, for I am considered
a sort of a prophet any way, that the time will come, and
there are many children and some grown men here to-day,
who will live to see it, when the highly improved Choctaw
shall hold office in the councils of that great Nation of white
people, and in their wars with the Nations of the earth,
mixed up in the armies of the white man, the fierce war
wlioops of the Choctaw warrior shall strike terror and melt
the hearts of an invading foe. Mind that; Apushimataha has
this day declared it and his words of prophecy are not ut-
128 HISTORY. OF THE INDIANS.
tered foolishly. To the chiefs, leaders and warriors of my
countrymen I may say: Return to your homes and forget,
not the words of this great treaty to which so many of you
subscribed your names with your white brothers to the same
big paper, this bright day. Nuktaniabilia, perpetual friend
ship, is placed on that paper. You have all agreed to stand
to it and manifested vour consent by having your names
placed on the big paper, where they will remain long after
you have all paseed away to the good hunting ground.'
Nuktaniabilia are corruptions of the whites and are not
the Choctaw words for "perpetual friendship." The
Original: Biliahittibaiachuffah. Pro. Be-le-ah (for
ever) it-tib-ai-ar-chuf-fah (to be one mind) i. e. Perpetual
friendship.
How easily could the sentiments and desires expressed
by the Choctaw people through their noble chief, have been,
realized but for that base venality which demanded their
country alone and their banishment to the then most inhos
pitable region then known upon the western continent, in
open violation of a thousand as sacred pledges as it is possi
ble for man to make to man. Surely we are not a govern
ment of law but of brute force impelled alone by that venality
that knows 110 principle of virtue whatever.
See the low duplicity and misrepresentation adopted by
Jackson to mislead Apushamataha, in regard to the coun
try west of the Mississippi River that he was endeavoring to
exchange with the Choctaws for a portion of their west; and
to-day, after three quarters of a century has past, it stands
as a living testimony of the honesty and truthfulness of the
noble Choctaw chief. And when lie pointed to the white set
tlers occupying a part of the offered land — mark the threat
of Jackson, "I will send my warriors, and, by the eternal, I'll
drive them into the Mississippi or make them leave;" which,
whatever name Truth and Justice deem it merits, was never
executed; and after remaining five years, the quiet of the
Choctaws was again disturbed on October 20th, 1825, by the
voice of the white man howling in Sinai thunder tones:
"More land!" "More land!" Again were they summoned
from their peaceful homes by the arbitrary voice of their
"Great Father at Washington" — great in the unsurpassed
ability of defrauding helpless Indians — to cede to the United
States that portion of their land still occupied by the afore
said settlers that the "truthful" Jackson had sworn "by the
eternal" to put into the ''Mississippi river or make them
leave." The United States got the land, as no doubt, it was
a pre-arranged plan to keep the whites upon it until the proper
time arrived, then take it; therefore, Jackson's "into the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Mississippi" was but a toot of his own horn, understood
alone by himself, though deceiving" the too confiding Apusha-
mataha. And in ten years after A-push-a-ma-ta-ha had
made the treaty of 1820 (the last he ever made) the United
States Government had defrauded (the word might be used
as can be proven) the Choctaws out of every acre of their
country east'of the Mississippi . Theold hero.had died in Wash
ington City six years before, and with him also died: "The time
will come when the highly improved Choctaw shall hold office
in the councils of that great Nation of white people, and in their-
wars with the Nations of the earth, mixed up in the armies
of the white man, the fierce war whoop of the Choctaw war
rior shall strike terror and melt the hearts of an invading
foe," and buried so deep down under the dirt and rubbish of
the white man's avarice, that left no hope of a resurrection
morn.
When stretched in his tent upon his bed of death he said
to Jackson standing near:
"Original, "Illi siah makinli su paknaka ta; pro. Il-lih se-
ah mar-kin-lih soo park-da'kah,ta; signifying, dead I am as
soon as me above.
"Original, napoh- chitoh tokahiechih; pro. narn-poh che-
toh to-kah-le-chih; sig. guns big shoot off." Which was done
according to his request.
Verily "Let Hamlet" also "be his eulogist:"
'How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties!
'In form and moving how express and admirable:'
"Let Mark Antony" also "write his epitaph:"
'His life was gentle; and the elements
So mixed in him, that nature might stand up
And say to all the world: This was a man'."1
His Motto,
Onward career of duty;
His Canopy,
A conscious rectitude of purpose;
His lamp, truth;
His Motto,
Nil, nil, desperandum. Never, never, despair!
THE CHOCTAW CLAIM.
Ever since the dispute between Texas and the United
States commenced concerning the title to Greer county, the
Choctaw Nation -had two of its ablest men in Washington
over-hauling the old treaties and watching the movements of
both disputants. The United States by the Doak's Stand
130 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
treaty in the autumn of 1820 ceded all its territory ^ to the
Chocta-ws south of the Canadian river to Red river along- the
western line of the Indian Territory. The Cherokees had
been ceded all north of the Canadian. Texas claimed that
the Red river mentioned in the treaty of 1819 between the
United States and the King- of Spain is the north fork of Red
, The United States claimed that the south fork of
river is the true Red river. This is where the dispute
rarose .
"Should a future survey be made to determine the ques
tions of boundary lines, and the south fork of Red river be
-declared the true line, the Choctaw Indians would certainly
be the legal owners.
•''The map used by General Jackson in the tre'aty at
Doak's Stand was doubtless Melish's of 1818. That map is
doubtless on file in the Department of the Interior in Wash
ington settle the controversy. General Jackson promised
to make g-ood the lines shown up the map when the speaking-
-chief at the treaty questioned its accuracy.
~uThc survey, as to how far west the 10th meridian runs
lias never been made and forty years have passed without
•Jtbe boundary line being* known. This is why the Choctaws
Ihave never presented their claims to Greer County.
The United States conveyed to the "Choctaws, on the
38th of October, 1820, all of their lands west of Arkansas
between the Canadian and Red rivers, that was within the
limits of the United States at that time ; and on the 19th of
February, 1821, the United States conveyed a strip off of the
west end, of the same lands conveyed to the Choctaws by the
King- of 'Spain, in an exchange for the then Province of Flori
da. Hence this claim of the Choctaw Nation on what is now
•loiown as Greer County. In 1855, the Choctaw Nation ceded
to the United States all their lands, then in their possession
lying- west of the 100°, for the consideration of $800,000. Now
the Choctaws claim, and justly too, it seems, that they did
not make a cession, in 1855, of that portion of the land which
the United States sold to the King- of Spain, without their
consent and for which they have never received a dollar, as
it was not in their possession to make a conveyance— it then
heing- in the possession of Spain and thus beyond their juris
diction.
Thus the United States deal with her Indian Wards,
whom she had beguiled into her power.
ARTICLE OF A CONVENTION,
Made and concluded January 20th, 1825, between John C.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 131
Calhoun, Secretary of War, being- specially authorized
therefor by the President of the United States, and the
undersigned chiefs and head men of the Choctaw Nation
of Indians, duly authorized and empowered by said
Nation, at the City of Washing-ton, on the 20th day of
January, 1825,
Whereas, a treaty of friendship, and limits, and accom
modation, having- been entered into at Doak's Stand, on the
18th of October, 1820, between Andrew Jackson and Thomas
Hinds, commissioners on the part of the United 'States, and
the chiefs and warriors of the Choctaw Nation ; and,
Whereas, the second article of the treaty aforesaid pro
vides for a cession of lands, west of the Mississippi, to the
Choctaw Nation, in part satisfaction for lands ceded by said
Nation to the United States, according- to the first article of
said treaty; and
Whereas, it being- ascertained that the cession aforesaid
embraces a large number of settlers, citizens of the United
States; and it being" the desire of the President of the United
States to obviate all difficulties resulting therefrom, and
also, to adjust other matters in which both the United States
and the Choctaw Nation are interested. The following-
articles have been agreed upon, and concluded, between
John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, especially authorized
therefor by the President of the United States, on the one
part, and the undersigned delegates of the Choctaw Nation;
•on the other part:
Article 1st. — The Choctaw Nafion does hereby cede to
the United States all that portion of land ceded to them by
the Second Article of the treaty of Doak's Stand, as afore
said, lying- east of a line beginning- on the Arkansas, one
hundred paces east of Fort Smith, and running' thence, due
south to Red river; it being- understood that the line shall
constitute, and remain, the permanent boundary between
the United States and the Choctaws; and the United States
agreeing to remove such citizens as may be settled on the
west side, to the east side of said line, and prevent further
settlements from being- made on the west thereof.
Article 2nd. — In consideration of the cession aforesaid,
the United States do hereby agree to pay the said Choctaw
Nation the sum of six thousand dollars annually, forever;
it being- agreed that the said sum of six thousand dollars
shall be applied, for the term of twenty yearsA under the
direction of the President of the United States, to the sup
port of schools in said Nation, and extending- to it the bene
fits of instruction in the mechanic and ordinary arts of life;
132 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
when, at the expiration of twenty years, it is agreed that the
said annuity may be vested in stocks, or otherwise disposed
of, or continued, at the option of the Choctaw Nation.
Article 3rd.— The eighth article of the treaty aforesaid
having- provided that an appropriation of lands should be
made for the purpose of raising six thousand dollars a year
for sixteen years, for the use of the Choctaw Nation; and it
being- desirable to avoid- the delay and expense attending- the
survey and sale of said lands, the United States do hereby
agree to pay to the Choctaw Nation, in lieu thereof, the sum
of six thousand dollars, annually, for sixteen years, to com
mence with the present year. And the United States fur
ther stipulate and agree to take immediate measures to sur
vey and bring- into market, and sell, the fifty-four sections of
land set apart by the Seventh Article of the treaty aforesaid,,
and apply the proceeds in the manner provided by the said
Article.
Article 4th. — It is provided by the Ninth Section of the
treaty aforesaid, that all those of the Choctaw Nation who
have separate settlements, and fall within the limits of the
land ceded by the said Nation to the United States, and de
sire to remain where they now reside, shall be secured in a
tract or parcel of land, one mile square, to include their im
provements. It is, therefore, hereby agreed, that all who
have reservations, in conformity to said stipulation, shall have
power, with the consent of the President of the United
States, to sell and convey the same in fee simple. It is fur
ther agreed, on the part of the United States, that those
Choctaws, not exceeding- four in number, who applied for
reservations, and received the recommendation of the com
missioners, as per annexed copy of said recommendation
shall have .the privilege, and the right is herebv given to
them, to select, each of -them, a portion of land, not exceed
ing a mile square, anywhere within the limits of the cession
of 1820, where the land is not occupied or disposed .of by the
United States; and the right to sell and convey the same,
with the consent of the President, in fee simple, is hereby
granted.
Article 5th. — There being a debt due by individuals of
the Choctaw Nation to the late United States trading- house
on the Tombigbee, the United States hereby agree to relin
quish the same; the delegation, on the part of their Nation,
agreeing to relinquish their claim upon the United States, to
send a factor with goods to supply the wants of the Choctaws
west of the Mississippi, as provided for by the Sixth Article
of the treaty aforesaid.
Article 6th. — The Choctaw Ration having- a claim < upon
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 133
-the United States for services rendered in the Pensacola
campaign, and for which it is stipulated in the Eleventh Ar
ticle of the treaty aforesaid, that payment shall be made, but
which has been delayed for the want of proper vouchers,
which it has been found, as yet, impossible to obtain; the
United States, to obviate the inconvenience of further delay,
and to render justice to the Choctaw warriors for their serv
ices in that cam paign, do . hereby agree upon an equitable
settlement of the same and the sum of fourteen thousand
nine hundred and seventy-two dollars and fifty cents;
which, from the muster rolls, and other evidence in the pos
session of the third auditor, appears to be about the probable
amount due, for the services aforesaid, and which sum shall
be immediately paid to the delegation, to be distributed by
them to the chiefs and warriors of their Nation, who served
in the campaign aforesaid, as may appear to them to be
just.
Article 7th. — It is further agreed, that the Fourth Ar
ticle of the treaty aforesaid, shall be so modified, as that the
Congress of the United States shall not exercise the power
of apportioning the lands, for the benefit of each family, or
individual, of the Choctaw Nation, and of bringing them un
der the laws of the United States, but with the consent of
'the Choctaw Nation. ;
Article 8th. — Itappearing that theChoctaws have various
claims against the citizens of the United States, for spolia
tions of various kinds, but which they have not been able to
support by testimony of white men, as they were led to be
lieve was necessary, the United States, in order to a final
settlement of all such claims, do hereby agree to pay to the
Choctaw delegation, the sum of two thousand dollars, to be
distributed by them in such way, among the claimants, as
they may deem equitable. It being understood that this
provision is not to affect such claims as may be properly
-authenticated, according to the provisions of the act of 1802.
Article 9th. — It is further agreed that, immediately upon
the notification of this treaty, or as soon thereafter as may
be practicable, an agent shall be appointed for the Choctaws
west of the Mississippi, and a blacksmith be settled among
them in conformity with the stipulation contained in the
Sixth Article of the treaty of 1820.
Article 10th. The chief Puckshenubbee, (original, Apuk-
-shiubih) one of the members of the delegation, having died
•on his journey to see the Pres. and Robert Cole recommended
by the delegation as his successor, it is here agreed, that
the said Robert Cole shall receive the medal which apper-
lains to the office of chief, and, also, an annuity from the
134 EI.TORY OF THE INDIANS.
United States of one hundred and fifty dollars a year, dur
ing his natural life, as was received by his predecessor.
Article Ijth. — The friendship heretofore existing- be
tween the United States and the Choctaw Nation, is hereby
renewed and perpetuated.
Article 12th.— Tb- e articles shall; take effect, and be
come obligbory on t* contracting parties so soon as the
same shall be ratified by the President, by and with the ad
vice and consent of the Senate of the Unite States.
In testiseiiy whereof, the said John C. Calhoun, and the
said delegates of the Choctaw Nation, havo hereunto set
their hands, at the city of Washington, the 20th day of June,
1825. JOHN C. CALHOUN.
Corrupted: Mooshulatubbee, his x mark. Original:,
Mosholihubih.
ROBERT COLE, his x mark.
DANIEL McCuRTAiN, his x mark.
TUSHKA ANUMPULI SHALI his x mark,
. Pro. Tush-kah (wrarrior) Shah-lih (messenger.)
RED FORT, his x mark.
Corrupted: Nittuckachie, his x mark. Original: Ni~
J:ak (a, as ah) a chih— To suggest the day.
DAVID FOLSOAI.
J. C. MCDONALD, Talkative warrior.
According to traditional authority, the morning star of
the Choctaws' religious era, (if such it may be termed) first
lit up their eastern horizon, upon the advent of the two great
Wesleys into the now State of Georgia in the year 1733, as
the worthy and congenial companions of the noble Oglethorpe;
but also, it flashed but a moment before their eyes as a beau
tiful meteor, then as quickly went out upon the return to
England of those champions of the Cross, leaving them only
to fruitless conjecture as to its import; nor was seen again
during the revolutions of eighty-five long and weary .years.
Though tradition affirms, there were several missionaries
(Roman Catholic) among the Choctaws in 1735; and that tha-
Reverend Father Baudouin, the actual superior general of
the mission resided eighteen years among the Choctaws.
With these two above named exceptions, I have seen no rec-
ord'of the White Race ever manifesting any interest in the
southern Indians' welfare either of a temporal or spiritual
nature, from the earliest trading posts established among
them in 1670 by the Virginia and Carolina traders, down
through slowly revolving years to that of 1815; at which
time may be dated the establishment of the first Protestant
mission among the southern Indians. This mission, which
was named Brainard, was established among the Cherokees*
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 135
"by Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, under the jurisdiction of the Old
School Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, in Bostonr
Massachusetts, who arrived in that Nation, in company with;
his assistant laborers, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, January 13th r-
1815.
In 1818, Mr. Kingsbury, in company with Mr. and Mrs-
Williams, left Brainard in the charge of Rev. Daniel S. But-
trick (who arrived there January 4th, 1818, and remained as
a missionary among- the Cherokees until 1847, when hi&
health failing-, he went' to Dwig-ht Mission also in the Chero
kee Nation, where he died June 8th, 1851) andarrived in the~
Choctaw Nation near the last of June, 1818, and established
a mission in a vast forest of lofty trees, three miles south of
Yello Busha, a river (corruption from the Choctaw words.
Yaloba aiasha; Tadpoles abounding-) and about thirty miles-
above its junction with the Yazoo, (corruption of the Choc
taw word Yoshuba — pro. as Yoh-shu-bah, and sig, Lost),,
and 400 miles distant from Barnard, which he named Elliot,,
in honor of the Rev. John Elliot, that distinguished missionr-
ary among the Indians of the New England States.
They went from Brainard to the Tennessee river,, seven,
miles distant, by private conveyance, and there wrent by way."
of a boat, which had beenengaged to carry them to the1
Muscle Shoals. A wragon was also placed upon the boat,, by
which they went from Muscle Shoals to the Chickasaw:
agency, two hundred miles away, where they abandoned the:
wagon, andcrossed the country on horseback, directed alone-
.by little paths that led through thickets and canebrakes, and
safely arrived at the Yalobaaiasha settlement, where they
were hospitably received by Capt. Perry, (a half breed) and
many native families. On the following Sabbath Mr. Kings-
bury held a 'religious meeting and proclaimed salvation
through the Son of God, for the first time ever proclaimed in
the Choctaw Nation by the Pro'testant minister. Capt. Perry
also supplied them with a house until they were able to build
for themselves.
In June, 1818, Moses Jewell and wife, John Kanouse and
wife, and Peter Kanouse left New York for New Orleans,
and reached the Choctaw Nation, in the following August..
The first tree for the establishment of the Mission was
felled on August the 15th, 1818.
The Choctaws seemed to comprehend the benevolent,
designs of the missionaries and received them with every
manifestation of friendship and good will; though some mis
apprehension was indicated owing to the debased lives of the
white men (without a single white woman), with whom the
. . .,.. .
13S HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
.
had long- associated, as true representatives of -the r
White Race in toto. "' ' -y ^ ^4$T--''-
Soon after came A. V. Williams (brother of IJ. S. :>Wil-
Tiams, who came with Cyrus Kingsbury) and Miss Varnum -.••
and Miss Chase, whom Mr. Kingsbury met in New Orleans,
and there married Miss Varnum, with whom he had been
under matrimonial engagement before he entered the mis
sion. 'They all returned to Elliot in February, 1819; then a
mission church was organized on the last Sabbath of the fol
lowing- March, and the Lord's supper administered — the
first ever witnessed in the Choctaw Nation. Ten persons -.
composed the number of that church (all connected with the
mission), and the ten partook of that supper — a strange and
incomprehensible scene to the Choctaws, who gazed at the '
novel sight with unassumed wonder.
Within ten months from the time Mr. King-bury and ,
Mr. Williams and Mrs . Williams arrived at the Ya-lo-ba-ai-
a-sha settlement, seven log houses had been erected, and
completed, the largest 20x22, and the smallest, 12x16; and
also, had nearly completed a mill, stable and store-house,
and had nearly prepared timber enough for a school house,
kitchen, and dining-room, and had sawed by hand 9,000 feet
of cypress and poplar plank with which to make furniture,
floors, doors. &c., the principal labor of all which was done
by employed Choctaws directed by the missionaries — so
-eager were they to assist their white friends who had come
to live among them and bless them by their benevolent teach
ings; and before the school house was completed, eight
children, through a false rumor that the school was opened,
were brought over 160 miles to be entered. And thus the
mission, without a school house, and also pressed by a great
.scarcity of provisions, was greatly perplexed; since, if the
children were rejected, an unfavorable impression would be
the inevitable result, and if they were received, those in the
neighborhood would claim their equal rights to the same fa
vor. However, it was resolved, upon due -reflection, to
receive them as the less of the two evils, and a little cabin
was' appropriated for a school house, and the school opened
on the 19th of April, 1819, with ten pupils
On the first of August, 1819, the mission was strengthened
by the arrival of Dr Pride and Isaac Fish, who was a farmer
and blacksmith. Shortly after, the Choctaws convened in
national council, and which, Mr. Kingsbury, through earnest
solicitation of the Choctaws, attended. The subject of
schools was discussed during the session of the couricil, in
which Mr. Kingsbury took part, and among the other things
suggested,. also proposed that all who desired to have a schoo
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 137
^established among- them should signify that desire by sub
scribing money, or live stock, as they preferred. At once a
^subscription was opened in the council, and a considerable
amount of mony was subscribed; Apakfohlichihubi (sig. One
who encircles to kill), the ruling- chief, giving $200 of the
same, while others gave 90 cows and calves, with the promise
-of as many more yearly, which was faithfully fulfilled; and
thus the mission was, at once, amply stocked with cattle. A
farm was soon opened and every effort made to prepare for
"the reception and accommodation of as many pupils as might
seek to enter the school.
The Chickasaws, learning of the school, made appli
cation for their children to attend the school, also, to which
the Choctaw chiefs, though knowing that the children of the
applicants of their own nation could not all be accommodated,
finally give their consent, fearing if they refused they would
wound the feelings of their Chickasaw friends, but with the
following proviso: That all Chickasaw children whose father
or mother were Chickasaws, would be received into the
school, and no others. Such was the zeal manifested for
schools and churches among the Choctaws, from the opening
-of the first to the closing of the last, when despoiled of their
ancient homes and driven to seek others in the distant west.
Soon afterthe opening of the schooladeep gloom threw its
dark mantle over the mission in the sudden and unexpected
killing of aged Chickasaw woman, named Illichih (pro. as II-
lich-ih, and sig. to cause to die,)and who lived about two miles
from Elliot with a son (20 years of age) two daughters and
two little grand-daughters, and had endeared herself to
the missionaries by her many acts of kindness and much val
uable assistance. The tragic affair happened thus:
A Choctaw girl, who lived about thirty miles distant,
came, a short time before Mr. Kingsbury arrived, to visit
some friends living near where Elliot wras located. The girl
was taken sick, and an old Choctaw woman — a conjuring
doctress — proposed to cure her. She was at once employed
in the case. After giving her patient a variety of root and
lierb decoctions, internally and also externally applied for
several days, at the same time chanting her incantations and
going through her wild ceremonies over and around her pa
tient, she pronounced the girl convalescent and would re
cover; the father was duly informed of the happy change,
and came to take his daughter home; he remunerated the
apparently successful physician by giving her a pony, and
retired for the night intending to start for home with his
daughter the next day; but during the night, the daughter
suddenly became worse and expired in 24 hours. It was' at
1V38 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
once decided that her sudden demise was the result of a
isht-ul-bih (witch ball) shot from an invisible rifle in the
hands of a witch. Without delay her physician was con
sulted, who'pronounced Illichih to be the witch who had shot
the fatal bullet. Immediately the father with several other
men, all armed, went to the home of Illichih and entered her
cabin. She displayed her hospitality, so universal among- all
Indians, by setting- before them the best she had ; and after
they had partaken of her scanty refreshments, the father
suddenly sprang- to his feet and, seizing- her by the hair,
cried out. "Huch-ish-no fiopa uno chumpa; aholh-kun-na
. chish-o yokut, cha ish ai illih, (your life I boug-ht; a witch you.
are, and must die.") To which Illichih, realizing- her inevit
able doom, calmly replied: "Chomi holubih, cha ish moma
yimmih" (others lie, and you all believe.") In a moment she
was stretched upon, the floor a bleeding- corpse.
When her son, who was absent from home at the time of
the trag-edy, returned, his feeling's may be imagined, but not
described. He at once hastened to the missionaries, for
whom he had often \vorked, and told them his tale of woe.
Mr. Kingsbury immediately went to the tragic scene of death:
He found the mangled corpse of his old friend lying- upon
the floor, partially covered with a blanket, with the two-
daughters and grand-daughters sitting around it in the
deepest grief, and their wailing-s but feebly expressed the
anguish of their hearts. Mr. King-sbury had a coffin made,,
and the missionaries, with the five children, laid poor Illichih
in he r humble grave, there to await the resurrectipn morn..
The missionaries performed religious ceremonies at the
grave' and after they had placed the coffin in its last resting"
place, the relatives and friends of. the deceased placed all her
cloth ing and the little money she possessed, and her bedding-,
upon the coffin and filled up the grave — an ancient custom of
the Choctaws, as well as of all North American Indians, who
believed their deceased friends will have need of those thing's
in the the world beyond the grave.
Does the reader exclaim in iiidig-nant horror atxthe slay
ing of Illichih, "What inhuman wretches!" But be not too
hasty in your judgment and condemnation of the acts of the
then unenlig'htened Choctaws; but remember our professed,
civilized and Christian ancestors — the "Pilgrim Fathers"-
stand to-day guilty of the same charge, but sixty fold more
culpable (professing what they did) than the Choctaws; for,
as soon as the Choctaws had been instructed in the impro
priety and sinfulness of killing- any one for witchcraft, no-
life was ever afterwards sacrificed to avenge the death of a
bewitched relative or friend.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 1 39
On the following- Sabbath after the tragic death of Il-lich-
ih, Mr. King-sbury preached from the appropriate text,
"The dark places of the earth are full of the habitation of
cruelty." He spoke fearlessly but calmly to his Choctaw
audience of the errors and wickedness of their superstitions,
and the abhorrence of the Great Spirit in the slaying- of their
own people through the belief that they are witches, who
listened in profound silence-'' and with the deepest
attention; and though a few old women in the Yalobaaiasha
district fell as sacrifices before the superstition of witch
craft, after the establishment of the Elliot mission, yet by
the influence and exertions of the missionaries the horrible
practice was soon forever stopped. Thoug-h they believed
that there were white witches also, yet they never attempted
to kill a white witch, upon the grounds that the whites eat so
much salt, that a witch ball fell harmless when shot against
an Indian by a white witch.
But the" kindness and interest displayed by the mission
aries to and for Il-lich-ih quickly spread over the country,
and so won the respect and confidence of the Choctaws that
all who were in affliction sent for one or more of them; and
also manifested great interest in their teachings and anxiety
for the success of all improvements both in churches and
schools, as suggested by those men and women of God.
But alas, it is a melancholy and lamentable truth that the
most that the North American Indians (everywhere over this
continent) have learned from the whites, the missionaries
alone excepted, has been, and still continues to be, that of
their follies and vices. One of the follies so incomprehensi
ble to the ancient Choctaws was, and still is, that one day, near
the close of eaeh year, should be devoted by the "pale-faces"
to eating and drinking, dancing and frolicking, carousing
and fighting, called Christmas;— incomprehensible," since so
inconsistent with what the missionaries taught them what
the Bible reasons for rejoicing were, and in what way they
should be expressed to please God, as the advent of his Son
to earth to redeem man and bring him back from the paths
of hi i and folly to those of virtue and righteousness.
In 1820, Mr. Kino-sou ry started from -Elliot for the pur
pose of establishing a mission near the It-oom bih river, and
arrived at the home of David Folsom, sixty miles distant,
and then known by the name of "Puch-i A-nu-si," (pro. as
Push-ih (Pigeon) Ar-noos-ih (Sleep) or Pigeon Roost) from
the vast numbers of that beautiful bird that formerly roosted
there. There Mr. Kingsbury secured the voluntary assist
ance of Colonel Folsom to assist him in the selection of a
proper situation for the contemplated mission; after the sec-
140 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
ond day's travel they reached Major John Pitchlynn's— -a
white man who, by marrying- a Choctaw woman, had been
adopted by the Choctaws according- to their custom, and
-who, at that time, was acting- as interpreter for' the United
States Government, and, in conjunction with Colonel Folsom
and others, was a zealous advocate of the civil and religious
improvement of his people; while both expressed the utmost
gratitude to Mr. Kingsbury for his interest manifested
toward their people, and the bright prospect of the Choc-
iaws' future as presented by the missionaries in schools and
their preaching among and in behalf of their long neglected
people.
Alas, how 'great the contrast between John Pitchlynn,
Nathaniel Folsom, Henry Nail, Lewis LeFlore, John Col
bert, and others, who over a century ago, voluntarily united
themselves ' to the fortunes of the Choctaws in toto,
standing firmly and fearlessly to the interest of that ap
preciative people through their hopes and fears, joys and
sorrows.
After many days riding over the country, Mr. Kings-
bury, Col. Folsom, and Major Pitchlynn selected a place for
•the mission station on a high point overlooking a grand prai
rie towards the south and west, and on the south
banks of a stream flowing into a stream now known as Tibi
(corruption of the Choctaw word It-tib-ih — to fight or having
fought), where they at once erected a camp, preparatory to
the establishment of the missionary station— to which Mr.
Kingsbury gave the name Mayhew. A log cabin or two
were soon erected by the aid of the neighboring Choctaws,
also a garden and cornfield opened and planted, when Mr.
Kingsbury retraced his steps to Elliot and safely arrived
there March 29th.
Soon the news of the. establishment of another station,
and the opening of another school, echoed and re-echoed
throughout the Nation with astonishing rapidity; and appli
cations were immediately made from various parts of the
Nation for stations and schools also. And to prove the sin
cerity of their applications, councils were held, and appro
priations were made in various parts of the Nation, for
churches, schools, blacksmith shops, etc., and in 1820, an
nuities were appropriated to these objects to the amount of
six thousand dollars annually to run for sixteen years.
These annuities were for large tracts of land sold by the
Choctaws to the United States. Their country was at that
time divided into three districts, know as the western, north
-eastern, and southern; called Upper Towns, Lower Towns,
.and Six Towns. Each district had a ruling chief, and each
\
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 141
town a subordinate chief, captain, and warriors, who man
aged the local affairs of the people. Elliot was located in
the western district, over which, at that time, Pushamataha
fOri. A-num-pah-ish-tarn-yah-ub-ih, a messenger of death) was
the ruling) chief; Mayhew, in the north eastern, over which
Puckshenubbee(Orig A-piurk-fo-lich-ihub-ihTo encircle and
kill) was the chief and A-mb-sho-lihub-ih of the southern.
About this time (1820) the mumps followed by the
measles desolated many families and even towns and villages
in different parts of the nation, owing to the ig'iiorance of the
Choctaws concerning the nature of the new diseases and
their proper treatment.
In the same year Apakfohlichihubih and Amosholihubih,
with seven other chiefs, visited Elliot and were highly elated
at the progress of the pupils, and exhorted the children in
strains of native eloquence to learn the teachings of the
Holisso Holitopa (pro. as Ho-lis-soh Ho-le-to-pah, and sig.
Book Holy (Bible), which told them how to be good. In a
social conversation with Amosholihubih while at Elliot, Mr,
Kingsbury referred to the evils resulting to his people by
the use of whiskey; after listening attentively for some time,
he replied: UI never can talk with you good missionaries
without hearing something about the drunkenness and lazi
ness of the Choctaws. I wish I had traveled over the white
man's country; then I would know whether my people are
worse than every other people.- But I am determined it shall
no longer be thus said. I will summon a council, have a big
talk and stop the whiskey; for I am tired ofhearing my people
called every where lazy and drunkards." He was as" good as
his word.^ The council was convened; the "big talk" had,
a'nd the whiskey banished from the Choctaw Nation, and
kept away, until the Mississippi Legislature in 1830 abro
gated their laws, and turned, by the hand of arbitrary power,
the corrupting and devastating channel of Whiskey river
into their country, as the quickest means, of securing their
remaining lands, knowing their horror of the white man's
laws with his whiskey as the protector and sustainer of
human "Personal Liberty."
Early in the year 1820, an English traveller from Liver
pool, name\l Adam Hodgson, who had heard of the Elliot
mission when at home, visited the mission, though he had to
turn from his main route of travel the distance of sixty miles.
He, at one time on his sixty miles route, employed a Choc-
taw to conduct him ten or twelve miles on his new way,
which he did, then received his pay and left him to finish his
journey alone. Of this Choctaw guide Mr. Hodgson, as an
example of noble benevolence and faithful trust, states:.
142 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
"After going- about a mile, where we became confused in re
gard to the correct direction and were halting upon two
opinions, my guide suddenly and unexpectedly appeared at
my side, and pointed in the direction I should go, as he could
not talk English. I thanked him and again we parted; but
again becoming confused by a diverging path, half a mile
distant, as suddenly and unexpectedly, appeared again my
guide who had still been, silently and unobserved, watching
my steps. Again he set me right, and made signs that my
course lay directly toward the sun, and then disappeared;"
and by carefully keeping the course as directed by the
Choctaw, Mr. Hodgson safely reached the mission, where he
was warmly received by the missionaries. Yet the Indian is
still called a savage, who "cannot be educated out of his sav
agery." God pity such ignorance, and forgive their duplici
ty in assuming to be enlightened Christians, and yet seek to
hand down to the latest posterity a part of God's created In
telligences — the Red Race — as beings incapable of being
"educated out of their savagery."
Mr. Hodgson was duly introduced to the members of the
mission, and then to the school of native American pupils.
and expressed his surprise as well as heartfelt gratifica
tion with the account the teachers gave of the uncommon fa
cility with which they acquired knowledge. After remain
ing a few days, Mr. Hodgson left, and was accompanied sev
eral miles on his way to Brainard by Mr. Kingsbury, the
missionary station established five years previous, among
the Cherokees by Mr. Kingsbury and Mr. and Mrs. Wil
liams, as before stated.
Mr. Hodgson, in a letter written shortly after he left
Elliot, thus spoke of his interview with Mr. Kingsbury in
his own room at Elliot: "A log cabin, detached from
the other wooden buildings, in the middle of a boundless
forest, in an Indian country, consecrated, if I may de allow
ed the expression, by standing on missionary ground, and
by forming at once the dormitory and the sanctuary of a
man of God; it seemed to be indeed the prophet's chamber,
with the 'bed and the table, the stool and the candlestick.
"It contained, also, a little book-case, with a valuable
selection of valuable books, periodicals, biographical, and
devotional; among- which I found many an old acquaintance
in this foreign land, and which enabled Mr. Kingsbury, in
his few moments of leisure, to converse with many, "who
have long since joined the 'spirits of just men made perfect,'
or to sympathize with his fellow-laborers in Staheite, Africa,
or Hindoostan. About midnight we became thirsty with
talking so much; and Mr. Kingsbury proposed that we
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 143
walk to the spring-, at a little' distance. The night was
beautifully serene after 'the heavy showers of the preceding
nig-ht; and the coolness of the air, the fresh fragrance of the
trees, the deep stillness of the midnight hour, and the soft
light which an unclouded moon shed on the log- cabins of the
missionaries, contrasted with the dark shadows of the sur
rounding- forest, impressed me with feeling's which I can
never forget." In regard to the mission family, he said:
*kl was particularly struck with their humility, with their
kindness of manner towards one another, and the little at
tentions which they seemed solicitous to reciprocate. They
spoke very lightly of their privations, and of the trials which
the world supposes to be their greatest; sensible, as they
said, that these are often experienced in at least as great
degree, by the soldier, the sailor, or even the merchant.
Yet, in this country these trials are by no means tri
fling. Lying out for two or three months, in the woods,
with their little babes in tents which cannot resist the rain
here, falling in torrents such as I never- saw in England,
within sound of the nightly howling wolves, and occasionally
visited by panthers, which have approached almost to the
door, the ladies must be allowed to acquire some courage;
while, during many season of the year, the gentlemen can
not go 20 miles from home (and they are often obliged to go
30 or 40 for provisions) without swimming their horses over
four of five creeks. Yet, as all their inconveniences are suf
fered by others with cheerfulness, from worldly motives,
they would wish them suppressed in the missionary reports,
if they were not calculated to deter many from engaging as
missionaries, under the idea that it is an easy, retired li^e.
Their real trials they stated to consist in their own imper
fections, and in those mental maladies, which the retirement
of a desert cannot cure. I was gratified by my visit to
Elloit, this garden in a moral wilderness; and was pleased
with the opportunity of seeing a missionary settlement in its
infant state, before "the wounds from decent separation from
kindred and friends had ceased to bleed, and habit had ren
dered the missionaries familiar with the peculiarities of their
novel situation. The sight of the children also, many of
them still in Indian costumes, was most interesting. I could
not help imagining, that, before me, might be some Alfred of
this western world, the future founder of institutions which
are to enlighten and civilize his country, some Choctaw
Swartz or Elliot, destined to r disseminate the blessings of
Christianity from the Mississippi to the Pacific from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Frozen sea. I contrasted them in their
.social, their moral, and their religious conditions, with the
144 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
straggling white hunters and their painted faces, who
occasionally stare through the windows, or, with the half-
naked natives, whom we had seeri a few nights before,dancing-
around their midnight fires, with their tomahawks and
scalping knives, rending the - air with their fierce war-
whoops, or making the woods thrill with their wild yells.
"But they form a still stronger contrast with the poor In
dians, whom we had seen on the frontier, corrupted, de
graded, debased by their intercourse with English, Irish, or
American traders. It was not without emotions, that I
parted, in all human probability forever in this world, from
my kind and interesting friends, and prepared to return to
the tumultuous scenes of a busy world from which, if life be
spared, my thoughts will qften stray to the sacred solitudes,
of Yallow Busha, as a source of the most grateful and re
freshing recollections."
Soon afterMr. Hodgson left Elliot, a re-enforcement of
missionaries arrived at Elliot and Mayhew from Massachu
setts, viz: Messrs. Smith, Cushman, Bardwell, with their
families, Byington, Hooper. Misses Frisselle and Thacher
f rom Pennsylvania. They travelled together as far as Pitts-
burg, Pennsylvania, where (November 4th, 1820) they took
passage on a large flat boat called, at that day, an Ark, and
reached the Walnut Hills (now Memphis, Tennessee) about '
the last of Decem'ber, There Mr. Cushman and his family,
and Mr. Hooper, took a wagon, and safely arrived at May-
hew after being about three weeks upon the road; while Mr-
Smith and family and Mr. Byington and Miss Thacher re-
vmained on the boat until they reached the mouth of the Yoh-
shu-bah (Yazoo); and Mr. Bardwell and his family and Miss
Frisselle remained at the Walnut Hills to look after the in
terests of the property of the mission, which had been there
deposited to await the arrival of the Choctaw packet to carry
it to Elliot and Mayhew. But the river rising to such a
height as to render 'it impracticable to travel by water, Mr.
Bardwell, after waiting many days for the falling of the river,
procured horses upon which he and his family and Miss
Frisselle rode to Elliot through the wilderness by the way
of little paths alone.
A short time before the arrival of the above mentioned
missionaries at Elliot and Mayhew, Mr. Loring S. Williams,
who came with Mr. Kingsbury to the Choctaw Nation, trav
elled over .that Nation to learn the views of the Choctaw peo
ple in regard to the establishment of churches and schools
among them, and whom he found everywhere delighted with
the idea. In his travels he visited, among many others, a
point on the Old Natchez Trace; (to which I will again refer)
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. ' 145
called French Camp, about half way between Elliott and
Mayhew where he eventually settled with his family, opened
a school and both preached to and taught the Choctaws, and
God greatly blessed him in his glorious work.
i_IZ'In tne meantime, Mr. Kingsbury met all their chiefs in a
great council near and explained to them the nature and de
sign of the missions being established in the Nation; and to
which a chief thus responded: "I be not used to make a
talk before white man, but when my heart feel glad, me can
say it. Me and my people have heard your talk before, but
never understand this business so well as now, that the
missionaries WORK FOR CHOCTAWS WITHOUT PAY; that they
leave their homes, and all for good of Choctaws. We are
ignorant. We know when day come, and when night come.
That be all they know."
Thus was manifested the eagerness of those ancient
Choctaws, as well as all their race from the days of Elliot,
the early Apostle to the Red man of North America, down
to Cyrus Kingsbury, the Apostle of the Choctaws;
and thus it would have been down to the pres
ent day, but for the interference with and pulling
down the labors of those men of God, by the hands of those
white men of the devil, whose howls are heard from the cen
tre to circumference of the land, even this day, "Open up to
white settlement ! Open up to white settlement !"
But now missions 'beg-an to be established in various
parts of the Choc taw Nation; and now was also seen the long
closed gates of an age of moral and intellectual darkness,
through wrhich even the wing of .conjecture is unable to ex
plore in its flight, swinging open to the first echo of the ap
proaching footsteps of those pioneers of the Cross bearing
and bringing the glad tidings of peace and good will to the
Choctaws, and commending the religion of Jesus Christ to
them, not more by their learning than by their life; and of
each of whom, both men and women, it truly might be said,
Israelites "in whom there is no guile." But the ever watch
ful and closely observing Choctaws at once learned to justly
appreciate the simple beauty of such lives as theirs, never
before seen nor even heard of, in all their knowledge of and
intercourse with the White Race. Consequently, they held
them in great respect and reverence; and even to this day,
though all have passed from their toils below to their rewards
above, Mr. Cyrus Kingsbury, the last of that noble little
band of Christian heroes and heroines, dying June 27th, 1871,
aged 83 years,. 7 months and 4 days, while their names live
in the memory of the present generation of the Choctaws;
since, in all the years of their long lives of labor and love
•\
146 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
among them, they did them no wrong-, but only good, and
thus proving themselves to be their real friends and bene
factors, who came to them, not with soldiers and guns as
their emblems of peace, friendship and good will, but with
the Bible alone by whose doctrines universal friendship,
peace and brotherhood may be successfully and permanently
established among all man-kind, of all nations and of every
tongue; and WAS successfully and permanently established
between the missionaries and-the Indians every where upon
the North American continent, from the first sermon
preached to them by John Elliot down the flight of years to
the last sermon preached to them by Cyrus Kingsbury. A
truth incontrovertible, too, clear too certain to admit of dis
pute. And had the love of God and one veneration of his pre
cepts, as set forth in the Bible, governed the American peo
ple in all their dealings with the Indians, as did those early
missionaries to that noble race of God's created intelligences,
they would, long since, have been a part and parcel of our
nationality filling their nook and corner of our confederacy
with gloriously redeemed manhood and womanhood that
would to-day triumphantly stand the scrutiny and verdict of
the civilized and Christian world. But alas, we tried to force
upon them the falsehood that they were inferior beings, and
justly failed; and will ever fail so long as a North American
Indian lives to hurl the idiotic notion back into our teeth,
though the howls of the modern idiots, who still strive to
diabolify the noble but unfortunate Red Race, disturb the
quiet of earth with "No good Indian but a dead Indian,"
"Once an Indian, always an Indian" exterminate the red
skins; shoot down the "bucks as rabid wolves," followed by
the doxology upon that "Harp aof thousands .strings." "Open
up their few remainidg acres of land to settlement for the
children of the Lord."
Many parents and friends attended the closing exercises
of the first session of the Mayhew school, and were delighted
at the improvement of tire children, and the day was a happy
one both to parents and pupils. Amasholih'ubih, accompa
nied by many of his chieftains and warriors, also attended
the examination, and made the following remarks to the
school: "Such a thing was not known here when I was a
boy. I had heard of it, but did not expect to see it. I re
joice that I have lived to see it. You must mind your teach
ers, and learn all you can. I hope 'I shall live to see our
councils filled with the boys who are now in this school, and
that you will then know much more thah we know and do
much better than we do." And he did live to see it. All re
turned to their homes highly pleased. At the opening of the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 147
next session of the school, Amosholih'ubih brought two of
his sons and a nephew to enter the school: also an aged Choc-
taw man brought his grandson and .daughter to enter the
school, and said to Mr. Kingsbury: "I now give them to
you, to fake them by the hand and heart, and hold them fast.
I will now only hold them by the end of their fingers."
To the examination at Mayhew in 1822, many Choctaws
came from a long distance, and the whole Nation, from cen
tre to circumference, seemed awake upon the subject of im
provement, morally, intellectually, and religiously. But
alas, the devil was not asleep, but secretly busy in trying to
thwart the good efforts of both the Choctaws and mission
aries, by influencing his abandoned white subjects, who had
fled from the religious restraints of their homes in the
States, to misrepresent the designs of the missionaries, and,
in a few instances, succeeded in inducing parents to take
their children from under the care and instruction of the
schools. But many Choctaws came the distance of 70 miles
to learn the truth of the reports; and, as might be expected,
returned satisfied of their falsity, and better pleased with the
missionaries, their churches and schools, than ever before;
and thus was the devil and his white subjects gloriously de
feated in their nefarious designs.
Soon after, a brother of Captain Cole (who died ten or
twelve miles east of Atoka in the present Choctaw Nation,
Indian Territory, in the year 1884, at the advanced age of
nearly four score and ten years) sent five children to school,
and a few months later sent another, but the school was so
crowded that the sixth could not be admitted, and for causes
not known, the father sent and took awray the five who mani
fested the greatest sorrow7 in having to leave the school.
But Captain Cole, after more room had been provided, sent
a petition with the signature of himself an'd eight chiefs
urging- the propriety of returning all the six children to the
school; and not only the six were returned, but also six
others, besides application for two others, one of whom was
his son, whom he gave to the missionaries, with the words:
"I want him to remain with you until he obtains a good edu
cation, if it takes TEN years."
Mrs. Kingsbury died at Mayhew, on the 15th day of
September, 1822, and wras buried in the Mayhew cemetery —
a true and self-sacrificing Christian woman, who gave up all
for the sake of assisting to lead the Red man of North Am
erica into the fold of her Divine Master. Her noble husband's
body rests from its earthly labors, in a Choctaw cemetery
near Old Boggy Depot, Indian Territory, among the people
he loved so well, and for whose good he labored so faithfully
148 HISTORY 'OF THE INDIANS.
for 53 long- and eventful years. She left two little boys,
Cyrus and John, the last mentioned also lies in the same-
cemetery near thegrave'of his noble father; the former, if alive,
I know not where he is. The last I heard of him, (years ago)
he was living- in Iowa.. Both were the playmates of my child
hood's years, never to be forgotten.
Ah"! How those names stir the memories that still clus
ter around my early youth! We were five missionary boys,
Cyrus and John, my two brothers and myself, all playmates
at that ag-e when we felt that we were "monarchs of all we
survey" and truly we reigned rig-ht royally. But with added
years came the "truth that the world Avas not so eag-erly
moulded to our wishes, for life soon taught its realities to us
as to all poor humanity whose days are full of sorrow, and
lives but a span. But.it rests me, to pause, here and there,
in the midst of hurry and care, to sit in this my ang-le-nook,
among- the present Choctaws Indian Territory, and ponder
o'er the joys of by-gone clays, when I was a lifth part of the
happy, boyhood group that each day gathered together in the
long ago. How well I remember it, and how warm my heart
grows at the thought. The cold adamantine wall that has
enclosed me in my contact with a busy and seemingly heart
less world crumbles to dust -and falls away, leaving me ag'ain
a tender, confiding, loving boy. Ah! That beautiful long
ago! when I received earth as full of sunshine without alloy,
and sweet song without a discordant note.
Those were days wherein the world seemed to have
reached its perfection; days, when all things seemed in uni
son with harmony, as if Nature would indulge her offspring;
when all things, animate and inanimate, seemed to give
signs of satisfaction and contentment; and even the horses
and cattle, scattered here and there in little groups, some
reposing on the green sward and others grazing around,
seemed to be indulging in tranquil thoughts. Ah ! the mem
ory of those days makes me long- once more to throw myself
into the arms of loving Nature, as in the days of yore; but
not as she smiles in well-trimmed woody groves or in culti-,
vated fields of grain; but Nature, as she was in that age when
creation was complete and unadorned by human hand. Yes,
I would go again, even in this my life's far decline — back to
the land whereof none then the history knew ; back even to .
the Red man, whom I am not ashamed to own I love; to
whom civilized vice was then unknown; where on every side
stretched away on illimitable forest scarcely to be distin
guished in the shadows of night from the hills beyond;
while the flowing streamlet, here and there, clearly gleamed
through the open glades as the ripple of night breeze gently
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. \149
#>
stirred the forest leaves. But if you, whose eyes may some
-day fall upon these, my written thoughts, I pray you perse
vere, since what I may have to tell you may not be without
interest, as I have not told it before nor will I again.
Though the death of Mrs. Kingsbury was a great
bereavement and trial to Mr. Kingsbury, yet he faltered not
in the cause of his Divine Master among* his loved Choctaws.
But two weeks after he started upon a long- journey in the
southern part of the nation to find suitable points for estab
lishing- churches and schools among- the Choctaws, that their
children mig-ht receive an education near home, and also
relieve the missions from all expenses except that of the sup
port of teachers. After several days travel, he arrived at the
home of the celebrated chiefs of the Choctaws, Apushamata-
hahubih, where he met Mr. Jewell; thence, they journeyed
together to a point one hundred miles distant, called by the
Choctaws Oktak Falaiah (Ok-tark, (Prairie), Far-lai-ah
{Long.) ) There they laid the foundations for the establish
ment of a school, which was afterwards named Emmaus, and
was near the line between Mississippi and Alabama. At Ok
tak Falaiah they made the acquaintance of Henry Nail, an
aged white man, who had been adopted by the Choctaws by
his marriage, many years before, to a Choctaw woman. He
told Mr. Kingsbury and Jewell that he had twelve children
living and one dead. He was a chief among the Choctaws for
many years, and is the progenitor of the Nail family among
the Choctaws. But I will speak of him again more definitely.
Thence the two missionaries, in company with Joel Nail, a
-son of Henry Nail, who lived near his father with a wife and
several small children, went to Okla Hunnali pro. Ok-lah
(people) Hun-nar-lih, (Six). While en route, they unexpect
edly came upon a large company of Choctaws assembled for
.a ball play. As soon as they ascertained that one of the
white men was "Na-sho-ba-An-o-wa, (Nar-sho-bah, (Wolf),
Arn-o-wah (Walking) (a name given to Mr. Kingsbury by
the Choctaws, though one foot was badly deformed by the
cut of a scythe when a boy) of whom they had heard, they
postponed their ball play, and both chiefs and warriors
gathered at once around him, and urgently solicited him to
give them "a talk" about schools. He willingly complied,
-while they listened with the deepest interest and in profound
silence to his propositions, and manifested unassumed joy at
the prospect of a school. Mr. Kingsbury then bade them a
friendly adieu, and the three continued their journey thence
to Okla Hunnali, which comprised six clans, and contained
2164 inhabitants.
Aboha Kullo Humma, (pro. Ar-bo-hah') (House; Kullo
150 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. ^
(strong) Humma (red) or,. in our phraseology — (Strong- red
house — but in the Choctaw, Red Fort) was the chief of Okla
Hunnali. The clans of the Choctaws .were all perpetuated
in the female line. When a man married, he was adopted
into the family of his wife, and her brothers had more au
thority over her children than her husband; therefore, when
a lover wished to marry a girl, he consulted her uncles, and
if they consent to the marriage, the .father and mother ap
proved. Those of the same clan were never allowred to inter-
marrv. A Choctaw regarded marrying a girl of his own clan
with the same horror as the white man did to marry his own
sister; and equally so did the Choctaw girl.
Aboha Kullo Humma was hig-hly elated at the proposition
of Mr. Kingsbuiw to establish a school among his clans, or peo
ple; and earnestly importuned Mr. Kingsbury to establish two-
inhis district; ajid such were his pleadings that Mr. Kingsbury
finally agreed to write a letter to the; Prudential Committee,
to solicit more teachers, and Aboha Kullo Humma also wrote
a letter, and sent it with Mr. Kingsbury's, a true copy of
which I here insert:
Six TOWNS, Choctaw Nation, October 18th, 1822/
BROTHERS:
"The first law I have made is, that when my warriors
go over the line among the white people, and buy whiskey,
and bring it into the Nation to buy up the blankets, and
guns, and horses of the Red people, and get them drunk;
the whiskey is to be destroyed. The whiskey drinking is
wholly stopped among my warriors. The Choctaw women
sometimes killed their infants, when they did not want to
provide for them. I have made a law to have them pun
ished, that no more children be killed." ^
This law had actually been passed and was then in full
force, as had been exemplified in the case of a woman who
had been tried and convicted for killing her infant, a short
time prior to Mr. Kingsbury's visit to Okla Hunnali. She
was tied to a tree and whipped by the officers of justice until
she fainted; and not only the woman was whipped, but her
husband also received the same punishment for not restrain
ing his wife in the destruction of the child. But thus con
tinues Aboha Kullo Humma.
"The Choctaws formerly stole hog's and cattle, and kill
ed and ate them. I have organized a company of faithful
warriors to take every man w^ho steals, and tie him to a tree,
and give him thirty-nine lashes.".
^ This law of punishing theft by whipping has never been
repealed; but has been amended to this extent, and so stands.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 151
to-day — being* fifty lashes on the bare back for the first theft;
a hundred for the second, and death by the rifle for the third.
"The Choctaws have, sometimes, run off with each oth
er's wives. We have now made a law, that those who do so,
shall be whipped thirty-nine lashes; and if a woman runs
away from her husband with another man, she is also to be
whipped in the same manner. The number of men, women,
and children in the Six Towns, is 2164. I want the good
white people to send men and women to get up a school in
my district; I want them to do it quick, for I am growing old
and want to see the good work before I die. We have al
ways been passed by. Other parts of the Nation have
schools; we have not; we have made the above laws because we
wish to follow the ways of the white people. We hope they
will assist us in getting our children educated. This is the
first time I write a letter. Last fall the first time we make
lawsi} I say no more. I have told my wants: I hope you
will not forget me." "ABOHA KULLO HUMMA."
It is a truth, though unknown to thousands, yet contra
dicted by thousands who do know it that, from an unwilling
ness to admit anything which the truth of a desire in the
Indians to become a civilized and Christian people, Aboha
Kullo Humma's letter expressed the true sentiments of
every tribe of North American Indians, to whom the mis
sionaries have gone, from the days of the missionary Elliot
down the flight of years to the present. Instead of the bread
of eternal life for which they so earnestly pleaded, except the
few crumbs the devoted and self-sacrificing missionaries
gave them, we have given them leaden bullets; while the
iron wheel of our merciless venality rolled over them, ancl
still rolls on like a juggernaut crushing them by turns, some
quickly, and some later on, to us it mattered not, so in the
end all were crushed, and we go in to take their long coveted
land; though they fled hither and thither, and plead for mercy,
yet the appeal was vain, for the blind fury of our avarice
(deaf as the adder) still thunders on only to stop, it seems,
when the last of the Red Race shall be numbered with the
past and our cup of iniquity be full, that the God of justice
may write against us — Tekel, that our ship of State may also
go down in the vorte caused by the sinking of theirs.
From 1822, to the time they were dispossessed of every
foot of their^ ancient domains, and driven away to a then
wilderness, the schools increased in numbers, and the ordi
nances of religion were augmented, and a deeper interest
manifested every where over their country — never witnessed
before; as they, previous to that time, had had intercourse
with the debased of the White Race, by whom they had been
152 HISTORY OF THE^ INDIANS.
taught in the school of vice, and nothing- but vice: therefore
the North American Indians have been accused, from first
to last, of having- no conception of an over-ruling providence
— the Creator of all things, and an effort has been made to
sustain the charge in that they believed in the supernatural
power of their rain-makers, their fair-weather-makers, and
the incantations of their doctors. But the charge is utterly
false. 'Tis true, they relied on their rain-makers, fair-
weather-makers and the conjuring of their doctors, through
the belief that, by prayer and supplication, those person
ages had been endowed with supernatural powers by the
Great Spirit, (their God and ours), in whom all Indians be
lieved, and with greater veneration than the whites, and I de
fy successful contradiction. They sought the aid of the
rainmakers, doctors, &c, just as we do the prayers of our
preahers in behalf of our sick, and for our rain, etc. Now,
whatmore did or do the Red Race than the White? Noth
ing. Yet the Indians must be called infidels; though there
are today, and always have been, ten thousand white ifidels
to one Indian, and always will be. The Indians have also
been called savage, and are still so called, because he suf
fered himself to be tortured with fear and anxiety in the
belief of the existence of witches and ghosts, and that many
were slain because they were believed to deal in witchcraft.
But say you, "Remember Illichih!" I do; but also point you
back to Cotton Mather. The slayers of poor Illichih knew noth
ing of the injunctions of the Bible, and were called savages;
but Cotton Mather was an expounder of the Bible, and his
adherents the professed believers of its teachings, but he
and they are called Christians. Now judge ye, (if ye can do
so impartially) if "savage" is recorded in heaven against the
slayers of Illichih, is "Christian" also recorded there against
the slayers of those charged with witchcraft in Massachu
setts? Is it just that the North American Indians alone
must still be held up to view by the stigmatizing name Sav
age, though years ago, they freed themselves, as a people, of
all such nonsense; while thousands of the White Race among
the civilized nations, our own included, are to-day the slaves
of that most foolish of all foolish superstitions, yet demand
to be called civilized and a'Christian people?
Mayhew, the second mission established among the
Choctaws, as before stated, was located on the eastern bor
der of a magnificent prairie that stretched away to the west
and south in billowy undulations presenting a scene of
fascinating loveliness unsurpassed, when arrayed in its
dress of summer's green, dotted with innumerable flowers
of various colors; and the country in all directions for
^J HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 153
miles away, was rich in all the boundless extravagance of
picturesque beauty, where Nature's most fascinating" feat
ures everywhere presented themselves carelessly disposed
in wild munificence, unimproved, and indeed unimprovable
by the hand of art. Truly the lovely situation of that mis
sion is still fresh in memory, though more than a half cen
tury has passed away; and to-day, as of that long ago, the
eye of memory sees the far extending prairie on the south
and west, and the boundless forests on the north and east,
with their hills and vales of romantic loveliness, and creeks
and rivulets combining to give a moral interest to the pleas
ure derived from the contemplation of Nature in her bright
est, happiest and most varied aspect. Ah! the imagination
^could but fold its pinions, and stand in wondering admira
tion amid the sublime solitudes of the grand forests of that
day, while hill and dale seemed as entrancing to the eye with
their beautifully draped garments of green as the weird
music of the winds amid their branches was to the ears of
fairies played on mystic Memnon's harp tuned to audible
minstrelsy under the glancing rays of the morning and even
ing sun.
Their horses, cattle and hogs, which they possessed in
•great numbers, were fed alone from Nature's ample store
house filled at all times with the richest varieties of proven
der-grass, cane, acorns and nuts; while game of many vari
eties roamed over their forests undisturbed only as necessity
demanded their destruction. Birds of many kinds, and of
various plumage, added their enchantment to the scene.
The missionaries found the Cherokees, Choctaws and
Chickasaws in their native state — that of mortality unadorned;
yet struggling into the dawn of civilization as those who had
heard afar the roar of the world's civilization and roved im
patiently to the shore; and they soon learned that even the
despised, defamed and down-trodden Indian rejected not
God's law — improvement; nor was wanting in ability, while
their sentiments found .an expositor, and every feeling and
oracle in his untutored breast. Therefore, they sought to
make them religious through their best feelings rather than
their worst; through their gratitude and affections, rather
than their fears and calculations of risk and future punish
ment; and they found by giving them the least advantage of
instruction they glided into refinement; and also found that
there was that sentiment in the Indian that gives delicacy to
thought, and tact to manner; for they listened and caught
knowledge in the natural way of beneficence and power of
God; of the mystic and spiritual history of man; and philan
thropic missionaries were charmed by their attention. How
154 HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. •>
true that, in the nature of man — the humblest to the hardest
—there is something- that lives in all of the beautiful or the
fortunate which hope or desire have appropriated, even in the
vanities of a childish dream! At the time of the advent of the
missionaries, the Cherokees, occupied the now State of Ten
nessee," the Chickasaws the north part of the now State of
Mississippi, and the Choctaws the south part including-
also the western part of the now State of Alabama and the
eastern part of the now State of Louisiana. Those early
missionaries (both men and women), who offered their lives
to the cause and thoug'ht no more of themselves, were of
strong- character, firm resolution and of fine tastes and
ideals;' and of those missionary women'it may be truthfully
added, 'the}T were intelligent and elegant as they were heroic;
and the lovers of missionary lore oft read with delight the
ideal romance of their lives.
They first studied and made themselves acquainted with
the various dialects of the Indians' complicated languages— -
difficult because of the combination of signs and wrords that
cannot be reduced to any known rule; they administered to-
the wants of the sick and dressed the wounded; they braved
sickness and death and p-reached the tiding-s of peace oil
earth and g-ood will to men; and to-day, thoug-h, long- since,.'
all have g-one to receive their reward — a blissful immortality
amid eternity's scenes — yet their names and deeds of right
eousness stand triumphant and revered, while over them and
those whom they -taught and led, the Choctaw, the Chicka-
saw, the Creek, the Cherokee, the Seminole — waves the
white banner whose only symbol is the Cross of the World's-
Redeemer.
But in their early labors of love among the above named
people what did those selfsacrificing men and women find?
They found the Indians confidence was easily gained, and as.
easily retained by just and humane treatment, they found
that he was not vicious nor bloodthirsty, an untamable
savage, as he was and ever has been so unjustly represented
to be; they found that, unlike his white defamer, he never
was profane. He took not in vain the name of his God, the
Great Spirit, nor the names of the subordinate deities, to
whom his religion taught him the supreme Great Spirit dele
gated supernatural powers among men. Whatever he loved,
he called it good; whatever he hated, he called it bad. Of
whiskey he said: uO-ka-ki-a-chuk-ma, Water" not good, that
was all.
They found the men to be, to a great extent, even as the
whites, good husbands, loving fathers, and the most faithful
of friends; the women, devoted wives, adoring mothers, and
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 155
equally true as friends, and both men and women, truthful
to the letter, all scorning1 a lie and a liar.
'They found among- all the men the attributes of the
heroes, in truth, honesty, fidelity and patriotism, unsur
passed in the annals of the human race, all sustained by in
controvertible testimony for two centuries past; yet, with
mair^ foibles common to the fallen race of man, but with few
of the prominent and debasing" vices of the White Pace.
They found them to be a race that defied the tortures of
an enemy to produce a groan, to shed a tear or manifest
.pain. Stake man or woman to the ground and burn them to
death by degrees, and they would expire without a moan
chanting his or her death-song defiantly to the last gasp. t '";
They found them, in the literal sense of the word, to b:e
communists. Whatever they had was cheerfully bestowed
to any needy of their tribe. "Will I let my brother suf
fer when I have plenty?" replied an Indian to a white man. who
advised economy by saving- his superfluous meat against the
scarcity of winter instead of dividing* it among1 his fellows.
His 'generosity and his hospitality were extended even to an
enemy — whose life was safe if he entered his cabin and par
took even a drink of water; for the Indian's laws of hospital
ity were inviolate. ' ',' '
The religion of Jesus Christ fell upon the ear of the Red
man as a bright and beautiful elucidation of his own vague
but often sublime conceptions, and, under the mild teaching's
of the devoted missionaries, he adapted himself to the spirit
of the age and accepted his ne\v surroundings because the
power which led him on to civilization was that of the Soldier
of the Cross instead of the sword.
The missionaries also found them with the knowledge of
good and evil; they too were embued with the eternal princi
ples of love and hate; feeling that they were by Nature in
tended to be free, yet feeling that they were slaves to circum
stances — alike with the human race— seeking the good yet
too oft finding the bad; but not being able to attribute both
the good and the evil to the same All-Wise Being, they im
agined that these gods were alike anxious to do them service
—the one to give them pain and sorrow, and the other pros
perity and pleasure; the one ever thwarting them in their
undertaking, the other encouraging and assisting them;
they, therefore, desired, and very naturally, too, to appease
the one and please the other, and this desire, as a natural
consequence, influenced them to the worship of both the god
of evil and the god of good; yet those holy men of God also
found, that the Indians' thoughts (the wild ivy of the human
mind) could be trained upward until they too were hung
156 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
around by the tenderest associations and the recollections of
all that is" sweet and solemn in man's nature, as it points up
wards to a blissful immortality in the skies; and that their
spirits and hopes at once began to mount up from earth in
ihe pathway thus indicated by the light of truth; to reach
the blissful home so timely suggested by those men and
women of God.
But, alas, for the Choctaws !
The white man soon disturbed the long and deep rest of
their happy lives, not for their moral and intellectual im
provement and advancement in Christian civilization, but
.alone for their banishment from their ancient domains of con
tentment and bliss to impoverishment and humiliation in a
•distant wilderness in the west, with the injunction "Root
pig or die," where there was actually nothing for which to
root.
There were many things which served to awaken in the
minds of the early missionaries to the present five civilized
tribes, when living in their ancient domains east of the Missis
sippi river, sad and melancholy reflections. They beheld all
around them indubitable evidence of the former existence of
a large population who lived long prior to the people among
whom they labored, and had in the years of the long ago per
formed their part upon the stage of life, and unremembered,
passed into the secret chambers of oblivion. They felt
that they walked over the graves of a long succession of gen
erations ages before mouldered into dust; the surrounding
forests were once animated by their labors, (as their rude
and mouldering fortifications testified), their huntings and
wars, their songs and their dances; but silence had drawn
its impentrable vail over their entire history; no lettered page,
no sculptured monument told who they were, whence they
came, or the period of their existence.
But how strange the scene presented to the Cherokees at
Brainard, to the Choctaws at Elliot, and the Qhickasaws at
Monroe, (the names given to the missionary stations, the first
established among the peculiar but appreciative people I) How
incomprehensible to them was the conduct of the pale faces
then and there. How different from all others they had ever
seen or heard, the white traders, whiskey peddlers, strag
glers and refugees from justice! In all their previous know
ledge of whose race, they had seen the same motto inscribed
upon all their flags— "Traffic and trade, War and strife;"
but now they came disrobed of every appearance1 of greedy
gain and all implements of war and strife, and teaching the
strange tidings of peace on earth and good will to man. Nor
were the missionaries scarcely less astonished to find the
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS 157
people who had been represented to them by the tongue of
calumny as a set of savages, to be quite the reverse — even a
remarkable people in many respects; first, for their native
moral principle, their innocence of all hypocrisy, lying- and
all forms of deceit, in all their social relations with each other;
secondly, for their virtue, their fair-mindedness,- their
great and abiding paternal and parental aff ectioii; thirdly,
their respect for the right of property and the sacredness of
human character from slander and vituperation.
This is not an over-drawn picture. Nowhere among
any people was property, life, and human character more
sacred, and hypocrisy and lying less known, than among the
ancient Choctaw and Chickasaw, Cherokee and Muskogee
people. I speak from personal knowledge. And the mis
sionaries found them, to their agreeable surprise, as little
meriting the title, savag'es, which ignorance, prejudice and
imbecile egotism had applied to them, as any race of unlet
tered people that were ever known to exist; and, in viewing"
them in the light of a true catholic spirit, saw much that was
touching and beautiful in their manners and customs. They
also found them to be a people with immovable faith in a
Supreme Being, and possessing a great reverence for powers
and abilities. superior to those of earth; though, to some ex
tent, materialistic in their conception, but totally ignorant of
the white man's ideas and views of Christ and the Father.
They regarded the Great Spirit as the source of general
good, and of whom they asked guidance in all undertakings,
and implored aid against their enemies, and to whose power
they ascribed favors and frowns, blessings, successes and
disappointments, joys and sorrows; and though their faith
may have seemed cold to us, and their ceremonies, frivolous,
ridiculous, and even blasphemous in our eyes; but in such
lightas they had truly walked, with ready and sincere acknowl
edgement of human dependence on super-human aid and
mercy. Can we say as much for ourselves? Do we walk
according to the light we have as truly and faithfully as the
unlettered Indians did?
But among the many things that are associated with the
North American Indians as topics of conversation and sub
jects of the printer's ink-more talked about and less under
stood-is the "Medicine Man." On Nov. 14, 1605, the -first
French settlement was made in America, on the north-east
coast of Nova Scotia, and they gave the name A'cadia to the
country; and on July 3, 1808, Samuel Champlain laid the
foundation of Quebec. The character "Medicine-Man" had
its origin, according to tradition, among those early French
colonists who corrupted the word "Meda" — a word in the
158 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
language of one of the Indian tribes of that day signifying
chief, into "Medicine-Man," and also called the religious
ceremonies of the Indian "making medicine," which was
afterwards called, as the result, "medicine," and which final
ly became in use among the Indians themselves, and has so
continued to the present day.
It was a religious ceremony for the propitiation of invisi
ble spirits and practised by all of the North American
Indians, with scarcely an exception. The ancient Choctaws
and Chickasaws had their Medicine Men, with many of whom
I was personally acquainted in the years of the long ago.
There were two kinds of Medicine (religious ceremon
ies) among the Choctaws and Chickasaws, the same as
among all other tribes of their race, the tribal medicine and
the individual, each peculiar to the individual tribe and in
dividual person of that tribe. What the different ingredients
were, which composed the tribal medicine, no one knew, or
ever tried to know, except he who secretly collected and
stored them away in the carefully dressed, highly orna
mented and sacred deer-skin sack; yet it was held as sacred
in the hearts of the entire tribe of all ages and sexes, as was
the ark of the convenant among the ancient Jews. And
equally so was that of the individual, whose ingredients were
known only to its maker and possessor. More than once did
my boyish curiosity induce me to ask a Choctaw warrior
what was in his medicine sack, but only to get the repulsive
reply: None of your business.
Indeed, the mission of the tribal medicine was to the In
dians the same, to all intents and purposes, as that of the sa
cred ark to the ancient Jews when borne through the wilder
ness in those days of their historical pilgrimage^ It was re
garded as the protector of the tribe, in fact, tfife visible em
bodiment of the promise of the good Great Spirit to provide
for the tribe all the necessaries of life, and protect them
from all enemies. So too was that of the individual medicine
which he had made fqr himself alone, and which was indeed
a part of his life, — his assurance in danger, his safety in bat
tle, and his success amid all the vicissitudes of his earthly
career. If the sacred and secret articles that composed the
contents of the tribal medicine bag, or those of the individual
medicine bag, should become known to others, than the one
who collected and placed them therein, the mystic bag at
once became powerless— even as Sampson, when shorn of
his hair by the treacherous hands of Delilah. And was it
captured in war or otherwise fell into the hands of an enemy
the greatest consternation fell upon the entire tribe, and su
per-human efforts were made to recover it. If they failed in
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 159
this, overtures soliciting- pearce, even to humiliation, were
made at once to the ememy.
But, if an individual was in any way deprived of his,
which he always kept 'about his person, he -made another.
The making of another may seem an easy matter to the un
informed. But not so. It entailed upon the maker a long
period of utter seclusion in the solitude and silence of the
forest far away from the abodes of man-kind, with long- con
tinued fasting, meditation and prayer, followed by long- pro
tracted labor in finding and securing the necessary articles,
such as earths *of different colors, the ashes of various
weeds, bones of certain birds and snakes, and various other
things which his fancy may suggest. These were placed
in a vessel of water prepared for the. purpose, and the vessel
is then placed upon a lire and the contents continually stirred
with a st^ck as it became more and more heated. During
this process he obtains a sign from some developed peculiarity
which he regards as infallible, and which enables him to in
terpret signs and omens, both of good and evil. A small
portion of the contents of the vessel was placed in his mystic
sack and accompanied him every where. In time of peace,
the tribal medicine was placed in the care of a chief noted
for his bravery, who carefully guarded it from all profana
tion; but in the time of war, the war-chief carried it in front
of his warrior as they marched upon the war-path. The
youthful warriors was always instructed in the art of mak
ing medicine by the aged men of the tribe, of which he made
good use antl never forgot.
The philosophy of the ancient Indian ever taught him
to concentrate his mind upon the spirit land; and that the
influences which surrounded him in Nature, above, beneath,
around, are sent direct by the spirits that dwell in an invisi
ble world above; that there are two kinds of spirits — the
crood and the bad, who are continually at war with each other
wer him, the good directing all things for his prosperity
and happiness, the bad directing all things agaiiist his pros
perity and happiness; that within himself he can do nothing,
as he is utterly helpless in the mighty contest that is waged
over him by theigood and bad spirits. Therefore, he exerts
his greatest energies of mind and body to the propitiation of
of the bad spirits rather than the good, since the former may
be induced to extend the sceptre of mercy to him, while the
latter will ever strive for his good, and his good alone.
Therefore, when he is fortunate he attributes it to some good
spirit; when unfortunate, to some bad spirit. So, when he
-said it is "good medicine," he meant that the good spirit had
160 HIST OR Y O F THE INDIANS.
the ascendency; and when he said it is "bad medicine" he-
meant that the bad spirit had the ascendency.
Therefore, all thing's in nature, as a natual consequence,,
indicated to him the presence of the spirits, both good and
bad, — as each made, known their immediate nearness
through both animate and inanimate nature. The sighing-
of the winds; the flight of the birds; the howl of the lone wolf;
the midnight hoot of the owl, and all other sounds heard
throughout his illimitable forests both by day and by nip-ht,
had to him most potent significations; and, by which, he so
governed all his actions, that he never went upon any enter
prise, before consulting the signs and omens; then acted in
conformity thereto. If the medicine is g'ood, he undertakes
his journey; if bad, he remains at home, and no argument
can induce him to change his opinion, which I learned from
personal experience.
The missionaries found the precepts of the Choctaw's
to be moral; and also that they respected old ag^e, and kept
fresh in memory the wise councils of theii; fathers, whose les
sons of wisdom the experience of the past, taught their
youthful minds to look upward, and whose teachings they
did not forget in their mature years.
Their tenderness to and watchful care of the aged and
infirm was truly remarkable; they looked upon home and
regarded their country as sacred institutions, and in the
defense of which they freely staked their lives; they also in
culcated a hig-h regard for parents, and were always cour
teous by instinct as well as by teaching; they held in high
veneration the names of the wise, the good, and the brave of
their ancestors, and from their sentiment toward the dead
grew sweet flowers in the heart. They believed that interity
alone was worthy of station, and that promotion should rest
on capacity and faithfulness; they also had swift and sure
methods of dealing with the incorrigible, official or private;
nor were they impatient of the slow processes 'of the years
but knew how to wait in faith and contentment; and if they
were not as progressive, as our opinion demands in its rush
for gain and pompous show, they had at least conquered the
secret oi National and individual steadfastness. To-day we
are a prodigal and wasteful people, the .Indians are frugal
and economical.
In 14 months after the location of the mission at Elliot
by the indefatigable perseverance of Mr. Kingsbury, a
sufficiency of houses were erected, a school was opened,
and that then young pioneer of the Cross proclaimed the
Gospel of the'Son of God, where it never before had been
proclaimed; and at the time the Chactaws were so cruelly
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 161
driven from their ancient domains to make room for our cruel
and unchristian venality called "Progress," the Ellliot and
May hew missions together with the eleven other established
in various parts of the Choctaw Nation, were in a flourishing
condition; and this earliest effort to evangelize this worthy
people, was highly encouraging from the readiness, yea,
absolute eagerness, on their part to receive instruction.
A considerable and suitable literature both educational and
religious was soon prepared; a school system was also founded
> through which many young Choctaws, both male and female,
received the elements of a good education. Many of the
useful arts of civilized life were introduced; and the mission
aries had gathered many Christian congregations of whom
not a few had received the good seed in an honest heart.
And of those noble, self-sacrificing missionaries, it may truly
be said, "Their works do follow them;" and to-day the names
Kinp"sburv, Byington, Williams, Cushman, Polly, Hotchkins,
Hawes, Bardwell and Smith, are still held in grateful re
membrance by the Choctaws, as the names of some "of those
who were their true, their noblest and best earthly friends,
to which the following will truthfully attest.
In his first annual report of the Elliot Mission, bearing
date October 28th, 1819, Mr. Kingsbury says: (I copy from
the original MS.) "The first tree was^ felled on the 13th of
August, 1818. Since we arrived, (himself and Mr. and Mrs.
Williams) we have been joined by the following persons;
Mr. Peter Kanaise, Mr. John Kanaise and wife, car
penter, Mr. Moses Jewell and wife, Mr. N.Jersey, Mr.
N. York, 'carpenter and millwright, Mr. A. V. Williams,
laborer, Mrs. Kingsbury, Miss Chase, Mr. Isaac Fisk,'
blacksmith, Mr. W. W. Pride, physician.
"All these came out to labor gratuitously for the benefit
of the Choctaws.
It would be trespassing unnecessarily on the time of
the secretary to detail the principal circumstances and diffi
culties which have attended the progress of our labors.
They have been similar to what must always attend sucji
enterprises in an uncivilized country far removed from those
places where the necessaries, comforts, and conveniences of
life can be obtained.
Since our arrival, we have been principally occupied in
erecting buildings. This devolved upon us much labor and
greatly retareted our other business, but by the blessing of a
kind Providence, we have been prospered in our work, much
beyond our expectations.
Within about fourteen months there have been erected at
162 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Elliott seven commodious cabins which are occupied as
dwelling- houses. /
A dining- room and kitchen contiguous, (54 x 20) with
hewed logs and a piazza on each side.
- A school house 36ft x 34 hewed logs; and finished on the
Lancastrian plan.
A millhouse 34 x 30ft, and also a lumberhouse and
granary, each 18 x 20ft.
A blacksmith shop, stable, and three outhouses, all of
which are nearly completed.
On the plantation between 30 and 40 acres haAre been
cleared and fenced; and between 20 and 30 acres have been
cultivated, which have produced a considerable quantity of
corn, potatoes, beans, peas, etc.
Besides the above, considerable time has been spent in
cutting- roads in different directions, and constructing several
small bridges, which were necessary for transporting- with a
wag-on.
The stock at present belonging- to the mission, consists
of 7 horses, 10 steers, 75 ccws, 75 calves and young cattle,
and about 30 swine. Of the above, 54 cows and calves, and
6 steers and young cattle have been presented by the Choc-
taws for the benefit of the school.
"There is no private property attached to the mission.
All is sacredly devoted to the various purposes of instructing-
the Choctaws. t
"Urged by the importunity of the natives, the school was
commenced under many disadvantages in April last, with
ten pupils. As accommodations and means of support have
increased the school has been enlarged, and there are fifty-
four students who attend regularly— males and females.
All these board in our family. They are of different ages—
from 6 to 20, and could not speak our language when they
came. More pupils'are expected to join the school shortly.
In addition to the common rudiments of education, the boys
are acquiring a practical knowledge of agriculture in its
various branches, and the girls, while out of school, are em
ployed under the direction of the female missionaries in\dif-
ferent departments of domestic labor. We have also a full-
blooded Choctaw lad learning- the blacksmith trade; and
another, now in school, wishes to engage in the same em
ployment, so soon as there is opportunity. All the children
are placed entirely under our control, and the most entire
satisfaction is expressed as to the manner they are treated.
"The school is taught on the Lancastrian plan, and the
progress of the children has exceeded our most sanguine ex
pectations. Thirty-one began the A. B. C's. Several of these
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 163
can now read the Testament, and others in easy reading- les
sons. Most of them have also made considerable prog-ress
in writing.
"There have been instances of lads 14 to 16 years old, en
tirely ignorant of our language, who have perfectly learned
the alphabet in three days, and on the fourth day could read
and pronounce the abs. We have never seen the same num
ber of children in any school, who appeared more promising-.
Since they commenced, their attention has been constant.
No one has left the school, or manifested a wish to leave it.
"Want of accommodations, but more particularly want of
funds, has obliged us to refuse many children who wish to
enter the school. If adequate means can be obtained, we
design to increase the number to 80 or 100. It is our inten
tion to embrace in their education, that practical industry,
and that literary, moral and religious instruction, which may
qualify them for useful members of society; and for the ex
ercise of those moral principles, and that genuine piety,
which form the basis of true happiness.
"The expenditures of the mission, including the outfit
and traveling expenses of the missionaries, and exclusive of
their services (which have all been gratuitous) have been more
than $9000: About $2000, of this has been on account of
buildings. It has been our constant endeavor to impress on
the people of this nation the advantages of instruction, and
the propriety of their contributing towards the education
of .their own children; and by commencing on a labored and
extensive scale for their improvement we have drawn forth a
spirit of liberality as unexpected as it is encouraging.
"At a council in August, which by invitation I attended,
the natives subscribed ninety-five cows and calves,' and more
than $1300 in cash kfor the, benefit of the school. At a lower
town district, in September, they unanimously voted to
appropriate $2,000 (their proportion of the money due from
the United States for the last purchase of land) to the sup
port of a school in that district. It has been proposed in this
district to make a similar appropriation for the benefit of
this school.
"These measures disclose the disposition of the Nation
and evince that under the influence and direction of
the Executive a fund might be established, which eventu
ally would be adequate to the instruction of the Nation,
We feel a confidence that in future treaties with the Nation,
this subject will, without any suggestion of ours, receive
that attention which its consideration demands."
"To bring this people," continues that true Christian,
"within the pale of civilization and Christianity is a great
164 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. s
work. The instruction of the rising- generation^ is unques
tionably the most direct way to advance. Nothing1 is now
wanting- to put the great mass of children in this Nation, in
a course of instruction but efficient means.
It may be puoper to observe that the Chickasaws are
anxious to have similar institutions in their Nation; and
two more are earnestly desired and much needed by the
Choctaws. For the support of one of them, two thousand
dollars for 17 years annually ($34,000) have already been ap
propriated by the Choctaws. It is the intention of the Amer
ican Board to commence one or more of the establishments as
soon as they can command the means. It is therefore desir
able that the one already commenced here should be comple
ted without delay and placed on a permanent foundation.
Before closing- this report, I beg" leave to remark on two
points relative to the improvement of the Choctaws.
First: We think the introduction of a few respectable
mechanics of good moral character, would be of great ad
vantage in civilizing and introducing industry among them.
We have a blacksmith of this description, who came out at
the expense of the American Board, and the profits of his-
work are devoted to the support of this establishment. Many
of the mechanics found in the Indian countries are of little
advantage in any respect; and the conduct of some is an out
rage on barbarism itself.
Second. — "Could the missionaries be relieved from the
labor of erecting the buildings, it would enable them much
sooner to direct their attention to the improvement of a
plantation and other necessary preparations for commencing
the school.
"With sentiments of sincere respect, I am, dear sir,,
your obedient and very humble servant,
CYRUS KINGSBURY.
From a letter (now before me) written to the then young
missionary, Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, bearing date, October,
2nd, 1819, I take the following extract: "In a situation like
yours, it must be an unspeakable comfort to know that you
have the prayers of God's people. Many are daily supplicat
ing the Throne of Grace for you, and the object in which you
are engaged; but I presume you can hardly realize the extent
of the interest which is awakened for our missions among
the Southern Indians. The eyes of all our churches are
turned toward them with the earnest expectation, which is
the offspring of faith and prayer. The Indian character in
the estimation of even those who have hitherto deemed
them too savage to be civilized; and those who acknowledged
the excellency of many of the native traits of their character,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 165
were faithless as to the practicability of making- them
good citizens, are now convinced by the experiments made at
Brainard, (among- the Cherokees) that the Indians can be
educated, become good citizens and devout Christians.
Another evidence that had the whites exercised the same
credulity in giving1 heed to the voice of truth that so long- and
loudly appealed to them in behalf of the Indian race, as they
were credulous to the voice of falsehood, the unfortunate
Indians would not have so suffered at the hands of ignorance.
But continues the writer:
"Truly, you have seen more to rejoice your heart than is
witnessed by one in ten of our New England ministers. You
have witnessed the Christian devotion of characters once de
graded. You have witnessed the wilderness and the solitary,
place, in one yeai'j became glad 'before you, and the desert
blossom as the rose. After such experience of the smiles of
lieaven do not faint or become discouraged. God's promises
are established in truth, and they are all yours. Blessed
promises! Thus far the Lord has favored you more than
any Indian missionary for sixty or seventy years past. The
public are waking- up with wonderful rapidity to the
wants of the Indians. You may be distressed and perplexed
for a season, but it will not last always. The Lord will come
and will not tarry."
But it does not fall within the present plan of this work
to enter fully into the history, in all its particulars, of those
worthy and interesting- missions of seventy years ago among
the Choctaws, to them the dawn of hope; the return of spring
after a long- and dreary winter, — but only to present certain
aspects and features of them, which shall exhibit the hand
of God as eng-ag-ed to renovate and bless a long- oppressed
Nation, and preparing- for it a gracious visitation. Shortly
after the necessary houses for dwellings, school and church
purposes, had been erected and all things had settled down
to systematic business, and the missionaries to give their
whole attention to their ministerial labors, there was a mov
ing of the Jong stagnant waters, — a presentment of coming:
chang-e; and soon a mental activity that presaged emancipa
tion of the Choctaws from the long-, dark night of spiritual
gloom that had brooded over their minds during ages un
known.
For the first few years the good and glorious work of
reform went on for the most part quietly though steadily.
Then there was manifested a greater spirit of inquiry, not
only about the truth as a matter of speculation, but after
salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. It was truly
affecting to see the deep and unaffected interest manifested
166 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
by those unlettered warriors, as they listened for the first
time to the wonderful story of the Cross — a theme to them
incomprehensible and almost beyond human belief. That a
friend might peradventure die for a friend was to them a
possible thing-; but for a father to give his only son to die for
the benefit of his enemies, and that son also be' willing to
accept the ordeal of dying the most excruciating death that
their mutual enemies might be benefitted thereby, seemed
too incredible for belief, and filled them with wondering as
tonishment. Yet hundreds of them yielded to the regener
ating influences and power of the Divine Spirit years before
they were driven from their ancient homes to seek others in
a distant wilderness that the progress of the white man in
his strife for gain might not be impeded by their presence,
and lived the exemplary lives of the true Christian, and
died the death of the righteous in bright hopes of a blissful
immortality.
The first conversion among* the full-blooded Choctaws
was that of an aged man, who lived near Col. David Folsom,
chief of the Ch'octaws, named Tun-a pin a-chuf-fa, (Our one
weaver) h'therto as ignorant of the principles of the religion
of Jesus Christ as it is possible to conceive. He manifested
an interest in the subject of religion about six months before
any other of his people in' the neighborhood, and soon began
to speak publicly in religious meetings, and gave evidence,
by his. daily walk and conversation, of a happy and glorious
change, to the astonishment of his people, who could not
comprehend the mystery. The old man, but now a new
one, lived the life of a true and devoted Christian the few
remaining years of, his life, and then died leaving bright
evidence of having died the death of the righteous. When
he was received into the church, he was baptised and given
the name of one of the missionaries, viz.: William Hooper,
by his own request, to whom Mr. Hooper had endeared himself
by many acts of kindess conferred upon the aged and appr£-
ciative Chocta\v.
Shortly after he professed religion, he dictated a letter
to Col. David Folsom, his nephew, which was written and
translated into English byMr. Loring Williams, of which the
following is a copy:
"AI-IK-HUM-A; Jan. 30, 1828," (A place of learning.)
"BROTHKK: — Long time had we been as people in a storm
which threatened destruction, until the missionaries came
to our land; but now we are permitted to hear the blessed
Gospel of truth. You, our brother and chief, found for us a
good and bright path, and we would follow you in it. You
are as our good father, and vour words are good. Your
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 167
messengers (the missionaries), that you sent to us, we hear.
When we' think of our old ways, we feel ashamed. This
blessed day I have given a true talk. The black and dirty
clothes I used to wear I have taken off and cast away. Clean
and good clothes, I now put on. My heart, I hope, had been
made new. My bad thoughts I throw away. The words of
the great Father above I am seeking to have in my mind.
The missionaries, in the Choctaw Nation, salute. The
missionaries, chiefs, and people, I salute. O my chief, I,
your uncle, salute you. I am your warrior. You must re
member me in your love. The letter which I send you, you
must read to your captains, leaders, and warriors. As I feel
today, I wish to have all my Choctaw brothers feel. I am
the first of the Choctavvs that talk the good talk. My chief,
as you go about among your people, you must tell them this,
the dark night to me has gone, and the morning has dawned
upon me. The missionaries at Mayhew, I salute you. Mr.
Kingsbury, when this letter you see, you will forward it to
Miko (chief )Folsom. TUNAPINACHUFFA.
Soon after the writing of this letter, Mr Williams visited
the venerable ex-chief and reil* cd warrior of the Choctaws.
As he drew near the humble log cabin of the aged Choctaw,
his attention was attracted by the voice of singing. He halt
ed a moment to listen. It was the aged Tunapinachuffa
singing a song of Zion ; and when Mr. Williams came
up he found him sitting at the opposite side of his little
cabin, resting his head on one hand and holding a catachism
in the other, holding holy and sweet communion with his
newly found Savior; and so absorbed was he in his medita
tions, that the presence of Mr. Williams was not known, un
til announced by the barking of the dogs; and yet, so deep
and pleasant was his reverie, that he remained seemingly
unconscious of everything around him until Mr> Williams
came to his side and spoke to him. He then looked up,
sprrng to his feet and greeted Mr. Williams with unfeigned
manifestations of the greatest joy; and, at once, inquired
after Mr. Kingsbury with expressions of the greatest affec
tion ; then requested Mr. Williams to tell Mr. Kingsbury,
that "he did love the Savior with all his heart and soul;" that
''he took^reat delight in the Sabbath, and loved to pray."
that, "to-day heaven is near; it is not for away — I know it is
near — I feel it." Mr. , Williams and the new born babe in
Christ, though feeble alone with the weight of nearly three
score years and ten — the Psalmist's allotted period of man's
earthly sojourn — joined in a song' together, in praise to Him
who has said: "Come unto me, ye that are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest; and then Tunapinachuffa offered up a
168 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
i
prayer to Him who is the Indian's God as well as the white
man's.
Mr. Williams stated, in speaking- of the interview with
the venerable Choctaw, that, he prayed with the deepest
sincerity for his family; then, that all his people "mig-ht be
united to Christ in peace and love as with an iron chain; and
that they mig-ht take hold of the Savior with their hands."
At morning1 and at nig-ht this redeemed Choctaw child of: God
called his household around the family altar, nor ever per
mitted business or company to interfere with those sacred
devotions.
But Tuna pin a chuffa was not an isolated case. Hun
dreds of similar cases could be mentioned among the young-,
as well as the aged, of those Choctaw converts under the
teachings of the missionaries when living in their ancient
possessions.
After the conversion of Tuna pin a chuffa, a great and
wonderful change for the better was soon seen in not only
Tuna pin a chuffa's district, but also in other districts —
both in outward appearance and moral condition. The men
soon began to acquire habits of industry, cultivating cotton
and enlarging their corn fields. Temperance rapidly
gained ground, all over the Nation; and in nearly every house
throughout the' country soon were found the cotton card,
the spinning wheel and the loom, with here and there black
smith and wood-shops.
Soon large quantities of various cotton cloths were made
by the Choctaw mothers and daughters; while the father and
son raised corn, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, and various
kinds of vegetables; and their willingness to work ran
parallel with their progress and advancement in Christian
knowledge. Nor was there any difficulty experienced by the
missionaries in hiring\Choctaws to work for them, both' men.
and women, and even boys and girls; many of the men with
their families, went to the adjoining States and picked cotton
for the white farmers, after they had gathered their own
crops. As cotton pickers, both in quantity and quality, day
by day, they had no superiors; therefore, the white farmers
paid them one dollar per hundred pounds, and also boarded
them; and a thousand have been known to leave their Nation
at one time to pick cotton in the States; and before they were
driven to the wild wilderness far away to the west by the
inexorable law of the whites, that "Might is Right," when
dealing with the North American Indian; fifty, yea a hun
dred and fifty, drunken white men could be found in the
coritigudus States, to where one Choctaw would be found in
the Nation most distant from the neighborhood of the white
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 169
settlements. Much has been said to 'prove the drunken
Indian, to be a friend incarnate; and though I have seen
drunken Indians, yet my experience has taught me that a
drunken white man is far worse than a drunken Indian, and
more to be feared ten to one, than the Indian.
AfterTunapinachuffa, followed the con version of Col. David
Folsom, and many other leading- men of the Nation, together •
with the common warriors and their wives; and to that extent
was the interest in the subject of religion manifested by all
that a special meeting was appointed in the woods by the
missionaries; and at which, Col. David Folsom and others,
together with the now zealous and good old Tunapinachuffa,
took an active part. Though there were few Choctaws
present, yet the Spirit of God was there; and one evening an
unusual solemnity seemed to pervade the entire little com
pany of worshippers, and so deeply felt by old Tunapina-
chuifa, that he was unable to longer restrain himself. He
arose and commenced an exhortation to his people present,
-and continued for thirty or more minutes in such sublime
Indian eloquence (Nature's gift untarnished by human art)
.such deep pathos", and such irresistible arguments, as are
seldom heard anywhere.
At the close of his inimitable and indescribable exhorta
tion, he, in a persuasive tone of voice, said: "All you who
desire and are willing to receive these Good Tidings from
above into your hearts and go with me to the good land
above, come and sit on this log." What a moment was that to
the noble-hearted and pious missionaries who were so for
tunate as to be present ! Who can justly describe it? Firs1^:
one, and then another and another, came forward and took
their seats on that forest log, until it was covered, thus mani
festing and openly avowing their determination to serve the
living God; and there and then twelve adults became living,
active witnesses for the cause of the world's Redeemer.
That little religious meeting, in the -deep solitudes of a Mis
sissippi forest, closed; but the tidings of its strange pro
ceedings and its more wonderful results spread far and
wide, and it became the subject of conversation and inquiry
for miles away; and soon was awakened such a feeling of
curiosity and desire to learn more of this, to them strange
and incomprehensible thing, that other meetings were ap
pointed, to which hundreds gathered, and the result was they
-were multiplied all over the land and scores flocked to and
around the standard of Christianity.
But this interest was confined for several months, al
most exclusively, to the northern part of the Nation contigu
ous to Mayhew, whence the missionaries went out among the
170 HISTORY OF THB INDIANS.
Choctaws and taught and preached to them. The converts,
were at first gathered into one church organization though
widely separated; hence their sacramental meetings, were
held in the woods under the wide extended branches of the
mighty forest oaks of that day — God's natural temples —
where many hundreds would congregate and spend several
days worshipping God; and a more humble and devout as
sembly, of worshippers of the living God (without an indif
ferent or idle spectator) was never anywhere beheld than
were those worshipping Choctaws. At "one of these forest
meetings, where the wind, (nature's harp) sighing amid the
thick and wide extended limbsfof the giant forest trees,, had
for ages untold received no response but that of the defiant
war-hoop, now was mingled the praise of human tongues in
anthems sweet with nature to nature's God; ninety Choc
taws both men and women, were enrolled in the army of the
Cross; and at another over a hundred,
Messrs. Williams, Smith, Howse and Bardwell, shortly
after the establishment of the May hew mission, took charge
of the one established in the southern part of the Nation
among a clan of Choctaws called Okla Hunnali, (people Six),
distant seventy or more miles from Mayhew, leaving Messrs.
Kingsbury, (to whom the Choctaws gave the name Na-sho-ba
No-wah (Walking Wolf), Byingtoii (whom they named La-
pish O-la-han-chih, Sounding Horn), Cushman and a few
others at Mayhew.
Soon after the close of the revival meetings in the north
ern part of the Nation, several new converts, in company
with Col. David Folsom and a few missionaries of the May-
hew mission, made a journey to the Okla Hunnali mission to
attend a religious meeting previously appointed. The Choc
taws of that district, expecting them, came in large numbers
from the surrounding villages to the appointed place to wel
come them, and manifested the greatest delight regarding it
as great favor conferred upon them by their friends who had
come so far to attend their meetings. They assembled
without ostentation, yet in all the paraphernailia of Choctaw
custom, presenting a novel appearance to the eye of the
novice. But the "tidings of great joy — peace on earth and
good will-to man" — to the red as well as the white, proclaimed
and urged upon them with such evidence of truth, sincerity
and deep feeling, was to them something new indeed, unseen
and unfelt before.
Calm reflection assumed (as at the meetings in the north
ern section of the Nation) the place of thoughtlessness and
indifference, (for an Indian can and does reflect as well as a
white man), and soon were seen on many a painted face
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 171
trickling" tears (though not given to .weeping1) forming little
channels througii the vermilion as they coursed their way
down. And this meeting" was also blessed with a gracious,
visitation of the Holy Spirit, and many precious souls
(though Choctaws) were gathered into the fold of the Great
Shepherd as had been done in the northern portion of their
country. At once a mighty change began all over their
Nation wherever the missionaries went, who truly might be
termed the Apostles of God to the Choctaws; and soon, one
by one their ancient customs and habits were forever laid
aside, culminating in a general change of things well adapt
ed to their then, it may be truthfully stated, progressive
condition. But among the most prominent features indicat
ing a speedy reformation at this time (1826), was the enact
ing of a law forever banishing that curse of all curses O-ka
Humma (Red Water) or properly OkaHo-mi (Strong Water)
which, like that of the Medes and Persians changeth not,
stands to-day unrepealed, and will so continue as long as
they are permitted to exist as a Nation.
Many of the ancient Choctaws were a depts in the art of
singing their native airs, of which they had many; but all
effort to induce one of them to sing alone one of his favorite
songs was fruitless. They invariably replied to the solicitation
in broken English, "Him no good." Then sing me a war-
song. "Him heap no good," with an ominous shake of the
head. Then sing me a hunting song. "No good; he no fit
for pale face. "Well, sing me a love song. "Wah"!(anancient.
exclamation of suprise — now obsolete) much love song, him
bad, fio good for pale face." Though this wras somewhat
tantalizing yet it had to be endured.
Like all their race, the Choctaws never forgot an act of
kindness be it ever so trivial; and many a white man overtaken
by misfortune when traveling over their country, and weak
beneath the remorseless grasp of hunger, has felt that the
truth of the eastern proverb has been brought home to him:
Cast thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it after
many days. More than once has it fallen to my lot to con
tribute to an Indian's immediate necessities, in days of their
individual want and weakness; and, in after days — the inci
dent by me long forgotten; they have returned the favor
thirty fold; and for many favors have I become indebted to
them, when I had nothing to return. Their great de-
licacv in conferring a favor was not the least admirable
part of their conduct, often they would leave a large wild
turkey upon the door-sill, or place a venison ham just within
it, and steal away without saying a word, as if they feared
you might suspect them of trying to buy your friendship,.
172 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
when not enabled to secure it alone by merit; or that, to
accept a present from a poor Indian might be humiliating to
the pride of the receiver a*nd they would spare him the mor
tification of returning* thanks . Never was a race of people
more sensitive of kindness, or more grateful for any little
act of benevolence exercised toward them, or practiced the
great Christian principle, Charity to a greater degree of
perfection, especially in regard to strangers, than did the
North American Indians. The missionaries everywhere
and among all tribes, met them with kindness and confidence,
and conducted themselves by the rules of strict integrity in
all their dealings with them; and no instance has been re
corded, where their confidence in the Indians was betrayed,
or their good opinion of them destroyed.
The Choctaws were great imitators, and possessed a
nice tact in adopting the manners of those with whom they
associated. An Indian, however, is Nature's gentleman —
never familiar, coarse or vulgar. If he takes a meal with you,
he quietly waits to see you make use of the unaccustomed
implements on the table, and the manner in which you eat,
he exactly imitates with a grave decorum and as much appar
ent ease, as if he had been accustomed to the same usages
from childhood. He never attempts to help himself or de
mand more food, but patiently waits until you perceive what
he requires. Thisvmnate politeness is natural to all Indians.
But the mixture of white blcod. while it may be said to add a
little to the physical beauty of the half — race, yet produces a
deplorable falling off from the original integrity of the Indian
character; which, however, may be attributed "wholly to the
well known fact, that the young half-breeds mingle with the
whites ninety per cent more than the full-bloods; and ever
retain that peculiar characteristic of the Indian i. e. confi
dence in all professions of friendship until proved false, then
never again to be trusted; thus are they easily made the
dupes of the whites, and are ignorantly, and therefore un
consciously, led step by step down to a level with their de
stroyers, and too late awake to the consciousness
that they are the victims. Thus is the professed grandeur
of our civilization portrayed to the full-blood Indian. No
wonder he wants none of it. If such is the result Of that
civilization we would have him adopt, no wonder he shrinks
from it as he would from a fearful contagion.
No Indian was ever so selfish as to smoke alone in the
presence of others. I have oft attended their social gather
ings where, seated on the ground in little groups forming
little circles, the personification of blissful contentment, I
invariably saw the pipe on its line of march, and so continued
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 173
until the talk was ended. If but two were seated together,
and .one lighted his pipe, he only drew a few whiffs and then
handed it to his companion, who also drew, a whiff or two
and returned it; and thus the symbol of peace, friendship
and good will passed back and forth until the social chat was
terminated!
The Choctaw women did not indulge in the use of tobacco
in any way whatever when living east of the Mississippi, ex
cept a few in advanced years; and it was regarded as great
a breach of female decorum for a Choctaw women to use the
weed, as it is with the white women of the present day to
chew or smoke; and even the men confined its use exclusively
to the pipe. But now they seem to have deviated to some
extent from that good custom; for in my travels over their
country during the last few years, I have frequently fallen in
company with Choctaws, and when offered a chew of tobacco
it was accepted by a few fullbloods, and chewed with as
much gusto as we rode along together, as I dared to assume
with all my long years of experience; and thus I 'ascertained
that those of the present dav do not confine the use of tobacco
exclusively to the pipe as did their fathers of the long ago,
proving the truthf ulness'of the adage, "Evil communications
corrupt good manners," and also good habits.
The innate politeness of the Indians, when in their
strength and independence east of the Mississippi River, was
truly remarkable. The early explorers were surprised at
the perfection of this characteristic in the Choctaw Indians,
and many expressed their admiration in their writings. If
a Choctaw of the long ago met a white man with whom he
was acquainted and on terms of social friendship, he took his
proffered hand, then with a gentle pressure and forward in
clination of the head, said, in a mild and sweet tone of voice:
"Chishno pisah yukpah siah it tikana su," I am glad to see
you my friend, and if he has nothing of importance to com
municate, or of anything to obtain information, he passed on
without further remarks; no better proof of good sense can
be manifested, and well worthy of imitation.
„ But one of the many noble traits among the Choctaws
was that of unfeigned hospitalit}^; and to that extent that it
became proverbial — deservingly so. When any one entered
their house or hunting camp, be he a friend, mere acquain
tance or entire stranger, they extended the hand of welcome
— and it was sincere, — and after exchanging a few .words of
greeting, the visitor was invited to take a seat; after which,
they observed the most profound silence, waiting for their
visitor to report his business. When he had done this, the
silent but attentive wife brought what food she might have
174 ' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
prepared, (they were seldom found without something on
hand), and her husband said to his g-uest: "Chishno upah"
"you eat." To exhibit a true knowledge of Choctaw
etiquette, it became your duty to partake a little of every
thing the hospitable wife had placed before you; otherwise
you would, though unwittingly, cause your host and hostess
to regard your neglect of duty as a plain demonstration of
contempt for their hospitality — purpose!}* intended and of
fered.
Whether the Choctaws assembled for social conversa
tion or debate in council, there never was but one who spoke
at a time, and under no circumstances was he interrupted.
This noble characteristic belongs to all the North American
Indians, as far as I have been able to ascertain. In the
public councils of the Choctaws, as well as in social gather
ings and religious meetings, the utmost decorum always
prevailed, and he who was talking in the social circle or ad
dressing the council or lecturing in the religious meeting,
always had as silent and attentive hearers as ever delighted
and blessed a speaker. A noble characteristic. And when
a question had been discussed, before putting it to a vote, a
few minutes were always given for silent meditation, during
which the most profound silence was observed; at the expira
tion of the allotted time, the vote of the assembly was taken ;
and which, I have been informed, is still kept up to this day.
For many years after they had arrived from their ancient
homes to the present place of abode, no candidate for an
office of any kind ever went around among the people solicit
ing votes; the candidates merely gave notice by public an
nouncement, and that was all ; and had a candidate asked a
man for his support, it would have been the death knell to
his election.
On the day of the election, the name of all the candidates
were written in regular order upon a long strip of paper,
with the office to which each aspired written opposite to his
name; and when the polls were opened, this paper, with the
names of the candidates and the offices to which each
aspired written upon it, was handed to the voter when he
presented himself at the polls to vote, who commenced at
the top of the list and called out the name of the candidate he
wished to support for the different offices; if the voter could
not read, then one of the officers in charge of the election,
who could read, took the paper and slowly read the names
and the office each aspirant desired; and the voter called out
the name of each candidate for whom he wished to vote as he
read; and no candidate ever manifested any hard feelings
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 175
-toward those who voted against him. Here was exhibited
true liberty and free suffrage.
De Soto found the southern Indians to be an agricultural
people, provident, patriotic, hospitable and generous, .three
hundred and fifty years ago; and when he tested their patri
otism at Momabinah, and Chickasahha he learned to his sat
isfaction that their heroic bravery in defense of their
country, their homes 'and heaven bequeathed right, was
unsurpassed in the history of the world.
The missionaries found them in 1815. an unlettered
people, yet far from meriting the title savage in the common
acceptation of the word. They found them to be a noble
hearted and interesting people free of a majority of the de
basing vices practiced by the whites, and acquainted with
many of the domestic and agricultural, and possessing many
utensils and implements belonging to each; on a small scale
'tis true, yet amply sufficient for their wants.
They recognized and acknowledged a Supreme Being,
—The Great Spirit, the creator and ruler of all things. This
Great Spirit was held in great reverence by all Indians.
Never did a North American Indian profane the name of his
Creator or deny his power.
The Choctaw warrior, as I knew him in his native Mis
sissippi forest, was as fine a specimen of manly perfection
as I have ever beheld. He seemed to be as perfect as
the human form could be. Tall, beautiful in symmetry of
form and face, graceful, active, straight, fleet, with lofty and
independent bearing, he seemed worthy in saying, as he of
Juan Fernandez fame: "I am monarch of all I survey." His
black, piercing eye seemed to penetrate and read the very
thoughts of the heart, while his firm step proclaimed a feel
ing-sense of his manly tndependence. Nor did their women
iall behind in all that pertains to female beauty. I have seen
among the Choctaws and Chickasaws, when living east of the
Mississippi, as beautiful young women as could be found
among any nation of people — civilized or uncivilized. Many
of them seemed, and truly were, nymphs of the woods.
They were of such unnatural beauty that they literally ap
peared to light up everything around them. Their shoul
ders were broad and square ' and their carriage true to
Nature which has never been excelled by the hand of art,
their long, black tresses hung in flowing waves, extending
nearly to the ground; but the beauty of the countenances of
many of those Choctaw and Chickasaw girls was so extra
ordinary that if such faces were seen to-day in one of the
parlors of the fashionable world, they would be considered
as a type of beauty hitherto unknown. It was the wild un-
1J76 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
trammeled beauty of the forest, at the same time melancholy
and splendid. The bashful calm in their large, magnificent
eyes, shaded by unusually long-, black eye-lashes, cannot be
described; nor Vet the glance, nor the splendid light of the
smile which at times lit up the countenance like a flash, ex
posing the leveliest white and even teeth. Vainly one was
tempted to believe a whole nocturnal world lay in those
eyes, the dark fringe of which cast a shadow upon the cheek;
while they seemed to glance downward into a depth, -dreamy,
calm and melancholy, without a tinge or shadow of gloom.
'Twas a beauty ind'eed upon which they who looked, long
gazed that they might call it up in after days, as some wild
melody that haunts them still, when far a ways, Then the
Choctaw's boast was — and justly too — "Chahtah siah !" and
with as much merited pride as he of old "Romanus sum."
But alas! what a change has seventy-five years wrought
upon this once free and happy people! How different the
present generation from that happy, independent spirit that
characterized their people when living in their ancient
domains now the State of Mississippi! That manly bearing
has given place to weakness and dejection; that eye, once so
bright, bold and piercing, is now faint and desponding. The
Choctaws once looked you straight in the eye with fearless
yet polite, manly independence; his descendants now scarcely
raise their heads to greet you. They seem no longer to view
life through the rainbow lenses of sanguine hope, but as those
in despair. Ah, the world may die, but there are some
sorrows immortal. / I have frequently met, here and there, a
few Choctaws in Texas bordering on Red River. They
seemed as strangers wandering . in a strange land among
whose people no voice of sympathy could be heard; no word of
commisseration to be found; no smile of encouragement to be
seen. With each different little band I tried to introduce a
conversation only to be disappointed; and though I addressed
them in their, own native language; I could only obtained a
reply in a few scarcely audible monosyllables. They remem
bered the past and were silent, yet how eloquent that
silence.
In 1832, at Hebron, the home of the missionary, Calvin
Cushman and his family, was the place appointed for the
assembling of all the Choctaws in that district prepartory to
their exodus from their ancient domaines to a place they
knew not wnere; but toward the setting sun as arbitrary
power had decreed. Sad and mounful indeed was their gath
ering together — helpless and hopeless under the hand of a
haman power that knew no justice or mercy.
I was an eye witness to that scene of desparing woe and
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 177
/
heard their sad refrain. I frequently visited their encamp
ment and strolled from one part of it to another;' while from
every part of their wide extended camp, as I walked, gazed
and wondered at the weird appearance of the scene, there
came, borne upon the morn and evening breeze from every
point of the vast encampment, faintly, yet distinctly, the
plaintive sounds of weeping — rising's/and falling in one
strangely sad and melancholy chorus, then dying away in a
last, long-drawn wail. It was the Availing of the Choctaw
women — even as that of Rachel for her children.
Around in different groups .they sat with their children
from whose quivering lips sobs and moans came in subdued
unison; now, in wild concert united, their cries quivered and
throbbed as they rose and fell on the night air, then dying
away in a pathetic wail proclaiming, in language not to be
misunderstood, the pressure of the ang'uish that was crush
ing their souls — hidden from human eyes and told only to
the night. Truly, their grief was so deep, so overpowering,
that even reason seemed to reel, blighted beneath its wither
ing touch, too great to admit the comfort of human sym
pathy.
The venerable old men, who long had retired from the
hardships and fatigues of war and the chase, expressed the
majesty of silent grief; yet there came now and them a sound
that here and there swelled from a feeble moan to a deep,
sustained groan — -'rising and falling till it died away just as
it began. True, a few encouraging smiles of hope, though
utterly void of sincerity, would not have been out of place,
but they were unlearned in such subtle arts; therefore, their
upturned faces mutely, but firmly -spoke the deep sorrow
that heaved vvithin, as they sat in little groups, their gray
heads uncovered in the spray of dancing sunshine which fell
through the branches of the trees from above, while pitiful
indeed was the feeble semblance of approval of the white
man's policy which they strove to keep in their care worn
countenances; while the heart-piercing cries of the women
and children, seated upon the ground with heads covered
with shawls and blankets and bodies swinging forward and
backward, set up day and night, sad tones of woe echoing
far back from the surrounding but otherwise silent forests,
presenting a scene baffling in description the power of all
human language; while the young and middle-aged warriors,
now subdued and standing around in silence profound, gazed
into space and upon the scattered clouds as they slowly
swept across the tender blue, lending wings to the imagina
tion which seemed momentary to still, with a sense of their
own eternal calm, the conflicting thoughts that then composed
178 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
the turbulent garison of their hearts. Inaudible, yet from
flashing- eyes and lips compressed that bespoke the emotions
that surged within, could be read, "Why longer seek for
hope amid the ashes of life"? While here and there was
heard an inarticulate moan seeking expression in some snatch
of song, which announced its leaving a broken heart.
But why dwell upon such bitter memories? My soul
finds no pleasure in them. Deep down to undiscovered
depths has my life among, and study of the North Ameri
can Indians during over three score and ten years, enabled me
to penetrate their human nature with all their endurances
and virtues. What the world ought to know, that I have
written; and especially for those who desire more light on
that unfortunate race of people, and feel an interest in truth,
justice, and what concerns humanity the world over. To
me was offered the mission, and I accepted it because my
conscience approved it as right; and I have thus far, exerted
every power to fulfill even to the letter and shall so continue
to the end; allowing each reader to freely think his or her
own thoughts.
Every missionary among the Choctaws, when he entered
the mission gave a pjedge that he would devote his or her
life to the service of God in the cause of civilizing and Chris-
tainizing the Choctaw people, with no remuneration what*
ever except that of food and clothing for himself and family.
This was supplied by the Board of Foreign Missions estab
lished at Boston, Mass., to which Board everything pertain
ing to the mission in the way of property belonged — the
missionaries owning nothing. This Board had spent a great
deal towards the missions, and, in the removal of the Choc-
taws west, was unable to build up new missions there of suf
ficient number to supply labor for all of ^e missionaries;
hence, all but three were absolved from their pledge, who
soon returned to their friends iu Massachusetts, while the
three — Messrs Kingsbury, Byington and Hotchkins, with
their families, followed the exiled Choctaws to their unknown
homes to be found in the wilderness of the west. Mr. Cal
vin Cushman was one of the two who remained in Mississip
pi, and died at his old Missionary Post, Hebron, a few years
after the banishment of his old and long tried friends the
Choctaws, for whose moral and intellectual benefit he had so
long and faithfully laborea; and the other was Mr. Elijah
Bardwell, who labored at Ok-la Huii-na-li sixty miles south
west of Hebron, but who, after the banishment of the Choc
taws, moved to a point a mile and a half east of the present town
of Starkville, Mississippi. He too, with all the rest of his co-
Ja.borers, has long since also gone to his reward in the blissfu
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. $ 179
A
Immortality; but whose names still live, in honored remem
brance in the hearts of a few aged Choctaws, who still sur
vive.
As an example of the faithfulness with which those
ancient missionaries adhered to every principle inculcated in
the religion they professed among and preached to the Choc-
taws of the long ago, I will here relate the following as
worthy of remembrance.
In the early days of the town of Starkville, Mississippi, a
blacksmith, (John McGaughey), established a shop in the
embryo city, and, in ponnection with his smithing, also
traded in horses, keeping a few on hand all the time. Mr.
Bardwell knowing this, and wishing to purchase a horse,
called at Mr. McGaughey 's shop one morning and asked him if
he had a horse for sale that would be suitable for a farm.
Mac. replying in the affirmative they went to the stable,
where Mr. Bardwell, after examining the animal, asked the
price. To this Mr. McGaughey replied: "Eighty-five
dollars." "I regard that as too high a price," said Mr.
Bardwell. Mr. McGaughey, well knowing the aged mission
ary and having unlimited confidence in his integity, asked
him what he believed the horse to be worth. To which Mr.
Bardwell replied: "Sixty-five dollars." "You can have him
at that price," responded Mr. McGaughey. Mr. Bardwell
paid the money and took the horse. The trade was made in
the spring of the year. Early in the following autumn, Mr.
Bardwell called at the shop and, after the usual salutation,
handed Mr. McGaughey twenty dollars, saying; "Here is
that money that I owe you." Mr. McGaughey, in much
astonishment, replied: ' "You are certainly mistaken. You
-do .not owe me a dollar, you have always paid me the cash
for all the work I have done for you in my shop." "True"!
said Mr. Bardwell. "But this is not for work done in the
shop, but is due you in a trade we made last spring." "What
trade"? asked Mr. McGaughey in unfeigned suprise. "Why!
in the purchase of a horse from you," replied Mr. Bardwell.
"But you paid me the sixty-five dollars cash, the price for
which I told you, you could have him." "True," replied Mr.
Bardwell, "But you judged the horse to be worth eighty-five
dollars, while I estimated his worth at only sixty-five; upon
trial I have found him to be well worth the eighty-five dollars,
the price you first asked for him. Here is your money."
"But, Mr. Bardwell, I cannot accept the money. It was a
fair trade." "Not so;" replied the aged missionary, "you were
right, Mr. McGaughey in your judgment as to the correct
value of the horse, and I was wrong. I insist upon your
accepting that which is your just due." Mr. McGaughey
180 ^HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
finally accepted the twenty dollars but only through his 'great-
respect for Mr. Bardwell, whose feelings he knew would be
wounded if he did not accept the proffe red-twenty dollars.
Mr. John McGaughey, many years afterwards, frequent
ly related this horse trade.
Seventy years ago, the Choctaw hunter generally hunted
alone and on foot; and when he killed his game, unless small,
he left it where it had fallen, and turning his footsteps home
ward, traveled in a straight line, here and there breaking a
twig leaving its top in the direction he had come, as a guide
to his wife whom he intended to send to bring it home. As
soon as he arrived, he informed he!" of his success and merely
pointed in the direction in which h«e the game lay. At once
she mounted a pony and started in the direction indicated ;
and guided by the broken twigs, she~soon arrived at the spot,
picked up and fastened the dead animal to the saddle, mounted
and soon was at home again; then soon dressed and prepared a
portion for her hunter lord's meal, while he vsat and smoked
his pipe in meditative silence. No animal adapted for food
was ever killed in wanton sport by any Indian hunter.
As a marksman the Choctaw could not be surpassed in
the use of the rifle. It mattered not whether his game was
standing or running; a bullet shot from his rifle, when directed
by his experienced eye, was a sure messenger of death. A
shotgun was regarded with great contempt, and never used.
The rifle, and the rifle alone, would he use. To surprise a
Choctaw warrior or hunter in the woods — see him before he
saw you — was a feat not easily accomplished ; in fact, impos
sible by an experienced white woodsman, and extremely
.difficult even by the most experienced. His watchful and
practiced eye was always on the alert, whether running,
walking, standing or sitting ; and his acute ear, attentive to
every passing sound, heard the most feeble noise, which, to
the white man's ear was utter silence.
Years ago I had a Choctaw (full-blood) friend as noble
and true as ever man possessed, and whom once to know
was to remember with an esteem approaching the deepest
affection; and of whom I was justly proud and in whoin I
took delight; and to-day, had I a hundred tongues, I could
not express my appreciation of that noble friend. He was
indeed a cordial to my heart — oft imparting to me an earnest
of happiness which I thought had fled. Oft in our frequent
hunts together, while silently gliding through the dense
forests ten or fifteen rods apart, he would attract my atten
tion by his well-known ha ha (give caution) in a low but dis
tinct tone of voice, and point to a certain part of the woods
where he had discovered an animal of some kind; and though
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 181'
0
I looked as closely as possible I could see nothing- whatever
that resembled a living- object of any kind. Being- at too
great aMistance to risk a sure shot, he would signal me to
remain quiet, as he endeavored to get closer. To me that
wras the most exciting and interesting part of the scene; for
then began those strategic movements in which the most
skillful white hunter that I have ever seen, was a mere bun
gler. With Deepest interest, not unmixed with excitement,!
closely watched his every movement as he slowly and stealth
ily advanced, writh eyes fixed upon his object; now crawling
noiselessly upon his hands and knees, then as motionless as
a stump; now stretched full length upon the ground, then
standing erect and motionless; then dropping suddenly to
the ground, and crawling off at an acute angle to the right
•or left to get behind a certain tree or log, here and there
stopping and slowly raising his head just enough to look
over the top of the grass; then again be hidden until he
reached the desired tree; with intense mingled curiosity and
excitement, when hidden from my view in the grass, did I
seek to follow him in his course with my eyes. Oft I wrould
see a little dark spot not larger than 1113' fist just above the
top of the grass, which slowly grew larger and larger until I
discovered it was his motionless head; and had I not known
he was there somewhere I wrould not have suspected it was
a human head or the head of anything else; and as I kept my
eyes upon it, I noticed it slowly getting smaller until it grad-
ually disappeared; and when he reached the tree, he then
observed the same caution slowly rising until he stood erect
and close to the body of the tree, then slowly and cautiously
peeping around it first on the right, then on the left; and
when, at this juncture, I have turned jpy eyes from him, but
momentarily- as I thought, to the point where I thought the
game must be, being also eager to satisfy m3r excited curi
osity as to the kind of animal he was endeavoring to shoot,
yet, when I looked to the spot where I had just seen him —
lo! he was not there; and while wondering to what point of
the compass he had so suddenly disappeared unobserved,
and vainly looking to find bis mysterious whereabouts, I
would be startled by the sharp crack of his rifle in a differ
ent direction from that in which I was looking for him, and
in turning my eye would see him slowl3T rising out of the
grass at a point a hundred yards distant from where I had
last seen him. "Well, old fellow," I then ejaculated to my
self, "I would not hunt for you in a wild forest for the purpose
of obtaining your scalp, knowing, at. the same time, that you
were somewhere about seeking also to secure mine; I would
just call to you to come and take it at once and save anxiety."
182 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Talk about a whi?e man out maneuvering- an Indian m a for
est, is an absurdity — veritable nonsense.
Frequently have I proposed to exchange guns^ with
George (that was his name — simply Georg-e and nothing-
else) my double barrel shot-gun for his rifle, but he invari
able refused; and when I 'asked for his objection to my gun,
he ever had but one and the same reply — "Him push." He
did not fancy the reaction or "kicking" so oft experienced in
shooting- the" shot-gun which George had, no doubt, once ex
perienced to his entire satisfaction. Generous and faithful
George! I wonder where you are to-day ? If on the face of
God's green earth, I am sure — humble though you may be-
there is one true heart above the sod that still beats in love
for me. \
. It was truly wonderful with what ease and certainty the
Choctaw hunter and warrior made his way through the dense
forests of his country to any point he wished to go, near or
distant. But give him the direction, was all he desired; with
an unerring certainty, though never having been in that part
of tire country before, he would go over hill and valley,
through thickets and canebrakes to the desired point, that
seemed incredible. I have known the little Choctaw boys, in
their juvenile excursions with their bows and arrows and
blow-guns to wander miles away from their homes, this way
and that through the woods, and return home at night, with
out a thought or fear of getting lost; nor did their parents
have any uneasiness in regard to their wanderings. It is a
universal characteristic of -the Indian, when traveling in aii,un-
known country, to let nothing pasxs unnoticed. His watch
ful eye marks every distinguishing feature of the surround
ings — a peculiarly leaning or fallen tree, stump or bush, rock
or hill, creek or branch, he will recognize years afterwards,
and use them as land marks, in going again through the
same country, Thus the Indian hunter was enabled to go
into a distant forest, where he never before had been, pitch
his camp, leave it and hunt all day — wandering this way and
that over hills and through jungles for miles away, and re
turn to his camp at the close of the day with that apparent
ease and unerring certainty, that baffled all the ingenuity of
the white man and appeared to him as bordering on the mir
aculous. Ask any Indian for directions to a place, near or
distant, and he merely points in the direction you should go,
regarding that as sufficient information for any one of com
mon sense.
In traveling through the Choctaw Nation in 1884, at one
time I desired to go to a point forty miles distant, to which
led a very dim path, at times scarcely deserving the name,,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 183
and upon making inquiry of different Choctaws whom I fre
quently met along1 my way, they only pointed in the direction
I must travel and passed on; and being ashamed to let it appear
that I did not have sense enough to goto the desired point after
being told the direction, I rode on without further inquiry,
and by taking the path, at every fork that seemed to lead the
nearest in the direction I had been told to travel, I, in good
time, reached my place of destination. So, after all, the
Choctaws told me all that was necessary in the matter.
The ancient Choctaw warrior and hunter ieft the do
mestic affairs of his humble home wholly to the management
of his wife and children. The hospitalities of his cabin,
however, were always open to friend or stranger, but
before whom he ever assumed a calm and respectful reserve,
though nothing escaped his notice. If questioned he would
readily enter into a conversation concerning his exploits as a
warrior an$ hunter, but was indifferent upon the touching
episodes of home, with its scenes of* domestic bliss or woe,
though their tendrils were as deeply and strangely inter
woven with the fibres of his heart as with those of any other
of The human race. The vicissitudes of life, its joys and
sorrows, its hopes and fears, were regarded as unworthy the
consideration of a warrior and hunter; but the dangers, the
fatigues and hardships of war and the chase as subjects only
worthy to be mentioned. Yet, with all this, in unfeigned
a ffection for his wife, children, kindred and friends; in deep
a nxiety for them in sickness and distress; in untiring efforts
to relieve their necessities and wants; in anxiety for their
sa fety in hours of danger; in fearless exposure of himself to
p rotect them from harm ; in his silent yet deep sorrow at
their death; in his unassumed joy in their happiness; in
the se^all Indians stand equal to any race of people that ever
liv ed. And when roaming with him years ago in the solitudes
of his native forests, and have looked upon him, whose nature
and peculiar habits have been declared by the world to have
no place with the rest of the human family, and then have
gone with him to his humble, but no less hospitable, forest
home, and there witnessed the same evidences of joy and
sorrow, of hope and fear, of pleasure and pain that are
every where peculiar to man's nature, I could but be more
firmly established in that which I long had known, that the
North American Indian, from first to last, had been wrong
fully and shamefully misrepresented, and though in him are
blended vindictive and revengeful passions, so much con
demned by the civilized world, yet I found these were equally
balanced by warm, generous, and noble feelings, as were
found in any class of the human race:
184' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
To the ancient Choctaw warrior and hunter, excitement
of some kind was indispehsible to relieve the tedium of the
nothing-to-do in which a great part of his life was spent.
Hence the intervals between war and hunting were filled up
by various amusements, ball plays, dances, foot and horse
races, trials of strength and activity in wrestling and jump
ing, all of which being regulated by rules and regulations of
a complicated etiquette.
But the Tolik (Ball play) was the ultimatum of all games
— uthe sine qua non" of all amusements to the Indians of the
south; and to which he atttached the greatest importance,
and in the engagement of which his delight reached its high
est perfection, and in the excelling of which his ambition fell
not below that of him who contested in the Olympic games of
ancient Greece.
A Choctaw Tolik seventy years ago, was indeed a game
that well might have astonished the Titan, and diverted
them, pro. tern, at least, from their own pastime. But
when I look back through the retrospective years of the long
past to that animating scene, and then read in recent yearjs
th£ different attempts made by many through the journals
of the day to describe a genuine ChoctawT Ball-play of those
years ago, it excites a smile and only intensifies the hold
memory retains of that indescribable game. No one, who
has not witnessed it, can form a* just idea of the scene from
any description given; for it baffles all the powers of lan
guage and must be seen to be in any way comprehended.
The base ball-play of the present day, so popular among the
whites, in point of .deep interest and wild excitement pro
duced in" the spectator, when compared to the Chashpo Tolik
(Ancient Ball-play) of 'the Choctaws east of the Mississippi
river, bears about the same relation that the light of the
crescent moon does to the mid-day light of the mighty orb o^
day in a cloudless sky. However", I will attempt a descrip
tion, though well aware that after all that can be said, the
reader will only be able to form a very imperfect idea of the
weird scene.
When the warriors of a village, wearied by the 'mono
tony of every day life, desired a change that was truly from
one extreme to that of another, they sent a challenge to those
of another village of their own tribe, and, not infrequently,
to those of a neighboring tribe, to engage in a grand ball-play.
If the challenge was accepted, and it was rarely ever declined
a suitable place was selected and prepared by the challengers,
and a day agreed upon. The Hetoka (ball ground) was
selected in some beautiful level plain easily found in their then
beautiful and romantic country. Upon the ground, from
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 185
three hundred to four hundred yards apart, two straight
pieces of timber were firmly planted close tog-ether in the
ground, each about fifteen feet in height, and from four to
six inches in width, presenting a front of a foot or more.
These were called Aiulbi. (Ball posts.) During the inter
vening time between the day of the challenge and thai of the
play, great preparations were made on both sides by those
who intended to engage therein. With much care and
unaffected solemnity they went through with their prepara
tory ceremonies
The night preceding the day of the play was spent in
painting, with the same care as when preparing for the war
path, dancing with frequent rubbing of both the upper and
lower limbs, and taking their "sacred medicine."
In the mean time, tidings of the approaching play spread
on wing's of the wind from village to villag'e and from neigh
borhood to neighborhood for miles away; and during the
first two or three days preceding the play, hundreds of In
dians — the old, the young, the gay, the grave of both sexes,
in immense concourse, were seen wending their way through
the vast forests from every point of the compass, toward the
ball-ground; with their ponies loaded wTith skins, furs,
trinkets, and every other imaginable thing that was part and
parcel of Indian wealth, to stake upon the result of one or the
other side.
On the morning of the appointed day, the players, from
seventy-five to a hundred 011 each side, strofig and athletic
men, straight as arrows and fleet as antelopes, entirely in a
nude state, excepting a broad piece of cloth around the hips,
were heard in the distance advancing toward the plain from
opposite sides, making the heretofore silent forests ring
with their exulting songs and defiant hump-he! (banter) as
intimations of the great f£ats of strength and endurance,
fleetness and activity they would display before 'the eyes of
their admiring friends. The curiosity, anxiety and excite
ment now manifested by the vast throng of assembled spec
tators were manifested on every countenance. Soon the
players were dimly seen in the distance through their majes
tic forests, flitting here and there as spectres among the
trees. Anon they are all in full view advancing from opposite
sides in a steady, uniform trot, and in perfect order, as if to
engage in deadly hand to hand conflict; now they meet and
intermingle in one confused and disorderly mass interchang
ing friendly salutations dancing and jumping in the wildest
manner, while intermingling with all an artillery of wild
Shakuplichihi that echoed far back from the solitudes of the
surrounding woods.
186 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Then came a sudden hush — a silence deep,' as if all
Nature had made a pause — the prophetic calm before the
bursting- storm. During- this brief interval, the betting- was
g-oing- on and the stakes being- put up; the articles bet were
all placed promiscuously in one place, often forming- a vast
conglomeration, of thing's too numerous to mention, and the
winning side took the pile.- This being-' completed, the play
ers took their places, each furnished with two kapucha (ball-
sticks), three feet long-, and made of tough hickory wood
thoroughly seasoned. At one end of each ka-puch-a a very
ing-enious device, in shape, and size, very similar to that of
the hand half closed, was constructed of sinews of wild
animals, in which they caug-ht and threw the ball. It was
truly 'astonishing- with what ease and certainty they would
catch the flying- ball in the cups of the sticks and the amaz
ing- distance and accuracy they would hurl it throug-h the
air. In taking- their places at the opening- of the play, ten or
twenty, according- to the number of players engaged, of each
side were stationed at each pole. To illustrate, I will say,
ten of the A. party and ten of the B party were placed at pole
C.; and ten of the B. party and ten of the A. party at pole D.
The ten of the B party who were stationed at the pole C.
were called Fa-lo-mo-li-chi (Throw-backs); and the ten of the
A. party also stationed at pole C. were called Hat-tak fa-bus-
sa (Pole men), and /the ten of the A. party stationed at the
pole D. were called Fala molichi, and the ten of the B. party
stationed at the pole D., Hattak fabussa. The business
of the Falamolichi at each pole was to prevent, if
possible, the ball thrown by the opposite party, from strik
ing- the pole C.; and throw it back towards the pole D. to
their own party; while that of the Hattak fabussa at pole C.
was to prevent this, catch the ball themselves, if possible,
and hurl it against the pole C., and the business of the Fala
molichi and Hattak fabussa at the pole D. was the same as
that at the pole C. In the centre, between the two poles,
were also stationed the same number of each party as were
stationed at the poles, called Middle Men, with whom was a
chief "Medicine man," whose business was to throw the ball
straight up into the air, as the signal for the 'play to com
mence. The remaining players were scattered promiscu
ously along the line between the poles and over different por
tions of the play-ground.
All things being ready, the ball suddenly shot up into
the air from the vigorous arm of the Medicine Man, and the
wash-o-ha (playing) began. The moment the ball was seen
in the air, the players of both sides, except the Falamolichi
and Hattak fabussa, who remained at their posts, rushed to
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 187
the spot, where the ball would likely fall, with a fearful shock.
Now began to be exhibited a scene of wild grandeur that
beggared all description. As there were no rules and regu
lations governing the manner of playing nor any act con
sidered unfair, each of course, acted under the impulse of
thfe moment regardless of consequences.
They threw down and ran over each other in the wild
excitement and reckless chase after the ball, stopping not
nor heeding the broken limbs and bruised heads or even
broken neck of a fallen player. Like a herd of stampeded
buffaloes upon the western plains, they ran against and over
each other, or any thing else, man or beast, that stood in
their way; and thus in wild confusion, and crazed excitement
they scrambled and tumbled, each player straining every
nerve and muscle to its utmost tension, to get the ball or
prevent his opponent, who held it firmly grasped between
the cups of his trusty kapucha, from making a successful
throw; while up and down the lines the shouts of the players
— "Falamochi! Falamochi!" (.Throw it back! Throw it
back) as others shouted Hokli! Hoklio! (Catch! Catch!) The
object of each party was to throw the ball against the two
upright pieces of timber that stood in the direction of the
village to which it belonged; and, as it came whizzing through
the air, with the velocity comparatively of a bullet shot from
a gun, a player running at an angle to intercept the flying
ball, and when near enough, would spring several feet into
the air and catch it in the hands of his sticks, but ere he
could throw it, though running at full speed, an opponent
would hurl him to the ground, with a force seemingly suffi
cient to break every bone in his body — and even to destroy
life, and as No. 2 would wrest the ball from the fallen No. 1
and throw it, ere it had flown fifty feet, No. 3 would catch it
with his unerring kapucha, and not seeing, perhaps an op
portunity of making an advantageous throw, would start off
with the speed of a deer, still holding the ball in the cups of
his kapucha — pursued by every player.
Again was presented to the spectators another of those
exciting scenes, that seldom fall to the lot of one short life
time to behold, which language fails to depict, or imagination
to conceive. He now runs off , perhaps, at an acute angle
with that of the line of the poles, with seemingly super-hu
man speed; now and then elevating above his head his ka
pucha in which safely rests the ball, and in defiant exultation,
shouts, "hump-he! hump-he!" (I dare you) which was ack
nowledged by his own party with a wild-response of approval,
but responded to by a bold cry of defiance from the opposite
side. Then again all is hushed and the breathless , silence is
188 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
only disturbed by thelieavy thud of their running-feet. For
a short time he continues his straight course, as if to test
the speed of his pursuing opponents; then begins to circle
toward his' pole. Instantly comprehending his object, his
running friends circle with him, with eyes fixed upon him,
to secure all advantages given to thein by any stragetic throw
he may make for them, wrhile his opponents are mingled
among them to defeat his object; again he runs in a straight
line; then dodges this way and that; suddenly he hears the
cry from some one of his party in the rear of the parallel
running throng, who sees an advantage to be gained if the
ball was thrown to him, "Falamolichi"! "Falamolichi"-] He
now turns and dashes back on the line and in response to the
continued cry — "Falamolichi"! heiiurls'the ball with all his
strength; with fearful velocity it flies through the air and
falls near the caller; and in the confusion made by the sud
denly turning throng, he picks it up at full speed with his
kapucha, and starts toward his pole. Then is heard the cry
of his hattak fabussa. and he hurls the ball toward them and,
as it falls, they and the throw-backs stationed at that pole,
rush to secure it; and then ag'ain, though on a smaller" scale,
a scene of wild confusion was seen — scuffling, pulling, push
ing, butting — unsurpassed in any game ever engaged in by
man. Perhaps, a throw-back secures the ball and starts
upon the wing, in the direction of his pole, meeting the ad
vancing throng, but with his own throw-backs and the pole-
men of his opponents at his heels; the latter to prevent him
from making a successful throw and the former to prevent
any interference, while the shouts of "Falamolichi!"" "Fala
molichi!" arose from his owrn men in the advancing runners.
Again the ball flies through the air, and is about to fall di
rectly among them, but ere it reaches thed ground many
spring into the air to catch it, but are tripped alid they fall
headlong to the earth. Then, as the ball reaches the ground
again is brought into full requisition the propensities of each
one to butt, pull, and push, though not a sound is heard, ex
cept the wild rattling of the kapucha, that reminded one of
the noise made by the collision of the horns of a drove of
stampeding Texas steers. Oft amid the plav women w^re
seen giving water" to the thirsty and offering words of encour
agement; while others, armed with long switches stood ready
to give their expressions of encouragement to the supposed
tardy, by a severe rap over the naked shoulders, as a gentle
reminder of their dereliction of duty; all of which was re
ceived in good faith, yet invariably elicited the response
— "Wah!" as an acknowldgement of the favor.
From ten to twenty was generally the game. Whenever
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 189
N
the ball was thrown against the 'upright fabussa (poles), it
counted one, and the successful thrower shouted; i'llli tok,"
(dead) meaning- one number less; oft accompaning the shout
by gobbing vociferously like, the wild turkey, which elicited a
shout of laughter from his party, and a yell of defiance from
the other. TJius the exciting-, and truly wild and romantic
scene was continued, with unbatecl efforts on the part of the
players 'until the game was won. But woe to the Inconsider
ate white man, whose thoughtless curiosity had led him too
far upon the hetoka. (ball ground) and at whose feet the ball
should chance to fall; if the path to that ball was not clear
of all obstructions, the 200 players, now approaching
writh the rush of a mighty whirlwind would soon make it so.
And right then and there, though it might be the first time in
life, he became a really active man, if the desire of immediate
safety could be any inducement, cheerfully inaugurating pro
ceedings by turning a few double somersets, regardless as
to the scientific manner he executed them, or the laugh of
ridicule that might be offered at' his expense; and if he
escaped only with a broken limb or two, and a first-class
scare, he might justly consider himself most fortunate. But
the Choctaws have long since lost that interest in the ball-
play that they formerly cherished in their old homes east of
the Mississippi River. 'Tis true, now and then, even at the
present day, they indulge in the time honored game, but the
game of the present day is a Lillipution — a veritable pygmy-
in comparison with the grand old game of three quarters of
a century ago; nor will it be many years ere it will be said of
the Choctaw tohli, as of ancient Troy — ''Ilium fuit."
To any one of the present day, an ancieW Choctaw ball-
play would be an exhibition* far more interesting, strange,
wild and romantic, in all i.ts features, than anything ever ex
hibited in a circus from first to last — excelling it in every
particular of daring feats and wild recklessness. In the
ancient ball-play, the activity, fleetness, strength and endur*
ance of the Mississippi Choctaw warrior and hunter, were
more fully exemplified than anywhere else; for there he
brought into the most severe action every power of soul and
body. In those ancient ball-plays, I have known villages tc
lose all their earthly possessions upon the jssue of a single
play. Yet, they bore their misfortune with becoming grace
,and philosophic indifference and appeared as gay and cheer
ful as if nothing oi importance had occurred. The educa
tion of the ancient Choctaw warrior and hunter consisted
mainly in the frequency of these muscular exercises whicl
enabled him to endure hunger, thirst and fatigue; henc(
they often indulged in protracted fastings, frequent foot
190 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
races, trials of bodily strength, introductions to the war
path, the chase and their favorite Tolih.
They also indulged in another game in which they took
great delight, called Ulth Chuppih, in which but two players
could engage at the same time; but upon the result of which,
.as in the Tolih, they frequently bet their little all. An alley,
with a hard smooth surface and about two hundred feet long,
was made upon the ground. The two players took a posi
tion at the upper end at which they were to commence tjae
game, each having in his hand a smooth, tapering pole eight
or ten feet long flattened at the ends. A smooth round stone
of several inches in circumference was then brought into
the arena; as soon as .both were ready, No. 1 took the stone
and rolled it with all his strength down the narrow inclined
plane of the smooth alley; and after which both instantly
staged wit^i their utmost speed. Soon No. 2, threw his pole
at the rolling stone; instantly No. 1, threw his at the flying
pole of rNo. 2, aiming to hit it, and, by so doing, change its
course from the rolling stone. If No. 2 hits the stone, he
counts one; but if No. 1 prevents it by hitting the pole of
No, 2, he then counts one; and he, who hits his object the
greater number of times in eleven rollings of the stone, was
the winner. It was a more difficult matter to hit either the
narrow edge of the rolling stone, or the flying pole, than
would be at first imagined. However, the ancient Chahtah
Ulte Chupih may come in at least as a worthy competitor with
the pale-face Teii-pin-alley, for the disputed right of being
the more dignified amusement.
Judge Julius Folsom of Atoka, Indian Territory, inform
ed me that a friend of his, -Isaac McClure, found an Ulth
Chuppih ball in a mound near Skullyville, Choctaw Nation,
Indian Territory, and not knowing what it was, brought it to
him for information. This proves that the Indians who
occupied' the territory prior to the Choctaws also indulged in
the game of Ulth Chuppih.
The following was furnished me by my learned friend
H. S. Halbert, of Mississippi, a genuine philanthropist and
true friend to, the North American Indian race:
'/The Great Ball Play and Fight on Noxubee" (a cor
ruption of the Choctaw word Nakshobih, a peculiarly. offen
sive odor), between the Creeks and Choctaws.
"In the fall of 1836, there died in the "southern part of
Noxubee county an aged Indian warrior named Stonie Hadjo.
This old ludian had resided in the county for years and' was
very popular with the pioneers, who regarded him as an up
right and truthful man. He was a Creek by birth, a Choc
taw by adoption. This old warrior would often tell of a
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 191
great ball play and fight which occurred between the Creeks
and Choctaws in Noxubee county. This event, from date
given by him, must have occurred about the year 1790.
"On Noxubee river there was anciently a large beaver
pond, about which the Creeks and Choctaws had a violent
dispute. The Creeks claimed it by priority of discovery,
while the Choctaws asserted their right to it because it lay
in their own territory. As the fur trade at Mobile and Pen-
sacola, (corruption of the Choctaw words puska okla, bread
people, then small places, but the main points of trade for
the southern Indians) was lucrative, each party was loath to
renounce the right to the beavers. The two Nations finally
agreed to settle the matter by a ball-play. A given number
of the best players were accordingly selected from each
Nation, who were to decide, by the result of the game, to
which Nation, the exclusive right to the beaver pond should
belong. Great preparations were made by each party for
this important event. They commenced preparing on the
new moon and it took them two whole inoons and until the
full of the third to complete preparations. Great quantities
-of provisions had to be procured, and the ball players had to
subject themselves meanwhile to the usual requirement of
practice, the athletic exercises customary on such occa
sions.
"Finally the day came, and Stonie Hadjo said that there
were ten thousand Indians, Creeks and Choctaws, camped
around the ball ground on Noxubee river. The Creek Chief
who held the highest command, after seemg his people
properly encamped left to pay a visit of ceremony to great
Chief of the Choctaws, who lived at some distantance. Stonie
Hadjo-give the names of those two chiefs, but these names
cannot now be recalled." (If I mistake/ not, the Choctaw
Chief was Himakubih, now to kill). "Every thing being now
ready the play commenced, and it was admitted on all sides
to have been the closest and most evenly matched game ever
witnessed by either nation. Fortune vascillated from Creek
to Choctaws and then from Choctaw to Creek. At last, it
was a tied game, both parties standing even. One more
game remained to be played which would decide the contest.
Then occurred a long and terrible struggle lasting for four
hours. Every Creek and every Choctaw strained himself to
his utmost bent. Finally after prodigious feats of strengh
and agility displayed on both sides, fortune at last declared in
favor of the Creeks. The victors immediately began to
.shout and sing! The. Choctaws were greatly humiliated.
At length a high spirited Choctaw player, unable longer to
• endure the exultant shouts of the victorious party, made an
192 HISTORY. OF THE INDIANS.
nsulting remark to a Creek player. (Who, in retaliation,
Choctaws state, threw a petticoat on the Choctaw — the
the greatest insult that can be offered to an Indian). The
latter resente'd it, and the two instantly clutched each other
in deadly combat. The contag-ion spread, and a general fig-lit
with sticks, knives, guns, tomahawks and bows and arrows,
began among1 the ball players. Then warriors from each
tribe commenced joining in the fight until all were engaged
in bloody strife.
"The fight continued from an hour by the sun in the
evening- with but little intermission during the night, until
two hours by the sun the next morning. At this juncture
the. great chiefs of the Creeks and the Choctaws arrived upon
the ground and at on'ce put a stop to the combat, runners-
having been dispatched at the beginning of the fight to these
two leaders to inform them of the affair. The combatants
upon desisting from the fight, spent the remainder of the
day in taking care of the wounded; the women watching over
the dead, The next" day the dead were buried; their money,
silver ornaments, and dther articles of value being deposited
with them in their graves. The third day a council convened.
The Creek and the Choctaw chiefs made "talks" expressing
their regrets that their people should have given way to
such a wild storm of passion resulting in the death of so
many brave warriors. There was no war or cause for war
between the two Nations and they counciled that all forget
the unhappy strife, make peace and be friends as before..
This advice was heeded. The pipe of peace was smoked,
all shook hands and departed to their homes..
"Stonie Hadjo stated that five hundred warriors were
killed outright in this fight and that a great many of the
wounded afterward died. The Creeks and Choctaws had had
several wars with each other, had fought many bloody bat
tles, but that no battle was so disastrous as this fight at the
ball ground. For many long years the Creeks and Choc
taws looked back to this event with emotions of terror and
sorrow. For here, their picked men, their ball players,
, who were the flower of the two Nations, almost to a man
perished. Scarcely was there a Creek or Choctaw family,
but had to mourn the death of some kinsman slain. For
several years the Creeks made annual pilgrimages to this
ball ground to weep over the graves of their dead. The
Choctaws kept up thi* Indian custom much long-dr. Even
down to the time of their emigration in 1832 they had not
ceased to make similar lamentations.
"After the fight, by tacit consent, the beaver pond was.
left in the undisputed possession of the Choctaws; but it is-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 193
said that soon afterwards, the beaver entirely abandoned the
pond. According to Indian superstition, their departure
was supposed to have some connection with the unfortunate
fight.
"In 1832, a man named Charles Dobbs settled on this ball
and battle ground . Stonie Hadjo, who was then living- in
the vicinity ^pointed out to him many of the graves, where
in money and other valuables were buried. Dobbs dug-
down and recovered about five hundred dollars in silver, and
about two hundred and fifty dollars' worth of silver orna
ments.
"This ground is situated on the eastern banks of Noxu-
bee river, about five miles west of Cooksville and about two
hundred yards north of where Shuqualak(corruption of Shoh-
pakalih, Sparkling,) creek empties into Noxubee. The beaver
pond, now drained and in cultivation, is situated on the
western, bank of Noxubee, about half a mile north of the
ball-ground.
Frequently disputes between the ancient Choctaws and
Muscogees arose as a result of a ball-play, 'but which too
frequently terminated in a fearful fight, followed by a pro
tracted war. My friend, H. S. Halbert, informed me by
letter, of another', which was told to him by an aged Choctaw
who remained in Missisippi with others at the time of the
Choctaw exodus in 1832. Is is as follows:
"The war in 1800 between the Choctaws and Creeks had
its origin in a dispute about the territory between the Tom-
bigbee and Black Warrior rivers, which both Nations claim
ed. It was finally agreed to settle the matter by a ball-play.
The play occurred on the west bank of the Black Warrior, a
mile below Tuscaloosa. The Creek chief was named Tus-
keegee, the Choctaw, L/uee, (corruption of La wih, being
equal). Both parties claimed the victory. A violent dispute
arose which resulted in a call to arms followed by a furious
battle in which many were killed and wounded on both sides,
but the Choctaws were victorious. This occurred in the
spring. The Choctaws after the fight withdrew to their
homes. The Creeks, stung by defeat, invaded xthe Choctaw
Nation in the ensuing fall under Tuskeegee and fought the
second battle in the now Noxubee county, in which the
Creeks were victorious. Luee again commanded the Choc
taws." But the Choctaws being reinforced,- another battle
was soon after fought in which the Choctaws under Himar-
kubih, were victorious and drove the Creeks out of their
country. I have been told that previous to our civil war the
trees still showed signs of the ancient conflict.
The Choctaws, at the time of their earliest acquaintance
194 HISTORY OF. THE INDIANS.
with the European races, possessed,, in conjunction with all
their race of the North American Continent, a vague, but to
a great extent, correct knowledge of the Oka Falama, "The
returning- waters," as they termed it — The Flood/
The Rev. Cyrus Byington related a little incident, as one
out of many interesting- and pleasing- ones that frequently
occurred when traveling- throug-h their country from one
point to another in the discharge of his ministerial duties,
over seventy years ago. At one time he found night fast
approaching without any visible prospect of finding a place
of shelter for the night, safe from the denizens of the wilder
ness through which his devious^ path was leading him. Then
and there roads were unknown and paths alone led the trav
eler from place to place. Soon, however, he discovered an
humble cabin a few hundred yards distant, directly to which
the little path was leading him, and which he readily recog
nized as the home of a Choctaw hunter. Several little chil
dren were engaged in their juvenile sports near the house,
who, upon seeing the .white stranger approaching, made a
precipitate retreat into the house. The mother hastened to
the door to learn, the cause of the alarm — saw, gazed a
moment, and then as suddenly disappeared. As Mr. Bying-
ton rode up, he observed an Indian man sitting before the
door, whose appearance betokened his experience in the vi
cissitudes of life to have reached four score years or more,
who cheerfully extended the hospitality of his humble home
to the solitary and wayworn stranger.
But nothing strange in this, for who ever heard of an
American Indian refusing the hospitality of his cabin, how
ever so humble, to a passing stranger? Soon Mr. Byington
was also seated before the cabin door near the aged Choctaw,
and very naturally took a survey of the surroundings. It was
a cloudless eve in May, 1825. The calm beautiful day was
j,ust drawing to a close and the slanting sunbeam fell in a
dreamy sort of indolent beauty upon the delicate shrubbery
Beneath the majestic trees that towered above in stately
grandeur dangling with their branches in a careless radiance
and throwing upon them such gorgeous tints, as they alone
can bestow at the last moment of their departing glory. Far
away before the admiring gaze of the humble missionary,
stretched a gently undulating plain which seemed to extend
beyond the sunbeams into the gray twilight of the distant
east. Here and there dense masses of foliage on the north,
south and west, deepening and darkening into increasing
depths of shade, blended so imperceptibly with the out
stretching shadows which they cast, that it was difficult to
tell where the reality ceased and the shadow began. Various
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 1 95
kinds of birds were now flocking from the c>pen plain into
the recesses of the dark foliage of the surrounding trees,
and, with noisy twitterings seemed disputing for the occu
pancy of their favorite roosting .place upon some selected
twig; lovely flowers of variegated hue filled the air with
sweetest perfume, rendering it a luxury to breathe; while
here and there little groups of cattle and horses lazily crop
ped the new and tender grass or idly lay upon its soft caf-pet,
which now covered the ground with living green. The aged
warrior, true to his~nature, had sought his cabin door that,
undisturbed, he might look upon the scene that stretched in
a wild panorama of beauty before his appreciative and admir
ing gaze. Romantic and lovely indeed were all the surround
ings of that forest home, so truly characteristic of the Indian
in the selection of his abode. The old warrior and hunter,
ere his meditations were disturbed by the coming stranger,
was, no doubt, silently and attentively listening to the voice
of memory calling him from afar off, back to the sunny days
of early youth, while his ears caught other cadences that
whispered of man-hood's strength, when, untrammeled
by the weight of years, he roamed o'er his native land,
and, with eagle-eye and, nimble-foot, pursued his game,
or, with stealthy step, followed the war-path in its dubious
windings through the distant country of his foes. But to
the cultivated mind of the man of God, who now sat by his
side and also viewed the glories of the scene, how different
the emoti'ons awakened ! His thoughts arose from, Nature's
beauties to the sublimities and glories of Nature's God. For
it -was the place and hour to enter Nature's sacred temple
and there commune with her in her own mystic language;
to see the beautiful where others see it not; to hear anthems
that whisper to man of hope and joy' in the diapason of the
gentle zepyrs, making the appreciative heart thankful to be
alive; while pitying the dwellers in crowded cities who never
see or enjoy aught like this.
After an exchange of a few words, and the aged man
had learned who his guest was, for he had heard of the good
missionaries, mutual confidence was at once established be
tween the two; especially as the stranger was conversant, to
some extent, in his native Choctaw tongue. During the con
versation of the evening, the good missionary, true to his
trust, narrated to his aged host the story of the Cross, with
all its interesting bearings, and in conclusion set forth, with
much eloquence, the importance and necessity of his host's
immediate attention to the things that appertained to his in
terests beyond the sphere of time; to all of which the old
man listened in profound silence, and with the deepest inter-
196 ^ HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
est and attention; then rising- from his seat and taking- Mr,
By ing-ton by the hand and leading- him to the corner of the
little cabin where the setting- sun could be seen in full view,
he pointed to it and said: "Your talk is, no doubt, true and
good, but it is strange and dark to me. See yonder is the
sun.(5f my life; it but ling-ers upon the western sky. It is
now too late for me to follow your new and strang-e words.
Let me continue in the path I long- have walked, and in which,
my fathers before me trod; the Great Spirit tells me, it will,
lead me to the happy hunting- grounds of the Indian, and that
is sufficient for me." And who can say it was not? With
unshaken faith he believed the Great Spirit would take him
at the hour of death to the happy hunting- ground — the heav
en of the Indian, the only one of which he had ever heard.
Then pointing- to his children and grand-children, he contin
ued: "Tell your new talk to them and to my young- people.
They have time to consider it. If it is a better way to the
happy hunting- grounds than the Indian's, teach them to
walk In it, but persuade me not to now forsake my long-
known path, for one unknown and so strange to me." Mr.
Byington,' deeply interested in his ag-ed friend, related, in
connection with other Bible truths, the account of the flood.
Instantly the old veteran's countenance brig-htened up, and
with a smile of self-confidence said: "You no longer talk
mysteries. I know now of what you speak. Mv father told
me when a boy of the Oka Falama." Mr. Bying-ton then
asked him, if he knew how long since it occurred. The old
veteran, with an air of injured innocence, by the doubt ex
pressed in the question of his veracity for truth, stooping,
filled both hands with sand, then, with an expression of tri
umphal confidence, said: "As many seasons of snow ago,
as I hold grains of sand in my hand . "
During the fall of 1887, I was boarding at a Choctaw
friend's in the territory, a man of noble characteristics, and
one day related to him the above incident. I was struck with
his remark. As I closed, he said in a slow and mournful
tone of voice; "Ever thinking of the good of their people, —
the young and rising generations coming after them." I
asked a more explicit explanation. He replied; "The aged
men of my people always expressed more concern for the
welfare of the young than they did for themselves. That
old Choctaw, of whom you have just spoken, seemed to re
alize that it was too late for him to be benefitted by -the teach
ings of the good white man, but still was anxious for him to
do all the good he could for the young and rising generation of
his Nation. Why is the Indian so traduced by the white
man? Has my race no redeeming traits?" Shame for my
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 197
own race hushed me to silence, and -I made no reply, as he
arose and quietly left my room — and me to my unpleasant
reflections.
The Choctaw hunter was famous as a strategist when
hunting- alone in the woods; and was such an expert in the
art of exactly imitating- the cries of the various animals of
the forests, that he would deceive the ear of the most expe
rienced. They made a very ing-eniously constructed instru
ment for calling deer to them, in the use of which they were
very expert; and in connection with this, they used a decoy
made by cutting the skin clear round the neck, about ten
inches from the head of a slain buck having huge horns, and
then stuffing the skin in one entire section up to the head
and cutting off the neck where it joins the head. The skin,
thus made hollow from the head back, is kept in its natural
position by inserting upright sticks; the skin is then pulled
upwards from the nose to the horns and all the flesh and
brains removed; then the skin is repulled to its natural place
and laid away to dry. In a year it has become dry; hard and
inoffensive, and fit for use. All the upright sticks are then
taken out except the one next to the head, which is left as a
hand-hold. Thus the hunter, with his deer-caller and head
decoy, easily enticed his game within the range of his deadly
rifle; for, secreting himself in the woods, he commenced to
Imitate the bleating of a deer; if within hearing distance, one
soon responds; but, perhaps, catching the scent of the
hunter, stops and begins to look around. The hunter now
• inserts his arm into the cavity of the decoy and taking hold
of the upright stick within, easily held it up to view,- and at
tracted the attention of the doubting deer by rubbing it
against the bushes or a tree; seeing which, the then m
longer suspicious deer advanced, and only learned its mis
take by the sharp crack of the rifle and the deadly bullet.
The antlers of some of the bucks grew to a wonderful
size, which were shed off every February, or rather pushec
off by the forthcoming new horns, a singularly strangt
freak of nature, yet no less true. There was also a strangt
and ancient tradition among the Choctaw and Chickasav
hunters, before their exodus to their present place of abode
that, as soon the horns dropped off, the buck at once PAWED ;
hole in the ground with his feet (it being (always soft durim
the season of shedding, from the frequent rains) into whicl
he pushed the fallen horns and carefully covered them up
This may seem fabulous, yet there are good grounds upoi
which to establish, at leas"t a probability, if not its truth,
have heard of white hunters who had been attracted by th
appearance of something .being freshly covered up, with th
198 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
tracks of deer alone at and around the spot, and, upon dig
ging down, have found the horns of a deer. In many hunts
in the forest of Mississippi, during many years, where the
deer almost filled the woods, I have never seen a deer horn
except those attached to a skull — left in the woods by the
hunter, or those of a buck that had died a natural death.
The forests were burnt off the latter part of every March,
and thus the ground, was entirely naked and a deer's horn, if
above ground, could have been seen a hundred yards distant,,
but they were not seen. The fires of the forest were not hot
enough to burn them. Now what became of them if not
buried by the bucks, as hundreds were shed yearly?
The Choctaw warrior was equally as expert in deceiving
his enemy as he was in that of the wild denizens of his native
forests. When upon the war-path the Choctaws always
went in small bands, which was the universal custom of their
entire race, traveling one behind the other in a straight line;
and, if in the enemy's territory each one stepped exactly in
the tracks of the one. who walked before him, while the one
in the extreme rear defaced, as much as possible, their
tracks, that no evidence of their number, or whereabouts
might be made known to the enemy. In these war excur
sions, the most profound silence was observed; their com
munications being carried on by preconcerted and well un
derstood signs made by the hand or head; if necessary to
be audible, then by a low imitative cry of some particular
wild animal.
The dignity of chieftainship was bestowed upon him
who had proved himself worthy by his skill and daring deeds
in war; and to preserve the valiant character of their chief,
it was considered a disgrace for him to be surpassed in. dar
ing deeds by any of his warriors; at the same time, it was
also regarded as dishonorable for the warriors to be sur
passed by their chief. Tnus there were great motives for
both to perform desperate deeds of valor — which they did;
nor did they wait for opportunities for the display of hero
ism, but sought perils and toils by which they might distin
guish themselves. These war parties, gliding noiselessly
like Spectres through the dense forests, painted in the most
fantastic manner conceivable, presented a wild and fearful
appearance, more calculated to strike terror to the heart of
the beholder than admiration. Though they advanced in small
bodies and detached parties, yet in their retreats they scat
tered like frightened partridges, each for himself, but to
unite again at a pre-arranged place miles to the rear. No
gaudy display was ever made in their war excursions to
their enemy's country. They meant business, not display,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 199
depending* on the success of their expedition in their silent
and unexpected approach, patient watching-, and artful strata
gems. To fight a pitched battle in an open field giving the
enemy an equal chance, was to the Choctaws the best evi
dence of a want of military skill. But unlike most of their
race, they seldom invaded an enemy's territory from choice;
but woe to the enemy, who attributing- this to cowardice,
should have the presumption to invade their country; like
enraged bears robbed of their young-, they would find the
Choctaw warriors, to a man, ready to repel them with the most
desperate and fearless bravery ever exhibited by any race
of men. Yet, to them, no less than to the whites, strategy
was commendable, and to outwit an enemy and 'thus gain
an advantag-e over him, was evidence of great and praise*
worthy skill.
DUELS. — The duelist, according to the white man's code
of honor, was regarded by the Choctaws with utmost con*
tempt, the fool above all fools; and in this, manifesting much
better sense than the white man with all his boasted idea of
honor. That a man would stand up openly before his enemy
to be shot at with the opportunity of getting an open shot at
him, was a code of honor beyond their comprehension, a piece
of nonsense in the indulgence of which a Choctaw could not
be guilty.
I did once hear, however, of a young Choctaw warrior ac
cepting a chellenge from a white man in their nation east of
the Mississippi river. A white man, who had been living in
one of their, villages for several months, taking offense at
something a young warrior had done, and well-knowing the
repugnance with which the Choctaws regarded the white
man's code of honor, thought it a proper time to impress
them with the belief that he was very brave, since he had but
little to fear that he would be called upon to put it to the test;
therefore, gave him a verbal challenge, in the presence of
many other Choctaw warriors, to fight him a duel accord
ing to the white man's code; and to impress upon the
minds of the by-standers that where there was so much
bravery, there must be a proportional amount of honor, the
heroic challenger informed the young Choctaw that, as he
was the challenged party, the white man's code of honor
nobly awarded to him the choice of weapons, time and place.
To all of which the young Choctaw listened in meditative sil
ence. All eyes were turned upon him expecting a negative
reply; none moro so than the "brave" pale-face. At that mo
ment he sprang to his feet and with a nimble bound placed him
self directly before the face, and within a few feet of his chal
lenger, and, with his piercing eyes upon, said in broken
200 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
English, "You say, me hab choice of weapon, time, and place,
too?" "Yes," responded the now dubious white brave; then
looking around upon all with a determined eye, to the aston
ishment of all, the challenger by no means excepted, ex
claimed in a calm tone of voice: "Pale-face, me fight you to-
marler wid rifle." Then turning to one of the by-standers
he said: "You take him" (pointing to his challenger) "to-
marler, sun so high," (pointing to the east) one mile dis way,
put him behind tree, den you come back." Then turning to
another, continued: "You take me to-marler, sun same so
high" (again pointing to the east) "one mile dis udder way,
put me beh,ind tree, too, den you come back." Then turning
his penetrating black eyes fully upon the then astonished
"man of honor," and looking him straight in the eyes, said:
"Pale— face, you hunt me to-marler, and me hunt you to-mar
ler; you see me first, den youshootme first; me see you first,
den me shoot you first." The pale-face warrior, quickly con
cluding that prudence then and there was evidently the bet
ter part of valor, wisely declined the honor with all the
prospective pleasure of the morrow's hunt; to the great
amusement of the Choctaws, who by their continued tantiliz-
ing, soon drove the would-be duellist from their territory.
Upon this subject, I here quote the following from the
pen of Rev. Israel Folsom, a Choctaw, with whom I was per
sonally acquainted, east of the Mississippi river, and kindly
furnished me by his amiable daughter, Czarena, now Mrs.
Robb, a noble Christian lady living in Atoka I. T. (from Ai-
a-tuk-ko, a protection or shield.)
"They had duels too; but they were quite different from
any that has been practiced by anv of the Indians of the con
tinent or the whites; and which most commonly proved fatal
to both parties. When a quarrel or difficulty occurred be
tween two warriors, a challenge was sent by one to the other;
not to meet and take a pop at each other with pistols, as is
the case in civilized and refined Nations, but in reality, it was
a challenge for both to die. It was understood in no other
way; this was the mode of trying the man's bravery, for
they believe that a brave man, who possesses an honest and
sincere heart, would never be afraid to die: It was usual for
each one to select his own friend to dispatch him. If one
should back out from the challenge, they considered it as a
great mark of cowardice and dishonesty in him, and he would
be despised by his relations and friends, and by the whole
tribe. If a challenge was given and accepted, it* was certain
to end in the death of both parties; this mode of deciding
difficulties had a strong tendency to restrain men from
quarreling and fighting among themselves, for fear of being
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 201
challenged and consequenty compelled to die, or forever be
branded with dishonesty and cowardice, and afterwards live
a life of degradation and disgrace. Hence, it was a common
saying among them, that a man should never quarrel, unless
he was willing to be challenged and to die. On one occasion
a sister seeing her brother about to baclr out from a chal-
stepped forward and boldly offered herself to die in his
stead, but her offer was not accepted, and she was so morti
fied at her brother's want of courage that she burst into
tears."
Thus they fought the duel: When one Choctaw chal
lenged another the challenge was given verbally, face to face,
the time and place then and there designated. If accepted
(and it was almost certain to be) the two went to the place
each with his second. The two combatants then took their
places unarmed about twenty feet apart, each with a second
at his right side with a rifle in hand. At a given signal each
second shot the combatant standing before him. That
closed the scene. Each had proven himself a Tush-ka Siah;
(warrior I am) and that was satisfactory to all.
To have it said, "he died bravely," was the highest am-
"bition of the Choctaw warrior, and thus it is even to the
present day. He regards death as merely a transmigration
to the happy hunting-ground, to which many of his friends
had already gone. His rifle, so long his boon companion and
trusty friend, together with his tomahawk, knife and tobacco,
he only required to be deposited in the grave by his side as
all the requisites necessary for him, when he arrived at the
land of abundant game to resume the sports of the chase;
frequentlv a little corn and venison were also placed in the
grave, by the hand of maternal fore-sight and love, that her
warrior boy might not hunger during his long journey.
There was a peculiar custom among the ancient Choc-
taws, prior to 1818, which, according to tradition, was as
follows: For many years after the marriage of her daughter,
the mpther-in-law was forbidden to look upon her son-in-law.
Though they might converse together, they must be hidden
the one from the other by some kind of a screen, and when
nothing else offered, by covering her eyes. Thus the mother-
in-law was put to infinite trouble and vexation least she
should make an infraction upon the strange custom; since,
when travelling or in camp often without tents, they were
necessarily afraid to raise their heads, or open their eyes
through fear of seeing the interdicted object.
Another peculiarity, which, howeyer. they possessed in
common with other tribes, was, the Choctaw wife never
called her husband by name. But addressed him as "my son
202 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
or daughter's father;" or more commonly using- the child's
name, when if Shah-bi-chih, (meaning-, to make empty, the
real name of a Choctaw whom I know) for instance, she
she calls' her husband "Shah-bi-chih 's father." Another
oddity in regard to names was, the ancient Choctaw warriors
seemed to have a strange aversion to telling their own names,-
and it was impossible to get it unless he had an acquaintance
present, whom he requested to tell it for him.
THE CHOCTAW YA-YAHS ; CRIES OVER THE DEAD. — Their
manifested sorrow and wailing over the graves of their dead
were affecting in the extreme — truly bordering on the sub
lime in their severe simplicity; and had the Indian character
istics been rightly understood, and the nature of their
lamentations justly comprehended by the whites, their an
cient "Yayahs" might well have been compared to the com
plaints of the mother of Euriauls, in the ^Enead: the same
passionate expressions of deep sorrow, and the same ex
travagance of grief, whose aif ecting tones sank deep into the
inexperienced heart. For twelve months, at various inter
vals, the women repaired to the grave of the last deceased
relative or friend there to weep and express their unassum-
ed, heart-felt griefs to the memory of the dead, loved in life
and lamented in death, thus manifesting the tender sensi
bility of the Indian female. And though those tender and
affecting exhibitions of affection may be regarded by the
arrogant whites as 'having their origin in ignorance, super
stition and error, yet how hard that heart must be that par
dons not the illusion that soothes the sufferings of a bereaved
soul. But that age in which superstition held her empire
undisputed in the Choctaw mind has long since past; and
that noble people, however seemingly low, or however op
posed in their progress by conflicting and opposing circum
stances, have years ago turned1 towards truth, and have long
•since attained that goal which reason has erecTed in their
breasts equaj to that of the White Race.
The deep and unaffected grief of a Choctaw mother at
the death of a daughter, and that also of a father at the loss
of an only son in whom rested his fondest hopes, words are
inadequate to describe. With tearless eyes and solemn
countenance the bereaved father strolled about his little
premises, seemingly unconscious of all the surroundings,
while the frequent outbursting of grief in the loud lamenta
tions of the mother was truly a Rachel weeping for her child
ren. There never lived a race of people more affectionate
one to another than the Choctaws inyiieir ancient homes.
They actually seemed as one great brotherhood— one loving>
trusting family; nor has there been any material change
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 203
from that day to this. 'Tis true, they were subject to like
passions with all imperfect humanity, and in momentary fits
of passion, excited by the white man's "Personal Liberty,"
one sometimes killed another; but as soon as his drunken fit
had worn off and momentary anger cooled, he manifested
the deepest sorrow for the unfortunate affair; nor did he
ever try to escape from the punishment attending- the crime
— never; but calmly offered himself as a voluntary sacrifice
to the offended law.
They held specified cries for the dead, which to us of the
present day would appear strange and even bordering- upon,
the romantic, yet could not be witnessed without emotions
of sadness. After the death and burial, the time was set by
the near relations of the deceased for the cry, and notice was
given to^ the neighboring* villages for their attendance, to
which all gave a ready response. When assembled, as many
as could conveniently, would kneel in a close circle around the
grave, both men and women; then drawing their blankets
over their heads would commence a wailing cry in different
tones of voice, which, though evident to a sensitive ear that
the rules of harmony had been greatly overlooked, produced
a solemnity of feeling that was indescribable, to which also
the surroundings but added to the novelty of the scene; for
here and there, in detached little groups, were seated upon
the ground many others, who in solemn demeanor chatted
in a low tone of voice and smoked the indispensible pipe;
while innumerable children of all ages and sexes, engaged in
their juvenile sports and in thoughtless glee mingled their
happy voices with the sad dirge of their seniors; which ad
ded to the barking of a hundred dogs intermingling with the
tinkling chimes of the little bells that were suspended upon
the necks of as many ponies, made a scene baffling all des
cription. At different intervals, one, sometimes three 'or
four together, would arise from the circle of mourners, qui
etly walk away and join some one of the many little groups
seated around, while the vacancy in the mourning circle was
im mediately filled by others, who promptly came forward,
knelt, drew their blankets over their heads, and took up the
mournful strain; and thus for several days and nights, the
wailing voices of the mourners, the gleeful shouts of thought
less yet innocent and happy childhood; the howling and
barking of innumerable dogs, and the tinkling of the pony-
bells of every tone imaginable, in all of which dissonance was
a prominent feature, was heard for miles away through the
surrounding forests, echoing a wild, discordant note, more
incomprehensible than the united voices of a thousand of the
different denizens of the wilderness, of wrhich no one, who
204 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
has not been an eye witness, can form even the most remote
conception. If alone in the silent gloom of the wilderness,
the boldest heart would quail, and the strongest nerve relax,
unless the course and meaning- were known and understood;
for he could but believe that all the lost spirits of the lower
world had left their dark and dismal abodes, ascended to
earth, and, in one mystic concert, brayed the fearful discord.
More than once have I witnessed the scene and heard the
Availing thereof. Oft, in the calm still hours of a starry night,
have I heard the dubious tones of a distant Choctaw Indian
cry, and as the disconnected sounds, borne upon the night
breeze, floated by in undulating tones, now plainly audible,
then dying away in the distance, I must confess there was a
strange sadness awakened in my breast, unfelt and unknown
before or since. It must be heard to be comprehended.
When the time for the cry had expired, the mourning was
exchanged for a previously prepared feast; after the enjoy
ments afforded in the participation of which, all joined in a
jolly dance; thus happily restoring the equilibrium so long
physically and mentally disturbed. Then each to his home
returned, while the name of the departed was recorded
among the archives of the past,— to be mentioned no more.
The relatives of the deceased, who lived at too great a
distance to conveniently to cry over the grave of the dead
set up a post a short distance from the house, around which
they gathered and cried • alternately during a period of
twelve months. Such were some of the ancient characteris
tics of this peculiar 'but interesting people of the long ago,
most of which, however, have long since been abandoned and
numbered with the things of yore.
The faces of the-Choctaw and Chickasaw men of sixty
years ago were as smooth as a woman's, in fact they had no
beard. Sometimes there might be seen a few tine hairs (if
hairs they might be called) here and there upon the face,
but they were few and far between, and extracted with a
pair of small tweezers whenever discovered. Oft have I seen
a Choctaw warrior standing before a mirror seek'ng with
untiring perseverance and unwearied eyes, as he turned his
face at different angles to the glass, if by chance a hair could
be found lurking there, which, if discovered, was instantly
removed as an unwelcome intruder. Even to-day, a full-
blood Choctaw or Chickasaw with a heavy beard is never
seen. I have seen a few, here and there, with a little patch
of beard upon their chins, but it was thin and short, and
with good reasons to suspect that white blood flowed in their
veins.
It is a truth but little known .among the whites, that the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 205
North American Indians of untarnished blood have no hair
upon any part of the^body except the head. My knowledge
of this peculiarity was confined,* however, to the Choctaws
and Chickasaws alone. But in conversation with an aged
Choctaw friend upon this subject, and inquiring" if this
peculiarity extended to all Indians, he replied; "To all, I
believe. I have been among- the Comanches, Kiowa's and
other western Indians, and have often seen them bathing,
men and women, promiscuously together, in the rivers of
their country, and found it was the same with them, their
heads alone were adorned with hair."
In conversation soon after with a Creek friend upon the
subject in regard to the full-blood Creeks, he said, "They have
no hair whatever upon the body, except that of the head, and
the same is the case with all full-bloods that I have seen of
other tribes." It is also the testimony^of all the early ex
plorers of this continent.
In their ancient councils and great national assemblies,
the Choctaws 'always observed the utmost order arid decorum,
which, however, is universally characteristic of the Indians
everywhere. In those grave and imposing deliberations of
years ag-o convened at night, all sat on the ground in a circle
around a blazing fire called "The Council Fire." The aged,
who from decrepitude had long retired from the scenes of
active life, the war-path and the chase, formed the inner
circle; the middle aged warriors, the next and the young
warriors, the outer circle. The women and children were
always excluded from all their national assemblies. The old
men, beginning with the oldest patriarch, would then in
regular succession state to the attentive audience all that had
been told them by their fathers, and what they themselves
had learned in the experience of an eventful' life — the past
history of their nation; their vicissitudes and changes; what
difficulties they had encountered, and how overcome; their
various successes in war and their defeats; the character and '
kind of enemies whom they had defeated and by whom they
had been defeated, the mighty deeds of their renowned
chiefs and famous warriors in days past, together with their
own achivements both in war and the chase; their nation's
days of prosperity and adversity; in short; all of their tradi
tions and legends handed down to them through :the suc
cessive generations of ages past; and when those old seers
and patriarchs, oracles of the past, had in their turn gone to
dwell with their fathers in the Spirit Land, and their voices
were no longer heard in wise counsel, the next oldest
occupied the chairs of state, and in turn rehearsed to their
young braves the traditions of the past, as related to them
206 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
by the former sages of their tribe, together with their own
knowledge; and thus were handed down through a long line
•of successive generations, and with much accuracy and
truth, the events of their past history; and when we consider
the extent to which all Indians cultivated that one faculty,
memory, their connections in the history of the past is not
so astonishing. I will here relate a little incident (frequently
published) in the life of the famous Indian chief, Red Jacket,
as an evidence of strength and correctness of the Indian's
memory. It is said of Red Jacket, that he never forgot any
thing he once learned. On a certain occasion, a dispute
arose in a council with his tribe and the whites, concerning
the stipulations made and agreed upon in a certain treaty.
"You have forgotten," said the agent, "we have it written on
paper." "The paper then tells a lie," replied Red Jacket.
"I have it. written down here," he added, placing his hand
with great dignity on his brow. "This is the book the Great
Spirit has given the Indian; it does not lie." A reference
was immediately made to the treaty in question, when, to the
astonishment of all present, the document confirmed every
word the unlettered warrior and statesman had utttered.
There can be little doubt but that a large majority of their
traditions are based upon truth; though passing as they have
through so long a period of time, it is reasonable to suppose
that many errors have crept in.
But one has given his opinion, on page 92 of his "History
of the Indian Tribes of North America," in the following
positive and presumptuous assertion, though his apparent
ignorance of all the characteristics (well known to the thous
ands of the White Race who have lived among them and
studied them a long life-time) of the North American Indians
so plainly manifested throughout his entire work, entitles
his assumed learned opinion regarding the truth or untruth
of the traditions of the North American Indians, or anything
else concerning that people, to but little, if any, credit. He
boldly asserts, with a seemingly great indifference as re
gards its truth, that "Nothing can be more uncertain, and
more unworthy, we will not say of credit, but of consid
eration, than their (the Indians') earlier traditions; and
probably there is not a single fact in all their history, sup
ported by satisfactory evidence, which occurred half a cen
tury previous to the establishment of the Europeans."
Though all admit that the voices of tradition coming from
all Nations — even from our own ancestors, the Britons — are
enshrouded, to a greater or less extent, in dense and dubious
fogs, and become more dim and distant as we go further
.back into the past. Yet that does not necessarily bring even
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 207
-the traditions of the North American Indians under his edict,
"Nothing can be more uncertain, and more unworthy, we
will not say of credit, but of consideration, than their tra
ditions, "as here comes to our aid modern Oriental Discovery,
with records engraven on rocks and stamped on bricks —
records contemporary with the events, and in all cases inde
pendent of the modern authority — since the records have
been hidden from the eyes of both the believer and disbe
liever. Inscriptions are disclosed, in languages now dead,
in characters long- forgotten, and to which every key had
been apparently lost. Ancient cities and countries, Thebes,
Ninevah, Pompeii, Balbee, Babylon, Jerusalem and Egypt
rise to testify and confirm the credit of many of tne tra-
ditons, fables and legends of the Old World. And so also,
from the buried past of the New World, hundreds of wit
nesses have already been summoned, and are still being
summoned, that confirm the credit of the traditions and
legends of the North American Indians, and to which they
pointed back through the long vista of ages past, ere the
Indians were known to the White Race, and give the merited
contradiction to the assertion that their traditions "merit
not even consideration."
An ancient Choctaw tradition attributes the origin of the
prairies along the western banks of the Tombigbee River, to
some huge animals (mammoths) that existed there at the
advent of their ancestors from the west to Mississippi.
Their tradition also states that the Nahullo, (Supernatural)
a race of giant people, also inhabited the same country,
•with whom their forefathers oft came in hostile contact.
These mighty animals broke off the low limbs of the trees in
eating the leaves, and also gnawed" the bark off the trees,
which, in the course of time, caused them to wither and die;
that they roamed in different bands, which engaged in des
perate battles whenever and wherever they met, and thus
caused them to rapidly decrease in numbers; and that, in the
course of years all had perished but two large males, who,
separate and alone, wandered about for several years — each
confining himself to the solitude of the forest many miles
from the other. Finally, in their wanderings they met, and
at once engaged in terrible conflict in which one was killed.
The survivor, now monarch of the forests, strolled about for
a fewxyears wrapt in the solitude of his own reflections and
independence — then died, and with him the race became
extinct.
That the Choctaw traditions of both the mammoth and
great men, was based on truth as to their former existence^
.in the southern and western parts of this continent is satis^
208 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
factorily established by the many mammoth skeletons of
both men and beasts and fragments of huge bones that have
been, and are continually being" found in different parts of
the country, and all of whom, according- to their tradition
were contemporary with the ancient fathers of the present
Indian race. It is "well known that the ancient existence of
those giants and mammoth was wholly unknown to the
White Race, until the excavation of their bones proved their
former existence; yet were known to the Indians to have
existed and so declared; but which was regarded by the
whites as only an Indian fable, unworthy of belief or even a
second thought. A huge skeleton of one of those ancient
animals was found in March, 1877, four miles east of the
town of Greenville, Hunt county, Texas. I secured a frag
ment of the skeleton, evidently a part of the femoral bone,
which measured twenty-one inches in circumference. A
tooth measured three inches in width, five inches in length
along the surface of the jaw bone and five inches in depth
into the jaw, and weighed the seemingly incredible weight
of eleven pounds. The teeth proved the monster herbifer-
ous, the anamel of which was in a perfect -state of preserva
tion. The greater part of the frame crumbled to dust, as
soon as exposed to the action of the air.
Here then it had found a burial place, among- others of
'the prehistoric population of the various animals which held
possession of this continent before, perhaps, tlie advent of
man, rising up before us like some old granite dome, weather-
beaten and darkened by the lapse of ages past. But death
came to it, as to its predecessors, whose cemeteries time has
opened here and there, and revealed to the scrutiny of the
curious, the testimony of vanished age . Many citizens of the
immediate neighborhood visited the place of disinterment,
and viewed the solitary grave and looked with wondering in
terest upon this stranger of hoary antiquity arising- from his
forest tomb where he has so long slept in silence, unknown
and unsung; whose history, as that of his mighty race, is
wrapt in the eternal silence of the unknown past. Yet, to
one who seeks to muse o'er the mysteries of the unwritten
long ago, this fossil tells a story of the mystic days of yore
and of the multiplied thousands of years since old Mother
Earth commenced to bear and then destroy her children.
Ah, could the records of the ages to which they point be
restored, how many doubts and problems would be solved?
But they only tantalize us by their near approach and uddi-
minished inscrutableness, while imagination shrinks from
the comtemplation of the intervening- years between. Yet,
from those relics of the ages past, an unlimited field for the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 209
imagination is open to view, which many thinkers have
attempted to explore only to find themselves utterly lost.
"Hupimmi hattak tikba a mintih hushi aiokatula" (our
, forefathers came from the west), declare the ancient Choc-
taws through their tradition, and "they saw the mighty
beasts of the forests, whose tread shook the earth; but our
forefathers' ancestry came from the northwest beyond the
the big water."
'"Tis but the tradition of the ignorant Indian — a foolish
fable," responded he of the pale-face, of boasted historical
attainments- When lo! accident unearths the long hidden
monster of traditional record, and the truth of the rejected
declaration of the despised Indian is established, and
with equal truth establishing the fact that, mid all
our boasted ancient pedigree, theirs is more ancient, and
perhaps more honorable, reaching back through the vista of
pre-historic times to the" dim and hazy regions of ages past
and unknown.
Also of the tradition of the Choctaws which told of a race
of giants that once inhabited the now State of Tennessee,
and with whom their ancestors fought when they arrived in
Mississippi in their migration from the west, doubtless Old
Mexico. Their tradition states the Nahullo (race of giants)
was of wonderful stature; but, as their tradition of the mas
todon, so this was also considered to be but a foolish
fable, the creature of a wild imagination, when lo! their
exhumed bones again prove the truth of the Choctaws' tradi
tion. In the fall of 1880, Mr. William Bevtrly, an old gentle
man 84 years of age living near Piano, Collin County, Texas,
and who was born in west Tennessee and there live'd to man
hood, stated to me that near his father's house on a small
creek were twenty-one mounds in consecutive order forming
a crescent, each distant from the other about fifty feet
~and each with a base of seventy-five or eighty feet in
diameter, and rising to an average height of forty feet; that
he, when a boy twelve years of age, was present with his
father, when an excavation was made in one of the moundjTin
which human bones of enormous size were found, the femoral
bones being five inches longer than the ordinary length, and
the jaw bones were so large as to slip over the face of a man
with ease. This statement was confirmed by Rev. Mr.
Rudolph of McKinney, Texas, and several others, all men of
undoubted veracity, which places the truth of the former
existence of the mounds, their excavations and results, as
well as the Choctaw tradition, beyond all doubt and even
controversy.
In regard to the race of giants that1 once occupied 'the
210 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
now State of Tennessee and mentioned in the tradition of the
ancient Choctaws, Mr. H. S. Halbert, an esteemed friend,
says in a letter to me, January 22, 1878, "I will give you some
facts which modern researches have thrown upon the
ancient occupancy of this continent, on the Atlantic seaboard
of\the United States stretching- from the coast of North
Carolina up to and through New England. I refer particu
larly to the seaboard .
"I am satisfied that the Indian race were in occupancy of
this seaboard region only about 200 years before the discov
ery of America in 1492, I give the reasons:
-1* About the year 1000, A. D. (I quote the date from
memory, not having the authories before me) the Northmen
discovered America and made some settlements on the New
England coast. All this, as you know, is historical. The
Northmen there came in contact with a people whom they
called Skrellings. Now these Skrellings, from the descrip
tion given by them were not Indians, but Esquimaux. They
were the same kind of people the Northmen had previously
met in Greenland and whom they called also Skrellings, or
rather Skraellinger. This is plain proof that 500 years be
fore Columbus, the Esquimaux race was inhabiting the sea
board of New England and not the Indians.
"Again, the Tuscarora Indians, now living in Canada,
but formerly from North Carolina, state in their traditions
that they came from the west and settled on the North Caro
lina seaboard about the year A. D. 1300. Their traditions
also state that they came in contact with a people of short
steiture, ignorant of maize and eaters of raw flesh.
"Now to whom does this description apply but to the
Esquimaux? Thirdly, relics have been discovered — imple
ments of various kinds, along the seaboard exactly similar to
those used by the Esquimaux of the present day. All this
is plain proof to my mind, that the Esquimaux once inhabited
the Atlantic seaboard as far south as North Carolina, and
that they were pushed northward by the influx of the incom
ing Indian tribes; and that- the Indian had not been settled
but for comparatively a short period in this seaboard at the
time of Columbus' discovery. The Mound Builders seemed
to have never occupied this seaboard stretching from North
Carolina upward. Now as to the Delaware tradition.
"The Delawares, or Leni L/enape as thev style them
selves in their native tongue, have a tradition that they came
from the west. When they came to the Great River,
perhaps, somewhere in the latitude of St. Louis, they
found a people of tall stature, and living- in towns. This
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 211
people the Delawares called Allegewi. They asked
the Allegewi for permission to cross the river, which was
granted. The Alleg-ewi, however, seeing the Indians con
stantly coming from the west in such large numbers,
and fearing they would ultimately dispossess them of their
country, commenced war upon them. After years of fight
ing, the Allegewi were defeated and driven out of their
country — retreating southward, and the Delawares and other
tribes took possession of their country. Now these Allegewi
are without doubt the same stock of people spoken of in Choc-
taw tradition as the Nahoolo."
The word Nahoolo is a corruption of the Choctaw word
Nahullo and is now applied to the entire White Race, but
anciently it referred to a giant race with whom they came in
contact when they first crossed the Mississippi river. These
giants, says their tradition, as related to the missionaries
occupied the northern part of the now States of Mississippi
and Alabama and the western part of Tennessee. The true
signification of the word Nahullo is a superhuman or super
natural being, and the true words for white man are Hattak-
tohbi. The Nahullo were of white complexion, according to
Choctaw tradition, and were still an existing people at the
time of the advent of the Choctaws to Mississippi; that they
were a hunting people and also cannibals, who killed and
ate the Indians whenever they could capture them, conse
quently the Nahullo were held in great dread by the Indians
and were killed by them whenever an opportunity was
presented; by what means they finally became extinct, tradi
tion is silent.
"Chemical analysis of the bones of this giant race in
Tennessee and elsewhere," says Mr. H. S. Halbert, in a
letter of January 3rd, 1878, "indicate the ravages of one of
the most terrible diseases to which flesh is heir. Bones ex
humed from these ancient cemeteries indicate with painful
certainty that syphilis was, at least, one cause of the extinct
ion of this ancient people.1 It was long supposed that syph
ilis was imported into this continent by the European race.
That may have been the case, in the historical period, but I
have no doubt it prevailed with awful fatality among that
ancient people, who -dominated a large portion of this
continent before the advent of the Indian race. -
"Mr. Grant L/incicum, (Dr. Gideon Lincicum, with whom
I was personally acquainted, was an educated white man,
who came to the Choctaw Nation after the advent of the mis
sionaries, and settled at Columbus, then a small place, and
afterwards wrote a MS. of the Choctaw habits, customs,
traditions and legends, which has been lost) "stated that
212 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
they (the Mound Builders) were, according- to the Choctaw
tradition, a hunting- people. He certainly must be in error
on this point. (Not so; Lincicum used the pronoun "they"
with reference to the Nahullo, and not to the Mound Build
ers, of whom their traditions never spoke). Now I believe
that the Mound Builders were of much fairer complexion
than the Indian, perhaps almost, if not quite, as fair as we,
and were an agricultural people also. Disease and war no
doubt were the main causes of their extinction. Detached
oifsliODts of them may have amalgamated with the Indian
tribes, and thus lost their physical peculiarities, but at the
same time kept up with their tribal organization. The Man-
dan Indians (now extinct) are supposed to have been a de-
g-enerate and amalgamated offshoot of the Mound Builders,.
ln--their manners and customs they were strikingly differen.
from the other Indians. I have no doubt but the researches
of antiquarians in some manner, to us yet unknown, will
throw much light upon the early occupants of this con
tinent."
Be that as it may, I still believe in the Choctaw traditions
—that the Nahulio who inhabited North Mississippi and Ala
bama, and West Tennessee, were "a hunting people," as
they have left no trace whatever of having been agricultur
ists, ad the unbroken forests of majestic trees of ages
growth, that covered the land everywhere at the advent the
of the Europeans, evidently prove.
Still I admit, with friend Halbert, that, possibly the Al-
legewi of Delaware tradition may be the Nahulio of Choctaw
tradition, — if they were of white complexion, as the word
Nahulio is emphatically applied to the white race and no
other. If white, may they not be of the Northmen, who, it
is said, ''established a few colonies upon the Atlantic coast
A. D. 1000. ?" Then, if the North American Indians are not
the Mound builders, (which has not yet been satisfactorily
proved) may not the Northmen be?
Some hate believed that the Nahulio were the Carib
Indians, as they were said to be of gigantic stature and also
cannibals, and who once inhabited our Gulf coast. The}'
were found by Columbus in the West Indies, and they are
still found in the isles of the Caribbean sea and Venezuela.
The early French writers of Louisiana called the Caribs by
their Indian name Attakapas, and Attakapas Parish in Louis
iana took its name from that tribe. The French translated
Attakapas, Man-eater. Attakapas is a corruption of the
Choctaw words Hattakapa, (man eatable) which they (the
French), no doubt, got from the Choctows, who gave the
tribe that name. I am inclined to believe that the Nahulio
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 213
4
of the Choctaw tradition were not regular cannibals, but that
they sacrificed human victims in their religious ceremonies,
which in extreme cases may, perhaps, have required their
officiates to eat a portion also of the victim's flesh. The same
also of the Caribs, — hence Hattakapa, (man eatable) instead
of Hattakupa, eater.
That the fore-fathers of the present Choctaws, Chicka-
sawrs, Cherokees and Muscogees migrated ag-es ago from
Mexico to their ancien^abodes east of the Mississippi river
there can be scarcely a doubt; and that they were a branch
of the Aztecs there is much in their ancient traditions and
leg'ends upon which to predicate, at least, a reasonable sup
position, if not a belief. The Aztecs are regarded by some
asxthe first of the human race that came to the North Amer
ican continent, and by others as one of the oldest races of the
human family upon earth, whose records and traditions point
back to those of the books of Genseis and Job . Though
the historical legends of the above named tribes do not divide
the ages past of their race into four epochs as the Aztecs, as
GamV Dom Yasco Da, the Portuguese mariner and discov
erer of the maritime route to India near the close of the 14th
century, asserts; and the first of which terminated in a de
struction of the people of the world by famine, the second by
wind, the third by fire, and the fourth by water, (very simi
lar to the traditions and legends of the Hindoos), yet they do
point back to many historical facts of the Christian's Bible,
which have been handed dowrii by tradition through ages and
point to great and important events of the long past, equally
showing that their race, as well as the Aztecs, are among
the oldest of the human race, and also among the first that
came to the North American continent. These legends,
traditions and parts of histories point back to pestilences,
. plagues and cataclysms preceded by long periods of dark
ness, then dense clouds followed by the return of light to the
earth, during which the human race was nearly exterminated,
which are fully sustained by the geologists of the present
clay, who affirm that there has been an age of thick clouds
and of floods, snows and glacier ice.
The Choctaws' endurance of pain — even to excruciating
torture — and to him the true exponent of every manly virtue,
was equal to that of any of his race and truly astonishing to
behold; and he who could endure the severest torture7with
the least outward manifestation of suffering, was regarded
by his companions as .most worthy of admiration and adula
tory praise, the bravest of the brave. No race of the human
family, of which I have read or heard, ever endured turture,
without a murmur, groan^or sigh, as did the North Ameri-
214 .. HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
can Indians when inflicted by an enemy to elicit a groan or
sigh — to them a manifestation of disgraceful weakness;
therefore, both men and women, endured the fire at the
stake, or to be cut to pieces by piece-meal, without any mani
festation of pain whatever; but derided their tormentors and
mocked at their efforts to force even a groan from their vic
tim. Of all the animals of their forests, there were but two
that no torture could force from them a manifestation of pain
—the wolfe and the opossum:
Even the little Choctaw boys took delight in testing the
degrees of their manhood by various ways of inflicting" pain..
I have often seen the little fellows stir up the nests of yellow
jackets, bumble-bees, hornets and wasps, and then stand
over the nests of the enraged insects which soon literally
covered them, and fight them with a switch in each hand;
and he who stood and fought longest without flinching — fore
shadowed the future man — was worthy 'the appellation of
Mighty Warrior. But the business ends of the hornets,,
bees and wasps, noted for their dispatch in all matters of
this kind, universally effected a hasty retreat of the intrtider
upon their domiciles, sooner or later — much to the delight of
his youthful companions and acknowledged by an explosion
of yells and roars of laughter. But the discomfitted embryo
warrior consoled himself by daring- any one of his merry
making companions to "brave the lion in his den," as he had
and endure longer than he did the combined attacks of the
valiant little enemy. The challenge was most sure to be ac
cepted, but invariably with the same result, a retreat at the
expense of a hearty laugh. From one to three minutes was
the average length of a battle, the insects holding the field
invariably. I have also seen them place a hot coal of fire on
the back of the hand, wrist and arm, and let it burn for
many seconds — bearing it with calm composure and without
the least manifestation of pain; thus practicing those first
lessons of endurance which were to enable them, when ar
rived to manhood, to undergo the most dreadful tortures
without manifestation of pain, or experience the deepest
sorrow without the slightest emotion. Verily, who can offer
a better claim than the North American Indian to the title,
"The stoic of the woods— the man without a tear?" As a
race of people, they have exhibited a power of enduring the
severest torture of which it is possible to conceive without a
murmur, without a groan, or even the movement of a mus
cle; in this differing from all Nations of people that have ever
been known to exist. A few years ago, in the Sherman and
Sheridan's wars of exterminating- the unfortunate and help
less western Indians, it is stated that, during a fight with
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 215
y 9
some white men. who had made an attack upon an Indian vil
lage of a western tribe, an Indian mother concealed her little
daughter — a mere child — in a barrel, telling her to remain
perfectly quiet no matter what should take place. After the
battle the soldiers found the little girl with her arm fearfully
shattered by a minnie ball, but the little sufferer had not
uttered a word. Was there ever recorded of any other Na
tion of people such manifestations of heroic fortitude?
Patience was also considered among the Choctaws a
bright and manly virtue and in connection with that of en
durance, formed the basis from which they derived all the
other qualities of their characters; and they estimated their
success, both in war and hunting, as depending almost *ex-
clusively upon their unwearied patience and the ability of
great and long endurance.
The ancient Choctaws were as susceptible to all the
pleasing emotions produced by the sweet concords of sound
as any other people, yet their musical genius, in the inven
tion of musical instruments, never extended beyond that of
a cane flute and a small drum, which was constructed from
a section cut from a small hollow 'tree, over the hollow part
of which was stretched a fresh deer skin, cleansed from the
hair, which became very tight when dried; and when 'struck
by a stick made a dull sound, little inferior to that of our
common snare-drum; which could be heard at a considerable
distance; and though uncouth in appearance, and inharmo
nious in tone, as all drums, still its "voice" was considered
an indispensable adjunct as an accompaniment to all their
national and religious ceremonies; even as the ear-spl? Iting
discords of the- civilized snare or kettle-drum, united with
the deafening roar of the base drum are considered by the
white man as indispensable in all his displays of harmonj'.
Yet the ancient Choctaw, in all his solemn ceremonies, as
well as amusements and merry-makings, did not depend so
much upon the jarring tones of the diminutive drum, as he
did upon his own voice; which in concert with the monoto-
,nous tones of the drum, — to the cultivated and sensitive ear
a mere jargon of sound, — was to the Indian ear the most ex
citing music, and soon wrought him to the highest state of
excitement. In all their dances they invariably danced to
the sound of the indispensable drum, accompanied with the
low'hum of the drummer, keeping exact step with its mo
notonous tone. In the social dance alone were the women
permitted to participate, which to the youthful maiden of
"sweet sixteen," was truly the ultimatum of earthly bliss.
But little restraint, parental or otherwise, was placed
upon their children, hence they indulged in any and all
216 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
i , *
amusements their fancy might suggest. The boys in little
bands roamed from village to village at their own pleasure,
or strolled through the woods with their blow-guns and bow
and arrows, trying their skill upon all birds and squirrels
that were so unfortunate as to come in their way. They were
but little acquainted with the principles of right and wrong,
having only as their models the daring deeds of their fathers
in war and the chase, they only yearned for the time when
they might emulate them in heroic achievements ; and one
would very naturally infer that these boys, ignorant of all
restraint from youth to manhood, would have been, when
arrived to manhood, a set of desperadoes, indulging in every
vi<?e and committing every crime. But not so. No race of
young people ever grew up to manhood in any nation who
were of a more quiet nature and 'peaceful dispositions than
the youths of the old Mississippi Choctaws. They seldom
quarreled among themselves even in boyhood, and less, when
arrived to the state of manhood. To them in youth as well
as in advanced years, as to all of their race, the dearest of all
their earthly possessions from childhood to manhood, from
manhood to old age, and from old age to the grave, was their
entire and unrestrained freedom; and though untrammeled by
mortal restraint, yet there seemed to exist in their own
breasts a restraining influence, a counteracting power, that
checked the ungoverned passions of their uncultivated na
tures through life, and kept them more within the bounds of
prudence and reason, than any race of uneducated people I
ever knew.
Among- every North American Indian tribe from their
earliest known history down to the present, -there was and is
a universal belief in the existence of a God, and Supreme
Being, universally known among- all Indians as the Great
Spirit; and with whose attributes were associated all the
various manifestations of. natural phenomena; and in point of
due respect and true devotion to this Great Spirit — their
acknowledged God — they as a whole to-day excel, and ever
have excelled, the whites' in their due respect and true devo
tion to their acknowledged God. Never was an Indian known
to deny the existence of his God — the Great Spirit — and
attribute the creation of all things, himself included, to
chance. Never was a North American Indian known to deny
the wisdom and power of the Great Spirit as manifested iii
the creation of an intellectual and immortal being, yet found
and acknowledged it in the monkey.
Never was an Indian known to deny his immortality
bestowed upon him by the Great Spirit. " Immortality, that
most sublime thought in all the annals of fallen humanity,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
has ever found a resting place immovably fixed in every
Indian's heart, not one excepted;andunderitsbenigninfluence,
their uncultivated minds have expanded and shadows of
death been disarmed o.f terror; and though, through all the
ages past has been heard the inquiry — "Is there a latent
spark in the human breast that will kindle and glow after
death?" and though earth's learned of all time have pondered
over it, and pronounced it the world's enigma, and affirmed
and still affirm, death to be the end of all, eternal oblivion, an
endless sleep, yet the unlettered children of nature, the
despised, down-trodden Indians, have lo'ng had the problem
solved to their own satisfaction and peace of mind, never
experiencing- a doubt.
To the Choctaws, as well as to all Indians, the voice of
the distant muttering thunder that echoed from hill to hill
through their wide extended forests; the roaring wind and
lightning flash that heralded the approaching storm, were
but the voice of that Great Spirit, and they made them the
themes that filled their souls with song and praise. They
ever heard the voice of that unseen Great Spirit throughout
.all nature — in the rustling leaf and the sighing breeze; in the
roaring cataract and the murmuring brook; and they ex
pressed their souls' adoration; understood and comprehend
ed by them alone, in their songs and dances. To them all
nature ever spoke in lang'uage most potential, and their im
mortality and future existence in another world they never
doubted, though their ideas of future rewards and punish
ments beyond the tomb were feeble and confused.
It was their ancient custom to leave the murderer in the
hands of the murdered man's relatives and friends; and, .as
"an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" was recorded
.upon their statute book, he was, sooner or later, most sure to
fall by an unknown. "and unseen hand. Sometimes, however,
the slayer, appeased the avenger by paying a stipulated
amount; buk this was of rarex occurrence. Soon after the
missionarieiffcwere established among them, a company, of
armed ar:d ntounted police, called "Light Horse Men," .were
organized for -'each district, in whom was vested the power
of arresting and trying all violators of the law. They were
continually riding over the country settling all difficulties
that arose among parties or individuals, and arresting all
violators of the law. The custom of leaving the murderer to
be disposed of as the relatives of the deceased saw proper,
was then set aside, and the right of trial by the Light Horse
who acted in a three fold capacity — sheriff, judge and jury,
was awarded to all offenders. The Light Horse were com
posed of a brave and vigilant set of fellows, and nothing es-
218 PISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
caped their eagle eyes; and they soon became a terror to
white whiskey peddlers who invaded the Choctaw territories
at that time. When caug'ht, the whiskey was poured upon
the ground and the vender informed that his room was pre
ferable to his company.
When a murder was committed, the Light Horse at once
took the matter into consideration, and after hearing1 all the
testimony pro and con, pronounced the verdict in accordance
thereto. If the person accused was found to be guilty, there
and then, the time and place of his execution was designated,
and the doomed man was informed that his presence would
accordingly be expected. He never failed to make his ap
pearance at the appointed place and hour, and all things be
ing ready, a small red spot was painted directly over his
heart as a target for the executioner; and, being placed in
position, calmly received the fatal bullet, soon the grave
closed over him and thus the matter ended. Sometimes the
condemned would request a short respite, a few days exten
sion of time, assigning as a reason for the desired delay, that
a grand ball-play, dance or hunt, was soon to take place, in
which he desired to participate, and as it did not take place
until after the appointed day of his execution, he requested
the favor of postponing his little affair until afterward. The
request was seldom refused. The doomed man then desig
nated the day and hour on which he would return and attend
to the matter under consideration. He went to the ball-play,
the dance, or the hunt, engaged in and enjoyed his anticipated
fun, then returned true to his, promised word and paid the
penalty of the violated law, by calmly receiving the fatal shot.
The rifle was invariably used as the instrument of execution,
for the soul of the Choctaw who had been executed by hang
ing was regarded as accursed — never being permitted to
join his people in the happy hunting grounds, but his spirit
must forever haunt the place where he was hung. Hence
their horror of death by hanging, and the gallows has ever
been unknown among them. If the condemned-should fail to
appear, which was never known to be, at the time and place
of his execution, or should manifest any emotion of fear dur
ing his execution, it was regarded as a disgrace to himself, his
relatives, and his nation as a Choctaw warrior, which 110 length
of time could ever efface; hence their honor, resting upon
their firmness in the hour of death, was watched with jeal
ous care. Never was a full-blood Choctaw known to evade
the death penalty, passed upon him by the violated law, by
flight. If he violated the law he calmly abided the conse
quences, hence all places of imprisonment were unknown.
For minor offenses, whipping was the punishment; fifty
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 219
lashes for the first offense, one hundred for the second, and
death by the rifle for the third offense in case of theft, and
so it is today.
He who had been condemned to receive this punish
ment never attempted to evade it; but promptly presented
himself, or herself, at the designated place of punishment.
This punishment was inflicted several times at the mission
of Hebron, to which I was an eye witness. Before the hour
appointed, the neighborhood assembled around the church
which stood about forty rods distant from the mission-house,
where they indulged in social conversation and smoking;
never, however, mentioning, or even hinting the subject
which had brought them together. The culprit was as gay
and cheerful as any of them, walking with an air of perfect
indifference, chatting and smoking writh the various groups
sitting around on blankets spread upon the ground. Precisely
at the moment designated, the Light-Horse, -who constituted
a sort of ambulatory jury, to arrest, try and punish all
violators of the law, would appear. The crowd then went
into the church, closed the door and commenced singing a
religious hymn, taught them by the missionaries, which they
continued until the tragedy outside was over. At the same
time the culprit shouted "Sa mintih!" I have come! then
ejaculated uSa kullo!" (I am strong!) He then elevated his
arms and turned his back to the executioner 'and said: "Fum-
mih!'' (whip). When he had received fifteen or twenty
blows, he calmly turned the other side to the Fum-mi /(one
who whips); and then again, his. back, uttering not a word
nor manifesting the least sign of pain. As soon as the
whipping was over, the church door was opened and the
whole assembly came out and shook hands with the "Fum-
ah" (whipped), thus reinstating him to his former position in
society, and the subject was then and there dropped, never
to be mentioned again, and it never was.
The Choctaws had great pride of, race. The warrior, s-
proudest boast was Choctaw Siah! (I am a Choctaw!) and he
still clings to it with commendable tenacity even as he does
to his native language. It has been said that no people have
been truly conquered who refuse to speak the language of
the conqueror; therefore the North American Indians, that
subdued, yet unsubduable people, have never ceased to speak
their native tongue.
The law on whipping for minor offenses, especially that
for theft, was, fifty lashes on the bare back for the first
offense; one hundred for the second, and death by the rifle
for the third. This law is still in force in the Choctaw Nation.
Truly, if the whites would adopt this method of dealing with
220 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
\
their own thieves, would there not be less stealing among"
them?
As an illustration of this peculiar characteristic of the
Indians — so different from that of any race of whom I have
heard — i. e., never fleeing from, or in any way attempting
to evade the penalties of the violated law, I here introduce
the sad scene in the execution of Chester Dixon, a Choctaw
youth convicted of murder at a term of the Circuit Court of
the Choctaw Nation in December, 1883.
Chester Dixon was a young, full-blood Choctaw7, about 17
years of age. He was subject to fits, during which he seem
ed to be unconscious of his acts. Aside from this malady,
he was considered rather a brig'ht boy. He lived with his
mother and step-father, five or six miles from Atoka. Their
nearest neighbors were a Choctaw known as Washington and
Martha, his wife. One evening Washington, on his return
home from Atoka, was shocked in finding- the body of his
wife lying on the floor of his cabin fearfully mangled, the
head severed fronuthe body, with several frightful gashes,
evidently inflicted with an ax, which lay by the side of the
corpse. The alarm was given, and it was soon ascertained
that Chester Dixon was seen coming from the house, in
which the deed had been committed, covered with blood.
He was arrested, trie'd by the Choctaw7 law, condemned, and
sentenced to be shot on an appointed day, at noon. He was
neither, confined nor guarded, but went where he pleased,
having pledged his word of honor, however, that he would be
at the place of execution punctual to the hour appointed.
Here I would deviate a little from the subject, to show how
prone the whites are to misrepresent the Indians in nearly
everything they write about them; and it does seem that
they cannot write a half dozen words about this people with
out shamefully misrepresenting them. It seems incredible,
nevertheless it is true, as the thousands of publications that
flood the country prove. I saw an article in a Texas news
paper in regard to this very case of Chester Dixon, in which
the writer says: "The laws of the Choc taws provide for NO
APPKAL, or poor Chester's case might have been re-consider-
ed;for after his conviction he was attacked with one of his ac
customed fits, which was conclusive and satisfactory evidence
that he was subject \o temporary aberration, during \vhich
he was irresponsible for his actions. His attorney had neg
lected to make this plea in behalf of his client during the
trial, and once the sentence of death having been pronounced
it was unalterable." Now, the above is utterly false, and the
writer should learn to keep in respectful distance of the
truth, at least, before he attempts to write about the Choc-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 221
taws. The truth is, the laws of the Choctaws provide for
three appeals — first from the County Court to the District
Court; thence to the Supreme Court; thence to the United
States Supreme Court. But to return to Chester Dixon. A
few days before the execution, Dixon came with his
step-father to Atoka for the purpose of ordering his coffin.
He had his measure taken for the grave, and then calmly
informed his step-father where he wished to be buried.
The day of execution came; and a few, mostly whites as
sembled at the place of execution to witness the sad scene.
The doomed boy did not make his appearance to within
twenty or thirty minutes of the appointed time/ and many of
the whites, judging- from their own standpoint, began to
doubt the integrity of the Choctaw, and expressed those
doubts one to another. But true to his plighted word, the
truthful youth soon rode up; and, dismounting" from his
horse, quietly walked up to a little group of Choctaws, who
were sitting around a fire, without taking any notice what
ever of the surroundings, and calmly took his seat upon the
ground, with his head bowed between his knees as if lost in
meditation. An aged Choctaw man soon approached him,
and, speaking to him in his own language, encouraged him to
bravely meet his fate as a young Choctaw brarve; and to die
willingly, since nothing- but his life could atone for the one
he had taken; and also to feel that his people had been just
in condemning" him. He spoke not a word nor raised his
head during his old friend's conversation; but at its conclu
sion he looked up and around for a moment, then grasped
the old man's hand, as if to say, I'll be firm, and he was to
the last. Then his Choctaw friends, both men and women
came up and bade him their last earthly adieu; with all of
whom he shook hands, but spoke not a word. After which,
the sheriff brought the unfortunate boy a change of clothing,
in which he clothed himself for the grave, without the least
discernible sign of agitation; he then took his seat on a
blanket spread for Jbim, and his mother combed his hair with
calm composure — her last act of maternal love; and though,
with a heart bleeding at every pore, no outward manifesta
tion was made, yet her face told the storm of grief that raged
within; while, true to her nature, sh'e clung to her boy to the
last moment, to console him with a mother's presence and
a mother's love.
The sheriff then told Chester that the hour of execution
had come. He arose at once and quietly walked to the spot
pointed out to him by the sheriff, and stopped facing his
coffin — the personification of calm composure and firm resig
nation. His step-father and cousin then walked up, the
222 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
former taking- him by the righthand and the latter by the left.
The same venerable old man who had first approached him,
again came forward and made a little black spot upon his
breast, just over the heart, and once more whispered a few^
words of parting- encourag-emerit, then walked away. The
sheriff then bound a handkerchief over his eyes, asked him
to kneel, and beckoned to a man who had until then kept
himself concealed. This man was a cousin of Chester Dixon,
and had been chosen by Chester to do the shooting-. He now
advanced, and taking his position five or six paces from the
poor boy, leveled his Winchester • rifle and fired.
The ball 'went to the mark. At the report of the rifle
Dixon fett forward, and died without a . struggle. The
mother now came forward took charg-e of the lifeless body of
her boy, and with the assistance of friends, laid it away in
the grave. No confusion nor even the semblance of excite
ment disturbed the solemn proceedings. And when con
trasted to the civilized mode of punishment that of hanging
— the Choctaw method is certainly more humane and effec
tive, to say the least of it.
I will state another instance that took place among the
Choctaws when living in their ancient domains.
A Choctaw unfortunately killed another in a fit of pas
sion. He was duly tried, convicted, and sentenced to be
shot on a certain day; but requested a stay of the execution,
upon the plea that his wife and little children would be left
in a destitute condition unless he was allowed to return
home and finish making his brop. His request was granted
with no other assurance than his pledged word that he would
return and receive his death sentence. The day of execution
was fixed at a time when the crop would be matured, and
the doomed man returned to his home and family. The fatal
day came and found the necessary labor on the crop finished
and also the noble Choctaw at the appointed hour and place,
where he calmly received the fatal bullet which at once
closed his earthly career.
Thus sacred was held the noble virtue, Truth, among
the ancient Choctaws when they lived east of the Mississippi
river; and thus sacred is it still held among the full-bloods
west of the same river; and I have never known or heard of a
full-blood Choctaw or Chickasaw, during my personal ac
quaintance with that truly grand and noble people for seven
ty-five years, who violated his pledged word of honor by fail
ing to appear at the time and place designated, to suffer the
penalties of the violated law, be it death by the rifle or fifty
-or a hundred lashes at the whipping post. And truly it may
be said: No race of people ever adhered with greater ten-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 223
acity to truth, or the greater hatred for the falsehood, than did
and do the Choctaws. They truly abhorred and still abhor a
liar. Years before the advent of the missionaries among
them, one of their chiefs was strangely addicted to lying-;
and so great did their disgust finally become that they, in
council assembled, banished him "from their Nation under
pain of death if he ever returned. This exiled chief then
settled with his family in the now parish of Orleans, Louisi
ana, on a small tract of land which projects into lake Pontch-
artrain, and erected his lonely cabin near a bayou which is
connected with the lake. And to this day, that small tract
of land, it is said, is called Ho-lub-i Miko (Lying Chief), hav
ing taken its name from the exiled Choctaw chief.
The territories of the Choctaws in 1723, in which year
the seat of the French government in Louisiana, then under
Bienville, was definitely transferred from Natchez to New
Orleans, then containing about one hundred houses and three
thousand inhabitants, extended from the Mississippi River
to the Black Warrior, east: and from Lake Pontchartrain to
the territories of the Natchez, west, and Chickasaws, north.
They possessed upwards of sixty principal towns, and
could muster, as was estimated, twenty-five thousand war
riors.
The Choctaws called all fables Shukha Anump (hog
talk) as a mark of derision and contempt. Some of their
fables, handed down by tradition through unknown genera
tions, were similar in the morals- taught byx those of the
famous ^Esop. One of these Shukha Anumpas was that of
the turkey and the terrapin: — A haughty turkey gobbler,
with long flowing beard and glossy feathers, meeting a ter
rapin one bright and beautiful spring morning, thus accos
ted him with an expression of great comtempt; "What are
you good for?" To which the terrapin humbly replied
"many things." "Name one," continued the turkey. "I
can beat you running," said the terrapin. "What nonsense!"
"I thought you were a fool, now I know it," continued the
turkey.
"I repeat it, I can beat you running, distance half a mile"
continued the terrapin. "To prove you are a fool in believ
ing such an absurdity, I'll run the race with you," responded
the turkey with marked disgust. The day was appointed,
the distance marked off, and the agreements entered into,
one of which was, the .terrapin was to run with a white
feather in his mouth by which the turkey might be able to
distinguish him from other terrapin; another was, the turkey
was to give the terrapin the advantage of one hundred yards
in the start. In the intervening time of the race, the wily
224 ;. HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
terrapin secured the assistance of another terrapin to help
him out of his dilemma, and thereby establish the reputation
of the terrapin family in point of fleetness to the discomfiture
of the haughty turkey. Therefore, he secretly placed his
assistant, with the white insignia also in his mouth, at the
terminus to which the race was to be run. Early on the
morning of the day agreed upon, the competitiors were at
their posts — the contemptuous turkey at the goal, and the
dispassionate terrapin a hundred yards on the line.' The
turkey was to give the signal for starting by a loud gobble.
The signal was given, and the race 'was opened. The turkey
soon came up with the terrapin, who had gotten but a few
feet from his goal, and shouted derisively as he passed by
"What a fool!"
To which the terrapin ejaculated — "Not as big as you
imagine." The confident turkey ran on about half way, and
then stopped and turned off a little distance to secure his
breakfast, but kept an eye on the track that the terrapin
might not pass unobserved. After feeding about some time
and not seeing any thing of the terrapin, he began to fear he
had passed him unobserved; therefore, he started again at
full speed; and not'overtaking the terrapin as he expected,
he redoubled his exertions and reached the goal breathless,
but to find the terrapin with the white feather in his mouth
(his supposed opponent) already there, Moral. — The scorn
ful are often outwitted by those upon whom they look with
contempt.
In estimating' character, all the ancient Indians that once
lived east of the Mississippi river, if the statement of the
early writers and noble missionaries be true, and he, whose
incredulity would,make him doubt their statements is in
capable of believing any thing — even his own senses — regard
ed moral worth alone; The man must possess truth, honor,
patriotism, bravery, hospitality and virtue — all of which
seemed intuitive to the minds and hearts of those North
American Indian's of the south. I know this will be regarded
by thousands of my own race as untenable ground. Never
theless, I speak of that I know — obtained by a long life,
personal acquaintance with the Choctaws ami Chickasaws,
and the same acquaintance with different missionaries to the
Cherokees, Muscogees and Seminoles, all sustained by the
great philanthorpist Oglethorpe and the noted ministers of
the gospel John and Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield,
and their missionary successors sent out to the Indians by
the Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches; and more,
proving beyond doubt the susceptibility of the Noi>th Ameri
can Indians to easily become civilized and christianized.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 225
^f In the disposition of their dead, the ancient Choctaws
practiced a strange method different from any other Nation
of people, perhaps, that ever existed. After the death of a
Choctaw, the corpse wrapped in a bear skin or rough kind
of covering- of their own manufacture, was laid out at full
length upon a high scaffold erected near the house of the
deceased, that it might be protected from the wild beasts of
the woods and the scavengers of the air. After the body
had remained upon the scaffold a sufficient time for the flesh'
to have nearly or entirely decayed, the Hattak fullih nipi
foni. (Bone Picker) the principal official in their funeral cere
monies and especially appointed for that duty — appeared
and informed the relatives of the deceased that he had now
come to perform the last sacred duties of his office to their
departed friend. Then, with the relatives and friends, he
marched with great solemnity of countenance to the scaffold
and. ascending which, began his awful duty of picking off the
flesh that still adhered to the bones, "with loud groans
and fearful grimaces, to which the friends below responded
in cries and wailings.
The Bone-Picker never trimmed the nails of his thumbs,
index and middle fingers which accordingly- grew to an as
tonishing length — sharp and almost as hard as flint — and well
adapted to the horrid business of their owner's calling.
After he had picked all the flesh from the bones, he then
tied it up in a bundle and carefully laid it upon a corner of
the scaffold; then gathering up the bones in his arms he de
scended and placed them in a previously prepared box, and
then applied fire to the scaffold, upon which the assembly
gazed uttering the most frantic cries and moans until it was
entirely consumed. Then forming a procession headed by
the Bone-Picker the box containing the bones was carried,
amid weeping and wailing, and deposited in a house erected
and consecrated to that purpose and called A-bo-ha fo-ni,
(Bone-house) with one of which all villages and towns were
supplied. Then all repaired to a previously prepared feast,
over which the Bone-Picker, in virtue of his office, presided
with much gravity and silent dignity.
As soon as the bone-houses of the neighboring villages
were filled, a general burial of the bones took place,"to which
funeral ceremony the people came from far and near, and,
in a long and imposing procession, with weeping and wailing
and loud lamentations of the women, bore off the boxes of
bones to their last place of rest, and there despositing them
in the form of a pyramid they were covered with earth three
or four feet in depth forming a conical mound. All then
226 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
returned to a previously designated village and concluded
the day in feasting-. ''V..
Thus many of the mounds found in Mississippi and
Alabama are but the cemeteries of the ancient Choctaws;
since, as often as the bone-houses became filled, the boxes of
bones were carried out to the same cemetery and deposited
on the previously made heap commencing- at the base and
ascending to the top, each deposit being covered up with
earth to the depth of three or four feet, and thus, by con
tinued accession through a long series of ages, became the
broad and high mounds, concerning which there has been so
much wild speculation with so little foundation for truth or
common sense. Even at the time the missionaries were
established among them (1818), many of the mounds were of
so recent date that not even bushes were growing upon them,
though the custom of thus laying away their dead had become
obsolete: still a few Bone-Pickers had survived the fall of
their calling, and were seen, here and there, wandering about
from village to village as ghosts of a departed age, with the
nails of the thumb, index and middle fingers still untrimmed,
and whose appearance indicated their earthly pilgrimage had
reached nearly to a century, some of whom I personally
knew.
Shortly before the advent of the missionaries, the cus
tom of placing the dead upon the scaffolds was abolished,
though not without much 'opposition; and that of burial in a
sitting posture was adopted, with also new funeral ceremon
ies, which were as follows: Seven men were appointed
whose duty it was to set up each a smooth pole (painted red)
around the newly made grave, six of which were about eight
feet high, and the seventh about fifteen, to which thirteen
hoops (made of grape vines) were suspended and so united
as to form a kind of ladder, while on its top a small white
flag was fastened. This ladder of hoops was for the easier
ascent of the spirit of the deceased to the top of the pole,
whence, the friends of the deceased believed, it took its final
departure to the spirit land.
They also believed that the spirits of the dead, after their
flight from the top of the pole to the unknown world, had to
cross a fearful river which stretched1 its whirling waters
athwart their way; that this foaming stream has but one
crossing, at which a cleanly peeled sweet-gum log, perfectly
round, smooth and slippery, reached from bank to bank;
that the moment the spirit arrives at the log, it is attacked
by two other spirits whose business is to keep any and all
spirits from crossing thereon. But if a spirit is that of a
good person, the guardians of the log have no power over it,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 227
and it safely walks over the log to the opposite shore, where
it is welcomed by other spirits of friends gone before,
and where contentment and happiness will forever be the lot
of all.
But alas, when the spirit of a bad person arrives at the
log-crossing- of the fearful river, it also is assailed by the
ever wakeful guards, and as it attempts to walk the slippery
log they, push it off into the surging waters below, to be help
lessly borne down by the current to a cold and barren des
ert, where but little game abounds and over which he is
doomed to wander, a forlorn hope, naked, cold and hungry.
When a death was announced, which was made by the
firing of guns in quick succession, the whole village and sur
rounding neighborhood — almost to a man — assembled at
once at the home of the deceased, to console and mourn with
the bereaved. On the next day a procession was formed
headed by seven men called Fabussa Sholih (Pole-bearer),
each carrying on his shoulder a long, slender pole painted
red, and all slowly and in profound silence marched to the
grave, where the poles were at once firmly set up in the
ground — three on each side of the grave, and one at the head,
on which thirteen hoops were suspended while on its top a
small white flag fluttered in the breeze. The corpse was
then carefully placed in its last earthly place of rest, the
grave filled up, and all returned to the former home of the
departed. They had specified cries at the grave of the de
ceased, which continued for thirteen moons. At the termi
nation of each cry, a hoop was taken off of the pole, and so
on until the last one was removed; then a grand funeral cere
mony was celebrated called Fabussa halut akuchchih, (pole
to pull down). And the manager of the pole-pulling was call
ed Hattak iti i miko, (their chief man); and the hunters sent
out to provide venison for the company on that occasion,
were called Hattak (man) illi (dead) chohpa (meat). That is,
meat for the dead man; or, more properly, meat for the obse
quies of the dead man.
To this celebration, or last commemoration the dead,
when all had assembled, the Fabussa halulli, (the same Fa-
"bussa Sholih who 'had set up the poles) under the command
of the Hattak iti i miko (the same who bore and set up the
long pole upon which was attached the hoops and flag) slowly
and silentl3T marched in solemn procession to the grave and
pulled up the poles, and carried them off together with the
hoops and concealed them in a secret place in the forest
where they were left to return to dust forever undisturbed.
As soon as the Fabussa Hallulli had disposed of the
poles and hoops, preparations were begun for the finale — a
228 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
feast and the grandrAboha hihlah, home dancing-, or dancing-
home of the deceased good man to the land of plenty and
happiness, and the bad man to the land of scarcity and suf
fering.
The festivities continued during- the day and the night
following" the pole-pulling". On the next morning- all returned
to their respective homes; and from that day he or she of the
grave became a thing'of the past, whose names were to be
mentioned no more. And they were not.
Among- the ancient Choctaws, a mare and colt, cow and
calf, and a sow and pig's were given to each child at its birth,
if the parents were able so to do, — and all, with few excep
tions, were able; this stock, with its increase under no cir
cumstances whatever, could be disposed of in any way; and
when he or she, as the case might be, became grown, the
whole amount was formally conveyed over to him or her.
Thus when a young- couple started out in life they had a
plenty of stock, if nothing- more.
Diseases, they believed, originated in part from natural
causes, therefore their doctors sought in nature for the
remedies. Graver maladies, to them, were inexplicable, and
for their cures they resorted to their religious superstitions
and incantations. They were very skillful in their treat
ment of wounds, snake bites, etc., Their knowledge of the
medicinal qualities of their various plants and herbs, in
wrhich their forests so bountifully abounded, was very great.
'Tis true they were powerless against the attacks of many
diseases— importations of the White Race, such as small-pox,
measles, whooping-cough, etc; yet, thev did not exhibit any
greater ignorance in regard to those new diseases, to them
unknown before, than do the doctors of the White Race, who
have had the experience of ages which has been handed
down to them through the art of printing, manifest in regard
to the new diseases that so oft attack their own race. The
art of blood-letting and scarifying was well understood and
practiced by many of their doctors, as well as the virtue of
cold and warm baths; and in many of the healing- arts they
fell not so far below those of the White Race as might be
HUpgosed, though many wrhite doctors imagine themselves
perfect in the healing art, since forsooth their diplomas
coast the signatures of the medical faculties in the world..
In cases of bowel affections they use persimmons dried
by the heat of the sun and mixed with a light kind of bread.
In case of sores, they applied a poultice of pounded ground
ivy for a few days, then carefully washing' the afflicted part
with the resin of the copal-tree. For fresh wounds they
made a poultice of the root of the cotton-tree which proved
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS 229
very efficacious; to produce a copious perspiration, a hot
decoction of the China root swallowed, had the desired effect.
They possessed an antidote for the bite and sting- of snakes
and insects, in the root of a plant called rattle snake's master,
having- a pungent yet not unpleasant odor. The root of the
plant was chewed, and also a poultice made of it was applied
to the wound, which at once checked the poison and the
patient was well in a few days. The medical properties of
the sassafras, sarsaparilla, and other medicinal plants, were
known to them. They possessed many valuable secrets to
cure dropsy, rheumatism, and many other diseases, which,
no doubt, will ever remain a secret with them, proving- that
their powers of observation, investigation and discrimination,
are not, by any means, to be regarded as contemptible;
while their belief, that the Great Spirit has provided a
remedy in plants for all diseases to which poor humanity
seems an heir, and never refuses to make it known to those
who seek the knowledge of it by proper supplications, is
praiseworthy in them to say the least of it.
Their doctors were held in great veneration, though
they oft practiced upon their patrons many frauds. Mill-
fort, p. 298, says: "when one of them had a patient on hand
a long time, and the poor sick fellow's means had been ex
hausted he privately told the relatives that his skill was ex
hausted, that he had done all in his power to no avail, and
that their friend must die within a few days at farthest; and,
with great seeming sympathy, set forth the propriety of
killing- him, and so terminate his sufferings at once. Having
the utmost confidence in the doctor's judgment and knowl
edge of the case, and also believing the case hopeless, the
poor fellow was at once killed." In proof of this, he states
that in 1772 a doctor thus advised concerning one of his pa
tients. "The sick man," he says, "suspecting, from the
actions of his physician, that he was advising the propriety
of ending his suffering by having him killed, with great effort
succeeded one night in crawling out of the house and making
good his escape. After much suffering he succeeded in
making his way into the Muscogee Nation, and fortunately
went to the house of Col. McGillivry, who, Samaritan like,
took him in^o his house, and soon restored him to his usual
health. At the expiration of several months he returned to
his home, and found his relatives actually celebrating his
funeral by burning the scaffold which they had erected to his
memory, with the accustomed weeping and wailing, — -^be
lieving him to be dead. His unlocked for appearance among
them, at that solemn hour and place, threw them into the
.greatest consternation, and, in horror and wild dismay, all
230 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
fled to the woods. Finding- himself thus received by his
own relatives and friends, he returned in disgust to the^
Muscogees and spent the remainder of his days among
them. But when his relatives had become truly satisfied
that he did not die, and was actually alive and well, they
made the doctor pay -heavily for the deception he had prac
ticed upon them, by killing him."
The greatest mortality among them was most generally
confined to the young-er children; while longevity was a
prominent characteristic among the adults. After the age of
six or eight years the mortality of disease among them -was
less than among the white children of the present day after
that age. But after those baneful diseases, scarlet fever,
measles, mumps, whooping-cough, diseases unknown to them
before, had been introduced among them, the fatality among
the children was distressing, frequently destroying the
greater number of the children in a village or neighborhood;
—being wholly ignorant as they were of the proper mode of
treatment was a great cause of the fearful fatality. Mental
or nervous diseases were unknown to the ancient Choctaws;
and idiocy and deformity were seldom seen. But of all the
"diseases" introduced among them by the white?, the most
pernicious and fatal in all its features, bearings, and con
sequences, to the Choctaw people, was, is, and ever \vill be,
Okahumma (red water or whiskey); which, when once
formed into habit, seemed to grow to a species of insanity
equal even to that so often exhibited among the whites.
"The Medicine Man," was a dignitary who swayed his
scepter alike among all Indians, but was altogether a very dif
ferent personage from the common physician. The Medicine
Man professed an insight into the hidden laws of Nature; he
professed a power over the elements, the fish of the waters
and the animals of the land; he could cause the fish to volun
tarily suffer themselves to be caught, and give success to the
hunter by depriving the denizens of the forest of their natural
fear of man; he could impart bravery to the heart of the war
rior, strength and skill to his arm and fleetness to his feet;
yea, could put to flight the evil spirits' of disease from the
bodies of the sick. He could throw a spell or charm over a
ball player that would disenable him to hit the post; or over
the ball-post that would prevent its being hit by anyone
whom he wished to defeat. Such were the professed attain
ments of the Indian "Medicine Man." But whether he
possessed all or any of the supernatural powers he profess
ed, it matters not, it is certain, however, that he possessed
one thing, the power, art, or skill, call it which you may, to
make his people believe it, and that was all-sufficient for him
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 231
— even as it is with all. humbug's. The Choctaws regarded
dreams as the direct avenues to the invisible world, the divine
revelations of the Great Spirit. If a vision of the spirit of an
animal appeared to the hunter in his dream, he felt confident
of success on the morrow's hunt. But though he invoked the
friendship, the protection and the good will of spirits, and
besought the mediation of the Medicine Man, he never would
confess his fear of death. But chide not too harshly, reader,
the poor, unlettered Indian for his superstitions and wild
beliefs, for the same long existed among the civilized Na
tions of the world, nor are they entirely exempt even at the
present day, nor is it likely they ever will be.
They lived in houses made of logs, but very comfortable;
not more rude or uncouth, however, than many of the whites
even of the present day. Their houses consisted generally
of two rooms, both of which were used for every domestic
purpose — cooking, eating, living and sleeping; nor was their
furniture disproportionate with that of the dwelling — for the
sitting room, a stool or two; for the kitchen, a pot or kettle,
two or three tin cups, a large and commodious wooden bowl,
and a horn spoon, constituted about the ultimatum — 'twas all
they needed, all they wanted, and with it they were perfectly
contented and supremely happy.
Tafula; (pro. Tarm-ful-ah," hominy; corrupted to Tom-
fuller), is made of pounded corn boiled, using lye for fermen
tation, and tafula tobi ibulhtoh (boiled corn mixed with
beans) were, and are to the present day, favorite dishes
among the Choctaws; nor need it be thought strange, as they
are dishes Worthy the palate of the most fastidious. The
taf ula,their favorite and indispensable dish was put into a large
bowl, around which all gathered, and each in turn using the
horn spoon to replenish his waiting mouth with the coveted
luxury. But little pains was taken in the preparation of
their food, which was as rude, though clean and nice, as the
means of preparing it. Having no tables or dishes, except
the wooden bowl, nor knives and forks, they squatted around
the pot of boiled meat and bowl of tafula, and each used his
or her fingers in extracting the contents of the pot, and con
veying it to the mouth, and the horn spoon by turns in
doing obeisance to the tafula — all in perfect harmony and
jollity.
They use another preparation/ for food called Botah
Kapussa, (cold flour) which was made of parched corn
pounded very fine; an ounce of which mixed with a little
water would in a few minutes become as thick as soup cooked
by a fire. Two or three ounces of this were sufficient to
sustain a man for a day.- In their war expeditions it
232 HISTORY OF THE 'INDIANS.
was an indispensable adjunct — the .sine qua non — to the
warrior's bill of fare, as they could not shoot game with the
rifle when upon the war-path in their enemy's territories for
fear of giving notice of their presence. Bunaha was another
food much used in the long ago. It was made , of pounded
meal mixed with boiled beans to which is added a little lye,
then made into a dough wrapped in corn husks and boiled.
Oksak (hickory nut), atapah (broken in) is still another; this
was made of pounded meal mixed with the meat of the
hickory nut instead of boiled beans, and cooked as buiiaha.
I have eaten the three kinds, and found them very palatable.
They were great lovers of tobacco; yet never chewed it,
but confined its use exclusively to the pipe, in which they
smoked the weed mixed with the dried leaf of the aromatic
sumac, which imparted to the smoke a delightful flavor,
agreeable even to the most fastidious nose. But they now
have learned to chew, which I ascertained by actual observa
tion, when riding over their country visiting them during
the year 1884 to 18(JO. Frequently I have ridden several miles
with different Choctaws, with whom I accidental!}' fell in com
pany, and to whom } offered a chew of tobacco, which was
frequently accepted; and I noticed they chewed it with as
much apparent delight and gusto, as their white brothers,
proving themselves worthy rivals in the accomplished art.
However, I could state^that the habit is not as universal, by
great odds, as among the white.
All the drudgery work about the house and the hunting'
camp was done by the wife assisted by her children; and as
the^wife of the Choctaw warrior and hunter was regarded as
the slave of her husband, so likewise may equally be
regarded the unfortunate wives of many oi" the boasted
civilized white men of this 19th century.
With the Choctaw wife, as with all Indians, parturition
was matter that gave no uneasiness whatever; nor did it
interfere with her domestic affairs, but for a few hours.
Unlike her civilized sister, she neither required nor desired,
nor accepted any assistance whatever. I have known them
to give birth to a child during the night, and the next morn
ing would find them at the cov/pen attending to the affairs
of the dairy. To have. a man physician, on such occasions,
was as abhorrent to her sense of modesty and revolting to her
feelings, as it was wholly unnecessary. And the old cus
tom is still adhered to by the present Choctaw wife and
mother. After a child was born, after undergoing the usual
necessary preliminaries, it was placed in a curiously con
structed receptacle called Ullosi afohka, (infant receptacle)
where, it spent principally the first year of its life, only
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 233
when taken out for »the purpose of washing and dressing1.
This curiously made little cradle (for such it may truly be
called) was often highly ornamented with all the pharapher-
nalia that a mother's love and care\ could suggest or obtain.
The little fellow's face, which was always exposed to view,
was carefully protected by a piece of wood bent a few inches
above and over it. Contented as Diogenes in his tub, the
babe would remain in its little prison for hours without a
whimper; part of the time asleep, and part of the time awake
looking around in its innocence with calm and tranquil
resignation. According to her convenience, the mother sus
pended her thus cradled child on her back, when walking,
or the saddle when riding; or stood it up against a neighbor
ing tree, if a pleasant day, that it might enjoy the fresh and
pure air, and exhilarating sunshine; or suspend it to the
projecting limb of a tree there to be rocked to sleep and
pleasant dreams by the forest breeze. As soon as it was
old enough to begin to crawl, it bade an informal adieu
to its former prison, but to be found perched upon its moth
er's back, wliere it seemed well contented in all its journeys
— long or short. It was truly astonishing with what appar
ent ease the Choctaw mother carried her child upon her back.
The child was placed high up between the shoulders of the
mother, and over it was thrown a large blanket, which was
drawn tightly at the front of the mother's neck, forming a
fold behind; in this the child was placed and safely carried,
with seemingly little inconvenience to either mother or child.
When the little chap had grown to such proportions as to be
no longer easily thus transported, he was fastened to the
saddle upon the back of a docile pony, which follower the
company at pleasure; though here and there stopping
momentarily to bite the tempting grass that grew along the
pathway, then briskly trotting up until it had again reached
its proper place in rank and file, indifferent to the jolting
experienced by the youthful rider tied upon its back, who,
ho\vever, seemed to regard it with stoical indifference.
When arrived at the age of four or five years, he was con
sidered as having passed through his fourth and last chrys
alis stage, and was then untied from the saddle and bid ride
for himself; and soon did the young horseman prove himself
a true scion of the parent tree, as a fearless and skillful
rider.
Though the Allosi afohka has long since passed away
with other ancient customs, still the Choctaw mother carries
her child upon her back as she of a century ago, and loves it
with the same fond-'and strong love; and though she did not,
nor does not, express it by any outward manifestations, yet
234 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
her love was and is real, perfect and constant; nor was she
ever known to trust her babe to a hired nurse. The love
for their children and untiring- devotion to their homes and
families, and their profound regard for the aged, were in
deed beautiful and touching traits in the characteristics of
the Choctaw women. In fact, the great respect and uniform
kindness paid by the Indians everywhere, and under all cir
cumstance, to the aged of their people, might justly bring
the blush of shame upon the face of many of the young twigs
of the professed enlightened white race. The Choctaw
women of years ago were a merry, light-hearted race, and
their constant laugh and incessant prattle formed a strange
contrast to the sad taciturnity of the present day. The
easily conjectured cause precludes the necessity of being
mentioned here.
Adair (p. 89) says; "the Choctaws, in an early day,
practiced the custom of flattening the heads of their infants
by- compression, and were first known to the whites by the
name of Flat Heads." Be that as it may, the custom had
long ceased to be practiced, when later known.
Wherever they went, distant or otherwise, many or
few, they always traveled in a straight line, one behind the
other. ( They needed no broad roads, nor had they any;
hence, they dispensed with the necessity of that expense,
road-working, so grudgingly bestowed by all white men.
Paths alone, plain and straight, then led the Choctaws where
now are broads roads and long high bridges, from village to
neighborhood, and from neighborhood to village, though many
iniles apart; and so open and free of logs, bushes, and all
fallen timber, was their country then, rendered thus by their
annual burning off of the woods, it was an easy matter to travel
in any direction and any distance, except through the vast
cane-brakes that covered all the bottom lands, which alone
could be passed by paths.
On hunting excursions, when a party moved their camp
to another point in the woods, whether far or near, they
invariably left a broken bush with the top leaning in the
direction they had gone, readily comprehended by the practi
ced eyeof the Choctaw hunter . They kept ona straight line to
where a turn was made, and whatever angle there taken, they
travelled it in a straight line, but left the -broken bush at the
turn indicating the direction they had taken. If a wandering-
hunter happens to stumble upon the late deserted camp and
desired to join its former occupants, the broken but silent
bush gave him the information as to the direction they had
gone. .He took it and traveled in a straight line perhaps for
several miles; when suddenly his ever watchful eye saw a
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 235
broken bush with its top leaning in another direction. He at
once interpreted its mystic language — "Here a turn was
made." He too made the turn indicated by the bush; and
thus traveled through the unbroken forest for miles, directed
alone by his silent but undeviating guide, which was sure to
lead him to his desired object.
All North American Indians, have always held their lands
in common; occupancy alone giving' the right of possession, a
custom peculiar to the North American Indians, and a living
proof of practical communism, as far as land is concerned, at
least. When a Choctaw erected a house upon a spot of
ground, and prepared a few acres for his corn, beans, potatoes,
etc., so long as he resided upon it as his home, it was exclus
ively his, and his rights were strictly respected by all; but if
he left it and moved to another place, then his claim to his
forsaken home was forfeited; and whoever saw proper could
go and take possession; nor was the second occupant expected
to remunerate the first for the labor he had done. However,
if No. 1, afterward should desire to return to his previous
home he could do so, provided no one had taken possession..
The present time, if one improves a place and leaves it, no one
has the right to take possession of the deserted place without,
permission of the one who improved it.
The famous little Choctaw pony was a veritable forest
camel to the Choctaw hunter, as the genuine animal is to the
sons of Ishmael. His unwearied patience, and his seemingly
untiring endurance of hardships and fatigue, were truly
astonishing — surpassing, according to his inches, every other
species of his race — and proving himself to be a worthy de
scendant of his ancient parent, the old Spanish war-horse,
introduced by the early Spanish explorers of the continent.
In all the Choctaws' expeditions, except those of war in
which they never used horses, the chubby little pony always,
was considered an indispensable adjunct, therefore always,
occupied a conspicuous place in the cavalcade. A packsaddle
which Choctaw ingenuity had invented expressly for the
benefit of the worthy little fellow's back, and finely adapted
in every particular for its purpose, was firmly fastened upon
his back, ready to receive the burden, which was generally
divided into three parts, each weighing from forty to fifty
pounds. Two of these were suspended across the saddle
by means of rawhide rope one-fourth of an inch in diameter
and of amazing strength, and the third securely fastened
upon the top, over all of which a bear or deer skin was-
spread, which protected it from rain. All things being
ready, the hunter, as leader and protector, took his position
in front, sometimes on foot and sometimes astride a pony of
236 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
such diminutive proportions, that justice and mercy would
naturally have suggested a reverse in the order of thing's,
and, with his trusty rifle in his hand, without which he never
went anywhere, took up the line of march,, and directly after
whom, in close- order, the loaded ponies followed in regular
succession one "behind the other, while the dutiful wife
and children brought up the rear in regular, successive
order, often with from three to five children on a single pony
—literally hiding the submissive little fellow from view.
Upon the neck of each pony a little bell was suspended,
whose tinkling chimes of various tones broke the monotony
of the desert air, and added cheerfulness to the novel scene.
Long accustomed to their duty, the faithful little pack-ponies
seldom gave any trouble, but in a straight line followed on
after their mastery sometimes, however, one here and there,
unable to withstand the temptation of the luxuriant grass
that offered itself so freely along the wayside, would make a
momentary stop to snatch a bite or two, but the shrill, dis
approving voice" of the wife in close proximitv behind, at once
reminded him of his dereliction of order and he would hastily
trot up to his position; and thus the little caravan, with the
silence broken only by the tinkling pony bells, moved on amid
the dense timber of their majestic forests, until the declin
ing sun gave warning of the near approaching night. Then
a halt was made, and the faithful little ponies, relieved of
their wearisome loads which they had borne throughout the
day with becoming and uncomplaining patience, were set
free that they might refresh themselves upon the grass and
cane — nature's bounties to the Indian — that grew and cover
ed the forests in wild abundance. Late next morning — (for
who ever knew an Indian, in the common affairs of life, to be
in a hurry or to value time? Time! He sees it not; he feels
it not; he regards it not. To him 'tis but a shadowy name—
a succession of breathings, measured forth by the change of
night and day by a shadow crossing the dial-path of life)
the rested and refreshed ponies were gathered in, and, each
having received his former load, again the tinkling chimes of
the pony bells alone disturbed the quiet of the then far ex
tending wilderness, announcing in monotonous tones the
onward march, as the day 'before, of the contented travelers;
and thus was the journey continued, day by day, until the
desired point was reached.
The Indian unlike the white man, often received a new
name from some trivial incident or some extraordinary ad
venture, which frequently occurred, especially in their wars.
Anciently the Choctaws and Muscogees were uncompromis
ing enemies, ever making raids into each others territories.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 237
At one time a Muscogee party invaded the Choctaw countryy
and made a sudden and unexpected attack upon a band of
Choctaw warriors. The Choctaws, though surprised, made
a brave resistance, and, after a short but furious light,, de
feated and put their assailants to flight. A vigorous pursuit
at once ensued in which a fleet young Choctaw warrior nam
ed Ahaikahno, (The Careless) had far in advance of his
comrades, killed a MuscOgee, and was in the act of scalping
him, when two Muscogee warriors turned and rushed toward
him with their utmost speed. The Choctaws in the rear,
seeing the danger of Ahaikahno, who was ignorant of his
two fast approaching foes, shouted to him with all the
strength of their voices — Chikke-bulilih chia! Chikke bulilih
chia! (pro. Chik-ke (Quickly) bul-elih (run) che-ah (3*011!).
Ahaikahno, hearing the shout and seeing his danger, was
not slow in heeding the advice. Ever afterwards Ahaikahno
bore the additional name Chikke Bulilih Chia. Both parties
lost many warriors in this short but bloody fight, and the
little mound erected by the Choctaws over the common grave
of their slain warriors was still to be seen down to the \-ear
of the Choctaw migration west, in 1831-?2.
Nearly every river, creek, lake, rock, hill and vale, was
endeared to them, by a name given to it from some peculiar-'
ity. some incident or adventure of the past, that was signifi
cant of the same; and in which were embodied the remem
brance of the heroic achievements of a long" line of ances
try; some in nature's rocks, mountains, hills, dells, woods,
and waters; while others took substantial form in the im
pressive memorials reared by loving hearts and willing nands
in the form of mounds over their dead. Many of those names
were beautifully significant; but alas, how corrupted b\T the
whites, to that extent indeed, that not even one has retained
its original purity. Think you, reader, it was an easy matter
for the Choctaws, with such a country* as the\r then posses^
sed, endeared to them by ten thousand times ten thousand
ties as strong as were ever interwoven around- the human
heart, to cut loose from this their ancient home, and set sail
on an unknown sea foij distant ports in an unknown land, ''and
under the pilotage of those pretended friends, who they
bad found could not be trusted.
Of all the wild animals of the cane-brake, the wild boar
truly merited the name of being the- most dangerous, when
brought to bay, the panther or bear not excepted, and in at
tacking him, coolness and a steady nerve were as necessary
as perfect marksmanship. In this kind of sport a novice would
always find it the better part of valor to keep in mind that
"distance lends enchantment to the view" for ke seldom
238 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
made a charge without leaving- his mark, since that charge
I can attest by frequent observation, was no child's play. One
stroke with his long, keen tusks, was all he wanted to kill an
offending dog, or even disembowel a horse; and woe to the
hunter that carelessly or with foolhardiness approached too
near; if he failed to make a dead-shot, his life was the forfeit;
for with the rush of a whirlwind, and the agility of a cat, he
sprang from his lair, and more sure and fatal was his stroke
as he passed, than the stroke of a dagger in the hands of an
enraged man. An effectual shot was only made by shooting
him through the brain, as his shoulders were protected by
a massive shield extending from his short neck two-thirds of
the way to the hips, and impervious even by a ball shot from
-the rifle of that day; his enormous head, set of by ears about
the size of a man's' hand, standing straight up, and his pow
erful jaws, armed with four fearful tusks, two short stubby
ones protruding from the upper and two long, dagger-like
ones from the lower lips, with a backward curve, combined
with his strength and activity, rendered him a formidable
foe, and made him truly the monarch of the Mississippi cane-
brake 70 years ago. From his short legs and sluggish' ap
pearance, when secretly seen from a distance moving about
at his leisure, one would have supposed him slow in point of
speed; but such was not the case. For as soon as you gave
him a good cause to bestir himself, he did it to such a good
purpose that it was hard for a common horse to escape his
pursuit for a short distance, or to overtake him in his flight.
But of the two contingencies the latter, so far as the hunter
was concerned, was immeasurably the safer; since his temper
was as short as his legs, and very little indeed sufficed his
boarship's philosophy to constitute sufficient provocation, to
make a sudden whirl, present and about face, and instantly
make a furious charge; then, if the horseman was not as
quick to make the turn, there was a collision, always to the
great advantage of the boar.
To intrude upon his retreat when at bay, even though
no malicious propensities had been proven against the tres
passer, was madness; for he charged the intruder without
hesitation and with positively such terrific impetuosity that
proved there was no reservation about his conduct nor
opportunity intended to be given to the incautious visitor for
making any mistake as to his intentions; and he then and
there learned to his entire satisfaction that, if he intended to
have apologized to his boarship, it would be policy to do so in
writing at some future day; as, at that moment, it was de
cidedly the best to get out of the way nor seek leisure for
explanation of the intrusion, since the monster was coming
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
•*^
down upon him, with now and then a snort, that emphatically
said, "Out you go," as intelligibly as ever snorts said any
thing-, yet singularly expressive, unmistakably meaning
prompt ejection from his premises; and though his
progeny were styled the "racers, razor backs, subsoilers,
jumpers, and rail splitters," by the early white settlers, yet,
with his fleetness, agility, strength and savage snout armed
.with those terrible tusks — veritable lancets indeed — which in
many instances grew to incredible dimensions both in size
and length — his majesty was justly styled the undisputed
monarch of the Mississippi cane-brakes. His courage was
indeed fearless and defiant, and with a reckless ferocity that
no sane hunter had the nerve to resolutely receive. Oft he
waited not for presumptuous provocation, but waged war
at once on hunter and dogs as soon as trespassing on his
domains, whom he calmly faced with a defiant front that
indicated a business propensity not to be safely misjudged,
as he slowly turned from side to side seemingly to scan the
immediate surroundings and take in the situation; but when
he set himself to going after man or dog, he displayed an
agility and address which those who have once experienced
it pronounced amazing, nor desires ever again to test his
boarship's peculiarities by personal experience. He often
wandered companionless, then he became more morose and
malignant, and more dangerous to intrude upon. One of
this character, for reasons best known to himself, ventured
under the cover of a dark night, to sleep wTith the tame hogs
belonging to the missionary station, Hebron, over which Mr.
Calvin Cushmaii had jurisdiction, soon after the exodus of
the Choctaws. At that early day, hounds were a protective
necessity against the carnivorous wrild animals that numer
ously abounded in the forests, though Mr. Calvin Cushman
was never known to fire a gun at a wild animal of any kind,
or to go into the woods as a hunter, but left that wholly to
others, among whom his three sons were generally found.
The visitor had overslept himself, or, at least, was a little
dilatory the next morning in starting for his home in the
cane-brake, and thus was discovered about daybreak, 'by one
of the hounds between whom and his boarship uncompromis
ing hostility existed. At once the hound gave notice to his
companions in the yard of the presence of their hated and
dreaded enemy by loud and vociferous barking, to which the
whole pack, gave immediate response by rushing headlong
over the yard fence, and in full cry hastened to the call of
their fellow. At once they rushed for the wild intruder,
who, taking in the surroundings, broke at once for his citadel
in the. swamp two miles away across an intervening forest
240- HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
•*''"
with 110 undergrowth in which to shelter himself in case of
being- overtaken by his pursuing- foes. My brother and I,
knowing- from the" wild outcry of the hounds that they had
discovered some wild animal of merit, seized our rifles, rushed
to the barn, saddled our. hunting' horses and mounted; then
listened a moment to ascertain the bearings of the hounds
whose cry was now faintly heard in the distance, but gave
evidence that the object of their pursuit was no small matter.
At once wre started at full speed through the open forest, and,
after running- a mile or more, stopped to listen, when we
ascertained that they had overtaken the night intruder,
whatever he was, and brought him to bay, but still nearly a
mile distant. Ag'ain we put our horses at full speed, and
thus continued until we had reached the top of a high ridge,
where came into full view, about three hundred yards distant,
the hounds encircling a hug'e wild boar. For a minute we-
silently stood and gazed upon the exciting scene.
The hounds (eight in number) knowing, from sad ex
perience, the characteristics of their foe. were running this
way and that around the old monarch of the canebrake, but
observing* the judicious caution to keep twenty or thirty feet
distant from him. who defiantly stood in the- centre of
the circle and boldly solicited closer quarters. No under
growth obstructed our view, and the whole play was being
enacted before us. Now a hound would make a dash at his
rear only to be^net by the about face of the agile boar, which
caused the hound to also make an about face followed by a
hasty retreat, then one would succeed in giving him a snap
in the rear, which caused the boar, not only to make a quick
turn, but also to make a rush for a few paces after the now
retreating dog-, but to be again pinched in the rear by some
one of his more venturesome assailants. Finally one made a
dash at the rear of the boar with high expectations of secur
ing a good bite; but poor Pete was not quick enough in his
whirl, for the boar, in his sweep, struck him with his curv
ing- tusks upon the thigh making art> ugly wound three or
four inches in length and to the bone. . Pete at once acknowl
edged his defeat by a shrill cry and immediate retreat to the
rear. Thinking it time to take a hand in/ the fray, wre dis
mounted, and leaving our horses concealed, cautiously ad
vanced to the scene of action, but taking care not to let his
boarship learn of our proximity. But not much danger of
that, as his attention was wholly engaged with the still tor
menting dogs. When we had approached within a hundred
yards, we halted behind a large tree and formed our plan of
attack, as we silently peeped from our hiding place and view
ed the scene. The boar was still ignorant of our presence;
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 241
but the hounds had evidently suspected our. presence some
where, by frequently looking back and sniffing the air, and
then barking more vigorously at the boar and making bolder
and more frequent attacks upon his rear.
He was truly a magnificent specimen of his race/ of a
sandy color, full grown, and in fine condition. His huge
head" was adorned with enormous, curving tusks with one
sweep of which he could cut a man, dog or horse into
threads. His little red eyes, nearly covered with shaggy
hair, now glowed like coals of fire, beneath a pair of ears
about the size of a man's hand which stood perfectly erect;
his tail, though curled once at his body, nearly touched the
ground with its long shaggy hairs; his cavernous mouth was
white with foam — proof tha't he was mad all over; his bristles
about four inches long, extended from his ears to his tail,
and stood up erect and stiff, while every hair upon his body
seemingly quivered with rage; the massive sinews of his
great chest stood out like small ropes as he turned from side
to side, exposing also to view the outlines of the almost im
pervious shield that enveloped his shoulders. He was truly
an incarnation of immense strength, activity, courage, and
brutal ferocity.
Our curiosity being satisfied 'in viewing his^dimensions
and appearance, it was resolved -that my brother, who was
the more courageous and the better marksman, should crawl
to a large tree that stood exactly between us and the boar,
which would bring him within fifty or sixty yards of his boar-
ship, and also, the sure range of his rifle, while I was to keep
my position as a rear guard in case of a compulsory retreat.
By good fortune he gained the tree unobserved by hound or
boar; then arose to his feet and brought his rifle to his shoul=
der, with the barrel resting against the right si<le of the tree,
thus being enabled to keep his body wholly concealed. Soon
I saw the boar turn his head exactly toward the tree and in
stantly the crack of the rifle mingled with the baying of the
hounds, and the fierce brute pitched over on his nose to be
instantly covered with exultant dogs who bit and snapped
their fallen foe. We hurried up, only to see a convulsive shiver
run through the huge mass of flesh and bone, and the fierce
glare of the eye as it died out slowly, like a coal fading in the
sunlight as t|j£ white ashes cover it. The vi;ifle ball had ac
complished its mission of death.
In conclusion, I will but add: If those, who to-day talk
about dangerous game, would like to enjoy a rough and tum
ble encounter, I would, could I recall the last seventy years,
recommend to them a wild boar of the Mississippi cane-
242 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
breaks, with strong- testimonials; nor would they have far to
go, at that day, to find him.
O-ka-it-tib-ih-ha -county, Mississippi, as well as its
sister counties, has been the scene of many hard struggles
between the contending warriors of the different tribes,
who inhabited the noble old state in years of the long past;
not only from the statements and traditions of the Choctaws,
who were among the last' of the Indian race whose council-
iires lit up her forests, and whose hoyopatassuha died away
upon her hills, but also from the numerous fortifications and
intrenchments, that were plainly visible, ere the ploughshare
had upturned her virgin soil, and her native- forests still
stood in their primitive beauty and grandeur. From those
rude fortifications, plainly identified many years after the
advent of the missionaries, strong positions were evidently
held by each contending party; yet they seemed to have
been constructed with no regard to mathematical skill, but
rather as circumstances demanded or would admit. Such
at least were the intrenchments enclosing the Shakchi
Humma old fort; and the mail}* evidences, such as rusted
tomahawks, arrow-heads, human bones, teeth and fragments
of skulls that were continually being ploughed up for
many years, proved the hard contested fight of the Shak
chi Hummas and the allied Choctaws and Chickasaws; and
that the brave but greatly' out-numbered Shakchi Hummas
had disputed every inch of the ground, and had only yielded
to the superior numbers of the combined Choctaws and
Chickasaw warriors. The ancient Choctaws, as well as all
other Indians, did not confine their battles to forts and in
trenchments, but fought as circumstances offered, oftener
in small bodies than in large. Hence, they never drew out
their forces in open field, but fought from behind trees,
stumps and logs; each seeking every possible advantage of
his enemy, regarding- all advantages gained as wholly at
tributable to superior skill; all advantages lost, to want
of it.
According to the statements made by the Choctaws to
Mr. Calvin Cushman, when first established among them
as a missionary, nearly eighty years ago, the Shakchi
Hummas, a warlike and very overbearing tribe of Indians,
were wholly exterminated by the combined forces of the
Choctaws and Chickasaws about the year 1721. ^»
I was personally acquainted with a remarkable old Choc-
taw warrior, by the name of Ish-iah-hin-la, (you liable to go)
who claimed to have fought through the Shakchi Humma
war. He was said to be the last surviving Choctaw warrior
of that memorable conflict, and died in 1828 at the advanced
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 243
-age of 107 years, so he claimed to be. Indeed the old war
rior's white locks, wrinkled face, shriveled and decrepit
body, indicated life's journey to have reached that point;
and, as longevity was frequent at that time (as even to-day)
among the Indians, many then living whose ages reached
eighty and ninety years. I did not doubt the old man's state
ment. He took great delight in relating many incidents of
that war and oft amused my boyish fancy in telling many
thrilling scenes in which he participated. This war had its
•origin from the overbearing disposition of the Shakchi Hum-
mail, and the frequent murders committed by their war par
ties upon the Choctaws and Chickasaws. The account, as
related by the Choctaws to the missionaries, is in substance,
about as follows: Many years after the Choctaws and
•Chickasaws had established themselves east of the Missis
sippi river, a Choc taw chief, named Shakchi Hum ma (Craw
fish Red), recrossed the Mississippi river, with his family
and a large number of his adherents, and established a col
ony (under the name of their chief, Shakchi Hum ma) in,
now the state of Arkansas,
In the course of years this colony became greatly en
larged by constant accessions; and, with increasing numbers
and strength, also became insolent and overbearing* to that
extent that a war arose between them and another tribe, in
which they were defeated and driven back over the Missis
sippi "to their former country. After being established
there, (not as Choctaws but as Shakchi Hummas, disregard
ing their ancient kindred ties) they adopted an arrogant and
aggressive policy towards both the Choctaws and Chicka
saws, who, provoked beyond longer endurance, formed a
secret alliance in an exterminating war against the Shakchi
Hummas.
Then followed a three years war of extermination (fa
mous in Choctaw tradition) culminating at the battle of Oski
Hlopah and blotting out the Shakchi Humma nation. The
Choctaws and Chickasaws took the war path together, re
solving to exterminate their insolent enemies or be exter
minated themselves. At this juncture, several large parties
of Shakchi Hummah hunters were camped on Noxubee
creek, as much game had congregated there owing to the
destruction of the range in many parts of the country by the
accidental fall fires. The Choctaws, being aware of the lo
cality of the Shakchi Humma hunters, opened the war by
making an unexpected attack upon them and slew the greater
part, throwing their dead bodies into the creek which caused
;in awful stench, which gave the name Nahshobili to the
creek, and .opened hostilities in good earnest between the
244 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Choctaws and Ghickasaws on one side and the Shakchf
Hummas on the other.
Extermination being th ewar-cry adopted by the con
testants, both parties fought with desperation. But, un
expectedly as the two allied tribes had rushed upon their
unsuspecting- and unprepared enemies (thus in the outset
gaining great advantage) yet the Shakchi Hummas soon
rallied from their discomfiture caused by their surprise; and
then commenced one of those fierce and bloody conflicts, so
oft engaged in by the Red Men in the years of the hoWy
past, but known only to themselves. In union there is strength,
is an old but true adage; and thus it proved to the Choctaws
and Chickasaws. Though fortune for a while appeared to
waver, vacillating1 from the one side to the other and seeming"
at a loss on whom to bestow her smiles, but finally looked
with favor upon the two allied tribes. The Shakchi ifummas,
after many reverses and great losses, finally sought to pro
tract the strong- struggle by taking- refuge in their intrenched
villages. But one after another of these fell into the hands of
the victorious Choctaws and Chickasaws, who now had
become fearless by their success, and, e're the third year of
the desperate conflict had closed, every village had been
taken, and destroyed, and the majority of the inhabitants
slain. The few who escaped united their strength and finally
took their last stand at a point now known as Ly oil's bluff on
Oski Hlopah (Cane stripped) river known now as Trimcane,
about nine miles northeast of Starkville, Mississippi, hope
less, yet determined to fight to the death. Sheltered by a
few logs and banks of earth, the last of that once powerful
and arrogant tribe, now f ought as only men in despair can
and do fight, sending many of their enemies to precede them
to the hunting grounds in the great beyond. How true it is,
that man is a being, when placed in danger and devoid of
hope — that oasis. amid the arid desert of life — who is to be
dreaded! When hope has fled, despair usurps its place; and
none despair till they behold death staring them in the face;
dnd .when life, with all its beautiful shades and colors, is
bleached with the bitterness of death, 'tis then man becomes
desperate; and even the most timid have then accomplished
feats of daring seemingly incredible. Such was the forlorn
hope cooped up in that little fort, if fort it might be called.
Surrounded on all sides without the possibility of escape,
and sheltered only by a few logs and piles of dirt; yet they
baffled all attempts of their enemies to dislodge them.
Like tigers at bay, they fought day and night, though
hour by hour thinned in numbers, till at last but few re
mained; yet that handful yielded not, nor asked for quarter.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 245
sing-ing their death song-, and ever and anon hurling
back their defiant war-whoops, they continued to fight, kill
ing everyone who attempted to scale their little breast-work
of logs and* 'earth. For many days did the warriors of that
log and mud 'fort successfully hold out, bravely driving back
their assailants in every charge. At length, the Choctaws
and Chickasaws, maddened at the obstinate resistance of the
now desperate Shakchi Hummas, and the continued falling
here and there of 'their own warriors, with a, mighty rush
broke over the feebly defended walls of logs and earth, but
to be met by the little squad'of still defiant Shakchi Hum
mas, who received them with the last shout of their still defi
ant war-whoop. Then, for a few moments, was heard the
clashing and ringing of the tomahawks as the busy scene of
death went on; each Shakchi Humma warrior fighting, not
for life or for glory, but in mad despair — seeking to kill ere
he was killed/ But soon the last death-dealing- blow was
struck that blotted out forever the Shakchi Humma Nation.
Only one of the whole tribe was left, and that one was a
young girl about sixteen or eighteen years of ag*e, who was
spared on account of her wonderful beauty. She was adopt
ed by the Choctaws, and lived to be nearly or quite a hun
dred years old, and was living some years after the advent
of the missionaries among them. Mr. H. Peden, who lived
fourteen miles from Hebron, the home of Mr. Calvin Cush-
man, stated that Mr. P. P. Pitchlynn, who had often spoken
to him of this old Shakchi Humma captive, one day pointed-
her out to him at a religious meeting of the Choctaws. Mr.
Peden stated that she was the oldest looking human being
that he had ever seen, and from her appearance, he judged
her to be over a century old. She died a few years before
the venerable old warrior, Stahenka; but lived to hear the
tidings of the Cross preached to her race, though the only
survivor of her own tribe, exterminated in the bright morn
of her youthful but eventful life. Alas, the single combats
of the heroes of history or fable may amusev the fancy and
engag'e the admiration; the skillful evolutions of war may
inform the mind; but in the uniform and terrible picture of
a general assault, all is blood, horror and desolation; nor shall
I further attempt to delineate, at the distance of nearly two
centuries, a scene at which the actors themselves were in
capable of forming any just or adequate idea. But such is
the only history of the Shakchi Hummas whose blood still
runs in the veins of a few Choctaws — descendants of the girl
saved at the tragic destruction of her tribe — one of whom
.became a chief of the Choctaws and died in 1884 at his home
246 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
a few miles east of Atoka, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory..
His name is Coleman Cole. , % .
The Choctaws, like all of 'their race, had no'written. laws,
and their government rested alone on custom and usage,
growing- out of their possessions and their wants ; yet was
conducted so harmoniously by the influence of their native
genius and experience, that 'one would hardly believe
that human society could be maintained with so
little artifice. As they had no money, their traffic con
sisted alone in mutual exchang-e of all commodities ; as
there was no employment of others for hire, there
were no contracts, hence judges and lawyers, sheriffs
and jails were unknown among them. There were no beg
gars, no wandering tramps, no orphan children unprovided
for in their country, and deformity was almost unknown,
proving that nature in the wild forest of the wilderness is
true to her type. Their chief had no crown, 110 sceptre, no
body guards, no outward symbols of authority, nor power to
give validity to their commands, but sustained their author
ity alone upon the good opinion of their tribe. No Choctaw
ever worshipped his fellow man, or submitted his will to the
humiliating subordinations of another, but with that senti
ment of devotion that passed bevorid the region of humanity,
and brought him in direct contact with nature and the imag
inary beings by whom it was controlled, which he divined but
could not fathom; to these, and these alone, he paid his hom
age, invoking their protection in war and their aid in the
chase.
The ancient Choctaws believed, and those of the present
day believe, and I was informed bv Governor Basil LeFlore,.
in 1884, isince deceased) that there is an appointed time for
every one to die; hence suicide appeared to them, as an act
of the meanest cowardice. Though thev regarded it as a
sacrilege to mention the names of their dead, still they spoke
of their own approaching death with calmness and tran-
quility. No people on earth paid more respect to their dead,
than the Choctaws did and still do; or preserved with more
affectionate veneration the graves of their ancestors. They
were to them as holy relics, the only pledges of their history;
hence, accursed was he who shouldfdespoil the dead. They
had but a vague idea of future rewards and punishments.
To them a future life was a free gift of the GreatjSpirit, and
the portals of the happy hunting grounds would be opened
to them, in accordance as their life had been meritorious as
a brave warrior. They were utterly ignorant of the idea of
a general resurrection, and it was difficult for them to be in
duced to believe that the body would again be raised up.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 247
But to-day finds the Choctaws advanced in knowledge and
improvement, which has produced a revolution in their moral
and intellectual condition and in the current of their thoughts
and ideas. Though seemingly slow to many has been their
progress, yet not more so than other nations. For it must
be remembered, that to-day there are many nations on the
eastern continent, where a knowledge of letters has been
known for centuries, and whose intellectual advantages have
been much superior to that of the North American Indians,
who have not yet reached that moral and intellectual culture
that many tribes of the Indians have. It required over 2000,
years for us to rise from a state of savage barbarity to our
present state of advancement, though, 'tis true they have
had, to a small extent, the advantages of pur civilization; but
when we take into consideration the great disadvantages
which even the five civilized tribes have labored under and
the many oppositions they have had to encounter from first
to last, in their commendable efforts to moral and intellectual
improvement, (though enjoying the advantages of the teach
ings of the faithful and noble missionary for half a century)
from the corrupting influences and pernicious examples of
the base white men who have ever cursed their country, even
as fated Egypt of old was cursed by the visitations of the
locusts, frogs and lice, we have just and good reasons to be
surprised that they have made the progress they have.
As a proof of the Indian's love of country and the scenes
of his childhood, so cruelly denied him by his oppressors, I
will state that a few years after 'they had moved west, a few
Choctaw warriors, seemingly unable to resist the desire of
once more looking upon the remembered scenes of the un-
forgotteii past, returned to the homes of their youth; for
a few weeks they lingered around, the very .personification
of hopeless woe, with a peculiar something in their manner
and appearance, which seemed to speak their thoughts as
absently following a long dream that was leading them to
the extreme limits of their once interminable fatherland.
But their souls could not brook the change, or the ways of
the pale-face. They gazed awhile, as strangers in a strange
land, then turned in silence and sorrow from the loved vision
they never would enjoy or look upon again, but which they
never would forget, and once more directed their steps to
ward the setting sun and were seen no more. But nothing
strange in this; for who does not delight, even in after years,
to return to the well remembered walks of early life! the
touch of the long vanished hands, and the echo of the voices,
that are hushed, all seem to return, reminding us in touch
ing accents of unutterable pathos, of the days that are no
248 HISTORt OF THE INDIANS.
more! again are we united with the days of childhood, call
ing up by-gone joys. Truly, what a hallowing glory invests
our past, beckoning us back to the haunts of boyhood's days!
again the songs we sang sweep o'er the harp of memory in
tones of sweetest melody! again the faces that early weht
down to the tomb, that cheerless habitation of the dead,
smile on us with unchanging love and tenderness. The
past! To every heart, what a fairy land. Who would not
keep the memory of those days unsullied, unalloyed from
those that raise a sadness in the soul! Ah! as a token from
some lost loved one, whose name is only spoken within the
secrets of the heart, would I cherish and keep them with
'memories that never die.
The Indians have ever been termed a nomadic race, and
as such have been represented by all who have written about
them. There certainly never has a greater error been pro
mulgated about any people. I refer to the southern Indians
who formerly lived east of the Mississippi river. How far
the Indians of the western plains may merit the title, I
will not attempt to judge, being but little acquainted with
their habits and customs, ancient or modern. But I have no
fears in saying that no people merited less the appellation,
nomadic, than those who formerly dwelt east of the Missis
sippi river. Webster, the standard authority, gives the defi
nition of nomadic -as signifying, "Moving from place to
place," and how that word could in any way justly be ap
plied to the Choctaw', Chickasaw and Muscogee Indians, who
were never known to move in the knowledge of the whites,
'until moved by them from their ancient domains to their
present location, is a difficult matter to comprehend. In
15^0, De Soto found them in the very spot from which the
government moved them in 1832, 1836, and 1840. In 1623,
the early settlers of Virginia found them exactly where De
Soto had left them. When the French established them
selves in Mobile, Alabama, they found them still where the
Viginia settlers had found them. In 1735, the Carolina
traders found them exactly where De Soto, the Virginians
and the French had found them. In 1744, Adair found them
still where De Soto, the Virginians, the French, and the
Carolina traders, had found them, and lived among the
Chickasaws thirty years. In 1771, Roman still found them
at the very place where De Soto, the Virginians, the French,
the Carolina traders and Adair, had found them; and states,
in his travels through the Choctaw Nation, he passed
through seventy of their towns. In 1815, the missionaries
still found them exactly where De Soto, the Virginians, the
French, the Carolinian traders, Adair, d.nd Roman had found
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 249
-them. In 1832, the United States Government found them
still where De Soto, the Virginians, the French, the Caro
lina traders, Adair, Roman, and the missionaries had found
them, and moved them to their present place of abode in
1832; and 1899, A. D. finds them just where the government
put them sixty-seven years ago. So they have "moved from
place to place/' once in 359 years, and then moved by the
force of arbitrary power, they are called nomadic.
Of the Indians it may be truly said:
t
"But on the natives of that land misused,
Not long the silence of amazement hung,
Nor brooked they long their friendly faith abused;
For with a common shriek, the general tongue
Exclaimed, 'to arms !' and fast to arms they sprung."
They were truly men of the past, as well as men of the
woods, yet noble and true, glorying in their ancestors, and
living in their deeds by reverencing what they had handed
clown to them.
The Choctaws, from their earliest history, have ever
maintained their independence, and their love of country,
amounting to almost idolatry, which cannot be described by
words; and, in defending it, they utterly despised danger
and mocked at fear.
Having no alphabet nor written language, their know
ledge was conveyed to the eye by rude imitation. In the
pictures of various animals which had been drawn on s-mooth
substance, a piece of bark, or tree, there he recognized a
symbol of his tribe; and in these various figures, which he'
saw sketched here and there, he re,ad messages from his
friends. The rudest painting, though silent and unintelligi
ble to the white man, told its tale to the Choctaws. He
abhorred restraint of any kind, while liberty, free and un
restrained, was the ruling passion of his soul; the natural
and unrestrained propensities, of his wild nature were his
system of morals, to which he firmly adhered and tenaciously
followed. They had no calendar, but reckoned time thus:
The months, by the full or crescents moons; the years by
the killing of the vegetation by the wintry frosts. Thus, for
two years ago the Choc taw would say: Hushuk (grass) illi
-(dead) tuklo (twice); literally, grass killed twice, or, more
properly, two killings of the grass ago. The sun was called
Nittak hushi — the Day-sun; and the moon, Neuak hushi,
\he Night-sun and sometimes, Tekchi hushi — the Wife
•of the sun. Their almanac was kept by the flight of
the fowls of the air; whose coming and going announced to
Ihem the progress of the advancing and departing
250 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
seasons. Thus the fowls of the air announced to the then
blessed and happy Choctaw the progress of the seasons,
while the beasts. "of the field gave to him warning- of the
gathering and approaching storm, and the sun marked to
him the hour of the day; and so the changes of time were
noted, not by figures, but by days, sleeps, suns and moons-
signs that spoke the beauty and poetry of nature. If a shorter
time than a day was required to be indicated two parallel
lines were drawn on the ground, a certain distance apart,
then pointing to the sun he would say: "It is as long as it
would take the sun to move from there to there." The time
indicated by the moon was from its full to the next; that of
the year, from winter to winter again, or from summer to
summer. To keep appointments, a bundle of sticks contain
ing the exact number of sticks as there were days from the
day of appointment to the appointed, was kept; and every
morning one was taken out and thrown away, the last stick
announced the arrival of the appointed. This bundle of
twigs was called Fuli (sticks) kauah (broken) broken sticks.
The abundant game of his magnificent and wide extended
forests, which he never killed in wanton sport, no more than
a white man would kill his cattle, but only as his necessities
demanded, together with the fish of his beautiful streams,
his fields of corn, potatoes, beans, with that of the inexhaus
tible supplies of spring and summer berries of fine variety
and flavor, and winter nuts, all united to 'consummate his
earthly bliss in rendering him a successful huntsman,
a good fisherman, and cheerful tiller of the ground.
The Choctaws have long been known to excel all the North
American Indians in agriculture, subsisting to a considerable
extent on the produce of their fields. In mental capacity the
Choctaws, as a race of people, both ancient and modern, were
and are not inferior to the whites; and their' domestic life,
as I know them seventy years ago, would sustain in many
respects, a fair comparison with average civilized white com
munities. Their perspective faculties were truly wonder
ful; and the Choctaws of to-day, to whom the advantages of
an education have been extended, have given indisputable
evidence of as great capacity for a high order of education
as any people on earth, I care not of what nationality.
There were no degrees of society among them, no dif
ference in social gatherings; all felt themselves equal, of the
same standing and on the same terms of social equality.
And it is the same to day. They had no sur-names,yet their
names were peculiar, and most always significant, express
ive of some particular action or incident; even as the names
given to their hills, rivers, creeks, towns and villages. As-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 251
those of ancient, classic fame in the eastern world, so to the
superstitious mind of the Choctaw of the western world,
caused him also to regard the sudden appearance of certain
birds and their chirping's and twittering's, the howl of the
wolf and thelonely hootof the owl, as omens of evil, whileothers,
asomensof good; the spiritual significance of which, however,
he interpreted according to the dictation of his own judg
ment, instead of that of an augur differing in this particular
from his ancient brothers of Rome and Greece; yet like them
he undertook no important enterprise without first consult
ing his trusted signs, whether auspicious or otherwise. If
the former, he hesitated not its undertaking; if the latter, no
inducement could be offered that would prevail upon him to*
undertake it; but he returned to his cabin and there re
mained for favorable omens.
But how far mav be found a more just cause for admi
ration of the religious superstitions of the ancient Romans
and Grecians than that of the North American Indians, it is
difficult to see, since the Indians, alike with them, acknowl
edged, everywhere in nature, the presence of invisible be
ings; and it 'was the firm belief that his interests were under
the special care of the Great and Good Spirit that the Choc-
taw warrior went upon the war-path, and the hunter sought
the solitudes of his native forests in search of his game; and
that his career in life was marked out for him by a decree
that could not be altered. True, he was free to act, but the
consequences of those actions were fixed beforehand; his
daily food, life, joys, all, everything, were acknowledged as
coming from the Great Spirit, who knew all things and im
parted his wisdom to man; rewarded good deeds and pun
ished crimes; implanted unwritten laws of right and wrong
on the human heart, and unfolded to him coming events-
through dreams. The mystery of nature had its influence
upon the untutored minds of all Indians, as well as its phe
nomena upon his senses; which, to them, were represented
by the inferior spirits that surround the Great Spirit, who
was the 'all-controlling deity; and to Him they all turned in
gratitude for blessings, and for aid in all the affairs of life.
Surely, it is the part of humanity in us, who have lived under
a higher dispensation, in tracing the deep influences that
the mythology of this strange, wonderful and peculiar peo
ple had over them ;> to admire rather than condemn without
admitting the many extenuating circumstances. And
though the rites and ceremonies of the Indians, by which
they expressed their belief in their dependence on the Great
Spirit, was made in offerings of corn, bread, fruits, etc, in
stead of the sacrifices of animals; and sought omens in the
252 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
actions of living- animals, instead of an augury in the entrails
of dead animals; yet the sincere feelings of piety, of grati
tude and dependence, which gave origin to those offerings,
gave origin also to that universal habit of self-examination
. and secret prayer to the great Spirit, so characteristic of the
Indian race. They believed that the Great Spirit communi
cated his will to man in dreams, in thunder and lightning,
eclipses, meteors, comets, in all the prodigies of nature, and
the thousands of unexpected' incidents that occur to man.
Could it be otherwise expected from those who walked by
the light of nature alone? And though few assumed to have
attained the power of revealing the import of these signs and
wonders, yet many sought the coveted prize but found it not,
therefore, became self-constituted prophets, but remained
silent as to the character and functions of the spirits with
whom thev held their mysterious intercourse, thus leaving
little foundation by which to identify their mythology. But
that they derived their religious beliefs from the common
seed with which man first started, there can be no doubt;
but ere it had developed to any extent they strayed from the
parent stock, and it assumed different aspects under differ-
en circumstances, during the long period of isolation that en
sued. Still, we find existing everywhere among mankind
the same sensitiveness to the phenomena of nature, and the
same readiness and power of imagining invisible beings as
the cause of these phenomena.
The tendency of the Indian mind was thoroughly prac
tical, stern and unbending, it was not filled with images of
poetry nor high strung* conceptions of fancy. He struggled
for what was immediate, the war path, the chase and council
life; but when not engaged therein, -the life of the national
games, under the head of social amusements, filled up the
measure of his days — the ball plav, horse-race, foot-race,
jumping and wrestling — to them as honorable as the gym
nastic exercises of the eastern nations of antiquity; enduring
heat and cold, suffering" the pang-s of hunger and thirst, fa
tigue and sleeplessness. The object of the Indian boy also,
was to gain all the experience possible in all manly exercises,
therefore at an early age he went in search of adventures.
Their tribal council consisted of the best, wisest and most
worthy of the tribe. A fact from which we might draw
many useful lessons. In its meetings, the most important
topics of their country were the subjects of their delibera
tions; nor was the question ever asked in regard to any new
question presented before that body, "If there was any money
in it?" the good of their common country was the only thing
•discussed or even thought of. It was a body, which, in point
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 253
of true dignity, if not of wisdom, has seldom been equalled
and never surpassed; and which was regarded the supreme
power of the tribal commonwealth. They had but few laws,
but the few were rigidly enforced.
There were many natural orators among- the ancient
Choctaws when living1 in undisturbed prosperity amTMiappi-
ness east of the Mississippi river. Their orations were
very concise, animating and abounding in many beautiful meta
phors; and who, had they possessed the embellishments of a
refined education, would have compared well with any race
of mankind that ever existed. v
The Choctaws, like all their race, deliberated with great
dignity and solemnity on national affairs; and jn all their
assemblies, both, national and social, everything- was carried
on in the best order and unassumed decorum. Their treaties
were ratified by smoking- the pipe of peace — an emblem
respected, honored, and held sacred ^by all Indians every
where. As with all their race, so war was, in the estimation
of the ancient- Choctaws, the most patriotic avocation in which
a man could engage; they seldom began a war with another
tribe, but rather waited for an attack, then no braver or more
resolute warriors ever went upon the war-path. The open
ing of hostilities was alwas preceded by the famous Hoyopa-
hihla, War-dance. Night was the chosen time for engaging- in
that time-honored ceremony; and as soon as evening- began
to spreadher dark mantle o'er their forests, ahuge pile of dry
logs and brush previously prepared was set on fire, whose'
glaring and crackling flames intermingling- with their hoyopa-
taloah (war-songs) and soul-stirring hoyopa-tassuhah (war-
hoops) presented a scene as wild and romantic as can possi
bly be imagined.
The manly forms of the dusky warriors with their paint
ed faces illuminated with the wildest excitement; the huge
fire blazing and crackling in the centre of the Wide extended
circle of excited dancers, which, now and then, a kick from a
dancing warrior, caused to send the flames and sparks
hig-h up among- the wide extended branches of the mighty
forest trees that stood around; the stern visages of the old
warriors, whom age and decrepitude had long since placed
upon the retired list from further duty upon the war-path or
in the chase, sitting- around in little groups where the light
of the burning log-heap disputed precedency with the gloom
of night,, calm and silent spectators of the weird scene in
which they could no lorijger participate, but which awakened
thrilling- memories of the past; the Goddess Minerva's fav
orite birds, allured from their dark abode?} in the forest by
the glaring light, flitted here and there overhead through
254 HISTORY OF THE mDIANS.
the extended branches of the overshadowing- oaks, and anon
joined in \vith their voices, to which in wild response, the
distant howl of a pack of roving- wolves filled up the meas
ure of the awe inspiring- scene. But those who have wit
nessed it will not be easily satisfied with any vain attempt to
d,epict it on paper; and those who have not will hardly have
their anticipations realized by anything- short of the opportun
ity of judging for themselves. Therefore, have I contented
myself with giving a mere outline of my own impressions; for
he who would attempt to picture a Choctaw Hoyopa-hihla, as
it was exhibited seventy years ago in the midnight solitudes
of a Mississippi forest, would have to aim at condensation and
exaggeration and yet expect failure in both; for adjectives
would' only confuse and'sentences but veil the scene; besides
any description that could be made would not express the
-thousandth part of what ought to be said, and if but a weak
picture was drawn, even then it would be called the wrild hal
lucinations of a disordered brain. But that the reader may
be able to form a faint idea of the scene, I know of nothing
more appropriate, (judging from what I have read and also
been told by eye witnesses) to which it ma}' be compared,
than a Chicago political convention of the present age, with
this exception however; the yells of the Indian squaws were
not heard intermingling with the war-whoops of the. forest
warriors in wild cadences of the war-dance, as the yells of
the white squaws are heard mingling with the political
whoops of the white warriors in the crazed scenes of the con
ventional dance.
On the return of a successful war-path, the village at
once became the scene of festivity and triumph. The varied
trophies — scalps, painted shields, etc., were hung on poles
near the houses. Then followed war-feasts, scalp-dances,
.accompanied with war-songs and shouts of victory,- while the
old men went from house to house rehearsing in 'a' loud tone
•of voice the events of the battle and the various daring ex
ploits of the warriors. But, amid all this, sounds of another
kind were also heard mingling in discordant tones with those
of joy; they were the piteous wailings of the women borne
upon the air from the surrounding hills, where they had
retired to mourn in darkness and solitude for their slain in
battle. There the mother, wife and sister gave full sway to
the anguish of their hearts; reminding the intelligent hearer
o£ that affecting pasasage of Scripture, "In Rama was there
a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted
because they were not."
As all nations of the human family, so the Choctaws of
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 255
both sexes delighted in ornaments. Though the Choctaw
warrior, in his training" for the duties of manhood, inured
himself to fatigue and privation, and in defense of his country
and home, and resenting an insult, was as brave as bravery
itself; yet he was fond of admiring himself before a mirror
when arrayed in the paraphernalia of Choctaw fashion; i. e. a
red turban, highly decorated writh the gay plumage of various
kinds of birds encircling his head; with face painted accord-
to Choctaw etiquette; with crescents of highly polished tin
supended from his neck and extending in regular order
from the chin to the waist; with shining bracelets of the same
metal encircling his wrists and arms above the elbows; with
a broad belt around his waist, tastily interwoven with
innumerable little beads of every gay and flashing color;
with feet encased in moccasins soft and pliant, and highly
decorated with little beads of sparkling hue. did the young
Choctaw warrior walk forth among the admiring beauties of
his tribe as much the personification of a modern, first-class,
white dude, complete and perfect, as ever contested for the
honor of superiority in the "laudable" occupation;, yielding
the palm of victor}7 to his pale-face brother disputant, only in
the "gift of continuance;1' since the Choctaw, after indulging
in momentary paroxysms of self-admiration, .turned from his
mirror, doffed his effeminate plumage to soon forget what
manner of man he appeared, since the thought of his noble
aspirations and strivings returned to excel as a warrior and
conselor in his nation, but leaving his pale-face opponent
master of the field to live and die contented and happ}- in his
imbecility.
The Choctaws were strong in their belief in the exist
ence of hat-tak holth-kun-a Twitches); even as our own "en-
-Tightened" ancestors in the days of Cotton Mather — differ
ing, however, in this particular; the Choctaws selected old
and decrepit women as victims of their superstitions, wrhile
their white brothers, whose boasted civilization had rendered
a little more fastidious, manifested their superiority in
intellectual attainments over the Indians, by selecting the
young as the victims of their wild theories. But ghosts
and witches. have' long since been to the Choctaws as things
r>f the forgotten past.
The restless and fertile imagination of the Choctaws,
.as well as all their race, peopled with beings of a higher or
der than themselves the mountains, plains, woods, lakes,
fountains and streams. But in regard to the origin of man,
the one generally accepted among the Choctaws, as well as
many other tribes was that man and all other forms of life
had originated froin^ the common mother earth through the
256 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
agency of the Great Spirit; but believed that 'the,lruman race-
sprang- from many different primeval pairs created by the
Great Spirit in the various parts of the earth in which man
was found; and according to the different natural features of
the world in which man abode, so their views varied with
regard 'to the substance of which man was created; in a
country of vast forests, they believed the primeval pair, o'r
pairs, sprang from the trees; in a mountainous and rocky
district of country, they sprang from the rocks; in valleys
and prairies, from the earth; but their views as to the time
this creation of man took place, whether at the same time
throughout the various inhabited regions or at different
periods, their traditions are silent.
To the unlettered and untutored mind of man through
out' the world, all things are endowed with individuality and
life; from which arose, no doubt, the great number of mystic
conceptions, regarding the sun, moon, stars, clouds, winds
and storms, as being animate bodies, possessing life as all
animate creatures. The traditions of some of the North
American Indian tribes are said to state, that the sun was
once caught in a snare by a great hunter, and was set free
by the moles, but at the loss of their eyes from its intense
light, and have ever since been blind. Perhaps the primi
tive fathers of those tribes possessed sonie knowledge of
Joshua's command to the orb of day. Brinton states in his
"Myths of the New World," page 55, that the legend of the
Peruvian Incas, in regard to the sun, is\ "He is like a teth
ered beast who makes a daily round under the eye of a
master." Many of the North American Indian tribes be- .
lieved, in regard to the eclipse of "the sun and moon, that
some animal, wolf, dog, etc., was devouring the sun, and'
ma.de every effort to drive him away. Some whipped their
own dogs during an eclipse because a "Big dog" was eating
the sun or moon, and believed the "Big dog" might be in
duced to postpone his meal by the howls of their whipped
curs.
p?he ancient Choctaws believed an eclipse was caused by
a little black squirrel, which had resolved to devour the sun,
and which could only be saved from the little gormandizer
by frightening him away by a great noise, to which I have,
more than once, been an eye witness, and to the modus oper-
randi adopted to give'him a scare; and also testify from ex
perience as to the virtues of the music; at least the sun came
out all right; but as to the strict adherence to the accepted
rules of harmony during the performance, I will write more
definitely on some other page. It is also stated, that the
South American Indians believed that the moon, when in an
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 257
eclipse, was being" devoured by dog's, and, to scare them off,,
the natives, made a great noise. (Tyler, "Culture," Vol. 1,
p. 296.) Also of the African Moors, says Grimm, "Teuto
nic Mythology," Vol, 2, p. 707. When the sun eclipse was at
its highest, we saw the people running- about as if mad, and
firing their guns at the sun, to frighten the monster who,
they supposed, was wishing to devour i^ie orb of day. The
women banged copper vessels together, making such a din
that it was heard miles away." (
A legend of the Mongolians states that a monster con
tinually pursues the sun and moon, and when overtaking the
one or the other an eclipse is the result. The Chinese be
lieve, even at the present day, the sun and moon are being
devoured by a great dragon during an eclipse. During the
eclipse of the sun in 1887, the Chinese authorities, in accord
ance with the usage of the empire, commanded the Buddhist
and Tauist priests to perform their incantations to rescue
thejsun "from the jaws of a devouring monster. It was at
the time of the celebration of the Emperor's birthday,
when all the officials were required to wear embroidered
robes; but it is also the law that during an eclipse officials
who participate in the ceremonies must wear ordinary
clothing until the sun is rescued. An edict had to be ob
tained from the Emperor to settle it. He ordered the offi
cials to ignore .his birthday and attend to the wants of th&
sun. So they all wore ordinary clothes, The EstheJfflabtis.
believed the sun and moon were being eaten during art
eclipse by som^ animal, and endeavored to frighten it away
by conjuring. "The Hindoos, to this day, -believe that a-
giant lays hold of the luminaries, and tries to swallow t&em..
The. Romans flung fire-brands into the air and blew trum
pets and clanged brazen pots and pans." During an eclipse
in the 17th century the Celtics "run about beating kettles
and pans thinking their clamor and vexations available to the
assistance of 'the higher orbs." (Tyler, Op. Cit. p. 301.)
So also it is s*aid of the Northern Asiatics, and of the Finns
of Eurdpe.
N The traditions of the Polynesians state that Mauiand his
brothers thought the sun went too fast for their convenience
and determined to check him; therefore, they made strong-'
ropes, and then went "very far to the eastward, and came to
the very edge of the place out . of which the s>un rises."
There they placed a noose to catch the sun. "He rises up
his head passes through the noose, and it takes>in more and
more of his body, uqftil his fore paws pass Through; then
are pulled tight the ropes. The sun screams aloud; he
roars; Maui strikes him fiercely 'with many blows. They
258 I HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
hold him for a long- time; at last they let him go; and then
weak from wounds the sun crept slowly along- his course."
(Grey's Polynesian Mythology, p. 35-8.) It is said, however,
that there are different versions of this legend; one, that
Maui finally released the sun; another that he still has him
roped, and holds him in check; .and the Polynesians still be
lieve they can- see the ropes at the rising and setting of the
sun, to which they point and exclaim — "Behold the ropes of
Maui," while we" say, "the sun is drawing water," both
equally absurd.
The Australians, it is said, regarded the sun as a woman.
"Every night she descends among the dead, who stand in
double lines to greet her and let her pass. She has a lover
among the dead, who has presented her with a red kangaroo
skin, and in this she appears at her rising." To us how
foolish, yet how similar to our own ancestors, who regarded
the dawn a red cow, and the sun her calf. (Zoological Mytho
logy, Vol. 1, p. 50.) So also of the Vedas whose Ushas (Dawn)
"opens the darkness as a cow her stall." Hence the sacred-
ness of the cow to the Hindoos in their worship; and also, it
might be added, the red heifer among the Israelites. (Num.
19.)
And thus it appears that all other nations of mankind
are, and have been, theorizers, even as the North American
Indians; and though these theories were crude yet they
found embodiment in stories handed down to posterity as
traditions and legends. They were not allegories, but man
:in his primitive state endeavoring- to find out and to explain
the mysteries of nature around him; and, as learning -and
intelligence advanced, these absurdities passed alike into
forgeifulness. So it is evident, we have little ground upon
which to base our contempt for the Indians in regard to their
myths, since we have also passed through the same.
The Choctaws had several classes of dignitaries among
-.them who were held in the hig'hest reverence: The Medi
cine Man or Prophet, the Rain Maker, the Doctor — a verita
ble chip of Esculapius. Well indeed did each fill his allotted
position in life, and faithfully discharge the mystic duties
appertaining thereunto, both in their own opinion as well as
that of their people. The Choctaws' Materia Medica, like
all their race, was Nature, herbs and roots furnishing
their remedies both externally and internally; and the
success with which they used those remedies proved
their knowledge of the healing properties of the various
herbs and roots" in,. which their extensive forests abounded.
They had a specific for the, bite of the sintullo (rattle snake).
Their doctors relied much . on dry-cupping-, using their
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 259
mouth alone in all such cases. Oft have I witnessed the
Choctaw physician, east of the Mississippi river, administer
ing to the necessities of his suffering- patient throug-h the
virtues found in the process of dry-cupping;. Stretching the
sufferer upon a blanket spread upon the ground, he kneeled
beside him and began a process of sucking that part of the
body of which the patient complained, or where, in his own
judgment, the disease was located, making a guttural noise
during the operation that reminded one of dog- worrying- an
opossum; at different intervals raising his head a few inches
and pretending' to deposit into his hands, alternately in the
one and the other, an invisible 'something which he had
drawn from his patient, by a magic power- known alone to
himself.
After sucking a sufficient length of time to nil both
hands, judging from the frequent deposits - therein made,
-with great apparent dignity and solemn gravity, this worthy
son of Esculapius arose and stepping to the nearest tf ee,
post, or fence, wiped the secret contents of his apparently
full hands thereon; then with an air of marked importance
walked away to the enjoyments of his own reflections, while
the sufferer, in real or fancied relief, acknowledged the efficacy
of the physician's healing powers by ceasing to complain,
turned over and sought forgetfulness in the arms of refresh
ing sleep. If there ensued a change for the better he claimed
the honor and praise as due the noble profession of which he
recognized himself a worthy and important member; but if
the disease proved stubborn and refused to yield to the medi
cinal virtues of his herbs, roots and\ dry-cupping, he turned
to his last resort — the Anuka, (Hot-house.) This edifice, an
important adjunct in all ChoctawT villages, was made of logs
rendered nearly air tight by stopping all cracks with mortar.
A little hole was left on one side for an entrance. A fire was
built in the centre of this narrow enclosure, and soon the
temperature within was raised to the desired degree, then
the fire wras taken out and the patient instructed to crawl in;
which being done, the little opening was closed. As a matter
of course, the patient must bake or sweat; wrhich, however,
resulted in the latter; and when, in the opinion of the Alikchi,
(doctor) he had undergone a thorough sweating, the entrance
was opened, and the patient bidden to come forth; who, upon
his exit, at once runs to the nearest water into which he
plunged head first; but if not of sufficient amount and depth
for the correct performance of that ceremony to its fullest
extent, he ducks his head into it several times, thus making
practical the wholesome theory of the hygienist: "Keep
your head cool, but your feet warm." In case of common
260 HISTORY^ OF THE INDIANS.
intermittent fever, the efficiency of this mode of proceeding-
(the sweat and cold bath) was truly astonishing-, seldom
failing- to effect a cure.
But if the patient died — ah, then! with that shrewdness
pecular to all quacks the world over, he readily found a
cause upon which to base his excuse for his inefficacy to
effect a cure; differing somewhat, however, from his white
brother alikchi, who attributes the cause of his failure to
innumerable "where-as-es and ifs," while he openly ackowl-
edged and emphatically declared the interposition of a hat-
tak holth-kun-na (witch), which counteracting the beneficial
virtues of his remedies, had caused the death of his patient
by thus placing him beyond the reach of mortal skill, noth
ing more nor less. Sometimes, for the sake of variety, he
attributed the death of his patient, if occurring very sudden
ly, to an Ish tulbih (witch ball) shot from an invisible rifle in
the hands of a witch. At this important juncture of affairs,
it now becomes his duty to find the witch that he, she, or it,
may be brought to pay the penalty of the law in all such
cases — death. As a matter of course, the doctor, not very
scrupulous in the matter of shifting- the blame from his own
shoulders to that of another — so natural to all mankind—
easily found a witch in the person of some attenuated bid
woman, whom he designated as the guilty party, and who
consequently was immediately slain by the relatives of the
deceased; an illustration of which I have already given in the
case of the unfortunate Il-lich-ih.
In the matter of rain, the Choctaw Rainmaker truly
swayed the sceptre of authority in that line of art, uiidis-
Euted, and was regarded with reverential awe by his people,
n all cases of protracted drouth, which was quite frequent
at an early day in their ancient domains, the Hut-tak Um-ba
7 Ik-bi, (man rain maker) was regarded as the personage in
whom alone was vested the power to create rain; therefore
to him they went with their offerings and supplications, the
former, however, partaking more of a persuasive nature than
the latter, in the judgment of the Umba Ikbi, as an effectual
means to bring into requisition his mysterious power in the
matter of rain. He without hesitation promised to heed
their solicitations, but gently hinting that, in his judgment,
the offerings were not in as exact ratio to their importuni
ties as they should have been. However, he now assumes
an air of mysterious thoughtfulness and, "grand, gloomy
and peculiar wrapped in the solitude of his own imagina
tion," strolled from village to village, gazing at the sun by
day and the stars by night, seeming to hold communion with
the spirits of the upper worlds; finally he ventured his^repu-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 261
tation by specifying- a certain day upon which he would
make it rain. The day arrived, and if haply came
with it a rain the faith of his dupes wasconfirmed, his mystic
power unquestioned, and the Umba Ikbi made comfortable.
But if otherwise, he did not as the Alikchi, attribute his fail
ure to the counteracting influence of a witch in the person
of an old woman, but to that of a brother Umba Ikbi living- in
some remote part of the nation, with whom he was just then
at variance. He now informs his unfortunate b.ut not faith
less people that /an Umba Ikbi's mind must be free of all
contending- emotions while engaged in the mystic ceremo
nies of rain making; that he was now angry, too much mad
to make it rain. Upon which announcement, the now de
spairing people earnestly solicited to know if they, in any
way could assuage his wrath. Pie replied in' the negative;
but promised, however, to consider the matter as soon as his
anger abated. He now became more reserved; sought soli
tude where undisturbed he might scan the sky and per
chance discern some sign of rain. Sooner or later, he
discovers a little-hazv cloud stretched along the distant
western horizon;, attentively and carefully watches it as
broader and higher it ascends, until he feels sure he can
safely risk another promise; then leaves his place of secret
and thoughtful meditation, and, with countenance fair as a
summer morn, presents himself before his despairing
people and announces his anger cooled and wrath departed;
that now he would bring rain without delay, yet drqpping I
casual hint as to the efficacy of a coveted pony, cow, blanket,
etc., being added, as a surer guarantee, since "the Jaborer
was worthy his hire." The hint was comprehended and
fully complied with in hopeful expectation. Anon the low
muttering thunder vibrates along the western horizon in
audible tones, and the lightning flash is seen athwart the
western sky heralding the gathering and approaching storm;
soon the sky is overcast with clouds of blackest hue while
the lightning's flash and the thunder's roar seem to proclaim
to the people their wonderful Umba Ikbi's secret power in
the affair of rain; and, as the vast sheets of falling water wet
the parched earth they sing his praise; which he, with as
sumed indifference, acknowledged with an approving grunt;
then, with measured steps, sought his home, there to await
another necessity that would call him forth to again deceive
his credulous admirers. But all such delusions soon van
ished before the teachings of the missionaries.
In connection with this peculiar one of the Choctaws, I
will here relate an incident that took' place during- a great
262 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
drouth that prevailed in their Nation soon after the estab
lishment of the mission called Hebron.
The Rain Maker had long- been appealed to through sup
plications and fees, but all in vain; and it seemed that the
stubborn drouth had united! -.vith more than one distant broth
er Umba Ikbi in rendering- his present worship prodigiously
mad, not only with them but also with himself and the world
in general, as his ears seemed deaf to all appeals upon the
subject of water. Since wells and cisterns were luxuries
then unknown to the Indians, they depended upon their
rivers, creeks, lakes and ponds, which seldom failed to sup
ply. Amid the prevailing gloom an aged Choctaw widow
named Im-ai-yah (to go by) living two miles south of Hebron,
came one day, as she oft had done before, to talk with her
pale-face friend, Mrs. Cushman, concerning the drouth. She
soon stated that she believed there would be plenty of rain in
a few days. When asked upon what she based her belief,
she replied: "On my way here this morning, I sat down at
the roots of a large tree; while sitting there these thoughts
came to me. Our Rain Maker cannot make it rain, or he
would. If he can make it rain, why should not I be able to
make it rain too? Why should not anyone? Then I asked
myself; who made this big tree? Somebody made it, and he
who made it surely can make it rain too. I know he can; and
I will ask him to please make it rain very soon. I then kneel
ed down at the roots of that big tree and earnestly prayed to
him who made the big tree to please make it rain; and while
I was praying a little cloud formed directly over the tree,
and a little shower fell and many of the drops of water, pass
ing through the leaves of the tree, fell on me. I know now
who can make it rain." "Who?" earnestly asked the deeply
interested pale-face listener. "He who made that tree. Is
he your God of whom you have told me?" "He is," replied
the poor widow's pale-face friend and spiritual teacher. But
I will leave the further conversation that ensued betwen the
two red and white friends to the imagination of the reader,
with this only: No two women were more devoted friends,
the one to the other, than were the poor Choctaw widow and
the "pale-face" missionary. But what of that prayer at the
roots of that "big tree?" It was heard and answered by the
Maker of that "big tree;" who has said, "I will not bruise the
broken reed nor quench the smoking flax." Yes, in a few
days, an abundance of rain fell; yea, more. From that xime
the mystic power of the Umba Ikbis began to wane, and soon
vanished as a summer dream from the Choctaw Nation.
And he who cannot believe that Israel's God heard the hum
ble request of that earnest petitioner, and did not then and
HISTORY OF THE /INDIANS. 263
there acknowledge its virtue in th.^ little shower of rain, and
in a few days answer -that prayer of faith by an abundant
shower, is thrice welcome to his unbelief.
Their laws (for they had laws,) though exceptional in
some respects to the White Race, nevertheless, were good,
and quite consistent with the nations of a primitive age. But
like all others of their race*, their severest law was that of
blood revenge. ''Whosoever^sheddeth 'man's blood, by man
shall his blood be shed" was a statute rigidly enforced among
all North American Indians. It was acknowledged among all,
not only to be the right, but also the imperative duty of the
nearest relative on the male side of the slain, to kill the slayer
wherever and whenever a favorable opportunity was presented.
Under many existing circumstances the law might, perhaps,
have bee'n just and salutary; but unfortunately it went too
far, as any male member of the murderer's family, though
innocent and even ignorant of the- crime, might become the
victim of the avenger of blood, if the guilty had fled; but
such seldom occurred, as the murderer rarely ever made any
effort whatever to escape, but passively submitted to his fate.
Still, this law, revolting as it .may appear to many, exercised
a good influence among the Choctaws, as it had a salutary
effect in restraining them in the heat of passion, by render
ing them cautious in their disputes and quarrels, lest blood
should be shed; knowing the absolute certainty of murder
being avenged sooner or later upon the murderer himself, or
some one of his nearest male relatives; hence 110 man, or
family, would with impunity commit or permit, if they could
avoid or prevent it, an act that would be sure to be avenged,
no one could tell when or where. Days, weeks, and -even
months perhaps,|might pass, yet the avenger sleepeth not nor
has he forgotten; and, at an hour least expected and from a
source least apprehended, the blow at last falls, and there
the matter ends. Nor did the slayer find any protection
from any source whatever, not. even from his nearest rela
tives. Yet calmly and with stoical indifference awaited his
certain doom; nor was the avenger, though known, inter
rupted in any .manner whatever, either before or after he had
accomplished his revenge. The avenger of blood never took
the life of a female of the slayer's family, but satisfied him
self in the death of the slayer himself or in the person of some-,
one of his nearest male relatives. If the murderer had fled,
and the life of one of his male relatives had been sacrificed in
lieu of his own, he. then could return without fear of molesta
tion; but the name of coward was given to him — an appella
tion more dreaded and less endurable than a hundred deaths
to all North American Indians..
264 HISTORY. OF THE INDIANS.
A few instances have -been known among" the Choctaws,
where a relative proposed tp-die for the slayer, and was ac
cepted on the part of ttfe relatives of the slain; but such
instances were very rare. I remember of an instance re
lated, of undoubted authority, whilch deserves to be held in
lasting- remembrance if nothing- more than to forever silence
and put to eternal shame the foolish croaking-s of those who
deny to the Indian the possession of any of the finer feelings
and emotions of the. heart, and to establish the fact that the
height, -depth, and breadth of an Indian mother's love can
only be equalled by. that of her wh^te sister, **botlr immeasur
able, incomprehensible, unfathomable. The case which I
here relate, was Toh-to Pe-hah (Red Elm Gathered Up), -an
aged Choctaw mother, who gave her life for that of her old
est son; and which clearly illustrates the depth and strength,
the sensibility and tenderness of maternal affection in an
Indian woman, whose name, had she lived in the days of
classic lore, wduld have been handed down to all future ages
in the songs of the poet minstrels, and upon the pages of the
historians. But alas! she was unfortunately an Indian and
virtue in an Indian is, with many of the present day, not a
virtue; while vice, in their defamers, is. This poor widowed
Choctaw mother, ^pame with others of her friends to the
place of execution on the day her son was to be shot for kill
ing an aged Choctaw man living many miles distant from
that of his own home. This killing was done before the
establishment of. the law that the slayer should be tried by
law, and no longer left in the hands of the "avenger of
blood." Of her four children he was the oldest, her darling
first-born, on whom she mainly depended for assistance in
the support of her little family, and whom she had named
Hoh-tak Lah-ba (Luke Warm).
When the mother arrived at the place of execution, she
found many had already assembled; but with emotions, felt
and known only by and to a mother, she pressed through the
throng to where her doomed boy stood, close to the execu
tioner with the deadly rifle in hand, upon which Hohtak Lah-
Iba looked with steady eye and unshaken nerves. All were
silent. Not a whisper disturbed the profound hush that
rested like a gloomy pall upon that assembly. The mother
glanced a look of love at the erect form of her son, who stood
as a statue before her eyes; then turned them a moment upon
the executioner with an appealing look for compassion; then
beseechingly upon the relatives of the man slain, and at once
broke the silence with an irresistible appeal to them to take
her life instead. of Hohtak Lahba's. uHe is young, and I am
old," she cried. "His wife and child, his two little sisters and
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 265
"brother, will suffer if he is taken from them. They cannot
live without him, they can without me. I am old and can do
but little for them, nor that little long. Your relative he
killed was an old man. Why take a young1 life for an old life?
Take mine in the place of Hohtak Lahba's. Let the avenger
of the death of your kinsman be satisfied with my death.
Blood for blood satisfies our violated law. It seeks no more,
it demands no more. What more should vou require? Speak
kinsman of the dead! Will you accept my life as sufficient
propitiation, a just compensation for the life of your slain?
I await your answer." A murmur of approval was heard in
the crowd, and soon one of the nearest in kindred to the slain
arose and accepted the offer in a firm and distinct tone of
voice. A smile of joy lit up the countenance of Toh-to Pe-hah
as she responded, '"Tis well." A few moments were given
her to bid an adieu to her loved ones, and give her last
admonitions to her wayward boy; after which she calmly
presented herself before the executioner, and, nerved with
a mother's love that bids defiance to fear, bade him do his
duty. Then the sjiarp crack of the rifle broke the profound
stillness of the' moment, and the spirit of that loving Choc-
taw mother winged its flight to Him* who has said: "Where
little is given, little is required." Such was the custom of
this peculiar people in the years of the long ago.^ v\'An eye
for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," was ever found
written in all Indians' code of laws, and to the execution of
which they adhered with the strictest punctuality. The
spirit of the murdered Indian could never take its flight from
earth, or find rest anywhere in the eternal unknown, until
blood had atoned for blood, a belief as firmly fixed upon the
Indian heart as that upon the Christian's, that the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, atoned for the sins of
the world. y
It is natural to suppose that Hohtak Lahba would have
refused the offer of his devoted mother. But custom denied
him the privilege of any action, whatever in the matter. If
the offer was made and accepted by the relatives of the slain,
he no longer stood condemned before the violated law, or in
the eyes of the avenger, and he or she, who had voluntarily
assumed the position, could only make the atonement. The
mother, in this case, had offered her life, a voluntary sacri-
. fice for that of her son's; it had been accepted as a sufficiency
by the avenger, and, even as the law of the Medes and Per
sians that "changeth not," so Tohto Pehah could not re
verse her accepted proposal, even if she had relented, nor
the son refuse, she must die, and Hoh tak Lahba must live;
and the Amen was the response of the law. Yne unfortu-
266 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
nate Hoh tak Lahba, though the avenger of the blood of his
slain victim had beenappeasedat a fearfulcost to him, was af
terwards often taunted by the relatives and friends of the
old man he had slain, with the accusation of cowardice, which
to all' Indians is more to be dreaded than death.
For several years he bore up under their taunts until
he eventually began to believe that all regarded him as a cow
ard, and life to him had became a burden too great to be
longer borne. But what could he do? To take his own life
would not do, since that act would stamp the seal of woe
upon his eternal destiny. How then was he to secure for
himself an honorable death and wipe off the stain of coward
ice that had been attached to his name, and depart to the
eternal and happy home that awaited all brave warriors?
His cogitative mind at last suggested a plan; it was, only by
killinganother man. This he adopted and put into immediate
execution; and to make his death the more certain, he sought,
found, and slew a son of the very man for whose death his
doting mother had so heroically atoned; and though his
victim lived many miles distant, he well knew the deed would
speedily bring the avenger to his side. But that he might
effectually wripe forever from his name the stain of coward
ice, to his own honor and that of his kindred, he at once re
solved to take his own life, since now it would be blood for
blood, and self sacrifice would no longer fix upon him the
penalty of eternal woe. Quietly but resolutely he dug his
own grave before putting his dreadful resolution into effect;
and when completed, calmlyxstretched himself therein to as
certain if it was complete in every particular. As soon as he
had slain his victim he hastened home with his utmost speed,
and at once told his relatives and friends what he had done,
and then said: "You know that I have long been accused of
cowardice, but now I will prove to you that I can also
meet death like. a brave warrior." Well" they knew his fear
ful determination and the impossibility of dissuading him
therefrom, as they sat in gloomy silence awaiting the ap
proaching fearful scene that was" soon to be enacted. Slow- 4
ly he went through with his preliminary death ceremonies
with that stoicism so peculiar to his race; the careful exami
nation of his rifle, to see if it would still be as true to its
trust as it so long had proved in his many conflicts with the
wild beasts of his native forests; the singing of his death
song, (the Indians adieu to earth) and the farewell shaking
of the hands of his relatives and friends present, consisting of
his wife, two sisters and brother, who sat in a mournful
group a little to one side, with eyes vacant and fixed as if
upon some distant object, but presenting a picture of silent
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 267
woe that baffles description; while the old men of the neigh
borhood sat in little groups around, smoking- their pipes in
doleful silence. No wailing-, not even a half smothered sigh,
broke the silence of the solemn scene. Nothing- was heard
but the voice of Hoh tah Lahba, as he now and then chanted
his death-song-. When he had bidden all his last adieu, he
seized his bottle of whiskey, that "bright insignia" of the
white man's "Personal -Liberty," drank a long- draught then
hurled the bottle with its contents to the ground with all his
strength, as if invoking a curse upon its maker and vendor,
then snatched his rifle from its leaning position against a
tree, rushed to his waiting .grave, and the sharp crack of the
rifle that immediately followed told but too plainly that Hoh-
tah Lahba was dead. Then burst forth a long restrained
wrail of grief from his bereaved wife, sisters, and other fe
male friends alone, (as an Indian man never expresses his
grief by any external emotions) heretofore smothered in re
spect to Hoh tah Lahba's request, "that all emotions of
grief be restrained in his presence," that echoed far back
from the surrounding forests.
What Christian heart could witness such a scene without
emotions of sorrow, since it exhibits the human mind
shrouded in the greatest error, wrhile at the same time it
exhibits the elements of a noble nature. Contemplate the
love of that unlettered mother! Listen again to her arguments
before that stern court of inflexible justice, pleading her own'
destitution of all further usefulness to her people, as a just
reason for the preservation of her son's manhood and useful
ness! View the son too, though sacrificing the life of his
loving mother by his wayward life, yet manifesting as great
a sense of shame and fear of public censure, as his civilized
white brother, (yet far more honorable) who sacrificed two
lives also under his so-called exalted views of honor in fighting
a duel ! Now turn aside from a long, lingering gaze upon the
desolate hearts of that wife, now widowed, and those weeping
sisters ; hear again that fearful, undissembled shriek as the
crack of the rifle announced that its messenger of death had
accomplished its work; listen to those lamentations loud,*as
they rush to the fatal spot and throw themselves upon the
quivering body, and then will you, can you, longer deny to
the Indian mother, wife, sister, daughter," any of those divine
and holy sensibilities so justly awarded to the white females?
Truly may it be said of the North American Indian
woman as a general thing, that they rank higher in those
feminine virtues that so peculiarly belong to women than any
unlettered race known in'nistory or otherwise. And for that
highest of all female virtues, chastity, -the full-blood North
268 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. ;*
American Indian woman can fearlessly challenge her white
sisters of the entire United States, without the fear of the
possibility of defeat. During- my sojourn among- the Choctaw
and Chickasaw people in the years 1884 to 1890, I made fre
quent inquiries relative to this subject, both of native citizens
and white citizens married among them, and whites living
among them as renters of their farms, and they have spoken
in the highest terms of praise of the chastity of the Choctaw
and Chickasaw women, and to which I add my own, based
upon a knowledge of over seventy years personal acquaint
ance with these two branches* of the Indian race, and also
that of the missionaries who labored among them when
living east of the Mississippi River. In conversation with a
. Chickasaw (half blood) in February, 1886, an ex-auditor of
the Chickasaw Nation and a man of undoubted veracity, who
lived near the line of division between his own people and the
war-like Commanches, and with whom he had formed an
extensive acquaintance by trading among them, he thus
replied to my inquiries concerning the chustitv of the Com-
manche women: "It is an absolute impossibility to rob a
Commanche woman of her virtue, only by superior physical
force. No professions of love, no promises of marriage, no
temptation of bribery, can avail anything in inducing her to
step from the path of rectitude, virtue and honor." I was
informed by a gentleman who lived in the southern part of
Arizona, that he was well acquainted with a tribe of Indians
whose women it was impossible to influence from the path of
virtue. Many of the early1 writers speak in the highest com
mendation of the native Indian women. All praise to the
North American Indian women! uneducated, uncivilized,
with no advantages of moral culture, yet true to the natural
instincts of morality, "adorning" no cities, towns and villages
with houses erected for the prostitution of their bodies and
the eternal damnation of their souls.
The Choctaw women were of medium height, beautiful
in form, strong and a^ile in body; strictly honest, truthful,
light-hearted and gay, and devoted in their affection to fam
ily and friends, while common custom protected them against
all offense, even as it does at the present day; — how com
mendable to the Choctaw men.
There always have existed among the North American
Indians, and still exist, many examples of intellectual ability,
of genius, of high moral feeling and as noble and pure patri
otism as was ever found in any nation of people and as proof
of this fact I relate the following: Some twenty-five years ago
a photographer of Chicago, being in Arizona on a vacation
trip, found and rescued from an Apache camp an abandoned
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 269
Indian male infant of full blood. The photographer became
possessed with a desire to take the boy home with him and
adopt him. In spite of warnings that the child would prove
a viper in his bosom, he carried out his intentions, and rear
ed the boy, to whom the name of Charles Moiitezuma was
given, as a member of his family. The young Apache grew
up to bein.face and physique the very type of his tribe; but
he was at the same time an excellent scholar and a perfect
gentleman. He graduated at the Chicago High School with
credit, and was very popular in his class, being gentle, polite,
industrious. A recent inquiry as to Montezuma's career
since the completion of his high school education developed
the facts that he has selected surgery for a profession, and
will graduate from the Chicago Medical College far above
the average of his class; that he is liked by his classmates
and has never manifested any desire to resume the barbar
ous habits of his relatives, or shown any savage traits what
ever; that he supports himself, during his studies at the
medical college, by filling prescriptions at a Chicago drug
store where he is looked upon as an expert pharmacist, and
that every circumstance indicates that he will make a suc
cessful professional man.
But long since has it been proven and established beyond
contradiction that they possessed capacities as susceptible
of the highest refinement as that of the White Race, which,
wrrapt in the garb of self-importance impervious to truth
and reason, regarded the Indians as inferior beings, unworthy
its consideration, except as objects to be plundered and
destroyed; and in justification of which, called them savages,
but with as little justice and reason as the Indians had to
call them Christians. What unlettered nations, utterly
without books, colleges and schools, have ever produced such
men, worthily renowned as orator^and statesmen in council,
and brave in the field of battle as palriots, as the true Native
Americans of the North Western Continent, in their Mas-
sasoits, Phillips, Pontiacs, Red Jackets, Black Hawks, Te-
cumsehs, Humming Birds, Red Shoes, Apushamatahahs,
* Weatherfords, Osceolas, Ridges, Rosses, Colberts, and
hundreds of others of equal renown? They are not to be found
in tradition on in ancient or modern history.
Who that has read Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans,"
but remembers Uncas, the yonng Mohawk warrior, and
jointly with that of his white friend Leather Stocking, the
hero of the story? It is said his Indian name wTas Tschoop;
but if it is corrupted as badly as all other Indians' names
when put in print by the whites, it is as foreign from his
true name as that by which he figured in the uLast of the
270 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Mohicans." However, he has been handed down as a noted
warrior among his people — the once powerful and warlike
Mohawks who inhabited the now State of New York in the
years of long- past — famous for his daring- exploits in war,
and his fiery eloquence in the councils of his Nation. In
1741, he was often visited at his home by a Moravian mis
sionary, named Christian Rauch, who often spoke to him
upon the subject of relig-ion during their frequent socal con
versations; and finally asked him if he had any desire to save
his soul. "We all desire that," responded Uncas. The
good missionary, in his zeal, became persistent in urgiug
upon him the importance and great necessity of his becom
ing a Christian, praying and pleading with him — often with
tears; and after many months of prayer and entreaty, the
pious Rauch was delighted to see his forest pupil a changed
man — a truly pious Christian, whom he baptised under the
name of John. In a letter Uncas afterwards sent to the
Delaware Indians, he said: UI have been a bad, very bad,
man. But a white preacher told me there is a God.. I said:
Do I riot know that? Return whence you came.
Then another came and told me that God was offended
at me when I did any bad acts. Again I said: Do I not know
that too? Do you think that I am a fc/ol? Then Christian
Rauch came into my cabin and sat down by me and told me
of my crimes, of Jesus who died to save me from them; and
this he did day after day, until I became tired of his talk and
treatened to kill him if he came to my cabin again. But one
day I came home and found him in my cabin sound asleep.
I stood and looked at him, and said to myself — "What sort
of a man is this? How easily I might kill him; yet he is with
out fear, for he says his Jesus will protect him from all
harm. Who is that that Jesus? I too must and will find
him." And, reader, he did find him; and soon after he be
came not only an humble and devout follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but also became a preacher of the Gospel with
the same fiery eloquence which had given him a power among
his race, and spent many years in traveling among the neigh
boring tribes of his day — who long since have all been num
bered with the events that were fading before the tide of the
white man's Christian oppression like a shadow that leaves
no trace behind, except in the persons of a few who have
survived the wreck of years, only, it seems, because they
have the right to live.
Curiosity was one of the chief characteristics of the*
Choctaws, and held a prominent position in their breasts.
They were desirous to know everything peculiar or strange
that was transpiring about them; not more so, however, than
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 271
any others of the human race. Yet the Choctaw differed
from his white brother in this particular; the white man ex
pressed openly his curiosity at anything- unusual or strange,
and asked innumerable questions concerning- it, and
manifested the greatest excitement until his curiosity
was gratified ; but the Choctaw asked no questions,
nor manifested any "surprise whatever, no matter how
strange or incomprehensible to him, but walked around with
an air of seemingly perfect indifference; yet was attentive to
any and all explanations that were being- made by others.
The ing-enuity of the white man as displayed in his vari
ous inventions was, to him, as to all his race, the deepest
mystery, an incomprehensible enigma that placed the pale
face, in his opinion, in close relationship to super-human
beings; and influenced an ag-ed Indian chief to exclaim, when
viewing* the mysterious working's of a steam engine when
once at Washington City, "I hate the avarice of the white
man's heart, but worship the ing-enuity of his mind." The
astonishment sometimes depicted upon, the countenances of
the Indians when beholding- the wonderful performances of
the white man, audibly expressed by the ancient Choctaws
' in the sudden ejaculation, uWah ? " was often very divert
ing.
On one occasion a venerable old Indian man, who, in
order to light his pipe, was trying to catch a spark upon a
piece of punk struck from his flint and steel; after many
fruitless attempts, a white man standing near had observed
the old man's unsuccessful efforts to obtain the desired
spark, and anticipating a little laugh might be had at the ex
pense of the old veteran, stepped up and proposed to bring
clown fire from the sun with which to light his pipe. At
this astounding- proposal, the old man looked up and shook
his head with an incredulous grunt, which being interpreted
evidently signified: "You are a fool." The white man then
slowly taking a sun-glass from his pocket, held it concealed
in his hand directly over the well filled pipe of tobacco. The
fecal rays of the sun soon did their work. "Now smoke,"
said the white man. The old man'obeyed, and at once his
mouth was 'filled writh smoke. That was enough. He at
once puffed the smoke from his mouth; then stopped and
looked at the \vhite man, then up at the sun; then down at
his well lighted pipe; then again at the white - man and the
sun, with' that expression of amazement and awe which
plainly expressed his now changed opinion, that, instead of
a fool, that white man was nothing more nor less a person
age than the devil himself; and, with eyes askant resting
upon him, he slowly arose and walked away with his last
272 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
formed opinion which no argument could have induced him
to again change; yet not with as devotional a spirit, ^it is pre
sumed, of he of the steam engine.
As an evidence of the tenacity with which the ancient
Choctaws adhered to the veracity of their traditions handed
down through a long line of ancestry, I will here relate a little
incident in which my twin brother and myself (then seven
years of age) were the chief actors, and shared all the glory.
At that time, there was a remembered tradition of their an
cestors which they truly believed, that upale-face" twins (if
boys) possessed the magic power of dispelling all depreda
ting worms and insects from cornfields, gardens, etc., which,
in some years, at that early day, proved quite destructive,
especially to their corn during the milk stage. Now it so
happened during one summer, that the corn-worms were
unusually numerous and were committing great depredations
upon their fields of green corn. This corn-worm, with which
all southern farmers are well acquainted but entertained no
dread, is, when fully grown, about an inch and a half or two
inches long, and aboik the size of a wheat straw, and commits
its depredations (if depredations it may now be called) only
when the corn is in the milk stage, entering the ear at the
top and gradually working downward, but leaving it as soon
as the grain becomes hard. Now it also happened, they had
learned that Mr. Cushman, the "good pale-face," as he was
termed, had a pair of twin boys; a propitious opportunity (long
desired) was now offered to secure for themselves, by an
occular demonstration, the traditional efficacy of the pale-face
twins' super-natural power, which they joyfully embraced.
Unexpectedly, one beautiful June morning, a company
; of fine-looking Choctaw warriors were seen approaching on
i horseback at full speed. They halted at the gate of Mr.
Cushman's yard and called for him. He at once responded
by walking out to them. After the usual friendly salutations
had been passed, they inquired if he had a pair of twin sons,
to which he replied in the affirmative. They then informed
him of the depreciations being committed upon their fields of
green corn, and also of the traditions of their ancestors, re
questing at the same time the loan of his twins that they
might, by that mysterious power possessed alone by pale
face twins, rid them of the voracious pests that were then de
stroying their fields of corn. Mr. Cushman, ignorant of
such a power having been bestowed upon his twin boys, at
first demurred; but they becoming more importunate in
their request, he finally told them he would give them an an
swer in a few minutes. He then stepped into the house and
presented the case to Mrs. Cushman for consideration, who
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 273
at once, from a mother's natural apprehensions that would
arise in such' a novel case, most positively refused her con
sent; but after a few minutes' deliberation reluctantly yield
ed, to the great joy and satisfaction of the twins, who had
been attentive spectators and listeners to the whole proceed
ing's, and had become eager to test their attributed power,
(unknown before) and to enjoy the anticipated novel sport so
closely connected with the horseback ride that was present
ed. Mr. Cushman at once led his little twins to the gate and
introduced them to the now jubilant warriors, by telling
them the respective names of the ''wonderfully gifted"
twins; and then granted their request upon the promise that
they would return his boys in^ the evening of the day, before
the sun had set. The promise was given and accepted by
Mr. Cushman without the least apprehension of its violation,
while Mrs. Cushman stood in the door and viewed the pro
ceedings with that doubtful anxiety known and felt only by
mothers.
Mr. Cushman then set each of his boys upon a horse be
fore a warrior, accompanying the act with the parting re
quest: "Take good care of my little boys!" Unnecessary
.appeal, as not a Choctaw in that little band but would have
shielded the entrusted twins from injury even at the ex
pense of his life. At once we galloped of? in the direction of
their village three miles distant called Okachiloho fah.
(Water falling, or Falling water.) When we arrived in sight,
their success was announced by a shrill whoop to which the
villagers responded their joy by another. As soon as we rode
into the village, we were immediately surrounded by an ad
miring throng, and being tenderly lifted from our positions
on the horses, we were handed over to the care of several old
men, who took us in their arms and with much gravity
carried us into a little cabin, which had previously been set
in order for our reception, where we found prepared a va
riety of eatables, to us seemingly good enough to excite the
appetites of the most fastidious twin epicures; after
which the venerable old seers of the village instructed
us in the mystic rites and ceremonies of their tribe,
preparatory to calling into requisition the magic power
of our twinship in all its bearings* upon the duties
of the day. Then showing us our weapons, which
consisted of iron, wood and fire/the two former in the shape
of a frying-pan, in which we were to burn the worms after
picking them from the corn, and a blazing chunk of fire, two
stout and straight sticks about six feet in length, with the
proper instructions in regard to the manner of using them
effectually. Having been thoroughly drilied in these pre-
274 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
liminaries, the line of march was taken up toward the field
where the enemy were said to be strongly intrenched; in
profound silence and with unfeigned gravity, the Palokta
Tohbi, (Twins White, or White Twins) led the van, borne
upon the shoulders of two powerful warriors closely followed
by three others bearing the arms, while the villagers, headed
by the veteran seers, brought up the rear presenting an im
posing appearance with a considerable smack of the ridicu
lous, even as Don Quixote astride of his famous Rosinante
followed by his valuable squire in like position on his mule.
When the field was reached a halt was made, and two
venerable looking old men, whose- hoary locks and wrinkled
faces bespoke their earthly pilgrimage had extended many
years beyond their allotted three score years and ten, came
to the front and, with solemn mien, lifted us from our perches
and gently placed us over the fence into the field; then hand
ing the frying pan, chunk of fire, and sticks, our weapons, to
us, with a word of encouragement whispered in our ears to
prove ourselves valiant and worthy our traditional fame, they
bade us charge the foe. The plan of the campaign was to
attack the enemy first in the center; there build a hot fire
with the dry wood, previously prepared by the thoughtful
Choctaws, upon \vhich place the frying pan and into which
throw all prisoners without discrimination, as our flag bore
the motto — "Neither giving nor asking quarter;" and like
wise also at the the four corners of the field. The centre
was gained, the fire made, and upon it placed the pan; then
we made a vigorous attack upon the strong-holds of the
enemy dislodging them and at the same time taking them
prisoners of war; then hurrying them to the centre hurled
them hors de combat into the frying pan heated to a red heat,
and with our ready sticks stirred them vigorously, while the
wreathes of smoke that ascended from the' scene of carnage
and floated away before the summer breeze, together with
the odor, not as fragaant to the sensitive nose, however, as
the lily or the rose, gave undisputed evidence of our victories;
while our waiting Choctaw friends, acknowledged their
approval from the outside of the field, (since the tradition, for
bade^ them sharing in the dangers of the conflict — the Palok-
tas must fight alone) filling our youthful hearts with heroic
emotions unfelt before or afterwards.
After we had immolated two or three panfulls of the
enemy at the center and at each corner of the field, nor lost a
man, we returned in triumph to our waiting friends, by
whom we were received with unfeigned manifestations of
affection and pride. Thence we were borne as before to
other fields, where were enacted the same prodigies of valor,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 275
with similar results until the declining sun gave warning- of
their promise not being- fulfilled if the Paloktas were not re
turned ere the sun went down. Therefore we were carried
from our last field of slaughter back to the village in "glori
ous triumph," where never were offered to frail mortality
more sincere homage and unfeigned devotion than were be
stowed upon the Paloktas by those grateful Choctaws. They
seemed only to regret not being able to manifest a still
greater degree of gratitude, and to do more for us as a man
ifestation of their appreciation of the great favor
we had conferred upon them. With zealous care they
watched over us while under their care, that no
harm might befall us. As we came so we returned, and
safely reached home ere the sun sank behind the western
horizon. We were afterwards' frequently called upon,
much to our gratification and delight, it was fun for us, to
bring into requisition our mysteriously delegated power in
behalf of their cornfields; and we became the special favor
ites of that kind-hearted and appreciative people; and woe to
him or them who should impose upon or attempt to injure
their little pets, the pale-face Paloktas. But the boyish
pride that filled my heart on those occasions, though seventy
years have fled, is remembered to this-day. haunting the
imagination with a mystic power, as thought goes back to
many a vanished scene recalling associates incident to the
days of the long past.
But curiosity might now be inquisitive enough to ask:
"Did the \vorms cease their depredations on the green
corn?" To wljich I reply: Many of them certainly did; and,
as no further complaint was made by the Choctaws during
that season, it is reasonable to suppose those that were left,
after the immolation of so many of their relatives, took a
timely hint and sought other quarters where pale-face Palok
tas were unknown; but whether actuated through fear of a
similar fate as had befallen a goodly number of their com
panions, or because the corn had become too hard by age for
easy mastication and healthy digestion, I will'leave for future
consideration and determination of those who , feel more
interested in its solution than I do just now. However, this"
much I can and will unfold; as the little pale-face Paloktas
honorably sustained the reputation of their mystic art, at
least in the opinion of their Choctaw friends, who were ren
dered supremely happy in the indulgement of their faith in
the truth of the ancient declaration of their honored an
cestors; appreciative and gratefuljto the "Good Pale-face" for
the loan of his favored twins; and the twins enjoyed the new
and novel sport, and nobody hurt, (unless the worms, who
276 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
are at liberty to render their own complaint,) we will let it
pass without further ado as being- only a little superstitious
yet novel affair, not less unreasonable'however, in all its con
comitants than other superstitions so oft indulged by the
human race of all nationalities, even of to-day as well as in
the years of yore.
There were many traditions among' all North American
Indians, many of which bordered on the poetical and from
which I will select one or two more, which shall suffice as
examples of a few of the peculiarities of this peculiar yet
interesting- people.
Thus says the tradition of "Ohoyo Osh Chisba," (The
Unknown Woman.) In the days of many moons ago, two
Choctaw hunters were encamped for the nig-ht in the' swamps
of the bend of the Alabama river. But the scene was not
without its romance. Dark, wild, and unlovely as a swamp
is generally imagined to be, yet to the musing heart and
contemplative spirit, it had its aspects of beauty, if not of
brightness, which rose up before the mind as objects of se
rene delight, i speak from long- personal experience. Its
mysterious appearance; its little lakes and islands of repose:
its silent and solemn solitudes; its green cane-breaks and
lofty trees, all combined to present a picture of strange but
harmonious combination to which a lover of nature in all its
diversified phases could not be wholly insensible. The two
hunters having been unsuccessful in the chase on that and
the preceding- day, found themselves without anything- on
that night with which to satisfy the craving's of hunger ex
cept a black hawk which they had shot with an arrow. Sad
reflections filled their hearts as they thought of their sad dis
appointments and of their suffering- families at home, while
the gloomy future spread over them its dark pall of despon
dency, all serving to render them unhappj' indeed. They
cooked the hawk and sat down to partake of their poor and
scanty supper, when their attention was drawn from their
gloomy forebodings by the low but distinct tones, strange
yet soft and plaintive as the melancholy notes of the dove,
but produced by what they were wholly unable to even con
jecture. At different intervals it broke the deep silence of
the early night with its seemingly muffled notes of woe; and
as the nearly full orbed moon slowly ascended the eastern
sky the strange sounds became more frequent and distinct.
With eyes dilated and fluttering heart they looked up and
down the river to learn whence the sounds proceeded, but
no object except the sandy shores glittering in the moon
light greeted their eyes, while the dark waters of the river
seemed alone to give response in murmuring- tones to the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 277
strange notes that continued to float upon the night air from
a direction they could not definitely locate; but happening- to
look behind them in the direction opposite the moon they
saw a woman of wonderful beauty standing upon a mound a
few rods distant. Like an illuminated shadow, she had sud
denly appeared out of the moon-lighted forest. She was
loosely clad in snow-white raiment, and bore in the folds of
her drapery a wreath of fragrant flowers. She beckoned
them to approach, while she seemed surrounded by a halo of
light that gave t'o her a supernatural appearance. Their im
agination now influenced them to believe her to be the Great
Spirit of their nation, and that the flowers she bore were re
presentatives of loved ones who had- passed from earth ,to
bloom in the Spirit-Land; truly, a beautiful sentiment that
touches every heart, for who has not some treasure in that
immortal home? Reason as we may, there is something, in
describable though it may be, that draws us to the unseen
•world; and we pine for a word or token from the dear ones
who have thither gone. Call it heathenish if you will, a relic
of superstition, of the days when every rock, tree and plant
were deemed the abode of a deity, but we never gather a
flower that we do not feel for the life thus ended. It may be
an error clothed with beauty and tenderness, and far more
harmless than the theory that thrusts us helpless into life
and leaves us to grope our way through it uncared for, -.then
to die unnoticed and forgotten.
The mystery was solved. At once they approached to
where she stood, and offered their assistance in any way they
could be of service to her. She replied she was ver^y hungry,
whereupon one of them ran and brought the roasted hawk
and handed it to her. She accepted it with grateful thanks;
but, after eating a small portion of it, she handed the remain
der back to them replying that she would remember their
kindness when she returned to her home in the happy hunt
ing grounds of her father, who was Shilup Chitoh Osh — The
Great Spirit of the Choctaws. She then told them that when
the next mid-summer moon should come they must meet her
at the mound upon which she was then standing. She -then
bade them an affectionate adieu, and was at once borne away
upon a gentle breeze and, mysteriously as she came so she
disappeared. The two hunters returned to their camp for the
night and early next morning sought they- homes, but kept
the strange incident a profound secret to themselves. When
the designated time rolled around the mid-summer full moon
found the two hunters at the foot of the mound but Ohoyo
•Chishba Osh was nowhere to be seen. Then remembering
she told them they must come to the very spot where she
278 .HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
was then standing, they at once ascended the mound and
found it covered with a strange plant, which yielded an ex
cellent food, which was ever afterwards cultivated by the
Choctaws, and named by them Tunchi; (Corn).
Somewhat similar to the tradition of the Ohoy,o Chishba
Osh is that of the Hattak Owa Hushi Osh, (The Man Hunt
ing For The Sun.)
The Choctaws once, a great amount of corn having been
made and as a manifestation of their appreciation and,gratifi-
cation and gratitude to the Great Spirit, their benefactor,
held a Great National Council at which their leading prophet
spoke at great length upon the beauties of x Nature which
contributed so much to their pleasure, and the various pro
ductions of the earth and the enjoyment derived therefrom,
attributing much of all to the effects of the sun. That great
lighter and heater of the earth came from the east, but
whence it went after it had passed behind the western hills,
had long been a subject of debate, never satisfactorily de
termined. Again the mooted question was brought up by
the prophet in his speech at the aforesaid council, who, in
a strain of wild eloquence, cried out, ''Is there not a warrior
among all my people who will go and find out what becomes
of the sun when it departs in the west? " At once a young
warrior, named Oklanowah, (Walking People) arose in the
assembly and said: k'I will go and try to find where the sun
sleeps, though I may never return." He soon took his de
parture on his dubious errand leaving behind him one sad
heart at least, to whom he gave a belt of wampum as a token
of remembrance.
But after an absence of many years he returned to the
home of his nativity, only to find himself an entire stranger
among his people. After many days search, however, he
found one in the person of an aged and decrepit woman, who
remembered the circumstances connected with the young
hunter who had gone many years before on his adventurous
exploit to find the sleeping place of the sun; and though he
was satisfied that she was his identical betrothed — the loved
one of his youth — oft spoke with the deepest affection- of her
long lost Oklanowah, yet no arguments could induce her to
acknowledge the old man before her as her lover of the past.
The unfortunate and forlorn Hattak Owa Hushi Osh spent
his few remaining days in narrating his adventures to his peo
ple, the vast prairies and high mountains he had crossed; the
strange men and animals he had seen; and, 'above all, that
the sleeping place of the sun was in a big, blue water. Still
after hearing all this, the old woman, more incredulous than
"doubting Thomas" of Biblical fame, refused to believe, but
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 279
secluded herself in her lonely cabin, and alone occupied the
sad hours of the days and years that came and went in
counting the wampum in her belt, the sacred memento of her
Oklanowah — loved, but lost; lost, yet loved. -Spring- return
ed, but ere the leaves were grown Hattak Owa Hushi Osh
died, and was buried near the ancient mound Nunih Waiyah,
and ere the moon of the corn planting had come, the old
woman also died, and she. to was buried at the sacred Nunih
Waiyah by the side of her unrecognized yet faithful Okla
nowah.
Another specimen of their love legends is exhibited in
that of Chahtah Osh Hochifoh Keyu— the Nameless Chah
tah. In the days of the long past there lived in the Choctaw
village Aiasha, (Habitation), the only son of a great war-
chief. This son was noted for his wonderful beauty of form
and features and manly bearing. The aged men of the
Nation predicted, on account of his known and acknowledged
bravery, he would become a renowned warrior. But as he
had not distinguished himself in. war either by slaying an
enemy, taking a prisoner, or striking the dead (a feat ac
companied with the greatest danger, as every effort is made
by the friends of the fallen warrior to prevent such an insult
to the dead), he was not permitted to occupy a seat in the
councils of, the tribe, though respected and honored, and his
bravery undoubted by all.
According to the custom of the ancient Choctaws, a boy
was not given a specific name in childhood unless he merited
it by some daring act, and the. young warrior, by some un
avoidable chain of circumstances, passed through his chrys
alis stage of life without having won a reputation according
to his youthful abilitv; therefore went by the general name
Chahtah Osh Hochifoh Keyu. The Nameless Chahtah. In
the same village of Aiashah, there also lived, according to the
legend, the most famous beauty of the tribe, the daughter of
a noted warrior and skillful hunter, and the betrothed of
Chahtah Osh Hochifo Iksho. Though they often met at the
great dances and festivals of the tribe, yet she (whose name
the legend does not state) treated him with distant reserve
(then the universal custom of the Choctaw girls) though the
ardent lover of the nameless hero. Still one cloud cast its
gloomy shadow over their happiness; it was the knowledge
of the stubborn truth, that the laws of their Nation, as those
of the Medes and Persians, were unalterable; and that they
could never become husband and wife until he had acquired
a name by some daring deed in battle with the enemies of
his country. But time slowly rolled away and summer again
came with a balmy day followed by its evening twilight^
280 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
which witnessed the lovers seated together upon the summit
of a hill shaded by the foliage of innumerable and immense
forest trees. Far below from a distant plain ascended the
light and smoke from the fire of a war-dance, around which
danced in wild excitement four hundred Choctaw warriors,
preparatory to a war-expedition against the Osages, far dis
tant to the west, and that night , was the last night of their
Sreparatory ceremonies. Previous to that night Chahtah
sh Hochifoh Keyu had acted as one of the most conspicu
ous in the dances engaged in the four previous nights before,
but on the last night, had retired from the dance to enjoy a
parting interview with his betrothed. . There they parted,
and ere the morning's sun again lighted up the eastern hori
zon, the "sound of revelry by night" had ceased, while
silence again resumed her sway o'er Nature's vast expanse,
and bespoke the four hundred warriors with Chahtah Osh
Hochifoh Keyu were many miles upon the war-path that led
to the country of the Osages among the headwaters of the
Arkansas river.
The hostile land was reached, and soon they discovered
a large cave into which they entered, that concealed they
might the better arrange their plans for future operations,
being then in the enemies' country. Two scouts, however,
were sent out to reconnoitre, one to examine the surround
ings east, the other west. The latter was Chahtah Osh
Hochifoh Keyu. But alas for human hopes! The evening
passed away and night came on bringing one Osage hunter
who had oft before sought the cave and found a safe resting
place for the night. But as he drew near the cave, his ob
servant eyes, ever on the alert, discovered signs which told
him of the presence of others; further examination revealed
that they were his nation's most bitter and unrelenting ene
mies, the hated Choctaws. Silently he stole away undis
covered by the Choctaws, until safely distant, then sped
away through the darkness on nimble feet to his village and
told of his discovery; at once a large band of Osag'e warriors
rushed for the cave, and as they drewnear gathered up small
logs, chunks, limbs and brush with which they silently and
effectually closed the mouth of the cave, and to which they
applied the torch, and the sleeping Choctaws awoke but to
read their inevitable doom — all perished. The Choctaw
scout who had gone east returned during the night, but ere
he reached the cave the flames revealed to him the tale of
woe; he approached near enough, however, to comprehend the
whole; stooda moment and gazed in mazv bewilderment, then
turned and fled for home where he safely arrived and re
vealed the sad intelligence of the wretched fate of his com-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 281
rades to their relatives and friends. It was also believed by
all that Chahta Osh Hochifoh Keyu had been discovered and
had also been slain. The sad tidings fell heavily upon all
and the wail of woe was heard in many a village and cabin;
but upon one it fell with terrible weight; and the promised
wife of "The Nameless Choctaw" at once began to droop
and soon withered away as a rose severed from the parent
stem; and ere another moon had passed away she was laid
away in a grave upon the very spot (by her request) where
she had last shared the parting embrace with her adored
Chahtah Osh Hochifoh Keyu, upon whose tomb-stone, had
one been erected to her memory, could justly have borne the
epitaph — "A broken heart."
But the supposition that he too had been slain proved
untrue. Though he had been discovered by the Osages and
vigorously pursued for several days arid nights, he finally
was fortunate enough to escape. During the chase his flight
had- been devious, and when he had gotten beyond the danger
of further pursuit by his fearful foes, he found himself to be
a bewildered man, wretched and forlorn. Everything ap
peared wrong, and even the sun appeared to him to rise in
the wrong direction, all nature was out of order. After
several days of dubious wanderings, hither and thither, he
knew not where, he came to the foot of a mountain, whose
sides were covered with a kind of grass entirely different
from anything he had ever seen before. Then, in the course
of his wanderings, he 'strayed, at the close of another day,
into a lovely wooded valley, where he camped for the night,
kindled a fire and cooked a rabbit he had killed, of which he
made his supper, and then sought temporary forgetfulness
of his woes in sleep, Morning again dawned, but to awake
•him to a stronger sensibility of his loneliness and wander
ings he/knewr not where. Many moons came and passed
away and left him a lost wanderer. Summer came, and he
called upon the Great Spirit to make his paths straight, that
they might lead him out of bewilderment. He then hunted
for a spotted deer, found and killed one, and offered it a sac
rifice to the Great Spirit, after reserving a small portion to
satisfy his own immediate wants. Night again came on. and
as he sat by his little campfire in lonely solitude, he heard
the near approach of footsteps in an adjoining thicket, but
before he could take a second thought, a snow-white wolf of
immense size was crouching at his feet, and licking his
moccasins with the utmost manifestations of affection. Then
looking him in the face said: "Whence came you, and why
are you alone in this wilderness?" To which Chohtah Osh
Hochifoh Keyu gave a full account of his misfortunes. The
282 HISTORY OF THE> INDIANS.
wolf then promised to lead him safely out of the wilderness
in which he had been, so long- wandering- and return him
to his country, and they started early on the following
morning.
Long- was the journey, and dangerous the route; but by
the time that the corn-hoeing moon came the forlorn wan
derer entered once more his native village, the anniversary
of the day he. had bidden his betrothed adieu; but alas, only
to find his village in mourning for her premature death. Alas
too, so changed was he that none recognized in the wayworn
stranger the lost Chatah Osh Hochifoh Keyu; nor did he
make himself known. Often, however, did he solicit them to
rehearse to him the account of her death; and oft he chanted
his wild songs, to the astonishment of all, to the memory of
his loved one, dead yet loved, loved yet dead. During his
frequent nightly visits to her lonely grave upon the hill which
had witnessed their last parting, he once came on a calm,
cloudless night — 'twas his last — and stood by the grave that held
his dead at a moment when the Great Spirit cast a shadow
upfln the moon, then fell upon it and died. They found him
there, and then was he recognized as the long lost Chatah
Osh Hochifoh Keyu, and there buried by the side of his
earthly idol. For three consecutive nights the silence of the
forests contiguous to the lovers' graves was broken by the
continual wailing howl of a solitary wolf, then it ceased and
was heard no more; but the same wail was taken up by the
'pine forest upon the hill where the lovers parted in hope, but
there to be buried in despair, and that mournful, wailing
sound they have continued from that day dawn to the present
time.
The traditions of the Choctaws concerning the Oka Fal-
ama (Returned waters — the Flood) is as follows : In ancient
time, after many generations of mankind hadlivecl and passed
from the stage of being,' the race became so corrupt and
wicked — brother fighting against brother and wars deluging
the earth with human blood and carnage — the Great Spirit
became greatly displeased and finally determined to destroy
the human race ; therefore sent a great prophet to them
who proclaimed from tribe to tribe, and from village to vil
lage, the fearful tidings that the human race was soon to
be destroyed. None believed his words, and lived on in
their wickedness- as if they did not care, and the seasons
came again and went. Then came the autumn of the year,
followed by many succeeding cloudy days and nights, dur
ing which the sun by day and the moon and stars by night
were concealed from the 9arth ; then succeeded a total dark
ness, and the sun seemed to have been blotted out ; while
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 283*,
darkness and silence with a cold atmosphere took posses
sion of earth. Mankind wearied and perplexed, but not re
penting- or reforming-, slept in darkness but to awake in
darkness ; then the mutterings of distant thunder began to
be heard, gradually becoming incessant, until it reverbera
ted in all parts of .the skv and seemed to echo back even from
the deep center of the earth. Then fear and consternation
seized upon every heart and all believed the sun would never
return. The Magi of the Choctaws spoke despondently in
reply to the many interrogations of the alarmed people, and
sang their death-songs which were but faintly heard in the
mingled confusion that arose amid the gloom 'of the night
that seemed would have no returning morn. Mankind went
from place to place only by torch-light ; their food stored
away became mouldy and unfit for use ; the wild animals of
the forests gathered around their fires bewildered and even
entered their towns and villages, seeming to have lost all
fear of man. Suddenly a fearful crash of thunder, louder
than ever before heard, seemed to shake the earth, and im
mediately after a light was seen glimmering seemingly far
away to the North. It was soon discovered not to be the
light of the returning- sun, but the gleam of great waters ad
vancing- in mighty billows, wave succeeding wave as they on
ward rolled over the earth destroying everything- in their
path . '
Then the wailing cry was heard coining from all direc
tions, Oka Falamah, Oka Falamah; (The returned waters).
Stretching" from horizon to horizon, it came pouring- its mass
ive waters onward. "The foundations of the Great Deep
were broken up." Soon the earth was entirely overwhelmed
by the mig-hty and irresistible rush of the waters which swept
away the human race and all animals leaving the earth a des
olate waste. Of all mankind only one was saved, and that
one was the mysterious prophet who had been sent by the
Great Spirit to warn the human race of their near approach
ing doom. This prophet saved himself by making- a raft of "
of sassafras log's by the direction of the Great Spirit, upon
which he floated upon the great waters that covered the
earth, as various kinds of fish swam around him, and twined
among- the branches of the submerged trees, while upon the
face of the waters he looked upon the dead bodies of men
and beasts, as they arose and fell upon the heaving- billows.
After many weeks floating he knew not where, a large
black bird came to the raft flying in circles above his head.
He called to it for assistance, but it only replied in loud,
croaking tones, then flew away and was seen no more. A
few days after a bird of bluish color, with red eyes and beak
284 ' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
came and hovered over the raft, to which the. prophet spoke
and asked if there was a spot of dry land anywhere to be
seen in the wide waste of waters. Then it flew around his
head a few moments fluttering its wing's and uttering" a
mournful cry, then flew away in the direction of that part of
the sky where the new sun seemed to be sinking- into the
rolling1 waves of the great ocean of waters. Immediately a
strong- wind sprang up and bore the raft rapidly in that
direction. Soon night came on, and the moon and stars
again made their appearance, and the next morning' the sun
arose in its former splendor; and the prophet looking around
saw an island in the distance toward which the raft was
slowly drifting, and before the sun had gone down seemingly
again into the world of waters, the raft had touched the
island upon which he landed and encamped, and being wear
ied and lonely he soon forgot his anxieties in sleep; and when
morning came, in looking around over the island, he found it
covered with all varieties of animals — excepting* the mam
moth which had been destroyed. He also found birds and
fowls of every kind in vast numbers upon the island; and
among which he discovered the identical black bird which
had visited him upon the waters, and then left him to his
fate; and, as he regarded it a cruel bird, he named it Fulushto
(Raven) — a bird of ill omen to the ancient Choctaws.
With great joy he also discovered the bluish bird which
had caused the wind to blow his raft upon the island, and be
cause of this act of kindness and its great beauty he called it
Puchi Yushubah (Lost Pigeon).
After many days the waters, passed away; and in the
course of time Puchi Yushubah became a beautiful woman,
whom the prophet soon after married, and by them the world
was again peopled.
Whence this tradition with such strong resemblance to
the account of the deluge as given in the Sacred Scriptures?
It is not fiction or fable, but the actual tradition of the ancient
Choctaws as related by them to the/ missionaries in 1818.
Whence this knowledge of the flood of the Bible? Does one
reply, they obtained it from the early European explorers
of the continent? Not so; for the earliest explorers speak of
. the North American Indians' various traditions of the Flood.
May it be possible that their ancestors, far back in the early
dawn of the morn of Christian ty, received it from some one
or more of the apostles, as ours did — the ancient Britons?
Who knows? It is not a thing impossible, if we admit they
drifted ages ago from Asia's shores to the western conti
nent. If not, whence and how have 'they this knowledge of
the flood?
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 285
St. Paul himself declares, in his epistie to the Galatians,
that soon after he had been called to preach Christianity
among- the heathen, he "went into Arabia." The dissen
sions which arose in the Eastern church, in the early part of
the third century, breaking- it up into sects, drove many into
exile into remote parts of the East, and planted the Chris
tian faith among- the principal tribes of that region.
Another Choctaw version of their traditional flood (Oka-
falama) is as follows: In the far distant ages of the past,
the people, whom the Great Spirit had created, became so
wicked that he resolved to sweep them all from the earth, ex
cept Oklatabashih (People's .mourner) and his family, who
alone did that which was good. He told Oklatabashih to
build a larg-e boat into which he should go with his family
and also to take into the boat a male and female of all the an
imals living- upon the earth. He did as he was commanded
by the Great Spirit. But as he went out in the forests to
bring- in the birds he wras unable to catch a pair of biskinik
(sapsucker), fitukhak (yellow hammer), bak bak. (a large
red-headed woodpecker); as these birds were so quick in.
hopping- around from one side to the other of the trees upon
which they clung- with their sharp and strong claws, that
Oklatabashih found it was impossible for him to catch them,
therefore he g-ave up the chase, and returned to the boat,
and the door closed, the rain beg-an to fall increasing- in vol
ume for many days and nights, until thousands of people and
animals perished. Then it suddenly ceased and utter dark
ness covered the face of the earth for a long" time, while, the
people and animals that still survived groped here and there
in the fearful gloom. Suddenly far in the distant north was
seen a long- streak of light. They believed that, amid the
raging elements and the impenetrable darkness that covered
the earth, the sun had lost its way and was rising in the
north. All the surviving people rushed towards the seem
ingly rising sun, though utterly bewildered, not knowing
or caring what they did. But well did Oklatabashih in
terpret the prophetic sign of their fast approaching doom.
Instead of the bright dawn of another long wished-for day,
they saw, in utter despair, that it was but the mocking light
that foretold how near the Okafalama was at hand, rolling
like mountains on mountains piled and engulfing everything
in its resistless course. All earth was at once overwhelmed
in the mighty return of waters, except the great boat which,
by the guidance of the Great Spirit, rode safely upon the
rolling and dashing waves that covered the earth. During
many moons the boatfloated safely o'er the vast sea of waters.
Finally Oklatabashih sent a dove to see if any dry land could
286 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
be found. She soon returned with her beak full of grass,
which she had gathered from a desert island. Oklatabashih
to reward her for her discovery mingled a little salt in her
food. Soon after this the waters subsided and the dry land
a-opeared; then the inmates of the great boat went forth to
repeople another earth. But the dove, having acquired a
taste for salt during her stay in the boat continued its use
by finding it at the salt-licks that then abounded in many
places, to which the cattle and deer also frequently resorted.
Every day after eating, she visited a salt-lick to eat a little
salt to aid her digestion, which in the course of time became
habitual and thus was transmitted to her offspring. In the,
course of years, she became a grand-mother, and took great
delight in 'feeding and caring for her grand-children. One
day, however, after having eaten some grass seed, she un
fortunately forgot to eat a little salt as usual. For this
neglect, ,the Great Spirit punished her and her descendants
by forbidding them forever the use of salt. When she re
turned home that evening, her grand-children, as usual be
gan to coo for their supply of salt, but their grand-mother
having been forbidden to give them any more, they cooed in
vain. From that day to this, in memory of this lost privil
ege, the doves everywhere, on the return of spring, still con
tinue their cooing for salt, which they will never again be
permitted to eat. Such is the ancient tradition of the Choc-
taws of the origin of the cooing of doves.
But as to the fate of the three birds who eluded capture
by Okjatabashih, their tradition-states : They flew high in
air at the approach of Okafalama, and, as the waters rose
higher and higher, they also flew higher and higher above
the surging waves. Finally, the -waters rose in near prox
imity to the. sky, upon which they lit as their last hope.
Soon, to their great joy and comfort, the waters ceased to
rise, and commenced to recede. But while sitting 011 the
sky their tails, projecting downward, were continually being
drenched by the -dashing spray of the surging waters below,
and thus the end of their tail feathers became forked and
notched, and this peculiar shapfe of the tails of the biskinik,
fitukhak and bakbak has been transmitted to their latest
posterity. But the sagacity and skill manifested by these
birds in eluding the grasp of Oklatabashih,. so greatly de
lighted the Great Spirit that he appointed them to forever be
the guardian birds of the red men. Therefore these birds,
and especially the biskinik, often made their appearance in
their villages on the eve of a ball play ; and, whichever one of
the three came, it twittered in happy tones its feelings of
joy in anticipation of the near approach of the Choctaws1
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 287
favorite game. But in time of war one of these birds al
ways appeared in the camp of .a war party, to give them
warning- of approaching danger, by its constant chirping
and hurried flitting from place to place around their camp.
In many ways did these birds prove their love for and
friendship to the red man, and he ever cherished them as
the loved birds of his race, the remembered gift of the
Great Spirit in the fearful days of the mighty Okafalama.
The French in making their voyages of discovery along
the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in 1712, under the command
of Iberville, anchored one evening near an island ('now known
as Ship Island) which they discovered to be intersected with
lagoons and inhabited by a strange and peculiar animal
seemingly to hold the medium between the fox and cat, and
they give it the name Cat Island, by which it is still known;
thence they passed over the main land, where they discovered
a tribe of Indians called Biloxi, among whom they afterwards
located a town and gave it the name Biloxi — now the oldest
town in the State of Mississippi. This tribe of Indians
proved to be a clan of the Choctaws, and the name Biloxi, a
corruption of the Choctaw word Ba-luh-chi, signifying hick
ory bark. Thence going' eastward they discovered another
tribe weich they called the Pascagoulas, which also proved
to be a clan of the Choctaws, and the name Pascagoula, a
corruption of the two Choctaw words Puska (bread) and
Okla (people), i. e: Bread People, or people having bread;
but which has been erroneously interpreted to mean "Bread
Eaters." A remnant of the Ba-luh-chis still exist among the
Choctaws, while the Puskaoklas have been long lost by unit
ing with other Choctaw clans. There was an ancient tradi
tion among the Puskaoklas, which stated that, in the years
long past, a small tribe of Indians of a lighter complexion than
themselves, and also different in manners and customs, ^in
habited the country near the mouth of the Pascagoula river r
whose ancestors, according to the tradition, originally emer
ged from the sea, where they were born; that they were a
kind, peaceful and inoffensive people, spending their time in
public festivals and amusements of various kinds; that they
had a temple in which they worshiped the figure of a Sea
God; every night when the moon was passing from its cres
cent to the full, they gathered around the figure playing upon
instruments and singing and dancing, thus rendering hom
age to the Sea God. That shortly after the destruction of
Mobilla (now Mobile, Alabama,) in 1541, by De Soto, there
suddenly appeared among the Sea God worshippers a white
man with a long, gray beard, flowing garments and bearing
a large cross in his right hand; that he took from his bosom
288 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
X
a book, and, after kissing- it again and again, he began to ex
plain to them what was contained in it; that they listened
attentively and were fast being- converted to its teaching's
when a fearful catastrophy put an end to all. One night,
when the full moon was at its zenith, there came a sudden
rising of the waters of the river, which rolled in mighty
waves along its channel; on the crest of thefoamingwaterssat
a woman, with magnetic eyes, singing in a tone of voice that
fascinated all; that the white man, followed by the entire
tribe, rushed to the bank of the stream in wild amazement,
when the siren at once, modulated' her voice to still more
fascinating tones, chanting a mystic song with the oft
repeated chorus, "Come to me, come to me, children of the
sea! Neither book nor cross, from your queen, shall win ye;"
Soon, an Indian leaped into the still raging waters, followed
by the remainder in rapid succession, all disappearing as
they touched the water, when a loud and exultant laugh was
heard, and then the waters returned to their usual level and
quiet leaving no trace of their former fury; the white man
was left alone, and soon died of grief and loneliness.
TRADITION OF THE PAPAGOES INDIANS.
It is stated of the Papagoes, (known as the short-haired
Indians of the Southwest) that an ancient tradition of their
tribe proclaims the coming of a Messiah by the name "Moc-
tezuma." They affirm that, in the ancient past, he lived in
Casa Grande, the famous prehistoric temple on the Gila
river; that his own people rebelled against him and threaten
ed to kill him, and he fled7 to Mexico. But before leaving
them he told them that they would experience great afflic
tions for many years, but eventually, at the time of their
greatest need, he would return to them from the east with
the rising sun; that he would then cause the rain to fall again
upon their arid country, and make it bloom as a garden, and
make his people to become the greatest on earth. There
fore, when Moctezuma arrives, that he may see all the doors
open and none closed against him, this humble people, with
a pathetic faith, make the only entrance to their houses
toward the east and leave the door always standing open
that their Messiah may enter when he comes. During the
years 1891, 1892 and 1893, a three years' drouth had destroy
ed their crops, dried up their water, cut off their supply of
seeds, and killed great numbers of their cattle. Truly it
was the time of their greatest suffering, and surely Mocte
zuma would now come to their rescue; and it was enough to
move the heart of the most obdurate infidel, to see the people.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 289
ascending- just before sunrise to the top of the surrounding-
hills and look anxiously toward the rising- sun for Moctezu-
ma, until disappointment usurped the place of hope, and
one by one, each returned patiently to his house, but to
hope on.
Christianity, it is said, dates back from the return of
the Hellenist Jews and proselytes from "Egypt and the
parts of Libya about Cyrene," who heard St. Peter preach
on the day of Pentecost.
It is well known that, in the history of the early church,
no city is more famous than Alexandria. From that city
came Apollos ; there, too, Mark, the evangelist, is said to
have preached ; and from it Pantemusas was sent as a mis
sionary to India ; in it also dwelt Clement, Athanasius and
Origin. Carthage and Hippo have given to the world the
names of Cyprian, Tertullian and Augustine. In the fifth
century there were 560 Bishoprics in North Africa. The
Coptic church in Egypt, and its daughter church in Abys
sinia which still survive, though in corrupted state, while of
the ancient North' African church, not a vestige, it is said,
remains, being wholly swept away by Mohammedism in the
seventh century.
May not the ancestors of the North American Indians
have dwelt in some of those regions of country in which the
gospel was preached by those ancient missionaries? and
also have been among those of the early Christians who fled
before the persecutions of the Turk and Tartar, and cross
ed over to this continent by way of Behring Strait, or the
fabled sunken continent Atlantis (if it ever existed), bring
ing with them the many Asiatic characteristics they possess
in their manners and customs and religious ceremonies, and
their traditional knowledge of the flood? But alas! upon
this we can but conjecture, there we can but begin and there
we have to end.
The belief of the ancient Choctaws in regard to the
eclipses of the sun was not more inconsistent, than that of
an}r portion of the human family, whose minds had never
been enlightened by the rays of spiritual light from the gos
pel of the Son of God. The Romans} the Celtics, the Asia
tics, the Finns of Europe, and, 110 doubt, Britons, too, all
had their views in regard to eclipses as absurd as the Choc-
taws. The Choctaws, as before stated, attributed an eclipse
of the sun to a black squirrel, whose eccentricities often led
it into mischief, and, among other things, that of trying- to
eat up the sun at different intervals. When thus inclined,
they believed, which was confirmed by long experience, that
the only effective means to prevent so fearful a catastrophe
• -'
290 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
befalling- the world as the'~blotting out of that indispensable
luminary, was to favor the little, black epicure with a first-
class scare; therefore, whenever he manifested an inclination
to indulge in a meal on the sun, every ingenuity was called
into requisition to give him a genuine fright that he would
be induced, at least, to postpone his meal on the sun at that
particular time and seek a lunch elsewhere. As soon, there
fore, as the sun began to draw its lunar veil over its face,
the cry was heard from every mouth from the Dan to the
Beersheba of their then wide extended territory, echo
ing from hill to dale, "Funi lusa hushi umpa! Funi lusa
hushi umpa," according to our phraseology, The black squir
rel is eating the sun! Then and there was heard a sound of
tumult by day in the Choctaw Nation for the space of an
hour or two, far exceeding that said to have been heard by
night in Belgium's Capital, and sufficient in the conglomera
tion of discordant tones terrific, if heard by the distant,
little, fastidious squirrel, to have made him lose forever
afterward all relish for a mess of suns for an early or late
dinner. The shouts of the women and children mingling
with the ringing of discordant bells as the vociferous pound
ing and beating of ear-splitting tin pans and cups mingling
in "wild confusion worse confounded," yet in sweet unison
with a first-class orchestra of yelping, howling, barking
dogs gratuitously thrown in by the innumerable and highly
excited curs, produced a din, which even a "Funi lusa," had
he heard it, could scarcely have endured even to have in
dulged in a nibble or two of the sun, though urged by the
demands of a week's fasting.
But during the wild scene the m^n were not idle specta
tors, or indifferent listeners. Each stood a few paces in
front of his cabin door, with no outward manifestation of
excitement whatever — so characteristic of the Indian war
rior — but with his trusty rifle in hand, which so oft had
proved a friend sincere in many hours of trial, which he
loaded and fired in rapid succession at the distant, devastat
ing squirrel, with the same coolness and calm deliberation
that he did when shooting at his game. More than once have
I witnessed the fearful yet novel scene. When it happened
to be the time of a total eclipse of the sun, a sufficient evi
dence that the little, black epicure meant business in regard
to having a square meal, though it took the whole sun to fur
nish it, -then indeed there were sounds of revelry and tumult
unsurpassed by any ever heard before, either in "Belgium"
or elsewhere. Then the women shrieked and redoubled
their efforts upon the tin p,ans, which, under the desperate
blows, strained every vocal organ to do its utmost and whole
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 291
duty in loud response, while the excited children screamed
-and beat their tin cups, and the sympathetic dogs (whose
name was legion) barked and howled — all seemingly deter
mined not to fall the one behind other in their duty — since
the occasion demanded it ; while the warriors still stood, in
profound and meditative silence, but firm and undaunted, as
they quickly loaded and fired their rifles, each time taking-
deliberative aim, if perchance the last shot might prove the
•successful one ; then, as the moon's shadow began to move
from the disk of the sun, the joyful shout was heard above
the mighty din Funi-lusa-osh mahlatah ! The black squirrel
is frightened. But the din remained unabated until fhe sun
again appeared in its usual splendor, and all nature again
.assumed its harmonious course ; then quiet below again as
sumed its sway, while contentment and happiness resumed
their accustomed place in the hearts of the grateful Choc-
taws — grateful to the Great Spirit who had given them the
victory. But the scene of a total eclipse of the sun in the
•Choctaw Nation in those ancient years must be witness
ed to be justly comprehended by the lover of the romantic,
and heard by the highly sensitive ear to be fully appreciated
and enjoyed.
On the road leading from St. Stephens then a little town
in Alabama, near which was the home of the renowned Choc-
taw Chief Apushamata hahubi in 1812, to the city of Jackson,
Mississippi, stood the mound Nunih Waiyah erected by the
Choctaws in commemoration of their migration, as has been
previously stated, from a country far to the west to their
homes east of the Mississippi river, where they were first
known to the Europeans. I read an article published some
years ago in a newspaper, which stated that an ancient tra
dition of the Choctaws affirmed that they derived their
origin from Nunih Waiyah, their ancestors swarming from
the hole on the top as bees swarming from the hive in sum
mer, and thus was that part of the world peopled with Choc
taws. The Choctaws did not so state their origin to the
early missionaries of 1818. They always have claimed their
origin from a country far to the West, and the above men
tioned tradition with all its absurdities, so numerous in the
writings of the majority of those of the present age, who,
having nothing more, clothe their nominal Indian in myths
and hide him in impenetrable fogs, had its origin in" the
prolific brain of the writer, who assumes to be gifted with a
vivid imagination, even as his congenial fellow writers of the
present day when getting up a "send-off" upon the Indians;
and who imagine themselves wiser than even seven men who
can render a reason, though they have advanced no further
292 ' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
in Indian lore than the widely circulated ' hear-say '&
elementary spelling-book; and, having- learned all there is to-
be known in that branch of historical information, they feel
themselves incapable of receiving- any further instruction
in regard to the North American Indian characteristics,,
from any source whatever, yet they are lacking in one very
essential thing; i. e. Not to know how little they do know.
But nothing better could be -expected from such "Worldly
Wisemen," whose heads have been stuffed with naught else
but tales of "Indian devils and Indian ghosts; Indian fairies
and Indian elves; Indian tomahawks and Indian scalps;" and
with ears full of such hobgoblins, they fell in love, as soon as
thev grew to manhood, with the desire to anathematize that un
fortunate race as naturally as a bird sings; yet blinded as ef
fectually to the enemity and atrocity of the wrongs and in
juries done to the helpless Indians, as that drunkenness of
"heart which follows up long, continued success, creating
utter insensibility and remorselessness of conscience, but
establishing the fact, that morally the Indians are immeasur
ably superior to any and all such oppressing, plundering and.
defaming specimens of humanity.
The Choctaws lived around their honored, memento of
the past for many successive generations, and some, even in
large excavations made in its sides. And when interrogated^
by the whites with the question "Whence came they?"
alluding to the origin of their race, the Choctaws, thinking
their interrogator wished to learn from what part of their
nation they came, replied: "From the Mound;" while those
who dwelt in the excavations made in its sides, answered:
"From out the Mound," meaning they lived in the mound.
No Choctaw was such a fool as to believe, or even assert,
their ancestors jumped out of the hole on the top of Nunih
Waiyah full fledged warriors, as they of fabled renown who
spring from the dragon's teeth sown in the earth. And
when speaking to them of this tradition, with seeming emo
tions of pity mingled with contempt, they have replied:
"That fellow did not know what he was talking about;" a
self-evident truth to all who know anything about the Choc-
taw people. True, they held Nunih Waiyah in N great rever
ence; but not as the author of the tradition would make
believe, that, in their degraded ignorance, they cherished it
as the place of their origin which sent them forth in num
bers "as swarming bees," but as an ancient relic handed
down to them through a long line of honored ancestry; and
even as the great pyramid, Cheops, of the arid desert, points
the Egyptian back to the cycles of ages past, so too did Nu
nih Waiyah remind the Choctaw of his long line of descent as-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 293
lie proudly gazed upon its hoary and weather-beaten sides.
As an evidence of their admiration and veneration for
this ancestral memento, the Choctaws, when passing-, would
-ascend it and drop into the hole at its top various trinkets,
and sometimes a venison ham, or dressed turkey, as a kind
of sacrificial offering" to the memory of its ancient builders,
who only appeared to them through the mists of ages past;
and as the highest evidence of their veneration for this
relic of their past history, it was sometimes spoken of by
the more enthusiastic as their Iholitopa Ishki, (beloved
mother).
In 1810, the United States Agent, George S. Gaines, was
-one day riding along the road that leads near Nunih Waiyah,
and to satisfy his curiosity turned^and rode to its base, then
dismounted and walked to its top. While there, he noticed
a large band of Choctaw warriors passing along the road;
.and being desirous of their company, he hastily descended,
mounted his horse and soon overtook them. As he rode up,
-and the usual salutations had been exchanged, the chief,
who was no less than the renowned Apushamatahaubih, with
a significant smile in which fun and innocent mischief were
most prominent, said: "Well, friend Gaines, I see you have
been up to pay your compliments to our good mother."
"Yes, I concluded to pay her a visit as I was passing," re
plied Mr. Gaines. "Well, what did she say to you?" asked
the great chief . "She said," responded Mr. Gaines, "that
her Choctaw children had become too numerous to longer
be prosperous, contented and happy in their present coun
try, therefore, she thought it best for them to exchange
their old country and lands for a new country and lands
•west of the Mississippi river, where the ,game was much
more abundant, and the hunting grounds far more exten;
;$ive." With a loud laugh in which his warriors also heartily
joined, Apushamatahah then exclaimed "Holobihlholubit ish
nohowa nih! (It's a lie.) Do not go about telling lies. Our.
.good old mother never could have spoken such words to
you." After the laugh of the joke was over, Apushamata-
hahubih expressed himself freely with. Mr. Gaines upon vari
ous subjects relative to his people as they rode along
together; among many things that were mentioned, that of
their origin was brought up; and to the inquiry of Mr.
Gaines, "Whence they came to the country then occupied by
them," the chief replied: "Our ancestors came from a
•country far to the west many suns and moons ago. And this
was the invariable reply made by all the Choctaws when
asked concerning their traditional origin.
The Choctaw Nation, from its earliest known history to
294 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
/
the present time has, at different intervals, produced many
great and good men; who, had they have had the advantages
of education, wpuld have lived upon the pages of history
equally with those of earth's illustrious great.
The first of whom we have any historical account, is
Tush-ka Lu-sa, (the heroic defender of Moma Bin-na, a
Lodge for All — corrupted first to Mobila, then to Mobile)
who perished, with many thousands of his people, in that
bloody tragedy of three and a half centuries ago, while de
fending his ancient city against the Spaniards, nothing more
"however, has been handed down by which we can judge of
his ability as a wise and judicious ruler, but the fact that De
Soto found his Nation in a prosperous condition; his people
dwelling in large and well fortified towns, comfortable houses,
subsisting to a very large extent by the cultivation of the
soil.
But of the patriotism and undaunted bravery of Tush-
ka Lusa, and his ability as a commander of his warriors,
DeSoto had satisfactory proof at the battle of Momabinah.
But so little of the history of those ancient Choctaws has
escaped oblivion that in sketching a line of their history at
such a distance of time we necessarily pass through un
known fields so wide and diversified that it is like gliding
lightly and swiftly over the numberless waves of the agita
ted ocean, and only touching here and there some of their
highest tops ; while, as we approach our own times, merely
the outline of their history, if accurately drawn, would fill
many volumes ; therefore, in the selection of objects to pre
sent to the reader, with a due regard for his pleasure and
profit, I shall have continual reference to the power of as
sociation, and endeavor to present such as will be most
likely to bring to my Choctaw and Chickasaw friends, for
whom the work is especially written, the remembrance of
many incidents and circumstances, which once were fresh,
but now are fading in their minds, by devoting here a few
'pages to the brief sketch of the lives of some of their emi
nent men now living, together with some of their distin
guished dead. Noble men they were ; the fame of whose
virtues belong not to the world, but alone to their own Na
tion and people, though I am well aware that the whole sub
ject of the North American Indians is so tinged with ro
mance and fiction that did not the interest of correct history
demand that at least an attempt should be made to shed a
ray of light upon that wonderful people, I would not, as a
truthful chronicler, have attempted to lift the veil and look in
upon this mystic people, so long known, but so little under
stood by my own race.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 295
It is an accepted fact that one/grand requisite to give,, or
sufficiently comprehend a biography, lies in a knowledge of
the times to which it refers. I can truly say that with a
knowledge of the times to which most of the following bio
graphical sketches refer, I am fully acquainted ; but I am
well aware, however, that the standard of public regard is
so constantly changing that a character half a century ago
would have attracted the adulation of the world with its ex
cellence ; in the present age receives but a moderate share of
praise, however meritorious, aside from that of its own fel
low citizens and people.
But the custom of commemorating the virtues and emi
nent characteristics of .those who have won the admiration,
confidence and affection of, their fellow citizens, and have
passed away from earth's tragic scenes, has always com
manded the services of civilized life; as it has been deemed
usjeful to their contemporaries to awaken and keep alive in
their thoughts those grateful deeds that are hallowed by
memory, and to transmit a record of those deeds to the
future, in order to act as incentives and models to succeeding
generations.
Therefore, that -the following biographical sketches may
be as incentives and models to the young men of the Choc-
taw and Chicaksaw people, has been one of the inducements
that has actuated me in writing them. Still to notice the
virtues of humble individuals, lacking kingly ancestry and
high position in the civilized world, with none of the accom
plishments of birth, fortune and name, is an incident so un
usual, that I might forbear, were I not writing to and for
their owrn people, who will read not to criticise, but to bear
testimonv to the excellence and worth of their noble dead.
It has been said that there is a place for every man in
the theatre of life. If true, it is equally so, that every man
does not always find his true place, nor occupy the position
best suited to his capacity or ability. The circumstances
and incidents of human life, as they are daily unrolled, have
much to do in throwing men in the various situations in soci
ety, someof which they neither occupy nor faith fully,fill. There
should be a fitness for the man for the place; else a statue of
Vulcan would as well adorn a niche in the temple of the Muses,
and a clown in his colored dress suitably represent the stern
judge. I claim, however, for the subjects of this biography,
not only a proper place, but an entire fitness for the varied
duties incident to the occupancy of the place. Therefore,
whether1 we look upon them as the faithful men, the intelli
gent and judicious citizens or the zealous rulers, they
challenge alike a just adimration and worthy praise. In the
296 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
various relations in which they stood among their people,
-|;hey won the confidence, affection and esteem of all who
knew them, both of their own race and also of the white; and,
under the influence of a laudable ambition, they spared
neither labor, time, nor well directed exertion to elevate their
people in the scale of morality, prosperity and happiness.
To their signal success in these efforts, the intelligence and
prosperity of their people to-day, bear indisputable testimony,
as the result of the labors of those who, in conjunction with
the missionaries, carried all the ardor of their souls, all the
strength of their minds, and all the application and concen
tration of their powers that were necessary for securing
their object in view. The responsibility of the stations they
thus honored, they felt in all their force, and earnestly,
honorably, and nobly they endeavored to discharge them.
None but those who personally knew them, can form
any just conception of the manly efforts put forth by those
truly noble and honest patriots, in their exertions to elevate
the standard of their Nation in the estimation of the Chris
tian world. They sought and obtained every useful informa
tion that could give them additional mental power in the
pursuit of their favorite object, and studiously gathered the
ripe experience of others, both by the study of books and
observations in their travels among the whites, in their visits
to Washington City on business of national affairs; and it is
a matter of astonishment that amid the many difficulties
they had to overcome in counteracting the evil influences of
the lawless whites who invaded their country, that they ac
complished what they did. / Yet they were but in a prepara
tory state for enlarged usefulness among their people, when
the hand of disease was laid upon them and they were re
moved from their labors. Many of them in the very prime
of their powers, in the very morn of the expansion of their
matured minds, were cut down in the bright promise of a
glorious future. But the}^ had done enough to make their
lives notable, and to justify the presenting of the records of
their lives as containing laudable incentives to encourage
others in the path of honorable usefulness, and meritorious
examples as a model for them.
Tushka Lusa, the hero of Moma Bina, as before stated,
is the only Choctaw chief whose name has been handed down
from that tragic scene through the long line of historic
silence, to the year 1745, when in the English and French
wars, in which each were contending for supremacy upon
the western continent, involving both the Choctaw and Chick-
asaw Nations, a few chiefs arose to the surface whose names
.have, escaped oblivion by their daring achievements during
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 297
"those scenes of blood and carnage; the most prominent of the
•Choctaws were Shulush Humma and Ibanowa, (one who
walks with) Miko (chief) whom I will more particularly
.speak in the history of the Chickasaws. From 1745 to 1785
no other names of Choctaw chiefs have been preserved', all
alike having- gone down into the silence of eternal forgetful-
ness, but from 1785 the names of many of their great chiefs
have been preserved, though long since deceased; among
which, as the most prominent, stand that of A-push-a-ma-ta-
hah-ub-i, (a messenger of death; literally, one whose rifle,
tomahawk, or bow alike fatal in war or hunting.) A-pak-
foh-li-chih-ub-ih, (to encircle and kill, corrupted by the
whites to A-puck-she-nubee, and so used by the Choctaws of
the present day.) A-to-ni Yim-in-tah, (a watchman infatuated
with excitement) Olubih, (to take by force); -Coleman Cole,
Greenwood La Flore, Nit-tak-a chih-ub-ih, (to suggest the day
and kill); David Folsom, Peter P. Pitchlynn, (the Calhoun of
the Choctaws); Isaac Folsom, Silas Pitchlynn, Israel Fol
som, (The Wesley of the Choctaws) and many others.
With the last seven mentioned I was personally acquainted.
The distinguished warrior and chief of the Choctaws,
Apushamatahah, was born, as near as can be ascertained, in
the year 1764. He was of the Iksa, called Kun-sha (A reed
— the name of the creek along whose banks the Kunsha Clan
dwelt.) Kunsha-a-he (reed — potato) is the full name -of the
•clan, which took its name from the thick reeds and wild
potatoes that grew together in the marshy ground along the
banks of the creek — Cane and Potato creek.
At an early age Apushamatahah (For the sake of brevity
the ubi is dropped). acquired great celebrity among his peo
ple as a brave warrior and successful hunter. His love for
the facinating excitement of the chase and daring adventures
frequently led him into the deep solitudes of the then distant
and wild forests west of the Mississippi river untrodden by
the foot of the white man, to engage in hunting buffalo, a
•sport considered by the red man, and at a later period by the
white also, as the noblest ever engaged in upon the North
American continent. The buffalo, at that day, congregated
in seemingly incredible numbers, and roamed over the entire
wide extended western valley, grazing in countless multi
tudes upon. the rich grasses of the vast prairies that extended
before the vision to where earth and sky seemed to embrace.
But now that noble game is numbered with the things of the
past.
In those distant hunting expeditions and daring adven
tures, accompanied only by a small number of youthful and
congenial spirits, Apushamatahah encountered many dangers
298 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
;
and ended many privations "and hardships; which consti
tuted, to the young-, free and independent Indian warrior and
hunter, the veritable elixir of life, the ultimatum of earthly
bliss.
At one time, while engaged in one of those hunts on Red
river with a little party of Choctaw "braves," his camp was
unexpectedly and unceremoniously attacked, by a large band
of CalTlag--e-hah warriors, (Callage-hah is evidently a cor
ruption of the words, Chah lih hihla, (fast dancers). These
Indians may possibly have been a clan of the Choctaws be
fore they left Mexico, and .afterwards followed on to join the
main body, but nexver crossed the Mississippi river, hence
became forever lost from the parent stock) and being-
greatly outnumbered, Apushamatahah and his little party,
after a brief skirmish, were totally defeated, and but few
escaped, each taking care of himself. Apushamatahah,
being one of the few, found himself alone. After experienc
ing great hardships and dangers in eluding the vigilance of
his wily enemies, he fortunately stumbled upon a Spanish
settlement, in which he remained many months, hunting1 for
the Spaniards, and secretly preparing his plans for revenge
against the Callagehahs for their unceremonious attack upon
his camp, and which he successfully executed, as the sequel
will show. At this. time (1793) Missouri, Kansas and Arkan
sas were under Spanish Dominion.
After he had thoroughly laid his plans of revenge, he
bade his Spanish employers a formal adieu, and started for
his distant and long absent home by devious paths, until he
came upon a camp of his enemies, the Callag'ehahs, upon
which he rushed at night with the ferocity of a tiger, and
slew seven of its occupants and secured their scalps, ere
they could recover from their surprise; then shouting' back his
war-whoop of defiance, he fled with the nimble feet of the
antelope, directing his course homeward, where he, in the
course of several weeks safely arrived, to the astonishment
and joy of his relatives, who had regarded him among- the
number of the slain, who had fallen on the fatal night of the
raid made upon their camp by the Callagehahs. He remain
ed at home two or three years, but had not forgotten the:
attack made upon his hunting camp in the distant solitudes
of the forests west of the Mississippi river, and the death of
his comrades; while his proud spirit still chafed under the
imagined disgrace of his defeat, he yearned to punish the
Callagehahs still more severely for their audacity and insult;
therefore, he again started with a select company of warriors
for his enemies' territories; where again surprising one of
their unsuspecting camps he slew three warriors without.sus-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 299'
taining loss; after which he withdrew from the Callagehahs''
country, but remained west of the Mississippi river for sev
eral months in the fascinating- amusements of the chase, that
exciting- occupation that renders the hunter, both red and
white, oblivious to all else. Again he returned home with
his little band; yet his restless spirit could not rest in in
activity longer than a few weeks; and once more, with anoth
er little company of cong-enial spirits of about twenty-five in
number, he started for the land of his foes and was gone
several months, when he again returned home with a dozen
or more Callagehah scalps, without the loss of a single one of
his little party. He remained at home, after this exploit,
nearly a year, then again, but for the last time, sought the
distant territories of the Callagehahs with another band of
his warriors; again fortune smiled upon her seemingly
chosen favorite; for he struck another death dealing blow,
obtaining many scalps, then bade the unfortunate Callage
hahs a final adieu, returned to his native land with his war
riors, and annoyed them no more.
The Choctaws and Muscogees, in years long past, were
proverbial enemies, and hated each other with uncompromis
ing bitterness ; therefore, embraced every opportunity to
manifest their hostility the one toward the other. On on£
occasion a oarty of Muscogees secretly entered the Choctaw
territories and, among other depredations committed on
their devious route, they burned the house of Apushamata-
hah, who, with his family, was absent from home engaged
in his favorite amusement — a grand ball-play. As soon as he
returned home and found it a heap of smoking ruins, and
learned who had committed the mischief, he at once collec
ted a company of warriors and sought the Muscogee Nation
with the same determination and resolution that he had pre
viously sought that of the Callagehahs ; and when arrived,
he repaid them ten fold for the destruction of his home. .
Many years afterward Apushamatahah was the first Choc-
taw chief who led a war-party of 800 warriors against the
Muscogees in what is known as the Creek War of 1812.
Several Choctaw companies joined Washington's army
during our Revolutionary war, and served during the entire
war; some of them were at the battle of Cowpens, under
General Morgan; others, at the battle of Stony Point, under
General Wayne, and others, at the battle of Tilico Plains, un
der General Sullivan, sent by General Green to punish
the Tories and northern Cherokees (at that time the
only Cherokees hostile to the Americans) for the destruction
of Fort Loudon, situated on the Tennessee river in the terri
tories then of North Carolina, whom he overtook at Tilico-
300 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Plains, engaged and routed, with great loss on the part of
the tories and Cherokees,also securing- the women and child
ren whon they taken had prisoners in the fall of Fort Loudon,
and devastating- the country of the hostile Cherokees as he
went, in driving- them, (Tories and Cherokees) through
Deep Creek Gap, in Cumberland mountains, into the now
State of Kentucky; and there ending the pursuit, Sullivan re
turned and joined his command near Yorktown. It is said,
those Cherokees never did return to their former homes,
but became incorporated with other Indians in Kentucky;
others, were under Washington at the capture of Yorktown,
and witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis.
An amusing- incident was related to me when in the Choc-
taw Nation in 1888, in which a Choctaw scout, under General
Sullivan, previous to the defeat of the Tories and Cherokees
at Tilico Plains, was the chief hero. This scout, from his
short and thick set form, was given the name Dutch Johnnie,
by the soldiers. Dutch Johnnie was an uncompromising
enemy to the hostile Cherokees, for the re'ison that a scout
ing party of theirs had killed his wife and only child; and in
revenge he had sworn, as he of ancient Carthage, eternal
hatred against the Cherokees. Learning this, Gen. Sullivan
.appointed Dutch Johnnie as one of his chief scouts, much to
the joy of Johnnie, as it gave him a broader field in which to
seek and obtain the much desired revenge for the death of
his wife and child. He soon became noted for his intrepidity
endurance, skill, and valuable reports in regard to the enemy;
and by his many noble traits also became the pet of the army.
At one time, he was returning to the command from a long
scout of several days absence, and had reached within ten or
fifteen miles of the army, when night overtook him at an old
and long deserted house. It had been raining all day, so the
story goes, and was still raining and growing dark. As any
port in a storm had long been Dutch Johnnie's motto, he at
once resolved to accept the offered hospitalities of the for
saken mansion; and, without formality, entered the open
space, where once had hung the door that then lay upon the
ground, a wreck of its former glory, and surveyed its apart
ments. He found it consisted of but one room, with but one
ingress or egress, one chimney of sticks and dirt, and four
or five logs extending across the room above, about
four feet apart, upon which were loosely laid some
boards extending from one to the other.
Being a good retreat from the rain and chill without,
Dutch Johnnie soon stretched himself upon the puncheon
floor in his wet clothes, too considerate to build a fire in the
hearth by which to dry and warm himself, and thus attract
HISTQRY OF THE INDIANS 301
the eye of an enemy engaged in the same business as him
self, and was just passing" into the shadows of the land of
dreams, when his ears, ever wakeful sentinels and always
on the alert, whispered "danger without." He instantly
arose to a sitting posture and heard approaching footsteps.
Instantly he seized his rifle and quickly and noiselessly
climbed up the wall and laid down upon the boards, and there
waited future developments. The approaching footsteps
grew plainer until they stopped before the house. Then all
was hushed for a few moments, and then the intruders en
tered. Dutch Johnnie from above could see nothing, so in
tense was the darkness ; but soon learned that his visitors
were a company of Tories and Cherokee warriors, who, alike
with him, had sought the hospitality of the deserted house
from the inclemency of the night. He understood enough
English to learn much of their plans as the Tories convers
ed with each other. In the course of an hour all had stretch
ed themselves upon the puncheon floor, and were shortly
after wrapt in sleep ; yet with a sleepless sentinel eight feet
above, who could see nothing — not even his hand before him
— but hear everything, even to the low breathing of his un
welcome visitors belo\v. Poor, entrapped Johnnie, how
was he to safely get out of the dilemma? If he remained
until morning some curiosity seeker might climb the wall to
see what lay above, and then Dutch Johnnie's doom was in
evitable. After cogitating the matter over carefully, he
finally concluded he would try and escape by noislessly de
scending the wall which he. had ascended; but the question
arose in his mind — how far from the wall in \vhich the door
way was cut wras the first parallel joist over which space he
discovered there were no boards when he first entered the
house. When he had taken his position above he had
stretched himself full length (face downward) upon the
boards, with his head toward the wall he desired to descend.
He began at once to /reach out with his right hand into the
darkness for the wall, but his arm was too short. Again
and again he stretched it out, but to no avail. Anxiety, at
length, overcame his prudence ; for, in attempting to extend
his body a little over the joist that he might be enabled, per
chance, to reach the coveted wrall, the boards, which were
not nailed to the joist, slipped from their places and, in con
fusion worse confounded, fell together with Dutch Johnnie
in a promiscuous mass upon the sleepers below. The scene
of confusion that then ensued may be imagined only.
The sleepers, thus suddenly aroused, \vere utterly be
wildered, and unable to decide whether a cyclone had struck
the house, an earthquake was upon them, or the knell of time
302 . . HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
was at hand. But Dutch Johnnie's presence of mind,/vhich
had so oft brought him safely out of difficulties that tried
men's souls, forsook him not in this hour of peril, but ren
dered him equal to the emergency, having-, however, the ad
vantage of his foes in knowing why he had made such a des
perate charge, alone and in utter darkness, upon them; for
he seized a board with both" hands, sprang to his feet, and be
gan to strike, right and left in the dark, with super-human
force, accompanying the act with reiterated Choctaw war-
hoops intermingled with General Sullivan's war-cry in Eng
lish; which at once caused the Tories and Cherokee warriors
to believe that, instead of a cyclone, earthquake, or the knell
of time, or all together, it was Sullivan and his troopers upon
them; therefore, each one, actuated with the frantic desire
of self-preservation alone, sought, in frenzied haste, the one,
and only egress into the open air, jumping, tumbling, falling,
rolling out, while Johnnie's wild war-hoops uttered in both
Choctaw and English, with his board wielded by his vigorous
arms, whizzing through the darkness this way and that thus
oft meeting in collision with heads and bodies, added wings
to the retreat of his foes. Soon the house was left in
possession of Dutch Johnnie alone; then to make the victory
complete, he sprang to the rifles of his foes stacked in a
corner of the room and then to the door, where he fired off
each one in rapid succession accompanied with reiterated
war-hoops, which made each flying Tory and Cherokee
:believe that himself alone had escaped. As he seized a gun
and fired it off, he threw it upon the floor, and sprang for
another, and so continued to do until he had fired the last;
then, not knowing what might still be in the house, since the
pitchy darkness prevented anything being seen, he leaped
out, uttered several war-hoops of victory, and sought safety
amid the darkness of the forest feeling his way .as best he
could. When he had gone far enough to feel safe from
immediate danger, he sat down and waited for the light of
the returning morning: then hastened to the encampment,
where he arrived in safety about an hour after sunrise. He
soon related his adventure to General Sullivan, who sent a
company of troopers back with Dutch Johnnie to prove the
statement of his romantic adventure, and night conflict with
the emeny, over whose unknown numbers — unlike Sampson
with his jaw bone of an ass, but like Dutch Johnnie alone—
with a post-oak board, hfc had gained a complete victory.
When the company had reached the battle ground and enter-
'ed the again tenantless and silent fort, they found the fallen
boards upon the floor under which lay Johnnie's rifle — suffi
cient proof of his rapid descent upon the enemy,: ...while the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 303
twenty empty rifles that lay upon the floor, gave entire satis
faction, none more so than to Dutch Johnnie himself, that he
had defeated his enemies as one to twenty, by his rapid de
scent upon them with his shower of boards, followed by the
vigorous use of one alone in his stalwart hands accompanied
with his terrific war-hoops. Of course, he became the hero
of the day. The twenty rifles were justly awarded to him
as trophies of his victory; which he traded" for various articles
necessary for his comfort and protection in his anticipated
future adventures. He lived through the war as an indis
pensable scout, proving- himself fearless in battle, and oft
dazzling his comrades by his daring acts.
THE MEETING IN 1811, OF TECUMSEH, THE
MIGHTY SHAWNEE, WITH APUSHAMATA-
HAH, THE INTREPID CHOCTAW.
I will here give a true narrative of an incident in the life
of the great and noble Choctaw chief, Apushamatahah, as re
lated by Colonel John Pitchlynn, a white man of sterling
' integrity, and whb acted for many years as- interpreter to
the Choctaws for the United States Government, and who
was an eye-witness to the thrilling scene, a similar one, never
before nor afterwards befell the lot of a white man to witness,
except that of Sam Dale, the great scout of General Andrew
Jackson, who witnessed a similar one — that of Tecumseh in
council assembled with the Muscogees, shortly afterwards
— of which I will speak in the history of that once powerful
and war-like race of people.
Colonel John Pitchlynn was adopted in early manhood by
the Choctaws, and marrying among them, he at once became
as one of their people; and was named by them "Chahtah It-
ti-ka-na," The Choctaws' Friend; and long and well he
proved himself worthy the title Conferred upon, and the trust
confided in him. He had five sons by his Choctaw wife,
Peter, Silas, Thomas, Jack and James, all of whom provea to
be men of talent, and exerted a moral influence among their
people, except Jack, who was ruined by the white man's
whiskey and his demoralizing>examples and influences. I
was personally acquainted with Peter. Silas and Jack, the
former held, during a long and useful life, the highest posi
tions in the political history of his Nation, well deserving the
title given him by the whites, "The Calhoun of the Choc
taws;" but of whom I will speak more particularly else
where.
England, in her anticipated war with the United States in
304 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
1812, early made strenuous efforts to secure the co-operation
of all the Indian tribes, both north and south, as allies
against the Americans, as she had done against the French
previous to supplanting- them in 1763; though, not with that
success that she did in arraying them in opposition to the
Americans; for to the honor and praise of the majority of
the early settlers of the French among the North American
Indians be it said, that they had won the respect, confidence^
and love of the northern Indians especially, by their freedom
from all arrogance, abuse and oppression, and by honest
dealing with them, comparing well in this particular with
the Quakers, and thus seeming to the, highly appreciative
Indians more as affable companions and genial friends, than
insolent and pretended masters, as the English had assumed
to be, and afterwards the Americans, who followed in their
wake; both of whom, early and late,, introduced the traffic in
whiskey among them, which had been effectually prohibited
by the French down to that time.
Having secured the co-operation, however, of many of
the northern tribes to operate under the command of the
cruel Proctor, the English then turned their attention to the
securing of the south ern tribes as allies, especially the five
great and most war-like tribes then within the boundaries of
the United States, viz: The Choctaws, Chickasaws, Chero-
kees, Muscogees and Seminoles, whose warriors were then
justly considered as the shrewdest, bravest and most to be
dreaded in war of all the North American Indians; and that
they might the more effectually and with greater certainty
secure the aid of those brave, skilful and daring warriors of
the south, the renowned Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, was sent
to persuade them by his great influence and unsurpassed
native eloquence to unite with them as allies in the expected
war. As one of the bravest and most skilful Indian chiefs
that ever trod the American soil; as a statesman in the
council of his nation; as a foresighted politician; as a man of
integrity and humanity, according to the morals of his
people; as a man of comprehensive mind, rich in resources
for every emergency; as a man of undaunted nature, Tecum
seh stands with no superiors and few equals upon the pages
of Indian history; and his name still hovers among the
northern and western tribes, with those of Sassacus, chief
of the Pequods, in 1637; Philip, chief of the Pokanokets in
1674; Canonochet, chief of the Naragansetts in 1675; and the
great Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas in 1763; Red Jacket, of
the Senecas; Black Hawk, of the Sacs, and Fox, and others,
who figured along down the path of time in their noble but
vain endeavors to protect their homes and country from the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 305
encroachment of foreign vandals, as the heroes, who, in the
days of their prosperity and strength, had each devised the
plan for unity of action among all the tribes in driving- back
the usurping whites from their common territories, and
conducted their mighty but unavailing struggles with seem
ing destiny for the continued independence of their race, as-
men who loved no enjoyment equal to that of perfect per
sonal freedom in the companionship of nature, as it then
presented itself in its picturesque garb of mountains and
valleys, 'rivers and lakes, forests and prairies, affording them
all the necessaries of life, and uniting to consummate their
earthly bliss as a free, independent, contented and happy
people. Therefore one master spirit filled and ruled the
hearts of those ancient chieftains, and gave to their whole
lives their character.
Willingly, therefore, did Tecumseh accept the embassy
to the southern tribes, in behalf of tfce English ; nor could
they have confided their mission with greater hope of suc
cess to a more influential chief, or a more bitter enemy to
the Americans than to Tecumseh. North and South, far
and near, was the name of the great Shawnee Chief and1,
warrior known. From their youth the warriors of all the:
tribes, at that day and time, had heard of his great achieve
ments in battle; of his irresistible eloquence in debate and
the devastation that marked his footsteps upon the war-path ;.
for his tomahawk was like the lightning bolt in force and
power, armed with swift and sure destruction to all upon
whom it fell when wielded by its master's hand, to all In
dians, a meritorious commendation and worthy all accepta
tion. Unknown to fear, yet it is said of Tecumseh that
his heart was tender as a child's, and the sufferings of a
friend whom he loved could torture him with the keenest
anguish. His mother was a Muscogee and his father a
Shawnee ; and both were born in Alabama, at a village called
Sau-van-o-gee (afterwards known as "Old Augusta") on the
Tallapoosa river, though Tecumseh's father and grand par
ents belonged to the Shawnees of the North. They moved
to the then wilds of the now State of Ohio with their family
of several children, where, in 1768, Tecumseh was born, who
became so distinguished in the history of his race as a chief
and warrior. He had five brothers, all of whom were noted
warriors. He also had one sister named Tecum-a-pease,
-, who was highly endowed as a woman of strong character
and sound judgment, and a great favorite of her war-like
brother, over whom she exercised great influence. At the
age of nineteen years Tecumseh visited the South, once the
home of his parents, where he spent a few years principally
-•
306 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
among- the Muscogees, the relatives and friends of his
mother — engaging with them in their hunts and various
amusements, and winning their admiration by a heroism free
from tefmerity, and a friendship free from partiality.
In the spring of 1811, 'tecumseh, with thirty congenial
spirits all well mounted, again left his northern home and
directed his course once more to the South to visit those dis
tant friends, not as before, a pleasure seeker in their hunts,
national festivals and social amusements, but as one seeking
co-operative vengeance upon a common. foe, the pale-face in
truders and oppressors of their race. Silently and fearlessly
did the little band of resolute men, keep their course with un
wearied resolution and unerring judgment through the vast
wilderness that intervened; over hills . and endless wastes;
swimming broad rivers and narrow creeks, and working
their way through wide extended cane-brakes, where seldom
or never before had trod human feet, the sun their guide by
dav, the stars, by night, until they reached the broad terri
tories of the Chickasaws through which they passed, 'nor
ceased their march, until they entered the Choctaw Nation
in the district over which Apakfohlichihubih was the ruling
chief and there pitched their camp. Soon the tidings of the
arrival and encampment of the renowned Shawnee chief and
his thirty warriors as an embassy were borne as on wings of
the wind, throughout the district fanning the hitherto quiet
inhabitants into a blaze of the wildest exciteme'nt, and many
rushed at once to see the great Chieftain and his warriors;
actuated more however through curiosity than expectation of
learning anything concerning the intent or purpose of their
coming; for an Indian embassador is ever silent upon the sub
ject of his mission, and opens not his mouth but in council
assembled, and thus manifesting good sense and profound
judgment. In solemn pomp, therefore, Tecumseh and his
warriors /were escorted to the home of Apakfolichihubih,- to
whom Tecumseh stated that his business was of a national
character and of the most vital importance, to the Choctaw
Nation. At once Apakfolichihubih, summoned the warriors
of his district to convene in council, at which a resolution was
passed calling the entire Choctaw Nation to assemble in a
great council, extending the invitation alike to the Chickasaw
Nation, stating as a reason, that it was made through the
request of Tecumseh, as an embassador of the Shawnees;
that he, with thirty warriors, was now a guest of Apakfolih-
chihubih, and had a proposition to lay before the council of
vital import to both Nations. A day was also appointed and
the place designated, in and at which the two Nations should
assemble in united council to hear the words of the mighty
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 307
r
"Shawnee. The place selected at which the council was to
convene, was at a point on the Tombigbee riyer>,five miles (by
land) north of Columbus, Mississippi, and now known by the
name of Plymouth.
Immediately runners (news horsemen) were sent out to
the remotest points of their country, also to the Chickasaws,
to notify all of the coming" event; and soon they were seen on
their fleetest horses speeding- in wild haste and in all direc
tions, over their wide extended territory; even as was wit
nessed when our Declaration of Independence was first pro
claimed, and the "Old Liberty Bell" rang- out its joyous peals
echoing amid wild shouts along- the hills of the Atlantic
shore, but to die away in muffled tones among the rocky bat
tlements of the far-away Pacific coast; and as the tones of
the "Old Liberty Bell" secured responsive ears, so too the
call of Tecumseh secured the speedy response 'of every
Choctaw and Chickasaw warrior, however remote his cabin
from the designated place of rendezvous.
For many days previous to the convening of the council,
hundreds upon hundreds of warriors,' in various groups,
were seen slowly and silently wending their way through
the forests from every direction toward the designated place
for the meeting of the two Nations in council with the mighty
chief and Shawnee embassador; and when the appointed day
came, many thousands had presented themselves.
Col. John Pitchlynn stated to the missionaries who es
tablished a mission among the Choctaws several years after,
that he never saw so great a number of Indian warriors
gathered together. It was indeed a congregation vast of so
licitous and expectant men, whose breasts heaved and tossed
with the conflicting emotions of the wildest imaginations,
for rumor of war between the United States and England
liad reached them in their distant villages situated along the
banks of their rivers and creeks, and in their humble cabins
found scattered everywhere amid the deep solitudes of their
seemingly illimitable forests ; therefore hope and fear alter
nately held dubious sway o'er their minds as to the design
of Tecumseh's unexpected visit, and the calling them to
gether in council, which seemingly foreshadowed evil, also to
their respective nations as compulsory allies to the one or to
the other of the belligerent parties ; still no external mani
festations of any kind whatever were seen that betrayedythe
secret emotions within, as profound silence and the utmost
decorum were always and everywhere observed by the North
American Indians when assembling and having assembled in
national council.
But the light of that memorable day seemed to wane
308 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
slowly, and its sunset was followed by that seemingly breath
less pause and stupor so oft experienced in a southern clime.
The increasing dusk crept 011 by degrees, while the outlines
of familiar objects became blurred, then dim and fantastic
in the uncertain light. At length the leaves began to stir
and the placid waters of the itombi ikbi trembled in the
darkness, for the night wind had sprung .up freighted with
the cool breath and sweet odors of the surrounding forests,
as twilight dropped her 'mantle to her successor — night.
Then a huge pile of logs and chunks, previously prepared,
was set on fire — the signal to the waiting multitudes, who
sat in groups of hundreds around chatting in low tones and
smoking .their indispensable pipes, constructed in the heads-
of their tomahawks. Each group arose without delay or
confusion and in obedience to its mandates, marched up in
solemn and impressive silence, and took their respective
seats upon the ground forming" many wide, extended circles
around the blazing heap, but leaving an open space of twenty
or thirty feet in diameter for the occupancy of the speaker
and his attendants.
The chiefs and old warriors always formed the inner
circle; the middle aged, next, and soon to the outer circle,
which was composed of the young and less experienced war
riors, thus carrying out the old precept, "The old for
counsel, the young for war." All being seated, the pipes,
indispensable adjuncts in all the North American Indians'
national and religions assemblies, were lighted, and com
menced their rounds through the vast concourse of seated
men; and each one, as a pipe came to him, drew a whiff or
two, and then, in turn, passed it on to the next, while pro
found silence throughout the vast assembly reigned su
preme, disturbed alone by the crackling and sputtering of
the burning logs. ' 'Twas indeed a silence deep, as if all
nature had made a pause prophetic of the gathering storm.
What a beautiful characteristic of the North American
Indians was that of repressing every emotional feeling when
assembled in council or otherwise, and observing the most
profound silence when one of their number was speaking!
Even in the social circle, never but one speaks at a time
while the closest attention is given and the most profound
silence observed by the others. This was and is a part of
their education, an established rule of their entire race, into
the violation of which they were seldom if ever betra}^ed by
any kind of excitement whatsoever; and in visiting the Choc-
taw and Chickasaw councils in 1885, 1 found they still adhered
to the old established rule with the same rigid tenacity as-
did their ancestors east of the Mississippi river in the days-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 309
•of the long-ago. For this noble virtue (for virtue it may be
called) they are termed taciturn and grave, yet their national
sensibilities are deep, active and strong.
Soon Tecumseh was dimly seen emerging from the dark
ness beyond into the far reflected light of the blazing logs,
followed by his thirty warriors. With measured steps and
grave demeanor they slowly advanced. But no wild shouts
heralded their coming. No deafening yells proclaimed their
welcome. Silence deep and profound swayed her sceptre
there. Yet that vast assembly of silent men seated in cir
cles upon the ground, 'while clouds of tobacco smoke gently
floated o'er their heads; with countenances beaming with in
quiry as their calm but piercing eyes glistened in the reflect
ed light of the blazing logs, spoke a language to Tecumseh
more potent than the -wild huzzas of the whites ever did to
their approaching political favorite. In silence the circle
was opened as Tecumseh and his followers drew near
through which they slowly marched, then immediately closed
.-behind' them surrounding them by^ thousands of strangers;
but nothing to fear, for the Peace Pipe was in the left hand
of the mighty Shawnee, an emblem rigidly respected by all
North American Indians all over the continent. When Te
cumseh had reached a point near the fire, he halted and his
thirty warriors at once seated themselves on the ground
forming a crescent before their adored chieftain, while he,
the personification of true dignity and manly beauty, stood
erect and momentarily flashed his piercing1 eyes over the
mighty host as if to scan each countenance (that index of the
soul) and read its import, the better thereby to lav a proper
basis for the successful effect of his arguments in the sup
port of his mighty scheme.
Every eye was now fastened upon him, while, in turn,
beneath his high forehead flashed his own black and restless
eyes; and though his face wore a calm expression
yet there was a nervousness about him- withal that plainly
indicated one of those sensitive organisms that
kindle at the slightest warmth. But he sought not the
personal admiration or the praise of his audience. He
meant business serious and weighty; business, in which he
fell was involved thefuturedestiny of the entirelndian race for
weal or woe. Noble and unselfish patriot! How true thy
far-sighted statemanship! But alas, how unavailing! What
-an imposing and impressive scene was there! A hundred
closely formed circles of silent men seated on the ground
from whose dark features were reflected, by the light on
the burning log-heaps, a thousand conflicting emotions of
iiop£ and doubt, -as they gazed in profound silence upon the
310 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
imposing1 figure that stood in their midst. The scene at
this juncture, stated Col. Pitchlynn, was grand and impos
ing indeed, and worthy the pencil of a Raphael. Every
countenance told of suppressed feeling, and every eye
sparkled1 with mental excitement. An enthusiasm border
ing on ecstacy marked the manner of the elder, while the
young, sturdy fellows in the flower of manhood's strength,
had more than usual expression upon their faces, which
indicated that some of the deepest chords in their natures
had already been struck, holding- out a promise to them of
things undreamed of before, by touching- that note to which
their every breast gave more or less response.
Tecumseh's observant eye read its import at a glance,
and at once the tones of his voice broke the stillness. Now
he seemed nothing but nerves, and shot out magnetism that
electrified his hearers into like intensity of feeling-, and every^
nerve and muscle of the vast assembly seemed to take up
the measure and tingle with the same enthusiasm and feel
ing, as the wild orator voiced the sentiments of his audience.
In the outset he unfolded the desig-ns of the whites andjtheir
schemes to accomplish them ; he portrayed the consequences
that would inevitably ensue in case they should get the as
cendency ; he spared no artifice, omitted no topic that would
have a tendency to alarm their concern for their country, or
their fears for themselves ; he arraigned all the conduct of
the whites since their first introduction among their race,
and portrayed in vivid colors their ingenuity in concealing"
their avarice and 'covetousness under a veil of most gener
ous and disinterested principles ; and how insidious and vile
their schemes had ever been, and still continued to be ; he
made good use of the figures which g-ave force and energy
to his discourse, for no one better understood the designs of
the white man, and no one could better explain them than he;
therefore he drew his lines, sketched his plans, and well did
the drawings and sketches manifest the master's hand ; and
ere he had closed, strange alternatives of elevating hope were
manifest in the countenances of his silent and attentive
hearers.
He began his speech in a grave and solemn ifianner,
stated Col. Pitchlynn, which I here give in substance, as
follows :
"In view of questions of vast importance, have we met
together in solemn council to-night. Nor should we here
debate whether we have been wronged and injured, but by
what measures we should avenge ourselves ; for our merci
less oppressors, having long since planned out their proceed
ings, are not about to make, but have and are still making:
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 311
attacks upon those of our race who have as yet come to no
resolution. Nor are we ig-norant by what steps, and by
what gradual advances, the whites break in upon our neigh
bors. Imagining themselves to be still undiscovered, they
show themselves the less audacious because you are insen
sible. The whites are already nearly a match for us all
united, and too strong for any one tribe alor^e to resist ; so
that unless we support one another with our collective and
united forces ; unless every tribe unanimously combines to
grve a check to the ambition and avarice of the whites, they
will soon conquer us apart and disunited, and we will be
driven away from our native country and scattered as
autumnal leaves before the wind.
"But have we not courage enough remaining to defend
our country and maintain our ancient independence? Will
we calmly suffer the white intruders and tyrants to enslave
us? Shall it be said of our race that we knew not how to ex
tricate ourselves from the three most to be dreaded calami
ties — folly, inactivity and cowardice? But what need is
there to speak of the past? It speaks for itself and asks,
'Where to-day is the Pequod? Where the Narragansetts,
the Mohawks, Pocanokets, and many other once powerful
tribes of our race? They have vanished before the avarice and
oppression of the white men, as snow before a summe^" sun.
In the vain hope of alone defending their ancient possessions,
they have fallen in the wars with the wrhite men. Look
abroad over their once beautiful country, and what see you
now? Naught but the ravages of th£ pale-face destrovers
meet your eyes.^So it will be with you Choctaws and Chicka-
saws! Soon your mighty forest trees, under the shade of
whose wide spreading branches you have played in infancy,
sported in boyhood, and now rest your wearied limbs after
the fatigue of the chase, will be cut down to fence in the land
which the white intruders dare to call their own. Soon
their broad roads will pass over the grave of your fathers,
and the place of their rest will be blotted out forever. The
annihilation of our race is at hand unless we unite in one
common cause against the common foe. Think not, brave
Choctaws and Chickasaws, that you can remain passive and
indifferent to the common danger, and thus escape the com
mon fate. Your people too, will soon be as falling leaA^es
and scattering clouds before their blighting breath. You too
will be driven away from your native land and ancient do
mains as leaves are driven before the wintry storms."
These were corroding words; and well might terrible
thoughts of resistance pass through the minds of those
freemen and patriots, as, by the light of the burning heap
\
312 ^ HISTORY OF THB INDIANS.
gleaming- through the darkness of the night, they in admir
ing* silence gazed upon the face of Tecumseh and listened to
his .untaught eloquence, which thrilled and swayed, their
hearts and moved the deep waters of their souls, as he plead
the cause of right from the vindications of his own heart
upon which wa's written the statute — "A favor for a favor, an
injury for an injury."
"Sleep not longer, O Choctaws and Chickasaws," con
tinued the indefatigable orator, "in false security and delu
sive hopes. Our broad domains are fast .escaping from our
grasp. Every year our white intruders become more greedy,
exacting, oppressive and overbearing. Every year con
tentions spring up between them and our people and when
blood is shed we have to make atonement whether right or
wrong, at the cost of the lives of our greatest chiefs, and the
yielding up of larg'e tracts of our lands. Before the pale
faces came among us, we enjoyed the happiness of unbounded
freedom, and were acquainted with neither riches, wants,
nor oppression.*" How is it now? Wants and oppressions are
our lot; for are we not controlled in everything, and dare we
move without asking, by your leave? Are we not being strip
ped' day by day of the little that remains of our ancient
liberty? Do they not even now kick and strike us as they
•do their black-faces? How long will it be before they will tie
us to a post and whip us, and make us work for them in their
corn fields as they do them? Shall we wait for that moment
or shall we die fighting before submitting to such ignominy"?
At this juncture a low, muffled groan of indignation
forced its way through the clinched teeth running through
the entire assembly, and some of the younger warriors, no
longer enabled to restrain themselves, leaped from their
seats upon the ground, and, accompanying the act with the
thrilling war-whoops of defiance, nourished their toma
hawks in a frenzy of rage. Tecumseh turned his eyes upon
them with a calm but rebuking look, which spoke but too
well his disapproval of such an undignified and premature
display of feelings, which had interrupted him; then with
a gentle wave of the hand, the interpretation of which was
not very difficult, he again continued: "Have we not for
years had before our eyes a sample of their designs, and are
they not sufficient harbingers of their future determina
tions? Will we not soon be driven from our respective
countries and the graves of our ancestors? Will not the
bones of our dead be plowed up, and their graves be turned
into fields? Sjiall we calmly wait until they become so numer
ous that we will no longer be able to resist oppression?
Will we wait to be destroyed in our turn, without making an
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 313
effort worthy our race? Shall -we give up our homes, our
country, bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the graves of
our dead, and everything" that is dear and sacred to us, with
out a struggle? I know you will cry with me, Never!
Never! Then let us by unity of action destroy them all,
which we now can do, or drive them back whence they came.
War or extermination is now our only choice. Which do
you choose? I • know your answer. Therefore, I now call
on you, brave Choctaws and Chickasaws, to assist in the just
cause of liberating our race from the grasp of our faithless
invaders and heartless oppressors. '! he white usurpation
in our common country must be stopped, or we, its rightful
owners, be forever destroyed and wiped out as a race of
people. I am now at the head of many warriors backed by
the strong arm of English soldiers. Choctaws and Chicka-.
saws, you have too long borne with g'rievous usurpation in
flicted by the arrogant Americans. Be no longer their
dupes. If there be one here to-night who believes that his
rights will not sooner or later, be taken from him by the
avaricious American pale-faces, his ignorance ought tp excite
pity, for he knows little of the character of our common foe.
And if there be one among you -mad enough to undervalue
the growing power of the white race among us, let him
tremble in considering the fearful woes he will bring down
upon our entire race, if by his criminal indifference he
assists the designs of our common enemy against our com
mon country. Then listen to the voice of duty, of honor,
of nature and of your endangered country. L/et us form one
body, one heart, and defend to the last warrior our country,
our homes, our liberty, and the graves of our fathers.
"Choctaws and Chickasaws, you are among the'few of
our race who sit indolently at ease. You have indeed enjoy
ed the reputation of being brave, but will you be indebted
for it more from report than fact? Will vou let the whites
encroach upon your domains even to your very door. before
you will assert your rights in resistance ? Let no one in
this -council imagine that I speak more from malice against
the pale-face Americans than just grounds of complaint.
Complaint is just toward friends who have failed in their
du.ty ; accusation is against enemies guilty of injustice.
And surely, if any people ever had, we have good and just
reasons to believe we have ample grounds to accuse the
Americans of injustice; especially when such great acts of
injustice have been committed by them upon our race, of
which they seem to have no manner of regard, or even to re
flect. ; They are a people fond of innovations, quick to con
trive and quick to put their schemes into effectual execution,
314 ' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
no matter how great the wrong and injury to us; while we
are content to preserve what we already have. Their de
signs are to enlarge their possessions by taking yours in
turn ; and will you, can you longer dally, O Choctaws and
Chickasaws? Do you imagine that that people will not con
tinue longest in the enjoyment of peace who timely prepare
to vindicate themselves, and manifest a determined resolu
tion to do themselves right whenever they are wronged?
Far otherwise. Then haste to the relief of our common
ca^use, as by consanguinity of blood you are bound ; lest the
day be not far distant when you will be left single-handed
and alone to the cruel mercy of our most inveterate foe."
Though the North American Indians never expressed
their emotions by any audible signs whatever, yet the frown
ing brows, and the flashing eyes of that mighty concourse of
seated and silent men told Tecumseh, as he closed and took
his seat upon the ground among his warriors, that he had
touched a thousand chords whose vibrations responded in
tones that were in perfect unison and harmony with his own,
and he fully believed, and correctly too, that he had accom
plished the mission whereunto, he was sent, even beyond his
most sanguine hopes and expectations.
A few of the Choctaw and Chickasaw chiefs now arose
in succession and, walking to the centre, occupied, in turn,
the place which Tecumseh had just vacated and expressed
their opinions upon the question so new and unexpectedly
presented to them for their consideration; the majority lean
ing to the views advanced by the Shawnee chief, a few doubt
ing their expediency. Tecumseh was now jubilant, for his
cause; seemed triumphant. But at this crisis of affairs, a sud
den and unexpected change came o'er the scene. Another,
who, up to this time, had remained a silent but attentive
listener, arose and, free of all restraint, marched to the cen
tre mid the .deep silence that again prevailed. A noble speci
men also, was he, of manly beauty, strength, [and unlettered
eloquence, who was to fasten a ring in the nose of the mighty
Shawnee to lead him before all the Philistines at his royal
will and pleasure. As he drew himself up to his full height,
there was revealed the symmetrical form of the intrepid and
the most renowned and influential chief of the Choctaws, a
man of great dignity, unyielding firmness, undisputed brav
ery, undoubted veracity, sound judgment, and the firm and
undeviating friend of the American people. He was Apush-
amatahah.
All eyes were at once turned to and riveted upon him, as
he momentarily stood in profound silence surveying the faces
of his people with that indescribable expression which in-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 315-
clicated to the stranger, and none the less to the astonished
g-aze of Tecumseh, that under it lurked such fearlessness
as commanded respect. How truly and plainly the soul
writes its tale on that expressive and plastic tablet — the face
:>f man! Though habitually of a lively and jovial disposition,
yet Apufehamatahah could rival the lynx when he applied his
penetrating mind to detect the weak points of his opponent,
and present his arguments in such a manner as to unravel
the hidden meaning of those of his antagonist. Free from
any nervous agitation he calmly looked over his audience.
His long black locks fell back from a broad manly brow,
from which shone dark, eloquent eyes full of depth and lire;
his face broad and of a clear olive tint, his lips thin and
compressed, all united to give an expression of firmness and
intellectuality. The solemn manner and long silence that he
assumed as he calmly gazed upon the scene before him, was
as full of eloquence as any words he could have uttered, and
fell with unmistakable meaning upon the silent throng, upon
whose faces still shone the light of the blazing council fire,
reflecting no longer conflicting emotions, but one seemingly
united all pervading sentiment. War and extermination to
the whites. Apushamatahah's observant eye read its deep
signification. But n'othing daunted, he began in a low but
distinct tone of voice, which increased in volume and pathos as
he he became more and more animated. It was then that his
eloquence also struck other sympathetic chords in that
silent and attentive audience, and caused hundreds of hearts
to pulsate faster' under the magnetic influence of his words,
and feel at once that before'j:hem stood, what many already
knew, a great man. He also began his speech in the ancient
method of opening an address (long since obsolete), thus:
"O-mish-ke! A numpa tillofasih ish hakloh." (Attention!
Listen you to my brief remarks) ; and then continued in
substance as follows:
"It was not my design in coming here to enter into a
disputation with any one. But I appear before you, my
warriors and mv people not to throw in my plea against the
accusations of Tecumseh; but to prevent your forming rash
and dangerous resolutions upon things of highestimportance,
through the instigations of others. I have myself learned
by experience, and I also see many of you, O Choctaws and
Chickasaws, who have the same experience of years that I
have, the injudicious steps of engaging in an enterprise be
cause it is new. Nor do I stand up before you to-night to
contradict the many facts alleged against the American
people, or to raise my voice against them in useless-accusa
tions. The question before us now is not wThat wrongs-
316 HISTORY OF THB INDIANS.
they have inflicted upon our race, but what measures are
best for us to adopt in regard to them; and though our race
may have been unjustly treated and shamefully wronged by
them, yet I shall not for that reason alone advise you to de
stroy them, unless it was just and expedient for you so to do;
nor, would I advise you to forgive them, thoug-h worthy of
your commiseration, unless I believe it would be to the in
terest of our common good. We should consult more in re
gard to our future welfare than our present. What people,
my friends and countrymen, were so unwise and inconsid
erate as to engage in a war of their own accord, when their
own strength, and even with the aid of others, was judged
unequal to the task? I well know causes often arise which
force men to confront extremities, but, my countrymen,
those causes do not now exist. Reflect, therefore, I* earn
estly beseech you, before you acthas'tily in this great matter,
arid consider with yourselves how greatly you will err if you
injudiciously approve of and inconsiderately act upon Te-
cumseh's advice. Remember the American people are now
friendly disposed toward us. Surely you are convinced that
the greatest good will result to us by the adoption of and ad
hering to those measures I have before recommended to
you; and, without giving too great a scope to mercy or for
bearance, by which I could never permit myself to be se
duced, I earnestly pray you to follow my advice in this
weighty matter, and in following it resolve to adopt those ex
pedients for our future welfare. My friends and fellow
countrymen! you now have no just cause to declare war
against the American people, or wreak your vengeance upon
them as enemies, since they have ever manifested feelings
of friendship towards you. It is besides inconsistent with
vour national glory and with your honor, as a people, to vio
late your solemn treaty; and a disgrace to the memory of
your forefathers, to wage war against the American people^
merely to gratify the malice of the .English.
"The war, which you are now contemplating against
the Americans, is a flagrant breach of justice; yea, a fear
ful blemish on your honor and also that of your fathers, and
which you will flnd if you will examine it carefully and judi
ciously, forbodes nothing but destruction to our entire race.
It is a war against a people whose territories are now far
greater than ^our own, and who are far better provided with
all the necessary implements of war, with men, guns,
horses, wealth, far beyond that of all our race combined, and
where is the necessity or wisdom to make war upon such a
people? Where is our hope of success, if thus weak and un
prepared we should declare it against them ? Let us not be
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 317
deluded with the foolish hope that this war, if begun, will
soon be over, even if we destroy all the whites within our
territories, and lay waste their homes and fields. Far from
it. It wijl be but the beginning of the end that terminates
in the total destruction of our race. And though we will
not permit ourselves to be made slaves, or, like inexperienced
warriors, shudder at the thought of war, yet I am not so in
sensible and inconsistent as to advise you to cowardly yield
to the outrages of the whites, or wilfully to connive at their
unjust encroachments ; but only not yet to have recourse to
war, but to send embassadors to our Great Father at Wash
ington, and lay before him our grievances, without betraying
too great eagerness for war, or manifesting any tokens of
pusillanimity. Let us, therefore, my fellow countrymen,
form our resolutions with great caution and prudence upon
a subject of such vast importance, and in which such fearful
consequences may be involved.
"Heed not, O, my countrymen, the opinions of others to
that extent as to involve your country in a war that destroys
,its peace and endangers its future safety, prosperity and
happiness. Reflect, ere it be too late, on the great uncer
tainty of war with the American people, and consider well,
ere you engage in it, what the consequences will be if you
should be disappointed in, your calculations and expectations*
Be not deceived with illusive hopes. Hear me, O, my coun
trymen, if you begin this war it will end in calamities to us
from which we are now free and at a distance; and upon
wrhom of us they will fall, will only be determined by the un
certain and hazardous event. Be not, I pray you, guilty of
rashness, which I never as yet have known you to be; there
fore, I implore you, while healing measures are in the elec
tion of us all, not to break the treaty, nor violate vour pledge
of honor, but to submit our grievances, whatever they may
be, to the Congressvof the United States, according to the
articles of the treaty existing between us and the American
people. If not, I here invoke the Great Spirit, wrho takes-
cognizance of oaths, to bear me witness, that I shall endeavor
to avenge myself upon the authors of this war, by whatever
methods you shall set me an example. Remember we are a
people who have never grown insolent with success, or be
come abject in adversity; but let those who invite us to haz
ardous attempts by uttering our praise, also know that the
pleasure of hearing has never elevated our spirits above our
judgment, nor an endeavor to exasperate us by a flow of in
vectives to be provoked the sooner to compliance. From
tempers equally balanced let it be known that we are warm
in the field of battle, and cool in the hours of debate ; the for-
318 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
mer, because a sense of duty has the greater influence over
a sedate disposition, and magnanimity the keenest sense of
shame; and thoug-h good we are at debate, still our education
is not polite enough to teach us a contempt of laws, yet by its
severity gives us so muclugood sense as never to disregard
them.
"We are not a people so impertinently wise as to invali
date the preparations of our enemies by a plausible haran
gue, and then absolutely proceed to a contest; but we reckon
the thoughts of the pale-faces to be of a similar cast with our
own, and that hazardous contingenciesarenottobe'determined
by a speech. We always presume that the projects of our
enemies are judiciously planned, and then we seriously pre
pare to defeat them. Nor do we found our success upon the
hope that they will certainly blunder in their conduct, but
upon the hope that we have omitted no proper steps for our
own security. Such is the discipline which our fathers
have handed down to us; and by adhering1 to it, we have
reaped many advantages. Let us, my countrymen, not forget
it now, nor in short space of time precipitately determine a
question in which so much is involved. It is indeed the duty
of the prudent, so long as they are not injured, to delight in
peace. But it is the duty of the brave, when injured, to lay
peace aside, and to have recourse to arms; and when success
ful in these, to then lay them down again in peaceful quiet;
thus never to be elevated above measure by success in war,
nor delighted with the sweets of peace to suffer insults. For
he who, apprehensive of losing the delight, sits indolently at
ease, will soon be deprived of the enjoyment of that delight
which interesteth his fears; and he whose passions are in
flamed by military success, elevated too high by a treacher
ous confidence, hears no longer the dictates of judgment.
"Many /are the schemes, though unadvisedly planned,
through the more unreasonable conduct of an enemy, which
turn out successful ; but more numerous are those which,
though seemingly founded on mature counsel, draw after
them a disgraceful and opposite result. This proceeds from
that great inequality of spirit with which an exploit is pro
jected, and with which it is put into actual execution. For
in council we resolve, surrounded with security ; in execu
tion we faint, through the prevalence of fear. Listen to
the voice of prudence, oh, my countrymen, ere you rashly
act. But do as you may, know this truth, enough for you tcr,
- know, I shall join our friends, the Americans, in this war."
The observant eye of Tecumseh saw, ere Apushamajta-
hah had closed, that the tide was turning against him ; afvcl,
maddened at the unexpected eloquence, the bold and irre-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 319
sistible arguments of the Choctaw orator, the moment
Apushamatahah had taken his seat he sprang- to the center
of the circle and, as a last effort to sustain his waning- cause,
cried out in a loud, bold and defiant tone of voice, "All who
will follow me in this war throw your tomahawks into the
air above your heads." Instantly the air for many feet above
was filled with the clashing- of ascending-, revolving- and de
scending tomahawks, then all was hushed. Tecumseh
then turned his piercing- eyes upon Apushamtahah with a
haughty air of triumph, and ag-ain took his seat. All eyes
were instantly turned to where the fearless hero sat. "At
once the mighty Choctaw, nothing daunted, sprang- to his
feet, gave the Choctaw hoyopatassuha (war-whoop), then,
with the nimble bound of an antelope, leaped into the circle,
and hurling his tomahawk into the air, shouted in a loud and
defiant tone, "All who will follow me to victory and glory in
this war let me also see your tomahawks in the air."
Again the air seemed filled with tomahawks. Again
silence prevailed. The test has been made, and what is the
issue? The two forest orators have just counterpoised each
others' arguments, making an equal division in opinion
among the vast assembly of warriors, which caused a strange
alternative of hope in the one, and of apprehension in the
other, of the now newly formed and opposing parties. Truly,
that midnight council presented as wild and romantic a
scene as can possibly be imagined, but which neither words
nor pencil can justly express or paint; the wild glare of the
burning log-heap alternately presenting in different shades
the immediate surroundings in all their picturesque and
romantic appearance; the voice of nature's unlettered and
untutored orators alone disturbing the stillness of the night;
friends and countrymen besieged by conflicting emotions
expressed alone by the face. What a medley was there and
then presented! some incredulous, some convinced; some
hopeful, some despairing; but all breasts heaving with the
wildest, conflicting emotions. But I leave the reader to turn
his thoughts upon it, and view it through the whole of its
proceedings by the power of his imagination, which he can
only do.
What now was to be done in this dilemma of a dubious
issue? If half followed the suggestions of Tecumseh, and
took sides with the English, and the other, those of Apush
amatahah declaring for the Americans, it would virtually be
civil war, and that should not — must not be. To settle the
question, after many conflicting suggestions had been pro
posed and rejected by first one and then the other of the two
opposing parties, it was finally resolved to refer the matter
320 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
to an aged Choctaw seer, living some distance away, and
abide by his decision. The council adjourned to await his
coming. A proper deputation was immediately sent to
request his presence without delay, which returned in the
evening of the second day accompanied by the old and vener
able Choctaw hopaii (seer) whose white locks and wrinkled
face proclaimed life's journey had passed many years beyond
man's alloted period of three score and ten. As the twilight
of the declining day approached, the council fire was replen
ished, and when night again had thrown o'er all her sable
mantle, the council once more convened.
Again Tecumseh made the opening speech, rehearsing
his designs and plans before the attentive seer and warrior
host in strains of the most fascinating eloquence. Again
followed Apushamatahah, who fell not behind his worthy
competitor in native eloquence and logical argument. No
other spoke, for both parties had mutually left the mooted
question in the hands of the two great chiefs, statesmen and
orators. When the two distinguished disoutants had been
respectively heard by the aged seer, he arose and slowly
walked to the centre of the circle, gazed a moment over the
silent but solicitous throng, and then said: "Assemble here
to-morrow vrhen the sun shall be yonder — pointing to the
zenith^ — buila i scaffold there — pointing to the spot — as high
as my head; fill up the intervening space beneath with dry
wood; bring also a red heifer two years old free of all disease,
and tie her near the sGaffold;'and to-morrow the Great Spirit
will decide for you this great question."
On the next day the appointed hour found the multitude
assembled; the altar erected; the wood prepared, and the
sacrificial offering in waiting. The seer then ordered the
heifer to be slain; the skin removed; the entrails taken out
and placed some distance away; the carcase cut up into
small pieces and laid upon the scaffold; he then applied a
brand of fire to the dry wood under the scaffold; then com
manded the vast multitudes, all, everyone, to stretch them
selves upon the ground, faces to the earth, and thus to re
main in profound silence until he ordered them to rise, which
command was instantly obeyed; then seizing the bloody skin
he stretched it upon the ground, hair downward, and
quickly rolled himself up in it, and commenced a series of
prayers and doleful lamentations, at the same time rolling
himself backward and forward before the consuming sacri
fice uttering his prayers and lamentations intermingled with
dissonant groans fearful to be heard; and thus he continued
until the altar and the flesh thereon were entirely consumed.
Then freeing himself from the skin, he sprang to his feet
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 321
and said: "Osh (the) Hoche-to (Great) Shilup (Spirit) a-
num-pul-ih (has spoken). Wak-a-yah (rise) ah-ma (and) Een
(His) a-num-pa (message) hak-loh (hear). ^All leaped to their
feet, and gathered in close circles around their venerated
seer, who, pointing to the sky, exclaimed: "The Great
Spirit tells me to warn you against the dark and evil designs
of Tecumseh, and not to be deceived by his words; that his
schemes are unwise; and if entered into by you, will bring
you into trouble; that the Americans are our friends, and
you must not take up the tomahawk against them; if you do,
vou will bring sorrow and desolation upon yourselves and
nations. Choctaw and Chickasaws, obey the words of
the Great Spirit.'1 Enough! As oil upon the storm agi
tated waters of the sea, so fell the mandates of the Great
Spirit upon the war agitated hearts of those forest warriors,
and all was hushed to quiet; reason assumed again her sway;
peace rejoiced triumphant, as all in harmony sought their
forest homes; and thus the far scattered white settlers, in
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and the western
portion of Tennessee, escaped inevitable destruction; for,
had Tecumseh been successful in uniting those five then
powerful and warlike tribes into the adoption of his schemes
scarcely a white person would have been left in
all their broad territories to tell the tale of
their complete extermination; since the wily Shawnee
had laid off for each ^ibe its particular field of
operation, before he had left his northern home to entice
them into daring schemes. The whites were then but fewv
scattered here and there, and at great distances apart, and
could not have competed even with the Choctaws alone, as,
they, at that time, numbered between thirty and forty thou
sand warriors, and, besides, the blow would have fallen upon
them when least expected and most unprepared.
But the long cherished hopes of Tecumseh were blas
ted, and Apushamatahah erected his trophies upon his de
feat. Though greatly disappointed, yet not disheartened,
Tecumseh at once set his footsteps toward the Muscogee
Nation, now the State of Georgia.
Apushamatahah, who then lived near St. Stephens, now
in Washington county, Alabama, turned his steps directly
for that little town.^ Rumor of Tecumseh 's presence among
the Choctaws and Chickasaws, and the council on the Tana-
poh Ikbfh river, had preceded him ; and when he arrived at
the little place he found it in a blaze of excitement, for a
thousand exaggerated reports had but added to the conjec
ture as to the convening of the two tribes in common coun
cil, with the noted Shawnee Chief. But their fears were
.'322 HISTORY OP THE INDIANS.
wholly allayed when the noble Apushamatahah, whose vera
city none questioned, rode into the little town, and gave a
short sketch of the proceedings at the council, and also
proffered the services of himself and warriors to the Ameri-
'cans, which were cordially accepted by George S. Gaines, then
-United States agent to the Choctaws. and who, in company
"with the noble chief, immediately hastened to Mobile, to in
form General Flournoy of Apushamatahah 's proposition.
'To the astonishment of all, General Flournoy refused to ac-
•cept the offer of the great Choctaw chief and warriors; while
from every mouth loud curses and bitter denunciations were
heard against his considered folly and seeming madness.
-With heavy heart and unpleasant forebodings Gaines return-
<ed to St. Stephens with Apushamatahah, whose grave silence
..but too plainly told the wound inflicted.
Fortunately, however, Flournoy reconsidered his re-
'fusal, and at once sent word to Gaines not only to accept the
proposal of Apushamatahah in the name of the United States,
but also to go immediately into the Choctaw Nation and se-
•cure the Choctaws as allies in the approaching war. There
had been great apprehension lest the Choctaws would unite
nvith the Muscogees and other disaffected tribes, as allies to
the English; which they would, perhaps, have done, had
Flournoy's rejection of Apushamatahah's proposal been
given previous to the council held but a few days before.
Apushamatahah, without delay, returned to his people then'
in the northern district of his Nation — contiguous to~the
Chickasaw Nation, and there assembled his warriors in coun-
t<$fo while Gaines hastened to Colonel John Pitchlynn's house,
ne^r where the council with Tecumseh had but shortly
•adjourned, and where he was fortunate enough to meet
^Colonel McKee, United States Agent to the Chickasaws. At
that time, the Choctaw Nation was divided into three dis
tricts, of which Apushamatahah was the ruling chief of the
.eastern, Apakfohlichihubih, of the northern, and Amosho-
lihubih of the southern. Gaines at once left Colonel Pitch-
lynn's.^-W'd hastened to the Choctaw council, where he found
Apusfaamatahah and several thousand of his warriors already
-Assembled; to whom Apushamatahah made a long and elo
quent speech denouncing the ambitious views of Tecumseh,
and extolling the friendship of the American people; then
'.offered to lead all who would follow him, to victory and glory
against the enemies of the Americans. As soon as he had
concluded his speech, a warrior sprang from his seat on the
ground, and striking his breast repeatedly with the palm of
:h}.s right hand, shouted: "Choctaw siah! Tushka chitoh
.siah aiena! Pimnii miko nno iakiyah. (A Choctaw I am. I
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 323
•am also a great warrior. I will follow our chief) . To which
action and sentiment the whole council at once responded.
In the mean time, McKee hastened with Colonel John Pitch-
lynn to the Chickasaw Nation, and by mutual efforts suc
ceeded in assembling" them in council, and successfully
secured them also as the allies to the Americans. Thus, by
the firmness, influence and eloquence of the great and g*ood
.Apushamatahah, Tecumseh's plans were thwarted, and those
two then powerful tribes, the Choctaws and Chickasaws,
secured as allies to the Americans, in the Avar with England
in 1812, and also in that known as "The Creek war."
In the council convened, in which the Choctaws declared
in favor of the Americans against the English and the Mus-
cogees, Apushamatahah publicly announced that, every
Choctaw warrior wrho joined the Muscogees,- should be shot,
if ever they returned home. Still, there were thirty young
warriors under the leadership of a sub-chief named Illi
Shuah (Dead Stink), who joined the Muscogees. It was said,
five or six lived to return home after the defeat of the Mus
cogees, all of whom Apushamatahah caused to be shot. But
an aged Choctaw (long since deceased) whom I interviewed
concerning- the subject, stated that all the thirty warriors,
who joined the Muskog-ees under Illi Shuah, were slain in
battle to a man; but Illi Shuah escaped and finally returned
home, but he did not remember whether Apushamatahah
had him shot or not. In the "Creek Avar," Apushamatahah,
assisted General Jackson with seven hundred warriors; and
in the "Battle of Orleans," with five hundred. In both of
which they proved themselves to be worthy allies in bravery
and in the use of the deadly rifle.
The noble Apushamatahah descended not through a
successive line of chiefs, but was of common parentage. Yet
of whom it may be truly said: He was one of nature's nobil
ity, and born to command — a man who raised himself from
the obscurity of the wilderness unlettered and untaught;
but by his superior native talents, undaunted bravery, noble
generosity, unimpeachable integrity, unassumed hospitality
to the known and unknown, won the admiration, respect,
confidence and love of his people; and also, of all the whites —
high or low, rich or poor — who were personally acquainted
with him. He was truly and justly the pride of the Choctawr
people when living, and their veneration today though long-
dead. He acknowledged no paternity. Yet, hfs own state
ment in regard to his genaeology, as related to me by the
aged Choctaws of the past, and is still mentioned by their
descendants at the present day, with great pride, as charac-
324 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
teristic of the manly independence of their honored chief
tain, is worthy of record. It is in substance as follows:
On one occasion a deputation was sent by the Choctaws
to Washing-ton City to present the respects of their nation to
the President of the United States who, at that time, was
Andrew Jackson, and to assure him of their abiding- friend
ship toward him as the "Great Chief" of the American peo
ple, and to also confer with him relative to the future inter
ests and welfare of their nation. The renowned Apushama-
tahah was one of the deputation. A few days after their
arrival in the city a reception was given to them, at which
many of the cabinet and representative officers were pres
ent. Among the many and various questions that were
asked of the different members of the delegation was the
question, How they became so distinguished among- their
people ? To which various answers were given, each telling-
his own story of the exploits which brought him out of ob
scurity and placed his name in the temple of human fame.
Apushamatahah, up to this time, had said nothing-. At length
President Jackson requested the interpreter to ask him how
.he became such a great warrior and renowned chief. To
which Apushamatahah coolly and with unassumed indiffer
ence replied: "Tell the white chief it's none of his busi
ness." This unexpected retort attracted the attention of
all present, and all eyes were at once turned upon the bold
chief. Jackson, amused at the reply, and pleased at the
manly independence of the noble chief, requested the inter
preter to propound the same question again ; which was
done, but to which Apushamatahah seemed to give no heed.
The curiosity of all being- greatly excited, the question was
asked still again. To which Apushamatahah then replied :
"Well, if the white chief must know, tell him fhat Apusha-
matahahubih has neither father nor mother, nor kinsman
upon the earth. Tell him that once upon a time, far away
from here in the great forests of the Choctaw Nation, a dark
cloud arose from the western horizon, and with astonishing-
velocity, traveled up the arched expanse ; across its dark
face the bright lightning played in incessant flashes, while
the rolling thunder reverberated in muffled tones from hill
to hill amid the vast solitudes of the surrounding forests.
Swiftly and majestically it climbed the western sky,
while the lightning flashed, followed by the thunder's roar in
successive peal after peal. In silence profound, -till animate
nature stood apart ; soon the fearful cloud reached the zen
ith, then as quickly spread its dark mantle o'er the sky en
tire, shutting out the light of the sun, and wrapping earth in
midnight gloom, ligh'ted only in lucid intervals by the light-
HISTORY OF THB INDIANS. 325
rung's fitful glare, followed by peals of thunder in deafening
roar. Then burst the cloud and rose the wind; and while
falling rains and howling winds, lightnings gleam and thun
ders roar, in wild confusion blended, a blinding flash blazed
athwart the sky as if to view the scene, 'then hurled its
strength against a mig'hty oak— an ancient monarch of tWe
woods that for ages had defied the storm with his boasted
power — and cleft it in equal twain from utmost top to lowest
bottom; when, lo! from its riven trunk leaped a mighty
man; in stature, perfect ; in wisdom, profound; in bravery,
unequalled — a full-fledged warrior. 'Twas-Apushamatahah-
ubih."
In November 1812, Apushamatahah visited General
Claiborne. When he approached the General's tent, he was
received by thelieutenanton guard, who invited him to drink,
that "civilized" method of the whites to prove the sincere
emotions of the heart in regard to friendship. Apushama
tahah answered only with adook of 'contempt. He recognized
no equal with one epaulette. When Gen Claiborne walked
in, the Choctaw Chieftan shook him by the hand and proudly
.said, as to one equal, "Chief, I will drink with you." He
was six feet two inches in height, of powerful frame and
Herculean strength, and with features after the finest models
of the antique, composed, dignified, and seductive in his de
portment, and was the most remarkable man the Choctaws
ever produced since the days of Cbahtah, the Great Miko of
their traditional past. He was sometimes called Koi Hosh,
(The Panther); and sometimes, Ossi Hosh; sometimes Oka
Chilohonfah (Falling Water).; The two first alluding to his
quick movements and daring exploits in war, and the latter,
to the sonorous and musical intonations of his voice.
Sam Dale, the renowned scout of General Andrew Jack
son in the "Creek war" of 1812, and as famous in his day,
as Kit Carson in the narrative of Gen. Fremont in his ex
ploring expedition over the Rocky Mountains, stated that he
had heard Tecumseh and the Prophet of the Shawtiees;
Bill Weatherford of the Muscogees; Big Warrior of the
Cherokees, and Apokfohlichubih of the Choctaws, besides
the most distinguished American orators in congress, but
never one who had such music in his tones, such energy in
his manner, and such power over his audience as Apushama
tahah, the Choctaw chief, patriot and warrior.
Many characteristic anecdotes are related of him, and
of which I will mention a few: A feud once existed between
him and another Choctaw chief of the Yazoo district, and it
was generally believed that when they met their tomahawks
•would settle the difference between them. One day his rival
326' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
was seen approaching- in company with a large party of war
riors; and on a nearer approach, manifested great agitation
irresolutely grasping1 his tomahawk/ Apushamatahah, as
soon as he discovered him shoutedhis challenging- warwhoop,
rushed toward him with his long hunting knife in his hand,
then suddenly stopped, and with a smile of the utmost con
tempt, cried out "Hushi osh chishikta! Katihma ish wun-
nichih! Hosh mahli Keyumahlih. Ea, ho bak! Ea!"
(Leaf of the red-oak! Why. do you tremble? The wind
blows not. Go, coward! Go!) The word hobak is consid
ered by the Choctaws, as a word of the greatest reproach
and most unpardonable offense that could possibly be ap
plied to a man, its true signification being an eunuch.
^Apushamatahah was very sensitive at the appearance of
anything- that even bore the appearance of oppression. A
few soldiers, at that day, were stationed at the agency among-
the Choctaws, as they are and always have b'een among- all
Indians, as a bright (?) manifestation of the great confidence(?)
~the whites cherished in the integrity and friendship of all
Indians; and one of the soldiers being addicted to drunk
enness, and at one time having- become boisterously drunk,,
he was tied to a tree, for the want of that necessary ap
pendage to an Indian Ag-ency, as well as to all towns among-
the whites, a jail or guard house, until he became sober.
Apushamatahah happening- to pass by and seeing" the
soldier, tied asked him of what he was guilty, that he should
be placed in so humiliating- a condition; being told the cause-,
he at once released the unfortunate man, exclaiming, "Is
that all? many good warriors get drunk."
Apushamatahah, in unison with the ancient custom of
the Choctaws, had two wives. Being asked if he did not
consider it wrong for a man to have more than one living-
wife, he replied: ''Certainly not. Should not every woman
be allowed the privilege of having a husband, as well as a man
a wife? and how can every one have a husband when there are
more women than men? Our Great Father had the Choc
taws counted last year, and it was ascertained that there
were more women than men, and if a man was allowed but
one wife many of our women would have no husbands.
Surely, the women should have equal chances with the men
in that particular."
During- the Creek war of 1814, in which Apushamatahah
was engag-ed with eight hundred of his warriors as allies of
the United" States, as before stated, a small company of
Choctaw women, among whom was the wife of Apushamata
hah, visited their husbands and friends then in the Ameri
can army in the Creek Nation. A white soldier, grossly
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 327
insulted the wife of the distinguished Choctaw chief, for
which the justly indignant chief knocked him down with the
hilt of his sword, instead of plunging it through his body, as~
he should have done. Being arrested for the just anc£ meri
torious act, and asked by the commanding general the rea
sons for his act, he fearlessly answered: "He insulted my
wife, and I knocked the insolent dog down; but had you,.
General, have insulted her as that common soldier did, I
would have used the point upon you instead of the hilt, in,
resenting an insult offered to my wife." And he would have
been as good as his word; for a Choctaw then, as now, is not
slow in resenting any insult offered to the female portion of
his family, and his work is quick and sure; and had not the
noble Apushamatahal}. regarded the soldier who insulted his
wife, as too contemptible a creature for the point of his-
sword, he would have plunged it through his body without a
moment's hesitation; and that he only knocked him down
with the hilt, is sufficient evidence that he did not regard!
him worthy its point.
• Apushamatahah was exceedingly fond of engaging in.
that ancient and time-honored amusement, the famous To-
lih (ball play) ; and in which the Choctaws, as well as the
southern portion of their race, took great delight — a gymna
sium indeed, where were exhibited and tried the various,
physical powers of man, unsurpassed on earth; and in which
even those of ancient Greece and Rome dwindle into insig
nificance.
While battling with his warriors for the interests of the
Americans under Andrew Jackson, in 1814. General Jackson
presented to Apushamatahah a complete military suit and
sword, as worn by the American generals ; which he wore
with manly and becoming dignity until the close of the war;
which, after the close, he took off and hung up in his cabin,,
and never afterwards put on the suit ; but donned his native
garb and once more became the Apushamatahah of his peo
ple. Having become wearied, however, in looking upon the
white man's insignia — that feeble representation of true-
greatness in the opinion of the Choctaw hero — he took the:
suit from its resting place, rolled it up and fastened it to one-
end of a long rope, then attached the other end to his belt;
and then, with quiver full of arrows hung over his left
shoulder and bow in hand, marched through various parts of
his /village, dragging the insignificant badge of meritorious
distinction on the ground behind him; at each house he ap
proached, he shot a chicken, if one was found ; took it up and.
inserted its head under his belt ; then he continued his silent,
walk, and seeking another house, there shot another, chicken,.
328 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
also slipped its head under his belt : and thus he continued
his march from house to house with a solemn and silent grav
ity, taxing- each a chicken until he had shot as many as he
could slip heads under the belt. The owners of the chickens
said nothing-, knowing1 that some fun was ahead. He then
walked to an untaxed house with his load of chickens dang
ling- from his belt, had them nicely dressed and cooked, then
invited all from whom he had taken a chicken to come and
partake of the feast he had thus unceremoniously prepared
for them. They went and had a jolly time, Apushamatahah
figuring- as the g-ayest among- the g-ay. He left his suit lying
upon the ground before the door of the house at which he
deposited the chickens, a frail memento of human greatness
with its hopes departed.
In 1823, Apushamatahah, then about sixty years of age.
walked about 80 miles from his home (being too poor to own a
horse, and too proud to borrow one) to attend a council of his
Nation. Mr. John Pitchlynn, then United States interpreter
to the Choctaws, and Mr. Ward, United States agent, (with
both of whom I was in boyhood personally acquainted), were
present at the council. At the adjournment of the council,
Mr. Ward suggested to Mr. Pitchlynn that they purchase a
horse for the old chief. Mr. Pitchlynn readily acquiesced
in the proposition, but with the proviso that Apushamatahah
must pledge his word that he would not sell the horse for
whiskey. Apushamatahah cheerfully gave the pledge, re
ceived the horse and departed for his distant home highly
•elated with his unexpected good fortune. A few months
.after he visited the- agency, and Ward discovered that he
was again minus a horse, and learned, upon inquiry that he
had lost the presented horse in betting him on a ball-play.
Ward at once accused him of violating his pledged word,
which Apushamatahah as firmly denied. "But you promised,"
continued Ward, "that you would not sell the horse."
"True I did;" retorted the venerable old chief. "But I did
not promise you and my good friend, John Pitchlynn, that I
would not bet him in a game of ball. Ward conceded the
victory to Apushamatahah, and chided him no more.
In 1824, this great and good man visited Washington
'City in company with other Ghoctaw chiefs, as delegates of
their Nation to the United States government; at which time
he made the following remarks to the Secretary of War,
which were written down as he spoke them.
"Father, I haye been here many days, but have1 not
talked, have been sick. I belong to another district, differ
ent from these my companions and countrymen. You have
no doubt Jbeaund of me, I am Apushamatahahubih. When in
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 329
my own country, I often looked towards this Council House,
and desired to see it, I have come, but I am in trouble, and
would tell my sorrows; for I feel as a little child reclining
in the bend of its father's arms, and looks up into his face
in childish confidence to tell him of its troubles; and I would
now recline in the bend of your arm, and trustingly look in
your face, therefore hear my words.
"When at my distant home in my own native land, I
heard thai men had been appointed to talk to us; I refrained
from speaking there, as I preferred to come here and speak;
therefore I am here to-day. I can boastingly say, and in so
doing speak the truth, that none of my ancestors, nor my
present Nation, ever fought against the United States. As
a Nation of people, we have always been friendly, and ever
listened to the applications of the American People. We
have given of our country to them until it has become very
small. I came here years ago when a young man to see my
Father Jefferson. He then told me if ever we got into
trouble we must come and tell him, and he would help us.
We are in trouble, and have come; but I will now let another
talk."
The above was but a preliminary to a speech he intended
to make, and which, had he lived to have delivered, would
have proved to his hearers in Washington his great native
eloquence, which had been so long and much eulogized by
the whites who had often heard him around the council fires
of his Nation.
In conversation with the noble General Lafayette during
the same visit to Washington City Apushamatahah closed
with the following : "This is the first time I have seen you,
and I feel it will be the last. The earth will separate us for
ever — farewell !" How prophetic ! He died but a few days
after. When stretched upon his bed of death, fully con
scious of his near approaching end, he calmly turned his
eyes upon the faces of the Choctaw delegates standing
around him, and said : "I am dying, and will never return
again to our native and loved land. But you will go back to
our distant homes ; and as you journey you will see the wild
flowers of the forests and hear the songs of the happy birds
of the woods, but Apushamatahahubih will see and hear
them no more.
•'When you return home you will be asked, 'Apushama
tahah katimmaho?' (where is1 Apushamatahah?), and you
will -answer, 'Illitok' (dead to be). And it will fall upon their
>ars as the sound of a mighty oak falling in the solitude of
the woods." His dying words were — "Illi siah makinli sa
paknaka tanapoh chitoh tokalichih" (As soon as I am dead
330 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
shoot off the big- guns above). The request of the dying-
hero was strictly complied with. The minute-guns were
fired on Capitol Hill as the solemn and imposing procession
of half a mile in length marched to the cemetery — that silent
and melancholy habitation of the dead — and there the great
Choctaw Chief and warrior found a grave where all distinc
tions cease and where neither flatteries, nor censures, nor
proffered wealth, nor honors, could seduce his incorruptible
heart.
His surrounding brother chiefs erected a monument
over the grave of their distinguished chieftain, with the fol
lowing meritorious epitaph, — "Apushamatahah, a Choctaw
Chief; lies here. This monument to his memory is erected
by his brother chiefs who were associated with him in a dele
gation from their nation, in the year 1824, to the government
of the United States. \ Apushamatahah was a warrior of
great distinction. He was wise in council, eloquent to an
extraordinary degree ; and on all occasions, and under all cir
cumstances, the white man's friend. He died in Washing
ton on the 24th of December, 1824, of the croup, in the 60th
year of his age."
Apushamatahah had only one son, who was named John
son. He moved with his people to their present homes,
and served them in the capacity of Prosecuting Attorney
for many years, in Apushamatahah District. He lived to
prove himself worthy of his distinguished father, and in
many respects was a true scion of the parent trunk.
Truly, if the adventures through which Apushamatahah
passed had been preserved, they would have furnished alone
abundant material for all the writers of romance in the
United States, for years.
It is conceded by all who knew him, that he was the
most renowned warrior and influential chief of the Choctaw
Nation, since their acquaintance with the whites. He was a
man who never surrendered nor disguised his opinions and con
victions upon any subje'ct whatever. His recoil from all that
which was mean, selfish, false, and unjust resembled the im
pulse with which, the strongly bent bow recoils from the
curve to which the strong arm of the experienced archer has
forced it.
Nor did Tecumseh, whom I would not pass unheeded by,
fall below Apushamatahah; and he too may deservedly have
a place among the greatest of the North American Indian
chiefs;and truthfully may it be said of him, his arm pervaded,
his vigilance detected, his spirit animated, and his generosity
won, in all directions, and he ever maintained the standing
he acquired among all his race everywhere.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 331
That Tecumseh was a man of tender feeling's and noble
principles is sufficiently attested in his actions at Fort
Miami. When the white prisoners, taken at Fort Meigs in
1813, were confined in Fort Miami by General Proctor, some
of them were being- slain by the Indians in the presence of
Proctor, and his officers, when suddenly a thrilling voice in
the Shawnee language was heard, and soon Tecumseh was
seen approaching- on his horse at full speed, and spring-
ing to the ground where two Indians were in the act of kill
ing an American prisoner, he hurled them both to the ground,
then brandishing his tomahawk he threatened death to the
Indian that dared to kill another prisoner. All knew too
well that the fearless chieftain threatened not in vain, and
the killing- instantly ceased. Then he called out in the loud
est tone of voice, "Where is Proctor?" but at the same in
stant, seeing- him standing- a few rods distant, he sternly
demanded of him why he permitted the murdering- of the
American prisoners? To which Proctor. replied: "I cannot
govern your warriors." Upon which Tecumseh fixed his
keen and penetrating- eyes upon him a moment, and then,
writh the utmost contempt, cried out, "Begone! you are not
fit to command; go put on a petticoat," an epithet denot
ing the Indian's supreme disgust and highest contempt.
To Tecumseh the idea of selling land was an absurdity.
On one occasion, he cried out in unfeigned astonishment:
"What ! sell land ! As well sell air and water. The Great
Spirit gave them in common to all — the air to breathe, the
water to drink, and the land to live upon — you may as well
sell air and water as sell land;" and in the same light did all\
the North American Indians view it, and hence their opposi
tion to land severalty which they cannot understand nor
comprehend.
Tecumseh, signifying Flying Arrow, (it is said) belonged
to the clan called Panther of the Kickapoo tribe. His mother
was a Muscogee and his father a Shawnee, though born
among the Muscogees in the South, and aferwards moved to
Ohio among his own tribe and settled upon the banks of the
Sciota river, but while upon the journey Tecumseh was
born.
The Kickapoos of the present day are supposed to be a
branch of the Shawnee tribe proper, as the traditions of
both give nearly the same accounts of their union and separa
tion, besides their language is said to identically the same-
The Shawnee traditions declare their ancestors formerly
dwelt in a foreign land, but the reason for the abandonment
of their ancient sites is not stated.
But when the day appointed for their exodus rolled
332' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
around, they were informed by the Great Spirit through their
prophets, to march in a body to the shore of a sea, and then
select a leader from themultitude, who would be clothed by the
Great Spirit with that supernatural power that the waters of
the sea, as soon as he touched them, would seperate and he
would conduct them on dry land safely across to another
country. Having- reached the sea, a selection was made but
the incredulity of the chosen caused him to refuse the
honor as well as the responsibility; many having been chosen
with like results, it began to awaken no little trepidation,
when one, who was selected from a clan called The Turtle
Clan, accepted the position, and confidence was again restored.
All thing's being- duly prepared to resume their journey, still
to many of uncertain issue, their chosen leader boldly placed
himself at the head of the host, and fearlessly stepped into
the sea, upon which the waters at once divided to the rig-ht
and to the left, and they safely walked across on the bottom
and thus came to this country; reminding- one of the account
given by Holy Writ of Moses and the Jewish host encounter
ing- the waters of the Red Sea. To what else can the Shaw-
nee tradition point, but the crossing- of the Red Sea by the
Israelites in their exodus from Eg-ypt and their flight before
Pharaoh and his pursuing army?
The Shawnees had another tradition whose shades of
coloring seem greatly Jewish. It is, that the Shawnees were
originally divided into twelve tribes, each one having a
distinct and separate name; and each of which was after
wards sub-divided into clans., called The Eagle, The Pan
ther, The Turtle, etc., the animals whose names they bore
constituting their coat-of-arms, or totem. Their traditions
also affirm two of the original tribes became extinct, as also
were their names; while the other ten are still extant, though
but four are wholly distinct, and are called The Ma-kas-tra-
ke, The Pick-a-way, The Kick-a-poo, and the Chil-i-coth-e
Clans; the other six, according to their tradition, having been
incorporated with the four. It has been stated by the early
missionaries to them, that to a late date their council houses
were separated into four divisions, each one of which was
assigned to the occupancy of each one of the tribes separate
and apart from each other, and was invariably so occupied.
And that it was impossible for the whites to discriminate in
the least whatever, yet the Indians themselves could tell to
which clan any one belonged as soon as they saw him.
Truly, what an interesting and instructive volume
would the early history of the North American Indians have
been, with all the various traditions of their migrations,
vicissitudes and changes, had they been preserved.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 333
It long has been believed that Col. Richard M. Johnson
killed Tecumseh at the battle of the Thames, and the follow
ing from the pen of Benjamin B. Griswold strengthens, if
not wholly confirms it. "I had an interview with Noon-day,
chief of the Ottawa tribe, about the year 1838. This chief
was six feet high, broad shouldered, well proportioned, with
broad high cheek bones, piercing black eyes, and long black
hair which hung down upon his shoulders, and he possessed
wonderful muscular power. He was converted to the
Christian religion by the preaching of a Baptist missionary
named Slater, whose mission was located about three miles
north of Gull Prairie, in the county of Kalamangoo, Michi
gan. Just over the county line and in the edge of Barry
county, this chief and about one hundred and fifty of his
tribe were located and instructed in farming. A church
was erected which answered for a school house, and here,
residing near them, I attended their church and listened to
the teachings of Mr. Slater in the Indian dialect, and to the
prayers of this old chief. To get a history of any Indian
who fought on the side of the British has ever been a dif
ficult task; but through the Rev. Mr. Slater I succeeded, to a
limited extent, in getting a sketch from this old. chief of the
battleof the Thames, in which he was engaged. After rehears
ing the speech which Tecumseh made to his warriors previous
to the engagement and how they all felt, that they fought to
defend Tecumseh more than for the British, he was asked,
were you near Tecumseh when he fell? 'Yes; directly on
his right.' Who killed him? 'Richard M. Johnson.' "Give
us the circumstances. 'He was on a horse, and the horse
fell over a log; and Tecumseh, with his tomahawk, rushed
upon him to kill him, when he drew a pistol from his holster,
shot him in the breast, and he fell dead on his face. I ran
to him and, with the assistance of Sag'inaw, carried him
from the field. When he fell the Indians all stopped fight
ing and the battle ended.1 We laid him down upon a blanket
in a wigwam, and we all wrept, we loved him so much. I took
his hat and tomahawk.' Where are they now? 'I have his
tomahawk and Saginaw his" hat.' Could I get them? 'No;
Indian keep them.' How : did vou know it was Johnson who
killed him? 'General Gas's took me to see the Great Father,
Van Buren, at Washington. I went to the great wigwam,
and when I went in I saw the same man I see in Battle,' an
Indian never forgets a man's face (once seen).' The same
man I see kill Tecumsee. Johnson replied that he never
knew who it was, but a powerful Indian approached him and
he shot him with his pistol. 'That was Tecumseh. I see
you do it.' Noon-day finished his story of Tecumseh bv
334 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
telling of his noble traits, the tears meanwhile trickling
down his cheeks." There can be no doubt of Noon-day's
unvarnisned narative; and he who would doubt it, is well
prepared to doubt any truth.
It is a matter of regret that so little has been preserved
of Apushamatahah and Tecumseh, and so few circumstances
have escaped oblivion, which would most clearly have eluci
dated their private characters. Both were men respected,
honored, and loved by all who knew them. Tecumseh, by
the Indians and English, and Apushamatahah, by the Indians
an cl Americans. Noble men ! Though history may not re
cord their names with earth's illustrious great as worthy
remembrance in the years to come, yet they were, as -well as
thousands of their race, mortals of no common mould, and
worthy a place 'mid names of high degree.
But why have not the services of Apushamatahah — that
remarkable friend of the American people — been written ?
Alas ! he was an Indian. But I mistake ! They have been
written ; and to-day, after the lapse of nearly three quarters
of a century, the aged Choctaws speak his name with loving
reverence, while the young listen with wondrous delight to
the thrilling stories of his life in many an humble home in
their territory.
The death of Apushamatahah shrouded the countenances
of the bereaved chiefs at Washington in the deepest unaffec
ted gloom during their remaining short stay in the city, tell
ing a tale of sorrow that nothing but a full realization of
their loss could create. One, however, a young warrior of
noble mien, whose power of self-command was not equal to
his seniors in age and experience, betrayed emotions that
told of a heart overwhelmed with the keenest and deepest
anguish, though manifested by no outward expression of
feeling. To offered words of consolation by some of the
whites, he replied : "I'm sorry" ; and being questioned why
he should be more deeply grieved than the others, answered:
"I'm sorry it was not I who had died" ; signifying that his
country would have sustained^ but little loss in his death, in
comparison with the loss sustained by the death of Apusha
matahah, and thus expressed it — 'Tm sorry it was not I.''
But the recorders of the incident have greatly misrepresen
ted that young Choc: taw by stating that the firing- of the
minute-guns and the pageantry displayed at the burial of
Apushamatahah alone produced the deep sorrow manifested,
because he himself was not the subject of the honors con
ferred. That young and sorrowing Choctaw youth was Ni-
takachieubih (Give us the day to kill), the nephew of A-push-
a-ma-taha, and proved himself to be a worthy scion of the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 335
^,
ancestral tree, as a statesman and counselor among his peo
ple, sustaining his high honors with dignity through a long
and useful life and dying as his noble uncle — lamented 'by
his nation.
In traveling through their present country, man}7 of the
aged Choctaws (old friends when living east of ' the Missis
sippi river) have expressed great indignation that Nitakachie
wras so unjustly misrepresented. Indian men die every day,
whose lives are grander than those of the world's historic
battle heroes ; yea, and women too, before whose pure devo
tion the heroism even of Joan of Arc would fade away ; yet
the world knows nothing of them.
We, the American people of to-day, still pay (and justly
loo) the highest honors" to the name of General La Fafayette,
who extended so generously a helping hand to our fathers in
their darkest hour of need; remembering him with filial
reverence and gratitude unalloyed, but silently bury in
oblivion the name of Apushamatahah, as unworthy of eulogy
or even a place in the annals of history; though he, at the
Tiead of his brave warriors, with purity of motives and with
out expectation of reward, also extended to them a helping
hand in a gloomy hour of their history-, and saved the primi
tive white settlers of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia —
then few, far between, and feeble — from actual extermina
tion.
But had he lived, whose character and noble deeds form
the subject under consideration, some centuries ago; had he
saved a portion q_f_the citizens of a Roman or Grecian province
from destruction, as he did the American citizens of the
above named States in 1811, Old Rome and Greece would
have deemed no applause too loud, no honors to great, no
laurals too extravagant, yea, would have embodied him in
columns of unfading marble; yet the name of the old hero of
the past, though forgotten by the white beneficiaries of his
friendship, still live written upon that imperishable monu
ment, the hearts of his people.
In a letter to me, September 5th, 1891, Judge Julius Fol-
som, son of Rev. Israel Folsom, thus wrote: "'In the year
1861, two Delegates of the Choctaw Nation, Peter P. Pitch-
lynn and Israel Folsom, were in the city of Washington, D.
C., attending to business in which our Nation wras interested,
but accomplished nothing, as the prospect of an approaching
war between the North and South absorbed every other con
sideration. The two delegates, as soon as they learned that
war had actually commenced between the North and South,
hastened home that they might use their influence (which no
two men exercised more over their Nation than they) in an
336 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
r . x
effort to keep the Choctaw Nation upon neutral ground.
But alas, they were too late! Already had the Confederate
troops taken possession of our country, and they found
everything- in a state of wildest confusion. Up to this time,
our protection was in the United States' troops stationed at
Fort Washtta, under the command of Colonel Emory. But
he, as soon as the Confederate troops had entered our coun
try, at once abandoned us and the Fort; and, to make his
flight more expeditious and his escape more sure, employed
Black Beaver, a Shawnee Indian, under a promise to him of
five thousand dollars, to pilot him and his troops out of the
Indian country safely without a collision with the Texas
Confederates; which Black Beaver accomplished. By this
act the United States abandoned the Choctaws and Chicka-
saws.
Our Indian Agent, Duglas H. Cooper, also betrayed the
United States by his acts, for he at once joined the rebellion,
and urged the Indians of both the Choctaw and Chickasaw
tribes to do the same, backing- his arg-uments with the threat
of confiscation of both land and stock if they refused. But
-under all this pressure, abandoned by the North, and threat
ened by the South, they stood upon neutral grounds until the
middle of June, 1861! Then, there being- no other alterna
tive by which to save their country and property, they, as
the less of the two evils that confronted them, went with the
Southern Confederacy. Your friend, JULIUS FOLSOM."
Contemporaneous with Apushamatahah was the Choctaw
chief Apakfolichihubih who was of the Hai-yipa-tuk-lo Clan
(meaning- Two Lakes.) He also was a Choctaw whose blood
was uiicontaminated with anything- foreign, a man of sterling-
merits, whose name is held in grateful and proud remem
brance by his people to this day, as a worthy and faithful
chief in the national affairs of his common country and the
interest of his people. He was also a quiet and unobtrusive
man, but faithful in the discharge of his dutys as chief; and
his seemingly premature death was a national loss to his
people, and deeply deplored by them. He lost his life by
accidentally stepping off a balcony at night, at a hotel in Mays-
ville, Kentuckey, his neck being dislocated by the fall, while
going to Washington City as a deligate with Apushamatahah
and others of his Nation. Little has been preserved of
Apakfolichih's life but that he was an honest man. Enough!
Requiescat en pace. Amen! Amosholihubih (To destroy
as by fire), was a noted chief of the Oklafalaiah Clan (Long
People). It is said the name of this clan had its origin in
a Choctaw family who, both parents and children, were un-
commonry tall. Amosholihubih, than whom a more far-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 337
sighted man, white or red, is seldom found, was a true
patriot; he was calm and dignified in council; possessing- a
black, keen penetrating eye, and a lowering yet meditative
brow7 on which a thousand emotions of conflicting thoughts
and designs seemed to have stamped a portion of their
obscurity. Many years prior to the expulsion of his people
from their ancient homes, his character was assailed by the
white intruders who strolled about over the country, and of
whom he had seen and learned enough to convince him, as
well as many others, of their utter want of scarcely a redeem
ing trait of character; therefore, strenuously advocating
measures for their explusion from the Choctaw country and
prevention of their return, he was called Hattak-upi-humma
okpuloh, (a Bad Red Man.)
Amosholihubih through whose veins unadulterated Choc-
o
taw blood alone coursed, and of which he was justly proua,
moved with his people to their present homes, where he spent
the few remaining years of his life (for he was then an old
man) in encouraging their desponding hearts to rise above
misfortune and adversity. Though not a fluent speaker, yet
he spoke with a dignified but gentle humility; he addressed
the reason and good sense of his hearers, and not their pas
sions and prejudices. His untutored delivery was indeed
graceful; his argument connected and convincing, and his
manners, calculated to attract audiences and hold attention.
He lived several years beyond the allotted life of man, reach
ing nearly four score years and ten. He died at home among'
his friends and people, honored, respected and loved by his
nation, though age seemed not to have diminished his mental
faculties, and but slightly impaired his physical powers; and
to the last he continued a gran'd old man, who, while he was
as confiding as a child in those who had won his confidence,
was full of fire and vigor when he was convinced that wrong1
had been done either to himself or his people. Always a
hater of shams and deceits, liars and defamers, and being
never a dissembler nor a coward, liar or defamer himself,
there was no room to doubt the side on which he would be
found in any cause where there was a question about its
truth or its justice; and withal a kindlier, gentler spirit than
Amosholihubih possessed was seldom found. The years of
his aged wife, who survived her venerable husband many
years reached within a few years of a century.
Apushamatahahubih, Apakfolichihubih and Amosholih
ubih were the head chiefs of the Choctaw Nation in 1814,
the latter being the youngest; but after the demise of the
two former, Coleman Cole and Nittakachihubih, the nephew
of the renowned Apushamatahahubih were chosen as their
338 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
successors a few years previous to the treaty of 1830 at
Bok Chuckfiluma. He'hlah (dancing rabbit creek), Nittaka-
chihubih succeeding- his uncle and Coleman Cole, Apakfol-
ichihubih.
Subsequently Greenwood 'Le Flore superseded Coleman
Cole as leading" chief of the Apakfolichihubih District, and
David Folsom superseded Amosholihubih District ; to the
proceeding's of the latter succession Amosholihubih taking
exceptions, and being- strenuously supported by Nittakachi-
hubih, he openly disputed the claims of David Folsom to the
chieftaincy over him ; while Coleman Cole, who was of Shuk-
chih Humma descent, and proved himself an upright and
honest man during his whole public, as well as private life,
quietly returned to private life after he was superseded by
Le Flore, moved west with his people and spent his remain
ing days in using his influence by precept and example, for
their welfare and happiness, and died in the fall of 1884 at
the honored age of four score and ten, at his home near
Atoka, Indian Territory. But Amosholihubih, still chafing
under his political defeat, and viewing the appointment of
Colonel Dayid Polsom as cnief of the district over which he
had so long ruled, as an unjust encroachment upon his
rights, resolved to sustain his claims at all hazards. At this
time there had just been paid to the Choctaws an annuity,
which getting into the hands of Amosholihubih, sustained by
a strong party of his adherents, and also by Nittakachih and
his entire district, he refused to pay it, or any part of it, into
the hands of Colonel Folsom, the proper person to hold it
for distribution. This seemingly bold step at once threw
the entire nation into a high state of excitement. A council
was immediately called, to be represented by the two dis
tricts — the one over which' Nittakachih presided and t"he one
over whichr-Colonel Folsom had just been appointed. The
council at once convened and, as was expected, controversy
ran high and the dispute waxed warmer and warmer, and
the breach grew wider and wider, resulting in the adjourn
ment of the council sine die, without any definite conclusion
being attained ; and each party, with anything but amicable
feelings the one toward the other, returned to their respec
tive homes — Colonel Folsom and his partisans to their
homes in the northern part of the district, the others to
theirs in the southern.
Nittakachih was as true a specimen of the North Ameri
can Indian warrior as ever lived. True courage, than which
no other quality commands so great admiration among men,
seemed to have been written in every lineament of his face,
and his unflinching eyes convinced at a glance that no e«trth-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 339
- \
ly power could intimidate him. Though small in stature,
yet nature had cast his limbs in a mould of delicate yet man
ly beauty, and also endowed him with a constitution which
seemed to bid defiance to almost all changes, as well as to
fatigue and privations of every kind. His disposition seem
ed, in a great degree, to partake of the qualities of his bodily
frame; and as the one possessed great activity, strength and
endurance, the other, under a calm semblance, had much
of the fiery love of glory which constituted the principal
attribute of the Indian character, constituting them, in the
estimation of the inconsiderate, a remarkable phenomenon;
though not more so to be regarded than many of the Nations
of antiquity, whose love of war fell not behind that of the
North American Indians, yet have not been considered as a
remarkable phenomenon. But the face of Nittakachih might
well be termed a luminous medium of the passions. The
bright or the dark, the lurid cloud and the calm sunshine,
made themselves known, not only in the voice and gesture,
but also in the ever-varying expression of his eloquent coun
tenance. His self-command under any and all circumstances,
and his calm and unassumed fearlessness in the hour that
tests the soul of man, were truly wonderful; and, as an illus
tration, I will here relate an incident of his life, in connection
with that of Colonel David Folsom, having its origin in the
deposal of Amosholihubih and the elevation of Colonel David
Folsom to his place as a chief concerning which I have just
spoken.
As soon as the council adjourned, Colonel David Folsom,
fearing the hot words passed in the council might be but the
preliminaries to something serious, immediately sent a mes
senger to Greenwood Le Flore then living in the extreme
western portion of the Nation to inform him of the unpleas
ant state of affairs existing in his district, and the causes;
and also the fears he entertained of its .resulting in blood
shed. Le Flore, comprehending the situation at once, col
lected a large body of his warriors without delay and hasten
ed to Colonel Folsom 's place of residence, then known as
The Choctaw Agency, twelve or fifteen miles south of the
present town of Starkville, Mississippi, on the road now
leading from Columbus to Jackson, then known as the "Old
Robinson Road."
In the meantime rumor was on the wing that Amosho
lihubih and 'Nittakachih had threatened to depose Colonel
Folsom and reinstate Amosholihubih even if it had to be
done by the tomahawk and rifle. Colonel Folsom at first re
garded the rumor as having no foundation in truth — a feint
on the part of Amosholihubih and Nittakachih to bring him
340 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
.to their measures — but soon learned to his surprise and sor
row that they evidently meditated hostilities, as they were
actually collecting- their warriors at the then trading-house
of the Choctaws with the whites, on the Tanapo Ikbi river,
now known as Demopolis. Colonel Folsom now fully com
prehended the gathering- storm no longer of doubtful mien ;
for the distant thunder in its low muttering-s, and the glitter-
ings here and there of the lightning's Hash, while he felt the
heaving- and rocking- of the convulsed mountain, all unmis
takably portended a terrific eruption ; and it was now mani
fest that but a spark was wanting- to kindle the flame of civil
war, and who could tell the moment that spark would ap
pear! Colonel Folsom immediately sent out his runners
(fleet horsemen) to call tog-ether his warriors; and then were
seen these runners, mounted upon their fleetest horses,
speeding- with the velocity of the wind from village to village
and from neighborhood to neighborhood, calling to arms.
Truly, it was astonishing in how short a time the Choctaws.
at that day and time, could send any intelligence they desir
ed to convey, from any part of their country to another. If
anything of importance occurred to-day in any part of the
Nation it was known on the morrow at distances seemingly
incredible.
All was now in a blaze of wild excitement. The mission
aries in their quiet and peaceful homes, though not indif
ferent totheseeminglyapproaching events thatwere thenand
there extending their shadows before, did not anticipate
anything serious at first, even as was thought by all that the
events that foreshadowed our civil war of 1861, would have its
origin in blustering only to terminate in an empty noise; but
the thrilling warwhoop that now disturbed the hitherto
quiet, echoing by day and by night from hill to hill through
their then boundless forest; the renewed life and active
energy displayed by the warriors, who but the day before
reclined in silent reverie before their cabin doors, or in list
less indifference smoked their pipes, but too plainly an
nounced to them, that a fearful storm was not only fast
gathering, but seemed ready to vb'urst with all its terrific
fury upon the Choctaw Nation, and who could tell where or
upon whom its fury would be spent! The pale-face intru
ders, loafers, stragglers, and traders, taking the hint, bade
the country a hasty adieu; but. the missionaries hoping for
the better, still lingered with their families, but stood in
readiness forprecipitous flight ata moments warning, should
safety absolutely require it. Colonel David Folsom's resi
dence, then known and long after remembered as the old
Choctaw Agency, was appointed as the place of rendezvous
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 341
for his assembling warriors, there to unite with the coming
forces of LeFlore, the warriors of Colonel Folsom living- in
the northern part of his district, passed directly by Hebron,
the missionary station and home of Mr. Calvin Cushman,
on their way to the point of rendezvous. Many parties
stopped in passing and conversed with him concerning the
unfortunate state of affairs; and replied to his interroga
tories, as to the propriety of his leaving the nation with his
family at once, or wait for further developments, by urging*
him to remain, and assuring- him, at the same time, a timely
notice of approaching danger, and also a sufficient escort to
conduct him and family to a place of safety. Mr. Cushman,
having implicit confidence in their plighted word, resolved to
remain, though not entirely free of all apprehensions, but
stood in readiness to depart with his family at any mo
ment.
For two or three days, and frequently during the night,
bands of warriors continued to pass dressed in all the Choc-
taw paraphernalia of war, and painted as an Indian only can
paint — an art known but to him by which the countenance is
made to assume a most frightful and awe-creating express
ion, and the eye that deadly ferocity, which to be compre
hended must be seen. Invariably when passing, night or
day, as they drew near Mr. Cush man's home, the thrilling
war-whoop broke the stillness of the forests that stretched
around and away from that humble and peaceful missionary
habitation, as a signal to its occupants that, though it pro
claimed war to others, it was a harbinger of peace to them;
but which, after all, was not, to the unaccustomed ear, in
strict accordance with the rules of harmony, or to the timid
heart very persuasive in its melody.
But this difficulty, the result of which seemed would in
evitably terminate in a civil war, was brought to a happy
settlement by an incident unparalleled in the annals of an
cient or modern history, and which I will here relate from,
memory as I heard it in my boyhood, when narrated to Mr.
Cushman by Colonel David Folsom, who was one of the two
who figured as the most conspicuous in the novel scene; and
which was so impressed upon my youthful mind, that dis
tance nor time has been able to efface it from the pages of
memory. Still I do. not presume to be able to present before
my readers the vivid picture that was presented tolmv de
lighted imagination by the eloquent tongue of Colonel David
Folsom, who both saw and felt that which of itself alone
could give unwearied wings to the imaginative mind and un-
-deviating eloquence to the tongue.
342 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Colonel Folsom stated to Mr. Cushman, in substance.,
as follows; and which I will place under the caption:
THE MEETING OF FOLSOM AND NITTAKACHIH
—THE TWO CHOCTAH CHIEFS.
When the council, convened for the adjustment and
final distribution of the annuity, adjourned in such confus
ion, tog-ether with the animosity manifested and openly ex
pressed by both contending- parties the one toward the other,
(a similar scene never before witnessed in a Choctaw coun
cil) I feared the consequences that I was apprehensive would
follow; but hoped that the conflicting- opinions then agitating
my people would be harmonized upon calm reflection and the
adoption of wise and judicious measures. But when I ascer
tained that Nittakachih and Amosholihubih were truly assem
bling their warriors, I beg-an to view the matter in its true
and proper light. I knew those two chiefs too well to longer
doubt the full interpretations of their designs as set forth in
their actions; for they both were men who indulg-ed not in
meaningless parade, or delighted in empty display. Inevi
table war — kindred against kindred and brother against
brother — with all its horrors and irreparable consequences
now seemed to stare me in the face, with no alternative
but to speedily prepare to meet it; therefore Le Flore and
myself, after due deliberation, resolved, if we must fight, to
confine the fighting as much as possible within Amosholihu-
bih's and Nittakachih 's own districts. W^e at once took up
our line of march south toward Demopolis which was in the
district of Amosholihubih, and Where .they had assembled
their warriors.
At the termination of our second days march, we ascer
tained through our scouts, that Amosholihubih and Nittaka
chih were also advancing with their warriors to meet us.
In vain I still sought for some pacific measures that might be
advanced to stop further demonstrations of war. To send a
flag of truce, requesting a conference with the two disaf
fected chiefs, would, I felt, prove unavailing, as it would be
attributed to fear on the part of myself and LeFlore, and
but render them the more obstinate and unyielding. ' On the
morning of the third day we were informed by our scouts
that they were only a few miles distant, slowly but boldly
advancing. In a few hours marching, I looked ahead and
-dimly saw the outlines of the front warriors here and there
visible among the trees, and then the whole army appeared
in full view about half^a mile distant, all in full war dress
and armed complete, advancing slowly and in good order.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. „ 343
Even up to this moment I had cherished the' fond hope that
matters would not be carried to the extreme; but now hope
fled, and the speedy destruction of my people and country
seemed inevitable. In vain I endeavored to think of some
plan that might yet avail and prevent bloodshed. A few
moments more and it would be too late for reflection, as each
army with stern brows, firm steps and resolute hearts, were
slowly but fearlessly shortening- the distance between.
But now the time for futile reflection had^ passed, and stern
determination claimed the hour.
Nearer and nearer the fearless warriors were steadily
approaching1 each other. Not a word had been spoken, nor a
sound of defiance uttered by either the one or the other of
the still advancing parties; and thus in profound silence each
continued to advance, the one toward the other, until not ex
ceeding- two hundred yards intervened, when Nittakachih
gave the signal for his warriors to halt, which they instantly
obeyed. LeFlore and myself instantly ga.ve the same to
our men, which was as quickly obeyed. For several minutes
the armies stood and gazed upon each other in profound
silence. To me what minutes of indescribable suspense! I
speak not boastinglv when I affirm that my own safety had
not the weight of the sixteenth part of a poor scruple in my
reflections. The terrible consequences that would follow
the firing of a single gun absorbed my every thought; and
how soon that might be done by some inconsiderate and
reckless one, no one knew. I still clung to a feeble and
lingering hope that the unfortunate affair might yet be ami
cably adjusted; but what step to take that could lead to that
desirable and happy result, at that advanced stage of affairs,
I WAS utterly at a loss.
At this juncture of alternate hope and despair my aston
ishment was unbounded when I saw Nittakachih leave his men
where they were standing and alone advance toward us with
slow and measured steps, looking with a calm and steady
gaze upon us. Every eye was upon him in a moment, as with
firm and dignified steps he continued to advance until he had
reached a point half way between the now wondering, but
still silent, warriors ; then stopped and, slowly raising his
arms, he gently folded them across his breast and, in calm
and dignified silence, looked with fearless eyes upon me, Le
Flore, and our astonished men. Truly, what a scene ! What
a picture ! There he stood in his shining war-dress midway
between the gazing and admiring warriors, the personifica
tion of calm courage and heroic daring; his dark eyes flash
ing, and his proud lips curling seemingly in fearless defi
ance, and presenting one of the finest specimens of a North
344 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
American Indian warrior conceivable. No figure of bronze
could have been more rigid than that of Nittakachih, as he
there stood erect and in calm sil'ence ; truly a more striking-
subject for a picture was never exhibited than was presen
ted in Nittakachih in that attitude. What a theme was he to
whom fear was a stranger!
But what his motive in thus presenting himself — delib
erate as it was strange — none could comprehend, or even ad
vance a' reniote conjecture. Yet, all could read that what
ever it might be, he meant it ; for no one did him the injus
tice by even supposing that the situation was contrived for
dramatic effect. Ah ! it is comparatively an easy matter to
unravel those characters which appear before us in butter
fly colors, whose easy dispositions and familiarities of man
ner preclude the possibility of deception; but to understand
the secret and hidden workings of that mind which lies con
tinually wrapped up in its own solitude — to trace the secret
springs and solitary windings of the mysterious power
within, and read the intents of the heart as they are made
manifest, in the attitude, the look, the silence, the act, re
quires an intimate knowledge of the human soul which but
few; if any, possess, and which nothing but long experience
can ever secure.
To all, it seemed a fearful scene, terrific in its conse
quences, was about to be enacted. In vain I sought for
some token, some sign expressive of his wish ; but his silent
and motionless form, indexing a determined soul, was all
that seemed animate. Like a statue he still stood, calm, sil
ent and motionless, presenting a picture grand and beautiful
even to sublimity, while silence profound seemed to brood
over everything animate. Even the gentle breezes seemed to
have sung themselves to rest;and a solemn hush prevailed, as
though all nature in pitying suspense had made a pause, to
stay the death dealing struggle that seemed about to ensue
between kindred and friends. It was a bright October morn
ing, clear, sunny and cool, with the bluest of blue skies over
head, dotted he're and there with little white clouds that
floated about like sails upon an ocean, while the sunlight
filtered down between the branches of the trees and fell in
bright flecks upon the ground. The melancholy haze of
Indian Summer wrapped every distant object in the soft,
purple veil; the dim vistas of the surrounding forests ended
in misty depths; through the openings the majestic trees of
endless variety and gigantic size were dropping their dying
leaves, and here and there along a ravine, crimson maples
gleamed against the back-ground of dark green sweet-gums.
In all directions, the forest foliage painted with autumnal
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 345
hectic, were strewing the bier of the departing" year, casting*
over all a melancholy, dreamy, appearance that approximated
to the sublime; and which, under other circumstances,
would have awakened the harp of memory to the sweetest
tones, carrying- the thoughts back to the haunts of the olden
time, under the magic melody of boyhood's by -gone joys; but
then all was wrapped in that mysterious silence which pro
duced sensations not unsimilar to that experienced by the
birds beneath the basilisk glare of the serpent. What
emotions thrilled my soul! emotions which seemed to isolate
my whole being from all surrounding objects, but that silent
and motionless form before me, wrapt in the impenetrable
silence of his own heart.
Again I loooked around for some one from whom I might
receive even a conjecture as to the interpretation of the in
comprehensible enigma, that so mysteriously and unexpec
tedly had presented itself before us, but none ventured to
break the stillness by a word.
I then resolved to go to him alone, be the consequences
what they might ; and a ray of hope illuminated theTlarkness
of my despairing soul, as I thought a word to him might,
perhaps, be as oil upon the troubled waters, and the threat
ening- storm of war yet be hushed to peace. With emotions
known only to myself, yet with a calm exterior, I started to
ward him with a slow but firm step, and had walked but a
few paces when I observed Nittikachih's warriors silently,'
but steadily raising their rifles to their shoulders and bring
ing them to bear directly upon me; and at the same instant
heard behind me the ominous click of {the rifle-locks of my
own men — the signification of which I well understood.
With deadly aim Nittakachih's warriors held their rifles up
on me, as I drew nearer and nearer tb their adored chieftain
who still stood silent and motionless, but with his black, pen
etrating eyes upon me as if he would read the very thoughts
of my heart ; yet without a visible sign of emotion, and ut
terly unheeding the thousand rifles that also rested upon
him, with as many clear and«resolute eyes glancing along their
dark barrels. 'The silence was still profound, Not a word,
not even the chirping of a bird or rustling of a leaf broke
the fearful stillness. I well knew everything was suspended
at this juncture upon a pivot which the slightest breath
might turn the equally poised scale for the worst, and give a
signal for several thousand rifles to begin their work of
death, and Nittakachih and myself would be the first to fall
riddled with bullets, and our position but made it doubly
sure.
With a secret bracing of my nerves I continued to stead-
346 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
ily advance, and when within a few paces of him I met his
eyes fixed upon mine with that baffling- expression, which, I
must confess, caused me to feel an inward alarm, as if some
thing- vaguely dangerous had suddenly reared himself in my
path, which by its very charm instinctively bade me be\yare.
But I as quickly subdued my apprehensions, by thinking1,
with a certain haughty pride which I fear will never be elimi
nated from my nature, of the dang-ers I had already met and
overcome in my brief but troubled life, and meeting- his
calm and steady gaze with a smile which I knew to contain a
spice of audacity, stopped immediately before and near himr
and calmly said, as I noticed the strife of expression be
tween his* eye and lip; the one hard, cold and unyielding; the
other deprecating in its half smile and falsely gentle, as if
the mind that controlled it was even then divided between its
wish to subdue and the necessity it felt to win: Nittakach-
ih, it would be only folly for me to speak as if nothing had
occurred to justify your present attitude. It would be do
ing your good sense and sound judgment but little honor;
and putting myself, or rather, ourselves, for we, as chiefs,
should be one in the matter of our country's interests, in a
position which would make any after explanations exceed
ingly difficult. For explanations can be given, and in a word,
for what has doubtless appeared to you as strange and un
warrantable on our part, explanations which I am sure you
will cheerfully accept, as it is not natural for you to nurse
suspicions contrary to your own candid and noble nature.
I calmly waited for the words I felt to be hovering upon his
lips, but they were scarcely the ones I expected. He replied
that he was satisfied with my proffered words of reconcilia
tion, and, as he spoke his voice assumed its confident tone,
whatever might have been the 'disturbance communicated to
his inward nature. Then looking with his dark and pierc
ing eyes into mine, as if to read the secret thoughts of mv
heart, and see if perchance treachery lurked not beneath
the smile of friendship: finding none, the dark cloud of defi
ance that greeted my approach instantly gave place to the
sun-lit rays of confidence, and he continued: "I feel that I
can and will again give you the title of friend. Will you ac
cept it from me, and with it my past confidence and esteem?"
I responded, I will in behalf of the common interests of our
people; and then extended my hand to him, but in a steady
mechanical way that I felt committed me to nothing, for I
was fully alive to the possible consequences of my every act.
He took it, though the slight unmistakable pressure he re
turned seemed to show that he accepted it for a true sign of
restored friendship, if not of absolute surrender. "You
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 347"
have removed a great weight from my heart," he ag-ain re
marked. "Had you been one of the common place type of
men, you might have made this a serious matter for us."
What have I said and done, I replied, though not so bit-
terfy, or with as much irony as I might have done, had that
desire to understand the full motive of a condescension I
could but feel was unprecedented in his arrogant nature, been<
less keen than it was, to influence you to suppose that I will
not yet do so? "Your glance and your honest hand are your
surety," he answered; then with a real smile, though it was
not the reassuring and attractive one he doubtless meant it
to be, we both turned our face's toward our anxious and
waiting warriors, and each gave the signal of. peace and
friendship restored. Instantly every rifle was lowered, and
the two armies slowly marched in perfect order to where we
stood, and there all shook hands. A council was v then and •
there convened; satisfactory explanations made and accepted;
peace and friendship restored, and a terrific civil war
averted. And then, as the party turned their faces home
ward, all fired off their guns as an acknowledgment that not
a particle of animosity lingered in the heart of a single one
of either party, but that entire confidence and friendship
was restored.
In more ancient times, when difficulties between two
clans of parties had been settled they stacked their arms to
gether, and as an evidence that entire confidence, friend
ship and good will was restored; which ceremony was called
"Tanapoh Aiyummih," signifying guns mixed.
Such was the narrative (in substance) related to Mr. Cal
vin Cushman by Colonel David Folsom sixty years ago, por
traying a scene in actual life that stands unequaled in the
annals of historic warfare; while also displaying a self-sac
rificing and patriotic heroism (especially in Colonel David
Folsom) that should put to shame and confusion of tongue
those ignorant and senseless babblers who deny to the
Indian race the possession of a single virtue.
Nittakachih moved west -with his people; remained a
few years, and then returned to the home of his nativity in
Mississippi to attend to some unfinished business, and while
there was taken sick and died; and thus secured for himself
the gratification of dying in his native land, and having his
body laid away in peaceful rest among the graves of his an
cestors — a privilege so much coveted by the North American
Indian.
Had Nittakachih possessed the advantages of a thorough
education, he would have placed his name high on the roll of
fame among earth's illustrious great as a brave, patriot and
348 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
honest statesman; yet, without any of those advantages what
ever; few, if any, among- the whites could equal him in point
of true native eloquence, genuine patriotism, self-comma"nd,
and moral courage, under any and all circumstances. It wa$
my fortune to be personally acquainted with him, and never
have I seen, nor do I ever expect to see, a finer specimen of
nature's true man, than was exhibited in Nittakachih. He
left one son, who was known as Captain Jackson Nittakachih,
and also one son-in-law named Tunapoh Humma, (Red Gum).
He was chief at one time of the Kunsha-ache Iksa, which
lived on the creek then called Lussah Hocheto, (Big Swamp),
now known as Big Black. They both moved with their peo
ple to their present place of abode, and died soon after the
death of their noble father and father-in-law.
Colonel David Folsom, the first chief of the Choctaws,
elected by ballot, was a man whose generosity of nature was
conspicuous, not merely in the ordinary acceptance of that
term, but in its fullest and broadest sense ; and I hazard
nothing in saying if posterity shall do justice to his memory,
history will accord to David Folsom a high rank as a just and
honest ruler, a noble patriot and an exemplary Christian; and
it is no doubtful proof of the distinguished talents of this il
lustrious Choctaw, that he administered the national affairs
of his people for thirty years, during a period the most crit
ical and perilous in the annals of the Choctaw Nation,, con
jointly with other kindred spirits venerable for their age,
prudence and integrity and of which their nation seemed re
markably prolific, and whose names and eulogy might fill a
volume. Colonel David Folsom was a good man in the full
sense of that word. Continually filling offices of greater or
less importance in his country, still he ever carried the traits
of honesty, faithfulness, zeal and energy into every position.
He was truly one of those characters that naturally come to
the front in all matters, and possessed many of the charac
teristics of a leader of men. It was natural that such a man
should sometimes encounter antagonism and be misunder
stood, but his noble heart and generous nature could not
carry malice or harbor revenge. No man was more ready
for reconciliation and forgiveness, whether the cause of mis
understanding was just or unjust. Of his worth as a citi
zen, public or private, and his Christian faith and life, his
people know full well and justly appreciate.
He was elevated to the chieftaincy at a time when his
country was agitated by many conflicting emotions; his
people were just emerging from (the state of nature to that
of Christianity and civilization; and the fountains of the great
deep of their hearts were being broken up by the new order
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 349
of things that were being- established among- them in govern
ment and in morals; and in connection with this, the ex
change of their homes and country for others remote in the
distant and unknown west, by a process of coercion, fraud
and tyranny unsurpassed in the annals of man, but justly
aroused their fears to the highest pitch, and filled every
heart with misgivings and the deepest gloom. I witnessed
their indescribable agitation, and heard their wail of woe.
Yet. amid the raging storm of conflicting emotions that
everywhere prevailed, Colonel David Folsom stood pre-emi
nent; the prudent, wise and wholsome counsels he then gave
upon all questions to the subordinate chiefs and his agitated
people; his calm and noble bearing amid the all pervading
confusion; the firm and undaunted rebuke which his en
lightened and enlarged philanthrophy administered to the
wrong policy of the uninformed and inconsiderate, were as
oil upon the troubled waters and conspired to make him the
chief influence for good'.
But in his home life Colonel Folsom 's virtues shone in
all their unvarnished beauty. This was his chosen sphere;
here he delighted to receive and entertain the friends who
were privileged with his intimate acquaintance, official or
private, rich or poor, high or low; and for warmth of affec
tion to his people, kindred and cherished friends; for singu
lar unselfishness, he had few equals and no superiors any
where. His sympathies were as prompt and as tender as a
child's, and it was natural and became habitual for his peo
ple to go to him when in trouble, to seek council and sympa
thy which they never sought in vain; nor did he wait to be
sought. He loved outward nature too as the source of con
scious pleasurable emotions. He would say, "It rests me to
look upon its varied and lovely scenes, landscapes which are
really a means of education to the susceptible mind, and
which so often have been invested with the charms of poetry
and romance. "
During a visit to the Choctaw Nation, in 1884, I unex
pectedly came upon a cemetery in my devious wanderings
wherein I found the graves of many Choctaws. Conspicu
ous among many monuments, stood that of Colonel David
Folsom, whom I had known from youth's early morn. Thus
reads the epitaph:
"To the memory of Colonel David Folsom, the first Re
publican Chief of the Chahtah Nation, the promoter of indus
try, education, religion, arid morality; was born January
25th, 1791, and departed this life, September 24th, 1847,
aged 56 years and eight months.
"He being dead yet speaketh."
350 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
His son, then my companion, and old friend from early
youth, informed me' that the above appropriate epitaph was
dictated by Rev. Cyrus Byington, the long- known and faith
ful friend of Colonel David Folsom and his people. To all,
Colonel Folsom seemed to have died in the very mids.t of his
great usefulness and the brightest glory of his days; but
those years and the responsibilities that had attended them,
had already added dignity to his firm, bold brow, with its
strongly marked eyebrows above black penetrating eyes.
For many years he had been the ruling spirit among his
people, and this sense of mastery had given him some touch
of kingliness to his general appearance, his tone aild manners
something of that loo*k and demeanor which is seen in re
nowned statesmen and famous warriors.
In strolling o'er that silent and lonely habitation of the
dead, I found the graves of many of my old Choctaw and
Chickasaw friends of the long-ago; and in reading their
names carved upon the hard, white stone, how beautifully
those cherished friends of other days seemed to rise up
again in the perspective of memory, calm and serene, as an
gels of life from the paradise of the past.
Close by that of Colonel David Folsom 's was the grave
of Joel H. Nail, a brother-in-law to Colonel Folsom, and
grandfather of Joel H. Nail, now living in Caddo, Indian
Territory. He was another true and noble specimen of a
Choctaw Christian man. A beautiful marble monument also
marked his place of rest, and the following told the curious
and inquisitive passer-by who was the Occupant:
"Sacred to the memory of J. H. Nail, of tjie Chahtah
Nation, who died at his residence near Fort Tawson, Au
gust 24th, 1846, in the 52nd year of his age.
"Reader prepare to meet thy God."
The present Nail family of the Choctaws are the de
scendants of Henry Nail, a white man, who came among the
Choctaws abo^Lit the time Nathaniel Folsom, John Pitchlynn
and Lewis Le Flore came ; and as they, so did he, marry
among them, was adopted and thus became identified among'
that people. He rose to the position of child and exerted, as
did the other three above mentioned, a moral influence among
that noble and appreciative people with whom he had cast his
lot. He had four sons — Joel, Robert, Morris and Joseph ;
Joel Nail had seven daughters— Harriet, Delilah, Selina,
Catharine, Isabelle, Melvina and Emma ; and three sons —
Jonathan (father of the present J. H. Nail), Adam and Ed
win. Robert Nail had one son — the only chief — named Ed
win, who was drowned in Blue river ; and Jonathan had
only one son, the present Joel H. Nail, as above stated, and
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 351
who is a worthy scion of the old stock and still living- ; he is
a quiet and good man ; noble and good in his integrity of
character; attractive in the benevolence of his life; great
and good in his benefaction and charity to his fellow-man;
with a life full of gentleness, always ready, he lives as one
whom only those can understand who knew him and enjoyed
the benefits of his virtues. ^
Near to this this stood another emblem of frail mortality,
which told of one who had lived and died, and upon whose
smooth face I read love's tribute of affection. "Sacred to the
memory of Major Pitman Colbert, . who departed this life
February, 26th, 1853, aged 56 years. He lived an exemplary
life. Ever devoted to the welfare of his people (the Chicka-
saws), and died respected by all \vho knew him."
Of Major Colbert it may justly belaid: He was emin-
•ently a Christian reformer. His sympathy for his people
was intense. He sought to create love and harmony among
them; and to show them that purity of life, generosity,
honor, truth , are blossoms that spring- even from stagnant pools,
"which to know may be found, not faultless, but still true and
lovable, and learn that mercy and charity are needed as
well as justice to see what is beautiful in any life. His
hearty contempt for cant and snobbery in any form found a
ringing- echo in his noble nature. He was a true disciple in
the temple of knowledge; ever devoting his time and labors
to those useful pursuits, wrhich alone adorn and embellish
the mind, fitting it for the abode of truth. To the light of
nature and reason he added the light of the Bible and Revela-
lion; and prompted by a higher and nobler motive, moved
-and instigated by a Divine impulse, by that Spirit that comes
from above, he spent the morn, noon.and evening of his life
:in trying to alleviate the sufferings of others; to lift the
fallen, support the weak, confirm the good, elevate tbe scale
of excellence among his people, and with the laudable pur
pose of making them the bettejr by his having lived; and who,
in his devotion to the grea^ principles of morality and vir
tue, lived a life of pleasant toil, supporting and elevating his
race wherever fallen, curbing the vices of the vicious, cor
recting the waywardness of the dissolute, sustaining the
right and condemning the wrong-.
But what visions of the long past awoke to memory as I
stopped before a monument, whose beautiful symmetry of
form had attracted me and read; 4tln memory of Louis
Garland; died Agust 14th, 1853, aged 33 years. Generous,
upright and virtuous, he lived an example for all who seek
the favor of the good."
More appropriate and truthful words never 'adorned the
352 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
tombstone of man. We were fellow students during the
years 1839-40-41 and 1842 at Marietta College, Ohio-/ and
both professors and students who may now be living, could
they read the epitaph that records Lewis Garland's place of
rest, would attest to its truth without a dissenting voice; and
I too, though years have intervened with their varied vicis
situdes, would here offer some tribute, though feeble yet
sincere, to this my Choctaw friend, though an Indian, yet
loved none the less. I was born among his people and
thus was early initiated into the "mysteries of the Indian
character;" and a friendship and love for them, of which I
am not ashamed, but justly proud, was formed; not only for
them but their entire race, which time nor distance has been
able to weaken; and even to-day, in these my declining years,
my heart oft turns to these true children of the Great Spirit,
known during the long period of life, and among whom I
have yet to find my first false friend; and though during my
sojourn and travels among them, I could but feel that
We met like ships upon the sea,
Who hold an hour's converse-
One little hour! and then speed away,
On diverging paths— to meet no more—
and my heart still goes out in fond affection to all those old
Choctaw and Chickasaw friends of my youth; in whose
honest hearts I have ever found a friendship that never be
trayed and a constancy that never wearied.
" Continuing my walk through the cemetery, I discovered
a grave that had no marble token to tell of its silent occu
pant. Upon inquiring of my Choctaw companion, he in
formed me that it was the grave of his brother, Cornelius ;
another fellow-student of boyhood's merry time. We were
chums for two years in college life, and there and then be
came sincere friends, linked to the recollections of life's
early morn, ere sorrow's dark pall had fallen athwart our
pathway; but hope with rosy finger still pointed to the flat
tering possibilities of the promising future. But alas! Con
sumption claimed him as its own, and he returned to his
southernihome but to fall into a premature grave. In college
he was a diligent student, and stood high in his classes. The
high elements of his noble nature were so fully developed
that he commanded the respect and admiration of both pro
fessors and students. He was consistant in all things, and
his moral character was blameless; and the highest testi
mony to this was the respect which all classes of students
manifested toward him. But here, dear Cornelius, old
chum, loved friend and companion of school-boy days, I let
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 353
the curtain drop over thy blameless life, closed by a calm and
peaceful death and blessing's well bestowed. Thou went
loved and honored while living-, and thy early death deeply
mourned by all thy friends both red and white ; and friend
ship without alloy still drops a tear o'er thy early grave,
while thy name and virtues are engraved on«still loving* hearts
that need no voiced urn or marble inscription to perpetuate
thy memory.
But adieu, old friends of the past. After life's fitful
fever, there you sleep. No persecution and oppression dis
turb you now. The tall forest oaks stand like sentinals
around your graves as if keeping watch over this bivouac of
the noble dead, which I visited with deep emotion, and left
with reflections sad. Why should not history preserve their
names? But all unnoticed by the bus}r world, they lived and
died, because they were Indians. That tells tale.
As a sample of Colonel David Folsom's ability as a letter
writer, I will insert a few of his letters written to Rev. Elias
Cornelius and others, copied from the original without altera
tion; and when it is taken into consideration that he neATer
v\£nt to school but six months, .they may justly cause the
blush of .shame (if such a thing be within the line of a possi
bility) to appear upon the cheeks of thousands of white men,
who. have gone as many years, and yet cannot do half as
well.
To Rev. Elias Cornelius:—
CHOCTAW NATION, PIGEON ROOST. July 16, 181&
My Dear Sir: —
Your letter dated Knoxville, June 2nd has come duly to
hand, safe this morning, which I am rejoice to learn that Vou
and brother McKee and three other boys are all well and
happy. I did learn from you and McKee, when you wrote
from Cherokee Nation to me by Mr. Kingsbury, and did
write you and direct the letter to City Washington, agree
able to your direction to me. Rev. Mr. Kingsbury was here
few days ago from Yellobusher; and he requested that he
wanted my brother Israel under his care, and that he was
much in need for company in traveling about the nation and
which his request was very certainly most pleasing talk to
me and Israel. He is under Mr. Kingsbury 's care and as he
is very industrious boy I make no dou-bt but he will be use
ful to Mr. K, by the first opportunity that K. may have he
will send Israel on to you. My dear friend, I " have no
means to inform you at present in the regard of my nation ,
as we have had no council since you left here. But I know
and all I can sa*y for my nation they are a people much in
354 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
need for help and instruction, and we look up to the govern
ment of the U. S. for instruction, and which I do know the
establishment of this school will be the means of the great
est good ever been done for this nation. Our hunting- are
done for these many years back and for wanting good Father
and good Council that the general run of peoples at the Na
tion have still hunted for game an they have in many become
in want. But I know that your wish is pure and love and
good for this nation, and therefore I have been talking to my
peoples and have advice them for the best during their inten
tion to industrys and farming, and lay our hunting aside, and
here is one point of great work is just come to hand before
us which is the establishment of a school, and the Choctaws
are appear to be well pleased. I thank you for the good and
love you have, and what have already done for my nation.
Not long since I have heard from Rev and Mrs. Williams.
They are all well. I have not seen them yet. I wish you
happiness.
I am your true friend till death,
DAVID FOLSOM.
N. B. You will excuse my bad writing, as I did inform
you that I had only but six months schooling.
CHAHTAH NATION, PIGEON ROOST, Nov. 3, 1818.
To Rev. Elias Cornelius:
My dear sir: — I have just returned from the Chahtah
Treaty, and I inform you that Chahtah did not sell or ex
change lands with the United States the Chahtah said that
it is but two years ago when the Nation sold a large track of
country to the United States and therefore they said that
they had no more lands to sell, which they cannot think to
sell the land which we are living on it and raising our
children on it. And I inform you also that the nation a great
of friendships to the United States Com. ' The Nation talk
of in Council and mention that it was great benefit for us
Chahtah to have school in our Nation, and appear to be well
please and rejoiced to have such aids in our Nation. The
chiefs wrote a letter to the president of the United States
a most friendly talk and I must inform you in one part of
the letter to the president, our chief said, Father we are
most thankful for your kindly favor that you aided the
Society School in our nation. The chiefs are I believe in
notion of visiting the father, the president. Give my warm
love to my brother McKee and Israel when you shall see
them, and tell them we are all well.
I remain your most dutiful friend till death,
DAVID FOLSOM.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 355
CHAHTAH NATION, PIGEON ROOST, July 6th, 1822.
My Dear Friend Rev. Byington:
I was rejoiced to learn from Rev. King-sbury good news
from Elliott, and that health of family was much better. It
is indeed good news to me to hear that Mr. Ward has
brought the large boys under his Government once more.
After all our fuss and talk and grumbling and dissatisfaction
on the part of we Chahtahs, I hope good will result 'from it.
I did feel sorry when I was there to witness some bad con
duct of the scholars there. But I hope good may overrule for
the best — this is my sincere wish. Some days since I was
at Mayhew and staid there few days, and I am happy to say
to you that family were well, and the scholars are doing well,
and all in good health. The children go out to work cheer
fully, and • come in the school cheerfully, and mine their
teacher cheerfully, and on the hole I think they improve
most handsomely — and the missionary spirit at Mayhew I
think it is good — they all appear to do what they can. We
shall have a council 18th inst. at Mayhew — with the chiefs and
warriors of this District. I shall want Mr. Kingsbury to
give them a straight talk. I have no news to inform you at
present that is worth your notice. Give me some news if
you have any. . Present my best wishes to the Mission fam
ily. I am — Dear Sir— your friend,
DAVID FOLSOM.
Rev. C. Byington.
January 7th, 1829.
My Dear Friend Rev. C. Byington: —
I am informed you have gone to Columbus, and I do not
know it is best that you were there with the lame hand you
had. I did not like the look of your hand other day. I think
it would be. well for you to be very careful hereafter and en
deavor to get your hand well. As to our appoint at Aiikhuna
(a school or place of learning), you need not feel any disap
pointment. I shall try to go over agreeable to promise, it
was made to the people, if I should be permitted to go by the
almighty hand.. I shall try to go and see the people — if I only
just go there and shake hands and see the people. Mr.
Williams will be there, and he can preach to the people if it
be necessary to do so. I trust, if I am not deceived, the
Lord has done great things for my soul. Pray for me
brother.
I am, dear sir, your friend,
Aiikhuna. D. FOLSOM.
I have copied the above four letters of Colonel David
Folsom from the original without any alteration whatever.
-- r:- . — •
356 . \. HISTORY OF THE
Though there are defects, yet, when we consider the limited
opportunity offered in six months tuition— and only six
months — and the writer beginning- at the alphabet of a lan
guage foreign to his native tongue, and of which he compar^
atively knew nothing, are they not remarkable productions,
especially in that of their orthography? And when we also
take into consideration that Colonel David Folsom is but one
of hundreds of Choctaws, as well as of other North American
Indians all over the continent, as will be successfully estab
lished, do not the united voices of truth and justice proclaim
the falsity of the assertion, "The Indian could never be ed
ucated from his savagery." Here I will introduce to the
reader the Rev. Israel Folsom, a younger brother of the
great and good Colonel David Folsom, either of whom to
know was to love, yet true Choctaw Indians. But Rev. Israel
Folsom 's name belongs alone to the religious history of his
country and people, by whom such a man cannot be forgot
ten. The cause for which he so prodigally spent himself is
his people; but I honor his name. What 'Christian can J>e
dead to the- lesson of self-sacrifice, and life-long devotion,
which his noble career so eminently exemplified? Who of
those who knew him can doubt that after life's journey he
entered into that everlasting rest which, while on earth, he
so wistfully contemplated, and so interestingly discoursed
upon?
His conversion to the Christian religion was somewhat
peculiar. After he had become the head of a family, he came
in possession of some deistical books handed to him by some
of that class of whites who would not only degrade the In
dian upon earth but also damn his soul in eternity. But the
God of pity and love thwarted the designs of the white, mis
creant by interposing in behalf of his untutored, inexperi
enced and unsophisticated child of nature, as the sequel will
prove. For several years he carefully and diligently read
the deistical works, to the gradual neglect of the religious
books, especially the Bible, all of which, had been furnished
him by those devoted missionaries, with their frequent
prayers for God's blessing to accompany them. Those
prayers of faith followed the Choctaw student from his home
east of the Mississippi river to his new home in the west;
when he still read his deistical books, and devoted much
thought and-calm reflection upon their teachings while en
gaged in the duties of his extensive farm and stock ranch.
One beautiful spring morning, having ridden out upon the
prairie to look after his cattle, and while reflecting upon
what he had read the night before, which denied the exist
ence of a First Great Cause, he asked himself: "Then
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 357
whence came the green grass that now covers this vast
prairie as with a carpet, that stretches away before me on
every side? Whence-came the innumerable flowers of varie-
;gated colors that so delight my eye? Whence came the cattle,
the horses, the birds, and all other animals? Ah! Whence
came I, myself? There must be a God. There is a God!"
Then and there he sprang from his horse, fell upon his
knees, and in earnest prayer sought light from Him, who
hath said, "In the day that ye seek me with all thy heart,
I will be found of thee," and arose a changed man! He at
once turned his steps homeward, entered his house, and-
without speaking a word gathered every deistical and in
fidel book that had so long contaminated and polluted his
house and led him astray, and in one pile threw them into
the lire; then went out of the house, took his stand where
he could see the top of the chimney, and, as the black smoke,
made blacker by the consuming falsehoods of their infamous
^contents, ascended in dark rolls to the sky, shouted as he
waved his hand to its final adieu, "Beholcl infidelity"! and
from that moment gave his life to the ministry, and in that
capacity filled a large ,sphere of usefulness, and sat upon the
throne of a wide public esteem.
By precept and example, he endeavored to lead the
minds of his people into the paths of virtue and truth. His
great effort was to train them morally by impressing upon
.them the value of Christian truth, as the basis of Christian
character and life. In his nature he was modest and retir
ing, but his social qualities were of the highest order; and
as husband, father, citizen1, friend and preacher of the Gos
pel, he illustrated in his daily life all those noble attributes
which make up and form the highest type of true manhood.
His fine sensibility fitted itself to every demand that could
be made upon it in his family and social relations. He was
happy in making others happy, tender, true and devoted;
and his ways were truly the ways of simplicity and gentle
ness. Thus lived and died this great man — great, not in
the present acceptation of the word in this age of folly and
.sin, but in that of truth, an ornament to the truth, and a
gem in the diadem of his Redeemer. Truly, so grand a
specimen of the old school of Presbyterianism should not be
lost from the view of succeeding generations; who, in
.strength of faith, ardor of hope, and zealous devotion to the
cause of man's Redeemer, and unwearied labor for the sal
vation of souls, had few equals in any age of that glorious1
-church of Christ.
One has spoken of him as "one of the saintliest men
'•with whom he had ever been acquainted"; and all those who
358 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
knew him will fully acquiesce in the truth of that statement.
He was indeed a most sincere Christian; a man of great
spirituality; in which there was nothing" morbid or senti
mental, nor yet bustling and obtrusive; but unaffected and
genuine, and at the same time most active and efficient. The
elements of character which contributed to his success
were his simplicity, solidity and godly sincerity. He was
one who believed what he preached, and practiced what he
taught. He united gentleness with decision of character,
and was firm in his convictions, yet free of obstinacy; and
when convinced of his errors, he at once retracted. No one
ever knew him to knowingly sacrifice a right principle, frus
trate a worthy purpose, shrink from a known duty, betray a
sacred trust, speak evil of his fellowman, forsake a friend
or injure an enemy. Insincerity was a stranger in his
breast, and to say or do anything- for effect never entered his
honest mind. Though not what the world would call a bril
liant preacher, yet he possessed" what many brilliant preach
ers lack — good, common sense; for extravagances or eccen
tricities never marred his own labors, nor were the legiti
mate effect of his pulpit works cancelled by his erratelife.
Rev. Israel Folsom always gave one tenth of his annual
income to the church; and in his will, left one tenth of his
property to the church to which he was attached ; and
though time seemed to have prematurely whitened his locks,
yet it also seemed to have gently touched his stalwart frame,
and his manly features indicated to the last a character that
had met life's vicissitudes as a man should meet them. His
native strength and force still seemed like the beautiful
country in which he lived — once wild and rugged indeed, but
now softened and humanized by years of culture. It was
evident that he looked at the world, as mirrored before him,
not with cynicism nor mere curiosity, but with a heart in
sympathy with all the influences that were making it better.
He died April 24, 1870, and was buried at Old Boggy Depot,
Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, aged 67 years, 11 months
and 22 days. Such was Rev. Israel Folsom, of whom it may
be said: He was a remarkable illustration of the power of
Christianity — a great mind, once entangled in the meshes of
error, but broke away, grasped the truth and yielded not
with his expiring breath. His was a religion that endured ;
a bright and shining light to all his people; a morning star
that had arisen, casting its wild light over the dark cloud
which, for untold centuries, had hung its dark and gloomy
pall over his nation; and though it seemed to se,t prema
turely, yet it cast back a light that illuminated the path of
truth. But the veil of silence has been drawn over as true
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 359
and unselfish a life as was ever laid at the Master's feet;
yet his grand Christian life will remain a bright, shining*
light, animating and encouraging his loved ones left behind,
while memory endures.
I will here give the following of the Choctaw people,
from the pen of their great and good countryman, Rev.
Israel Folsom, which I have copied from the original without
alteration whatever, furnished me by his daughter Czarena,
now Mrs. Rabb, and never before published:
"The history of the aborigines of America has been one
of the most prominent and interesting subjects of inquiry
and research of the present age. The, manners, habits,
customs and peculiarities of the different Indian tribes, have,
for many years, formed a theme of deep interest and praise
worthy investigation to the philanthropic and scientific
world. While their traditions are worthy of being pre
served, on account of their similarity to some of the won
drous and attractive events recorded in the Old Testament,
various and unsatisfactory are the conjectures set forth re
garding their parent root or origin. Some; with a good show
of plausibility, have attempted to prove that they are of- Jew
ish extraction and constitute a remnant of the lost ten tribes
of Israel; Jthers as earnestly agree, that they are but a
branch or off-shoot from the Tartar, Sclavonic or JTyrus
race; while, on the other hand, a class of speculative his
torians make bold to assert that they are not of Asiatic line
age, and do not, therefore, owe in common with^mankind
their descent from Adam. The first view is supported by
the Indians themselves, but gives little strength or addition
al force to the argument. Whatever value, or otherwise,
may be attached to one or all of these theories, which to a
large extent they onlv are, one thing is clear and beyond
contradiction, that the white people in general have, com
paratively speaking, but a very imperfect knowledge of the
Indian race.
"During the earlier period of the history of America, and
shortly after its discovery, the monarchs of Europe, fired
with the lust of conquest and spoil, attempted, but in vain,
to subjugate the Indians and rivet the shackles of slavery
upon them. They however, carried this purpose so far into
execution, as cruelly to tear them away from their peaceful
homes and endeared families, and transported them by
thousands into various parts of the world. These unjust
proceedings, instead of quenching the indomitable love of
liberty, which so strongly and brightly burned in their
breasts, served only to arouse the full power of resistance
360 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
against their oppressors, which ultimately had the effect of
freeing- them from such bondage.
'Tliey may bury the steel in the Indian's Breast;
Thev may lay him low with his sires to rest,
His scattered race from their heritage push,
But his dauntless spirit they cannot break.'
"From that period up to the present time, the Indians
have been and are still receiving everything but justice. In
fact ever since the Christian world gained a foot-hold upon
the American continent and erected the cross on its shores
they have had no rest, but have been defrauded, trodden
down, oppressed, scattered, and weakened. Their condi
tion has -'been one of constant suffering and injustice.
Avarice, the demon of civilized man, has worked heavily
upon them, the result of which is, that only a sad and melan
choly history c-an be written in regard to their past and
present conditions. Yet a people possessed of such rare
and remarkable traits, should not be permitted to pass away
without some notice and record of their history.
"But how true, wheii nature is wounded through all her
dearest ties, she must and will turn on the hand that stabs
and endeavor to wrest the poniard from the grasp that
aims at the life, pulse of her breast! And this she will do in
obedience to that immutable law, which blends the instinct
of self-preservation with every atom of human existence.
And for this, in less felicitous times, when oppression and
war succeeded alternately to each other, was the name
Indian blended with the epithet 'cruel,' therefore, when they
(the whites) talk or write about the Indians' wild, savage,
and irreclaimable nature, they speak not nor write as they
know or feel, but as they hear, by which and through which
they have been educated to regard the Indian race as beings
forming a lower link than humanity in the chain of nature,
and -finding- only a place for them in the ranks of ferocious
beasts of prey; but this, with other innumerable errors of
both excusable ignorance, but in most cases, that of inex
cusable ignorance and great want of principle, is shamefully
unjust; since the Indians' cruelty to the White Race as a
whole, has not been greater than that practiced upon them
by the White Race, proving that they possess as humane
dispositions as any nation of people under the same
circumstances and in the same state of moral and intellectual
culture.
"As comprising an important chapter of this great sub
ject, I will now proceed to give a brief narrative of the Choc-
taw tribe of red people — their traditions, government, relig"-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 361
ious belief, customs and manners, anterior to the introduc
tion of the gospel among- them. To guard against any
misconception, however, I deem it proper to state that their
traditions and history are so much commingled, it is difficult
to separate them without destroying, in a great measure, the
interest of the subject, and I have, therefore, to some ex
tent, interwoven them.
NAME AND MIGRATION FROM THE WEST. — THE PRO
PHET WARRIOR, AND THE ENCHANTED POLE. — " The
name Choctaw, or Chahtah is, derived from a pro--
phet warrior who flourished at a time too remote for fixing
any date, as it is only handed down by tradition from one gen
eration to another.
"Headed by him, tradition informs us, the people in one
grand division migrated to the East from a country far to
ward the setting sun, following the Cherokees and Musco-
gees, who had moved on, four years previous, in search of a
suitable spot for a permanent location. He is said to have
been possessed of all the characteristics essential to the car
rying out of such an enterprise to a successful termination.
His benevolence and many other virtues are still cherished
and held in sacred remembrance by his people. The coun
try whence they migrated, or the causes which induced them
to seek another place of habitation, is wrapt in mysterious
oblivion, as their tradition begins abruptly with the epoch of
migratfon. In moving from place to place, Chahtah is said
to have carried a high staff or pole which, on encamping, was
immediately placed in front of his wigwam, where it re
mained until they broke up encampment. His wigwam is
represented to have been placed in the van of all the tribe.
When the pole inclined forward — a power which it was be
lieved to possess — the people prepared to march. This is
somewhat analogous to the cloud by day and pillar of fire by
night, by which the Lord, through His beloved servant,
guided the children of Israel from Egypt. After many
years of wanderings, during which "they, in common 'with
Ihose who have ever engaged in similar enterprises, suffered
many trials and privations, they at .length- arrived at a cer
tain place, where the staff stood still and, instead of bending
forward, inclined backward, which was regarded as a sign
they were at their journey's end. To this place where the
staff stood still, Chahtah gave the name of Nun-nih Wai-ya.
The exact period of the termination of their wanderings is
unknown. So soon as they got in some degree settled, Chah
tah called the warriors together for the purpose of organiz
ing a code of laws for their government. At this place of
rest, JSTunnih Waiya, the^ built strong fortifications in order
362 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
to protect themselves from any foe who might conceive hos
tile intentions against them. Whether or not they were ever
assailed sre unknown. The remains of the fortress, how
ever, is still to be seen in Mississippi. A long time did not
elapse before their newly acquired territory was found to be
too limited to hold their rapidly increasing numbers, and
they were in consequence compelled to spread themselves
over the adjacent country, and form themselves in villages.
It is a well authenticated fact that from this out-pouring or
scattering, sprung the Indians called Shukchi, Hummas and
Yazoos.
DOMESTIC GOVERNMENT. — "In the domestic government
the oldest brother or uncle was the head; the parents being
required merely to assist in the exercise of this duty by
their advice and example. This was similar in a great de
gree to the Patriarchal government in vogue among the
Jews.
TRIBAL GOVERNMENT. — ''The tribal or national govern
ment was vested in the royal family. Their criminal code
was simple in the extreme — life for life. For minor offenses
they inflicted punishments or imposed fines suited to the
nature of the case. They were under the government of
custom or common law of the Nation. All their matters of
dispute or difficulty were settled in open council. They
had no such officers as constables or sheriffs, but the chief
had power at any time to order out any number of warriors
to > bring offenders to justice. The chief's office was one
merely of supremacy or leadership, and consequently there
was no pay attached to it as at present.
IDOLS — SPIRITS — SACRED FIRES. — They never worshiped
idols, or any works of their own hands, as other savage
nations. They believed in the existence of a Great Spirit,
and that He possessed super-natural power, and was omni
present, but they did not deem that He expected or required
any form of worship of them. They had 110 idea of God as
taught by revealed religion — no conception of His manifold
mercies, or the atonement made for sin. All they felt was a
dread of His attributes and character, made (manifest to
them by the phenomena of the heavens. But in common
writh the believers of the Scriptures, they held the doctrine
of future rewards and punishments. They differed from
them, however, as to the location of heaven and their views
of happiness- and misery. Heaven, or the happy hunting
grounds, in their imagination, was similar to the Elysian
fields of the heathen mythology. There the spirit of those
who had been virtuous, honest and truthful, while on earth,,
enjoyed, in common with youthful angels, all manner of
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 363
games and voluptuous pleasures, with no care, no sorrow,
nothing- but one eternal round of enjoyment. They be
lieved that angels or spirits seldom visited the earth, and
cared but very little about doing so, as being supplied in
heaven with everything suitable to -their wants, nothing was
required from the earth. According to their notion, heaven
was located in the southwestern horizon, and spirits, instead
of ascending, according to the Christian idea, sped their
last journey in a line directly above the surface of the earth
in the direction of the southwest horizon. Previous to a
spirit's admission into the happv hunting ground, it was ex
amined by the attendant angel at the gate, who consigned i.t
to heaven or hell according to its deeds on earth. Their hell,
or place of punishment, as they termed it, was the reverse
of the happy hunting ground — a land full of briers, thorns,
and every description of prickly plants, which could inflict
deep cuts, causing intense pain from which there was no
escape; onward they must go — no healing oil for their
wounds — nothing but an eternity of pain — no games — no
voluptuous pleasures — nothing save an illimitable land of
blasted foliage.
They also believed in the existence of a devil, whom they
designated Na-lusa-chi-to, a great black being, or soul eater,
who found full occupation in terrifying and doing all manner
of harm to people. He accords well with the one described
in the Scriptures; "who goeth about like a roaring lion seek
ing whom he may devour." Previous to a spirit winging its
flight to the happv hunting ground, or the land of briers' and
blasted foliage, it was supposed to hover around the place
where its tabernacle lay for several days — four at least.
They believed that the happy hunting ground was at a dis
tance of many days journey. When a person died, provis
ion was prepared for the journey under the supposition that
the departed spirit still possessed hunger. Upon the death
of a man, his dog was killed, that its spirit might accompany
that of its master. Ponies, after they were introduced, were
also killed, that the spirit might ride. They believed that
all animals had spirits. During four days a fire was kept
kindled a few steps in front of the wigwam of the deceased,*
whether the weather was cold or hot. They imagined, that
if the spirit found no fire kindled in that manner for his
benefit, it would become exceedingly distressed and angry,
especially when the night was cold, dark and stormy. A
bereaved mother, on the loss of her child, would kindle up a
fire and sit by it all night. The wife on the loss of a husband
performed the same vigil. In either case a rest in sleep was
denied. For six months or more, in case of the death of a
364 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
chief, the sorrowing and mourning relations indicated their
grief in many ways. The men, in the early part of their-
time of mourning, remained silent and subdued, ate very
sparingly, and abstained from all kinds of amusements, and
from decking themselves out in their usual manner; the
women did the same, with this difference, that they remained
at home prostrated with grief — their hair streaming over
their shoulders, unoiled and undressed, being seated on
skins close to the place of burial or sacred fire. They not
unfrequently broke the silence of sadness by heart piercing
exclamations expressive of their grief. For a long' time they
would continue to visit the grave regularly morning and even
ing to mourn and weep.
MODE OF BURIAL — BONE-PICKERS. — ORIGIN OF THE MIS
SISSIPPI MOUNDS. — l'The mode of burial practiced by the
Choctaws consisted in placing the corpse five or six feet
from the ground upon a platform of rough timber made for
that purpose, covered with a rough kind of cloth of their
own making, or skins of wild animals and bark of trees.
After remaining in that condition until the flesh had very
nearly or altogether decayed, the bones were then taken
down by the bone-pickers (persons appointed for that duty)
and carefully put in wooden boxes made for that purpose,
which were placed in a house built and set apart for them.
These were called bone-houses;- whenever they became full,
the bones were all taken out and carefully arranged to a con
siderable height somewhat in the form of a pyramid or cone,
and a layer of earth put over them. This custom, which
prevailed among many different tribes, is, no doubt, the or
igin of the Indian mounds, as they are generally called,
which are found in various parts of the country, -particularly
in the States of Mississippi and Alabama, formerly the home
of the Choctaws. When the custom of placing the dead
upon platforms was abandoned, which met with strong op
position, they buried their dead in a sitting posture in the
grave ; around the grave they set half a dozen red poles about
eight feet high, ancf one about fifteen feet high, at the top of
which a white flag was fastened. The occupation of the
bone-pickers having been abolished, it then became their
business to make and set up red poles around the graves,
and afterwards to remove them at the expiration of the time'
of mourning, and hence they were called pole-pullers. They
were respected by the people, and for less labor being im
posed upon them, they were pleased with the change in the
burial of the dead. At the pole-pullings, which as stated,
was at the expiration of the time of mourning, a vast collec
tion of people would assemble to join in a general mourning.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 365
After much food had been consumed they would disperse to
their respective homes, and the. mourning- relations w^puld oil
their hair and dress up as usual.
• TRADITION OF THE FLOOD. — The tradition, as related by
wise men of the Nation, about the flood, is as follows: A
long- continued night came upon the land, which created no
small degree of fear and uneasiness among the people.
Their fears were increased at seeing the terrible buffaloes,
and the fleet deer making their appearance, and after them
the bears and panthers, wolves, and others approaching their
habitations; suspicious at first of their intentions, they
thought of placing themselves beyond the reach of the more
dangerous animals, but instead of exhibiting any disposition
of ferocity, they seemed rather to claim protection at their
hands. This presented an opportunity of having a jubilee
of feasting, and they therefore indulged themselves to the
fullest bent of their propensity and inclinations by an indis
criminate massacre of the animals. Having thus feasted for
some time, they at last saw daylight appearing. But what
surprised them much, was, they saw it coming from the
north. They were at a loss what to think of it. They,
however, supposed that the sun must have missed his path,
and was coming up from another direction, which caused
the unusual long night, or perhaps he had purposely changed
his course, to rise hereafter in the north instead of the east.
While such conjectures were making, some fast runners
arrived as messengers coming from the direction of the sup
posed day light, and announced to them that the light which
they saw was not the day light, but that it was a flood slowly
approaching, dro\vning and destroying everything. Upon
this report the people fled to the mountains, and began to
construct rafts of sassafras wood, binding them together
with vines, believing this expedient would save them from a
watery grave. But alas, delusive hope! fed* the bears were
swimming around in countless numbers, being very fond of
vine twigs gnawed them through, thereby setting loose the
materials of the raft, and bringing the people under dark
waters. Their cries, wailing and agony, were unheard and
unseen. But there was one man who prepared and launched
a strong peni or boat, into which he placed his family and
provisions and thus floated upon the deep waters. For
days the Penikbi (boat builder) strained his eyes looking all
around for the purpose of discovering the existence of
some animal life, and a place at which to anchor his vessel.
"Nothing met his sight save the cheerlees waste of
waters. The hawks, eagles and other birds of the same
class, had all, 'when they found that the tops of the moun-
366 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
tains could not render them a lighting- place from the flood,
flown to the sky and clung- on to it with their talons, and re
mained until the flood abated, when they returned to their
old haunts and resumed their natural propensities and
habits. An indication of the disappearing- of the flood thus
manifested itself. A crow made its appearance and so much
delig-hted to see the boat, that it flew around and around it.
The Penikbi, overjoyed beyond measure, addressed the
sable bird, wishing- to elicit some information from it as to
whereabouts, and whether or not the flood was subsiding
any, but it heeded him not, seeming to be determined to con
sult its own safety before that of any One else; but scarcely
had the crow winged away from the peni before a dove was
described flying towards it, and 011 reaching it, the Penikbi
with joy perceived a leaf in its bill. It flew several times
around but did not alight; after doing so took its course
slowly flying toward the west, but seemingly anxious that
Penikbi would steer in the direction it flew, which he did
faithfully following the course. In this way many a weary
mile was traveled, before seeing a place to land. At length
a mountain became visible, and never did a benighted ma
riner hail the sight of land as Penikbi did, when its sum
mit became visible. When he had safely landed, the dove
flew away to return no more. Though this diluvial story is
in some respects absurd, still, the intelligible portions of
it concide with those evidences which are embalmed in the
convictions and understanding of the Christian world, in
the authenticity of the inspired Word. It is strange that
the Choctaws should have been in possession of those par
ticulars long before the white man spread before them the
pages of life."
Ancient Choctaw tradition affirms that a drouth followed
by a famine in corn, peas, beans, etc., prevailed throughout
their country far back in the days of their forefathers, which
continued over three years; that all the tributaries of the
Tanapoh Ikbi (Gun Maker), now known as the Tombigbee
river, together with all the lakes and jionds, were completely
dried up; that the river ceased to run, the water standing
only in holes here and there, that all the larger game left
the country, going west; that the buffalo, then inhabit
ing their country, never returned. Does this tradition point
back to those remote ages in which the Prophet of God and
king Ahab figured? This t/aditioiial drouth of the Choctaws
continued over three years, that of the Prophet three and a
half years. Did it extend to the western continent, or did
the tradition refer back prior to their ancestors' migration
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 367
from the eastern to the western continent, the Tanapoh Ikbi
and the buffalo being- additions of a future generation?
IKSA: — "The Choctaws were divided into various clans
called Iksa, established and regulated upon principles of
unity, fiidelity and charity. They held this to be a neces
sary and important custom to be sacredly kept and inviola
bly observed by them at all times and under all circumstan
ces, and never to be forgotten. If one should be found
in a strange place far from home, and should be placed
in a situation to need assistance, all he had to do was
to give the necessary intimation of his membership of one
of those Iksas, and upon the mention of the name of that clan
he would never fail to meet one or more, who would immedi
ately extend to him the hand of friendship. Should he be
sick, in want or in distress, relief would be immediately
administered. The marriage of persons belonging- to the
same Iksa was forbidden by the common law of the tribe.
The brotherly love, so strongly inculcated and highly recom,
mended in the Inspired Volume, was to a great extent prac
ticed under this sort of arrangement. It was considered
that the Nation could not exist without the Iksa. One Iksa
piled the bones, and buried the dead of another. No Iksa
performed these last offices to any of its own Iksa. Each
had their bone-pickers — old men being usually chosenf or that
purpose and were held in high esteem on account of their
age and office.
DOCTORS: — "I believe it is an acknowledged fact, there is
no nation in existence, or has ever existed, but has had doc
tors. This shows the importance of the profession. The
Choctaws also were not without them. But perhaps with the
advantage over all others, of having as many of the female as
of the male sex, who were quite as successful in their prac
tice as the latter. The doctors made use of herbs and roots
in various forms, applied and given in different modes — for
emetics, cathartics, sweats, wounds and sores ; they also
made use of cold baths, scarification, cupping and blistered
by means of burning punk, and practiced suction to draw
out pain; some used enchantment, while others practiced by
magic, pretending to have learned the art of healing, Mor
mon-like, by special revelation, communicated to them in
some retired and unfrequented forest. It was in this way,
also, it was said, that the war-prophets were raised up to
lead the people to battle. At a high price and much expense
the doctors of both sexes learned the mode and manner of
the use of herbs and roots. It is a fact worthy of remark,
that even now many of them are in possession of some use
ful and important means of cure. They have, among other
368 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
thing's, an effectual remedy for the bite of the rattle-snake,
or of any other venomous reptile, the bite of which they
consider very easy of cure.
MESMERISM. — "Mesmerism was known among them,
though they regarded it with wonder and dread,
and it was looked upon as injurious and
hurtful in its results; while those who prac
ticed this curious art had often to pay very dearly for it,
for they were frequently put to death. Ventriloquism has
also been found among them, and used solely for vain, self
ish and evil designs, but to the great danger of the life of the
person practicing it, for the Choctaws believe that whatever
appears supernatural, is suspicious and likely at any time
to be turned to evil purposes.
ECLIPSES. — BLACK SQUIRRELS EATING UP THE SUN. — "Be
fore correctly understanding the true causes of the eclipses
of the sun, all heathen nations have had their superstitious
belief in regard to them. It was so with the Choctaws.
Their notions were strange indeed. When t]ie sun began to
get less in his brightness, and g'row dark ancT obscure, they
believed that some thereal black squirrels of large size,
driven by hunger, had commenced eating him and were going
to devour him. With this belief they thought it was their
duty to make every exertion they could to save the great
luminary of day from being consumed by them. Therefore
every -person, both men, women and children, wrho could
make a noise, were called upon to join in the effort to drive
the squirrels away. To do this they would begin in the
same manne^ as persons generallv do in trying to start a
squirrel off from a tree. Some would throw sticks towards
the declining sun, whooping and yelling, at the same time
shooting arrows toward the supposed black squirrels.
DANCES. — "They had various kinds of dances as well as
other people, many of which were, however, insignificant
and do not deserve a notice here; but there were others
which were -considered important and national, such as the
ball-play dance, the war-dance, eagle-dance, and scalp-dance,
all of which seem to have been the result of rude and savage
ideas. The training of their young men consisted princi
pally in three things; viz.: War, hunting;, and ball-playjng.
The last was a national play with ball-sticks, in which they
all took much pride. In that for war, the young men were
required to pass through many hard exercises of the body
in order to inure them to hardships and suffering. They
were required to receive inflictions of tortures on their
naked bodies, once a year, and also to plunge into deep water
and dive four times in about one minute, during one of the
' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 369
cold and frosty morning's. Lectures on the subject of
bravery and sincerity, truth and justice, towards their
friends, were often given them by some of the bravest of
their head-men. In fact, no other, person was allowed to ad
dress the young, or the people at any time, but those only
whose bravery had been long known and acknowledged
among- them. They were also carefully drilled in the use of
the bow, with which they were expert and perfect. They
would hardly ever miss a deer or turkey at the distance of
fifty yards.
"The girls were trained up to perform various kinds of
domestic employments, as well as to work in the field, which
was but little at that time. They took no small degree of
pride in the latter, viewing it as a proper sphere for their ex
ertions. The women would ridicule and laugh at the inen
who would dare to undertake that kind of labor, which was
considered a.s properly belonging to the women. Their
maxim was — men for war and hunting; while home is the
place for women, and theirs the duty to work.
ANCIENT CHOCTAW COURTSHIP: — "When the young Choc-
taw beau went the first time to see his 'Fair Oiie,' after
having resolved upon matrimony, he tested his own standing
in the estimation of his anticipated bride by indifferently
walking into the room where she is seated 'with the rest of
the family, and, during the general conversation, he sought
and soon found an opportunity to shoot, slyly and unobserv
ed, a little stick or small pebble at her. She soon ascertained
the source whence they came, and fully comprehended the
signification of those little messengers of love. If approved,
she returned them as slyly and silently as they came. If
not, she suddenly sprang from her seat, "turned a frowning
face of disapproval upon him and silently left the room.
That ended the matter, though not a word had been spoken
between them. But when the little tell-tales skipped back
to him from her fingers, followed by a pair of black eyes
peeping out from under their Ipng, silken eye-lashes, he joy
fully comprehended the import and, in. a few minutes, arose
and, as he started toward the door, he repeated his informal
'Eali' (I go), upon which a response of assent was'given by
the father or mother in the equally informal 'Omih' (very
well).
He returned in two or three days, however, with a few
presents for the parents, and to secure their approval.
Which being obtained, a day was appointed for the marriage
—a feast prepared and friends invited. When all had assem
bled, the groom was placed in one room and the bride in
another and the doors closed. A distance of two or three
370 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. *
hundred yards was then measured off, and at the farther end
a little pole, neat and straight was set up. Then, at a given
signal, the door of the bride's room was thrown open, and
at once she spring's out and starts for the pole with the
lightness and swiftness of an antelope. As soon as she has
gotten a few rods the start, enough for her to keep him from
overtaking- her if she was so inclined, the door of his room
was thrown open, and away he runs with seemingly super
human speed, much to the amusement of the spectators.
Often, as if to try the sincerity of his affection, she did not
let him overtake her until within a few feet of the pole; and
sometimes, when she had changed her *mind in regard to
marrying- him, she did not let him overtake her, which was
public acknowledgement of the tact, and the groom made the
race but to be grievously disappointed — but such a result
seldom happened. As soon as he caught her, after an ex
change of a word or two, he gently led her back by the hand,
and were met about half way by the lady friends of the
bride, who took her from the hands of the groom yielding
to their demands with seeming reluctance, and led her back
into the yard to a place in front of the house previously pre
pared for her, and seated her upon a blanket spread upon the
ground. A circle of women immediately formed around her.
each holding in their hands the various kinds of presents
£hey intended to bestow upon her as a bridal gift. Then
one after another in short intervals began to cast her presents
on the head of the seated bride, at which momenta first-class
grab-game was introduced. For the moment a present fell
upon her waiting head it was snatched therefrom by some
one of the party — a dozen or more making a grab for it at the
same instant — regardless of the suffering1 bride, who was often
pulled hither and thither by the snatchers' eager fingers be
coming entangled in her long, black ringlets. When the
presents had all been thus disposed of, the bride not receiv
ing a single article, the twain were pronounced one — man
and \yife; then the feast was served, after which all returned
•to their respective homes with merry and happy hearts."
As the land was free to all, the happy groom, a few
days aftar his nuptials, erected with the assistance of his
friends, a neat little cabin in some picturesque grove by the
side of some bubbling spring or on the banks of some rip
pling brook. A small iron kettle in which to boil their veni
son, and a. wooden bowl in which to put it when cooked,
were sufficient culinary utensils for the young house-keep
ers. They needed no mahogany tables or carved chairs, for,
they sat, as the Orientals, upon the ground. The bowl with
its contents was placed in the centre of the cabin and the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 371
husband and wife sat around it, and with the wooden or horn
spoon, helped themselves one after the other. If they had
guests the same rule of etiquette was observed — each one
being* free to make a dip with the spoon into the contents
of the bowl, thence to the mouth, in regular turn.
Ta-ful-a, (Tomfuller), was their favorite and hence
standing dish, and is to this day. It consists of corn, pound
ed in a wooden mortar with a wooden pestle to take off the
husks, then thoroughly boiled; sometimes peas or beans are
mixed and cooked with it, then it is called Tafula tabi ibu-
Ihto.
Thenv again, hickory or walnut kernels or meats are
mixed and cooked with it; it is then called Tafula oksak nip-
ibulhto; if walnut kernels, then it is called Tafula ok-sak-
hahe (walnut) nipi ibulhto.
They used a very pleasant beverage of acidulated fo-i
(honey) and o-ka, (water); also they made a very palatable
jelly from the pounded roots of the China brier, strained
through baskets, and mixing the dried farina with honey.
They pounded hickory and walnuts together, and having pass
ed them through boiling water, and then through strainers of
fine basket work, it produced an inspissated liquor, the color
and consistency of cream, and richer and of finer flavor.
LAWS — Of the Choctaws regulating the marriage of
white men to the Choctaw women:
Whereas, the Choctaw Nation is being filled up with
white persons of worthless characters by so-called marriages
to the great injury of the Choctaw people.
Section 1st. — Be it enacted by the General Council of the
Choctaw Nation assembled: That the peace and prosperity
of the Choctaw people require that any white man or citizen
of the United States, or of any foreign government, desiring
to marry a Choctaw woman, citizen of the Choctaw Nation,
shall be and is hereby required to obtain a license for the
same, from any of the Circuit Clerks or Judges of a Court
of Record, and make oath, or satisfactory showing to such
Clerk or Judge, that he has not a surviving wife from
whom he has not been lawfully divorced, and unless such
information be freely furnished to the satisfaction of the
Clerk or Judge no license shall issue.
Section 2nd. — Be it further enacted: That every white
man or person applying for a license as provided in pre
ceding section of this act, shall before obtaining the same,
be required to present to the said Clerk or Judge a certifi
cate of good moral character, signed by at least ten respect
able Choctaw citizens by blood, who shall have been ac-
372 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
quainted with him at least twelve months immediately pre
ceding- the signing- of such certificate.
3rd. Be it further enacted, before any license as herein
provided shall be issued; the person applying shall be, and is
hereby required to pay to the Clerk or Judge, the sum of
twenty-fi\Le dollars, and be also required to take the following-
oath : I do solemnly swear that I will honor, defend and sub
mit to the Constitution and Laws of the Choctaw Nation, and
will neither claim nor seek from the United States Govern
ment, or from the Judicial Tribunals thereof any protection,
privilege or redress incompatible with the same, as guaran
teed to the Choctaw Nation by the treaty stipulations enter
ed between them, so help me God.
Sec. 4th. Marriages contracted under the provisions of
this act, shall be solemnized as provided by the laws of this
Nation or otherwise null and void.
Sec. 5th. No marriages between a citizen of the United
States, or any foreign Nation, and a female citizen of this
Nation, entered into within the limits of this Nation, except
hereinbefore authorized and provided, shall be legal, and
ever}7 person who shall engag-e and assist in solemnizing
such marriage, shall upon conviction before the Circuit
Court of the District of this Nation, be fined fifty dollars,
and it shall be the duty of the prosecuting attorney of the
District in which said" person resides to prosecute such per
son before the Circuit Court, and one-half of all fines arising
under this act, shall be equally divided between^ the sheriff
and prosecuting attorney.
Sec. 6th. Every person performing the marriage cere
mony under the authority of a license provided for herein,
shall be required to attach a certificate to the back of the
license and return it to the person in whose behalf it was is
sued, who shall within thirty days therefrom place the same
in the hands of the Circuit Clerk, whose duty it shall be to
record the same, and return it to the owner.
Section 7th. — Be it further enacted: that should any man
or woman, a citizen of the United States, or of any foreign
country, become a citizen of the Choctaw Nation by inter
marriage and be left a widow or widower, shall continue to
enjoy the rights of citizenship, unless he or she shall marry
a white man or white woman, a citizen of the United States,
or of any foreign government, as the case may be, having- no
rights of Choctaw citizenship by blood; in that case, all his
or her rights acquired under the provision of this act shall
cease.
Section 8th. — Every person who shall lawfully marry
under the provision of this act, and after abandon his wife,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 373
shall forfeit every right of citizenship and shall be considered
intruders and removed from this Nation by order of the
principal Chief.
Sectioiv'9th. — Be it further enacted; that this act take
effect and be in force from and after its passage.
Proposed by Ishain Walker.
Passed the House, November 6, 1875, J. White, speaker.
Passed the Senate, November 9, 1875, J. B. Moore, Pres
ident Senate.
Approved, November 9, 1875, Cole man Cole, P. C., Choc-
taw Nation.
I hereby certify that the foregoing act in relation to
white men marrying an Indian woman, or white woman
marrying-, e'c , is a true and correct copy from the Original
Bill now on file in my office. In testimony whereof I have
hereunto set my hand and and affixed the seal of the Choc-
taw Nation.
This the 9th day of October, 1884.
THOMPSON McKiNNEY,
National Secretary Choctaw Nation.
It no doubt would have been better for the Choctaws, if
they had strictly adhered to a resolution drawn up and
adopted in an ancient council of their tribe. A white man
at an early day, came into their country, and in the course
of time married a Choctaw girl and as a natural result, a
child was born. Soon after the arrival of the little stranger,
(the first of its type among them), a council was called to
consider the propriety of permitting white men to marry
the women of the Choctaws. If it was permitted, they
argued, the whites would become more numerous and event
ually destroy their national characteristics. Therefore it
was determined to stop all future marriages between the
Choctaws and the White Race, and at once, ordered the
white man to leave their country, and the child killed. A
committee wras appointed to carry the decision into execu
tion, yet felt reluctant to kill the child. In the meantime,
the mother, hearing of the resolution passed by the council,
hid the child, and when the committee arrived they failed to
find it, and willingly reported that the Great Spirit had taken
it away. The mother kept it concealed for several weeks,
and then secretly brought it back one night, and told her
friends the next morning that the Great Spirit had returned
during the night with her child and placed it by her side as
she slept. The committee had previously, decided,- how
ever, that if ever the child returned it might live; but if it
never came back, they then would know that the Great
Spirit had taken it. The boy was ever afterwards regarded
374 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
as being- under the special care of the Great Spirit, and be
came a chief of their Nation. The law was repealed; the
father re-called and adopted as one of the tribe; and thus
the custom of adopting- the white man originated and has so
continued from that day to this — so affirms one of their
ancient traditions, those Indian caskets filled with documents
from the remote past, but which have long since passed into
the region of accepted fables.
As proof that the North American Indian has love for
country and home, I will here insert the following- (never be
fore published) taken from the original MS., written by Rev.
Israel Folsom, just before his people were driven from their
ancient possessions east of the Mississippi river to thef r
present place of abode. Their lands had been promised to
the Choctaws uas long- as water should run and grass should
grow."
THE INDIAN'S SONG.— LO! THE POOR INDIAN'S HOPE.
"Land where brightest M'aters flow,
Land where loveliest forests grow
Where warriors drew the bow-
Native land farewell .
"He who made yon stream and tree,
Made the White, the Red man free,
Gave the Indian's home to be
'Mid the forest's wilds.
"Have the waters ceased to flow?
Have the forests ceased to grow?
Why do our brothers bid us go
From our native home?
"Here in infancy we played,
Here our happy wigwams made,
' Here our fathers' bones are laid—
Must we leave them all ?
''White men tell us of God on high.
So pure and bright in yonder sky —
Will not then His searching eye
See the Indians' wrong?"
The following- is from the pen of a missionary who has
long- labored among the Choctaws and knew of what he
spoke, ana is sufficient testimony of the moral worth of him
of whom he wrote :
"CHOCTAW NATION, April 9, 1885.
"Dear Brother Murrow :—
UI write you a sad letter. Our old Brother Peter Folsom
is d'ead. He was taken sick the first day of April, and has-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 375
been growing worse ever since. He died to-day. I am writ
ing- by his beloved body. His spirit is in heaven. I can write
no more. Please publish his death in the Champion, that all
friends may know.
"Your brother in Christ,
"SIMON HANDCOCK."
Such was the sad news that reached me. I knew Bro.
Folsom personally for twenty-seven years. Truly, 'a great
man has fallen.' He was great — first and chief est, because
he was good. He was good in a moral and Christian sense.
He was the first Choctaw who united with a Baptist church.
This was in the year 1829. No charge of unfaithfulness to
Christ has ever been made against him for over fifty years.
He was an eloquent and active preacher of the Gospel. He
established a number of churches, and developed and train
ed excellent pastors for them all. He might appropriately
be termed 'the father of the Baptist mission work in the
Choctaw Nation.' His piety was known and read of all men.
He enjoyed the confidence and esteem of everybody — red,
white and black. He walked with God, and is not, for God
has taken him.
Second. — "He was 'great,' because he was useful as a;
citizen. Uncle Peter was a true Choctaw. He loved his
people; he sought their interests. For many years he was
a prominent man in the councils and national affairs. He
was a safe and wise counselor; was never accused of betraying
a party to any crookedness nor a member of any ring. He
often represented his Nation at Washington City. While
there he always maintained his moral, upright character.
His religion and purity were not left at home.
"Third — he was 'great,' because he was charitable;
'But the greatest of these is charity,' or love. I think Uncle
Peter loved everybody and everything that was good . His
heart, his home, his purse were always open. Indeed, he
was, perhaps, too charitable, for he was often imposed upon.
The poor, the needy, the distressed, whether red, white or
black, were never turned from him without help or comfort.
For many years he enjoyed a competency of this world's
goods, for he was a good manager. But the war broke him
up, and he died in poverty. And yet he held an interest in a
large and just claim against the United States Government.
A claim> recognized by Congress as just and ordered paid.
Technicalities and red-tape delays hindered this payment.
O what a shame! A rich and prosperous Government, with
millions piled up in the treasury vault, owing money justly
to a feeble people who need it, and who die in poverty and
376 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
suffering- for the want of it. ' But our brother needs it not
now. He is free from poverty and injustice. He is rich
and happy."
"J. L. MURROW."
Rev. .Peter Folsom had two sons — Jerry and. William.
He had also three daughters — Susan Francis, Sophia and
Kizia — all of the daughters are deceased.
Judge Loring- Folsom, now the only surviving- child of
Colonel David Folsom and his first wife, Rhoda Nail, was
long one of the leading men of the Choctaw Nation, but re
tired from the political arena several years ago, and has ever
since been living in peace and quiet on his farm one and a
half miles south of the town of Caddo, which took its'name
from a tribe of Indians whom the Choctaws defeated in bat
tle on a group of high hills at the base of which Judge Loring
Folsom now lives. This was the last battle in which the Choc-
taws were ever engaged as a Nation. In this the sun of
their military glory went down to be followed by no return
ing morn.
But no study is needed to ascertain that Judge Loring
Folsom is also a genuine man; a man from all dissimulation
free — a characteristic so notable of the Choctaws — and ever
wearing a ch'eerful face, so indicative of the warm feelings
of a kind and generous friend. His natural disposition is
remarkably amiable, being endowed with a gentleness of
manner and delicacy of feeling, which to the casual observer
would not at first indicate that inflexible firmness which
he always manifests in determining questions of duty.
He filled the high and responsible position of Circuit
Judge in his district for nearly twenty years, with credit
and honor; though retired to private life, like his amiable
father, .he possesses a strong, clear mind, which he has cul
tivated with assiduous success, in consequence of which he
has obtained a large amount of general information, by ex
tensive reading, close observation and mature reflection.
He is well posted in all the political affairs of his own na
tion, and also of the United States. His whole public life, in
all the different and responsible fields in which he has been
called by his people to labor, attest the purity and loftiness
of its tone and purpose. He is a man of distinct individual
ity, yet in all his conduct, he is ever animated by the purest
motives arid an inflexible love of truth and justice, tha£ would
be. of great advantage to all to put into practice the noble
principles that animate the breast and govern the actions of
Judge Loring Folsom.
THE Two FRIENDS — THE RED AND THE WHITE. —
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 377
During* my travels in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations in
1884, I arrived one evening- the 19th of June, at the quiet and
unostentatious village of Doaksville — one among- the first
towns located in their present country when arriving from
their ancient domains east of the Mississippi river, in the
year 1832. It soon became«a place of considerable trade;
but ultimately proving- to be very sickly it was nearly aban
doned; and, at the time I visited it, was but a relic of the
past wTith Ichabod as an appropriate epitaph — having- only
one small dry goods store and eig-ht or ten resident houses.
My object in visiting- it was to find a Choctaw friend, one
among- the few then living- and known as friend in- the
broadest sense of the word, in days of the long ago. On
entering the little place I found many Choctaws there of
both sexes and of all ages, the store full within and its im
mediate environments covered with diversified groups of
men, women and children sitting and standing. I asked a
Choctaw man standing near, if he knew Henry Folsorn, and
if he was in the town? Looking around a mornent he pointed
to a group of men a short distance away and said: "Yum-
mun-o (that one) chish-no (you) pisah (see) pil-lah (yonder).
Dismounting I slowly walked towards the group with fixed
eyes upon him who, I had just been told, was the object .of
my search. As I approached, all eyes of the little group
turned upon me with inquisitive gaze; but, by my steady
look at him alone, he seemed intuitively to know that he was
the one I sought; acting accordingly, he quietly arose and
advanced, with measured steps, to meet me looking straight
into my face. As each approached the other, I recognized
the features and knew 'twas he — the long lost friend of the
far distant past — though now in the dignity and the sadness
of his reclining years; once more, after so many years, I
looked upon him, whom of all others, aside from kindred ties,
I loved as one among the best of earthly friends, and knew
I was thus to him; and again felt the strange magnetic charm
of his noble soul, so well known in days of yore and remem
bered still; for he had stood to me during all the vears for
all that was good, a perfect type of friendship "true, and
honor without alloy. As we drew nearer, I saw also, that
o'er him hung the shadows of fragile health, and thought
'tis but the old type of receding years. ,
We met, he paused a moment, Surprised and uncertain.
Ah! that long past time was now so dim to him, and many
remembrances had been so merged in the vicissitudes and
misfortunes that it was difficult to call them up. Alas, I
saw too that his eyes, so victorious in youth, so unsparing
in their attraction, now gazed into mine with painful desola-
378 HISTORY OF TftE INDIANS.
tion. Truly, weary and time-worn was he; while in his
hands seemed an hour-glass whence the last sands of Hfe
were slowly but surely falling1. I looked upon his wrinkled
brow as memories uncalled rushed upon me, and with ex
tended hand, said: Henry, friend of my youth, have you
forgotten me? Grasping my offered hand he replied: "For
gotten my earliest friend ! never ! Wrong me not thus!
Much of my life now seems a blank to me, and our re-union
in this our decline of life gives me joy." Reader, there are
no words for such a re-union. Yet, this much I can and will
unfold. We met — the red and the white — as ardent friends
— only can and do meet — enough for thee to know.
Henry, how many joyous reminiscences as well as
blighted hopes do thy name and face now arouse from their
long sleep amid the scenes and events experienced together
in the years now so far behind !
"Cush, I rejoice for what I bestowed and regret what I
took away. But are not what you call blighted hopes oft
changed into fruits of good ? "
Even so, Henry. But the years, how swiftly have they
seemed to speed away since we drifted apart !
"True, and much older are we now."
Yet Henry! how the forms and faces of loved one, long-
since recorded among the dead, seem to rise up before me
now as they have not done for years before.
"Yes, friend Cush, like sprigs cast upon the waters of
a turbid stream they have been swept apart to meet on earth
no more. But how is it that wre've never met upon the
high-ways of life, until in this my home of retirement and
solitude?"
Oft I've heard of you and thus kept upon your trail;
have suffered with you and your race in the bitterness of
your wrongs; have gloried in your patient endurance, though
distant away. Yet, you and your people seem to have made
a noble use of your adversity.
"Ah, old friend of better days, I'm heart-sick of the
eternal babbling of the white people about my race and its
so-called worthlessness. It is your race (no reflections upon
you) who blinded us but to deceive; yours, who was never
satisfied until it had won our confidence only to violate it;
yours, who curse us, in right and in wrrong; yours, who, if
you see us at peace, imagine your lives are endangered and
drive peace away; yours, who eternally rants at us as
savages, yet little know and less care, that their mockery
destroys more lives than it has ever saved."
He thus spoke in passionate yet sad and mournful tones.
I made no reply. How could I when feeling the truth of his
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 379
words so deeply? Yet, with the thoughts of other days
which my presence had called up so unexpectedly, there
seemed as suddenly to steal on him one fresh, soft and lov
ing- memory — that of our joyous boyhood's days. "Friend
of my youth," in calm and gentle tones he said; "Pardon
me! I did not wish to speak of those thing's, but they came
up uncalled. In the bliss of my early life, and in which you,
old friend, was a large sharer, Llooked upon the W.hite Race
with a wonder, in which mingled much of admiration, but
more of veneration, when first presented to me in its repre
sentative, the noble self-sacrificing white missionary. But
I learned, as I grew on to manhood, that th,er^e were few,
very few white missionaries among the White Race; but that
the animal lusts and the evil leaven, venality, lay concealed
seemingly- in the purest forms of its nature ready to rouse
and glut its insatiate appetite in the destruction of my race.
But because the White Race has destroyed my own, I would
not stoop so low as to deny the power of its cultivated intel
lect. It is worthy of its fame; but not, that I acknowledge
its superiority over that of the red, only in the cultivation.
But regard me none the better, friend Cush, that I thus
speak; for there are still times in hours of reflection, if a
reckoning could come between my race and thine, in which I
could resort to deadly weapons, I, with my race entire, would,
though few and feeble, deal with the common destrover hand
to hand and blow for blow."
, But, friend Henry, has not the United States Govern
ment manifested much lenity towards your race? Instantly
he replied in an excited and high tone of voice. "Lenity!
lenity! did you say: Alas! we are but the miserable wards
of a tyrannical government."
There was the vibration of deep and intense feeling in
his words, as he thus continued: "Have not the misguiding
influences of the whites hurled down to ruin the manhood of
my race, by the mighty arm of superior numbers and imple
ments of war; and then by the taunts, mockery, injury, hate
and cruelty with which it has always been requited for nobly
resisting aggression, oppression, outrage and extermination?
Surely, it would be super-human if, through the countless
years of unmerited wrong, and the constant banishments
from all it once owned arid loved, it had not despaired, long
since, of all hope or belief in truth and justice earthly or
divine; wiping out in their "helpless victims all higher in
stincts, all appearance of honor, all purity of conscience;
that if possible, even at the end, their hopes might be re
warded in fruition; that, under the weight of accumulated
wrongs, long-chained passions and long-strained endurance
330, HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. :.;/£"'
might give way, and find their fall in dealing in retribution,
though it be in the justice of some avenging wrong. ". ur..;
I freely, but not without shame, confess, Henry, that all
you have stated is but truth and only truth. Yet, I rejoice
in also knowing the truth, that all the wrongs and suiferings
of .your race have not been able to wrench from it its better
and nobler nature. An involuntary sigh escaped him, as he
replied: "That is idle talk. My race is no better nor worse
than any other race of mankind; nor are we demi-gods, to
rise above all natural passions, and unmoved see evil triumph.
.Robbed us, you say? 'Tis true! yet, wisely kept to wind
ward of your/ law, Might is Right, and took our heritance by
forcing us to disinherit ourselves, and in lieu thereof be
queathed , us a' mess of pottage — a combination of whiskey,
poverty, degradation, suffering, death — and called it "Pur
chase." But those who sin easily as easily -llnd an apology for
their crime; therefore, few know the Indians' wrongs
as-'they have been, are still to-day, and ITILIV be through all
future to come."
Thus he swept on, while thoughts seemed to rush upon
him with such sudden and passionate force that it was an
impossibility to frame them into words; yet they came with
an irresistible power; wholly absorbed I listened to his ex
pressed thoughts which moved him and seemed to stir
depths of his soul that time had long sealed. :I knew that
he had striven to live only the life of a reader and thinker;
and to leave behind him all weight of regret and the useless
indulgence of vain hopes But now looking backward to
multiplied remembrances, the events of those days rose up
and forced themselves upon him; and many things returned
to his mind and knocked for admittance which, until now,
had passed unheeded by; for he had long striven to hurl
from memory the remembrance of his and his people's
wrongs and losses — the former beyond avenging-, the latter
beyond redemption. But as they look back to all they have
endured, all they have lost, by ttie merciless hands of arbi
trary power whose shout is "Might is Right," could they
but feel the fierce blood of retributive instinct — latent in all
human hearts — rise and burn in them? They could not be
^humaii and feel otherwise.
"But how came you, friend Gush?"
I but pointed to my horse.
" 'Tis well ! Go "get him.* Yonder's my home, amid
those trees on the ridge, a quarter of a mile away. Let us
seek its quiet."
We reached his house. He paused at the yard gate and
said: "What think you, old friend, of this ;my home?"
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 381
It has the appearance of quietness, peacefulness, and
happiness unalloyed, and surely must constitute much 'of
pleasure to your declining1 years. "Truly have you
spoken." It was indeed a quiet place bordering- even on the
romantic. But alas, how still! howlonelv! Surely, thought
I, one in search of utter exile from the din and noisy strife
of a contending- world, might here safely hide and find that
"solitude" of which the seemingly disconsolate poet sang- in
days of yore. We entered the open door, and then he said:
"Friend of my youth! feel at home under this my humble
roof. You have been lost to me for many, many years.
Is thy heart still unchanged?" In silence I extended my hand.
In silence he clasped it.
Our eyes met in unison of emotion, and the two long
separated friends were one ag-ain, even as in .the days of
youth and hope; endeared the one to the other not only by
the ties of boyhood and early manhood's association, but by
the ties of sincere friendship between the Red and the
White.
"Much," he continued, "of my life you know not, 'tis
with the dead. To-night we'll talk till wearied nature de
mands a halt to seek repose. My domestic affairs attention
need. Excuse a moment's absence. I'll soon return."
He then left me to muse alone. Night had already begun to
glide along the woods shutting- out the wilderness of forests
that stretched away on every side, whose deep silence
seemed never to have been broken by the din of human life.
But after many years have flown, we dear Henry, have met
ag-ain; met as only ardent friends long lost can and do meet,
enough for us to know
Reader, no gilded ornaments adorned this my Choctaw
friend's humble home; no luxurious furnishings attracted
the eye as you entered its portals, but a piano and violin,
whose appearance bespoke the vicissitudes of many years,
yet, his sweet solaces in hours of despondency and gloom —
undeviating- adjuncts decreed to man; but here his house
stands far back amid broad-armed oaks of centuries' growth,
whose leafy crowns were never defaced by the ax wielded
by the topping- hand of art, and where the way-worn and
weary traveler and long absent friend found indeed a place
of rest. Haughty pride and folly would look down upon it,
with scorn, and even ask in sneering- tones, "What is its
object there"? Yet, it still remains with its inmates (father
and son and a few negro servants, slaves of former days)
in that same quiet spot with open doors to all. Yet no
blazoned insignia were needed to attract attention to this
382 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
abode of peace, nor gilded monument necessary to perpetu
ate its memory. ,
Dr. Folsom lost his wife (daughter of the great and good
Chickasaw, John Colbert) and daughter many years ago by
the ruthless hand of man's common foe ; but true to his
early love, he had remained a widower, living alone with his
unmarried son, the solace of his father's declining years.
God be gracious to you and yours, my noble Henry! Though
advanced in years, even as I, thou still art that cheery com
rade and trusty friend as in days of yore; and though thy
merry heart is mellowed by the fine sympathy born of care
and thoughtfulness, yet thy nature is still beautified by that
dash of spirit, like to the spell of enchantment the moonlight
throws over the hills and forests of thy country and home.
With what glowing fascination did the full orbed moon, in
that silent and sacred hour of thought, flood, with its dreamy
light, those 'ancient oaks that adorned his home! The birds
too knew their value and rejoiced in their beauty, and came
into their wide embrace seemingly as children to the extend
ed arms of a doting parent, making the morn and eve reso
nant with their joyous twitterings. That hour alone I can
never forget; as twilight slowly gave place to night, so rich
with her crown of stars and seemingly sceptered for domin
ion o'er a world hushed to quiet, while earth seemed to
thoughtfully lay beneath my feet. Ah, the stars and full or
bed moon then seemed, more than ever before, as a -seraph-
choir thrilling all Nature with their minstrelsy, till she was
moved to bliss ineffable, yea, as spirits that have passed
through sin and death without a stain, and now wear crowns
of fadeless glory above.
His domestic duties done, my old friend returned and
aroused me from my reverie as he exclaimed : "Upon what
dwelt your thoughts?" I pointed to the full orbed moon
that lighted up the eastern sky ; then to the earth beneath
and sky above blushing in wild and romantic beauty; then,
to the giant oaks that stood around in silent majesty as they
received a soft glow from the fleecy clouds which softly re
flected upon them the gentle light of departing day and ad
vancing night. He then said in a low tone of voice: "I too
love them all."
Reader, 'twas amid such a scene, and at that lovely hour,
when the sweet songs of nature seem to whisper of peace
and joy, we sat, a groupof three, on the moonlighted piazza in
exchange of thoughts; and there 'lingered (loth to part) till
the stars climbed to the zenith, and all around lay sleeping
In the silence of a moonlit summer night. To me his con
versation was fascinating — full of grace and originality;
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 383
brilliant I will not call it, for it was too mellow and restful to
be thus characterized. But upon his face rested the mystic
sign which constitutes the bond of union among- all congenial
souls, and 1 felt that the emotions of his heart were in
strict unison with my own, and each responded in perfect
harmony the one to the other. Ah! then and there,
We spoke of many a vanished scene,
Of what we once had thought and said,
Of what had been, and might have been.
And who was changed, and who was dead;
And all that fllls the hearts of friends,
When first they feel with secret pain,
Their! lives thenceforth have separate ends,
And can never be one again.
He also spoke of our youth's bright and promising morn—
"God's days," as he expressed it; the days of childhood's
innocence — when life was new and hope was bright. Now,
with folded hands and drooping head, he sat in silence long,
as memories of other days around him rush; but each un
derstood the other's sigh, for each had experienced life's,
vicissitudes — had long- since bade adieu to scenes of early*
youth and happy days, which, by a sttange and unknown
law of association, stood out before us again as vividly as if
but yesterday intervened; and felt as if left behind in the
race of life, and sadly v toiling on alone, while new proofs
poured upon us where'er we turned. You may not under
stand the tie that then bound' the red and the white. Nor
can you. Firm in his attachments, the Indian never forgets
a friend; let this suffice for thee to know, if thou hast never
had an Indian friend.
Then he spoke of the silent stealing on of man's days and
years, the unseen and unfelt progress of his life from youth
to age; and which, as we look back upon that flowing water,
now a dry channel overgrown with leaves, we see few marks
along its course by which we can remenber how it ran.
Could I listen but with emotionable delight? Now he speaks
of his people, of their vicissitudes and sorrows, their past
history, their present condition, their future hopes and pros
pects; then he spoke of those heart memories that never
die, and which the rough usages of the world can never des
troy, nor time nor distance weaken, those memories 'of his
early home east of the Mississippi, of boyhood's morn with
its gay and hopeful dreams, sunny hours and illusive visions
of bliss all gone, but which time nor change, sorrow nor age,
can blot from the heart, but which, though on the verge of
the grave, reproduce the freshness of emotion with which
life began.
384 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
He talked too of art, literature and modern science, but
in the quiet, unconscious way of one with whom knowledge
flows as a full stream, and to whom knowledge a^nd research
(for he was a man of fine erudition and scientific attainments
attained at school, and had also mingled freely during a long
life with men of learning and culture) have taught that deep
yet saddening truth — the limitation of human knowledge.
He was indeed a pleasant companion; interesting and instruc
tive in conversation, which was enriched by experience and
and observation. Picturesque too was he; and though nearly
three score and fifteen years had been his earthly pilgrimage,
yet he walked with elastic steps, and his form still was finely
expressive of sinewy energy, but bore the record of his years
and their garnered cares; while his face held a full chronicle
of bitter experience that had mingled with the sweet; for
he too had tasted the cup of affliction in more than one
form; he too had seen the happiness of life decay, and also
felt that there is an unseen and mysterious power which
operates upon man's destiny, controlling events over which
^he possesses no control.
But his regular, clear cut features and dark, piercing
eyes still possessed a touch of melancholy in their depths,
indicating his slig'htly mixed blood— the quick intelligence of
the white man with the in ing-led sadness of the Red, a sadness
impressed as a heritage by long years of oppression and
wrong. I observed it also in the broken but still majestic
warriors of his race, as I mingled among them — a buried yet
still living resentment — a touch of defiance in the prevailing
coldness of their mien, and a gleam of suspicion in the forced
smile they still alike bestow on all strange- white men, the
authors of all their misfortunes and woes.
" A hundred long years! what visions rise
Of dynasties risen and set,
Of powers that melted from earth away
When the wroue and the right clashed and met —
Alas! the old died hard to make way for the now."
But ah! how soon does sorrow N tread upon the heels of
joy! A few short weeks after I had left him in perfect
health, and turned to other duties forgetting him for the
moment, believing him to be as we parted, a letter from a
Choctaw friend informed me of his death. Then and there
I felt I had lost a friend of a life time — a friend of unconquer
able integrity, true and faithful in all things; one whose
heart was warm; intelligence strong, and whose devotion
to his convictions and his obligations immovable. Truly,
to lose such a friend from among the living seems an irre
parable misfortune, and I numbered him with the dead in
HISTORY OP THE INDIANS. 3S&
sorrow earnest and deep. What though, old friend of the
past, I have no picture of thee — the work of art! 'Tis well;-
for no artist could paint thee; and surely it would mar my
joy to look upon a blank, expressionless and fading- toy, and1
call it by thy name; but there is a picture hung- in the death
less halls of memory, framed in the rarest wood which time
can never dim. But I will not chide the outbursts of sor
row, though it is not well to be betrayed by passion into-
wild forgetfulness of reason, since time's busy fingers are
never at rest, and ere another summer comes and goes what
changes may be wrought, who can tell? Ah! "The future's-
great veil our breath fitfully flaps, and behind it broods
ever the mighty perhaps."
He lived beyond the allotted years of manhood's three
score years and ten of the Psalmist, yet his busy brain and
untiring hand wrought on, as if in the vigor of a changeless
youth. Adieu, thou pattern of fidelity that never betrayed
and constancy that never wearied.
I found a few others, here and there, in my travels over"
the country, that were familiar figures in mv boyhood and
manhood days, and of whom I now may say : One glance at:
their keen, black eyes and I still loved them ; one look at
the honest, good-humored, kind expression of their faces,
and intuitively I yet loved them— those unchanged, old and
dear comrades of the long ago; and again, as oft before,.. T.
listened with delignt to their ancient legends as facts asso
ciated with their history in the days of yore, known but to
themselves. How I again reveled in those tales of ancient
days as their aged eyes brightened and sparkled at the most
improbable passage of the narative, but which I 'assumed
not to doubt for fear of wounding their sensitive hearts ; yet
fascinating to me, since truth and fancy were so intermingled,
that they rivaled the most extravagant fairy tale that ever
imagination wove in the recess of a subtle brain; and who,
when their heroes' stars had set, turned their faces away
from their ancient domains and here in their present hornet
carved out their own fortunes and handed down their hon
ored names to posterity; and though their legends again re
hearsed as before in the days of the long past were only as a
memory to me, yet I treasure them as beautiful and inter
esting eulogies pronounced upon their heroes of ages past.,
[well knew that, because of their chivalrous patriotism and"
high sense of honor, they ranked among the greatest of
their race; and I gloried* in the thought that their of t re
peated legends and tales found in me not only a ready and;
an intensely sympathetic listener, but making me admire
and love the red race more than ever, because of the all—
386 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
absorbing1 devotion that made them lose their own identity in
that of their ancient great. Nearly all of those Indian friends
of my youth and manhood days have gone down to the silent
and cheerless habitation of the dead, yet their memory still
survives in many a picture of the years that have been.
I will here present to the reader the memoirs of -Nath
aniel Folsom^ the oldest of the three brothers who cast their
lot in their morning" of life among" the Choctaws, and became
the fathers of the Folsom House in the Choctaw Nation, as
related by himself to the missionary, Rev. C}-rus Byington,
June, 1823, and furnished me by his grand-daughter Czarena
Folsom, now Mrs. Rabb.
"I -was born in North Carolina, Rowan County, May
17th, 1756. My father was born in Massachusetts or Con
necticut. My mother was born in New Jersey. My parents
moved to Georgia, and there my father sent me to school
about six months, during which time I learned to read and
write. My mother taught me to read and spell at home.
My father had a great desire to go to Mississippi to get
money; they said money grew on bushes! We got off and
came into the Choctaw Nation. The whole family came; we
hired an Indian pilot who led us through the Nation to Pearl
river, where we met three of our neighbors who were re
turning on account of sickness. This alarmed my father,
who then determined to return to North Carolina. We came
back into the Nation to Mr. Welch's, on Bok Tuklo (Two
Preeks), the father of Mr. Nail. At this time I was about 19
•yxjars of age. At that place we parted. My father knocked
"me .down". I arose and told him I would quit him, and did so
by walking straight off before his face. I do not remember
-what I did, but I always thought I was not in fault. My
.parents then moved into the Chickasaw Nation. . I entered
into partnership with Mr. Welch, and could do many things
for him. In the Chickasaw Nation my brother Israel ran
away from my father and came to me. He died at the age
of 18 near where Mr. Juzon now lives. He was a good young
man. My parents moved again to Fort St. Stephens. My
brother Ebenezer visited me several times; he also sent me
word to come and move him up into the Nation. I did so.
He lived with me two years. Still he wanted to go to Mis
sissippi, and wished I would raise a guard and send him
there. I did so. Brother Edmond and^ two sisters went
with him, and there my father died, on Cole's creek, Missis
sippi. I really believe my mother was a pious woman. I
traded a long time in the Nation, sometimes taking up three
pr four thousand dollars' worth of goods. I followed trading
about thirty years. I lived principally at Bok Tuklo, fifteen
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 387
miles this side of Juzon's (i. e. north). There was a great
town of about four hundred Indians. The French King-
lived there. (This great French King- was, no doubt, Bien-
ville, or some one of his officers). I learned the Choctaw lan
guage very slow. I was never perfect in the language. But
after ten years I could do any business with the Choctaws.
I bought a Bible of Robert Black about twelve years ago.
This is the first Bible I ever owned. Before that I cared noth
ing about the Bible. I first heard a sermon by Mr. Bell at
the Pigeon Roost about twelve years ago. I heard Lorenzo
Dow pray once. About this time I began to have serious
thoughts. Before this I had none. My mind was affected by
what the missionaries said, who came from the North. Soon
after my son Edmond died. One Sabbath I had a great con
flict in me. I heard a sermon at the Pigeon Roost. My
friends thought I felt bad because my son died. But it was
something else. At that time there was a great change in
me, which has remained ever since. This was in August,
1824. I joined the church at Mayhew, October, 1827, in my
72nd year. I have been the father or twenty-four children,
fourteeen of whom are living. „ I have lived to see six of them
join the church, and three others sit on the anxious seat."
According to' an entry in the church record of Mountain Fork
church, Nathaniel F"olsom died October 9th. 1833, in his 78th
year.
Mr. Rufus Folsom, great grandson of Nathaniel Folsom,
also kindly furnished me with a sketch of his great grand
father, which was nearly the same as the above — closing,
however, with the following: "In September, 1830, the
government of the United States made a treaty with the
Choctaws for their lands east of the Mississippi river, and
in October, 1832, our old great grand-father, afflicted with a
palsy of the limbs for many years, started from the old
Nation to come to this. He reached Mountain Fork, and
there resided till the 9th of October, 1833, when he died,
aged 77 years, four months, and twenty-seven days."
Signed, RUFUS FOLSOM,
Folsom Station, Indian Territory.
Nathaniel Folsom married Aiahnichih Ohoyoh (A
woman to prefer above all others.) She was a niece of Miko
Pusktish, (Infant Chief,) who was the father of Amosholih-
ubih. She descended from a long and ancient line of chiefs,
and belonged to the ancient Iksa Hattakiholihta, one of the
of the two great families, the other being Tashapaokla (Part
of a People); the laws of which forbid any person, male or
female, to marry any one of the same Iksa. Though Mr.
Nathaniel Folsom had acquired but a limited education, yet
\
388 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
he was a moral man, and the good 'example he set before the
people of his adoption and with whom he had cast his lot,
won Itheir respect, confidence and love, which he fully recipro
cated to the day of his death. According- to th« ancient cus
tom of the Choctaws, he had two wives at the same time,
Aiahnichih Ohoyoh and her sister, whose name has not been
preserved. Colonel David Folsom and Rev. Israel Folsom
were sons of Aiahnichih Ohoyoh; and Captain Robert Folsom
and Isaac Folsom were sons of her sister; with all the four I
was personally acquainted. Robert and Isaac lived near
Hebron, and were prominent members in the church at that
mission. I will here insert an eAtract from a letter now
before me, written by Mr. Nathaniel Folsom to Rev. Cyrus
Byington on the death of his daughter and Lewis Folsom, his
grandson, dated March, 1830, which truly manifests the
humble and pious heart of the father and grandfather. I
copy it from the original with no alteration whatever.
Dear friend Mr. Byington: I desire to let you know my
felings at this presenttime. I feel satisfied it is the Lord's
will. God give her to me and he has taken her away and his
will is rig'ht and good in all things that befalls us wicked
mortals here upon earth. I bfess God for it all things that
befalls me it is the holy will of the blessed God it is rite an
good. I hope her soul at rest with the blessed Savior of the
world I believe she has gone to Him forever this turble thing
of my grand son at Mayhew thar is no hope. O childen take
\vareng by this I say turn O childen and remember your
Creator God on you all will die but wat wil becum of your
little souls if you repent on earth you all ar lost ever I say
my dear childun quit your bad ways' an turn to Lord with
all your heart an Christ wil reseve you for he loves little
children if you obev his commandments my dear friend you
no my felings about children that blessed Book the Bible is
the gide to larn us all to fit us to the worlds to come the Lord
bless you all." N. FOLSOM.
The deatli of his grand son, Lewis Folsom, to which
the good old man so pathetically alludes, was indeed a sad
affair. I was acquainted with Lewis, his grand-son, whose
father was Capt. Robert Folsom. Lewis and Joel Nail, his
cousin and son of Henry Nail, were driving four horses at
tached to the end of the two levers of a mill, two horses at
the end1 of each. The two boys got into a play in which
they soon began to throw corn cobs at each other, while
riding around on the levers and driving the horses. Un
fortunately Lewis jumped upon the big cog wheel and
was instantly killed.
I was personally acquainted with his father's entire fam-
HISTOKY OF THE INDIANS. 389
ily. His youngest sister, Else, now Mrs. Perkins, is still
living-. His father, at the time of the sad occurrence, was
in their present territory, being- sent with others by their
Nation, to look after the country preparatory to the exchange
which was afterwards made with the Unifed States Govern
ment in 1830.
From an old MS. left by Nathaniel Folsom in his own
hand writing-, I here insert the the following- extracts ob
tained through the kindness of his grand-daughter Czarina
Folsom, now Mrs. Rabb, living- in Atoka.
"The Choctaws were more numerous than now. Thirty
years ag-o it is probable there were nearly 30,000. Before I
came here the smallpox killed two-thirds of the people.
The measles also destroyed a great many. There was one
town entirely destroyed by the measles.
"They had axes and hoes, but not a plough in the Na
tion. I gave twenty-two dollars for the first plough I had;
twenty dollars for a bushel of salt; ten dollars for a common
blanket. Goods were then brought from St. Augustine,
Florida, on pack-horses. I gave once twenty dollars for a
half bushel of salt in a time of war (the Revolution;.
"The woman's dress was a petticoat that came just be
low the knees, and a head-gear; and in the winter a tight
woolen jacket with bright buttons in front. They had an
abundance of blankets by sewing the feathers of turkeys
together. They had but few iron pots and kettles, the arti
cles were dear.
"When anyone died a scaffold was made in the yard near
the house, put high enough to be safe from the dogs. On
the top of this the body was laid on its side; and then a
blanket or bear skin was thrown over it; and there it re
mained until it perished. Then the bone-pickers came and
picked the ilesh off and put the bones in a box. The head
was adorned and put away in a box, and then the boxes were
put away in a bone-house — a house set apart to receive them,
and placed at the edge of the town. At this time there was
a large collection of people. The bone-pickers had some
ceremonies, but I do not recollect them. Twice a year — fall
and spring — the people assembled, and had a great gather
ing over the bones of the dead. The two families would
meet. One day one family would cry; and on the next day
the other would cry, and then the bones would be brought
out in the boxes and buried. A little present was made to
the bone-pickers.
"Ever since about the time of the Revolutionary war the
Choctaws began to leave their towns and settle in the woods,
.for the benefit of their stock. I was the first to settle on the
390 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Natchez trace at Pig-eon Roost, about twenty-five years since.
Still, at the time of the exodus of the Choctaws, in 1832, they
had many large and populous towns and villages in their
Nation which I personally knew.
"King's. — Some inherited the office; others were ap
pointed by the French and English. Amosholihubih is the
old family (i. e., the old family of kings or chiefs). David's
old uncle was of the royal family.
"The Indians spoke in a different style from what they
do now. The doctors are great deceivers. One came to me
and said he could cure me of my lameness (palsy in the
limbs.) I told him if he would cure me, I would give him a
horse; if he did not cure me, I'd give him nothing. The doc
tor inquired where the lameness commenced.' I told him,
in the sole of my feet. He then examined them, got down,
spit on them and sucked the place until a long time, as
though he'd draw something out. After awhile he got up
and then made a great effort to get something out of his
mouth; at length he took out a small piece of deer skin, as
appeared, and said he had drawn that out of my foot. I
asked him where the hole was. He said: 'It never makes
a hole.' I took the bit of leather and talked to him, and told
him that doctors were the greatest liars in the world. You
never pulled that out of my foot. You cut it off from some
deer skin and put it in your mouth. Now stop telling such
lies, or somebody will injure you. He looked very much
ashamed and walked off. Before the doctors begin to doctor,
they sing a long song, whisper a prayer, and then com
mence.
"At that time there were several white men among the
Choctaws, all of whom married Choctaw wives, and thus be
came identified with that people. The descendants of
nearly all of whom are still among the Choctaws to this
day.
"Hardy Perry," continued Nathaniel Folsom, "brought
the first neat cattle sinto the Nation."
The old gentleman evidently refers to the eastern part
of the Nation, where he lived; since it was well known that,
either about the same time or a short time before Perry's
drove were first introduced into the eastern part of the
Nation, and the waters of the Tombigbee river, Lewis and
Michael LeFlore and Lewis Durant introduced a small herd
into the western part of the Nation, and located it on the
wraters of the Yazoo river. But thus continues Mr. Fol
som.
"He bought them of the French at Mobile, Twenty-
five dollars for a cow and calf. This was soon after I came
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 391
into the country. Benj. James then bought one. I was the
third man. From these the stocks of cattle have sprung-.
There was abundance of horses. There were many hogs in
the Nation when I first came. I have seen nearly .thirty
dogs at an Indian house. They- resembled the wolf.
"David Folsom went to a school on Elk river, Tennes
see. Started off alone at sixteen years of age, at least 250
miles from home, and was there six months. That was the
end of his schooling there. I employed another man a
month to teach him figures. That was seven months
education.
"About this time (he seemed to forget to mention dates)
he was married to Rhoda Nail. He took her out of the In
dian Territory to a magistrate and married her lawfully.
She is his wife, and this is the first instance" I know of,
where an Indian was married according to our laws."
John Pitchlynn, the name of another white man who at
an early day cast his lot among the Choctaws, not to be a
curse but a true benefactor. He was contemporaneous with
the three Folsoms, Nathaniel, Ebenezer and Edmoncl; the
three Nails, Henry, Adam and Edwin; the two L/e Flores
Lewis and Mitchel, and Lewis Durant. John Pitchh'iin, as
the others, married a Choctaw girl and thus become a bona-
fide citizen of the Choctaw Nation. He was commissioned
by Washington, as United States Interpreter for the Choc-
taws in 1786, in which capacity he served them long and
faithfully. Whether he ever attained to the position of chief
of the Choctaws is not now known. He, however, secured
and held to the day of his death not only the respect, esteem
and confidence of the Choctaws as a moral and good citizen,
but also that of the missionaries who regarded him as one
among their best friends and assistants in their arduous
labors for the moral and religious elevation'of the people of
his adoption. He married Sophia Folsom, the daughter and
only child of Ebenezer Folsom. They had five sons, Peter
P., James, -Thomas, Silas and Jack, all of wrhom were men of
fine talents and high position, reflecting credit on their an
cient and honorable name, except Jack, who was led astray
and finally killed.
How many strange little incidents oft happen to various
persons the cause of which none can satisfactorily explain;
many of which are similar to the following that Major John
Pitchlynn once experienced in early life! He stated to the
missionaries that he, in company with sixty Choctaw war
riors, was once returning home from a trading expedition to
Mobile — then a small town and trading point of the Choc
taws. One night they all had lain down upon their blankets
392 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
•side by side, and all soon fell asleep but himself, who, by a
.strange and unusual restlessness, was unable to sleep. For
c.a long- time he rolled this way and that upon his blanket, but
:all to no purpose; he could not sleep. Finally he arose, took
up his blanket and laid down on the opposite side.pf the fire
which had been made for the common benefit of the camp.
•Scarcely had he adjusted himself upon his new bed when a
large tree suddenly fell to the ground and exactly across the
bodies of his six sleeping comrades, killing every one of
them, and leaving him a lone survivor of the camp. Major
Pitchlynn often afterwards spoke of this incident as a mani
festation of a special Providence; his unaccountable sleep
lessness on that night, and his getting up and going to the
-other side of the fire to sleep, as a divine interposition in his
.special behalf. Peter was born January 30, 1806, in a little
village called Shik-o-poh (The Plume), which was then in
what is now Noxubee County. In early youth young Peter
/manifested a disposition for intellectual attainments ; heat-
tended the great councils of his Nation as an attentive hearer
but silent spectator, and sought every opportunity to inform
himself of all that was transpiring around him. As he grew
up his desire to obtain an education increased, and he was
finally sent to a school in Tennessee.
He returned home at a time his people were negotiating
-a treaty with the United States Government; when and
where he made himself the object of much conversation, in
the way of reproof by some, and commendation by others,
in refusing to shake hands with Andrew Jackson, the
negotiator of a treaty, which, in his youthful judgment, he
regarded as an imposition (which Jackson himself well
knew) upon his mis-led and deluded people and an insult to
his Nation; this opinion was never changed to the hour of his
death years after. After remaining1 at home awhile, he went
to school at Columbia Academy, Tennessee; thence to the
Nashville University, where he graduated; and afterwards
became, as the sequel will show, a great and useful man to
his Nation.
During his scholastic days at the Nashville University,
General Jackson visited there officially as a trustee, and on
seeing young Peter, at once recognized him as the Choctaw
boy who had some years before refused to receive
him as an acquaintance, or recognize in him a friend.
Jackson, than whom few were better judges of human
nature and moral worth, determined to win the friendship
and confidence of the proud and manly young Choctaw, and
-succeeded finally in changing the old feeling of dislike to one
-of warm personal friendship, which sacred ties were never
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 393
broken. After he graduated he returned home and settled,
as a farmer, upon the outskirts of a beautiful prairie to
which his name was given, and down to the war of 1861 it
still bore, and perhaps does yet, the name, "The Pitchlynri
Prairie."
His remarkably manly form and bearing-; his beautifully
shaped head covered with long1, black, shining- hair and
possessed with as black, piercing- eyes as ever penetrated
to the secret thoughts of the heart; his broad cheek-bones
and brown complexion together with his natural and unaf
fected courteousness, affability and generous disposition, all
served to constitute Peter P. Pitchlynn as stately and com
plete a gentleman of Nature's handy work as I ever beheld.
He erected a comfortable house upon the spot selected for
his home, and won the heart of the youngest daughter of
Nathaniel Folsom, (Rhoda) to whom he was soon married ac
cording to the usages of the Whites, by the missionary,
Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury.
In 1824 a law was passed by the council of the Nation
organizing a corps of Light-Horse (a little company of cav
alry), who were clothed with the authority and also made as
their imperativevduty to close all the dram-shops that were
dealing in the miserable traffic in opposition to law and
treaty stipulations. The command of this band was given
to young Peter P. Pitchlynn, who united the bravery of
Leonidas to the incorruptible virtues of Aristides, and in one
year, from the time he undertook to erase the foul blotch
(traffic in whiskey) from the face of his country, he had suc
cessfully accomplished it.
From his soon known abilities he was early elected a
member of the National Council, an honor never before con
ferred upon one so young. Pitchlynn at once brought be
fore the council the necessity of educating their children,
and argued the great advantages that would accrue therefrom;
and, that the students might more readily become accus
tomed to the usages of the wrhites, he suggested the pro
priety of establishing a school for Choctaw youths in some
one of the states. It was decided, therefore, by the council
in accordance with his proposition, and a Choctaw Academy
was established near Georgetown, Kentucky, sustained by
the funds of the Nation, and stood, until driven from their
ancient domains, a proud monument of the Choctaw's ad
vancing civilization under the fostering care of God's mis
sionaries sent to them.
I,; In the year 1828 he, with another Choctaw, -two Chicka-
saw and two Muscogee warriors, constituted a delegation ap
pointed and sent by, and at the expense of, the United States
394 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Government, to go upon a peace-making- expedition into the
Osage country west of the Mississippi river, now the State
of Kansas, as the Osages and Choctaws were and had been
uncompromising1 enemies for years untold ; and if peace
could be established between them, it was believed that the
Choctaws would the more readily consent to the exchange of
lands, as was afterwards ma'^e. The little band of six, few
but resolute and fearless, with Pitchlynn as their chief,,
went first to Memphis, then a little village; thence to St.
Louis, where they received necessary supplies from the In
dian superintendent ; thence to Independence, consisting
then of only a few log cabins, where they were received and
hospitably "entertained by a son of the renowned Daniel.
Boone. At Independence they were joined by an Indian
agent; thence they started and made their first camp on a
broad prairie near a Shawnee village. The Shawnees had
never before seen a Choctaw, Chickasaw or Muscogee ; nor
had they ever seen a Shawnee, except in the persons of Te-
cumseh'and' his thirty warriors, in their memorable visit to
their three nations in 1812, while each knew of the existence
of the other. On the following morning Pitchlynn and his
little band directed their footsteps toward the Shawnee vil
lage, with the decorations of the pipe of peace gaily flutter
ing to the prairie breeze above their heads — an emblem ever
respected and honore,d by the North American Indians any
where and everywhere. Upon seeing the peace-pipe extend
ed, the Shawnees at once came out to meet them, and escor
ted them in much pomp and ceremony into their village,
where a council was soon convened to learn the object of the
strangers' visit; which soon being explained, pledges of
friendship were exchanged and speeches made, and the
strangers earnestly solicited to remain the next day to attend
a grand feast that would be given to them in honor of their
visit, which was duly accepted ; and then the little band
again took up its line of travel toward the territories of the
Osages. For several days they traveled along on the famous
Santa Fe trail, then turned in 'a southeast direction, travel
ing over beautiful prairies skirted here and there with tim
ber.
One day, about the middle of the afternoon, a few deer
were seen on a prairie a half a mile distant, and Pitchlynn
left his company to continue their course, while he would
try to procure some venison for their supper. He had ap
proached nearly near enough to risk a shot, when he was
discovered by the deer, who scampered off across the prai
rie. At that moment he discovered a small herd of buffalo,
at one of which he tried to get a shot; but they, too, discov-
*' HISTORY OF. THE INDIANS. 39S
ered him and took to flight. He pursued them a mile or two,
but finding- he was getting 'too far away he stopped his pur
suit and and turned to overtake his companions by traveling
at an angle that would enable him to overtake or strike their
trail several miles south of where he had left them. But
after riding a few miles he saw about half a mile before
him a ridge of undulating prairie, on the opposite side of
which he felt sure his little company must have passed. As
the sun was now hearing- the western horizon, and he knew
not how far his companions were ahead of him, he started
for the top of the ridge in a brisk gallop until he reached the
base of the hill, then reined in his horse to a steady walk as
he ascended the ridge, ever keeping in practice the safe
motto, "Caution is the mother of safety." And well he did,
for he was then in the country of Osages, who, not knowing
his mission, would have made short work of him, had they
have met him. As he drew nearer the top the slower ne
rode, and thus cautiously moved until he could see the valley
beyond, and there he saw a company of Osage warriors but
a short distance ahead. Some were riding slowly along in
tently looking on the ground, while others had dismounted
and were leading their horses, now stooping with eager look
and then pushing the grass this way and that, as if to find
something lost. Pitchlynii at once comprehended the whole.
They had found the trail of his companions and were using
their woods-craft to read the signs indicated, and learn
whether friends or foes had passed, and also their number.
Pitchrynn at once reined his horse backward until he
was below the brow of the hill, then turned and rode slowly
down until he had reached its base lest the sound of his
horse's feet should betray him; then struck off at full gal
lop in a south direction and continued it until night called a
halt. He then dismounted, roped his horse upon the grass,
and lay down to reflect upon his day's ventures, until sleep
embraced him in her arms and lulled him to unconsciousness.
In the morning he arose and was soon/ again on his dubious
way, making a wide circuit to avoid running again upon his
unwelcome neighbors. Again night overtook him a lone
wanderer in a pathless wilderness, without having made any
discoveries as to the whereabouts of his companions, or
his enemies, the Osages. Again he stretched himself
upon the grass and found forgetfulness in sleep. Again
he starte^l and was rejoiced, after an hour'.s ride, to strike
the trail of his friends whom he overtook in the even
ing of the same day. Not knowing what had become of him,
or where to look for him in that endless wilderness, they
had traveled slowly, hoping that he would yet come up ; but
..
396 ' HISTORY OF THE INDIANS,
when .the second night .came without ^is return, despair
had usurped the place of hope and they had given him up as
forever lost to them. ;
• '.The Osages, for unknown reasons,, did not pursue
them. If, they had, there would have been affinal separation
as, the Osages so outnumbered them, that not one of the little
. company xwould have been left to tell the tale of their com-
-plete destruction. The unexpected return of their chief
gave new life to all, and they pursued their journey with re
newed vigor. In a few days they came to .a large Osage vil
lage-situated on a high bluff on the Qsage river, and camped
near the same, where they remained several days safe under
the Pipe of Peace, whose decorations of ribbons fluttered
above their camps; the rOsages refusing, however, to meet
them in council, since but a short time previous a war party
of Choctaws had invaded their country, and in a battle had
slain'several of their warriors. Still Pitchlynn proposed .a
treaty of peaqe and after much equivocation and, delay the
Osages consented to meet Pitchlynn and his little band in
council; but nothing definite was done on the first day,
though Pitchlynn told them that he and his party, the first
Choctawsxthat had ever proposed peace to the Osages, had
traveled over two thousand miles through the request of the
United States government, to propose a treaty of perpetual
peace and friendship to the Osages. To which an Osage
chief made a haughty and defiant reply. The next clay in
council assembled, Pitchlynn also assumed an air more of
haughty defiance than that of a suppliant for peace, and in
his speech, in reply to the Osage Chief's speech made the
day before, boldly said: "After what the Osage warrior
said to us in his talk yesterday, we find it difficult to restrain
our old animosity. You tell us that by your 1 iws it is your
duty to strike down all who are not Osage Indians. Th'e
Choctaws have.no such laws. But we have a law which tells
us that we must always strike down an Osage warrior when
ever wre meet him. I know not what war-paths you may
have follower! west of the Great river, but ijinow very well
that the. smoke of our council fires you have never seen, as
w.e live on the other side of the Great River. Our soil has
never been tracked by an Osage, only ,when he was a pris
oner. I will. not, as you have done, boast of the many war
path's we have followed. I am in earnest and speak the
truth, \vhen I now tell you that our last war-path, since you
will have it so, has brought us to the Osage country, .and to
this village. The Choctaw warriors now at home would be
rejoiced. to get a few hundred of your scalps, for it is thus
that they get their reputation as warriors. I tell you this
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 397
to remind you that we also have some ancient laws as well as
the Osages, aX4 that the Choctaws know too how : to fight.
Stand by the laws-of your fathers, and refuse the offer of
peace that we have now extended to you, and bear the conse
quences that will follow, *
"We are now a little band in your midst, but we do not
fear to speak openly to you and tell' you the truth. We ex
pect to move soon from our ancient country east of the
Great River to the sources of the Arkansas and Red rivers,
which will bring" us within two hundred miles of your coun
try; and then you shall hear the defiant war-whoops of the
Choctaws in good earnest and the crack of their death-deal
ing rifles from one end of your country to the other; nor
will they cease to be heard until the last Osage warrior has
fallen; your wives and children carried into captivity, and
the name of the Osages blotted out. You may regard this
as vain boasting, but our numbers so much exceed that of
your own that I am justified, as you well know, in my asser
tion. You say you will not accept the white paper of the
Great Father at Washington ; therefore, we now tell you that
we take back all we said yesterday about a treaty of peace.
If we are to have peace between the Choctaws and Osages,
the proposition must now come from the Osages. • I have
told you all I have to say, and shall speak no more."
This bold speech of Pitchlynn's had the desired effect,
causing a great change to come suddenly over the spirit of
the Osages' dreams; therefore, on the next day the council
was again convened and the Osages, without further solici
tations, negotiated for peace, which was soon declared, and
followed by a universal shaking of hands and great demon
strations of friendship, intermixed with una'ssumed joy in
the happy result. A grand feast was at once prepared, at
which everything presented a joyous appearance, while
peace-speeches furnished the greater part of the entertain
ment; the honor of delivering the closing speech was award
ed to Pitchlynn, in which, with his usual eloquence, he por
trayed before the eyes of the attentive Osages the benefit
that would, accrue to them as a Nation to lay aside their old
manner of living and begin a newr kind of life — that of adopt
ing the customs of civilization. He spoke of his own people,
the Choctaws, who had conformed to the customs of civiliza
tion, by encouraging white missionaries to come among them
and teach them ; by establishing schools for the educafion
of their children, and by turning the attention of the men to
the cultivation of the soil; and had given up war as a" source
of amusement, and hunting as their sole dependence for
food, and how much benefit they had already derived in so
398 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
doing-, and he would advise the Osages, aswelj as all Indians,
to do the same; as it was the only means of preserving1 them
selves from the grasping habits and power of the white
men. If they would make an effort to elevate themselves in
the scale of civilization, the American government would
treat them with greater respect, and they thus would pre
serve their nativity.
At the close of the peace ceremonies and festivities a
party of Osage warriors, with the Osage speaker of the
Council, were appointed to escort, as token of peace and
friendship between the Osages and Choctaws, Pitchlynn and
his little company to the borders of the Osage territories,
a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. There the Osage
escort bade their old enemies, but now newly-made friends,
a formal adieu, and returned to their 'villages, while Pitch
lynn and his five companions, after an absence of nearly six
months, turned their faces homeward with light hearts, pur
suing a southern direction down the Canadian river, and
continuing along the Red river valley, and finally reached
home in safety.
Peter P. Pitcblynn, while upon this adventurous jour
ney, picked up a little Indian boy belonging to no particular
tribe, whom he adopted and carried home with him, had him
educated at the Choctaw academy in Kentucky; and that
homeless boy of the western prairies became one of the
most eloquent and faithful preachers that ever preached the
•'Glad tidings of great joy" among the Choctaw people.
Peter P. Pitctilynn first formed an acquaintance with
the great American statesman, Henry Clay, in 1840, when
travelling on a steamboat. While on board, he one day heard
two apparently old farmers discussing the subject of agri
culture, to whose conversation he was attracted, and soon
became a silent but deeply interested listener for more than
an hour; then going to his state-room he told his travel
ling companion what a treat he had enjoyed in the discussion
between "two old farmers" upon the subject of farming, and
added : "If that old farmer with an ugly face had only been
educated for the law, he would have been one of the greatest
men in this country." That "old farmer with an ugly face"
was Henry Ciay, who was delighted at the compliment paid
to him by the appreciative Choctaw.
The noble Peter P. Pitchlynn was in Washington City
at the time of the commencement of the civil war in 1861, at
tending to the national affairs of his people, but at once has
tened home, hoping that they would escape the evils of the
expected strife, and returned to his home to pursue the quiet
life of a farmer among his own people. But the Choctaws,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 399
•as well as the Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks and Seminoles,
from their position between the contending- parties, were not
permitted to occupy neutral grounds, but were forced into
the fratricidal strife, some on the one side and some the
other, but to ^he inconceivable injury of all.
CV Peter P. P tchlynn it can be said, he was teacher,
philosopher and friend among" the Choctaws, cherishing with
great pride the history and romantic traditions of his peo
ple. As a private citizen, he was a good man; as an official
and public servant, he was a pure man. As a high official in
his country, he too was a pious man ; nor thought the relig
ion of Jesus Christ derogatory to the position of a public
official, but taught to all the lesson of personal grace as pro
duced in the heart, and won from those who knew him their
esteem, reverence and praise. His daily wralk, both in pub
lic and private capacity, was as bright as the sunshine and as
beautiful too. It truly seemed as if nothing could disturb
his serenitv, so evenly was it spread over his life, and so
much did it seem to be a part of it. He was one of those
Christian men who carried the charm of an attraction with
them everywhere. He possessed such sweetness of spirit,
such gentleness of manner, such manly frankness, such
thorough self-respect on one hand, and on the other, such
perfect regard for the judgment of others, that one could
not help loving him, however conscience might compel con
clusions on matters of mutual consequence unlike those he
had reached. Often indeed, one was even more drawn to
him when in opposition, because he was so true and just that
his respect carried with it all the refreshment of variety
with none of the friction of hostility. His character possess
ed a completeness and grandeur rarely found, and the vir
tues which distinguished him were many, both excellent and
winning. His unswerving fidelity in religion, so remarka
ble in the Choctaws, and his eminent purity of life, ever
shone out brightly in all the circumstances in which he was
placed, whether in the private or public walks of life. And
with all he was a spirited citizen of his country, who lived
and labored, not for selfish gain and self-emolument, but for
the good of his people, and always felt a lively interest and
performed an active part in any and all things looking to the
welfare of his country. The loss of such a man may well be
mourned, and his example sacredly treasured and followed.
In the light of a spiritual sun he passed from the scenes of
earth, but his influence lives, and illustrates the new crea
tive power that is possible to all.
The Cravat family of Choctaws are the descendants of
John Cravat, a Frenchman, who came among the Choctaws at
400 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
an early day, and was adopted among- them by marriage.
He had two' 'daughters by his Choctaw wife, Nancy and Re
becca, both of whom became the wives of Louis LeFlore.
His Choctaw wife dying he married a Chickasaw woman, by
whom he had four sons, Thomas, Jefferson, William and
Charles, and one daughter, Elsie, who married- a white man
by the name of Daniel Harris, and who became the parents
of Col. J. D. Harris, whose first wife was Catharine Nail,
the fourth daughter of Joel H. Nail. The descendants of
John Cravat are still among the Choctaws and Chickasaws,
and known as prominent and useful citizens in the two
nations.
The LeFlore family of Choctaws are the descendants
of Major Louis LeFlore, and his brother, Michael LeFlore,
Canadian Frenchmen, who, after the expulsion of the French
from the territories of Mississippi by the English, first set
tled in Mobile, Ala., then a small trading post. After re
maining there a few years, Louis moved to the now state of
Mississippi and settled on Pearl river, in the county of
Nashqba (Wolf). Thence he moved to the Yazoo Valley,
wher£ he lived until he died. As before stated, he married
the two daughters of John Cravat, Nancy and Rebecca. By
the former he' had four sons in the following order of their
names : Greenwood, William (who was drowned in Bok Iski-
tini), Benjamin and Basil; and five daughters, viz : Clarissa,
Emilee — the names of the others not remembered. After
the death of Nancy he married Rebecca, by whom he had
two sons, viz: For bis and Jackson. Clarissa married a- white
man by the name of Wilson, and living, at the time of the
exodus of her people, in what is now known as Winston
county, Mississippi, east. of the- town of Louisville. Wilson
having died she married a man by the name of Alfred Leach
and moved with him to the western part of Winston county,
and settled on. the banks of a creek called Lobucha (cor
rupted from Lah-buch-ih, to make warm.) She there died.
Her children, by her first husband, moved with their people
to the west. Emilee married A. H. Carpenter, a Frenchman
of higfh family. He practiced law in Jackson, Mississippi,
and rose to an eminence that caused him to be regarded as
a lawyer having few equals and no superiors. Mr. Carpen
ter died in 1852, followed by his wife in 1860. They left
two sons, Jerome and Surry. Jerome at the age of fifteen
entered the Confederate army as a private, serving under
General Robert E. Lee in Virginia. He was wounded July.
1862, at the battle of Malvern. After he had recovered he
served as one of Gen. Joe Johnson's body guards, and acted
in the capacity of dispatch bearer. Soon after the t war he
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 401
went to Mexico and received a commission as Colonel in
Maximillian's army.
At the defeat of Maximillian, the youthful Jerome was
condemned to be executed with the unfortunate Prince; but
was saved by the timely intervention of Secretary Seward.
As an acknowledgment of Jerome's services and devotion
to Maximillian, the Emperor, Francis Joseph, conferred the
title of "Baron" upon him, and also offered him a position in
the Austrian army, which he declined to accept. He re
turned to the United States, and was shortly afterwards
killed in a duel with Amos Price, leaving- a wife to mourn his
untimely death. He had no children. The other three
daughters married as follows: One married John Harkins,
who became the grand-father of Colonel G. W. Harkins of
the Chickasaw Nation; another married a man by the name
of Traydu or Traydew; and the other married a man by
the name of Harris.
The LeFlores have, ever since the introduction of the
family, always held a prominent place in the annals of Choc-
taw history; and can justly boast a noble genealogy that ex
tends far back into the twilight of history, when the Indians
were truly and justly the Lords from the Great Lakes of
the north to the Gulf of Mexico. Basil and Forbis were
the only sons who followed the fortunes of their banished
people to the west. William, as before stated, was acci
dentally drowned in Bok Iskitini; Benjamin lived and died at
his old home on the banks of a stream where he kept a ferry,
called Yockanookany, a corruption from Yakniokhina, (the
land of streams).
Major Louis LeFlore was adopted by the Choctaws, and:
gradually rose to great distinction as a chief among that ap
preciative people, who quickly discerned true merit and
knew how to esteem it. He with his brother Michael who*
came to Mississippi and also settled in the Yazoo Valley, and
Lewis Durant, also a Frenchman, and the progenitor of the
Durant family of Choctaws, first introduced cattle into the
western part of the Choctaw Nation from Mobile, about the
year 1770, the first animal of the bovine species ever seen bv
the Choctaws in that part of the Nation. They drove their
little herd to the waters of Pearl river in now, Nashoba
county, and placed them upon the range, then seemingly un
limited in its wide extended forests and impenetrable cane-
brakes. As a matter of course the cattle were a great curi
osity to the Choctaws. The LeFlores and Durant told an
amusing incident that took place a short time after their ar
rival at their ranch with the cattle. A little yearling had
strayed from the herd. It so happened that three Choctaw
402 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
hunters soon after pitched their camp a few miles from the
newly established cattle ranch being- entirely ignorant of its
near proximity, and also of the new animals just introduced
into their hunting- grounds. One day, as usual, the three
hunters left their camps for a hunt, each taking- his course
yet keeping- near each other. During- the day one of them
discovered the yearling slowly emerging- from a little plat of
cane; to him a wonderful beast. Unseen by the lonely calf,
he stood, gazed, and wondered. Naught like that bad ever
been seen upon his hunting path before. What it was,
whence it came and how, baffled tbe wildest flights of even
conjecture. 'Twas not a deer, nor a panther, nor yellow
wolf! Must he signal for his companions? It might flee,
must he shoot? He might only wound and cause it to at
tack, and then what! But he raised his trusty rifle and
brought it to bear upon the unsuspecting calf; at that mo
ment he discovered that it was eating the grass similar to
his native deer; at once his fears were allayed and he con
cluded not to kill but to capture the prodigy, and take it alive
to his camp as a living wonder.
Setting his gun against a tree, he bolted for the calf;
which hearing the approaching footsteps, raised its head,
gazed a moment, and seeing the fast approaching and equally
strange object, at once gave the signal for a test of speed by
elevating its rear appendage to an angle of forty-five degrees,
and the race began; the pursued, for the realities of life, and
the pursuer for that of curiosity. Hither and thither, helter
skelter; round and round; here at rig'ht angles, and there at
acute; now in a circle, and then ir\ a semi-circle; over logs
and through bushes, the astonished calf, with head straight
out, nostrils expanded, led his indefatigable and indefeasible
pursuer. Finally the physical endurance of a Choctaw
hunter proved superior to that of a city calf; for he now ran
but a few feet behind his coveted prize. But alas for human
hopes! With a desperate spring in which were centered all
his hopes, he made a g'rab at the tail of the despairing calf
which then drooped at twenty-two and a half; when, seem
ingly to comprehend his design, the calf gave it a vigorous
twitch as it leaped a treacherous log that lay concealed in
the grass over which he tumbled headlong to the ground.
The lucky calf, comprehending the advantage offered, again
raised its flag to forty-five, and with invigorated strength
increased its speed, and was soon out of sight.
With hopes blighted, the unfortunate hunter crawled up
to a sitting posture and commenced rubbing his bruised and
painful knee, when he discovered that the whole top of the
knee moved hither and thither at his slightest push, "a thing
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 403
untaught in his book of anatomy, and at once concluded that
his leg" was fearfully shattered. He whooped to, his com
rades, who, happening- to be near and hearing- his call, has
tened to his side. They also, upon close examination of the
wounded limb, arrived at the same conclusion with the sup
posed injured man, when the two LeFlores and Durant,
.searching1 for the strayed yearling, rode up; and taking in
the situation at a glance, after a few words of inquiry, they
soon explained the anatomy of the human knee to the three
hunters by showing them that the moving of the knee-cap
was common to all, and did not denote a broken bone. Being
thoroughly convinced of its truth, the fallen man arose to
his feet, gave a brief account of his adventure, pointed the
direction in which the strange beast had disappeared ; and
the three Choctaw deer hunters, and the three white calf
hunters, soon found the wanderer and safely placed it again
within the fold; then the three Choctaws returned to their
forest camp to talk over the adventures of the clay, as well
as the knowledge gained regarding the new animal intro
duced, whose flesh was equal, if not superior, to that of their
famous deer, and also of the addition to their knowledge in
osteology.
Major Lewis Le Flore resided for many years on the
waters of the Pearl River raising* cattle, and early became a
wealthy man; from his -stock, which increased rapidly in
their abundant range and genial climate, the surrounding
Choctaws supplied themselves with cattle. He then moved
to the Yazoo Valley where he spent the remainder of his
days respected and loved. As colonel, he commanded a bat
talion of Choctaw warriors under Jackson at the taking of
Pensacola in the Creek war of 1812.
Greenwood, after his father's death, succeeded him as
one of the chiefs of the Choctaw Nation, which he retained
until the exodus. He was a man of great energy, and to
whom nature had given force of character; and had he also
have bad the advantages of high mental culture, he would
have been a leader of men. He did not move west with his
people, but remained at his old home in a little town called
Greenwood, situated on a tributary of the Yazoo River,
where he lived to an advanced age, died and was buried there.
He was married twice. His wives were sisters, the daugh
ters of John Dunley of Alabama. The old chief was highly
respected by the whites, and was elected to the State Legis
lature as a member from Yazoo county ; and afterwards was
elected to the State Senate from Yazoo and Carroll counties.
William lived near the Yelobusha River (corrupted from
Yaloba-aia-sha — where tadpoles abound). He, too, was a
404 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
respected and useful man. He was^unfortunately drowned
in Bok Iskitini (as before stated) in the pride and manhood
of his life, regretted and mourned by all his numerous ac
quaintances and friends. His body was recovered and
buried at his home.
Forbis and Basil were the only two sons who moved west
with their people, both lived to an advanced age ; the former
died in 1883, the latter in 1886. Both were pious men and
died in strong" faith of a blissful immortality. Forbis, in re
lating his Christian experience, once said: "I was once a very
wicked man. God g-ave me a long rope — a mighty long rope
—but I cut it right short off." And his Christian life after
he embraced the religion of the Son of God, proved that he
did cut "right short off" from his wickedness. Forbis Le
Flore was indeed a man of stern merits, and blended with
his force of character were gentleness of spirit and entire
conscienciousness, by which he obtained the confidenceof his
people; and while he merited all their esteem by his virtues,
he also secured their affections by them.
Basil LeFlore was a man than whom a purer one is sel
dom found in this age of the world. Of him it can with truth
be said: "He was an honest man." His long and useful
life was devoted to the moral and intellectual improvement,
the prosperity and happiness of his fellow man. He filled
the highest public offices of his Nation with honor to himself
and his country. He was truly a bright and ever shining
light among the Choctaw people, of him they are justly
proud, for they have the best of reasons to be. Kind words
and pleasant smiles spread sunshine throughout his whole
actions; his home was a model home, where all the virtues
known to man seem to congregate and delight to dwell. I
speak from personal knowledge. But his crowning virtue
was his earnest piety, his simple, trusting faith. No one
could detect inconsistency in Basil LeFlore. He carried
his religion with him everywhere, which burned-, with a
steady beautiful light, making its influence felt far and wide.
His Christian life was truly most exemplary, his morals
the purest, and his principles the noblest, while unostenta
tious religion truly seemed a part and parcel of his being;
never arrogant or obtrusive, but all pervading and firm as
the Rock upon which his faith was founded. As a friend
he was warm-hearted, steadfast and true as the magnet to
the pole; as a public or private citizen his character was
above reproach; and his many virtues will ever be emulated,
his goodness of heart and head, and his numerous deeds of
charity and love remembered with profound gratitude.
To see him was to admire him; to meet him was to re-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 405
spect him; and to know him was to love and honor him.
His public services were not less patriotic than his private
virtues were conspicuous. The former are monuments 'to
his wisdom and honest statesmanship, and will ever be
viewed by his admiring people as stars in the firmament of
their Nation. And his life illustrates the possibilities of a
Choctaw citizen meriting and receiving the entire confidence,
respect and love of his people, whom he had long and faith
fully served in the capacity of a public servant; and the
respect and admiration of all the whites who were person
ally acquainted with him. He died full of years (well spent)
at the home of a friend, October, 1886, living a few miles
frpm his own, whom he was visiting. His death was sud
den and unexpected — falling dead from his chair while at the
supper table. But his lamp was well trimmed and full of
oil waiting for his Master's call. "Blessed is the death of
the righteous." A Choctaw friend informed me of his death,
by letter, in the following truthful and memorable words:
*'Gov Basil LeFlore is dead. He is the last of the family.
It is a national 'loss to the Choctaw and Chickasaw people.
Our best old men are fast disappearing." Yes, the death of
Basil LeFlore but thins still more the sadly thinned ranks
of the few noble old Choctaw men, whose ^history, if it had
been written, would be strangely beautiful and far more
interesting and fascinating than the most thrilling fiction,
since in it were hidden romantic truths of which the "pale
faces" never even dreamed, or will ever know.
Michael LeFlore, the brother and only relative of
Major Lewis LeFlore among the Choctaws, the people of
their adoption, had five sons, viz: Thomas, Michael, Joel,
Ward and Johnson, and two daughters, Mary and Sophia.
Thomas was chief in their present Nation for several years.
When I last heard of his widow she was still living near
Wheelock, Choctaw nation, and is said to be bordering on
a nundred years of age. Young Michael served as major in
the Confederate army through the civil war.
Louis Durant, a Canadian Frenchman, was the proprie
tor of the Durant family among the Choctaws, who came,
as before stated, to the Choctaw Nation with the two
brothers, Lewis and Michael LeFlore about the year 1770.
He, as his friends and contemporaries, the two LeFore
brothers, also selected a wife among the Choctaw forest
flowers, but whose name has been lost amid the vicissitudes
through which her people have passed. They had three
sons, Pierre, Charles and Lewis; and two daughters, Mar
garet and Syllan. The father and three sons served under
406 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
their renowned chief, Apushamatahah, as allies of the
Americans in the Creek war of 1812.
Pierre had seven sons, viz: Fisher, George, Jefferson,
Sylvester, Isham, Ellis and Joseph. Ellis and Sylvester
served in the Confederate army during" the civil war of 1861,.
the former in the rank of major. Alexander Durant, one of the
Supreme Judges of the Choctaw Nation, (with whom I am
personally acquainted) is a son of George Durant. Fisher
Durant had three sons, Bissant, Dixon and Jesse. Dixon
is a minister of the Gospel. He is a poor man in a pecuni
ary sense, but rich in a spiritual sense. He seems to live
alone for the cause of his Divine Master and the salvation
of his fellow men. Ah! if the world's Christians were all
.such Christians as Dixon Durant, the djevil's kingdom on
earth would soon be overturned, and that of the World's.
Redeemer permanently established thereon. God be with
you, my Christian brother! Though poor in worldly goods,
and unknown to earthly fame, yet of you, will it not be said
in the day of final accounts, as of the poor widow who cast
her mite into the treasury? Who then of man can justly es
timate thy riches?
Margaret Durant married a man by the name of Eli
Crowder; and Syllan, a William Taylor.. The two husbands
were with their father-in-law and their three brothers-in-law
in the Creek war of 1812 as allies of the Americans.
Eli Crowder secured for himself, in the Creek war of
1812, the name Mu'scokubi (Muscogee or Creek-Killer), which
he ever afterwards bore; being called by the Choctaws, Mus-
cokubi, and by the whites, Creek-Killer. The following are
the circumstances by which he gained the name:
At one time, during the campaign, a company of Choc-
taw warriors, of which he was a member, was encamped on
the outskirts of the main body of General Jackson's army,
then in the Muscogee or Creek Nation. Crowder, at that
time, possessed a little pony which had served him faithfully
in more than one trouble, and to which he was greatly at
tached through a sense of deep gratitude. He frequently
would attach a little bell to the neck of the pony and turn
him out at night upon the range to graze upon the luxuriant
grass that covered the earth in rich profusion, and go early
the next morning and drive him from his night wanderings
back to camp. Frequently the pony would wander a mile or
more from the camp during the "night, and Crowder had
been warned of the danger of his morning walk after the
pony, since a scouting Muscogee might be attracted some
night by the bell, and finding it upon the horse, naturally
conclude that the owner would be out after him in the morn-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 407
ing1, and would lie in ambush for him, and, ten to one, would
lift his scalp. But Crowder seemed to have no fears. One
morning-, however, in going after his pony, he heard the little
bell at rather an unusual distance awajr, which aroused his
suspicions a little that perhaps the pony had been driven
there by a Muscogee scout in order to draw the anticipated
owner as far into the solitudes of the forest and away from
the Choctaw camp, whose location he perhaps well knew,
that he might the safer shoot him; therefore, he kept a vigi
lant outlook. When he had approached within sight of his
little truant quietly feeding some two or three hundred
yards distant, whose tinkling bell, mingling- its monotonous
tones with the song's of the various forest birds-, alone dis
turbed the profound silence of the scene. The peculiar cir
cumstances of the immediate surroundings, however, began
to awaken his suspicions the more that an enemy was lurk-
kig near, whose eyes, perhaps, already rested upon him.
But bracing- up his nerves he continued walking- slowly to
wards the pony, but with eyes playing- in all directions and
ears attentive to the minutest sound. He had approached
within two hundred yards of his pony when his watchful
eye detected the quick movement, as he thought, of an ob
ject four or five feet above the base of a large tree a few
rods to the left of the still quietly, feeding pony, who seemed
to be enjoying his breakfast upon the grass that lay in rich
profusion under his feet, as well as the tinkling* chimes of
his bell that alone broke the profound silence of the vast
solitude that lay around, unconscious of the bloody scene
that was about to be enacted at his very side.
Crowder made no halt, nor altered his movements in any
way, that might have a tendency to betray to his suspected
enemy (if real) that he suspicioned his presence. But while
he guarded with eagle eyes the suspected tree, he placed
double duty upon his ears and also glanced everywhere
around. He had walked but a few paces farther when he
noticed a seemingly unnatural protuberance, scarcely visi
ble, on one side of the now truly suspected tree. Yet he
slowly proceeded on his way, but kept an eye askant upon
the tree. As he steadily continued, he noticed the protuber
ance slowly, but surely, enlarging. Little by little it grew
in size until the outlines of half^the size of a man's head was
discernible— then instantly disappeared. That told the
tale. Crowder easily guessed the lurking and peeping non
descript that stood behind the tree, and also why the pony
was so unusually distant from camps. In a twinkling he
formed !his resolution. It was to continue walking towards
the pony until within sure range of his rifle, and then risk
408 , HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
the chance of securing" the first shot. If he failed, then
Margaret Crowder would be a widow. But the word fail was
nowhere to be found in Muscokubi's vocabulary. Therefore,
he proceeded on his way, nothing* discomfitted by the new
acquaintance he was about to form, believing- he had as long
ranged rifle and was as accomplished an expert in the use of
it as he who was peeping from behind the tree, and who, he
felt sure, would indulge in another peep ere he risked a shot;
but after that he resolved to be no longer peeped at, without
indulging in a sly peep himself; so he slowly, but resolutely,
marched on towards his concealed foe, but kept his eyes
upon the place of his concealment. As he expected, again
he saw the unnatural protuberance slowly forming on the
side of the tree at the very spot where it had twice formed
before ; slowly, but steadily, inch by inch, it grew until it
was in size as before, then as instantly disappeared. Mus-
cokubi ran as nimbly and lightly as a cat towards the tree,
which brought him in easy range, and stopped, raised his
rifle and held it with unerring aim upon the very spot where
the apparition had so oft appeared and disappeared. There
he stood the very personification of a marble statue — mo
tionless and silent.
Soon he saw the dark barrel of a rifle becoming slowly
visible and becoming plainer and plainer to view as it extend
ed out along the side of the tree and pointing toward him,
then was motionless; then as before, the apparition slowly
began to form; inch by inch it enlarged, but just as it reach
ed its former size the sharp crack of Muscokubi's rifle, fol
lowed by a dull, heavy thud, united with the tinkling pony
bell to break the forest silence. He' then re-loaded his rifle
and again slowly advanced to the (to him) so nearly fatal tree
to learn the extent of his morning adventure, and there saw
a Muscogee warrior stretched full length in death, as he had
expected, with the right side of his head torn off — the effect
of his death-dealing bullet. For a moment he gazed upon
his fallen foe; then severed the scalp from the head, attached
it to his belt, and with it and the rifle of the outwitted war
rior "as proofs of his adventure, returned to the camp slowly
driving the truant pony before him, while the unceasing
tinkling of the pony bell seemed as the exultants of both
pony and master — the former in remembrance of his night's
rich repast, and the latter of the securing of the scalp and
rifle.
Eli Crowder, alias Muscokubi, lived, as would seem at
the present day, to the extraordinary age of 102 years, 2
months and 11 days; but longevity among the Choctaws at
that time, as well as among other southern tribes, was of
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 409
very common occurrence. His first wife was a white woman
by whom he had two sons. From her he separated — cause
unknown. He then married a Choctaw woman by whom he
had nine sons and two daughters, who were born: Harris,
Jackson, Phebe, James, Catherine, Solomon, David, Louis,
Washington, Martin, and one who died in infancy.
His Chocta\y wife dying, he married a Chickasaw
woman, by whom he had nine sons; Francis Marion (known
as Dick,) Eli, Van (known as Bob); the fourth died in in
fancy; then followed Thomas, William, Joshua, George and
John. Louis Crowcler, (or Louie, as he is called, and to
whom I am indebted for all the above concerning the
Crowder family,) the sixth son of Muscokubi by his Choctaw
wife, is acknowledged throughout the Choctaw Nation as the
best interpreter in it. He has been acting in the capacity of
general interpreter for the Choctaws and Missionaries dur
ing the last forty-five years. He is a consistent member of
the Old School Presbyterian Church (south). His grand
father, James Crowder was an ordained Methodist minister
of the Gospel; and two of his uncles, Jeptha and Levi, were
class leaders in, the Methodist church. He has been greatly
afflicted with rheumatism for many years, yet has born his
affliction with becoming Christian fortitude, ever wearing a
•smiling face and a cheerful countenance.
John Harkins, a white man, is the father of the Harkins
family of Choctaws. His advent to the Choctaw nation was,
as near as can be ascertained, about the year 1800 or soon
afterwards. He was a man of high-toned principles, and
contemporary with the Folsoms, Nails, Pitchlynns, Le-
Flores, Durants, Cravats, Crowders, and others of the long
ago, who married among the Choctaws; all' men, who, hav
ing cast their lot among that people made their interests
their own, and sought, by every means in their power to
elevate them in the scale of morality and virtue.
John Harkins married a daughter of Major Lewis
LeFlore, by whom he had four sons — Willis, George, Rich
ard and James. Willis married Salina Folsom, oldest daugh
ter of Col. David Folsom. They had two sons, George W.
and Crittendon, and one daughter, Salina.
Col. George W^ Harkins was a graduate of Danville Col
lege, Kentucky. He was a man of acknowledged abilities;
a lawyer by profession, and a fine jurist and wise counsellor.
He for many years acted in the capacity of delegate to
Washington in attending to the national affairs of the Chick
asaw Nation, with which people, though a Choctaw by con
sanguinity, he cast his lot. He was a bold, vigorous and
able defender of the rights of his people in the Congress of
410 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
the United States; and by energetic and fervent persever
ance, with solid learning1, he rose to eminence in the spheres
of an active life, as well as in his profession. He died in
August, 1891.
Salina, the only daughter, is a lady of fine literary at
tainments, and high cultivation of both mind and heart ; and
who, by an indefeasible resolution and indefatigable perse
verance has placed herself high in the esteem and confidence
of a wide circle of admiring friends. She has never mar
ried, but seems to prefer fighting the battles of life single
handed than running the risk of finding a partner in the
present seemingly rickety old ship of matrimony, who would
prove a worthy ally in the campaign from time to eternity,
amid its fluctuating hopes and fears, its joys and sorrows ;
though many a young swain has taken issue with her in re
gard to her convictions, and truly believes her decision is
injudicious and without true wisdom for its foundation. But
there being two sides to the mooted question, the future
alone can and will decide whose arguments will prevail;
though the flag of victory thus far triumphantly waves over
the citadel which the still defiant young lady holds as a wise,
""judicious and brave commander. She graduated in one of
the female colleges of Tennessee, after which she .engaged,,
for a while, in teaching, but for several years was engaged
as telegraph operator at Talbott Station, Tennessee. She at
different intervals visits her relatives and friends in the
Choctaw Nation, then returns \to her duties in Tennessee.
May prosperity and happiness attend her through life.
George, of the four sons of John Harkins, was one of
the chiefs of the Choctaw Nation in 1852, in conjunction
with Cornelius McCurtain and George Folsom.
But it would not be practicable, were it even possible, to
give a sketch, though short, of the lives of all the Choctaws
who became conspicuous by their virtues and noble deeds,
both of unmixed and mixed .blood, being wise in counsel,
brave in the field of battle, judicious in peace, orators by
nature, and who eloquently and courageously presented the
wrongs and sustained the rights of .their people.
It has been my good fortune, as well as pride and pleas
ure, to be personally acquainted from youth to old age with
the majority of those Choctaws whose characteristics I have
thus delineated; and with the ancient and present habits,
manners and customs, of 'whose people I have made myself
fully acquainted by the diligent study, the long and free as
sociation and close observation of over three score and ten
years; and it has ever been, and will ever continue to be, my
sunniest memories to know that I have ever stood as the
F
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 411
friend of the Red Man, as my parents before me who sev
ered the ties of all that makes life most dear, leaving- all be
hind, to go to the rescue of the Choctaw people in obedience
to their Divine Master's injunction — "Go ye into all the world
and preach my gospel" — and also that I have been blest with
such noble friends as I have found, secured and still possess
in them, true as the needle to the pole, and in whose friend
ship unalloyed I have always found, still find, and ever ex
pect to find, equal joy and cheer, though a people unknown
to earthly fame.
And though I freely and proudly acknowledge my preju
dice in their favor, if love and friendship without alloy,. based
updn true merit, are worthy that title, yet I have endeavored
to give a truthful sketch of those noble and as worthy men
as ever blest a Nation, though much more might be said of
their virtues; and with equal truth of hundreds of others of
that noble people, both men and women, who have lived and
died, and others who still live, but occupied a less public, yet
none the less useful and glorious sphere in life, since they
did their duty and thus filled it nobry.
It is the first time their names have been presented to-
.the world; and I have ventured this just and true sketch for
the consideration of those of my own race who have hereto
fore seemingly felt, and therefore evidently exercised but
little interest in the North American Indians, beyond that
found in reading the falsehoods and vituperations published
against them in the sensational articles of the day by many
of the newspaper men.
What more could be expected but that the Indian Race
should be regarded, root and branch, as being incapable of
possessing or exercising any of those virtues whose ten
dencies are to elevate and adorn the human race? To the
refutation of this false charge, have I given to the world the
characteristics of the Indian hoping that it might serve, to
some extent at least to remove from the minds of those open
to conviction, the gross errors under which they have been
living in regard to that unfortunate but noble race, by their
thoughtless credulity when giving heed to the defamations
of those who scruple not to do anything by which they can
add a penny to their selfish interests. Still I know the
sketch given of those noble Choctaws may be, and will be
cast aside by those over whom long established prejudice
still sways her merciless sceptre, with the interrogatory,
"Cari anything good come out of Nazareth"? To which I
respond: There did. A glorious light which exposed to-
view a world that lay in moral and intellectual darkness.
What next? This much. What I have writte'n, I have writ-
412 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
i . •
ten; and with a full knowledge of its truth, sustained by over
three quarters of a century's personal acquaintance and ex
perience with the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians, and con
firmed by hundreds of others whose acquaintance and ex
perience are greater than my own, and bidding defiance to
successful contradiction.
But it will not trouble me, as far as my own individual
interests are concerned, if the facts presented are rejected
as the wild and absurd hallucinations of a disordered brain;
but only in behalf of the down-trodden Indian I would that
they might be otherwise accepted; as lam well aware, that a
brief period will place me beyond all anxiety in their behalf,
and I shall leave them to the humanity, or inhumanity, of an
other generation; but in which, God grant, others, more able
and worthy than myself, shall rise up as their true friends
and successful protectors against any future generation
whose humanity may not exceed that of the present. Old
and worthy friends they are, long tried and ever true, there
fore doubly dear in their misfortunes. I still delight to take
them by the hand as of old and listen to their voices, harmo
nious in gentle tones of love and friendship unalloyed, reviv
ing the memory of happy years long past, when in child
hood's morn I listened with delight to their songs of praise
~ •> Israel's God; and though but few remain with whom I
trod life's flowery paths, scattered here and there at their
humble homes and around their peaceful firesides calm and
silent; yet the names of those whose places in the old family
circle are vacant now still live in tender recollection ; and my
sojourns among them have been to me like rambling amid
pleasant scenes of the remembered past; and bringing long
hidden beauties again to light by the fresh cementing of that
friendship which has grown stronger with increasing years,
and given t ) me the pleasant thought that there is, at least,
one spot c i earth, if no other, that I can visit as long as life
endures; the assurance of an unfeigned welcome that is as
spontaneous as it is sincere and beautiful, and which I ven
ture to lay upon the shrine of our life-long friendship that
has existed untarnished through the vicissitudes of nearly
eighty yeai s.
Dark indeed have been the clouds and shadows that have
swept over those time-honored friends;' but they nobly and
bravely withstood the fiery test, and slowly and surely
pressed forward and upward over innumerable difficulties,
until those clouds and shadows were riven, and their names
now stand forth in a bright and glorious sunshine; for, coin
cident with their early and high position among their people,
a little star was seen to twinkle, which small though it was,
X
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 413
added its mite in dispelling- the moral and intellectual dark
ness that so long had brooded o'er their Nation; and, from
whatever point we view it, we find it has pierced the dark
clouds and revealed the bright sky beyond; and with great
and noble objects in view resting upon the firm foundation
rock of Truth, and with the help of a just God above, they
have been enabled to withstand the taunts and malice of a
selfistT and unmerciful world, and to-day their works do
show forth in tffe peace and prosperity of their people; and
to-day, if those g*ood men, whose memories stand along
down the years of the Choctaws' past ^history, were called
up -from their graves and asked, what was their proudest
boast? they would respond with one united voice: "We
stood on the side of truth and justice, and' ever were the ad
vocates of temperance and virtue."
But if, in your opinion, reader, I have committed errors
of judgment in my sketch of those illustrious Choctaws, and
in my emotional feelings of interest in behalf of them and
their people, in excuse I plead but two things: The strength
of affection for worthy men and their no less worthy peo
ple, and the weakness (if it be a weakness) of human nature.
If these carry 110 weight with you, read no further. You
are too good for me, and I am too human for you. We can
not be congenial nor abiding friends, so there let the matter
forever rest.
Yet it is surpassingly strange that talent, worth and
true merit should be so overlooked, and so little appreciated,
because its possessor occupies an imaginary low position in
the fabric of society; in other" words, because he is an Indian.
Alas! When will human nature recognize the great truth
and be actuated by it in social intercourse, that some flowers
may be repulsive at first sight, but when closely examined
unfold a world of beauty, and so it is with man. But if in
the face of all the immense array of incontrovertible testi
mony that has been and still can be adduced to sustain the
present^and long moral and intellectual standing of the
Choctaws and their four sister tribes, the Chickasaws, Cher-
okees, Creeks and Seminoles, and many other tribes within
the jurisdiction of these United States, there still remain
those who cling to their unenviable ignorance and inconsist
ent prejudices. It can only be said of them, "They are
joined to their idols, let them alone."
The government of the Choctaws is modeled after that
of the state of Mississippi, and was adopted before they
were exiled from their ancient domains to their present
places of abode. The executive power is lodged in a gov
ernor. Each county in the Nation chooses a sheriff and
414 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
other officers by ballot. The legislative department consists
of a general council, comprising- a senate and house of rep
resentatives. The Nation is divided into three districts,
from each of which four senators are sent. The members
of the house of representatives are chosen by ballot from
the various counties. The judiciary consists in a supreme
court of three judges, one from each district. The names
of three judicial districts are A-push-a-ma-ta-ha, A-puk-shen-
ub-i, and A-mo-sho-la-ub-i, the names of three of their former
and famous chiefs. The senior judge is the Chief Justice.
This court has only appellate jurisdiction. A prosecuting
attorney is elected in each district, whose duty it is to rep-
represent the Nation in all civil and criminal cases. The
national capital is Tush-ka Hum-ma, (red warrior) where a
National Council and Supreme Court are annually held, con
vening on the first Monday in October of each year.
In the First District, the court holds its session during
the entire session of their courts; and mv informer re
marked: "It is beautiful to see how harmoniously and
Christian-like they engage in these religious exercises and
devotions." Noble people and true servants of the Most
High!
I was informed by the Choctaws, when visiting Tushka
Humma in October, 1884, during the session of their council,
that during the session of their District Courts as well as
that of the national council, which are invariably opened by
prayer, they have preaching every night in the week; and
that many of the district judges, attorneys and jurymen,
are ministers of the Gospel of all denominations, preaching
alternately at night.
THE CHICKASAWS.
Conquest or Progress! It is the same, since it is with
blood that the book of humanity is written. The pages here
devoted to the narrative of the Chickasaw Indians is not an
exception; their's, too, is stained with the seemingly inevita
ble sanguinary horrors, but nowhere is the trace inexplica
ble. To some it may seem useless and even wrong to recall
these pages of history so distant in the past, which began in
wrong, continued in wrong and will end, so for as human ob
servation can judge, in wrong, and then ask nothing better
than to be forgotten. Alas, experience has shown that to
change the mode of life of a primitive race is to condemn it
to death ; since always regarded as an inferior race by their
conquerors, they have been swept away without justice or
mercy — a people who had existed in an unbroken line of de
scent from prehistoric ages unknown.
East of the Mississippi River was also the Chickasaws'
hereditary domain, handed down through a long line of an
cestry during ages unknown, and who, like the Choctaws,
were first made known to the Eastern world by Hernando
de Soto who invaded their country in the month of Novem
ber, 1540; but beyond which, except through the tradition of
the Choctaws and Chickasaws, as before related, the faintest
glimmerings of vague tradition has afforded scarcely a ray
of light to penetrate the darkness which envelops their his-
to'-y with its mantle of silence; yet has also opened a wide
field to those dreamy speculations of which the imagination
is so fond, and in which it so delights to indulge. Ah, would
not their ancient history, if known, present as many subjects
of interest as any other race of primitive man, our own not
excepted? Would there not be much found in that period of
•their early existence which precedes their known history,
which, when placed in contrast to their seemingly unhappy,
cruel destiny, appeals to the heart of the Christian? Who,
.so incapable of reflection, could sit under the shades of the
gigantic trees of centuries growth that bedecked their an
cient possessions, standing so densely together that their
wide extended branches, interlocked high above, shutting
416 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
out the rays of the sun which only reached the ground here
and there, while the earth beneath was covered with grass,
from twelve to fifteen inches high, interspersed with a great
variety of wrild flowers, many of which were of exquisite
beauty and emitting the sweetest perfume, with no bushes
to mar the beauty and grandeur of the fascinating scene; or
on the top of those ancient mounds, the sepulchers of man
erected by his own hand — the Nunih Waiyahs of the long
ago — and not feel his whole soul glow with hallowed emo
tions ?
Let your thoughts again revert to the scene presented
in the Ba'y of Santo Spiritu, Florida, May 31st, 1540. Three
vessels, it is recorded, of strange- and curious shape to the
native beholders, bearing the banner of haughty Spain,
moored close to their shores, and one thousand men of in
fantry and three hundred cavalry landed in proud array,
with Hernando De Soto, their -leader, the former companion
of Pizarro, in his conquest of Peru and butchery of its
helpless inhabitants. View again the heroism of those
ancient Choctaws in the patriotic defense of their city,
Moma-Binah. Look again upon those noble Choctaw women
—mothers, wives, sisters and daughters — lighting side be
side with fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, mid blood
and carnage, and perishing in the flames of their burning
homes rather than yield to the human fiends that had in
vaded t/heir country. Take also a retrospective view of
those foreign marauders afterwards quartered for the win
ter in Chikasahha, November, 1540, the most ancient city of
the Chickasaws, the bravest of the brave among the North
American Indians, whose king (th» Chickasaw rulers were
anciently called kings instead of chiefs) had received De Soto
and his followers (though uninvited) with the greatest kind
ness, and extended to them the hospitality of his town and
eople; but who, preparatory to the renewal of his wild and
AOtic journey in the following spring, manifested his
gratitude to the generous Chickasaw king for his kindness
and hospitality, by haughtily demanding two hundred of his
warriors to accompany him in his dubious adventures as
burden bearers and servants of the camp. To which inso
lent, insulting and outrageous demand the Chickasaw king
scorned to submit, and evaded a direct answer to De Soto
by requesting a few days in which to lay the matter before
his people in council assembled, but during which interval
nobly prepared for a bold resistance ; and, ere the insolent
invaders were aware, gave his reply to De Soto's insulting
demand in the defiant war-whoop; then setting fire to their
town in which the perfidious Spaniards were sleeping, the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 417
\
brave and justly indignant Chickasaws, with a noble patriot
ism, unsurpassed even in- the civilized world, rushed upon
their unprincipled and ungrateful invaders and intruders.
But as the Choctaws, in defense of Moma Binah a few
months before, were defeated, so too were the Chickasaws ;.
for. what could avail the feeble bow and arrow wielded by an
unprotected body against powder and lead, lance and broad
sword wielded by a steel-clad body? Yet they bravely
fought until hundreds of their noble warriors were slain and
longer fighting was vain; not without, however, making it a
deadly fought victory to the Spaniards; besides teaching
them, as had the Choctaws a few weeks before, that, though
termed savages, yet they were patriots and heroes unsurpass
ed even by exotic barbarians (\f boasted Castillian blood with
bodies incased in steel; since, unprotected and with feeble
bows and arrows, the young Chickasaw king and his war
riors heroically attacked the insolent intruders and maraud
ers and justly punished their base ingratitude by burning
their ancient Capitol, Chikasahha — the Moscow of the Chick
asaws — in which De Soto had unceremoniously quartered his
cruel* soldiers for the near approaching winter, and killed
many of his men and horses, destroying the greater part of
his baggage, throwing his entire army into confusion; and
though the Chickasaws were finally defeated by superior
arms, yet De Soto was glad to bid them an eternal adieu .with
out any further demonstration of their prowess. Thus, as.
the Choctaws were initiated into a knowledge of the charac*
teristics of the White Race, so too were the Chickasaws.
And from that day to the present, the former bright sun of
their freedom, contentment and happiness, alike with their
entire race upon the North American continent, has been
steadily and constantly waning. And though over 400 years,
have elapsed since their entire country was sleeping in its
cradled wilderness of grand forests and prairies, unknown
in its solitude and beauty to the Eastern world, yet they
were here, .but in their primitive state of nature, as they
were then regarded and so termed ; and, being also pro
nounced by their new discoverers to be of different origin
from all others of the human race, they were denounced as.
"unreclaimable savages" from that day to this; yet were a
noble branch of the human -race, possessing more of the vir
tues that adorn humanity, and fewer of vices that degrade,,
than any other race of unlettered people recorded upon the
pages of history, ancient or modern. To-dav as a race of
people, though overpowered (not conquered), impoverished,
calumniated, abused, they fearlessly challenge these United
States to show purer and cleaner skirts, in point of virtue
418 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
\
and morality as set forth in the Bible (our professed guide)
and point to the God of the Bible as the judge by whose de
cision they will abide. Who will take up that glove thrown
at our feet as an acceptance of the challenge?
Three centuries .after, the Russians burned their capi-
tol, Moscow, over the head of their invader, Napoleon Bona
parte; thus forcing him to retreat at the loss of his army;
which act of patriotism was heralded over the world by the
pens of historians as meriting immortal fame; while the pa
triotism of the true Native Americans, though equally meri
torious, remains unwritten and unsung. But such is the
consistency of fallen and depraved humanity everywhere,
and such too is its boasted justice.
No history records the Chickasaws' past prior to their
acquaintance with the White Race. Like their entire race,
it is hidden amid the mysteries of the unknown. But from
the legends handed down through the long and bewildering
tracts of time by their "wise old men," those Chroniclers of
the North American Indians' long ago, as related to the
missionaries seventy-five years in the past, the voice of the
Chickasaw's traditions are in harmony with the dubious
lights afforded by the Magi of the ancient Choctaws; differ
ing, however, in a few iionessential particulars. Their tra
dition in regard to ancestry, migration, etc, are the same as
the Choctaws, being o.ne tribe and people until the mutual
division made by their two chiefs Chikasah and Chahtah
many years after their arrival and location east of the Mis
sissippi river.
In the year 1S19 the Synod of South Carolina resolved
to establish a mission among" the Southern Indians east of
the Mississippi river. The Cherokees, Muscogees, Semi-
noles, Choctaws and Chickasaws then occupied Georgia,
Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. Rev. David Humphries
offered to take charge of the intended mission. He was
directed to visit the Indians, obtain their consent and select
a suitable location. Rev. T. C. Stewart, then a young licen
tiate, offered himself as a; companion to Mr. Humphries.
They first visited the Muscogees (Creeks), who', in a coun
cil of the Nation, declined their proposition. They then
traveled through Alabama into Mississippi, and proposed to
establish a mission among the Chickasaws. They found
them on the eve of holding a council of the Nation to elect a
king. In that council, held in 1820, permission was granted
the missionaries to establish missions in their Nation, and a
charter was signed by the newly-chosen king. The two
missionaries then returned to South Carolina. During the
return Mr. Humphries concluded-that he was not called to
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 419
preach to the untaught North American Indians. But the
Rev. T. C. Stewart, during- the same journey, firmly resolved
to undertake the self-denying work, and offered to take
charge of the contemplated mission. The Synod gladly ac
cepted, and he at once commenced making preparations to
enter upon the life of a missionary to the Chickasaws. In
January, 1821, he reached the place chosen for a station, and
named it Monroe Station, in honor of James Monroe, the
then president of the United States. Mr. Stewart was the
only missionary. Two men, however, accompanied him with
their families — one named Vernon, a mechanic, the other
named Pickens, a farmer. Houses were erected, a farm
opened, a school established, and preaching through an in
terpreter.
Rev. T. C. Stewart was born in the year 1793, and died
in Tupelo, Mississippi, October 9th, 1882.
In early youth I was personally acquainted with that
great philanthropist, sincere and self sacrificing Christian,
T. C. Stewart; and in recalling the reminiscences of those
years of the long ago, I can but regard them as treasures
from the memory of those jsvho were indeed what they pro
fessed to be, honest and sincere friends of the entire North
American Indian Race, as well as all mankind the world over.
Yet those memories are freighted with sadness, when re
flecting that all those hallowed relics have passed a way
leaving the poor Indians, for whom they so long and faith-
fullyjabored, to struggle among wolves (many in sheeps'
clothing) with few such shepherds to counsel and lead them
as those old missionary heroes of eighty years ago; while
those years with their vicissitudes have silvered the heads
of the only two remaining children now living, of those
messengers of peace and bearers of the glad tidings of great
joy to the descendants of two traditional brother-chiefs
Chahtah and Chikasah; the one a daughter living in Bel-
pry, Ohio; the other a son living in Greenville, Texas. Both
were born among the Choctaws at the Missionary Station
Mayhew; but now, under the weight of years beyond those
allotted to man's eartjily pilgrimage, totter upon the banks
of the mystic river; and though the scenes and the land
marks of the early labors of their fathers and mothers,
hallowed by their foot-prints as the devoted friends of the
Red Man, have long been blotted out, as far as concerns
the White Race; yet they still live in the hearts of the pres
ent civilized and Christian people, the Chickasaws and Choc-
taws, whom they have handed down to the present as liv
ing, moving monuments of the great and abiding truth that
the North American Indians everywhere are as susceptible
420 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
of as high civilization and Christianity as any race of people
that ever lived upon earth.
The little colony soon became a centre of Gospel light -and
civilizing influences, to the whole Nation. Other missiona
ries came at different times to aid the one man, who began
the good work: Rev. Hugh Wilson, in 1821, from North Car
olina; Rev. W. C. Blair, from Ohio, in 1822; James Holmes,
of Pennsylvania, in 1824. The first two named, after the
removal of the Indians, went to Texas, where their bodies
now sleep, Mr. Holmes was licensed to preach after he
came to the mission as teacher. He became a doctor of
divinity and taught a classical school of high reputation at
Covington, Tennessee, for many years, and died at an ad
vanced age. But it is unnecessary to enter into a detail of
the fruits of this mission. It will suffice to say that many
Indian youths who have become prominent in their tribe as
legislators, preachers of the Gospel and influential citizens,
received their education, in part or in full, at Monroe. The
foundation ot a Christian civilization, to whieh the Chicka-
saws have years ago reached and stilt firmly maintain, may
be safely said, was laid in the mission of which the noble
T. C. Stewart was founder.
About the year 1822 Rev. Haynes opened a school in the
Chickasaw Nation, near the southern line of the Cherokee
Nation, under the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions,
for the benefit of which George Colbert established a board
ing house. This school and the one established at Monroe
by Rev. T. C. Stewart, January 1821, soon became flourishing
institutions of learning. In the course of years a son of Rev.
Haynes married a Chickasaw girl who formerly had been a
pupil at his father's school. He (the son) labored among
both the Chickasaws and the Choctaws as a missionary until
they emigrated west. He lived with his Chickasaw wife
nearly forty years, when she died. He then (1884) went
west to live with his daughter, Mrs. Eads, who'lives in Lone
Oak, Denton county, Texas. At that time he was 88 years
of age, still in his mental vigor and attending to his minis
terial duties.
In 1821 the Methodist church sent out Rev. Alex Deavers
as a missionary to the Chickasaws, who remained among
them until they moved west. He had two sons, one of whom
married a Chickasaw girl and the other a Choctaw.
De Soto and his band gave to the Choctaws at Moma
Binah and the Chickasaws at Chikasahha their first lesson in
the white man's modus operandi to civilize and Christianize
North American Indians; so has the same lesson been con
tinued to be given to that unfortunate people by his white
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 421
successors from that day to this, all over this continent, but
which to them, was as the tones of an alarm-bell at midnight.
And one hundred and twenty-three years have passed since
our forefathers declared all men of every nationality to be
free and equal on the soil of the North American continent
then under their jurisdiction, except the Africans whom
they held in slavery, and the Native Americans agai'nst
whom they decreed absolute extermination because they
could not also enslave them; toprove which, they at once began
to hold out flattering- inducements to the so-called oppressed
people of all climes under the sun, to come to free America
and assist them to oppress and kill off the Native Ameri
cans and in partnership take their lands and country, as this
was more in accordance with their lust of wealth and speedy
self-aggrandizement than the imagined slow process of edu
cating, civilizing and Christianizing them, a work too con
descending, too humiliating; and to demonstrate that it has
been a grand and glorious success, we now point with
vaunting pride and haughty satisfaction to our broad and
far extended landed possessions as indisputable evidence of
our just claims to the resolution passed by our pilgrim an
cestors, "We are the children of the Lord"; and to the little
remnant of hapless, helpless and hopeless Indians who
calmly wait their turn to be wiped out as tribes and nation
alities, that the'y also, as all their race before, may give
place to our glorious institutions of civilization.
Justly have the ancient Chickasaws been regarded as the
bravest and most skillful warriors among all the North
American Indians; and it has been affirmed that they never
were conquered, though fighting oft under adverse circum
stances; and also, had they maintained the fight with DeSoto
but a few hours longer, they would have defeated him and
utterly destroyed his army, leaving not a single one to tell of
his overthrow arid Complete extermination. The surround
ing tribes recognized and acknowledged them as justly the
lords and masters of the vast territory they claimed extend
ing from the Yalobaaiasha (Tadpole Habitation — corrupted
to Yalobusha), Mississippi, north to t^e Ohio River, and from
the Mississippi to the Muscle Shoals in the Tennessee River ;
afTd oft the Indian hunters from the prairies of Illinois and
the lakes of the North, in pursuing the deer and buffalo in
the then wide extended and magnificent forests south of the
Ohio River, trespassed upon those of the Chickasaws and
fierce and bloody battles ensued. As it is the Choctaws'
boast — "they never in war shed an American's blood" — so it
is the Chickasaws ' boast — "they never in war shed a white
man's blood of English descent."
422 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Neither the Choctaws nor Chickasaws ever engaged in
war against the American people, but always stood as their
faithful allies. It has been published that, after the destruc
tion of Fort Mims by the Creeks, in 1812, "the Chickasaw
towns began to paint and sing their war songs ; and the
Choctaws had snuffed the scent of -blood and were panting
for war, and ready to draw the scalping knife against the
Americans." This was founded alone on rumor promul
gated for sensational purposes, so much delighted in by our
people, especially if it regards the Indians. True, had the
Choctaws, Chickasaws and Cherokees united with the Mus-
cogees and Seminoles in 1812, depopulation of all the white
settlements within their territories would have been the
inevitable result. The Chickasaws and Choctaws, though
distinct nations, yet speaking nearly the same language,
were generally animated by the same views and motives ;
had nearly the same customs and habits ; were governed by
the same principles, and followed by the same fortunes.
Alike, they were doomed to experience the same ingratitude
from the American people, which caused thousands of them
to descend in poverty and sorrow to untimely graves, leaving
it for posterity to do justice to their memory, while the re
maining few and feeble stand waiting for us to exert our
clemency in helping them to prosperity and happiness, or
display our power in the destruction of their nationalit}r and
sending them forth as sheep without a shepherd among
ravenous wolves, already howling upon their heels.
But let us go back, reader, a few centuries and review
the progress of the early European settlers of this continent
and their dealings with each other and also their modus oper-
andi to dispossess the Native Americans and secure, each
for .their own nationality, the entire continent, as they in
truded upon the Indians, tribe after tribe, until they reached
the Chickasaws.
Twenty years after Columbus made his great discovery
Juan Ponce de Leon, ex-governor of Porto Rico, sailed from
that island in March, 1512, and landed off/ the coast of the
now State of Florida, which he gave that name, from the
profusion of wild flowers, seen on all sides, and its having
been first seen on Easter Sunday, which was called ^by the
Spaniards, Pascua Florida — "The Country of Flowers."
In May, 1539, Ferdinand de Soto, Governor of Cuba, landed
at Tampa Bay.
For many years, by the so-called right of discovery
Spain claimed the entire country, bounded by the Atlantic
to thp Gulf of St. Lawrence on the north, all of which being
then known by the name of Florida. About twenty years
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 4.23
after DeSoto made his discovery of the Mississippi river, a
few Roman Chatholic missionaries made an attempt to
establish settlements at St. Augustine and its vicinity;- and
shortly afterwards a colony of French Calvinists was estab
lished ontheSt. Mary's river near the coast, butwas destroyed
in 1565 by an expedition from Spain, under Pedro Melendez
de Aviles, cowardly murdering" upwards of nine hundred
French men, women and children, and suspending- many of
the slain to branches of trees, with the inscription — "Not as
Frenchmen but as heretics." This diabolical butchery
being accomplished, Melendez founded St. Augustine, the
oldest town by nearly half a century of any in the United
States. Four years after, Dominic de Gourges, to avenge
the butchery of his countrymen on the St. Mary's river,
fitted out an expedition at his own expense and attacking the
Spanish colonists on the St. Mary's river, he ravaged the
settlements with fire and sword, burning their houses, de
molishing their forts, and slaying the inhabitants. This
being accomplished, he, in turn, suspended some of the
dead bodies from the trees, with the inscription, "Not as
Spaniards, but as murderers," and then returned to France
with his fleet. With the exception of a few years, Spain
held Florida until 1819, when, greatly diminished from its
original boundaries, it was ceded to the United States, and
became a state in 1845,
In 1535 James Cartier, a French explorer, sailed with an
expedition up the St. Lawrence and took formal possession
of the country in the name of his king, calling it New France.
In 1608 Champlain founded Quebec, which soon became a
nucleus for the settlement of Canada. This was the same
year in which the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, was
established ; and twelve years before the Puritans landed
upon the rocks of Plymouth.
In order to strengthen the power of the French, Cham-
plain resolved to establish missions among the Indians. At
that period of time "the far west" had never been trodden by
the foot of the European. In 1616 Le Caron, a French Fran
ciscan, visited the Iroquois and Wyandotts, and thence to the
tributaries of Lake Huron; and in 1634 the Jesuits estab
lished the first mission in that then distant and visionary
region of country. A century had passed, however, from
the discovery of the Mississippi River, before the first Can
adian envoys met the Indians inhabiting the unknown re
gions of the northwest, in council assembled at the falls of
the St. Marys, a little below the outlet of Lake Superior.
But not till the year 1669 did any of the adventurous trap.-
pers and fur-traders spend the winter along the shores of
424 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
that great lake ; nor until 1660 that Rene Mesnard establish
ed the first missionary station upon its cold, rocky and in
hospitable coast, and who, soon after, was lost in the bleak
wilderness and was heard of no more. Father Claude Al-
louez, five years after, built the first permanent habitation of
Europeans among- the Indians of the northwest; and in 1668
a mission was established by Dablon and Marquette at the
falls of St. Mary's. In 1671 the French took formal posses
sion of the northwest and Marquette established another
missionary station in that country at Point St. Ig-nace, north
of Mackinac, which was the first European settlement in
Michigan.
Owing1 to the hostility of the Iroquois (whose territo
ries lay along the Lakes Erie and Ontario), caused by Cham-
plain inconsiderately joining with a few other Frenchmen,ta
war party of Hurons ag-ainst the Iroquis, and a battle ensu
ing in which the latter were defeated, the missionaries were
forced to travel far north by the Ottawa and French rivers
of Canada, in journeying w"est, to avoid their threatened
veng-eance.
At that period the French had not advanced beyond
Fox river, in Wisconsin; but in May, 1673, Marquette, with
a few companions, started from Mackinac in canoes ; pad
dled up Green bay; thence into Fox river; thence transport
ing- their little canoes across the country to the Wisconsin
river, and launching them upon that stream they reached
the Mississippi, and upon its turbid, waters floated down sev
eral hundred miles, then returned in the ensuing- autumn.
The discovery of the great Mississippi was a source of
much joy to the French, who, in that age of newly discov
ered wonders, believed that a direct route to the South Sea,
and thence to China, would be found throug-h some of its
western tributaries. The indefatigable M'. La Salle first
explored the mighty stream to its termination in the Gulf,
in 1682, and took formal possession of the country, throug-h
which it flowed, in the name of the king of France, in honor
of whom he called it Louisiana. Three years later he also
took possession of Texas, establishing- a colony on the Col
orado. Being- assassinated by one oj: his men, th& colony
was, shortly after, dispersed.
Lemoine D'Iberville, a French officer, renewed the ex
plorations of LaSalle in 1697. He entered the Mississippi
river with two vessels in March 1698; and also erected forts
on the bay of Boloxi, and at Mobile, both of which were
afterwards abandoned for the Island of Dauphine, which
for many years was the headquarters of the colony. He
also built Fort Balise, at the mouth of the river, and selected
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 425
the site of Fort Rosalie, afterwards destroyed by the
Natchez Indians. Still, after the death of D'Iberville, in 1706,
Louisiana was but little more than a wilderness, since a
futile search for gold and the obtaining" of furs, engaged the
thoughts of the colonists, to the neglect of more substantial
pursuits, and valuable time wasted in journeyings of dis
covery, and in obtaining furs and skins among distant
'tribes.
Kaskaskia and Cahokia, the oldest towns in the Valley
of the Mississippi, were founded near the year 1680. The
former becoming the capitol of the Illinois country, and
where, in 1721, a Jesuit college and monastery were estab
lished.
In 1700 peace was established between the two hostile
ttribes, the Iroquois and Ottawas, and the French, which
.gave the latter the desired opportunities for colonizing the
western portion of Canada. Whereupon De la Motte Cadil
lac, with a hundred men and a Jesuit missionary, laid, in
June, 1701, the foundation of Detroit, Michigan. At this
period the French claimed the entire, vast and extensive re
gion south of the Great Lakes under the name of Canada, or
New France. As a matter of course, this aroused .the jeal
ousy of the English to the highest pitch and the Legislature
of New York^ published a Bill for hanging any and all Papish
'priests who should voluntarily make his appearance in the
province.
When the war broke out between England and France
in 1711, the friendship and confiden£e of the western In
dians had been so completely gained by the French through
-the mild and conciliatory course adopted by them and their
missionaries, that all the most powerful tribes became their
allies; when the former attempted to restrict the claims of
the latter to the country south of the Great Lakes, their ef
fort proved abortive; and though the Fox tribe, as allies of
the English, made an attack upon Detroit in 1713, they were
sorely defeated and driven back by the French and their
numerous Indian allies. But the treaty of Utrecht having
been concluded that year, the war closed.
By the year 1720 the French had established a lucrative
trade in furs, skins and agricultural products between their
Louisiana and Illinois colonies, and settlement had been ex
tended on the Mississippi river to points below on the junc
tion of the Illinois. But for the more effectual confinement
of their hated rival, the English, to the Atlantic coast, the
French adopted the plan of erecting aline of military posts
•extending from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico; and
;as one of the important links of this chain they erected
426 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi river, near Kaskaskia,
where, in close proximity, stood the towns Cahokia and
Prairie de Rocher.
The early settlers upon the Great Lakes of the north,
were chiefly French emigrants from Picardy and Nor
mandy, in France. They settled in and around the forts
that had been erected for the extension of the dominion of
France, promulgating- the Catholic religion among the In
dians, and securing the fur trade of the various tribes that
visited the forts, bringing their furs to barter with the
pale-faces for their new and strange commodities. The
most attractive features of those forts, according- to the
early writers, were the fort garrisoned with a few soldiers,
the chapel and its functionaries, the Jesuit priests, and the
Indian wig-warns, interspersed here and there, all sur
rounded with little patches of cultivated land, comprising- a
commandant and a heterogeneous company of soldiers,
priests, merchants, traders, hunters, trappers, half-breeds
and the genuine Indians — the most respectable and meri
torious of the outfit — all oi whom, the pure Indian excepted,
were attached to a system of machinery in relig-ion and in
trade peculiar to themselves alone. Next to the command
ant in prominence stood the merchants, who were regarded
as the masters of the situation when at their post of trade.
They were said to be shrewd, careful and frugal, with but
, little enterprise and less virtue, and employed their time in
procuring skins and furs from the Indians in exchange for
their goods and commodities. They kept on the best terms
of friendship with the Indians and displayed their regard
for virtue and morality in the large number of half-breed
children they fostered, but whose mothers they called
wives, though only truly so regarded by the Indians them
selves; who grew up to speak the language of their parents
— a mixture of French and Indian — and learning just enough
of their religion to care for neither. The progress of the
Indians, morally and intellectually, were things unthought
of by the French west of the Alleghany mountains, or by
the English east.
The design of the French was to enrich themselves by
the fur trade^ therefore they had little motive to attend to
anything else; but were remarkable for their skill in ingra
tiating themselves into the confidence of the warlike tribes
around them, and for their easy amalgamation in manners,
customs and blood; while that of the English was to enrich
themselves in seizing the Indians' land.
At this period (1720) .of their history the Ohio river
seems to have been but little known to the French, as it ap-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 427"
peared to be but an insignificant stream as exhibited on their
early maps. Early in the year 1720 their energetic mission
aries had explored" to the head waters of the Allegheny river;:
and in the following year the French trader and agent, Jan-
cairie, established a trading post among the Senecas, at
Lewistown, and five years afterward Fort Niagara was
erected contiguous to the falls. In 1735, according to some
writers, Post St. Vincent was built on the Wabash; and
about the same time the military post of Presque Isle was-
erected, on the site of Erie,' Penn., and thence a line of posts
extended on the Allegheny to Pittsburg, thence down the:
Ohio to the Wabash.
A map published in London in 1775 has the following list
of French posts as then existing in the West. Two on
French Creek, near Erie, Pennsylvania; Duquesne, where
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, now stands; Miamis, on the Mau-
mee River, near where Toledo is now situated ; Sandusky,,
on Sandusky Bay ; St. Joseph's, on St. Joseph's River, Mich
igan; Ponchartrain, where Detroit, Michigan, now stands;
Michilimackinac; one on Fox River, Green Bay; Creve-
cour, on the Illinois River; Rockport, or Fort St. Louis, on
the Illinois River; Vincennes; Cahpkia; Kaskaskia, and one:
at each of the mouths of the Wabash, Ohio and Missouri..
Others besides, it is said, were also built at that period, but
not named. Just below Portsmouth, on the Ohio, ruins have
been found which, no doubt, were those of an anc;~nt French
port, as they had a port there, it is said, during Braddock's
war.
The Ohio company, principally composed of wealthy
Virginians, sent Christopher Gist, in 1748, to explore the
country, secure the friendship of the Indians (always ready
and willing to cultivate the acquaintance and friendship of the
Whites who sought their friendship upon the platform of
truth and justice) and learn concerning the movements of
the French. He reached the Ohio River over land, thence
went down that river to its junction with the Great Miami,
thence up the Great Miami to the villages of the Miamis,
nearly fifty miles north of the present Dayton. In the fol
lowing year the company located a trading post near that
point, on Laramies Creek, the first place of English settle
ment in the Western country; but the French, ever on the
alert, soon broke it up.
In 1749 the French began a more regular exploration of
the Ohio river, and also formed alliances of peace and friend
ship with the Indians in Western New York, -Pennsylvania
and Virginia, while the English, who extended their claims,
west to the Pacific ocean, though their actual possessions.
428 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
were circumscribed within the comparatively narrow strip
east of the Alleghany mountains were becoming- more irri
tated at the rapidly increasing 'power of the French in the
west. Not contented in exerting- every means to excite the
Indians to hostilities against them, thus using, alike with the
French, the misguided Indians as the cat's paw to draw out
the chestnuts from the hot embers, they as a stimulus to
private enterprise, gave to the "Ohio Company" six hundred
thousand acres of excellent land, -without so much as even
saying, "By your leave" to the just and legal owners, the
Indians. And when they nobly fought against such high
handed business, they were decreed as meriting speedy an
nihilation.
By the year 1751 the settlements in the Illinois country
consisted of Cahokia, five miles south of the present city, of
St. Louis; St. Philips, forty-five miles lower down the river;
St. Genevieve, still lower; Fort Chartres. Kaskaskia and
Prairie de Rocher, still below, and on the eastern side of the
Mississippi river. Kaskaskia being the largest of the last
three named, containing at one time upwards of three thou
sand persons.
The English, ever wakeful to their interests upon the
North American continent, viewed with apprehension the
rapidly growing power of the French; especially as they re
garded themselves as possessing an equal claim by the right
of discovery through the Cabots, and of extending their set
tlements even to the Pacific ocean; while the French, on the
I other hand, maintained their claim to the valley of the Mis-
' sissippi upon the right of having first explored and colonized
it; therefore insisted that the English should confine them
selves to the country east of the Alleghany mountains. But
in their conflicting pretensions, no regard for the prior
rights of the Indians which, in the sight of justice, equally
barred the claims of both, was manifested by either. And
it is said an Indian chief remarked, with reference to the
two disputants, "The French claim all the country to the
west, and the English all to the east and west; where, then,
is the country of the Indians?" Truly a question that never
has been answered, nor will it ever be.
Measures were now adopted by both French and Eng
lish for the approaching conflict that seemed would inevita
bly ensue. On the 9th of July, 1755, General Braddock's
(army was destroyed, which gave the French a complete as
cendency on the Ohio river and its tributaries, and for a few
years, checked the operations of the English, west of the Al
leghany mountains. In July, 1758, General Forbes, with
an army of seven thousand men, started for the west from
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 429
Carlisle, Pennsylvania. A detachment under Major Grant,
consisting- of Highland Scotch, were defeated on the 13th
of September, near Fort Duquesne. Soon after, the French
were in turn defeated by the advanced guard under Colonel
Boquet. In November, the French army at Fort Duquesne,
finding its inability to cope with the superior force advanc
ing under General Forbes, abandoned Fort Duquesne and
descended the river to New Orleans leaving the fortress to
be occupied by Forbes, who thoroughly repaired it, but
changed its name to Fort Pitt, in honor of England's
Prime Minister.
For the first time the English were now in possession of
the upper Ohio; while success had also attended them in the
North. In 1759 Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Fort Niagara
and Quebec fell into their hands and, in the following year,
Montreal also, and with it all of Canada. A few days after
the fall of Montreal Major Rogers was sent with forces to
take possession of the French posts along the southern shore
of Lake Erie and also at Detroit.
In 1663 the treaty of Paris concluded, by which France
yielded to England, Canada and New France which embraced
all the territory east of the Mississippi River from the source
to the Bayou Iberville. The remainder of her North Ameri
can possessions, embracing Louisiana west of the Missis
sippi River and the Island of New Orleans, she soon after
secretly ceded to Spain, and thus terminated the dominion
of France upon this continent, and with it alike vanished her
vast schemes for power and self-aggrandizement as mists be
fore the morning sun.
Immediately after the .peace of 1763 all the French forts
in the west as far as Green bay were garrisoned with Eng
lish troops ; and the Indians now began to realize, but too
late, what they had long apprehended — the selfish designs of
both French and English threatening destruction, if not
utter annihilation, to their entire race. These apprehen
sions brought upon the theatre of Indian warfare, at that
period of time, the most remarkablfe Indian in the annals of
history, Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawas and the principal
sachem of the Algonquin Confederacy. He was not only
distinguished for his noble and manly form, commanding
address and proud demeanor, but also for his lofty courage,
winning manners and a pointed and vigorous eloquence,
which won the respect and confidence of all Indians, and
made him a marked example of that grandeur and sublimity
of character so often found among his so greatly miscom
prehended race. Pontiac had xlosely watched the slowly
advancing power of the English, and their haughty and de-
430 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
fiant encroachments upon the territories of . his own people
and his entire race.
When he was informed of the appoach of Major Rogers
with a company of English soldiers into his country, the in
dignation of the forest hero was roused to its highest pitch;
and at once he sent a messenger to Rogers, who met him on
-the 7th of November, 1763, with a request to halt until Pon-
tiac, the chief of the Nation, should arrive, then on his way.
As soon as Pontiac came up he boldly demanded of Rogers
his business and why he had come with his soldiers into the
Ottawa country unsolicited? To which Rogers replied; He
had no evil designs against his people, nor any of his race;
his only object in coming was to remove the French from
the country who pretended a mutual friendship and trade
'between his people and the English. The next morning,
after smoking by turns the pipe of peace, Pontiac told Rog
ers that he would protect him and his party from the attack
of his warriors who were already collected at the mouth of
Detroit River to stop his further progress. Major Rogers
having arrived unmolested at Detroit, he at once entered into
friendly negotiations with many of the neighboring tribes;
.after which he left Captain Campbell in charge of the fort
and departed on the 21st of December for Pittsburgh
The Indians, throughout the whole of the country form
erly occupied by the French, regarded the arrogant Eng
lish as intruders, and were indignant at the incomprehen
sible exchange without a voice in the matter; and the smile
that might have been observed playing around the mouth
of Pontiac when he first met Rogers and his soldiers on the
shores of Lake Erie, but concealed the deep cherished
hatred he entertained for the English, even as the rays of
the setting sun. bedazzle the thundercloud in the far
distant east; as he had only made professions of friendship
as a matter of national policy, that he might gain time to ma
ture his plans for the defense of his people and race against
the destruction that seemed approaching. Truly, the far-
sighted statemanship evinced in his plans far effecting the
expulsion of the English, their assumed friends but deadly
foes, and thereby the preservation also of his people and
race, proved his possession of an extraordinary courage,
and an energy of the highest order. His plan was a sud
den and contemporaneous attack upon all the English ports
everywhere in the Indian territories west of the Alleghany
mountains — at St. Joseph, Green Bay, Ouiateon, Detroit,
Michilimackinac, Maumee, Sandusky, Niagara, Presque
Isle, LeBoeuf, Venango and Pittsburg; the last four men
tioned being in Western Pennsylvania. Could the attack
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 431
be simultaneous, and every English fort upon a line of many
hundreds of miles be destroyed upon the same day, no one
would be able to give assistance to the other; while, at the
same time, the failure of one attacking- party would have
no deleterious effect upon the other. Thus the war might
begin and end in the same day, and the Indians would again
be free and in the possessions and enjoyment of the land
of their ancestors.
Pontiac first laid his plans before his own people, the
Ottawas, who at once embraced his propositions and gladly
entered into his plans. He then called for a great council of
all the tribes to be held at a designated point on the Aux
Ecarces river. They responded to the call of the mighty
Ottawa, whose name was known far and wide ; and it was an
assemblage vast of unvarnished, unpanoplied men consult
ing upon plans for mutual protection against a fearful foe
threatening their destruction. Then and there was heard
the untaught eloquence of nature's orator, the great Pon
tiac, who in strains of wild eloquence appealed to his hear
ers' fears and hopes, their patriotism, their love of freedom
and hatred of the English, their oppressors and destroyers;
then to their superstitions, by relating a dream in which he
told them the Great Spirit (whom all Indians held in great
reverence unsurpassed by any nation of people on earth)
had revealed to a Delaware prophet the path his red children
should pursue; and concluded in a wild tone of voice : "Why,
why, said the Great Spirit, angrily to the Delaware prophet,
why do you permit those dogs in red clothes to come into
your country and rob you of the land and homes I have
given you? Drive them back whence they came. If you
need assistance, I will help you."
• That was enough. The dawn of the morn of their lib
eration seemed gloriously appearing in the East. With
Pontiac at their head — a host within himself — and the Great
Spirit's promised assistance, failure in the great undertaking
was impossible. The foot prints of the foreign intruder
and oppressor were soon to be seen no more upon their soil,
and again they were to be free. A plan of action was adop
ted at once and far and wide, even to the borders of North
Carolina, the tribes laid aside their former feuds, became
friends and joined the league in common and united effort to
rid their common country of its foreign enemies whom they
had ignorantly embraced as friends but to find them foes.
•Silenly and unobserved g-athered the clouds of the ap-
proachi ig tempest, while the quiet or fancied security res
ted upon all. The traders, as usual, traveled from village
to village; the idle soldiers dozed away the day in dreamy
432 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
thoughtlessness and all was calm life; yet unseen, journeyed
bands of Red Men through the deep solitudes of the forests,
until every English fort was hemmed in by mingled war
riors. The day came, and first'. the traders everywhere were
slain. Then every English fort west of the Alleghany moun
tains was at once'destroyed through the pre-conceivejl^and
pre-arranged plans of the master mind of Pontiac, except
four, Detroit, Bedford, Ligonier and Pitt.
Detroit was the most important situation to be taken,
since, if captured, it would enable the Indians to unite their
hitherto separate lines of operation, above and below; there
fore, Pontiac, in person, undertook its capture with his own
Ottawa warriors. The garrison numbered one hundred and
thirty, with forty or fifty traders in the village.
On the 8th of May, 1760, Pontiac, with about three. hun
dred warriors, appeared before the gates of the fort, and
solicited an interview with the commanding officer, Major
Gladwyn; but, alas, for the hopes of Pontiac! A few days
before'an Indian woman had betrayed the secret to Major
. Gladwyn, and Pontiac found all on their guard and prepared
for an attack. Yet he delayed not, but made a bold attack
upon the fort, and adopted every means his ingenuity could
suggest to destroy it ; but after a siege of several weeks he
withdrew, having learned of the approach of re- enforce
ments for the fort. Thus Detroit was saved by the treach
ery of one of his own .race, and Pontiac's hopes utterly
thwarted; and also, as if by miracle, the three above men
tioned forts escaped destruction. The nobl,e, sagacious and
patriotic Pontiac afterwards fell by the hand of a traitor
and assassin, and with his death perished the last hope of
the western Indians, who were soon, conquered and humil
iated. Ill fated race! Who but must sympathize with you
in y.our misfortunes.
Treaties of peace were then concluded-with the different
and disconsolate tribes at Niagara, by Sir William Johnson;
at Detroit by General Bradstreet; in Ohio by Colonel Bo-
quet; and at the German Flats on the Mohawk river, with
the Six Nations and their allies. By these treaties, exten
sive tracts of lands, as usual, were taken from the Indians,
as a recompense of reward for daring to fight for freedom,
homes and their native land.
The power of the Indians being destroyed, and them
selves utterly humiliated, the whites began to cross the Al
leghany mountains. Millitary land-warrants of incredible
numbers had been issued, and a frenzied mania for western
lands seemingly absorbed every other desire in the hearts of
the people of that period; and which has not abated from
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 4.33.<
that day to this, but rather increased, as was practically il
lustrated in the Oklahoma craze that added so much "glory'*
to these United States, but to tfrfe pecuniary loss of the de
frauded Creeks. Those treaties of 1768, witji the north
western and western Indians, and the two made .about the
same time with the Cherokees at Hard Labor and Lochaber,
afforded a pretext under which the white settlements ad*
vanced upon the rights of the Indians. It was now falsely
claimed that the Indian title was extinguished east and.
south of the Ohio river, to an indefinite extent, and the
spirit of emigration and speculation rushed headlong- over
reason, justice and truth in all things pertaining to the
rights of the Indians.
The war in 1774 with the Indians, known as "Dunmore's,
War," had its origin exclusively from the cold-blooded and
diabolical murders committed upon inoffensive Indians by
the Virginians in the region of the upper Ohio. Among;
those murdered by Cresap and Greathouse at Captina andl
Yellow Creek, near Wheeling, was the entire family of the
noble, generous, but unfortunate Logan. He was, and al
ways had been, the firm friend of the Whites, and the advo-
cate of peace; but upon this barbarous outrage he justly
rushed to war to obtain revenge — his only mode. The Shaw-*
nees were also among the murdered, whose tribe, as socrii^a^
it was known, rushed upon the war-path with e mot ions-, of. :
anger and revenge that knew no limits, and directed tl&e^
vengeance mainly against the Virginians. The Colonial5
Legislature of Virginia, then in session, at once adopted'
measures for the emergency. What measures? ConcHlat-
tory, by immediately causing the white murderers to be ar^-
rested and handed over to the outraged Indians to be dealt
with as they saw proper, and thus manifesting to them that
we practiced what we so loudly professed — justice to all
and by so doing, saving the lives of hundreds of innocent
persons, white and red? No. But measures justifying the
white cut-throats in their crimes by preparing to success
fully resist the Indians in their righteous appeals for justice
even from the bloody hands of war. The Indians only- did
what we or any other people would have done under similar
circumstances. But that "Colonial Legislature" had smelt
Indian blood, and four hundred volunteers responded to its
call for more blood, who, under one Angus McDonald, rush
ed into the Indian country on the Muskingum River, in
June, 1774, and burned the towns of the Wappatomica In--
dians, killing many of the inhabitants, nor lost a man. But
what was the effect of this "conciliatory" measure' of that-
"Colonial Legislature?" It" was what it expected and, no,
434 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
doubt, greatly desired. It only served to further exasper
ate the outraged Indians and to excite them to fearless action
in defense of their lives and God-inherited rights. What
next? Was this act of vandalism — burning the towns of the
Wappatomicas and killing the inhabitants — a recompense of
reward sufficient to Cresap and Greathouse to induce them
to again wash their hands in the blood of innocent and un
offending Indians, when desiring to gratify their murderous
whims?
In the following September, Lord Dunmore, the royal
governor of Virginia, raised a force of three thousand men
to make a raid on the Shawnee towns on the Scioto river.
This force was collected in two divisions. The first to ren
dezvous at Wheeling, under Dunmore; the other to cross the
Ohio at the mouth of the Kanawha, under Colonel Andrew
Lewis. Having arrived there, they encamped. The next
morning two soldiers went up the river about two miles in
quest of game, and unexpectedly came upon a body of Shaw-
n'ee warriors, who killed one of them, and the other made
good his escape to camps with the intelligence. The armv
was soon on the march in two lines, and when they had pro
ceeded scarcely a half a mile they were met and bravely
charged by the Shawnee warriors, upon . which both lines
gave way and were retreating, when they were rallied by
Colonel Field, and the battle soon became general and sus-
-ta^eu with obstinate bravery by both sides, The Shawnees
judiciously formed in a line across a point from the Ohio
river to the Kana\*'ha (the battle being at the junction of the
-two streams) to prevent being flanked. In this order of bat
tle they maintained the fight with unabated resolution and
bravery from early in the day until nearly sunset, heroically
resisting successive charges made upon their line by the
whites.
The Shawnees were under the command of the dis
tinguished and consummate chief, Cornstalk. His plan of al
ternate retreat and attack was masterly conceived, and
caused the chief loss of the whites. Whenever the warriors
manifested signs of wavering, his voice was heard above the
din of the battle, exclaiming in his native tongue, "Be
strong! be strong!" Atone time it is said, a warrior near
him manifested fear and a reluctance to charge, and Corn
stalk, dreading his pernicious example, struck him dead
with his tomahawk. As the evening of the day drew on,
and the Shawnees still maintained their position against the
most vigorous attacks, and apprehending the consequences
that might arise if the battle was not decided before night,
.Colonel Andrew Lewis, sent three companies, who secretly
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 435
marched up under the banks of the Kanawha river beyond
the upper end of the Shawnee line, and thus gaining- their
rear made an attack. The Shawnees unexpectedly finding
themselves surrounded on both sides, and believing- their
rear attack was made by reinforcements, soon g-ave way,
and crossing- the Ohio river retreated to their villag-es on the
Scioto. - But the victory was dearly boug-ht, the brave
Shawnees having- killed and wounded two hundred and fif
teen of the whites, while their loss was never ascer
tained, y
^ In the meantime Dunmore had descended the Ohio river
from Wheeling- to the mouth of the Hocking-. Thence he
marched toward the Shawnee towns on the Scioto. After
the battle, Colonel Lewis hastened on with his forces to the
same point, "maddened" — as it has been recorded—
the loss of so many brave men, and anxious to avenge their
fate by the annihilation of the Shawnee villag-es."
But before reaching the Scioto, the Shawnees, seeing the
folly of attempting to oppose the forces approaching, sent
an embassy to Dunmore, requesting peace. He accepted
their proposition. A conference was ordered that peace
might be ratified. Dunmore then sent orders to Lewis to
discontinue his march. He refused to obey orders, nor was
it until Dunmore went in person to his camp, then on Congo
creek, just south of the Shawnee villages, before he could be
induced to give up his murderous designs against the In
dians, because they had dared to avenge the murder of their
people by the hands of Cresap and Greathouse.
- Dunmore remained at his camp, within four miles of the
Shawnee towns, where the council was soon convened with
the Shawnee chiefs to negotiate peace. The, deliberations
were opened by Cornstalk, who, in a short, concise and ener
getic speech, delivered with great natural dignity, and in a
tonetso powerful as to be heard all over the camp. But brev
ity, energy and dignity, so commendable, were noted char
acteristics of the North American Indian orator. In his
speech, Cornstalk rehearsed the former power of his race;
the number of their tribes ; the magnitude of their landed
possessions and the happiness of the people ; then compared
their past to their present feeble condition; to their forlorn
and diminished numbers; to their diminutive landed pos
sessions; to their hunting grounds and game destroyed
those gifts of the Great Spirit to his red children — and to
the impoverished and humiliating condition of the people.
Then he spoke of a focmer treaty made at Fort Stanwix,
and 'the great cessions of territory made by the-m to the
pale-faces. - Then he pointed to the lawless encroachments
436 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
of the pale-faces upo$ their lands everywhere, in open and
-defiant violation of all treaty stipulations; to, the forbear-
ance.of his race for years, under reiterated wrongs, indig
nities and insults heaped upon them everywhere by the
frontier white people. He said his people, as well as all
others of his race, knew and deeply felt their weakness, and
their inability to successfully contend in hostilities with the
whites, and they asked only for justice; that the war just
closed was not sought by his .people, for it was commenced
by the whites without 'any provocation on the part of his
people or race; that under the same circumstances the pale
faces would have done as they had done; that if they had
failed to resent the unprovoked, cruel and treacherous mur
ders of their relatives and friends at Captina and Yellow
Creek, they would have deserved the contempt of all nations
,. of people; that the war was the work of the whites and not
the Indians, for they wanted peace.
The treaty was concluded, but not before Dunmore, as a
manifestation of his confidence in the integrity of the In
dians, judged from the fallacy of his own heart, had secured
four Indian warriors, as hostages to be taken by him to Vir
ginia, and right in the face of the irrefragable truths just
rehearsed in his hearing by the noble and patriotic Corn
stalk; proving conclusively, also, that though he knew the
whites were wholly in the wrong, yet, like all evil doers, he
would shift the blame from his own shoulders to that of the
Indians, by making it appear that the Indians could not be
trusted; therefore, it wras necessary to coerce them by
hostages.
The stipulations of the treaty under consideration made
the Ohio River the boundary between the Indians and the
white people; the Indians agreeing not to pass beyond the
east side of the river, and the Whites agreeing not to pass
beyond the west side. Thus was that beautiful river, ac
knowledged for the first time by the Indians, as the boun
dary between the territory of the White Race and the hunt
ing grounds of the Red.
Great anger was manifested by the officers and soldiers-
against Dunmore, it is narrated by the chroniclers of that
war, for making peace and the treaty with the Indians, and
their indignation knew no bounds in their disappointment at
losing so good an opportunity of indulging their natural and
now urgent propensities for a copious draught of Indian,
blood. Cresap, Greathouse and their crew had enjoyed a
hearty drink awakening also their momentary sleeping
thirst; and now, after marching so far only to have the tan
talizing cup dashed from their. expectant lips as they were in
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 437
the very act of enjoying a few sips — could poor humanity
endure any greater disappointment and live? Therefore,
long and loud were the curses heaped upon Dunmore for his
unusual act of humanity towards the Indians — inexplicable,
except on the supposition, it was said, that Dunmore had re
ceived orders from the Royal Government to make peace
with the Indians as quick as possible, and on such terms as
might secure their alliance in favor of tb.«. Rnglish against
the colonies in the eApected war that was anticipated with
them; for, as Pericles, so did King1 George — "Behold war
advancing, with wide and rapid "strides from the Pelopon
nesus," in North America. And thus was displayed the
character of that leniency and exhibition of mercy as was
displayed on that occasion by "Dunmore to the Indians — self
interest momentarily checked the thirst for Indian blood.
But the noble chief, L^ogan, who mourned the ruthless
murder of his entire family by the hands of the white vil
lains, though winked a\ by the authorities of that law that
lay powerless in thei*r hands, as far as regarded the poor and
unfortunate Indians; nobly and justifiably refused to be
seen as a suppliant ai. >ng his brother chiefs, whose anxiety
and love for their living ' families had overcame their natural
and manlv, pride, and ha.d alone induced them to assume the
humiliating attitude of suppliants when outraged beyond
human endurance; yet, ' in a private interview with General
Gibson, who had been 'sent as an envoy to the Shawnees,
he, though with a broken heart, yet with a calm and manly
dignity and in a calm, low and' solemn tone of voice, nar
rated the pathetic story of his unsurpassed wrongs and in
juries in the following we'J.l known but little heeded words;
as they have long since been pronounced as being above
the ability of the Indian; therefore, are the work of the
white man, who writhes in agony at the mere mention of al
lowing the Indian any credit for anything that is commenda
ble or meritorious. Thus spake the noble but broken
hearted Indian chief :
"I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered
Logan's cabin hungry, aad I gave him not meat; If ever he
came cold or naked, and I gave him riot clothing."
"During the course of the last long and bloody war,
Logan remained -in his cabin an advocate for peace. Nay
such was my love for the whites, that those of my own
country pointed at me as they passed by and said, 'Logan
is the friend of the white men.' I had even thought to live
with you, but' for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap,
the last spring, in cool blood, and' unpro«voked, cut off all the
relatives of Logan; not sparing even my women and chil-
438 'HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
dren. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of
any human creature. This called on me for revenge. I
have sought it. I have killed many. I have satisfied my
vengecince. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of
peace. But, do not harbor the thought that mine is the joy
of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his
heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan?
Not one?"
Such was the language of a broken-hearted hero. And
it is but one of a thousand of the utterances of mingled pride,
courage, sorrow and despair of the North American Indians.
For three hundred years down the line of time to the pres
ent, have their wrongs, in pathetic woe, been expressed and
heard, moving to sympathizing tears, the angels of heaven,
but awakening no responsiv-e chord in the hearts of the
the white men lost, utterly lost, to all else, except the Indians'
few remaining acres of land; amd who for the securing of
which, have made proper arrangements with the. devil for
future and permanent residences, according to fruman ideas
of justice, with him in the regions balow, as a just recom
pense of their reward for services re.ndered during their
stay in his dominions on earth.
The last years of the old chief \\ ^re spent in wandering
about from village to village and from tribe to tribe, a for
lorn, dejected, solitary and lonely old man — a melancholy,
yet truthful, exhibition of the horrible falsity of the white
man's professed anxiety for the good of the Indian — who had
finally yielded to the crushing weight of despair by the loss
of his family and relatives at the hands of white murderers,
and the d,ecay of his tribe and race. He also, as did his fam
ily, perished by the hands of an as.-sassin, near Detroit, Mich
igan. He was sitting before his camp-fire with his blanket
over his head,' his elbows renting upon his knees and his
head upon his hands, wrapt in seemingly deep, sad and
mournful reflection o'er the. scenes and experiences of the
eventful past, when an unexpected tomahawk was buried in
his brains, wielded by the hand of an Indian. But who does
not believe, who knows the sacredness and veneration with
which the aged were held by all North American Indians,
and the eternal disgrace that ensued to him who killed or
even injured an aged person, that when the fulfillment of the
declaration of Holy Writ — "And the books were opened," at
the great and last assizes in which man shall be interested —
that there and then wi'il be found recorded, ''Logan fell by
the hands of a white assassin." The plea in favor of the
white assassin's innocence is feeble. Be as it may, so per
ished the aged and grand Indian Chief, Logan. ,<h
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 439
tf
Of the renowned Shawnee chief, Cornstalk, it may also*
be truthfully affirmed that ,he was a man of true nobility of
soul, a wise statesman in the councils of his Nation, and a
brave and skillful chief in war. After the battle near the
junction of the Ohio river and the Kanawha, he returned to
the Pickaway villages and called a council of his people and
other contiguous tribes to consult what should be done.
When assembled he upbraided them for their want of fore
sight and their injudicious measures adopted in not permit
ting him to make solicitations of peace to the whites, as he
desired, on the evening before the battle. "What," ex
claimed he, in his usual loud tone of voice and with great
vehemence, "do you now propose to do? The big knives^
(referring to the swords of the officers) are coming onus
and we will all be killed, and our wives and children led away
into captivity, or scattered as autumn leaves before the win
try winds. Now we must fight in earnest, or we will be
destroyed." No reply being made, he continued: "Then
let us feill all our women and children and resolve to fight
until the last warrior has fallen." But still no reply being
made, he struck his tomahawk with a mighty blow into a
tree standing near, and exclaimed: "But I will go and make
peace." To this there was given a universal approval, and
runners were at once sent to Dunmore to solicit peace. The
result has been given.
But as the immortal Logan, whose name with others of
his race, has elevated the characters of the native Americans
throughout the intelligent world, and wrhose .touching elo
quence can never be forgotten so long as eloquence is admir
ed by man, fell by the hand of the stealthy assassin, so too
was the noble Cornstalk murdered, in the summer of 1777,
by some execrable white villains of the Cresap, Greatho'use
and Whetzel order, at Point Pleasant, near where the battle
had been fought three years before. He had crossed the
river to communicate the designs of the English and their
allied Indians, as it was afterwards learned. When he saw
his murderers approaching, his little son, Elnipsico, trem
bled. His father, upon seeing which, said to him: "Be not
afraid. The Great Spirit has sent us here to die together."
As the white men drew near he rose up and, with his little
Elnipsico, advanced to meet them, when instantly a half dozen
bullets pierced their bodies. So fell the great warrior and
pure patriot, Cornstalk, whose narnf was bestowed upon him
by his Nation, as their great strength and support.
Three years later, in the summer of 1780, we find eight
hundred men, under Colonel Brodhead, in rendezvous at
Wheeling, where six years before Dunmore had collected
-440 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
his forces whom he led in person to exterminate the
Shawnees and destroy their villages, because they grumbled
.about Cresap and Greathouse butchering a dozen or more
<of their people regardless of age or sexv Colonel Brod-
.head, with his eight hundred, are to march against the In-
^dian villages on the Muskingum river, Ohio. They
marched, plundered and burnt a few villages,' and captured
a number of Indians among whom were sixteen warriors,
who were led out and, in cool blood, tomahawked and
scalped. On the-next morning, a noble looking chief, under
SL promise of protection from Brodhead, came into camp;
..and while talking with Brodhead in regard to peace,
Whetzel secretly stole up behind him, and with one blow of
liis tomahawk cleft his skull in twain. They now had to re
treat; but before so doing, they massacred all the remaining
prisoners, except a few women and children; then, when ar
rived safely at home, enjoyed a higher degree of complacency
in imagined self-importance in having taken a few villages of
Indian wigwams and butchering helpless prisoners, than
•did Cyrus in taking Babylon, or Titus, Jerusalem. f
In the early part of the year 1763 two Moravian mission
aries, Post an/1 Heckewelder, established a mission among
;the Tuscarawa Indians, and in a few years they had three
nourishing missionary stations, viz : Shoenbrun, [Gnaden-
brutten and Salem, which were about five miles apart and fifty
.miles west of the present town of Steubenville, Ohio. During
our Revolutionary War their position being midway between
the hostile Indians (allies of the British) on the Sandusky
_River, and our frontier settlements, and therefore on the di
rect route of the war parties of both the British Indian allies
..and the frontier settlers, they were occasionally forced to
;give food and shelter to both, which aroused the jealousy of
.both the Indian allies of the English and the American front-
.iersmen, although they preserved the strictest neutrality.
In February 1772, the American settlers (nothing more
.could be expected) assumed to believe that the Moravian, or
^Christian Indians; as they were called, harbored the hos
tile Indians; therefore they pronounced them enemies,
-and at once doomed them to destruction. Accordingly on
.the following march, ninety volunteers, under the leadership
-of one David Williamson, started for Gnadenbrutten where
.they arrived on the morning of the 8th, and at once sur
rounded and entered the station; but found the most of the
Indians in a field gathering corn. They told them they had
•come in peace and friendship, and with a proposition to
move them from their unpleasant and dangerous position
between the two hostile races to Fort Pitt for their better
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 441
protection. The unsuspecting" Indians, delighted at the
suggestion of their removal to a safer place, gave up their
few arms used for hunting alone, all the kind they had, and
commenced preparing breakfast for their guests and also
for themselves. The still unsuspecting Indians at once sent
a runner to Salem to inform the brethren there of the new
arrangement. After eating breakfast, both Indians and
whites returned from the field to Gnadenbrutten; and, on
reaching it, a number of the whites started on their horses
for the Salem station, but met the Salem Indians already on
their way, through the advice of the messenger, to join their
brethren at Gnadenbrutten. In the meantime, the whites,
who had remained at Gnadenbrutten, had secured the In
dians whom they had already decoyed into their power, by
binding them and confining them in two separate houses
under a strong guard. As soon as the party from Salem
came up (their arms having been previously secured with
out awakening any suspicion of hostile intention), they were
also placed in fetters and confined in the two prison-houses
with their brethren, the men in one, and the women and
children in the other. The number thus seized and im
prisoned, including men women and children, were ninety-
six. What next?
A mock council was then convened to decide what dispo
sition should be made of their victims. Upon this horrid
tragedy the late Dr. Dodd ridge, in his published notes on
Indian wars, says : ' 'Colonel Williamson put the question,
'Whether the Moravian Indians should be taken pris
oners to Fort Pitt, or put to death?' requesting those who
were in favor of saving their lives to step out and form a
second rank. Only eighteen out of the whole number
stepped forth as advocates of mercy. In these the feelings
of humanity were not extinct. In a 'majority, which was
large, no sympathy was manifested. They resolved to mur
der (for no other word can express the act) the whole of the
Christian Indians in their custody. Among these were sev
eral who had contributed to aid the missionaries in the work
of conversion and civilization, two of whom graduated from
New Jersey after the death of their spiritual father, the,
Rev. David Brainard. One woman, who could speak good
English, knelt before the commander and begged his pro
tection. Her supplication was unavailing. They were or
dered to prepare for death. But the warning had been an
ticipated. Their firm belief in their new creed was shown
forth, in the sad hour of their tribulation, by religious exer
cises of preparation. The orisons of the devoted people
were already ascending the throne of the most high ! The
442 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
^
sound of the Christian's hymn and the Christian's prayer
found an echo in the surrounding- woods, but no responsive
feeling in the bosom of their executioners. With gun and
spear, tomahawk and scalping-knife the work of death pro
gressed in these slaughter-houses until not a sigh or moan
was heard to proclaim 'the existence of human life within.
All, save two — two Indian boys — escaped, as if by a miracle,
to be witnesses in after times of the savage cruelty of the
white man toward their unfortunate race.
"Of the number thus butchered by those backwoods
men of Ohio between fifty and sixty were women and chil
dren — some of them little babes. No resistance was made;
one only attempted to escape. The Whites finished the tra
gedy by setting fire to the town, including the slaughter
houses wjth the bodies in them, all of which were consumed.
A detachment was also sent to the upper town, Shoenbrunn,
but the people having received information of what was
transpiring below, had deserted it."
Reader, what think you now of the justice in still call
ing the Indian an irreclaimable savage, when our motto in
dealing with the North American Indians from the alpha to
the omega has been — "Massacre and burn" until barbarity
could go no further?
I agree that in every instance pointed out, that I have ex
amined, the Indians imbibed their treachery from motives
of self-preservation against their skilled teachers in the art
of treachery and hypocrisy — to many of whom such arts are
intuitive. The Indian is a H'plomatist — as much so as the
white man — and his habits are formed from those of the
Whites with whom he had to deal and from whom he had to
defend himself. I have never known, in my personal experi
ence of seventy-five years, a single instance where kindness
failed to go straight home to the Indian's heart, or was not
fully reciprocated.
In 1780 Colonel George Clark erected Fort Jefferson on
the Mississippi River, in the territories of the Chickasaws,
a few miles below the mouth of the Ohio, and on his return
from Fort Jefferson he organized a company of one thousand
'men, in July, made a secret and rapid raid into the Miami
country, plundered and burned the Pequa villages on Mud
River and also the Chillicothe villages on the Little Miami,
murdering all the unfortunate Indians that fell into their
hands with fiendish delight — and returned in triumph with
out loss.
In the year following, 1781, the Chickasaws, justly indig
nant ai the erection of Fort Jefferson upon their soil, be
sieged it under the command of the great Colbert. As us-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 443
ual everywhere for every act of injustice heaped upon the
Indians, the Whites have been sustained ; therefore, General
Clark hastened from Kaskaskia with re-inforcements, upon
the arrival of which the Chickasaws drew off a little dis
tance. Soon after, however, Clark dismantled the fort, re
turned to his own, and the Chickasaws quietly returned to
their homes.
In the year 1799, when the remnant of the Moravians
were recalled by the United States, in the plenitude of .their
mercy which required just twenty-seven years to mature,
an old Indian, in company with a young white man by the
name of Carr, visited the desolate and melancholy scene, and
an excavation was pointed out by the old man, which had
formerly been a cellar, and in which were still some moul
dering bones of the victims, though 27 years had passed
since their tragic death, while the tears trickled down the
wrinkled face of that aged child of the Tuscarawas.
At the time of the diabolical massacre, but little more,
than one-third of the Moravian Indians were at their villages
on the Tuscarawas, the others having been induced by the
hostile Indians to move and settle at Sandusky in their vi
cinity. Soon after the return of Williamson's men what
may be called a second Moravian campaign was projected,
the object being first to complete the destruction of the
Christian Indians, at their new establishment on the San-
dusky river, murder-the Wyandott Indians on the same river,
then plunder and burn their villages. Having had a taste of
blood warm from the veins of Christian Indians, men,
women and children, like the tiger man-eater of the Bengal
jungles, it proved more palatable to their taste since there
was no impediment to obstruct a full display of their manhood
and heroic bravery in butchering and drinking the blood of
the Christian Indians, who stood as helpless before them as a
little girl of ten years in the spring of the Bengal man-eater,
they no\w determined not to spare the lives of any Indians
who might fall into their clutches, whether friend or foe,
old or young, male or female, all from the decrepit in years
to the babe'in its swaddling clothes. Such was the modus
operandi adopted by the professed civilized and Christian
race to gather the Native Americans into the folds of the re
ligion of the world's Great Redeemer, and practiced from
that day to this plainly shown in the butchery of the western
Indians by the two modern Caligulas, Sherman and Sheri
dan and their subordinates, by Mr. Manypenny in his "Our
Indian Wards."
On the 20th of May, 1792, four hundred and eighty hu
man monsters, impiously called men, collected from 'the-.
\
444 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
country of the upper Ohio at a point, then known as the
"Old Ming-o Towns," to carry out their diabolical schemes,
and there raised one of their number, William Crawford, to
the position of their commander.
Notwithstanding- the secrecy of their murderous
schemes, the Indian scouts — the best the world ever pro
duced — learned the place of their rendezvous in the Mingo
bottom, where they ascertained their number and destina
tion. Every encampment after their departure was visited
by those Indian vigilants, whose skill in obtaining* facts
from signs alone seemed superhuman. Every scrap of pa
per and chip that was found in the place of encampment
with marks made upon them were picked up and carried at
once to the Moravian Indians, who had fled from Shoenbrunn
at the time of the slaughter of their brethren and settled at
Sandusky; who, having been taught to read and write by
"their spiritual guides — the white missionaries — read the
writings upon the scraps of paper and chips: "No quarter
to any Indian — man, woman or child."
The march of the whites was directly through the
Moravian villages, the scenes of their former butchery. On
the 6th of June they reached the Moravian villages, on a
branch of the Sandusky river ; but, instead of finding- inno
cent and helpless Ind'ians to murder and plunder, they
.found only vestiges of desolation. A few huts scattered
here and there, alone remained to tell of their blighted hopes
and bitter chagrin, in being thwarted in their grand designs
of besieging, taking and destroying an imagined North
American Nineveh, Babylon and Jerusalem, and thus have
their names and heroic achievements engraved upon the
rolls of fame with a Cyaxares, a Cyrus and a Titus. Alas!
for human hopes! The scraps of paper and the chips injudi
ciously left at their encampments had warned their intended
victims, who had fled; and with them set the sun, whose
rays were to light up the pages of their imagined glory
through all future generations with such brilliancy that
one, though a fool, might run and read, nor err therein.
Could American ambition aspire to anything greater! It
seems not from the history of the past. For our foolish
boasting over the sacking of a few Indian villages and butch
ering the sleeping inhabitants, the accomplishment of wjiich
always eliciting the soul animating and flattering ejaculation:
•"Too much praise cannot be awarded the officers and sol
diers for their bravery and heroism displayed in the fearful
conflict." While our great generals enjoy in dreamy frenzy
their fancied flight to their roost upon the pinnacle of earthly
fame, there to revel in imagined glory, and feel themselves,
OF THE INDIANS. 445
as Cyrus, encompassing the walls of Ancient Babylon and
gazing with admiring and contemplative mind upon its lofty
battlements, as they listen to the noisy shouts of the rabble1
below, and the call of the sensational newspapers, "Sheridan
to the front! To arms! To arms! The Greek! The Greek! "
When rumor whispers on a cloudy day, "An Indian failed to
answer at roll call on such a reservation."
But what of Crawford and his band of murderers?
Maddened at their disappointment in not obtaining a few gal
lons of Indian blood to cool their raging thirst, they resolved
to proceed one dav longer on their hunt; and then if no In
dian villages with their unsuspecting inhabitants were found,
to retreat. But on the next day, about 2 o'clock, they found
the object of their -search, but not a helpless village of Chris
tian Indians in thoughtless security, but a well organized
body of fearless Indian warriors ready to face their ruffian
invaders in open battle. At once the conflict was opened^
and continued with unabated vigor until dark, each part^j
lying upon their arms during the night to prevent sur~,
prise. The next morning at a deliberation of officers,
Williamson, the leader at the massacre of the Gnadenbrutton
and Salem Indians, proposed to go with one hundred and
fifty volunteers to upper Sandusky, which proposition was
promptly rejected upon the grounds that their divided forces
would be attacked in detail and destroyed. The day, there
fore, was spent in burying' the dead and making prepara
tions for a night retreat; since, to fight wide awake Indians
was not in their vocabulary of warfare in seeking military
fame. But the Indians, suspecting their intentions, and de
siring to -give them a full and quenching draught of Indian
blood, renewed the attack about sunset with renewed vigor
and fearless resolutions from all sides except that toward
Sandusky. The white marauders unable to withstand the
urgent desires "to live, that they might fight on some other
day," which then seemed to overbalance the desires to fight
at, night live and wide awake Indians, began a retreat with
their thirst for Indian blood somewhat abated, since the
price of it had gone up to such an unexpected and extrava
gant degree that prudence forbade further indulgence unfei
they should return home and recuperate their now weakened
desires. But many, with the heroism displayed at Gnaden
brutton, believing the wide awake Indians would follow the
main body, broke off into small detached parties and hurried
in different directions toward their THEN much desire'd :
homes". All these the wide awake Indians pursued in equal'
detachments, overtook and. sent them to their long homes,
where they might quench tfteir thirst with something
446 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
- , ,"' . \
stronger and more enduring- than the blood of Christian
Indians.
Soon after the retreat had gotten under full headway,
Crawford, having- missed his son and^several other relatives,
halted and vainly searched the line as it passed along- for
the objects of his solicitation, and waited too long- in anxious
expectation of learning- something- concerning- them, for in
attempting- to overtake his retreating- army, he with one
Dr. Knig-ht and a few others, after the third day's ride was
captured by the victorious Indians. They were all taken to
an encampment in the vicinity, and next morning- their cap
tors, under the command of the Delaware chief, Pipe,
started with them for a Wyandott village, but slew all ex
cept Crawford and Knig-ht before reaching- it. When at the
village, Crawford recognized among; the Indians the re
nowned Shawnee chief, Wingenund, with whom he had long
Aeen acquainted and between whom a mutual friendship ex
isted. Crawford at once made an appeal to Wing-enund to
intercede in his behalf. But to his solicitations Wing-enund
calmly replied: "I am not unmindful of our former friend
ship; and cheerfully would I now assist you in your misfort
une, were you in any other place but this, and were you still
what I once thought you to be." To which the despairing-
Crawford replied: "I have been engaged only in honorable
warfare." Then what must be dishonorable warfare? But
to which reply, Wing-enund, with a significant look, re
sponded: "I mig-ht possibly have been able to save you had
you not joined Williamson in murdering the Moravian In
dians without discrimination of ag-e or sex knowing they
were innocent of all wrong." "Had I been with him I
would- not have permitted the cruel act," replied the
wretched Crawford. "That may be all true," replied the
chief; but Williamson went a second time and killed more of
the Christian Indians. ?' "But I went out and did all I could
to stop him," said Crawford. "That may also be true, but
you car/not make the Indians believe it; for, when you were
marching here, you turned aside with your soldiers and
went to the Moravian villages, but found them deserted.
Our scouts were watching you and saw you do this. Had
you been looking for warriors, you would not have gone
there, for you knew the Christian Indians are foolish and
will not fight. I shall ta|ve no pleasure in your death^
though you have forfeited your life. Had we also captured
Williamson, we might spare your life; but as we have
failed in that, you must take his place. I am unable to save
you."
Crawford still implored him to interfere in his behalf,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 447
but the chief assured him that it would be of no avail, and
at once turned away and left the hapless and now hopeless
captive to his fearful fate, which was witnessed by Knight,
who had also been condemned to a similar fate, bnt fortu
nately made his escape shortly after the execution of Craw
ford. All the prisoners captured in this marauding- cam
paign were slain, in retaliation for the butchery of the Del-
awares, then known as the Moravian Christians. Crawford's
son was executed at a Shawnee town.
The account given by Knight of the execution of Craw
ford need not be repeated here. All should denounce, with
-a united voice, executions by fire, no matter how great the
crime of the culprit. But let God, and not guilty man, be
the judge between the white executioners of the ninety-six
Christian Indians, guilty of no offense; therefore, the dupes
of the vilest treachery, and the Indian executioners of their
white prisoners of war, invaders of their country bearing
the banner with the inscription : "No quarter to any Indian
of any age or sex," and carrying death, destruction and de
vastation every where in their route. Though a howl of
indignation rent the air at the announcement of Crawford's
fearful death by Knight, but not a whimper at the brutal
execution of the ninety-six Moravian Indians. Such is the
justice the White Race has awarded the Red from the alpha
to the omega of their dealings with that unfortunate people.
But two years/previous to the invasion of Crawford and
his four hundred and eighty merciless vandals, thirteen hun
dred men — if men they may be called — made a raid from
Cincinnati, under the command of General Harmer, against
the Indian villages on the Maumee river. When within a
short distance, Colonel Hardiii was sent forward with six
hundred and fifty men to reconnoitre, who found the'villages
deserted. On the next day when the main body came up
the work of pillage, destruction and desolation was com
menced... The villages, some containing upwards of three
hundred houses, were plundered and burned, their fruit
trees cut down, and over twenty thousand bushels of corn
destroyed. Such was the work of those who really believed
themselves to be civilized, and the accepted followers of
Jesus Christ. Should the devil be discouraged!.
But while this vandalism was going on, Hardin was
again sent forward, but with only one hundred and fifty men,
to follow up a little trail, hoping it would lead to other vil
lages which might also add to their beastly propensities a
little more joy. But they had not proceeded many miles,
cogitating the emotions of heroic pride that must swell their
breasts to a danger of bursting, when, returned to their
448 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
. . t.i/ J'.H • '••:•'
homes, they should be encircled with wife and children, each
asking- innumerable questions — uPapa, did you kill v an In
dian? Papa, why didn't you bring1 me a little pap-poo-sy to
play with? Papa, wasn't you f raid?" This' was a poser.
But the wife came to the rescue — "No, my son. Papa
\vasn't fraid"; and the momentary cloud passed off, and
papa's features assumed again their wonted appearance of
heroism. But the pleasant reverie of future narrations o£
bloody strife mid scenes of carnage in burning, deserted
villag-es, cutting- down fruit trees and destroying corn, 'was
cut short by the reality in the shrill and defiant war-whoop
seconded by 'the united report of a volley of rifles in the
hands of a band of outraged, insulted and maddened In
dian warriors under the noted chief, Little Turtle, and
twenty-six of the white marauders kissed their mother
earth, while the remaining one hundred and fifty-four bade
Little Turtle and his band of patriots a hasty adieu without
even returning their morning salutation by the discharging
of a single gun.
As soon as the fugitives returned to the main body and
gave the information that live and wide awrake Indians were
at hand, it was suddenly ascertained that pressing business
at home required their attention, and a retreat at once be
gan. On the next morning, however, Colonel Hardin and
Major Willis returned, with a force of 340 militia and 60 reg
ulars, to the burnt villages, hoping to find that the old men,
women and children had returned to view the scene which
portrayed the destruction of their homes and their earthly
all, and thus would be afforded an opportunity of adding to
the glory of their precious barbarism, the butchery of their
contemplated victims without danger to themselves, and
thus add another wreath of unfading glory to the chapter of
their already attained heroism, and also one to be placed upon
the angelic brow of their Government, as an imperishable
trophy of its success in disseminating her so-called glorious
principles — "Liberty and equal rights to all mankind" — and
humane efforts to civilize and christainize the native Ameri
cans. As they approached the melancholy scene of smoking
ruins, a few forlorn hopes were seen running from the oppo
site end of that place of desolation, and who were at once
pursued, as the Indians desired, by the ^340 militia. When
the chase had drawn them to a proper distance, the live Lit
tle Turtle and his wide awake band of warriors charged the
regulars and, ere the militia could return, sent the last one
of them, with Major Willis, to where Indian lands excite
covetousness no more- The heroic militia returned near
the close of the fight, fired a few random shots as they hur-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 449'
riedly passed, and then, with renewed activity and increased
animation, sought the main body, leaving" the dead and
wounded regulars in the hands of the victorious chief and
his warriors.
The ferocious vandalism displayed by the wrhite intrud
ers and devastaters of their homes and country, aroused the
Indians to that degree of manly and vigorous efforts of self-
protection that they wrould have broken up the settlements
of the white intruders had it not been for the total destruc
tion of their provisions and homes just at the opening of
winter. .
In May, 179lf a force of 750 men from Kentucky, under
Charles Scott, crossed the Ohio river and plundered and
burned several Indian villages on the Wabash river, murder
ing thirty of the inhabitants, capturing fifty-eight, and re
turned home in three week's without loss, all of which was-
regarded only as a little freak of fun — a little pleasant rec
reation for the jolly boys.
The following August, a company of 550 similar "jolly
boys," under one^ James Wilkerson, left Fort Washington
to complete the work of destruction upon the Indians on the
Wabash river, which Scott and his gang had so successfully
begun. Wilkerson also was successful in burning many
towns, cutting down all their fields of corn, killing several,
and capturing thirty-four.
But while theseplunderers were committing their dep
redations upon the Wabash and its tributaries, the war
department of theUnited States was engaged in organizing
an army of three thousand men, by directions of congress,.
to invade the territories of the northwestern Indians, to be
placed under the command of Governor St. Clair. This
force encamped on the night of the 3d of November, 1791,
on a tributary of the Wabash river. On the following morn
ing, a little before sunrise, the bold and patriotic Indians
made a. vigorous attack upon the advanced guard, who were
encamped about a quarter of a mile in front of the main
body, which was encamped in two lines, with a space of a
hundred yards or more between. The guard at once gave
way, and in a wild frenzy of fright rushed headlong over the'
camp-fires and, camps of the first line, closefy pursued by~
the outraged Indians, who, however, were momentarily^
checked by the fire of the first line. At once they made a.
terrific charge upon that line, and almost simultaneously
upon the second line also, and the battle became general at
once. In a short time the heroic Indians had penetrated
into the camps, and though charge after charge was made
upon them, yet each was met with the bravest resistance.
..
... .--,. .;y.^.r;., .-.•-, il.
450 - HISTORY OF:. THE INDIANS.
.
Finally.a desperate cKargp was made by the whites' to regain
ad from which^the had been cut off.. /Tn'&twas suc-
.road from which^they
';/cessful, and then began the retreat which , soon terminated
}'*• in a reckless flight, which began about 9 in the morning- and
S>"-; continued to Fort Jefferson, twenty-nine miles from the field
ff|rJ:' °f battle, reaching- the Fort about sunset.
The Indian warriors — rheroes every one ~*df 'them- —
• were commanded by those consummate chiefs and warriors,
• Red Jacket, Little Turtle and Bukongahelas, and numbered
• about two; thousand. • The .government, lost 900 killed and
vHvounded, among wliom were forty-nine commissioned
officers. Red Jacket,,Little Turtle an& Bukongahelas had
only about/60 killed ; wounded unknown. vrN'
" Thus tb^ Indians were depredated upon by the various
;:: campaigns of marauding parties from every where," killing,
^j: destroying and laying waste thiir homes and country, which
'-aroused their pitriotism to th'at pitch of enthusiasm that
' caused them to fight with a desperation unsurpassed in the
annals of man. )
In Ap-ril, 1792, General. Anthony Wayne was appointed
;y : by^the general government to take command of the Nortli-
'C::- western Ar.my. . : /',''lv'
g| On the 5th of the following November a hundred men
£ f* from Kentucky, under Adair as captain, made a raid across
the Ohio River into the Indians' country, but the indefatiga-
'*\>it Little Turtle and his band of heroes met him arid, in a
severe $>bt:,' defeated him, with heavy loss, and drove him
'-back to bi^ o\vn.
In the Spring- of 1793, during i!i6 arrangements that
were being ma;ie lor Wayne's campaign, Congress sent com
missioners to' the Northwest Indians to negotiate a treaty
on the basis of the treaty made at Fort Harmer in 1789.
TMs treaty-niaking with the Northwest Indians was not a
^ step with^thc view of civilizing tli3 Indians and bringing
them under the benign influences of Christianity, nor was
^v the or<-aniz'Uija of Wayne's army for the purpose of pro^-
tectin^them from the raids of the marauding companies, en
W^ white "marauders, robbers and thieves, \vho invaded taeir
' r country whenever they desired; but for the accomplish merit
of a scheme for robbing the helpless Indians of their coun
try arid liomes. '<; ',
The commissioners called a council of tap Indians to be
"held at the mouth of the Musldn-urn river. Now, it is a.
known fact, that the. Congress of the United States never
did assemble anv tribe or tribes of Indians upon the North
American continent frAm 1776 'to the present time, for the
humane purpose of consulting with them upon measures
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 451
relating* to their civilization and Christianity. Never. But
to rob and swindle them out of their country was the only
motive for a council, and I challenge , successful contradic
tion. About twenty Indians, from about the same number
of tribes, responded to the commissioners' call, and as
sembled at the designated place. They justly denied the
validity of the treaty made in 1789, at Fort Harmer, as it
had only been made by representatives of six of the tribes,
who had no power or right to cede the territories of the
other tribes, and Congress knew it, as well as the Indians.
But .that infamous game of secretly making a sham pur
chase of lands from a tribe or two, and then extend the claim
over every tribe 'whose lands were coveted, and then back
the diabolical proceedings by seizing it vi ET ARMIS,X then
burning their homes, cutting down their orchards, destroy
ing their every means of support, and murdering them in
cold blood, all, without distinction of age or sex, because
they dared to raise a hand in self-defense, has been our plan,
and only plan, of dealing writh the North American Indians
from fijrst to last. §
The deputation of Indians mentioned above justly insis
ted on the treaty of Fort Stanwix, made in 1767, which es
tablished the Ohio River as the boundary; and boldly affirm
ed that the Whites must conform to that treaty, as they had
made no- other with them; and move from their territories
west of the Ohio River, if they desired peace with the In
dians. But the commissioners still pointed to the two trea-
tiQS of 1784 and 1789, in which they affirmed the United
States had bought large bodies of land which they had de
termined to hold. How clearly this old precedent, handed
down from that day to this, was illustrated in the securing
of the Oklahoma Territory, and also that from the Sioux,
in which fraud, falsehood, hypocrisy and rascality are the
only characteristics that are visible in the whole?
But the commissioners, finding the Indians immovable
and strenuously appeali-ng to the treaty of 1768, and know
ing- that they had truth, justice and honor on their side, and
-judging that noble race of the long ago, who then were free,
pure and even unstained by the vices of the White Race,
whose very breath seemed pollution to them by the fallacy of
their, own polluted hearts, offered pecuniary inducements to
them to confirm the treaty, then endeavoring to be made
with them, the vast tracts of land in the Ohio country which
were claimed by the treaty of Fort Harmer in 1789, made
with six little tribes alone. If that treaty was just and valid,
what necessity was there in calling a council of those Indians
to make another treaty in regard to those identical lands?
452 HISTORY OF TH]£ INDIANS,
And why did Congress instruct those commissioners, if ca
jolery and threats would not avail, to resort to their last ar
gument — bribery.
But those ancient Indian patriots could not be bribed.
It would have been as easy for those commissioners to have,
turned the sun from its course as those twenty native Amer
ican chiefs of a century ago from the paths of honor. Nor
would they agree to any other boundary line than the Ohio
River, proposed by the Whites, accepted by the Indians and
established by both in the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768.
The council adjourned and the bull dogs of war were untied
and turned loose upon the Indians, Why? 'Because they re
fused to sell their country. That's all. Congress knew
they would not give up their country by the bog-us treaty of
1789; and it knew that it had no more just claims to those
vast tracts of land than it did to the throne of Queen Vic
toria. But the United States had the power, but not the
honor, therefore Ahab took the land.
Wayne at once took up the line of march for the Indian
territories in Ohio. On his march, he built a fort where
Greenville, Ohio, is now situated. In October 1793, the
seemingly indomitable Little Turtle and his warriors made
an attack upon Lieutenant Lowry, who, with ninety men,
was conveying supplies for the army, and killed Lowry
and fourteen of his men, and captured ninety horses.
Wayne remained at the newly erected, fort until the
spring of 1794 making every preparation for a successful ex
terminating* campaign against the Indians, who were con
centrating their strength upon the Maumee -river, and also
making every preparation that their meag-er means would
admit to repel their plundering invaders. On the 27th . of
July, Wayne, with an army of 4000 men, started upon his
depredatory and exterminating work upon the Indians.
August 4th, found him on the St. Mary's river, 47 miles,
from the fort. There he erected another fort and
named it Fort Adams, garrisoning it with one hun
dred men. He again resumed his march, and, ,011
the 8th of August encamped 103 miles from his first fort.
On the morning of the 20th he came to the encampment of
the Indians on the bank of the Maumee river, and the battle
opened, which resulted in the defeat of the Indians, though
they foug-ht with heroic bravery, and, says Wayne in his re
port of the battle "exposed their persons in an unusual de
gree, and seemed determined to conquer or perish."
Wayne remained three days after the battle, burning their
houses, destroying1 their cornfields and everything that
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.' 453
"*' * T'-J'-.j fc-%'_ji •v":v ' ' , •'*+*> -3 •' •:•'"•. / w- " .r .,%,'. . ' •
-.-'. '.• :. Vff- J: •<•< . •;' 0''.^'- x" .-V •' •: . -:' &' •. • ' " •"••' ''oT'X'1
could be destroyed, above and below for. fifty miles on each
side of the Maumee river.
This barbarous destruction of their villages and vast
cornfields that spread for fifty and sixty miles along the
banks of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers, reduced the In
dians to such' privations and sufferings, that they were
forced to sue for peace; and on the 3rd of August, 1795,
Wayne concluded a treaty of peace with the northwest
tribes, in which the Indians were forced to make concessions ••*
of large tracts of land, as usual in all such cases, for fight
ing ^for liberty and their native land.
But here, as in the middle iwatches of the night, I will
close this cursory review of the fearful sufferings and cruel
destruction of that portion of the human family, who were
seldom equalled and never surpassed in the annals of the
world for patient endurance and patriotic heroism when bat
tling for their homes and native land against the iron heel
of tyranny, and who formerly possessed and inhabited the
northern and western part of this continent as a free and
happy people; then fell into the hands of France, and sub
sequently into those of England, 'to be finally handed over
to the United States as old and useless goods and chattels.
And though I have but exhibited the mere skeleton of their
wrongs and woes inflicted by the hands of white civilization j£
and professed Christianity, yet I will return to my subject,
the Chickasaws, from which I have so long and far wan
dered ; not to repose in hope of a fairer morn in tracing the
line of their history, sin^e there can be no hope expected in
this age abounding, as all heretofore have, more with vice
than with virtue.
While the English east of the Alleghany mountains were
adopting active, but secret measures, to stop the progress
of French colonization on the banks of the Mississippi river,-
their traders were meeting the French traders every where
among the southern Indians, and their mutual animosity and
competition causing frequent quarrels, oft terminating in
collisions, in which the unfortunate Indians always became
involved on the one or the other side. But the French, at an ^#<
early day had excited the animosity of the Chickasaws by
failing to protect a band of\their warriors who had solicited - •: :•
an es.cort from Mobile to their homes through the Chocta^^/^
Nation, with , whom they were then at war; but in passing;'^>|:;
through the Choctaw Nation, though under a French escort, /5[;1;
they were slain to a man. by the Choctaws. The. Chickasaws, ^5^
believing it was done through the connivance of the French,
never forgave them; and in all the quarrels between the'
French p.hd English traders they took^sides with the latter <
' '
/ : '<
.
V454 " HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.' :
/and ".finally became the firm and undeviating friends, 'and
allies of the' English, and the most bitter" enemies. of.*the
French, giving- them more trouble than all the other so.uthern
tribes, and whom they regarded as the most dreaded enemies
among all the Indians in the Mississippi valley.'
Their territory lay exactly between the French settle
ments in Louisiana and Illinois^and thus made all intercourse
extremely dangerousl The high point upon .which,Mem-
phis, 'Tennessee, is located, then known as the Chickasaw
• Bluffs, was a favorite spot selected by the shrewd and wily
Chickasaw warriors from which to make their attacks upon
the French boats ascending and descending the river. Bien-
ville, then governor and commander of the French colonies
I in the Mississippi valley, adopted every possible method to
retaliate upon that brave Nation, and too often succeeded in
arraigning the Choctaws, his allies, against the Chickasaws
—much to his great joy and satisfaction, but greatly to the
injury of the two injudicious and misguided tribes. In 1719
he succeeded in influencing the Choctaws to declare war
against them, and in which they, by the assistance of Bien-
ville in the way of arms and ammunition, defeated the Chicka
saws in several hard contested battles, and so weakened
them that they for awhile ceased their attacks upon the
French, though retaining, to the fullest extent, their hatred
and animosity toward them. Bienville, in one of his Betters
regarding this fratricidal war he had so effectually brought
about between those two kindred and warlike Nations, ex-
ultingly said: "The Choctaws, whom I have set in motion
against the Chickasaws, have destroyed entirely three vil
lages of this ferocious Nation, which disturbed our com
merce on the river. They have raised about four hundre.d
scalps, and made one hundred' prisoners. Considering this
state of things, it is a most important advantage which we
-•have obtained, the more so, that it has not cost one cr p of
; French blood, "through 'the care I took of opposing tuosc
barbarians to one another. Their self-destruction operated
1 in this manner is the sole efficacious means of insuring tran-
quility to the colony."'
0 It now seems almost incredible that such ,1 crazed infat
uation should-possess the Choctaws a's to so utterly blind them
from comprehending the dark designs of Bienville when ar
raigning them against their own race, and especially against
their kindred Chickasaw brethren.
In July 1720, 'the English traders among the Cliick-
asaws .involved 'them in turn in a war with 'the
French, by influencing (hem to kill Serignev, a: 'French
officer, whom Bienville had sent amoncr ' them '.to in-
HISTORY [OF, THE INDIANS. 4£5*
duce them to ..withdraw from the Erglish and give;
their trade to the French. Thus did the English,
and French use th'e inconsiderate and misguided Native
Americans to advance their own interests, and sacrifice them
upon the altar of their avarice in settling- their disputes and
quarrels. Unfortunate race! Too credulous that petiidy
could not .dwell in JLhe hearts of such professed white
friends!
In 1731, after the destruction of the Natchez as a Nation,
a few of whom had fled to the brave and generous Chicka-
saws for protection, Governor -Perier, who had been ap
pointed commander of the colony in the place of Bienville,
then deposed and recalled to France, sent orders to the s
Chickasaws to drive the Natchez fugitives out of their terrl-
tories, if they did not wish to secure his animosity; to this
insolent cotnmand, they heroica ly replied: ''We neither
respect \Tou as a friend, nor fea^ y m as an enemy. We
have extended the hand of friencohip and safety to the
unfortunate Natchez, and how to protect them." This
heroic but defiant message caused the conceited little French
governor to foam with rage; and he at once resolved upon
immediate war upon "those insolent savages" — but a Na
tion of heroes, and, as an introductory to his designs,
adopted measures without delay to ajain array the C*hoctaws
in hostilities against them, but evidcntl\vnot without just ap
prehensions of success; for ia a letter written "at this time
to his government by Beauchamp, the commander at Mo
bile, he said: "The Choctaws are not friendly .disposed to
wards us, which is greatly to be regretted; lor should this
tribe declare against us, we should be compelled to abandon
the colony. The Natchez war principally endangered the /•
traders on the Mississippi river, but a Ghickasiiw \va.r
would cause apprehension throughout the whole colony.-
They have already sent -three emissaries to seek the al- ;
liance'of the Illinois Indians against us, who, however' fell-
into our. hands, and Governor Pcrier intends ordering thcrn-
burnt." -
- Such rough measures and cruel punishment inflicted
upon the Indians, without any just cau^e whatsoever, froiru
that day to this, by those who professed and taught the hu
mane and pacific principles of Christianity, drove them to
justly abhor the- white race, and to justly retaliate u^
them sixty fold, if justice c>an be found in retaliation a
But Perier wasjlisappohited,in carrying out his' warlike
designs .against the .Chkkis.aws* and thus avenging the
imagined insult Coffered to the governor of an obscure littleX-
.?:&^-^^^3&K ' k^^.-J
...
456 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
French Colony somewhere in the wilds of America; for in
1733, Bienville 'after an absence of eight years, was rein
stated as governor in the place of Perier. It was at this
lime the king of France fully determined tq firmly establish
his supreme authority throughout the entire valley of the
Mississippi, then called Louisiana. But that little, yet
seemingly indomitable, Chickasaw Nation, stood in the path,
•as did the Iroquois years before at the Great Lakes of the
North; and though the French openly derided the Chicka
saws, yet they secretly -dreaded them, and not without just
•cause. It was they, who had influenced and encouraged the
Natchez to attack and destroy the French at Fort Rosalie,
November 28th, 1729, which however, ultimately resulted in
the overthrow and annihilation of the unfortunate Natchez
themselves. It was they- who had successfully debarred all
communication between the French colonies at Kaskaskia and
New Orleans, by sustaining their independence, tnus weak
ening the French upon the continent by a division of their
possessions; while the English traders from Virginia and
the Carolinas— the uncompromising rivals and inveterate
enemies of the French in securing a foot-hold by which to
m establish their permanency upon the territories of the
southern Indians — were welcomed by the Chickasaws in all
their towns and villages and throughout their entire terri
tory. Therefore to speedily secure and successfully retain
the eastern valley of the Mississippi for the French, it was
necessary to first overthrow the Chickasaws; and, either by
titter annihilation or reducing them to abject subjection,
destroy the power of that defiant and seemingly unconquer
able people. ''They must be wiped out" was the fiat of the
French, and thus were they made an object for extermina
tion by as formidable combination of enemies as ever sought
the destruction of a single Nation; yet, over that seemingly
irresistible combination, as will be fully shown, they suc
cessfully and gloriously triumphed, after a long and fearful
struggle of eighteen consecutive years, alone and unaided
except by a few Natchez refugees.
After Bienville was reinstated, he at once resolved to
put into execution the hostile measures of Perier against
the Chickasaws, and spent the whole year (1734) in futile at
tempts to induce the Choctaws to make war upon that still
'resolute and defiant people; but at this juncture of affairs, a
Choctaw chief by the name of Shulush Humma (shoes red;
appeared upon the stage amid those vacillating scenes of
strife and carnage, who proved to be as shrewd a diploma
tist as he was a brave and consummate warrior; and well un
derstood how to shuffle his cards to the best advantage, as
/
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS 457
he oscillated between the assumed humble solicitations of
the English and the French for the favor of his coveted al
liance, with *a skill that would have done credit to, and elic-
fed the admiration and praise of the greatest statesmen of
civilized Nations. But the French proved unsuccessful; for
Bienville induced Shulush Humma to undertake a war expe
dition with a thousand warriors against the' Chickasa\vs,
with whom Bienville also sent Lesuer, a French officer, with
thirty soldiers. But the ever vigilant Chickasaws had
learned of the whole proceeding's, and at once sent a dele
gation under a "white flag- to meet them and'buy them off
with English goods of which they had a large amount; in
this they happily succeeded, and the war party returned
home, without attempting any further demonstrations of
hostilities, except Shulush Humma, who, for no other ap
parent reason than that of shame to return to Bienville with
out having made some demonstration, attacked a little
Chickasaw village with a few of his warriors as he was on
his way home; but was at once repulsed with a loss of four
of the attacking party.
Bienville could scarcely restrain his feelings of bitter
disappointment at the unexpected turn of affairs; and
though greatly disconcerted, he appeared indifferent so far
as to renew the former treaties of alliance with the Choc-
taws, as he well knew .the salvation of the French colony de
pended wholly upon the friendship and the aid of that then
powerful tribe of skillful and fearless warriors. But dur
ing the interval of those protracted negotiations, the Choc-
taws, through some unknown cause, became divided into two
parties, or factions, one in favor of the English, the other
of the French, both of whom had been .making, for many
years, the most indefatigable efforts to secure to their re
spective and exclusive interests that, then, justly dreaded
Nation of Indian warriors.
But the ever watchful Chickasaws, aided- alone by the
avenging Natchez refugees, were not idle during- the slow
and dubious negotiations of the French with the Choctaws
to secure and retain their alliance, but boldly attacked the
French whenever and wherever an opportunity presented
itself; and especially the Natchez, enraged with a burning
sense of their long series of wrongs, outages and misfort
unes at the hands of the French, .sought everywhere to
avenge their nation's destruction, and deeply felt:
1 • .
"What though the fields be lost
All is not lost— the unconquerable will
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield,
And \vhat is else not to be overcome."
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. . ' ,--^".
• ,\:«^.. t •>,'v-'t " •',..''• •**'*}?* I "V V'"--? •'if~<*"- ^: •'•*•?'< ••*•'•'• *•- ; /v'1' '' -' ••• ••• ' ' :*;' •* '*•''• y-*Y v '' " "''•
->•-. '-M But the Choctaws evidently cherished a desire for pca"cc>r
for having captured three Frenchmen, an'officer ifatned '•Di^.^.
Cader, a sergeant, and a private soldier, they requested^;
DuCader to write to Bienville and inform him that they de->y
sired peace; and'as a manifestation of their sincerity, they
made the soldier the bearer of the" letter to Bienville, re-,
questing him to also confirm the statements set _ forth
therein. The soldier arrived safely in New Orleans, and
delivered the letter to Bienville, informing him also of the de*".
sires of the ChiCkasaws. But Bienville at once wrote baclv <
sto DuCader, that he would not make peace with the Chicka
saws; nor would he sacrifice the interests of the French Na
tion to the safety of two men; therefore he and the sergeant
must make the best of their misfortune by escaping, other
wise suffer the consequences. 'DuCader and- the sergeant,,
under the disguise of securing peace, did eventually outwit
the Chickasaws and made their escape, 'returning safely to v
New Orleans.
It was now plainly evident that Bienville had determined
not to accept any terms of peace with the. Chickasaws, but
had fully resolved to prosecute the war of extermination
which he had inaugurated .against them, until that brave
little Nation of patriotic heroes was totally and forever blot
ted out. A resolution afterwards adopted by the English,
the successors of the French, against all Indians; and when
they, in turn, handed over the sceptre of power on the Nofotli
American continent, Canada excepted, to the United States*
they also bequeathed to them, as a sacred legacy, the .in
junction, "Extermination of the North American Indians";
and how faithfully thev have persisted to the accomplish
ment of that desired objejt, with unwavering diligence and
unfaltering resolution, unsurpassed in the annals of the
world, the feeble little remnant of that once free and happy
people still left sufficiently testify.
..<• Bienville immediately wrote to the French Minister of
Marine earnestly asking for four additional . companies of
,'troops to be added to his forces, then amounting to .only two
'.hundred men; and with which he did not feel justified in
risking the "glory and. honor of the French arms" in a battle
with the Chick;isaw*^*'who could call into the field four
hundred and fiftv warriors." His appeal was acknowledged
by the arrival, soon after, of mori' troops; and Bienville,
without further delav. commenced his .preparations for an
exterminating1 expedition against the still resolute and de
fiant . Chickasaws. with an avowed determination to1 wipe
them out d's a Nation and take possession .of their territory.
Elated with the flattering prospect of the complete success
£££>£: . '•; ' ,' :/::: , '-*;{• •••: \ , ' -^ • ! ::>-'\ / :-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 459
of his plans, he organized two armies, one in Mobile, then in '&£
the Choctaw Nation; the other in Illinois; the former to be^r
commanded by himself, the bitter by D'Artaguette, then
governor of the Illinois district. The two- were t6 forma,
junction by the 31st of March, 1736, in the Chickasaw Terr,-:V
ritory at the village, where, 196 years before, DcSoto had-""
wintered, and had received a just rebuke to his follv in re-'
garding that people to be a race of "savsge- cowards.','
Bienville had instructed D'Artaguette to meet him with .a'll^S
the French troops he could possibly collect, and also with as •;
many warriors of his Indian allies as he could get. This in-^
vasion, with the avowed purpose of exterminating the Chick-
asaws was planned and undertaken by the direction of theff
French government, "whose solicitude was anxiously turned -;
to it with high anticipations of a successful result."
But, as precursive of failure, Bienville \vas unable to
leave Mobile with his army until th£ 4th of April; and slowly;*. /
ascending* the devious windings of the Tombigbee river, the-1 |
troops reached Fort Tombigbee on the 23i;d, which had been;'
'built 250 miles above Mobile on the western bank of the,
river by a party sent' forward for that purpose.'*"1 'At thisi;
fort Bienville secured the aid of 600 Choctaw warriors (his
old friends and allies) by presents and promised rewards*-^
for each and every Chickasaw s:alp, which increased his
force to' twelve hundred men. Thus prepared to wreak hisj|
long cherished vengeance, Bienville again began his tedious
way up the windings of that crooked stream to a point then%S£.
called "Tunmuntucche (Where the bow was strung)" — cor-"%<
ruption of the Choctaw word Tuniuhushi, signifying ^village •';
— and afterwards known as Cotton Gin Port, twenty-one-*
miles southeast of the famous groat village of the Chicka^!^!:
saws then called Chikasahha, but afterwards the "Chickasaw
Old Fields," which he reached on the 22nd of May, and^fer-
of May, with sanguine expectations of soon "honoring t
.French arms" by successfully defeating and exterminating1^
that little Nation of heroic patriots,. Bienville, leaving" a- A
strong guard to protect his boats; took up his -line of march -^
toward Chikasahha, and arrived within three miles pf it the;i-
same day, and there encamped for the- night, during- Avhicli $
the Choctaw scouts returned, but without having Ascertained
anything- concerning* D'Artaguette. Bienville at once ^des~%
pairing of all hopes of D'Artaguette's co-operation, resolved- ,
to risk an^attick alone, being numerically as three to^ one iof -.''
,the' Chickasaws; therefore, before daylight on the morning
': r.\\
•4-V . • -v'x V ' g£fe
.£*" '• *\^J3$
460 v HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. , ),'.
I
of the 26th, he stealthily marched upon what he expected to
' ;find a village of unsuspecting and sleeping inhabitants; a
plan so judiciously adopted and successfully executed by the
modern Sherman and Sheridan style of "military heroes"
whose military fame rested alone upon their skill in pounc
ing upon sleeping Indians and butchering them regardless
• of age or sex.
But Bienville's disappointment in not finding D'Ar-
taguette in waiting was only surpassed by finding the ever
. vigilant Chickasaw warriors, who had kept themselves well
^•posted in all his. imagined secret movements, calmly waiting
for him, fully prepared and ready to extend to him the
/•hearty, lively and entertaining reception due him as the rep
resentative of the "honor of the French arms" (upon whose
•escutcheon they read "Extermination, root and branch, to
'all Chickasaws") from behind the strong fortifications with
which they had encircled their ancient and honored city over
which the British flag also waved in flaunting1 defiance, w hile
here and there within .the fortifications were seen "a few
prodigal sons of Old England, as they, like spectres, flitted
with hurried steps from side to side.
The Chickasaws had protected their favorite city with
five forts, each well provided with loop-holos; also a larger
•one constructed of logs placed upright and firmly in the
ground in near and convenient proximity to the five smaller
parts, and in addition to this the}* had strongly fortified
houses. During the first day Bienville made two unsuccess
ful efforts to storm this Chickasaw log and dirt citadel, but
was quicklv driven back, with great loss; for iipon both
charges the innumerable loop-holes that studded the forti
fications seemed a zone of lire and a hail-storm of leaden
bullets swept the ranks of the besiegers. For three succes
sive days did the French attempt to scale the log and "dirt
walls of that little fort, but to meet with defeat, for the
Chickasaw warriors met them at every point and heroically
disputed every inch of ground. Thus for three days jn
seemingly "doubtful scale the battle hung"; each charge
meeting with repulse, and forcing the assailants back be-
j-ond the reach of the rifles whose messengers of death
were directed by the keen eyes and steady nerves of as brave
and resolute patriots as ever defended home and native
land from the usurping footsteps of tyranny and oppression.
It is stated, the French soldiers had provided them selves
with wooden breast-plates as a protection from the Chicka
saw arrows, which it was believed would be the only wea pon
with which they would have to contend. No wonder th eir
astonishment was great, when, instead of a shower of ar-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 461
rows to rebound from their breast-plates, a hailstorm of
leaden bullets greeted them, against which their wooden
shields were as gossamer.
But the six hundred Choctaw warriors regarding the
French as nothing- short of idiots to thus charge upon and
shoot at logs instead of a visible enemy, remained at a com
mendable distance during the three days fight, calmly con
templating and discussing the apparent folly and
seeming indiscretion 'of the French; and easily discerning
the inevitable result of such a mode of proceeding, they at
once bade the French and Chickasaws an informal adieu,
and sought their distant homes by devious ways and means
known to themselves alone. The morning of the 29th of
May, 1735, found Bienville badly whipped and in inglorious
retreat with his army for his boats, vigorously pursued by
the victorious and exulting Chickasaws, who followed closely
upon the heels of the retreating and disorganized soldiers,
pouring into their unpadded backs volley after volley of
leaden messengers of death; and thus terminated Bienville's
exterminating invasion of the Chickasaw country, a disas
trous defeat with the loss of many men killed, wounded and
captured.
On May 30th, Bienville, throwing his few pieces of light
artillery into the river, hastily embarked with his army, and
greatly humilated and despondent in regard to the "honor
of the French arms" entrusted to his care, paddled down the
river, leaving the brave Chickasaws in quiet possession of
their homes and country, and, on the last of June, landed his
crest-fallen troops on the banks of the Bayou St. John.
Thus was Bienville justly chastised, under a just provi
dence, by the indomitable Chickasaws with a force less than
one-half of their assailants fully confident of success yet de
testable in the avowed use of their anticipated victory.
Truly, if ever gallant defense of country and homes merited
the admiration and applause of mankind, those ancient
Chickasaws did.
The cannon thrown into the river were found in its bed
near Cotton Gin Port, during a low stage of the water, by
the early settlers of the state of Mississippi, and were be
lieved by the uninformed and credulous, to have belonged to
DeSoto, and thus marked the spot where he crossed the
Tombigbee river in his memorable raid through the Chicka
saw territories^ in 1740 and 1741.
But what of D'Artaguette and his invading army from
the Illinois district? Alas! Bienville learned the sad intelli
gence after he returned to New Orleans that D'Artaguette
had arrived in the Chickasaw territory according to the time
,.462 ^/HISTORY^ OF •'-'THE,' INDIANS.
Designated, hence many days in the advance of him, and
-when *he had advanced close . to jChikasabha he also, as
Bienville afterwards did, sent out Indian scouts to obtain tid-
• irigs of him rwh7f\soon returned without gaining any infor-
-•- Nation. But the next day a courier brought a letter to D'
Artaguette informing him that JBienville would * not . be able
•to reach Chikasahha before the first of May, and also instruc
ted him to govern his movements in accordance thereto,
^ upon which D'Artaguette immediately ca'tled a council of his
- -officers and Indian chiefs who at once, and -unanimously, ad-
Wised an immediate attack; to which D'Artaguette yielded,
:and forthwith marched, on with-his army numbering 130
.'French soldiers and 3t>0 Indian warriors, and made a bold
stand fierce attack upon Chick^sahha. But equal was their
•'astonishment, with that of Bienville afterwards, when 500
Chickasaw warriors and 30 Englishmen suddenly made a
furious charge upon them from behind a hill, near the mouth
of a creek called Nita Bok (Bear Creek) and with such fear
less impetuosity accompanied with the terrible Chickasaw
hoyopatassuha (war-wjoop) that the Indian allies lied pro
miscuously in wild dismay, though the French soldiers
stood their ground and bravely fought until forty-five of their
number were killed, then began a slow and orderly retreat,
>vhich was soon discovered by the Chickasavvs who, with an
exultant war-whoop, made a fearless charge upon them
which at once destroyed all order among the soldiers and
caused them to fly panic-stricken, terminating in a complete
and disastrous rout. Shouting their wild and exulting war-
cry, the victorious Chickasavvs pursued the frantic fugitives,
killing fifty and wounding1 many others. At this juncture
the hand of Providence seeme-1 to be stretched out in behalf
.of the French fugitives; for a furious storm suddenly arose
and ra'jed with su:li terrific fury that further pursuit was
stopped, or scarcely one would have survived to narrate the
story ofXthcir utfcer destruction. The victory of the Chica-
asaws was complete, and the booty secured in the camp out
fit of the 'French wis highly prized, ^especially the guns and
ammunition v/bic".i amounted to 450 pounds of powder and
12,000 bullets, whic'.i they soon after brought into re
quisition in clef eati n-r Bienville. Also a large amount of pro-
visionsjwore taken and many horses captured. But D'Arta
guette was not as fortunate as Bienville. lie and Vincennes,
the second in command, and a Jesuit priest were taken pris
oners and all were' burned at the stake according to the
North American Indian mode of revenge, and also in strict
"accordance with the example set before them in 1731 by
Governor Perier, who had burned the three Chickasaw war-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 463
riors sent by their Nation to seek the alliance of the Illinois
Indians, but unfortunately fell into his hands while on their
mission. If the seeking- of aid from others merited death
at the stake, how much more does seeking- the destruction
of an entire Nation merit a similar fate. The Chickasaws,
but executed the old primitive law — ''An eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth" — in perfect harmony with their white
foes when killing Indians.
A youth sixteen years of age, it is stated, led the sur
vivors of that unfortunate battle safely back from their dis
astrous defeat to their homes in Illinois; and thus terminated
the expedition of D'Artaguette to assist Bienville in the utter
extermination of the Chickasaws. Many .prisoners were
also taken by the Chickasaws in the defeat and retreat of
Bienville to his boats, all of whom perished at the stake. Dur
ing- the fearful trag-edy, a Jesuit Priest, also a prisoner, pro
posed to his fellow prisoners, as they waited their inevitable
• doom, that they all march tog-ether into the fire and thus ex
hibit to the Choctaws how Frenchmen could die; to which all
consented, provided he would lead the way. . Then com
mending- their souls to God, they together chanted the
miserere as the sig-nal for starting", and all calmly and reso
lutely marched up and threw themselves into the flames and
perished tog-ether. The Chickasaws were so astonished at
this unexpected movement that they looked on the scene in
silence and made no opposition whatever; and such was the
finale of Bienville 's hopes to destroy the peace-seeking
Chickasaws root and branch. Had he been taken prisoner
by the Chickasaws and suffered death at the stake, instead
of his soldiers, even mercy might have exclaimed: "He
merited his fate." But such personages, who will sacrifice
the lives of thousands of their own people to gratify a re
vengeful spirit in seeking the deestruction of the objects of
their hate, are always endowed with that character of
bravery and great presence of mind that enables them to
bring- "self" salely out of all danger, no matter how great,
sufficient evidence of the advantage possessed over the com
mon soldier in having- a military education which so plainly
inculcates the art of keeping1 before in all retreats from a
pursuing- enemy.
Years afterward, the old Chickasaws oft rehearsed to
the missionaries the traditional account of their two great
victories over the French, and proudly displayed to their
view, as trophies, many relics of the two "battles which com
memorated the defeat of D'Artaguette and Bienville.
There is a little incident connected with the battle in
which D'Artaguette and- his army were destroyed that mer-
\
464 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
*
its a place in memory, while bordering- on the romantic, yet
tinged with melancholy and sadness. In the pursuit of the
fugitives of D'Artaguette's routed and fleeing- army a young
Chickasaw warrior named Hlikukhlo hosh (the humming
bird) captured a little French girl 5 years of age, named
Nancy. The chivalric young warrior spared the child, and,
captivated by her wonderful beauty, there and then resolved,
in the coming future, to make the pale-face maiden his wife.
In accordance therewith The Humming Bird watched over
his little captive protege and prospective wife from innocent
childhood to beautiful womanhood with zealous care, having
her trained and educated in strict accordance with the most
approved Chickasaw style of etiquette, while he'ever mani
fested to her a proper reserve, attended with the greatest
respect and devotion as she grew to womanhood. In the
course of years his unwearied and undeviating devotion was
reciprocated by French Nancy, as she was called, which be^
ing discovered by her attentive guardian and faithful lover,
he at a proper time solicited the hand of his fair protege in
marriage, and was accepted. Indue time the nuptial cere
mony was performed in accordance to Chickasaw custom
and usages, while the flowers and birds of the forest con
tributed their incense and music, and the Chickasaw maid- 1
ens envied the bliss and good fortune of the strange but
beautiful flower that had budded and bloomed as an exotic
among them. French Nancy raised a family and lived to a
great age. Rev. T. C. Stuart, the missionary, stated he saw
her and made her acquaintance in 1821, at which time she
was 91 ye^ars of age, according to the year she was captured
(1735) by Hlikukhlo, at the age she was said to be at the time
of her captivity. She remembered some of the circum
stances of her capture and seemed to delight in narrating
them. She still retained her European features, said Rev.
T. C. Stuart, but in every other respect was Chickasaw.
She was respected, honored and loved by the entire Chicka
saw Nation, and regarded as a living monument of their
victory over their inveterate enemies, the French. She died
and was buried at Monroe, the old missionary station.
Through the instigation of The French the war was
continued between the seemingly infatuated and blinded
Choctaws and Chickasaws during the entire year 1737, yet
without any perceptibly advantageous results to either. A
long and bitter experience seemed wholly inadequate to teach
them the selfish designs of the French. No one can believe
the friendship of the French for the Choctaws was unas-
sumed. They were unmerciful tyrants by whatever stand
ard one may choose to measure them, and without a redeem-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 465
ing- quality as far as their dealings with the North American
Indians go to prove; and their desire for the good of that
race of people utterly out of the question; and with equal
truth may the same be affirmed of the entire White Race,
whose universal opinion was just wise enough to measure the
Red Race by the standard found in their own souls; there
fore the North American Indians were called savages, and
have been so denominated to this day, and are now made the
foundation of innumerable and ridiculous myths. But Bien-
ville, still chafing like an enraged bear, under the mortifica
tion of his defeat by the brave and patriotic Chickasaws,
which but increased his desire and determination to destroy
them and blot out their very name, devoted the year 1739 to
preparation for another exterminating invasion into the
country of that seemingly indomitable people; and, as an in
troductory step to the more successful accomplishment and
full realization of his designs, he sent. an embassy, in March
1739, to the Choctaws to conciliate their good will a'nd obtain
their aid. And strange as it may appear, Bienville secured
thirty-two villages out of forty-two to the interests of the
French, while, through the instigation and influence of Shu-
lush Humma, the remaining ten decided* in favor of the
English.
And now, for the first time in their history, the Choc-
taws were divided into two parties. Shulush Humma, elated
with his success in securing to himself even ten villages,
made a clandestine visit, 'with about a hundred of his war
riors, to the English settlements in now the State of Georgia,
but for what purpose, it was never satisfactorily ascertained.
By some, it was thought, he desired to adopt measures of
mutual action between the English and his party against the
French; by others, that he was influenced alone by the hope
of reward. Be it as it may, he, through the influence of
some unknown cause, suddenly changed his course of action,
and, returning home, at once declared himself in favor of the
French; soon after which he, to establish his sincerity,
burned three English warehouses and then started, without
delay, with a band of his warriors, on a war expedition,
against the Chickasaws. •
Bienville was greatly pleased at the turn Shulush
Humma had taken, as with the assistance of the entire Choc-
taw Nation, his long cherished hopes of exterminating the
Chickasaws would now be fully realized. But to make his
second attack upon them a sure and complete success with
out the possibility of failure, he adopted every measure pos
sible that might strengthen his plans; therefore called into
requisition all the available troops he could command not
466 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
only in Illinois and Canada, but even obtained troops from
France; and still to be more sure, he chose a different route
from that by the way of the Tombigbee river, to again in
vade the country of that little Nation of heroes for the
avowed purpose of their extermination. He now determined
to ascend the Mississippi river to a point on its banks, to be
previously ascertained, nearest to Chikasahha, from which he
had been so uncivilly and expeditiously induced to leave a
few years before; this point was found to be near the
mouth of a little creek called Margot, a few miles below the
present city of Memphis, Tennessee, and about 120 miles
from Chikasahha, the object of his unrelenting- and diaboli
cal vengeance, but whose sun of ancient glory still lingered
on the western horizon, as if loth to set, and still displayed
an effulgence of patriotism, which few nations could sur
pass, not even boasting BVance, of which Bienville was a
subject.
The forces to be .drawn from Illinois and Canada were
to assemble on a river then St. John in now the state of
Arkansas, with their headquarters on the bluff then called
Chickasaw Bluff, on which is now located Memphis, Ten
nessee. By the last of June, 1739, 1200 French soldiers and
2400 Indian warriors (allies of the French) had congregated,
and the doom of the Chickasaw patriots seemed inevitably
sealed. But the hand of Providence was again stretched
out for their protection; for inexplicable causes delayed the
,French. army at the place of rendezvous during the whole
summer; in the intervening time, many soldiers, especially
those from France and Canada, fell victims to the diseases
peculiar to that malarial climate; in addition to this, their
supply of provisions failed, as fully half, which had been
forwarded from Fort St. Francis failed to reach their place
of destination; and also 250 horses and 50 beeves, sent
from Natchitoches, were lost enroute; nor was the march
ing route to Chikasahha fully established until nearly two
months of exploration had been spent, by which tinie (Jan
uary 1740) their provisions were exhausted.
But Bienville, still smarting and fretting under the- rec
ollection of his severe chastisement, and burning with a
spirit of revenge that the utter extermination of the Chicka-
saws could only quench, obstinately refused to accede to any
measures that tended to giving up the expedition, until
coerced by a council of war convened in February, which
declared a- retreat absolutely indispensable. Immediately
the main body of the army began its retreat down the Mis-
si^sippi river, March, 1740. But Celeron, the commander of
the Canadian troops, with 100 Canadian soldiers and 500 In-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 467
<lian warriors, determined, upon his own responsibility, to
•go on to Chikasahha, and at once took up his line of march
accordingly. But the Chickasaws, ever on the alert, and
fully aware of the great army organized to invade their
country with the avowed purpose to exterminate their Nation
without regard to age or sex, and also of the approach of
Celeron, whom they believed (fortunately for him) was but
the van of the French army, sent an embassy to him to treat
on measures of peace. Celeron at once accepted their prop
osition, and told them to report to Bienville, whom they
soon overtook on his retreat to New Orleans. The Chicka
saws evidently did not comprehend the true state of affairs
at that time, for, had they truly known the demoralized state
-of the French, the peace embassy, instead of following after
Bienville, would have hastened home, and at once prepared
to receive Celeron, whom they could easily have defeated, as
they had D'Artaguette and afterwards Bienville.
But Bienville gladly (yet unmanifested) accepted the pro
positions of peace, yet stated to them that the terms agreed
upon would not include the Chocktaws in the stipulations,
and, therefore, they would still continue the war against
them, and he would also continue to pay to the Choctaws the
promised reward for every Chickasaw 'scalp taken by them
until they should satisfactorily remunerate to them for the
many injuries (creatures of Bienville's own begetting) .they
had done them. Celeron at once returned to Fort Assump
tion, on the bluffs, which he destroyed and then started
with his soldiers for their distant Canadian homes; while
Bienville, with his troops, sought his southern post at New
Orleans, there to hide his deep mortification under the cloak
of false pretences. And thus his second exterminating cam
paign against the Chickasaw patriots also evaporated in
smoke — the mountain labored — and brought forth a diminu
tive mouse. And that brave little handful of heroes whom
Bienville once declared "so formidable as to threaten the ex
istence of the colony," and afterwards represented them "as
being the source of not much uneasiness to the colony,"
nobly held their own, and still maintained their independence
in spite of Bienville and his efforts to execute his threats.
Peace was then proclaimed to have been established be
tween the Chickasaw Nation and the Kingdom of France;
but it was a peace that left the Chickasaws the undaunted
and unconquered lords of their own country, while to the
jurisdiction of France, over the vast expanse of Indian ter
ritory which she claimed it left but an empty name.
To the honor and praise of the Chickasaw people, it may
truly be said: They fought single handed and alone for
468 HISTORY"' OF THE INDIANS. •
eighteen years against the French and their numerous In
dian allies, kept them out of their country and maintained
their independence to the last. Truly, history no where
upon its pages, ancient or -modern, records a nobler or
braver little nation of people than the Chickasaws of North
America. They defeated D'Artaguette and Bienville in 1736;
Marquis of Vaudreuil in 1752, and Regio in 1753; and in 1771
sustained their authority over an extensive country, em
bracing the territory from middle Mississippi north to the
mouth of the Ohio river, and from the Tombigbee river west
to the Yazoo.
.The French regarded the treaty of peace which Bien
ville had made with the Chickasaws as of no weight or im
portance, and totally failing of the desired intent, since the
Choctaws still maintained that they had not as yet (1741)
received any compensation for the injuries (more imaginary
than real) inflicted upon them by the Chickasaws, -which be-
-ing supported by the French as a justifiable pretext to keep
up hostilities between the . Choctaws and Chickasaws, so
much desired by Bienville, who had not forgotten the chas
tisement inflicted upon him by the latter for his temerity in
entering their country uninvited; the Choctaws still impera
tively demanded the coveted remuneration. Consequently
these two nations were still at war, greatly to the joy and
satisfaction of the wily French, who, with all their boasted
friendship for the Choctaws, secretly rejoiced equally at the
weakening and destruction of the one or the other of those
two war-like nations, as the sequel will prove, while an in
comprehensible infatuation seemed to effectually close their
eyes, especially the Choctaws, against seeing the dark de
signs and artful hypocrisy of the French in regard to both
nations.
But in their fratricidal conflicts the Choctaws, being
fully supplied with guns and ammunition by the French,
often got the advantage of the Chickasaws; and who, at var-
ous times, seemed to be threatened with the fate of the
Natchez — utter destruction and extinction — as their numbers
were fast being thinned and their strength ebbing away.
At this crisis of affairs the different little bands of Natchez,
who had found a temporary asylum among the noble and
generous Chickasaws 'from their inveterate enemies, the
French, and who had bravely assisted them in defense of
their country, now, having learned that their presence but
entailed additional trouble upon their generous and noble
protectors, withdrew from them and sought safety among
the Cherokees, who openly extended to them the hand of
pitying charity.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 469
Yet thousands of the White Race still regard the Red
Race as-being wholly void of humanity, generosity; in short,
of every principle that distinguishes man from the brute.
How great the opportunity for compassion to exercise its
virtues upon such incomprehensible ignorance, which, with
all the visible light that proclaims the absurdity of such er
roneous views still clings to them with the tenacity of death,
yet claiming to be civilized and informed; upon-the current
events of this progressive age! What though dame Fortune
has not been so generous in the bestowal of her favors upon
the Red Race as upon the White! since Nature has been
equally as generous in her endowments of noble virtues to
the Red as to the White; yea, more so, in withholding from
the former the many dark vices with which she has endowed
the 'latter, while bestowing' upon her Red children those
noble virtues which have called forth as great sacrifices, in
duced as arduous labors, excited as ardent hopes, awakened
as high joys and produced as noble patriotism in the breast
of the Red Race as ever was experienced or manifested
in that of the White; nor have the grossest supersti
tions, the wild and absurd fancies that have presented
themselves before mankind and received their homage, been
found to any greater extent among the North American In
dians than the European world, with all its boasted literary,
scientific and religious attainments, while all the Christian
virtues, moral stamina and social graces are found in the ed
ucated and Christian Indians as are found in the educated
and Christian Whites.
With the Chickasaws and Choctaws there was no truce
with a liar or slanderer. Their detestation of the one and
abhorrence for the other were deep and abiding. The
same may 'be said of all North American Indians, if the
statements of the early explorers and missionaries may be
relied on. They were never aggressive or oppressive in
disposition, or abusive of anyone. They were firm of
purpose, and of deep moral convictions, as understood by.
the light of nature. They were temperate in all their habits,
and warmly sympathetic in their natures, shedding a
brightness everywhere, while their charitable dispositions
were manifest to all. To their friends they were lovable in
the full sense of the word, and no one who was brought into
close contact with them could fail to love and admire them;
and the nature of the warfare so long waged upon them is
wholly responsible to the miserable and unreasonable mis
conception of their true characters, and the result of the
personal rancor of the whites whose desire for their lands
caused th.e uninformed to regard all Indians as incarnate
470 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
devils, without a redeeming- trait; therefore, the Indian has
been and is to-day, the target against whom the scum of hu
manity have opened their batteries of abuse, slander and
falsehood, while no weapon that money or influence can com
mand has been left unused in their desperate efforts to dis
credit that innocent and helpless yet noble and Unfortunate
race with all mankind.
I "am fully awar/e that this statement will not pass un
challenged by the thousands whose knowledge of Indian,
characteristics rest alone upon hearsay; nevertheless it is
true and defies successful refutation. Such may deny it,
but the truth remains all the same. I speak from the per
sonal experience and knowledge of a long1 life sustained and
confirmed by the testimony of all the old missionaries who
have labored among the Indians during1 the last two cen
turies, and whose advantages for ascertaining- the truth
the whole truth, and nothing1 but the truth in reg-ard to all
that pertains to the North American Indians, surpassed all
others in the world, and whose veracity none will question
who have a'ny knowledge of those self-sacrificing men of
God.
Contemplate the noble sentiment expressed by that little
remnant of Natchez Indians, whose nation had been blotted
out a short time before by the French, in retiring from the
Chickasaw Nation, when they learned that their presence
but entailed upon their noble and generous benefactors the
deeper animosity of their mutual enemies, the French,
whose heart so hard, so lost to every principle of humanity
as not to sympathize with those forlorn Natchez Indians,
whose deep gloom and despondency must have shrouded
their souls in darkest night, as they contemplated their help
less and hopeless condition and looked out upon the dark
cloud of desolation that hung o'er their future, beyond which
not a ray of light gave promise of a returning morn bring
ing peace and joy to them.
But whence the cause of all this human woe? Its foun
tain head may be traced to the insatiable avarice of the
white man, which has swallowed up all the finer sensibilities
of his heart and left him a wild demon roaming over the
earth, with destruction and woe closely following1 upon his
heels. Verily, he who would deliberately add a single pang-
to the vast and fearful catalogue of sorrow already endured
by that forlorn race of people still lingering within the juris
diction of these United States is worse than a brute, and his.
cavilings about the Indians proceed alone from profound
ignorance and equal depravity of heart. Therefore, "let
him not quit his belief that a pop-gun is a pop-gun, although
HISTORY OF TH-E INDIANS. 471
the ancient and honorable of earth affirm it to be the crack
of doom." x
The closing-of the year 1742 still found the inconsider
ate, deluded and misguided Chickasaws and Choctaws en
gaged in devastating- war, as the Choctaws, with an incom
prehensible infatuation and blindness, had now declared,
through the influence of the French, that they would con
tinue the war until the Chickasaws were driven from their
ancient domains or entirely exterminated; and the first
clause, at least, of their fratricidal threat seemed about to
be verified, for many of the Chickasaws were then seeking
an asylum among the English in the Carolinas, the Choctaws
little dreaming* they, in turn, were soon to be as deeply hu
miliated by the French, into whose hands they were so inju
diciously, blindly and foolishly playing", when trying to re
duce and humiliate their brethren and kinsmen, the Chicka
saws.
About two miles south of West Point, Mississippi, there
are, or were many years ago, two mounds standing in a line
of north and south, about 140 yards from each other. The
tradition of both the old-time Chickasaws and Choctaws state
that, in the years of the long past, a great battle was fought
near where the two mounds now stand, between a company
of Chickasaw and Choctaw warriors. The battle proved to
be a drawn one, and both parties agreed to bury their dead
without molestation, the one by the other. A large hole was
excavated by each party in which they placed their respect
ive dead, and filled up the grave, and then erected the
mounds over their dead and buried warriors. The Chicka
saws' dead occupied the northern and the Choctaws' the
southern. This battle, no doubt, was one among the many
they fought in their fearful conflicts with each other in be
half of the English and French,1 and today stand, in silence
and solitude unknown, as living monuments of those fratri
cidal wars that so weakened both nations, to the secret joy
of both the English and the French.
At this juncture of aifairs, May 10th 1743, the marquis
of Vaudreuil arrived at New Orleans, and assumed com
mand of the colonies, Bienville having been again deposed.
As soon as the Chickasaws learned that Bienville had been
superceded by a new governor, they sent four of their
chiefs, at the close of the year 1743, to sue for peace; but
Vaudreuil informed them he would enter into no treaty with
them, unless they would drive all English traders from their
territories; and not even then would he treat with them un
less in concert with the Choctaws. Thus again were the
Chickasaws baffled in their efforts to make peace. The
472 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
four chiefs then requested time to lay his terms of peace
before their, people.
Early in the following year, the Chickasaws again sent
an embassy to Vaudreuil and informed him they would ac
cept his first proposition, if he would supply them with
goods and ammunition as the English had done, but still
Vaudreuil would take no action in the matter without first
obtaining the sanction of the Choctaws. Great indeed
was his surprise in learning that the Chickasaws and Choc-
taws were at that very time endeavoring to establish peace
between themselves, without his knowledge. Such a thing
the French from the first had labored to prevent; therefore
Vaudreuil determined at once to defeat the object, if pos
sible, of all si^ch negotiations between the two long hostile
Nations, and immediately went to work for the accomplish
ment of that end; first, by postponing the making of a treaty
himself with the Chickasaws; second, by using every means,
right or wrong, to ag-ain revive the animosity so long exist
ing between the two Nations, and to again put into renewed
action their former hostilities, then temporarily slumber
ing.
Alas! he succeeded but too well in his nefarious designs
against the interests and welfare of those two kindred
tribes, who seemed deaf to the demands of their own .na
tional safety, prosperity and happiness, in not learning' from
sad experience long before that both the English and French
desired nothing more of them than to see them waste away
their national strength against each other. But, unfortu
nately for them, they seemed under the complete control of
those two great foreign rivals, who, with jealousy, were con
tending everywhere for the possession of the Indians' terri
tories from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and, therefore, con
tinually led the inconsiderate, deceived and unfortunate
North American Indians everywhere into suicidal hostilities
against each other which tended so rapidly to their destruc
tion and final extermination. But to the eternal condemna
tion before the tribunal of a just God, of both the English
and French, they made every effort in this civil discord, not
to conciliate, but to inflame the passions and strengthen the
animosities of the Chickasaws and Choctaws by the most
unjust and diabolical means that the corrupt heart of man
could conceive.
But-down to the'year 1746, the undaunted and seemingly
invincible Chickasaws were still maintaining their ground
against fearful odds; while the Choctaws, now becoming
weary with their long protracted wars against them, and
also relenting in their continued hostility towards them,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. - 473
many of them became their friends and even allies; among*
the most prominent of whom stood the renowned Shulush
Humma, who by his daring deeds had become a terror to
the Chickasaws, and also Alabaman Mingo (a corruption of
Ullabanoh Miko, the only child of a chief), who had long-
been considered as a firm -friend of the French; still, the
French retained many friends among- the Choctaws, who
were now called "the French party"; and those who were
disposed to be lenient to the Chickasaws and had extended
to them the hand of peace and friendship were called "the
English party."
But now the judgments of God seemed about to be vis
ited upon the Choctaws for their inconsiderate hostility to
wards, and cruel wars against, the Chickasaws, through the
instigations alone of the covetous French, by sending upon
them an infatuation more fatal to themselves than were their
hostilities to the Chickasaws, which seemed for the time
being must, and would, terminate in nothing less than their
own destruction, for early in the year 1748 the animosity of
the two parties arose to that degree that a civil war, fierce
and bloody, was the actual result, to the infinite delight of
both the French and English, who with great complacency,
looked on and secretly exulted in the self-destruction of the
foolish Choctaws, who seemed to have lost their reason.
Each party formed themselves into small bands and made
hostile excursions, the one against the other. Also, the
English faction made excursions against the French, and the
French faction against the English. A band of the English
party made- an attack upon a German settlement under the
jurisdiction of the French, killed a German, wounded his
wife and took captive their daughter. And the leader of the
band was in turn killed by his own brother, who was also a
leader of one of the bands of the French party ; also a
brother of Shulush Humma, who had been sent on an em
bassy to the Carolinas with a small party to solicit aid from
the English settlements, was attacked by a company of the
French party and had eight warriors slain. On July 14th a
French party rushed upon a village of an English party
and slew thirteen, among whom were two noted chiefs, upon
which the English party, maddened with the desire of retal
iation, rushed upon a village of the French party, and there
a fierce and desperate hand-to-hand fight with tomahawk and
knife ensued, in which both sides lost grievously, but result
ing in the defeat of the English party with a loss of eighty
killed and an equal number wounded, whom they carried off
in their retreat, but many of whom afterwards died. Many
such fratricidal battles followed in quick succession, the
474 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
English party always sustaining1 the greater loss. Such an.
insane warfare and foolish destruction of life, sapping- the
very foundation of their national existence, finally put the
Ghoctaws to thinking1, which soon brought them to their
senses. Both parties mutually began to see that they were
cutting each others' throats for the sole benefit and the en
tire satisfaction and gratification of their worst enemies, the
English and French pale-faces.
At once a council of the old and wise men of the Nation
was convened to deliberate upon the unhappy state of affairs
and to devise measures to bring about a cessation of hostili
ties and restore peace and friendship among their people.
After a few days of calm and solemn deliberation, the chief
cause of the unfortunate state of affairs was traced to Shu-
lush Humma, and the immediate verdict of the council was
death to him; and in accordance thereto, that noted chief and
consummate warrior was slain by a deputation, appointed for
that purpose, while returning one day to his home with a
company loaded with English goods. It was hoped that the
death of Shulush Humma would be effective in restoring
peace and harmony to the Nation, and it would have been
had not the English, still desiring to weaken as much as.
possible their old enemies, the Choctaws, determined that
peace should not be made between the two contending fac
tions if it was possible to prevent it; therefore they clandes
tinely secured the appointment of a brother of Shulush
Humma to the chieftaincy of that renowned chief's party,
and thus thwarted the good designs of the council and pro-
tricidal war, during which the English were diligent in ex
tending their own selfish interests to the serious injury of
their unfortunate dupes, the contending Choctaws, who con-
tinned the devastating strife until 1750, when it terminated
with the advantage on the part of the French faction, at
which time only two of the thirty-two villages still' adhered
to the interests of the English; who, having lost 130 of their
warriors in a terrible battle that shortly afterwards ensued,
now sought peace of the French, who granted it with this
humiliating proviso: "That the punishment of death should
be inflicted on any and every Choctaw who should kill a
Frenchman, be he chief or common warrior; and if » any one
or more Choctaws should attempt to rescue the guilty party,
or parties, from the punishment of this sentence, then the
entire Choctaw Nation should unite, assist and inflict death
also on all those who attempted to rescue the guilty party, or
parties; and also that death should be inflicted upon any
Choctaw who should lead an Englishmen into his village; nor
in such a case, should retaliation for his death be sought by
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 475
any one of his Nation; and also they should put to death the
Englishman thus introduced; and also the Choctaws should
continue hostilities ag-ainst the Chickasaws so long- as they
existed as a Nation."
The humiliating- terms were accepted and peace among
the Choctaws once more assumed her pacific sway, but too
late; learning what miserable dupes they had been made by
the wiles of the perfidious French and English; and only to
realize to what a humiliating extremity they had reduced
themselves by destroying each other and those of their own
race — the Chickasaws and Natchez — to secure the friend
ship of the pale-faces, who never felt an emotion of that
noble principle for them or any of their race.
Alas! what Christian heart but weeps over the mis
fortunes of the North American Indians, and sympathizes
with them- in their mistakes in the selection of friends, since
they were totally ignorant of the duplicity and incapable of
comprehending the avarice of the white men's hearts, and
thereby unfortunately judged them from the stand-point of
their own honest and truthful hearts which had never felt
the gnawings of avarice, nor knew deceit when dealing with
supposed friends.
The Chickasaws, now also reduced to the verge of de
struction by their long struggle with the combined 'forces of
the French and the inconsiderate Choctaws, once more sued
for peace with the French; but to their solicitation, Vaud-
reuil coolly replied, "That he would consider the matter."
But the truth is, he did not want to treat with the Chicka
saws upon any terms 'of peace whatever; for he still hoped
to be able to execute his former resolution, imbibed from
Bienville, against them, nothing more nor less than absolute
extermination. Therefore in a letter written shortly after
to his government, he stated: "With regard to the Chicka
saws, we must postpone all action, and patientl}' wait until,
we can organize and make another expedition against them";
and assigns his reasons for acting with such vindictive
cruelty and base injustice against that peace soliciting and
peace desiring Nation of noble patriots, that, "By the failure
of the expeditions undertaken against them between the
years 1735 and 1740, the Indians have arrived at the con
clusion that we cannot conquer or destroy them; and until
we erase from their minds the impression of our inability
to subdue them, by giving full retaliation for our unsuccess
ful operations against them, the honor of our arms will re
main tarnished."
But after two years of consideration on the solicitation,
of the Chickasaws for peace, Vaudreuil, instead of giving:
476 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
them a reply pro or con, spent the intervening time in the
organization of another war expedition against them, lest
"the honor of our arms remain tarnished ;" and, in 1752, he
started with 700 French soldiers and a large body of Indian
warriors to exterminate that brave and heroic nation of
people, fully believing that it had fallen to his good fortune
"to erase from their minds the impression of our inability
to subdue them." But alas, for his anticipated good fortune!
His expedition proved as complete a failure as the previous
three, for the Chickasaw heroes, at Chikasahha, where they
had repulsed D'Artaguette and Bienville seventeen years
before, also, whipped Vaudreuil, and he, too, sought safety
and found it in an inglorious retreat, without erasing- from
the minds of those indomitable Chickasaw warriors "the
impression of our inability to .subdue them ;" and also post
poned "giving full retaliation for our unsuccessful opera
tions against them," lest "the honor of our arms will remain
tarnished," to some more propitious time in the future, as
Bienville had done, but which never came. Yet he was blest
with the consoling reflection that he had done something, at
least, in the way of "giving full retaliation for our unsuccess
ful operations against them;" since he could state in his
report that he had been enabled, though in full retreat, "to
burn a few deserted Chickasawr villages, destroy a few fields
of corn, and kill a few cattle of the enemy" — neither Bien
ville nor D'Artaguette could say as much — and "the honor of
our arms will" not now "remain tarnished." For the sake
of humanity it is to be hoped so.
In 1753 Vaudreuil was appointed Governor of Canada,
and Kerleree took the place of Vaudreuil as Governor of the
Louisiana Colony; and shortly after, in a letter to his Gov
ernment, August 20, 1753, he said: "I am satisfied with the
Choctaws. I believe them true to their plighted word, and
it is necessary that we should be the same to them. They
are a people who reflect and reason more logically than it is
generally supposed." More truthful words could not have
been uttered in regard to the North American Indians; yet a
truth, which the White Race have ever been reluctant to ad
mit.
After the appointment of Vaudreuil as Governor of
Canada the French made no more "exterminating expedi
tions" against the Chickasaws. But Kerleree, shortly after
he had taken the place of Vaudreuil, had an interview with
several chiefs' of the Arkansas tribes at New Orleans and
whose good will he won by his affected generosity and seem
ingly great friendship and hospitality manifested towards
them; nor was he unmindful of the "failure of the expedi-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 477
lions undertaken against the Chickasaws"; therefore, "lest
"the honor of our arms remain tarnished," he embraced the
opportunity offered to induce the chiefs of -the Arkansas
tribes to make war upon the Chickasaws wjiom they, had been
taught by bitter experience to fear, therefore still hated; for
that indefatigable Nation still presented the same bold and
defiant front to the French, though greatly reduced in num
bers and strength. Kerleree also made strenuous efforts to
induce those chiefs to make war upon the Cherokees, who
had entailed the hatred and animosity of the French, because
they had extended the hand of pity and protection, in con
nection with the Chickasaws, to the homeless and forlorn
little band of Natchez, who had escaped the wholesale
slaughter of their people by the hands of their common and
unrelenting enemy, the French.
That the Choctaws were once a numerous and powerful
people, even at the beginning of their hostilities with the
French; and that their warriors were among the most sa
gacious and fearless men that ever went into battle, no
stronger evidence is necessary than the fact, they stood
alone and maintained their independence against the com
bined forces of the Canadian, Illinois and Louisiana colonies,
together writh the soldiers sent from France and their
numerous Northern Indian allies, also the Choctaws, then
the most dreaded nation of warriors, except the Chicka
saws, among the North American Indians, from 1716 down
the march of time France ceded her North American pos
sessions to Eiigland in 1763; defeating four French armies,
well organized and equipped, and their Indian allies, sent
against them, each of which, in numbers and munitions of
war, was superior to them as the ratio of three to one, and
driving them from their territories; and though Roman
states, in his "Barnard Roman's Florida, page 571." "In
1771, this once powerful and warlike tribe could not number
over three hundred warrioVs," yet the combined forces of
their White and Red enemies failed to conquer them.
The following letter written by Governor Claiborne of
Mississippi, in 1802, to Samuel Mitchell, United States Agent
to the Chickasaws, expresses much trurth in regard to the
Indians:
"I am well pleased with your efforts to advance the hap
piness of our Chickasaw brethren. I hope, under your tu
torage, that they will soon acquire the habits of civilization.
Exert all your influence to induce the men to have fixed
abodes, cultivate the soil, and encourage the women to habits
of domestic life. Continue to supply them with wheels and
cards, scissors, thimbles, needles and thread. Retain a
478 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
competent weaver constantly in your employ and persuade a
few young girls to learn the art from him. A competent
man of undoubted morals must be procured who must take
the necessary pains to teach them, and I will see him liberally
compensated. Itjs desirable to place a few intelligent In
dian lads with your wheelwright and blacksmith. In all
cases it is my express injunction that the white mechanics,
you are authorized to employ, shall be men of sober habits
and of good character. They are to be there not only as ar
tisans, but as teachers, to set an example to an untutored
people, entrusted to my guardianship by their great Father,
the President, and he demands that they shall be treated as
his children, and not, in any instance, be exposed to the evil
example of bad white men. Say to my old friend, Major
Colbert, his wish to have his son educated in and by the
United States shall be promptly recommended by me; and,
I doubt not, will be so directed by the President. A trad
ing house for the accommodation of the Chickasaws has been
established at the Bluffs, and the factor has been instructed
TO SELL AT PRICES MERELY TO COVER COST AND CHARGES. Com-
plaint of undue charges must be made through you to me.
You did right to exert your influence for peace between the
Chickasaws, Choctaws and Osages. The United States is
bound by treaty to restrain the tribes within their limits
from warring against tribes in the Spanish dominion."
What if the noble, humane and Christian sentiments ex
pressed in the above letter by Governor Claiborne had been
adopted and truly carried out by the Government and people
of the United States from the date of the above letter to the
present, who now could justly describe the happy and pros
perous condition of every Indian tribe within the jurisdic
tion of the United States?
In 1792, in a couucil held at Chickasaw Bluffs, where
Memphis, Tennessee, is now located, a treaty was made
with the Chickasaws, in which they granted the United
States the right of way through their territory for a public
road to be opened from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez,
Mississippi. This road was long known, and no doubt, re
membered by many at the present time by the name
^'Natchez Trace." It crossed the Tennessee river at a
point then known as "Colbert's Ferry," and passed through
-the present counties of Tishomingo, Ittiwamba, Lee, Pan-
totoc, Chickasaw, Choctaw, thence on to Natchez, and soon
became the great and only thoroughfare for emigrants pass
ing from the older states to Mississippi, Louisiana and
South Arkansaw. Soon after its opening, it was crowded by
fortune seekers and adventurers of all descriptions and
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 479
characters, some as bad as it was ^ possible for them to be,
and none as good as they might be.
One of the most noted desperadoes in those early days
of Mississippi's history was a man named Mason, who, with
his gang of thieves and cut-throats, established himself at a
point on the Ohio river then called "The Cave in the Rock,"
and about one hundred miles above its junction with the
Mississippi river. There, under the disguise of keeping- a
store for the accommodation of emigrants, keel and flat
boatmen passing- up and down the river, he enticed them
into his power, murdered and robbed them; then sent their
boats and contents to New Orleans, throug-h the hands of
his accomplices to be sold. He, at length, left "The Cave
in the Rock," and sought a new location on the Natchez
Trace, where he established himself, and soon attained to
such a power, that he and his \vell organized band of outlaws
became a terror to all from the banks of the Mississippi
river to the hills of Alabama and Tennessee. Over this
wide extended territory he \vas "monarch of all he surveyed"/
for several years; and though many efforts were made by
the law abiding- citizens to kill or capture him and break upx
this nest of land pirates, yet he always manag-ed to out-wit
his pursuers and elude their grasp. Ultimately a strong-
party organized themselves at Natchez and went in pursuit
of the daring- robber, resolving- to kill or capture him at all
hazards but was out-generaled by the sagacious and ever
watchful desperadoes. The company having- arrived on the
banks of the Pearl river, soon learned that the object of
their search was in the vicinity, but before making an at
tack upon him, they concluded to dine, feed and rest their
horses. During- this, two of the company, allured by the an
ticipated delig-ht of a swim, plunged into the cool and clear
waters of the river and swam to the opposite bank, but to
give themselves into the hands of the vigilant Mason, who,
cognizant of all the proceedings and designs, had closely
watched their maneuvers, by which he soon found himself
enabled to accomplish by stratagem, what he could not per
haps, by force.
Having secured the two thoughtless and inconsiderate
fathers, Mason at once assumed a bold and defiant attitude,
and called out to his would-be capturers on the opposite
bank and informed them that all further demonstration of
hostilities on their part would be followed by the instant death
of their two captive friends; and also stated if they wished
to save the lives of their two companions to stack their guns
and ammunition at once on the banks of the river at a desig
nated place and he would send for them; if they manifested.
480 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.N
the least disposition to interfere with his messenger his two
prisoners would be instantly slain; but if they punctually
and obediently complied with his demand he would return
their two friends, unharmed, to them, at the same time
pledging his word of honor to the performance of the same.
The demands of Mason were duly obeyed and several of his
party swam across the river and took possession of the guns,
while the two captives were placed in full view with rifles
pointing in unpleasant proximity and in direct line to their
heads. Then Mason released his prisoners and bade them
return in the way they came; to which they gladly and with
out hesitation complied. He then sternly ordered the crest
fallen company to mount their horses and return to Natchez,
adding that it would not be healthy for them to indulge in a
hunt again for him, as he would not let them off so gently if
they should again fall into his hands.
Treachery finally effected what all other means failed to
accomplish. Shortly after, a man of high standing and his
two sons were robbed by a party of Mason's band, as they
were passing along the Natchez Trace, though they received
no bodily injury. After their return home, Governor Clai-
borne, of the Mississippi Territory, offered a large reward
for Mason, dead or alive, a copy of which soon found its way
to the notorious bandit, over which, it is said, he manifested
much merriment. But the reward proved too great a temp
tation for two of his band, and they treacherously slew
Mason and carried his head in secret triumph to Gov. Clai-
borne. It was at once recognized by many of the citizens.
But the joy of the two traitors in anticipation of the reward
was of short duration, since among the many spectators
were the two sons, who, with their father, had been robbed
shortly before, and who at once recognized the two scoun
drels as being of the party who had robbed them. At once
they were arrested, tried, convicted, and paid the penalty of
their crimes upon the gallows. And thus was broken up
one among the most notorious gangs of robbers that infested
the Natchez Trace.
However, another daring gang sprang up a few years
after the death of Mason, under the leadership of one John
A. Murrell. who also sought upon the Natchez Trace their
victims to murder and plunder during the years 1830 and
1840. And numerous werevthe bloody deeds and daring rob
beries committed by those bold free-booters upon the lonely
traveller who had the nerve to venture through that long
stretch of wilderness and solitude alone : and the thefts
of horses and negroes from the -planters, especially the
negroes, whom they enticed away under the promise of
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 481
taking- them north to a free state; then, after selling- and
stealing them a few times under the pretense to the deluded
negroes of getting- money to defray their expenses to a free
state, they would kill them and sink their bodies in a river
or lake. Murrell was finally captured, tried and condemned
to'life imprisonment in the penitentiary at Nashville, Ten
nessee. After a few years of confinement he professed
religion (it was said), and his health failing, he was eventu-
ually pardoned, then became a preacher of the Gospel, and
shortly afterwards died.
General Andrew Jackson led his' victorious army along-
this road (the Natchez Trace) on his return from New Or
leans, in 1815. Before steamboats began to plough the
waters of the Mississippi river, all kinds of produce were
transported to New Orleans in keel and flat boats from the
upper countries. When arriving there both boat and cargo-
were sold, and the owners with their employers returned
home, some on horseback and more on foot, by the way of
the "Old Natchez Trace." Bands of those rough and fear
less boatmen fllocked along on the old trace to their distant,
homes in North Mississippi, Tennessee and Southern Ken
tucky. The intervening wilderness of forests were illu--
minated with the camp-fires, and the midnight silence of the:
then vast soliludes broken bytheir«bacchanalian revelries..
All characters blended together in those straggling bands of
wild and reckless humanity; the jolly ^boatmen whose lives
were spent on the bosom of the majestic "Misha Sipokni'1"
and in the romantic and fascinating jolifications of thei
camp; men of education and refinement; adventurous youth,,
wTho never before was out of sight of the smoke of bis,
native village or humble home; the sturdy farmer; the
shrewed trader; the calculating merchant; the wily gam-;
bier, and the daring robber, were, to a greater or less extent,
represented.
^ut the "Old Trace" has long since been effaced by the-,
ploughshare and buried in the field of forgetfulness amid.
the corn and cotton plantations, together with the throbbing-
hearts, then buoyant with hope and elated with joy, dis~*
tracted with fear or burdened with care that followed its,
windings and dubious ways through the Chickasaw and Choc-.
taw Nations nearly a century ago, and sang or weptr laughed'
or sighed along that old forest road, and have become as. si-.
lent and as little remembered as the multitudes that cnce-
thronged the busy streets of ancient Tyre, while obli'viorv
has woven her raven web and thrown it upon the "Old;.
Natchez Trace" to be remembered "never more."
"Natchez-Under-The-Hill" was, at that early day, the:
482 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
"'sine qua non" as the point of rendezvous for the rough and
(care-for-nothing men who navigated the keel and flat-boats
<on the Mississippi river ere they were superseded by the
•steamboat. Ai\ that early day the city of Natchez was an
-excellent market for the products of the "upper country,"
consequently hundreds of heavily and richly-laden boats
often congregated there, to the great dread of the law-abid
ing1 and peaceful inhabitants residing in the upper part of
the city, then known as "The Bluff;" for the wild and law
less boatmen knowing no restraint, and without the fear of
•'God or man, indulged their caprices in every kind of rowdy
ism known to man ; and often breaking through the ac
knowledged limits of their own district, "Natchez-Under-
•The-Hill," they carried the city "On The Bluff " by storm,
not unlike a genuine cyclone of the present day, riding
rough-shod over the law and every physical obstruction that
impeded their headlong course. Then, having had their
"fun," during which they had drank and destroyed all the
whisky they could lay their hands upon, they returned to
the plateau "under the hill" with songs and hideous yells,
where, perhaps, they would meet with another gang of their
own faith and order, and a fight would ensue, in which the
Herculean strength there and then displayed has no parallel
,except in Homer's description of the fabulous wars between
-the gods. Thus did those specimens of American freemen
, spend their leisure hours in drinking whiskey, yelling, fid-
'.dling, dancing and fist-fighting, the latter seeming a direful
^necessity, an unconquerable appetite, which, like hunger,
must be appeased at all costs; and even when quietness had
•assumed her sway in camp, often it would be unexpectedly
and unceremoniously disturbed by some aspirant to fame
loudly crowing* forth his defiance like a game cock, which
was sure to be answered by another in a different part of the
camp, and the natural result is easily guessed, since he who
'boasted according to the approved style of the game cock,
^virtually proclaimed he had never been whipped, and, there
fore occupied a dangerous eminence, as some equally ambi
tious aspirant was sure to be in hearing of the midnight
•challenge, and equally ready to dispute his claim to such dis
tinction.
Still those apparently lawless men had a code of honor
•among themselves to which they strictly adhered and impli-
.citly obeyed. "Fair play" was a jewel among them; and in
.all disputes and difficulties they invariably took up the cause
of the weaker, and always espoused that of the aged, right
#r wrong.
"In 1794 the United States Government secured the aid of
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. \ 483
several companies of Chickasaw warriors to co-operate with
its troops against some of the northwestern tribes of In
dians with whom it had become involved in war; and though
the cause is not now known, yet it may with safety be easily
guessed, as, like the English and French before it, so it also
arrayed one tribe against another in its own wars with that
credulous people until partially destroyed, then gobbled up
all (allies and enemies) at a swoop. The following is a war
commission given by George Washington, then President of
the United States, to a Chickasaw chief called Mucklesha
Mingo (corrupted from Mokulichih Miko — to outdo or excel
— chief. The chief who excels:
GEORGE WASHINGTON, President of the United States of
America. To all who shall see these presents greeting:
"Whereas, I am authorized by law to employ such a
number of Indians and for such compensation as I shall
think proper, within certain limitations, to act against the
hostile tribes northwest of the Ohio.
"And, whereas, it is expedient that in case of such an
event certain chiefs should be previously designated; and
having full confidence in the well tried friendship of Muckle-
shamingo a chief of the Chickasaw Nation, I do hereby ap
point him to rank and to receive pay as Captain of Militia
while he shall actually be in the service of the United States,
and co-operating with the troops thereunto belonging. ' And
I do hereby direct that on such occasions he be respected
accordingly.
Given under my hand at Philadelphia, this the 20th of
July, in the year of our Lord 1794, and in the 19th year of
the Independence of the United States.
"G. WASHINGTON.
"By command of the President, J. KNOX."
After the French lost their claimed possessions upon the
North American continent and were driven therefrom, the
Chickasaws, from that time to the present, have been at
peace with the world of mankind; and though they never
wholly recovered from the long devastating wars with the
French, yet they fully maintained their independence to the
last.
Their country lay adjoining the Choctaws on the north;
and, like that of the Choctaws, was as fertile and beautiful
a country as the eyes of man ever looked upon; as it ap
peared under their own and Nature's rule, it indeed pos
sessed a charm that fascinated the admirers and lovers of the
grand and the beautiful. There was a beauty bordering on
the sublime in the spring, as nature unfolded and spread out
her forest robes; also, a loveliness in the summer, with her
484 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
sh'ady hills and valleys; a quiet, too, in the calm and mel
low autumn, with the variegated hues, falling leaves and
tranquil scenes, which language cannot depict, or even im
agination conceive. D With no undergrowth whatever the
great variety of majestic trees of centuries growth covered
the hills and valleys; yet with the ground everywhere con
cealed under a thick carpet of grass one to two feet high, in
termixed, especially on the prairies, with wild flowers of
every shade of color, covering the face of the entire earth.
In the months of April and May strawberries were found
profusely scattered amid the grass of the undulating prairies
that lay along the banks of their rivers and creeks, and here
and there scattered'amid[the hills and valleys of their forests;
then summer too yielded her immense store of black
berries on every side; in turn, followed autumn with prodi
gal abundance of hickory nuts of several varieties, walnuts,
pecan, buckle berries, wild plums, persimmons, wild grapes,
muscadines, all of excellent flavor; while from early spring
to late autumn, among the wide extended branches of the
forest trees high above the verdant carpet of green that lay
spread out beneath by the accomplished hand of nature,
their forest orchestra, unsurpassed by the art of man, filled
the groves with melody and rivaled, with their bright and
variegated plumage, the hues of the flowers that bloomed
beneath, seemingly but uto waste their sweets upon the de
sert air." The scene seemed indeed as if the hand of en
chantment had suddenly raised a forest on the bosom of a
primitive prairie.
There amid those magnificent parks of primitive nature,
deer in great numbers, grazed with their cattle and horses,
while everywhere could be seen flocks of wild turkeys
feeding under the forest trees whose tops, seemed alive with
jolly squirrels, all undisturbed only as the swift arrow- from
the noiseless bow or the deadly bullet from the unerring rifle
demanded food for the Chickasaw; while the vast canebrakes
along all the water courses abounded with carnivorous ani
mals of various kinds in great numbers, furnishing skins and
furs to supply the necessities of the lords who justly claimed
dominion over those vast solitudes and their various quad
ruped occupants, and who were as noble a race of unlettered
men and women as ever lived upon earth; wholly free by
fortunate ignorance from the thousand debasing and ruin
ous vices.
But to one who has witnessed all the changes which have
taken place in the native characteristics of the southern In
dians in their former independence and happiness, as also
in the appearance of their ancient domains since their first
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 485
settlement by the White Race, all seem as a dream of the
night or romance of the imagination; and he finds it diffi
cult to realize the features of that forest wilderness which
was the home of his boyhood days, alike with that of the
red man. The humble little cabins of the generous and
hospitable Indians, their little fields of corn, pumpkins,
potatoes and beans that furnished their supplies of bread,
etc., have long- since been swallowed up in the wide-extended
group of the cotton fields of civilization, and the vast forests
have disappeared, leaving no trace of their former loveliness;
.and when he reflects on their original aspect, his thoughts
seem to revert to a period of time greatly more remote than
it really is; and the view from one extreme to the other ap
pears as that of an opposite shore over a wide expanse of
water, whose hills, valleys and forests present a confused
but romantic scenery, losing itself in the distant horizon,
though doubling the retrospect of life; and did not the defi
nite number of his years teach him the contrary, he would
imagine himself much older than he really is. But how dif
ferent it must be with those who have passed their lives
amid cities and ancient settlements, where the same un
changing aspect presents itself from year to year. There
the years come and go with no striking events or great
changes to mark their different periods, and give them an
imaginary distance from each other, and life passes away as
an illusion or dream, to close in bitter murmurings of its
shortness.
A few years after the exodus of the Chickasaws and
Choctaws, and before the tide of white emigration had set
in the most ppominent feature of their forsaken country
was its profound solitude, even the days seeming more soli
tary than the nights; nor did the gobbling of the wild turkey,
the chattering of the squirrel, the chirping of a bird, ming
ling -with the tapping of the woodpecker upon the hollow
limb of a decaying tree, seem to enliven the silent and lone
ly scene; and he who roamed through the solitudes of the
forests, as bequeathed to the White Race by the Chickasaws
and the Choctaws in 1830, was truly alone and far away
from the din of civilized and domesticated life. The fad
ing rays of the declining sun received not the requiem of
the song of the laborer returning from his tpil; but its sil
ence was interrupted by the howl of the wolf and the cry of
the panther issuing from the canebrakes in quest of their
prey upon the highlands; nor were his returning rays on
the'morn announced by the voice of the domestic cock, but
.by the hoot of the owl as he sought the deeper solifcides of
486 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
the dark swamp to doze away the unwelcome light of
day.
Though such a hunter's paradise will never be found
again upon the North American continent; yet hunting alone
was not wholly free of danger, and though the hunter was
seldom without his dog, the true and faithful animal to man
of the brute creation, whose native sagacity taught him to-
be as watchful as Argus and who saw everything and heard
every sound, and the acuteness of whose scent gave warn
ing of all approaching enemies, yet when in eager pursuit of
his game, with hope and fear alternately predominating in
his breast, his path was sometimes beset with hidden ene
mies. , Under his footsteps the sluggish, yet spiteful, rattle
snake, then abundant, might be coiled in watchfulness to in
flict a deadly wound upon all intruders into his retreat; Or
the wily panther stretched upon the limbs of a tree might
suddenly drop from his perch upon him to dispute the right
of man's supremacy over the brute creation, as also his
cousin, the catamount, which, in those early days, not unfre-
quently tried his physical strength with man, though he paid
dearly for his temerity, since his sharp teeth and keen claws
proved of little avail against the long, keen-edged knife wield
ed by the hand of the sturdy hunter; though the latter al
ways bore, as trophies of his victory, the unmistakable evi
dence of his enemy's valor.
When watching at a deer lick at night by the light of
the full orbed moon, in which the writer has indulged years
ago in the Mississippi forests then untouched by the ax, the
hunter found as his rival in the same sport, the panther or
the catamount, sometimes both; and whose preseiice was
made known by the moving shadow cast upon the ground by
moon-light as he was preparing to leap from his perch
upon a deer that had, unconscious of danger, walked into
the lick. An incident of this kind happened to a hunter in
Oktibbihaw county, Mississippi, shortly after the exodus
of the Choctaws. He had found a deer lick in Catarpo
(corruption of the Choctaw word Katapah, stopped re
ferring to the obstructions in the creek by drifts) swamps,
which was much frequented bv the deer. He built a scaf
fold 15 or 20 feet high on the edge of a lick, and on a beauti
ful night of the full moon, shortly after sundown, took his
seat thereon. About 10 o'clock at night a deer noiselessly
entered the lick a few rods distant from his place of con
cealment, and, began licking the salty earth; he was just in the
act of shooting it, when his attention was attracted from the
deer to a moving shadow upon the ground between him and
the deer, he at once looked up to ascertain who his neighbor
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 487
was, and was not a little surprised to see a huge panther
standing" on a projecting limb of a tree, that reached nearly
over and just behind him, and preparing to spring upon the*
unsuspecting deer. He thought no more of the deer, and
gave his undivided attention to his rival who had unceremo
niously and clandestinely taken his seat a little higher and
nearly over his head without so much as saying "By your
leave." Not being very fastidious just then, he quietly
yielded the right of precedence to his fellow hunter above, in
all things pertaining to the deer quietly licking the salty
earth below. For several minutes he gazed upon ,the huge
beast as it maneuvered upon the limb seemingly doubtful as
to making a successful spring. Finally the panther made a'
tremendous leap from the limb, passing almost directly over
the hunter's head, and lit directly upon the deer's back.
The bleating of the helpless deer momentarily broke the
stillness of the forest, and then all was hushed. The
panther pulled his victim to the outer edge of the lick, stood
a moment and then with mighty bounds disappeared in the
surrounding forests. During all this the hunter sat quietly
upon his perch cogitating over the novel scene. But his
reveries were suddenly interrupted by a wild and terrible
yell, seeminly half human and half beast, fearful enough to
awaken all the denizens of the forest for miles away; then
came an immediate response from a distant point in the
swamp. That was enough to bring the hunters cogitations
to a fixed determination, which was clearly manifested by
the agility disp^ed in descending the scaffold, and the
schedule time on which :he ran towards home, leaving the
two panthers to enjoy their unenvied supper of venison in
their native woods undisturbed. Often the hunter found
the panther had preceded him at the deer-licks; in all such
cases, having previously resolved never to dispute preced
ency with any gentleman of that family, he quietly left him
to the undisputed, possession of the chance of venison for
that night particularly.
The Chickasaws, at the time the missionaries were
established among them, as the Choctaws and other south
ern tribes, lived in rude log houses provided with a few
culinary articles (all they desired), and with skins and furs,
elaborately dressed and finished, for their bedding; all of
which were principally made by the women, who were
equally skilled in the art of making earthenware for all do
mestic purposes, as they were proficient in the art of pre
paring the skins and furs of various animals for domestic
use, which their forests so bountifully supplied. Their
shoes, called moccasins, were principally made of the skins.
488, HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
of deer thoroughly dressed by a process, unequalled by the
art of the whites, and beautifully ornamented with little
Treads of various colors.
As ornaments, the men wore four or five broad crescents
-of tin hig-hly polished, or of silver when to be obtained, sus
pended upon the breast, one above the other, and one around
the head. They also used little beads in ornamenting their
leather garments, intermingled with fancy embroidery.
Their favorite embellishment, as with all North American
Indians, was the vermilion paint with which they decorated
their faces. This mode of decoration was confined to the
men.
The women, as their white sisters, wore ornaments sus
pended from their ears, bracelets around their necks, and
also strings of various kinds of gaudy beads.
The ancient Chickasaws were deservedly celebrated for
their handsome young women; and seldom have I looked
upon such specimens of female grace and loveliness as I have
-.seen among* the Chickasaws three quarters of a century ago
in. their former homes east of the Mississippi river, nor do
they fall much below at the present day. Their eyes were
dark and full and their countenances like their native clime—
always beaming with sunshine — whose 'sympathetic smiles,
chased fatigue away and changed the night of melancholy
into day. They were truly beautiful and, best of all, uncon-
••sciouslv so. Oft was I at a loss which most to admire — the
.graceful and seemingly perfect forms, finely chiseled fea
tures, lustrous eyes and flowing hair, or that soft, winning
artlessness which was so pre-eminently theirs.
To the Chickasaws, as to all the North American In
dians, worldly honors and distinctions that arose from wealth
•or family connections were as empty bubbles — unworthy of
their consideration or anxiety. Ignorant of commerce, so
they were utterly ignorant of the wealth and luxuries of the
-civilized world, with all their attending vices, nor did they
desire to know. Therefore, they lived in peaceful content
ment and died in blissful ignorance of the empty distinction
•of wealth or rank; thus all were upon a natural equality; all
•dressed alike, and all met as equals everywhere, at all times
and upon all occasions. The virtues of their primitive sim
plicity were indeed many. Punctuality and ttonesty in their
dealings, and unassumed hospitality to strangers were hab
itual; unalloyed friendship and cordiality to their neighbors
universal; and all seemed as members of one great, loving
.family, connected by the strongest ties of consanguinity.
The greatest care was bestowed upon their children by
the Chickasaw mothers, whom they never allowed to be
\
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 489
placed upon their feet before the strength of their limbs
would safely permit; and the child had free access to the
maternal breast as long- as it desired, unless the mother's
health forbade its continuance. Children were never whipped
by the parents, but, if guilty of any misdemeanor, were
sent to their uncle for punishment (the same as the Choc-
taws), who only inflicted a severe rebuke or imposed upon
them soro£_ little penance, or, what was more frequent, made
appeals to their feeling's of honor or shame. When the boys
arrived at the" age of proper discrimination — so considered
when, arrived at the age of 12 or 15 years — they were com
mitted to the instructions of the old and wise men of the
village, who, at various intervals, instructed them in all the
necessary knowledge and desired qualifications to constitute
them successful hunters and accomplished warriors. As
introductory lessons they were instructed in the arts of
swimming-, running-, jumping-, wrestling-, using the bow and
arrow; also, receiving from those venerable tutors those
precepts of morality which should regulate their conduct
when arrived at manhood. The most profound respect (a
noted charrcteristic of the North American Indians) was
paid everywhere to the 'oldest person in every family,
whether male or female, and whose decisions upon all dis
puted points were supreme and final, and were received with
cheerful and implicit obedience. No matter how distant
their blood relations might be, all the members of a family
addressed its head as father or mother, as the case might
be; and whenever they meant to speak of him (their natural
father), they said, -"My real father," in contradistinction to
that of father applied to the chief or head of the family.
The itinerant white trader, with his smuggled whiskey,
was, has ever been, is and will ever be, the patent instru
ment in the hands of the devil of demoralization among all
Indians, and counteracted the moral and religious influence,
teachings and regulations of the missionaries of the long
ago, as well as of the present day. Still those devoted
teachers of righteousnessof the long past succeeded ineffect
ually removing forever many of their ancient superstitious
customs and beliefs in almost and incredible short space of
time. The power and influence of the "Medicine Man," the
magic power of their personal totems, and alike that of the
Rain Maker, the Prophet, soon vanished before the light of
the Gospel of the Son of God, as mists before the/morning
sun; and it was truly affecting to witness with what deep and
unfeigned interest they listened to. the history of the Cross,
as narrated by those true and devoted servants of God, sev
enty-five years ago; and how soon, under the Divine guid-
490 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
ance, they seemed to comprehend and feel the regenerating
influence of revealed religion. With unfeigned astonish
ment they, heard the story of the atonement. For a man to
yield his life to the demands of a violated law for the life he
had taken, or that a friend might die for a friend, was their
own law and creed; but for one to voluntarily die for a known
and inveterate enemy — yea, for the Son of the Great Spirit
to willingly die for those who despised and reviled him re
quired more than the logic and eloquence of the missionaries
could accomplish; but it pleased the Divine Spirit to enlighten
their understandings, and they soon manifested an earnest
faith clearly visible in their prayers, daily walk and conver
sation and in their lives and deaths. Thus God himself
proved the whites that the live Indian was as good as the live
white man, and in many respects better.
As the art of writing was unknown to the .Chickasaws,
before the advent of the missionaries among them; their
history rested alone upon tradition, in common with the In
dian race, handed down through succeeding generations;
and that a correct, truthful and enduring knowledge of their
traditional love might be imparted to each generation, as, in
turn, it took its place upon the stage of life, and which each
was taught to regard as sacred and to cherish with the
greatest fidelity, that, in their turn, they might also be able
to transmit it to their successors with the exact minute
ness they had received it, the young men, as the future
repositories of the past, were, at various intervals, sum
moned before the aged patriarchs of the Nation to have re
hearsed to them the sacred things in which they -had been
previously instructed, and which were soon to be wholly
entrusted to their care, that it might be ascertained whether
there would be found any omissions from forgetfulness, or
additions proceeding from nights of youthful fancy, or the
pruriency of invention; thus evincing a regard for histori
cal narrators highly commendable and worthy of imitation
by all recorders of events.
It was a general custom among all the southern Indians,
and no doubt of the northern Indians also, when they be
lieved a just cause of war against another tribe had pre
sented itself, to pursue a certain preliminary course, though
similar to a great extent, yet must be regarded as having its
origin in a custom which became the law of Nations. In all
such cases the old men of the Nation constituted the council
of war, who deliberated with great gravity and solemnity
upon a question involving such momentous and dubious re
sults. But in all their deliberations, whether issues of the
highest or lowest importance were at stake, the one speak-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 491.
ing- was never interrupted under any circumstance ; and
even in social conversation but one talked while the others-
listened in profound silence and with strict attention. This
was a universal characteristic among all southern Indians,
which I have learned by personal observation among- the
Chickasaws and Choctaws 'during a life of over seventy-five
years, and also by reliable information from others who-
lived for many years among other tribes; and it was difficult
for them to reconcile the chattering of the whites in their
social gatherings with their ideas of propriety and good
sense, when hearing them all talking at the same time, to
them' apparently without a listener.
Du Pratz, in 1716, when speaking of this noble charac
teristic of the southern Indians, says he had often noticed
the smile that played upon the lips of the Natchez Indians,
on many occasions, and had asked them the reason, but in
variably received the same reply — "What is it to you?'r
Finally one, after frequent solicitations,' answered: "If we
smile when we see you talking together it is because you re
mind us of a flock of cackling geese." Verily, Mr. Natchez,
if you could attend a modern "social," fully" understanding
the English language, your sense of justice and honor would
compel you to make humble acknowledgments to every goose
you met, for the insult offered (though inadvertently) to her
race in illustrating the senseless chatterings of a "social"
by the significant language of her illustrious family in loving
association assembled.
But to return to the council of war. If, after due delib
eration, they concluded that their Nation had been wronged
to such a degree as to justify their action, an embassy was
immediately sent to seek redress! If granted, the "Pipe of
Peace" was then smoked and a renewal of friendship estab
lished.
The "Pipe of Peace," which was tastefully decorated
with a profusion of fanciful ornaments, the white feathers-
of the eagle being the most conspicuous, was respected
everywhere by the North American Indians, and the bearers
of that sacred emblem were always safe in going and re
turning under any and all circumstances.
But if satisfactory explanation was refused, the em
bassy hastily returned home, and the warriors of the Na
tion at once 'summoned in council, in which war measures-
were discussed and adopted duringwhich the "Pipe of ^STar"
was smoked; this pipe was similar in shape to the peace-
pipe, with the exception that the colors of its ornaments
were different, red being the most prominent.
During these preliminaries, the opening tribe not un-
492 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
mindful of the gathering- storm, were also performing- their
war ceremonies. With some tribes, a declaration of war
was made by leaving a hieroglyphic picture near a principal
villag-e of the Nation ag-ainst which war was declared, and
'executed in such a manner as to be fully comprehended by
the challenged who the challengers were. If the challenged
did not desire war, an embassy bearing the pipe of peace
was immediately sent to the offended Nation with full powers
of negotiating for combined peaceful relations between the
two nations, which most always terminated successfully.
When preparing for war, the Chickasaws, like their en
tire race, of whom I have read or personally known, painted
their faces in such a manner (known only to the North
American Indians) as to give the face an expression of fierce-
ness that must be seen to be justly comprehended. A few
days before going upon the war-path a day was solemnly
appointed for a great feast, consisting of all the varieties of
food that could be obtained; but every night previous to the
day of the feast those contemplatiug going upon the war
path engaged in the war-dance during the greater part of the
nights dressed in all the paraphernalia of Indian warfare.
Tl^e warriors also came to the prepared feast fully equipped
with every necessary appertaining to the war-path, but with
no superfluous articles whatever that might have a tendency
to impede their actions. Before they partook of the waiting
repast some celebrated old chief or noted old warrior, with
the war-pipe in his hand, who, from the decrepitude of age,
had been placed upon the "retired list" among the seers and
prophets of the Nation, delivered a speech to the war-going
company,- in which he rehearsed his own exploits,, not in the
spirit of self-adulation, but as an honest exhortation to them
to emulate his deeds of heroic valor; then enpouraged them
to go in trusting confidence; to be great in manly courage
and strong' in heart; to be watchful, keen in sight and fleet
in foot ; to be attentive in ear and unfailing in endurance; to
be cunning as the fox, sleepless as the wolf and agile as the
panther; not to be eager beyond prudence ; and when wis
dom so dictates, to flee as the swift antelope, as your lives
are of great worth to your Natiou, and even one life neces
sarily or unnecessarily sacrificed, will bring sorrow to the
hearts of your people. But to the appreciation of which no
outward manifestation whatever was made, as an Indian
warrior is ever silent upon any and all emotions of his heart,
yet the aged orator plainly read its significance in each silent
and attentive face, and was satisfied. Then he filled the
war-p'ipe with prepared sumac leaves and tobacco; lighted
it; drew a few whiffs, then passed it to the war-chief, the
\ HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 493
leader of the • forth-going war-party, who also drew a few
puffs, and from him it went the rounds of the entire party,
each in profound silence drawing a whiff or two snd then
passing it to the next in turn. . After this impressive cere
mony they turned to the prepared feast and did ample justice
thereto; after which, the "war-post," painted red, was set
up, at which the chief of the war-party rushed and struck
with his tomahawk with all his strength, as if one of the
enemy. Then followed his warriors in regular order, each
doing the same.
Then followed again the war-dance, the finale of the war
ceremonies, which continued two or three consecutive nights
during the intervening days of which their relatives and
friends observed a strict fast and engaged in solemn and
supplicating prayer to the Great Spirit for their success
against their enemies, and their safe return.
The Chickasaws were addicted to one vice, the vice of
gambling. They bet on the proper handling and the skill
ful shuffling of his ball-sticks, the fleetness of his feet,
and his power of endurance; while his white brother risked
his money on the proper handling and skillful shuffling of
his paper cards. \
Among the many redeeming traits of the Chickasaws
(though they did bet on their ball-plays — a custom long lost
in the shadows of the dim historic past) there was one
that "hides a multitude of sins" — it ts their care for and
protection of their orphans; and it is the universal testimony
of all personally acquainted with the various traits of Indian
characteristics, that no race of people, of whose history
there is any record, ever excelled the North American In
dians in this particular virtue. Never have there been found
among the Chickasaws or ChoctawTs homeless and friendless
orphan children, thrown out to shift for themselves, and left
"to root pig or die." I speak from a personal knowledge of
seventy-five years and know of what I speak; and I am sus
tained in the assertion, broad as it may seem, by the united
testimony of all the missionaries who labored among them
east of the Mississippi river, and some of wrhom came with
them to their present place of abode; and no't only does this
noble and God-approved virtue belong to the Chickasaws and
Choctaws, but also to all North American Indians, and the
missionaries among them everywhere have publicly attested
its truth. I have seen, time and again, in many families
among the Chickasa\vs and Choctaws from one to four adop
ted orphan children; and they were adopted, not through
mercenary motives — the hope of gain — but in the true spirit
of the word, actuated by the divine principle of justice and
494 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
compassion for the fatherless, motherless and homeless,
.adopted in the full meaning- and sense of the word, to be
' protected, cared for and loved, not to be enslaved for the few
•dollars and cents that anticipation whispered would be made
out of them by adoption. And one might live a lifetime in a
family of adopted orphans, and, unless told, he would not
even suspect but that all the children were of the same
parentage.
The ancient Chickasaw divisions of the tribe were called
Yakissah, (here stops). In reference to family connections
in marrying they were the same as the Choctaws, No per-
•sons of the same Yakissah were allowed to marry. Also
they have been called In Chukka Holhtenah Hochifo, most
frequently abbreviated to Inchukka holhte chifo, his house
{or clan) is numbered and named; and with the same refer-1
•ence as Yakissah, and also Iksa of the Choctaws. If a man
violated the law by marrying a woman of his own Yakissah
{or house), he forfeited his own rights and privileges, and
also his children of the same; but the wife forfeited noth
ing.
The Chickasaws, like their brethren, the Choctaws,
never betrayed any trust reposed in them. No matter what
whether of great value or of little consequence, was left in
their charge to be taken care of, that confidence was never
betrayed. They were true to their friendship, never being
the first to violate its sacred ties; yet bitter i» their ani
mosity, even as all the fallen race of unfortunate Adam.
B^ut like all their race of the long ago, they too possessed but
little idea of compensation; therefore were easily made the
victims of unprincipled white traders who -well knew how to
•defraud them, and had no compunctions of conscience to use
that knowledge to their own pecuniary advantage', though to
the- utter impoverishment of the Indian. But the Chicka
saws, beginning to realize that they received very little in re
turn for a very large amount given, adopted a very proper
plan, as they thought, to test the honesty of all white
traders, but which gave them completely into their hands.
It was this: They first offered for sale the most indiffer
ent article they had in whatever the line of barter consisted,
and asked a higher price for it than its intrinsic value; and
if the white man accepted it without dispute, it was sufficient
evidence to them that he did not design to wrong them, and
their confidence in his integrity was firmly established.
But if the trader refused to make the purchase in harmony
with the Chickasaw's offer, the bargain was at once closed
by the suspicion that the white man intended to defraud
them. - But the Whites soon learning the Chickasaws'
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 495
method of testing- their honesty (though utterly void of the
virtue), at once bought the first article offered at the full
price set upon it by the owner without a whimper^ and thus
gained their confidence; and without hesitation, entered the
door of trade thus opened and continued to defraud the mis
guided Chickasaws.
The ancient Chickasaws had four laws only; all of which
were strictly adhered to and rigidly enforced throughout the
entire Yakissahs of the Nation. First, the law of murder,
which placed the slayer wholly and exclusively inthe hands of
of the oldest brother of the slain, whenever failed to execute
the law whose claims were thus entrusted to his care and
keeping, the standing verdict of which was "An eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth." — death. In case the deceased
liad no brother or brothers, then one of the next nearest and
oldest male relative became' the self-appointed executioner of
the violated law in which no delinquent was ever found. Nor
did anyone, not even the nearest relations of the slayer, in
terfere in the matter in any way whatever— either to assist
or oppose. If the slayer fled, which was very seldom if ever
the case, his oldest brother, and if he had no brother, then
the next nearest and oldest relative in the male line was
slain in his place; after which he could return in safety and
without the fear of molestation, but to be ostracised and for
ever stigmatized as a coward wherever he went, a punish
ment more to be dreaded by all North American Indians
than a hundred deaths. In all such cases a woman was never
slain in the place of a man. On account of this rigid and in
exorable custom of dealing with him who had slain his fel-
lowman, murders were very few and far between, as the
slayer well knew the inevitable consequence that would follow
unless he fled to parts unknown, which would be attended
with eternal disgrace to himself, family and kindred, at the
sacrifice also of his brother's life, or next nearest male rela
tive.
Second, whipping for minor offenses; after which the
culprit was reinstated to favor without any disgrace being
attached to his name for his offense or punishment. He had
violated the law, but had paid the penalty thereunto attached.
The claims of the law were satisfied and therefore it was a
thing of the past, to be mentioned no more, and it never was.
Fourth. The property of deceased parents descended
to the brothers and sisters of the deceased, and not to their
own children.
To us a strange, unjust and inconsistent law; but of
which I was informed, as above recorded, by Governor Cyrus
Harris, in 1886, who was regarded as among the best posted
496 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
of the Ghickasaws in regard to their laws and customs when
living- in their ancient domains, and . whose veracity was
never questioned by all who knew him, either among his own
race or that of the white.
Up to the time the Chickasaws moved west (1836-'38),
their country was divided into three districts, viz: Tisho-
mingo, Sealy and McGilvery. At the time of their exodus
west to their present places of abode, Tishomingo (properly
Tishu Miko, chief officer or guard of the king) was the chief
of the Tishu Miko district; Samuel Sealy, of the Sealy dis
trict, and William McGilvery, of the McGilvery district.
The Chickasaw ruler was styled king instead of chief?
and his chief officer was called Tishu Miko.
Ishtehotohpih was the reigning king at the time they
left their ancient places of abode east of the Mississippi
river for those west. He died in 1840. He was the last of
the Chickasaw rulers who bore the title, king. After his
death the monarchical form of government, which was
hereditary, as I was informed by Governor Cyrus ^Harris,
was abolished, and the form of Republicanism adopted.
^Tbe power of their kings was very circumscribed, being only
'about equal to that of their present governor. The king's
wife was called queen, but clothed with no authority what
ever, and regarded only as other Chickasaw women.
That Tishu Miko was a wise counselor and brave war
rior among the Chickasaws is about all that has escaped
oblivion, as little has been -preserved of his life by tradition
or otherwise. He was the acting Tishu Miko of Ishteho
tohpih at the time of the removal of his people to the west.
He died in 1839, the year before his royal master. He was
appointed during life as one of the chief counselors to Ishte
hotohpih ; and when he advised the king upon any mooted
question, so great was his influence over the other counsel
ors, as Governor Harris stated, that they at once unani
mously acquiesced to his propositions, but invariably with
the reiterated exclamation, "That's just what I thought!
That's just what I that!" while the king said but little, but
generally adopted the suggestions of Tishu Miko.
Tushkaapela (Warrior-Helper) was a former Chickasaw
king, but was made an invalid for life by an accident which
rendered him unable to walk in an upright position, but
slowly crawled about by means of a buck's horn in each
'hand extended behind him, and his feet thrust forward, pre
senting an object of great compassion. His wife was named
Pakarli (blossom), corrupted by the whites Puc-caun-la.
The ancient Chickasaws, unlike the Choctaws, buried
their dead soon after life became extinct; placing in the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 497
grave with the corpse, if a man, his clothes, war and
hunting- implements, pipe and tobacco, and a few provisions;
if a woman or child, the clothes and other little articles the
deceased may have prized in life, and a few provisions. A
Chickasaw widow mourned twelve full moons for her de
ceased husband, while the other relatives prolonged their
mourning only three; at the close of which a Special Cry
was appointed at night, which was kept up until the break
of day; then the end of the hair of the mourners was clipped
and a string handed to them with which they tied up their
hair, which had been permitted to hang loose over their
shoulders from the death of their kindred to the end of the
three moons, the appointed time for mourning.
Suicide was sometimes committed by the ancient
Chickasaws, but very seldom. When it was, " it was invari
ably done with their favorite instrument of death, the
rifle.
Many of their doctors were well informed in the medi
cinal properties of various herbs and roots found in nature's
pharmacopoeia, and were remarkably successful in their
practice, especially in cases of common fevers, the bite of
snakes, and many other ills to which frail humanity is so
subject everywhere; they were more skilful years ago than
at the present day, relying principally upon the white doc
tors located among them.
But much practical sense would the best white physi
cians of the long ago have displayed, and much useful infor
mation 'obtained concerning the medicinal virtues of many
herbs which Nature then presented in her wild botanical
garden (now forever lost) if they had humbled their foolish
pride of imagined superiority over the Indian enough to have
studied his pharmacy a little more attentively.
When living in the ancient domains of their fathers the
Chickasaws had many native women among them who prac
ticed the healing art; and not a few of them became quite
adepts in their profession. A few female physicians are still
found among them.
^ Some of the most skillful doctors were regarded by
their people as being not only wise in the knowledge of the
medicinal properties of various herbs and roots which their
boundless forests furnished so abundantly, but also gjfted
with the power of making it rain when so inclined; but they
did not make as frequent illustrations of that power bv act
ual experiment, as did some of the Choctaws.
As a.nong all North American Indians, .as far as I have
been able to ascertain, so too had the Chickasaws those priv
ileged personages, the Rain Maker, Medicine Man and the
498 HISTORY1 OF THE INDIANS.
r
Prophet, or Seer. The first, in seasons of protracted drouth,
was invoked to exert his mysterious power to bring- about an
abundant shower; the second to interpret dreams and charm,
away spells, and the third to lift the veil from' the dim and
_ mystic future. But in this they differed not from all the
" human race whose minds had not been illuminated by the di
vine rays of the gospel of the Son of God.
The ancient manner. of Chickasaw courtship was not
very taxing. upon the sensitiveness pf thebashful, perspective
groom; since, when he wished to make known to any young-
lady of his tribe the emotions of his heart in regard to her,
he had but to send a small bundle of clothing- carefully tied
up in a large cotton handkerchief (similar in dimensions to a
medium-sized table cloth, very common in those primitive
days of ignorant bliss, when fashion and folly were 'un
known) by his mother or sister to the girl he desired to make
his wife. This treasure of acknowledged love was imme
diately taken possession of by the mother of the wished-for
bride and kept for a few days before presenting it to her
daughter; and when presented, if accepted, it was a bona
fide acknowledgement on her part of her willing-ness to ac
cept him as her husband, of which confession he was at once
duly notified; if otherwise, the subject was there and then
forever dropped, and the disappointed and disconsolate
swain found consolation in the privilege extended to all such
cases, that of presenting another bundle of clothes wrapped
in a similar mantle of cotton, to some other forest beauty in
which his country-so profusely abounded. But best of all,
the swain, whether bold or timid, was always spared that
fearful and dreaded ordeal of soliciting the "yes" of the
* 'old folks," as his mother took that imperative and obnox
ious duty upon herself, and was almost always successful
in the accomplishment of the desired object. The coast
being clear of all breakers, the elated lover painted his face
in exact conformity to the latest and most approved style,
donned his best suit, and soug-ht the home of his betrothed
with fluttering heart, who, strictly on the lookout, met him
a few rods from the door, and proudly and heroically es
corted him into the house where they, themselves, in the
presence of friends and relatives, performed the marriage
ceremony by the man presenting the woman with a ham of
venison; or a part of some other eatable animal of the chase;
she at the same time presenting him with an ear of corn, or
sack of potatoes, all of which betokened the man should pro
vide the household with meat, and the woman with bread.
Thus they were made man and wife, and so considered by
all.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 499
The Chickasaws, as all the human race in all ages past,
indulged in that time honored amusement, the dance. Their
ancient national dances were the same as the Choctaws;
Hoyopa-hihla (war-dance); Hakshup-hihla, (scalp-dance);
Tolih-hihla, (ball-play dance); Tanschusi-hihla (green corn
dance); Yunnushhihla, (buffalo dance.) Then followed the
-social or fun-making dances, such as Akanka-hihla,
(chicken dance); Issuba-hihla, (horse dance); Shut-tun-nih-
hih-la (tick-dance); all of which excelled, in purity of senti
ment, many of the civilized exotics, adopted bv us, in this
Vefined age of Christian progress, such as the "round-
dance," etc., if all be true that is stated about them by those
who still retain some idea of decency and respect for its just
claims. But I judge only from hear-say, never having wit
nessed the "heart-refining and soul-elevatingN" perform
ances.
In a few only of their social dances, all of which were
performed in the'open air, men and woman participated to
gether. Rarely more than Sne musician at a time engage^
in that department of the entertainment, whose music was
of that quality which soon satisfied the ear of even the most
fastidious; he sat sometimes on a block of wood, and some
times on his mother earth, upon whose non-chiding bosom
the dancers also as recklessly "tipped the fantastic toe," as
he unyieldingly beat a little drum, accompanied its monoto
nous tones with his voice in a chanting kind of soothing lul
laby, to the facinating powers of which the dancers gave
joyous heed.
The Chickasaws had two dances sacred to the women
alone and in which they only engaged. One was called Iti-
lusahihla (Blackwood dance); the other, Itakhalusahihla
(Blackmouth dance), which, no doubt, might justly dispute
for rivalship with their pale-face sisters, when in their part
ners' scientific embrace in the performance of the fashion
able "round dance" — at least as far as external appearance
indicates — judging only from "hearsay," however.
They also had a dance called Tanspichifah (crushed or
pounded corn), in which various meats were mixed and cook
ed, now called Tarns-pe-sho-fah. This dance was only per
formed before the door of a house in which lay the sick and
only indulged in at the injunction of the alikchi (doctor) who
was attending the sick; this ancient dance of the years of
the long past is still kept up among the Chickasaws by some
of the full bloods.
When a doctor was called in to see a patient if after ex-
• erting his skill in the knowledge of the medicinal virtues
known in nature's pharmacy, newfound his patient gradually
500 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
growing worse, he ordered a Tanspichifah hihla. At once
it was announced by sending- messengers throughout the
neighborhood, and the appointed day found the friends as-"
sembled. Then a straig-ht line was drawn from the centre
of the doorway of the house in which the sick was confined,
to a smooth and straight pole fifteen or twenty feet in length,,
gaily decorated, that had been firmly set up eight or ten-
rods from the door: Two guards called Tishu, each armed
with a long- stout switch, were each stationed at the oppo
site end of the line, whose duty was to prevent anything-,
man or beast from crossing- the mystic line either way. In
the meantime a fire was kindled a short distance to one side
over which was suspended a large iron vessel filled with
pounded corn and meats. The ground having- been previ
ously and cleanly swept for a little distance each side of the
line from the door to the erected pole, and all thing's being-
ready for the dance, the bed upon which the patient rested
was drawn into a position in the room fronting- the door, to
g-ive the patient full view of the m,erry dancers, see the gail}r
decorated pole, and hear the tones of the little drum as it
responded to the quick and vig-orous strokes of the musi
cian;, that thus the thoughts- of the sick might be diverted
from the depressing influences of the mind dwelling too
long upon the malady with which he or she was afflicted.
Then the Alikchi brought out two women from the house
gaily decorated with ribbons and beads of various colors, and
alsohaving thimbles or rattles made of dry luksihakshup (ter
rapin shell) attached to their moccasins or the skirts of their
dresses, and placed them together on one side of the line,
while several men stationed themselves on the opposite
side of the line; then the Alikchi returned to his duties in
the sick room, the musician started his favorite tune on "his
harp of " less than ''a thousand strings," and the dancing
commenced; the men confining their exercises strictly to
one side of the line, and the two woman to that of the other,,
each being extremely cautious not to step over its magic
bounds. From one to two women only danced at the same
time; when wearied they gave place to others to whom were
handed the little bells or luksi hakshups taken from their
ankles and dresses, which the fresh dancers attached to
their persons in like manner as the others had done.
The leader or director of the Tanspichifah was called
Tikbahika (going first). The above generally commenced
an hour or two before' sun down and continued until the
shades of twilight began to appear, then gave place to the
partaking of refreshments fotind previously prepared in the
iron vessel around which botn dancers and spectators gath-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 501
. ' ''
-ered in happy merriment and partook (if so inclined) of the
'Tanspichifati repast. During- the, hours devoted to the dance,
the doctor, true to his trust, had been attentive to the fluct
uating" symptoms of his patient; administering- atone time
a, decoction of different herbs; at another, performing his
mystic ceremonies, among" which was the vigorous rattling
of a dr^ gourd, into which had been placed some pebbles,
over the head and around the body of his confiding patient,
and squirting from his mouth, at different intervals, a quan
tity of the decoction upon the exposed breast of his patient.
After the refreshments the dancing was resumed, but in the
house instead of the yard, where it was kept up until a late
liour pf the night, all spectators being without; during
which the monotonous tinkling and rattling of the thimble
.bells and terrapin shells, in discordant harmony with the in
defeasible little drum, which gave forth its tones in seem
ingly inexhaustible quantities to the measured blows of the
relentless and indefatigable musician, all mingling with the
voices of the dancers chanting, E-yih-hah-heh! E-yih-hah-
lieh! was enough, it did seem, to kill or cure; or, at least, to
forever put to flight the "Evil Spirit" which the worthy
•disciple of Esculapius had declared to be present, and baf-
JBed his healing skill by counteracting the efficacy of his
medicines and mystic ceremonies.
However, if the patient recovered, in spite of all the din
produced by the contest between the doctor and the "Evil
Spirit" for the victory, the doctor bore off the palm; and his
skill was deservedly undisputed, his reputation justly estab
lished and the honor of his profession nobly maintained.
.But if otherwise, and the "Evil Spirit" won the victory by
counteracting- the virtues of his medicines and mystic cere
monies, causing the death of his patient, the doctor, unwil
ling still to yield the palm of victory to the "Evil Spirit,"
readily, as a worthy guardian of the reputation of his" high
calling, found a more honorable cause for his defeat than
that by an "Evil ^Spirit," and, what was still better, more
suitable to the credulity of his patrons — even as many of his
pale-faced brothers of like profession;' therefore, he solemnly
and with great gravity announced that his patient had been
.shot by an Isht-ul-bih (Witch-ball) from an invisible rifle in t
the hands of an invisible witch which left no visible signs of
its mysterious power; but the secret , effects of which were
beyond the skill of any and all human doctors, to which his
dupes. gave-ready assent; and thus the reputation of the in-
;v;sible' and indefeasible power of the hattakyushpakummi
.(Witch) was confirmed, and the alikchi was enabled to come
502 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
out of the contest with a reputation unimpared, to his entire
satisfaction, and so the matter ended/
The ancient Chickasaws, like the Choctaws, had their
specified cries over the graves of their dead. At the day
appointed, the relatives, friends and neighbors assembled
and one little group after another took their seats on the
ground in a circle around the grave, then drew thejr shawls,
and blankets over their heads and commenced their doleful
lamentations, which must be seen an4 heard to form any
just idea of the scene. The "cry" continued for several
days and nights, then terminated with a feast; after which
the name of the deceased was pronounced no more. The
dead are with the past; for them how fruitless our despair,
was their final and just conclusion. /
The Chickasaw mother, as her Choctaw sister, was.
blessed in one particular amid all her trials. She, too, was>
exempt from the curse which the Sacred Writings declare
was imposed upon parturition; and the necessity of a doctor
or midwife on such occasion was unknown. A woman, about
to become a mother, retired to some private place alone, and
in a few hours returned with her child, and quietly jesumed
her occupations.
The ancient Chickasaws, unlike their kindred, the Choc-
taws, entertained no superstitious views in regard to the
eclipse of the sun or moon; regarding it as a phenomenon
inexplicable, and to be th~e height of folly to be alarmed and
worried over that which they had no control — a sensible con
clusion indeed. They called an eclipse, either of sun or
moon, hushi luma (sun hidden). Sometimes a total eclipse of
the sun was termed hushi illi (dead sun), and sometimes
hushi kunia (lost sun). They called the moon hushi ninak
aya (the sun of the night).
The traditions of the Chickasaws are silent in regard to
the flood; at least nothing has been preserved upon that sub
ject/ Rather strange! since the Choctaws, to whom they
were so closely allied by consanguinity, and the Cherokees,
Muscogees, Shawnees and many other tribes spoke of it in
their traditions.
Paki'takohlih (hanging grapes), from which the present
townTPontotoc, Mississippi, derived its name, was a town
known to the French, in the days of Bienville, by the name
Chikasahha; and afterwards to the English as "Chickasaw
Old Town"; then to the Americans as "The Chickasaw Old
Fields"; and was, according to Chickasaw tradition (no dout>t
correct) the same "Old Town" in which De Soto wintered
with his army in 1540, and over whose heads the Chickasaws
burned to expel him from their territories, after his insolent
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 503
and unjust demand; but which they afterwards rebuilt.
The venerable "Old Town" was known to the Spaniards at
an early day by the name Chicaco; and truly no spot of ground
in the Southern States has deservingly greater military fame
than "Old Chicaco." This ancient town of the Chickasaws-
was located, in the years of the far back, upon the banks of
a little stream to which they also gave the name Pakitakoh-
lih, on account of the profusion of wild grapes that hung in
tempting clusters upon its shady banks; and though nothing*
now remains to tell where the ancient "Chicaco" once stood,
and "Ilium Fuit" is all that is remembered of its eventful
history, still Pakitakohlih continues its gentle meanderings
by the perished city of the dead, as the only imperishable
monument of Chickasaw patriotism, gently murmuring its
lowly requiem to its departed shades, while the winged har
monist of the South (hushi bulbaha — mocking bird) is still
seen lingering around the scene caroling its orchestral hymns
of nature that once waked the dark-eyed Chickasaw maiden
to inhale the morning air laden with the sweet perfumes of a
world of flowers, and cheered the early hunter as he started
on the dubious chase.
But where are they, the once numerous, free and happy
Chickasaws, who, in the years gone by, stopd alone and
maintained their independence eighteen years against the
combined efforts of the French and their Indian allies to
carry out their nefarious designs, ""Extermination to the
Chickasaw Nation," but were defeated and driven back as
oft as they put their hostile feet upon Chickasaw soil? They
too, with their chivalry and glory, have passed away leaving
no trace behind them, except in the little handful that still
survives, yet retaining to the last the same chivalrous un
yielding, and unconquerable spirit of their noble ancestors
two centuries ago; and though
"No storied urn, no sculptured stone,
No marble record of their fame
/ Tells of their deeds; but not unknown,
Have passed away without a name
Those heroes bold, for every stream
That murmurs by, with scarce a motion, _/
Like the sweet memory of a dream,
Bears a soft Indian name to ocean, ' '
As to* the Choctaws two years before, so to the Chicka
saws, places of rendezvous were appointed in different lo
calities at which they were commanded to congregate, prep
aratory to their being driven off; and, like flocks of sheep
for the slaughter, they werexherded together in little groups
under the guidance of their respective chiefs, who, one after
504 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
another, moved off with his little band towards the setting
sun, cruelly banished from their ancient homes, and with
out the shadow of a just or reasonable cause. Here.\vas
seen a disconsolate mother calling- her unconscious children
from their childish and joyous gambols beneath the forest
oaks to fall into ranks writh a starting group; then, as she
took her place in file, turned her face again and again to take
one more long lingering look upon the loved scenes of her
youth and advanced years; while the loud laugh of the white
teamsters, who accompanied them, at some rough remark
made by some one of their number when driving by, jarred
like a discord in some mournful tune upon that mother's
heart, but aroused her not from her reveries.
How true it is that often the heaviest burdens of life are
those at which the world laughs, but of jvhich the over
weighted heart cannot and will not speak! There are some
misfortunes — some sorrows — that dwarf all others ; and
such indeed were those of the Chickasaws when defrauded
of their ancient homes, and bade depart, they knew not where.
They saw only merciless force behind them, and blind
chance before them; which, like that in nature, smites with
the tornado the lonely forest or the peopled country. They
had the courage to rush to arms against the wrong and in
defense of tfreir rights, but knew too well how futile would
be their effort; yet they felt like they would rather even
make the effort to push back an avalanche than cower before
it. But alas, the dark shadows of an evil future never before
had spead over them as now; but it seemed they were com
ing nearer and nearer, closing in, remorseless and relent
less, stealing upon them like vindictive, unpitying foes. It
was indeed a time of sad, yet cherished memories with them
— a memory, cherished with love and honor, still only a mem
ory. ' Truly, where else is there so human, so enthralling
grief that so wrings the spectator's heart!
There, too, was seen the brave warrior and fearless
hunter, as he turned away from his hunting grounds with
its many objects sacred to memory and dear to his beart,
taking his place in front of his family circle; and as they
bade their final adieu to the graves of their ancestors, their
homes and native land, inherited from a long line of noble
ancestry, they moved off in silence with not an eye mois
tened with a tear, nor emotion depicted on a counte
nance. And though it belongs to the Indian's nature to con
ceal his emotions of grief, and he refrains from tears, yet
none feel more deeply or are subject to more intense' agony
of soul, or possess deeper affection of heart than the North
American Indian. I speak from personal knowledge gained
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 505
from personal acquaintance and association during- a life of
over seventy-five years with the Choctaws and Chickasaws;
and what is said of them may be said with equal truth of
the entire North American Indian race.
The Indian's emotions may well and justly be compared
to the hidden fires in the deep caverns of the volcano, whose
existence is not known -till the fiery torrent breaks its bounds
and the consuming streams of lava roll over cities, towns
and villages.
In all that assembled throng-, where noble forms and
fearless hearts sat erect and silent, with stern faces and
tearless eyes, there was not a single Chickasaw, man or
woman, who would not have accepted death in any form, or
to endure in any degree — even that of burning- at the stake
(a bold assertion, yet I make it in confidence of its truth) — if
by such a sacrifice or suffering he or she could have rescued
the country of their inheritance and the home of their na
tivity from the grasp of the White Race and given it as a
sure possession to their people. Let blissful ig-norance
smile with incredulity, and conceited prejudice sneer, since
nothing more nor less can be expected of such.
And I know also that they would have resisted to the last
warrior, the arbitrary power that drove them from their an
cient possession had but a ray of hope promised success.
But there was none, not even a feeble glimmering-; therefore
they bowed submissively to the decree of the Great Spirit
(as they affirmed) and turned from the land dearer than life
to go to that which they had never seen and did not love; and
the grand old forest, as they left it with robes of g-reen and
autumnal vesture of beauty and myriads of game which na
ture had reared and fed for the benefit of her forest chil
dren, soon also melted away before the white man's' love of
destruction of all that is public, as dry stubble before the
fire, all — Chickasaws, forests and game — disappeared, to be
seen no more.
But did they leave behind them the religion of the
World's Redeemer as taught them by the faithful mission
aries? Not at all. They took it with them as their most
sacred treasure, and worshipped the God of their salvation
under the canopies of the forest oaks in the wilderness of
their new homes for a few years. Then arose, here and
there, amid the forests alog cabin church and a school-house,
over which waved the defying flags bearing the motto,
Onward, and upward, with undeviating faith and un
wearied patience from this dark and shadowy vale of doubt
and fear to that blissful immortality whence comes the
Eternal Truth.
506 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Next, in regular succession, comes a sufficiency of com
modious and comfortable churches and school-houses; and
186XJound them a thoroughly civilized, Christianized, pros
perous, contented and happy people. Then came our civil
war, into which we dragged them, vi et armis, and out of
which we sent them, stripped of everything. Yet/, Phoenix
like, again they arose from the ashes of desolation and stood
once more as a people whose indomitable resolution is un
surpassed in the annals of mankind.
But still not satisfied, we again have entered their little
garden of contentment, with the determination, this time,
to divide their lands in severalty as the introductory wedge
to the destruction of their nationality and our immediate
possession of their country, hurling them headlong, without
chart or compass, sail or rudder, to shift for themselves
among a race who possess but one characteristic "get
money," and but one belief "no good Indian but a dead In
dian."
But, as that of the Choctaw country, so it may equally
and truly be said that a more beautiful and richer country
could not be portrayed on the canvass of nature than was
also that of the Chickasaws .now forming the north half of
the State of Mississippi. They, as the Choctaws, annually
burned the grass of their forests throughout their entire
country; and thus the landscape was unobscured by any
wood undergrowth whatever, while the tall forest trees,
standing so thick as to shade the entire ground, spread their
giant arms over the thick carpet of grass beneath, varie
gated with innumerable flowers of all colors arraying the
earth in wild beauty, and filling the air with fragrance ; while
the incessant and merry warblings of their untaught orches
tra (nature's dowry) from the unwearied throats of innu
merable and gaily plumaged birds, fascinated the scene and
made the heart glad; and in the autumn season, the Indian
summer of those days of seventy-five years ago, when the sun
rose a coppered disk^ casting no shadow until risen several
degrees above the horizon; then, as it declined toward the
west, passing through all shades from a bright gold to blood
red and becoming invisible an hour or two before it sank
below the western sky; nature was still not without its at
tractive beauties, though the foliage had changed to bronze
by the kiss of winter frosts; on every side grapes, musca
dines, plums, persimmons of excellent flavor, and other
autumnal fruits in rich profusion greeted the eye and grati
fied the taste of the most fastidious, while the reproachful
chatterings and nimble gambols of the numberless squirrels
that gaily sported among the .extended branches of their
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 507
native woods ; and .the herds of deer and flocks of turkeys
that roamed o'er the uolands. and amid the tangled cane-
brakes on the water courses where the bear, panther, cata
mount, wolf and innumerable smaller animals made their
homes, all invited the hunter to the enjoyment of an endless
variety of wild and fascinating- amusement unsurpassed in.
the annals of a hunter's paradise. Truly, that is happiness
which breaks not the link between man and nature.
For several years after the departure of the Chickasaws
not a vestige of change was seen; no sound of the wroodman's
ax, or even the distant crowing- of the domestic cock an
nouncing- the approach of white civilization, broke the pro
found silence of the vast forests, undisturbed by man, yet
swarming- with animal life. Travel where you would, though
no sig-n indicating the presence of man was seen, yet you
felt not alone; above you countless warblers rendered the
air resonant with the wild but sweet music of nature's har
mony; before you the wild turkey flapped his broaci wings
carelessly and seemed only to change his position that he
might the better observe the actions and ascertain the inten
tions of the new and white-faced intruders upon his ancient
heritage; while here and there droves of deer crossed and
re-crossed your path at different intervals, sometimes run
ning with fleetest feet, at others quietly grazing, then gaily
gamboling in the tall, waving grass which, to an imaginative
mind, might have appeared as Naiads sporting upon the
wind-disturbed bosom of some enchanted lake; and, as even
ing let her curtains down and twilight shades appeared, the
ancient bird of the goddess Minerva hooted his accustomed
lays of wisdom, as a reminder that familiarity i>reeds con
tempt and sometimes worse; therefore, in commendable
modesty, sought safety in prudential distance, leaving you
alone to your reflections. Such-scenes and sounds greeted
the eye and regaled the ear of the traveler as he plodded his
way through the wilderness of Chickasaw and Choctaw for
ests as handed to the White Race seventy years ago by that
noble race of people when banished to the West by arbi
trary power, in 1832 and '36, and where their condition, for
several years, was little better than that of the hapless sea
men who had been put ashore by their comrades upon some
desolate island far out in the ocean. Yet it was declared to
be just and right, since the "progress of Christianity and
white civilization demanded it."
Who that beheld that lovely land and enjoyed its ro
mantic scenes, but still delights to dwell in memory upon
its former charms, as it then lay in all- its primitive loveli
ness and glory, fitted up and bequeathed by the Great
.508 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Spirit to his Chickasaw children for their abode; but «out
•of which -they were cruelly and shamefully defrauded by
the United States in a treaty concluded October 20th, 1832.
.at the Council House on Pakitakalih Creek and ratified
March 1st, 1833, by the United States Senate.
This treaty having the same designs against the Chick-
asaws, and as effectually accomplished as that against the
Choctaws two years before on the banks of Bok Clukfi Luma
Hihlah, September 28th, 1830, was made and entered into by
John Eaton and John Coffee, on the part of the United States,
-and seventy-three members of the Council, on the part of
the Chickasaw Nation.
There were four Chickasaw families at that day, as I
was informed by Governor Cyrus Harris, who kept their
liouses so neatly, and their yards so free of all grass, weeds
and rubbish of all kinds, that they were called by the whites,
"The clean house Indians." Three of -the heads of the four
families were brothers, and the other a brother-in-law t° the
three. The chief or the head man of the four families was
named Chikasah nana ubih (pro. Chik-a-sah nar-nar-ub-ih,
and sig. A Chickasaw who kills anything), and his two broth
ers, the one Ishkitahah (pro. Ish-ke-tar-hah and sig. No
mother or mother gone.) The other, Innihtowa (pro. In-nih-
to-wah, sig. Warm the ball,) The brother-in-law was named
Aiyuka ubih (pro. Ai-yu-kah ubih and sig. Each one Jail, or
to kill each one).
At an early day a few white men of culture and of good
morals, fascinated with the wild and romantic freedom and
simplicity of the Chickasaw life, cast their lot among that
brave and patriotic nation of people.
I read an article published in Mississippi a few years
ago, which stated that a. man. by the name of Mclntosh,
•commissioned bv British authorities to .visit the Chickasaw
Nation and endeavor to keep up its ancient hostility to the
French, was so delighted with the customs and manners of
that brave, free and hospitable people that, after the accom
plishment of his mission, he remained among them; then
marrying a Chickasaw woman he became identified with the
tribe; that he became an influential character among the
Chickasaws; that he found the whole Nation living in one
large village in the "Chickasaw Old Fields"; that he per
suaded them to scatter, take possession of the most fertile
and watered lands, and live where game was more plentiful;
that he /planted a colony at a place called Tokshish (cor
ruption of Takshi-pro. Tark-shih, and sig. Bashful) sev
eral miles south of Pontotoc; that this colony became the
\
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 509'
favorite residence of the white renegades, etc. All of which
is without even a shadow of truth.
True, a man by the name of Mclntosh once visited the
Chickasaw Nation as stated; but, after his diplomacy was
accomplished, departed and returned no more. There never
was a Mclntosh identified in any way with the Chickasaws at
that early day, nor has there been one from that day to this.
The only white men adopted and identified with the Chicka-
saws at that early day were James Gunn, Logan Colbert,
John Gilchrist, Malcomb McGee, James Allen and John By-
num, and their descendants are still among- the Chickasaws.
An aged daughter of John Bynum, with whom I am person
ally acquainted, as also with her children, was, in 1890, still
hovering upon the stage of human life, 'as bright an example
of true Christian piety as ever waited for the Divine Mas
ter's final summons to a blissful immortality.
At the time of the establishment of the Christian Mis
sion among the Chickasaws under the jurisdiction of that
noble1 and true Christian philanthropist, Rey. T. C.
Stuart, Malcomb McGee (erroneously published as Malcomb
McGeche) was a venerable and highly venerated character/
amftng the appreciative Chickasaws of all true moral worth.
He was born, according to his own statements, of Scotch
parents in the city of New York about the year 1757.
vShortly^ after his parents arrived in America, his father en
listed in the Colonial army in an expedition against the
French, and was killed at the storming of Ticonderoga, only
a few months before young Malcomb was born.
About this time marvelous rumors of the vast and mag
nificent plains of Illinois, covered by innumerable heYds of
buffalo, wild horses, deer and great varieties of other wild'
animals, excited the cupidity of the adventurous, and a com
pany of enthusiasts resolved lo go to that imagined earthly
paradise,, among whom was the, young widow McGee. In
those days of the distant past, to reach that point in the "far
west" from New York, New Orleans had first to be reached
by sea; thence up the Mississippi river by a keel-boat worked
by hand, which took months of arduous toil and great priva
tion to make a voyage from New Orleans to St. Louis. The
adventurous journey, .however, was undertaken and success
fully accomplished by those lovers of the romantic. But in
that then world of wilderness the young widow McGee soon
found herself reduced to extreme poverty, with none near
who were able to assist her. At this time a man by the
name of Mclntosh visited the .distant little colony on the
Illinois river; learning her distressful situation, and moved
with pity, he advised her to let him adopt young Malcomb
510 HISTORY OF THE 'INDIANS.
as his own son under the promise of being- a father to the
boy in raising- and educating- him. t In her extreme poverty
and feeble prospects of doing anything- for him in regard to
an education, she finally consented, but with great reluc
tance, and gave Malcomb, then about ten years of age, to the
care and guardianship of Mclntosh. JBut what an ordeal for
that mother's heart and that orphan boy, who had never seen
his father, as cruel fate now decrees their separation (which
proved a final one), the one to remain in the wilderness of
the west ; the other to go with a stranger to a wilderness far
in the east, to the land of the Muscogees, among whom Mc
lntosh had selected his future home; and afterwards marry
ing among them was adopted and became one of that war
like people, whose descendants from that day to this have
been a prominent family among the Muscogees, now known
as the Creeks.
. How different were those white men of that early day
who cast their lot among the southern Indians from those
who, of later years, have sought, and still seek, citizenship
among that people! The former sought the moral advance
ment of the people among whom they had cast their lot; and
who, when followed by the self-sacrificing missionaries, did
all they could to assist them in the promulgation of religion
and education among their newly adopted people — being like
them free of all avarice; the latter being influenced Wholly
through selfish motives, without a thought or care for the
good of the Indians, have ever been, and still are, a wither
ing blight upon the labors of the missionaries — a mildew
upon their hopes and a curse, in the plurality of cases, to
the Indians upon whom they intrude, as far as virtue and
morality are concerned. Alas! through what an ordeal has
the Red Race of the I^orth American continent been forced
to pass since first made acquainted' with the White.
But true to his trust, the generous Mclntosh proved a
father and faithful friend to the homeless orphan Malcomb,
and, a few years after his return to the Muscogees, took
him to Mobile, then occupied by the French, and placed him
in a school under the jurisdiction of a French family, who,
shortly after his guardian had left became so tyrannical,
oppressive and abusive, that young Malcomb resolved to
free himself from their cruelty by bidding them an in
formal adieu which would place him forever beyond their
power; and soon he embraced the opportunity presented, to
put his resolutions into effect, by some Indian traders visit
ing Mobile, to whom he attached himself on their return,
and thus was enabled to rejoice again in the freedom of a
forest home, among that race of people who never forsook a
-<• HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 511
homeless and friendless orphan. He did not, however, re
turn to his former home under the roof of his benefactor,
Mclntosh, but stopped among- the Choctaws with whom he
remained several years, during- which he married a Choctaw
maiden by the name of Kanah hoyo (a seeker for somebody).
He lived happily with Kanahhoyo for several years, who
then dying1, he returned to the Chickasaws, his old friends,
and solicited citizenship which was readily and cheerfully
granted. After living- with them a few years, he married a
Chickasaw widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Harris, who was the old
est daughter of Molly Oxberry, and the mother of Governor
Cyrus Harris, of the Chickasaw Nation.
Malcomb McGee acted interpreter to the Chickasaws in
all their negotiations with the United States for nearly forty
years. He was greatly attached to the Rev. T. C. Stuart,
and when the Chickasaws were driven from their homes to
their present ones Malcomb McGee resolved to remain with
Mr. Stuart; and in his yard he lived nearly twelve years in a
neat little log house erected by his noble missionary friend
for his special use and benefit. But about the year 1848 his
daughter and her husband paid him a visit from their wes
tern home, and on their return persuaded him to return with
them to their western home, but he survived only a year af
ter his arrival. He died in the ninety-second year of his age
and was buried at Old Boggy Depot, in the\land of the Choc-
taws, also his long and faithful friends; and of Malcomb Mc-
gee and his Chickasaw and Choctaw friends, it well may be
said:
' 'He that does the best his circumstances allow,
"Does well; acts nobly; Angels could do no more."
James Gunn, whose name is co^nmemorated in that of a
town called Gunntown, situated in Lee county, Mississippi,
was one among the six white men previously mentioned,
who at an early day cast their lot of life among the Chicka
saw people, preferring the happy freedom of that heroic
nation of people to all that was offered among* their own
race. James Gunn was a native Virginian, and also a fear
less and indomitable loyalist, who stood for the crown in the
troubled days of Charles the First and the Roundheads ; and
•when £he revolution proved triumphant, and the rising glory,
of these United States had been announced,, and also seemed
summoned to take their position among the great nations of
earth, the old royalist, disdaining the society of successful
rebels, "bade an adieu forever to the home of his youtl), and
sought.a more congenial one among the true native sons and
freemen of North America. He secured a wife among the
512 HISTORY OF' THE INDIANS.
wild forest flowers of the noted Chickasaw beauties of that
long" ago, selecting* one named Okashuah (Stinking" Wa
ter); a name, thoug-h not of classic fame or enviable signifi
cation, it is reasonable to presume, yet did not detract from
her. merits as an amiable and devoted wife and ^mother in
any particular whatever. They had only one daughter,,
named Molly, who married a Cherokee warrior named Ox-
berry, anil her oldest daughter by this marriage was named
Elizabeth, who became the mother of Governor Cyrus Har
ris; and another of her daughters, by the same marriage,
was, in 1890, living near Colbert Station, Chickasaw Nation,
I. T., at the advanced age of ninety-six, and is known as.
Grandma Alberson. Molly was also the mother of the cele
brated Chickasaw beauty named- Rhoda. James Gunn died,
in 1826 ; his age has not been preserved; but, it is said, he-
was a very old man at the time of his death.
Many young white sprigs who visited the Chickasaw"
Nation with the view of speculation, when they saw Rhoda,
the Chickasaw belle, the fairest rose that bloomed in the for
ests wild of that romantic age, felt their visions of lands,
negroes, mules, cotton bales and speedy fortunes vanish- as
mists before the morning surfy and though they sighed and
wooed, gazed in meditative solitude at the moon and stars,
and in hours of thoughtful mood gave birth to imaginative
verse on the Chickasaw nymph,
"Whose glossy locks to shame might bring
"The plumage of the raven's wing,"
and in humble, yet loving, attitude, with promises many and
fair, solicited her heart and hand, but 'twas all in vain. The
inexorable Rhoda could not fancy those sprigs of white no
bility, nor judge a single one of them as a better substitute
for a husband than many* of the Cfyickasaw youths who had
never felt the blighting curse of avarice, noi; would sacrifice
a friend at the shrine of its demands; therefore turned away
from them and gave her youthful heart to one of her own
race, Samuel Colbert, a son of Major James Colbert; the ex
odus of her people soon following her nuptial day, she, with
them, bade a final adieu to the fair scenes of her joys and
soon the loveliness of the forest flower passed from the mem-'"
ory of its former admirers as the evening' star behind the
western hills — to be thought of "Never More." She became
the mother of one daughter, but after living several years
with her husband a final separation, from some unknown
cause, took place between her and her husband. Several
years after which she married a man by the name of Joseph
Potts, who took a dose of strychnine through mistake for
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 513
quinine, in 1862, while at the house of Governor Cyrus Har
ris, and died from its effects in half an hour. A son of Gov
ernor Harris found the vial of strychnine in the road a few
rods from the house and brought it in, believing- it to be a
vial of quinine some one had accidentally dropped, and hence
the fatal and lamentable result.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF CYRUS HARRIS, EX-GOVERNOR OF
THE CHICKASAW NATION.
Cyrus Harris, who was of the House Emisha taluyah
(pro. E, we, mish-ar, beyond, ta-larn-yah, putting- it down)
was born, as he stated to me, three , miles south of
Pontotoc, Mississippi, on the 22nd of August, . 1817. He
died at his home on Mill Creek, Chickasaw Nation. He
lived with his mother until the year 1827, when he was sent
to school at the Monroe Missionary Station, at the time that
Rev. Thomas C. Stuart, that noble Christian missionary and
Presbyterian minister, had charge of the school, and in
which many Chickasaw youths, both male and female, were
being- educated. In 1828, he was taken, to the state of Ten
nessee by Mr. Hugh Wilson, a minister also of the Old
School Presbyterian faith and order, and placed in an Indian
school located on a small stream called Roberson Fork, in
the county of Giles. This humble little Indian school was
taught by a man named William R. McNight. Cyrus, at
the close of the year 1829, had only been taught the rudi
ments of an English education, to spell in the spelling-book
and read in the New Testament. In the early part of the
year 1830, he took up the study of geography and reading in
the first and second readers, which terminated his school
boy days, as he returned home that year and never attended
school again. When he returned to his home he found it va
cated; but learned that his mother had moved to a place
near a little lake then known as .Ishtpufahaiyip (pro. Isht-
poon-fah,-Horn, haiyip, lake), eighteen miles south-west of
the present .city of .Memphis, Tennessee. ^Thither he at
once;turned his. steps, and soon found his mother in her new
home, where he remained but a :short time (then thirteen
years, of. age), as he was soon sent to stay a while with art old
lady as company for her, whose husband a short time before,
had been killed by a Choctaw who had been adopted by the
. Chickasaws. • , r..-r , : ; . :. •;-,-. !• ,•
Cyrus remained a few months with the bereaved widow,
but .he became, ;so lonely^ there ,being:no neighbors, nearer
than tfrree, miles, that -his boyish heart could .endure tit no
longer; though he amused himself. the best he^ould by hunt
ing. and shooting rabbits, squirrels and birds .with his. bow
514 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. '
and arrows, often visiting- his mother living- a few miles
distant. He again returned to his mother but to remain a
short time as before; as his uncle by marriage, Martin Col
bert, a most excellent man employed him to come and assist
him with his stock.
Cyrus Harris who spoke both the Chickasawand English
languages, having1 learned from a friend that there was a de
mand for interpreters, sought at once the land office estab
lished at Pontotoc, three miles from the home of his birth,
and fortunately succeeded in securing a position as clerk in
a dry goods store, and also to interpret for one John Bell,
who was then Surveyor General, but kept a trading house.
He remained only a short time as clerk, for he soon obtained
a more lucrative position in that of acting as interpreter for
the deputies of John Bell and one Robert Gordon who were
partners in buying lands. At this time the United States
Agent and the Chickasaw commissioners were busy in locat
ing lands. Land speculators followed up the agent and com
missioners, that no opportunity might be lost in which a
profitable -speculation might be made.
Cyrus Harris now became an indispensable personage in
the firm of Bell & Gordon. In 1839 the land sales were
brought to a close and the Chickasaws were then informed,
without equivocation, that their room was more desired than
their presence; and as nothing more could be made out of
them, they could now go West or to the devil, it made no dif
ference which, so they were expeditious in the matter. Cy
rus Harris was appointed as one of the interpreters to in
form the Chickasaws to meet at once in council and appoint
the day in which they would depart from their ancient heri
tage, now passed into the hands of the Philistines; and the
long cherished and loved scenes that make life doubly dear
to the heart. The Whites having now no longer need of the
cloak of friendship and good will to hide the hideous defor
mity of their hypocrisy, hurled it from them with unassum-
ed disgust and stood forth in their native ugliness.'
The Chickasaws at once took up their line of march
westward, feeling that rather than abide such a tempest of
rascality as was daily exhibited before their eyes in the wild
and crazy scuffle for a few acres of earth by wliich to quench
their raging thirst for gain, they would flee even from heaven
did such a stream of strife and corruption threaten an en
trance there.
On the first of November, 1837, Cyrus Harris, with his
mother and a family of friends, left forever their homes and
native couiftry, now in the clutches of their assumed friends,
the Whites, to join the emigration, then awaiting transp^rta-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 515
tion at Memphis, Tennessee, which soon arrived, and the
greater part of the Chickasaws, under the jurisdiction of
one A.1 Upshaw, the emigration agent, left for Fort Coffee,
Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, by way of steamboats.
Cyrus Harris and mother, with a few other families,- went
through by land to Fort Coffee. When they had arrived
there they learned that their friends were encamped near
Schullyville (Schully, a corruption of the word Tuli — the full
word being Tuliholisso— money paper, or paper money; a
place where the Government paid them their annuities), but
the "ville" part of it is unquestionably English.
Harris remained in camp at Schullyville about two
weeks; then, with 'several families, started to find a desira
ble place for settling, and finally located on Blue river.
This was in 1838. While living there he was induced to
" -enter the political arena of his country. In 1850 a council
was convened at Boiling Springs, in Ponola (Cotton) county,
in which he was appointed to accompany Edmond Pickens
to Washington City to arrange some national business, which
proved ineffectual from some injudicious recommendation.
On returning home -Mr. Harris sold his place on Blue
river and settled at Boggy Depot. He resided there a year,
and again sold out and moved to a point on Pennington
Creek, about a mile west of Tishomingo, where he remained
until November, 1855. Not satisfied there, he once more
sold and moved to a place on Mill creek, where he still lived
in 1884. In ; 1854 he was again appointed a delegate, with
several others, to Washington City. In 1856, after the adop
tion of the Chickasaw Constitution, he was elected governor
of the Chickasaw Nation. Having served two years, with
commendable discretion and sound judgment, he was re-
elected, and filled the gubernatorial chair for two more
years, sustaining himself with equal credit and honor, after
which he was elected two more terms, serving his people
with the same integrity. During his four terms of eight
years, peace, harmony and prosperity prevailed throughout
the Chickasaw Nation.
In 1876 ex-Governor Cyrus Harris 'was again brought be
fore the Chickasaw people as a candidate for the office of
Governor, but was defeated by his opponent, B. F. Overton,
who served his people faithfully and satisfactorily through
his first term, and at the next election was re-elected. In
1880 Cyrus Harris was again brought out by his friends, con
trary to his wishes, and was pronounced elected by the Leg
islature, but, it was said, votes were counted out just enough
to illegally elect his friend, B. C. Burney, a man highly es
teemed by the people. Ex-Governor Harris then and there
516 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
announced that he had forever withdrawn frorn^ the political
field, and he has strictly adhered to his determination.
Since writing the above the sad tidings of the death of
ex-Governor Cyrus Harris, that noble patriot and true phil
anthropist, was announced in the following obituary:
"Died at his residence, Mill Creek, Chickasaw Nation,
Friday, the 6th, Cyrus Harris, ex-governor of the Chicka-
saws. He was buried on the 7th inst. at the family ceme
tery in Mill Creek."
"To record the passage from life to eternity is the sad
dest and gravest duty that falls to the lot of the journalist.
..The more so, when he announces the death of one whose;
loss will be deeply and widely regretted; one beloved of all
men, whose place can never be filled in the homes anci hearts-
•of his people. In recording the death of ex-Governor Har-
'ris, we are fully aware of this fact; for not within the range
of man's recollection has any member of the Chickasaw
tribe impressed himself so favorably, so deeply and effect
ually upon his generation.
"His public and private character were wrought in the
same mould; both equally incorruptible. The low, the
base, the avaricious, were elements foreign to his existence,
Awhile the chambers of his heart were ever lighted for the
reception of such warm impulses and philanthropic ideas as
are rarely met with, save in natures of the noblest type.
Despite his progressive ideas, Cyrus Harris was an Indian
in the truest sense, a patriot and a leader of his people. His
country was his greatest care; so whether engaged in legis-
ture, in administration, or. dwelling peaceably in his humble
cottage, his heart and brain were alike harnessed to his
country's welfare. His generosity and his self-sacrifice
were finely displayed in his last executive act. His election
by the people being disputed by the House, in order to avoid
Apolitical trouble, he withdrew and retired into private life.
"There is no reward in this world for that which is in
corruptible; naught save the approbation of the good and
the wise. But how meager that reward, after a lifetime of
unselfish labor. Therefore, may the wish grow spontane
ously in .every sorrowing heart, that a new and everlasting
recompense lies, within reach of the departed chief.
"To the grief-stricken relatives of Governor Harris, and
to the Nation that mourns a true friend and a wise Counsel
lor, the Independent offers its most sincere and lasting, sym
pathy."
Verily, .that no truer words than the above eyer, formed
an obituary, may safely be^said, is the,, universal response ctf
all who were personally acquainted with" him who forms-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 517
this subject, a ,man, though a North American Indian, of
whose race ignorance and egotism declare there is none
good but those dead, yet unsurpassed in noble virtues, moral
stamina and social graces; and whom neither flatteries, nor
censures, proffered wealth. nor homes, could seduce from
the path of virtue and honor.
Logan Colbert married a native Chickasaw woman by
whom he had four sons, George, John, William and Levi;
all of whom arose to prominence and exerted a salutary in
fluence among their people, and became men of authority
and distinction. He also had another son by a second
marriage, named James, who fell not behind his dis
tinguished brothers.
Why Logan Colbert came to cast his lot at so early
an age and so far from the land of his nativity, among the
people so remoterfrom all the English settlements, are prob
lems that never will be solved, though it may be conjectured
with some show of probability, that he came with some of
the early English traders and adventurers who assisted the
Chickasaws in their wars against the French. At an early
day he was a renowned -leader among them, and to that de
gree of ce'lebrity, that one of the names given to the Missis
sippi river by the early French writers, during the days of
their wars with that people with whom he had identified
himself, was Rivere de Colbert sustaining the conjecture,
that -Logan Colbert was the name of the most famous chief
among the Chickasaws; who at that time swayed the sceptre
of absolute authority over the country alono" the east banks
of the Mississippi river to the great annoyance and danger of
the French in ascending and descending that mighty stream.
Though little else of the life of Logan Colbert has escaped
oblivion, except he lived, he died; yet his name has been
handed down to posterity in that of his noble line of descend
ants, who figure upon the pages of Chickasaw history as be
ing among the influential families of that Nation.
Colonel George Colbert, in the prosperous days of the
Chickasaw people, lived three or four miles west of what is
now known as the town of Tupelo, Mississippi, (Tupelo is a
corruption of Tuhpulah — To call or shout). George Colbert
became to be the most wealthy of the four brothers and was,
in his personal appearance and manners, very prepossess
ing. He did not act in any public capacity, yet he exerted a
.great personal influence as a private citizen. He was a true
conservative in sentiment and in spirit. He regarded his
people, the Chickasaws, uninfluenced by the Whites and un-
contaminated by their vices, as having reached the point of
national progress most favorable to virtue and earthly hap-
518 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
piness; therefore, he opposed all innovations as an evil which
wisdom, virtue and patriotism loudly disapproved; and seem
ingly with much justice, since the Chickasaws (like the Choc-
taws) were a virtuous people before the Whites came and in
troduced their vices among" them; therefore, he was an out
spoken enemy to missions, to schools, to whiskey, in short,
to all the good as well as the evils that were being imported
into his then happy country, having learned by experience
and observation that the evil introduced by the tVhites coun
terbalanced the good in point of amount 'as five to one; yet
he failed to shape the policy of his Nation in accordance
with his views, for the missionaries came and introduced. *
Christianity and established it upon a firm basis in spite of
the whiskey-traders and others who followed closely in their
wake, with all their concomitant vices, who seemed to delight
in thwarting the noble efforts of those devoted and self-sac
rificing men of God (even as they do at the present day),
that they might the more easily drag the Indians down to
their own degraded level.
To escape the demoralizing influences of such degraded
characters, and not the missionaries, did George Colbert
advocate the emigration of his people to the remote wilds,
of the west, where he hoped and believed the evil tide of
innovation would be arrested which threatened to engulf his
people, if they remainedun their ancient domains, and sweep
away in its mighty current of iniquity all the Chickasaw old
land marks of their moral foundations. In that distant land,
so remote (then considered) from the whites, he fondly cher
ished the belief that his nation would throw off the manners
and customs of the whites which they had already adopted,
and return to the old paths of that simplicity of life in which
their progenitors had walked for ages unknown. But he
was doomed to disappointment, for not only the missionaries
went with his people to their new homes to be found in the
west, but the whiskey peddler and his congenial spirits, not
to be thus cheated out of their victims, soon, followed on
their track with the zeal of their master, the devil, where .
they have been hovering around the outskirts of the Chicka
saw Nation, and often sneaking within, from that day to this,
as they have been doing around in the territories of all In
dians; and though the Chickasaw people, alike with all their
race, have had to fight the devil and his imps in an unequal
contest, being hampered by the government of the United
States in its, laws regarding its worthy sons of freedom,
whose-proclivities lead them to indulge their "glorious inde
pendence" regardless of all laws and every principle of
truth, justice and honor, in regard to whiskey in particular;,
1
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 519
yet the Chickasaws and Choctaws have made that wilder
ness, to which they were banished, blossom as the rose,
while Georg-e Colbert sleeps beneath the soil under the
shades of the forest trees in the present country of his
noble people, the Chickasaws. He lived and died firmly ad
hering" to the principles which he believed to be the greatest
interest to his country. He was a true patriot, and loved
the simple manners of the olden times, and could not yield
them to give place to modern 'customs with their accompany
ing vices; and who can blame him?, Alas! the Indians,
everywhere on this North American continent, have been
compelled to pay a higher price for the few crumbs of Chris
tianity that they have been allowed to pick up and convert
to the use of their starving- souls than any race of people
that ever lived, since the divine command of the world's
Redeemer bade his apostles, "Go ye into all the world and
preach my Gospel."
General William Colbert was a man of a military turn of
character, and in that capacity rose to considerable dis
tinction in the "Creek War" of 1814. He won the confidence
of General Andrew Jackson in that war, by his manly bear
ing and noble conduct, and was presented by Jackson, as a
testimonial of his esteem, with a fine military coat made
after the American style, which Colbert carefully kept to
the close of his life as one among1 the most highly treasured
relics of the past, and only wore it on important national
occasions. He lived a few miles south of a little place then
known as Tokshish a corruption of the word Takshi, (bash
ful). He died in 1826, honored by his people while living-,
and mourned by them when dead as an irreparable national
loss. .
Major Levi Colbert resided near a place then known as
Cotton Gin. He was truly a man wise in the councils of his
Nation and valiant in defense of his Nation's rig-hts. In
early manhood, or rather in boyhood, he was elevated by an
act of gallantry to the high position of "Itta wamba micco,"
as has been so oft published by diif erent writers, and mean
ing, as given in the wisdom of their interpretation, "Bench
Chief, or King of the Wooden Bench." There is no such'
word in the Chickasaw language as "Itta wamba micco," and
it can be but the fabrication of imaginative ig-norance. The
Chickasaw words for Bench Chief (if there ever was such a
personage among them) would be,"Aiobinili (a seat) falaia
(long) Miko (chief) >^ro. Ai-ome-bih-ne-lih-far-li-yah :Meen-
koh, The chief on the long- seat .or bench — in our phrase
ology, O^he Chief in the Chair of State.
Major Levi Colbert's act of gallantry, by which he was
520 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
at once elevated to the high position of chief, consisted in
having defeated, when but a youth, a war party of Mus-
cogees who had invaded the Chickasaw Nation, at a time
when all the warriors of the invaded district were away
from home on a hunting excursion. Young' Levi at once
collected the old men and boys and formed them into a war
company and started for the depredating Creeks, whom he
successfully drew into an artfully planned ambuscade, by
which all the Muscogees were slain, not one 'being left to re
turn to his own country and tell of their \ complete destruc
tion! ' 'The little 'stream upon whose banks the battle took
place was afterwards called (so says a writer in one of his:
published articles) "Yahnubly," and gives its signification
as "All killed"; buf unfortunately for his erudition, no such'
word is known in'the Chickasaw language. There is, how
ever, the word yanubih (pro. yarn-ub-ih) in' their language
but its signification is iron-wood. While the Chickasaw
words for "All killed" (same as the Choctaw) are moma-
ubih; the land or place where all were killed.
x When the warriors returned from their hunt and learn
ed of the battle and to whom the safety of their families was
due, and also the honor of the victory, a council 'was imme--
diately called and the young hero summoned to attend; when/
he appeared and the statement of facts had been laid before
them, they, without a dissenting voice, and "as men who
quickly discerned true merit and knew how to appreciate it,
elevated him to the responsible position of a chief in their
Nation.
The following publication appeared a few years ago as a
valuable piece of Chickasaw history: "Ittawamba was the
name of an office. The word signifies King of the Wooden
Bench. The individual who held the high title was elected
by the national council. A part of the imposing ceremony
by which the officer elected was initiated was as follows:
'At a given signal he jumped from a wooden bench to the
floor in the hall of state where the magnates of the Nation
sat in conclave. At the moment his feet touched the earth
the whole of tire assembly exclaimed Ittawamba! The hon
ored individual who heard this voice became the second mag
istrate of the Nation. Thus he received the orders of Chick
asaw Knighthood, Ittawamba micco, or Bench Chief."
No doubt of it. But the greater mystery is, how anyone
could jump "from a wooden bench to the floor in the hall of
state," and ''the moment his feet touched the earth," not to
become instantly a notorious "Bench Chief." Verily, a prob
lem that must be left for solution to the unprecedented wis
dom of the author of the above historical piece of informa-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 521
:ion. But the whole article is such an exhibition of pitiable
nonsense, that in reading- it to some Chickasaw friends, they
ill exclaimed': "What a fool!"
The most ridiculous, absurd and utterly false articles
ire continually appearing in print, in regard to the Indians,
from the pens of those whose knowledge of that unfortunate
people, against whom lies enough have been fabricated and
published to satisfy the devil, is about as much as might be
expected to be found in an African Bushman.
But be what "Ittawamba" may, nevertheless the young
initiate., Levi Colbert, .after his initiation into its wonderful
mysteries, proved himself worthy to be not only a "king of
the wooden bench," but also, by his talents, purity of prin
ciples, energy and force of character, a king upon a regal
throne to bear rule over a natiem. For several years he
shaped the policy, and presided over the destinies of the
Chickasaw people with wisdom and discretion. ,
On the 27th and 28th of September, L830, the Choctaws,
by. a .treaty with John Coffee and John Eaton, United States
commissioners, ceded their lands east of the Mississippi;
river to the United States. Major Levi Colbert, having
heard what they had done, immediately called upon his
friend, Mr. Stephen Daggette, and asked him to calculate
the interest for him of four hundred thousand dollars at
five, six, seven and eight per cent. The Cboctaws had taken-
government bonds at five per cent. ; Major Colbert at once
seeing that they had been badly and most outrageously
swindled, exclaimed in a loud and highly excited tone of
voice, "God! I, thought so." He then -informed .Mr. Dag
gette that he was anxious to obtain the calculation, that he
might :be enabled to explain it to his people in their own lan
guage. He also stated to Mr. Daggette that "the United
States would soon make an effort to buy the lands of the
Chickasaws also, and I want to be ready for them."
This conversation between Levi Colbert and jVTr. Dag
gette took place two years before the treaty with the Chick
asaws, which was mafre on the 20th of October, 183^, at the
house of a Chickasaw called Topulka — a corruption of Tah-
pulah; (to halloo or make a noise), but was known, says a
writer of the yahnubbih and Ittawamba order of expounders,
in his publication, as "Pontaontac," which he also interprets
as signifying "Cat Tail Prairie"; but unfortunately for him
also, the Chickasaw words for his classic name "Cat Tail
Prairie" aVeKutus HasimbishOktak (pro. Kut-oos (cat) Har-
sim-bish (tail) Oke-tark (prairie); therefore he also must
seek elsewhere than in the Chickasaw language for his "Pon-
laontac" and its signification "Cat Tail Prairie," as there is
522 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
;
no such word in the Chickasaw language, nor in any other
North American Indian language, it is reasonable to sup
pose. Pontotoc, the name of a town in north Mississippi,
is a corruption, as has been before stated, of the words Pa
id Tukohli — :grapes hung up; hanging grapes.
But such are the gross and ridiculous errors made by
those of the present age who not only prove their terrible
ignorance by their unmerciful butchery of the Indian lan
guages, but equally so in the exhibition of their shame
ful prejudice unreasonably cherished against that unjustly
persecuted people, concerning whom, in every particular,
they assume to be infinitely wise; and though totally ignor
ant of the subject, presume to talk and write about them
with arrogant duplicity to the1 infinite injury of the Indians
and disgrace of their languages.
When the United States had resolved to gobble up the
Chickasaw country also, as they had the Choctaws' two
years before, John Coffee was sent to the Chickasaw Nation
to order Ben Reynolds (the Chickasaw Agent) to imme
diately assemble the chiefs and warriors in council to effect
a treaty with them.
Three treaties (or rather articles) were drawn up, but
were promptly rejected by the watchful and discerning
Chickasaws. Then the fourth was written by the persist
ent Coffee ; but with the following clause inserted to catch
the noble and influential chief, Yakni Moma Ubih, the incor
ruptible Levi Colbert, which read as follows; "We hereby
agree to give our beloved chief, Levi Colbert, in considera
tion pf his services and expense of entertaining the guests
of the Nation, fifteen sections of land in any part of the
country he may select." "Stop! Stop! John Coffee!" shout
ed the justly indignant chief in a voice of thunder, "I am no
more entitled to those fifteen sections of land than the poor
est Chickasaw in the Nation. I scorn your infamous offer,
clothed under the falsehood of 'our beloved chief,' and will
not accept it, sir." A frown of disappointment momentarily
rested, no doubt, upon the face of Coffee.
Then a fifth treaty was written out by Coffee, and the-
council again called together to consider upon its merits;
and which, after due deliberation, was finally accepted.
The Chickasaws agreed (to take United States bonds, but
were unable to satisfactorily comprehend the six per cent
promised them, until their interpreter, Ben Love, illustrated
it as a hen laying eggs. That one hundred dollars would
lay six dollars in twelve months, which they at once fully un
derstood. But Ah! had that old hen inconsiderately roosted
one night in or near the Great Temple of American Liberty ~
* HISTORY OP THE INDIANS. 523
•here would she have appeared ere the dawn of the return-
ig morn? Echo but answers, "Gentle shepherd -tell us
•here"!
Ishtehotopa, the king, first walked up with a counte-
ance that betokened the emotions of one about to sign his
juntry's death warrant, and with a sad heart and tremb-
ng hand made his mark. Then Tishu Miko advanced
•ith solemn mien and did likewise; then the other chiefs
ith countenance sad and forlorn; and last of all, the pure,
le noble Levi Colbert, whom gold could not buy, or cause to
3ver from the path of honor.
Soon after the treaty had been signed, Major Levi Col-
ert stated to Mr. Daggette he was not satisfied with some
lauses in the treaty which he did not at first correctly un-
erstand. Mr. Daggette advised him to go immediately to*
Washington and get it changed to his satisfaction before it
•ras confirmed by the Senate. Colbert, with other delegates,
tarted immediately to Washington City, but only got as far
s his son-in-law, Kilpatrick Carter's, in Alabama, where he
•as taken sick and died, to the great sorrow and loss of the
hickasaw Nation. The other delegates continued their
Durney to Washington, and secured the desired alteration,
i the treaty.
What attractive pictures for an art gallery would the
cenes presented at that treaty between the Chickasaw Na-
:on and the United States in 1832, at the humble home of
^ahpulah, and the one two years before between the Choc-
aws and the United States. The United States, a great and
owerful nation, professing to be governed in all its actions
y the principles alone of Christianity. The Chickasawvand
fhoctaw Nations, weak, poor and unlettered, making no pro-
essions to intellectual attainments whatever. The former
sing its skilled ingenuity in deception, misrepresentation
nd falsehood to defraud; the latter, sustained by truth and
onor, watching and deliberating how best to successfully
leet the dire attack and come out of the unequal contest
/ith that alone that justice awards. The one representing-
he people of civilization, and Christianity; the other, the ^
-eople of unpretending and unsophisticated nature. The
ne offering bribes: the other refusing to be bribed. The
ne called Christian; the other called heathen. But God is
he judge.
But, injustice, it must and shall be said of the Chicka-
aw Agent of 1832, Benj.. Reynolds,, that he was an honest
aan. As agent to the Chickasaw people for the United1
-tates Mr. Reynolds annually paid them twenty thousand
iollars for several consecutive years as annuity. Previous
524 - HISTORY OF .THE INDIANS.
to the treaty Mr. Daggette affirms he assisted Mr. Reynolds
in paying to the Chickasaws their annuities, and that Mr.
JReynolds distributed the last cent among" them, giving1 to
each, his or her dues honestly and justly, though every op
portunity was offered to defraud them, and lived and died an
honest and pure man; and then, no doubt, went above to re
ceive the glorious welcome, "Well done, thou good and faith
ful servant." Such a government agent to the Indians at the
present day of boasted civilization and progress would be a
national prodigy, and ought''to be, if possible to be found,
set up' in a glass case at all the expositions the world over as
worthy to be. ranked with ;the Eight Wonders of the world
.as the meritorious Ninth/ t.
James .Colbert, the youngest of Logan Colbert's sons,
was also, as his renowned brothers, a man of great integ
rity and firmness of character.' ' He acted, for many years,
in the capacity of the .national secretary'.* The archives
of the Chickasaw Nation were placed in his hands for safe
keeping, the majority of which being in his own hand -writ
ing; and truly it may be said, antiquaries,' in coming years
of the far future, may decipher with much interest and
profit, the documents written by James Colbert.
Thomas Love, who, at an early day, also identified
himself, with the Chickasaw people by marriage, had six
sons, viz: Henry, Benjamin, (who acted in the capacity of
interpreter for the Chickasaws for many years) Isaac.
Slone, William and Robert. All of whom have died, except
Robert, who was known as Bob Love.
The Chickasaws, in common with all the Indians of the
South, possessed many fine orators whose orations were
eloquent, persuasive and full of animation; and it is a ques
tion of great doubt if the White Race ever found" among
their uneducated citizens a single orator who could respect
ably compare with hundreds of unlettered orators among
the Indians of the South, or even of any of the North Ameri
can Indians. As a race of people the Chickasaws were tall,
elegantly proportioned, erect and muscular, with a square
forehead, high cheek bones, compressed lips and dark peney
trating eyes. In their councils (like all other Indians) grave
and dignified, and never indulged, under any circumstances,
in noisy harangues; they spoke slowly, distinctly and to the
point. It is, and has always been, the universal declaration
and belief of the Whites that the North American Indians
are taciturn, grave, and never smiled or indulged in merri
ment or laughter under any circumstances. This is a great
error, and but a repetition of the same old edition of the
same old story, which, like all else said and written and pub-
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 525
lished about the North American Indians, was begotten by
ignorance, conceived in duplicity and brought forth in pre
judice — to say the least of it. Never did a more jovial, good
natured and light hearted race of people exist upon earth
than the North American Indians. True, they were grave
and taciturn in the presence of strangers, and the reason is
obvious. The white people (excepting the old missionaries
of the long ago), in all their actions among them, and in all
their conduct toward them, have ever and everywhere as
sumed an air of superiority over them, which the Indians
have ever justly denied; and which justly created in their
minds pity for the foolish self-conceit and egotism of the
Whites, which seemed to them a lamentable weakness un~
known and unseen before in the human race; and also cre
ated equal contempt for such a display of presumption and
evident want of sound judgment, or rather of common
sense; the natural consequences of which were taciturnity
and gravity when in the presence of such self-imagined au
gust specimens of humanity.
Even many ministers of the gospel, sent among the
Indians by the various denominations of the states to preach
to them, preach themselves instead of Christ, by indulging
in unmistakable bantam rooster airs of the superiority of
the whites over the red, detailing their opinions concerning
the progressive renovation that would have certainly ensued
in every department of their national and social affairs had
the Indians, from their first acquaintance writh the White
Race, had the good fortune to have enjoyed the advantages
of their ethical wisdom and profound theological erudition.
Often have I been an eye witness to many such exhibitions
of clerical imbecility during my frequent sojourns among
the Chickasaws and Choctaws within the last ten years; and
though as loquacious as Brazilian parrots, yet "Pretty Poll
wants a cracker" was in substance, the climax of their ser
mons, as Self was so highly esteemed a personage that they
were oblivious to all else.
But such was not the style of men, who in 1815-20, pro
claimed the glad tidings of great joy to the Southern Indians.
Far from it. They were men of deep piety; of firm resolu
tions; of Christian humility; of self sacrificing zeal; of humble
submission to the will of God; of unshaken faith in the
promise, "Lo! I am with you even to the uttermost parts
of the earth"; of indefatigable energy to lead the Red Race,
long wandering in the path of moral darkness, into the fold
of -Christ; of unalloyed loye for their souls and desire' for
their salvation; of unassumed sympathy for them as ljuman
beings to whom the knowledge of maiiV Redemption
526 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
through the Son of God had never been proclaimed; of ad
miration for their many virtues unsurpassed by any nation
of people upon earth, to whom the Gospel of Jesus Christ
had never been preached. Therefore, they visited them at
their homes in their humble log- cabins; sat down among
them in the family circle upon the bear skins spread upon
the cleanly swept dirt floor; and there proclaimed to them
concerning- Him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote;
slept upon their bear and panther skins in humble grati
tude for as much, when remembering- their Savior had not
where to lay his head; ate of their venison, tafulatobi
ibulhto (hominy mixed with beans), and botahkapussa (cold
flour).
They sang- and prayed with them in the morning; then
went with them to their little fields of growing corn and in
structed them in the art of agriculture and imparted to them
new ideas of home comforts. Thus they taught them every
where and on all occasions, both by precept and example.
They acknowledged them as human beings; and for them
also Christ purchased salvation upon the cross. Self was
not in all their thoughts, only to preserve it for usefulness in
the cause of their Divine Master in bringing the Red Race
of the south into his fold. What was the result ? Mutual
confidence and disinterested love and friendship prevailed
everywhere between the appreciative Indians and those mis
sionaries, men and women, all true servants of God; and
the five civilized tribes (as they are now called) stand today
as living monuments of the salutary effects of the teachings
of those self-sacrificing men and women of seventy- five
years ago — true and devoted servants of Jesus Christ in the
salvation of their fellow men found and acknowledged in the
North American Indians.
The ancient Chickasaws were the most famous trailers
of all the southern Indians. Their skill in this art was truly
astonishing, and seemed almost superhuman. I call it an
art; and it is as much so as is painting or sculpture, while
almost as few become proficient in it as in the handling of
brush or chisel. Art, or by whatever name it may be called,
yet it requires constant practice and much knowledge of
nature, in all its variations, to learn it thoroughlv ; and I be
lieve it more natural for an Indian to become a trailer of
man or beast than a white man, as they seemed to acquire
by intuition what the white has to learn from a life-time of
study. Here and there, I'll admit, a white man may be
found who becomes an expert, yet the boasted leaders of
civilization fall far behind the natural-born trailers, the North
American Indians. Who could learn, through the medium
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 527
of books or any other way pf instruction, but that of a life
time experience, to determine the age of a trail of man or
beast correctly, or tell the number of an enemy and how
long" since they had passed the spot which you may be ex
amining-? Yet the ancient Chickasaw warrior, in his palmy
days seventy-five years ago, could do it, and even what tribe
of Indians had made a given trail, its age, and all the partic
ulars as correctly as though he had seen them pass. Truth
fully did an Indian once exclaim :
"White man travel with his eyes shut and mouth open,"
alluding to his propensity to talk. "Indian travel all day;
say nothing, but see everything." How true! Nothing es
caped his observation, whether alone or with others; while
the white man talks incessantly and sees nothing but the
general features of the things he is passing; therefore, can
scarcely retrace his steps for any great distance in a country
he 'has never traveled before; while it is impossible to lose an
Indian in any country, no matter how strange or new. No
matter how difficult or circuitous has been the route by which
he has arrived at any place, the Chickasaw would, with ease,
find his way back whence he started without hesitating a
moment which course to pursue. When asked how he did it
he may reply, Siah (I am) a chuffa [one) kutah (who) ikhanah
(remembers); though often he would make no reply. No
matter how loquacious he may have been at home or else
where, when upon the warpath or the chase he was silent.
The North American Indian was nearly as certain
in predicting the weather, as a barometer, and his
knowledge of the characteristics of the wild animals of his
ancient forests would be a prize indeed to the naturalist.
As warriors and hunters the Chickasaws of seventy-five
years ago had few equals, but no superiors, among the North
American Indians. They were unerring marksmen with
the rifle and capable of enduring seemingly incredible fa
tigue. They would follow the tracks of their game and the
signs left by their human enemies for hours, where the eyes
of the white man would not detect any sign of a foot-print
whatever. When hunting or upon the war-path, if they
came upon deserted camp-fires or human foot-prints they
could tell to what tribe they belonged and whether friends
or foes.
As an illustration of their skill in discerning and inter
preting landmarks and signs, I will here relate a little inci
dent proving the wonderful skill and ingenuity displayed
in ascertaining facts with regard to anything of which they
desired to inform1 themselves.
In the years of long ago, a Chickasaw had a ham of veni-
528 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
son taken from his little log" hquse in which he kept his stock
of provisions during- the absence of himself and family.
He described rthe thief as being- a white man, low stature,
lame in one leg1, having- a short gun, and accompanied by a
short-tail dog. When requested to explain how he could be
so positive, he answered: "His track informed me he was a
white man by his shoes, Indian wear moccasins; he stood on
the toes of his shoes to reach the venison ham, which told
me he was a low man; one foot made a deeper and plainer
impress upon the ground than the other as he walked, which
told me he was a lame man; the mark made by the breech of
a gun upon the ground and the one made by its muzzle upon
the bark of the tree against which it had leaned, told me he
had a gun and it was a short gun; the tracks made by a dog
told me of his presence; and the impress he made where he
sat upon the ground to the end of that made bv his tail, as
he wagged it, was but a finger's length which told me the
dog's tail was short." What white man would ever have
thought to look for, or discovered such evidences in identi
fying a thief?
Among the ancient Chickasaws, descent was established
in the female line ; thus the ties of kinship converged upon
each other until they all met in the granddaughter; and
thus every grandson and granddaughter became the grand
son and granddaughter of the whole tribe, since all the un
cles of a given person were considered as his fathers also ;
.and all the mothers' sisters were mothers; the cousins, as
brothers and sisters; the nieces, as daughters; and the
nephews as sons. They, as all their race, believed in the
/existence of one great, everywhere-present and over-ruling
spirit, whom they held in the highest reverence, and de
voutly worshipped; as to him were attributed the gifts of
peace, prosperity and happiness, abundant harvests of corn,
beans, pumpkins and success in war and the chase. They
also equally believed in the existence of an evil spirit, to
whom they attributed the cause of all misfortunes ; and here
came in the power and innnence of the wonder-working
"medicine man," or "prophet," who professed to have at
tained texa thorough knowledge of both good and evil spirits,
and also the ability to command their influence for good or
evil, by fasting and prayer and mystic ceremonies.
However, the usages, manners, customs, beliefs and
habits of life, national and social amusements of the Chicka
saws were, in many respects the same as the Choctaws, and
what may be said of the one, may with equal truth be said of
the other.
Among the ancient Chickasaws and Choctaws there
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 529
was a tradition concerning- the origin of a little lake
in Tibih swamp. Oktibihha county, Mississippi. This
isolated lake which I have oft visited on fishing- excur
sions, has long been known as Greer's lake, and is about
a half a mile long and one hundred feet or more wide. The
tradition is as follows: In the years of the long- past,
many generations before the advent of the White Race, a
Chickasaw hunter and his wife, with two little children,
(a boy and girl) were camped in the Tibih swamp near a
little hole of water formed by the roots of a fallen tree. One
morning- the hunter and his wife went out in pursuit of
game leaving* their children, as usual, in camp. On their
return late in the evening, they^ were stupified with horror
and amazement to find that their camp was swallowed up by
the earth, and this lake lay stretched over the spot. But
while, gazing upon the scene perplexed and terrified, they
beheld two enormous snakes swimming upon the newly
formed lake and coming directly towards them, which,
caused them to- flee from the spot in great consterna
tion. The sudden formation of the lake was ascribed by
them to some miraculous agent, and by the same power,
their children had been transformed into the two great
water snakes; and such was the credulity of the Chickasaws
and Choctaws in the account given of the wonderful event
by the Chickasaw hunter and his wife, that down through
all subsequent years, even to the time of their emigration
west, the lake and its immediate surroundings were held in
superstitious awe. Nor would they live nor approach any
where near it. Varied and many were the views concerning
its strange and sudden formation; all, however, agreeing
that it was brought into existence by the wrath of the Great
Spirit, and became the abode of evil spirits ever after
wards.
The ancient Chickasaws once practised the custom ofex-
tinguishing the fire in every house in their Nation at the close
of every year, and let them so remain during three succes
sive days and nights, while the occupants retired to the
woods where they remained. By this means they believed
they would rid themselves of all witches and evil spirits;
since, when they came three successive nights and found no
fire they would conclude the family had left their former
place of abode to return no more; therefore they also would
depart to never return. Then all the Chickasaws returned
to their homes, built new fires and were happy, being freed
from the fear of witches.
THE NATCHEZ.
On February llth, 1700, De Iberville, Bienville, Perri-
caul and Tonti ascended the Mississippi river as far west as
the present city of Natchez. They were kindly received (so
states the journalist) by the great chief, or sun, as he was
termed, surrounded by six hundred of his warriors, who,
according- to their own account, had formerly been a great
nation. On the 13th the party left Natchez and visited the
villages of the Taensas, the customs and habits of whom
were the same as the Natchez, being evidently a branch of
the latter. .During their stay the sacred temple of these
Indians was struck by lightning and burned to ashes. To
appease the Sun God, the poor, infatuated women threw
themselves, anci parents, their children, into^the consuming
flames of the burning temple. Perricaul, who was one of
the witnesses of the fearful scene, thus wrote of it: "We
left the Natchez and coasted along to the right, where the
river is bordered with high, gravelly banks for a distance of
twelve leagues. At the extremity of these bluffs is a place
called Petit Gulf, on account of the whirlpool formed by the
river for the distance of a quarter league. Eight leagues
higher up we came to Grand Gulf, which we passed a short
distance above, on the right hand side. We landed to visit a
village four leagues in the interior. These Indians are
called the Taensas. We were well received, but I never saw
a more sad sight, frightful and revolting spectacle than that
which happened the second day, 16th of April, after our
arrival in the village. A sudden storm burst upon us. The
lightning struck the temple, burned all their idols and re
duced the whole to ashes. Quickly the Indians assembled
around, making horrible cries, tearing* out their hair, eleva
ting their hands to heaven, their tawnv visages turned to
ward the burning temple, invoking their Great Spirit to
come down and extinguish the flames. The fathers and
mothers then brought their children, and after having stran
gled them, threw them into the flames. M. De Iberville was
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 531
horrified at seeing- such a cruel spectacle, and gave orders
to stop it, by forcibly taking from them the little innocents;
but with all our efforts seventeen perished in this manner,
and had we not restrained them, the number would have
been over two hundred."
Father Le Petit, Superior of the Jesuits, in speaking of
the Natchez Indians, whom he had visited at an early day,
says: "They inhabited a beautiful country, and were the
only tribe that seemed to have an established worship. This
temple resembled an earthen oven, or the back of a tortoise,
and was one hundred feet in circumference. They entered
it by one small door, and there was no window. . Above, on
the outside of the roof, were three wooden eagles painted
red, yellow and white. In front of the door was a shed
where the guardian of the temple kept watch. All around
was a circle of painted pickets, capped with the skulls of
their enemies who had fallen in battle. The interior was
lined with shelves on which were baskets, holding the bones
of their favorite followers, who had been strangled, to at
tend their masters in the spirit world, made of bark, pro
vided by the patriarchs of the tribe. No woman, except
the mother and sisters of the Great Sun, was allowe'd to
^nter the sacred edifice. The common people dared only to
approach the threshold. The sun was their deity; their
great chief was called by the same name, and he, in turn,
called the sun his brother. Every morning at dawn, attend
ed by his retinue, the chief ascended a mound to ^converse
with his celestial brother. As soon as the sun appeared in
the heavens, the chief saluted with a long howl, and then
waved his hand from east to west, and directed. what course
he should travel! When this personage dies, they demolish
his house arid throw up a mound, and on that they build a
d welling for; the brother of the sun."
Perieault, who was at Natchez in 1703, and at which time
the Great Female Sun died, says: "She was really the Great
Sun in her own right. Her husband, who was not of the
blood royal, was strangled by their eldest son, so that in
death, as in life, he might be her submissive attendant and
howl to her ghost! On the ontside of her house they placed
all her effects on a scaffold and on these they deposited the
two corpses. They likewise put there the bodies of twelve
children whom they had just strangled. These children had
been brought by their parents, by order of the eldest son of
the deceased, who had the right, as her successor, to put to
death as many. as he thought necessary to wait on her in the
land of spirits. Fourteen other scaffolds were erected,
decorated with vines and rude paintings. These were in-
532 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
tended for the bodies of the victims, whose nearest rela
tives, dressed irr festive robes, surrounded them with looks:
arid gestures expressive of satisfaction. They then in pro
cession marched to the great square in front of the temple
and began to dance. Four days thereafter they again form
ed in procession an^d began what is called the 'March of
Death' from the square to the house of the deceased. The
fathers and mothers of the strangled children held the bodies
in their arms. The oldest of these did not appear to be over
three years. The relatives of these infants, with their hair
closely shaven, began to howl in the most frightful manner.
But the adults who were about to die danced around the
house of the dead princess, until finally it was set on fire
by her eldest son and successor. All then marched to the
great temple. .The' parents who carried their strangled in
fants then threw them on the ground and began to dance.
When the body of the deceased princess was deposited in
the temple, the intended victims were undressed and seated
on the ground. A cord with a noose was passed around each
of their necks and deer skins thrown over their heads. The
relatives, who were the executioners, then stood to the right
and left of each victim and, at a given signal, all were stran
gled. The bodies were placed on scaffolds and the bones,
when dry, were deposited in baskets in the temple, and con
stituted a' sort of patent nobility. It was a privilege and an
honor to die with the Sun."
Even as late as 1730 the Natchez had their temple in
which were kept their sacred fire continually burning. Ac
cording' to their traditions, Du Pratz says: ''Their territo
ries extended to the River Manchos, or Iberville, which is
about 50 leagues from the sea, to the River Wabash, which
is 'distant from the sea about 450 leagues, and that they had
about 800 suns, or princess."
The Natchez, if . tradition may be believed, also came
from Mexico where thev had lived for centuries; and after
the fall of the Montezuma Empire, to which they were allies,
they, alike, with the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Muscogee,
fled from Spanish tyranny. They, too, followed the rising
sun from west to east, continuing a wandering life for many
years, and' nnalty reached the Mississippi river, which they
crossed, and settled at a point on the river where the city
Natchez now stands, which was named for them. At that
time they were a numerous people, occupying a territory
extending from Natchez to Wabash, and claiming many
hundred sons, or members of the royal family. In 1716,
the French built. Fort Rosalie upon the bluff upon which
Natchez now stands, in which they quartered a company of
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 533
soldiers. In 1720, DePratz visited the Great Sun of the
Natchez, and was informed by him, that the Natchez were
-once a great people extending- over a vast region of country,
and ruled by many suns; that one of the keepers of the
Temple let the holy fire go out, and in his fright substituted
profane fire, thus endeavoring to conceal his negligence; but
which caused them to be visited by a dreadful disease which
ravaged their country for many years, sweeping thousands
of their people into an untimely grave. As the ancient
Persians, the Natchez kept a perpetual fire burning in their
iemples, which was never permitted fora moment to be-
-come extinguished. It is stated by some of the early
writers, that the Taensas and Mobelians, who were eventu
ally merged into the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, also
kept a perpetual fire burning in their temples, when known
by the Europeans in 1*721. It is said of the Natchez, "that
the sight was never shocked by .the appearance of deformity,"
such as are so frequently observed among the White Race;
and with equal truth, the same may be said of all the North
American Indians. As all their race, so the Natchez used
"the bow and arrow as their instrument of offense and de
fense, which they used effectively against their enemies .in
war, and supplying themselves with the flesh of the great
variety of wild animals in which their endless forests then
abounded. They were also skilled in the art of dressing the
.skins of animals, and thus provided themselves with comfort
able clothing, suitable for both summer and winter, using as
needles for sewing purposes, the sharp bones of birds, and
for thread the sinews of small animals. Their houses, as
those of all their race, were made of rude materials, with
one door for ingress and egress, without floor or chimney,
but a little hole left in the roof about the centre of the room,
through which the smoke might pass out, if so disposed.
The Natchez women are said to have been very proficient
in making earthen ware for their domestic purposes, such
as pots, cups, bowls, etc.; and also very skillful in the art
of dying the skins of animals, their favorite colors being red,
yellow, white and black, used in alternate stripes, The
men were skilled in managing their canoes, some of which
measuring from twenty to thirty feet in length, by two br
three in width. In short, what has been said in regard to
the ancient manners and customs of the Choctaw and Chick
asaw, Cherokee, Muscogee and Seminole Indians is equally
applicable to the. Natchez, differing only (as all others, .-how
ever) in their traditions of the origin of man, the flood,
funeral ceremonies and burial of the dead.
In regard to the origin of man, the tradition of the
534 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Natchez affirms that the Great Spirit molded the first man
out of clay, similar to that out of which they made their
earthen' ware, and being1 pleased with his work, breathed
life into it. After the first man was created, he Cthe man)
suddenly was taken with a violent paroxysm or fit of sneez
ing-, when suddenly a strange something jumped from his
nose to the ground, where it commenced to hop and dance
about, growing larger and larger, until it soon assumed the
form of a woman and finally grew to be a perfect woman.
. ' They also had another tradition in substance, as follows:
In ancient times a man and 'woman appeared among them who
descended from the sun. They were so dazzlingly'bright that
human eyes could not look, upon them. The man informed
them that he had seen their wretchedness and inability to
properly govern themselves, and hacl been influenced through
compassion toleave his bright abode in, the sun and descend
to earth that he might instruct them how they might live
happily. H'e therefore gave them some moral pirecepts,
among the most important were, first — not to kill a man. but
in self-defense; second — to have but one living wife; third—
to 'be truthful; fourth — to, be strictly honest; fifth — to be
temperate; sixth — to be generous; seventh — to be charita
ble; eighth — to help the poor in their distress.
1 The stranger's appearance and moral precepts inculca
ted greatly impressed the Natchez, and they at once conven
ed in solemn council during, the quiet hours of the night and
resolved, upon due deliberation, to request the man to be
their chief; and the next morning, with much pomp and cere
mony, proceeded to the house to which the stranger and his
wife had been consignee] for the night and earnestly solicited
him to become their'chief. He at first declined their intend- '
ed honor, assigning as his reason that he knew they would
not conform to his teachings, and in so doing, he was grieved
to state to them, the Natchez would work their own destruc
tion, terminating in utter extermination. But the Natchez,
earnestly pressing their request, the stranger finally yielded
to their solicitations, but with the following proviso: That
they would emigrate to a country which he would also lead
them, where they would be more prosperous and happy;
and tjiat they would strictly yield obedience to the laws and
regulations he would establish, for them, and that their fu
ture chiefs should be chosen from his descendants. To all
of which they acceded. He then commanded fire from the
sun which he gave them with positive ins'tructions to keep it
burning1 in two temples by the use of walnut wood stripped
of its bark as fuel, which -temples were to be built at the two-
extreme boundaries of the territory, to be inhabited by
"
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 535
them. Eight men were selected by his instruction to.. serve
as priests for each temple, whose imperative duty was to
guard the sacred fire by regular turns, and death was to be
the punishment of him who should, upon his watch, let the
fire go out; since their mysterious law-giver and chosen
chief predicted to them the most dreadful calamities if the
fire ever was extinguished in both temples at the same time.
And more, if by accident or otherwise, the fire should be
come extinguished in one of the temples the keepers were to
quickly relight it by obtaining fire from the other temple,
and from" nowhere else; still the guardians of the temple in
which the fire had been suffered to go out should not be per
mitted to obtain it from the other temple peacefully, since
blood must be spilt on the floor of the temple, as an atoning
sacrifice to the offended spirits; therefore, the one should re
sist the other in obtaining the desired fire, and the other
should obtain it, even at the ,cost of shedding blood. Im
plicit obedience was ever given to their foreign chief — the
Lycurgus of the Natchez — who lived! to an unusual old age,
and made, and was ever regarded as the founder of their laws
and institutions. After his death they gave his descendants
the title of Suns, from their supposed origin, who ever after
wards ruled, without opposition, in the inherited and prom
ised right of their great progenitor — the mysterious law
giver from the sun.
Their tradition of the flood was: In ages past a mighty
flood of waters destroyed mankind, but a few who escaped
to a very high mountain, and by them the earth was again
repeopled. They believed in a Great Spirit, the creator and
ruler of the world, whom they regarded as being so good,
kind and benevolent, that it was impossible for him to do
wrong or to harm anything, even if he desired to do so. They
believed, however, in a multiplicity of evil spirits, by whom
all evil in the world was produced ; that once a mighty chief
ruled over these spirits, and he committed so much mischief
in the world among mankind that the Great Spirit chained
him in a dark prison; and the evil spirits, his subjects, have
not, since the loss of their chief, manifested so great desire
to do .mischief in the world, especially when humbly peti
tioned by respectful prayers.
They had many great national festivals, partaking much
of a religious character, since they were instituted and ob
served with a special view of returning thanks to the Great
Spirit for his continued care and protection.
They reckoned time by moons. Their year began in
March and was divided into thirteen moons; this being done
that the course of that planet might correspond with that
536 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
of the sun, thus completing- the year. At each new moon a
great feast was celebrated, which was named from the fruits
peculiar to that season, or the particular game that was
hunted during- that moon. They celebrated the beginning
of the new year (March) with the moon festival, called the
deer; tq.them one of their greatest and most important festi
vals, as resting- upon an ancient tradition which was: In
the far distant past, a great sun, hearing- an unusual tumult
in a distant part of his village, hastened to the spot to learn
its cause, and was taken prisoner by the warriors of a hos
tile nation who had made an unexpected attack upon his vil
lage, having- taken it completely by surprise. His -people
soon recovering, however, from their momentary confusio'n
arising- from the unexpected attack, and frantic by 'the wild
cry that was heard throughout the village that their chief
had fallen into the hands of their enemies, rushed in a solid'
body to his rescue, and soon routed them with fearful
slaughter, and rescued their chief. In commemoration of
this great achievement so honorable in the archives of their
nation's history, the warriors, at the new moon of the deer,
engaged in a sham battle, in which the'Great Sun took an
active part. Dividing themselves into two companies, the
one representing the warriors of the Great Sun, and the
other that of the enemy, the former desi^iated by a white
feather in the head-dress, the latter by a red. They con
cealed themselves in ambush in close proximity to the house
of the Great Sun. The warriors of the red feathers, under
the leadership of a chief renowned for deeds of daring, first
crept from their place of ambush and stealthily advanced
toward the house of the Great Sun. As soon as they came
in view, they rushed upon it with fearful yells. Then the
Great Sun rushed from his house, assuming great bewilder
ment, as if suddenly awakened from sleep; shouting their
fearful war-whoop, the assumed enemies rush upon the be
wildered chieftain and triumphantly carry him off. At this
juncture the warriors of the white feathers rush from their
place of concealment with deafening yells to the rescue of
their chief, in which were combined the wildest tones that
could express the passions of the human heart, and threw
themselves with terrific desperation upon the warriors of
the red feather, and then and there was exhibited a wild
scene of mimic warfare indescribable by words; and in
which even the Great Sun himself was not an idle spectator,
for his voice arose above the fearful din in words of cheer to
his warriors, while his wooden tomahawk was seen gleaming
in ascending and descending mimic strokes amid the strug
gling throng, apparently performing deeds of valor worthy
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 537
the Great Sun. Finally, the warriors of the red feather
seemingly began to waver, then fled in wild confusion worse
confounded, hotly pursued by those of the white feather
many miles; then they of the white feather returned to the
village, bearing- their chief amid shouts of victory and glad
ness. In speaking of these mimic battles, the French wri
ters, who were eye witnesses of the novel scene, state that
they were true to nature in all their particulars, producing a
complete illusion.
The second (April) was called the moon of strawberries,
in which the women and children gathered this delicious
fruit. The third (May) was called the moon of old corn, in
which they feasted upon the corn made the year before,
cooked in many different ways. The fourth (June), was
called the moon of watermelons, the fifth (July) was called
the moon of peaches. The sixth (August) was called the
moon of blackberries. The seventh (September) was called
the moon of new corn. The eighth (October) was called
the moon of the turkey. The ninth (November) was called
the moon of the buffaloes. The tenth (December) was
called the moon of the bears. The eleventh (January) was
called the moon of the geese; then followed February the
moon of the walnuts, chestnuts and other nuts. At each re
turns of these moons they indulge in festivals of feasting
and dancing, contributing, at the same time, a full share of
all the delicacies to their honored chief, the Great Sun.
That they might perpetuate the blood of the Great Suns
in all its purity, as given to them Jav the mysterious stranger
of traditional lore, the Natchez established as the funda
mental law of their nation, that the right of succession to
the; exalted position of Great Sun must descend to the men
through the female line alone. Thus the female descend
ants of the Great Sun held the title of nobility, and the
honor of giving birth to the chief; and the grandson of a
Great Sun held a medium place in rank, and his great
grandson ranked with the common people.
But alas for the poor Natchez! An evil day brought the
pale-faces among them in the year 1716, who built the fort
Rosalie among them and in it garrisoned, as a matter of
course, a body of soldiers as a protection in their intended
aggressions upon and usurpations of the Indians' rights;
and from that day the sun of the Natchez's happiness began
to wane, but to speedily set forever in the oblivion of utter
extermination. As an introduction, Cadillac, on his way up
the Mississippi river to search for gold and silver, stopped
at Natchez. As soon as the Indian chiefs learned of his ap
proach they marched out in state to meet him, and according
538 HISTORY OF, THE INDIANS.
to their custom, presented the calumet of peace to him in
token .of their desired friendship with him..' Cadillac be
came greatly offended at 'what he regarded as presumption
of. the Indians in supposing- that he would contaminate his
pure patrician lips with the touch of their vile pipe. He ac
cordingly treated the peace desiring Indians as uncouth ani
mals thrusting themselves into his august presence; and un
ceremoniously departing without having consented to smoke
with them, he impressed the Natchez who could not compre
hend his rough manners toward them, or understand the
nature of his pride, with the belief that he meditated war
upon their tribe and was secretly preparing to make an at
tack upon them; and finding a few French strolling about
in their village .after the departing of Cadillac, and regarding
them as spies, they killed them. Hence the origin of the
first misunderstanding between the Natchez and the French.
'," Then following in the wake of Cadillae, came Bienville
on the 24th of April, with a company of soldiers and en
camped on an island, situated in the Mississippi river, oppo
site a village of the Tunica Indians, fifty miles from the
Natchez. Without delay he sent a Tunica warrior to the
Natchez with the information that he was coming to estab
lish a trading post among them, to exchange with them
English goods for their furs. Bienville had been informed
that the Natchez were ignorant of the fact, that he knew of
their killing the Frenchmen a short time before, therefore
he assumed to have come to them as a friend and would be
benefactor, that he might the better accomplish his precon
certed, nefarious designs against them. Gayarre, in his
history of Louisiana, Vol. I. p. 140, says: "Three Natchez,
as delegates representing their tribe, came to Bienville on
the 27th of April, 1716, and tendered to him the calumet, as
the ensign of peace." But Bienville refused to smoke with
them, and pretended to consider himself as not being
treated with that respect to which he was entitled, since
their great chief had not come in person to welcome him, the
chief of the French. "I see," said he, "that your people are
not pleased with the idea of my forming a settlement in
their territory, for the purpose of "Trading with them.
Otherwise they would have expressed their satisfaction in a
more becoming manner. Be it so. If the Natchez are so
thankless for' what I meant to be a favor, I will alter my de
termination, and give my preference to the Tunicas, who
have always shown themselves such great friends to the
French." What an artful dissembler!
After this speech, to hide his treachery the more suc
cessfully, Bienville caused the three envoys to be feasted and
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 539
treated with the greatest hospitality and respect ;. and on
their return to their, villages sent a Frenchman with them
with instructions to extend an invitation to the Natchez
chiefs to a conference on the island on which he was en
camped. This greatly embarrassed the Natchez since they
were at a loss as to the best course to be pursued. Some
were of the opinion that it would be imprudent for their
chiefs, to thus place themselves in the hands of the French,
who might have heard of the killing of the Frenchmen, and
had now come under the assumed garb of peace and friend
ship to entrap their chiefs and wreak vengeance upon them.
Others on the other hand argued that, from the fact of the
French having- come in such a small number, was sufficient'
proof that they were still ignorant of the death of their
countrymen, and did not intend to act as enemies. Fur-,
thermor.e, that the chiefs, by refusing1 to accept Bienville's.
invitation, would incur his displeasure, and he would estab
lish a trading1 post among- the Tunicas, and thus enrich their
rivals, to the great injury of the Natchez. This argument
prevailed, and in an evil hour for the Natchez chiefs, their
visit to Bienville's camp was resolved upon, and too late they
learned, even as all their race have learned from that day to
this, tnat for hypocrisy and treachery the pale-faces cannot
be surpassed, and from that hour a system of oppression
was inaugurated by the French against the Natchez to ex
terminate them, unequaled only by that adopted and prac
ticed by the Americans for the effectual destruction of the
entire Indian race upon the North American continent, pros
ecuted with unrelenting vigor to the present day upon the
still surviving little remnant, with an assumed Christian zeal
for their civilization and happiness that is truly astonishing
since so utterly void of reality.
In 1725 a son of onef of the Natchez chiefs was murdered
by a French sergeant which caused the Indians to kill a
Frenchman named M. Guenot, in retaliation, a reconcil- ,
iation, however, was soon made, but was not satisfac
tory to Bienville. He therefore hastened from Newr Orleans
with 500 men, attacked the Natchez wherever met, burned
their towns and destroyed their fields, upon which a war was
inaugurated, resulting in the defeat of the Indians, who sued-'
for peace. This was granted on their giving up one of their
chiefs to be executed, who was accused by the French of be
ing the chief instigator of the war. He was at once slain,
and thus ^closed the second war of .the. French -with the Nat
chez. In 1726 Bienville returned to France, and Perier suc
ceeded him as governor in 1727. Bienville, by his cruelty
and oppression, had entailed the hatred of the Natchez upon.
«>40 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
all Frenchmen; in this they were encouraged by the Chick-
asaws who, it has been said, had also projected a general
confederation of all Indian tribes to drive th£ French from
their territories.
In 1729 an officer by the name of Chopart was comman
der of the French settlement. Chopart was naturally of a
haughty and tyrannical disposition — a fit subject to lord it
over a helpless people. But his oppressive tyranny became
so great that it could not be longer endured with any degree
of patience by the colony; therefore, complaint was made to
Governor Perier at New Orleans who summoned Chopart
into his presence. He was tried and found guilty of great
abuse of power, and would have been justly punished but for
the interference of influential friends (always found by such
characters even at the present day) who secured his pardon
from the governor. The pardoned tyrant returned, of
course, to his colony, and in as much as he then acted with
justice and humanity toward the French who had resources
to a higher authority, the more did he oppress and abuse the
Indians who had no higher power to which they could appeal.
At this time the Indian company gave instructions to Gover
nor Perier to induce' the Indians to remove to a greater dis
tance from the French colony, assigning as a reason, that
further collisions with the Whites might thus be obviated.
But why not induce the intruding French to remove to a
greater distance to obviate further collisions with the In
dians? Yes, why? What a system of injustice! Yet prac
ticed to the letter from that day to this by the Whites against
all .Indians.
Chopart, exulting/ in the prospects of being able to
avenge his wounded pride upon some one, now emptied the
,bottles of his long smothered wrath upon the devoted
heads of the unfortunate Natchez, treating them with
•every insolence he could devise, and heaping upon them
every outrage and insult that he could suggest, hoping thus
to force them to leave their country and homes to the quiet
possession of the French, a successful plan of robbery
.adopted to get possession of the Indians'Jands. One day
he summoned the Great Sun to his presence, and, with a
haughty contemptuous demeanor, informed him that he had
been iustructed by Governor Perier to take possession of
the White Apple, one of their most beautiful towns, situated
five or six miles from Fort Rosalie; and for them to re
move somewhere else out of the way of the plans of the
French, at the same time, giving the command in the most
insolent and authoritative tone of voice. The chief turned
his eyes full upon Chopart with a calm but inquisitive gaze
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 541
of astonishment, and said: "My white brother cannot be in
earnest, but only desires to try the temper of the Indians.'
Is my white brother .ignorant of the fact that the Natchez
built that village many thousand moons ago, and have lived
there ever since"? "Insolent barbarian"! exclaimed Cho-
part, 'in. utter contempt. "Call me not brother. Between
thy race and mine there are no kindred ties; nor do I parley
with any of your race. Let it suffice you, that when I com
mand, you must obey." The noble chief, concealing his
em.otions, with a calm manly voice, replied: "Brother^ such
language was never before addressed to me; nor.have your
people ever before, taken our property from us by force.
What .they wished of ours, we freely gave or they pur-
chafed!. We prefer peace. to war with your nation. There
are other lands of ours which we ca'h spare to your people;
take them! What more can we do? In the centre of the.
White Apple is our temple, in which the bones of our ancest
ors .have reposed since we came from the far west to live on
the banks of the Great River, and it is dear to our hearts.'7
:"No more of your foolish talk to me," replied the inso
lent . Chppart. "Soon a vessel," he continued, "from our
great town down the river will arrive, and if the village of .
the White Apple is not given into my possession by the time
the vessel arrives, I will send you bound in chains to our,
great chief. I have no more to say. Go." "Tis well," re
sponded the Indian ; "and I go to my people and speak the
words before their old and wise 'men in council." The com
mand of their mighty chief to convene in council was hastily
obeyed; and when he laid before them the insolent and out
rageous demands of Chopart, the greatest indignation was-
manifest 'upon every face, though no outward expression of
words portrayed the slumbering hatred that now rankled
in, their, breasts against their insolent, domineering and op
pressive intruders. What was the result of the, council? . A
resolution w£s unanimously passed to invite the Yazoos,
Choctaws, Chickasaws and other contiguous tribes, who had
also experienced the insolence and oppression of the pale
faces, to bury their former animosities for the sake of the
common good, and unite in one grand alliance and great
brotherhood against their common foe, and by one united
effort free their country from the oppressive yoke and
cruel tyranny of the pale-face strangers. ~ ^
Without delay embassadors were sent to all the sur
rounding tribes to lay their proposition before their wise
men convened in solemn council. The embassadors carried
little bundles of an equal number of sticks, and to each tribe,
who should adopt the resolution, a bundle of the sticks was
542" HISTORY OF THE INDIANS;-
I
given .with instructions to withdraw a stick from the bundle
daily, and the last stick was to designate the day that the
combined attack upon the French was to be made through
out their entire country. This manner of keeping" any ap
pointed day was anciently practiced by all the southern In
dians. In a few-days the embassadors returned with the in
formation that not a single tribe to which they had been sent
had refused to accept the proposition, and all would make the
attack on the day appointed. Unfortunately for the Natchez
the uncommon movements and unusual activity of their war
riors aroused the curiosity of the women. Unfortunately,
also, for the Natchez the mother of the then ruling Great
Sun' cherished an uncommon friendship for the French, and
her curiosity had become- greatly excited by the frequent
secret meetings of all the wise men of the Nation and also
' by the going and coming of the embassies who had departed
in and: returned from all directions, and she had determined
to solve the mystery; and in the accomplishment of her res
olution she proved herself a successful Delilah. Alas, who
can outwit a woman's excited curiosity! for this Indian
queen mother so artfully wrought upon her kingly son that
he disclosed the whole plot, even the most important secret
for the successful accomplishment of her treasonable de
signs, where, in the Great Temple was concealed the chron
ometer of the Natchez, the bundle of sticks, her knowledge
of which proved the successful overthrow of her chieftain
son, as the secret obtained by Delilah, that of Samson.
To conceal her feelings from her unsuspecting son, she,
of course, readily and easily assumed to enter heartily into
the plot, though she had determined to warn the French of
their impending danger, if it could be done without the be
trayal of herself. More than once she shrewdly managed to
get word to Chopart of the threatened storm, but he regard
ed the admonitions as idle stories purposely circulated by
the Indians to drive them from the resolution oirseizing their
village, the White Apple. The French manifested by their
conduct no knowlege of their fast approaching doom, not
withstanding her warnings sent them, the queen-mother,
unrelenting in her efforts to save them, secretly entered the
temple and withdrew several of the sticks from the bundle,
and thus destroyed the concert of action agreed upon among
the tribes, by bringing on the attack of the Natchez at an
earlier day. The traitoress hoped by this means that a few
French might escape and warn the rest of the colony. But
in spite of all the warnings received by Chopart, he still ad
hered to the same fatal incredulity, applying the insulting
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 543
epithet of cowardice to those who spoke to him of the rumors
that were afloat.
The next day after the convening- of the grand council
of the Natchez, the Great Sun presented himself at Fort
Rosalie, and expressed a willingness to Chopart to comply
with his oraer to evacuate the village of the white people; but
humbly requesting a little more time to select a place to
which they might transport their effects; to which Chopart
acceded, allowing him until the latter part of December,
but with this proviso, that the Natchez should pay to him
(Chopart), during the interval, one barrel of corn, a certaiti.
number of fowls, a certain quantity of furs and bear's oil>
for each cabin of the White Apple village. The Great Sun
and Chopart then parted; the one elated with his prospect
of gain, the other with his prospect of revenge. But the'
fatal day, the 29th of November 1716, came, and ere the sun
had reached the meridian, the French were involved in one
common destruction; in one short hour the work was com
plete; and with the loss of only twelve warriors, the Natchez
slew two hundred and fifty of their merciless French in
truders and haughty oppressors. Chopart, the last to re-'
ceive his just reward, fled to his garden hoping there to.
conceal himself; but he was found, dragged forth and handed,
over to the lowest class of the Natchez warriors, who beat
him to death with their war clubs, the highest taking no 'part
in his death, as they considered it dishonorable to imbue,
their hands in the blood of so contemptible a wretch.^ Two
men only were spared, one a tailor, and the other a wagoner,,
and three hundred women and children. The Natchez, still
ignorant' of the queen-mother's theft of the sticks, and that,
their attack was premature, -and believing that the other
tribes had acted in concert with them, consequently the'
French throughout their entire country were cut off, gave
themselves up to feasting and dancing.
In the wide extended arrangement of the plot to destroy,
the French, the destruction of New Orleans had been as
signed to the Choctaws, and the destruction of the little
French forts, scattered here and there over the country, had
been assigned to the weaker tribes. Thus fhe extermina
tion of the French would have been complete but for the
concert of action being destroyed by the stolen sticks from,
the chronometer of the Natchez.
A few days after the destruction of the French at White
Apple the Choctaws sent an embassy to the Natchez to learn
the cause of the premature attack upon the French, thus
causing a failure of concerted, action against their common
foe. When they arrived at the White Apple they angrily .
544 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
demanded of the Natchez an explanation of their strange
and incomprehensible conduct and breach of faith. To
which the Natchez replied .that they had made the attack on
, the very day indicated by the last stick, and that if any one
had violated their word it was the Choctaws in not making-
the attack also at the time they themselves had made it ; at
the same time intimating- cowardice on the part of the Choc-
taws as a reason for their failure. To which insinuation the
Choctaw deputation took great offense, and at once departed,,
telling the Natchez that henceforward and forever they
would have no further alliance with them, but ever consider
themv.as'unworthy of trust, while the Natchez hurled back
upon them .the accusations of perfidy and cowardice.
. ' In a few days after the departure of the first Ctiickasaw
embassy another, one came from a different district of the
Choctaw Nation, and were as much dissatisfied in their in
terview with the Natchez, regarding the explanation of their
premature attack upon the French as the former. But
learning that the Natchez contemplated killing the two men
and the three hundred women and children whom they still
held as prisoners, the Choctaw embassy boldly marched in a
body to the public square and struck the red post — a chal
lenge of defiance among all Indians — boldly declaring that
the Choctaws would no longer be the allies of the Natchez,
but would henceforward be the allies of the French, and if
they dared kill a single one of the French prisoners then in
their hands, every warrior of their great Nation would come
in a body against them. This defiant threat brought the
Natchez. to due reflection and the two men and three hundred
wromen and children were saved. Having given this salutary
advice to the Natchez, the Choctaws departed, leaving the
seemingly unfortunate Natchez in a state of great perplex
ity as to the proper step they should take in so dubious a
state of affairs.
When Governor Perier learned of the destruction of the
French at Fort Rosalie he immediatel}r sent a courier to the
Choctaws with instructions to inform them that Governor
Perier desired to have a talk with them. The Choctaws at
that time were the most powerful of all the tribes, and great
doubts were entertained by them in their then critical state
of affairs, as to the course the Choctaws would pursue, and
it was highly important that their friendship should be se
cured. The destruction of Fort Rosalie by the Natchez had
thrown the French into great excitement, consternation and
dread, filling their minds with fear as rumor whispered to
their excited imaginations the uprising of the Indians in one
grand concert of action against them. And Governor Perier
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 54S
states: "So great was the fear that the Chauaches, a little
tribe of only thirty warriors, dwelling a few miles above
New Orleans, were even a subject of dread to the French..
This induced me to have them destroyed by our negroes,,
who executed the mission with great promptness and se
crecy, setting an example before the small tribes higher up
the river that held them in check. If I had been so disposed
I could have destroyed all those nations, which are no service
to us, by the negroes; but who, on the other hand, may in
fluence our blacks to revolt." But he might the more truth
fully have said that he caused the innocent and harmless.
Chauaches to be murdered by the negroes, that he might,
create an enmity between the negro and Indian race, as he
no doubt had misapprehensions as to the negroes remaining
quiet in the then excited state of affairs, and not attempt, by
joining the Indians, to assert their rights to freedom. What
a volume of oppression, wrong and cruelty towards the
North Americans, from first to last, might be written from
the sentiment expressed in Governor Perier's, "which are
no service to us! "
On the 16th of January, 1717, Perier's fears and anxie
ties were greatly quieted when he was informed that Le
Sueur, a French officer, with seven hundred Choctaw war
riors, was on his march against the Natchez. Alas, for the.
Natchez! Dame fortune seemed to frown upon them from
every side, and to have consigned them to a speedy destruc
tion, for they seemed unable to resist the temptation of en
joying the rich booty taken from the French, though appre
hensive of the storm that was gathering around them,, and
whose muttering thunders in the distance might have been
audible had not every sense been swallowed up in the indul
gence of feasting and dancing, oblivious to all else. Alas,
how quickly does sorrow oft tread upon the heels of joy I
Unfortunate and inconsiderate Natchez! On the 27th of Jan
uary, 1730, while indulging in feasting and dancing; on the
banks of a small creek, in thoughtless security, Le Sueur
with his seven hundred Choctaws broke suddenly and un
expectedly upon them and turned their merriment into wail
ing by killing sixty, taking captive twenty and rescuing fifty
four French women and children ere they could rally and re
treat to two forts they had erected in expectation of a storm
which they felt would, sooner or later, burst with great fury
upon them. But this was only the prelude to what the
Natchez least expected would follow.
On the 8th of February, part of the French forces, ren
dezvousing among the Tunicas, arrived at Natchez under
the command of Loubois and united with the Choctaw under
546 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
LeSueur, followed by the remainder on the next day. Or
the 14th, the united forces of the Choctaws and French
made an assault upon the two forts, which were bravely de
fended by the Natchez. The French brought four pieces ol
artillery to bear upon the two little forts, which they had
succeeded in planting on an eminence five hundred yard^
distant, and for six consecutive hours hurled their balls
against the two forts with no effect whatever, the Natchez
responding with two pieces of artillery, taken in the capture
of Fort Rosalie, with like effect. The total failure of the
French to produce any effect upon the fo.rts, was humiliat
ing to the French commander, but a source of amusement
to the Choctaws; as he had promised them that he would
knock down the two forts over the heads of the Natchez in
two hours. The ineffectual cannonading was kept up seven
days; the Choctaws, in the meantime, laughing and deriding
theincompetency of the tanapoh chitoh (big guns); becom
ing wearied at noise without effect, the Choctaws threaten
ed, on the morning of the 23d, to return home if the affairs
of the siege were not prosecuted in a better manner. This
threat of the Choctaws had the desired effect; and on the
24th, the four pieces of artillery were brought to oear upon
the two little forts at a distance of three hundred yards, and
then the Natchez were told that it was determined to blow
them up, even at the sacrifice of the French captives in
their possession.
The near proximity of the artillery, together with that
of the threat, so intimidated the Natchez that they sent a
female captive to make propositions of peace, who remained,
without any response being returned to the Natchez. . On
the 25th a flag was hoisted by the Natchez as a token of
peace. Upon seeing this, a Choctaw chief went near to
one of the forts, and cried out to the Natchez, ;'Who
ever knew before that the Choctaws encamped around
the fort of an enemy for many weeiks? Learn from this how
great is the friendship of the Choctaws for the French. It
is folly for you who are so much less in numbers than
the Choctaws to still refuse to give up to the French their
women and children. I and my warriors have determined
to stay here and keep you in those two forts until you perish
by hunger." Upon hearing this the Natchez promised to
deliver all their French prisoners to the Choctaws, on the
condition that the French would remove to the bank of the
river with their artillery. The French assenting to this
proposition, the following stipulations were agreed upon by
the two belligerent parties: That the French were to with
draw to the banks of the river; the Natchez to deliver their
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 547
French captives to the Choctaws, and be allowed to remain
in quiet and peaceable possession of their country and
homes. All of which was agreed upon on the 26th, and thus
terminated the siege, the French having lost fifteen men in
the affair.
Still the French commander, not regarding himself in
honor bound to the adherence of his word, like thousands at
the present day, when given to an Indian, had determined,
as soon as he had released the French captives in the hands
of the Natchez, to recommence hostilities against the
Natchez to their utter extermination.
But the Natchez, having learned by sad experience to
rely no more upon the promises of the French, had deter
mined to retreat. On the morning of the 27th they handed
over all the French women and children to the Choctaws,
who, in turn, delivered them to the French, and on the same
day the Choctaws departed for their homes. But on the
29th, when the French commander again appeared before
the two forts to execute his infamous determination against
the Natchez, he found them empty, and their former occu
pants flown.
Thus was finished this expedition against the unfortu
nate Natchez, for the succcessful and speedy termination of
which the honor (if honor there be) is due to the Choctaws;
for they alone influenced the Natchez to yield; and to the
Choctaws only would the Natchez consent to deliver their
French -prisoners, and then made good- their retreat with
honor to themselves and without loss; bidding an eternal
adieu to their native hills and ancient possessions to seek a
place of rest they knew not where, and leaving their aban
doned homes to the possession of the French.
The different tribes, acting in the beginning of the war
as allies to the Natchez, returned to their former allegiance
with the French, and assisted them in destroying the
Natchez wherever found. "Since their flight," said Perier,
'•'P have had fifty of them killed or taken prisoners.. I
buried here six of them, four men and two women."
At this exhibition the whites seemed as proud of the,
horrid scene, as the ancient Romans were of the mutila
tion of human beings by wild beasts in the arena, above
which sat civilization in the shape of Governor Perier, prov
ing human nature to be the same at bottom, however modi
fied at the surface, whether it remains in the original naked
ness of barbarism, or conceals itself under the varied
garments of civilization, as is so well established in the op
pression and cruelty perpetrated by the American people of
the 19th century upon the Red Race of this continent.
548 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Was not this savage act of cruelty, perpetrated by those
who assumed to be Christians, regarded by the Indians as
an approval of their custom?
Soon after this act of the French, a band of Tunica
warriors brought to New Orleans a poor Natchez woman
whom they had .captured .while lingering amid the scenes of
her youth, that called up in memory the loved ones then scat
tered to be united no more, and Governor Perier had her
burned to death on a high platform erected especially for the
ceremon}', and to witness which all New Orleans again turn
ed out in state. While slowly being consumed and suffering
tortures most intense, that forlorn Natchez woman far away
from kindred and friends- and alone, shed not a tear nor ut
tered a groan, but bore her tortures with Indian fortitude;
yet reproached her captors, the Tunicas, who stood around
in bitter epithets declaring the speedy destruction of their
people. The dying woman's prediction proved true; for the
Tunicas returned home but to be surprised by a band of
the homeless Natchez and their nation in turn nearly exter
minated.
To what a state of utter desperation must the Natchez
have been reduced, to perform such deeds of daring, and to
manifest such a thirst for revenge! But for what else had
they to live? Their country gone, kindred'ties severed never
to be reunited, their people scattered as autumn leaves be
fore the gale. But why thus? The pale-face saw their
Eden, coveted it; and because they dared fight for their God
inherited right as God approved heroes, they must abide the
decree — extermination.
The Tunicas were destroyed by a brave and resolute
band of the Natchez, who had found a temporary asylum
among the generous Chickasaws, though the exterminating
French believed that all the Natchez had sought refuge west
of the Mississippi river. But this heroic and indomitable
people, scattered in detached bands here and there, did not
fail to continually give satisfactory notice to the French that
they were not all exterminated. Therefore, Governor Pe
rier resolved that they' should be; and in accordance with
that resolution he, on the 4th of January, 1731, personally
took command of his army, which had been instructed to
rendezvous at the mouth of Red river. But where to find,
the place where the Natchez had concealed themselves was a
problem which presented itself before him not easy of solu
tion. As delay would accomplish nothing towards gratify
ing his thirst for Indian blood, he immediately ascended the
Red river; thence into Black river; thence into a stream
then known as Silver river; thence into a small lake, near
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 549
which he had heard the Natchez were concealed, where he
arrived on January 19th. Again, fortune frowned upon the
poor persecuted Natchez, for on the next day a Natchez boy,
wandering- too far in his eager pursuit of the chase, fell into
the hands of his merciless foes, and, under the fear of terri
ble threats, betrayed the retreat of his people ; and on the
21st the unfortunate Natchez found themselves completely
surrounded; and on the 24th, fearing the little fort which
they had constructed, and in which their women and chil
dren were placed would be stormed, and in that case they
would be left to the mercies of a brutal soldiery, made over
tures of peace, to which Perier replied, "That he would hold
no parley with them, unless they would first give up the
negro slaves they had in their possession, and their chiefs
would then come out half way between the fort and the
French to have an interview with him."
Twenty negroes were at once given up. After much
hesitation, and how well founded the sequel will show, the
Great Sun, the Little Sun, and a subordinate chief came out
of their little fort, at 4 p. m. and advanced to the half-way
ground and there met Perier with whom .to have a consulta
tion. After a few words had been exchanged, a rain com
menced falling; upon which the perfidious Perier suggested
the propriety of entering a vacant cabin, near by, to which
they readily consented but the moment they entered they
were made prisoners by a company of soldiers concealed
therein. As night came on the rain increased, and during
the night became a fearful tempest; during which the subor
dinate made good his escape. On the next day (25th) forty-
five men and four hundred and fifty women and children
surrendered to the mercies of their foes during the day.
But the night following being again dark and rainy, the rest
about two hundred, fortunately made their escape. Perier
began his return on the 28th.; and in his dispatches, as our
great Indian butchering generals, the uheroic" Sheridan and
Sherman, did not forget the indispensable "Too much
praise cannot be awarded the officers and men for their gal
lant conduct against fearful odds and under adverse circum-
•stances"; but forgot to mention, even as his "gallant" coun
terparts of the present era, the base treachery he adopted
to get the Indian chiefs into his hands. When he returned
to New Orleans, he took his Natchez prisoners with him
numbering forty-five men and four hundred and fifty women
and children, besides the Great Sun and Little Sun, whom
he so treacherously got into his hands, and then sent every
one of them to St. Domingo, and there sold them as slaves,
thus executing his threat against them. Extermination,
550 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
because they had the manly courage to resist oppression,,
and fight to the death against merciless tyrants.
The little remnant of Natchez left, though in the last
stage of hopeless despair, instead of yielding, nobly and
bravely nerved themselves to desperate deeds of revenge,
for they still could call into the field about three hundred
warriors. But they were at last defeated, then all hope fled,
and the few scattered remnants, in three different bands,
sought safety where best they could find it; one sought ref
uge among the Christian hearted Chickasaws, who gener
ously gave them a home and protection. But even there they
were not idle, for they sought every opportunity to avenge
the destruction of their Nation and people, by attacking the-
French whenever and wherever found.
In 1733 a few still survived and still fought; for Bienville,
being at that time reappointed to the governorship in the
place of Perier, said, in a dispatch written on the 15th of
May, 1733, "That the Tunicas had assured him that the
Natchez were not destroyed, but were composed of three
bands; the smallest had fled north some distance from their
ancient villages; the next was on the banks of the Missis
sippi river, opposite the Yazoo river, and the third and larg
est had been received among- the Chickasaws who had given
them land on which to live." He closed by saying: "I shall
use ejvery effort to constantly harass them."
The two bands that still clung near their old homes, and
seemed so reluctant to leave forever the banks of that noble
river, the Mississippi, became so constantly harassed by
the French that they were finally driven to seek a safer
place of refuge; therefore, they also retreated to the Chicka
saws and joined the band that had preceded them and found
shelter and protection among that magnanimous people.
Their nation had perished; the remaining little remnant
of survivors went west, and were dispersed among the
various Indian tribes of that then little known country to the
white race, and were lost as a distinct people. However, it
has been stated through the medium of the press that a
small tribe of Indians have been discovered in southern
Arizona who are Idolaters; that they are in reality sun wor
shippers, but make small images out of clay with faces sup
posed to represent the sun, although bearing little if any
resemblance to it; that they do not associate with other
tribes and are very seldom seen by white men. In this re
spect at least they may be regarded as being extremely for
tunate. That the idols have large, round bodies and heads,
with eyes and mouth and ears — beams radiating from the
eyes over the face. These Indians keep these idols in rude
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 551
houses or wigwams, and at certain seasons of the year they
hold a sun dance, which is with them a religious ceremony.
They have no other form of worship, although a few of them
were at one time induced to abandon their idols by the Jesuit
priests. If the story be true, there is a good reason to be
lieve that they are the descendants of the few Natchez who
[led west in 1733, at the destruction of their nation by the
French.
But the beneficent God of man's creation be praised that
''There is;a world, where souls are free,
Where tyrants taint not Nature's bliss;
If death that world's bright opening be.
Oh! who would live a slave in this?"
Noble race! Unaccustomed to crouch under oppression,
and when the evils of submission became greater than those
of resistance, how could it but beget a convulsive burst of
indignation and courage, supported by the hope of success
fully driving back the merciless invaders of their country
and homes!
But how vain the struggle against the irresistible
power of superior intelligence, crazed to become rich, and
the strength of civilization without mercy, honor or truth,
a power without morality, unscrupulous and unprincipled,
which came among them to wring from them their country,
upon which to build its own greatness, though at the cost
of the utter annihilation of its primitive inhabitants; a powrer
from the Alpha to the Omega, which placed the administra
tion of justice, wrhen dealing with the Indians, in the hands
of its highest functionary — Avarice, and there left it; thus
it came a war of helpless sheep against ravenous wolves,
untutored men against demons, to whom dissimulation, dis
honesty and avarice were as paws to the hungry tiger.
Endless promises, false excuses, elaborate tissues of cir
cumstantial falsehoods, unblushing chicanery, and extermi
nating war, untempered with mercy in regard to age or
sex, innocent or guilty, were the weapons adopted and
practiced, in the successful and speedy accomplishment of
their determination to destroy and exterminate the North
American Indian race; therefore they went implacable in
enmity and void of pity; and the pertinacity with which they
have adhered to their purpose needs no further confirma
tion.
The historic Indian is with the past, and his bones are
resting in the grave with his pre-historic ancestry ; while
his surviving descendant, shorn of all his former chivalry
and independence, is left alone to battle with the prejudice
of the exterminators of his race, who for 200 years have
552 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
toeen pressing- it toward that period of evolution we call civ
ilization, but in reality extermination.
But alas, as a falling- star tumbling- from its primitive
place near the g-ates of heaven, bathed in primitive glory, so
has been the falling of the North American Red Race, that
noble, brave and wonderful people, into the dark clouds of
misfortune and woe, tracking- their lone and sorrowful course
down throug-h the deep midnight of despair to helpless ex
termination and hopeless oblivion; and though their spring
freshness and summer bloom have forever faded away, leav
ing no hope of a returning morn, still their silent, yet digni
fied despair, impresses an involuntary respect and admira
tion — even as a fine nature becomes by the sorrows that
blight and the misfortunes that mildew and destroy. But
will that time never come when that spirit of love that seeks
the good of the poor, unfortunate Indian will be truly felt
and acted upon, and that spirit which is wise in mercy and
has no element of vengeance, shall speak in the actions of
our congress, sounded in sermons. from our pulpits and
pleaded in our prayers at the throne of grace.
Truly the life of the North American Indian of the
present day is, and long has been, a strange comedy to all
who observe, and a fearful tragedy to those who reflect.
But have they not endured enough? Can they endure more
and still exist? Nay verily. Already have they turned their
gaze to the skirmishers that line the other shore, as they
sadly and hopelessly, yet silently and heroically move for
ward in their uncomplaining (since unavailing) wretched
ness.
The North Americans everywhere were quick to ob
serve; prone to meditate on all they observed, and possessed
an imagination fertile, expansive and daring; they imbibed
with eagerness and retained in a tenacious memory; and be
fore their prospects, under the sustaining- and fostering care
of the loving and loved white missionary, were destroyed
and their hopes forever blighted by ruthless hands, their
lives were like an April day. True, they had experienced
reverses, but as the sun of their lives sank in the west the
rainbow of the white man's promise awhile bent beautifully
above them; but, alas, only to be driven back from their
hopes by realizing the utter falsity of that promise. Ah,
suspense and hope deferred! these are the two emotions
which serve to kill the human heart, to darken and blight
human existence. Therefore, soon in their faces, where
never before seen, were visible strength and weakness, man
hood and helplessness.
It is attested by thousands of Christian witnesses
HISTORY OF THK INDIANS. 553
now living- who personally know, and thousands of Christian
witnesses long- since dead, who left their testimony behind
them in their writing's down the revolving- years back to over
two centuries ag-o, that the North American Indians every
where welcomed the religion of Jesus Christ; that they ad
mired the civilization of the White Race, and delig-hted to be
taught in the useful arts and sciences, while they abhorred
and dreaded the accompanying vices attending- that civiliza
tion, as exhibited before them by the lawless, who ever fol
lowed close on the heels of the servants of God.
It is a truth, though known to few, that the problems
which the North American Indians have presented, ever
since their first introduction to the White Race, and still
present to this g-eneration in the little remnant, still sur
viving-, are worthy the consideration and study of even the
most learned; and that the events which have formed their
known history during the last two centuries are worthy
to take rank among- the marvels of history. Nor do multi
plied thousands have the least conception of the changes
which that peculiar, but none the less worthy, people have
experienced and the effect they have had upon them. Truly
the one stands to the other in the relation of cause to effect.
But what the future has in store for them may closely be
guessed by their present condition in their transition from
the old to the new order of things under the weight of the
hand of merciless coercion; yet what many tribes have been
enabled to accomplish for the intellectual, moral and ma
terial improvement, amid all their vicissitudes, wrongs and
sufferings, few, very few, also know; therefore, millions,
without any investigation whatever, but upon vague rumor
alone, believe that no Indian is or can be fittted to enjoy the
blessings of Christianity, though the belief is as faulty as
its premises are absolutely false.
May a just and merciful God grant that others shall rise
up in the defense of this part of His fearfully perse
cuted race of mankind, whose pens more efficient than
mine shall relate to future generations it's wrongs and suf
ferings; its love of country and freedom; its heroic defense
of both; its patience and silence in misfortunes unparalleled
in the history of mankind ; its calm resignation in humilia
tion, after prodigies of justifiable resistance against over
whelming numbers, while laboring under the most adverse
surroundings ever known in the history of man fighting
for country, freedom, justice and truth.
And though here, as in the middle watches of the night, I
close my labors, yet I must leave the reader in great doubt
of a fairer morn ever dawning upon the Red Race of the
554 HIST OK Y OF THE INDIANS.
United States, as such a morn can scarcel}'' be expected, or
even hoped for, in an age abounding- more with vice than vir
tue, as this hitherto has abounded and still abounds, with
fair prospects of indefinite continuance; since the manifes
ted desire and unyielding determination of the government
and people of the whole country have long been, still are and
will ever be, to exterminate their Indian wards — forever blot
out their institutions and every vestige of their entire race;
but hoping and believing that in its oblivion would also be
forgotten the means adopted for the accomplishment of the
result; therefore, thousands still mock at and deride this
people, while others oppress, persecute and slander.
But in this account of the true Native Americans, this
peculiar and, in many respects, wonderful part of God's
created. races of man, I regret not that I have wandered far
from the old and beaten track in which former writers have
walked in their accounts given of that people known as the
Red Race of North America; and truly believe that I have
thereby escaped many of the ruts into which they have,
with here and there an exception, alike and invariably fallen;
though in passing through the shadowy lands of legend
and myth, where many of the pen pictures are, to an un
justifiable and inexcusable extent, imaginary, I deny not
but here and there a slender web of fiction, but, free of in
tended or known falsehood, may be found upon its pages;
as I have sought from many sources, whatever hues and
colors which were considered best adapted to and interest
and variety to its pages; and if it only tends to bring others
into sympathy for the Indian race of this continent, one of
its principal missions will be accomplished.
True, I have rejected much which might have been
written, for which, perhaps, many may think that fact de
serves more praise than to be pardoned for that which has
been published. Be it as it may; I murmur not at the verdict
of the reader; nor make any appeal to posterity. I sought
not for human adulation, that ephemeral thing so difficult to
obtain and so worthless when obtained ; therefore, if it
quickly dies, amen! as, in so doing, it will save trouble for
those who are inclined to injure from any attempt to kill
that which will inevitably soon perish of its own self.
But let this be added, the subject matter of this narra
tive was begun and ended with a full knowledge of the task
that lay before me: and so involved was it in uncertainty,
and so tinged with romance and fiction, that had not the in
terest of and justice to the North American Indians, de
manded, at least, that an attempt should be made to shed a
ray of true light upon their history, I would not indeed have
HISTORY OF THIS INDIANS. OOO
ventured to attempt to lift the veil and bid a thoughtless
world look in again upon that mystic people, and thereby ex
pose them once more to its idle and heartless gaze, chilled
with the frosts of incredulity.
I have endeavored to draw a true picture of the repre
sentative type of southern Indians and their wrongs, as
found in the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Muscogee Cnow
Creek) and Seminole, as they appeared in the four epochs of
their known history; from the time of De Solo's .invasion
into their territories; during the period of the establishment
of the French colonies among them; during the transition
period following the advent of the Protestant missionaries
to them, and their final banishment to the then inhospitable
and little known '"Wild West," and as they appear, and are
to-day, as a civilized and Christian people.
Hoping my labors will not be viewed in a wrong light,
yet ready at all times to defend my position as the abiding
friend of the true native North American race, I here bid
the reader a kind adieu, as my narrative is finished; my man
hood's years far behind, with life's declining sun lingering
upon its western sky; the years of the past hold the native
Americans' wrongs, and time will tell the rest in the years
to come.
Noble race! I honor you and I love you. We've been
friends together through the years of the Long Ago, enough
for us to know. We'll be so still in all our years to come;
nor time nor distance, though our paths of life diverge,
shall ever efface from our memory's page those words,
of truth.
NORTH AMERICA'S MOUNDS AND MOUND
BUILDERS— THEIR ORIGIN
AND DESIGN.
What a sad record is the history of the human race
from the creation of Adam down along- the long flight of
ages to the closing scenes of this the 19th century! How
replete in strife and confusion! each nation seemingly in
turn, to entail upon itself the just retributions of a merciful
God, whose long forbearance could no long-er endure its de
grading idolatry and presumptuous wickedness. Yet, who
can but admire with emotions of astonishment as he gazes
upon or reads of those ancient temples and mighty struc-
ures of human skill that stand as living mementos to the
present age, of pre-historic man, but whose purposes of
erection are, with him, forever buried amid the mists of
ages past.
The Sphinx and the great pyramid Cheops, with heads
towering high, still look down in mournful silence upon the
surrounding desolation as dumb historians of remote ages
past. While, equally sad and mournful are the still visible
wrecks of fallen cities, some having been lost to the world
for many hundred years after their destruction; all alike
have passed away, to be remembered but in tradition, fable
and song, leaving, here and there a few moss-covered walls
and towers crumbling in turn to dust, with their undeciph-
€red hieroglyphics — all as mementos of the desolating
power of long succeeding years, still frowning on the mys
teries of a people who bequeathed to posterity only such
monuments as future testimonials of their history.
But respect for the dead and a just regard for their dis
position by burial have been distinctive characteristics in
man in all ag-es and countries of both the civilized and unciv
ilized world. There are two classes of primitive tombs,
both of the highest antiquity, the tumulus or mound of earth
heaped over the dead and the subterranean or excavated; the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 557
former Is the most ancient form of sepulture and has been
the universal mode among- all primitive nations. But what
awakens sadder emotions than the contemplation of the cem
etery of a nation or a race! Still as those cities of hoary an
tiquity on the Eastern Continent, with all their great inheri
tance of centuries past, their Pyramids, walls and other dif
ferent and wonderful structures of architectural skill, have
ever been of the deepest interest to the modern student, so
too, the mounds, stone implements of every description,
hieroglyphics, pottery, etc., shreds and patches of succeed
ing1 generations, present many things of interest, though
like the detached fragments of some beautiful mosaic, which
demand the skill of the expert to replace them, or like geolo
gical strata, upheaved by a series of convulsions which with
out some knowledge of their history, cannot be reduced to
order. In gazing upon these silent relics of the long past,
these charnel houses of departed ages, their still calm lulls
the soul to a melancholy, yet pleasing, repose, as the imagi
native mind goes back and contemplates the various phases
in the stream of life which they have witnessed during the
slowly revolving centuries of their existence, and seem to
respond to the inquiry, "What of year record? — that long
panorama of history that has been enrolled before you by
passing ages is but a part of what lies before."
Behind the white race now in possession and far behind
the Indian, whom the whites have dispossessed, is that un
known people whose receding memory the archaeologist still
seeks to save, since it is the most convenient race to be
brought in for all the riddles, myths and mysteries of the
continent in all future to come. Many of the mounds, 'tis
true, are of such ancient date that they seem almost parts
of the original land surface; yet have a history which, if
only known, would far surpass all the fairy tales of romance
and fiction that were ever written or imagined; standing in
their original strength disdainful of all assistance.
Each continent has memorials of its long lost and forgot
ten races; and America's mounds, fortification's, pottery,
metal remains, all interest us in the question, who were
they? One responds "The Ten Tribes of Israel." An
other shouts, "The Tartans." Each savant having a theory
of his own and, in attestation of its truth, unhesitatingly
sacrificing his bottle of ink at the shrine of his deity; but,
after all, they are still lost races; and though I have not be
come a convert to the sundry theories accounting- for their
origin and disappearance, yet have only been enabled to sat
isfactorily prove for myself, each in its turn, about as clearly
as our modern exegesists demonstrate the meaning- of
.558 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
baptize; for many and diversified are the opinions advanced
by those who have attempted to solve the mystery of their
origin, their builders and their purposes. And, though
time, which antiquates antiquities, has spared these minor
monuments; yet, who were proprietaries of the'se bones, or
what bodies those ashes made up, is a question above anti-
quarianism — not to be determined by man. But where is
the antidote against the power of time? Our fatbers find
their graves in our short memories and sadly tell us how we
may be buried in our survivors.
By many these mounds, walls and fortifications, found in
various portions of the North American continent, are pro
nounced as the work of an extinct race of the human family,
.anterior to the occupancy of the country by the Indians — a
feeble remnant of whose descendants, through the plenti-
tude of our great mercy, are still with us; while others as
strenuously contend that they were constructed by the an
cestors of our present Indians. The former, among whom
are many learned antiquaries/ base their opinion upon the
belief that the Indians, "being few in number' and unskilled
in the arts, were wholly unable to have erected such works."
All, however, would perhaps concede that if the ancient
cities, pyramids of stone, rock walls, artificial lakes walled
in with immense pieces of stone, said to be lately discovered
in Mexico and various other portions of the North American
continent, and so published in the journals of the present
day, were true, there are strong grounds upon which to
predicate a belief that a race of people prehistoric to the an
cestors of our Indians' ancestry, once inhabited the Western
Continent and were the builders of these massive structures,
some of which excelling in grandeur the great pyramid of
Egypt — the mighty Cheops.
The following published, in a Texas journal, of 1883, is
sufficient as one example.
A RECENTLY Disco YEKED LOST CITY OF MEXICO.—
Ancient ruins have recently been discovered in Sonora,
which if reports are true, surpass anything of the kind ever
found on this continent. With equal truth the writer
might have added, or on any other continent. "The ruins
are said to be about four leagues southeast of Magdalena.
There is one pyramid which has a base of 4350 feet and
rises to a height of 750 feet; there is a winding roadway
from the bottom leading up an easy grade to the top, wide
enough for carriages to pass over, which is said to be twen
ty-three miles in length; the outer walls of the road-way are
laid in solid masonry from huge blocks of granite in rubble,
and the circles are as uniform and the grade as regular as
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 559
could be made at this date by our best engineers. The wall
however, is only occasionally" exposed, being- covered over
with debris and earth, and in many places various kinds of
indigenous plants and trees have grown up, giving- the pyra
mid the appearance of a mountain. To the east of the py
ramid a short distance, is a small mountain about the same
size, and rises to about the same height; and, if reports are
true, will prove more interesting to the archaeologist than
the pyramid.
"There seems to be a heavy layer of a species of gypsum
about half way up the mountain, which is as white as snow,
and may be cut into any conceivable shape, but sufficiently
hard to retain its shape after being cut. In this layer of
stone a people of an unknown age have cut hundreds upon
hundreds of rooms, from five by ten to sixteen or eighteen
feet square. •
"These rooms are cut out of solid stone, and so even
and true are the walls, floor and ceiling, so plumb and level,
as to defy variation. There are no windows to the rooms,
and but one entrance, which is always from the top. The
rooms are but eight feet high from floor to ceiling. The
stone is so white that it seems almost transparent, and the
rooms are not at all dark. On the walls of the rooms are
numerous hieroglyphics and representations of human
forms, with feet and hands of human beings cut in the stone
in different places. But, strange to say, the hands all have
five fingers and one thumb, and the feet have six toes.
Charcoal is found on the floors of many of the rooms, which
would indicate that they built fires in their houses.
"Stone implements of every description are to be found
In great numbers in and about the rooms. The houses or
rooms are one above the other, three or four stories high ;
but between each story there is a jag or recess the full
width of the room below, so that they present the appear
ance of large steps leading up the mountain." The writer
closes the account of this wonderful discovery with the fol
lowing grave soliloquy: "Who these people were, and in
what age they lived, must be answered, if answered at all,
by the wise men of the east." To which all will respond a
hearty amen!
Another writer, with equal assurance of not being ac
credited with too much love for truth, states through the
medium of the press to the credulous portion of the world
that there is to-day a "Walled Lake" in Wright County,
Iowa, 160 miles from Dubuque, evidently the work of man.
He thus writes: "Here is a prehistoric reservoir — an arti
ficial lake — a body of water covering nearly 300 acres, with
560 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
a wall built up all around it, not a stone in which can be less
than 100 pounds weight, and some as heavy as three tons,
and yet there is not a stone to be found within ten miles of
the lake. The wall is ten feet high. The country is prairie
land for miles around, except a heavy belt of timber that en
circles the lake. This timber is oak, and it is plain that the
trees were planted. The water in the lake is twenty-five
feet deep." And the writer thus closes his story with the
healthy questions as follows: "Who built that wall? How
were those immense stones moved?" And last, though not
least, "And how did they keep the water back when building
the wall?"
But if such a "Sonora Pyramid" and "Iowa Lake" act
ually exist to-day on this continent, as they seem to exist in
the prolific brains of these sensational writers, it could not
be reconciled with the theory of being the work of our In
dians or of their ancestors ages ag-o. But. as an imaginative
pre-historic race evidently built the two lately discovered
wonders of pre-historic antiquity, it is evident, it has contrib
uted enough to the history of the Western Continent for the
study of the antiquarian in that line; therefore, let the build
ing of the other curious mounds scattered over the various
portions of the North American continent be ascribed to the
Indians, to whom it justly belongs, as there is ample evidence
that they were built at different ages of the world by differ
ent tribes of the American Indians — not controlled by
science, but directed to a certain purpose then necessary.
Some of them were erected as symbols of some particular
virtue or deity taught by that religion for whose service they
were built and to whose mysteries they were consecrated".
Some, as memorials of great national events, as Nunih Wai-
yah of the ancient Choctaws and Chickasaws, erected in
commemoration of their arrival from the "Far West" (Mex
ico) to the now State of Mississippi in the periods of the long
forgotten past. But there they once stood in their primitive
beauty like a marvelous, beautiful dream; the expression of
the religious faith and hope of their builders, the North
American Indians of past years, and there they would have
remained, as far as human fore-sight could predict, until the
trumpet of the mighty arch angel should end their mission
or etheral fires restore their materials to their original ele
ments, but for their destroyers whose imagination had filled
them with silver and gold.
But that the mounds found scattered over different
states were erected by the ancestors of the present Indian
people, some, ages before tfye advent of the White Race to
this continent, and others since, there is abundant evidence,.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 561
even to satisfy (if such a thing- is within the range of a pos
sibility) the Infatuated lovers of the marvelous; and that
they were thrown up by different tribes and for different
purposes, some as cemeteries; some as sacrificial altars;
some as memorials of great events (as the famous Nunih
Waiyah); some as the honored places for the erection of the
houses of the chiefs; and some for signaling by fire from
their tops, (an ancient custom as well as modern to some
extent) of carrying- intelligence, successfully practiced by the
North American Indians. The Indians inhabiting the
prairie regions of the "Far West" resorted principally to
smoke signals, .in connection with fire signals on the top of
mounds; to give warning of danger to their scattered bands,
especially when on a raid in an enemy's country. The
signals were made to ascend in detached columns, or puffs,
by firing a dry bunch of grass and partially smothering it
with a blanket, shawl or other suitable article, until a consid
erable quantity of smoke had accumulated thereunder, then
quickly slipping the shawl to one side, then back again at
short intervals, which caused the smoke to ascend in puffs
similar to that often seen ascending from the smoke-stack
of a locomotive. The warning signal never failed to be seen
by the ever watchful eyes of the Indian warrior, who was
ever on the alert, whether anticipating danger or not. As
soon as a few puffs of smoke had ascended, the burning1
grass was extinguished; then each one of the raiding party
from his point of the prairie acknowledged the warning by
doing the same; and though scattered miles apart on the
broad prairie, each one was made aware of the impending
danger, and gave proper heed thereto by retreating at once
to a pre-arranged point of rendevouz 50 or 60 miles to
the rear.
The mounds in the densely timbered regions east of the
Mississippi river were mostly found to be erected on the
hills and bluffs of the river valleys, from which, as a centre,
they extended to other more distant points. Upon these
mounds signal fires were made, which were fully understood
in all their significations by all Indians; and thus a commu
nication was established between different parts of their
country, and important information communicated to their
wide-extended towns and villages, since the lighten a mound
thirty, forty and even sixty feet high, erected on the high
bluffs and points, some of which a hundred «or more feet
high themselves, could be seen up and down the valley fort}^
miles distant.
Thus, from the highest mounds on those great bluffs,
which then looked out upon as fair an inland picture as it was
562 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
possible to conceive, those signal mounds of the pre-historic
North American Indians and their descendants, flashed their
fires in their great signal system extending- all over their
country, fire answering fire and wreathes of smoke speaking
to -other wreathes of smoke, all conveying messages from
the lakes of the north to the gulf of the south.
Some tribes erected them as sites for the houses of their
chiefs and families, of which there is abundant proof; others
as cemeteries for the bones of their dead, which is also sus
tained by undoubted evidence, and others again as means of
defense, sustained by the best authority. Yet there are
many who still endeavor to inculcate the belief that these
mounds and old fortifications scattered here and there over
the western continent, many of which are visible even to the
present time, were the work of a race of people who inhabi
ted the continent long prior to the Indians; and who were
far advanced beyond them in civilization and were even
familiar, to some extent, with the arts and sciences, basing
their opinions upon the belief that the Indians, being "un
skilled in any of the arts," and also being "few in number,
were wholly unable" to erect such works.
But the so often repeated assertion that the North Amer
ican Indians, when discovered by the Europeans, were un
skilled in any of the human arts, and also few in number, is
not sustained by the writings of the early explorers of the
continent anywhere. All who are familiar with the writings
of the earl}' discoverers and explorers, know what a numer
ous population was found everywhere, from Maine to Cali
fornia, and from the Carolinas to Oregon, and what ingenuity
was displayed by the natives everywhere in the building of
fortifications, temples, canoes and making bow£ and arrows.
And when we take into consideration that they were not ex
clusively an agricultural people, and engaged in no pursuit
principally but that of war and the chase, they had more
time to engage in such occupations as erecting mounds, for
tifications, etc., than any other people on the globe, especially
since time to them was a matter of no consideration what
ever. The writers, who accompanied De So to in his advent
urous expedition ^154o) from Florida to Arkansas, state that
the mounds were thrown up for the purpose of building on
their top-/, the bouses of their chiefs, while his subjects
erected their houses around the base; and they even describe
the manner in which the earth was carried to the place.
On the 18th of may 1838, a party of literary and scien
tific gentlemen from Natchez, Mississippi, examined two
square mounds three and a half miles below the city,
between the bluff and the river, about a mile from the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 563
river and one-eighth of a mile from the bluff, rising
.from 11 to 16 feet above the level upon which they are based.
The two mounds stood about 500 feet apart, ranging north
and south of each other, the larg-er being- 66 feet square, and
16 feet high, and the other 33 feet square and 11 feet high.
An excavation was made in the latter clear to the bottom
and, as usual human bones and numerous and various pieces
of Indian pottery; and trinkets were found at different
depths; as both structures were similar, no excavation was
made in the larger one. On the 20th of May, 1838, a party
•of 25 men from Natchez visited a large mound standing
about 10 miles east of that city. On approaching the mound
from the west, states the writer, it presents the appearance
of a long, straight battery of earth, with a' sloping, regular
front and platform at the top, with a few moderate ele
vations or towers upon the terrace, the whole being over
looked by an abrupt tower at the eastern end towards
Natchez; which rises nearly as high above the terrace or
platform as that does above the circumjacent plain. In ap
proaching the mound on the southern side, it presents a
most imposing and martial character, and the traces of de
sign are so apparent that the observer cannot but ascribe it
to the work of man, and involuntarily feels that so enor
mous a pile must have been the creation of heads that
planned, and hands that labored through long periods of
time. Its magnitude however did not impress the beholder
•at first with its full proportions; but after ascending, its
steep face to the broad terrace, which is itself the base of
the great western tower and also of four other smaller
ones, and glancing" at the general outline of the foundation
mound, which has the appearance of a parallelogram, with
a regular southern side and an irregular front on the north,
then walking over the terrace which includes an area of
nearly five acres, and looking up at the western tower, it
self a parallelogram (perhaps once a perfect one) of 80 or
more feet in length and 50 in breadth, the mind fully com
prehends the vastness of the structure, and allows due
honor to the pre-historic ancestors of the North American
Indian race, who have left behind them such a mysterious
hieroglyphic of power, speaking a language of grandeur,
yet without a relic of a single word that we rh-ay translate
into the elements of history. The height of the great ter
race, from its base, was, in 1838, 45 feet by measurement,
and of the great tower above the terrace, 38 feet, making
83 feet in all above the plain.
The human skeletons, from the great length of time
they had been immured, prevented the examining party from
564 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
obtaining- but few perfect specimens ^of craniology. At the
depth of about two feet from the surface they found the
skeleton of a full sized man from which, no doubt, much
earth must have washed away during- the long- years that had
passed since there entombed. The skull was indisputably a
compressed one of a Flat Head Indian, or one whose head in
infancy had undergone the compressing- process, a custom,
it is said by the early writers, practiced by the ancient an
cestors of the present Choctaws.
The sides of the larg-er mounds are nearly wholly en
cased about one foot beneath the surface of the earth with a
kind of rubbish resembling- slack baked bricks, regardless
of regularity of form, as if laid upon the original steep faces
of the mound to^ prevent the washing away of the soil.
This rude roofing, formed of a clay base, mixed with hair or
moss, like modern mortar, may once have been continuous,
or it may not have been otherwise than it was when discov
ered; in either case it was a sufficient security against the
action of rain water. .The soil above the rubbish was filled
with fragments of pottery, pieces of human and animal
bones, charcoal and the debris of the top of the mound and
of the smaller towers which seem to have been almost en
tirely washed away. The pottery found was made of differ
ent colors; some pieces were brick colored; others slate color
ed; others white. The pieces were large enough to show the
shape and curve of the circumference of the vessels of
which the pieces were a part. Some of the pieces proved
the original to/have been of beautiful structure.
In visiting the "Castine Mounds," near the Cahokia
creek, in Illinois, a writer says: "After a drive of an hour
and a half the second group of eminences, known as the
Castine Mounds, appeared upon the prairie at a distance of
three or four miles; the celebrated Monk Hill, the largest
monument of the kind yet discovered in North America,
heaving up its giant form, forest clothed from in the midst;
as it is first beheld, surrounded by the lesser heaps, it is
mistaken by the traveler for an elevation of natural origin;
as he draws nig;h, and at length stands at the base, its stu
pendous magnitude, its lofty summit, towering above his
head and throwing its broad shadow far across the meadow;
its slopes plowed with yawning ravines by the torrents of
centuries, descending to the plane ; its surface and declivi
ties perforated by the habitations of burrowing animals, and
carpeted with tangled thickets; the vast size of the aged
oaks rearing themselves from its soil, all confirm his impres
sion that no hand but that of the mightiest could have reared
the enormous mass. At that moment, should he be assured
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 565
that his vast earth-heap was of origin demonstrably artifi
cial, he would smile, but credulity the most sanguine would
fail to credit the assertion. But when, with jealous eye,
slowly and cautiously, and with measured footsteps he has
circled its base; when he has surveyed its slopes and decliv
ities from every position, and has remarked the peculiar
uniformity of its structure, and the mathematical exactitude
•of its outline; when he has ascended to its summit, and
looked around upon the piles of a similar character by which
it is surrounded; when he has taken into consideration its
situation upon a river bottom of a nature decidedly diluvial,
and, of consequence, utterly incompatible with the natural
origin of such elevations; when he has examined the soil of
which it is composed, and has discovered 'it to be uniformly,
throughout the entire mass, of the same mellow and friable
species as that of the prairies at its base; and. when he has
listened with scrutiny to the facts which, on examination of
its depths, has thrown to light of its nature and its contents,
he is compelled, however reluctantly, yet without a doubt, to
declare that the gigantic pile is incontestibly the workman
ship of man's hand." But when, by what race of mankind,
and for what purpose? What changes they have undergone,
what vicissitudes and resolutions, like massive waves, have
rolled at their base during the centuries that have come and
gone, who can conjecture? As the gloom}*- and silent pyra
mids of Egypt, for ages unnumbered, have looked down
upon generation after generation as they came and went,
and whose existence remains a mystery, so too do the
mounds of North America point our inquiry back beyond
the grasp of human thought into the shades and mists of
centuries past, and bid us seek their origin and history
there. But their design was evidently for various purposes
some as cemeteries, some as fortifications, some as watch-
towers or vedettes, for religious ceremonies and memorials.
The largest of the Castine group of about fifty is Monk
Mound, whose base is said to be nearly six hundred yards
in circumference and in height nearly a hundred feet. Its
form is that of a rectangle, lying north and south; and upon
the latter extremity, which commands the view down the
bottom, is spread out a broad terrace, or rather a steppe to
the main body, about twenty feet lower than the summit, ex
tending the whole length of the side and is said to be one
hundred and fifty feet in breadth. At the left extremity of
this terrace winds up the sloping pathway from the prairie
to the summit of the mound. A well, it is also stated, has
been sunk on the western side of the mound (Mound Monk)
to the depth of ninety feet which penetrates the heart of the
566 ^HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
-mound, but cannot reach, from its depth, lower than the
level of the surrounding- plain. And it is stated, when it was
excavated, fragments of pottery, decayed ears of corn and
various other articles were broug-ht up from a depth. of sixty
five feet; surely a conclusive proof, if true, that it is of ar
tificial structure. The mound is supposed to have taken its
name from a society of ecclesiastics of the La Trappe order
who dwelt there for many years in the early part of the pre
sent century.
Garcellasso de la Vega, says, in laying off the ground for
a town, the first thing that the Indians did, was the erection
of a mound, upon the top of which the houses of the chief
and his family and attendants were built; and at the base a
large square was laid off, around which the principal war
riors built their houses, while the common people placed
theirs on the opposite side of the mound from the square.
All the early explorers repeatedly state that they saw
the mounds in all parts of the country through which they
passed. Here then we learn of -Mound Builders (Indians)
nearly three and a half centuries ago. They were also
thrown up as a means of defense. When the French under
Bienville defeated the Natchez Indians in 1730, and drove
them from theii; country, where the city of Natchez, Mis
sissippi, now stands, and for whom the city was named,
they established themselves upon the Lower Washita,
Louisiana. Two years after they were again attacked and
defeated by the French, yet they had in those two years-
constructed mounds and embankments covering an area of
400 acres, which they used as means of defense against the
French in their second attack upon them. This is attested
by several authors, some of whom were eye witnesses.
This was done nearly 200 years after De Sato's invasion.
Some of these mounds were very large, and were still to be
seen 40 years ago; and no doubt still stand as monuments
of the thrilling scenes wrhich once were enacted there, dur
ing which a once proud, prosperous, and happy people were
blotted out as a nation. Truly what sad emotions must
awaken in the heart of the Christian when he contemplates
and ponders upon such dramas acted in/nature's vast theatre!
Who can mistake them? Verily,, life is a storm, and war
and bloodshed are its gloomy clouds.
McCulloh, in his. "Researches," p. 516, says, when
speaking of the larger mounds: "They were sites for the
dwellings of the chiefs, for council houses, temples and cem
eteries, which- fancy and conceit have constructed into va
rious shapes and variously situated, one to the other." All
know, who have any knowledge of the early history of the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 567
)
western continent, that these mounds and fortifications have
been found scattered all over the continent, and whenever
or wherever a mound has been excavated, human bones,
together with various ornaments, wampum, pottery, arrow
heads, all of rude manufacture, have been found, clearly
indicating" their Indian origin. On the land of Judge Mes
sier, 21 miles from Fort Gaines, Ala.^ were, years ago, a
very remarkable group of mounds. The largest was 70 feet
in height and 600 in circumference, and was covered with
large forest trees, estimated to be, from appearance, from
400 to 500 years old. A shaft has been sunk in the centre
to the depth of "60 feet, and at its lower portion a bed of hu
man bones, five feet in thickness, and in a perfectly decom
posed state, was discovered. Two in this group of mounds
are thirty feet in height, having hearth-stones on the top
similar to the largest, with charred wood around them, evi
dently showing that they were used for sacrificial purposes.
A wall of earth encloses the three largest, outside of which
are four, twenty feet high (Picket!,. Vol. 1, p. 168;.
The Choctaws, who lived in large villages before their
exodus from Mississippi to the west, first placed their dead
upon scaffolds, near the villages; and those living in the
country near their homes, where they were carefully
guarded from the beasts and birds of prey, until decomposi
tion had thoroughly accomplished its work. Afterwards on
a previously appointed day, the remaining flesh was picked
from the bones by officials called Bone-Pickers many of
whom I have seen in the days of my boyhood. When their
duty had been performed, the bones were depositedlna box
and carried away and placed in the common bone-house, an~d
there sacredly kept until the appointed day rolled around
for a general bone-burying; which was once a year. Then
all from neighboring villages and country brought, in
solemn and imposing ceremony, the boxes containing the
bones of their dead to the place of interment where they
were laid away in one common grave, into which were cast
as memorial tokens various articles, such as earthen pots,
bows and arrows, tomahawks, ornaments, etc.; all of which
were first covered with ashes and charred coals, then filled
up with earth; then over all was erected a mound. The
same cemetery or mound was used as a place of deposit foj*
the bones of their dead for a long series of years, until it be
came in size and height inconvenient, and then another spot
was chosen, upon which, in like manner, another mound
gradually arose. That the custom of the ancient Choctaws
in disposing of their dead was also practiced by many of the
North American Indian^, is evident from the fact that, in
568 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
digging into these mounds, wherever found, after passing
through a stratum of earth about two feet in thickness a bed
of ashes and charcoal is first met, then a bed of human
bones together with fragments of pottery, arrow heads, and
Indian ornaments; then follows another stratum of earth,
which is succeeded by a stratum of ashes and charcoal, then
of human bones, pottery, ornaments and arrow points, thus
on to the bottom. It is a conceded fact that, in nearly every
mound that has been excavated, there have been found
human bones, with more or less of various articles such as
broken pottery vessels, implements of stone and copper;
flint heads of spears and arrows; figures of various birds
and reptiles, shells and teeth of /carnivorous animals; orna
ments of silver, tin, copper and beads.
I read the following in the American Antiquarian over
the signature of H. F. Buck-ner:
"Mr. Maxwell, in a historical address, says: 'My^Vcon-
viction is that the high grade of military skill displayed by
the Mound Builders at Carthage, Alabama, attests a know
ledge of the necessities of attack and defense unknown to
the mode of warfare practised by the tribes found here by
De Soto."
Mr. Maxwell does not state in what respect the high
grade of military engineering skill displayed by the Mound
Builders at Carthage, Alabama, attests a knowledge of the
necessities of attack and defense unknown to the mode of
warfare practiced by the tribes found here by De Soto.
However, I will here state that the old Shakchih Humma
fort, within the enclosure of which was established the mis
sionary station among the Choctaws, called Hebron, of which
I have already spoken, and where I spent many years of my
life, displayed as "high grade of military engineering skill"
and attested a "knowledge of the necessities of attack and
defense" equal to our high grade of military engineering
skill displayed in the military forts erected throughout the
present Indian Territory, of which I have had an occular
demonstration.
"Who the Mound Builders were it is impossible to de
termine," continues Mr. Maxwell. "They were not built by
the ancestors of the tribes found here by De Soto, as they
pretended no knowledge of their construction, traditional or
otherwise."
Truly, a poor basis upon which to predicate the above
broad assertion; since De Soto's expedition was made alone
for the purpose of finding gold, while to learn the history of
the Indians, whom he regarded as a species of the, human
race scarcely above the brute creation, was not in all his
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 569
thoughts; nor did the Indians, unasked, ever mention the
subject of their history to the white man — never.
"The only tradition they had or have is, that their fore
fathers found the mounds when they emigrated from the
Mexican Empire to the east of the Mississippi river, exter
minated the ancient inhabitants and appropriated the coun
try, so that we are compelled to go' back to remote ages for
the only reasonable solution."
The above is an egregious error, as far as the Choctaws
and Chickasaws are concerned, for their traditions were
utterly silent in regard to the mounds, except that of Nunih
Waiyah (of which I have already spoken), which is one among
the largest, if not the largest, ever found in the now state of
Mississippi.
Is it not greatly inconsistent and unreasonable for Mr.
Maxwell to boldly assert, "My conviction is that the high
grade of military engineering skill displayed by the Mound
Builders at Carthage, Alabama, attests a knowledge of the
necessities of attack and defense unknown to the mode of
warfare practiced by the tribes found here by De Soto," and
then at once assert that the Indians, ignorant of all know
ledge "of the necessities of attack and defense," could ex
terminate the ancient inhabitants (Mound Builders) and ap
propriate the country to their own use?
Buckner, quoting from Maxwell's address, continues:
"Prescott says (vol. 2, pp 368 and 391) that the ancient
Aztecs* long before the days of Montezuma, had a tradition
that when they entered the Mexican valley they found simi
lar mounds containing just the same kind of materials as I
found in those at Carthage, Alabama, and that two of the
largest had been dedicated to the worship of the sun and
moon (another proof that they were built by the ancestors
of our Indians, among whom the Natchez Indians were wor
shippers of the sun even after they had settled upon the
banks of the Mississippi river), and that two of the largest
were dedicated to the worship of the stars, and served as
sepulchers for the great men of the Nation besides."
Exactly. They served as sepulchers for the great men
of the Nation, for which the ancient Natchez of Mississippi
erected the mounds, as well as other North American tribes.
"That the plane on which they stood was called Micoati, or
The Path of the Dead." Another proof that they were the
ancestors of the North American Indians, for the word Mi
coati is a corruption of the Choctaw words. Miko, king or
chief, and aiantah, to occupy; i. e., occupied by the king or
chief; and "Now, when the laborer turns up the ground, he
still finds numerous arrow-heads and blades of obsidian."
570 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
The same things that are found in all the mounds scattered
over the North American continent, with the exception of
obsidian, as there were no volcanoes east of the Mississippi
river, "which attest the war-like character of its primitive
population." Still additional proof that they were the ances
tors of the North American Indians.
Continuing'. Mr. Buckner says: "I prefer to leave it still
open for investigation until greater pains shall have been
taken to explore the archaeological wonders of this country."
And which no discovery will ever prove the mound builders
to-be others than the ancestors of the North American In
dians.
"Of one tiling we are sure, the Choctaws loved the bones
of their ancestors and of their people. This unlocks the
mystery of their funeral rites. They believed in immortal
ity and eternal life; and such was their veneration for their
dead that they. picked the flesh from their bones. Knowing
that they could not carry all their remains, and when forced
to remove from one place to another, it was the business of
certain appointed persons to carry these bones with them
until they could be again deposited in a place of rest and
safety." ...
The last clause above is but one of the thousand errors
published about the Indians. The ancient Choctaws, it is
true, did pick the bones of their dead, after having been
placed upon a high scaffold and decomposition had com
pleted its work, but never for the purpose Mr. Buckner has
above stated. After the bone-pickers (appointed for that
business) had picked all the flesh from the bones which de
composition had not wholly destroyed, the bones were taken
down and placed in a box, then the box' was carried to the
bone-house, and therein placed; and when the bone-house be
came full of boxes all were taken to the cemetery-mound
and placed thereon and covered with earth to the depth of
about three feet. When this custom was abolished, the
Choctaws adopted the mode of burial in a sitting posture;
then this mode was abolished and that of the whites adopted
which is continued to this day. The Choctaws, as all North
American Indians of whom I ever read, or with whom I
was personally acquainted, never carried the bones of their
dead from one place to another, but buried them, and woe
to him who desecrated the mound cemetery by digging into
it, or in any way disturbed its sacred contents. But to re
turn from my digression.
Bartram, in his "Travels," page 516, positively asserts
that the Choctaws, when the bone-houses were full, took the
bones and buried them in a common grave and erected a
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 571
mound over them. And it is evident that the bone-houses of
the ancient Choctaws, when first known to the Europeans,
were but miniature temples of their ancestors who preceded
them centuries before. Bartram also discovered many pecu
liar mounds in East Florida, during his early explorations
through the now southern states. Some were square, sur
rounded by walls of earth, and others were pyramidal of
great height. "From the river St. John, southwardly to the
point of the peninsula of Florida," he states, "are to be
seen high pyramidal mounds, with spacious and extended
avenues leading from them out of the town to an artificial
lake or pond of water." In another place he says: "At
about 50 yards distance from the landing place stands a mag
nificent Indian mound. But what greatly contributed to the
beauty of the scene was a noble Indian highway, which led
from the great mound in a straight line three-fourths of a
mile through a forest of live oaks to the verge of an oblong
artificial lake, which was on the edge of an extensive level
savannah. This grand highway was about fifty yards wide,
sunk a little below the common level, and the earth thrown
on each side, making a bank about two feet high."
Charlevoix and Tantiboth speak of Indians who inhabi
ted the region of country around Lake Michigan, who were
well skilled in the art-of erecting mounds and fortifications,
Charlevoix also states that the Wyandots and the Six Nations
disinterred their dead and took the bones from their graves
where they had lain for several years and carried them to a
large pit previously prepared, in which they deposited them,
with the property of the deceased, filling up the pit with
earth and erected a mound over it.
A string of sleigh-bells much corroded, but still capable
of tinkling, is said to have been found among the flint and
bone implements in excavating a mound in Tennessee; while
in Mississippi, at a point where De Soto is supposed to have
camped, a Spanish coat-of-arms in silver, one blade of a pair
of scissors, and other articles- of European manufacture
were found in a mound — evidently which had been picked up-
by some Indian after the Spaniards had gone, and buried
with him at his death as being among his treasured posses
sions while living.
Two copper plates were found in a Georgia mound,
upon which were stamped figures resembling the sculptures-
upon the Central American ruins, the workmanship of which
is said to be far superior to that displayed in the articles of
pottery, stone and bone found in the mound; though, aside
from these plates nothing was found to indicate a connec
tion between the mound builders and the Aztecs or the Pue-
572 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
bios. Still their origin is not inexplicable; since it is reason
able to conclude that communications between the inhabi
tants of Central America, Mexico and the North American
Indians, were possible and even actually existed. But ad
mitting- this impossible, yet, it is not unreasonable to sup-
.pose that the two copper plates may have found their way
from Central America to Mexico; thence to Spain through
some one of Cortez's army; thence to Georgia by some one
in the army of De Soto only twenty years after. And, as
the string- of sleig-h-bells, Spanish coat-of-arms and scissors
were obtained by the Indians from De Soto's army so too did
the Spaniards obtain the copper plates from the Aztecs; and
North American Indians, in turn, from the Spaniards, more
.reasonable and easier to reconcile with truth, than to be
lieve that the two copper plates, found in the Georg-ia mound,
were the workmanship of a race of people ages prior to
the ancestry of the North American Indians. And though
several human skulls have been found in North America,
which upon examination, have led to the, belief that they be
longed to the human race living before v the glacial period,
yet that is not sufficient to overturn the reasonable belief
that the races of that ancient epoch are those of to-day, the
same cranial and facial forms being found, in spite of the
lapse of years and change of environment. Besides in re
gard to the copper plates found in a mound in Georgia, it is
an established fact that the Indians were acquainted with
copper three centuries ago. Hudson in exploring the
north in 1609, found the Indians using copper pipes and
wearing ornaments of the same metal. He states: "They
had red copper tobacco pipes, and other things of copper
they did wear about their necks." DeSoto<<ilso found that
the Southern Indians used copper as well as stone axes, of
which I have seen many in Mississippi.
It is an admitted fact that the ancient fortifications of the
Southern Indians corresponded exactly with those of the
Northern; and it has also been conclusively shown, by care
ful examination and comparison, that the skulls of the so-
called "Mound Builders" and the ancient people of Mexico,
also the Incas of Peru, together with the Southern
Indians of this continent, are so similar that the conclusion
is irresistible that they are of the same race of people.
Thomas, in his writings upon this subject, affirms: "This
proof is conclusive that the Southern Indians, when first
visited by the Europeans, were the builders of the mounds
of that region, which brings those works down to a date sub
sequent to the entry of the civilized tribes of MeAico."
Now, it is certain, according to the statement of the early
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 573
missionaries sent among- them, that all the tribes of the Gulf
States, as well as many others of different localities upon
the continent, if not all, had traditions of western, north
western and southwestern origin. Many of which I have
learned from the lips of the Indians themselves.
I will here insert the names of a few of the mounds
found in various localities upon the North American conti
nent:
Eagle Effigy, mound discovered in Georgia and measuring
from tip to tip'of the wings, 132 feet; is made of stones and
surrounded by a circle composed also of stone.
The Great Serpent mound, discovered in Adams county,
Ohio. Another effigy mound, and erected on a hill formed
by the junction of a ravine, with the main branch of a creek
known as Brush creek, which rises 150 feet above the creek.
The hill is said to be in a wild region of country, and affords
an extensive view. The form of this mound is said to be
irregular, crescent shaped, and points to the northwest; thus
pointing, seemingly, to the direction whence its builders
came to the continent, while being erected as a memorial of
that event. The traditions of all the tribes with whom I
am personally acquainted, and of all of whom I have
read, point to the northwest as the direction of the
country whence they came to this. The entire length, ac
cording to MacLion's measurement of the serpent part, is
116 feet, and the space of the extended jaws, 100 feet; the
oval figure, 113 feet long and 50 feet wide; the head portion
is 55 feet. Mr. Squier affirms that the length, if extended,
\vould reach 1000 feet, while Prof. Putnam, of Harvard, says
it would reach to the distance of 1415 feet.
The Cahokia Mound, standing hear St. Louis, is said to
be the largest artificial mound upon the continent. It is 700
feet long by 500 feet wide at-the base, and 90 feet high, cov
ering 8 acres of land, with about 20,000,000 cubic feet of con
tents — so it has been declared.
Many effigv mounds have been found in Wisconsin.
Some are over 150 feet long and about 15 feet in width, and
varying from 1 to 4 feet high.
Besides the effigy mounds there are Memorial Mounds,
Cemetery Mounds, Signal Mounds, Mounds erected for the
houses of chiefs, etc., scattered over the various Southern
States.
But who has ever found the line between the so-called
Mound Builders and the North American Indians? No one.
Nor will 'it. ever be found. The Indians not only erected
mounds for various specific purposes, but fortified their vil-
574 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
lages with walls, and ditches filled with water; also with rows
of palisades interwoven with branches of trees.
At Tampa Bay, where De Soto is said to have landed in
his wild search for gold, his chroniclers state "That the
house of the chief was erected near the shore on a very high
mound made by hand."
' And Garcillasso says: "The town and the house of the
Cazique (chief) Ossachile" (Choctaw words corrupted from
Ossi, eagle, chahlih, swift) are like those of the other
caziques."
Biedman says: "The caziques of this country, (sup
posed to be now Arkansas) make a custom of raising, near
their dwellings, very high hills, on which they sometimes
build their huts.
La Harpe,1n visiting the Indians on the lower Missis
sippi in 1820, says: "They are dispersed over the country
upon mounds of earth made with their own hands."
The Natchez, who were exterminated by the French in
1739, were also Mound Builders. DuPratz, who had lived
among them in 1718, says "of their customs, "Their tem
ple was about 30 feet square, and erected on a mound 8
feet high; that the house of the chief was built on a mound
of the same height and sixty feet over the surface. (Father
Le Petit, Note, page 142,)
Charlevoix, a Jesuit priest, describes the mounds
erected to a considerable extent in his writings, he says:
"When a chief died, the mound upon which his house was
erected, was abandoned, and a new one thrown up for his
successor."
Golden says of the Iroquois, "They make a round hole
in which the body is placed, then they raise the earth in a
round hill over it."
It was the custom of the ancient Choctaws to gather the
bones of all who had died during several years, which had
been safely kept in their bone-houses in boxes, bury them all
together in a common grave and then erect a mound over
them. It is also stated that the ancient Iroquois, at the ex
piration of every eight or ten years, gathered together the
bones of their dead and erected a mound over them.
Catlin, in his North American Indians (p. 95), states that
when he visited the pipe-stone quarry in Dakota, in 1832, he
saw a conical mound 10 feet high which had been erected
over the buried body of a young man who was accidentally
killed two years before.
Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia" (p. 191), in refer
ence to the mounds, says : "A party of Indians passing
about 30 years ago through the part of the country where
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 575
this mound is, went through the woods directly to it without
any instruction or inquiry; and having- staid about it some
time, with expressions of grief, they returned to the high
road, which they had left about a half dozen miles to pay the
visit, and pursued their journey." They had but visited
the grave of their loved ones for the last time.
"The types of the human skulls taken from those ancient
mounds said to have been erected by a pre-historic race, and
now called "Mound Builders" — a race claimed to be far su
perior to our Indians — are characteristic, not only of the
ancient Mexicans, Peruvians and other ancient tribes of
South' America, but also of the ancient Natchez, Muscog-ees,
Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Seminoles, Yamases and
others of the North American continent. And it is a con
ceded fact that all Indians ever found in North and South
America possess many common features. I have seen the
native Indians of Mexico, Arizona and California, and recog
nized them at once to be of the North American Indian race.
I have seen them singly and in groups; given special atten
tion to their features, the expression of their eyes, their
walk and manner of sitting-, their manner of carrying- their
babes and heavy burdens, and found them all to be exactly
the same as the southern Indians over seventy years ago.
The Indians of North America, as well as those of South
America, when first known to the whites down to the years
they were banished to the then wilderness west of the Mis
sissippi river, lived everywhere in villages and towns upon
the sites of which stand today many of our towns and cities:
Natchez, Mobile, New York and others. Carter, in 1535,
visited an Indian village named Ho-che-la-ga; De Soto, 1540,
and all the early explorers, La Salle and others down to
Lewis and Clark, in 1804; thence to the missionaries, in
1815; and thence to their banishment wrest of the Mississippi
river, found the Indians everywhere living in towns and vil
lages, proving- the long reiterated assertion that they were
nomadic, to be without even the shadow of truth upon which
to lay a foundation. They had fixed habitations even as the
whites, who move from place to place ten times as often as
the Indian.
All their ancient villages and towns were fortified.
Charlevoix, in his "Travels in North America, says: "The
Indian villages in Canada were surrounded with double,
and sometimes triple, rows of palisades, interwoven with
branches of trees. The Pequod villages, destroyed 'by
the English, in 1631, were surrounded by palisades.
Champlain, who, in 1615, invaded, with the Hurons as
allies, the territory of the Iroquois, found their villages
576 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
strongly fortified. Biedman says: "We journeyed two
days, and reached an Indian village in a plain, surrounded
by" walls and a ditch filled by water, which had been made
by the Indians." Brackenridge, in his "Views of Louisi
ana," says: "The custom of palisading appears to have
been general among the Northern Tribes."
"Mavilla" (now Mobile, Alabama,) says Biedman, "stood
on a plane surrounded by strong walls." The early explor
ers found it the same in Mexico, Central and South America.
Yet, regardless of all the indisputable proofs to the contrary,
the works of the Indians have been ascribed to another, and
entirely different race of people called "Mound Builders,"
.though their imagined works are exactly similar to those
known to be the work of the Indians, a common design per
vading the whole everywhere with the same stone implements,
axes, flint pointed arrowheads etc., also the same kind of per
sonal ornaments, silver, tin, copper, etc., all proving that
they are, and can be no other, than the works of our Indians'
ancestors, if testimony is .any longer valid. Well and truth
fully has Brackenridge said in his "Views of Louisiana"
(p. 182), "We are often tempted by a fondness for the mar
velous to seek out remote and impossible causes for that
which may be explained by the most obvious." Not only
tempted, but yield to the temptation with wonderful alacrity.
The mounds are evidently the work of the Iridians and their
ancestors back through ages past; and, with equal truth
it may be said, they also lived in permanent stockaded towns
and villages, many of which much larger than many of our
towns and villages that imagine themselves to be what they
are not and never will be, by assuming the cognomen of city;
equally as absurd and ridiculous as the Don Quixote idea of
creating an imaginative, prehistoric race of people, and call
them "The Mound Builders"; since the fact is, the more the
subject is studied the more does truth point to the Indians
and their ancestors as the true Mound Builders, whose
mounds once so beautifully dotted various portions of this
continent; though now defaced and destroyed by the level-
ing influence of ages, together with the destructive charac
teristics of the White Race; yet leaving the imagination of
these modern knights of Lamanca a wide field in which to
indulge their sentimental propensities.
In Morgan's "Ancient Society," page 12, he says: "The
Ojibway Indians were peculiarly skilled in making stone
pipes, of which many showed elaborate skill in the carv
ing."
The Indians were also skilled in the art of pottery, as
is fully proven by the numerous examples of their work
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 577
seen by the early explorers. DuPratz spoke particularly
of the skill of the Natchez Indians in the art of pottery,,
Catlin also of the same thing- among- the Mandan Indians,,
He says: "I have seen specimens of pottery, which have
been dug- up in Indian mounds and tombs in the Southern
and Middle States, placed in our Eastern museums, and
looked upon as a great wonder, when here this novelty is at
once done away with, and the whole mystery, where wo
men can be seen handling- and using- them by hundreds, and
they can be seen every day in the summer, also, molding
into many fanciful forms and passing- them through the
kilns, where they are hardened. Others, after careful ex
amination of the contents and remains of the mounds exca
vated in different and various states, claimed to be the work
of a pre-historic race wholly different from our Indian Race,
whom they named "The Mound Builders," have found them
to be, in all respects, exactly like those found in the mounds,
known to have been built by the Indians, and also in and
around old Indian villages. The Southern Indians had
spades and shovels made of cedar, picks, axes and hoes of
stone, and spoons of horn; tog-ether with the mortar and
pestle, with which they prepared their corn for bread, and
the Choctaws and Chickasaws use them to this day.
It has been reiterated time and again that the Indians
had no traditions concerning the origin and design of the
mounds, and for this reason it had been asserted that the
mounds are the work of an extinct race of such antiquity as
to precede the ancient traditions of the Indians. But in this,
as in the majority that has been written about that people,
uzeal without knowledge" is more manifest than truth. The
traditions of the Indians, until within the past ten years,
have always and everywhere, been pronounced as myths,
absurdities unworthy of credence, though in every instance
where they have been put to the test by discovery, they have
invariably been confirmed by truth. Besides the Indians
everywhere were utterly silent before the whites in regard
to the manners, customs and traditions of their tribes, and
would only converse upon these subjects with those whites
in whom they had the most implicit confidence, such as the
missionaries and other intimate white friends who had won
their love and confidence ; and the great wonder is that so
much of their traditional history has been handed down to
us. And it may be truthfully asserted that, through Ithe
old missionaries of seventy-five and a hundred years ago,
the only true history, national and traditional, of the North
American Indians, has been preserved and handed down to
the present day; for they alone, of the white race, from first
4
578 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
tO'last, seemed to be the Indians' true friend, and proved it
to the Indians' entire satisfaction by their deeds and daily
walk among- them, many of them for over a half century,
while all others seemed to delight only in killing-, plundering
and defaming them; therefore, though they possessed many
traditions in regard to the memorial mounds, effigy ''mounds
and others, they have been silent, ever silent, upon the sub
ject; and thus have we forever closed the doors of knowl
edge against ourselves in regard to the history of that past,
and which we now would gladly read; but "too late" only
. ;hoes from those scenes of that mysterious unknown.
As late as when Lewis and Clark, in 1804, explored Ore-
;; >n, they saw the Western Indians throw up embankments
H'ound their towns, and saw a newly erected mound six feet
i.igh and twelve feet in diameter at the base which the Maho
Indians had erected over the bodv of a chief.
De Soto, also the explorers who followed him two cen
turies afterwards, discovered towns strongly fortified with
breast-works of timber, around which were cut large ditches.
And it is not impossible that the \ery kind of implements
used in erecting the mounds by the ancient Indians were the
same used in cutting those old intrenchments. And the
most reasonable conclusion that can be arrived at is that
these ancient relics of the prehistoric past, scattered here
and there over the different States of the South and West,
are the work of the ancient Indians, and the probabilities are
so evident that I am naturally and reasonably confident; yet,
if driven back upon positive proof, I frankly acknowledge-
that I am. not able to support it, even as he of opposite opin
ion is also unable to support his theory by positive proof.
The mounds— those silent memorials of North Ameri
can antiquity — now mutilated, desecrated, misinterpreted,
have lost all meaning. Once, those signs and symbols in
-.heaped up earth might have been read, had the
..champions of liberty and the equality of the entire human
race, only extended their professed noble characteristics to
the descendants of the builders of those memorials, so in
stinct with the characteristics of a people over whom they
had just begun to extend their power. Then they were tan
gible symbols and signs expressing truths known only to
Indians, in which they would have instructed the white race
had it proved itself their friend and protector, instead of
their foe and destroyer. Therefore they were ever reserv
ed towards the whites in general, and never revealed their
most sacred signs and symbols of the present or past con
cerning their race to any white man, except to those who
-,by long acquaintance, had completely won their confidence;
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 579
and it may be truthfully affirmed that, few ever reached
that hig-h place in the Indian's heart except the faithful and
loving- missionaries; they, and they only, ever penetrated be
neath the surface into the inner life and secrets of the North
American Indians.
But they, being- more intent upon the moral and intel
lectual improvement of the living Indians, gave little care
concerning- the dead. And those sentimental writers of the
present day who claim the Mound Builders to be a- race of
people far antecedent to the Red, from the fact that the In
dians gave a negative reply to all interrogatories made to
them concerning the mounds, therefore were utterly ignor
ant in all things concerning them, are but the willing- dupes
of the -Indians who keep, as much as possible, from the
Whites all things relating to their past. I speak from 75
years experience. In 1884 I was in the Choctaw Nation and,
upon being introduced to an aged Choctaw, born in his na
tive domains, east of the Mississippi river. I commenced in
terrogating him in his own language when, after replying to
a few questions, he suddenly fixed his keen, black eyes upon
me and said: "For what purpose do you ask me such ques
tions?'' The Choctaw friend who had introduced me to the
old veteran came to my relief most fortunately by telling
him who I was; that I was the true friend of all Indians and
could be trusted. The old man again turned his eyes upon
me, but with a confiding- smile which I fully comprehended,
and I found no trouble in obtaining a 'cheerful reply to any
and all my questions.
Again Colonel Cleiborne, of Natchez. Mississippi, who
was then writing a history of the States of Florida, Georgia,
Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, but died before com
pleting it, and in which necessarily came the five tribes who
formerly lived in said States, viz: Choctaws, Chickasaws,
Cherokees, Muscogees (Creeks) and Seminoles, stated to me
in a letter that he had written several different letters of in
quiry to prominent Choctaws whose names had been given
him, but never received a single reply, and asked me if I
could tell him the reason. I at once "wrote to him and gave
him the desired information. In my travels in the Choctaw
and Chickasaw Nations, during the last ten years, I have fre
quently met aged persons of both tribes with whom I had
the pleasure and honor (yes, honor, and of which I am not
ashamed even in these my declining years) of being school
mates, whose confidence in me is still as firm and unshaken
as mine in them, and whose assistance in gathering material
for this book has been great, for which I here acknowledge
580 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
my deep and sincere gratitude. God bless my Indian .friends
everywhere!
Yes, the mounds were tangible signs used to express
truths known only to their builders — the Indians; symbols
thrown together in that peculiar connection which the white
man 'is left to interpret the best he can, all to end only in
wild conjecture and romantic speculation ; while the build
ers, now deprived of all originality and of nearly all remem
brance of their former selves, still survive. But, alas, it is
the hour when the last day of their liberty perished with no
hope of another's dawn; while their future is still darkened
with a cloud that hangs motionless above them, as they
slowly drift before the monsoon of continued oppression as
it rises higher and higher; while the echoes that seem whirl
ing on its wings grow louder and louder as if to greet their
approaching" doom ; and slow chords of deep-toned woe
swell in waves of bitter grief which seem to give voice to all
kindred spirits in hopeless despair, as they mingle with the
wind that rushes hither and thither in wild and fitful
gusts. Verily, what but a sensational, rhetorical nourish is
our cry: "Liberty, freedom and independence to all nations
of mankind?" since we have denied the Red Race the right
of a nation to be a nation, and made their lives a joyless jour
ney to a premature and unjust extermination, that we might
establish thereon our own freedom whose motto is, "Might
is right," and will be as long- as a weaker nation exists over
whom we are able to ride with impunity; and, as proof of
which, the little remnant of that once numerous and happy
people are still a living1 monument.
North America may be truly regarded as an olden land
with a modern history. That ages ago it was peopled
by a numerous race, the ancient ruins left by their former
occupants and scattered from .the great northern lakes to
the Pacific ocean, afford ample proof. But the origin and
history of the pre-historic Indians, evidently as far as now
known, the ancestors of our North American Indians, are
lost in the mists of antiquity; and the lengthening shadows
of time afford to us only a dim conjecture as to who they
were, whence and how and at what period, amid the cycles of
ages past, they came to this continent.
Some presume to trace the Indians back to the Neo
lithic age; while others affirm that the Eskemo Indians were
preceded by the Cave-men, and that they are of Ameri
can origin. While Abbott, in his "Primitive Industry," page
520, says: "The Eskimo appear to have been the last wave
of an aboriginal American race, which has spread over the
continent, following principally the rivers and water courses
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 581
and at last peopled the sea-coasts, and must once have lived
much further south." And seemingly, in proof of which, Brin-
ton, in his "Myths of the New World," says: "The tradition's
of the Tuscarawa Indians that place their own arrival on the
Atlantic coast in the year 1300, also refer to a tribe of people
that were, at least, much like the Eskimos."
An educated Tuscarora Indian, named Cusick, and
whose tribe, when driven from now the state of North Caro
lina by the whites in 1712 moved north and united them
selves with the five confederate tribes, making- the sixth,
affirms in his writings that an ancient tradition of the Iro-
quois states that their ancestors lived in Canada along the
banks of the St. Lawrence river; that the Mohawks, then
inhabiting the now state of New York, were the oldest-tribe
of Indians then known in that region of country; that four
other northern tribes united with the Mohawks and formed
a confederacy consisting of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Onei-
das, Senecas and Cayugas, and held their great national
councils on the banks of the St. Lawrence; that far distant
south there was also another great nation, to which the five
confederates, in council assembled, sent a chief, as embas-
sador to said nation, with whom a treaty of peace was made;
that in the course of many years, the warriors of the great
southern nation (which, no doubt, were the ancestors of the
present Cherokees, whose ancient traditions affirm -that they
once lived farther north, and were ultimately driven south
by their "allied enemies,") trespassed in tbeir hunting ex
cursions upon the territories of the confederate tribes, as
suming' the right of erecting forts here and there. That this
considered encroachment, and also violation of the treaty,
resulted in a protracted war that finally terminated in the
utter defeat of the intruders, who hastened to return to their
own country. (But the lovers of sensation and the marvel
ous have pronounced these old antiquated forts and ruins to
be the work of their much-loved "Mound Builders" of pre
historic ages past.) .That the«ancient Lenni Lenapes (now
known as the Delaware Indians) were the uncompromising
enemies of the Iroqtiois, and in a protracted war with the
Iroquois they were defeated; that then the Lenni Lenape tribe
migrated south and settled near the Hurons (a traditional
off-shoot of the Iroquois) with whom they formed an alliance;
that, at that time, a strong and powerful tribe inhabited a
large territory south of them, and were called the Allegewi;
that, in the course of time the two allied tribes (the Hurons
and Lenni Lenapes) were involved in a war with the Allegewi,
who, being defeated, migrated, in turn, southward. Hecke-
582 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. .
weilder, that noted and pious missionary among- the L/enni
Lenapes, confirms the traditions related by Cusick.
It is well known that Canada was first colonized by the
French in 1641 and remained in their possession until the
capture of Quebec by General Wolfe in 1759. But during
the intervening- time between their possession of the coun
try and its loss, they learned tha't the territory lying- east of
the western end of Lake Erie, and from the great northern
lakes to the Chesapeake bay on the south, was owned and in
habited by a confederacy of five Indian tribes, then known
as the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondag-as, Oneidas and Cayugas;
but to whom the French applied the general name Iroquois,
meaning "The Long House," and the English, "The Five
Nations." In 1712 the Tuscaroras joined the confederacy,
then they were known as "The Six Nations,'" and bear that
name to this day.
' j Here was indeed a-confederation — a true republic in all
respects — whose ties of unity were made long before the ex
istence of the western continent was even dreamed of by the
White Race, and whose bonds of ratification were never vio
lated and stand as firm today as when first made, and are
held as sacred by the remaining few of the descendants, as
are held, by the whites, the principles of the Christian re
ligion.
The Indians, having no written language, preserved and
handed down their history to future generations through
tradition, much of which could have been obtained a century
and a half ago, and even a century ago, which was authen
tic and would have added much to the interest of the history
of the continent of which we boast as our inheritance,
though obtained by the extermination of a race of people
whose wonderful history, had it been obtained as it once
could have been, would have been very interesting and bene
ficial to future generations, throwing its light back o'er ages
unknown, connecting the present with the past. The tradi
tions of all Indians had been preserved for ages back by car
rying them from one generation to another by the means of
careful and constant repetition. The ancient Choctaws se
lected about twenty young men in the jurisdiction of each
chief, who were taught the traditions of the tribe, and were
required to rehearse them three or four times a year before
the aged men of the nation, who were thoroughly posted,
that nothing might be added to or taken from the original
as given to them. Besides, it is well known to. all who are
acquainted with the known history of the North American
Indians, that before the whites had commenced the war of
extermination upon them they all aided the memories of
HISTORY OF THB INDIANS. 583
those to whom were entrusted the preservation of their tra
ditions by symbols, called by the whites wampum, and which
they regarded, judging- from their own standpoint, as the
Indians'' money. The Indians had no money, but they held
their wampum in as sacred veneration as the true Christian
holds his Bible, of which the Indians had never heard. The
wampum was their true and veritable history — more reliable
than many histories of the present day.
The wampum, or belt rather, was made of strong-,
broad pieces of dressed buckskin beautifully adorned with
beads of various colors, to which were attached innumerable
skins of dressed buckskin, at the end of wrhich were also at
tached the symbols, composed of various thing's, such as
different kinds of shells, stones, bones, quills, carved pieces
of wood, teeth of bears and panthers, points of buck horns,
rattlesnake rattles, and other thing's too numerous to
mention. But each article attached had its meaning even as
the printed letters or words in a book have a meaning", yet
read and understood alone -by the Indians. Those young
men were also yearly required to interpret these symbols as
well as to rehearse the traditions entrusted to their memory;
and so faithfully and correctly were they required to inter
pret the signification of each symbol, and rehearse each tra-r
dition that generations would pass, and yet the wampuns
and tradition keepers of every tribe could read the wampum
as easily and correctly as an educated white man could
read a book; and tell the story of the tradition in their ex
treme old age as fluently and correctly as when they ha<?
first been entrusted with it in the bright days of their man
hood.
Several of those ancient wampums are said to still exist
among theJeeble remnants of the once powerful confederacy
of the six tribes, who. when in their palmy days, together
with all their race, had no memories of yesterday to annoy
them nor cares for the morrow to perplex. One, it is said,
contains upwards of 7000 strings of symbols relative to their
war with the Hurons assisted by Champlain and a few of
his companions, to whom they attributed their defeat by
the Hurons, and for which they never forgave the French,
and ever remained the inveterate ?_nd uncompromising ene
mies of all Frenchmen. One of the wampums still pos
sessed by the confederacy is said to date back to the year
1540, and contains much concerning the treaties and the wars
with the whites. But who, among the whites could read
those ancient wampums, even if they possessed them? And
even if any one of the forlorn remnant of that confederacy
who could read them, was requested so to do. would he
584 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
comply to that request? Never. Broil him on a bed of
burning- coals, yet he would refuse to gratify the idle curi
osity of any one. Could. the ancient wampums of the North
American Indians speak to-day, what a thrilling history
would they narrate. But our ancestors were too deeply in
terested in other pursuits to pay any attention to their civ
ilization and Christianizing-, and to the collection and preser
vation, which would have contributed so largely to our
knowledge of the past history of this continent.
Many of late have tried to ascertain the exact date of
the -organization of the confederacy of the five tribes, but
only to end in foolish conjecture and wild speculation. One
of their traditions, it is said, places it in the year 1539, but
this is declared by others to be too recent a date by nearly
a century; while Cornplanter, a noted Seneca chief, who died
in 1836 at the advanced age of 105, stated that his tribe, the
Senecas, once had a wampum that contained the date of the
organization of the confederacy; that he had been taught to
read the wampum in early manhood; that he had often
readmit in his peoples' counsels, and also in the yearly coun
sels of his tribe, and had also heard it read by others fre
quently; that it was destroyed in the burning of their vil
lages by Sullivan and his soldiers in 1799; that he. and the
chiefs, Blacksnake, Red jacket, and a few old men of his
tribe, partly restored it a few years after. But it too has
forever vanished.
Cornplanter, it is said, often repeated many portions of
different wampums, incidents and events that were known to
have taken place between 1530 and 1540 and recorded in the
wampum — the true symbolic history of the Indians, read by
them alone. But far back through the decades beyond the
above mentioned years of the past, Cornplanter stated there
was a wampum in which was recorded the true history of
the organization of this wonderful republic, which took place
at the occasion of an eclipse of the sun. He says: UA dark
ening of the big light of the Great Spirit, which occurred
during one of the months when corn was being hoed, and
before the year 1540. I do not know when this occurred,
but remember the statement I read in the wampum, which
said it was an entire darkening of the big light of the Great
Spirit many years ago in the long past." The scene of the
formation of the confederacy was in central New York. It
is stated that there was a total eclipse of the sun on the 29th
of July, 1478. which, however, was too late in the season to
fulfill the statements recorded amid the strings of the
wampum. But it is also known that there was a total eclipse
of the sun, visible in central New York, on the 28th of June,
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 585
1451, which must be the date of the formation of the confed
eration of the live tribes, afterwards named Iroquois by the
French.
Cornplanter stated that the Indians regarded the event
as one long to be-remembered, and gave it great prominence
among the records of their historical wampum, on account
of the strange and peculiar circumstances of its occurrence.
He stated that a party of young Seneca warriors, then on a
hunting expedition, entered the territories of the Mohawks
and recklessly made prisoners of several children — boys and
girls — with whom they at once retreated to their own coun
try. A large party of enraged Mohawk warriors hastened
in pursuit, accompanied by a strong band of Onondaga war
riors. When the Mohawks and Onondagas had arrived near
the territories of the Senecas, the Mohawks sent a small
delegation of their warriors to the Seneca villages, with in
structions to try to settle the matter amicably, and thus
avoid the death of their captive children. But the haughty
Senecas turned a deaf ear to the embassadors of peace and
bade them return to their own; then placed the captive
children, under a strong guard on a hill near their village,
that the Mohawk and Onondaga warriors might see them
slain as they made their expected attack upon the village;
but as the Mohawks and Onondagas were considering what
best to do, and the Senecas standing ready to slay their cap
tives at the first demonstration made to rescue them, the
attention of one of the little captive g-irls was drawn to the
peculiar appearance of things around, and looking up at the
sun saw the great black shadow that seemed to be spreading
itself over its disk. With a loud shriek she pointed to the
sun, to which every eye was instantly turned, and at once
the whole scene was chang'ed from a spirit of war and re
venge to that of superstitious horror and fear that cannot
be described, nor scarcely imagined.
I have witnessed the effects of an eclipse upon the Choc-
taws before they had been taught by the missionaries its
true cause. But at this auspicious moment, when no
thought occupied the mind of either captives or warriors but
that of astonishment and dread, *an aged chief, who wrell
knew the desolating effects of war, solemnly arose and, with
eyes resting upon the fading sun and linger pointing upward,
called out in a loud tone of voice, "See! The Great Spirit
is spreading his hand over the face of his great light as a
manifestation of his displeasure at our proceedings this day,
and thus commands us to make peace at once lest he hide
his great light from us forever; and never again to make war
upon the Mohawks and Onondagas but to ever regard them
586 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
as brothers; and to which if you will comply he will remove
his hand from over his great light, and it shall continue, as
it ever has before, to give us light." At once all gladly and
cheerfully agreed to the proposition; and soon the eclipse
began to 'pass off, to the great joy of the tribe; and as soon
as the sun shone out in its usual brightness and splendor,
all were wholly convinced of the anger of the Great Spirit in
their prospective war, and equally so, in the assurance
given of his pleasure in their promise to live in peace with
the Mohawks and Onondagas. At once a deputation, with
the captives, was sent to the waiting but still confused and
bewildered Mohawks and Onondagas, who were told what
the Great Spirit had said, and what the Senecas had resolved
and desired to do. To all of which they readily acquiesced
and all returned to the Seneca village.
A council was called, a treaty was made and ratified by
the three tribes, and they became as one nation. The news
of the established confederacy, with the strange particulars
of its conception and birth, soon reached the neighboring
tribes— the Oneidas and Cayugas — who, in compliance to
the commands of the Great Spirit, joined the confederacy
without delay. And thus, if tradition be true, which no
doubt it is, was formed a confederacy pledged by all the sol
emn and mysterious ceremonies of that peculiar people,
whose descendants still linger with us as feeble shadows of
their once great and happy people — sparks still lingering in
the ashes of an exterminated race — of four centuries ago,
never again to war against each other, nor refuse to assist
each other in war against the common enemy, or in any mis
fortune or distress. From that day to this the stipulations
of that solemn treaty have never been violated, according to
their latest traditions, and they have ever lived as a mighty
.brotherhood, though four hundred and forty-eight years
have passed since the formation of that mighty league of
friendship and love, the most wonderful ever known to man,
and with a history never to be duplicated upon earth.
As the Pyramids of ancient Egypt — those miracles of
stone that have defied the ravages of ages — must be ascrib
ed to the era of some greal, dominant people, whose history
is hidden in the silent mysteries of the past, and from whom
the nations of the east have descended; so too may these
ancient mounds and fortifications (and also those ruins of
ancient cities and large reservoirs of water, if true) be as
justly ascribed to a pre-historic race that is lost in the mists
of the past, but from whom the North American Indians
have also descended.
And though the advent of man upon earth is lost in the
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 587
gloom of pre-historic years, and the long dark night of igno
rance and superstition that succeeded, yet these silent mon
uments of the long ago display to our wondering vision,
great nations and races of people, inhabiting widely remote
portions of the globe, possessing various types and phases
of civilization and different characteristics of mind, which
distinguish their descendants of today. But whence the
different races of mankind had their birth, and through
what cycles of time they have been developing their growth;
where, when and how they lived, are questions which receive
no response from the annals of history, the voices of tradition
or even the revelations of inspired prophesy. Difficult, in
deed, is it to wander through the mazes of discussion, and
the no less intricate mazes of diversified opinions, which but
bewilder the investigator; and though fascinating as the
field of research has been, still nothing offers so wide a
scope of conjecture as that which the antiquarian finds in
studying the ruins and relics of that people who centuries
ago inhabited the North American continent.
But \vhile these researches and discoveries throw but
little light upon the origin or the character of its early in
habitants, yet reveal enough to conclusively pi'ove that a
race existed upon^this continent ages ago, who possessed a
knowledge of many of the arts unpractised and seemingly
unknown by the natives when discovered by the Europeans.
With many it has been a cherished theory that the inhabi
tants, who first p'eopled the Western continent, came by
land at a period when it was united by a bond of union with
the Eastern continent, afterwards ruptured by internal
commotions and upheavals, was severed from and into a dis
tinct continent. But from what part of the world, at what
period, or by what means they reached this country, can
only be conjecture; but that the emigrants were a partially
civilized people, and to a large extent an agricultural people
there are good reasons to believe, nor can it be successfully
disproven. The art of the North American Indians of the
last two or three centuries is said to be the exact equivolent,
in point of advancement to that of Europe and the Orient of
the stone age. The amount of material is limitless and cor
responds remarkably with that found in the very substrat
um of those localities where man seems to have first begun
his ascent towards civilization. Many of the scientists of
the present day seem inspired to activity by the knowledge
of the fact that the North American continent affords the
best opportunity the world has ever known to study the be
ginning of those things which constitute human progress —
588 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
an opportunity which by the encroachment of ^civilization is
rapidly passing- away.
It'is said that, already upwards of 15000 specimens of
the handiwork of the "Mound Builders," the study of which,
in connection with the survey of the mounds themselves and
their surroundings, is gradually leading to a solution of cer
tain archaeologic riddles, which but a few years since ap
peared insolvable. Under the new light the mysteries
which have attached to the mounds and to their unknown
builders are thought to be disappearing to a great extent,
but only by exchanging conjecture for truth.
Be "that as it may; this truth, that the present North
American Indians and their ancestors have inhabited this
continent during a period embracing ages of the past, none
will deny who have studied and made themselves acquainted
with the many existing facts; and that, from all that has
been gathered, it is much more conclusive that the mounds
were erected by them, than that they are the works of some
long extinct race of people entirely different from that of
the Indians. Therefore, let "Requiescat in pace" be the
epitaph of the mound question for ail future to come; and
also, let this, age of sentimentality, sensation, and the love of
the marvelous come to an end, at least, upon that subject,
that it may seek other fields for the gratification of its seem
ingly incomprehensible thirst for a knowledge of that which
never existed. All Nations, b;>th civilized and uncivilized,
have long lost the memory of their barbaric state; and only
traditions, here and there, speak of the ancient past. All
mankind, in every age of the world have been mound builders;
and the same principle that leads to the erection of mounds
still exists in human nature. The various modern monu
ments of to-day are' but ways of memorizing events which in
ages past would have led to the erection of mounds.
Yet mournful to the contemplative mind are the records
of departed greatness. These few still existing mounds of
other ages, these dumb oracles of the pre-historic past,
standing as monuments on the pedestal of years, point also
to the ruins of earth's other empires, and call to her most
potent nations with a voice more impressive to the heart than
the tongue of a Tully ; more symphonious than the harp of
Homer; more picturesque than the pencil of Appelles, sav
ing: "In us, behold thine own destiny, and the doom of thy
noblest achievements, the mutability of all human greatness
and all human grandeur;" and around and before us, whose
wild and huried life precipitates the hour of our own disso
lution, are strewed the crumbling fragments of an empire,
equally as extended as those of the east ; but the setting sun
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 589
sheds its last ray upon their tumbling- temples once hallowed
by the footsteps of worshipping1 thousands, and the mellow
moonbeams glimmer through the moss-covered walls and
gloomy galleries, now nearly gone to decay; their sanctuary
is broken down, their glory is departed forever, and the gen
erations hence, in viewing the mounds of their sepulture,
will inquire with wondering thoughts what manner of beings
they were.
How must the hearts of the remaining fe\v Indians throb
with anguish as they contemplate the destruction of their
race and the gloomy destiny of their own children. With
what swelling hearts must they survey the once extended
boundaries of their empire! Alas! the grief of years en
shrouds their souls, as they bow the knee of meek submis
sion to the Great Spirit. Unhappy people! Who can but
weep over the ruined hopes of your declining race ! It is a
truthful saying, that, human happiness has no perfect
security but in freedom; freedom, none but in virtue; virtue,
none but in knowledge; and neither freedom, virtue
nor knowledge has any vigor or immortal hope, except in the
principles of the Christian faith, and in the sanctions of the
Christian religion. The birds that droop their plumage in
the cage, pine for the open field and flowery grove, where
they may sing their songs of joy and lave their pinions in
the free light of heaven. The vilest reptile that crawls upon
the earth, the noblest beast that roams the forest flies in ter
ror from its tyrant or repels the oppression that would de
prive it of its freedom. So man naturally sighs to be free.
Still tyranny, that demon of desolation, has stalked over the
world for ages and bound in cruel bondage the noblest of the
earth, and still in this 19th century of boasted freedom seems
to be again emerging, like the phoenix, from the dust of ages.
Alas! what is man, or a race of men, whose neck is beneath
the foot of the despot?
Bishop Whipple of Minnesota says: "Some years ago
an Indian stood at my door, and as I opened it he knelt at my
feet. Of course I bade him not to kneel. He said : 'My
father, I knelt only because my heart is warm to a man who
pitied the Red man. I am a wild man. My home is 500 miles
from here. I know that all the Indians east of the Missis
sippi river had perished and I never looked into the faces of
my children that my face was not sad. My father had told
me of the Great Spirit, and I have often gone out into the
woods and tried to talk with him.' " Reader, here was a hu
man being traveling 500 miles to learn of God; yearning and
striving for a knowledge of the world's Redeemer, but to
whom and his race we have given powder and lead instead of
590 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
the bread of life with our war-cry 'No good Indian but a
dead Indian.'"
Alas! that it should be a principle of mankind to hate
those they have wronged — even as dogs rush upon one of
their number that has been shot and not instantly killed and,
rendered ferocious by his cries, tare him to pieces. Un
happy race! Amid the protracted woes of thy present life
how can you forget the fearful history of thy past — the hun
ger and thirst of the heart and the fire and frenzy of the
brain !
Ah, when I look around over the wretched lives of the
present feeble remnant of the Red Race of this continent,
and then contemplate them as I knew them seventy-five
years ago, I can but say: Each life is a woe! Truly, fear
ful and rugged has been their path of life from freedom and
bliss to slavery and woe — so replete in strife, confusion and
death! uttering their last groan in the wail of final despair;
while the quality of confidence is now an utter stronger to
their hearts; for they have experienced enough to harden
them against the White Race of the entire world. They
now realize that they are beyond the regions of all hope;
vet they seem to yield to a certain exterior resignation to
their fate. The world has lost its poignant interest in them;
it is now a pageant upon which they are looking for the last
time while indifferent to lift a hand to stay it in its course,
even had it been within their power. Though, at times,
they rebelled at their fate, and a wave of resistance swept
over them, as with one hand they carried the woes of the
present and, with the other, held up the glowing lamp of
the romantic past; but a sense of its unreality told them
that they grasped at a substance to find a shadow. The
coming of one event changed even the atmosph'ere; at one
moment their breath is a new and invigorating hope, the
next, parched and dead. They see a covetous eye, a hated
face. Their lips are apart; their teeth are set and their
brows knit with the force that they summon to their souls
to endure, as all now are but memories far off amid the
shadowy past.
And now, as to the odium and even defamation that may
be attached to or hurled against me on account of my mani
fested love for and adpliration of the North American Indian
Race, I here submit to it all without a murmur or complaint.
And those who wash may search the world over to find terms
or ideas to express their contempt of me, or any other friend
of that noble but unfortunate race, and I will remain silent
and passive, while their anathemas enter one ear and, meet
ing no obstruction, pass harmlessly out at the other, and
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 591
still continue to oe their devoted, admiring and loving- friend
all the same; while I continue through life to rehearse to
myself the words of the noble Catlin, that true friend of the
North American Indians in toto because he knew them as
they ought to be' known,
"Have I any apology to make for loving the Indians?
The Indians have always loved me, and why should I not love the Indians.
I love the people who have always made me weicome to the best they had.
I love the people who are honest without law, who have 110 jails and no poor-houses.
I love the people who keep the commandments without ever having read them or heard
them preached from the pulpit.
I love a people who never swear; who never take the name of God in vain.
I love a people who love their neighbors as themselves.
I love a people who worship God without a Bible, for I believe that God loves them too.
I love a people whose religion is all the same, and who are free from religious raus.
I love a people who have never raised a hand against me or stolen my property, where
there was no law to punish for. either.
I love a people who never have fought a battle with white men except on their own
ground.
I love and don't fear mankind where God has made and left them, . . they are children.
I love a people who live and keep what is their own without locks and keys.
I love all people who do the best they can, and, Oh! how I love a people who don't live
for the love of money. ' '
I can and do here attest that there is not a single virtue
in the above tribute that did not justly belong to the North
American Indians; and with that true philanthropist — the
noble Catlin — who could and did discern and appreciate
merit wherever found, even in deformity. I do accede heart
ily to all his "loves '? above manifested, and can and do also
add:
I love the same people who also never first betrayed or
deserted a known friend under any circumstances whatever.
I love the same people who never spoke evil of any one
behind his back, not even of a known enemy.
I love the same people whose pledged words to any one
were as sacred as their lives.
I love "'all people," too, of whom I can affirm, possess in
like quality and quantity, the known virtues of the North
American Indians uncontaminated with the blood of the Cau-
cassian or Anglo Saxon race.
NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN NAMES.
The Indians all over this continent had names, tradi
tions, religions, ceremonies, feasts, prayers, songs, dances —
all, more or less, with symbolism and allegory, adapted to
circumstances, just as all other races of mankind.
But the world has become so familiar with the continued
and ridiculous publications in regard to everything' touching
upon that race of people that a universal doubt has long since
been created and established as to the possibility of refine
ment of thought and nobleness of action ever having existed
among the North American Indian race, ancient or modern;
and so little of truth has also been learned regarding the
real and true inner life of that peculiar and seemingly isola
ted race of mankind, that to-day only here and there can one
be found who, from a lifetime association and intimate ac
quaintance, is well versed in Indian thought, feeling and
character, and able to unfold and record the solution of that
imagined mystery known as "The 'Indian Problem," since
they learned it from the Indians themselves. From the In
dians' own lips thev were taught its elucidation, and only as
it could be taught and learned, but never again can be taught
and learned.
Even as various nations of antiquity of ,the eastern con
tinent have left the evidences of their former occupation by
the geographical names that still exist, so to have the North
American Indians left their evidences upon the western (in
dependent of all written history) that they have likewise
possessed this continent during unknown ages of the past.
The artificial mounds, fortifications, lakes and ponds with
their original names and those of rivers, creeks, moun
tains, bluffs and hills, remain to this day; and here thev
will remain long after the lips that spoke the language
are hushed in death, even continuing to repeat the voices of
that prematurely and mercilessly exterminated people.
But alas, how mutilated the orthography and how er
roneous the translation of the original Indian namesi What
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. S9S
a manifestation of the utter want of even the most remote
idea of anything constituting- their language!
As an illustration I will here insert a few examples,
taken from a publication bearing date February 2nd, 1898,.
and to which is the signature, "John Hawkins rn< Phila
delphia Times," with the caption "Names from Indians"1
and ajso the important announcement, "Some Inte res-ting;
Information Concerning Their Origin. They Contain Curi
ous Bits of Nature, Thought or Fancy, History or Tra
dition."
From among the names mentioned I have selected a few
which Mr. Hawkins says are "Choctaw names," giving also-
HIS orthography and translation:
First. — "Chitimacha (La.) — They possess cooking ves-'
sels." Original, Chi-im-ai-ya-chih, Thine to conquer. But
the Choctaw words for "They possess cooking vessels" are--.
Original, Ah-la-bush-li ha-lul-li in, Cooking vessels possess
they.
Second. — "Owatomy, Straight." Original, Owa-to-my,
Hunting in the sunshine.
Third.— "Oklahoma (Beautiful land)." Original,, Qkrla-
hum-ma, Red people.
It is published in our school histories of the United
States that Oklahoma is a Chickasaw word meaning "Beauti
ful Country." The Chickasaw words for beautiful country
are yakiii iukli.
Fourth. — "Chicola, The place of foxes." Original^
Chu-la ai-aii-tah; Fox there.
Fifth. — "Arkansas (Bow on the smoky water)." In the
Choctaw language, Sho-bo-ta oka chas-sa-la, means smoking
water bow, i. e. Bow on a foggy lake.
Sixth. — "Tennessee, River of the great bend." The-
name given by the ancient Choctaws is Ta-nak-bi chi-tofo
bok, Big Bend river.
Seventh. — "Missouri, Great muddy river." But the Choc
taw words for great muddy river are, Huch-cha hla-chi-ko<
chitoh. Missouri, if a Choctaw word, is a corruption of
Mish-o-hof-fih, Continually rubbing off.
Eighth.— "Alabama, "here we rest." Original. Ul-la<
ba-noh hosh, The only child. The Choctaw words for:
"Here we rest" are Fohah hup-ish-no yak.
Ninth. — "Mississippi river, .the great river." Original..
Mish-a-si-pok-ni, Aged beyond. The Choctaw words for
great river are bok chi-toh, or Huch-cha chit-oh. Original,
Misha-sipokni Huchcha. — A river whose age is beyond com
putation.
Tenth. — Mr. Hawkins says : "A South Carolina river
594 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
which now bears the prosaic name of Broad, was known to
the Indians (Choctaws) as Eswawpuddenah, the dividing-
river, after a bloody battle between the Catawbas and Chero-
kees. The name Piscataway has much the same meaning."
But the Choctaw words for "the dividing- river" are, Hush-
koli bok, and Piscataway is a corruption of the Choctaw
words, Pus-ka ta-hah, Bread all gone, or Without bread.
In the Fort Smith, (Arkansas) Elevator, February 4th,
1887, the following appeared:
"AMONG THE CHOCTAWS — An interesting- article from
the Cincinnati Graphic, by John R. Music:
The Choctaw tradition states that they traveled east,
until from the summit of a mountain range they beheld a
well watered and beautiful land. In rapture they exclaim
ed: Tsi-g-ar-ma-kee (Chickamauga) g-ood." But the Choc
taw word for good is A-chuk-ma, and Chickamaug-a is a cor-
corruption of the Choctaw words Chik-emai-ah, (may, can, or
must, shall or will go in). Thef-e is no such word as Tsigar-
makee in their language, and, it is reasonable to believe, in no
other Indian language. Mr. Music thus continues: "The
largest town in this region shows the contact of the Choc-
taws with the Cherokees, Tsatak (Choctaw) and nu-ger
(t? ken out of the water). Here they drew a dead Choctaw
out of the water." Truly the "Choctaws" of Mr. Music
must be a tribe of Indians known only to himself. The
words of the North American Choctaw "Indians for "dead
Choctaw taken out of the water" are (in our phraseology)
Il-li (dead) Chah-tah (Choctaw) shu-e-kuch-ih (pulled out)
hosh (the) o-ka (water). He also asserts that one of the
ancient clans of the Choctaws was named "Hottah Inholata"
signifying "beloved of the people." But the Choctaw words
for "beloved of the people," are Ih-o-lih-to-pah (beloved) okla
(people) ho (the), the Prep, of is understood before okla, Be
loved of the peoplp.
Another, undbr the signature of Henry Inman, asserts,
through the columns of the Greenville (Texas) Banner, Oc
tober 9th, 1«89, that the signification of Apushamataha, the
name of th renowned Choctaw Chief, is "The Warrior's
Seat is Finished."
But the Choctaw words for "the warior's seat is fin
ished," are Tush-ka ai-ome-bin-i-li ak-okc-ta-hah. Apusha
mataha is a corruption of the noted chiefs true. name.
Original, A-num-pa-ish-ta-ya-u-bi, a messenger who kills.
Literally, a messeng-er of death, i. e., one whose rifle,
bow or tomahawk, was alike fatal on the war path or in the
chase.
By request of friends I have here giren a few Choctaw
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 595
and Chickasaw ancient names of places, towns, villages,
rivers, creeks, lakes, mounds, bluffs, etc., in the now States
of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and
others, with the derivations, corruptions, originals, ortho
graphy and significations. I first give the corruption, fol
lowed by the original and signification :
Appalachee. Original, Ap-ah-li-chih, (an ancient Choc-
taw clan), To whoop at.
Apalachicola, a town and river in Florida. Original, Ap-
e-lu-chih kolih, Help to break.
Apookta. Original, A-yuk-pa (an ancient Choctaw vil
lage in Mississippi). A place of happiness.
In a late publication it is stated that Alabama is a corrup
tion of the Choctaw words, "Alba, vegetation," and "amo,
gather."
But the Choctaw words for "vegetation gather" are
Hush-uk (herbage, grass, etc.,) It-tun-a-hah (gathered). I
know of no such word as "Alba" in the Choctaw language.
It has the word "amba," signifying However, and the word
"amo," signifying The.
Alabama is a corruption of the Choctaw words Ul-la-ba-
noh hosh, The only child, and was the name of a noted Choc
taw chief who figured in 1746, contemporary with Shulush
Hum ma, another noted Choctaw chief, during the wars of
the French against the Ohickasaws.
The old interpretdLioii oT the word Alabama as being a
Choctaw word signifying, "Here we rest, or rested," is a
myth. The Choctaw words for "Here we rest, or rested,"
are yak (here) hup-ish-no (we — all of us) fo-hah (to rest, or
rested).
A-bo-ha kub-lo humma, Strong Red House. The name
of an ancient and noted Choctaw chief of the Ok-la hun-na-li
iksa, Six People, Iksa, Clan.
Allamucha. Original, A-lum-a-ka, A hiding place. The
name of an, ancient Choctaw town situated near the Ala
bama line in Lauderdale county, Mississippi.
Ai-ik-hun-a, A place of learning, a school. The name of a
Choctaw village in which was established a missionary sta
tion in 1821.
luka. Original, Ai-yu-pi, A place of bathing. The name
of a town in north Mississippi.
Boguefaliah. Original, Bok-fa-lai-yah, Long creek, in
Mississippi.
Buckatunnee. Original, Bok-it-tun-a-hah, collected to
gether. A large creek in Mississippi. The junction of sev
eral creeks which, uniting, formed BokFttunahah.
596 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
\
Betapinbogue. Original, Ni-ta-pm-bok, One Bear creek.
A large creek in Mississippi.
Buttihatche. Original, But-ih huch-cha, White Sumac
river. The name of a creek in Mississippi.
Biwier. Original, Bai-yi-wai-yah, Leaning white oak. A
creek in Mississippi.
Bok-sha-ha, Pearl river. The ancient Choctaw name of
Pearl river.
Biahela. Original, Bai-yi-il-ah, White oak by itself, lone
white oak. The name of a place in Mississippi.
Bulookta. Original, Bo-luk-ta, Square. A place in Mis
sissippi.
Bok-ta-nak-bi chi-toh, Big Bend river. The ancient
Choctaw name of the Tennessee river.
Boque Hooma. Original, Bok-hum-ma. Red creek in
Mississippi.
Conehatta. Original, Ko-nih-hut-a, whitish pole cat.
The name of a creek in Mississippi.
Caila. Original, Co-i-il-li, dead panther. The name of
a creek in Mississippi.
Chicopah. Original, Shik-o-pah, a plume. The name of
a missionary society in Alabama.
Culleoka. Original, Kul-ih-o-ka, water spring, or spring
water. The name of a town in Tennessee.
Chickahominy. Original, Che-kiho-mai-yih, to become
red quickly. A creek in Virginia. A stream of water
which, according to an ancient Choctaw tradition, suddenly
changed its natural color to that of a coffee color, or brown.
Chuk-fi-lum-a hih-lah bok, Dancing rabbit creek. The
name of a small creek in Mississippi, upon whose banks the
Choctaws, in 1830, ceded the last acre of their ancient pos
sessions east of the Mississippi river to the United States.
Chaff elia. Original, Sa-fa-la-yah, I am long. The name
of a creek in Mississippi.
Copiah. Original, Ho-pai-i, War Chief. The name of a
county in Mississippi.
Chulahoma. Original, Chu-la-hum-ma, Red Fox. The
name of a creek in Mississippi.
Chulatchee. Original, Chu-la-huch-cha, Fox River.
Name of a stream in Mississippi.
Chinchehoma. Original, Chish-a-hum-ma, Red Post Oak.
The name of an aged Choctaw, whom I personally knew in
my youth, and for whom a little stream took its name.
Chattanooga. Original, Cha-hah-nu-chi, Tall wild flax.
Chitimacha. Original, Chi-un-ai-ya-chih, Thine to con
quer. A place in Louisiana.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 597
Calolarchi. Original, Koloh-lich-ih, To cut in many
pieces. The ancient name of a Choctaw village.
Chickasawha. Original, Chik-a-sah-si-ah, I am a Choc-
taw. The name of an ancient Chickasaw town in which De
Soto and his army wintered in 1541.
Chunkey. Original, Chuki, A martin — the name of a
small stream in Mississippi.
Chualley. Original, Chu-ah-la bok, Cedar creek. — The
name of a creek in Mississippi.
Catahoula. Original, Ka-wah-chu-la, barking fox. — The
ancient Choctaw name of a lake in Louisiana, and now the
name of a Parish in Louisiana.
It is published that the word "Catahoula" is a Choctaw
word derived from "Okatahulo" and meaning "Beloved
lake." But the Choctaw words for Beloved Lake are Ok-
hut-ah Ho-li-to-pa. There is no such word in the Choctaw
language as Okatahulo."
Chickamauga — A tributary of the Tennessee river.
Original, Chik-emai-ah, may, can or must, shall or will,
go in.
Caloosahatchee. Original, Chas-su-lah huch-cha, crook
ed river. The ancient Choctaw name of a river in southwest
Florida.
Chauaches. Original, Chah-a-chih, to ennoble. The
name of an ancient Choctaw Iksa (clan), which dwelt a few
miles north of New Orleans and consisted of only thirty war
riors with their families whom Governor Perier caused to be
wholly exterminated, in January, 1717, by negroes — the
slaves of the French colony; the particulars of which are
given in "History of the Natchez."
Coashatta. Original, Ko-i-sak-tih, panther bluff. The
ancient Choctaw7 name of a bluff on the Bigbee river in Mis
sissippi.
Coahoma. Original, Co-i hum ma, red panther. The
name of a county in Mississippi.
Coosa. Original, Chu-sah, tapering. The name of an
ancient Choctaw family who were remarkable for their slen-
derness.
Etowah. Original, He-to-ka, ball ground. The ancient
Choctaw name of a river in Georgia upon whose banks was a
noted ball ground.
Eastabutchie. Original, I-ah-ta-ba-shih, to go mourning.
The ancient name of a creek in Mississippi, famous for its
fatal sickness; therefore, whoever lived upon its banks would
have cause to mourn.
Faket chee poonta. Original, Fa-kit-chi-pin-ta, very
598 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
small turkey. The name of an ancient Choctaw village situ
ated on the Bigbee river in Mississippi.
Falukta bunnee. Original, Fa-lak-na-bun-ah, fox squir
rel doubled up. The name of an ancient Choctaw village on
the banks of the Bigbee river in Mississippi. _... .
Hatche camesa. Original, Huch-cha. chu-lo-sah, quiet
river. A river with a quiet current.
Hatchatigbee. Original, Ha-cho-tuk-ni, loggerhead turtle.
The ancient Choctaw name of a bluff on the Bigbee river in
Mississippi. .
I read the following in THE GLOBE DEMOCRAT, July IS,
1896: uHabalo chitto, the name of a river in Mississippi,
which means big fight." But the Choctaw words for "big
fight" are it-tib-ih chi-toh.
Habalo chitto. Original, Ha-bo-lih chi-to-lit, greatly di
minished. The ancient Choctaw name of a large stream
which had diminished in depth, owing to the washing from
the hills.
Hobakin loopa. Original, Ho-ba-chi yuk-pa, laughing
echo. The ancient Choctaw name of a shoal in the Bigbee
river in Mississippi.
Hiyoowunnie. Original, Hi-oh-lih un-i, standing berries.
The name of an ancient Choctaw town situated on Chick-a-
sah-hah creek, a tributary of Pearl river in Mississippi.
Hushookwa. Original. Hash-o-kak. something su
perior which cannot be treated with impunity. The
name of an ancient Choctaw town in which Peter P. Pitch-
lynn was born. Truly an appropriate name for the birth
place of that renowned Choctaw orator and fearless states
man, once known among the whites in Washington City as
the Calhoun of the Choctaw.
Humecheto. Original, Hum-ma-chi-toh, Big Red. The
ancient Choctaw name of a creek in Choctaw county, Mis
sissippi.
Ittibano. Original, It-ti-ba-no-wah, walking together.
The name of an ancient Choctaw village in Mississippi.
Issaquena. Original, Issiok-hina, Deer Branch. The
name of a town in Mississippi.
Koonowa. Original, Ka-no-wa, the walker. The name
of an ancient Choctaw hunter.
From the "GLOBE DEMOCRAT, July 18th, 1896," from the
New Orleans PICAYUNE, the following derivation and inter
pretation given by one I. H. Watkins, of the Chickasaw word
Itawamba, the name of a county in north Misssisippi. He
gives the original as "Ita-taka-lombi," with the interpretation
thereof, "Go and kill." Now the words in the Chickasaw
language for go and kill are, mi-ah mich-a-ub-ih. The Choc-
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 599
taws have identically the same, words nor have either any
other words for "go and kill." The word ulta-taka-lombi"
is utterly foreign to both languages.
ftawamba. ~ Original, It-i-ai-o-bin-i-li, Wooden seat. That
is, the seat occupied by the ancient Chickasaw chief in
council assembled. Sometimes it was called Ai-o-bin-i-li,
Bench or seat; fa-lai-a, (long) mi-ko (chief), i, e. Long Bench
Chief ; or Chief of the Long Bench. In our phraseology,
The Chair of State.
Loosascoona. Original, Lusa-ko-nih, black pole cat,
the name of a creek in Mississippi. The ancient Choctaws
had four different names for that odoriferous little animal.
Ko-nih, the general name.
Ko-nih chuk-cho, a large striped species.
Ko-nih lu-sa, small, black species.
Ko-nih shup-ik, a peculiar kind having snouts like pigs,
and feeding by rooting, according to the Choctaw tradition.
But had become extinct long before the advent of the mis
sionaries in 1818. Evidently the ant-eater of Mexico.
Lobutchy. Original, Lah-buch-ih, to make warm. The
name of a creek in Mississippi.
Looxapalia. Original, Luk-si-oh-pul-a-lih, Swimming
terrapin, a town and creek in Lamar county, Mississippi.
Lucarnatchie. Original, Lus-sah lucha, wet swamp.
Lapantie bogue. Original, La-pit-tah bok, buck creek.
The ancient Choctaw name of a creek in Mississippi.
Meshoba. Original, Mi-ah-shoh-bih, go in advance until
evening. The ancient Choctaw name of a place in Missis
sippi.
Mouma. Original, Mo-yum-a, every one. The name of
ah ancient Choctaw Iksa (clan) in Louisiana. Now the name
of a town in the same State, but changed to the name Homer.
Mishawaka. Original, Mish-a-wa-yah , raised in abund
ance beyond. The name of a town in Indiana.
Mokea lusha. Original, Bok-lus-a, black creek. An an
cient Choctaw village in Mississippi.
Mingo ho ma. Original, Mi-ko hum-ma, red chief. A
place in Mississippi.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws had two traditional
names for the Mississippi river, as follows:
Occochappo. Original, O-ka-chash-po-hosh, The ancient
waters.
Father Allouez, a Jesuit priest, when exploring the
country from Quebec to Lake Superior, in 1669, first heard
of a great river (which proved to be the Mississippi river)
called—
Mecassheba. Original, Mi-ko Si-ah, King I am.
*600 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Neshoba, '"Original, Na-sho-ba, Wolf. A county in Mis
sissippi.
Nittayuma. Original, Nit-a-yum-ma, Bear yonder. The
name of a creek in Mississippi.
Natchez. Original, Na-chuf-fih, to break off from. A
town in Mississippi named after an ancient tribe of Indians
that formerly inhabited the country on the Mississippi river;
exterminated January 25th, 1733 by the French under Bien-
ville.
Noxubee. Original, Nak-sho-bih, offensive odor. The
name of a creek and also a county in Mississippi. It took
its name according to Choctaw tradition, from a great battle
fought upon its banks/in the remote past, between the Choc-
taws ,and Muscogees. The Muscogees were defeated and
left their slain upon the battle field which were thrown into
the creek by the Choctaws; and such were the number that
the decomposing mass polluted the air for miles around. It
was fought in 1790 according to Choctaw tradition, with
500 warriors slain.
I read the following in the St. Louis Globe Democrat, of Ju
ly 18th, 1896: "There isin the same state (Mississippi) a creek
called Noxubee. The change from the Original in this
word has also been very striking. The Indian form of the
word was Ok-a-mak-shobi." There is no such word in the
Choctaw or Chickasaw languages.
Nanna Way ah. Original, Nunih Waiyah, leaning
.mound. The name of a mound in Mississippi, previously
mentioned.
Ok-la-ta-ba-shih (the people's mourner) was the Noah of
the Choctaws, in their tradition of the flood, who made a
boat into which he placed his family and provisions and thus
saved them — truly an appropriate name.
Oska loosa. Original, Os-si lu-sa, black eagle, A town
in Illinois.
Opelousas. Original, O-pah lus-sah, swamp owl. The
name of a place in Alabama.
Oaktoma. Original, Ok-toh-bi, to be foggy. The name
•of a creek in Mississippi.
Okefinokee. Original,[O-ka-hi-o-lih, waters tanding. A
swamp in Georgia.
Ossachile. Original, Os-si-chah-li, swift eagle. The
name of an ancient Choctaw chief whom De Soto visited
in 1540.
Omaha. Original, O-mi-ha (if a Choctaw word), it must
be. Said to mean "To go against the current."
Osceola. Original, Os-si-o-lachih, Singing Eagle. The
renowned Seminole chief and patriot.
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 601
Okolona. Original, Ok-la-lok-on-lih, .People gathered to
gether. A town in Chickasaw county, Mississippi.
Os-ki-fa-kop-lih, Stripped Cane. A large and lengthy
creek in Mississippi known as Trimcane.
Ocklawaha. Original, Ok-la-yan-ha, People subject to fe
ver. The name of a river in Florida.
Okeion. Original, Oka-i-ah, Moving water. The name
of a little place in Mississippi.
The beginning of the creek Oka ittibihha (by abbrevia
tion Oktibihha) was known to the Choctaws as O-ka-ai-it-tu-
fa-ma (The coming together of the waters), and refers to
the junction of the seven large creeks which form it, viz:
First. — Catarper. Original, Ka-ta-pah , checked or pushed
back; i. e., water retarded by drifts.
Second. — Os-ki Fa-kop-lih, cane stripped of its leaves;
so called by the Choctaws from the abundance of switch cane
growing upon its banks, with which, when stripped of its
leaves, they made their beautiful baskets — literally the place
where the cane is trimmed.
Third. — Bai-yih (white oak) Wai-yih (leaning over).
Fourth. — Bok (creek) Fa-lai-ah (long).
Fifth.— Hush-ih (sun) Bok (creek).
Sixth. — Ba-cha-ya Bok (line creek), which divided the
Choctaw and Chickasaw nations on the north, when living
east of the Mississippi river.
Seventh. — Sukatanchi. Original, Shuk-ha Ni-a-chih,
hogs fattened. The place where hogs are fattened.
Okahola. Original, O-ka-ho-yah, Filtered water. The
name of a town in Marion county, Mississippi.
Oktibbehaw. Original, O-ka-it-tib-ih-ka, The water
fight. A county in Mississippi. The name given by the
ancient Choctaws to a large creek flowing into the Bigbee
river above the town of Columbus, Miss., now known as Tibi,
(corruption of Ittibih, having fought). It took its name, ac
cording to Choctaw tradition, from a great battle fought
between the Choctaws and Muscogees years before the ad
vent of the whites, in which the Muscogees occupied the
north side of the creek and the Choctaws the south, shooting
their arrows across the creek. The Choctaws were de
feated, but soon reinforcements returned and drove the
Muscogees out of their country.
Opelika. Original, Ok-pul-ila-ka, The lily by itself — the
lone lily. The name of a missionary society in Alabama.
^ Oktarkthalapulla. Original, Ok-tark-toh-boko-lih, bluish
white prairie. A beautiful prairie in the southwestern part
of Oktibbehaw county, Mississippi, six miles southwest of
Starkville, known, before brought into cultivation, as "The
602 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Blue Prairie." It was a peculiar looking- prairie, presenting- a
lonely and melancholy appearance, nearly round, perfectly
level and extending- nearly two miles each way without a tree
or shrub upon it. but covered with a carpet of grass stand
ing (in the summer season) from two to three feet in height.
It was the last prairie between Starkville and the Mississippi
river, surrounded by magnificent forests of oak and pine, in
which were found wild game in sufficient quantities to glad
den the heart of the most fastidious lover of the chase; in
which I, with other congenial spirits, fully shared and enjoy
ed many years ere progress blotted it out.
Okahatchee. Original, Ok-la-huch-cha, river people.
An ancient Choctaw village whose people used river water.
Oaklehy. Original, Ok-la-le-lih, People who plow. The
name of an ancient Choctaw village in which several white
families lived.
Otocklawfa. Original, Ok-tah-lau-a, Many prairies. A
town in Mississippi.
Oaktewall}r. Original, O-ti-wa-lih, Exhibiting chestnuts.
The name of a little town in Mississippi.
Okatomie. Original, Ok-a-to-mih, Sunshine in water.
The name of an ancient Choctaw village in Mississippi.
Okenachitto. Original, Ok-hin-a-chi-toh, Big stream.
The Chocktaw name of a large creek in Mississippi.
Okshawali. Original, Ok-shau-a-lih, Light complexion.
The name of an ancient Choctaw town, among whose peo
ple were many of fair complexions.
Osyka. Original, Os-si-ka, The Eagle. A town in Pike
county, Mississippi.
Ofahoma. Original, O-n-hum-ma, Red dog. Town in
Leake county, Mississippi.
Okachickama. Original, O-ka-chukma, Good water.
The capital of Yalobusha county, Mississippi.
Yalobusha. Original, Ya-lo-ba-ai-a-sha, Tadpoles
abound.
Onalaska. Original, O-na-lu-chah, To arrive being wet.
A town in Arkansas.
Okatibbee. Original, O-ka-it-tib-ih, Water fight, i. e. A
battle across the water. A town in Lauderdale county,
Mississippi.
Oktoc. Original, Ok-tak, prairie. A town in Oktibbeha
county, Mississippi.
Pillahatchee. Original, Pil-lah-huch-cha, far off river.
A river in Rankin county, Mississippi.
"Ponchatoula, a Choctaw word," says the St. Louis
GLOBE DEMOCRAT of July 18, 1896, "is a corruption of Pan-
chagoula, which, according to the declaration of the \vell in-
HISTORY OF THJE INDIANS. 603-
formed superintendent of the Choctaw schools in Mississippi,
a gentlemen who speaks the Choctaw language fluently,
means pond lilly." The Choctaw words for "pond lily" are
Haiyip (pond) Okpul (lily).
Pasgagoula, Original, Pus-ka-ok-la, people having
bread. A town in Jackson county, Mississippi.
Solgohachia, a town in Arkansas. Original, Sok-ko-
huch-cha, Muscadine river.
Panola. Original, Po-no-la, cotton; the name of a coun
ty in north Mississippi.
Pachuta. Original, Pa-sho-hah, to handle, a town in
Perry county, Mississippi.
Piache. Original, Pi-e-shih, to care for us, the name
of an ancient Choctaw town which De Soto passed through
in October, 1540.
Puchcheyanshoba. Original, Pu-chi-yo-shu-bah, pigeon
to be lost — Strayed Pigeon, ancient Choctaw village.
Pantofoc. Original, Pa-ki-tak-oh-lih, grapes hung up —
Hanging Grapes, the name of a town in north Mississippi.
Seneasha. Original, Si-nih-ai-an-ta, sycamore abound,
the name of a little branch in Mississippi,
Shetimasha. Original, Shit-til-e-mab-ai-a-shah, Habitation
of the disdainful. The Shittilemahaiashah Indians of St.
Mary's Parish, Louisiana, are evidently a remanent of an
ancient Choctaw Iksa (clan), a few feeble sparks still linger
ing in the ashes of their exterminated Iksa.
Senatobia. Original; Sin-ih-toh-bih-a, My white syca
more. The name of a town in Tate county, Mississippi.
Shubuta. Original, Sho-bo-tah, Smoking. A little town
in Clarke county, Mississippi.
Siboglahatcha. Original, Is-su-ba-ok-la-hu-cha, Horse
river people i. e. People living on horse river. A creek and
town in Calhoun county, Mississippi.
Suqualak. Original, Shau-wa-lah, widely branching. A
town in Noxubee county, Mississippi. The name also of a
small creek emptying into Noxubee near the great ball play
ground, upon which, in 1790, was fought the great battle be
fore mentioned.
Sukatanche. Original, Shuk-ha ne-a-chih, fattened hogs;
i. e., the place where hogs fatten. A large creek in north
Mississippi and town in Kemper county, Mississippi.
Tangipahoa. Original, Tun-chi-pa sho-hah, corn hand
led — where corn was bought and sold.
Tallula. Original, Ta-lo-ho ah, continually singing. The
name of the falls of a river in Georgia, said to be 536 feet.
Talluhah. Original, Tal-lu-hah, a bell. A town in Lou-
siana.
604 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Tuskogee. Original, Tush-ka-ko-cha, weather warrior,
i. e., a warrior who foretells the weather.
Tallasha. Original, Ta-la-ai-ar-sha, Palmetto abound.
The place of palmettoes.
Toonisuba. Original, To-no-lihis-su-ba, rolling horse.
A place in Mississippi.
Talletuluck. Original, Ta-le-tul-i, Palmetto rock, Pal
metto by a rock. A town in Kemper county Mississippi.
Tacaleeche. Original, Tak-a-li-chih, to put down,
town in Benton county Mississippi. Town and river in
Panola county Mississippi.
Tullahoma. Original, Tul-i-hum-ma, red stone, rock or
iron. Town in Jones county Mississippi.
Wantubbee. Original, Ai-an-ta-ub-ih, To be at and kill.
A little place in Mississippi.
Winona, Original, Wa-ton-la, A crane. A town in Mis
sissippi.
Yakanookane. Original, Yak-ni-nak-ish-wa-na, Cat fish
land. A creek in Oktibbehaw county, Mississippi.
Yoconapatawfa. Original, Yak-ni-pa-tuf-fih, Land
ploughed.
Waupanuckee. Original, Wak-chah-nu-sih, To sleep
wide a part. A town in the present Chickasaw Nation.
Tallula. Original, Til-oh-lih, to break off. A town in
Issaquena county, Mississippi.
Issaquena. Original, Is-si-ok-hena, deer branch. A
town in Mississippi.
Tillitoba. Original, Tul-i-toh-bi, gray rock. A town in
Yalobusha county, Mississippi.
Taloeah. Original, Ta lo ah-i-ah, to go singing. A town
in Marion county, Mississippi.
Tamolah. Original, Ta mo-ah, lost. A town in Kem
per county, Mississippi.
Tallase. Original, Tul-li-ai-sha, rocks abound. An an
cient Choctaw village which De Soto visited in 1540.
Toccopola. Original, Tosh-bo-ko li, mouse colored. A
town in LaFayette county, Mississippi.
Toomsuba. Original, Ta-is-su-ba, because or in as
much as a horse. A town in Lauderdale county, Mississippi.
Topisaw. Original, Tah-pi-sah, to see now. A town in
Pike county, Mississippi
Talawah. Original, Ta-lo ah, singing. A town in Mar
ion county, Mississippi.
Tubby. Original, Ub-ih, to kill. A town in Itawamba
county, Mississippi.
Tooanoowe. Original, To-mih-no-wa, walking in the sun
shine. The nephew of Tumoachi.
I
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. 60S
Tamoachih. Original, Turn o a-chi, you lost. Chief of
the Yamacaws, with whom Oglethorpe established a never
violated treaty.
Yamacaw. Original, Yum-mak-ka-sha-pah, That one
to be a part. The name of an ancient clan of Choctaws at
the time Oglethorpe founded Savannah, Georgia, February
1st, 1733.
Tuscola. Original, Tah-ok-la, Now a people. A town
in Leake county, Mississippi.
Chickasaw bogue. Original, Chik-a-sah-bok, Chickasaw
creek. Town in Mobile county, Alabama.
Choccolocco. Original, Chuk-cho-sok-koh, Thick maple
or maple grove. Town in Calhoun county, Alabama.
Choctawhatchie. Original, Chah-tah-huch-cha, Choctaw
river. Town in Henry county, Alabama.
Senauki. Original, Kin-nak-li, Limping. The wife of
Tumoachi,
Clayhatchie. Original, Chash-ah-huch-cha, Rattling or
rippling river. Town in Dale county, Alabama.
Enitachopco. Original, E-nit-tak ok chah, we awaken
at day. A town in Clay county Alabama.
Looxapalia. Original, Luk-si-ok pul-a lih, swiming ter
rapin. A town and creek in Lamar county Alabama.
Loachapoha. Original, Lau-a-chih-fo-hah, making many
to rest. Town in Lee county Alabama.
Talladega. Original, Tal-a-ti-hah, pulled up palmetto.
Town and county in Alabama.
Tallahatta. Original, Tal-a-hut-a, standing palmetto.
A town in Clark county, Alabama.
Tallassahatchee. Original, Tal-a-sa-huch-cha, I am the
palmetto river. A town in Calhoun county, Alabama.
Tallula. Original, Tul-u-la, a bell. A town in Fayette
county, Alabama.
Talucah. Original, Ta-lo-ah, singing. A town in Mor
gan county, Alabama.
Tallapoosa. Original, Tul-i-po-shi, Iron dust. A county
in Alabama.
Tuscahoma. Original, Tush-ka-hum-ma, red warrior.
A town in Choctaw county Alabama.
Tuscaloosa. Original, Tush-ka-lu-sa, black warrior.
A town and county in Alabama.
Tuscumbia. Original, Tush-ka-um-ba chi, rainmaker
warrior. A town in Colbert county, Alabama. Name of an
ancient Chickasaw chief renowned as a medicine war chief
and contemporary with the famous Chickasaw chief, John
Colbert.
606 HISTORY OF THE INDIANS.
Wauchula. Original, Lau-a-chu-la, many foxes. A
town in De Soto county, Florida.
Chuluota. Original, Chu-la-an-tah, a fox stays — where
foxes abound. A town in Orange county, Florida.
Oktahatchee. Original, Ok-tak-huch-cha, Prairie river.
A town in Hamilton county, Florida.
Oclawaha. Original, O-ka-lau-a-ha, Many times water.
Town in Lake county, Florida. That is, in riding over the
country your way is obstructed by lakes, lagoons and ponds.
Chattahoochee. Original, Chuk-lih-huch-cha, Rapid
river. A town in Fulton county, Georgia, and river in
Georgia.
Chenubee. Original, Chi-a-ub-ih, You kill. Town in
Webster county,. Georgia.
Ghokee. Original, Cho-ki, A martin, Town in Lee
county, Georgia.
Ossahutchee. Original, Os-si-huch-cha, Eagle river. A
town in Harris county Georgia. A river upon which eagles
abound.
Sallacoa. Original, Sa-la-ko-f ah, I made a notch. A town
in Cherokee county, Georgia. ,
Chinchuba. Original, Chin-is-su-ba, thy horse. Town
in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.
Chepola. Original, Che-pn-15, To^v:^ '.•-; 3 . Helena
Parish, Louisiana. The name given by ilu anc.oTi Choc-
taws to a favorite dance, the termination of a protracted
feast and general good time.
Chacahoula. Original, Chit-oh-hul-wa, large soft shell
turtle. A town in Terre Bonne, Louisiana.
Coushatta. Original, Kau-ah-shak-ba, broken arm. A
town in Red River Parish, Lousiana.
Hitchiti . Original, Hish-i-it-ih, hairmouth — whiskers.
An ancient Choctaw clan. A remnant of which are nov.* liv
ing among the Creeks, Indian Territory; they did not move
in 1832 with the Choctaws, but remained east of the Missis
sippi river, until the exodus of the Creeks and came with
them, and with whom they have still remained.
Professor Campbell, of the Presbyterian College, Mon
treal, believes that he has found the key to the Hittite (of
Biblical fame) inscriptions, and has sent the result of his
investigation to the Society of Biblical Archaeology. It is
said that the most striking and important feature of this
work is the identity established by Professor Campbell, as
he believes, between the Aztecs and the Hittites. He con
cludes a statement of his discovery in the Montreal Witness,
as follows: "It is interesting to know that we have on this
continent the remains of a people who played a great part in
HISTORY OF THE INDIANA. 607
ancient history. It is also gratifying- to learn that by the
establishment of the Hittite origin of the Aztecs, evolutions
in philology and ethnology will receive its death blow."
Now, if the Aztecs be of Hittite orig-in, and the Choctaws
and Chickasaws of Aztec orig-in, of which there is more than
a probability — if their ancient leg-ends and traditions are re
liable — may not the Choctaw words Hishih itih (the name of
one of their ancient Iksasj be itself a corruption of. the
Hittite, and not only confirming- their eastern traditional mi
gration in the years of ag-es passed, but also pointing- back
even to a Hittite orig-in ?
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