Farnham's Travels in the Great Western Prairies, etc., May 21-October 16, 1839, part 1

Nor does this spirit of liberality stop here. The great doctrine that Government is formed to confer upon its subjects a greater degree of happiness than they could enjoy in the natural state, has suggested that the system of hereditary chieftaincies, and its dependant evils among the tribes, should yield, as circumstances may permit, to the ordination of nature, the supremacy of intellect and virtue. Accordingly, it is contemplated to use the most efficient means to abolish them, making the rulers elective, establishing a form of government in each tribe, similar in department and duties to our State Governments, and uniting the tribes under a General Government, similar in powers and functions to that at Washington.[67 - See our volume xx, pp. 308-315, with accompanying notes. – Ed.]

It is encouraging to know that some of the tribes have adopted this system; and that the Government of the Union has been so far encouraged to hope for its adoption by all those in the Indian Territory, that in 1837 orders were issued from the Department of Indian affairs, to the Superintendent of Surveys, to select and report a suitable place for the Central Government. A selection was accordingly made of a charming and valuable tract of land on the Osage river, about seven miles square; which, on account of its equal distance from the northern and southern line of the Territory, and the beauty and excellence of the surrounding country, appears in every way adapted to its contemplated use. It is a little more than sixteen miles from the western line of Missouri. Any member of those tribes which come into the confederation, may own property in the district, and no other.[68 - This plan for a general federation of the tribes west of the Mississippi was popular in 1836-37. Rev. Isaac McCoy was appointed agent and detailed to approach the tribes with explanations. He chose the site for a central government as here described by Farnham. See 25 Cong., 2 sess., Senate Docs., i, pp. 579-584. The following year a change in the administration of the commissionership of Indian affairs brought about a reversal of policy. The difficulties were enlarged upon, and the reluctance of the more civilized tribes made an excuse for dropping the project. – Ed.]

The indigenous, or native tribes of the Indian Territory, are – the Osages, about 5,510; the Kauzaus or Caws, 1,720; the Omahas, 1,400; the Otoe and Missouri, 1,600; the Pawnee, 10,000; Puncah, 800; Quapaw, 600 – making 21,660. The tribes that have emigrated thither from the States, are – the Choctaw, 15,600 (this estimate includes 200 white men, married to Choctaw women, and 600 negro slaves); the Chickasaws, 5,500; the Cherokees, 22,000 (this estimate includes 1,200 negro slaves owned by them); the Cherokees (including 900 slaves), 22,000; the Creeks (including 393 negro slaves) 22,500; the Senecas and Shawnees, 461; the Seminoles, 1,600; the Pottawatamies, 1,650; the Weas, 206; the Piankashas, 157; the Peorias and Kaskaskias, 142; the Ottawas, 240; the Shawnees, 823; the Delawares, 921; the Kickapoos, 400; the Sauks, 600; the Iowas, 1,000. It is to be understood that the numbers assigned to these tribes represent only those portions of them which have actually removed to the Territory. Large numbers of several tribes are still within the borders of the States. It appears from the above tables, then, that 72,200 have had lands assigned them; and, abating the relative effects of births and deaths among them, in increasing or diminishing their numbers, are actually residing in the Territory. These, added to 21,000 of the indigenous tribes, amount to 94,860 under the fostering care of the Federal Government, in a fertile and delightful country, six hundred miles in length from north to south, and east and west from the frontier of the Republic to the deserts of the mountains.

The Choctaw country lies in the extreme south of the Territory. Its boundaries are – on the south, the Red River, which separates it from the Republic of Texas; on the west, by that line running from the Red River to the Arkansas River, which separates the Indian American Territory from that of Mexico;[69 - That is, the one hundredth meridian of west longitude. – Ed.] on the north, by the Arkansas and the Canadian Rivers; and on the east, by the State of Arkansas. This tract is capable of producing the most abundant crops, the small grains, Indian corn, flax, hemp, tobacco, cotton, &c. The western portion of it is poorly supplied with timber; but all the distance from the Arkansas' frontier westward, two hundred miles, and extending one hundred and sixty miles from its northern to its southern boundary, the country is capable of supporting a population as dense as that of England. 19,200,000 acres of soil suitable for immediate settlement, and a third as much more to the westward that would produce the black locust in ten years after planting, of sufficient size for fencing the very considerable part of it which is rich enough for agricultural purposes, will, doubtless, sustain any increased population of this tribe that can reasonably be looked for during the next five hundred years.

They have suffered much from sickness incident to settlers in a new country. But there appear to be no natural causes existing, which, in the known order of things, will render their location permanently unhealthy. On the other hand, since they have become somewhat inured to the change of climate, they are quite as healthy as the whites near them; and are improving in civilization and comfort; have many large farms; much live stock, such as horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and swine; three flouring-mills, two cotton-gins, eighty-eight looms, and two hundred and twenty spinning-wheels; carts, waggons, and other farming utensils. Three or four thousand Choctaws have not yet settled on the lands assigned to them. A part of these are in Texas, between the rivers Brazos and Trinity, 300 in number, who located themselves there in the time of the general emigration; and others in divers places in Texas, who emigrated thither at various times twenty, thirty, and forty years ago. Still another band continues to reside east of the Mississippi.

The Choctaw Nation, as the tribe denominates itself, has adopted a written constitution of Government, similar to the Constitution of the United States. Their Declaration of Rights secures to all ranks and sects equal rights, liberty of conscience, and trial by jury, &c. It may be altered or amended by a National Council. They have divided their country into four judicial districts. Three of them annually elect nine, and the other thirteen, members of the National Assembly. They meet on the first Monday in October annually; organize by the election of a Speaker, the necessary clerks, a light-horseman (sergeant-at-arms), and doorkeeper; adopt by-laws, or rules for their governance, while in session; and make other regulations requisite for the systematic transaction of business. The journals are kept in the English language; but in the progress of business are read off in Choctaw. The preliminary of a law is, "Be it enacted by the General Council of the Choctaw Nation."

By the Constitution, the Government is composed of four departments, viz.: Legislative, Executive, Judicial and Military. Three judges are elected in each district by popular vote, who hold inferior and superior courts within their respective districts. Ten light-horse men in each district perform the duties of sheriffs. An act has been passed for the organization of the militia. Within each judicial district an officer is elected, denominated a chief, who holds his office for the term of four years. These chiefs have honorary seats in the National Council. Their signatures are necessary to the passage of a law. If they veto an act, it may become a law by the concurrence of two-thirds of the Council. Thus have the influences of our institutions begun to tame and change the savages of the western wilderness.[70 - This constitution was adopted in 1838; later it was amended, and brought more into harmony with the Cherokee constitution, which was modelled upon that of Mississippi. The modified document provided for a single executive, called the principal chief, elected for two years, and ineligible for more than four years in six; two houses of legislature; courts of judiciary, etc. After the War of Secession this constitution was further amended, slavery being then abolished. In 1897 the Choctaw entered into the Atoka agreement with the commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, whereby the judicial functions of their tribal government have passed to the United States courts erected in the territory. Tribal government itself was to have ceased March 6, 1906; at that time, all lands being allotted, it was expected that the Choctaw became full-fledged American citizens. But owing to complications involved in settling the estates, an act of postponement was passed by Congress in the spring of that year, providing that "tribal existence and present tribal governments are continued in full force until otherwise provided by law." See article, "The End of the Civilized Tribes," in The Independent (New York, 1906), lx, pp. 1110, 1111. – Ed.]

At the time when the lights of religion and science had scarcely begun to dawn upon them – when they had scarcely discovered the clouds of ignorance that had walled every avenue to rational life – even while the dust of antiquated barbarism was still hanging upon their garments – and the night of ages, of sloth, and sin held them in its cold embraces – the fires on the towers of this great temple of civil freedom arrested their slumbering faculties, and they read on all the holy battlements, written with beams of living light, "All men are, and of right ought to be, free and equal." This teaching leads them. It was a pillar of fire moving over the silent grave of the past – enlightening the vista of coming years – and, by its winning brightness, inviting them to rear in the Great Prairie wilderness, a sanctuary of republican liberty – of equal laws – in which to deposit the ark of their own future well-being.

The Chickasaws have become merged in the Choctaws. When they sold to the Government their lands east of the Mississippi, they agreed to furnish themselves with a home. This they have done in the western part of the Choctaw country for the sum of £106,000. It is called the Chickasaw district; and constitutes an integral part of the Choctaw body politic in every respect, except that the Chickasaws, like the Choctaws, received and invest for their own sole use, the annuities and other moneys proceeding from the sale of their lands east of the Mississippi.[71 - On the Chickasaw see our volume xx, p. 310, note 199. The Chickasaw were embraced in the Atoka agreement (see preceding note), and the allotment of their lands is about completed. As in succeeding paragraphs Farnham has here changed the sums originally indicated in American currency to their corresponding equivalents in English money. – Ed.]

The treaty of 1830 provides for keeping forty Choctaw youths at school, under the direction of the President of the United States, for the term of twenty years. Also, the sum of £500 is to be applied to the support of three teachers of schools among them for the same length of time. There is, also, an unexpended balance of former annuities, amounting to about £5,000, which is to be applied to the support of schools, at twelve different places. Schoolhouses have been erected for this purpose, and paid for, out of this fund. Also, by the treaty of 1825, they are entitled to an annuity of £1,200, for the support of schools within the Choctaw district.

The treaty of the 24th of May, 1834, provides that £600 annually, for fifteen years, shall be applied, under the direction of the Secretary of War, to the education of the Chickasaws. These people have become very wealthy, by the cession of their lands east of the Mississippi to the United States. They have a large fund applicable to various objects of civilization; £2,000 of which is, for the present, applied to purposes of education.[72 - On the subject of education and the Choctaw Academy see our volume xx, p. 306, with accompanying notes. – Ed.]

The country assigned to the Cherokees is bounded as follows: beginning on the north bank of Arkansas River, where the western line of the State of Arkansas crosses the river; thence north 7° 35´ west, along the line of the State of Arkansas, seventy-seven miles to the south-west corner of the State of Missouri; thence north along the line of Missouri, eight miles to Seneca River; thence west along the southern boundary of the Senecas to Neosho River; thence up said river to the Osage lands; thence west with the South boundary of the Osage lands, two hundred and eighty-eight and a half miles; thence south to the Creek lands, and east along the north line of the creeks, to a point about forty-three miles west of the State of Arkansas, and twenty-five miles north of Arkansas River, thence south to Verdigris River, thence down Verdigris to Arkansas River; thence down Arkansas River to the mouth of Neosho River; thence South 53° west one mile; thence south 18° 19´ west thirty-three miles; thence south four miles, to the junction of the North Fork and Canadian Rivers; thence down the latter to the Arkansas; and thence down the Arkansas, to the place of beginning.[73 - This is an accurate description of the present boundary of the Cherokee Nation, but "state of Kansas" should be read for "Osage lands." – Ed.]

They also own a tract, described, by beginning at the south-east corner of the Osage lands, and running north with the Osage line, fifty miles; thence east twenty-five miles to the west line of Missouri; thence west twenty-five miles, to the place of beginning.

They own numerous Salt Springs, three of which are worked by Cherokees. The amount of Salt manufactured is probably about 100 bushels per day. They also own two Lead Mines. Their Salt Works and Lead Mines are in the Eastern portion of their country. All the settlements yet formed are there also. It embraces about 2,500,000 acres. They own about 20,000 head of cattle, 3,000 horses, 15,000 hogs, 600 sheep, 110 waggons, often several ploughs to one farm, several hundred spinning wheels, and one hundred looms. Their fields are enclosed with rail fences. They have erected for themselves good log dwellings, with stone chimneys and plank floors. Their houses are furnished with plain tables, chairs, and bedsteads, and with table and kitchen furniture, nearly or quite equal to the dwellings of white people in new countries. – They have seven native merchants, and one regular physician, beside several "quacks." Houses of entertainment, with neat and comfortable accommodation, are found among them.

Their settlements are divided into four districts, each of which elects for the term of two years, two members of the National Council – the title of which is, "The General Council of the Cherokee Nation." By law, it meets annually on the first Monday in October. They have three chiefs, which till lately have been chosen by the General Council. Hereafter, they are to be elected by the people. The approval of the chiefs is necessary to the passage of a law; but an act upon which they have fixed their veto, may become a law by a vote of two thirds of the Council. The Council consists of two branches. The lower is denominated the Committee, and the upper, the Council. The concurrence of both is necessary to the passage of a law. The chiefs may call a Council at pleasure. In this, and in several other respects, they retain in some degree the authority common to hereditary chiefs. Two Judges belong to each district, who hold courts when necessary. Two officers, denominated Light-horsemen, in each district perform the duties of Sheriffs. A company of six or seven Light-horsemen, the leader of whom is styled captain, constitute a National Corps of Regulators, to prevent infractions of the law, and to bring offenders to justice.[74 - Compare a similar description by Gregg in our volume xx, p. 306. – Ed.]

It is stipulated in the treaty of the 6th of May, 1823, that the United States will pay £400 annually to the Cherokees for ten years, to be expended under the direction of the President of the United States, in the education of their children, in their own country, in letters and mechanic arts. Also £200 toward the purchase of a printing-press and types. By the treaty of December 29, 1835, the sum of £30,000 is provided for the support of common schools, and such a literary institution of a higher order as may be established in the Indian country. The above sum is to be added to an education fund of £10,000 that previously existed, making the sum of £40,000 which is to remain a permanent school fund, only the interest of which is to be consumed. The application of this money is to be directed by the Cherokee Nation, under the supervision of the President of the United States. The interest of it will be sufficient constantly to keep in a boarding-school two hundred children; or eight hundred, if boarded by their parents.

The country of the Creeks joins Canadian river, and the lands of the Choctaws on the south, and the Cherokee lands on the east and north. Their eastern limit is about sixty-two miles from north to south; their western limit the Mexican boundary.[75 - In 1856 the Creeks ceded part of the western portion of their strip to the Seminole; and again in 1866, both Creeks and Seminole ceded to the United States a portion of their western territory, which makes a large part of the present Oklahoma. The Creek western boundary is, therefore, a trifle east of 97°. – Ed.]

Their country is fertile, and exhibits a healthy appearance; but of the latter Creek emigrants who reached Arkansas in the winter and spring of 1837, about two hundred died on the road; and before the 1st of October succeeding the arrival, about three thousand five hundred more fell victims to bilious fevers. In the same year three hundred of the earlier emigrants died. They own salt springs, cultivate corn, vegetables, &c., spin, weave and sew, and follow other pursuits of civilised people. Many of them have large stocks of cattle. Before the crops of 1837 had been gathered, they had sold corn to the amount of upwards of £7,800; and vast quantities still remained unsold. Even the emigrants who arrived in their country during the winter and spring, previous to the cropping season of 1837, broke the turf, fenced their fields, raised their crops for the first time on the soil, and sold their surplus of corn for £2,000. They have two native merchants.

The civil government of this tribe is less perfect than that of the Cherokees. There are two bands; the one under McIntosh, the other under Little Doctor.[76 - The Creek confederacy was divided into two parts, known as Upper and Lower Creeks. The former were the chief aggressors in the Creek War of 1813, which was in fact largely a civil outbreak. General William McIntosh, halfbreed son of Roderick McIntosh, a Highland emigrant to West Florida, was an influential chief of the Lower Creeks and loyal to the Americans. He led the party favoring removal to Indian Territory, and signed the treaty of Indian Springs (1825) whereupon he was put to death by the band opposed to emigration. His sons Chilly and Rolly McIntosh became leaders of the emigration party and removed west of the Mississippi (1826-27). One of the chiefs of the Eastern band was Little Doctor, who volunteered to aid the United States in the Seminole War (1835-42). He came west with his band about 1836. It was not until 1867 that the two factions united under a written constitution and a republican form of government. – Ed.] That led by the former, brought with them from their old home written laws which they enforce as the laws of their band. That under the latter, made written laws after their arrival. Each party holds a general council. The members of each are hereditary chiefs, and a class of men called councillors. Each of these great bands is divided into lesser ones; which severally may hold courts, try civil and criminal causes, sentence, and execute, &c. Laws, however, are made by the general councils only; and it is becoming customary to entertain trials of cases before these bodies, and to detail some of their members for executioners. The legislative, judicial, and executive departments of their government are thus becoming strangely united in one.

The treaty of the 6th of March, 1832, stipulates that an annuity of £600 shall be expended by the United States, under the direction of the President, for the term of twenty years, in the education of their children. Another £200 by the treaty of the 14th of February, 1833, is to be annually expended during the pleasure of Congress for the same object, under the direction of the President.

In location and government the Seminoles are merged in the Creeks.[77 - The Seminole who made their home in Florida, were a branch of the Creeks. After the Creek War (1813-14) the majority of the hostiles made their way to the Seminole. When attempt was made to remove these tribesmen to Indian Territory (1832-34), they resisted sharply and finally war broke out which was prolonged until 1842. As various bands surrendered to the United States or were captured, they were sent out to the territory, so that by 1839 (the year of Farnham's journey) there were nineteen hundred Seminole among the Creeks. In 1856 they attempted autonomy, and with the consent of the United States bought 200,000 acres of Creek land; two years later the remainder of the band from Florida, under their chief Bowlegs, came out and joined their tribe. In 1881-82 they added 175,000 acres to their tract. – Ed.] In the spring of 1836, about four hundred of them emigrated from the east, and settled on the north fork of Canadian river. In October, 1837, they were reduced by sickness nearly one-half. During these awful times of mortality among them, some of the dead were deposited in the hollows of the standing and fallen trees, and others, for want of these, were placed in a temporary inclosure of boards, on the open plains. Guns and other articles of property were often buried with the dead, according to ancient custom; and so great is said to have been the terror of the time, that, having abandoned themselves awhile to their wailings around the burial-places of their friends, they fled to the western deserts till the pestilence subsided. Of the two thousand and twenty-three emigrants who had reached their new homes prior to October, 1832, not more than one thousand six hundred remained alive.

The Senecas consist of three bands, namely: Senecas two hundred, Senecas and Shawanoes two hundred and eleven, Mohawks fifty; in all four hundred and sixty-one. The lands of the Senecas proper adjoin those of the Cherokees on the south, and abutting on the Missouri border, the distance of thirteen miles, extend north to Neosho river. The lands of the mixed band of Senecas and Shawanoes, extend north between the State of Missouri and Neosho river, so far as to include sixty-thousand acres.[78 - The majority of the Seneca refused to leave New York State – see our volume viii, p. 183, note 41; and volume xxiv, p. 163, note 176. The mixed bands in Kansas were removed to Indian Territory in 1867, and located on the Quapaw Agency. They are now citizens, having lands allotted in severalty (about 1889) in the north-eastern part of Indian Territory. – Ed.]

These people, also, are in some measure civilized. Most of them speak English. They have fields inclosed with rail fences, and raise corn and vegetables sufficient for their own use. They own about eight-hundred horses, twelve hundred cattle, thirteen yoke of oxen, two hundred hogs, five waggons, and sixty-seven ploughs; dwell in neat, hewn log cabins erected by themselves, and furnished with bedsteads, chairs, tables, &c., of their own manufacture; and own one grist and saw-mill, erected at the expense of the United States.

The country of the Osages lies north of the western portion of the Cherokee lands, commencing twenty-five miles west of the State of Missouri, and thence, in a width of fifty miles, extends westward as far as the country can be inhabited. In 1817, they numbered ten thousand five hundred. Wars with the Sioux, and other causes, have left only five thousand five hundred. About half the tribe reside on the eastern portion of their lands; the residue in the Cherokee country, in two villages on Verdigris river.[79 - On the Osage see our volume v, p. 50, note 22. Their Kansas lands having become very valuable, in 1865 they made a treaty ceding them to the United States, and removed to Indian Territory. Their reservation is now in north-east Oklahoma. They are the richest tribe in the United States, and for that reason somewhat unprogressive. – Ed.]

This tribe has made scarcely any improvement. Their fields are small and badly fenced. Their huts are constructed of poles inserted in the ground, bent together at the top, and covered with bark, mats, &c., and some of them with buffalo and elk skins. The fire is placed in the centre, and the smoke escapes through an aperture at the top. These huts are built in villages, and crowded together without order or arrangement, and destitute of furniture of any kind, except a platform raised about two feet upon stakes set in the ground. This extends along the side of the hut, and may serve for a seat, a table, or a bedstead. The leggings, and moccasins for the feet, are seldom worn except in cold weather, or when they are travelling in the grass. These, with a temporary garment fastened about the loins, and extending downwards, and a buffalo robe or blanket thrown loosely around them, constitute the sole wardrobe of the males and married females. The unmarried females wear also a strip of plain cloth eight or nine inches wide, which they throw over one shoulder, draw it over the breasts, and fasten it under the opposite arm.

The Osages were, when the whites first knew them, brave, warlike, and in the Indian sense of the term, in affluent circumstances. They were the hardiest and fiercest enemies of the terrible Sioux; but their independent spirit is gone, and they have degenerated into the miserable condition of insolent, starving thieves. The government has been, and is making the most generous efforts to elevate them. The treaty of 1825 provides, "that the President of the United States shall employ such persons to aid the Osages in their agricultural pursuits, as to him may seem expedient." Under this stipulation, £240 annually have been expended, for the last fifteen years. This bounty of the government, however, has not been of any permanent benefit to the tribe. The same treaty of 1825, required fifty-four sections of land to be laid off and sold under the direction of the President of the United States, and the proceeds to be applied to the education of Osage children. Early in the year 1838, government made an arrangement by which they were to be paid two dollars per acre, for the whole tract of fifty-four sections, 34,560 acres. This commutation has secured to the Osage tribe, the sum of £13,824 for education; a princely fund for five thousand five hundred and ten individuals. Government hereditary chieftaincies.

The band of Quapaws was originally connected with the Osages. Their lands lie immediately north of the Senecas and Shawanoes, and extend north between the state of Missouri on the east, and Neosho River on the west, so far as to include 96,000 acres. Their country is south-east of, and near to the country of the Osages. Their habits are somewhat more improved, and their circumstances more comfortable than those of the last named tribe. They subsist by industry at home, cultivate fields enclosed with rail fences; and about three-fourths of them have erected for themselves small log dwellings with chimneys. Unfortunately for the Quapaws, they settled on the lands of the Senecas and Shawanoes, from which they must soon remove to their own. A small band of them, forty or fifty in number, have settled in Texas, and about thirty others live among the Choctaws.[80 - For the Quapaw see our volume xiii, p. 117, note 84. – Ed.]

The Pottawatamies, in emigrating to the west, have unfortunately been divided into two bands. One thousand or fifteen hundred have located themselves on the north-east side of the Missouri River, two hundred and forty miles from the country designated by government as their permanent residence. Negotiations have been made to effect their removal to their own lands, but without success. About fifteen hundred others have settled near the Sauks, on the Mississippi, and manifest a desire to remain there. The country designated for them lies on the sources of the Osage and Neosho rivers; it commences sixteen miles and four chains west of the State of Missouri, and in a width of twenty-four miles, extends west two hundred miles. By the treaty of 1833, they are allowed the sum of £14,000 for purposes of education and the encouragement of the useful arts. Also by the same treaty, is secured to them the sum of £30,000 to be applied in the erection of mills, farmhouses, Indian houses, and blacksmiths' shops; to the purchase of agricultural implements and live stock, and for the support of physicians, millers, farmers, and blacksmiths, which the President of the United States shall think proper to appoint to their service.[81 - For the early history of the Potawatomi see our volume i, p. 115, note 84; xxvii, p. 153, note 23 (De Smet). In 1837 a large tract was marked out for this tribe in south-west Miami County, Kansas, where they settled for ten years, and made improvements, but they were again removed (1847) to a reservation in north-east Kansas, where in 1850 they were joined by a large accession from Michigan. In 1861 a part of their lands was allotted, and a reservation in Jackson County secured, whereon about six hundred still live. The Mission band removed to Indian Territory, and are now over sixteen hundred in number, citizens of Oklahoma. A few of the tribe yet remain in Michigan. – Ed.]

The Weas and Piankashas are bands of Miamis. Their country lies north of the Pottawatamies, adjoins the State of Missouri on the east, the Shawanoes on the north, and the Peorias and Kaskaskias on the west – 160,000 acres. These people own a few cattle and swine. About one-half of their dwellings are constructed of logs, the remainder of bark, in the old native style. Their fields are enclosed with rails, and they cultivate corn and vegetables sufficient for a comfortable subsistence. The Piankasha band is less improved than the Weas. The former have a field of about fifty acres, made by the government; the latter have made their own improvements.

The Peorias and Kaskaskias are also bands of the Miamis. Their land lies immediately west of the Weas; adjoins the Shawanoes on the north, and the Ottowas on the west. They own 96,000 acres. They are improving, live in log-houses, have small fields generally enclosed with rail-fences, and own considerable numbers of cattle and swine.[82 - For the early history of the Piankeshaw and Wea (Ouiatanon) Indians see Croghan's Journals in our volume i, pp. 117, 142, notes 85 and 115 respectively. They ceded their Indiana lands by 1818, and removed first to the vicinity of Ste. Geneviève, Missouri, until in 1832 they emigrated to the present Miami County, Kansas. In 1854 the greater part of their reservation was ceded to the United States, and in 1867 they removed to the Quapaw Reserve, where a remnant still live on allotted lands.The Peoria and Kaskaskia were Illinois, not Miami bands – see our volume xxvi, pp. 97, 106, notes 63 and 71 respectively. When they removed from Illinois (1818) they confederated with the Piankeshaw and Wea, with whom they have since been associated. In 1904 their population was reported as about two hundred. – Ed.]

The lands of the Ottowas lie immediately west of the Peorias and Kaskaskias, and south of the Shawanoes. The first band of emigrants received 36,000 acres, and one which arrived subsequently, 40,000 acres, adjoining the first. They all live in good log cabins, have fields enclosed with rail-fences, raise a comfortable supply of corn and garden vegetables, are beginning to raise wheat, have horses, cattle and swine, a small grist-mill in operation, and many other conveniences of life, that indicate an increasing desire among them to seek from the soil, rather than the chase, the means of life. About five thousand Ottowas, residing in Michigan, are soon to be removed to their brethren in the Territory. The country of the Ottowas lies upon the western verge of the contemplated Indian settlement, and consequently opens an unlimited range to the westward. Their government is based on the old system of Indian chieftaincies.[83 - For the early habitat of the Ottawa see our volume i, p. 76, note 37. The band that removed west were a part of the Detroit Ottawa who had lived on Maumee River, Ohio, contiguous with the Miami and Potawatomi. By a treaty of 1831 they agreed to remove to the Kansas region, and emigration thither was completed about 1836. Their reservation grew valuable and in 1867 the Ottawa made a treaty with the federal government whereby in five years their lands were to be allotted, and the residue sold. Finding their position uncomfortable, they petitioned for a reservation and the remnant of the tribe removed to that of the Quapaw, in Indian Territory, where about two hundred now live on recently allotted lands. There is no evidence that any considerable number of Michigan Ottawa ever migrated to Kansas. – Ed.]

Immediately on the north of the Weas and Piankashas the Peorias and Kaskaskias and Ottowas, lies the country of the Shawnees, or Shawanoes. It extends along the line of the State of Missouri, north, twenty-eight miles to the Missouri River at its junction with the Konzas, thence to a point sixty miles on a direct course to the lands of the Kauzaus, thence south on the Kauzaus line six miles, and from these lines, with a breadth of about nineteen miles to a north and south line, one hundred and twenty miles west of the State of Missouri, containing 1,600,000 acres. Their principal settlements are on the north-east corner of their country, between the Missouri border and the Konzas River. Most of them live in neatly hewn log-cabins, erected by themselves, and partially supplied with furniture of their own manufacture. Their fields are inclosed with rail-fences, and sufficiently large to yield plentiful supplies of corn and culinary vegetables. They keep cattle and swine, work oxen, and use horses for draught, and own some ploughs, waggons and carts. They have a saw and grist-mill, erected by government at an expense of about £1,600. This, like many other emigrant tribes, is much scattered. Besides the two bands on the Neosho, already mentioned, there is one on Trinity River, in Texas, and others in divers places.

Under the superintendence of Missionaries of various denominations, these people are making considerable progress in Education and the Mechanic Arts. They have a printing press among them, from which is issued a monthly periodical, entitled the "Shauwawnoue Kesauthwau" – Shawanoe Sun.[84 - For the early history of the Shawnee see our volume i, p. 23, note 13. In 1793 one portion of this tribe emigrated, together with a band of Delaware, to the west of the Mississippi, where they dwelt on a Spanish grant near Cape Girardeau. In 1825 they relinquished this grant for the Kansas reservation described by Farnham, where they were joined (1832-33) by the remainder of the tribe from Ohio. In 1854 they ceded their lands to the federal government, save a reservation of 200,000 acres, where they established a form of government and made a body of laws. In 1869 about the half of the tribe bought lands of the Cherokee, and became incorporated with the latter tribe. A small band known as Eastern Shawnee are on the Quapaw reservation, while the remainder have been allotted lands in Oklahoma, near the town of Shawnee. Methodists, Baptists, and Friends all established missions for the Shawnee – see our volume xxvii, p. 194, note 72 (De Smet), for the first-named denomination. The Baptist mission, begun in 1831, had a printing press (1834) whereupon Rev. Jotham Meeker printed several books after a phonographic system that he had adapted to their language. – Ed.]

The lands of the Delawares lie north of the Shawanots, in the forks of the Konzas and Missouri Rivers; extending up the former to the Kauzaus lands, thence north twenty-four miles, to the north-east corner of the Kauzaus survey, up the Missouri twenty-three miles, in a direct course to Cantonment Leavenworth, thence with a line westward to a point ten miles north of the north-east corner of the Kauzaus survey, and then a slip not more than ten miles wide, it extends westwardly along the northern boundary of the Kauzaus, two-hundred and ten miles from the State of Missouri.

They live in the eastern portion of their country, near the junction of the Konzas and Missouri Rivers; have good hewn log-houses, and some furniture in them; inclose their fields with rail fences; keep cattle and hogs; apply horses to draught; use oxen and ploughs; cultivate corn and garden vegetables, sufficient for use: have commenced the culture of wheat; and own a grist and saw-mill, erected by the United States. Some of these people remain in the Lake country; a few are in Texas; about one-hundred reside on the Choctaw lands near Arkansas River, one hundred and twenty miles west of the state of Arkansas. These latter have acquired the languages of the Cumanches, Keaways, Pawnees, &c., and are extensively employed as interpreters by traders from the Indian Territory. The Treaty of September, 1829, provides that thirty-six sections of the best land within the district at that time ceded to the United States, be selected and sold, and the proceeds applied to the support of Schools for the education of Delaware children. In the year 1838, the Delawares agreed to a commutation of two dollars per acre, which secures to them an Education Fund of £9,000.[85 - For the early history of the Delaware see our volume xxii, p. 96, note 37. Before the Louisiana Purchase (1803) several bands had gone west of the Mississippi. In 1818 they ceded all their lands in the East, and migrated to Missouri, where they lived upon James Fork of White River, near the present Springfield. In 1829 they were given a large cession between the Kansas and Missouri rivers, which they possessed until 1854. After the treaty of cession in that year, they preserved a considerable reservation, which was sold (1866) to the Union Pacific Railway Company, whereupon they bought land of the Cherokee, and became incorporated into the latter tribe, although in certain relations maintaining autonomy. The band that removed farther west (1829) are still among the Wichita, at Kiowa Agency. At the close of Wayne's campaign (1794-95), a considerable portion of the tribe removed to Canada, in company with the Moravian missionaries. – Ed.]

The country of the Kauzaus lies on the Konzas River. It commences sixty miles west of the State of Missouri, and thence, in a width of thirty miles, extends westward as far as the plains can be inhabited. It is well watered and timbered; and in every respect delightful. They are a lawless, dissolute race. Formerly they committed many depredations upon their own traders, and other persons ascending the Missouri River. But, being latterly restrained in this regard by the United States, they have turned their predatory operations upon their red neighbours. In language, habits and condition in life, they are in effect the same as the Osages. In matters of peace and war, the two tribes are blended. They are virtually one people.

Like the Osages, the Kauzaus are ignorant and wretched in the extreme; uncommonly servile, and easily managed by the white men who reside among them.[86 - See descriptions of the Kansa villages in our volume xxi, pp. 48, 49, 145-148. – Ed.] Almost all of them live in villages of straw, bark, flag and earth huts. These latter are in the form of a cone; wall two feet in thickness, supported by wooden pillars within. Like the other huts, these have no floor except the earth. The fire is built in the centre of the interior area. The smoke escapes at an opening in the apex of the cone. The door is a mere hole, through which they crawl, closed by the skin of some animal suspended therein.[87 - See our volume xiv, pp. 188-209, also the cut of the interior of a Kansa lodge, p. 208. – Ed.] They cultivate small patches of corn, beans and melons. They dig the ground with hoes and sticks. Their fields generally, are not fenced. They have one, however, of three hundred acres, which the United States six years ago ploughed and fenced for them. The principal Chiefs have log-houses built by the Government Agent.

It is encouraging, however, to know that these miserable creatures are beginning to yield to the elevating influences around them. A missionary has induced some of them to leave the villages, make separate settlements, build log-houses, &c. The United States have furnished them with four yoke of oxen, one waggon, and other means of cultivating the soil. They have succeeded in stealing a large number of horses and mules; own a very few hogs; no stock cattle. By a treaty formed with them in 1825, thirty-six sections, or 23,040 acres, of good land were to be selected and sold to educate Kauzaus children within their territory. But proper care not having been taken in making the selection, 9,000 acres only have been sold. The remaining 14,040 acres of the tract, it is said, will scarcely sell at any price, so utterly worthless is it. Hence only £2,250 have been realised from this munificent appropriation. By the same treaty, provision was made for the application of £120 per annum, to aid them in agriculture.[88 - The Missouri Methodists maintained a mission among the Kansa for several years succeeding 1830. The tribe became, however, much addicted to intemperance, and is now reduced to somewhat under two hundred. They are, however, wealthy, their allotment being 406 acres of land per capita, besides interest from their fund. – Ed.]

The Kickapoo lands lie on the north of the Delawares; extend up the Missouri river thirty miles direct, thence westward about forty five miles, and thence south twenty miles to the Delaware line, embracing 768,000 acres.

They live on the south-eastern extremity of their lands, near Cantonment Leavenworth.[89 - For Cantonment or Fort Leavenworth see our volume xxii, p. 253, note 204. – Ed.] In regard to civilization, their condition is similar to that of the Peorias. They are raising a surplus of the grains, &c. have cattle and hogs, £140 worth of the latter, and three hundred and forty head of the former from the United States, in obedience to treaty stipulations; have about thirty yoke of oxen, fourteen yoke of them purchased chiefly with the produce of their farms; have a saw and grist mill, erected by the United States. Nearly one-half of the tribe are unsettled and scattered, some in Texas, others with the southern tribes, and still others ranging the mountains. The treaty of October 24th, 1832, provides that the United States shall pay £100 per annum for ten successive years, for the support of a school, purchase of books, &c. for the benefit of the Kickapoo tribe on their own lands. A schoolhouse and teacher have been furnished in conformity with this stipulation. The same treaty provides £200 for labour and improvements on the Kickapoo lands.[90 - The early history of the Kickapoo is sketched in our volume i, p. 139, note 111. By the treaty of 1819 they ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi for a tract in Missouri, south of the Osage River, which in turn was exchanged (1832) for the tract described by Farnham; see our volume xxii, p. 254, note 206. This was ceded in 1854, save a reservation of a hundred and fifty thousand acres in Brown County, Kansas. The Kickapoo have always been wanderers; about 1832 a large band emigrated to Texas, later to Mexico, and have since been known as Mexican Kickapoo. About half of these were brought back, their descendants now living in Oklahoma, near the Shawnee. – Ed.]

The Sauks, and Reynards or Foxes, speak the same language, and are so perfectly consolidated by intermarriages and other ties of interest, as, in fact, to be one nation.[91 - For the early history of the Sauk and Foxes, see our volume ii, p. 185, note 85; or more particularly, Wisconsin Historical Collections, xvi, xvii. About the beginning of the nineteenth century they were located on both banks of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Wisconsin down to the mouth of the Missouri. By the treaty of 1804 a large amount of land was ceded to the United States, but the cession was repudiated by many of the tribe; during the War of 1812-15, these protestants were among the hostiles. Treaties of peace (1815 and 1816) were concluded with the two divisions of the tribe – the Missouri and Rock River bands respectively. By the treaties of 1824, 1830, and 1836, the former relinquished all their Missouri territory for a reservation in Kansas and Nebraska, north of the Kickapoo; see Townsend's Narrative in our volume xxi, p. 122, note 2. This was largely reduced by the treaty of 1861; so that there is now but a small reservation in northern Brown County, Kansas, where about eighty of the Missouri band still live and maintain a day school. The Rock River band divided into two factions, under Keokuk and Black Hawk. The latter waged war with the United States in 1832 (see Thwaites, "Black Hawk War," in How George Rogers Clark won the North-west, pp. 115-198), after which a large cession of lands was made. These the tribesmen attempted to recover (1836), but by 1842 they had ceded all their Iowa lands. Migration had already begun (1840) to Kansas, where they settled upon Marais des Cygnes, in Osage County, the last Foxes removing thither in 1847. Here the confederacy between the allied tribes, after existing for over a hundred years, began to dissolve. The Sauk largely removed to Indian Territory, and in 1904 four hundred and ninety-one were dwelling upon allotted lands in Oklahoma. The Foxes had begun in 1853 to return to Iowa in small bands. Ingratiating themselves with the settlers, they purchased lands on Iowa River, in Tama County; but not until 1867 did the federal government recognize these as their legal residence. There are now about three hundred and fifty in this locality, somewhat progressive – owning wagons, sewing-machines, typewriters, etc. – but still clinging to traditional customs, probably the most conservative of all tribesmen who have been so long in contact with the whites. See "Last of the Musquakes," in Iowa Historical Record, xvii, pp. 307-320. – Ed.]

They formerly owned the north-western half of the State of Illinois, and a large part of the State of Missouri. No Indian tribe, except the Sioux, has shown such daring intrepidity, and such implacable hatred towards other tribes. Their enmity, when once excited, was never known to be appeased, till the arrow and tomahawk had for ever prostrated their foes. For centuries the prairies of Illinois and Iowa were the theatre of their exterminating prowess; and to them is to be attributed the almost entire destruction of the Missouris, the Illinois, Cahokias, Kaskaskias, and Peorias. They were, however, steady and sincere in their friendship to the whites; and many is the honest old settler on the borders of their old dominion, who mentions with the warmest feelings, the respectful treatment he has received from them, while he cut the logs for his cabin, and ploughed his "potato patch" on that lonely and unprotected frontier.

Like all the tribes, however, this also dwindles away at the approach of the whites. A melancholy fact. The Indians' bones must enrich the soil, before the plough of civilized man can open it. The noble heart, educated by the tempest to endure the last pang of departing life without a cringe of a muscle; that heart educated by his condition to love with all the powers of being, and to hate with the exasperated malignity of a demon; that heart, educated by the voice of its own existence – the sweet whisperings of the streams – the holy flowers of spring-to trust in, and adore the Great producing and sustaining Cause of itself, and the broad world and the lights of the upper skies, must fatten the corn hills of a more civilized race! The sturdy plant of the wilderness droops under the enervating culture of the garden. The Indian is buried with his arrows and bow.

In 1832 their friendly relations with their white neighbours were, I believe, for the first time, seriously interrupted. A treaty had been formed between the chiefs of the tribe and commissioners, representing the United States, containing, among other stipulations, the sale of their lands north of the Rock River, &c. in the State of Illinois. This tract of country contained the old villages and burial-places of the tribe. It was, indeed, the sanctuary of all that was venerable and sacred among them. They wintered and summered there long before the date of their historical legends. And on these flowering plains the spoils of war – the loves of early years – every thing that delights man to remember of the past, clung closely to the tribe, and made them dissatisfied with the sale. Black-Hawk was the principal chief. He, too, was unwilling to leave his village in a charming glen, at the mouth of Rock River, and increased the dissatisfaction of his people by declaring that "the white chiefs had deceived himself and the other contracting chiefs" in this, "that he had never, and the other chiefs had never consented to such a sale as the white chiefs had written, and were attempting to enforce upon them." They dug up the painted tomahawk with great enthusiasm, and fought bravely by their noble old chief for their beautiful home. But, in the order of nature, the plough must bury the hunter. And so it was with this truly great chief and his brave tribe. They were driven over the Mississippi to make room for the marshalled host of veteran husbandmen, whose strong blows had levelled the forests of the Atlantic States; and yet unwearied with planting the rose on the brow of the wilderness, demanded that the Prairies also should yield food to their hungry sickles.[92 - For Black Hawk and the uprising of his band see Townsend's Narrative in our volume xxi, p. 123, note 3; also Maximilian's Travels in our volume xxii, pp. 217, 225, 228, with notes 127, 147, 151. – Ed.]

The country assigned them as their permanent residence, adjoins the southern boundary of the Kickapoos, and on the north and north east the Missouri river. They are but little improved. Under treaty stipulations, they have some few houses and fields made for them by the United States, and are entitled to more. Some live stock has been given them, and more is to be furnished. The main body of the Sauks, usually denominated the Sauks and Foxes, estimated at four thousand six hundred souls, reside on the Iowa river, in Iowa Territory. They will ultimately be removed to unappropriated lands adjoining those already occupied by their kindred within the Indian Territory. Both these bands number twelve thousand four hundred. By the treaty of Prairie du Chien of 1830, the Sauks are entitled to £100 a year for the purposes of education. By treaty of September, 1836, they are entitled to a schoolmaster, a farmer, and blacksmith, as long as the United States shall deem proper. Three comfortable houses are to be erected for them, two hundred acres of prairie land fenced and ploughed, such agricultural implements furnished as they may need for five years, one ferry-boat, two hundred and five head of cattle, one hundred stock hogs, and a flouring mill. These benefits they are receiving, but are making an improvident use of them.

The country of the Iowas contains one hundred and twenty-eight thousand acres adjoining the north eastern boundaries of the Sauks, with the Missouri river on the north east, and the great Nemaha river on the north. Their condition is similar to that of the Sauks. The aid which they have received, and are to receive from the government, is about the same in proportion to their numbers. The villages of the Sauks and Iowas, are within two miles of each other.[93 - For the Iowa see Brackenridge's Journal in our volume vi, p. 51, note 13. They were closely associated with the Sauk and Foxes, and in 1836 ceded all their Iowa lands and removed to Kansas, where their reservation adjoined that of the former. In 1854 and 1861 they ceded most of their new reservation, a small band removing to Oklahoma with the Sauk, the majority still residing in Doniphan County, Kansas, where two hundred and twenty were reported in 1904. They have a large preponderance of white blood, and now desire full citizenship. – Ed.]

The Otoes are the descendants of the Missouris, with whom they united after the reduction of the latter tribe by the Sauks and Foxes. They claim a portion of land lying in the fork between Missouri and Great Platte rivers. The government of the United States understand, however, that their lands extend southward from the Platte down the Missouri to Little Nemaha river, a distance of about forty miles; thence their southern boundary extends westward up Little Nemaha to its source, and thence due west. Their western and northern boundaries are not particularly defined. Their southern boundary is about twenty-five miles north of the Iowa's land.[94 - See on the Oto, our volume v, p. 74, note 42. This tribe several times changed their village site. First upon the Platte, in the time of Lewis and Clark (1804), they removed to the site of Omaha, whence they had before 1819 returned to the Platte. They finally settled on the site of Nebraska City, where they remained until 1854, when they retired to their reservation on the south-eastern border of Nebraska. Thence they migrated to Indian Territory. Their reservation there was abolished in 1904, and made part of Pawnee and Noble counties, Oklahoma, wherein the Oto now dwell on their allotments. They have a good Indian school, and are reported bright and intelligent. – Ed.]

By treaty, such of their tribe as are related to the whites, have an interest in a tract adjoining the Missouri river, and extending from the Little Nemaha to the Great Nemaha, a length of about twenty-eight miles, and ten miles wide. No Indians reside on this tract.

The condition of this people is similar to that of the Osages and Kauzaus. The United States Government has fenced and ploughed for them one hundred and thirty acres of land. In 1838, they cultivated three hundred acres of corn. They own six ploughs, furnished by Government. Their progenitors, the Missouris, were, when the French first knew the country, the most numerous tribe in the vicinity of Saint Louis; and the great stream, on whose banks they reside, and the State which has risen upon their hunting grounds when the race is extinct, will bear their name to the generations of coming time. They are said to have been an energetic and thrifty race before they were visited by the small-pox, and the destroying vengeance of the Sauks and Foxes. The site of their ancient village is to be seen on the north bank of the river, honoured with their name, just below where Grand river now enters it.[95 - See our volume v, p. 56, note 26, for the site of this village. – Ed.] Their territory embraced the fertile country lying a considerable distance along the Missouri, above their village – and down to the mouth of the Osage, and thence to the Mississippi. The Osages consider them their inferiors, and treat them oftentimes with great indignity.

The Omahas own the country north of the mouth of the Great Platte. The Missouri river is considered its north-eastern limit; the northern and western boundaries are undefined. This tribe was formerly the terror of their neighbours. They had, in early times, about one thousand warriors, and a proportionate number of women and children. But the small-pox visited them in 1802, and reduced the tribe to about three hundred souls. This so disheartened those who survived, that they burnt their village and became a wandering people. They have at last taken possession again of their country, and built a village on the south-west bank of the Missouri, at a place chosen for them by the United States. Their huts are constructed of earth, like those of the Otoes. A treaty made with them in July, 1830, provides that an annuity of five hundred dollars shall be paid to them in agricultural implements, for ten years thereafter, and longer if the President of the United States thinks proper. A blacksmith also, is to be furnished them for the same length of time. Another treaty obliges the United States to plough and fence one hundred acres of land for them, and to expend, for the term of ten years, £100 annually, in educating Omaha children.[96 - For the Omaha see our volume v, p. 86, note 49. Recent reports show that the trust period will soon be ended, when they will become full-fledged citizens. The system of leasing lands has been somewhat demoralizing, enabling them while idle to live in comfort. – Ed.]