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32 chapters
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
These sketches are drawn from a great variety of sources, and are intended, not only to exhibit the Indian character in all its phases, but to comprise in a small compass a valuable collection of narratives of Indian warfare, embracing views of their peculiar methods of strategy, ambuscades, and surprises—their treatment of prisoners, and their other characteristic manners and customs. By the aid of Mr. Croome, and other eminent artists, I have been able to illustrate the volume quite profusely
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INDIAN GRATITUDE.
INDIAN GRATITUDE.
OT long after Connecticut began to be settled by the English, a stranger Indian came one day to a tavern in one of its towns in the dusk of the evening, and requested the hostess to supply him with something to eat and drink; at the same time he honestly told her that he could not pay for either, as he had had no success in hunting for several days; but that he would return payment as soon as he should meet with better fortune. The hostess, who was a very ill-tempered woman, not only flatly refu
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INDIAN FRIENDSHIP.
INDIAN FRIENDSHIP.
OME of the earlier settlers of Virginia acted in the most barbarous manner towards their Indian neighbors, and it is, therefore, not wonderful that they sometimes received a terrible punishment. But though revenge was usually uppermost in the breasts of the injured ones, instances occurred in which the sacred feeling of friendship triumphed over that passion and the prejudice of the race. On one occasion, Colonel Bird was employed by the English government to transact some business with the trib
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THE CAPTIVE SISTER.
THE CAPTIVE SISTER.
NSTANCES are recorded in which white children have been captured and brought up by the Indians, and have so far forgotten early associations as to become identified in habits and manners with their red captors. In most of these cases, the adopted Indian could not be induced to return to the haunts of civilization and the friends of his or her race; which fact would seem to prove that, either the life of the Indian is happier than that of the civilized white man, or, the qualities of our nature m
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PARENTAL AFFECTION.
PARENTAL AFFECTION.
URING the frequent wars between the Indians and the early settlers of New England, the former defeated a party of English soldiers. Their retreat was without order; and a young English officer, in attempting to escape, was pursued by two savages. Finding escape impracticable, and determined to sell his life as dearly as possible, he turned round to face his foes. A violent struggle commenced, and he must have fallen, if an old chief had not thrown himself between the combatants. The red men inst
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THE FRIENDLY MANOEUVRE.
THE FRIENDLY MANOEUVRE.
ANY years ago, a Scotchman and his wife, named M’Dou-gall, emigrated to America. Having but very little money, he purchased some land upon the verge of civilization, where it was sold for a low price. By great exertions and the aid of his neighbors, M’Dougall soon had a comfortable farm, well stocked. But the inconvenience of distance from the church, market, and mill, were felt, and caused discontent with the location. One day, while the farmer was away at the mill, the duty of driving up the c
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GRAND-SUN.
GRAND-SUN.
RAND-SUN was a chief of the Natchez tribe. Sun was a common name for all chiefs of that nation; this chief was particularly distinguished in the first war with the French, in which the Natchez engaged, and the title of Great-Sun was given him by his people. He was brave, wise, and generous, and a friend to the whites until the haughty and overbearing disposition of one man brought ruin upon the whole colony. The affair occurred in 1729. Grand-Sun resided in the beautiful village called White App
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TECUMSEH AND THE PROPHET.
TECUMSEH AND THE PROPHET.
ECUMSEH, (the Crouching Panther,) was one of the greatest chiefs who ever led the red men to battle. He was by birth a Shawanee, a tribe which has ever been noted for its aversion to the whites. He was born about 1770, and first became distinguished in 1792, when, at the head of a small band of warriors, he surprised and murdered a party of whites upon Hacker’s Creek. From that time he continued to acquire a reputation for all the qualities, which, in the estimation of the Indians, make up a gre
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THE DESTRUCTION OF MONTREAL.
THE DESTRUCTION OF MONTREAL.
BOUT 1687, the Iroquois, from some neglect on the part of the governor of New York, were induced to join the French interest; and in a council which was held in the Iroquois country, the hatchet was buried and a treaty concluded, by which the Indians promised to become the firm allies of the French. The Dinondadies, a tribe of the Hurons, were considered as belonging to the confederate Indians, but from some cause they were dissatisfied with the league with the French, and wished by some exploit
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A BUFFALO HUNT.
A BUFFALO HUNT.
HE buffalo hunt, next to the Indian battle, is the most intensely exciting scene which may be witnessed among the wilds of the west. To the buffalo, the Indian looks for food, for clothing, and for religious and household implements. He regards the hunting of that animal not only as a pleasure, but a duty; and when once it is rumored through a village that a herd of buffalo is in sight, their warriors who have faced death in a hundred forms, bring out their swiftest horses, and spring upon them;
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TREATMENT OF INDIAN CHILDREN.
TREATMENT OF INDIAN CHILDREN.
HOSE who have had the best opportunities for knowing the real character of the Indians, have remarked, among many other good traits, the great affection they have for their children, and the respect which young people pay, not only to their parents, but to all elderly people. Before the little papoose can walk alone, it is confined in a cradle, which is carried on the mother’s back while she is at her work, or set upright against the wall, or a tree. The mother teaches her children how to make l
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MRS. HANSON AND HER CHILDREN
MRS. HANSON AND HER CHILDREN
HE colonists of New England, and especially of New Hampshire, were rarely free from apprehension of attack from their savage neighbors. A desultory warfare was carried on, even when treaties seemed to have secured peace. Houses were burned, farms, teeming with the fruits of toil, destroyed, and the inhabitants either murdered or made captive. Many instances are recorded, of suffering and torture inflicted upon families, which have been thus attacked. One of the most remarkable has been preserved
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THE STORY OF SHON-KA.
THE STORY OF SHON-KA.
R. CATLIN met with many interesting adventures, while visiting the numerous and savage tribes of the great west, for the purpose of seeing and judging for himself, of their habits and modes of life. One of these he details in his valuable work, as “The Story of the Dog,” and as it is a fine illustration of the dangers encountered by adventurers among the Indians, and of the certainty of revenge which follows an injury, we here insert it: I had passed up the Missouri river, on the steamboat Yello
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THE DEATH OF CANONCHET.
THE DEATH OF CANONCHET.
ANONCHET was the sachem of the powerful tribe of Narragansetts, who inhabited a part of New England claimed by the government of Connecticut. In the war between the Indians and the colonists, which began in 1675, and is commonly called “King Philip’s war,” the Narragansetts were led by their own wrongs and the arts of Philip to join in the Indian confederacy. But they suffered severely for their hostility. Their fort was attacked by a large force of colonists, under Governor Winslow, and the gre
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CHURCH AND THE NARRAGANSETT.
CHURCH AND THE NARRAGANSETT.
FTER the great destruction of the Narragansett Indians, in King Philip’s War, by the Connecticut forces, the remnant of the tribe were pursued in all directions. Winslow, with the main body of the troops, advanced rapidly towards the Nipmuck country. During the pursuit, the celebrated Captain Benjamin Church met with a singular and almost fatal adventure. Church had been removed with the other wounded to the Narragansett’s fort. But partially recovered, and being very restless, he had again join
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THE DEATH OF KING PHILIP.
THE DEATH OF KING PHILIP.
HEN the famous King Philip had lost the greater part of his warriors in the struggle for life and death between them and the English, and he himself was hunted like a wild beast from place to place, he formed the strange resolve of visiting the ancient haunt of his ancestors at Mount Hope, With a few of his best friends he retired into that swamp which was destined to be a prison for him. His retreat was betrayed to Captain Church, by an Indian deserter, whose brother Philip had killed in a fit
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THE RAIN MAKERS.
THE RAIN MAKERS.
HE Mandans, have dignitaries whom they call “rain makers,” and “rain stoppers,” because they believe in their powers to bring rain in case of drought, or to stop the rain when too strong and violent. Catlin gives a very interesting account of an instance in which the powers of these men were tested. The Mandans, says Catlin, raise a great deal of corn; but sometimes a most disastrous drought visits the land, destructive to their promised harvest. Such was the case when I arrived at the Mandan vi
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THE BRIDE’S RESCUE.
THE BRIDE’S RESCUE.
ANY years ago when the great valley of the Mississippi was rarely trodden by the white men, there lived upon the southern frontier of Kentucky, then nearly a wilderness, an old hunter, named Johnson. He was one of the pioneers of the region in which he had built his log cabin, and had long procured a comfortable subsistence for a wife and child by the aid of a good rifle and his snares. Mrs. Johnson had become accustomed to the privations of her situation; and her daughter, Sarah, having arrived
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YONDEEGA’S GRATITUDE.
YONDEEGA’S GRATITUDE.
HE inhabitants of the settlement of Cocheeco, in New Hampshire, lived for a few years in large blockhouses, well adapted for the purpose of defence against the Indians. But a few of the bolder spirits, encouraged by the long peace with the red men, moved their families into log houses of their own construction. The furthest of the huts from the garrison was built by a Mr. Bray, an Englishman. On one occasion, Mr. Bray and his wife left home, leaving Rebecca, their only child, in charge of her Au
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THE BURNING OF DEERFIELD.
THE BURNING OF DEERFIELD.
HE destruction of Deerfield, Massachusetts, during the French and Indian war, which began in 1689, was one of the most daring exploits performed by the Indians during that exterminating struggle. In 1703, the plan was laid by the French and their savage allies, to cut off the frontier inhabitants of New England, from one extremity to the other; but the design was not fully executed. Though the eastern settlements from Casco to Wells were destroyed, yet the western ones remained unmolested. This
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THE FIRE-WATER.
THE FIRE-WATER.
F the red men have been benefited by their intercourse with the whites, they have also received much degradation from the same cause. Created with strong and active physical powers, united with keen sensibility, they have an innate love of excitement, of which the white man has taken advantage to work their ruin. For a few bottles of any kind of ardent spirits, which the Indians term “firewater,” keen traders have purchased the produce of weeks of hunting and toil, and even the land which contai
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FARMER’S BROTHER.
FARMER’S BROTHER.
NECDOTES of men who have been distinguished for their bravery, whether friend or foe, civilized or savage, seldom fail to excite an interest. During the second war with England, the Seneca nation of Indians, who resided in the neighborhood of Buffalo, were employed by the American government, and attached themselves to the army, then about to enter Canada, under the command of General Brown. The principal chief of this tribe was “Farmer’s Brother”—a stout, athletic warrior. The frosts of eighty
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THE PROPHET OF THE ALLEGHANY.
THE PROPHET OF THE ALLEGHANY.
N the year of 1798, one of the missionaries to the Indians of the north-west was on his way from the Tuscarora settlement to the Senecas. Journeying in pious meditation through the forest, a majestic Indian darted from its recess, and arrested his progress. His hair was somewhat changed with age, and his face marked with the deep furrows of time; but his eye expressed all the fiery vivacity of youthful passion, and his step was that of a warrior in the vigor of manhood. “White man of the ocean,
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PETER OTSAQUETTE.
PETER OTSAQUETTE.
ETER OTSAQUETTE was the son of a man of consideration among the Oneida Indians of New York. At the close of the Revolution, he was noticed by the Marquis de Lafayette, who, to a noble zeal for liberty, united the most philanthropic feelings. Viewing, therefore, this young savage with peculiar interest, and anticipating the happy results to be derived from his moral regeneration, he took him, though scarcely twelve years old, to France. Peter arrived at that period when Louis XVI. and Maria Antoi
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PERFIDY PUNISHED.
PERFIDY PUNISHED.
N the early part of the revolutionary war, a sergeant and twelve armed men, undertook a journey through the wilderness of New Hampshire. Their situation was remote from any settlements, and they were under the necessity of encamping over night in the woods. In the early part of the struggle for independence, the Indians were numerous, and did not stand idle spectators to a conflict carried on with so much zeal and ardour by the whites. Some tribes were friendly to our cause, while many upon our
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ADVENTURE OF GENERAL PUTNAM.
ADVENTURE OF GENERAL PUTNAM.
N the month of August, 1758, five hundred men were employed, under the orders of Majors Rogers and Putnam, to watch the French and Indians, near Ticonderoga. At South Bay, they separated the party into two equal divisions, and Rogers took a position on Wood creek, twelve miles distant from Putnam. Upon being, sometime afterwards, discovered, they formed a re-union, and concerted measures for returning to Fort Edward. Their march through the woods, was in three divisions, by files, the right comm
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THE INDIANS OF ST. MARY’S.
THE INDIANS OF ST. MARY’S.
IT belonged to a member of the once dominant sect of Catholics to glorify his creed and clime, and to set an example to the world, in the establishment of complete religious liberty. To George Calvert, the originator of the scheme for colonizing Maryland, this honor belonged; but, alas! he was not permitted to execute the plans his noble heart conceived, for death snatched him from his labors, ere the boon he contemplated for the world was ready to be given. But Cecil Calvert was a worthy son of
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RED JACKET.
RED JACKET.
HE famous Red Jacket was a chief of the Senecas. His Indian name, Sagouatha, or, one who keeps awake , was affixed to many of the important treaties concluded between the Senecas and the white people, and he became renowned among both races for his wisdom and eloquence. Without the advantages of illustrious descent, and with no extraordinary military talents, Red Jacket rose to a high position in the esteem of the red men. In the year 1805, a council was held at Buffalo, New York, at which many
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THE BATTLE OF SACO POND.
THE BATTLE OF SACO POND.
O event is oftener mentioned in New England story than the memorable fight between the English and Indians, at Saco Pond. The cruel and barbarous murders almost daily committed upon the inhabitants of the frontier settlements, caused the general court of Massachusetts to offer a bounty of £100 for every Indian’s scalp. This reward induced Captain John Lovewell to raise a volunteer company, and make excursions into the Indian country for scalps. He was very successful and returned to Boston with
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WINGINA
WINGINA
INGINA was the first chief known to the English settlers of Virginia. The voyagers, Amidas and Barlow, sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh, in the summer of 1584, landed upon the island of Wokoken, adjacent to Virginia. They saw several of the natives, and made them presents. Wingina was at this time confined in his cabin, from wounds received in battle, and did not see the English. He had not much faith in their good intentions, and would not trust them far. Soon after the return of Amidas and Barlo
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HAROLD DEAN; OR, THE INDIAN’S REVENGE.
HAROLD DEAN; OR, THE INDIAN’S REVENGE.
HE Indian ever regards the constant pursuit of revenge for an injury an evidence of a high character. Instances are many, in which years have intervened between a revengeful resolve, and the favorable opportunity, yet no sign of relenting would be found in the injured one. Such a disposition is natural to those who are taught to look on war as the chief business of life, and mercy to foes as despicable weakness. The following narrative will illustrate this feature of the Indian character. About
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BIENVILLE’S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE CHICKASAWS.
BIENVILLE’S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE CHICKASAWS.
AFTER the destruction of the power of the Natchez Indians, by the French, in 1731, the remnant of that nation took refuge among the powerful and ferocious tribe of Chickasaws, who were the determined and uncompromising enemies of the colonists of Louisiana. The united nations could bring a large and efficient force into the field; and besides, they had five strong palisaded forts, and many fortified villages. Bienville, governor of Louisiana, could only command about three hundred Frenchmen at t
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