CHAPTER II.

SALE OF WHISKEY TO THE INDIANS.

In tracing out the causes which led to the late war with the Sac and Fox Indians of Rock river, reference was made to the violations of the laws of Congress in the introduction of whiskey among them by the white traders. The opinion, moreover, was expressed that the licensed traders of the United States, among these tribes, were in the habit of selling this article to them, and under circumstances which must have brought home the fact to the knowledge of our Indian agents. Black Hawk with other chiefs of the band to which he belonged, earnestly remonstrated against the introduction of whiskey among his people, because of its debasing effect upon their morals, and the danger of its provoking them to acts of aggression upon the whites, while in a state of intoxication. One of the facts, set forth in the memorial which the white settlers on Rock river, presented to Governor Reynolds, in 1831, and upon which he declared the state to be actually invaded by the Sac and Fox Indians, and ordered out the militia to repel it, was the destruction, by Black Hawk, of a barrel of whiskey, which the owner was retailing to the Indians. The violation of the laws of Congress and of express treaty provisions, in the sale of ardent spirits to the Indians, winked at, as they undoubtedly were, by the public agents, mainly contributed to bring about a war, which resulted in the destruction of a great part of the band of Black Hawk. That the allegations, in regard to the sale of intoxicating liquors, to the Indians, by the regularly licensed traders of the United States, may not be supposed to rest upon gratuitous assumptions, the following letter, is quoted, which places the matter beyond all question.

_St. Peters, July 25, 1832_

GEN. JOSEPH M. STREET, } Indian Agent, Prairie du Chien. }

SIR--I arrived at this place yesterday from the sources of the Mississippi, having visited the Chippewa bands and trading-posts in that quarter. Much complaint is made respecting the conduct of the persons licensed by you last year, who located themselves at the Granite Rocks, and on the St. Croix. No doubt can exist that each of them took in, and used in their trade, a considerable quantity of whiskey. And I am now enabled to say, that they each located themselves at points within the limits of my agency, where there are no trading-posts established. My lowest trading-post on the Mississippi, is the Pierced Prairie, eighteen miles below the mouth of the De Corbeau. It embraces one mile square upon which traders are required to be located. On the St. Croix, the posts established and confirmed by the Department are Snake River and Yellow River, and embrace each, as the permanent place of location, one mile square. I report these facts for your information, and not to enable you to grant licenses for these posts, as the instructions of the Department give to each agent the exclusive control of the subject of granting licenses for the respective agencies.

Much solicitude is felt by me to exclude ardent spirits wholly from the Chippewas and Ottowas, the latter of whom have, by a recent order, been placed under my charge. I am fully satisfied that ardent spirits are not necessary to the successful prosecution of the trade, that they are deeply pernicious to the Indians, and that both their use and abuse is derogatory to the character of a wise and sober government. Their exclusion in every shape, and every quantity, is an object of primary moment; and it is an object which I feel it a duty to persevere in the attainment of, however traders may bluster. I feel a reasonable confidence in stating, that no whiskey has been used in my agency during the last two years, except the limited quantity taken by special permission of the Secretary of War, for the trade of the Hudson's Bay lines; and saving also the quantity clandestinely introduced from Prairie du Chien and St. Peters.

I know, sir, that an appeal to you on this subject cannot be lost, and that your feelings and judgment fully approve of temperance measures. But it requires active, persevering, unyielding efforts. And in all such efforts, judiciously urged, I am satisfied that the government will sustain the agents in a dignified discharge of their duties. Let us proceed in the accomplishment of this object with firmness, and with a determination never to relinquish it, until ardent spirits are entirely excluded from the Indian country.

I am sir, Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.

P.S. Capt. Jouett, commanding at this post, has recently seized sixteen kegs of high-wines. His prompt, decisive, and correct conduct in this, and other transactions relating to Indian affairs, merits the approbation of government.

The Petite Corbeau has requested that no trader may be located at the mouth of the St. Croix.

The following picture of the present condition of the Winnebagoes, given in the St. Louis Bulletin, shows the deplorable results of the intercourse of the whites with the Indians--the baneful effects of spirituous liquors upon their morals and habits. The Winnebagoes were neighbors of the Sacs and Foxes, and long intimately associated with them. Twenty years ago, all of these tribes, raised annually more corn, beans and other vegetables, than were needed for their own consumption. Now they are miserable, squalid beggars, without the means of subsistence. The faithlessness of the Government, the perfidy and avarice of its agents and citizens, have brought this race of people to the horrible condition, in which they are represented in the statement that follows.

An agent of the Temperance Society, in a journal of a late tour to the region of the Upper Mississippi, presents a picture, melancholy indeed, of the present condition of the Indian tribes in that quarter, which must deeply rouse the commiseration of every benevolent man. From our own personal observation one year since, we would corroborate the assertion, that were the world ransacked for a subject in which should be concentrated and personified injustice, oppression, drunkenness, squalid filth, and degradation, one would point to the straggling Indian on the banks of the Upper Mississippi for the aptest exemplification.

There were some two or three hundred of these stragglers--Winnebagoes, chiefly, about Prairie du Chien--men, women, and children, many of whom had scarcely the fragments of a filthy blanket to hide their nakedness or screen them from the cold--strolling and straggling about in squads of from two to a half dozen each, begging for whiskey, or cold potatoes, or crusts of bread. One old female, doubtless turned of threescore and ten, half naked, was gathering up from the dirt and ashes about the boiler of the steam boat, a few pieces of dried apples that had been dropped and trodden under foot, which, with her toothless gums, she attempted to masticate with all the eagerness of a starving swine. Little children, from one to four years old, were crawling about in a state of nudity, and almost of starvation, while their own mothers and fathers, were staggering, and fighting, and _swearing_. It is a fact, that while these poor creatures cannot articulate a word of any thing else in English, the most awfully profane expressions will drop from their lips in English, as fluently as if it had been their vernacular tongue. When the whites first settled in that neighborhood, the Indians raised corn and other provisions enough, not only for their own use, but also for the fur-traders and settlers.

Now they are altogether dependent for even the scanty subsistence by which they are dragging out the remnant of a miserable life, upon the whites. And what has been the cause of so great a change in a few years in the circumstances and habits of a whole people! The answer is plain to every one at all acquainted with Indian history. It is the perfidy and avarice of the whites, and WHISKEY, WHISKEY has been the all potent _agent_ by which it has been effected. By selling and giving them whiskey till they become drunk, they are soon filched of the little annuities received from government; and then treated the rest of the year like so many dogs.--As an illustration of the feeling towards them, a merchant at Prairie du Chien expressed the very humane wish, that there might soon be another Indian war to kill them all off.

INDEX.

A

Armstrong fort built, 96.

Atkinson, General, ordered to Rock Island, 140 directs Black Hawk to return to the west side of the Mississippi, 140 takes command of the Illinois militia, 141 proceeds to Dixon's Ferry, 141 attack on Black Hawk at Bad-axe, 156 official account, 158 his letter of approval from War Department, 179.

B

Black Hawk's account of the treaty of 1804, 58.

Black Hawk Purchase, in 1832, 70.

Black Hawk, birth and early adventures, 74 his battle with the Osages in 1786, 75 with Cherokees, 75 with Chippeways, Kaskaskias and Osages, 76 his account of Pike's visit, 77 his attack on Fort Madison, 78 joins the British army, 80 his return, 80 murder of his adopted son, 81 battle of the sink-hole near Cap au Gris, 83 his attack upon boats going to Prairie des Chiens, 86 makes peace with the United States, 86 death of his eldest son, 90 visit to the Ioway village, 89 visit to Malden, 90 whipped by some Americans, 91 refuses to remove to the west side of the Mississippi, 92 whites encroach upon his village, 93 burning of his lodges, 96 interview with Governor Coles and Judge Hall, 96 agrees to remove for six thousand dollars, 100 interview with Gaines, 103 removes to west side Mississippi, 104 treats with Gaines and Reynolds, 104 causes which led to the war, 108 his attempted alliance with other tribes, 111 discontented on west side of the Mississippi, 138 sends messenger to Keokuk, 138 collects his band at Fort Madison and crosses to east side of the Mississippi, 139 proceeds to the prophet's village up Rock river, 140 ordered back by General Atkinson, 141 makes his camp at Kisk-wa-cokee, is attacked in his camp by Maj. Stillman, 145 his flag of truce fired upon, 145 defeats Stillman, 146 attack upon Buffalo Grove, 149 his battle on the Wisconsin, 151 flies to the Mississippi, 152 attacked by the steam boat Warrior, 153 his white flag fired upon, 153 his defeat at the Bad-axe, 156 escape, 161 capture, 162 causes leading to this war, 171 at Jefferson Barracks, 189 sent to Washington city, 192 confined at Fortress Monroe, 193 interview with the President, 192 speech to Col. Eustis, 193 released, 195 visit to Norfolk, 196 to Baltimore, 196 interview with President, 197 visit to Philadelphia, 199 to New York, 200 to Albany, 202 to Buffalo, 202 interview with Senecas, 203 visit to Detroit, 203 reaches fort Armstrong, 206 refuses to submit to Keokuk, 209 his final speech in the council, 215 visit in 1837 to Washington, 216 visit to Boston, 217 to Cincinnati, 217 his character and personal appearance, 218 number of his warriors in campaign of 1832, 220.

C

Cahokias conquered, 16.

Clark, George Rogers, relieves St. Louis, 24 sends troops into the Indian country, 25.

Cole, Governor, meets Black Hawk, 96.

Clark, General, letter to War Department, 107.

Cap au Gris, battle of, 83.

Cholera among Scott's troops, 166.

Cass, Lewis, report to the President, 178.

Cass' letter to Gen. Atkinson, 179.

Cass' account of Sacs and Foxes, 181.

Colonization of the Indians, 228.

D

Drakeford's battle near Cap au Gris, 84.

Dodge, General, kills 29 Indians, 149 his battle of the Wisconsin, 151.

Davenport, Col. Wm., speech to Black Hawk, 210.

E

Everett, Governor, speech to Keokuk in Boston, 131 makes them presents, 135.

F

Fort Armstrong built, 87.

Foxes, party of, murder 28 Menominies, 137

G

Good spirit of Rock Island, 87.

Galland's description of Sac village, 94.

Gaines, General, letter to Reynolds, 102 orders troops to Rock Island, 102 interview with Black Hawk, 103 takes possession of Sac village, 103 treats with the British Band, 104 his letter to War Department, 106.

Garland, Maj., takes charge of prisoners, 197 his release of Black Hawk, 211.

H

Harrison, General, account of the conquest of the Illinois tribes, 26 his treaty with the Sacs and Foxes in 1804, 50.

Hall, Judge, account of Sac village, 28 his interview with Black Hawk, 96 his account of the Sacs and Foxes at Washington, 127.

I

Illinois tribes conquered, 15.

Indians, power to sell lands, 59.

Johnson, John, letter to Secretary at War, 63.

Illinois militia, flight at Sycamore creek, 146.

Irving, Washington, account of Black Hawk, 191.

Indian dancing ceremonies, 237.

K

Kaskaskias conquered, 16.

Keokuk removes west of Mississippi, 92 his birth, 114 age, 115 admitted to the council-lodge, 116 bold adventure with the Sioux, 117 his interview with the Menominies, 119 in peril with his tribe, 122 removed from his post of head chief, 123 re-instated, 124 delivers up his nephew to be tried for murder, 125 his letter to Governor of Illinois, 125 visit to Washington city in 1827 and council with Secretary at War, 127 visit to Philadelphia, New York and Boston, 132 speech in reply to Gov. Everett, 133 return to the west, 135 character, 135 his visit to Jefferson barracks, 190 his speech on the liberation of Black Hawk, 208 final speech in the council, 213 his visit to Washington in 1837, 216 conduct to Black Hawk, 217.

L

Lewis and Clark's account of Sacs and Foxes, 45.

M

Minneway tribes, 15.

Mascontins, battle with Sacs and Foxes, 17.

Memorial to Gov. Reynolds, 102.

Menominies, murdered by the Foxes, 138.

Macomb, Gen., report to Secretary at War, 178.

N

Naopoke's visit to Malden, 138 captured, 165 his testimony before Scott, 166 at Jefferson barracks, 189.

O

Osages, battle with Sacs and Foxes, 75.

P

Peorias conquered, 16.

Primm's account of the attack on St. Louis in 1779, 18.

Pike's account of Sacs and Foxes, 44.

Posey, Col., at Buffalo grove, 150.

Prophet, Wabokieshiek, 168.

Pashepahow's speech, 212.

Q

Quashquame, account of treaty of 1804, 58.

R

Reynolds, Governor, letter to Clark, 101 to Gaines, 102 declares the state to be invaded, 101 letter to War Department, 106 orders out the militia and joins Atkinson, 141 makes a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, 170.

S

Sac and Fox Indians, origin of, 13 Identity of the tribes, 14 residence, 14 removal to the west, 14 conquest of the Illini tribes, 15 their attack on St. Louis in 1779, 18 their village, 28 their war and peace chiefs, 30 division into families, 31 mode of burial, 35 idea of a future state, 36 in regard to the creation of the world, 37 social relations, 41 musical instruments, 41 Pike's account of them, 45 their character for courage, 48 treaty with the United States in 1789, 49 ditto at St. Louis in 1804, 50 they are excited to hostilities by British agents, 62 offer to fight against England, 63 part of them join the British standard, 64 treaty with them 13th Sep. 1815, 64 ditto 14th Sep. 1815, 64 ditto with British Band, 64 relinquish lands in Missouri, 66 treaty of Prairie des Chiens in 1825, 65 treaty for mineral region in 1828, 68 Black Hawk purchase in 1832, 70 their present residence, 71 sale of their lands on Rock river, 99 treaty with Scott and Reynolds, 170 described by Gov. Cass, 181.

Stillman, Maj., proceeds to Sycamore creek, 141 attacks Black Hawk and is defeated, 142 fires upon Black Hawk's flag of truce, 145.

Stephenson, J.W., kills some Indians, 149.

Scott, General, arrival at Rock Island, 165 treaty with Sacs and Foxes, 170.

Senecas, their speech to Black Hawk, 203.

Sioux Indians, sketches of, 222.

Sale of whiskey to the Indians, 245.

W

Wabokieshiek, advice to British Band, 93.

Warrior's attack on Black Hawk, 153.

Wapellar's speech, 211.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Schoolcraft's Travels, p. 347.

[2] Published in the Illinois Magazine under the head of "History of St. Louis."

[3] James Hall, Esqr.

[4] Chronicles of the North American Savages, No. 4. page 53.

[5] History of the North American Indians, by James Hall, Esq.

[6] James Hall, Esq.

[7] Judge Hall.

[8] Patterson's Life of Black Hawk, dictated by himself.

[9] See Adjutant W. W. Woodbridge's statement.

[10] "The Book of the Indians of North America," p. 127.

[11] This class is admirably described by the author of "Legends of the West."

[12] See St. Louis Times of 13th April, 1833.

[13] "The Book of the Indians of North America," by Samuel G. Drake of Boston, containing much interesting matter about the aborigines of this country, and from which we have copied several of the speeches made upon the liberation of Black Hawk.

[14] Black Hawk seems to have entertained a warm friendship for Colonel Davenport. On another occasion, speaking of this council, he said, "I here met my old friend, a great war chief, [Colonel William Davenport] whom I had known for eighteen years. He is a good and a brave chief. He always treated me well, and gave me good advice. He made a speech to me on this occasion, very different from that of the other chief. It sounded like coming from a _brave_." He adds, "If our great father were to make such men our agents, he would much better subserve the interests of our people, as well as his own, than in any other way; and had the war chief alluded to, been our agent, we never should have had the difficulties with the whites which we have had."

Those who have the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with Colonel Davenport will join in Black Hawk's spontaneous tribute to his character as a _brave_, and a gentleman of humane and noble feelings.

[15] Colonel Whittlesey, of the Geological Corps of Ohio. See Hesperian for February, 1839, in which this gentleman has given valuable recollections of a tour through Wisconsin in 1832.

[16] See Traits of Indian Character, by G. Turner.

[17] See a "Discourse on the Surviving Remnant of the Indian Race in the United States," by Job R. Tyson, Esq. of Philadelphia.

End of Project Gutenberg's Great Indian Chief of the West, by Benjamin Drake