The Osage:  A Historical Sketch
By George E. Tinker

Edited By: Angelic Saulsberry
Art Work Courtesy of Louis F. Burns

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The Osage A Historical Sketch By The Editors 
(Continued from last month)
The Osage Magazine 2 (December 1909)
PART 1

            After the battle of Ft. Duquesne the Osages, drunken with victory and besotted with spoil, returned homeward and reached there after an absence of seven months.  They left Ft. Duquesne short of much of the supplies that had been promised them and became so reduced for something to eat they had to kill some of the horses to live on.  This statement seems almost incredible when one contemplates the vast herd of game that must have swarmed through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois at that time, but it is the story of Che-to-pa, told after he became a chief of the little Osage and is probably true.  But they had increased their friendship with the French and were now known from New Orleans to Quebec.  The following from French explorers will give an accurate idea of the extent of their territory and influence:

            In "Henri de Tonty's Memoirs," published in Paris in 1693,[01] he makes the following reference to the Osage Indians, in his trip down the Mississippi river to bring back the men of the ill-fated expedition of LaSalle.  He says: "We arrived on the 17^th (October, 1689) at an Illinois village at the mouth of their river.  They had just come from fighting the Osages and had lost thirteen men, but they brought back 130 prisoners."

            In Tonty's account of the route from Illinois, by Mississippi river, to the Gulf of Mexico, he says:  "The rivers of the Missouri come from the west, and, after traveling 300 leagues, arrive at a lake, which I believe to be that of the Apaches.  The villages of the Missounta, Otenta[02], and Osage are near one another, and are situated on the prairies 150 leagues from the mouth of the Missouri."

            Again, he says of his downward voyage:  "We descended the river (Mississippi), and found six leagues below, on the right a great river (Missouri), which come from the west, on which are numerous nations.  We slept at its mouth."

            Jean Francois de St. Cosme, a priest of the Seminary of Quebeck, left Canada in the summer of 1698 and descended the Mississippi river by way of Green Bay and the Wisconsin river. He went as a missionary to Cahokia and later to Natchez and has left the following account of the Missouri river:

            "On the 16^th of December, 1699, we embarked on the Mississippi river and after making about 600 leagues  (1650 miles), we found the river of the Missourites, which comes from the west and which is so muddy that it spoils the water of the Mississippi, which, down to this, is clear.  It is said that up this river are a great number of Indians."

            In another place he mentions meeting with the Arkansas Indians.  "We told them," he says, "we were going further down the river among their neighbors and friends, and that they would see us often; that it would be well to assemble all together, so as more easily to resist their enemies.  They agreed to all of this and promised to try to make the Osages join them, who had left the river of the Missourites and were now on the upper waters of their own river.

            As the foregoing pages contain the first references to the Osage Indians preserved in history, the statements of the different writers may be worth a comparison.

            Father Membre[03] says that in 1682 the greater part of the seventeen Illinois villages were driven across the Mississippi by the Iroquois, who pursued them until they took refuge with the Osages.  Father Douay,[04] in 1687, says that the Osages had seventeen villages on the Osage river, and that the Arkansas Indians, who had formerly lived in that section, had been driven out by the Iroquois some years before, and with some Osages had settled on the Arkansas.  Henri de Tonty states that the Osages, in 1693, were then in the prairies 150 leagues from the mouth of the Missouri.  This would be about 400 miles, which is very near the distance by the river route to where the prairies on the Osage set in, or between Osceola, in St. Clare county, and Papinsville, in Bates county, Missouri.  This is the locality in which, as will hereafter appear, Du Tisne found them twenty-six years afterwards, 1719, and where they remained until they began their gradual removal to the Indian Territory in 1796.  Father St. Cosme, in 1689, confirms the statement made by Douay, for he says the Osages had left the river of the Missourites and were on the upper waters of their own river.  The map of Delisle published in 1703, which gives the location of many of the western tribes, lays down four villages of the Osages on their river.  Three are high up on the river, apparently near Osceola; the other is located about where the town of Warsaw stands.  There are none laid down nearer the mouth of the river.

            From this testimony left us by the early explorers, which must be reliable, as it comes from so many different sources, it appears that the Osage Indians, at some time previous to 1682, dwelt near the mouth of the Osage river, either on the banks of that stream or on the Missouri.  There is no question that about that time the lower Missouri tribes were attacked by the wild men from the East, the cruel and blood thirsty Iroquois, who, as they were armed with British muskets and the Missouri tribes had only the primitive bow and arrow, drove the Osages higher up their river, and the Missourites to the mouth of the grand river.  The beautiful country near the mouth of the Missouri was thus early abandoned by the red men.

            The following letter, written by Du Tisne after his return from his last expedition, to Bienville,[05] the commandant at New Orleans, throws much light on the different Indian tribes then inhabiting the Missouri Valley.  It was written at the old French village of Kaskaskia, which was located near the east bank of the Mississippi, on the Kaskaskia, about fifty miles below the present city of St. Louis:

                                                                                                Kaskaskia, Nov. 22, 1719

            "Sir-* * * You know, sir that I have been obliged to leave the Missourites[06], as they did not wish me to go to the Panioussas[07]; hence I was compelled to return to the Illinois to offer to M. de Boisbriant (commander of the post) to make the journey across the country, and he granted me permission to do so.  The journey was attended with much trouble, as my men fell sick on the way; my own health keeps well.  I send you with this a little account of my trip.

            "I went to the Osages and was well received by them.  Having explained your intentions to them, they answered me satisfactorily in regard to themselves; but when I spoke of going to the Panis (Pawnees) they all opposed it, and would not assent to the reason I gave them.  When I learned they did not intend to let me take my goods I had brought, I proposed to them to let me take three guns for myself and my interpreter, telling them, with decision, if they did not consent to this I would be very angry, and you indignant; they then consented.  Knowing the character of the savages I did not tarry long, but set out at once; and in four days I reached the Panis, where I was badly received, owing to the fact that the Osages made them believe that our intention was to entrap them and make slaves of them.  On that account they twice raised the tomahawk above me; but when they learned the falsehood of the Osages, and saw my bravery when they threatened me, brutal as these people are, they consented to make an alliance and treated me well.  I traded them my three guns, some powder, pick axes and some knives for two horses and a mule marked with a Spanish brand.

            "I proposed to them to let me pass through to the Padoucas (Comaches).  To this they would not consent at all, being mortal enemies to them.  Seeing their opposition, I questioned them in regard to the Spanish; they said they had formerly been to their village, but now the Padoucas prevented them.  They traded me a very old silver cup, and told me it would take more than a month to go to the Spanish.  It seems to me that we could succeed in making peace between this tribe and the Padoucas, and thereby open a route to the Spanish (in Mexico); it could be done by giving them back their slaves and making them presents.  I have told them that you desired that they be friends.  We might also attempt a passage by the Missouri, going to the Panimahas[08] and carrying them presents.  I offered M. de Boisbriant to go there myself, and if you desire it I am ready to execute it, so as to merit your protection.

            "I have written to the chief of the Cadodaquious[09], and have asked him to give you advice of it.  A Mento[10] chief had charge of the letters.  I had seen him among the Osages and he had sold some slaves for me to the Natchitoches.  It is from him that I learned of the arrival of M. de La Harpe[11] with the large boats at the Nassonites.[12]  He tells me that in a month he will return to the Natchitoches and, by the direction he has shown me, the route to the Osages is south a quarter southwest.  The villages of the Mentos are seven day's journey from the Osages toward the southwest.  He has promised me to come to the Illinois and bring some horses, as have also the Panis, who ought to come next spring.

            "The Osages not wishing to give me a guide to return to the Illinois, I was obliged to come by means of my compass, with fourteen horses and my mule.  I had the misfortune to lose six of them and a colt, which is a loss of more than 900 lives to me.  I refer you to M. de Boisbraint for the many difficulties I have passed through.  I hope, sir, since being one of the oldest lieutenants of the country, you will do me the favor to procure me a company.  I shall try to meet your kindness by my faithfulness to the service.  I am, with profound respect, etc.,

                                                                                    DU TISNE.     

"To M. de Bienville, New Orleans."

            The following is an extract from Le Harpe's relation of Du Tisne's journey among the Missouris, in 1719, translated from Margy's Memoirs, by Mr. E. A. Kilian,[13] secretary of the Quivira Historical Society:

            "From the village of Kaskaskia to the Missouri is 32 leagues (75 miles).  The Missouri is very turbid and full of obstacles from driftwood and extensive shallows and a strong current.   It flows from the Missouries (the village) north-northwest, although it makes many times a complete circumvolution of the compass.  It is well wooded with walnut, sycamore, and oak trees.  Very fine soil and some rocky hills are seen.  At intervals on the west side of the stream two fine rivers flow into it.  The first is the Blue river (the Gasconade), which is not great in importance.  The second is the river of the Osages, whose village is 80 leagues (about 200 miles) above to the southwest.  A pirogue[14] can go 20 leagues (55 miles) above that village.

            "The river of the Osages is 10 leagues (25 miles) above the mouth of the Blue river and 40 leagues (110 miles) above the mouth of the Missouri.  In the vicinity of the Osages there are lead mines in abundance, and it is also believed there are silver mines.

            "The distance is 80 leagues from the mouth of the river Missouri to the village of that name.  The prairie begins 10 leagues (27 miles) beyond their village.  This would be a good place to make an establishment; the Missouries are jealous because the French go to other nations.  They are people who stay only at their village in the springtime.  One league southwest of them is a village of the Osages, which is 30 leagues (82 miles) from their great village.  (The writer is now referring to the village of the Little Osages, on the Missouri river, near the mouth of the Grand river).  By the Missouri one can go to the Panimahas, to other nations called Ahauches,[15] and from them to the Padoucas.

            "* * * * The village of the Osages is situated on an elevation a league and a half (about 4 miles) from their river to the northwest.  This village is composed of 100 lodges and 200 warriors.  They stayed in the village like the Missourites, and pass the winter in chasing the buffalo, which are very abundant in these parts.  Horses, which they steal from the Panis, can be bought of them; also deer skins and buffalo robes.  They are a well built people, and deceitful; they have many chiefs of bands, but few have absolute authority; in general, they are treacherous and break their word easily.  There is a lead mine 12 leagues from here, but they do not know what use to make thereof.

            "From the Osages to the Panis is 40 leagues (110 miles) to the southwest, and the whole route is over prairies and hills abounding is cattle.  The land is fine and well wooded.  There are four rivers from the Osages to the Panis, which have to be crossed.  The most considerable is the Atcansas, which has its source toward the northwest a quarter north.  Du Tisne crossed it. * * * This river of the Atcansas is 12 leagues (33 miles) east of the Pani's village.  It is situated on the bank of a creek, on a hill, surrounded by elevated prairies. *  *  *One league to the northwest, on the same stream, is another village, as large as the first one.  There are in these two villages 300 horses, which they value so much that they do not like to part with them.  This nation is very brutal, but it would be easy to subdue them by making them presents of guns, of which they have much need; they have only six among them all.  There are many other Pani's villages to the west and northwest, but they are not known to us.

            "According to the reports, it is fifteen days' journey to the Padoucas, but they encounter them frequently in six days' journey.  They have a cruel war now between them, so that they nearly eat one another up.  When they go to war they harness their horses in a cuirass of tanned leather.  They are clever with the bow and arrow, and also use a lance, which is like the end of a sword inserted in a handle of wood.  Two days' journey to the west a quarter southwest is a salt mine, which is very beautiful and pure.  Every time they give food to a stranger the chief cuts the meat into pieces and puts them into the mouth of those they regale.  Le Sieur Du Tisne planted a white flag the 27^th of September, 1719, in the middle of their village, which they received with great pleasure."

            The location of the village of the Great Osages on the Osage river, when visited by Du Tisne, is not easily determined.  When Pike came up the Osage in 1806 they were seated on the Little Osage river in the northern part of Vernon county, Missouri, a beautiful prairie country, which extends far westward.  Du Tisne's description would fix the location near Osceola, in St. Clair county, which was probably the true location of the village in 1719.  The Osages, like all other tribes, were migratory, and may have moved their village higher up the river, or there may have been more that one village.

            It is stated by Du Tisne that he traveled four days in a southwesterly direction in going from the Osage village to the Pawnees.  He estimates the distance at 110 miles.  He also says the Pawnee villages were twelve leagues, or thirty-three miles, west of the river he calls Atcansas.  He undoubtedly meant the Neosho, a branch of the Arkansas.  The locations of these villages are unknown, but from the distance traveled, the course and the distance from the Neosho river, they were probably situated on one of the cabin creeks, in what is now Cherokee county, Oklahoma near Vinita.

            After Du Tisne had visited the Great Osages and the Pawnees, he returned to the Illinois country, where he arrived about the 1^st of November, 1719.

            Extracts from a letter written at "Kaskasquias" October 20, 1721, by Father Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix,[16] who was the most intelligent and reliable of all the early French explorers and historians.  He says; "  *  *  *After we had gone five leagues on the Mississippi we arrived at the mouth of the Missouri, which is north-northwest and south-southwest.  I believe this is the finest confluence in the world.  The two rivers are much of the same breadth, each about half a league; but the Missouri is by far the most rapid, and seems to enter the Mississippi like a conqueror, through which it carries its white waters to the opposite shore without mixing them; afterwards it gives its color to the Mississippi, which it never loses again, but carries it quite down to the sea.

            "The Osages, a pretty numerous nation settled on the side of a river that bears their name and which runs into the Missouri about 40 leagues (110 miles) from its junction with the Mississippi, send once or twice a year to sing the calumet amongst the Kaskasquias, and are actually there at the present.  I have also just now seen a Missourite woman, who told me her nation is the first met with going up the Missouri, from which she has the name we have given her, for want of knowing her true name.  It is situated 80 leagues (220 miles) from the confluence of that river with the Mississippi.

*   *   *   *This woman has confirmed to me what I had heard from the Sioux, that the Missouri rises out of some naked mountains, very high, behind which there is a great river, which probably rises from them also, and which runs to the west.  This testimony carries some weight, because of all the savages which we know none travel farther than the Missourites."

            Delisle's map of Louisiana and Mississippi, in the second volume of French's Louisiana,[17] shows a village of the Omahas on the eastern bank of the Missouri, far above the mouth of the Platte, and near it three villages of the Iowas (Aiaouez), while opposite the mouth of the Platte (River des Panis), and east of the Missouri river, is situated the Otoes (Octotata) village.  Another "Iowa" village is placed some distance east of the Missouri river and of the "Canses" villages, at the mouth of Independence creek.  French quotes Le Suer's spelling of these names "Ayavois," "Octotata," and "Maha."

            "According to the tribal traditions collected by Dorsey, the ancestors of he Omaha, Ponka, Kwapa, Osage and Kansa were originally one people dwelling on Ohio and Wabash rivers, but gradually working westward.  The first separation took place at that mouth of the Ohio, when those who went down the Mississippi became the Kwapa or down-stream people, while those who ascended the great river became the Omaha or the up-stream people.  This separation must have occurred at least as early as 1500, since it preceded De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi. *  *  *The Omaha group (from whom the Osages, Kansa and Ponka were not yet separated) ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, where they remained for some time, though war and hunting parties explored the country north westward, and the body of the tribe gradually followed these pioneers, though the Osage and Kansa were successively left behind.

            In many respects the Osages were the most remarkable of all the western tribes.  They, with the Missouri, are the first of which we have any data.  They were distinguished by Marquette in 1673 as the "Ouchage" and "Autrechaha" and by Penicaut[18] in 1719 as the "Huzzau," "Ous," and "Wawha."  They were one of the largest and most powerful tribes west of the Mississippi, and they have remained longer in the same locality; they have been the most peaceable of all the Western tribes and have given the government less trouble; they are the tallest and best-proportioned Indians in America, few being less than six feet.

            The tribe was evidently a numerous one when first visited by the French, for Douay says in 1687 that they occupied seventeen villages.  Like all our aborigines, contact with civilization rapidly diminished their numbers, for by 1804 they had decreased to 2300 warriors.

            At the time, Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike visited the tribe, in 1806, it was separated into three bands.  The history of this division he gives as follows:

            "The Osage nation is divided into three villages and in a few years you may say nations, viz: The Grand Osage and those of the Arkansaw.

            "The Little Osage separated form the Big Osage about 100 years since, when their chiefs, on obtaining permission to lead forth a colony from the great council of the nation, moved on to the Missouri; but after some years, finding themselves too hard pressed by their enemies, they again obtained permission to return, put themselves under the protection of the Grand village and settled down about six miles off.

            "The Arkansaw schism was effected by Mr. Pierre Choteau,[19] ten or twelve years ago, as a revenge on Mr. Manuel De Sezei (Liza or Lisa),[20] who had obtained from the Spanish government the exclusive trade of the Osage nation, by the way of the Osage river, after it had been in the hands of Mr. Choteau for nearly twenty years.  The latter, having the trade of the Arkansaw thereby nearly rendered abortive the exclusive privilege of his rival."

            The history of Vernon county, Missouri, 1887 says that a number of young men from both the Big and Little Osages, influenced by French traders, removed about 1796 under Cashesegra or Big Track, to the Verdegris.

            While the Osages were a brave and warlike nation, and were frequently at war with the Kansas, Pawnees, Iowas, Sacs, and Foxes, and other tribes, they always maintained peaceable relations with the whites.  This was, no doubt, through the influence of the French traders, who, as early as 1693, began trading with them, and, frequently intermarrying, acquired a wonderful influence over them.

            The Osages in their hunting excursions roamed over all the vast territory from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, and a good story is told by General Rozier,[21] in his History of the Mississippi Valley, of an occurrence that took place at an early day near Ste. Genevieve, where General Rozier was born, and where he lived and died:

            "In 1797 a wedding party of young people consisting of a proposed bride and groom and a half dozen other couples, left their home on Big river to go to Ste. Genevieve to be married, there being no priest nearer.  On arriving at Terre-Beau creek, near Farmington, they encountered a roving band of Osage Indians, who were out on a prairie horse-racing.  The party was soon discovered by the Indians and followed.  On being captured, they were stripped of all their clothing, both men and women, and turned loose on the prairie, as naked as they came into the world.  No violence was offered as the Indians considered it only a good joke; but they kept their clothing, and the young people were compelled to return home in this terrible plight.  The wedding was postponed for a year, but the young couple finally married, and their descendants are yet living in St. Francois county."

            After the fall of Quebec, September 13,1759, France decided she could not hold any of her possessions in America, and four years later, 1763, she sold Louisiana to Spain, and her old Indian allies had nothing to show for the part they had taken in her wars against the English.  This led to much uneasiness among the Indians along the Ohio and Tennessee, and in 1768 a grand council was called by the Cherokees to meet on the northern bank of the Ohio for the purpose of organizing all the Indians against the English.  The Osages were present at this council, but refused to have anything to do with further wars against the white people.

            This brought on a quarrel between the Cherokees, Iroquois, and Potawatomies against the Osages that lasted for many years and would eventually have wiped the Osages off the map but for the friendship of their French neighbors in Cahokia, Kaskaskia and St. Louis, the latter a new trading post on the west bank of the Mississippi.  Hostilities between the Osages and Cherokees began in 1785 upon the advent of the first Cherokee west of the Mississippi and lasted many years.  This body of Cherokees settled on the White and St. Francis rivers in Arkansas and sought to drive out the Quapaws, who were under Osage protection.  The Cherokees were armed with rifles, while the Osages had only a few of these weapons which they had received at Ft. Chartress[22] on their way to Ft. Duquesne, and were unable to drive the Cherokees out of their country.  Neither could the Cherokees dislodge the Osages from their stronghold at the mouth of the Verdigris or between that and the Grand river.  Previous to the founding of St. Louis, 1765, the Osages had succeeded in driving the last village of Missouries across the Missouri river, and a few years later they were decimated with small pox and no longer able to fight the Osages.  The Osages also suffered from the disease, but not as heavily as the Missouries.

            The ceding of Louisiana by Spain back to France and its sale by France to America occupied less than three years.  Thus while the Nations were playing football with an empire its citizens hardly knew from day to day who their over lords were.  Upon acquiring the territory President Jefferson immediately set about occupying it and exploring its furthermost boundary.  He sent Lewis and Clark up the Missouri river in 1804, and two years later he sent General Pike to explore the country between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains.  Pike was ordered by General Wilkinson[23] to visit the Osages and to return to them some forty prisoners taken from that tribe by the Pottowattomies and which had been taken away from the Pottowattomies by General Anthony Wayne.[24]  Wayne had sent them as far as Vincenes[25] on the Wabash where Pike found them waiting, for they did not dare cross the prairie of Illinois without escort, for fear of falling into the hands of the Iroquois.

            Pike left St. Louis July 15, 1806, and reached the Osage river four weeks later.  He was much disappointed at the attitude of the Osages and charged them with being ungrateful for what his government had done in restoring their prisoners.  He does not seem to have taken into consideration the fact the Osages were friends of the French and looked with natural distrust upon any other white people.  Pike was instructed to take the variation of the latitude needle and get the latitude with exactness.  On August 28, 1806, he wrote as follows:  "Camp Independence, near the Osage town.  Since our arrival here I have taken several observations and find the latitude to be 37 deg., 26 minutes, 17 seconds north.  In this western traverse of Louisiana the following general observations may be made.  From the Missouri to the head of the Osage river, a distance of 300 miles, the country will admit of a numerous extensive and compact population.  From thence to the Arkansas, Kiowa, and La Platte rivers and their branches only a limited population seems possible.  The inhabitants would find to their advantage to pay most attention to their raising of cattle, horses and sheep, all of which they can raise in great abundance, the earth producing spontaneously sufficient for their support both winter and summer, by which means their herds might become numerous; but the wood now in the country would not be sufficient for a moderate population for more than fifteen years, and then it would be out of the question to think of using it in manufacturies, consequently houses would be built of mud brick like those in New Spain; but possibly time may make a discovery of coal mines, which would render the country habitable."

            Pike erred in more ways than in his judgment of the country.  He said the Pawnee language was more like the Sioux than the Osages, when in fact it is not at all like the Sioux.  He said the Osages were excelled by most other tribes in the quality of their ponies, when in fact the Osages exceed all other tribes except the Nez Perce in fine horses and that they knew how to capture the wild horses of the plains is proven by all the travelers of that day, like Washington Irving[26] and Col. Boone.[27]  Pike got horses from the Osages and guides to go on to the Pawnee, whose villages, known as the Pawnee Republic, were near the mouth of Whiterock creek on the Republican river, a few miles below the Kansas-Nebraska line.

            In 1804 the government took steps to stop the bloody war against the Osages, that war being waged by the Sac and Fox and other tribes.  The first treaty entered into with the Osages was the treaty of Fort Clark, afterward known as Fort Osage.  Fort Clark was about thirty miles east of where Kansas City now is.  The following is the treaty in full:

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