Pierre Chouteau Jr., the founder of old Fort Pierre, was
born in St. Louis January 19, 1789. He was the second son of Major
John Pierre Chouteau, Sr., who was born in New Orleans, October 10,
1758, and came to St. Louis in 1764. Chittenden[01]
is authority for the statement that Aguste Chouteau was grandfather to
the subject of this note; but Billon[02]
in his "Annals of St. Louis" does not name Major John Pierre Chouteau
as one of the sons of Auguste, nor could this be, for Auguste Chouteau
was born September 26, 1750, and came up with Laclede in 1764 and
assisted in establishing the post of St. Louis, and John Pierre
arrived there the same year in September. The evidence seems to
establish the fact that Auguste was uncle to Pierre Chouteau, Jr.
Pierre Chouteau Jr., was the most illustrious member of
the numerous Chouteau family, the family itself having been perhaps
the most prominently identified with the growth of St. Louis of any in
the southwest, as it certainly was with the development of the fur
trade of the west and northwest. From his earliest manhood, he proved
to be the leading spirit in the founding of the vast system of
pioneering involved in establishing outposts for traffic with the
Indians in the almost boundless extent of wilderness which the
Louisiana Purchase had brought within the scope of American
enterprise. In his family he was known as Pierre Cadet Chouteau; was
his father's clerk in the fur business at the age of fifteen. He went
with Julien Dubuque[03]
to the lead mines of Galena on the upper Mississippi in 1806, and in
1809 ascended the Missouri with his father, who was at that time agent
of the Osage, in the service of he Missouri Fur Company. After
becoming of age he engaged in business on his own account and in 1813
he formed a partnership with Bartholomew Berthold, his brother-in-law,
which continued until 1831. He made several trips up the Missouri
river on the company's steamboat, and was at old Fort Pierre in June,
1832, when the post was named for him. He was a member of the firm of
Bernard Pratte & Co., which became the agent of the western department
of the American Fur Company, and a leading member of the succeeding
firm of Pratte, Chouteau & Co., which purchased that department in
1834. In 1838 the firm was changed to Pierre Chouteau Jr., under
which style of business of the American Fur Company was carried on
over twenty years. Mr. Chouteau in after years and with the growth of
his great wealth became interested in other industrial enterprises,
such as railroads, bonds, etc. and for many years he resided
principally in New York, where he became a leading financier. He
possessed in a very high degree the mercantile instinct, and this,
combined with his strict adherence to systematic methods and
conservative calculating, equipped him for successful action wherever
his genius sought exercise. It is said that he accepted conditions as
he found them and did not attempt to raise the standard of business
morality above its normal level; would reinforce his agents on the
upper river in any measure which the strenuous times in frontier
competition usually demanded, but that whoever among his employees
attempted to embark in a rival trading business met the crushing force
of his powerful company, which was applied without mercy. And if some
of the undercurrents which swept across the seas of the Hunt-Astoria[04]
expedition were fully revealed the opposing hand of Chouteau would
undoubtedly appear. He schemed incessantly to build upon the ruins of
Astor's brave and hardy but ill-fated efforts to unite St. Louis with
the Pacific by a succession of trading houses. He was very liberal
towards all scientific expeditions, large or small, and by virtue of
the facilities which he was able to furnish thorough the river craft
owned by the company contributed much to their success. Large
accumulations of rare natural and scientific specimens were gathered
at his home in St. Louis, the result of these labors of explorers into
the far northwest, and many writings of more or less consequence were
given him in return for his assistance; the greater part of which
materials were unfortunately burned in various conflagrations in St.
Louis. However, the long series of years during which the American
Fur Company and its immediate predecessors were engaged in the Indian
trade and the incidental development of the country brought within the
files of the company historical evidences of incalculable value,
constituting by far the greatest contribution of the raw material of
history of any organization ever formed west of the Alleghanies for
business purposes. Though before the era of typewriters, the immense
correspondence of the American Fur Company was still not so large but
that Mr. Chouteau preserved a copy of every letter, which mass of
information is still preserved in archives at St. Louis.
The only son of Pierre Chouteau Jr. was Charles P.
Chouteau who was born in St. Louis December 2, 1819, and who died
there in January, 1900. The present Pierre Chouteau of St. Louis is a
son of Charles P. Chouteau.
Pierre Chouteau Jr. died in St. Louis October 6, 1865.
His nephew and niece, James and Mary Chouteau, half bloods
of the Osage tribe, are said to be the first children baptized in the
state of Kansas. This baptism, which may have been performed just
across the line in Missouri, was administered by Rev. Father
Quickenborne in 1822, who was with the Osages that year.
In 1810 Chouteau Sr. resigned the agency of the Osages and
was succeeded by George C. Sibley, who was the government clerk at
Fort Osage. Sibley was a native of Massachusetts, born in 1782, but
had lived in North Carolina before coming to Fort Osage. He entered
the Indian service at Fort Osage in 1807, and three years later was
made the agent in charge. In 1811 he explored the territory of the
Osage to its western boundary, going as far as the Salt Plains on the
Nesqua-ton-ka, which was the south western boundary of the original
claim of the Osages from the earliest date of their history. Major
Sibley was one of the most efficient agents the Osages ever had and
this exploring trip of 1811 was made to permanently establish their
western border and to secure them in their just possession. The
boundary as established was recognized in the treaty of 1825 and
secured to the Osages the very tract of land from the sale of which
the trust fund of $8,450,000 was built up. Sibley deserves a monument
from the Osages, and yet not a school building, nor a street in
Pawhuska has been named for him. In 1825 he was one of the
commissioners appointed to lay out a new route to Santa Fe. The
commission composed of Benjamin H. Reeves, George C. Sibley, and
Thomas Mather met at Council Grove in 1825 and negotiated a
right-of-way form the Osages and Kaws of a strip of land two miles
wide for a road way and grazing ground for the wagon train engaged in
the Mexican trade.
Later Sibley retired to a farm near St. Charles, Mo, where
he died.
From Morse's report on Indian affairs, 1822, we find the
following letter relative to the Osages written by Major Sibley and
bearing date of October 14, 1820.
First--The great osage of the osage river--
They live in one village on the Osage river seventy-eight
miles, measured, due south of Fort Osage. They hunt over a very great
extent of country, comprising of the Osage, Gasconade and Neozho river
and their numerous branches. They also hunt on the heads of the St.
Francis and White River and on the Arkansas. I rate them at about
1200 souls, 350 of which are warriors and hunters, fifty or sixty
superannuated and the balance of women and children.
Second--the great osage of the Neozho--
About 140 miles southwest of Fort Osage; one village on
the Neozho river. They hunt pretty much in common with the tribe of
the Osage river, from which they separated six or eight years ago.
This village contains about 400 souls of whom about 100 are warriors
and hunters, ten or fifteen aged persons and the rest are women and
children.
Third--
the little Osages
Three villages on the Neozho river 120 to 140 miles
southwest of this place (Fort Osage). This tribe comprising all three
villages, and comprehending about twenty families of Missourians, who
are intermarried with them. I rate at about 1000 souls, about 300 of
which are hunters and warriors, twenty or thirty are superannuated
persons and the balance women and children. They hunt pretty much in
common with the other tribes of Osages mentioned and frequently on the
head waters of the Kansas, some of the branches of which interlap with
those of the Neozho.
But let us return to the year 1808, which brought forth so
many important events to the Osages. In that year the permanent
emigration of the Cherokees to the west[05]
began.
First their colonies settled on the lower Arkansas and
White Rivers but when their hunting parties saw the vast herds of
buffalo that ranged the prairies farther west they began to encroach
upon the Osage territory along the Neosho and Verdigris rivers. Great
pressure was brought to bear upon the National government to give them
a reservation that touchs the grand prairie. The citizens of
Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina were demanding the removal of
the Cherokees from their states while the Cherokees themselves wisely
demanded a reservation that gave them timber for their dwellings and
at the same time put them in touch with the buffalo. They also
refused to go into territory that was remote from the white man's
protection and where wild and savage tribes of Indians would be a
constant source of danger. Therefore, they picked upon the southern
territory Osages for their home in the west and this was the cause of
the Osage and Cherokee war. It is true they were old enemies, having
disagreed at the Cherokee council of 1768, but the advent of the
Cherokees west in 1808 reopened old wounds and made many new ones.
The war lasted for twenty years, or from 1808 to 1828 and terminated
with the battle of Claremore (Gra-Moi) Mound, September of that year.[06]
The western Cherokee having taken possession of their new territory by
the treaty of May 1828 were no doubt patrolling their frontier at the
time. At any rate the Cherokees under Tachee are said to have come in
contact with the southern band of Osage under Gra-Moi (mispronounced
Chermont or Claremore) near a great mound and to have defeated the
Osages. There is practically no data of this battle and if it did
take place as stated it was the last one between the Osages and
Cherokees. In 1819 the Cherokees had over 100 Osage prisoners, and
travelers in Tennessee at that time saw the Cherokees dancing over
Osage scalps sent to them from beyond the Mississippi. The government
had by the treaty of 1818 secured from the Osages 7,000,000 acres
granted to the Cherokees ten years later. In this treaty of 1818 the
United States secured the entire tract of land known afterwards as the
Cherokee Nation by promising to pay clams against the Osages to the
amount of $400,000.00 and the continuance of the annual distribution
of merchandise promised under a former treaty.
But this treaty was never ratified by
Gra-Moi, head chief
of the southern Arkansas band of Osages and he refused to remove his
band from that territory. This was the most arbitrary and unfair
treaty the government ever made with the Osages but is was followed
seven years later by a more liberal one in which all the chiefs and
head men of the Osages concurred.
The following excerpt from the report of Lieut. James B.
Wilkinson of his last trip down the Arkansas river, after separating
from Gen. Pike and bearing date, New Orleans, April 6th,
1807, will throw some light on the Pawhuska and Gra-Moi controversy,
but Wilkinson was in error in saying that Paw-hu-scah was a creature
of Pierre Chouteau. Paw-hu-scah, as has been said, was under the
influence of the Spanish fur company of Lisa, Benoit & Co. The
excerpt follows:
About fifty or sixty miles up the Verdigris is situated
the Osage village. This band some four or five years since, were led
by the chief Cashesegra to the waters of the Arkansas, at the request
of Pierre Chouteau, for the purpose of securing their trade. The
exclusive trade of the Osage river having been purchased from the
Spanish government by Manuel Lisa of St. Louis, but though Cashesegra
by the nominal leader, Claremont, the Builder of Towns, is the
greatest warrior and influential man and is now more attached to the
Americans than any other chief of the nation. He is the lawful
sovereign of the Grand Osages, but his hereditary right was usurped
by Pawhuska, or White Hair, whilst Claremont was yet an infant, White
Hair in fact is a chief of Chouteau's creating as well as Cashesegra
and neither have the power or disposition to restrain their younger
men from the perpetration of an improper act, fearing least they
should render themselves unpopular.
The land secured by the treaty of 1818 was ten years later
traded to the Cherokees for lands in Tennessee and Georgia, acre for
acre, a deal which saved the government several million dollars. Then
followed the golden age of the Osages. They were under protection of
the government forts on the Missouri and Arkansas, and yet it was but
a day's ride to the buffalo. They had a market for their furs and
robes and their hunting and trapping ground reached from the
Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, for their treaty rights gave them
permission to hunt and take fur in the territory they had sold in
Missouri and Arkansas. Trading posts were on all the large rivers
where they could get what ammunition they needed without delay. They
had all the benefits of the white man's government without its
burdens, or the silly restraint of his laws. They had the freedom of
trackless forest and pathless prairie and yet were but a few day's
ride from a garrision of troops that would protect them if attacked by
the wild Comanches and Kiowas in superior numbers. The western part
of their country was filled with droves of wild horses which they
looked upon as belonging especially to them and from which they
captured new supplies every year. Sometimes they rode them down and
lassoed them singly but more often they surrounded them in droves and
heading them towards their home country followed them day and night
till they were utterly worried down and subdued. The return of a band
of young men bringing in a drove of new horses form the plains was the
occasion of great rejoicing in an Osage village, which lasted several
days. Truly it is hard to give up such a life for the plodding
conventionalities of civilization where men think it is an honor to
meet once a year and pass laws that circumscribe your liberties.
In 1825 the following treaty providing for a highway to
Santa Fe was entered into between the Osages and the Sibley Commission
referred to above.
Whereas, the Congress of the United States of America being anxious to
promote a direct commercial and friendly intercourse between the
citizens of the United States and those of the Mexican republic, and
to afford protection to the same, did, at their last session, pass an
act, which was approved March 3, 1826, to authorize the President of
the United States to cause a road to be marked out from the western
frontier of Missouri, to the confines of New Mexico, and which
authorizes the President of the United States to appoint commissioners
to carry said act of Congress into effect, and enjoins on the
commissioners so to be appointed that they first obtain the consent of
the intervening tribes of Indians, by treaty, to the making of said
road, and to the unmolested use thereof to the citizens of the United
States and of the Mexican republic; and Benjamin H. Reeves, Geo. C.
Sibley and Thos. Mather, commissioners duly appointed as aforesaid,
being duly and fully authorized, have this day met the chiefs and head
men of the Great and Little Osage nations, who being all duly
authorized to meet and negotiate with the said commissioners upon the
premises, and being specially met for that purpose, by the invitation
of said commissioners at the place called the Council Grove, on the
River Ne-o-sho, one hundred sixty miles southwest from Fort Osage,
have, after due dilberation and consultation, agreed to the following
treaty, which is to be considered binding on the said Great and Little
Osages, from and after this day:
ART. 1 The chiefs and head men of the Great and Little
Osages, for themselves and their nations, respectively, do consent and
agree that the commissioners of the United States shall and may survey
and mark out a road, in such manner as they may think proper through
any of the territory owned or claimed by the Great and Little Osage
nations.
ART. 2 The chiefs and head men as aforesaid, do further
agree that the road authorized in article one shall, when marked, be
forever free for the use of the citizens of the United States and the
Mexican republic, who shall at all times pass and repass thereon,
without any hindrance or molestation, on the part of said Great and
Little Osages.
ART. 3 The chiefs and head men as aforesaid, in
consideration of the friendly relations existing between them and the
United States, do further promise for themselves and their people,
that they will on all fit occasions, render such friendly aid and
assistance as may be in their power, to any of the citizens of the
United States, or of the Mexican republic, as they may at any time
happen to meet or fall in with on the road aforesaid.
ART. 4 The chiefs and head men as aforesaid, do further
consent and agree, that the road aforesaid shall be considered as
extending to a reasonable distance on either side, so that travelers
thereon may, at any time, leave the marked track, for the purpose of
finding subsistence and proper camping places.
ART. 5 In consideration of the privileges granted by the
chiefs of the Great and Little Osages in the three preceding articles,
the said commissioners on the part of the United States, have agreed
to pay to them, the said chiefs, for themselves and their people, the
sum of five hundred dollars; which sum is to be paid them as soon as
may be, in money or merchandise at their option, at such place as they
may desire.
ART. 6 And the said chiefs and head men; as aforesaid,
acknowledge to have received from the commissioners aforesaid, at and
before the signing of this treaty, articles of merchandise to the
value of three hundred dollars; which sum of three hundred dollars,
and the payment stipulated to be made to the said Osages in article
five, shall be considered and are so considered by said chiefs, as
full and complete compensation for every privilege herein granted by
said chiefs.
Proclaimed May 3, 1826
THE MASSACRE OF THE KIOWAS
From the calendar history of the Kiowas drawn in
picture-writing by Set-t'an, Bureau of Ethnology.
The picture is entitled I mk odalta-de Pai, "Summer
that they cut off their heads." This picture commemorates one of the
most vivid memories of the older men of the tribe-a wholesale massacre
by the Osage, who cut off the heads of their victims and deposited
them in buckets upon the scene of the slaughter. Set-t'an, the author
of the calendar, was born this summer. The picture of a severed head
with bloody neck and a bloody knife underneath is sufficiently
suggestive. The absence of the usual figure of the sun-dance lodge
shows that no dance was held this summer, owing to the fact that the
Osage captured the taime medicine[07]
at the same time. The massacre occurred just west of a mountain
called by the Kiowa, K'odalta K'op, "Beheading mountain," on the head
waters of Otter creek, not 2 miles northwest from Saddle mountain and
about 25 miles northwest from Fort Sill.
It was early spring and the Kiowa were camped at the mouth
of Rainy-mountain creek, a southern tributary of the Washita, within
the present limits of the reservation; nearly all of the warriors had
gone against the Ute, so that few, excepting women, children, and old
men, were at home. One morning some young men going out to look for
horses discovered signs of Osage and immediately gave the alarm.
According to one story, they found a buffalo with an Osage arrow
sticking in it; according to T'ebodal and other old men, they came
upon the Osage themselves and exchanged shots, wounding an Osage, but
with the loss of one of their own men killed. On the alarm being
given, the Kiowa at once broke camp in a panic and fled in four
parties in different directions--one party toward the west, another
toward the east, and two other bands, among whom was T'ebodal, then a
boy, went directly south toward the Comanche. Three of these escaped,
but the fourth, under A'date, "Island man," thinking the pursuit was
over, stopped on a small tributary of Otter Creek, just west of the
mountain.
Early in the morning, almost before it was yet light, a
young man (whose grandson was present during T'ebodal's narration)
went to look for his ponies when he saw the Osage creeping up on
foot. He hastily ran back with the news, but all the camp was still
sleeping, except the wife of the chief A'date, who was outside
preparing to scrape a hide. Entering the tipi, he roused the chief
who ran out shouting to his people, "Tso batso! Tso batso!" --To
the rocks! To the rocks! Thus rudely awakened, the Kiowa sprang up
and fled to the mountain the mothers seizing their children and the
old men hurrying as best they could, with their bloodthirsty enemies
close behind. The chief himself was pursued and slightly wounded, but
got away; his wife, Sematma, "Apache-woman," was taken, but soon
afterward made her escape. One woman fled with a baby girl on her back
and dragging a larger girl by the hand; and Osage pursuing caught the
other girl and was drawing his knife across her throat when the mother
rushed to her aid and succeeded in beating him off and rescued the
child with only a slight gash upon her head. A boy named Aya,
"Sitting-on-a-tree" was saved by his father in about the same way, and
is still alive, an old man, to tell it. His father, it is said,
seized him and held him in his teeth, putting him down while shooting
arrows to keep off the pursuers, and taking him up again to run. A
party of women was saved by a brave Pawnee living in the camp, who
succeeded in fighting off the pursuers long enough to enable the women
to reach a place of safety.
The warriors being absent, the Kiowa made no attempt at a
stand; it was simply a surprise and flight of panic-stricken women,
children and old men in which everyone caught was butchered on the
spot. Two children were taken prisoners, a brother and sister--about
10 and 12 years of age respectively--of whom more hereafter. The
Kiowa lost five men killed and a large number of women and children;
none of the Osage were killed, as no fight was made. When the
massacre was ended, the enemy cut the heads from all the dead bodies,
without scalping them, and placed them in brass buckets, one head in
each bucket, all over the camp ground, after which they set fire to
the tipis and left the place. When the scattered Kiowas returned to
look for their friends they found the camp destroyed, the decapitated
bodies lying where they had fallen, and the heads in the buckets as
the Osages had left them. The buckets had been obtained by the Kiowa
from the Pawnee, who procured them on the Missouri and traded them to
southern tribes. For allowing the camp to be thus surprised the
chief, A'date, was deposed and was superseded by Dohate, "Bluff,"
better known as Dohasan, who thenceforth ruled the tribe until his
death, thirty-three years later.
Among the victims of the massacre was a Kiowa chief who
had been present the previous winter at the attack on the American
traders. His friends buried with him a quantity of silver dollars
which had formed his share of the spoil on that occasion. An old
woman, the last remaining person who knew the place of sepulture, died
a few years ago.
In this affair the Osage also captured the taime medicine, already
described, killing the wife of the taime keeper a she was trying to
unfasten it from the tipi pole to which it was tied; her husband,
An-so-te, escaped. In consequence of this loss there was no sun dance
for two years, when, peace having been made between the two tribes, as
will be related farther on, the Kiowa visited the Osage camp,
somewhere on the Cimarron or the Salt fork of the Arkansas, and
recovered it, afterward giving a horse in return for it. Dohasan, who
conducted the negotiations, asked the Osage about it and offered a
pinto pony and several other ponies for it. The Osage said that they
had it and went home and brought it, but in a token of their
friendship refused to accept more than a single pony in return. On
this occasion both taime images were captured, together with the case
in which they were kept.
Two points in connection with this massacre deserve
attention. First, the Osage war party was on foot; this, as the Kiowa
state, was the general custom of the Osage and Pawnee, more especially
the latter, who are sometimes called Domank-iag,
"Walkers," by the Kiowa and was occasionally followed by other tribes,
including also the Kiowa. Grinnell states that the Blackfeet always
went to war on foot[08].
There was an obvious advantage in the practice, as a foot party could
more easily travel and approach a hostile camp without attracting
observation, relying upon themselves to procure horses to enable them
to return mounted.
Secondly, it is to be noted that the Osage beheaded the
Kiowa without scalping them. This, the Kiowa say, was a general Osage
practice; in fact, according to the Kiowa, the Osage never scalped
their enemies, but cut off their heads and left them unscalped upon
the field. They kept tally of the number killed, however, and when an
Osage warrior had killed four he painted a blue half circle, curving
downward, upon his breast.
After the massacre at K'odalta K'op already described, the
Osage returned to their own country, where there was a soldier camp
(i.e. Fort Gibson), bringing with them the Kiowa girl Gunpa-ndama
(Medicine-tied-to-tipi-pole) and her brother, taken at the time of
the massacre. The woman captured at the same time had escaped and
made her way back to her people. At Fort Gibson the soldiers told the
Osage that they and other Kiowa were all alike Indians and they should
be friends. They then bought the two captive children from the Osage
and proposed that some of the Osage should return with them (the
soliders) to the Kiowa country, there to give back the children to
their friends and invite the Kiowa to come down to the fort and make a
permanent treaty of peace and friendship between the tribes. The
Osage agreed, and accordingly a large party of soldiers, accompanied
by a number of Osage, with the girl Gunpaudama, set out for the Kiowa
country. The little boy had been killed by a sheep before starting.
With them went also the famous trader, Colonel Auguste Chouteau,
called "Soto" by the Kiowa, the first American trader known to the
Kiowa, Wichita, and associated tribes. Up to this time the Kiowa had
been at war with the Osage and had no knowledge of our government, and
these dragoons were the first United States troops they had ever
seen. The soldiers first met the Comanche, who told them that the
Kiowa were near the Wichita village at the farther end of the
mountains. When the troops arrived at the village the Kiowa were
afraid and kept at a distance until they saw the girl, which convinced
them that the soldiers were their friends. The girl was given back to
her people, and at the request of the soldiers a number of Kiowa,
including the head chief, Dohate, returned with them and the Osage to
the camp at Fort Gibson. They do not remember whether any of the
Apache went.
There the soldiers entertained the Kiowa with food, coffee
and sugar, and gave them blankets and other presents. A treaty of
peace was made between the Kiowa and soldiers (i.e., Americans), and
the Osage and other Kiowa were invited to trade with Chouteau, who
promised to bring goods to their country. Since that time the two
tribes have been friends. Hitherto the Kiowa had never had any
traders in their country, but after this peace a regular trade was
established. The first trader, whom they call Tome or Tome-te
(Thomas?) came soon afterward and built a trading post on the west
side of the Cache creek, about 3 miles below the present Fort Sill,
but he did not stay long.
A BOUNDARY SURVEY
In 1827 the Government sent out Maj. Langham to survey the
northern boundary of the Osage lands, but he was interrupted and
driven off by the Osages. In 1836, Jno. E McCoy was appointed to
carry out the work left by Maj. Langham. The trouble with the Osages
over this line was that the treaty said it was to run due west and the
Indian's idea of west is toward the sun-set which in summer is several
degrees north of due west.
The following is McCoy's account of his troubles:
On the 25th of May,1836, I commenced the survey
of the northern boundary of the Osage reservation, by order of General
William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs. The eastern boundary
of this reservation and the southern as far as the Arkansas river, had
been surveyed by Major A. L. Langham, in the year 1827 or 1828. Major
Langham had been interrupted in his work by the hostility of the
Osages, and his lines had been left incomplete.
From time immemorial the Osages had been known as
restless, troublesome outlaws, not particularly dangerous to life, but
decidedly so to property of any kind, especially horses which fell in
their way. They neither know nor wanted to know where the lines of
their reservation ran, and when they saw the lines of demarkation
being drawn so near to them, they determined to prevent Major Langham
from defining any limits. While in camp writing one day, a large
party of naked, painted, yelling Osages came suddenly upon a colored
employee, who happened to be some distance from the camp. He of
course broke toward the camp, but the yelling savages were with him
notwithstanding, administering blows with ramrods, bows and other
missles, in a ceaseless torrent at every jump. At camp they made no
halt, but in solid phalanx dashed through, trampling down tents and
camp fixtures; and the major with his writing apparatus was rolled to
the ground. Then the savages wound up the demonstration with an
impromptu war dance, and an emphatic demand for the surveyor and his
party to vamoose, with which command they complied with alacrity. In
consequence of this interruption of Major Langham's survey, thus
leaving his work incomplete, my survey of 1836 became necessary. My
survey commenced at the point where Major Langham had established the
northeast corner of the Osage reservation, in accordance with the
treaty of 1825, about 26 miles west from the Missouri state line. The
terms of the treaty provided that this point should be five miles east
and ten miles north of White Hair's old village, and Major Langham
placed this corner of the reservation accordingly. This point also
became the northeast corner of the Cherokee neutral land.
At a point nearly thirty-one miles west we reached the
Neosho river, about three or four miles above the village of the
Little Osages. Between forty and fifty miles out we crossed several
main tributaries of the east fork of the Verdigris river. At
sixty-one miles, we crossed the west fork of the Verdigris. At
ninety-six we reached a tributary of the Arkansas river, then known as
Little Neosho river, and at 124 miles we reached a stream then called
the Little Arkansas river, also a tributary of the Arkansas. Our line
crossed the Little Arkansas about a mile and a half before we reached
the main Arkansas and about five miles above the confluence of the
Little Arkansas with the main stream. This was 124 miles from the
point of beginning. Our line terminated opposite an island covered
with cottonwoods, near the west bank of the Arkansas river.
An incident in my own experience in this survey of the
Osage reservation line similar to that related of Major Langham, I
will here mention. Like him, I had no military escort. My company
was composed of seven or eight poorly armed men. The jar I had with
the Osages arose from the fact that their north line, which I was
running, crossed the Neosho only about three miles above the chief
town of the Little Osages, numbering at this time about one thousand
souls. This line curtailed their tribal limits much more than they
had anticipated. From time out of mind the Osages and the Kaws were
almost the sole occupants of the vast region extending from the
Mississippi and the Arkansas indefinitely. With their vague ideas of
land rights, dimensions, and treaty obligations, no wonder that they
were reluctant to have the limits to their possessory land rights
defined by the surveyor's compass. Many miles before I had reached
the river Neosho we were met by numbers of their young men on
horseback. At these times only the usual courtesies were given which
were commonly exchanged between the Wah-sah-she (Osages) and the
Moh-he-ton-ga (Americans), namely: first, an emphatic "How" from each
party; and secondly, an urgent request from the Indians for tobacco,
or anything else in sight. We were liberal with our tobacco in the
instances here mentioned, so much so that members of our party were
left a short supply of the article. Before reaching the camp near the
Neosho I began to realize that there was trouble ahead, for I was met
with a protest against our further progress and a request that I
should go down to see the big chief. To this latter I assented; and
early in the morning after our arrival in the vicinity I moved my
entire party to the river, as near the Indian town as practicable,
under guidance of a few stalwart Indians who had remained with us all
night, no doubt for the object of watching and reporting our
movements.
The town was situated on a high prairie hill a mile or so
west of the Neosho and fifteen or twenty miles up the river from White
Hair's town. After crossing the river, the crowd of men, women and
children and dogs gathered around us uncomfortably thick, and with a
noticeable absence of politeness due to visiting strangers. I placed
the pack horses in a sharp bend of the river where there was a
perpendicular bank. With one of my chain-bearers, Charles Findlay, I
proceeded on horseback, escorted by our guides or guards, and made my
way to the lodge of the big chief of the Little Osages. There we tied
our horses to the door post of the royal residence, which was a
structure about one hundred feet long by twenty feet wide, constructed
of bark over a framework of poles. This was in the center of the city
of more than a hundred lodges, of smaller dimensions than that of the
chief. With compass under arm and a formidable bunch of papers, the
young representative of our young republic entered the audience
chamber of the great Ka-he-ga.
The door was at one end of the chief's lodge, and at the
farther end sat his highness, a "sure-enough" big chief in size,
weighing well nigh, I estimated, three hundred pounds. Upon a raised
platform which ran all around the lodge were crowded several hundred
stalwart, naked savages, notables of the tribe. Our reception was
decidedly cool, without a sign of recognition, with not even a
friendly "How?" By long intercourse with Indians I had acquired
considerable proficiency in sign language. To my inquiry for an
interpreter I received no response. After waiting a while I opened my
proceedings by showing my compass and papers, exhibiting authority
from the great chief at Washington for what I was doing, and stated
finally that I should continue to run the line. My talk was given
with a limited knowledge of the Osage language, and by the use of
signs common to all western tribes of Indians.
The chief then began to talk, and he talked both loud and
fast. He said their line was away up north: that I should not run the
line where I was running it; and he intimated by significant gestures
with his hands in the vicinity of his topknot, that if I attempted to
do so there would be a raising of scalp-locks. I believed this to be
only bluster, aimed to scare us back, or make us pay something for
going on. I told him if we were stopped or molested, the soldiers, of
whom these Indians had a wholesome dread, would come down and wipe
them out.
After spending an hour and a half with no results, Findlay
and I took our departure, first expressing, as I left, my purpose to
go on west, and the chief responding that if we did we would be struck
by his young men. We found our horses at the door, with the tail of
my horse completely denuded of hair. I was glad to get the horse,
even with his corn-cob tail. Near the outskirts of the town a noise
greeted us somewhat as if bedlam had broken loose. I conjectured it
to be a ruse to scare us, or get us into trouble, and told Findlay not
to look around but to preserve a slow gait and dignified composure.
But the noise apparently increasing and nearing us, I looked around to
see a sea of heads moving towards us, and one head in the center
higher than all the rest. That head had a familiar look. We halted
to see the outcome, and Bill Cantrell, one of the men left at the camp
at the river, rode up on our bald-faced mare, escorted by near a
thousand yelling, screeching, howling men, women and children and
dogs. Poor Cantrell's face was about as white as the bald faced mare
he rode. His teeth were so dry he could not get them together. "Why,
what in the world are you doing here?" said I. In response in dry
sepulchural voice, he conveyed the pleasant intelligence that the boys
at the river were all killed and he alone had escaped to tell the
tale. "Nonsense," said I. "These Indians dare not attempt to kill
us, otherwise they could wipe us out in two minutes." He declared,
however, that he had left the men and the Indians fighting at the camp
with knives and clubs. I told him and Findlay to come on slowly
whilst I galloped down to ascertain the facts, I found the men and
horses all safe, without an Indian in sight. Soon after I had left
the camp with Findlay the Indians had made an effort to rob the
outfit. But a few of the men showing fight, with knives, a few arms,
and my Jacob's staff, they were routed without bloodshed, after a
brief struggle. While this flurry was in progress, Cantrell and one
other, both mounted on horses, crossed the river, and attempted to fly
towards home. A company of mounted Osages pursued them, headed them
off, and drove them back across the river.
We finished the survey of the Arkansas river without
serious molestation. Some young fellows followed us for a day or two,
but as we kept a close watch and guard, we were finally let alone.
