History of the Ojibway Nation/Chapter 8
CHAPTER VIII.
THE IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCE OF THEIR FIRST INTERCOURSE WITH THE WHITE RACE.
We have now come to that period in their history, when the important consequences of their discovery and intercourse with the white race began to work their effects upon the former even, monotonous, and simple course of life, which the Ojibways had pursued for so many generation, Their clay kettles, pots, and dishes were exchanged for copper and brass utensils; their comparatively harmless bow and arrow, knives and spears of bones, were thrown aide, and in their place they procured the fire-arm, steel knife, and tomahawk of the whites. They early became aware of the value of furs to the white strangers, and that the skins of animals, which they before used only for garments, now procured them the coveted commodities of the pale-faced traders, and the consequence was, that an indiscriminate slaughter, from this period commenced, of the beaver and other fur animals, which had grown numerous because molested only on occasions when their warm fur had been needed to cover the nakedness of the wild Indian, or their meat required to satisfy his hunger.
In the early part of the seventeenth century the Ojibways had already commenced the custom of yearly visiting Quebec, and afterwards Montreal, taking with them packs of beaver skins, and returning with the fire-arms, blankets, trinkets, and firewater of the whites. This custom they kept up for many years, gradually curtailing the length of their journeys as the whites advanced toward them step by step, locating their trading posts, first at Detroit, then at Mackinaw, then at Sault Ste. Marie, till at last the smoke of their cabins arose from the island of La Pointe itself, when these periodical journeys came comparatively to an end.
It was many years before the first French traders located a permanent trading post among the Ojibways of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, and in the mean time, as this tribe became supplied with fire-arms, and killed off the beaver in the vicinity of their ancient seat, they radiated in bands inland, westward and southward towards the beautiful lakes and streams which form the tributaries of the Wisconsin, Chippeway, and St. Croix rivers, and along the south coast of the Great Lake to its utmost extremity, and from thence even inland unto the headwaters of the Mississippi. All this was the country of the Dakotas and Foxes, and bravely did they battle to beat back the encroaching Ojibways from their best hunting grounds, but in vain; for the invaders, besides having increased in numbers, had become possessed of fearful weapons, against which they feared to battle with their primitive bow and arrow.
For a number of years the Ojibways continued to consider the bay of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong as their common home, and their hunting parties returned thither at different seasons of the year. Here also, and only here, were their grand medicine rites performed, and their war-parties collected to march against, and drive further back, their numerous foes. The fur trade has been the mainspring and cause which has led the Ojibways westward and more westward, till they have become possessed through conquest, and a persevering, never-relaxing pressure on their enemies, of the vast tracts of country over which they are scattered at the present day. Their present proud position in this respect they have not gained without an equivalent price in blood and life, and the Ojibway exclaims with truth when asked by the grasping "Long Knife" to sell his country, that "it is strewed with the bones of his fathers, and enriched with their blood."
Their wars at this period were generally carried on by small and desultory parties, and it was only on occasions when smarting under some severe blow or loss, inflicted by their enemies, that the warriors of the tribe would collect under some noted leader, and marching into the Dakota or Fox country, make a bold and effective strike, which would long be remembered, and keep their enemies in fear and check.
A circumstance happened, about this time, which, in the regular course of our narrative, we will here relate. A few lodges of Ojibway hunters under the guidance of Bi-aus-wah, a leading man of the tribe, claiming the Loon Totem, was one spring encamped at Kah-puk-wi-e-kah, a bay on the lake shore situated forty miles west of La Pointe.
Early one morning the camp was attacked by a large war-party of Foxes, and the men, women and children all murdered, with the exception of a lad and an old man, who, running into a swamp, and becoming fastened in the bog and mire, were captured and taken in triumph by the Foxes to their village, there to suffer death with all the barbarous tortures which a savage could invent.
Bi-aus-wah, at the time of the attack, was away on a hunt, and he did not return till towards evening. His feelings on finding his wigwams in ashes, and the lifeless, scalpless remains of his beloved family and relatives strewed about on the blood-stained ground, can only be imagined. He had lost all that bound him to life, and perfectly reckless he followed the return trail of the Foxes determined to die, if necessary, in revenging the grievous wrong which they had inflicted on him. He arrived at the village of his enemies, a day after their successful war-party had returned, and he heard men, women, and children screaming and yelling with delight, as they danced around the scalps which their warriors had taken.
Secreting himself on the outskirts of the village, the Ojibway chieftain waited for an opportunity to imbrue his hands in the blood of an enemy who might come within reach of his tomahawk. He had not remained long in his ambush, when the Foxes collected a short distance from the village, for the purpose of torturing and burning their two captives. The old man was first produced, and his body being wrapped in folds of the combustible birch bark, the Foxes set fire to it and caused him to run the gauntlet amid their hellish whoops and screams; covered with a perfect blaze of fire, and receiving withal a shower of blows, the old man soon expired.
The young and tender lad was then brought forward, and his doom was to run backwards and forwards on a long pile of burning fagots, till consumed to death. None but a parent can fully imagine the feelings which wrung the heart of the ambushed Ojibway chieftain, as he now recognized his only surviving child in the young captive who was about to undergo these torments. His single arm could not rescue him, but the brave father determined to die for or with his only son, and as the cruel Foxes were on the point of setting fire to the heap of dry fagots on which the lad had been placed, they were surprised to see the Ojibway chief step proudly and boldly into their midst and address them as follows:—
"My little son, whom you are about to burn with fire, has seen but a few winters; his tender feet have never trodden the war path—he has never injured you! But the hairs of my head are white with many winters, and over the graves of my relatives I have hung many scalps which I have taken from the heads of the Foxes; my death is worth something to you, let me therefore take the place of my child that he may return to his people."
Taken totally by surprise, the Foxes silently listened to the chief's proposal, and ever having coveted his death, and now fearing the consequence of his despairing efforts, they accepted his offer, and releasing the son, they bade him to depart, and burnt the brave father in his stead. The young man returned safely to his people at La Pointe, and the tale of his murdered kindred, and father's death, spread like wild fire among the wide scattered bands of the Ojibways.
A war party was gathered and warriors came, even from distant Ste. Marie and Grand Portage, to join in revenging the death of their chief.
They marched toward the headwaters of the St. Croix and Chippeway rivers, and returned not home till they had attacked and destroyed six villages of the Foxes, some of which were composed of earthen wigwams, which now form the mounds which are spread so profusely over this section of country. They reaped a rich harvest of scalps, and made such an effective strike, that from this time the Foxes evacuated the rice lakes and midland country about the St. Croix and Chippeway rivers, and retired south to the Wisconsin.
Soon after the above occurrence, the Ojibways pressed up the lake shore, and Wa-me-gis-ug-o, a daring and fearless hunter, obtained a firm footing and pitched his wigwam permanently at Fond du Lac, or Wi-a-quah-ke-che-gume-eng. He belonged to the Marten Totem family, and the present respected chiefs of that now important village, Shin-goob and Nug-aun-ub, are his direct descendants. Many families of his people followed the example of this pioneer, and erecting their wigwams on the islands of the St. Louis River, near its outlet into the lake, for greater security, they manfully held out against the numerous attacks of the fierce Dakotas, whose villages were but two days' march toward the south on the St. Croix River, and the west, at Sandy Lake. During this time, comprised between the years 1612 (at which I date their first knowledge of the white race), and 1671, when the French made their first national treaty or convocation at Sault Ste. Marie with the northwestern tribes, no permanent trading post had as yet been erected on the shores of Lake Superior; the nearest post was the one located at Sault Ste. Marie, which as early as the middle of the seventeenth century, had already become an important depot and outlet to the Lake Superior fur trade. Their intercourse with the whites consisted in yearly visits to their nearest western posts. The trade was partially also carried on through the medium of the intervening kindred tribe of Ottaways, or by adventurous traders who came amongst them with canoes loaded with goods, made a transient stay, sometimes even passing a winter amongst them, following their hunting camps, but returning in the spring of the year to Quebec with the proceeds of their traffic. No incident which the old men related as connected with the whites, is worthy of mention, till a messenger of the "Great French King" visited their village at Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, and invited them to a grand council of different tribes to be held at Sault Ste. Marie. Some of the words of this messenger are still recollected and minutely related by the Ojibways.
Early the following spring, a large delegation proceeded to Ste. Marie to attend the council, and hear the words of the "Great King of the French." Ke-che-ne-zuh-yauh, head chief of the great Crane family, headed this party, and represented the nation of the Ojibways. It is his descendants in the fourth generation, from whom I have obtained the few detached items which are here given respecting this important event.
Michel Cadotte (son of the Mons. M. Cadotte whom we have already had occasion to mention), who is now the oldest man of mixed Ojibway and French blood in the northwest, states that his great-grandfather, a Mons. Cadeau, on this occasion first came into the Ojibway country in the train of the French envoy Sieur du Lusson. The name has since been spelled Cadotte, and the wide spread family of this name claims their connection with the Ojibway tribe from this period. From this old half-breed, still living at La Pointe, I have obtained much reliable information, corroborating with that obtained from the Indians themselves.
The envoy of the French king asked, in the name of his nation, for permission to trade in the country, and for free passage to and from their villages all times thereafter. He asked that the fires of the French and Ojibway nations might be made one, and everlasting.[1]
He promised the protection of the great French nation against all their enemies, and addressing himself to the Chippeway chieftain from La Pointe, he said:—
"Every morning you will look towards the rising of the sun and you shall see the fire of your French father reflecting towards you, to warm you and your people. If you are in trouble, you, the Crane, must arise in the skies and cry with your 'far sounding' voice, and I will hear you. The fire of your French father shall last forever, and warm his children." At the end of this address a gold medal shaped like a heart was placed on the breast of Ke-che-ne-zuh-yauh, and by this mark of honor he was recognized as the chief of the Lake Superior Ojibways.[2] These words have been handed down from generation to generation, to his present descendants, and it will be readily seen by them that the French had already learned to use the figurative and forcible style of expression of the Ojibways, and understood their division into Totemic clans, with the peculiarities on which each clan prided themselves.
The Ojibways received the "heart" of their French brethren, and accepted their proposals of peace, amity, and mutual support and protection. From this period their country became more free and open to French enterprise, and they learned to term the French king "father."
The Ojibways learned to love the French people, for the Frenchmen, passessing a character of great plasticity, easily assimilated themselves to the customs and mode of life of their red brethren. They respected their religious rites and ceremonies, and they "never laughed" at their superstitious beliefs and ignorance. They fully appreciated, and honored accordingly, the many noble traits and qualities possessed by these bold and wild hunters of the forest. It is an acknowledged fact, that no nation of whites have ever succeeded so well in gaining the love and confidence of the red men, as the Franks. It is probable that their character in many respects was more similar, and adapted to the character of the Indian, than any other European nation. The "voyageur du Nord," as were then termed the common class of the French who visited them for the purposes of trade, were nearly as illiterate, ignorant, and superstitious as themselves, and many of them were far beneath the red man in strength of character and morality.
Their aim was not so much that of gain as of pleasure, and the enjoyment of present life, and mainly in this respect will be found the difference between the nature of their intercourse with the natives of America, and that which has since been carried on by the English and Americans, who, as a general truth, have made Mammon their God, and have looked on the Indian but as a tool or means of obtaining riches, and other equally mercenary ends.
In their lack of care for the morrow, which in a measure characterized the French "voyageur," and in their continual effervescence of animal spirits, open-heartedness, and joviality, they agreed fully with the like characteristics possessed by the Ojibways. Some of my readers may be surprised at my thus placing the Indian on a par with the laughter-loving Frenchman, for the reason that he has ever been represented as a morose, silent, and uncommunicative being. It is only necessary to state that this is a gross mistake, and but a character (far different from his real one), assumed by the Indian in the presence of strangers, and especially white strangers in whom he has no confidence. Another bond which soon more firmly attached them one to another with strong ties of friendship, was created by the Frenchmen taking the women of the Ojibways as wives, and rearing large families who remained in the country, and to this day, the mixture and bonds of blood between these two people has been perpetuated, and remains unbroken.
The days of the French domination was the Augustan era of the fur trade, and beavers were so plenty and the profits arising from the trade were so large, that the French traders readily afforded to give large presents of their coveted commodities, their beloved tobacco and fire-water to the Indians who visited them at their posts, or on occasions when they visited them at their own villages. In those days along the lake shore villages of the Ojibways, from Mackinaw to Fond du Lac of Lake Superior, there was no music so sweet to the ears of the inhabitants, as the enlivening boat song of the merry French "voyageurs," as they came from the direction of Quebec and Montreal each spring of the year—rapidly looming up from the bosom of the calm lake, laden with the articles so dearly valued among the wild hunters. They recognized in these yearly visits the "rays of the fire of their great French father," which he bade them to "look for each morning (spring) towards the rising of the sun."
No strangers were more welcome to the Ojibways, and warm were the shaking of hands and embraces on these occasions between the dusky son of the forest, and the polite and warm-hearted Frank. The dark-eyed damsels, though they stood bashfully in the rear of those who thronged the beach to welcome the new-comers, yet with their faces partly hidden they darted glances of welcome, and waited in the wigwams impatiently for their white sweethearts to come in the darkness and silence of night, to present the trinkets which they had brought all the way from Quebec, to adorn their persons and please their fancy.
After the Ojibways became possessed with fire-arms and ammunition, the arrival of a French "Bourgeois" with the flag of France flying at the stern of his canoe, was saluted with a volley of musketry, and in turn, when any chief approached the "posts" or "forts" accompanied with the same ensign, discharges of cannons were fired in his honor by the French. Thus, interchanges of good-will and polite attention were continually kept up between them.
The French early gained the utmost confidence of the Ojibways, and thereby they became more thoroughly acquainted with their true and real character, even during the comparative short season in which they mingled with them as a nation, than the British and Americans are at this present day, after over a century of intercourse. The French understood their division into clans, and treated each clan according to the order of its ascendency in the tribe. They conformed also to their system of governmental polity, of which the totemic division formed the principal ingredient. They were circumspect and careful in bestowing medals, flags, and other marks of honor, and appointing chiefs, and these acts were never done unless being first certain of the approbation of the tribe, and it being in accordance with their civil polity. In this important respect the British, and American government especially, have lacked most wofully. The agents and commissioners, and even traders of these two nations, have appointed chiefs indiscriminately or only in conformity with selfish motives and ends, and there is nothing which has conduced so much to disorganize, confuse, and break up the former simple but well-defined civil polity of these people; and were the matter to be fully investigated, it would be found that this almost utter disorganization has been one of the chief stumbling-blocks which has ever been in the way of doing good to the Indian race. This short-sighted system has created nothing but jealousies and heart-burnings among the Ojibways. It has broken the former commanding influence of their hereditary chiefs, and the consequence is, that the tribe is without a head or government, and it has become infinitely difficult to treat with them as a people. No good has resulted from this bad and thoughtless policy even to the governments who have allowed it to be pursued by its agents. On the contrary, they are punished daily by the evil consequences arising from it, for in this is to be found the true and first cause of the complaints which are continually at this day being poured into the ears of the "Great Father" at Washington, and it is through this that misunderstandings and non-conformity have arisen to treaties which have been made by the United States, not only with the Ojibways, but other tribes, and which are of the same nature that eventually led to the Creek, Seminole and Black Hawk wars.
- ↑ For a notice of Jean Baptiste Cadotte, married in 1756, see an article in this volume.
- ↑ Note by Mr. Warren.—On the death of this chieftain, this gold medal was buried with him, through a superstitious notion that he should appear in the land of spirits with the same honors which had attended him on earth. His grave was located on the shores of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong Bay. In 1850 it was carefully searched for by some of his descendants to recover the medal, but the grave was found to have been swept away by high water.