UC-NRLF 
 
 
 INDIAN 
 CHIEF 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Roy Nash 
 
THE 
 
 INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 BY 
 REV. S. H. MITCHELL 
 
 Know how sublime a thing it is 
 To suffer and be strong 
 
 Longfellow 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 
 
 1420 Chestnut Street 
 
 I8 9S 
 
Copyright 1895 by the 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 
 
 GIFT 
 
E-90 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE following brief narrative is sent forth, not as a 
 contribution to the literature of the Indian problem, but 
 as a tribute to the life and character of the Christian 
 chieftain whose memory it seeks to perpetuate. 
 
 When the author first entered the home of Mr. Journey- 
 cake to become acting pastor of the Delaware Church, 
 and made a study of the situation, it was apparent at a 
 glance that if he would do his people good he must stand 
 in friendly relations with the senior pastor. By divine 
 favor our intercourse at once, without any compromise of 
 ministerial prerogative, became most intimate, fraternal, 
 and confidential. Our views were largely akin, and we 
 had a common purpose. 
 
 Mr. Journey cake was a man of uncommon deliberate- 
 ness, especially in conversation. You would ask him a 
 question, and he would be so long before replying that 
 you would be led to think he had given it no attention. 
 This peculiarity was quickly learned, and also that it 
 paid to wait. 
 
 After a period of some months, the secretary of the 
 American Baptist Home Mission Society sought to pro 
 cure a biographical sketch of Father Journeycake for a 
 special Indian number " of the Home Mission Monthly. 
 But how should I obtain the facts the suitable data for 
 
 039 
 
4 PREFACE 
 
 such a sketch? They must be obtained from him in his 
 own peculiar way of giving. The communication of the 
 secretary was made known to him, and he seemed rather 
 pleased. But the method of obtaining the information 
 was not clear. It could only be gotten in his own time 
 and way. He was remarkably free from any appearance 
 of seeking notoriety, and yet seemed conscious that there 
 was much in his life experience that ought to be known. 
 Slowly there was obtained from him the material for the 
 desired sketch, but the process did not stop here. We 
 had been brought into very close and sympathetic rela 
 tions with each other. In his peculiar way he put me 
 in possession of the many incidents in his life, and in 
 that of his people, which form the basis of this memoir. 
 
 There was no intimation from him of any desire for 
 their publication, and yet in indescribable ways he im 
 pressed me that this would be his wish. He gave me his 
 confidence in a way altogether unusual for him outside 
 of his own family, and it has been regarded as a sacred 
 trust. How the obligations of that trust have been met 
 the pages following must disclose. 
 
 The members of Mr. Journey cake s family fully recog 
 nized the affectionate and sympathetic relations above 
 described, during the last years of their father s life, and 
 after his death united in the expression of their convic 
 tion that the writer was the proper person to prepare the 
 memoir that they wished to perpetuate his memory. That 
 the Lord may use it in some small measure to accomplish 
 his will is the author s earnest wish. 
 
 S. H. M. 
 CKESCO, IOWA, Nov., 1895. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 PRELIMINARY, 7 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 TREATIES WITH THE DELAWARES, 10 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 RELIGIOUS CONDITION OP THE DELAWARES, 17 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD, -20 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 CONVERSION AND EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE, 28 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE, 32 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER REMOVAL, 39 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 MADE CHIEF, 45 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 REMOVAL AND ITS TRIALS, CO 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 DEDICATION AND ORDINATION, 54 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 PHENOMENAL GROWTH, 60 
 
 5 
 
6 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE, 65 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII 
 OLD AGE AND CHANGED CONDITIONS, 71 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 ANOTHER TESTIMONIAL, 77 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 LAST DAYS, 86 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 LIVING LINKS, 89 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 PRESENT NEEDS OF THE INDIANS, 99 
 
THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PRELIMINARY 
 
 Rev. Charles Journeycalce. Born December 16, 1817. Died 
 January 3, 1894.. 
 
 A kind and loving father and a friend to the needy ; he 
 died as he lived, a pure and upright man, after many years 1 
 faithful service in the ministry and as chief adviser for his 
 people, the Delawares. 
 
 Jane Sosha Journeycake. Born February, 1821. Died 
 January 13, 1893. 
 
 " None knew her but to love her." 
 
 SUCH is, in part, the simple and truthful inscription 
 upon the monument that marks the grave of this excellent 
 man and his equally excellent wife. The monument is 
 of white marble a beautiful double shaft, rising from the 
 head of the grave, curving and uniting in one central col 
 umn. Beautiful symbol of the two lives uniting in one, 
 and for more than half a century witnessing to the power 
 of a Christian civilization to mold and to control in a 
 most noble family life even the native children of our 
 primeval forests. 
 
 Being the last chief of his tribe, and since the surren- 
 
 7 
 
THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 der of their tribal government until his death, their chief 
 counselor in all their affairs, it will be necessary to give 
 some account of the Delaware Indians through the times 
 leading up to that portion of their history in which Chief 
 Journeycake has constituted so important a factor. 
 
 In an estimated Indian population of one hundred and 
 forty-nine thousand east of the Mississippi a hundred 
 years ago, the great Algonquin group numbered ninety 
 thousand. Of this group the Delawares claimed to be 
 the parent stock, and the claim seems to have been con 
 ceded by the related tribes. They were called Lenni 
 Lenape, or original people. They occupied the territory 
 on the eastern coast from the mouth of the Potomac to 
 and beyond the Hudson and stretching far back into the 
 interior. It is said that when Hudson anchored his first 
 ship off New York Island, in 1609, the Delawares stood 
 in great numbers on the shore to receive him, exclaim 
 ing in their innocence, " Behold, the gods have come to 
 visit us." 
 
 They had a tradition that many hundreds of years ago 
 they lived away toward the setting sun, and that, emi 
 grating to the eastward, they had, on crossing the Missis 
 sippi, encountered and destroyed a mighty nation possess 
 ing many large towns. These the Lenni Lenape drove 
 down the Mississippi, taking possession of their land and 
 finally settling along the Delaware River and the eastern 
 coast. There was also a tradition that another tribe had 
 followed them from the far West, from which descended 
 the Iroquois, the powerful enemies of the Delawares. 
 
PRELIMINARY 
 
 It is further said, that in the wars with the Iroqucis, the 
 latter, finding themselves hard pressed by the French 
 settlers of Canada on the one side and the Delawares on 
 the other, devised the plan of relieving themselves by 
 persuading the Delawares to lay down their arms and 
 become mediators between the warring factions. This 
 the Delawares consented to do, and thus ceasing to be 
 warriors, the Iroquois turned and heaped reproaches 
 upon them, calling them " women." 
 
 This tradition of their having for a time laid down 
 their arms, would seem to account for the fact that the 
 Delawares, when first met by the whites, were the most 
 docile and friendly of Indians, though afterward, when 
 provoked to take up arms again, they became most 
 formidable warriors. 
 
 Whatever may be thought of these traditions, it is cer 
 tain that the Delawares were leaders among the Indian 
 tribes with which our government had to deal in getting 
 possession of lands from Pennsylvania westward to the 
 Mississippi, and the salient facts of our dealings with 
 them are vital to a right apprehension of the history it 
 is proposed to sketch. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 WHEN the name " Delawares " was first given to this 
 people by the whites, they rather resented it, but when 
 told that they and one of the principal rivers were named 
 after a great English brave, Lord De La Warre, they 
 willingly took the name. It is well known, that whenWil- 
 liam Penn negotiated for Pennsylvania, it was from the 
 Delaware chiefs that he made the purchase. Chief Jour- 
 neycake possessed a perfect facsimile of the wampum 
 belt that was presented by the chiefs of the Delawares to 
 Penn in confirmation of the bargain. " The first treaty 
 of the United States with the Delawares was made in 
 1778 at Ft. Pitt. The parties to it were said to be The 
 United States and the Delaware Nation. " It was stipu 
 lated in this treaty that the United States should guaran 
 tee to the Delawares and their heirs " all their territorial 
 rights in the fullest and most ample manner as bounded 
 by former treaties," and also that 
 
 Should it for the future be found conducive for the 
 mutual interest of both parties to invite any other tribes 
 
 1 For the facts sketched in this chapter I am chiefly indebted 
 to "A Century of Dishonor," written by Helen Hunt Jackson, 
 "A Sketch of the United States Government s Dealings with 
 some of the Indian Tribes," and seemingly taken from official 
 records. 
 10 
 
TREATIES WITH THE DELA WARES 1 1 
 
 who have been friendly to the United States to join the 
 present confederation and form a State, whereof the Dela 
 ware Nation shall be the head, it shall be done, and 
 the Delawares shall be entitled to send a representative 
 to Congress. 
 
 This was during the war of the Revolution, and the 
 treaty was made, of course, with such of the tribes as 
 were friendly to the United States. At the same time 
 " the rest of the Ohio tribes, most of the New York 
 tribes, and a large part of the Delawares were in arms 
 on the British side." At the close of the war of the Rev 
 olution the United States in its first treaty with the 
 Indians made provision that the Delaware chiefs and 
 head men, who had made the former alliance with us, 
 should be reinstated in the Delaware Nation. Among 
 the chiefs who had fought on the side of the United 
 States and who were now restored to all the privileges of 
 the Delaware Nation was Colonel Henry Kilbuck, 1 of 
 whom an interesting reminiscence will appear in a subse 
 quent part of this book. This first treaty after the close 
 of the war was made in 1785, and was participated in by 
 the " Delawares, Wyandottes, Chippewas, and Ottawas." 
 By it certain lands were confirmed to the United States, 
 and the remainder to the Indians. The States of " Mich 
 igan, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania," are largely 
 made up of lands that were by this treaty, "in 1785, 
 given to the Indians. The reader is asked to bear in 
 mind, that the facts here referred to, in the most con- 
 1 See Chapter XVI., Supplementary. 
 
THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 densed manner possible, are necessary to any proper un- 
 derstaDding of the history of the Delaware people and 
 their last chief, with whose biography this work is con 
 cerned. 
 
 During the troublous times that followed the forma 
 tion of our government the Delawares at first were our 
 friends, and have the credit of faithfully observing the 
 treaties made with them. In 1791 the Secretary of War, 
 in sending commissioners to treat with the Miami and 
 Wabash Indians, recommended them to confer on the 
 way with the friendly Delawares and take some of their 
 leading chiefs with them as allies, saying, " These tribes 
 are our friends, and as far as is known the treaties have 
 been well observed by them." But about this time the 
 Delaware leaders became possessed of the idea that the 
 United States government was not acting in good faith 
 with them, but was seeking to dispossess them of their 
 lands by unfair means, and they are mentioned among 
 the hostile tribes. In 1792, in a message sent from the 
 government, was found this paragraph : " Remember that 
 no additional lands will be required of you or any other 
 tribe to those that have been ceded by former treaties," 
 This was in an appeal for a peaceable settlement of differ 
 ences growing out of the boundary question, in which 
 the message says : 
 
 
 
 Brethren ! The President of the United States enter 
 tains the opinion that the war which exists is an error 
 and a mistake on your part. That you believe the United 
 States wants to deprive you of your lands and drive you 
 
TEE ATI ES WITH THE DEL A WARES 13 
 
 out of the country. Be assured that this is not so. On 
 the contrary, that we should be greatly gratified with 
 the opportunity of imparting to you all the blessings of 
 civilized life, of teaching you to cultivate the earth and 
 raise corn ; to raise oxen, sheep, and other domestic ani 
 mals ; to build comfortable houses, and to educate your 
 children so as ever to dwell upon the land. 
 
 In 1793 another great council was held, to which 
 came the chiefs and head men of the Delawares and of 
 twelve other tribes, to meet commissioners of the United 
 States for one last effort to settle the vexed boundary 
 question. The records of this council are profoundly 
 touching. The Indians reiterated over and over the pro 
 visions of the old treaties, which had established the Ohio 
 River as one of their boundaries. Their words were not 
 the words of the ignorant, clumsily and doggedly hold 
 ing to a point ; they were the words of clear-headed, 
 statesmanlike rulers, insisting on the rights of their 
 nations. As days went on, and it became more and more 
 clear that the United States commissioners would not 
 agree to the establishment of the boundary for which the 
 Indians contended, the speeches of the chiefs grew sadder 
 and sadder. . . Finally, in desperation, as a last hope, 
 they propose to the commissioners that all the money 
 which the United States offers to pay them for their 
 lands shall be given to the white settlers to induce them 
 to move away. They say, Money to us is of no value, and 
 to most of us unknown ; and as no consideration whatever 
 can induce us to sell the lands on which we get sustenance 
 for our women and children, we hope we may be allowed 
 to point out a mode by which your settlers may be easily 
 removed, and peace thereby obtained. 1 
 * 
 
 Let the reader call to mind that this was but a hundred 
 and two years ago, that the words quoted above are those 
 
 1 "A Century of Dishonor," pages 41, 42. 
 
14 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 of the chiefs and head men of a number of tribes of In 
 dians, the leading tribe being the Delawares, pleading 
 for the peaceable settlement of questions concerning the 
 ownership and possession of that belt of country in the 
 very center of the great Mississippi Valley, north of the 
 Ohio River and stretching westward from Pennsylvania, 
 now comprising the great central States of Ohio, Indiana, 
 Michigan, and Illinois, and it will be seen at once how 
 vital to a proper understanding of the history of the last 
 Delaware chief and of the remnant of that noble race 
 yet living, are the facts recorded in this chapter. 
 
 The arguments used by their chiefs for the mode of 
 settlement proposed by them are cogent, and doubtless to 
 them seemed convincing, whatever view might be taken by 
 the commissioners of the United States. The settlers north 
 of the Ohio were poor people, or they never would have 
 consented to live in a country beset by so many dangers 
 and in the midst of so much suffering. The government 
 was offering to the Indians a very large sum of money 
 for the relinquishment of the lands these poor settlers 
 occupied, and another considerable sum to each separate 
 tribe, annually in perpetuity. 
 
 "Now," say those chiefs, "divide this large sum of 
 money which you have offered us among these people ; 
 give to each, also, a proportion of what you say you would 
 give to us annually, ... and we are persuaded they would 
 most readily accept it in lieu of the lands you sold them," 
 adding, " If vou add, also, the great sums you nrist ex 
 pend in raising and paying armies with a view to force 
 us to yield you our country, you will certainly have more 
 
TREATIES WITH THE DELA WARES 15 
 
 than sufficient for the purpose of repaying these settlers 
 for all their labor and their improvements." 
 
 It is not our purpose to speak particularly of the in 
 justice done by the United States in failing to carry out 
 the provisions of treaties. One or two further extracts 
 will show how little either party could understand at the 
 time the exigencies that must soon arise in the develop 
 ments of history to make the strict observance of the 
 provisions of these treaties impossible. 
 
 For instance, in a treaty made in 1795 with the repre 
 sentatives of the Delawares and eleven other tribes, the 
 United States delivered to be distributed among these 
 tribes the sum of twenty thousand dollars in serviceable 
 goods, and solemnly covenanted, " henceforward every 
 year, forever, to deliver at some convenient place, north 
 ward of the river Ohio, like useful goods, suited to the 
 circumstances of the Indians," to the amount of nine 
 thousand five hundred dollars more. " Every year for 
 ever," as if the conditions then existing were to continue 
 through the ages. And in the Indians appeal for a settle 
 ment in 1793, before quoted, they close by saying: 
 
 We desire you to consider, brothers, that our only de 
 mand is the peaceable possession of a small part of our 
 once great country. Look back and review the lands 
 from whence we have been driven to this spot. We can 
 retreat no farther, because the country behind hardly af 
 fords food for its inhabitants ; and we have therefore re 
 solved to leave our bones in this small space to which we 
 are confined. 1 
 
 1 " Border Wars of two Centuries," page 234. 
 
16 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURXEYCAKE 
 
 To prevent any misunderstanding about the meaning 
 of the treaties in the relinquishment of their lands by the 
 Indians, it was explicitly declared that 
 
 The Indian tribes who have a right to these lands, are 
 quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting, and dwelling 
 thereon, so long as they please, without "any molestation 
 from the United States ; but when those tribes, or any of 
 them, shall be disposed to sell their lands, or any part of 
 them, they are to be sold only to the United States ; and 
 until such sale the United States will protect all the said 
 Indian tribes, in the quiet enjoyment of their lands, 
 against all citizens of the United States, and against all 
 other white persons who intrude upon the same. 
 
 In other words, they were not selling their lands at that 
 time, in fact, but only binding themselves not to sell to 
 anybody else when they might be disposed to part with 
 them. The above was the situation of the Delawares up 
 to within a few years before the time that Chief Journey- 
 cake was born. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE DELA WARES 
 
 IN the eighteenth century the Moravians established 
 missions among the Delaware Indians and met with a 
 good degree of success. " Settlements of Moravian 
 converts were made in 1741 at Bethlehem and Nazareth 
 in Pennsylvania." These Christian Indians, though con 
 tinuing peaceful and friendly to the whites, " were sub 
 jected to brutal outrages from lawless settlers during the 
 exasperation of the French and Indian wars." 
 
 The settlers, driven to desperation by the dangers and 
 troubles that environed them, were led somehow to 
 suspect the Christian Delawares and others, and to charge 
 them with many of the outrages from which they suffered. 
 With monstrous cruelty and indiscriminating rage they 
 wreaked vengeance upon the unoffending converts. A 
 single quotation will show the spirit by which they were 
 impelled : " On the borders of Pennsylvania the settlers 
 were now fighting the Indians on the one hand, and the 
 Quakers on the other." They declared that the Quakers 
 would "go farther to befriend a murdering Delaware 
 than to protect the border." l Thus the very peaceful 
 and unwarlike disposition of the Christian Indians made 
 them objects of jealous suspicion to the enraged settlers, 
 
 1 "Border Wars of Two Centuries," p. 129. 
 
 B 17 
 
18 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOUKNEYCAKE 
 
 and the terrible outrages they were subjected to forms one 
 of the dark chapters in the history of the treatment they 
 generally received at the hands of the whites. 
 
 The pressure upon the Dela wares caused their general 
 migration westward, so that " by 1768 they had all 
 removed to the west of the Alleghanies. The Moravian 
 missionaries emigrated to Ohio with their flocks, where 
 the number of Christians increased." 
 
 When the first treaty with the Delawares was made in 
 1778 "the Christian Indians had three towns on the 
 Muskingum, the principal Delaware town being at 
 Gnadenhiitten." These remaining peaceful and friendly 
 to the colonists during the Revolution, " the hostile 
 Indians, angry at the neutrality of the Christians, seized 
 them and removed them to Sandusky, Ohio." This was in 
 1781, and here we still find the Delawares at the time of 
 the birth of Chief Journeycake. 
 
 Growing short of provisions, after their removal, a 
 party of the Indians returned to their former settlement 
 on the Muskingum to save some of the crops from which 
 they were driven. " The settlers, hearing of their reap 
 pearance, attacked them, and, though they made no 
 resistance, ninety of them were brutally massacred. This 
 threw the Christian Indians into despair ; most of them 
 removed to Canada, where their descendants still re 
 main." l 
 
 It is not surprising that these outrages, associated in 
 
 1 "Encyclopaedia Britannica," American Supplement. Vol. II., 
 p. 59a 
 
RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE DELA WARES 19 
 
 the minds of the still savage Indians with the missions 
 referred to, so prejudiced them against the very name of 
 Christian missions that it was many years after their set 
 tlement atSandusky before the Delawares would permit a 
 missionary to labor among them. The same conditions 
 have substantially obtained elsewhere. While progress 
 has been made, and evidences of the power of the gospel 
 over the savage mind have not been wanting, yet the in 
 fluence of the general treatment of the Indians by the 
 whites has been so unfavorable, and removals from the 
 area of partial success have been so frequent, and often so 
 cruel, that anything like permanent success has been an 
 impossibility. 
 
 Later on we shall see how, under changed and more 
 favorable conditions, more encouraging results were 
 achieved. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 
 
 IN the Delaware settlement, on the upper Sandusky, 
 lived an Indian who had traded much with the white 
 people, and who married a white woman by the name of 
 Castlemau. A daughter of this union grew up to be 
 intelligent, to speak the English language and several 
 Indian dialects, and to become an expert interpreter. 
 She was married to a full-blooded Indian, named Journey- 
 cake, and from this union was born, December 16, 1817, 
 Charles Journeycake, the subject of this memoir. Sally 
 Journeycake, the mother, was born about 1797, and died 
 in the Indian Territory, February 6, 1873. In her his 
 tory, and that of her more famous son and his descend 
 ants, we have such an illustration of the methods and 
 power of the gospel in regenerating and elevating the 
 Indian races as is worthy of the widest attention. 
 
 It has been mentioned in a previous chapter that, 
 owing to the outrages inflicted upon the Christian Dela- 
 wares by the border settlers, notably in 1763 and 1782 
 when most of them were killed and the remainder driven 
 to Canada, the unconverted Indians who remained in the 
 Sandusky settlements became very hostile to Christian 
 missions. It appears that at the first quarter of the 
 present century there was not a Christian Delaware in 
 20 
 
ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 21 
 
 the settlement. Two or three attempts had been made 
 to organize missions, but the head men of the Delawares 
 rejected all overtures. At length a Methodist mission 
 was started among the Wyaudottes, on their reservation 
 adjacent to the Delawares, and Mrs. Sally Journey cake 
 was their interpreter. An invitation was finally extended 
 to these missionaries to visit Mr. Journeycake s house 
 and preach, which invitation was occasionally accepted. 
 In interpreting for the missionaries, Mrs. Journeycake 
 learned some passages of Scripture and some verses of 
 Christian hymns. Of the results of this we shall learn 
 later. 
 
 In the year 1817 " it was deemed advisable to make an 
 effort to extinguish the Indian title to all the lands 
 claimed by them within the limits of the State of Ohio. " 
 To this end "two commissioners were appointed with 
 great discretionary powers, and a treaty was concluded 
 early in the autumn, by which was ceded to the 
 United States nearly all the land to which the Indians 
 had claim in Ohio, a part of Indiana, and a part of 
 Michigan." 
 
 In 1818, during the first year of Chief Journeycake s 
 infancy, another treaty ceded all the lands which the 
 Indians claimed in Indiana, and "the United States 
 promised to provide for them a country to reside in on 
 the west side of the Mississippi, and to guarantee to 
 them the peaceable possession of the same." By the 
 agreement of 1818 the Indians were allowed to remain 
 three years longer on their lands, and the government 
 
22 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 agreed "to give them one hundred and twenty horses, 
 and a sufficient number of pirogues to aid in transporting 
 them to the west side of the Mississippi," and also provi 
 sions for the journey. It appears, however, that the delay 
 of three years allowed for their removal was prolonged 
 t<i ten years, for in 1827 we find them still in Ohio, but 
 making preparation for their removal to the West. At 
 this time a fatal disease broke out among their horses, 
 and all died except two, belonging to Mr. Journeycake. 
 These fled, and it was believed by the people that an 
 instinct for their own safety prompted their flight to a 
 distant spot, where afterward they were found. This 
 incident was cherished among them in after years as an 
 intervention of Divine Providence in their behalf, and 
 when we view the consequences of this delay to the 
 Journeycake family, as shown by what followed, who shall 
 say that they were wrong ? 
 
 The tribe was now in great straits. Unable to proceed, 
 the provisions that the government was to furnish for 
 their journey would either not be forthcoming, or being 
 furnished would soon be exhausted. Late in 1827 Mr. 
 Journeycake took his family some fifty miles west to 
 spend the winter with the Shawnees, and still later pene 
 trated twenty miles farther into the dense forest for a 
 winter s hunt. While in this winter retreat his wife, 
 Mrs. Sally Journeycake, the interpreter, was taken 
 violently ill. The husband went seventy miles seeking 
 help for her, and while he was absent she fell into a sort 
 of swoon or trance state, and was supposed to be dying 
 
ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 23 
 
 or dead. After being many hours in that state she 
 awoke, and at once began praising God. The knowledge 
 she had obtained while interpreting for the missionaries, 
 and the Christian hymns and portions of Bible truth had 
 proven in her soul the good seed of the kingdom, and 
 from that time she was an earnest and devoted Christian 
 the first Christian among the Delawares of the present 
 century. Following the example of the Christian mis 
 sionaries from whom she had learned the precious truth, 
 she adopted at once Christian customs of family life, and 
 observed stated times of family devotion. 
 
 The son, Charles, was now ten years old. In 1828 the 
 long, slow march began from the Sandusky settlement 
 to the new reservation, away to the west bank of the 
 Missouri River. Can any one imagine the emotions with 
 which they set out on this long and tedious journey? 
 Were their strong and tender ties of attachment to be 
 sundered? ties of association binding them to the 
 woods, the lakes, the hills and valleys, the streams and 
 fields, the hunting grounds and the burying grounds, 
 among which they had hoped for a permanent home. He 
 knows little of the common bond of human brother 
 hood who can doubt that there were heartburnings at 
 this setting out to leave all these associations behind. 
 
 But to one of this caravan of wayfarers especially this 
 journey must have had peculiar significance. Sally 
 Journeycake alone of all that company of dusky exiles 
 knew what it was to trust in the Christian s God. 
 Around the campfires the Indians would dance their war 
 
24 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 dances or engage in the wild orgies of their native lift 1 , 
 but she alone stood aloof from all their revelries. She 
 commanded the respect of all by her consideration and 
 great kindness. She maintained her Christian demeanor, 
 gathering her little family in her tent and seeking the Di 
 vine blessing upon them. What strange and conflicting 
 emotions must have been hers ! What longing for Chris 
 tian companionship ! What a test of her simple faith ! 
 One thing must have cheered her and proved an inspira 
 tion. Her mother-eye could not fail to see that her son 
 Charles was deeply impressed by her Christian deport 
 ment and ardent hopes were inspired in her heart. It 
 was his delight in after years to make loving mention of 
 impressions made upon his mind by these scenes and to 
 bear testimony to their influence on his life. 
 
 This journey to the West seems to have taken about a 
 year. There was a tarrying of a part, if not all, of the 
 band for a short time in Indiana, on White River, and 
 another stop, and probably an encampment for the winter, 
 in Southwest Missouri. So that the Delawares arrived at 
 their Kansas destination in the spring of 1829. 
 
 By the treaty of 1818 they had ceded all their lands 
 in Ohio and Indiana to the United States, and in it the 
 government had agreed " to provide for them a country 
 to reside in on the west side of the Mississippi," and " to 
 guarantee to them the peaceable possession of the same." 
 
 This agreement seems to have been lacking in some of 
 the specific details. A supplementary article was added 
 to it about this time, in which it is said : 
 
Mis. Sally Journeycake Mother of the Chief. 
 Page 24. 
 
ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 25 
 
 Whereas, The Delaware Nation are now willing to re 
 move, it is agreed upon that the country in the fork of 
 the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, selected for their home, 
 shall be conveyed and forever secured by the United 
 States to the said Delaware Nation, as their permanent 
 residence, and the United States hereby pledges the faith 
 of the government to guarantee to said. Delaware 
 Nation forever the quiet and peaceable and undisturbed 
 enjoyment of the same against the claims and assaults of 
 all and every other people whatever, i 
 
 In addition there was promised, besides what had been 
 formerly pledged, " an additional permanent annuity of 
 one thousand dollars, forty horses, the use of six wagons 
 and teams to remove heavy articles, provisions for the 
 journey, and one year s subsistence after they reached 
 their new home. Also the erection of a grist and saw 
 mill within two years." 
 
 Under this fair promise of relief from the tedious con 
 flicts, painful uncertainties, and disappointments of the 
 past, the Delawares reached their El Dorado in the spring 
 of 1829. An incident that took place upon their arrival 
 at the Kansas River illustrates the courageous spirit of 
 Chief Journeycake, and at the same time affords a view 
 of that providence which was preparing for him the 
 career which has distinguished him as a man. On reach 
 ing the spot where they were to cross the Kansas River, 
 it was found greatly swollen by recent rains. It was 
 necessary to take a number of horses across the river by 
 causing them to swim. The young brave, then less than 
 
 1 "A Century of Dishonor," pp. 48, 49. 
 
26 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 twelve years old, mounted the leader and fearlessly 
 plunged into the swollen river. Reaching the opposite 
 bank in safety, he says, " I noticed a man with a white 
 hat, who proved to be a white man, standing near and 
 looking at me." The stranger approached the brave 
 young rider and addressed him kindly in the few Indian 
 words he had already learned. This stranger was I. D. 
 Blanchard who, with the noted missionary to the Indians, 
 Isaac McCoy, was there all ready to start a mission 
 among the Delawares and related tribes in this new In 
 dian settlement about forming. This was the beginning 
 of a friendship often appreciatively mentioned by Mr. 
 Journeycake in after years. His mother, Mrs. Sally 
 Journeycake, in 1831, became the first interpreter for the 
 missionaries in the Territory of Kansas, and her heart 
 was caused to rejoice in these privileges of co-operation 
 with other workers for Christ. With gladness she ren 
 dered into the language of her people the wonderful 
 words of the gospel which had been so blessed to her. 
 
 In 1833 "the Secretary of War congratulated the 
 nation on the fact that the country north of the Ohio, 
 east of the Mississippi, including the States of Ohio, In 
 diana, Illinois, and the Territory of Michigan as far as 
 the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, had been practically 
 cleared of the embarrassments of Indian relations, as there 
 are not more than five thousand Indians, all told, left in 
 this whole region." And in this same year the Commis 
 sioner of Indian Affairs, referring to the condition of the 
 Indians, notably these Delawares, gratefully notices 
 
ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 27 
 
 "How much the Indians condition is ameliorated under 
 the policy of removal." " Protected by the strong arm 
 of the government, and dwelling on lands distinctly and 
 permanently established as their own, enjoying a delight 
 ful climate and a fertile soil " they have " turned their at 
 tention to the cultivation of the earth and abandoned the 
 chase for the surer supply of domestic animals." 
 
 In the same year (1833) the agent for the Delawares 
 and Shavvnees mentioned that he " was shown cloth that 
 was spun and wove, and shirts and other clothing made 
 by the Indian girls." It was not the first time the Dela 
 wares had shown a disposition to " turn their attention to 
 the cultivation of the earth," and to other pursuits of a 
 frontier civilization, as their cornfields forty years before 
 bore witness. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 CONVERSION AND EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE 
 
 THERE is probably no better illustration of the working 
 of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men by the use of 
 his own word, and the sanctifying influence of redeemed 
 souls, than Charles Journeycake. We have seen some 
 thing of this in the case of his mother. The passages of 
 Scripture and verses of Christian hymns learned while 
 interpreting for the missionaries, the good seed of the 
 kingdom, falling into good ground sprang up and bore 
 fruit in her own conversion and consecrated life. We 
 have traced the impression of her devotion upon her 
 eleven-years-old son on their weary journeying to the 
 West, in 1828. More than sixty years afterward, when 
 past threescore and ten years of age, Mr. Journeycake 
 used to describe to the writer in glowing and graphic 
 terms the profound impressions made upon him by the 
 piety of his mother in those early days. 
 
 Arrangements were made at once, upon their arrival 
 in 1829, to begin mission work on their Kansas Reserva 
 tion. As might be expected, progress at first was very 
 slow. I have found no record of organized mission work 
 earlier than 1833 when it appears that the Baptist Gen 
 eral Convention had an established mission there. In 
 the meantime, Charles Journeycake fully accepted Christ, 
 28 
 
CONVERSION AND EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE 29 
 
 and in 1833, was baptized by a missionary by the name 
 of Likins. He was the first Delaware baptized in the 
 present century and, except his mother, the only Chris 
 tian of his tribe. In 1835 his father being also con 
 verted, father and mother were baptized. This was the 
 beginning and nucleus of a Baptist church among the 
 Delaware Indians, and its subsequent history shows how 
 it conformed to the methods of divine grace as seen in 
 the New Testament and in Christian history. It would be 
 very interesting to speak at greater length of these early 
 missionary efforts ; but the data at hand are very lim 
 ited. We are only able to discover that the Baptist Gen 
 eral Convention and its successor, the Missionary Union, 
 among many other similar efforts among the Indians, 
 conducted mission work "among the Delaware and 
 Stockbridge Indians, beyond the Mississippi, from 1833 
 to 1864," when the Indian work was transferred by the 
 Missionary Union to the Home Mission Society. This 
 was twenty-one years before Kansas was organized into a 
 a Territory of the United States and admitted for settle 
 ment as such by an act of Congress in May, 1854, and it 
 seems highly probable that Charles Journeycake was 
 the first person baptized in what is now the State of 
 Kansas. 
 
 After the baptism of his father and mother, in 1835, 
 we have no means of knowing the progress of the work 
 for a number of years ; but there is every reason to be 
 lieve that, like all mission work at its beginning, it was 
 exceedingly slow. In 1837 Rev. J. G. Pratt and wife 
 
30 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOUKNEYCAKE 
 
 set out from Boston for the far West, and on the 12th of 
 May reached what was then called the Shawuee mission, 
 in which the Delawares seem to have shared, near Leav 
 en worth, Kansas. In 1838 nearly a hundred Stock- 
 bridge Indians came from Wisconsin and settled in the 
 same neighborhood. They were well civilized and were 
 of an intelligent and vigorous stock. They were Pres 
 byterians in faith, but under Mr. Pratt s teaching a num 
 ber of them became Baptists, and this added strength to 
 the Delaware Baptist Mission. 
 
 Mr. Journeycake began preaching when still a young 
 man. He preached in his own language and in the 
 Shawnee, Wyandotte, Seneca, and Ottawa dialects. He 
 was a great traveler, ranging over wide areas of the vast 
 plains of the West, attending Indian councils, and en 
 gaging in his favorite pastime of hunting. There is 
 evidence that he went everywhere preaching the gospel. 
 He has told the writer of a time when still a young man, 
 when going with a number of the head men of his tribe 
 to attend a great council down in the Cherokee Nation, 
 they reached a point where religious meetings were being 
 held. He was so fired with zeal for the faith that he 
 obtained leave to tarry behind and aid in the meetings 
 for a number of days before he went on and joined his 
 friends and the council. 
 
 His friends wished him to be ordained to the ministry 
 in these earlier days in Kansas ; but he seems to have had 
 no special ambition for its honors. He said there was 
 the missionary to administer ordinances, and there was 
 
CONVERSION AND EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE 31 
 
 no special need of his ordination, therefore he preferred 
 to continue as he was, a layman helping the Lord s cause 
 as opportunity might open ; and this same spirit of defer 
 ence to others in ministerial functions characterized him 
 to the end of life. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE 
 
 IN 1837, at the age of twenty, Mr. Journeycake was 
 married to Jane Sosha, a Delaware maid about sixteen 
 years of age. Of her family little more can be learned 
 than that she was born in February, 1821. But her life 
 has made it evident that the same wise Providence that 
 in so many ways shaped the life of our brother was his 
 guide in choosing his wife. It would be most interesting 
 were it possible to penetrate the past, and look in upon 
 the home of the young Indian and his bride when they 
 thus began a marriage union, which for the graces of 
 domestic love, harmony, and home making, formed such 
 a conspicuous figure throughout the fifty-six years of 
 their married life. The writer of these pages deems it 
 one of the rare privileges of his own life to have shared 
 the blessings and noted the influences of that home dur 
 ing the ripened and closing years of its full fruition. 
 Mrs. Journeycake was, in the fullest sense, a most faith 
 ful and helpful companion to her honored husband in 
 his life-work. To say that Grandmother Journeycake, 
 as she was called by all who knew her in her later years, 
 was one whose praise was upon every tongue as far as 
 she was known, is but feebly to express the universal 
 esteem in which she was held. Further mention of her 
 32 
 
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE 33 
 
 will appear in the progress of this story. Less than the 
 above could not well be said here of the one who was 
 ever such a benign presence in the home of her husband. 
 As the family of Mr. Journeycake constitute so impor 
 tant a factor in the religious career of the Delaware peo 
 ple it may be of interest to glance at their history. 
 
 There were eight daughters who grew to womanhood, 
 and two sons who died in early childhood. The daugh 
 ters were all married, were all converted, and became 
 members of the Baptist church, and five of them are 
 yet living. Some of them were educated in our Baptist 
 institution at Granville, Ohio, and all are women of cul 
 ture, are good homekeepers, and efficient workers in the 
 church. 
 
 Of the progress of religious work among the Dela- 
 wares, from the advent of Mr. Pratt and wife among 
 them in 1837, for the next thirty years, but little can be 
 learned. There were evidently a. number of them con 
 verted, outside of the Journeycake family, and among 
 these some influential men. But the progress of the 
 work was at best very slow. It is certain that Mr. Jour 
 neycake and his family must have been the important 
 factors in the religious life of the Delawares during that 
 period, for when, after their removal to the Indian Terri 
 tory, they organized the Delaware Baptist Church, on 
 Lightning Creek, of eleven constituent members, seven 
 were members of his family, viz., himself and wife, his 
 mother and four daughters. It is also certain that great 
 trials had attended them during these years. Infringe- 
 
 c 
 
34 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 ments upon their lands by the whites, and uncertainty and 
 unrest came to them ; and it is probable that during the 
 latter part of their stay in Kansas there was great deple 
 tion of their numbers by death and by a decline in 
 their religious life and activity. At the same time it was 
 a period of seed-sowing from which in God s own time 
 there came a glorious harvest. 
 
 Before entering upon the later and more fruitful 
 period in the religious life of the Delaware people and 
 the Journeycake family, it may be of interest to briefly 
 review their Kansas experience. In a former chapter is 
 given the solemn assurance of the United States that this 
 " country in the forks of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, 
 selected for their home, shall be conveyed and forever 
 secured to the Delaware Nation, as their permanent 
 home," etc. From such published reports as are avail 
 able, we glean the following facts as to the character and 
 disposition of these people in the years that followed. 
 In 1838 they were reported as cultivating one thousand 
 five hundred acres of land in grain and vegetables, and 
 raising much stock, and that " they are a brave, enter 
 prising people," and "at peace with all neighboring 
 Indians." They were vigorous and successful hunters. 
 Parties of them frequently made excursions across the 
 plains and into the Rocky Mountains for beaver, some 
 times returning with booty to the value of a thousand 
 dollars each. But here is one of the saddest records in 
 all their history, and one that constitutes a sad blot on 
 our boasted civilization: "The money was soon spent, 
 
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE 35 
 
 chiefly for ardent spirits." An agent reports about this 
 time : " The only hindrance now in the way of the Dela- 
 wares, Shawnees, and Kickapoos, is ardent spirits. 
 These whisky traffickers, who seem void of all con 
 science, rob and murder many of these Indians." He 
 calls it robbery and murder, because " they will get 
 them drunk, and then take their horses, guns, or the 
 blankets from their backs, regardless of how quickly 
 they may freeze to death." Mr. Journeycake lias related 
 to the writer incidents fully corroborating these state 
 ments. How fearful is the reckoning that may yet be 
 exacted for atrocities so committed ! And yet at the 
 same time these Del a wares were consulting for ways of 
 bettering their situation, especially in the matter of edu 
 cation for their children. In 1844 their chiefs met 
 together and prepared and forwarded to Washington a 
 paper, "requesting that all the school funds to which 
 they were entitled by treaty might be paid to the Indian 
 Manual Labor School, near Fort Leavenworth Agency ; 
 might be pledged to that school for ten years to come ; 
 and that they might therefore be guaranteed the educa 
 tion and subsistence of Delaware children, not exceeding 
 fifty at any one time." This is well called a " remark 
 able document," emanating as it did from a people 
 so recently having emerged from the barbarism of 
 the savage. In 1845 the Delawares were said to have 
 " raised a sufficiency to subsist on," and that " they have 
 lately built out of their own means a good saw and irrist- 
 mill, with two run of stones, one for corn, and the other 
 
1,6 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOUKNEYCAKE 
 
 for wheat." The following is suggestive of much of the 
 experience through which they were compelled to pass. 
 " At this time," so we read for 1845, they are waiting 
 with much anxiety to see if their Great Father will 
 punish the Sioux, who have at two different times attacked 
 them, and murdered in all some thirty men. They say 
 they do not want to offend their Great Father, and 
 therefore before taking means to avenge themselves they 
 will wait and see if he will compel the Sioux to make 
 reparation." 
 
 " In 1853," the record runs, " the Delawares are 
 among the most remarkable of our colonized tribes. By 
 their intrepidity and varied enterprise they are distin 
 guished in a high degree. Besides being industrious 
 farmers and herdsmen, they hunt and trade all over the 
 interior of the continent, carrying their traffic beyond 
 the Great Salt Lake, and exposing themselves to a thou 
 sand perils." At this time Mr. Journeycake \\ is thirty- 
 six years of age, and from what is known of his prowess 
 and fondness for hunting it is certain that he was behind 
 none of his comrades in the qualities above described. 
 This would be inferred also from the fact that only two 
 years after this he was chosen chief of one of the princi 
 pal clans, and in a few years more became principal chief 
 of the tribe. 
 
 The following incident related by the agent of the Dela 
 wares in his report for 1853, and quoted by " H. H.," 
 in " A Century of Dishonor," was related to the present 
 writer by Chief Journeycake only a few years ago. A 
 
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE 37 
 
 small party of Delawares, consisting of a man, his squaw, 
 and a lad about eighteen years of age, were returning 
 from a successful hunt in the mountains. They had thir 
 teen head of horses and mules, four hundred and forty- 
 five dollars in money, besides many other articles of value. 
 The second day after they commenced their homeward 
 journey, the man sickened and died. Before his death 
 he directed his wife and the young man to hasten home 
 with the property. After traveling a number of days 
 they were overtaken near some of the forts on the Arkan 
 sas River, by four white men, who were deserters from the 
 United States army one man riding a mule, the other 
 three on foot. The widow and the yrung man who 
 attended her loaned each of the three a horse or a mule 
 to ride, and furnished them with provisions, and they 
 traveled on together. After six or seven days of this 
 kindness they reached Cottonwood Creek, thirty-five or 
 forty miles west of Council Grove. One evening, while 
 resting, the four men turned upon their benefactors, 
 killed the young man, and cut the throat of the woman ; 
 and supposing both to be dead, they "dragged the two 
 bodies into the grass. They took the property and hur 
 ried on to Jackson County, Missouri, where they disposed 
 of the stock, and three of them took a steamer for St. 
 Louis. After their departure the woman returned to 
 consciousness, and discovering that the lad had been 
 killed, and all their possessions had disappeared, in 
 her enfeebled and dangerous condition took the road for 
 Council Grove. On the fifth day, according to her 
 
THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 reckoning, she was overtaken by . a Kaw Indian, and 
 helped into Council Grove. Here the traders gave her 
 every possible attention, and sent a runner to the Dela 
 ware Agency, and they soon succeeded in capturing one 
 of the men at Liberty, Missouri. This man confessed 
 the whole horrible business. A telegram intercepted the 
 other three at St. Louis, and the widow, weak as she was, 
 went to Liberty and confronted her would-be murderers. 
 There is no doubt that this is only one of many such 
 thrilling adventures that befell these people, and well 
 indicates the lawlessness that often prevailed in the 
 lonely stretches of the great West. 
 
 But another removal and other trials await the brave 
 Delawares, and in these we shall see how Chief Journey- 
 cake, now the main reliance of his people, shows the stuff 
 of which he is made. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER REMOVAL 
 
 DURING the writing of these pages there has been held, 
 at Defiance, Ohio, the centennial anniversary of Wayne s 
 great victory on the Maumee River, in 1794, on which 
 occasion General Wayne and his forces destroyed the 
 villages and cornfields of the Delawares and related 
 tribes. In a letter of General Wayne to the Secretary of 
 War, in August, 1794, referring to the Indian property 
 destroyed, he says: "The very extensive and highly 
 cultivated fields and gardens show the work of many 
 hands. The margins of those beautiful rivers the 
 Miamis, of the Lake, and Au Glaize appear like one con 
 tinued village for a number of miles, both above and 
 below this place; nor have I ever before beheld such 
 immense fields of corn in any part of America, from 
 Canada to Florida." The leading Indians whose pos 
 sessions a hundred years ago are thus described, were the 
 ancestors of our Delawares of whom we now write, and 
 the above extract is introduced here to remind the reader 
 of the progress toward civilization that they had made 
 even at that early day. A people capable of such results 
 were also capable of entertaining high hopes and aspira 
 tions, and of feeling keenly the disappointment of these 
 
 hopes. 
 
 39 
 
40 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 We have noted the positive assurances of our govern 
 ment in regard to their possessions, both as to permanence 
 and protection. We have seen the failure of the govern 
 ment to make those assurances good. We have traced 
 the successive yieldings of their guaranteed possessions, 
 the weary and tedious removal to the extreme border of 
 civilization and the renewed assurance that now at last 
 they were to be no more disturbed ; that now the United 
 States would protect them forever against any and all 
 intruders upon the lands set apart for their home in the 
 forks of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. It remains 
 now to relate how their hopes are again to be blighted 
 by another series of infringements upon their rights ; 
 another failure of plighted faith and another necessity 
 for removal and beginning anew, when by the inspira 
 tion of those hopes they had risen to a high degree of 
 enterprise and civilization. 
 
 In 1854 the influx of white settlers into Kansas was 
 so great that it became evident that the Indian reserva 
 tions there could not be kept intact, and the Delawares 
 were induced to cede back to the United States a large 
 portion of their lands to be opened to white settlement. 
 In 1855 their agent wrote of the results: "The Indians 
 have experienced enough to shake their confidence in the 
 laws which govern the white race. The irruptions of in 
 truders on their trust lands, their bloody dissensions 
 among themselves, etc., must necessarily, to these unso 
 phisticated people, have presented our system of govern 
 ment in an unfavorable light. Yet, notwithstanding all," 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER REMOVAL 41 
 
 it is added, " the simple-minded trustingness of these 
 people is astonishing." 
 
 When the Civil War broke out in 1861, and a call was 
 made for troops, a larger proportion of their able-bodied 
 men enlisted in the United States army, it is said, than 
 in any other community in the whole country. " The 
 Delawares enlisted in 1862, one hundred and seventy 
 men out of" a population of only two hundred men, be 
 tween the ages of eighteen and forty-five. They officered 
 their own companies, and their men are credited with 
 being tractable, sober, watchful, and obedient to the 
 commands of their superiors." The use of spirituous 
 liquors was strictly prohibited among them in the army, 
 though at home drunkenness was their greatest vice. 
 
 Concerning the condition of the Delawares, when the 
 necessity of removal began again to confront them, and 
 as an evidence of the advance made in civilization, when 
 ever they had a favorable opportunity, the following state 
 ments are given, the date of the same being about 1862 : 
 " Several of them have from fifty to one hundred acres 
 of land in cultivation, with comfortable dwellings, barns, 
 and outhouses. All the families are domiciled in houses. 
 . . . Their crops of corn will yield largely. Nearly 
 every family will have a sufficiency for their own con 
 sumption, and many of the larger farmers a surplus. . . 
 There are but few Delaware children of the age of twelve 
 or fourteen that cannot read." " Here is a community 
 of a thousand people, larger than many of the farming 
 villages of New England ; . . . the average of personal 
 
42 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 property amounting to a thousand dollars." And yet, 
 from this prosperous settlement, and from possessions that 
 had been solemnly guaranteed to them by the United 
 States, their rights in the same to be protected against 
 all white settlers, with lands greatly increased in value by 
 their industry and enterprise from all this it is to be 
 " to their interest to be removed," and why ? 
 
 The following from the Commissioner of Indian 
 Affairs, in 1866, will explain why. His report says: 
 " The State of Kansas is fast being filled by an energetic 
 population who appreciate good land ; and as the Indian 
 reservations were selected as being the best in the State, 
 but one result can be expected to follow." 
 
 It is not surprising that under these conditions and the 
 agitations incident thereto, " improvements have been 
 much retarded among the Delawares and other Indians 
 in Kansas." In 1864, it was said : "The greater part of 
 the personal property owned by the Delawares is in 
 stock, which is constantly being preyed upon by the 
 whites, until it has become so reduced that it is difficult 
 to obtain a good animal in the nation." It was esti 
 mated that their stock had " undergone a depletion to 
 the extent of twenty thousand dollars in the past year." 
 There is not space here to mention a tithe of the abuses 
 and discouragement that were heaped upon them during 
 these trying years years too, when more than half of 
 their adult male population were in the army. When 
 these returned after the war, it would have been a miracle if 
 many of them had not been demoralized and weakened by 
 
PREPARATIONS FOB ANOTHER REMOVAL 43 
 
 the vices of army life ; so that from all these causes these 
 Delawares must have begun their new life in the Terri 
 tory shorn of much of their former strength, and ill 
 prepared to take up again the burdens of making new 
 homes for themselves. But in spite of these adverse con 
 ditions, there were evidences of much vigor and energy of 
 purpose among them. In July, 1866, it is said : " The 
 Delaware chiefs, distressed by the state of affairs, drew 
 up for their nation a code of laws which compare favor 
 able with the laws of so-called civilized States." 
 
 It will be remembered that the subject of this memoir 
 Charles Journeycake had, at this time, been for 
 several years principal chief; and these laws bear the 
 impress of his master mind. Some years earlier, in 1863, 
 the Delawares had " petitioned the United States govern 
 ment to permit them to take eight hundred dollars of 
 their annuity funds to pay the expense of sending a del 
 egation of their chiefs to the Rocky Mountains to see if 
 they could find there a country that would answer for 
 their new home." The commissioner advised that they 
 should not be permitted to go to the Rocky Mountains, 
 but to the country south of Kansas the Indian Territory, 
 of which "the geographical situation is such that its 
 occupation by lawless whites can be more easily pre 
 vented than any other portion of the country." The 
 following, taken from the commissioner s report for 1866, 
 will sufficiently indicate the reasons why " Most of the 
 Indians were anxious to move to the Indian country, 
 south of Kansas, where white settlers cannot interfere 
 
44 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 with them. * " Intermingled, as the Kansas reservations 
 are with the public lands, and surrounded in most cases 
 by white settlers who too often act on the principle that 
 an Indian has no rights that a white man is bound to 
 respect, they are injured and annoyed in many ways. 
 Their stock are stolen, their fences are broken down, their 
 timber destroyed, their young men plied with whisky, 
 their women debauched ; so that, while the uncivilized 
 are kept in a worse than savage state, having the crimes 
 of civilization forced upon them, those farther advanced 
 and disposed to honest industry, are discouraged beyond 
 endurance." While all these experiences may not have 
 applied to the Delawares, most of the grievances did, and 
 most of the nation were now prepared to accept the con 
 ditions of removal. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 MADE CHIEF 
 
 IN 1855 Mr. Journeycake was chosen one of the chiefs 
 of his tribe chief of the Wolf Clan. As an evidence 
 of the esteem in which their chiefs were held, we find, in 
 1854, this record. They had just sold to the government 
 a large tract of their land for ten thousand dollars, and 
 in connection with the treaty of sale it is said : 
 
 The Delawares feel now, as heretofore, grateful to their 
 old chiefs for their long and faithful services. In former 
 treaties, when their means were scanty, they provided by 
 small life annuities for the wants of their chiefs, some of 
 whom are now receiving them. These chiefs are poor, 
 and the Delawares believe it their duty to keep them 
 from want in their old age. . . The sum of ten thousand 
 dollars was therefore to be paid to their five chiefs two 
 hundred and fifty dollars a year each. 
 
 In 1861 Mr. Journeycake became principal chief of 
 his tribe; so that he stood in that relation during the 
 trying scenes of the war and the incidents that led up to 
 the abandonment of their valuable homes and their 
 tribal government, and the removal again to a new and 
 untried country. Of his qualifications for that position we 
 can best judge from the knowledge gained of him later 
 in life. But there was in his make-up undoubted indica 
 tions that he was a born leader. His whole life was dis- 
 
 45 
 
46 
 
 tinguished for courage and undaunted bravery. These 
 were combined with a mildness and kindness of disposi 
 tion that made him one to be trusted and leaned upon. 
 Though with limited opportunities for education, he yet 
 had mental ability which eminently fitted him to be 
 not only a leader, but almost a seer for his people. He 
 had psychical experiences which, without any attempt to 
 explain them, cannot well be passed over. He had fre 
 quent dreams or visions of the night, in which he seemed 
 to see clearly things either then taking place or soon to 
 take place, dreams which subsequent events fully verified. 
 In his early childhood, as he afterward remembered and 
 interpreted it, there came to him in his dreams appear 
 ances and scenery not only wholly different from all that 
 his waking eyes had seen, but which nothing in his then 
 surroundings could possibly suggest. Something like a 
 panorama of his life as it afterward unfolded, he was ac 
 customed to look back upon as having appeared to him 
 in these visions of his early childhood. For instance, it 
 seemed to him, he was accustomed to say in his later 
 years, that the surroundings of his last home, the land 
 scape, the church in the midst of it, the burying ground 
 just a little way distant all this setting of his ripened 
 age had appeared to him in the visions of his early boy 
 hood. In 1877, after the settlement in the Indian Terri- 
 ritory, he saw in a dream what seemed a most beautiful 
 vision, which made a deep impression on his mind. There 
 appeared to his view, as it were, a great sheet of white 
 paper stretching across the heavens from east to west, 
 
MADE CHIEF 47 
 
 and on it many names were inscribed, among them his 
 own. Fie saw some one point to it, and a voice said, 
 " We must lengthen this life," and many forms seemed 
 running up to it and lengthening the inscription. A few 
 days after, during a preaching service, one of his Dela 
 ware friends was called out of the meeting-house, and 
 shot by an assassin in open day. It was believed that 
 the intention of the assassin was to kill Mr. Journeycake, 
 but that in some providential way his life was spared. 
 It was not surprising that in the light of his previous ex 
 periences he should have associated his vision with this 
 event. It was a time when life was exceedingly insecure 
 in all the parts of the Cherokee nation, where the Dela- 
 wares were located. The whole country was overrun with 
 desperadoes. Mr. Journeycake s life however, seemed as 
 though it were indeed a charmed life. His own house 
 had been attacked, evidently with murderous intent, but 
 he had no fear. As he told the writer, he never thought 
 that he should go in that way. As he related such inci 
 dents in his life, he was singularly free from any assump 
 tion of superiority. Pie had no sympathy whatever with 
 modern spiritism or kindred vagaries, and seldom spoke 
 of these peculiar experiences, for the reason that people 
 would not understand them, and they would seem be 
 yond belief. The writer recalls in this connection that 
 on the occasion of one of his visits to Washington, 
 at the hotel where he was stopping there was a profes 
 sional spiritual medium. Seances were being held in a 
 certain room of the hotel, and the medium sought an 
 
48 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 introduction and urged him strongly to witness the 
 spiritual manifestations, but such was his antipathy that 
 he utterly refused. 
 
 An instance in one of his hunting excursions, which he 
 looked upon somewhat as he did his peculiar visions, 
 must close this part of our review. He related that on 
 one occasion, accompanied by a young man, he followed 
 a bear into an extended cave. It was very dark, except 
 for the dim light of a torch which they carried. After 
 winding their way for a long distance there was a sudden 
 rushing sound. The young man stepped to the side of 
 the cave and the torch went out, leaving them in total 
 darkness. Mr. Journeycake ran as well as he could 
 toward the entrance, but soon became aware that the bear 
 was in close pursuit. He said, as he ran, holding his 
 gun ready for action, on looking back he could see the 
 eyes of the bear with perfect distinctness, and when it 
 was no longer safe to trust to flight, he was enabled to 
 take aim and fire, killing the animal instantly. He was 
 confident there was no light by which he could see. 
 There is no attempt to explain these phenomena, unless 
 he was endowed with some form of clairvoyance. If so, 
 no one could have been farther from- any improper use of 
 such power. 
 
 He was naturally of a very reticent disposition, and 
 always spoke with great deliberation, and his influence 
 over his people was very great. Even after the office of 
 chief had ceased, he was still and to the very last the re 
 spected adviser in all matters of moment. His home was 
 
MADE CHIEF 49 
 
 the meeting-place for consultation, and his hospitality 
 was ungrudging and without stint. His experiences with 
 the white settlers in their Kansas reservation and in his 
 dealings with the government, made it sometimes rather 
 hard to repose entire confidence in the " pale face," but 
 in spite of all he came to love and trust especially his 
 white Christian brethren. He never forgot that they had 
 given to his race the gospel. His Christian character 
 will be exhibited more fully, but this glimpse of it is fit 
 ting here. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 KEMOVAL AND ITS TRIALS 
 
 IN 1866, it is. said in the government reports that the 
 Delawares, still on their Kansas lands, in spite of deple 
 tion by army service and other causes of weakening and 
 discouragement, " raised seventy-two thousand bushels of 
 grain, thirteen thousand bushels of potatoes, and owned 
 five thousand head of cattle." 
 
 In July of this year a treaty was made for the sale of 
 their lands, and providing for the removal to the Indian 
 Territory of all who desired to go, it being also provided 
 that any who were willing to become citizens of the 
 United States and chose to remain should have lands set 
 apart in severalty, and the assignment of their portion of 
 funds belonging to the tribe. Only a few families chose 
 to so remain. 
 
 The superintendent of the agency at Ft. Leavenworth 
 wrote about this time (July, 1866) : ; The running of the 
 Union Pacific Railroad through the Delawares dimin 
 ished reserve has been a source of grievous annoyance 
 and damage lo the Delawares, as has also an organ 
 ization styled the Delaware Lumber Company." This 
 seems to have been a company formed to help them 
 selves to the Delawares timber and sell it to the railway 
 company. 
 50 
 
REMOVAL AND ITS TRIALS 51 
 
 The damage to the Delaware land by these two com 
 panies was estimated at "twenty-eight thousand dollars." 
 In addition to these losses, it is added, " Other causes have 
 conspired to render them in haste to be gone. The per 
 petual expectation of being obliged to remove had un 
 settled the whole community, and made them indifferent 
 to effort and improvement. The return of their young 
 men from the war had also had a demoralizing effect," etc. 
 
 Thus discouraged, depleted, and weakened, they turned 
 their faces again to the new wilderness to be entered and 
 subdued. During 1867 and 1868 the most of them had 
 removed to the territory south of Kansas where, after 
 considerable delay on the part of the government in 
 adjusting their financial matters, they surrendered their 
 national or tribal existence and became identified with 
 the Cherokees with the rights of Cherokee citizens. 
 
 Chief Journeycake, now over fifty years of age, had 
 been for many years the master-spirit among his people. 
 Dominated in his own life and in his family by a strong 
 Christian impulse, and from his youth active in preaching 
 the gospel among his own and several related tribes, we 
 shall now begin to see the fruits of the seed-sowing of 
 many years. 
 
 The work among the Delawares in Kansas had been, 
 as we have seen, very slow. But influences beneath the 
 surface were in preparation, to break forth in due time, 
 into a bountiful harvest. 
 
 The new situation, amid the changed conditions and 
 the unsettled state of the Indian Territorv after the 
 
52 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOUENEYCAKE 
 
 war, where life itself was very insecure, was a very try 
 ing one. One disaster seemed to follow another. For 
 the first few years a fatal disease swept off all their best 
 horses. Others were stolen. Thus progress seemed to be 
 hindered on every hand. Though in the Journeycake 
 family there was the membership of a church, yet it was 
 not until 1871 that a church was organized. 
 
 We can imagine something of the desolation they must 
 have felt in those three or four years. Chief Journey- 
 cake s family, with others of the leading Delawares, were 
 no longer rude savages ; several of the chief s daughters 
 had been educated, some of them at Granville, Ohio. 
 They had a good degree of religious culture. Missionary 
 Pratt and his wife had now been with them thirty years, 
 and one of their sons had married one of the chief s daugh 
 ters. The mission had been like an oasis in the desert. 
 There is evidence that its advantages were highly prized. 
 
 In 1855, the Delawares having sold a part of their lands 
 for quite a sum of money, the Home Mission Society was 
 about to withdraw its support, thinking that the Dela 
 wares were now able to take care of themselves. But 
 Mr. Journeycake accompanied Mr. Pratt to New York to 
 plead for continuance, and was successful. He had never 
 been ordained, though he had been preaching for many 
 years, feeling that while they had the missionary to ad 
 minister the ordinances, it was not necessary. But now 
 Mr. Pratt and family had been left behind to live in the 
 old mission station, and these few sheep in the wilderness 
 were without a shepherd and without a fold. 
 
REMOVAL AND ITS TRIALS 53 
 
 November 8, 1871, they organized a church of eleven 
 members, Mr. Journeycake and wife and four daughters 
 with his aged mother making seven of the eleven. A 
 small beginning with unfavorable surroundings, but " the 
 Lord had much people among them," and within a year 
 Mr. Journeycake was permitted to see the realization of 
 one of his early dreams, in the erection of a substantial 
 meeting-house, in the center of the settlement, and near 
 his home. 
 
CHAPTEK X 
 
 DEDICATION AND ORDINATION 
 
 A GREAT revival had now broken out among the Dela 
 ware people. The long pent-up forces of divine truth 
 began to break forth and a great light began to shine in 
 these dark places. The preacher-chief proclaimed the 
 gospel in demonstration of the Spirit. In June, 1872, 
 Rev. N. L. Rigby, of Chetopah, Kansas, some thirty or 
 forty miles away, a missionary of the Home Mission 
 Society, was sent for and baptized fifty converts. But 
 the need of an ordained minister of their own number 
 was now imperative. The meeting-house was completed, 
 a good substantial structure, built largely by Mr. Jour- 
 neycake s own means, and September 22, 1872, the dedi 
 cation of the house took place. On the next day a 
 council convened for the ordination of Charles Journey- 
 cake. Fifty-five years of age and abundant in labors, 
 it was fitting that he should be set apart to the gos 
 pel ministry and as pastor of the Delaware Baptist 
 Church. 
 
 Rev. J. G. Pratt, from the old mission in Kansas, Rev. 
 J. B. Jones, of Tahlequah, long a missionary to the 
 Cherokees, and Rev. G. J. Johnson, then of St. Louis, 
 Mo., were present to conduct the services. Dr. Johnson 
 was engaged at the time as Missionary Secretary of the 
 54 
 
DEDICATION AND ORDINATION 55 
 
 American Baptist Publication Society, and the present 
 writer well remembers the glowing accounts he gave 
 of several visits to the Indian Territory, and the wonder 
 ful work the gospel was accomplishing for the Indians. 
 He has kindly furnished for the present volume an ac 
 count of the dedication and ordination services, and his 
 impressions at the time of the character and influence of 
 Chief Journeycake. He says : 
 
 I surely regard it as among the greater favors of Provi 
 dence, with which my life has abounded, that I was per 
 mitted, during the decade commencing with 1870, and 
 while residing in St. Louis and vicinity, to make nine 
 different visits into the Indian Territory, and the six 
 civilized tribes of Indians there (counting the Delawares 
 as a separate and distinct tribe from the Cherokees 
 among whom they live) and to tarry at the homes of the 
 people, and to attend upon religious meetings with them, 
 and thus to see with my own eyes the unmistakable evi 
 dences furnished there of the power that is still inherent 
 in our gospel to elevate and to save the benighted of the 
 earth. I am also grateful for these visits as occasions of 
 the greatest religious enjoyment that I have ever experi 
 enced in life. I am sure that I never worshiped God 
 more fervently in any gathering of his people ; never 
 have been happier in the preaching of the gospel, 
 whether by myself or when hearing it from others, nor 
 in singing and praying, than with those regenerated sons 
 of the forest. Nor have I ever met with any people who 
 have, upon the whole, impressed me as being nobler and 
 purer than have some whom I came somewhat intimately 
 to know among these Indians, notably, John Jumper, 
 chief of the Seminoles, and Charles Journeycake, chief 
 of the Delawares. This latter is now gone and therefore 
 I may speak of him without reserve. 
 
 At the time I first met him he was about fifty years old, 
 
56 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURXEYCAKE 
 
 slightly gray, and showing age tall in stature, erect, 
 and of thoughtful, dignified mien. His looks did not mis 
 represent him. He was intelligent, even well read, bal 
 lasted with excellent common sense and good judgment. 
 His religion was to him a matter of conviction and prin 
 ciple, and his piety unfaltering and fervid, growing to 
 the end. As might be expected, therefore, his life was 
 consistent and blameless, and always commendatory of 
 his profession. 
 
 In the autumn of 1872, I received an earnest invita 
 tion from Mr. Journey cake to attend a three days meet 
 ing to be held among his people, when a new house of 
 worship was to be dedicated, he himself ordained to 
 the ministry and to the pastorate of the Delaware Bap 
 tist Church, and a number of recent converts to be 
 baptized. I readily accepted the invitation. The rail 
 road from St. Louis was then completed only to Vinita, 
 eighteen miles away from his residence at Lightning 
 Creek. Upon the arrival of the train he met me with 
 a turnout that I considered as showing me much honor. 
 his own family equipage, consisting of a fine covered 
 carriage, silver-tipped harness, and a span of spanking 
 bays that he seemed to enjoy driving as much as I did 
 riding after. His residence was a neat frame structure, 
 pleasantly situated in an ample lawn, amid abundant 
 shrubbery and shade, and in the center of a vast tract of 
 land that he regarded as his own, and on which were 
 feeding great herds of his own cattle. It will be a suf 
 ficient indication of his wealth to say now that, the day 
 before my arrival, as he informed me, he had made a 
 single cash sale from the stock on his lands that amounted 
 to eighteen hundred dollars ($1,800). His home within 
 gave all the indications of comfort and refinement. An 
 ample library of the best books, the latest periodicals, 
 and the musical instruments that were conspicuous, at 
 once assured you that you were within the abode of in 
 telligence and culture. 
 
 I was happy to find here before me, as guests at the 
 
DEDICATION AND ORDINATION 57 
 
 same hospitable home, Rev. J. B. Jones, the Home Mis 
 sion Society s missionary among the Cherokees, and of the 
 Delawares also, and Rev. J. G. Pratt, from Kansas, who 
 thirty-five years previously had been sent out by the old 
 Triennial Baptist Convention as a foreign missionary to 
 the Delaware Indians, at that time living in what is now 
 the State of Kansas. It was especially fit that these 
 brethren should be here on this interesting occasion, for 
 Mr. Jones was a kind of superintending bishop over this 
 field, and Mr. Pratt had been for many years Mr. Jour 
 ney cake s pastor, the one chosen to preach the gospel to 
 him and his people in the early stages of their religious 
 development, had been his instructor and chief counselor, 
 and in some sort his spiritual guide for almost a third of 
 a century. Of course these two were specially warm 
 and devoted friends to each other. 
 
 First came the dedicatory services of the new house of 
 worship. This house was a well-appearing frame struc 
 ture, that was said to have cost one thousand three hun 
 dred dollars, and was all paid for, largely and mainly, 
 I think, by Mr. Journeycake. The congregation on 
 this occasion entirely filled the house, and save a single 
 white man who chanced to be in the region at the time, 
 and the three ministerial visitors before mentioned, all 
 present were Indians. 
 
 And yet the services were mainly in the English lan 
 guage the sermon certainly was, as it was preached by 
 myself- led by a choir of which Mr. Journeycake s 
 family was a prominent part, his own daughter being 
 chorister and organist. The hymns sung were selections 
 from the Baptist Hymn and Tune Book of our Publica 
 tion Society. The prayer of dedication was offered by 
 Bro. Jones, and then a second prayer by Bro. Journey- 
 cake, in the Delaware language for the sake of a few of 
 the older Indians who had never yet learned to under 
 stand the English, closed the impressive services. 
 
 On the following day services were held with reference 
 to the ordination of Bro. Journeycake to the ministry. 
 
58 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 He had long been regarded as the spiritual leader of his 
 people, as he had been as chief in temporal affairs, lie 
 had been active in speaking and praying, conducting 
 worship and expounding the Scriptures, and had also 
 compiled a hymn book in the Delaware tongue, and I 
 believe had also translated several works for his people that 
 had been published for them by the Tract and Bible so 
 cieties. But it was now believed that the time had come 
 when he should be yet more prominently and formally 
 put forward as the leader of this flock. Brothers Jones 
 and Pratt conducted the examination, and my recollec 
 tion is that, notwithstanding many of their questions 
 would have puzzled many a more disciplined mind, even 
 a graduate from the college and seminary, yet all the 
 answers were eminently satisfactory. Mr. Jones preached 
 the sermon, Llr. Pratt offered the prayer of ordination, 
 and I gave the charge and hand of fellowship, and all 
 the people said, " Amen." 
 
 But, perhaps, I should claim that the third and last 
 was the chief and great day of the feast. There had 
 been for quite a time a deep religious interest prevailing 
 among the Indian people. Congregations had been large 
 and attentive and a goodly number had professed faith 
 and conversion and were now desiring baptism. It was 
 this state of things that had especially made Mr. Jour- 
 neycake s ordination desirable, in order that he might not 
 only preach to them, but administer ordinances also. 
 Now the people had both a completed and dedicated 
 house of worship and an ordained and installed pastor. 
 Nothing more seemed to be lacking. They now gathered 
 for a third day s service that should be all their own. 
 We who were visitors now took the rear. Bro. Journey- 
 cake preached and the people sang, all in their Indian 
 vernacular. Oh, it was spirited, spiritual, and inspiring. 
 There was at the conclusion a call for inquirers, and then 
 followed a season of special prayer, and then all ad 
 journed to the waterside at the creek near by. Prayers 
 were here offered and songs sung in the Delaware Ian- 
 
DEDICATION AND ORDINATION 59 
 
 guage, and then the pastor led fifteen rejoicing converts, 
 one after the other, down into the water, and there, into 
 the name of the Trinity he baptized them. Yes, it was a 
 joyful hour! Few more joyful, we thought, we had ever 
 seen on earth. 
 
 We parted at this waterside. It was never my lot 
 again to meet Bro. Journeycake. He and his matronly 
 Christian wife are gone. Bro. Jones has gone to his 
 rest, and before long the remaining two of those con 
 spicuous in these delightful services will have passed 
 away, but passed away, with the others, we trust, to 
 services yet more delightful than any ever known on 
 earth. 
 
 It is a pleasure to the writer of these pages to have 
 so full an account of these epochal events from one who 
 was both an eye-witness and a rejoicing participant. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 PHENOMENAL GROWTH 
 
 THE reader will recall the accounts in former chapters 
 of the slow growth in the religious development of the 
 Delawares during the forty years of their settlement in 
 Kansas. At the same time he will recall what was said 
 of the unmistakable marks of a deep-seated religious 
 impression among the leaders, especially Mr. Journey- 
 cake and his family. The religious work of Mr. Journey- 
 cake during this long period must, for the most part, 
 remain unrecorded. After the removal to the new settle 
 ments in the Territory, the means of determining more 
 fully his strong religious activity was at hand. With the 
 engrossing responsibilities of leadership in settling claims 
 against the government, and in the selection of homes, as 
 well as the care of a considerable property, one would 
 hardly look for public activity in religious work. Yet, 
 at the end of 1872, scarcely four years from the time of 
 beginning the transfer from Kansas, we find him with a 
 church of about a hundred members, all or nearly all of 
 them converted Indians, a comfortable meeting-house, 
 dedicated and paid for, and Mr. Journeycake himself 
 ordained and installed as pastor. We find him too in 
 the midst of a sweeping revival ; and with every evidence 
 that his desire for the salvation of his people is the domi- 
 60 
 
PHENOMENAL GROWTH 61 
 
 nant element in his heart and life. The period of slow 
 growth has been a period of seed-sowing and foundation- 
 laying, to be followed by a reaping time and rapid growth. 
 The baptisms for the ten years succeeding the organiza 
 tion of the Delaware Church 1871 to 1880 under the 
 pastorate of Mr. Journeycake, will well show this. 1 There 
 is evidence in this annual increase of a sustained religious 
 interest. During this period also a number of strong 
 religious characters came forward among the Delaware 
 people. Nearly all of the two hundred and sixty-six 
 converts of the decade were Delawares. The Delaware 
 Church and its devoted pastor became a mighty influence 
 for good over a wide range of country. 
 
 October 18, 1873, meetings were begun on the Caney 
 River, thirty miles west of Lightning Creek, and a strong 
 branch of the church was established there and main 
 tained as such for many years. The experiences and 
 phases of church life among these converted Indians 
 were in all respects similar to those which are often wit 
 nessed in white churches. A very brief sketch only can 
 here be "given of the history of this Delaware Church, 
 but it will be found to justify the foregoing remark. 
 
 March 8, 1876, the meeting-house was destroyed by a 
 tornado, leaving the church again without a place of 
 
 1 The baptisms for each of the ten consecutive years were as 
 follows: for 1871, 11; 1872,108; 1873,33; 1874,36; 1875,7; 1876, 
 12; 1877, 14; 1878, 33; 1879, 10; and in 1880, 2; making a grand 
 total of 266 baptisms in ten years, an average of 26 and over 
 for each year. 
 
62 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 worship. The day of adversity followed the day of pros 
 perity. Three days later, at a meeting held at the Light 
 ning Creek schoolhouse, it is recorded that " much re 
 vival spirit was manifested." It was not crushed out by 
 reverses. The struggle to replace the meeting-house, 
 however, was a long and tedious one. On the llth of 
 November, 1877, a year and eight months after the 
 cyclone, " it was voted, unanimously, to build again, and 
 a committee was appointed to carry out the resolution." 
 But it was not until May, 1879, that the new house was 
 ready for occupancy. During all that time, however, 
 there was a good degree of the revival spirit in the 
 church, despite the inconvenience of being without a 
 church building. May 9, 1879, the new house was 
 dedicated with appropriate services, conducted by Rev. 
 Daniel Rogers, then of Tahlequah, general missionary 
 for the Indian Territory, and Rev. D. King, of Kansas. 
 
 The great revival among the Delawares suggests 
 another reflection, and conveys a lesson worthy of record. 
 God often gives his people grace to prepare for approach 
 ing calamity, and even death to bear up under the one, 
 and to meet with fortitude the other. The removal of 
 these people to the Territory, and their changed condi 
 tions, were attended with very great mortality. The 
 death-rate among them for the first few years was some 
 thing appalling. It is not too much to believe that in 
 the rich provisions of God s grace, these wonderful 
 showers of divine mercy were sent, and a great number 
 converted, as a preparation for their speedy departure, 
 
PHENOMENAL GROWTH 63 
 
 and a means of sustaining those who remained in the 
 severe afflictions awaiting them. From the imperfect 
 records available it appears that of the first two hundred 
 members of the church, seventy-one, or over one- third, 
 had been taken away by death in twenty years. 
 
 The usual sequences of a great revival were not want 
 ing. The reaction from a high religious tension came. 
 A number made shipwreck of the faith, and others grew 
 cold and backslidden. Discipline became a necessity, 
 and there are evidences of a good degree of faithfulness 
 and efficiency along this line. Of those received during 
 the first ten years the records show over thirty exclusions 
 at the end of another decade. 
 
 The church was from the beginning a missionary 
 church. January 13, 1877, we find the first mention of 
 a Sunday-school, and a collection of five dollars taken 
 toward the purchase of a library. But a year earlier, 
 January, 1876, it was voted to raise two hundred 
 dollars as pastor s salary, and all through the records is 
 noticed frequent mention of collections for the benefit of 
 the church and for missionary objects. 
 
 The second decade of the church s life shows a very 
 great decline in spirituality and religious activity. In 
 1889 and 1890 there was another revival, but under such 
 changed conditions that it can scarcely be called a work 
 of or among the Indians. So many white people have 
 drifted into the settlements that a large proportion of the 
 recent members gathered in are transient whites they 
 cannot be called settlers in the true sense, for they have 
 
64 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 no permanent homes, and add very little strength to the 
 church. 
 
 In the meantime Pastor Journeycake had become so 
 enfeebled as to be practically superannuated, and though 
 the church still maintains its existence, it has not its old- 
 time vigor, nor does it give evidence of a return to its 
 former prosperity. 
 
Mr. Journeycake at the time of his first visit to Washington. 
 Page 65. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 IN 1854 Mr. Journey cake made his first visit to Wash 
 ington, when he was thirty-seven years of age. It was 
 one year prior to his becoming chief of the Wolf Clan, 
 and seven years before he became principal chief. It 
 was at this time that "the influx of white settlers into 
 Kansas was so great that it became evident the Indian 
 reservations there could not be kept intact, and the Dela- 
 wares made a large cession of their lands to the United 
 States, to be restored to the public domain." It was doubt 
 less about this treaty of cession that he made the trip to 
 Washington. It was the beginning of the leading part 
 borne by him in the affairs of his tribe with the govern 
 ment, which continued till the end of his life. He visited 
 the capital not less than twenty-four times in the interest 
 of his people, usually remaining for weeks, and confer 
 ring with leading men in Congress and in the several 
 departments, whom he enlisted in behalf of the interests 
 of which he was in charge, and whose friendship he won 
 and retained. He also visited the principal cities of the 
 East, and learned much of men and things. He was a 
 man of peculiarly just views as to both morals and re 
 ligion, and as to the sanctity of the marriage relation his 
 views were very rigid. He had witnessed the transition 
 
 65 
 
66 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOUENEYCAKE 
 
 of his people from a condition of barbarism to one of 
 civilization in this respect as well as others, and it caused 
 him great distress when any of them manifested looseness 
 in regard to it. He was rigid in regard to religious obli 
 gations. He had a just sense of salvation by Christ. He 
 used to say frequently in devotional meetings: "My 
 people used to have a religion ; they worshiped the 
 Great Spirit, and observed many ceremonies, but they 
 did not know Jesus." Again he would say : " It used to 
 be said that Jesus was the white man s Saviour, that he 
 was not suited to the red man. But I know," he would 
 say, " that he has saved one Indian." Any swerving of 
 his people from their religious obligations caused him 
 great concern, and he was urgent in his exhortations to 
 integrity of life and to abstinence from all irregularities. 
 
 As age drew on, his exhortations to his church to return 
 to their former love were tender and touching. " Oh, my 
 children ! " he would say but it is impossible to transfer 
 to the printed page the pathos and fervor of his loving 
 appeals. Oh, that the reading of these pages might be 
 blessed of God to the hearts of his descendants, that the 
 memory of his fervent piety might cause them to turn to 
 God, and seek to fill up that which is behind of the in 
 fluence of this devoted Christian. 
 
 The writer of these pages has often thought, while 
 listening to his earnest words and witnessing his tears 
 and deep anxiety for the religious welfare of his people, 
 of Joshua, the grand old Hebrew commander. It is said 
 that " Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and 
 
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE 67 
 
 all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua." 
 alas! after the influence of these devoted servants of God 
 had ceased from among them, what evils sprang up, and 
 what backslidings. Of Israel and of the Delawares alike 
 may this be said. The remnant of the latter noble race 
 never needed the prayers and fostering care of the Chris 
 tian people of America more than now. They have the 
 same needs that we have, and should be held to obedience 
 to God s requirements the same as ourselves. 
 
 The following testimonial to the life and character of 
 Chief Journeycake is from Rev. J. S. Murrow, D. D., 
 general missionary to the Indians, of the American Baptist 
 Home Mission Society, who has labored in the Indian 
 Territory for over thirty-seven years, and who has studied 
 regenerate Indian character as have few other men. We 
 give his letter in full : 
 
 ATOKA, IND. TER., Sep. 27, 1894. 
 Your kind letter requesting my impressions of the life 
 and character of Rev. Charles Journeycake is just at 
 hand. I regret that limited time will prevent me from 
 writing as fully and as carefully as the subject merits. I 
 leave to-morrow for the Delaware Association, one of the 
 fruits of Brother Journeycake s life and labors. I was 
 not intimately associated with Brother Journeycake in 
 mission work. My field has been with tribes living south 
 of the Delawares. But Brother Journeycake s influence 
 was not confined to his own tribe, hence I may truthfully 
 say that I knew him well. He was a remarkable man 
 o ne of the old-time noble red men. God endowed him with 
 talents for leadership, and he well performed his mission. 
 His strong will-power, patriotism, and excellent judgment 
 held his people from disintegration and destruction. In 
 all their treaties with the general government, and with 
 
68 
 
 the Cherokees, Chief Journeycake s good judgment and 
 sound statesmanship were employed unselfishly in secur 
 ing the best interests of his people. It can never be said 
 of him, as it may be truthfully said of many of the lead 
 ing men in these Indian tribes, that he " sold out " the 
 interests of his nation for selfish gain. No man among 
 his people can truthfully say that he was wronged by 
 Chief Journeycake. 
 
 As a Christian and a minister of the gospel he exerted 
 fully as great an influence for good upon his people as he 
 did as chief and statesman. He was very deliberate in 
 arriving at conclusions. His opinions were therefore 
 rarely erroneous, and when once formed he was as firm 
 as a rock in maintaining them. Nothing could turn him 
 from a course which he believed to be right. I once 
 witnessed an instance of these characteristics. Brother 
 Journeycake attended one of our Territorial conventions. 
 A distinguished D. D. from an adjoining State was also 
 present. He cordially invited Brother Journeycake to 
 attend the convention of his State. He stated that such 
 a visit would do great good in arousing an interest in 
 Indian mission work. Brother Journeycake excused 
 himself for some time, while the other persistently urged 
 him with many arguments and much persuasion to accept. 
 Finally Brother Journeycake dropped his head and was 
 lost in thought for several moments. On looking up he 
 spoke with a degree of firmness that evidently meant that 
 no further persuasion would affect him : " I never go any 
 where simply for pleasure. My presence might arouse 
 considerable enthusiasm at your great meeting, but it 
 would soon pass away like a gust of wind. It would not 
 result in any permanent good. Hence, while I thank 
 vou heartilv for your kind invitation I will not accept 
 it." 
 
 Brother Journeycake s faith in God s providential care 
 was very strong, yet childlike. A few years ago he 
 attended a commencement at Indian University. A 
 number of ladies and gentlemen were sitting in the recep- 
 
PUBLIC AND PEIVATE LIFE 69 
 
 tion room engaged in conversation. Among them was 
 Brother Journeycake. A very literary lady present 
 asked Brother Journeycake to relate seme incidents of 
 his life. Being a very modest man, he replied that there 
 was nothing in his life worth relating, except God s good 
 ness and grace. He was pressed for the story of his con 
 version or some incidents of his life as a Christian or as 
 chief of his people. Dropping his head for a moment, 
 he replied, very simply and childlike: "The incident 
 that is freshest in my memory is God s goodness in pro 
 viding the means for me to come to this commencement. 
 I believed that as one of the trustees I ought to come, 
 for I think a great deal of this school, and earnestly 
 desire to see it prosper. I did not have sufficient ready 
 money to bring me here, so I asked the Lord to help me 
 get the money. Yesterday he sent a neighbor to pay me 
 some borrowed money, and now I am here." Brother 
 Journeycake was a man of plenty of means of his own, 
 and could command all he wanted otherwise ; but instead 
 of going to the merchants he went to God, as was his 
 custom. The conversion and Christian life and character 
 of such Indians as Charles Journeycake, Delaware ; Jesse 
 Bushyhead, Cherokee; John Jumper, Seminole; Joseph 
 Islands, Muskogee ; Peter Folsom, Choctaw ; and hosts of 
 other Indian men of great mental and spiritual endow 
 ments, men who would have been leaders in any land, 
 afford indisputable evidence that, had the Christian civil 
 ization and education of the Indians been prosecuted 
 a hundred years ago, as it should have been, the Indian 
 problem would long ago have been settled creditably to 
 the government and people of the United States. It is 
 not yet too late to atone in some measure for the wrongs 
 inflicted upon this race. The feeble force of Christian 
 missionaries among the Indians should be -increased, and 
 the Christian schools founded for their uplifting should 
 be adequately endowed. This would atone, to some extent 
 at least, for the last " Century of Dishonor." 
 
 Sincerely, J. S. MURROW. 
 
70 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 The foregoing testimony from Dr. Murrow, as to the 
 public and private life of Chief Journey cake, corresponds 
 with the verdict of all who knew him well, and it has 
 been a great pleasure to incorporate it in this book. 
 May the character portrayed be reproduced in many 
 readers. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 OLD AGE AND CHANGED CONDITIONS 
 
 THE weight of years was beginning to tell upon the 
 Delaware chief when the writer of these pages first met 
 and knew him. He had always preached to his people 
 in their native dialect and with keenest enjoyment both 
 to himself and to them. But now a great change had 
 come in the situation. So many white people had come 
 into the territory that there had come to be as many or 
 more whites in the congregation and even in the church 
 than Indians. Moreover, most of the Indians could un 
 derstand the English language as well as their own, and 
 many of the younger of the tribe could scarcely under 
 stand their mother tongue at all. Mrs. Journeycake had 
 come to lament that she had not learned to speak and 
 understand English better when she was younger. " For," 
 she said, "my grandchildren are growing up to speak 
 English and cannot understand me." She, and all the 
 middle-aged and older Indians always conversed in their 
 own language in their homes and social intercourse, and 
 likewise in the meetings of the church. 
 
 In these changed conditions the demand had arisen 
 for English preaching. The services, conducted in the 
 Indian language, could no longer meet the imperative 
 demands of the field. Mr. Journeycake, though he could 
 
 71 
 
72 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOUKNEYCAKE 
 
 converse in our language pretty well, and could use it 
 in public address" to some extent, yet felt that he could 
 not longer carry the burden of the pastoral leadership of 
 his flock. His mind worked very slowly in our language, 
 though he was fluent in his own ; besides, the infirmities 
 of age forbade the arduous work to which he had been 
 accustomed. This, then, was the situation when, in 1890, 
 the writer received an appointment from the Home Mis 
 sion Society as missionary to the Delawares and white 
 people at Al-lu-we and vicinity, and to be acting pastor 
 of the Delaware Church, or assistant pastor as they chose 
 to designate the relation. Elder Journeycake was still 
 pastor and would remain so as long as he lived. In 
 what follows will be seen an illustration and a test of the 
 real character of this noble patriarch and Christian. 
 
 It is well known that in all our churches a retired 
 minister remaining on the field where he has reluctantly 
 laid down his work needs a large measure of grace to 
 accept the situation and be a help rather than a hindrance 
 to his successor, who on his part needs grace as well. In 
 the case of Mr. Journeycake the test was a peculiarly 
 severe one. The pastor was an Indian, with all the native 
 love for his own race and with the memory of a phe 
 nomenally successful ministry of years among them. He 
 had a keen recollection of the messages delivered and 
 songs sung in his own loved dialect. His place was now 
 to be filled by a white man, speaking in another language ; 
 the spiritual condition of the church was low ; the uplift 
 ing scenes of the revivals of former years were only a 
 
OLD AGE AND CHANGED CONDITIONS 73 
 
 recollection. Would the aged pastor cheerfully accept 
 the situation and give hearty sympathy and support? 
 Some effort had been made before to maintain services 
 in English, but with very limited success. 
 
 Such was the situation when, in the last days of Octo 
 ber, 1890, the writer entered the neighborhood and the 
 home of Chief Journeycake, and was introduced to the 
 venerable pastor of the Delaware Church. It was a diffi 
 cult undertaking, and was not an eminent success ; but 
 the writer is glad to be able to record in this way, that 
 during his entire stay upon this field Brother Journey- 
 cake s co-operation, sympathy, and cordial support were 
 all that could be desired. He was eminently considerate 
 of all the rights of his pastor, for such he recognized me 
 to be in the fullest sense. He was exceedingly careful 
 not to infringe in any way upon any prerogative, and 
 was unalterable in his friendship to the last. During the 
 period of our intercourse the one dominant desire of his 
 life was the interest of the church which he had served 
 so well. There were many evidences of a decline in its 
 power and influence, and this gave him great uneasiness. 
 When there would appear any awakening of interest, his 
 joy would at once appear. He delighted to visit, with 
 the new pastor, the distant parts of the field, driving his 
 own good team, and to send his team when for any reason 
 he could not go. Naturally reticent and undemonstrative, 
 he nevertheless often became quite communicative, and in 
 his own deliberate way related the events of his life and 
 the history of his people. 
 
74 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 The experiences of his eventful life had given him much 
 occasion to suspect the sincerity of the whites, and some 
 times a shade of this distrust would manifest itself. But 
 he had a lively appreciation of the benefits that had come 
 to him and his people through Christian civilization, and 
 he was much more ready to speak of this and of the ever- 
 present boon which the white missionaries had brought, 
 in the gospel of Christ. To this personal tribute to 
 the memory of Mr. Journeycake, may at this point be 
 added testimonials from those who knew him well. 
 
 Rev. David Crosby, for some time professor in Indian 
 University, and afterward pastor of the Baptist church 
 at Muskogee, I. T., writes as follows : 
 
 Rev. Charles Journeycake was in every sense a Chris 
 tian gentleman, always affable and obliging. In the 
 home social circle, in the church, and in business he was 
 the same true man and friend. One cannot conceive, 
 after knowing him, of his doing a mean, scarcely in any 
 sense, a selfish act. He was loyal to his Saviour ; and 
 being loyal to him, he revered his truth. It was indeed 
 a great pleasure to hear him talk of Christ and his work. 
 One of the greatest pleasure of my life was to attend a 
 week s meeting in which this aged Christian was inter 
 ested, and to assist him in baptizing about forty converts. 
 His whole heart was in the work. He loved his people, 
 he loved his church, and above all he loved his Lord and 
 Master. He was exceptionally kind to the poor. Never 
 did the needy go from his door empty-handed. I shall 
 never forget the warm receptions he gave me. I shall 
 never forget that straight, slim, nervous form. I shall 
 never forget that kind face and gentle voice. Father 
 Journeycake was a great man, in real Christian man 
 hood ; great in his uplifting influence among his people. 
 
OLD AGE AND CHANGED CONDITIONS 75 
 
 It is indeed sad to lose such a loss to earth, and a gain 
 to heaven. D. CROSBY. 
 
 In such tributes as this the present writer can most 
 fully concur. How vividly, as I read these descriptions, 
 his remarkable personality rises before me. The kind 
 face, the gentle voice, the erect frame, the strong, nervy 
 movements, and the unswerving piety of the man, are all 
 most real images before my mind. When we remember 
 that this character, so majestic and beautiful, was evolved 
 by the influence of Christianity and the power of divine 
 grace, from a condition of barbarism, in a single life 
 time and under conditions such as our treatment of the 
 Indian has imposed, it is surely worthy of more than a 
 passing notice. It furnishes another instance of that prac 
 tical proof so much better than any amount of theory. 
 
 The following official testimonial will complete this 
 chapter. At the annual meeting in June, 1894, of the 
 Board of Trustees of Indian University, of which Mr. 
 Journeycake had been for many years a member, it was 
 unanimously 
 
 Resolved, That in view of the removal to his heavenly 
 rest, since our last annual meeting, of Eev. Charles 
 Journeycake, a member of this Board since its organiza 
 tion, we desire to place on record our high appreciation 
 of the noble Christian character of our departed brother, 
 and our sense of the great loss to his family, to his tribe, 
 and to this territory, as well as to the church and to this 
 institution, which his decease has entailed. A good and 
 righteous man, an earnest and consistent Christian, and 
 a loving and constant friend, has been removed from our 
 
76 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOUKNEYCAKE 
 
 midst. His rest is glorious. To his family especially 
 
 we tender our sincere sympathy. 
 
 By order of the Board. 
 
 S. H. MITCHELL 
 
 A. C. BACONE, [ Committee. 
 
 W. P. KING, 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 ANOTHER TESTIMONIAL 
 
 IT is no purpose of the writer of these pages to make a 
 hero of his subject, Dor to heap upon him undue praise. 
 But as a representative of what a Christian civilization 
 can do for a noble, but much- abused race, it seems right 
 to gather about Chief Journeycake such an array of 
 historic testimony as will exhibit the strong points of his 
 character in an unmistakable light. This can best be 
 done by giving the independent testimony of such men as 
 Dr. G. J. Johnson, J. S. Murrow, D. D., David Crosby, 
 and others, whose study of his character and influence was 
 made under the most favorable conditions, each being 
 unaffected by the representations of the others. 
 
 The following "Reminiscences" are from the pen of 
 Rev. Daniel Rogers, D. D., who was General Missionary 
 to the Indian Territory five and a half years, 1876 to 1882 : 
 
 My first acquaintance with Rev. Charles Journeycake 
 was in September, 1876. I had then but recently entered 
 upon my work as missionary to the Cherokees, including 
 the Delawares, who had been adopted as citizens of the 
 Cherokee nation. It was my privilege to meet him many 
 times after this while a missionary to the Cherokees and 
 as general missionary of the Baptist Home Mission 
 Society for the Territory. I always received a cordial 
 welcome at his home. I frequently preached to the 
 Delawares, and on such occasions Bro. Journeycake 
 usually interpreted for me into the language of his people. 
 
 77 
 
78 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 He was a man whom I learned to highly esteem for his 
 excellent qualities as an upright, conscientious man and 
 earnest, devoted Christian. His good judgment, wise 
 counsel, and deep interest in his people, made him a trusted 
 leader. 
 
 Sitting at his fireside, after long rides across the prairies 
 to his home, I have listened with much interest to the 
 recitals of his Christian experience, his exploits in hunt 
 ing, and the history of his people. 
 
 At the time when I first became acquainted with him 
 there was considerable bitterness of feeling between some 
 of the Cherokees and the Delawares. A brother of 
 Charles Journey cake had been killed, and attempts had 
 been made to kill other prominent leaders among the 
 Delawares, among them Charles, who was, in so far as 
 their tribal relation existed, their chief. When the Del 
 awares had been adopted as citizens of the Cherokee 
 nation they had purchased a tract of land in a body so 
 that they might be located near each other. Afterward 
 certain Cherokees claimed a considerable portion of this 
 land on the ground that they were occupying it at the 
 time that the Delawares were adopted as citizens, and so 
 the latter, in many cases, had to pay for their land the 
 second time before they could occupy it peaceably. This 
 they considered was unjust. They appealed to the 
 Cherokees to adjust this matter on such a basis as would 
 be fair and honorable. Such a settlement could not be 
 effected. The Delaware Baptist Church had been organ 
 ized in the year 1871 with eleven members. God had 
 greatly prospered and blessed it so that, at the time of 
 which I write, it numbered two hundred and twenty-six 
 members. But for the Christian spirit in this church, 
 which restrained from retaliation, there would have been 
 much more bitterness of spirit and more bloodshed. I was 
 impressed with the spirit of Bro. Journeycake in restrain 
 ing the temper that would at times arise under the keen 
 sense of wrong that seemed to be inflicted upon them by 
 those who would take unlawful advantage. 
 
ANOTHER TESTIMONIAL 79 
 
 Bro. Journey cake was a very thoughtful man. He 
 took time to consider before expressing his opinion. One 
 evening, while these troubles which have been alluded to 
 were still fresh in the minds of the Delawares, a 
 prominent leader among the Cherokees was passing 
 through that part of the Cherokee nation where the Del 
 awares resided. Night overtook him before he could 
 reach his destination. He drew near to the house of 
 Charles Journeycake. He did not like to travel in the 
 night, and yet he was not sure that he would be at all 
 welcomed by the leader of a people that felt they had 
 been wronged by the Cherokees. He decided that it 
 would be better to seek lodging than to proceed farther. 
 He dismounted and went to the door. He was cordially 
 received. His horse was cared for and he was soon 
 seated at the warm, cheerful fireside. After supper he 
 ventured during the conversation to ask Mr. Journeycake 
 what he thought of the Cherokees. Silence immediately 
 followed for a long time. He feared he had offended 
 him and began to think how he could wisely turn the 
 drift of conversation. At length the chief raised his 
 head and said, "Well, the Cherokees are like a bat: 
 they have wings like a bird, but they are not a bird ; 
 they have teeth like a coon, but they are not a coon." 
 That was all he had to say. 
 
 During my long acquaintance with Bro. Journeycake 
 there was but once when I ever saw him apparently 
 deeply agitated. We had been talking for a long time 
 about the wrongs which the Delawares had experienced 
 from the United States government. There were some 
 claims which the Delawares had upon the government 
 and which had been acknowledged and declared to be 
 just. They were assured that they should receive the 
 compensation that was decided upon in a short time. 
 Year after year passed and still this compensation could 
 not be obtained. They felt that they had just reason to 
 feel indignant. After narrating these affairs to me he 
 arose from his seat, tall and straight as an arrow, his 
 
80 
 
 whole bearing indicating deep feeling, and, said he, 
 " The white man has lied." Many or all the other tribes 
 within the boundaries of the United States and Terri 
 tories have bad experiences which would justify them in 
 making the same statement. Our great wonder is that 
 more of the Indians in our country have not fought to 
 the death a people who have so basely wronged and de 
 frauded them. 
 
 On the 12th of May, 1879, it was my privilege to be at 
 the dedication of the meeting-house of the Delaware Bap 
 tist Church. At that time it was the finest church edi 
 fice in the Indian Territory. It was a frame building, 
 fifty-two feet long, thirty feet wide, and sixteen feet high. 
 On the outside it was weather-boarded and painted 
 white ; on the inside plastered, painted, and seated with 
 modern pews. Its cost was two thousand five hundred 
 dollars. A few years before they had built a neat house 
 of worship, costing one thousand five hundred dollars, but 
 in 1876 it was completely destroyed by a cyclone. The 
 second house cost a great struggle and much self-denial 
 on the part of many in the church. When the house was 
 completed there was an indebtedness of one thousand dol 
 lars. This was to them a source of great anxiety. 
 About three hundred people were present at the ded 
 icatory services. After the sermon, which it was my 
 privilege to deliver on the occasion, a statement was made 
 setting forth the indebtedness of the church. In twenty- 
 five minutes six hundred and forty-six dollars was pledged, 
 quite a large portion of which was paid after the meeting, 
 as an annual payment had just been made to the Dela- 
 wares, some of them giving the entire amount they had 
 received. A collection was taken, after the pledges had 
 been made to the amount of fifty-four dollars, making 
 seven hundred dollars in all. It was a time .of rejoicing. 
 In the afternoon I again preached to a congregation of 
 about one hundred and seventy-five, after which the or 
 dinance of the Lord s Supper was observed. 
 
 As a people the Delawares are kind-hearted and peace- 
 
ANOTHER TESTIMONIAL 81 
 
 able. I recall the Dames of many enterprising and in 
 dustrious farmers, mechanics, and merchants. The homes 
 of many are pleasant and attractive. Many of the young 
 people are attending the higher schools of learning and 
 fitting themselves for positions of usefulness among their 
 people. Quite large numbers have already become intel 
 ligent and successful teachers and business men. 
 
 Some of the pleasantest associations of my work in the 
 Indian Territory were among this people. The conviction 
 that fastened itself upon my mind was, that the religion 
 of Jesus Christ makes an ] ndian a better man, a better 
 neighbor and citizen, just as truly as it does a white man. 
 The triumphs of God s grace through a personal faith in 
 that One who is mighty to save are apparent among the 
 Delaware Indians. I have seen among them the exempli 
 fications of the Christian graces in their lives and con 
 duct, and in their interest in the extension of the Ke- 
 deemer s kingdom. 
 
 It has been noticed that Mr. Journeycake, during his 
 early ministry, preached in their own dialect to several 
 tribes besides his own. His influence over the Shawnees, 
 Wyandottes, and other tribes, was salutary and strong. 
 We have not the data to speak in detail on this subject, 
 but the following incident, related by him to the writer 
 and fully confirmed, will strikingly illustrate his benefi 
 cent influence over other Indian peoples. 
 
 Old settlers along the middle Mississippi will remember 
 the Sac and Fox chief, Keokuk, the rival of Black Hawk 
 at and about the time of the Black Hawk war. Keokuk 
 was a man of peace, and was a noble specimen of the red 
 man of the forest. But he had one fatal vice, he was a 
 drunkard, and so lived and died. His son and successo"r, 
 Moses Keokuk was rapidly following in his footsteps. 
 
82 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 After the removal of the Sac and Foxes to the southwest, 
 Chief Journeycake on one of his excursions paid a visit 
 to the younger Keokuk on his reservation. He had a 
 large house, well furnished, with his sideboard well supplied 
 with liquors, and he and his braves were drinking heavily 
 and fast approaching the verge of ruin. Chief Journey- 
 cake was a strong temperance man, and was so impressed 
 with the ruinous course that Keokuk was pursuing that 
 he took him aside, and gave him an earnest talk. He 
 tried to show him the ruin that would follow to himself, 
 to his tribe, and to everything about him. Some years 
 after, Mr. Journeycake received a call from Moses 
 Keokuk at his home. The Sac and Fox chief had trav 
 eled one hundred and fifty miles to ask baptism of Rev. 
 Mr. Richardville, a Miami Indian and a Baptist minister. 
 He told Chief Journeycake that he remembered his good 
 talk, he had kept it in his heart, had become a Christian, 
 and that for years he had totally abstained from all in 
 toxicating drinks. 
 
 Some three years ago, in 1892, the present writer had 
 correspondence with a lady who was teaching a govern 
 ment school at the Sac and Fox Agency in Oklahoma, 
 where Moses Keokuk still lives. This lady knew him 
 well and confirmed in every particular the above account 
 of his Christian and temperate habits that he has not 
 touched a drop of intoxicating liquor for over twenty 
 years. 
 
 " A brief extract from the letter of this lady, Miss Har 
 riet A. Patrick, written October 13, 1892, will be of 
 
ANOTHER TESTIMONIAL 83 
 
 interest as illustrating the condition of many of the 
 Indians and their relation to the white people settling 
 among them. The writer was laboring at the time in the 
 interest of the Indian University, for the education of 
 teachers and preachers among the Indians of their own 
 race, and seeking information that might be useful in 
 that work. Miss Patrick had an interview with Moses 
 Keokuk, through the interpreter, for my benefit, and 
 wrote the result of the interview. 
 
 First Keokuk spoke of Chief Journey cake as he knew 
 him and said: 
 
 What little acquaintance I have with him, I have 
 found him, and 1 also believe he is considered, a very 
 good, nice, clever, Christian man. He came here about 
 eight years ago ; after that I met him at Washington 
 twice. He was there doing business for the Delawares, 
 and I was there for my people. He stands well with his 
 people, and they have a great respect for him. I think 
 he never drinks. 
 
 Keokuk then speaks of himself as follows. 
 
 I am a Baptist, was converted at this agency about 
 thirteen years ago. I had to go about one hundred and 
 fifty miles to the Ottawa reservation to be baptized. I 
 have not used intoxicating liquors at all for twenty years. 
 
 Then speaking of the condition of his people, he says : 
 
 The school here is far better than it was a few years 
 ago. It is advancing yearly. The people are much 
 more interested in having their children educated, and 
 see the necessity of it. The children, after being in 
 school, have a marked influence over their parents and 
 
84 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 do them good. The Indians are progressing rapidly since 
 they have taken their allotments. Many are trying to 
 make improvements of their own accord, building log 
 houses, using stoves, tilling the soil, etc. They would not 
 advance themselves or be at all self-sustaining without 
 education and its influence. The Indians who live 
 neighbors to white settlers seem to be benefited. They 
 watch them and try to do like them. I think the settle 
 ment of the country by the white man is a help to the 
 Indian. Our tribe, the Sac and Fox, numbers about 
 five hundred and fifty. 
 
 The above is of value as the opinions of an influential 
 Indian who has been himself benefited, and is doing all 
 he can for the uplifting of his race. 
 
I B 
 
 Mrs. Jane Journey cake. 
 Page 85. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 LAST DAYS 
 
 THE following brief tribute 1 to the memory of Mrs. 
 Jane Journey cake, wife of the subject of this memoir, is 
 fittingly introduced at this point : 
 
 Mrs. Jane Journeycake . . . died at her home at 
 Al-lu-we, Indian Territory, January 13, 1893, lacking 
 one month of seventy-two years of age. Her father, 
 Sylvester Sosha, was a Frenchman, her mother a Dela 
 ware Indian. The Delaware people removed from the 
 Upper Sandusky, Ohio, arriving near Leavenworth, 
 Kansas, about 1828. In May, 1838, Jane Sosha was 
 married to Charles Journeycake, and the same year 
 united with the Baptist church, of which she remained a 
 faithful and very devoted member until called to her 
 well-earned home above. Her distinguished piety and 
 influence, with that of her devoted husband, marked an 
 instructive era in the work of evangelizing the Indian 
 people . . . Mrs. Journeycake s life was a benediction 
 wherever she was known. Many a time have we felt 
 the spiritual uplift of her prayers, though uttered 
 in her own native tongue as they were we could not 
 understand a word except that precious name Jesus. She 
 breathed such a spirit of fervent devotion as made her 
 religion a conscious power. Though she had been for 
 many months a great sufferer, her last sickness was brief. 
 For most of this time she lay unconscious, but her lucid 
 
 1 What is here said is in substance taken from an article by the 
 author of this hook, published in the Home Mission Monthly, 
 September, 1893. 
 
 85 
 
86 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 moments were full of the same sweet trust that had 
 characterized her life. It had been her habit on waking 
 in the morning to utter at once an audible prayer. As 
 if waking out of sleep in her conscious moments, she 
 would be heard repeating her accustomed prayer. Once 
 her husband, whom she preceded to the silent land by 
 less than a year, asked her if she would like to hear the 
 hymn they had often sung together. She answered 
 " Yes," and her daughter writes, "joined him in such a 
 sweet voice all through the hymn, that its touching ten 
 derness will ever be remembered by all who were present." 
 
 One who had known her from the beginning of her 
 religious life, writes: "It is hard to realize that she 
 is gone. She was so inseparable in the family group, it 
 is still a habit to look around for her familiar face. We 
 know what are the reflections of every one who knew 
 her when the empty seat is in sight. Our only consola 
 tion is in the hope of meeting her in the better land. " 
 
 When we remember that this is said of a Christian 
 Indian, how much more satisfactory is this hope than the 
 old anticipation of the " happy hunting ground " and its 
 attendant superstition. . . May her virtues be imitated 
 by all who were the witnesses of her gracious life. 
 
 The Joss of such a companion fell with stunning effect 
 upon the bereaved husband. Life was never the same 
 with him after the separation. He had so long been in 
 the habit of counseling with her upon every important 
 matter, and she had been such a prompt and strong sup 
 port in every emergency, that the most important factor 
 had gone out of his life. The writer saw him but once 
 after her departure, and the change was painful to witness. 
 He was evidently pining away, and could not tarry 
 long. His love for the church was still supreme. Any 
 thing touching its interests would cause him to brighten 
 
 F 
 
Chief Journeycake in his Old Age. 
 Page 87. 
 
LAST DAYS 87 
 
 up for the moment. And his regard for his friends and 
 love for his family and his people were unabating. But 
 he seemed living in a distant realm. So his health con 
 tinued to decline. His step faltered and became un 
 steady, and his life faded away. Almost to the last he 
 sought relief in his old pastime of hunting. Something 
 like his old self would return for the moment, when he 
 would mount his pony and seek to accompany his dogs 
 in the chase. But in these passing days the Lord whom 
 he loved was preparing him for the release which came 
 at last, January 3, 1894. 
 
 Never were words more fitting than these inscribed 
 upon his tombstone in the old cemetery at Lightning 
 Creek : 
 
 Life s labor done, as sinks the day, 
 
 Light from its load the spirit flies, 
 While heaven and earth combine to say, 
 
 How blest the righteous when he dies ! 
 
 Dear is the spot where Christians sleep, 
 * And sweet the strain that angels pour ; 
 O ! why should we in anguish weep, 
 They are not DEAD, but gone before. 
 
 It is said that when Daniel Webster s body lay in 
 state, and the people from far and near were marching 
 by his form, a neighbor of the great statesman, a brawny 
 farmer, in the plain garb of his class, paused for a 
 moment as he passed and broke out in full tones and 
 with deep feeling, " Daniel Webster, the world will be 
 very lonesome without you." So it may be said of the 
 large district of country where our brother was so well 
 
THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 known. It must be very lonesome without Grandfather 
 Journey cake. 
 
 Dear man of God, what wealth of grace 
 
 "Was in thy life portrayed ; 
 What streams of blessing to thy race 
 
 Through thee their channels made. 
 
 Endowed with courage, brave and strong, 
 
 With wisdom for the chase ; 
 A leader born, from out the wrong 
 
 To lead thy suffering race. 
 
 A herald preacher, true as steel, 
 
 In gospel ways to lead, 
 Thy life was given for the weal 
 
 Of all who chose to heed. 
 
 Great chieftain, may thy blessed life 
 
 Thy cherished people move, 
 To shun the world s ignoble strife 
 
 And emulate thy love. 
 
 Rest, gentle friend, may thy sweet rest 
 
 And heavenly joy abide, 
 And may thy gracious memory blest 
 
 Be cherished far and wide. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 LIVING LINKS 
 
 " INDIAN NEVER FORGETS." In the early part of the 
 last century there was born among the blue hills of Penn 
 sylvania, at Lehigh Gap, where the picturesque Lehigh 
 River cuts through the mountains on its way to the Dela 
 ware at Easton, a full-blooded Delaware child who after 
 ward became a noted sachem of the Delaware Nation. 
 This was Gelelemend, or Kelelemend, as the name is 
 variously spelled. He afterward took the name of Kil- 
 buck. A writer in the " Youth s Companion," of April 
 20, 1893, gives the following incidents as vouched for by 
 living descendants of the principal actors. In 1755, in 
 Braddock s expedition to attack the French and Indians 
 at Fort Pitt (Pittsburg), Colonel William Henry, of 
 Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was attached to Washington s 
 brigade of Colonial troops. Henry was a manufacturer 
 of firearms at Lancaster, and was regarded as a valuable 
 acquisition to the force because of his expert knowledge. 
 The Delawares at this time had espoused the French 
 cause, hoping to regain lands which they accused the 
 British of having sequestered. In the battle in which 
 occurred Braddock s defeat, Kelelemend, or Kilbuck, 
 who was leading a force of the Delawares, had become 
 separated from his band and fell into the hands of the 
 
 89 
 
90 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 English, and they were about to dispatch him. He was 
 already badly wounded, when Colonel Henry interposed, 
 and by heroic efforts and appeals saved his life. After 
 the battle was over Kilbuck called Henry to his side, 
 and grasping his hand, said : " You saved my life," and then 
 added, " Indian never forgets." The two separated and 
 never met again. Kilbuck was released and retired with 
 his little band to Gnadenhiitten, in Ohio. Following a 
 custom of the Indians in conferring marked distinction 
 upon a benefactor, Kilbuck took to himself the name of 
 Henry, and called himself William Henry Kilbuck. 
 Nineteen years after, in 1774, Kilbuck visited his old 
 home to gaze once more upon his native hills. When he 
 reached Lancaster and inquired for Colonel Henry, he 
 found him absent, but his son, William Henry, Jr., met 
 Kilbuck, who made himself known, and related, with the 
 strongest expressions of gratitude, the story of his rescue. 
 Twenty-three years later, in 1797, the younger Henry 
 was appointed, by the newly formed government of the 
 United States, on a commission to survey public lands in 
 Ohio, in the vicinity of Gnadenhiitten. When the In 
 dians heard that Henry was of the party, Kilbuck s de 
 scendants sought him out, and for the three months spent 
 in the woods, gave the most marked attention, bringing 
 game and otherwise supplying the wants of the survey 
 ing party. It was ascertained at this time that every 
 member of the Kilbuck family, male and female, had 
 "Henry" as a middle name. The Indian had not for 
 gotten. In 1799 a party of thirty Delawares, on their 
 
LIVING LINKS . 91 
 
 way to the seat of government to seek redress for some 
 grievances, stopped at Lancaster to pay their respects to 
 the Henry family. The heroic act of Colonel Henry in 
 saving the life of the elder Kilbuck in 1755 had become 
 a cherished story a sacred and household memory, never 
 to be forgotten. 
 
 After another interval of seventy-four years, in 1873, a 
 young, full-blooded Delaware Indian, named John Henry 
 Kilbuck, was sent from Kansas to enter a Moravian 
 school in Pennsylvania. He was great-grandson of the 
 sachem of our story, and was stepson of Chief Journey- 
 cake s brother. After his graduation, John Henry Kil : 
 buck entered the Moravian missionary service, and is, at 
 last accounts, doing heroic work among the Indians of 
 Alaska. 
 
 The following confirmatory facts concerning the reli 
 gious life of the Kelelemends, or Kilbucks, are taken 
 from the "Sunday School Times," of March 25, 1893. 
 
 Speaking of the Kelelemend who nearly lost his life 
 in 1755, the writer says : 
 
 It is not quite clear whether this was the Kelelemend 
 born in 1737, or his father, but at all events the Kelele 
 mend born in 1737 rendered the American forces most 
 valuable services in the Revolutionary War. He early 
 came under the influence of the Moravian apostle to the 
 Indians, Zeisberger, which circumstance affected his whole 
 career. . . This Kelelemend was an American patriot 
 in every sense of the word, using his personal prowess and 
 his influence for the benefit of the colonies, and later for 
 the benefit of the infant United States struggling for 
 independence. He became the head of the Delaware 
 
92 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 Nation in 1778, and under the influence of the mission 
 aries did everything in his power to keep the Indians 
 neutral, and especially to keep them from joining the 
 British ; and when, finally, the majority of the Delawares, 
 in 1779, yielded to the persuasions of the British Indians, 
 Kelelemend laid down his chieftainship and came out 
 boldly on the American side. After the war Kelele 
 mend came out with equal boldness on the side of Christ 
 and became a soldier of the cross. In 1794 he was urged 
 to resume the chieftaincy ; but he had a new chief him 
 self now and therefore declined and gave himself up to 
 religious work for his people. Surely it is a touching 
 sight to see this quondam warrior of the forest, tamed by 
 the Spirit of Christ, preaching the ways of righteousness 
 to his dusky kinsmen. 
 
 Just fifty years after his death, May 15, 1861, his 
 great-grandson, John Henry Kilbuck was born. After 
 his graduation from the theological seminary in 1884, 
 " He served for one year as missionary on the Indian mis 
 sion in Canada," when " the call to begin a mission among 
 the Alaskan Eskimos came to the Moravian Church. 
 At that time there were no Protestant missions among 
 these degraded people. The field chosen was absolutely 
 separated from all civilization." " The Eskimos are filthy, 
 debased, and sunken beyond all description." " Kilbuck 
 heard the call and volunteered " to go among them. " In 
 accordance with the policy of the Moravian Mission 
 Board, it was necessary for him to be married." " By the 
 most evident overruling of Providence, he found his wife 
 in the person of the daughter of the missionary who had 
 baptized him years before. . . Edith Komig, daughter of 
 the Moravian missionary, the Kev. Joseph Romig, accom- 
 
LIVING LINKS 93 
 
 parried Kilbuck to Alaska as his wife, and there she has 
 done heroic service that can scarcely be equaled in the 
 annals of female missionaries." " With a classmate and 
 his wife he landed in Northwestern Alaska on June 19, 
 1885, and they began their herculean task." 
 
 His classmate soon broke down and had to leave the 
 rigors of that terrible climate. But Kilbuck and his 
 wife remained at their post, and what they have suffered 
 can never be told. " Arduous journeys for hundreds of 
 miles up and down the river and across the country in 
 the dead of winter, at continuous risk of life, were under 
 taken ; personal contact with the filthy savages was not 
 shunned ; their reeking huts were entered ; nothing was 
 left undone out of fear or from personal repugnance." 
 More than once Kilbuck " was given up for lost, and once, 
 after an absence of seventy-three days in raging storms, 
 with the mercury registering fifty-nine degrees below 
 zero, he was mourned as dead. But the Lord brought 
 him back to his heroic wife, who, even in this dire hour, 
 resolved to stick by the mission." " And thus the work 
 went on. At last, as soon as he began to be able to stam 
 mer forth the gospel message in that uncouth language of 
 the North, the fruits of such noble labors began to be 
 gathered in. An awakening among the stolid natives 
 took place ; and, their suspicions overcome, they came to 
 the missionary, desiring to have a share in the blood of 
 Jesus to take away their bad. . . The little mission sta 
 tion ,(&th<3lj/ it is said," now numbers twenty-six natives in 
 full communicant membership, besides many adherents, 
 
94 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOUENEYCAKE 
 
 and has a widespread influence, reaching two or three hun 
 dred miles up and down the river and across the country, 
 and has sent out several native helpers all this largely 
 as the result of the labors of this Indian apostle to the 
 Alaskan Eskimos and his noble wife. Where now is he 
 who will venture to say the civilization and Christianiza- 
 tion of the Indian is a hopeless task in the face of this 
 story of the Kelelemends, or the Indian heroes of the 
 sword and of the cross." 
 
 The relevancy of the preceding to this memorial of 
 the last of the Delaware chiefs will be easily seen. Let 
 it not be forgotten, especially by the remnant of the 
 noble Delaware race, that this heroic missionary, John 
 Henry Kilbuck, is one of their own race and blood. 
 
 There are still other living links in the chain of his 
 toric events that connect these remnants of an interesting 
 race with past history in a way to make them worthy of 
 a record here. The following is a Delaware reminiscence 
 worth preserving, of Black Beaver, the honest interpreter : 
 
 When, in 1828, the Delawares were on their way to 
 enter the reservation near Leaven worth, Kansas, there 
 were a few of their leading men who were not satisfied 
 with the prospective location. Black Beaver, the son of 
 a chief, and perhaps two or three others, separated from 
 the tribe and sought more desirable hunting grounds 
 away to the southwest, on the plains of what is now 
 Southern Oklahoma, stopping in what is now known as 
 the Wichita country. There they lived and prospered 
 until the Civil War broke out in 1861. In the mean- 
 
LIVING LINKS 95 
 
 time Black Beaver had visited the Delaware settlement 
 in Kansas, and on one of these visits was converted and 
 became a member of the Baptist church. Most of the 
 Indians in that latitude became involved on the South 
 ern side at the opening of the war. Beaver fled and 
 took refuge with his Delaware friends in Kansas, thus 
 losing his valuable property in the Southwest. After 
 the war, being known as a faithful and valuable inter 
 preter, an agent of the United States government in that 
 quarter induced him to return to the Wichita country, 
 and there he lived and died. At his request a missionary 
 was sent to that region, and what has since been known 
 as the Wichita Mission was established. Some of Black 
 Beaver s family are, I believe, members of the Baptist 
 church at that mission yet, and there are some seventy- 
 five Delawares in that settlement in Oklahoma. 
 
 The following incident illustrating the stalwart integrity 
 of Black Beaver was related to the writer by Rev. J. S. 
 Murrow, D. D. It was in the earlier days of his settlement, 
 that he was, on a certain occasion, interpreting for some 
 one who was talking to the Indians about the wonderful 
 things seen at Washington and elsewhere in the States. 
 The speaker was describing the way of sending commu 
 nications by telegraph; how that the Great Father at 
 Washington could send a talk to any one in New Or 
 leans and get a reply in a few minutes ; having made 
 his statement, he waited for the interpreter to repeat it in 
 the Indian tongue. But Black Beaver stood silent. 
 Surprised, and thinking he had not understood it, the 
 
96 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOUKNEYCAKE 
 
 speaker repeated the statement with distinctness, but still 
 the interpreter uttered not a word. " Why do you not 
 tell that to your people ? " inquired the speaker. Draw 
 ing himself up, Beaver said, with emphasis, " I have never 
 told my people a lie yet, and I am not going to do it 
 now. And that s a lie." It was something so new and 
 unthinkable to him that he could not believe it, and he 
 would not repeat it to his people. 
 
 The following incident, also related by Dr. Murrow, 
 who knew the principal actor well, though not a Dela 
 ware reminiscence, is worthy of a record here : A few 
 years ago there died in the Choctaw Nation, in the In 
 dian Territory, a Choctaw Baptist minister, Peter Folsom 
 by name, who had for many years been known as a 
 zealous and very devoted minister of the gospel. It is 
 related of him that early in life he was sent to a school 
 in Kentucky and educated. In the annals of our Baptist 
 Home Mission work we find that in 1826 there was in 
 Scott County, Kentucky, an " academy for the education 
 of the Indians, principally for the Choctaws," and that 
 " under the charge of Rev. Thomas Henderson it continued 
 in a prosperous condition for several years, reporting an 
 attendance of ninety-eight in 1828, when twenty-six con 
 versions among the pupils were also reported." This is 
 presumably the school which Peter Folsom attended, and 
 he was probably one of the converts referred to. At all 
 events he was converted while away at school ; but on his 
 return to his people, being the only Christian among 
 them, he did not have the courage of his convictions, and 
 
LIVING LINKS 97 
 
 kept the fact concealed. He would silently cherish his 
 new-found faith, but would not .subject himself to the re 
 proach of a public acknowledgment of it. So matters 
 went on for a time, but he did not feel at all comfortable. 
 Finally, he was journeying with an uncle who was a 
 head man, and several others, going to attend a council 
 of their people. One night, as they were sitting around 
 their camp-fire, Peter, who did not feel in a sociable 
 mood, wrapped his blanket around him, and laying down 
 before the fire, was supposed to be asleep. His uncle, in 
 course of the talk of the evening, referred to the Christian 
 religion of which they had been hearing a good deal of 
 late. He said he had given it a good deal of thought ; 
 had been upon the point of embracing the Christian faith. 
 " But, he said, " I have concluded that it is all a sham. 
 There is my nephew," pointing to the prostrate figure be 
 fore the fire, " he professed to become a Christian while 
 away at school ; but he has come back among his own 
 people, and he has not said a word to any of us about the 
 new religion. He has not sought to lead any one else to 
 accept it, and I have made up my mind there is nothing 
 in it." Peter was not asleep. He had heard this arraign 
 ment of his new-found faith charged to his own unfaith 
 fulness, and it was more than he could endure, for he did 
 love Christ, though he had not had the courage to acknowl 
 edge it before his people. Springing up from the ground 
 and throwing his blanket from his shoulders, he acknowl 
 edged his delinquency then and there, and made such a 
 plea for the religion he had dishonored, that his uncle 
 
 G 
 
98 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 and some others of the company were soon afterward 
 converted, and he himself became from that time a zeal 
 ous and successful preacher of the gospel he had sought 
 to hide under a bushel. How many a white Christian 
 has made the same mistake ! 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 PRESENT NEEDS OF THE INDIANS 
 
 CAN the Indian be evangelized? Is he capable of 
 Christian civilization ? Is the only good Indian a dead 
 Indian ? What is his ultimate destiny ? What are the 
 chief elements in the problem of his destiny? These 
 and similar questions demand at least a word in the 
 closing chapter of this little volume. Without attempting 
 a definite answer to a single one of the above questions, 
 we desire to group a few suggestions along the general 
 lines indicated. No one with a philanthropic heart can 
 study the present conditions of the Indian problem with 
 out having anxious thoughts for our red brothers. 
 
 Never, perhaps, in the history of these people was it so 
 imperative that what can be done for them be done 
 wisely and promptly. We confine our observations to 
 the Indian Territory and Oklahoma and adjacent reser 
 vations of the Southwest, where a large proportion of 
 them are within easy reach of efforts to improve them. 
 
 Looking first at what are called the wild tribes the 
 blanket Indians the Indians of the plains, it is almost 
 impossible to realize how absolutely the conditions of 
 sustenance and even of existence for these have changed 
 within the last quarter of a century or a little over. 
 Thirty years ago these tribes of the plains, a good many 
 
 99 
 
100 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 thousands strong in the aggregate, could go out at the 
 proper season and kill enough buffalo, dress the hides 
 and dry the meat, to furnish an ample supply of food for 
 the entire year. Then, indeed, they were the terror of 
 the settlers, not to say of the soldiers who were necessary 
 to keep them in check. Now all this is changed. The 
 buffalo are gone, and with them other wild game are 
 rapidly vanishing, and the old forms of existence by the 
 chase and in the camp are gone forever. These Indians 
 of the plains must either be brought to derive their sus 
 tenance from the soil and by other industries, or they 
 must be sustained by the government as paupers, or on 
 the other hand they must perish; and they are rapidly 
 coming to realize these facts. About eighteen or twenty 
 years ago, at a military post at what is called the Canton 
 ment, in Oklahoma, a chief came to the commander of 
 the fort one day, begging for vengeance against a 
 member of his band who had committed a grievous crime 
 against his family. The military commander claimed 
 that there was no law giving him authority to interfere. 
 If it had been a white villain, he said, who had commit 
 ted the crime, he could arrest and punish him, but for the 
 offense of one Indian against another, he had no right to 
 interfere. " But," said he, " have you no remedy among 
 yourselves for a case like this?" "Yes," said the chief, 
 " I could kill him, and I ought to kill him ; but the agent 
 is not my friend. He would put me in the guardhouse, 
 and there would be no protector for my family," Then, 
 placing his hand upon the officer s arm, bowed down with 
 
PRESENT NEEDS OF THE INDIANS 101 
 
 grief and trembling with emotion in every fibre of his 
 frame, he said, " I am sick and tired of the Indian s 
 road. It is no good." Then looking upward as if in 
 earnest supplication, he said, " Oh, that the good God 
 would lead us into the white man s road before we are 
 all destroyed ! " 
 
 This incident was related by the officer who had spent 
 more than thirty years among these Indians of the plains, 
 and who professed great friendship for them, but who did 
 not seem to recognize Christianity as an important factor 
 in their improvement. Not so, however, some of these 
 Indians themselves. They not only desire to be led into 
 the white man s road, but it is the light of the gospel 
 shining along this road that attracts them and that they 
 long for. And the changed conditions of existence with 
 them make it imperative that what can be done for them 
 along this line be done speedily, for they will inevitably 
 perish without it. 
 
 The question of evangelization and Christian education 
 of the Indians is greatly modified in these days by certain 
 other changes of condition worthy of note. We have 
 seen in the history of the Delawares how again and again 
 they were assured by the government of the peaceable 
 possession of territory assigned them, to be guaranteed to 
 them in perpetuity, and how they at times showed pro 
 gress toward civilization, even a century ago. But again 
 and again disappointment overtook them ; their lands 
 were wanted for white settlers, their camps were broken 
 up, and they had to begin anew in the untamed wilder- 
 
102 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 ness. Just so has it been with all the tribes, and just, so 
 with attempts to evangelize and educate the Indians. 
 There was no abiding place. A mission might be started, 
 a school planted, some notable conversions of Indians 
 occur, and encouraging progress started, and then the 
 lands whereon this was seen were wanted for white settlers, 
 and all must be sacrificed, schools broken up, missions 
 scattered, camps removed, and all permanent progress ar 
 rested. There was no opportunity for the institutions of 
 a Christian civilization to strike their roots into the soil 
 and obtain a permanent growth. 
 
 In some sense all this has changed, especially in the 
 Southwest. When, about 1832, the Indian Territory was 
 set apart to be the home of the Indians, and the five 
 civilized nations were induced to accept the guarantee of 
 permanent possession of lands set apart to them, for the 
 first time in the history of this country missionary work 
 among the Indians had an open field with some promise 
 that the seed sown might have opportunity to spring up 
 and receive culture and mature fruitage. Though the 
 work was interrupted by the war of 1861 to 1865, and 
 put back by its devastation for at least twenty years, yet 
 the results show how beneficent such work among the 
 Indians would be could these favorable conditions for 
 permanency continue. But alas ! another change seems 
 now pending. The influx of white settlers is becoming so 
 great into the Territory that the continued existence of 
 these Indian commonwealths is seriously threatened. 
 What is done for their evangelization must be done 
 
PRESENT NEEDS OF THE INDIANS 103 
 
 speedily or the vices of white civilization will overwhelm 
 them with ruin. On the one hand it has been demon 
 strated that the Indians are capable of evangelization and 
 uplifting, and on the other that the dangers of their 
 present situation are very grave. Would that the pres 
 ent little volume might be used in some small measure at 
 least toward the repairing of the injuries of the past, and 
 the realization of the possibilities of the present for those 
 to whom this country owes so much, and for whom most 
 of us have done so little. 
 
 With a few words on the subject of Indian education 
 this monograph must close. It was an omen of immeas 
 urable good when some twenty years ago our government 
 conceived the idea of substituting the school for the 
 sword, and the book for bullets, in connection with 
 the Indian. In the founding of what are called non- 
 reservation schools for the industrial and literary training 
 of the youth of the various wild tribes, and in the success 
 which has attended the opening and conduct of such in 
 stitutions as that at Carlisle, Pa., at Lawrence, Kansas, 
 and some twenty others in different parts of the country, 
 a new era of hope has dawned for the Indian people. By 
 the success of these schools, and the advance made by 
 many of the Indian pupils, the problem of the Indian s 
 capability of receiving an education has been solved. 
 The answer to the question, Can he be educated? is a 
 most emphatic affirmative. The transformation wrought 
 by a four or five years course has been phenomenal. 
 
 The extent of this work of education by the govern- 
 
104 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 ment is probably understood by but few of our people. 
 As much as two years ago it was claimed by those who 
 had given the matter careful study, that of the thirty 
 thousand Indian children that ought to be gathered into 
 these schools, not less than twenty thousand had been in 
 structed for a longer or shorter period of time. This 
 estimate refers to the non-reservation schools, supported 
 wholly by the government for the benefit of the so-called 
 blanket Indians. These schools make no provision for 
 the children of the civilized tribes. This explanation is 
 necessary to an understanding of the merits and mistakes 
 of the non-reservation system of schools for the Indian 
 children. The peculiar phase of the system is indicated 
 by the name non-reservation schools. It seems to be 
 based upon the idea that to successfully educate the 
 Indian for civilization you must separate him from his 
 natural surroundings, and from the influence of his tribe, 
 and even of his own family connections, and keep him re 
 moved until he has in a measure forgotten the old life, 
 and taken on the new. 
 
 On the one side this theory would seem to be justified 
 by the results up to the time of leaving school, in many 
 instances. But there is another side to the question. 
 What of these educated Indian youth when they have 
 finished their school course ? It has been frequently said 
 of late, " It is not worth while to spend money to educate 
 the Indian, for when he has gone through the school he 
 goes back to his old life, and in a little while has donned 
 his blanket and forgotten his civilized ways." Doubtless 
 
PRESENT NEEDS OF THE INDIANS 105 
 
 there is a measure of truth in this assertion ; but it is only 
 a half-truth. Here appears what seems to the present 
 writer the mistake of the non-reservation idea in the loca 
 tion of these schools. The youth thus educated away 
 from their tribe, educated out of sympathy with their 
 kin, removed rather from the sympathies of their people, 
 when they leave school and go back to their homes the 
 natural thing for them to do are ostracised and per 
 secuted so that they are compelled to either conform, at 
 least outwardly, to the old life or leave. But the Indian 
 is loyal to his clan and kin, and besides it may not be 
 easy to get employment or means of support if he is driven 
 away. 
 
 An incident will illustrate. Two or three years ago a 
 correspondent of one of our journals was visiting the 
 camp of one of the blanket tribes of the Southwest. En 
 gaging in conversation with some one in the English 
 tongue he noticed a young Indian near by in blanket, 
 and in appearance like the other Indians of the camp 
 who seemed to be interested in the conversation. Finally 
 the young Indian approached and joined in the con 
 versation, speaking in good English, and with an intelli 
 gence that so surprised the correspondent that he in 
 quired of his friend who the young man was. He found 
 that he was an educated young man, had spent several 
 years at Carlisle, Pa., and was well informed and a good 
 scholar. Surprised and disappointed at such a result, he 
 sought an interview, and remonstrated with him. He 
 said he should be ashamed, with his knowledge and 
 
106 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 ability to be living as he was, the old semi-savage life. 
 " Well/ said the young Indian, " I am ashamed, but 
 what could I do?" and then he told him how it was. 
 " When I came back from Carlisle, bringing my civilized 
 ideas, and wearing the garb of civilization, my people 
 would have nothing to do with me. They treated me as 
 an alien, and finally one day twenty or thirty of these 
 men came around me bringing this blanket and this 
 Indian outfit, and they said I must take off those white 
 man s clothes, and give up the white men s ways, or I 
 must leave." The Indian is loyal to his tribe or band. 
 It would be a great hardship to be driven from them. 
 And then, where should he go ? It is not easy to get em 
 ployment in these times ; so he had yielded to the com 
 pulsion and was living, to outward appearance, the old 
 barbarous life ; but as his interest in the conversation of 
 his white brothers showed, only in appearance. 
 
 The remedy, it seems to me, for this difficulty would be 
 to locate our schools as near the people to be benefited as 
 possible, so that while the children are being educated 
 they will have an uplifting influence on their parents and 
 other members of the tribe by frequent intercourse. 
 This is the principle on which our mission schools are 
 planted, and the demand for increased effort along that 
 line is enhanced many times by the manifest results they 
 produce. Furthermore, the benefits of a school of learn 
 ing to any community are not confined to the work done 
 in its halls, nor to the individuals who receive instruction 
 in its classes. There is what we may call the school 
 
PRESENT NEEDS OF THE INDIANS 107 
 
 atmosphere which pervades its surroundings far beyond 
 its immediate precincts, and is in some measure felt 
 wherever its work is known. This outside influence of 
 the school life is needed especially by the tribes that are 
 just emerging into the light of civilization. 
 
 As these last lines are written (1894), a bill has just 
 been introduced in Congress which, if it should become a 
 law, will have a vital effect upon the most advanced of our 
 Indians, the five civilized tribes, for either good or evil. 
 It is the bill to erect the territory of these five tribes into 
 a Territory of the United States, and to compel the 
 abolishment of the tribal governments and force the 
 Indians to become citizens of the United States. We are 
 not prepared to express an opinion here as to whether the 
 Indians will be benefited by this movement or not, nor to 
 enter into any discussion of this very complex question. 
 But we cannot avoid the sad reflection that we are 
 afforded, by the conditions that are claimed to make such 
 a step necessary, a crowning evidence of the disappoint 
 ments to which the Indians have ever been doomed in 
 their efforts to solve the problem of their own elevation, 
 and in the guarantees offered by the United States of the 
 conditions under which they were allowed to make the 
 effort. It was thought that at last in this Indian Ter 
 ritory these tribes referred to had a reliable assurance 
 that they would have undisturbed possession of the cir 
 cumscribed lands given them for a permanent possession, 
 and that here the institutions of a Christian civilization, 
 adopted by them, would have opportunity to strike their 
 
108 THE INDIAN CHIEF, JOURNEYCAKE 
 
 roots into the soil, and grow up to a permanent condition 
 of success. But alas ! the persistent encroachments of the 
 white man upon their domain seem to have made neces 
 sary another change ; not indeed the removal to another 
 country, for there is no place left for another experiment, 
 but an absorption into the conditions of civilization, or 
 total extinction. 
 
 It may be as claimed, that the conditions of fulfilling 
 the government s solemn pledges to the Indian are no 
 longer possible ; but the question will force itself upon us, 
 " By whose fault have they been rendered impossible of 
 fulfillment ? Moreover the apparent impossibility of ful 
 filling these pledges cannot eradicate the sense of injury 
 from the hearts of those whose rights have been thus 
 ruthlessly trampled upon. Keally the only remedy for 
 the present condition of things is the evangelization of 
 these red sons of the forest, and the consequent bestow- 
 ment upon them of a Christian civilization. This is the 
 imperative duty of our people and its earnest assumption 
 can take place none too soon. If in any wise this book 
 shall aid to bring this about, one purpose of the author 
 will have been served. 
 
 THE END